the improvement of current and future voting systems, a document which can also be used effectively as a resourced, even beyond our own city and county. we would at this time specifically endorse several recommendations in the report, which could be implemented in the near future. these are items 2.1.4.1, which include publishing all election records on the city's website while protecting the anonymity of each voter. specifically, tallies of the vote counts, text files of cast a vote records, which are currently called ballot image files, election definitions, and ballot definition files. and correcting the audit procedures for rcv contest in such a way that a 100% tally would actually ascertain the outcome. and 2.1.4.2, a longer term

recommendation of including organizations that serve the public and all members of the public to obtain timely access to all the anonymous paper ballots and machine audit logs. we applaud this report. recommendation on voting systems for the city and county of san francisco, as a model of education to increase public understanding of voting systems and to raise and address the multiple issues that currently exists. the dedication and consistent hard work exhibited by the seventh citizens of the san francisco voting systems task force on this major effort to restore public confidence in our elections is the essence of participatory democracy. this letter is signed by our president and by myself, chair of the elections preservation committee. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you

very much. next speaker please. >> hello. my name is breadth of turner ofbrent -- my name is brent turner. i'm here to thank the task force for their entire report. i will not pick apart certain parts that i enjoy. i think all in all, it was a well done report. i think supervisor avalos and supervisor elsbernd both recognize me. i have been sort of the canary in the coal mine on this issue and brought it to the attention of the board of supervisors. i also want to thank then supervisor now assemblyperson tom ammiano for taking the lead and putting this into motion. as far as the acquisition question the supervisor avalos -- the acquisition question that supervisor avalos race, i think

rather than waiting for los angeles county, what we're looking for, and speak for the community that is national, is that san francisco takes the lead on this. we have the opportunity to move forward, and we did not take that opportunity and went forward with sequoia, but as jody mentioned, the time is now because this question will come up -- this issue will come up very quickly. we do want to see the county move toward open source systems that have been previously demonstrated in 2008 by open voting consortium. that is a paper ballot printing system that issues mandatory paper ballots that are perfectly printed that avoid all voter intent issues. regarding the hardware, we can certainly work with los angeles county to put together a consortium and made it will

purchase so that the hardware issue would be resolved as well as the software issue. we have the ability to do this. we are looking to san francisco county for leadership. we appreciate that certain members of the board of supervisors are aware the issue and have done their homework on it. we thank you for your time and look forward to the next step. we want to also mention that we have the man known as the for up -- the father of the open voting movement, and others, who are qualified to take this to the next step and implement. thank you. >> thank you very much. i have one more card for one more speaker. roger donaldson. >> i was on the voting systems task force with my colleagues here. i wanted to add a couple of things based on your comments. one is that you're clearly

fairly well versed in this, and i am glad to see the interest. from our recommendations, there's quite a bit to do to make them operational, and some of the complexities that jodie alluded to are also present in our own san francisco government here with the department of elections reporting to the elections commission, etc. i do not know how you actually proceed on some of these things, but i think that one of the things that certainly can be done, particularly looking into the open source issue, and actually executing on some of the collaboration, is to fund or at least direct the d.o.e. in some way, to have them actually do some outreach to other counties. it mentions in the report some of the county's weak outreach to, in particular alameda was quite receptive. i think you will find. and then, the l.a. effort. but it is not too late to start -- i mean, it is not too early

to start. in particular, that issue, by starting that outreach, can start the momentum towards an open source system, which i think we all believe would be the right choice, rather than continue to have the proprietary close or system we have today. thank you very much. supervisor avalos: thank you very much for your comments. with any other members of the public like to comment? >> i would like to underline that yes, we do want open source software and new systems that are transparent to the public. i would like to underline that there are some short-term recommendations that should be paid attention to, which primarily have to do with having election data voting ballots that can be made accessible, either by putting it on the internet or having academic teams look at them specifically audit logs and ballots so that they can review them as an independent check on what is happening and no matter what

kind of system we have, this is something that will be very good to have a double check. it is something that can be done in the short term, and i wanted to underline those short-term things and just focus on long- term things. thank you. >> very good. i appreciate that comment, and also the comments from the league of women voters. certainly for greater transparency and for david to be shared and for the public to have the information available, and often, it is not presented in a very -- it is not available or presented in a way that is understandable, even. i agree with those recommendations, and that is something i will work with colleagues on to see if we can get some way of having that displayed with the department of the elections. so thank you for your comments. if there are no other members of the public to comment on this item, we will close public comment.

and this item we can file. ok. madam clerk, if you could please call item 3. >> item 3, resolution authorizing the san francisco public utilities commission to accept and expend a u.s. environmental protection agency administered grant in the amount of $970,000 for a civic center sustainable resources district project. supervisor avalos: thank you. we have nathan from the public utilities commission. welcome. >> thank you for hearing our item today. i am with the sanford says the public utilities commission. before you today is a resolution to accept and expend a grant for $970,000 from the environmental protection agency for water efficiency features

-- i am with the san francisco public utilities commission. we are very excited that the federal government is going to be giving us these funds to help out with our projects. they are required local matching funds of $793,636 that will be funded through the wastewater capital improvement program budget. we are very excited about receiving these funds, and we ask for your support. supervisor avalos: very good. thank you very much for your presentation. any member of the public to comment on this item, please come forward. i have one card. >> thank you. i am very pleased to be here today to give you a little background on this grant. i am think your source safe to say that the public realm in the

civic center area is a bit of a wasteland. this is particularly true of the plaza, which suffers from a great number of problems. it has deteriorated surfaces, and the event ends their cases are currently boarded up. the current design is good for large events but is not well going to individuals or small groups. we have worked with the historic district. this not accessible for people with disabilities. the garage has not been modernized, and the rams are poorly designed -- the ramps are poorly designed. in 1997 and 1998, mayor brown spent $200,000 within a minute

group of consultants to develop a plan for the plaza. the report was prepared, and then he ran for reelection, and the report was put in the deep freeze and has been there ever since. when mayor newsom took office, and spoke to him a number of times about resurrecting the report or doing something about it, and he turned the matter over to ed lee, the city administrator at the time, who looked over it very seriously and found that there were not any resources to work on this. he then with the mayor developed a sustainable district, some three years ago, and so declared civic center. with the help of congresswoman pelosi, the grant you have before you was made available. it on the surface does not describe all the activities that are going to occur.

or you have to read it very carefully. because the public realm which is mentioned -- several hundreds of thousands of dollars will go to the planning department to do all the things that need to have been done since the 1998-1999 report was prepared. the whole area will be reexamined through a participatory process. the plaza will be redesigned. and an agreed upon plan will be developed. it will then go through environmental review, and of course, that plan will include all the wastewater and conservation ideas that are most current. basically, you cannot do wastewater and conservation activities without having a clear idea of what you want underneath the wastewater subject on the streets and the plaza, and this will accomplish that. i am, needless to say, glad that this has finally come to

fruition after some 13 years, and i urge you to adopt it. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. if there are no other members of the public to comment, we will close public comment. this item we can move forward with recommendation, and we will take that without objection. thank you very much. we will go on to item four. >> item four, ordinance amending the san francisco environment code sections 11 01 through 11 05 to require cell phone retailers to provide their customers with information regarding how to limit exposure to the radio frequency energy emitted by cell phones in places -- in place of the mandatory disclosure of specific absorption rate values for cell phone models. supervisor avalos: thank you,

madam clerk. today, i have -- we have before us amendments to our right to no ordinance that was passed last year. last year, the order is required that at the point of sale for each cell phone that would be sold in stores in san francisco, it would provide information on the specific absorption rate as well as information to consumers about potential health risks for each phone. we passed that, and we actually have changes to how radio frequency emissions are assessed, and we want to make sure that this legislation actually meets the current changes, so the amendment today here is to provide a broader way of looking at how we will do labeling of cell phones at our stores in san francisco. rather than look at each

specific phone, we were going to have a general display of posters that would be at the point of sale, not her phone, but just around where the phones will be displayed. we have the director of the department of environment here to go over the legislation for us, and to provide background information we may need to know in considering this item. thank you. >> good morning, supervisors. i am the director of the san francisco department of the environment. before you today is an amended ordinance, which updates the cell phone right to know legislation. a couple of items to know regarding the changes to the legislation -- a few amendments very specifically -- is that this new ordinance would remove requirements to include without use in any display materials, and as supervisor avalos said, it would be a more general raising awareness. it would remove the distinction

between formula and on formula retailers for clarity. it would require all cell phone retailers to prominently display an informational poster at the point of sale. it would also require all cell phone retailers to provide an informational fact sheet to every consumer that purchases a cell phone and any customer who requests one. finally, we are changing the content of the sticker in this amended ordinance where if a cell phone retailer posts display materials in connection with sample phones or phones on display, they must include a couple of statements, a statement explaining the cell phones to give it radiofrequency energy is absorbed by the head and body, a statement referencing measures to reduce exposure to radio frequency energy from the use of cell phones, and finally, a statement that informational fact sheets are available from the cell phone retailer upon request. for the sake of brevity, i would like to simply focus my comments

on providing information about new developments on this issue since the board first adopted the cell phone order this last year. in may of this year, the world health organization for the international agency board research on cancer published a review of hundreds of scientific articles on the link between mobile devices and certain types of brain cancer. following the week-long review, this international panel of experts declared that cell phone radiation might be carcinogenic and that radiation from cell phones could be linked to some cases of cancer. the 31 scientists on the panel placed cell phones on the list of substances that the world health organization classifies as possibly carcinogenic to humans. this is the third highest category of warning and the same level of warning as ddt, lead, and gasoline engine exhaust. the new classification does indicate that there is likely a link between cancer and radiofrequency electrical

committed by cell phones, but extensive study is still necessary and being called for. according to the world health organization, there are about 5 billion people currently using cell phones. the who recommends that people take simple measures to reduce exposure to cell phone radiation, such as using a headset or texting. the director of the who's agency on cancer did say in a statement that it is important that additional research be conducted into the long-term heavy use of mobile phones pending the availability of such information, it is important to take a pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as handsfree texting and handsfree devices. as supervisor avalos mentioned, we have determined that the specific exemption rate may not be the most reliable measure of radiofrequency energy that cell phones in mid due to many variables involved in

calculating the value, but the potential risks associated with cell phone use now more established, so for that reason, sf environment is here today in support of the ordinance, which the strength in the public disclosure component of the legislation. finally, san franciscans and all cell phone users, for that matter, have the right to know the potential risks of cell phone use and how to reduce those risks. i want to thank supervisors avalos for your leadership on this issue and the committee's consideration on this ordinance. i am happen to answer any questions you have, and i also have a couple of members from my team here as well. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much, thank you for your presentation. why don't we go on to public comment. i have a number of cards here. [reading names]

if you heard your name, please come forward to provide public comment. >> good morning, supervisors. good morning, public. i just have a brief statement i would like to say. i just want to note that this legislation would make it more difficult for local small- business owners to survive in this economy. my comment is simply more general in nature than specific to this legislation, which i believe is a good deal appeared however, small businesses and agribusinesses are struggling in this economy, and with the

proposed legislation and other laws coming on, the burden is more and more on the small business owner to enforce these types of issues, and it makes doing business as a small business or micro business owner very tough. that would be my comment. thank you very much. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> my name is lloyd morgan. i am the senior research fellow with environmental trend -- fund trust in its campaign for safer cell phones. this ordinance goes to the very heart of democracy, and that is the right of citizens to know the cell phones event micro -- in the micro radiation, which is a class 2b carcinogen. the cell phone industry has challenged our right to know in federal court. i would urge this committee to uphold the right to know, and i would also urge supervisor elsbernd to recuse himself from

the vote in order that the $5,000 at&t donation to his designated charity is not seen as a quid pro quo. thank you very much. supervisor avalos: next speaker please. >> i want to thank the department of the environment and the city attorneys for your efforts to save this necessary legislation. you are helping raise awareness not only in san francisco. states from pennsylvania to oregon and other countries from iran to israel are issuing warnings to their citizens of the safety precautions from cell phone use. on may 31, as melanie told you, the highly esteemed conservative world health organization

classified cell phones as possible carcinogens based on industry-funded studies and independent studies proving that long-term cell phone use can cause lethal brain tumors. so we have the evidence, and we have many san franciscans, including children, using cell phones on a daily basis. and they are unaware that the sec and manufacturers are hiding in tiny print in the back of the cell phone manual not to hold the phone to the body. this is information that everyone should have the right to know. you are doing the right thing, and since my husband was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor at treated by experts to his long-term cell phone use, i have been touched deeply by hearing from -- i cannot even tell you have many. i have a list of close to 1000 victims of this, and it is just devastating. these people did not have the right to know, and i would

appreciate if you would vote yes and take this to the board of supervisors, and i thank you so much. supervisor avalos: thank you for your comments. just to discuss a board rule -- we need to direct our comments generally to the committee and not to any individual supervisor. next speaker please. >> i am a citizen, and my car was in, but i did not hear it. anyways, i support this. i hope you vote for it, and i ask you sincerely to vote for it today. i think it is a win-win. i have a ph.d. in environmental engineering, and i have been studying as well as working this issue for a number of years. i think it is a win-win for the manufacturers and the business as well as for citizens. i actually believe it is a

relationship-building task. i have published work on extended producer responsibility, and that is what this is about is those that are gaining dollars and wealth off of these products have an extended producer responsibility to inform us as citizens to buy the product and who come to use the products in good faith effort, we believe that there is a need for those that sell us the product to extend information on how to use them in the best way and in the safest way. thank you very much. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker please. i will call a few more names. [reading names]

>> i am a recent graduate of the university of san francisco. i studied media studies and journalism. what started to realize when i started to look at this issue is that i am just getting started compared to most people in this room. i spoke and professors at stanford, berkeley, ucla, usc -- all specialists within neurology, and while all of them might not agree that cell phones caused cancer, every one of them has agreed that precaution needs to be paid. there is a lot that can be done in terms of our government was -- laws, things we can do. at least 1 people, especially

children. i spoke with a 10-year-old girl the other day about her first cell phone a week ago, and it was amazing that she knew more facts about ways that she can keep state then nancy pelosi who are spoke with last week. she new ways she could shut off her phone in her pocket. she knew to use speakerphone. when i spoke with the environmental adviser to nafta, he showed me a protective built that he had around his stomach with magnets that supposedly protected him against this. i know a number of different people in ucla, a former professor, who started aviation protected case. i think if there are these things on the market, it is definitely a sign that there needs to be more information provided at a point of sale. currently, i buy a can of mayonnaise and get more information off of that than i can for a cell phone. i want to thank you for your

time in the great feedback and information we have had trying to get this law passed. i just want to thank you again for being here and hearing me speak. >> mr. chair, members of the committee, i am with the environmental working group. when the board passed the current ordinance last summer, it was obviously because of overwhelming concern of the public's right to know and concern about the potential long-term health effects of cell phone radiation. this concern, i believe, was confirmed -- i left my mouth apparently at home today -- by the world health organization, but at the same time, this is an incredibly complex issue. i think the revised ordinance reflects these complexities and response to them in a nuanced way. i think it is also less

burdensome to retailers. i do not think that the burdensome is that significant, quite honestly. the ordinance will ensure that all consumers in san francisco will receive easy to understand information about cell phone risks. there are several steps they can take to reduce exposure, which is quite hard to find in a real detailed way. certainly from a government entity. this ordinance really remains a landmark right to know measure, and i urge you to vote yes. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. any other members of the public who want to comment, please come forward? >> good morning. i strongly oppose this ordinance because