people being out on the streets and socializing. it is part of the character of the neighborhood. i do not think the party is something we should criminalize. that being said, we cannot have open drug dealing. i do support a foot patrol. we are currently working with several organizations or have safe passages where we have high school students and adults in the neighborhood. but shockingly, one of the top issues is being hit by cars, more than getting harassed by neighbors. that is something we are working on as well, traffic issues, can turn some of those streets to be two-way.

another thing that we are trying to push is actually getting some business incubators in the neighborhood, because there are a lot of people who want to open businesses that cater to the families who live there. we do not have a full-service gross restore in the tenderloin, but we do have a number of -- grocery store in the tenderloin, but we do have a number of small businesses. >> what is happening with crime in your district and hal is the police department doing? supervisor kim: it is a difficult issue. i probably interface with the police department every week because with such an incredible need from our police officers in our district, ranging from south beach to the tender line to the intermission. -- to the tenderloin to the inner mission.

i want to see our officers on the street, walking the beat, and i want our small business owners to know who they are. i think that alone creates an atmosphere of safety that is really important. i'm really excited about the substation coming up to 63. i think we need to continue to provide social services in our district. it has to be a partnership with sfpd. >> what about community courts? supervisor kim: i visited the court it was modeled after,

which is the red hook court in brooklyn. the judge will visit the apartments or the locations talked about in the case and he has evolved this relationship of trust with the neighborhood that think is really positive. i think we are not there yet, here in san francisco. i am not sure if that is a time issue or the tenderloin is a different type of neighborhood then -- than red hook. i think we need alternatives to our criminal justice system. i do not think our criminal justice actually works. many of the offenders to come through our system of flood started as victims of urea the community courts is a way of addressing those offenders, which is important and what i hope to see from the community court here.

i do not think we are there yet. it does not mean we cannot get there. it took several years for the judge to develop a relationship with that neighborhood. >> what are your thoughts on the city's economic development? are we on track? supervisor kim: i think economic development is a policy area our city continues to struggle with your read it is so dependent on what the state and federal government does. on the local level, i would love for us to figure out what we can do, because this is the heart of san francisco. as i said before, they provide 70% of the jobs here. most people do not realize that. small businesses are what provides jobs here. they provided locally and the hon not going to go, they are not going to offshore their jobs any time. i think we're in a very

difficult city. we have tons of permits, tons of different apartments to go through. i wish there were a way to streamline the process, just to make it easier for them to be here in san francisco. >> what are your thoughts about expanding the tax breaks, giving business to other areas in your district? >> i talked a little bit earlier about raising taxes and raising revenues and fees, and for me, the tax exemption is something i do not philosophically supports. yet, i often represent part of san francisco that has been neglected for decades, and that is the midmarket corridor. we have over 3 million square feet of commercial real estate. a lot of it has been vacant for decades. the building twitter is going to be using, it has been vacant

since 1968. we have to start looking at what tools do we have to revitalize the area, and what i like about this legislation is we are not just giving a tax break to come in. you have to create jobs. you pay your payroll tax base, but if you move to midmarket and create jobs, we will not tax you on those jobs for six years. for the next six years, you are a community partner with us, partnering with us to revitalize neighborhood and then, if you are successful in six years, hopefully and the midmarket become successful, you come back into the tax system. i do not have an interest in expanding it. it was not about corporate welfare to companies. that was not the purpose. the purpose was to help revitalize the area and make it

the use is supposed to be for large businesses that have an incredible number of jobs for santa insistence. with 18 muni bus lines that -- for san francisco. we have 18 muni bus lines that run through it. that is what this legislation was carefully tailored to have that type of outcome. i am happy to concede we should monitor the legislation and make sure it is doing what we wanted to do. >> talk about the role of sports and in the city's future. you have thoughts about the america's cup, the 49ers? supervisor kim: i am a fan of the forty-niners and are giants and are warriors. i want them to stay in the area. one thing i love about the giants is it is so easily

accessible by caltran and muni, and i hope to see that infrastructure build for the forty-niners if the state. the same thing for the america's cup. we have to make sure as we build infrastructure for major sporting events we are keeping in mind the needs of san francisco and what they would like to see come out of these events. it is great if it creates jobs and helps to raise our tax base. >> slightly unrelated, but i am curious how you feel your work -- how your work with the school board has prepared to for being a supervisor? supervisor kim: i will say this about the board of education. when i ran for the board of education, i really wanted to represent and make sure i had to

be -- had to have a voice in the system. what really surprised me about being on the school board was how much i enjoyed it. i really loved it. i love meeting with families, meeting with teachers, visiting schools, and getting a deeper understanding of how our system works better and doing it with our communities. on that level, it prepared me for a much wider scale,, what it means to work for constituents, and also kind of -- you know, the low interfacing with your colleagues, working with a large bureaucracy to make it happen. it is tough. it is not easy to come before the community organizers --

working with small nonprofits, it was very unfamiliar to me, to slowly move a large glacier. >> are there any other issues that concern you we have not discussed, or any other issues of specific interest you plan to concentrate on? supervisor kim: job growth, economic development. land use. i did to represent one of the most exciting and dynamic districts in the city. i think it is exciting weekend model how to be a smart growth neighborhood, how we can use transit effectively to serve our city and do a lot of green-type policies we have developed over the last 10 years. but the third area of office is really interested in is how to support families in need. honestly, that is not something

city hall has done in good enough job with. in many ways, we at city hall feel we're off the hook in that area, that we do not have to worry about our public schools, that other people haven't covered. i think the city can do a tremendous amount. it can do a tremendous amount for our families. one thing i learned from my predecessor, chris daly, is what we can do to ensure we are prioritizing parts and affordable housing for our families and -- prioritizing parks and affordable housing for our families. i think that we need to support things that our schools cannot fund, like summer school. i would love for our city, in better revenue years, to have the longest school year and the

longest school day, to really model for the rest of california what you can do if you really fund schools. so, that is the third area. hopefully we will kickstart our economy back up again. >> it looks like we are out of time. i want to thank you for joining us today. supervisor kim: thank you. >> we have been talking to supervisor of jane kim. watch for the next episode when we will be back.

>> hello and welcome to "meet your district supervisor." we're here with supervisor elsbernd from district 7. supervisor elsbernd was appointed to the board in august of 2004 and elected to his seat in november of that year. he is in the middle of his

second term. we will get to know him and learn about the toughest issues facing the city. welcome. tell us about your background. >> i was born and raised in district 7. i went to st. cecilia's grammar school. i went to a small school in los angeles and came back here to teach law school. -- went to lost cool. i went to work here immediately after passing the bar on the first try. i worked at city hall for a few years. then lightning struck and was appointed as a member of the board of supervisors in august of 2004. i have been here ever since. the choice to live in san francisco was made for my family about five generations ago. we have been here a very long time. i could never imagine leaving. this is home.

this is where i am raising my son and hope that he raises his children. >> what motivated you to get into politics? >> i attribute a lot of it to the jesuit credo to be men and women for others. there is the idea that the best way to service through the political process. i have a love for the law. i found a way to combine that with service through the political process. i have always been intrigued by it and the opportunity to present themselves well. >> where do you place yourself on the local political spectrum? >> i do not like labels like left or right. most people would call me in moderate. >> what did you learn campaigning for supervisor? was there anything that surprised you?

>> in my first election, the personal side of the campaign -- i did not appreciate the thick skin you need as a candidate. being a candidate is not the easiest thing in the world. i have come to really appreciate my opponents. while i may disagree with them on policy, they are stepping into the arena and that says a lot about themselves. you really have to respect anybody that does that. >> what are some of the biggest issues facing san francisco now? >> the single most important issue is the budget. whether your concern as homelessness, transportation, parks, public health -- fundamentally, it comes down to how much money we have and how we will spend it.

looking forward, unfortunately it is getting worse. the amount of money we are spending is far outpacing the amount of money coming in. getting our hands around that and how we will bring that into line is the biggest challenge. >> what about the biggest issues facing your district? >> biggest issue right now and for potentially decades to come is parker said -- park merced. the owners have proposed demolishing half of the units and building 8000 new ones over the course of the next 25 to 30 years. that is a significant change for the district and the region. it is right there on the corner of california highway one. whether or not the project moves forward and if it does, how the

city and region grapple with the growth is probably the biggest challenge of the district. >> how will you balance the needs of the city against the needs of your district? >> that is the biggest challenge for any representative, whether it is a local supervisor, assemblyperson, or congressional representative. it is important that i keep in the back of my head that i sit on the city and county board of supervisors. there is a responsibility to the city as a whole. there is no easy way to balance it. you deal with those issued by issue. >> the city is faced with tough budget decisions, including where to make cuts and whether to raise taxes and fees. how will you approach the difficult choices? >> i think the biggest challenge in the budget is the cost associated a city employee pensions and benefits.

those are the single biggest driver to our expenses, far exceeding our revenues. i have a single-minded focus dealing with that. for the last few months. we have been sitting down with our various public employee unions trying to come together on a way to balance the city's needs versus respecting the rights of the employees. if we are able to come to some sort of agreement and present the voters in november with a fair proposal, that will address a lot of the smaller budget issues. we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. on pension and benefits alone, we will be spending just shy of 1 million -- $1 billion. that was with a b. if we can get a handle on that,

some of the other issues will stand down. >> do you feel like we're on the right track? >> we are on the right track. it is february. we're where we should be in february. the difficult decisions come in june and july. hopefully we will still be on the right track when we get there. >> are there any milestones established? >> a big one will be in the middle of march. we will get cost analysis from the retirement system on proposals out there. we will be gauging people's reactions to those numbers as a key market. the first couple of weeks of may will be important. that is when various proposals will be introduced in these chambers for the november ballot. june and july is when the board will vote on what goes in front of the electorate in november. those are the key milestones. >> talk about homelessness and

how you are planning to deal with that as an issue. >> the key there is funding. everything gets back to that issue. we have a number of wonderful plans in place on how to address the homeless issue. we just cannot afford to. we continue to cut funding to shelters, public health programs that help our homeless population. if we were able to do what we have in place and fund that, we would be a better position on that issue. >> are there any specific programs with respect to homelessness that you feel are moving us in the right direction? >> the watershed moment was 2002 when gavin newsom passed care not cash. it turned things around and forced the city to think more about housing. that was a key movement in the right direction. >> let's talk about housing needs and what you think the

board of supervisors should do. >> i was asked about this but a friend i grew up with who now lives in the peninsula. i was fortunate enough that i grew up in the district was able to afford in the district. the vast majority of the friends i grew up with in the neighborhood cannot stay in san francisco. we are really becoming a city that is either for the very rich or very poor. the middle class is losing out. that is the issue of one to focus the board on. addressing it is looking at projects like the park merced project with an open mind and consider how many middle-class units it will create. there's also the transportation impact of the project. what about the dislocation of

the existing tenants? we have to value these things in a different way the we have in the past. >> let's talk about transportation. let's revisit the impact of some of the housing projects on transportation. >> in my district, let's go back to the park merced project. 19th avenue is a mess. there is no easy way to get north-south on the west side. imagine putting 10,000 people right there at the corner of 19th and holloway. it will not make things easier unless there is significant transportation improvements as part of the project. we need to do what we can on the capital side. i would also point to work we were able to accomplish last

year in bringing efficiencies to the way we negotiate bus driver contracts through the passage of proposition g. the great deal of savings will result from that. those dollars will go to improve operations. >> what about parking and traffic? is it safe for pedestrians? >> i do not think there is a block in the district that i have not heard from one resident who has asked for a speed bump or stop sign. it is all in the eye of the beholder, particularly if you live there it is just not safe. that says a lot about what we need to do in terms of enforcement. we have great loss on the book. but if they're not getting in forced, -- we have great laws on the book, but if they're not getting in forced. we need to improve that area.

>> let's talk about crime. how do you think the police department is doing? how do you think the city is addressing the issue of crime? >> the way we have been handling it is a marked improvement from where we were 10 years ago. the notion of community policing is instilled within the department. talking to the merchants associations and neighborhood groups, i felt that the connections between those organizations and the police is vastly improved. that provides a sense of safety. it is almost the same as a foot patrol officer walking the beat. knowing that you can contact your captain or surgeon and they will be responsive is a critical piece of the notion of well being and being safe. our department has done a very good job on that over the last few years. >> the governor has proposed

eliminating funding for redevelopment agencies. what do you think of that plan and the value of redevelopment agencies? >> redevelopment agencies have been very successful. golden gateway, treasure island, bayview. there is no question about it. they have been very beneficial. that said, i have a tremendous amount of respect for the very difficult position governor brown finds himself in. i am not as familiar with the state budget as the local budget. i think the state budget to any casual observer is absolutely broken. it will take radical changes like what the governor is proposing. when the state government gets fixed, whether it is redevelopment or some other local important piece, san francisco will get hurt. there is no way to fix that problem without hurting san francisco and every other city and county in the state.

the state has been far outspending what it should. it will come home to roost in the next couple of years. >> was talk about the city's economic development and whether we are on the right track. if we are not, let's talk about the right steps to take. >> i think we're on the right track. the key is recognizing it. san francisco decades ago was home to the fantastic manufacturing industry and specialized service industry. we have to think of san francisco 30 years from now and try to prepare ourselves for the new economies. i do think biotech will be a key piece. information technology, can we be the hub of that? we have to address our payroll tax, land use decisions. we have to put in place a

conducive atmosphere to attracting those economies. when we do that, it helps with our basic budget. it helps develop jobs. there is a lot we can do to catch the new economy. >> is there anything the city needs to do in changing its current approach to economic development to facilitate these ideas? >> the payroll tax. we are taxing employers on how many jobs they create. that seems counterproductive. we want to encourage people to create jobs. i do not think asking employers to pay a tax on how many they create makes sense. i think addressing that would be a wise move. >> talk about sports. are you happy with the america's cup? do we need to be spending money

on the 49 years? >> the america's cup will be fantastic. i was thrilled to support that. and was very involved in bringing the presidents cup. that is the top 12 u.s. golfers and top 12 international golfers coming to district 7. the giants world championship, what that did for san francisco translated into spending money. that was a good thing for our economy. in terms of the forty-niners, i am not convinced we need to spend money to keep them here. i have a strong suspicion of the supposed to deal in santa clara is a house of cards. we have a great program for them all set up with a new lennar development at candlestick park. i think they will recognize that and come back. >> was there anything magical that happened in your district as a result of t