costs are borne ultimately by those who are creating the problem. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. i have one more card. anyone else who would like to speak, please line up as well. selena and anyone else who would like to comment on this item can please come forward. next speaker. >> mr. wright, i spoke last week on this issue and i demonstrated i have 50% towards initiative, 50% against. i understand how the people who are impacted on how their loss of income will be decreased, and i see the way they feel, the way they do but the issue at hand weighs more than the problem that you're suffering. on the grounds that alcohol is contributing into millions of dollars in taxpayers' money being spent on people who abuse and get sick and have to go to the hospital and use numerous services by the city pertained

by the fire department, the police and the doctors at san francisco general hospital. this is a historical moment where the cost of the injury must be shared by the people who are online and handing out the alcohol to the people who need the services. to begin with, you're not the only people who are responsible. this is a historical moment that started out at the tail end of the alcohol chain of the people who were passing out the alcohol to the people who need the services. starting off in the city and county and eventually is going to end up in the state and senate, board of organization and i believe that the brewries, the manufacturers who are making multibillion collars profit on alcohol, the production where the distillation columns used to produce this alcohol should also share the cost as far as overall states of the united states of america is concerned.

but starting off here at the city and county of san francisco. the people talking about they need to have the city attorney look into this. if the city attorney looks into it and incorporates state law pertaining to the section of law that's called contributary negligence where you're not actually intentionally causing harm but yet your alcohol is the reason and main factor on the reason of the problem you could be charged 50% of the services that's being paid. that's called contributary negligence. you're actually contributing to the problem. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i was watching this on the monitor last week and the discussion about mandatory, you know, mitigation and what have you. after that we know we have a

problem getting taxes into the city. my concern is the fact that i don't think enough companies are being taxed to help our city because last friday on the news, it was friday night on channel 2, and i've been to some of your offices to give you the news clipping that i received, the mercury news, never san francisco news, there was a press conference this morning at 10:00. they're going to have 50 trucks coming into san francisco on a daily basis for the next three years. and i think you should be able to tax them axle of $1 and you will get more than what you're asking for today with the people that you are trying to get the taxes from. and i think it's no more fair that people from the outside be taxed coming into our city

breaking up the streets and everything in our cities and looking at how much money you will be able to receive if you think about this and make this part of your project that is coming up dealing with taxes. because the big corporations are not being taxed. had is one. -- this is one. thank you very much. supervisor avalos: thank you, ms. jackson. next speaker, please. >> hi. good afternoon. my name is selena and i work for an organization called horizons, unlimited. i know as we hear these arguments, the biggest question is, will san francisco continue to thrive? will businesses stay here? will they continue their payroll? will they continue their services? the yes is yes. people will still patronize small businesses. i think businesses will be able to reap properties.

-- profits. as a prevention provider, we're spending a lot of time looking at cost improvement strategies for providing these prevention services. we're looking at evidence-based practices that we feel will be strong motivators for families to continue to thrive within the community. and speaking on behalf of a lot of families and a lot of youth, there is a lot of support for this bill out here. whether or not families can leave work and come and provide public comment and testimony, we speak on a lot of youth and families against, i believe that the families will continue to support local businesses. but this is money that's desperately needed. there is not enough money in these budgets for us to provide based on the demand for these youth that need these types of services. so we want you to look at it carefully. understand that we're doing our part to provide these services. and with a little bit more help we'll be able to provide a lot more needed and vital services

to the youth and families in our community. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is charles mcintyre. i'm here once again. i represent the 2700 union glass workers here in the city of san francisco. i work in a glass plant myself. and not only are you talking about losing the retail jobs. you're also going to be hitting the jobs in our industry. the majority of the glass that we make is for the alcohol industry. a lot is for the small wineries, the small brewers. they take a hit. one of the first things they do is they look for different container types or look for another place for their containers. right now one of the main places they're going is china and mexico. we're looking at approximately -- it could be as much as 300 jobs in this industry.

last year alone we've lost over 500 jobs because of this economy. and what that also affects is these jobs are manufacturing jobs. you know, with good benefits, but they're green jobs. when we make the glass containers, these containers go recycled and they go through our furnaces and it's one of the greenest containers there is. it's in the earth. it goes back to the ground. when we start losing these jobs we stop losing the ability to recycle these containers. not only are we hurting jobs, we are going backwards as far as the city wanting to be green and the state wanting to be green. as far as the greenhouse emissions, the more recycled glass we use, it lowers emissions and helps the environment. so when you look at the umbrella of what this fee can do, it can run like a wildfire and we could really devastate these jobs and this industry. thank you very much. supervisor avalos: thank you.

are there any other members of the public who i'd like to -- who'd like to comment on this item? please come forward. >> good afternoon. michael from marine institute. i just wanted to thank superavalos and -- supervisor avalos and the co-sponsors of this ordinance in acknowledging that san francisco is suffering an epidemic of alcohol-related harm and that to establish a dedicated funding source that will treat and provide prevention services is a noble and excellent public health solution. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. and seeing no other member of the public here we will close public comment. i want to thank everyone for coming here today and last week as well. your comments here about this item.

a lot of folks from bars i know well and love, from the connecticut yankee and bottom of the hill, slims, american music hall, this is not about me coming from a temp rant society. this is about how we can maintain a level of service here in san francisco for our great needs around alcohol prevention and treatment. and it's a -- alcohol's a product unlike other products. there are impacts to alcohol and so looking at this makes some sense from some points of view that we would want to be able to be able to charge a fee, to be able to recover some of the costs we incur as a city and county to deal with the overconsumption of alcohol. and just to renew mexico rate what those are -- renumerat what those are, identified in our study, the sobering center

at the department of public health, our mobile assistance patrol van that often will pick up people who have been drinking -- overdrinking who are on the streets, our community substance abuse services enduring direct treatment costs as well as prevention costs, our beds at general hospital, our jail health detox facility. our fire department services dealing with transports. to our sobering center, also our transports to our hospitals. there are other costs that the city incurs for the overconsumption of alcohol. just this past weekend there were -- there was violence that happened outside a bar that i would say that alcohol had a relationship with. that is not covered in this fee. it's not -- we did not assume the cost in the study because we wanted to have the more -- the most narrow point of view that we could identify for the costs that are incurred by the

city. we are charging not the -- we are charging this fee not at the retail outlets, not directly to the retail outlets, not directly to the bars. we are charging the fees to the wholesalers and distributors who are selling the alcohol within the city and county of san francisco. that is a major difference here that we are, you know, what the intent is behind this legislation. there is an impact. i have heard that. that this fee is being passed through to small businesses and i do have -- i do have concern about how that does happen. i have heard your concerns and how they've been expressed to me, and i do appreciate your expressing them. and one thing i want to look at, the part to me that seems most important that i look at is for the people who are small manufacturers within san francisco, the microbrewerers,

the people who sell who are small wineries, how we might be able to look at some kind of an exemption for those people who are wholesalers, but who are small business wholesaler. i don't think they are the type of industry that is manufacturing the products or selling the products here in san francisco to have the greatest impact on the overconsumption of alcohol that leads to these costs that we incur, the city and county. so that's something i will look at and consider for if we are to move this legislation forward today or for amendments for september 7 when this -- if this gets to the full board. so, colleagues, i would like to have your support for that. based on discussions today and last week in that there is a great deal of concern from the business community, i would like to see if we could have

this discussion at the full board with a motion that we send this forward without recommendation for the september 7 meeting when we get back from our break. a motion to send forward without recommendation from the committee, without objection. thank you, colleagues. again, thank you, everyone, for being here. and if beam would like to contact -- and if people would like to contact my office, i will be open for questions on this subject matter. madam clerk, we are adjourned. thank you very much.

[horns honking] [siren wails]

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welcome to culturewire. on march 18 the san francisco arts commission hosted the 2010 mayor's artwork. the mayor's arts award was established to honor an individual artist with a lifetime of outstanding achievement in the art and civic life. this year's award is to none

other than carlos santana. before the award ceremony, the director of cultural affairs had a chance to sit down with carlos to ask him a few questions. >> once a year, mayor gavin newsom gets to select one distinguished individual to receive the mayor's arts award. in 2010,á(át that distinguished individual was none other than the legendary musician carlos santana. carlos, it is so great for the city to be able to recognize you. given all of your accomplishments already, from the awards, all of the other distinctions you have received, what does it mean for you to get the mayor's part award?

>> i am very grateful, moved. i always want to be in the company of illuminaries like cesar chavez. people making a difference, but to people's hearts. giving people a sense of tangible hope. one thing is to be famous, it is quite another for people to like you. i am grateful for this award. it is another blessing. i do not take it for granted. this is an incredible city. everywhere i go, i tell everyone that this is the atlantis of today. there is no other city in the world -- i have been everywhere.

there is nothing like san francisco. in fact, to me, it is not even the united states. you can see how fox network always attacks us. we do not have an inferiority complex. we just do not follow blindly. we question authority. as i said before, a person for person, there are more artists and con artists in the bay area. >> you are someone who has identified so strongly with the bay area. a lot of it reflects the values that you also identify with. i know that you have been promoting an idea for a work of public art that could be pretty transformative. could you talk about that?

>> peace brother is something that i saw, i think in the 1980's there was this lady. she started back there and converted -- she went to the neighborhood and was collecting the guns from some of the gang members. she had it melted and turned into angels. we want to do the same thing and take it to the next level we want to build a boom box by his feet, he will be 7 feet tall. this will be made up of military guns. the boom box will be playing some great songs. marvin gaye. john legenlennon. bob marley. sam cooke. >> songs that really touch people deeply. >> i have come to a place where

i call it the sound of maternity. bob dylan calls it eternal young. i think there are certain songs that help you live without fear. when you are living in fear, you invest in violence. fear is expensive, just ask president bush. inn love. and what marvin gaye says is true, war is not the answer, only love can conquer hate. these things are not cliches, they are truisms. if we implement them, you will see a transformation in the bay area, richmond, oakland, the mission. all places where we need to

dismantle the violence, the fear, the unnecessary pain that goes on. >> you are a person that has lived a pretty miraculous life. pretty extraordinary what you have accomplished, the range of people you have been able to touch with your music. you chose a beautiful word in spanish for your foundation -- miracle. could you talk about what the foundation has been able to do? >> we are able to empower and give young people a way for them to develop their own decisions. i started with my own vision. there are people like andre agassi who helped finance. desmond tutu. in essence, in the bay area,

like on larkin street, i want to see people invest more in people. i love the giants stadium, but i want to see cumins investing in a humans, instead of expensive. expensive buildings. i love to see the mayor and governor invest more in education than in incarcerations. so i am committed with the music and the platform that i have, if i have to, to give a little spanking to those who need to break up. we spend way too much on weapons. all the money that we spend on tv advertising, gears of war, that is stupidity. in new zealand, they passed a law that said that you could not sell it.

all those games about killing people. they do not want it. to me, i'd equate that with columbine, with war. once you desensitize a human being, you cannot tell the difference between shooting someone in a video game and a real person. some people can be gentle and kind. i can be ghetto when i want to be. i grew up with the black panthers doing peace and freedom benefits for them. so on the one hand i like the softness of spirituel the day, but i also like the energy that you need to be a warrior where you need to be. i love martin luther king, but also malcolm x, sometimes you

have to really hold your ground. compassion, kindness, education. rather than more killing. >> when you graduated in 1965, it was the height of the civil- rights movement. you just alluded to the environment that you were growing up in. as a young musician, what was it like for you in san francisco at the time? >> it was heaven on earth. we would go down to the fillmore and see these great band, the doors, and jimi hendrix, cream, and then go down to the grove to see other music. you could go to the mission district to hear mexican. everywhere i went there was this

multi dimensional color and i felt like it was on necessary for me to do just one. like baskin-robbins, i want all the flavors. you cannot just be a mexican play music. there is a lot of beauty in that, but it was not for me. i was born without arms around my heart that wants to embrace everything. palestine's, israelis. japanese, apaches. i am more concentrated with life and love than flags, nationality, religion. that stuff gets in the way. one gets in the way is me, myself, my story. for me, that is why music is

liberating. when you hear "imagine" anywhere in the world, people sang the lyrics. as soon as you hear the melody -- same thing with a bob marley song. i grew up taking everything from bob dylan, curtis mayfield, the beatles, smokey robinson. mike alma mater was the streets of san francisco. i would dare to go to school. where i really hung out was at the fillmore. that was my university, checking out be the king, and james brown, a cream. finding out how they were able to penetrate people's hearts. with their music. once you do that, something happens to their eyes.

they become brighter. they start crying, they do not know why. they start dancing. it is like when a woman gives birth. =mmfirst, she cries and then she laughs. later on, she dances. and that, to me, is the beauty of what san francisco is about. >> one final question, and we are going to link it to your music today. such a rich legacy that you are giving us. you mentioned to me that you are working on a new album. could you share what is coming up? >> i love to dream when i am awake. kand so i had this dream of working with india arie and yo- yo ma to do the george harrison

saw; and "-- song. this is the definitive way to do this. we are all in it together, we do not leave anybody out. t conviction, i am one of the few people that you can recognize by one note. god gave me that universal tone, and that is what we want to implement in all the songs. thank you. >> carlos santana, thank you for accepting the 2010 mayor's part award. >> to watch the ceremony, visit the home page of the arts commission website, sfarts commission