2020 has been an unprecedented year where for many of us and it is was the first time we dealt with a global pandemic hitting home. The COVID-19 pandemic hit our City, and especially our District 10 community, brutally hard. Our office responded by establishing the Emergency Family Relief Fund, co-sponsoring eviction moratoriums and workplace protection ordinances, making sure that our most vulnerable unhoused folks had shelter, and bringing testing and food resources to the district. In addition to our COVID-19 response, we also passed legislation establishing the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, illegal dumping, the CAREN Act and more.

In this update: 

• D10 Year in Review
• Looking Forward to 2021
• COVID-19 Updates & Resources
• Small Business Resources
• Community Announcements

COVID-19 Health Order Updates as of 12/31/2020:

• Extension of the Mandatory Travel Quarantine. We've extended the Mandatory Travel Quarantine beyond January 4th when it was set to expire due to the significant prevalence of COVID-19 throughout the State and Country and to also protect against the spread of the new variant of virus detected recently in the United Kingdom, Colorado, and California. The order requires a mandatory quarantine of 10 days on anyone traveling, moving, or returning to San Francisco from anywhere outside the Bay Area and discourages any non-essential travel.

• Extension of local Stay Safer at Home Order. We've extended the local Stay Safer at Home Order implemented on December 3rd and subsequently required on December 17th by the State of California when the Bay Area’s ICU bed availability fell below 15%. The earliest the State could lift its Regional Stay at Home order for the Bay Area is January 7th. We do not expect to meet the State’s thresholds for lifting the order by that date due to ongoing regional ICU capacity limitations and continuing increase of cases.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still among us so we must remain vigilant and remember to do the following: 

• Stay home as much as possible if you are able to.
• Wear a face covering: including masks, scarves, bandanas, anything that covers your nose and mouth. If you are working in an essential space with other people, you are required to wear a mask.
• Maintain 6 feet of social distancing
• Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap
• Only mingle with people in your household.
• Avoid touching your face, eyes, nose or mouth
• Do not dispose your used face covering/gloves/PPE in the streets, please properly dispose in a trash bin
• If you are an essential worker or believe you may be exposed to COVID-19, get tested: https://www.sf.gov/GetTested

2020 Highlights - Year in Review

• 2 Charter Amendments:

  • Prop C: Commissions for All, allowing non-citizens to participate in city commissions, advisory boards, and citizen committees.
  • Prop D: Sheriff Oversight, establishing a Sheriff Oversight Board and an inspector general to conduct investigation on misconduct cases in the Sheriff's Office.

• 1 Regional Measure:

  • Measure RR: Passed a regional measure with San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to place a one-eight percent (0.125%) sales tax to fund CalTrain with a plan for a future succession agency separate from SamTrans. 

• 17 Hearings, including:

  • African American Workforce in the City and County of San Francisco.
  • Requesting recommendations on restructuring and reforming the Equal Employment Opportunity Office.
  • Report back of the findings and recommendations from the Economic Mitigation Working Group in response to the e-cigarette ban.
  • Making sure that no one unhoused exits back to the streets with the Shelter-in-Place Rehousing and Demobilization Plan.

• 88 Ordinances, including:

  • Increasing fines and consequences with illegal dumping. 
  • Requiring the Civil Service Commission to adopt a policy that will prevent hiring police officers or sheriff deputies with prior misconduct.
  • The CAREN Act, Caution Against Racial and Exploitative Non-Emergency Act, making it unlawful to cause a peace officer to contact a person based solely on a desire to it discriminate against the person's race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
  • Eviction Moratorium, making sure our residents are not evicted during this COVID-19 pandemic. 
  • Shelter in Place Hotels, making sure our most vulnerable unhoused folks have a safe place at a hotel during this pandemic and making sure that they do not exit back into the streets.
  • Healthy Airport Ordinance, making sure that all essential airport workers had access to healthcare. 
  • Impounding cars involved with sideshows, to impose harsher towing penalties for reckless drivers who engage in illegal sideshows.
  • Establishing the African American Reparations Advisory Committee which will begin next year. Applications for this committee can be found here. 

• 158 Resolutions, including:

  • A reparations plan that will address housing injustices, economic opportunities, workplace injustices, basic income opportunities, educational injustices, the mass incarceration of Black people, and the injustices on over policing the Black community. 
  • Urging the California DMV to adopt a photograph identification policy allowing patients that are undergoing medical treatment with physical characteristics changed to extend their stored photograph on their driver's license or ID card. 
  • Urging the Sheriff's Department to implement virtual visits for children with incarcerated parents during the pandemic. 
  • Redirecting resources from the San Francisco Police Department to the Black Community. 
  • Putting the one-eight percent (0.125%) sales tax to fund CalTrain with a plan for a future succession agency separate from SamTrans. 
  • Condemning racial profiling and discrimination of private businesses. 
  • Declaring anti-Black racism as a human rights and public health crisis in San Francisco. 
  • Urging the City College of San Francisco to keep their commitment to the Education Center at 1550 Evans Avenue.

2020 Boards and Committees Served On

In addition to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, I also served on the:

• Budget & Finance Committee
• Budget & Appropriations Committee
• Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee
• San Francisco County Transportation Authority
• Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency
• Workforce Investment San Francisco Board
• Caltrain Joint Powers Board
• Bay Area Air Quality Management District
• Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council 

I look forward to continuing to serve on these bodies next year.

2020 Community Highlights - Year in Review

We are focused on bringing resources to our District 10 communities and even more so during this pandemic. Our top priorities include expanding services to our most vulnerable communities, expanding workforce development opportunities, protecting our essential workers, finding ways to support and save our small businesses, and public safety. Here are some highlights in the community this year:

Emergency Family Relief Fund

Our office was able to work closely with the Human Rights Commission to launch a Family Relief Fund that will give resources to families who are not eligible for other state or federal programs. The program served 5000 families and worked closely with over 50 agencies to distribute the funds. 

Testing & Essential Service Hubs

In partnership with many of our community based organizations and our city departments, we brought testing to our neighborhoods with the highest rates of COVID-19. Testing is free for all our residents and to schedule a test or find a testing location, click here. We also helped set up essential service hubs where residents can connect with services and receive food during the pandemic. We will be opening up a Bayview Essential Hub early next year. 

Budget

Our goal from the start was to preserve current direct services and programs, increase investment for populations disproportionately represented in poverty, the justice system, negative health disparities and gaps in achievement, provide opportunities for our most vulnerable populations and fight for resources that support education, basic needs and equity.

Specifically, we:

• Secured resources to tackle food insecurities and for food Justice in D10;
• Made sure that we have money to support a D10 specific violence prevention and community safety plan;
• Dedicated dollars to address our unhoused population in the District that will connect people to shelter, housing and provide mental health and substance abuse supports;
• Ensured support for Transitional Aged Youth housing vouchers that would keep our transitional age youth off the streets;
• Redirected over 120 million dollars from SFPD and law enforcement over the next two years for investment in the Black community (in areas identified by the Black community);
• Solidified funding for a community hub to address the negative impacts of the pandemic;
• Increased the pot to provide more COVID-19 testing across D10;
• Maintained resources to support language access and programming for our monolingual communities in the District.

Reinvestment in the Black Community

In the summer, Mayor London Breed and I announced plans to redirect resources from the San Francisco Police Department to the Black community. We were able to redirect $120 million over two years from the SF Police Department to reinvest into the Black community. Decades of disinvestment, public policies, and institutional practices in San Francisco have disproportionally harmed all aspects of life including health, wellness, mortality, housing, education, and economic opportunities in the Black community. In these times of continued systemic and systematic oppression of Black people, we have to be innovative and strong with our solutions. In order to change this dynamic and provide real opportunity for equity, we need to repurpose resources and give them to Black-led organizations and communities in order to level the playing field and achieve successful outcomes. This is a step towards true reparations. 

Small Businesses

Our small businesses have been hit hard this year. From Shared Spaces to grants, our office has advocated for more support for our small businesses including eliminating fees, extending deadlines, and providing loans. During the start of the pandemic, our office helped create a guide of small businesses that were still opened: http://bit.ly/d10openbiz

Our small businesses still need your help, if you are able, please patronize these businesses during this holiday season.

Homelessness

During this COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen more people experiencing homelessness than ever before in District 10. Our office has worked with the the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, the Emergency Operations Center, HSOC, OEWD and service providers to identify areas where our unhoused need support and to provide solutions and connections to shelter and services. We set up a safe sleeping site and a RV site for our unhoused populations to have access to services, bathrooms, laundry, and food. 

Our office also worked directly with HSH to put together one of the most ambitious and comprehensive expansion plans for homelessness services in SF. Press release with full info here:  https://sfmayor.org/article/mayor-london-breed-announces-plan-fund-homelessness-recovery-plan-prioritizing-housing 

One of the biggest barriers to removing encampments and getting folks off the streets is a lack of shelter and permanent supportive housing capacity. The above plan works to break down that barrier. 

In the meantime, as we start expanding capacity as rapidly as possible, the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) is continuing to visit encampments, build relationships with unhoused folks, and help them problem solve ways to get off the street and into housing.  Finally, we are working to create a D10 specific team like HOT to respond to the unique challenges our district faces.

USPS

When we heard from residents about mail service being interrupted and having issues receiving mail , we immediately reached out to Speaker Pelosi’s Office and her Team jumped right on it. I want to thank our mail carriers for the work they do. People rely on their prescriptions, pertinent information about schools for their children and in some cases paychecks. We will continue to stay on top of this for our families and residents of District 10.

Public Safety

Through collaboration with community based organizations, town halls, and meetings with residents in the past year, I announced the District 10 Community Safety Plan. The comprehensive plan is a new community process desperately needed to support successful public safety work in District 10. The plan brings together all stakeholders to create change and bring the voice of the community to the forefront of addressing violence. 

Recommendations in the District 10 Community Safety Plan include:

• A violence prevention oversight committee for youth violence for ages 12-25. This will be the driving force in determining a District 10 action plan against violence.
• Community experts in violence prevention in the Black, Asian, and Latino community meeting monthly to work together to create real community solutions addressing violence.
• The community is involved in defining effective violence prevention strategies, evaluation tools adopted by the city, and any development of a violence prevention plan.  

Three immediate actions of the District 10 Community Safety Plan include:

• Elevated role and support from the City & County of San Francisco in implementing public safety strategies with community.
• Establish the District 10 violence prevention monthly convenings through the Violence Prevention Convener.
• Reimagine what community mobilization and peace planning efforts look like.

The following strategies are also addressed through the District 10 Community Safety Plan:

• School-based intervention and prevention.
• Mediation and truce negotiations.
• Increased community partnerships and coordinated interventions.
• Increased transportation and transit safety measures.
• Culturally responsive service providers with elevated support from the City & County of San Francisco in public safety strategy implementation.

Hunters Point - EPA Fact Sheet on Parcel A

The EPA recently released a fact sheet on the Hunters Point Shipyard, Parcel A. For the full fact sheet, click here.

The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Superfund site (HPNS) does not include Parcel A. Historically, the Navy used this area for residential and administrative purposes. Based on information gathered since 1991, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is confident Parcel A is suitable for work, recreation and residential use. As such, EPA removed Parcel A from being part of the HPNS on the National Priorities List of contaminated sites (or Superfund list).

The California Department of Public Health recently completed radiological surface scanning and concluded there are no radiological health concerns throughout Parcel A (see page 7). The Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (successor agency to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency) will continue to redevelop Parcel A, working with its development partners.

Looking Forward to 2021

Legislation Coming Soon

• Hazard Pay for Grocery Workers: Our grocery store workers are forced to go to work and do not have the option of staying at home and working remotely. We must protect them and provide them with the necessary compensation, as they are constantly exposed to the public. That’s why our office is working with the City Attorney to draft legislation on hazard pay for these essential workers who have gotten sick and even died, while these stores are making record profits during the pandemic.
• Language Access Ordinance Amendments: When we held the hearing on the Economic Mitigation Workgroup findings and recommendations, we found out that some of our small businesses have struggled to communicate with the City. The City's Language Access Ordinance was passed in 2001 and amended in both 2009 and 2015. We are currently reviewing new amendments with the CIty Attorney and community stakeholders to strengthen this ordinance. 
• We have requested a report from the Budget Legislative Analyst and Controller's office on the Equal Employment Opportunity office's practices in light of the corruption on pending cases. We are working on a date for this hearing early next year. 

Bringing back the 15! New express route! 

COVID-19 Updates

For the latest Stay at Home Orders: 

• Personal services. Establishments offering personal care services including hair and nail salons, barbers, tattoo, piercing, estheticians and massage must cease operations, including both indoor and outdoor operations.
• Outdoor dining. Restaurants and any other establishments offering meal service, may only operate for delivery or take-out. Eating and drinking on the premises is prohibited.
• Outdoor museums, aquariums, and zoos. Outdoor installations or exhibits associated with museums, aquariums, or zoos may not allow entrance to visitors. Outdoor botanical gardens and historic sites may remain open.
• Indoor gyms. Limited 1:1 personal training within gyms and fitness centers that was allowed under the previous health order must cease, but may take place outdoors (see below).
• Drive-in gatherings. Drive in theaters and other performances delivered in a drive in context must cease.
• Outdoor playgrounds. Public playgrounds including climbing structures and walls, slides swings, sand pits, etc. must close.
• Outdoor family entertainment centers. Outdoor family entertainment centers including skate parks, roller and ice skating rinks, batting cages, go kart racing and miniature golf must close.
• Open-air bus and boat operators. Operators of open-air busses offering sight seeing and other tour services and open-air boat excursions, including leisure and fishing expeditions, must cease operations.

• Low Contact Retail. Service oriented retail such as dog groomers, electronics repair services and shoe repair services can operate in a curbside drop off context only.
• Retail. All retail establishments such as shopping centers, hardware stores, convenience stores, equipment rental, and specialty shops, and including standalone grocery stores, must reduce capacity to 20% (down from 25% and 50% in the case of grocery stores) and implement a metering system (see below).

• Hotels and lodging. Hotels may only accept reservations from essential workers travelling for work purposes or to support critical infrastructure including accommodations for isolation and quarantine purposes. If an individual who is not travelling for essential purposes makes a reservation, it must be at least for the number of days required for quarantine. The persons identified in the reservation must quarantine in the hotel or lodging facility for the entirety of the time required.
• Small gatherings. Small outdoor gatherings, must limit themselves to members of 1 household with a maximum number of 12 people (down from up to three households or no more than 25 people). Face coverings must remain on at all times and no eating or drinking is allowed.
• Outdoor gyms. Outdoor gym or fitness center activities as well as outdoor fitness in-person group classes (such as boot camps, dance, yoga, tai-chi, etc.) are limited to groups of 12 people, including personnel, and must maintain strict distance and face covering requirements. Running groups are prohibited.
• Youth sports. Youth sports activities affiliated with a childcare program, Out of School Time program, or other organized and supervised youth sports program may continue operating outdoors only without competitions or spectators and with strict social distancing and face covering requirements in place.
• Indoor activities open to public. Any establishment allowing members of the public to access indoor areas, including shopping centers, grocery stores, corner stores, financial services, hardware stores, pharmacies, etc. must establish a metering system to monitor capacity thresholds and ensure capacity does not exceed limits. In effect, a business will need to assign a specific staff person to monitor the number of people in the establishment and ensure that the 20% capacity threshold is maintained at all times. This system must be in place as soon as possible and no later than Sunday, December 6th at 10 p.m. when the amended order becomes operative. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Adult Recreation. No/low contact adult recreational activities such as golf, tennis, pickle ball, and bocce ball may continue outdoors but must be limited to participants within the same household.

COVID-19 Testing

D10 COVID-19 FREE Testing Locations

• Alemany Farmers Market
  • 100 Alemany Blvd, Walk-through & drive-through
  • Monday. 12:30pm to 4:30pm
  • Tuesday to Thursday, 8:30am to 4:30pm
  • Friday, 8:30am to 12:30pm
• Bayview Opera House 
  • 4705 3rd Street
  • Every Monday & Thursday, 8:30am to 4:00pm
• Southeast Health Center
  • 2401 Keith Street at Armstrong
  • Mondays to Fridays, 8:00am to 5:00pm
• Sunnydale Hope SF 
  • 1652 Sunnydale Ave
  • Tuesdays, 2:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Thursdays, 10:00am - 2:00pm
• Potrero Hill Health Center
  • 1050 Wisconsin Street
  • Mondays to Fridays, 9:00am to 12:00pm, 1:30pm to 3:30pm

COVID-19 Travel & Quarantine

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an alarming rise in cases that is threatening hospital capacity, the Health Officer of the City and County of San Francisco has ordered that any person traveling, moving, or returning to the City and County of San Francisco from outside the Bay Area Counties listed below must quarantine.

If you have traveled from anywhere outside of the following counties and come to San Francisco, you are required to quarantine for 10 days (240 hours) from the time of your arrival in San Francisco:

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma.

In order to quarantine, follow instructions at www.sf.gov/file/after- your-covid-19-test-booklet. Note that limited exceptions apply to people who are travelling for certain critical activities. For a list of those activities and more information on the rationale and importance of quarantining after travel, go to www.sfcdcp.org/travel.

Small Business Resources

Community Announcements

• Holidays at Home offers guidance about travel, gathering, and other holiday activities as well as safe options for San Franciscans to engage in over the holidays.
• Shop and Dine in the 49 offers information about how to support local restaurants and businesses during the holiday shopping season.
• Help Your Neighbors in Need offers information and access to San Francisco-based volunteering and philanthropic activities during the holidays and beyond.

• Safer holiday celebrations: https://www.sfcdcp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/COVID-19_Guidance_-FINAL_Holiday_Celebrations_11.10.2020.pdf
• Safer holiday travel: https://sf.gov/information/guidance-safer-holiday-travel-during-pandemic
• Tips and FAQs for gatherings: https://www.sfdph.org/dph/alerts/covid-guidance/Gatherings-Tips.pdf