Meeting will come.

Let's just give it one quick moment until we have our picture this of the room.

There we go.

Thank you.

Meeting will come to order.

This is the October 27th, 2025 Rules Committee.

I am Supervisor Cheryl, Vice Chair of the Rules Committee.

And this morning I'm joined by President Mandelman and Supervisor Dorsey, who's sitting in this committee in place of Chair Walton.

Our clerk is Victor Young.

And I'd like to thank Jeanette Engeloff from SFGov TV for broadcasting this meeting.

Mr.

Clerk, do you have any announcements?

Uh yes, please.

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 either of the following ways.

Email them to myself, the rules committee clerk at B I C T O R.yo U N G at SFgov.org.

If you submit public comment via email, it would be included as part of the file.

You may also send your written comments via US mail to our office in City Hall.

One Dr.

Carlton be good at place.

Room 244, San Francisco, California, 94102.

Please make sure the silence all sale phones and electronic type devices.

Items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda of November 4th, 2025, unless otherwise stated.

That completes my initial announcements.

Thank you.

Um I'd like to make a motion to excuse Supervisor Walton.

Uh Mr.

Clerk, will you please call the role?

Yes, on the motion to excuse Supervisor Walton from today's meeting.

Member Dorsey.

Dorsey Aye.

Member Manelman.

Aye.

Madaman aye.

Vice Chair Sherrill.

Aye.

Oh aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Motion passes.

With that, Mr.

Clerk, please call item number one.

Yes, item number one.

Is the ordinance amending the administrative code to require the arts commission to develop and administer a certification process to identify artists in San Francisco who may be eligible for affordable housing for artists.

Good to see you, Supervisor Dorsey.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

Colleagues, the ordinance before you would establish an artist housing certification program.

As you may be aware, a recent hundred million dollar private gift is helping fund the development of the 1687 Market Street project, which will provide more than 90 affordable apartments and creative spaces for artists, including rehearsal spaces and a black box theater.

The development of this project has highlighted the need for a formal process by which to identify artists who may qualify for this housing, or what we what we hope will be more future affordable artist housing developments.

The Artist Housing Certification Program will meet that need for 1687 Market and other similar projects, requiring the Arts Commission to establish and maintain a registry of artists who would qualify for such housing.

I do have some amendments to propose today based on discussions we've had with the Arts Commission and Mercy Housing, which we have worked closely with on this legislation.

Amendments were circulated last week and I've given out hard copies.

Generally, these amendments would uh strike some lines from the legislative findings for clarity as recommended by our deputy city attorneys.

They would remove a section that regulates how the arts commission can enter into contracts and set fees.

Uh and instead, the arts commission would confer internally and come back to the board with proposed fees.

Uh the amendments would add language to grant the arts commission more flexibility to expand the type of arts and artists that can qualify the pro for the program.

That's because as new mediums and forms of expression arise, we want to have the flexibility to include more artists.

Uh and finally, uh the amendments would add an operative date to allow for the 1687 Market Street project to use this program.

Um the amendments I understand are not substantive.

Um so if that's confirmed, if that's the case, I'd ask that uh we can we adopt these amendments today and forward the item to the full board with positive recommendation.

I want to thank you, Supervisor Dorsey for your co-sponsorship.

I um very much want to thank uh former Mercy Housing California President Doug Schumacher and Rami Deer at Mercy for proposing the legislation.

Director Dan Adams and Sheila.

Nicolopoulos from Mo C D have been very helpful in thinking this through.

Of course, I want to thank Director Ralph Remington, um, Evan Glenn, Sarah Hollenbeck, and Veronica Limkako from the Arts Commission.

And then uh I want to thank Deputy City Attorneys Lauren Curry, Keith Nagayami, of course, and of course Brad Russian and also Calvin Hoe in my office for his work.

We have Director Ralph Remington and Evan from the Arts Commission to present.

We also have Sheila Nicolopoulos from OCD available for questions.

And I think that's what I got.

Great.

Thank you, President Mandelman.

Now let's have Ralph Remington from the Arts Commission come up and speak on this item.

Good morning, supervisors and members of the rules committee.

I'm Ralph Remington, Director of Cultural Affairs.

I'm here today on behalf of the Arts Commission and support of the artist housing legislation that will help develop a process to certify artists in San Francisco who may be eligible for affordable housing for artists.

Currently, the city lacks an artist housing certification program, making it even more difficult for artists to secure affordable spaces to allow them to do their work and thrive in San Francisco.

By creating an artist housing certification program, we will be able to help support those that make our city so unique.

We will be able to ensure affordable apartments and creative spaces for artists are made available to those that need the most, not only as 1687 Market Street, but at other properties citywide who will be able to utilize this new resource.

Thank you, Supervisors Mandelman and Dorsey for sponsoring this important legislation that will help support our local artists and creating a process that will help keep them in San Francisco so that they can continue to live, work, and contribute to our thriving arts and cultural landscape.

In closing, I hope you will support this legislation as San Francisco needs to support its working artists by supporting the creation of stable affordable housing opportunities for artists.

The city reinforces its commitment to preserving its uniquely diverse cultural landscape.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

President Manlin, thank you for sponsoring this legislation.

You know, when we talk about the rebirth of San Francisco and the revitalization and it being a cultural hub, we often talk about cultural institutions like the Foreign Arts Museum, the Asian Arts Museum, SFMOMA, others, but I think sometimes missing in that conversation is the need to have artists and musicians for that matter living and working in San Francisco.

The other night I was with an arts community, and I said, who's the best living artist in San Francisco?

And someone said, what do you do, Othello?

Which is awesome, except that he lives and works in Oakland.

So I want to add myself as a co-sponsor of this item.

I think this is incredibly important.

The future of San Francisco has to be about who is here, and right now we don't have enough artists living and working in San Francisco.

So this is absolutely critical.

Seeing no other members on the roster, Mr.

Clerk, will you please open to public comment?

Yes, members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up to speak at this time.

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

President Mandelman, Vice Chair Cheryl.

As somebody who has spent decades as a member of the arts community, who has been evicted from rehearsal spaces that were redeveloped, who has seen this community that I have been a proud and deeply loving member of, absolutely decimated by the changes that our city has endured and continues to incur.

And is so desperately needed.

And it's exactly the kind of thing that we used to fantasize about and dream about and wonder why the city wasn't doing anything when so much of our culture, so much of who we are as a city is captured and is integral and is connected to what we have done as uh a contributor to arts and culture worldwide.

And so I'm just so grateful that there's a benefactor out there who sees the value in that.

I'm so grateful that we have leadership in the city that is willing to take that forward, and I can just only imagine all the difficulties and challenges that had to be overcome.

But I cannot speak more emphatically in favor of this legislation.

I'm so glad to hear about it.

Thank you.

I hope you'll all vote in support.

Can we have our next speaker?

Hello, supervisors.

Um, my name is Marcus Shelby, and um I'm a composer, educator, um, and a member of the San Francisco Arts Commission for the last 11 years, and I've lived in the mission district for almost 30 years.

Today I'm here to speak uh in support of the artist housing legislation.

This artist housing legislation is very important to me personally, but uh more importantly to my entire community of creative artists.

In fact, there was such an incredible housing opportunity existed 25 years ago when I witnessed one colleague after another leave the city for more affordable housing and other places.

A complete exodus of some of our most creative artists, which did great harm to our city that had once been a haven for musicians and poets, painters, and dancers.

It's also very important that this legislation prioritizes working artists.

Um certification lasts for five years.

Um but I'd like to close by sharing that this particular housing legislation will be a major step towards empowering the artist community here in our great city of San Francisco, which we need more than ever in this moment of time to express our collective commitment to solidarity and to human rights, which San Francisco artists have always been on the forefront.

We finally have a vision forward with this 1687 Market Street Artist Housing Project.

Thank you.

If we if you would like to speak in this item, it would be appreciated if you can line up to speak at this time.

Good morning.

My name is Valerie Santagat.

I serve as artistic director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and I'm here to speak in support of the artist housing legislation.

For nearly 50 years now, our chorus has helped thousands of young singers discover their voice, build their confidence, and develop a true sense of belonging through music.

When I arrived 12 years ago, I adopted a strategy which was to work around collaborations, and we worked with many, many uh organizations uh in San Francisco.

We are based right here at the Civic Center, um, and it worked.

Education surrounded by professional work, it's really efficient.

Um I have to say that right now uh I start seeing that we have a little bit of concern because those artists are getting further and further away, and um just to have someone who is able to support your education, music education right next to the door, it's becoming a luxury.

I'm also the director of the uh Philharmonia Baroque and Chorale, and I see it also during auditions where I have singers who are coming from far away, where living before in San Francisco, and uh what's gonna happen when all the best one are living more and more further.

Um affordable artist uh housing isn't just about offering a place to live.

Uh it also foster opportunities for collaboration and keeps the creativity and energy of our city alive.

Uh, I appreciate that the uh art commission will supervise and decide who is part of this program, and the five-year certification will provide stability.

When an artist has stability, they work together, support children's growth, and build up their communities to keep San Francisco's spirit alive.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Carolyn Choi.

I'm the managing director of real estate at Community Arts Stabilization Trust, CAST, and I'm here to speak in support of the artist housing legislation.

So CAS was founded in San Francisco in 2013, and our initial focus was on permanent affordable workspaces for arts and cultural organizations.

And our programs and services have helped to create and build pathways to ownership and create dedicated spaces for cultural connection and exchange.

But it quickly became apparent that for us to continue doing impactful work, we needed to expand our scope to address artists affordable artists housing because if there are no artists that can afford to live here, there's no purpose in us building these workspaces.

We appreciate this moment because inherent in this legislation is a recognition of the value that artists bring to the city as well as the immense displacement experienced by the community.

So we support the development of a clear and transparent process to qualify people for this housing preference.

But we also just want to point out that it's just a start.

This is a registry, and much more work needs to be done to address the issues and needs of artists in this community.

We at CAS we believe that there need to be multiple pathways to addressing artists' housing needs, and we appreciate this creation of another tool to support working artists.

It's a great start, and I hope that you will support this legislation as well.

Thanks.

Good morning.

My name is Raimi Dare.

I am the regional director of real estate for Mercy Housing California.

We are one of the partners working on the artist's housing at 1687 Market.

I want to describe to you briefly our vision for that.

We're going to be providing 94 affordable homes, permanent homes, for artists with incomes ranging from 30% to 80% AMI, and that housing will be hopefully what those artists call home and be part of their, they will be part of the community's cultural hub that is just steps away.

There will also be rehearsal and performance space for those artists and for artists in the wider community.

We are incredibly excited about this development.

We knock on wood, have indication that we are going to get a tax credit award and bonds award.

So we'll be able to start construction next spring on this 1687 market housing.

We believe this is the first, the city's first affordable housing specifically for artists.

This legislation will facilitate our ability to set aside these units for those artists and create a clear applicant pool who are ready to be part of the lease up process when we are completed with construction.

I want to thank President Manelman and Supervisor Dorsey for your leadership on co-sponsoring this legislation.

And Supervisor Cheryl, thank you for agreeing to co-sponsor as well.

And I also want to thank the Arts Commission and the Mayor's Office of Housing for their leadership.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Randall Klein.

I'm the executive director of Artist Hub on Market, which is the co-developer of this project with Mercy Housing of California.

I want to thank Supervisors Dorsey and Mandelman for putting this forward.

Thank you, Supervisor Cheryl, for joining in on it.

I was the former uh, well, I'm the I'm the founder of SF Jazz and I worked there for 40 years, retired two years ago.

I've spent most of my adult life working with artists.

In fact, uh I've hired numerous artists from projects like this around the country, and over the course of my time involved in the arts community here in San Francisco, I've seen this uh this fleeing of artists from the city because of affordability.

Um it's just um fantastic that this opportunity has arisen.

It's great that the board has put these this uh legislation forward.

I want to encourage this to pass through, and uh one hopes this is just the first of a number of uh projects like this that uh moves forward here in the city.

The artists are key to the the richness of the life we live here.

Um this is an element to really uh uh plant a seed in this community to continue to grow and welcome artists here.

Anyways, thank you and uh please support.

Are there any additional speakers on this matter?

There are no additional speakers.

I believe we can close public comment.

Seeing no other speakers, public comment is now closed.

President Mandelman.

Would you like to make a motion?

Uh yes, thank you.

I I do want to thank all the folks who came out um to speak on this item.

Uh I think it's pretty exciting.

I think this uh certainly this donor uh deserves some thanks, but I'm hoping that this will be the first of many um artist housing developments, and I'm hoping that this model will be useful not just for this project but for others.

So thanks again to the arts commission for all their work on this, most CD and Mercy Housing.

And with that, I would like to move that we accept the amendments circulated by my office last week and which I described earlier.

On the motion to accept the amendments.

Member Dorsey, Dorsey, aye.

Member Mandelman.

Aye.

Mandelman aye.

Vice Chair Cheryl.

Aye.

Cheryl, aye.

The motion passes without objection.

Motion passes.

Mr.

Clerk.

You can make a motion or I can make the motion.

Um I would like to move that we forwarded forward the item as amended to the full board with positive recommendation.

Yes, on the motion to recommend as amended.

Member Dorsey.

Dorsey, aye.

Member Manelman.

Aye.

Mandelman, aye.

Vice Chair Cheryl.

Aye.

Cheryl.

Aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Motion passes.

Mr.

Clerk, will you please call item number two?

Item number two is an ordinance exempting the health service system, life and long-term disability insurance services contract from the requirements of Article 111 and Article 121 of the labor and employment code.

Supervisor Dorsey.

Thank you, Chair Cheryl.

Uh, and thank you to President Mandelman for waiving the 30-day uh hold to keep this item on track.

Um, the item before us um ensures that uh San Francisco's health service system can execute its life and disability agreement with New York Life on time and maintain uninterrupted employment employee benefit coverage in January.

Um as the Board of Supervisors representative on the health service board.

Um, I was proud to sponsor this ordinance, and I'm glad to be able to make uh the motion here at the rules committee to be a part of this discussion.

Um I look forward to the presentation from the health service system.

Um I'd now like if through the chair, I'd like to if I may um introduce uh Ray Gehan, executive director, to give remarks.

Thank you, Supervisor Dorsey and members of the committee.

Um I'm going to turn it over to Michael Viscante, our contracts administration manager, to walk you through the presentation today.

Thank you, Director Geean.

Uh thank you uh again, um Supervisor Dorsey for sponsoring this.

Uh thank you, um Cheryl and uh uh uh President Mandelman for hearing this today.

I appreciate that.

Um we're here to request that the rules committee recommend a due pass on this ordinance for San Francisco Health Service System, allowing us to finalize our new basic life and long-term disability insurance agreement with New York Life.

These benefits, as mentioned by Supervisor Dorsey, are core.

City-paid collectively bargained protections that ensure employees and their families have the financial security in the event of death or serious disability.

These have long been part of our suite of benefits and long been part of our labor agreements and are highly valued by our workforce.

Basic life and long-term disability benefits at the levels presented here are required by 40 uh 54 different collective bargaining agreements and provide income protections to tens of thousands of employees and their families.

The cost of these benefits are paid entirely by the city and have been competitively procured by SFHSS between December 2024 and May of this year.

This was following an assessment last year by health service system and our contracted actuary that it would be fiscally prudent to do so.

Associated voluntary life and disability plans are separately rated at 100% employee paid, but by procuring them together, SFHSS ensures operational efficiencies and improved benefit offerings to employees, their families, and their beneficiaries.

I should also note that we were able to separately negotiate a $200,000 guaranteed issue for life that many of you saw members of the city that were eligible when it came to open enrollment this past month that just wrapped up a few days ago.

San Francisco Service System conducted a formal RFP from December 2024 through April 2025.

This aligns with our very limited window during which we are doing our annual rates and benefits renewal process that extends from December to June.

The highest rate respondent and scored by an independent evaluation panel and recommended and accepted by the Health Service Board in May of this year, provides roughly two million dollars in annual savings to the city for the aforementioned employer paid basic life and long-term disability benefits.

It also guarantees a five-year fixed rate guarantee through 2030 and improved and better aligned services and support for employees and families.

However, during contract negotiations in August, approximately one month after this uh rates package was approved by the board, New York Life raised concerns about how they would demonstrate compliance with the minimum compensation ordinance and the health care accountability ordinance.

To be clear, this is not that New York Life refuses to comply, rather that due to the size and complexity of their organization, they have no mechanism to document that compliance in the way that the ordinances require.

With a nationwide workforce of more than 23,000 employees, the company cannot track every individual who may support in any way a city employee's claim or data at any point during a claims process or support process.

And they are also unable to create a siloed city-only team that could be monitored separately.

They explained this directly to the Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement during one of my department's three meetings with OLSC in September.

And OLSC also confirmed that there were no existing statutory waiver processes under either ordinance that were available to fit either this type of employee benefit contract or that were specific to the San Francisco Health Service System.

Therefore, on the advice of our deputy city attorney, the only lawful path forward was board level legislative action.

So on the 1st of October, courtesy of Supervisor Dorsey, this ordinance before you was introduced to the Board of Supervisors, and I am here before you today.

In summary, this exemption would preserve the 1.97 million dollars in savings for the next five years, and that's annually.

This is a 20% reduction from our 2025 rates.

It would avoid any disruption in employee continuation of coverage for these benefits on January 1st, and it would maintain compliance with the 54 memorandum of understanding that have been competitively negotiated with our unions.

This action is also consistent with the limited waiver framework already recognized in both Articles 111 and 112 minimum compensation ordinance and health care accountability ordinance, but because no current administrative mechanism exists for this type of contract, board approval is required.

Furthermore, we have made this exemption narrowly tailored and limited to the single contract and its extensions, and so it has no impact on any other city vendor or workforce standard.

Therefore, on behalf of San Francisco Health Service System, we respectfully request that the rules committee recommend due pass on this ordinance so it may go before the full board of supervisors.

I thank you again for the opportunity to speak before you this morning, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you, Mr.

Visconti, and thank you, Mr.

Gehan.

I really appreciate everything that you have done on this ordinance and everything that you do and continue to do for our workforce and retirees.

Chair Sherrill.

Thank you, Supervisor Dorsey.

Seeing no other members on the roster, Mr.

Clerk, will you please open to public comment?

Yes, members of the public who should speak on this item.

Should I not speak at this time?

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

Are there any speakers on this matter?

There are no speakers on this matter.

Seeing no speakers, public comment is now closed.

Supervisor Dorsey.

Thank you, Chair Sheryl.

I would like to make the motion to approve the proposed ordinance and send it out to the full board of supervisors with our positive recommendation.

Yes, and on motion to recommend.

Member Dorsey.

Dorsey aye.

Member Man.

Madam and I.

Vice Chair Sherrow.

Aye.

Sherrow aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Motion passes.

Mr.

Clerk, please call item number three.

Item number three is a hearing to consider appointing one member term ending June sixth, 2026 to the immigrant rights commission.

There's a requested this matter be referred out as a committee report.

Sorry, can you repeat that I couldn't quite hear you?

The last part was that there's a request that this matter come out as a committee report.

Great.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk.

Apologize for my lack of hearing there.

Okay, so as was just mentioned, this appointment is solely for seat one on the immigrants' rights commission.

I will call you both in order to the microphone to speak about why you want to serve.

Please forgive me if I've mispronounced any of your names.

Can we start?

Can I please have uh Jesse Reese Navarro come to the microphone?

So I'm Latina Mexicana immigrant.

In the 2007, I San Francisco, y a particular 2019, me invited to participate in the Commission de los Derechos de los Immigrantes.

For a presentation real y por solutions concretas a los problemas que enfrentamos.

Durante nueve años, anda jueves, fue aprobado me asilo después de neve años.

Durante todo el tiempo que estuve en la commission sentada escuchando a differentes personas sobre lo que es el sistema de immigration.

So during the new años vivos.

Thank you.

Good morning, my name is Jesse Ruiz.

I am a Latina, a transgender woman from Mexico and an immigrant.

I arrived in San Francisco in 2017.

In 2019, I was honored to be invited to the immigrant rights commission.

Since then I have worked for five years with some of the city's most vulnerable populations, the unhoused.

Today I address you with humility and commitment and ask for you to consider my reappointment to the immigrant rights commission.

For me, remaining in this space is not only important but necessary, I proudly represent my immigrant community and especially the transgender community, which faces multiple forms of discrimination and exclusion.

And the current political context or voices, those of trans women are often unheard or ignored.

It is therefore essential that we continue to fight for fair policies for real representation and for concrete solutions to the problems that we face.

I am committed to continue working for the commission, bringing my life experience, my work in the field, and my passion for social justice.

Thank you in advance for considering my reappointment and request for continuing to build a more inclusive city for all immigrants.

Last, I would like to add something that happened last week.

For nine years, I was uh waiting to receive my asylum and uh while I was sitting in the IRC commission, uh listening to to many uh people and also experiencing a lot of fear, um, worried about my asylum status, and last week I was able to receive it since uh I applied in 2019.

So please I ask you to consider my reappointment to the IRC Commission.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um now can we have Samim Sheikh come to the microphone?

I hope I pronounced your name correctly.

Good morning, supervisors.

My name is Samim Sheikh, and um I'm expressing my strong interest um in becoming a member of the immigrant rights commission to contribute my experience, knowledge, and passion for advocating on behalf of immigrants and refugees in San Francisco.

I am committed to collaborating with peers to address the issues and opportunities that affect our city's diverse immigrant communities.

Um I've been working as a community organizer for several years, and I'm a co-chair for the Yasin Women's Committee that benefits residents of San Francisco and San Mateo.

I have been actively involved in mobilizing community members, building coalitions, and working to address community needs, connecting people with resources and developing initiatives that benefit the community.

As an immigrant myself, I believe it is important to recognize and understand the diversity within immigrant communities, the cultural differences across countries of origin and the challenges that immigrants face.

Thank you.

Great, thank you very much both of you.

Um first and foremost, I want to thank you for raising your hand to serve our city.

Um, seeing no other members on the roster, Mr.

Clerk, will you please open public comment?

Yes, members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up to speak at this time.

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

Hi, good morning.

Um, Vice President Cheryl, uh, board president Mendelman, and Supervisor Dorsey.

Uh, thank you so much uh for hearing this item.

I currently serve, I'm Sarah Suze.

I currently serve on the immigrant rights commission as a chair.

And I'm here to speak in support of Member Jesse Ruiz, because of her experience.

As we know, our transgender community is currently the target of this administration.

And LGBTQ issues must be at the forefront.

And when we talk about intersection, it's important that we have her voice at the table.

She not only represents the LGBTQ community, but she fights for asylum seekers, unhouse San Franciscans.

And she's also a resident of San Francisco and has demonstrated her compassion, commitment, and dedication to public service.

So I ask you to please consider uh Jesse Rees up reappointment again, not only because we need representation of you know LGBTQ community in our city, but also because she brings her experience, professional, personal, and deep commitment to our city.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional speakers on this matter?

There are no additional public commenters on this matter.

Seeing no other speakers, public comment is now closed.

Supervisor Mandelman.

Thank you.

Am I calling you Vice Chair Cheryl?

Are you Chair Cheryl?

Sir is fine.

Sir.

Yeah.

Um I think this is it's not great when you have uh two folks who'd like to see uh both on the body coming forward.

But um I do feel at this particular moment um for enough for several reasons that I think the balance comes out for uh Jesse Ruiz uh Navarro.

One being that she's currently serving in the seat, another being that she is a San Francisco resident, and uh a third being at a time when transgender folks and uh people from uh Latin America in particular are experiencing um extraordinary hate and oppression um in this country from all levels of well ideally not from San Francisco or California but from the federal government um that uh I think we should and I I will move um that we uh that we nominate uh Jesse Ruiz Navarro um for this seat or forward Jesse Ruiz Navarro how what do you want me to do, Mr.

Clerk?

How should I state this?

Yes, uh recommend uh Jesse Ruiz Navarro to seat one is recommended as a committee report.

That is exactly what I would like to move.

Yes, on that motion.

Member Dorsey.

Dorsey aye, member Manelman.

Aye, in aye, vice chair Cheryl.

Aye, Cheryl, aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Motion passes.

Um, just one note to all the the applicants, both last week and this week, thank you very much for your willingness to serve on this very important body, especially um at this time in our country and especially in our city.

Um, your willingness and your your your willingness to serve is is well noted and really appreciated by all of us.

So thank you all.

Um, okay, Mr.

Clerk, will you please call item number four?

Item number four is a hearing considering appointing one member term ending May 1st, 2029 to the homelessness oversight committee commission.

We have one seat and four applicants.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk.

As was just mentioned, this appointment is solely for seat six on the homelessness oversight commission.

Um we have four applicants for the seat.

Um I'll call each of you to the microphone in order to speak about why you want to serve, and you will have two minutes.

Um again, please forgive me if I've mispronounced any of your names.

Um, but with that said, um, would Erica Mosley uh please come to the microphone?

Good morning.

Hi, yes.

Good morning.

My name is Erica Mosley, and I bring significant hands on experience to the board six.

First, I bring on hands on experience.

I started as an advocate since I was 13 years old due to the broken system in America.

There's no services for men raising children.

So I was an advocate all across America, helping churches, shelters, et cetera.

And then later on, when I became 18, I uh use my significant experience providing services to people experiencing homelessness, not just in one neighborhood, but across the entire city of San Francisco.

I worked as a problem solver and case manager with organizations like Hamilton, Compass, the Human Service Agency.

Right now I'm working with Department of Public Health for the HIV and transgender team.

Hi guys.

And I'm also working I also work with Tippin Point as well.

They provided me area care bags to go to the schools as well.

I support an individual with mental health and food assets.

I know the entire coordinated data entry system from the inside out, from my lived experience, and also working from organizations.

Beyond my direct service, I have deep experience advocating only behalf of people experience homelessness.

I work with the National Lines of Homelessness to uh and to end homelessness this year.

I was working with Naski Palasco to work policy changes this year.

We will re we will receive uh millions of dollars for um case managers and outreach workers, you know, when that shutdown is over, we're waiting on that.

I've also coordinated it with housing first strategies meeting with the ULI, which is the biggest urban development.

We have coordinated uh meetings um at the library, etc.

I'm currently working with the MC Walker Girls for the for the uh for the homes as a board member.

I my advocate is then beyond borders.

I'm proud to be an international speaker with the UK Pathway to End Homelessness.

I will be in UK representing San Francisco as a live experience advocate, and I would like to represent them as a homeless community um as well.

My book, I have a book called Trapped in a Homeless Hustle, which is in 15 different districts across uh San Francisco.

Um, I help nonprofit organizations.

Like I said, I have been future in globe uh global mag uh global woman magazines and other public avocados public affectations.

I'm sorry, I'm really nervous.

And I'm also verified on Google.

If you Google me, Erica Mosley, I am a homeless advocate along with my father, Erica Mosley.

I'm so excited to be here.

Um, and thank you so much for allowing me to be a nominee.

Great, thank you, Erica.

Um, hang on.

I've got one question, but before I do, colleagues.

Um, if you could um accomplish one thing on the commission, what would that be?

So right now, or focus on one thing.

Right now, what I would want to do is coordinate uh uh uh coordinated system so where that everyone can be able to use the system.

Right now I'm working with uh software engineers um and web two and web three so that way we can build a software to where uh the public health, uh the um mental health, um um the homeless can be able to use this one system, this one hub.

And so this yesterday I was with a whole bunch of software engineers so that way we can be able to code a data uh data coordinated century so that way we can be able to use it right now.

The tech industry, they currently laid off, they're currently couch surfing as well, and they need a system to be able to have resources as well.

I work for the Department of Mental Health, the transgender team, they need services as well.

We've just all over the place, and if I can be able to coordinate it with my research and my knowledge, just starting from San Francisco.

That's where I would like to start of a hub.

Great, thank you.

Um, thank you very much, appreciate it.

Um could Ray Emanuel Javier come to the microphone, please?

Good morning, members of the board.

Good morning to the clerk.

Thank you for having me here.

My name is Ray Javier, Ray Emmanuel Javier.

I'm a housing advocate, and I have served the underserved communities in San Francisco in the Bay Area during the past uh decade.

Um today I serve as a housing coordinator for TIP for Hamilton families out in the mission.

Uh I am a resident of district six.

I am 53 years old and I'm committed to this work.

Um before Hamilton families, I served the um Shelter Inc.

out of Contra Costa and Zolano counties, focusing on the same population helping the uh unhoused um and underserved.

Um before that, I served the city and county of San Francisco as a civil servant under the mayor's office of housing, uh, under the direction of Mayor Namelgar and Doug Schumacher, who was here today.

Um, I am here as a first generation immigrant to the United States with a commitment of helping people.

Um, having been blessed with many opportunities, I feel that I I um it's my obligation to help.

Um, I am also a licensed real estate salesperson and a notary public that has held uh my license over the past 20 years.

Um I am familiar with the uh various navigations uh uh for the homeless and I hope to be helpful in this field.

Thank you.

Thank you, colleagues.

Uh all right, same question.

If you could accomplish one thing or focus on one thing on the commission, what would it be?

Um I do actually have a plan.

Um, having had served uh the mayor's office of housing, I see a divide um with the homelessness services and the inclusionary housing or affordable housing services.

I am hopeful that um I could craft some wordings to to submit to your offices and and hope to see that um we can connect or put the bridge between the programs because that that today I feel is missing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, okay.

Um could Thomas James Rocca please come to the microphone.

Good morning, supervisors, and thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself to the rules committee.

My name is Thomas Rock, and I'm honored to be here today to express my interest serving on the Homeless Oversight Commission.

I have over three decades of leadership in real estate development, business management, and civic engagement as CEO and managing partner of Seven Hills Properties and YBC Development 2.

I've led the development and financing of over 500 million dollars in real estate projects, including more than 500 units of affordable housing in San Francisco and San Jose, which we own and operate still today.

In addition to my work in real estate, I serve on the board of two private companies.

Civic Service has always been important to me.

I'm a board member of the Inter County Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.

I'm an active member of the Europe of Wayne Alliance.

I've previously served on the board of Meals on Wheels.

And I have served two terms as president of the Forest Hills Association.

One more on a more personal level, in 1986, I experienced a period of homelessness while living in Renotaho area.

That experience, though long ago, gave me a lasting perspective on the importance of dignity, stability, and opportunity.

It's one of the reasons I've remained committed to supporting supporting housing solutions that are both compassionate and effective.

I've been clean and sober since September 7, 1988.

I'm here today because I believe in solutions.

I'm committed to contributing my experience and my energy and my accountability to the work of the commission.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, colleagues.

Okay, same question.

If you could accomplish one thing or focus on one thing on the commission, what would it be?

I'd look at the effectiveness of the commission of tying homeless communities and people to housing solutions, and I'd also like to work on a portion of those being sober living environments.

Great.

Thank you.

Okay.

Could uh Vanilla Ramos Castro please come to the microphone.

Hello.

Hello, good morning.

My name is Venia Ramos Castro.

I am seeking this position because I've had a long life experience.

I used to be a youth commissioner for the city and county a lifetime ago.

I represented the mission district with Tom Amiano.

And right now I am not only an advocate, I'm a I oversee a team of family case workers in the mission and SOMA area.

And my goal is to support families experiencing homelessness, individuals experiencing homelessness and people recovery.

My goal is to support families in streamlining services because it's really difficult to get people through and navigate the web of services through organizations.

And I like I really enjoy the work.

I work with families, have worked my whole life with families.

I started out working in Good Samaritan, moved on, worked with Lyric, and then right now I'm working with Laraza Community Resource Center.

And yeah, I have firsthand knowledge about working with it because I used to be a homeless child with my family when we were growing up.

My family lost housing after a fire in San Francisco, and we had to navigate the system.

We were lucky enough to work with Episcopals and get housing through them and proceed in our life.

And I'm forever grateful for the services school has brought my family and continue and want to give back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any questions?

Okay.

If you could accomplish one thing or focus on one thing on the commission, what would it be?

I would really like to focus on streamlining the process of recovery because my clients have a hard time uh navigating that because it's all about the timing, and sometimes when people are interested in accessing a recovery service, it's not available at that time.

Um and it's heartbreaking because you cache them at the at the time they're interested in it, but the services are impacted or something's going on, and we can't cash them at a good time.

Thank you.

Colleagues.

Um to all of you, thank you very, very much for putting yourselves forward for this position.

It's um I think there's no question that homelessness is something that we have not been succeeding in addressing for for quite a long time.

And it's wonderful to see four people who have clear um thoughts and ideas about what we can do differently going forward.

So I just want to thank all of you for stepping up in this time of crisis in a lot of ways.

Um seeing no other members on the roster, Mr.

Clerk, will you please open public comment?

Yes, members of the public who wishes to speak on this item.

Should I enough to speak at this time?

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

You can approach the podium.

Hello, I am Sharky Laguana for information purposes only.

I'm currently a member of the Homeless Oversight Commission.

Uh President Mandelman, uh, I thought you said it well uh on the previous item uh that uh sometimes you're presented with uh an array of extraordinary candidates who all have a lot to serve.

Certainly what I I heard today was a lot of really extraordinary people, and I'm grateful to live in a city that people are willing to put themselves out there and make those contributions on a subject that is so vexing and so challenging.

Uh today I'm here to speak uh on behalf of the candidate that I know and I'm familiar with, and that is Tom Rocca.

Uh, and also to speak about how I think he and his particular set of skills and experiences could be potentially an asset on the commission.

His involvement in the development of hundreds of millions of dollars of affordable housing and his oversight of it as the chief financial officer is a critical level of high-level uh experience and presumably accumulated wisdom that lines well with the duties and responsibilities of the Homeless Oversight Commission, which oversees a budget that's north of 700 million dollars.

And the overwhelming majority of that budget is spent on affordable housing, the 16,000 plus units of permanent supportive housing and other supportive housing that we are currently overseeing.

I think Tom's particular experience uh and as well as his lived experience, as somebody who's experienced homelessness and as somebody who has uh gone through the recovery process.

I think when you look at the whole picture here, he would be an extraordinary asset to the commission, and I'd be delighted to welcome him, Supervisors Kristen Evans, former homeless oversight commissioner, formerly sat in seat six.

Seat six of the homeless oversight commission is the one seat reserved for a person with significant experience providing services to or engaging in advocacy on behalf of persons experiencing homelessness.

In other words, this is the one seat reserved for an experienced homeless advocate.

It is my recommendation that the rules committee evaluate the applicants before them in light of the this criteria.

Who is most familiar with and can best advocate for the city's population experiencing homeless insecurity, financial precarity, and homelessness?

Who has the best grasp of the homeless response system challenges and opportunities?

Who has the frontline awareness and expertise to identify the best opportunities for streamlining and making the system more efficient?

Who can best evaluate which investments can be made strategically to deliver our highest return on our investment in our homeless response system?

And who has the best understanding of the metrics for success when coordinating the city's response system?

A note of importance about gender representation on this body.

Having equitable female representation on the homeless oversight commission is a good gap governance practice.

Female participation in this commission is crucial for ensuring that the specific needs and issues impacting women and girls are prioritized and addressed.

This includes addressing concerns related to health, housing, child care, and safety.

Homeless women are more likely to experience homelessness due to domestic violence, gender-based inequality and employment, and trauma.

Homeless women also are more likely to be younger, have children, and face greater risks of violence, poor health outcomes, and mental health issues, including PTSD, compared to their male counterparts.

Advancing toward gender parity not only empowers women but also strengthens our democracy and services all the time well through better oversight and decision making.

Thank you.

Supervisors, my name is Al Williams, and I'm here to speak in support of uh Tom Rocker's nomination uh for the commission.

I actually am here, came here on a totally different matter and didn't realize that Tom was going to be in up uh today.

Uh, but I could not sit there and not say something about him.

I've known Tom for many years.

We've worked closely together on a number of projects in the Baby Hunters Point area and the mission district, all of South and Market, all over the city that dealt with the issue of homelessness and as an inclusive part of it.

I think he brings an extraordinary uh range of skills and expertise uh that would be beneficial to this com to this particular commission, and I couldn't think of a better person to commend to you to support than Tom.

Thank you.

I've actually had the pleasure of covering her uh her court case where she fought an illegal eviction case by herself and won got the case dismissed by Judge Bernard Woods right across the street.

Uh she's currently doing the work as a commissioner, fighting for your constituents, Supervisor Dorsey uh Rory Gambrell helping out with his housing, fighting for a district five constituent.

Both of them are our seniors who are uh dealing with severe issues.

She's as you as you heard, already serving on the as a lived experience advocate with the National Alliance on Homelessness.

Uh already going to the uh UK to advocate on all of our behalf.

She's really already doing the work.

She's the youngest person you're gonna see coming in here ready to do civic action.

You really need fighters, people are gonna be ready to be relatable to the people who are young people out here, already not a lot of advocates for African American people who are the highest percentage of unhoused in San Francisco.

And we're currently working on a major article that's gonna uh shed a lot of light on how the city is not allowing people outside of open door legal or EDC Radco to have options to really fight for their housing and uh uh again only gonna underscore that she's already doing the work.

She had a laundry list of experiences that are relevant to today, not 10, 20, 30 years ago.

And how many young people do you have out here in the city right now under 40, and they need representation?

So I I highly encourage you to look into uh her extensive profile again online as an author.

Read her book, Trapped in the Homeless Hustle, and uh you're not gonna get a more qualified candidate that's doing the work right now.

Thank you.

Are there any other speakers for this matter?

There are no additional public commenters.

Seeing no other speakers, public comment is now closed.

Uh Supervisor Dorsey.

Thank you, Chair Sheryl.

Um, it occurs to me as uh, you know, I used to chair this um committee, and now I serve on the budget committee, and one distinction that I have realized is that on the budget committee, it's just a lot of stuff that comes before you, and you have no good options.

And in the rules committee, you have all good options.

And it's there's a lot of talent here, and I I am grateful for the people who are here who want to do this work.

Um I will say that much of my thinking on this has been governed by the issues that I think are playing out in this space, much of which has to do with housing and recovery housing.

That is something that I'm working on legislatively with President Mandelman.

Um it happens to be something that the state legislature is working on, um, my predecessor uh Matt Haney carried recovery housing legislation.

Um, unfortunately, Governor Newsom vetoed that.

He thinks that there's a way to accomplish it, but there's there's some a lot of work being done in that realm, and I think the experience that Tom Rocka brings as someone who has lived experience um decades of uh personal experience in recovery, which is close to my heart, but I think more importantly, for the challenges that come that are coming before our city and our state, uh in our country, on the issues of homelessness have to do with housing, housing development, and financing.

Those are the challenges that we as policymakers have.

I have known uh Tom Rocca, but long before I knew him, I actually was a well aware of um Yerba Buena Commons, which is in my district on Perry Street.

Uh part of the reason I know it is because I had a um a recovery sponsee who lived there.

Um this was an opportunity for him to turn his life around, and today he is married, and I've checked in with him.

You know, he's been um clean and sober for many years, but I am grateful and he is grateful to have had access to a studio apartment at 88 Perry Street.

Um that was something that was influential in changing his life.

Um so I'm intend to support um Tom Raca.

I will happy happily make the motion after should I make it so I'm gonna I'd like to make a motion to recommend the appointment of Thomas Raca to seat number six of the homelessness oversight committee commission.

Thank you, Supervisor Dorsey.

Mr.

Clerk, if I may, briefly before that.

Um Supervisor Dorsey, I just want to note that you brought up something that I think is incredibly poignant and necessary.

This is about housing, financing, sober housing.

It is also about management.

And I think when we look at addressing homelessness going forward, we have a duty, and I believe the commission has a duty to continue to build trust with the people of San Francisco.

That's based on accountability, it's based on transparency, and it's based on really good fiscal management.

Because in order to manage a budget of 800 million dollars, we need to make sure it's being spent the right way.

Now I think it's being spent better than many people think, but I also think we have an obligation to make sure that the public knows how every dollar is, what is the cost of service per client that we have.

So I really want to thank you for highlighting those critical issues as well.

President Mendelman, any notes before.

Sure.

Um I uh want to thank all of the um applicants for putting their names forward.

I concur with my colleagues, I do think that Tom Rocke is the right person for this seat at this time.

Um reason is his uh great interest and desire to serve.

Um uh Mr.

Rocca reached out to me many, many, many, many, many months ago.

Um uh his own uh life history and work that he had done made him want to step forward and serve in this way.

He served in our city in a lot of other ways.

Um but I say that he's the right person for this moment for this seat because I do think he reflects a um somewhat changed perspective in City Hall in our response to homelessness issues.

And I think there is a majority on the board of supervisors, and there is a a mayor.

I think the prior mayor actually shared uh this general view that although it is important to focus on the needs of individuals and to get as many unhoused individuals off the streets as we can, um, that given the billions of dollars that we are spending uh on these challenges that San Franciscans who are paying the bill have the right to expect that their streets look better.

And they also have the right to expect that the funds that they are spending um get used not just to get people indoors but to get them to a better state and into a better life.

It is not just enough to get a roof over someone's door.

We also want to get them sober, we want to get them working if possible.

Um we want to aspire to something better than just warehousing people until they die um of overdoses.

And I do think that uh Tom Rocca is someone who um is part of that project, will be important to that project, and I'm glad that he is willing to serve on this body.

So I will be supporting his appointment.

Yes, on the motion to recommend Thomas James Rocca to seat six.

On that motion.

Member Dorsey.

Dorsey, aye, member Madelman.

Aye.

Vice Chair Cheryl.

Aye.

Cheryl, aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Motion passes.

Mr.

Clerk, will you please call item number five?

I'd like to ask, would you like to call five and six together or hear them separately?

Yeah, let's call them together.

Thank you.

Yes.

Item number five is a motion approving or rejecting the mayor's nomination for the appointment of Obai Rambo to the homelessness oversight commission term ending May 1st, 2027.

Item number six is a motion approving or rejecting the race nomination for the appointment of Dantanya Ball to the homelessness oversight commission term ending May 1st, 2029.

Great.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk.

Um I believe we have Obai Rambo in this chamber.

Um will you please come to the podium and uh speak about why you want to serve on this commission?

Um thank you, Vice Chair Cheryl.

Um, good morning, President Mandelman and Supervisor Dorsey.

My name is Obai Rambo, and I'm a fourth generation San Franciscan.

I am honored to be nominated by Mayor Lurie to serve on the homelessness oversight commission.

This issue is deeply personal to me.

As a young man, I experienced housing insecurity and know firsthand the anxiety, determination, and faith it takes to stay hopeful through hardship.

That experience drives my commitment to help others regain the dignity that having a home provides.

Homelessness is not a one-size-fits-all issue.

For many, it's tied to behavioral health issues, substance use issues, and a lack of adequate financial opportunities.

Addressing those realities with care and coordination is essential to helping our neighbors rebuild their lives.

This is not just a local challenge, it's a national one.

San Francisco has always led the way in advancing equity and fighting for the rights of all people through this commission and in partnership with our city departments, Mayor Lurie, and this board of supervisors.

I believe the solutions we develop together can serve as a model across the nation.

At the heart of this work is a very simple truth.

Housing is a fundamental human right.

Every neighbor deserves the dignity of a safe, reliable place to call home.

Thank you for your time and consideration of my nomination.

Thank you very much.

You answered my questions, so good to go.

Thank you.

Um, I think do we have um Dante Ball in the audience today?

Would you please come forward to the microphone?

Commissioners.

Thank you so much for the opportunity.

My name is Dante Ball.

I'm a Bayview resident.

I'm also the president of the Baby Merchants Association in Bayview, a small business owner.

Um I talked to my mom yesterday, and uh I asked her what was my purpose, and she laughed.

She said, you know what it is, it's to serve.

Um I get that from my grandmother.

My grandmother was born in Mississippi, and uh one of the things that she always talked about was serving.

How do we serve people?

That's what I've done my whole life.

That's what I'll continue to do.

That's what I do as a small business owner.

I worked with young people at the Willie Mays Boys and Girls Club, and transitional age youth.

I think is our biggest opportunity to make strong impact, not only from a homeless standpoint, from a housing standpoint, but it is the most vulnerable uh group of people in our city.

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to serve in any way possible, uh, challenging the issues of homelessness and uh which we see in Bayview every day.

And uh that's it.

I also wanted to offer a couple of letters of support as well from folks who uh think I'll be a great candidate for the position.

Thank you uh very much.

Um I don't have any questions, but I do have a comment because as a gumbo fiend, I just want to on a personal level, thank you for your gumbo service to the city.

Uh but but seriously, both to both of you, thank you very much for um for standing up for this for these roles.

Um, colleagues, any questions?

Okay.

Uh seeing none of neither of my colleagues on the roster.

Can we open up for a public comment, please?

Yes, members of the public, we should speak on this item.

Should I speak at this time?

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

Hello, supervisors again.

It's the most public comment I've made in one day in my entire life.

Uh it is my honor uh to speak on behalf of both of the mayoral uh nominees.

Uh I think Obai would make extraordinary contributions, his experience uh in government, uh advocating government.

Uh he worked, uh, I don't recall uh that he mentioned this, but he worked as a legislative aide for Supervisor Maher.

He's worked here in the building.

Uh I think having an understanding of how government understands information, how it brings it in, and how it turns this into action.

Uh that is a a very useful and important contribution to the commission as we wrestle with, as you know, many of these issues have uh overlay and overlap with how the supervisors uh bring in information and how they turn that in into action.

Uh so I think Obai will make uh an incredible contribution.

Who I want to speak uh really deeply and from the heart on is Dante Ball.

I met Dante in 2020 when I was uh president of the Small Business Commission at the height of the pandemic, and I met this uh extraordinary man who was having uh building this this uh amazing business in one of our uh uh day markets, uh social gumbo.

He came and spoke before the commission at my invitation and brought us all to tears with his wonderfully evocative and sincerely held position on what it means to provide public service.

And he texted me after the meeting and he said, Thank you so much for inviting me.

I hope to someday be a commissioner like you.

I was very grateful for the opportunity to recruit him for this position.

Speaker time has elapsed.

And I think he'll be extraordinary in this role.

Hi, good morning again, rules committee.

Uh Sarah Souza is speaking as a San Francisco resident, but also leave and lower Polk area.

Um I'm here speaking support of Obai Rumbo for the homelessness oversight commission.

Um, as I walk in San Francisco, I not only see issues with homelessness, I see issues with uh mental health.

And I'm confident that uh Obai will bring not only um solutions to housing, but an understanding of mental health, and how do we come together as a city to address acute homelessness issues in our city?

Um it's a humanitarian crisis, and he brings legislative experience, focus on metrics, and how do we move forward on a more data-based focus that really addresses the root causes of our homelessness crisis?

So please consider his uh appointment uh to seat number two.

Thank you.

Good morning uh commissioner supervisors.

Uh my name is Russell Maureen, and I'm here to support uh Mr.

Dante Ball, Mr.

Gumbo.

Um I have maybe a little bit of prepared statements, but as I've been watching today, I realize that this is you guys are building a team.

And the team, sometimes you have a rookie, sometimes you have the veteran.

But it's all always important that the members of the team work together, they listen to each other.

And that's one thing that I want to emphasize with Dante Ball.

He listens.

I I've had conversations with them, and I can see sometime his mind is working.

Say, okay, it's connecting.

He's he's he's changing his position, he's adjusting his position, he's open to ideas.

And I think that's very, very important in government in this position to be able to listen, understand, and act, and not act first and then try to figure it out.

So I give my 100% 110% um support for Dante.

Um, I know he's gonna do well and be great at this position, and I just want to say thank you, Dante.

What you said about your mother, um, you're you were called to serve.

I think we all should have that.

Somebody behind us willing to say that and support us.

So thank you.

Vice Chair Sherrill, supervisors, J.R.

Epler, Patro Hill.

I was asking Dante the other day, hey, when are we gonna get you into City Hall?

And he said, Well, actually, I I just got this uh this appointment, potential appointment from the mayor.

And I feel like this is one of those opportunities that Supervisor Mandelman said, you know, you have the right person at the right time in the right seat.

The seat's the easy part, someone with experience in merchants or small business associations.

Well, Dante has that in spades.

He was a little modest when he came up here and talked.

He just mentioned uh being president of the Bayview Merchants Association.

He's also serves on the board and on the legislative committee of the San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations.

So beyond his own experience helping anchor uh the Third Street Corridor in Bayview with his restaurant and his work with the Bayview merchants, he also has the perspective of the other merchant corridors throughout the city.

Easy, easy on the seat, right?

Um, but the person in what we need right now is is even better because uh Dante is an enthusiastic advocate for a district that is disproportionately affected by uh the issues that this commission intends to resolve.

Uh as you know, district 10 has almost 18% of the population of the unhoused.

Uh the concentration of social services are up and down the eastern part of the city.

Uh Dante's in a and he lives in the district as well.

So he checks all the boxes for this seat and more.

I'm enthusiastic about his candidacy, and I hope that you move it forward to the board for vote consideration.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

Um, my name is Monique Hayes, a very dear friend of Dante.

All his credentials speak for itself, but as a man of San Francisco, as well as I'm a native woman of San Francisco.

We have seen and experienced and lived so much diversity and with all ethnicities coming here to San Francisco and being homeless.

So what Dante brings with dealing with these different various ethnic people here in San Francisco is just awesome.

I call him Mr.

Awesome because he's very inclusive of everyone, he's very thoughtful of everyone.

You know, how can he help?

How can he do something better with what he's doing?

Not just for himself, but for everyone.

Um I've been working with Dante since 2010, uh, starting my own small business.

Uh he went out his way to just support me and support me in every way I can.

He could, and as well as others today.

You know, one thing I understand about Dante is that he's just kind and considerate.

He listens, and whatever he can do to help, he will.

Now he has so many uh interesting ideas for what um struggles we have here in San Francisco.

It's very important for him to be on this commission.

He's always at meetings, and whatever he can do to support, he will do.

So I think he'd be a great advocate in addition to the commission.

Thank you.

Good morning, supervisors.

My name is Marcus Tartar.

I'm the center director of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in the Bayview Hunter's Point community.

Um you're getting a great human in Dante Ball here today.

Um that's a phrase directly from Dante, and I think it speaks to his uh humanity or his empathy for people, that he sees people first and foremost as humans.

I mean, in this environment right now, we all wanna be seen, we all have an identity, but first and foremost, let's connect with who we are.

And I think Dante, he sees that, and I think this position requires that, that we see people.

It's it's more than a budget, it's more than a spreadsheet, it's more than managing how it's people.

And I think he sees that and he can relate to people.

The second important characteristic that I think he'll bring to this commission is accountability.

And I know that because I'm also on the board at the Baby Merchants Association, where Dante is the president, and I'm the secretary, and I've always been on the struggle butts with getting minutes.

And I didn't think they were a big thing, but he does, and he expressed to me, he said, Marcus, this is not about you.

This is about the board.

And the board, those minutes are so important because people volunteer for things, people sign up for things, and unless we can see the minutes, we're not able to hold them accountable.

So I think you got two things.

You got someone with incredible empathy and someone who's gonna be accountable on the commission.

So thank you.

Hi, all doing today.

Um, my name is Tari Pan.

I'm a local Bay Area artist as well, resident.

Um I got to work with Dante for about say about a month or so now.

Um, and just in my time and meeting him, as someone that has experienced homelessness, um addiction and everything, and have recovered from that, and now chasing my dreams.

Dante inspires me each and every day to like get a to get up and continue to push forward.

He's a thoughtful man, a leader, and I honestly feel that now that this city definitely needs him in his commission seat.

The people need him in his commission seat, and just everything that everybody has spoken for him just speaks for itself along with his accomplishments.

Thank you for your time.

Good morning again, supervisor.

I'm out still Al Williams.

Um bit of a challenge being sixth in the line because 90% of what I was gonna say has already been said by somebody else, so I'm gonna save try to save a little bit of time uh in that regard.

I sit on the board of uh I I was a former president of Baby Merchants Association, and Dante succeeded me there, and it's taken the association to a completely different level in some of the context that Marcus was talking about.

Uh Baby Merchants Association is probably the largest uh geographic area that a uh uh merchants association service, not just the corridor in Bayview Hunters Point, but it's a community-based uh organization as well that's concerned about broader community interest, and Dante keeps that focus on what the association is there to do to help build the community, help structure the community, help it grow uh and develop as it moves forward.

I as after b after uh leaving the presidency, uh I've become involved.

I'm vice president of the board of Avenue Greenlight.

So I get a chance on Avenue Greenlights board to see what's happening in merchant corridors throughout the city and what they are doing as well, and it's really impressive that the leadership that Dante has brought.

Uh it's not it's easy for me to say he's taken to a different level than I did as president of the merchants association, and it's something that we can really be proud of.

And this seat is as J.R.

mentioned is uh seat number four, I believe, which speaks to somebody who has uh um merchant association, uh representing merchants associations and those kind of interests.

So Dante would be the person for that job, and I fully support it.

Thank you.

Good morning, Board of Supervisors.

It's good to see you.

My name's Adamaius.

I'm here to advocate for Obai Rambo.

Uh, he and I worked together in Senator Kumala Harris's office in 2019 and have established a friendship since then.

Um he has a great point of view in terms of understanding what needs to be done, particularly because he understands the local in terms of working with Supervisor Gordon Maher.

He also spent time in Sacramento, and then of course he has the federal experience too, working with uh Senator Harris.

Um, I just wanted to kind of advocate in terms of like his point of view, his understanding of community.

He's incredibly community oriented, and I think he would provide a lot of voices that usually are not heard of in our in City Hall, and I cannot express my deepest interest in him joining colleagues there.

Thank you so much for your time.

I appreciate it.

Supervisors, Kristen Evans.

I am uh maybe the last in a long line of support for uh Dante Ball.

Um Dante and I have oh my time hasn't started.

I don't know if you want to start it.

Uh Dante Ball uh and I have served uh uh as co-chairs of the legislative committee of the Council of District Merchants Association, working together as small business advocates to push through policies and legislation that will support our small business communities.

Um I have to say that Dante always brings a very unique perspective to the conversation because of where he comes from in the Bayview.

It is uh sometimes like the problems and issues that are plaguing one part of the city is very different from the rest of the city.

And so I've always really appreciated that he's brought in that unique perspective and voice.

So I just wanted to emphasize that yes, I think that it's really important to have a diversity of voices that are represented at the homeless oversight commission.

And you know, one of the things that we as small business owners know is that uh we we deal with the challenges of uh people experiencing homelessness on the daily, and so we really understand the critical need for our neighborhood commercial corridors, vitality and sustainability that we address once and for all this chronic problem of visible homelessness in our city.

Of course, I know that we all might not fully agree on what those solutions are.

Um, but I do think that Dante will bring a real perspective that will be very valuable and contribute a lot to this body.

So thank you.

Are there any additional speakers for this matter?

There's no additional public comment.

Okay, seeing no other speakers, public comment is now closed.

Um I'd like to make a motion um well on both items five and six.

Should I go one at a time or both?

We can do them both at a time.

Great.

So I want to make a motion on both items five and six.

It'll be the same motion to strike rejecting and replace it with approve and move both items to the full board uh with recommendation, yes.

Uh on that motion.

Member Dorsey.

Dorsey Aye.

Member Manaman, Madam Aye.

Vice Chair Cheryl.

Aye.

So I the motion to recommend uh the appointment on item five and six is approved without uh without objection.

Motion passes.

Okay, Mr.

Clerk, will you please call item number six?

Oh, I just went through them.

Sorry, sorry about that.

Uh Mr.

Clerk, are there any other items before us today?

There are no additional items on today's agenda.

There is no further business.

The meeting is now adjourned.