Planning Commission delays decision on mayor’s directive to end remote public comment

The San Francisco Planning Commission on Nov. 16 paused a decision to adopt the mayor’s instruction that would end routine remote public comment at commission hearings, voting to continue the matter to its Dec. 7 meeting.

Commission staff read a directive from the mayor’s office instructing city commissions to adopt the Board of Supervisors’ new rule limiting remote comment to people with disabilities. The secretary said remote-comment language had been removed from future notices and that department presenters would be required to attend meetings in person. The mayor’s written instruction was described in the record as requiring ‘no remote public comment except when necessary to accommodate a disability.’

Members of the public urged the commission to retain remote access. Georgia Shudish, who testified in person, said “the good thing to come out of COVID was the remote hearing,” and warned that ending remote access would reduce participation on major upcoming agenda items. Sue Hester, a remote caller, asked the commission to delay action and to publicize any change broadly, saying the short-notice timing gave the public “very minuscule” notice. Lorraine Hebe warned that removing remote options would punish seniors, low-income residents and workers who rely on call-in access.

Several commissioners said they shared public commenters’ concerns and wanted more information from the mayor’s office and the Board of Supervisors about rationale and implementation. Vice President Moore argued access had “enhanced” planning work, calling the remote record “extremely important information that helped us.” Commissioners also raised the policy tradeoff of preventing ‘Zoom bombing’ or abusive speech versus broad public participation and asked the City Attorney’s Office to clarify the line where speech becomes abusive and may be curtailed.

To buy time for that outreach and staff work, Commissioner Imperial moved to continue the discussion to the Commission’s Dec. 7 hearing; the motion passed unanimously 7–0. President Tanner said he would forward commissioners’ comments to the mayor’s office.

Next steps: the commission will revisit the item Dec. 7 after additional consultation with the mayor’s office, the Board of Supervisors and City Attorney staff; commissioners asked staff to prepare options for limiting abusive conduct while preserving broad access.