year will have the bureau in the studio. some of our neighbors have suggested a reduction of the arts element. i can tell you that that is not financially feasible. not without being able to access those nine units. making up that deficit would be at the expense of other programs. that is why the planning commission is recommending this. we urge you to support the development of the increased density. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: [reads names]

if the people want to line up so that there is less transition time? >> thank you, supervisors. and it was this morning -- we are supportive of this housing. and it would be something with a 55 foot height limit, this is it. you would have more projects with more people and the money involved.

the young folks that will live there will -- he will continue to live in those units over the years as others transitioned out. for the message that you will send and now i have some fun and a spirited discussion on facebook. i tell you, that is small in comparison to what you say it is

about kids that have nowhere to go. we all seen someone deaf and in the area of the of alfalfa -- i would like to let people to many since 1983 have lived in the neighborhood for almost 30 years. by by alone a duplex with my wife. i m around the block. -- i own a duplex with my wife.

today we heard words like massing. the building would be mom illicit -- monolithic. we heard about 110 units and other compromises down the 50. we think that is wrong. we think that the compromise should be at 37 units or 40 units. that is what the planning code calls for. the proposal being presented here so egregiously violates the building and planning code in this city that it requires a special district in a project that has virtually no parking. in the parking that is provided is tandem parking. it is not separate parking. that means everybody has to move their cars. we are encouraged from the east by california pacific medical center and from the south by

kaiser hospital. from the west side, the courts are just as half a mile from my house. i urge you to support the compromise that supervisor farrell has proposed. we think is fair. it is supported by all of the neighborhood associations including the presidio heights and jordan park neighborhoods. [tone!] supervisor mirkarimi: 80. next speaker, please. -- thank you. >> my name is larry griffin. i am on the board of the booker t. washington center. i am here to speak in favor of the project. i am a native of san francisco and the western addition. a first set foot in booker t. washington in 1962 with my father who was doing volunteer

basketball coaching. this is a very important project not just to the african-american community but the community of san francisco as a whole. the idea of transitional housing for youth, if you go down to mcalester and market or any parts of the tenderloin, you will see where a lot of foster youth and a graduate in two. they really do not have places to go to. it is really important. there's a lack of affordable housing in the city. this is a good project. it is a win-win for everybody. i understand the concerns of neighbors. i would be more concerned about a muni bar in my neighborhood than booker t. washington center. i hope you vote to approve this. thank you for your time. supervisor mirkarimi: come on up if i have called you. >> my name is donald clark. i was in foster care from 11 to

19. my transition from foster care was not good. i always favored being independent. now i am in the process of graduating to my own place. i am in the process of that and can see what it would have been like if i had did not have any resources such as first place for you. i was taught to talk to employers, find school programs. they cconnected me to other resources and life planning. without them, it would have been difficult to find a place to live and employment as well. it is important for san francisco used to be able to live here. the city has great resources. it is where we grew up. it is where my personal family support resources are located. i am trying to build up a social

network where i live now in the east bay. i am really connected to a lot of the people out here. i know a lot of former foster's are in the same situation i am in. it is where we know and would like to be. even though it is our home town, we are the first to be kicked out. i remember that when i was younger. there is limited affordable housing. [tone!] when we come out of foster care, we do not have money to pay the basics for housing. it would be great if san francisco would provide housing for former foster youth instead of sending them somewhere else. supervisor mar: how old were you when your emancipated? what was it like when you first got out? >> i was 19 when i was first

emancipated. i was living in daly city. alexander san francisco county jurisdiction. -- i was under san francisco county jurisdiction. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you, sir. i am going to read some other names. ruth clay, steve williams, and vanessa conrad. please line up. >> good afternoon. i am the managing director of programs at first place for you. our mission is to work with young people emancipating out of foster care. we provided with housing, employment, and healthy living services to maintain their independence and interdependence. mr. clarke already talked about the difficulty of finding housing for youth raised in san francisco. it drains san francisco of its use and affects the youth and the city by separating them from

each other. it makes it harder for them to maintain connections they have had as youth. this project is unique. i believe it should be recognized as a model and replicated across the country. you are utilizing the strength of local organizations to maximize the strength of the city's greatest asset which is our young people. i want to point out that for young people in foster care in san francisco, they are often moved to other county to grow -- counties to grow up. it is harder for them to come back when the emancipate. most of the youth we work with, we house in alameda county because of the difficulty of finding affordable housing for transitional housing. it is something we're working on. this project is genius in its idea. you have the players together to make sure the execution is eloquent and effective.

[tone!] supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is ruth clay. i was born to a drug-addicted mother and father whose whereabouts is unknown. and was placed in foster care system of birth. throughout my life in foster care, there were some good times and bad times. after leaving the foster care system, i was bouncing from house to house. i knew someday i wanted to become owners. without support and placement, i knew that my career would be placed on hold. moving back to san francisco independent skills living program referred me to first place you. after entering the program, first place taught me how to manage my time, money, pay bills on time, and the job searching.

it got me back into school. after leaving first place for years, i maintained a 3.5 gpa, started nursing school in the fall, and continue living on my own. i am also keeping a job. without first place, i would still be sleeping from couch to couch with my career put on hold. first place is a great program for all youth to exit out of care to achieve their dreams. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please come forward. >> i am kathy peck. and the executive director and founder of a nonprofit organization that provides free hearing screening to youth in the san francisco bay area and in oakland and many other school districts. i am also a neighbor in the area on lance st.

we own a home. it is in 1880 victorian. the neighborhood traditionally was one of the new rule is that survived the 1906 earthquake. we have some of the oldest victorians in the area. some date back to 1853. that was the border of san francisco. when i look at my neighbors' homes, it is a dynamic -- gigantic building. we love booker t. and the kids. we are a neighborhood. we all want to work together. we're hoping they will consider not change in the neighborhood. supervisor mar: please come forward. >> good afternoon. my name is and corey.

i am with a national nonprofit organization that creates housing for people with challenges. i am here to speak in support of the 55-foot height for the project. i am also here to speak for the larger number of units. we have a serious need for housing for transition-aged youths. this has proved to be an effective intervention with emancipated foster used to help them get on their feet and stay on their feet. one aspect of the project that is of interest to us is the transit-oriented development. we are a project in the new affordable housing fund. we are considering financial support for this project as part of the fund. it is close to transit. we really believe that even with the lower number of parking

spaces, it will not be a burden on the neighborhood because transit is so good in that neighborhood. i appreciate your consideration of this and want to express my support. supervisor mar: i am going to call some other names. please. >> good afternoon. i am steve williams. i do not live within the 300 feet, but i do live nearby. you have been given a lot of wrong information about the neighborhood in order to justify a project that is too big for the neighborhood. this is out of the final eir. i pointed this out in the draft. they still have a completely wrong. they do not identify any two- story buildings in the neighborhood. the 25 buildings circled are wrongly identified as three stories. they are two stories.

there are 31-story buildings. there are 73-story and four four-story. the predominance on the block is two-stories. you were given completely wrong information. when it was first submitted to the mayor's office of housing, it was 39 units, 40 feet tall on presidio and 57,000 square feet. the old developer submitted it. here is the project submitted by the executive director. it was submitted at 40, 39 units, 57,000 square feet for the building. in january of 2010. the building got larger. every time the neighbors got together and said it was too large, they simply made it larger.

this is not the correct way to do development. the neighbors have gotten together with the neighborhood associations and supervisor as described in the general plan and the better had the run the program to decide what fits in with in a prepared a compromise was worked out, a compromise that the neighbors do not like. it is still too large for the neighborhood even with a compromise. [tone!] i urge you to look at the materials and realize you have been given a lot of misinformation. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is dennis a conrad. -- vanessa conrad. we've lived here 27 years. it is a victorian down the block from booker t..

i understand the root projects result in a compromise. i urge you to consider the compromise submitted before the earlier some middle -- earlier one. that is of compromise i believe everyone can live with. i urge you to consider that support supervisor farrell's compromise. >> next speaker. parmy name is charles ferguson. i am currently the district two representative on the citizens' advisory group for advice in the planning department on housing. our position is that we support the use of the building. our problem is with the size and bulk. we believe it is your job to balance the societal interests

in the building of this size against the interests of the surrounding neighborhood in preserving its character and environment. i have lived there a long time. it is truly an historical area. each one of us learned with balancing means an average of food -- in our childhood on a se esaw. it is creating equilibrium between two opposing forces. it means on either side, there is the least amount of harm done while the greatest possible amount of good is done on the other side. this is not an easy job. i realize that. it takes time and effort. you cannot just pick one value or side and favor that one. it does not produce any balance. supervisor farrell has spent a lot of time with us individually and as groups and with the

interested parties. he has studied the financing. i recommend before you reach any conclusions, you consult with him and have him explain to you the hard work he has done, which i think is excellent. thank you very much. >> i am going to call some other names to speak. jon kaufman, ronald wi, richard wu. >> i am a member of the jordan park improvement association. i have nothing against the booker t. washington project. the public benefit overshadows some of the neighborhood benefit. in a good compromise, nobody wins 100%.

what i would like to understand is that the mayor's office of housing has stated the financials and a deficit of $500,000 for operating costs. if the operating costs are going up with 50 units, i would think with less units, there would be less operating costs. if the ceiling level were dropped, the building could still be lower and have the same number of units there. i do not think this has been considered. we did not have all the players altogether at one time. we're hearing different stories parking spaces and bicycles bases. i do not think some of the parking spaces are for the affordable housing units or the ms spaded -- in as a bid adieu. there for the faculty and booker t. washington staff. -- emancipated youth. there are all of these buses.

i am having some issues here. we could solve this better. there are other options i gave. [tone!] this could come to a good ending it would all be together and sculpt it better. they make it sound like it is for the transitional youth units that will disappear. the nine units are for the rest of -- regular forego housing. there are other units coming in as well. >> next speaker, please. >> my name is ron. i live on sutter st. with my wife. we bought a house in 1991. i support the compromise by supervisor farrell. i want to reiterate what rose just said. the nine units subtracted would

be from the affordable component and not be the youth component. we support the booker t. washington addition, the community center, affordable housing, and youth housing. i am on the record for that. i do support a compromise. contrary to what has been stated, there is an impact. i live in a house right behind the community center. the building props are around us. it takes away light. i have announced for mitigation -- asked for mitigation having to do with the colors of the walt or cutting down a tree on our neighbor's property. the neighbor has approved it. there are also certain issues of whether printing. the building wrapping around our property devalues our property.

i never asked for any financial consideration or remuneration. i have announced that the building be built in context with the neighborhood -- asked that the building be built in context with the neighborhood. i ask that you support the compromise with supervisor farrell. >> next speaker, please. >> my name is john kaufman. i am representing the neighbors of this project. we support wholeheartedly the mission of the booker t. washington center and the need for a transitional housing. that is not the subject before us today. the subject before us today is simply the scale of the project. it is too big. there are no units of housing on this side.

it is zoned for 20 units. 50 are proposed. -- 28 units. we support the compromise with supervisor farrell that would reduce this to 41 units. you have heard discussion about 110 units. that project was dropped. that proposal went away. the sponsor of the project went away. it was not even considered. that is not even on the table and never has been. the project compromise that supervisor farrell has offered was something he spent a lot of time working on. it is a compromise. the idea of compromise is that no one wins and is in the middle ground. we urge you to consider that. it does have the additional support you heard about from the

mayor's office of housing. [tone!] 9 units are there for transitional and low income would go away. the rights of the homeowners and people in the neighborhood would be protected. i am going to give you a list of over 100 households of people who live in the area who would benefit and support this compromise. i am also going to give you letters from five or six neighborhood associations also support a compromise. [tone!] i urge you to think about everybody in the spirit of compromise and not just about the young people, but also the people who live in the neighborhood. >> thank you. you have been retained to represent the neighbors? >> that is correct. >> was that the case for mr. williams? >> no. >> thank you. next speaker, please.

>> my name is margie. and here to support the compromise by supervisor farrell. the building is too large for the neighborhood. i do not know the terminology, but for the planning department to amend the code so that it allows for this building of such scale and height -- i think is wrong for the neighborhood. i urge you to support the compromise by supervisor farrell. thank you. >> i am going to read some more names. please come on up. >> my name is ronald li.

i am a long-term member of the community. i do support booker t. washington. i think the proposed measure should help the community center. the height of the building is not the issue. the young people who are trying to be in the apartments, to not think of the height of the building, think of the well- being of the community and the young people who are going to stay in these apartments. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> my name is richard wu. i am the executive director of a

nonprofit. we work wito support people with training and employment with companies like google that are growing. i come from a background of 20 years in the i.t. department. i am also a senior engineer for a company. we have been working with them. i strongly support this project as a nonprofit organization and a native of san francisco who has lived here for 20 years. i see the need for affordable housing. i am hearing all of these things about these nine units. we have to understand that these units are very valuable for these people. we are affecting their lives. we always have economic concern for the neighborhood. ou