million to rebuild and revitalize the nature center at the randall museum here it is an incredible project that we are very excited about. [applause] i believe this week, we break baird had mission playground, where we are going to have a beautiful new soccer field. we will make improvements to mission pool and create a new children's play area. [applause] next week, the rec and park commission is expected to award a contract to the lowest bidder to get the delors park playground project off the ground, which will break ground in may and be concluded in december. soon thereafter, we will invest another $11 million to revitalize and rebuild dolores park, and we have another $6 million or $7 million in glen canyon. on the capital side, there is so much good that is happening. on the recreational program side, we have special programming going on. we have some great stuff

happening. tomorrow night at harvey milk, we have a great exhibit, and saturday is dov best in both parks, so there is a lot happening. thank you. >> next, we are going to -- supervisor wiener: next, we will hear from the director of public works. >> thank you, supervisor wiener, mayor lee. i am not a district a resident, but i lived across the street. regardless, i do look up to scott wiener. the parts i go to, the libraries that i go to are largely in district 8. the department of public works has two main areas of responsibility. one is the design, construction, and repair of police and fire

stations, hospitals. that work is largely -- the work we do is largely capital-funded, thanks to the generosity of the voters and past elections in supporting general obligation bonds. we actually have a lot of good work going on. we are opening several libraries this year. we have a week -- we got the second parts bond past eight years ago. we finished laguna honda hospital. we are now building a new police quarters in mission bay and renovating more than a dozen fire stations around the city. good news on the capital front. the other area of responsibility for the department of public works is the design, construction, repair, maintenance regulation of the public rights of way, namely the streets and sidewalks of the city. the picture is not as good. in terms of the capital side street resurfacing, the mayor and board in the last few years

have made significant investments, but we do not have a sustainable source of revenue to continue improving the conditions of our streets. the capital planning committee approved in the proposed capital plan that went to the board and was approved a general obligation bond for this november, november 2011, to provide funding for us to reduce the backlog of street repairs. if that gets on to the ballot, look for that in november as a way that would help us address the street repair backlog, which the capital plan then recommends, following up with an additional ongoing revenue measures, so that we can start maintaining the streets at the level we should. on the maintenance side, i came to this job three years ago. in that time, we have lost 100 people off of the streets, due to budget cuts over the last few years. these are the people picking up garbage, keeping the streets clean, abating griffey, trimming trees -- a bidding -- abating

graffiti. those are the areas we have worked really hard to preserve services where we can. we only cut front line services after we have cut materials, supplies, managers, admen support, vehicles, workers' comp costs, which we do everything we can to preserve those for online services, but we are down to a point where it is getting more difficult to preserve those. a final note -- one of those services at risk are the maintenance of street trees. we're getting to the point where all we will really be able to do is respond to emergencies. one of the things we are contemplating is relinquishing responsibility of city- maintained street trees to the property owners, which is the case in most parts of the city, but in some parts of the city, some streets the city maintains the trees, and most parts, the property owner maintains. so it is not fair or equitable.

it is not sustainable. that is one solution that we are looking at. i look forward to your comments, and fax, all, for coming out tonight. [applause] supervisor wiener: next, we will hear from the man who has the easiest job in san francisco, director of the mta, including unique -- muni. >> thank you, everyone, and good evening. i thank the supervisor and mayor for convening these meetings because it gives us an opportunity to talk a little bit more about what is happening with our organizations and address some of the questions you may have as to why things are not happening as fast and as soon as they need to. but i will tell you one thing -- the mta is unique in terms of most municipal transportation agencies, where it is responsible for taxis, parking, bicycling, pedestrians, and more

recent -- not more recently, but fell amid a swirl transit agency, and the fortunate thing we do have -- our municipal transit agency. we are able to make comprehensive decisions that benefit everyone, regardless of whether you are driving, biking, walking, or using mass transit. i bring that up to say that while we talk quite often about muni and its operation, a lot of the activities we have occurring in the agency, primarily when it comes to parking revenues and more recently, the taxi revenues, are helping us to rebuild the system as we operate probably one of the busiest systems in this country. we carry about 700,000 people a day. our population is about 800,000 people in this city. we are one of the most productive systems, probably, next to new york city. but that comes with some challenges. we are about 100 years old in

terms of our operations, so you have probably experienced as recently as february 26 and 27, a major track renewal program that we had to do at church and dubose. that is ongoing work we are doing at other lines, and this spring, we begin the major work to totally replace the intersection and improve traffic flow for both the n and j lines entering into the tunnel. at the same time, while we're operating this system and carrying a number of people everyday, we have a real big -- rehabilitation program to deal with 80% of the most problematic systems on our rail cars. our fleet is 25 years of age in some cases and passed its useful life, but we have a program that has been funded by other revenues in the organization to help rebuild those cars. we wish we could do it a whole lot faster, but the problem is if you are carrying the number of people we have every day, we can ill afford to take too many cars out of service to deal with

that issue. i touched earlier on the taxi operations. one of the things that we are responsible for and have been working closely with supervisor wiener on is increasing the number of taxis available, primarily in the peak times when people need other forms of transportation, and we will be examining peak time medallions as an effort to improve taxi service, but at the same time, those medallions will be for sale, and the sale of those medallions will help improve our services in support for the muni operations. i know there has been a lot of discussion about budget issues. fortunately, the mta has a two- year requirement in terms of the development of our budget, so our budget is locked in for the next year. we approved the two-year budget last year. wewe will be working closely wih other city departments.

right now, the mta looks solid. the capital budget has a great deal of pressure. we do have the central subway project. you have heard quite a bit about that. we do have some initial capital needs we will be working through for the next few years. we did a first of its kind, 20- your assessment of the operating and capital needs for the mta. yes, there is a big negative number in it, but our board is taking a pro-active approach, determining how we can make long-term decisions to improve the financial viability of our agency. i think the mayor has the toughest job, along with my colleagues. we are dedicated to working for you. quite often, the story does not get out. we appreciate the opportunity to come before you. and look forward to the question and answer period.

thank you. supervisor wiener: we are now going to hear from our acting chief of police. >> the evening. i want to talk about the san francisco police department. the budget is above $475 million. up to $475 million, and i am obligated to give back 10%, which equates to a $11 million. unfortunately, almost 90% of the budget is personnel cost. the army way i am going to be able to give back that $11 million is to adjust personnel. we have 2219 sworn personnel on the san francisco police department. we average six retirements to eight retirements a month, which comes to 100 per year, so i have to have 350-person academy class

this with an attrition rate of 20% just to stay at the 100 level per month. we are unable to retain that because of budget issues. it would be easy to screen the sky is falling and i need more money to hire more officers, which i do. but other programs -- in order for me to be successful -- they have to be successful. my obligation to you is i will continue to give you the quality of service you deserve. i challenge you to go back to every person in the department, find out what they are doing, if they can do it as well as we can. to make sure that we streamline this department's, put all the ideas on the table, do the best job we can under the circumstances that we have. i give you my promise you'll

continue to get the quality of service the san francisco police department gives you every day. we will honor our commitment to give to & back and we will make sure we have got everything we can do to make everybody safe. with that, i thank you. [applause] >> [unintelligible] supervisor wiener: thank you, chief. next, we will hear from our district attorney. >> could have -- the evening everyone. supervisor wiener, mayor. our office is probably one of the smaller offices, and our budget is $39 million a year, and actually when you adjust for inflation, we have less money today than we did in 1986, even though life is much more complicated now than it was in

1986. we recognize we have our responsibility to become better at what we did. we are undergoing a major reorganization. the goal is to look for ways to lower in carson nation, deal with those low level nuisances. so, we have created neighborhood boards. we have been talking to various communities, and this is basically a decriminalized way of handling the issue. we're working with other partners in the criminal justice system to work more effectively with more serious crime, with more backlog. we have a significant backlog. year-to-date, we have over 70 homicide cases that are over three years old. we have many -- many prosecutors

aren't carrying a caseload of approximately 200 -- many prosecutors are carrying a caseload of approximately 200 cases. that is a challenge, to figure out how to bring a different way to work with the other partners. frankly, i am not a great believer in everything being an adversarial process. myself and the public defender are working in collaboration to improve our collaborative force. not only are we moving more cases into our neighborhood courts, but the other process is we will hold people accountable and restore the justice. but we are also moving other cases in our collaborative court. you're looking for an outcome that would take the offender and bullets -- and put something around them to reduce recidivism.

we have lower recidivism rates, down to 20%, which is very significant when you consider that typically recidivism rates were 5% when you go through the normal criminal justice process. we're moving in a different direction. there is no question we will make mistakes. we will continue to push the envelope to make our communities safer. i am looking forward to any questions you may have. >> thank you. supervisor wiener: thank you. before we get into questions from the audience -- and we are ahead of schedule -- i want to knowledge some of the other folks that are here tonight and will be available to answer questions as well. we have the department of public health. steve richey from the public

utilities commission, the assistant -- assistant or deputy -- deputy superintendent for any san francisco unified school district, and the chief of juvenile probation. so, a number of you were kind enough to submit written questions. i am going to start with a few of them, and then we're going to have open questions from the audience, and we will probably go back and forth, shake it up a little bit. so, this is a lengthy question from rebecca at the lgbt center. san francisco has 8000, of whom

40% -- i apologize. in recovering from a cold. they are homeless are marginally house and face challenges including physical and mental health issues, unemployment, substance-abuse, hiv risk, and lack of access to services. the city has failed to provide adequate resources, either directly through city departments, or three city- funded services and nonprofit organizations. most recently, we had a proposal to eliminate funding for the lgbt transition aid services for the fiscal year 2011-2012. can you speak to your commitment for this hon. population -- vulnerable population?

question mark. [cheering] >> [unintelligible] supervisor wiener: i am going to take this question as a member of the budget committee. excuse me? >> [unintelligible] supervisor wiener: ok. i am going to answer the question. it is an important question. i would like to answer it. so -- >> [unintelligible] supervisor wiener: thank you. it is an extremely important question, particularly in district 8 and other districts as well. we have provided woefully

inadequate support for our transition-agf. when we do not provide that support, we cause other problems. it is not like it disappears. these are our youth who are here in our community, and we need to make sure we are providing services for them. yesterday, we had a hearing on the budget, and i was very disappointed with aspects of the budget, particularly that all add-backs had been eliminated, relating to a number of different subjects, including transition h yes. -- transition age youth. my predecessor, bevan dufty,

committed to this issue, and i am going to continue to do that. you have an ally in me. [applause] so, the next question is from bill hirsch. given the cuts in funding for hiv/aids services, do you promise to protect services for san francisco's most vulnerable residence? maybe you can state with the department's plans are and where we are? >> thank you. >> [unintelligible] >> in the chief finance officer for the health department. what i can tell you is we were given a fairly large budget target. be the largest city, the largest amount of discretionary funds. it is understandable we would have the largest general fund

reduction target. we've met the majority of the target with the revenues, and we've also identified a number of deficiencies we can still at the end of the day to close the deficit. we have proposed some budget service reductions. we have made no reductions of any kind to aids prevention services at all. we made that decision in recognition of the fact that we may be facing reductions in care funding. that is an issue we view as certainly an important policy issue for the mayor and the board of supervisors, but at the same time, we have the funding in our own budget to work with ourselves. our understanding of the situation right now is that we

know that each year the care award has been short $4 million for what is referred to as a stop loss funding. the allocation for march this year is short $4 million. over the past several years, the fund has been restored through earmarks, earmarked put into the final federal budget by nancy pelosi. those would show up on oct. dates when the budget was finally approved. we're now looking at a situation where the situation in washington is very fluid. we know that the president has included that $4 million of funding restoration in the base budget that he has sent forward for consideration, but it is obviously very difficult to predict what will happen to the president's budget as it works its way through the federal legislature. so, we know we have funding

today to continue providing services. we have not proposed any cuts. we know we will pretty much be all right, we believe, until october. the period from october to june next year is uncertain for funding. it is a situation where our intention is to continue providing services at the same level we have and work with what comes when it comes. and if there -- hopefully that is our response to your question. i would certainly be happy to follow up if not. >> take some money away from the richest. [unintelligible] >> thank you. supervisor wiener: thank you. the next question is for mr. ford. why do -- why does muni run one

part of the train in the underground during the a.m. and p.m. rush hour? >> that is a very good question. we have one-car trains along with two-car trains. we scheduled those trains based on the ridership of four particular lines. the n-line carries 15,000 people a day. we have a limited number of railcars, and we have to equally divide them based on the ridership per line. that is the formula. it is not unique to the me system. that is how it is done in the transit industry across the country. -- it is not unique to the muni system. rail cars are expensive.

we are looking at increasing the fleets. in the meantime, we're doing this rehabilitation. the fleet increases another 25 cars over the next 10 years. at the same time, we will be looking at a new design of car in terms of weeks as well as dealing with low floor vehicles versus the stairs in the vehicles we have now. thank you. [applause] supervisor wiener: thank you. the next question will be for bill ginsberg. the ggrna proposal will concentrate dogs in smaller areas which will lead to inevitable problems. how will the city deal with this? i have been working with bill on this issue. >> i was expecting to be

challenged by a love questions tonight, but the dog question might be the most challenging of all. i think we are all falling -- following the public discussion facing the golden gate national recreational area draft eir that will restrict off-leash dog use in the area. dog use issues are tricky. park stewards need to balance a variety of recreational uses and a responsibility to protect and preserve the environment. there is a question, however, from my perspective it is almost a matter of common sense, that if off-leash dog use is

restricted in our parks, it will put pressure on the neighborhood parks. through the leadership of supervisor wiener, we have expressed our point of view to the golden gate national recreation area, and they have agreed to talk to us and listen to us and understand why we think they need to be paying closer attention to the impact that their process is going to have a neighborhood parks. the national parks service generally does not allow for off-leash dogs, but golden gates and ocean beach is really the only national park property in the dense urban environment like ours. it is tricky. communication is ongoing. this is not a process we control. again, and you very grateful to

supervisor wiener's leadership on this issue. we will be having ongoing dialogues. thank you. [applause] supervisor wiener: thank you, bill. the next question -- if the city needs revenue so badly, why no target in san francisco? why chase trader joe's out of the castro? businesses like these will provide revenue and jobs. why discourage them? i want to address trader jon's -- trader joe's. i like a lot of people was disappointed by this. ultimately, a trader joe's walk away. there were a lot of concerns in the neighborhood about parking and traffic issues, given what has happened with the trader joe's on masonic street. but trader joe's, to my

disappointment, walked away. i have been trying to provide support to the tower records site to make sure we get that space filled. another are a number of retail entities that have expressed interest in taking over pieces of its. really, there are three separate spaces. i'm cautiously optimistic we will get the space filled, and that is absolutely critical to the economic development of the neighborhood. it creates major blight when you have an area like that. as regards to target -- that came from metrion. that is moving forward. there will be a target. target has indicated it wants to open up on masonic and geary.