From Navy Seaman to City Commissioner, Hanley Chan Advocates for Veterans

Hanley Chan

There’s a reason why Sunset resident Hanley Chan, a member of the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commission, passionately fights for the city’s 24,000 military veterans.

The story begins in 1999 when Chan joined the Navy three years after graduating from Independence High School in the Inner Sunset.

Life at sea did not go well. At first, Chan loved being in the Navy, where he served aboard an aircraft carrier as an aviation ordnanceman, arming the timers on the bombs and installing them on the planes.

But Chan was soon plagued by health issues, including seasickness, severe panic attacks and a bad reaction to meclizine, the anti-dizziness medication he was given.

“They had to fly me off the carrier,” he recalls. He was discharged after barely serving a year.

Soon afterwards, Chan decided to try the Army Reserve’s Try One program, which allowed enlistees to join up for just one year. Chan enlisted and trained to become a tank driver, but in 2001 he elected to leave the program and return to his private security work in San Francisco.

Today Chan is a licensed private investigator. He is a lifelong resident of the Sunset and has six children ranging in age from 5 to 25.

“It’s a very family friendly area, and there’s plenty of mother nature,” Chan says of the Sunset.

His dad came to San Francisco from Hong Kong and his mother from Taiwan. His family likes to point out they have a link to superstar Bruce Lee. The sister of the martial arts legend is Chan’s godmother.

Chan is also a member of the District Appeals Board of the U.S. Selective Service System.

Learning about claims
Chan says he first learned about service-connected health benefits in 2012.

A friend asked Chan if he heard ringing in his ears after his work as an aviation ordnanceman in the Navy.

Chan told his friend yes, he has tinnitus and just lives with it.

But when the friend asked if he filed a claim, Chan wondered: “What the heck is a claim?”

Chan’s friend explained how the claims process worked and looked at his medical records. Then he told Chan he probably could submit claims not just for tinnitus but also for other injuries he had suffered in the Navy and in the Army reserves, including a back injury.

“So I started claiming, and I claimed all the way to 100 percent,” Chan says. “No one tells veterans all this information about benefits,” Chan says. “That’s one of the reasons why the work of the Veterans Affairs Commission is so important.”

The work of the Veterans Affairs Commission
As a member of the Veterans Affairs Commission, Chan looks for ways to protect the welfare of San Francisco’s veterans and their families. 

The commission is charged with advising the mayor and the Board of Supervisors on all matters affecting local veterans. That includes suggesting legislation to support, benefit and honor them.

In 2022, Chan along with Commissioner Courtney Ellington were instrumental in the passage of legislation that provides free admission to Recreation and Park facilities for veterans and active members of the Armed Forces who live in San Francisco.

This includes city swimming pools, the Japanese Tea Garden, Botanical Garden, Conservancy of Flowers, and Goldman Tennis Center.

Nicholas Rusanoff, an Army veteran and vice president of the Veterans Affairs Commission, said the free access to recreation fasciitis is his favorite local law.

“I cannot express the feeling that I have when I get to go to the Japanese Tea Garden and just have a cup of tea and appreciate the beauty of our city,” Rusanoff said. “This law and future laws that we hope to enact will let every future veteran in San Francisco know that they will never be forgotten, and they will be honored for their service to our nation and our beautiful city of San Francisco.”

A laundry list of legislation
The commission has actively sought what Chan calls “a laundry list” of other ways to support veterans. It pushed for legislation – unanimously supported by the Board of Supervisors – giving priority to veterans applying for low-cost housing in San Francisco.

The commission is also seeking ongoing funding for the Veterans Justice Court, which handles criminal trials of veterans in collaboration with the city’s Superior Court.

One of the most sweeping laws the commission supports is a state bill called AB46 which is pending in the California Assembly. It would exempt military veterans and their surviving spouses from paying California income taxes. 

“We are the only state that fully taxes its military retirees,” says Chan. “As a state, we should do more than just say to our vets, ‘Thanks for your service.’ “

Chan also has his sights set on two possible pieces of local legislation for disabled local veterans. One would allow them to use high-occupancy traffic lanes and the other would help them become small business owners in San Francisco.

“Disabled people rarely open a business in San Francisco,” says Chan. “Why not help them along by exempting them from the cost of their business license? And include veterans? It would be a win-win for everybody.”

Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Tom Colin. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.