test, test, test, test, test test >> good afternoon welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting of april the 2. madam clerk please call the roll >> (clerk calling roll).

mr. president, all members are present >> ladies and gentlemen please join us in pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america on >> could i have a motion to approve those minutes. without objection those minutes are approved >> no remarks mr. president. >> if a member objects a issue can be separated. >> we'll comment on items 1 though 7.

>> clerk calling roll. there are 11 >> item 8 new business. >> it's a an ordinance appropriating 6 hundred and seven hundred thousand for the general fund. pursuant this appropriation is subject to two-thirds vote from members of board >> thank you very much. mr. president, and members i want to thank the members of the budget committee as well as a

number of my colleagues who have been discussing this item with our public defenders office. and want to thank our public defenders and the board of supervisors. i'm going to make a motion to send this back to committee >> supervisor has made a motion to send back to committee. there any further discussion? i support the motion i think it's the right thing to do. this the budget committee was divided on this and since then i know there's been quite a bit discussion with the public defenders office and how to address this situation where the

department has over sent its budget address i think we would like to have a resolution. but right now, i'm highly doubt full the supplemental will be supported today but i'm glad we're going to have another budget committee and i look forward to more dialog with the department to see if we can come to a resolution that allows us to address this issue and other budget issues. i hope those conversations are fruitful and we can come to a resolution >> any further discussion in are? >> i think there's a way we can find a resolution that works for everyone involved.

the reality is that the city will end up being liable for a expenditure here. i look forward to that conversation >> one other thing i did say this in the budget committee. despite the somewhat contentious nature i think a lot of us have the respect for the public defenders office which they play a critical roll in our justice system but also in the caliber of work that's universally accepted and this is really an issue around the budget and how best to address the current situation. >> with that is there any further discussion? i want to take a moment to

recognize the chief assistant who's in our chamber today. without objection this motion will be referred back to the budget committee. item 9 >> it's a financial plan for focus years 2014 through 2018. >> that is one of our if you ever planning tools we're also going to have the 10 year planning on april 10th. last week our finance budget person brought up our deficit. and we're looking at better times but we have to look at

short term and long-term times and look to ways to grow our revenues. i hope we can adopt this by may first and hope to have your support on this and colleagues can we adopt this resolution? >> it's adopted. >> this is multi funding housing not to exceed 29 million for a multi rental housing project. >> this resolution is adapted. >> item 11 is an item as housing agency to the rae development agency to amend with broadway for the development and operation of affordable housing at 255 broadway and making

findings. >> this resolution is adopted. item 12 >> it's providing for a sale of interests in the rights to receive rental payments to finance capital payments at the moscone center and this resolution is adopted. >> item 13 is a resolution finding that 12 thousand square feet is acceptable for the law liable at 1200 van ness boulevard. >> thank you president including this came up again last week was a bit of a contiguous group. there are others who understand the importance of the law

library. it's a law that requires that our law library is suitable space. right now the law library is in the memorial building. previously it was housed here in city hall and the memorial building is is going to be closed and all tenants have to be out by july. it's going to cost the city hundreds of dollars a month. this is suitable and sufficient and is going to a delegate the department to finalize the lease. they determined 22 thousand feet was sufficient and it includes

compacting shelving for the law library. this passes unanimously. the controversies arose from the advocates they have thirty to 35 thousand square feet of space. this included a request that we house a volumes for the law library. and from my prospective were facing increased costs over $5,000 and not particle sure at this time this we should be paying to house additional rare books that the law library is requesting. the law library has raised zero

fund on their own. this 20, 25 square feet we're signing the lease for although it has additional space they can rent additional space but from my prospective it is very adequate and especially, as we know new and new generations of law people are using less and less of square space. now the city is being suited not allowing us to remove the memory relay building and this is going to cost the city of san francisco hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars and this is i have.

i hope to move this item forward >> thank you, mr. president and, you know, the law library is one of those issues that's been with us ever since i've been selected and we've been hypodermic needle this and certainly the mayor's office and a number of other people and i appreciate and respect the prospective it seems most of my colleagues on this issue. i do have a certain going forward. i'm not sure the way that a law library of this type should be funded. it's, you know, under the current structure right now but the reality the charter has

certain obligations placed under the city. i do think that supervisor farrell said it is unfortunate there hasn't been private funding or private fundraising to offset the costs but right now the charter requires us to provide adequate space. i'm not sure i understand the context. i appreciate the staff has worked very hard to find what they believe it priority space. there's still a difference of opinion here. i think that law libraries play a very special roll in the life

of a city. the trend is to do most of the legal work on line. by you value the city in that it has a large percentage of pro per individuals who are doing work in the courts who are representing themselves. i think the fact that people are able to do this in do is something we should be proud of. and those individuals may not be able to have online resources so for them the hard copies the actual documents in a law library maybe needed. so i'm not thank you point that i truly believe that the proposal before us meets our obligations under the charter.

but you have questions and i think that one question that i have is and maybe it is a question to staff through the chair why do we need to act on this today? and can we take the time to negotiate with the law library and see if there's a resolution. >> good afternoon board. john updike supervisor of real estate. so with respect to the litigation that was mentioned. we have a hearing before a judge on friday. of this week. and so it the most beneficial in the cities position it

unequivocal so we want to move into the hearing relevant to the city's needs >> why is it important to us to have an unequivocal position before the meeting. >> i'm not sure if i want to turn to the deputy city attorney and just as a thought in addition to the issue that mr. indike mentioned there's also cost issues with the quick resolution for the location of the law library. but as to the litigation it's been the departments position in communication with our office and who we've retained that the space offered to the law library

is sufficient and meets all the city's obligations under the charter and state law. the resolution he contains an express finding of the board as the policymaker in this - on this decision that the space meets the city's obligations. so we would recommend the board pass this today >> why are we voting on this - how many days are we away from the hearing? >> the hearing t is friday. >> i don't understand that if it's so critical to our legal case why are revoting on this

foyer days before the hearing and if i may expand on that. it's not the only driver for the speed here it's also the market dynamics. we're competing are other interested parties in this space sow from any prospective if we're not able to make an ocean to the lease at least we have ended the prospective of location. it's now a question of size. i'd hate to see that opportunity go past us. the tint is very hot we're competing in an active marketplace >> in terms of what are we

supposed to provide the law library? >> again, it's chapter section 8.103 we shall provide sufficient quarters and fix up and furnish the same and other request conveniences. it shall be available to other officers of the court. if i may take your other ideas the nvktd the resolution isn't a required finding gone u just wanted to be clear about that but in our papers submitted to the court we argued and

presented that the city has in good faith attempted over a long period of time to provide law library adequate suitable space. and the proposal that's been offered by the department is the best option to how the law library at this time close to the chiropractor with adequate space >> so if it's not a required finding as i said i don't see the danger of waiting. we could have on friday that the court could decide that we violated our obligations under the charter they could decide the other way. but we're four days from the court deciding that issue i

don't understand - it's been four years that we've been dealing with this. i don't understand the urgency. >> thank you. i actually have is a different set of concerns regarding the law library. one was on what we deem suitable and sufficient for the law library seeing that we currently provided the law library with 12 thousand 8 hundred and 6 square feet why don't we meet that resolution. does that mean we weren't providing adequate lay library space in the past years? we could still move forward with that with 20 thousand