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tv   [untitled]    June 29, 2013 3:00am-3:31am PDT

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windows if their windows are cracked, if their roofs are broken. so, ideally, the city would be able to know where all these neighborhood centers are and help deliver some of these supplies. >> they could come from a neighbor, maybe not. thank you so much for allowing us to come in and share this wonderful exhibit. and thank you for >> good morning. thank you. the meeting will come to order. welcome to the regular meeting other government oversight and audit committee. i am malia cohen. to my left is supervisor katy
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tang to my left is david campos. i would like to thank the people of sfgtv, i don't have the names in front of me. thank you for broadcasting this meeting. and clark are there any announcements? >> clerk calonsag: yes. please be sure all devices are turned off. and documents are turned into. >> i found the names, jennifer low and jesse larson. item number one. >> clerk calonsag: (reading agenda) >> are you from the department of human resources? >> i am. >> wonderful. >> this amendment simply changes one word, or to and. requiring the nurses outside of
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per diem achieve the prerequisite hours, in order to move up in the next salary step. that's it. >> colleagues do you have anything you would like to add or questions? is there any member of the public it would like to speak to this item? public comment is open. seeing none public comment is closed. gvl is there a motion for this item? thank you supervisor campos. motion passes without objection. item two. >> clerk calonsag: (reading) >> supervisor cohen: please
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come up to the podium, anthony ababam (sounds like) from the controllers office. >> thank you members from the committee, my name is anthony -- from the controllers office. i do for you is issuance of tax exempt obligations to finance the town school project. the resolution acknowledges -- and allows the issues to proceed on a tax-exempt basis. there is representatives in attendance if you have questions specific to the project. typically these items are heard in the budget binds committee thank you for allowing us to be here today. there is no fiscal impact of the city. no budget analyst report. >> supervisor cohen: thank you very much. colleagues any questions on this? public comment is now open.
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>> my name is nancy trust; i want to be fully informed on the subject matter. i go to the clerks office. i understand from the vivi speaker that some public hearing was held in an office however that he say he had something in his office? a public hearing? >> supervisor cohen: this is all the comment. you can a question and i can bring up staff. >> i am trying to be informed. the audio isn't very clear. i want to know somebody said there was a hearing on this matter in this office? did he say there was? >> supervisor cohen: let's bring up staff to answer this question. >> the staff is going to answer. >> yes ma'am. the notice for public hearing is published in the san francisco chronicle on may 15th. the hearing was held may 30th.
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>> supervisor cohen: so would you like to speak on this item? >> i want to speak on this item but i want to speak informatively. referring what i thought i heard. i don't understand about a public hearing being held without some kind, some more notice simply in the examiner. paid advertisement is not the same as an notice hearing, notice to the people reading in the library. i believe that it has not been cover mice by that. i am here and i am objecting to your spending 19 million dollars off the your perspective benefits to the city in >> supervisor in tax by waiver,
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what is happening is the gender discretionary investment. we just have a decision from the supreme court against the discrimination on sexual orientation. there is no less discrimination here that is already prohibited by law, by gender. this is a private school for boys. there's nothing comparable for girls. the committee on the state -- that met yesterday has had no information about this. there is no opportunity for this matter for consideration of gender discrimination and i think you should go before the whole board, open to public input on whether or not tis is unjustified discrimination by gender. >> supervisor cohen: the bell that rang indicate your public comment is up. i would like the district attorney to talk about public notice. >> ken drew, deputy city
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attorney through chair; this matter is governed by internal code relations and all that is required is that a publication, and that is be published in a newspaper of general circulation for years we have used the chronicle and or the examiner. the legal requirements are clearly met here and i should also add that there are no city funds that will be used for this project. but the city is doing is allowing its tax exemption to be used to issue bonds but no city monies will be used for this madam chair. >> supervisor cohen: thank you for the clarification. t think that answers your question. are there any other members of the public that would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. (gavel) motion to move to the full board. unanimously passed without objection.
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madam clerk -- >> (off mic) would you note my objection in your minutes? >> supervisor cohen: you are on the record. item 3. >> (reading) >> supervisor cohen: we have supervisor mark farrell's aid, -- as well as susanna robbins from film commission. >> good morning catherine stephanie legislative aid two supervisor mark farrell who would be here but he's and budget negotiatio. nsit has been a great success ringing in high-profile films, one of the most recent is woody allen's film blue jasmin.
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our office 00 added a documentary film to the rebate program. we are here today because we need an amendment to the rebate program again in order to continue the success of it. we have found that although the film rated program is attractive to many producers we are now falling short on city space available for the some production companies. this legislation would allow the executive director on the phone commission to lease space for production companies after determining there is knows city space available. -- maximum of 600,000 dollars. no budget analyst report is necessary. there is no fiscal impact. we are only dealing with the funds that are already in the program, so susanna can come up and speak to you as to why this is such a necessary
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change at this time. thank you. >> good morning, thank you for having me speak here today. i am susanna robbins, executive director of the film commission. as you know filming and production for movies, televisions and commercials attribute to san francisco in numerous ways. it provides just the local crew and background extras, a creative town of local spending and contributes to worldwide recognition of our city and its icons. this in turn keep the profile of our city front and central that contributes to one of your most potent economic development tools: tourism. san francisco has been that location for some of the most recognized movies and television shows from the streets of seven sfsan francisco, mrs. doubtfire, what's up doc, all help to generate tourism, and they spend money not only on local
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salaries but of hotels, restaurants, city services. in the first six years the san francisco rebate program has been in effect the film industry spent 40 million dollars in our local economy. nearly 12 and a half has been spent on local salaries for 1,135 crew positions and 4922 background extra positions. they returned to the production companies under the rated program was a little over 1 million and a half dollars; that is a fantastic rate of return for the city. we have had a 20 percent increase in the number of filming days since the last fiscal year and an 18 percent
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increase in the number of permits and sent 2009 that number has increased to 65% increase in the number of film days and a 49% increase in the permits that we have issued. in addition applications to the san francisco reader program has increased from three applicants fiscal year 11-12 to eight applicants fiscal year 12-13. right now we have a huge challenge. while applications to the program are increasing and more productions are expressing interest in basing here we find ourselves in a situation where we don't have a state space for productions to build cover sets. cover set is a set built and repaired and kept available throughout issued in case of need. aor example there is bad weather, or someone in the cast is unavailable and a different scene needs to be shot in its place this cover
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set is where they go to.so having the right kind of things that status critical to any production. historically we have been fortunate to use hangar 3 out of treasure island and this is been consistent location, we have had production -- the spaces been ideal to build the sets and we have also from time to time been able to have warehouse space from the port of san francisco. hemingway and -- the hbo film shot here, two years ago with nicole kidman and clive owen, -- the spaces as well as other poor properties are currently filled with america's got the tenants and others have moved for one reason or another mostly for america's cup activities. i met with leaders of the port, the airport the redevelopment agency, the real estate
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department, all of the agencies have been supportive and have done their best to help us. we have really tried and they have tried but we have not been able to turn up anything. under the current rebate program all fees paid to the city of san francisco of related up to 600,000 dollars per film or television episode and that includes the cost of state space owned by the city. while other rebatable cost are attracted to productions including, permit fees we rebate up to four police officers per day, street closures scenes, anything that would write a check to the city for those costs are related at the end of the film provided that met the required number of shooting days. without the stage space to build covers sets we will lose productions.
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rather than shooting a few days i beauty shots to make it look like the whole shoot was shot here like they do in vancouver. we were excited about the possibility of shooting the whole film that i had the talent we don't have the space to build a cover set so they decided to shoot elsewhere. we estimated that was a loss of approximately four in dollars and local spending as well as a lack of local job creation and not to mention the opportunity to showcase our city in high-profile feature film. our current challenge is this. hbo wants to shoot seven episodes of the new tv series here. if we lose this it will be a shame.
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the series does not have a name yet but it is currently going under the title of the untitled michael lannen project about three san francisco-based friends - explore the highs and lows of life as part of a new generation of gay men. the shot the pilot episode here in april and now they want to come back and fill the rest of the series between september and november. this is an incredible opportunity for our city we have not had a tv series since trauma and that ended in early 2010, an nbc series. hbo plans to hire as much local chris possible and will feature the castro neighborhood to audiences around the world and if you're familiar with hbo series the usually run for multiple series. we would like this have to production here in san francisco.
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we are at risk of losing and we don't have stage space. currently there is another series sheeting today and tomorrow, they are doing a pilot and they get picked up they will go to series in the new year. we want to try to win this series here. it is a high-profile director and producer which would be amazing for san francisco the fact is if we don't have a rebatable space we will not get them. we are recommending the board of supervisors to amend the legislation to allow the director of property of real estate to consult with the film commission to lease property and to sublease to companies that they can build their sets. if we exhaust all efforts to find city-owned space, we are asking that rentals cost be
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made to the available for rebate just as when they are renting city-owned property. we are not asking for any new additional money. it would allow us to use money already allotted to the rebate program under different circumstances if necessary. without the ability to use this money in this manner we will most likely continue to lose potential productions and jobs and local spending san francisco. i hope that you will recommend to the full board that you will pass this amendment to the rebate. thank you for your time and if you have any questions i will be happy to answer them. >> supervisor cohen: colleagues he have any questions? seeing none let's open up to the public. >> my name is dan camp, a union location manager working in san
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francisco in the last 20 years. i want to talk directly to the impact that this makes directly to the city of the major series. i work not only on trauma but also on nash bridges; in the sixties since i worked on nash bridges the film office would give me a form to get to the accountant about the economic impact to the city, police department, port, parks and rec. the bottom line that they would pass to them, in the first season it was over 16 million dollars went >> supervisor went to various city departments. this is not include money to crew or to businesses or to locations;
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many millions of dollars more were given to business owners and individuals were filming at their homes and businesses. and the crews - i am now working on a low budget feature film called quitters. all of these individuals live in san francisco. we all appreciate to be able to live and work in this area. it makes a huge difference to us, these people such as myself, we work without the certainty where our next jobs are going to come from.they come and go a week at a time or a month at the time. thank you for your time. >> supervisor cohen: next speaker. >> >> my name is catherine
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howell; i'm currently the copresident of the newly merged screen actors film, american federation of television and radio artists. i'm here to speak in behalf of our four thousand members in this area, in our local. a lot of said about the job opportunities for the crew. susanna mentioned background. what is quite often left out his actors. we are the community of well-trained, professionals, experienced actors. like the crew would depend on our jobs coming here and there and we are lucky that we are able to live here and make our earning in this local. many of us have developed strong film careers through being cast in productions being filmed locally. in addition to the monies for
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the dob, the salary, it also means for us many residuals down the line which keeps us going between jobs. it means contributions to our health and retirement plans. and as i said it means another step towards building and maintaining our careers. i very much support anything that has to do with sfsan francisco film incentive. >> good morning i am ed lantz, representative for local 785. i represent their area and teamster drivers that work on projects. some of those would be here today but they are working on a movie called quitters and a time warner
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production, potential tv series that susana talk about. when work comes to the area, work could last for a couple of days. but the holy grail as far as we're concerned of the tv series, in this case in michael landen project which could provide ongoing employment to us and this is -- not just the wages, but also how people get paid into their pensions and benefits.a lot of times
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teamsters do not have health and welfare for the families if they are not working on these projects. thank you. >> good morning and thank you for your time. my name is karen lipny (sounds like) i have over 20 years of experience and ended a -- run with the american federation of television and radio artists. while the film rebate program is helpful i think the city needs to take the next step. i urge you and the board of supervisors to amend the scene in san francisco rebate program.
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production brings good jobs and enhance the san francisco as a tourist destination. thank you. >> hello my name is joel alora (sounds like) a summer associate at the law office of -- which focuses on independent production. i do want to reiterate what everybody said but we want to voice our support for this legislation. we hope that you will support it as well. thank you. >> good morning my name is joanne desmond, i am assistant business agent with local 16, the stagehands union here in san francisco. i would like to echo the sentiments of everyone in support of this. i just got rough figures for you this morning from our office. from 2010 to the middle of 2013, half year, the film production has accounted for over 22 million dollars in direct wages to our members with an additional 14% going to
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health and welfare benefits and an additional 7% going to members' pension funds so it is a big boon to our members and i would appreciate on behalf of our members your support. thank you. >> next speaker. >> hi my name is claire brighton, i am a local actor. i have a lot of friends who are also actors and i'm speaking in support of this legislation. a lot of my friends have been forced to move elsewhere where there are better tax incentives for firms to be there so they are able to make a living and i am sad to see great talent to leave the area and i hope this gets passed. thank you very much. >> good morning many ms. laurie shockley, the current theatrical and television representative for sag/aftra.
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i'm here i'm have of our four thousand members. 20 of them are working on day players on quitters. it is imperative that we keep production in this city. i have anecdotally been in the production industry for over 15 years in san francisco and i heard about the problems of office space, cover sets and i'm in full support of this. thank you for your time. >> supervisor cohen: thank you very much. of any other members of the public who like to speak on item 3? seeing none, of the comment is closed. supervisor campos. >> supervisor campos: thank you madam chair and supervisor ferrell and staff. this is a no-brainer. i had a quick question. thank you also to the film commission. is anything else besides what we are doing to the amendment of this ordinance it can be
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done to deal with the issue of space? i know that you have spoken to all of the city agencies, all of the city department. i don't know for instance if there is anything else that some of these other jurisdictions are doing. is it just an issue of the physical limitations of the city? just wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that. >> if i understand you correctly, is there anything of that we can do right now? >> supervisor campos: anything else that is a good idea. >> ultimately what i would like to see is defined a property that can be used as a dedicated stage space that is currently under the control of certain city agency. i don't know. i have identified buildings in the city that seemed very appealing to us that look like they might be open to a change in use; right now they are
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occupied either by america's cup or for instance the-- is good to be occupied by the town school for the next year while they are doing renovations. i am looking at properties there and also at hunters point tried to figure out where we can land and land long-term. what we are going to be doing in the film commission is creating a committee to study this more and figure out where we can go and how we also generate funds to actually -- a lot of the places are very raw, for is a place out at hunters point has no sewage, no electricity. they could bring porta potties and generators. we have to figure out where to get funds to sound proof that because if it rains we cannot
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record sound. >> supervisor campos: i would encourage you to pursue that. are you working with the chamber of commerce, small business commission, private sector to see they can help? >> well this has not been officially announced yet but the friends of the film commission nonprofit is starting to be working with those agencies to try to generate funds to help us with the stage space. >> supervisor campos: district 10 has a lot of talent. i think it's great and a lot of work has been done in the -- that i represent and castro as well. i don't see why we can't get anymore this business, it is such an amazing city. i'm happy to support this and i would like to be added as a cosponsor. >> supervisor cohen: