next. secretary avery: thank you, commissioners and public. president olague has mentioned, we are taking item 12 out of order. it is case number 2011.0921t. public art fee and public art work trust fund. >> thank you, commissioners, anmarie rodgers, and as you know, this ordinance has been introduce bid two parties, both the mayor and board president chu and i would like first to turn the microphone to representatives of their offices to make a few statements why they felt the need to introduce this ordinance from the mayor and board president chiu. first we have jason elliott from the office of the mayor.

>> commissioners, jason elliott, mayor's legislative director. thank you very much for holding this hearing. today we are proud to be co-sponsors of this legislation along with president david chiu. i think there has been some very good recommendations that have come from planning staff there contained in this report and i have to say we agree with most, if not all, of them, and it's not a disagreement but we need some more conversation and new issues that need consideration. let me say as far as we are concerned with this legislation that was motivated by the success of the 100% art program and how the downtown gallery has turned into such an asset for the city and looking to do more in the way of public art and publicly accessible art and expanding the horizons of the gallery and the types of art that san franciscoans can enjoy and is funded by the program.

we have heard president chiu and our office has heard strong community support to expand the options available to private developers in how they fulfill the obligations and the artist community which i know you'll hear from has made a very compelling case on different types of art that could be funded by this program by the 1% program. now all that said, the planning department did recommend categorizing different size and different segregating commercials and residential and placing different requirements on different types of buildings and i will let president chiu's office speak for themselves but from the mayor's perspective these seemed like reasonable differentiations and distinctions to make and we appreciate the planning commission and the arts department working together on the recommendations. and ultimately it is a good idea to extend the flexibility that is included here. this is a good program, the 1% program and creates a good

downtown gallery and we support the legislation and thank you for considering this and thank planning staff and the arts commission for all their hard work. i will first, if i could, allow katherine rossburg to speak and then would be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you, commissioners. katherine rossburg from the office of supervisor david chiu. he is also the elected representative of much of the c3 district with the district of the focus of the legislation and we want to first thank the planning department for 25 years or over 25 years of great work administering the downtown arts fund. the proposal is many years of work by the arts commission and arts community and we want to thank them for all their work. last spring we began conversations with the arts commission and the mayor's office about legislation introduced in july and since then there have been many good convictions with the public and among departments about ways to improve the legislation.

a lot of that is is representative of the stock report before you. and the supervisor, like the mayor, is supportive of the recommendations and open to others. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> thank you, commissioners. now as part of the staff presentation, i would like to do something different that we haven't done before. i would like to introduce a retired staff member of the planning department who is part of the department for many years and actually helped develop the 1% program as part of the original downtown plan in the 1980's. and after she presents some of the successes of the programs, then i'll go through the department recommendations for this ordinance. and we do have an item on the overhead, too. >> commissioners, i am ava lieberman and i worked for the

city for 19 years and for 15 years i helped to implement the arts requirement. when we initiated the arts requirement in the course of the development of the downtown plan, it was a true innovation. public art to be provided and maintained by private developers for the public enjoyment was groundbreaking. after the requirement was adopted as part of the downtown plan, more than 40 people worked over a year in order to design guideline is attesting to the popularity of the provision. it is this book that has been

developed and also very meticulously followed. and what we want to attain in downtown is an exquisite outdoor gallery and i would like to introduce you to some pieces that have been developed in the last 25 years. this is the angel by a berkley artist. an ar piece in an exclusive pedestrian walkway. an historic piece. it's art deco mounted on the facade of the building as part of the requirement.

it is on the garden and the eclipse when the earth and the sun aligned up. across the street -- not working here. i just want to go back. i missed a few. across the street is a successful collaboration between the landscape architect and two

of the garden. and here in detail. and the piece which is placed on the steps of the old federal reserve building.

this is where the developer provided two art pieces and a painting and a sculpture. this is the view from the mezzanine of the fantastic open space or conservatory. this is one of the monumental pieces again in one of the exclusive pedestrian walkways. the previous section concentrated on monumental art and now i will show you several very small open spaces that also generated art. >> that is okay. >> so please bear with me. these are the small open spaces.

less than 3,000 square feet. the smaller art pieces are smaller than the large art pieces. and very small open space near chinatown. >> and with the sculpture here. a tiny open space in enclosed by very tall buildings and the marvelous tool in the core of the financial district. and it's an art piece. the massive fountain right next

to the market street sidewalk. actually a double fountain as you can see with two walls that make up the fountain. smaller than 3,000 square feet. very useful and popular. this is the access to the garden and to see the logo which clearly identifies every public open space including the art pieces. just a few slides showing art in connection with to the other

buildings. a mural with a glass wall. the entrance to one of the residential buildings. and the other residential buildings. i hope this shows you the great variety of artists have created that consists of sculptures and paintings and mosaics and reliefs and the art piece together with the open space is located most of the time and is wonderful in areas sprinkled all over downtown and make the downtown so human and enjoyable.

thank you very much. >> thank you, commissioners. i also have a little power point. hopefully it will stay on the table here. and a little bit about the downtown plan and you know a lot about that. and one we might want to look at for re-examination and in fact, i do have some more public comments that were delivered to us. and it was developed under the assumption of office employment downtown. >> and this would provide new

revenue sources with the costs necessary for urban service improvements and created by the need for housing transit, child care, open space, and art. and the arts requirement is in third quarters 429 of the planning code and provides the construction or addition of any new use upgraded in 25,000 square feet within the c3 district and to 1% of the construction cost towards the provision of public art. this is showing the other areas closely related to the art requirement and primary purpose of the plan is the art and open space requirement are to over time assure that the development

is guide sod that workers, residents and business wills not adversely impact the downtown and will have a nice compact, walkable core. you heard about the fine art guidelines and that count towards the costs and provisions and this is the downtown plan and what we have is we have done an inventory with that piece of art or more than a project per year required to produce this art and in the draft survey which we have provided in the packet and updated since then, there will be a new copy in a moment and even though we haven't done any enforcement since the downtown plan was created, there is only one

property with a problem to access. and we reminded them of the process and the one we had trouble accessing that they better fix it and with the $500 fine. and there were a few that were removing the plaque, but we have gotten new signs on those. and the downtown development and it is also available on our website. looking at the art and we anticipated that the office growth would expand beyond the c3. and there are a number inside

the c3 and also outside and in the south market area. and you do provide the public art and outside of the district you are not required to provide any public art under the existing environment. and a residential growth. the downtown plan buzz about guiding office development and a lot of high-rise, high intensity residential development also in the downtown. in talking with some of the authors, there is more of them here today actually in the audience, and it is true that it was with the development for the office and a requirement for the open space. and sometimes it's more of a challenge with the public art pieces in concert with residential development.

and our analysis found that the monumental art that you have seen today is really important for the downtown buildings, especially those where they have an open space requirement. and it is a public space where they are welcome to go and also leverages private development in an interesting way. and not only do they put the capital into a piece of art associated with their property and also add value to their property and required to maintain and that is something that's significant and the city also struggles with the maintenance cost for any infrastructure and art is no exception. and we need to prioritize the public art requirement where we have a large plaza on the

downtown floor and here is a piece of art work inside the lobby and the requirement states you have to provide it in the right-of-way or in the visibly public right-of-way and this meets the requirement. and since there is child care, there is not always the public access to the inside. in addition, if there are smaller spaces on the roof top, those create additional challenges. this might be an area where you have a residential building to otherwise require art on site and perhaps allowing it to go into the fund administer by the arts commission for a number of other use and looking at the

requirement since we have learned more about the downtown and seen the downtown has expanded beyond the original c3, it seems there is no real good policy reason for why a project of the same size inside the c3 would have the art requirement and a project of the same size outside the c3 would not have the requirement and the department recommends the environment if they are in the downtown areas. and this is the mixed use district and not the smaller neighborhood commercial district but the real areas where we have seen the downtown expand. further, even though there is large projects coming and will have a large 1% art requirement. this is another area where the city might be able to provide additional flexibility. the recommendation would say put the first $1 million towards public art on the site and really signify the public notice

and get a monumental piece and any amount over $1 million will be another opportunity for flexibility and choose whether to put it into the site or the other option is or other art. there is a lot of detail in the current draft ordinance. i know you heard from the mayor's office and board president chiu. i will stay away from a lot of the details of how the art fund would be implemented and our only recommendation is as long as the fund is administered through the public process of the arts commission t department is confident that will provide sufficient oversight and you are familiar with the oversight in processes. and we are showing the current

ordinance shows a discount for if a developer chooses to put a portion into the fund and this even having opportunity to put payment into a fund is an incentive for a developer and easy to write a check and go through the additional process and we don't see a need for the discount if you choose to provide those. and then in conclusion, we recognize and sympathize with the sufficient funding to upkeep with the existing art work and believe it is important to get additional funding for them and would like to help it look for additional funding sources. and i would like to make a few acknowledgments. first of all, we had an intern that helped in completing the inventory of downtown art work. they couldn't be there today,

but taylor and marcel, we appreciate their contributions. also in the audience and perhaps you would like to start with public comment is j.d. beltran, acting executive director of the arts commission and is the director of strategic initiatives. >> and we will open it up for public comment. >> and this is an exciting moment for the arts commission and working with the department staff, in particular anmarie

rogers and i wanted to congratulate on the success of the downtown gallery with the requirement and there are many outstanding works of art and your staff has done great work. over the past two years in particular, the arts commission has met with san francisco beautiful and the board of san francisco-american institute of architects and the arts club and spoken with the area and working with the mayor's office of economic development and numerous arts organizations and we have gotten a sense they believe there are in ways in addition to permanent public art that a robust and dynamic art environment can activate and

enliven the downtown and contribute in the day and in the evening. and the art have been proven as a highly cost effective way of driving economic revitalization in urban areas and also consulted most recently with land use attorneys on the effect of the legislation. the arts commission is largely in agreement with the planning staff recommendation. there are a couple of things at the end of the testimony where we differ in opinion. proposed change will give more options and not requirements and allow for greater flexibility and this amendment will not yet result in the increase of the 1% requirement. as anmarie mentioned, there are instances where they may not be able to physically income date

that and the valuable option with the contribution of monies designated for art purposes. and basically -- boy, not talking fast enough. president olague: if you're going to be around, we will ask you to come up. for some reason -- >> and i wanted to emphasize the developer option and this decision and the developer drives the decision and three options rather than one. and the to tell you briefly about the proposed uses of the trust and the new permanent and temporary art for public spaces to provide for the preservation and restoration of publicly owned art work in the downtown. and to provide the set aside of funding. president olague: you are with the arts commission and so critical to the piece of legislation f you could finish

your comments. >> i will speak fast. president olague: it would be good for us to hear. >> thank you so much. i was saying he would have a set aside to local commissions that may be located outside the downtown or within the c3 district to prevent their work and the ebbing poe sure to the greater audience -- and exposure to the greater audience in the downtown. and it is a well established precedent in los angeles, long beach, washington, and cleveland among other cities and counties. the goals and objective of the trust are to reflect the city's belief that the arts are an essential component of city life. to allocate more dollars dating

back to 2004 and to ensure that the public has access to excellence and diversity and to enliven, animate, and activate the downtown with the cultural facilities. to celebrate through artistic expression and acknowledge the arts as a proven and highly cost effective way of driving economic urbanization and protect the cultural heritage and utilize existing funding forces for the arts in a few way and complement the effort to develop the mid pashth with the arts district city. and to establish guidelines and the trust to identify places where the landmark place making

works of art can be placed and identify the criteria to be applied to the fund for cultural facility. the art commission does advocate for creating the half mile extended benefit zone outside the c3 district to allow for some of the funds to be used in more residential areas and the property values and from areas such as china town and mid market. the proposed descriptions are more in connection there and for the public and previous legislative amendment that allowed the art money to be used for the building of the dome or the architectural dimension of the mint. and they are very enthusiastic about the