Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Rules Committee 20240712 : vimarsa

The recommendations written in 2009 about how they are thinking about that. Obviously, we need to reconsider that. I totally understand the board of supervisors position. This is the wrong time for fare increases. We should be using every other tool before we get there. I get why s. F. M. T. A. Was between a rock and hard place. Lets remove that and make that not a problem any more. Lets revise how we think about fare increases. I get where that rationale may have been attractive 10 years ago. It doesnt make sense now. Lets move forward to figure out how to stabilize m. T. A. Without doing that on the backs of our most vulnerable riders. A couple months ago you werent clear. Now you will not increase fares during the recovery or pandemic . I would like to look at weighs to avoid doing that in the future. I dont want to increase them now or going forward. I dont think there are better ways to support muni. I have heard that loud and clear. That is what we need to do. This is so important for us. You will not increase them . I know you dont want to. You are committing not to do so . I would vote against the increase. That is not the tool we need at this time. Thank you. Ms. Lai. I support not increasing fares. It was very, i think, challenging timing for m. T. A. To make that decision when there is unanimous voice from the board of supervisors representing the respective communities strongly stating the opposition. That is very important for commissioners and Board Directors to listen closely and be aligned with the overall trust. As i said earlier, i think moving away from fare box recovery is something m. T. A. Needs to take a very close look at especially during these times. I think there were some good discussions and thought around increasing fare subsidy programs throughout the fare conversation. I think it is beyond holding fares static. We need to continue to explore ways to actually further help out most vulnerable communities as we go from recovery. I have recognized depression with sudden unemployment rates. I definitely also make the commitment to not support fare increases but also to continue to work on ways to expand the support for our communities. Thank you. I appreciate that. I would be happy to turn it over to my colleagues for closing comments. I wanted to say that i had a chance to speak with both of you offline. Granted it was probably about three months ago but with ms. Lai it was more recently. I was impressed with you, ms. Lai, and i am happy to support your nomination. I will be honest, ms. Natoli when we met three months ago i didnt feel the breadth of experience was there. That is the difference of three months. I was impressed with what i feel has you have done a lot of studying and growth, in my opinion, over the last three months. I am inclined to support your nomination as well. What i would say is that i did receive a letter from the club and the save the mission who have two groups that oppose your nomination. I have not talked to them directly. I hope to have time to do so before your nomination comes up at the full board just to understand where they are coming from. It is hard to tell from a letter. It is much easier to talk oneonone. Maybe you will have a chance to have those conversations, too. As of today, i can tell that my colleagues support your nomination. I am prepared to go along with that today with the one caveat i will check in with those two groups this week. If i have additional questions is it okay to reach out to you and talk to you during this . Of course, you have my contact information. Feel free to reach out. Thank you so much. With that do either of my colleagues have comments or want to make Closing Remarks or motions . I dont have any additional questions or remarks other than to say i am pleased to be able to support these two phenomenal candidates for the s. F. M. T. A. Board. I would like to move these forward to the full board with positive recommendation and eliminate the word reject in the motion and have that move forward to the full board. Is it next week . I dont think these are Committee Reports . No. Move forward with positive recommendation striking the rejecting language. Roll call vote. On the motion to amend to strike reject and recommend to the full board on that motion. Supervisor stefani. Aye. Supervisor mar. Aye. Chair ronen. Aye. The motion passes without objection. Thank you so much for being with us today and your willingness to serve. We really appreciate it. Are there any other items before us today . That completes the agenda for today. Thank you. Have a good day, everyone. Goodbye. Coping with covid19. Todays special guest. I am chris manners, you are watching coping with covid19. My guest is the director of economic and Work Force Development here to talk about the programs the city has in place during this crisis to help Small Businesses and vulnerable and disconnected residents. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. It is a pleasure to be here, chris. Start by talking about gift to sf. It provides many of the resources we are talking about. Could you tell us a little bit about the focus of gift to us. Then we will talk about specific programs. I very much appreciate the question. For anyone who is watching right now, so much of the work that has been accomplished to serve most vulnerable is because of very generous donations to the give to sf covid19 response and recovery fund. Over 28 million has been fund raised to support areas as important as Housing Stabilization for vulnerable communities, Food Security programs which has been a big issue not only in San Francisco but up and down california and of course across the nation. Very much thinking about workers and family members who may not have been access to state and federal programs the same way that others who are impacted have and do. That was to make sure families and workers were supported with woulrelief. Small Business Community to make sure they have access to loan was and grants. We are excited how diverse we have been able to do this. We have been able to roll these out to ensure that our communities are supported by our city together with all of us with city funds and philanthropic dollars to help realize them on behalf of the communitys needs. That is great. Now, many of our Small Businesses dont have large payrolls. They are unable to qualify for the federal ppp loans. Does the city have active programs available for Small Businesses to help with ongoing expenses such as rent while they are still closed . Certainly. One of the programs we launched in partnership and because of the ability of the give to sf loan fund presented us with was for loans and grants to do that. We knew in the beginning that it was not easy for smaller businesses not connected or those who were to get an answer around relief provided through ppp. We have seen success of the program. We knew it was important at the time to also have the San Francisco hardship mcwas Emergency Loan Program be launched and designed to support businesses who needed resources the most. We have committed 15. 5 million in ongoing covid19 Small Business Financial Relief. We have awarded grants and loans to over 400 Small Businesses thus far. We wanted to make sure that we were equitable about that approach always guidings work through Racial Equity lens. One of the most important pieces is ensuring every district would be represented and also more equitable work and places where we were doing that work would be supported through these efforts. In the first phase 1 million to 128 Small Businesses and 29 different neighborhoods with up to 10,000 in funds to support those who were experiencing loss. We set aside a minimum of 2 million for low and moderate income owners to ensure they were supported with relief efforts. Neighborhood goes like lower filmore, bayview, castro and excelsior. Longterm businesses have given to the city and we want to give bamto them as well. Then because we were looking for additional Funding Sources, we took dollars that we had with existing partners already with our partners to do Small Business work and help convert to support Women Entrepreneurs around San Francisco and very specific neighborhoods for mini grants to serve immediate needs. Every little dollar helped. One of the programs that just become available. Right to recover. I am glad you are asking about right to recover. We know that it is extremely valuable right now as we look to incentivize Community Members disproportionately impacted by covid19 by economic hardship, spaces to work in because they need to provide for families, having access to the Economic Relief or wages that you count on to protect yourself, stabilize your families, support your families and children or parents or extended family. That is a huge disincentive if you believe you may not have access to quarantine to do what we want you to do. If you are sick to get tested. If you test positive to quarantine and stay home. So that you can get better and not infect anyone else. That comes at a cost. You are not going to work, not making wages. For so many low income workers that is not acceptable. This is to provide relief based on the individual to give minimum wage for that period of time. When they walked into the testing site they knew if i test positive is there a program to help me, we could say yes . That was important to mayor breed, extremely important to supervisor ronen and they worked together to make 2 million available to support these individuals. Together with the department of Public Health we have a holistic system to fill the gaps that may exist to encourage people to get tested to do the right thing. Wear a mask, social distancing, not going places when they are sick and doing our part to make sure they were incentivized. Not having sick pay with the virus would be really stressful. Iit is important for undocumented. We know the lat inx is more than 50 of the positive cases and may not have access to sick leave or Financial Hardship to do the right thing and to quarantine with financial reli relief. As we start another new releaf program. Africanamerican Small Business Revolving Loan fund. How will that fund work . Well, i am very, very proud. This fund. I do have to give a shout out to our invest in Neighborhoods Team who worked day and night with the africanamerican chamber of commerce and main street launch to support the zero percent interest loan up to 50 thousand dollars. We have been striving to be specific and target communities of color and africanamerican Small Business Entrepreneur Community. It is so much more difficult for this community to access resources and it was important to do something in this moment that is reflective of a movement we know has been emotion for such a long time. For us to do something real, provide Financial Relief for the community in this ka this way ar them specifically. We are very proud to get this up and running. We look forward to applications being live so people from the africanamerican and black business communities to get relief. Flexible terms. Forgiveness up to 50,000 for those loans which can make a huge difference fought only for relief when you think about rent for a Small Business but also in terms of longterm recovery and being smart about the moment. There are businesses with the ability to be open, even a little bit. It is a stress on them. There are others that dont have the ability to do this at all. Where is their relief . They wait for us to do our collective part to ensure we can reopen. These dollars, very specifically for the black Entrepreneur Community are important for longterm viability success. That is good for them, the diversity of the city we hold dear and we need to be proud of. Do we have active programs for disconnected or underserved communities . Absolutely. As i was mentioning just simply about the right to recover program. When people go to the mission hub at 701 alabama within the Mission District to serve the community, they are providing Food Security, access to resources. What they have done is extraordinary in terms of partnering with the city with relief efforts to help pay and maintain Food Distribution for families. Thing are important like the latin x to do so many dishes with one item masa. Access to rise, cereals, milk, butter, fresh foods and vegetables. That is across the city in the entirety in those areas of need. To ensure those programs are made available for our most vulnerable communities. Seniors or families who desperately need that help. Finally, is there a website specifically designed to provide access and information about these resources . One of the easiest things to do, people have a general question and to want dont have access to the internet call 311. Reach out. We have been working closely to ensure the members and staff have the information they need to get what you need. As you call in. Most specifically for workers, employers, nonprofits to go to our website oewd. Org and click on covid19 which is a large button on the site. You will find a full list of information specifically designed for you as employer, as worker and nonprofit so that you know where to go for resources. Also, our phone number 5546134 for the small acciden small bus. The incredible staff are administering those lines. If they dont answer they will get back to you so you can talk to a real person in multiple languages. Also email sfosbasfgov. Org. Again, visit the website oewd. Org and you can find that. In terms of workforce 415 7014817. Someone will get back to you if they dont pick up immediately to answer your questions if you are a worker. Then to donate. Give to sf. Org. All of that information is to find to the website if you need resources or you need an understanding how we are phasing reopening or updated information, please visit us. We will get back to you. We look forward to serving you and the community to get through this very, very challenging time. That is great information. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate the time you have given us today. It is a pleasure, chris. Thank you for helping get information out to our communities. People are aware your government is hard at work on your behalf to get you what you need during a dynamic and challenging time. That is it for this episode. We will be back with more information shortly. This is coping with covid19. I am chris manners, thanks for watching on sfgovtv. Shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files of San Francisco. We help San Francisco remain unique, successful and right vi. So where will you shop and dine in the 49 . Im one of three owners here in San Francisco and we provide mostly live Music Entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and its not a big menu, but we did it with love. Like ribeye tacos and quesadillas and fries. For latinos, it brings Families Together and if we can bring that family to your business, youre gold. Tonight we have russelling for e community. We have a tenperson limb elimination match. We have a fullsize ring with barside food and drink. We ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar. Were hope og get families to join us. Weve done a drag queen bingo and were trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. This is a great part of town and theres a bunch of shops, a variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. Theres a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hanhang out at. We have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. Some of the older businesses are refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and its exciting. We even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. Its in the San Francisco Garden District and four beautiful muellermixer ura alsomurals. Its important to shop local because its kind of like a circle of life, if you will. We hire local people. Local people spend their money at our businesses and those local mean that wor people willr money as well. I hope people shop locally. [ ] [ ] ] i am the supervisor of district one. I am sandra lee fewer. [ ] i moved to the Richmond District in 1950 mine. I was two years old. I moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here. [ ] when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. It seems so far away. For a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. The stress was storage of the birthplace of that. My father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. It just started to grow very organically. It is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group in the Richmond District. As russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. So parts of the richmond is very concentrated with the Russian Community and immigrant Russian Community, and also a chin