chance to leave the room and then take this. >> we better get security. >> ok, we're ready to move forward. >> good evening, commissioners, i'm les kushner, i'm going to give a brief introduction and pass this off to lisa kagan, who works in the mayor's office. this item proposes a community benefit district for the area around the civic center, civic

center plaza. we have looked to formulate the boundaries of the district and what the services would be. lisa will get into this more, but it would include extensive security, street cleaning -- excuse me, sidewalk cleaning, graffiti removal, ambassadors, as well as a full-time staff to pursue grants on behalf of the district. staff feels this is a wonderful opportunity and with that, i'll pass it off to lisa and either she or i will answer any questions you may have. >> good evening, commissioners, president buell. nice to see you all. my name is lisa pagan, i work in the office of economic and work force development, i'm here to present a proposal that's on the table that has been in the works for two years now and the mayor introduced resolution requesting

that the board of supervisors authorize him to sign petitions in support of the proposed inclusion of city parcels in the civic center community benefit district, so i'm here today asking for your support but understanding that it is the board of supervisors who ultimately would vote or not on the petitions. i'm here to explain to you a little bit about what the civic center community benefit district is aiming to do and take any questions that you may have. so the civic center community benefit district, and i manage a program in the office of economic dwoment in support of the formation of community benefit districts throughout san francisco where they are requested by community stake holders. what is being proposed for civic center is a 35-block area, 654 parcels, the stake holder group

would like to raise $743,000 a year in the civic center to deliver services. and petitions were mailed out to all of the property owners in the district in september and they were also submitted to the board of supervisors in terms of the city parcels and divisions supervisors jurisdiction. the proposed term for the district is 10 years, they're allowed to go up to 15 years under our local ordinance. the steering committee that's been meeting for two years on the civic center community benefit district concept is comprised of private property owners that own buildings in the district. the ones that are checked have signed petitions in support of the district, the a.a.a. building property owners, the offices, the company that owns those, mercy housing that owns affordable housing in the district and opera plaza, the

commercial condominium entity that owns commercial portions of that plaza. those have submitted pe fissions -- petitions in supports. the arts organizations in the district have been a huge proponent of our district. the conservancy, the san francisco ballet school, the asian art museum, the s.s. jazz that is building a new center, the symphony, opera and ballet all participated in the steering committee and the state government buildings as well as the san francisco -- the city and county of san francisco departments have participated in this process. so there's three zones in the proposed district and each zone as a different level of service. the zone where civic center plaza is, is one of the goals for that zone is increased foot patrol ambassador service. the idea is that patrons of the

arts venues want to feel safe walking from bart, muni, also from the parking garage underneath the civic center plaza, they want to feel safe and utilize those opportunities more in the area. so the hope would be that community guides, folks that work for the district but can escort folks around and provide sort of an opportunity for people to ask questions and help folks who need social services get linked with those in the city. the other thing going on in zone two, which the civic center plaza is located in, would be beautification services, public space and sidewalk activation opportunities, cleaning and maintenance on call and graffiti removal on call. there's also a proposal for the city and organization a coalition with both government and private sector involved and there would be staff who would

advocate for the district who would communicate with all the members of the district and help coordinate when there's big events on the plaza, would help coordinate with the other stake holders in the district about what's going on and when there's desired events like the ice skating rink or other things they want to do, help be an advocate and help fundraise for those kinds of events that the community wants that bill when -- that will benefit the community. once this organization is established, it can fundraise, it's a nonprofit so it could fundraise for projects that would benefit the community as a whole. this is a map of the proposed district, the three zones are in three different colors. one -- zone one in yellow, zone two in pink, and zone three in green. the plaza is block 788 right there. in the middle in pink.

a big part of services to be provided are advocacy, fundraising and community building. projects that promote the district's health and vitality as a whole. it's not just city hall or government buildings, the district has a lot of privately owned buildings, a lot of residential apartments and condominiums and a lot of commercial office space and of course a large hub of government buildings and arts organizations and arts institutions that serve the city and the region. so there's a sense that there's a need to bring the whole neighborhood together under a coalition like this so that fundraising and advocacy can happen for the whole area and build neighborhood pride and ownership and coordinate all the different events going on.

safety services, i mentioned the ambassadors can help people find their ways around, escort, help kids of -- groups of kids coming to visit different places, do traffic and crowd control an help with special service need for folks in need of getting connected to social services that exist through the city or nonprofit. then there will be regular coordination of the security company that works in the individual buildings that don't leave the buildings, there's a need for coordination. all these build vgs teams that could be better coordinated with our police and city police. it would make sure all these entities provide coordination amongst each other and work together to help make the area safer. and the other thing is activation of the public spaces.

you, rec and park, has done an admirable job working with the park, those of us who work here appreciate that, but there's more that needs to be done. there's a feeling that when people, you know, in the morning and when they go home, there's nodes around the bart and muni station that need activation. if there was a better sense of performers or other people it would feel safer for people coming in and out of the district at different times. this district would like to work with the park for events around the plaza and help with that. there's on-call graffiti removing and sidewalk sweeping and washing, dispatch service, so if any city or public or private building has problems, they can call the dispatch

service as well. these are for services the city does not provide, it's above and beyond what u.p.w. provides that this district would provide and so close coordination with d.p.w. and their services would happen, there would be no duplication of services, this would be above and beyond that. beautification and greening, so fundraising could be focused on getting capital improvements in the area, street furnishings, planting, lighting, these districts tend to fundraise for those kinds of capital improvements throughout the district where needed. and they have, again a $743,000 proposed budget annually to serve this district as a whole and right now we're in the petition phase, we're asking for your support, some of us went to the city hall preservation

advisory commission and they approve -- they supported having city hall be part of this, we're also going to the library commission today and we'll be going to the other city department commission to inform everyone what's going on and also ask for your support. and then if the petitions come in, if we receive 30% support, we can ask the board of supervisors to have the department of elections send out ballots and so by the end of the year, potentially the district could form if there's enough support from the property owners in the district. and so the city parcels comprise 24% of the district, the city parcels under the board of supervisors' jurisdiction and city civic park center and garage is one of the parcels and the assessment.

the proposed assessment for the civic center parking garage is $32,000. it's our hope with increased feeling of safety there will be more patrons coming to the garage at nighttime so those revenueses will be going up and you'll see a direct benefit from ar participating in this but we also think it can help with the ice rink and other proposals you want to see happen that could be revenue-generating also for civic center plaza. and there's some enterprise departments that are also going to have their boards vote on this, like the war memorial build, ballet, symphony, opera, they like this. the war memorial board has to take a formal vote because they own the buildings, they'll do that next week. and the p.u.c. and asian art museum, the asian art already voted yes. that's it for my presentation,

i'd be happy to take your questions. and again, we hope the mayor's office, the office of economic work forest development and the many, many people on the steering committee hope that you think this is a great idea like we do. >> commissioner lee. commissioner lee: my questions have to do with permitting of the sisk center for events and so forth. how does this interact with our permitting division? is this another layer of approvals we're going to need -- our permitees to get? >> no, rec and park permit events. commissioner lee: so there should be no impabblingt for the ice skating rink and other permitted events. >> we think this will -- maybe not in regards to the ice skating rink, we think it will increase revenue by improving the general area and the safety

and thes a thetic appeal of the area, we'll see more people looking to permit the area and more visitors to the garage and ice rink and things like that. commissioner lee: i want to make sure we have full control over the permitting process, there's not another layer. >> no. commissioner lee: if our permitee wants to erect a tent, for instance, the ice skating rink if they want to put up a tent, would that have to go through a separate -- >> no, absolutely not. as a matter of fact, any of the events that originate with the -- if the c.b.d. is aproved and there is an organization that runs it, if they come up with events, they have to go through us for permits. we remain the permitting agency. commissioner lee: and they would get in the same queue as any group wanting to permit they wouldn't have any special relationship or special -- >> it's still our park and we still permit it.

president buell: commissioner levitan. commissioner levitan: i think this looks great and is well presented. i know the presentation you gave us doesn't show opposition. is there anybody we can think of who is opposed to this? >> at this pint, it's too early to tell. i haven't heard of any, but that doesn't mean there won't be. we have many public hearings to go through. commissioner levitan: and outreach. >> right now everybody in the district has received a petition and the management plan. they've been told, you know, to please vote on it to go to the website to call if they have questions, and the supervisors, if there's enough petition support, will hold two different public hearings before this could be established. commissioner levitan: good, thank you. president buell: commissioner hairson. commissioner hairson: i assume the street sweepers and

custodians will remain? >> yes. president buell: we have some public testimony? >> we do. ernestine wright. president buell: no displays of emotion at this committee meeting. >> i am the first one that made a business improvement district in the city at the urging to establish it in union square. that was the first park that had a business improvement district. out of frustration with all the urinating and what not, it was a mess. that's why i want it down at the embarcadero. this is the entry to the city, it should be done there too. anyway, i heartly approve this, hallelujah, this is the way to go. you need a marketing director, as i was telling you many times before, you've got to run this park division like a business.

it's not run like a business right now. i was successful in my business, i'm telling you how to do it. very easy. lisa pagan is a saint. she should be put up to the highest levels here because this is what we need. city doesn't have the money, this is the way to go. the businesses would be happy to contribute. i don't think anyone objects to it in any area. lighting is very important, you've got to make it enticing for people to want to go there. this is the way to go. i'm so happy we'll have l.e.d. lighting in the park, this is going to brighten up the whole area. there won't be vandalism of trees and damage and all that that you have all over this city. that's another deterrent. worth the investment. so go ahead and do this. this is the way to go. i can't say enough. president buell: thank you. >> is there any other public

comment? please come forward. >> mr. president, commissioners, i'm jim haff. the mayor gave me the title as coordinator of his civic center stake holders group, and i have been active before that and for the last six years in trying to bring some order to civic center. there has been no entity that brings the disparate parts together, in fact, you will find -- i found over the years that the people who worked at the asian art museum and ran that, never knew the people in the public library, who ran that, etc., etc. i guess it was four years ago, i spoke to the mayor and to his chief of staff at the time, mr. ginsburg, who is not here today, and they bought into the notion that we needed to have some vehicle to pull things together and give some order to the area.

he asked lisa pagan and her colleagues to undertake the studies necessary for a c.b.d. it's taken a long time, partly because it's such an odd group of properties with half of them being public and half being private. but we are very close to having it done. the entity that looks after the c.b.d. is the a nonprofit. it is not a public agency and therefore would be an advocate for things but not in the official role of things. but let me point out this to you that when the ice skating rink came up, i'm the one that set up the meeting with the people from the state building and various parks around the plaza that some of your people did not know to have a discussion and now there is a fruitful dialogue between the supreme court justices and judges and the people working on

the ice skating rink and all of that. if there was a c.b.d. i would not have to play that role, there would be somebody paid to look after those things every day. so that is why this is in my view so important for bringing the quality of life for all the employee the visitors in the civic center and pest important -- and it's important to you because you control the plaza and that needs to be worked on and you'll find in the next several weeks that there's a proposal to replan the plaza, which is wenting its way through the board of supervisors. that will be an integral part of the c.b.d. and planning process for civic center will be worked together to improve the area. i urge you to unanimously approve this. president buell: thank you, mr. hess. >> howard. >> i certainly support you chipping in a little bit to make all of this happen, but beyond that, we have all these office

edifices down there, all these similar offices downtown would have shops and restaurants and coffee shops underneath. the area is pretty dead. we go there frequently for the opera, symphony, stuff like that. it's beyond your purview but i would support livening up, in europe, you have city halls where you get the best beer and bratwurst, certainly that would -- president buell: that would be a big improvement in this city. >> thank you. >> is there any other public comments on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners? president buell: commissioner heirson. -- harrison. commissioner harrison: i look at this almost as a privatization of public spaces. we witnessed where people in the mission dolores park were upset about us putting vendors in

their park for the parks department to generate money. under this situation, the park department will have to pay something like $32,000 we don't have. these neighbors are going to be taxed, which in my mind is a parcel tax. we're told we can't put out a parcel tax because the voters won't take it. how will these people look at this, when they're asking to give $100 or whatever it is per year for 10 years or however long it's supposed to last. secondly, or thirdly, or lastly, or whatever, there's a whole other bureaucracy out here that's going to charge us $743 -- $743,000. and two administrators that are going to cost us $160,000. this money should come to us, we can do this. so i have a real problem with that.

president buell: let me weigh in and disagree with the distinguished vice chairman. it's a parcel tax but one that's willingly entered into by a majority they have property owners. it's the kind of thing you want and if you ask the rest of the city to bear the burden, they'd say, why should we be helping out this district. so those in the district see the advantage of putting the money into it and what it will do, i think, will pay for itself in the sense that it will give great comfort to people who go to the public events in the area and in fact increase public attendance but having that satisfaction that what they're calling diplomats or something are actually kind of uniformed people who will look like they have the authority to make you behave and i think that -- and the maintenance and sprucing up of the area and all of that will accrue to the bet -- to the benefit. while i share commissioner harrison's concern that it's going to cost us $32,000 that we

wish we had more of, i think ultimately if we give this a little time, i think it will prove very beneficial. i know how hard it is to do all the legwork because you have so many people involved, so i commend mr. hess for his work and the office of work force development. commissioner lee. commissioner lee: regarding commissioner harrison's question, that raised a second question in my mind, with regard to staff who are going to be working for the community benefit district. how are they going to interact with our staff? we have gardening staff, custodial staff and so forth. what is the chain of command, per se, with respect to their duties and the overlap between the two functions? >> with your permission, plcht, i'll try to answer that. the model i think we can look at

practically speaking is union square. this arrangement is already in place there as has been previously mentioned. we work with the bid employees that are down there, whether it's m.j.m. or otherwise, that do the ambassador, the custodial and share the -- it's a coordination effort, basically. and it is working in union square currently so i think we can look at that as the model and see it replicated here in civic center. president buell: commissioner harrison. commissioner harrison: do we still have gardeners at civic center? >> yes we do. we do all the gardening and we get help from custodial from the red jackets down there, but the gardening is ours. president buell: seeing no other questions, entertain a motion.

those in favor. opposed. one no. >> item number eight, kezar parking lot.

president buell: are we having mechanical problems? >> good evening, commissioners. i'm with partnership resource development. i'm here to discuss about -- to talk about discussion and

possible action item to approve new monthly residential and commercial parking lot. it's a new lot, opened 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. a rate increase for monthly customers was aproved by the commission and implemented on july 1. at that time, residential rates were raised to $140 from $115 and commercial rates from $140 to $165. each was raised -- >> is that monthly? >> monthly, that's correct. gross parking revenues for the last fiscal year were $682,000 -- $682,800. as you probably have experienced, parking rates have been increasing in san francisco over the last three years, rather precipitously. our board of supervisors approved a rate increase to $200 per month at the music concourse

parking garage which is nearby and nearby st. mary's garage has a rate of $191 per month. we are proposing raising our fees to $160 per month for residential rates, that's a $20 rate increase, and $185 for commercial rates, again a $20 increase. even at the proposed increase rates, parking at the kezar lot will be less expensive than neighboring parking facilities and should the rates be approved they would be implemented in january. the projected gross revenue for the remainder of our fiscal year is $43,200, and for next year double that, $86,400. for outreach, we posted a notice on the lot on september 8, approximately a month ago. fliers were handed out to all customers, specifically those using monthly parking passes as they entered the lot. notice fliers were given to