neighborhood programs called aging in place or village models that allow people who are older or seniors getting older to be able to support each other and to stay in their homes and communities longer so they can be contributed to the community as long as possible as opposed to institutionalizing them, which costs quite a bit more. so i'm looking with senior group's ideas of how to create more aging in place programs neighborhood by neighborhood as well, but i think those are the key issues. i am also, kind of as the father of a 10-year-old -- i have anxiety like other parents right now as we apply for a middle schools for my daughter. as a member of the school board for eight years, i know that a strong school system and strong schools in the richmond is key. but also, i serve on the first five commission. each county has a commission that oversees money that supports children, and toddlers, and infants to pre-

kindergarten kids, so i'm trying to insure that at the state level, we have a case for strong support for young children and their families and good parenting support as well, so that is another key focus, in addition to continuing my work to improve schools and make a more equitable and socially just as well. >> again, the city is faced with tough budget decisions, including word and make cuts and where to increase taxes and fees. how are you going to approach these different choices? >> those are really tough choices. i think often, the economy in san francisco is not in a vacuum, and we are impacted by the state and federal government, so we need be advocating with our legislative delegation to prioritize health and human services job development and work force development and important projects as much as we can. at the state level, as we face this huge budget deficit as well to make sure there is flexibility in spending at the local level.

but i absolutely think that we need revenue measures that come on the ballot, and voters have to be thinking about ensuring that we have enough revenue so that we maintain infrastructure, the building and maintenance of the streets and buildings and even a kind of parts of the coat -- coast. the need to make sure infrastructure is there and also that we have money that -- to protect the critical safety net for seniors and young children and families and the most vulnerable in our communities as well, but i think those are key questions as the difficult budget for our city comes forward. i will be working with a coalition of family-based and community-based groups and seniors to ensure we protect our community-based services for seniors. >> what are your ideas on dealing with the issue of homelessness? >> i think homelessness has been this structural problem, not just in our city but other metropolitan areas, and i think,

at least at the short term level, we have made some progress ensuring there is cleaner and safer shelters so people have somewhat of a transition to transition from homelessness to a stable housing, but when we look at the numbers of affordable housing units that might allow people to get more on their feet or even work force development or educational opportunities to help a mother who is homeless, for example, to get on their feet, we need much more of that, and we cannot cut programs that will increase the roles of the homeless. i believe that the project homeless connect and some of the projects created by previous administrations are not enough. we need to look at transitional housing but also continuing the type of support to help people get back on their feet. the job training and other types of programs that the mayor's office of economic and workforce of all men are working on are really important to ensure that unemployed people and potentially homeless people can

be trained in the new green economy and green jobs. there is also a lot of other types of work force development being done, but i think it has to be targeted at some of the lowest income, highest vulnerability populations in our city, and that would help prevent homelessness from growing. but i hope that as we look at homeless policy, we take a man approached that does not blame homeless people for their own predicament but looks at how we can improve the economy, jobs, and educational opportunities for many people who are currently homeless. >> you started to touch on this a little bit as the city's housing needs. what do you think the board of supervisors should be doing to address some of those needs? supervisor mar: even as we will be holding a hearing on senior housing needs in a few weeks, we did a study with the budget analyst office that shows that there is a huge need for housing, especially for affordable housing for the lowest income population, but even for our middle-income, aging population, there is nowhere near enough housing that

is affordable for people, so it may mean an exodus of more working families, or seniors that are middle or lower income from the city, we must build more housing that is affordable. there is also the danger that san francisco becomes a city that loses families because it may be cheaper or more affordable to live in daly city or down the peninsula or across to the east bay, so i think creating the will neighborhoods that are accessible and friendly to families, so the number of units that are built or the number of bedrooms and the types of units that are built. parking is going to be one of the other issues. i, of course, support san francisco being a leader, but i also see at times that people may need that car, especially if you have a family, to get your kids from treasure island, one of the developments in san francisco, instead of being isolated by being on the island. we have to look at trends and policies from a perspective also

of the needs of families as well. >> let's talk a little bit more about transportation, specifically in your district. how is muni service? what about parking, traffic? >> san francisco's transportation system i believe has a lot of great qualities. we have good bustlines in our richmond district. i'm always looking at creating more efficiencies and finding where the needs are. there have been some cuts over the years, so -- to bus lines, like along the outer richmond district area that have led many seniors without a bus route to get up the hill or to get down the hill to go either grocery shopping -- so we are looking at how the system might not be closely enough based on the needs of people like, especially seniors, or disabled people. there's also some bustlines that are less used in the richmond district that we are now working

with the muni system to think about continuing but maybe reduce its frequency, but continue its access for many people that live in isolated parts of the city. i strongly support stronger youth discount passes and supporting the bus system so that younger people have strong access. we are trying to work with the school district right now and city agencies to ensure that young people get more support. we want them to be lifelong transit riders as well, so we are trying to look at different issues of transit equity for younger people in our population as well. >> what is happening with crime in your district, and how do you think our police department is doing? supervisor mar: we are extremely lucky to have a great police captain with great officers within our police department on six and geary -- sixth and

geary. a lot of issues in our neighborhood tend to be graffiti, carbos thing. sometimes, there are robberies, and on occasion the occasional killing happens. but it is nowhere near the other problems that other districts have. i often what the district with the police captain and look at the data that comes out to look at where crimes happen within the district. there is often different types of criminal activity that happen, but the police, i think, are very sensitive when residents call to really hone in on key areas and no one crime may happen, but it is a very primitive and proactive approach. i do think that the police department is one of the most community sensitive in our district as well, so they often are, with community meetings, and building a community advisory committee, our officers work closely with our police department to ensure that our

neighborhood is safe. >> governor brown proposed eliminating funding for redevelopment agencies. talking about your opinion of this plan. >> i think the governor's proposal is very dangerous, and it may really disrupt a lot of the planning in progressive cities that have really developed great projects that create better housing opportunities for the lowest income areas. i'm skeptical of redevelopment overall. it led in the 1950's and 1960's to the devastation and destruction of many low-income neighborhoods. it was often done without a heart and was very disruptive, displacement in fact, especially of lower income and working [inaudible] market is one place where they used to be families living there that have been displaced by high-rise hotels and other types of structures, but i think as

redevelopment reform moves forward, we need to be sensitive to ensuring that san francisco can protect its projects that preserve decent housing and better housing for the lowest income population. i think the governor's proposal is very dangerous and may impact treasure island development, so we have to watch very carefully, but i'm skeptical. >> what are your thoughts on the city's economic development? are we on the right track? what would you like to change about the city's approach to developing economies? >> in the chair of the land use committee this year, and i was vice chair last year with our former chair from the bayview hunters point area. i guess i approach land use and economic development from a different perspective. i'm not against development, but i want it to be equitable so we look at the lowest income populations or even middle income populations so that residents have a strong say as development moves forward, whether it is the park ridge said development in the southern, western part of the

city or even treasure island with there's many low-income families that currently live there. but it is a strong voice for the residents that currently are there. we also want to see new people moving into the city, and hopefully, we focus also on families and housing that provides better homes and home opportunities for families, but i always say that i support equitable development. i also do feel that big business and downtown interests usually dominate the discussion on development. i want to see a balance of those forces, but also with residents and environmentalists and others that have an important say as we try to create more complete streets and better designed neighborhoods that make it more livable for everyone. >> let's talk about the role of sports in the city's economic future. are you happy with the plans for the america's cup? do you think the city should try it spend money to keep the 49ers? supervisor mar: did not get me

started. i could go on for a long time. i think america's cup will help the whole area. i think the organizing committee has a big task to raise a lot of private sector money so it does not impact negatively on our general fund, but i do think the deal crafted by a lot of the enforcement is a good deal will help a lot of the parts of the city that need the help. it is also a lot of gauging of community groups and the yacht club saying that they want to provide better boating opportunities and education for young people in the mission district or, hopefully, in the mission or other places. but i know that as the america's cup moves forward, there are many community-based groups that want to be part of it. we recently had communications from the parks council wanting to ensure the swimming and blue and green projects could be created with the america's cup also encourages improvements of swimming pools so people see how water is a big part of our lives

that we should always have around us, but i think the america's cup will be wonderful for the city because we will be able to watch from the shores, and it is almost as if the san francisco bay area region was created for the america's cup, and i hope it stays with us for many years. i want to see the giants win the world series again, and already with spring training coming up, there's this feeling of exhilaration about the giants again, and i hope that the 49ers stay in the city, and bayview hunters for development is a key part of that. so i'll be making sure we are in communication because i think sports really helps encourage even children and our families to see that athletic and physical activity is so important in healthy lifestyles. >> are there any other issues that concern you that we have not discussed or areas that you plan to concentrate on throughout your remaining term

as supervisor? >> some people do not know that we serve on a lot of other committees. i serve on the bay area quality -- air quality management district, and we are trying to clean the air, and there are days when it gets really hot and muggy, and we encourage people to think about air quality and share their cars or vehicles with others that take their bikes to work, like i do once a month now, or even to ride the bus more and to really stop our addiction to oil and reliance on cars. i know that the transportation authority that we also said on, each member of the board of supervisors -- we are trying to think about how to manage the congested in the heaviest, densest parts of the city. we're trying to look at different ways to insure that we're keeping the air clean, but also ensuring that it is not too congested, especially in the downtown area. but i let -- i love my work on the board of supervisors. it is often hard as the father

of a soon-to-be middle schoolers to balance my work and roll on the board, but it has been a wonderful honor to serve the people of the richmond district and the city, and i love the challenges before us as well, so i appreciate your questions about all the things we are doing. >> it looks like we are out of time, so we have to wrap these things up. we have been talking to a supervisor mar from district 1. thank you for talking with us. what's the next episode when we will return with a number of our 11 city supervisors.

[applause] [laughter] >> uh-oh, over capacity. as we are gathering, everybody, thank you very much for coming. this is one of the moments where i have been looking forward to, with all the members of our board of supervisors, and i continually want to thank the board for working so well with our office in passing a balanced budget this year. there are a lot of people to thank. but the first thing i want to make sure you all understand is the budgets of cities is the most important thing we can possibly do as urban settings

for the whole country. you are reading about it every single day with the president and his deficit ceiling challenge or whether it is our governor. our cities have to survive, and i have to be financially strong. that will be a theme throughout the rest of this year and forthcoming, because we have to keep our city strong. we have done that with this balanced budget. a lot of people to thank. i want to first and foremost thank this year's budget share, carmen chu. supervisor chu, thank you very much. [applause] she did a really terrific job. you're great leadership really helped through all of the negotiations and discussions. of course, want to recognize the other budget members. board president david chiu. thank you very much, david. [applause]

supervisor jane kim, thank you very much. supervisor ross mirkarimi, thank you. and supervisor scott wiener, thank you very much. [applause] they were all the members of the budget committee. but again, i want to thank each and every one of the members of the board, because we worked really hard. at the beginning, in january of this year, we all faced a $380 million deficit, and we all went to work. particularly, our office had to lead. like i say, we were on first base. and i wanted to thank so many other parties in this great city of ours for coming together. because the board of supervisors and the mayor's office, we knew we could not do this alone. the city budget reflects so many values of our great city. whether it is departments or community-based agencies or

whether it is neighborhood groups, we all had to put our focus on and make sure that this budget would be balanced in the right way. so i want to especially thank all of our labor unions in the city for coming together this year. they were fantastic, and they were obviously very forthright in the things that they represented. particularly, i want to think, especially, the police officers and the police officer association and the head of that. as well as tom o'connor and the local 798 and the firefighters. the public safety contributions from we have some $31 million of savings over the next two years. [applause] and that represents a huge sacrifice. [applause] the public safety officers were part of a larger group of all of the labor unions that we have worked well with in the city.

i want to thank all the labor unions for coming together, not only on the budget, but also on our pension reform package as well. to the community-based leaders, one, very personal thought i have here is a wanted to approach this budget in a very different way, and that is working with our community groups. because i have seen so many years that they were dragged out at the end of the month of june, towards the month of june, and had to march out with so many of their constituents to plead and beg, what might be viewed as crumbs. some of the big decisions -- the decisions they felt were already made. it helped the board of supervisors and the labor unions. we went to work with our budget step and with the department heads to go added a different way and to solve problems with our community groups ahead of time. so that you did not see the last

hour that we went a little bit past midnight on a few things. but i think it was a very, very qualitatively different feeling that we had this year. i want to thank the department heads. i particularly want to thank the cbo's and especially those that had to hear my speech 25,000 times. they got its embedded in there, but all of you know that i felt that personally, that if we do not have a safe city, we do not have a solvent city, we will not have a successful city. that has been reflective of everything we have done. to the community-based organizations, thank you very much for working very closely with us and the board of supervisors. the controller's office, of course -- [applause] of course, we worked very hard with our controller's office did not want to thank ben and moni

que and the budget analysis division staff for constantly working with this. they obviously were working over ours as well to make sure they understood and analyzed everything we did and the outcomes. i also wanted to thank the department of human-resources. mickey and martin. we call them the mickey and martin show. they were there, too, at the 10 community-based meetings that we had. they showed up there with departments, and there were always there to help me explain the repercussions of everything that we did. i really want to thank them. i also want to hink harvey rose. i have been on all sides with harvey on the budgets for over 21 years. but i think he did a really job -- a really good job. he is not here, but i want to thank him as well. you know, the mayor's office, i inherited a great staff. i really have to say that i have been blessed with a very, very

talented staff. so with that kind of talent, i want to make sure that i mentioned them by name. with that kind of talent, people do not stay long in one place. i know that there are already things happening with people changing. maybe they're stressed out or maybe they're going to better things. i want to say thank you to steve for helping me head this whole thing up. appreciate that. [applause] and then to the budget staff, headed up by the great bragg wagner, thank you very much. -- greg wagner. [cheers and applause] greg, you had a wonderful staff did you assemble them and focused on them. i want to name them all, because i know they're going places. that includes rick wilson,

monice, megan, rebecca, liel, renee, alessa, jonathan, eash, star, and kate. thank you very much, all of you. [applause] and i want to again give a shout out to all of the department heads. they have been so patient. and even though i have not held to many department head meetings, i think i have relieve you of a lot of that. but all of you department heads, and i do not have to go through all of you, but i want to signal again that it has been wonderful to work with you in different capacities with such a difficult budget this year, you all came through to you did really get jobs in farming and advising members of the board of supervisors as well and really contributing to this whole budget process. as i said, we started out with the huge deficit, and we tried

as a new kind of discipline and new processes in, and i think it worked. i think, also, that the board of supervisors and i know for a fact that our city will continue to be victimized if we do not have our own financial house in strong order. that is why we put together a two-year budget this year for the first time. that is why we're focused on a five-year financial plan for the city. because we will have to react to what the state is going to continue doing to us. we are about to receive the first package of realignment. that is not enough money to inherit. over 700 people that are incarcerated from our state. while we have got some money is in place, we have to be ready for more of the realignment. we do not know what else is coming, but they're getting ready to push everything down in the county. then we have to forewarned. that is why have been such a preacher, if you will, of making

sure we have enough reserves. because the sole national but -- national debate -- and as you know, i just came back from washington, d.c., and even though we celebrated the giant'' win, you could see happens of the president was. we do not know what will happen next tuesday, but we have to be financially ready for it. with the disciplines we have had in place, i want to say to you, to the board of supervisors, to each and every one of you, i personally want to thank you for such a great relationship we have had with this mayor's office, and we're going to have to keep the relationship right. because we do not know what is going to occur. yeah, i kind of feel that the pressure will be put on cities like san francisco all over the country. we are going to have to react. we're going to have to come up with our own funding and resources to protect against those cuts are against possibly some dramatic increases in borrowing abilities, or more

disastrous federal programs being cut that we rely on very heavily. with the spirit that i am signalling today, please, supervisors, let's continue working very, very closely. we have that mission to protect all of the residents of this great city. with that, i want to signal my appreciation for the unity that we have had throughout all the aspects of our city family. going forward, we have a lot of things to continue doing to keep our economic foundation strong. and i'd like to maybe take the time and invite board president david chiu -- she has been a fantastic leader in helping us make sure this relationship is strong. after that, maybe a few remarks from carbon to as well. so, board president david chiu. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor. i am just going to say a few brief remarks. at the end of last year, i was, like many of my colleagues, a bit nervous about how we were going to tackle this year's

budget. this is my third budget. and all told, i think, over the past couple of years, including this year, we will have cut close to $1.4 billion from budgets. and what was so unique about this year was the circumstances under which we were able to come together, and i want to thank mayor lee. i want to thank our budget office and the department heads for the spirit of openness with which you worked not only with us but with all of the community stakeholders who were here. i also want to thank my colleagues, not only for all the long budget meetings and some of the late nights, but for pulling together to ensure that we are balancing this budget across all areas of government, it across all services. everyone came to this budget with the spirit of cooperation, which is what we dearly needed this time. i do want to single out one person in particular. carmen chu is not -- not only is the chu family extremely proud

of you today, but i want to thank you for having taken on the work that you to go to the last few months to really bring us forward, working with the mayor and everyone here. it takes all of us to mention that our city is taking care of during these tough times, and we look for to continuing to do this in the years to come. with that, supervisor chu. [applause] >> thank you, everybody, for being here today. i was just reflecting back on the time when i started to work on the city's budget. and my first budget that were done was actually in 2004. so if you can imagine having worked in the budget office, been a committee member, and now a chair. i think as i finally done. [laughter] and so, again, i just want to thank everybody. there are a lot of thanks that i do want to say. a lot