it represents commerce, navigation, all of the things that san francisco is famous for. >> the wood you see in the board of supervisor's chambers is oak and all hand carved on site. interesting thing about the oak is there isn't anymore in the entire world. the floors in china was cleard and never replanted. if you look up at the seceiling you would believe that's hand kof carved out of wood and it is a cast plaster sealing and the

only spanish design in an arts building. there are no records about how many people worked on this building. the workman who worked on this building did not all speak the same language. and what happened was the person working next to the other person respected a skill a skill that was so wonderful that we have this masterpiece to show the world today.

>> welcome to "culture wire." the director will introduce you to the man behind one of san francisco's most anticipated music festivals. ♪

>> welcome to "culture wire." with me today is the founder and financier behind the hardly strictly bluegrass festival. tell me about what inspired you to have the festival. >> i am flattered that you would want to listen to me. now you are going to have to. i had a sort of fantasy for a lot of years that it would be really fun to put on a bluegrass festival. i have a friend named jonathan nelson. we were skiing one weekend. i told him about my fantasy. he said that i should do it. dawn holliday and sherry sternberg.

the four of us had lunch. he said we would start a festival. that was the genesis. it was not anything more complicated than that. in my own defense, and was not yet playing the banjo -- i was not yet played the banjo. the ulterior motive i was accused of did not exist yet. >> i would have thought it was because of your interest in the music and the instrument of the banjo that you play with a lot of love and enthusiasm. i would have thought that would lead to the founding of the festival. >> i have loved the music. much of my life. i really love the old time music. >> you mentioned dawn holliday. she works with you collecting the older music. >> she basically organizes the whole thing'. she decides who is going to be on.

they have incredibly great bands opposite each other. i always worry about that, but she tells me not to. >> this has really grown in the number of participants. >> she kept asking what i would do about it and i kept saying nothing. i do not want to change anything. i love it the way it is. i know it creates traffic jams, but so what? there ought to be something we can do once a year where there is a little bit of suffering a lot of pleasure. >> you have a band. >> the wronglers. i think this is our third or fourth year in the festival. the first year was spectacular. the band had played together

less than a year at that point. this stage manager said he could give us 10 more minutes. i told him we did not know anything else. [laughter] so far, we have not had to audition for it. that may give them the idea. >> one thing that fascinated me is that it seems so incongruous to consider someone with your background that is ultimately the driving force behind this fabulous music festival. >> i guess this sort of shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in one generation. i went to cal and went away for 28 years. i always wanted to come back. it turned out there was a wonderful moment in time when three of my four for children were living here. now all four do with their children.

i thought there was a real opportunity. i wanted to start a new financial firm. it was a wonderful opportunity to do it in san francisco. i get to do business with people i do not the test. [laughter] >> you established your firm here. he reestablished your family roots here. -- you reestablished your family roots here. you used this festival as a way to give back to the community even more. >> the theory of that was that we would have a concert for the middle school kids. we bust in nearly all of the middle school kids from san francisco and now from around the bay area. the kids love it. the letters i get are very endearing. school volunteers and the school districts are really into it. there is a lot of collaboration. >> i have this image in my mind of you as the biggest fan of

the hardly strictly bluegrass festival. what are some of the highlights for you over the last 10 years? >> they are sort of the nostalgic highlights. every year at the end, when in the low harris -- emmylou harris closes the festival and someone else opens the festival. i always call them the heart and soul of the festival. those are wonderful must object moments. having a chance to listen up close to some of the greats. those are some of the great emotional moments. there's always one moment that is so bizarre. 3 or four years ago i was sitting out front listening to emmylou harris. she was very stylishly dressed.

i turned to her making conversation. i said there was a strong smell of pot and she asked if i wanted some. [laughter] the following year my wife said there was an elderly gentleman old banjos. he was a very nice man sitting on the ground. he said he understood that i like old benches. he said he had three that he would like to show me. he said he understood that i liked white ladies. he said i would like this one. i asked if he was trying to sell the banjos. he said he was giving it to me. he was giving me a $3,000 musical instrument. he said he really wanted me to have it. >> that is a beautiful story. it is true. >> do you play it? >> yes.

the this delta region the nostalgic, the letters, depreciation -- -- the nostalgia, the letters, the appreciation. i love the music and i love the way that people have gotten into it. it has become a part of people's lives. i wrecked my car the other night and was waiting for triple a. this man came up and said was the one who put on the bluegrass festival. he said it is the best thing that happens to him all year. the pleasure of that, i love the appreciation there is for the festival. what snow in the lineup of the 10th anniversary concert -- >> knowing the line of of the

10th anniversary concert, what are you looking forward to? >> there is one band we met up in colorado. i am sure nobody in san francisco is familiar with. they recalled the ebony hillbillies. i hope everyone will come to hear them. you will not believe them. >> what are some of the other groups who are looking forward to? >> trombone shorty is that in the deal of publicity lately. he is off the charts. we have a band coming up from new york. margo is phenomenal. the chocolate drops did a special on public broadcasting. they are fantastic. the anderson family band, i live in sheer terror of us having to

follow a family band. they're performing saturday morning at 11:00 for 40 minutes. we have enough stuff to play the whole time. we are ready. >> it has been a delight to have you on "culture wire." i want to thank you personally for this great musical festival you have given us. >> is a lot of fun. >> remembered the hardly strictly bluegrass festival will be in san francisco. visit the website to get information on all of the performances. ♪ the biggest issue in america today? segregation still exists... racism... the repression and oppression of women the educational system stem cell research homeless people cloning government health care taxation announcer: so, is there anything you're doing to help make a change? i'm not really doin' anything. ummmm [sighs]

got me on that one...

>> [speaking spanish] supervisor campos: district 9, as all of you know, is one of the most amazing places in san francisco. [applause] it includes some of the most successful neighborhoods in our city. brno heights -- bernal heights. [applause] and, of course, the mission. [applause]

i want to begin by thanking each and every one of you for being here tonight, for taking time out of your busy schedules and making time to come to this town hall meeting. [speaking spanish] by the way, i see dean. i do not know if you want to come up here -- i see the dean of the city college. i do not know if you want to come up here. please come on up. [applause] we are going to first go to the big production, so you will hear from each of the individuals we have here. they are going to say their names, who they are, what they do for the city. i also see a supervisor -- i also see supervisor kim.

thank you for being here. she represents the neighboring district. this shows how much she cares about the city, so thank you for being here. this meeting would not be possible without the help of so many people that have worked in the last few weeks to make it happen. i want to begin by thanking mayor lee, first and foremost. [applause] one of the first conversations we had was about the importance of involving the community in these discussions. one of the first things we talked about was how he was going to come to district 9 and have a budget town hall meeting so that the budget discussions do not just happen in city hall but actually happened here in this community, so thank you, mayor lee. i also want to thank the organizations that have come together to work on this. they have done everything from helping to create the format for the town hall meeting to

providing things like child care and translation. on that note, each you need child care, as was previously announced, we have licensed child care personnel in room 101. you go out these doors. that is provided. we also have translation, but these organizations are the ones that have made it possible. i want to thank these individuals. without their help, this would not be a reality. courtney, who has worked to provide food for us tonight. later on at the meeting, if you would like to go in the back in an orderly fashion, food is provided. so many others in the nation that have helped to make that happen. the district organizations that are now providing translation. [applause] the mayor's office of civic the

basement. -- civic engagement. you saw the performance that happen. but also [inaudible] thank you. you saw the performance by those kids. child care provided by family connections, basic neighborhood center of family services. thank you for providing that. [applause] i also want to give special thanks to mark sanchez. thank you for your help. we greatly appreciate it. thank you for housing in the

bronco heights neighborhood center -- in the burn all heights neighborhood center -- in the bernal heights neighborhood center. [inaudible] lastly, but certainly not least, and i want to thank my staff. [applause] [inaudible] they really make so much happened. with that, i will hand off to mike so people can introduce themselves -- i will hand off the microphone so people can introduce themselves.

>mayor lee: good evening. my name is ed lee, mayor of san francisco. [applause] i want to thank supervisors campos and kim. i'm here because supervisor campos is doing his job. when he was part of the board of supervisors who appointed me to this position, i promise to do the best job i could as interim mayor, which means that every mayor, whoever he or she may be, needs to be in district 9 and in every district of our great city. [applause] [inaudible] tonight, the topic is about our very serious budget, and i wanted to have that conversation with you because we are beginning that process already with all of our city departments, and conversations

with different agencies of our institutions with the state and the federal government. as you all know, our economy is not very good. it has not been good for some years, and we have had to make some tough decisions in the past. we also this year are faced with a $380 million gap in balancing our budget. that is a lot of money and a lot of services that state -- services at state -- services at stake. so it is important for us to talk to you about it. a lot of people told me in my 21 years of working government and, certainly, the supervisors told me that a lot of surprises came out in the budget cuts, surprises that angered a lot of people, that they never heard about, that they were not

prepared for. so if we talk more and share with you more information, perhaps we will take care of most of that problem. it would also make decisions where we can agree as much on the front end of the budget so we have less to argue about on the back end. that may be a very logical step, but we have not done that for many years. so i'm trying something different this year and opening up the doors and talking to as many people as possible to see if we can get a grievance on the front end. it will not be easy. we still have to make very tough choices in the following weeks, so i want to make sure that we have input from everyone as much as possible so that we never make those decisions with closed doors and would ignore it - -- and with a their minds. so i want to thank you, and -- because you are the most important people here tonight.

you come out to tell us what you believe is most important. is our job to listen carefully and make those balance decisions -- is our job to listen carefully and make those balanced decisions -- it is our job to listen carefully and make those balanced decisions. i gave instructions to our city departments, and i want to share them with you tonight. three principles i have asked the departments to consider when they present recommendations to me -- i want the city, first, to be safe in the sense of our public safety, and i want to acknowledge the police officers here tonight. they have been doing a good job, and we had a little uptick in some of the departments in the district, and we have been paying attention to it. do not ever think that we are not concerned about public safety. i want to thank the police officers for being here tonight because they are working very

closely with us, along with many members of this community. but i want to -- i want the budget to reflect that we want to have a safe city, in a sense that we protect the core level of social services that we believe will also make a community safe. i want the city to be solvent, that we have programs that we know we can afford, and to sustain them financially and pay for them. when i mention the word solvent, that also means that sometime this year, i have got to solve the very serious pension problem that we have in the city. [applause] [inaudible] over $100 million a year, and it is eating our ability to deliver services. finally, i want the city to be

successful. i saw the kids here tonight. some of them -- all of them are going to grow up to be successful -- [applause] [inaudible] they have the ability to do it. to have the ability to pay for the programs that they want, the training that they want, go to schools that they want, to have schools and support where they need it so they can become successful individuals, successful members of their families. the city also needs to support families and support neighborhoods that make us successful. more and more, the people coming into this city -- they are not just going to fisherman's wharf any more. they want to come to the mission. they want to experience the cultural diversity we have and celebrate with us. so a safe city, a solvent city, successful city are the

principles i am sharing with everyone while we make tough decisions that are bound to come up, and i want to make them with your concerns in mind. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. that was a brief introduction to some of the key figures in city government, department heads, and everyone else who is here who will just introduce themselves. >> my name is phil ginsberg. i am the general manager of recreation and parks. -- my name is phil ginsburg. [inaudible] thank you. >> [inaudible] i am mayor lee's budget director. it is my job to work with the mayor and board of supervisors to make sure we are going to

balance our budget every year, as we are required to do under the charter. i appreciate all of you being here and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the budget. [applause] >> [speaking spanish] i am director of health. [applause] them a good evening. -- >> good evening. i'm from the department of children, youth, and their families. [applause] >> i am from the department of public works. dpw is responsible for designing, building, and repairing public facilities, but we are also responsible for designing, building, and maintaining the public rights of way like sidewalks in san francisco