>> good morning. today is wednesday, march 21,

2012. this is the regular meeting of the building inspection commission. we would like for anyone -- if you have electronic devices, if you could please put those on silent. the first item on the agenda is roll call. commissioner mccray: -- commissioner mar: present. commissioner clinch: present. commissioner lee: present. commissioner mccarthy: present. commissioner mccray: present. commissioner walker: present. >> commissioner melgar is expected. we have a quorum. next item is president's announcements. commissioner mar: thank you. i am temporarily chairing the meeting until we have a new president. i want to thank all the people in the audience -- i see we have a bigger turnout today. i guess we must credit it to the appointment of the two new

commissioners here -- commissioner mccray and commissioner mccarthy, who i would like to welcome to this commission. i understand they have already had their tour of the department last week with commissioner melgar. i am sure it is one of their many visits they will be having as we move forward, and i think we all look forward to working with them. in terms of other announcements, i just wanted to acknowledge two letters that commission staff got for helping out with some permits. i just want to acknowledge in particular yao was able to help a new homeowner who did not

hardly speak english because chinese was her first language. i thought it was very good that he was able to help her in her own language walk through the permit process and give her a sense of what was required, being a first-time homeowner, to do some remodeling. i think those were two of the acknowledgements that staff recently received. the other thing in terms of announcements is that i wanted to thank the six dbi staffers who represents d dbi at the st. patrick's day festival at civic center. this is an ongoing effort by the department to try to get out in the community more where we can do a little bit of tabling and just speak to the public for any

concerns over permitting issues or other building issues. i know some of us also worked the chinese new year festival last month. we had st. patrick's day, and i think we are going to be -- you are going to see the dbi present at almost every single street fair or festival on the calendar this year. i would just like to encourage that beside dbi staffers, and the commissioner who wants to -- has nothing to do on a saturday or sunday and wants to hang out in some of our great festivals can also volunteer. it is actually a good thing to do and gives us time to chat with staff and see the different kind of questions that the public comes up with. i think that is all i have for

my announcements today. thank you. >> is there any public comment on the president's announcements? commissioner mar: i have one more announcement. i forgot. it was part of this acknowledgment of staff getting out there. i know also the senior inspector joe duffy also participated with mayor lee in one of his community meetings. this is another way the department can get out there, and i hope that the mayor or even the board of supervisors in the future has community meetings with the agenda topic has to do with buildings or permits, that they would let the department know, and i'm sure we could also have people go out. sorry, i forgot about that. thank you. >> is there any public comment on the president's announcements?

seeing none, item three, present certificates to former commissioners. commissioner mar: ok, so, first of all, i am very happy that past commissioner murphy and commissioner hechanova are here with us today. i think it is very deserving the department has put together these certificates to acknowledge their service to the commission because both of them also were presidents of the commission that i had the look to serve under. they really help, as one of the newbies when i first came on. i think those held orientate me to the inner workings of the commission and the city and things like that. i just wanted to acknowledge them for helping out, and i was wondering if the director had

any other comments to make or other commissioners about their service. >> yes, i would also like to thank the past presidents of the commission. they certainly helped me in my duties and the support of the staff along the way with the commission, and that does mean a lot to the staff when they have the backing of the commission. thank you, both mel and reuben. commissioner walker: commissioners, it really has been a pleasure serving with both commissioner murphy and commissioner hechanova. the issues we deal with at this commission are vitally important to the future of san francisco. even as we have possibly disagreed on approaches and strategies, the conversations and dialogue that we have actually had at the commission

and one on one has given us solutions that work best for the city of san appearances go. i will miss you. i hope you come back and visit. you have done amazing service to the city of san francisco, and you should be proud as well as us of the service you have offered. thank you very much. it is much appreciated. we look forward to -- i look forward to working with you on many things in the future, so thank you. commissioner lee: there is also one past commissioner that is not here today that i would like to at leacknowledge and recognize, and that is our chris romero. i would like to thank chris. he is a friend of mine. i did not know him before i joined the commission, but when i joined, he was here already. we went through some rough times on the commission, but

commissioner romero and i -- we talk and we smiled, and we knew when the tide turned. it was when we started moving the commission and the department to what it is today. i am great bull -- grateful that chris was there when i joined. i also wanted to mention commissioner mel murphy was absolutely a godsend when he came on to the commission. when he arrived six years ago, we really moved the commission and the department towards where it is today. it has been fairly rock steady since then. with a bpr, the business -- whatever bpr stands for. [laughter] so that broke the commissioners

and city staff knows what they should be doing, how they should be acting towards the public, towards each other, and so on and so forth. we started the permanent processing, and we improved that. we got the fifth floor going. a lot of things were done under those six years that commissioner murphy was on board. commissioner hechanova is an architect. it was refreshing to have another architect on the commission. in this and he is passionate about wastewater, green water, and i will say i will try to carry that torch for you and try to get that moving and get the simplified so that everybody in san francisco can have some of the gray water system in their homes. thank you very much. commissioner mccarthy: i will keep my comments brief. i also would like to thank both

commissioners for the transition. we have had a lot of conversations, and i would like to particularly thank commissioner murphy for reminding me how much work i have ahead of me. also, kind of hitchhiked with other commissioners. i know there were a lot of issues that were very passionate to you. some of them are here today, but we will carry the torch and follow through, particularly on the greeting with commissioner hechanova and commissioner murphy on the process and how to make it more efficient. thank you, and thank you for helping me personally in the transition to this commission. >> read the certificate. >> i just want to our knowledge that commissioner melgar has joined us -- i just want to acknowledge. >> i am the commission

secretary, and i wanted to thank commissioners chris romero, reuben hechanova, and l. murphy for their years of service. the certificate reads, "in appreciation for your many years of outstanding professional service to the department of building inspection and to the city and county of san francisco. your colleagues here by convey our sincere and heartfelt gratitude for your professionalism, dedication, and commitment to the citizens of san francisco. -- citizens of san francisco." if you would like to come up. >> thank you. [applause]

>> i would like to say a few words. to me, this certificate not only means a lot, but having had the opportunity to serve on the commission has really been an experience that i wish could be as good for all of you currently sitting there. i want to thank also mayor gavin newsom who gave me the opportunity and opened the doors for me. along with that, mayor lee, who last year, was so kind to have me continue, but more importantly, fellow commissioners, thank you so much for those that serve with

us through both battles and the victories, and along with that, welcome to commissioner mccarty, commissioner melgar, commissioner mccray. i am proud of the accomplishments that our commission has done, especially passing the nation's greatest building policy -- green is green building policy, by which it was not only nationally recognized, but also internationally recognized last year in south africa by the world green building council. that is a torch that this commission will continue to carry along with shedding the light for the city as an example for other cities to execute and implement this green building policy. along with that, the accomplishment of caps that is now in the hands of the city, in respect of providing a more

livable and safe city. the third is basically the category of bringing the department into the technology world that hopefully will be implemented, if not at least tried out in the future. also, the permit tracking system, which will provide a better and higher service of permitting to the citizens of san francisco, but not also to make the efforts of the staff, to even be more expeditious in a way that can also serve both public and staff in the same way. most of all, i would also like to thank vivian for all the service you have provided to date and the many conversations with how the department could be made better and along with that, john, who has always been available to help counsel me on how to best approach the way that things can be done in a way

that protects the rights of both sides of the city and also those that are in play. ed sweeney, pamela leaven, tom -- handsome tom -- and most importantly, also, sonya harris, who has provided tremendous support during the course of what i have done and my last year. the challenges are many and constant. those changes will always be moving in a target that is hard to sometimes pin down, but i know that with this commission, the new commission and the new blood, you will be more than able to handle all the adversities and challenges before you. as i began, and i also will end, from where i began, where i said this is a great city and that with each and every effort that you provide in your level of community service, to make

this great city even better by the work and devotion that you do. thank you very much. >> i want to say thank you very much for the certificate. becoming a dbi commissioner was an honor for me. i was delighted to serve two years as president. commissioner walker said to me, i think my first meeting, she said, "i love to have an irish man sitting beside me." [laughter] now you've got another one sitting beside you. [laughter] thank you for your kind words. we've had our disagreements over the years, but the disagreements never left his room. we remained friends. we've had coffee, we talk about things. i think that is important, to i think that is important, to have a dialect.