are in there, signal lighting. but may look at geographical equity, it is spending the same amount of money in each district, not because of the size, but what is most important to that district? we have different categories for different things. some might want more money for pedestrian projects because their roads are in ok shape. then there are others who just bought it for the roads. my streets are narrow, people get across, not all lot of history of pedestrian accidents. >> [inaudible] are you going to bring them back? >> yes, the budget does contemplate a police academy. the budget has passed, so there is a police academy included in there. we are glad to see that.

i think the police department and public will be glad to see that. we are now getting more retirements from the police department and we would like to have a number police officers coming in -- younger police officers coming in. >> you talked about sciu as the union that you had to work with. the pension is going to change their life. >> we did meet with retirees. they told us they're concerned is not their pension, it is health care. they have some plans that they believe are very good for them and their age already. our changes on the retirement

services board have to do with economics. if there is a choice between the purchase of generic drugs versus brand name drugs, that decision has come before the health services board. in my opinion, there is no difference between generic and brand name, except cost. so why don't we make a decision that saved us money without compromising quality? that is the kind of decision on what the health service's board to make. in by generic drugs -- invite generic drugs in. if we do not take quality away, we need to let you know, we are just lowering the cost. they are a little bit afraid of that, but i think they are more

afraid of change which does not affect that quality of the health care they want. i think the additional person that we anticipate to be on the health care board will pay attention because it is somebody being selected and presented by the comptroller's office that will pay attention to the cost. we need to have some cost containment but it does not need to compromise money. >> we just heard yesterday that there was a new comprehensive proposal, including resources that were already provided to the city in charity care. >> i have a team of people from the department of public health reviewing the proposal, also with the housing, also with the

tenderloin community for the impact on their community, and of course, muni, mta, the human services group. they are reviewing it in detail. i will be scheduling a meeting with cpm see to go over that to see how -- cpmc to see how that translates over into the impact we want. i do not have an immediate response except to say we are discussing this in detail. i am trying to help cpmc be successful at the board of supervisors and planning commission. as we get closer and closer to an agreement, i believe they need to listen to my advice. i work with the board every day. i know how they think. they want to have a successful vote at the board. i am guiding them there with the

conditions -- it was not conditioned that i made up out of thin air. it was to deal with all of the impacts of a hospital decide they want -- they want a big hospital and want to have to take care of everything else. i am very careful to know how each supervisor feels about the impact on the project. i would like cpmc to be successful because they do not have a lot of time. we would do the best we can and review every aspect of this so that they have the best chance of success. >> the issue of the state budgets have affected many local businesses.

is there any way that the city could help more nonprofits? >> that is why i am proposing a set sales tax. the state did make some severe cuts. we do not know when those cuts will start that impacting the nonprofits. as you know, through our city budget, if you ask many of the nonprofits, they're pretty happy. we restored a lot of the original cuts. their services reflect the values that i hold, board of supervisors hold. now the state is making cuts, some in the same places that we've restored. we cannot promise to back fill all of those cuts. we can promise to go through the same process and asked what are the critical services that we must save, and work on them as hard as we can. that is why i need an additional cushion with a half cent sales tax.

that will give us the of the need to restore cuts that the city is making. it is unfortunate the state cannot resolve their problems and they push it off onto the counties. i know the governor is trying hard, but it gets frustrating that they cannot agree. i am happy to be working with a board that can agree locally. maybe we need to send a message to get agreement that's fair. i need more resources to help with those state cut spirit that is by the have cent sales tax is important to me. and it is not increasing the sales tax, in my opinion. it is just saving half. the public gets the other half. that is what i considered the sales tax as a safety valve sales tax.

>> i wanted to talk about redevelopment. what is the city going to do with that? when the state cuts, how much impact is that to the city? >> on the zoning issue, we have calculated, in their process, they say if you want to restore your pre development agency, you have to pay a certain amount of money. we believe the amount of that money is about $20 million. we do not have that kind of money. we are trying to figure out ways in which we can finance that, but that they need to come through redevelopment. we do not have the money in the city at all. that is the challenge.

the other challenge is, it is the opinion of the redevelopment agency that it is illegal for the state to do this. the redevelopment agency for san francisco will most likely join in a state-wide a lawsuit against the state from doing this. as a city, we are reviewing our options, but because it is a separate agency, the redevelopment agency can make its own decisions. we have not included on our decision. we are working with the city attorney to get some aspects on the legality of this. we are fairly certain the redevelopment agency will be joining the state-wide lost it

with all of the other major cities in the state. they believe -- and there are good grounds to believe that -- that this is not a maneuver taken by the governor's office. >> does that mean we are going to have a temporary injunction first? >> i think so. the national league of cities, as well as the california redevelopment association, have indicated strongly their attorneys have strong opinions that that was not legal. >> [inaudible] you said many times that you would not be running again for mayor. have you changed?

with all of these campaigns asking you to run, what is your position? >> i tried not to pay too much attention to the people who have been starting the campaign to ask me to run. to the extent that i read and see it, i do appreciate that many people support what we are doing and how we are doing it. i enjoyed a lot of support, i think, not only internally from the government, but i think there are lot of people that agree with me. therefore, they believe that should automatically translate into my riding. there are two issues. -- running.

i like that people are in joint what we are doing. it is much better than, you are a failure, get out of here. for me, the personal choice has debate with an understanding of why i came to do the job and under what circumstances. it is a personal choice that i had. i never wanted to be a politician had i been, i would have signaled that many years ago. so i am still of the position that i will not be running for this job. i know there will be a strong effort the next few weeks to convince me otherwise. we will let that play out, but that is where i am at. i never look at myself as a politician. >> [inaudible] >> i think it is more appropriate for me to focus on

the things that i asked the voters to pay attention to. i have not really paid attention to either of the candidates for what they are saying. right now, to me, that is it a distraction. -- or what they are saying. i will not be endorsing anyone for any office. i do need to focus on the pension reform, sales tax, and on the road repaving, as my contribution to the voters. i think that is a lot already for people to understand. i think people will have to make up their mind about the other candidates they choose. but i hope they hold a session with you because you have some good questions. >> when you talk to supervisors, some say that you promised not to run. >> that was the circumstance. they did not want someone

distracted. i understand that. that is why i came into this job. >> how do [inaudible] you may go back in many years? >> of course, i do not think i would get this type of attention as city administrator. i do not have to do press conferences. city administrator is exactly what it is. administer the programs and policies with the mayor and board of supervisors. i enjoyed that. it does not have the day-to-day stress. one of the things i have been clear about as mayor is, i worry about everything. i worry about when i get up but will be on my phone, a shooting,

pedestrian that got ran over, a police officer. you worry about everything. you worry about every neighborhood, the fire victims. what happened to them? where are they going to live? what happens to their kids? you worry about every detail because you feel responsible for them. every day, the mayor is forced to do that because of where you are. everyone helps you expect them to solve their problem. i did not have that experience as the city administrator. therefore, i could go to sleep, i could have a two-day weekend. i could play golf and only worry about the ball and a whole. now i play golf and it is, where is the ball, where is the hole? my mind is on the budget, what i will say, how i will say it.

yesterday, with the ping-pong diplomacy, it was fun. i tried not to worry about it, but i said, i do not want to make a mistake because this is international and everyone wants to feel welcome, that they are involved. but as a mayor, you have to worry about many things. so i go to sleep tired, my notes are in front of me. i have to read my details and be prepared. it looks like sometimes i'm having fun, but in the back, my staff is working hard to prepare me, making sure i understand everything. it is not just making mistakes. it is doing the right thing and making sure it is the right way to do it.

i compare myself to the other mayors in other cities. i went back to the conference of mayors and i asked mayor bloomberg of new york. how did you do this over 10 years? these mayors, they have really been helpful. willie brown has been helpful in giving me advice about things that i did not have. i have had some private conversations with people about how to do things. that is part of my were read. i also enjoyed a lot of support from people because they want me to be successful. they know i am open to honest dialogue. whatever advice they give me, i keep it secret. and there are very content with that. -- they are very content with that. >> [inaudible] >> 6:00 in the morning on

sundays. maybe every two weeks. >> [inaudible] you just want to be a city administrator. you are used to these distractions. >> no, there were a lot of things i have to get used to the first few months. there are a lot of things that i cannot get used to in this job, the attention, publicity, but also, the variety of issues. there are so many things coming at you. for example, this today, a friend of mine in mailed -- e- mailed me and said that one of his in-laws was one of the fishermen that was caught out in the kabul area.

i said that we would call the account the general in mexico. so we immediately made a call, asked the mexican consulate to ask the mexican government to continue the search. do not stop. do everything you can. the weather is warm. people have relationships. i did not know that. i was reading the news like you, and all the sudden, a friend says, i have a relative there. can you plead with the government? i never expected to do that. but here he is, a resident asking for help. so we called the mexican consulate. they were transmitting information, the request. so it is things like that that you never expect. every day there is a challenge. if it reflects things that we can do, we will do it.

ok. thank you very much. i hope this was helpful. >> san francisco is home to a renowned civic art collection that includes a comic works -- iconic works by local and national artists integrated into our public buildings and six basis. the arts commission has struggled to take care of the priceless collection because of limited resources. in an effort to gather more funding for the maintenance of

the collection, the art commission has joined forces with the san francisco art dealers association to establish art care, a new initiative that provides a way for the public to get involved. the director of public affairs recently met with the founder and liquor -- local gallery owner to check out the first art care project. ♪ >> many san franciscans are not aware that there is a civic art collection of numbers almost 4000 works of art. preserving the collection and maintaining it is something being addressed by a new program called art care. it is a way for citizens to participate in the preservation

of the civic art collection. with me is the creator of the art care program. welcome. the reason we wanted to interview you is that the artist in question is peter volkas. why is he so important to the history of san francisco art? >> he is a very famous ceramic ist. knowing the limitations of clay, he got involved in bronze in around 1962. he was teaching at the university of california, berkeley. >> your gallery celebrated the 50th anniversary of continuous operation. you are a pioneer in introducing the work and representing him. >> i have represented him since

1966. i was not in business until 1961. he made a big deal out of working in clay. the things he was doing was something never seen before. >> it is a large scale bronze. it has been sitting here of the hall of justice since 1971. talk about what happens to the work of art out of the elements. >> the arts commission commissioned the piece. they did not set aside money for repair. it has slowly changed color. it was black. it has been restored. >> it has been restored to the original patina. >> there was no damage done to its.

i do not think there were any holes made in it. they have been working on it for six or eight weeks. it is practically ready to go. i am very excited to see it done. >> over the course of the arts in richmond program, we have added almost 800 works of art into the public space. maintaining that is not something that the bond funds allow us to do. this is why you came up with the idea of art care. >> i hope we get the community going and get people who really like to be involved. we will give them a chance to be involved. if you are interested in art, this is a marvelous way to get involved. there is work all over the city

where every year ago. -- there is artwork all over the city wherever you go. my idea was to get people in the neighborhood to take care of the pieces and let the art commission have the money for the bigger pieces. >> i was talking to the former president of the arts commission yesterday. the 2% ordnance is something he helped to champion. >> it is all over california and other states now. we really were the forerunners. it is a wonderful thing to bring the community into this now. people have seen art being put into the community. this has not been touched by any graffiti. it just faded over time.

it is so open here. there is nobody watching this. i think that is a plus to the community. i hope the graffiti people do not go out there now that i am opening of my mouth. >> i want to thank you for the 50 years you have already given to the city as an arts leader. >> i started in to briberon, i's only been 45. >> you have championed his work over these years. >> it has been exciting working with him. it is one of the highlights of my life. >> thank you for being part of "culture wire" today. >> to learn more about the program and the list of public arts in need of maintenance, visit the website. thank you for

>> i just want to make a public statement to acknowledge that appointments to the police commission and any commission which is a policy-making body is very important. i want to encourage about keep in front of our minds the importance of not only to elect women, but to work to get more women appointed to these bodies that help make legislative decisions for our city and county of san francisco. >> i am from san francisco. i grew up in the local neighborhood. i did my under deprad wait work at fisk university, where i studied political science with a concentration in public administration and worked eight years largely in the public sector. then i earned a master's degree

from carnegie melon in pittsburg, pennsylvania. i spent some time as assistant executive director for a non-profit. we did work if a lot of kids in the neighborhood. i have done fundraising for candidates and issues. i have experience with the federal reserve bank of san francisco. when i look around my neighborhood and see the changes that are happening, i so there is no neighborhood grocery store. i see that small businesses in particular are coming and going, and they haven't been able to really sustain themselves. from my work experience in working for the city in the mayor's office as well as in the non-profit, i had a good sense as to what some of the challenges were. when i look in the future, i could see more challenges coming. i thought i had a set of experiences and more importantly a passion and desire to serve. >> i understand that no one wants to have their programs cut. of course not. i also want everyone here to understand that no one up here wants to cut programs because

they don't care about the population being served. there are no value ains here. we are all on the same team. it is a tough situation, as we are here so that we can begin the work together. >> i am actually more forward thinking. for me it is less about being left or right, or in this town, moderate or progressive. it is really about the issues and about creating policies that will have a sustainable and lasting positive impact on the families that live here. it is very costly and difficult to do business in sfrinls, to raise your children in san francisco, and i would like to have a voice at that table to really create policies that will minimize that san francisco is not a big business-friendly city. i think we started to go in the wrong direction. the reason why we started walking down that path largely was because of political ideology. when you deal with me, you are dealing with facts, less than politics. i really want to have a positive impact on the city overall. >> goodaf