Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Monday, July 28th, 2026 rules committee meeting.

I'm your chair supervisor Shimon Walton.

I'm joined by Vice Chair Stephen Shiro, as well as committee member president Rafael Mandelman.

This morning's clerk is Victor Young, and we have Jamie Esheberry from SFGov TV, and we want to thank Jamie for making sure that this meeting is publicized and made available to the public.

Mr.

Clerk, do we have any announcements this morning?

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 the following ways.

Email them to myself, the rules committee clerk at VICTOR dot Y O U N G at SFgov.org.

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

You may also send written comments via USMO to our office in City Hall.

One, Dr.

Carlton B.

Goodlid 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 September 1st, unless otherwise stated.

That completes my initial announcements.

Thank you so much.

Would you please call items one and two together?

Yes.

Item number one is the motion to approving rejecting the president of the Board of Supervisors, Raphael Manement.

Nomination for the appointment of Joel Copel to the Planning Commission term ending July 1st, 2030.

Item number two is a motion to approve and rejecting the president of the Board of Supervisor Raphael Man.

Nomination for the appointment of Elizabeth McDonald to the planning commission term ending July 1st, 2030.

Thank you so much.

President Madam.

Thank you, Chair Walton.

Colleagues, uh I've had the opportunity over the last couple of months to talk to uh and along with my staff to talk to dozens of um excellent uh candidates for uh positions on the planning commission.

The planning commission is really, really important.

Um as I was looking at uh the various uh folks who were interested in being applied and and in being nominated, and uh as I reached out to people who came highly recommended.

Um first priority was not finding people who necessarily are going to agree with me on every uh land use issue, but finding people who I thought would uh well represent this body would add to the multiplicity of perspectives on the planning commission, and above all, we're well qualified.

And I think that the people who um we're gonna consider today, and I think at our next meeting are extraordinarily well qualified.

Today we're gonna uh be looking at uh and hearing from Joel Koppel and Elizabeth McDonald, and then uh I've also nominated Malia Chavez who will be uh coming uh to us in September uh if the chair uh is open to it.

Um I want to tell you a little bit about each of these uh candidates and then they can talk for themselves too.

But uh Joel Coppel brings 24 years of experience in San Francisco's uh Union Electrical Industry.

He began his career as an IBEW local six electrician, currently serves as government affairs director for the San Francisco Electrical Contractors Association, representing 28 multi-generational San Francisco electrical contractors that have helped build and maintain the city's skyline for more than a hundred years.

Joel previously served on the San Francisco Planning Commission from 2016 to 2024, including two years as vice president and two years as president.

He has a thorough understanding of the entire development and construction process from planning applications and land use approvals through permitting inspections, construction, and final occupancy.

Throughout his career, Joel has built extensive working relationships across the city, collaborating with organized labor, business organizations, neighborhood groups, elected officials, city departments, and public safety partners.

He has longstanding ties to organizations that include the Building and Construction Trades Trade Count Trades Council, IBEW Local Six, Firefighters Local 798, San Francisco Fire Department, BOMA San Francisco, and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, along with stakeholders in Chinatown, the Mission District, Bayview Hunters Point, and the LGBTQ Plus community, among others.

He's also been a strong advocate for workforce development, including through partnerships with City Build and the San Francisco Joint Apprenticeship Training Center in Glen Park, which is a partnership between IBW Local 6 and ECA.

He brings experience working collaboratively with developers, contractors, labor organizations, property owners, architects, engineers, and government agencies.

He is a district four resident who grew up in Park Merced.

He is a graduate of Lowell High School and University of San Francisco.

He is San Francisco through and through and he's gonna bring a perspective grounded in his planning experience, construction expertise, and workforce development with a focus on thoughtful planning that supports downtown revitalization, strengthens San Francisco's economy, and creates opportunities for local businesses, local workers, and all San Franciscans.

I will say that I have received positive recommendations for Joel Coppel uh from many different um uh places, uh particularly in the development industry from developers uh from uh labor.

Um I think will be he has been an excellent planning commissioner.

Those who describe his time um having been on the planning commission describe him as being fair, uh strongly pro-housing and pro-development and uh generally uh collaborative and a good guy.

Um my second nomination uh is for uh Elizabeth McDonald.

Um I think Elizabeth McDonald is a huge get for our planning commission.

She recently retired after 22 years as a professor in UC Berkeley's Department of City and Regional Planning, where she taught professional masters students, undergraduates, and doctoral students, always with an orientation toward practice.

Her research and teaching focused on urban physical development and the design of the public realm with particular attention to livability and environmental sustainability.

She is the author of five books, including The Boulevard Book and Urban Waterfront Promenades, along with numerous journal articles on urban planning and design.

She took on significant leadership roles at Berkeley, serving as acting chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, and ultimately as associate dean for the College of Environmental Design.

Before her academic career, Elizabeth practiced architecture with small Bay Area firms, and throughout her time in academia, she maintained an urban design design practice focused on street design.

Here in San Francisco, her work includes contributions to the Market Octavian neighborhood plan, the design of Octavia Boulevard, the Trans Bay Redevelopment Project Area Design for Development, and the Better Streets Plan.

Her civic contributions extend in deeply into community engaged planning.

Her graduate plan preparation studio partnered students each year with a different Bay Area neighborhood or corridor facing real planning challenges, working directly with organizations like the Annie E.

Casey Foundation in Oakland's Lower San Antonio neighborhood, Connect Oakland on the I-880 and I-980 corridors, and the Friends of the Napa River in downtown Napa.

Within San Francisco, her students studied the Cesar Chavez, Masonic Avenue, Lombard Street, and Central Freeway Corridors, working alongside planning staff, activists, and community members and producing accessible graphic materials meant to inform public dialogue.

She's called San Francisco home for three decades and brings to this appointment both technical expertise and a residents' deep lived appreciation for the city's neighborhoods, its public realm, and its people.

She understands the impulse to protect what's cherished about a neighborhood, but also understands that change in cities is necessary and can be a source of real opportunity.

She sees the planning commission's work as finding thoughtful creative balance between all those tensions, which is particularly important now in this moment amid housing and affordability, state housing mandates, and commercial vacancies.

Her decades of scholarship practice and hands-on community engagement make her exceptionally well suited to this role, and I am beyond pleased that she was willing after a little begging and cajoling to agree to be nominated.

So those are those are the two folks.

I hope you'll both be able to support them and forward them to the full board with positive recommendation.

Thank you, colleagues.

Thank you so much, President Mendelman, and I will call candidates up in order of their item.

And so first, we'd like to hear a little bit from Joel Koppel.

Good morning, Chair Walton, Vice Chair, Cheryl, President Mandelman.

It is an honor to be here again.

Had the pleasure of being appointed by Mayor Lee, Honorable Mayor Breed, and looking forward to getting more involved with the San Francisco of today.

I literally built this city with my hands and still have the scars to prove it.

But since my leaving the commission before, you're not just reappointing an ex-commissioner.

There's there's been a lot of growth, a lot of change, and I took an opportunity to stay within my own industry, but work my way up working towards uh with management.

So not only is there labor in the construction industry, there's management.

We have 28 San Francisco located businesses that have been here for some over a hundred years.

We're deeply involved in San Francisco.

Um I've just done my best to do what's best for the city, taking into account what the neighbors say, what the developers say.

Uh I do recognize that uh there's a lot of state mandates.

There's a newly approved family zoning plan, and I'm looking forward to being a part of a newly refined commission, hopefully with my addition, and uh just appreciate the uh the nomination in the first place, and uh won't let you guys down and here to answer any uh questions.

Thank you.

Supervisor Vice Chair Shuro Um President Mandleman, first of all, thank you for these thoughtful um uh nominees or appointments.

I'm not exactly sure what we call them at this point, but thank you for for doing this, Chair Walton.

Thank you.

Um thank you for being here today.

Thank you for your willingness to raise your hand.

I've just got um a few questions for you.

So um you previously served on the commission.

Um why is it that you are interested in serving again and and what do you kind of hope to accomplish this time around that maybe you couldn't accomplish last time?

Yeah, I'll be honest.

Uh the the first year of that first appointment was a huge learning curve.

I spent a lot of time on the other side of the microphone, uh speaking on behalf of the public and uh you know, people like me that grew up here, got a really good job with a career path, and uh got to uh you know make a good wage and had the ability to buy a house and stay in the city I grew up in.

So that was something I was proud to advocate for.

I actually really like looking at blueprints.

I really like looking at job addresses specifically.

Uh even though I know where all the neighborhoods are located, um this city isn't just a neighborhood by neighborhood city, it's a block-to-block city.

So sometimes you need to go actually to that specific address and look and see what the context of that block entails.

You it's hard to just know everything from looking at a set of blueprints when there's a context for each project we see.

So I take that very seriously.

Um it was an honor to what I felt was earned the respect of always both sides of the the arguing table.

You're always gonna have someone happy and somewhat upset with your decision at these hearings, right?

So I always took that into consideration and always knew like I I got to go to sleep at night and I always voted my conscience, but always made an informed decision.

Um there's new commissioners, there's new supervisors, there's a new mayor.

I'm just uh thrilled with um what is going on in general with this city.

Um really excited to get more people downtown, get the businesses uh back in business.

I want to see, you know, lines around the corner for the coffee shops, the restaurants, the the bars, the hotels, those convention centers, um, and then also acknowledge all the outlying uh neighborhoods too.

I was um proud to take part in a lot of important um emergings through the commission.

We were sitting there when the cannabis legalization came about, and that was a very at first contentious issue.

And with the help of uh Nicole Elliott at the time who was leading things, um, we had to figure out what was best for each neighborhood, each district, balance the mayor, the supervisors, and state laws, and come to the best decision and figure out ways to equitably distribute um these businesses evenly so they weren't targeted in one area because that that's the essence of land use, right?

Is proper strategic planning to make sure the city is gonna function properly.

And it it felt good knowing that I was part of making that happen.

So, you know, a lot has changed in the last two years.

Um, and both state laws and the family zoning plan have made um a lot more of the projects that you might have considered in the past fairly ministerial.

What do you see uh how how do you think the planning commission's role has changed since then?

What do you think its role is going forward?

I think it's just as important.

Um I do appreciate the laws that have come down from Sacramento.

I do appreciate the uh family zoning plan.

I I appreciate that it looks like so many people are on board together uh supporting this plan.

Um but it's just going to we have certain opportunity areas that shouldn't be held up.

I mean, transit-oriented development is is something that's that should have been ministerially approved a long time ago.

So there's certain things um I got on the commission there, the hearings were eight or ten hours.

Um I got on the commission there, the hearings were eight or ten hours.

You know, the the discretionary reviews took a long time, and uh I like that everything seems more efficient these days.

And we're getting results faster, better results faster through the mayor's office, the supervisors, the planning department.

Uh I like the work that's happening at DBI.

And so I think it's just gonna be a more efficient process to get to the desired result faster.

Would you have supported the family zoning plan?

If you'd been in that seat.

Yes, yes, actually.

I I live in the Sunset District.

I actually live near Golden Gate Park and the polo fields, and believe it or not, I have to walk like a far distance to get to anywhere that I would go uh patronize.

And so I'm looking forward to more housing that's gonna bring more people and encourage more ground for retail businesses.

Um that's just gonna make the city more livable.

So um, last question for you family zoning plan projects meet subjective standards, but it's still hypothetical situation.

Not so hypothetical.

Happened last week.

Family zoning plan project meets objective standards, but there's still discretion for one reason or another, so it still comes before the commission, like maybe a demolition of an existing structure.

Maybe.

Uh, how do you view that project?

Uh I always want to keep the integrity of uh the commission uh intact.

It's uh a very important, I think one of the more important commissions, uh, and again, I don't take this nomination and seat lightly.

Um I love the guidelines that have been given down to us, but every every item is still gonna deserve a hearing.

And you're gonna have to look at all the the factual uh information in our packet and you know take everyone's input into account.

Um we show up with no preconceived notion, but a lot a lot can happen at a hearing sometime, and we want uh all the neighbors to be heard, but we also uh want to make sure the the best project that produces the best result that's feasible is eventually arrived to.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Vice Chair Sherrow.

Thank you, Joe.

And next we have Elizabeth McDonald.

Hello, good morning.

Can you hear me okay?

Okay, so thank you, um, board president Mendelman for nominating me and all those interesting conversations we've had.

Um, committee chair Walton and Vice Chair Cheryl.

It's I'm pleased to meet you today.

Um so Raphael has talked a lot about my qualifications.

I won't reiterate that, although I would like to say that um and emphasize that the research that I have done as a planning professor has very much been practiced oriented.

Um I'm really it a lot of it has been focused upon um issues related to walkable streets and neighborhoods and the design of the urban public realm, which is something that I um I've I feel very passionate about.

And also one of the things that I've done through my research and my practice has been to question entrenched standards and norms that have worked against good design in various ways.

In practice, I particularly been able to do that related to street design.

I've been fortunate in some of my professional practice beyond the work that we've done in San Francisco, where we where we were able to do some innovative things, I believe, at the time in at Market Octavia Neighborhood Plan, and also with the design of um Octavia Boulevard, but I've also worked in places like Vancouver where um there was some wonderful um forward-looking planning put in place that enable building of um I think really good neighborhoods that also provided density in and around the downtown and other places where it was important and provide it really contributed to walkable streets and whole neighborhoods.

So why do I want to be planning commissioner?

That's a huge question.

So I am a longtime resident of the city.

Um frankly, being planning commissioner is a way to serve the city.

It's a way to give back to the city with my planning knowledge.

So I hope to be able to do that.

I do care deeply, deeply about San Francisco.

I care about the community, the environment, the things that make San Francisco very special about equity.

These things are all important, and I hope to bring these kind of concerns to questions that would come before the planning commission in an evidence-based way.

Um who am I?

What are my values?

I want to be straightforward about it and who I am, so you would know who you're getting.

I would be a voice for good planning that follows best practices.

I support eliminating cumbersome bureaucracy and streamlining planning and permitting processes while also allowing community voices to be appropriately heard.

We should be able to do things in the best way we possibly can.

I would seek to support transit-oriented development, multimodal transportation networks, and walkable streets.

I believe equitable adaptation to climate change is a really important issue.

Everywhere is facing it.

And I would like to find ways to help San Francisco do this.

The housing crisis is huge, and supply must be a part of the solution.

And I believe that there are ways to accommodate density and all kinds of housing and still have equity, respect the environment, and create livable streets and whole neighborhoods.

My general approach as a planner is to think holistically and to work to find balances between different competing interests and concerns.

That's what I would bring to the job.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Vice Chair Sh President Mandeman.

Thank you, Ms.

McDonald, for your again for your willingness to serve and for uh for your remarks this morning.

Um Planning Commission does different things.

Partly it is a project, you know, it is a place where projects go to be considered and be approved or voted down.

Um so that is unquestionably, and I think people tend to think of that as like what the planning commission does.

But the planning commission also oversees the city's planning, which is why I think it would be good to have you on this body.

I think planning is important to cities, but I think this is as a as a lawyer, as someone who's not an architect, not a planner, uh, but I have this sense that planning matters, and I'm wondering if you might talk for a minute about why planning is important.

Sure.

I absolutely think that planning is important.

I think it's extraordinarily important.

It is the process that can help shape the city that we want, you know, the community wants to be going forward in the future.

And it's also an opportunity to address you know the challenges and um and the opportunities that are in front of the city.

Long-range planning that is thoughtful, that really takes into account the character of the city, and by that I mean the the geography, the way that the city in fronts the bay, the way that neighborhoods are, the things that make the city special in so many ways, the the chance to take that into account, but also the the neighborhoods, the various neighborhoods with their that are different in so many ways and have their different concerns and are seeking different things to do long-range planning for the citywide, but also to do it at the neighborhood scale, to have those hard conversations, challenging conversations, hopefully really exciting conversations, and then come up with ideas that we believe in and that we're that we're we find ways to implement through zoning and various other mechanisms, and then we go forward and we make those visions happen.

Sure, we have to revisit them every so often, and that's part of the process, and that's exciting too.

But yes, planning can do a lot for the city has in the past, and it can and will in the future.

Thank you, Vice Chair Sure.

Um Ms.

McDonald, thank you so much for being here today.

Um I'd love to ask a couple questions about things that you've written, especially in your application, which I thought were interesting, and then just a couple of theoretical ones going or hypothetical ones going forward.

So um, you wrote um that your objective is to provide knowledge that addresses the emerging concerns of urban design and planning practice, um, et cetera.

I love that sentence.

I thought it was very interesting.

Can you talk about what a couple of those emerging concerns of urban design uh and planning that you referenced might be?

Sure.

There are many emerging concerns.

I mean, obviously, in um San Francisco in particular, there are big concerns, um, appropriate concerns related to housing, right?

We have a housing crisis.

How are we going to address that in a in a smart and responsible and inclusive and compassionate way?

But at the same time, we have this incredible environment and this really treasured city.

So, how are we going to balance these interests, right?

So I see in in San Francisco that those are big things.

Other big concerns, as I mentioned, uh climate change, San Francisco has to deal with sea level rise adaptation.

There's all kinds of issues related to that along the waterfront.

And other issues related to climate change, which of course revolve around how do we actually create a city that is a better place for people to take modes of transportation that aren't going to contribute more to the climate change process.

Yeah, and you kind of mentioned that in when you talked earlier about entrenched standards and norms that get in the way of good design.

Could you give me a little bit more of a specific example so that I can kind of really visualize what you were talking about?

Okay.

So I will uh this will be talking a little bit about some of the wars and fights that go way back when.

So I'll talk about Octavia Boulevard, if I may.

Now, once the um citizens of San Francisco had decided that um through the ballot process that um taking the city to taking the central freeway down was what the community wanted to do.

We um I we were brought on board to um help city planning staff figure out how to design what would be a good surface boulevard that could handle the high amounts of traffic that it would have to handle after the central freeway cut touchdown, but still create a street that um it was not deadening to the neighborhood, but could actually support you know um street street facing development along that corridor and um contribute to reconnecting the neighborhood as a whole.

So what we had to do in that fight was we had to work um with traffic engineers to talk about really basic things like lane wind standards and how it would be appropriate perhaps to have different lane wind standards in the center of that street than on the side of the street, so that we could create in those side realms of the boulevard a more traffic calmed realm where vehicles moving along it would move slowly and and it would um also be a place where bicyclists could move and the like.

So it sounds small, but something like lane went standards is actually really big.

We also dealt with um street tree planning standards and the like, thank you.

Um you have also written about context sensitive growth with a focus on livability and environmental sustainability in your application.

Um how do you think about livability and environmental sustainability?

You talked a little bit about sea level rise.

Um, but really when uh considering the perspective housing development throughout the city.

How do I think about it?

How do you how do you think about how livability environmental sustainability, especially environmental sustainability, uh might affect housing development throughout the city?

Right.

Well, obviously um I think we should be concerned about where some housing development happens, and because we have to deal with things like sea level rides, we ought to be really thinking about that edge of the city and what it makes sense to develop or how it would make sense to develop along that edge of the city.

As I've said before, um building new housing, I think contributes to building new housing in the right places, particularly with transit oriented development, can really help address these um climate change issues that we're all facing.

So I would I would put those two things together in the in the in the thinking that has to go into where it where it goes.

Density, urbanism, wonderful.

It can it can address a lot of things, not only climate change, but it can also address um the quality of people's everyday lives.

Right.

Well, you have implicitly answered a few of my questions around transit-oriented development, um, and then also about the planning commission's kind of changing role going forward.

Um but I'll ask anyway, because of some of the changes of state law and the family zoning plan, making more projects ministerial.

Do you see how do you see the planning commission's role going forward versus what I think my colleague talked about individual project, yes or no, versus a broader range of planning?

How do you think about that changed role?

Right.

Um, I think it's probably a positive changing role.

Um I, as I've, as you know, I believe in planning.

And so I think when good planning has been done and decisions have been made, and then things have been put in place to implement that planning, such as zoning, right?

We ought to have uh a clear um those things ought to be clear.

And so people can look at that and they know what the city hopes to see developed, and then they ought to be able to go forward with that.

So I think that moving to more ministerial review for things that are have been well considered and implemented through things like zoning is actually a good idea.

So that's a that's a good point you bring up there.

So most of the family zoning projects, as I asked Mr.

Koppel earlier, are going to be ministerial, but there still are some discretionary.

One came up last week.

How do you view a project like that?

Um in terms of it meets the objective standards of the family zoning plan.

There is a discretionary element because of a demolition.

Um how do you view that project and the role of the commission towards that project?

Right.

Well, um, I I think that the commission really has to think about what the things are that are appropriate to have discretionary review.

And also um, you know, obviously looking at them in a considered way, but doing it in a way that also keeps in mind, you know, the overall things that are trying to be being achieved by the plan and by the implementing zoning and the like.

So I don't know if that gets at your question.

Well, I think that's a good question.

And I you know, I'm not I have to.

I mean, I guess if it if a project meets all the objective standards, yet is still coming before the planning commission.

How do you view that project?

Yeah, I would generally view that project favorably.

If there were an I will say honestly, if there were an opportunity to be able to insert into the record and say appropriately things that would seem in my mind to uh further the project in terms of being something that would really contribute well to these things like you know, livability in a vibrant public home and all that.

I would probably make a comment in those in that regard and and you know, express those values.

A comment or a vote.

Because a lot of those comments can lead to cost increases.

Lead to what?

Cost increases.

Right.

Frankly, I don't think that good design has to be more expensive.

I actually believe that rather strongly.

So you know, I'm aware that it could.

We're not talking about things that are frivolous, but talking about the last question, would you have supported the family zoning plan?

Yes.

I I understand why it was um put in place.

I understand that there was good planning behind it, and it's a way that the city needs to move forward in a rational way that um gives some local control.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate you answering the questions.

Sure.

Thank you so much.

I don't see any more questions or comments from colleagues.

So we will go to public comment on items one and two, and we will allow for one minute in order to keep quorum.

Yes.

Um public who wish to speak on this item should like them to speak at this time.

Um just to clarify, did you say one minute?

Correct.

Uh each speaker will be allowed one minute, one minute.

There will be a soft time when you have 30 seconds left and a louder time when your time has expired.

Thank you.

My name is Peter Albert, members of the committee.

I appreciate you having me here.

I'm here to support Elizabeth McDonald's uh candidacy in this role.

I speak of someone who's worked in the planning department for over a decade and spent 20 more years working with the regional agencies, transit-oriented development.

And then I worked after I retired as a professor taking over some of Elizabeth's classes when she went to the chair of the landscape architecture division.

So I got to see her curriculum.

I got to see what her priorities were in terms of working with students who are the best in the brightest minds in the future.

There was equity, there was sustainability.

These are the values I care about.

And I, as a former planning, would love to have someone like her in the commission.

One last thing, notice no smidgen of arrogance when she talks.

She's humble, she's open to learning about new things, and she thrives on good input and making the best possible project.

Good morning, uh Supervisors Mark Gleason.

The uh officers of Teamstreo's joint council seven want to enthusiastically add their voice of support to Joel Coppel's appointment and nomination to the planning commission.

His insight, his leadership over the years has been very appreciated by working people and really the greater community.

And we look look forward to a uh successful term for uh Joel Coppel on the planning commission in the future.

Thank you.

Good morning, Supervisors.

Mark Babson, um president of Emerald Fund, and we've built a few thousand units in San Francisco, also lived in the mission for 30 years.

Also lived in the mission for 30 years.

I'm here to support Joel Coppel's candidacy or uh appointment.

Um Joel is a product of San Francisco, as Supervisor Mandelman mentioned.

Uh, grew up at Park Merced, went to a lull, went to USF, uh now he lives in the sunset.

He was appointed by Mayor Lee, served two terms, including a couple years as president, a couple years as vice president.

Um he's electrician through and through.

He used to work in the field.

Um now he is the government affairs director of uh IBD IBEW Local 6 and the ECA.

Um our equity partner on 100 Venness and 150 Van S is uh electrical union pension fund, the biggest in the country.

They're a strong supporter of Joel and his work on the commission.

He understands the need for housing in San Francisco, and he would be another strong voice on the commission.

Thank you.

And Elizabeth McDonald, I was at I was at Cal uh City Planning, and she's a legend, so support her too.

Thanks.

Good morning, supervisors.

My name is Peter Beldon.

I'm the political chair for the Sierra Club in San Francisco.

I agree with President Mandelman that the planning commission is extremely important, particularly for the environment.

Uh, unfortunately, for these first two nominees, the Sierra Club is not able to support or oppose either nominee.

We would like to, but we just learned about them very recently and haven't had a chance to meet them to learn more about their record.

Um, as a you know reality check, although we have 5,000 members, we're volunteer run, so we've tried to use the legislature alert system to meet supervisors, but it's just difficult when uh these things are announced last minute.

So we would very much welcome the opportunity to uh engage with them and to take a position.

Thank you.

Uh good morning, supervisors.

My name is Jeremiah Cadigan.

I'm the Vice President of San Francisco Firefighters Local 798.

Um here today on behalf of my members to speak in strong uh support of Joel Koppel.

Uh firefighters, we see the real world consequences of uh planning decisions every day.

That's why it's important to have someone like Joel on there who actually knows how buildings are going to perform in emergencies.

Uh as we in San Francisco move towards a greener future.

Uh Joel has shown we can meet those standards without compromising compromising fire and life safety.

And uh he consistently put safety first for residents, for uh workers, and for first responders.

So San Francisco firefighters strongly urge you to support his appointment.

Thank you.

Uh hello, Mozu for SFMB.

Um uh I I we agree very much with uh all the sentiment expressed on uh in the committee about how important this role, these seats are uh for San Francisco, the importance of uh uh creating more housing supply so that uh we can reduce uh the homes uh shortage that we have um uh in the city.

Uh unfortunately uh particular we we have not been able to find uh too much information, particularly from Professor McDonald's um public record.

Um and so we would love to have a continuation from uh uh on her nomination so that we can get to know her better and so better understand um her her views on housing supply.

Um I note that uh she has worked really hard on a lot of transportation work, um, which uh uh for densification and improved transportation.

We're very supportive of that.

But housing supply is very important to us as uh as is for everyone, and um so we'd like to understand that much better.

Thank you.

Good morning, members of the committee.

Uh my name is Jonathan Buneman.

I'm a district two resident and a lead with Northern Neighbors and SF Yimby.

Uh a seat on the planning commission is one of the most consequential appointments the city makes four votes on this body decide what homes often decide which homes get built.

Um with former Commissioner Koppel, we have years on of unambiguous pro-housing record to go on, for example, the 469 Stevenson vote.

And with some of the other nominees, we have clarity um based on which organizations they're affiliated with that uh help us understand the views.

Uh we don't have that yet with Professor McDonald.

Uh many of her us learned about her nomination just uh recently, as the prior speaker has uh has said, and we found a really a lot of excellent work around street design and a compelling urbanist vision, but just not much detail on the housing shortage.

So I'm here to ask you to continue this item.

This isn't opposition.

What we heard today from Professor McDonald was certainly encouraging.

Uh but this housing shortage is severe most importantly for young people who are trying to raise a family in the city, and then moving uh out of reach for the uh every year.

So it's a very important thing.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Maxine Anderson and I live in District 5.

And planning is very important for the people, and the people make up the City of San Francisco.

We need housing, but the people.

So within planning, we also have to take into account whether or not which people get to remain here.

And planning determines that.

It determines the makeup of the City of San Francisco.

So I would urge you to have a vision that includes all of the people of San Francisco and not just some.

And so I can't say anything about the two nominees that you have put forward.

I haven't looked into their backgrounds yet.

But I want to urge you to make sure that you vote for people who take into account that all of us need to be here.

The Fillmore was decimated because of planning decisions.

And we don't want to see that same thing reoccur again as far as the communities in San Francisco.

Thank you very much.

Good morning, members of the committee.

My name is Jules Andre Samar, and I'm a D5 resident.

I'm here with SFMB, and I would like to also express um our basically need for more information about the candidates.

They were announced very recently, and given their lack of public uh positions from Professor McDonald's, we I'd like to ask for a continuation of our nomination so that we can gather more um opinions and how she would vote on the on the board of the underpinning commission, given the severity of the housing crisis that we are in right now.

Thank you very much.

Are there any additional speakers on these matters?

There are no additional speakers at this time.

Thank you.

Public comment is now closed.

Vice Chair Shu.

First of all, I want to thank all the members of the community who came out to speak today and who have invested a lot of time in this process.

Um I especially want to thank um the two nominees for putting their names forward.

Um, look, I think there is a lot of fair comments made about uh the amount of time that the public has had to understand these these nominees.

Obviously, Joel Koppel's record on paper exists more in a taking votes manner because he served on the commission.

Um his view towards housing production is one that not only from that record, but also from um personal conversations and direct conversations we've had makes me very comfortable with him uh going forward um in this process.

Um and furthermore, I think you know, when it comes to Professor McDonald, um I've had more chance to speak with her than others have.

That's a reality.

Um when I look at the potential composition of the Commission with existing commissioners, with the mayor's nominee who are about to talk to shortly.

Um, I think the focus on housing is very, very important.

Don't get me wrong, one iota.

But when we look at Professor McDonald's record on transit and streetscapes, I think we have to look beyond not only can do we need to address the the existing crisis that we have today, but we need to continue to look forward and say if we are successful in building the housing that the city desperately needs, we will probably be making a lot more people who live in the, you know, a lot more people will be living in the city.

And that will birth its own challenge going forward, and we need to do the thing that we failed to do with the housing crisis, which is get ahead of it.

We need to get ahead of the streetscape crisis that, by the way, is already here.

I think we all see that.

Congestion is an all-time high, cars in the streets are an all-time high.

If we had more people, that's not going to get better.

And so my comfort with Professor McDonald is based on two things.

One, her focus in our conversations on the importance of the upfront planning process.

But once the plan is in place, we need to move forward.

And that's something I think you maybe didn't have a chance to address as much in questions, but I appreciate our conversation there.

But additionally, as we look at transit-oriented development, as we look at streetscapes, as we look at the magic that Octavia has become from what it was previously.

I think it's important for us to get ahead of it.

So um, President Mandelman, thank you for being thoughtful with these nominees.

Um I think what I would ask from these two nominees, if they move forward in the process, they really dig in and think about not only what is the crisis today, but how do we both address this while addressing the crises of tomorrow as well.

And I think if we forget transit, we will be failing.

So I look forward to supporting both of these nominees.

Thank you so much, Vice Chair Sherrow.

And I I want to one thank uh the public who came out to make comments and have their voices heard.

I want to thank both nominees uh and particularly want to thank President Mandelman for actually picking two candidates that have the experience to serve on the commission that they're being appointed to.

Uh it's really important that we have that expertise as we look at the changes that have been happening here in the city with the upzoning plan as we look at going to more transit-oriented and of course trying to maintain the fabric of our communities and listen to the people that live here in San Francisco.

Um, because picking commissioners and picking people to serve should be about their values, their morals, their experience, and their expertise.

It should not be about how we think or how we know they're gonna vote.

Um in fact, I think that's borderline and ethical.

Um, but it seems like the more and more we vet candidates these days, people are trying to get them to be able to say exactly what they would do in a specific scenario.

And I understand there are nuances and most certainly issues that come up to where we we want to kind of have an understanding of where people stand.

But I think their morals, their values, their expertise, experience, and track record um gives us insight into how they will move.

And so um I am definitely okay with supporting both of these candidates moving forward, and then again, just want to appreciate you picking two candidates that have the qualifications, uh, experience and expertise, and care about San Francisco and of course planning in general.

So thank you.

Uh would you like to make a motion?

Yep, thank you, uh Chair Walton.

Um thank you, Supervisor Cheryl.

Um, I would like to move that we uh strike uh rejecting from both of these two motions uh and forward the approval of Joel Coppel and Elizabeth McDonald uh to the full board with positive recommendation as committee reports.

Uh yes, on that motion to recommend as amended as a committee report.

Vice Chair Cheryl.

I member Mandelman.

Aye.

Mandelman, aye, Chair Walton.

All right.

Walton aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Thank you.

Motion carries.

Congratulations.

Mr.

Clerk, please call items three and four together.

Item number three is the motion approving rejecting the mayor's nomination for the appointment of Mike Chen to the planning commission for a term ending June 30th, 2030.

Item number four is a motion approve and rejecting the mayor's nomination for the repoint reappointment of Kate Stacy to the Public Utilities Commission, term ending August 1st, 2030.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Clerk.

And I will call candidates up by how they appear.

And first, we have Mike Chen.

Uh good morning.

Uh thank you so much.

Uh Chair Walton, Vice Chair Cheryl, Board President Mandelman.

Uh, my name is Mike Chen.

I'm 36.

I'm a renter.

I live near the Kaiser on Geary and Divisadero in District 2.

I've been in the city for 12 years.

Um I'm here uh because I love San Francisco and also with things that you love, you also want to know you also learn about all the things that you all that you want to make better.

Um what I think about San Francisco is hopefully my unique perspective is thinking about the housing affordability crisis, the housing supply crisis, and bringing the urgency because we know that this is killing dreams and hopes for people, whether you are a native or a newcomer, whether you are young or old, whether you are uh whether you don't have kids or you have them.

I think the housing crisis is something that really weighs on all of us.

It's the reason why we can't, it's really hard to have late-night entertainment and dining.

Uh it's the reason why it's the reason why it's really hard to have like a vibrant art scene in the city because it's hard to be an artist.

Um it's hard to be an artist when you have to be working maybe one or multiple jobs in the city to make it work.

Um what I really hope is also to be able to set the right policies, uh, to set the right system of rules and incentives so that we can encourage uh the affordable and vibrant city that we want.

Um I I do not have the uh luxury of being introduced by Board President Mandelman, but a brief experience that I hope will be useful for the commission is my uh is my past experience, uh almost two years on the SFMTA board of directors, uh my professional background in data and technology in understanding and modifying complex systems, uh, and my years of advocacy at the planning commission and other bodies for a vibrant affordable city for housing shelters, for low-income housing, for market rate housing.

Um for all these reasons.

I'm very honored uh to be nominated by Mayor Leary for the planning commission, and I ask for your support.

Thank you.

So no questions or comments from colleagues.

We call up Kate Stacy.

Good morning, Chair Walton, Vice Chair Sherrill, and President Mandelman.

Thank you for considering my reappointment to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and thank you to Mary Mayor Lurie for nominating me.

I'm interested in continuing my work as a commissioner on the PUC for many reasons.

First and most immediately, I am very concerned about continuing good leadership at the PUC.

With the retirement of the general manager, I want the vast improvements in the PUC's management practices to continue with the leader who knows how to manage effectively, takes a leadership role in anticipating changes, including climate change and its effect on all three of the PUC's enterprises.

The expanded cross collaboration among all three enterprises has been an important development, and I hope to find a leader who will continue to implement best management practices.

As someone who's worked for the city for over 30 years, and I've been on the commission now for four years.

Secondly, I continue to be interested in protecting our watersheds.

This ongoing work is critical to protecting water supply and the environment.

The two really go hand in hand.

A first term highlight for me was a kayak trip on the lower Tualamy River, where I could see the ongoing restoration projects that the PUC along with our irrigation district partners and our nonprofit partners began to implement.

The Dos Rios State Park, the state's newest state park was really exciting to see.

Third, I feel strongly about achieving resilience in our water supply.

We need to explore alternative water supplies as the PUC has been doing, easing our dependence on the Tuolamy River, especially during dry years, and seeking more conservation and recycling opportunities.

Fourth, I'd like to continue supporting our wastewater system updates and improvements.

The Southeast Treatment Plant has come to life during my tenure on the commission, and it's exciting to see the improvements for the community and the state-of-the-art treatment facilities.

I highly recommend a tour for anyone who hasn't seen the new Southeast Treatment Plant yet.

There's so much science going on there, biology, chemistry, physics, just to name a few, and it's really fascinating.

We're also responsible through our wastewater system for caring for San Francisco Bay and managing our discharges to protect the bay.

Fifth, I want to maintain support for the PUC's pursuit of clean energy and continue to develop our clean energy portfolio.

We are making constant progress, and it is utterly essential for our efforts to reduce our collective carbon footprint.

Finally, none of this good work is possible without our ratepayers.

Everything we do at the PUC is supported by our ratepayers, and we need to remain vigilant about affordability and efficiency.

The PUC established a rate, an affordability metric target that the PUC really strives to adhere to.

Thank you for considering my nomination.

Thank you so much, Vice Chair Show.

To both of you, thank you for raising your hands for your willingness to serve here.

Um I have a couple questions.

Uh, one kind of macro uh about the commission and affordability, and one kind of a micro neighborhood level concern.

Um, I I think everything you talked about makes an inordinate amount of sense.

Um, but you know, there the thing that is high on my mind is um the expense of living in the city right now.

We talked about it with housing earlier, but but the PUC bills play a role in that.

Um What is the PUC's responsibility in this era of budget tightening to keep its own budgets as tight as possible, especially as that may affect water rates or other rates?

I think the PUC absolutely has to focus on affordability.

I think they've been doing that uh quite a bit in the four years that I've been on the commission and probably before that.

The cost of utilities, energy, wastewater, water are all factors that we take into account every month with our family and household budgets.

I think that uh our short term, our two-year capital plan and our tenure capital plan are very strictly informed by this affordability metric that the PUC has established.

And I think we we need to really, really work hard to stay within that affordability metric because I I think it absolutely has a lot to do with people's ability to stay in the city.

I I I agree with that, and I would urge as much transparency around that as possible, um, especially when it comes to budget timing.

There is for right or for wrong, a bit of a view out there that some of the enterprise agencies maybe become a place for people to go have cushy jobs.

No, I don't think that's necessarily true, but I think we need to be aware of those perspectives and be very transparent.

So thank you for saying that.

Um my second question, um I represent the marina.

Marina Boulevard has some flooding problems, and residents don't feel as if they have been addressed directly.

Um how do you view the PUC's responsibility to be responsive to neighborhood level concerns on a block-by-block basis?

I think that the PUC is undertaking uh improvement work along Marina Boulevard and along that waterfront.

I think there are areas of the city, uh Folsom is another one, the Alamany area and the Marina Boulevard are all areas that have been prone to flooding.

With the wastewater system work that is ongoing, the improvements, they're tr we're trying to expand the containment pipelines because we have a combined sewer system and storm water system.

Uh it can get overwhelmed with these epic storms we've been seeing.

And so I think that the PUC has been and must continue to focus on those problem areas where the flooding takes place.

And I think the improvements uh hopefully will and or have and will continue to really ameliorate those um problem areas.

At least in the marina, the planned improvements probably won't, and I don't say that lightly.

Um I don't say that to push back on you, but but I think my my larger question would be right now, the PUC aims to have the sewage system address a five-year storm comfortably.

But we're seeing five-year storms happen more often than five years.

Does the PUC need to reevaluate its threshold for what the system should or should not be able to handle?

I think climate change is affecting everything the PUC does.

I uh I I'm sorry, I can't recall immediately whether we are looking at more than a five-year storm, but I think we are seeing uh much bigger storms, uh more intense weather patterns that we absolutely are going to have to address one way or another.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Vice Chair Sherrow.

Just one question, Commissioner.

You talk about the fact that we have uh general manager retiring.

Um what do you think is the best way to go about selecting a new leader?

Uh I want this process um to be as inclusive and as transparent as possible.

Uh the Department of Human Resources has worked most recently with the port and the recreation and parks department to look for new directors.

I I think we have to cast our net wide.

I think we need to seek out a diverse applicant pool, and I I want input from the public and as many stakeholders as we can to really inform the process.

I I really feel so strongly that good management is so important for affordability, for the way that we implement uh our contracts, the way that the PUC works more efficiently, it all comes down to costs and budget for our ratepayers.

So I'm I'm really eager to see a big pool uh of diverse applicants who will uh continue really excellent management at the PUC.

And this is a statement, not a question, because you did mention both processes for the port and RPD, and they both ended up landing on internal candidates, which by all means I am definitely not saying I have any issues with those candidates.

But I will also say that you know, as we talk about casting a wide net and trying to see who the best fit may be.

Um it seems like we've been ending up having good internal candidates, and I'm not saying that's a a good or bad thing.

I'm just saying that seems how the process has gone the last couple of times.

Uh with that said, I don't see any comments or statements by colleagues, so we will go to public comment on items three and four.

Thank you.

Yes, members of the public who should speak on these items should line it up to speak at this time.

Each speaker will be allowed one minute.

Hello, Mosu for SFMB.

Um we are very thrilled and proud to support Mike Chen for Planning Commission.

Um he has been uh a longtime advocate for improving housing supply uh and improving uh the crisis that we have, the shortage that we have in our homes.

So um we are extremely uh proud and thrilled that uh he has been nominated.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Ali Zhang, and I live in District 8.

I'm here to support Mike Chen's nomination to the Planning Commission.

Housing in SF is too expensive, and we need to build more homes.

Um he spent years advocating for increasing housing supply and transit, and I think he'll bring that experience a commitment to the commission.

As a young person who hopes to build a life and maybe raise a family in the city one day, I'm worried about whether I'll be able to afford to stay here long term.

And I know I'm not the only person who feels that way.

We need leaders who are serious about addressing the housing shortage, and I believe Mike is one of them.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Hello, I'm Peter Beldon, uh political chair for the Sierra Club.

Um speaking in strong support of Mike Chen for the commission.

Hopefully, supervisors receive the letter that we sent in in support of him.

I think in addition to his record of being a great advocate, we've been able to observe Mike for the past few years on the MTA board.

Um and in particular just how thoughtful he is in considering things.

So we are uh urge strong support for Mike Chen.

Thank you.

Hello, uh Jonathan Budeman again with uh SFEMB at Northern Neighbors.

Uh super strong support for Mike Chen.

Honestly, I think Mike Chen is the reason I am standing here because he has been a leader in the housing movement for a long time uh and has really grown like the the number of people participating in this um has been a mentor to me, has been a mentor, I think, to many others in the in the movement, and I think his his service uh first as the at the SFMTA CAC and that and on the SFMTA board of directors just shows uh how how much he cares about uh thoughtful public service.

So strong support for Mike.

Hi, folks.

Uh Bob Akasvendiari uh here wearing my United Democratic Club hat today.

Uh you should have already gotten a letter from our president, uh Lily Ho, who couldn't remain.

But um, we're here in strong support of Mike Chen, who not only uh volunteers with SFMB and serves on the United Democratic Club board and serves in the MTA board and volunteers in his local neighborhood groups, but he's a thoughtful, caring person who I've had the pleasure of knowing as a friend for over a decade now.

And um he likes to problem solve things.

And sometimes planning requires talking to a lot of people with a lot of opinions.

Um and you're not gonna make everybody happy, but Mike, more than anything else is someone who loves to dig in, who loves to listen to people, and who does like to try and solve problems where he can.

And I think that that kind of mentality is something we need a little bit more of in city government, not less.

Uh I enthusiastically personally adore Mike Chen, and I think that he absolutely deserves the support of this committee and the entire um board of supervisors.

Thank you.

Good morning, rules committee.

My name is Elijah Ball, and I am a district three resident, and I also have a background in planning and urban design.

So I believe with what I how I've seen San Francisco and its how housing crisis, the cost of living increasing.

I know that Mike Chen has been a huge supporter of the Family Zoning Plan.

Um he's shown his support of really just his advocacy and what he stands up for being a huge comp um part of Yimbi.

And I believe that we need young leaders right now today that are really wanting to push the family zoning plan forward and build more housing today, like I live in a rent controlled apartment.

I moved here a few uh years ago, but I wouldn't be able to afford to move here today, and I know that Mike Chen really wants to represent people to come and move to San Francisco, and he's shown his advocacy and his values within the years, and I strongly urge his confirmation to the board.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Jules.

I'm still a D5 resident.

I'm here to express my support for Mike Chen.

I think he's been a lentice advocate for the housing crisis and how to solve it.

And I'm very much looking forward to his perspective, opinion, and life experience being represented on this board as um renter in San Francisco has been here for 10 years.

I think that having someone who can relate to my experience will be usually beneficial to the to the planning commission.

So thank you.

Hello.

My name is Machine.

Hello, my name is Maxine Anderson.

Good morning.

I'm from District 5.

And I just wanted to uh bring up uh an issue that I would hope that each of the candidates for both from the public utilities commission and from planning taking to account.

There are data centers that are planned for the city and county of San Francisco.

Data centers use a lot of water.

It will make a big difference with how PUC plants, and I hope that's taken into account by anybody who's being uh thought of for those positions.

Also, as far as planning is concerned, normally planning normally data centers are situated in poor and minority communities.

Do they take that into account that those communities are being decimated as Hunter's Point uh was by the uh naval shipyards for the um sickness and injury that occurred in that community because it was considered marginalized.

And the final thing is that the speaker's time has elapsed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Remember public housing.

It's not a dirty word.

My name is Rob Roundree.

I'm a resident of District 9, and I'm here to express my strong support for Mike Chen for the Planning Commission.

I particularly appreciate his focus on affordability and supply and housing, which I consider the most pressing issue related to the wire work of the Planning Commission.

Thank you.

Greetings, I fellow servants.

I didn't think that it was going to be so appropriate, but it absolutely is the data centers thing.

I I support Mike Chen.

Uh I'm sorry, uh I wrote something.

Is that okay if I just read it?

Okay, because it is absolutely essential.

I live in public housing.

Okay.

I write this not out of fear, but by necessity.

Uh two things judges and computer scientists know in common.

People love to play word games they do not understand, and liars don't know what the truth is.

Uh when Edward Snowden came forward about the XQ score program, I was friends with Michael Reconosciuto.

I was a little worried about that.

But I challenge you to find his birthday.

Those data centers work with Pfizer to be able to defend people like me.

You're all speaking in front of the Pfizer court all the time.

Yeah, we need those.

Anyway, God bless you.

Hey, Felicia.

Remember, I told you I was gonna tell you marry me.

Hi, my name's Dane Willette.

I'm a volunteer lead with SFEMB and Coal Valley resident.

Um I'm here to speak in support of Mike Chen for the Planning Commission.

Um he has a great view on housing, great understanding of the crisis.

But to me, uh one of the big things is that I've only been in San Francisco for a little over a year, and in getting to know Mike Chen during that time, he's just been an absolute great guy who really seems to care about even new friends and people who doesn't super know very well like me.

Um he has done a lot of stuff with transit, and I think early on one time I was like, oh my god, my bus to 22, it's miserable.

And like every single time, even when I feel like I'm being a little annoying, he's like, no, tell me more about your bus.

Like you're having these problems.

Like, I want to talk to you about them.

I think he can carry that kind of energy and disposition into planning, which I think will be very good for that commission.

Thank you.

Are there any additional speakers on these items?

There are no additional speakers at this time.

Thank you.

Seeing other speakers, public comment is closed.

President Mandelman.

I want to thank Mike Chen for taking the Cole Valley uh resident's uh uh transit concern seriously.

Happy to support him.

Um I also want to voice my strong support for Mike Chen.

Mike um is I think he's a very very level headed and very thoughtful person.

And I think that plus his kindness do not go recognize quite as much.

I think uh most people are pretty aware of his advocacy and moving the city forward, which is incredibly important.

But um I think the way that you approach problems is very unique and and is incredibly valued by by many, not at least as much as me.

Um and I just want to thank you for continuing to serve.

Um you you clearly uh have no regard for your own anxiety and your willingness to serve on first CMTA board and not the planning commission.

But uh other than that, um but seriously, thank you.

Um and Ms.

Stacey, thank you also for continuing to serve.

Um with that, um I would like um to move to uh to amend on item number three.

Um I'd like to move to amend the motion to remove the word rejecting um and move forward a motion approving Mike Chen to the planning commission, term ending June 30th, 2030.

Um item number four, um a move to amend the motion to remove the word rejecting and move forward a motion approving Kate Stacey to the public utilities commission.

Uh yes, on the motions uh for item number three is to amend the motion to recommend uh the reports.

So uh I'm sorry, as committee reports.

Thank you, President Mendelman.

Yes, as committee reports.

Yes, item three is to amend to uh delete rejecting to recommend uh Mike Chen to the planning commission and forward to the full board with recommendation as a committee report.

On item four is to amend the motion to delete rejecting and to recommend the appointment of Kate Stacey to the public utilities commission and recommend it to the full board as a committee report.

On those motions, Vice Chair Sherrill.

Sure, aye.

Member Mandelman, aye.

Maddoman, aye, Chair Walton.

Walton absent.

That motion passes.

I without objection, with Chair Walton being absent.

Uh Mr.

Clerk, are there any more items before us today?

That completes the agenda for today.

Meeting is adjourned.

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