understand the risk and protect his property. so thank you. >> vice president fung: mr. ludky, i did not see, in your letter any indication of concern over the calculations. >> i couldn't understand the calculation. >> vice president fung: no. but you have reviewed it now with the structural engineer that designed -- >> it's not perfect. there are overstresses in some of the members. but that's not -- i'm not going to -- i don't think it's appropriate to get into those details. it's not perfect, but it's better -- you know, it's adequate. i'll say that. it seems to be adequate. >> vice president fung: thank you. >> i have a question also. there was a statement that i had that if this geogrouting were to travel that it actually could be a benefit. could you discuss that. >> i think it's subjective. keith has probably some geogrout underneath the west side of his

house from the 2881 project because that was adjacent to his property. if you have differential soil along the length of the property which it's going to entd up which think some of the foundation may have strengthened soil by the -- grouting, some of his foundation under his house may not. the question is how it's going to behave in a an earthquake with differential materials under the house, i can't predict what would happen. but i think if all the construction is successfully executed, then all of the soil that's underneath his foundation will be restrained by the adjacent foundations and retaining walls and drainage if everything is properly built. my point of view in my recommendation to keith is it's a very high risk construction. we have done some due diligence talking to other geotechnical engineers that's had experience with these contractors. nobody's perfect. it depends a lot on who's doing the work. i told keith we would -- again, i understand what dbi said.

having continued inspection, having people pay attention every step of the way what's going on would be highly desirable, especially in the shoring and excavation procedure because even the contractor says that personaliation grouting is not perfect. sometimes they find problems so they have to address the problems during excavation. if the material was further away from the property, that would be less of a concern. i -- good construction, so that was my advice to keith. all right? >> we can take rebuttal from the permit holder. >> i'll try to briefly answer mr. ludky's points. he talks about unnamed geotechnical consultants. if they have, i haven't heard of them. he mentioned no names.

this process that we went through is very sophisticated, as a design -- in design. the reviewer was david pang of dbi, who's very, very good engineer, who is a very, very good engineer. the gentleman here keep talking about geogrout. geogrout is a company that looked at the project a year ago, for a different structural engineer, mersa in oakland. they are not involved in the project. we chose -- or the specialty subcontractor chose another contractor with bigger, better equipment, that is less seat of the pants type of work, it's electronic, it's very sophisticated. and it's the injection of a very fine -- cement. there's no chemicals involved because of the epa rules. and water. and it's like randy said, if you go to the beach, you excavate

sand. at first, it's moist and it will stand up. it's moist and it will stand up. as soon as it dries, it starts to fall apart. so by turning it into this weak concrete or some people call it sandstone you do away with that. the process involves a grid of four foot six on center, not from the property line. at four foot six on center, there's a nozzle that's stuck down and there's a group of people that are trained nozzlemen. there's dials on their machine -- on the top of the rod. the hoses, the exact pressure, how much grout goes into the cement. it's a very safe process. all the trees -- major trees above the grouting process, they're all going to be preserved. we have an arborist, a very sophisticated operation that's going to take place.

and these nozzlemen who do the work are very experienced, and there's two of them for each -- one of them watches the dials, the pressure, the amount of water, the amount of cement, the mixture, then there's two or three people on the truck, there's people operating the hoses. it just -- it's way beyond what these gentlemen think it is. they just don't know. but dbi knows because they approved these kind of projects all the time. and it's a safety measure -- some people try to excavate in sand without any shoring and that's when you'll have movement. but when you turn the sand into sandstone you don't have the movement. it's very expensive, very expensive. but that's the -- we're going through. thank you. anything else? any questions? >> thank you. >> thank you. >> any rebuttal from the

departments? okay. commissioners, the matter is yours. >> vice president fung: well, commissioners, the question is whether the department erred in issuing this permit. and what has been brought up is questions related to potential risk. i'd rather use that term. it's difficult to assess exactly what the risk is. the problem with underground is that it's not always consistent. and that runs from the borings

that are done on a spot basis, limited basis, usually, to ascertain what the profiles are is one thing. however, most people would design these with a great deal of conservativism and i think that's probably what not only the engineers but the department reviewing it. looking at the appellant's letters related to their analysis of the situation, i would say that their concerns are what is potential risk, and less so with a serious deficiency or error made in this particular either design or the issuance of the permit. i'm surprised that one of the things that wasn't brought up is water flow. it was, in one word issued in --

because underground construction like this especially, with this type of grouting, is going to change the water flow, undergroundwater flow in that area. whether it impacts adjacent neighbors or not, it's really hard to determine. but it's a common enough technology these days, it's common enough to use it also for water-proofing purposes when you do certain types of injection. so i think that, at this point, i do not see anything in the appellant's appeal to warrant that we either condition or seriously review further the permit.

>> president hwang: i'm similarly inclined to hold the permit. i think i'm sympathetic that as the neighboring adjacent property owner, you have concerns about this massive and complicated project happening right next to you. and i think, you know, raising those concerns puts them on clear notice that should anything come up that impacts your home, you know, you've -- it's already been discussed. i don't think, however, we have enough before us to undo the work from the assessment of the department in issuing the permit. >> i appreciate commissioner fung's analysis in the framing it in terms of the potential risk versus any kind of known flaw. and so i would concur.

>> vice president fung: i move to uphold the permit and deny the appeal. >> before a roll call, i just wanted to advise everyone in the room the sheriff has asked that we all exit through the grove street side of the building because of the activities outside. >> vice president fung: grove street? >> grove street. >> vice president fung: how do we get there? >> in the basement. >> vice president fung: that's a long walk. >> exactly. >> thank you. >> we have a motion from the vice president to deny this appeal and uphold the permit. on that motion, president hwang, aye. commissioner hurtado is absent.

commissioner lazarus, aye. thank up. 3-0, this permit is upheld. thank you. >> presiden.>> there is no furts before the board. >> president hwang: we're adjourned.

we are celebrating the glorious grand opening of the chinese rec center. ♪

1951, 60 years ago, our first kids began to play in the chinese wrecks center -- rec center. >> i was 10 years old at the time. i spent just about my whole life here. >> i came here to learn dancing. by we came -- >> we had a good time. made a lot of friends here. crisises part of the 2008 clean neighborhood park fund, and this is so important to our families. for many people who live in chinatown, this is their backyard. this is where many people come to congregate, and we are so happy to be able to deliver this project on time and under budget. >> a reason we all agreed to name this memorex center is because it is part of the

history of i hear -- to name this rec center, is because it is part of the history of san francisco. >> they took off from logan airport, and the call of duty was to alert american airlines that her plane was hijacked, and she stayed on the phone prior to the crash into the no. 9 world trade center. >> i would like to claim today the center and the naming of it. [applause] >> kmer i actually challenged me to a little bit of a ping pong -- the mayor actually challenge me to a little bit of a ping- pong, so i accept your challenge. ♪

>> it is an amazing spot. it is a state of the art center. >> is beautiful. quarkrights i would like to come here and join them

♪ >> welcome to hamilton recreation and aquatics center.

it is the only facility that has an integrated swimming pool and recreation center combined. we have to pools, the city's water slide, for little kids and those of you that are more daring and want to try the rockslide, we have a drop slide. >> exercises for everybody. hi have a great time. the ladies and guys that come, it is for the community and we really make it fun. people think it is only for those that play basketball or swim. >> i have been coming to the pool for a long time now. it is nice, they are sweet. >> in the aquatics center, they are very committed to combining

for people in san francisco. and also ensuring that they have public safety. >> there are a lot of different personalities that come through here and it makes it very exciting all the time. they, their family or teach their kids have a swim. >> of the gem is fantastic, there is an incredible program going on there, both of my girls have learned to swim there. it is a fantastic place, check it out. it is an incredible indication of what bonn dollars can do with our hearts and facilities. it is as good as anything you will find out why mca.

parents come from all over. >> there are not too many pools that are still around, and this is one-stop shopping for kids. you can bring your kid here and have a cool summer. >> if you want to see some of the youth and young men throughout san francisco play some great pickup games, come wednesday night for midnight basketball. on saturdays, we have a senior lyons dance that has a great time getting exercise and a movement. we have all the music going, the generally have a good time. whether it is awkward camp or junior guard.

>> from more information, visit >> thanks for coming out this beautiful san francisco day. for those of you from out of town, it is like this every day in san franciscoúud i cannot really say that compellingly because some of our out-of-towner's are from the bay area. i'm the director of transportation in san francisco. among other things, it gives me the honor and privilege of running our beloved muni system here in san francisco. on average weekday, that means boarding more than 700,000 people. add ac transit, bart, golden

gate, and there are a lot of people that the transit agencies of the bay area are moving to get to work, to get to where they need to go every day. :::::::zoñ pae qeñ?ñ?economy here in the bay ad we feel very honored to be a part of that. but in order to move all those people and in order to move them well, we need to invest in maintaining our assets, our buses, trains, assistance to support them moving safely and efficiently through the city, and we need to make them better. we want to attract more people to transit especially as the bay area continues to grow. we want transit to be the most effective and most reliable way for people to get around. but to make those kinds of investments requires leadership. we are very fortunate here in the bay area to have that kind of leadership. from president obama, all the g

state, to our local and regional leaders, we have had the leadership we need to make that investment in transit and transportation in the bay area. we are very lucky for that and that is the reason we are here today. without further ado, i want to introduce our local leader here, san francisco mayor ed lee. >> thank you. good morning, everyone. we can do, besides what at redskin and the mta board, and all the staff have been doing, investing in our system and making it better and better, it is to realize that our municipal system is connected to a whole regional system. this morning you see a backdrop here a lot of our partners in the region. from caltrans, sam trans,

everyone that works together here locally. that is not only important to us as a city, but clearly, coming from the u.s. conference of mayors this past weekend, we realize cities across the country are looking atz!zxxf transportation systems and making sure they are connected appropriately, whether there are regional or state or federal. so we are doing the right things. whether it is connecting with top -- caltrans to make sure that high-speed rail is appropriately convicted for the future, or in the transbay center with ac transit systems here for the r/$z" are connected with bart, or with all of the different lines, right down to the bicycle lane that people want to use. this connection is so vital to the success of any transit system, so it is that backdrop

that we are part of a great announcement that i do not want to take the thunder from, but i want to welcome hereii'ó are y federal transit administrator 2 reece mcmillan to make the announcement, but i also want to announce that we are here as a t$nk/ and part of a region in total appreciation of the connectivity that our federal government want to make sure happens. there is no transit system that exists in and of itself. there have to be connections to other parts of it. that is the beauty and the investment that we make. as ed reiskin said, i am eternally grateful to president obama, leader pelosi, senator feinstein, boxer, others who are working so diligently with us to make these connections so that we/xo other regional transit system. so with that, please welcome our deputy administrator for the

federal transit authority therese mcmillan. [applause] >> thank you so much, mayor lee. before we begin with my very good news for the region, the mayor mentioned how important connections are. i would like all of us to recall another connection we have as a human community and take a moment of silence out of respect for the victims and families of the aurora, colorado tragedy that happened yesterday. thanks very much. on behalf of transportation secretarys÷ [l$eñ lahood, i am d to be here today to announce quality public transportation in the san francisco bayyya home region, about to take another step forward. for the third year in a row, we are announcing funds to help transit agencies across the country modernize and repair their bosses and related

facilities, bringing these systems into a state of repair, a commitment the san francisco bay area has had for many years. .9 transit providers together are receiving over $45 million collectively to make traveling by transit faster, more efficient, more comfortable, and safer than ever. congratulations to all of you for your commitment. the projects here in this region range from replacing old diesel buses in san francisco, san mateo, santa clara, and our neighbors to the south in monterey. these buses have logged thousands of miles over the years, and importantly, being replaced with clean, fuel- efficient hybrid!ø vehicles but also improve the environment that we all love and respect here. as well, we will be upgrading bus service as part in the muni

rapid network, so is faster than ever for commuters in ocean view and north beach to get to downtown san francisco. that is a wonderful investment as well. upgrades for ac transit and real time transit information stations at bart to improve travelers experience. to underscore the point made by ed and mayor lee, making people want to take public transit is key to improving the option that we have for traveling. these awards, over all, are a big win for everyone because they will reduce highway congestion, improve air quality, and help the region continue to offer a balanced transportation options that increase the livability of this beautiful area. together, the state of california is receiving more than $125 million for much- needed projects of the same

nature. across the country, though, altogether, we are investing $787 million for projects like this across the country, to protect and preserve transportation systems that we have already built. it is important for us, of course, to improve and expand our systems. i will be speaking a bit about progress in washington to that effect. one of the important priorities of the obama administration has been to advocate for state of repair projects that create essential jobs and investment. we are especially pleased in that regard, that the new two- year transportation authorization that the president signed into law in early july, will continue to fund at a much higher level of the true needs- based approach to bus and rail

systems to a state of repair. all of us in this administration fought hard for this bill and the many provisions to strengthen transportation across the country. iprovides $21 billion for transit capital investments that will )r put americans back to work preparing our nation's infrastructure. the bill also provides tos[ to our state and local partners flexibility to fund the most important and urgent projects without congressional earmarks. importantly, for the first time, map 21 gives the federal transit administration oversight over transit safety, a long overdue step that will provide americans with confidence that the subways, streetcars, buses, and light rail system they ride e are working very o implement the new law as quickly as we