2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Minutes from September 14, 2006
5:36pm
I. Call to Order & Roll Call by Chair Richard Schulke
Present: Commissioners Richard Schulke, Mara Weiss, DVM, Laurie Routhier-Kennedy, Sherri Franklin, JR Yeager, William Hamilton, Christine Garcia, Kenneth Sato and Sgt. Herndon
Absent: Capt. Goldbeck (Family matter)
II. Public Comment
Pam Erring - Reminds us that in April she appeared discussing howMaine was the first state in the country extending protection for animals in domestic violence cases. She wanted to follow up with us on her progress regarding her work with Mark Leno’s Office at the state level. She explained that things are moving at the state level as early as January 2007 and would like to work with the Commission on seeing what she can do at the local level.
Richard Fong discussed dog play areas beside septic tank areas and spoke with Dog Advisory Committee and others who were very open to changing this. He asked if money for professional dog licensing would also be available to prevent animals from being impacted by the septic tanks.
III. Approval/Comments of Draft Minutes
Comr. Hamilton noted that in the May minutes, Richard Fong’s name misspelling. Comr. Yeager made a date correction on the July minutes. Comr. Hamilton noted that in the August minutes, there are minor name misspellings; Comr. Hamilton is a Sergeant, not a Captain, and the times of the meetings would be nice to see. All minutes are approved.
IV. Chairpersons Report and Opening Remarks
A. Lack of Attendance of Rec. and Parkat Meetings
Comr. Schulke expressed his disappointed about the continued nonappearance of the Recreation and Parks Dept. and he will be in touch with us about a press conference regarding this.
B. Commissioner is “Compassion in Action”
Comr. Schulke shared the very nice article on Comr. Yeager about his Compassion in Action in a local paper.
V. Commissioners’ Reports
Commissioner Garcia
A. Update on Ongoing Pursuit of Office Space for Commission
Comr. Garcia may have to resort to beginning “sit ins” in front of Ben Rosenfeld’s office.
B. Request for Commission Letterhead and Envelopes
Comr. Routhier-Kennedy proposes using a nice logo that she will bring to the next meeting.
Comr. Hamilton and Schulke suggested getting a dollar amount to seek approval at the next meeting.
Comr. Garcia moved the item to next month to see the logo and bring the dollar estimate to the commission.
C. “Helping Hands for Animals” Ordinance Proposal
Comr. Garcia explained that she implemented all the suggestions from the August meeting into the latest draft (PDF) of the ordinance. (i.e. timetable of when a private attorney will step in and new name) Spoke with City Attorney and explained that they are thinking about doing this at the state level.
D. Request for Commission Endorsement on AB 450
Comr. Garcia explained that having the Commission support this state bill would perhaps be helpful
Comr. Hamilton shared that AB 450 requires the Governor’s office of emergency services to approve the CARES program into the standardized emergency management system.
Comr. Kennedy shared the methodology that has been used in the past for endorsing state bills. That is, to write a letter to the Board of Sups and advice that we will endorse on such a date unless they hear back from them otherwise.
Comr. Weiss is not clear on this legislation.
Comr. Hamilton summarized AB 450- Currently the system is called SEMS (Standardized Emergency Management System) and the point of AB 450 is to incorporate CARES into SEMS. CARES has never been formally incorporated into SEMS.
Comr. Schulke adds that it basically forces municipalities to come up with a plan for animals.
Comr. Hamilton explains that some counties do have such plans, but there is lack or coordination between such counties and the state, and it’s more to facilitate the flow of that information.
Public Comment: Bob O’Brien hopes that the Commission endorses this.
Comr. Schulke states that there is not much action we can take on this item due to technical sunshine problems with this.
Comr. Herndon thought more time to look at AB450 would be good.
Commissioner Hamilton
E. Review of Sunshine Law requirements for the proposal and discussion of agenda items.
Comr. Hamilton mentions updates on the amended sunshine ordinance and the commission’s responsibility to hold to the sunshine ordinance and include agenda items with specificity.
No Public Comment.
Comr. Schulke comments regarding making the information available to members of the public.
VI. Old Business
A. Proposes recommendation to make available more pet friendly rental housing in San Francisco
Commissioner Schulke
Comr. Schulke introduces Reginald who will speak concerning the Pet Friendly Rental Housing. Reginald would like to see this introduced to the Board of Supervisors with the Commission’s approval. Seconded passing this forward without the dollar amount.
The proposal allows landlords to charge people with pets about $25-50 more than other tenants.
Comr. Weiss explains that should would not support moving this item to the Board. She explains that to pay more money merely because you have animals may become an extra aggravated economic burden on an already difficult cost of living in the bay area.
Comr. Franklin asked if the additional charge of ($25-50) is added to the already elevated cost that is currently imposed on pet guardians.
Comr. Yeager asked if it would be imposed upon people who currently have pets.
Reginald said that this is the type of program to bring people together. However, the landlord, ultimately, is the person who is going to have to want to do it and we can’t force them to allow animals to live in people’s housing. He frames this suggestion as a way to save animals.
Comr. Garcia opposed this item because it codifies discrimination against people with animals by allowing landlords to charge them more, and not forcing landlords to stop discriminating.
Comr. Hamilton raised the issue of rent control and asked for clarification on the item.
Reginald says they wish to amend that portion of the rental code.
Comr. Herndon has a problem with the incentive that this law tries to provide to landlords. He doesn’t think that $25-50 is not going to be enough to convince landlords to accept animals as tenants. Suggests sending the proposal up to see what the Board of Sups will do with it.
Comr. Routhier is hesitant to pass this today. She would like to see more information such as, some definitive research that shows that this proposal will in fact result in more animals being adopted from the shelter.
Comr. Hamilton asks for confirmation on the fact that landlords are still not required to allow animals to live with their guardians.
Reginald affirms that landlords would not be made to accept animals as residents and says he hopes that this rent increase would “stimulate the love in [landlords’] hearts for animals.”
Comr. Franklin says that all over craigslist people are looking for places where they will allow animals into their home.
Reginald said that Carl Friedman said that the reason I have these dogs and cats here is because of landlords who are unfriendly.
Public Comment: Philip Geary is opposed to this. There are too many loopholes and thinks some sort of legislation that they cannot discriminate would be more fair.
Pam Earing is also opposed to this. This is just one more way to make it more difficult on residents of San Francisco. The way it stands now, it is economically too discriminatory.
Vivian S (last name?) is opposed to this because the amounts that are being suggested are too much. She thinks that this should not be decided tonight and we should keep working on it.
Comr. Hamilton would like to see a clearer concept that does not violate any rent control. Suggests passing this as written, but without a dollar amount.
Comr. Garcia opposes this. More money shouldn’t have to come from the residents merely because they are a guardian.
Comr. Franklin sees the potential for abuse of this because people who have animals are already paying a lot more than other people who do not have animals. She does not think that $25-50 will open up somebody’s heart and compassion for animals.
Two in favor and four opposed it going up to the supervisors as written, but without a specific dollar amount. The motion failed.
- Commission Media Contact Guidelines.
Commissioner Routhier
Passed out the Code of Ethics regarding media statements with her suggested amendment for proposed guidelines, such as speaking with Animal Care and Control and fellow commissioners prior to news releases.
Comr. Schulke said that we should consider these with the Rules and Regs of commissioners as a whole. 1st Amendment-wise he is not crazy about it, but would support it.
Comr. Hamilton thought that the Commission should analyze this separately even if we decide to add it to the rules and regs later. It would be beneficial for commissioners to receive all of this information when they first became commissioners.
Comr. Herndon thought it would be beneficial to know how enforceable this is and that it might be a good idea to be consistent with the other guidelines of all commissions.
Comr. Routhier answered that there is no enforcement. They are only suggested guidelines.
Comr. Yeager wanted some clarification on how this is distinguished from what the sunshine ordinance already covers.
Comr. Franklin suggested giving the public time to review this and understand what it is trying to convey.
No Public Comment.
Unanimously moved to the November meeting.
C. Proposed recommendation to License Professional Dog Walkers in San Francisco
Commissioner Schulke
Comr. Schulke thanked all the members at Pro Dog and NAP who really helped with this drafted new proposed municipal law. The proposal would require licensing of dog walker services requiring things such as, no more than eight (8) dogs per walk, many prof. dog walkers would need only have to encourage their customers to have current dog license, a leash per dog, safe transportation (well ventilated), adequate insurance and/or bonding, all feces picked up and properly disposed of, sliding licensing fee will be split between Park and Rec (for maintenance of dog runs) and misdemeanor/fine penalty. Perhaps a discount would be given to the dog walking professionals who get licensed. East Bay Regional already has this.
Comr. Routhier asked if Comr. Schulke checked with the ACC regarding the vehicles. Comr. Schulke: No.
Comr. Weiss asked if the company would be charged, or each individual employee under the company would. Comr. Schulke: Just the company.
Comr. Yeager shared that people have suggested to him that that was unfair. Comr. Schulke: That’s why there is a sliding scale from $50-200.
Comr. Franklin asked if there would be something on the vehicle to notify people of the driver’s dog license. Comr. Schulke: Yes, a sticker.
Comr. Hamilton asked if the fee was annual. Comr. Schulke: Yes.
Comr. Routhier asked what the rates of East Bay Regional were. Comr. Schulke: $25-200 sliding scale.
Comr. Hamilton noted that at the last meeting somebody mentioned that a good definition of a professional dog walker was somebody who made a majority of their income via dog walking and I thought that was a good suggestion for a definition.
Comr. Sato suggested leaving out the statement about encouraging people to license their dog.
Comr. Routhier said that there is a great course found at www.dogtech.org to train professional dog walkers.
Much discussion follows about the number of dogs from all the commissioners which included comments about how well a person is trained, their experience and if they know the dogs.
Comr. Hamilton didn’t think we should strike out the “encouragement of dog licensing” from the proposal.
Comr. Schulke suggests putting this off until November so that an ACC representative can be present to comment.
Unanimously approved to be passed to November.
VIII. Public Comment
[Not all public comment was captured because the tape ran out, so if you shared something at this meeting that is not recorded above, please e-mail me with your comments at the e-mail below]
IX. Closing Review of Task Allotment and Calendar Items
A. Comr. Garcia will get quotes on the stationary
B. Comr. Kennedy will bring the logo to the next meeting
X. Adjournment
7:37pm
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