or partially relocated or could be downsized in that location. and caltrain has agreed that if this study, which we hoped to be complete by august, if it comes up with viable alternatives, they will incorporate those alternatives into their e-i-r. so, that is an important milestone here that i just wanted to emphasize with you today, that we are looking at alternatives to full electrification of that yard. so, with that and with that study in august, they have agreed, as i said, to incorporate potential alternatives. next steps, then, are public comments. caltrain is of course moving ahead with their e-i-r to finally certify an e-i-r for the electrification which much of that work had been done, i think approximately 10 or 12 years ago. that public comment period is open and the notice of preparation is i believe has been issued. we will then, as i said, work toward -- study the

feasibility, excuse me, of relocating the yard. and the boulevard concept that i mentioned before. so, for the public, the scoping meeting that is being proposed here actually in city hall is thursday evening 6:00 to 8:00 in the board chambers for the public to make comment on the e-i-r and the scoping of that e-i-r and comments are due by march 18th to caltrain. with that, i am happy to take any questions. thank you again. i should thank the planning department's partners in the city, both mta and the ta have been very heavily involved in this and have been very much integral to this whole discussion and i really appreciate their work on this. thank you. >> thank you, mr. ram. >> can i? >> supervisor kim. >> thank you. i know we'll go to public comment. i just want to make a couple comments, being that i spent quite a bit of time on this the last couple of months chairing the ta board of directors as well. i think the one thing i just want to say to the various

departments that are involved, both here in the city and regionally, i really hope we come to a consensus around a singular plan as to how we move forward that is going to benefits everyone's concerns and priorities keeping the construction of transbay terminal moving and keeping secure our grant of the 400 million dollars from the new start federal funding program, to increasing revenue from what we can do here in the city to ensure -- because there are still other gaps that we have regarding dtx and electrification. it's great that san francisco i think is really ahead of the curve amongst all the counties in really coming out to bat for both high-speed rail and electrification. it's really great to see that there's so much effort and energy moving forward on this. but i think as much as possible, until we come to consensus we should really leave all the options out there and open that we are evaluating everything. i know there will be a number of concerns about the 2 80 in the neighborhood that i represent in south beach and

mission bay. i don't have a position either way. i really want to see what the studies look like, what the boulevard look like, the freeway and the growth and impacts we're expecting. but i also have heard some perspectives that we can underground 2 80 at 16th street while still keeping the 2 80 up as well. i just want to mike sure we have all of these options out of the table. ~ make sure the one thing i think we're all unified on is we don't want to see a double grade separation at 16th. i think everyone agrees that is the wrong way to head, it is important to the neighborhood. clearly to us at the mta and i think it's something that all of our neighborhoods would be supporting. so, that's the one piece that i'm glad that we are moving around. and the last thing i'll just say is that i'll be really interested to see in the numbers in term of what type of value we can generate so we can hopefully complete a project that i think everyone here in the city cares about. >> thank you, supervisor. okay. is there any other aspect of

the presentation? great. so, at this point we'll open it up for public comment. i have two public speaker cards. john mabura jorge, sorry if i'm mispronouncing that, and corrine woods. if anyone else wants to make a comment, the blue cards can be filled out in the front. and go ahead. great, thank you very much. supervisors, i just wanted to comment briefly on the time. i know you said this takes about three hours or so from 1:30 to i believe 4:30 or something like that. and the time that we have available is under two minutes. so just over two minutes. i was hoping you can increase your time from 2 to 3 minutes as well on tuesdays. once again my name is john [speaker not understood] and i am an african union representative student and visitor at st. john's church here in san francisco. my comments are basically on the light rail, but also on lot

and lot number allocations. i have a proposal for comments that are made to impact. i'm entitling it the book of levitecus. [speaker not understood] nonresident aliens in san francisco, and special order on priests and coach jeffery glazer. and in addition to that i'd like to make a reading here from exodus 3:1 through 15. then the lord said, i have observed the misery of my people who are in egypt. i have heard their cry on account of their task masters. indeed, i know their sufferings and i have come down to deliver them from the egyptians and to bring them out of the -- out of that country to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. to the country of the

canaanites, [speaker not understood]. the cry of the israelites has come to me. i have also seen how the egyptians oppress them. so, come, i will send you to pharaoh to bring my people the israelites out of egypt. but mows he said to god, who am i that i should go to pharaoh and bring the israelites out of egypt? he said i will be with you and this will be the [speaker not understood] that it is i [inaudible]. >> thank you very much. [speaker not understood]. good afternoon, supervisors. corrine woods. i chair the citizens advisory committee among other thing, very involved in eastern neighborhoods planning. and i want to urge the city, the city family and all the agencies to do as director ram

said, allow the options not to be foreclosed. we are obviously very concerned about the idea of undergrounding 16th street and mission bay at seventh. we are very concerned about not putting the trains underground soon we can do it. we are concerned that having that entire rail yard at fourth and king electrified at an incredible cost. if caltrain spends $100 million to electrify that storage rail yard -- and i'm not saying we don't want electrification. i'll tell you, every person who lives on barry street and has to put up with diesel dust in their houses is really looking forward to electrification. it's too bad that they won't have the money to buy electric

engines for the entire fleet until 2029. but, hey, it's a start. we do not want that rail yard to stay. we would love to see alternative to the undergrounding the trains, both high-speed rail and caltrain. we would love to see alignment along 3rd street if that's possible to study. the information that they're using for their e-i-r -- and this is a critical, critical e-i-r, is more than 10 years old. the neighborhoods have changed. there is so much that needs to be incorporated into this e-i-r [inaudible]. >> thank you very much. mr. rogers. good afternoon, supervisors. jim lazarus, san francisco chamber of commerce. ~ i also had the privilege of chairing the transbay transit center cac. i strongly urge the board of supervisors and the city's

representatives on both bodies, both the joint powers authority for the transbay transit center and the caltrain, joint powers authority, to take a strong position in favor of opening up real alternatives to surface use of seventh and king. this, the caltrain electrification and the extension to first and mission must be primary goals of the city and county of san francisco. other options are really not acceptable. we need an electrified system to downtown. we need the fund with federal partners, with state, with prop 1a california high-speed rail funding and our own funding available through the transbay transit center project that tunnel project as soon as possible. one of my great disappointments that i think we're going to be all confronting when that transit center opens is a 400

million dollars rail box in the basement unused for years and years after we open a $1.5 billion bus station. ~ our goal should be to get a train -- a caltrain into that building when caltrain electrification is completed. and to find a way with federal partners, state partners, and the region to get that very expensive extension, but perhaps with some of these alignment and changes and revenue opportunities presented by the planning department, there is a path to make this happen in the next year. thank you very much. >> thank you. mr. hoff supervisors, i'm jim haft. i was involved in this five or six years ago. i was involved in getting the money for the planning department to study the fourth and king property which was not used until recently.

and now we are getting the benefit of that. i want to make a comment. when this matter was brought into the public in january and handled by the media, it got mangled and it got characterized, particularly the removal of a portion of the freeway and the development of the yards is strictly a real estate play. if you read from the comments that were made on the internet about it, people suggested thises was another scheme by the mayor to build things in san francisco. i thank you for holding this hearing because i think it puts it in the right perspective. the driving issue here is transportation and how we can approve the regional transportation system. and as those of us who have gotten deep into this know that it would be -- there's the

issue of the tunnel and how where the train goes underground and how that fits with the freeway and that's how the issue became [speaker not understood] as to what we do with the freeway. so, i think we need to continue to emphasize when we're talking about this very large and complex set of issues that the driver is transportation. it is not just the opportunity to develop more property. that's a secondary part. and if we do develop the property, it could generate revenues which can be reinvested in transportation. thank you. >> thank you, mr. haft. is there any other member of the public who would like to comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. i want to thank mr. ram and everyone, i see mr. light here from the mayor's office. everyone is working very hard on these issues to make sure that we don't miss any opportunities as electrification and high-speed

rail move forward. so, i know we'll continue to work hard to make positive change. colleagues, are there any additional comments? then why don't we have a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair. can we take that without objection? that will be the order. madam clerk, are there any other items before the committee? >> no other matter. >> then we are adjourned. thank you. [adjourned]

>> how is it going san francisco. it's springtime in san francisco. here is what's happening around town. this march join yoga for beginners. come to join us for balance and strengths. all levels are welcome and the class is free. r svp is required. after your work shop there is a comedy review. this wednesday join local performances from musicians. it's a popular spot for locals. sign ups are an 7:00 and shows at 7:30. want to hear more music. join us on hey street at the milk bar. this

concert with blue grass and more. that's the weekly buzz. for more info on any of these events visit us on our facebook and twitter and check us >> good morning, everyone, and welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors budget and finance committee meeting for wednesday, february 27th, 2013. my name is mark farrell. i will be chairing this

committee. i'm joined by committee vice-chair supervisor eric mar and supervisor john avalos. mr. clerk, are there any announcements? >> he yes. please turn your cell phones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards and copies of any documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear on the march 5th, 2013 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> thanks. and i would also like to thank the members of sfgtv who are covering this meeting jessie larson and nona as well as the clerk of the board, mr. victor young. mr. clerk, can you please call item number 1? >> item number 1, resolution authorizing the department of public health, laguna honda hospital, and rehabilitation center, to retroactively accept and expend a gift of $500,000 to the laguna honda gift fund from the knight living trust for the period of july 1, 2012, to june 30, 2032. >> thank you. and i believe we have ms. ma here.

the deputy finance officer for laguna honda hospital. >> yes. >> thank you for being here. >> good morning. [speaker not understood], deputy finance officer laguna honda hospital. i'm excited to be here to ask for your approval to retroactively accept and expend the $500,000 bid to laguna honda hospital patient gift fund. [speaker not understood]. last year we received the news fund, trustee, [speaker not understood], told us that laguna honda hospital is the recipient of ms. dolores knight's $500,000 donation and that the money is deposited to -- actually in january just last month, we had received a complete disbursement of the $500,000. the money is deposited into the patient gift fund. so, let me talk a little bit about our gift fund. the gift feud at laguna honda hospital provides activities and experiences that enrich the

lives of laguna honda hospital residents that includes the expenditures for musical entertainment, cultural celebration, special holiday meals, outing to the parks, ball games, [speaker not understood] and other events. so, for the end of the last fiscal year, the sum balance of this gift fund was at $1.9 million, including both in cash and in donated stock at the market value. at the hospital we have committees called the gift fund management committee. it's the oversight of the gift fund. so, this committee will meet and then make a proposal to the san francisco health commission, the annual budget based on our prior year's expenditures and also anticipated coming year, following year's needs for the residents. the gift fund mentioned

committee also meets regularly on the alternate months to review the activities of the fund, the fund balance any new spending requests out of the budget. and we will present that to the laguna honda county consulate outside of the health commission for the approval. so, this generous gift of $500,000 will be used to enhance the general comfort and benefit of laguna honda residents and positively impact their lives for many years. so, i'm now, you know, [speaker not understood] the approval and i can answer any questions that you have. >> thank you. just a quick question. how much do you spend generally every year out of the gift fund? how much do you draw down usually? >> for the past two years, the average expenditure is 180,000, yeah, and the way we receive the balance of the donation, include the interest [speaker not understood]. >> thank you. great. colleagues, any questions?

okay. seeing none, thank you very much. much appreciated. we do not have a budget and legislative analyst report. at this point i'd like to open up to public comment if there are any members of the public who wish to comment on item number 1. please step forward. welcome back, [speaker not understood]. good morning, supervisors. my name is douglas yip and i've lived in san francisco for 61 years. i would like to speak in favor of this item. i think in order to be fair to everyone, i should mention for the record the examiner article, i think it's dated either 2/19 or 2/20. headline reads san francisco doctor laguna honda hospital whistle blower lawsuit, set to cash in. in that article it mentions two, not one, but two suspicious use of funds from the

patient fund. and if i remember correctly, those major newspapers carried articles in the past years regarding complaints from the staff at laguna honda regarding suspicious use of patient fund money. now, i'm thinking that there should have been some sort of public report done on this, but then i don't remember hearing about it so i might have missed it somewhere along the line. so, i think it's within the jurisdiction of this committee since we're talking about $500,000 to make sure that it doesn't get suspiciously used. and in my opinion -- in my opinion, ex-supervisor elsbernd and ex-supervisor chu had a

hand in slowing down an investigation into the patient fund. thank you. >> thank you very much. any other members of the public who wish to comment on item number 1? seeing none, public comment is closed. we have a motion to approve the recommendation. we have a second and we can do that without opposition. mr. clerk, can you please call item number 2? >> item number 2, resolution amending resolution no. 529-11, to retroactively increase fiscal year 2009 buffer zone protection program grant funds from $199,820 to $282,506 for the period of april 1, 2009, through march 31, 2013. >> thank you very much. we have amy [speaker not understood] from the department of emergency management. >> thank you, chairman farrell. good morning, answers. supervisors. amy alden. [speaker not understood] it's a grant from the u.s. department of homeland security that goes to local law enforcement agencies to protect critical

infrastructure, enhance the security. it's for protecting facilities like power plants, financial institutions, stadiums, utilities, things like that that are critical around the country and here in san francisco. and it pays for planning, equipment, training and other things [speaker not understood] law enforcement to [speaker not understood] critical facilities that we want to be sure nothing bad happens to. the original amount of this grant, the grant actually came to us in two parts. back in december 2011 the board approved a first amount of money for this grant which was about $200,000. and then a few weeks ago we got a call from homeland security saying they had an additional $82,000 did we think we could spend it and we said yes we can. so, that is what is in froth of you today. it is the additional 82 that they would like to give us. there was no local match required. it's free money for san francisco. there's no new positions created. and i'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you. colleagues, any questions? okay, thank you very much, ms. alden. again, we have no vla report.

at this point like to open up to public comment. if there are any members of the public that would wish to comment on item number 2, please step forward. seeing none, public comment is closed. >> motion to approve. >> we have a motion to approve item number 2, we have a second and we can do that without opposition. mr. clerk, can you please call item number 3? >> item number 3, resolution authorizing the children and families commission to retroactively accept and expend a grant in the amount of $1,269,400 from the united states department of education through the california department of education to support an early learning quality improvement system, for the period of july 1, 2012, through december 31, 2015. >> thank you. and we have laurel here from first five. thanks for being here. got it. >> okay. so, this is a good thing to hopefully you'll accept and expend.