a $30 million-plus whole. the first thing you do when you find yourself in a whole is to stop digging. we believe the city should cease its cuts to the general fund allocation to the recreation and parks department. thank you. >> is there anyone else who would like to make public comment? >> good afternoon, commissioners. dwindling members of the public. i hope you appreciate you are preaching to an empty audience here. i have been coming to recreation and park commission meetings for over 20 years. prior to your political occupation of this city, they were always packed, always a good place to be. right now, listening to katie

petrucione, it is like listening to bernie madoff making a plea to shareholders. it is a disgusting. the way she talks with her squeaky little voice, talking about all the stuff-- commissioner buell: if you cannot be applied in your presentation is not appreciated. >> horse stalls generating $50 a month and you are telling you are doing everything to save the parks? you are just like the captain of that ship. the ship is grounded. it is going under and you are having lunch. wake up. get into reality. you cannot continue this method of politics of ignoring san francisco's culture, recreational activities, going

on with your political act like nothing has happened. do not buy anything in san francisco, do not visit san francisco. do not set foot in san francisco, because it has a career of the government. it is a great place to bring your wife for her birthday if she wants to get shot in the face. it is a great place to get your family murdered if you want to drive around the city, but you cannot touch a horse unless you go to the zoo. and you cannot even touch them. how long do you think you can go on with this type of ruining our recreation and parks to permit and pulling the people? bernie madoff got caught. it is only a matter of time. thank you very much. >> is there anyone else who like closed. commissioner buell: this matter

is now in the hands of the commission. can i entertain a motion? moved and seconded. all those in favor? hearing none, it is unanimous. >> for the record, katie, we love your voice. >> i will work on dropping my register. >> we are now on item 11, and general public comment. is there anyone who would like to comment that did not comment earlier? being none, public comment is closed. item 12. commissioner's matters. commissioner buell: commissioners do not matter. >> any public comment? being none, public comment is closed. item 13 is new business agenda study. any public comment? commissioners? 14 is communications. is there any public comment? being none, public comment is closed. 15 is adjournment.

commissioner buell: commissioner lee, commissioner lee: i wanted to adjourn this meeting in memory of may louis, a longtime patron, a supporter of the community. you can read her obituary in "the chronicle." over 50 years of support. she was very helpful with the portsmouth gracia, donating to -- garage, donating to athletics around the city, especially in chinatown, the rebuilding of the chinatown recreation center, which is under way as we speak, --

unfortunately she will not be here to see the opening. i just wanted to adjourn in her memory. we are very grateful for the years of service that she has provided this community. commissioner buell: let the record so reflect. second to that motion? moved and seconded. unanimous. >> when stephen de staebler died, he was working on one of the biggest shows of his career, matter and spirit.

it is a retrospective look at the many faces and faces of the life of an innovative artist from the california clay movement. stephen de staebler's developed in an area dominated by abstract expression. even his peers saw his form. >> he was able to find a middle ground in which he balanced the ideas of human figuration and representation with abstraction and found it even more meaningful to negotiate that duality. >> another challenge was to create art from a meeting that was typically viewed as kraft material. his transforming moment was an accident in the studio. an oversized vertical sculpture began to collapse under its own weight and spread onto the

floor. he sought a new tradition before him, landscape sculpture. >> you feel this extended human form underneath the surface of the earth struggling to emerge. eventually, it does. it articulates his idea that the earth is like flesh, and the archaeology and geology in the earth are like the bones, the structure of the earth. this tied in with his idea of mother earth, with the sense that we are all tied to nature and the earth. >> a half dozen bay area museums and private collectors loan the massive sculptures to the museum for its matter and spirit retrospective. but the most unusual contributions came from stephen himself. a wall of autobiographical masks and hence from the early decades of his private study. >> he had one of the most

beautiful studios i have ever been in. when you walk in, your first impression is of these monumental figures that you see in the exhibition, but if you went into the back corner of his studio, there was a series of shells with these diminutive figures. he told me, these are the heart of my studio. these little, and held intimate study is that he referred to as his sketchbook. a painter might make drawings. stephen de staebler made miniature sculptures. >> during the 1970's, he was inspired by the monuments of egypt. he assembled a large rocks of clay into figures that resembled the ancient kings and queens. he credited a weathered appearance by rubbing glazes' into the clay while still wet. the misfires from his killed were brought in his backyard in his berkeley home. he called it his boneyard. in the last year of his life, he

dug up the artifacts from his own history, and the bones were rearranged, in the were slimmer figures with wings. >> even if you knew nothing about his life or career, you sensed there was an artist dealing with this fundamental issue of life and death, the cake, netting back together, and you feel there is an attempt to deal with mortality and immortality. there is a seeking of spiritual meaning in an existential stage. >> during his 50-year career, stephen de staebler worked to form and out of the clay of the ground and give it a breath of life. matter and spirit gathers the many expressions of his meditations. and gives the viewer and insight into the artist's life. learn more about the retrospective on line at

supervisor mar: good welcome, everyone. welcome to the land use and economic development committee meeting for monday, you're 27, 2012. we are going to hold off for a few minutes.

supervisor mar: ok, we are ready to go. welcome to the land use and economic development committee. it is february 27, 2012. i am supervisor eric mar. with me is supervisor malia cohen and scott wiener. our clerk is alisa somera. clerk miller: --

supervisor mar: we have three items. could we move item number three to the beginning? with no objection? could you please read item number three? clerk miller: item number three, creating a new definition of student housing. supervisor mar: supervisor wiener? supervisor wiener: thank you. today on the agenda, we have legislation creating a definition of housing, where none existed before, and clarifying and creating some rules, so we are creating additional housing and converting it to student housing. i am going to be offering some amendments to this legislation. we were not able to get them reduced to writing by today, so

i would like to continue to march 26. that would also give us some time to back into the discussions, because i know there are some folks in recent days that have expressed some views, so i've afford to hearing from people who would like to discuss the legislation. please feel free. colleagues, we do have several from the planning department here. barring that, i would move to continue this. >> let's open this up for public comment. is there anyone else from the public who would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, without objection. supervisor wiener: can i just ask if that date is any problem? supervisor mar: ok. supervisor?

>> thank you, supervisors. there is a need for having some sort of control for housing. for students. primarily, hopefully, new construction of housing that would provide a and save the housing that is needed to and expand the housing supply because of the critical shortage supply of housing, but there has been some concern about this,

whether there be conditional uses that might be provided for this, and there would be some question whether that would be policy if you were, in effect, saying that you could convert existing housing. the important reason for that is, as you all know, the existing housing is the most affordable housing we have, and once we do something that converts it to other uses, that really changes the affordability, and also, that changes the demographics of our city, and that has been happening for two or three decades. i would urge that this legislation be continued to examine it more closely, and if they will permit housing to be

done, it in terms of uses, and the vehicle by which those new legal -- will then use it as a basis for making their conversion, and i do not see in the legislation that that is provided for, and i would urge before it goes to the board that this be scrutinized carefully to determine this. otherwise, we may be doing a terrible disservice. supervisor wiener: if there are folks who have that concern, i would ask it possible to send an email or a letter outlining what

the basis is for the concern, because this is an issue that we are frankly getting a lot of pushback from folks who would like to allow more conversion. i am trying to compile all of that so we can consider everything. >> supervisor, i think that it is a person's right to ask for that kind of thing, but they should also have the burden for the city and not really in making things worse. supervisor wiener: i completely agree. >> oh i was concerned about whether this would be reported to be accurate by the board. supervisor wiener: if this carries, this will be moved to the land use committee, and if we make amendments and then, it is possible that it may have to go back to the planning

commission, as well. >> thank you very much. supervisor mar: next speaker. >> thank you. espinola jackson, the view hunters point. this has been discussed for over five years with the city planning. what you need to do is get the report in the minutes of all of the discussion that has gone on dealing with student housing, because maybe some of the people may have died now because of the fact that -- it is a fact. a lot of us have been coming down here to the supervisors' meetings, and you are just getting here. you are new. what you need to do is get some of the old information from the people who were discussed, and turning them into students,

please get information. some of those people are probably dead and gone, because i am on the same committee. thank you very much. you need to get other information. this is nothing new. planning has been dealing with this for over five years. maybe six or seven years. thank you very much. supervisor mar: next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is caroline, and we are representing -- i just wanted to come up and say some things. we appreciate the proposed continuance with the amendments that have been discussed at the hearing. i think a little more time is appropriate in that regard, and we certainly appreciate the

amendments that would help assess the very specific concerns about this. in particular, we think they'd prohibition is problematic. there are arguments on both sides, and we appreciate your help addressing those concerns, so thank you very much. supervisor mar: is there anyone else would like to speak >> my name is john centre -- back to speak? >> my name is john sanger. i happen to be out of town when the board of trustees was asked to represent the art institute, a soap by would appreciate continuance, but we look forward to the opportunity to

speak with supervisor wiener's staff. supervisor wiener: you are representing -- >> not at all. not the academy of art. the art institute. it is an important distinction for us. 70 years' worth. supervisor wiener: apologies. we are very happy to sit down and speak with you. >> we appreciate it. supervisor mar: is there anyone else who wishes to speak? there is a motion to defer this until march 26. what the objection? ms. miller, please read item number one. clerk miller: item number one,

the planning code automobiles sale or rental. supervisor mar: we do not have supervisor elsbernd. >> this is by conditional use authorization only. there are on this map about 12 areas in the city encompassing 28 properties that are currently zoned ncs, and they are throughout the city, and you can see them in that red part. approval of this legislation was recommended, and they found that the typical physical layout of the property is zoned -- properties zoned nc-2 would be compatible. however, not every one of these

is compatible for automobile rental, and that is why you have this before you in the ordinance today, said the commission can review each proposal on a case-by-case basis and make sure it is compatible and appropriate for the community. that includes the presentation, unless there are any questions. supervisor mar: any questions? seeing none, let's open this up to public comment. we have a few cards. if there is anyone else who would like to speak, please fill out a card. we have two, one from the park merced and another from the chamber of commerce. >> from the chamber of commerce. from time to time, we need to look at these. we have done this. we encourage people to rent vehicles, whether it is you hall type of vehicles, there are

parts of san francisco that could be better served by allowing that type of business in with community support, a neighborhood commercial zoned area that has got sufficient parking lots available as part of the development, so we would urge the committee to recommend this with the full board. supervisor mar: bank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is deedee workman. i have court with the supervisor on this for over a year. the park merced shopping center is one, which and large parking lot that accommodates more than a few cars. there is ample space for an automotive rental business like

u-hall. there are no other businesses like in nearby, so people tend to drive to pacifica or another city to get theirs. we recommend this. allowing the automotive sales is good policy for the city. it will establish neighborhood- serving businesses, creates new jobs, and will produce significant tax revenues for the cities. this is a win for our neighbor shopping centers, job seekers, and san francisco. not all nc-s are suitable, but some are, so we urge you to recommend approval to the full board. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. are there any other speakers?

cnn.com public comment is closed. can we move this forward without objection? ms. miller, please read item number two. clerk miller: item two, a hearing for the potrero annex and terrace project . supervisor mar: we have supervisor malia cohen. >> this is a hearing, and there will not be a vote. this is one of the next hope projects that will be transforming more than 600 public housing units into a mixed income community with additional retail and open space. as this projects and other hope projects go, it is important to ensure that the needs of the residents in the surrounding community are met.

today, where representatives from the mayor's office on housing and the project sponsor to provide the board with an update on the status of this project. we also have several community members here who will share their perspective on the importance of revitalizing the site and some of the challenges in completing a project of this scale. this project is still very much in the early ages. if you would like to hear from the project sponsors, how they are going through the community process, this is identifying what some of the challenges would be. first off, we will have the mayor's office of housing and mr. olson lee. >> i appreciate the opportunity

to come before the board of supervisors about rebuilding the potrero property. at the conclusion of the presentation, the staff of both the mayor's office on housing as well as the development team and my colleague, henry alvarez, we are all here to enter questions that the supervisors may have about this particular effort. i would like to turn it over to amy. >> thank you, olson. thank you, supervisors, for gng