captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- supervisor avalos: good morning. welcome to the budget finance committee. we are joined by current assembly member, tom aliano. we are all eagerly anticipating the celebration of the giants. we will recess this meeting

until after the celebration. i expect that that will be at around 2:00. let's just say that we will be sort -- recess -- when does it start? let's say that we will recess until 1:30 and come back after the celebration. >> we will be in recess until 1:30. okay? chair avalos: we are resuming our meeting after a koran to

celebrate the winner of the giants in the world series. we have with me supervisor mirkarimi, supervisor sean elsbernd has another meeting this afternoon, and he would like to be excused. supervisor mirkarimi note: so m. chair avalos: could you please read item number one and item number two? secretary: an ordinance amending the san francisco business and

tax graduation " -- tax regulation code, and number two, an ordinance amending article 22. supervisor mirkarimi: this strengthens the office in being able to recover funds from the parking garages, private operators to make sure that those who are reading and those who are not complying -- those you are -- -- renigging and those who are not complying -- this is so that our liability is lessons. if an operator is not in the position to do what they said they're going to do, and, b, in

order to intervene to make sure the operators do so. these two measures came as a response to our earlier conversation of putting a parking tax on the november ballot, which i decided not to do, but the number one strategy for this particular plan is to use the hand of the city to make sure that we are recovering revenue that we think is being lost because of scofflaw operators. there is not consensus. a number of them are. before us are two ordnances. this is the reason why it is held over for us. i want to thank supervisor dufty for being a co-sponsor. i want to thank them for their leadership on this, as well.

chair avalos: thank you, supervisor mirkarimi. anything that you would like to add? ok, we will go on to public comment. seeing none, we will close public comment. supervisor mirkarimi: motion to advance. chair avalos: ok. please call item no. 3. secretary: this is a resolution authorizing the mayor to cast assessment ballots in the affirmative on behalf of the city and county of san francisco as the owner of two parcels and part of a third parcel of real property, where those two parcels and the partial parcel would be subject to assessment.

chair avalos: i want to say the we are close to concluding the vote to establish the community district, and there has been a lot of work done with many members in the community. in particular, dolly and the ocean avenue revitalization collaborative, and they have been doing great work. if you want to tell us what is before us today? >> absolutely. good afternoon, chair avalos, supervisor mirkarimi. i am here to ask for authorization for the mayor to cast an affirmative ballot vote under the board of supervisors jurisdiction. i have a little colored map of

the boundary. i do not know if it will all fit on the screen. and anyway, the red, this one is a portion of one parcel. this one is the library. and this one is a landscaped, large concrete area. there is a pedestrian overpass. these are in the community benefit districts, and they would receive all of these services offered, which therefore, the city is being asked to look at these parcels. assessments total over $11,000

for the parcels under the jurisdiction. if you have any questions. chair avalos: what district budget is that? >> over $250,000. those total 4.70%. chair avalos: in the other side, does that include the fire stations? >> yes, the fire stations are included in this. yes. and that is under board of supervisors jurisdiction. it has multiple jurisdictions. it is one legal parcel, but it is divided into many jurisdictions. so the puc and the mta would be voting on them. they are supposed to be part of

this district. all of the portions in red. the corner lot here is where the garden is that the puc owns, and the bus area it is the other. all of these will be landscaped. chair avalos: very good. anything else to add? >> no, that is it. chair avalos: ok, why do we not go to public comment. and seeing no public comment, we will go to close that. and we approve that with the recommendation? without objection. by supervisor mirkarimi. victor, if you could please call items number four and five.

secretary: a hearing to consider release of reserve funds to fund the construction for the water system improvement program, cuw 367, harry tracy water treatment plant, long-term improvement. item number five, a resolution adopted findings under the california environmental quality act, project no. cuw36701. chair avalos: mr. harrington, welcome. >> thank you. we will walk through a very brief description. chair avalos: miss, welcome. >> thank you.

mr. clerk, if you would not mind connecting the computer for me? this is the most critical one, and i am thrilled to be here in front of you today to ask for what will allow us to move the project forward to construction. and, of course, i am very thrilled to be here today to celebrate our san francisco giants, but before we go, we have a few items before you. so, specifically, we are asking you to adopt the ceqa findings and reporting requirements for the project. the planning department approved the certified eir in mid october. the commission also adopted the ceqa findings and approved the project.

there was a requirement that all appropriated funds be put on controllers reserve, subject to the puc and board of supervisors' approval as concerns indebtedness. it is also the construction funds also be put on reserves with the committee, and since the harriett regionhar -- since the harry tracy is over $100 million, that would apply. we originally asked for 290, but the real number is $290 million. -- $298 million.

this project is highlighted in the red circle. the plant is located in inner proximity to interstate 280 in san mateo county. the objectives of the project are to support our overall regional water system with respect to seismic response, reliability, water quality, and water supply. one of the specific objectives of the project is to increase the treatment plant capacity, sustainable capacity, that is, to 160 million gallons per day, and it should be noted that we need to be able to achieve that capacity within 24 hours of a major seismic event along the san andreas fault. you will also recall that during the design of this project, we discovered a new fault, and that required a change in the scope of the project to address the potential hazards associated

with this previously unknown size and vulnerability. -- seismic vulnerability. shown here are the major project elements. we will be performing a number of improvements. specifically, we will be performing seismic and structural improvements throughout the plant. we will be adding five filters and a tank, and there is also an upgrade to the facility, such as a pump station. and last but not least, of course, we will be building a brand-new very large water treatment reservoir for the two that are now seismically vulnerable, as they are in close proximity to that new fault. the puc currently leases a portion of the plant to a

corporation, which extends through december 2014. however, the lease does specify that the puc does have the right to use the property for public purposes if needed. because of this new fault, we have to relocate our new treatment reservoir, and the only viable site for the construction of a new reservoir is exactly where they're currently located. given the very restricted size of the treatment plant, we will not be able to relocate within the plant site, so the puc has negotiated extensively with them in recent months, and we have reached an agreement which is considered by this committee in closed session, and we certainly hope that you will support the proposed settlement agreement so the we can move this critical seismic -- forward into

construction and. -- seismic project forward into construction. this is what our implementation schedule looks like. the contract for the project, they were advertised in mid october. these are due in early december, which should allow us to start construction in march of next year. the total construction project is estimated to be under just four years. and finally, i wanted to leave you with an update about where we stand budget wise, both with the program and the project level. the project is forecasted to be delivered $7.60 million under its approved budget, and at the program level, we are now predicting an overall cost savings in the order of $63

million, and that concludes my presentation. i would be happy to answer any questions. chair avalos: thank you. we will go to another report first, and then we will answer questions. sir? >> mr. chairman, members of the committee, we point out that it is possible that the committee would want to see the construction bids, which had not been submitted yet, before we release the construction funds. however, the department has adequately explained, in my judgment, as to why you should not do that. instead, you can use the controllers reserve. that is our recommendation. there are a series of recommendations beginning at the bottom of page 7 and at the top of page 8. first of all, as the department mentioned, there was an incorrect amount requested. that should be increased from

$290,496, ,495 to oaver $298 million. secondly, we ask that you replace the reserve on the request of one number with a controller reserve, and then we request that the comptroller, after the construction bids are in, to release the actual construction amount, the bid amount, plus a 10% contingency, which is contemplated in this proposal. thirdly, we recommend that you released the estimated nine construction amount. that is over $19 million. this is part of the reserve that you previously reserved. four, we request that you

request the comptroller to reserve any and needed funds to a budget finance committee reserve, just as a matter of fact, the originally estimated cost of this project has come down, so there should be some remaining funds, in addition to the consideration of what the actual construction is, and, finally, we recommend that you approve the resolution adopting they've -- adopting the ceqa. chair avalos: thank you. we can go on to public comment. any public comment? we close public comment. a motion from supervisor mirkarimi to accept a budget analyst's recommendation and move it forward to the full board. [gavel] actually, that is just to release the reserve, not to go to the full board.

the findings will go to the full board. secretary: the findings will go to the board on the ninth, and the reserve is filed on a certain date. chair avalos: so i would like a motion to go into closed session and request also upset we have the general manager of the puc to remain, as well, for the closed session. secretary: there is public comment for this item. do you want to take that before or after? chair avalos: do we normally take that comment on whether to go into closed session? >> yes, you can take the comment on whether to go into closed session or on the items in closed session. chair avalos: ok, why do we not

take them both together? public, and is now open. -- public comment is now open. >> hello, thank you. my name is christine hanson, and i am the president on the board of skyline stables. it was started over 60 years ago by members of the general public. it was built and has been maintained solely through the efforts of vonage contributions of the general public. in this way, we have generated income for the city while providing low-cost course boarding for people who otherwise would not be able to. -- low-cost horse boarding. it has been a lot of work on both sides. this has been a long struggle for us. but tomorrow, we will have given up our ability to appeal the eir, findings that we in nearly

1000 others do not agree with. we still a long way to go before the horses have a new home, but with your help, this part of the process could be completed. we urge you to. daiichi for this consideration on this very special day for our city. -- thank you for this consideration. chair avalos: thank you for your public comment. anyone else like to make a public comment? we will close public comment. on the motion to go into closed session, we will take that without objection. [gavel] chair avalos: we are back.

>> deputy city attorney. we want to move this forward? and then the sec it would be the motion for disclosure. -- and the second would be the motion for disclosure. >> this is related to the lease of a portion of the sfpuc harry tracy water treatment plant. chair avalos: the last motion was to not disclose, and we will take that with note -- without

objection. supervisor avalos -- mirkarimi: and then there was the other. secretary: that completes our agenda. chair avalos: then we are injured, and i want to thank sfgtv for a hanging with us with our celebration for the giants -- then we are adjourned. i'm the president of friends of mclaren park. it is one of the oldest neighborhood community park groups in san francisco.

i give a lot of tours through the park. during those tours, a lot of the folks in the group will think of the park as very scary. it has a lot of hills, there's a lot of dense groves. once you get towards the center of the park you really lose your orientation. you are very much in a remote area. there are a lot of trees that shield your view from the urban setting. you would simply see different groves that gives you a sense of freedom, of being outdoors, not being burdened by the worries of city life. john mclaren had said that golden gate park was too far away. he proposed that we have a park in the south end of the city. the campaign slogan was, people need this open space. one of the things that had to open is there were a lot of people who did a homestead here, about 25 different families. their property had to be bought up.

so it took from 1928 to 1957 to buy up all the parcels of land that ended up in this 317 acres. the park, as a general rule, is heavily used in the mornings and the evenings. one of the favorite places is up by the upper reservoir because dogs get to go swim. it's extremely popular. many fights in the city, as you know, about dogs in parks. we have 317 acres and god knows there's plenty of room for both of us. man and his best friend. early in the morning people before they go to work will walk their dogs or go on a jog themselves with their dogs. joggers love the park, there's 7 miles of hiking trails and there's off trail paths that hikers can take. all the recreational areas are heavily used on weekends. we have the group picnic area

which should accommodate 200 people, tennis courts are full. it also has 3 playground areas. the ampitheater was built in 1972. it was the home of the first blues festival. given the fact that jerry garcia used to play in this park, he was from this neighborhood, everybody knows his reputation. we thought what a great thing it would be to have an ampitheater named after jerry garcia. that is a name that has panache. it brings people from all over the bay area to the ampitheater. the calls that come in, we'd like to do a concert at the jerry garcia ampitheater and we do everything we can to accommodate them and help them because it gets people into the park. people like a lot of color and that's what they call a park. other people don't.

you have to try to reconcile all those different points of view. what should a park look like and what should it have? should it be manicured, should it be nice little cobblestones around all of the paths and like that. the biggest objective of course is getting people into the park to appreciate open space. whatever that's going to take to make them happy, to get them there, that's the main goal. if it takes a planter with flowers and stuff like that, fine. you know, so what? people need to get away from that urban rush and noise and this is a perfect place to do it. feedback is always amazement. they don't believe that it's in san francisco. we have visitors who will say, i never knew this was here and i'm a native san franciscoan. they wonder how long it's been here. when i tell them next year we'll get to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the park,k,