speaker. >> president chiu and supervisors, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. thank you to everyone on both sides of this appeal for your passion for a clean day to enjoy. my name is peter. i am a lifelong america cup fan, a founder of the acoc. at street francis we have 2400 members who love boating. and thousands of our members are enthusiastic about the america's cup coming to san francisco. on behalf of those members, and sailors across the bay, i implore this board is to follow through on your previous vote to support the america's cup and reject this appeal. i believe that this board would

be acting in the best interest of all san franciscans by denying this appeal. as you have seen, they have spent thousands of hours in addressing every possible environmental impact in the best way possible. they have done a proper, thorough, and adequate eir, have modified it based on comments from our citizens, and have devised many measures. they are committed to making the america's cup a showcase of environmental responsibility. with the jumbotron issue, they are flexible and there will be more solutions reached. the economic benefit through hosting the america's cup will help all san francisco and the city overall.

in fact, our union staffed club is already seeing substantial economic impact and the jobs creation through the many new members joining our club. president chiu: thank you very much. next speaker. >> ahoy, supervisors. i spent years sailing on the bay. my wife and i have lived in the sunset district. we are happy to see some attention being paid to the bay, which is a major commercial and recreational asset. please, support the americas cup and deny the appeal which was unanimously approved by the

planning commission. one aspect i did not hear much about is the future after the races. the golden gate yacht club is not putting in all this effort to lose the cup. what if they win? i do not think they will take the cup to santa clara. [applause] the want to stay here and have another race here. you can rest assured they will do everything they can to make sure this comes off properly and they will be what it back. say yes to it and note to the appeal. and a little note i have, i know a whole bunch of guys who would love to sell their own diesel engines. thank you. >> my name is liz diaz.

i own a small business on pier 40. i do not upholstery. -- yacht upholstery. i have increased my staff to accommodate the business that is developing. i think you guys are doing a great job. i am proud of you because i have members representing aholt bay area. for them to see how well the board of supervisors is working right now, i am proud of you guys and the america's cup committee and part of this business community and bring on the america's cup again and again. thank you. >> president chiu, my name is john, i am with a sailing magazine.

i have been there for 25 years. i would like to say the economic benefits have already started. we work with all of the small businesses around the bay area and they are seeing benefits from the cup. i do not know how you measure the 1.4 billion jobs but those are starting now and they will continue long after 2013. if you look at the eyes of the world, they will come to the bay. the world pays attention to saving much more than we do. i think you will see much more people watching san francisco because of the america's cup. it was not here, they would reconsider other events as well. we are being watched. if he were considering having an event in the bay or the area, this would be a hurdle.

i think the city, the environmental group has done an incredible job managing the challenges of the eir and mitigating any potential negatives. the other thing is the event will be -- bring attention to that day. there are a lot of kids and people who never know how to experience the bay. i think we can get them out there. the people who get in the bay are the ones who will help protect it and let it the most. i hope you approve this tonight. >> thank you for your support of the america's cup coming to san francisco. i urge you to reject the appeals. it has been well thought out and approved by the planning

commission. you should do the same. i support the idea that you're couple come here. there will also be an impact or sailing which is a green, environmentally sound. even that does not appear to some people, it is an inexpensive means of recreation. to see it grow for the youth is going to be fabulous. thanks once again. >> my name is peter and i am the director for the international longshore union. i want to acknowledge the rich blood lines on this board of supervisors. supervisor cohen's grandfathers' part of our local. and of course supervisor avalo'' father is in our local 13.

we have some concerns about the cup. we support moving forward. we want to see this happen. in addition to the challenges around the environment and physical issues, there are social equity issues for the work force that is one to handle this cop. we want to see what pete and benefited a work force, a union work force working on the waterfront. we want to make sure that happens for construction, hospitality, for our maritime workers and security workers. it is extremely important. we have been in multiple meetings to try to resolve these issues. we continue with productive discussions. we look forward to coming back and telling you we have had this resolution to those issues and

our members are ready to go forward and work on the waterfront. thank you very much. >> good evening. i am the president of the international longshore warehouse union in san francisco. i am for the american cup. there is a lot of benefits of the city is going to receive, and not just with my organization, which we will be doing the work of unloading and loading cargo which we have done for 100 years on these stocks. what i see is that these and docks are being reconstructed, refitted for public use. for long-term use. with the cruise ship terminal, activities for the community, it

is a win-win. most of the maritime work is out of san francisco. i encourage any building of a maritime. you need to have not just tourists, but maritime. that is what built this city. i would encourage you to " it up. -- vote it up. i wanted to say a point about the tv, i appreciate that kind of ladder a movement. it is important for the maritime community to make an issue with this. i appreciate your time. i encourage you to go with it.

>> good evening, my name is jason, i am the president of local 75. i am a four generation member born in san francisco. we have been in charter since 1939. it is our job to maintain some of the piers. the gentleman asked where are the jobs going, i stand to present a face to that question. i have a 200 members at my disposal. i could probably double that. we have been guarding these for 74 years and are very familiar doing so. we support the approval of the eir and are ready to go to work.

>> hello, i am the program director for the treasure island center. we are a non profit center. our mission is to improve our center by providing instruction to people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and abilities. we have a partnership with many youth organizations including clyde, ymca, and the boys and girls clubs. all of these organizations attend at no cost. 90% of our students live in san francisco and have never been on the water before. we understand there are risks but we believe that the benefits exceed the risks. america's cup has the potential to expose many students to sailing that would never have the opportunity to otherwise.

exposing the youth to sailing allows them to learn important skills such as water safety, teamwork, and self-confidence. by connecting all of these youths with the bay, you will have an increased awareness and appreciation of our natural surroundings. this will do nothing but help the environment. i urge you to deny the appeal and support the important event for our local community. >> my name is norman pierce. i am a longtime san franciscan. i have been a boater for 45 years. i am here to address the issues about the viability, at the

objections about this appeal. they are unfounded. to the fact that it will delay an opportunity for us to fix the waterfront which has been neglected. it used to be a big commercial environment. this cut will allow us to have a newly defined waterfront with new jobs based on recreation and growth. we will be able to have employment again. one of the supervisors mentioned, how will it affect his district? i am away from the waterfront. i know that the event authority has been going around and suggesting they install big monitors in the local parks and neighborhoods to generate viewing points for people.

the city benefits from tax dollars. people will be spending money. we will help offset some of these costs. we cannot dig going until we move on. time is of the essence. jobs are waiting for us. you need to deny this appeal and move on and get the signatures so we can go to work. >> good evening. i am pleased to be here and listen to the debate on these important projects. did the chamber was pleased to serve on the advisory committee. one of the benefits from the america's cup is that it is moving an important infrastructure project for the port of san francisco.

that is the development of peer's 27 and 29. you have heard from a city, porch, and staff on the job that has been done by everybody to move this project forward. that is what is before you tonight, there has been discussion about ancillary business issues that will be before you in the future in a few weeks, if you allow that to go forward by denying the appeal and approving the eir. is it accurate? an adequate? is it honest? does it contain the information in a thoughtful, proper, and legally defensible way? you have heard from your partners that, in fact, it does that. it came to you on a rare vote and the chamber purges a unanimous vote by the board of

supervisors to deny the appeal. >> good evening. a san franciscan since 1985. i took a job in room 200 and worked with the mayor feinstein. i sat in that docket on monday evenings back then. i salute the document that has been prepared. 2000 pages. you should be proud of that. i trust and salute the court staff. the planning department staff and yourselfs for your due diligence in pushing forward the questions to make sure that the america's cup is executed well. you should deny the appeal. i am here wearing three hats. among the executive committee.

i helped put on the world cup in 1994. we have offered our assistance. also here representing the council that to love sports events. you have heard descriptions about the benefits and the thousands of jobs that will be created. nice to see that. i'm here representing the senior senator from the state of california. she also urges you to deny the appeal and affirm this outstanding eir. >> good evening, mr. president. veronica, a member of the master mason pilot. our union is comprised of the masters on the ferry boats.

we are excited about the job opportunity the america cup will bring, particularly for our companies and are already in discussions to be the official company. on a personal note, even though i was raised and supervisor avalos' district, and was far away from the bay, the closest we got to water was a lot park, i have been a waterfront rat for 20 years. 11 of those years i have been at the port of santos and cisco trying to bring a new cruise terminal to our port. let's not forget this is also an important milestone for the start of the construction of the cruise terminal.

that is long overdue for this business. i thank you for all the hard work and i urge you to reject the appeal. >> mr. president, my name is dale carlson. i have been effective for more than 30 years. i served a term as a representative. i was active in an environmental organization. i sued the city over every single eir approved by the planning commission. i have an appreciation for the process you are going through. i appreciate environmental review. this is the longest i have ever seen in my life. if we are responsible for that, i apologize. it seems a very thorough. the arguments in favor of

turning it down, to me, seemed a bit thin, and now that the boob tube on the intertube has been cast overboard. there is one set of things that is not discussed, that is the lasting legacy of this project. sailors all over the world know that san francisco was one of the greatest places in the world to sell. not many of them will have the opportunity to come here and race. many of them will watch. many of them will see it in person. unlike the olympics events, unlike the world cup, the super bowl, the world series, the star of the show is not going to be

the goats. it is not going to be the crew, it is going to be the bay. i am looking forward to having a worldwide constituency that comes to appreciate the richness, the beauty, and the resources we have been given. it is our charge to preserve and enhance it. that comment to me, is more accountable than any shore line improvements we're going to make. it is to have a new, global audience that appreciates the bay for what it is. thank you very much. >> my name is paul kaplan and i'm a partner in a company called kkmi. we provide services in sausalito.

i am here to share with you have the america's cup has had a positive impact toward improving the environment on san francisco bay and how your rejection of this approval will provide an opportunity for improvement and continued protection of the bay. let me share a story with you. our company was nominated to an awards luncheon where there were four hundred regulators in attendance. when they announced the boatyard had won, the room was filled with laughter. it was an indication of how the maritime industry was seen by the regulators. fast-forward 10 years and last year our company was nominated for the advancement we had made. when we announced as the winner, there was not a sticker in the room. the point of view has changed

about the maritime industry. i believe that change has taken place as a result of this cup. in the past year, our facilities have been visited by the executive director's, save the bay, and other respected environmental groups, regulators, and even the health department visited our facility. they looked at management practices and never knew existed before some might cry, and not in my neighborhood. this is our yard. we would not do a thing to harm this valuable resource. i asked you reject this needless appeal. >> i am a president district 7.

supervisor kim, a pay property tax in your district. also, hopefully my waterfront column help solve your residence to get out and enjoy the water. my business and my club have employees the stand to benefit from the top and the legacy of the cup. we believe that the requirements of ceqa have been fulfilled and that the document in front of you is sufficient. i personally believe there is a lower impact for this event and anything else you could do to generate jobs in the city and county in many short-term timeframe.

i asked you to please avoid an endless set of requirements being piled onto this contract as you work through the process. i think the authority has demonstrated they can work through the remaining issues and i asked you to deny the appeal and move the project forward. thank you. >> thank you very much. my name is christine. i am pleased to say i am an executive director of the fisherman's wharf community district. it represents businesses and property owners and our purpose is to preserve the vast san francisco landscape while integrating modern efficiency to enrich the experience of visitors through traffic.

on behalf of the community benefit district, we express our support for the final eir approved by the planning commission in december. we do acknowledge there will be environmental effects on fisherman's wharf for the project, the cruise terminal, and the plaza. however, the planning department conducted a thorough analysis of the potential effects consistent with ceqa. i just wanted to acknowledge the flexibility of exploring other options for the jumbotron. it it just shows how they want to work with the city to have these projects to move forward. we support the planning department's recommendation and

urged the certification. thank you very much. >> good evening, president chiu. i am the business director for the san francisco pilots. we support this event. we believe it will be great for the city and the surrounding area. for the cruise ship terminal, that will be helpful to get started as soon as we can. the city has waited many, many years for a new cruise ship terminal. we would like to see you reject the appeal tonight and approve the eir.

>> good evening, samuel manning. we would like you to deny the appeal and support the america's cup. you'll be supporting businesses. thank you. >> i work for a report supply. thank you for all your hard work. i call on all the marine businesses, and i have been for 20 years, it has been depressing. sing closures, layoffs, people struggling to keep businesses alive, since this summer, i have noticed a noticeable change. our business has improved and sailing schools have increased action. i attribute that to the cop because there is interest in the cup. cup. i walk on the waterfront once a