are there any comments or questions from supervisors? seeing none, we will open up for public comment. three minutes, please. >> it is going to be less than that. chairperson kim: if as before, people can come with support first, then opposition, to help us with the evening -- with the meeting notes. >> congratulations to madam chair kim and supervisor farrell for being elected. i am very happy to support harry camps -- kim to continue his good work on the relocation appeals board. he has served four years and years. the institution has always been fair for all parties. i can also testified that every christmas he gives a christmas dinner to us veterans, and most

of us were in the caribbean area -- korean area when the fighting was started. we're very fortunate meeting each other. we went through the cold winter and the hot summer in the korean peninsula. everyone was fortunate to return home in one piece. i am one of those. i urge you to reappoint harry kim as the relocation appeals board. thank you. >> this will be my last testimony today. i wanted to speak about both mr. kim and also heard -- herb cohn. harry kim has had a unique place in city hall. he has been very involved with the city committee. he has a tenure with the relocation appeals board. he has been an important part of

the civic fabric, recognizing there has not been strong petition -- participation with the korean-american community at city hall. he has been part of the process and deserves continued service. herb cohn i have known for 10 years. he was providing assistance to the merchants of upper market and castro. one of the things that has distinguished his participation is his level of positivity. he is proactive. he is looking for solutions, not to blame our be negative. brought people who had not been participating in the district merchants into it, but stepped up and is now a resident of the council. he is an incredible member of our community. he is doing great work citywide. the thing he will do wonderfully on this panel. i will have to step away. at the earlier hearing, i did

support ms. kong's nomination. i also will support mr. elliott's. thank you for allowing me to be here. >> my name is stephen cornell. i have been involved with small business for many years. i have been on many different boards and president of them. i met herb 15 years ago. he served on many boards with me. he is president of many things i used to be present of -- president of. he is a businessman, a cpa, involved in real estate. these are all qualifications that would be an asset to this board. when i see him on the various boards that i serve, and a to see can deal with professionals, merchants, and nonprofits. he does it real well. he hears everybody. he comes up with reasonable solutions and tries to bring

people together. this will be a real asset to this board. thank you for your time. >> my name is eugene flannery. i am the relocation appeals board executive secretary. congratulations on your election to office, and welcome. i want to open my comments with a brief overview of the relocation appeals board. it has high impact. it hears appeals from people and businesses dislocated by city projects. it is mandated by state law for any city or county that has a redevelopment agency. we are handling appeals from the central subway and trans bay terminal. we are very much in favor of these appointees.

they have a background in business, public service, and nonprofits. it allows them to work very well with the type of appeals we have before us. we'll be hearing appeals from residents of condominiums in the transport district, as well as a gas station near the central subway, as well as stores and apartments in chinatown. i think they bring considerable expertise to the table. thank you. chairperson kim: thank you. seen no other public comment at this time, public comment is now closed. comments? commissioner farrell: i would just like to say things for all the members of the public it came up to speak, particularly those who reached out before him. there was a letter i received from jim maxwell in support, who i consider to be a great friend and a stalwart of our small business and neighborhood community. unless there are other comments, i would make a motion to move

items seven to the board with the committee report. chairperson kim: thank you. very quickly, and want to thank mr. kim again for his continued service to the city of san francisco, i believe for 22 years on numerous commissions. thank you very much. you are very present in all our committee meetings. it is great to see you here again. and mr. cohn, i look forward to working with you. there is a motion to move forward item seven. seeing no objections, the item is now closed with committee report. madame clerk, mainly now here item eight? -- may we now hear item eight? >> the appointment of florence kong to the city hall preservation advisory

commission. >> my name is florence kong. i am appearing for the consideration for the city hall preservation advisory commission. i am honored to be nominated as the commissioner of this commission. as a san franciscan, i am proud to have a city hall dedicated to national landmarks. as a walk through the doors of city hall, i know the importance of welcoming. our city hall should be an example to make all people feel welcome, not only to all the tourists, but for all the people who make use of this facility. i can make firsthand testimony, because i was married here. i have also been a licensed contractor in structural steel,

as well as a general contractor that has successfully completed preservation projects and structural products. i hope to bring with me some understanding of the importance of historical preservation. san francisco has a rich tradition of diverse people of different cultures. preserving and understanding our city hall and it's significant cultural values will bring civic pride to our future generations. as a member of the city hall preservation advisory commission, i hope i can help maintain our city hall's reputation as a friend for all people for many generations to come. chairperson kim: thank you for being here. are there any questions from members?

seeing none, we will open up for public comment. three minutes. >> evelyn schumer, head of the city hall preservation advisory commission. we would love to have florence kong on our commission. she has an incredible background in structures of historical landmarks. she would be an asset to our commission. she would also fill the fifth seat, which has been vacant for a fairly long period of time. we would welcome her with open arms. thank you. >> thank you, supervisors. my name is richard dow. three years ago, i know florence kong. for the last two years, she has been all over town. lately, she is very present in city hall, and very active.

she is still considered a new immigrant. she came in here just a small business contractor, and becoming larger and larger. currently, she hires about 100 people, mostly doing ironworks overtime. she has the contract of building the community college in chinatown. it will be another two years. it will be in operation. it will be teaching 5000 students, learning english and other job skills. she just came off the immigrant rights committee commission. in that commission, she helped the immigrants to find their first jobs, to find their homes. all the other immigrants will look forward to her as a point

lady or ideal person. she really rises and drive san francisco. she will do a good job in serving our city hall. i urge you to appoint her to the city hall preservation committee -- preservation commission. thank you. chairperson kim: seeing no further public comment, public, it is now closed. -- public comment is now closed. thank you for being here. i am excited to support your nomination, just knowing your work, both to support new residence in san francisco through your radio show and charity work, but also your tireless advocacy for immigrant rights issues and creating more local jobs for san franciscans. i know you have done that through your work in your

company, hiring and training, and bringing many new san franciscans in to the trades, but also for your work on local hire legislation. thank you so much for your work. seeing no objections, we will be moving this item forward. this item is now closed. madame clerk, i would like to continue items 9 and 10, if there are no objections. >> would you like me to read those items? item nine, motion approving the mayor's appointment of jason elliott for the commission on the environment. motion 10, motion rejecting the mayor's appointment of jason elliott to the commission on the environment. chairperson kim: i would like to open up public comment at this

time. >> my name is larry bane. i work with the san francisco food system council, which endeavors to bring local food and sustainably produced food to our community. thank you for the opportunity today to speak in favor of jason elliott's nomination to the commission of the environment. he has a true insight into the links between our food system and a sustainable environment. the city of san francisco has a strong commitment to creating a food system in the bay area that offers equity, access, and food that is produced and distributed in a way that supports local families -- local farmers and small businesses in a friendly environment. we have begun an initiative with the national health department and national parks service to

increase the public's awareness of the importance of help the children in an import -- in a healthy environment. we seek to sustain a san francisco citizens in a diverse and vibrant ecosystem. chairperson kim: thank you so much. >> cheryl bronfman -- brinkman, speaking in support. i was recently appointed to the mta board. one of the first big things i have done is working with jason on the mayor's executive directive on pedestrian safety. i can say that jason was absolutely instrumental in getting all of the ideas and groups together and coalescing that into a workable form. i know he will be an asset to the appointment he is nominated for. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. i am here to speak in favor of

jason elliott. i do not know him that well, but i don't think it can hurt to have him on the commission. let us look at some of the current environmental ordinances. ordinance 246-00 is the california quail. has anyone seen a quail in the city? you have not. there are not in the coils in the city. also, i'd do not know if the commission is aware of this, but the quail is already the state bird. our city board should probably -- city bird should probably be the california pigeon. which brings me to another ordinance, one i am sure you are familiar with. the feeding of wild birds ordinance is completely draconian. there is nothing in this ordinance about enforcement. i would like to show you a picture of an elderly man eating about 100 pigeons -- feeding about 100 pigeons.

those are pigeons on his arms. i had to run away because i was pretty sure he was going to command them to attack me or something. if the city does not do something about this, there is a point to be draconian consequences. the real reason i support jason is his love of football. i mean, he knows what a national embarrassment the niners are. i would go so far to say they are an international embarrassment. take this e-mail i received from a woman in the u.k. "i do so want to come to california. we would have a grand time. you were in the strangest dream i had less by. for some reason, you had a crutch --" something about fruit and a tree and her mouth. "i was looking at activities to do and i saw san francisco has a football team call the forty- niners. i bet a football game in san francisco would be absolutely

lovely. what is this raiders team i hear about, and why do they have a better record than your team, but aren't even in san francisco proper? the weakest division as well, yes? and the niners did not even make the playoffs. it sounds like rubbish to me. come on. the raiders. love, sophie." in conclusion, it jason love the environment half as much as he loves football, -- if jason love is the environment -- if jason loves the environment have as much as he loves football, i think we have a winning team here. chairperson kim: i would like to continue this item to our next full committee meeting. >> would you like to continue both items? chairperson kim: 9 and 10, yes. >> madam chair, there are no

other items before the committee. chairperson kim: all right. meeting adjourned.

>> ok, let's get started. good morning, everyone. i am happy to see so many city leaders here as well as students from local schools. welcome to the asian art museum. my name is jay shee, the director of the asian art museum. on behalf of the staff and board, we welcome you in the backdrop of the upcoming

exhibitions, ritual performances. it will be open to the public february 25. this is the first time in history of the united states that the indonesian culture, particularly the island of bali, will be presented to our public. this is a wonderful example of the value and service that a museum provides to our community. we are a platform for cultural exchange, as well as cultural diplomacy. this museum has served for many years this say and we continue to be more robust in our service to the public. as you know, our museum is governed by a couple of

foundations. the foundation is a private fund-raising arm for the museum. that museum took out a loan in 2000. we have had some difficulty and this is the news lately. under the leadership of our city and our commission and foundation board, today we are pleased to present to the public a proposal to solve a bond issue that is conflicting the foundation. let me introduce to you the leaders from our city, mayor gavin newsom. [applause] city attorney dennis r. veherre. former mayor willie brown.

and the president of the asian art museum foundation. as well as the vice chair for the asian arts commission. carmen chu, our city supervisor. then rosenfield, the city comptroller. and nadia, our city finance public director. welcome all. without further ado, let me give you our mayor, gavin newsom. >> thank you all for taking the time to be here. this is an important moment. we have been working diligently behind the scenes for the last number of months to try to solve a bump in the road in terms of the future of this extraordinary museum, the finest collection of asian art artifacts anywhere in north america. we are very proud of this

museum, its place in history, our city, and the contributions from americans that have built this extraordinary place. in fact, last year i gave my state of the city here because of all of the accomplishments and contributions that were made. it goes without saying, when we first made aware of some of the challenges that were taking place and taking shape here, the city family came together very quickly to try to help work through those challenges. we are blessed to have not only outstanding current leadership but outstanding leadership that was formally here and continue to be represented in the private-sector, particularly mayor willie brown, one of the first call we made. dennis brown and his team were magnificent and immediately asserted themselves in the negotiations to advance our efforts to get us to this moment. of course, we are blessed -- as

was the case when i made when he was originally appointed -- that there are few people better than rosenfield in his ability to think about a tough issue. he partnered, in particular with nadia, and was able to organize a framework working with j.p. morgan, mbia, working with willie brown and working collaborative lee with carmen chu and others on the board of supervisors so that we can get to a place where we can say the future of this museum is now significantly secure. [applause] you are all supposed i did not y

applause time, a lesson for you students here. what we're doing here is important. we are also announcing a new team of people, and that is notably why mayer brown is here. he is committed to lead a civic effort to help significantly enhance the foundation's already good work, to raise additional money for this museum. mayer brown and dennis herrera, are leading that effort. as the future ex-mayor, perhaps i can be committed to that effort, to go out there and to seek to reach, not only within the san francisco community but throughout the bay area and

state, nation, and for that matter, around the world, to raise the millions of dollars that need to be raised by the foundation to put it on more permit financial footing. so the purpose of the day was to celebrate the work that has been done and the case that there is a lot of work that needs to continue to be done and we have the right people to do it. i will close by thanking those who are about to come up and speak, for their remarkable leadership and commitment. thank you, dennis herrera, ben rosenfield, steve cava, carmen chu, and notably, willie brown. >> thank you, mr. mayor. our next speaker will be the city attorney, deninis herrera. >> thank you, jay.

i thought it was notable to thank the mayor. he will be going to the lieutenant governor's office. i think it is notable that mayor newsom said he would continue to be involved. i think that is testimony to the leadership he has shown throughout what has been a difficult time over the last couple of months. there was a tremendous amount of work that had gone on ensuring the security of this museum, going forward. mayor gavin newsom and his chief of staff deserve a tremendous amount of the credit for showing the leadership that we are focused on getting a common solution that insures the viability of this institution. i want to thank them for their leadership, then rosenfield, who does a tremendous amount of the

heavy lifting, i staff who did a lot of the negotiating with financial institutions to make sure everyone had some skin in the game. the fact is, mayor newsom alluded to, there are a lot of people that have to do work to make sure that long-term we have the security that we have focused on here. it is going to take leadership from the city family. i applaud what the financial institutions have done in terms of showing their commitment, but it is going to need the commitment of all of us in the city to assure that this iconic institution continues to provide an outlet for learned about bali, shanghai, japanese art, not just for students here now, but for upcoming generations. this is an iconic institution that does not just certification san francisco. it is a world-recognized leader. people come from all over the world to learn about asian art. that is the population that this

great institution provides for a run the world. it will be incumbent upon us to work with the museum foundation to do what we need to do to make the case to the greater populous as to why they need to financially support this institution and assure that a few years from now we are not in the same place. i think everybody had done their part and it is up to us as a community to show that we value what is an iconic institution and provide world leadership for people throughout the world to have an interest in asian art. i want to thank mayor newsom, mayer brown for coming out of retirement, so to speak, to make sure that he will continue to help in the fundraising effort, and i applaud everyone's work that they have done to assure that 15 years from now this institution continues to be the world leader in educating generations of san franciscans about the ita