>> the afternoon. this is their regular meeting of the san francisco planning commission for thursday, march 1, 2012. before we get started, because i

was not here last week, let me congratulate the new president and vice president on your appointments, election to these offices i would also like to remind everyone to turn off your cell phones. or any other electronic devices that might sound off during the proceeding. roll-call. commissioner moore: here. commissioner sugaya, commissioner fong, commissioner wu, commissioner antonini, commissioner borden, commissioner sugaya. everybody is present. no items were proposed for a continuance. the item number 5 on your calendar, case number 2011.1.23b, the salesforce item, the request for allocation of square footage, the project sponsors have asked for an indefinite continuance of that

item. because the commissioners, this is a letter on your calendar, and it is last minute. there might be people who might have wanted to be here for this item. i ask that you continue it at this time but at the call of the item. commissioner fong: that is fine. >> is not aware of any other item on the calendar being proposed for a continuance. commissioner fong: any public comment on items of continuous? commissioner antonini: this is on the next item, which is not been called yet. >> ok, thank you. with that, we can move on to commissioner's questions and matters. are there any? commissioner antonini? commissioner antonini: thank you. some information in the news. some good, some not as good. but those who know the san francisco business times, it verify what most of us have known for a while, and that is

the stock of a vacant condo is needed to be sold has fallen drastically. that is good news, because there are not too many of these buildings that have too many significant number of condo units that are available. we know of one project that is ready to move forward soon that we just approved or just approved the design, basically reviewed the design at 201 fallston, and there are others that i am hopeful will move forward soon. another piece of news was in the san francisco business times -- that was in the times, rather, but i believe in the examiner, a business times survey, chamber of commerce survey, that asked people about how they felt about what was going on in san francisco. the good news is that a much larger number felt this year that we were moving in the right direction. the bad news was that a larger number felt the quality of life was failing in san francisco,

sort of a dichotomy of opinion. but part of it may have its origin on the fact that they felt the number one problem facing san francisco was homelessness, followed quickly behind with the economy and jobs. perhaps that explains to some degree the differentiation of opinion. they also favored, by a large margin, real runoff elections as opposed to rejoice. with a pointed out, almost no one in the survey had an interest in raising any new taxes in almost any form. and that is an important thing to keep in mind. as we look forward in ways to make capital improvements in san francisco, i think we have to be realists and a knowledge the fact that -- acknowledge the fact that while there appears to be a small interest in traditional means of financing, we probably have to look for

public-private financing or in- kind to finance capital improvements. this may be the method of the future to be able to do this, especially with the end of redevelopment. this is going to have to be something we are going to have to look increasingly at. also, especially in terms of housing, i do not think we are going to be able to find funds for in the vast public expenditures for housing. and i think we're going to have to find ways to incentivize builders to be able to build these. perhaps some housing might need some funds to be set aside for the housing at the lowest income level that might not be feasible to build, even with incentives. but building a lot of middle and upper-income housing, i think there are ways we confined to fund that. finally, in terms of the whole idea of the public-private partnerships and in-kind and

benefits given in return for creating public good, i think as commissioners and as public officials, we always have to look at decisions based upon the greatest good for the greatest number. i mean, obviously we always have to weigh neighborhood interests, certain interests that are very important interests and our decisions against what benefits the greatest number and benefits of the city the most. those are always difficult choices to make, but i think it is important that we be able to make those decisions and try to look at what benefits the greatest number when we make our choice. commissioner miguel: yes, the articles in the papers this week have been very interesting. there was also the announcement regarding this theater on at midmarket. many projects that affect midmarket and its revitalization have been before us, and i think this is a very, very positive

sign with a.c.t. coming in with a small theater with his service in the lobby, that sort of thing, as well as additional space for them there. there was also a very interesting article by john king regarding the about to be 10th and market configuration. a very, very good noontime a forum at the spur, extremely timely this week, regarding redevelopment. fred blackwell and tiffany bohee or in conversations. this was not a powerpoint. this was an actual conversation and questioning regarding redevelopment. fred blackwell did a beautiful job of contrasting oakland and san fran, and there are vast differences. a few things i was not aware of.

there have been about 400 redevelopment district in the state. 70 alone in los angeles county, if you can imagine that. if you think we have got a lot to deal with, they are very confused down south as far as i can tell. there were comments regarding infrastructure, finance districts, alternative means, and no solutions necessarily in sight at this time. it was very, very well done. i just want to mention it to anyone who would like to be involved in the redistricting of san francisco's supervisor chu districts, the deadline for submissions is tomorrow. so a very excellent interactive web site, by the way, if you get

on there. and i had a comment come to me by a very active and interested member of the public that actually had not come to mind before. so i do not know, i will direct this more to john. we approve eir's, and they have medications in them. -- mitigation in them. the question was, does anyone want a chair, a prison, whether those medications are actually taking place -- i presume, whether those mitigations are actually taking place? since we are the ones who are passing on the this, if we had a report back, you know, is it 99% done, is a 50% done, whatever -- but it is something that once we

get through it, it is out of our mind again. i think we owe it to ourselves and the public to have some type of report on its that. commissioner borden: yes, i just wanted to announce that i am actually on the board of the american red cross bay area chapter. tomorrow, on union square from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. is a game on pepperell in coming year two of the four-year initiative called ready neighborhoods. we're focusing on most vulnerable communities around the bay area and getting them repaired. chinatown and bayview hunters point have been part of this initiative. the event tomorrow will have mayors, fire, and police chiefs from around the bay area. and there will be free disaster preparedness training, and disaster starter kits will be there. anyone who wants to get prepared, be informed, make a plan, tomorrow is your opportunity to do that in union square, and you cannot miss it.

it is in the clear tent. commissioner moore: i wanted to remind everybody that this weekend is the first of five or six open streets in the embarcadero. i hope the weather is good, because it will be very interesting to do that at this particular time would so many new things coming up. i wanted to put a plug in a 4 spurt. on tuesday, they held a meeting on bicycling at the peninsula. spur is livermore regional issues on transportation and connectedness. that comes in handy for us when we're looking at identification in housing. with the new office for a spurt in san jose, we will have more of the ability to voice the issues which not as local but also equally important on the regional scale. i am not saying anything new. but i have to say this because i

was shocked to reading the people that salesforce has disappeared. i remember us two weeks ago with big smiles and a lot of enforcement from the applicant anticipating that this project would really be a fantastic opportunity for the city. in the article came in, a first thought i was not reading it correctly. i made a couple of phone calls, only to hear that it, indeed, was, as far as we know, real. i assume we will pick it up later. but it was a huge shock. i hope we will find something else which will take its place very soon. commissioner sugaya: sorry, i was going to comment on on on commissioner miguel's

comment. commissioner miguel: i would give you an example, that is a conflict of interest. i cannot talk about it. commissioner moore: i felt that the ethics and sunshine training was actually good. it was straight to the point. i appreciate that it was held. there were parts of it which i was not quite sure why we had to listen to it, but that is an altogether other question. i will last our attorney about that later. it was otherwise a very good meeting. >> there were two things i attended this week that i thought were relevant to this commission. the first one was the chamber of commerce breakfast, which was focused of course of growth in san francisco. in particular, this was turkestan tech growth and the numbers of people that these companies are looking to hire to

bring in san francisco. what struck me was the fact that their hiring intelligent, imaginative people with ingenuity, and part of that hiring allure is the lifestyle of san francisco. beyond just housing, schools, parks, athletics -- whatever it is, it all comes together. this commission is one where we had the opportunity to touch a lot of that and affect the life styles. i went to an event last night called the california music and culture association, which was very interesting. a collective of entertainment venues, mostly after dark, evening entertainment venues. now this is a brand new association that has come together. it really shed some light on san francisco and the opportunity for evening entertainment and business socialization to round out activities in the city. i rarely make mention of activities of that nature, but i

thought they were relevant this week. commissioners, before we move on, i want to take the opportunity to thank most of you, and even before you, commissioner sugaya, i wanted the most of you for attending the ethics and sunshine training. i know i kind of twist all of your arms to get there, and i do appreciate that you participate generally all the time. for those who did not, have no fear, you'll still have the opportunity. there will be a cd made available. i do not know if you'll watch it at home or online, which i know you can also do at home or work or whatever, but you will still be required to take that training. commissioner sugaya: falling of the president's comments, there was an article in the chronicle or the business times about a firm moving from emoryville to san francisco, and a one of the

reasons was that the engineers and people he was looking to hire and already had on staff were living in san francisco or would like to live in san francisco. and also that the talent pool, he thought, from the peninsula was greater than the east bay, and it was easier for people to commute back and forth. i thought that was interesting. commissioner antonini: thank you. i should have weighed in earlier on the salesforce issue. it is not entirely bad news. as we know from reading, it has been verified that they have a rapidly growing work force, and almost all of them are going to be working within san francisco. it would appear that a lot of their work force is able to conduct their business in a more traditional style of building as we have in our downtown area, which probably may be working

very well for them, but there will be someone else, i am sure, who will be able to take advantage of the great site where you have a lorelei's campus than the mission bay area. so it may work out in the long run to be a very good development. >> commissioners, because i do not know mills wants to talk about salesforce, it is on your calendar. we can talk about it at that time, even when we talk about the possibility of continuing the item, as the project sponsor has requested. some may be your comments would better serve the public if you would wait until we call that item. commissioner wu: i also wanted to comment on some of the activities happening at spur. on tuesday, unfortunately i missed the ethics training that will be watching that cd very studiously. spirt did a joint planning process -- spur did a joint

planning process around stockton streets. it included pedestrian safety issues. i think it was a great community planning meeting to liggett transportation, housing, open space, all of the different elements of what really makes this trade vibrant but also makes it challenging. -- make that street vibrant but also makes it challenging. >> thank you. if there are no other comments, we can move onto directors' report. directors announcements and a review of the past week's board of supervisors, board of appeals, and historic preservation commission. >> thank you. a few announcements did not want to introduce an intern visiting with us this week. she is a planning intern at the university of michigan. they have a programmer they spend their spring break visiting planning agencies in other cities. she is attending today's meeting. she has attended other meetings and the department and will be headed back to ann arobor.

over the weekend. it has been found to have you here, sherine. and the next meeting on the work in the central corridor, the fourth straight quarter, tuesday at spur, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. we will be talking about some recent proposals there and also talking about some of the ideas that we developed working with the puc and the department of the environment on creating an eco-district along that corridor, which i think is a very interesting as well. third, i wanted to announce that a couple of hours ago i was sworn in, along with 30 other people on various commissions, but i was sworn in as well as six others for the oversight board and the successor agency to that redevelopment agency. still do not know what the name is. that is quite a mouthful. so we will be meeting for the first time on tuesday at 3:00 p.m. at down the hall in room 416.

and we will be taking up a number of -- our initial growing pains, if you will, as we get started as an organization. finally, in your packet, which i think you already have for next week or part of it, now that we have a communications manager on board, i have started a new procedure of actually giving you a written directors report to give you an update on some of the activities in the department. i have asked joe and had to do that every other week. i will still be given a verbal report like this, but this gives you a little more information and gives it to you in writing. we thought that was a great way of letting you know and the public know about some of the actions in the department. that concludes my report. unless there are questions, thank you. >> [inaudible] >> hold on just a second. let me turn your microphone on. >> here to give you your weekly

report on the activities of the board of supervisors as it pertains to planning and land use. three ordinances this week in the land use committee. the first was introduced by supervisor elsbernd. it would allow car sales and car rental in the neighborhood commercial and shopping district. lastly, this commission recommended approval of the ordinance, and this week the committee recommended approval to the full board. there was also before the committee an ordinance about student housing. this was sponsored by this commission. it would create a new land use definition for the use of student housing, as well as develop controls to regulate this new use throughout the city. supervisor wiener has signed on as a sponsor of this ordinance at the board, and he is considering amendments to the ordinance which are still in progress. this week, he discussed some of the issues around it, and the ordinance was continued to march 26. the issues of concern that he discussed were whether or not the conversion of housing to

student housing should be prohibited, as recommended by this commission. or allowed by cu, conditional use authorization. if the recommendation for existing housing to prohibit that conversion is maintained, the question then is, should there be exceptions from the prohibition? such as exemptions for certain institutions and lots that are adjacent to a certain educational institutions. third, another modification would be how should this new use be treated in specific areas of the eastern neighbor plan where regular housing is not prohibited? and lastly, another question he identified was whether student housing should be exempted from f.a.r. accounts in the c3 district. he encouraged interested parties to contact him prior to the next meeting in menius on or after march 26.