of fixed assets because of lost water. >> my main fire protection engineer, he's concerned and wants to implement if you have a tank in your building, you have the water supply, sprinkler system. they have to have some back up water already >> high rises need them. >> except, it's supposed to be 30 minutes for your most demands >> that's a lot of water. >> the minimum is 15,000 gallons. i think 25,000 was the last one i saw they were proposing. it's a pretty good size.

>> all around san francisco we see cisterns as well for water supply. there's no one within sight here. but you can tell because right in the middle of an intersection, you see that. that's a symbol for an under ground system. >> we have a lot of them. we can draft out of those. we can put our solid hoses in there and actually suck some water out and put some pressure on it. and we have maps. the guys in the field know where they are. we had a while if you put a swimming pool in, you had to have a connection. that one is being deleted. it was putting too much on

people for putting a swimming pool in. >> back to fire escapes, i thought it would be interesting to look down the street and see how many there are. you don't usually think about them when you look around the city unless you are looking at our fire escape repair people probably see. i hungry man sees nothing but restaurants. this particular building has residential uses and i think an apolistry shop. they would require a 5-year certification and they also need their annual maintenance. their fire escapes use this accordion ladder. is that what you call it? occasionally, we see problems where it comes down and there's something obstructing it on the ground.

sometimes you even see awnings. >> when they come in, that's something we always check if they have a fire escape. now adays they use velcro. >> one thing we have here, lawrence mentioned, you need a door. if you notice here, each residential unit. these are probably each side is a different residential unit that's going out and it's a case where that code evidently allowed you to use a window. >> there's an exception and it's on page 5. opening for the fire escape. it can be a window and it's 29

by 59 and so on. there's an exception for residential building. and probably, i wouldn't be surprised this serves separate units. they both access the same fire escape out let, you can see the goose net. it's an exciting climb and there's a high rise. i think it's the hastings building and it's really top. it has a vertical ladder on top. you are 200 feet up. >> occasionally they have cornices that stick out. they get quite creative how they build them. >> the old ship where you have to climb up to the top. >> the maintenance guy did a good job. people often wonder why fire

escapes don't pose a risk of being loose. they are required to penetrate in their structural system and be attached through the building to the inside. in a wood frame building, they actually, bolts have to go through and they have to have a washer and nut on the inside. i would have to have the whole wall removed. they are quite strong. >> we do and someone asked, what is it that you do. i start off by looking at it. is there rust where it meets the building. that's the first indicator. my primary trick is to pick the railing away from the building and see sturdy is it? does the shake the whole wall

when i kick it out? otherwise it's rust or a trail of rust >> do you tighten it up? >> if it looks questionable if i go trying to tighten it, i could allow water and starts to rust out the bolt. that would be bad in the long run >> these are required to be rust resistant? >> yeah. i would hope they are galvanized. there are some made of regular iron. they rust as a complete system. everybody we replace is galvanized makes sense. you get coastal fog.

in the mission district. it's dryer. there's less on the eastern than the western. it's good to have it painted. or replace that part and paint it. >> so our handout, page 5, 2.3. it shall constructed of reenforced concrete or hot galvanized steel. and i'm sure they need maintenance. they will rust. >> kind of a slow process. the galvanized coating turns white. so when we see that. we will wire brush it and cold

galvanized it and do exterior point >> recently, i noticed the bolts and their diagonal bolts were looking very rusty, so we put our wrench on and it snapped right how far. we went on the inside of the building, with the property owner's permission and opened up the hole and there was the head of the bolt, the washer and we pulled that out with effort and it became the size of 2 or 3 toothpicks.

>> water has been coming in. >> any time we do work through the skin, whether brick, masonary we do that to keep out the pests >> any place there is a bolt, you really need to calk or seal that. water will find it's way and it will corrode inside and you can't see it unless you do, as this gentlemen said, do thorough testing. because you can't see it. you can't see it. even small stuff like this will allow water to get in.

this is not a structural hazard. >> any comments or questions? >> if you look at this fire escape, you notice the goose neck has been brought out. you have a bridge to cross. if you look at the bottom. it's going to be a real treat for firemen to go up is there. >> that's why i say, this is only for firefighters to use. >> give me a boost. >> you have to realize, the firefighter has an air pack and may be some tools to be walking out there. >> this is an interesting building. i want to point something out. can anybody take a guess as to why we have these 4 beams sticking out of the top?

it used to have another story on it. i think it had to do with the enforcement of the ordinance. it was easier to remove than to upgrade the building. those are the elements that used to support the fire escape balcony, you see the parapet support and they replaced the goose neck ladder that went to the top and it goes over the parfet wall here. very interesting and they just finished doing a seismic upgrade. you can see the giant steel tube >> you see remnants where the second story used to be. >> okay. this is really interesting question here and that's how did the department of public

work regulate things that stick out over the public sidewalk or road? this is public right-of-way and the sidewalk is also owned by the public. although the property owner has to maintain it. here we have things sticking out. in some cases, things encroaching have to get approval from department of public works. if it's 10 feet, you are exempt. but there are certain rules to follow. making sure you don't stick out. >> 10 feet and 3 feet out. it goes up 1 foot every time you go out so many inches. that's the regulations. so that means you have to increase the height. >> there's a limit to how far can you go out.

and there's a really interesting, for those of you who know where the old stars is. hemlock alley. right near mcallister street. red wood alley. and it keeps going up and angling out until it's a couple of feet out. you can almost read the table as to how far it's allowed to encroach. the old stars restaurant. >> i thought we could take a quick look. look at the gigantic frame. this is the one they took the story off. this is the front. it used to have a fire escape above. >> and a second story. you see the enormous steel frame.

it's such a little building. across the street is the self storage. you see the fire escape in front and it has to pass that awning. >> what are the regulations about attaching thing to a fire escape? it says available. >> nothing is allowed on the fire escape. >> i know a lot of people like to put their potted plants and turn them into a balcony. >> bbqs are a no no. it's supposed to be for fire response. many, many violations for that. >> one of the things, people always say, this is a hazard. you've don't you do something.

how many of you have had to exit a fire escape in an emergency? it's rarely used and we have very few incidences. therefore, based on our history, epidemiologically. we don't have reason to believe they're not functioning. there's no reason. these are working just federal fine. >> it always works at least to get you out of the second floor. the last floor is easy. thank you for coming. our brown bag lunches continue and we invite you to join us. thanks a lot.

>> he has looked at the quality. he believes in people and human rights. he's one of the greatest guys i know and i'm so happy that he is our major. i bring to you mayor edwin lee. [applause]

>> good afternoon. welcome. thank you very much for that wonderful introduction. i have a lot to be happy about. this is the 100th anniversary celebrating international women's day and to tell you we have quite a bit to celebrate. we probably have the highest number of women commissioners ever in the history of the city today. isn't that wonderful we have clearly a good and growing balance of women on the board of supervisors, commissions, agency appointments, and department heads. i'm proud to be heading up this very complicated city. [laughter] one that does not let me sleep very much.

certainly -- i said this in many occasions. these last eight weeks, i've fallen in love with the city evening the for the eight weeks ago because it's such a wonderful place to be. every community that i visite, t fascinates me how so many other people who work here, but even those who do not just love the city and they do what they can to make sure it is running well. it is very natural that as i am thrust with the responsibility of being mayor that i look for talent. i think a lot of the talent is with the women in san francisco. [applause] it has been my pleasure to have been an employee of this wonderful government for some 22 years now. to take you back, i had the

pleasure of serving another majoyor some years ago, one that taught me a lot of things. one of the things that i recall back in the late 1990's, the early 2000's, was when i was the director of public works. there was this report that came out. it had been a conference at the united nations and this report was being taken very seriously by the commission on the status of women, but one of the things it had not been able to do was penetrate key departments of the city that had been male- dominated for many years. would you think dpw fit that description? it certainly did. this report was handed to me

through the mayor's office. of course, the mayor then was mayer brown. and said, "what are you going to do with this?" of course, the first thing you do is read it with the understanding that there's probably a lot of information there that's going to be very hard and goals and programs that will be difficult to implement at the department of public works, which have historically been a very male-dominated agency. we made a commitment to the mayor that we would study that report and implement every single one of those as it applied to every level. i was willing to do that. surrounding the were a lot of other powerful women who said it would not be that hard. all you had to do was pay attention. all you had to do was not take no for an answer. all you had to do was look

forward, not backwards. with those very little pieces of advice, we took on that task and we found mid-level managers. we found that many women that were trying to get even to the blue-collar work, the work on the streets, had to be treated more equally. they had to the processes that were fair. as we went up the ladder, we found it to be easier and easier because we simply paid attention to it in a short time, i was able to report back to our mayor that this program of implementing the principles and making sure that it happened in the very blue-collar department of public works was going on in a very good case. i was able to identify midlevel managers who were women. they were all there for many years, but they just were not

invited to become part of management in an open way. i'm here to say to you that a lot of fire successes -- a lot of our successes reflect efforts made in the past. i do not think they were too difficult to make one to focus on them. a lot of that also had to do with the enthusiasm that the city has brought to making those goals are real. a lot of that enthusiasm came from the women's summits in san francisco. the one that i remember i did not even get a ticket to because it was so crowded. it's the one mayer brown introduced to the city when he revived the mayor's some -- when he revived the women's summit. i knew there would be a lot of things that came out of that. those of you in those days, you

were fighting for those tickets. i just gave up and said what do i have to do. as we looked at the videotapes and the press events that followed, we were blessed with a lot of great insights. the encouragement from women of international stature coming from all over the world attending this summit. that makes it easy for me to say to you that the things that i'm doing now and the things that i have done are a lot credited to the predecessors that opened the doors for me and opened the doors for many women. it's very easy to introduce to you someone who has earned this title. this year's man of the year award goes to willie brown, jr. [applause]

come on up. mr. mayor, thank you very much. i'm just delighted that you are in a position to be able to present this to me. i'm going to work and see if i can win it next year and i'm going to ask you to stick around. [laughter] [applause] and present it to me next year in your capacity as mayor of san francisco. [applause]

mayor lee, you have got to know that the women of san francisco that you giave an opportunity to in your capacity as the chief administrative officer of the city -- even to the state, the person you designated to replace you, a woman. you elevated women to positions of importance inside of the mayor's office. i saw naomi little out there. one of your deputies -- i do not think they called them deputies anymore. every man has his impression on what happened in this city. i am delighted. i'm going to tell you. many of you on the women's

summit when we did those -- when i look around and i see jackie and i think about susan and all the other women who headed the mayor's summit -- i hope that as your term unfolds, may yor, you will find athink distinguisn more ways than one. we clearly became the first city to champion what was supposed to be the process being led by the un. we were the very first city to do that with reference to women. [applause] i do not think there is any other municipality anywhere in this country that ever matched what we did in terms of trying

to inspire women to become full participants in the pursuit of justice and equality. i'm just delighted, mr. may or, for you to present this award. to all of you will have been responsible, shelly, and others, i'm delighted. it's going to go on my wall. i'm going to prove to my daughter susan and to sonia that somebody thinks i'm a man of the year. [applause] [laughter] >> we have one more quick presentation before we do a couple of things. a couple of people mentioned the past womens' summit. jackie is one of them. there are others here. if we could just ask you to stand up. we want to recognize you for the

work you did and the history you created. thank you. [applause] >> we have something else for mayor brown. i'm having to present him the jet by night -- jdei knight award for all the years he's been working in the death star. you know all the things he has done to support us. we especially want to give him this award for being the first state legislator in the country to find family planning for low- income women. in the 1970's, when he was on the national board of planned parenthood. i do not know if you know that, but i was there. we want to give him a weapon

today to help us as a fundamentalists tried to take those rights away from us. mayer browor brown -- [laughter] [applause] >> may the force be with you. [laughter] they the force be with you and with us -- may the force be with you and with us. >> a jedi warrior. now you know what was behind that mask darth vader was wearing. me.