English
Tuesday’s Oversight Board meeting continued late into the night, with members grappling with several high-profile issues, from two bitter labor disputes to ongoing accusations over the office of the Mayor of London Breed.
Police Reform Update
update from San Francisco Police Department About the Transformational Partnership with U.S. Department of Justice It was the first of three hearings on Tuesday.
SFPD Chief Bill Scott And staff have reported only incremental progress since this spring toward meeting reform goals, including analysis, revised policies, and training to remove implicit bias from policing.This led to skeptical questions from supervisors Dean Preston others.
Asked by Preston why “reform progress has not meaningfully changed existing inequalities” in enforcement, Scott said the policy includes the abolition of the “stopping pretexts” he described as the main cause of inequality. He said the new traffic enforcement policy should be finalized and adopted. by the end of the year.
Scott also cited technology issues as a factor in the reform process, emphasizing the need for new record-keeping systems and dashboards to track officer actions.
Questions from the President Sherman Walton If the remaining DOJ recommendations are met, Scott replied that the process would be completed in four years, with many recommendations in two years. Hearings continued through February.
Kaiser, SFO workers struggle
Supervisors also held public hearings on strikes at medical institutions Kaiser Permanente and the San Francisco International Airport.
Kaiser’s mental health clinicians are on strike, claiming providers failed to provide the timely care provided under state law. California Department of Managed Health According to testimony, the problem has existed for several years.
Kaiser serves more than 55% of San Francisco city employees and some witnesses say it provides otherwise excellent medical care, but patient conditions are exacerbated by long wait times. and report severe shortages of mental health care. Many do not have the financial or emotional resources to work through out-of-network or delayed care.
Emotional testimonials from clinicians and patients suggest that Kaiser’s operations have come under the influence of increasingly profit-oriented allied medical groups, have failed to cope with the growing number of cases, and have been imposed by state agencies for previous violations. It was characterized by treating the fines imposed as a cost of doing business.
supervisor Gordon Ma Told his own horrible story that his daughter had to wait 2 months for an appointment and another 2 months for a follow up appointment.
One of the key outcomes of the meeting was that supervisors Hilary Ronen would seek an early launch of Office of Private Health Insurance Responsibilityis part of mental health science fiction She has driven the policy framework, which was approved in 2019. Gavin Newsom intervene in crisis.
Later in the session, the Board held a public hearing on labor issues at the SFO. At SFO, a food and beverage concession worker has not had a raise in over four years, and concessions are increasingly using non-union workers.
At issue along with years of wage freezes are several concessions that do not honor or recognize labor peace agreements that come with leases that require workers to be allowed to organize. .
The problem on the other side is that SFO management apparently hasn’t updated their street pricing policy. This limits concessionary price increases to no more than his 10% of city restaurants. Other airports in the state allow up to an 18% markup on town prices.
A representative of the multi-employer group representing the concessionaire said he, along with SFO staff, suggested better educating new concessionaires about their labor contract obligations.
This came after supervisor Raphael Mandelman When Aaron Peskin Citing a law approved by the board during the pandemic that gives concessions significant rent discounts. Peskin said more than half of his concession leases will be renewed soon.
“As a matter of policy, we will be refusing lease after lease until this issue is resolved in our favor,” Peskin said as he read out the names of 30 concessionaires, including national companies. . host international.
Commission Messe
The supervisor also addressed the thorny issue of committee appointments. #Resignationgate: Uproar over mayor London Breed Requires at least some committee appointees to submit preemptive resignations. But there were other problematic issues as well.
In the item on appointment to the Advisory Board dealing with Affordable Housing Policy, Supervisor myrna melgal Tried to appoint one – former president of the Association of Community Housing Organizations peter cohen – Sent back to the committee.
During the discussion, Melgar accused Cohen of “problematic bullying” towards women of color. supported by supervisors, Catherine Stephanie, Matt Dorsey, When Asha Safay, this attempt failed by a vote of 4 to 7. You can read more about this story here.
Meanwhile, the resignation controversy prompted attempts by Peskin, Preston and Ronen to continue the appointment of the two planning commissioners. Rachel Tanner When Derek Brownwith three members of the Public Utilities Commission, including a former supervisor Sophie MaxwellA recent disclosure from the mayor’s office revealed that Brown was among those who submitted undated resignations.
Other supervisors were less enthusiastic about the idea. A motion to continue failed on his 4-7.
“We can beat ‘Resignation Lettergate’ in another meeting,” Stephanie said during the discussion. “This is not our mess, but we are cleaning up a lot of other people’s messes and need a functioning planning committee.” She further derided the move as “political theatre.” did.
Nonetheless, problems resurfaced during the roll call, as expected, when Preston claimed the incident “undermines confidence in our commission.”
He sent the mayor and all commissions and commissions a letter of inquiry to investigate how widespread the practice of requiring undated letters of resignation from nominees was, and a letter of inquiry to investigate this practice further. An emergency special hearing was announced.
This will be followed by legislation prohibiting nominating authorities from engaging in this practice and invalidating existing letters.
“I look forward to working with you to ensure transparency and accountability regarding these practices and to restore trust in the important work of our Commission,” Preston said.
English
