thank you now. now can i have captain mike redmond and officer simmons. captain redmond will read the citation. >> good evening, it's my honor to speak to you in regards to the arrest in which mike simmons receive this silver medal of valor tonight. on tuesday, february 1, 2011, at 3 p.m., officer simmons was working an assignment at the bank of america at 1525 market street. mike was there to work a security assignment at the bank. as well as monitor a protest

that was going on outside. where there was over 50 participants in the protest. a career criminal by the name of joseph hike, chose this day to commit a robbery. mr. hike has been arrested 21 sometime -- 21 times in the city of san francisco. mr. hike produced a handgun to a teller face and ordered her to put all the money in the paper bag as he held a gun to her face. officer simmons was inside the bank at which time he observed there was a robbery in process inside of the bank. officer simmons immediately

notified communications and called for back-up. knowing that he was inside of the bank, officer simmons turned off his radio not to alert the suspect and knowing that dispatch acknowledged that he needed emergency assistance. officer simmons then developed a plan on how he would get closer to the suspect who was committing the robbery. officer simmons took up several different positions of concealment as he crept closer and closer to the bank robbery suspect. while doing this, mr. hike still had the gun out and pointing it at the teller's face. officer simmons noticed that hike start to shake erratically with the gun in his hand. and was concerned of his safety and the safety of the approximately 50 people in the

bank. officer simmons drew his firearm but reholsterred because he was in fear of hurting someone in the bank or creating a hostage situation. after holsterring his firearm he got as close to the suspect to take action. he observed mr. hike turn his focus to the money being placed in the bag. at that point officer simmons knowing that he couldn't wait for back-up and not wanting to make the situation worse pounced on mr. hike very quickly. with total disregard for his own safety, he engaged in a violent struggle with an armed suspect. until he was finally taken in custody and the gun went sliding

across the bank. officer simmons displayed outstanding bravery in the face of danger and finally his back-up arrived. his quick actions foiled a robbery that could result in the loss of his life and those inside and out of the bank. being alone did not deter officer simmons of his duty to protect the public. he did so with his own risk of personal safety and his actions displayed courage. ladies and gentlemen, officer simmons is awarded the silver medal of valor. [applause]

>> officer michael simmons. [applause] captain mcfadden, please. and may i have sergeant dominco

defida. >> on october 25, 2012, at approximately 1:30 in the morning. sergeant domenico was working as an investigator with the major crimes investigation unit. while conducting a robbery investigation, sergeant noticed a gray buick pass by him. he again noticed the vehicle as he surveilled areas around for possible robberies. as he drove the area, sergeant noticed that the same buick was traveling behind him and following closely. sergeant made several attempts to elude the vehicle behind him. though it continued to follow

closely as he made multiple turns. and sergeant decided to make a u-turn to see if the vehicle would follow him and it followed closely behind. at silver avenue, the vehicle pulled up to sergeant's vehicle and fired shots and tristrikinge vehicle as he duck for cover. the suspects sped away north on bay shore towards industrial way. without hesitation or due regard for his own safety, sergeant pursued the armed suspects. he immediately notified dispatch and continued to pursue the vehicle northbound on the 101 freeway. the vehicle exited at caesar

chavez and patrillo with the sergeant close behind as he gave out vehicle descriptions. the occupants fired at sergeant several more time as he followed undeterred in his actions to apprehend them. the suspect vehicle stopped on the 2500 block of bryant street. where the occupants jumped out and fled towards 23rd. sergeant exited his vehicle and took the driver of the suspect vehicle in custody by himself while he radioed the location of the other two fleeing suspects. sergeant continued for corresponding units for the apprehension of other two. he later observed two bullet holes in his vehicle that led to

the apprehension of the other two suspects and two firearms. sergeant desenza continued apprehension of two criminals and his quick actions led to the arrest of the three suspects that otherwise will be a constant threat to the citizens of san francisco, i think that the best compliment you could give to victor is that you have family members in risk, you want him to follow up. sergeant dasenza is awarded the silver medal of valor. [applause]

>> sergeant dacenza. his award was the last one for the evening and the chief will give closing comments and after that i will make an announcement. >> so we are almost home, you can tell from the tales you heard, that the phrase that

comes from mind from that same "three musketeers" movie is magnificent valor. [applause] so they have made the mistake of allowing us into this beautiful hall. so we should keep control of it as long as we can. please, family, friends, everyone, let's celebrate these people that give no greater credence to the phrase, sf's finest than those accounts you heard. we will mill around and take pictures. i would ask that the group that received awards are since we didn't have room, if you would stay in your seats or the front row, we can get a picture of everyone, that would be a great keep sake before adjourning to the place for refreshments. with that, i will give it back

to sergeant monroe, and thank you mayor and the commissioners and the captains, and for reading those, though captain mcfadden you cannot wound a car -- i will straighten that out with them later. again thank you again for coming. >> so can we please rise for the retrieval of the colors, please.

>> another round of applause for the color guard, please.

also a couple of final things. i have noticed that supervisor breed showed up from district 5. thank you, supervisor. and we have a reception at the top of the stairs. and si -- and i have been waiting to say this all night, in the all of antiquities. i want to thank everyone and the families and the officers who were not here that are out on the street doing what these guys do every day. thank you very much.

>> sfgtv, we are ready to begin. >> good morning. today is wednesday, september 5th, 2013. this is a special meeting of the building inspection commission, i would like to remind everyone to please turn off all electronic devices and the first item is roll call. >> president mccarthy. >> mar? >> here.

>> clinch. >> here. >> lee. >> commissioner mccray? >> present. >> commissioner walker? >> here. >> melgar is expected we have a quorum and the next item is item two, discussion and possible action regarding the civil grand jury report >> we would like to pay our condolences for commissioner clinch whose mother passed away and thank you for being here during this difficult time. you may continue. >> thank you. >> hello commissioners bill,

strong with the legislative affairs,dy go through and thank all of you who came through and sent me comments and questions on the grand jury report, and said in that packet, right before the weekend, and in where we did make changes, and added a number of points that you raised at the last commissioner meeting. and so, i'm hoping that we have essentially a document that everybody is satisfied with. and if you have any further, refineries i am happy to make those, we have until the 16th of this month to submit to the presiding judge of the superior court. >> and thank you, just then, so, i would like to report, and thank you both for responding and making it kind of fast tracking it first. what we got with and i like to

open it up to the commission is there any further comments that you like to add and because we have to go with voting this as approved and so we can send it on and we can forward it to the judge. and so, with that, commissioners? >> i just had maybe a quick question. and i think that it was by the last meeting that this should be a distinction in some of the answers and some of the remarks from the grand jury were specifically directed at (inaudible) and some of the others were adjusted to dbi which was the staff really. and so ultimately some instances it will be for example, our own functioning as the bic that we feel that we exercised enough, you know, authority on certain matters that be... and it was really appropriate for us to answer and it was less to do with

staff functioning and i was wondering in the report if we could distinguish the two areas clearer. >> and i am sure that we could go through and make sure that it clear. >> of course. >> commissioner walker and thank you for going through this process with us and i agree with commissioner mar, that when the question was directed out, the commissioner it seems more appropriate for the commissioner to be more responsive. as opposed to the department, i also, getting back to the item number four, regarding public perception, i will not be supporting, disagreing with that because i have received the public input to remain anonymous and i think that we can always learn from that and i don't think that it does any

harm to you know, agree and take action or establish what we have been doing, and we will continue to do to address the public perception. but, i think that it is hard for me to vote to support something to disagree with something that i know not to be factually true and so i think that i would like to maybe have a more neutral position, or just focus on the commitment to resolving or continuing to address those as we go forward. >> yeah, really the bulk of the response does say that. >> and i understand that. >> and you know about the headlines. >> and if you agree and partially disagree. and i guess that it is a matter of how you choose to phrase it and obviously, in the commission (inaudible) will do. >> commissioners? is there more questions? >> i think for me the big word

is that is coming out to address these concerns and i think that we need that and we need the proof, and you know, i respect the position of commissioner walker's that the people don't want to kind of highlight their participation, but they have concerns, but i think that it is important for us as a commission to take these reports seriously that we have factual information and circumstances that people are complaining about that we can back up and look at and you know, at this stage. and so, i mean, obviously, we have people who want to approach the department at any time, and layout their concerns and get the specific issues that they have, and i know that the director, has said that the acting director has said that he is more than fair to participate and help as of you, and is if there is something that as far as the public would you recommend and is there a

particular process that you would like to see and than you do, rather than, you know, just send in, the e-mails with no names or whatever. is there... do you have any idea how you can gather that data so we can address these issues? >> i know that we are playing, and we have already budgeted for, as i believe that all of you know for another public perception study in the coming fiscal year. and we did the last one, in 2008. and that one actually reflected some comments of some people having concerns about favoritism and that upon some further questioning from the third party vendor that was doing, this perception study and the take was that some people understand the process better than others. and those who do not understand the process, often will attribute it to these favoritism out there in what i would consider a kind of vague

way. to my knowledge, there isn't any study or data that says specifically this particular apartment as that particular problem. and as far as i am concerned, everybody who wants to report that there is such a thing happening, we do have a process for going through and evaluating that and as i understand it, that is probably takes it very seriously and we do it when the need occurs. >> commissioner walker? >> i would suggest that as much as folks do not take newspaper articles, as seriously as some scientific study, there have been people who have felt comfortable talking to the press and there have been press stories and so i don't want to, you know, act on a press report, but, i just think that when we talk about public

perception, it is not a good thing to discount it and i think that there is a public perception, whether it is, you know, quantifiable or we can put a number on it, i just think that, rather than disagreing that we hear it. and that is... and i guess that most of what is in that section, says that. but as the case, the headline, tells the story a little bit more sisinctly. >> right but not always as accurately. >> that is true. >> or it contradicts the body of the story. and there is more newspaper adage as someone who has been in that position myself and you never let the facts get in the way of a good story. and that is particularly true for the headline writers. but, that is not the reporters who often try to do a good job of balancing both sides, that are being represented. >> yeah.

>> okay. is there any more questions on this issue? >> i just would look at page 7 of the report and in that second paragraph, up from the bottom, >> i see. >> it talks about the lack of knowledge, that contributes to this perception. >> yes. >> and i would simply want to flag that and have us put some benchmarks around increasing knowledge of the process. how we are working to bring the individuals to the place where they understand what the treatment ought to be. and then, as another bench mark in that last paragraph, 85 percent satisfaction. and that is a number that is quantifiable. and we ought to use that as a base as we go forward in terms of our response and in terms of spirit within our department. >> thank you. >> 85 percent is a pretty good

number. isn't it? >> yes, sir. >> pretty good number. >> i mean if you are in the private sector you would be doing cart wheels over that number. >> very happy, yeah. >> okay. >> and any more questions? >> commissioners? >> commissioners? >> i have one. and the last paragraph. >> one more time, sorry. >> final thoughts. i'm always looking for the final thoughts. well for the conclusion. and in the conclusion, that two-year strategic plan is referenced, that is... and that jumps out at me. and all, all... i looked for that the presence of that work,

throughout our response. to the grand jury, here is our plan and our vision and our mission and this is what we are doing to achieve it. and here is how we are testing and evaluating that. and so as i looked through it, my comments is there a way to let the strategic plans speak to some of these like this issue of number on page 4 and our strategic plan indicates that this is the response that we are making to this. and that is my comment. >> yeah. >> and yes, i can fine tune that language, certainly. >> okay. thank you. >> all right. and at this stage, madam secretary, do we have take action, do we take public comment? >> public comment. is there any public comment on this item?

item two? >> president mccarthy and members of the commission my name is joe butler and i am an architect in san francisco and have been a customer of the building department for 26-plus years. and i would agree with 85 percent number. i don't have any data to substantiate or not. for the most part the building department does a great job. there are however, problems in the building department and it is the 15 percent that you should focus on rather than put a laural on the head, dbi total torrey and dysfunctional and that should sting, we find that the evidence that the escalations at dbi are common, and i am not sure what they mean, but that means that they are occurring and in addition they state a review of complaints to a city agency revealed the periodic

allegations of misconduct continue. i am responsible for one of those allegations. or, several as the case may be. recommendations for 4.1 an ethical climate survey, could provide management when it it is needed says the grand jury, but my experience as an architect representing clients as clearly shown that it is in fact the leadership, ie the management of the department that is dispensing acts of favoritism and these include senior management approving permit applications for final inspections on projects that have never begun. and senior management ignoring plans submitted for permits that falsely describe existing conditions in spite of their own field visits that proved a lie. and senior management for going on behalf of their own department, the correct permit application fees, based on the true