awe over the variety of mediums used. >> i think we have given the city of san francisco and the residents an incredible art collection. it really encourage people to come and visit the new facility, also to see the arts. >> for more information, visit sfartscommis

president chiu: welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting for june 14th, 2011. madame clerk, could you please call the roll. >> [roll-call]

mr. president, you have a quorum. president chiu: ladies and gentleman, could you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? colleagues, you should have copies of the may 3rd meeting minutes. could i have a motion to approve those meeting minutes? without objection, the meeting minutes are approved. are there any communications? >> i have no communications. president chiu: if you could read the 2:00 p.m. special order. >> the first item is the mayor to engage in formal policy discussions with members of the board by answering eligible questions from supervisors representing the odd districts.

the mayor made this -- the mayor may address the board and supervisors and district 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. discussion shot not exceed five minutes per supervisor. president chiu: mr. mayor, i would like to welcome you back to our third session of policy discussions with you. i would like to give you the opportunity to make an opening statement. mayor lee: thank you supervisors and the audience here for the opportunity to answer the questions from the board of supervisors. the last time i was here, we presented a budget proposal. i wanted to repeat to extend our offices help in anyway to make sure we work together and continue working together to make sure the budget is not only balanced but it is a budget that reflects all the needs of

the city and keeps our city strong. i just want to extend my thanks to each and everyone of you again as we approach some of our town hall meetings and getting input from the residence. that has made a big difference in the way this process has been done. i look forward to working with you to the conclusion of the budget. with that, i enjoyed reading these questions. there are a variety of them from housing to municipal to health care, so i look forward to doing my best to answering these questions. let's get started. president chiu: our first question is from the supervisor from district 1, supervisor mar. supervisor mar: affordable housing for all people of san francisco is an issue of paramount importance. efforts have been made to address the specific overwhelming housing needs of underserved populations, such as

use aging out of the foster care system, or seniors struggling to age in place. in the past, there has been a pattern of affordable housing development being built where land is less expensive. what ideas or policy proposals do you have to build or finance housing that is affordable in areas where real-estate values are higher, but the need is present, such as in my district, the richmond district. what specific programs to you envision your administration to explore to buy housing for underserved populations but also for all the needed, like families in the richmond district? >> thank you for that question. i would like to work with you because this is a complex issue when we're talking about affordable housing in the city. we face this not just in richmond but the whole city. the first challenge is the lack of land for development. the second challenge is the shortage of public funding to help pay for affordable housing. when the opportunity is

available, the mayor's office of housing is willing to buy more expensive land or property in neighborhoods that lack affordable housing. but it is difficult for affordable housing developers to compete with market rate developers for those properties. over the past 15 years, the city has afforded much of the affordable housing in areas like mission bay, bayview, south of market. in other cases, the mayor's office of housing and redevelopment has worked with other public agencies to acquire surplus sites, such as the former freeway parcells in chinatown and at ocean avenue. in our current climate, the mayor's office of housing and redevelopment agency are also challenged with significantly less funds from the local,

state, and federal levels, and we will not be able to pay for as many new construction projects per year. also, many of the matching funds at the state and federal level are specifically for seniors, for support of housing and other special needs. in order to provide affordable housing opportunities in neighborhoods like richmond, we have to do five things. first, continue to advocate for state and federal matching funds that serve families like redevelopment tax increments. and the programs which are under attack in washington -- we have to save those programs. second, use our local funds more efficiently by acquiring existing rental housing and making it permanent -- making it permanently affordable. the third -- insuring that the inclusion rehousing elements provides the right incentives for on-site housing in neighborhoods like the richmond.

fourth, prioritizing and used or under used publicly-owned sites, especially in expensive and inexpensive real-estate areas for dedication to affordable housing development. finally, we would like to work with your office to explore the feasibility of developing an affordable housing site acquisition revolving loan -- loan funds to resolve those sites. i would continue to work with you and any of the supervisors. i know that affordable housing is of great interest and we need to be on all burners to do it well. especially in these economic times. i would be willing to work with you on these five. and any other items you have. president chiu: i will provide the next question. the municipal transportation agency has experienced significant challenges so far in

2011, from ongoing budget for falls, muni service problems, and negotiating a new labor contract with operators. the mta faces continued obstacles to implementing the voters vision of one organization that manages muni, bicycles, pedestrians, and private vehicles in san francisco. mr. mayor, could you please describe your perspective on the major challenges facing the agency during this coming year? mayor lee: thank you for this question. i know that you have been play -- you have been paying close attention to affairs at the mta. we have weekly questions about this and i appreciate your constant attention to it. i will be paying a lot closer attention even as this develops. it is important that we put this into context. the voters have told us their propositions a and e , that they

want reforms over all the forms of transit in the city. with this broad umbrella of responsibilities comes a broad array of hurdles we have to clear. for the duration of 2011, i would liken to a to tackle issues that could be broadly grouped into three areas. first, sustaining our momentum on major transit capital projects including high-speed rail, the trans bay terminal, central subway, the bus rapid transit, and the new centralized control facilities. second, demonstrating real, measurable improvements on key indicators of successful transportation networks, specifically getting many's on time performance up to the voter mandate 85%. -- getting muni's on-time performance up to the voter mandate of 85%. third, encouraging alternative

forms of transportation. we as a city must do a better job of making it safe for pedestrians in san francisco. death and serious injury by pedestrians is just too common. our city experiences over 800 injuries and 22 fatalities every year. we need a more concerted effort around implementation of the executive order and i want to ante to move forward quickly with bike improvements, including regional like sharing and new by sharing on jfk drive and golden gate park. finally, we have to get moving on installing 100 electric vehicle chargers around the city. replacing our own feet with electric vehicles and successfully implementing the electric vehicle tax program. i would be remiss if i did not mention the situation with our transit operators, a transit workers union.

now that there has been an award, we need to make sure it achieves its goal of improving muni's operations and increasing reliability. i will commit myself to working with the management, its transit board, to make sure the top operators understand that it is in addition to the quality of their jobs, the public has to be served with every aspect. that is the premier goal that we have. i want to make sure all the people understand that and we are there to support them in that effort. at the same time, our operators deserve to have labor-management relations at work together to solve the problems. i will make sure that effort is represented clearly to each and every driver in this city. we are also monitoring this situation very closely and i'm sure you are all as aware, that all told, muni faces many

challenges, but this means they also have a lot of opportunities. opportunities to improve service and build a 21st century transit network. president chiu: our third question -- our third question is from the supervisor from district 5. supervisor mirkarimi: mr. president, mr. mayor, it was a dark and stormy night -- just kidding. san francisco and other local governments have struggled and are continuing to struggle to find legislative approaches to help people at risk of foreclosure to stay in their homes. meanwhile, state and federal initiatives have proven ineffective in helping protect homeowners who would like to at least have one last attempt t riage the situation. are there any plans within city hall of developing proposals

that might help us at a municipal level since we're not getting too much assistance from state or federal in addressing this issue? mayor lee: thank you, supervisor mirkarimi. the foreclosure crisis was a relatively concentrated issue and particularly impacted latino and african-american homeowners. many of these households were victims of predatory lending practices that were part of the drop in home belly prices from 2007 through 2009. our problems were modest compared to the central valley, the inland empire, and other states. for that reason, the city of san francisco did not receive federal funding to address this issue. the federal government went to the proportionally hardest hit areas first and, from the beginning of this crisis, our emphasis locally has been on

counseling and policy. our home ownership and tanning counseling agencies funded by the city have survey critical function, providing direct service and technical assistance to impacted tenants and homeowners. our five strong nonprofit partners include asian inc., consumer credit counseling services of san francisco, mission economic development and agency, the san francisco housing development corp., the san francisco urban community housing corporation. these five together have provided collaborative homeownership education class is -- classes in culturally competent ways. with out as much direct assistance from the federal government, we focused on making sure people do not enter into dangerous mortgage situations. to pay for these important services, we have unlisted major banks including wachovia,

bank of america, the j.p. morgan case, as well as the san francisco foundation and the walter and elyse fund. san francisco home buyers have taken advantage of these programs. sadly, most of the federal and state programs are struggling to achieve effective loan modifications that would enable existing homeowners to stay in their homes on a long-term basis. as far as our efforts locally, we will continue to provide support to our partners to help people navigate the difficult mortgage issues here. i think we can work together with additional ideas and i would be glad to work closely with you to focus even more attention on this as we learn whether there is increasing numbers of people who cannot get out of their mortgage situations or are not as educated as they should be about avoiding the pitfalls. president chiu: our next

question will be provided by our colleague from district 7. supervisor elsbernd: thank you for being here. as i am sure you are aware, last week, bush yield announced they are capping profits at 2% signed -- at 2% and will do some sort of reduction in cost for their employers, the city of san francisco is clearly one of their larger employers. we have thousands of employees who are members of blue shield and more likely than not, the city will either receive some sort of rebate or receive some sort of production in the cost associated with ness -- with next fiscal year's regina with blue shield. regardless of what form it comes to us, i think is fair to characterize that revenue as a onetime revenue. we would be hard-pressed to characterize it as an ongoing revenue.

my question to you is -- a couple of questions. do you know if we will receive any revenue? if so, how much will it be? would you agree that one time revenue should be used for the one time express i believe it should be used for -- a onetime expenses i believe it should be used for, the onetime deposit into our retirees' health fund which is designed to attack what i believe is the city's most crippling debt, our retiree health debt. mayor lee: thank you. i want to take this time to thank you for your leadership on pension reform and health care reform. by way of background, blue shield did announce it was capping its profits at 2% of revenue and it allocated any excess revenues back to the policyholders. funding for health care providers and non-profit health organizations.

the important question is what does this mean for our city? according to blue shield, these funds will appear in the form of a 30% credit in one month's premium. we understand this will likely occur in october of this year. these funds will be credited back to the health services system employee trust fund which includes the city, the school district, city college, and the superior court. because the health services series -- because the health services system trust fund includes these entities and not just the city and county, the approximate $7 million credit, approximately $5 million of that will come to the county of san francisco. please note these numbers are just estimates, approximately is a prop -- approximately values supplied by blue shield. we do not know the exact value of the credit until the health services system gets further

information from blue shield. the answer to the question of can this be allocated to the retirement health-care trust fund -- in short, i cannot guarantee that outcome. i would like to see it as well, but i cannot guarantee it. the reason is the funds were initially expanded out of health services system employee trust fund and, by law, the credit will be made back to this fund. we cannot allocate this rebate to a different trust fund. monies in the employee trust fund can only be used for the exclusive benefit of plan participants. with respect to how these dollars will be utilized, the health services system board will make that determination, which could include offsetting future premium increases or offsetting other cost to the city and its employees as appropriate. president chiu: our next

question will be provided by our colleague from district 9. supervisor campos: thank you for being here. i wanted to ask a question with 10 different parts, but i will just stick to the question i submitted. on a more serious note, i want to ask about something that is very important to my district, not just my district but surrounding districts. i think the whole city. that is the viability of st. luke's. i recently wrote a letter to our public health director, barbara garcia, expressing some concern around the proposal that had been submitted by the mayor's office. we were very pleased that so much work has gone into it. i have yet to meet any person who is not against -- who is not for having a viable st. luke's. the question is how do you

ensure that liability? my question is specifically, will you support my request of cpmc, that to ensure the viability of that hospital, that they actually take the step of locating a specialty service. we gave the example of orthopedics. a specialty service that going forward insures the viability of that campus by essentially changing something that is not there right now, which is having apayer that makes the hospital viable. -- having a payer that makes the hospital liable? >mayor lee: thank you for that question. i want to thank you for your attention in making that health- care readings get the benefits to the people of san francisco.

i believe we serve the same goal, to serve the long-term viability of st. luke's hospital. we have had several discussions about that and mutually agree that our public health director, barbara garcia, to make sure that happens with this rebuild. my proposal for the development agreement seeks to accomplish this goal by taking steps to ensure st. luke's become an integral part of the cpmc system of care in san francisco. we have asked that development agreement implement recommendations of the st. luke's blue-ribbon panel which was charged to create a viable plan for acute-care hospital and outpatient services at the st. luke's campus. it specifically advise orthopedics as a specialty service to be provided by save lives, not for the short-term, but for the long term.

we have also sought that cpmc establish centers of excellence in senior health to anchor st. luke's in the community and make its destination for senior care, which is largely reimbursed by medicare. we have requested that the charity care and medical obligations which would require the contributions at the st. luke's campus to meet these requirements. finally, we have asked that the development agreement reflect an integration of medical staff at all cpmc campuses so that patients can move freely to best accommodate their needs. i think you will find all of these comprehensively reflective of making sure that st. luke's is viable for the long run. i understand st. luke's currently has a robust and successful orthopedics specially

program provided in partnership with positions from san francisco general hospital, bringing together 10 orthopedic surgeons to provide high- quality services to san francisco residents, regardless of their insurance status. additionally, i can envision a strong link between orthopedics and senior health. as the normal aging process often causes changes in the body that the elderly at higher risks for various orthopedic and the strands -- various orthopedic conditions. i believe making st. luke's hospital a vital part of cpmc in san francisco will help us ensure the long-term viability of st. luke's. with that, i will encourage and continue working with you closely to make sure this happens. president chiu: our final question today will be presented by our colleague from district

11. supervisor avalos: thank you for being here. my question is related to the commercial corridors and cleanliness of our commercial corridors. i know merchants are responsible for the upkeep of the sidewalks in front of their storefronts, but we have also had a commercial corridor program that has been strong for at least a few years. i know we have had to pull back on the program doing extra cleaning work along the streets. but as we pull back from the work in the mission district and excelsior, i'm sure it's the similar thing in other parts of the city, we have not been able to keep up with the amount of trash that has been accumulating. we spoke earlier about ideas you might have and what ideas he might express and how we could have greater upkeep? mayor lee: the short answer is

that you and i to saturdays from our going out and we are going to paint the town. we're going to start in your district. as you know, this is a big challenge for the whole city and i'm glad you have brought up. it continues to make me excited about why i came to work for the city. it is to work for these neighborhoods and make sure we are doing our best. it should not surprise you that i have been working as quietly as i can without a lot of money to make sure all of the concerns of the supervisors, particularly when it comes to graffiti abatement and trash and letter get hurt and we try to find solutions even in these worst economic times. there have been 100 your people on the streets for dpw, and that

is affecting those conditions. our strategy is to deploy resources where they are needed greatest. the commercial corridors, and it's everyone's concerns, are where they are actually needed. that is why our budget assembles funds from dpw, puc to partially restore the training program. the funding will pay for a non- profits provided that would hire between 20 and 30 people that will be trained and managed by dpw. they will specifically be deployed to commercial corridors. this program will serve as a formal labor apprenticeship program, already cleared through our city-build partners. we will not only be getting the corridor districts clean, but be

providing career opportunities for these individuals to enable them to benefit from future city construction work and opportunities that will enhance the local higher registration. i see a win/win/win here that makes this a good investment and i hope the supervisors here as you read you the budget will find this to be true as well. -- as you review the budget will find this to be true as well. generally, there is a five block stretch of a commercial street, such as mission street in the excelsior working up to 32 hours per week, seven days a week. they will provide education to merchants, residents and property owners on their responsibilities about keeping the sidewalks free from letter and keeping the properties clean and safe. they will also provide education and proper waste management to ensure consistency with our ensure consistency with our city's mandatory recycling and