built a successful small business in san francisco and more importantly while building her business i have seen her take time out to create and execute a number of very unique and successful community service events here in san francisco many benefiting at risk foster youth. let me give you one unique example. a number of years ago amanda came up and personally financed flying a group of 20 disadvantaged san francisco youth and their guardians down to disneyland for a two day vacation. she did this event with her own funds. the trip was also done with no fanfare and no public recognition of any kind as far as i know. the trip was also a fantastic success and a once in a lifetime opportunity for these children. another unique example and example of amanda's commitment to at risk youth is over the last four years she

has been and continues to be a court appointed special advocate for two san francisco foster children and that's called a casa, court appointed special advocate. during this time she has donated 20 hours per month mentoring the two foster youth and spent considerable personal energy advocating on their behalf with teachers, foster parents and social workers and attorneys and four years she's doing that without interruption. it's clear because of her continuing commitment amanda is one of the most important, dependable and reliable person in these youth's lives. i am making the point to illustrate as you can imagine one of amanda's passions and one of the biggest problems we face in san francisco and finding housing

for foster youth transitioning out of the system. commissioners i know her very well and i am standing in front of you that this is for her to have the space to offer housing for at risk foster youth here in san francisco if the opportunity a rizzing and i ask you to allow her to finish her plan and benefit her and foster youth in the years to come. thank you very much. >> thank you. are there any other speakers in support of the project sponsor? if not dr requester you have a two minute rebuttal. >> i just want to make two quick points. one we assume that everybody puts their homes to good use, and secondly our figures show that our loss of winter heat in the units four

and five each is $90, so when they want to they take an average of the five unit in order to make the dollar amount smaller. the lower units are greater impacted in the winter. there is no impact from april to september. we know that. we don't need the heat that we do need in the winter. our loss is in the winter. we asked them for a 10-foot setback. we believe that if she chose she could get the space by the first floor and build out and the original plans didn't include the first floor but there is a way to get extra space and preserve our right to a active solar sun house. thank you. >> project sponsor you have a

two minute rebuttal. >> cass smith again. i would like to clarify a couple of things and i am sure we're all in favor of uses of alternative energy and the number as described as 50% is not at all the case. if you average this out over the year and the units it's less than a 10% difference. it's quite minor and if you look at the documents that we have given you and look at the way the shadows move across the buildings you're talking about a shadow that moves quickly. within an hour it moves from one unit to another and that's at the coldest time of the year. and the assumption people don't use heat in the summer in san francisco during this time is erroneous and we know it's pretty cold all year around and i am sure they are benefiting for solar for a lot of that time. i would like to note we have an energy consultant here with us that verified all the

shadow study that we did and the economic study that we had done from that. he's here so if anybody wants to ask him any detailed questions about the documentation we can do that. thank you. >> and commissioners finally in closing i would just like to point out we did a study of the difference between the addition as proposed and the addition with 10-foot setback. there is a shadow study showing that difference in your package. it's also here on the overhead. while it does make a big difference to amanda's living space and usability of the home it makes a limited difference in the amount of sun reaches these units. we're all available for questions. thank you very much. >> okay. the public hearing is closed and opening up to commissioners. commissioner moore. >> what is in front of us is a dr and i would agree with the

residential design team's assessment that this does not create exceptional extraordinary circumstances. contrary i think this is a sensitively designed home. i would like to comment on the public commenting on ms. clark's character. i appreciate what she is doing. i appreciate that her home is redesigned for that purpose. that is not weighing in on what we are discussing here, but i want to acknowledge it. again getting back to what is in front of us we don't really have guidelines within the commission's rules and what we see commenting on the specifics solar performance aspect of the adjoining home and i am comfortable hearing that most of the solar capabilities of the home -- at least in the primary solar reflective is not impacted by the addition. the secondary

aspects are very difficult to comment on for us and they're exceptional extraordinary to the house itself and do not have at this moment room in the code as we are advised to use it. in an urban environment where we are continuously intensifying. san francisco has not been able to have a solar envelope overlay by which we equitily could use for every home expansion there is, so working with limited circumstances the solar response to this -- with this additions still sensitive and within what we're expecting together with the negotiations to compensate and help with off setting costs, so having said that i am interested in what other commissioners have to say. i am in full support of what is in front of us and move to approve. >> second. >> commissioner antonini.

>> yeah, i agree. our bar is extraordinary and we have many instances where we put matching light wells to allow light to come into a building but this is quite a spraigdz between the houses already and it's been agreed between the speakers that the amount of loss of light being used for solar power, you know, is a fairly small amount. under the worse case and under the worse situation under a hundred dollars a year and the average seems to be $30 a year and i think we really can't base a denial on that particular type of situation because this is of course it's code compliant. it's a dr before us, and the addition seems appropriate. we have a historic source and

pointed out it can only go out towards the rear so i am in favor of not taking dr and approving the project. >> commissioner sugaya. >> yes, i would like to ask the project sponsor a question about foster care. not knowing a lot about how it works except that it's obviously needed and a good thing and you would like to provide it. when a foster -- what are the ages let's say? are they over 18? >> it depends. the use of my house and i can't speak specifically about casa but i can speak about my plan. the reason the up stairs is important to me is a foster child needs to be close to me so that is my plan to have foster children either in transition -- meaning returning to homes, potentially adopting and having the foster child up stairs and

downstairs -- i don't need that space for me downstairs and i want to have children in college and specifically children i know who are attending college living down there and so a child -- the reason two rooms upstairs is important to me i can't put a young child two floors down. >> so it's intended in the basement or the lower floor to have someone who would be more or less independent? >> yes. transitioning -- ideally in college and exiting the foster care system and going to college. >> thank you for explaining that. because -- i am quite satisfied with that explanation because otherwise i was going to try to get the master bedroom to go in the lower floor and reduce the upper floor back 10 feet like dr requesters wanted because there seems to be ample room on the lower floor to

accommodate both bedroom, bathroom and what is currently called a family room as to be used as a study, but i can see the way it's laid out now accommodates a different program, so my idea isn't going to work, so anyway. i'm in favor of the project the way it is. >> commissioners there is a motion on the floor to not take dr and approve the project as proposed. commissioner antonini. >> aye. >> commissioner moore. >> aye. >> commissioner sugaya. >> aye. >> president fong. >> aye. >> that passes and that places you under public comment. i have no speaker cards. >> is there any general public comment comment? okay. seeing none the meeting is adjourned.

>> i love teaching. it is such an exhilarating experience when people began to feel their own creativity. >> this really is a place where all people can come and take a class and fill part of the community. this is very enriching as an artist.

a lot of folks take these classes and take their digital imagery and turn it into negatives. >> there are not many black and white darkrooms available anymore. that is a really big draw. >> this is a signature piece. this is the bill largest darkroom in the u.s.. >> there are a lot of people that want to get into that dark room. >> i think it is the heart of this place. you feel it when you come in. >> the people who just started taking pictures, so this is really an intersection for many generations of photographers and this is a great place to learn because if you need people from different areas and also

everyone who works here is working in photography. >> we get to build the community here. this is different. first of all, this is a great location. it is in a less-populated area. >> of lot of people come here just so that they can participate in this program. it is a great opportunity for people who have a little bit of photographic experience.

the people have a lot, they can really come together and share a love and a passion. >> we offer everything from traditional black and white darkrooms to learning how to process your first roll of film. we offer classes and workshops in digital camera, digital printing. we offer classes basically in the shooting, ton the town at night, treasure island. there is a way for the programs exploring everyone who would like to spend the day on this program. >> hello, my name is jennifer. >> my name is simone. we are going on a field trip to

take pictures up the hill. >> c'mon, c'mon, c'mon. >> actually, i have been here a lot. i have never looked closely enough to see everything. now, i get to take pictures. >> we want to try to get them to be more creative with it. we let them to be free with them but at the same time, we give them a little bit of direction. >> you can focus in here. >> that was cool. >> if you see that? >> behind the city, behind the houses, behind those hills. the see any more hills?

>> these kids are wonderful. they get to explore, they get to see different things. >> we let them explore a little bit. they get their best. if their parents ever ask, we can learn -- they can say that they learned about the depth of field or the rule of thirds or that the shadows can give a good contrast. some of the things they come up with are fantastic. that is what we're trying to encourage. these kids can bring up the creativity and also the love for photography. >> a lot of people come into my classes and they don't feel like they really are creative and through the process of working

and showing them and giving them some tips and ideas. >> this is kind of the best kept secret. you should come on and take a class. we have orientations on most saturdays. this is a really wonderful location and is the real jewel to the community. >> ready to develop your photography skills? the harvey milk photo center focuses on adult classes. and saturday workshops expose youth and adults to photography classes.