owners [speaker not understood] of tenants. i've seen him be patient and understanding with tenants that come before our commission. so, as a resident of san francisco, i am confident that mel will watch out for my interests, my neighbor's interests, your interests, and i'm confident that mel would ensure any development on the port property or be responsible and appropriate for that community. and i am confident that mel will consider how these projects will create jobs. [speaker not understood] how to create revenue for you. ~ to spend. thank you. good afternoon, commissioners. i am here to support the nomination of mel murphy. i won't be singing, you will be glad to hear that. but i wanted to say that i am a recent arrival here in san francisco. i come here having expanded my

business from hong kong with my wife. we've come here and opened a business here and went also to ireland. from the moment that i encountered mel, he was such an ambassador for this city, wishing that we connect with the city, you know, making it possible for us to get established here, which i am eternally grateful for. you know, i've got to know him over time and he's become a friend. and there is something about him that just his character, this kindness and generosity of spirit which marks him which i think is wonderful. i had the pleasure, too, of visiting one of his projects recently. and it was very interesting just to see and not only how his -- the people that work for him and with him how they respond to him and the closeness that he has. he knows people by their first names. and i think that's a man that

is as busy as he does to know everybody's names and they talk to him as mel. i really like that. and the fondness that he has for the people that he works with. so, i think he's a marvelous ambassador for this city and i strongly support his nomination. thank you. good evening, commissioners, supervisors. my name is [speaker not understood]. retired deputy chief for the san francisco police department, i've known mel for quite a number of years. i wish to speak on his behalf as i feel he is a very worthy candidate for the port commission of san francisco. i believe that to be on this commission a leader needs foresight and i'll add another, humanity.

all of these mel has. he has worked his way up from the beginnings in ireland to the north sea where he worked on oil rig to the alaska pipeline, and to business in san francisco and has done a wonderful job all the way. if we consider the number of people in the middle class of san francisco who mel gave work to, carpenters, electricians, plumbers on his buildings, hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands. he has foresight for the future of san francisco. he knows that the port is on its way up. there's no question about that. at one time it was the queen pacific. it went down, but it's on its way back up. and i've heard him speak many times in meetings regarding the cruise industry that can be developed here. he has vision, he has foresight. the business of the port is business and we should put a businessman in charge. he has that. i feel that the other work that he has done -- and that's one of the reasons that i'm here, for people who are down and

out, show his humanity. there are people alive today who would not be alive if mel hadn't taken them in hand and given them his time, hours and hours and hours of work. his business instincts and leadership will bring this port way up, i know that. so, i totally support mel murphy for the port commission of san francisco. thank you, supervisors. good afternoon, commissioners. my name is carmen cavanagh. i also had the privilege of working with mel murphy and i'm here to support him as a candidate for the port commission. i've known mel and his family for many years and have witnessed all the good and honest work he has done for his beloved san francisco. please consider mel as being the most competent person for this position. thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is patrick ryan. i'm a business owner in san

francisco in the dogpatch area. my first contact with mel murphy was actually when he hired me to do some asbestos abatement at one of his properties. it was a tiny little job, it wasn't -- maybe a $4,000 job. and we've never worked together on a project since, but we've become good friends which is much more important to me. but i bring that project up because it was an asbestos abatement project with a type of asbestos that's very -- it's not a big deal. it's [speaker not understood] which doesn't pose too much of a threat. it's a lower class of asbestos abatement. but mel was so adamant about doing everything right in order to make sure that his -- the neighboring properties in that property were protected. and, so, you know, this idea that has been presented in some publications that he doesn't look at the rules applicable to him is absolutely incorrect. and i actually came here to really speak about him as a

man, but everybody else has done such an eloquent job of that, i wanted to make sure that i spoke about a specific project experience that i had with him. but, you know, mel murphy, anyone that comes in contact with him knows that he's always there for you in any way that you need him. for something that's minimal and there's no cameras around or anything like that, i recently had a performance for my son. he comes to that and said [speaker not understood]. this is a man who brings domain knowledge for a number of industries and that are absolutely relevant to this commission and i hope you will make sure that he gets through. thank you very much. >> thank you. good afternoon, supervisors and district. my name is gail malone. i'm a native san francisco and i had the opportunity over two years ago to meet mel murphy and actually i worked for him. he took a chance and hired me. so, and i know that mel does a

lot of good with his building inspection as commissioner. i often helped him with a lot of things that he does with that. and, so, i know with the way he works that company, as a port supervisor he would be doing the work the same way. he would be a great person at that -- in that position. also, i had got this much involved in the city of san francisco until i worked for the murphy and o'brien. so, now i'm well aware and i know i'm going to learn a lot more once he gets this position as port officer. and i really want to be on his side and i thank you guys for listening to me. good luck, mel. >> thank you. good afternoon, my name is susan fox and i've been asked to read the following letter on behalf of barbara brent an gary. i would like to first apologize for not being able to attend in person as i was unable to take the day off from work. i hope you will accept my enthusiastically written letter on behalf of a good friend and

mentor mel murphy. let me please start by giving you a little of my background. i have been a resident of san francisco since that district in 1987 when i moved here from santa cruz to go to college. i am currently a 32 year old working mother of a five-year old little girl who will be attending public school here in san francisco this coming fall. also notably, i vote in every election in my district. i have known mel murphy since the summer of 2008 when i met him while we were both doing service work with people with substance abuse problems. over the years i have seen am murphy tirelessly devote himself to this cause and many others. i have known him to mentor, empower, employ, men and women that society had thrown away. a quality of mr. murphy's i have always admired was his ability to not only see the promise in the individual he chose to invest his time and energy into, but also more importantly, i have witnessed a transformation into [speaker not understood] members of society, largely thanks to mr. murphy. this is not to say that he

should be the saint of lost cause he. never one to put good into bad. he has an innate understanding of how to help those who really are in earnest to help themselves. he also knows how to bring people that might not have gotten along achieve the greatest good. [speaker not understood] he is willing to take calculated risks that have the maximum benefit to all those who should be wise enough to listen to him. i think mr. murphy being a self-made man knows whatnot only goes into a project but what is needed to complete the projects allows him to be effective in tasks in society and humble charm and no b.s. attitude, one cannot help but respond to. i can highly recommend mel murphy to the port commission any other office public or private. he is an asset to any group lucky enough to have him. thank you. barbara brennan gary. john holtz.

of course, i've men mel murphy since he has arrived here in san francisco. i'm a resident since 1937 and i've seen the city growing and in different phases. and mr. murphy ha provided housing and jobs which this city needs and he's been doing this since the day he arrived here in san francisco. and he's been dedicated to not only providing housing and jobs. he also participated in sports for children in soccer and had many, many hours that he has put into this, to the children of this city. so, not only he'll be a asset to the port commission. i think he also has been a

great asset to the city of san francisco. so, i highly recommend him, the board here to support him and recommend him for -- on the port commission. thank you. >> thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is miguel angeles. i've known mel over 12 years. i also worked for him for that time and i'm very happy to come here before you and ask you to recommend mel murphy for the commission of the port. he's a very fair boss, clear person. he makes all of the crews that work for him -- he make them to feel like a worker.

he make us feel like as a family for him and that's why i support mel for commissioner. thank you. >> thank you. supervisors, angus mccarty. i am here as an individual in my own capacity here today [speaker not understood] to support the appointment of mel murphy to the port commission. ~ you know, as i think it was really great questions that you asked earlier, particularly supervisor cohen there, with regard to, you know, why you want this job. when i stepped into the commission position, mel was a great transition person for me. he helped me out and showed me all the ropes. he didn't point out he sat on that commission in a difficult time, people lost their jobs. hard decisions had to be made, very unpopular decisions and he did that. he sat there. now that i'm on the commission,

thing are humming and i have a great time. i don't have as hard a time at work as he did then. the other thing i want to point out, the immigrant thing, and i think they touched on that's correct he worked his way, there were no handouts in life. we came from a country where we didn't have an opportunity to give back. we are very compelled here as immigrants when given the opportunity to serve and that's one thing i know mel likes to do. the other aspect of it is he is a very strong businessman. this port, billions of dollars are going to go through it in the next amount of years. it is important to citizens have a very street smart guy at the helm asking the hard questions. he knows how to negotiate, he knows how to read contracts and he can look around corners. that is the most important thing to me when it comes to being a good commissioner, being able to ask the hard questions so that we as a city get well represented in the port. thank you. good afternoon, supervisors.

my name is hector novarro, i'm a native of this city. i've known mel a long, long time when we were both young struggling business people. he's a good person. i know his seed come from another country, but his dna is always to do the best job possible. and i think he'd be a great asset to the city as port commissioner. and he's a great american, and i don't have more to say, but he's a good friend also. ~ good afternoon, supervisors. [speaker not understood] all being said. [speaker not understood]. i'm the founder of brian culprit in murphy and o'brien real estate investments. i was going to try to keep it brief. i'll tell you little story. the thing i can say to you that

i think is worthy of mentioning here with mel is on the building inspection commission, mel was voted by his peers on that commission, not once, but twice to be their president. and i believe on one of those occasions he was actually unanimously voted by people both from the left and the right and the middle. and to me, obviously as someone who has known him for many years intimately, i think that's a wonderful quality to be able to do that. the whole controversy that happened recently was borne out of mean spiritedness. unfortunately it's correct to point out any deficiencies. but the motivation was less than honorable. and as my mother told me and i'm sure his mother told him back in the old country, it's an old one [speaker not understood] that does something good. it was on the 15th fair way [speaker not understood] when the phone rang. mel was, as he's done so many times to me over the years, beating me yet again in a high stakes game of golf.

the stakes being the privilege of being able to say did you walk off the 18th green as the victor. and yet again, he was [speaker not understood] every attempt i made to get back into the game. i could tell as he tried to keep his game face on after the phone call which was obviously that there were some problems and he needed to address them right away, that there was something on. he shanked his next golf shot into the arizona desert and he never really recovered. so, the [speaker not understood] i got to win one game of golf out of the controversy, but it made him a stronger and better person for what happened. thank you very much. >> thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. i'd like to read a letter from beverly popek who is unable to be here today, and i quote. obviously [speaker not understood] reflect my own.

i am unable [speaker not understood] mel murphy's nomination for the san francisco port commission. i hope this letter will be read out loud and a positive endorsement of mel. [speaker not understood] he has been active and engaged in community for years. he cares about the community. more over, he has a wealth of experience not only add a complement to the current commissioners. in sum i think he will make a fine commissioner and,v urge you to vote to bring his nomination to the full board of supervisors. sincerely, beverly popek. thank you. good afternoon, chairman, supervisors. i'm john chobin. and almost all of the speakers mentioned how long they have known mel.

well, i'm his first cousin and i've known him all my life. and it's very exciting watching mel when i was growing up as a young man, how he navigated the world of business back in the late '60s and '70s. it was fascinating to watch the success, how he was achieving things and where he was working because he traveled a lot. he worked in saudi arabia, the u.k. and scotland, new york, and alaska. and then for some reason he he popped into san francisco on a wild event and he stayed ever since. he's made it his home. he married here, and he has a lovely daughter mariana who calls me uncle john. as you've heard so much, about his interest in the city. i am now interested how you are

going to approach going forward today. and i'm in harmony with how you've been looking at others that we had earlier. so, i see your job as really three things. can do, will do, and how fit. and the can do is absolutely no question that mel is highly qualified from his business and his real estate and development expertise. will do is a lot tougher because it's about motivation, but mel has demonstrated so strongly in his work with the bic and all the other things he does, that he's really highly motivated for this port commission. and how fit? many of the people who have spoken today, in fact, all of them talk about how mel is as a person. as a charmer, but he suffers fools not lightly. thank you. >> any more public comments? please come up.

supervisors, good afternoon. 1257 polk street happen to be supervisor breed's district. 1985, that was my first project as a young restless structural engineer. mel murphy was my first client. we are now march 7, 2013. i have been doing his engineering, or as he says it, i've been over engineering his projects for over 26 years. this is a man that started historical preservation in the western addition. he started the renovation of victorians. we just talked about historical commissioners. mel murphy took a chance in the early '80s on the western

addition. he has been extremely successful. why? because of his dedication and his love for this city. i cannot think of anyone more qualified to serve on the port commission. we just heard about the fact that san francisco is projected to grow to over 930,000 inhabitants by the year 20 35. ~ i can see within the port we are going to be able to house all the people that are finally have concluded that you want to work where you live, you want to participate on areas that have city housing and transportation helps. that's the future. mel murphy knows it. he will be a great port commissioner. thank you. >> thank you. seeing no more public comment

is now closed. i want to thank all the public comments that were made today for mel murphy. so, supervisors, any thoughts? supervisor cohen. >> thank you. so, i've been listening to the public comment. i'm wondering where is the one or two lone voices that are going to dissent against the appointment of mel murphy. i have to tell you, i was looking for a fight. he didn't bring one today. even mr. pearlman had a couple. but i've recently come to know you and i admire the way you answered the difficult question that supervisor breed proposed. i think it was very fair and balanced in how she gave you an opportunity to acknowledge the accusations that have been against you.

one thing i was also interested in hearing if there was any other opposition against your appointment. i would be looking for a pattern of use or pattern of neglect or a pattern of -- i think one of the -- what i read once you were [speaker not understood] you were above the law or above the rule. accidents happen, they happen to all of us. things do fall between the cracks, i understand that. so, for me i was interested in hearing if there was something that i was missing. and i didn't hear anything. and i am very happy to support your appointment today and i look forward to working with you. as you know, pier 70 is very important to not only san francisco, but critically important to the health and vitality to the [speaker not

understood] waterfront in district 10. i imagine we'll be working together in that area. i am very encouraged by your business background, your real estate savvy and willing to negotiate contracts and deal. there is room on the port for a position, a person that has those skills. so, i look forward to working with you. thank you. >> supervisor breed. >> thank you. i also want to echo the comments of my colleague, supervisor cohen, especially with regards to mr. murphy's real estate experience which i think is truly important for a port commissioner along with a couple other things, he's tough. i heard that over and over again. he takes responsibility. he loves and cares about san francisco. but also, he's a compassionate person and i think that's really important when making decisions here in our great

city. we want someone with a balance, someone who brings the expertise necessary, but also brings the compassion to know that the decisions we make as commissioners, as supervisors impact people's lives. so, i'm really excited to support mr. murphy and move his name forward with recommendation from the rules committee. thank you all so much for coming today. >> so, mr. murphy, i, too, am impressed with the way you answered the questions given to you in a very straightforward way. this is what we need. our people on these commissions that are straightforward, honest, and able to basically say, this is who i am and be honest about that. so, i hear there is a motion right now. is there a second? >> yes, second. >> okay. so, we'll move this to the full board with recommendation. thank you.

(applause) >> madam clerk, item 4. >> item number 4, hearing to consider appointing one member, term ending november 19, 2014, to the bicycle advisory committee. there is one seat and one applicant. >> mr. brandt, are you here? greetings, supervisors. >> how are you doing? all right. i'll be brief. my name is -- >> excuse me. can we have the discussion go outside, please? mr. murphy, mr. murphy? and crowd, if you need to talk outside, please, so we can continue. thank you.

greetings, supervisors. i'll be brief. my name is marc brandt. i'm a lifelong cyclist, professional bicycle mechanic. i commute by bicycle to work. i'm a member of the san francisco bicycle coalition and the league of american bicyclists. together with dr. shelby johnson, i started the bikes on board caltrain project, successfully rallied support to conserve and expand bicycle access on board caltrain. i care about cycling in the city. we have a great city for cycling. it is a joy to see the improvements that are happening. i think where i can make a contribution on the bicycle advisory committee is by drawing on my experience with respect to bicycles and cycling in the city. if the committee were to approve me for the position, i would be very honored and committed to fulfilling my role in helping to make san francisco a more livable city. thank you very much.

>> thank you. supervisor breed, do you have comments? questions? >> oh, no. that was from [inaudible]. >> any public comments on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. is there a motion to move this? >> yes, so moved. >> moved. without any objection, it will go to the full board. thank you. thank you very much. >> item 5, madam clerk. >> item number 5, motion amending board of supervisors motion no. m13-031 to appoint supervisor malia cohen to the association of bay area governments executive board, for a term ending june 30, 2013. >> thank you. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. can we have a motion to excuse supervisor cohen? >> so moved.

>> second, and you're done. can we move item 5 to the full board without objection? >> yes, so moved. >> okay, so moved. madam clerk, item 6. >> item number 6, ordinance amending the municipal elections code, sections 100, 110, 200, 205, 220, 230, 260, 335, 500, and 590, and adding section 810, to: incorporate state law provisions governing community college and board of education candidates; change deadlines for withdrawal of candidacy and candidate qualification statements; change the public inspection period for candidate materials; change requirements for petition circulator badges; delete the requirement that a disclaimer appear before board of supervisors' arguments in the voter information pamphlet; incorporate state law provisions governing signatures in lieu of filing fees; reinstate candidate filing fee provisions; and make other technical amendments.