are also being considered as amendments policy is considered. in terms of expansion, no surprise, if we are going to be growing by 160,000 new jobs, 170,000 people, we will need to update our transportation. in terms of regional discretionary funding, we emphasize the need for cost- effective transportation improvements. the link back to land use policy and how we are planning for the region's growth in an affordable and equitable manner. thank you. commissioner campos: thank you very much. colleagues, any questions for staff? commissioner wiener? we want to welcome commissioner scott wiener to his first meeting of the transportation authority. commissioner wiener: i hope i do

not ask any question that i should not get the answer to. anyway -- thank you for the presentation. this is critical to the future of san francisco. i have a couple of questions. you said abag will distribute any excess -- again, forgive me if i should not ask this -- but what happens if we provide 50%? what happens if they request another 30,000 units? >> in the past, san francisco and abag have not agreed, but we are in convergence now. but they won in san francisco, we are planning to do that. in other communities, we are working with them. there is always some back-and-

forth among jurisdictions. perhaps in contra costa and not in another area. ultimately, abag will adopt these numbers. the jurisdiction will have their representatives advocate for them. commissioner wiener: is there any enforcement mechanism at all? >> we always ponder this question. enforcement tends to be more on the carrot side, which is where it will have -- why we have this delinking of the housing investment. the implication being if you are not doing these things, which you will see in our policy approach, if you did not provide your fair share of affordable housing, maybe you should not get as much maintenance funding this time around. other than that, i believe the

state enforces -- they can bring a suit against communities, for example, that did not have the conforming housing element with the region. i am not sure what the actual consequences are. commissioner wiener: is this because how of their lack of space, the political reality? geary, we hope, is going to get brt, so there would be more transit capacity. -- vrt, so there would be more transit capacity. >> we have looked at some of the services available to support that. i should note, not all of our planned housing and jobs will

happen in this area. 90% of the growth is anticipated here, so 10% approximately is going to happen elsewhere. there are discussions now in the masonic site. there are examples like that, where development and growth are still expected to happen, in places that can support it. commissioner wiener: are there any significant opportunities on the west side other than parker sai merced? >> occasionally, you will see proposals come up in the major corridors. for the most part, there have been a consensus to look at which neighborhoods they are going to strengthen. current make, we are working on making mission day as little as possible. commissioner wiener: thank you.

commissioner campos: thank you very much. any other questions? why don't we open this up to the public. is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. i know this is an information item, so there is no action. for those of you watching, graduates of a certain law school have a majority of this committee, and that was purely accidental. madam clerk, please call the next item. >> introduction of new items. this is an information item. commissioner chiu: colleagues, at this time, i would ask the ta to do a study to look at the issues of pedestrian safety. i would like them to come back next month to look at this. every day, on average, there are two or more pedestrians injured on san francisco's streets. pedestrians account for half of

the people killed in traffic collisions in san francisco. overall fatality collisions have declined since the 1960's but the percentage of fatal pedestrian collisions has hovered around 60%. at this time, we lack, per capita, as to the number of fatal collisions, behind most major cities in the world. new york, boston, london, paris, amsterdam, all have fewer fatalities per capita than we do. two years ago, we spent $3.5 million per pedestrian fatality on traffic fatalities. what i would like to ask staff to do is conduct a study that has two purposes. first, to identify city agencies and departments working on pedestrian safety issues. two, let us know what teams are tasked with try to solve pedestrian issues, what are the

working on, what are the outcomes, and what are the time lines for those projects? secondly, assistance in identifying funding sources. for current projects as well as future projects. what our potential revenue sources that will help fund this work? i look forward to working with the staff on this. commissioner campos: if i may, what level of involvement, if any, do you expect from the municipal transportation agency? commissioner chiu: i hope as much to get these answers done. commissioner campos: thank you. commissioner avalos? commissioner avalos: thank you. i would like to call for a hearing on the extension of the 14 mission bus to daly city

bart. we had a conversation with the m.t.a. last year and we would like to hear a progress report. that would also include how often there are switchbacks on the 14 line that would be an impediment to such an extension. i hope to have that hearing in mid-february. i would also like to have an mta representative. commissioner campos: thank you. is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clark, please call item seven. public>> public comment. commissioner campos: this is an opportunity for any member of the public to speak to matters regarding this committee. is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. please call item eight.

>> adjournment. commissioner campos: thank you all once again. well, to scott wiener. meeting adjournewelcome once agt wiener. meeting adjourned. >> there has been an acknowledgement of the special places around san francisco bay. well, there is something sort of innate in human beings, i think, that tend to recognize a good spot when you see it, a spot that takes your breath away. this is one of them. >> an icon of the new deal. >> we stood here a week ago and we heard all of these

dignitaries talk about the symbol that coit tower is for san francisco. it's interesting for those of us in the pioneer park project is trying to make the point that not only the tower, not only this man-built edifice here is a symbol of the city but also the green space on which it sits and the hill to which is rests. to understand them, you have to understand the topography of san francisco. early days of the city, the city grows up in what is the financial district on the edge of chinatown. everything they rely on for existence is the golden gate. it's of massive importance to the people what comes in and out of san francisco bay. they can't see it where they are. they get the idea to build a giant wooden structure. the years that it was up here, it gave the name telegraph hill. it survived although the structure is long gone.

come to the 1870's and the city has growed up remarkably. it's fueled with money from the nevada silver mines and the gold rush. it's trying to be the paris of the west. now the beach is the suburbs, the we will their people lived on the bottom and the poorest people lived on the top because it was very hard getting to the top of telegraph hill. it was mostly lean-to sharks and bits of pieces of houses up here in the beginning. and a group of 20 businessmen decided that it would be better if the top of the hill remained for the public. so they put their money down and they bought four lots at the top of the hill and they gave them to the city. lily hitchcock coit died without leaving a specific use for her bequest. she left a third of her estate for the beautify indication of the city. arthur brown, noted architect in the city, wanted for a while to build a tower. he had become very interested in persian towers.

it was the 1930's. it was all about machinery and sort of this amazing architecture, very powerful architecture. he convinced the rec park commission that building a tower in her memory would be the thing to do with her money. >> it was going to be a wonderful observation place because it was one of the highest hills in the city anywhere and that that was the whole reason why it was built that high and had the elevator access immediately from the beginning as part of its features. >> my fear's studio was just down the street steps. we were in a very small apartment and that was our backyard. when they were preparing the site for the coit tower, there was always a lot of harping and griping about how awful progress was and why they would choose this beautiful pristine

area to do them in was a big question. as soon as the coit tower was getting finished and someone put in the idea that it should be used for art, then, all of a sudden, he was excited about the coit tower. it became almost like a daily destination for him to enjoy the atmosphere no matter what the politics, that wasn't the point. as long as they fit in and did their work and did their own creative expression, that was all that was required. they turned in their drawings. the drawings were accepted. if they snuck something in, well, there weren't going to be any stoolies around. they made such careful little diagrams of every possible

little thing about it as though that was just so important and that they were just the big frog. and, actually, no one ever felt that way about them and they weren't considered something like that. in later life when people would approach me and say, well, what did you know about it? we were with him almost every day and his children, we grew up together and we didn't think of him as a commie and also the same with the other. he was just a family man doing normal things. no one thought anything of what he was doing. some of them were much more highly trained. it shows, in my estimation, in the murals. this was one of the

masterpieces. families at home was a lot more close to the life that i can remember that we lived. murals on the upper floors like the children playing on the swings and i think the little deer in the forest where you could come and see them in the woods and the sports that were always available, i think it did express the best part of our lives. things that weren't costing money to do, you would go to a picnic on the beach or you would do something in the woods. my favorite of all is in the staircase. it's almost a miracle masterpiece how he could manage to not only fit everyone, of course, a lot of them i recognized from my childhood -- it's how he juxtaposed and managed to kind of climb up that stairway on either side

very much like you are walking down a street. it was incredible to do that and to me, that is what depicted the life of the times in san francisco. i even like the ones that show the industrial areas, the once with the workers showing them in the cannery and i can remember going in there and seeing these women with the caps, with the nets shuffling these cans through. my parents had a ranch in santa rosa and we went there all summer. i could see these people leaning over and checking. it looked exactly like the beautiful things about the ranch. i think he was pretty much in the never look back philosophy about the coit. i don't think he ever went to visit again after we moved from

telegraph hill, which was only five or six years later. i don't think he ever had to see it when the initials are scratched into everything and people had literally destroyed the lower half of everything. >> well, in my view, the tower had been pretty much neglected from the 1930's up until the 1980's. it wasn't until then that really enough people began to be alarmed about the condition of the murals, the tower was leaking. some of the murals suffered wear damage. we really began to organize getting funding through the arts commission and various other sources to restore the murals. they don't have that connection or thread or maintain that connection to your history and your past, what do you have? that's one of the major elements of what makes quality of life in san francisco so

incredible. when people ask me, and they ask me all the time, how do you get to coit tower, i say you walk. that's the best way to experience the gradual elevation coming up above the hustle and bustle of the city and finding this sort of oasis, if you will, at the top of the hill. when i walk through this park, i look at these brick walls and this lawn, i look at the railings around the murals. i look at the restoration and i think, yeah, i had something to do with that. learning the lessons, thank you, landmarks meet landmarks. the current situation at pioneer park and coit tower is really based in public and private partnership. it was the citizens who came

together to buy the land to keep it from being developed. it was lily hitchcock coit to give money to the city to beautify the city she loved of the park project worked to develop this south side and still that's the basis of our future project to address the north side. >> thanks for coming today. we are announcing are temporary homeowner's property tax reduction program. this is what most assessor's up and down the state are doing. homeowners are reliable -- of all property owners are eligible for a temporary, 1-year property-tax assessment reduction if they believe or if we believe dave -- the assess the value has fallen above their

market value, which means that the value would be lower than the market value. in general, homeowners who are eligible, chances are, they purchased homes after 2003. we do get applicants who have owned homes since 1995 or earlier. in general, anybody who is owned their home prior to 2003, they are doing well, which is good news. chances are the market value is higher than the assessed value, meaning the property appreciate it. people we are able to offer little relief for, the sad news is, their homes have depreciated. there will be a little bit of relief for them. in general, last year, we saw 6400 applicants in comparison to four years ago when we had 248 requests. the form a simple.

it is one page. name, telephone number, e-mail, and the address you are applying for. if you can give us sales in formation of similar types of homes, we do hope you can give us that. if you cannot come maternity leave blank and sign it. e-mail or fax it to us -- if you cannot give us that, leave it blank and sign it. e-mail or fax it was. tenderloin downtown, south of market, mission bay, and south beach. those were many of the new high- rise condominiums that went in to market the last four or five years. we have seen a significant amount of depreciation in those areas. gaviria that has seen the largest value drop is -- the other area that has seen the largest volume drop is the outer mission, amazon, those areas have seen the largest percentage

drop. it is where we have been hit hardest with foreclosures. we make sure that we take an extra look. we proactively have been reviewing every home that was purchased after 2000. even though we think eligibility is for people up to 2003, we review any homeowner who purchased after 2000. that was roughly about 15,000 homeowners. of that, reduced -- no one had to apply or call us. we did this on our own. we reduced 10,000 of those homeowners. roughly, you have 10,000 reductions that we did on our own. 1700 reductions were done through this application process. 5000 time shares is how you get to the 17,000 number. just to give you a comparison, it is quite a bit in san francisco. these are huge numbers, larger than the dot com bust.

alameda and santa clara did about 1000 come a tenfold. -- 1000, tenfold. we are doing better than our counterparts in other parts of the bay area. i feel fortunate. the tax reduction was about 21 million in taxes that were not collected. 21 million in taxes were not collected. that is a significant number. it is out of a $6.5 billion budget. overall, the difference to the city is still rather small compared to what it meant to many of the other counties in other areas. let me stop there and take questions. >> [inaudible] >> 6462. of those, we actually reviewed

only 4177. many of those were already reviewed. we have actively reviewed them. some of them were not eligible. >> [inaudible] >> anybody who has gotten a reduction, they don't need to apply. we will look at it again. if you have gotten a reduction through an appeal or through our office, they don't need to apply again. they will be reviewed. they may want to apply because maybe they want to give us information we don't know. they are free to do that. that will be reviewed as part of that process. in general, they don't need to submit paperwork if they already got a reduction last year. >> [inaudible]

>> well, i think because it is just flat, the market has not rebounded and gone up. we will probably see the same number of people deserve reductions last year. i think it will be comparable. traditionally, an economic recovery is like a v. this is more like a u. we're at the bottom of it right now. my feeling is we are going to see, you know, a very unusual real-estate market in san francisco. it will be flat and not appreciate a whole lot right now. the number people who are eligible is probably similar to last year. i bet we will give about the same number of reductions this year as we did last year. it will not be that much different. >> [inaudible] >> anybody that was reviewed --

everybody in san francisco got a letter from us in july. they were told what their assessed value was. there were told that they got a reduction. if they got a reduction based on the letter, they don't need to reapply. what people do is we will review applicants. the deadline is march 31. all 17,000 who got reductions will be reviewed automatically. everyone will get notified again in july. we will not talk to anybody prior to that. everyone else will be getting the standard notification in july. >> [inaudible] you review these every year. >> every year. the reductions we review every year. as the market appreciates, we may take their assessments up based on what the market value is. they may go all the way back up to the factor value. it may go up partially higher.

obviously, that is what he would see. you would see a step over the years to include the appreciation based on what the market is feeling. right now, we are not seeing a whole lot of appreciation. chances are, the assessment will be a little bit different than last year. the original purchase applies plus whatever the inflation factor was on an annual basis. in general, up to 2%. we had a negative inflation factor for the first time last year. everybody got a reduction last year. >> [inaudible] >> this year, cpi based on the final number we saw, is. 5% positive. it is still well below 2%. -- is .5% positive. it is still well below 2%. the economy is still rather

flat. >> [inaudible] >> everybody who does not get a reduction will get a .5% increase in their assessment. that is just a proximate. it will probably be pretty close to that. we can show you the website. we follow the same website. it is the state cpi. it is a tracking mechanism for the state. >> [inaudible] >> i think there will vote to finalize in the next month or two. i think the number is done. >> overall, when all is said and done, what is the amount that you're going to receive [inaudible] >> for reductions, it will

really just depend on how much your property might have depreciated or appreciate id. some areas where maybe there was a 5% or 3%, the good news in san francisco, we have not seen a few drops we saw in other parts of the bay area, like solano, or properties dropped 50%. you don't want that. you want your property to appreciate. that is the goal. it might be $50, $100, maybe a few hundred dollars. it and will not be anything huge -- it will not be anything huge. >> [inaudible] >> over last year, it was a $21 million difference. because of the temporary reductions in homeowners values, there was $21 million that was not collected by the county. let's put that in context of