the city has never paid for before. they have been state and federal responsibilities in the past. we will have more information as the state completes their budget and estimates there may revise. we do have a fairly large stake reserve this year. it becomes part of the trade-off conversation that the board of supervisors and the mayor's office and the community need to have. but how much we can prioritize this. you know, we definitely need the help of you and the rest of the community to go back to the state and the federal government and make your voice is heard to ensure that that funding stays as high as possible for our city and we do not wind up in a situation where we are making trade-offs between hiv services and streets and parks. we rely on your help to solve that. we do our best, and we will be -- you know, we are cognizant of this and constantly monitoring what is going on and deciding how we can deal with those.

[applause] >> hello. merrill loma park improvements club. i have a question for the administrator. you mentioned in your budget presentation that our city expenses are increasing a lot faster than our revenues, more significantly. could you identify the main cause of the main expense lines going up and that is responsible for that situation? thank you. >> again, i think there are many pressures that the city is facing. about half of our expenditures, just so you know, are spent on salaries and benefits for our city employees. and we're seeing significant pressures in that area. our employees have not taken

raisins -- races for the most part in several years now and have actually taken pay cuts. however, as all of your very well aware, health benefit costs for our employees continue to rise at a quick pace, and our pension costs continue to rise. again, because of the downturn in the economy that the city is now having to deal with. our pension fund is still sort of reeling from the impacts of the downturn and the hit to our benefit trust from a few years ago. so benefits are one of the significant pressures on our budget right now. other pressures are just from the fact that over the last few years, we have sort of, because it has been such a bad situation and we have had to make cuts and not fund things that the level that we want to, we are seeing pressures from normal things that we have not been able to find that the right level in years past.

ford's of all, capital. you know, streets, our buildings. so now we are getting to a point where we need to be cognizant of the fact that we have not been funding those things at the right level to maintain them in the last few years. if we do not pay attention to that, it will become a problem in the long term. that is sort of the biggest pressure. saturday -- salaries and benefits is one of the biggest ones. but others is just trying to make sure we get back to the level of services and infrastructure that we were at nine years passed before, before the downturn hit us. >> thank you. any other questions? >> good morning, mayor lee, supervisors. thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of job-seekers in san francisco. i am the center manager for the chinatown one-stop career links

center, operated by self help for the charity. we provide many resources for job-seekers looking for work, as well as a free assistance to small businesses looking for workers. in district four and district 7, we were wondering of supervisors and the mayor to look for resources for job-seekers who were looking for work, because there is a lack of job training programs, as well as for english learners to learn english. because we are seeing job- seekers and seniors coming into the chinatown area and using services there, and there is a need. it would be great if you could consider that. thank you for the opportunity. [applause] >> any other questions? george. i was surprised he waited this long, george. [laughter] >> thank you. george, district 7.

a question for mayor lee. i wanted to ask him if he felt extending parking meter hours, increasing parking meters, adding parking on sundays, increasing traffic tickets is going to help create jobs in san francisco for small businesses? >> wow, you really waited a long time for that one, huh, george? i have had several discussions with the mta. some years ago, and a little bit on you, the voters made sure that we did not mess around with mta's budget. at least take things out and put things in in the way it did in years past. the board has to vote up or down on the whole budget. having said that, we did talk a little bed about, you know, our general resistance to putting

meters on sundays. it is $2.5 million revenue source for them. they believe that times have changed where there are a lot of tourists and visitors that come in too many of our sections throughout the city on its sundays to enjoy, of course, all the things that we have. so we believe that revenue they need to have to balance their deficits. we have like a $26 million deficit when we started going through all of these things. i will say that we also talked about this parking increase of the penalties. one of the things that they told me that a good portion, three- quarters of that increase the they are proposing in their budget on the parking tickets as exactly to do with the state grabbing more of their revenue from those tickets but not of

them wanting more revenue as our mta. they obviously needed, but there were not going to put it on the backs of the parking tickets, so they have to recover that. otherwise they will be in a bigger deficit. so that is the answer on that one. the debate that i have had around the sun. meters probably have to accept some kind of a compromise and there. they did not want to -- they did start out with the regular 9:00 to 6:00, and we said, gosh, that is going to be too hard. we at least get them to compromise to 12 noon. i know that is not satisfactory for those who believe you should not touch parking meters or not have parking meters all sunday, but they did make at least that compromise, and that is what they're voting on on tuesday.

>> [inaudible] >> ok. so the question is -- how does that impact jobs? you know, i probably will have to say it does not necessarily immediately help jobs. it is an effort to make sure that the muni budget is balanced in all of the jurisdictions that they have. it does keep jobs for some pto's on sundays, i have to say. but apart from that -- you know, the small businesses, and i know we had a conversation here earlier, some of the -- not all, but some small businesses have always felt that if the parking control officers are not doing

their jobs, you're going to have people part inappropriately all day long in those spaces. we get complaints about that from even folks who claim they have legitimate for the blue placards and things like that, and we have got some abuses there. but some of the small businesses are saying that if you do not keep people moving around, their businesses suffered. particularly in those very successful merchant corridors. so in a way, keeping, you know, the parking meters active or keeping the space is exchanging out is supposed to come in at the erie, helping those small businesses with their jobs. >> and that first block of west portal. come with me tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., and you can watch the people who park their and then get on it muni and head down for hours. they do not shop on west portal. they shop downtown. and they go to the giants game.

and they do not pay for their parking. >> [inaudible] >> but if they filled their meter for 20 minutes, that is all you have to do. they can avoid the ticket. ok. all right, this will be our very last question. >> i think the problem is sometimes you may go down irving street or west portal, you're going for lunch, so you're going into a restaurant and maybe you are going to do your banking at the same time. what happens is you may have a meter for one hour two hours and that may not be enough. it is four hours or longer, at least do not get a ticket. that seems to be the problem. you're getting tickets. if you go a couple streets over, it may be two-hour parking, the it is very hard to get.

you have to go two streets over to get four-hour parking. but it is a hike. >> ok. i am holding, and we're working hard on this. i am hoping that there is some technological solution to this. because, as you know, we're changing out all these meters into meters that can not only use your credit card, but you can pay with your cell phone. you would register in and literally almost tapped it or some mid end in a so that the meter tells her cell phone when your time is up, so you get a buzz. we are getting there. there are experience -- experiments going on as we speak. hopefully that technology convenience will prevent people from getting ticketed inappropriately when they're trying to do the right thing and have that notice and cannot run back out. but they will get the notice like five minutes before the thing happens. we're going for that. because we believe that that

better technology with the areas we have experimented in, we did have less to get. we had more people paying the meter. there is some good behavior going on with the modern meters that we have in the city. >> [inaudible] >> no, you can actually feed the meter from your phone. oh. >> [inaudible] a photo of the license plate? [inaudible] >> ok. >> that is why it is a longer time frame. >> ok, we will talk to the mta about that. yes, yes. cards. >> [inaudible] >> you can buy them online and they will come directly to your

house. sure. sfgov.org, you can buy them and have them mailed to your house. >> [inaudible] >> the one department that does not show up it's the biggest one. [laughter] is that how it works? department heads, tell them that is how it works. very good. listen, we would like to thank you all very, very much for coming out and sharing your thoughts. that me reiterate the point from the beginning, this is just one opportunity. you will have many opportunities. there are other town hall meetings, a number of public hearings at city hall, and beyond that, carmen and i are always available to take your calls, take your e-mails, read your letters. you have a lot of opportunity, and please take advantage of it. it is your thoughts that will shape our decisions over the next few months. >> aga, i want to say thank you very much for spending your saturday morning here with us.

i know it is not easy. we appreciate your thoughts. we all benefit from hearing your comments today. sometimes in city hall we hear only one perspective, and we do not necessarily here the perspective of your database citizens or running your business or who have frustrations with parking meters or he wants to bsee recreation and parks services be better. thank you for that. one plug. we had the sunday streets event this week in our district. it starts at 10:00 and i believe it goes to 3:00 on the great highway. please come out with your family with your bikes and walking shoes. >> i want to thank again our office of immigration affairs and civic engagement for translation for people who are here. obviously we have a rich diversity and the city. i am glad we can get people who speak different languages and tell us what they need as well. thank you, everybody, for being here, and giants.

-- go giants. [applause]

>> welcome. congratulations. it is a beautiful san francisco morning. thank you for joining us today to mark the centennial of a san francisco institution -- your muni system. [applause] it is actually quite appropriate that i am here today because we're talking about muni, moving people from one place to another, and i just moved from 1013 to 1 037. i am trying to move about 1 million people of the dial, so i have come to learn about doing

just the sort of thing. i want to extend a special welcome to the members of the chu -- muni centennial and honorary committee that dianne feinstein has graciously agreed to share. i will be introducing and recognizing members of the committee shortly along with the lady with two hats right here. nice to have you here. absolutely. always part of the day. we also have some very special guests and extend them greetings. from district four, supervisor carmen chu. [applause] district 8, supervisors got wiener -- supervisor scott wiener. district 10 supervisor malia cohen. district 11 supervisor john avalos, and city treasurer jose

cisneros. [applause] front and center. well done. very happy 100th to muni. since its first days of operation on december 28, 1912, this unique public transportation system has attracted and intrigue and amazed and served people from the city and untold visitors from all around the world. at to was the first major publicly owned transportation system in the nation and today is the seventh largest, carrying more than 200 million people a year. muni was part of the rebuilding after the 1900 sixth earthquake and served as a dynamic catalyst as the city expanded over the sand dunes and down the peninsula. songs and movies often have featured muni. i don't know if you have heard this one -- ♪ to be where little cable cars

♪ [laughter] actually, tony bennett in town a couple of weeks ago to do that song. he did a wonderful job. muni is also a system constantly position to realize its position and step forward in the new strategic plan, which is -- san francisco, a great city, and excellent transportation choices. who better to waive that flag and our new mayor? although he has only been chief executive for a brief time, he, too, has a vision, which is to make san francisco the innovative capital of the world. he served two terms as city administrator and advanced the city's move to a cleaner environment, most notably by leading the way for green, electric vehicle, and tuesday, his new office of innovation launched improve sf, a new web site to provide a platform for rethinking the role that government and citizens will

play. he embraces technology, although, like a lot of us, he was a little slow to grab on sometimes initially as a city administrator. in the day one day, he is standing in front of the shredder, holding a document, frustrated and asks for someone to help them with this thing. an assistant comes over, pushes the button, takes the document, sticks it in. he says, "thank you so much. now can you make me two copies of that." [laughter] ladies gentlemen, the 43rd mayor of san francisco, ed lee. [applause] mayor lee: thank you. actually, i asked for three copies. welcome, everyone, to the beginning of the celebration of 100 years, the centennial of our municipal transportation system. i am so proud of this system. by thousand dedicated people serving all of our citizens and

visitors -- 5000 dedicated people. i want to thank former mayor brown for being here as well. [applause] archie protocol officer -- our chief protocol officer, thank you for being here as well. [applause] someone i learned a lot from being city administrator, our previous city administrator. thank you for being here. i am so thrilled to share the stage with so many of our elected officials, our mta board, our supervisors, but certainly, foremost in my mind has been our wonderful senator dianne feinstein, who really have the compassion for this system. before i introduce her, i just wanted to just let you know again how valuable this system is to us and what it means to us today, but in recognition of that, before we do that, it

still is -- i mean, we've got 63 bus routes that are managed by our mta. seven light rail lines. the historic f line streetcars, of course. 700,000 daily borders of our mta -- daily boarders of our mta. of course, senator, as you so well articulated just moments ago, no mayor can ever escape a comment on a daily basis about somebody's quality of ride in the city. because it is so much part of our daily lives, but it is also a reflection early generations

of innovation. because we go back many, many years ago when the system was created, and, you know, you cannot avoid acknowledgment of history. they used mining technology to create the first cable cars in our system, and today, they have become the iconic representation of our muni system, that was innovation 100 years ago. and to understand that the mayor in 1912 drove the very streetcar we are about to ride in in 1912 , to yet again represent innovation. we will have not only our ride, but we will also have on board

the newest generation of innovators, these technology companies here today that locating themselves on our markets st. riding with us as well because they represent the newest generation of technology that will help muni come into the new generations for many years to come. december 28 of this year, we will be celebrating that 100 years, but we are going to have a lot of events leading up to that time, and also, to thank the 5000 dedicated people who are here today. i need to thank the chancellor's workers union because they are giving me a driver's pass today. [applause] mr. williams, thank you because a brief drivers has to drive the historic heart is absolutely necessary, one that will represent that i will be as safe

as i can be but also as enthusiastic about the system as you and the workers and men and women who are represented here will always be on a daily basis as we transport these 700,000 riders on a daily basis. one of the nice things about sharing the stage with senator feinstein is we can look back at her enthusiasm when she was a supervisor in those years in the 1970's when she declared the city to be a transit-first city. that was a wonderful thing because that has guided us for so many generations, and it has guided me to today that we are still a transit-first system. this is why we invest in our chances system. while we are going to make sure it is not only serving all of us, but that it welcomes in the new route we are creating that mayer brown has worked so hard to get established. now, with the help of senator

feinstein and the help of so many of our delegation and state representatives, we will start and finish that central subway that will also be the complement of the third street light rail. that will be another admission that we look forward to our transit system representing, to connect up eventually to what we have already started at the transbay terminal so that all of our muni transit system can connect up to the wonderful world of high-speed rail. that will be in our lifetime. not just a wish. we are taking steps to make sure that is a reality. that is our future. we cannot risk the inability to have our transit system connected up to all of our areas. and then, to help muni establish the bus rapid transit systems along geary, venice, that will be done in a very short time, and we got some help because

today we announced the rebuild of our hospitals, and they are contributing to the rapid transit systems. senator, with your leadership, for so many years, and your help and such wonderful leadership, i also want to acknowledge -- this transit system runs on hydroelectric power from our hetch hetchy dam, and we know that. we have felt that. we have used that. in addition to the wonderful water system it has, our our shaughnessy dan generates this power -- our shaughnessy dam. for anyone to suggest that we should tared that down and be irresponsible to generations of people who are dependent on this innovation that occurred hundreds of years ago is to be irresponsible to our whole city.

[applause] so i will tell you today, we will protect that dam. we will protect that innovation, and we will do it in the spirit that all of our and the raiders are today, that our spirit is rich enough to help everybody to make sure that we reflect everybody's lives. this trends assistant touches all of people's lives, whether you are a struggling immigrant, a small business, or the largest business in san francisco. it touches everybody's lives, and she knew it when she was supervisor when she declared transit first. she continues to help us in so many ways. she has been my mentor, and she has been a continuing to be a great representative of our city. if i may welcome to the podium, our senator, senator feinstein. [applause]

>> thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you. well, it is always nice to come home and get one good round of applause. kind of my morale boost for the week. this is a trip down memory lane for me. as a 6-year-old, i used to ride the f3 car from where we lived around beach st.. i could not read, so i would have to ask the operator to tell me when this streak came up, and, of course, he did, and i am still here. it really developed a tremendous fondness in me for these mechanical giants. these mechanical giants. then, as willie will know and