we are also here to help. i do not know whom to believe, but if you had a prison his title was "facilitator" or had some operation that really did that seriously, i think that would help. you also can offer expertise. you have expertise on your staff, and doing teaching for the small business groups, for the neighborhood groups, for others, putting together flyers and education materials -- that would all be terrific. unreasonable charges go to the commissioners, and we are happy to get them. we have had very few cases from small businesses, recently. they have all been from very large buildings. i'm sorry i was not here to view the other testimony, but i do not understand why they have to be in the center of this because their primary responsibilities had to do with final two -- commissioner murphy: i will give you one more minute. >> thank you. making city funding programs accessible. we are talking about title 3 and 24, which are private buildings, and that is your domain.

thank you. >> can i just make sure that you and the other members of the access of deals come to our meeting on monday night? >> i know that several of us will be there. i will be. >> great. thank you for your service on that, too. commissioner murphy: any further public comment on this item? three minutes. >> i want to thank the director for the presentation in regards to the permit tracking system. the commissioner mentioned that the 2009 permit tracking system was [inaudible] in 2002. the five was i was with commissioner walker on that effort. it is an incredible tool. you can get a tremendous amount of information on any address, the status of a permit, the time that it took from on hold to

release hold, so it is a great tool, but as any technology will lead you to, it is only as strong as its weakest link. it would be on hold for a long time. so you can tap into an incredibly sophisticated system that will remind you that it is on hold for months, which, as you know, there is a great article in today's paper, and it is a different entity, and dbi has no control over it, but we pay their bills. we can hold them accountable. there is no accountability. use of the drawings, and you are almost afraid to contact the planner.

that needs to change. the city is poised for tremendous growth, particularly in the year 2012. as a structural engineer, i see it. i have done a barometer of economic growth, and 9 cents the action. we have had a fairly weak two years. planning -- that is a move, even though there is no work for them. imagine their performance next year when we do have work. something has to change. this is the timebomb -- we have a new mayor, a new board. there is moderation, activity, a sense that we are open for business. let us do our part to force planning to act and act quickly. thank you. commissioner murphy: thank you. next speaker please. >> hi, commissioners.

i do want to comment on the aspect of public service. when you come in, it is amazing how many people actually walk in, and they first come to the information counter, but they seem to wander off. they just see the one sign, and i think it could be bigger than what it is. the people are really helping these folks. there is two types of application forms -- form 3 and form 8, ones that we are all familiar with. 3 by the over-the-counter. it is what happens when even if a death addition or replacement for the side, or i saw someone the other day where it was a girl raj girla g -- it was a garage being demolished and a

new one being built. speaker rodriguez said they get stuck there forever and eventually end up going to dbi. my concern is with the former 3's. they are as booked magic supposed to get assigned to a plan checker. they should be able to get straight to a plan checker and not be waiting. i think they should go to someone who can take it up to the fifth floor and get approved. i had a situation where the other day, i went up to get approval, and it was supposed to go to the cannibal planchette, and they said they could not take it over there and had to take it back down to the second floor. by that time, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon, and it did not get done. that should not happen.

the idea that it is creating work, creating more income for the city and for everybody out there, the idea is to get the permits out asap, and not have this one go down, especially for something like this where we had to do that. we spent more than 15 or 20 minutes looking at this with some lighting, and instead, we are at the second floor. i think these things could be done in a better way than what they are right now. thank you. commissioner murphy: further public comment? >> san francisco coalition for response to growth. president, commissioners, director, i would like to dwell on a personal experience as a

customer going into dbi. it was a small, over-the-counter permit. it did not require any architectural drawings, so i figured the process would be simple enough. let me take you through the steps a little bit, and i will predicate my remarks by saying that all of the staff had -- at dbi were really very helpful and courteous, but the process just was a little strange to me in some respects, so let me dwell on this -- after i messed with the plan checker and the permit was for replacing some kitchen cabinets and some paint internally -- he approved it very quickly, and then, i was asked to go to fire, and the

plan checkered checked with his supervisor, did i have to do that, and, yes, i was directed over to fire, which i had to queue up for at least half an hour. the process there seemed very strange because fire had nothing to do with it. there were no internal changes to doors or windows, and after that was signed off, i now wish to pay. the hour and 10 minutes that i was already in-house suddenly became another hour and a half because i had to now resubmit information at the pace station and wait around for this hour and a half before it was all completed. so i came away just wondering why this payment process was so complicated because i had to resubmit a lot of information as well as the information required around the czech in the mail. i would ask your commissioners to look at the efficiency, and

you referred to it, the service, and how that can be improved in 2011. i would appreciate you doing that, has a customer who comes in and out of dbi for a permit occasionally. commissioner murphy: thank you. any further public comment? seeing none, commissioners? commissioner hechanova: part of our efficiency in the building department that is always intertwined with our nemesis, the planning department, in a category that the presence and accountability seems to keep them somewhat removed from being more immediately accessible, if not responsive to those issues that continue to become planning issues that they seem to stymie

the processing of these permits. hopefully, in the operational efficiency for this coming year and further, the -- that the planning department does take a more active and responsible role of accountability that once there is the component of the planning review that has been performed, it is always part of their responsibility to also be timely and responsive with some of these permit processing, because, face it, it is customer service. it is really being responsive and getting it done quickly is going to also yield benefits to the city and income stream. that is my opinion of where the

planning department does have to have a greater presence and active role. it is really perplexing back they are adjacent to a building department and sometimes getting them to respond is almost very cumbersome. commissioner mar: i know we are all looking forward to that joint meeting with the small business commission, but i really feel that the next one should definitely be with the planning commission. which we should talk to, but i think one of the problems with them is that, you know, this is a very political town. one person close the great project is another neighbor's great, you know, problem. they are susceptible -- i think that is partially their role. they do have to listen to whether the project are

reasonable and whether they are well thought out and things like that. i think we should look forward to meeting with them and look for definitely to aligning our work, which i think is part of the spirit it is ridiculous that there has been more department of collaboration, and our systems do not all work together. if you want something approved in one department, the of the department should know about it. it was already pointed out it is not just planning, but the assessor's office is the same thing. i did some remodeling years ago, and yet, every year, i get a letter from the assessor's office asking when i will finish with my project. i have called them. i have written a nice letters. i have responded every single time, but i do not want to just

beat up on the planning department. there is plenty of other departments we could beat up on as well. commissioner walker: i think that this is one of the primary reasons why we all decided to do this new system, to make sure that we could interface and have the same system as planning, the assessor's office, within which, we will be able to get reports to see who is going to be responsible for the delay. we do not have that now. what we know is that it goes over there. we do not know where it is or why. this system will make them put in white, what is happening, and will let the department heads, anybody going online figure out who is holding the ball, and i think that that, coupled with our -- now, we are the ones coordinating the fee collection

-- this office together, and the goal now is to push it along, and i hope that all of us can push together to make this happen. nine years, 10 years is too long for this process to go on. i think that it sounds like we are all committed to that, and that is a good thing. thank you. commissioner murphy: thank you, commissioner. there is a joint meeting in the works right now. >> and we could go over these. commissioner murphy: it takes them a little longer there. takes them an hour and a half to watch "60 minutes." >> now, now. >> i'd make, questions -- commissioner's questions and matters. commissioners may make inquiries of staff regarding various

documents, policies, practices, and procedures, which are of interest to the commission. seeing none, on to item 8b, future meetings and agendas. at this time, the commission may discuss and take action to set the date of a special meeting and/or determine the items that could be placed on the agenda at the next meeting and other future meetings of the building inspection commission. commissioner hechanova: and anything on the nominations? requirement? upcoming at least. >> nothing. the only thing i want to let everyone know is you have gotten an agenda for monday night's meeting, but i was called yesterday evening, that there is a slight change. it is very minor, adding something to do with zoning to one of the items, and i will be sending out an amended agenda this afternoon. just watch for that. commissioner murphy: we are all

anticipating quite a long meeting monday night. >> a lot of items. our next meeting, the regular meeting will be february 16. commissioner hechanova: next week. two weeks. >> next regular meeting. >> is there any public comments on those items? commissioner murphy: seeing none. >> item 9, adjournment. commissioner walker: move to adjourn. >> second. commissioner walker: all in favor? we are now adjourned.

>> the court is now accepting applications for the civil grand jury. this investigative watchdog body is comprised of 19 public spirited citizens. >> we are seeking candidates from all walks of life, 18 or older, who will bring to the grand jury a wide spectrum of talent, ideas, and issues of concern. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at

sfgov.org/courts or calll

>> the public wants to access particular information about your house or neighborhood we point them to gis. gis is a combination of maps and data. not a graphic you see on a screen. you get the traffic for the streets the number of crimes for a police district in a period of time. if the idea of combining the different layerce of information and stacking them on top of each other to present to the public. >> other types of gis are web based mapping systems. like google earth, yahoo maps. microsoft. those are examples of on line mapping systems that can be used to find businesses or get driving directions or check on traffic conditions. all digital maps.

>> gis is used in the city of san francisco to better support what departments do. >> you imagine all the various elements of a city including parcels and the critical infrastructure where the storm drains are. the city access like the traffic lights and fire hydrants. anything you is represent in a geo graphic space with be stored for retrieval and analysis. >> the department of public works they maintain what goes on in the right-of-way, looking to dig up the streets to put in a pipe. with the permit. with mapping you click on the map, click on the street and up will come up the nchgz that will help them make a decision.

currently available is sf parcel the assessor's application. you can go to the assessor's website and bring up a map of san francisco you can search by address and get information about any place in san francisco. you can search by address and find incidents of crime in san francisco in the last 90 days. we have [inaudible] which allows you to click on a map and get nchldz like your supervisor or who your supervisor is. the nearest public facility. and through the sf applications we support from the mayor's office of neighborhood services. you can drill down in the neighborhood and get where the newest hospital or