president vietor: good afternoon, everybody. one second. ready? i like to call the meeting of the san francisco public utility commission to order. first item please. >> roll call. [roll call] i might note vice president moran is excused. he's out of the state. president vietor: he's in

oregon. next item. >> approval of the minutes of march 22. if there are any corrections, additions, or changes to make, we can entertain a motion to approve. president vietor: comments, questions? holland favor? it is passed. -- all in favor? >> public comment. or we have to speaker cards. -- we have two speaker cards. mr. decosta and mr. miller. >> [inaudible]

president vietor: absolutely. >> [inaudible] -- from the union. others that know the history. others that have experience. and of course, the manager that has been here for a long time. and understands the vigorous aspects of of the city operates. one of the things that i have noticed, and i have spoken before when we have the water system improvement project. we have business enterprise, and

before the project has come on board. i am here to request to the commissioners with the manager, to review how best you can have those entities in the community to prepare as the others that have native plants. and some prime contractor needs to deal with the native plants. clearing the bushes. understanding the endangered species. we can do that type of training months before it happens. it is easy. at the as i did it at the

presidio. i have the experts that can put it all in writing if you want to. i am here to suggest, i can't mandate. there are many people out there who think in that manner. the same issue came up, and they have that vacuum. those are the communities, especially bayview hunters point. but we can have the technical ways to make it easier. president vietor: next speaker, please.

>> in the afternoon, commissioners. i wanted to talk to you about the highway widening project to. those are trees that are cut along the creek. it was formerly owned by the sfpuc. the plans to widen state route 84, this is about $90 million project. it is completely unnecessary and it will make the canyon less safe. it will damage many miles of trout habitat. it will waste the million dollars in public funds, when

there is universal opposition -- and there is universal opposition from the public. phase two came out last fall, this agency commented on the significant problems and the damage the project was going to do to try habitats. there are already about 100 native trees. they put in retaining walls, this is going to be incredibly destructive to trout habitat. this is all happening on former puc land. we are sure that they are going to come to you and ask for more easement and more transfer. this will be about over 2 miles

that they will want to put in. almost 500 more trees are going to be cut. this agency has been involved with the fisheries for many years. you have approved quite a bit of restoration. you're looking at restoring just upstream of. we are a little dismayed to see that this land that was under year stewardship is being transferred for a project of this nature. we understand you may not have understood what was going on in this project or what the damage was going to be. we were pretty confused about how these projects were related until recently. the reason i am coming to you today is that i want to make sure this does not happen for phase 2.

let like to ask you to refuse to give it to them. we are going to be in court trying to stop all phases of this project and to ensure that this does not happen. it was put through with no comment or notification of what the implications were. we hope that your staff can work with us to make sure that phase to doesn't happen. thank you. commissioner torres: nice to meet you. you stated that this agency, and i was not here at the time, that we submitted a formal comments on the eir. >> for phase two.

>> whcommissioner torres: this s phase one still? >> they're trying to cut the trees and we are trying to get into court to stop them. commissioner torres: i am concerned about the trees, but i am also concerned about the trout. can they update us where we are? >> is a confusing history on this one. we have had a lot of conversations the last couple of weeks because the original environmental work was years ago. we lost track of it, that might be the nicest way of phrasing it. >> de division director has been trying to get the history of this.

it sat for all the time and only now is it going forward with the project. we are still not quite finished gathering hall that information. we are on record as being quite concerned about the project. >> was their response been? --commissioner torres: what has their response been? >> they have not been forthcoming with information. catching up to get on top of it, we are pretty on top of it. they spoke several times about trying to get the picture together to get the best program going forward. commissioner torres: how close

is this to the other project we are looking at? >> this is downstream. it is backed up from the hills. the valley where the koreas are, it joins with the creek from the livermore valley. this narrow little canyon that connects the area. it is worth the drive some time just to enjoy the canyon. >> a few weeks ago, we were looking at the area. >> this is closest. >> i would like to know what is going on so i can let her know as well. have you contacted them? they have heard quite a bit, so i want to make sure that they are continuing to work together.

that was my knowledge of the history there. thank you. president vietor: i want to express my appreciation for you bringing this to our attention. most of us weren't here at that time and we're trying to put it all together now. it is thanks to you that we can figure out what to do with the next phases. we appreciate your efforts here. >> there will be a letter that we are responding to, so we will make sure that you have a copy of that. one of the questions on the second page of this, how did this happen? we want to go check our ways of doing business to make sure it does not happen again. president vietor: other public comment?

>> i was not planning unspeaking, so i did not turn in a card. on the way to the office, i drove through the canyon because it is such a beautiful area. it is devastating what they are doing there. it is terrible. i did not realize there was a connection to sfpuc. you guys are real model. there is the adaptive management plan, it is going to be fine for water availability and will be greater for the environment. we battled them in the '90s over the tunnel. they fought us every step of the way. they were not responsive, it is bureaucracy out of control. i was hoping things had changed by the out.

what is going on is outrageous. i am glad to see commissioners concerned about it. i know our organization wants to work with the alliance and others to make sure that they are accountable. thank you for listening. president vietor: if it is appropriate for the spot to take some kind of action, let us know. we need to get all of that history and get them in line, if you will. any other public comment? next item, please. >> communications. commissioners receive copies of everything listed in the summary. are there questions related to

the advent calendar or regarding the staff reports that were sent to you? president vietor: anything, commissioners? advance calendar? next item. >> i am not quite clear. [inaudible] when you talk about water elevation --

>> i don't have the numbers right there. we have been working for quite some time to get the lake back up and maintain it that way. both the san francisco and the daily city has cut off all of the drainage that goes into the lake. there is nothing that runs into the lake so there is nothing to regularly maintain the lake level. we have been working to try to come up with ways to have water bill in their the most natural way we can as opposed to something that just drops every year substantially. >> the problem of ground water,

that has been alleviated? >> -- >> of course use of ground water has been eliminated. we are proposing to utilize the groundwater basin, but we won't be able to do that unless we have other means to keep the lake level stable. that is why is very important to come up with a way to have the water go into the lake that will keep it up. >> has that been achieved? >> there is a report of the that describes a flood control project that will provide for water into the lake. that looks like a very promising alternative that might be a solution. we are still looking at the details. the project development, our

support of the project provided certain questions can be answered relative. >> i was not quite sure about that. president vietor: what happened with the concession did? -- bid? >> there was an rfp on the streets. it expired, no proponents on that. and redoing the agreement as to who is doing what. how to best go forward with a managing those properties. they are the primary ones that need to be entrusted. president vietor: there has

been no resolution yet? >> no, not yet. >> the one to make sure they keep a recreational focus. president vietor: any questions? public comment? >> i was a founding member of the lake merced task force.

i also have the privilege of serving with the recreation chair of the task force for a number of years. regarding a joint management of a lake merced track. it did not work. we have learned from experience the proposing a shared or joint responsibility.

how can we help support programs for high-school student athletes? it is time to move on. san francisco reconed park has no reason to be fearful about taking back full control of the lake and the recreational component. with your of mr. and of the water project, it is just a drop in the bucket. the organizations will be happy to work with sfpuc. we can provide you with the experience, he leaders that have long-term experience in serving our community. thank you.

president vietor: think you for your comments. we look forward to seeing the evolution of the mlu. >> the plan is to have it here on may 28. president vietor: other comments? next item. >> any new business. president vietor: next item please. >> the report of the general manager, there is a sub item. >> we told you that during april, we get [unintelligible]

it may ultimately impact the puc's needs. >> i will give you a brief update of that in particular. the highlights are also included in your package. we filed everything timely from our commission. in addition to that, the city's capital plan. the financial projection has been issued last week by the comptroller, the mayor, and the

budget analyst. one of the things in particular there is the structural shortfall. the news was the projected shortfall of about $306 million is a pretty big number. it is a little bit better than that was a few months ago. they make about $20 million of improvements and a general tax hall of about $15 million. i have looked at the water revenues, and we are not seeing it yet. nevertheless, the city is seeing some good news. next year, there is a shortfall for the general fund. so it will be a long-term problem.