background to this is that things have changed and many people ask this information on our meetings and agendas and minutes. is there any projected cost savings with this legislation? >> upwards of $50,000 per year. commissioner kim: any other questions? this is being heard for the amendments to the ordinance. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> i will make a motion to move this forward with recommendations. commissioner kim: without objection. this item moves forward with recommendations. at this time, we will recess

this portion of the meeting so we can adjourn to close session with the city attorney's office. is there any public comment on the items listed on the agenda? seeing none, public comment is closed. and we will now go into closed session. >> we met in closed session to discuss pending claims and litigation regarding the city. it >> thank you, colleagues, at the meeting is adjourned. >> we will have a motion regarding disclosure. >> to do you want to make that

motion? commissioner kim: i cannot make that motion. >> a motion to move those forward and to not disclosed. >> without objections. at the meeting is adjourned.

meeting of the full board of supervisors. can you please call the roll? >> [roll call]

mr. president, there is a quorum. president chiu: can you join me in the pledge of allegiance? [pledge of allegiance] colleagues, we are at the agenda changes section. i would like to formally welcome mayor ed lee. the mayor is here to discuss item 26, the item discussion around pension reform for a closed session. can we move to item 26? i would like to do that.

can you call that item? >> the motion for the board of supervisors to convene in closed session to consult with the labor relations negotiators for the purpose of reviewing the position and instruction to the negotiators. president chiu: is there a motion to go into closed session? is there any public comment on whether we should go in the closed session to discuss the pension situation? public comment is closed. ladies and gentlemen, if i could ask all of the members of the public except for the members of the board and city staff that will take part in this conversation, could you please take your belongings and step out into the hallway? we will resume hudson session as soon as we are completed with this item. -- open session as soon as we are completed with this item.

supervisor chiu: welcome back to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting of tuesday, march 8, 2011. colleagues, can i have a motion to not disclose what was discussed in closed session? without objection, the motion passes to not disclose the information discussed in closed session. colleagues, you should have received copies of the meeting minutes of january 25 and february 1. can i have a motion to approve those minutes? without objection, those meeting minutes are approved. madam clerk, are there any communications? >> i have no communications, mr. president. supervisor chiu: and if we could read our consent agenda.

>> items 1 through 16 comprise the consent agenda. the items are considered routine and will be acted upon by a single roll call vote unless the member of the board request discussion of the matter. it shall be removed and considered as a separate item. supervisor chiu: i understand item two needs to be removed. are there any other items folks would like to sever? if we could take a vote of items one through 16 without item two. >> wiener aye. avalos aye. chiu aye. campos aye. chu aye. cohen aye. elsbernd aye. farrell aye. kim aye. mar aye. mirkarimi aye.

. there are 11 ayes. supervisor chiu: those ordinances are finally passed. >> item two is amended police code regarding discharge of firearms and fireworks. supervisor chiu: i understand that this item needs to be continued until march 15, given an issue with the draft language. can i have a motion to that effect? without objection, this item will be continued until the 15th. colleagues, it is 3:36. we have a special commendation at 3:30 that supervisor farrell will be presenting. i would like to ask him to do that. supervisor farrell: thank you. it is a great honor of mine to be honoring a number of people from my community in district two. the few guys are here.

i know i saw you coming in. -- if you guys are here. if you could come up front here. everyone, together, these three individuals were the driving force behind the recent seven- year $21 million renovation of one of san francisco's most beloved landmarks, the palace of fine arts. the maybeck foundation, led by the chairman of the board and campaign chair and executive director, drove the efforts to raise more than $16 million in private donations from over 1200 individuals. in coordination with the maybeck foundation, a talented team of city managers from the rec and park department and dpw help carry out the renovations of the historic remnants of the 1915 pan expo. i was proud to be president at the it -- present at the

official opening, and every time i walk on the palace of fine arts ground with my children, it amazes me the work that was accomplished there. it was a public/private partnership between san francisco and the nonprofit maybeck foundation and funded by a combination of city and state funds and donations from over 1200 donors. it included seismic upgrades, addition of new entryways and pathways, the replacement of the rotunda floor and roof of the dome, stabilization of the lagoon, and new landscaping. today, the 95-year-old landmark is the only original structure left from the 1950 world's fair -- 1915 world's fair. the maybeck foundation achieved an outstanding record of success by finishing four phases of the project in a timely manner. this partnership is a model i can only hope we can use to move forward here in san francisco. personally, as you all know, i grew up a block away of the -- from the palace of fine arts and

still go there with my children. it is such an important part of san francisco history, and it is because of the great leadership of these three individuals that we are here today and the palace is where it is. first of all, i would like to thank the executive director of the maybeck foundation who worked tirelessly to make this public/private partnership a success. she has long been involved in these partnerships with consortium's through executive rolls through the museum of california and the los angeles zoo and also currently serves as the president of the board of the california historical society. she took me on a tour of the palace along with my family right before the opening and clearly was the person on the ground that everybody turned to to coordinate this project, so, jan, thank you for your leadership and coordination of the project. the chairman of the maybeck foundation whose leadership was paramount.

the maybeck foundation was established to celebrate the legacy of bernard maybeck, who was the architect of, most importantly, the palace of fine arts. hans is a graduate of the yale school of architecture but most importantly a san francisco native. he contributed not only his time on the steering committee but also led his expertise -- his architectural expertise to the project. thank you so much for your role. i would also like to thank and acknowledge the new chairman of the maybeck foundation, richard, who is here. i very much look forward to working together as we make certain that the work that has been done to date at the palace of fine arts continues in this legacy. lastly, i want to say a special thanks to donna huggins, the campaign chair of this project. for those of you who have not met her or been in her presence, she is an amazing woman, beloved by all, and truly, no amount of

praise will do justice to the banks you deserve from our city with the palace of fine arts. she was plain and simply the linchpin of the project. without her, she would not -- without her, it would not have happened. you put your heart into the project. i saw it, and we all see it today. from all of us in city hall, for all of us who hold the palace of fine arts dear, thank you so much. donna is also, by the way, a collector of pieces of memorabilia from the 1915 world's fair. in addition to these commendations, i actually have two original pieces from the world's fair that were originally purchased by my godparents' and given to my parents until this morning -- purchased by my godparents and given to my parents until this morning when i picked them up for you. a book of postcards and a book of inscription detailing all the inscriptions from the world's fair and the meaning behind them.

i look forward to giving this to you. on behalf of the city hall of all of san francisco, thank you to you three for all of your service. [applause] and i invite you, if you want to, to say a few words. certainly, you do not have to, but please, come on up. >> it has been a great honor. just a great honor. thank you for the privilege of helping to restore this magnificent landmark. i would like to acknowledge my husband, who has been with me every step of the way. he has done so much for the community. on behalf of my grandmother and grandfather, who fell in love under the rotunda, i'm just so thrilled that i was able to give this gift to the city. i want to thank jan and ponds and the board -- jan and hans and the board. i could not have done it without

them. we would be happy to give any of you a private tour. thank you so much. this is really a thrill. i really appreciate it. thank you. [applause] >> i also echo donna's thanks. the really important thing here is the legacy of public/private partnership, and i want to thank the city. i think bill ginsberg and rec and park -- phil ginsburg and rec and park deserve recognition for what they did to bring the product to a successful conclusion in difficult economic times, and i applaud the creativity we have here. i want to say thank you, thank you. it is a message we all need to share in the community, that the government really can work when we all work together, so thank you very much. [applause]

supervisor chiu: thank you, supervisor farrell. that concludes our 3:30 commendations. if we could go back to the unfinished business. >> item 17 is an ordinance ordering the vacation of portions of the public right of way within the transit center project area. wiener aye. avalos aye. campos aye. chiu aye. chu aye. cohen aye. elsbernd aye. farrell aye. kim aye. mar aye. mirkarimi aye.

there are 11 ayes. supervisor chiu: this ordinance is finally passed. >> item 18, ordinance amendment the san francisco transportation code and police codes amending parking lots. supervisor chiu: can we take this same house, same call? without objection, the ordinance is passed. >> item 19, ordinance amending the san francisco administrative code to establish a process for the mayor to a peer of the board of supervisors for a question and answer session. supervisor avalos: thank you for continuance on this item. i did have concerns about the spontaneity of our exchanges we have had with the mayor under this ordinance. i still have those concerns, but my conversation with mayor lee, i said that i would be able to live with this. if it is an ordinance we want to look at later on down the line,

we can do that. i would like to do that at some point. we can add a little more life into it. i do believe that my discussions were very meaningful with the mayor, and i think we can make this a useful tool for us and focus the mayor's attention on things that perhaps he or future mayor she would not be attending to. i think it would be a useful exercise to move forward on, but hopefully, we can look at building a little more spontaneity into it, and hopefully, we will see as we move forward we will work to do that. thanks. supervisor chiu: colleagues, can we take this item same house, same call? without objection, the ordinances passed on the first reading. >> item 20, ordinance amending the administrative code, authorizing the assessor to recommend rewards for information related to the detection of underpayment of tax owed to the city. supervisor chiu: same house, same call? the ordinances passed on the

first reading. >> item 21, ordinance authorizing the department of technology to accept and expend a grant from the u.s. the poorman of commerce for sustainable broadband adoption training and services and amending the annual salary or in its fiscal year 2010-2011 to reflect the addition of six grand-funded positions. supervisor chiu: same house, same call? the ordinances passed on the first reading. >> item 22, resolution requesting the recreation and parks department and the department of the environment to collaborate to establish a comprehensive parts recycling program. supervisor mirkarimi: can we re-referred to this later in the meeting? supervisor chiu: i understand there is ongoing discussion. without objection, that should be the case. >> item 23, ordinance amending the planning code by amending the fee waiver criteria for affordable housing. supervisor chiu: can we take this item same house, same call? the ordinances passed on first reading. >> item 24 is an ordinance

ordering the summary vacation of property located near ocean and phelan avenues, authorizing the sale of city property to the redevelopment agency for approximately $4.1 million and the grant of a pedestrian access easement and emergency fire apparatus easement over a portion of the adjacent city property. supervisor chiu: can we take this item same house, same call? without objection, the ordinances passed on the first reading. if we could now go to roll call. >> supervisor wiener, you are first on a roll call for introductions. supervisor wiener: thank you. i have two items. the mta has now begun its long- awaited collective bargaining process. i rise today to stress the critical importance of

bargaining to the future muni in terms of costs and functioning of the system, as well as the message it will send about 88's commitment to reform. -- about mta's budget. we were reminded about what happens when the budget gets so off kilter for so many years that they cannot address the basics of keeping the system running. we have a meltdown in the subway and intel down on the market street lines. a few weeks ago, another derailment on the subway. we have seen a continuous stream of malfunctions that cause people problems on a day-to-day basis. muni needs to get its costs under control so it has the funding it needs to invest in its physical plans. otherwise, we will continue to see a deterioration of the system, and muni needs to change

the way it operates. after the board of supervisors failed to address muni's labor costs and work rules, the people of san francisco took matters into their own hands. 75,000 of us signed to get proposition g on the ballot and voted to support it. provides mta management with an amazing tool that will allow us to take a big step in the right direction of reforming the system. prop g allows mta for the first time in decades to bargain with everything on the table. it specifically provides mta with the power to negotiate away work rules that make no sense, the cost mta millions, and that underline the functioning of the system. now that the voters have done their job, it is mta's turn to do their job and bargain effectively. it is not enough just to get a

few successions and nibble around the edges. mta must set a new base line for its employee relations and particularly for the work rules that need to be addressed. mta must show fortitude to change the way it does business. to be clear, mta's work rules and labor costs are not the only reason for muni problems. for decades, we have under invested in the system, and, of course, we are dealing with a year in europe cuts from sacramento -- dealing with year- in, year-out cuts from sacramento. power to negotiate a labor agreement that is not only fair to employees but also to the hundreds of thousands of riders, who depend on muni every day, mta needs to get it right. san francisco is watching.

finally, i have an in memoriam to clint mitchell, a resident of district 8. to san francisco, the mission district, and liberty hill, all of us were diminished on march 2, when clint mitchell died at home at the young age of 50, surrounded by his wife, his stepson, family, and friends. everything about clint mitchell was vague. he'll -- was a big -- was big. he was a big man, over 6 feet tall. his generosity was huge, whether spearheading a neighborhood project or hosting an event for death penalty focus or for friends. he was the consummate volunteer, dedicating large amounts of time and effort to causes as diverse as the san francisco civil grand jury and the san francisco international wine and spirits competition.

he was never one to turn down a chance to help participate and lead. as president of the liberty hill neighborhood association, his leadership was essential. he led by example, diving into any and all challenges and projects that came his way. his intelligence and preparation shown through everything he did heshone -- his intelligence and preparation shone through everything he did, and he will be missed. >> supervisor farrell. supervisor farrell: i submit. supervisor chu: submit. supervisor campos: thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, i have a number of items. the first item is a little more -- is to provide a little more specificity about an issue that