a better place, and i think that is something that he demonstrated throughout his life and especially in the last few months of his life. the fact is that even as eric was going through what he was going through, i would still get the calls, what are the issue was. we as elected officials, we need that perspective, we need that voice of someone who can shed light on the very important issues that come our way. because it is easy sometimes for those issues to get lost here in city hall. i could always trust that there could tell me -- eric could tell me in a simple way what was right and what was wrong. that is something i am going to mess and that is something that i feel very honored that i had the opportunity to get to know him that way. i also know that the kind of person he was, that kind of

person he remains in our hearts, it is not something that happened because of who eric was, it is also the people around him and you can see the amazing people in this room, each one of them has accomplished amazing things and i want to single out his mom who is here. there is nothing more formative then the example that your parents give you. i know that eric was an amazing person who was because of the example of his parents. as supervisor for district 9, it has been such an honor for me to get thito know this family. he will live in our hearts forever. and i think that i hope you understand how much he was loved, not only by his neighbor neighbors and community, i am also very proud of his -- the fact he was proud of his

culture, his heritage. i cannot say enough about an amazing human being. i am very proud that we as an institution took the time to acknowledge what eric has meant to our community. president chiu: supervisor kim. supervisor kim: i am a co- sponsor and i want to thank the family for being here. we actually more the loss of several activists and leaders. as we mourn their absence, is it -- it is important we celebrate their work and their accomplishments. eric has been a tremendously important voice in a movement that has pushed neighborhoods and low-income communities directly central in our land use and planning process, processes that had eluded our

average citizens for so long. we continue in our discussion about the use of our land and who are city is for. eric has been one of the central voices in all that. i am proud to be in a movement in which deryk calls his family. i wanted to speak on behalf of my office. there has been entered -- eric has mentored several. i celebrate his life and his work, and we have to honor that by continuing this year. i think we can all say that his impact is felt and we see it everyday in our city. thank you. president chiu: supervisor avalos. supervisor avalos: i have a

voicemail message from eric from february of this year. to the very end, even in the amount of pain he was living in, he had such a coat and such drive -- had such hope and such drive. there was a community of powerful women, powerful man, people committed to social justice. that belief in a better world i think is what drove him and made him just incredible person he was. i cannot think of a more fitting partner for eric than lorena. what an amazing woman she is.

i met her at the janitor's union in 2004. what a spirit that he has. what -- she has. what an amazing woman who is carrying on his family and legacy. we all have that wonderful relationship and we will be with her and have her back in years to come. i do not think i have had the ability to come to terms with his passing just that. it is going to hit all of us, it will be like a ton of bricks as the days go on. i am looking forward to being with community on sunday. eric has been so much to me. he has met so much to me, i have learned so much from him. i agree with supervisor campos's

earmark. he had the ability to cut through all this static and get to the core of what was going on. if i was ever in a room where we are all confused, having eric in the room was always something i welcome to get our thoughts and thinking in a more clear direction. there is amazing things i have done with eric over the years. the thing i am most proud of is the creation of the immigrant legalization network. that has done amazing work in bringing a lot of different communities from all over the city together and organizing for the rights of young people, the rights of families, the rights of workers. that is something i am so proud of and has left a lasting mark on the work he has brought. i wanted to congratulate all of

us on the wonderful relationship we have had with eric and lorena. good to see you. my heart is broken, but my will is strong. president chiu: supervisor mar. supervisor mar: i want to say so much has already been said and so much will be set over the years. we all know that his spirit will live on with all of us. there are so many corners he has touched, so many people, so many communities. he will always be a part of us for as long as we are doing activist work we need to do. i want to thank his family, not just his direct family, but his family of supporters for all that you have done.

we all continue together. supervisor mirkarimi: i look forward to sunday. he had a common touch and he was a great teacher. >> thank you for being here, lorena and wendy, and so many family and friends. if you like to make some brief remarks. -- would like to make some brief remarks. >> i wanted to thank you both as eric's wife and partner in crime. also, thank you as an organizer because i am also an organizer and he makes me proud to live in the city, that our city will give recognition to an organizer, that does not happen very often, especially an

organizer that gave this city hell. so, it is a real honor, not only for eric but all the people that came before him and also that mentored him. the people that worked alongside him for all these years, and for all of us who continue to do the work. i wanted to say thank you. i look forward to seeing you on sunday. also, i look forward to seeing you in the continued fight to make sure our city continues to be for families and we do the right thing so thank you. i am proud to be a san franciscan. i live here. so, thank you very much. >> i wanted to also thank you. wendy and some of the others who worked with him. thank you. [applause]

president chiu: madame clerk. >> today's memory -- meeting will be adjourned on behalf of mr. arthur evans and shawn wilson. and mr. anthony [unintelligible] and mr. eric quesada. president chiu: is there any more business in front of the board? >> that includes business. president chiu: ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned.

supervisor ciu: look into the

budget and finance committee. we also have with the supervisor farrell who has sponsored one of the items of the agenda. our clerk is charles young. mr. young, the we have any announcements today? -- do we have any announcements today? >> yes, leadplease turn off all cell phones. if you present in the documents to the committee, please write a copy to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear of the board of supervisors agenda on september 27, 2011, unless otherwise stated. >items #one, or did amending the san francisco administrative code section 57.5 and 57.8 to

decrease building fees for smaller budget productions, including a documentary films, docudrama films, in reality programming among eligible productions for the film rebate program. supervisor chiu: thank you . this item is sponsored by supervisor farrell. supervisor farrell: in the past reality shows used to be fairly low-budget productions, and now we're seeing more with substantial budgets to work with, and we want to attract them to san francisco in order to have them spend production dollars in our city. we also have had requests from large documentary productions interested in the rebate program, and we want to include them as well in the legislation. since introducing this, i have had two different calls from

well-known reality tv shows about working your differences go. this legislation will also decrease fees to $100 per day from $300 per day for productions with budgets busted $500,000 for the filming of a commercial, corporate media, industrial media, video, shore subject or web video. cautiocurrently many fed has the permitting process because it is cost prohibitive and they will end up shooting under the radar. this causes not only liability issues but traffic jams throughout san francisco. right now all feature films and tv series k three of dollars per permitting. this is higher than anywhere else of the country. will bring the people and to reach productions -- lower terig the fee will encourage

production in new york city they cost $300 for the whole production. and we see in the bay are free. these are states already offering incentives that we simply cannot compete with, and this will make it more affordable and will continue to make the rebate program as attractive as possible. this has always been and continues to be about creating jobs in sanford says go. this is that a great success and we want to continue the viability going forward. right now like to invite in a to the executive director of the film commission is here as well to help talk about the legislation and explain some of the reasoning behind it. >> thank you for letting me speak today. we have a number of items, but three different items on this bill. the first one notifying our fees, which were never written into the legislation about the

film commission, so we would like to have those in place at this time, but regarding the reduction of permit fees, right now if you are a budget of $10 million, you are paid the same fee as shooting each day. four films that are small budget, it is really cost prohibitive for them to actually fill here. and a lot of films actually flying under the radar, and they are shooting without permits. we estimate we could get probably it to more low-budget films per year actually pulling permits with this legislation. the feedback i have gone from a local independent community has been very positive. they admit they very often without pulling the permit.

this goes hand in hand with the film commissions support with the local independent filmmakers. reestablished of them collected in july where we read the below- cost of this base to independent filmmakers were shooting films in san francisco. we feel like this would just go hand-in-hand with the work we are already doing to support local filmmaking. regarding expansion of the rebate, basically reductions are following the rebates. that is like california has lost so much building to louisiana, the minew mexico, new york, ari the fact that arizona offers a city rebate is really wonderful, because we're one of the few cities that does offer a city rebate. i think we can make it more attractive by expanding this to

documentary's and unscripted television programming, otherwise known as reality programming. the main thrust of this is we want to bring more jobs to the city and more jobs to the local economy. what happens is when these productions are shooting here, they do have a certain amount of people that stay in hotels. they use local production services, and they ultimately bring or exposure to san francisco, which helps bring more tourists. we would really like to expand this to documentary and unscripted television programming in order to attract more of the productions. we have recently had a number of documentary series that have called us and son are we eligible for your rebate program? at this point we have not been. that was one of the reasons for considering adding documentary's to the rebate.

we also have had more and more very high-budget reality programs interested in shooting in san francisco, some of which we got of some of which we have lost. one thing i wanted to point out for the unscripted reality programs, in 2008/2009 we had 26 unscripted tv productions with $720,550 in estimated budgets. we collected all thousand $300 and permit fees. in 2010/11, we had 33 of those types of productions $2,496,400 in estimated budgets. we collected almost doubled the amount and permit fees. while the productions, they are coming in, they are spending a significant amount higher in

money. we would like to attract that many here and have them spend it locally. the other benefit of this is that reality program is becoming more and more popular on television. this is a way to increase the exposure to san francisco as a tourist but you. one of the things i wanted to reads -- read to you before i close is a quote from mayor bloomberg of new york city. new york has a very high rate of television production. they have 23 prime time series shooting varied this year. in 2006 they only had nine. that is largely due to the rebate program. the entertainment energy -- industry greatest contribution is to make the image of an idea of new york is to make a living presence of the minds of people around the world. few other cities on earth have been celebrated more widely or

memorably than new york. in that sense, the industry can be seen as a priceless marketing tool for the city, helping to draw millions of visitors and tourists each year to new york for the propelling -- for the propelling the economy and vitality. i would like to be able to some friends -- substitute san francisco every time you say new york. i think we can do that with this legislation. thank you. president chiu: thank you very much for the presentation. why do we go to the budget analyst report. -- don't we go to the budget analyst report. >> on page 6 we pointing out reducing the fees by $200 per day for phone production companies that have production budgets of less than $500,000 would result in decreased revenues to the city of $440, an

estimated reduction to the city of 1467 per year. it is pretty minimal. however, certainly we cannot estimate the amount of the potential increase revenue to the city as a result of the proposed reduction. regarding the film rebate program, also, the fiscal impact cannot be determined because they have not tracked document carries, docudramas and reality tv programs. however, the maximum cost to the film rebate program is 1.8 million. so we have a recommendation on page 8 of the report. my understanding is the

supervisor is proposing to extend that the rebate program, which expires on june 30 of 2012. our recommendation is that some time prior to the resumption of the rebate program that you amend the legislation to require a report from the foam commission to the board of supervisors detailing the objectives of the program. this would include the number of jobs. as you know, that was the purpose of the potomac rebate program, that in return for reimbursing cost it to the city to the film production companies, that they would hire disadvantaged persons. we consider approval of the

proposed ordinance as amended to be a policy decision for the food 0 -- board of supervisors. i will be happy to respond to questions. supervisor chiu: in clarification of what is before us. we're seeing a reduction of these four very small production that has a $4 million impact, and last week, allowing documentary's and unscripted shows to be qualified. this does not extend the program. >> this legislation -- our recommendation is that if the board decides to extend the program, that prior to that extension you obtained a report so the board is at least in a position to evaluate what has transpired and what the benefits mean for the program. >>supervisor farrell: thank you. we're working with the film commission and ms. roberts on

whether it would make sense to extend the phone rebate program. we're digging in and want to dig in to mention and understand whether it makes sense financially to contribute dollars to the program it is creating jobs that we intend it to and has the financial impact that we want it to. we're only looking at it does except for our city. what i would like to propose is that we amend the legislation to include this report that was requested, but actually what i would like to do is have it done on december 31 of this year. the legislation is set to expire on june 30 of next year. i would like to see that before it expires, that way we can confront any of the issues and have time to evaluate whether make sense to fund this ongoing or whether it makes sense to terminate on june 30 of next

year. i would like to offer that amendment to the legislation and have them advise the city attorney if it will be material. supervisor chiu: thank you, supervisor farrell. why don't we open this up for public comment? are there any members of the public that would like to speak to this item, item number one? >> good morning, supervisors. i have lived in san francisco for 59 years. i would like to speak in favor of this ordinance. i think anything that brings an income to the city is fine. basically another issue i would like to point out since today's agenda is only one item, since this is the regular meeting of the budget and finance committee, considering ye there is only one item on the agenda.

i have read in the paper recently that there would be some sort of consideration in regard to the city's use of participation certificates. i think this is a long overdue examination. in fact, one of the comments i heard was why it took a new supervisor to push that idea forward rather then the to so- called experience fiscal supervisors that never brought up the issue. hopefully this committee will consider the subject of participation certificates, because one of the favorite topics i follow, especially when i am back east, is the subject of voodoo economics. i have a feeling somewhere along the line participation certificates might fall into the category, depending on whether you use them wisely or misused them. anyway, i think this ordinance

is a step in the right direction, and i hope this city will use a very realistic approach to finding revenue, rather than trying to use the old federal system of class warfare. i do not think that will make our teamwork spirit and the better and san francisco, and i think it will hurt everyone's feeling, and all that ends up doing is everyone will. a finger at anyone saying it is your fault. thank you. supervisor chiu? thank you. and the other speakers at like to comment on this item? >> good morning. my name is robin kincaid. i am a producer here in san francisco. i am the person that is dealing with most of these. bili can tell you the budgets he

shrunk. five years ago i was getting 2000 for how summer. and of his $5,000. i am just as shocked as everyone else. the bottom line is how much money they are spending. we should all over the bay area. we're not shooting in san francisco, and we should be. we look at permits, police, and parking. oakland, i am there every week. literally. we use restaurants. we do not use hotels because most of our stuff is local, but we do spend money in the cities. i am here to support the strongly. we really need this in the industry.