Hope. My background has heavy roots in the bay area. I was born in san diego and adopted out to San Francisco when i was about 17 years old. I bounced around a little bit here in high school, but ive always been here in the bay. We are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to emp. We dont turn anyone away. We take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. The most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you dont seem like you have autism. You seem so normal. Yeah. Thats 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do. I was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. They split up when i was about four. One of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my biological mother, who is also a lesbian. Very queer family. Growing up in the 90s with a queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here, i felt safe. I was bullied relatively infrequently. But i never really felt isolated or alone. I have known for virtually my entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. The school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. One of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what its about, but my parents wanted my life to be safe. When i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add to it. I was a weird kid. I had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. When we look at autism, we characterize it by, like, lack of eye contact, what i do now is when im looking away from the camera, its for my own comfort. Faces are confusing. Its a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. At its core, autism is a social disorder, its a neurological disorder that people are born with, and its a big, big spectrum. It wasnt until i was a teenager that i heard autism in relation to myself, and i rejected it. I was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space let everybody else know where i existed in the world. I didnt like to talk to people really, and then, when i did, i overshared. I was very difficult to be around. But the friends that i have are very close. I click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. In experience, i remember when i was five years old and not wanting people to touch me because it hurt. I remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldnt cope. I grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal developmental psychology from all sides. I recognize that my experience is just a very small picture of that, and not everybodys in a position to have a family thats as supportive, but theres also a community thats incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of need. It was like two or three years of conversations before i was like you know what . Im just going to do this, and i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. I have a twoyearold. The person who im now married to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasnt sure, so i we went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so theres no way you can be pregnant. I found out i was pregnant at 6. 5 months. My whole mission is to kind of normalize adults like me. I think ive finally found my calling in early intervention, which is here, kind of what we do. I think the access to irrelevant care for parents is intentionally confusing. When i did the procespective search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. We have a place where children can be children, but its very confusing. I always out myself as an adult with autism. I think its helpful when you know where can your child go. How im choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things, like, beach therapy. How do speech therapy. How do you explain that to the rest of their class . I want that to be a normal experience. I was working on a certificate and kind of getting think Early Childhood credits brefore i started working here, and we did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is a big issue here in San Francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i dont really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight persons perspective, would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and im like absolutely. So im now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. I love growing up here. I love what San Francisco represents. The idea of leaving has never occurred to me. But its a place that i need to fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. What ive done with my life is work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that were still having, hoping to expand into a little bit more of a Resource Center, and this Resource Center would be more those new parents who have gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. I would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. So many things that i would love to do that are all about changing peoples minds about certain chunts, like the Transgender Community or the autistic community. I would like my daughter to know theres no wrong way to go through life. Everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all of those things are temporary. About two years ago now i had my first child. And i thought when i come back, you know, im going to get back in the swing of things and ill find a spot. And it wasnt really that way when i got back to work. Thats what really got me to think about the challenges that new mothers face when they come back to work. When it comes to innovative ideas and policies, San Francisco is known to pave the way, fighting for social justice or advocating for the environment, our city serves as the example and leader many times over. And this year, it leads the nation again, but for a new reason. Being the most supportive city of nursing mothers in the work place. I was inspired to work on legislation to help moms return to work, one of my legislative aids had a baby while working in the office and when she returned we had luckily just converted a bathroom at city hall into a lactation room. She was pumping a couple times a day and had it not been for the room around the hallway, i dont know if she could have continued to provide breast milk for her baby. Not all returning mothers have the same access, even though theres existing state laws on the issues. These moms usually work in low paying jobs and returning to work sooner and they dont feel wellsupported at work. We started out by having legislation to mandate that all city offices and departments have accommodations for mothers to return to work and lactate. But this year we passed legislation for private companies to have lactation policies for all new moms returning to work. With the newcome accommodations, moms should have those to return back to work. What are legislation . We wanted to make it applicable to all, we created a set of standards that can be achievable by everyone. Do you have a few minutes today to give us a quick tour. I would love to. Lets go. This is such an inviting space. What makes this a lactation room . As legislation requires it has the minimum standards, a seat, a surface to place your breast on, a clean space that doesnt have toxic chemicals or storage or anything like that. And we have electricity, we have plenty of outlets for pumps, for fridge. The things that make it a little extra, the fridge is in the room. And the sink is in the room. Our legislation does require a fridge and sink nearby but its all right in here. You can wash your pump and put your milk away and you dont have to put it in a fridge that you share with coworkers. The new standards will be applied to all businesses and places of employment in San Francisco. But are they achievable for the smaller employers in the city . I think Small Businesses rightfully have some concerns about providing lactation accommodations for employees, however we left a lot of leeway in the legislation to account for Small Businesses that may have small footprints. For example, we dont mandate that you have a lactation room, but rather lactation space. In city hall we have a lactation pod here open to the public. So the more we can change, especially in government offices, the more we can support women. I think for the work place to really offer support and encouragement for pumping and Breast Feeding mothers is necessary. What is most important about the legislation is that number one, we require that an employer have a lactation policy in place and then have a conversation with a new hire as well as an employee who requests parental leave. Otherwise a lot of times moms dont feel comfortable asking their boss for lactation accommodations. Really its hard to go back to the office after you have become a mom, youre leaving your heart outside of your body. When you can provide your child food from your body and know youre connecting with them in that way, i know it means a lot to a mommy motionlely and physically to be able to do that. And businesses and employers can just provide a space. If they dont have a room, they can provide a small space that is private and free from intrusion to help moms pump and that will attract moms to working in San Francisco. If you want more information visit sfdph. Org breastfeedingatwork. May i ask the audience to come to order and please have a seat . Good morning everyone. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the november 18, 2019 meeting of the rules committee. Seated to my right is walton, and to my left, mar. Our clerk is victor young. I would like to thank sfgovtv for taping this meeting. [reading notes] can you please call item number one. Hearing to consider term ending february 1, 20202 the parks and recreation and open space Advisory Committee. Come on up. Good morning. Did you want to share any remarks with us . [laughter] thank you very much. Morning. Thank you, supervisors, for hearing this agenda item. My name is james, im a resident of district five and a volunteer leader with friends of the urban forest. Im here today seeking this appointment to the park recreation and open Advisory Committee. I work in environmental policy why Research Environmental regulations and i provide Program Support to babbitt private clients. In order to support the Advisory Committee, particularly interested and to apply my expertise in order to advance biodiversity and resiliency efforts, bike and pedestrian safety. More generally to review and commenting on the San Francisco rec park Strategic Capital and operation plans. As a volunteer leader with friends of the urban forest. I am meeting on engaging with san franciscans. Helping in the plant trees in our neighborhood. Professionally i am about public hearings. If appointed, i will apply this expertise in communications and Stakeholder Engagement to serve as representative of the Advisory Committee to my district and the community at large. Lastly, i am happy to take any questions from the rules committee getting my qualifications. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. We appreciate your willingness to serve. Any questions . I dont think we have any questions. Thank you so much. I will now open up this item to public comment. If you wish to speak, ands your time. Seeing none. Public comment is closed. Is there a motion . I move. Supervisor mar i recommend appointment of james falino to the rec park open space Advisory Committee, seat number 19. Supervisor ronen without objection that motion passes. Can you please read item number two . A hearing consider appointing one member to them ending march 1, 20202 the commission on aging advisory council. Supervisor walton i dont see ms. Leslie smith in the room i now. Oh, she just walked in. Perfect. [laughter]. Supervisor ronen good morning. How are you . I am fine. Please excuse my tardiness. Hello supervisor walton, thank you so much for inviting me. Supervisor mar, my name is diane smith. I am appearing before you today because i am one of the few left to live long enough in San Francisco, having grown up in Hunters Point housing projects. My mother views education as a bootstrap to hold our family at their education. I am now a Senior Citizen, 67 years old. Ive seen so many things happened. I stand here by gods grace as a homeowner, have a wonderful home, that is just increasing in value. The things that i have been able to accomplish, this is what i want for other people and its just something that can be done. The train has left the station but it is still making stops. From my generation, there is nothing available, the people that are my age, so they didnt plan. Whatever it was, people are where they are now. My generation is in trouble. I like what i see with the agent commission. I just want to help shorten it up. There is nothing new that we need to do. We just need to do what is already there. We need actions and to the plan. We need resources. I thank you so much for this opportunity. My track record is very long. Ive always been an advocate for society, because my mother taught me i had a responsibility supervisor walton, that is live i was so active when i was your age, you know . It just never stopped for me. And then i see people that i know, they dont have a place to live. They can get a job. We need partnership with these Tech Companies for older peopl people there are certain things we can do very well. With or without education. Im asking, i am planting the seed that we create some partnerships with viable senio seniors, we are mindful of the transportation accessibility. By gods grace, i started exercising. If i were to beg my foot, how my going to get around . I see it is getting very difficult for poor people. Blessed. Finally, theres something called the certificate of preference. I would like to see an amendment with the Senior Citizen agenda. Seniors of 65, but with what has happened in our district and the things that you fought for, the contamination, the lack of opportunities and the drug addiction and various impedance. Things that have impeded our progress. We got caught up. The fact remains we are dealing with the results of this and we need to do something about it. We have the resources. A lot of these people, you know im old enough to be a grandmother. People are old enough to be your parents. If you live long enough, right, you will be here. We can do something about the quality of life. I love San Francisco. They let the fact that we are growing and breathing. Lets not forget about the elders. And the disabled. Do you have any questions for me . You know i can go on. [laughter]. Supervisor ronen really appreciate your presentation. Supervisor walton as you can see, ms. Smith is very passionate and dedicated to making sure that their lives are improved not only for seniors, but for everyone in San Francisco. I am happy to have someone who is willing and ready to go to bat for our seniors and all of our communities. That is why im a denomination. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor ronen i will now open this site for public comment. Does anybody want to speak on your appointment they can come forward and now is the time. I dont see any public comments. I will close public comment. Supervisor walton, would you like to do the honors . Supervisor walton i would like to move this forward with a positive recommendation to the full board. Supervisor ronen without objection that motion passes. Congratulations. Thank you so much for saving. [applause] serving. President trumps. That rarely happens by the way, he made quite an impression. Supervisor walton knows how to pick them. Thats all i have to say. Thank you so much. Can you read item number three . And motion or rejecting the mayors nomination of the appointment of susan dimon to the Planning Commission for a fouryear term ending june 30, 2020. Supervisor ronen hello. We talked on the phone, but i do not see him person. I did not know who i was looking for. Good morning. How are you . Thank you so much for having me this morning. The las vegas at that bar really high. I am susan diamond and im very honored to have been honored by the Planning Commission. Ive long been interested in city planning issues. After graduating from stanford and 79, i obtained a law degree from harvard and a masters degree in city planning from mit. I wanted to live in San Francisco so i took a job with the big San Francisco law firm, practicing landuse law. Representing primarily companies and seeking entitlement for the headquarters and other facilities around the bay area. In 2,003, my 100yearold firm abruptly went bankrupt. It was a brutal wakeup call to me about what was important and how i wanted to devote my energy going forward. I threw myself into Community Life serving as a volunteer board member for the numerous organizations in our community. Two that really resonated at me was jcc of San Francisco for many, mercy housing california because of the work foundations that they do for Community Centers and four Affordable Housing. Two incredibly important needs in our community. Representatives of both are here to speak on my behalf. I also moved into academia, teaching law at Stanford Law School for many years. In 2,011 i decided to combine my skills and my passion for the invaluable work of our nonprofits who fill the gap in our very expensive city for low income families and for my own law firm representing exclusively nonprofits who are undertaking transformative real estate projects. Some of those nonprofits are here to speak, too. The arc of my city planning interest over the years has covered the private sector, community work, academia and the nonprofit sector. The big missing piece for me as Public Sector service. That is why i would like to serve on the Planning Commission. Over the years i have become adept at listening to a large range of views of stakeholders and experience in figuring out how to develop a consensus among various interest including importantly the public interest. This is a big job. A very big job with a great deal of responsibility because Planning Commission decisionmaking affects so many critical aspects of our future. The need for significantly more housing, especially Affordable Housing, and missing middle housing. The impact of the housing on various populations in our city and our need for more transit. It affects our economy, climate change, preparedness and the physical form of our city. It would be a true privilege to serve on the Planning Commission. Supervisor ronen thank you so much. I have a few questions that i wanted to ask you, and im sure my colleagues do as well. When we had a chance to talk on the phone a couple weeks ago i had talked to you a lot about what has been happening over the years in the Missions District with the rapid displacement of low and middle income latino members of the community. That same process of displacement is happening in many communities throughout San Francisco, especially with communities of color. We had also talked about the trend coming from the state of this broadbrush approach to development, planning, or really to forcing upon communities, you know, one way of seeing things and how that, you know, comes headtohead with the displacement efforts that we have seen in the mission district. San francisco already has significantly up zoned areas of the city that have happened as a of Community Driven planning processes. Nevertheless we know often Times Developers will continue to forgo less profitable Development Opportunities in areas of the city that havent undergone as Much Development because of popular neighborhoods like the mission district. Those happen to be the neighborhoods that have been reeling from decade upon decade of gentrification and displacement. I dont have a question per se, but this, you know, but keeps me up at night i what i am constantly working on and struggling with as a District Supervisor of the mission. I wanted to hear your thoughts about this major challenge facing our city . I believe that is the number one issue facing our city, and the Planning Commission is one of the two places, ground zero, where we see those issues and that tension. The board of supervisors being the other place of course. A few thoughts. It is important to me that we look at the entire city as a place where we should be increasing housing. Particularly among the commercial corridors. Displacement is a hugely important problem and would need to be thinking not only about the impact of housing proposals and those of my displays, but what additional housing i mean, how do we protect and preserve and take into account the interest of those people who might not otherwise have a place of the table are allowed lot enough voice of the table. I believe that is incumbent upon to take w viewpoint into account when considering projects that are in front of me, or policies that are being set forth for the commission to vote on. It is also important that we are increasing production of housing, and not limited to the Commission Mission district. I think the gary corridor is one of the areas of the city we should be looking at and we need to look at what it is that is preventing developers from wanting to propose projects in that vicinity. We have talked about sp50 which is his very broadbrush approach, he paints with a broad brush, as you said in order to remove what he sees are obstacles. The flip side of it is is we are city of incredible neighborhoods and its not clear that every neighborhood should be given the same broadbrush solution. I do really believe in the intent of the bill which is try to increase housing for all populations across the city. That was a lot of thought. It depends on the project that come in front of me. Those are all of the issues. Believing it is incumbent upon me if i were commissioner to think about those issues. And more specific question along the same thing. What would you do to help fight displacement of low income communities . Particularly communities of color, district nine, the africanamerican community, west of, bayview, the filipino community, the chinese communi community, and chinatown. Do you have any thoughts or ideas of how you might play a roll not that on the Planning Commission . Of course, there are two things. It depends on the individual project that comes front of me and the need and considering those projects in the condition, whether those projects are approved at all. To make sure the needs of those communities are attended to. Its also a policy matter. I believe one of the rules of the commission is to look at the individual projects and see trends that are developing on to with the Planning Department to perhaps propose legislation to the board to take into account the cumulative effect of these individual decisions that are coming forward. Supervisor ronen one more question and then i will hand it off to my colleagues they may have additional questions. Supervisor, let me give you one more example, doug shoemaker is here, mercy housing worked on the sunnydale project, or is still working on the sunnydale one of the aspects of that project that really resonated with me is the opportunity, the redevelopment of that entire community, but the opportunity for residents who currently live there to move back in again. That strikes me as a great approach. It was a long time in the maki making. That is a really great model that i think we need to think about. Supervisor ronen i will ask one more question and then handed over to supervisor mar. Did you support the recent amendments to increase the jobs housing linkage fee . You know, that is an interesting problem. It is clear from the studies that were done, how is it that Office Development does have an impact on housing . Those studies led into different directions. The board of supervisors ended up, if i understand correctly not listening to the advice of the Planning Department, but taking a higher fee than the Planning Department that was appropriate. They were concerned about the impact. You know, i think studies are a really important component of the work that we do. We need to reach out to experts. I also recognize that studies are done by economists and have one perspective they are looking at. We need to balance with the studies say what the political on the ground experience of the people who live there. I think that is what the board of supervisors did when they adopted the higher fees than what was recommended by the Planning Department. I do think it is important to have a long view about this and take a look at what happens when we impose those higher fees, as a stopping development, is that changing the makeup of the tenants who are in those buildings . This is not a oneshot deal. I do believe it is incumbent upon the department, the commission on the board to be monitoring the impacts of what it has been doing and see whether or not more changes are necessary. Supervisor ronen thank you. Supervisor, mar . Supervisor mar thank you so much for your willingness to serve, its an important roll in our city. I really appreciated the opportunity to meet with you a few weeks ago and have an initial discussion about your qualifications and for really important roll. Also have been hearing comments and feedback from our wide range of stakeholders in my district about this appointment, again giving the incredibly important roll that the Planning Commission plays on so many challenging issues in our city right now, at this moment. I did have a few quick followup questions i didnt get a chance to talk to you about when i guess, the first one is around balancing commercial development and Housing Development in our city. I think were all pretty well aware that there has been in fact, a recent report the jobs housing data reported that the Commission Found we created 8. 5 jobs for every housing unit produced a more significantly most of the Housing Units that have been entitled to produced over the last decade have been market rates, and we have been failing miserably at creating the housing needed for workingclass and middleclass in our city. In the context of the Affordable Housing required for the jobs created, and more specifically i dont know if you are aware of the proposed balance housing, Balance Development act that is proposed for the march ballot by Community Advocates and what is your position on that . Having survived, i have multiple viewpoints on this, too. I believe that would be my roll as commissioner to listen to multiple viewpoints. Having survived the. Dot com bust and recession im aware have an economy can change very quickly. I would want to be cautious about turning off more jobs. I believe attention to that part of our economy is important. The flip side of it is, the Current Situation is unsustainable. We not only, you know, are producing enough Affordable Housing. I know from my experience with all of the nonprofit clients whom i would represent or whose boards i serve on, the number one problem theyll face and have in common whether it is schools, Community Centers, the whole gamut. The number one problem is they cannot attract and retain workers because of the cost of housing. Those are people who earn a little too much to be in our definition of Affordable Housing. But way too little to compete with tech workers. That missing middle housing i believe does need attention. We need to understand what our roll as a city in figuring out the economic leverage we can pull in order to increase the production of that kind of housing. I am aware of this, i think you are referring to the proposed legislation that would pays off in his Housing Office housing with Affordable Housing. Im not even show studies have been done around that. I think it is an interesting response that bears for study. I want to make sure that there arent unintended consequences about it. I dont have a position about it at the moment except i understand the motivation behind it, and i think it is interesting as a solution that should be studied. Supervisor mar thank you. One other question, you have a very impressive 30 year history of landuse legal work that afford you former and current clients. Do you intend to recuse yourself when former clients have matters before the Planning Commission . If so, have you prepared a list of former clients and how many former and current clients on the list . Do you feel like it is fair for the rules committee to move your nomination forward
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