of a number of union activists in minneapolis and chicago. it is notorious because it is reminiscent of the notorious, rates, mccarthy hearings -- notorious palmer raids. they confiscated people's computers, a task force, books, cell phones,;çmv passports, and 13 activists to appear before a federal grand jury. the majority of those targeted have participated in anti-war protests at the 2008 republican national convention in saint n?5n paud in hundreds of beatings and the rest was almost all charges subsequently dropped. the national coordinated raids and fishing expedition, as i call it, marks a new assault on first amendment rights, especially of solidarity activists and anti:g-union

campaigners and union activist, which began on september 11, 2001, and with the passing of the repressive usa patriot acts. i share a great concernj, with many anti-war and social j% activists that the fbi is using the pre-tax raids investigating terrorism in and sent to investigate activist and our projected free-speech activities. i'm asking the supervisors to join me in denouncing the raids on the homes of these activists, and also the action of taking their computers and personal belongings in the issuance of the grand jury subpoenas. it is something that we should stand up in strong support of first amendment rights as people everywhere -- of people everywhere, and i also want to announce that today at 5:00 p.m. at the federal building, san francisco is joining 32 other cities from kalamazoo to newark,

new jersey, in calling attention to this other act, and i think is called hands off anti-war activists, and we are convening today as part of a nationwide mobilization. i hope to share information with people as we build a national movement to defend our first amendment rights. thank you. [applause] supervisor chiu: thank you, and with that, why don't we move to our 3:30 commendations? why don't we start first with supervisor maxwell. supervisor maxwell: thank you very much. i have been sitting here thinking about all the years and time i have known this person, and what he has meant to our city, and i have been thinking about every single huge project he has worked on and how much of

his life it has taken away, and i'm always glad the next day when i see him because i never know how he is going to come back, but michael cohen manages to come back and does another huge project. michael started with our city in 1995 to serve as the head of the real estate and finance team of the city attorney's office. in that capacity, he served as lead transaction council on a number of complex private development deals in san francisco, including the conveyance and development of the first phase of the hunters point shipyard, the renovation of union square park, the new parking brought, the development of the hotel on former surplus property along the waterfront, and the renovation of harvey park golf course into a pga championship course, mission

bay, and the trans bay development, treasure island development authority as well that he helped to create. all of those things seem so easy to say, but they have been tremendous. they have been huge. michael has spent more time outside smoking cigarettes and drinking diet coke than anyone i have ever known. michael has lived and breathed our city. michael cohen, thank you so much for all you have done. it has been huge. it has been big. come up here. and he is very modest. i want to thank your wife and your daughters for all the time they have given and all the i$iñyów3 from them and all the nights you have woken up in the middle of the night thinking about what you should have said or what you are going to say. thank you. i hope you ark a while because just being a public employee is easy to say,

but for michael and people like him, it is more than that. it is more than being an employee for our city. this -- it is living, breathing, and being a part of what you want to become. thank you so much for being part i=ññiof that. [applause] i usually am obsessively over hei am not today. i do want to say thank youñmi ty from the bottom of my heart. whenever i walk into these chambers, i knew i was going to get grilled. i never came here if it was easy. i only came here when it was hard, but i also knew whether or not the supervisors on any particular issue agree with me

or the point of view being advocated, that they -- the intentions of every member of this board work here and right on, but everybody here wants the have always thought we agree on about 95% of the issues, and we spend a lot of time fighting over the2y 5% we do not agree o, but it has always been a great privilege and honor to come in these chambers to address the boardç knowing that you all really care and that you work for that, t. i also think there's a lot of people in this room who have become friends of mine. supervisor maxwell will be ended our 10 -- 10 years together. in many respects, they started together. for all of you, i want to thank

you. i also want to acknowledge everyone who came to show their support. one thing i am immensely proud of, much more so than the projects, are the people. not just friendships in this room, but of the city, and i úñrt generation with people i think will serve this city spectacularly well, thank you very much. [applause] çzisupervisor chiu: our next commendation will be presented byçq two of our colleagues -- supervisor avalos: thank you. colleagues, i do not know if you know, but september is national youth court month, hear and youth courts across the country hold a number of events did advocate and

celebrate his but -- restorative justice, volunteerism, and youth leadership. san francisco pier court is a city funded peer to peer restorative justice program that provides leadership opportunities and restorers -- a sort of opportunities to actions in the community rather than advancing through the justice system. restorative justice also gives a strong role to the community in promoting offender accountability and community safety rather than a more punitive approach focused on punishment and deterrence. in the past two years, the board has participated in national youth court month by recognizing the youth that volunteer with the san francisco peer court. today, supervisor mar and i have invited the 23 young men and women who are serving this year to be honored. supervisor mar, do you have anything to add?

supervisor mar: i was going to say, the 23 of you and the many hundreds of others that have come through the program are really true community-based example of restorative justice but also youth empowerment and you are the leaders of tomorrow and today. thank you so much for your great work over the years and to tony, as well. >> we could call up tony who is the program director for the peer court and tony will introduce a few young people to share with us their experiences and their great work. >> thank you, supervisors. i think it's the third or fourth year we've been here to be recognized for national youth court month. and i'm going to turn it over to mira and aaron to say a few words about what it is we do but

i appreciate you for taking the time to respect the kids for showing the leadership they d in san francisco. so thank you very much. mira and aaron? [applause] >> good afternoon, everybody. my name is miree. i'm 16 years old and i've been doing peer group for four years now. i feel like what we do is very important because we help repair the harm instead of just -- i feel like it affects teens more when they learn a lesson from what they've done instead of -- what we do, actually helping, you know, it was wrong and you will have consequences for what you do. how we give them alternatives and stuff. so, yeah. >> hi, i'm aaron. i'm 13 years old and this is my second year doing peer court.

this program has taught me how to stay neutral while solving conflicts and that has helped me in many ways in school. also, this program benefits many students in the district, because they go through this program rather than getting suspended at school, getting expelled or going to juve. thanks. [applause] >> thank you very much. [applause] president chiu: at this time, why don't we go back to our 4:00 special orders. madam clerk, if you could call item 16 through 23. >> item 16 is a public hearing of persons interested in the decision of the planning commission's july 1, 2010,

determination of examination from environmental review for a project located on bernal heights boulevard. item 17 is motion confirming that the project is exempt from environmental review. item 18 is reversing the determination that the project is exempt from environmental review. item 19 is a motion directing the clerk to prepare findings reversing the exemption. item 20 is the hearing of persons interested in the conditional use permit on property located at 10 bernal heights boulevard. item 22 is a motion disapproving the decision of the planning commission approving the conditional use application at 10 bernal heights boulevard and item 23 is a motion directing the clerk to prepare findings.

president chiu: colleagues. i understand from the two parties involved that there's agreement to continue these items to october 19. could i have a motion to that effect? motion by supervisor campos. seconded by supervisor dufty. colleagues, without objection, these items will be continued to the 19th of october. madam clerk, could you call -- i have been reminded that i need to ask for public comment on that. let me first rescind the vote for the motion to continue. motion rescinded by supervisor campos and seconded by supervisor dufty without objection. motion is rescinded. are there members of the public that wish to speak on whether we can or should continue these items regarding bernl heights until october 19. seeing none, discussion is closed. without objection, it shall be

continued. madam clerk, if you could call items 24 through 27. >> item 24 is a public hearing in persons interested in the planning commission's august 12, 2010, certification of a final environmental impact report for a proposed office project located at 222 second street. item 25 is the motion affirming the certification by the planning commission. item 26 is a motion reversing the certification by the planning commission and item 27 is a motion directing the clerk to prepare findings. president chiu: i understand, again, the two parties in this particular appeal have agreed to continue this item to october 5 at 2:30 p.m. could i have a motion to that effect? motion by supervisor daly, seconded by supervisor dufty. is there public comment on whether we should pass this motion to continue? seeing none, public discussion closed. colleagues, if we take it without objection, items 24 through 27 will be continued until october 5 at 2:30 p.m.

if we could move to general public comments? >> the next item is the opportunity for the public to address the board for two minutes on items, excluding those items which have already been considered by a board committee. speakers using translation assistance will be allowed twice the amount of time to testify and if a member of the public would like a document displayed on the overhead projector, please state such and remove the document when the screen returns to live coverage of the meeting. president chiu: each member of the public could speak for up to two minutes unless you're speaking in another language, for which time you'll have up to two minutes for translation. we typically do occasionally permit applause specifically with regards to special commendations but it is a general rule of this board that members of the public, during, particularly during public

comment, may not applaud or otherwise express support or opposition to a speaker. and we have this rule out of respect for the speakers and to facilitate and move forward the process. with that, why don't we hear from our first speaker? >> san francisco. [speaking foreign language]

ladies and gentlemen, my name, as you know, abdullah. i am here to open your eyes for the manager letter he give many of us, one copy here, one to my neighbor. he ask him to pay $1,100. the gentleman, he have 81 years.

another letter to my neighbor, virginia. she's 85 years. he ask her to pay $671. another one, he owe them or he said he owe them over $1,000. another neighbor, and myself finally, he ask us to pay him money for what? i pay my rent. they pay their rent. something's wrong. somebody taking -- i must have courage to wake him up, not only him but the people here who are with him. i say it before, i say it again. you're never going to be the god of my building and you never give us paper as harassment.

we have rights to sue the city, to hire some people like you. we want to know why you charge us for all this money. if you try to come out of, i have right to take it to courts and i have rights as i did before to -- as all the people in my building. i would like to tell to my friend, happy birthday. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. don't accept money from the friends and foundation. you may be wondering in these

difficult times out public library is doing. if all you care about it money, the public library is doing great. the library has guaranteed funding. the budget is up almost 1% over last year. as a condition of that guaranteed funding, the public was promised that the funding would have a priority for books and open hours of service. the benefits for retirees is up 3.3. staff costs are up 1 million. of course, service on the debt is $2.5 million and the library's fund reserve is $10.5 million. what happened to the priority for books and open hours? in fact, the public was promised a minimum service hours of 1,211 hours per week. the current schedule has been cut by 14% and the schedule is only 1,040 hours. the library is taking $1.6 million out of the books and materials budget and reducing

the book budget by a full 15%. in city hall, fooling the voters is considered evidence of sophistication. the public has been asked several times and they always place materials and collections as the highest priority. what was the guaranteed funding for? branches are closed. service is down, and the supervisors are powerless. the real priority was to make it a public-private partnership. if you are on any place in the public, political spectrum, on the left, the public library is an income stream for your enemies. without accountability, democracy has no power and we are slaves to those who control the means to discriminate information. thank you. president chiu: thank you. next speaker.

>> good afternoon, supervisors, president chiu. mr. birthday, welcome to 40. i'm here to ask for all of the supervisors' support for the resolution that supervisor daly has entered on behalf of the compassionate community, because this upholds our intent for over five years as we've worked together as a compassionate community in our support of government. i'd like it see everyone who can stand or raise their hand who is here in support of this resolution so that we may use our time wisely. thank you, supervisor daly. and i have here with me a letter of determination which i'm going to read a portion of. a new operator may proceed with an application to continue the operation of an existing n.c.d. and a change of ownership will not trigger further review from

the planning department or public hearings from the planning commission. what we have here from the acting, i believe acting acting zoning administrator is a violation of the public process that was set up for the checks and balances for our collectives to maintain the compassionate programs in san francisco. we were set up as collectives by the highest law enforcer in california, which is attorney general brown. you cannot have a change of ownership for a collective. and when the collectives don't have to go through the public process, we will once again be back where we were over six years ago with a complete and outraged neighborhood groups and patients who weren't able to assure faith, access and compassionate care. i urge everyone to vote in support of this. it supports the work we've done for many years.

and i'm concerned because it circumvents the non-profit earring statements. thank you. president chiu: thank you. next speaker? >> good afternoon. i'm douglas chef and i've lived in san francisco 58 years. i would like to address my comments on the general subject of asian victims of crimes. i thank supervisor daly for bringing up the issue in regards to the china town underpaid workers. somehow, i was expecting three other supervisors to speak in support of daly's mentioning of it. somehow, i didn't hear the three of them say anything. so, in my opinion, i thought that was kind of noteworthy, whichever way you want to take it. secondly, i also got information earlier today regarding a settlement involving the city

and county of san francisco. in my opinion, it seems like the city and county of san francisco is wrong and i would like to mention that mr. michael lu should be given credit for fighting for his right, because it seems like he is a person that used to be the victim. so i would like to thank mr. male -- michael lu, for giving an example where asians won't play by the typical stereotype where we lay down and let people step all over us. last item, i would like to say is that i'm still trying to figure out where is the immemoriam for david macklehatten, famous broadcaster of san francisco. i made a verbal request in the offices of one supervisor and according to my research, that immemoriam has not been issued and according to my

interpretation, the reason used was very flimsy. i attend to make a written request to a different supervisor, and i hope we will not be disappointed. thank you. president chiu: thank you. colleagues, we actually did issue that immemoriam. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is reverend randy webster. i'm here to speak regarding supervisor daly's resolution. san francisco is a sanctuary city for medical cannabis. that doesn't mean that san francisco is a sanctuary for big pot, m.c.d. permits, shell games and outsider infiltration of our medical cannabis community. what it does mean is that our city and county have expressed a commitment to ensure san francisco medical cannabis patients, safe access to their

medicine. the recent attempts to misuse our city's m.c.d. permit process illustrates a real need to re-evaluate our existing protocols, tighten up loopholes and in all ways ensure that medical cannabis patients of san francisco are protected from those who would take advantage of our sanctuary status for personal enrich. the situation requires immediate action. outsiders are already moving in. their game is to buy up properties with existing m.c.d.s, raising rents at existing m.c.d.s, then taking over the existing permit. this is abuse of process. we need to stop it now. we need to set a message to all those who see san francisco as an easy mark. what we need to do is two-fold. something to stop the atrocity from continuing right now, and a long-term solution so that things like this are not allowed to continue. the m.c.d. permits should be

property dependent, but should not be property dependent but applicant dependent adjacent to the property. that is the named applicant or project is the permit holder of record, and declared as such on the property site. when and if the permit holder moves, abandons or dissolves the project, the permit does like wise, unable to be used by anyone else. thank you. president chiu: thank you. next speaker? >> good afternoon. my name is katherine smith and i'm from hope net. i had a root canal this morning, excuse me. i don't know if you can all understand me. but i'm here to support the assuring safe, affordable and quality patient care, the bill that daly is putting forth. and i, too, am wary that the

ncompassionate people are going to come in and take over our dispensaries. i'm going to read you what the city said about us. it says that we're a non-profit facility affiliated with national hospice and palliative care organizations, among other organizations, we serve approximately 100 patients monday through saturday, there's approximately 700 regular paying patients. we have about 100 people we give compassion to free of charge, another elderly, veterans discount. most of our patients live in our neighborhood and they're over 45 years old. we also have an activist resource center on mission. we feed another 50 people in the neighborhood. now, if somebody else takes over, say, our dispensary, all those people that are being helped in