>> supervisor melgar: good afternoon. this meeting will come to order. welcome to the san francisco land use and transportation committee meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors. the clerk today is erica major, and i would also like to acknowledge and thank the sfgovtv for staffing this meeting and bringing it to your homes. madam clerk, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: yes, madam chair. the minutes will reflect that the committee members participated in this remote meeting through video conference to the same extent as though they were physically present. public comment will be available in the following methods. sfgovtv, cable channel 26 and 78 are carrying the meeting, and opportunities to offer public comment are available by calling the number streaming across your stream. that's 415-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 2499-311-1928. again, that number is 2499-311-1928, then press pound and pound again. when connected, you will hear the meeting discussion, but you will be muted and in listening mode only. when your item of interest comes up, press star, three to be added to the speaker line. best practices are to call from a quiet location, speak slowly and clearly, and turn down your television or radio. alternatively, you can submit public comment in either of the following ways: you can e-mail the land use and transportation clerk, erica major. that's erica.major@sfgov.gov or san francisco city hall, 1 carlton b. goodlett place, room 204, san francisco, california, 94102. items acted upon today will be heard at the october 15, 2021 board of supervisors meeting. >> supervisor melgar: specifically, we must find that it has -- that we have found the circumstances of the state of emergency, and two, that the state of emergency continues to directly impact the ability -- our ability to meet safely in person, and three, that state and local officials continue to impose and recommend measures to promote social distancing. so tomorrow, the full board will allow a findings motion to allow the board to meet as a whole and continue the state of emergency for the next 30 days, but because we're acting the day before, we need to move on these findings ourselves so that we can proceed with this meeting by teleconference. so i therefore would like to move that we adopt these findings as stated, and before we can vote on that, we have to open this up for public comment. supervisor preston, go ahead. >> supervisor preston: thank you, chair melgar. i just wanted to check, and perhaps you know or with the deputy city attorney -- or check with the deputy city attorney. are we able to discuss and vote on this without it being agendized? yeah. deputy city attorney. >> supervisor melgar: yeah. city attorney pearson, are you there? >> this is deputy city jensen, and i understand that deputy city attorney pearson had worked it out in advance and it is on the agenda although it's not involved. i know it does show up on the agenda now, that it might be heard today, but my understanding is that you are, in fact, allowed to hear it today. >> supervisor preston: no, and i saw the communication discussing that, but i wasn't sure if we could formally adopt findings without that motion, but since it is in the agenda, we can do that. >> that's correct. and it's my understanding that the board will be acting in a way tomorrow that will allow it to be enacted for the next 30 days without enacting city legislation. >> supervisor peskin: we met on the rules committee earlier today and adopted the same motion after some scintillating public comment. >> supervisor melgar: okay. if you don't have anything else after that, supervisor preston, let's go to public comment. >> clerk: thank you, madam chair. d.t. is checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. for those already in the queue, please wait until the system says you are unmuted. kalina is helping us today with public comment. we have nine listeners and one in queue. if you could unmute the caller, please. >> [indiscernible]. >> supervisor melgar: ma'am, i'm so sorry. i'm sorry to interrupt you. this is not the right item. we are voting on something else, but the item that you want to provide comment on is coming up, so stay in the queue, please. >> clerk: madam chair, d.t. has confirmed that there are no more callers in the queue. >> supervisor melgar: thank you very much, madam clerk. so i have made a role that we adopt these findings. can we take roll on those findings, madam clerk. >> clerk: yes. on the motion as made by chair melgar -- [roll call] >> clerk: you have three ayes. >> chair melgar: thank you, madam clerk. the motion passes. please call item number 1. >> clerk: item number 1 is an ordinance amending the health code, planning code, and police code to extend the sunset date for provisions governing medical khanna dismukes pencearys from december 31, 2021 to december 31, 2022, to extend the sunset date for allowing the conversion of medical cannabis dispensaries with planning commission approval to [inaudible] meg [inaudible]. >> chair melgar: thank you very much. we have tom temprano, legislative aid to supervisor mandelman. >> this ordinance will extend cannabis business permits and temporary business permits through december 31, 2022, to convert to medical cannabis use without being subjected to additional use requirements through 2022. i will run through some brief additional information on each of these items. so firstly, this ordinance will allow the health code to allow existing businesses operating under medical cannabis existing permits to continue operating through december 31, 2022. this is necessary to successfully transition or dispensaries to medical and adult use businesses. for these medical cannabis dispensaries, this ordinance will also extend the date by which these businesses can convert to a cannabis retail use without being subject to an additional cannabis operating license or restrictions to january 31, 2023. the businesses operating under these temporary cannabis business permits are part of the amnesty program that san francisco initiated to allow existing, illegal, nonretail cannabis business operators to come forward, make themselves and their activities known to the city, and to come into compliance with our laws. i will note that this is the second time that supervisor mandelman has introduced legislation to extend these medical cannabis dispensary and temporary cannabis business permits, and we hope that this is the last time that we have to extend these licenses. the second time this does is extend the cannabis event permit pilot program through december 31, 2023 to allow legal cannabis sales and consumption at temporary events. this allows the office of cannabis to permit for regulated events while ensuring businesses were supplying safe products and were not allowing consumption by underage youth. the ordinance created a pilot phase for the program to allow the city to ramp up cannabis permits slowly and thoughtfully. due to the covid-19 pandemic, only one permit was issued, and that was for the 2020 grasslands event. so supervisors, thank you again for your consideration of this ordinance. i'm happy to answer any questions, and i am also joined by john pierce and ray law from the office of cannabis who can answer any questions, as well. >> chair melgar: thank you so much, mr. temprano. i did have a couple of questions. i don't see my colleagues on the roster, so i have a couple of questions for mr. law. are you there, mr. law? there you are. welcome to the meeting. have you had any feedback to update cannabis offices to retail? is there anything that your office is doing to support this? and then, my second question -- and i'll just get it out of the way -- is that requirement of complying with the equity program, and i'm wondering what specific things the -- you know, the businesses are doing as they shift into a new business mode to also comply with the equity program? >> sure. thank you for all the questions. those are good questions, with your first questions about the m.c.d. pipelines, converting them from dispensaries to article 16 operators, right? so i think it kind of pauses to confer with this group. we had a huge backlog since 2019, with 160 equity applications coming into your pipeline, and that was way beyond most of our expectations, and we created that backlog in late last year, and we start processing existing operator applications in may of last year. so this pause is a very significant step for our existing operators to confer into the article 16 bill, and we are making some progress, but we just don't see that we are [indiscernible] to convert all of them by the end of this year, which is why we worked with supervisor mandelman to come forward to ask for another year of extension, to ask for this work and continue the momentum and work all of them from the temporary status to permanent status. >> chair melgar: so i'm sorry. if i can just recap it, mr. law, there's been no challenges on the operational side, it's more the regulatory infrastructure that has led to this being slowed down in terms of the rollout, is that what you're saying? >> that's right. >> chair melgar: okay. >> and those operators have been patiently waiting. and in april of this year, when we knew we were about to process this group of applicants, we host a kind of meeting to kind of walk them through the process, so when the applications are being picked up, they can hit the ground running and go through all the steps associated with this process. >> chair melgar: mr. law, is it your sense that it has affected this in any way or they have just been able to roll out what they needed to when processing the applications? >> sure. i would say largely this won't impact their ability to do business in san francisco because we do have a temporary authorization for them to sell cannabis at the same time, but that's actually a perfect segue to move to your second question. within 30 days, they're required to submit their report to support the city's equity goal. some of them would [indiscernible] kind of section to demonstrate to equity applicants how to run a business, how to apply for business permit [indiscernible] manufacture or cultivated by equity applicants across jurisdictions. >> chair melgar: great. thank you so much, mr. law. colleagues, do we have any questions for these folks? okay. so with that, madam clerk, let's take public comment on this item. >> clerk: thank you, madam chair. d.t. is checking to see if we have any callers on hold. if you have not already done so, press star, three to enter the queue. if you have already done so, please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. and it looks like we don't have any callers in the queue. >> chair melgar: okay. with that, public comment is closed. colleagues, can we have a motion to send this out of committee with a positive recommendation? >> supervisor peskin: so moved. >> chair melgar: thank you, supervisor peskin. let's take roll, madam clerk. >> clerk: on the motion to approve item 1 made by supervisor peskin -- [roll call] blal. >> clerk: you have three ayes. >> chair melgar: thank you. the motion passes. madam clerk, please call item 2. >> clerk: item 2 is a motion declaring the board of supervisors to -- [indiscernible]. >> clerk: madam clerk, this is john carroll, back up clerk. item 2 is resolution declaring the intention of the board of supervisors to real estate name the stairwell at sonora lane between o'farrell street and terra anza avenue, which runs parallel to anza vista and st. joseph's avenues to vicha ratanpakdee way. >> chair melgar: thank you, mr. carroll. joining us is supervisor stefani. supervisor stefani, the floor is yours. >> supervisor stefani: thank you. vicha was well known in his community for his hour long walks every morning, who kept him healthy and moving this year. earlier this year, he was violently shoved to the ground, causing him to hit his head. the video went viral and was very shocking and hard to see. the crime was just one of many committed against the asian and pacific islander community. when i introduced this back in july at our last meeting, the resolution actually says 7,000 on page 1, on-line 20, so perhaps we can amendment that at committee, that it's actually 9,000 hate incidents. and just over 13% of these reported incidents involve a physical assault. since his passing, his daughter has worked tirelessly to amplify the voices of those not only in the thai community but those in the pacific islander community and asians to ensure what happened to her father will not happen to anyone else. it's so tragic when we put this type of advocacy on victims, who continue to suffer and mourn the loss of loved ones, and yet, they bear this enormous burden. i was so honored to meet [indiscernible] over the pandemic to discuss what happened -- honored and very sad. it's one of those situations where you don't know what to say, and the fact that she entrusted me to work on her request, to name the public stairwell after her father is a great honor and feels like i can at least do something. naming the stairwell to vicha ratanapakdee way would show a measure of solidarity with the asian and pacific islander community. i want to thank you again, and for all the work that you are doing and have done to support our aapi neighbors in san francisco. i just want to say one last thing, too. i've obviously been following this. my heart goes out to his daughter and the entire family and her children. and i listen to the new york times, the daily podcast, and on sunday, i think, september 26, they had one, and it was titled, why was vicha ratanapakdee killed, and when i saw that, i immediately listened to it. to [indiscernible], the strength that you showed that i found out about on that podcast, it's just unfathomable to me what you've had to deal with after your father's death. as someone who's very close to your father, i cannot tell you how it feels when you don't know what to say and don't know what to do, and i hope that this gesture shows that we are with you and with the aapi community, and this is something that we will continue to work onto stop aapi hate, so thank you for entrusting me to carry forward this resolution and i'm hoping my colleagues will support it, as well. thank you. >> chair melgar: thank you very much, supervisor stefani, and thank you for the support that you have provided for the family. if there are no comments or questions, colleagues, please, let's take public comment on this item. i know that there are a number of callers that are waiting to provide public comment. madam clerk? >> clerk: thank you, madam chair. d.t. is checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. if you have not done so already, please press star, three to be added to the queue. for those that have already done so, please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. we have 12 listeners and five in queue. kalina, if you could unmute the first listener. >> hi, can you guys hear me? >> clerk: yes, please begin. >> okay. i just want to say that i am in support of renaming the stairwell at sonora lane to vicha ratanapakdee way. there's no question that vicha was targeted because of the color of his skin, and he was murdered because of the color of his skin. >> clerk: thank you so much. next caller, please. we have 11 listeners with seven in the queue. >> hi. hello, can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, please begin. >> okay. hi. my name is vinita lui, and i want to say hello to chair melgar and supervisors stefani, preston, and peskin. vicha ratanapakdee way is not a street, it's a set of stairs that's a shortcut into our neighborhood. we're not considering naming an alley or a whole street. it's a set of stairs, and i live in this neighborhood, and i still can't believe what happened to this grandpa. so i am in favor of naming sonora lane, a set of stairs, and our neighborhood is only about five blocks circumference to commemorate his name and for his grand kids to hear his name and to talk about and tell his story. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. hello, caller. you're on the line. >> hello. this is [indiscernible] and i am calling in support of changing sonora way to vicha ratanapakdee, and i need some sort of story for my future and children's future. i think this is a good move and one that needs to be in full support of. thank you. i'm done. >> clerk: thank you. next caller, please. >> yes, i'm here. can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, go ahead. >> hello? yeah, yeah. my name is baird fong. i'm a native san francisco, and born and raised and raised my three kids as well as with my wife. i want to support the renaming of this stairs in honor of mr. vicha, and the reason being is not only do i salute, and we should salute the stop of the hate again asian and aapi elders as well as individuals, i think that this could be an honorable step in the right direction to build alliances and coalitions with all of our neighbors -- black, latino, everyone -- to make a better san francisco. so hope all of you on our board of supervisors can use this as a marker to build a brotherhood and sisterhood in san francisco that we all can be proud of and have been in the past. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? we have five in queue. >> hi. my name is forest. i'd like to thank chair melgar, supervisor peskin, supervisor preston, for hearing me out today, and i'd like to especially thank supervisor stefani for hearing this today. earlier this year, i was just a regular joe, and the death of vicha inspired me to leave my career and become an activist in the fight against hate against the asian and pacific islander community. he made me want to do what i do every day, which is to forward our issues. it would mean so much to the organization that i represent, community safety chinatown, and the community, if we could change the name to vicha ratanapakdee way. thank you so much. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. we have nine listeners and five in queue. >> hi. i'm [indiscernible] and i'm calling in expressing support for the renaming of this stairwell in honor of vicha's memory, as well. i'm calling because i'm the child of immigrants, and the story of immigrants is the story of struggle. my own family faced racism growing up in the community, but i see a glimmer of hope in the movement that's galvanized a call for justice, and i believe the best way to call for justice is to rename the stairway in honor of vicha. thank you so much, and i yield my time. >> clerk: thank you. we have nine listeners and three in the queue. >> hello? >> clerk: hello. go ahead. >> hi. my name is will, and i'm a s.f. native, and i support the renaming of the sonora lane to the vicha ratanapakdee. i echo a lot of what the previous callers have said, that grandpa vicha has been a catalyst for the community and the stop asian hate movement, and i am in support of this. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comment. next caller. >> hi. i'm [indiscernible] i am also an anza vista resident, and i think that we as a community can heal from all of the aapi hate that's plagued our country. it's been so scary, knowing that that's what's going on. this happened across the street from my house, so please, i support this wholeheartedly. thank you very much. bye. >> clerk: thank you. madam chair, d.t. has confirmed that was the last caller in queue. >> chair melgar: thanks very much, madam clerk. thank you, supervisor stefani, for bringing this to the committee. i hope that if this goes up with a positive recommendation, that there can be a small step of healing for the family of vicha ratanapakdee and remembering. colleagues, ca