Sue diamond seems very well qualified to represent clients before the Planning Commission. I dont think she has the type of perspective that the city is a in desperate need of at the moment. We dont need legal counsel. The planning apartment has lawyers. The Planning Commission has access to lawyers. But we desperately need is people who really understand the major crisis being faced by low and middle income families, and individuals right now in our city. I think she mentioned she supported sb50. That was what i heard. I think that is something that i will board of supervisors passed a resolution in unanimous opposition to realizing it was a wolf in sheets and clothing. That took a lot of control i believe shes a woman of integrity that has done a lot of great work in her career. I dont think that is the perspective it that we need to in the Planning Commission right now. I would strongly support doing a broader search and finding someone who brings the perspective of the crisis we are facing. Thank you. Supervisors, doctor shoemak shoemaker. I have the same privilege of knowing sue diamond. She served as a board member farmers mercy housing. I can say hell before you, and i think i have met and talked with all of you over the years. I dont think you will find a better prepared Planning Commissioner. I think she might be the best Planning Commissioner generation. I have some friends in the audience here who i know are concerned and have testified, or i cant explain why folks dont know her. I dont know the history there. I think to my friends, if he sat down i met sue, you would really understand that she is bringing the perspective that you are looking for. I can look at you all, supervisors, telling if you are looking balance that passionate person who cares about Affordable Housing, who will listen to all sides and do a great job as a Planning Commissioner regardless of the client is in front of you. You will never get a better Planning Commissioner then sue diamond. I encourage my friends that a way to talk to her. She is a person of incredible integrity. She cares deeply about the issues you care about. Ill totally understand we live in a polarized political world in which people are confused and feel the need to speak out against folks that they think may not be speaking in their interest. I stand before and tell your supervisors. I know everyone of you in. She is a fantastic commissioner and she will make you proud if he support her moving forward. Thank you. Hello, supervisors. Her name is david, i was born and raised in district five were. Networking Community Development and district six in the south i am here to ask that you reject the appointment of a real estate lawyer that has primarily represented corporate interest to the Planning Commission. The lens that such an employee would see development through is a prophet, not equity, not community and justice. The inequality that exists in the city continues to grow the day, and this is a result of planning, development, and policy decisions that are made by bodies such as the Planning Department and the Planning Commission. The appointment of diamond to the commission will help ensure that the city continues to plan for gentrification and displacement. This does not promote equity or Community Planning. Please reject this appointment. Thank you. Supervisor ronen thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning, supervisors. My name is oscar. Community planner, lifelong San Francisco native. I call excelsior my home. You know, i dont know sue diamond personally. I have not worked with her in the past. I am sure shes a remarkable lawyer. I dont know her. My community dont know her. We are ground zero when it comes black and brown communities are being displaced. We are being removed from the city that we built that we groomed and we nurtured. We love. It just doesnt love us back. I think, yes, cool, lets get a balance device someone that has all sides. We are done with that. I dont think being a lawyer gives you an automatic pass. You can save on a commission. This is a shock collar position. This is a key leadership appointment. I think we need a lawyer. We need activists. We need people that are going to fight for us. They are going to listen to us. They are going to collaborate and not organize peoples color, leadership and expertise. Again, i dont know her track record. It sounds awesome. In our community, we dont know her. We are in a crisis. Over 10,000 latinos displaced from the mission district. We are less than 3 africanamerican population in a major city. You know, thousands of filipinos are displaced in south of market. I think we need an advocate. She did not reach out to our community. We dont know her. I recommend no recommendation. Thank you. s hester. Under the charter in the planning code needs the voice of the public on Development Issues that come before us. The voice of the public really needs someone who understands and is grounded in the public. I am a landuse attorney. I am not advocating that i be appointed because i certainly do not think that is appropriate. But, right now, we are in a huge crisis. Populations are being forced out of the city with no housing for workingclass people, and poor people. The Planning Commission is the frontline where a lot of things happen. There is also other commissions, because the Redevelopment Agency was abolished. Everything goes to the Planning Commission. Then it comes to the board of summit supervisors. The Planning Commission needs to work through issues with the public. Sitting at a desk up there, is not the right perspective . Up until now, the Planning Commissioners have had a history before they came onto the commission of understanding and working with the public. Two of them were current commissioners, one was on the board of permit appeals, one was on the board of appeals and others had experience working with the community in area planners. We need people that have really talked to people, and understand in their heart what is the Current Crisis that comes before the Planning Commission, and that comes before the board of supervisors. I ask you to think seriously if this is the right candidate . I have questions that it it is not right. Dinky. Thank you. Good morning, supervisors. I share the concerns that have been mentioned before. Sue diamond has excellent credentials for other positions, but not for this one. When somebody can say here that she is concerned about the missing middle. Well, we are concerned about the working class, to come and the communities of color. Seventy that sounds like theyre going to advocate for Affordable Housing for the ami of 140 is not what we need. We need 70 who understands the people that work, and make the city run and i keep exporting our working class and communities of color. I am very upset about the direction of the Planning Commission has taken, that has basically been a rubberstamping group. We dont need somebody that might add to that. We need to have a bold leader in the planning director position. We need to protect who is going to be selecting that person. The planning roll has got to be working with the community, and not letting developers have a free reign. Thank you. [please stand by] [please stand by] i actually couldnt pick sue diamond out from the audience. Ive been working on Community Planning and Development Issues for the last 15 years and shes been at the forefront for forwarding one of the complex development projects, the jewish home for the agents, a Market Rate Development project that does provide sorely needed assisted living facilities. So why is it that we havent met her . I think thats an important theme today. Arguably the most important theme impacting the city and the Planning Commission is issues of equity. Ms. Diamond has no clear track record bouncing these multiple goals. They havent had one around equity and stabilizing vulnerable communities and developing authentic dialog with those most impacted by development decisions. Now more than ever we need an equity champion on the Planning Commission and we ask you not to recommend ms. Diamond, thank you. Good morning supervisors, my name is nina. This item greatly effects the item i will be speaking about, which is cannabis social equity. From the testimony of a lot of the Community Organizers in this room, if this Planning Commissioner is not operating from a framework of Racial Equity and doesnt have a strict framework theyre operating from, i advise they do not enter into the Planning Commission because were having problems getting our businesses through and thats not the intent of our Forward Motion in trying to shift the way that our city operates from the equity lens. If thats the case, then everybody here that would be impacted is saying that she shouldnt be recommended. I will also stand in solidarity with them too. Thank you. Thank you, is there any other member of the public who wishes to speak on this item . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel] supervisor walton. Thank you chair ronen. Ms. Diamond, i do have a couple follow up questions if you dont mind coming back up. Thank you, what Nonprofit Developers have you previously worked with . Family house. The Jewish Community center of San Francisco. The San Francisco campus for jewish living. Temple emmanuel. The blood bank of San Francisco. And then you heard some testimony about not necessarily having a track record of working in certain impacted communities, what would you do to build a significant rapport with margin n marginalized community . I was listening to all the concerns that were expressed concerning my qualifications on equity, communities of color and how theyre affected. I will say two or three things about that. The first is my decision to leave private practice representing for Profit Developers was a statement about what i thought was important going forward. Its why i, you know, worked with nonprofits, where i felt using my particular skills, i could have the biggest impact on helping the tens of thousands of low income people in our city everyday. No, i havent worked directly with any of the people or the organizations who spoke out against me today, but i will be the kind of commissioner who has an open door. Not all commissioners take calls. I will be one of those commissioners who wants to hear from all communities ahead of time. Im particularly concerned as is evident by the work ive done as a volunteer and professional in the last decade, actually since 2003, particularly concerned about those who dont otherwise have a voice. While my particular way of manifesting that has been to use my skills in ways that i can make the biggest difference for those groups. As a commissioner, this is a different role. I believe that i bring a willingness and eagerness to focus on the importance of making sure that our community is accessible for people of all income levels. People who are doing fine, they dont need me, its the other people that spoke today, those are the people who need to make sure they have a commissioner thats open and understanding of and promoting those goals. Yes, im very attentive to that. Thank you. Thank you. So, im going to make some comments about this appointment. It concerns me that i hear from many of the organizations that i work with everyday that i respect deeply, that have been at the forefront of citing displacement and for low income communities of color and that theyre united in opposition of ms. Diamonds appointment. Thats worrisome. If ms. Diamond is appointed, i would urge you to have an open door policy and proactively reach out to these community groups. They are extremely knowledgeable and have worked for decades fighting for the city and for their communities. I think you can and should develop those relationships and that it would lead to positive results. I would be frank. If i were the mayor and making this appointment, i would choose one of the Community Activists that spoke that spent their career looking for creative ways to allow for development, but to allow for development in a way that doesnt further gentrification. I do think that type of experience is what we need more than anything else in the city right now. But im not the mayor. I didnt make this appointment. What i would ask for an appointment from the mayor is someone who has integrity, who i believe has a mind of their own, and will listen to all sides and look at the issues without political interference. Its not a theoretical issue. I do believe ms. Diamond that you are that person, and that you will be unbiased and you will look at the matters before you in an ethical way. I do believe you will reach out to these communities and i do belief you wont be improperly influenced politically. We had those conversations and i was impressed with your answers. I also know that underlying this discussion today is a real fear on who will be our next planning director. Quite frankly, that is going to make a big impact on which way our city goes. The charter allows the Planning Commission to forward three names to the mayor and theres a lot of fear that one or more of those names wont be someone who is have this equity lens and this antidisplacement lens at the forefront of his or her mind. Thats a concern for me as well, but once again, we have a very strong mayoral city. If the mayor doesnt like the three names sent to her, she can send them back until she gets the name she wants. We can all, you know, pretend thats not the case, but thats the case. Thats how these things work. So i dont know how much, quite frankly, the person that we appointed the board of supervisors that will impact that. I think its incumbent on the entire community, if youre looking for a planning director that Will Champion working class communities, communities of color that have been displaced in alarming numbers from this city, that you need to make your voices heard and put that pressure on. I dont know that who we appoint today will radically change that situation. So, you know, i will also close with saying that ms. Diamond will replace mr. Hillis on the Planning Commission. He is one of the more moderate voices on that commission, so i dont think ms. Diamonds appointment will lead us into that direction. I think you will have an open mind and look at the issues based on the facts. I am prepared to support your appointment today and i do really look forward to working with you ms. Diamond, but i will be calling you often because the voices that you heard today that are concerned about your appointment are people that you need to get to know very, very well. Their deep, deep experience working on these issues in the community, i dont think is often appreciated enough because their experience and their ideas and their willingness to think outside the box is the type of thinking that we need to be paying attention to in the city because were certainly not going in the right direction. With that, i dont know if supervisor walton wants to make comments. Thank you chair ronen. I want to say appointment decisions are very difficult and sometimes contentious and no one up here takes that lightly. We understand the responsibility that we have. When it comes to making decisions about appointments, i look at the track record, i look at the experience and expertise when reviewing appointments. I also look at the integrity, connection to community, and the purpose of the appointee, what is their purpose and of course i listen to the Community Supporters and dissenters and other people that do the work. Most of you in this room know Community Voice is major and very important to me. It is very important to me and when i listen to my community and their concerns about appointments, naturally my antenna goes up. Nothing points to ms. Diamond making decisions that have negatively effected our communities. I know how it is to be in the fire and how it is for people to think they know how you would make decisions before youre given an opportunity. In so many cases, ive been misjudged in what decisions i would make if i was given a certain opportunity. I think some of you know that. And you know, i believe ms. Diamond is qualified and prepared to serve with dignity due to her work within a nonprofit builders and within the community. Some of these builders we all support and want to make sure they receive the same, if not more opportunities than a lot of our for Profit Developers and so with that said, ms. Diamond, i hope my gut is right in supporting you. I do believe you will be a voice that will listen to all sides as you make decisions and i definitely echo the sentiments of chair ronen and make sure you get a chance to know the community and have conversations because they bring valuable voice to this work and with that said, i definitely will be supporting this appointment and please make us proud. Supervisor mar. Thank you chair ronen. I wanted to share my thinking on this and comments and i wanted to