because of the trip and fall slip hazards street coverings had to be brought up to nonskid standard. can you tell us about that? >> this is piggybacked on what we had existing with regards to the official sidewalk grades. or official i'm sorry -- special sidewalk surfaces where they required to keep -- they are required -- look at that. 2 water meters. >> they are required to -- in 2004 peskin introduced an ordinance and adopted the ordinance to also include these metal covers that you see pretty much in a lot of the older parts of the city. most of of them are elevator hatches for subsidewalk basements. but in certain cases like this

one there is a utility under there. >> if you are on a steep hill with one on ask its raining boy can you take off. >> what is the new requirement >> the new requirement is the property owners are required to bring these into compliance. get tests run. if they won't site them if our inspector feels this is too slippery. we don't have instruments to determine that. yeah. there are things you can do. you can sand blast it to roughen it, epoxy coatings and things you can do to adjust it. certain things are exempted. the exceptions are the sewer vent covers. 4 inches 4 inches. those are exempt [inaudible].

one other thing before we leave this we have seen 2 fire hydrants the new fire hydrant, an old fire hydrant and across the street, laurence. this is part of the high pressure water system develop indeed san francisco after the 1906 earthquake when the board of supervisors passed legislation to prevent the failure of the water system. this was the blue top is part of the separate system that's tied to reservoirs in the city and can be pumped directly out of the bay through this pump station. there is one by the ballpark where they pump live sea water into the system. >> let's go see when the date. >> well -- i don't think so. 1905. 1909. yeah.

okay. >> the thing about this is this is under high pressure. if a fire truck hooks to this into a regular fire pump this water will flow through the fair truck and back to the regular fire hydrant hooked to the regular drinking water. there is an issue after a fire of flushing the water system. >> let's look at market street. this is an interesting sidewalk condition. >> this is a huge public works project to repave and redo all of market street years ago. it was. and -- >> there it is brady street. that's not facing the same direction earlier? >> that was part of the beautification project.

[inaudible] >> which included 3 grades. all the paving. >> granite curbs. crosswalks, a lot of crosswalks further down that are different colors. and you know most other parts of the city where you have a regular concrete sidewalk we were mentioning the property owner is responsible for those sidewalks. along market street the city is responsible for the sidewalk. maintains all the brick sidewalks on market. if you see damaged brick sidewalk call us and we will will fix it. >> go ahead tell us. >> briefly, what we see in san francisco is varying conditions because of things that happened over time. the city of san francisco has an initiative called the better

streets plan the idea is to make standards for grand boulevard, small streets, standarding that will address the conditions for the streets so we don't have this unplanned things populating the public streets. if you want to be involved through the planning department and the mta. and sf better streets. org. >> you are part of that. >> i'm on the citizens advisory board. >> we should explain permeable landscapes relates to the sidewalks there. >> what was being pointed out with that tree we looked at where nick explained you have 4 feet right-of-way. outside the 4 feet can be adapted for other uses you can put tables or chairs out. you can change the sidewalk

surface. you can do sidewalk landscaping. permeable landscaping refers to the fact that the water ends up in the ground not the sewer system. >> this sidewalk this runs in the curb and the -- >> that catch basin for water it goes to the grate. >> we will look at a framed signs and other stuff. thank you very much. >> we want to talk about a few items here as we end this little talk. first of all we have an a framed

sign, moving must sell. >> [laughter]. >> do you need a permit for a moving sale sign? >> those are actually illegal. there are no permits, that's right. there are no permits that can be obtained for those signs a framed signs. >> we see them all over the city. >> thank you. >> currently its under the police code. >> okay. >> you know as we know the police have more important things to do. if they present a hazard ask also public works inspect ors have been assisting the police department. if we are inspecting the tables and chairs such as this and see they have an a framed sign. we will tell them to remove the a framed signs. >> how about the news racks.

there is a problem to replace them with standardized news racks how's that program going? >> it's going well. grace moore is the news rack coordinator. if you have abandoned news rack necessary front of your business and want them gone you call our office. we will will notify the newspaper company. i'm not sure of the timing. if not removed that news rack within that time frame the city will get our trucks here and we will will remove it. >> what was your question? >> who is the contact? >> grace moore. >> what's the phone number. >> i don't know. >> 554-5810. >> good. and now we have, i know the

board of supervisors over the last decade has tried to produce policies that encourage the use of sidewalks for tables ask chairs. i think that's a great policy and how are we implementing that? >> it started with back at 399 [inaudible] where we only had approximately 10 restaurants city wide that had these per missable permits. the guidelines were strict, public works rieequirements and planning requirements. very few restaurants the only the establish restaurants that had a lot of interior seating could get permits to do out door seating. the board of visors. that is the noiseiest, the -- that orange trolley. >> it's italian.

>> okay. sorry to interrupt. >> that's part of that same permit. in 1993 we were approached by the golden gate national restaurant association. everybody knew there were more than 10 restaurants that wanted to put out tables and chair exactly like thousands. this went to the board of supervisor asks at the time was an interesting topic of discussion. you know both of them wanted it. supervisor ma wanted no permits required, no enforcement, you know, people could do what they want. supervisor pier on the same time wanted enforcement but wanted an

easier process. >> right. >> somebody in a restaurant wants to put tables and chairs they apply for a permit. >> the department of public works. >> do they have to block it off? >> yes, they do. that is part of an agreement with the disability community and the mayor's office of disability. a blind person cannot detect there are people eating there in tables and chairs we refer to -- >> diverters are required, is there a limit how far they can come out to the sidewalk. >> a minimum, 6 foot clear path of travel for all tables and chairs permits. >> you pay for this. >> 6 foot clear. >> there is an annual

processing fee ask occupancy fee. >> you inspect this. >> yes we have commercial inspectors who are assigned to commercial type permits which in our office are considered the tables ask chairs permits or the sidewalk display permits. >> how much does it cost to get a permit for that. >> the processing fee is 120 dollars, the occupancy fee is 4 dollars a square foot also annualy. >> right. >> okay. have a question here? >> block those -- to block those streets so you put the chair there; right . >> correct. >> the curb cut right here and

obstruct the top of the curb cut. >> not allowed to do that. >> that bucket may be obstructing the curb cut? >> there is not only that our tables and chairs guidelines require a 5 foot corner clear zone. when we walk from the corner ever the building not the sidewalk but where the corner of building meets the sidewalk we measure back 5 feet. they have their tables too close to the curb ramp. they need to be 5 feet. >> we will come had back and can write them up later. [laughter] okay. all right. any final questions before we finish up? >> [inaudible]. [laughter] if somebody has a complaint who do they call? department of public works.

no. [laughter]. 554-5810. >> thank you very much, nick. appreciate it. >> you are welcome. [applause]