>> people know in san francisco, first thing they think about is, let's go >> good morning. are you awake? [laughter] i like to welcome everyone for coming to market is very important day for the city and its infrastructure. i am from the department of public works. our agency is responsible for the care and maintenance of the city infrastructure within the city right of way. this includes streets, sidewalks, curb ramps, and

all of the connectors for residents and visitors. we are also responsible for maintaining and insuring that our roads and right of ways are safe, accessible, and enjoyable for everyone. this all happens with incredible support that we get from our mayor, the board of supervisors, and other agencies. that includes our valued customers and community partners all working together. we have representatives from walk san francisco, the san francisco coalition, members of the local 261 who work hard with us from getting the bond pas sed, san francisco capital planning committee, the office

of the city administrator, norman kelly is here, the mayor's office of public finance, the mayor's office of disability, the san francisco planning department, others and all the staff, the public utilities commission. we have been working hard with them to make sure that we support all of the projects and that we will be ready to implement. we're here today to launch the bond program that will make a significant -- that will make significant repairs to our streets and build new streetscapes for many neighborhoods. last week, the board of supervisors unanimously approved the sale of the first round of bonds. we're very happy about that.

we're getting ready to start work. i will ask our mayor to come up and say a few words. mayor ed lee. [applause] >> you do not have to lower it that low. [laughter] thank you, everybody, for coming today. i very much enjoyed these particular events. we have worked closely to make sure our infrastructure gets done. we enjoy seeing things get started, not just good legislation, but things that are employment -- implementable. you all came to make sure that we did curb ramps, bike lanes,

pedestrian safety, to make sure the streets were more walkable. a lot of people came together for a remarkable work that reflects that if we all come with the right reasons and with less politics, we can get a lot of good stuff done. i want to note that nadia is not a the mayor's office anymore. she is at the comptroller's office. her office along with the comptroller, our 10-year capital infrastructure planning, have provided the discipline for the public to understand the message. the message is that your property taxes would not be raised if you give us a chance to start paying our streets. we have not figured out that for decades we did not invest in our infrastructure properly. this is the beginning of a new relationship with our public, one that we will carry out with

our new city administrator who will help us launch even more efforts to deliver on promises that do not raise property taxes unless it is absolutely necessary. in this case, it is not. we kept that promise with the 10-year capital plan. we will make sure these projects come in on time. that is why our city engineer is here. it is his project managers that help was so much -- help with so much dpw were to make sure the city staff work together. this is valuable money. we will not squander the opportunity the public gave us. we will start seeing 17th street it repaved. this is $4 million of the bond passed to pave streets, and do

additional curb ramps, and be consistent with the standards that we have. we will work with ed at mta to get more signaling modernization to lessen the ingestion. they really need the efficiencies of our streets to properly get everybody through. then they will have less accidents and delays. we know all of this comes together with our other utilities. puc is here because they are going to help. every time we break up the street, we will look at opportunities to see what else we can do with our sewers and water systems so that we coordinate all of this. we will use every opportunity to be smart in come on, and beneath the streets as we do the infrastructure. bge and at&t and other utilities will be coordinating with us.

we want to do it right and use the precious money. i know that rings well with our board president chiu adjuster arrived. he knows this is a precious moment. we worked on the first effort that did not succeed. it hurts when we cannot get that stuff done. we will adhere to the rigors of our 10-year capital plan brian knows how hard it is to get all of the department's and agencies together to understand what we're doing with the 10-year capital plan. there are a lot of elements. as mayor, i want you to know that this is my new desk. it is global. it will be the kind of desk that i like working at. this is the one that will get things done. it is one that you can ride a bicycle around. it is kind of a public works

type looking desk. it will evidence as we go around all these projects that the $240 million will pay for, and as we work on long-term infrastructure funding that does not increase property taxes but honors what people pay through their taxes to get stuff done in the city. i am looking forward to working on this desk for many years to come. thank you very much. [applause] >> next, i would like to introduce the supervisor who was a strong supporter of the bond. he led the charge and built many bridges. he brought many community groups together. he was there working hard with us. it is only appropriate that we launched this bond program in his district, supervisors got leaner -- supervisors go scott

wiener. >> i want to welcome you to the oldest neighborhood in san francisco. i am proud to represent it. it is about to get new road surfacing. i am very excited about that. 17th street is a major thoroughfare for cars and bikes connecting the castro close to san francisco general hospital. it is a very appropriate place to start. when we went in to the campaign , i was proud to work with a great team to pass it. there were a lot of people who said to me to go for it but it will never pass in 100 years. sometimes we failed to get it on

the ballot. in 25 years, two different bonds have failed. that is not just in san francisco but throughout the bay area. it has been a very hard thing to do a hard sell. the people of san francisco understand that we as the country have failed in maintaining our infrastructure and investing in that. we see the consequences of that with bridges and public transportation and roads. people are beginning to understand that we have to invest in our infrastructure. our roads and sidewalks are a key part of that. i am so proud of the people of san francisco for understanding that and giving us the 2/3 that we needed. my counterparts around the bay area and elected officials from other areas of the county, their jaws dropped because they have never been able to do it. it is a great thing for san

francisco. we will make significant improvement to our infrastructure. the day after the election, he should have been lounging in the wadi, -- in hawaii, but he called me into his office to get to work right away. it has been amazing the team effort to move this forward and get it implemented quickly. mayer, president, thank you. thank you to everyone who has made this a reality. i look forward to making our infrastructure even better. [applause] >> another big hand for scott, who worked tirelessly to make sure that this happened. [applause] the next person i am going to introduce is a member of the planning committee and is responsible for implementing and developing the 10-year capital plan, a supervisor and or president david -- and board president david chiu.

>> it is great to be here. this is a wonderful celebration. i am sorry i am late. i spent this morning going through four different districts. i experienced many of the pot holes in those districts. this is wonderful. it has been a long road. many years of wanting to get this measure done. in 2009, mayor newsom and i proposed this out of the work of capital planning. we did not have enough support. we knew where one might region were not able to pass it during the recession in 2009. we knew we were not able to pass it in 2009 because of the recession. mayor lee and i were a bit distracted last year. i want to thank supervisor w iener for stepping up and doing the work to get the bond measure passed. it is not easy. i want to thank him for the fund-raising work he did, for being such an able spokesperson

all over the city to explain why we need to do this. we all know that in addition to the bond, your elected officials as well as everyone who's part of the capital planning committee and city leadership, we know we need to find an ongoing source to make sure the money we get is going to be a down payment on keeping our roads paved and working over the next decades of our city. we're all committed to that. the excitement of being able to attack the 800 miles of streets, the 300 building structures, the ability to make our roads safer for our seniors, the disabled, kids, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, i could not be more pleased. i look forward to signing this of the mayor's new desk and look forward to working with you as we see improvements in every single district and neighborhood of the city.

thank you very much. [applause] >> part of the program is dedicated to improvements that will bring benefits to the many muni riders. a key part of that is the mta. during his tenure, the bond was brought to life and successfully passed. it is my pleasure to welcome the director of the mta and former director of dpw. >> it is like the former director gathering. [laughter] having spent four years doing right of way infrastructure work in san francisco, it is not sexy, it is critically important to the economy and quality of life for those of us in san francisco. this bond will make it easier

and safer for people to get around san francisco on foot by improving sidewalks, intersections, better striping, countdown signals it will make it easier and safer for people to get around on bicycles by improving and adding more bicycle lanes, making them safer, separating them from traffic wherever we can. it will make it easier and more efficient to get around on transit because we will be improving our traffic signal controllers so the traffic signals talk to the others so that the buses move faster. this will be helping -- happening on the smoother pavement that these dollars will bring to san francisco. it is an important investment in infrastructure. you put those things together making it easier and more attractive to walk, bike, and

take transit. that is how we meet the goals set back in 1973. it is only with this kind of investment that we can become the transit first city we all want to be. i want to thank the leadership standing behind me, particularly a supervisor wiener, without whom the spawned would not have passed. i want to thank some people who worked hard behind-the-scenes to do the legwork, analytical work, the packaging of this. i want to acknowledge douglas legg, gloria chan, and others from dpw. we stand ready to work with dpw, stakeholders, and the public. we're ready to go to work to invest for san francisco and create jobs.

thank you very much. [applause] >> power agency also works very closely with the san francisco -- in our agency also worked very closely with others to address pot holes and provide smooth rides for bicyclists. we depend on the bicycle coalition and its members to give us information, assessments, and conditions of the streets. i would like to introduce the executive director to say a few words. [applause] >> you know we will tell you what we think. we will keep on that. i want to thank the political leadership behind me and the amazing leadership of the family around me. we're so proud to be part of the bond passing. i bike regularly on 17th street. this is a very welcome news of the bond funds to repay the 17th street.

it is a great example of how far our money can go. these planes were strike less than a year ago. we have seen noticeable increases in the number of people biking on the street. this has happened throughout the city. every time we have dedicated space to biking, we see increases in the number of people biking. we will see the same kind of improvements and changes in safety when our roads are paved and smooth. it could not matter more to someone on a bicycle. the numbers of people boking in san francisco -- the numbers of people biking in san francisco are skyrocketing. that is good for our environment, public health, and quality of life. it is also good for our local economy. more people biking and walking means more people visiting our commercial corridors, shopping,

eating, in the local economy. that is for all the neighborhoods in our city. there is a great new study by -- i have to get the name right and give them credit. the political economy research institute in baltimore. the new study shows infrastructure projects around biking and pedestrian projects create more jobs than traditional road projects. on average, the projects create 11 to 14 jobs per $1 million spent. traditional road infrastructure projects create on average seven jobs per $1 million spent. we are really proud of that. we want to make sure we're pumping more money into our local economy with more jobs, more people biking, and frequenting our commercial corridors. we look forward to repaving 17th street and many more.

[applause] >> one more important partner. we've touched on improvement for drivers, transit riders, and bicyclist. this bond will also repair sidewalks all over the city. what san francisco is premier pedestrian advocacy organization. i would like to introduce the executive director. [applause] >> walk s.f. is eager to see new investment in wider sidewalks and smarter street design throughout the city. in san francisco, even though we all walk, we still see 800 people here get hit by cars. that is too much. thanks to the mayor's pedestrian safety task force, we know that only 7% of our streets are where

over half of all of the serious and fatal injuries occur. that means we know where to focus our resources to save lives. smart investment will pay off for everyone in the city because more walkable streets means more foot traffic. that is better for local businesses. that means safer streets for kids to walk to schools, families to walk to parks, and for everyone to enjoy lives, works, and visits san francisco. thank you. [applause] >> i will now turn it over to mayor lee. i will ask all of us to gather around as he signs the legislation at his ne

>> today is 2/3. one there. i only have one of these pens. if i had more, everybody behind me would get one. they're valuable things. otherwise, the tallest person. [laughter] [applause] >> thank you very much. >> let's get to work.

supervisor avalos: good morning, and welcome to the city operations and neighborhood services committee. my name is supervisor mar avalos, the chair. i am joined by supervisor elsbernd. we will be joined shortly by supervisor mar. the committee clerk is ms. gail johnson. >> all persons attending this meeting are requested to turn off all cell phones and pagers.

if you submit copies of materials to the members of the committee, please submit an extra copy to the file. if you wish to hand in speaker cards, please put them in the container by the rail in front of you, to your left. supervisor avalos: ok, thank you. please call the first item. >> hearing on the city's response to the surge in homelessness, and families and for various city agencies, including the her -- human services agency in the housing authority to outline the response to the crisis, including any plans to expand the rental subsidy programs, and he plans to address the loss in federal homeless prevention and rapid re-housing funds, any plans to increase, is prevention efforts, any plans to expedite the filling a vacant san francisco housing authority units, and moving homeless families into them, and ways we can protect households from for closure evictions. supervisor avalos: thank you,

madam clerk. i call this hearing just last week, but it is an issue that has been on my mind for a number of months, especially with the advocacy of the coalition on homelessness, and a lot of the families are related to the coalition, and they work with a lot of homeless families. it was first brought to my attention about our crisis in a sheltering in providing housing for families in san francisco probably at the end of september, beginning of october. in fact, while i was out in my extracurricular activities over the past seven months, at the interfaith breakfast in october, a lot of the focus was on homelessness in san francisco, and a lot of people who work at that time running for mayor expressed that a big part of the homeless population consists of families. that was also in contention that the mayor himself -- and as a

city, we have a responsibility to ensure that we're supporting the least among us and the growing number of homeless families or families at risk of homelessness is something that the city cannot ignore. i do want to thank the coalition and the families connected with the coalition for coming forward, for telling their stories, difficult stories to tell about being marginally housed oregon difficulties dealing with education situations. there are numerous stores already in the san francisco chronicle and the examiner about family homelessness in san francisco, and people coming forward to tell the stories, it is very difficult. but those types of synergies between advocates telling their stories and media picking up on them are ways that we can actually shed light on our troubles and how we can come up with a response.

i was very pleased to see, this morning, the story in "the chronicle" about a family making commitments to help families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. i think those types of support that come from time to time are essential for us to be able to support struggling families and to show the kind of city that we truly are. so we owe a great thanks to the efficacy effort for bringing this july, to the attention of city officials, and also to this family as well for their commitment to the families. i believe we have much more to do. as a city, not looking at -- and no, fixes in the last 18 months, we're looking at long-term, how we can put our services in place and how we can support struggling families. i know we are greatly challenged in doing that with

our recession and the number of jobs out there for people, as well as our city revenues and programming, but i think that is the work we can do, working together, community, city, and private foundation folks to be able to come up with solutions that can really work. i am pleased to see the story that came out today. i know we have folks from the mayor's office, as well as hsa and the housing authority who are here to explain some of the solutions we have currently. we will be asking questions about that. we'll also hear from advocates as well, about their experience, either being homeless or what solutions they can pose to us, as well as the city. first up, we have someone from -- what was it? from the mayor's office. >> thank you, supervisor avalos.

good morning, supervisor elsbernd. i know we're waiting on supervisor mar. i appreciate hearing about the plight of homeless families in san francisco. i want to give you an overview of the situation as we see it and then type for the city departments to talk about our response to the supervisor -- superintendent garcia needs to leave a little early, so we may start with the superintendent. in sentences go over the last 24 months, and nationwide, we have seen a marked increase in family homelessness. this is a difficult statistic to track, and i think you know that, largely because it is a difficult thing to talk about and a lot of the shame and things that may exist around that, but also sort of putting our hands around that and understanding the situation. the primary data point to use in san francisco is demand for a full-service shelter system. folks who have said they're absolutely homeless in the shelter. it includes families were l