elements together enable a concrete relationship between paris and san francisco and even remember it last time, with had a virtual highway between san francisco and paris, we started this virtual highway, it had a lot of babies and a lot of [inaudible] in paris and in san francisco was created, were developed from this common belief that we had in innovation, in research and with the need of building economic development on new technology, on new ways of living and creating wealth and progress of the 21st century. and it's in this spirit that with [inaudible] that i'm happy to salute with all my

friendship, we are going to start a new period of our links, our ties, mayor lee is a very popular man, a very popular mayor and i want to know first the reputation of the people of san francisco through him and through his progress. we have another common link, we believe that innovation can be noble if it starts many the people, so from the intervention of people in the democracy, a dynamic democracy, of course with new cooperation, new act of cooperation, first of all, there's always innovation [inaudible] of working in a smart and efficient way. we work together on the program

as smart cities where we want san francisco -- other cities to be modern cities but also civilized cities which means that consider that everything we wish for as far as economic development is concerned must consider the environment also, and the quality of the planet on which we live. with mr. lee, we talked about all these questions and of course we are going encourage all of these new companies and everything that enables us to improve our cities and make them a better place to live and less polluted place to live, as may it in transportation, management of energy, in san francisco and in paris, there are innovations that are

certainly ahead of many other cities in the world and i want to learn from san francisco and of course paris is there for the san francisco team, may it be a development of electric transportation or automobiles or [inaudible] or the reuse of energy of heat to heat private buildings or public building by using waste water, i explained to mayor lee that a couple of years now, i worked with bill clinton on the isolation of public buildings and specifically schools so that every year, we could renovate 100 schools in paris and the

children are in heated rooms but where we don't waste energy. these are subjects on which we have a lot of common ambition and where we'd like to exchange our dynamic efforts between san francisco and paris. but what would be a cooperation between san francisco and paris without culture? in san francisco, there's so much talent, so much genius, so much creation of cultural events that i want to open my doors of paris to them, [inaudible] that's an emblem that i created for the creative arts that come from new technology, i know there are fwraet creators in music and classic art, they are home in paris, that is where i will

welcome them. you have beautiful dancers and the director of the [inaudible] is here with us today, there are dancers from san francisco that i would love to welcome at the [inaudible] vil in paris, but we too, we have talent, we have some talent, we have a lot of passion for artistic creation so it may be in music and theatre and painting, we are ready to share a lot here in san francisco and i'm happy to have my trip be with the first visit of a french company in the united states, the great artist had its head in [inaudible] that was in los angeles a couple of days ago, will be in berkeley tomorrow

and then after that in new york of course, so there you are, that is how we are civilized together, how we are human beings that try to push ahead san francisco, paris, two cities that are destined to understand everything and do the maximum understanding because san francisco and paris believe in progress, know that it's difficult that progress of a factor of human development, we don't want to forget anybody, we want to shoulder each other, help each other so that the two cities, san francisco and paris be the most attractive cities in the world but also the most smiling cities in the world, the most

-- the cities that are worth your affection and that express to the rest of the world their taste of friendship, fraternity, friendship and for that we have to be together, we have to wan -- want to draoe yait toing and we want to make sure that this memorandum of understanding, this understanding between paris and san francisco be a final way of saying to each other it's happiness to live in both san francisco and paris together. thank you very much. [applause]. >> my presence to san francisco

is maybe not as symbolic as the golden gate. i done have with me works of art that express when the banks of the san river won't have anymore cars that i started recently, but parisian artists know how to do things that we like a lot, so this is an object that is very symbolic of paris for you. [applause].

>> so, there's little christo and bakarage. >> what's wrong? what's wrong? >> [inaudible]. >> he's not happy? what's going on? >> how beautiful. i'm going to put your picture in it. beautiful. >> thank you, mayor. isn't the french language absolutely so exciting, but maybe because it's coming out of the mouth of this wonderful mayor. and i always thought we were great but didn't he make us sound great? even better? and i do see that we have the fire chief here in case, you

know, we have had an earthquake and fire, so we brought the chief, chief haze in, and also a former first lady, gina miskony, gina, she's right behind the photographer, her husband was mayor and his portrait is right up here. so, we're coming to the signing, more important, of the signing, but tom horn is the one as been said has been leading us, in fact, we had to put a leash on him and we have him guarded at the airport with security guards because he would be on that air france airplane almost every day if we let him so we won't let him go because he does a wonderful job, he'll present a few words and then i'll present the mayor

to signs the forof understanding, may i present tom horn. >> (speaking french). mayor lee, council general, we commemorate today the 16th anniversary of our sister city of cord signed in san francisco in 1976. during this period, we have twice received official visits of the mayor of paris and paris has received three different mayors of san francisco.

and each visit has led to projects and agreements between our two cities that have been beneficial and advantageous to each. there is even one exchange in the field of fashion wean the academy of art and university and the most famous fashion schools in paris that begin at the beginning of our relationship and continue stronger than ever today. gladys pamer, the director of the department of fashion, gladys pamer, our sister city

committee member is here today, we have worked closely in the area of public transit, thank tos you, mr. mayor, the urban furniture that you showed us in paris now exists throughout san francisco, whether it be the bus stops, public toilets or the french kiosks used to distribute newspapers or other products.

thanks to our relationship, we saw for the first time a successful bike share program and i still have my cart delebre that you gave each of us on our visit to paris. [laughter]. >> and i remember fondly sort of, my first [inaudible] that day in suit and tie with mayor newsom in pouring rain in paris in front of city hall.

like you in san francisco, reduction of pollutants and greenhouse gases is a priority. you've seen how bicycle lanes throughout san francisco, even on our famous hills and after too long a delay, we ant pate launching our bike share program in 2013. our two cities have been in the forefront.in the fields of high-tech and digital media.

digital sister cities. on your last visit in 2006 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our partnership, we signed an accord being digital sister cities. this accord has facilitated numerous parisian company ins establishing companies in san francisco such as parisoma which we will visit tomorrow. and we see companies based in san francisco that create branches in paris such as soef

fee nova whose ceo, a member of the city sister committee is with us today. there are many other examples of successful and flourishing business and commercial relations between our two cities, an atmosphere made part in possible due to the close working relationship between our two close municipalities. finally, as each of the mayors before me, i must comment on the world of art and culture of which san francisco and paris are two world capitals. our cultural exchanges are often, live the highest quality.

many san francisco cultural institutions of every size perform frequently in paris. san francisco's symphony presents every year in paris and the new president of their board of directors is here today, so also deshanty clear, a smaller men's choral group, a

member of our committee is here today as well. and parisian artists are often in san francisco in the region and they're always warmly welcomed. at this very moment as the mayor said earl ye, we are pleased to welcome to the bay area e man yell, director of st vil de la paris who will be presenting tomorrow the and the next niekt the masterpiece of the absurd rhinoceros.

the ties between our two cities are strong, now with this new agreement, we assure they will continue and remain strong and beneficial for the great cities of paris and san francisco. [applause]. >> do you think he interpreted himself well? so, you can see why he is our chairman, now the moment has come, mayors, to sign the memorandum of understanding. yes, sign it.

[applause]. (next event). >> good morning. today is wednesday, september 19th, 2012. this is the meeting of the

abatement appeals board. i would like to remind everyone to please turnoff all electronic devises. the first item on the agenda is roll call. president? >> here. >> commissioner lee? >> here. >> commissioner mar? >> here. >> commissioner mccarthy? >> here. >> commissioner walker. >> here. >> commissioner mccray is expected and commissioner mel gar is excused. we have a quorum and the next item is item b, the oath. will all parties giving testimony today please stand and raise your right hand? do you swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge? you may be seated. >> thank you.

* >> all commissioners in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed? the minutes are approved. item d, continued appeals, case no. 675 2, 17 43 12th avenue. appellant, 17 43 12th avenue, san francisco, california. action requested by appellant to reverse the order of abatement. for the record, commissioner mccray is present.

>> good morning. >> for opponent dubrovsky. i'm reporting that since the last meeting we had a survey done in order to assess the topography that had changed at the next property, at the wong's property. that survey has been done and the plans are being drawn up. the new plans, in order to reflect what the new topography is on the neighboring property. and we have our engineer here who is ready to answer any questions mr. javier who has drawn up the plans or is in the process of doing is according to the survey that he conducted. so, the schedule is once the plans are done, which is expected to be done within the next week or two, then they will go through the building

department and then our judge, the arbitrator in the case, is standing ready to fine tune the last details. however, prior to that, i and opposing counsel have a meeting scheduled for next week, but not specified the date, but we're working on that date. so, pretty much the project is moving forward. so, we are asking for a further continuance to allow us to get the plans done and then the details worked out either with the attorneys or with the help of our judge arbitrator. so, i'm here to ask for another couple months' continuance so we can do this and hopefully we won't have to come back here. so, that's what i have to do. i would like to have our engineer, mr. [speaker not understood] to report to you, too.

counsel for mr. wong is also present. we will just confirm that's what we're working on and i'm prepared to take any questions you have. >> commissioner walker? >> once the plans are approved, what is the estimate of time for executing and getting the project completed? i prefer our engineer to answer that question in terms of how long it would take to have it executed. i can answer the other part because of the fact that this is -- we're talking about a significant amount of money involved. and because of insurance being also part of it, it may take about couple of three weeks to get that done. but as far as execution from an engineering point of view, i'd rather have him address that question. >> okay. so, really the question is the

time to get the permit, assuming there's movement forward, and then executing. >> yes, definitely, good morning, members of the board. javier chavareia. as she discussed we have completed top graphic survey. a few small changes have occurred. when we went to the property to implement the required modifications to the plans, we noticed that the topographic conditions had changed. so, we recommended to have a survey done so, thus, our plans would reflect exactly what needs to be done. we have completed the survey. we are in the process of preparing the revised grading plan, and our drawings will be completed early next week. permit process should be fairly simple, as all the drawings have been previously approved under the previous schemes and the modifications that we're

making are really not substantial from the structural or civil engineering standpoint. so far we don't foresee any problems obtaining the permit. when it comes to the execution of the program, we are approaching the rainy season. the construction of the retaining wall involves a substantial amount of excavation and modification. so, that's something that the two property owners are going to have to discuss because it will create an impact too great in winter. it will be also important to get the opinion of the geotechnical engineer to see if he advises us to remove that retaining wall during the winter season. the whole process, if done efficiently, can probably be done in a matter of six to eight weeks. nevertheless, depending on the conditions of the weather, depending on the conditions of

the season, may not be feasible to implement it immediately. >> thank you. >> you still have some time. i'd be happy to answer any questions you have other than what has been presented to you. >> if you're done, could we hear from the department and see what the department feels? >> [speaker not understood] for the department. clearly the survey is a new development. i'll just leave it in your hands. we've had a number of continuances so, i'll just leave it with you. >> just what we've got, the structural soundness, do you feel, are we -- i know we kind of focused a lot on that the last time, how you felt,