>> when stephen de staebler died, he was working on one of the biggest shows of his career, matter and spirit. it is a retrospective look at the many faces and faces of the life of an innovative artist from the california clay

movement. stephen de staebler's developed in an area dominated by abstract expression. even his peers saw his form. >> he was able to find a middle ground in which he balanced the ideas of human figuration and representation with abstraction and found it even more meaningful to negotiate that duality. >> another challenge was to create art from a meeting that was typically viewed as kraft material. his transforming moment was an accident in the studio. an oversized vertical sculpture began to collapse under its own weight and spread onto the floor. he sought a new tradition before him, landscape sculpture. >> you feel this extended human

form underneath the surface of the earth struggling to emerge. eventually, it does. it articulates his idea that the earth is like flesh, and the archaeology and geology in the earth are like the bones, the structure of the earth. this tied in with his idea of mother earth, with the sense that we are all tied to nature and the earth. >> a half dozen bay area museums and private collectors loan the massive sculptures to the museum for its matter and spirit retrospective. but the most unusual contributions came from stephen himself. a wall of autobiographical masks and hence from the early decades of his private study. >> he had one of the most beautiful studios i have ever been in. when you walk in, your first impression is of these monumental figures that you see in the exhibition, but if you

went into the back corner of his studio, there was a series of shells with these diminutive figures. he told me, these are the heart of my studio. these little, and held intimate study is that he referred to as his sketchbook. a painter might make drawings. stephen de staebler made miniature sculptures. >> during the 1970's, he was inspired by the monuments of egypt. he assembled a large rocks of clay into figures that resembled the ancient kings and queens. he credited a weathered appearance by rubbing glazes' into the clay while still wet. the misfires from his killed were brought in his backyard in his berkeley home. he called it his boneyard. in the last year of his life, he dug up the artifacts from his own history, and the bones were rearranged, in the were slimmer figures with wings.

>> even if you knew nothing about his life or career, you sensed there was an artist dealing with this fundamental issue of life and death, the cake, netting back together, and you feel there is an attempt to deal with mortality and immortality. there is a seeking of spiritual meaning in an existential stage. >> during his 50-year career, stephen de staebler worked to form and out of the clay of the ground and give it a breath of life. matter and spirit gathers the many expressions of his meditations. and gives the viewer and insight into the artist's life. learn more about the retrospective on line at

>> welcome to the february 15 meeting of the board of appeals. presiding officer is president michael garcia enjoining him as commissioner fung and commissioner hillis. commissioner hwang will be absent this evening. we do have one vacancy. the board may hold a meeting if there's a vacancy. the board may overrule the action of the department with the votes of three members. we're joined tonight by the deputy city attorney. she is sitting to my left and will provide the board with any legal advice.

we also have our legal assistant. we're joined by representatives from the city departments that had cases before the board this evening. we have this in your building inspector representing the department of building inspection and we have the representation for a taxi services. we will conduct the swearing-in process. >> the board requests you turn off all phones and pagers so they will not disturb proceedings. carry on conversations in the hallway. the rules of presentation are as follows, permit holders and department representatives each have seven minutes to present their cases and three minutes for rebuttals. people affiliated with these parties must include their comments with and those periods. members of the public not affiliated with the parties have up to two minutes each to address the board and no rebuttals.

to assist the board in the accurate preparation of minutes, members of the public who wish to speak are asked but not required to submit a speaker card or business card to staff when you speak at the podium. speaker cards and pens are available on the left side of the podium. there are customer satisfaction survey forms on the left side of the podium as well. if you have questions or are requesting a rehearing or hearing schedules, speak to staff during a break or after the meeting or call the board office tomorrow morning. the offices located at 1650 mission st., room 304. this meeting is broadcast live on san francisco government television. cable channel 78. dvd's of the meeting are available directly from sfgtv. thank you for your attention. we will conduct are swearing-in progress.

-- process. if you intend to testify and wish to of the board figured tested fair in -- testimony evidentiary weight, "i do" after you have been affirmed. any member of the public may speak without taking this oath pursuant to the rights under the sunshine ordinance in the administrative code. thank you. please stand. anyone who is going to come up, if you wish. do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? thank you. >> thank you. president, commissioners, we have two housekeeping items. item five has to do we all -- has to deal with appeal number 11-150. it has been withdrawn and will not be heard.

item number 6, appeal number 11-099 has to do with a permit suspension by dbi. the attorney for the appellant is here this evening to request a continuance to may 23, 2010. it will allow time for the appellant and her neighbor to participate in arbitration. dbi has indicated its consent to this continuance. if the board is in agreement, the motion can be continued. >> did you wish to address this before we made a motion? >> no, your honor. i am used to addressing judges. that is correct. we would like the continuance to may 23. we have not completed the arbitration yet. we are almost there. we're in the breeding stage of arbitration. continuing thisç -- we are in the early stage of

arbitration. president garcia: thank you. çwe are glad the parties are trying to work it out amongst themselves. i move we continue this to may 23. >> ok. is there public comment? >> good evening. i am the attorney for james, the owner of the adjacent property affected. i concur on the request on his behalf. president garcia: thank you, sir. >> do you have a card as well? >> no, i don't. >> we have a motion to rescheduled to may 23. on that motion -- commissioner fung: aye. commissioner hillis: aye. >> they do. the vote is 3-0.

this is rescheduled to may 23. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. we will move on to item number four, the adoption of findings. this has to do with the p.o. number 07-209. i don't know where my head is. let's start with public comment, item number one. is there any member of the public would like to speak on an item that is not on the calendar? ok. item two, and the comments or questions, commissioners? >> i have a two-hour speech. i am sorry. >> seeing no comments or questions, we will move to item 3, the adoption of minutes. before you for discussion and possible adoption are the minutes of the board meeting on february 8, 2012. president garcia: i would move that we adopt the minutes as

written. >> is there any public comment on the minutes? if you could call the roll, please? >> on that motion from president garcia to adopt the minutes -- commissioner fung: aye. commissioner hillis: aye. >> thank you. the vote is 3-0. the minister adopted. >> now we move to item four. the adoption of findings in appeal number 07-209, martinovsky vs. taxi commission. on december 14, 2011, the board voted a 3-0-2 to uphold the removal of gary martinovsky from the taxi medallion waiting list. >> i have read the material.

>> we can proceed. mr. murray is here from the mta and has indicated that he is in agreement with the findings as written. mr. martinovsky has not participated in the findings review process. he has been given the opportunity. he has not given us comment. commissioners come if you have questions about the findings or if you have a motion? commissioner fung: i have a general question for mr. murray. çhas there been any further actions by your board related to ada processes? >> no, there have not. commissioner fung: thank you. commissioner hillis: just one question. the time period between the filing of the appeal in 2008 and

being rescheduled until 2011, that was to let it go through the legal process and the lawsuit to be -- >> that is right. the appellate was not a party to the lawsuit. because he believed he had issues related to the subject matter of that litigation, he and the department had asked that the matter be put on hold. commissioner hillis: thank-you. >> i should ask if there is any public comment on this item. ok. commissioners? commissioner fung: move the adoption of the findings. >> ok. if you could call the roll, please? >> did you want to comment on how well they were written? commissioner fung: they were extremely well done. >> we have a motion to adopt the findings. on the motion -- president garcia: aye.

commissioner hillis: aye. >> thank you. the vote is 3-0. those findings are adopted. >> ok, commissioners. we have already and all items five and six. we move to item seven, adoption of budget. we are here to discuss and possibly adopt the department of budget for fiscal years 2012- 2013 and fiscal years 2013-2014. bringing the budget proposal to you this evening because the city's administrative code requires that all departments submit their budget no later than february 21 to the mayor and the controller. this year, for the first time, we will be submitting proposals for two budget years under proposition a. all departments now are required to participate in a two-year rolling budget cycle. my aim this evening is to give you an overview of the

structure, provide you with an update on this year's budget status, and then go over my recommendations for how we should approach theç next two budget years. looking at the structure starting with the revenue, we have two revenue streams. the largest one representing 95% of the budget, is comprised of surcharges that are placed on the fees paid by people who are applying for new permits or renewing permits. they're collected by departments that issue those permits and that have matters that our appealable to the board. they are reviewed annually to make sure that they will satisfy our need for revenue to cover our operating expenses and also to make sure that each departments' share of our costs is proportionate to the amount of work that we're doing related to the permits the issue. dbi permits represent 60% of the board's