, plus an in ministry fee that is ongoing. some of these are collected at the transfer stations. it is also to the benefit of the contract entities. others are collected at the landfill or are paid back or to the benefit of the contract in agency. i urge additional study be done if you want to do it apples to apples comparison. the one difference in all jurisdictions highlighted in san francisco is that each is done in with a contract with specific obligations. each has the final approval through the city or county. it is always the elected officials. in this case, it is only the city and county of san francisco where the officials do not have the same. take the next up and look to the

additional information out there. waste management is willing to help bring the information together. supervisor campos: next speaker, please. >> we have three companies based at the port of san francisco. one of them is waste solutions group. israelt rails 100 tons of wastea year. the other is san francisco bay railroad. that is the real road for the port of san francisco. it is a federally certified railroad. the last one has 60 goats grazing at the port. we read them out to anyone that would like them. -- rent them out to anyone that would like them. the study is a good start. but there needs to be vigorous pursuit of detail.

i concur with the three areas that need to be drilled down on. one is barging and rail directly from the port. the other is the port of san francisco having a transfer complex and possibly an industrial park based at the port. the third is the issue of franchise fees and what that can mean to vital services in san francisco. there is a lot of work to be done. i draw your attention to something that may not have been mentioned but i think is emblematic of the whole structure itself. that is on page 7. it is interviews with doe staff. the last line in that paragraph is most emblematic of what is upside-down about our system.

staff indicated having a long- term relationship with recology is an appropriate alternative to a competitive procurement process. i am not sure how you could reconcile that with a competitive procurement process. supervisor campos: thank you. is there any other member of the public that would like to speak. miss nutter, you wanted to add something? >> following up on studies that need to be done, i want to make sure the commissioners know that the department of the environment work with a company called hdr to put together a memo on cost estimates. commissioner campos, a scent that to you last night. we just got it friday. -- i sent that to you last night. we just credit party. that work has been done. we have commissioned a study about a month ago with the port

of san francisco looking at the long-term possibility of the port been the site for an integrated transfer facility. both studies are currently in process. i wanted to make sure the commission knew that. supervisor campos: colleagues, i do not know if anyone has anything to follow up. from my perspective, thank you to all of the individuals involved in the process, beginning with our lafco staff and the stuff from the department of the environment. there in the unenviable position of having to write another report in a few weeks. given the time line, i think you did an amazing job in pulling this together. i want to thank recology for being open to sharing with us all the information available to them.

i want to thank them for their open-door policy in terms of answering our questions. i believe the study points to some positive things and some things where there are questions. one positive is that we have a program that is working very well. the focus of this process has never been about questioning the substance of the work that recology does. the study does point of that san francisco is very unique. 55% of the jurisdictions looked out actually do a competitive process. i am a big proponent of competitive bids. i believe competition is good

for the consumer and the rate payer. to the extent the company has had a sole source contract where the company is doing the right job for the consumer, a competitive bid process is the best deal. that process will guarantee that. it will demonstrate that. we also see the study of the jurisdictions that do not have a competitive bid. 45% of them do have something we do not have. that is a franchise agreement that codifies the terms and conditions under which service is provided. there seems to be something like a contract. they consider some of the documentation in the rate process has a contract. as a lawyer, you look at that. you know it is not a

contractual, legally binding document that outlines the things we heard about today. we have the document from the department of the environment. that is the first time i have seen anything that details what recology pays to the city, that shows the collective value is about 10.6% of revenues. that is good to have, but we need to make share -- make sure our consultant has a way of looking at those numbers. we need to look at where we are relative to other jurisdictions. if we're talking about this being the equivalent of a franchise fee, help are these treated in other jurisdictions? someone in public comment talked about how maybe the franchise fee in some jurisdictions is in addition to other fees being paid to the city. i do not know if that is the case. it is important for us to know that. even if this is the right approach and structure, what is

the right amount that should be paid to san francisco? 10.6% of revenue is about $29 million. we have heard from recology that the franchise fees they pay range from low single digits of with up to 15%. what is the right percentage for san francisco? if it is 15% rather than 10%, you are talking about $14 million more that could going to the general fund. what about the type and quality of services being provided? those questions need to be resolved. instead of acting on this report, i ask that we asked our consultant to come back to lafco in three weeks to give us more information. from my perspective, the main focus should be on the franchise agreement, what is paid to other

jurisdictions, and how that compares to what is being received by the city and county of san francisco. supervisor avalos also mentioned the issue of the transfer station. i do not know if there's anything else we want to add to that. it is important for us to have as much information as possible. i also want to say something about the document given to me on friday. it is a memo that came from the interim city administrator in the city of oakland to the members of the city council there. this memorandum says the city of oakland is opting to extend by 2.5 years the terms of their agreement with waste management of our meeting county -- alameda county. there are different ways to see

this memo. in some respects, i can see how it points to the need to extend or continue the relationship with recology. i think it cuts a different way. what is interesting about the memo for me are the two reasons given by the oakland city administrator as to why this agreement should be extended. he said there are two compelling reasons. one is that the extension of the agreement ensures the city will continue to receive the revenues provided for in the agreement. in fiscal year 2010-2011, the city received $21 million. $4.8 million of that goes into the general fund. that is not the case in san francisco. we do not have a franchise agreement like oakland does. we do not have the same structure where there is a specific amount required by

agreement nor do you have a specific amount that goes to the general fund. if we were in that situation, i could see why an extension of the ongoing relationship with makes sense. the fact that we are not in the situation tells me that we have some flexibility and leverage. the other reason is the extension of the agreement will insure the city of oakland and businesses enjoy the stability of the existing rate structure. i can see have a point would be applicable here. i concede that benefit. the i can see that benefit. this is complicated. the more information we have, the better it is. ultimately, we want to have the best service and deal possible for our ratepayers. we want to do that in a way that

is consistent with the values of our city. we have heard from the employees of recology. we have heard about the best practices the company follows. i am proud to see that happen in san francisco. i do not think doing what is best for the rate payers and employees is necessarily mutually exclusive. i think there is a way we can do both. with that, i simply ask that we cannot in about three weeks -- that we come back in about three weeks and you are back from the consultant. >> i was just going to affirm that the look of franchise agreements and fees compared to rates and services provided -- we are comparing apples to apples that way. i did hear the consultants say three weeks to prepare the report, three to four. that means we would meet

sometime after that, in terms of the timing issue. i would like the consultant to speak to the timeline to make sure. through the chair, i can work with you on the revised schedule. >> i think we can come back or have the report ready, let me try for four weeks. i do have some concern on looking at equity and assets. that is not something we have even started looking at. the franchising fees would be a continuation. if that is something you want us to do, i would like to have more time on the part of it. supervisor campos: commissioner avalos? >> i think four weeks sounds good to me on that. i appreciate your summary of the hearing, german composts --

chairman campos. we do need to look at whether we move the land fill agreement out of budget next week or not or this week or not. i think this information would be important to have. i value your work in the study. it makes sense that we look at how we can maximize our report resources -- port resources for our waste system. the port is in desperate need of revitalization. if there is a way that we can have a two-fer in having a waste management plan that includes a port development plan, it would be a win-win and make a lot of sense. i am not sure we can do that, but i think this report will give us that information to

helpless fly less finely -- to help us fly less blindly in the night. >> i thought you would are decommissioned one of the reports. supervisor campos: a think the department of the environment had a steady. that was the first i heard of it today. i do have a copy of it. my sense of where we are, i think there are three items. one is the issue of the franchise agreement, the fees, and how we compare to other jurisdictions. second is the issue of the transfer station and issues associated with that th. third, on the issue of merging, -- barging, lookit that issue of

using the report provided to us by the department of the environment as a way of augmenting what is reported to lafco. great. i have a final thing that is important. this is directed to our general counsel. i think there are a couple of legal issues that i would ask lafco help you with into. if you have a franchise agreement the, how can the money be used legally? can that go directly to the general fund? are there limitations on the use of those funds? i want to know more about the 1932 ordinance.

it is a lot of discussion about what the ordinance supposedly says and does. i think it is important for us to have more specific information of what it actually says. the question i had is whether or not the department of public health can issue permits under the ordinance. if that is the case, we might have a situation where there is no change in the charter required. if you look at the language of the ordinance when it talks about the permit, it says the permits granted by the director of public health shall not be exclusive. one or more persons or firms may be given a permit to collect from the same route. i do not know what that means exactly. but i think it is important for

us to have a better sense of what the implications of the language of the ordinance actually are. maybe our legal counsel can help us with that. >> yes, we will provide that as well. i will work with you in terms of establishing a budget for the additional services. supervisor campos: madame clerk, if we can go to item number four. >> it is the executive officer's report. you were provided a memo regarding the senate bill 390 from the senator's office. i wanted to make sure you took note of it. we will be discussing that on

may 6. supervisor campos: great. thank you very much. is there any member of the public that would like to speak on this item? public comment is closed. call item no. 5. >> public comments for items not on the agenda. supervisor campos: is there any other member of the public that like to speak? public comment is closed. >> item # 6 is the chair agenda items. supervisor campos: any future agenda items or any members of the public alike to speak? public comment is closed. >> item # 7 is adjournment. supervisor campos: thank you to everyone for coming out for the hearing. the meeting is adjourned.

>> welcome to "culturewire." on this episode, the director of cultural affairs takes us on a field trip to the mission district to check out odc's new 36,000 square foot campus, the largest in the region.

>> for san franciscans, odc has a very significant significance. stands for a venerable performing arts organization celebrating its 40th anniversary of bringing fans and theaters to the bay area. standing with me today on "culturewire" is the theater director of odc. thank you for joining us. i mention that this is the 40th anniversary. >> it is indeed. >> i'm standing with you in a fabulous theater that was completed six months ago in time for this anniversary. tell me about how it has been going for the last six months. >> absolutely. in terms of the anniversary, the dance company, which is our founding body, is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and it is the 30th anniversary, so it is

historic for both sides, and the completion of the theater represents in some ways the completion of our entire campus that began in 2005. it has come to its fruition with the completion of the theater. the theater opening was remarkable. one of the things we wanted to do was to make sure that our community really truly -- our san francisco bay area community understood that this theater was for them. we invited 31 bay area companies to do a day-long performance marathon, so we really launched with a feeling of this is for everyone in this community. it was a tremendous thing to bring everyone together around the opening of this building. >> you are part of our creative troika, including the founder, brenda wey and k.t. nelson. talk about what it is like to

keep this campus going. >> it is a wonderful thing to be working with someone who is certainly your co-worker and also largely your mentor. i inherited the theater at a funny time in its life. it needed to make some decisions as an institution about what it wanted to be. whether it wanted to be exclusively a rental facility, it is needed to be a rehearsal space with a really high ceilings -- whatever it was, having that level of leadership that my founding director is also my boss really made that possible. i really felt like i had great stewardship and we were able to make really innovative decisions for how the theater could grow over the decade. >> living with -- living with someone who is both your immediate boss and also a working artist is also a huge asset. that is one of the things that keeps the creativity flowing through odc.

it is a campus about the creative process at all times. >> the theater was part of a second phase of capital fund raising and community support. the previous one had renovated the space where the rehearsal studios are and the school is, sell what does that sort of say about the importance of the odc in the community? >> i think it's spoke to the two very different tracks of our organization. part of what we do is education and outreach. part of what we do is performance on the part of our company, odc dance, and a third part of what we do is this presenting an incubation stage. when we came to people to talk about the theater as a second investment after having built the dance commons, the distinct purpose of the theater really came through. what we were going to do with our venue was invest deeply in creativity, deeply in our regional artists, and we were going to do something that most

mid-size san francisco venues have struggled to do. >> talk to me a little about the group other than odc that have used this space. >> one of the great pleasures in our opening season was to go back and invite two of our former resident artists to launch this space. arab laung was to invite two of the best known -- our launch was to invite two of the best known companies in the city to share in the event, and it was really exceptional. these are companies that i have worked with and the organization has worked with releases they were either newborn or just a few years old, and to go back to that roster and invite two of our really major home town honeys to open a theater and be able to treat them as the professionals they have become with this opportunity, with this

menu, and with the resources that were available was really a full circle experience for both of us. >> now that the theater has been fully renovated, where is it going? >> i believe that san francisco is in some ways to the nation what odc is to san francisco, which is to say that i believe the west coast is the hotbed for innovation. i think it is where major cultural innovations happen, where huge ideas are born and often raised up. it may not often be the marketplace that other major metropolitan areas are, but i do think is the center of where creativity sits. i think that what odc can do by becoming this level of institution is raise the platform of san francisco. i name -- in many ways, it is sort of a death process, but putting an artist in contact with recording artists, with

other major areas, with exchange companies around the country and the world will become a central part of what we do. >> it is clear that now there is a campus that has been built out and filled in, that odc is playing this fabulous supportive and incubated role, both for san francisco, the bay area, and the country. thank you so much for being part of "culturewire." >> my pleasure. >> and for contributing so much to the performing arts of our city. >> for more information, visit odc >> the next time you take a muni bus or train, there could

be new technology that could make it easier to get to your destination. many are taking a position of next bus technology now in use around the city. updated at regular intervals from the comfort of their home or workplace. next bus uses satellite technology and advanced computer modeling to track buses and trains, estimating are bought stocks with a high degree of accuracy. the bus and train our arrival information can be accessed from your computer and even on your cellular phone or personal digital assistant. knowing their arrival time of the bus allows riders the choice of waiting for it or perhaps doing some shopping locally or getting a cup of coffee. it also gives a greater sense that they can count on you to get to their destination on time. the next bus our arrival information is also transmitted to bus shelters around the city equipped with the next bus sign. riders are updated strictly

about arrival times. to make this information available, muni has tested push to talk buttons at trial shelters. rider when pushes the button, the text is displayed -- when a rider pushes the button. >> the success of these tests led to the expansion of the program to all stations on the light rail and is part of the new shelter contract, push to talk will be installed. check out the new technology making your right easier every day