Good morning and welcome to this December 1st, 2025 Rules Committee meeting.

I'm your chair, Supervisor Shimon Walton, joined by Vice Chair Supervisor Cheryl as well as President Mandelman.

Our clerk is Victor Young, and I would like to thank Jamie Escheverry for making sure that this meeting is publicly broadcasted for the public.

Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements?

Yes. 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.

email them to myself the rules committee clerk at b-i-c-t-o-r dot y-o-u-n-g at sfgov.org

if you submit public comment via email it will be included as part of the file

you may also send your written comments via u.s mail to our office in city hall

one dr carlton b goodlit place room 244 san francisco california 94102

please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices

Items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' Agenda of December 9, 2025, unless otherwise stated.

That completes my initial announcements.

Thank you so much. Would you please call item number one?

Item number one is an ordinance amending the Administrative Code to establish the Reparations Fund.

Thank you.

And colleagues, as you know, this Board of Supervisors commissioned a reparations committee,

the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, and some of the folks who are here

today want to thank you all, of course, for your service in order to explore the injustices

suffered by black people in San Francisco and to come up with concrete solutions to

address the harms of the past.

The committee came up with over 100 recommendations that will work to achieve reparations for black people in San Francisco

if they met specific requirements identified by the committee.

This city also provided a formal apology via Board of Supervisors' resolution to the black community here in San Francisco.

Today, we are here to establish a reparations fund.

As you know, the recommendations provided by the task force are only lip service if we do not do anything to provide resources to address proposed recommendations.

This ordinance will establish the reparations fund to receive monies appropriated or donated to support and implement recommendations described in the San Francisco Reparations Plan,

submitted by the African American Reparations and Advisory Committee.

The fund may receive any legally available monies appropriated or donated for this purpose through donations or optional tax refunds for businesses.

This does not require the city to expend any monies.

this also is here of course want to just remind again solely and specifically for the support

of addressing recommendations from the plan the human rights commission or hrc will administer

the fund they will also be charged with coming up with a plan and criteria in line with the

qualifications from the African American Reparations Advisory Committee report for prioritizing which

recommendations to address from the fund. We are now at a pivotal and critical moment for black

people here in San Francisco. A dramatically declined population, high concentrations of

poverty and unemployment here in this city, coupled with disproportionate increases in the number of

black people who are homeless in this city. Now is the time we make good on some of the promises

and provide critical resources needed to support reparations here in San Francisco.

I want to thank my co-sponsor, Supervisor Cheyenne Chen, the entire African American

Reparations and Advisory Committee, the Human Rights Commission, Natalie G. from my office,

and the entire community for supporting the task force, the plan, the apology from Citi,

and for all of the work to get us here today.

We are going to hear briefly from Human Rights Commission Director Mowuli Tugbeño

to recap some of the work that got us here today.

And then we'll hear from Eric McDonald,

Chair of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee,

before checking in with colleagues and then going to public comment.

Thank you everyone who is here this morning in attendance.

And now let's hear from Director Tugbeño.

Oh, hold on one second, I'm sorry.

President Mandelman, my apologies.

Thank you, Chair Walton.

I just wanted to be out as a co-sponsor.

Thank you so much, President Mandelman.

Director Tugbeño.

Good morning, Supervisor Walton and members of the Rules Committee.

I want to thank you, Supervisor Walton, for your continued leadership.

on ensuring that reparations remains at the forefront of everybody's minds here in San Francisco.

I also want to begin by expressing publicly my deep appreciation and gratitude for the members

of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee for more than a year.

They gave their time, their wisdom, and experience to generate a historic body of work.

The recommendations that were generated by the reparations committee created a path forward towards repairing harm for slavery and the legacy it has caused for the black community and all the ways that harm was caused specifically here in San Francisco.

The Human Rights Commission was honored to staff and prepare the final report that captured the committee's vision and recommendations.

I wanted to thank Brittany Chiquada, who is in the room with us today and will be available to answer any questions,

who led some of the reparations work for the Human Rights Commission.

The report not only documented past harms, but it also talked about the ongoing inequities that persist across every measure of well-being in San Francisco.

Disproportionate mortality and morbidity rates, limited economic mobility and vitality, disparate incarceration rates, unequal education access, as well as access to housing opportunities.

While we are here to discuss the reparations fund, I want to remind folks and I want to be clear that the report also had an additional 110 recommendations that spanned policy reform, community investment, health, education, housing, and cultural preservation.

I just want to make sure that that is clear, as others have made clear in the past.

you'll hear a much better summary and recap of the work of the reparations advisory committee

from chair eric mcdonald donnell who will follow me and i just want to close by again recognizing

the advisory committee's work chair mcdonald vice chair tanish hollins who is not able to join us

today though she wanted to and the community members whose input informed this body of work

and the Human Rights Commission remains proud to continue to be engaged in this work and support and move it forward.

And I'm happy to pass the microphone to Chair Eric McDonnell.

Thank you, Director Tugbeño.

Good morning.

Chair Walton, Supervisor Cheryl, President Mandelman, it's a pleasure to be here this morning.

I want to begin just by recognizing my fellow colleagues who served in the African American Reparations Advisory Committee.

Letitia Irving is here in chambers, Daniel Landry, and Reverend Amos Brown.

As was stated, my name is Eric McDonald.

I had the privilege and honor of chairing the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, which this board established in 2020.

I'm here today in strong support of the legislation before you to create the San Francisco Reparations Fund,

a critical mechanism to mobilize private sector, philanthropic, and community investment

toward the implementation of the San Francisco Reparations Plan.

In 2020, as was stated, the board passed an ordinance creating the African American Advisory Committee

with a clear mandate to study the historic and ongoing harms experienced by San Francisco's black communities

and develop a comprehensive, actionable reparations plan.

We began the work in June of 2021, organizing around four deeply researched areas,

economic empowerment, education, health, and public policy.

Each subcommittee held public meetings, gathered expert testimony, research,

and centered community voice throughout the entire process.

Our charge was not symbolic. It was operational.

We were asked to identify structural discriminations and propose a path toward redress.

The final plan documents the legacy of harms, and there were many, including urban renewal,

redevelopment-driven displacement, systematic exclusion from wealth building, and ongoing

racial disparities across housing, health, education, and economic opportunity.

Across the two years of work, 15 committee members representing community, academia,

public policy, faith, and grassroots leadership, worked with rigor, transparency, and a deep sense

of responsibility to deliver the reparations plan now before the city. At its core, the reparations

plan includes three overall recommendations. First, a formal apology from the city and county

of San Francisco and sustained systemic investment to address historical harms. Secondly, creation of

an independent office of reparations to lead, implement, and track progress on the plan's

recommendations.

And then third, formation of a reparations stakeholder authority, a community-led accountability

body to ensure continuity and oversight.

Beyond these three, as was stated, the plan includes recommendations across four domains,

economic empowerment, financial repairs, income supplements, wealth building supports, financial

literacy and estate planning services, education, addressing disparities in access, curriculum

inclusion, cultural preservation, and youth opportunity in health, mental health access,

culturally competent care, and addressing environmental racism and health inequity,

and finally policy reform, enforcement of development agreements, strengthening police

accountability structures, and addressing systemic roots of displacement. Altogether,

the plan provides a holistic roadmap for structural repair.

This legislation establishes the reparations fund to receive monies appropriated or donated

to support and implement the recommendations described in the reparations plan.

The fund creates a vehicle for investment from the city, philanthropy, private sector, and community partners.

It ensures funds are used solely for reparations implementation, and it signals a seriousness of purpose, moving beyond study and words into action.

By creating this fund, you validate the years of community testimony, data, and historical research.

You strengthen the city's capacity to execute a multi-year strategy, and you invite partners to join in resourcing real, measurable change.

The reparations plan is, in fact, comprehensive. It is evidence-based and ready. It requires, though, a vehicle, infrastructure, and investment, and this fund provides exactly that.

The harms named in the reparations plan have shaped families, neighborhoods, and opportunities for generations of black San Franciscans.

With this legislation, you have the opportunity to build a mechanism through which San Francisco can move from intention to action, from apology to repair.

And so I urge you to approve the reparations fund ordinance and ensure that the commitments this city has made become real, become resourced, and become lasting.

Thank you so much for your leadership.

Thank you so much for your leadership, Chair McDonald, and for being here this morning.

And I know we have former Supervisor Reverend Amos Brown, who is also here this morning, who also served on the State Reparations Committee.

so I'm going to allow Reverend Brown an opportunity to say something at the microphone as well.

Yes.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Members of the committee, President Mandelman, members of Human Rights Commission,

especially Brother Mahmoudi,

our chairperson and executive director,

to all of my fellow members who served

on our local reparations task force.

Mr. Chairman,

is providential

and very much apropos

that this hearing was scheduled for today.

Might I remind you

that there was a dear lady,

Rosa Parks,

on December the 5th,

1955, who refused to give up her seat on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Also in 1955, at the age of 14, I had the distinction of organizing the first youth council of the NACP in the wake of that horrible, inhumane, brutal lynching of one Emmett Till,

who is the same age as I.

So Mr. President, Mr. Chairman,

it is very much providential, I repeat,

that we're having this hearing now.

It may be more than a hearing,

but a happening of substance.

to make a major step toward correcting the evil, inhumane, barbaric treatment that the sons and daughters of Africa have received from this world,

Atlantic slave trade for 400 years

and also from

legitimatized, organized, systematized

slavery in the United States of America

until 1863.

So today,

thank you,

Supervisor

Jermon Walton

for taking the action immediately

after the NACP

on the leadership of the San Francisco branch

in 2019 introduced in this sacred chamber

a call for reparations

for African Americans in the city and county of San Francisco.

Now I must say parenthetically,

we very much appreciate the apology

I was in this chamber when it was agreed upon.

But the good book, might I remind you

that I'm a Baptist preacher still,

reminds us that we must show fruits of repentance.

We must make substantive our repentance.

And this is now the opportunity

to bring substance to your sayings,

to bring hope to a people of hopelessness.

And might I end by saying,

one key aspect of reparations,

if reparations is to have integrity in San Francisco,

must be total revitalization and restoration of the Harlem of the West,

which represents the hub of economic, social, cultural activities of African Americans in this city.

It was a Fillmore that is almost no more.

And time is of the essence.

and we must get in a hurry and make sure that that heritage building is restored.

For that is ground zero.

That is a seed of where we, as a people, celebrated the blues and jazz,

the original music, the only original music, save the grunt and the chant of the Native Americans

that was birthed on these shores in the United States of America.

So San Francisco has the opportunity to be true to its sayings and preachments

about being a progressive liberal city.

when you stand up and make sure that there's the money, honey, for this reparation.

And now just a word of apology.

God bless you. Thank you.

And may we look forward to restoration of the Fillmore.

And as you voted in that measure, every district has some form of reparations.

in this district to demonstrate that you are about making payment on a debt that's long overdue.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Reverend Brown. And I don't see anything from colleagues at this

time. So, Mr. Clerk, let's call for public comment on this item. Yes, members of the public, we should

speak on this item should line up speak by the by the side by the windows each

speaker will be allowed two minutes there'll be a soft charm when you have

30 seconds left and a lot of time when your time has expired

First speaker.

Yes.

My name is Salah Hakuya Chandler, abolitionist, social justice fighter for my people, for my nation.

And also, I am a Hebrew for Yahweh Elohim, the Tetragrammaton.

I would like to speak, which is YHWH, consonants without the vowels.

I would like to acknowledge my pastor and teacher, Yolanda Banks-Reed,

for on 9-20-9-9, the month of 9th, 2025, this month in the month.

She sent a certified letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, State Senator Scott Weiner, and Mayor Daniel Lurie and Matt Haney,

that it needs to be reparations done, that we, the Hebrew cultural community, put in a motion with the United States of America,

and they stated that we had to bring it back to San Francisco to have a committee.

Yolanda Banks-Reed wrote to the governor and said that there was not a committee in San Francisco.

Two weeks later, the governor made the statement that there would be a committee.

So we as Hebrews for Yahweh Elohim are doing what we're supposed to do.

I would have you see the certified.

I would have each one of your offices receive the letters sent.

But the bottom line is that we have been fighting for reparations for many, many years.

and we have not received it.

The scripture says is that an unjust is an abomination,

which means this is not equal to what has happened to the commonly called African American Hebrew Nation.

Every other culture has been able to monopolize and to manifest off of the blood of our ancestors.

And we are suffering as a nation, but we are not hopeless.

we are people of royal blood

our DNA

I beg your pardon

your speaking time has elapsed

thank you so much

and I know this city will do

what needs to be done

Shalom

Hey good morning

I'm Dale Seymour from the Tenderloin

you know I watch the meetings

every week online.

I would just want to ask you,

beg you, whatever you want me to use the word,

to listen to the people.

There are three bodies of government in this building.

There's the wonderful mayor's office,

there's the board of supervisors,

and there's the people.

We are a body of this government.

And sometimes I'm not sure how much you listen to us.

Because you'll have a line all the way to the back of the room

advocating for a project or a person,

and you completely ignore that.

This is our opinion.

We are the people.

Listen to us.

You know, speakers here this morning,

and you all have said some words

that I don't necessarily agree with,

that's past harm.

Ain't no past harm.

We're being harmed today.

Why does my grandson have to stand on the corner

of Six and Market with his other teenagers

selling dope to buy their pants and their shirts?

They can't get in the financial district.

I go down to the financial district this afternoon.

The only black men I'll see in the financial district are security guards.

And this is supposed to be a sophisticated city.

So me personally, I don't want an apology.

Because I go to the Board of Supervisors meetings on Tuesday,

and the back page of the agenda has all the lawsuits you have settled with people,

and ain't one of them settled with an apology.

So don't offer that to me.

Maybe these other people can take it.

I don't want it.

Please do the right thing, but please listen to the people.

We could be anywhere this morning.

We come down here to let you know what we want you all to do,

what we consider, beg you, bother you to consider doing.

There was a wonderful special last night of CNN about the reparations at Harvard.

Go and do some research on what they're doing in other cities

and see how they'll repair the past and the present harm to our people.

Thank you for listening to me this morning.

Good morning, Supervisors.

Daniel Landry.

And I just wanted to say as a former member of the Reparations Task Force body,

I am very grateful and thankful to have a supervisor like Shaman Walton,

who's continued to bend on the front line and push this item.

So thank you.

We know you're a supervisor.

You're not Superman.

But definitely kudos to you and to the Rules Committee

and to all my fellow colleagues.

I see Sister Irvin.

I see Tiffany Carter, Dr. Brown, HRC.

I appreciate everything that we accomplished.

And like we always say, it's not in vain because it's in writing.

And no matter how long time passed, I'm 57 years old.

If God allow me to be 107, you'll see me come before this board pushing for reparations if we don't get to the finish line.

But I just want to say real quickly, you know, the gentleman just made an excellent point about, you know, just paying attention to details.

And last night I pulled out the original summary draft of our reparation plan.

So 400 pages, right?

I mean, you really have to humble yourself when you talk about reading reports on a people that most of the time is overlooked just because of who we are.

And I would encourage the Rules Committee as well as the full Board of Supervisors and even people public at large, take time out and read the report.

Because you will find that there's certain things that you've probably been hearing about over the years like displacement, redevelopment, Article 34.

and it gives you a full understanding of what that really represented to us

and how it damaged and impacted us all these decades here in the city of San Francisco.

Thank you.

How y'all doing?

My name is Tyree Pond.

I'm here in representation of the Bayview Hunters Point Coordinating Council.

First off, I want to say thank you

Supervisor Shimon Walton

For putting together this ordinance

Thank you to everybody that has attended this ordinance

In pursuit of these reparations

For decades, black families in Bayview-Hunters Point

Have carried the weight of environmental racism

Displacement and economic exclusion

Reparations is the city's chance to finally move

from an apology to accountability.

Our community deserves repair, not promises.

Please establish this fund like justice matters.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Leah McGeever.

I live in D6, and I'm here in solidarity

with the black community and fully supports this reparations

fund being created.

San Francisco has a shit ton of shit to repair and atone for when it comes to the extreme harm that has been done to the black community here, probably since the creation of the colony of San Francisco.

I just want to point out that the mayor and the San Francisco government doesn't need to wait for a reparations fund to begin repairing and atoning for their sins.

you can begin housing homeless black people now. You can make sure that every black community has

a grocery store, period. You can stop the current renewal of the war on drugs, which we know is a

very racist anti-black policy that disproportionately imprisons and ruins the lives of black people.

I could go on and on and on

so much has already been said here over the years and will continue to be said

but I guess the bottom line is

what would reparations look like

or what would they have looked like to Banco Brown

a young black homeless trans man

who was murdered because he was hungry

this is something that San Francisco

the government did to him

This government murdered Banco Brown. What would need to be done to ensure that another Banco Brown doesn't get murdered, has a long, fruitful, happy life? That's what San Francisco needs to do.

Good morning, supervisors.

My name is Jessica Trubowicz.

I'm the Director of Community Partnerships for the Jewish Community Relations Council.

The JCRC is the largest collective voice for Jews in the Bay Area.

I'm here today to stand in solidarity with the black community

and to support the Repreations Fund.

JCRC has long supported reparations in San Francisco for black and descendants of the enslaved persons

who have experienced harm by racist and discriminatory public policy.

The reparations fund is an important and necessary building block to making sure that reparations happen.

Therefore, I ask you to move this legislation forward.

Thank you.

All right, I was waiting for the clock to start.

Good morning.

My name is Renard Monroe.

I'm the Executive Director of a youth program called Youth First.

Reparations are about repair, and I think everyone in this world can understand that the system has been broken,

and it's been in need of repair.

For the black community, we've been held back for so long that we're just accustomed to struggle, and we're always trying to survive.

And when is it time for us as a community to thrive?

And we're always putting patchwork and not actually repairing the foundation.

A reparations fund can actually do really good work, which provides two things that we live by, and that's access and opportunity.

If we're not providing access and opportunity to healthy food, to education, how can we survive?

How can we thrive?

So the reparations fund is very important, and it's time to stop delaying what is owed to the black community.

Okay, so you guys have that power to make sure that things can move expeditiously because we don't have much time.

Reverend Brown, like you said, he was 14 years old when things were going on.

And we're still struggling today.

So it's time to atone for our mistakes and build for our future.

Thank you.

Good morning, supervisors.

especially to Walton, thank you for

re-bringing this up again

and I definitely want to acknowledge

those that sat on the Committee of

Reparations along with the

Human Rights Commission. And to tag

along with

Reverend Brown, I have an original

redevelopment document of

December 16th of 1985

where the Fillmore Corridor

was sold off into our

community. Yeah, the Fillmore

Center, which covers about five

or six blocks of a whole corridor that was sold off in exchange for West Bay and all this other

stuff. But to this day, the Fillmore Center has not been a good partner. They were the reason,

Safeway and the Fillmore Center was the reason where the CBD closed. They didn't want to invest

any more money. We know the CBD, we know Safeway is gone, and we know Prudential is the big giant

that owns the Fillmore Center,

but there was no blacks that were able to develop that parcel.

Our former colleague and minister, Reverend Townsend,

was heavy indulged in that time,

and he explained to us in several town hall meetings

before he passed away that there was no blacks

able to develop that property.

Along came some white developers,

and they developed that whole property of the Fillmore Center.

And ever since then, it's been changing and changing hands.

Now, the storefronts, you know, you have Kaiser, which has a whole block, which is empty.

I don't know why we keep giving this hospital, you know, land.

Powell's, Emmett Powell's, unfortunately, he gave his last shot, you know,

not even getting on Eddie Street.

They put him on Eddie Street, not even Fillmore Street.

He lost everything.

He lost his home and everything, trying to get back into the Fillmore.

So this reparations goes way back.

And since I've been involved in the community for over 20 years,

I don't come down here because I'm not saying that it's a waste of time,

but I just don't see the government.

The government moves very slow, and I know how the government works.

But as Dale from the tender line in the Western District,

since we're merged now, it's just time out.

Y'all got to re-listen to the people, right?

Brand new supervisors, brand new year coming up.

Why don't you guys go really listen to the people and not just look for your next position after this.

You know, I know we all got growth in positions that we want, but stay here right now with us in this ordinance right here.

Right. The harm that was created.

Yeah, folks that came out here from the great migration to get away from the descendants of slavery.

Right. Then you had this share cropping.

Then you had the Jim Crow.

Then you came out here to San Francisco only to be uprooted again under a development saying that intimate domain.

And your former colleague, Dean Preston, tried to help us out and give the Safeway back to us in the intimate domain.

And unfortunately, and I don't know why he's not sitting in here, because last week, a former supervisor didn't decide to do it.

But we really need this justice.

We really need this justice.

We don't need no more lip service.

We thank you for the honest opinion of apology, but it goes beyond that.

Greetings. My name is Leticia Irving.

I am the proud daughter of Bayview-Hunters Point,

and I stand before you with the privilege of being able to sit on seat 14

of the African American Reparations Advisory Council.

and that report that we put together represented the voices the same voices you hear here you hear

now and the voices of our elders the voices past and present and so I want to come up here to say

simply echo everything that was said today it is important that we respond to this community

it is important that we move beyond words and we start to act I want to thank supervisor Walton

for all of your hard work. I want to thank Reverend Brown and the NAACP for pulling this

work here. I want to thank the Human Rights Commission under the present leadership and

the past leadership for putting this work forward to continue pushing, but we have to do more than

just talk. We're tired of coming. We're tired of asking, and it's beyond the reparations fund.

While grateful for it, what I did hear was that the city puts nothing to it. The city has to put

some funds to it. The city has to start responding to the recommendations that are in that report.

because some of it doesn't even cost money. I work in the San Francisco Unified School District.

I am here as a private citizen, not a school district member, but as someone who's dedicated

25 years to San Francisco Unified School District, what I'm seeing is that we're just continuing a

cycle, and we're not going to fix, and we're not going to improve the communities for black folks

in San Francisco until we do right by our children. I ask that you look at that report,

you pay attention to all of the four different domains that we talked about, and that you move

beyond words. Apology was cool. What are we doing going forward? I thank you and I am looking forward

to this legislation being passed. Hello Rules Committee and my supervisor, Supervisor Walton.

My name is Tiffany Carter, a Bayview Hunters Point native and former member of the African

American Reparations Advisory Committee seat for small business subcommittee education.

Mayor Lurie has stated his commitment to investing in black San Francisco, and I want to acknowledge that.

San Francisco's strongest economic sector is tech, yet black residents have historically been left out of wealth and opportunities it creates.

I would like to see Mayor Lurie's commitments reflected.

We have yet to see those.

I would like to see support for the reparations fund and pathways for education and economic mobility.

We have supported the HBCU that has come to San Francisco.

We have yet to see that follow through.

We have acknowledged the contributions that have brung.

Many of those interns have been in a lot of you guys' office.

We want to see that HBCU in downtown San Francisco and Black San Francisco be a part of San Francisco's get back or whatever you guys keep calling it.

Thank you.

Hello, good morning committee. My name is Shaquille O'Kane. I was a former member of the

reparations board and I'm here standing for my grandmothers who have recently passed on. One was

a refugee from Mobile, Alabama. As people have echoed here, she came here to live a good life

and also having a grandmother who was a native here. Born and raised in San Francisco, she also

always mention at 16 years old how San Francisco talked about reparations. Well, both of them now

gone and passed on. I know it's very important to keep this conversation going, but I do want to see

my son or, you know, family members benefit from reparations here in San Francisco. I recently

just was homeless here, and I was told that it was pretty much best if I leave outside of San

Francisco. I fought to stay here. I'm currently now housed back here in San

Francisco and it was really hard for that help and I just want to thank

supervisor Walton and your team for always responding to my emails.

Good morning. I'll just say good evening. Good morning. Thank you supervisor Walton

for bringing back up the reparation ordinance.

I'm a born and raised native here of San Francisco.

My name is Vanessa, and I am the proud daughter

of Sergeant Robert Earl Banks, who served in World War II.

My mother also did a lot of work here in San Francisco.

Actually, she was the first person to have a contract

with San Francisco for Hunters Point,

and she served lunches out of her house

before we had access to park and rec.

I would like to see reparations come to us because it is long overdue.

I believe I could have been a doctor of San Francisco

would have treated me better at Hunters Point when I was going to school

because I'm pretty smart, I think, but I was deprived education.

So within this reparations, we need to see funding going towards children

so that they can have money for college, so that they can continue to do the work in society that we are being deprived.

I haven't been outside in a couple of months, but I just came outside the other day.

And the whole time I was riding in my Uber, all I saw was Latino workers and white workers.

It was very, very interesting because I come from out of the sunset all the way to the Bayview,

and I noticed I wasn't seeing people that looked like me,

and that was a little disturbing.

So we need y'all, like everybody else said,

to stop talking and just make it happen for us

because when y'all do,

watch how the city thrive even better when you do.

Good morning.

My name is Erica Scott.

I am also a San Francisco native, and I just wanted to share that definitely in solidarity for the reparations fund.

Thank you, Supervisor Shaman.

Thank you, the other supervisors who are here and hopefully pushing this forward.

I just wanted to just share for me the significance is that the harm of racism, it goes really deeply.

And maybe people who are from a different ethnicity could look at it and just say it was so long ago.

Move past it.

We've gone so far from that.

and as a small business owner one of the biggest expenses is staff and employees

and so you imagine an entire country running on free labor and that was a huge premise of slavery

the economic concepts of it all.

And so with the free labor comes a foundation for other families to thrive

off the hard work of other people.

And so everybody is set up based on the backs of other people,

and so that's what we're looking at today.

Everyone had a head start because of our labor.

and so the reparations helped to put everything on a level playing field and so that's one of

the reasons I'm in solidarity for it so thank you. Are there any additional speakers on this matter?

There are no additional speakers at this time. Thank you. Seeing no additional speakers,

public comment is now closed and again first I just want to thank everyone for

taking the time to come here this morning. I also want everyone to know that the work of the task

force will definitely not be taken in vain. We will not have another report sit on the shelf

without having resources and programming to come behind all of your hard work. Most certainly

the conversation about reparations did not start here in San Francisco, but there are not a group

of people that worked harder than this task force to come up with the recommendations to

truly address the harms that have been done for black folks here in San Francisco. So I want to

say thank you again very publicly for all of your hard work. We have a lot more to do.

This fund will be a basis of providing resources to address some of the recommendations made in the report.

But most certainly, this is not the end-all, be-all of what we have to do here in San Francisco to truly provide a form of reparations for our community.

So I want to thank you all again for being here.

I don't see any comments from colleagues, and so I will make a motion to move this item forward with recommendation to the full board.

Yes, on that motion, Vice Chair Sherrill.

Sherrill, aye.

Member Mandelman.

Aye.

Mandelman, aye.

Chair Walton.

Aye.

Walton, aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Thank you.

Motion carries.

Mr. Clerk, can you please read the second item?

Yes. Item number two is ordinance meeting the administrative code to eliminate the Folsom Street Entertainment Zone

and create the West Soma Entertainment Zone to include the following streets.

Folsom Street between 12th and Rust Street, Halam Street between Folsom and Rush Place,

Langton Street between Folsom and Decker Alley, Rust Street between Mina and Folsom Street,

7th Street between Folsom and Harrison Street.

8th Street between Folsom and Harrison Street.

Harrison Street between 7th and 13th Streets.

12th Street between Harrison and Folsom Street.

11th Street, Howard Street between 10th and 11th Street.

Dorr Street between Folsom and Sheridan Street.

9th Street between Harrison and Folsom Street.

Ringgold Street between 8th and 9th Street.

and Heron Street between 8th Street and Berwick Place

and affirming the Planning Department's determination

under the California Environmental Quality Act.

There is a request that this matter be sent out as a committee report.

Great. Thank you.

Today I believe we have Brian Dahl here representing Supervisor Dorsey

along with Alex Ludlum, the Executive Director of the SOM West Community Benefit District,

Bob Goldfarb, the Executive Director of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District,

and Ben Ben Houghton, the director of nightlife initiatives with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development.

Brian, good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Brian Dahl, legislative aide for Supervisor Matt Dorsey.

We're excited and thankful to have this item before the Rules Committee today.

The West Soma Entertainment Zone is a highly anticipated initiative that will strengthen our city's nightlife,

support cultural communities, and bring renewed vibrancy to our neighborhood streets and small businesses.

This entertainment zone will allow patrons to enjoy to-go beverages

in some of San Francisco's most celebrated nightlife corridors,

including Folsom Street and 11th Street.

It will also elevate signature events like the Folsom Street Fair and the Barrison Street Fair.

This will further showcase the cultural richness and economic vitality of the South of Market community.

Supervisor Dorsey's office has worked closely with West Soma businesses,

cultural districts, and nonprofits while creating the boundaries for this entertainment zone.

We're thankful for the Soma West Community Benefit District and the Leather and LGBTQ

Cultural District who have agreed to be the leads for the zone if and when it goes into

effect.

Thank you for your consideration and we respectfully ask that this item be sent to the full Board

of Supervisors as a committee report.

As Supervisor Cheryl said, I'm joined by Ben Van Hooten with the Office of Workforce and

Economic Development, Alex Lodlum with the Soma West Community Benefit District, and

Bob Goldfarb with the Leather and LGBTQ

Cultural District who can answer any

additional questions. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Dahl. And is

the intention for everyone to speak or they're

just here to answer questions? Just here to answer

questions. Got it. Thank you so much.

Seeing no questions or comments

from colleagues, we will call for a public

comment on this item.

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

Should line up to speak at this time?

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

Hello, my name is Leah McGeever. I live in D6.

And just what I've said with other entertainment zones that have been passing since last year,

it's the fact that we're in the middle now of a war on drugs,

which is very racist and concentrated in this Soma, Tenderloin area as well.

A war against the poor, including homeless people,

that makes the juxtaposition of these entertainment zones so offensive

when the government is also disappearing homeless people

and imprisoning, jailing, punishing people with substance use disorders.

I really don't know how people are okay with this.

I really don't get the appeal to partying in the street that is only empty now

because of these horrible policies

that are making the lives of these poor people so much worse.

You're not housing them.

You're not treating them, caring for them, feeding them.

You're just disappearing them so you can party in the streets

and boost the economy.

That is a sign of a very sick society.

San Francisco is sick for this horrible juxtaposition.

I've been reading some medical stats from doctors, physicians,

when Manifest Destiny was happening here in San Francisco,

and we have always had a homeless problem.

We have always had insanity problems.

I guess the situation makes people go insane here.

This is created by our society, by our government.

It's not the individual's fault. It's your fault.

And something they noted was there used to be compassion for homeless people wandering across the country to settle the West.

But because the suffering became so overwhelming, they lost their compassion.

So have we.

Good morning, supervisors.

I am Bob Goldfarb, the Executive Director of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District,

and I would like you to urge passage of this legislation.

It will be good for the communities in the neighborhood.

It's good for the businesses and a great opportunity to help activate the neighborhood.

The activation not only helps the businesses and the communities there,

it helps reduce crime and is good for the neighborhood overall.

and I urge you to support the legislation.

Thank you.

Are there any additional speakers on this matter?

There are no additional speakers.

Thank you.

Seeing no other speakers,

public comment is now closed on this item,

and I'd like to make a motion to move this item forward

to the full board with recommendation as a committee report.

Yes, I have a motion to recommend as a committee report.

Vice Chair Sherrill.

Aye.

Sherrill, aye.

Member Mandelman.

Aye.

Mandelman, aye.

Chair Walton.

Aye.

Walton, aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Thank you.

Motion carries.

Mr. Clerk, please call item number three.

Item number three is a motion approving or directing the president of the Board of Supervisors,

Rafai Mandelman. Nomination of Robin Abid-Kubilo for appointment to the Board of Appeals for a

term ending July 1st, 2026. Thank you. President Mandelman. Thank you, Chair Walton. I think,

well, you at least are familiar with Mr. Abad, and I don't know if Supervisor Cheryl had the

opportunity to work with Robin when he was with the city. But he did have ten years in our planning

department working on lots of important projects, and then he took on the shared spaces program

during the pandemic. Currently he works in, and for the last couple of years, has worked in Oakland

working, among other things, on their permitting reforms. And then he's just been kind of the

superstar volunteer in a number of LGBTQ and film and Filipino organizations and causes.

He was on the board of Lyric and has done a lot with Frameline, served on the board of directors

for Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza and Illuminate for the Arts. I believe also Bike Coalition

and generally is just a very committed San Franciscan who does a lot

and I thought would be a good addition to the Board of Appeals

as a Board of Supervisors representative, and I hope you all will agree.

Thank you, President Mandelman.

I don't see anything else from colleagues.

Mr. Clerk, please call for 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.

Good morning, supervisors.

My name is Julie Lamar.

I'm the Executive Director for the Board of Appeals.

I want to thank President Mandelman

for putting Robin Abad forward as a candidate.

I think he would be an excellent addition

to the Board of Appeals,

given his land use experience

and his familiarity with how government operates.

We have had a vacancy since September,

and in order to effectively serve the public, we do need another commissioner.

So I would respectfully request that you advance his name

to be considered before the full Board of Supervisors.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional speakers on this matter?

There are no additional speakers.

Thank you.

Seeing no other speakers, public comment is now closed.

President Mendelman.

Thank you, Chair Walton.

I'd like to move that we make this a motion to approve the nomination of Robin Abad Acubio

and that we forward that motion to the full board as a committee report for consideration on December 2nd.

Can we amend it to remove the words rejecting throughout the motion?

Great.

Yes, on the motion to amend the legislation to approve

and to recommend the matter as amended as a committee report.

On that motion.

Sorry.

On that motion to recommend as amended as a committee report.

Vice Chair Sherrill.

Sherrill, aye.

Member Madelman.

Aye.

Madelman, aye.

Chair Walton.

Aye.

Walton, aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Thank you.

Item moves forward.

Mr. Clerk, please call item number four.

Yes, item number four is the motion to approve and reject the mayor's nomination for the appointment of Masha Hakimai

to the Successor Agency Commission term ending November 3rd, 2028.

Thank you.

And, colleagues, I will be calling to move this item to the call of the chair,

as the representative couldn't be here this morning.

but before we do that Mr. Clerk please go to public comment on this item.

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

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes. There are no members of the public in the room at this

time. Thank you. Public comment is now closed. Mr. Clerk I'd like to move that we continue this

item to the call of the chair. Yes on the motion to continue the matter to the call of the chair.

Vice Chair Sherrill?

Aye.

Sherrill, aye.

Member Madelman?

Aye.

Madelman, aye.

Chair Walton?

Aye.

Walton, aye.

That motion carries without objection.

Thank you.

Motion carries.

Mr. Clerk, do we have any more business before us this morning?

That completes the agenda for today.

Thank you.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.