not only a loss of health care, that is a loss of an employee, a person, may be out of san francisco. we want to see businesses keep their people employed. it is important to look at the bigger picture in addition to looking at one employee who does not have health care. what do they do if they do not have health care? that is a tragedy, but if a small business like ours and many others in san francisco cannot keep people fully employed, then we have an equally grave problem. that worker no longer has a job. because of a loss in health care. please keep in mind the balance and that employers like ours are working hard to keep people employed and provide them with the benefits they should have under the law. president chiu: thank you. are there any other members of

the public who wish to speak on this item? seeing none, public, is this what -- public comment is closed. supervisor campos: i want to thank all of the members of the broad coalition that have brought this matter forward. i want to thank our partners in the labor community for all the work they have done. to the workers who, in the last few months, have had the courage to come forward in city hall, to share with us personal experiences that i know are not very easy to share. i also want to thank all of the businesses. the vast majority of businesses in the city and county of san francisco are doing the right thing by their workers. i also want to thank all of the comments from some many san franciscans, including consumers who have been called here -- who have been up all by having to

pay for health care when, in fact, the money is being pocketed by businesses. it is clear that this amendment will pass. it is a sad day for san francisco. to those of you who have been part of this coalition, we may be losing this battle, but the war is not over. to the extent that the board of supervisors is unable to close this loophole, and let us be clear, this amendment does not close it, we need to make sure we did this to the voters so that the voters of san francisco make sure that we go down the right path to make sure that we do not take a step backwards as the rest of the country is moving forward. we have been leading the way on health care up to this point. it is sad that we are not in a position to be in a leadership role anymore. it is certainly a sad day for the board of supervisors. this issue is not over and we will make sure that, at the end

of the day, we do the right thing about -- the right thing by our workers and taxpayers, consumers, and the vast majority of businesses that are actually following the letter and the spirit of the law. thank you. president chiu: i think we have some technical amendments we still need to put into this. why don't we do this after my current comments? the suggestion that we are going backwards with this legislation i have to just simply state that we are going to be legislating notice provisions. that is not going at worst. we are going to address the surcharges situation. that is not going backwards. we're going to address the january problem. that is not going backwards. while there was a suggestion that we are somehow to the right of the obama administration, i am not aware of the fact that the obama health care situation is not born to go into effect

in january of 2012. we have over two years and before that goes into effect. it is important for this to be into place so the weekend provide more workers with health care over the next two years. i look forward to working with all of you and everyone here representing various opinions from the public to make sure that we will be addressing health care to the left of where president obama's health care legislation is. what we are doing right now is exactly in that spirit. i look forward to continuing this dialogue and conversation. right now, we need to move forward and at least get these points done. and continue to build more community support to ensure that we are not needlessly delaying colts off and maximizing the health insurance that we can provide goals. i urge your support and i will be seconding the amendments.

>> supervisor: -- supervisor cohen has made the motion. supervisor campos: just to clarify the record, what i said and what i will continue to say is that a key difference of opinion is over the issue of whether or not we would be ok with placing the limits on the amount workers accumulate and the health care they are entitled to. on the issue of placing limits, the federal government, president obama, and the congress have made it clear that they are against the placement of those limits. what you are saying, through this amendment, is you are ok with limiting the amount that is accumulated in these accounts. by making that statement, you are taking a position that is to the right of the federal government. i stand by that comment and, at the end of the day, the facts

and history was the fort itself. much has been said about how this is a compromise. there has been a lot of give- and-take. the reality is, with this issue, we are ok with permitting the amount the workers can accumulate. we are placing limits on what workers can accumulate. that is not a compromise. the facts speak to themselves. at the end of the day, it will be up to the voters to make sure we do the right thing by the workers of san francisco. supervisor kim: i want to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues. president chiu, supervisor cohen, and supervisor campos, for looking through this issue and taking the time to talk to many small businesses for it it has been a tough issue for many of us. especially when we talk about

sensitive issues about job growth, which we know is an important part of the industry in san francisco. at the request of my colleague, i did come into this hearing with an open mind. i wanted to listen to the public comment from our workers and our business owners and many of the folks that wanted to speak on this issue. i do not think that the second legislation is ill-intentioned. i think it is very sincere. as i said before, and as is my conclusion today, in july or august, i did not see a compromise that could come forward out of this between the sides. i do prefer a compromise. i like it when we have something that all sides can live with even if everyone is not happy. in this scenario, i did not see a compromise and i do not view this legislation as a compromise. some of the key things the

legislation tried to address, one a concern that we cannot mandate which services are able to be reimbursed by the hra. that is not the concern of our small businesses. that is federal law. secondly, we do not this incentivize -- disincentivizethe use of hrsa's -- hra's. i was not clear where that money would go if the original workers left the restaurant or business. it is a general issue. i am glad we are moving a few steps forward, but i do not think it closes a loophole. it may be titan's it a little bit. for that reason, i will not be

supporting the legislation today. i want to recognize the efforts of our colleagues. it is a very tough issue. i want to be careful when we talk about jobs. that is such a hot-button issue and everyone cares about job growth and not losing jobs in the city. reducing our minimum wage would also create jobs. i want to be careful when we use that as an argument to argue on behalf of legislation. we need to think carefully about what kind of jobs we want to grow and create in the city. healthcare is a vital part of that. you never done for many members of the public. it is a heartbreaking issue to hear about many of our low income residents who do not have access to health care and could have prevented illnesses or untimely deaths if they had health care in place previously. i want to thank everyone. i will not be supporting this today, but i appreciate the efforts around it. supervisor wiener: i think we

have a good-faith disagreements here. it is a multi-part in this agreement. a lot of folks in the business community are reluctantly supporting what i view as a compromise carry i understand the motivations by supervisor campos and the folks who brought this original proposal for. i respect their motivations. i also respect the work of supervisor chu and supervisor cohen for trying to find a compromise here. what i really have not like is some of the broad brush that i heard today, including public comment. it is important not to broad brush. it is not accurate to say that a small business employing 25 or

30 employees as part of the 1%. that is a complete exaggeration and suggests that all of these businesses, many of whom release struggle, that they are part of the 1% is not accurate. it is also unfortunate that we have a group of restaurants that have been charging a surcharge and not using that money for health care and. that is wrong. i'd think we have unity around that. but too broad a brush that to all businesses, either restaurants that are charging in using it for health care or restaurants that are not using a surcharge, it is unfortunate. i would encourage anyone, whether it is for the ballot or whatever direction it goes on,

not to demonize businesses that do not deserve to be demonized and to be very specific when we are criticizing the conduct of a relatively small group of people. i will be supporting the amendment. supervisor mar: i would like to thank president chiu and supervisor cohen for making an effort to try to find some common ground and compromise. i also want to thank the chamber and the restaurant association and the small businesses that have spoken as well, especially on the struggle that many small businesses are going through in this current time. i am appreciative of supervisor campos' courage to improve access for the lowest income workers of the city. i am not willing to support the amendment at this point. i do appreciate the effort of supervisor cohen to find ways to improve the situation for our lowest wage workers carry it but

the legislation simply does not closed the loophole. in fact, it is codifying and legitimizing the concept of the hra's that, as some said, is putting us in a position of taking a step back for our lowest paid workers. it is a bad concept to formalize. i realize some officers have to use that system. in the long term, it is moving away from the broader objectives of improving access to health care for everyone. i want to make one other point that health care professionals and others have brought up. from a health perspective and policy standpoint, health insurance, in some ways, for san francisco, is much better than help the san francisco is and how the san francisco is much better than the hra accounts. are we try to improve health care for our lowest paid workers in the city? in my analysis, and i did have

an open mind going into this as well, i think that the amendments are bad for workers and their health. some informants are being made -- some improvements are being made and the majority will probably pass today, but it does not solve the underlying problem that the coalition has identified for over one year. that is why i am voting no on the amendment as well. supervisor elsbernd: seeing no other comments, could we have a roll call. supervisor chu: aye. supervisor cohen: aye. supervisor elsbernd: aye. supervisor farrell: aye. supervisor kim: no. supervisor mar: no. supervisor mirkarimi: no. supervisor wiener: aye. supervisor avalos: no. supervisor campos: no. president chiu: aye.

president chiu: this ordinance is passed on the first reading as amended. at this time, we do have one 3:30 special commendation to. i would like to ask supervisor mar to make the presentation. supervisor mar: i would like to honor the 2009 hired chef of america amazing chef and one of the neighborhoods that is celebrating its 10th anniversary in our cities. this has been chosen by zagat's has one of the top 10 restaurants of the decade. it contributes to the incredible culinary diversity of our city with traditional moroccan cuisine. the chef who opened the

restaurant 10 years ago blends modern and sophisticated interpretations that combine authentic more often flavors with fresh and local ingredients. i really appreciate the staff and the workers as they support local agriculture by purchasing their materials from local farms and orchards. they are committed to sound habits. there are many awards that this chap has been given, but i also want to say that he is a true moroccan american pioneer. he has also released a new cookbook that documents and share is the story of him and his work with an international audience to. in honor of the release of that book, there is a great event happening on saturday, november 19, 2011, at green apple, one of our independent bookstores in

the district. he will talk about his work. we are voting later today and are calling it aziza day in san francisco. i would like to ask him to address us and if anyone else is here, addressed the board. >> i did not come here prepared. i did not write a speech. i want to thank everybody here. it is a great honor to be recognized by the city and support of this great community. we always try to do the right thing. we always try to be an example in the city. we will continue to do that. what has been done here could not have been done in any other place. the city has been -- the city has provided us with all the tools to be successful.

i always think the san francisco is one of the best places in the world as far as restaurants are concerned. i just want to thank everybody for giving us this honor. we are very honored. [applause] president chiu: supervisor kim, do you have a commendation? supervisor kim: today, on behalf of the entire board of supervisors, i would like to congratulate the arc san francisco for their advocacy of

people with developmental disabilities and providing programming that empowers san francisco residents to self- determination, and dignity, and quality in our never goods. since 1951, that have provided the resources and tools that and power adults with dead duck -- with developmental disabilities to live a productive lives through services and unemployment, independent living, housing, and advocacy. in the 1980's, they pioneered the supportive employment movement, which you see from many nonprofits that are supported by the city. they created opportunities for housing for those with developmental disabilities carry it more recently, they have created a model to address a new need -- the health and wellness of an aging population of adults with developmental disabilities. today, they are

they're making sure that health care is funded throughout the state. this is a constant hub of activity for everyone and our neighborhood. neighborhood meetings are constantly happening along with art openings and workshops on top of these services that they provide and the community is very involved in the development. we would like to commend you and congratulate you on your 60 years here and our city and your service to our neighborhoods. >> thank-you very much. i am the advocacy community organizer for the organization. this is why we are here.

we have the first person with developmental disabilities hired by any mayor's office in the country. she has had the job for three years now. i would like to thank you. we have an 80% unemployment rate for people with disabilities in our country. we have 220 organizations hiring our people and we need more jobs. that is one of our keys. we want to thank you and want to thank the support of the city of san francisco. [applause]

>> i would like to say thank you to all the supervisors, you help us. think you for your support. i am happy for 16 years. i would like to think all the supervisors. thank you. [applause] >> congratulations. why don't we go to our other

3:00 special orders. could he please read items 14 and 15? >> pursuant to approve file approve november 8th, the board of supervisors has agreed to sit as a committee of the whole for items 14 and 15. people interested in the in or rejecting the proposed resolution approving an authorized in the redevelopment agency in the city serves as good to execute a lease of land. >> at this time, we will hold a hearing regarding the 474 natomas street. >> good afternoon. i am the acting deputy executive director. it is my pleasure to be before

you to request approval of a gram please forward the affordable housing project located in the agency south of market redevelopment area. this will be comprised of 60 units of affordable rental housing for very low income households. the developer of this project has worked to finalize all of the funding necessary to construct the project and this is scheduled to begin this january and is estimated to complete in the fall of 2013. we are requesting that the board approved the ground lease between the agency and the developer for a term that can total up to 99 years. the agency's structure is to ensure that there is long-term affordability for this project and remains in affordability for the long term.

this contains language that this was injured in two prior to the statewide redevelopment agency and is considered enforceable under state law. that concludes my presentation. thank you. >> thank you, any questions. many see if there are any who wish to speak either in favor of or in opposition to the proposed resolution. if there are, please stepped up now. >> we are excited that we're moving forward with the transit plan.

this building is being led by community housing partnership. this will include at least 25 units of two to three-bedroom units. what was mentioned was the long- term affordability and at least 35 of the units are below 50 per 5%. -- and are below 55%. i would like to make a motion to make an amendment. can we take the motion without objection? without objection, that shall be the case. >> on item 15 as amended.

>> this resolution is adopted as amended. item 16. >> item 16, a public hearing on the disclosure responsibilities of public officials under public securities law pursuant to the file on november 8th, 2011. >> our public finance director and are comptroller are scheduling a hearing to conduct a training session on the responsibility for disclosure imposed by federal securities law. at this time, i would like to turn it over to the office of public finance. >> president, members of the

board. we're the deputy city attorney. before we began, i would like to thank the board the opportunity to for making a brief and very important information.

bush john is joined by his former partner. keep provides data the advise. we are doing this in service. the comptroller has made a commitment to make these to the board of. many of you have seen the various is super articles and commentary. some of the commentary has been quite alarming. among the more frequent and public commentators of the u.s. securities and exchange commission, which is frequently expressing a concern about the