Kissli. President yee all right. Good afternoon and welcome to the august 11, 2020 meeting of the San Francisco board of supervisors. I hope my supervisors had a full week off last week and was able to get some rest. As you know, were going to be doing a lot of work in august. Madam clerk, will you please call the roll. Clerk thank you, mr. President. [roll call] clerk mr. President , all members are present. President yee okay. Thank you. Please place your right hand over your heart, and will you please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance . [pledge of allegiance] president yee okay. On behalf of the board, i would like to acknowledge the staff of sfgovtv, who record the meetings and make them available online. Madam clerk, are there any announcements . Clerk yes. Due to the covid19 pandemic, members of the board are participating to the same extent as if they were present in their chamber. The board knows that the Novel Coronavirus has made participation is more acute. Your written correspondence will be made a part of the legislative file. If you are using u. S. Mail, please address the envelope, San Francisco board of supervisors, number 1, carlton b. Goodlett place, building 204, San Francisco, california, 94102. If youre sending an email for our website, bos sfgov. Org. If youre watching the meeting, go to www. Sfgovtv. Org. If youre watching on t. V. , go to cable channel 26. Note there is a delay when offering testimony, so turn down your volume and listen to the prompt. Telephone number to call in is 415600 4156550001. When you hear the prompt, enter the meeting i. D. , 1462833792, press pound, and pound again. Once you hear the item you wish to comment on, press starthree, and listen carefully for the prompt that you are unmuted to present your comment. We have three interpreters here to assist you with your Public Comment. [speaking spanish language] [speaking tagalog language] [end of translation] interpreter thank you. [speaking chinese language] [end of translation] interpreter thank you. Clerk thanks to all of you for being here since the beginning of the pandemic. We appreciate it. If you are intending on speaking on any of the Public Meetings that are scheduled to begin consecutively around 3 00 p. M. , please wait to speak on them until the president calls on them, the howard and kissling streets appeal, this item has been withdrawn by the appellant. For those who are wishing to provide general Public Comment, that is item 46. The public may speak on items within the subject matter jurisdiction within the board to include the june 30 and july 7, 2020, regular Board Meeting minutes. And on items 47 through 51. The items that have not had a noticed public hearing in committee and are on the adoption without reference to committee calendar. All other items, items 1 through 27 and 40 through 44 have each had a duly noticed public hearing fulfilled at committee and are not eligible for Public Comment today. Finally, if you have access or connection issues, please contact my office at 4155545184. We have a live person standing by to assist you to have access to this meeting, and mr. President and members, i appreciate your patience with the length of this communication, and that concludes my communication today. President yee thank you very much, madam clerk. And i also want to thank the three translators who have been with you for many, many months now, and o. C. I. And i want to give my congratulations to senator harris, who has been selected to be the running mate for joe biden on the democratic ticket. As you know, shes one of shes from our city, and we wish her luck. Lets see. So before we get started, then, i want to give a friendly reminder to mute your microphones when you are not speaking to avoid audio feedback. Madam clerk, i understand that we have we received an accommodation request from a number of public from a member of the public who wishes to provide Public Comment. We will open Public Comment at this time for that individual. Madam clerk, is the person ready to make the comments . Clerk mr. President , one reason why i did not mention that during my communication, i believe the gentleman did not specifically ask to speak at todays meeting. However, if, during the meeting, we learn differently, we will let you know and queue him to the top of general Public Comment. President yee okay. Thank you. So colleagues, today, we are approving the minutes from the june 30, 2020 and july 7, 2020 regular Board Meeting. Are there any changes to these Meeting Minutes . Okay. Seeing none, can i have a motion to approve the minutes as presented . Supervisor peskin so moved. Supervisor walton so moved. President yee so moved by supervisor peskin and seconded by supervisor walton. And madam clerk, will you please call the roll . Clerk on the minutes [roll call] clerk there are 11 ayes. President yee okay. Without objection, the minutes will be approved after Public Comment as presented. Madam clerk, lets get to our consent agenda. Please call items 1 through 18 together. Clerk items 1 through 18 are all on consent. These items are considered to be routine. If a member objects, an item may be removed and considered separately. President yee okay. Colleagues, would anyone like to sever any items . Supervisor preston . Supervisor preston president yee, yes, id like to sever item 11 for a separate vote. President yee okay. Any others . Seeing none, madam clerk, go ahead and call the roll on the remaining items. Clerk on items 1 through 18, with the exception of item 11 [roll call] clerk there are 11 ayes. President yee okay. The items are adopted and passed on First Reading and passed unanimously. So lets go back to item 11. Clerk item 11 is an ordinance to authorize settlement of the lawsuit filed by Hastings College of the law against the city for zero and a stipulated injunction. Lawsuit involved federal civil rights violations, federal americans with disabilities and california disability persons act violations, negligence, public nuisance, private nuisance, and inverse condemnation. President yee thank you. Supervisor preston . Supervisor preston oh, president yee, i didnt have any comments, i just wanted a separate vote. President yee okay. Madam clerk, call the roll. Supervisor peskin mr. Chair, i would like supervisor mar to summarize our discussion in the government audit and oversight committee. Supervisor mar mr. Chair, if i could have supervisor haney summarize our discussion . President yee supervisor haney . Supervisor haney it was a positive recommendation on the settlement. Supervisor peskin so supervisor haney, as the subject Matter Expert in the litigation, can you explain why y you recommended a positive recommendation to your colleagues . Supervisor haney yes. I take the advice of our attorneys in terms of what sort of liability we may have and the risks involved, and the fact that much of what in fact all of what is in this settlement has already been accomplished, and in light of some of the other going risk and liability to the city ongoing risk and liability to the city, including attorneys fees, and ongoing risks and consequences, it seems the best thing to me is to approve this settlement. Supervisor peskin and through the president , through chair mar to member haney and maybe we will have to ask the City Attorney without violating the privilege, to what extent do you or we worry about copy ccat lawsuits . Supervisor haney i may want to ask the City Attorney to answer that. I dont want to put us at further risk here. President yee sure. Deputy City Attorney ann pearson . Thank you, supervisors. I think youre being asked to take action on this settlement and not any other litigation in the future. Other cases have been filed since this one was. We cant predict with any certainty whether any additional cases will be filed. I think the board is being asked to consider this settlement on its own terms. Supervisor peskin and again, i apologize, mr. President , and chair mar, and supervisor haney for the fact that at about 2 00 p. M. Wh, wh this was heard, i had to leave for another meeting. But relative to the parties that are adverse to the settlement, we did not devote or obtain sufficient funds to the settlement. Does the chair or the g. A. O. Or member haney have any response to that contention . Supervisor haney well, there was adequate hotel rooms to meet initial goals in the settlement. Obviously, we have a lot more work to do, and theres an m. O. U. That has been worked on with Community Organizations and the city and h. S. H. About what happens moving forward. We have a lot more resources that have to be devoted to the tenderloin to get people off the streets into hotel rooms, but i dont think, at this point, thats the subject of this settlement. Right now, its my view that we have a lot more investments to be made moving forward, but at this point, the lawsuit in light of risk to the city, pretty much everything has been accomplished and would lead me to believe everything has been done to approve it. Supervisor peskin so through the president , miss pearson, to the extent the law allows you to disclose, can you characterize the settlement to this board and the public, please . Sure. The settlement agrees to a stipulated injunction that the parties reached that require the city to ensure removal of a certain percentage of tents that had been in the tenderloin as of a certain date, and the parties agree to a process to relocate individuals who are living in tents to hotel rooms and other locations so that they can meet that standard. My understanding is the city has co has complied with that requirement and is complying with their ongoing requirements to make sure that they keep the level of tents at that level. Supervisor peskin thank you, deputy City Attorney pearson. Colleagues, there has been a profound friction between our branch of government and the executive branch of government, but i would like to know if somebody from the executive branch of government can respond to the underlying tension as existed between the two branches of government relative to the unanimously passed ordinance for 8,250 rooms and the actual number, that they are about a third of the numbers that they are supposed to be. It would be interesting if we can have public dialogue on that particular matter. President yee miss kitler, would you like to respond . Thank you, president yee and supervisor peskin. If you have a specific question that youd like me to answer, im happy to do this and if i cant answer it, im happy to get my supervisor on the phone to answer any questions that i cant. Supervisor peskin thank you, miss kitler. If the information from the City Attorney is we have been complying with the terms of the settlement as imposed by augustus hastings or u. C. Hastings college of the law, what people were displaced or unhoused by that . That would be my fundamental question. Miss kitler, i totally understand if youre not able to answer that, but the notion that we have a finite and not vastly increasing number of hotel rooms, despite the fact that there are any number of hotel rooms not being used by tourists, and the fact that we are imposing more burdens on that limited resource, i would request that answer from stuart kahn. Thank you, supervisor peskin. Ill make sure that you get that answer by the end of the meeting. Supervisor peskin mr. President , id ask that we continue this item until later in the meeting. President yee theres a motion do we have a second . Clerk mr. President , a second is not needed to postpone this until later in the meeting. President yee okay. Theres two more supervisors on the queue here, and if you would want to make your comments now or later, your choice. Ill let you make that decision when i call your name. Supervisor ronen . Supervisor ronen thank you, president yee. Id like to make a few comments regarding the settlement. Number one, it is the first time or maybe the second time that we have seen this city act with urgency to address a Public Health crisis. And i dont mean covid, i mean the number of unhoused People Living in front of residents and Small Businesses in the street is a Public Health crisis in and of itself. Put covid on top of that, and the daily Health Situation occurring in the tenderloin was an embarrassment to the city. We continue to be one of the richest cities in the country, and to have People Living in those conditions during the pandemic was awful. And despite the fact that this board of supervisors passed unanimous legislation it was my legislation requiring over 8,000 hotel rooms, the fact that that legislation was ridiculed by the mayor, was called unrealistic, and that we were told, you know, that theyre going to ignore the fact that it exists and then, a lawsuit, which did not represent anybody, by the way, in the unhoused population and thats one of the concerns that i have in these lawsuits, which is if youre going to sue the city for action, it felt like the only thing that made any real change happen should always involve some representatives from the unhoused community and their advocates. But that has led to countless people in the mission district, where conditions are unacceptable again, even though we had taken care of it a couple of years ago, and when despite the fact that ive advocated, despite the fact that weve talked to every homeless person on the street, despite the fact that we created and put forth a mission plan, despite the fact that were offering up 15 vanness to use as a shared sleep site, despite the fact that we have a Navigation Center in our district, despite the fact that we have created unanimous legislation, etc. , there has been very Little Movement to improve condition in the mission district. So when my constituents calling, screaming and yelling at me daily, at this point, i dont know what to tell them other than a lawsuit works in the tenderloin. So when you say, you know, have there been copycat lawsuits, supervisor peskin, through the chair, it is interesting to hear that there have been some. Im personally making the request right now to the City Attorney to send those complaints to my office. Id like to see them. Id like to see if think involve my district. But quite honestly, it continues to be the only impetus that works to get change while continuing to treat unhow elsed population with dignity, which i believe did happen. When teams went block by block, worked with people, found out if they were vulnerable, found out what the best solution was for them, and the vast majority of people accepted the offer of assistance and to move into a s. I. P. Hotel or another safe site. I am torn on whether or not to vote yes or no on this settlement agreement. I am glad that so many unhoused individuals in the tenderloin finally made it safely into hotels and safe places. It you know, unanimous legislation from the governing body of the city and county of San Francisco couldnt do that, so impressed that it finally actually happened. Im happy that theres some relief in the pressure valve in the tenderloin neighborhood so that kids can walk around and parents can feel safe, and the Homeless Population are not so on top of each other that theyre at risk of getting covid. But i always have been very concerned about the fact that the voice of the unhoused wasnt front and center or even included in any way, shape, or form in this discussion, and that is where my hesitation lies on this item. But what i wanted to mostly express is that unless there is meaningful action in the neighborhoods where conditions are abysmal, like the mission district, like the tenderloin, like soma, like the bayview, like parts of the castro, like parts of, you know, haight, then, these lawsuits are going to be on our agenda constantly, and the costs to the city will be enormous. So why cant we, instead, invest the money in figuring out how to uphold the law of the city and county of San Francisco that was passed unanimously by the board of supervisors and not ignore it as completely unrealistic and off the table. And if what were hearing from trent rhorer, if were hearing that he cant get hotel owners to offer these leases up, then this crisis is important enough, this crisis is dangerous enough, then we should be exercising all of the weapons in our arsenal, because those people in San Francisco, both housed and unhoused, deserve nothing less. President yee thank you. Supervisor preston . Supervisor preston thank you, president yee. Really agree with all of the comments that my colleagues have made, and thank you, supervisor ronen, for laying it out so clearly. I want to mention the part of the ordinance that supervisor ronen addressed, which is to house unhoused people, at least temporarily during this crisis. I also want to recognize supervisor haneys work and leadership in the tenderloin on, really, making the greatest strides that have been made in terms of addressing large numbers of folks living on the street through the response to and the settlement discussions that sparked this legislation and supervisor haneys role in this that made sure that this was done and carried out in a way that i think most folks would agree was successful in moving a lot of people into hotels. So i think its a sad place were in, and a frustrating place were in, where sometimes litigation, private litigation is getting more results due to an unwillingness of the administration to take action that is unanimously directed in ordinances by this board. So i understand why hastings sued. I understand why other Property Owners are suing, but one of the reasons that ive looked closely at this settlement is to question whether this becom