developed. these are the kinds of things that they would like to do in a much more intensive way than they can do now as a volunteer organization that is dependent on grants. it will be much more enhanced services than what they are normally able to provide. the details of the services are definitely very detailed in the management plan. basically the organization has been able to bring together the community, but they have a lot more work to do. new developments proposed in the community will bring more foot traffic. business attractions to ease living spaces is going to be very important, keeping the existing businesses there and doing better will be very important in the coming years. supervisor avalos: on ocean

avenue there is a great deal in place, such as a library and events being program every year. december we had tremendous success, about 300 people. i know that the oarc was instrumental in making that happen. in these elements we are able to bring people down to the commercial corridor and see the diversity in the businesses, spending money to help them grow and develop. this is one great way that we could continue that effort to make sure that these kinds of damage services have been. i am a supporter. let's open it up for public comment. >> thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. i have a number of cards. and what else would like to come

forward to speak as well, i will call the names. [reads names] >> in no particular order? hello, my name is henry [unintelligible] thank you for having this hearing today, i am a resident of west would park. i lived on east would drive for 20 years. i wrote a letter to this committee. i will not repeat the comments in a letter, but i would like to echo your remarks, supervisor, about the changes that have happened recently. it is important to note when ocean avenues on the cost of shutting the reputation it has

had over the years before being dirty, unkempt, hit or miss in terms of local business. with a new library and the avalon bay project in the master plan, now is the time the ocean avenue can become one of the premier streets in the city. in fact one other thing that i should mention is the corridor project that has been a particular help and i appreciate the city focusing on that. my only feeling, the reason i support cbd, residents have made an investment in the ocean avenue corridor. the city has made an investment there. in these times of sharing, it is time for the business owners and property owners to reciprocate. i think it is very important that we all share the

commitment to making it the premier street that it can be. this is the last piece of the puzzle in my view. i wholeheartedly support it and recommend moving forward. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please? >> supervisors, i am a 32 year resident of wedgewood park and a lifelong resident of the area. i am here to strongly supporting cbd as i look at it as the exciting opportunity to knit together our diverse communities on a central ocean avenue corridor that will enhance our lives in a positive way. i am very proud of what we have done. we are resident property owners

and merchants that have proved together to improve the corridor and i am looking forward to more events that will help our neighborhoods all around. i also want to read a statement from the monument. one positive activity is the effort of the oarc, the city has produced results. as a merchant i work 90 hours per week and i cannot take extra time to organize in research, but i can get involved with someone else was doing that work and creates an effective opportunity for me. as changes, but over the next couple of years i believe that this will be an important tool to create positive results. we need to link the new and the old and bring more consumers to the area. this is an exciting time for the ocean avenue corridor.

supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning, supervisors. thank you so much. in the project manager for the oarc. the goal of this, as everyone said, for the property owners, residents, and merchants to get involved. for everyone to create a vibrant and thriving neighborhood commercial corridor. but providing services like save the, marketing activities, that are consistent and professional maintenance programs. since we have conducted this our reach since 2007, we were able to garner more interest and support, especially after the petitions were sent out. back when many of the properties were more interested in learning about how they could help and

how we could give property owners involved in the community. i have a letter here from a man that could not be here today, but he has been a property owner of ocean avenue for 13 years. saying that many dedicated individuals have sacrificed their time to make a corridor vibrant and attractive. they will continue to market the corridor to attract aid averse and mixed pool of businesses to create foot traffic, increased decency, and improvements to generally enhance the business district. that is just one of the letters that we got. we have a lot more from merchants and other property orders in the quarter as well. thank you so much. supervisor avalos: next speaker, please. i have more cards. [reeadads names] the microphone to your right is

the one that will be working. can you hear me? >> back in 1997, the ocean avenue lost the bank of america and safeway. in the papers there were stories about how desperate they were and so forth. i have some association with ocean avenue. at that time we started talking. mark, who is going to speak to you in a moment, we talked about a number of things. something that was coming that no one knew about was that they were planning to replace the streetcar tracks on ocean avenue. they had replaced them up on board street. they closed down the business and it took them two years to do it. we inquired, what are your plans for ocean avenue? we said -- they said -- well, we will replace the streetcar tracks over the next three years. so, we proposed to the railway

that they do ocean avenue in segments of four blocks each. money aside, as well as the parking lanes. they refused to do it. we collected about 3000 signatures and distributed them to the board of supervisors. we were holed up and a meeting was arranged between us and some of the people from muni. there were 12 merchants there, as well as three people from the muni. they replace the streetcar track segments in four blocks and not a single merchant went out of business life on board street. bridget went out of business like onboard street. when we started there were six

small stores on ocean avenue. [tone] is that my time? supervisor avalos: that is your time. we can grant to another moment. >> i will be great -- i will be brief. the judge over the courthouse was talking and talking, i had to come in late. anyways, the property owners that i represent along ocean avenue, for example this morning we did not know about this meeting until three days ago. i do not mean to be contentious with the people promoting this, but they could do a lot better job at sending out notices and tending -- telling us all. we did not know which you doing this morning except to come

here. i think that they need to do a better job of sending out notices and conferring with us. we are listening to what they say but this is basically about proposition 218, where you have to follow certain procedures. we are watching. if the other side does not meet and talk with us to follow the required procedures, we will do what we can to shut them down. supervisor avalos: there's a vote coming up on november 17. the mayor's office has informed the property owners that this hearing was going happen. definitely, that will happen on the 17th, which is where there will have the ability to express willingness to go forward. >> we are willing to talk, listen, evaluate and so forth. there are two sides to this.

it is not the board of supervisors that opposes this tax, it is the property owners. we are willing to talk. these give us proper notice and a chance for an hon. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. next speaker, please? anyone else that would like to comment and fees come forward. -- anyone else that would like to comment can please come forward. >> good morning. in the president of the property owners association. so far we have about 78 petitions that say no. i have yet to hear anything from the ocean avenue district committee or send me anything as a property owner.

the last meeting i went to, they have their own business over there to try to decide how to spend the money. yet i have not seen the 30% proof required to go forward with the fund. end of this project goes forward it will be duplicated service for the city, sweeping the sidewalks and keeping the place clean, up hiring people for security. i think that the only person i can do that is the city. so, this is a duplicate service. if these things go through, we get a tough break. also, when they mentioned bringing more business to the corridor, that does not have a

direct effect on the property owners. all of the service that they are doing is a duplicate service. there is low or no value to the property owners. all of the meetings that i have, i went to three of them. every single one was just talking. [tone] talking the business. so. as this town right here, nine blocks and one year. i have been in business for 20 years on ocean avenue. thank you supervisor avalos: thank you very -- thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. we did meet, ourselves, at one point. mr. weaver? >> i would like to point out a few quick things about ocean

avenue and the proposal. very frugal in three ways. we aim to get a 25 ft. storefront on the ocean assessed at less than $25,000 each year. we achieve that goal by establishing a linear footage assessment of less than $30 per foot. the second way is that we did not, unlike other districts, we do not assess the linear footage for the quarter buildings on the side streets -- for the corner buildings on the side streets. third, we have committed to no increase assessments for inflation of call -- or cost of living. second, i would like to point out that this is a great opportunity for merchants and

property owners to come together. in discussing this item we have come to the realization that the big issue that we need to work on is not something as simple as sleeping every day -- sweeping every day, but complicated like what happens when there is a graffiti attack on the entire street. big property owners, tiny property owners, they all agree that that is something that we should work on and tried to resolve in a better way. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. i also want to thank you for a lot of the work in developing it. i know you have worked for years, decades on the corridor. i wanted to a knowledge of that.

mr. harris? >> it is still mourning. thank you. i have been a 34 year resident of the neighborhood and all of my neighbors are in action. as a community member of cbd we have done a lot of work in trying to get this together and letting it would be good for the streets. -- getting it would be good for the street. paying for the cleanup, we have done a lot of things to try to enhance the corridor. i think that at this particular point, cbd would be excellent. mr. chung, a property owner, could not be here today, but he asked me to read about these dedicated individuals who have put their time in attempting to make the corridor vibrant and attractive to attract the

diverse and complementary pool of businesses to create foot traffic, safety, improved cleaning and maintenance to enhanced business districts. i ask that you please approve this. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. i would also like to of knowledge a lot of your work on the corridor in your volunteerism on the neighborhood clean-up days. probably with your wife, mary. thank you for all of your support. any other members of the public that would like to comment? please come forward. >> good morning, supervisors. i am a business owner and property owner as well. i moved over to the ocean avenue

district in 2001, right before the street was redeveloped. during the redevelopment it hurt my business. i had a big hole in front of my property. they came and installed some equipment down there. over the next several years i have seen how the street improvements have helped my business. in 2003 i was introduced to the committee that was formed and i started to help in the little ways that i can to maintain, helping to improve the district. basically summarizing what i have experienced, one of the

points were many positive improvements at ocean avenue and landscape improvements, promoting the district to draw customers and complementary businesses to the area. in the annual festival and holiday decoration events, the way that i see it, i see the funds coming in yearly and they are unpredictable. with the organization in place that we have -- [tone] if you will, quickly, the funds set aside to improve the district is like this, it is easier to keep it moving them to

push it, started again and have a rest. thank you. any more public comments? seeing no one, we will close public comment. >> this is self-empowerment, you have the opportunity to vote. we have seen it across the city. everyplace it has been generated, we have seen the success. we have had business owners that were unhappy and did not like it in other corridors.

we will see where the election goes, allowing that self- empowerment happen. it could absolutely be a great benefit for the avalon bay and whole foods that are coming. in the stand at that spot has been boarded up at the blockbuster for -- i understand that that spot has been boarded up with a blockbuster for how many years? a lot could happen. supervisor avalos: in terms of the development, there will be a big impact in the marketing change on the corridor. i believe that this community benefit district will make a great complement to the demographic changes that we will see with a service level that

will meet the needs. i am supportive and look forward to seeing the vote. i encourage property owners to give it a try. thank you all for coming out on both sides today. colleagues, can we move this >> yes. supervisor avalos: i want to accept the amendment as a whole and the new plan as well. we can do that without objection. forwarded to the full board with recommendation. thank you very much. i think that is our last item, so we are adjourned. thank you.

>> we're here right on the embarqadero where there's an iconic view of san francisco bay. and louis have lent us "crouching spider." in a couple of weeks at the end

of april, this wonderful sculpture will be going away. and to of commemorate this art is jill manson. so jill, we're getting ready to say good buy. >> i know. it breaks my heart. it's the highlight of my career with the city. what has been the impact of the crouching spider in san francisco? >> i think it's been an incredible coup for the city. a lot of her work came from her mother. her family repaired tapestry. she thought of mer mother as the spider, someone who

protects her young who prepares the nest. and she was very, very de voted to her mother. i think it's gotten the public excited about public art. people pay attention to their environment. they wonder what's going to pop up next. so it's been incredibly positive. >> the public's art program, it's reputation has been spread nationally and internationally. so what do you think has been the affect or the utility of having a temporary arts program for you? >> i think with the temporary art work, everyone is sort of willing to take a chance. it allows us to be a little more risky. look at risks that are a little more experimental, a little more edgy. and often it represent less of an investment to public funds because we're not acquiring a work. we're often paying for just the transportation and installation of the work. >> so what do you think it has

contributed to san francisco, this 40-year-old program? >> well, we've contributed more than 1,000 art works to the city. you can find art work in practically every public facility. i jokingly say from a to z. but from the airport to the zoo you will find the mark of the aren'ts commission. the% aplace to every -- the 2% applies to every city department. it allows us to make art work, a part of the daily fabric of life in the city. >> it's libraries. it's parks. it's chouses. >> that's right. it's 2% of the construction cost. it doesn't come out of any other initial program. it's not competing with the health department for money if we didn't spend the 2% for art, it would just be part of the architecture budgets. >> of course we're here. but this program touches every neighborhood in the city. so what are other examples? >> right before thanksgiving we

made head lines on "chronicles. we have an exciting project at the intersection of columbus and north beach. in conjunction with the reconstruction of the m-line and the beautification of ocean avenue, we had a budget to commission art work. we hired an artist to create three large sun spheres made from beautiful golden-colored ceramic tile. and they bring this beautiful, radiant sunlight to ocean avenue. it's sort of a bright moment in the fog. >> one of the things that helps to make san francisco a destination is its reputation as an arts center. and how has this department contributed to that? it contributed to the vibrancy of our city. it reflects our culture diversity.

it tells the story of our history of the city. it enables us to create a cultural legacy for generations to come. the public art component is a vital part of the city's art scene. and in addition, it really conveys an important message that providing public art, free accessible public art 24/7 is an essential city service.