WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.031 --> 00:00:11.471 This is CivicFM, with the week at San Francisco City Hall. 2 00:00:12.151 --> 00:00:30.906 The Board of Supervisors backed the Mayor's emergency declaration ahead of expected El Niño storms. It also gave final approval to two new protections for renters, and extended six city union contracts with a pledge of no layoffs of permanent civil service workers through mid-2029. 3 00:00:30.906 --> 00:00:38.071 This episode was produced with AI from the public recordings of the week's meetings. Links to the sources are in the show notes. 4 00:00:41.389 --> 00:00:59.494 Our top story this week: a local emergency, declared for storms that hadn't hit yet. On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors concurred in a proclamation the Mayor issued on October twenty-third. It covers severe storms expected to hit San Francisco soon because of El Niño conditions. 5 00:00:59.494 --> 00:01:03.414 This wasn't on the posted agenda. So how could the board take it up? 6 00:01:03.414 --> 00:01:20.914 It came up as what's called an imperative item. First the board had to find, with at least eight votes, that the matter was urgent and had come up after the agenda was posted. That passed eleven to nothing. The motion itself then needed a unanimous vote, and it passed eleven to nothing too. 7 00:01:20.914 --> 00:01:27.554 One member of the public spoke on it, warning that high winds in past El Niño storms had caused serious problems. 8 00:01:27.554 --> 00:01:46.589 The motion also covers contracting. The board agreed that certain city departments can sign emergency agreements for goods, services and public works without following some Administrative Code provisions and without Civil Service Commission approval. When needed, they can also leave out the city's standard contract terms. 9 00:01:50.226 --> 00:01:59.746 Next, two measures for renters. Last week we told you they'd passed on first reading. On Tuesday both got their final vote, and each passed eleven to nothing. 10 00:01:59.746 --> 00:02:13.441 The first is about what an apartment really costs. Online listings and leases for residential rentals will have to clearly show the total estimated monthly cost. That means the rent plus any required fees and charges. 11 00:02:13.441 --> 00:02:15.926 And if a landlord doesn't disclose them? 12 00:02:15.926 --> 00:02:28.361 Then a tenant who didn't get adequate disclosure can end the lease early without a penalty. Landlords are also restricted from evicting a tenant, or charging late penalties, over fees that weren't adequately disclosed. 13 00:02:28.361 --> 00:02:44.376 The second sets a threshold for evictions over unpaid rent. A landlord can't evict a tenant for unpaid rent that totals less than the local fair market rent for a unit of the same size. That figure is set by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. 14 00:02:44.376 --> 00:02:56.866 During public comment, a caller thanked the board for the eviction protection and asked for more time or rental assistance for people looking for work. Both ordinances now go to the Mayor, who has ten days to approve or veto them. 15 00:03:00.264 --> 00:03:12.419 Our third story is about city workers. Last week we reported that amendments to six union contracts had passed on first reading. On Tuesday all six got final approval, eleven to nothing. 16 00:03:12.419 --> 00:03:40.159 The unions are IFPTE Local 21, the Municipal Executives' Association, SEIU Local 1021, the District Attorney Investigators' Association, Laborers Local 261, and Plumbers Local 38. As the clerk read them, the amendments extend the agreements through June thirtieth, twenty thirty-one, and set base wage increases for each year from fiscal twenty twenty-seven–twenty-eight through twenty thirty–thirty-one. 17 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:49.519 They also extend provisions that were set to expire, and five of the six allow a citywide labor-management committee through fiscal year twenty thirty-one. 18 00:03:49.519 --> 00:03:59.024 And they include a commitment on jobs. The city agrees not to issue layoff notices, and not to lay off any permanent civil service employees, through June thirtieth, twenty twenty-nine. 19 00:04:02.341 --> 00:04:27.921 Now a few shorter items from Tuesday's meeting. Earlier this month we told you the board passed a forty-five-day moratorium on data centers. On Tuesday, an extension of ten months and fifteen days was introduced. Its sponsor argued that data centers can place heavy demands on the electrical grid, and pointed to moratoriums in Richmond and Oakland. The sponsor also said the board will review the Planning Department's November tenth report. 20 00:04:27.921 --> 00:04:56.861 Board President Rafael Mandelman introduced an ordinance to drop the commercial vacancy tax filing for tenants and subtenants of storefronts that are occupied. If a space is vacant, everyone would still have to file. Mandelman said the city got several thousand filings for tax year twenty twenty-four, but only about two hundred reported a vacancy. He added that the one-hundred-fifty-eight-dollar penalty for not filing applies even when a storefront is occupied. 21 00:04:56.861 --> 00:05:12.436 An ordinance changing the city's rules for buying firearms and ammunition passed on first reading, eleven to nothing. It changes the minimum qualifications for suppliers, removes exceptions, and changes the grounds for waivers. It comes back for a second vote. 22 00:05:12.436 --> 00:05:32.371 Two building rules got final approval, both eleven to nothing. One lowers the minimum ceiling height in existing buildings to seven feet for habitable rooms, and six feet eight inches for other rooms. The other changes how big a mezzanine can be before it counts as a separate story, to take in the larger mezzanines the building code allows. 23 00:05:32.371 --> 00:05:48.261 And Mandelman introduced a resolution to start landmark designation for six small historic districts in Duboce Triangle. It asks Planning and the Historic Preservation Commission to study them, and he said neighbors and property owners will have more chances to weigh in. 24 00:05:51.659 --> 00:05:58.859 Before we go: if you hear something we got wrong, there's a link on the episode's page to report it, and corrections are read on air. 25 00:05:58.859 --> 00:06:02.539 That's the news from City Hall. See you after the next meeting.