been solved. and that the ethics commission as a whole needs to be addressing this, and i appreciate barbara that although you didn't have an answer for those questions that you were honest about your willingness or you were honest that you didn't have the answers at this point. but the feeling i had when i spoke to you, that you were, as you stated, you were very open to things, and willing to look at finding solutions so i will be supporting you to be nominated on this commission. any other thoughts, supervisors? >> thank you. so i am happy to move this nomination for consideration at the full board. i do believe she answered my

question to my satisfaction in terms of offering to work with law enforcement and use her relationships in law enforcement in order to work on solutions with the entertainment commission, which is exactly what i was looking for and i think that is really important, especially in this seat. because we all want to enjoy san francisco's nightlife, but we also need a commission that implements polices that protect people and also an entertainment commission that has a good working relationship with law enforcement to implement some of those regulations. so as nervous as he know she was coming up before us today, i could definitely see through that to know she would be a great fit for the entertainment commission. and i truly appreciate former northern station captain castedo for stopping by today and lending his support and

also submitting a letter to us in advance and happy to move this nomination forward to the full board. >> thank you, is there a second? >> second. >> without objection, the motion is passed. [ gavel ] congratulations. so item no. 4. >> item no. 4, motion confirming the mayor's re-appointment of kimberly brandon to the port commission for a term ending may 1, 2017. >> are you representing kimberly? >> good afternoon, supervisor yee and supervisor breed and supervisor cohen. my name is carl williams and i am president of a san francisco african-american democratic club and i am here to support the re-appointment-- >> excuse me, kimberly, are you here? you are here, right? i'm sorry, i would like to have

her speak first. you will get a chance. [ laughter ] >> that is fine. >> we're going to let kimberly speak first. thanks. >> we'll take public comment after i speak. >> oh, you are going to speak first? >> yes. >> okay. >> thank you. [ laughter ] >> for a second there, i thought you were nervous kimberly and you wanted him to speak in your place. >> and i am nervous. [ laughter ] but not that nervous. >> you have your whole family here. >> supervisors yee, breed and cohen, thank you for allowing me to present today and i am here to ask that you support mayor lee's nomination. a lot of people including most of you have asked why do you want to continue on the port commission and my response remains the same, i have a passion for this city. i was born and raised here. i am a product of the public

school system, including san francisco state university. i have worked, lived or gone to school in every district in this city and so i feel it's my obligation to give back to the city that has given me so much. over the past 16 years, i have had the opportunity to participate in so many incredible, incredible waterfront projects. if i listed them, we would be here all afternoon. i have seen the northern waterfront transformed into a destination point. bringing people from across the world, but most importantly, locally, to work, live and enjoy the port from aquatic park to at&t park. now it's time to continue the transformation of the southern water front from china basin to indian basin and to make it equally accessible and

enjoyable. we have an extraordinary opportunity to put thousands of people to work and to create new communities. i would love to remain and be a part of that and so many other legacis that are being established on the waterfront. i wish i could take all of the credit for the renovation of the waterfront myself, but i i have been so blessed to have worked with three mayors, you and your colleagues, great fellow commissioners, an amazing staff led by director monique moyer and all of her wonderful cacs. with that, i am here to answer any questions >> colleagues, any questions? supervisor breed? >> yes. thank you. thank you for being here today, miss brandon. my question is around the proposed development of is it pier 70? the warrior city? >> no, that is 30-32.

>> you yourself are actively engaged in a lot of community programs including on the board of directors of the ywca, which you are hosting a fundraiser tonight to raise money for that organization. >> thank you. >> and i that you are a port commissioner and i know you vote on a lot of these major land deals, but what do you believe the obligation of many of the organizations like the warriors? what do you believe their responsibility is to san francisco outside of just construction and long-term employment opportunities? >> that is a great question. and when the warriors deal first came to us and we were debating on the support, the terms, everything, shortly into the conversation, we as a port commission had to just step back and say wait a minute.

we are not doing our job together. we are not talking to the community and taking the community concerns and interests and making sure that we are a part of all communities, not just south beach harbor. it's important for whatever project is done anywhere on the waterfront to be all-inclusive for the citizens of the city and county of san francisco. personally, as you said, the warriors have a representative that has joined the board of the bayview ywca and they have joined the board of the embarcadero ywca. i have asked them to meet with ventures. there are so many great organizations, youth organizations that can use support that the warriors have to give. so i think that -- and i use the giants as an example all the time, because they are great corporate neighbors. the giants try to participate in various community activities.

they hire from our communities. they hire residents from all over the city. and i use them as an example, in commission meetings whenever the warriors do a presentation and talk about what a great partnership that is. did i answer your question? >> yes. one more question. one of the challenges that we are going to be facing as a city in general is the issues around america's cup, and the fact that many believe that the city could potentially be on the hook for millions of dollars and i was wondering if you had any insight or suggestions on how we can somehow hold america's cup's feet to the fire or what could we do different from a city perspective to make sure we are not on the hook completely for the financial responsibilities of this event that is coming up? >> yes, the america's cup has taken many forms since the

beginning, and it's not going to be the project that we all hoped and thought it would be from the beginning. but saying that, i think as it has scaled down, so have the costs. and once again, we have a phenomenal staff at the port and director moyer is here. they have done an amazing job of trying to keep up with the changes along with making sure that the port is not responsible for whatever is not -- you know, covered somewhere else and making sure that the various committees that are responsible for raising their various pots of money, that they are actually doing that. and that the port will not be responsible. as far as the city goes, i am not -- i have no jurisdiction over that. so at least i am not concerned about the port's finances in this deal. >> and also, this is my final question, so the port has a lot of property.

and you enter into a number of leases with large companies that could potentially afford what market-rate is, as well as smaller entitis that don't always have the ability to afford market-rate. what are your opinions on balancing and making sure that everyone who needs access to the properties that exist throughout the port, how do you balance the equity of it all? for example, i don't know the name of the group, but they are the ones that make all the floats, often times for many of the parades and they are not able to maybe afford what? >> and they still get discounted rates. even though they had to move because of america's cup, the location they moved to they are still getting discounted rents and so many different locations like delancy street and last week we had an informational presentation on our leasing

polices. and there are a list of groups, who have discounted rates, because they can't afford to pay the market-rate and like now, our vacancy rate is so low that whether they are a large corporation with lots of money, like an auto or a small non-profit, we have limited space to lease right now. we do have non-profits and others who need lower rates. >> you believe in those polices and believe we should maintain them? >> i believe that the polices are there, and the staff due to my request a couple of weeks are going through those with a fine-toothed comb to make sure those policies are good. >> thank you.

>> supervisor cohen. >> could you talk to me about your vision for the southern waterfront >> well, i have had so many visions for the southern waterfront, but i think with the build-out of mission bay and with the development of seawall lot 337 and with the development of pier 70, the southern waterfront is going to be truly transformed. i think that still we have to be able to focus on the maritime industry and have the industry and residential together on the southern waterfront. the decision to move all heavy industrial uses to the southern waterfront was before me. but i know there are other cities that residential, commercial, and maritime all co-exist together and do it in a good way. so to continue to

have those heavy industrial uses and make sure that they are using -- that the truck trips are down. that there is not a lot of dust and the whole thing, because we will have residential communitis in the southern waterfront. so my vision is to see the expansion of the redevelopment, but be able to have the heavy industry co-exist with the new transformation. >> one of the things that i have heard from neighbors that live over in the ramp, you know, the port, and has put in parking meters along -- >> that is us and what is it? >> mta. >> mta. >> yes, you guys have the meters. so i know it's you [ [ laughter ] >> i know mta has a larger percentage of the streets, but go ahead. >> today it's port's day.

we talked about pier 70, major, major development that is happening, that is transforming the dog patch and southern waterfront and connecting bayview hunters point and the base yard to the waterfront and you have the people who will be living in these buildings and developments and then you have parking meters and explain to me, how we're going to recruit -- how many about this? let me be a little fairer. walk me through the port's thought process >> well, i haven't really talked to the staff about what their thought process is for these parking meters, but i do know what sfmta came to the commission to discuss these new parking meters being implemented, we asked them to go back to the drawing board,

because actually they had absolutely not do enough community outreach and taken the community's concerns into consideration. so far they haven't been back to the commission. so i'm not quite sure where they are now and if they have deleted some of the meters that they thought they were going to put or if they have had community input. so they haven't come back. so right now i don't know where they are, but i would definitely support -- and i always support and ask, you know, what does the community feel about this? are there any concerns? >> i understand. actually, it neutralizes my next question because i was going ask your thought process as you heard as a commissioner voting on this, what were you thinking, but you haven't voted on it. >> i would say you have to go back to the community. >> and the next question is about the transit effectiveness program and how mta is looking to expand the 22 bus line into

the port, into pier 70 specifically. it's a few years down the line, nonetheless, but maybe you could talk to me a little bit about your knowledge. >> hasn't come before the commission. >> hasn't come yet. i apologize for jumping. >> you know more than i do. >> these are things to certainly think about and i have to say you have been a really great partner in the past several years, not only as a role-model to many young women in the city as a commissioner, but also as a community partner and you show up to a lot of community events and you are not one of those commissioners who show up when there is a camera on, but you show up when there is work that needs to be done. so i just want to have an opportunity to publicly say thank you. >> thank you. >> miss brandon, first of all, i want to thank you for your willingness to continue serving the city on the port commission.

and as one of the most diverse ports in the nation, and basically the economic engine for the city, the port generates revenues from the state leasing and parking and maritime and development projects. what is your vision then? and i think a bit of my colleagues' questions were part of this question. what is your vision and how do you plan to balance the enterprising nature of the port, with the responsibilities to the neighborhood quality of life issues? >> well, i think the port this past year, i think our budget was about $70 million. and i think our -- i think we have over $1 billion worth of infrastructure work that needs

to be done to keep our port vibrant. and so it's a really hard balancing act, which is why we do a lot of public-private partnerships. and with those public-private partnerships come the various community concerns or questions and how we're going to continue to all work together to bring certain projects along? i think the port has done a really good job, like with the renovation of ferry building. the renovation of pier 1, where our port offices are. the new exploratorium that just opened. i think we're doing a great job of finding new financing sources to be able to keep these piers operable and to be able to generate revenue, but it is a tough balancing act. >> some of the projects that are coming online, or hopefully coming online when i look at the preliminary plans on them, there is going to be

residential and commercial and so forth. and one of the biggest questions that i have been asking, one of the questions that i have asked of the city for the last three decades when you build, in particular residential build-out in the residential area and you have families living there and so forth, where is the child-care center? >> i'm sorry? >> where is the child-care center in all of this? it seems like when i look at some of the plans, plans that people are discussing, that has not been a thought at all. and i am just curious what your thoughts around that particular issue would be, whether or not you would be an advocate, knowing that more likely than not, the build-out for residential units will probably

increase the demand for child-care? >> you are right. i have not heard in any of these development deals anyone talk about child-care, but i do think if we are about to embark on creating new communities, it's definitely something that should be available for those residents. and i would definitely support child-care in any of these communities. >> i appreciate that, because i need an ally on the port commission. >> like i told you, i'm willing and able to do a tour land or sea. >> thank you, miss brandon. >> thank you. >> now, if there is any public comment, you have two minutes. come on up and state your name and state whether you are for or against. >> this is act ii. >> two minutes. >> my name is carl williams. i am president of the san

francisco african-american democratic club. the african-american democratic club supported miss brandon's nomination when it was first before the board of supervisors four years ago and since that time, she has served with distinction on the port commission. she has provided leadership. she has provided strong incentives for development, that meet the needs of the residents, as well as the commercial interests. and we are pleased to urge your re-appointment to miss brandon on the san francisco port commission. we think with the port now embarking on the level of economic development activities that it's currently embarked on, having her experience and her knowledge of what the port has done in the past, and what

the port can do in the future would be a valuable asset to the people of san francisco. so we urge your support of her re-appointment. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, chair, yee, supervisor breed and supervisor cohen. i am from the san francisco arts commission. i am here in support of commissioner

>> supervisor yee, supervisor breed, supervisor cohen, i am the chief administrative law judge for the public utilities commission and the port of san francisco holds that in trust for the people of california and i wanted to strongly urge you to reconfirm the appointment of kimberly brandon. commissioner brandon's knowledge is invaluable and having good succession planning and continuity is 3 4 f1key to

sure that the port commission and all of the important projects, along the waterfront including tackling the $1 billion in infrastructure repairs and shoring up that needs to occur actually happens for the people of the state of california to continue to enjoy our beautiful waterfront. it's not just for san franciscans, fisherman's wharf is the second most visited tourist attraction in california, the first is disneyland. so i strongly urge that you keep our fabulous commissioner. we honored her -- i am the past president of the league

of women's voters and we honored supervisor breed as a rising star and supervisor cohen has participated in our debates and our candidate forums for district 10. so speaking on believe of the league, as well as the coalition of 100 black women, we definitely support her re-appointment. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> good afternoon supervisors. my name is moses. i am a founder and former president of the african-american democratic club and i am also on the board of directors of the naacp and i am here today to speak in support of kim brandon, who has done wonderful well in our

neighborhoods. before that i want to thank mayor lee for nominating her for the appointment. kim is well-known in our neighbored and not only in our neighborhood, but citywide. you can tell from her presentation, that she is very knowledgeable about what is going on citywide, especially at the port. she has the answers to all the questions and as you can tell, she answered all the questions that you posed to her. and i urge you to vote to re-appoint her, because she has done so much. and if you re-appoint her and vote for that, you have nothing to lose. so please, vote intelligently, vote wisely, and re-appoint her. thank you. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon commissioner yee,commissioner breed and commissioner cohen, i am here in full support of the re-appointment of commissioner brandon. it was interesting while standing there, the first thing that came to mind looking around the room i was raised by a strong and bright african-american woman, and just to sit in this room and see so many strong, black, intelligent women is just a blessing. it really, truly is and i think from her leadership on the commission, on the port, you can see what has come about and not just her. of course all of the commissioners, as well as the very strong and brilliant director. so it's wonderful that the mayor was able to make this nomination. it's a blessing to see such

strong leadership and please re-appoint kim brandyn it's not just great for our county, but great for the city and county of san francisco. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello, commissioners. my name is everett brandon and i am kim brandon's father. i think she is nervous about what i am going to say. [ laughter ] but i saw her when she first came on the commission and she was just a novice then and to see her grow over the years to become the kind of expert that she is in this area, it's just astonishing. and i have seen the port change

into a world-class port and she was part of all of this happening. so one of the main reasons i am here to speak i used to be with the puc, public utilities commission and running a training and linda wong was my favorite intern and she left me to return here and she is now the rules clerk for your boards and i really wanted to come and say hello, linda. [ laughter ] and ask to you continue to support the fine work that kimberly is doing. thank you. >> thank you. >> mr. chair, members. my name is vincent mccarlie, i am chief executive officer -- and i strongly support the re-appoint of kimberly brandon to the commission. as a smalls