many others that realize not only is it important for our country to encourage civic start-ups in order to bring our garment along, but it is also going to be a great business opportunity, place to invest their money. we are excited to have this accelerator and are proud to be part ring with san francisco to bring it to life, to have them teach ideas to launch the doors and have a healthy dialogue around the civic space. with that, i am turning it over to ron. thank you for your support. >> hello, i am ron conaway. i am not sure jennifer was introduced prior. jennifer is the co-founder of code for america with tim o'reilly. the founder. jennifer is our hostess today and we are very thankful.

i was born in san francisco, moved to the peninsula, raised my family there, moved back to san francisco eight years ago. my day job, in addition to civic activities, i am an angel investors. since 1994, i have invested over 600 companies. it is very interesting to see -- and most of these companies are in the bay area. there are about 200 companies that are active today. of those 200 companies, most of which in the bay area, over 52% of our portfolio in sv angel are in san francisco today. what is significant is, in 2005, 75% of our portfolio was in silicon valley, i the south of san francisco. so there is definitely

undisputed the migration of tech companies to san francisco, and we want to support that. some of the company that i am an investor in that will lead the charge in san francisco, twitter, ising guy, jawbone, eventbrite, trulia, and google. approval has a large office in san francisco. we think the tech community in san francisco needs to finally get active. ed lee, the minute he stepped into office, the two significant things for the tech community, he got twitter to stay in san francisco, with the help of david chiu, and we got rid of the private company's stock option tax. noticing that, i said, we need ed lee to go another four years.

warren and i had a vociferous meeting with the mayor on july 12 to urge him to run. if he ran, the tech community would support him. what you are seeing today is just the initial launch of the activities where the tech community will organize and partner with the city of san francisco. one week from today, the tech community will announce what it is going to do, in an organized fashion, to support what is happening in san francisco in the city, and with the efforts that code for america isn't leading. we are truly going to bring had a tech culture to san francisco. it will be very exciting. san francisco is lucky to have a code for america, ed lee, and especially our new chief innovation officer, jay knapf,

who will speak now. >> thank you, mayor for the opportunity to serve as the chief innovation officer in the city. in my role, i plan on strengthening the partnership with our technology community and city hall to rediscover the digital age. we have discovered so much through our civic hack-a-thons and other things that we have done. this is a great example of harnessing the on deprenyl spirit in the city and realizing the potential of that, serving in the red better, making it more lean, efficient, and more responsive. i also want to thank the san francisco department of technology. they have incubated innovation. i have been working with the city for five years and they have done a tremendous amount. i look forward to continue the partnership with the department

of technology to bring innovation to the forefront in san francisco. thank you. >> i will try to say something that has not already been said. thank you all for coming. similar to david, i will say, i come from the private sector. when i came to the city, the question i got most was how do we made -- make government more exciting, let the private sector? we all work for tech companies or business firms, so how can we bring all that excitement into government? to have a board and mayor that recognizes technology in the community as an unborn aspect really revolutionizes government. really looking forward to the next four years, working with mayor lee, the tax community, ron. we are really at the cost of

some fantastic things. in the last year, we have lots mobile -- launched mobile apps where people can watch online, at interact with their devices. we have started to partner with other cities and taking what we are doing here and spreading across the country. this will only heighten our success. if we can use san francisco as a hub of where people can see how government is innovative, and they look to us as an example -- we have an expo coming up in a october. people from all over the world will be coming to see how we have innovative government and will be looking for leadership. i just want to encourage everyone to stay tuned. a i knowron will be making some and not -- i know ron will be making some announcements in the next week. i look forward to working with

everybody in the future. >> what are hack-a-thons? >> the hacker culture is really about creating, rapidly prototyping solutions. often, it is equated to applications and software, but during the summer, we had a partnership, and we expanded that notion by having people do thought experiments, by creating games, creating new ways of doing things. it is about innovation in general. it is not just technology and packing technology. it is more about getting a bunch of people, in a diverse community together, with people who have needs. in this case, the city. we have issues and challenges we face, and caring people who are

problem-solving oriented. if we tear those two groups of people together, some amazing things have come up. we have had that over five and a people over this past year -- 500 people over the past year, over 10,000 hours of civic engagement, and nearly 30 application that have been developed. code for america, what they are doing, is taking it to the next level, where we take these ideas and substantiate new business, and drive job growth, and disrupt government. you have seen a transformation in the consumer space. we have not seen a transformation in government. there is no reason why we cannot do that. >> problem solving. what is on the top of your priority list? how this code of america going to help you in that? >> we have got a lot of

problems, obviously. they get worse every time i listen to what the state is going to do with their budget, certainly, with the fed's are cutting off. i have a whole list. muni comes to mind, for example. all of their challenges. some of the easiest examples are, for example, the public says, i cannot find a taxi. one of the projects we want to put forward and an accelerated way is how we are preparing for the america's cup. we have over 500,000 people coming on a daily basis for that event. you are going to hear, i cannot find a taxi, or you will hear, i found a taxi through this new application. i would rather hear the last one. that will be one of the projects that david and i will agree on. there will be a lot of people in

his district as well to say, how can we get good transportation, to get people where they want to go, to the waterfront? ac34, getting taxis and other types of transportation modes at their highest level of participation for that event, will be one of the projects that we will put forward by the way. i want that to be of use for the public. maybe things like -- do our homeless people on the streets -- do they have the best information at hand about where they available shelters are immediately when they encounter someone on the street? can they get wraparound services right away without having to make three or four phone calls and then have the person say, i am not interested? those other kinds of things that will be hacked out.

hopefully, our practices today will be disrupted. hack-a-thon and destruction have negative connotations. today, we are embracing those as positive ideas. -- disruption have negative connotations. we have to change government, we have to change the way we think. i have been thinking through the night. it is much less about technology but the way that we think. i need to disrupt the way we have been thinking and start innovating our way out of this. i could sit back and cry about what jerry brown's budget will present to us, or what obama cannot do in this new administration, the things that are going to go on. or i could say, i am going to work with the most innovative

part of our society, people who want to help the government to better. we have really positive things to do and be positive about the way we run government. that is what i want to get to. i know the board of supervisors want to get to that as well. we need to find solutions, and this is a way to invite people who are interested in doing it. >> [inaudible] if it would actually create jobs, it would get things done. >> i would say, for example, when small businesses complain there are a myriad of permits and fees and all kinds of applications that are not all in one place. we will take a look at that. it is even the startup companies that ron represents, it is a myriad of application they are facing. can we have one place, repeated things that come at us every few

months that our new that we did not know about that we can discover? human rights certification process, the small business commission, or the tax office. can we put all that together in one package and have a small business say, i want to get started in san francisco in an easy way. can we have all accessible and be done with in a one effort shop? that will bring us better businesses, and they will pay their taxes and fees appropriately. >> [inaudible] why did it take a different process like this to actually make something happen? >> i know it has not emanated from the mayor's office. i have to admit that. that is what john and i talked about. it has not been emanating from the mayor's office, and we wanted that to happen. it has been distributed within

dt and other departments. if you volunteer, you want to do it, if it is in your comfort zone, you take it up. i think we need to get out of our comfort zone, so that is why i brought it into the mayor's office to say, this is how i get my 17-point jump plan done. this is part of that effort. and this is also to honor the technology sector and ask, how can we innovate government a bit better? [applause] thank you, everybody.

>> it's a pleasure to welcome you all here to b.s.c.. b.s.c. is the culinary store across the street from the department of building inspection and we're here for our brown bag lunch where we're going to talk about home kitchen remodel. i want to introduce andre roth bat. he specializes in residential remodel work as far as i know and is a real kitchen expert and rachel whiting is a good friend who is going to cook today. shem has a blog called a kitchen of her own.blog spot.com and for the first time

in her life rachel has her own kitchen. what is that like? >> it's fantastic the it's really tiny like a lot of san francisco kitchens. but it's going to have a stove and oven which i love. >> no remodeling, in the works? >> not yet, no. >> a lot of people have their own kitchen and want it to reflect their own needs and used -- uses and desires and a lot of other things in their life. what drives people, andre, to want to remodel their kitchen? >> there's lots of reasons. really kitchens have become the most important room in the house and people use it as a means to express themselves. they use it for investment purposes and kind of become a status symbol. people want really handsome kitchens that reflect and express their own personal style. >> i see a lot of people come into the building department with dreams of renovating their house so that it's a palatial

kitchen and often they have to be brought down to some kind of reasonable level in terms of the cost and the realities of it. is that what happens typically for you when you look at people's anticipated kitchen? >> well, it all depends. it depends on what i -- when i get to meet with them. if i get to meet with them early on, i can give them a reality check. but san francisco is a very expensive city for construction. i read that it's the second most expensive city in the country for construction, second only to manhattan in new york. so you have to be realistic. but if you have a design professional working with you we usually can meet most of our -- your goals and budgets. >> and i just want to emphasize to everybody, work mcgahee design professional, as you know if you've been watching our brown bag lunches, working with a design professional or

an act dr. architect or engineer, someone who is trained and knows what's going on, it will be in your best interests. a lot of people say it's a kitchen, i'll use it, i'll figure it out myselfful to be successful you typically do need somebody who has a broader range of understanding the what would make it successful? >> well, obviously, you know, good planning. it's also investigating the existing conditions so you can anticipate problems. for instance, people will place a sink there or a stove there, not realizing we have to put ducts and pipes so if you know, you know, early on that there is a beam there and we can't do it and we know that from the onset we can work around it. >> but successful means at the end of the project it has met your goals, you're satisfied, you're happy, it hasn't exceeded your budget by more than twice? >> absolutely. >> it hasn't taken more than

twice as long as you imagined, right? >> yeah, the whole kind of purpose of working with an architect or designer is to you can in a graphic sense anticipate the conflicts. you can locate your appliances, you can negotiate with all the windows and doors and beams, you can do your lightings, your tile patterns and anticipate any conflicts on paper before you start. so the more drawings that you do, the less problems you have during construction. >> right. and actually in san francisco we see so many people start a project and then they come in for a permit revision because when they started the work they found that there was something that they hadn't anticipated. they opened up a wall and oh, my god, there's plumbing in that wall. we had no idea. how -- now we can't just remove the wall. or there's dry rot everywhere or who knows what.

so the fewer of foes you have to do, and believe me nobody wants to do a permit revision, your contractor doesn't want that because it slows down the project and the contractor wants it to go fast and smooth so he can move on to the next project the we certainly don't want to see any permit revision. let's take a little quick change here. i want to have rachel tell us about gugere. >> we're going to quickly demonstrate a recipe for the tartine cookbook. tartine may have the most wonderful of items, gougere, a savory french pastry. i like eating lots of them hot out of the oven with champagne. but you may have your own

preference. >> ours will even look better than these. >> bite-size treats made with grewaire -- gruyere cheese. >> this very s it's started with a cup and a quarter of milk. for some reason low-fat milk is specified, though i use various kinds with fantastic effects. so we boil together a cup and a quarter of milk with 10 tablespoons of but ther. -- butter. >> ooh. >> that's a stick and i little bit. >> that's a lot of butter, isn't it? >> that's why these are fun. >> what kind of butter? >> is it unsalted? >> i use unsalted for this so i can control the salt level although they're really delicious salty with champagne. and for this i like to use a really nice quality butter because there's so much butter, you're going to taste it.

it's not a small element of the recipe, it's a large element. so use the highest quality. european butters or european style bulleters are fun. there's a -- butters are fun. sierra cheese company actually makes a cultured but theter -- butter that's delicious. >> this is strauss. a european butter. i'm going to pass this around. if you were to have the kitchen of your dreams, what kind of kitchen would that be? >> i love that i have a wall of ovens behind me. this is fantastic. lots of times i wish i had double ofins. i've lived in houses with them before and miss them terribly now. right now i have a very old vintage stoveg with a proofing oven beside it. >> what is a proofing oven? >> it's so old it's not highly

temperature controlled but it's an oven you can put yeast products in to raise. so if you're making yeast bread, i have a place in my kitchen to make that. but with my modern urban lifestyle, i'll make gougere but probably not bread. >> it's like why would you make wine here? san francisco has the best. >> this has come to a boil now. i'm going to incorporate the flour here and it will thicken up and good towards lumpy. but we're fine. sob the next step here, and this is kind of -- >> it's liked mashed potatoes. yeah. >> it has so much butter in it, it will probably taste great. >> andre, when you work with your clients about their

kitchen needs do you ever see them cooking in their house? >> no. we interview them on their cooking styles and whether they stir-fry or use a stovetop or bake and do they cook with their partner and is there a division labor? we kind of do an inventory of their pots and pans and appliances as well. >> which is an interesting thing about who does the cooking? i did a little bit of web research the other day which talked about the differences of the way people cook today and in the 1950's and earlier 1960's when a lot of the older kitchens that we live in were done and most of the -- and the most efficient kitchens designed in the 1950's were based on the fact that women were home cooking. they cooked from ingredients. they cooked from scratch. they typically worked alone. and they needed a relatively

limited number of ingreed yefpblets and of course none of those things seem to be true today. is that your experience? >> absolutely. it's completely changed. the obvious change 50 years ago where kitchens were single rooms, usually small and separate, so now they're bigger and they're always open to something. so frequently almost every single one of my kitchen remodels we're opening up walls to combine a kitchen into a dining or living room. now everyone is in the kitchen the if there's a party, people are there while you're preparing and appliances are more numerous and counters, now we have home offices and tv's and computers in the kitchen as well so it's really the home center. >> right. i was just at a neighbor's house on second avenue who had just finished taking out the wall between the traditional sort of victorian living room and the tiny kitchen and now

they had this large space and it was a revelation to them. they said why didn't we do this many years ago? because the kitchen was part of the lifestyle of the home and it was decide -- divided. they were so happy. >> the problem is you still want to have the kitchen defined. >> what do you mean defined? >> a lot of teems kitchens immediate into other rooms. they're like run-on sentences where you kind -- cuned of don't know where it goes so you still want to have kind of some definition the you can do that with the floor material, the cainetry, or floor plan so it they're visual. >> one of the things, i lived in japan many years ago, one thing they do is reflect the floor plan in the ceiling plan as the way they define the edges of many rooms. you'd see the ceiling change at the edge -- edge of the kitchen. we don't odo that as much in

the united states. maybe we should. ok, do we have any comments or questions? yes, sir. >> is there still a magic triangle number? is that still in use? is it an outdated concept? >> it's known when you do a layout, connect the dots between the sink, refrigerator, and stove, and it should form a triangle. obviously there's a relationship in that they should be close and adjacent, but they shouldn't be too close, so you still need space around there. when you take your floor plan, you draw a point between the sink, the stove, and the refrigerator and it forms a triangle. >> why is you don't carry stuff to the other side of the room, dripping? >> it's an exercise to make sure you've got good adjaysencies and it's kind of a general rule. each kitchen is different. but that's a good way. you don't want everything focused on one corner, you want

it distributed, you want to think about huh to go from the sink to the stove. >> my dream kitchen is going to have a pantry refrigerator and a drawer refrigerator for high-use things. >> a drawer refrigerator, what would you put in there in milk and eggs? >> milk and eggs and cheese, butter. >> i don't understand why you'd do that? why would you want to not have just a regular refrigerator? >> my refrigerator usually has so much stuff in it that i want to have a handy -- >> so you'd have a refrigerator next to where your cook stove is. >> uh-huh. >> an update on the gougere butter, it's nice and yellow because i've incorporated five eggings, i'm using a little bit more cheese, about a cup of a