fit your pet in comfortably and you need to take your pet with you when you were evacuated. >> i am going to thank you very much for joining us and bringing oreo today. and i am go >> hello and welcome to me your district supervisor. we're here with supervisors got scott wiener.

he started his first term this january. we are going to get to know him and talk about the issues facing the city. welcome. thank you for joining us today. tell us about your background, where you grew up, went to school, and what kind of jobs to have had. >> i grew up in the philadelphia area, in new jersey. i went to school up and down the east coast. i went to undergrad at duke university. i went to law school at harvard. after clerking for a judge, i came out here in 1997. i have been here for the last 14 years. i have always lived in the castro. i am an attorney. i started out in private practice. i settle private law firm during complex commercial litigation. in 2002, and moved over to the sentences the city attorney's office where i worked on the trial team doing trials for the city, handling my own cases, and

supervising a team of attorneys as well. >> why did you choose to live in san francisco? >> i always assumed i would go back to the philadelphia area since that is where my family is. i was always interested in san francisco in terms of what it is as a city, its culture, it's amazing lgbt community. i came out here for a summer, fell in love with it. i have been interested in politics since i was a kid. i worked on campaigns as a teenager. i was involved campaign against senator jesse helms when i was in college. when i cannot hear, and was not initially involved politically. -- when i came out here, i was not initially involved politically. i helped to build the lgbt community center. i started doing campaigns.

i gradually got involved in democratic party politics. i got involved in the alice b. toklas democratic club. i ran for the democratic central committee in 2004. i ended up sharing the committee. it was a gradual process for me. by the time i started thinking about running for supervisor, it made sense because of my involvement in the community and in politics. >> what did you learn from campaigning for supervisor? >> i learned a lot. i knocked on about $15,000. -- i knocked about 15,000 doors. i met a huge number of people. that is the best way to learn about the neighborhood, the city, and what people want and what their concerns are. i feel i can do so much more than before and started campaigning. -- i feel like i know so much more than before i started campaigning. we're all part of the left on

the national standard. i am a good liberal democrat. in the san francisco spectrum, and probably considered more middle of the road. -- i am probably considered more middle-of-the-road. i am very independently comes to the issues. i do not vote the party line. a judge each issue on its merits. that is how i am. >> what do you feel are some of the biggest issues facing san francisco now? >> the budget is the most imminent issue. we do have a structural budget deficit in the city. we need to deal with the short- term balancing of the budget in a way that does not decimate basic city services that people rely on but also to address our long term structural budget deficit. that means implementing budget reforms that will smooth out the

budget process so that it is not a boom-bust process. that means reforming our pension and retiree system so that they are stable and do not drain the general fund. that is a big aspect of it. another huge issue is the deferred maintenance on our infrastructure. we have a lot of infrastructure that has been deteriorating because we have not maintained properly. that includes roads, sewer systems, muni. we need to be much more diligent about maintaining our infrastructure. some of the big citywide issues that impact the district include transportation. we had more muni service and some other districts. it is not always reliable. some of the major bus lines in the district are not reliable. we have major projects like the

renovation of delores park. it is an opportunity to define what the park is and what changes we want to make to it. that is going to be and port project, the same thing with glen canyon that is going to undergo a lot of work. one of the most challenging parts of the new district supervisor is that we elect the supervisors by district. it is very important to pay attention to the district, be engaged in the projects in the district. we also represent the whole city. any district supervisor that focuses on the district without addressing the citywide issues is not doing his or her job. every day, i make sure i am working on the major citywide issues and the district issues. i try to be disciplined about that.

>> how will you approach the tough choices? >> i think we have to start by looking at the most critical city services that we cannot do without. what are the ones that if they deteriorated, we will pay the price on? public safety falls into that category as a basic critical service. transportation, making sure we have the functional muni is critical. core public health services like dealing with mental on this on our streets -- with mental illness on our streets. if we do not provide services, we will pay the price. it works out from there in terms of budget priorities. >> with your plans on dealing with homelessness?

>> it is homelessness in general and behavior on the streets. we need to make sure people have access to services. i was a supporter of putting the money we taking the money we're putting into the system to provide housing. we need to make sure people have access to services. we need to make sure that we have standards of behavior on our streets. most homeless people did not cause any problems on our streets. they are a small group the causing problems. we need to make sure we have the standards of behavior. there are some kinds of behavior that are not ok and they need to report that. . she mentioned housing needs. what are the housing needs? how should the board of supervisors address these? >> there are a few different areas we need to address. housing affordability or lack there of is a major challenge for the city. it is harder to afford housing

in the city if you are lower or middle income. we need to address that. i want to focus on work force housing. we do a good job of generating high in housing. we can always do better. we do a decent job providing low-income housing. we do a terrible job providing housing for lower middle class and middle-class people, people who are working and paying taxes. we need to have them here for a functioning economy. i am looking for ways to fund more of that kind of housing, particularly for a central employees like teachers, nurses, first responders. we need to make sure that our development is a transit- oriented. we do not want to encourage suburban sprawl. we want to do infill housing so

that people can live near where they work and near public transportation. >> let's talk about public transportation. is there adequate muni service in your district? what is the parking and traffic situation like? >> muni is not near where it needs to be. in the caster, we have the subway. -- in the castro, we have the subway. a can be terrific or frustrating. we are next to the bart line. in other parts of the district, is unreliable. the writeridership is lower bece of unreliability.

other lines are not as frequent and people not think of using them. we have a particular problem in diamond heights. the neighborhood is served primarily by the 52 line. it is incredibly unreliable. the buses miss runs-------. for awhile, muni was ending service at 9:00 or 10:00 at night. it is up on a hill. without service, it is isolated. another thing i am working on is trying to get more taxis onto the street. a world-class taxi system is a complement to any public transportation system. >> how do you think the police department is doing? do you have any thoughts on how the city is dealing with crime? >> i was a big supporter of chief gaston.

i think he will do a great job in the district attorney's office. part of me was sad to see him go from the police department. he had come in and started modernizing the department. it's technology -- a lot of different changes that needed to happen but were not happening until he came in and start of the department on the right path. it is critical that whoever the next chief of police is continue that modernization of the department. it will have benefits citywide. in my district, we have public safety challenges. the district is often viewed as a "safe district." we do have violence. we had a bunch of violence around delores park last year. there have been robberies in glen park and parts of the valley. there have been shootings in

diamond heights. one of the challenges is making sure that the police department understands that even though we may not have the same crime levels as some neighborhoods, we still need attention from the police department. >> let's talk about the city's economic development. are we on the right track? what would you like to change about the approach to developing the economy? >> we are getting better. the city as got more proactive about attracting businesses and new industries and providing incentives for them to come and stay here. it is still a very expensive place to do business in terms of the cost of labor, land. we need to make sure that we are not taxing businesses to the point that it is not profitable and we are not attractive for them to be here. we need to reform our payroll tax.

that is an incentive not to create jobs. i know the board president david chu is working on possibility this there -- possibilities there. i look forward to working with him. we've targeted efforts to revitalize areas and bring industries here with the tax holiday and proposal introduced yesterday relating to parts of the tenderloin to provide some payroll tax relief to encourage businesses like twitter and others to go there. >> the governor has proposed eliminating funding for redevelopment agencies. what is your opinion of the plan? what are your thoughts on the value of redevelopment agencies? >> i think the plan is over- broad. i do not support it as it relates to san francisco's model

of redevelopment. our redevelopment agency does tremendous work in san francisco. a lot of projects like treasure island and what is happening in hunters point, those kinds of projects would be difficult to achieve without redevelopment. a redevelopment agency is the largest source of affordable housing creation in the city. it has been a huge asset. i understand there are other parts of the state where redevelopment has a different model and is not as positive. there are types of unwise development. redevelopment statewide is in need of reform. san francisco is a model for redevelopment and it needs to stay intact. >> let's talk about the role of sports. are you happy with the plans for

the america's cup? should the city spend money to keep the 49ers'? >> i am thrilled about the america's cup. it will not just be an economic boom that creates jobs and long- term economic development. it will help us shore up our aging and deterioration appears -- deteriorateing piers. it will help us clear of deferred maintenance. it will be a promotion for the city. people will see the panoramic views of san francisco and want to come here. i would very much like to see forty-niners stay here. what that means, we will have to talk about it. i am not a big fan of massive public subsidies to sports teams. i think we should work hard to keep them here. >> we're almost out of time. are there any other issues or concerns we have not discussed?

are there any other specific issues you plan to concentrate on throughout your turn? >> a couple that come to mind. i introduced in control legislation to make it easier for tenants displaced by fires or earthquakes or other disasters to find below market replacement meant -- rent while their apartments are being fixed. there are some aspects of our rent control laws that make it difficult to find those kinds of temporary accommodations at below market rent. i have been working with groups on legislation that introduced that will help there. i have also requested an economic impact study to be performed on the entertainment and nightlife industries. it is a very important economic

and cultural sector in our city. we have never really taken a look at what it contributes to our economy. i think that is an important piece of information to have to guide policy making in the future. i have requested a hearing on the impact of historic preservation of other important policy goals in the city like creating affordable housing, having usable parks and libraries, etc. i want to look at how those different policies interact with each other. those are a few things i am working on. >> we are out of time. we will have to wrap this up. thank you so much for joining us. we have been talking to supervisor wiener from district 8. watch for the next episode of "need your supervisor." we will be back with one of our 11 city supervisors. ♪

♪ ♪ >> hello, welcome to the meet your district supervisor. i'm nona melkonian and we're here with supervisor katy tang for supervisor 4 which includes central and outer sunset. supervisor tang was appointed by mayor ed lee to serve as district 4 representative replacing previous supervisor carmen chu after she was appointed assessor reporter that same month. before her appointment she served as legislative aide to supervisor chiu. today you'll get to know her and the issues facing the city. welcome, supervisor. thank you for join using us.

>> thank you for having me. >> let's start with a little about your background. where you grew up, went to school and what kind of jobs you had in the past. >> sure, i grew up in the sunset district. still live there. spent about 20 years living in the sunset district and just am so proud to be able to represent the district that i grew up in and where my parents still live. i had gone through the public education system and went to neighborhood schools throughout the sunset district. so, had gone to francis scott key elementary school, hoover middle school, lowell high school and am just so proud to be able to come back full circle to support a lot of those schools that i went to and be part of that community in a very integral way. >> so, you spent most of your life in san francisco. why did you choose to live in the city? >> well, first of all, my parents decided to move us to the sunset district because they really wanted my brother and i to have a really good and safe r growing up. there were a lot of children and families in the sunset district and i think they felt

like it would be the best environment for us to grow up. so, we ended up staying out there and fell in love with it and have a lot of pride after especially working for the sunset district as the electricity i have aide to supervisor chiu for over five years. and working with -- very intimately with a lot of community members, the merchants, our local residents who have, you know, interest in things such as public safety or public transportation, our school communities, our parks and play grounds, just really been such a wonderful experience working with them. so, i just really enjoyed that work experience as well as my own experience growing up there. >> how has your experience as aide to supervisor chiu prepared you for the board of supervisors? >> i think that i probably don't have a learning curve on having worked in the district so long and having grown up there. i think that it's been really beneficial knowing who to go to to ask certain questions, or, you know, learning how to read

pieces of legislation, for example, knowing what the issues are that the city has faced. i think that those have all been really helpful experiences during this transition. >> what motivated you to get involved in politics? >> i've always wanted to be involved in whichever community i'm in. for example, what ix in school i was in student government and, so, working in city hall was one of my first jobs, actually, out of college. and, so, i have been doing -- i have been working at city hall for over six years now and i just feel very much pride in working for the city that i live in. >> where do you place yourself on the political spectrum, are you progressive, centrist, or more on the conservative side? >> i think i'm probably more of a moderate person. i think that our district, again, lots of families and children, seniors, immigrant community, and i think that we tend to be more classified as, you know, fiscally responsible, i would say.

and, again, having my experience in working for the mayor's budget office, for example, prior to working for the board of supervisors, i think that gave me a really great background in terms of how the city works, how the city's budget is put together. and those really -- that experience has really influenced my decision-making process. >> and speaking of the city's budget, the city just enacted a two-year budget and it seems the city is always dealing with complicated issues including whether or not to raise taxes and fees. how will you approach these tough choices? >> i think that when we talk about raising fees or taxes, we always have to come at it from a very balanced approach. we have a lot of homeownerses, we have a lot of tenants in the city. and, so, again balance is really key. i think we also have to approach the budget and some tough fiscal issues looking at the city-wide budget as a whole and not just looking at specific sectors or issue areas that we real have i to look at the city's financial standing as a whole for the long term. that's really important and that's definitely what drives a

lot of my decision-making process. and i think it's also tougher in san francisco because we really are held to a very high standard where we have to balance the budget every single fiscal year. we cannot run into a deficit in the new fiscal year. we cannot print more money. we are held to a high standard by our charter and, so, i think that's why these tough decisions are made every year rent. >> what other issues do you feel are facing san francisco? >> i think for san francisco and also elsewhere, one of the biggest issues right now is really how do we ~ attract economic development and spur job creation. and those are two things that really go hand in hand and really is what makes the city vibrant and a place where people want to live and can afford to live. and i think that keeping those city-wide goals in mind, to really want to try to also make sure that locally we support our small businesses and all merchants, for example, give

economic benefits and help create jobs as well. >> what are your thoughts on the city's economic development? do you feel we're on the right track? >> i think we're on a very exciting time right now in san francisco where we have a lot of energy in terms of businesses and especially the tech industry wanting to locate in san francisco and that's something that we really haven't seen as much in the past after the dot-com boom. and, so, we are in a very exciting time and we really see a transformation going on in our city because of that. >> what would you like to see change about the city's approach to developing its economy? >> i think that really depends on the changing times. and there isn't sort of one solution for the entire city. it real i depends on kind of what the dynamics are going on with the economy as a whole in the region. not just looking at san francisco, but really as a regional body. >> sometimes district issues are different than zvi issues. what do you feel are some of the biggest issues facing your district? ~ city >> i think because we have a lot of children, families, seniors in our district, they

care a lot about your quality of life issues, right. and it's the reason why people choose to live there. they want to make sure that your streets are repaved, that our potholes are filled, that public transportation works for you, that, you know, your parks and play grounds are safe for your children to play in, students can go to local schools. i think that those are all important issues facing district 4 and will continue to. >> how have you balanced the needs of your district versus the needs of the city as a whole? >> i think that as a district supervisor, we play that balancing act every single day in our jobs. and we respond to all of the constituent needs, whether they doll us, whether they e-mail us or talk to us in person about a problem, we try to sort of bridge the resources that are in the city and help connect them with whichever department it is they might need to be connected with to resolve their issue. ~ but also at the same time we are city-wide representatives and we vote on legislation every week that impact everyone in the entire city. i think that when we take those

votes, for example, we keep our district interests in mind and how they might want us to best represent them on city-wide issues. >> you mentioned transportation and muni earlier. what do you see about transportation for your constituents, is there enough needed service? >> i think especially given the fact the sunset district is located so far from the central portion of the city, that transportation is difficult for them. and as you know, there are some issues with switch backs for example on muni and folks feeling like, you know, they don't have adequate service down to the end of the line. so, i have worked with mta and we're trying to figure out solutions to address that. but i think overall our residents really just want to make sure that they can get from where they need to go from the sunset district or back home via public transportation. >> what about parking and traffic? >> i think that the sunset district typically has a little bit more pricing than some other districts. there are always pedestrian safety issues we have to watch

out for. our district has boulevard, we have sunset boulevard. we were also have 19th avenue and great highway. and, so, those are actually state highways that -- except for sunset boulevard, but the three are state highways that run through our district. and, so, when you have that, we have seen some fatalities along some of those corridors and, so, we work very closely with the state agency, our local agencies to see what sort of pedestrian improvements can be made to help make it more safe for feev l. so, for example, maybe it means that we install more pedestrian countdown signals or install sidewalk build outs so that we can shorten the distance for pedestrians to cross the streets. or lowering of speed limits. so, all of those things we try to look at comprehensively throughout the district to people can travel safely whether you're a pedestrian, cyclist or driver. >> speaking of safety, what are your thoughts on how the city is dealing with crime,

especially in your district and how do you think the police department is doing? >> we work very closely with our local police station which is terraville police station. we have community groups in the sunset. they have formed out of response to concern of public safety in the neighborhood and i think that generally speaking the sunset district has lower crime levels than many of the other parts of the city. however, because we are bordering ocean beach and golden gate park, we do have pockets of problem areas. and, so, our neighbors are the first to alert us and the police station when there are issues and the police has been very responsive to that. >> what kind of issues are you having with ocean beach or golden gate park? >> i think that because it's so far from the center of the city and because there is so much open space, we do see a lot of encampments in those areas. some neighbors express issues with safety and feeling safe in

their neighborhood and, so, they have worked very closely with our terraville station to make sure they monitor those regularly. >> what are your thoughts on the city's economic development? >> so, in terms of economic development, i think our city is in a very, again, exciting time right now where we are able to attract a lot of businesses who want to locate here in san francisco. you know, we have seen a recent wave of technology companies that have located here in our downtown core area and it's really transformed our neighborhoods. and i think that as we continue to keep drawing talent and those kind of companies that are city's economic state will continue to grow. >> speaking of growth in our city, how do you feel about the role of the warriors coming to san francisco and the plans for the new stadium? >> so, the warriors and the plan for the new stadium, you know, the project approvals and the environmental review report will actually have to go through the board of supervisors. so, i'll have to make my decision then. but the os