Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee Meeting - December 10, 2020
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Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee Meeting - December 10, 2020
The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on December 10, 2020, at 6:15 PM. The committee was chaired by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, with Vice Chair Catherine Stefani and Supervisor Shamann Walton. The meeting was held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agenda included two liquor license approvals, a hearing on the Economic Mitigation Working Group findings, a hearing on overdose death reporting and the SRO overdose prevention program, and a hearing on the Housing Conservatorship Preliminary Evaluation Report.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar items were listed.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 3 (Economic Mitigation Working Group): David Zizunis (Med's Market) opposed the deemed approved uses fee and cigarette litter abatement fee, calling them unfair to small businesses. Miriam (Small Business Commission) supported the recommendations and urged updating the cigarette litter abatement fee. Henry Kanilowitz and other callers supported small business relief.
- Item 4 (Overdose Death Reporting & SRO): Multiple callers, including Laura Thomas (San Francisco AIDS Foundation), Wesley Saver (Glide), and Andrew Reynolds (San Francisco AIDS Foundation), urged the city to open safe consumption sites, increase harm reduction services, and address racial disparities. Callers also emphasized the need for compassionate, evidence-based care and criticized over-policing.
Discussion Items
- Item 1 & 2: Liquor License Transfers - The committee heard from the Alcohol License Unit (ALU) and applicants. Tony Baloney's (1098 Howard) applied for a Type 21 off-sale license with no protests and two letters of support. The San Francisco Wine Society (408 Merchant) applied for a Type 42 on-sale license with no protests. Both had high-crime and high-saturation area conditions but received ALU support. The committee voted unanimously (3-0) to forward both as committee reports to the full Board on December 15, 2020, finding public convenience or necessity.
- Item 3: Economic Mitigation Working Group Findings and Recommendations - Dominica Donovan (Office of Small Business) presented 15 recommendations from a working group formed after the e-cigarette ban. Recommendations included allowing transfer of tobacco retail permits to family members, improving language access, reforming fees (e.g., point-of-sale inspection fee, cigarette litter abatement fee), expanding programs like SF Shines and Healthy Retail SF, and creating a bulk purchasing program. Supervisor Walton filed the hearing, with plans to implement recommendations.
- Item 4: Overdose Death Reporting and Update on Overdose Prevention Program at SRO Hotels - Supervisor Matt Haney called the hearing to address the overdose crisis. Dr. Lick Rudder (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner) reported that from January to October 2020, 570 people died of accidental overdoses, 70% involving fentanyl. This exceeds all 2019 deaths (441) and nearly tripled 2017 deaths (222). 27% of decedents were unhoused, 41% of deaths occurred in District 6 (Tenderloin/South of Market), and Black men in SROs died at disproportionately high rates. DPH representatives Katie Burke and Eileen Lochran presented on the SRO overdose prevention program, which is currently active in only two SROs due to COVID-19 staffing and focus shifts to shelter-in-place (SIP) hotels. They noted that over 5,200 lives were saved by naloxone in 2019-2020 but that the city lacks standardized harm reduction policies across housing sites. Supervisor Haney emphasized the need for a coordinated, urgent response, including overdose prevention sites and expanded treatment access.
- Item 5: San Francisco Housing Conservatorship Preliminary Evaluation Report - This hearing was continued to February 11, 2021, due to the COVID-19 surge, per Chair Mandelman's request (passed 2-0 after Mandelman was excused).
Key Outcomes
- Items 1 & 2: Unanimously approved (3-0) as committee reports for the December 15, 2020 Board of Supervisors meeting.
- Item 3: Hearing filed (3-0). Supervisor Walton committed to pursuing legislative and administrative implementation of the recommendations.
- Item 4: Hearing filed (2-0). Supervisor Haney announced plans for further hearings and legislation, including work to open overdose prevention sites. DPH was urged to standardize harm reduction policies across all housing sites.
- Item 5: Continued to February 11, 2021, by a 2-0 vote.
Note: Chair Mandelman was excused from the remainder of the meeting after Item 4 due to a conflict with another committee assignment, leaving Vice Chair Stefani to preside.
Meeting Transcript
Order. Welcome to the December 10th, 2020 regular meeting of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee. I am Supervisor Raphael Nimbleman. I chair this committee. We're joined by our vice chair, Catherine Stephanie, and Supervisor Shaman Walton. Our clerk is John Carroll, and I want to as always thank the fine folks at SFG TV for staffing this meeting as well as our own Board of Supervisors Operation Operations and IT for lending their support. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Chair. In order to protect the public board members and city employees during the COVID-19 health emergency, the Board of Supervisors, Legislative Chamber, and Committee Room are closed. This precaution is taken pursuant to all various local, state, and federal orders, declarations, and directives. Committee members will attend the meeting through video conference and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were physically present in our chamber. Public comment will be available for each item on this agenda. Both San Francisco Cable Channel 26 and SFgovTV.org are streaming a public comment call-in number at this time. Your opportunity to speak and provide your public comments during any of these public comment periods will be available via phone by calling 415-6550001. Once you're connected to that line and prompted, enter today's meeting ID. The meeting ID for today's meeting is 146-8347106. Following that, you'll press the pound symbol twice to be connected to the meeting. When you're connected, you'll hear the meeting discussions, but your line will be muted and in listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up, dial star followed by three to be added to the speaker line. It's best to do that as soon as the item is called. Assistant prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. Please wait until the system indicates that you've been unmuted and that it will be your opportunity to begin your comments. Best practices are to call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly, and to turn down your television, your radio, or your streaming device. Everyone must account for potential time delays and speaking discrepancies we may encounter between live coverage and streaming. Alternatively, you may submit your public comment in either of the following ways. You may email me. My name is John Carroll, and I'm the clerk of the public safety and neighborhood services committee. My email address is J-O-H-N period C A R R O L L at SFGO V dot O R G. If you submit your public comment by email, I'll include it as uh part of the file for whichever item it is that you're commenting on. Your written comments may also be sent by U.S. Postal Service to our office in City Hall. The address for our office is one Dr. Carlton B. Goodlitt Place, room 244. San Francisco, California, 94102. And finally, Mr. Chair, items acted upon today will appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda of January 12th, 2021, unless otherwise stated. Great. Thank you, Mr. Clark. Please call our first item. Agenda item number one is a hearing to consider that the transfer of a type 21 off-sale general beer, wine, and distilled spirits liquor license to Tafik Fayez Joda. Doing business as Tony Bologna's, located at 1098 Howard, will serve the public convenience or necessity of the city and county. Members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this matter should call the public comment number now. That number is 415-655-0001. Enter the meeting ID of 146-8347106. Press the pound symbol twice to connect to the meeting and then press the star key, followed by the number three to enter the queue to speak. Assistant prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand.
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