momentum on the program. as mr. ford has spoken earlier, calendar item 12 requests your authorization for the agency program controls, and item 13 requests your approval of the central subway relocation impact study. we have staff here today, and so we will be happy to answer any questions with either of the two calendar items or the brief i just gave you. >> thank you mr. rohan. a couple of questions about the actual tunneling. in the double slide, it seems like the construction there has been about three years as well. are you familiar with that project? >> no, sir, i'm not. >> it appears to be a much easier project than going under all the stuff in the city. >> that is the complexity, doing a subway in a city that

has utilities, sewer, water, electric, you name it. there is a whole host of things in this city, and in some cases we have found some of it as we have gone on. we have had to find ways to deal with that, which are far outside the engineering realm when it comes to remains and things of that nature. it is very complex when we are talking about a tunneling job under a major urban city. >> do you have a time frame? >> they are doing samples, but you are always at risk of something that is not there in the drawings or the historical documentation. there is some risk in terms of crog across something that we didn't plan to. i think we have built in a certain amount of contingency there, and hopefully that is enough to cover it. >> chairman, we are very comfortable with the schedule. i would submit to you that the greater risk is going to be on the time lines of actually

constructing the underground stations. the tunneling itself is going to go very smooth. if we hit something like an arc logical find, it will stop us in our tracks until we clear that. >> so the last things that goes in is the tracks? >> we are staging the contract that most of the material can be removed through the tunnel. so there will be subbays and temporary track put if for those contracts. >> and those projects could go on? there is nothing to preclude that? >> the actual exit is in north beach. >> this contract includes a tunnel bore machine retraction shift. we go all the way to washington square, and that is where we take the machine out. and all we have to do is close the door over it. if we ever decide there is a

phase three, it will be able to spring from that. >> when there is a phase three. >> you mean spring from that, building a washington square station? >> anything that is designed. >> director? >> i think you forth greats presentation. it is very helpful to see this all laid out. a couple of service-related questions. the south terminus at king and 4th. does the t lee keep going down the existing line? >> no. it is going to connect both phases. the terminus would be visitation valley for the t-line. the t-line would continue straight, not make that right-hand turn. >> so someone there chinatown could keep going to what is the current end of the t-line? >> yes.

>> and is the current t-line around the embarcadero going to continue as well? >> no. >> so that is the end of that one? >> yes. >> so then my next question is -- and i am sure you guys have thought of this, but my limited exposure to this in my real job suggestion -- suggests any time you go to digging up a gas station, there is a lot of remediation? that is part of it? >> yes. that is in our plan. we have that contingency in our plan. >> you touched a little on this, about the laying down of temporary track to remove debris. what is the sort of anticipated disruption for the union square area associated with this project, and how much of it can be done underground to avoid

strupting what is obviously a commerce center? >> actually, each of the three stations will be excavated differently. mosconi will have the more surface disruption, because it is a cut and cover. we'll bore down and then squa videogate back up. there will be a lot of disruption around that one. our utilities contract that is going to be going out in september will uncover and reroute major utilities, and then place back so that we can restore traffic on a temporary means. then we are going to mine from there down and then build back up. now the struppings will be mitigated considerably, but there will be some surface disruption to make the final closure and initially to make the utilities opening. the chinatown station is going to be mined completely. we'll bore through and then set

up and mine inside. >> so we could probably come back to you with specific time lines in terms of how much disruption at each location, if any. for example, minimal at chinatown, but definitely at union square. we have a very healthy community relations group as part of this project. there are a lot of elements that are working with the union square merchants and dealing with those issues. but we can come back with more of the details on that because those are questions that we had to answer a couple of years ago when we went through this process. but i don't recall the exact -- >> one would be to minimize it during the christmas season, obviously a busy season for them. as long as you are doing the outreach with the community, that is excellent. the one thing i note on this map which is an excitement to me, you have in here a possible future line which appears to be running along eerie. am i reading the map correctly?

>> which page is that on? >> possible future muni line. >> this map was taken from some of the earlier preliminary engineering drawings, which had geary in the concept stage. at that time we didn't know if it would be a connection to the subway or a b.r.t. this man shows that potential. >> all right. >> but it is not part of the program now. >> i understand that. great next idea though. and the stations, the connection between powell street and union state stations will be at subground level so someone can walk from station to station? >> no connection at the platform. >> are there still plans for

moving side walks? >> we actually abandoned those ideas about two years ago when the cost of the moving sidewalks became an issue. when we went through our risk mitigation program -- f.t.a. has a risk program you go through where you take a look at enhanced elements and what they would cost. when we went through that, we threw it out because of the huge cost. >> another item we need to follow up with this because this has come from the public in terms of the length of time of transfer from our platform to the bart system. carter, i don't know if you have that in front of you, but i want to make sure we give you as much as we can in terms of potential issues. that was hot button a few years ago. >> we are not talking about a

major league distance. >> maybe not for you and i? >> but it's about a block's worth of distance? >> yes. where someone of my age would ben at this time from moving sidewalks. >> and you are the one who threw it out, >> and you are not going to be any younger when it gets through. that concludes that. >> no one has registered as a speaker card, and i don't see anyone in the audience who is appearing to desire to address you. >> so we can take both at once? >> ma i -- you may. >> any discussion? the ayes after it. >> number 14, fixing the wage schedule for transit operators at $29.52 per hour as of july 1, 2010. >> what is the pleasure of the

board? >> move the staff recommendation. >> second. >> all in favor say aye. the ayes have it. >> i'd 15, discussion and vote whether to go to closed session and invoke the attorney-client privilege. prosecutor moved. >> seconded. >> all in favor say eye. >> for the close the session, we >> the board met in closed session. the board of directors took no action. directors, do you want to disclose or not disclosed? director nolan: i think is important that we may be just indicate who was the present -- who was present at the meeting. and yes, mr. chairman. in the minutes, we are required to reflect who is involved in

the closed session, the minutes will reflect that. director nolan: on the basis of that, is there a motion to disclose or not disclose? director oka: move to not disclosed. director nolan: all in favor? we were not disclosed. with that, we are adjourned. -- we will not disclosed. with that, we are intent. -- adjourned.

patty: filing for social security online, 9 out of 10 experts agree, it's groovier than a brooklyn hot dog! cathy: or a crepe suzette! ♪ when cousins are two of a kind! ♪ >> again, good afternoon. it is not morning anymore, and happy to earth day to all of you. thanks again for joining us. today, in addition to celebrating earth day, we are gathering to celebrate another accomplishment that has been quite an important and critical milestone in our attempt to be a green and more livable city.

will compile the apartments and agencies together to further green our city, capturing our environmental and aesthetic benefits. many of us have been working together in making sure that every single development around the city is incorporating various greens strategies, that is, essentially, improving strategy -- improvement strategies that not only improve our environment, but make social and economic sense. it does improve very much our quality of life around the area. without further ado, i would like to introduce you to our the green champion, mayor gavin newsom. mayor newsom: happy birthday. did you know? you are wearing green, suspected -- so i suspect it. it was a rhetorical question.

we were questioning whether or not to even do this public event, because we are not necessarily expecting fanfare in terms of enthusiastic reporting that would be done around and landscape ordinances -- a landscape ordinances. i think most people would just go off and say, "what is the big deal?" accept i do really believe this is a big deal, so we decided to challenge folks by coming together because this marks a significant milestone in our city's future. it is the beginning of a new approach to focus on the quality of life in the city by focusing on the quality of our streetscapes, the quality of our urban fabric in a much more prescriptive and i think in much more enlightened way. let me back up. a number of years ago, i had the privilege of going to chicago and going down michigan avenue in chicago. i was blown away about how beautiful that experience was and so impressed by the detail

of that city, by the investment into things large and small. not only was the city clean, at least down michigan avenue, not only was it impressive that there were beautiful planted flowers, both on the sidewalk in the median strips, but it was attention to details like this. everywhere i looked, i saw -- i guess it was what i did not see, i guess is what i should say. i did not see chain-link fences. i saw wrought iron fences. i saw small, beautiful fences surrounding the planted flowers. i saw layers as it relates to how things are planted. they were in different layers come in different shapes. it reminded me candidly of traveling in europe a little bit. when i was younger, going to paris. i was on my way to meet the mayor, and i marked my expression of appreciation, and he said that he stole all the

ideas from paris. and i was there many years ago, and i came back thinking the same thing. why do we have all these chain- link fences? why don't we create a discipline around the different aesthetic for our city? it took almost a decade. it did not happen overnight, but it took years and years of a disciplined effort. when changes were made, they were made with a basis and an understanding that there needed to be a certain aesthetic. it was not about costing more money. it was not about being so close. it was not about being -- sort of getting away from the core values, and the core functions of government. from his perspective, it was the core function of government. i remember this conversation so vividly. he said that in the 21st century, cities will be competing with cities, and he was absolutely right. this was years ago. it will not be states competing with states or nations with

nations. they will compete on the basis of quality of life. the success of your city will be based on attributes that define and distinguish it that make it a better place for people to work and recreate and that these things matter. we need to focus on these things, emphasize them, make a stronger investment. that stuck with me. what also stuck with me is that as a new mayor, i did not necessarily have the tools to make this happen, and we have not done a lot of the discipline and the work. i found out about their landscaping ordinance, there beautification strategies and how formal there were -- they were. i found one of the people leading the charge. astrid just introduced me. we were able nine months after that meeting to steal her away from chicago, and she came out here with a very specific charge of -- basically to steal all those darn good ideas that we

had in chicago but make them our own. recognize that san francisco is not chicago, and candidly, we were a lot farther ahead than chicago was and is. chicago is a bunch of train stations and also the platforms. we have so many more attributes in terms of the typography and surrounding environment that we did not necessarily need to go back to the beginning when we had so much to build on, but we needed to advance some discipline. that is where our better streets plan took shape, working with the planning department and others, and we created a framework for better streets and started focusing on trees on alameny boulevard. the work that is being done next year -- i could go on and on. every driver as part of our city. all of those things. they are happening with a strong narrative and a real focus and discipline, but the last big piece was this green landscape

ordinance. what was fortuitous was the timing to where we were trying to do different things with the public utilities commission on waste water and making sure that we are resupplying with permeable surfaces our crown water system as opposed to allowing all of this is lot of and and up in the ocean. we decided to combine this discipline. we started to merge these disciplines with supervisors chu, dufty and others. that is a long minute introduction to where we are, and i do think it is a big deal -- that is a long-winded introduction to where we are. i think that people will get it 10 or 15 years from now. they may not appreciate it now because it does not mean much now, but as the city continues to revolve -- evolve, it will do so in a different way. you have to have trees.

you have to have some setbacks. you have to bring the area. you have to be respectful of the urban environment and the pedestrians and the neighbors. that is fundamentally what this does. it just says, "here are some guidelines, and here are some things that will improve your property values, improve the surrounding property values, improve our quality of life, and improve the city and the experienced people have." i think this is a big deal. i think in a decade or two, people will come to appreciate it. they may not remember where it started, but they will come to appreciate the work that we did what i also am appreciative of is that the business development community came together with us. usually, they look at these things and say, "you are costing me more money." i think the planning department and others -- will work closely with their residential builders and on down, small and large,

and they said, "you know what? we support this. it increases our sales, our rentals, the quality of experience, which is good business." everyone came together, and here we are celebrating all that work and really sharing in the notion that we should be doing more best practice. i appreciate carmen chu , for her willingness to take this on. there was some risk initially for taking this on because there was an impression that it was burdensome and costly. i am thankful to her and the entire board and astrid and division of planning and everyone who has worked through this process and made this happen. that is why we are here. that was not off and the talking points. it lacked any eloquence and was

hardly secede, but i hope it came across sincere -- was harley succinct, but it came across sincere. now, someone who is succinct who can walk us through the process. thank you again for your leadership and making this happen. [applause] >> first of all, i want to thank you for being out here and for the mayor and his staff for being out here. of course, the planning commission and planning department and the work they have done. the work that astrid has done. and the community leaders who are part of this effort. overall, one of the things i do want to say is i believe this legislation is something that will really help the city move forward. it might not be able to change existing conditions for existing buildings unless there is a significant improvement or change, but what we will see going forward with the city is that as we have new developments

take place, a significant additions or changes occur, we will begin to see some stewardship about the environment. making sure we have more permeable spaces, spaces where water can go back down and recharge the groundwater. in the district that i represent, we actually have a district that has a lot of concrete in front of our homes. many people have paved over their front yards in order to allow for spaces for parking and maintenance reasons, but the impact of that has been we have had a very big impact on our system. it cannily truth -- it can no longer truly capture all the rainwater runoff that occurs. i think this legislation combined with some of the meaning -- greening efforts will do a lot to make sure that we develop in a responsible way and take into our 3 to take into account our water systems and environments. -- take into account our water

systems environment. i want to again thank everyone who has been involved. >> before we do the actual signing, i wanted to point out that one of the reasons why this site is actually chosen for our celebration today -- you can see how the business starts to take shape in the area. the tree line some streets that essentially exemplify new development and any kind of development physically, contributing to the greening of the city. storm water features right behind me that essentially capture extra water flow from the rain what is it going to the specific area on the landscape. everything done on a very well designed an enjoyable place. it is not the kind of engineering type of solution. it is the kind of thing that people can enjoy and understand beyond its utilitarianism and function but also for the enjoyment of everyone. i have our president of urban

forest counsel who wants to share with you a brief remark. [applause] >> i'm here representing the urban forest council. when this ordinance came before us for recommendation several weeks ago, are council unanimously passed it because we figured this is one of the best ways that we can increase the urban forest in san francisco, party dearly the details of being able to improve the canapes on the big, boring, asphalt parking lots that we have today. we figure we could get over hard -- the more green cover we get over hard surfaces, the better it will be for the city. also, permeable paving will be good for trees that are already planted. if we get more ground water return, they will be able to nurse the trees that we have now. we thought this was one of the best ways that would cover the whole city and improve the urban forest.

flossing -- [applause] >> thank you. in addition to our urban forest council members and planning department, thank you for your support from the commission as well as to tommy from the uc -- puc, and water enterprise and their support of our effort here, specifically in emphasizing and more responsible use of water while we are landscaping, so it is appropriate that we should actually continue to promote and use of corporate type of planting that is essentially connected to your contacts, and an appropriate choice of planting it also relates to whether you are on the taller and type of zone or a wide zone. that is the kind of thing that landscape ordinance continue with that. and the connection with the

landscape ordinance and the various legislation that supports them -- thank you for the effort and supporting the environment and making sure our policies are lined up in all aspects of that. of course, for our volunteer designer, we do have user manuals for residents to make sure that they can actually understand well in regards to how to follow this regulation. we have copies of that. we also have at least i'm planning department -- >> how do you translate all this fancy planning code? nobody understands all that. in chicago, you guys had this amazing thing where it just showed schematics of how that translates. because of your outstanding work -- thank you -- we did exactly the same thing, so this makes it understandable what the heck we are talking about. you can see the before and after.

why would you ever argue for the status quo or yesterday when you could have something much more esthetically pleasing and valuable and meaningful and iconic? is that there is a? -- is that fair to say? well worth about drought and all these things, but there is a different way of achieving the same results, and i think everyone -- everyone i have talked to, they want to underground the wires, and a lot more trees. they want to see their property values increase -- who does not? tax base increases in the city. more money for social services, investing in people. everyone is the beneficiary of this. that is why this easy to understand, easy to read and review guide. we appreciate your work. thank you.

sorry, i jumped in. >> that is great. thank you for your support and friends of urban forest as well. are we ready to sign the legislation? mayor newsom: yes indeed. all right. it is official. [applause] it shall be the policy. richard, your ordinance 10. -- pen. that is it. thank you all for coming out.