Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. Welcome to the June 16th, 2026 regular meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Thank you, Mr. President. Supervisor Chan? Present. Chan, present. Supervisor Chen? Present. Chan, present. Supervisor Dorsey? Dorsey, present. Supervisor Fielder? Fielder, not present. Supervisor Mahmoud? Present. Mahmoud, present. Supervisor Mandelman?

Present.

Mandelman, present. Supervisor Melgar? Present. Melgar present, Supervisor Sauter. Sauter present, Supervisor Sherrill. Sherrill present, Supervisor Walton. Walton present, and Supervisor Wong. Wong present. Mr. President, you have a quorum.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors acknowledges that we are in the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula. As the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, The Ramatushaloni have never ceded, lost, or forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. As guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the Ramatushaloni community, and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. Colleagues, will you join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. On behalf of our board, I would like to acknowledge the staff at SFGov TV and today that is especially Kalina Mendoza. They record each of our meetings and make the transcripts available to the public online. Madam Clerk, do you have any communications?

Yes, thank you. The Board of Supervisors welcomes you all to be present in the board's legislative chamber. And when you're unable to be here, you can watch the proceeding. It's airing live on SFGOV TV's local cable channel. Or you can catch the live stream at sfgovtv.org. If you would like to submit public comment in writing, you can do so by sending an email to bos at sfgov.org. or use the postal service. Just address the envelope, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the number one, Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, City Hall, Room 244, San Francisco, California, 94102. And if you need to make a reasonable accommodation for a future meeting under the Americans with Disability Act, or to request language assistance, just contact the clerk's office at least two business days in advance by calling 415-554-5184. And in line, Mr. President, with Supervisor Fielder's April 7th memo requesting to be excused from the board meetings until June 30th, the motion would be in order today. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Is there a motion to excuse Supervisor Fielder from today's meeting? Moved by Dorsey, seconded by Chen. We can take that without objection. Without objection, Supervisor Fielder is excused. Madam Clerk, let's go to approval of our meeting minutes.

Yes, approval of the May 12, 2026 board meeting minutes.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes as presented? Moved by Chen. Is there a second? Seconded by Melgar. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

on the minutes as presented. Since Supervisor Fielder is excused from this meeting, Supervisor Mahmoud, you will be first on roll call for introductions and votes. Supervisor Mahmoud. Longwood, aye. Supervisor Mandelman? Aye. Mandelman, aye. Supervisor Melgar? Aye. Melgar, aye. Supervisor Sauter? Aye. Sauter, aye. Supervisor Sherrill? Aye. Sherrill, aye. Supervisor Walton? Aye. Walton, aye. Supervisor Wong? Aye. Wong, aye. Supervisor Chan? Aye. Chan, aye. Supervisor Chen? Aye. Chen, aye. And Supervisor Dorsey? Aye. Dorsey, aye. There are 10 ayes.

Without objection, the minutes will be approved after public comment as presented. Madam Clerk, let's go to unfinished business. Please call item number one.

Item one, this is an ordinance to waive the competitive solicitation requirement under Administrative Code Chapter 21G and to authorize the Director of the Department of Public Works to retroactively enter into a grant agreement with the Transgender District. in an approximate amount of 24,000 for the purposes of printing and installing placemaking banners in the transgender district in the southeastern Tenderloin and along 6th Street south of market Please call the roll on item 1 supervisor Mahmoud Mahmoud I supervisor Mandelman aye aye Mandelman, aye. Supervisor Melgar? Aye. Melgar, aye. Supervisor Schauder? Aye. Schauder, aye. Supervisor Sherrill? Aye. Sherrill, aye. Supervisor Wolton? Aye. Wolton, aye. Supervisor Wong? Wong, aye. Supervisor Chan? Aye. Chan, aye. Supervisor Chen? Aye. Chen, aye. And Supervisor Dorsey? Aye. Dorsey, aye. There are 10 ayes.

Without objection, the ordinance is finally passed. Madam Clerk, please call items two through five together.

Items two through five are for ordinances that adopt and implement the memorandum of understanding between the city and the following unions. For item two, this is with the Municipal Executives Association fire effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2030. Item three, this is with the Municipal Executives Association police to be effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2030. For item four, This ordinance fixes compensation for persons employed by the city and county whose compensation is subject to the provisions of Section A8.409 of the Charter in job codes not represented by an employee organization and to establish work schedules and other terms of conditions of employment and methods of payment effective July 1, 2026. And for item five, this ordinance adopts and implements the First Amendment to the 2024 through 2027 Memorandum of Understanding between the City and County and the Machinists Union Local 1414, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Machinists Automotive Trades District, Lodge 190, effective July 1st, 2026, to adopt a side letter agreement to update the Appendix D Apprenticeship Program.

Colleagues, let's take these items. Same house, same call. Without objection, the ordinances are finally passed. Madam Clerk, please call Item 6.

Item 6 is an ordinance to amend the planning code to make adjustments to the Balboa Reservoir Special Use District that allow for a connecting element between two buildings adjacent to South Street and across from the Brighton Paseo to establish certain design parameters to authorize residential and certain other uses to adopt a maximum height at this location to affirm the secret determination and to make the appropriate findings.

We'll take this. Same house, same call. Without objection, the ordinance is finally passed. Madam Clerk, please call item number seven.

Item seven, this ordinance accepts public infrastructure on Geneva Avenue associated with the affordable housing project at 2340 San Jose Avenue to dedicate this public infrastructure for public use, for public street and roadway purposes. to accept the public infrastructure for city maintenance and liability purposes, subject to specified limitations, to establish official public right-of-way width and street grade, to amend Ordinance Number 1061, entitled Regulating the Width of Sidewalks, To establish official sidewalk widths on a portion of Geneva Avenue to accept a public works order recommending various actions regarding the public infrastructure to waive administrative code chapter 23 and to authorize an interdepartmental transfer of city property from the mayor's office of housing and community development to public works and To adopt the appropriate findings

Same house, same call. Without objection, the ordinance is finally passed. Madam Clerk, please call item number 8.

Item 8, this is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to create the downtown hospitality zone and to affirm the CEQA determinations.

Same house, same call. Without objection, the ordinance is finally passed. Please call items 9 through 11 together.

Items 9 through 11 are three items that pertain to the interim budget. Item 9 is for the proposed interim budget and appropriation ordinance to appropriate all estimated receipts and expenditures for the departments of the city and county as of May 30th, 2026 for fiscal years ending June 30th, 2027 and June 30th, Item 10 is the proposed interim annual salary ordinance enumerating positions in the annual budget and appropriation ordinance for fiscal years ending June 30, 2027. and June 30th, 2028 to continue to create or establish positions to enumerate and include therein all positions created by charter or state law for which compensations are paid from the city and county funds and appropriated in the annual appropriation ordinance. TO AUTHORIZE APPOINTMENTS OR CONTINUATION OF APPOINTMENTS THERETO, TO SPECIFY AND FIX THE COMPENSATIONS AND WORK SCHEDULES THEREOF, TO AUTHORIZE APPOINTMENTS TO TEMPORARY POSITIONS AND TO FIX COMPENSATIONS. AND FOR ITEM 11, THIS RESOLUTION APPROVES THE FISCAL YEAR INTERIM BUDGET OF THE OFFICE OF COMMUNITY INVESTMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE OPERATING AS THE SUCCESSOR AGENCY TO THE SAN FRANCISCO REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY. same house same call without objection the ordinances are passed on first reading and the resolution is adopted madam clerk please call item number twelve item twelve this is a resolution that approves the first amendment to the agreement between the city and county and the department of public health and homelessness children's network to provide mental health treatment services to extend the term by one year from June 30th, 2026 for a new term, October 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2027, and to increase the amount by approximately 3.2 million for a new total amount of approximately 11.8 million.

Same house, same call. Without objection, the resolution is adopted. Madam Clerk, please call item number 13.

Item 13, this resolution authorizes the city and county to enter into the following two related agreements, Department of Public Health with the California Department of Healthcare Services for reimbursement under the state's Medi-Cal County Inmate Program to participate in an agreement 26 MCIP San Francisco dash 38 and administrative services agreement number 26 dash 60140 in an approximate amount of 35,000 term July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. and to authorize the city to assume sole financial responsibility for any and all penalties and interest charged as a result of a federal audit disallowance related to the rendering of services by the state under the MCIP.

Same house, same call. Without objection, the resolution is adopted. Madam Clerk, please call Item 14.

Item 14, this is a resolution to authorize the Department of Public Health to accept a capital gift of a mobile mammography van valued at 1.5 million from the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation for use by the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center to be purchased with a cash donation of 1.6 million from Salesforce Inc. in consideration for an agreement to name the mobile mammography van ZSFG Mammal Van Salesforce in partnership with ZSFG and ZFGHF for a healthy community January 1st, 2027 through December 31st, 2041.

Same house, same call. Without objection, the resolution is adopted. Please call item 15.

Item 15, this is a resolution that authorizes the Department of Public Health to accept and expand a $3.75 million grant from the Homes for the Homeless Fund, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Housing Accelerator Fund for participation in a program entitled Placement Solutions for Patients and Tenants Whose Needs Exceed Current PSH Capacity to approve the grant agreement For the purposes of transforming the care, DPH provides two patients July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028 for a total not to exceed amount of 3.75 million.

Same house, same call. Without objection, the resolution is adopted. Please call item 16.

Item 16, this is a resolution to authorize and direct the executive director of the Treasure Island Development Authority, or their designee, to prepare an appendix to the infrastructure financing plan for the annexation of property to the city and county San Francisco infrastructure and revitalization financing district number one as a new project area and determining other matters in connection therewith.

Same house, same call. Without objection, the resolution is adopted. Madam Clerk, please call Item 17.

Item 17, this is an ordinance to amend the San Francisco Fire Code to prohibit the sale, offer, and delivery of lithium ion batteries and replacement lithium ion batteries that do not meet specified certification requirements. to any address within San Francisco, to establish enforcement processes and penalties for violations, to authorize the city attorney to seek injunctive and monetary relief and attorney's fees, and to authorize the fire department to implement the restriction through rules, forms, and guidance.

Same house, same call. Without objection, the ordinance is passed on first reading. Madam Clerk, please call item 18.

Item 18, this is an ordinance to amend Division 1 of the Transportation Code to make non-substantive organizational changes to the provisions governing the Interdepartmental Staff Council on Traffic and Transportation and to remove outdated provisions concerning the temporary use of streets for school uses, to amend the administrative and fire codes, to update cross-references, and to affirm the CEQA determination.

Same house, same call. Without objection, the ordinance is passed on first reading. And I would note that we have been joined by a former member of this body, former PUC general manager and current airport commissioner, Susan Leal. Madam Clerk, let's go to roll call.

Yes. Supervisor Mahmoud, you would be first up to introduce new business.

Colleagues, I think we can all agree that every San Franciscan should be able to buy groceries and pick up prescriptions close to home. It's a basic expectation, and yet in too many of our communities, we're no longer meeting it. Grocery prices are up. Milk is up 13%. Tomatoes are up 40% over last year. And at the same time that families are stretched thin on food costs, the buildings that used to house their neighborhood grocery store or pharmacy are sitting empty, often for years with no plan to reopen. San Francisco now has multiple food deserts as a result, and the two problems compound each other. Less access and higher prices where access does exist. Last week, I introduced the first two pieces of the Affordable Groceries Act. The abandoned pharmacy and grocery tax, which would go to voters in November, creates accountability for large corporations that leave former grocery and pharmacy storefronts vacant as zombie stores for extended periods of time, intentionally keeping these parcels vacant to block competition. Because frankly, vacant stores don't feed families, and empty pharmacies don't fill prescriptions. The second measure, the Affordable Grocery Fund, establishes a dedicated city fund to invest in real solutions. The possibilities include helping corner stores convert into full grocery markets, like the Healthy Retail SF program that Supervisor Jane Kim started many years ago. It could enable the city to acquire vacant buildings and lease them affordably to grocers who commit to keeping prices low, like Mayor Mamdani is doing in New York. Or we could provide grants and loans for nonprofit and worker-owned co-op grocery operators. A simple condition for all of these is that they run through all of it, is that public dollars that support a store, affordability shows up at the register. Today I'm announcing two additional components of this package that my office will be pursuing if these pass in November. The first is a gross receipts tax credit for pharmacies operating in San Francisco to provide an incentive for new pharmacies to open and operate here. This is a carrot to complement the taxes stick, a concrete financial incentive to make San Francisco more attractive for pharmacy operators considering new locations or weighing whether to stay. And second, establishing an affordable groceries working group, an advisory body to guide implementation and hold the city accountable to outcomes on the ground. All of these pieces of legislation, the goal is straightforward. Less blight and more groceries. More pharmacies, more fresh food in every neighborhood. No San Franciscan should have to travel across the city just to pick up a prescription or to find an affordable head of lettuce. Thank you to Deputy City Attorneys Brad Russi, Scott Riber, and Charles Olson, who took these concepts and built them into a legislative package ready for the voters, as well as Lisa Gluckstein from planning, Laurel Aravandidis from OEWD, Amanda Fried, and Eric Monke from the treasurer and tax collector for providing feedback and making these measures smarter and stronger, as well as Sam Logan, my chief of staff, for shepherding the package from concept to introduction. I also want to thank my co-sponsors, Supervisor Melgar, Cheryl, Sauter, and Chen, and our coalition partners, including UFCW, SEIU, Local 87, Farming Hope, Booker T. Washington, and the Food and Agricultural Action Coalition towards Sovereignty Coalition. I look forward to the board's support and to bringing this to voters in November. Second, colleagues, today I am introducing an ordinance that will allow for builders to take full advantage of the building code when it comes to including mezzanines. Mezzanines are spaces between floors of a building that do not take up the full footprint of a building, usually situated above a portion of the ground floor. They allow for buildings to have high ceilings in one part of a space while allowing for more focused space in a small portion of the building. Under the building code, though, mezzanines can be up to 50% of the area of the floor below. so long as the space has proper sprinklers. The planning code, however, has a different rule. It limits mezzanines to just one-third of the footprint. This is despite the fact that experts who compile the building code have no life safety issues with a bigger mezzanine. This means if you want to build a building with three stories and a mezzanine bigger than one-third the size of the floor, it counts as a three-story building. under the building code, but a four-story building in the planning code. This conflict led to confusion for a project in District 5, where a mezzanine was counted as a floor during code review. Any sort of delay in ambiguity can cost time for projects, and this ambiguity may lead to architects not taking full advantage of the tools at their arsenal to maximize usable space in our dense city. For some projects, the extra floor that the planning department counts could have cascading effects on the uses allowed in the final building. So this legislation will bring the two codes into alignment, cleaning up any confusion, and allowing for more usable space in our new construction buildings without jeopardizing safety. Thank you to Deputy City Attorney Rob Kapla and Raynal Cooper on my team for working on this, as well as Lisa Gluckstein and Elizabeth Gordon-Junkier from the Planning Department for their input. Also thanks to Jillian Allen, Brian Hardy, and Reza Khoshinovanian for bringing this subject to our attention. Colleagues, I ask for your support for this legislation that takes the building and planning code harmonization to another level, or at least on another mezzanine. The rest I submit.

Thank you, Supervisor Mahoud. Supervisor Mandelman.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Colleagues, I'm asking that we adjourn today's meeting in memory of Michael Frank Rice, who previously served as the president of the Glen Park Association. Michael died on May 31st at the age of 79. Michael was born in 1947 in Paris, France. His father, James, was a social worker sent overseas to help resettle Jewish Holocaust survivors in Austria. Thank you. He and his family, his parents and his older brother, moved from Paris, then to Switzerland, then to Germany, before ultimately returning to the United States and settling in Eastchester, New York. Michael followed his brother to Bowdoin College in Maine, initially studying chemistry. However, an avid reader and talented writer, he soon realized his interests lay elsewhere and switched his major to art history. After graduating, he went on to earn a master's in urban planning at the University of Michigan. According to his wife, Jane, Michael loved big cities and liked nothing better than figuring out a new public transportation system. In 1972, he packed his things into his yellow Toyota Corolla and drove across the country from Providence, Rhode Island to San Francisco. Two years later, he met Jane, who had similarly packed her belongings into her VW Bug and moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The couple married in 1977. The following year, they welcomed their first son, Joel, and their second son, Nathan, in 1980. The Young family lived briefly in the Castro and Bernal Heights before settling in Glen Park. After moving to the neighborhood, Michael attended a fateful Glen Park Association meeting where he participated in a debate about the proposed rebuilding of the de Young Museum, which had been critically damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Michael, who had written countless environmental impact reports for projects involving Oracle Park, the Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, Mission Bay, and more, was well-spoken and clearly knowledgeable. He immediately caught the attention of Zoanne Nordstrom, then president of the Glen Park Association, who invited him to join and told him he'd be perfect as the next GPA president. Zoanne turned out to be correct. Michael went on to serve as president of the Glen Park Association for 12 years, and his expertise, care, and thoughtful leadership helped shaped Glen Park into the neighborhood it is today, which I would note has been recognized as one of the 40 coolest neighborhoods in the world by Time Out magazine. After the Diamond Supermarket burned down in 1998, six years of contentious debate followed as people sparred over how the site should be redeveloped. Glen Park A majority of Glen Park neighbors favored a proposal to build a supermarket with a library on the second floor and add 15 units of housing. Despite the neighborhood's overall support, a small group fought to block this project at every turn, circulating doctored images of the proposal and exploiting the city's convoluted bureaucratic processes. This may sound familiar to members of this board. However, Michael. who had studied every lawsuit, environmental impact report, and city document, persisted in pushing the project through. His diligence paid off, and today that area is home to the Canyon Market and the Glen Park Library, which have become beloved fixtures in Glen Park. Among Michael's many other accomplishments were helping transform an overgrown strip of land into the Glen Park Greenway, a lush three-block corridor that remains a source of neighborhood pride, working with then-supervisor Bevan Dufty to secure longer parking limits near Glen Canyon Park, making it easier for families and visitors to enjoy the area, and preserving Glen Park's history through the archiving and digitization of historic neighborhood newspapers. Michael eventually left San Francisco to be closer to his grandchildren, but even after moving away, he remained connected to the neighborhood and to the city, staying informed about neighborhood issues and keeping in touch with community leaders until the end. Residents, neighborhood leaders, and city officials, including me, remember him as a gentle leader, resourceful, determined, and able to remain calm and respectful no matter how contentious the circumstances. Rest in peace, Michael Rice. May your memory be a blessing. The rest I submit.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Let's do one more.

OK, that would be Supervisor Milgar.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Colleagues, today I am formally introducing, along with our budget chair, Supervisor Connie Chan, a motion to direct the budget and legislative analysts to collaborate with the controller's team to conduct a performance and management audit of the Academy of Sciences. The Academy of Sciences is a District 7 institution located in our crown jewel for Reckon Park, Golden Gate Park. The Academy received a general fund allocation of $8.1 million in fiscal year 25-26, and there is a proposal for an increase in the Mayor's budget in fiscal year 26-27. We are deeply troubled by the present financial health of this institution, which has led to 53 workers being laid off earlier this year, along with an unmanaged financial deficit and questionable debt refinancing practices. The Academy of Sciences is an important institution not just for San Francisco, but because of its mission to advance the sciences and conservation, especially during a time of federal attacks on both the environment and sciences. Similar to the zoo, the city also has a major stake in the academy, and it behooves us to ensure that it is following best practices and that it is financially sustainable. I want to thank the workers who organized into a union last year and have been ringing the alarm bells for some time and for their dedication to the mission of the Academy's work. I hope that the findings of this audit and the recommendations produced will provide us with a map forward to ensure that there is stronger financial management, that we have the proper oversight and can provide support to this very important institution. I'm also submitting in memoriam for Phoebe Lee. I am saddened to share that Phoebe Lee passed away at the age of 88 in her District 7 home in Golden Gate Heights. We all honored Phoebe last year during a special commendation for her contributions supporting Chinese arts and culture. Phoebe Lee was a talented martial artist, storyteller, and the eldest sister of Bruce Lee, an international legend born in Chinese hospital. For the past few decades, Ms. Lee devoted her time to sharing the incredible story of herself and her family. She was also the honorary chairman of the Bruce Lee Club founded to commemorate his life. Ms. Lee spent her life building the bridges between diverse communities and sharing her culture and her story, including her family story. Her work has inspired future generations of San Franciscans, and for that we should all be immensely grateful. Ms. Lee was an inspiration, and even in her final years would grace anyone that met her with her martial arts moves and also Cantonese opera. She was always reminding those of us around her about the power of movement and reflection. To the Lee family, especially her brother Robert, and all the friends she has made throughout her life here in San Francisco, we extend our deepest condolences. I would also like to close today's meeting in her memory, along with Supervisor Cheyenne Chen, who also would like to say a few words. I don't know. The rest I submit.

Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Milgar.

Thank you, Madam Kerr. Thank you, Supervisor Milgar, for honoring Ms. Phoebe Lee. As an older sister of Bruce Lee, she brought immense warmth and leadership to our community. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Phoebe Lee during an event where she was promoting Chinese culture and arts. Her passion for cultural preservation left deep impressions on me. Through the Bruce Lee's club, she shared rare and very personal insight with the world about her brother, Bruce Lee, from their childhood days in Hong Kong, where laughter was filled in their home to honoring Bruce Lee's legacy after he passed. Rest in peace, Phoebe Lee. Phoebe Lee, sorry.

Thank you, Supervisor Chen. Mr. President.

All right, let's go to our 2.30 p.m. special order.

Yes, the 2.30 p.m. special order is the recognition of commendations for meritorious service to the city and county of San Francisco.

And today we're going to start with Barbara Hale. Come on up, Barbara Hale. I don't know what we're going to do without you. Today, I am honored to present a special commendation to Barbara Hale, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's Assistant General Manager for Power, who will be retiring at the end of this month after more than 21 years of service to the city and county of San Francisco. The SFPUC's power enterprise manages San Francisco's public electricity programs, serving nearly 400,000 homes and businesses across the city, from streetlights and unibuses to hospitals, schools, and affordable housing. When Barbara arrived at the SFPUC in 2004, hired by General Manager Susan Leal, wave, Susan Leal. There she is. A little applause for Susan Leal, making a good hire. The enterprise did not exist. She built it. She grew up in Sonoma County, one of eight children. Her father was a middle school teacher with a deep commitment to fairness and an inclusive worldview, values that he passed on to his daughter. Barbara earned a scholarship to Santa Rosa Junior College, transferred to San Francisco State University, and graduated with a degree in economics. Before joining the city, Barbara had already built a distinguished record at the California Public Utilities Commission, rising through progressively more senior roles as analyst, advisor to the president, administrative law judge, and director of strategic planning. As I said, Susan Layal recruited her in 2004 to lead the agency's newly formed power enterprise. Barbara was its first and to this day has been the PUC's only assistant general manager for power. Signature achievement is Clean Power SF, San Francisco's public clean energy program, which she launched in 2016. Under her leadership, it grew from roughly 7,800 accounts to more than 385,000, and it now accounts for 75% of all electricity consumed in San Francisco. By 2023, it was delivering 100% renewable electricity to every one of its customers, reaching that milestone two years before the program's own target. Over its 10-year history, Clean Power SF has saved customers more than $146 million on their energy bills compared to PG&E rates. Barbara also created Go Solar SF, the city's rooftop solar incentive program, which since 2008 has distributed nearly $30 million and put nearly 6,000 solar institutions on rooftops across San Francisco. Under her leadership, the SFPUC also built and now operates 30 rooftop solar systems on municipal buildings across the city. Barbara's influence extends well beyond San Francisco. She helped found the California Community Choice Association and served as its first president, turning San Francisco's experience into a model for public clean energy programs across the state. She's also been a longstanding board member of the Association of Women in Water, Energy, and Environment, opening doors for women in a field where they remain underrepresented. What Barbara Hale leaves behind is something San Francisco did not have before she arrived, a world-class public power program that this city and its residents will depend on for generations. Barbara, on behalf of the Board of Supervisors and the City and County of San Francisco, we are grateful, deeply, deeply grateful for your 21 years of public service. We congratulate your husband, your two daughters, and all your family on your well-earned retirement. And we wish you all the best in the years ahead. I have at least one of my colleagues who wants to speak. And I also have the former general manager of the PUC. And let's take Supervisor Chan first, and then Commissioner Leal.

Thank you, President Mendelman. Of course, Barbara is amazing. And I have learned everything that I would know and ever know about public power, municipal power, but also just how everything works in San Francisco. And I'm really forever grateful as an aide to Supervisor Sophie Maxwell. You've been, for me, as an aide to her, who really Under her leadership, she was thinking about power plans in her district and so much more. You walk me through, you walk her through those issues. To understand the technical aspect of it, but to also very much mindful and respectful of not just elected leadership, but also the community. I think that's really the critical piece that you didn't just bring a bureaucratic point of view, to, um, this dynamic and to the power struggle, uh, pun intended. Um, but you also brought in, uh, with that expertise, with the understanding, um, of what, what it's really important to the community and, and especially the underserved community. And so for, I really am grateful you have done, uh, amazing work for in truly, I would say, uh, is something that not just the past generation of people should look forward to see what we have done in San Francisco, but I think for the generations to come to say, wow, this is amazing work in San Francisco, that we are one of the first to have community choice aggregation and to kind of take that step to see what we have done today with Clean Power SF. Amazing work. Thank you.

Supervisor Dorsey Thank You president Mandelman Barbara when I worked for city attorney Dennis Herrera and deputy city with deputy city attorney Teresa Miller You know, we had the opportunity to work together and I will say as someone who was a believer in public power something we've been working on for a hundred and thirteen years in this building trying to get done I feel like We are closer to that than ever it may take more years, but you got us there and I really appreciate your leadership on that You'll be missed and I'm sure that you people will seek out your counsel in retirement, but congratulations on a well-earned retirement Commissioner general manager treasurer tax collector and supervisor layout.

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Um, members of the board, members of the public that are listening in, uh, we're recognizing what is, I can only call a true public servant and all those things that you heard. And she got achieved getting, bringing that power from the mountains and having this clean power and CCA, all the things that she accomplished. She did it with, unfortunately, very tough opposition. Very tough opposition, sometimes from her own commission. But she quietly stood her ground. And I think all of you, she could be a real, she is an example. of public service, getting it done, standing your ground, even when there's strong opposition. So Barbara, you made me look good. Thank you.

Barbara Hale, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much. You know, when you take a job, you always know this day is going to come eventually, right? But you're not really planning for it. So forgive me if I stumble a bit here. I'm very grateful for the opportunity that began with a phone call while I was waiting for the bus on Van Ness. a phone call from Susan Leal saying, I'm going to be the new general manager of the San Francisco PUC, and I want to work on power. And I hear you work on power too, so let's talk. I'm paraphrasing, of course. And we went from there to today. I have great pride and humility in being able to say that I'm part of the legacy of operating the Hetch Hetchy water and power system. A system built first to provide electricity for the construction of the dam, but then on to provide electricity that powers our essential services here in San Francisco. Police, fire, library, schools, the general hospital, San Francisco International Airport being the largest of those customers. We were, for many years, a quiet little utility, plugging along. But as the pressures came on the city to find ways to build housing more affordably, developers like Lennar building out the Hunters Point shipyard, converting it from the shipyard into the community it is today. came to City Hall and said, it's really expensive to work with PG&E. It's really difficult to work with PG&E. Can we work with the power folks over at the SFPUC? And so from that conversation, the opportunity grew to provide more affordable power through the Hetch Hetchy Power Program to more businesses and residents. Mission Rock, our latest example. Also, as you mentioned, the great opportunity of community choice power through our Clean Power SF program. I'm very pleased to say I was at the leadership role but had a very strong team behind me, including Mike Himes, who's been identified as the acting assistant general manager as I leave, leading that program from the germ of an idea into the operation it is today. But maybe the thing I'm most proud of in my closing here is the people that I leave behind. I learned so much from my colleagues at the San Francisco PUC. They have such strong skills that will carry us forward. As Supervisor Chan said, It's a very optimistic future for San Francisco and the power provision that SFPUC represents. It may take Supervisor Dorsey a long time to get to full public power here in the city, but the foundation's been laid and the future is optimistic. I'm very humbled and grateful for the opportunity to work for the city and county of San Francisco to engage with this body, with the commission, with the general managers that I served with. Thank you very much for this recognition. Very much appreciate it.

Thank you, Barbara.

Thank you.

Next up, district 10, supervisor Walton.

Thank you so much, President Mendelman. Colleagues, it is my privilege to recognize an extraordinary community leader, mentor, educator, and mother, Professor Teodora Eldefonso-Omo. For 25 years, Professor Teodora has dedicated her life to empowering young people through the discipline, values, and traditions of the Shaolin Kenpo. A proud San Francisco native raised in Visitation Valley, she continues to serve the community she calls home while raising her two children alongside her husband. Her journey of service began at Jamestown Community Center in the late 1990s and continued through Real Options for City Kids. Today, she carries on that legacy through APA Family Services and the Samoan Community Development Center in Sunnydale. Through her work, she has given generations of youth confidence, discipline, leadership skills, self-respect, and the ability to protect themselves and others. Under her leadership, Tiger Palm Shaolong Kimpo has become a beacon of excellence in Visitation Valley. She has trained countless young people and developed 16 black belts, all from the neighborhood. Her students have represented San Francisco with distinction at local, national, and international competitions. earning numerous medals while demonstrating the values she instills in them every day. Today, we are also honored to recognize two outstanding young leaders who embody those values, her children, Marlee and Gabriel Omo. Marlee, a senior at Phillip and Salaburton High School, and Gabriel, a sixth grade student at Visitation Valley Middle School, have both been selected to the 2026 WKU World USA Karate Team. Chosen among the nation's top martial artists, they will represent the United States this August at the WKU World Championships in Berlin, Germany, competing against athletes from more than 25 countries. As the only two San Francisco selected for this prestigious team, Marley and Gabriel serve as role models for young people across our city, showing what can be achieved through hard work, discipline, and dedication. Professor Teodor, Marley, and Gabriel exemplify the very best of San Francisco. They remind us that greatness can emerge from our neighborhoods when supported by strong families, dedicated mentors, and a community that believe in its young people. We extend our deepest gratitude and heartfelt congratulations to Professor Teodora Ildefonso-Omo for 25 years of transformative service and to Marley and Gabrielle Omo for their outstanding achievements and representation of our city on the international stage. Congratulations and thank you for making San Francisco proud.

Thank you, Supervisor Walton and Board of Supervisors. I'm actually going to step back and let my children speak and give them the floor.

Good afternoon. My brother and I would like to thank Supervisor Walton and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for presenting us with this award. We are incredibly grateful for this honor and for the opportunity to receive it not only as karate teammates, but also as siblings. Our martial arts journey began as soon as we started crawling. From filming workout videos for SFUSD's education channel during COVID to now being able to compete at the highest level together is such a full circle moment.

We are very proud and grateful to be representing the United States of America and also the city of San Francisco and of course our neighborhood Visitation Valley.

We would also like to give our praise to God because he has always been with us throughout our lives. We both wouldn't have been able to receive this award and be competing in the WKU tournament without his everlasting love, guidance, and support. Our prayers have definitely been heard and answered.

We would also like to thank our aunties, Lizette Gray and Dr. Patsy Tito, for opening the doors of APA Family Services and the Samoan Community Development Center. allowing not only my sister and I, but all of the Tiger Palm kids and adults to train and build community together. Thank you for providing us with these lovely spaces so we can continue to grow and succeed in our martial arts training.

We would also like to thank our karate family and DCYF leaders and staff who are in attendance for their support and as we prepare for Germany. We could not have made the team without your dedication, encouragement, and good vibes.

Thank you, Uncle Lamont and Uncle Luis, for coaching us and helping us discover new ways to train, build strength, and improve our stamina. Thank you, Tiger Farm, for keeping us accountable and pushing us to be our best during every training session. We love you guys.

Lastly, we would like to give a special thank you to our mom. We would not have been in karate without you, and we are beyond grateful to have you, not only as our mother, but also as an amazing professor. mentor, and role model who always guides us in the right direction.

And we can't forget about our dad, who has been the best cheerleader both at home and in our endeavors. Thank you all for believing in us and supporting us on this journey.

Thank you.

And I see we have our director from the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Cherise Dorsey-Smith. I don't know if you want to say anything, but I know you are here to support.

I'll just say really quickly, I'm super proud of wanting to have Teodora Delfonso-Omo on my staff as my technical assistant capacity building manager, youth development extraordinaire, super mom, wonderful professor. Super proud of all of you. I've seen you grow throughout the years. Your confidence, your faith, your ability, everything that you represent is what we want for children and youth in San Francisco. Everything that your mom, Teodora, brings to what she does for Shaolin Temple, Shaolin Tiger Palm. and just the work that she does in community. This is what we love to see each and every day, and this is what we hope San Francisco strives to be. So thank you and congratulations. The only San Francisco youth to go to this tournament. Awesome. And bring me something back from Germany. Okay.

District 2, Supervisor Sherrill.

Thank you, President Mandelman. Colleagues, today it is my honor to recognize the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club and the South End Rowing Club as they celebrate 50 years of women's membership. This milestone was not given, but won. So could I please ask Diane Walton and Lee Bender to come up to the podium? The South End Rowing Club was founded in 1873, the oldest rowing club west of the Mississippi. And the Dolphin Club followed soon after, founded in 1877. And for nearly a century, both clubs were men only. But despite these barriers, women have been swimming these waters long before they were welcome. Yeah, look at that. In 1911, Hazel Laugner became the first woman to swim across the Golden Gate wearing a South End jersey. In 1912, Nell Schmidt became the first woman to swim across San Francisco Bay. Women were part of this story before the clubs were ready to admit it. But in 1975, six women brought suit to integrate the clubs. Lee Bender, Joan Brown, Mary Dake, Trudy DiLorenzo, Diane Major, and Marilyn Rodman. And with the legal help by attorneys Sandra Terzi and Feliz, their case against the city established that private clubs on public land could not bar women. So on October 20, 1976, the first five women joined the Dolphin Club. Sally Jo Antonchuk, Mary Kaufman, Veronica Mann, Joyce Swenick, and Zeta Taft. That same year, the first five women joined South End. The plaintiffs, Lee, Joan, Mary, Trudy, and Diane, whose courage and love of the Bay opened the door for everyone who followed. In 1977, 49 more women joined the Dolphin Club in its first full year of women's membership. 13 are still active today. Susan Allen, Joni Beamster-Bauer, Cynthia Ehrlich, Milo Fay, Peggy Knickerbocker, Morgan Kula, Jackie Maravich, Ira Osibe, Carol Pierotti, Pavla Podolska, Catherine Rockwood, Robin Rome, and Sophie Taggart. And once women were in, naturally, they led. At the Dolphin Club, Katie Maloney, Meg Riley, and Diane Walton have all served as president. At the South End, women have led the club six times. Sharon Ann Kuczynka, Nancy Stretch, Laura Taylor, Kim Howard, Fran Hegeler, and Vanessa Marlin, the current president of the Dolphin Club, who is here with us today. South End, sorry, typo. Thank you. Hey, this is a group effort here. I'll take all the help I can get, all right? Diane, what did you say? Women won and everybody benefited? Women fought and everybody won? Yeah, there we go. And they rewrote the record books. Susan Haim-Bowen was the first woman to win the Alcatraz swim and the Golden Gate swim. Joni Beamsterbauer, Susan Allen, Lisa Smith, Susan Cobb, Carol McGrath, and Karen Drucker, these six dolphin women, beamed the first all-female American relay team to swim the English Channel. Kim Chambers, and Amy Appelhans Gubser carried the South End's open water tradition to the world stage alongside runners like Marty Markle and rowers like Mary Dake and Diane Davis. These women have made their marks in worldwide record books. Today, 785 women make up 37% of the Dolphin Club, and women make up a third of the South End's 1,300 members. They row before sunrise, train for their first Alcatraz crossing, and swim to the flag for the very first time. Speaking for the two clubs today are Diane, immediately past president of the Dolphin Club, and Lee, the trailblazer with the South End Rowing Club, both living examples of women's leadership at these institutions across generations. 50 years ago, a handful of women fought for a door they had to open. And today, hundreds walk through it every day. So on behalf of the Board of Supervisors, thank you and congratulations to both clubs and to every woman who has been part of this legacy.

Oh, and Supervisor Sautter.

Thank you. And if I may add very quickly, you know, Supervisor Sherrill and I share a border, and this is one of those situations where I'm really, really jealous that you're just across the lines and you're in District 2 rather than District 3. If we could trade, I'd like to take both of you. I'd like to take Buena Vista for the Irish coffees, but we'll work on that. I want to appreciate all the work that you've done, your legacy, your trailblazing legacy. I know it's a big community down there. There's never any fighting between the two clubs, never. So it's good to have this moment. There you go. It's good to have this moment of unity. We're really proud to have you right on the border of our districts and to have you on the water. I still think you're crazy for what you do. I don't know how you do it, but good on you, and thanks for everything.

Well, thank you. I'm Lee Bender. I'm a South Ender, and thrilled to be here today. I want to say thanks to the Board of Supervisors and to our wonderful leaders. That's Vanessa Marlin and Diane Walton from the South End Rowing Club and the Dolphin Club. And what I want to say is how wonderful it is to, to still be here after, after 50 years. The reason I'm standing here is because I was one of six plaintiffs who sued the club back in 1974. And, um, we endured quite a struggle. Back then, the 70s was a time of tumultuous social changes. The older folks among us might remember. And so our clubs were no different. But we sued the clubs. And we got in. And I think the main point is that none of this happen without a struggle. So I'm not here to say, isn't it great that we've been doing this for 50 years? I'm here to remind everybody that it was not without the struggle that any of this happened. That's what it was about. And so at any rate, I'm just delighted to still be alive. And that's why I'm here. Everybody else is dead. It was Joan Brown and Trudy DiLorenzo and Mary Dake and Diane Major. Oh, Lord, I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple of folks. I should have written it down. But thank you guys so much. It's a wonderful day for us, and I couldn't be happier to see all of our supporters from the club. It's the most wonderful thing.

Hi, Diane Walton, immediate past president of the Dolphin Club and president of our foundation. Now, first of all, you are all invited to come and be in the water or on the water or near the water, whatever best suits your fancy. Supervisor Sherrill, of course, has been in the water, so I think it's on you, sir. But one of the things that we all know and that you know so well, one of the lessons that we learned by getting to be part of this is it's really important to do hard things. You wake up in the morning and you do hard things. We know that you guys do that. And you also provide the space that allows us to do that. And we're grateful for your seeing us and for your supporting us over the years. It's been extraordinary. Really. We're just this funny little donut hole in the middle of aquatic park that is on city property. And, um, and you take very good care of us and we're grateful. The other thing the supervisor brought up is, and I think is so important for us to walk away with today, and Lee referenced it also, which is the women fought and everybody won. So again, thank you for everything. And really, come down and swim. You could only have to do it try once. You don't have to come back a second time, but you really should come and try at least once.

Thank you.

District for Supervisor Wong.

Thank you, President Mendelman. Colleagues, today I am honored to recognize Mike Knorr and Katherine Roberts, the winners of San Francisco Dumb Laws contest. When my office launched this contest earlier this year, our goal was simple, to listen. We wanted to hear directly from residents about the challenges they encounter and the opportunities they see. to make San Francisco an even better place to live, work, and raise a family. We received more than 200 submissions from across the city, and they reminded us that some of the best ideas come from people who care deeply about their communities. After reviewing those submissions, Mike and Catherine's entries stood out for identifying a practical solution that could benefit residents throughout San Francisco. They brought attention to San Francisco's ceiling height requirement for habitable rooms, which differs from California state standards. While the difference is only six inches, it creates a significant challenge for homeowners trying to legalize existing living spaces. Their submission highlighted an opportunity to align local standards with state law while maintaining important safety requirements. Doing so would help more residents bring existing living spaces into San Francisco's legal housing stock, create a pathway for unauthorized dwelling units to become legal units, and make better use of existing homes throughout our city. What makes this submission especially meaningful is that it reflects the kind of community-driven problem solving that helps San Francisco move forward. Mike and Catherine saw a challenge, took the initiative to speak up, and offered a thoughtful solution that could benefit homeowners, families, renters, and neighborhoods across San Francisco. Meaningful progress happens when residents and local leaders work together, listen to one another, and focus on solving problems as a community. I remain committed to working alongside residents, neighborhood groups, and community stakeholders to identify practical ways to strengthen our neighborhoods and improve quality of life for the people we serve. That is why my office is advancing legislation to align San Francisco's ceiling height requirements with state law and make it easier for homeowners to legalize existing housing while maintaining safety standards. This helps both homeowners and renters. Thank you, Mike and Catherine. You two are... You two are of many residents who regularly engage our office, share ideas, raise concerns, and work with us to improve our community. The best solutions often come from people who care enough to get involved and take the time to make their voices heard. This winning submission is a great example of that partnership in action. Together, we are working to turn the idea into meaningful change. We appreciate the opportunity to work with both of you and with so many other residents across District 4 and San Francisco who dedicate their time, energy, and ideas to making our neighborhood stronger. Now, I'd like to ask Mike, one of our District 4 residents, to share a few words before we present the commendation. Thank you.

Board of Supervisors, Alan, I really appreciate all the times I've been able to meet with you. I've been very involved in the community, especially since during COVID, involved in lots of affordable housing meetings, trying to come up with good solutions that would work for everybody in our community. The reason this is important for a number of people, including the renters, is that in the city there are hundreds of thousands of in-law units, mostly sitting empty. The average block has 48 parcels. And on my block alone, none of my neighbors are renting their units out because they're afraid of the consequences of if They get turned in for having a renter, and the penalties are quite harsh. It can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to have to tear out your foundation to lower the flooring and to do all that. In addition to that, in addition to affordable housing affordable taxation is also tied to that and part of why i fixed my unit up hoping to be able to rent it out i'm sixty four years old i won't be able to work that much longer i was hoping to have rental income to pay for my property taxes every thirty years your property taxes double Mine are $17,000. I will not be able to pay $34,000 when I'm my dad's age. That's $100,000 every three years. And many of my neighbors are just like me, anyone who bought for over a million dollars. So coming up with a creative solution so people can and are willing to fix up their units, rent them out, and it's also going to keep our elderly population in their home, because I would like to live in my home my whole life. But right now, it's daunting. And I'm like, at what point will I get kicked out? So I really appreciate the whole board looking into this issue and trying to come up with some good solutions. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Supervisor Wong, for addressing this really important issue. I've just noticed so many times in San Francisco we go for sort of the more expensive, impractical, disruptive, just inferior solutions when a better solution is literally right under our noses. All we have to do is rise to the occasion and fix it. And I've personally been working on this issue for the last 20 years, ever since I bought my building, which has illegal units in the basement. Legally, I can't charge a penny of rent for those units. So anyone who rents them from me can sue me and get every dime back and just live there for free for the rest of their life. That's only one example of the kind of liability that I've exposed myself to by renting these units out because, as Mike pointed out, there's no way I would be able to afford to live in my own building or even to own that building this entire time without using that extra rental income the whole time. but the city has just made it so difficult for me to do that at the same time as everybody is saying we have a housing crisis we have a housing crisis but we're sort of giving with one hand and taking with the other and we don't need to do that we just need to put our energy into using what we already have and you know the resources that are already there which are so much easier to open up than tearing up neighborhoods and putting up buildings that a lot of people don't want and that are going to disrupt people's lives because we need more housing. So it's great that you're looking at what's right in front of you. And I would be so thrilled if this legislation finally went through. And I just want to say I'm somebody who's not afraid of speaking up, even if it creates bad repercussions for myself. Um, that's just the way I'm wired, but I know, and I have had bad consequences for sort of, you know, sticking my neck out about various things through my life. So I, I know, I, I know how serious that can be. And I'm sure there are so many people all over the city who are just terrified. to say anything about the situation who are in the same situation I'm in because they're really scared that it could completely destroy their lives if they do that. So I know that if this goes through, there are so many people who will benefit who aren't in a position like Mike and I are in that we can actually speak up and call attention to it. There are probably at least tens of thousands of people who would benefit from this who are invisible right now because they're too afraid to speak up. So I just really want to thank you for doing this. I will be amazed if you can actually, you know, pull this off. And I really hope that the board will coalesce behind you and make this as easy as possible for you to improve this situation. It would be fantastic if you did that. Thank you so much.

And last but never least, Christopher Verdugo. Also a bittersweet commendation. I have the... kind of pleasure of recognizing the outgoing CEO of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus and my friend, Chris Verdugo. Chris's first introduction to the gay choral movement came from the Gay Men's Chorus of South Florida, which he joined at the young age of 18. Three years later, he became artistic director of Paragon Productions, choreographing, directing, and producing theatrical productions for cruise lines, and hotels throughout the world. This is a very gay person. Very gay. Starting in 1999, he combined his event production background with his fundraising skills to work with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Miami Beach's Winter Party Music Festival, the Communion Foundation, and he served on the board of directors for the South Beach Gay Men's Chorus. But in 2003, California got Chris and he moved to LA and was selected as one of two choreographers for the Miss Universe pageant. So gay. I repeat, gay. Soon after, he left his artistic roots to focus on LGBTQ plus and social justice issues, working with various LGBTQ plus nonprofits, including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Equality California, Human Rights Campaign, and GLAAD. producing Queer Lounge at Sundance for four years. In 2006, he joined the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles as a singer, and five years later was named executive director and chief executive officer. Under his leadership, the LA Chorus built an international reputation for musical excellence, doubled its budget, experienced massive expansion incorporating education programs in LA high schools, as well as a national music tour titled It Gets Better. In September 2016, San Francisco lucked out. He moved to San Francisco and assumed the role of executive director at the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. Two months after he started there, though, the 2016 election happened. The chorus had a tour planned to go to China to commemorate the chorus's 40th anniversary. Um, but in light of the developments, the chorus pivoted and decided to take its tour to communities across the United States where it was needed most. Inspired by the lavender pen that supervisor Harvey Milk gave to former mayor George Moscone to sign the landmarks gay civil rights bill in 1978. The Lavender Pen Tour featured more than 200 singers from SFGMC and the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir. They embarked on a nine-day trip across five southern states, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The singers and staff from the two choruses paid their own way for the tour, and all proceeds from the performances went to local LGBTQ choruses, nonprofits, and service providers in the communities they were visiting. They sang in churches and concert halls across the South. They rallied against anti-LGBTQ legislation on the steps of the Mississippi State Capitol. And they worked with students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to host workshops on political organizing, trans identity, and choral singing. A documentary about the film titled Gay Chorus Deep South went on to win the Audience Award at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. In 2024, Chris and the Chorus took their love tour on the road throughout the Midwest. Going back a bit to 2018, that was when Chris and the chorus turned their attention to an ambitious, some would say crazy, but definitely ambitious project, which was for an LGBTQ arts nonprofit to buy and operate a building. Thanks to a generous gift from founding chorus member Terrence Chan and his husband Ed Sell, the chorus was able to buy the former Baha'i Center at 170 Valencia Street in District 8. Chris led the organization through a successful $15 million capital campaign for the building, now known as the Chan National Queer Arts Center. Their aspiration for the building has been for it to be a hub for innovative queer arts programming from the Bay Area and beyond. In the years since it opened, they've shown performances by Stephen Schwartz, Andrew Lippa, Leah Delaria, and Cheyenne Jackson, hosted community events like GAPA's annual Queer Lunar New Year, and served as a space to hold memorial services for chorus members who have died. In 2018, Chris, also in 2018, Chris helped launch Rhythm, that's reaching youth through music, an in-school program that brings chorus members into Bay Area elementary, middle, and high schools to share messages of inclusion, anti-bullying, and living authentically through music and storytelling. Today, Rhythm reaches more than 3,000 students and teachers each year. Over this last decade, Chris has overseen tremendous growth at the SFGMC, building his administrative team from three to 11, and through strategic fundraising and partnerships, growing the size of the operating budget from $800,000 to more than $5 million. He championed the artist portal at the AIDS Memorial Grove, creating a permanent artistic installation that connects visitors to the stories, history, and enduring legacy of LGBTQ artists. Chris's tenure at SFGMC has embodied the best of the chorus's mission to build community, inspire activism, and foster compassion at home and around the world. Although Chris will be moving to Palm Springs, which feels a little like a joke, his impact on SFGMC will be felt for years to come. And I hope you will all join me in congratulating him on his exemplary leadership and service to San Francisco.

The floor is yours. Thank you, President Mandelman, and thank you, Board of Supervisors. First, I'd like to begin by thanking you, President Mandelman, for your years of support. We wouldn't have a queer arts center were it not for the city and county of San Francisco being incredibly supportive with your financial resources, but also the spirit and love and support with which you have given us. I also want to thank my staff, singers, and board members who have shown up today. As I share with my board chair, Tom Paulino, people have lives. They have jobs. I didn't expect anyone to be here. And yet, I am profoundly grateful. Thank you. Thank you. I won't be long. But I do want to say that it's deeply meaningful to be here today. On November 27, 1978, Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone were assassinated here. That evening, a candlelight vigil ensued with members of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. That was our first public performance, right there on the steps of this city hall. That is never lost on me. That is never lost on me. And as we approach almost 50 years of a storied history, much of which you just shared, President Mandelman, But some of which you didn't. Like two years later, three years later, excuse me, we embarked on a national tour across the country. And in our wake, started choruses from different cities, which are now going on to celebrate their 47, 48 year anniversaries. We also lost hundreds of singers during the AIDS pandemic. And this organization was built by them. So it is on their shoulders that I stand, that we always stand when we are on stage in schools and in states across this country. It's been the honor of my life to shepherd SFGMC over the last decade. But I just want to close with a really important story. On Saturday night after the last concert of the season, my last show as the CEO, I was at the after party with one of our singers. And I'd never heard his story. And so I just asked, what brought you here four years ago? And he said, you know, I was living in Reading, and I just couldn't be myself. And I needed to move to a city and find myself, find a place where I could truly be me. And he said, and I found this chorus. And from the minute I stepped into the Queer Arts Center, I was able to fully and authentically embrace all of me. And the joy that he exudes at every rehearsal on stage and whenever you just meet with him and speak to him is a direct effect of this organization and the fact that we exist in this city. So thank you, San Francisco. for being the incredible beacon of light and hope that you are for queer people all around the world. And thank you to the members of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, those who are here now, our alumni, and those who are no longer with us for creating another beacon of light and hope within the city of San Francisco. for the queer community and our allies. I know that this organization will continue for another 50 years, well past my life in Palm Springs. But I will close with saying it has been the honor and will forever be the honor of my life to have played some small role in the life of this organization. Thank you again for your support, for your love, and for this incredible honor. Thank you.

All right, with that, Madam Clerk, I think we have some 3 PM special orders to go to.

Yes, we do. Item 19 and 20. This is a public hearing of the Board of Supervisors convening as a committee of the whole today to hold a public hearing to consider the resolution, which is the subject matter of item 20, to authorize the Director of Transportation to enter into a loan agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as lender for San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency public transit operating purposes up to a maximum principal amount of $200 million for a 12-year term. July 1st, 2026 through June 3rd, 2038, pursuant to Assembly Bill No. 117, scheduled pursuant to a motion No. M26-050, approved on June 9th, 2026.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. As our Transportation Authority Chair and MTC Representative Myrna Melgar recounted last week, this item was A lot of work from a lot of people and not a certainty at all over many years. And there was a lot of advocacy from transportation advocates around the Bay Area pushing for this. Great work by Senators Wiener and Aragine especially. Our whole Bay Area Legislative Caucus, thank you Assembly Members Haney and Stephanie. Ultimately, Governor Newsom and his staff. And then, of course, the MTC, SPUR, Alicia John-Baptiste and Eileen Mariano in the mayor's office, the folks at the MTA, Director Kirschbaum, Supervisor Melgar. So there were a lot of moments when it didn't seem like we were going to get here, and you did get us here. That is a very, very good thing for San Francisco and the Bay Area and our transportation system. And so with that, I'll invite Judson True to come on up. Tell us what's going on here. What are we voting on?

Thank you very much, President Mandelman, members of the Board. Good afternoon. Judson True, Chief of Staff and Director of External Affairs at the SFMTA. This is a key moment in a very long journey to get this loan approved. This loan is a key part of the two-year budget that the MTA Board approved in April and that the Budget Committee of the Board of Supervisors heard a presentation on in May. I will be brief and be available for questions. And I do want to start out just echoing President Mandelman's deep thanks to everyone who was involved in securing this effort from elected officials to all of the grassroots supporters, especially who showed up for the rally at the end of session late summer last year when it looked like the loan might not survive as a concept. And Mayor Lurie was very involved as well, and we very much appreciate his efforts and the efforts of everyone here, as well as the state delegation you mentioned. I'll go very briefly through the details of the loan. So the loan was approved, as I said, by the MTA board as part of the two-year budget, and that $200 million from the loan is an important set of revenue for the first year of that two-year budget while we wait and anticipate long-term revenue from possible ballot measures. The loan was authorized by and required by Assembly Bill 117, which required the loan to the MTC on or before July 1st, which is coming up quickly. And the total amount of the loan was $590 million, and that's divided among the four large operators in the immediate barrier area, Muni, MTA, BART, Caltrain, and AC Transit. The terms of the loan, the loan goes to MTC and then MTC divides it to the operators. The loans will each have a 12-year term with two years of interest only and 10 years that include both interest and principal. We estimate right now that the interest payments are $8 million and the annual payments with both interest and principal are about $30 million. There is a variable interest rate tied to a new acronym for me, the SMF, or the Surplus Money Investment Fund at the state level, and that will fluctuate. It is a variable rate. All of the boards are authorizing their executive directors to enter into the loan, and, of course, we did that. We recommended to the board to authorize it, and we're here for your authorization today in advance of the execution of the agreement between MTC and the state and then us and MTC. I went through this already on the structure and the repayment terms are presented here in a more summary way. And I did want to mention that the repayment is secured by a state funding source that we receive called State Transit Assistance or STA. And that amount we get is well over the $30 million annually. And so if for some reason we did not budget or pay for that $30 million annual payment, the state would withhold our STA funds. The obligation is absolute and unconditional, but limited to those STA funds. And we are permitted to prepay the loan with a short notice. That's my presentation. I know you have a report from the budget analyst, and I'm also, of course, available to answer any questions. And I'm here with my colleagues, Joel Ramos and Anthony Burton.

Thank you. Thank you. I don't see any comments or questions. Mr. Bialek?

from the BLA reporting on item 20 on your agenda. This is a resolution that would authorize the Director of Transportation to enter into a loan agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The loan has a 12-year term and a value of up to $200 million. We showed the loan terms on page three of our report, and then the fiscal impact also on page three. You can see that MTA is budgeting $8 million in each of the next two years for debt service on the loan, and then would have to repay principal and interest over a 10-year period. MTA is budgeting about $30 million a year in debt service payments. And as was mentioned by MTA staff, the loan is secured by state transit assistance funds. MTA receives about $65 million a year in those revenues, and so the loan payments represent about half of that funding. The charter also requires that MTA identify a local source of funding for any debt it takes on. In this case, the local source of funding is the general fund transfers to MTA, which exceeds $600 million a year over the next five years. So that does fulfill that charter requirement. And then finally, I'll just note on page four of our report, we discuss how this loan is about 13% of MTA's operating revenues next year. And the budget that has been approved by MTA in the second year assumes passage of two new revenue sources, one, the regional sales tax, and then also the parcel tax. which together would provide MTA over $300 million in revenue starting in the second year of the budget in 27-28. So the purpose of this loan is really to provide interim funding for MTA to get through next year until those new funding sources become available. However, if the revenue measures don't pass, MTA will still be liable for this loan and would have to make cuts to its services. In addition to its $1.5 billion of operating revenues, MTA has about $300 million in fund balance and budget reserves that it can use to smooth over the transition to a lower revenue environment. But we do recommend approval of item 20.

Thank you, Mr. Menard. Supervisor Chan.

Thank you, President Mandelman. Just wanted to understand, should, this is with us, so roughly right now the SFMTA has put aside about $8 million in your budget, projected budget for the next two fiscal years to come, and in the next 12 years, and with the assumption that you're going to make a $31 million annual payment because it's also to assume the passage of two revenue measures, both the parcel tax and the regional sales tax upcoming. Help me understand, should we, and I think if I understand correctly from your presentation, and I don't see it on the legislative file, Is that it seems like you're also assuming if the city must default on the? payment Then they are going to with how well the state it's going to withheld a revenue fund And how much is that?

Yes. Supervisor Chan, if the MTA did not pay MTC the required payment of interest and principal, then MTC would essentially withhold the state transit assistance money that we get from the state. And as Mr. Menard said, that is about double what we expect the annual loan payment to be. So there isn't a scenario where we would default. It would simply be that another fund source would be withheld And the agency would have to deal with that lack of funding.

And what is the terms and conditions? Well, we have 15 days of notice that we can't make the payment. Are there, within the agreements, are there terms and conditions that we have a process to potentially either appeal and be able to go through a negotiation and say we could perhaps ask for loan forgiveness and all that?

Chair Chan, forgiveness is an amazing thing, and we would certainly welcome forgiveness of the loan in the future, but that would require a further act in Sacramento. But we would welcome that and continue to advocate for that with all of our partners. But the 15-day notice, just to clarify briefly, is a notice of prepayment. So if we decide that we are able to prepay a portion of the loan amount of the principal, then we just provide the notice in order to prepay that.

Understood. So currently in the loan agreement, there is no written in mechanism of how the city may approach the state for a potential appeal or potential process to obtain loan forgiveness.

That's correct, Chair Chan, because there's nothing that we would do in the loan agreement that would have any force of law in the future. Any effort to forgive the loan would be a future legislative effort, a budgetary effort at the state level.

Understood. I mean, I think we have similar on the local level, too. I just wanted to understand and clarify. I appreciate it. Thank you. I am in support of this loan. I think it's important. It's critical. We need it. And I appreciate all our state legislature and delegates, as well as the governor, approving this loan. And of course, all the hard work from SFMTA and, of course, Mayor Lurie and his team. I'm really pleased to see that we have today's terms and conditions of the loan agreement. I know is assuming that we will have the passage of the parcel and the regional sales tax. Nonetheless, this has come at a critical time for our public transit agency, and we need it more than ever. So thank you so much for the work.

Thank you. Supervisor Melgar.

Thank you for your questions, Chair Chan, and thank you, President. Thanks to staff for the presentation. In addition to all the people that we thank to make this happen, I just wanted to underscore what an unusual collaborative effort it was to get here with all of our neighbors. And it required putting aside our differences that have arisen over the years over the operations and collaboration between transit agencies and all rowing in the same direction because we needed to do that. And I think that that also sets us up well in the collaboration that we are engaging in to get the regional sales tax measure passed. And so I just wanted to, you know, in addition to thanking all the community advocates that put pressure on the state to make this happen, I wanted to thank all my colleagues on the MTC and all of the boards of the regional transit agencies that all collaborated in making this happen. And I hope that we get your support. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Melgar. Thank you, Mr. True. Let's go to public comment on this item.

The floor is now open for any member of the public who would like to address the board specific to item 20, which is the resolution that authorizes the Director of Transportation to enter into a loan agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as lender for San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency public transit operating purposes. Are there any speakers? Mr. President.

All right. Public comment is now closed. And the matter has been heard and is now filed. And let's consider item 20. Madam Clerk, can you call the roll on item 20?

On item 20, Supervisor Mahmoud. Mahmoud, aye. Supervisor Mendelman? Aye. Mendelman, aye. Supervisor Melgar? Aye. Melgar, aye. Supervisor Sauter? Aye. Sauter, aye. Supervisor Sherrill? Aye. Sherrill, aye. Supervisor Walton?

Aye.

Walton, aye. Supervisor Wong?

Aye.

Wong, aye. Supervisor Chen?

Aye.

Chen, aye. Supervisor Chen? Aye. Chen, aye. And Supervisor Dorsey? Dorsey, aye. There are 10 ayes.

Without objection, the resolution is adopted. Madam Clerk, let's go to our next 3 PM special order. Please call item 21.

Item 21 is a public hearing of the Board of Supervisors to convene in the setting as a committee of the whole today, June 16th, to consider the Department of Public Health's budget reducing medical and healthcare services provided by the city and county for fiscal years 2026 through 27 and 2027 through 28 pursuant to the California Health and Safety Code section 1442.5 sub A.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. And as you indicated, our California Health and Safety Code requires that before a county can close, eliminate, or reduce medical services, this Board of Supervisors must hold a hearing called a Beilenson hearing to consider the proposed cuts. The mayor's proposed fiscal year 26 to 28 budget does include proposed cuts to the DPH budget. And therefore, we have to have this hearing and afford the public the opportunity to be heard on the proposed cuts. We're going to hear from the Director of the Department of Public Health, Dan Tsai, who will present. Then we can take any comments or questions from colleagues, and then we will have public comment. Director Tsai.

Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. I'm Dan Tsai, the Director of the Department of Public Health. Thank you all for being here and to members of the public and others who will give, I think, very important testimony and comment shortly on the budget. I'm going to go through just a little context of what our statutory obligation is here to make sure we're noting that for the record. I will talk through a brief summary of the budget and some of the specific budget reductions that are part of this hearing. There was a separate Billinson hearing on some other services, but I believe you will hear comment on that as well. So I will also note and summarize those pieces. And so the Billinson hearing requirements, the state of California requires a public hearing, Mr. President, as you described. Whenever there is any plan to close, eliminate, or reduce health and medical services, the requirement is for the TPH to hold a hearing in a range of forums. We used the Health Commission in May for a set of pieces that I'll talk about. And then for contracted CBO provider cuts, that is the focus of this hearing. But again, I believe you will hear a range of comments that are very pertinent to the budget. Let's go forward. So I think we had our DPH budget hearing. Oh goodness, what day is it today? Tuesday. When were we here? Last Thursday. And so I'm not going to go through all of that, but just to set this context. The biggest underlying piece for the city's budget and the DPH budget is very, very large cuts to Medicaid here in California known as Medi-Cal that are primarily the result of massive, unprecedented, very terrible cuts to the Medicaid program that were voted on by Congress and signed by the president. They result in the largest cuts to the Medicaid program since the program's inception in 1965. And in addition, the state budget has also made a set of cuts to Medi-Cal, where neighbors with certain immigration status will be losing their Medi-Cal eligibility. And so that is several hundred million dollars of lost federal and state revenue to the DPH in this budget cycle. That alone is a substantial portion of the entire city's budget deficit. With a lot of discussion with the mayor over the past seven months, We made a decision where DPH would not have to bear the full brunt of that several hundred million dollar reduction by ourselves. If we were, and I've been on with other counties in California and public hospital systems across the country, we would be looking at massive, massive closures to clinical services, CBO contract cuts, layoffs all across the city, things that are absolutely untenable. And so the mayor's budget direction, asked all city departments to find reductions that help to support the safety net at DPH. That's the good news. The bad news is we don't feel any of that. Meaning, and actually if you go to the next page, Our budget, if you look at this page, this is our DPH budget that we have submitted. The bottom row is our overall budget. Today we are at $3.3 billion. By the second year of this budget cycle, if you look at that, we will be at $3.7 billion. The first row is the portion of our budget that we rely on local tax revenue for, general fund. The rest of it we fund based on Medi-Cal reimbursement, Medicare reimbursement, the things that are being cut. And so we are getting a 32% increase in our general fund, growing from $779 million to $1.03 billion. That's larger by percent and dollar amount than any other city department. precisely to help preserve the safety net. The crappy part about all this is none of us feel the benefit of that because that massive increase is simply to backfill and offset the cuts from the federal government and from the state. And our budget does assume, for example, we are going to provide healthcare coverage and support neighbors who lose their medical because of their immigration status. We will see them at the general. We will bring them, cover them through healthy San Francisco. We'll make sure our clinics and our community clinics, um, uh, our CBOs are able to see those folks, but we will absorb all of that pure general fund dollars because the state and federal government have stepped back from those pieces. Many counties were on the front of, um, uh, San Francisco General Hospital the other week including our union partners advocating that the state needs to step in To help us here. We as the county cannot dig out of all of these cuts by ourselves So that's the underlying context and we have a large budget increase relative to general fund support But we will not feel that impact and we have had to have make many difficult decisions Even in spite of that because of the federal and state cuts next page, please so The focus of this is on the CBO contract pieces. I will then briefly mention where we were on the FTEs and some pieces that I believe you'll hear some comment on as well. So a portion of our budget, as I said, we both got a bunch and we've had to tighten our belts And we've called on the state to help step in. But just if you zoom out, we had to identify $20 million of reductions to our CBO contracts, our community-based organizations. And the $20 million you see here is off of a growing number. So our CBO contracts would have grown by $100 million in this budget cycle. After the $20 million reduction, our CBO contracts grow by $80 million. Next page, please. One piece I want to mention is because there have been a lot of discussions with our community on the HIV piece. And I want to note and acknowledge both real challenging cuts we've had to make and also note how hard We as a team and my staff who are deeply committed to this work, how we thought to do everything possible to maintain as much funding and support for HIV as possible. One really important piece on the HIV context, this chart illustrates a steady decrease of federal government funding for HIV in San Francisco over the course of 25 years. It's a $23 million reduction in Ryan White Part A funding in the city. Next page. We as the city historically have made a commitment for HIV services to backfill through the general fund those loss of federal revenues. And so if you look on this slide, the HIV health services, which is for HIV treatment, that second row, the general fund backfill, the mayor has maintained that we will maintain the general fund backfill. What you see this year is $28.7 million. backfilling for federal cuts. And that general fund backfill will grow to $30 million. So our overall HIV treatment services will increase. HIV prevention, which there are reductions on that we will talk through. around that, but in aggregate, even with very painful decisions, which are not why any of us do this work, the prevention bucket decreases from 34.5 to 34. So when you add up overall HIV spending at the department, today we are 84.1 million. By the second year of this budget cycle, we will be slightly more than we are now. I think our CBOs would appropriately say that $300,000 increase on $84 million does not keep up with inflation and the ability to serve folks, and they would be right about that as well. But it's important to note just where we are. We've fought to maintain the city's general fund backfill, and the mayor has put his support behind that general fund backfill piece as well. So if we go to the next page. So again, the subject of this is on the contract CBO reductions. Let me walk through the overall CBO funding lines, and we've highlighted the items that require the Bielansin, and then we'll briefly walk through each. Then I'll come to some of the other items and the clinic closures that have come up. So on the contract reductions, I mentioned $20 million. The exact number is $19.9 million. Again, these are reductions to our generally nonprofit providers in the community. They're very important partners with us. Most of the $20 million, we worked really hard to identify through things that would not impact services. So if you look at this first bucket, $7.148 million. There are a range of contract renegotiations that will not impact services. I want to commend as one example UCSF here, who is a very important partner to us across the DPH and San Francisco General Hospital. We went to them. We said, this is the situation we're in. We need to find efficiencies in your contract. and we don't want that to impact services. To their credit, they leaned in. They've worked with us around that. You'll see two lines that are adding to $2.795 million that we've worked on with UCSF. Those are the types of things that we've gone to first to not impact services. On the second bucket, you'll see two things highlighted that are the subject of this Bielansson hearing where we've had changes to funding sources, and primarily the changes to funding sources I want to note for the Bielansson, We did not propose, for budget reasons, various cuts to something funded through the Behavioral Health Services Act, Prop 1 here in the state. But the state has made a range of policy decisions where what we as a city are allowed to fund with Prop 1, State Prop 1, Behavioral Health Services Act funding has changed and has reduced a certain set of services of things that go upstream. So you will see a set of contracts listed here on one of the upcoming slides for Billinson because they meet the requirement of leading to a reduction in services. Those contract reductions are because the state, those are all state funded. The state has changed their allocation criteria and what we are allowed to spend as a result for that. For our budget purposes, what the state also did was allow for increased use for housing and housing supports. And so we certainly take advantage of that. That's how we have funding in here. But that is why the Behavioral Health Services Act Prop 1 funding, that is a state piece, why it factors into this discussion relative to the budget. Next page, please. And then on this page, you'll see a range of lines all highlighted here in blue. This is a page of the sum total of our remaining CBO reductions for this budget cycle. You'll see a set of things around harm reduction supply policy. I'll walk through these shortly and a range of other pieces here. The blue ones are the ones that have some sort impact today that are part of the Billinson. Notably, I want to know, because I've had many discussions with our CBO partners and some of the board on what we call our health access points, a really critical piece for HIV prevention. There's a 6.6% reduction in those services with our HAP partners. We do not have those cuts, the 6.6%, go into effect until next fiscal year, July 1 of 2027. We hope to work with them to do everything possible to minimize service impact, including Medicaid billing. And so they are not in the Bielansin now, but we will have to do a Bielansin if in the work over the next year there are actual service reductions as a result. That is why that is not highlighted in blue. Okay, so that's the overall zoom out of which pieces are here as part of the budget. Next page, please, Raghda. And I think I already mentioned this piece around BHSA. And again, today's, okay, so today's hearings are on the contracted piece. What I'm going to spend a moment on, if we go to the next page, is we held a on May, May 18th for programmatic changes at the DPH that involve our own staff. And so one thing I want to note from a budget standpoint is we had to reduce 130 FTE, budgeted FTE positions in this budget. My direction to our leadership team and staff was to do everything possible, even if we didn't land at the perfect policy answers, to minimize layoffs and to help preserve civil service staff ability to maintain their jobs, all of that in the DPH. And so of the 130 FTEs, we did 100 vacancies of elimination. We did roughly 25 to 27 reassignments. And we are still working with our labor partners and unions. We're down to two layoffs now out of 8,000 staff at the DPH. I think we have a little bit more of continued work to do with our labor partners around that. The clinic consolidations, and I see some of our staff and maybe some patients and other shares, I want to... Recognizing that you will hear from them, I think it is important to hear that testimony from them for folks to understand the impact of this budget and what it has on real people. We made a decision, a very difficult decision, to consolidate a set of clinics that are lower volume and have the staff, no layoffs, but be reassigned to other clinics continuing to see patients and to help work through, make sure we could transition patients. We held that on May 18th. I would acknowledge a few things just because I know some of the team and I think some of the community-based organizations in this space are here. You will hear accurately that the people that are cared for in these clinics are deeply, deeply vulnerable. In some cases, they have not wanted to get care in other parts of the delivery system. They have longstanding relationships with clinicians and the places that they're going around that. And these are very, very difficult pieces. And they would be right on every single one of those pieces. And so this is not why I took this job a year ago. And I hope you are seeing as we try to solve the budget, one goal I have had is to minimize layoffs and to make sure we could reassign. That has led to things where we, in a fact-based way, try to make reassignments. But you will hear accurately the impact of that, and that is important for everybody to know and to see and to recognize. And I'm appreciative that they are here today, and you will hear from them. On the specifics, I won't walk through it because the rest of this, I think, to satisfy the statutory requirement is to make sure we are leaving space for public comment. There's no action needed on that from the board today, but the statutory requirement is we hold public comment and then we are able to consider all those comments as we work through implementing these pieces. You'll see here a range substance use and other related services. I can get into details as needed around that. Next page, Raghda. a set of changes in safer use, supply policy, and a range of other program reductions for some of our larger contractors that we've been working with. Next page. And I'm trying to go through quickly just to then finish what we are required to do here and then turn it over to comments and questions. This page, I just want to be really clear. The services here are really important services. These are within the State Prop 1 Behavioral Health Services Act, otherwise known as BHSA. where the state is reducing the amount of funding that we get for what are upstream kind of preventative type of services. And so this is where our team had to make difficult decisions based on that new state direction. They are not things that we did of our own volition from a budget standpoint, but we are including them here because they are effectuated on the same budget cycle and are intersecting here. And then is there one more page? No. Thank you. Okay. With that, I just want to thank many of our community providers, staff, others who have very vocally expressed their thoughts, and I own that, respect that, hear that, and also our staff who none of them got into this work for public service to work on probably the most difficult budget that DPH has had, as I understand from staff that have been here since 2008. And so it's taking a toll on everyone, not least of which impacted staff and programs. And I appreciate their commitment Perseverance and trying to find my framework has been do the least harm possible And we need help from the state to help off me as the county in San Francisco cannot offset every federal and state cut by ourselves so with that I Thank you Thank You director sigh I do not see anyone in the queue and So we will open this up to public comment Thank you

Members of the public, if you are here to participate in the Beilenson hearing before the Board of Supervisors to provide your comments on the reductions or cuts from the Department of Public Health, this is your opportunity. We are setting the timer for two minutes from the President. If you are stepping up to the podium, please notice that there is a timer on the podium which will allow you to speak for two minutes. And that is the podium to your right, sir. That podium has the timer. You are welcome to use either podium. And I'll begin your time now.

Good afternoon, Board of Supervisors. My name is Omar Fall and I'm the San Francisco field director with SEIU Local 1021, representing frontline public health workers and many employees across the city. Regarding the Department of Public Health budget reduction, SEIU strongly believes that this proposed cut are not administrative adjustment. They are dismantling of critical life-saving services. Closing clinics like the Southeast Mission Geriatric Clinic eliminate the only outpatient psychiatric care especially serving older adults in the city. There is no equivalent system waiting to absorb this patient. Similarly, youth clinic like Larkin and Cole serving highly specialized population, unhoused youth, LGBTQ youth, and young people in crisis who cannot simply be redirected into general care. This proposal also do not represent fiscal responsibility When clinics like Southeast Mission generate a significant portion of their revenue through Medicare billing, cutting services means forfeiting federal dollars while increasing downstream costs in emergency room, hospitalization, and crisis responses. Instead of stabilizing service in the front in the face of the state level reduction, The city is layering additional local cuts on top of accelerated harm to the very community most at risk. Community-based organizations built over a decade with trusted partners like Felton Healthcare 360 and others cannot be rebuilt or dismantled. The loss of providers, relationship, and trust will be immediate and long-lasting. This cut will affect thousands of residents, seniors, people experiencing homelessness, individuals struggling with substance abuse, and mental condition. For many, there is no realistic alternative access to care. We urge you to reject this reduction and restore funding. Do not pass a budget that closes...

Thank you for your comment, sir. All right, can we have the next speaker please?

Good afternoon. My name is Francisco Robesa, and I'm a clinician at Southeast Mission Geriatric Services. I've been there for 25 years. I have seen this clinic grow and suffer 25 years of closure after attempted closure. It is my position that if you allow this clinic to be closed, then the, well, it's definite, this will be the last geriatric outpatient mental health clinic for our seniors. This is a population that's very vulnerable. all over 60, all with mental, physical, and other conditions that they need the outpatient services in their communities. I will say that we were identified for closure because they say we were low volume. In fact, those statistics, those numbers were completely incorrect. They've been since raised to double what they said when they told us we had to be closed because of low volume. I would argue that those inaccuracies in their EPIC system where we are now currently billing, that we just started billing about a year and a half or so, are inaccurate because there was little attention paid to the kind of services outpatient mental health provides. And thus, there's a period in which also the two positions that are full-time were new interns and we were training them, apart from the fact that Two of the clinicians are out of the clinic. In total, our clients are being told that their services are not important, that their care is not important. Please, please don't allow this clinic to be closed. We bill Medicare. Medicare is not being terminated at all. That's 80% of our billing. And San Francisco's only getting older. About a third of San Francisco is going to be over 60 in the next few years. We are the last older adult mental health clinic. You're essentially terminating, eliminating clients. And if we at San Francisco, we said...

Thank you for your comments. Can we hear from our next speaker, please? Before the next speaker begins, I will say we have a board rule, an approved board rule, which does not allow any clapping or booing on one side or the other. But if you must provide some signal of support, you are welcome to wave your hands. All right. Well, thank you so much for that support. Welcome to our next speaker.

My name is Leslie Miniweather. I'm a behavioral health clinician at Mission, Southeast Mission Geriatric Clinic. I'm impressed by the Board of Supervisors. I used to work for a congressman in DC. I'm impressed by the power that you have to be able to change, reconstruct, help or not help. I'm asking that you keep our clinic open because I myself am a senior. And I know the impact that closing our clinic will have on the seniors that sit in this room today. We are a specialized clinic, the only one and the last one. We're not asking for much. Our budget is not that much. We bill Medicare and Medi-Cal And the numbers that were given to you, esteemed supervisors, were wrong. And they continue to be wrong because the reporting system in EPIC does not exist. It is being created. So I'm asking you, please, I'm I've come to a lot of these different meetings, but this is the one that I guess is the most impactful. So I'm asking you please, we're begging, literally begging, that you keep us open and let us provide the services that we continue to provide for our seniors. The one thing that I hear from our seniors more than anything is that they feel safe coming to us. And for a vulnerable population, safety is always going to be the most important thing. Thank you for listening.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, Supervisors. Marnie Regan, Larkin Street Youth Services and Chair of HESPA. We urge you to halt these reductions and the closure of three clinics that poor and homeless youth and elders the most The most in need in this city depend on to survive. Homelessness and health are inseparable. Service cuts don't save money. They shift the cost to emergency rooms, jails, and crisis response, while worsening suffering on our streets. When access shrinks, people with untreated needs are pushed further from care, not closer. How do we expect people to get well, become stable, and self-sufficient if we reduce health services and access to care? None of this makes sense. This is a policy choice. We need continuity, low barrier access, and trust. Disrupting services breaks that trust and unwinds hard-won progress. This is a policy choice. We have a $400 million federal and state risk reserve that you all approved last year for this purpose. Please use it. I urge you to protect these services and keep the clinics open. I work for Larkin Street. We have been housing and covering the overhead at the Michael Baxter Clinic for decades. We pay for all the overhead. DPH pays for staff. It is a huge cost-saving resource for the city, and to close it for vulnerable individuals homeless youth and minors is unacceptable. Our city's values demand that we respond with care, stability and dignity, not retrenchment. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

When I came out, my parents didn't have all the tools or knowledge that they needed to support me. I was dealing with transphobia, frequent microaggressions, and invisibility that they hadn't been taught to understand, and it was taking a significant toll on my mental health and will to live. When we looked for support, we found Lyric. When I showed up at my first public comment, Lyric was there to support me and my friends. I've met my closest friends at the SF LGBT Center and always felt safe inside that building. I'm very fortunate in my family and financial situations to have other options such as therapy, but I can still count the times in my life that this center, that hotline, or that organization has saved me. I still needed these resources, which emphasizes how essential and life-saving these organizations are for myself and everyone else in my community. As LGBTQ plus organizations across the country, including San Francisco, are already facing federal funding cuts and hostility, now is not the time to make these cuts. San Francisco, a city known for its rich career history and acceptance of the LGBTQ plus community, should not be the one to defund these programs. I urge you to fund services like Lyric and help San Francisco continue to be, as Christopher Dugo earlier put it, the incredible beacon of light and hope that we've been for this country and the world. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Leslie Cupper. I am coming to you wearing several different hats. I own a condo in San Francisco on the 1300 block of Stevenson Street. I am a city and county of San Francisco DPH employee, SEIU member. And I currently work as a senior behavioral health clinician on the street health team, providing essential services to folks who are on the streets who are highly prioritized. We need someone somewhere for them to go. We need someone somewhere for them to go. Most folks on the streets are having some pretty significant mental health issues, symptoms, and many of them are our specialty populations at either end of the age spectrum. I can think of four clients out of 20 who are either seniors or transition age youth who are severely underserved, who we are spending a lot of efforts and energy to try to help. it impacts the rest of the system of care if we don't have places like Southeast Mission Geriatric. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, supervisors. I'm Laura Thomas. I'm with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. That was a long time ago. And I'm one of the co-chairs of the HIV AIDS Provider Network. As you will notice from the list of funding cuts, The San Francisco AIDS Foundation is facing substantial cuts this year, including the ones that are up for this hearing, include closing some of our very longstanding HIV prevention, hepatitis prevention, overdose prevention, and linkage to care services in neighborhoods around the country. And without these services, neighborhoods and communities are going to be underserved. These have been lifelines to people connecting to treatment for decades. And without them, people are not going to be able to know where to go to access services. We're also facing the elimination of our substance use disorder coordinator position, which despite what it says in the official document is not at all underutilized. This is somebody who works within our treatment program and helps to move people on to more intensive levels of treatment and address other needs that they have. They perform a very core function and ensuring that people are able to access substance use disorder treatment and stay in that substance use disorder treatment. Also not on this list are partners at the Alliance Health Project and their clearinghouse contract. It includes some of their HIV testing capacity, which the city will be losing with these budget cuts. With HIV getting to zero is within reach, and now is not the time for us as a city to be going backwards and cutting these core essential lifesaving HIV prevention services. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

My name is Steven Torres. I'm a nightlife worker here in San Francisco. I'm reflecting upon the comments earlier during the special order about how this is a place of hope for so many from across our nation and across the world that are seeking a place to be where they can be themselves. But when you make cuts like this, it signals that that support is conditional, that it's only a place for people who can take care of themselves. You tell us that you support us and you're going to protect us from this administration, and yet this leaves our most vulnerable behind. It's pride right now. Many of you will be in the parade at the end of the month. Some of you are members of our community. Will you be able to face our community knowing that you have taken cuts to the very people who need it the most, our elders, our queer kids, those who are living with long-term conditions like HIV, those who are struggling with substance use? Please, you cannot leave us behind.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Hello. I've lost my eloquence in putting together these comments because I just feel pain now when I hear and see People's lives reduced to numbers and budgets. Is this what the comeback is for San Francisco to get rid of poor people, homeless people, queer people, seniors, disabled people, people with HIV, substance use disorder? Is this the comeback? It feels like you are going to commit a massacre against us. And I don't know how to stop that. We don't know how to stop that. Because if we did, we would have stopped it already years ago. This didn't start with Lurie. What do we need to do to stop you? What do we need to do to stop the mayor? What do we seriously need to do? Because words aren't working. Conversations aren't working. And then that reduces the options left over. So I really want to know, what do we need to do to stop you? What do we need to do to stop the massacre? We see these things of drones and missiles bringing down cities and killing masses and masses and millions of people in other lands. But I feel like the same thing, the same bloodless massacre is going to happen here, but your hands don't have to get bloody, but ours will, fighting your policy assaults.

Welcome to the next speaker.

Hello, I would like to once again point out that these cuts will affect, um, specifically organizations that serve the youth of our city. That is Lyric, Huckleberry, Locking Street Clinic. And that I know that you all are moving absolute mountains with this budget deficit that you take no pride or joy in cutting these sorts of things, but that I think that it is an opportunity to restructure the budget and the things that our city spends money on, and specifically the things that we prioritize. And that's an opportunity as much as it is a crisis. I think specifically during Pride Month, it is important to Again, remember that the people who are most vulnerable deserve the most help. And earlier in this meeting, you saw a movement to spend, I think, something like $25,000 on putting up banners in the so-called transgender district. That sort of stuff, while helpful and very important, is useless when you are denying necessary care to the very people whom you claim to tout. And that is all. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name's Kathy Burek. I'm a longtime San Francisco resident city college teacher. And it's like a comment that is so obvious it shouldn't be said, but I felt like I had to. When I looked at the June 1 statement from the mayor's office that this was a budget that strengthens the social safety net, And then I saw what was being cut from it in health care and senior services and on and on and on. I'm just asking you to please strengthen the safety net for the people in town who really need it. These cuts just do the opposite. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Susan Zago. I've been a behavioral health clinician at the DPH-run Cold Street Youth Clinic for 19 years. I'm here to contest the closure of the DPH-EP Youth Clinic. CHIPI was built by Michael Baxter, a gay man living with HIV who watched his community die and decided to dedicate his life to making sure no young person would face that alone. What makes our clinics valuable is not just the medical, reproductive, and mental health care we provide, Both clinics are embedded inside community organization, Huckleberry and Larkin, where young people can also access much needed case management, food, housing support, and employment resources. In a single visit, on a single day, without needing multiple appointments in different parts of the city, they can address the full complexity of their lives. This integrated care is the only model that actually works for this population. We are also in the midst of a youth mental health crisis. These clinics provide on-the-spot, low-barrier mental health support to young people who would otherwise have nowhere to turn. There are no other clinics like this in San Francisco. Adult clinics are not equipped to serve this population, and there is no transition plan. They are unique, built over 30 years specifically for this population in spaces where these young people feel safe. Once they're gone, they're gone. Now consider what closing these clinics actually saves. DPH pays zero rent. Our community partner covered the overhead. The staff are being reassigned, not laid off. As per DPH's own calculation, the saving is about $700,000 per clinic. A rounding error against a budget shortfall in the hundreds of millions. But the losses for these vulnerable youths are immeasurable. Young people will not go somewhere else. They will go without. I'm asking this board to restore funding and keep these clinics open.

Thank you for your comments. Welcome to the next speaker.

Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is Sophia Padilla, and I'm a behavioral health clinician with the Michael Baxter Larkin Street Clinic. I'm here today because the justification for closing our CHPI clinics is based on a false premise, that these clinics are underutilized. The reality is that we have been chronically understaffed and unsupported for years. You cannot reduce staffing, leave positions vacant, limit available appointments, reduce clinic hours, and then point to lower service numbers as evidence that a clinic is not needed. What we are seeing is not under utilization, but it is the predictable result of under investment. Our dedicated Chippy staff have continued to serve the youth of the Haight, Tenderloin, and beyond, despite ongoing staff shortages and resource constraints. Instead of receiving the support needed to meet community demand, these clinics are now being punished for the consequences of those shortages. I am also deeply concerned by the lack of a concrete transition plan for the patients that currently rely on these clinics. Throughout this process, we have heard countless assurances that patients will experience a smooth transition, but assurances are not a plan. To date, there has been little public information about where patients will go, whether the receiving programs have the capacity to absorb them, or how the city will ensure that vulnerable patients do not fall out of treatment. Any plan discussed by DPH comes as the result of advocacy and pressure from staff, CBOs, and community members declaring that our patients deserve better, and it is still not enough. If the city's goal is to improve access to care and use resources wisely for a healthier San Francisco, the answer is not to close these clinics. The answer is to adequately staff and support them so they can operate at their full capacity. Closing these clinics will not solve the underlying problem. It will reduce access to care, disrupt meaningful relationships, and displace patients. I urge you to reject the narrative of underutilization, look at the reality of chronic understaffing and underinvestment, and do everything you can to restore funding and keep these clinics open. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Okay. Welcome to the next speaker. I'll just revisit really quickly. There is no applause in the audience, please. Thank you for your support. Welcome.

Hi. First off, I've noticed since being in line that most boards, I guess the supervisors, have either been on their phones and not providing the good people here that are speaking with respect. So if you could please... at least look at me when I'm speaking, that would be really, really great. Something that I'd like to share is my name is Delia Martinez, and I'm a bilingual community health educator with Huckleberry, which means that I do a lot of different things. I facilitate workshops in schools. I talk about boundaries and consent. I talk about STIs, protection methods, how to use a condom correctly. These are some things that I go into schools and I talk to young people about. meaning I do outreach in person. That is how a lot of the young people who are served by Huckleberry come, right? Because I'm in the schools and I'm providing this information. Come to Huckleberry, see the clinic, get sexual and reproductive health care for free. It's confidential. Know your parents don't need to know, right? These are the things that I do and a lot of what the staff do where I work at. Something that's really important to note is that people might come in for STI testing. They might come in for pregnancy testing, whatever it is. And I often find myself in these clinical spaces with young people finding out that the reason why they're getting STI testing is because they were coerced into that sexual encounter with a partner. These are really important conversations that I am having with young people. With DPH staff there present, I'm able to have these conversations in English and in Spanish. It's really, really upsetting to stand here and tell you about how important this work is that I do and have you on your phones not looking, acting as if you'd rather leave. It's really important that you're listening to these people when they're telling you what's wrong.

Thank you for your comments. And I will invite members of the public, if you all have a mobile phone, you too can look at the file. In the file for this item contains the cuts that are being reduced or the community centers that are being moved and other bits and pieces of information there as well. Welcome to the next speaker.

My name is Jackie, and I work at the Huckleberry-Cole Street Clinic. It's incredibly disheartening to hear the plan to move forward with the clinic closure. I am tired of DPH acting like they're going to be able to smoothly transition our clients to these adult primary care facilities. Have you forgotten the reason Chippy Clinics were created? It's because we know this is a population that needs specialized care from organizations and providers who are trained and experienced working with youth. There are many clients who come to Cole and Larkin because of the trust that we've built with them. If you close our clinics, many of these clients will simply stop accessing medical care. This is the Department of Public Health. They're supposed to keep our community safe. Their mismanagement and inability to staff our clinics has been our burden to bear for years, and now they're threatening to close our doors permanently. Do not cut costs in the backs of our most vulnerable populations. I'm also going to read a statement from a young person who wants to remain anonymous. I am currently a 22-year-old student and have been accessing the Huckleberry-Cole Street Clinic since high school. The therapy and the medical services have made a huge impact on my life during very difficult situations. It is not good for youth to not have these services because it leaves them alone and scared when they have health-related experiences or questions. especially when youth have guardians or parents that may be overbearing or unaware of their concerns and safety. This ends up leaving all of that stress on the youth's shoulders when adults should uplift and guide them. When you take away health services, you are taking away their access and abandoning their basic right to medical services and health education. Defunding the clinic is getting rid of a safe space for youth where they are talked with and not talked to, where we feel empowered and not judged. Do not close this clinic.

Thank you for your comments. Welcome to the next speaker.

Hi, Jessica Pesico, RN, expert witness, legal representative, and District 10 candidate. Before we close anything, I'm asking, has the city exhausted every funding option? Are we actively pursuing state behavioral health grants, federal youth mental health dollars, and private foundation support to keep these doors open? And to anyone listening today who has the means, a foundation, a donor, a philanthropist who cares about young people in this city, these clinics need a champion. If you can create or fund a grant to sustain youth health care in this area, Whether it be in the Haight or in the Tenderloin, this is your moment. If the city's goal is to improve access to care for a healthier San Francisco, the answer is not to close these clinics. The answer is to adequately staff and support them so they can fully operate at full capacity. Closing Huckleberry and Larkin Street will not solve the underlying problem. It will reduce access to care, disrupt meaningful relationships, and displace the young people who depend on them. I urge you to reject the narrative of underutilization. Look at the reality of chronic underinvestment and keep the Huckleberry and Larkin Street clinics open. Thank you.

Thank you. And Jessica, there is no need for you to mention that you're a District 10 candidate here. There's no electioneering in this chamber.

I'm sorry.

Okay. Thank you kindly. Welcome to the next speaker.

Hi there, Mayor and City Council. I'm homeless.

Can you speak directly into that microphone, please? I sure can.

I'll put it right here. I'm homeless, and I've lived here now for about a week. And the thing is, what I love about San Francisco is that you guys have... California has so much biodiversity. You get everything here. It's just a mosh podge of just a collection of... of culture and inclusivity. I bring that up because when I'm hearing this subject come up, I feel empowered because there's ways that we can be doing things better because, say, the street team that comes in that engages us and the homeless, if we did a partnership with them instead of making it an adversarial role, maybe the money that we would save in litigation from the turmoil that's happening between these two groups that are converging on the street what could be used to keep this clinic open. So there's these things where we can find win-wins. It's just we've got to dig them out. And what's cool about this kind of forum is that when you put us all together and we're all working constructively, I mean, we're on a plane. We're all going to hit turbulence no matter what we do. I mean, it's still going to be bumpy, but we're all going to make it. At the end of the day, we're all going to make it. It's just that how are we going to make that as smooth as ride as possible? The thing is... I'm not trying to get into it, but one of the officers stole a bike from another gentleman that was ODing on the sidewalk. And I told him that was inappropriate. I'm like, dude, that's his transportation. And then he went above and threw the bike away after I told him that I didn't want it. I hate to do this, but I put them under citizen's arrest. I'm like, you know what? If you're going to meet force with force, this is how this is going to go. Now, the Office of Civil Rights, the California department, is going to be overseeing this whole issue. We have another. I'm wrapping up. The other one is people are out looking for work. And the guards are coming up saying, you got to go. You can't pull weeds. They can't support for themselves. You can't have the government doing a push down and a pull up at the same time. Anyway, I'm looking forward to emailing you and engaging this in conversation more. As a homeless person that's willing to, I don't know, get some air time. Thank you guys.

Bye. Thank you for your comments. Welcome to the next speaker.

Good afternoon. I am Tab Buckner, and I have witnessed the entire AIDS epidemic all 45 years close up. I spent my early adulthood attending the funerals of contemporaries more often than birthday parties. What I learned long ago is services save lives. Culturally relevant access, outreach, and health care make the difference between life and death. Cutting any harm reduction programs will increase, not lower, overdoses and other lethal health situations. Not allocating adequate services for long-term HIV survivors will result in severe isolation and increased medical crises for countless individuals without traditional families or surviving peers. Please make sure that People in my community, the LGBTQ community, as well as all traditionally marginalized communities, have the tools to survive and thrive before you even think about riding in this year's pride parade. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Tab Buckner, for your comments. Welcome to our next speaker.

My name is Xander Breyer, and I want you to sit with the weight of what these cuts actually mean to our community. At the beginning of the year, I came here begging you to not cut our programs because of a memo that was sent out. The line item specifically was SFCHC, and it was capacity building programs. Oh, that's not frontline services. My entire support group was cut. I am now at risk of homelessness. I am now on food stamps. I no longer have the support systems that I was building out for four years and seven months. This was my ability to give back to my community after case manager after case manager decided my life was still worth it. But apparently, y'all don't believe in that. Because I no longer have a job. I no longer have stability. I no longer have that safety net. I am trans and I am vulnerable. And this administration wants to literally kill us. They have said it point blank, period. They want us dead. So why are you continuously cutting transgender services knowing we are at the most risk of marginalization from our federal government? I want you to sit with that weight. Because if I end up on the streets again, it is because of your decisions. I was good at my job. I was making sure that I was doing all of my P's and Q's. I was turning in all of my forms, that I was doing everything that I needed to do to be a good support group leader. Because that was the best that I knew how to do to give back to my community. And now nobody is there for me. None of you.

Thank you, Xander Bryant, for your comments. Everyone, I'll just revisit. We do have an approved board rule, which there is no support or against any audible sounds in this chamber. Again, if you would like to show your support, please show your support as such. Welcome, sir.

Good afternoon, board of supervisors. I'm Jason Bennett. I'm a 56-year-old student. You know, I'm a survivor and a cerebral palsy survivor. You know, I've been in San Francisco since 2010. I feel like my whole family in Georgia. But I came to San Francisco because I believed in San Francisco. I believed in the people. I believed in its beliefs. And, you know, I'm... I'm part of the Hine Community Project, SLA Foundation. I'm part of them. I'm part of them. I'm a part of the Charity Project and all the other communities. Each one of the communities has so much support and they're so, so involved with so many people. And a voice for the unspoken, the people that came to you today. But I will say, you know, I believe, I truly believe in San Francisco's past, and I believe in its future. And I believe you all do the right thing. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments, sir. Can we have the next speaker, please?

Hello, my name is Dino Diodati and I'm the owner of the building at the clinic on Mission Street. Forty years ago or so, myself and Joe Ruskin established the clinic and all these years I've taken care of the clinic, construction-wise, help-wise, whatever I could. And I've kept my rents really low. I think the last time I raised my rent was like 80 years ago. So because I feel that the service that are rendered there are very important to old people. And I think anybody that doesn't appreciate how old people are vulnerable, how they can't take care of themselves, and how they have mental problems, and how they can't be alone and they need help. And that's the reason why I support the clinic and always have. By shutting the door on these people, you're gonna literally cut off most of their life support. And I don't think that's right. Because these people could have been your parents. They could be you in a few years. So by cutting these services, you're really hurting the community and the most vulnerable part of our community. People that work for the community and made the community possible, and now you're Anyway, by closing the clinic, you're shutting the door on their face. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir, for your comments. Welcome to our next speaker. Yes, he can use that microphone. Just pull it close, please, so we can hear you best. Certainly. So ma'am, the way it works is he speaks for two minutes, and then you provide the interpretation for two minutes. It's a board rule, so I will say if you do it, that's OK. I'm just breaking the rules on behalf of this gentleman and for your ability.

That's never OK. OK.

Buenas tardes, damas, caballeros. Mi nombre es Gerardo Meneses. soy sobreviviente de tramos de suicidio y gracias a las personas que están atendiéndome hasta el momento sigo aquí. Nada más quiero informarles que nosotros como ciudadanos de San Francisco tenemos la necesidad de seguir viviendo Y gracias a estas personas de la clínica, pues nos están ayudando en este aspecto. Muchos padecemos de nuestros compañeros, padecemos de traumas, de momentos físicos, psicológicos, y necesitamos mucho la ayuda de ellos. Y lo principal es de que les demos, necesitamos amor. No nada más medicamentos. Necesitamos la atención de ellos. Por eso es importante que permanezcan estas clínicas. Gracias por su atención.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am a survivor of several suicide attempts. And the people in this clinic have helped me survive. He wanted to also say that this is a community. And he not only gets support and services from the clinicians, he also finds love and support, caring environment. And without them, he doesn't know what he will do. Please keep the clinic open. ¿Qué otra cosa dijo? So it's important for the community to keep these clinics open so that people with mental health issues can survive and continue living in the community. Thank you.

Thank you. Gracias por sus comentarios. Thank you. Do we have another speaker? Ma'am, do you have another individual who is requesting an accommodation?

Okay.

Welcome.

Good afternoon. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak about Southeast and the other two clinics. I have been working Southeast for over 20 years, and I think closing the Southeast Mission Geriatrics is going to be a big mistake. This is the last outpatient clinic for seniors in San Francisco. If you close, you're seeing a cut to the city's most vulnerable elderly. What will happen with the seniors is that they will have more emergency visits, early placement. We have to be looking for boarding care facility. They will die alone because you, most of them, will be seniors someday. They will be more isolated. Some of the clients say they will stop eating if they close the clinic. So I'm begging you. to keep open this clinic. I don't know about numbers, but I was checking the numbers to know how much they want to give to the to the transit, you know, millions and millions. I heard also that the police officers are getting an increase, but we don't have money to pay for the seniors. I'm begging you please to consider, you know, that this clinic should be open. And remember, you're going to be senior.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. All right, so we're going back to the line. Ma'am, does she require an accommodation? Otherwise, we need to go to the line. My apologies. Welcome to the next speaker in line. Welcome, sir.

Hello, my name is Trey Turner. I work for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation as a manager of the clinical assistance job development program in public health. I'm here to ask that you all reconsider your cuts to public health. We know that the impacts of these programs and services are tremendous, especially since they make up some of our most vulnerable populations in San Francisco. specifically people that are working directly with folks, the cuts to clinics like Larkin Street, Huckleberry. These are vital life-saving services. I think that if we are going to make these cuts, then the mayor should be honest about these cuts that are happening and not try to pat himself on the back. We know that the trans community is under attack. The mayor is saying he's restoring the funding, but he's not restoring the funding from DPH. So let's be honest about what's happening. I don't think the mayor should go into a room with black people, say that the city cares about black people, and he's making major cuts to public health for the black community. We know that the Latinx community is under attack by this administration. They have huge disproportionate outcomes of health. The mayor says he cares about these communities, but yet that community is getting a major cut. So let's really be honest about what's happening here. And if you all have the power to do something, I think it's a lot harder to fix the problem and outcomes that are going to happen from these cuts than to invest in more preventative measures. The mayor can't say he's creating a reset center and then cutting funding for the therapists, clinicians, and the people who are going to be serving in that reset center. So what's really going on there? Ask for us to be transparent.

Thank you, Trey Turner, for your comments. Welcome to the next speaker.

Thank you, board. My name is Jerry Cuffee. Soon to be 74 years old in five days, and I've been a 38-year long-term survivor with HIV and AIDS. So more than half my life, I've had HIV. So I'm speaking about long-term surviving and aging. Last week, the Department of Aging Services appropriated, and I'm gonna use that word gently, appropriated $150,000 towards long-term survivors with HIV who are 50 years and older. That was taken out of a fund called the Dignity Fund. That's $3 million. There are 11,500 people plus living in San Francisco with HIV who are over 50 years old. If you do the math, that is $13 per person living in San Francisco with HIV that's over 50 years old. $13. Do I look like I'm only valued at $13? Where is the rest of the money? that can be used for services for HIV and long-term survivors. Being a long-term survivor means that I have comorbidities, a higher chance of obtaining diabetes, heart attack, kidney disease, and other issues. These funds would serve to help others like myself to live the rest of their lives with dignity. I'm already past 73, which is when I'm supposed to not be here. I was supposed to not be here 38 years ago. But I'm still here, and I'm still fighting. And I didn't come this far just to come this far. So help me keep going.

Thank you, Jerry Duffy, for your comments. Welcome to the next speaker.

Ma'am, are you interpreting? We're here together. My name is Junebug.

Before you, Junebug, you know the rules here. You speak for two minutes and then the individual will speak for two minutes, but you can't cross over. Okay, so please begin. I mean, you're welcome to have him stand by you.

Okay, you want to stand with me then while I do this? Okay, awesome. My name is June Bug, and I'm born and raised here in San Francisco, and I support the ask of the HIV Advocacy Network. It's very critical that we have funding for HIV prevention. We need to think of the generations that come behind us to make sure that they have the prevention in place and access to services. It's vital. We need to be able to... We need to be able to save sex advocacy work. We need to be able to save harm reduction. And currently, right now, I'm working with transitional adult youth at the Glide Social Justice Academy with the Tay Fellowship. And I just want to say that saving these two youth clinics in San Francisco are super vital as well. I know that when I was a youngster here in San Francisco, the Huckleberry Coal Street Clinic helped save my life. And I just want us to think about not just our elders before us, but think of the youth behind us. Thank you. And this is one of the youth behind us.

Thank you for your comments, Junebug.

Hello, everyone. My name is Eric. I am with the Social Justice Academy at GLIDE transitional age youth cohort. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Madam Supervisor Connie Chan on her win on the primaries. I was one of the persons who worked with the CAWFP.

Sir, please curb your comments to the subject matter before this public hearing. Heard that. Okay.

Thank you. I just wanted to say I am really lucky to have been able taken benefits from the LGBTQ services here in the city, as well as harm reduction. I have had personal friends who have passed away from things such as overdose. And I think queer people, immigrant people, and undocumented people, we are the people who make this city beautiful. And we would really appreciate if you guys could support us.

Thank you for your comments. All right, let's hear from our next speaker, please. Welcome.

Hello. My name is Devesh Khattu. I've been a resident of San Francisco for over 30 years, 23 of those with HIV. I live in District 6. I would not be here today without the services that have been provided by many agencies that operate in the city catering to people with HIV and AIDS. Some of the services that are available over the last 23 years have included mental health through Alliance Health Project and New Leaf Services, harm reduction for substance use, including Stonewall Project offered by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, quality of life services offered by the Shanti Project, and job search services offered by the LGBT Community Center, as well as PRC, to name a few. San Francisco has been a model nationally and internationally for HIV and AIDS and LGBTQ services. And as these are being raised in DC, I hope that San Francisco will stand firm and not succumb to the pressure and continue offering services for people with HIV, AIDS, and LGBT folks. Thank you.

Thank you, Debesh Kalhum, for your comments. Welcome to our next speaker.

Hello. My name is George Rytan. Thank you for the chance to speak today. I am a gay, transgender male, transitional-aged youth born and raised in San Francisco. And without the services of Huckleberry, there is a chance I would not be standing here today. There is not a chance, there is a certainty that without the services of Huckleberry and the Larkin Street Clinic that at least five of my very close friends would not be alive or housed today. I stand here before you telling you that the cuts proposed by Mary Laurie and the Board of Supervisors target specifically vulnerable communities. The people who suffer are the elderly, the unhoused, the chronically ill and disabled, and the youth of tomorrow. If you want a safe San Francisco, if you want a clean San Francisco, if you want a San Francisco that takes care of its citizens, then you will not pass this budget as now. If you think that you don't have a stake in this, if you are not at risk from these services being cut, I can guarantee you that someone you love is. and that you will be soon. I have so much more that I want to say, but many, many people who are also here in protest have said it for me. And I just want to thank just everyone here for turning out and for saying their piece. San Francisco, please take care of your own. Thank you.

Thank you, George Raitam, for your comments. Welcome to our next speaker.

Hello, board. My name is Justice Dumlao. I've been living with HIV for eight years now. I work at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. I'll be reading an excerpt from my living obituary to really make clear what policy decisions can do to our community members. These local cuts stung like a stab in the back, a betrayal to the legacy created on these very streets by HIV long-term survivors who built our current health care system. Safety nets and lifelines cut as if that was the only solution to balance the budget on the backs of our community like it would have no consequences. For Justice, the consequences became all too real. Justice died not because science failed to create treatment, but because access to that treatment and the safety net meant to catch him was withered away by policy decisions masked as cost-saving measures. $3.4 million cut from our social safety net on the local level cuts to health access points all across San Francisco serving marginalized communities like Strut, like Rafiki Coalition, Umoja Hap, cuts to our housing opportunities for persons with AIDS or HOPWA preventing the expansion of the program, cuts to life-saving, low-barrier, evidence-based harm reduction services, but extra for the shameful Sheriff-run Reset Center. Despite Justice having lived a healthy life with HIV and being undetectable, for nearly eight years, these decisions made by both national and city leaders ensured that Justice would never get to celebrate long-term HIV Survivor Day for himself. Justice's life serves as a reminder to all of us that policy decisions cannot be neutral and that cost-saving measures lead to quiet death sentences all around this city. Justice leaves us with a call to action to keep fighting for his namesake, that true justice will never die so long as we are here to hold the torch, to honor our history so that we are not doomed to repeat it, and to create a community that cares for every single person and loudly speak truth to power.

Thank you, Justice Demlao, for your comments. Glad you're alive.

I want to ask a question. Some of the people in this room believe that when physical and mental health is lacking in old age, or believe that they will reach old age with physical and mental health, because there is a situation. Right now, the foundations are being set so that when that happens, and God does not want it, someone does not have an economy to supply their life,

She has a question for all of you, and that is, how many of you want to be older and think about yourself as an older person with health issues, mental health issues? If this goes through, then the safety net for older adults will not be here for you. She wants you to really think about that fact, because that's really the question at hand for our little clinic today. Thank you.

Thank you for your interpretation. Welcome to our next speaker.

Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is Kerry Dahl. I'm the union representative with SEIU 10 to 1 for the nurses in the affected three clinics that are facing closure due to DPH's mismanagement. I think there are a couple of things that need to be pointed out here. The first one is that there is not a continuity of care that has been shared with the union about what is going to happen to folks utilizing these clinics. This is key to us insofar as the chippy clinics are being planned to move young folks into inhospitable primary care clinics in the Tenderloin and at Maxine Hall that are just not going to be applicable to that population. Furthermore, to insinuate that geriatric clients from Southeast Geriatric would then go to Mission Mental Health, if you've been to these clinics, you know that that is just not going to happen. And so we're deeply troubled by the inattention from DPH management to this core concern. We do not abide the cutting of social services in such a way that people are just going to be thrown without. So we urge you to reconsider DPH's recommendations here And one more point is simply that the clinics across the board are suffering from high rates of vacancy in a number of classifications, most notably social work. The city has got a crisis in terms of its ability to magnetize talent to come to work and provide the services necessary to make this city both livable for people that are suffering, but also for the rest of us out in the community that are among folks that are suffering. I really would like to see you all call DPH management in, reign them in, and make them accountable for their inability to staff up at an adequate level. Thank you.

Thank you, Kerry Dahl, for your comments. Welcome to our next speaker.

Good evening. My name is Derek Arthur. I am a field rep at SEIU 1021. I represent over 1,200 healthcare workers at Laguna Honda Hospital. I was provoked to speak today after hearing that Director Tsai testified that out of 8,000 workers, we are only looking at two employees left. Sir, those two employees have names. They are Maria Elena Healy and Lorna Rose. Both are clinical nurse specialists at Laguna Honda. The department has gutted that department with plans to eliminate the role of clinical nurse specialist at Laguna. This decision will have severe negative impacts on patient and resident outcomes and is also going to stymie the voice of nurses at Laguna. Both of these employees are union leaders and have been actively outspoken about other bad decisions that have potential to put residents at Laguna at risk, raising the specter that their elimination has been targeted. Professionally, both retain certification and expertise that will otherwise not exist at Laguna Honda Hospital. which to us says that through their elimination, the department believes that the residents of Laguna don't deserve that kind of care. Maria Elena Healy is a cardiovascular expert, certified diabetes educator. She provides emergency management at the bedside. Lorna does dementia care with behavioral consultations and adult gerontology. Uh, by eliminating these roles, DPH is gambling with the lives of residents, something that the city is familiar with and has paid for with lives and money. Um, DPH is making bad decisions and, uh, uh, senseless service reductions. They're targeting these, these nurses for layoff and we're asking the board to add those positions back.

Thank you, Eric Garther for your comments. Welcome to our next speaker. We ask that you hold your applause, please. Thank you. Welcome.

Hi. My name is Kayden Tricamo, and I am a gay trans man. I believe the budget for 2027, 2028 is $16.9 billion, or sorry, is it billion or million? I don't know. Where's that money going? Because I thought that we elected you guys into office so that immigrants, trans people, queer people in general could be safe. I grew up in the Castro, being taught that everyone deserves the resources they need to thrive, no matter your age, gender, orientation, or race. So where did that go? Cutting harm reduction resources is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do, what you were elected into office for. I've been seeing a lot of cuts to harm reduction programs recently, and a lot more people assigned to clearing out unhoused individuals. SFPD is looking pretty padded right now. Remember, your main support system will not always be the people pouring money into your campaign, but the people keeping San Francisco alive. Don't forget why San Francisco is the city it is. It's because of the queer people cast aside after being outed in World War II. They decided to opt, they opted to stay in San Francisco because they didn't want to face the stigma of going back home. That is why San Francisco has grown into the robust community that it is today. Why are we here? The mayor says opioid use and homelessness is the problem, so why are you trying to cut funding for the places fighting that? Pardon me, a little bit nervous. Okay, sorry. When you cut resources for LGBTQ youth, the number of homeless people you have to clear out or deal with gets bigger. It's not doing, it's just doing harm. Don't pretend to care about the lives of young people and the people in San Francisco.

Thank you for your comments. Thank you. This looks like the last speaker. If there are any other members of the public who would like to speak to the Beilenson hearing, that is the cuts that DPH is presenting this afternoon to the board for this public hearing, please come over to the right-hand side of the chamber. Otherwise, this may be our last speaker. Welcome.

Hi, I'm Anya Worley-Zigman with the San Francisco People's Budget Coalition and sharing from the perspective of a young queer person in San Francisco that we feel, as young queer people, it is our job and it is our moral obligation to uphold the getting to zero promise. That is why we are here, regardless of whether or not We were there during the HIV and AIDS crisis. We carry that with us every single day, and we continue to fight for it. And so when DPH, or the mayor's administration, takes credit for 25 years of funding and backfilling HIV services, At no point was it DPH's decision or leadership that led to that. It has always been community who made that decision. It has always been community begging for the city to take notice. And so it is community who we need to listen to, and it is community who deserves the credit for the years and years of funding that we have been giving to HIV. And you have to reckon with the fact that these cuts are sending a message. and they are sending a very clear one that is striking right at the core of what it means to be queer in San Francisco. It is telling us a very clear message of when times are hard, it will be you. You will be the first to go. We are in the first couple of years of this budget crisis, and already you are cutting services that our leaders and our elders are saying are essential. We have no choice but to look at your actions and to judge you by them. And in years like this, you will be judged by your budget cuts. We will weigh them against you. All of your campaign promises, all of your platforms, all of it comes down to moments like these. And it's not easy, and it's certainly a big challenge, but that is your responsibility as elected officials. We will hold every cut against you because what else can we do? We do not have your power. You have that power, and you have to use it to protect queer people. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. All right, Mr. President.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Public comment is now closed.

Oh, no, I have one more public comment. Mr. Wright, this isn't general public comment. This is just specific to the medical health care cuts.

This is what I'm going to talk about.

Okay. Okay.

Okay, medical cuts. Your medical cuts because of the multi-billion dollar negative cash flow is your own fault. You let people who are not eligible for the medical insurance programs that the city provides and you tap into the federal insurance company programs, corporations, United States Medical, programs, and as a result, you have people that's not eligible, and you overloaded the program, and now you have a multi-million, billion dollar negative cash flow. And you do this all the time, not only in the medical insurance, but every aspect of the city. And then when you tally up the money, and you have a multi-million, billion dollar negative cash flow, you always want people who don't have a damn thing to do with the problem, you want them to pay for your F-up. It's not fair. It's a violation of due process and constitutional rights. You're not supposed to be putting people that are not citizens from 192 different countries sneak into the United States and get medical insurance as if they are born and raised in our jurisdiction when they're not, and then you have a negative cash flow, and then at the end of the physical year, when you add up the numbers, then you turn around and have a negative cash flow and you want other people that don't have nothing to do with the problem to pay for it. It's unfair, unconstitutional, and it's a violation of the American Disabilities Act because each and every one of those people that were being cut, not only the medical insurance for people who are infested with, infected with disabilities such as HIV, mental disabilities, all disabilities, heart, high blood pressure, and everything. You're violating the American Disabilities Act too. It's a misappropriation of funds. And if anybody should be paying for it, it should be you guys' fault. You should pay for it.

Thank you Mr. Wright for your comments.

Mr. Washington, this is... Let me get on. I'm talking about that. I didn't come to speak on it, but let me get a little bit on it.

I'll begin the timer then.

Right now, if these things, when it's true, and this is true because the city and county always say, we got deficits, we ain't got no money. You got money. You got discretionary funds you can use. You got emergency reserves. So I'm trying to find out, because that's what I'm going to talk about. The city and county ain't got no damn money, particularly when it comes down to black folks. But you got money for everybody else. You got this kind of funds, that kind of funds. I want an audit to find out what kind of money you got. What's in the discretionary funds?

Mr. Washington, this is about reduction to medical health services.

Oh, yeah, but it's talking about dollars. The dollars.

OK. And with that, Mr. President.

All right, public comment is now really closed on this item. And seeing no other names on the roster, this matter has been heard and is now filed. Madam Clerk, let's go back to roll call.

Yes, we left off with President Mandelman, and now we'll go to Supervisor Melgar. Roll call for introductions.

I think we got Supervisor Melgar. OK. OK. Thank you so much. I think we're at Sauter.

Apologies. Supervisor Sauter. Submit. Thank you. Supervisor Sherrill. Submit. Submit. Thank you. Supervisor Wolton. Submit. Submit. Thank you. Supervisor Wong. Submit. Thank you. Supervisor Chan. Submit. Thank you. Supervisor Chen. Submit. Thank you. And Supervisor Dorsey.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Colleagues, today I am submitting a legislative drafting request to update and modernize San Francisco's T.J. Anthony Catastrophic Illness Program, which provides a lifeline for city employees facing serious medical challenges after they have exhausted their available leave. Named for TJ Anthony, a longtime City Hall staffer and LGBTQ plus activist, someone I actually met a few times in the early 90s, TJ passed away from Hodgkin's disease in 1996 at the age of just 37. And the program that stands in enduring tribute to his memory enables city employees like us to donate our leave time to a general pool that helps our fellow city workers remain financially stable during extraordinarily difficult circumstances. So it comes with no added costs to city taxpayers while successfully having helped hundreds of our fellow city workers over the years to avoid hardships they might otherwise have been forced to endure. Unfortunately, the current definition of catastrophic illness enshrined in the relevant portion of our administrative code is far narrower than the one used by the state of California and many other public employers. Under current local law, an employee must generally suffer from a life-threatening illness or injury to qualify. As a result, employees who face severe debilitating or life-altering medical conditions, illnesses that are catastrophic by any rational definition of the term, may be excluded from this worthy program. One case that has brought attention to this issue is that of San Francisco Police Sergeant Kevin Brugaleta. In 2024, Sergeant Brugaleta was seriously injured in the line of duty when he was struck by a falling tree during an atmospheric river storm. In fact, Supervisor Mandelman, who was serving as acting mayor at the time, joined me in visiting SF General Hospital to express our support to Sergeant Brugaleta, his family, and the colleagues. Sergeant Brugaleta is now paralyzed from the chest down, but he continues to work toward recovery. Despite the severity of his condition, he has applied to the program twice, been denied twice, and has lost two appeals. While Sergeant Brugaleta's experience has certainly highlighted the shortcomings of the current standard, this legislation is not about any one individual. Rather, it is about ensuring that the program works as intended for all city employees who face a catastrophic illness or injury that prevents them from working and that creates significant financial hardship. The legislation I'm proposing would better align San Francisco's definition of catastrophic illness with current California law by focusing on incapacity, extended absence from work, and the exhaustion of available leave rather than requiring that the condition be life-threatening. Employees would still need to provide medical documentation, exhaust available paid leave, and satisfy all of the program requirements. The existing appeal process would remain unchanged. At its core, this program recognizes that a catastrophic medical condition can be devastating for an employee and their family even when it is not immediately life threatening. This legislation would update local law to reflect that reality. I look forward to continuing to work with the city attorney's office and to collaborating with the Department of Human Resources, our labor partners, and other stakeholders and colleagues as we craft this legislation moving forward. And the rest I submit.

Thank you, Supervisor Dorsey. Mr. President, seeing no names on the roster, that concludes the introduction of new business.

Let's go to general public comment.

All right, for those of you still left in the chamber, it is now time to address the board on general matters. You may speak to the minutes as presented, items 24 through 26 on the adoption without committee reference, calendar of the agenda, and other general matters not on the published agenda. Mr. Wright, we're setting the timer for two minutes, and you are up, sir.

supervisors just spoke, that philosophy that you're using for people in high income brackets is the same philosophy you should be using for the most vulnerable people.

Mr. Wright, just keep your comments to the board as a whole.

It's the whole board, all of you. It's the whole board, all of you. You know what I come through, I'm speaking to everybody. Everybody that's watching me. You use that philosophy For people who are most vulnerable, who are homeless out in the street, you will reduce the homeless population and reduce the drug addiction problem. You should be the poster person to advocate rehabilitation for drug addicts. you went to a rehabilitation program yourself. A true and correct rehabilitation program where they didn't let you use crack cocaine, no heroin, no speed, crystal methamphetamines, and did not let you drink no alcohol or smoke no cigarettes. But people who are in low-income brackets, who are homeless, the most you want to do is a safe injection site, and then you supply the paraphernalia for them to use drugs on the taxpayers' money on city facilities to aid and abet drug rehabilitation, to cancel it and sabotage the rehabilitation. And the philosophy that this board, attention Mr. Dorsey, just used, you should apply it to the most vulnerable people. You always campaign when you're getting your job that you're gonna take care of the homeless and the most vulnerable people.

Board is a whole, Mr. Wright. Pardon? Board is a whole, don't use you.

It is a whole, I'm talking as a whole. All of you know that, I made that clear. It's disgusting and I want my time back too. And by the same response, your budget cuts, Pertaining to teenagers, that's homeless. It's unconstitutional. Those teenagers don't have nothing to do with your $1.5 billion negative cash flow. Same for the senior citizen program. They don't have nothing to do with that budget program negative cash flow debt. That's your fault. Thank you, Mr. Wright.

Welcome to our next speaker.

Good evening. My name is Barry Pearl. I'm a lifelong resident of San Francisco. My wife and I are both retired city employees. And we want to bring to your attention something that was very upsetting to us. We're both covered under Medicare and through Blue Shield of California. And over the last several days, we received multiple notices advising us of an update to our network. And we were told that our long-term primary care physicians and specialists were no longer covered by the program. We contacted the health service system. They were unaware of these notices. We in turn contacted Blue Shield of California, and they informed us that these notices were all issued in error. and that they were issued to more than retired San Francisco employees. They were issued to people throughout California that these notices were issued in error. I recommend that this board call Blue Shield to testify before this board to find out what was the cause of this error and how do they prevent this in the future. Because these are people that we have relied on for medical care with long-term relationships. My wife has long-term health issues such as diabetes So this is a major disaster, and the board needs to investigate this. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Mr. Curl, do you have a copy of that letter that we could add to the file? I can. We can make a copy of your original, if you like.

Yes. The only thing is that my ID number is on here.

We can redact that, certainly.

Okay.

Arthur will take care of you. He's coming around. Thank you.

Mr. Washington. Before you give me my time, I want the screen to show what I'm talking about on the first minute. As of TV, please. Okay. Show that there. It's an article from the San Francisco Post. Official.

I'm starting your time now.

Okay. Starting my time? Can I get some action on what I'm talking about?

I said go to TV, please.

Yes. It's not showing. Anyway, I'm here to talk about the Juneteenth, 19th, Wesley Johnson White Horse Award that's happening this Friday. I'm not even up there yet, so I don't even know what's happening. The awards is going to celebrate with Suge Knight and Willie Brown Jr., Dr. Amos Brown, and our former... Mr. Washington, I'm pausing your time.

Okay. We're checking on that projector to determine if it is in fact on.

Okay, please. Thank you. I'll just start. Thank you. Thank you very much. There we go. Apologies, Mr. Washington. Okay, no problem. Appreciate it. That's a good thing. All right. I'm going to restart your time. Here we go. Okay. So with that here is the San Francisco Post stating that Juneteenth celebrates to be held at the newly reopened Heritage Center. Doggone it. The whole city knows about this thing. And I'm here begging and pleasing for some support from the city and county to help me pull this thing off. And everywhere I go, we don't got enough money. You got discretionary funds? It didn't make no sense. Even my supervisor said, we ain't got no funds. You got funds. What the hell is going on here? I'm busting my butt and my staff is making this thing happen historically for the Juneteenth march there. And I can't get a damn dime. And I got papers I'm going to send out to everybody. All I just need a few bucks. So anyway, let's go back to the other thing. I got an email that there's a meeting happening on the 21st or 2nd at Ella Hill Hutch. City and county is doing it, and they ain't told me nothing. What the hell do they think they're trying to do in my community? Supervisor, you know about it. You said you didn't. You told a fib. You know about it. The board as a whole is... Or as a whole. He knows about it. The mayor knows about it. Everybody knows about it. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired in this city. I've been in this boardroom longer than everybody in here. And I'm tired. I need respect. I am the Fillmore Corridor Ambassador, damn it. Not the bastard. Anything that shakes and rattles and rolls in the Fillmore needs to come through my office. The supervisor's just been there a year. The mayor's just been there a year. They don't know a damn thing about what's going on in my community. And I'm sick and tired of it. Now, if I was Mary Roethlisberger, I'd be out here saying some four-letter words all day long. You should be cussing at y'all. This board don't know nothing about that. I'm 72 years old, and I'm sick and tired of trying to make my community. Ain't got no help from the supervisors, the mayor, nobody. Damn it. My name is Ace, and I'm on the damn K4, happy with or without you.

Thank you, Mr. Washington. Welcome to our next speaker, please.

Oh, yeah, thank you. Excuse me, I'm not upset. My blood pressure's up.

All right, next speaker.

Board President Mandelman and board members as a whole, once again, I notice that the seat for District 9 is empty, and I Really haven't been reading much about it in the paper. None of the local newspapers really comment on it. And maybe, is there a backroom deal that's going on with the campus crew, which essentially holds the District 9 at the moment. What is the mayor doing? But anyway, I want to thank the people that really brought up the problems of our clinics. I mean, I've been in the Haight-Ashbury

That is not the topic of this portion of the agenda. We already had the medical services cut, just FYI.

All right. Well, I'm going to just leave. Thank you.

All right. Well, thank you for coming today.

I'm exhausted. The meetings go on. Your academy awards are ridiculous in the sense that nobody from District 9 seems to be represented. I think you're going in in the wrong way.

Thank you for your comments. Mr. Gambrill, are you coming? Who's next? Welcome, Leah.

OK, hello. I am trans, specifically non-binary, bisexual, and I'm married to a brilliant, beautiful trans woman. I worked for the SF Giants for a few months this year. I got the free hat as well. and was enjoying it until Joshua Kushner bought a stake in the team, a cultural asset. I quit for moral reasons. SF Giants players Landon, JT, and Ryan used the Giants pride game to invoke their religion to protest the existence of LGBTQIA kids and adults. Shame on them. Shame on the other Giants employees, Sam, for disrespecting their audience. Shame on the Giants for disrespecting a stadium full of people celebrating pride whose attendance and purchasing of Giants merchandise makes them money. Hopefully Friday was their last game and purchase. These SF Giants players, these employees, these men chose to do this when 10% of LGBTQ plus youth attempted suicide this past year. When suicide is the second leading cause of death among LGBTQ plus kids aged 10 to 14. When it's the third leading cause amongst LGBTQ plus youth ages 15 to 24. When LGBTQ plus youth are four times more likely than their peers to attempt suicide. For fucking shame! These men did this to kids in the name of God. They did this in the name of a man who preached love thy neighbor. Their stunts contributed to the toxic environment that makes kids feel alienated and ashamed, making them want to kill themselves. Shame on these men, shame on the owners, and shame on Larry Bear. Some leadership, some culture, what a loser asset. Perfect for your billionaire stakeholders. Is that what being a man is to you all, bullying kids to death? On what turned out to be my last game before I quit, I actually cried during the national anthem, but I cried when I heard the line, land of the free, because I did not feel free at all.

Thank you, Leah McGeever, for your comments. Mr. Gambrill.

Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I was in here last week. I want to apologize to y'all. I had an attitude, but I came to find y'all support. I need your support very much. Dearly, I live in 1190 Mission Street, and I was there for quite some time. And the problem, I come to y'all because I had an attitude, and I apologize again. But the situation dies on me right now. I got a three-day conviction notice. I have two reports here in my hand that two times the man that stayed in my building tried to rape my children's mother, put her in the hallway. And the two times that he did it, I tried to get help from somebody to not let this happen again. The police was called. He attacked my woman and tried to rape her just recently. He came to my door, and me and my family was in the house sleeping, and I was walked out by my daughter crying and saying, Daddy, Daddy, somebody's trying to broken the house. So when I peeped to the door, I seen that guy, the same guy that tried to pull my wife down there and rip her twice. So after he stopped knocking on her door, I got my family together, let them get this stuff. And I live on the 20th floor, and I'm handicapped, and I wear braces on my legs. So we walked down, and I got them out of the building to safety ground, and I went in the office. Now, I'm going to tell you all something, ladies and gentlemen. I had a baseball bat with me from my family when I was coming down 20 flights of stairs. Didn't know what was going to go on down that stairway. But the... property manager. Instead, she called the police when the man tried to rape my wife the first time. They didn't do anything. But now that I had a baseball bat trying to protect me and my family, they sent me with a three-day notice, a conviction notice for me protecting my wife and my children for this man not to rape my children and not to do nothing to me. Now I'm on the earth. I'm getting put out. Now I want to know, I apologize to y'all the first time for that attitude, but I'm asking...

Thank you, Mr. Gambrill. Thank you. I will come around and speak to you in just one moment. Are there any other members of the public who would like to address the board during general public comment? Okay, Mr. President.

All right, public comment is now closed. Madam Clerk, we have the for adoption of committee reference agenda, but I feel like most of these items require a little attention, so why don't you just call them one by one, items 24 through 26.

Item 24, well, let's say items 24 through 26 were introduced for adoption without committee reference. A unanimous vote is required for adoption of a resolution on first reading today. Any member may require a resolution on first reading to go to committee. Item 24, this is a resolution to recognize the Dragon Boat Festival's role in strengthening community and generational bonds through cultural celebration and to support assembly concurrent resolution 1, 2, 3, introduced by Assemblymember Philip Chen, and to recognize June 19th, 2026, as Duanwu Ji Day in the state of California, and to further declare June 19th, 2026, as Dragon Boat Festival Day in the city and county.

Supervisor Chen.

Thank you, President Mendelman. I would like to make a motion to amend item 24, file number 2606A8, supporting California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 123, Dragon Ball Festival Day, June 19, 2026, to make minor clerical corrections. All offices have received advance copies of the proposed amendments. The amendments are as follows. Page 1, 9, number 5, change Comar N to semicolon N. Page 1, line 17, capitalize F in festival. Page 1, line 18, remove also. Page 1, line 21, change in to during the. Page 2, line 7, add the. Page 2, number 9, capitalize F in festival. Page 2, line 18, capitalize S in state. Page 2, line 23, at the page 3, 9-11, change direct to directs. Page 3, 9-13, change Mike McGurry to Monique Limon. Page 3, 9-14, at members. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Chen. Is there a second for this motion? Seconded by Chan. Can we take that motion without objection? Without objection, the resolution is amended. And then can we take the resolution? Let's call the roll on the resolution.

On item 24 as amended, Supervisor Mahmoud? Mahmoud, aye. Supervisor Mandelman?

Aye.

Mandelbin, aye. Supervisor Milgar? Aye. Milgar, aye. Supervisor Sauter? Aye. Sauter, aye. Supervisor Sherrill? Aye. Sherrill, aye. Supervisor Walton?

Aye.

Walton, aye. Supervisor Wong? Aye. Wong, aye. Supervisor Chan? Aye. Chan, aye. Supervisor Chen? Aye. Chen, aye. And Supervisor Dorsey? Aye. Dorsey, aye. There are 10 ayes.

Without objection, the amended resolution is adopted. Madam Clerk, please call item 25.

Item 25, resolution to celebrate Juneteenth as a day of reflection, empowerment, and commemoration of black freedom and excellence in the city and county, and to urge all San Franciscans to join in honoring this important day.

Supervisor Walton. Thank you, President Mandelman. I just wanted to say thank you to all of my colleagues who co-sponsored this resolution. As you know, in 2021, Juneteenth was made a federal holiday. And of course, this is a time of celebration. We are in Juneteenth week and just appreciate all of the support every year. Thank you.

Supervisor Mahmoud.

Co-sponsor noted. Thank you.

Great. Let's take this item. Same house, same call. Without objection, the resolution is adopted. Madam Clerk, please call item 26.

Item 26, this is a motion to approve phased final map number 12681, Candlestick Point Major Phase 2, relating to portions of the Candlestick Point-Hunter's Point Shipyard Phase 2 project for condominium purposes, a merger and resubdivision resulting in a total of 50 lots consisting of 12 development lots, 24 lots intended for public right-of-way use, and 14 remainder lots, and to authorize up to 441 residential condominium units and up to 15 commercial condominium units subject to specified conditions and to approve a public improvement agreement related to final map number 12681 and to adopt the appropriate findings.

Supervisor Walton.

Thank you, President Melvin. Colleagues, you have all received an amendment for this item. And so I would like to make a motion to amend to remove the findings in the long title on page 1, lines 9 through 11, removing the words and adopting findings pursuant to the general plan, comma, in the eight priority policies of planning code, comma, section 101.1, period.

uh there's motion it's been seconded by uh supervisor chan um and colleagues can we take the motion without objection without objection the resolution is amended and then i think we can take the amended resolution same house same call without objection the amended resolution is adopted approved um that it's a motion well the motion was approved The motion was approved. Is that what I did, Madam Clerk? That's right. The motion is approved. OK. Perfect. All right. Madam Clerk, do we have any imperative agenda items?

There are none to report, Mr. President.

Could you please read the memoriams?

Yes. Today's meeting will be adjourned in memory of the following beloved individuals. On behalf of President Mandelman, for the late Mr. Michael Frank Rice, and on behalf of Supervisor Melgar and Supervisor Chen, for the late Mrs. Phoebe Lee.

I think that brings us to the end of our agenda. Madam Clerk, do we have any further business before us today?

That concludes our business for today.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We are adjourned.