will be affected. but as i read more and think about it more, i think that this is not merely primarily a budget issue. this is a land grab. this is a classic san francisco land use issue where the show instead of properties of the world stand to get even richer as the rents go up. for those who shrugged off gentrification in the mid market and the tenderloin, take a look at the grant buildings. remember the grand building tenants association. organizations like for magazines ousted. that was a community-serving space. the upscale youth hostel -- we will see more and more things like the it even buildings get evicted. three months ago, i stood up to someone who was threatening the city -- supervisor chu: thank you. >> someone needs to stand up

again to the corporate read and do the people's work. [applause] supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. let me read a few more names. >> good morning -- actually, good afternoon. i am the president of seiu local 87. we represent 3500 janitors in the city of san francisco. i want to be able to point out to you that i have been working in this district for the last 14 years, and i appreciate that the former supervisor is here because he should know firsthand what it is like to be able to walk on golden gate on monday morning and smell the fresh urine and feces all over the streets in that district. i know that our new supervisor has just come into the district, and we are hoping that a lot of changes will be coming.

we are very much in support. all of our members joining us today are unemployed. [speaking spanish] they have been on the bench the last year-and-a-half. eight years to have 22 janitors. it is now down to only three and a half janitors. at one south van ness, we are in a huge fight. yesterday, we completed our 60 days of being there on the line. i have not seen an uproar of people about how so many families are becoming unemployed. when bank of america laid off 22 of our janitors, there was not a hearing on it. in 39 the market lost 17 janitors. there was not a hearing about it. our supervisor was not doing

anything about it. i'm here because we are people of color. our members are gay. we are unemployed, and their families are hungry. that is why we are here in support of this legislation. i will not play into the politics or be used to be able to be pitted against our sister union, 1021, who have also stood on the line with us. but the devil is in the details. these jobs will be created, and we are in support of it on behalf of our families. thank you. [applause] supervisor chu: thank you. if i could ask folks to refrain from clapping so we could move through public comment. >> i think you will be able to refrain from clapping for me. especially on that side of the rail. in a san francisco bulldog. i have been in the tenderloin for between 30 or 40 years, and i can tell you exactly what happened here when i moved in, mid-market was booming.

a lot of burlesque places and things like that. was all working people. they were hard-working people. two things happened. all of the working people move out. we got the opportunity -- the reason they moved out -- because a young man came to san francisco with a business plan. he got control of the building through the city, and he filled the building full of drugs and drug addicts and insane people. you know why? because the government, all branches of government send checks to him every month to take care of their rent. he did not have to worry about it for family that was going to move out. that man's name is randy shaw. that man did reverse gentrification here you have 12,000 or 15,000 bronx, alcoholics, drug addicts, and insane people living in that area. in one building.

he got 464 police calls in the last six months. this guy is going to be your savior? we had an opportunity. we could have moved this population to treasure island, and to the presidio. when the government gave us those bases, we were supposed to use them for the homeless. no, we make the presidio into an office park, and we are going to make hotels and condos on treasure island. that was done by your predecessors at the board of supervisors. remember -- the reason that neighborhood is holy hell is because of randy shaw's business plan. the drugs, insane people, and attics that are there are his customers. that is your problem. supervisor chu: thank you. let me read a few more names. [reading names]

>> good afternoon. i have been at the civic center for the last 13 years. i'm yet to top about the impact of the 1.5% tax credit. every year, when i set my roommate, one of the main decisions i based that on is based on my neighborhood. -- when i set my room rate. the value of my neighborhood is the value of my room, so i have to incentivize people to come into my area because of the neighborhood. if i take my rooms and add the three major hotels, we have 1000 rooms with a 7%, and if i

calculated that, $10 average room rate increase because of the neighborhood. the revenue the city will make out of our three hotels will be over $500,000. if you add -- and this is just without adding any other businesses -- if you add the rate the occupancy will increase, we are talking maybe another $500,000. again, i think that when we look at the effects to create business, we also need to realize that 1% of zero is zero. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you very much. before we go to the next public speaker, i would like to take a quick pause to allow supervisor avalos to say few words. supervisor avalos: 90.

appreciate your letting me say few words. i appreciate folks coming out on both sides of the issue and making their positions known. i'm concerned about what we are doing here today in terms of giving tax exemptions in the mid market area. i think about wealth in this country, well in the city, disparity between wealth, and this is a decision as we move forward on these exemptions, that ic. it creates disparities in wealth in this city and in this country. i look at -- i was just shown a map recently of district 10 and district 11 of foreclosures and

defaults on properties. single-family homes in district 10 and district 11. the magnitude of the crisis in housing is astronomical. we do not have a response as a city about that crisis. we have people losing well -- wealth. as the faults in foreclosures are happening, property values are going down. we do not have a response for that is -- as a city. in the meantime, we are making decisions that would provide greater wealth to people are already getting wealthy. investors, people who are investing in twitter and other companies, or commercial real estate buildings and interest that own those buildings in the mid-market area. that is a major concern of mine. i think of the haves and have- nots and the have mores and the have almost everything. the almost everything havers are

getting more and more, and we are taping their way with decisions like this. i worry about being able to call at the increasing disparity in wealth if we approve things like this. do we lose our ability to call out the widening disparities of wealth by actually approving wider disparities in wealth in san francisco? that is a big concern of mine. 65% of the workers who work for twitter right now do not want to leave san francisco. they do not want to work anywhere else. and rightly so. what a great city. what great benefits we do provide. what great infrastructure we provide. the workers here, despite muni being always at the crisis point, people can get to work on muni. they can get to work on their bicycles. all throughout the city, actually, a lot of bikers atwitter who ride their bicycles in. it's great to see that kind of

infrastructure support a good work climate here. there are many things we do it as a city to encourage economic development. i think we need to be fair about how we approach it. this, i see, is not a very fair way of making our decisions because there are many communities across the city who do not get this advantage. ion -- there are many communities that do not get this well. many businesses are struggling that do not get these advantages. many economic sectors do not get these advantages. i look in january, and i saw that the votes will probably here in the past six months for this legislation, but i think we should be cautious about doing things like this. it sends the wrong message about where we really stand on equality and economic opportunity, and it really sends the wrong message for communities that are struggling in san francisco. i will most likely be voting against this when it comes to

the full board. i do appreciate the concern that colleagues have and city members have about the economic blight that has been in the mid-market area. i look at the real life as not the facility where the sfmart is, but actually a little bit east. lastly, i do appreciate the comments made by local 87. there are jobs that are not just technology jobs that will be in this building, but we know that these jobs will also pick up as well. janitorial jobs, security jobs, building maintenance jobs. all those jobs will also increase. i'm not sure this economic engine we are trying to create here is going to be one that will make things work in the area. thank you very much. i appreciate the time. supervisor chu: thank you, supervisor avalos, and thank you

to the members of the public who waited patiently. next speaker please. >> good afternoon. i have been south of market street for about 15-plus years. there is a lot of trying to make that stretch of market street work, but a lot of it has been defeated. the problem is thefor trying tos legislation, because it is a good economic engine. you see some of the people who have been laid off work. they will find some additional employment because of this, because everybody knows. they will flock to the market. they're going to come down here. there were the comments about adding $10 per room per night at a 7% occupancy. what that also does is it increases the occupancy for the hotels, so you will have more labor coming into the mid market

area. this is an economic engine that i believe supervisor avalos is a little bit incorrect because of all of the foreclosures to the people actually have jobs so they can pay for the places they'd live in note -- because of all of the foreclosures. people actually have jobs so they can pay for the places they live in. it is going to continue before -- until you put some incentives in there to make this thing work. thank you. chair chu: thank you. next speaker. >> hello, my name is ted young. you have to excuse me, because i am not much of a public speaker. a small-business owner and a citizen. as a citizen, i see some things have rebounded, but some are strapped for cash, cities, such

as san francisco, so i do not think tax cuts are a very viable option. i am skeptical about whether making things cheaper will work. if there is so much empty space in the mid market area, that will drive down rents, and that will make it cheaper. if that does not cause businesses to move in, then making it cheaper is not the issue. as a small-business owner, i am concerned that any benefits i see will be consumed by an increase in rent, and i see the money i pay in taxes as going too good things, the money i paid in rent and not necessarily so. -- the money i pay in rent. chair chu: thank you. >> i would like to see the hands

of every low-income tenants who lives in the neighborhood. one of them is mike boyfriend -- my boyfriend, james. trying to find housing for my boyfriend, it took us five months and three weeks to look a landlord willing to rent to us. he had one week left before he was permanently going to lose his rental subsidy. one-third of the people have lost their rental subsidy because they have not been able to locate a landlord willing to read to them, and this is it. we got -- note -- " a landlord willing to vote -- a landlord willing to rent to them, and this is it. we got kicked out of the castro. people's sense of self.

how dare you demean our achievement. and to have you people talk about what little we have been able to get, what we have been able to struggle and scrape together, note -- stop it. this is a neighborhood where people on ssi, living on $845 per month, have access to transportation into services, and this is all that we have. -- access to transportation and to services. i would love to come together. let's build something that works together, but do not taken up on the backs of my people. it is the tax incentives. it is the arts district. [bell] it is so many things.

i want to work with you. please include them. chair chu: thank you, thank you, thank you. next speaker, please. the last card that i have is -- and other than that, i do not have any more cards. >> i am here both as a resident in san francisco and as a small- business owner. i am the project director for the company. i am here today on my ever- expanding lunch break, because i have been led to understand that one of the major considerations for the payroll tax break is the opportunity to have twitter in this area, in the central market area. living and working in this neighborhood, i know that there is a need for this board to consider possibilities for rejuvenating the central market area, but the immediate concern that i have is looking at twitter as an opportunity,

twitter is a company, like us, capable of paying their payroll tax, and there is no reason i can see to use that as an incentive to move into that neighborhood. they are perfectly capable of being able to do that and being part of the community. chair chu: thank you. >> thank you, supervisors. my name is cooper clinton. there is no question that the residents of district 6 need jobs. there is no question that this would lower crime, they're having jobs. my concern is that this bill does not create jobs for the residents of district 6. they are not people living in the tenderloin, who they would hire at twitter. nicer neighborhoods, people who had educations and backgrounds, which the majority of residents

in district 6 do not. i think that we do need to create jobs for them in district 6, and i think that there are ways to do it, but i do not think this bill is it. thank you. chair chu: thank you. >> hello, my name is brandan. i am a city employee. i am going to come at this a little bit differently. they are trying to get us to give up millions and millions of dollars. you cannot have it both ways. you cannot keep coming to the city employees and say, "give, give, give." we are not going to continue to give. to do anything if this passes -- it is going to get very difficult for us to do any thing -- to get our members to do anything if this passes. you are going to have to make a

choice. if you really want to city employees to make a concession to help the city out, or you want to keep doing what you are doing, which is catering to the wealthy, because this is coming down to a war between those who do and those who do not, and this will be for all of you to decide which side of that battle and you will be on. are you going to be with the regular, harder-working people of the city? or are you going to be with the wealthy millionaires, and that is the choice that we will all have to make. it is coming down, little by little, but now, it is coming time for people to make a real choice, and you may have to stick your neck out, but i think you would much rather have some businessmen pissed off at you. [applause] chair chu: if i could ask

members of the public to not clap. i do not have any more cards, so if you would like to speak, please line up. >> ibm -- i am a d. 6 residents. i am concerned. many of you probably remember. that area was not a blighted area and never was a blighted area. up until two years ago, every january, for two weeks, you would see limousines lined up there, towncar is lined up there, taxicabs lined up there -- towncars lined up there. where was the mayor's office as it was going downhill? as business was going to las vegas? down to los angeles? i did not hear anything about it until just about one month ago.

we have also not heard necessarily directly from twitter. that they will not do this unless they get the tax exemption. i would like to hear that, but i do know that when you are talking about mid market, and you are talking about the blight on mid market, the reason you seaboard and-up businesses there is that they were once a vibrantly filled -- the reason you see boarded-up businesses is that they were once a vibrant, but they were forced to move out. finally, i really resent the fact that the mayor's office has been reaching out to regional blogs for support in the sense that they are going to get jobs if they show up today in support of this or that, maybe, looking

at a full-service grocery store, that is also not going to happen with this legislation here. [bell] chair chu: thank you. first of all, i support and analysis. this calls for a partial until that those on the ballot, i oppose this. we are looking at additional revenues. our budget deficit is right now, and it is profound. we should not forgo this for potential long-term gains. i do not see it happening. epo -- we can not enable the

framework of what mid market is. between fifth and eighth street, that is a poverty pocket. it is not polite. between 8th and van ness, it is virtually uninhabitable because of the wind and cold. that is what is keeping that part down. and the tenderloin, there areis that can handle any payroll tax -- if you want to go ahead and target grocery store is, let's do that and get some good neighborhood-serving businesses in there. twitter is not growing. ok? it is like the dot com situation. i have two words for you. my space. they are not going to be here five years from now.

i hope you would prevent anyone from going to any twitter parties. what we are seeing is right- winger, supply-side economics that comes right from ronald reagan -- what we are seeing is right-ring. [bell] chair chu: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i do not quite understand. are we saying that we are targeting this tax break, only to residents being hired within that area? if we are not, and i do not believe the legislation has been amended to say that, then why have we had a dramatic increase in an area in the part of the world, as the previous speaker, i think, correctly pointed out will never generate jobs for a payroll tax. second of all, i would like to direct your attention to the

economic analysis of this project, and limit the tax break only this way. clearly, what will happen is gentrification. commercial gentrification will have negative and prolonged impact, for employment opportunities in san francisco, for residents. when do we get busy on developing economic incentives to employ eight existing san franciscans, not a work force -- to employ existing san franciscans? this legislation does not do that. we cannot wait much longer. we have to get economic incentives to employees existing san franciscans. thank you. chair chu: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon.

i am a political action coordinator for a local. i want to tell you first a little bit about me so there is some understanding about hugh seiu is in having this discussion -- about who seiu is. i started a latino co-organizing project for families that has been recognized for its accomplishments multiple times before this board. i worked on affordable housing and for safety in the area. sti you can 21 workers are from mineworkers in the neighborhood. -- seiu 1021 workers are front- line workers in the neighborhood. many of my co-workers are folks also live in sro's and who also

have families in the neighborhood, so the idea that there is something else motivating our involvement other than a belief in the public good is really unfair. i also do not appreciate that some of the proponents of this policy came up to me privately during the presentation and basically threatened if we do not back off this deal, they will organize the community to support the measure. i do not think this is very fair. i do not understand what the tactics are about. we are not against, at seiu, the creation of private-sector jobs. it is not a fair pitting against each other. economic consequences are coming