the board coming to a decision, but if there is some agreement that we should deliver that, going through landmarks, going back to the disability community, this should not take that long. it is correct to say that the cost and the timeline to get that work done is not that significant, so i did not see that our hands are bound. it seems to me that we would not be delaying this worked to make the president's seat fully accessible, and we would be working in terms of our vision of where the president should sit and how they should conduct proceedings, not over and above the board of supervisors, but together with the rest of the board of supervisors. i think there's no reason to

say -- no reason we cannot say that is what we want. i think that is a much better designed for people who are here all the time. as opposed to the folks just talking about it who really are not hear much. supervisor chiu: i have a couple of questions -- could you talk about some of the options you did look at over the last four years, and specifically some of the options to make the hire former president's dais less operational in the way the supervisor daly is suggesting? >> what i can tell you is that there were a number of approaches that were vetted to try to put some large blocks on the president's podium so it could not be used, to try to but bars across if so it could not be used. the challenge is that this is a historic landmark, and the historic preservation community

is very committed to not marring the historic landmark, so there's nothing that could be down that would not be reversible. we would have to do -- nothing that could be done that would not be reversible. everything that we do would have to be reversible. i can tell you that we looked at a number of different designs, and the potted plant auction was the most popular -- the part of a plant -- the potted plant option was the most popular. that this means putting a table of there with a plan on it. it would be able to be removed. supervisor chiu: when the issue was first raised a number of months ago, i have to admit i had never look behind me, and it was probably not until a week or two that i actually examine what we have behind me, and i agree

with supervisors avalos and daly that i wish the option of keeping the president's desk at a lower level -- i personally think that is a better option in that it would signify the quality of all of our colleagues. it is easy -- easier for us to interact in a more collaborative way. that said, i am aware and have been briefed by your office of the challenges of balancing the historic preservation. the disability issues, and the other functional needs that we have here in the board chambers. to supervisor campos' point, i think that in the spirit of moving things expeditiously, it appears to me that after having spent four years and going through 18 options that we are where we are at, but let me see, colleagues, if there are any other discussions or comments that people would like to make. with that, unless you have any

other points you would like to make as part of the presentation, let me open it up to public -- supervisor avalos. supervisor avalos: i will wait until after public comment. supervisor chiu: let me open up to public comment, to any members that wish to speak to the issue. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am share of the city hall preservation advisory commission. some people from the board of supervisors, architects worked diligently on finding the solution for accessibility. the major problem we kept running into is city hall is part of civic center. we are a national historic landmark. the wood in the chamber is manchurian boat, and it is all

that the law has left -- the what in the chamber is manchurian oak. we tried to come up with solutions about how the stairs could be lowered, how they could be removed, and the one that we, after exhausting many hours of time, effort, and energy -- we found that the last option that we selected would be the most expedient and least costly and disruptive to the chamber, so we are asking that you approve the certificate of accessibility that we have come up with, and that the certificate of appropriateness is approved. so that we can get on with the work at hand. thank you. supervisor chiu: thank you.

other members of the public wish to speak on this item, if you could please step up to the podium. >> hello, supervisors. associate director at the independent living resource center san francisco. i was thinking yesterday when i was on the bus about what i wanted to say to you today, and this old woman got on the bus after me, struggling, carrying a lot of bags. she said, "you are so brave. i would hate to have your life." i could not help but smile at myself because i realized that the irony is that this woman and i shared something -- we both live in a society that values our contributions in a very limited sense. i urge you to vote and pass the certificate of appropriateness.

the message you are sending to people with disabilities is a strong one. i understand, supervisor daly, why you feel frustrated. i feel frustrated, too. i feel frustrated that yet another newspaper article is going to be printed about how we cannot make our board of supervisors chamber accessible again. our laws on the phone before i got here with the ceo of the american association with disabilities, and i told him what i was here to speak about today, and he said, "you guys have not gotten it right yet?" supervisor alioto-pier, with all due respect, and i have a lot of respect for you, this is not about you. it is about the future. it is about our children. it is about those who come after us. if you make this chamber fully accessible, and that includes

the podium -- political hierarchy has been around forever. what you are saying to the future is the only thing to stand between you and the height of your achievement is your ability to work hard and dreamed big. thank you very much. [applause] supervisor chiu: next speaker please. >> as you know, and i am physically challenged. i was program director for ada. what we have here is a situation in this historic building about accommodation, and if you value without any bias to statements made by some of the supervisors, you will see [inaudible]

is accessible. for you, who think you are an expert at ada, looking at this date, it is not ada-accessible. i would have to make it wide so that two wheelchair's could go in. if i try to consider that, then this desk would have to move backwards. so let's not blow this out of proportion, okay? let's not blow it out of proportion. because there are a few people who basing they are doing the right thing, who may think that speaking on behalf of all the physically challenged -- and i pay attention to all our deliberations, and you have not. you are not a commission, but as a body, you do serve the constituents who are disabled,

especially the elderly. i appreciate that, and you should not give any cause to the press and to those who really do not understand about ada issues to have a debate that does not take us to a better place. thank you very much. supervisor chiu: are there any others members of the public that wish to speak on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, unless there are any other questions to staff -- yes, supervisor alioto-pier? supervisor alioto-pier: i just wanted to make a comment on one of our speakers. i wanted to first thank you for what you said. i think you were probably the most eloquent speaker up here today, and i would like to thank you for being up here today. i would also like to thank you

for saying something that i set for probably six straight months, which is that this is not about me, and i just happen to be in a wheelchair, and as a result, i think it triggered something. but this should have been done when the building was brought up to code years ago. it should not have taken people with disabilities to say that we want the people's room to be made accessible. i am more aware than anyone that this is not about me, so i want to thank you for the comments you made today. also, you said about your story on the bus that the woman got on and sat down next to you and said something along the lines of, "i'm glad i do not have your life." one thing that has constantly amazed me, probably because of the people i have been privileged to know who are part of the disabled community, is that the statement is so -- i

laugh because it is laughable. people with disabilities will sit and say over and over again , "i don't want your life." i thought for sure that that was how you were going to respond. one of the things i think that is so important about this project in particular is that there is such negativity surrounding people with disabilities. for some reason, the view that it is bad or that it can be. one of the things about this project is that it brings beauty do something, and i think that is very important. we talked about the symbolism. i look at it now and see something that is very ugly because it pushes people away instead of bringing people in and bringing them closer and making it more inclusive. what the project is about at the end of the date is making this room much more beautiful than it

currently is, so i want to thank you for your comments and for the people who come from the disabled community for such a big part of this and for people from the historic community who are also such a big part of this. there have been so many conversations and discussions, and i think it was congresswoman pelosi getting up and saying she had pushed it through as the federal level that made the mayor asked why we have not done this again. for all those involved, i would just like to say thank you. supervisor chiu: let me see if there are any comments or questions to city staff. otherwise, i will close the hearing at this time. supervisor avalos: actually, i do have a follow-up. my concern -- i was actually prepared to support this certificate of appropriateness before coming into the board chambers, and i still may do

that. my biggest concern was we had discussion about the president's elevated dais, and i had a reaction to see that we were again creating a space that was elevating someone above everyone else, and that is what i was reacting to. i guess the question i have is we make the modifications to create accessibility for the president's area. below where the clerk is sitting, is that going to be accessible as well? if we do choose not to use that elevated side, down below, we will have the accessibility there? >> yes, the clerk's desk, which can be the president's desk if he chooses, will also be fully accessible. it will be at the floor level, and it will be pulled away from

the back of the president's podium. supervisor avalos: that will be for anyone who wants to use that space? >> for anyone who wanted to use the space. supervisor campos: i simply wanted to add something. i was very moved by the comments that were made, especially the comments by the woman who spoke about how this is not about a rq(q(rt)h individual. a member of the disability community, some of the challenges that they go through, but i think what is happening right here transcends this community. i know that, for instance, as we were talking about the need to pçmake meetings accessible to people who speak other languages, that people who need

translation services would want that accessibility right away and may not necessarily be that concerned about differences of opinion, about how technically -- what would be the best, effective way of doing that he but -- of doing that. i think people will want to see the translation services as soon as possible, and that is the way i see it, so i hope we move forward on this. supervisor chiu: thank you. at this time, i suggest we close this public hearing, and at this time, items 29 and 30 are in the hands of the board for discussion or motions. superxc-unpçó elsbernd: move to item 29 and table item 30. supervisor chiu: supervisor elsbernd has made a motion. seconded by supervisor alioto- pier. any additional discussion? with that, can we take a roll-

call vote? >>5z chu aye daly aye know. dufty aye. mar aye. alioto-pier aye. avalos aye. campos aye. chiu. 9 ayes, one no. supervisor chiu: this motion is approved. madam clerk, please call item 31. >> item 31 was considered by the land use and economic development committee at a regular meeting ahead carried an ordinance amending the planning code.

>> as we discussed last week, we passed the item back to land use, and yesterday, the committee met and decided we needed to move forward with the item we have in front of us because old state mary's is an important historic institution that is in desperate need of seismic funds and has some significant deadline's coming up such that we need to move the legislation quickly. that said, there have been some broader issues around the specific requirements for transferable development rights, and i want to let you know that item 32 waséh yesterday and will be back in land use committee next week. it is the intent of our party to move forward with the legislation to dealño)ñbó withf the broader issumññ i know a couple of you had some questions on that, i would like to clarify that, but i ask that

we move item 31. item 32 is not in front of us because it did not yet come out of committee, but it will be back in front of the board in about two weeks. supervisor chu: hankie. quick question -- actually, clarification for my understanding. i was intending to divide the question and vote on several pieces of the legislation, but i wanted to clarify if i were to vote entirely on the item, that the changes you were talking about refer to page 15 through page 17, beginning on lines 17 through line 3 on page 17, just to clarify the changes that we are talking about deal with that section. >> that is true. supervisor chu: ok, thank you. supervisor chiu: any other

questions or comments? roll call. >> chu aye. daly aye. dufty aye. elsbernd aye. mar aye maxwellaye aye. alioto-pier aye. avalos aye. campos aye. chiu aye. there are ten ayes. supervisor chiu: this ordinance is passed on the first reading. roll call for introduction. >> first on long call for introductions, president chiu. supervisor chiu: i just have one quick item, which has to do with one of our colleagues entering a new decade, officially joining the ranks of the middle-aged, and a number of us, and i know,

have a couple of quick presentations we're going to make through the course of roll call. i actually was able something that i hope reminds supervisor campos of one aspect of who he is in case he forgets. this is a book of lawyer cartoons, and i know that sometimes he may occasionally forget that he is an attorney, make sure he does as well, and the rest of the public, so i wanted to say happy birthday to supervisor campos. happy 40th. with that, we have a little book of lawyer cartoons for you. [applause] >> supervisor chu. supervisor chu: thank you. i'm going to reserve my gift

until a little bit later because it will not make sense until a little bit later, but happy birthday. first, i do want to doan in -- i do want to provide an in memoriam request. one of the original eight female officers in the san francisco police department. actually, after she served at the sfpd, she began a 50-year career history with the san francisco unified school district, serving many of our kids, but the more amazing part is how important she was to the institution of campmather -- camp mather. she was not only a camper, but an extremely active volunteer. believe it or not, as many folks

go out there, surely has handmade all of the curtains in the over 100 cavan's several times over -- shirley. she was so committed to those curtains that on the day before she passed away, she gave instructions on how to make them and the fabric descriptions for each of those new ones. she was a founding member, worked tirelessly to raise funds to improve the camp. she was a proud grandmother of eight and a great-grandmother of four. we simply want to say thank you to her family's for sharing her with us and for all her great contributions. i want to submit a letter of inquiry with regard to the number of times mta have short term the rails. we have consistently heard from individuals and residents about

the practice of short turning or turning those buses around before they reach the end of their stuff, so we are interested in understanding the frequency of which these events have occurred, the number of times they have occurred, and the reasons why. we have seen many residents who have been dropped off at sunset boulevard in the middle of the night without going all the way to with the bus is committed to go, so we simply want to understand the nature of this. also, we want to understand the call of the policy of notification about when this would occur because as you can understand, stopping and waiting at west portal is probably better than waiting outside in the elements on sunset boulevard or 19th ave. >> thank you. supervisor daly. supervisor daly: thank you, madam clerk, mr. president, and colleagues. i know that' an item to name

october restaurant appreciation month cleared, and it is great, and i look forward to seeing that here, but i also wanted to talk about this report out by the chinese progress of association. i know that several of you, my colleagues, were able to make an announcement of this report, and given that it is still september, maybe we could unofficially called september acknowledgment of existing and continuing sweat shop conditions in some san francisco restaurants leading into restaurant appreciation month next week. the study conducted some community- to satori research and peer reviews of 433

chinatown restaurant workers in addition to some observational studies. while they found that there are many operating restaurants, which are to be lauded and commended, there are severe problems in chinatown, they believe, also reflected across the city and across this nation. 76% of the workers they found him not get overtime pay. 40%, no rest or meal breaks at all. 65% receive no save your job training. 42% get no time for being sick, despite paid sick days ordinance. these conditions hurt workers, their families, the community well-being, and also, the

responsible businesses and restaurants was who play by the rules. it also is a burden to the economy. while there may be some lower cost meals and more profits made in certain restaurants, they are estimating $8 million taken out of the local economy due to a minimum wage violations in china town alone. that is a huge chunk of change, and if you have not already gotten this report, i think they are making the rounds this week. check it out and give it a read. that is my unofficial introduction of september'sv acknowledgment of workers. i do have an imperative item for a friend, bob hart, who has

fallen ill as of late. he is the executive director of the general assistance advocacy project, a project i share of office space with in a previous life, but he is anqjz0kiçó mar for clients, as well as respectful colleague to the people he works with within the advocate community. ç5,í clients. he roars like a lion when he needs to advocate on behalf of the four. he is able to balance his tenacity with an openness toward working with others. yes had a very close relationship with staff in our :vdepartment of human services r human services agency, and really has not left behind where he has come from. he himself was a homeless client nearly 10 years ago.

started out as a community volunteer, was hired as an advocate about a year later, and ultimately becoming the general assistance advocacy project. still with us, and he is a fighter, so hopefully, they pull through, but i am purely committed to a resolution for bob hard, and since i have the microphone, i have to say that i cannot take full credit. but i'm told that these are not like risers for you but they are actually just in case the sit/lie law passes. [laughter] something that has helped me over the past few years