commission to request approval from the board of supervisors to accept and expand grant funds totalingedly 9 0,000 from the united states environmental protection agency for the civic center sustainable district project to manage water, wastewater, stormwater, and other elements sustainably and to execute all required agreements. >> i do have an overhead. maroney will you be offended if i move this item? without a presentation? president crowley: nice job. >> we have no speaker cards on this item. president crowley: do we have a speaker? on the question. it's been moved and seconded. go ahead, sir. >> it would be a good idea if you all had some idea what this is about more than what your

staff report says. i'm the coordinator of the mayor civic center steak holders group. i want to give you a little background of what this is about. the current planning documents in the civic center area are 40 or more years old. there's been efforts to update them but there's never been any money. since the 1989 earthquake, some $3 billion has been spent on new facilities and repair facilities in the area, including your new building. in 1998, mayor brown spent $200,000 on a report on redoing the civic center plaza, which is antiquated, not welcome and certainly needs work. he then got into his re-election campaign. it was put in the deep freeze and nothing has been done with

that since. i have talked to mayor newsom since he became mayor about the need to update the planning in the area and to particularly redo the plaza. he's attempted to find various ways to do that. the rec and park commission and department showed no interest in it, despite the fact that it's their plaza. but then a couple of years ago, he came up with this idea of the sustainable district, and the purpose is much broader than what the heading of your legislation said, because as you know, the planning department is going to take a great deal of the work in this, and we're going to -- they're going to replan the whole area. some 20 square blocks. and we're going to improve the use and hopefully in private buildings, there will be a plan, for which there is money to do not only the plan, but the i.r.,

which has always been in the past. it will make the plaza con form to its regional historic nature, but also have a lot of facilities relating to better environmental and sustainable purposes. this is a significant development. you can see that i view it as a major benchmark that you will pass this out. i hope you will look at it in the broader context, and it should not only produce a plan that can be approved, but supposedly, there will be some money to do some small projects. but it will give us for the first time a platform in which we can address this issue as making the garage work better. reduce the traffic congestion in the area. a whole long variety of things. thank you. president crowley: thank you.

any other public comment? or colleagues, any questions? the motion has been made. it's been properly seconded. i'll take a vote. all those in favor, please signify by stating aye. >> aye. president crowley: the ayes have it. >> item 11. item 11 was taken off the calendar. item 12, discussion and possible action to approve the plans and specifications and award water enterprise water system and a ward harding park recycled water project in the amount of $5,251,100 to the lowest, qualified, responsible and responsive builder to construct recycled water delivery storage and pumping facilities. president crowley: ok. commissioner morlan, anything on this? commissioner moran: no.

president crowley: it's been moved. >> second. president crowley: any questions? >> we have no speaker cards. president crowley: no speaker cards. ok. all those in favor of adopting number 12, please signify by saying aye. >> aye. president crowley: opposed? >> the eyes have it. >> the next item is closed session. would you like to entertain a motion to invoke privilege? president crowley: ok. i'll entertain a motion at this time. during closed session while the gallery is convened. the motion will assert attorney-client privilege. anybody in the public that wants to make comments on anything in closed session? >> yes. i forget the item numbers, i think it's 17 and 18, the cob tract's renewal, two exceptional individuals, two amazing people are going to be discussed, and that's general manager harrington and assistant general manager harlan kelly.

i just felt with the experience in working with these two fine gentlemen, i just want to put a word in for how valuable they are to this city and their work and their leadership and their expertise, their ability to bring us all together, working with general manager harrington, i value very much the conversation we have on the church not that long ago, a very enlightening conversation. i really enjoyed that very much. and looked forward to it. another strong continued period of time. and mr. kelly played the role of great uniter not that long ago. a bunch of us came together saying how can we all come together around so many of these important issues, which are vexing and challenging. and i really saw tremendous spirit of leadership that i think just came into an apex in terms of working with mr. kelly.

my -- i just wanted to say that i saw that on the agenda. i don't know if it's appropriate at all to even say this stuff, but i felt compelled to do it after feeling so good about the situation today and the past several months. we're moving forward in such a united way on all these issues that we're going to solve together. it's going to be the largest part because of the leadership of these gentlemen. president crowley: thank you. you heard the motion. it's been properly seconded. all those in favor. >> aye. president crowley: those opposed. ok. >> mr. president, if you will allow me to read the items, we will then move into the closed session. item 15, threat to public services or facilities, consultation with agency chief and security. 16, personal matter, general, edward harrington. 17, personnel matter, public employee, terms of employment, new contract, assistant general

manager for. item 18, conference with legal council, existing litigation, mitchell engineering, various cases as listed. 19, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation as defendant. item 20, conference with legal council, existing litigation, allison ayer. filed january 8, 2010, city attorney file 101163. conference with legal counsel, unlitigated claim, motorist insurance group, ellis brooks chevrolet, city attorney file 10-03078 filed may >> 5:45 while we were in closed

session. look back at my notes. there is item 15, 16, 17, 18, there was no action. item 20 and 21 has been settled. i will entertain a motion at this time. i wanted to disclose discussions during closed session. >> i move nod to disclose. >> second. >> moved and seconded. final question [hearing and seeing none, all those in favor of not disclosing, please signify by saying aye. >> aye. >> opposed? the ayes have it. ok. other new business. >> two little quick items. one is the arts policy question. i think it would be great to calendar that at some point and have a discussion around p.c.r.'s policy -- you know, what the situation is, what percentage it is, get briefed on it and try to craft some kind of --

>> it would be great. i actually had several long conversations within the last week with the artist commission folks. >> ok. so we can calendar that. i like the idea of rotating, we talked about it before, the location of the meetings. maybe there could be a proposal to what that might look like, quarterly, twice a year, once a month. >> i think the only problem is that there might be a charter limitation on having meetings outside the city. but beyond that, we certainly have hearings, though, outside the city where commissioners -- less than a quorum of the commission could participate in hearings and would serve, i think, perhaps a similar function. >> and maybe some of the meetings that we do have could be within the city, just in different places, different communities might be nice, too. >> way out of the question. >> it's a preference to have commissions like the p.u.c. televised so that's the other thing. we have certain limitations in how much we can televise in

certain locations but we can work on it. >> as far as the interest expressed in having our meetings elsewhere, are there specific places or -- >> love to see more folks. >> i'm going to try to go to the big celebration. >> the 100th year celebration for the temple should be a nice thing? >> are you going? >> i believe everybody has the actual formal card invitation in their folders today. >> right. >> ok. any other further commission action? seeing and hearing none, at the top of the program i asked we give a moment of silence to those that perished and those that are distressed. i ask we do that in a moment of silence. [moment of silence]

>> thank you. other than that, a motion to adjourn? >> so moved. >> second. >> ok. it's been moved and seconded. this meeting september 14 is adjourned at approximate 10 minutes to 6:00. september 14. thank you, everybody.

>> good morning, consuls generals and your constituency. the elected officials who may be here and other distiguished guets. sts. may i welcome you here to celebreate the national days of our wonderful countrymen, people from and people who are citizens of the consuls' generals, citizens of el salvador, nicaragua, and mexico. these flags will be outside your

abode. this is a colorful and historical day. we are proud of our ethnic diversity. we're very proud of the history that we have with your country that goes back so many years and we are very happy that these will be in front of the city hall. this is the seat of government. my introduced the custodian of this building. you shone the dome well today. [laughter] and of the government. a mayor who is making history, gavin newsom. [applause] mayor newsom: thank you. thank each and every one of you for being here. it is an honor to have you here, and you have been here many times with the flag raising

ceremonies. this is, in particular, very important and appropriate that we ask all of you to be here. we share so much in terms of the respective histories. i am reminded every time i go down the hallway, of this history. the mayors who are here before the city of san francisco. the city was founded over 200 years ago. that connection in mexico and the relationship with spain, all the challenges that are good and bad. this is more positive with an engaging future. this is something that is indelible in the minds of the people of san francisco. particularly those who served as custodians of this great city. she is right to say that what makes san francisco special and what makes the bay area special,

and the state of california so remarkable is the ability to attract people from every conceivable walk of life, regardless of race or ethnicity or sexual orientation. this is a region and a state that prides itself on its diversity. i say this often because this deserves to be repeated often. we did not tolerate our diversity, we truly celebrate this. it is right to celebrate all of these differences. at the end of the day, those fundamental aspects of our lives are what we all show. what we are doing today is sharing the values of the region and the state. we pride ourselves in being the most diverse state in the most perverse democracy. we have seen this over every conceivable difference. the more that i go out, not just

across the state but across the country and around the world, we have the privilege of visiting people for every conceivable walk of life. and i truly believe that people look to us to see that it is possible to live together through all of these differences. they know that there is something special and magical about this city and this region. and that is why we are here. that is why i am here. and i am grateful that you are here. i am grateful for the extraordinary contribution of the people from mexico and central america. i think that this is interesting and appropriate to notice that san francisco county has the distinction as it relates to the latino community that is unique among the 58 counties. we have more latino representatives.

-- >> this is not the case with the other counties. we have these in el salvador and nicaragua, as well as mexico. not everybody understands this and we are celebrating this remarkable collection. the city of san francisco took the lead as the city of refuge after the civil wars in the 1980's. we established, firmly, the foundation that marks so much of what makes this city a special place. it is mocked by those who do not understand and who did not want to understand, and this is trivialized by political campaigns and this should not be diminished by sound bites and in

political campaigns. we stand up to that. and we did not play into this. we do not believe in dividing people. we do not believe in diminishing others in the broader scope of the world. we are also celebrating that today. i am honored that you are here and i am grateful. i am happy that you took the time to celebrate with us. we have, in this spirit, a formal proclamation. you do not have enough wall space for the proclamations that you have received. but this is my honor to recognize, you have to share this today. garcia understands this because there are only 365 days a year. he must have given out 10 days every day. and i am trying to separate

this. in the spirit of brown, let me give out heritage day, guatemalan heritage day, and mexican heritage day. and the crop one -- the crop was -- nicaraguan day. this is the day we celebrate our histories in this remarkable bicentennial. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you all for coming. we have more to celebreate this historical and colorful day. we thank you for all you do. have a wonderful celebration. >> did you have to hurry?

[laughter] >> gentlemen. we are talking about el salvador. >> thank you very much. iwould like to thank gavin newsom and the mayor's office for inviting us here. the consul general would like to continue our very good relationship working together in the bay area. i'll have a couple of words for the community. [speaking spanish]

[applause] >> i already -- i don't need to translate it. >> guatemala? [applause] >> first of all, i want to mention that i am not the

ambassador, because he has been detained for the work that we do for the temporary protection status with the people of guatemala. i want to thank the city for this wonderful work that they have done for the immigrants, and we celebrate this 15th of september with our sister countries, and also with mexico. and again, we would like to thank the city of san francisco. thank you. [speaking spanish]

>> mexico. >> thank you very much. we're very proud to be here today, on the celebration of the bicentennial. and the continuation of the mexican revolution. these are very important days for mexico and mexicans. and in northern california, this is a special meaning. we have contributed to build this great state. and i think that one more important element is an extremely complex relationship that makes it so happy, is the by cultural family that we

support. for that reason, this is a special occasion for me to be here. and to celebrate with all the friends of mexico. we will continue working with the elected officials with a different representative because we believe that we are part of this the first community. and we can continue contributing with hard work, for the future and the next generation. and i held that the next 100 years -- we will be celebrating the same. thank you very much. [applause] >> we should have won with each consul general. we should have an individual

picture. >> and where is the camera? >> you got here for the picture. [speaking spanish] >> thank you very much.

>> ok. let's have everybody together. >> so quiet. [laughter]

♪ >> vivas. [applause]