Rules Committee recommends Melissa Mendoza to Bicycle Advisory Committee; chair seeks to change appointment process

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, chair of the Rules Committee, moved on Jan. 11 to recommend Melissa Mendoza for the District 5 seat on the Bicycle Advisory Committee and asked the city attorney to prepare legislation to let individual supervisors appoint BAC members without a Rules Committee or full Board hearing.

Preston Kilgore, a legislative aide, spoke for Mendoza, saying she has served on the Bicycle Advisory Committee since 2016, has been its secretary since 2017, has worked with the SF Bike Coalition and co-founded San Francisco Bike Party. Kilgore said Mendoza has been active in recruiting more diverse membership and advocates for communities of color and people experiencing homelessness "within the bike space." "She has worked with the SF Bike Coalition," Kilgore said.

Peskin framed the appointment as governed by Administrative Code section 5.13 and said he would request legislation to allow each supervisor to make certain BAC appointments directly. "I hereby would like to ask the city attorney's office to draft legislation wherein appointments to the Bicycle Advisory Committee would not require a Rules Committee hearing or Board of Supervisors approval," Peskin said on the record.

On a roll-call recommendation to the full Board, Supervisors Rafael Mandelmann, Connie Chan and Peskin voted "aye," and the committee passed the recommendation without objection. Clerk Victor Young confirmed the motion passed unanimously. The recommendation will go to the full Board of Supervisors for final action.

The committee also reiterated that appointments should take Charter Section 4.101's diversity requirements into account when assessing nominees for advisory bodies.