are great streetscape improvements happening, and the latest major development along the corridor between -- on ocean avenue between 280 and lobos is the ocean avenue community benefits district. the effort has been led by the ocean avenue revitalization collaborative, and the leader is here in the audience, as well as members of the alumni neighbors in action, principally dan weaver and hal -- al harris, who are both here as well. has been an arduous and difficult effort, especially because of our economy right now. a lot of businesses are struggling, but they managed to get the petitions necessary to lead to a vote, which is occurring today. the new plan would provide

business retention and attraction and marketing services and corridor maintenance, and some ways of orienting people around the corridor as well. this is a great development. we are here to hear the item, hear from public comment about, for, and against the item, and i would like at the end of the hearing to ask that we continue the item, and i will make that motion afterward. supervisor chiu: thank you. let me read a little bit of information on today's public hearing. the purpose is to consider testimony on the proposed authorization of an assessment for property in the business district containing approximately 148 identified parcels in the ocean avenue area. exterior boundaries include all parcels on both sides of the street unless otherwise noticed in the management district plan as follows -- those properties that front ocean avenue on the

west, running along ocean avenue to interstate 280. at the conclusion of the hearing, the department of elections will complete tabulation of the ballot assessment, including those received during this hearing and reporters tabulations to the clerk of the board will then inform the board of supervisors. if the number of ballots received is such that it is not feasible to accurately tabulate the ballot that day, the board of supervisors may reassess the meeting at a later date for the purpose of obtaining final tabulation. the board of supervisors will not approve final establishment if there is a majority protest. majority protest exists if upon conclusion of the hearing ballots submitted in opposition to the assessment exceed the ballot submitted in favor. the way today's hearing will be conducted -- we will first hear from all speakers in support of the assessment district for up to two minutes apiece. we will then hear all speakers in opposition up to two minutes

apiece. if a property owner wishes to change his or her vote, please indicate that during your testimony, at which point, you will be provided with the affidavit and the ballot. i understand we have been asked to not close the hearing today. a motion will be made at the end of the testimony to continue the hearing. with that, let me first ask if there are members of the public that wish to speak in support of the assessment district. if you could please line up in the center aisle. first speaker, please step up to the microphone. all speakers that wish to support the assessment district, please line up in the center aisle. first speaker please. >> thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. i'm the project manager at the oarc. i wanted to talk a little bit about the community outreach process. we have published information in

the quarterly newsletter since 2007. we invited merchants and property owners to informational meetings as well as attending community right meetings to learn more and gather input regarding the benefit district. surveys were conducted in 2007 and 2009 asking merchants and property owners what types of improvements they would like to see on ocean avenue as well as their interest, and in the past two years, we gain enough support to support and interest to it -- support and interest to move further. it was not until recently when we sent out a petition that many of the property owners and merchants that were hard to reach at the very beginning of 2007 came to us and we met with a lot of them through group

meetings and one-on-one meetings, getting further input from them as well as asking their support, and what we heard from the merchants and property owners is that they wanted increase advocacy for the neighborhood. more property owner involvement in improvements in the neighborhood as well as continue the marketing activities and provide more promotion activities to promote people to come to the district to shop, dine, and spent time in the commercial district. one of the huge concerns is safety programs. they wanted to see more safety programs and efforts and also, looking into pedestrian safety as well as graffiti issues. supervisor chiu: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> i am a 32-year resident and

an active member of the ocean avenue revitalization collaborative and the community cultural participation project. there is strength in numbers, and the effort here represents the efforts of residents, merchants, and property owners. we urge your support. i also want to read a very short statement from the owner of a cafe in support of the cbd. it's as efforts have coordinated for several years and he has seen the coordination of merchants, residents, and the city have produced results. as a merchant, he works 90-plus hours a week and cannot always take the time to organize research, but he can get involved. the believes it will be necessary to achieve positive results from a new project. we need to link the old and new

and bring more consumers to the area. we thank you for your support and listening. thank you very much. supervisor chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm a longtime resident. i have been there for 12 years. i am also a member of the homeowners association. i am in strong support, and i'm speaking on behalf of a longtime resident and owner of ocean cyclery who could not attend the meeting, but supports it because he has seen many positive improvements along avenue that promote the district and helped draw customers and complementary

businesses to the area. in fact, i participate in the annual festival, small business sidewalk sale, and holiday decoration events. these efforts will continue in marketing in the commercial corridor to bring in more foot traffic and more diverse business mix. similar letters and support worsened by a supporter of merchants and property owners. thank you very much. supervisor chiu: next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is dan weaver. i'm here to make a few basic points about the cbd proposal you have before you. although merchant and

neighborhood promotion is certainly an important part of it, in the process of putting this together, we decided the most important thing is to get our sidewalks sweat, get our sidewalks clean with steam cleaning, and to get the graffiti off buildings without costing the merchants or property owners $1,000 or more for a simple problem that could be handled by organizing an effort like this. september 30 of this year, a five-year experiment on ocean avenue and many other districts in the city ended with the ambassadors program and the end of the federal stimulus program which funded it. we have had five years of clean sidewalks, and we liked what we saw. we would like more. without sidewalks weeping, the litter and trash just keeps blowing -- without sidewalk sweeping.

before 2005, it was blowing since the beginning. we have five years of clean sidewalks, and it was a great thing. we figured the best way to get back to that is to have a cbd. same thing goes for steam cleaning. last time we had that happen was about four years ago. this is a frugal proposal. $900 per year for a 25-foot store front. also, we have given up the cost of living increase for the first three years in the draft plan, so this is a very frugal proposal, which will achieve a variety of basic goals, which every neighborhood should have, but we usually do not have, and we are back to not having yet again, and that is why this is important for a syrian -- important for us. thank you. >> i am a member of the ocean

avenue revitalization collaborative. i have been working on ocean avenue for many years to try to make it viable and clean. we go out and do a lot of work there, and i think the cbd is file -- vitally needed in order to maintain the level of cleanness that we have. i hope you will support the cbd. thank you. supervisor chiu: next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm a san francisco resident, business owner, and property owner on ocean avenue. i support the ocean avenue cbd. i had been a property owner there for 13 years. i have gone through two recessions. i have five tenants on my property, and i have seen lots of struggles go on with respect

to being a property owner as well as the tenants themselves. recently, as supervisor avalos talked about, there have been some really good changes and developments that have occurred. we are at a crossroads. this is an important item that we need to consider. it is difficult, i grant you, because it means more property taxes, but it is something that is going to be better for the area and for the commercial businesses, so i urge you to support the cbd district in ocean avenue. thank you very much. >> hello, good afternoon. i'm a resident of west would park and have lived there for about 22 years. i'm also here to support the establishment of the cbd. i think it would come as no surprise to anybody on this

board and nobody sitting in the audience that local governments have entered a new era of burden-sharing. as taxpayers, we support our libraries, our parks, our fire fighters, our schools through the parcel taxes. as neighbors and residents, we donate our time as volunteers to clean the streets and unify the neighborhood. now, i think it is time for the businesses and property owners along ocean avenue to reciprocate the investment that we as taxpayers and residents have made in our neighborhood by passing this cbd so that we can continue the improvements that we have made. i do not think it is about shifting the burden onto the property owners. i think it is about collaborating with the residents and tax payers of the city to keep the momentum going along ocean avenue, so i would urge

this board to support the establishment of this cbd. thank you very much. supervisor chiu: thank you. are there any other members of the public that wish to speak in support of the district? let me now ask if there are any members of the public that wish to speak against the proposal. please step up. >> hello, supervisors. i'm a merchant on ocean avenue. i'm opposed to this cbd. i do not believe we need it at this time. pretty difficult to do business there, not because of some of the things mentioned -- is mostly homeowners that want this, not the merchants. there are several other merchants that could not be here today.

the problem seems to be that we are not just -- we just are not the right type of business district for this. it seems to work well at places like union square. macy's and places like that can avoid this, and we cannot. we have never needed anything like this, and it puts an unnecessary burden on persons like myself and my fellow merchants. please do not vote for it. maybe some day in the future. not now. thank you very much. supervisor chiu: next speaker. >> my name is mildred rose, and i have been a property owner for 28 years. i think that this is not the right time for this cbd.

i am diametrically opposed to it because of the struggling merchants right now trying to make ends meet. we have a bike lane from leap street all the way over to harold, and it is prohibiting properties, business owners to have clients to come into their businesses, and i wrote to the supervisor regarding this issue. we have not yet heard from you, but i do not think this is the right time to have this initiative passed because of the economy and the property values are going down. we cannot increase rent because of the rent control. i have two disabled tenants, and i cannot raise their rent. this is not a timely moment for anything of this nature to be

passed, and i'd like to have the board reconsider this initiative at this time. we can clean up our property. we have done it over the years. it does take civic pride to do that. thank you. supervisor chiu: thank you. are there any other members of the public that wish to speak against the proposed assessment? at this time, we are not going to close the hearing. supervisor avalos, i understand you have a motion to continue. supervisor avalos: that is right. i want to thank community members on both sides of the issue for coming out today and for your consideration of the cbd and your work to help establish it. it is a difficult process, and i understand the concerns people have. i do truly believed it will be a great benefit for the neighborhood. this is also on the border, of course, of district 11, district

7. supervisor elsbernd's district as well, and i do believe we will see some benefit out of the cbd if we have the opportunity to establish it. elsewhere, opposition has turned around once they see the benefit that has been achieved through the implementation of the cbd. i would like to continue this item through december 14 to allow greater consideration from the community and allow balloting to continue. supervisor chiu: supervisor avalos has asked to continue these items. without objection, the items will be continued to that date. if we could now move to our 3:30 special commendation. we have a special commendation being offered by supervisor alioto-pier.

supervisor, are we almost ready to go? if not, we could go back to item 25. ok, supervisor alioto-pier has asked us to refer back to 25. supervisor alioto-pier: we have some outstanding questions from the assessor's office, and i was hoping we could rescind the vote and continue it a week. i would appreciate just one more

week to get some clear answers from the assessor. supervisor chiu: supervisor alioto-pier has made a motion to rescind the vote on item 25. without objection, that item's boat is rescinded -- vote is r3escinde -- vote is rescinded. without objection, the item will be continued for one week. now, if we could go back to our 3:30 special order, commendation by supervisor alioto-pier. supervisor alioto-pier: great, thank you very much. if i could welcome ms. tilly. come on up. [applause] and if there are any students of hers, past or present, who would like to come up and stand --

come on, you guys -- stand with her. everyone is so little. i should tell you that when all the little girls walked in with their tutus, bevan was upset that he did not wear his. you have a supervisor who is with you in hard. colleagues, it is my distinct pleasure today to honor a beloved san franciscan. miss tilly, as she is known to the thousands of children who have studied with her, began her

studies with the san francisco ballet at the age of 11 and first danced in "the nutcracker" as a buffoon. when she was 15, she became a member of the san francisco ballet company. she went with the company on the united states department was of africa, the far east, the middle east, and south america. her teaching career began at the age of 13 when she was appointed apprentice teacher to the pre-ballet program. after performing professionally with the ballet, she joins the faculty of the school in 1963. ballet with miss tilly was born five years later and continues to this day. thousands of little girls and boys have passed through her doors, and she has never once had to advertise. and we all know that.

all the mothers in this room who have their children in her class, it was all by word of mouth. mothers told mothers. little girls told friends, and she built a reputation as the city's preeminent ballet instructor for small children. she also offers scholarships to many children. her goal is not to turn all of her students in two professional dancers but to instill in them a sense of confidence and discipline that they will carry with them throughout their lives. her main goal is to provide every child with a wonderful and magical experience through dance and music that will stay with them always. as one of her former students stated, studying with her was like being in the presence of a real dollar in a. she was always patient and never raised her voice. behaving badly would have seemed rude. she says that her greatest achievement is creating a career

doing what she loved. on behalf of the thousands of parents and children, we are so grateful you chose this as your career. we honor your dedication and commitment to our children, to san francisco, and we thank you for using your talent to give back to the community. [applause] with that, as a mom with three little people who have gone through your program -- my son, sitting over there very embarrassed, my daughter over there also very embarrassed, and little ballantine in her -- little valentina in her little tutu. to all of the moms out there who

look at miss tilly and wish we could look that good. >> it is a great honor to be recognized by the city of san francisco, thanks to your generosity. michaela is a woman i have admired for many years and makes this award really special for me. you took most of my speech because i was going to say a little bit about my whole point of my school, and i think you said it very beautifully. the purpose of my school is to help students gain the necessary schools of listening, discipline, and confidence to benefit all aspects of their lives, and most of all, to give each child a magical experience that will stay with her always. i thank you so much for this opportunity, and my family is here, too. four of my 6 grandchildren are

back here. could you stand up? nick and matt and jamie. could you bring my littlest one in front please? this is my youngest grandchild coming down the aisle. here comes huck. there he is. there is the littlest grandson. so my family is here, and all of the children or part of the children that i love, and thank you so much for this opportunity. thank you, children. should we take a vow -- bow over there? let's go take a bow.

[applause]

[applause] supervisor chiu: that concludes our special commendation. with that, if we could move to our committee reports. specifically calling up item 47. >> item 47 was considered by the land use a