imagine any union not getting an increase for eight years? it's inconceivable. this is our collective bargaining. we don't get collective bargaining, we have to come to you. 19% increase in the cost of living since that last raise. gate's gone up $.12 since that last raise. one single quarter added to the meet for the all that time. gas gone up 153%. it was $1.69 at the time of the last meter raise. as of last night it was -- last week it was $4.28. and even drivers who are now driving hybrid cabs are paying substantially more for gas than they were paying in a gas guzzler in 2003.

and now the m.t.a. has stuck drivers with 5% credit card fees that for the past 14 years have been the responsibility of cab companies. so whatever the deficiencies of service, don't hold this against the driver. don't hold drivers hostage to that. drivers are very angry about a lot of things and don't add this. thank you. >> good afternoon, president chiu and member of the board of superviseors. my name is john caldera, i'm a board apointed member of the san francisco veterans affairs commission. i want to thank you for my reappointment and also the next action item introduced by president chiu, the filipino veterans act. i thank you very much. it is never too late to end a discrimination. while i'm on the subject matter

of veterans, if i may please activate the tv -- on maye 1, when osama bin laden was killed, my veterans' organization hosted an event in the veterans building across the street in reference to vetens -- veterans' suicide. 18 veterans commit suicide every day. that's not just returning iraq and afghanistan veterans. right now we're seeing an epidemic of seniors who did not want to become a burden to their famries taking their lives. i come to you as a member of the veterans affairs commission to ask you, when you get report -- confronted by reporters in the chambers ask them, when was the last time you wrote a story about veterans? when was the last time you wrote a story about veterans committing suicide? and finally, what are you doing on memorial day, on monday,

maye 30? i invite each and every one of you to come and honor our veterans. thank you very much. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i admire you all for your stamina. i am steve nozell, also on the veterans affairs commission, i want to take a moment to thank president chiu and the entire board for your consideration of item 46, supporting -- in support of the filipino veterans fairness act, i have read the resolution that you folks have offered, it just about mirrors word for word our own resolution passed and forwarded to you as a recommendation by the veterans affairs commission. it's time for this important piece of legislation to get a good push from not only san

francisco, but from our own representatives all over california, the entire california caucus. the only way it has a chance of passing in this time of austerity is a big push to have the congress do something that has finally arrived at the right time to do it, at long last, this very long wait to finally do the right thing. i'd like to end by introducing our own commissioner, reginald maldonado, who happens to be one of the selfsame filipino veterans who fought as a young boy in defense of our country and he may be one that benefits by this legislation if it gets passed, but that's not the reason we're asking for it, it will help all veterans in our community. thank you. thank you.

board of supervisors, president chiu, thank you so much for giving us the chance to having this public hearing and thank you for your mirror resolution that reflects the belief that this was presented by the speaker. we shall look forward that you will pass the resolution in due time to help us. to help the approval of all the veterans that have not been recognized for 65 years, that it's being presented to the

congress and nothing was done. 65 years. probably there's nothing that the government will understand, the trillions of dollars that was spent somewhere but they never paid us, ill like to thank the board and all the members. thank you so much and the lord be with you all. >> thank you. next speaker. >> my name is ace washington. excuse me my attire today but i'm ripping and running for the different meetings, i was upstairs for the m.t.a. one thing we want to make

perfectly clear, there is a state of emergency here in san francisco of the african-american existence. it don't take no rocket scientist to understand what i'm saying. look at this equation. all the benefits from the 50% hiring, from the american company, and all these benefits, all these jobs you're going to start sending down the line, look at this number. african-americans, blacks are going town and in a few yearsing all the benefits for san francisco residents are going up. what's wrong with that equation? ladies and gentlemen, i'm here to tell you, there is a conspiracy that's been going on before i was even born, but there is more -- a conspiracy right now as we speak, here at city hall and i'm going to prove it, y'all, because i've been in it y'all, i've been

here over 20 years, documenting this, picture taking, been discriminated against, arrested, but i'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. i'm going to give my young brothers and sisters in my community in the western addition, right now our center, it's not going to be closed down but that whole structure is gone. under the leadership of reverend brown, of others, i'm not scared to say it. i am going to prove that there is conspiracy to eliminate the african-american presence in san francisco. why? because we are insignificant right now. our voters are insignificant. all of y'all running, everybody is running for things, but we're not involved in it. [inaudible] >> thank you. next speaker.

>> president chiu, members of the council, i wore this shirt on purpose not because i believe that the world will end on the 21st, but it might, and i'd like to draw as much attention to myself as i possibly can so i can speak to as many people as i can about the gospel and i hope he does come back because i'm ready. my sins are washed away. now jesus, he said, if you hear what i tell you, and you do what i tell you, you're like a wise man that builds your house on a rock. and the rains came and the flood came and the winds blew upon that house and it held strong because it was founded on the rock. but if you don't do what i tell you, you just hear my words and don't obey me, you're like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. i'm telling you, one of these days, judgment day is going to come. this is the way it's going to be. god is just.

i was cleaning the carpet today, i guess schwarzenegger has a love child with somebody, i feel sorry for his wife and kids but isn't it strange in this world that generally, they don't want to talk about christians, i said to abc and nbc, do you want to put me on the news and talk about my shirt? they said, get out of here. christians are not mentioned but when somebody does something wrong, we talk about god's law. we don't specifically say, don't commit zultry. by snage getting caught, we're say -- by schwarzenegger getting caught, we're saying that's wrong. when former mayor newsom get caught, he said i let the people down he knew it was wrong. god's law is written on everybody's heart. nobody obeys god. you have to have christ's cricheseness imputed to you.

-- christ's righteousness imputed to you. >> thank you. are there any other members whofe -- of the public who wish to speak in general public comments? seeing none, general public comments is closed. could you please read the adoption of the reference calendar. >> items 46 through 53 are being considered for immediate adoption, they will be acted upon by a single roll call vote. if a member asked for discussion of an item, it will be discussed separately. >> i would like to sever item 46. seeing none if we could take an -- a roll call on items 47 through 53. >> supervisor elsburg. aye. supervisor kim. kim, aye. supervisor march, aye. supervisor mirkarimi, yea. supervisor weiner, aye.

supervisor, avalos, aye. supervisor chu, aye. president chiu, aye. there are 10 ayes. >> thank you, madam clerk could you call item 47. >> item 47 is a resolution proclaiming maye 15 through maye 21 -- >> actually i had severed item 46. >> item 46, resolution supporting the filipino veterans fairness act of 2011. >> i want to thank the veterans who came to speak in support of this resolution. i think many of you are familiar with the problems facing our veterans. this has been such an injustice for so many year the fact that we had over a quarter million filipinos that helped serve alongside u.s. allied forces in world war ii, for decades they have asked for the promises

that the u.s. government supported, we do have a congresswoman that helps to represent our bay area who is pushing to make sure that the few surviving fill pee ne veterans that have been denied these benefits will be able to someday see justice and i wanted us to hopefully be on the record to support our vets and our filipino veterans. with that i ask for support of this measure. >> supervisor cohen. supervisor cohen: thank you very much. i would like to join co-sponsorship of the resolution with president chiu in honoring and acknowledging the ongoing struggle of filipino american veterans have been facing and i would like to give voice to not only the filipino men that served our country but also the filipino women, most notably also called comfort women, and their service, not their service but the brutality and violence that they actually endured.

so i commend them for their strength and endurance. >> supervisor kim. supervisor kim: i would like to also add my name as a co-sponsor. i have long been a supporter of equity for those who served our country. thank you for bringing this resolution forward. >> supervisor kim wanted to be added as a co-sponsor along with supervisor mirkarimi and supervisor cohen. with that, this resolution is adopted. madam clerk. could you read the in memoriams for today. >> i have in in memoriams for today. >> with that, madam clerk, do we have any more business in front of this board? that concludes our business for today. >> at this time, the board of supervisors meeting is adjourned for the evening.

>> 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.