The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on Thursday, April 9, 2026, at 9:15 AM (presumed) to consider four agenda items: a resolution condemning ICE actions and reaffirming sanctuary city policies, two liquor license transfers (for Taza Diamore Cafe and BARC 77), and an ordinance on mandatory spay/neuter of dogs. The meeting included testimony from law enforcement officials, applicants, and members of the public.
Good morning, everyone. This meeting will come to order. I'd like to welcome everyone to the regular meeting of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. For Thursday, April 9th, 2026, I'm Supervisor Matt Dorsey, Chair of this committee, and I'm joined today by my fellow committee members, Supervisor Alan Wong and uh Vice Chair Balal Machmud will be joining us momentarily. As always, we're grateful to our clerk, Ms. Monique Creighton, whom we thank for staffing us and keeping us on track today. As well, we're appreciative of the for the entire team at SFGov TV for facilitating and broadcasting today's meeting meeting. And we're that is especially true to true for our producer today, Ms. Kalina Mendoza. Madam Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, please make sure to silence all cell phones and electron electronic devices. Documents to include it to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. Public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda. When your item of interest comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak on your right. Alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. First, you may email them to myself, the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee clerk at M O N I Q E. T-O-N at SFGOV dot or G. Or you may submit your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office in City Hall. Number one, Dr. Carlton B. Goodlit Place, Room 244, San Francisco, California 94102. If you submit public comment in writing, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file in which you are commenting. Finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisor's agenda of April 21st, 2026 unless otherwise stated. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I would now like to start today's meeting, and we're gonna take an item out of order. Item number four. Madam Clerk, would you please call item four? Yes, item number four is a resolution condemning immigration and customs enforcement ICE action, urging the United States Congress to fund the Transportation Security Agency and urging San Francisco law enforcement agencies to recommit to sanctuary city policies. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Um before we start the discussion, I want to acknowledge Supervisor Connie Chan, who introduced this resolution but is unable to be with us this morning. I appreciate her leadership in bringing this forward. Um I also wanna thank uh police chief Derek Liu and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins for being here today. Um this resolution responds to a reported ICE incident at San Francisco International Airport. Um it raises concerns about transparency, accountability, and the role of federal enforcement in our city. Um for this committee, the focus is on our local responsibilities. Uh we want to ensure that our police department, sheriff's department, and other city law enforcement agencies are acting consistent with our sanctuary city policies and uh due process for all ordinance. I also want to be clear that I'm approaching this with a focus on the law. Um there have has been some public confusion, honestly, across the political spectrum about what sanctuary is and isn't. Um, and I think at this moment in our country, it is incredibly important that San Francisco speak with one voice to our immigrant communities that are feeling um more vulnerable than ever. Um we are seeing provocative actions by the federal government that, unlike anything that we have seen before. Um I spent many years in the city attorney's office uh working on sanctuary-related issues, and I have some familiarity with them. Um sanctuary city policies are rooted in our 10th amendment rights as a local government to not do the job of the federal government. It's a separation of powers provision in the Constitution that enables local governments and state governments to not be commandeered by the federal government to do federal the federal government's job. Historically, one of the things that I think often gets lost in conversations around sanctuary city policies is that these actually originated with law enforcement itself. Um, back in the 1970s, oddly enough, it was um LAPD chief Darrell Gates who introduced a provision for LAPD, recognizing that it is not in the interests of law enforcement to have immigrant communities mistrust their law enforcement agencies. Um they implemented, I believe it was uh special order number 40 that was really a groundbreaking sanctuary city policy for LAPD several years later. It was um then Mayor Diane Feinstein who implemented it here, I believe, in 1989. We have been a sanctuary city. That means that we have the we have the ability, and we we I think have the moral responsibility to not do the federal government's job.