Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240714

Were trying and there has been changes around process, that are intended to address the issues, but it also sounds like that wasnt reflective of the experiences that a lot of people are having. And that actually we can do more and better. So one of the things i would hope would come out of this. Showing the commitment based on what theyre telling us. I think thats something that is clearly needed when we have this commitment to doing better, but thats not experience, at least at the level its needed. I also think there is a lot of different departments that folks need to deal with. And so i was interested in the beginning from oewds perspective, where is that single entry point to make sure that you have the full support of this building and the city government, as you have to navigate these multiple departments. And really making sure that were having the efficiencies. So what does that look like . Also seems to me like, there is opportunities for really more specific and substantial changes to be made to support this industry. Whether that is in process, whether that is in zoning. But i think the level of crisis that we heard about from the industry, there is a clear feeling that we arent responding with a level of urgency and the breadth that really is being experienced on the ground. You know, i just heard yesterday, was mentioned around pedros and petes. For me, that street, king street, you would think that would be an area that would be doing very well. And yet those businesses are struggling and closing. So imagine how hard it is for the businesses not in that position, that dont even have the benefit of those tens of thousands of people coming. I had on my list and glad the last speaker brought this up, really looking at the impact of the Delivery Services. I think thats totally transforming the landscape of restaurants in a way that the city is maybe behind the ball in how we can be supporting restaurants. And Small Businesses. We also have a situation where many of those businesses are here. So our opportunity in terms of the Tech Companies and platforms, how to regulate them, how to actually, if possible make them part of the solution, or at least make sure that were working and protecting the store fronts in this context, affordable space and housing came up. Transportation. I mean so many things that if were going to have a wholistic solution, we need to be working together. I dont know what your thought was in terms of what would come out of this, but im interested in how this can be an ongoing conversation and how we can benefit from these ideas to come up with responses that really meet thes crisis that were facing. Clearly have a need to turn this into action. Supervisor fewer absolutely. Commissioner safai. Supervisor safai thank you, supervisor fewer. Thank you, supervisor haney for the comments. I think its right on. One of the things that i have heard over the years in office now is that there is a lot of good intentions going on between the planning department, oewd, building, but there doesnt seem to be as much as weve strived to do that, there still needs to be more work to coordinate and streamline. We hear great stories, but then we also hear horror stories. There needs to be a general understanding. I like the presentation to have a point person. But not everyone knows to go there first. If im a restaurant owner, im going to figure out the type of lease im going to get. I might not even know if the space is permitted for that when im signing my lease. Sometimes that happens. I go over to building and planning and im working through that and then all of a sudden, i find out that Public Health wants a whole different set of materials that building was not aware of, because they dont know the certain types of tiles or other things that might prohibit a business from opening. Im not making that story up. That was from a Small Business owner in my district that spent 100,000 to open up a new business downtown and literally, just walked way after spending months and months to open up that business. So this hearing is exceedingly important, but there needs to be a way to figure out how were not just operating in silos. When i go to building and talk about the permitting and the layout, there should be a way to relate back to the agencies. Planning is not worried about the type of tiles. Thats not their job. But it is a crucial step in getting your final signoff to open up your business. If you dont have that, your entire business wont be able to operate. So i just think that i think one of the outcomes of this is to have a report back at some point to get an understanding how were getting some of these different city agencies that begin to cooperate and work Better Together and function better on behalf of. I would think that the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and those industries that are entities that set up to work with restaurants, also can be a point of contact and say, this is step one. This is where you start. So i want to thank supervisor fewer and all the different city agencies that came out. I know everyone is well intentioned and wants to help open these businesses. As you saw from planning, we did everything we could. We removed the notification process. Changed our zoning table and are ready and open for business. Anyone that wants to open a restaurant in mission, were ready to go. Were here to help. Supervisor peskin my apologies, we were having a conversation with the mayor relative to the impacts of the central subway on Small Businesses in chinatown, which as we all heard, unfortunately, last week, is going to be delayed by some time. Supervisor mandelman i want to one more time thank you, supervisor fewer, for your commitment and diligence on this issue. And for holding this hearing. I want to thank all of the folks in the Restaurant Industry who came out to tell your stories and it was saddening and frustrating, not inconsistent with things ive heard from folks trying to operate restaurants in my district. It is i know particularly galling to be nickelanddimed and delayed and fined by a government that seems unable to deliver the very basic Public Services that residents and Small Businesses might expect as the preconof their ability to precondition of their ability to operate successfully. I share that frustration. I think my colleagues do as well. And we need to continue to work on the larger issues. I think weve heard some more specific areas where we might be able to make progress. Im happy that supervisor peskin and supervisor fewer have both expressed interest in looking at where there may be fees. I think there is a conversation about the tax reform and that may be an opportunity. We provided enough tax incentives for large operators in the city to grow and thrive and maybe this time around, we can provide some Additional Support for the smaller businesses. [applause] but, also looking at these particular fees, one that didnt come up that ive heard about, is this fire alarm fee. Every time there is a false alarm that goes off, particularly for a new business trying to figure out how to operate, its very easy to quickly run up a bunch of false alarms and you end up in the first year owing a ton of money. Maybe thats something we could look at, but i think there is a long list of fees that make sense. One of the city agencies not here is the fire marshal. Each business, each time, as the owners pointed out, its never the same story. There is a different problem each time that slows you down. But certainly the fire marshal has contributed their share. Know everybody is trying, but again, i think there is how to make it so when six different agencies, or six different departments are looking at these projects that this potential for endless delay doesnt continue and everyone keeps in mind that the goal is to get the business open as quickly as possible, except we can do that consistent with safety and our other needs. So anyway, i think this is just the start of the conversation. Im looking forward to participating, Going Forward with all of you. With that, thank you, again, supervisor fewer. Supervisor peskin thank you, supervisor mandelman. Before i recognize and thank supervisor fewer for holding this hearing, i want to apologize for my absence. As i said earlier on to ms. Thomas not to ms. Thomas, but really everybody. I want to focus on things we can do. Which is the area of fees. Secondary units, inlaws as people used to call them in San Francisco and to that end we passed legislation eliminate those fees and most, if not all circumstances. So i think we should start looking at that in the realm of restaurants where i actually had my staff look at it. There are 22 different fees that apply to restaurants that are starting out. Not all of those apply when youre in an established restaurant. I also think that as a matter of policy, we should start with hanging onto the restaurants that weve got. I think that is where we should put our immediate attention. I know the barriers to interest, you have to get conditional use, insofar as were at the Tipping Point and that number of, yeah, i remember 30 years ago, the stat, or at least in the Popular Culture was every day, there is a restaurant that goes in and out of business in San Francisco. But when you say that there is now a 9 Tipping Point, lets do everything we can for the restaurants weve got. The 22 different fees, many of which apply to the restaurants that want to come, i want to get to. But there is a bunch of those that we touched on today as it relates to public works and sidewalk and table permits. So lets start having that conversation. Lets have it quickly. And lets rationalize those different permit fees. That is probable the lowhanging fruit. I want to say as a supervisor with historical perspective, in the old days every increase and every fee came to the board of supervisors. And we would wrestle with it. Later on, after the down turn in the economy in 2001, we actually gave the controller and the departments the ability to actually raise those fees automatically based on various formula having to do with the cost to the city and Consumer Price index and what have you. Im sure Ben Rosenfeld is saying it wasnt cpi, it was cost recover, but it may be time to bring all of those things back to the board one by one, so we have to evaluate them one by one. Those are my perspectives and with that, i sincerely want to thank supervisor fewer for holding the hearing. Supervisor fewer well thank you very much. I really sincerely want to thank everyone for coming out and educating us on the challenges of our Restaurant Industry. I dont think anyone here disputes the fact that, the restaurant in San Francisco, kind of put us on the map. Were a culinary destination. When you come to San Francisco, you expect to be eating very, very well. Whether its high end or on the lower end spectrum. And we are slowly losing, i think, that legacy that we had. A lot of restaurants, which actually are memorialized in movies and books and literature, have all shut down because of this crisis, which is happening. It is heartbreaking when i see one of my favorite restaurants going under. Just thinking about, going to miss those meals so much. So i think everyone in my neighborhood feels that way. I think everyone in my colleagues neighborhoods feel that way, that our restaurants are not only gathering places, but theyre places not only feed us and our families but add to the vibrancy of our neighborhood. Having said that, i think that we are the city the city could be doing more and i want to say that, you know, we have been doing today we heard about the streamlining. We heard about helping with the navigation of this really complicated system to open up a restaurant. We talked about expedited permitting, license consolidation, business tax reforms. I think there are things that we could be doing. And we also talked about elimination of fees. And i mention also the condoizing of retail space, that could be a possibility as we have no control over the rent control of retail spaces, which i know is hitting all of you hard. I wanted to mention that i passed Vacant Store Front legislation last year, looking at loopholes on how to keep one city block, why an owner can have five empty store fronts on the block, across the street, legacy business, not allowing the businesses on the other side of the street to thrive because of these five empty store fronts that she continues to leave empty. We wanted to close the loophole and we did. You can no longer put a for rent sign, but you must register and there is a fee and every year that you own that empty store front, you must have an engineer or architect actually write, do an inspection and deem that it is safe and not a fire hazard. As supervisor peskin is now looking at vacancy, also we didnt know how many Vacant Store Fronts we had. I was told in 2016, i had zero. So i had my neighbors crowd source and we had 156. And now when we can get an accurate accounting of how big the problem is, we can tackle it. Im writing legislation about construction mitigation fees, because i know, when i say that helmands palace had closed down luckily, only for renovation, but when i thought it was permanently closed along the van ness corridor, my heart fell ali little bit a little bill. Luckily, theyre just remodelling. We did not have a mitigation fee for any of the Small Businesses. During these Long Construction projects you have in front of your stores, so now were writing legislation that we must add in a budgetary item that talks about mitigation for Small Businesses. As they lose revenue through the Long Construction projects. Another thing i think that we need to look at restaurants im so glad that is brought up today, as a lay person, i dont know the difference between cocktail bars and a restaurant. I dont know the nuances and the expenses of it. And now i am realizing that actually we should be separating these smaller venues and larger venues that have many more employees and many more Health Restrictions on them, all those things, looking at them in separate venues. I want to say, i dont think a lot of them are represented here, but in my district and supervisor peskins, many of my restaurant owners, english is their second language. You are having a difficult time and english is your first and only language, youre having a hard time navigating the system, hiring employees, you can imagine people with english is not their first language and all the legal ease that goes with this and the permitting of that. I would like to see attention put toward when we talk about all the things were doing, navigation, streamlining, that we make sure were offering these in different languages so that other and you know, i just want to say, the cool thing about San Francisco, you can eat food here that is food from someone who has been cooking in thailand for how many years and theyre bringing it right to us. This is the wonderful part of San Francisco. We want it make sure those Small Businesses also are viable and are not going under. And then i just wanted to say about the Delivery Platform thing. Yeah, super upsetting. And the fact that many times you must offer delivery in order to stay competitive. So i have been talking to my staff about maybe some out of the box tt ideas about pooling delivery efforts together. Not depending on the platforms, but how can we create even through a City Department maybe, a Delivery Service platform that youre not paying 20 or whatever for this Delivery Service. I think we can do more with streamlining and i think we should keep track of that to see if were really reaching the potential with the strategy. Also, i think the idea of condoizing retail spaces, we should explore that more. Homelessness, the cleanliness of our city, yeah. So, yeah. I think that it is an issue. So im just not going to say its not an issue. Its a huge issue. In fact, im going to a Homeless Community meeting in my district tonight that i know is not going to be a pleasant one. These are huge problems. I want to say that San Francisco is experiencing the largest wealth gap it has ever experienced before. It is not just happening in San Francisco, it is all over the place. If you go to l. A. , its a nightmare. If you go to fresno, you will see it, the west coast. This is an issue were trying to get a handle on. I know supervisor haney, 60 of Homeless Population lives in his district. Calling for more services, pit stops, 24 hours a day, those type of things, but we hear you. I think this is an issue that, youre right, we all need to work on it together, it affects you, us, it affects all the residents in San Francisco. I think that should be on the list when we come together and talk again about issues. Also, i think we didnt hear from the Small Business commission. And i want to know about the program and whether or not how effective they are. Because were putting invest in neighborhoods. Ive seen some of this in my neighborhood that didnt do anything. So wondering how theyre working to bring out information to Small Businesses on site, on the corridors specifically and how often they actually keep track. And what is the relationship between those merchants associations, also, and between oewd, Delivery Service<\/a>s. I think thats totally transforming the landscape of restaurants in a way that the city is maybe behind the ball in how we can be supporting restaurants. And Small Business<\/a>es. We also have a situation where many of those businesses are here. So our opportunity in terms of the Tech Companies<\/a> and platforms, how to regulate them, how to actually, if possible make them part of the solution, or at least make sure that were working and protecting the store fronts in this context, affordable space and housing came up. Transportation. I mean so many things that if were going to have a wholistic solution, we need to be working together. I dont know what your thought was in terms of what would come out of this, but im interested in how this can be an ongoing conversation and how we can benefit from these ideas to come up with responses that really meet thes crisis that were facing. Clearly have a need to turn this into action. Supervisor fewer absolutely. Commissioner safai. Supervisor safai thank you, supervisor fewer. Thank you, supervisor haney for the comments. I think its right on. One of the things that i have heard over the years in office now is that there is a lot of good intentions going on between the planning department, oewd, building, but there doesnt seem to be as much as weve strived to do that, there still needs to be more work to coordinate and streamline. We hear great stories, but then we also hear horror stories. There needs to be a general understanding. I like the presentation to have a point person. But not everyone knows to go there first. If im a restaurant owner, im going to figure out the type of lease im going to get. I might not even know if the space is permitted for that when im signing my lease. Sometimes that happens. I go over to building and planning and im working through that and then all of a sudden, i find out that Public Health<\/a> wants a whole different set of materials that building was not aware of, because they dont know the certain types of tiles or other things that might prohibit a business from opening. Im not making that story up. That was from a Small Business<\/a> owner in my district that spent 100,000 to open up a new business downtown and literally, just walked way after spending months and months to open up that business. So this hearing is exceedingly important, but there needs to be a way to figure out how were not just operating in silos. When i go to building and talk about the permitting and the layout, there should be a way to relate back to the agencies. Planning is not worried about the type of tiles. Thats not their job. But it is a crucial step in getting your final signoff to open up your business. If you dont have that, your entire business wont be able to operate. So i just think that i think one of the outcomes of this is to have a report back at some point to get an understanding how were getting some of these different city agencies that begin to cooperate and work Better Together<\/a> and function better on behalf of. I would think that the Golden Gate Restaurant Association<\/a> and those industries that are entities that set up to work with restaurants, also can be a point of contact and say, this is step one. This is where you start. So i want to thank supervisor fewer and all the different city agencies that came out. I know everyone is well intentioned and wants to help open these businesses. As you saw from planning, we did everything we could. We removed the notification process. Changed our zoning table and are ready and open for business. Anyone that wants to open a restaurant in mission, were ready to go. Were here to help. Supervisor peskin my apologies, we were having a conversation with the mayor relative to the impacts of the central subway on Small Business<\/a>es in chinatown, which as we all heard, unfortunately, last week, is going to be delayed by some time. Supervisor mandelman i want to one more time thank you, supervisor fewer, for your commitment and diligence on this issue. And for holding this hearing. I want to thank all of the folks in the Restaurant Industry<\/a> who came out to tell your stories and it was saddening and frustrating, not inconsistent with things ive heard from folks trying to operate restaurants in my district. It is i know particularly galling to be nickelanddimed and delayed and fined by a government that seems unable to deliver the very basic Public Services<\/a> that residents and Small Business<\/a>es might expect as the preconof their ability to precondition of their ability to operate successfully. I share that frustration. I think my colleagues do as well. And we need to continue to work on the larger issues. I think weve heard some more specific areas where we might be able to make progress. Im happy that supervisor peskin and supervisor fewer have both expressed interest in looking at where there may be fees. I think there is a conversation about the tax reform and that may be an opportunity. We provided enough tax incentives for large operators in the city to grow and thrive and maybe this time around, we can provide some Additional Support<\/a> for the smaller businesses. [applause] but, also looking at these particular fees, one that didnt come up that ive heard about, is this fire alarm fee. Every time there is a false alarm that goes off, particularly for a new business trying to figure out how to operate, its very easy to quickly run up a bunch of false alarms and you end up in the first year owing a ton of money. Maybe thats something we could look at, but i think there is a long list of fees that make sense. One of the city agencies not here is the fire marshal. Each business, each time, as the owners pointed out, its never the same story. There is a different problem each time that slows you down. But certainly the fire marshal has contributed their share. Know everybody is trying, but again, i think there is how to make it so when six different agencies, or six different departments are looking at these projects that this potential for endless delay doesnt continue and everyone keeps in mind that the goal is to get the business open as quickly as possible, except we can do that consistent with safety and our other needs. So anyway, i think this is just the start of the conversation. Im looking forward to participating, Going Forward<\/a> with all of you. With that, thank you, again, supervisor fewer. Supervisor peskin thank you, supervisor mandelman. Before i recognize and thank supervisor fewer for holding this hearing, i want to apologize for my absence. As i said earlier on to ms. Thomas not to ms. Thomas, but really everybody. I want to focus on things we can do. Which is the area of fees. Secondary units, inlaws as people used to call them in San Francisco<\/a> and to that end we passed legislation eliminate those fees and most, if not all circumstances. So i think we should start looking at that in the realm of restaurants where i actually had my staff look at it. There are 22 different fees that apply to restaurants that are starting out. Not all of those apply when youre in an established restaurant. I also think that as a matter of policy, we should start with hanging onto the restaurants that weve got. I think that is where we should put our immediate attention. I know the barriers to interest, you have to get conditional use, insofar as were at the Tipping Point<\/a> and that number of, yeah, i remember 30 years ago, the stat, or at least in the Popular Culture<\/a> was every day, there is a restaurant that goes in and out of business in San Francisco<\/a>. But when you say that there is now a 9 Tipping Point<\/a>, lets do everything we can for the restaurants weve got. The 22 different fees, many of which apply to the restaurants that want to come, i want to get to. But there is a bunch of those that we touched on today as it relates to public works and sidewalk and table permits. So lets start having that conversation. Lets have it quickly. And lets rationalize those different permit fees. That is probable the lowhanging fruit. I want to say as a supervisor with historical perspective, in the old days every increase and every fee came to the board of supervisors. And we would wrestle with it. Later on, after the down turn in the economy in 2001, we actually gave the controller and the departments the ability to actually raise those fees automatically based on various formula having to do with the cost to the city and Consumer Price<\/a> index and what have you. Im sure Ben Rosenfeld<\/a> is saying it wasnt cpi, it was cost recover, but it may be time to bring all of those things back to the board one by one, so we have to evaluate them one by one. Those are my perspectives and with that, i sincerely want to thank supervisor fewer for holding the hearing. Supervisor fewer well thank you very much. I really sincerely want to thank everyone for coming out and educating us on the challenges of our Restaurant Industry<\/a>. I dont think anyone here disputes the fact that, the restaurant in San Francisco<\/a>, kind of put us on the map. Were a culinary destination. When you come to San Francisco<\/a>, you expect to be eating very, very well. Whether its high end or on the lower end spectrum. And we are slowly losing, i think, that legacy that we had. A lot of restaurants, which actually are memorialized in movies and books and literature, have all shut down because of this crisis, which is happening. It is heartbreaking when i see one of my favorite restaurants going under. Just thinking about, going to miss those meals so much. So i think everyone in my neighborhood feels that way. I think everyone in my colleagues neighborhoods feel that way, that our restaurants are not only gathering places, but theyre places not only feed us and our families but add to the vibrancy of our neighborhood. Having said that, i think that we are the city the city could be doing more and i want to say that, you know, we have been doing today we heard about the streamlining. We heard about helping with the navigation of this really complicated system to open up a restaurant. We talked about expedited permitting, license consolidation, business tax reforms. I think there are things that we could be doing. And we also talked about elimination of fees. And i mention also the condoizing of retail space, that could be a possibility as we have no control over the rent control of retail spaces, which i know is hitting all of you hard. I wanted to mention that i passed Vacant Store Front<\/a> legislation last year, looking at loopholes on how to keep one city block, why an owner can have five empty store fronts on the block, across the street, legacy business, not allowing the businesses on the other side of the street to thrive because of these five empty store fronts that she continues to leave empty. We wanted to close the loophole and we did. You can no longer put a for rent sign, but you must register and there is a fee and every year that you own that empty store front, you must have an engineer or architect actually write, do an inspection and deem that it is safe and not a fire hazard. As supervisor peskin is now looking at vacancy, also we didnt know how many Vacant Store Front<\/a>s we had. I was told in 2016, i had zero. So i had my neighbors crowd source and we had 156. And now when we can get an accurate accounting of how big the problem is, we can tackle it. Im writing legislation about construction mitigation fees, because i know, when i say that helmands palace had closed down luckily, only for renovation, but when i thought it was permanently closed along the van ness corridor, my heart fell ali little bit a little bill. Luckily, theyre just remodelling. We did not have a mitigation fee for any of the Small Business<\/a>es. During these Long Construction<\/a> projects you have in front of your stores, so now were writing legislation that we must add in a budgetary item that talks about mitigation for Small Business<\/a>es. As they lose revenue through the Long Construction<\/a> projects. Another thing i think that we need to look at restaurants im so glad that is brought up today, as a lay person, i dont know the difference between cocktail bars and a restaurant. I dont know the nuances and the expenses of it. And now i am realizing that actually we should be separating these smaller venues and larger venues that have many more employees and many more Health Restrictions<\/a> on them, all those things, looking at them in separate venues. I want to say, i dont think a lot of them are represented here, but in my district and supervisor peskins, many of my restaurant owners, english is their second language. You are having a difficult time and english is your first and only language, youre having a hard time navigating the system, hiring employees, you can imagine people with english is not their first language and all the legal ease that goes with this and the permitting of that. I would like to see attention put toward when we talk about all the things were doing, navigation, streamlining, that we make sure were offering these in different languages so that other and you know, i just want to say, the cool thing about San Francisco<\/a>, you can eat food here that is food from someone who has been cooking in thailand for how many years and theyre bringing it right to us. This is the wonderful part of San Francisco<\/a>. We want it make sure those Small Business<\/a>es also are viable and are not going under. And then i just wanted to say about the Delivery Platform<\/a> thing. Yeah, super upsetting. And the fact that many times you must offer delivery in order to stay competitive. So i have been talking to my staff about maybe some out of the box tt ideas about pooling delivery efforts together. Not depending on the platforms, but how can we create even through a City Department<\/a> maybe, a Delivery Service<\/a> platform that youre not paying 20 or whatever for this Delivery Service<\/a>. I think we can do more with streamlining and i think we should keep track of that to see if were really reaching the potential with the strategy. Also, i think the idea of condoizing retail spaces, we should explore that more. Homelessness, the cleanliness of our city, yeah. So, yeah. I think that it is an issue. So im just not going to say its not an issue. Its a huge issue. In fact, im going to a Homeless Community<\/a> meeting in my district tonight that i know is not going to be a pleasant one. These are huge problems. I want to say that San Francisco<\/a> is experiencing the largest wealth gap it has ever experienced before. It is not just happening in San Francisco<\/a>, it is all over the place. If you go to l. A. , its a nightmare. If you go to fresno, you will see it, the west coast. This is an issue were trying to get a handle on. I know supervisor haney, 60 of Homeless Population<\/a> lives in his district. Calling for more services, pit stops, 24 hours a day, those type of things, but we hear you. I think this is an issue that, youre right, we all need to work on it together, it affects you, us, it affects all the residents in San Francisco<\/a>. I think that should be on the list when we come together and talk again about issues. Also, i think we didnt hear from the Small Business<\/a> commission. And i want to know about the program and whether or not how effective they are. Because were putting invest in neighborhoods. Ive seen some of this in my neighborhood that didnt do anything. So wondering how theyre working to bring out information to Small Business<\/a>es on site, on the corridors specifically and how often they actually keep track. And what is the relationship between those merchants associations, also, and between oewd, Small Business<\/a> commission and the Merchant Commission<\/a> and are they hearing from them and what strategies are they bringing fort . And i want to say, the housing thing is a nightmare. I get it. That there is nowhere for your workers to live. The working class folks of San Francisco<\/a>. Oh, my god. God bless them. But, yet, they keep city hall running. They keep our city and county of San Francisco<\/a> running. The people that clean our streets. The people that serve our food. The people that drive our buses, the people that educate our children, the people who diaper our children, all of these workers cannot find housing. It is a horrible situation. I think one thing we can all do, and i just want to give a plug for housing bond for affordable housing, were behind. We cannot let developers depend on developer to build affordable housing. We have to put skin in the game and build affordable housing. Too. I like the idea of dormitories. Although, not everyone is going to want to live in a dormitory, but for some of the workforce, that trends younger, a younger workforce, or ones that dont have families, whatever, i actually think the idea of employee dormitories is one that should be explored. And we should be looking more in San Francisco<\/a> about workforce housing. When we talk about middle income, your employees are not middle income. Your employees are low to moderate income earners. Theyre mainly low earners. If youre making the minimum wage in San Francisco<\/a>, youre not making a living wage and this is why your workers are working two or three jobs. Thank you for bringing that up. We know we have minimum wage because we want to hope to raise the viability, the economic stability for the people of San Francisco<\/a> when we know that is just ridiculous when theyre making 16, 17 an hour. However, i do think that as we have, as a city somehow created this huge gap and this shortage, and i think that what we should do is make a commitment, not only to be building bringing these Big Companies<\/a> to San Francisco<\/a>, but also that we have people that can serve the workers of San Francisco<\/a>. I am a fourth generation san franciscan. And there was a time you know, you could work a living wage job and you could find a place to rent. You didnt have to share a onebedroom with four people. You could actually find a place. I think were working toward strategies to identify how many vacant units there intereare in francisco that we dont know about. But workforce housing, in the form of employee dormitories, which sounds dismal, but im sure we can make it better is a possibility. I want to thank you for bringing that forward. I want to keep the current restaurants afloat. I know we talked about opening new restaurants, but we have some that our residents depend on and they would be sick to see them close. Lets Work Together<\/a> on this. I think our next steps should be a working group that actually brings the City Department<\/a>s together and that we can actually have different people in the industry. And people in the industry, would also reach out to our other members of the industry that where english is not their first language and lets hear from them also about some of the struggles theyre having to keep afloat. Im sure the same ones you have, but how well are we communicating with them . I want to thank the City Department<\/a>s for coming out today and trying to tackle the problem of the things that are challenging our Restaurant Industry<\/a>. I want to thank all the City Department<\/a>s for putting their of doing this good work of streamlining and trying to navigate. I think you also, your hands are tied where we have this large wealth gap and lack of affordable housing, i dont know what you can do about it. Mr. Star, from planning, not to put you on the hot seat, but i think it does stem from planning. I want to thank everyone for being here. I wonder if this is an item we should continue. If so, i would like to make a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair. Actually, youre not a voting member. Supervisor peskin supervisor fewer, thank you for the amazing recitation of everything big and small that has been uttered inside and outside of this hearing. And i want to stay focused. I want to say, look, i dont want to overpromise. Were not going to, in the context of this discussion, solve the homelessness crisis, housing crisis, but there are things we should do. And im saying this to my friend and colleague, supervisor fewer, we have to set our sights on things that we can do. I think there is widespread agreement on the panel around fees which is, i think, low hanging fruit. That we can pursue. Im happy to continue the larger conversations that were having in many different venues around other remarkably vexing issues. There are things we did not talk about that are actually in the purview of this committee that were written about on sf gate a few months ago as it relates to ghost kitchens, that i dont think we touched on, unless it happened when supervisors safai and i were out of here. To supervisor fewer request that she made, yes, we will continue this to the call of the chair. And let us drill down on some things that we can do. I would like to end this, because i get to do that as chair, by thanking all of the brave hearty souls, men and women, who take these risks and their employees who serve us in fine dining restaurants. In casual, fast food restaurants and casual fast food. You name it, thank you for what you do and for employing our friends and neighbors in this community. And people who commute here from out of town. And lets do what we can do if we can incentivize adu by waiving fees or reducing fees, we can do that for an industry that is now a yellow flashing light on the dashboard. With that, i will make a motion and without objection, we will continue this item to the call of the chair. And we are adjourned. Okay. We are here to get the job done. Good morning. Is it morning still . Ive been up since 5 00 i think. Im trying to keep ive been to so many places throughout the day. This is probably the fifth or sixth, but whos counting . Thank you all so much for joining us here today. With me i have dr. Grant colfax, who is the director of the department of Public Health<\/a>, as well as dr. Anton nagusablan who is the director of Mental Health<\/a> reform. Daniel leary, the c. E. O. And founder of Tipping Point<\/a> community, and matthew state, the chair of u. C. F. Department of psychiatry here in San Francisco<\/a>. Im excited because these are incredible leaders in our community who are going to help us with some really challenging problems that we know we face as a city. Last week we launched the Mental Health<\/a> Reform Initiative<\/a> to help those at the intersection of homeless, Mental Illness<\/a>, and Substance Abuse<\/a> disorder in San Francisco<\/a>. And through our detailed analyst, dr. Nagusablan and the department of Public Health<\/a> have identified the people in our city who are most vulnerable and in need of help. Now, to be clear, we see it. But now we have clear and accurate data. Of those 4,000 individuals, 41 frequently use urgent and emergency psychiatric services. 95 of those folks suffer from alcohol use disorder. 35 are africanamericans, despite the fact that we have a less than 6 population of africanamericans in San Francisco<\/a> overall. So we have a lot of work to do ahead of us to provide the Behavioural Health<\/a>care that people need. We need partners to do it. We need to work with our state officials, with our philanthropic organizations and our nonprofit communities. Thats why today im excited to announce that the city has partnered with Tipping Point<\/a> community and ucsf who share our goals of addressing the Mental Health<\/a> crisis in our city and providing people with the care that they need. We know that addressing the needs of the most vulnerable requires experts in the field, it requires collaboration and the development of publicprivate partners. Tipping point and ucsf department of psychiatry came together to really understand how to improve the outcomes for San Francisco<\/a> residents experiencing longterm homeless, but who also have challenges with Behavioural Health<\/a>. They worked with the City Department<\/a>s and various communitybased organizations who helped to put together information to inform this comprehensive report, including the department of Public Health<\/a>, the department of homeless and supportive services, the hospital council, p. R. C. Thank you, Brent Andrews<\/a> for being here and your amazing work. Health right 360. Thank you for your rigorous work on what we deal with in terms of treatment for folks who also sadly deal with Substance Use<\/a> disorder as well. Thanks to the Rigorous Research<\/a> conducted by Tipping Point<\/a> and ucsf. We have a report that we can use to implement datadriven policy decisions that will effectively work and change our city for the better. This report highlights how philanthropic and public funding can work hand in hand to help san franciscans suffering. They have provided several recommendations to improve our system coordination, because we know that it definitely has a few holes in it and it needs to be better coordinated. Enhancing peoples access to treatment. Meeting people where we are. We cant think theyre going to show up at the door of a location for help or for support. We are going to need to go out there in the streets and meet people where they are. Engaging more people in care and services. We are excited to partner with them to implement these recommendations. But also in order to address the Mental Health<\/a> crisis in our city. We need to build on what is already working. Were going to do that in part by expanding the number of hummingbird beds in a city, in our city. Today im really pleased to announce that thanks to the funding from Tipping Point<\/a>, well be able to add 15 new hummingbird beds which offer psychiatric respite. That is absolutely amazing and its really expensive. [ applause ]. Mayor breed so with these new beds, well be able to connect people experiencing homelessness with Behavioural Health<\/a> needs, the care that they need. Im not sure if any of you have visited the hummingbird facility at s. F. General, but it is absolutely amazing. I had an opportunity to not only touch bases with clients, but we also did an announcement last year expanding the number of beds at that location as well. To hear someone say to me that im trying, its hard, but im glad to have help, it makes all the difference in the world. This is an incredible facility and im so proud of the work that they do. As dr. Nagusablan will get into more details, we know that the vast majority of the 4,000 people we have identified unfortunately have alcohol use disorder. The Tipping Point<\/a> report includes some innovative suggestions for treating those suffering from alcohol use disorder and we are looking forward to making some changes and implementing some of these in the coming months. There will be more could you tell mes to come and dr. Nagusablan will continue to implement our approach to healthcare because thats his job. We will recommend more ways to improve care for our citys most vulnerable residents. We all, as i said, need to Work Together<\/a> to address this challenge that we face. With policy, financial investments, and working in a collaborative approach. So we truly appreciate the partnership of ucsf and Tipping Point<\/a>. Now, i want to turn this over to the c. E. O. Of Tipping Point<\/a> community. Theyve done a lot of work to address homelessness and taking it a step further by digging into the root causes of some of the challenges we face to make the right kinds of investments. This is going to make a world of difference. Ladies and gentlemen, daniel leary. [ applause ]]. Thank you, mayor breed for your leadership. We know that the primary cause of homelessness is a lack of affordable housing, but we also know that Behavioural Health<\/a> conditions, like Mental Illness<\/a> and Substance Use<\/a> disorders contribute to homelessness. Without a stable home, these conditions are far harder to treat. In partnership with ucsfs department of psychiatry, Tipping Point<\/a> engaged a Public Health<\/a> consultancy called john snow inc. To improve opportunities for San Francisco<\/a>s existing behavioural system. We convened leaders from City Department<\/a>s, from ucsf, from s. F. General hospital, and a variety of communitybased Service Providers<\/a>. We conducted dozens of stakeholder interviews, including a focus group at the respite center. We engaged closely with the department of Public Health<\/a> throughout the process, checking assumptions and findings against the experience of our city partners. Now, as the mayor said, the findings are in. We need to know the names and needs of everyone who is homeless with a Behavioural Health<\/a>care need, provide Wraparound Services<\/a> that promote stabilization and a path to permanent housing, and ensure that systems and services proactively address and reduce disparities, especially among black and lgbtq individuals experiencing homelessness. Tipping points role Going Forward<\/a> will be to fund the Priority Investments<\/a> in the department of Public Health<\/a> and the service community, while encouraging our Philanthropic Partners<\/a> and peers to do the same. We are taking the first steps towards making this vision a reality. Today we are announcing that Tipping Point<\/a> will invest up to 3 million to create a second hummingbird psychiatric respite center, replicating their [ applause ]. As the mayor said, this is the type of program you want to replicate. This will expand access to a critical supportive step out of homelessness. We invite all of our other funders and friends throughout the city to explore the report findings out today and invest in the recommendations and join us. Now id like to introduce two people that are working every day to improve the Health Outcomes<\/a> of our neighbors. Please join me in welcoming dr. Anton nigusse bland, who is the director of Mental Health<\/a> reform and dr. Grant colfax, the director of Public Health<\/a>. Thank you, mayor breed, for leading the way. If were going to reform our system of care for the nearly 4,000 san franciscans who are most in need, everyone will have to Work Together<\/a>. Thats why its so important to be standing here with our partners at Tipping Point<\/a> and ucsf talking about these common goals that we share and advancing our shared vision. I want that briefly highlight a couple of findings in this report that reinforce our own. First, Behavioural Health<\/a> outcomes are Health Outcomes<\/a> and they are far worse for people of color. This report points out that black men die as almost twice the rate of white men of liver cirrohsis even though they have lower rates of alcohol disorder. We also found of the people experiencing homelessness, Substance Abuse<\/a> problems have a higher incidence. Alcohol remains a persistent and enormous Public Health<\/a> issue that impacts the lives and health of many san franciscans. Our most recent Community Health<\/a> Needs Assessment<\/a> revealed that two out of five adults surveyed reported a survey of binge alcohol use. Between 2014 and 2016, over 8,000 emergency room visits resulted from alcoholrelated issues. We can help. We know how to care for alcohol use disorders. Weve already begun to work on the kind of evidencebased approaches to chronic alcoholism that this report recommends and particularly exploring the development of a managed alcohol program. The research is very strong that managed alcohol programs, medications, and treatment can reduce the harms of excessive alcohol use. We can create safety and stability for people if we innovate on this problem together. We need to make sure that Proven Solutions<\/a> are applied in a thoughtful way and extend their reach to people who have not had sufficient access to the help that they most need. We also agree with the reports findings that we should make it easier to get Realtime Data<\/a> about our system of care. We are launching the very kind of collaboration across city agencies that this report urges us to purview. We expect to be able to provide this transparent information about our beds and our system of care to the providers, clients, and members of the public so that all of us have a better understanding and is have an improved ability to access care. We know that research and philanthropy will play important roles in making these recommendations a reality. We are grateful for that support and partnership. [ applause ]. Good morning, everybody. Im grant colfax. Im the director of health. Id like to thank mayor breed for her leadership, ucsf, and Tipping Point<\/a> for the ongoing and strengthened partnership that they have with the department. Of course, dr. Nigusse bland for his bold leadership in his vision for us to do better as a community as we address the intersection of the homelessness and Behavioural Health<\/a> issues. This is an important day. We are coming together focusing on solving problems and improving health for the population of nearly 4,000 san franciscans who are experiencing homelessness, Mental Health<\/a>, and Substance Use<\/a> disorders. Today we announced a significant commitment of partnership to meet those goals. A population focus means not only a focus on treatment of the issue patients, but we look at the big picture. We change the way the system responds when a Public Health<\/a> challenge is this great. We learn. We look at the problem from multiple angles. We draw on clinical expertise and data. We try new approaches. We learn what works. We stop what doesnt. We measure results and we built a track record of success. We figured this out when we look at h. I. V. Look at the numbers being released this week. Weve gone from ground zero in the aids epidemic, to pledging to be the first city to get to zero. That didnt happen overnight. It took multiple stakeholders from across San Francisco<\/a>. We need to use that experience to address other deep Health Challenges<\/a> in our city. Progress does not happen and cannot happen in isolation. As with h. I. V. , we know that forging Behavioural Health<\/a> solutions for San Francisco<\/a> residents experiencing homelessness and Health Issues<\/a> will take researchers and clinicians, community stakeholders, clients, philanthropists and the support of the public. I and we are grateful for the contributions of Tipping Point<\/a> and ucsf. These two robust institutions that were fortunate to have in San Francisco<\/a>. The Health Department<\/a> looks forward to partnering with them and many others with the significant Behavioural Health<\/a> challenges facing people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco<\/a>. Together we can and we will heal our city. Thank you. [ applause ]. Mayor breed thank you. Now, i dont know if any of you caught this, but john snow inc. Did the report. You know nothing, john snow . Nobody caught that . Okay. Next up we have dr. Matt state from ucsf. [ applause ]. Thank you so much, mayor breed. Truly, im thrilled to be able to stand here today with a group of leaders who are so dedicated to this city and to the most pressing social problems we face, including chronic homelessness. More than 30 years ago, at the height of the aids crisis, local government in San Francisco<\/a> health providers, academicia, philanthropy, set aside parochial differences and came together to attack what seemed like an insurmountable challenge. This week mayor breed sat with the department of Public Health<\/a> and ucsf to review the remarkable progress that has been made in this struggle and to double efforts to work collaboratively to be the first city to get to zero, something that must have seemed impossibly out of reach three decades ago. This is the inspiration for our efforts and it is the model that we are pursuing to address the intersection of Mental Illness<\/a>, homelessness, and Substance Use<\/a> disorders. This report is a product of all these organizations coming together to help develop a consensus road map that develops tangible, immediate differences in the lives of individuals and families experiencing psychiatric illness and Substance Use<\/a> disorder. The work that went into it from clinicians, other Service Providers<\/a>, and many others. I cant thank mayor breed, director colfax, and dr. Nigusse bland enough for your leadership and inspiration. And to daniel leary and the Tipping Point<\/a> folks, its been a remarkable partnership. Were tremendously grateful at ucsf. There are several other people i want to mention. First, i really would like to underscore a tremendous contribution from jane hawgood and John Pritzger<\/a> for their help to launch this collaboration and bring us together. As youve heard today, it will be the partnership of academia and the city and philanthropy that really promises to allow us to move forward on a critically important and admittedly extremely difficult challenge. Ucsf and the city have a Long Partnership<\/a> beginning 150 years ago, when ucsf doctors began caring for san franciscans in the citys General Hospital<\/a>. Today ucsf clinicians continue to care for the citys most vulnerable, including children and adults, at San Francisco<\/a> General Hospital<\/a> and in a range of outstanding communityfocused programs for those suffering from Mental Illness<\/a> and Substance Use<\/a> disorders. From our division of citywide case management, our division of Substance Abuse<\/a> and addiction management, our Psychiatric Emergency Services<\/a> to name just a few. As chair of the department of psychiatry at ucsf, i could not be more proud of our people and our Longstanding Partnership<\/a> with the city that has allowed us to work every day to make a difference in the lives of our patients and their families. As a representative of ucsf here today, i cant stress enough our commitment to collaborate in taking on these big challenges, our department of psychiatry, the new homelessness and housing initiative, our students, our faculty and trainees are all determined to Work Together<\/a> to find ways to tackle the most pressing health and Health Equity<\/a> challenges we face, including the nexus of Mental Illness<\/a>, Substance Abuse<\/a>, and homelessness. Thank you again, mayor, director colfax, dr. Nigusse bland, and daniel, for your tremendous partnership and efforts. [ applause ]. Mayor breed so there you have it. Let me just say that we all know that the challenges that we face as a city werent created overnight. There wont be any easy fixes. It will take time. It will take, as every speaker here as said, collaboration, working together, seeking out the professionals who have the expertise in the medical arena and the nonprofit sector, our policymakers to provide the right kinds of solutions. This is so critical because when we look at homelessness and the challenges that, sadly, around 4,000 residents of our Homeless Community<\/a> face, we know that its not just Homeless People<\/a> who are dealing with a number of these issues in terms of Behavioural Health<\/a>. It is time that we take just a different approach towards addressing Behavioural Health<\/a> challenges in our city and in our country. That we begin to get rid of the stigma attached to seeking health for people who sometimes are dealing with depression and other issues that continue to plague our society. One of the things that i am really committed to is making sure that we have Wellness Centers<\/a> in all of our high schools in San Francisco<\/a>, all of our schools in general, so that when kids are dealing with trauma or any other kind of situation, that they have the help and the support that they need in the place where they study and learn every single day. Looking at creative and Innovative Solutions<\/a> is how we are going to create a city that is healthy and is thriving. I want to thank all of you for the work that you have done and will continue to do to get us to a better place with all of these leaders, all of these amazing people, all of these incredible minds. I know its only a matter of time before we get to that better place that we deserve to be. Thank you all so much for being here today. [ applause ]. [ ] [ ] homelessness in San Francisco<\/a> is considered the number 1 issue by most people who live here, and it doesnt just affect Neighbors Without<\/a> a home, it affects all of us. Is real way to combat that is to Work Together<\/a>. It will take City Department<\/a>s and nonprofit providers and volunteers and companies and Community Members<\/a> all coming together. [ ] the product homeless connect Community Day<\/a> of Service Began<\/a> about 15 years ago, and we have had 73 of them. What we do is we host and expostyle event, and we were the very force organization to do this but it worked so well that 250 other cities across the globe host their own. Theres over 120 Service Providers<\/a> at the event today, and they range anywhere from hygiene kits provided by the basics, 5 to prescription glasses and reading glasses, hearing tests, pet sitting, showers, medical services, flu shots, dental care, groceries, so many phenomenal Service Providers<\/a>, and what makes it so unique is we ask that they provide that Service Today<\/a> here it is an actual, tangible Service People<\/a> can leave with it. I am with the hearing and Speech Center<\/a> of northern california, and we provide a variety of Services Including<\/a> audiology, counselling, outreach, education, today we actually just do screening to see if someone has hearing loss. To follow updates when they come into the Speech Center<\/a> and we do a full diagnostic hearing test, and we start the process of taking an impression of their year, deciding on which hearing aid will work best for them. If they have a smart phone, we make sure we get a smart phone that can connect to it, so they can stream phone calls, or use it for any other services that they need. San francisco has phenomenal social services to support people at risk of becoming homeless, are already experience and homelessness, but it is confusing, and there is a lot of waste. Bringing everyone into the same space not only saves an average of 20 hours a week in navigating the system and waiting in line for different areas, it helps them talk, so if you need to sign up for medical, what you need identification, you dont have to go to sacramento or wait in line at a d. M. V. , you go across the hall to the d. M. V. To get your i. D. Today we will probably see around 30 people, and averaging about 20 of this people coming to cs for followup service. For a participant to qualify for services, all they need to do is come to the event. We have a lot of people who are at risk of homelessness but not yet experiencing it, that todays event can ensure they stay house. Many people coming to the event are here to receive one specific need such as signing up for medical or learning about d. M. V. Services, and then of course, most of the people who are tender people experiencing homelessness today. I am the representative for the volunteer central. We are the group that checks and all the volunteers that comment participate each day. On a typical day of service, we have anywhere between 40500 volunteers that we, back in, they get tshirts, nametags, maps, and all the information they need to have a successful event. Our participant escorts are a core part of our group, and they are the ones who help participants flow from the Different Service<\/a> areas and help them find the Different Service<\/a>s that they needs. One of the ways we work closely with the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing<\/a> is by working with Homeless Outreach<\/a> teams. They come here, and these are the people that help you get into navigation centers, help you get into shortterm shelter, and talk about housing1st policies. We also work very closely with the department of Public Health<\/a> to provide a lot of our services. We have all types of things that volunteers deal do on a day of service. We have folks that help give out lunches in the cafe, we have folks who help with the check in, getting people when they arrive, making sure that they find the services that they need to, we have folks who help in the check out process, to make sure they get their food bag, bag of groceries, together hygiene kit, and whatever they need to. Volunteers, i think of them as the secret sauce that just makes the whole process works smoothly. Participants are encouraged and welcomed to come with their pets. We do have a pet daycare, so if they want to have their pets stay in the daycare area while they navigate the event, they are welcome to do that, will we also understand some people are more comfortable having their pets with them. They can bring them into the event as well. We also typically offer veterinary services, and it can be a real detriment to coming into an event like this. We also have a bag check. You dont have to worry about your belongings getting lost, especially when that is all that you have with you. We get connected with people who knew they had hearing loss, but they didnt know they could get services to help them with their hearing loss picks and we are getting connected with each other to make sure they are getting supported. Our next event will be in march, we dont yet have a date set. We typically sap set it six weeks out. The way to volunteer is to follow our newsletter, follow us on social media, or just visit our website. We always announce it right away, and you can register very easily online. A lot of people see folks experience a homelessness in the city, and they dont know how they can help, and defence like this gives a whole bunch of people a lot of good opportunities to give back and be supported. [ ] please stand by for closed captioning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome tth","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia601008.us.archive.org\/20\/items\/SFGTV_20190920_130000_Government_Access_Programming\/SFGTV_20190920_130000_Government_Access_Programming.thumbs\/SFGTV_20190920_130000_Government_Access_Programming_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}