all those in favor, say aye? >> aye. >> item 14 authorizing the director to enact a small business enterprise bonding and financial assistance program on federally-assisted contracts including establishing a surety bond reserve fund and obtaining a letter of credit or alternate collateral for small business enterprises on the federally-assisted contract grams i'm virginia harmon and i manage the small business enterprise program. one of the greatest barriers to small business bidding on public works construction contracts is an inability to access the surety bond market. disparity studis have regularly demonstrated that it limits access to both the credit and capital markets of as part of our ongoing effort to provide a level playing field, we're seeking permission to assist some business ms. obtaining bid and permission bonds with the intended purpose of increasing

competition on our contracts, which should save us money and increase their capacity and successfully bid and complete city projects. the city's program has had a great deal of success in helping local businesses bid city contracts. bid bonds have been obtained on more than $200 million during the life of the program. unfortunately we can't tap in the program for federal-funded projects. costs associated with establishing the program are relatively small. including obtaining a letter of credit and consultant to administer the program. i want to emphasize that the bond fund reserve monies are only actually expended in the

event of a default. the city has an excellent track record in that regard. only one default has occurred in the course of the 15-year program and costing approximately $125,000. this effort is particularly important to the small business community at this time as we have the central subways station contract and attempting to remove as many barriers apossible to ensure successful sbe participation. we ask the board to authorize the program that mirrors the city's program. i would be happy to answer questions >> thank you, miss harmon. any members of the board? any members of the public? >> no members of the public are here to address this matter. >> a motion, and second. all those in favor, say aye (? >> aye. >> please go back to 10.1. is that right, the only thing before the closed session?

i would entertain a motion to approve this. >> move to approve. >> second. >> all those in favor, say aye i-aye. >> closed session. >> directors it would be appropriate to consider whether to conduct a closed session and invoke the attorney-client privilege. >> yes. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> we'll take a short break. >> we'll take the time to put the room into closed session. >> there are videos to every moment can be captured on film. there we go. announcement of closed session, the sfmta board of directors met in closed session to discuss matters with the [kr-frp/] and the board of directors voted unanimously to settle the cases and also

discussed the cases, but too no action. the board held a conference with the real property negotiator, but took no agency. directors would it be appropriate to disclose or not disclose? >> not disclose? >> second. >> any further discussion? all those in favor, say aye? >> aye. >> we'll remind you that we're adjourning in the memory of a long-term employee of the transit division. >> we'll be meeting next on the 29th. happy new year everybody.

>> let me welcome everyone for

coming out to this great kickoff event. mayor lee, supervisor chiu, distinguished guests from the community, city family, all of us coming together. last year we held a pilot project on stockton street to help the merchants and support the merchants in selling their merchandise. we were able -- we were very successful. we got a lot of great feedback from the pilot. so this year again, we are doing the second year of the pilot. all the agencies and the community and the merchants, we got together, and talked about how we can do better. and without further delay, i will ask the mayor to come and say a few words, who is a big supporter of this project. mayor lee.

>> thank you mohammed. [ applause ] >> i am very happy to be here. is this okay? all right. all right. [ laughter ] all right. first of all, happy new year to everyone. this is what i'm looking forward to every year and i know the merchants and residents and all the small businesses are excited. a year ago board of supervisors president david chiu and i and members of the community discussed how we can continue the economic vitality of the city and clearly we registered a big support for small businesses. i wanted to make sure that everybody neighborhood in the city has a chance of cultural celebrations. when it comes to chinese new year, there is a huge celebrate

in chinatown. we're a huge destination for visitors, a lot of people come to chinatown to celebrate chinese new year. as people come here, we wanted to help our small businesss with offering some additional space for them, but also make it even safer for our pedestrians. because if you have ever observed chinatown during the chinese new years, and david and i have been quite specific observers about this. you will see families and kids walk into the street in the middle of big buses and cars coming in. we didn't want that to happen. we didn't want anybody's safety to be compromised as we celebrate this new year's. because that would obviously be a serious hindrance. our public

health director barbara garcia and transportation director ed reiskin, public works agencis, our wastewater management, our police department, we have all gotten together to say how can we do this smarter with our small businesses, our chinese chamber, our stockton street merchant association and all work together to make this a safer experience for everybody? we came up with the idea that maybe we could simply expand the sidewalk by allowing everybody to use the sidewalk properly, but that the storefronts could have some additional space to offer their goods, when the chinese new years is happening, and when people are wanting to buy all the things that they want to do to celebrate the new year's and to come down here and be safe. so this pedestrian expansion of our sidewalks was the idea that came forward. we piloted it last year as

mohammed explain and thank you to dpw's great work, the pilot was successful. it was successful all around, particularly with our small businesses, particularly with our chinatown youth center and the people who are here to protect pedestrians. all the agencies got back in a very enthusiastic way to say we can do it better this year and get everybody's involvement. so it isn't just the pressure on the police department, that says we got to be safe. it is everybody working together on the front-end to produce an experience that is positive for everyone. so i want to thank supervisor chiu. i want it it thank him for his leadership and the leadership of our constant street leadership. they get a little economic bump. that was the year of the dragon that we wanted to do something bold. the year of the serpent is like

the mini dragon. it is there to also continue that great experience, but also make sure that we're safe for everyone. and so i want to register that we're going to do this again beginning this saturday. it will go for a couple of weeks before the actual start of chinese new year's, which is february 10th, but that leading up to it, all the merchants and in particular the small businesss along stockton street will get that economic bump as we work with chinatown youth center and all the wonderful non-profits that keep everybody safe on our sidewalks and have that positive experience. this is a great time for the city to celebrate. of course we'll be there from february 10th leading up to the great parade that we have that invites thousands of people here. i know the merchants association, the neighborhood associations, the chamber of commerce all see this as a positive way to celebrate our new year's and get everybody involve in a positive way.

i'm here with all the different agencies, our parking and traffic to mohammed and his wonderful staff working with our police department, working with sfmta, and the private sector as well. we're already looking at even better practices of picking up the garage earlier, getting the streets cleaner and making sure that we do everything to celebrate positively. everybody clean their house before chinese new year's. get rid of all the bad stuff that happened last year. [ laughter ] bring in the new spirit. this is the way to do it. as we celebrate and i am looking forward to not only a great new year's celebration, but something along the lines of some local football team that we want to celebrate as well [ applause ] thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you, mayor lee. and like the mayor said, when we work here in chinatown or in district 3 there is someone

that is always there with us, whether it's the broadway streetscape improvement, or the many projects that go on polk street or all around the neighborhood, please ask supervisor david chiu to say a few words >> good morning everyone, happy new year and happy new year of the mini dragon. i want to thank the chinese community coming together for today's announcement, as well as members of the honorary chinese community. this is a conversation that did start as i recall in one of the first meetings that i had with mayor lee when he was elected last year. we talked about how do we ensure that the oldest, historic and most amazing chinatown community in the country can continue to offer a new year's experience that is authentic and reflects the community? and i want to thank

the city departments for working together for the pilot program. we learned from that and hope to build from that. special thanks to our dpw crew and our police department and our department of public health to make sure that our pedestrians are safe and our private sector partners from ecology. all of us have come together and of course i have to thank the incredible diversity of our merchant community. bennie,pius, all of you who represent the community here. as our economy continues to recover, to make sure our merchants are thriving and this is the idea that will ensure that. i want to thank the folks that represent our residents who are here. we need to make sure we're creating not just a vibrant marketplace and a vibrant community, but we want to make sure that pedestrian safety first and foremost. we want to remind folks that our pedestrian accident rates are still much higher than they

need to be. so we'll make sure as we move forward with the program that everyone is safe, the merchants are displaying their wares that leave room for all the different transit vehicles to get through. thank you so much for being here. happy new year. >> thank you, supervisor chiu. you heard from the mayor and supervisor chiu, one of the major concerns is pedestrian safety and our partner agency, the san francisco police department has assured us again they will be here and working with everyone to make sure that everything is safe. let me ask captain tom come to the mic to say a few words. >> thank you, mohammed. i wanted to wish everybody a very safe, happy and prosperous new year. as the new year comes we look for ward to the stockton street market. we want all the ped steins stay

within the sidewalk. we'll have it barricaded off so no one gets into an accident. since this fair will bring in lots of people and business, we want people to be aware of their surroundings. be aware of pickpockets. put your wallet in your front pockets and just have a safe and very prosperous new year's. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. also as many of you know, stockton from corridor has got a lot of merchants and many of them sell food and merchandise. and enforcing compliance and making sure that business goes well. i'm going to ask dr. garcia to come up to say a few words. >> happy new year. the department of public health as you heard pedestrian safety about three or four times again and i will say pedestrian safety is one of our major goals in the health department,

along with food safety. we believe pedestrian safety is the utmost importance, but we also believe that the safety of the food, the people will be selling is also important to us and we'll be working closely with the merchants to ensure that they also follow the local and state law as round this issue. expanding the sidewalks and allowing for merchants to sell their important goods is such an important process to bring those two together. we're also looking at the bicyclists and pedestrians and walkers and those using transit to ensure safe passage through this new year's celebration. i want to thank the merchants specifically in terms of bringing this idea forward and working with the city departments to ensure that we have a wonderful new year's in chinatown. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> and stockton corridor, mayor bus corridor, mayor

major work to ensure that they run on time and a huge partner mta, ed reiskin is not here, but bond yee is here as they were last year. bond, would you come up and say a few years, please.&good morning everyone. on behalf of my colleague as the sfmta, we need the cooperation of everyone, pedestrians, merchants, the motorists and everyone else who uses the streets. so looking forward to another successful two weeks. happy new year. [ applause ] >> thank you, bond. as you heard, it's a huge partnership on stockton street, there are many, many merchants, but representing the merchant group and someone that we have

worked with in all details, making sure that the barricades are in the correct space, making sure that all the merchants understand what the rules are, making sure that everyone knows how things are going to work. if there are complaints, who to go to? our partner in the community, pius lee. >> thank you. mayor ed lee, supervisor david chiu, president of the board of supervisors. dpw mohammed, ladies and gentlemen on behalf of chinatown neighborhood association and merchants of stockton street, we want to thank you for your support and also especially our commissioner bennie. our chinatown chamber of commerce is here.

and chinatown merchants association for their understanding, cooperation and joint effort to help the chinese community continue a long standing cultural traditional program. the chinatown sidewalk merchants display program from january 26th through february 9. as you may know that it is the chinese tradition and custom throughout the world, merchants would close their businesses for the first seven days to celebrate the chinese new year. that is why mayor lee announced today the sidewalk merchant day program. it's for the those in the bay area to come to chinatown and prepare for the chinese new

year for their families' parties. under the leadership of our director mohammed, all the merchants have been well-instructed on how to comply with all the sidewalk rules. last year the pilot program, we had experienced some problems, but now we are confident that we will do a much better job this year and i can guarantee you, mr. mayor, supervisor, director, we will do a much better job. thank you for all of your help. thank you. >> thank you, pius. [ applause ] >> i'm going to ask henry low

from the chinese benevolent association. >> thank you. happy new year. i have been in chinatown for a long time, and this year, it seems to be different, you know? everything seems to be more prepared, and more orderly fashion. this year, the new year will be much more progress and hopefully. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> so all the details you have. this saturday, the crews will

be out, seting up for the chinese new year. it's a great time for the families to be out. happy new year! >> bonnie banks. bonnie banks. my definition of noise is uncontrolled music. without format. pretty simple affair. pancakes, and you're --

people get up on sundays around noon, weekends or whatever. should not be too hard to walk into place. have your audio alarm clock go off for two hours waking your up while you are eating breakfast with many interesting visuals once in a while. improvisation. listening or not to the person you're playing up against or people or machines. trying to get as many different people in as possible. different genres, experimental noise, electronics, dissonance some drums.a tiny bit of ambient -- the first noise pancake shows,

1999, the first waffle noise, 2001. god-waffle noise, noise pancake came out of cubist art, place on mission street, brutallo, where the church -- opened up his house and saturday morning cartoons. a big space. you can have everybody set up and barely move equipment around; small room for an audience to move around, walkover and get pancakes without getting burned up in the kitchen. there's like people in their hard-core gabber;

people into really fast death metal; black metal. people who don't listen to music at all. guy like larnie bock (sounds like) set up huge, motor driven harp. i don't know how to explain it. 40 foot of motors that he had running over strings and wires. and then played each string individually with the mixer. there is a feeling of euphoria

when somebody's really good at what they do. experiencing a buffer, pushing your bowels out your rear. different. a lot of noise. you don't play clubs with a cleaning schedule, a guy coming in the morning emptying the beer bottles. you play the warehouse. if you travel around you will see the exact same kind of weirdos doing their own thing. it is like in the bay area it's even more absurd. there seems to be more people that in a place like new york or tokyo. we did a show in new york, i didn't think that anyone was at hardly, and people come up and said i saw the show. i wish they had some kind of breakfast noise going on over there.

i think a lot of people were being, walking out of the shows. that was incredible. i can't believe it's over already, after two hours. if you are reluctant to enjoy something like this it will probably take a mass of peers to sell you on it. it's fine if you stay away. most of the people that come to the shows are pretty happy to be here. you may not be one of them. which is fine. (music) >> herb theatre,open rehearsal.

listen to the rehearsal. i think it is fun for them, they see our work process, our discussions, the decisions we make. it is good for us. we kind of behavior little bit when we have people in the audience. msk (music) >> we are rehearsing for our most expensive tour; plus two concerts here. we are proud that the growth of the orchestra, and how it is expanded and it is being accepted. my ambition when i came on as music director here -- it was evident we needed