Government Audit and Oversight Committee Meeting - October 7, 2021: Van Ness Grand Jury Report, Treasure Island IRFD, City Hall TDR Sales
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Government Audit and Oversight Committee Meeting - October 7, 2021
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on October 7, 2021, at 6:15 PM UTC (rescheduled from morning). The committee considered three major items: a hearing and board response to the Civil Grand Jury report on the Van Ness Avenue BRT project, resolutions to amend the Treasure Island Infrastructure and Revitalization Financing District (IRFD), and authorization to sell Transferable Development Rights (TDR) from City Hall. The committee also convened in closed session to discuss 17 litigation settlement items.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Barry Toronto (public comment on Van Ness items): Expressed frustration with ongoing project management, stating the project is "still horribly managed" and questioning nighttime work and completion timeline. He urged the committee to seek more answers beyond staff responses.
- David Pilpel (public comment on Van Ness items): Referred to prior comments, emphasizing the need for lessons learned on CMGC project delivery and interagency coordination. He suggested the Capital Planning Committee monitor the issue.
- Mr. DeCosta (public comment on Van Ness items): Accused city officials of blaming contractors and called the project management inept, referencing the report and claiming hundreds of businesses were destroyed.
- Mr. DeCosta (public comment on Treasure Island items): Expressed distrust of TIDA, referenced a 2020 needs assessment by Goodwin Consulting Group, and alleged that TIDA does not allow LBEs to get contracts.
Discussion Items
1. Civil Grand Jury Report – Van Ness Avenue: What Lies Beneath (Items 1 & 2)
- Supervisor Mandelman led the discussion, questioning SFMTA (Tom McGuire, Streets Director, and Peter Gabancho, project manager) about 14 findings in the grand jury report. Key exchanges:
- Finding 1 (delays caused by avoidable water/sewer setbacks): MTA agreed that sewer and water delays had a big impact, but noted contractual responsibility disputes with the contractor.
- Finding 3 (utility replacement risk known but considered moderate): MTA partially disagreed, stating the contractor was responsible for timely potholing and exploratory work.
- Finding 7 (insufficient review of pre-construction deliverables): MTA acknowledged weaknesses but noted CMGC contracting is new and no standard process existed.
- Finding 13 (lack of in-field point of contact): MTA wholly disagreed, stating a resident engineer was on-site daily; grand jury representative Simone Monganelli clarified that a dedicated liaison was added later.
- Supervisor Mandelman proposed amendments to the board response, specifying agreements/disagreements for each finding and recommendations. The committee voted to adopt the amendments and send the resolution to the full Board with a positive recommendation. The hearing was continued to the call of the chair.
2. Treasure Island IRFD Amendments (Items 3 & 4)
- Luke Brewer (Office of Public Finance) and Jamie Kruben (TIDA) presented. The resolutions initiate the process to amend the existing IRFD to correct project area boundaries, add authority to adjust boundaries without a full election (subject to board approval), correct a table excluding the county education portion, and allow elimination of special elections if state law changes. Public hearing was set for January 11, 2022, at 3:00 PM. Supervisor Chan asked clarifying questions about the amendments, ensuring they are administrative and do not change land use. The committee voted to amend the resolution to set the hearing date and then recommended both items to the full board.
3. City Hall Transferable Development Rights Sale (Item 5)
- Enrico Pennick (Director of Real Estate) presented a resolution to authorize sale of up to 1.2 million gross square feet of TDR from City Hall at a starting price of $37.50 per square foot. Proceeds (estimated $41–50 million) would fund City Hall rehabilitation projects (roof/dome repair, stone/grout work, historic preservation). The pricing uses a dynamic model (slow/normal/hot markets) to maximize revenue. Nick Menard (BLA) recommended approval. The committee voted to recommend the item to the full board.
Closed Session (Items 6–22)
- The committee convened in closed session to discuss 17 ordinances settling attorney fee claims and lawsuits. No public comment was heard. Upon returning, the committee voted unanimously not to disclose the closed session discussions.
Key Outcomes
- Items 1 & 2 (Van Ness Grand Jury): The committee unanimously approved (3-0) amendments to the board response as proposed by Supervisor Mandelman. The resolution (as amended) was recommended to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation. The hearing (Item 1) was continued to the call of the chair.
- Items 3 & 4 (Treasure Island IRFD): The committee unanimously approved an amendment to Item 3 to schedule the public hearing for January 11, 2022, at 3:00 PM. Both items were then recommended to the full board (3-0).
- Item 5 (City Hall TDR): The committee unanimously recommended the resolution to the full Board of Supervisors (3-0).
- Closed Session: The committee voted unanimously (3-0) not to disclose discussions.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. This meeting will come to order. Welcome to the October 7th, 2021 regular meeting of the government audit and oversight committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I am Supervisor Dean Preston, Chair of this committee, joined by Vice Chair, Supervisor Connie Chan and Committee Member Supervisor Raphael Mandelman. Our committee clerk is John Carroll. And our thanks to Corwin Cooley from SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. The minutes will reflect that committee members are participating in this remote meeting through video conference to the same extent as though they were physically present in their committee room. The board recognizes that public access to city services is essential and invites public participation in the following ways. First, public comment will be available on each item on this agenda, either cable channel 26, 78, or 99, as well as sfgovtv.org are streaming the public comment call and number across the screen at this time. Each speaker will be allowed two minutes to speak. Your opportunity to speak during any of today's public comment periods is available to you via phone by dialing 415 655001. The meeting ID for today's meeting is 2490 730 5333. Following that, dial the pound symbol twice. When you're connected, you will hear the meeting discussions, but your telephone line will be muted and in listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up on our agenda and we are discussing it, please dial star followed by three to be added to the speaker line for that item. Best practices are to call from a quiet location to speak clearly and slowly and to turn down your television, your radio, your streaming device, whatever you may be using. Alternatively, you may submit your public comment in writing in either of the following ways. You may email them to myself. I'm the government audit and oversight committee clerk, and my email address is J-O-H-N, period. C-A-R-R-O-L at SFGOV.org. Or you may send your written comments by U.S. Postal Service to our office in City Hall, which is the clerk's office from 244. One, Dr. Carlton B. Goodlick Place, San Francisco, California 94102. If you submit your public comment via email or via post, I will forward it to the members of the committee and the board of supervisors, and your comments will also be included as part of the official file on which you are commenting. And finally, Mr. Chair, items that are acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda of October 19th, 2021, unless otherwise stated. Thank you, Mr. Clark. Let's go ahead and call items one and two together. Agenda item number one is a hearing on the 2020 to 2021 civil grand jury report entitled Van Ness Avenue, What Lies Beneath. Agenda item number two is a resolution responding to the presiding judge of the superior court on the findings and recommendations contained in that report and urging the mayor to cause the implementation of accepted findings and recommendations through her department heads and through the development of the annual budget. Members of the public wish to write public comment on these two items should call the public comment call-in number. It is 415-65501. Enter the meeting ID of 24907305333. Press the pound symbol twice to connect to the meeting. And then press star, followed by the number three to be entered into the queue to speak. Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And uh as a reminder, we had um four grand jury reports that we have been addressing uh in committee. Um three of which were heard and forwarded to full board uh last week. Uh and um our board response was approved by the full board of supervisors on Tuesday. Uh this one uh the uh response around Van Van Ness uh was continued after a presentation last week uh from uh Mr.
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