president chiu: good afternoon, welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting of april 10, 2012. can you please call our role? -- the roll? [roll call] >> supervisor cohen: is absent.

mr. president, you have a quorum. president chiu: can you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? [pledge of allegiance] colleagues, we have copies of the march 6 board meeting minutes and the march 7 special meeting minutes of the budget and finance committee meeting. a motion by supervisor campos, those minutes are approved. are there any communications? >> i have no communications. the first item will be policy

discussions between the mayor and the board of supervisors. the mayor may address the board for five minutes and the president will recognize the supervisors that will present their own questions to the mayor in discussions show not exceed five minutes per supervisor. president chiu: welcome back to question time, mr. mayor. e-mail address the board as you see fit. mayor lee: thank you for being here today. i know that we have been extremely busy since my last visit here. i want you to note my deep appreciation for at least three things that have occurred. we passed a revolving loan fund for the small businesses. we got america's cup back on track, in my opinion, for success. and we passed the first goal for

local hiring. in keeping with the success and keeping us going, i want to thank the public for working with us in all of these aspects. with that, let's turn to questions. president chiu: the first question will be from supervisor chu. supervisor chu: think you for being here today. in the ocean beach master plan as a result of the two-year public process involving the federal, local, and state agencies. at the plant goals included preserving an ecological resources while protecting the critical infrastructure as sea levels rise. having been briefed on this, what is your commitment to continuing this collaborative effort and evaluating the feasibility of the year and long

term recommendations? mayror lee: 80 for serving on the -- thank you for your leadership and serving on this issue. this is a naturally beautiful part of our city that draws many tourists and locals to spend time on the beach walking their dogs or allowing their dogs to walk them. that is why the erosion occurring on the beach is particularly troublesome. it is associated with el nino ocean conditions. finding a solution has been a difficult challenge. but with your leadership, and strong growth and dedicated staff and advocates have developed a great set of solutions for the most pressing issues, including the protection

of the waste water infrastructure, improving access, and opportunities for residents. part of the challenge today has been the multiple jurisdictions responsible for ocean beach. the national park service is responsible for the beach. recreation and parks controls the great highway. and the department of works is responsible for maintenance and emergency repairs. i am also pleased that spur has consensus on the development of ocean beach and the stakeholders. i am committed to this not just being another report that gathers dust on the shelf, but that we move forward on implementation of the recommendations. first, i am committed to removing any administrative

barriers. for this plan to be real, we will have to break through some traditional barriers of action and not take no for an answer. i am committed to providing this determination. it will be a long-term project with long-term benefits. i have asked my department heads to identify resources that could be applied toward the ocean beach implementation. for example, the puc has indicated they are capable and willing to provide resources for some of the next steps around coastal management. i will support efforts to identify state and federal funding opportunities to support ocean beach restoration. we are talking about an expensive set of projects, selling its -- so we need to start funding.

one aspect might look challenging, but i also see it as an opportunity. the more funding streams will be available for us to access. and finally, i will continue to use the power of my office in corroboration with you, supervisor chu to make the effort that leads to recommendations in the master plan. >> our next question will be provided by supervisor kim. supervisor kim: thank you. this past thursday, i held a hearing at the rules committee regarding the shelter system. many of our senior and stable constituents came out to speak about the challenges about waiting for bad. and the chase around to multiple sites in order to do so. they also expressed their concerns for safety starting at

3:00 in the morning and the challenges of getting only a 1-9 lead. we understand it is a housing of last resort. over many years, we have done that over time. what specific initiative can you explore with conjunction of our agencies, department of public health, and the new hope director at the office of this ability to make shelter reservations more accessible? and what can we do to make capital improvements and on-site services to accommodate the senior debt and disabled homeless clients? mayor lee: thank you, supervisor kim. the city provides emergency shelter for hundreds of folks tonight. there are many areas for

improvement. i am particularly concerned about those that are most vulnerable. 75% of the homeless population are seniors or people with disabilities. the challenges of, as are daunting enough, but some individuals have to brave the elements. my staff led by your former colleague and in conjunction with the human services agency and the office of disabilities is examining alternatives to streamline and exploring new ways to access shelter had appropriate medical services. my office is in discussions with clients, advocates, and providers about shifting the current line-based system that can be a lottery accessed by phone, 311 or text-messaging technology.

we have 311 that works really well for lots of other city services. why not expand that to include the shelter reservation system? the lottery-based system would negate the need for anyone to stand in line and would reduce the burden on people with disabilities. i am also committed to improving outcomes for individuals and the shelter system. as you heard on thursday, the emergency shelter clearing house shelters have 14 case managers and 532 shelter residents. i have already directed my staff to work with the department of public health, the office of economic work force development in the shelter monitoring committee and other partners to identify ways to increase housing placement, health services, and employment for those accessing the city shelters.

working together with our community partners, we can and will make strides forward on improving the shelter system. our number one priority remains permitted housing. since 2004, a total of 15,221 homeless people have left the streets for permanent housing. the mayor's office of disability works closely with the office of housing to maximize the possibilities of accessible and affordable support of housing. i am proud of the incredible system of housing we have created in san francisco and i am committed to working with all the stakeholders to make sure that every aspect of our system of care from street outreach to shelter hot and housing services be a model for both care and effectiveness. president chiu: our next question is provided by supervisor wiener. supervisor wiener: good afternoon, mr. mayor.

on january 24, i called for a hearing focusing on streetlight issues. i want to provide an update to address and a frequent lack of responsiveness to community requests for augmentation of sidewalk lighting for pedestrian safety. san franciscans are frustrated. what do you think are the problems with sidewalk lighting? >> i am committed to working with you to find pedestrian street light issues. whether it is a outages, wanting more pedestrian friendly lighting, or poor maintenance. we can and must do better. with the adoption of the better streets plan and the public utilities commission taking responsibility for operating and

maintaining pedestrian lighting, i feel we are making good progress. as you know, the ownership of street lights very. the public utilities commission owns and maintains 35,000 lights. pg&e operates 19,000. it makes it complicated to identify who is accountable echograph responsive and workable solutions. while in our route city and pg&e: the street lights through 311 call centers, has helped matters. we have talked about purchasing pg&e's likes the that we have what order. -- lights so that we have one owner. it would cost approximately $42

million to convert just 1103 pg&e's lights. these circuits operate like the old holiday lights were f1 and pull those out, the whole string will fail to light -- if one bolt fails, the whole string fails to light. we have been paying pg&e to operate and maintain their rilights. it is my understanding that they are willing to put that out and they have worked very hard to get rid of their backlog. like pg&e's system, many of our street lights are past their useful life. the adopted 10-year capital plan includes $47.9 million for repair and replacement of the aging infrastructure. we are dedicating funds and

staff resources to achieve the - -kee- keep the puc lights operating. we must improve streetlight levels of service regardless of ownership. perhaps you're hearing can focus their. so that we can improve the quality of streetlight services for all san francisco residents. there are concrete strategies that we need to examine as a city. updated electronic mapping of street lights, and to make sure the mapping is up to date. if we had of today's electronic mapping of pg&e lights, we could probably determine who is responsible and reduce repair time. we need to work with pg&e to adopt the same levels of service goals that we have for sfpuc.

a 48 hour turnaround time for outages at 21 days for replacing knockdown pulls. -- knocked down poles. we document responsiveness at addressing outages. i look forward to finding real solutions for this problem. president chiu: our final question will be provided by supervisor cohen. supervisor cohen: good afternoon, mr. mayor. mr. president. we have a number of public safety challenges. how not to say that we don't of knowledge, are down and that the captain is doing a great job of pulling guns off the streets. but we have worked diligently to build strong relations with one

another and work together to address some of these challenges. the staffing levels continue to be lower than what is needed to service the district. additionally, we are seeing more officers getting ready to retire in the future. are you supportive of increasing the number of police academy classes in this fiscal year? what is your strategy to make sure that stations have the resources they need to continue collaborative community policing strategy? thank you. mayor lee: thank you for that very important question. i know that it pertains to the whole city as well. i hear your concerns that if the bay view and other stations are not staffed, how they can succeed. i am a strong believer in

having community leaders work directly with leaders to craft appropriate ways to construct positive police presence in neighborhoods. this will only work if we have officers to implement it. i am always supportive of ensuring the number of police academy class is is directly in line with the staffing plans of the police department. as more officers retire, we must work to ensure that more recruits are ready to join the ranks and ready to protect everyone that lives and works in san francisco. that is why every year, in the city's joint report, we assume the cost of police academy class is to replace retiring officers. as you are well aware, funding decisions are not made in a vacuum and we are still facing

annual deficits of $170,000,000.312000006 dollars of the next two years. -- of $170 million and $312 million in the next two years. funding academy classes is important to many of us, but it costs money. but we must have a conversation of the are priorities and if we desire community policing and want to actively engage the officers in the community, we will need to pay for this. the only way to ensure consistent pipeline of officers is to think long-term and fined academy classes now. it's all about trade-offs. it means we have to be creative about how we protect public safety.

one cost-effective way is through collaborative community-based approach. to properly address public safety, our strategy must focus on empowering our communities to find solutions that work for them. i am thankful to have you as an ally in this effort. we can build community capacity and help neighborhoods find for themselves what their goals are. the converse community has challenges related to public safety. neighborhood and economic revitalization can only to cold if people feel safe walking the streets and patronizing local businesses. we must remove barriers to law enforcement. i pledged to work with all of you, especially supervisor cohen on htis eff - -o- on this effort. i want to thank supervisor

farrell for his question, too. [laughter] president chiu: thank you. why don't we go to the consent agenda? >> these items will be acted on by a single roll call vote and thus a member would like to discuss an item that will be removed and considered separately. president chiu: would anyone like to sever any items? roll call. supervisor wiener: aye. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye. supervisor chu: aye. supervisor cohen: aye. supervisor elsbernd: aye. supervisor farrell: aye. supervisor kim: aye. supervisor mar: aye. supervisor olague: aye. >> there are 11 aye's.

president chiu: those items are finally passed. >> from the budget and finance subcommittee without recommendation. authorizing the waiver of certain bidding and contract in requirements of the administrative code and authorizing the director of the port to execute contracts for certain improvement properties. president chiu: same house, same call? item 26. >> item 26 from the rules committee without recommendation, amending the campaign and governmental conduct to modify funding, qualifications, and dates of the public financing program. supervisor elsbernd: i would like to do what i did last week and divide the file, asking for two separate ones. page 15, lines one through four , a separate vote on that.

president chiu: why don't we take those votes. main body of the legislation. supervisor wiener: aye. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye. supervisor chu: aye. supervisor cohen: aye. supervisor elsbernd: aye. supervisor farrell: aye. supervisor kim: aye. supervisor mar: aye. supervisor olague: aye. >> there are 11 aye's. president chiu: that portion is finally passed. on the balance of the legislation? supervisor wiener: aye. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye. supervisor chu: no. supervisor cohen: aye. supervisor elsbernd: no.