about today. including second street and want to echo concerns about the project being delayed yet again. this is a situation where we have a study within a study, which is usually not a great situation to be in. we support the work that this body is doing to try to move that project forward and thank you for your concern there. i also want to point out that the maintenance continues to be an issue for bicycle facilities. there needs to be better signage and marking many places. that's a need for better maintenance across the board. the category in the packet you saw continues to be delayed and reduced. so we ask you to pay more attention to helping the city increase it's maintenance, budgeting and work. thank you. >> thank you very much. is there any other member of the public that would like to speak, please come forward. >> hi, good afternoon. supervisors, i just wanted to

point out one thing because this is a public forum, the better market street project is holding pop ups up and down market street every friday this month. basically we have retaken over the kiosks and have public information out there on friday between 12 and 2:00 p.m. this coming friday is at market and powell. near the cable car turn around. it's been an incredibly interesting experience because we reach people that don't normally come to city with public forums. you get the folks that live around there, work around there, tourists and really reaching different people in different sections and getting a much better understanding of how market street simple i want to point out that department of public works just repaved the

bike lanes. we are doing short term improvements. lastly, i want to make sure everybody is aware of how important market street really is. next week, we need market street as the giants go up and down on the parade there. we will be able to be known nationally about market street and their celebration parade. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. is there any other member of the public that would like to speak that has not spoken? seeing none? public comment is closed. let me say that we ask members of the public to be respectful. we believe in free speech. there's a way to meaningful comments without saying things about women and people of color. if you can please call the income item. >> item eight. introduction of new items. >> colleagues, any new items for

future discussion? >> why don't we open up to public comment on any new items. seeing none, public comment is closed. item nine. public comment. now is an opportunity for members of public to speak on anything not on the agenda but within the jurisdiction of the authority. >> good afternoons, supervisors. members of the public. you know there's an old addage and it goes like this. light threatens darkness. do you understand that concept? it's going to come and haunt you day after day if you keep playing the race card in this city. thank you very much. if anything needs to happen in this city, stop playing the race card. if you want to progress in market street, stop playing the

race card. if you want traffic calming on market street, stop playing the race card. it's so old. nobody is hear even listening to you guys and giving public comment. normally, this chamber would be full. before you came into the city, we had good government and projects that went forward on time every time. a city that came together and if you can't see that because you're so identified with diversity, then you need to go get your eyes checked. we're so tired of it in this city. i would get away with anything with your attitude. it's not diverse enough. you could take over any country with these type of politics because it's about victimizing its very own citizens. biting the hand that feeds you.

if you think that that has any sustainability in this city or any city in the world, you're absolutely deluded. thank you very much. i grew up with a father from the middle east and brothers that were diverse as any family on earth. but i tell you what, the politics in this city is so bad, that it has to change. thank you. >> seeing no other speaker, public comment is closed. if you can call the next item. >> 10 adjournment. >> two words, go giants. meeting adjourned.

>> feel like it really is a community. they are not the same thing, but it really does feel like there's that kind of a five. everybody is there to enjoy a literary reading. >> the best lit in san francisco. friendly, free, and you might get fed. ♪ [applause] >> this san francisco ryther created the radar reading series in 2003. she was inspired when she first moved to this city in the early 1990's and discover the wild

west atmosphere of open mi it's ic in the mission. >> although there were these open mics every night of the week, they were super macho. people writing poems about being jerks. beatty their chest onstage. >> she was energized by the scene and proved up with other girls who wanted their voices to be heard. touring the country and sharing gen-x 7 as a. her mainstream reputation grew with her novel. theses san francisco public library took notice and asked her if she would begin carrying a monthly reading series based on her community. >> a lot of the raiders that i work with our like underground writers.

they're just coming at publishing and at being a writer from this underground way. coming in to the library is awesome. very good for the library to show this writing community that they are welcome. at first, people were like, you want me to read at the library, really? things like that. >> as a documentary, there are interviews -- [inaudible] >> radar readings are focused on clear culture. strayed all others might write about gay authors. gay authors might write about universal experiences. the host creates a welcoming environment for everybody. there is no cultural barrier to entry. >> the demographic of people who

come will match the demographic of the reader. it is very simple. if we want more people of color, you book more people of color. you want more women, your book more women. kind of like that. it gets mixed up a little bit. in general, we kind of have a core group of people who come every month. their ages and very. we definitely have some folks who are straight. >> the loyal audience has allowed michelle to take more chances with the monthly lineup. established authors bring in an older audience. younker authors bring in their friends from the community who might be bringing in an older author. >> raider has provided a stage for more than 400 writers.

it ranges from fiction to academics stories to academic stories this service the underground of queer fell, history, or culture. >> and there are so many different literary circles in san francisco. i have been programming this reading series for nine years. and i still have a huge list on my computer of people i need to carry into this. >> the supportive audience has allowed michele to try new experiment this year, the radar book club. a deep explorationer of a single work. after the talk, she bounces on stage to jump-start the q&a. less charlie rose and more carson daly. >> san francisco is consistently ranked as one of the most

literate cities in the united states. multiple reading events are happening every night of the year, competing against a big names like city arts and lectures. radar was voted the winner of these san francisco contest. after two decades of working for free, michelle is able to make radar her full-time job. >> i am a right to myself, but i feel like my work in this world is eagerly to bring writers together and to produce literary events. if i was only doing my own work, i would not be happy. it is, like throwing a party or a dinner party. i can match that person with that person. it is really fun for me. it is nerve wracking during the actual readings. i hope everyone is good. i hope the audience likes them. i hope everybody shows up. but everything works out. at the end of the reading,

everyone is happy. ♪ >> okay, if we can have everybody take their seats.

okay, good morning. we're going to get warm because you're all together. but we really want to welcome all of you today to the opening of our new city, new bridge hiv research facility. let's give it a hand. [cheering and applauding] >> one of the greatest honors that i have and barbara garcia, the director of health and one of the greatest honors i have is the critical staff that i get to work with. and one of those incredible staffs is going to be susan [speaker not understood]. [cheering and applauding] >> susan is a premiere doctor in our community, in our san francisco general hospital focused on hiv and aids. ands as importantly and sometimes even more, her importance of being a researcher in the area of hiv and aids and is a renowned world leader in this area.

by the way, we have many of you who are, well, world renowned researchers also in the midst of all of us. i'm the principal investigator on this project and that means that i'm supposed to be in charge of making sure it happens. so, we're 70% done and you're seeing one of the major parts of it today. and i want to introduce susan so we can get the show on the road. so, thank you so much. (applause) >> well, i want to welcome you all here today for the launch of our state offices aids renovation project otherwise known as soar. and i'm susan buck binder. i'm speaking on behalf of the entire aids office. we are fortunate to be a world class research organization housed within the health department which is pretty much unique globally. we have three amazing sections that we work with. the first is the surveillance

epidemiology section. they really started at the very beginning of the hiv epidemic in tracking what was then known as grid and other term and became aids and then also tracking new cases of hiv infection. and, so, there's really been leaders around the world in how to track trends in new infections and that is what helps us drive both our prevention and our treatment program. they share their data around the world. they are leaders in helping other organizations around the world set up their own surveillance group. this was led by dr. susan sheer and dr. willie mcfar land and i want to acknowledge them and their entire team. (applause) >> the hiv prevention section formerly led it now it's led by

tracy packer who is here in the crowd. (applause) >> and stacey leads an amazing team of people. they not only oversee and set the priorities for hiv prevention in the entire city and serve as really, again, one of the flagship prevention programs globally in making decisions about how to have the biggest impact on driving down new infections. but they're also a world class research organization that does research on testing, on linkage to care, community viral load, treatment of substance use as a way to prevent new hiv infections. and she, again, has a very difficult verse and very talented team and we're really excited to work with them as well. (applause)

>> and then finally i want to introduce my staff. we were formally known as the hiv research section. but as you can see we have these other world class research organizations housed in our same institution. so, we've renamed ourselves bridge hiv. and i'm going to tell you a little story because i have sitting here. we got a grant from the tap root organization, which is a group that does pro bono work for nonprofit organizations in a variety of areas. and tim led two of our projects, one of which was to help us rename ourselves because we knew that it was confusing for us to be called the hiv research section when so many of us do research. we are called bridge hiv because we're a bridge to the east bay, to our international collaboraters, from the past, the very beginning of the epidemic when there was a research study called the san francisco clinic city cohort study or the hepatitis b cohort

study, that specimens from is that study were used to develop the very first hiv antibody test to where a link to the past and the future. so, we're a link to the past and the future, and more than anything we're a link to the community. and our motto is where science meets community. our team does really cutting edge research on different kinds of prevention strategies, pre-exposure prophylaxis. and if you go to our website, join prep hiv, you'll see all of the many exciting studies that we have as well as our partnership with san francisco city clinic in launching the first demonstration project of pre-exposure prophylaxis, taking antihiv medicines to prevent new infections. we're studying topical gels, retro microbicide. the way we're going to end this epidemic is through a vaccine,

we've controlled other infectious diseases through a cure. we're proud of our staff who contribute to this as well as the many study participants. and i'm just going to close with a quick word about the project. the way that this project came about was actually one of our staff members, janey vincent who is our graphic designer, you'll see some of her beautiful work inside, noticed that there was -- she's hiding. (applause) >> she noticed that president obama had designated part of his stimulus money to nih for the national institutes of health and they were putting a billion dollars to research infrastructure, biomedical research infrastructure, something that's never happened before. she said, you know, we don't have enough space in our section. all of the three units had grown so much that we really

needed more space. she said, do you think we could apply for this money? and, so, the three units came together and our goals were one, to be able to fully really advance the science that we're doing by enrolling large diverse groups of study participants and we didn't have enough room to do that. the second was that we wanted to increase the space that we have so we could share collaboratively so we could work together with each other. and the third was really to engage with community. and we didn't have a large community space on-site. and, so, you'll see the space, see the additional clinical space that we've added. you'll see the additional rooms that we've added for conferences, formal and informal gatherings to staff as well as video conferencing capabilities for a greenway of communicating with our colleagues globally. and then finally, we're going to have a very beautiful, large community stage, it's that

stage of the construction is not complete but you'll get a chance to see the status of that. so, again, i want to thank you all. and i now want to welcome mayor ed lee. we're so proud to have mayor lee here to be in the city led by mayor lee. and, again, none of this could happen, none of our activities could happen without the support of the city. that's what makes us such a unique organization. it's what -- we've always had such strong support from the city. so, mayor lee, thank you. (applause) >> thank you. thank you, susan and barbara, and thank you all for coming out today on this ribbon cutting on a very, very important center of research. we have never given up on this fight to end aids, and i am so thankful to be working with supervisor scott weaner and supervisor david campos and the board of supervisors. and we have through the budget year in and year out, and particularly this last couple

years, where state and federal funds may have been waiting. we stood up and said, we are continuing this fight at the highest level to make sure we fund everything we can to end this aids epidemic. you know, i've been in the city working and the numbers came out. there were 20,000 people that died of this dreaded disease. there were over 20,000 people, more still are suffering from the aids epidemic and we need to find those cures. and, so, today is a delightful day because it is now again a part of the innovation spirit of this city that we create the clinical resources that we need, the laboratories that we need to invite the doctors and the researchers to come here and help us discover the latest efforts and to make sure we continue that progress. and i'm here today to thank a lot of the people that include

dr. buck binder and barbara and the wonderful health commission that has been working, but also just a few years ago, if you saw what the center was -- and i used to work in this building at the top level, a barbecue up front of all placeses, a saloon, people used to wear their boots to have the greatest barbecue they could have. and working that out with the hiv unit and research of our public health, working with our real estate, working with our department of technology and our city administrator. but ultimately working with our department of public works and mohammed at the helm, making sure this got done on time within budget, having the architects and engineers under [speaker not understood] working with the expert laboratory folks from dph and

the hiv clinic to make sure that we did it right. because the laboratories have to meet federal standards. but i think also a great kudos has to happen to our partners, both locally, regionally, and the federal government. we could not have done this without the 9-1/2 million dollars of recovery monies that we got through the federal government. we have herb schultz here from the department of human services federal government. they've been really at the forefront with us. certainly dan bernel representing leader pelosi. she has been really a stalwart fighter. when everybody was cutting funds, she preserved that money for us. and, of course, i've got to put out a big, big thanks to president obama because without that recovery money, we wouldn't be here talking about this today. so, thank you, president obama. (applause) >> and leader pelosi, federal

partners working with our local folks here. that's how we get these things done. and then i want to just give a special shout out to dr. colvax who is here. i know he gave such you an incredible dedication when he was the head of the hiv unit while he was here. we're changing stories now that he's at the head of the national office on hiv policy and the national policy office. how wonderful he thinks of san francisco now and he has to go and interact with washington. (applause) >> they probably talk about that in a minute. but everybody that i know that ever has to go to washington, d.c. or any other place, that they came from san francisco. we know what they're doing here. we know we have a strong partnership and it's community-based agencies also that are helping make this connection because our residents and the people with aids wouldn't trust us if we didn't do it the way in which

we collaborated so strongly with our neighbors, with our residents and our community-based agencies, with all of the different agencies that are represented here. and i am privileged, very, very privileged to thank all of the partners here today to have 17,000 square feet of research space that will be used to its utmost to join in discovering the latest drugs, the latest prevention cures, to have a safe place for people who have contacted and been victims of aids to come here and tell us what's going on in their lives. help us help them help the rest of the world figure this out. this is what san francisco does. i am very, very proud of everyone who participates in this high level of interchange. so, again, thank you very much and i look forward to these great discoveries that we'll have. thank you, san francisco, for being a great place. [cheering and applauding]

>> thank you, mayor lee. and in addition to the stimulus money that we have to thank president obama for, we also have to thank him for his wise choice of the director of the white house office of national aids policy, dr. brad colfax. [cheering and applauding] >> well, good morning, everybody. isn't the fog great? [laughter] >> after spending the summer in d.c., i can say i will never, ever be critical of fog again. [laughter] >> and as many of you know, i had the privilege before going to the office of national aids policy in d.c. to work for the health department for 15 years under barbara's inspirational leadership and susan's incredible mentor ship and supervision. it's just been fantastic to go to d.c. and realize what incredible history and progress san francisco has and continues

to make and help guide us at the national level in terms of the epidemic. today the celebration of bridge research is just another step forward, a huge step forward in the city's remarkable leadership at the local, national, and international level in hiv prevention care and treatment. and the bridge research team, the history has just been remarkable in terms from the early days of the epidemic, in terms of the natural history of the disease, vaccine research, prevention measures, prophylaxis, treatment, testing technologies. as susan was saying, bringing this all together was integrating with surveillance work, with prevention work, and with community-based organizations. and this is really the san francisco model that really resonates in terms of how we approach the epidemic. the research is eloquent, it's

rigorous, and it involves community at all levels. and that is something i think we really need to celebrate about what bridge research means today. so, at the office of national aids policy, our job is to implement the president's national hiv/aids strategy. the president released the strategy two years ago. this is the first strategy for the -- first comprehensive strategy for the united states since the first epidemic. it has three main health outcome goals, to reduce hiv incidents, to improve health and wellness outcomes for people living with hiv, and to reduce hiv-related disparities. i'm sure that sounds familiar to many of you because that's certainly aligned with many of the san francisco's efforts. the fourth goal is to develop a more comprehensive coordinated response to