talk about retention. that would be great. >> with regard to retention, that is part of what we are pledging that we will do as part of an annual analysis. what we are required to do and what we have been doing to date in order to verify that the jobs created are low or moderate income individuals is asked the businesses to provide a forum to their employees which asked them what their income as. that form and then it needs to be returned to the employer and returned to us, and we need to be accountable to hud, as well as to you, about the claims being made about low-income jobs being created. it is a challenge to get that information which the employees are not required to provide. we have to provide best efforts to get that information. common sense says that any small

businesses that are often providing relatively low-wage jobs, that these people taking the jobs are probably low to moderate-income individuals. however, we have some of the seventh five jobs that have been created through this loan fund, we have received back 22 forms. of. 22, we have received 85% of the jobs have been low or moderate income individuals. we're going to redouble our efforts and the figure out ways to continue to get that information and we will be providing that to you on an annual basis. supervisor chu: thank you, supervisor avalos and jennifer. are there members of the public who wish to speak on item number five? >> thank you. i am sharon miller from renaissance entrepreneurship center, a small-business development center. we work with clients throughout

san francisco. we have worked with working solutions for many years. approximately 25% of the loans and working solutions' portfolios are from a renaissance clients. and their loans are in magnificent boost to the small businesses. right now, as you know, small businesses need all the help they can get, and they're not able to get loans from local banks. of the loans that renaissance does, we actually are not a loan fund. what we do is repackaged loans for our clients, and then we can work with groups like working solutions to get those loans funded. working solutions has been magnificent in both providing support for our clients and in the follow-up support that they provide as well. their rates are superb. and certainly the clients we work with our 80% at low to

moderate income. when they agreed businesses, they are creating at least one job, which is full employment for the business owner themselves. with this additional funds, i think it is really the best way to get more capital into the hands of business owners who are either starting are growing their businesses. thank you. supervisor chu: next speaker, please. >> hello. i am is small business owner and have a small company. we're based in the mission. we sell to about 400 stores throughout the country. mostly made in the usa but it is also an immigrant and have lived here for 10 years. i first reached out to renaissance and got business education through them. through their amazing helping, and managed to get to know working solutions.

they gave me a loan for $2,500 from the city's revolving fund, which really helped my business greatly. dizziness secret that -- it is no secret that the business needs money to grow. we're putting every penny we earn back into the business. it is for inventory and to hire more workers. we can grow yearly with the money. i got $2,500 from them and grew my business 210% since then. we're on the path to growth 200% again this year. getting the fuel to grow my business is essential. and there are connections on the the follow-up which is great. i managed to get two different mentors, a retired ceo's, amazing people who mentor five hours a month for free. i am really, really grateful for

the support. i encourage you to keep doing this. if you want to see this type of growth in san francisco business, you need to help fuel the growth through the small business was because i cannot get the bank funding that i needed. that is just my two sons and my small story. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> what i want to bring your attention is that the mayor's office of economic development first has to get some facts right, ok? san bruno avenue, we talk about san bruno avenue where all the businesses really are, district 9. right off the bat the targeted areas are district 9, a tan, and 11. that correction is important. secondly, when you offer more

loans to entities like renaissance who are connected with the redevelopment, you also need to offer assistance to other entities. one of the ways if you really want to find out about any entity, if they are very fair, is to do an audit. a simple audit on some of the entities that have been mentioned today, you'll find out that even if their employees cannot be working in those areas because of whatever. and the questions that were asked by the supervisor of wells fargo, even though he could

offer you $5 billion, wells fargo was very instrumental in many foreclosures. [bell rings] so i am very dubious about bank of america and wells fargo giving monies for this, even if they give it at 0.5%, because they have not treated district 9, 10, and 11 in a fair manner. thank you very much. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. steve, president of the outer mission merchants and residents association. i am really excited about this, especially -- asleep preaching to the choir of course, but mission street, basically between silver and the daly city border has most of the businesses, small business owners. we do have wells fargo and bank of america.

but most of our business owners or small-business owners. one of the things i brought this morning at the forum is than most of these people, not all, and most of these people do not speak english and will have a hard time speaking english or understanding english. and when they have either call me or i have reached out to them, they are afraid to look at these are virginity funds are getting these small interest loans. so i am glad that jennifer had put down in her talk about reaching out to people who have a hard time with the english language. doing brochures. and i am willing and excited to do this for them and for the neighborhood. our news letter as an outreach to let these people know that we want to help not only fix their awnings but clean up their storefronts. the other thing that i wanted to

say is most of these business owners actually hire from within the community. [bell rings] i even know that walgreen's hires from within the community. so that is good for us in a good for the economics of the outer mission and the excelsior neighborhood. supervisor chu: thank you. >> hello, my name is a man well. i owned a small business in valencia and mission district. i tried to get a loan from the local banks. i cannot get it until they know about working solutions. i got loans from the city from working solutions. and we create eight employees. a believe that more people like me maybe just need a little help to create employees.

all of my employees are from a mission, low-income. by the way, i get some loan from opportunity funds. i pay this money for working solutions. that is it. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you for your comments. >> no, some people might say, they might go -- ♪ >> don't want no small business don't want no small business around here they have got little budgets they will not give me money and they cannot go and hide don't want no small business around here ♪ >> but what i say is -- ♪ >> on a clear budget day

ride these funds around the you because you can see forever and ever money more on a clear budget day ride these funds around you and you can see forever and ever money more ♪ >> thanks. supervisor chu: thank you. are there other comments from members of the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. ok, this item is before us. i did have my initial reservations at the first hearing about the ability to loan out the dollars, in particular given the track record of how many loans we had put out in the past and knowing also that there is a change in the wells fargo dollars that might allow it to be more popular. what i would like to do perhaps

is to put half of the $1 million on reserve, pending the need for it. as the program is evolving, if we are actually seeing that the loans are being let out at a rate that would justify seeing the rest of the money, come back to the budget and finance committee. would that be problematic as a condition to that on to the item? >> no, that would not be a problematic condition. we could absolutely then come back to year. supervisor chu: i think that would be helpful. i think you can come in advance of when it it is expended completely. but when you're actually at a trajectory to spend it, you can come back. >> that sounds reasonable. thank you. supervisor avalos: that was one of my biggest concerns, being able to reach out to businesses were english was not the first language. a lot of the businesses that have been outreached average

over it -- revolving loan funds. putting it on reserve makes sense to get the report back. also, maybe if we're not seeing evidence that businesses and the neighborhoods where trying to target are not reaching out or not applying for a loan, then we can look at the program and figure out what will really make that happen. i really want to see this program work in places like san bruno avenue, leland avenue, teravelle, excelsior. these are very important. let's see what happens. supervisor chu: thank you. if that is the case, can we entertain a motion to but $500,000 of this $1 million amount on budget and finance committee reserve and send the item forward with recommendations? ok, we do have that motion. before we make it, and to the

department. i believe we will need to make an amendment to the actual piece of legislation for it to get hurt on tuesday at the following board meeting. i ask the department to work to make sure the language is put in by the end of today business day. we will do that without objection. thank you. then if we could take a two- minute break or a few minute break. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you for your patience. we're back in session. call item number 6 and 7. >> item number six, hearing to receive a regularly quarterly update from the public utilities commission on water system improvement program to include information on projects completed to date, the corresponding costs, and scheduling and the corresponding cost for upcoming projects. item seven, hearing to consider

release of reserved funds for public utilities commission in the total amount of $42,329,458 to fund the following, water system improvement program projects, cuw388-02, had at reserve program, and if cuw395, tesla treatment facility. >> we have talked with the puc. >> good morning. julie, wsip director. i will be giving the presentation. mr. clerk, if you would not mind connecting the computer. i will try to keep my remarks brief, because i know you have a 1:00. i am here to give you a very brief update on where the program stands, as well as requesting the release of funds that were previously placed on reserve.

here is the status of the program as of early february. we only have seven projects that have yet to reach construction, and two are currently in the bid and award phase, meaning they will be shortly into construction. we currently have a total of 20 projects worth of over $2.5 brilliant construction, and construction has been completed on 54 projects. this is a chart that compares the forecasted costs of the program in blue to the approved projects for the program, shown in red. for the last four reporting quarters, we're trending well below the approved program budget. as a matter of fact, we currently have $144.5 million in extra savings placed in reserve. i want to take the apportionment

before talk about the release of reserved to tell you photos of the work taking place in the field. in recent months, we have reached substantial completions on multiple regional projects, and every time we complete works like this, we increase the reliability of our water system. the last project in the city to go into construction is the sutro reservoir. we opened bids last week. construction on that project should begin this summer and continue through mid-2015. ground conditions on the irvington tunnel have been extremely challenging, but we have made very good progress. we're now more than a mile into the excavation of the contract of the tunnel, which is about a third of the total length of the new tunnel. we started construction on the calaveras dam in the fall, and

we're doing a lot of work -- supervisor avalos: a quick question. said the ground conditions have been challenging on irvington. what is that? >> ground water intrusion as well as crumbling tight conditions. we need to do a lot of shoring. as you move forward, the ground tends to want to crumble down. despite that, we're actually beating records in the last few weeks as far as the production rates. supervisor avalos: thank you. >> calaveras dam, work started last fall. right now, we're focusing on the disposal areas and rose in anticipation of the very massive earthworks that will take place in the following months. the beta tunnel is another project where we're making

great progress. a tunnel shoring machine is under debate. we're telling approximately one- third feet a day, and we're 40% complete on those very large progress. the year retracement water treatment plant in san mateo county is getting a total face lift under the wsip. we have removed over 200,000 tons of soil from the site, and what you see here is a soil wall being built to accommodate the construction of a new large treated water reservoir. in order for us to move forward on two key aspects of the wsip, we are requesting today the release of some funds that are currently on reserve with this committee. we created a bio-regional habitat restoration program to address some of the environmental impacts on the program. so far, the board has appropriated $90 million for

this program and $41.7 million of the appropriations were placed on reserve. we're asking today for the release of $41.1 million of those funds that are in reserves. i think the budget analyst report did a very good job documenting the justification for that request. we're also asking for the release of $670,000 from the program management reserves to be reallocated to the tesla treatment facility project, a project where we reached substantial completion of construction in mid-2011, and we are currently in a one-year commissioning period for the project. again, the budget analyst report provides a good justification. i would be happy to answer any questions on today's request. we would like to thank the budget analyst for the their review of requests.

we agree with their recommendations. supervisor chu: thank you for the presentation. mr. rose. >> madam chair, members of the committee, as shown on page 5 of our report, regarding the tesla project, the department, as shown in table four, the department has a need of $678,950, which is actually 8000 hundred $52 more than the request that the department reports that they can observe that within the tesla water treatment facility project budget. with respect to the other project, the bio-regional habitat restoration program budget, that is a budget that was submitted as $568,694, less than the amount requested of $41,659,458.

therefore, we recommend that you approve the release of 41 million -- 41,090,007 and $64. for the bio-regional habitat restoration program project and reallocate the difference to the water system improvement program reserve. further, we recommend that you approve the release of $670,000 for the tesla water treatment facility project. supervisor chu: thank you. let's open these items up for public comment. are there members of the public who wish to speak on items number six or seven? >> supervisors, some of us, including myself, have attended all the important meetings linked to the water system

improvement project. as you can see from this presentation, some of the benchmarks have been achieved, and there are moneys out there where our community, especially communities here in san francisco, can benefit. now the details of how we can benefit, presentations have not been given to the board of supervisors. but in this dire economic time, some of us have presented some projects to the manager of the san francisco public utilities commission, and i guess it is would then his purview to filter that down -- would then his party to filter that down so that our community can at least towards the tail end of this project benefit from what has been accomplished up till now.

so again and again, this is a very large project. if i am not mistaken, $4.2 million, and $2.4 million was contributed by the city and county of san francisco. and when we have such large projects, whether it is the water system member but project or the source system improvement projects that is coming, we have to pay attention to our constituents. thank you very much. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker. ♪ >> it's gotta be a budget morning if we can hold out through the water night why don't we crossed this bridge together?

and we will escaped the budget we will not be searching for money anymore it is not too late and not while we are water living let's put our hands out and take a dive it is not too late we should be water thriving alleged take a water water ride it is gonna be a water morning budget budget morning budget morning or water morning gonna fitial water budget morning it's gonna be a budget morning water morning ♪ supervisor chu: thank you. are there other members of the public who wish to speak? saying none, public comment is closed. colleagues? supervisor avalos: motion to --

we want to continue the first item to the call of chair. motion to release the reserve. supervisor chu: ok. so we have a motion to continue item 62 the call of the chair. item seven, accepted the budget analyst recommendation in a to release the reserves according to that. we can do that without objection. thank you very much. do we have any other items before us? >> that completes the morning agenda. supervisor chu: ok, we are adjourned. thank you. >> sanrio famous for the designs for hello kitty.

i thought i would try to make it as cute as possible. that way people might want to read the stories. then people might be open to learn about the deities and the culture. ♪ they reached out to make about five or six years ago because of the book published. they appreciated that my work was clearly driven from my research and investigation. after i contributed my artwork, the museum was really beside themselves. they really took to it. the museum reached out to me to see if i would be interested in my own space inside the museum. i tell them that would be a dream come true. it is the classical, beautiful indian mythology through the

lens of modern design and illustration and storytelling. they're all of these great sketch as i did for the maharajah exhibition. i get a lot of feedback on my artwork and books. they complement. they say how original the work is. i am the first person to say that this is so derived from all of this great artwork and storytelling of the past. the research i put into all of my books and work is a product of how we do things that a-- at pixar. sometimes you will see him depicted monkey-like or as superman. i wanted to honor his monkey coloring. i decided to paint him white

with a darker face. it is nice to breathe new life into it in a way that is reverent and honors the past but also lets them breathe and have fun. it is almost a european notion to bring these symbols and icons from southeast asia. they decorate their deities. it was a god they interacted with every day in a human way. the most important thing has been to create work that is appealing to me. i want to see vishnu to pick did in a modern way. it dawned on me by reinterpreting the deities in a way that is modern and reverent to the history, i am building a bridge