francisco and enjoying our city. i think san francisco showing well for these high level economic development conferences, it is really important. since we talked about how small businesses really the character of the city, small business also provides the resiliency in this really difficult economic time. i would like us to not lose sight of that and when we are able to show these businesses and our social business culture to the world, it is something really to be valued and not taken lightly. thank you. >> i will jump in here under commissioner reports, i forgot to mention that next week is cocktail week in san francisco starting september 19. i want to make sure that we all remember that. [laughter]

president o'brien: thank you for that. next item. >> general public comment. [talking over each other] >> yvonne lee, the small business administration policy advocate, she mentioned some of the laws that might impact small business. the food safety law, a lot of people are not aware of it. she is planning to have a press conference and invited the director and i to attend. i am waiting to receive a summary of this new law. if you own a restaurant, you have to disclose the source of your food.

it can be cumbersome, so we will take a look at it. and the press conference is scheduled for the end of this month. >> is that a state law? >> federal. messed up. >> it applies, you have to disclose where you get it from. i don't have all the details yet. when i get a summary, i will report to you again. and also today, i attended a white house initiative for asian american pacific islander engagement community meeting. these commissions are appointed by the president, and their job is to reach out nationally two different communities. to listen to what the issues and top priorities are.

being the small business commissioner, i asked about job creation as well. the strategy to help small business in this economy. that is all. thank you. >> the general public comment. president o'brien: comments? >> i showed up here for item 8 which has been skipped, i have to wait to comment. i've been here the whole time. we don't have item 8. if you have it on the agenda and is going to be canceled, it would be nice. i say that with my finger in my ear.

>> would you like to -- >> [inaudible] >> he's correct on that. we would look forward to have mr. power come to one of our meetings as scheduled, and we hope that that will happen sooner or later. >> commissioners, i was going to call at prior to closing the meeting, scheduled presenter did not arrive. >> we would like to urge our presenters to come when they are on the agenda or let us know in advance that they are not making the meeting. >> [inaudible] >> it does make sense.

>> i think we did call. it didn't show up. >> we're waiting for -- >> we had public comment. we can talk about it. president o'brien: public comment is closed. next item. >> new business? commissioner adams: i would like to bring about, during the first public comment about the food trucks, i am hearing from my district and from other districts, the issues with the food trucks. if we can have somebody here from dpw, i know we will be discussing it any permit committee as well. i know there is a difference between getting permits on public land and private land. it is interesting in just the

last month, i am hearing a whole lot of good and bad with the food trucks. if we can get a presentation in the future, somebody on that permitting process. >> is not just dpw. -- it is not just dpw. if you want the permitting process on private property it's dph and planning. commissioner adams: you have three different -- >> dph is involved with both. dph is involved with both permitting processes. but for private property, they get the -- they have to do deferral to the planning department stating that through the planning department

process, the truck has authorization. for dpw, they are the final permit operator, but the operator has to show that they have their dph permit. commissioner adams: i like when they have the food trucks at golden gate park or civic center plaza. those are great and wonderful. i am hearing negativity about down at fisherman's wharf, castro, other neighborhoods. there seems to be no public input on whether the private or public space and i would like to address that. >> i will be happy to -- we might want to get this through the permitting committee. there is public input definitely on the public property. there is mailing and noticing

that is new to this permitting process. president o'brien: members of the public can participate and sit in on the permitting committee's meeting and listen to presentations. that is pretty important. i think we should get -- at least allow people that expressed some concerns. >> i want to follow up in regards to the presenter. i was there as part of the supervisors' meeting. there is some follow up that the supervisor has committed to. we are waiting for dpw to provide us with information before we move forward with a follow-up. in regard to the concerns that we are expressed, they are taken very seriously. supervisor wiener is continuing

on with hearing their concerns and looking at ways to address it. before -- needed some fact finding and data information about the number of permits, where they're being applied, that kind of thing. that is being done at this point. commissioner clyde: i have a few items for new business. public safety, sf travel has reported that local people already know there is a significant uptick in street crime over the last few months. tourists are reporting harassment and employees are seeing more aggressive behavior. there has been significant deterioration in the public

safety, particularly late at night. we need to look at ways to reverse this trend. if one of your employees is murdered on a cigarette break, you might be thinking than is a little bit more than just of the mission or just the neighborhood that you are in. i would like this commission to get a briefing on public safety for small businesses and see what we can do. the nature of aggressive panhandling has gotten -- people are more aggressive. it is all disturbing, but to see it increase in the midday hours, the afternoon hours, to see people of any age or ethnicity jumped for their stuff, frankly, you know, i just have some questions about resources. i have questions about planning.

i would like to hear something in the future. >> can i comment on that? i think that would be interesting to do a joint commission meeting with the police commission on this issue. my perspective is that one of my businesses is right across the street from the police station. literally across the street. the police presence is so minimal, the whole police station is like a fortress so it has little to no impact on even the small business is right next to it, let alone blocks away like where the cook cgogot shot. more specifically, i had had a case where i stopped someone

from shoplifting and was waiting for the police to come. they took too long. the shoplifters got away and i ended up following them from a distance. to the bart station. i got to the bart and kind of held the bart train so it couldn't go. the police showed up. then the suspects who weren't suspects were arrested. i purued through the da's office, they made the decision that they did not have enough proof to pursue any arrest or conviction.

that showed me very blatantly where we stand as a priority for the city and for the district attorney's office. in that particular shot, i have had people and staff hit, from things at, you name it. they say, can we call the police? i say it is pointless. >> we are concerned about the safety of our employees. we are concerned about the safety of our patrons and the viability of our businesses. at some point, yes, we have to talk to them. if it would be something that we can discuss -- >> i assume it is happening all over the place.

>> it is. business people in chinatown has just given up. it is part of the cost of doing business. there is no consequence. that is number one. the second thing that has come to my attention is this to work charges being three times the cost of water for businesses. i think we need to discuss further or go into some depth about adjustments for that type of rest fronts, bakeries, salons, the type of business. if we get more sophisticated water cleaning technology, the sioux were tax is predicated on the usage. grease is being captured and resold. we're putting water saving technologies into our businesses. the water revenue goes down, the sewer tax goes down because they

raise the rate. we have a catch-22, consumption declines, revenue declines, so what does the water department do? it raises rates. we are being penalized year. what i would like to investigate further is, our small businesses paying too much? are we subsidizing mcdonald's, those larger users? are we subsidizing them? are we paying too much? how do you slow down the rate of increase in the still make the investment in the infrastructure that we need? we just had a large rate increase in stores, we have businesses looking to move. that is how this came to my attention and why i would like to put it on the agenda. we have a bakery that wants to expand in our district, but when they find out what these two were the and the charges are,

the ongoing charges, this might make san francisco not attractive to them. and again, another reason to move out. i would like to look at this issue from a small business perspective. street cleaning and public own property, the city has been very aggressive at looking at the conditions of the sidewalks. replacement of the sidewalks, squares, cleaning them, they're quite aggressive about it. i did a walk and surveyed city property. i would like to know if the mta and the housing authority as well as other city agencies are applying the same standards to their property. when i look at the condition of the sidewalks in front of public housing, i am not seeing that.

i would like to know from the city that they are making the same investment that they are asking the small business property owners to make as well. my final new business is looking into a locally owned bank. there is momentum at the state level to create a state-owned bank on the model of the bank of north dakota. this is a bank that works for depositors and would invest in california. or if it would be possible to do for san francisco to follow the same model. a bank that earns money on its investments made in san francisco or by san francisco might be worth creating. they perform is practically impossible, it is controlled by lobbyists retained by the industry. landing at the local level is very challenging. local bankers have lost almost all discretion. decisions are made thousands of

miles away that our defensive in nature while solid investment decisions evaluated on their own merits are passed by, ignored, or basically stalled out of existence. this is a city that is so wealthy. it controls billions of dollars. pension fund, bond fund, why not look at creating our own bank and keep the competitive funds for our own needs. that concludes my new business. commissioner o'connor: wasn't the bank of america originally called the bank of san francisco? the bank of italy, right. >> they are laying off 30,000 people. president o'brien: that closes that item. >> item 21, adjournment. >> i move. >> i second.

president o'brien: the motion is passed without objection.

>> i would like to call the meeting of the san francisco public utilities commission to order. [roll call] >> commissioner courtney is excused attendance today, he is out of the states. >> if there is no objection from my fellow commissioners, i would like to take item number 7a out of order and next on the agenda. and supervisor campos will have

a chance to make some remarks before he goes on to his next meeting. supervisor campos: thank you, commissioner and general manager. i want to thank his commission for its service to the city and county of san francisco. i am here today in my capacity as chair of the local agency formation commission and to talk about where we are in a very important project that we have been working on for quite some time. a lot of work has been done by staff and it is something we have been working on for quite some time. i think we have now reached a

crossroads, a critical point in the history of this project. i of the project has been before the commission at different times and at some point will be before the commission as an action item. i am here to talk about the need for us to jointly have a public and open discussion about where this project is, and to talk about the scope of community choice aggregation. there was a term sheet that was being worked on and at some point will come before this commission. and rightly, members of this commission have raised concerns and questions about the sheik, which is a typical part of any discussion of this magnitude. i believe it is important for us to have a joint discussion in public so that we, as agencies,

are charged with the responsibility of seeing the implementation of this program can be on the same page and that we can also provide the entire public an opportunity to hear our thoughts and an opportunity to provide their input. lived in trying to put a joint meeting together for quite some time, and i wanted to take the opportunity before our board of supervisors' meeting to say that we will make this joint meeting a priority. a top priority. we will try to make ourselves available so we can provide the public the benefits of that joint discussion with the understanding that the conversation is ongoing. i know different dates have been provided to the commission and to summarize some of the possible dates, i know that we

have talked about september 23, that is when our meeting is scheduled. there is a meeting on october 4 and october 11, that is a tuesday. the thinking is that we could do a joint meeting prior to the board of supervisors meeting and prior to your meeting since tuesday we happen to be here anyway. if there are other dates that are more convenient for members of the commission, i know we're talking about a number of the jewels -- individuals that have very busy schedules. it is important to have that discussion and have that opportunity available to the city and county of san francisco. we believe is a time line that we should try a as much to stick

to. i think that really calls for the need to have this joint meeting sooner rather than later. i want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you. my apologies to members of the public, but we have a board of supervisors meeting in a few minutes and i wanted to take the opportunity to be here and ask for that. >> i want to thank you for your service to the city and county of san francisco and ultimately, the state of california. it was an honor to represent your parents in the state senate. i think it is an important issue and i think you and i both cared deeply about how we treat their money and how to do it wisely. >> that jurisdiction misses you in southern california. >> i want to thank you as well

for your leadership on this issue. and we are working diligently to come forward with a term sheet and with a scope of work that is flexible so we can have a productive conversation. we are going to let you go unless other commissioners have comments and we will spend time trying to find a date as soon as possible. >> staff will be available here that if there is any need for discussion on our end, we are here. thank you for your work. thank you to the general manager for making it possible for me to make that comment. >> do we want to spend a moment trying, since we're all here, to see if we can schedule a joint meeting with ahead lafco and --

meeting with lafco? did he say the 23rd? that was an option, october 4, 11, 7, 14. >> are friday's bad for you? >> october 11, since we're having a puc meeting, maybe we could do that. >> we have the room but in case we need to meet earlier, so we have the option of using the room that morning in the gives sufficient time between then and now to get all of the paper work together. if october 11 works at 11:00, that might work. >> i will cancel an event that i have to the act, but i can do that. >> we will need a two-hour

meeting, probably. >> it will leave a half hour break between. >> well, that worked. >> check with commissioner courtney. >> i will track him down and that interestingly thwould be 11.11.11 at 11:00. >> better at craps than at meetings. >> would you like to move back to the regular agenda and returned to this item? >> we can continue this discussion unless there are members of the public anticipating coming later.

why don't we return to the regular calendar, just in case there is somebody watching that isn't here at this moment and we'll take it only give back to the general managers' report. >> the next item one b approval of the mets of the regular meeting of july 26 and a special meeting of august 9. if there were any additions, corrections, changes. >> i have a question on the mets of august 9. the discussion was informal, we did not do -- and there was no formal action taken. there were a couple things that seemed to reach consensus, and that may be too strong a word, but it was pretty close. i have been trying to figure out what the best way of capturing that is.