series of special events, including a world premiere reading by lawrence ferlinghetti. >> the birth of an american corporate fascism, the next to last free states radio, the next-to-last independent newspaper raising hell, the next-to-last independent bookstore with a mind of its own, the next to last leftie looking for obama nirvana. [laughter] the first day of the wall street occupation set forth upon this continent a new revolutionary nation. [applause] >> in addition to its own programming as -- of artist talks, meridian has been a downtown host for san francisco

states well-known port trees center. recent luminaries have included david meltzer, steve dixon, and jack hirsch man. >> you can black as out of the press, blog and arrest us, tear gas, mace, and shoot us, as we know very well, you will, but this time we're not turning back. we know you are finished. desperate, near the end. hysterical in your flabbergastlyness. amen. >> after the readings, the crowd headed to a reception upstairs by wandering through the other gallery rooms in the historic home. the third floor is not usually reserved for just parties, however. it is the stage for live performances. ♪

under the guidance of musical curators, these three, meridian has maintained a strong commitment to new music, compositions that are innovative, experimental, and sometimes challenging. sound art is an artistic and event that usually receives short shrift from most galleries because san francisco is musicians have responded by showing strong support for the programming. ♪ looking into meridian's future, she says she wants to keep doing the same thing that she has been doing since 1989. to enlighten and disturbed. >> i really believe that all the arts have a serious function

and that it helps us find out who we are in a much wider sense than we were before we experienced that work of art. ♪ supervisor chu: welcome to the regular meeting of the budget and finance committee. i am joined by supervisor avalos and supervisor kim. our court today is victor young. mr. young, you have any announcements? >> please turn off all cell

phones. if you wish to speak during public comment, please provide a card. items approved today will appear on the agenda for the board of supervisors. item number one, resolution authorizing the exercise of a five-year option to extend the lease of space at 1740 folsom street for the share of -- sheriff's department. supervisor chu: thank you. >> ok. good afternoon. i and the acting director of real estate, i am joined by

maureen gannon. the property before you under lease is 1740 folsom. i have on the overhead a shot of the property on folsom. with parking adjacent. you can see where it is just south of the freeway. a look of the configuration of the property, because of the unique nature, you concede the frontage where the building is and the parking that lies in the long dated portion of the -- elongated portion of the l. this is a five-year lease extension for the property of the shareeriff's department.

the current term expires in june of 2012. the current rate paid is $23 per square foot per year. everything is delivered with that raged except for electricity. the new rates that we have negotiated is $25.18 per square foot. that escalates $1 per square foot per year for the remainder of the lease. in comparison to the market, here is a quick chart on the overhead for you. you concede that this compares favorably with those in the area. some of which are probably better class office buildings. it is a clear indication of a very willing landlord to work with us on the terms and conditions of the lease. supervisor chu: in terms of the

document, which could not see it really. could you articulate the comparison? >> collected 1550 bryant, to hundred make utah, and the fox plaza that is not far away. in terms of the office uses, you could see we are in the upper 20s and upper 30s per square foot per year. again, very favorable to become parables -- the comparables. lastly, i want to mention what we are doing out of the property. at the sheriff's department conducts training for defensive tactics, policy and procedure training. this property serves as the primary department operating procedure, so it has in the emergency rule, and the -- so it

has an emergency role. it serves that purpose very well. additionally, there are standards for training and correction done by annually out of this property. the property is just over 18,000 square feet. there was a typographical error in the -- ithe correct number does not affect the base rate or the terms in front of you today for consideration. we are available for any questions you might have about the property. supervisor chu: in terms of the comparables, were they inclusive of utilities? >> that is an apples to apples comparison.

yes. supervisor chu: why don't we go to the budget analyst report. >> on page 3 of the report, we point out that it is shown in the table the annual rent under the proposed lease option, it would be $25.18 a year, that represents an increase of $41,119 from the current rent of $23 a square foot. we also point out that if you look at the table on page 3, the cost of the rent and utilities would be 2 million over the

five-year period. supervisor chu: thank you. why don't we open this item up for public comment. whether any members of the public that wish to speak on item number one? >> good afternoon, budget and finance. ♪ the sheriff time, give it the dime miracles made real on lonely nights, they know just how you feel when the budget sings, i forget everything ♪ ♪ the money you bring, yeah when the budget sings ♪ supervisor chu: thank you.

>> good afternoon, and i have lived there for 59 years. i like to speak in favor of this resolution. i think it is necessary to show support for the sheriff's department. i noted he had a big smile on his face of this afternoon. i think that keeping this building is good for the citizens because we know that the sheriff's department will continue to operate efficiently. i of the budget analyst mentioned of the increase was 9%. i am wondering, given the status of how things go, it seems a bit high. as he says, it is a unique building 80 can't quibble over every detail. i think it is a noteworthy thing

in the department's needs all the support it can get, especially these days. supervisor chu: are there other members of the public that wish to speak on item number one? supervisor kim: thank you. this is just a question in regard to the budget analyst report to the real estate. just a larger question, i know that it did not make sense for us to look out purchasing a small or medium-sized building. what is the policy, what do we look at when determining how the purchase makes more sense? we know that we are going to have to continue for this type of use. >> in 2006-2007, when the first increase in rent was about to come into play, we did have

significant discussions with the owner about possibly buying this asset. when we compare those numbers of debt service as well as the existing expenses, the city would bear the landlord -- and the numbers did not equate to a point where a purchase made sense. continuing to lease made sense at that time. we maintained purchase prices at about $6 million at that time. the rent has escalated the little bit since then. it is not necessarily on the market, and it would be a little bit higher. those numbers are about the same point where we are at a break- even spot. it doesn't take into account what we need the lookout in terms of capital reserve. a 50-year-old building here. it means we should be setting aside adequate funding for

rentals and placements of major systems within the building. we have to look at it as a comparison to leasing. i would also like to know too that the reason for that large increase in the first year is because of the unique nature of the 10-year agreement that had a five-year increase. we are paying the same rate today in 2012 that we were paying in 2007. that is why the first year looks extreme. his is a catch up over five years. we did fairly well. supervisor kim: because we do have surplus property, and l. not all of the buildings are appropriate for this use, but was that export as well? >> yes, we have done, i think, a pretty good job. there are a few surplus properties. nothing of the size and scale,

and not of the robust nature the concerns the department operating center. supervisor chu: the item is before us. supervisor avalos: motion to approve with recommendation. supervisor chu: we will do that without objection. >> can i make clerical corrections that they mentioned? supervisor chu: will you be requiring additional animation from the department? not just changing the number -- >> just changing the number. item two, authorizing the general manager to execute and limit the architectural engineering design service agreement to the new san francisco public utilities project located at 525 golden gate avenue.

supervisor chu: we have representatives from dpw as well as puc. >> good afternoon, i'm with the project manager from dpw on behalf of the public utilities commission. the item before you, this is an exciting building that embodies the city posed a great initiative and the commitment to those goals. it would be one of the greatest government buildings and will set an example for others to follow. we're already seeing immense interest by both public and private sectors as we are approaching the completion of

the project. i am happy to report the building is expected to be completed in june, ahead of schedule. with the recommendation for approval, i will be glad answer any questions you have regarding this item. the joint-venture contract will be funded in the project's contingency funds. the project budget will not change due to this request. i am available for any questions you might have. supervisor chu: supervisor kim? supervisor kim: can you just go over the increases? what the increase will cover? >> design changes implemented during the design phase and construction. and also the number of fte's required for the administration face. supervisor kim: can you explain

why that needs to take place? why we need to make design changes to the improved and biological waste water technologies? >> i will address home of the design side and the construction. -- but both the design side and the construction. we were introduced to what was called a living machine, essentially of biological wetlands system that treats water. given the core services are to provide power, water, and waste water, we thought this would be an important example to incorporate into the project. it is essentially three planters that use the wetland system. there were other changes that were required during the design as it was progressing, and construction have started about halfway through the design,

implementing the delivery system, so there were several design changes the acquired -- required adjustment. not knowing how complex this project was going to be, including the added features, it required a much more people than we had anticipated. supervisor kim: how is it that this was not anticipated? >> this is one of the most complex high-rises in the country. we saw some complexity, but not near to the level it was on the project. supervisor kim: taking on a project as complicated -- it has been an issue on the board

previously, one of my colleagues asked a question about our contract and how much we amend them, and the size of our contribution to them. in many cases, amendments are much larger than the initial contract when you add them to get there. how is it that we can do better in anticipating the original cost of front so that we stick much more closely to the original cost of construction? >> this body has approved implementing a construction manager and general contractors. you bring them on board to design a system. i believe this is probably of public safety building project. as we continue to deliver the project over the next few years,

i think we are starting to get a good handle on the type of staff we need to do this kind of project delivery. supervisor avalos: thank you for the presentation. i know i have been talking for a few years now about doing the publicly funded project. we're looking at hiring local residents, and i have some numbers here that look really great. maybe you can talk about what the progress has been. >> this is half a block away from city hall. one of the mandates that we put in place as we started to procure trade packages roughly about one year time, we were procuring trade packages, essentially sub-contracts.

at the time, we made it a mandate that was really drove the dow that they have to me that role. a lot of the sub-contractors took it to heart and a lot of outreach, the town halls at the library and get the word out. we were able to achieve a 40% local higher. supervisor avalos: that is great to hear. the 50% was the goal under the previous program. the new program is currently 20% by march 25, who you are well over it. that is great to hear, i want to thank you for making that happen. one of the things the new ordinance requires is that we accomplish our goals by trade.

i have some material that doesn't have been broken down by trade. i am sure there is fluctuation there, but can you talk about how we are hitting our numbers? carpenters, electrical workers, more? >> i cannot do that here because i can get that information for you. supervisor avalos: that's fine, it was just a curiosity so we can follow up later on that. it has been pretty solid, so i'd appreciate that worked. -- i appreciate that work. supervisor chu: if there are no questions, why don't we go to the budget analysts report. >> just as a further clarification, as we understand this project, when this

agreement was first awarded in 2006 as you note, it's for 1.65 million dollars. the cost has been significantly increased to over $14 million. as we understand it, and these amendments were anticipated as the work proceeds. that is not unusual. just in general, why these amendments took place. we don't believe that once the agreement was awarded, it makes sense to us that it would go to the same contractor to do those additional amendments.

we point out on page 4 of our report, we showed just a summary. leading up to the $2,374,000, on page 5, the sixth amendment would be paid from the available funds. we recommend the you approve the resolution. supervisor chu: are there members of the public that wish to speak on item number two? >> ♪ and you can fill our puc lives and make it turn out right to flood a million streams of emotion ♪ ♪ and you can fill our city lives and bring the budget trhrough high tide ♪

♪ like an ocean supervisor chu: thank you. >> good afternoon, i would like to speak in opposition to this resolution. when it was first proposed for this site, even though i wasn't here at city hall very much, it seemed to me that it was kind of strange that the city would be spending valuable money putting up a building for its administrators rather than using the money to provide services to the poor citizens. if i were at city hall at that time, it would have been a very good site for a high-rise dedicated to a senior citizen housing and veterans' housing.

i think it is kind of interesting that the city hall area late at night, not too many people around. if you were to put residential housing at that place, it might give city hall neighborhoods a more human feel to it at night. that is why i oppose this resolution, i think that this building should not have started in the first place. in regards to the argument that is supposed to be a green building, i would like to remind everybody that when the federal building opened up on seventh street, great aspects of that building came under notable criticism because basically, it did not work like it was supposed to. hopefully this building is going to turn out better than the federal building on seventh street. we will ask for a few more

million dollars which we don't have. supervisor chu: are there other members of the public that wish to speak? public comment is closed. supervisor avalos: motion to approve with recommendation. i also want to add that separate from this resolution before us, i am pretty excited about what this project means. it shows that without the requirements, it is still possible to make it happen. i support this project greatly. supervisor chu: will do that without objection.

will you call items 3 and 4. >> option for leveraging taxpayer dollars for financial institutions local economy. social responsibility language. supervisor chu: i do want to turn it over to supervisor avalos who is here for these items. >> good afternoon, supervisors, jose cisneros. thank you for the opportunity to brief you.