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tv   [untitled]    May 1, 2011 5:30pm-6:00pm PDT

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this is going to be the final speaker. then we will wrap up. >> how are you all doing today? i represent more real tv. i want to say, support your up- and-coming on some heroes. ross mirkarimi, you have a young man in your district, manny. people talk about safety. maybe we need to support heroes who are doing something to create more safety. boxing is growing in the bay area. take a look at this. i saw kareem and his brother packet out. it is all about the numbers. support that and look into that. support your new up-and-coming heroes. god bless you all. >> thank you. let's give a round of applause to the public and their contributions to tonight's discussion, to all of you.
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we have just a few more cards we did not get to, but the topics, i will just read them out to you. perhaps of people want to continue the discussion afterward, i encourage you to do so, or talked to some representatives of the city family here. there were concerns about the ecology contract. is it good for ratepayers? there were cards about pg&e. what about smart meters and the safety and reliability of pg&e? there was another card that spoke about, we want more urban gardens. there was an example laid out of a park and other work that has been done here in transforming blighted areas into wonderful urban gardens. and a card about homeless, how the homeless seem to be hanging out quite a bit under the walkways that lead to the rec and park areas off steiner and
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webster, and what police, rec and park, and others can do about that. those were the other themes in the cards. we hit every other card and the theme identified. i want to thank mayor lee. the new police chief and the whole rest of the city family, for being here. most of all, i want to thank all of you. we come in our district, have made tremendous gains, no matter what neighborhood you come from. i look at the economics that weekly. i look of the public safety stats. i look to the general health and wellness that. many neighborhoods, particularly the ones in the sector, have overcome a lot of challenges, a lot of problems. it would never happen if it were not for the service and leadership and the activism of so many of you that are here tonight. i want to say thank you. thank you for the collaboration between you and the city. we have got more work to do. at least we got some answers
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here tonight. everybody have a good night. remember, june 18 and 19, come and celebrate. have a good night.
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i'm the president of friends of mclaren park. it is one of the oldest neighborhood community park groups in san francisco. i give a lot of tours through the park. during those tours, a lot of the folks in the group will
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think of the park as very scary. it has a lot of hills, there's a lot of dense groves. once you get towards the center of the park you really lose your orientation. you are very much in a remote area. there are a lot of trees that shield your view from the urban setting. you would simply see different groves that gives you a sense of freedom, of being outdoors, not being burdened by the worries of city life. john mclaren had said that golden gate park was too far away. he proposed that we have a park in the south end of the city. the campaign slogan was, people need this open space. one of the things that had to open is there were a lot of people who did a homestead here, about 25 different families. their property had to be bought up. so it took from 1928 to 1957 to buy up all the parcels of land
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that ended up in this 317 acres. the park, as a general rule, is heavily used in the mornings and the evenings. one of the favorite places is up by the upper reservoir because dogs get to go swim. it's extremely popular. many fights in the city, as you know, about dogs in parks. we have 317 acres and god knows there's plenty of room for both of us. man and his best friend. early in the morning people before they go to work will walk their dogs or go on a jog themselves with their dogs. joggers love the park, there's 7 miles of hiking trails and there's off trail paths that hikers can take. all the recreational areas are heavily used on weekends. we have the group picnic area which should accommodate 200 people, tennis courts are full.
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it also has 3 playground areas. the ampitheater was built in 1972. it was the home of the first blues festival. given the fact that jerry garcia used to play in this park, he was from this neighborhood, everybody knows his reputation. we thought what a great thing it would be to have an ampitheater named after jerry garcia. that is a name that has panache. it brings people from all over the bay area to the ampitheater. the calls that come in, we'd like to do a concert at the jerry garcia ampitheater and we do everything we can to accommodate them and help them because it gets people into the park. people like a lot of color and that's what they call a park. other people don't. you have to try to reconcile all those different points of
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view. what should a park look like and what should it have? should it be manicured, should it be nice little cobblestones around all of the paths and like that. the biggest objective of course is getting people into the park to appreciate open space. whatever that's going to take to make them happy, to get them there, that's the main goal. if it takes a planter with flowers and stuff like that, fine. you know, so what? people need to get away from that urban rush and noise and this is a perfect place to do it. feedback is always amazement. they don't believe that it's in san francisco. we have visitors who will say, i never knew this was here and i'm a native san franciscoan. they wonder how long it's been here. when i tell them next year we'll get to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the park,k, >> good morning, everyone.
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welcome to city hall. the great city hall of san francisco. [applause] we have been busy this morning but it has been a pleasure all morning to greet so many people love the city. i cannot think of another 10 people who love this city. i want to thank each and everyone of you because your volunteering -- i know that word. volunteer for one of the greatest cities in the world. what you will be doing, sacrifices in time, interactions with you, with various commissioners, it will be a wonderful experience, one that many of you will continue to do, and some of you about to do for the first time. i see former supervisor bevan dufty is here. david from the department of the barnett. emily. commissioner shorter, thank you
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for being here. bruce, thank you for being here. tom, roberta from the mta, thank you for being here. please forgive me, i am still young. [laughter] i have so many others serving on different commissions already. thank you. we have city departments that are here. i know we have the department of the environment, film commission, commission on the status of women, health status board. we also have -- department of the environment, mta, and of course, the asian art museum. there are six commissions that will received today here 10 new commissioners. i want to thank you for your service.
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that may go through some of your names. good to see you again, jim. for the asian art museum, which is responsible for determining policy for the administration of our asian art museum, the city's duel that holds one of the most comprehensive collections of asian art in the western world. jim, you will be joining 26 commissioners who all share a fellowship based on the conviction that the asian art museum is unique, the best of its kind, and a tremendous asset to our city. your expertise will be a substantial supplement to the work of your fellow commissioners, and notably, your background in finance and work cochairing the campaign for the san francisco ballet will be an extremely welcome asset. like all the other commissioners, the import work done by the 27 commissioners,
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the strength of the museum greatly benefit our whole city. it enhances our quality of life, a reputation as a cultural center, and also -- an important point -- city appealed that brings in visitors and millions of dollars a year. thank you for your work and for what you will be doing with the commission. thank you for being here. [applause] on the commission of the status -- on the status of women, what an important commission. san francisco is the birthplace of the united nations and the first and still only city that has enacted a local ordinance reflecting the principles of the united nations convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. i am confident my appointment to this body will enhance and support the continued efforts of
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the department and commission to ensure equitable " treatment of women, as well as to enhance women pause health and safety throughout san francisco. felicialicia gamez. a new addition to the city family. commissioner brown has already has professional ethics. that is bar none, impressive. she has founded her own firm, serves on the board of the city's lawyers association, and above all else, has proven herself to be a leader, utilizing some of her best attributes, analyzing, collaborating, and offering solutions. as a latina attorney who had dedicated a significant amount of her time working on issues that impact the immigrant, latino, and lgbt community, i am
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confident commissioner gamez will add a unique and needed perspective to the san francisco commission on the status of women. she has set herself, change starts with stronger individuals. with that chsaid, i generally look forward to seeing the results of your work on the commission. thank you for being here. [applause] nancy kirschner rodriguez. thank you for serving. with over 25 years of experience in national, state, and local policies, and as a former director of governmental affairs in my office, and the is uniquely qualified to expand the work of the commission on the status of women. she currently shares her expertise by serving on a variety of bodies from the city,
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including the board of directors jewish community council center, and is a driving force behind the work being done by the san francisco collaborative against human trafficking. her experience with government on all levels and your desire to better the lives of all of those we certification leaves me confident that and to make an incredible mark on this community and will move forward policies that create many new and continued opportunities for women of san francisco and beyond. thank you, nancy, for your service. [applause] stephanie simmons. thank you for reupping, as they say. appointed to the commission four months ago, it is my pleasure to reappoint commissioner simmonds to her post. stephanie is someone who has great ties to our city. whether it is to the business community, african-american
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community, or our community of women, she is a strong advocate for all. we look forward to stephanie's continued service to the city in her capacity as a commissioner. thank you for your service. [applause] the commission on the environment. what a commission that keeps me busy, but busy with positive things because it is all about our future, what we are leaving behind as the city continues to pursue our goal of zero waste by 2020, we can boast we are leading the nation with a 77% signed diversion rate, thanks to the department of the environment. innovative policies such as this, the city's energy efficiency policy, green jobs, and many more
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thank you for being and reupping yourself on the commission and the environment. while who describes itself as a serial entrepreneur and start-up executive. his work spans from his current job as chief operating officer of earth aid ink -- inc., a proprietary universal platform that gets households to track their water usage to advising many prominent, elected officials across the country to energy and policy technology. he's a talented individual, and i'm pleased to be one of those elected officials raul has chosen to advise. i look forward to more advice in the future and i'm pleased to appoint raul today. thank you, raul. ruth ger vanous, -- gervanis, thank you for reupping. ruth brings years of experience
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teaching in the public school system, wogging as an environmental consultant volunteer and ruth has also proven she is a wealth of knowledge on all things related to her environment. she's focused much of her attention on maximizing sustainability in the redevelopment of treasure, efforts that may just come to fruition someday soon. she's focused much of her attention on maximizing sustainability in all of these represent development projects but i'm sure how much she will advance our innovative policies and i continue to look forward to seeing this come out of the commission in the very near future. thank you, commissioner. [applause] our film commission, thank you, direct robertson for being here today and leadership that you have been providing. i'm seeing more and more films and been on the set of a last one was a very, especially thing
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because i got a picture can nicole kidman. how many of you did? [laughter] but another reup, a good friend of mine, one has led not only labor but a great community and great labor leader, bob morales. thank you, bob, for reupping on the film commission. bob was appointed in 1996 by my good friend willie brown, making him the longest serving film commissioner i know. tpwhorn el salvador, central america, he came to the u.s. in 1958. after completing his education in san francisco, he joined the united states army where he served for two years. commissioner maradis is president of the steam electrics, hispanic caucus and california teamsters hispanic caucus and brings a valuable labor voice to this commission. rightly so. bob's work has been honored by
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various groups including the united way of california, martin luther king society of san francisco, the united states congress and state of california. his talents are great and we're happy they reside here on our film commission. thank you, bob, for being here and reupping. don, thank you very much for reserving on this film commission. you have been here since 2000 when you were appointed by former mayor willie brown. why is there such a connection? don has previously served as a board member of the museum of the city and county where he took part in establishing a world class history museum. is a tireless advocate for gay rights and strong supporter of the film industry here in san francisco. don, it's a pleasure, you're advising me, doing great work and i want to welcome you again to the film commission. thank you very much. [applause]
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our health services board will continue to be a very, very important board for our city. karen breslin, thank you, and congratulations for being elected to that board. pulling from her 26 years of experience working for the city, karen was elected to the health service board in 2001, was re-elected by members in 2006 and this year ran uncontested. commissioner breslin is a former president of this board and is currently serving as vice president. she's also served as chair of several health service board committees, including the budget and finance committee and rates and benefits committee. karen, thank you for your service and i will look forward to your continued work with the board as we pursue structural changes to our city's benefit programs. thank you very much and congratulations, again, for being elected and appointed.
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finally one of the most difficult commission board for the city, our m.t.a. board of directors, and i saw nat ford here, good to see you, and i number of commissioners. jerry, you're rejoining here and you're reupping and talk about the military you need to reup on for m.t.a. but have you my faith and you have my confidence, jerry, in bringing forward to this board a wonderful perspective, one i think you have held and we talked about had many, many discussions about. first and foremost i want to thank the board of supervisors for their support for jerry's reaappointment. jerry was unanimously approved
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yesterday, making it possible to take over today. that's a great accomplishment, sir. a native of san francisco, lifelong user of our transit system and currently the m.t.a. board's vice chair, jerry's being reappointed for many reasons. but at the top of this list is his willingness to step up to the plate and work through some very thorny issues and adequately addressing neighborhood and community concerns. jerry's worked to address community concerns related to some of the lines addressed in the t.e.p., transportation improvement project, is a perfect example of the valuable service that director lee provides on the m.t.a. board. jerry's experience with u.p.s. as well as his work with former mayor agnos, including helping establish a newly formed department of traffic as well as serving as chairman of the mayor's taxi demitty has been proven to be a valuable addition to this board. today at a time when the m.t.a.
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is dealing with very substantial issues, jerry's willingness to ask tough questions and his inquisitive nature encourages the board and m.t.a. staff to create solutions outside of the box. thank you, jerry, for your hard work. i look forward to your continued leadership on this board. thank you very much. [applause] with this, i will ask all of our appointees to stand up and take the oath of office together. and if you can repeat after me and after each pause, you will state your name in order and also at the end, state your commission in order when it gets to that phrase. please raise your right hand. i i,
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do solemnly affirm that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic , that i will bear truth faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution to the state of california, that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i'm about to enter, and during such time as i hold the office
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of -- for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations. [applause] i present to you the new class of commissioners!
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so are you going out tonight? i can't. my parents say i have to be home right after work. ugh. that's so gay. totally gay. ugh. that is so emma and julia. why are you saying, "that's so emma and julia"? well, you know, when something is dumb or stupid, you say, "that's so emma and julia." who says that? everyone. announcer: imagine if who you are were used as an insult.
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>> hello, and throbbing meet your district supervisor. we're here with supervisor carimi from district five which includes inner sunset, haight-ashbury, lower haggete, japan town and part of haight valley. the supervisor was first selected to the board in 2004 and re-elected in 2008. we're going to get to know him and talk about the toughest issues facing the city. welcome, supervisor and thank you for joining us today. >> thank you very much. >> tell us a little about your background, where you grew up, went to school and the kind of jobs that you worked. >> most of my adult life i spent completely here in san francisco. now about 27 years. i was born in chicago. my father had emigrateford iran to go to school in chicago, where he met my motr