Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20240713 : v

All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Im london breed, im mayor of San Francisco. And today we are joined by the department of Emergency Management, director carol as well as the department of Public Health director, dr. Grant coal fashion. Colfax. We are joined by police chief scott as well as our sheriff and the director of homelessness and housing services, abigail kahn. Today we want to provide a few updates of where we are and and some very serious challenges that we face. So far as of today, we have confirmed 797 cases and sadly 13 people have lost their lives due to the virus. The covid19 virus. And we had said all along that this would be very challenging, and in fact, in the past week or so, dr. Colfax and i continued to make it clear that it is of course important to stay at home as much as possible. Because the fact is the worst is yet to come. And today, unfortunately, we have a situation that we knew could potentially happen in one of our congregate living settings. An outbreak occurred at msc south, one of our shelters. And the real challenging situation that we know could have been worse will be a little bit better because of the work that we were preparing to do in order to make sure that we were able to respond quickly. Today we want to announce that we have identified 70 people, 68 members of the shelter as well as two Staff Members who tested positive for covid19. This is one of the larger shelters in San Francisco with on any given night, over 340 people that are located in that shelter. Part of acquiring hotel rooms and vending out our shelters has truly helped in this particular case because there were only 100 residents in the shelter last night which provided us the flexibility to turn this from a shelter to a medical facility. So dr. Colfax will talk more about what that means but the fact is we were on top of it. We know that there are a number of people who tested positive. And we are going to reroute our medical Health Experts and people, our nurses and other Health Support to this facility to help manage and maintain and support the people who tested positive. The reason why we are able to act fast is number one, we had hotel rooms available. And we had plans to staff up hotel rooms as rapidly as we possibly can in case an outbreak occurs. But number two, because so many of you are staying at home, our hospitals are not as overwhelmed as they could be, giving us the flexibility to handle an outbreak of this nature. We know that from the very, very beginning, congregate living settings like our shelters, like laguna hospital, like our single room occupancy hotels, we knew those had the potential of being hot spots. And so we have been preparing for that. We have been preparing for that by acquiring a number of hotel rooms, making sure that we have the Supportive Service necessary, making sure that we can keep the people that we are asking to work at these hotels safe, making sure that we can see people, that we can clean the rooms, that we can do the laundry, that we can do all that it takes to manage the situation in any place that we acquire under the new orders that weve put forward to obtain as many hotel rooms as possible. So although the news of this outbreak was definitely very troubling, the fact is i am so grateful and proud of this hardworking city workforce, the department of Public Health to the department of Human Services to the department of housing and home homeless services, the folks who work for these departments who are showing up, putting their lives on the line and working every single day with the nonprofit providers who help to manage these hotel rooms, they are the ones who are on the front lines, trying to make sure that they not only protect themselves, but they want to make sure that they protect others. And so we were prepared for this. We are managing the situation. And dr. Colfax will provide more information as to what is happening at this particular facility and where we go from here. I want to also talk a little bit about another very troubling situation that we know exists and because so many people are being asked to shelter at home, we know that, sadly, some people who are sheltering at home may not be in safe environments. We know that Domestic Violence doesnt stop because of a pandemic. And it is important that we continue to provide support, we continue to provide services, so that we can help the people who we know need it the most. And i know that so many Domestic Violence survivors out there are probably thinking about what we are doing as a city to protect others who have not been able to escape those very challenging situations. And i am grateful to ending Domestic Abuse and so many of the folks who work tirelessly on helping to end Domestic Violence and the work they have continued to do. They have sadly seen an uptick in the calls that they receive for help, for assistance, for their shelters. And as a result, we teamed up with the District Attorney and veritas, a Property Owner in San Francisco, to provide 20 new units that are fully furnished so that when we need to get people out of a situation, we can move quickly. So i want to thank veritas, and i want to thank our District Attorney for working with us to recognize this very serious issue and reacting quickly to provide resources in addition to the shelters and the other support that we have been able to work with nonprofit providers to provide to families who are experiencing Domestic Violence. But we know its not just about making sure we have places for people to stay. If you are in a situation at home, and you cant pick up the phone and call 911, what do you do . Its hard enough feeling like you are trapped and you cant escape. And what we have been able to do here in San Francisco, and i am so, again, grateful to the department of Emergency Management and dedicated people who work for the city who have been able to have our system and our city so if you text 911 and say help or if you are able to say what the situation is and you are in trouble or what have you, you will receive a response. And i think this is an incredible tool, because, again, we know that if theres an attack or if there is something going on, and you cant necessarily talk out loud or what have you, it is definitely difficult in order to reach out for help. So to anyone who might be hearingimpaired or others in our communities who are struggling and may be attacked or may need 911, now here in San Francisco, the option to text 911 is available. And so especially at such a really challenging time for all of us, we know that having access to support to safety is critical to being able to survive this pandemic. And so, again, thank you so much to carol and the department of Emergency Management. I also want to say to those who are looking for help and support, we are here for you, you are not alone. And we will do everything we can to support and protect you during this pandemic. If you need help or you need assistance, please call or text 911. If you need someone to talk to or you are looking for resources, you can call 311 and we can direct you to some Services Including the national Domestic Violence hotline as well as la casa, amazing organizations that continue to uplift and help those who are not only in Domestic Violence situations but also survivors. So thank you so much for your work on helping those who are struggling during this pandemic. We also want to talk a little bit about whats happening with our restaurants here in the city. Some of you during, when we werent in the pandemic, many people, including myself, used a lot of apps to get food delivered. And after we had to unfortunately close restaurants, and basically not allow them to have inhouse dining, we still allowed pickup and delivery and some restaurants chose to close because sadly, it was too expensive to even have that level of service. And others who are struggling even now with their delivery and pickup service, theyre still in business, but the fees in some cases very outrageous fees that are charged to them, basically in some cases may not allow for them to continue with their Delivery Services because they are not even breaking even in some cases. And so unfortunately with the Delivery Services there is a fee thats assessed. Sometimes theres free delivery as you see on the apps but the restaurant is still charged a specific fee as it relates to the Delivery Service which usually happens with a third party. And we have seen those fees basically go up and down. The restaurants have experienced it. And it has been hard. They want to remain open for all of you. They want to be available for all of you but they are struggling because the delivery costs are making it unsustainable. So thats why after working with the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and carefully evaluating the situation, ive decided to execute an emergency ordinance to cap the amount of fees that a third party can charge to restaurants for Delivery Services at 15 . And what this will do is to make sure that our restaurants are protected, because we know during this pandemic, which we are not certain as to how long it will last, there are going to be a lot of restaurants who may not come back from this. And we want to make sure that when we identify a situation thats problematic, we address the situation and the goal here is to address the situation with putting a cap on the amount of the percentage of which the Third Party Delivery entities could charge restaurants for Delivery Service. And i want to thank the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, and i also want to thank supervisors ahsha safai and aaron peskin for working with my office oncoming up with something that would be fair and more helpful to our restaurant community. So i also want to take this opportunity to talk about just, again, the importance of staying at home. Now, i know, having these conversations here every time theres a press conference, it reminds me of my grandmother and oftentimes because, you know, sometimes i was a difficult kid to discipline, and my grandmother would say to me over and over again, no, you cant have that, no, you cant have that or no, you cant go outside, no, you cant go outside. And i would say please, mama, please can i go outside . And my grandmother would just say no, no, no, for whatever reason. And she had to tell me that over and over again sometimes. And eventually i gave up or she gave up, who knows. But the fact is youre hearing this beating drum from me, from so many other people. Were asking you to stay inside, to stay inside, to stay inside. And i know that its hard. I know that so many of you are getting restless and getting frustrated and wondering when it would come to an end. And really what difference it does make. And let me just go back to what i said earlier about our shelter system. The fact is because so many of you are social socially distancing yourself from one another, whats happening is you are not getting infected, you are not showing up at our hospitals. We have seen a slight reduction in the number of people who are occupying our beds. And even though we know the numbers will continue to go up, even though we know this outbreak at one of our shelters has been challenging, the fact is because of what you are doing, we are able to move quickly to address an outbreak. Because of what you are doing, we are able to redeploy medical Health Professionals to one of our Shelter Systems in order to provide the resources necessary to take care of those 70 people that have been infected, because you are staying at home, you are making a difference. And when you look at other places all over the world, im sure youve seen some of the videos of the hospitals in new york, youve seen the videos of some of the hospitals in italy. Youve seen some of the videos of people who cant bury their family members. To think about it. Because you are following the order, you are making a difference for others in this city. So i just want to ask you, again, because we know that the weather is going to be really nice this weekend. We know that its so tempting, especially because its also easter, today is good friday, its easter, its its a very spiritual time for so many people who are religious. And folks are probably thinking just this one time, i miss my friends, i miss my family members. I want to have dinner together. I just want to sit down and enjoy their company. And as hard as it is to be isolated in your home, im going to ask just one more time that you dont tempt yourself, you dont do it this one time. Because that one time could be problematic. I saw on the news this past week a family that got together for Birthday Party for one of their family members and now every one of them are infected. They dont know how, they dont know where it came from, but the fact is they are all infected. We all heard about the choir in washington state. They practiced social distancing at choir rehearsal. The order was already in place there, 45 members were infected and two died. And so as hard as it is to stay at home, to continue life in a world thats not normal for us, its necessary. It does make a difference. It does save lives. And some of the things that you can continue to do is call people, you can zoom call with folks if you have that level of technology. And you can just reach out and check on folks. I also talked about the note i got from a neighbor with their email and their phone number, asking if i needed any errands to be run or just someone to talk to. Thats going to be critical to getting through this is how and social distancing is probably not the best term developed to talk about this. Its really about physically distancing ourselves of my its important that we physically distance ourselves but we continue to engage with one another. We continue to reach out to one another for help, for support, or what have you. So as we go into the weekend, we are going to be watching closely and monitoring our parks. We are going to be monitoring various locations where we know large groups of people gather. And i hope that we wont be forced to close any parks or make any adjustments because people are not following the order. We want you to get fresh air, we want you to get outdoor exercise in whatever way you feel is appropriate. We want you to walk your dog. We want you to be able to do some of the basic things of Grocery Shopping and what have you. But as you do those errands, make sure that you keep your distance from others that are not a part of your household. Make sure that after you are done, you go home. Make sure that youre not driving to locations that arent near where you live because that creates a bigger problem than what we want to happen in our city. And then it forces us to make adjustments in order to keep you safe. And i want people to have the ability to just go outside and get some fresh air and because so many of you have cooperated with this order, we are here. And as i said, as we go into easter sunday, i want to again thank folks from the interfaith counsel, michael was here on wednesday, and i continue to be grateful for your prayers and your support during this difficult time. So many people who are spiritual are really not only struggling themselves but so many are reaching out and praying for others and this is definitely a time to just remind us of how challenging it has been with so many folks who are part of our community, but also the acts of kindness, the acts of love, the things that people in the city have continued to do to just really amaze me and others has been truly tremendous. And we want to thank you all again for just being good neighbors, being good citizens of the city, continuing to put out positive messages and hope and inspirations. We need it now more than ever. And yes, we are in this together. Which is why we will get through this together. And with that, i would like to take this opportunity to introduce the director of the department of Public Health, dr. Good afternoon. Im dr. Grant colfax, director of health for the city of San Francisco. Thank you, mayor breed. I would like to start by thanking everyone in San Francisco for your cooperation, your sacrifices, and your community spirit. As we join together, we are helping fight the spread of the coronavirus. When you stay home, when you keep 6 feet apart, when you wash your hands and when you cover your nose and mouth when you cough, you are literally saving lives every day. Today i would like to update san franciscans on a few developments in our ongoing work to respond to the coronavirus and to protect our community. Todays data tracker shows there are 797 San Francisco residents with confirmed cases of coronavirus. Sadly, 13 san franciscans have died of the disease. My condolences to their families and loved ones. There are 88 patients reported in the hospitals across San Francisco with coronavirus and approximately onethird of those are in the intensive care unit. Our hospitalization numbers had been holding relatively steady over the past few days, which is positive and good news. But, and i emphasize, but, that number could change at any time. Please stay at home and do your part to keep these numbers steady. At this time, our San Francisco San Francisco<\/a>. And today we are joined by the department of Emergency Management<\/a>, director carol as well as the department of Public Health<\/a> director, dr. Grant coal fashion. Colfax. We are joined by police chief scott as well as our sheriff and the director of homelessness and housing services, abigail kahn. Today we want to provide a few updates of where we are and and some very serious challenges that we face. So far as of today, we have confirmed 797 cases and sadly 13 people have lost their lives due to the virus. The covid19 virus. And we had said all along that this would be very challenging, and in fact, in the past week or so, dr. Colfax and i continued to make it clear that it is of course important to stay at home as much as possible. Because the fact is the worst is yet to come. And today, unfortunately, we have a situation that we knew could potentially happen in one of our congregate living settings. An outbreak occurred at msc south, one of our shelters. And the real challenging situation that we know could have been worse will be a little bit better because of the work that we were preparing to do in order to make sure that we were able to respond quickly. Today we want to announce that we have identified 70 people, 68 members of the shelter as well as two Staff Members<\/a> who tested positive for covid19. This is one of the larger shelters in San Francisco<\/a> with on any given night, over 340 people that are located in that shelter. Part of acquiring hotel rooms and vending out our shelters has truly helped in this particular case because there were only 100 residents in the shelter last night which provided us the flexibility to turn this from a shelter to a medical facility. So dr. Colfax will talk more about what that means but the fact is we were on top of it. We know that there are a number of people who tested positive. And we are going to reroute our medical Health Experts<\/a> and people, our nurses and other Health Support<\/a> to this facility to help manage and maintain and support the people who tested positive. The reason why we are able to act fast is number one, we had hotel rooms available. And we had plans to staff up hotel rooms as rapidly as we possibly can in case an outbreak occurs. But number two, because so many of you are staying at home, our hospitals are not as overwhelmed as they could be, giving us the flexibility to handle an outbreak of this nature. We know that from the very, very beginning, congregate living settings like our shelters, like laguna hospital, like our single room occupancy hotels, we knew those had the potential of being hot spots. And so we have been preparing for that. We have been preparing for that by acquiring a number of hotel rooms, making sure that we have the Supportive Service<\/a> necessary, making sure that we can keep the people that we are asking to work at these hotels safe, making sure that we can see people, that we can clean the rooms, that we can do the laundry, that we can do all that it takes to manage the situation in any place that we acquire under the new orders that weve put forward to obtain as many hotel rooms as possible. So although the news of this outbreak was definitely very troubling, the fact is i am so grateful and proud of this hardworking city workforce, the department of Public Health<\/a> to the department of Human Services<\/a> to the department of housing and home homeless services, the folks who work for these departments who are showing up, putting their lives on the line and working every single day with the nonprofit providers who help to manage these hotel rooms, they are the ones who are on the front lines, trying to make sure that they not only protect themselves, but they want to make sure that they protect others. And so we were prepared for this. We are managing the situation. And dr. Colfax will provide more information as to what is happening at this particular facility and where we go from here. I want to also talk a little bit about another very troubling situation that we know exists and because so many people are being asked to shelter at home, we know that, sadly, some people who are sheltering at home may not be in safe environments. We know that Domestic Violence<\/a> doesnt stop because of a pandemic. And it is important that we continue to provide support, we continue to provide services, so that we can help the people who we know need it the most. And i know that so many Domestic Violence<\/a> survivors out there are probably thinking about what we are doing as a city to protect others who have not been able to escape those very challenging situations. And i am grateful to ending Domestic Abuse<\/a> and so many of the folks who work tirelessly on helping to end Domestic Violence<\/a> and the work they have continued to do. They have sadly seen an uptick in the calls that they receive for help, for assistance, for their shelters. And as a result, we teamed up with the District Attorney<\/a> and veritas, a Property Owner<\/a> in San Francisco<\/a>, to provide 20 new units that are fully furnished so that when we need to get people out of a situation, we can move quickly. So i want to thank veritas, and i want to thank our District Attorney<\/a> for working with us to recognize this very serious issue and reacting quickly to provide resources in addition to the shelters and the other support that we have been able to work with nonprofit providers to provide to families who are experiencing Domestic Violence<\/a>. But we know its not just about making sure we have places for people to stay. If you are in a situation at home, and you cant pick up the phone and call 911, what do you do . Its hard enough feeling like you are trapped and you cant escape. And what we have been able to do here in San Francisco<\/a>, and i am so, again, grateful to the department of Emergency Management<\/a> and dedicated people who work for the city who have been able to have our system and our city so if you text 911 and say help or if you are able to say what the situation is and you are in trouble or what have you, you will receive a response. And i think this is an incredible tool, because, again, we know that if theres an attack or if there is something going on, and you cant necessarily talk out loud or what have you, it is definitely difficult in order to reach out for help. So to anyone who might be hearingimpaired or others in our communities who are struggling and may be attacked or may need 911, now here in San Francisco<\/a>, the option to text 911 is available. And so especially at such a really challenging time for all of us, we know that having access to support to safety is critical to being able to survive this pandemic. And so, again, thank you so much to carol and the department of Emergency Management<\/a>. I also want to say to those who are looking for help and support, we are here for you, you are not alone. And we will do everything we can to support and protect you during this pandemic. If you need help or you need assistance, please call or text 911. If you need someone to talk to or you are looking for resources, you can call 311 and we can direct you to some Services Including<\/a> the national Domestic Violence<\/a> hotline as well as la casa, amazing organizations that continue to uplift and help those who are not only in Domestic Violence<\/a> situations but also survivors. So thank you so much for your work on helping those who are struggling during this pandemic. We also want to talk a little bit about whats happening with our restaurants here in the city. Some of you during, when we werent in the pandemic, many people, including myself, used a lot of apps to get food delivered. And after we had to unfortunately close restaurants, and basically not allow them to have inhouse dining, we still allowed pickup and delivery and some restaurants chose to close because sadly, it was too expensive to even have that level of service. And others who are struggling even now with their delivery and pickup service, theyre still in business, but the fees in some cases very outrageous fees that are charged to them, basically in some cases may not allow for them to continue with their Delivery Services<\/a> because they are not even breaking even in some cases. And so unfortunately with the Delivery Services<\/a> there is a fee thats assessed. Sometimes theres free delivery as you see on the apps but the restaurant is still charged a specific fee as it relates to the Delivery Service<\/a> which usually happens with a third party. And we have seen those fees basically go up and down. The restaurants have experienced it. And it has been hard. They want to remain open for all of you. They want to be available for all of you but they are struggling because the delivery costs are making it unsustainable. So thats why after working with the Golden Gate Restaurant Association<\/a> and carefully evaluating the situation, ive decided to execute an emergency ordinance to cap the amount of fees that a third party can charge to restaurants for Delivery Services<\/a> at 15 . And what this will do is to make sure that our restaurants are protected, because we know during this pandemic, which we are not certain as to how long it will last, there are going to be a lot of restaurants who may not come back from this. And we want to make sure that when we identify a situation thats problematic, we address the situation and the goal here is to address the situation with putting a cap on the amount of the percentage of which the Third Party Delivery<\/a> entities could charge restaurants for Delivery Service<\/a>. And i want to thank the Golden Gate Restaurant Association<\/a>, and i also want to thank supervisors ahsha safai and aaron peskin for working with my office oncoming up with something that would be fair and more helpful to our restaurant community. So i also want to take this opportunity to talk about just, again, the importance of staying at home. Now, i know, having these conversations here every time theres a press conference, it reminds me of my grandmother and oftentimes because, you know, sometimes i was a difficult kid to discipline, and my grandmother would say to me over and over again, no, you cant have that, no, you cant have that or no, you cant go outside, no, you cant go outside. And i would say please, mama, please can i go outside . And my grandmother would just say no, no, no, for whatever reason. And she had to tell me that over and over again sometimes. And eventually i gave up or she gave up, who knows. But the fact is youre hearing this beating drum from me, from so many other people. Were asking you to stay inside, to stay inside, to stay inside. And i know that its hard. I know that so many of you are getting restless and getting frustrated and wondering when it would come to an end. And really what difference it does make. And let me just go back to what i said earlier about our shelter system. The fact is because so many of you are social socially distancing yourself from one another, whats happening is you are not getting infected, you are not showing up at our hospitals. We have seen a slight reduction in the number of people who are occupying our beds. And even though we know the numbers will continue to go up, even though we know this outbreak at one of our shelters has been challenging, the fact is because of what you are doing, we are able to move quickly to address an outbreak. Because of what you are doing, we are able to redeploy medical Health Professionals<\/a> to one of our Shelter Systems<\/a> in order to provide the resources necessary to take care of those 70 people that have been infected, because you are staying at home, you are making a difference. And when you look at other places all over the world, im sure youve seen some of the videos of the hospitals in new york, youve seen the videos of some of the hospitals in italy. Youve seen some of the videos of people who cant bury their family members. To think about it. Because you are following the order, you are making a difference for others in this city. So i just want to ask you, again, because we know that the weather is going to be really nice this weekend. We know that its so tempting, especially because its also easter, today is good friday, its easter, its its a very spiritual time for so many people who are religious. And folks are probably thinking just this one time, i miss my friends, i miss my family members. I want to have dinner together. I just want to sit down and enjoy their company. And as hard as it is to be isolated in your home, im going to ask just one more time that you dont tempt yourself, you dont do it this one time. Because that one time could be problematic. I saw on the news this past week a family that got together for Birthday Party<\/a> for one of their family members and now every one of them are infected. They dont know how, they dont know where it came from, but the fact is they are all infected. We all heard about the choir in washington state. They practiced social distancing at choir rehearsal. The order was already in place there, 45 members were infected and two died. And so as hard as it is to stay at home, to continue life in a world thats not normal for us, its necessary. It does make a difference. It does save lives. And some of the things that you can continue to do is call people, you can zoom call with folks if you have that level of technology. And you can just reach out and check on folks. I also talked about the note i got from a neighbor with their email and their phone number, asking if i needed any errands to be run or just someone to talk to. Thats going to be critical to getting through this is how and social distancing is probably not the best term developed to talk about this. Its really about physically distancing ourselves of my its important that we physically distance ourselves but we continue to engage with one another. We continue to reach out to one another for help, for support, or what have you. So as we go into the weekend, we are going to be watching closely and monitoring our parks. We are going to be monitoring various locations where we know large groups of people gather. And i hope that we wont be forced to close any parks or make any adjustments because people are not following the order. We want you to get fresh air, we want you to get outdoor exercise in whatever way you feel is appropriate. We want you to walk your dog. We want you to be able to do some of the basic things of Grocery Shopping<\/a> and what have you. But as you do those errands, make sure that you keep your distance from others that are not a part of your household. Make sure that after you are done, you go home. Make sure that youre not driving to locations that arent near where you live because that creates a bigger problem than what we want to happen in our city. And then it forces us to make adjustments in order to keep you safe. And i want people to have the ability to just go outside and get some fresh air and because so many of you have cooperated with this order, we are here. And as i said, as we go into easter sunday, i want to again thank folks from the interfaith counsel, michael was here on wednesday, and i continue to be grateful for your prayers and your support during this difficult time. So many people who are spiritual are really not only struggling themselves but so many are reaching out and praying for others and this is definitely a time to just remind us of how challenging it has been with so many folks who are part of our community, but also the acts of kindness, the acts of love, the things that people in the city have continued to do to just really amaze me and others has been truly tremendous. And we want to thank you all again for just being good neighbors, being good citizens of the city, continuing to put out positive messages and hope and inspirations. We need it now more than ever. And yes, we are in this together. Which is why we will get through this together. And with that, i would like to take this opportunity to introduce the director of the department of Public Health<\/a>, dr. Good afternoon. Im dr. Grant colfax, director of health for the city of San Francisco<\/a>. Thank you, mayor breed. I would like to start by thanking everyone in San Francisco<\/a> for your cooperation, your sacrifices, and your community spirit. As we join together, we are helping fight the spread of the coronavirus. When you stay home, when you keep 6 feet apart, when you wash your hands and when you cover your nose and mouth when you cough, you are literally saving lives every day. Today i would like to update san franciscans on a few developments in our ongoing work to respond to the coronavirus and to protect our community. Todays data tracker shows there are 797 San Francisco<\/a> residents with confirmed cases of coronavirus. Sadly, 13 san franciscans have died of the disease. My condolences to their families and loved ones. There are 88 patients reported in the hospitals across San Francisco<\/a> with coronavirus and approximately onethird of those are in the intensive care unit. Our hospitalization numbers had been holding relatively steady over the past few days, which is positive and good news. But, and i emphasize, but, that number could change at any time. Please stay at home and do your part to keep these numbers steady. At this time, our San Francisco<\/a> Hospital System<\/a> has enough beds to care for all of our current coronavirus patients as well as patients who are hospitalized for other reasons. We continue to make progress expanding hospital bed capacity for an expected surge of coronavirus patients. The worst is still yet to come. And sadly, as the mayor mentioned, we have troubling news to report with regard to an outbreak. Tomorrows case of coronavirus, case numbers of coronavirus, will be significantly higher once we factor in new test results from the msc south shelter. On sunday, we confirmed that two guests at msc south, San Francisco<\/a>s largest homeless shelter, had tested positive for covid19 and were moved into Isolation Hotels<\/a> where they are in Good Condition<\/a>. Those first steps, my Department Took<\/a> immediate action to contact investigations and test people who were close contacts showing symptoms or atrisk exposure. As the test results started to come back and we saw these t extent of the spread, we moved on wednesday to test all guests and staff at the shelter. On wednesday, there were five positive cases at msc south. Today, there are 70. There are currently 71 test results that are negative and 3 results are still pending. We have always known that from the data that this virus can take off quickly. And we are prepared to provide aggressive responses, especially in congress regatt settings in congregate settings. From the beginning, a prioritized population. Unfortunately, the moment is now upon us. I would like to assure san franciscans that this outbreak does not mean there is significantly greater risk to the general public. However, it is a very serious matter. Though not expected, we are very concerned about the health of the people at msc south. Many of them have Chronic Health<\/a> conditions and are vulnerable to getting very sick or even dying from coronavirus. We are doing everything we can for them and to reduce the size of the outbreak. We have taken and will continue to take aggressive action to prevent health and safety. Every step of the way, the department of Public Health<\/a> has been working closely with the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing<\/a> and with the operator of msc south to follow our congress congregate setting protocols and identify the contacts of the people who tested positive. These efforts continue and are intensifying as the situation changes. Currently, my department is conducting a mass testing strategy at msc south, testing all guests and staff for covid19, whether they are showing symptoms or not. Again, as of this morning, dph tested 144 guests and staff. Of these, 68 guests and 2 staff have tested positive for covid19. At this point, none of these people are seriously ill. One former guest of the shelter is in the hospital. We are now converting msc south into a medical facility to care for people who are living with coronavirus. This new Recovery Center<\/a> will be staffed by the department of Public Health<\/a>, nurses and doctors, experts, who will provide care, monitor patients and arrange transport to hospitals if their conditions worsen. The solution has been part of our Emergency Planning<\/a> scenarios from the beginning. And its the best one to preserve the health and safety of the shelter community. It will reduce transports and patients with a dedicated stuff of Healthcare Professionals<\/a> staff of Healthcare Professionals<\/a> who are attend their needs. Staff members who have tested positive are being offered places in Isolation Hotels<\/a> if they do not have a safe alternative in their own homes. This offering of hotel rooms will continue for staff who test positive at this and other shelters across the city. Other guests are being moved out to hotels as well. On a case by case basis, depending on the guest condition and exposure, we are working with our Partner Agencies<\/a> to place each person in an appropriate setting, whether its in isolation or quarantine site or a shelter in place hotel. This is a 24hour round the clock operation and the situation and numbers are changing. Department of homelessness and Supportive Housing<\/a> and the Human Service<\/a> agency are leading the effort to move guests out of msc south while the department of Public Health<\/a> will continue to focus on providing excellence, experts, medical care, testing and Contact Tracing<\/a>. Now i would like to take a few minutes to talk about equity, specifically Health Equity<\/a> and how it relates to the coronavirus pandemic. As we prepare our hospitals and our City Healthcare<\/a> system to care for former patients, we are closely examining neighborhoods and Community Members<\/a> that may need more access to care in this rapidlychanging and evolving situation. That is one of the reasons why we opened our first field care clinic this week in the bayview. We have also opened screening and testing sites in the Castro Mission<\/a> neighborhood and the zuckerberg General Hospital<\/a> in the heart of the mission and potrero hill. We know we know that the Health Disparities<\/a> and economic inequalities in our community are only made worse, unfortunately, only made worse by this pandemic. Global and National Data<\/a> are already showing the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on communities of color. In San Francisco<\/a>, we are seeing and expect to continue to see these inequities as well. Although our current case data doesnt reflect major disparities yet, that data are also incomplete. We do not receive ethnic or race information for about a third of the test results that are reported to us. However, we have seen situations in the Latinx Community<\/a> where people who live in multifamily or multigenerational homes are unable to self isolate. We have seen people in those households who must leave home to work and who have to make several trips a week for other essential supplies in small amounts due to their income stream. People in such circumstances are going to be more at risk. And we are being responsive to those needs to help mitigate those risks. We have been working with leaders in the Latinx Community<\/a> to ensure that people have the information they need, that they are aware of the available resources that San Francisco<\/a> is a sanctuary city where everyone will receive the best care possible regardless of immigration status. And that people continue to receive outreach in their own language in a culturallyappropriate way. Meeting our citys equity efforts, director davis of the San Francisco<\/a> human rights commission, has established Community Roundtable<\/a> weekly meetings. The roundtable is a Dynamic Group<\/a> of Community Stakeholders<\/a> who elevate concerns about the citys response and communication with communities of color, lowincome people and the lgbtqi community, specifically around covid19. We would like to thank director davis for her leadership. With this corroboration, we can and are taking action on issues based on Community Input<\/a> and practices. Some of these issues include food insecurity, discrimination, appropriate culturallyfocused outreach, Financial Resources<\/a> and improved communication and support. San francisco is also one of the few counties in the country that has an equity officer embedded in its Emergency Operations<\/a> centerrer. The goal of this team is to mitigate inequity it is in the citywide response to coronavirus for our communities of concern including latinx, black africanamerican, asianpacific islander and lgbtqi communities. We will continue to listen to community partners, improve our response and continue to use data to guide decisions. We, i, am committed to the health and wellbeing of San Francisco<\/a>s and doing everything we can to support health and full recovery for all communities in our city during and after this pandemic. Now i would like to provide a brief update on the outbreak at laguna honda hospital and the steps we are taking to protect the health of residents and staff. We have 17 confirmed cases of coronavirus at honda hospital, 13 of the confirmed cases are among staff and four are among residents. Of the staff, ten have been in patient care positions and three have not. All four positive resident cases are in the south five neighborhood. Testing of that neighborhood is currently complete. We have also completed testing for south residents, and im happy to say at this time we have not detected an additional case. Overall, to date, 301 honda hospital staff have been tested, either by the Health Department<\/a> or by their own provider and 208 residents have been tested. As part of our ongoing response, we continue to test staff and patients throughout the hospital that had been identified as being exposed to contact investigation or have other risk factors, including showing symptoms of the virus. Unfortunately, we do expect more positive cases. But it is crucial that we know the facts so that we can continue to take evidencebased informed action to preserve the health and mitigate the spread of the virus in the institution. We continue to work with the cdc experts on the ground to reinforce and inform our aggressive response. As we continue to fight the coronavirus pandemic, i would like to remind you that our Top Priorities<\/a> continue to be reducing the spread of the virus in the community, flattening the curve through the physical distancing that we are continuing to enforce and ask you to do, protecting vulnerable populations, healthcare workers and First Responders<\/a>, preparing our Healthcare System<\/a> for the expected surge of hospital patients and expanding testing capabilities. In all of this work, we seek to continually do better as we incorporate the latest science, data and facts into actions and recommendations. We are working quickly to integrate new information all the time and adjust our recommendations accordingly so that we are providing the very best most up to date advice to you to the community that we can. Thank you. And director of homelessness and Supportive Housing<\/a> will now provide remarks. Hello. The city and our nonprofit partners are battling two simultaneous health emergencies. The ongoing crisis with homelessness and the compounding issue of covid19 pandemic. This has taught us time and time again that everyones health is intertwined, the homeless and the housed. Protecting the health of people experiencing homelessness is essential to safeguard their health and all of our health. Therefore we must focus not only on improving the health and safety of our shelters and programs but also moving people to safety as quickly as possible. When people do not have homes to reside in and reside instead in Public Places<\/a> and congress congregate shelters, they have less access to healthcare. People who are homeless and unsheltered are far more likely to have Underlying Health<\/a> conditions. The city has taken many proactive steps to improve the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness. Today i want to focus as dr. Colfax did on msc south. Thank you to our staff at hsh provider st. Vincent depaul and all our City Partners<\/a> who under the mayors leadership have wrapped their arms around this site its guests and its staff. For the last many days, we have been working on this, both preventively and since we had our first positive test. This is a large shelter, with 340bed capacity and a 70person dropin center. Due to our early and Rapid Actions<\/a> to limit the spread of covid by pausing shelter intakes, we reduced the census to approximately 175 people. Before and since our first positive test at this site, we have moved over 70 people out and now have a census of approximately 100. Our partner staff are focused on the site 24 7. As you have heard it is now a medical shelter. We are also moving Vulnerable People<\/a> from other sites rapidly and have been for the past several days and ahead of positive tests. We are deploying the plan we have created, and while this virus is dangerous, we are working urgently and taking all the necessary steps. I also want to provide you an update on our first covid positive test family shelter. This one is operated by hamilton families. The same plan that has been in place for Division Circle<\/a> and for msc south is in effect with this site. The individual who has the positive test is in Good Condition<\/a> and is off site already. Our thoughts are with Division Circle<\/a> msc south and hamilton and our gratitude is with every san franciscan today. Thank you. Good afternoon. I want to start by first thanking mayor breed, her team, the team of our District Attorney<\/a> bodine and Mary Ellen Carol<\/a> and her team at the Department Department<\/a> of Emergency Management<\/a> for allowing us to have the resources to help our Domestic Violence<\/a> victims. We think the text 911 will be a game changer and will enhance Public Safety<\/a> in our city. So i want to thank and and applaud the mayor and director carol and our District Attorney<\/a> for making that happen. To be able to provide the lifeline for those who are distressed but cant call 911. Often people who arent in a safe place cant call 911 so this resource is a game changer. Our citys Public Safety<\/a> dispatcher at the department of Emergency Management<\/a> do a fantastic job every day. And they do the dispatch of our Police Officers<\/a> to particularly Domestic Violence<\/a> calls are critical. Those situations can be time is of the essence. So we are very thankful for them and for the partnership. We also want to thank the people who made this come together, the text 911 service will provide an important way for people to reach out for help. And it will help us to effectively respond to those calls for help. So whether you use text 911 or call directly, we want you to know our city Emergency Responders<\/a> will be there for you and be ready to respond. I want to emphasize, though, that calling 911 is always the best course of action if it is safe for you to do so. If you cant, you can use the new text 911 feature. Next i want to talk about enforcement over the easter weekend and resen forcement, let me resident enforcement. Let me frame that in the context of compliance. As the mayor and doctor said that by and large, san franciscans are complying with our Public Health<\/a> orders and thats really good news but we need to keep going. We need to keep in. We are not out of the woods yet. Please listen to the Public Health<\/a> officials. We need to keep this going. So what you can expect to see from the San Francisco<\/a> police department, you will see us out. You will see us in the parks with park rangers. You will see us in the business corridors and your residential communities. And we are going to continue to spread the message of social distancing. And as i said in other conferences, news conferences, for those that have been warned, we are making a record so we will not warn you twice. Today we have had notifications and a number of those have been nonessential businesses that have been, we make sure those businesses stay closed when they are supposed to be closed. We have not had an issue with businesses reopening. We are still issuing citations we have not issued any citations since the first two. I want to reemphasize what mayor breed said, please, this is going to be an easter weekend where we are used to family gatherings, attending religious services, being around people, going to restaurants and really socializing. We know its hard. And this is a change for all of us, believe me. But we need to adhere to the Public Health<\/a> orders. This is a matter of life and death. So please comply and lets all make San Francisco<\/a> safe. As the mayor said a number of our religious organizations supported this effort. Michael pompas from the interfaith counsel is very supportive. I know this weekend is a holiday, and thats difficult for people, but again, the religious organizations are asking that everybody comply. Shelter in place throughout this weekend. We are still seeing a downward trend. We have had some burglaries and we are going to be in those areas to make sure that our Business Owners<\/a> are safe. We ask you to all 911 if you see crimes occurring, particularly violent crimes. You can also call or utilize our website to file police reports. We are taking reports. We have a call center. Do not let people of this nature into your homes. Somebody asks to come into your home to inspect or give away masks, they are not legitimate, we are not doing residential inspections to peoples houses. You will see our Disaster Service<\/a> workers passing out fliers and information pamphlets but they are not going to anybodys home so if you see that happen, please call 911 because it probably is a scam. Information is key and we want to make sure that the public is informed. That distribution of information does not include us asking to come into your home. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So for those people that are offering something that sounds too good to be true, please get a second opinion, investigate it before you act. Dont carry large sums of money. We have seen a couple of Home Invasion<\/a> robberies. Please dont have large sums of money in your house. We ask that you use your Financial Institutions<\/a> for that. And dont open your doors to people that you dont know. Its as simple as that. Use simple, basic safety precautions to keep yourself safe. The last thing we need is for people with all the anxiety of this Public Health<\/a> pandemic to be worried about their safety. So use good, sound Safety Practices<\/a> and good common sense and lock your doors for people you dont know and keep your doors locked. With that i ask that you please help us this weekend, help yourselves, keep your family safe by complying with the stay at home orders and social distancing requirements and have a happy and great easter weekend. Thank you. Dr. Grant colfax. Good afternoon. The city considered closing some residential streets off to traffic in order to provide more safety and social distancing for residents who like to go out to walk, jog and bike. Its very important that we keep physically distancing from each other. And while we understand, and i wont encourage people to get out and exercise i will encourage people to get out and exercise and get fresh rare, we want to make sure that crowds do not congregate those areas. As the mayor said, over the weekend, its very important that people respect and have no plans but to stay in quarantine. Question from tan with nbc bay area. Can the bay area afford to send resources such as doctors to other areas such as new york to help . How quickly could we get resources back if we have a surge of cases . I cant speak for the institutions that are sending aid there. As a provider myself, i respect the need for them to do that. And i certainly would also respect if the situation worsens here that we would be able to respond to the cases we have here and keep the resources in San Francisco<\/a>. We have an ongoing need for testing supplies in order to increase our testing capacity. We have a great need for personal protective equipment to protect our Health Workers<\/a> and First Responders<\/a>. Those are dire shortages in San Francisco<\/a> across the country. So we need to ensure that we are meeting our local needs as well as when we have the ability to help our colleagues who are struggling with the pandemic in certain regions across the country. Another question from nby bay area. N nbc bay area. Are the rest of the staff and guests there being [off mic] is the department of Public Health<\/a> tracking the cases in hotels. The cases we know about are really through contract investigations. So that person either tested positive or we find a case that was tested as a result of a contact of another case. So we will be recording those data and ensuring the data if and when they are accurate. A followup to that, how is department of Public Health<\/a> handling any positive cases at sros in terms of Contact Tracing<\/a> and isolating vulnerable residents . We are aggressively Contact Tracing<\/a> residents in sros and we are ensuring that if necessary they are providing with hotel rooms to self isolate and protect themselves and their families and the rest of the members in that sro. A question from janey at associated press. Are the 70 people who tested positive at msc south connected to the two people who tested positive on sunday . Tested positive on sunday i need a clarification, what two people . I believe what shes trying to ask is we announced at some point last week that the original two cases at msc south are these cases related . Yeah, i think its i really i certainly cant say affirmatively that those two cases are directly related to all the remaining cases that we detected. The point is from a Public Health<\/a> perspective when we assess the situation, when we look at the patterns of engagement and interaction at the shelter, and as we tested more people, it became clear that the outbreak was widespread, and thats why we are testing everybody in the shelter and made the decision to test everybody in the shelter at the time as well as staff to ensure that the people knew their status, that we can monitor them appropriately, house them and ensure that they get the best medical care possible as well as taking aggressive steps to protect other people from potential infection. A followup to that question, which i hope im clarifying correctly. The two we previously talked about, we understand those folks were moved out of shelter. The remaining 68 guests, where are they now . So, again, its a rapidlyevolving situation and as we talked about, the msc shelter is now going to become a covid19 Recovery Center<\/a>. So many of the people who are of the guests who tested positive at south will be in that shelter being taken care of by expert medical professionals, our excellent doctors, nurses, and social workers from the department of Public Health<\/a> with support from the department of department of homelessness and Supportive Housing<\/a> as well as the Human Service<\/a> agency staff. Question from john king of the San Francisco<\/a> chronicle. Will testing now be done on all of the residents in all shelters given the number s found at south . We are again looking at the evidence and Contact Tracing<\/a> cases and shelters and will make a decision on how many people need to be tested depending specifically on the case and really using Christian Science<\/a> monitor in terms of how best really using science in terms of how best to trace and when Contact Tracing<\/a> is needed a followup question to that from mr. King. Given the turnover at shelters from night tonight, how are you finding people to test if they are no longer sleeping at the shelter . So, again, we are working with the experts on that shelter system. Our colleagues at the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing<\/a> are colleagues at the Human Services<\/a> agency, as you know, they run the shelters and the support systems for those shelter across the city along with our contact investigation teams. We are literally going through, case by case contact by contact to take sure that we are doing everything we can to find people who are at high risk to ensure people who are at high risk for bad outcomes are placed in hotels and to ensure people who had a high risk exposure for covid19 are receiving testing. The final question for you from Wilson Walker<\/a> at kpix. With the outbreak in the shelter does that give you any added concern that you also have spread among the unsheltered population on the street as well . Well, i think really if you take if you think about where we started when we were when we started talking about this pandemic in february i always said that vulnerable populations were most potentially affected by coronavirus and would unfortunately suffer the greatest consequences based on data from interNational Data<\/a> sources, china, italy. We have seen whats happened unfortunately in new york. Im very concerned when we talk about flattening the curve and when we talk about our current hospital capacity, i am very concerned about the spread of coronavirus in the population experiences homelessness. Unfortunately we know this population suffers from greatest Health Disparities<\/a> without a pandemic, higher rates of chronic respiratory diseases, higher flu rates, higher rates of hospitalization. Unfortunately, this pandemic will only put those inequities, those disparities in greater relief which is why my department is working as hashed as we can with Key Community<\/a> partners, other key departments to ensure that people are getting the testing they need, the care they need, and with hsa and with hsh, that people who are at greatest vulnerable from bad, bad outcomes from this business are placed in hotel rooms to protect them and our community. One final question from the San Francisco<\/a> examiner. To we know how many of those 70 people testing positive at msc have had underlying conditions or in the age range to be more vulnerable . I do not have those numbers yet but certainly some of them have those chronic conditions and we are looking through those numbers right now. I want to emphasize that we are deploying our team of medical experts to ensure that people who have tested positive, whether or not they have a chronic condition, are getting the best care possible and certainly if need n need of greater levels of care they will be transported to the appropriate medical facility. Thank you dr. Colfax. The next questions are for abigail stewartkahn. A twopart question and a followup from nbc bay area. Inside city shelters are Homeless People<\/a> now being sheltered in a way that allows for safe social distancing . If shelters need to be thinned out to achieve that, when do you expect that to be complete . Days, weeks, months . Thank you. Just to clarify, so we are following guidance from the federal state and local authorities around creating six feet of distance, physical distancing in our shelters. And as the journalists notes, this is very difficult to accomplish. Our shelters are very close and compact, and they vary significantly from site to site. We just know that that puts these folks at more risk. We began implementing creative physical distancing at all of our sites several weeks ago. And i really want to thank our providers who found space where there was no space to make this possible, even before we were able to start moving people out of sites. We are well on our way to reaching what i am calling shelter equilibrium which involves moving the most vulnerable individuals out into hotels. And we should be able to accomplish that very shortly. A followup, what is the total amount the city has spent so far on hotel rooms for the homeless and what is the range of the daily Hotel Room Rates<\/a> . Thank you. So i will take this question on behalf of director ror, the director of Human Services<\/a> agency. As we have articulated at past press conferences, under an emergency, Human Services<\/a> agency is responsible for mass care and shelter so im happy to provide this response on behalf of the Human Services<\/a> agency. So the numbers that have been shared with me are that for the first three months of all of the hotels that have been brought online and under contract by the Human Services<\/a> agency, is a total cost of approximately 35 million. Much of this is reimbursable by fema and other sources of information. And i think there was another question in there. I apologize. I think thats it. There is a related question from robert of nbc bay area about those hotel rooms. What is the current number of leased rooms for unsheltered people and how many have checked in . Thank you, robert. So ill give all the hotel numbers briefly because i think its important to understand the scale and magnitude of this challenge. Again, these are numbers from the Human Services<\/a> agency not from my department. The hotel rooms for all priority populations that are under contract right now is 1,892. Approximately 880 are for First Responders<\/a> and approximately 1,012 of these are for vulnerable populations as we have articulated in the past. Thank you. And another question from robert compos of nbc bay area. To date, how many Homeless People<\/a> from tested positive with the coronavirus and what is their condition . Thank you for that question and for your care for our unhoused neighbors. The department of Public Health<\/a> is not analyzing and separating their data in that way in particular. And so we may have other we likely have other individuals who are experiencing homelessness and are also covid positive but are at isolation and quarantine rooms. We know the majority of people are either from sros, semi congregate sites or shelters or the unsheltered population. What we know now is what we cant speak to is who is positive in our shelter sites and that is one at Division Circle<\/a>, one at hamilton and the 70 that have been discussed today at msc south. Thank you. Question from kerry. Is there an effort to move unhoused residents off crowded sidewalks, especially in the tenderloin, into public open spaces that are currently underutilized . Yes. Thank you for that. So immediately at the beginning of this pandemic, and ill speak here on behalf of the department of Emergency Management<\/a>, which oversees our unsheltered operations but we are in partnership with them. So immediately at the beginning of this epidemic we know our unhoused neighbors are vulnerable. So all removals of tents, what people refer to as encampment resolutions were paused and the operation went into a mode of educating and providing services. As things back to shut down, access to restrooms and food, it became the job of our outpreach providers to outreach providers to be the voice of education, knowledge and linkage for people who are unsheltered and experiencing homelessness. We know that more people have become unsheltered because of our need to pause shelter intakes. This is a significant and important population for us. What we want to do critically and urgently is to move the vulnerable individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness into hotels and we will get to work on that and we are working on that as we speak and we are also working on continuing to remind people will social and physical distancing while unsheltered and looking at and starting to explore possibilities for safe places to be. More to sharon that in the coming days. Final question from kat of kcbs. You have talked about the group of unsheltered people who will be prioritized when it comes to moving to hotel rooms. Will that change now because of the news of the outbreak and will more people be moved quickly into hotel rooms . Thank you for that question. I said from the beginning that we are very concerned with individuals living in congregate living. We are talking about thousands of people. And if you include sros we are talking about tens of thousands of people. So this is a task, moving these individuals into shelters is a task that has never before faced our city in the scale and magnitude. So i want to use this opportunity to talk a little bit about what it takes to take on this massive undertaking. So first Human Services<\/a> agency has secured sites and rooms, youve heard about the scale they have been able to reach there. For each site, the city and nonprofit staffing has to staff up immediately, visit the site, understand the site, staff enough people, everything from monitoring to security to medical to counselors to all of the supplies that need to be onsite, thinking about meals and hygiene, thinking about things like accessibility for people in wheelchairs and with other accessibility concerns. We have to do a screening for vulnerable vulnerability to understand who should be moving in when we arent sure. We have to do an assessment of ability to self care. What that looks like is if you cant self care, you are still going to come inside but we need more care wrapped around you. We have to work on transportation which has proven challenging because of the physical and social distancing required. So the buses have to be big with very few people in them. We have talked about meals and hygiene kits. We have to look at things like individuals with Substance Use<\/a> issues and we have to look to support people with Mental Health<\/a> concerns in a Harm Reduction<\/a> environment. And then we have to think about what comes after this, where do people step down when they are able to step down to a lower level of care and what do we do after we move through this pandemic . All these things have to happen for every site to come online so its really a massive undertaking that has the citys entire focus now. Thank you. That concludes our press conference. Thank you. Sfgovtv. Were ready to begin. President mccarthy today is wednesday, march 18, 2020. This is the regular meeting of the building inspection committee. I remind everyone to turn off Electronic Devices<\/a> and the first item on the agenda is roll call. President mccarthy . President mccarthy here. Clerk commissioner moss . Commissioner clinch. Commissioner jacobo. Commissioner tam. Commissioner alexandertut. We have a quorum and our item is item 2. President s announcements. President mccarthy good morning, everybody. Just moving everything is moving parts here. I just wanted to have a few words to read into the comments and to my president s announcements. Im confident and dedicated i am confident that the dedicated and hardworking staff throughout the department of building inspection are aware of the response to the people of San Francisco<\/a> and will continue to do their duty and uphold the public trust which theyve been doing in the last week. As you know were dealing with, you know, a Public Health<\/a> emergency in our city. And our state and country, that we have never, never had to encounter before. On behalf of the commission, i urge all d. B. I. Staff and customers to follow the instructions under Public Health<\/a> officials and to do their part to prevent the spread of covid19. I applaud the department for taking steps to limit the virus spread such as increase social distancing between the customers and d. B. I. Staff, and the more frequent cleaning of commonly shared public services. Continue to Pay Attention<\/a> to all of the Public Health<\/a> instructions and take all of the possible precautions for your own health and your loved ones. Be proactive and help to keep each other safe. And that concludes, madam secretary, my comments. Clerk is there any Public Comment<\/a> on the president s announcement . Seeing none, our next item, item 3, general Public Comment<\/a>. Matters within the commission that are not part of this agen agenda. Good morning, my name is jerry grantler. The resignation of tom huey in the march 12th stories about the citys expanding probe of former president and instructial engineer rodrigo santaz are clear indicators that an outside investigation of the department is long overdue. My interest in d. B. I. Began in 2012 when i served on the civil grand jury that wrote a very unfavorable report on the department. I have attended b. I. C. Meetings for the last seven years. Its difficult to monitor projects like the rodrigo santaz prctses mentioned in the citys lawsuit. This lack of transparency is by design. An outside investigation needs to focus on the departments lack of internal controls and weak Building Code<\/a> enforcement process. Current Code Enforcement<\/a> penalties are not a deterrent. 98 of the penalties issued are below 1,000. 1,000 is the cost of doing business. D. B. I. s weak internal controls are present by design, not by accident or lack of funding. D. B. I. Has sabotaged the installation of new Computer Systems<\/a> that would have made the departments practice of favoring a few individuals more difficult and visible. D. B. I. Failed to implement a system that would have eliminated the current process where contractors, expeditors and instructional engineers get to select the d. B. I. Engineer to review and issue their Building Permit<\/a>. If you had the choice, would you pick your buddy . Humadic is similar to the process by the california d. M. V. To randomly assign customers to counter employees. D. B. I. Also sabotaged the implementation of asela. When you drill down into mr. Santos projects you find that it was the same small group of d. B. I. Employees who should not have approved his Building Permit<\/a> ove overthecounter and field inspectors who should not have approved the final inspections. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you. So president mccarthy, i believe that there needs to be president mccarthy so because of the nature of this meeting today, were going to remove some items from the calendar, if thats acceptable to all commissioners, please speak up if you have any concerns. Do we do just a point of order do we still have to do the commissioners issues and matters, do we still do that, or just items on the calendar. Looking for clarification . You asked whether its required that we do. President mccarthy that we remove that. You can move to remove it for todays meeting. President mccarthy commissioners, do you want that to remain on the calendar to weigh in indiscernible okay. Number five, i have a request to leave number five on and i wondered what you might have thought about that as a quick discussion and move that forward because of the calendar thats on. And then we can if im correct we could do Public Comment<\/a> on this again if we needed to though we have moved it out of our commission, is that correct . City attorney rob capla. If you feel that you have enough time to move it forward, the board of supervisors, where there would be more process, you could do that. And you can also schedule a time to take Public Comment<\/a> on it in the future but you wouldnt be able to rescind the recommendation to move the item forward. President mccarthy okay. So, obviously, 6 well take off the calendar and move to the next available hearing. And then, obviously, we would keep the closed session which we would do last. And then pretty much remove all of the business off the calendar, if the commissioners today have any comments . Clerk do we have a second . Second . So theres a motion and a second to remove all of the items or president mccarthy except for 5, we will leave 5 in which we discussed now and number where am i 5 and 9. Thank you, commissioner. Clerk so theres a motion and a second to remove except for items 5 and 9. Do a roll call vote. President mccarthy. Vice president moss. Commissioner alexandertut. Commissioner clinch. Commissioner jacobo. Commissioner tam. That motion carries unanimously. Im going to read item 5 just for the record. I initially thought that the item would be continued. But all of you have received all of the correspondence and there was additional Public Comment<\/a> that you have received as well. Okay, so item 5, discussion and possible action regarding a proposed ordinance, repealing ordinance numbers 3817 and 10219, and reenacting certain provisions by amending the administrative code to update the Hotel Conversion<\/a> ordinance including adding a redefining of definitions of lowincome household and procedures to convert units and harmonizing the fees in addition to other requirements. This is continued from the meeting. President mccarthy do we need to discuss. I want to thank the commission for tabling it until today or continuing it to today. I talked to the Community Group<\/a> whose appreciated having time to review this and theyre all in agreement with moving forward. Thank you. President mccarthy if i see no more comment on it, City Attorney<\/a> rob capla. Theres a request to be read into the record. President mccarthy is that the letter from mr. Zach friedman . Yeah, okay. This letter is from Zach Friedman<\/a> and patterson, a Public Comment<\/a>, dear president mccarthy and honorable members of the Building Inspection Commission<\/a>, our office represents the s. R. O. Hotel coalition, hotels, and other individual owners of s. R. O. S who will be affected by this proposed ordinance. In light of yesterdays shelter in place order and the serious Public Health<\/a> risk of covid19 we reject to this hearing taking place without Public Participation<\/a> as required by the ralph m. Brown act. Neither my clients nor attorneys or other concerned members of the public can violate the order and risk their health to attend this hearing. This hearing must be pro postponed. And including reacting the record in realtime and the statements by city staff and other members of the public. This is not an imminent matter. And this could be accomplished without the proposed new amendments contained within this ordinance. These amendments are not urgent and do not affect any government function as defined by the order. We respectfully request that this hearing be postponed until the shelter in place order is lifted and we reserve the right to have additional arguments and materials in advance of the final hearing on this matter. Thank you, for your krrs, very truly yours. So that was the Public Comment<\/a>. And is there any additional Public Comment<\/a> here . Seeing none. Is there a motion on this item . President mccarthy we do need to make a motion to approve. I move to approve. Clerk a second . Second. Clerk there is a motion and a second. Ill do a roll call vote. President mccarthy. Yes. Vice president moss. Yes. Commissioner alexandertut. Yes. Commissioner clinch. Yes. Commissioner jacobo. Yes. Commissioner tam. Yes. The motion carries unanimously. Our next item is item 9, Public Employee<\/a> appointment. Director of building inspection. Discussion and possible action to appoint director of building inspection. 9a, Public Comment<\/a> on all matters pertaining to the closed session. Good morning, my name is dray grantler. If the commissioner is looking for an interim d. B. I. Director my suggestion is the former Deputy Director<\/a> rosemary vosk who is an attorney. And who is thoughtful and has good leadership skills and knows the department. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you. There was also additional Public Comment<\/a>s submitted via email by last name of mr. White, mrs. White and i have submitted that to all of the commissioners. So they have all received it as well. Our next item is item b, possible action to convene a closed session. Is there a motion to convene closed session . Id like to make a motion to convene closed session. Second. Clerk are all commissioners in favor . Any opposed . We are now in closed session. It is 10 24 we should be back. Hello, this is Building Inspection Commission<\/a> meeting resuming. We are on item 9 d , reconvened in open session to vote on whether to disclose any or all discussions held in closed sessi sessi session. There is a motion to reconvene. I move to reconvene. Second. There is a motion and a second to reconvene in open session. We are now in open session. All in favour . Aye. Our next item, is there anything to disclose . Absolutely. Thanks for everybodys patience here. We had a really good discussion here and a lot of commissioners thoughts for the future were brought up and whats going to be needed, particularly for this department, which i concur for everything. Obviously, mr. Weir, we unanimously approved you to step in as acting director through this difficult period. As a commission, we thank you for stepping up and doing that. To be clear, weve acted to appoint mr. Riddin interim director. We had a debate about interim and acting. Interim director. So if you are acceptable, you can come to the mic. Officially you could accept the position for us and that would satisfy us, correct. Thank you. Good morning again, commissioners. Thank you for appointing me as interim director. While i am deeply grateful for your expressed confidence in my leadership of d. B. I. During what can only be called extraordinary times, i want to assure you that ours will continue to be a team effort and will continue to involve indeed depend upon the supportive dedication, commitment of building safety and professionalism we are proud to have in our d. B. I. Employees. We have terrific staff who work enthusiastically every day to ensure building and safety codes are observed in the letter of the laws behind them. Thanks to our engineer reviewers and all the Code Enforcement<\/a> inspectors. We know that structures are built to constantly improving standards. And thus as these construction methods can deliver for everyone who lives, works, and recreates inside these buildings. I take this responsibility youre giving me and i will do everything i can to fulfill your expectations and to provide the department with the leadership needed during these times of Public Health<\/a> challenges. We will continue to do everything we can as a department to meet the mayor and board of supervisors ongoing leadership efforts to build more housing that is safely constructed for all, especially for our citys most vulnerable populations. Thank you again for the honor to serve as departments interim director. I will certainly do my best to work with the commission, all city departments, the mayor and board of supervisors and City Employees<\/a> and continue to provide energy, leadership, and professionalism in all areas of building safety in the city of San Francisco<\/a>. Thank you. Good luck. [ laughter ]. Commissioner, please. Just a quick thing here. I just want to thank our c. F. O. For stepping up to the plate in our time of need at that time as acting director. Big second on that. I move to adjourn. Second. Go home, everyone. All in favour. Aye. Were now adjourned. Its 11 46 a. M. People of San Francisco<\/a>. I am proud to introduce the honorable mayor of San Francisco<\/a>, london breed. Mayor breed all right. First of all, thank you all for coming out here. As you know, thousands of people take caltrain in and out of San Francisco<\/a> every day. Since 2009 we have seen ridership increase by 76 . We know that this is the location where we have at least eight municipalny lines that frequent this neighborhood. As people move around this an effort to get to their train, their bus, hospital on the bike, walk around, move around, we have to continue to develop safe Transportation Networks<\/a> so people are able to move around safely in San Francisco<\/a>. The improvements here today we are excited about do just that. It allows for people to get around safely, which is clearly what we care about the most. As our city grows, as more people are working in San Francisco<\/a> who are coming from all parts of the bay area, we know that we are going to have more crowded city. Making sure that people could use different modes of transportation to get around safely is critical, whether by bicycle, jogging, scooter, or vehicle or what have you. Our ultimate goal is safety. That is why we are committed to moving forward the changes to our infrastructure that will ultimately lead to what the goals are about, no fatalities on our streets. We know in 2019 we had about 29 people who died on the San Francisco<\/a> streets. In fact, this year we have already had two deaths. That is two deaths too many this year. We have to do more. Last year i set a goal of doing 20 miles of bike lanes throughout the city. So far we are at 7. 5 miles of those dedicated bike lanes. We are on the way to meeting that goal. This is not about pleasing one group over another. This is about Public Safety<\/a>. It is about making sure no matter how you are trying to move around San Francisco<\/a> you know you can do it safely. San francisco is changing. We want to make sure that people are moving around in a way that provides an opportunity for us to feel safe and secure. I am excited about this project. It looks great down here. The streets are clean and smooth and paved. Your bus ride wont we bumpy in this section of townsend. I want to thank s. F. M. T. A. , San Francisco<\/a> public works for the work they have done to move this project forward quickly along with other projects in San Francisco<\/a> that we have seen improvements on. I want to thank walk sf and the Bicycle Coalition<\/a> and the folks who advocated for improvements that are going to lead to a better experience for all of us here in San Francisco<\/a>, and also ultimately saving countless lives. That you also much for being here today. [applause] i would like to introduce the acting director of the San Francisco<\/a> department of public works. Thank you, jeff. Thank you, mayor breed. It is great to be here this morning. It is a beautiful day. As i stand here, this is an amazing project. It shows we as a city can do. This is a city that has traveled with folks off buses, bicycles and skateboards. It takes it all to come together to make this happen. It was public works and urban foresty that constructed this island we are on right now. They built the bus pad and loading zones. Overall, and the workers and 1300tons of asphalt on this project along with 750 cubic yards of concrete. Keep in mind, this was a project not done by just public works. It was a collaboration with m. T. A. , San Francisco<\/a> Bike Coalition<\/a> along with walk sf. Again, i want to say thank you all. After being here today, public works is happy to be part of this celebration. Thank you all. [applause] next is the partner at the San Francisco<\/a> Bicycle Coalition<\/a>. Good morning. I am claia. I am the organizer for the Bicycle Coalition<\/a>. For the last five years i worked on advocacy in district six. You grew up in the tenderloin and live in the south of market. Traffic is superimportant to me. I know what it is like to bike, skateboards and bike on streets without the proper infrastructure. It is not safe. Town send is one of the important streets in soma for biking, walking and transit with bus lines connecting. Town send is a critical connection to get through soma and beyond. When this project was under threat of a years long delay we made sure the city didnt drop the ball. We are thrilled today we get to celebrate these improvements we won together. Before the changes people were walking in the streets because there was no physical sidewalk in place. People biking had to compete with buses, uber and lyfts. Now there are dedicated, safe and welcoming spaces for people to bike and block. A block long boarding island separates the chaos. This is smart design to make the street so much more inviting and will encourage more people to walk, bike and take transit in one of the busiest neighborhoods in San Francisco<\/a>. When we set the bar high for City Planners<\/a> they can rise to the challenge and deliver. We want to thank the hardworking staff at the s. F. M. T. A. And matt haney to see this through to construction. Setting a high bar we want to thank mayor london breed for pushing the s. F. M. T. A. To deliver 20 miles of new bike lanes within the next two years. We will work with you all and the city departments and our membership to make streets safer for pedestrians and people on bikes. I would like to introduce jody, executive director for walk San Francisco<\/a>. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you, mayor breed, berrum m director and our partners of the San Francisco<\/a> Bicycle Coalition<\/a>. I am the walk San Francisco<\/a> executive director. This is one of the places in San Francisco<\/a> where there are huge numbers of people walking every single day. For so long it is dangerous for pedestrians. No sidewalks, mixing with cars and unable to get to the Caltrain Service<\/a> where we heard of the buses and trains and people moving about the bay area. Today town send is making a step towards safety for thousands of people every day. I want to give the s. F. M. T. A. A big thank you for doing this very quick league. We encourage them to keep it up. How can we do this more often . There is no time to waste in ending fatal traffic clashes. We have a goal to end all fatalities and serious injuries in the next five years. There are so many more areas where thousands are walking every day need to be made safe asap. We need to create streets that put people and safety first. This is reality for San Francisco<\/a>. Thank you to the staff at the s. F. M. T. A. , department of public works, mayors on the Supervisors Office<\/a> who are part of the important project to keep us all safer. Thank you so much. [applause] i am jeffrey tumlin, director of transportation for the San Francisco<\/a> municipal transportation agency. I am so proud of my entire agency and the San Francisco<\/a> department of public works who collaborated together. The planners, engineers, work crews representing a dozen different trades, concrete, asphalt, signs, striping. They all worked to advance the quick build project which for the first time is designed to accommodate every mode of transportation. I am very proud of the spring design decisions they have made. For example right here, the curb work to allow us to save 5 million and two years of delay required to move the utility polls. This is quick build. We moved quickly. Everyone worked and we delivered this is a city family to serve thousands in San Francisco<\/a> in a part of the Transportation Network<\/a> where every mode comes together. Caltrain, public and private buses, light rail, pedestrians, bikes, scooters and the entrance to the central subway observing a year and a half from now. This is amazing work. I hope this is considered the pilot for another five years worth of intensive quick build work that we owe deep gratitudes to the staff of both agencies but the leadership of the board of supervisorboardof supervisor. I would like you to join us to cut this ribbon. Mayor, would you like to lead us. Five, four, three, two, one. There we go. [applause] good morning, i am San Francisco<\/a>s director of transportation. Were here today to have a conversation about our budget. Even though that you have a lot of other things on your minds. These are unprecedented times. Many of you are having to deal with children unexpectedly being at home and you are having to deal with worrying about how you will pay your rent or how to keep your families safe. We really appreciate that youve joined us here to talk about something that should be seemingly minor which is a government bureaucracy budget. But for us, nothing is more po","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia802902.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/SFGTV_20200412_140500_Mayors_Press_Availability\/SFGTV_20200412_140500_Mayors_Press_Availability.thumbs\/SFGTV_20200412_140500_Mayors_Press_Availability_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}