difficult task to identify and beautify these. merchants to try to see how we can make these improvements together. the permit fees are not a huge amount -- and they are hoping to replace awnings that are old an d worn out, and folks trying to install lighting to improve the safety of their neighborhood commercial areas. all this would do is apply a waiver for those permit fees and only the month of may has a pilot, which is the small business month to allow those businesses that want to replace their awnings to do so without fee. we expect the impact to be very

minimal, about $12,000-$15,000. president chiu: same house, same call? passed on first reading. >> resolution supporting the state and federal measures to protect homeowners and urging the suspension of foreclosure activities. supervisor avalos: i want to thank the co-sponsors oof this resolution. thank you for your support on this route resolution that is really looking at our national mortgage crisis and how it contributes to our shosluggish growth. in san francisco, i don't believe our city has recognized

the magnitude of the problem. we have whole neighborhoods that are hit very hard by the mortgage crisis a where there are a lot of defaults and foreclosures. we are seeing homeowners under water. i am one of them. probably over $150,000, but that as many people in my neighborhood. we have seen great movement of people in the city that have been responding and trying to protect one another for further closures. there have been a few organizations that have sprouted, holland has been strong and responding for the southeast part of san francisco, ace has been working

in hunters point. they have been fighting against foreclosures, and often we see the foreclosures are part of the economic downturn and part of our banks not doing enough to help households maintain properties, maintain mortgages and prevent a default through loan modification. we are looking at a time where the crisis can't continue if we want to promote the kind of economic development we need to promote. we are seeing some great movements holding banks accountable. just recently, there was a settlement across the whole country. i want to thank the attorney general for holding out to try to get a better part of the settlement.

she also deserves a lot of credit to of a sure through a discussion of the homeowner's bill of rights to the california state legislature. the bill of rights will offer a number of protections. will be supporting the efforts around promoting the bill of rights. she also called for suspension of foreclosures on mortgages that are held by fannie mae and freddie mac. it would provide some relief to people here in california and san francisco as well. these are two institutions that would be greatly on the hook for not doing enough to make sure households can be protected against foreclosures. just the past year of the pace, they sponsored a study called wall street wrecking ball.

what foreclosures are costing our neighborhoods in cities. the study actually predicted by the end of this year, 12,400 people will be foreclosed on in san francisco. it also showed that study that there are real costs for foreclosed properties. we are seeing a light and minimizing the property tax intake because of property values and we see great stresses on the community that lead to crime. we had a study as well by the assessor's office. it's looking broadly at how mortgages are processed and found there appear to be many irregularities. we hope there can be a follow up

on the hottest by the comptroller's office and looked deeper at how we can find what kind of possible violations are taking place as the mortgages are being processed through the banks. i don't want to go too much longer, but lastly, this measure is calling for the passage of the bill of rights of the state of california at looking at how we can look at the federal level as well, asking mayor lee to work at the federal level to get policies in place that will reduce principal that will stop dual tracking of mortgages as homeowners are in the process to modify their loans and banks will lead through foreclosure proceedings and homeowners are unaware.

the mayor's office -- and this resolution also urges the mayor to direct lobbyists to offer policies that will get long-term solutions and the long-term leases. we're also looking for the state lobbyists under the direction of the mayor to work towards state measures as well. i want to thank the members of the community that fought very hard to protect one another. there have been evictions we have been able to prevent happening. there was a great effort on a couple of occasions that prevented her from being evicted from her home. i want to thank the residence for coming together. it is about providing the kind of hope for people. it will provide this level of

support and scrutiny from the city government that can hold the banks accountable. with that, colleagues, i have one resolution. i would like to read the amendment into the record. i met to pass out a copy of this, so i will pass it out if you don't mind, supervisor mar. on page four of the resolution. a new resolve clause. top of page four. this came out of the hearing last week where we want to go further to deepen the audit on four closed proceedings in the banks. we're asking the controller's office to do extra work. the comptroller has agreed to do this. if the d.a. wants to provide

further investigations, it can help with possible violations and can be hot civil or criminal in nature. and will now read of the new resolve clause. the board of supervisors' request the comptroller to conduct a follow-up audit to the assessor recorder independent report. it will be the new resolve clause. i want to thank you for your support beforehand. i also would support and lively one of them the support of the mayor in carrying out the lobbying work that had to do with the state and federal level. president chiu: supervisor avalos has asked for tehe amendment to be included. a second.

without objection, the amendment should be made. supervisor campos: thank you, mr. president. i'm grateful to supervisor avalos and his staff as well of thas tehhe activists. i want to and knowledge of the work of occupy vernal that focused on the foreclosure crisis we are facing in district 9. it has worked with other neighborhoods to make sure that we have a collective response to this issue. if there is any doubt that we have a crisis on our hands, the numbers. there is a report that showed that 18% of san francisco homes are under water. these are homes that are worth less than what the people paid for them. that is close to 1/5 of the

population in san francisco. the report that supervisor avalos talked about that was commissioned by the assessor reporter found some pretty disturbing numbers. if you look at the 382 foreclosures that they examined, they found in 84% of those foreclosures, almost nine out of 10, there was a clear violation of law. that is a very small sample, which is why i think it is important to continue the work started by the assessor reporter and have the comptroller conduct a full review of the foreclosures that have taken place in san francisco. it does a couple of things that i think are critical. it calls for action and it urges all city agencies and all city officials to make this issue a

priority. it is a call to arms. it calls upon the mayor, he district attorney, the city attorney, this board of supervisors. for us to take active steps to ensure that the right of property owners in san francisco are protected. that is something that i think is very important. it is something that cities are going to have to do because the response from federal and state governments have not been at a level that they need be. we the attorney general for the leadership she has demonstrated. but that leadership has not been demonstrated how at the extent that it needs to be. it will take san francisco taking a proactive role. the second thing that this resolution does that i think is also very important is that input to the board of

supervisors on record as urging our city banking partners in san francisco including bank of america, union bank, and wells fargo to immediately suspend foreclosure activities in san francisco until there is a full investigation of this foreclosure crisis. if you want do business with the city, we welcome you, but we urge you to make sure that you engage in business and a manner that protect the rights of the people that live in this city. we urge the banking institutions, if this passage is completed and we have the resolution go forward today, to take notice and take all steps necessary to halt the current foreclosures so that there can be a full investigation of this crisis. this is a call to arms for the city and i hope that we take it as seriously as we possibly can. i know that the activists and

community members that have been working on this will continue to work on this and make sure that all of the city officials are held accountable to make sure that we do the right flank. i am proud to co-sponsoring this resolution today. supervisor mar: i wanted to add that the land use meeting that we held was very powerful. six members of the board of supervisors, it was noticed by a majority of supervisors, what was so powerful were the stories told by many families and seniors telling stories of the horrors of the foreclosure process for them. it emphasized the importance of the counseling agencies trying to help people stay in their homes and protect families. i am grateful for community empowerment and for the california reinvestment

coalition. i also appreciated that we looked the other models from other cities on how they protect homes and communities from foreclosures. i appreciated the grass-roots coalition of the community agency is not going to let this be the only issue that they work on. from a public banking institution to other issues, from the occupy movment t -- movement to housing justice. i am looking forward other steps forward including the comptroller's report as well. president chiu: roll call vote. supervisor elsbernd: i would like to share a couple things. a word of caution on this. i will support the item because the language is fairly soft when

it comes to the suspension of foreclosures, but i think we need to put out the concept that if we entirely suspend foreclosures, what does that mean will happen? the banks will stop lending. there will be no credit for people whatsoever that aspire to homeownership. i recognize the language is a temporary suspension of foreclosures while the rest of the ordinance -- it's good things in there. especially language assistance, that is all good. but i would be very wary of language that specifically said no more foreclosures. that is such a short-term solution that it will have a significant -- term impact. i hope everybody is very mindful of the. don't just go for the low hanging fruit, think about the impact of some of your

decisions and the policy positions that we take. stopping foreclosures is, frankly, silly. this is not that, i recognize that, but be very cautious. president chiu: any further discussion? supervisor campos: i aprpeciate -- appreciate the support from supervisor elsbernd. what is different about this, while the foreclosures are happening, you have record- breaking amount of money that have been made by these banking institutions, many of which benefited from taxpayer money that bailed them out. i think if you have a situation where foreclosures were happening as the banking industry was struggling, that would be one thing. but you have record-breaking revenues that these institutions have benefited from.

in the context of that happening, this is a reasonable approach. but this resolution, i think, has a very soft request and i hope that we can support it. supervisor avalos: yeah, just to add. from what i've seen and working with groups and members is that we go from a time when a lot of people and homeowners that are facing foreclosure, it was something that they faced on their own. no one was really looking out for them. some were taken advantage of by the banks. people are starting to work together and they are asking that the government take a stand. we find legislative solutions,

and a lot of the legislative solutions that seem to be the most strong at the state and federal level, we say that we support these efforts. i want to make sure that everyone knows that this is a real human crisis that is affecting real human beings. there is expectation. i wanted to lead to greater efforts. president chiu: why don't we call the roll. supervisor wiener: aye. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye. supervisor chu: aye. supervisor cohen: -- >> supervisor coheni is absent.

supervisor elsbernd: aye. supervisor farrell: aye. supervisor kim: aye. supervisor mar: aye. supervisor olague: aye. >> supervisor cohen? item 36. supervisor cohen: aye. >> there are 11 aye's. [applause] president chiu: resolution is adopted. why don't we skipped over the special order and go to committee report item 37. >> considered at a regular meeting on monday, april 9 and 4 did. it was amending various sections of the planning total. supervisor wiener: thank you, mr. president. this legislation is long overdue. it rationalizes, simplifies, and

streamline san francisco's business team and convoluted be eating and drinking controls. it simplifies the planning code and a comprehensive way by reducing the existing 13 different definitions for an eating or drinking establishment down to three. this legislation is a small business friendly legislation that allows new businesses to start and existing ones to adapt to changing demand. legislation is also neighborhood friendly that maintains and strengthens the carefully tailored controls for the neighborhood commercial district to ensure that they remain unique, balanced, and neighborhoods pacific. the legislation fundamentally will make the legislative

controls more flexible allowing for new ideas and for businesses to improve, adapt, and in the eighth overtime. our current regulations micromanage our eating and drinking establishments in san francisco. controls and in various districts city-wide -- whether a cafe can have ten chairs or eleven chairs. and if a bagel can be toasted. if ice cream can be served in a cup or a cone. job creation and economic investment in the neighborhood.

the legislation was endorsed unanimously by the planning commission, by the small business commission, but a land use and economic development committee. this legislation has been introduced for over a year and is the result of significant outreach and collaboration. we worked with numerous neighborhood groups that have had questions or concerns. we made a series of amendments. the first land-use hearing, we actually had some minor amendments today that will not require a continuance. we have bent over backwards to listen, be responsive, and make sure that we are improving our economic environment for food and drinking establishments while also respecting the uniqueness of our neighborhoods and things like formula retail

controls that are so vital to the character of our city. i also want to thank a few people because this has not been at st. ford or easy legislation, as important as it is. i would like to thank my co- sponsors, supervisor carmen chu and supervisor olague, who have been starlet -- to have been a stalwart supporters. andre in my office has done enormous work as we go to the process making sure various concerns have been reflected through amendments. and i would like to thank the planning staff and my constituent who is here today who played a huge role in getting the ball rolling on this important part of our planning code as well as anne- marie rogers and scott sanchez

to have done a lot of work on this. it has truly been a team effort. we have distributed amendments which are primarily cleanup and typographical errors and ensuring consistency within the legislation. in addition, one amendment i would like to point out that will not require continuance, but i want to knonote it, in the the upper market and castro neighborhood commercial district, a conditional use authorization would be required for alcohol and intensification, going from a beer and wine permit too hard liquor. that is already the case in a number of other neighborhoods and it was inadvertently left out for the castro and upper market areas. i do moved those amendments and with that said, i respectfully ask for your support.

president chiu: supervisor wiener has made the amendments. is there a second? can we take the amendments without objection? supervisor chu: i simply want to acknowledge the great work supervisor wiener has done shepherding this to the legislative process and being open to the different recommendations people have put out there and to my other cosponsor, supervisor olague. i'd like to thank the planning department for thinking through these issues and doing what many businesses have asked us to do for a long time and that is to make things easier to help us get to a point where legislation is easy to understand, easy to implement, and easy to administer. i think this legislation does exactly that and helps to narrow down from 13 different permit controls to 3 broad categories that actually allows us a couple

of things -- to help businesses understand it better and administer better from a city's perspective and also give small businesses the flexibility to change items as the b-2 to adapt their businesses in a way that most responsible to our customers. as a supervisor weeder points out, it does continue to control what we want to control -- the sale of alcohol, which is vitally important to make sure we have safe and successful neighborhoods, and it makes sure we have other controls that are already in place, the controls on other fast food stores or formula retail. in allows neighborhoods to preserve their unique character. i think this is a step in the right direction and it is a step in what community members and small businesses have asked us to do, which is to make it easier to do business in san francisco. given the public input, i do hope for your support.

supervisor olague: i have been working with the planning department staff for some time, like for the last pieces of legislation that i worked in collaboration with the staff on as a member of the planning commission. it has been at least a year and there have been extensive public hearings. we have at least two at the planning commission. the small business commission also reviewed this legislation and i believe it passed out of both bodies with unanimous support. i think it is clear this is long overdue. i would like to thank mr. starr and ann marie rogers from the very beginning of this process and supervisor wiener for taking leadership and his staff, mr. powers, who was able to process a lot of the concerns and amend this legislation to

address the concerns that were raised in the past couple of weeks among the many members -- i believe it was telegraph hill association and a couple of other individuals. we may see some trailing legislation. i received a call for members of the upper fell more, so we will be discussing that with a supervisor farrell. policy does not happen in a vacuum. certainly it did not in this case. it was a response, in response to actual hardships endured by small business entrepreneurs and i think san francisco sees itself as a city that values small business and individually- owned and family-owned businesses and restaurants and those types of endeavors. i think this is in keeping with the values that we have.