it is about a sense of community. i have never felt unsafe standing outside koko's. it is not a place to hang out for fun unless you're going to a destination. the bus stop it's selself much r to stand on when there is a doorman for you know no one will try anything. during the day there will be a copy shop. there will be more people they're making it is safe as possible for foot traffic. -- during the day there will be a coffee shop. there is the presence there, the sense of community that makes you feel safer walking down the street knowing they are there. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. net speaker, please. >> good morning, supervisors.

my name is melanie grossman. i am a resident and social worker, but i am speaking more as a resident. in my opinion, we do not need more bars on polk street, but i would also look -- like to look at things from a point of view of seniors to live in the area. i am a member of the older women's league. one of our things is aging in the city. we also support healthy aging, which means getting out there in walking, interacting in the community. i see more bars just means it is harder to walk and more crowds. there are people focusing on having a good time and not necessarily looking out for who was passing by. you could be bumped into or

anything like that. the whole idea of safety is very intimidateing. many seniors to walk in the evening. my husband and i worked iwalk ie evening and it is intimidating with all of the chaos and crime in the evening. in my opinion we do not need another bar or coffee shop. i would like to see businesses of the area where people could run errands and live independently in the city and have that within their neighborhood, rather than another bar. that is pretty much what i have to say. i hope you will vote against this. i do not think it would be good for seniors, and do not forget, there are more than 400 units of senior housing very close to the site. supervisor avalos: think he very much. next speaker, please. -- thank you very much.

>> am linda chapman, and the residents are very opposed to bars. -- i am linda chapman. this is a neighborhood where there are many older people, more than average, many lower income people, more than average. the bedroom is likely over the street. it is chaos. many people will tell you that they cannot go on polk street anymore. completely unbelievable. leaving aside the prostitution, pence come in shooting some of my intersection -- leaving aside the prostitution, pimps, and shootings, one of the intersections is my intersection where ttwo pimps got into a

shootout. i would object that these protests are all scattered. when the only speak chinese, naturally they asked for standard protest. the ones that were certainly not standard, such as mine, were not included. the things that were not included were the withdrawals. these of only one he received. i do not know whether you got a chance to look at the e-mail i sent you yesterday, it was late. i would be glad to brief you on the falsification and the fact that there has been no remedy at all provided. i was this that adviser to the

six army commanders. i cannot review in three minutes the way i would have done them, but i certainly know how to conduct an investigation. this is the list of residents in the area, over 1700, not counting residential hotel units. none of them seem to have received notices. i contacted hundreds through managers and not one notice. then in addition, they altered the mailing list. laurie martin's is an officer of the membership chair that refuse to take my membership for a long time so i cannot vote against her. the secretary has the addresses left off the opponent directly across the street where abc contacts them. it is not on the list they gave to abc. there were other falsifications provided to abc under penalty of perjury. abc by law, and this is a

country of loss, is required to have a mailing sent out to the 500 foot area. they said each individual did not get a notice could walk down to abc and file -- supervisor avalos: think you very much. -- thank you very much. >> good morning. my name is walnut paiilma payne. i was called by the non-english and limited english speakers senior housing. they are really scared. they told me they are scared to go out at night. hopefully they will not be so scared if there is assistance

for them. right now it is inundated with undesirables. so what happens at night is something for seniors that is hard to think and go out and enjoy it, so i hope you will really consider helping the seniors. i am not talking about even abc, because the seniors really need help, and the language is a barrier. i would like to help them, but i am so stretched out having so many seniors talking to me about it. i would like you to really pay attention to them and see what you can do to elevate -- help them to not be so fearful of what is going on. thank you.

>> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> my name is [inaudible] . i am a patron of koko's and also a friend. i want to address the notion that having a bar in the area brings the bad element, because i do not think it is true. i do not have a car, so i walk everywhere. i walk around the streets and nob hill several times a week, in the areas that i avoid are the areas that do not have any kind of business that is open at night. those are the streets that are the scariest. if i am walking home, i am going to walk past the area where bars like the mark are or where book but is because that feels safer to me.

i have seen street people sleeping in empty storefronts on a daily basis. etching keeping stores in the area will improve the area and not make it worse. i think it is a totally erroneous notion that bars bring a bad element to the area. i also thinking will losing ko's and the people there will be a total loss for the area. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i have been a resident of the lower polk neighborhood for five years. i have been a customer since they opened. as you all have seen, the people

speaking against this are people speaking in general about the bar scenes or the bark concentration of the corridor, but the people familiar with the business are -- are all extremely positive about the positive impact of koko in the neighborhood and how it has been key to the community. it has granted me the opportunity to know about community event come and eat my neighbors and get involved with the lower neighborhood association. my next-door neighbor used to go to koko's until she passed away everybody the chance this will be a positive force in the neighborhood instead of a negative one. there is my saying in my home town that the just should not be for the seniors -- centers. thank you. -- not just for the sinners.

thanks you. >> good morning. i am james moran. i was formerly employed with the koko cocktails' until a lease was given up for a gigantic corporation or hospital that is 75 feet from my house. the move to the upper area for this business would be an incredible opportunity for the neighborhood to gain a community that does not seem to have a spot yet up there that we can all congregate in. the owners here are all residents of this wonderful city for many years. i have had the incredible opportunity to work with them and see the way they run business from the inside and outside. i was going there before i got

the opportunity to work there. they run an incredibly good business. i have been in this industry since i was eight or nine years old. i can tell you right now i have never seen anyone run a business as well as they do. it is a credit -- we cannot tell you as a community how much they have turned around that law. i have been to the block before they took over and after, and it has been a 180. to have of this and that that actually has a model for keeping the community together and not just an outside presence, which i think a lot of my fellow committee members seemed so concerned, is something that they can all really get. if you see the way to run the business themselves, there is no doubt this is the biggest piece of the community that i have ever been a part of.

i cannot tell you how much i support, and i would also like to have a job in this hard time. if i could please my own employment tired times, that would be great. >> thinksupervisor avalos: thak you. any other members of the public that would like to comment? you have already spoken, sir. sir, we have heard your comments before. thank you very much. if there are no other members of the public that would like to comment, we can close public comment. aactually my impression of koko's is a really strong neighborhood-serving business. looking at the changes that have happened because of the new development and displacement

that is occurring for this establishment, as well as it -- which creates an exception for this one business to remain in the neighborhood, and as well as the business doing a lot of really strong community work as well and supporting neighborhood artists in neighborhood youth, providing a lot of work -- organizing with merchants in the area to help finalize the corridor, to me it makes a lot of sense that we can approve this license. i would like to, if you are ok to move it forward rec recommendation. the committee report at the next board meeting. we can take that without objection. ok. thank you for your work. we will see you soon. if you could please call item

no. 3. >> item 3, resolution authorizing the department of public health to submit a one- application for calendar year 2012 to continue to receive funding for the comprehensive hiv prevention programs grant from the centers for disease -- disease control and prevention program. requesting $8 million in hiv prevention funding for san francisco from january 1, 2012, through december 31, 2012. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. >> i am the deputy director of hiv prevention for the sentences go department of public health, and we would like your approval on this resolution. this is our annual application to the centers for is disease control and prevention. it represents $8 million with which we supplement with general funds. this is to put the programs on the ground through community-

based organizations. supervisor avalos: the availability seems to be a little bit less than previous. >> it does. the national hiv strategy has looked at realigning funds for the united states, and fortunately and unfortunately san francisco has done a great job with hiv prevention in the past 30 years, so we are experiencing a reduction in funds while funds will be reallocated more in the southern areas of the united states. we will expect a decrease in funds for the next five years. we think we are in good shape to get that, because we have such a strong program in san francisco. supervisor avalos: thank you. very good. if there are no other questions, we can go on to public comment.

>> good morning. i have lived in san francisco for 59 years. i would like to speak in support of this resolution. the reason being is that i fully support the new administration of barbara perseus. i feel the department of public health needs all the help and money it can get. -- the reason being is that i fully support the new administration of barbara garcia. i feel that this money is well used, and obviously it will address all -- the ending problem. -- long-standing problem. as long as they do what they do, then this problem in a certain

sense will never be solved. according to my interpretation of what is going on and the department of public health, it seems like every penny is necessary. one of the reasons why i feel this way -- in fact there was a recent announcement that the cfo would be retiring, so that is another instance where they have to bring in new talent, and obviously there is always a problem of trying to blend everyone to work together. also, i would like to mention as an example of department of public health needing help, the reason -- the recent examiner of the examiner, the help lieade says "broken system." inside, the article is titled

long waits keep therapy patients hurting for care. that is the latest front page article for the department of public health. i think this measure would really come in handy, at least to help the hiv section of the department, and then hopefully they can devote more time and resources toward san francisco general hospital and laguna hospital. it has taken me five years to advocate for improvements to the department of public health, one of them being certain audit for san francisco general hospital. supervisor avalos: this item is referring to an application to the center for disease control. if you could keep your items to that, that would be great. >> i feel like any help the department could good, especially hiv, it will help

avert a series that and funds to problem areas and the department. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. if there are no other comments by members of the public, we will close public comment. we will take that without objection. madam clerk, no other items? >> no, mr. chairman. we are adjourned. thank you very much.

mayor lee: good morning. thank you for coming out here. you know the san francisco general hospital rebuild it is one of the most important projects the city has ever undertaken. as you recall back in 2008, the voters voted hysterically leave largest general obligation bond project in our history. that project -- this project was required by state seismic laws that we must replace our hospital and it must be seismically safe. you see behind me the team of people who have been assembled and have been working together for the last two and a half years.

a few were working together even before the 2008 passage to ensure this was engineer properly. we learned from the past if we did not invest in the engineering assets of this, we would be surprised. so, our general hospital staff, the public works and engineers, to adequately designed this. is amazing. we have design in this hospital. the project is going to love golf what they call -- is going to evolve what they call bayside meters. in case this building suffers a seismic event, it will be able to move with the building and absorb all the shock. this is exactly what the state has approved in order to be compliant with the standards from the state. in doing so, at it also kept a

promise to the voters and to our city. it is on time and within budget. it is about 14% done at this time. during the last two and a half years, it has contributed hundreds of jobs to our economy. in fact, overall, it has generated 3000 construction jobs. today, they have spent $50 million with local san francisco businesses, including the architectural firm. i want to thank the department of public works. certainly, i want to thank the construction team for working together, making sure this is all done correctly, on time, and compliance with all our ordinance is. at the same time, working hard with all our contractors to keep

this project on time. we have a lot of good step on it. we have a private consultants. we have the public works director, working with our current public works director and former public works director and me -- we all have our public works and has on today. it is a wonderful time -- we all have our public works hats on today. if you take a look here into the pit, i think you will see how complex the project is. it has thousands of tiebacks into the sides of the walls. the utility relocation for the power and utility conduits that have been the formal historic connections for our hospital have been rerouted, and this pit will be the home for the

sub 2 floors for the hospital. they will be trying to open a new hospital in 2015. they are on time. i wanted to make sure as mayor that we abide by the standards for fiscal responsibility and getting this project on. this is exactly the kind of project that this city has correctly invested in. is something i've been personally involved in from the start. this investment is well worth it. this is the greatest hospital in the bay area. we have a trauma center that is open to every san francisco resident. its still is today. it will be even better when this is done. the i see you, the intensive care unit, currently has 27 beds

-- the icu, the intensive care unit, currently has 27 beds. we know we have to have a new hospital. overall, there are 284 beds in the hospital. that is an additional 32 from what we have had in the past. the city is still carrying out the wonderful relationship we have with california-san francisco come up with the medical group that is still in partnership with us, and they see this as a tertiary academic center as well as the trauma response center. it is the most important project we have to date, and it is important week rebuild the hospital, because everyone can

see any kind of emergency situation come up whether it is a car accident or other man-made cause after this, they can get the best care in the world here. i was up yesterday, by the way. i paid a visit to ryan white, the nine-year old boy who was hit by a truck driver. he is recovering. the family asked that i come by here and say a word and give a little personal attention, and i felt really good about the staff here at sf general. we need their services to be housed in the most modern facility we can possibly build. we need to build the new hospital, compliant, modern, safe, that takes this into the future for the next 100 years. i am here today to review all

the develop on on, and my thanks go to the team for every aspect of the project. we will carry out exactly what i have in my former capacity and now as mayor, to make sure these projects are done on time, that we honor all the commitments that we do, especially with the largest general obligation bond project we have in our history. 84% of the voters. we want to make sure that practice is done. that is what i have been about for all these years. i want to make sure things get done in the city, get done right. so, this wonderful example of what we do to lead the city, and when you look at it, we are

investing correctly. we're doing the right things here. this will be so important for our future citizens to have a general hospital, to have all are residents be very faithful in knowing they will be taking care of -- taken care of. so, i want to again thank the team for the collaboration. it is one that has to be continued all the way to opening day, and you can already see the way they are doing this in cooperation, this team will get through the next three, up four years to see this thing through. i am proud to be here, announcing we are 14% of the way, but we are doing it right, and this hospital is well on its way to