Therefore, it has no merit as opposed to see the potential for good restoration. I think this is a critical piece. When people talk about were losing San Francisco, theyre talking about not that we dont want anything new, but they see too much of the beautiful things that define our character being lost. We can marry both. This is an important priority. And it needs to be a priority of our next director. Thank you very much. President melgar thank you, commissioner. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, commissioners and, thank you, president melgar, for allowing us to come and speak to the commission about this item. Im anastasia, im a tenant and housing advocate. In my view, a new director has to recognize and respect San Franciscos history, architecture and its people and acknowledge that our city is not for sale. A new director must not be cow towed by big money. The arena numbers show too much marketrate housing as opposed to too little new housing for lowincome residents is being built. A new director must agree to bring 100 Affordable Housing projects to the front of the queue and devote more resources to training planning staff on rent control and tenants rights to protect tenants who are rapidly being displaced from the city. The next director must prioritize housing for very low lowincome seniors and disabled, since plenty of housing that is market rate and unaffordable to them has been built. We need a wise director who is willing to direct funds to get our Historic Resources evaluated and preserved. And who will devise plans that integrate housing with new infrastructure, including plans for transportation, water, sewage, schools and parks, to accommodate a growing metropolis we can all enjoy. Thank you. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, commissioners. I work with as a permit consultant with some of the smallest Property Owners in San Francisco. And Small Business people, small entertainment venues, are the people whose problems i help solve. And there is a broad feeling in the city that 4 5 of the city doesnt get the attention at the Planning Department that it deserves. There is a lot of focus on broad plans and not the focus on implementation that i think is deserved by the community that the Planning Department serves. I want to echo many of the comments made by the previous speakers. They were all broad and suggesting value judgments and i hope that the new director agrees with me on most of those things. That said, i would like to nominate rich hillis to be the next director of the department of city planning. I believe he must have resigned to put his name in that ring. In all sincerity, i appreciate the work and the candor he brought to this position as a commissioner. And i think his perspective is one that the new director would benefit from. He was a very practical commissioner. And understood the functioning of a vital city. And thats what we need. Thank you. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, president melgar, members of the commission, mike buehler president and c. E. O. Of San Francisco his or her teenage. Just heritage. Just over 2 is part ott landmarks. As legislation is passed on the local and state level to increase production of housing such as sb330. Is it more important than ever for the city to understand what is significant and worth protecting in the citys built environment. To this end, im going to focus on three priorities of the Preservation Community i hope any candidate will share. First, we urge you to hire a director who will prioritize and expedite completion of the citywide Historic Resources survey. This is a tough recommendation made by spur in 2014, in a joint policy paper on Historic Preservation. While cities los angeles have already completed their survey, we dont know what is significant about the citys historic neighborhoods and built environment. As a component of the citywide survey, it should identify eligible historic districts for future designation. Second, we urge completion of the historic. This has languished for 10 years and will help the commission and the new planning director balance priorities such as the need to increase Housing Production and other planning goals with the need to protect our Historic Resources. Third, we urge this director to rehire and fill the Historic Preservation officer position recently vacated by tim fry. From our perspective, this is essential to have leadership within the department who can be an advocate from within for the policy initiatives just described, among others. Currently, the responsibilities among the Preservation Team within the department are diffuse and unclear from the outside and it has made it difficult to discern how to advocate for these policies within the department. Finally, i urge any new planning director to build on the innovative work completed by this commission and the department in developing new tools focused on wholistic solutions for preserving communities, such as cultural districts and the business legacy program. San francisco is viewed as a National Model and we need to find ways to stabilize and sustain our communities. And finally, we request that the department include representative of the Historic Preservation commission on the search and selection committee. Thank you. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, commissioners and thank you for the opportunity to address this important issue. My name is bruce bowen. Land use coalition. In addition to the excellent comments, id like to focus on two. The director should lead the department and the city into the future, but also should be able to lead in what i would call a manner of planning in the present tense. Recently a group of neighbors was meeting with a planner about the unnecessary demolition of a house in order to replace it with a wildly unaffordable box. The planner told us that the Department Recognized that it couldnt resist the pressure of maximizing the potential economic value of that lot. And so the project would be approved, which it was. This considering value only with a places economic worth pervades Real Estate Capital where the city is seen as only a generator of return on Capital Investment that leads to the city we know now, the city of displacement and destruction of communities. Instead, we need a director that understands that the neighborhoods and communities and families and the value of a place derives from being useful to people now in the present as well as in the future. It houses them. Gives them a sense of community, a place to work and sense of identity. Without an understanding of the present use value of the city, were condemned to live in a city as a growth machine, a city that houses only those that can do without the institution that rely on every day, Public Transit included. And that can float above the effects of gentrification. The second threat, no less dangerous than global capital, is the threat from sacramento. We cant stop legislators from going to the capital and deciding theyll make their name by using the money bomb that is rendering the city uninhabitable. And we need a director who will ensure they provide this in a timely fashion. I believe the Planning Department is well positioned to provide analysis and impact on San Francisco and it should be a priority. There is so much more to these things. Youve heard many of them. Director, we need a director who balances use value against exchange value. That is needs of people today are something to be protected even as we build for the future. And we need to keep ourselves armed to deal with sacramento. Thank you. President melgar thank you very much next speaker, please. I have a handout. My name is jerry with the San Francisco land use coalition. A leadership change provides opportunity for operational changes. I have five procedural suggestions. One that the department should be required to include a reasoned paragraph explaining why it recommends approval or denial of a project, and the paragraph should be signed by a member of senior management. Two, the Planning Department should reject commonly flawed documents. One architectural plans that lack existing and proposed Square Footage table. Two, unsigned environmental evaluation applications. Three, documents that dont include a copy in electronic format. And four, new Construction Projects that lack a survey of record. Point number three, improved citizen access to information by ensuring the following six documents listed below are available one week before the projects scheduled hearing date. [please stand by] good afternoon commissioners. Im an architectural historian and preservation planner in private practice. In response to your call for a qualifications, i am really focusing on my comments very narrowly. I have to say i really appreciate the breadth of the comments of the speakers that have come before me, and the thoughtfulness. This is impressive that we have dedicated San Francisco residents. Im focusing my wish list for a new director on an individual who would prioritize, my wish list is Historic Preservation related. A director who would prioritize reestablishing an autonomous Historic Preservation sector within the Planning Department that can effectively promote the goals of the has developed, over decades. Build on the existing framework. Preservation framework and other planning documents for frameworks by specifically prioritizing one citywide survey , of Historic Resources, with an emphasis on districts. Also, the draft preservation element for the city in 2,009 for review. Youve probably heard me say this before, i was the author of the draft preservation element, i would happily volunteer my services pro bono to help you, guide you to move that along anyway i can. Another priority, number three, would be training for junior planters that focuses past the planning efforts, which are sometimes forgotten, overlooked, or shelved. Libraries get dismantled. Training should also focus on the citys history. Really be specific to San Francisco. Especially for new people who arrive in the department from other cities in are unfamiliar with so much about what San Francisco is. Number four, i would love to see prioritized a reliable online tool which is the Property Information map and database. It used to be better. It has somehow changed over time. There is less information now than there used to be. That is so helpful to people all over, in the department and out. I believe that the steps listed above would result in wellbalanced, wellinformed, wellmanaged growth citywide that integrates preservation, and environmental sustainability. Finally, whether the new director comes from the resulting of an International Search or someone local, i dont think it is so important. Really i want to emphasize that they understand what the unique qualities of San Francisco are. Unique to San Francisco is the pattern of small parcels that make walking in the city interesting, not alienating. The fine nature of the city should be respected. Quickly i would just like to say that the ideal individual will prioritize communities and not luxury housing. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Kathleen courtenay russian Hill Community association. Commissioners, we appreciate the invitation to make comments about the critical issue of the new planning director. We really urge you to look at an applicant who has the commitment to process and procedures. The prior speaker laid out issues of process, the community relies on a consistent process so that we can inform all of our members, and work with the Planning Department. You cant change process on us without any heads up. Without the understanding, appreciation, and implementation of a process, which the community and public entities have developed over decades. The foundation of good Planning System deteriorates. Community organizations also rely on a Planning Department of planners who understand procedures which frame the process. There is no procedural manual in the Planning Department as i believe, and Commission Secretary correct me, but the Commission Secretary, years ago put together some training notes for a inexperienced planners. There was a note to my knowledge, that is the only thing, thank you very much, jonas, for doing that. There is no procedural manual that tells people to look at the general plan, or the residential guidelines. Most of the people in this audience were mentored by an extraordinary woman, Mary Gallagher. She was a planner, she was with the san mateo Planning Department, she was a consultant she was one who really knew the code and understood the planning process. The notorious 60 russell street, who some of you said were the parameters for matching light rails it took Mary Gallagher to come in and clarify the guidelines for the planners in the community. We have a similar situation right now, on union street, and another one in the marina. A new planner, using google earth, and a developers comments made an error in judgment. The judgment has been changed. We are not able to catch every error in the process. Youve got an overworked Zoning Administrator who cannot mentor the group. You really need somebody who has a commitment to process and procedures. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon commissioners, Peter Papadopoulos with the mission agency. I want to pick up on some comments from a number of folks, and add some more, in terms of the qualifications and commitment, and handson experience we like to sea one a candidate. We would hope that they are experienced and knowledgeable in the area of equitable development. We think is the number one priority going forward. At this. Because, we would like to see more inclusion of the ideas of how do we actively offset gentrification impacts. Someone who has a real understanding, and evaluation of True Community engagement. Someone who will come in ready and committed to build on our existing Neighborhood Community stabilization programs that are already active right now. Committed to building on the Planning Departments growing race and equity frameworks that they are just recently, and well sort of move that forward towards both internally, and externally. A true equity first lands. We want to see this department move in a direction of always asking the question first. Does this project go forward or not go forward, whatever it is on an area plan or whatever, based on what those impacts might be on her most vulnerable residents. Moving away from ideas of mitigation. In that way we hope we are working closely with the new office of an equity, in the area where we do think the order of timing and everything happens is a lot. That can often get overlooked. When do we create new area plans and why . When do we not move forward in a given area. Someone who is going to be willing to see creative new solutions that may be have to move us into the front. Lets invent a few more zonings, that creates downward price pressure. Micro area instead of upward price pressure like we know some zoning areas are. Can we prioritize with new zoning areas, community serving, community stabilizing ideas. Someone committed to resourcing, our own perhaps studies where they are needed, we have done a little bit of that. If not, if there is not the resources to. Someone who is going to work closely with other departments, because things do not happen in silos, the whole north mission, the lower mission, has a series of unrelated projects in different departments going on right now. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good after good afternoon commissioners. As you mentioned earlier, president melger, times have changed. We find ourselves in the midst most apparently, someone who truly understands the nexus between planning, community, and equity. Someone with a proven track record for working with both the city agencies, and the communities that we engage in planning with. Someone who knows that when cities and communities engage in meaningful collaborations on projects and on plans, we not only get a better project, we get a healthier outcome. We find ourselves at a critical juncture right now. This housing crisis that we face is immense. It threatens to displace communities, and divide ourselves within the city. We need a unifier. I would say, this moment, we need Somebody Just like the Planning Departments very own claudia florez. If she has submitted an a