Repeat visit. Its our front door to the world. San francisco remains inviting and welcoming to all the exhibitors. The bid provides extensive cleaning services as well as Public Safety with 10 officers and overnight security. The bid embassador provides assistance to visitors who need help with wave finding and directions. Without the bid this would not be provided and we hope you support the renewa renewal. Thank you. Good afternoon, president yee. At t has had a long history with San Francisco. Over 100 years. We have thousands of employees that live and or work in the city of San Francisco and thats one of the reasons that at t chose to locate our flagship store. 1 powell is smack dab in the heart of the city and union square. Formerly the bank of italy. Its a beautiful building. We chose it because its right there at the cable car turn around where thousands of people pass every single day. With the current problems that were seeing in that area, including Public Safety issues, cleanliness, homeless drugs, Mental Health issues, sometimes the heart of the city right there in union square can look like a broken heart. The bid works really hard to mend that broken heart throughout reach to the homeless, coordination with city agencies and all of the non profits that karen mentioned, continuous cleaning, graffiti cleaning, i cannot imagine how union square would be without the bid. With retail facing constant changes and challenges, it has been a real advocate from public realm improvements to securing grants for public art, marketing, place making, all these things that keep people coming to union square when really people could just shop at home in their pajamas, i urge you to vote to keep the bid and keep it a safe place to visit, live and work. You it. Good afternoon, supervisors. Thank you for your time and sum or the. My name is ton thomas. I love on the board of directors. For the club donna tell owes association, part of the building at beautiful corner of the post and mayson. We took a step of faith 10 years ago when we said well tax ourselves more money in order to improve our neighborhood. I did not know what i was getting myself into when karen and a few others said don we would like you to serve. Ive been serving on the board. I volunteered to serve on the clean and save committee. If you really want to get involved in the boots on the ground experience, we have meetings every other month. Between the sfpd, d. P. W. , block by block, neighbor streets team, miracle messages and a number of other people, were beginning to change peoples lives one day at a time, one life at a time. Im excited about the future and so were going to take another step of faith. For another 10 years. We appreciate your support for that. Thank you. President yee, members of the board of supervisors, good afternoon. My name is richard lighter. Im a presenc principle and owna breweries and restaurant. The Herbert Hotel at 161 powell and the Stratford Hotel at 242 powell. I have had the pleasure of serving on the board of the bid union square bid. It is critical we renew this bid and it adds a tremendous amount of value to the community and i urge your support. Enough has been said, its just a positive movement for the city and in all things good. Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is jessica and im the executive director of miracle messages. Miracle messages is a Nonprofit Organization that helps people experience homelessness reconnect with their loved ones and been working with the bid since october and weve connected 10 people with loved ones that they wouldnt have had the digital access, Digital Literacy or emotional ability to reach out. This has changed lives and through the bid support weve been able to send out two formally Homeless Community embassadors twice a week to canvas the streets to be a friendly face and say a kind word to the people experiencing homelessness and offer them the opportunity to overcome the emotional shame of the disconnection that effects them. Its been an incredible partnership and one of the stories that i think you all should know is of the story of a man named wayne who was disconnected from his loved ones for 16 years who is now in housininhousing due to the efff the bid and the miracle messages. This is a really Important Service that the bid has allowed us to provide and we love working with the bid and we hope you support it. Hello, good afternoon members of the board of supervisors. My name is michelle and im with west field San Francisco center. I will be in zone 1 of the Business Improvement district and since my time with west field, which i just anniversaried 12 months, right off the bat, my Vice President who will be speaking next, encouraged me to develop relationships with Business Improvement district and in that 12 months, theyve helped me create personal and business relationships that helped develop the experience for our 14 million guests that walk through our doors every year through safe and clean efforts as well as advocacy for all members of the community. Im definitely here in support of renewing the union square bid. Thank you. Good afternoon members of the board of supervisors. My name is leah and im the Vice President of Shopping Center management at west field. Im on the board of directors at the Business Improvement district and sat on the renewal committee. Im absolutely in favor of the renewal of the bid. Theres not a day that goes by that we dont discuss the safety, security and clean lessness of the square. The bid has and will continue to be a partner in ensuring that Critical Services are available to our residents, tenants, customers, and employees. The renewals paramount to our future success. I simply cannot imagine what the square would be without the bid. Consensus has been reached that approximate partnership must be maintained and that services should be enhanced and a testament to the work of karen and her team. Thank you for your time and look forward to seeing you at the square and shopping at wes westfield. Good afternoon members of the board of supervisors, my name is spencer. Im a citizen of San Francisco and i lived here since 1999. I reside in district 5. And im the director of Business Development for a Company Called inpark and a longterm member of the board of the union square businesses improvement district. My company manages 15 Parking Facilities for the sfmta, the department of real estate and the board of supervisor including the fifth emission garage in the union square Business Improvement direct. We manage about eight Parking Facilities serving valet. As a result of this ive got to spend a significant amount of time in the Union Square Area and our company gets the opportunity to serve thousands of union square businesses, momenhotel guests, citizens and visitors on a daily basis. When i moved here in 1999, i didnt frequent union square that much and no offense to karen and my fellow members, i thought it was shady at the time. But, over the course of the last 15 or so years, ive seen union square become that destination that now i want to visit as much as i can. This transformation didnt happen overnight. It took a lot of collaboration with the city of San Francisco, departments and the union square b. I. D. I urge you as members of the board of supervisors to continue your support like you have for so many years. Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board of supervisors. My name is amy howl and i represent trinity. I moved here from the east coast in 1990 with my sister and the first thing on our bucket list was to go to union square. The union square i remember gave me a sense of San Francisco. I really feel that union square is absolutely part of the world stage. The millions of visitors that come to union square leave with an impression they dont forget. I havent forgotten mine. And mine was one of, this is the friendliest city. People are so nice. I was comparing it to new york where i came from. I also thought it was a really clean city. And a really approachable city. And i couldnt wait to make this my home. I now have the pleasure of assisting and managing not just residential communities but iconic buildings on union square where we have people come to work everyday. When you come to work everyday u. Its your home. Its your home away from home. Some of the things that i recognized through the bid, im in support of the union square b. I. D. Renewal. The Camera Network has been inspirational to me and i am mimicking it across other parts of the city. It has stopped crime. It has been a real aid to our Law Enforcement professionals who need that assistance and back up. I think of what the renewal could offer with extended services into the evenings. A place for people to find happiness and comfort and cleanliness as they enjoy the city that i love so much. I hope that you vote to renew the bid. Thank you. Good afternoon members of the board of supervisors. My name is kelly powers and im the director of the Hotel Council of San Francisco and we have members of both hotels and businesses as part of our partnership. Im also a member of the union square Business ImprovementDistrict Board and i also sit on their foundation board. First, the twoprong message is i want to provide today to urge you to support the renewal is the clean and Safe Partnership that the Hotel Council has with the union square Business Improvement district. The main question Many Organizations ask themselves to understand the power of an organization like the bid, is to imagine what it would be like without it. What would that Downtown District look like without all the services that the bid provides . It would very much look like a different neighborhood without their support. On the community side, the union square Business Improvement districts creates a fabric of excitement, engagement and diversity. The bid works to incorporate those working to improve their lives like the downtown streets team and the union square cares program. They support the beautification efforts such as tree planting. And they provide fun activities like the downtown ice rink every holiday season, the winter walk. Were losing some of the attractions where families can come together and celebrate, shop and celebrate special times of the year. I thank you for being supportive of the union square Business Improvement district. Thank you. Its a natural reflex to respond when i see its involving business and professional cults pertaining to tax regulations. You give twitter millions of dollars of taxfree money and smaller businesses have not been able to enjoy the freedom of getting taxfro billions of dollars and big yun o billions. They have been paying payroll taxes required by state and federal law. Twitter and the Hitech Companies have not done anything for low income people, people homeless out on the street. These organizations have been helping people giving them a chance and opportunities to get permanent housing above the minimum page that is being paid by city street clean and i agree with renewing their organization and i further like to see them expand and build Affordable Housing for low income and very low income bracket people. These that come from me by the time they get to you it takes several years for you to wake up and smell the coffee and doing what i propose. Just like this 600 milliondollar tax by for low income housing. Ive been talking to you about this for years and now you are doing something about t i dont want you to wait that long to take care of this problem here. These organizations are doing to help people in low income and put them to work. Id like to see you expand and build Affordable Housing for those very same incomes of people that you employ. Because you are in position to do so and you can be a leader and theyll follow your lead. Its hard for them to follow my lead. It took me four and a half years to get them to stop giving that multi billion dollar tax breaks to twitter and several other Hitech Companies. I dont want it to take that long to transact business with you. So i gro agree with them. Any other speakers that want to speak in support . Madam clerk, theres still going to be later Public Comment. Is that correct . Is there still going to be the later general Public Comment . Yes, thats later. Im going to speak out are you going to speak in support of this item . The last negro is playing at the roxy, its a brilliant film. Anyone else wants to speak in support . It was mentioned earlier that there are 9,000 needles found on the sidewalks to be picked up every morning. There are as well 9,000 cases of bloodborn rep titus using those using illicit substances in the city so i believe you can contribute by eliminating the needle Waste Program which i would greatly encourage. Supervisor yee come on up. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is simon chang and im here to represent two buildings in that area. Im just talking about the experience of what i have for those two buildings. To my understanding, your original intention of the union square bid was to improve safety, sanitary, marketing for Better Business for this major important area in the city. Which is also known as the most attractive to tourists and people for shopping. However, i dont feel much improvement for myself. Especially in the recent years can you stop the clock. Are you speaking in support of the benefit . I have concern but i want to support the area. I just want to mention my experience. Go ahead. Can i continue . I dont feel much improvement for myself. Especially for the recent years, my business and my tenants Business Activity has been running down for each year. Many stores in this area has been closed and vacant for a long time. There are a lot of people around and getting more and more. Also store thieves and crime in the area. Im talking about two buildings of mine that i know. People starting to stand, sitting, sleep and Wander Around in front of my business and businesses of my tenants. There is peeing and pooping on the sidewalk and on my property. Also on the garbage can and runs into the building area with very bad smelling, et cetera, et cetera. All these preventing and discouraging people for shopping attempts. There is foot traffic. Thank you, sir. Your time is up. Anybody else . Anybody else want to speak in support. Seeing none. Lets go ahead and have anybody that wants to speak in opposition to the benefit district. Yoyou have to twins. Good afternoon, president and supervisors and supervisors. Yes, once again, this is other San Francisco boondoggle and created by the inept pay to play politicians that you are. The Bigger Picture is you are walking into a buzz saw. You are going to have to pay people to shop in San Francisco. After 20 years of this type of garbage which is more toxic than nuclear waste, people just dont come to San Francisco. Thanks to you. Thanks to your consistent racial politics, you couldnt even run a bathroom in this city let alone a business. You cant run a meeting for the general board of supervisors, thats how bad it is. Your security here is so whacked out onion what drugs, probably cocaine, i cant sit in the pews without them harassing me. Officer martin he is he is, jac, put your legs down. Im coming in here to give you a pulse on the street that you are on your way out and you have ruined the city. Diversity. The worse city. The worse city. Every business, every person i come into contact hates your sucking guts. Thank you. Supervisor yee any other speaker in opposition . Seeing none. Public comment is now closed. Supervisor haney. Thank you, president yee. I was able to say this in committee but im very supportive of this renewal and proud to be to represent one small sliver here in district 6. One thing i didnt get to say in committee is i want to appreciate you for in concluding in this renewal an increase in the clean and safety in wages. I think especially as we expand and were put more folks to work through our bids and through our d. B. D. S its really important were paying minimum wages and making sure this is a job that allows people to have security in their own lives as well when theyre working so hard to keep us safe. Thank you for in concluding that and i hope that that is a model for other bids and c. B. D. S as well. Thank you for your leadership. Supervisor yee seeing no other on the roster of this hearing has been heard. And is now filed. We will now adjourn from the committee of the whole and reconvene as the board of supervisors. Supervisor yee the department of elections will count the ballots cast and were return later in the meeting and come back to item numbe