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Rules committee backs Ramaytush Ohlone land-acknowledgment and advances expansion of American Indian Cultural District
Summary
The Rules Committee voted to recommend a rules change requiring the Board president to read a Ramaytush Ohlone land-acknowledgment at public meetings and advanced an ordinance to expand the American Indian Cultural District'including an amendment to add Dolores Park'to the Dec. 7 agenda for final committee action.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee on Nov. 30 recommended a rules change that would require the president of the Board to read a land-acknowledgment recognizing the Ramaytush Ohlone at future public Board meetings and advanced an ordinance to expand the American Indian Cultural District, including a proposed amendment to add Mission Dolores Park.
Supervisor Hilary Ronan, the committee chair and sponsor, described the measure as a way to "honor the first people of San Francisco, the Ramaytush Ohlone Nation," and read the proposed statement drafted with members of the Ramaytush Ohlone community. Ronan said the rule would be added as Rule 4.7.1 to the Board's rules of order and that her office plans to introduce a city ordinance to require the same statement at public meetings of city boards, committees and commissions.
Director Cheryl Davis of the Human Rights Commission told the committee she was grateful for the leadership and called the acknowledgment "a new habit" she hopes becomes automatic. Multiple supervisors on the committee, including Supervisor Shamann Walton and Supervisor Gordon Marr, signaled support and asked to be added as cosponsors.
Community leaders and residents called into the meeting during the public-comment period to urge adoption of both the land-acknowledgment and the expanded cultural-district boundaries. April Miguel, executive director of the American Indian Cultural Center, said the acknowledgment and the district expansion are long overdue and would support Native community efforts; Sheree Souza of the American Indian Cultural District and Greg Castro, a cultural consultant for Ramaytush Ohlone residents, also voiced support.
The committee took a roll-call vote and recorded affirmative votes from Supervisors Stephanie, Marr and Ronan; the motion passed "without objection" and will be forwarded to the full Board as a committee recommendation.
On item 2, Ronan described proposed expanded boundaries for the American Indian Cultural District as roughly bounded by Seventeenth Street, Market Street, DeBose Avenue and Folsom Street. She said the Historic Preservation Commission unanimously recommended approval of the expansion and suggested including Dolores Park. Ronan moved a friendly amendment to include Dolores Park; the committee approved the amendment and then voted to continue the ordinance as amended to the Rules Committee meeting on Dec. 7 for final committee action.
What happens next: The land-acknowledgment rule will be transmitted to the full Board as a committee recommendation; the expanded-district ordinance was amended to include Dolores Park and continued to the Rules Committee's Dec. 7 meeting for final committee action.
