when the board will was created at the time. chairperson kim: thank you. at this time, we will open up for public comment. >> ♪ on your mark, get set, and go now follow all the rules and you'll know you'll make your dreams come true making it all come true your task dreams come true has dreams come true for you you're going to do it good now the city's going to shine, and how you're going to make your rules dreams come true you do it today make it happen your way make your task dreams come true for city me and you ♪

chairperson kim: thank you. for members of the public, there is a photo exhibit -- mr. paulson, what is the name of the hotel? it just is kicked my memory. >> ccr. chairperson kim: the civic center hotel. there is a great photo of mr. paulson and residence. >> a whole selection of them. they did some good art work there. a good project. chairperson kim: it is beautiful. i encourage citizens to go check out the photos. it is on mcalester between jones -- thank you. >> ♪ come see about our work thank you ♪ chairperson kim: public comment

is now closed. we can do that without objection. we will move item four through 9 to the full board as a committee report. madam clerk, can you please call item 10? >> itunes four through 9 are not scheduled -- items four 29 are not scheduled to be heard this week. chairperson kim: we will move them forward without objection. >> item 10, ordinance amending the elections code to establish a process that permits voters to receive the voter information pamphlet and associated materials by electronic means instead of paper mill. -- mail. chairperson kim: i believe we have a representative from supervisor mirkarimi's office

here. >> my name is ted walter. chairperson kim: thank you for being here today. >> you are welcome. the legislation that is before you would require the department of elections to establish procedures whereby voters would be able to opt out of receiving their voter information pamphlets through the mail, and instead could receive them through e-mail or access them on the department of elections website. the benefits of this are severalfold. that our environmental. they also would save the city potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars at each election. we have a couple of amendments we would like to make. i think they have been circulated. chairperson kim: yes. we have them in front of us. could you read them into the record? >> the first one is the

findings. it is lengthy. i can talk about why we added them. chairperson kim: briefly. >> the other thing we are adding -- the department of elections up the procedures shall provide visible notice to voters about these confidentiality provisions and circumstances win voter information might be disclosed. the findings were related to that amendment. supervisor elsbernd: this is an opt out? sometimes we like to do opt ins, but this is an opt out. >> this is an opt out to receiving the pamphlet by mail. they would be opting in at the same time to receive by e-mail. supervisor elsbernd: but if you do not take action, you will continue to receive it. you have to affirmatively do something to no longer receive it in the mail. >> correct. chairperson kim: any other

questions? can we adopt these amendments without opposition? >> thank you. we have the elections commission and the department of the environment here to speak about this. chairperson kim: ok. why don't we have them come up and speak. >> this is gerard gleason with the elections commission and david osmond with the department of the environment. chairperson kim: why don't we take mr. gleason first, if you just speak briefly. >> thank you for allowing me to be here today. just for background, i worked as the associate director of conservatory. we work on the environmental impact of pulp and paper on the street. in 1999 through 2002 i worked to produce the ballots and reduce

the boater information pamphlet. i have been the core supervisor of the elections committee. mr. osmond is a former colleague of mine at conservatory. it is like old home week for me. i will allow him to explain the environmental impact and savings on this. frankly, there is going to be tremendous potential for taxpayer savings on this. there is a lot of redundancy in the ballots with people getting vote by mail and then the sample ballot. i want to address a very narrow focus. i appreciate that the supervisor's staff has discussed about an issue the election commission has been concerned about. this is the fact that people would have to get their e-mails to have this work. there is an issue in that in the california elections code -- it

is very broad. anybody has access to this, even though they say it is restricted. anybody who wants to contact somebody for political purposes has access to the voter data base in san francisco, which is available for 75 cents. it is a major reason why people do not provide phone number and e-mail contact information on a voter registration card. the fact that it is optional speaks to the fact that this would happen if it was mandatory. there have been an explosion of vote by mail ballots. we have situations where people send in their ballot. they forget to sign and it comes in days before the election. they do not have an e-mail or phone contact in the department. so those ballots are not counted. we have a serious issue of people's votes not being counted. we had an op-ed in the chronicle about this issue.

we did to the elections commission go through the channels we were supposed to go, through the legislation committee. we never heard back from either of them. we never heard back from the mayor's office. my personal characterization of that is we were stonewalled. i appreciate that supervisor mirkarimi's office has put this issue on the notification that there would be disclosure that goes beyond what the assembly bill that allows this does. on the voter registration form, it says this information cannot be used for commercial purposes. once this material is out there, there is no control over it. there are data mining operations which go out and take the 75 cent list and sell it for $14,000. you guys can figure out the rate

of return on that. anyway, i will leave these documents here for you to review. what i ultimately hope is that somebody in the city goes and champions this in the state, the we have an additional opt out, that people can give their e- mail and phone number on their voter registration form but ask that it be used by the department of elections for administrative use only come up for contacting them for voter registration or their ballot. i think it is a simple proposition, the same one pot reborn has to live up to. i know it impacts people who have campaigns, but the issue comes back to votes are not being counted. chairperson kim: thank you. mr. osmond, if you could be brief, i only have -- >> no controversy. i will talk for 30 seconds.

deputy director from department of the environment. from an environmental perspective, this is a no- brainer. 240 tons of paper can be used to produce a single voter guide. even if we use 100% recycled newsprint, that is 300 million gallons of waste water and 75 tons of solid waste. obviously, if you eliminate even a percentage of that, not only is this a financial savings but an environmental benefit. it is an opt out, not an opt in. you have to be pro-active in order to not receive this. the last thing i want to mention is the 350 tons of co2 in the production of one voter guide is the same as the annual emissions from 280 residences in san francisco or 2,500 barrels of oil. there is an environmental benefit from our perspective.

we strongly support this. chairperson kim: thank you. at this time, we will open up for public comment. two minutes, please. >> thank you for finally having this hearing. i would just show my evidence. this is the last election. i don't vote three times, but myself, my wife, and my mother. i usually know what is going on in the city and do not even read these. it just makes common sense that if we can ban telephone books from coming i think we can do this. i would be happy to work to help with fixing the legislation so that the e-mails do not go out to unintended -- so you can opt out of having your e-mails in commercial places. i urge support of this. thank you. chairperson kim: public comment

is now closed. supervisor elsbernd: do you have anything you want to say? i move this forward with recommendation. chairperson kim: i believe we can do that without opposition. my apologies for not calling you forward. we move this forward without opposition. thank you, everyone, for being here. if we can go back to item one, i was just waiting to hear from folks interested in real estate development. i would like to take a motion to move forward for september 9, as suggested earlier, without opposition. >> would you like this item to be sent to the board with the committee report? chairperson kim: yes. we will move forward maruura blitzer for seat 9. is there anything else on the agenda? >> no, madam chair.

chairperson kim: meeting 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 a clean, green city. i want to acknowledge them as well. it is a team effort. not only the water enterprise, but the power enterprises making this a success. thank you to them and to everybody at the puc for making this happen. [applause] >> now we have a few gifts for the people who are speakers. then we will walk down and turn the valve. when it is totally open, it will bring in 2.5 million gallons a

day into this reservoir. it holds 80 million gallons. it will take a month to fill up completely. you are welcome to come down. watch your step. we will make the last turn of the vowels. you will start to hear the rush of water going into the reservoir. [water rushing] >> many hands make light work. [water rushing]

>> san francisco is home to a renowned civic art collection that includes a comic works -- iconic works by local and national artists integrated into our public buildings and six basis. the arts commission has struggled to take care of the priceless collection because of limited resources. in an effort to gather more funding for the maintenance of the collection, the art commission has joined forces with the san francisco art dealers association to establish art care, a new initiative that provides a way for the public to get involved. the director of public affairs recently met with the founder and liquor -- local gallery

owner to check out the first art care project. ♪ >> many san franciscans are not aware that there is a civic art collection of numbers almost 4000 works of art. preserving the collection and maintaining it is something being addressed by a new program called art care. it is a way for citizens to participate in the preservation of the civic art collection. with me is the creator of the art care program. welcome. the reason we wanted to interview you is that the artist in question is peter volkas.

why is he so important to the history of san francisco art? >> he is a very famous ceramic ist. knowing the limitations of clay, he got involved in bronze in around 1962. he was teaching at the university of california, berkeley. >> your gallery celebrated the 50th anniversary of continuous operation. you are a pioneer in introducing the work and representing him. >> i have represented him since 1966. i was not in business until 1961. he made a big deal out of working in clay. the things he was doing was something never seen before. >> it is a large scale bronze.

it has been sitting here of the hall of justice since 1971. talk about what happens to the work of art out of the elements. >> the arts commission commissioned the piece. they did not set aside money for repair. it has slowly changed color. it was black. it has been restored. >> it has been restored to the original patina. >> there was no damage done to its. i do not think there were any holes made in it. they have been working on it for six or eight weeks. it is practically ready to go. i am very excited to see it

done. >> over the course of the arts in richmond program, we have added almost 800 works of art into the public space. maintaining that is not something that the bond funds allow us to do. this is why you came up with the idea of art care. >> i hope we get the community going and get people who really like to be involved. we will give them a chance to be involved. if you are interested in art, this is a marvelous way to get involved. there is work all over the city where every year ago. -- there is artwork all over the city wherever you go. my idea was to get people in the neighborhood to take care of the pieces and let the art commission have the money for