established years ago was one of the biggest contributors to the education budget. but we're not even satisfied with that, because when we do those investments, then somehow the state can't get their act together, but now i think governor brown has got his hold on this. we're see something light there. and we're watching what the federal government does, so it doesn't hurt us and at the same time we're making more and more investments to our kids and families. >> let's go to the big burning issue at the moment, san francisco city college, and is san francisco mayor ed lee going to step forward and bail out city college to its keep accreditation, in the same way that the city has stepped forward and helped the public schools? i know that is a tough question. >> it is, but let me say this. it's a tough question, but it's also one that is easily answered because of our

constant investment and my approach towards the role of education. community college is an incredible institution in san francisco. it is where people in their mid-careers need additional skills to meet the market demands of a new workforce. it is where many people who don't make it into berkeley and stanford and all the great institutions come to get an great educational start. it's where a lot of economically-challenged families invest in their kids. it is where veterans, returning from afghanistan and iran and iraq come because they are not ready yet to apply to the big universities. they are smart enough to do that, but they want to get going at city college. >> do you see the city in this budget cycle actually carving out a dollar amount? >> here is what we're doing, because i don't think it is

always to be measured by the amount of money you give for bailouts. i have been paying personal attention to their accreditation program. i have had interim chancellor scott in my office and i had the state chancellor, who is in charge of accreditation in my office, on the phone, on a monthly basis. i have worked directly with our controller, and a team of people from our controller's office, to pour over the economics. because part of the challenge was that their accreditation had to do with two broad areas: their economic stability, but also the way they governed themselves over many, many years and when you read the accreditation report, it didn't happen overnight. it happened over many, many years of decisions that didn't pay attention to a number of factors. and so recovering from that takes more than just financial investment.

it takes a concerted partnership, with the city, to make better decisions, to get a culture of governance there that pays attention to the bottom line that they have to have their accreditation in front of them. they didn't do every single thing they want to do in educational world and call it "education {,"} but to be accredited so people who invest their dollars there can get the kind of degrees. when you read the acreditation report they pointed out 14 different areas to make improvement and we're on top of making sure all 14 areas get improved starting off with a good governance. it is not simply a dollar bailout. it is much more than that. and i want the public to read that report. to appreciate what it will take to make sure that for generations to come, our city college will not go down the

path of making mistakes as they have, and be both a partner to the city. because we are already invested. we are invested in hundreds of thousands of dollars in programs. i have got money in tech training programs with them. we have got money in employment training programs with city college. we're supporting them in many, many ways through the financial reviews and partnerships that we're creating and these sorts of things will bring them into a strong, sustainable recovery, not one that is a one-shot one. sometimes, barbara, when you give people money and you save them for a year, have you really corrected the problem? that is what we are faced with city college. >> let's just stop for a moment and remind all of you out there who are either watching this online or on sf san francisco city government station this is the 2013 online budget town hall meeting with

san francisco mayor ed lee. i am barbara taylor the bureau chief. i have a question that i will call "the pothole question." and it's the question that everybody always wants to know about when they drive through san francisco and they are hitting potholes and they are getting all shaken up whether they are on a bicycle, scooter or motorcycle, they say please speed up the repaving of my roads so i can ride around town without getting my teeth getting torn up in the mayhem. this comes from kyle parks >> kyle, thank you. you join a chorous of people who want roads focused on and i would encourage you to follow-up on your email and give us the route that you have and we can espond back to you

directly about the priorities of those routes. because we have had a disinvestment of roads to many years. i used to be the public works director and i would scream at the board saying give us resources and it was not as high priority as i am making it. i want to first of all thank the public, because a couple of years ago they passed, with the leadership of supervisors wiener and supervisor chiu and others. many of you should see the roads that already being repaved and they are lovely. i have ridden on them both on bike and in a car and it's an incredible difference. i know the riders can feel that when they ride on bicycle roads. having said that, we need a long-term solution. this bond is going to run out and our promise was that we would replace it with something

that would be permanent in producing the kind of revenue it takes to constantly repair our roads. and so we're already doing that. there is a commitment to do that and we have in sight something that the states had finally done for us, which is allow us to use the vehicle license fee to be part of that permanent effort to go on. we're going to pass that in the next year to do that and it will be part of our general fund to segment out of a portion of that money, enough so that the major thoroughfares of the city are constantly updated so there are less potholes. i happen to say that because i am trying to read my notes going to the next meeting and i can't do that hitting potholes so i want to assure you that we have a system to do that. public works is expediting all of this bond money already and i think people are beginning to

feel that these roads are getting attention. i want to thank the supervisors for their leadership on this. >> we're not going to let you off the hook today without discussing taxes and we have an email from arthu perco, who lives on washington street in san francisco. i am going to kind of shorten his question a little bit and add a question of my own. his question is would you be willing to raise taxes on the wealthiest san franciscans if the state legislature enacts legislation to allow california citis to tax income? and the question i want to tag onto that is what about fees? do you see any higher parking meter fees? parking fines? expanded parking? i am sorry supervisor farrell isn't still here, because this is something that concerns him and what about rec and park fees and what about other things that the city charges? do you see tax increases in fees in this

budget? also, just going to throw in for a final zinger, that will take you the next half hour. >> let my say first our city of san francisco as incredible as it is and when you see a budget that is $7.4 billion, everybody says wow, that is like a budget of a country. >> it is, in fact, the budget of some countries. >> exactly. we're already an expensive city. residents, visitors, everybody tells me it's expensive to live in the city, not just housing cost, but fees and access to things and i'm very sensitive to that. i want everybody to enjoy what we have. i want to get to the part that we can sustain these things without putting more financial burden on people. i think everybody is being taxed pretty high in our city,

whether it's fees or permits or paying for muni and other parking and others. we're at a point where people are kind of sick and tired of being harangued for every penny that they have. with that sentiment, we're trying to make sure that all of our fees and current processes are keeping that in check, that we don't put more burden on the public. and that goes for every agency, whether it's rec and park or muni or the late effort to increase fees that maybe somebody thought hadn't been increased in 25 years adds to everything else. we should try to be more innovative and creative and that is why we're working with technology experts in the city, how can we make things more efficient without increasing costs? how can we get the

benefit of our current dollars? that is why i like it the way we have done in our ten-year capital plan. you know, barbara, we are rebuilding our hospital $980 million effort there, without increasing people's property taxes as a result. every time we approached these bonds and i had the privilege of working on the ten-year capital plan and one of the principles that mayor newsom and i had was why don't we put together a ten-year plan, so when we do finish a project that was using bonds and we retired that debt? let's use that gap only and not go over it and make that promise. and so now we have got a public safety building that is being built. we have a new fire station being built and libraries

without increase increasing the tax. i like that feeling because the public is getting the benefit of what they paid for in past years and getting new stuff, that maybe other cites are saying that we have to keep raising taxes for this. i don't want to raise taxes. that is the best example. i would like every department to go through a ten-year capital planning structure like we have done and suggest that they can have new things, whether it's buses, or new railways or stations, without having to increase the burden on the public. and i think we deserve to have that kind of thinking, that kind of creativeness. we did that with the capital plan and why can't we do that with every one of our institutions? >> it sounds like you are saying that you really do not like the idea of any kinds of tax hikes or fees or fares that the public has been burdened enough. let's me just , woabe

in this year's budget? >> i don't know if i can do it on this station, because we are still in the middle of a process of understanding what the public wants out of the budget, but i will tell you the principles is that we try very hard not to increase the burden on it. and i would love to get to that stage, but i can't do it when i don't know what the federal government is going to do. i mean this whole debate around sequestration gives us an unplanned for hit that has repercussions on our public health and public housing and talk about burdens. i really have the burden helping to make sure that our public housing residents have better housing without increasing the burden on our other residents. so i just want to make sure that when i say something, i can deliver it. i think we have a path forward, but i want to be honest, and this is all about transparency. i can't promise what i don't

know yet, if i can deliver, and i will do that at some time when i am very concern about what our budget is. because we're still watching out for things that we can't control. >> thank you. san francisco is a town that loves animals, we especially love our dogs. san francisco is considered one of the most dog-friendly citis in the nation. i don't know if you knew that or not, but at the same time, the city per capita spends less on animal care and control than any other county in the bay area, just about $4 million. and even to bring the city up to the median level would take another $2 million, can you help out in this budget to bring at least this city's animal care and control up to the median level with a $2 million increase? >> i at the end think it's a perfect example of a department i have with rebecca katz talked about private and public

investment and i think you are right, animal owners and guardians, if you will, are things of great emotional attachments to the quality of life in our city. having said that, it is perfect to create public-private partnerships to sustain their shelters, their programs, they are retrieval processes, there are ways to make both guardians and animals safer and quality animal care. we're working out an ability to talk about the mission of the animal care and control department in the way that it attracts private investment. i think they have been doing well. all the food for the shelters right now is not general fund money. it's being paid for by

companies that want to invest in our city and they think animal care is the right way to do it. we're going to have much more of that investment and match that with general fund. >> like a number of city agencies, there is the friends of animal care and control and people are invited to send small and large donations, all of them would be appreciated. there is the friends of rec and park and friends of libraries that have used this philanthropic opportunity to get the public that really cares about those departments to come forward and help out. >> absolutely, and the success of our city, with so many companies moving in, many of the ceos have talked about their commitment, both as company owners and their employees and we're beginning to see their contributions in the neighborhood. look at what is happening at market and the employees of twitter and one king's lane and they are going out into the neighborhoods.

they are helping us clean up parks, get rid of graffiti. it can't all be on government employees to do some of this. and so you are going to see some of the -- i think, some of the biggest philanthropic efforts with our relationship with sf city and the tech chamber of commerce and complimenting the traditional chamber of commerce where economic success translates into investments in our neighborhoods it is. >> for those who may just be joining, i am barbara taylor the city hall bureau chief and i'm here with san francisco mayor ed lee and we're taking questions from the public, from you, about what the city's budget priorities should be. we had a pretty lively conversation for 45 minutes and also with the help of kate howard, the mayor's budget director. we have just got about 15 minutes left and i would love to get quickly through a few

more questions before we run out of time. in the past few years, it has exploded in popularity, bicycles. what will help the city meet its goal of 20% trips by bike by 2020? that is a very ambitious goal and something that the city are will do to make the streets more user-friendly for bicycles? >> next week is bike-to-work week and i am ready to demonstrate again and give them consciousness and at the same time, yes, we will continue to invest not only in bicycle lanes, but the ongoing conversation about bicycles being even more accepted mode of transportation to get around our city. i love the fact that you can park bicycles in places where you could never do a vehicle.

i like the healthiness of bicycles. obviously, the conversation in the past year has been about safety for everybody, and we want to continue investing in that and we have a great conversation with the bicycle coalition, in all of these areas. and where are the biggest investments that we can make to get people where they want to go? obviously, commutes to work is important. but also commuting to these big, huge events that we sponsor in the city. whether it's america's cup or going to the concerts in the parks, all the different festivals. we are always, note only advertising, but promoting the routes in a way that they won't be interfered with other modes

of transportation. they write about mission street being corridors, but these are great conversations and they bring there advocates and they bring in neighborhoods. the neighborhood small businesses like bikes, because i think the bicycle concentration usually has people say, hey, i want to make had a stop here. i want to do more in this neighborhood where cars might ride by, but i found myself taking a lot of great looks at areas i hadn't seen before as biking through the city. i am a member of the coalition myself and i want to be engaged where we can make it friendly and safe for everybody. i think the conversations have been much more acceptable in the confines of our mta, about accepting the different modes. and i think as we approach recreating some avenues of our

streets, when we have the planning and the resources to do so, we're creating places in which both cars, public vehicles, as well as bikes can all be very successful in this efforts. i am excited to see some of these new areas that are under discussion, to see how we can blend people in and make sure they are safe. i have to deal with some of the friction going on between car drivers and bicyclists to make sure that they all say safety is the no. 1 priority in how we conduct ourselves. >> tweet from ronnie, who is asking the mayor, will there be some new things in your budget to curb gun violence in the southeastern neighborhoods? and maybe this would be a good opportunity to talk about some of the police academy classes that you have online. >> that is right. there is already a commitment for two classes of police

academy. of course a lot of that has to do with an earlier challenge that we were faced with for so many years, the retirement of so many of our officers. at the same time, i think we are also focused on areas of concentration. the conversation that i had last year on my program of interrupting behavior, predictive policing, and organizing our community. we call it the ipo strategy that the chief and i have been embraces is to suggest that the police department interrupt certain areas that we know if we do not, violence will happen. the interruption is not just police and cannot be only on the shoulders of officer, buts that to be youth violence prevention, better education, focus on the families and provide a level of services where people see an alternative

to violence coming to an end. it has to work all in concert and putting resources to the new ambassador program, eyes and ears on the street. let people know if you are going to work or coming back to work, we have you covers with additional eyes and ears on the muni stops that were the focus of this and some of the corridors. and it's all about education. the police chief suhr has been great focusing that technology gear and they are focused on it on streets. be aware your surroundings and make sure your ipad and iphone are not out there, ready for people to say hey, i'm going to take a quick opportunity to do something about this. and just be aware of your surroundings and have everybody more aware about that. so it takes education around people as well to quell it. having said that as well, big

investment in entities like the boys and girls, omega club and our police department working together with them. we have gun buyback programs. i have been putting money into gun buyback programs to get the guns off our street. while we advocate for that, i think the gun buyback program is important. i think educational is important. i think community-based organizations are important to get the barriers and isolation out of there, as along as good community predictive policing. >> let me ask you one final question, and i think it's one question that a lot of people have when they attend the town hall meeting or listen to one ho city departments have been

working on their budgets for nine months, to realistically, does any of this matter? how seriously will you take the input you have been getting from the community and the questions you have been asked today and do you have a specific example you could give us very quickly, of the way your mind got changed by the public coming forward and saying we really need this in your budget? >> well, i think you can look at the last couple of years, when we balanced our budget. we had a tremendous amount of input. we had these hearings, where -- and i asked people, you don't have to do kind of tense rallies and make sure that the message, the point is registered and people will respond. i think if you look in the social service areas where we listened to people to say, make sure some of the youth-violence program gets funded because that is going to help you and

we did that. last year there was a huge effort to focus on nutrition of seniors and it wasn't in the original budget for the department. it was not reflected in there and, in fact there were a lot of things that were not reflected in the health department and youth department and they had a lot of cuts and through the work of the community coming forward, we restored that. so that contentious years of where these hearings at the board of supervisors and they were really angry at the mayor's budget, the last couple of years you don't see that. you see a coalescing of the board and mayor working together because we are both intent on hearing the priorities and reflecting those. we allowed and warned the department heads that we're not going to necessarily accept your recommendations, because ultimately it's my decision to

put forth a balanced budget to the board for their concurrence and that is why you find the budget town halls, there is a lot of the department heads there, listening very carefully and watching my reaction to the testimony that is presented, because they know if i get really excited about something, their budgeted better reflect that emotion, because i care about what people say. i care about their half an hour-to hour sacrifice of their time on a saturday morning to come out and tell us what is important to them and we'll honor that reflection. i can't do everything, but i will certainly hear and we have done enough examples as i say youth and different types of youth there the diversity of the city were reflected. nutrition programs for our seniors and homeless shelters ng e its to deliver on helping some of the homeless

population was reflected. housing was a big conversation last year and look at what we did with the housing trust fund and that is literally a set aside in our general fund, but it's a big one. we listened very well and that is why we're enjoying good communications with our public. >> thank you. i'm afraid that is all the time we have here. we have to wrap it up here. i hope you all enjoyed the 2013 online budget town hall meeting with san francisco mayor ed lee. we want to thank all of you who previously submitted questions to mayor lee and those who emailed and tweeted questions during this online conversation over the city budget. and we also want to remind that you the mayor has four budget town hall meetings left. so if you didn't get your question asked or your thoughts expressed today, you still have a chance. the next one is this saturday, for districts 8 and 9, that is the mission, the castro, glen

park, noe valley and we'll be not only with mayor ed lee, but supervisors campos and wiener. it's 9:00 at cesar chavez elementary school in san francisco. for a complete schedule of all of the meetings for the budget town halls you can go to sfmayor.org and any time you can email your budget feedback to the mayor at mayoredwinlee@sf.gov.org and mai mayor we have literally 15 seconds for a closing remark if you want to say anything. >> i am incredibly excited about our county. we are transparent and open and this online is another good

example, but i am truly invested in the success of this city and i want everybody to know that we'll have a lot more conversations about the future of our city. i think we are on the edge of talking about things like the economy and getting more people involved in the economic success of our city. the role of technology and rolling out of health care reform, challenges all of us. how do we get good, healthy citizens and programs out there to do it? a lot of good conversations, no longer negative about what you didn't do to me, but what we can do together to investment in each other? i would like a budget that reflects that. >> thank you so much, and i am barbara taylor with k cbs radio and thank you all for joining us. if you have comments come out to one of the mayor's budget town hall meetings or drop him at line at his