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tv   [untitled]    May 7, 2011 6:00pm-6:30pm PDT

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madam clerk, is there any of the business? >> no, mr. chairman. supervisor mirkarimi: excellent. this meeting is now adjourned.
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supervisor chiu: good afternoon. welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting of tuesday, may 3, 2011. please call the roll. >> avalos present. campos present. chiu present. chu present. cohen present. elsbernd present. farrell present. kim present. mar present. mirkarimi present. wiener present. mr. president, all members are present. supervisor chiu: thank you. ladies and gentlemen, could you please join me in the pledge of allegiance?
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colleagues, you should have copies of the march 29, 2011 board meeting minutes. could i have a motion to approve? without objection, this meeting minutes are approved. madam clerk, are there any communications? >> i have no communications, mr. president. supervisor chiu: if we could go through our consent agenda. >> items one through eight comprise the consent agenda. these items will be acted upon by a single roll call vote unless a member requests a matter be removed and discussed separately. supervisor chiu: would anybody like to sever any of these items? madam clerk, could you call the roll? >> on items one through eight, mirkarimi aye. wiener aye. avalos aye. campos aye. chiu aye. chu aye. cohen aye. elsbernd aye.
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farrell aye. kim aye. mar aye. there are 11 ayes. supervisor chiu: those ordinances are finally passed. resolutions adopted. >> item 9, ordinance amending the public works co, regarding declaring illegal dumping on public property a nuisance and providing a mechanism for abating and enforcing that nuisance. supervisor chiu: same house, call? without objection, the ordinance is finally passed. >> item 10 is an ordinance appropriating approximately $6.9 million of loan funding from the california department of boating and waterways for the renovation of west harbor of the san francisco marine a yacht harbor. >> this is an additional loan from the california state department boating and waterways to finish the completion of the marina west yacht harbor renovation. this will be done in time right now for the america's cup in
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2013, and a quick point, to make sure people know this is at 0 expense to the taxpayer. this is being done and being paid for by increased booklet fees. good deal for us, bad deal for boat owners, but i think everyone is happy it is getting done. supervisor chiu: can we take this same house, call? the ordinance is passed on first reading. item 11. >> item 11 is a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a lease with asiana airlines for carter warehouse and support office space. supervisor chiu: same house, call? the resolution is adopted. >> item 12, a resolution authorizing the mayor's office of housing to accept and expend an economic development initiative special project grant from the u.s. department of housing and urban development. supervisor chiu: same house, same call? this resolution is adopted. next item. >> item 13 is an ordinance amending the public works and health code to consolidate
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existing department of public works nuisance enforcement, abatement, and cost collection processes. supervisor chiu: same house, same call? this ordinances passed on first reading. >> item 14 is a resolution determining that the transfer of a tight 20 of sale beer and wine license from 1612 kearnty street to 3132 clement street will serve the public convenience. supervisor chiu: same house, call? supervisor avalos: i actually voted against this liquor license mostly because this license will be sited at a parcel in the same building in the same parcel. another store will be selling alcohol, probably the same brands as cvs, and i wonder if it is a necessity to have another liquor license in the same parcel.
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that is why i voted against this measure. secondarily, i'm concerned about the impact possibly to small businesses as well, a secondary issue that i have. we know cvs will be coming in, and will become an eye on ocean avenue, and i think there's a lot of welcome for them. residents around the area, but they could also be looking at more stores coming in to san francisco. it is appropriate that we have a liquor store or pharmacies selling alcohol in our neighborhoods, especially when that could give more of a competitive advantage over small businesses trying to exist and self pharmacy goods. i have two businesses in district 11 very close to my house -- dangles pharmacy and central drug market, and both of those i worry will be lost to us very soon because of walgreen's and cvs stores in the area.
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as they gain a more competitive advantage, people might tend to go there. that is the reason why i'm voting against the secondarily because it does not make sense to have two liquor licenses in the same building. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. i would like to urge my colleagues to support this license. we heard public health concerns from supervisor avalos, but the inspector from the police department gave us 13 strict conditions that will be placed on this license from limiting the hours to only limiting six packs and up, improving the lighting outside, reducing noise, litter, and watering, but especially also having camera and digital surveillance and not allowing small bottles of wine or larger bottles of beer and
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other to be sold, so i think, with the additional 13 conditions, i am supportive of this license, though, like supervisor avalos, i share the concern about underage drinking. i think with these conditions, public health is protected along with a number of the community groups that rarely do support the sites, so i urge support. thank you. supervisor avalos: i forgot to mention i wanted to commend the inspector for his work. he helped to negotiate this liquor license and i have no fault in his work. he worked very diligently, very hard on it. that is not my consideration in rejecting this. >> on item 14, mirkarimi aye.
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wiener aye. avalos no. campos aye. chiu aye. chu aye. cohen aye. elsbernd aye. farrell aye. kim aye. mar aye. there are 10 ayes and one no. supervisor chiu: this resolution is adopted. >> item 15 is a resolution declaring the intention of the board of supervisors to vacate the one-block portion of basin street between lombard street and columbus avenue for the purposes of the north beach public library and joe dimaggio playground. supervisor chiu: colleagues, roll call vote? >> mirkarimi aye. wiener aye.
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avalos aye. campos aye. chiu aye. chu aye. cohen aye. elsbernd aye. farrell aye. kim aye. mar aye. there are 11 ayes. supervisor chiu: this resolution is adopted. next item. >> item 16 is a resolution authorizing the department of emergency management to retroactively accept and expend a fiscal year 2010 community oriented policing services grant in the amount of $750,000. supervisor chiu: colleagues, same house, same call? this resolution is adopted. >> item 17 is a motion appointing supervisor cohen, a term ending june 30, 2012, to the association of bay area
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governments executive board. supervisor chiu: can we have a motion to recuse supervisor cohen? without objection. roll-call vote. >> mirkarimi aye. wiener aye. avalos aye. campos aye. chiu aye. chu aye. elsbernd aye. farrell aye. kim aye. mar aye. there are 10 ayes. supervisor chiu: the motion is approved. colleagues, why don't we skip over our 3:30 special order as well as our 4:00 special order, for which i understand there is a resolution by the parties, and why don't we move to roll call? then a supervisor mirkarimi, your first for roll call for introduction. supervisor mirkarimi: i will submit all the items i have, but
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i want to thank the mayor's office and my staff and the people of district 5 for what i thought was a very effective and constructive town hall meeting that we had last week. i know that all of us here in the board of supervisors is experiencing and witness to the town hall meetings, but for the hamilton recreation center, which is a wonderful restored recreation center off gary n. scott, it was the day after the swearing in of the new police chief that we had an opportunity to introduce the new police chief to all of our district, and it was a very healthy crowd that participated. very much appreciate the department heads, the mayor, and others who came out to make, i think, that night quite effectively possible. so thank you. the rest i will submit. >> thank you. supervisor elsbernd. supervisor campos. supervisor campos: submit. >> supervisor avalos. yes.
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president chiu. supervisor chiu: thank you. i have two items . first tested it with twoa from november 2009. those of you who were here will remember that we passed a measure to address the years of structural budget deficits that we had. i had actually sponsored proposition a along with a number of you who supported this at the ballot. there were three major things that it did. the first is to require a two- year budget requirement, which we will need to engage in next year. the second was to set up a process for our city to put into place financial guidelines to ensure that we have principles in place to keep our budget tight. last year, we passed legislation in this regard. the third requirement is to establish and to require the adoption of a five-year financial plan. today, the mayor and i will be introducing that five-year
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financial plan. it will show that over the next five years, our budget is projected to grow from $283 million this year to $829 million in five years. these are obviously very serious and significant challenges. the five-year financial plan, though, includes a number of strategies in how we can get our fiscal house in order. is a strategy that i think our ambitious but achievable, and i look forward to working with the mayor, all of you, our city employees, and all of san francisco in how we protect the basic services that we all depend upon. i am also introducing today an ordinance that would update and a prove -- improve various sections of our planning code, focused mostly on the dance, walkable, and historic neighborhoods of our city's northeast corner. the ordinance in introducing would help advance and number our cities' pressing planning goals to help create more affordable housing, to help reuse historic buildings, to
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encourage local businesses to grow and thrive, to create walkable neighborhoods and say attractive street kids, to reduce traffic congestion, and make our city more sustainable by encouraging walking, cycling, and public transit. the ordinance will also make the planning code simpler and easier to use by consolidating and clarifying many controls and deleting outdated controls, removing pages of various parts of the planning code that have, frankly, i lived their usefulness. the goal of the legislation is to ensure well-designed products, which it well within our neighborhoods and it bans the various goals that i just described in order to move a number of planning controls and by right and require fewer conditional uses and variants. the rest of my items i will submit. >> thank you. supervisor kim. supervisor kim: thank you. two things -- first of all,
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today, i am introducing a resolution urging the planning commission to incorporate into the western soma community plan the policies and objectives of the western soma community stabilization policies adopted by the task force in april 2009. the reason why we are bringing the resolution for today is because during our conversations are around mid-market revitalization and the policy that was brought forward over the last two months, it sparked a discussion about how to have job growth and creation without displacement. this policy involved the south of market and western soma areas adjacent to the western market area, which has evolved to be a vibrant mixed use community. the pattern of this development has developed organically, and it is the type of community that urban planners and developers are intended to replicate in development projects across the city and nation. the main points of the policies
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to reduce speculative land use policy. the task force actually looked at a historic development pattern in the area and articulated a policy to ensure that the balance is maintained as the area undergoes resounding and development. this policy will also stabilize the area against speculative land use proposal and adverse impact from rapid housing and other growth and commercial changes. this would ensure that all new developments within any given year maintains the historic balance of 30% of affordable to 70% market rate, something that we had talked about in terms of indexing. this policy has the support of the western so much planning task force, which is -- the western soma planning task force, which is a diverse collection of citizens that have been there through the booms and busts of western soma, and this will be the first in a series of legislation our office will be introducing to impact the area.
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i want to announce the district 6 will have the pleasure of welcoming a new canadian technology accelerator incubator on 181 fremont and south of market. the cta at sf, which is what is called, is the newest initiative by canadian consulate to stimulate canadian business growth by connecting them to silicon valley. the launch is tomorrow, and opens the accelerated program to eight new companies at a time to participate in silicon valley's if the system for three month term. this partnership is a testimony to the importance canada places on local san francisco community partnerships. this will be canada's second bay area community technology accelerated program, modeled after its highly successful program in sunnyvale. canadian companies participating in the program will have access to networking events, mentors, potential customers, partners, and investors, and interaction with like-minded entrepreneurs.
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office space is fully covered for up to 12 weeks and for dissipating companies are responsible for work permits, living expenses, travel, etc. the living expenses will take place tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. at rocket space. thank you. the best i will submit. >> thank you. supervisor wiener. supervisor wiener: thank you. yesterday at land use committee, we conducted a quite lengthy hearing on historic preservation, a hearing that i had called a few months ago to examine the state of historic preservation in san francisco and how this important policy interact with other important public policy goals. for example, we were a little bit of a victim of our own success. so many people showed up representing various viewpoints that we had to limit public comment from two minutes to one
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minute, which was frustrating but unavoidable, and it still was a four-hour hearing. what that said to me and i believe my colleagues as well, was that this is an important issue, and it is an issue that people have very passionate views about. i look forward to continuing to discuss this issue and making sure that we as a city have a historic preservation policy that cherishes and embraces our history and our past, but that also recognizes that we are a living and devolving city that needs to ensure that we are meeting our -- and evolving say that needs to ensure that we are meeting our residents' needs. >> thank you. supervisor avalos wished to be referred. >> -- supervisor avalos: first of all, a hearing on progress between data sharing between the police department, mta and dph
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on targeted pedestrian safety enforcement. we had a hearing that two weeks ago, and it showed that there could be greater coordination between the departments, especially in data sharing. some of the data goes to the state level. how can we do a better job of sharing that data? also, how can we do a better job about strategically planning our traffic enforcement for pedestrian safety? often, it is complaint-driven. so what is the progress being made in moving toward a more strategic way of looking at the data that we have where we know the accidents are common to occur? i have seen the math all across san francisco, and every district has concentrated areas where we know that there are very troubling spots where people get injured in auto accidents all the time. pedestrians get injured in auto accidents. the next item i have as marking the 20th anniversary of the children's fund. and honoring margaret as the mother of the children's fund.
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the children's fund is a way to make sure that we have services that are guaranteed for children, youth, and families. it has been in place since 1991. prior to the children's fund being established, there was no set real policy maintaining level funding for low-income children, youth, and families, and in the past 20 years, we have been able to authorize twice the children's fund here it has gone beyond just serving low-income families. it serves families all across and fixes go with child care programs, after school programs, in supplementing services for low-income families but also providing a lot of things middle-income families can benefit from as well. we actually moved towards a program that looked at young people as activists who can make changes in their communities and do community service work, said
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the children's fund is a big part of that effort. margaret -- just to let folks know, she and her work in san francisco, and she has done much to lead the effort around protecting services for children, youth, and families, and she will be honored on that day as well. my last item is a request of the city attorney to provide an opinion or to draft legislation if need be. i read the paper today about the lobbying efforts that were made to enact -- to get the stow lake concessions contract approved. i was appalled. i understand how things often work at city hall, and lobbyists have a great deal of influence, and we often rely on them for information, but sometimes we wonder how much things get grease behind the scenes, and what is the part that city staff plays in interacting with
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lobbyists? what i was concerned about in the story was that there was a recommendation to a better -- bidder recommending a certain lobbyists be used. i would like to see if the city attorney can look into whether that is something that is appropriate use of resources or a violation of our ethics laws around that and to recommend a course of action we can take around that. it is things like this, stories like that that lead to the public feeling that government is not working for them, that government is something that things are happening behind closed doors, that people lose a lot of faith in government, and we have to do everything we can to make sure we have transparency and accessibility for everyday people to understand what is happening here, and we act on the information that everyone should have available to them in making our decisions here at city hall. that is the last of my items. >> thank you.
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seeing no other names on the roster, that concludes roll-call for introduction. supervisor chiu: thank you. what we go now for public comment? >> the next item on the agenda is the opportunity for the public to address members of the board on items within the jurisdiction of the board, excluding items which have been considered by a board committee. speakers using translation assistance will be allowed twice the amount of time to testify. if a member of the public would like a document to be displayed on the overhead projector, please clearly states that and remove the document when the screen should return to live coverage of the meeting. supervisor chiu: first speaker please. >> thank you, supervisors. stop the corporate rape of the public library. it is about time somebody wondered how things -- how much things get grease behind the scenes. the san francisco public library used to be an accredited research collection. when the privatizing of the library foundation was created,
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the library relinquished its custodianship of the collection, lost its designation of the federal documents suppository, voluntarily downgraded its library accreditation, was involved in a book donating scandal, and when declining service was shown, they simply stopped keeping the survey. the library foundation became the franzen foundation. american library association statistics show that in san francisco, compared to other cities, it is the highest per capita expenditure for libraries. 226% of the average. yet, books as a percentage of total expenditures ranks 8.6% less than average. register borrowers as a percentage of the total population is 25% below average. and the collection's size, even
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in a library 130 years old, is 6.5% below average. when things get privatized, the benefit to the community is the first casualty. the library has always been eager to provide less service for the same amount of money. they will tell you how good their fund raising is, but the public does not get the funds. the current budget crisis, they are going to cut books and ours again, yet, the board of supervisors voted for their own powerlessness because you place private fund-raising first. the corporate privatization for society depends on debasing the expression for the people and destroying the benefits of democracy is what the money is for. the lies cost more than the money. supervisor chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. first, an inquiry to the president -- will there be a separate opportunity for public comment on item 22? the proposed closed session?
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supervisor chiu: you can comment at this time. >> will there be separate public comment for it? supervisor chiu: now was the time to comment on it. >> i am concerned that the requirement is not being met here. the brown act and the sunshine ordinance in section 5495 6.49 have very specific language about what constitutes facts and circumstances allowing a closed session for litigation. i do not believe that there has been actual threatened litigation on the project, and i am concerned that the board goes in a closed session on this item, it creates a bad precedent for going into closed session on any land use matter where there is a contest it eir or could tested entitlement, all of which can and often do result in litigation. i did not believe the standard has been met, and i would ask you to inquire further and articulate further if the basis for the closed session. there were some other itemsi