[gavel] president chiu: good afternoon, and welcome to the board of supervisors meeting for december

13, 2011. madam clerk, could you please read the roll? clerk calvillo: [reading roll] mr. president, all members are present. president chiu: thank you. ladies and gentlemen, could you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? [pledge of allegiance] colleagues, you should have copies of the november 1 and november 8 board minutes. could i have a motion to approve those? emotion from supervisor -- a

motion from supervisor farrell. without objection? approved. madam clerk, could you read our special order? >> -- clerk calvillo: public comment for this item will take place during general public comment. president chiu: welcome back, mr. mayor. you could address the board for any item you want to during the first few minutes. mayor lee: i am glad to be back for the last question time of the year. we have been taking important

steps to track things in the city, and we are expanding on our apprenticeship programs to make sure we are hiring san franciscans and to refocus on our neighborhood commercial corridors. we have also together put finishing touches on what i call once in a generation projects, like park merced and treasure island, and working together, we have balanced this year's budget in a fiscally responsible way and without compromising our ideals. i want to say to you though that we all just heard the governor released his budget predictions for this year, and as you know, there was $4 billion in revenue that the governor had intended with the state legislature to close. they were only able to close $1.80 billion of that, so the trigger cuts have been announced as of today, so i pledge to work with you, with the community- based organizations to try to figure out how to protect our

most critical services, and we have already begun that service, that effort, by meeting with our community-based organizations and certainly by individual meetings with each of you, supervisors, as well, so these coming months, we will be making a very strong effort to make sure our budget is balanced, also with an understanding to how these trigger cuts will impact us. clearly, there is a lot that remains to be done. we still have good news. our unemployment rate started this year at 9.5% in today is at about 8%, and we are continuing our progress on this front, and it is one of our top priorities, so i am glad to see that two of our questions today focus on what we are doing to undertake a speedy recovery for our economics and growing jobs in the city, and while my

administration focuses on strengthening our economy, which will also keep focused on the day-to-day tasks, the challenges that san franciscos -- that san francisco -- san franciscans will work. this is what we rely on every day. with that, i am proud. with that, let's get started with the questions. >> thank you, mr. mayor. the first question will be provided. >> the current payroll tax system is detrimental, both to job growth, and is broken.

we were trying to carve out things from the payroll tax. are you contemplating more about the business tax? >> i completely agree with you the we have to take a look at these policies in san francisco. it is my top priority. as you know, i was a strong supporter. i want to think the board for your support in making sure this city is an attractive place for companies to come and to grow. the very fact that we need to talk about this legislation, we have a more systemic problem. the time has come after literally years of talk to reform the business tax. i made a point of it during this campaign, and i know president

chiu did, as well. the tax has problems, not generating stable revenue flows, and it creates perverse incentives for growth. we are already hard it worked, and i will forward to working with you, supervisor farrell, as we did this. they have also been calling for reforms four years.

as i mentioned, this leads to real instability in the city revenues. the good is is we have an opportunity to smooth the volatility and reform our business tax, to greet a system that encourages growth and hiring. it is going to be a tough policy conversation, as we have already begun to have this conversation with ourselves and as we unveil a strategy to the rest of the public, and i know you have the commitment of president f. chiu and the board members -- with

president chiu and the board members. i look forward to working with you, supervisor farrell. president chiu: thank you. supervisor carmen chu. supervisor chu: thank you. mine follows on the economy. what can we expect in terms of allocations that you intend to put in there in terms of improving the climate in san francisco? what are three concrete approach is that you have? >> thank you. we want to make sure we stimulate job growth. job creation and putting san franciscans to work has been and will be my top priority. included in my 17-point road map for good jobs and opportunity, i

pledge to work everyday to make sure we're creating good jobs for san francisco's families. there is a lot we are doing in addition to the reforms i just mentioned. we require a jobs impact review for on the legislation. i firmly believe it is the responsibility of city hall to help small businesses grow and thrive and not create hurdles to job growth. if approved in june, this charter amendments will require a review hearing -- this charter amendment would require a review hearing to see if it will negatively impact jobs. we can add transparency and accountability. today, i am also introducing a

$325 million budget supplemental in bond sales to rebuild and renovates streets, parks, playgrounds, an important safety facilities. these bond funds will lead to the creation of jobs and improve the infrastructure at the same time. from the bonds to the earthquake safety and emergency response bonds to the recently passed st. bonds, we are investing in san francisco. san francisco will invest $9 billion in improving city infrastructure to the 10-year capital plan and create tens of thousands of jobs. infrastructure projects like the trans bay center, the general hospital rebuild and others, they are already under way and creating thousands of good jobs for our residents.

and finally, we need to keep investing in the commercial corridors. i will soon launch a new invest in neighborhoods initiative to centralize and prioritize assistance to san francisco, for streetscape and façade improvements, small business micro loans, districts, and activated open space. i look forward to speaking to you about these as we launch them. these are just a few initiatives from my road map, and i look forward to working with you and all of the members of the board to create job opportunities and helping our businesses thrive in the city. thank you. president chiu: supervisor kim from the six the district will have the next question. supervisor kim: the most recent data shows that families with

children become homeless at an alarming rate. the witness for emergency family shelters currently includes 267 families, a historical level, and an over 300% increase since 2007. the data on children of those who choose to self identify as homeless has also reached horrendous levels. yesterday, i learned that prior to a final court mandated eviction that three san franciscans committed suicide prior to losing their housing, and the impact and what that says in terms of the hope that people have in terms of their future here in the city, what are your office plans to address these crises? to reduce the homeless families, and would you keep the emergency center at the methodist- applicable open, and establish

a drop-in center until this crisis is addressed? -- at the methodist-episcopal (>> my staff has been hard at work trying to proactively responded to this very serious challenge, and i am proud to offer some very constructive, tangible solutions to you. the city human services agency will work with the housing authority to give homeless families that are in the shelter system and on public housing waitlists immediately into a vacant housing units. this is already underway as a staffer and human services and about 40 are currently a defined families and will begin processing by today -- are under way as our staff and human- resources to work with those currently defined families and will begin processing today. they are now processing the first 18 homeless families.

human services will also find a new rent subsidy voucher and moved in rent for first month rent, furniture for families, and provide post placement supported case management. the long-term goal, i should add, is to increase the incomes of these families in order to place them into permanent come on subsidized housing. human services is committed to using a hundred thousand dollars out of the mayor's homeless fund to matching the contributions from the founder of sales force. i extend the deep gratitude for engaging in such an intractable issue and for putting real resources behind their commitment. their generosity is inspiring. i also have to report that the city will find an additional $1.10 million for the 2012, 2013

budget for rounding up the program. all told, we will be able to provide approximately 160 rent subsidies. we will also add case management staff and resources to encompass family services and to work with families on the shelter waiting list with a goal of finding housing in lieu of shelter. i think you will agree, supervisor kim, with the generosity of one family and the city resources we are committing, that we are making significant progress. i look forward to working with you, and thank you for asking this question. president chiu: our next question will be from the supervisor for us -- from super -- from district 8, supervisor wiener. supervisor wiener: thank you. the municipal transportation authority board of directors recently approved an $8 million

payment from the trust fund. they abolished this when they passed proposition be in 2010. although the board of directors approved this. mayor lee: it would give the san francisco mta the opportunity to modernize their work rules.

while we will not have to make a similar payment in the future, this one was, as they say, already on the books. also from a fairness perspective, the rank-and-file bus drivers had every reason to expectation that the last payment would be made for the fiscal year proceeding the passage of prop g.

and i am also glad you asked about the implementation of prop g broadly, because this will lead to better muni systems. we are making solid progress at the mta in implementing the current contract that was negotiated under prop g, hiring port -- part-time operators and accident review, i think we will see benefits of prop g this year and going forward. the purpose was for the mta to negotiate a contract that would support service while being fair to the operators. driving a bus or a train is not an easy job, no one to assure that the city is compensating and treating our drivers fairly, while holding them and me accountable for delivering the service we all want and deserve. i believe prop g with strong

accountability and responsibility will get us there. in the future, i am looking for a new push forward for other efficiency savings that we are now allowed to do under prop g. again, thank you, supervisor, and to supervisor elsbernd, keeping muni at the board in a constructive way. president chiu: from district 10, supervisor cohen. supervisor cohen: addressing the issues of overcrowding and poor on-time performance, the municipal transportation agency is now proposing to make its express line per minute.

would you be supportive of piloting an express line? mayor lee: thank you, and think you for talking about being -- the t line. people going between the outer sunset and downtown. while i am pleased to see the san francisco mta to be able to have such improvement, i understand there were certain circumstances that made it work and made it limit the transfer ability to other light rail lines. specifically, crowding on the n- judah is causing delays and serious costs. the n express has worked because of the severe crowding it was able to eliminate in some neighborhoods, and because it uses alternative, higher-speed