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.