myself and the board, i wanted to just acknowledge the passing of mr. ellis and our warmest thoughts to him, his family and his loved ones. the second item is an accept and expend that i'm introducing and the third item is a resolution that in fact is being co-sponsored by i think every member of the board of supervisors including our newly appointed supervisor olague which is a resolution declaring january 6 through january 27 -- 22, 2012, financial aid awareness week. very important subject matter and i want to thank my colleagues for their co-sponsorship that have item. the third item that i'm introducing and i want to thank supervisor kim and supervisor avalos for their co-sponsorship is an ordinance that i'm

introducing to address what i believe, what we believe is a legitimate concern, complaint that hags been raised by -- has been raised by voters during this past election and that is how do we discern the different ideas and perspectives from different candidates? and it's something that has raised the issue of the so-called zombie candidate and in the last election. and in the ordinance that we're introducing is an ordinance that advances the filing deadline that candidates have to abide by and what that will do is it will allow candidates that are making that decision to take into account the entirety of the field before actually accepting public financing. the ordinance also raises the dollar amount and the number of

contributes that are a candidate must raise before he or she qualifies for public financing, which i know is a concern that some have raised. and finally it provides that if the board of supervisors is unable to pass a law before the june election, the ordinance would basically put public financing law in accordance with the supreme court ruling that we have discussed in the past. this is something that is a proposal right now. it may be that the ordinance is in fact not needed but i think it's important for us to move this item forward and i want to thank again the co-sponsorship of supervisor kim and supervisor avalos. the next item is the hearing request that i am proud to introduce along with supervisor scott wiener and it's about a very important issue within the lgbt community and that is the question of what is happening to

the aging population within the lgbt community. we are calling for a hearing quest to explore the needs of lgbt seniors and -- i'm sorry, i forgot to add that it's also co-sponsored by supervisor olague. i want to thank her as well as a member of the now lgbt caucus of the board of supervisors. it's a hearing to determine what the city and county of san francisco is doing to meet the needs of lgbt seniors. to explore additional steps that are -- that need to be taken to address the needs of this growing population. we will be asking key staff throughout the city government to come in and to present on the item and we will be getting feedback from members of the lgbt community. it is a difficult subject matter that quite frankly we in the lgbt community and as a city have not properly addressed and

it's difficult to have that conversation but i'm very grateful to supervisor wiener and his staff as well as supervisor olague for working with us on this very important issue and i think it's only appropriate that this comes forward as we also collectively, working with mayor lee, just did an introduction restoring or at least proposing the restoration of ryan white to provide basic services to -- around h.i.v. and aids. so that's my introduction and beyond that i say thank you. >> thank you. supervisor olague: i'll give a brief introduction. i'll try not to be too long. i think people heard me yesterday and, you know, heard me over the years. i'll try to keep it short. but i do feel like i need to say something and give background for my values. for those who aren't family with

them. many of you know me for my work at mission agenda and the miggets collaborative where i worked with a community to improve the quality of life for tenants including families who live in single room occupancy hotels. as part of the mission antidisplacement coalition, we work to preserve ethnic and economic diversity in san francisco. most recently a senior action -- at senior action network i learned about the challenges that seniors and persons living with disabilities face. i learned about issues regarding aging and remaining in place. as a member of the planning commission for almost eight years, so fewer years than the woman who served for 16, i learned a lot about the impact that land use decisions have on our city as a whole. i supported board legislation that had citywide implications including but not limited to urban agriculture. i worked on the bicycle plan,

eastern neighborhoods, market and ocktavia plans, along -- octavia plan, along with japantown, booker t. washington, bird safe building protections and other issues. i tried to continue to support issues that -- and development that encourages economic and racial diversity in the city. i have an intense interest in small scale manufacturing, the viability of commercial corridors, something that i believe is very important to district five. we have upper haight, lower haight, the fillmore, inner sunset. so i believe that small business viability something that's very

critical to job creation and retention in district five. and obviously other districts in the city. i hope to work with supervisor mar on some of the legislation that makes it easier for small businesses to survive here in san francisco. some of the issues that i'd hoped to prioritize, in the western edition for the past couple of years we've seen a transition from the western edition as a redevelopment area. i know that we will see the disillusion of that agency period but to one that fell into the planning department. so i'm hoping to work with the mayor's office. i haven't yet spoken with them. to actually create some meetings between planning and the community, to discuss the future of planning and development

there in the western edition area. i believe that's an issue that we really do need to highlight a little bit more. i happen to ride muni so as a muni rider i realize there are a lot of issues related to muni that need certain work. in district five. the lines 21, five and six have all seen cuts. the seven -- eight was eliminated totally. sometimes when you go from downtown or from the outer areas, by the time you get to d-5, the buses are pretty much packed. i know i experience that every morning when i ride the five fulton to go to work. so i think that muni is going to have to be a priority and i think it is a priority for many of the residents i have spoken to in d-5. there are other issues. obviously rec and park and what they do is something that's critical to district five also.

so i just wanted to again let people know that i have very opendoor policy. i meet with everybody. there are no gate keepers at our office. we want to meet as many residents as we can so we're going to hit the ground running because we believe that's what d-5 deserves. we'll be out there meeting with residents and neighborhood groups to try to really, you know, also hear what people are prioritizing in the neighborhoods. i think those have already started. i've done a lot of work as the planning commissioner and i know how important it is to be open to what neighborhood groups and residents have to share. so that being said, i did want to also request a hearing. recently at the land use committee at the board of supervisors we had a hearing on

seniors who live in single room occupancy hotels and supervisor mar was the sponsor of that hearing. i think they're still with it, we have to do work with the findings. i'd like to participate with that along with supervisor kim's office. one of the issues that did come up and i'm hoping -- haven't had a chance to really have a complete conversation with supervisor cohen, but her comments during that hearing inspired me to request this hearing today. so perhaps i can co-sponsor the hearing, i'm hoping. so we have a chance to talk more about it. that would be on public housing repairs. over the course of the next several months, i am committed to exploring ways our city can better meet the needs of the residents in public housing. as you all know, district five has a considerable number of public housing units and while i was at senior action networks, i had the opportunity to work with many of the elderly residents about issues they face in public

housing. i can tell you from my own work that one of the biggest complaints voiced over and over regards basic maintenance, response times and the ongoing if a silts' improvement schedule. and -- facilities' improvement schedule. and here we're talking about basic repairs to the sewer system, elevators, broken windows and lighting, the kind of repairs that have the greatest affect on the safety, security and health of residents. from a governmental point of view and to put this into proper context, i do note our city's efforts to designate $2 million annually to establish a public housing repairs program in 2007 and we got an even bigger boost in 2009 when $17.9 million in federal stimulus moneys were awarded to repair the city public housing stock. in that light i am calling for a hearing to explore the status of our city's public housing repairs program and how federal moneys are being used and may be leveraged in the future.

in addition, we will be discussing repair response times for residents as they need assistance with their units. again i want to thank supervisor cohen for really kind of highlighting that issue in my mind and we both -- i believe there are several public housing units in district 10. four, yeah. and in district five. i think it's important that we will hopefully work -- have the opportunity to work together on this issue. and also i just hope to -- that the planning commission would make it a point of treating each other civily. there were a lot of disagreements sometimes on issues but we tried to disagree in a civil manner and to not forgot each other's humanity. so, i hope that i'm able to engage in similar i guess civil discussions with my colleagues here at the board. so i'm sure we will have our differences of opinion but that

doesn't mean that benefit to be disrespectful -- doesn't mean we have to be disrespectful in how we engage with each other. i may not always meet my own intentions but certainly i hope to. and i'm proud to be serving the residents in district five. >> thank you. supervisor mar: thank you to our new colleague, i just wanted to say i really appreciate the warmth and the spirit you bring to the board of supervisors and i look forward to riding the five fulton with you. i'll be getting on earlier than you but hopefully one of these days without violating the brown act. supervisor olague: at least you'll have the seat. supervisor mar: i'll give you my seat. but i just wanted to say that we have worked together since mission agenda days on many campaigns but i respect your wisdom and experience so much

and even just watching you here today, your willingness to engage all of us and to be open to new ideas and to really always put our communities and our city first. but really it's that kind of spirit that you bring that i'm really looking forward to. i really see you as a tremendously wise person that really will look at specific neighborhood issues but always the citywide perspective as well. i'm really looking forward to working with you on the board. i have a couple of items. the first is in memoriam for a tremendous arts leader in the city, john buchanan. i'm sad to say that john buchanan, our director of the fine arts museums of san francisco, since 2006 has passed away. he passed away on friday at his san francisco home of cancer. he was only 58 years old. also i had the pleasure of working with him because the museum are within my district but also he just brought such joy to the amazing programs that

he and his staff brought to our museums. really beautiful and amazing exhibits. mr. buchanan was born in nashville in 1953, the sun of a schooled a minute -- the son of a school administrator. he was fascinated by arch from -- art from an early age and earned his bachelor's degree in english then a master's in art history from vanderbilt university. mr. buchanan entered the museum world as a development officer at the tennessee state museum in nashville. and went on to join the staff of the american association of museums in washington, d.c. he spent nine years as director of dickson museum and gardens in memphis and then ran the portland art museum for 11 years before leaving in 2006 to become the director of the fine arts museum in san francisco. during his six years at the fine arts museums, comprising d. young museum in golden gate park

and one in lincoln park, mr. buchanan was responsible for the grand resurgence of interest in the museums and a 70% increase in membership. combined attendance at the fine arts museums in 2010 ranked fourth among museums in the u.s. and 16th in the world. i think a lot of it is because of his vision and his tremendous energy as well. mr. buchanan procured such crowd-pleasing exhibits as the king tut exhibit, the birth of impressionism, masterpieces from paris and the current masters of venice show. i'll just say that some of my favorites were the colorful glass sculptures and the punk kind of fashion one which was awesome as well. his attention to presentation and assistance on high artist quality and the way in which all his exhibitions included an important educational element have set a new high mark for anyone's museum experience.

i'll just say that renee, one of his staff that puts together the free fridays evening at the museum for many families and kids and everyone wanting to be an artist from tiny little kids to older folks, is wonderful and it brings the whole neighborhood and community into the museum. but i see that as part of mr. buchanan's vision as well. mr. buchanan is survived by his wife, lucy matthews buchanan, and an uncle lewis buchanan and aunt of nashville. private funeral services will take place in nashville, a memorial event in san francisco will be announced later. the family requests that donations in mr. buchanan's memory be made to the director's discretionary fund at the fine arts museums of san francisco. the phone number is 415-750-3687. or in support of the research of dr. andrew coe research fund, 2098, 415-502-1899.

thank you, colleagues, for joining me in closing the meeting in honor of mr. buchanan. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor mar. president chiu. president chiu: thank you. i want to echo supervisser mar's comment about john buchanan. i was wondering if we could do a memoriam for the entire board for him. that being the case, i have two items. first of all, i'm introducing a resolution related to the 2010 united supreme court case citizens united which ruled in favor of unlimited corporate spending to influence elections and policy decisions which essentially granted corporations the same free speech protections as human beings. there have been dozens of cities across the country including new york city, oakland and los angeles that have passed resolutions to call on congress to limit corporate influence and members of both houses of congress have proposed amendments to the constitution.

today my resolution would propose that we support this nationwide movement in asking for a constitutional amendment related to the rights of corporations in relation to campaigns and elections and essentially to overturn the citizens united decision. i also of course want to take a moment to welcome our newest colleague, supervisor olague. as obviously you and i know, we've worked together on many occasions over the years and i know i'm very excited personally that you're joining us and i'm excited for your expertise when it comes to land use and advocating for seniors, for communities that need advocacy and i know that you will reflect the values of your district and i look forward to working with you on district five issues as well as on citywide issues. the last thing i want to mention, colleagues that i've just circulated, the new committee assignments, i appreciate the feedback that all of you have provided me this and i hope that this committee does reflect the diversity of perspectives on this board of

supervisors as well as on the city. i look forward to working together with you al and all the committees to move forward our respective legislative agendas. just to highlight, let me go through the committee assignments for budget and finance. supervisor chu will remain as chair. supervisor avalos will join her as vice chair and supervisor kim will join the two of them as members of the three-person committee and then when it comes time for budget season which will begin in the early part of april, supervisors cohen and wiener will join indemnify. at our citi operations committee, supervisor elsbernd will chair that committee. the vice chair will be supervisor chu and supervisor olague will be a member of that. supervisor owe laly will be vice chair that have committee -- olague will be vice chair of that committee. supervisor elsbernd will serve as vice chair. at land use, the composition will remain the same.

chaired by supervisor mar, with our vice chair, supervisor cohen and supervisor wiener. for public safety, supervisor avalos will chair that committee. supervisor olague will serve as vice chair and supervisor mar. and then at rules, supervisor kim will serve as chair, supervisor farrell will be the vice chair and campos. and i know we will be making decisions next week on the transportation authority. so, all that being said, colleagues, again, happy new year and unless there's any further announcements as part of roll call, why don't we move to general public comment. >> next item on the agenda is the opportunity for the public to address the board for up to two minutes on items that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board, to include items -- excuse me, to include the formal policy discussion by the mayor and the boorpped and those items on the adoption without committee

reference pours of the agenda. yet excluding those items which have been considered by the board committee. speakers using translators will get twice the time. please clearly state a projector and remove the document when the screen should return to live coverage of the committee. president chiu: we have a couple of folks for public comment. first speaker, please. welcome back to the board. >> [speaking foreign language]

happy if you year for every one of you guys. i hope and i wish that year 2012 can be better for all of us. this week we going to have a nice and a grateful mayor. his name, as you know here, his name is ed lee. ed lee and after ed lee we have also new sheriff, his name is ross markrymy as you see him but -- mark rimmy as you see him -- mirkarimi as you see him. and olague. christina, she learn a lot from our former president mirkarimi and others. i wish to give her a chance to show you what she can do.

i know her, i love her, i support her, i ask everyone of you to stand behind her and help her for any time she needs our help. ladies and gentlemen, god bless america. finally, as i know, my request, my hope coming through as you see, is going to kill the former president of egypt, mubarak, the man i sadly steal our money and we see. i send here my message. return our money back to my country before you die and before you go to hell and i sign my name because my uncle used to be his director for his college. thank you. i hope every one of you have

good year and you, you must understand. everyone in your district -- [inaudible] thank you. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i hope our new supervisor will extend her umbrella of civility and humanity beyond just the limits of her fellow supervisors. stop the rape of the public library, don't accept money from the friends and foundation. since the citizens of san francisco approved a bond issue in 2000 for a branch library improvement program, all but two of the branches scheduled to be remodeled have now been completed. the friends of the library have been telling people that it would be raising $16 million for those branches. in 10 years the friends of the library have expended $870,000 for the branches according to the department of public works. financial reports were required to be submitted to the

california attorney general show that in the last decade the friends of the library have income of $35.7 million and the executive level employees made $6.1 million. required disclosure business the library itself show that in 10 years the friends spent $4.1 million to benefit the library in any form, most of it indirectly. the friends of the library have no agreement with this city because they would not answer questions about their finances before your budget and finance committee. i often close my comments with the lies cost more than the money. that means not only do the per visaers provide very little actual benefit to the public in terms of cash, but there is a tremendous amount of harm that is done to prevent our institutions from being responsible and beneficial to the citizens. there is a direct relationship between that deference to private money and the necessary

coverup of its influence that destroys our democracy, demeans our citizens and undermines the community values that make our society civil and humane. the repeated scandals and abuse are directly related to that abuse. the law costs more than the money. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> president chiu, members of the board. as i was going to put more money into the meter, i saw a gal from kto a-10 and my witness news channel 5 and i said, more and more citizens are not listening to you folks because we know we're not hearing the truth and we're going to infowars.com with alex jones or others or liberty.com or some reliable news source. i remember before when i used to listen to the prostitute press and abc, on april 19, -- or 1995, they said, fundamentalist christians blew up the federal

building in oklahoma city. we were told that timothy mcveigh with his bomb and the truck brought down the federal building, right? a few days ago i learned something that i never knew before from alex jones. on infowars.com. it turns out that "the new york times" bought the tv station in oklahoma city there and fired four people that were telling the truth. statements like this, i mean, i can't say for sure because i didn't hear what they said, but timothy mcveigh's bomb went off about 10 seconds after the federal building collapsed. there's no connection, in other words. well, the long and short of it was the cops, the local cops in the police department in oklahoma city were threatened by the f.b.i. agents. the second in command in the f.b.i. had the plot that helped set the bombs on the columns, ok, to murder 186 people, including women and children, and the cops were threatened that if they didn't stop the