like 2,000 pounds of vegetables, and this went to the people, owners in the tenderloin. even the federal government people. so this is the right time maybe, and i appreciate the puc. the public lands, agriculture. one time we went to vernal heights. this is beautiful. i said this would be turned into a garden and produce more fruit and vegetables there. oh, my goodness. this will be a great help to the community. only i said it is beautiful, but

it is not beautiful because it is not coordinated. so we will put more time on making this land into agriculture. this economic crisis will be lessened. the opening of more gardens in our community. i think you. president vietor: thank you. >> we had the harvest in the community garden. it was produced free to the community. thank you. president vietor: i think this is the promise of the community gardens, to feed people who really need the food. >> good afternoon. i am here representing the san francisco agricultural alliance,

a group of volunteers representing both urban farmers and food policy people within the city of san francisco. we were very instrumental in working together closely, including the recent ordinance. first of all, i want to give a thumbs up on behalf of the alliance. we think this is excellent to look at the public benefit that can come from the public land. the puc has been really great about looking at what are these available land. -- lands. we are also very excited to continue working with the puc to look at more sites and more opportunities that are possible usable for urban agriculture. we also want to support the

motion to look beyond just vegetables for the definition of urban agriculture, as was just alluded to, that definition varies depending on who you talk to, and some given that and given that you have to come together on a definition, i just want to state again that the urban agriculture alliance is excited and working closely with you to bring the voice of the urban farmers who are ready to start farming and to start bringing produce into san francisco, and also wanted to put one more thumbs-up of the enterprise, the economic value and the jobs that could come out of this, the job training, not just for selling produce, but also because there are a lot of people in the urban agriculture seen you are interested in other jobs such as water conservation,

gray water systems. this is an incredible opportunity to really bring together not only water conservation, things that you are very familiar with, but also to bring in an urban agriculture to where we continue staying up at the front of the movement that we have begun in the city with urban agriculture, so thank you very much, and as an alliance, we really look forward to meeting with seawall and looking forward to how we can make this the best. >> thank you. >> thank you. hi, i am jesse. you often see me here representing the 12 acre trust, but today i am wearing another hatch. i represent one of the community farms. i have been a volunteer since it started in 2010. i am here to testify to the incredible amount of energy and enthusiasm in the urban

agriculture movement right now. this farm came into it existence because of the farm that we have been referencing, and right now, we are in the process of moving the farm. it is a slow process. it's sort of shows how well volunteers can work with the agencies. the property that we are on comedy team 0.2 acre lot in the valley, it was always planned to be sold to the developers, and we are in very friendly, happy negotiations with other sites, moving off of that land, but doing something amazing with it in the meantime, creating incredible community value, and also some other intangible value. we do produce a significant amount of food. we donate the food to people who are dealing with breast cancer and distributed to people within our community, but beyond that, there are huge benefits to the city. i think this has put in on the

map in a whole new way. it gets tons of press, tons of attention. i think it is a real benefit to the city. my favorite moment was the week when in the same week, we were in the sunset magazine as one of the top 10 parks in the country, not farms, but urban parks in the country, and that same week, the chief of staff for nancy pelosi asked if she could take a tour, because nancy pelosi was very interested to tell people that they had agriculture in her district. especially with these big projects. this has been one of the bigger projects in the city. it will be moving on from that site. we do not want the movement to get smaller. we are ready to take on new projects and see how this can change. thank you very much for considering this proposal. we are really excited that the largest land owner in the city is making some of this land available for this incredibly

important movement. thank you. >> what is the cost of running that garden? >> that is a good question. right now, it is a certain type of model, which is all volunteer run, and right now, it is being run about $1,000 per month. we basically did everything for free, and the whole thing was built out of garbage, recycled materials, things that were diverted from the waste stream. we do not sell it. we give it away, so we do not have a lot of monetary inputs or outputs, at this point, but this is only one model. it does show that you can do something very cheaply that there is that much volunteer energy. there are other ways. >> that used to be a freeway? >> yes. lots of things he can do. president vietor: another

interesting thing is this temporary use. there are things that are not active, and it may be an opportunity to do this. there are a lot of partners out there, farmers who are out there who could come in for one month or six months or two years until we make a decision and come in and formant and creates a benefit to the community as an interim step. that might be something we want to consider as part of the policy. >> we are trying to provide a good example of how that can work, the transition. we are really excited about continuing to get to do cool things. president vietor: thank you. >> good afternoon, the commissioners. my name is e. coli. i am a manager. -- my name is eli.

we look forward to engaging with you on these proposals. we will forward to looking over the proposal, and hopefully i will have more to say in terms of our position on it, but i think it is an exciting step to consider these things, so thank you very much. president vietor: thank you, and it is interesting that your group has stepped into this space, as well. >> hello, my name is lorenzo. della spoke awhile ago. i also work at the garden at the corner of castro. this year, we have a plan of expanding our gardens sides, -- sites, rooftop, so we are planning on expanding. we were excited that we produced

this year, about 2,000 pounds of food for the residents for free. we harvest but twice a month, every second and fourth week of the month, so tomorrow will be a harvest today for this garden. what the plan is to expand the garden, so the resolution for the pc land to be used hopefully for food production, we support it. we hope to be a part of this program. so, yes, our garden is being run it by one employee, but most of them are volunteers. this project is really awesome because it conquered its residents to one project. they have a way for them to organize themselves.

this would be expanded, and this would be great for the community. thanks a lot. >> thank you so much. >> david again. i really cannot say much more that you have not heard. just to speak very briefly to commissioner caen's point, and i think president vietor address to this, this would not preclude other long-term things. this could be adjusted short- term use, and the k2 valley farm region -- the haight valley farm -- in a way, it is a slow food movement. this is a really exciting item.

this item and the following item. i have been participating with the urban agricultural alliance for the past several months, and the thing i keep hearing over and over is that they do not not have people or tools. there is compass. they really need the land. and it is not that they need a large plots of land. it is a large number of small plots of land so that people can garden near where they live and make this part of the community, and i think this is actually part of the pc community involvement, so very much so. and whether or not you are agricultural folks or the other folks that we have heard from, it is a lot of different communities that can benefit from this, so i am very much looking forward to this is ability study and this opportunity. president vietor: thank you very

much. i also want to knowledge of the department of environment folks. i do not know if you want to say anything. she has really been the keeper. i want to invite you to say something if you like. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i want to thank you for hearing this item. it is exciting that the community is considering this work. as the largest landowner in san francisco, with the biggest barrier to gardening is access to land. this is been a great boon to agriculture in san francisco. i was taken on a tour of the site by a puc staff person, and it looks like a great site for me as well. since we have had a lot of success in san francisco with

community stewardship for public park project, engaging in other communities interested in a different type of gardening is a great way to increase our public access in san francisco. commissioner vietor: thank you. that was great. there's limited resources in the urban agriculture space, but thank you for keeping that going. any other public comment or commissioner comment? so we have a resolution ready for a vote that has been amended. all those in favor? suppose? motion carries. thank you all. next item please. >> item 16, presentation and discussion to authorize the general manager of the san francisco public utilities commission or his designee to execute on behalf of the city and county of sanford's his co- pilot water efficiency for community garden grant agreements with sfpuc water retail customers for a community garden, urban agriculture, and

nonprofit gardens in san francisco for an amount not to exceed $100,000 for fiscal year 2011-2012. >> good afternoon again. general manager for water. one of the things that puc is interested in ideas -- interested in is making sure our goals can be achieved. it is in the pc's interest that one of the cord and jones -- the pc's interest that one of the cornerstones of the project be that those be metered. -- in the pc's interest -- in the puc's interest. installations are not cheap in san francisco. what we are proposing is a pilot program to provide funding to help make sure that meters are

installed for community gardens, urban agriculture, and nonprofit gardens in san francisco. one of the things we found is that some gardens are connected off of an existing meter that has other uses, so we are unable to distinguish the use. additionally, some community gardens and nonprofits simply do not go forward because they have not got the capital to deal with the installation. they can pay for the water, but the meter cost is a hard point. the legislation would set aside $100,000 with an amount not to exceed $10,000 for each award. the awards would not actually be cash for the entity. it would be funding within the puc to install the meters and related service items. there is a program laid out here where we would get applications.

and move forward with installing meters as appropriate. >> do we have the staff employed already? do we have staff employed to do this already. was this part of our budget? >> we have staff that administers various grant programs. this was another simple one that we would just add into that. commissioner moran: the meters that we are installing -- are we creating new customers or new accounts? >> yes, there would be an account for each meter. commissioner moran: if i put a big garden in my back yard and had a separate meter, with that new meter be attached to my water bill? >> or moran, llc. it would be a separate bill for that matter. commissioner moran: would it be the same -- are we doing a new class of customers?

>> we are not doing in the class of customers, but we would be able to identify these particular meters and call out the data. we have not talked about creating a class. more of the billing class. that is something we could do in the future, but that is part of why this is a pilot program to honor the issues as we go forward. >> the wastewater would be different. commissioner moran: that would be very different. and if you got into a curtailment situation or a drought, the customer versus other customers. >> that is a good question. >> i was thinking along the same lines west of the resolution that it did not really address was the pilot was going to determine when some of what we might want it to determine is whether there should be any class of customers considered and whether there is additional water use for these community gardens. i do not know what the set of data is or what analysis is of

the pilot, but it feels like the pilot should be analyzed and presented for some future recommendation. >> yes, we can -- as we report back on exactly how the news is, we do have an irrigation class of customers. it is not aimed at community gardens. golf courses, for example, fall many times into irrigation uses. we could provide a mechanism for those particular issues and any others we honor during the process. >> do we need to do a brief friendly amendment that says, "and will report back to the puc on the efficacy of the pilot" in general? the -- >> we will be reporting back under the pilot included in

that. >> so it will be included? ok, great. any other questions or comments on the resolution? >> move it. >> second. commissioner vietor: ok, any public comment on this item? >> thank you. i would like to wear both of my hats for just a minute and say that it is exciting to hear you guys addressing this issue. it is exciting from a gardening point of view. i was on the panel yesterday that talked about how urban gardens can be productive and use less water than other types of landscaping. i would like to say -- you ask a question about curtailment during drought. i think that this project go forward, as you except proposals from folks who might want to start a community garden, it would be great to see puc encouraging as part of the

proposal how you will manage water, how much water you think you will need, how you're going to work with the land to keep water on site, make the most out of rainwater. i think that the urban agriculture movement in san francisco is savvy about water issues and is interested in not only teaching about gardening, but as dan was saying, in rainwater attachment, in alternate scenarios. and from a tuolome reported you, any of that is great. they can take pressure off the river, but teach people. these are often public spaces that teach people about how to manage water in their own back yard. i think there is a value there. so, yes, in ways that you can build that into the proposal process, i think that would be beneficial and that the community would be receptive to it. i think there are other water benefits to community gardens. i just wanted to mention briefly, one of my favorite things about hayes valley farm is it is a palm culture farm and we do a lot to build the best to

try to keep rain water on the land and that relieves some pressure on our combined sewer/storm water system. there is a giant parking lot at the bottom of hayes valley farm within two biggest that used to be the freeway on and off ramps that used to be a parking lot. i have lived right next door. that is how i got involved since i moved to san francisco, and the parking lot used to flood every time there was a rainstorm. parking lot would have huge puddles, huge floods, and all of that water was coming off of these hills, and all of the states, and i could show you pictures that when it rains now, it is being sunk into the site. i think there are a lot of benefits. thanks again for addressing the issue. i think the community has a challenge of using less water and can show in some ways about how it can use less water. >> thank you. yes, i mean i would like to see part of this pilot. it kind of balance these two resolutions. some work on the real benefit of

the community gardens and urban agriculture on water, with the potential is for saving, keeping and out of the waste stream for rainwater harvesting for all of these things that we have talked about. it seems like fertile ground, so to speak. or some kind of analysis. other comments on the water piece -- on this resolution at this time? hearing none, all those in favor? opposed? motion carries. thank you very much. >> item 17, discussion and possible action authorizing the san francisco public utilities commission general manager to consent to a proposed sublease to that certainly is dated september 12, 1995, by and between the city, as landlord, and san antonio center llc, a california limited liability

company as tenants in mountain view, california, transferring a portion of lease rights to mgp ix properties, a delaware limited liability company. >> good morning. real-estate director. i bring to you again a request by one of our largest tenants, san antonio associates, for you to consent to a sublease for 1.04 acres of land to be used for a park access and a plaza. we have changed the sublease act -- language slightly after meeting with commission according to address his concerns over prevailing wage payment in santa clara county. now, section 24.22 will read that the prevailing wage will be determined according to the rates set in san francisco county. i am available for any questions. >> questions, comments? >> i do have a comment. i want to express my gratitude to the general manager and staff

for taking the time to sit with us. i know that the office, especially your office, is overwhelmed with the volume of responsibilities. i think it -- it is certainly a good step in the right direction, and i look forward to having good conversations. as far as we are concerned, that this case closed. >> thank you. >> are you moving it? >> if it is appropriate, i will. >> any comments from the public on this? >> we have no speaker cards. commissioner vietor: all those in favor? suppose? motion passes. thank you. >> madam president, the next item according to the rules of order would be, as required, discussion and possible action in accordance with rule 6 of the rules of order of the san francisco public utilities commission to nominate and elect officers at the first duly noticed regular meeting after the first day of october.

so, if you would care to entertain nominations for officers. commissioner vietor: i would -- i would like to entertain that. i would like commissioner caen to speak. commissioner caen: i certainly would. first of all, we are seeing the end of your brain for now. -- the end of your reign for now. you have done a stupendous job. we really like your leadership. meetings have run stupendously. your input is very thorough, and we appreciate all your hard work. but at this time, i would like to nominate commissioner torres to become vice president of this commission and also, i would like to nominate vice president moran to become president. that is, i guess, a motion for the nomination of the vice

president and the president. emma is there a second? commissioner moran: -- >> is there a second? commissioner moran: do i have to accept, or can i just second? i appreciate the honor and the attitude and the support. >> and the opportunity to decline. i would with great pleasure accept the nomination. commissioner vietor: any public comment? >> i just wanted to take the opportunity at the end of president vietor's term as president to just reference both the items we talked about today, which crossed all the various enterprises and issues -- had a workshop, discussed matters, and i think it speaks well on the food issue, which is something that is very important to you, to all of us, and the

tenor in which this commission, the staff, and the public interact, really is -- and i have used the word before -- unique and different from other commissions. there are, i think, a lot of commissions in the city that are not dysfunctional, are not as concerned -- that are not as functional, are not as concerned with all the things in the purview, and this commission always has been, and the five of you in particular have during your tenure and will continue to and whether you are here and what your successors to will always store the responsibility of this agency, which i take very seriously and i know that you all do. and i'm sure that commissioners moran and torres will do a fine job leading in the future, as they have, and i just wanted to recognize commissioner vietor's service as president. commissioner vietor: thank you. i appreciate that, and i have very much appreciated the

opportunity to serve, and i am sort of mixed about it. i very much appreciate it, and your story really ready to hand over the gavel with my full life. a month ago, i just went back to full-time work, so it has been a lot for me, so i appreciate the help. >> thank you for all your help. >> thank you., i would like to thank you for remaining obviously very true your passions and your personal issues and values and at the same time, being a good steward of the commission and its attention to jobs 1 and being open to our comments and recommendations to the commission as well. thank you very much for your service. i welcome working with the two nominees. commissioner vietor: thank you so much. any other comments at this time? do we vote? i guess we vote. all those in favor? all those in favor? o post -- opposed?