characterization, our appeal does raise legitimate and significant concerns about the environmental analysis of this project. that this project is extremely popular does not negate city responsibilities under state law. the project will have, in addition to significant environmental impact, a significant financial impact on the hotel. no one denies that. 112 rooms that currently have a bridge rooms will instead face a concrete wall 20 feet away. -- that have the eight bridges use -- that have bay bridge view instead face a concrete wall 20 feet away. we are committed to continuing to work with the moma. as far as timing, it took a full month for the museum to respond to our letter from november 22.

o request for additional time is legitimate and called for. thank you for your time. president chiu: colleagues, any question to the appellant or any of the parties involved? seeing none, this hearing is closed. the matter is in the hands of the board. supervisor kim: i know that many of the public comments that came forward or very supportive of the project. i want to add that i am also supportive of the project. i think the expansion of the museum and relocation of the fire department will be of great benefit to our city and the south of market neighborhood. but the question before us is whether the eir in front of us is adequate, accurate, and complete. having listened to both of the arguments and having read the planning department response to the appellant, i believe that we

have met our obligation under the eir. while the specific design and mitigation was not included, i believe that what was included is in alignment with what will be coming forward before us. some of the negations were outlined in the eir and will be later codified in the development coming before us. i would like to move forward with item 33, tabling item 34 and 35. president chiu: the supervisor has made a motion, seconded by supervisor campos. further discussion? take a roll-call vote. supervisor weiner: aye. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye.

supervisor chu: aye. supervisor cohen: -- supervisor cohen is absent. supervisor elsbernd: aye. supervisor farrell: aye. supervisor kim: aye. supervisor mar: aye. president chiu: i think supervisor cohen is just stepping onto the floor. do we need to send the boat? -- recind the vote? without objection, that vote is rescinded. again. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor weiner: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye. supervisor chu: aye. supervisor cohen: aye. supervisor elsbernd: aye. supervisor farrell: aye. supervisor kim: aye. supervisor mar: aye.

>> there are 10 ayes. president chiu: at this time, the final eir has been certified. with that, why don't we go to items 15 through 17? >> item 15 is an ordinance amending the planning code to change the use classification of 676 howard st. and a portion of 935 pull some street. a and 16 orders the summary vacation of hunt street. item 17 amends the general plan map. president chiu: any discussion on these items? same house, call? -- same call? it is my understanding that supervisor olague can vote on these matters. i asked the court to put a quick call into her office for that --

i ask the clerk to put a quick call into her office for that. come on in. ok. we cannot take a roll-call vote on items 1527 -- we cannot now take a roll-call vote on items 15 -- we can now take a roll- call vote on items 15 through 17. supervisor weiner: aye. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye. supervisor chu: aye. supervisor cohen: aye. supervisor elsbernd: aye. supervisor farrell: aye. supervisor kim: aye. supervisor mar: aye. supervisor olague: aye. >> there are 11 ayes. president chiu: those ordinances are passed on the first reading. why don't we move to roll call.

>> roll call for introductions. supervisor weiner: today, i am introducing a supplemental appropriation, and i am joined in this appropriation by mayor lee and supervisors campos and olague to backfill hov public funding cuts -- hiv public funding cuts. nancy pelosi has heroically fought for people living at risk for hiv, and has brought enormous amounts of funding to these critical services. she has fought tooth and nail to protect that funding. the ryan white care act is a critical piece of that. leader policy has done an extraordinary work in protecting

land -- ryan white. we also have members of public -- of congress who have targeted the funding year in and year out. we are now experiencing a serious cut. next fiscal year, it will be over $4 million. i know we will go through quite a budget process to figure out how to address that. but we know san francisco has a firm commitment to those living with and at risk for the disease. i for one and many others are not going to allow that safety net and those services to deteriorate. the cut we are experiencing for the march 1-june 30 time. -- timeperiod is approximately $1.80 million. this would appropriate $1.80 million from a reserve we established for state and federal cuts.

i want to thank mayor lee for immediately supporting and cheerleading this appropriation, and supervisors campos and olague for working with me and the mayor to move this forward. that is my introduction. the rest i submit. supervisor cohen: colleagues, on december 29, the california supreme court issued a ruling that upheld assembly bill 26, which dissolved free development agencies, and struck down the assembly bill 27, which provided redevelopment agencies an opportunity to continue by making payments to the state. as a result of this, the city redevelopment agency will be dissolved as of february 1 of this year, and the city must accept and continue the

enforceable obligations. this ruling has immediate and significant impact not only to the neighborhoods that have current redevelopment project areas, predominantly in district have and 6, but also in the city -- districts 10 and 6, but also in the city as a whole. there are existing contractual obligations, such as mission bay development, candlestick point, and trans bay. however, this ruling has significant impact for affordable housing and other investments that the redevelopment agency was making in our more challenge neighborhoods, such as funding for local hire opportunities for at-risk populations, funding for neighborhood revitalization work. that includes small business support and improvements.

project that completed the re- development planning process m were negotiated contracts -- in were negotiated contracts. under the assembly bill, the city must immediately do a number of things to protect the supply of affordable housing in the projects that will be able to continue. therefore, today i am submitting and introducing a resolution that transfers the redevelopment agency's affordable access to the mayor's office of housing. it also provides for required payments of enforceable obligations by the city, as well as authorizing a new oversight board, which is required by the state legislation to oversee the fiscal management and access of the former redevelopment agency, including issuing new bonds, and

to exercise land-use authority over the project that will continue, and remove redevelopment authority from treasure island. we need to work together to ensure that these projects that have been affected by the loss of redevelopment will be able to be continued. we also need to make sure the successor entity created is centralized and has a corporate stuff, leadership, and accountability to the residents of the areas. i am committed to working with all parties on this complex issue, including affordable housing, labor, and developers. it will be a complicated and difficult process, but one where we need to ensure we preserve all our goals and objectives that the city previously outlined, and its previous

commitment to communities and neighborhoods across the cities. the mayor indicated the persons who will be a part of the successor entity, and i look forward to supporting it. >> supervisor farrell? supervisor chu? supervisor kim? supervisor kim: i want to welcome our newest colleagues, christina olague. i was pleased the mayor appointed another female to the board of supervisors. for a long time, we have had no more than three, although in the past decade we had many more. on top of that, you are highly qualified, and i know your work well in the community, as a planning commissioner and organizer of the senior action network. your work around affordable

housing and anti-gentrification in many of our neighborhoods -- i am excited to see you here. i appreciate your service to the residents of district 5 and want to commend the mayor on his appointment. i want to think supervisor -- thank supervisor cohen for introducing legislation on the dissolution of redevelopment. this was not a great way to and 2011. -- and the -- end 2011. we want to bring projects to as stable ground as possible. many of these projects are in districts 6 and 10. i want to work with our colleagues to insure the premises surrounding affordable housing and economic development will continue the best we can, given what decisions have been made at the court and state levels.

supervisor elsbernd: today, i am introducing a community request, following up on my question to the mayor during question time, through the chair to supervisor avalos. i felt a little of your frustration today with question time. if high-speed rail does not produce, what do we do with trends but terminal? the question we got back was why we need high-speed rail. i agree 100%. but what happens if high-speed rail does not come? this is a question i have been asking not just the mayor, but others, and i get a similar response to what we heard today. i hear why we need a high-speed rail. i agree. i want high-speed rail. but we need a plan b.

we cannot sink our head in the sand. look at what is happening in washington and sacramento. high speed rail is on life support. if it goes away, what happens to transbay? i do not want it to go away. i want it to happen. but i do not want a situation where we are all the way down the track, the money disappears, and we are stuck with the most beautiful bust up in the world. the would be ashamed. -- a shame. i do not want to get to plan b. i want high-speed rail and the downtown extension. but what is plan b? there is yet to be a solid insert. we did not get one today. -- yet to be a solid answer. supervisor campos: let me begin by echoing what supervisor kim

indicated in welcoming our newly-appointed member of the board of supervisors. it is truly an honor to have you here. at the appointment, i think, is a milestone on many levels. i do not know if we have ever had more than three lgbt supervisors. it would be the first time in a while we have had three latino supervisors. beyond that, what you bring to the table -- i know all of us here look forward to working with you and your staff. we again thank mayor lee for the appointment. my first item is an in memoriam for arnold c. ellis. i know a number of people were here, colleagues from the bay

area legal aid. because of the addenda, they could not be here for the actual in memorium. but i know that all of them who were here want to send it -- want to recognize the contributions of mr. ellis, who was a very special person. he passed away in late december at the age of 64, leaving behind his beloved wife, as well as his daughter and his stepmother, as well as a large family of brothers, sisters, and uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, and nieces, and many friends. a graduate of harvard law school, class of '74, mr. ellis dedicated his entire legal career to property law. this is an individual who could have made a great deal of money, but chose to serve. he began his career in 1975.

we are talking about 36 years of legal practice as a staff attorney at the san francisco legal assistance foundation, which is now the bay area legal aid. in less than a year, mr. ellis became the managing attorney at the western office, while continuing to face housing issues ranging from defending against illegal evictions, combating housing discrimination, and insuring families live in subsidized housing were treated equally and fairly under the law. he helped over the years thousands of families and in a message to bay area legal aid's staff and its board on thursday, when mr. ellis passed, someone said that arnold, he was a good man who always enjoyed life and motivated everyone around them to do the same.

arnold played a pivotal role in helping to shape sfnlaf and the bay legal after that. he helped all of us to keep it real, we will miss him clearly -- dealer. so i want to just -- dearly. so i want to just on behalf of 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