anything else to add? ok, this is an information item, so we can go to our next item. >> item 8, update on the central subway project. this is an information item. >> good afternoon. in view of the time, i will make an attempt to be brief. i am project management oversight authority. for the benefit of those that may be watching at home and not too familiar with the project, the central subway is in the -- is the second phase of the third street library project, which will go all the way to chinatown. much of last year, the board approved the budget of $1.578

billion. september 2011, the mta submitted its request for the full funding grant agreement, which is the major financial milestone for the project. thus far, the board has allocated $9 million. today, the expenditure totals 173. the full agreement is expected july 2012. there has been some discussion about what happens with the allocation, but in a way that signals fda's intent, they awarded $85 million to the project in fiscal year 2011- 2012, and that is the fiscal year that ends in september.

the phase in which the final design is complete, and it is happening concurrent with construction. the first two packages the tunnels and stations are complete, and the systems package will be complete in made next month. construction, as i mentioned, is under way. the first contract is complete, and the second contract in the area of union square -- i'm sure you noticed the activity there. it is 85% complete. the tunnels contract -- the total board machines have already been awarded -- ordered. that contract was awarded in june of last year for $13 million below the engineer's estimate. it is, of course, a major

project, which consists of 1.5 miles of tunnel from under the freeway. it has three separate notices to proceed. the first one was for the african much of the tunnel boring machine, which they have already done. the second one was for the development of the tunnel boring machine launched its, which was actually given in march. the last one is for the actual driving of the tunnel, and that will be happening at the the agreement is received in july. the remaining contract is for remaining contracts. the union square station was actually advertised yesterday, so there are two construction contract right now. yerba buena will follow in a month or so, and the systems

will be the final one, third quarter of this year. commissioner avalos: so what we have seen so far -- i am most familiar with the union square, powell street station, and that is utilities? >> yes. the unions for a station on the streets, preparing for construction of the station there. real-estate acquisition that is on track. there are two sides being acquired. the building has been vacated. i do not know if you had a chance to go by there, but it was in order to protect the building. it was wrapped very nicely with some images of chinatown and also of what the station will be looking like. mta has been pursuing eminent

domain in parallel in case the negotiations do not happen. if they cannot be concluded in time, then they will proceed with eminent domain in order to avoid impacting the schedule of the project. there's also 3 easements. and g-8 received possession in july of last year. here, you have the schedule milestones. i will not bore you going through every single one of them, but the most significant coming up is the full funding grant agreement expected in july. as i mentioned earlier, december 2018 is the revenue service. commissioner avalos: do we anticipate any controversy in pursuing the full funding bread? >> no, basically, the mta wants to -- once they receive the

application, they have been answering questions. the mta has been responding, and everything seems to indicate that it is on track. here, you have the full funding. this is something you have seen before. as far as some funding actions, there was some uncertainty, but that has passed because the state bonds were issued last week. so that uncertainty is going this time. also, the staff is working at the regional state level to make sure that the future funding becomes available, that the bonding happens on time. also, in preparation for a contingencies, the staff is also working with mtc and other

funding partners to talk about help bridge funding is needed because some other funding is delayed. so these plans are being developed to make sure that the project gets billed according to schedule. >> so state bonds are expected in april, that is the slump? >> it was expected in april, but that should have happened last week. so that concludes my presentation. the program manager from mta is also here. i'm happy to answer any questions. commissioner avalos: any comments or questions? ok, thank you for your presentation. we can go on to public comment. >> i have known mr. ruiz for a

long time. i got to know them better when he was involved with third street light rail. as you know, mr. chair, this pertains to your district since you have very little representation in the district. the third street light rail phase one begins at fourth and king and ends in the middle of nova and visitation valley. for those listening at home, over $700 million was spent on that project, and 80% of the businesses were impacted, and a lot of businesses just went away because they could not afford to stay in business. historically speaking, when a similar project was done on

market street, all the businesses were compensated. i believe by the department of transportation. now, on this phase two, because a lot of this is tunneling under brown, the businesses above, especially union street and all, would not be impacted -- because a lot of this is tunneling under ground. but things are put in a place to create safe passages above ground. now, i'm talking on behalf of three or four focus groups that we meet to discuss such issues. we need to get a better understanding of how certain segments of the population will be catered to.

as i have been stating here and in today's public comments, i stated once or twice we have, if you look at our demographic, an increase in the percentage of our seniors. >> we lost quorum. >> so what happens? commissioner avalos: we can stop your public comment, or we can continue? >> no, i think i said sufficient. commissioner avalos: you are back. wonderful. we have a quorum again. thank you for your comments, mr. da costa. any other member of the public who like to comment, please come forward. seeing none, no -- we will close

public comment. this is an informational item, so we can go on to our next item. >> item 9, introduction of new items. this is an information item. commissioner avalos: colleagues, and the introduction of new items? seeing none, okay, public comment? public comment is closed. next item. >> item 10, public comment. commissioner avalos: seeing no member of the public come forward for public comment, will close public comment. >> item 11, adjournment. commissioner avalos: we are adjourned. thank you.

>> for the meeting will come to order. good afternoon. this is the monday, april 16, 2012 meeting of the land use and economic develop committee for the san francisco board of supervisors. my name is eric mar, chair of the committee. tamara is malia cohen. to my left is supervisor scott wiener. our clerk is ms. alisa miller. >> please silence all cell phones and electronic devices. documents should be submitted to the creek bottoms acted upon it will appear on april 24 board of supervisors agenda less inert -- otherwise stated. supervisor mar: thank you. in the two items. >> item number one, ordinance amending the sidewalk with of golden gate avenue and redwood

valley. >> i do not have a presentation. actually, this is the location for the new puc headquarters building. 525 building gate. -- 525 golden gate. it was a suggestion from staff members at dpw, we were requested to widened sidewalks to improve pedestrian safety. we also included the pg&e vault underneath the sidewalk. we do not wanted encroaching into the street. on redwood and polk street supervisor mar: street mar read what is the alley between mcallister and turk? >> yes. if you have questions, i am available. >> si no questions, let's open this up for public comment.

is there anyone from the public who would like to speak? please come forward. it is a maximum of three minutes. you'll hear a tone 30 seconds before your time is up. >> good afternoon. my name is douglas yep and i have lived in san francisco for 60 years. i would like to speak in favor of this ordinance. i do what that blog very often, going to the federal building some -- so i think it does need a wider with. -- a wider width. since we're dealing with economic development, i would like to make a suggestion of candlestick park, we can use it for the benefit of the bayview community. we should consider that in a future hearing before this committee. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. is there anyone else a with like to speak. seeing none, public comment is closed. can we move this forward with a positive recommendation without

objection? thank you. >> item number two, resolution approving the six months the designation of two temporary selling spaces on market street for street artists. supervisor mar: from the san francisco art commission, howard lazar. >> we are here for six spaces. supervisor mar: we only have the second item, which is on market street north side, spear to stuart st.. >> yes, but we should have six spaces. supervisor mar: yes, but this is just item number two. i have to -- >> this is our 40th year in existence. on june 30, a saturday, we will be celebrating our 40th anniversary at justin herman plaza, adjacent to the sidewalk that i am talking about right here. if you can picture the sidewalk, that is the north sidewalk of

market street at stuart, which is a dead-end, and spear street. in 1987, the board of supervisors awarded our program eight spaces west of where we are proposing, and then in 2009, the board awarded nine spaces east of where we are proposing. so with these six spaces, that would fill in the gap right there. as you know, it is an enormously wide sidewalk. you can very easily contained these six spaces. what is the reason for it? well, the justin herman plaza is so popular for the street cards. they have a lottery there every morning at 6:00 a.m. typically, you make about 150 artists show up for 70 spaces. so the rest, if they do not go elsewhere in the city, they will

go on the sidewalk, already in the spaces that are there. and this would add six more spaces which would siphon off the number even better. and i would be very happy to answer any questions you may have. also, a main point want to make is at this time we're asking that these spaces before a six- month designation, to see whether or not they will work out, whether or not there would cause any problems. pedestrian or otherwise. and if there are no problems, we would like to come back in six months before you and ask that their term be extended. supervisor mar: i see no questions from colleagues. i was just going to say it looks like it is adding a number of spaces along worthy -- where the hyatt regency sidewalk is, to fill in the permanent space is.

but it is like filling in an area so there is even more of a walkable string of different small merchants that are there. >> that is right. supervisor mar: ok, let's open this up for public comment. please come forward. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i have been in the street artist program cents a 1974. this being our 40th anniversary, we do have spaces all over the city. as the years go on, some of the space is a more viable than others. and some that used to be great are no longer as good. so this area of justin herman plaza, where we have this beautiful arts and crafts market, is important to add this string of spaces. supervisor mar: you're like 38 years. >> this is my 39th summer. i was not there right at the beginning, but i have been there throughout. the neighborhood there has about three or four cafes. there are no retail shops there, so there's no opposition from

anybody. in fact, we forget -- we frequent the cafes, and we are good customers. some of the area there is sort of a panhandlers row, and when we're selling in that area, of course our booths are up, and that leaves little room for them. so actually we're quite popular among the merchants there. this is a nice extension of our arts and crafts market, and it is very popular among the street artists. so please consider this. thank you very much. supervisor mar: can i ask you when the occupy sf when shearing the area -- how did that impact the smaller merchants? >> it was pretty difficult. at first there were some very serious folks there in the occupy movement. pretty soon, it devolved into a homeless camp. of course, sanitation was a very large problem. we had a lot of problems with people sort of wandering through at all times of the day.

it was pretty destructive to both us and our neighbors in the stores. when it was finally cleaned up and moved out, we were very happy. although most of us do agree with the philosophy of the occupy folks. the people that ultimately joined them or more of a problem than a solution to the philosophy. so we appreciate what happened ultimately in the end. but of course we think is important. thank you so much. supervisor mar: thank you. is there anyone else who would like to speak? >> good afternoon, supervisors. i have been a street artist for about 25 years. i just wanted to say with a few more spaces, they will help about 150 people try to make a living out of that area. we need to get a space, and it is a big number for us. so i hope you consider it for

us. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you so much. is there anyone else who would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. can we move this forward with a positive present that on -- recommendation without objection? >> there is an error in the title this is two selling spaces, but in the body it should be six. so we need to amended on page 1, 3. supervisor mar: i move that we make that amendment in the number, and thank you for bringing that to our attention, mr. lazar, as well. can we take that a minute? thank you. can we move this forward without objection? our city attorney is advising that it does not require continuing. so we're moving this forward with a positive recommendation without objection. thank you. is there any other business before us? >> no, that is it. supervisor mar: thank you,

everyone. meeting adjourned. >> what if you could make a memorial that is more about information and you are never fixed and it can go wherever it wants to go? everyone who has donated to it could use it, host it, share it. >> for quite a great deal of team she was hired in 2005, she struggled with finding the correct and appropriate visual expression. >> it was a bench at one point.

it was a darkened room at another point. but the theme always was a theme of how do we call people's attention to the issue of speci species extinction. >> many exhibits do make long detailed explanations about species decline and biology of birds and that is very useful for lots of purposes. but i think it is also important to try to pull at the strings inside people. >> missing is not just about specific extinct or endangered species. it is about absence and a more fundamental level of not knowing what we are losing and we need to link species loss to habitat loss and really focuses much on the habitat. >> of course the overall mission of the academy has to do with

two really fundamental and important questions. one of which is the nature of life. how did we get here? the second is the challenge of sustainability. if we are here how are we going to find a way to stay? these questions resonated very strongly with maya. >> on average a species disappears every 20 minutes. this is the only media work that i have done. i might never do another one because i'm not a media artist per se but i have used the medium because it seemed to be the one that could allow me to convey the sounds and images here. memorials to me are different from artworks. they are artistic, but memorials have a function. >> it is a beautiful scupltural

objective made with bronze and lined with red wood from water tanks in clear lake. that is the scupltural form that gives expression to maya's project. if you think about a cone or a bull horn, they are used to get the attention of the crowd, often to communicate an important message. this project has a very important message and it is about our earth and what we are losing and what we are missing and what we don't even know is gone. >> so, what is missing is starting with an idea of loss, but in a funny way the shape of this cone is, whether you want to call it like the r.c.a. victor dog, it is listen to the earth and what if we could create a portal that could look at the past, the present and the future? >> you can change what is then missing by changing the software, by changing what is projected and missing. so, missing isn't a static

installation. it is an installation that is going to grow and change over time. and she has worked to bring all of this information together from laboratory after laboratory including, fortunately, our great fwroup of researche e-- g researchers at the california academy. >> this couldn't have been more site specific to this place and we think just visually in terms of its scupltural form it really holds its own against the architectural largest and grandeur of the building. it is an unusual compelling object. we think it will draw people out on the terrace, they will see the big cone and say what is that. then as they approach the cone tell hear these very unusual sounds that were obtained from the cornell orinthology lab. >> we have the largest recording of birds, mammals, frogs and insects and a huge library of videos.

so this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for us to team up with a world renown, very creative inspirational artist and put the sounds and sights of the animals that we study into a brand-new context, a context that really allows people to appreciate an esthetic way of the idea that we might live in the world without these sounds or sites. >> in the scientific realm it is shifting baselines. we get used to less and less, diminished expectations of what it was. >> when i came along lobsters six feet long and oysters 12 inches within they days all the oyster beds in new york, manhattan, the harbor would clean the water. so, just getting people to wake up to what was just literally there 200 years ago, 150 years ago. you see the object and say what is that.

you come out and hear these intriguing sounds, sounds like i have never heard in my life. and then you step closer and you almost have a very intimate experience. >> we could link to different institutions around the globe, maybe one per continent, maybe two or three in this country, then once they are all networked, they begin to communicate with one another and share information. in 2010 the website will launch, but it will be what you would call an informational website and then we are going to try to, by 2011, invite people to add a memory. so in a funny way the member rely grows and there is something organic about how this memorial begins to have legs so to speak. so we don't know quite where it will go but i promise to keep on it 10 years. my goal is to raise awareness and then either protect forests from being cut down or reforest

in ways that promote biodiversity. >> biodiverse city often argued to be important for the world's human populations because all of the medicinal plants and uses that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. while these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars, the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. >> this is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way