DBI says 'Meet the Pros' summit drew hundreds and will expand outreach

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection told the Building Inspection Commission that its first off-site "Meet the DBI Pros" summit on Oct. 25 registered about 447 people and drew roughly 282 attendees, with an average of about 100 people per workshop.

Acting Director Amy Lee and Patty Herrera of the Public Services Division described the one-day event as both public outreach and staff professional development. Herrera said the summit cost a little under $35,000 and that presentations were recorded for SFGTV so the material can be reused. Several commissioners and members of the public praised the event as informative and suggested repeating it, expanding neighborhood meetings and offering booths or hour-by-hour permit sessions to make material easier to digest.

"We taped each session so we could play and edit on SFG TV," Amy Lee said, adding the department plans better handouts and multilingual materials for future events.

Public commenters said the summit improved transparency and helped demystify permitting; one commenter urged additional outreach to address long-standing perceptions of preferential treatment and corruption.

DBI said it will follow up with quarterly neighborhood community meetings and is considering monthly meetings or more frequent brown-bag sessions on specific topics such as illegal units and tenant–landlord issues. Staff reported media coverage by several news outlets and planned SFGTV broadcasts.

Next steps: DBI plans to expand community meetings, produce translated materials, and reuse recorded sessions as outreach and training resources.