Recommend, because they live in the neighborhood, theyve been impacted by drug dealing. Several of them have lived experience as theyve already shared, with the experience of open air drug dealing. And i think the committee would be wellserved. And these are Jesse James Johnson, sam dennison, Cheryl Shanks and Curtis Bradford. All amazing people. And also i would like to mention kim diamond too. I know all five of these individuals. They all do really good work in the neighborhood. And i think the committee would be well served. They understand processes, they know how to work in the group. They live and work in the neighborhood and real life experience. Let me read this one more time. Jesse james johnson, sam dennison, Cheryl Shanks, Curtis Bradford and kim diamond. I hope youll give due consideration to those five but whoever you choose, it will be a good committee. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Supervisors, my name is brian edwards. Im a Community Advocate and organizer with the coalition on homelessness. I have a Harm Reduction background. I want to echo what david said. Theres a lot of great, qualified people applying for these seats. I want to speak to three specifically. One is Curtis Bradford. I first met curtis year years ago when he had his life together and i didnt. And i have consistently seen him in the Community Holding space and sticking up for vulnerable folks, especially drug users. I think with this task force, we have an opportunity to moderate the hysteria and moderate the relentless urge to criminalize and make it go away. Drug use is just like homelessness, we cant make it go away. It might go away from one district but it will go somewhere else. And ive never seen a more tireless, passionate advocate for folks that use drugs and Tenderloin Community members than Curtis Bradford. I would also like to endorse sam dennison and janette ector from glide. They have always been facilitating community, Building Coalition and fighting back on the hysteria. We cant criminalize anymore. Weve tried that. Weve tried it over and over again. And we have a mayor that is attempting to continue it. We saw it with urgent care sf. That was drug war part two. You cant go wrong with a lot of people in this room but curtis, sam and janette, it would be a tragedy to not see them on this task force. Im david. I wanted to recognize Cheryl Shanks because ive known her for quite a long time. I think thats her last time. Shes a real onehitter. She gets stuff done. Ive watched her do that for a long time. If she wants to get a program initiated, she just buses herself until she does it. The other thing i want to say is the amount of tragedy, psychosis insanity, danger, harm, horrible things that are going on in this city right now, its absolutely incredible. Way worse than you probably experienced. And you all need somebody who can get dirty with the people or its a very tough job. Hi. My name is kate robinson, im with the Tenderloin Community benefit district. Our staff and my coworkers, we decided to not endorse anyone for this, because there are just too many. We want everybody. Can we expand it to 25 seats . But i did want to personally bring up the fact that two members of our Arab Muslim Community did apply and are not here and just want to speak to the importance of diversity of the neighborhood broad representation on this task force and just point out the fact that the Arab Muslim Community is very active. Its a growing population in our neighborhood. And i think its important to have representation from that community. Thank you. Good morning again. Im sarah short. Im with Community Housing partnership. We are a Supportive Housing provider. Im with the Treatment Demand coalition. Thats one of the ways i know Curtis Bradford who im here to recommend for the task force. Curtis is a cornerstone of the community, really, in the tenderloin. Theres not one Community Event or action or celebration that i dont see a post on facebook from curtis about. Hes really ubiquitous here and has really rooted himself in the community in very meaningful ways. But i also think that the benefit of having curtis on the task force is that he has such a wide perspective in terms of as he told you, hes used, hes been a dealer, hes been in recovery expert, hes counseled others, and now hes an advocate on the very same issues. Finally, he represents some very important organizations that are grassroots in nature and have a critical base. Theres Tenderloin Neighborhood Development corporation and other Supportive Housing provider that represents a whole number of constituents of the tenderloin. The tenderloins People Congress is an extremely Grassroots Organization of residents in the tenderloin who are directly impacted by this exact issue. So i, again, strongly encourage you to select Curtis Bradford as a member of the task force. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning, supervisors. Im casey with the demonstration gardens. And im here to speak on behalf of the process. Our Public Open Space is always a negotiation. And we have the opportunity to redefine what justice looks like in a smaller scale and the tenderloin for the whole city. And i would like to encourage you as you constitute this task force, this working group, to think in terms of diversity, but also humane understanding of all of our different neighbors and how we all have to navigate and negotiate our public space together. I think that the people who have spoke this morning, im well acquainted with many of them. And i think you have an unenvyable choice to win winnow out to only nine people. Maybe we should think how we can use this task force to expand the conversation to include more people. But basically the process of entertaining a humane discussion of what we can do together in thinking about including everybody in the discussion. Thats what i would encourage. Thank you. Good morning. My name is adrian, i work at the hospitality house. Im here to support all of those members that want to have that seat. Im formerly incarcerated. I did years in a life sentence so i was part of that problem. But now i want to be part of that solution. So now i see the young women that are have children, and thats very important to me, that have the children that are going up and down the streets. Its very important to me that they dont get exposed to these needles, they dont get exposed to the drug sales. They dont get exposed to the ones that are just out there high. Its a complicated thing when you have to try to explain that to your child, when they ask you the question. Its complicated. And theres a lot that are influenced by what they see. I was one of them. I wanted that fancy car. And theres a lot of children walking up and down the street and they do that same thing. But i want to support my coworker because she wants to sit on that panel as well and i think she would be a good fit. Its porsha. And the young made that was talking about her two daughters, i know her husband, i know her. I facilitate a whole class, organizing Leadership Development program. Her husband is in my group. So i understand where they are coming from. And this is a good thing, a good thing, a good thing, for sure. Thank you. Thank you so much. Hello. My name is laura and im with tenderloin peoples congress. I recommend all of these people, because ive workabled with them in tenderloin peoples congress. I recommend and also other issues on this community, i recommend cheryl, jesse, curtis and sam. I recommend Cheryl Shanks for this position because she is an Excellent Community organizer in the tenderloin. She is a justice leader. She understands the issues pertaining to drug dealing and drug use, because shes been there and is now in recovery. Shes committed to help her community in the tenderloin, and she speaks about issues important to the tenderloin and her city, San Francisco. I also recommend Jesse James Johnson for his compassion and in the neighborhood, and he can bring so much to this issue. I recommend Curtis Bradford because he is a Great Community organizer, and hes very organized. And he really gets things done. And i highly recommend him as well. And i recommend sam dennison who is compassionate about the community. And i thank you for your time. Hi. My name is ellen. Im the director of programs at hospitality house. And i have to say this is the first time ive seen porsha not be able to speak. So i actually want to support her in doing this position. One of the things about porsha, you cant walk down the street without her engaging with each and every person on the street. And she will go out of her way to support people making changes in their lives. And whenever we need help, she comes. So i really believe that porsha, has a unique voice and can really support this committee. You have a lot of one of the things about this room is you have a lot of Community Members who are very willing and able to support. And i dont envy your job. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is terrence blake. I also work for the hospitality house. And i grew up in San Francisco, majority the t. L. , along with porsha. I too have spent a lot of time in rehabilitation myself. When i got out of prison. So how i see it, i see people with the committee that you are putting together, if i see people that i can identify with, i would listen to them more. When i look like him, hes another guy that came up here and talked. Porsha, i mean, they will have an impact on the community, because people are seeing them, especially porsha. So i just want to come up here and represent porsha and lou because hes a long term offender like me. Porsha has been out there at one point like me, in the streets, and thats what the drug dealers and people that use drugs could identify with, people that look like them. People that have been out there on the block with them and stopped. People that have been in prison with their brothers, uncles, sisters. See, thats the people that we are. So unfortunately i wasnt able to i didnt have the time to commit to it, but i definitely want to be a help. And them two, lou and porsha would be a help because the people identify with them. And i just thank you guys for what you guys are doing. My name is maria richards. I echo what this gentleman just said. I dont know if lou needs a recommendation because he did such an amazing job of speaking on these issues, but i dont want that to just sit by itself. He definitely has the experience and knowledge. He is out there every single day, already with his team working on this issue. And he would have a lot to offer. Thank you. Good morning. My name is wendy click, im from hospitality house. One thing that some of the Community Members didnt talk about was we have a Leadership Development project which is 16 weeks of going through trauma, how it affects your body, working through that, seeing the Harm Reduction therapist and then civics 101. Kim diamond, porsha dix son, Jesse Johnson, Curtis Bradford have all had completed this class. So im here to say thank you for allowing them to come and speak and let us support them. I just want to remind you that lou gordon, i know him because im a former lifer when i go to the Parole Department he is always there for motivational speaking, so that is amazing to me because sometimes we forget where we are at and get caught up in the daytoday living so i want to support her as much as i can because sam gives you not just one option but she gives you three or four to help your mind in thinking. So thank you for this task force. I support those who i just mentioned. [applause] Curtis Bradford, tenderloin peoples congress. A couple names of folks. Everybody that apply and everybody thats here i could support any and all of them. They are all amazing people but i have to stand with my community so im going to have to i really just want to lift up because i think theyre really important voices so i want to lift up Cheryl Shanks, her experience, shes demonstrated leadership quality. Ive been working with her for some time in the tenderloin and i think her voice and perspective is an absolute necessity for this group. I would like to lift up kim diamond and Jesse Johnson and sam dennison. Because they are all important contributors to this community conversation. And i think they all have something really meaningful to offer. So thank you very much. You have a tough choice to make. Im glad im not sitting where you are today. Thank you. Is there any other member of the public who wishes to speak . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Do any of my colleagues have comments or oh, okay. Supervisor walton is going to make a motion, but i wanted to make a few comments first. This was a very touching hearing. And process to appoint nine individuals to this task force. That doesnt usually happen during the appointments process. But i for one have been blown away by the experience, by the dedication, by the willingness to have hope and belief that you can make things better in a very difficult situation. I really was touched by many of the things that i heard. One person that said that you cant expect to keep doing things the same way and then expect change. Weve pretty much had enforcementonly approach to drug dealing, street level drug dealing in the tenderloin and all throughout San Francisco. And clearly, it is doing nothing to improve the situation. Weve proven time and time again the literature, the studies that the war on drugs didnt do anything to help the situation, in fact, it probably made it a hundred times worse. Ive studied this issue a bit, and if you look whats happening in other countries that have legalized drugs, you see much Better Outcomes when you treat drug use as a health issue and not as a criminal issue, you get much Better Outcomes. So many of you talked about your personal experience and about how spending time in jail didnt improve the situation, but it was when people offered support and surrounded you with love and Harm Reduction, interventions and when you were approached by people who had shared your experience and had intervened in your life, that thats what made the final difference to become part of the solution and to make positive change in your own life. So really, i just wanted to commend you all. This is an impossible decision, as so many of you have said. Im so glad that supervisor walton is going to make an effort to actually make a motion here. But i just wanted to thank you all so much. Im going to be watching your work very closely. The tenderloin perhaps has the most visual concentrated streetlevel drug use and drug sales, the mission is not far behind. So whatever strategies that you come up with, i would like to replicate in my district. And i do believe that you are the people that are going to come up with the solutions. And so it wont be only supervisor haney watching you closely, it will also be me. Im very much looking forward to your work and your report. And with that, i dont know if supervisor mar had anything to say. Just briefly, i just want to echo chair ronens deep appreciation for all of you, all the applicants for your willingness, your enthusiasm for stepping up on this incredibly important and new task force that we are creating. And just incredibly educational for me. But also inspiring to hear all of your little bit about your stories and especially about your perspectives and your commitment to these issues. Not just looking ahead but what youve all done in so many different ways already over years. So its a difficult decision that we have to make right now. I like the idea that was put out about this appointing all of you and expanding the task force 25. Supervisor haney and the community, in if i recollecting out that nine seats is the right number in figuring out that nine seats is the right number. Im glad my colleague, supervisor walton, has some recommendations. First of all, i want to thank everyone for applying and for coming out this morning. As most of you have noted, we have some very qualified, very dedicated and committed candidates that applied to serve on the task force. And so i just want to say that i appreciate all of you for being willing to step up. We are under the realization that we cannot appoint everybody who applied and everyone who came and spoke this morning, which is unfortunate, because it is always exciting to see so many people wanting to serve, particularly in a function that will help you do everything you can to make sure that your community is improved in so many ways. As i listened to the stories and like supervisor ronen talked about, some of this affects my district as well in certain areas across my district. And this is something that ive been struggling with working on in community for decades as well. So we are going to be looking to the task force and looking at your recommendations, looking at your work so that we can duplicate this ac