instead during the others, you are the one that deals with the public. the you have an idea of a percentage em up cracks in the old days, -- do you have an idea of a percentage? >> in the old days no one cared about cost. now people to treat about 1753 good -- now people shreaik about 175. we tell them, and we are not going to lie to you. it is an uphill climb. you have the burden of proof. you have to do homework. you have to repair it yourself,

and we cannot help you, and people say, i do not want to do this. >> we pencil it out for them, and it helps him understand what they are spending to file it, and they may or may not agree to it. >> do people understand if they come to us without the benefit of attorney the board would spend over backwards to help fund -- to help them, or do you tell them you are mean? >> we call them and we are mean and a horrible, board is not a court of law. we explain the board is to help people, but you need for out of five votes. i need these commissioners to side me -- to side with me, and

that could be for any person. some people think they can come in and file the appeal and walk away, and not even show up to the hearing, and we will sign it and send them a letter. some people think that is how it works, but when we explain it is more involved than that. other people do not know we suspend dept. boa action. and now they do not want the animosity with their neighbors. all sorts of issues come up, and that is why we enjoy talking with the public. good i would not want now on line of appeal. give we like to talk to the public -- we like to talk to the public and let them know what they are getting into. >> it would be nice if people

could reserve their right to appeal by doing something online by saying you do not have to be there a certain date, and indicate to two or three days from that date. >> i understand, but we are probably one of the few departments in the city that actually picks up the phone. try calling some city departments. you will never get a live person. >> i just called. i was on hold for 10 or 15 minutes. >> it is not that you cannot reach us. we are always available. you might not get the time slot you desire, but if it is your last sunday, we will accommodate you. >> we let people know they and send an agent if they have difficulty getting to us, but i would be concerned if somebody

cannot put down their money, via we might get people using our system in ways that are not necessarily genuine. >> these to fees, i am going to assume as we have the right to raise the fees, even if the cpr were to go up, -- cpi were to go up, we do not necessarily have to raise fees. is it increases, it obviates the need to raise fees. >> those of the fees were not touched for many years, so i do not think they were of reduced, but there is knowno reason why e board cannot approve

legislation to regard those are usually tied to the larger projects. -- why the board cannot approve legislation. they are usually tied to the larger projects, typically more involved in projects that are more expensive. typically the projects are for people who are seeking a lot of money into the project. >> when you make projections as to what next year is going to be, is it going from 6 to 524 bowman -- to 5 to 4? >> not necessarily. we get data on what they expect the volume to be in the coming year. the comptroller's office has information on data. as far as the fees, and that number has basically stayed fixed for several years.

>> can i add a comment on that? there was a general opinion on this board that given its function as a court of last resort, the fees should be kept low to allow people the option to be able to appeal, and when you look at these numbers, there are financial impacts on a lot of situations. it is starting to reach a point where it cannot be returned to the department of appeals. good evenini think we should bel

about that. if it is a surcharge, i can understand that. that is part of what your building, but on top of that, forcing a significant need to file an appeal is probably against the overall purpose of our board. goopraxair my wrong in thinkingf you are a neighborhood association you do not know -- >> am i wrong in thinking if you are a neighborhood association you do not pay fees? >> you are wrong. >> it seems like people have real problems to come before us. >> we do have a waiver as part of the board's rules, so if people meet the criteria, they are eligible for that. >> you mentioned several unions are involved in.

which unions? >> international federation of professional, technical engineers. also mea management employee association. >> i think it is my last question. did having to do with the two- year budget have anything to do with it, or was it an official? >> i think neutral. because how limited we are, i do not find it to be a challenge. i know if we had riots, it would be more of a challenge, but we have a system that really creates our revenue and expenses. >> i wonder if there is a grant

that would attenuate our costs, someone interested in promoting good government that has processes where the citizenry can have their voices heard. i am sure there are lots of people who have problems with some situation and do not come because they see the fis. >> if it makes you feel better, planning has raised their fees to over $500. we are a bargain compared to the planning department. >> cannot be appealed to us? thank you 3 much. i have no more questions. does anyone else have questions? i thank you for your efforts. >> i should ask for public

comment. i see none. is there a motion? >> are moved to adopt this budget for the upcoming two years. >> we have a motion to adopt the budget for the next two fiscal years. [calling votes] the motion is 3-0. this budget is adopted. >> there is no further business. >> thank you.

>> i'm susan buckbinder. i'm the director of the h.i.v. research section and of the sore project. on behalf of the entire project and the entire team which is large, i want to welcome you all to our ground-breaking ceremony and just give you a little bit of background on the aids office itself and the reason for the soar project. the aids office is really a

unique research institution. in addition to the care that's provided and the resources that are given to the community to care for, to prevent and care for people with h.i.v. infection, we really are the only health department that is leading the h.i.v. prevention and surveillance effort. the kind of research that we do is done primarily through universities, so we're in a unique position. we have three research organizations houses within the aids office. there is the h.i.v. epidemiology unit that is headed by dr. seussan sheer and willie mcfarland. they really are the premiere surveillance group for h.i.v. and aids in the country that train many other groups globally about how to track h.i.v. infections and h.i.v.-related disease, so that we can know how best to target our prevention efforts and our treatment efforts.

so they have really done a huge service to the global h.i.v. aids community and also in addressing health disparities. the h.i.v. prevention unit is headed by dr. grant koufax. they also are really a ground-breaking research organization as well as providing prevention services and leading the presense efforts in the city. they have really spearheaded this effort at looking at how treatment can effect prevention, how if you get people tested and treated more globally, you can really drive down h.i.v. infection. and so through that, they have pioneered on viral load and h.i.v. testing, in treatment of substance use and a variety of other topics. and then i head the h.i.v. research section and we have a number of talented folks who work with me. we're test age number of

different kind of prevention interventions including h.i.v. vaccines, preexposure prophylaxis which is using h.i.v. medication to prevent new infections, reaching out to the african-american community to understand what is driving the epidemic particularly in that community and using peer health navigation to connect them with services, combination prevention intersenses and so forth. in the last year, we have had a couple of major breakthroughs in both a new h.i.v. vaccine that seems to be providing partial protection and we are understanding how that is working and preventing new infections. the entire aids office has come together to work collaboratively to address the epidemic. now, we were challenged in that we are based in a health department and so we don't have the resources to build buildings and to renovate buildings because we're largely grant funded. one of our employees, janey

vincent, saw a -- [applause] >> saw that there were federal stimulus funds that we could apply for to renovate our building. we needed to work together more collaboratively. teams were split up on different floors and there wasn't good meeting space to work cross teams. we needed more clinical space to see our study volunteers and we needed more community space to bring community into what we do. under barbara garcia's leadership, we came together and put in this grant and it's the first time that the federal government, n.i.h., has awarded this kind of money to a health department. they've only awarded this kind of research money to universities so it's really through the joint efforts under barbara's leadership that we've been able to move forward and it's really through the support of the city government through the mayor, through our

supervisors, through the health commission, that we've moved this field forward so without further ado, i want to introduce the honorable mayor lee. [applause] mayor lee: thank you, everybody, for coming this morning, and dr. buchbinder and barbara and the commissioners, congratulations. these days it is so difficult to land federal grants, so matter where they're from and it only takes the dedication that you've identified, the people who worked on this very hard to put together a grant specific to modernize our aids research office and it's absolutely needed. i remember in the early 1980's where we joined three major cities of the country, this city and new york and los angeles, where the initial aids research got started and we are concentrated in our areas but we understood that this epidemic

had to be studied further to make sure we were on the right track to discover not only breakthroughs but prevention ideas that would be directed at curtailing this epidemic. so you fast forward the 25, 30 years since that time, and we need more of that research done so i am glad this money was identified. it's going to be very helpful. the $9.5 million of aid from the national institute of health. this is almost miraculous. you don't see these grants very often to public agencies unless we are doing the absolutely necessary thing, and that is focused on improving and making sure we make great breakthroughs and we are going to be able to do that with this additional space. this money will go towards additional 8,000 square feet on top of renovating another 9,000. so it's a total focused on the

17,000 square feet of space that is in different floors of this building, making sure they're connected up and that we have additional physician space, counseling offices and examination rooms as well as research space. that's invaluable. i want to put on my d.p.w. hat for a moment, as well, because d.p.h. doesn't work if a vacuum. when they identify this, they work with everybody. i want to thank supervisor wiener for coming here today, too, because he knows how important it is for that collaboration to occur. so d.p.h. working in this facility -- and by the way, i need you to know that probably the last time i was standing here was having barbecue when it was a barbecue restaurant here and i was at the top floor, at rooftop hall, heading up the human rights commission and we were already working in concert

with the aids office to prevent discrimination against people with aids and i recall those meetings because it was so important to make sure those people weren't discriminated against as they tried to survive and find help in this wonderful city that we have. public works, you're amazing, you working with our real estate department in finding ways to make sure we have the best approach to this and we are also working with our private contractors. i know turner construction is doing the construction management here, working closely with our bureau of architecture and engineering to make sure this is done on time, within budget. that's the mantra of using federal funds these days. you better be on time. better be on budget. and we also better make sure that when we do this, we reach out to our local vendors and make sure they're participating in this economic times, struggling. we have a 25% goal to do this correctly. so this renovation is important

for all of those different levels but the most important thing is that we have more modern offices for our aids epidemic research. because i know, i know that in our lifetimes, barbara, we're going to find fantastic breakthroughs with your leadership, the leadership of the commission and the wonderful staff that you have that is focused on ending this epidemic and making sure people not only get the resources that they have but that they also know that this is the city of hope, that we're going to continue doing what is necessary to make sure that we end this epidemic and to provide cures for people around the world. it isn't just for san francisco any longer. we know the disease knows no boundaries so the discoveries that we will make here, the prevention ideas that will educate more and more people about safe practices, safe lifestyle, and the discoveries

that we have in finding the appropriate drugs, will happen as a result of this effort here. and so i want to thank everybody for working together, and i want to thank mark primo, as well, and his private consulting capacity, that he's been able to take a look at the physical things that we can do to ensure that the research goes on, and i want to celebrate this day and get ready to knock down these walls and make sure that we provide the space that we have. thank you very much for being here. [applause] >> i'd next like to introduce supervisor scott wiener. supervisor wiener: thank you, thank you. i thank both of my constituents, dr. buchbinder and mayor lee. i have the honor of representing

the castro, among other neighborhoods, and as you know the castro is arguably the hardest hit neighborhood in the country in terms of this epidemic so i feel a special responsibility to always thereby and make sure that our city does what it needs to do to beat this disease. and i know that our department of health has done such a tremendous job in terms of the services that it provides to our city, to our community, to make sure that people have access to prevention resources, to treatment resources, and i know they will always be there and this project will increase the effectiveness of our city government in terms of consolidating services, having people together and working collaboratively. so i'm really excited about that. also, in addition to all the great work that the office of aids and d.p.h. do in san francisco, it's a reminder

to the world, the international leadership role this department plays in terms of fighting hiv/aids and i was reminded of this a few weeks ago when i was sponsoring a grant acceptance for the department for some international work and i got a call from a reporter about why are you sponsoring, you know, something relating to kazakhstan, and it was actually a great opportunity because we got to educate this reporter about what this department does and how this is an international epidemic and how people around the world look to san francisco for leadership and expertise in fighting hiv/aids and the reporter said to me afterwards, wow, i had no idea how much brilliance is in this department. so this is an exciting department and i want to congratulate everyone. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor wiener, for your ongoing support.

i'm next going to introduce our director of public health, barbara garcia. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. i am so honored and i'm so proud of the department's staff. i get a lot of travel requests and it's to peru and mozambique and tanzania and at the bottom it says how much it costs and it's usually zero and those are the ones i like to sign but it really does. and i want to just acknowledge the d.p.h. aids office staff, please raise your hands, because you clearly -- [applause] >> some of you, in culmination of years, i know you have hundreds of years of experience here and i know that is so, so important and we've done some incredible work in san francisco and you've taken your work and your understanding of this disease to other parts of the world and it makes such a big difference for everyone in the world, particularly around

ending this disease. you're doing aids planning and my job as the principal investigator is to help with space planning. this is a 100-year-old building and we were in all kinds of spaces and i want to acknowledge the staff that helped and figured out how to move people and how to construct behind them. mark primo and martine soto -- raise your hand, martine. he's been my negotiator whenever people are trying to figure out what the next space process is going to be. i also would like to recognize the department of public works. i believe we have representative. the real estate division, john updike. the 25 van ness real estate team, leslie, jerrold and john updike. one of the things that we're looking at is how to bring this to the 21st century in

technology, where, also, we're going to have a large conference room. i believe it's going to fit about 150 people, and that will be able to bring community people in, but it's also going to be an advantageous one for us. we're talking about telemedicine so we can speak to other parts of the world in terms of our work. so the department of technology. do we have representatives? all right, great. and our own san francisco department of information technology unit, do we have our staff here? and turner construction. what could we do without a construction company. so -- [applause] again, i wanted to thank all our staff but also it's really important to acknowledge the role of our commission who continue to support our efforts, and this effort. i wanted to introduce steve cherney. >> i just want to take a second

to congratulate everyone. i had the pleasure to work in this 100-year-old building for a while. the exciting thing about san francisco is when the c.d.s. and hearsa said we want to cut new hiv infections by 10%, san francisco said, no, 50%. when they said we'd like to get folks in line with undetectable environmental load, susan and the rest of the team said, no, that won't do, we need everybody in undetectable environmental load and they said if we do that, we can cut down on care dollars and we said, no, folks living with hiv in san francisco across each community will receive the highest quality care possible and that commitment is demonstrated again over and over again and the awarding of this grant and the mayor coming to tell us that he supports these efforts in the strongest possible way and will over the next administration is just news that's important for everybody in the community. so we're proud to be here and i can't wait to see who hits that

wall with that hammer. and begins the good work. congratulations, everyone. [applause] >> i think, with that, we're going to begin our ground breaking and i think our mayor has the opportunity for the first swing. mayor lee: are we ready? ok! [applause]