-- has spent on this property so far, but it will affect the quality of life in this neighborhood. the needs of the neighborhood are clear. and i hope that the board will support this project and get us closer to a new library. thank you. >> i am mark, a north beach parent and property owner. the last time i came here, i was disappointed that this continued to this day, because when this conversation started, my daughter was in preschool, and now she is a junior at lowell high school. at a certain time, this is just kind of done. maybe you don't shake hands, but this is just done. let's get this project going. >> if there are members of the

public who wish to speak on this item, please line up. >> good afternoon, fellow supervisors. i thought of writing a letter on friday. i am the presence of russian hill neighbors. i was thinking of writing a letter on saturday, on behalf of the organization, but at least nine letters have been written in support of moving forward with the library, and we have a board of 27. and the land-use attorney architect, people in the know. i am an artist, and a jewelry designer, but i hear this from

the heart. i was going to bring in my tap shoes and all kinds of games, things that could be used with a larger part. but then i thought my best thing is the perception. i have started a new line of antique jewelry this morning. this shows how long that the library has been fought over. these bonds have been around -- we're down to paper. this shows the time and place, and i feel like reading is the key to knowledge, and kids and

adults need a community outside. we don't have backyards. meeting to please move forward, and do the right thing. thank you. >> i entertain 40 kids. i don't know about the library project. were the main library. i have an awful lot of trouble with a lot of things. i have a lot of trouble with this anyway. with regard to the open space -- my friends have been involved

with the grass-roots organizations, and these have been phenomenal. there are some opportunities to participate. we have to take away the rights of the individual. a week ago monday, i sell on the sidewalk because i was left stranded by a bus driver who decided that hate crimes are appropriate. because of my damaged vehicle, i was sent away. yes, we need the open space and the garden. where does this come from? do we do this correctly? let's ask these questions. these policies -- the police

wanted to tell me that would be taken away and i cannot make a citizen's arrest. where does this stop? is this the institutions or the responsibility of the government to say -- thank you very much. >> man have the overhead? sfc tv? thank you. in 2003 and 2004, i first became involved with trying to lott, when the neighbors started the discussion about a seizure with

eminent domain, of the private property owners, or open space. the issue was very controversial. and we see this with groups and individuals who were split on this issue. i was very torn between individual property rights, and the need for open space. but like many of my neighbors, and many of your predecessors on the board, this particular site was appealing not only because of the need for open space but because of the crossroads location and the spectacular view that was offered by this one location with a very significant landmark assemble that marked north beach as one

of the great neighborhoods of the world. with much hesitation and out, i also supported eminent domain seizure, and i follow the hearing, listening to the general managers and the library general manager as the talk about the need for open space, that this would be a good fit for the renovation. and three ballot measures of the library -- >> thank you very much. >> the next speaker?

once i live in north beach, and i have lived here for 46 years, continuously. i have written to use several times about the legal aspects of eminent domain, and all of the situations -- with the purpose of taking a lot for open space. eminent domain is a serious matter. i have not spoken about this before. they were talking about how much that they would pay him and his partner. i have 17 pages of this, and this is california law. i offer this to you if you wanted.

i am waiting for what was promised in 2004. i understand that because of improper notice on this lot, no decision has been very inadequate. these are on polls and that the library, and only four of them have dates on them, and this is not really a notice at all. two of them talk about april 23, two of them talk about june 7. that is everything, when it comes to the public. most of the north beach public does not know that mason street is being closed, and the businesses are very against the closing.

they have not been properly notified. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. i have lived one block from the library for 46 years. the last time the group address you, we were asking you not to build a two-story library in the open space. and this clearly fell on deaf ears. in fact, one supervisor said he was happy that the long battle was over, and now the>> imagineg

to save the city-owned open space and a library that just means expansion, updating, and renovation. having to keep coming back to study a that is a big mistake you are making by ignoring the great alterative to that destructive master plan appear in if the well-designed alternative was adopted, to have a new small car and a renewed library sooner, for less community disruption and considerably less cost. we persevere and not to win, but rather, not to lose open space, and glorious trees, and

opportunity for a new small part, a famous softball playground, news of our icons, and confidence in our elected officials. who doe>> this is the third pare seen us lose. the third part has less open space than any other district in the city as far as i know. when i was the organizer, we have an open space funds committed for the proposition at the time. and the city delayed buying it until it went up and out it is a

condo. there is a place dedicated on top of the broadway tunnel. that we supported. and one day, the supervisors saw it is said that it could be housing. housing could be built anywhere. this was a really important civic space, dislike triangle park. we lost that, too. i was down to a meeting where some people were saying that it should be condos. we cannot afford to lose this. it is an important part of the streetscape, that everybody is passing. everybody who drives by there will see it. it is a little triangle across from washington spare -- square park. this is really important that we save this as open space and as

part of the important streetscape. the library can be built and different way. i am not particularly attached to that building, but i don't see the reason to do something to landfills, i am sure you know on seventh avenue. most of all, i am concerned about the open space. president chiu: any other members of the public that wish to speak on this item? >> i live at north beach. i have been delegated to speak on behalf of some other friends of the library project. [reading names]

on the seventh, we talked about nonsense and stopping the nonsense. all of the objections the you have heard in the last few minutes, again, every one of those has come up and we knocked it down. once again, supervisors, stop the nonsense. we need one more unanimous approval of this resolution and you can get the ribbon cutting you have been looking for. president chiu: any other members of the public that wish to speak on this item? the hearing has been held at the close. i would like to have a supervisor -- ask supervisor

campos to take the gavel. so i can say a few words. i want to thank all of you for your patience, both supporters and opponents for having come to numerous hearings. and allowing us at the board to make sure the the previous owners did receive proper notice that they could receive a hearing today. i also want to thank the patience of city staff. we have had numerous staff from the record department. and from the city attorney's office that has worked extremely well to move this forward. i do want to thank both sides of this discussion. because of the template we have received, this project is greatly and vastly improved. i want to thank all of the

neighborhood advocates that have been working for the better part of the decade that have been attending hundreds of meetings in addressing thousands of questions about this project. i want to address the fact that we are not losing an open space with what we are doing today. because of the fact that we are going to be gaining space, we are putting a library on the trial, but we will be getting far more open space than we have today in the northeast part of the city. i also want to thank the patients of the hundreds of families that have been waiting for years for this library to be built. and the kids that have grown up during the years we have been waiting. and colleagues, i would like for

us to move forward with this item today so that we can get on with the work that we need to do and to make sure that as the earlier suggested, we need to take care of our families. this is exactly the right project to do that. supervisor campos: colleagues, this requires eight votes. can we have roll-call? [roll call vote] >> there are 11 aye's. supervisor campos: the resolution is adopted. [applause]

president chiu: thank you. at this time, do we have any in memoriams for today? >> it will be adjourned for the following individuals. the late miss jane harris. for the late mr. eric swanson and robert pender. the late mr. freddy roberto. president chiu: is there any more business in front of this board? at this time, we are adjourned.

>> thank you very much for coming this morning and welcome to the rededication of the reservoir. we are happy to be here today. this represents one of the milestones in our project. we are happy to share this with you. this reservoir has been empty the last two years and today, you will hear the sound of water rushing to fill it again. it makes the city safer, provides water for customers, for firefighters, for after an earthquake. we will be updating our systems. this was originally built in 1885. 125 years old. it takes care of a good part of san francisco, places lower than this.

it is an incredibly important part of our system in san francisco. it was a $39 million project and it came in under budget. we are doing it effectively and efficiently. we do appreciate the folks who worked on it. it is part of the $4.6 billion water system improvement program. this is about a half with point in that program. it is the last major project in san francisco that has been completed. there are a few more projects to be done. this is the last major one. san francisco is more safe than before these projects were done. there are a lot of projects that happened in district 11. the first was a tank replacement project that started a number of years ago. it is fitting we are in

district 11 because we're finishing the major work on our program in district 11. we're happy to be joined by supervisor john avalos. he has been supportive of all of our programs and was a leader on having local jobs for people who need them. the work is happening to provide those jobs. in fact, at the end of this week, we will have six kids out worth $18 million that will help the new local hire ordinance legislation. we are certain the pilots for how to expand local hire. supervisor avalos? [applause] >> thank you. i want to congratulate you and the public utility commission, san francisco water, power, so were for your great work on this project and throughout the head ceci -- throughout the improvement program.

we have projects being done across northern california and it speaks volumes about the puc staff, being able to bring these projects to fruition. these are paid for by our tax dollars. we owe it to the ratepayers to make sure that our public investments are made efficiently and a sound way for the budget. congratulations. i am excited about the track record of the puc on hiring locally in san francisco. for this project alone, we have 60.5% of the residents who are around the area working on this project. we have 6.5% -- it is 27.5%, sorry, much better. 27.5% of the workers are local residents. that is above what our current mandate is for the local hire

ordinance that we passed last year at the board of supervisors. i wanted to congratulate you on that effort. 54.5% are from the bay area. 60.5% of the workers are apprenticeships workers, new workers, who are getting new jobs into this industry. the project helps to make that happen. congratulations on that. we are hiring carpenters, cement workers, and landscape professionals. we know we are providing employment opportunities for this project. i look at this as providing so many benefits to san francisco. we're providing reliable water. we are making our water system safe. we are also improving the process for many san francisco workers and businesses. those workers will go and spend money for their basic needs in san francisco.

congratulations to the puc. i look forward to more of the work being done on our local monuments. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor. don't we love this almost summer weather? it is a wonderful place to be, isn't it? this is part of a larger improvement program and it is good when you have these ceremonies to have somebody who knows what is happening in back of us as opposed to those who come for the celebrations. julie is the head of the program and she will be talking about what we're doing here. thank you. julie? >> thank you. i am thrilled to be here this morning to commemorate the completion of this key retrofit project as well as to celebrate the construction completion of 29 other projects here in the city of san francisco. the university mount reservoir is the fifth to be retrofitted

as part of the water system improvement program since 2003. i think it is important to remember that every time we complete a project like this, we are a step closer to making our system completely seismically reliable and to ensure our 2.5 million customers have drinking water, and that we have an adequate supply to fight fires following a major seismic event. how did we seismically retrofit this 125-year-old structure? we installed a number of super frames to support the roof structure. we added multiple sheer walls and stained -- and frames. we also drilled 500 miles through the bottom of the reservoir to anchor it to the bedrock to prevent it from sliding. we completely sealed and

waterproofed the roof. with all of these upgrades completed, this reservoir will be possible of heating be -- feeding the entire city following a major earthquake. be completed some improvements to the inlet-outlet piping of the reservoir that will allow us to backseat our transmission system so that customers in the upper peninsula do receive water following an emergency. i am really proud of the hard work of our project team. there to be commended for successfully delivering the project and also for their dedication to the program. i also wanted to highlight the pretty impressive track record of the regional project manager, howard fung. job well done, howard. [applause]

thank you. >> thank you. just to make sure we understand, this is a partnership of a lot of folks. the general manager of the puc, the general manager for infrastructure, the assistant manager for external affairs, and a lot of you who have worked hard for the puc, we appreciate it. we also have the leadership of the puc, the commissioners to make the decisions. we have the president and the vice president of the commission. francesca is here to make another announcement today. [applause] >> i am so happy to be here to celebrate this project. i think it is appropriate, the weather we are having, as we dedicate the reservoir. it is a little strange to be getting this rain, but we appreciate every drop of it and we are happy to have a big reservoir. i am excited to announce that we have plans to install three small hydroelectric generators

here on site. that is a clean, renewable energy source, something that we are committed to. it will replicate on a smaller scale of our large scale hydro project up that hetch hetchy dam . we are thrilled that will be on line. that will be done by 2013. 200 kilowatts per day will be generated by those three facilities, those three generators, enough to power approximately 200 homes. we are excited about that as part of our efforts to move away from dirty, empowered -- imported power sources in san francisco, and an example to our commitment to a clean, renewable energy future. we are excited about that. i want to congratulate the power enterprise staff for this project. they are doing everything they can on the efficiency front to make us