of queer and transand occupy myself we are the history and the strulgsz the triumphant and the resilience of our community. in san francisco throughout the country and all over the world especially where we face persuasion this fried let's stand together in solidarity and justice and celebrate love. >> happy pride month san hello everyone welcome to s.f. gov tv's meet your district

supervisor series. my name is franco finn. i'm a first generation san francisco born and raised in this great city, very active in this community. i've been an auctioneer for nearly two plus decades helping to raise lots of money for many local schools in the area also nonprofits. but i'm also very known as the voice and hype man if you will in-arena host for your golden state warriors for the last two plus decades as well. >> but i'm also a proud member of the san francisco film commission here in san francisco. but today i have the pleasure to interview our board of supervisors president from district eight rafael mendelsohn. >> thank you so much for joining us. thanks for having me. well, district eight first off includes castro, glen park, novi valley diamond heights mission dolores and also coal valley. >> we'll dive into your district a little bit down the road here. >> but let's talk about you for instance. i want to know more about you. a lot of people want to know

about your history. where did you grow up, your family background and then obviously how did you end up in san francisco? yeah, well i was born in southern california. southern california kids grew up in laguna beach until i was 11 years old. i was living with my mom who sort of was deteriorating as i was growing up. she had mental health issues. i had a grandmother in san francisco and so i moved up here when i was 11 to live with her. she was getting on in years but i was fortunate i was at a couple of small independent schools brandeis time was brandeis law day school. >> yes. and then like boarding high school and i sort of arranged these sort of informal like do it yourself foster care arrangements with families at those schools ended up living for three years with an english teacher at lic and her husband. wow. and that was my growing up and then went away for school and went away for school and then you know now you're you know, the president of the board of supervisors which i

congratulate asians i know is a big role in our city. but we're going to repeal the onions in the layers in the onion because there's so many layers to our supervisors and getting to know your background is super important but why politics? >> why did you get your career what what what made you kind of decide i'm going to follow this career in politics? how long ago was that? >> i've always thought government was really important and interesting when other little boys were like collecting baseball cards i was interested in, you know, who was going to get the democratic nomination in 1984 and i have these scrapbooks and when i was growing up and i would cut up these time magazines and like to like, you know, keep track of really different politicians yeah, it was pretty nuts. but that was kind of my obsession as a kid and actually after that first year at lick the summer after that first year i spent that summer

interning on the board of supervisors. wow. for a supervisor at the time her name was doris ward. >> okay so remained interested and kept my passion for politics through college and went to law school and got a master's in public policy. most of my professional work was representing local governments. i see transactional lawyering and giving advice to city councils and planning commissions and planning directors and in my spare time i was getting involved in san francisco nonprofit arts and serving on a couple of city commissions and then you just it's been that ever since that ever since labor of love and passion. >> yeah, it's a lot of long nights and a lot of thoughts go into obviously your job and your current role at the moment. yeah let's let's ask you about the you know basically what do you hope to bring as board president? i mean that is a huge responsibility city is this something that you've always envisioned is is something that you've thought about before? like when did that actually click and say oh my gosh, let's

let's let's go for this? yeah, well i think we're in i guess every moment is important but we're in a pretty challenging moment with a lot of opportunities in san francisco and in city hall we got a new mayor. we have five new supervisors. i've been i'm the longest serving member of the board of supervisors which is a little troubling to me as time goes by way, you're not the veteran. i'm now the veteran and i think you know i am and the reason for me to be doing this right now is that i am a consensus builder. >> i'm someone who's kind of in the middle of the board ideologically. i, i think i get along well with everyone. >> i think people see me as a straight shooter and i really want to see daniel lurie be successful as mayor. i think we the city has enormous challenges still. i worked well with the prior mayor but there's an opportunity now because i think particularly with this new cast of characters people willing to give each other a fair break and try to work together and be

collaborative and we need to because we have these challenges from enormous challenges budget federal government there's a lot that you know we're up against. but i think the fact that we do have this potential for collaboration and city hall and an opportunity to look at some of the challenges that we've been struggling with for a long time and maybe approach them in a different way. >> this is a very pivotal moment in our city and i like to say on the rise for sure. i mean, you know, pandemic was one thing. >> we've gone through a lot of this city and now it's time to kind of bring that back up, bring that goal that we know this gold has been here forever. right? and so we're going to do that. >> let's talk about your your district in particular district eight yeah. what are your main priorities in your district and what has been your priority and what do you want to do in your district district like you know like all districts district eight has many different neighborhoods and they're there are all different and they all have different needs. we have been quite focused in the time that i've been in office on the street

conditions and behavioral health and homelessness challenges that we see particularly in in the castro and the part of the district that's right. that's the mission although it impacts is no it it impacts glen park. i mean there's not a neighborhood in san francisco that is not impacted by these challenges but we're really focused on trying to get help to severely mentally ill people, people with serious substance use disorders who are, you know, disintegrating in plain sight and also causing enormous challenges for small businesses for for resident residents. and i think we've had some progress actually. i mean i do think things are better now in that regard than they were certainly during the pandemic and you know, even even before. >> but there's still a ton of work to do. there is a lot of work to do. but how do you ensure the underrepresented communities in your district are heard and also included in some of the decision making process that we have to go through? >> yeah, i actually do. san francisco has i think a

culture of public participation and a real makes a real effort to engage people who are being impacted by decisions to i personally want to hear all sides of an issue hear from the people who are actually going to be impacted by the decisions we're making. i think that's part of our culture as a city and it's also part of you know what i think is important as an elected official and as an elected official you have to balance a lot of things especially in your role as board president have to do balance. how do you navigate balancing competing interest rates especially when it's time to make those decisions in the city? how do you balance how do you find that perfect? >> nothing's perfect. we all know that. but one of the things i try to do is get people to talk to each other. people love yelling at their elected officials but in some ways your elected officials are a stand in for a set of people in your community who may not agree with the position that you have. people get very frustrated when the city doesn't pursue policies that seem self-evident correct to them i think it's

useful to make people grapple with this, you know, with the perspectives of people who don't see it the same way and in this city. right. even though you know, we're we don't have that many you know, conservatives say there's a lot of room in the middle and the left to disagree. >> yeah, and people do disagree and i think it's good for people to hear each other out and actually start pressing against the the areas where there's disagreement. right. maybe are keeping the city from moving forward and so that's kind of my style in my district around particular issues and it's also my style on the board of supervisors okay if we can get people who don't agree necessarily or think they disagree to sort of work out work details and sometimes we don't agree as much. we don't disagree as much as we think we do. >> yeah. and it's hard to have the same opinion for everything all the time. >> you're going to have differences but navigating through that is very challenging and tough. >> but you everybody has valid points. you just got to listen to them all right and put them all

together. i think it's good for people to remember that and try to try to live by that. >> that's true. on a lighter side, you know, san francisco we know is a beautiful backdrop. so many things to do, places to see lots of great food. i mean we've got it all. i personally feel a lot of us do. what would you normally do? i'm just curious. i'm not like a sun let's say if you didn't have any work to do and you just have some free time who has no free time right? but what would you do? what what's something that that rafael would say? >> you know this would be my kind of day in san francisco. ideal day. i love getting outside. i love seeing my friends. so if i do have it is rare that i have an unscheduled sunday but if i do have an unscheduled sunday, you know, getting out and seeing some we we have amazing natural areas and parks in the city whether it's, you know, ocean beach or land's end or the northwest waterfront or crissy field or glen canyon in my district or buena vista park or you know, we just we are so and i haven't gotten

i've left out most of the parks that are amazing in the city but there's just so many amazing races to get outdoors and walk around and i love you know i love an urban hike. >> okay. and urban hike is always fun and i rediscover my own city doing that as well. walk through all these neighborhoods and backdrops are so beautiful. >> you know the city has so many gems. i know that it's hard to pick favorites and whatnot but what is the bright light that you can highlight that you know since you've been in office that you're district has highlighted, demonstrated and shown just a perfect example like this is this is what my just like this is like that's a win for district eight what is that moment is there one i mean there's so many neighborhoods that are a win for the whole city. i you know, dolores park is right in the heart of love it part of the district and it's definitely been through some challenges and during the pandemic there were you know, tents pretty much all the way

along delora street and lots of people camping in the park and actually some concerns about safety shootings and you know, not to say that those problems are all gone because they're not and there is violence still and there are still occasional horrible events and but but i do think that that area has become safer. more pleasant. yeah. and better and it's just such a great i mean it brings people from all walks of life and all parts of the city. so dolores park's great, dolores park is great. and you know what's lovely about our city is probably within ten minutes you can find some park, some outdoor public space that can be used for a variety of things and i think we're very lucky we could walk. it's a true walking city. yeah. >> and so talking about your district we talked about a highlight there. what is something that you want to do in this kind of short term future but then also the

long term future of like the legacy especially when it comes to your particular district kind of like the 3 to 5 and then like that 5 to 10 and beyond start with the kind of the sort of immediate future . >> what do you hope to see? i think as i look at my my district and the neighborhood that kind of means the most of the world and also has the greatest challenges is the castro okay? it means most the world because it's where you know, lgbt politics in a lot of ways were born. harvey milk's cameras. yes. you know, is there so many of the marches that were critical for the community for the fight against hiv all these i mean that you know, it's a neighborhood with incredible history. it does and it is also of the neighborhoods in my district, the one that's been most impacted by degraded street conditions where there is a highest level of vacancies where small businesses and residents are really struggling with our inability to deal effectively with the mental health challenges we

have. >> and so for me with these last two years that i have in office, i really want to make some progress on having places that are appropriate for people with severe mental illness. i've worked on expanding our our inventory of beds for people with behavioral health issues in the time that i've been on the board and i'm proud of the work that we've done but we still have an acute shortage of the kind of beds you would use for someone who needs to be conserved and that's a facility that has a lock on the front door. you know you don't get to leave unless you know people decide that you know, you can go out and you know you're losing a level of autonomy but you're also getting the care that you need. yeah, i as i as you go out in san francisco probably much more in neighborhoods that i don't represent but even in some of the neighborhoods i do represent you see folks who who need that that level of care. we have 140 of those beds. we've still applications to the state for funding for 100 more of those budgets increase that and i want to work on trying to make that happen over these

last sort of double basically coming coming close to doubling it. yeah. i co-chaired a task force on this problem over the you know the through the last year of the administration we put out a report the day before her last day in office but basically it was talking about the need for this kind of bed and also for more boarding care facilities for people who maybe don't need to be in a locked facility but do need something that has a higher level of care than you're going to get say turn into a permanent supportive housing unit. so this is not you know, we don't i don't think we need these types of beds for most unhoused people. i don't think we need them to deal with our in most of our encampment challenges. but there's a set of folks who really do need that higher level of care. the state of california went out of the business in the 20th century. no one's really gotten, you know, stepped up and we can't do it all in san francisco but we can do more than what we're doing and we should. okay. well, thanks for sharing that and i want to highlight a little something different on the castro is one of my favorite districts and areas

in san francisco. >> i live literally minutes away. i'm a big movie and film buff. yeah, milk is one of my most favorite favorite movies of all time about san francisco based about san francisco right. i would love you know i have to throw in a film commission. yes. question in there i mean we have some iconic places to shoot from in the city. castro's got a lot of history. yeah, i want to get another movie. what would another movie coming out of the castro be like like because there's so much history the castro theater. what about that? yeah. is there any you know what an iconic place. >> yeah, well the castro theater is a great place to open movies and you know. yeah. and they have had great openings there and how fun it was to have milk, get shots obviously. yeah. that the movie gets shot in in the castro yeah i mean thank you for your work on the film commission to try and get more films made and one more in san francisco is good marketing for us yeah people remember those movies that were shot here milk that that that pursuit of

happiness all those but yeah well i'm hoping the cast theater will be open soon. >> oh i can't wait. like all projects it's going more slowly than we would we would like but yeah. have you seen the inside did you get you're actually i'll tell you something i actually painted a little slab of paint at the top. >> i did a little behind the scenes feature. yeah, when it was gutted out. yeah. have you been to the top? yeah. that thing has not been touched for nearly 100 plus years and they were refurbished and it looks beautiful. this amazing detail unbelievable when they you know it was timothy pflueger i think yeah but you know the detail they put into that building every little detail most people are never going to see it. those of us who were lucky enough to like get the hard hats which is pretty high i'm not good with heights. >> yeah, but did you get a chance to like i didn't get to paint. i don't know why i still got a little piece of history. >> one little thing and i asked for information. >> is it okay because this is a historic building. okay, but no one's been up there for so long. but what a bright gem like that's just a just a great

yeah. >> you know, i'm into film and all that it's important that it keep showing film. >> it is yeah and that's it's a beautiful part of our city it's great. >> well let's talk about i'm going to close out with this thank you for sharing there's so much to talk about but such little time but i do have these rapid fire questions to get to know you a little bit. >> oh my gosh. one word answers now some of the other supervisors, they were kind of going on i want to hear just fast paced what comes to mind when i throw in some questions there either this or that. >> you ready? i'm concerned. okay. all right. i'll make it easy for you. how about this? let's start with the easy first one about this giants or dodgers giants you said so yeah oh i crowds in the back over there they're going to answer jay z the kids are excited yeah i always ask and give you know so folks i said okay you know you have your so called rivalries but your norcal services go all the way. yeah good answer. i love it. okay. hiking or biking hiking cable car or bus cable car. okay. >> best be in the city.

that's twin peaks up twin peaks i do love twin peaks. okay. can you tell me public park or a private garden? >> public park, of course. how about this golden gate bridge or bay bridge? golden gate bridge for sure. coffee or tea? coffee. okay. cats or dogs? dogs. middle window or aisle seat and flying aisle. >> okay, i'm going. i'll go. >> yes. yes. that means easy exits bathrooms. i just i don't want to be, you know, in over people. >> well for some reasons find it if you have to crawl over me but i don't want to like that's an important question especially when you're traveling with other people. >> what do you want? >> right. okay. just a handful more sunset or sunrise sunrise bart or muni muni. okay. >> tech or the arts. the sorry tech but the arts. >> the arts. okay. well i'm with you on that couple more foggy mornings in san francisco or would you want those clear skies the very

few that we do at least might. >> what do you mean? it took me till i was like 16 years old to realize the whole city was not living in fog all the time. but but i think i like i don't live i grew up in the fog. i don't live the fog so i so the the clear skies. >> the clear skies carl the fog if you're listening carl raphael said he's going to go clear skies. >> okay, one last thing if you had to pick between four flavors i'm going to give you chocolate vanilla. >> yeah. strawberry or green tea? chocolate chocolate. >> well, i got a little something here to close out our interview. what surprises? surprises? you've heard of the oh, yeah, golden gate fortune cookie cutter. amazing. you said chocolate. so let pick one. >> okay. so that one. all right, now read the fortune and let's see if you can answer this question. >> see how i can read it out loud and then tell us kind of how it relates to who you are and maybe what you're doing. obviously your current role what is it you are acutely sensitive to your environment

is acutely sensitive to your environment. >> okay. how would you apply that as we close out this interview segment? >> well, as you really do a lot of environmental work in my office so okay so i'm going to choose i'm going to choose to read it as you know. that's good. we're trying to do works for the environment that that's very good answer. >> yeah. well thank you for making our area district yeah so nice and it was really great to talk to you because this is amazing. >> i want to eat that cookie now you could eat it because i'm eating the cookie either cookie there you go. >> cookie it's all good. well, thank you so much. district eight board of supervisors president rafael mendelson, thank you so much for joining us. if you want to find out more about our city, we have a great programing also if you want to see your meetings live. you can also tune in on s.f. gov tv dot org. see you next time

>> brainchild the executive director 6 housing clinic in the neighborhood for it 90 years and talking about the history like the first web about family history and a lot of the clinicians found with a group of the community members. with the owner of cadillac the housing on

the west coast and the tenderloin is a permanent climax of history of the neighborhood and the community art gorilla for whatever reason artists in the neighborhood. and we do public events as well as walk in (unintelligible) for residents we have been known for has nothing to do with historically artist surveys and that makes us very unique and work producing about the cafe and a riot happened in the neighborhood in 1966 helping us on market street year-round indefinitely we think that the arts is an incredible way of experiencing history and

really helps people think of themselves as history persons and especially for the house play really a part of the - and think that is generates for the - we are aware the art is important for people and important for the community mba and can be a really assessable and engaging way to see history well. >> those are the ways as the art and history you're not going to see emotionally in the

>> my name is lauren. i am the owner and founder of farm branch and we are here at farm branch on [indiscernible] third street, on the corner of third

and bryant. we started in 2020, so we are a pandemic baby. all the [indiscernible] expresso selection and [indiscernible] full scale brunch thursday through saturday and catering. we do custom catering and events every day of the week and then we serve all the walk-in as well. we became known for our cookies and our [indiscernible] the chipper is a chocolate chip cookie, but it also has a expresso and these chocolate cripies which adds texture. that was the cookie the food network named one of the most iconic cookies enthe u.s. which is cool. we take customer service and the overall customer experience so important. we are called the hidden gem

every day. people say we didants know you existed. we are proud of what we built and what we are doing and we just are really i think excited for people to find us and see how special we are. . hello fellow san franciscans. i'm police chief bill scott. the future of policing in san francisco has arrived. over the last year the sfpd has been building our real time investigation center or what we're calling the arctic. this new nerve center allows officers to use technology to fight crime in real time. >> and the results are stunning . over the last several officers

can simultaneous safely use our growing network of automated license plate readers drones, public safety cameras and other technologies to fight crime faster and more efficiently. >> hey, they're running. the other ones are running just they're running on still running westbound on geary right in front of louis vuitton staff and the are to communicate directly with our officers in the field delivering crucial information like we're suspects and moving around the city. >> it's going back and forth or getting up to 20s. >> this allows our officers to precisely identify and arrest suspects while mitigating potential risks to officers and the public. >> my job will do that with the arctic. >> our officers can safely take on suspects and avoid police chases whenever possible. these tools have assisted our officers in driving down crime to lows not seen in decades in san francisco. in fact the arctic has assisted

in over 500 arrests and many other operations in the last year alone. additionally, the arctic has been valuable in helping locate missing persons and assisting people in crisis. >> do you want to come back over here and talk to me? you're not in trouble, right? okay. what's got you up on the roof? >> we've had these tools for less than a year and the results are remarkable. the future of policing has truly arrived in san francisco . we're excited to partner with mayor daniel lurie to continue expanding this technology in san francisco to continue to make the city safe

. >> okay good evening and welcome to the may 21st 2025 meeting of the san francisco board of appeals. president trasvina will be the presiding officer tonight and he is joined by vice president j.r. eppler. commissioner rick swig. comss