New Year, New Supervisor, New Newsletter

• On Friday, January 8th, I was officially sworn in and voted with the rest of my colleagues to elect District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton as our President of the Board.

• On Sunday night, January 10th, I received my Committee Assignments from President Walton. I am now serving as a member of the Rules Committee, which oversees appointments to City Commissions, ballot measures, and changes to the City’s internal procedures. I’ll also be serving as Vice Chair of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, which is responsible for (you guessed it!) auditing and overseeing our City government.

• On Monday morning, January 11th, I had my first Rules Committee meeting and that night I got my City email account! You can reach me at Connie.Chan@sfgov.org. For meeting/event requests and general inquiries for me or my office, please email ChanStaff@sfgov.org.

• On Tuesday, January 12th, I had my first full Board of Supervisors meeting and introduced my first legislative items. The three items I introduced will advance our shared goals to build more affordable housing, improve city governance and management, and protect the small businesses that anchor our neighborhoods.

  • First, I am asking the City Attorney to draft legislation to expand the Legacy Business Program to create a second tier of qualifying local small businesses, known as Neighborhood Anchoring Business, that have been established and registered in San Francisco for at least 15 years. With this legislation, I also intend to establish a legal aid fund to assist these neighborhood anchoring businesses in fighting against eviction due to a loss of income from COVID-19. The Legacy Business Program has played a key role in saving community institutions and I hope to open that opportunity for other valuable cultural assets.

  • We also need to do more to make sure San Franciscans can get through this pandemic — we need to make sure our working people can stay housed. We need to continue to build on our momentum to develop more affordable housing. To do so, I have requested the City’s Department of Real Estate produce an inventory of all city owned properties, including those owned by enterprise departments. The list should be broken down by department and Supervisor District and include information about the existing use of the properties, existing lease agreements or ongoing negotiations, and projected use in the next two fiscal years. Having a comprehensive inventory of our existing properties and their uses will provide a tool for my office and the public to better advocate for responsible management of publicly owned land and possible affordable housing sites.

  • As we tackle our city's budget deficit, we also must make sure we balance our budget, protect our essential workers, and that our city services are serving those who are most in need. I know our city government can do better, and there may be fundamental structural challenges to our system that pose obstacles for our workers and city departments. Therefore, I’ve tasked the Controller and our Budget & Legislative Analyst's Office to analyze the structure of the City Administrator’s Office. Specifically, I am asking what requirements the 1996 Charter Amendment set, the role and structure of the City Administrator’s office, which divisions it oversees and what that oversight entails, how this role has evolved over time, how this structure compares to other comparable jurisdictions, and an analysis of the efficacy and performance of San Francisco’s system.

  • Watch my roll call for introductions here, my comments start at the 2 hours and 19 minute mark.

• On Friday, January 15th, I visited the COVID Command Center to see the hard work that our emergency staff is doing to keep us safe and healthy! I also asked staff for their plans to continue to improve our city’s communication and increase cultural competency and literacy. We’ll get through this pandemic by working together and keeping one another safe!

• On January 21st, I joined the Government Audit and Oversight Committee for the hearing on building an emergency firefighting water system on the Westside.