board of supervisors and to be marching on sunday with my community representing district 8. have a wonderful pride weekend. enjoy. [applause] >> some people six months ago said it would not happen. a friend of mine asked if there would be a parade this year. there is going to be a parade every year. how big an organized it will be is a credit to many people who came together this year as never before. they were led by the next persons to address you. [applause] >> thank you. my name is lisa williams and i am the chairman of the pride

board. i am pleased to be here. [applause] i am very pleased to be here to celebrate pride 2011. there were some challenges. folks like you step up. the board of directors stepped up. our staff stepped up. we're here today to pick up our celebration. i would also like to thank joa quin, paul, neighborhood services, the mayor's office and staff for supporting us from the beginning to the end. i also want to thank treasurer cisneros, supervisors campos, wiener, and all the others who called and asked what they could do for us. san francisco pride has had a strong relationship with the city. i also want to recognize former supervisor dufty who has been

with us in the past and is currently with us now. [applause] i would like to express my gratitude to our fellow board members. we have a lot of new board members. i am so proud of all of you. our treasurer, dale hemminger. joshua smith has been with us for years. the board secretary, our new board members. [applause] this year marks the 45th anniversary of san francisco pride. we continue to create diversity and march in the street parades. this year we will be focusing on our youth. pride is at the forefront of protecting the lgbt youth and fighting against bullying.

our committee has continued to fight since last year. we had a big treat with don't ask, don't tell. a federal judge overturned proposition 8. we continue to fight hiv and aids for our committee. the theme this year "in pride we trust," many ask how we could have that thing this year. it is in san francisco that we fight for equality, a diverse culture, we fight for liberty and freedom for everybody. it is fitting that the community, our leaders, that we can trust our city leaders to stand up with us and stand brown. i hope you will join us for the march and celebration. -- we can trust our city leaders to stand up with us and stand proud. i hope you will join us for the

march and celebration. [applause] >> i have a particular role in being able to witness how much work the board of directors has put into turning this organization around in a short amount of time. it is hard to see and does not make headlines when you meet every week from 7:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. and then again the next day. this board of directors has done that. they've worked tirelessly. lisa has led the board and brought the team together. i want to ask for a round of applause for the team that has made it what is this year. [applause]

i know there is a lot to see this week. i am not the center of it all. i will be short. thank you, mayor. we share one thing in common. we both have "interim" in our title. i am there with you. [laughter] i want to thank the board of supervisors as well. they've been tremendously helpful in some morsupporting te community. without further ado, donna sa shay. [applause] >> it is wonderful being the emcee. 20 years ago, i moved here. my first year was tough. i did not connect. a year into it, i made a couple

of decisions. i cancel my subscription to "new york times." i joined the san francisco gay men's chorus and started volunteering at an aids organization. those three things told me i was going to meet san francisco half way. now i stand at city hall with all of you. i have come a long way. it is a matter of me reaching out and the city reaching back. it is a two-way street. i love the city. i will love the music performed now by the san francisco gay men's chorus. [applause] ♪ ♪

>> welcome to the department of building inspection thursday brown bag lunch. i'm laurence cornfield cleave building inspector. these are the taugs we do of interests to the public to share information about the city and san francisco's departments. today we will talk about habitability in housing. it's something the department focuses on intensively. we had a whole section of inspectors who do nothing but look at residential buildings to make sure standards are middle east. we have chief building inspect

or rosemary. we have codes that reflect standards that the city has adopt todd make sure housing is safe, healthy is appropriately comfort and usable. it's an interesting change that has taken place in the code in the last 20 years or so. where standards have gone from safety and fire resistiveness and health to include a broader range of issues much and in many cases the department of building inspection now enforces the american with disabilities act the way it's translate todd california accessibility laws we enforce disabled access. a civil rights issue. we support the new mailbox legislation.

the new requirements about door bells are now in the code. there are other issues that are coming into the codes. habitability is no longer health and safety. habitability includes how warm you are and other stuff. dcht building inspection has standards the owner of a building is required to meet all of the standards of the building code and the housing code. the owner's responsibility to meet those standards. we do not always go out and say, your rainwater is leaking, fix it. it's the owner's responsibility to pay attention and fix stuff much there is a range of responsibilities on the tenants. we will talk about what the owner's responsibility and the tenant's responsibility. i think it's important to realize that the owner in the law is the person who is always responsible for the maintenance and upkeep and habitability of

their property and units. even if the tenant may not be the best housekeeper. the owner is still responsible for the building's condition. the first item has to do with a real safety issue which is exits much an exit has to get you to the street or public way. so, you check exits from you enforce habitability standards? >> absolutely. exits also includes fire escapes and it's very important to always consider an exit something that allows you to get in and out of the builds and emergency personnel to get in the build nothing a situation where there could be a fire or other type of emergency. that means that these aggress locations a stairway system, these are not good places for

storage. we want to make sure we don't have the potted plants. the although they are great places to dry clothy, we don't want those things on these areas in the event of an emergency situation where there is confusion, we need to have proper clearance so emergency personnel can get in the building and assist those that occupy the building and be able to get out. >> one of the basis of the code the concept is you delay, you can get out of the building in case of a fire and an emergency. that's like what we are headed for. preservation of property in many cases in the code takeses second fiddle to making sure everybody is safe ask out of the property. safety is number one. >> fire escapes are used in san francisco under the california building code. they are not typically allowed in new buildings. most of san francisco is older

buildings. because we have such tight lines 0 lot lines on the side and often a rear yard where you can't get from the rear yard to the street. we see all over san francisco fire escapes and allow new fire escapes on existing buildings where you can't build a fully complies stairway. we came up with rules about fire escapes that require them to be e illuminated and they need to be maintained. some are difficult to maintain they have a moving part and a crank ladder. hauven to people have to maintain their fire escapes. >> they need to always have them maintained. we ask the property owner at the time of the inspection to demonstrate that the fire escapes are in good working

condition. >> we changed the code? >> 4 or 5 years ago. >> you have to demonstrate that it works you pull the lever and pull it. >> absolutely. >> there are companies in the city that go out and will contract with the building owner to do regular maintenance of fire escapes and a good thing. lubricate, make sure they are not rusty. >> there is a certification program. those of you who are property owners will get a mailing from us with an affidavit and explaining this process in which every 5 yearses the property has to have a license to take a look at it and make sure it's save. beyond that there is no an expressed provision instead housing code. the most important thing to get out is that we want property owners to look at the buildings

on a periodic basis depending of the design of the building, the construction, the wear and tear it could be for frequently for some than others much if it's a residential hotel they need to look at that building daily. they need to look at the systems more often than not because things could be created that are hazard ouz such as shutting or blocking a door that goes to a secondary stairway system or putting storage on a fire escape, et cetera, or having damage or alteration to the devices could create a serious situation. >> buildings are only required to meet the code that was in effect that the time the building was built or remodeled. there are few retroactive laws that you have to go back and upgrade. if you live in the sunset built

in the 30's you meet the code of 30's. when people say is my building up to code, they may think does it meet today's code. yes, it's up to the code but up to the code it was in effect in 1908 or the 30's. smoke detectors and fire alarms what do we expect in housing >> this has to do with code sections at the board of supervisors put in the housing code in the mid 80's. depenlding upon the type of building and it's tipally in apartment buildings with lobes and corridors requires a smoke detection system with a supervision box. a lot you see in apartment buildings you walk in and there it be a box with lights that indicate whether or not the smoke detector box is working. those are not keyed into the fire department. they are a stand alone system that have alarms if they detect fire in a common areas of the

building. that's pretty much what you see typically throughout. >> for buildings of 5 units? >> well -- it's for 3 our more builds that have enclosed but for 5 units or more. apartment buildings and required exterior heat detectors with exterior situations. if there are questions regarding that call the housing division at 558-6620. we can research the requirements for that particular building. if there are problems we are happy to look at that ask approximate do an inspection. if you walk in the building and you see the supervision box and see the trouble light flashing call us. in addition to what the housing code requires the fire department requires that system be certified on a yearly basis.

>> for would aboutings that have fewer units single family hopes, the building code says any time you do work, this has been in the code for years. where the value of the work exceeds a thousand dollars that triggers the requirement for you to put detectors in your home. the building code tells you where they have to go. they are typically battery powered. i suspect most home necessary san francisco have the requirement triggered to put in smoke detectors in. battery detectors are in the the safest because people the batteries go out or people take the batteries out because they don't like it going off with they are cooking. newer ones have sensitivity to different stuff and are so -- if you have old smoke detectors that you are unhappy with

because they go off inappropriately change them to new ones. fire extinguishers. i have them in my house. my insurance reflects the fact that i fire extinguishers by having a lower rate, actually. fire extinguishers are not required in one single family and 2 unit buildings but required in apartment buildings. 3 units or more is an apartment building. what it is required. >> it's a type 2 a 10 bc a size extinguisher that will fight the various types of fire. those are required in the common areas of the building. now, keep in mind that while they are required by the housing and fire code so you may see fire inspector asking for them and a housing inspector asking for them.

in using them if a fire gets too big you want to call the fire department first they are there to fight small fires the size of a trash can. >> for 3 unit or more apartment buildings. in dwellings, having talked to the fire department they recommend you don't put it under the kitchen sink. you put it something where you can retreat from the fire, get the extinguisher out of the closet or hall way or some place away from the kitchen and fight the fire in the kitchen. you don't want it right where you expect the fire to be much here is a fire extinguisher it has a tag it's punched march 2006 serviced by international fire company in san francisco. that tag has to be updated annualy? >> another thing to note about fire extinguishers when you

purchase them if you purchase a fire extinguisher that has a plastic asem blee it cannot be reserviced. you can attempt to buy one every year but we require it be serviced every year. even though you buy a new one it doesn't mean it's workable. it needs to have a professional look at it and certify it. we look for the tag as well. >> another element has to do with putting a property address number on your building. this has been in the code for many years. it's part of the habitability requirements because emergency services need to know where you are located. and interestingingly enough, the city of san francisco building department is the agency in the whole city that actually issues legal addresses for the city. if you want to look at the legal

address of any building come here to the building department at 1616 mission on the counter on the first floor they have the paper records where they hand write the address for ever property and would abouting in the city. the official address ask if you want to change an address you make an application to them. do we have a standard how high? >> it's a 4 inches with a contrasting color background. visible for emergency vehicles when that you pull in front of the building to identify the building. that's the purpose for it. for those that may need that service it's important especially with the type of density we have in the city buildings abut each other and sometimes it's difficult to locate in a disaster or emergency situation which building that is. that's why this is an important requirement joochlt sometimes our inspectors do an inspection and they can't find the building because there is no address eshg

specially commercial buildsings where they changed tenants. must have an address on every building. the next piece is interesting has to do with what you are allowed to store in your garage. i'm glad we had the planners here to help. starting with the building department for an apartment building of 3 or more units we restrict what they can put in their garages. we we look at the garage or basement areas of a building the rule of thumb for most apartment buildings anything in a storage or garage area, any storage area should have fire sprinklers, a sprinkler system. exception are 3 and 4 unit buildingings. in the 3 or 4 unit building if the sore acknowledges not furniture or mattresses spring herring is not required.

however, the other thing we look in the garage areas is the storage not obstruct the off street parking by section 150 of the planning code if i remember, from my years of being in the code enforcement and planning department. >> craig, would you tell us, sometimes people fill their garage up with their storage and can't get a car in there is that a problem under the planingly code? >> it is if the garage is supplying required parking. if you have a single ushg nit building you are required to have one off street parking space. if the house was built with that parking space once you require parking you can't remove it without a variance. if you are storing things in your garage so your car cannot be parked there you are vie lating the planning code it's not legal to park in the front

setback, driveways. we require 180 square feet in the garage to park the car. this can't be something 1 foot wide and 180 foot long. it's got to be a configuration a car can fit in. we use an 18 to 20 foot length to get the 180 square feet. >> if you want to store in the basement or something in a multifamily building, rosemary, you need to have sprinklers? >> again, if for a unit that has 5 units or more it requires fire sprinklers for storage. that's everything that can better than n. that situation it's more restrictive. the reason for this the reasoning is that if somebody has something in the bottom part of the building in the storage

or garage and they walk away. somebody throws a cigarette that can smolder and catch fire and it can affect that building and buildings on that block, et cetera. the whole purpose is to make sure that that fire is supressed quickly. that's why it's so important while we look at storage and we all have storage, that's a big issue with the housing inspectors are looking at the common areas of an apartment building or hotel to make sure the storage is properly containd and has the required spring hers if they are required. >> how often do the inspectors go out and look? >> we could be looking at that in several fashions. one is systematic enforcement where we are required to look at apartment buildings and hotels in particular once every 5 years.

generally we are in the buildings more often we go when we get neighborhood complaints if a neighbor complains about a storage in the building. there was a complaint about an apartment building on lombard that was in the garage and storage area it was floor to ceiling with restaurant storage. we saw the storage was not indental to the use of the building it had become commercial storage. we asked the owner to remove it because the garage was required parking under the planning code. in situations like that we got a complaint. did an investigation, saw there were problems. wrote a notice of violation to have the owner clear it out. they did so. we were able to abait the complaint. >> every 5 years at least

sometimes more often we inspect the common areas of every building that has 3 or more units and on complaint if we believe there is a valid complaint we will inspect it. that's not just storage. >> keep in mind the housing inspect ors are not the only city inspect ors out in the buildings. you have planning inspect ors fire and health inspectors out there as well. a comlant could come to all the agencies or 1 agency there are a lot of different inspections going on. at times it can be confusing, someone says i had an inspection but it could be someone looking at a different aspect much there are different inspections going on because we have a city of residential units that are older. a higher density. as laurence said, they are not

necessarily built to what the code requirements would be if they were built today. >> talk about trash and garbage rierms in in your 1 family home irresponsible to get the cans out off the street. i know there was city legislation that said you had to remove it from the street in 24 hours after the trash pick up. you can't leave it in the public right-of-way. and i think you can't leave it visible? is that right? there are much more restrictive and specialized requirements for apartment buildings and hotels. >> certainly. >> debris storage in apartment or hotel there had has to be sufficient receptacle pick up show debris doesn't build up and