and i think there's just a simple question of what is a reasonable approach to this, what is the intent of the planning code to allow this kind of habitation of an otherwise unused flat roof area. and that's all i have to offer. thank you. >> thank you. okay, the public hearing portion is closed. commissioner sugaya. >> yes, it's a difficult case, i think, for the commission because you kind of have to say on the one hand if you just look at what the architect's presented as just land use issues, or setback issues or residential design guideline issues, or whatever, then it probably isn't extraordinary. but there seem to be other circumstances that we're always faced with.

so, on the one hand, i think as a bedroom, since it's off the bedroom and if we assume that the project sponsor is going to live there for quite a long period of time and he's old enough that he's not going to grow very much taller, he's, you know, the five foot setback would probably work. i don't know which lady in the back is your wife, but i assume she's not any taller than you are. so, from one standpoint you could argue that five feet might work in this case and still have enough livability on the deck. and i suppose -- and i don't know where to go with it

exactly, but one idea might be to have -- although you may not want to go to the extent of spending the money for it, but you could have the roof deck as a deck and only pull the railing back five feet. and then at some future date -- and i'm trying to be sensitive here. at some future date, either the if this owner leaves, you're not going to sell your house since you've been there for 30 years. there might be a time in the future when there could be some extension or something like that. but that's neither here nor there. i don't know where to go with it actually. i'd like to hear more discussion among the commissioners. >> commissioner antonini. >> well, i have some thoughts on this. i don't really care what the

relative size is if the deck is relative to the other decks in the area. it's whatever is suiting the project sponsor. it looks like -- i'm not sure if this is 25 by 10. it looks like it probably runs the width of the house almost, and then i would assume it's about -- our project architect, is it 10 foot -- >> yeah, 25 by 12. >> please come to the podium. >> yeah, just tell me what the dimensions are. the setback from both -- the setback from one side property line approximately 4-1/2 to 5 feet. and the adjacent space happens to be above the street which is the series of steps, which is also one of the reasons why we can have the deck up against that property line and it's open to the public. >> right. what are the dimensions? it's probably in our paperwork. i believe it's 20 by -- >> [speaker not understood]. >> okay, thank you.

the point is the 12 because i was thinking 25 by 10, but now, you know, because as you start to pull the thing back, particularly five feet, you start getting into a really small situation. your distance from the house, if you want to put a picnic table there, you want people sitting around it, you've got to have room for the table, room for the chairs. and, so, you know, it makes it difficult to have enough room to maneuver around there. it's not impossible, but it makes it less desirable. we've got 45 -- 43-1/2 feet of separation as was mentioned between the house, the d-r requestor's house and the location on the deck. even detached homes in san francisco frequently have -- if they're lucky -- three-foot separations. in the case of my house, which is in a detached neighborhood on the west side, three foot on each side. so, if i've in one of the rooms looking south, my neighbor is in her bedroom there, we have the windows open and mine are

open, and we can see each other. i mean, it comes with urban living, but this is an extremely long area there. so, i don't know that the idea or the solution of the fence i don't think is a good one because it's only going to cut the light and air to the bedroom in question of the d-r requestor. probably you want to get as much light and air in there. so, doe that as being a solution. but i'm not really sure that we need to cut a lot of size off of here. we have had situations often with our decks where we don't bring the railing all the way to the very end of the deck. it is -- i would entertain the possibility of recessing it a foot or, you know, two feet at the most away from there which still leaves you 10 feet. and that's enough room to maneuver around the table from the house to the side of the deck. >> commissioner moore.

>> since this particular deck is off a bedroom, i think the possibility of having a dining room table with people sitting around the table is somewhat limited, although people might do it. i think i generally favor decks to not be flush with the building wall for reasons, one, outside elevation, but also for reasons of [speaker not understood] the devil is in the details on that particular thing because not very -- if you have a solid [speaker not understood], do a good detail on the railing, it's not the easiest [speaker not understood]. i would be prepared to pull the deck two feet back and have that be a compromise. we do have a substantial separation, though, 45 feet plus a grade to front which by itself is a combination of the vertical as well as the slope

distance, which makes it somewhat unlikely somebody to stand at the edge and intentionally stare down, that's not how life works. there is a sensitivity to the health of the neighbors. i'm sure the neighbors will not send their guests or themselves to the edge in order to stare down there. having said that, i would be comfortable of taking d-r and asking for a two-foot setback off the deck to a 10 by 21.5 and leave it with that. >> is that a motion? >> it is a motion, yes. >> second. >> commissioner hillis? call the question. >> on that motion to take d-r and approve the project setting back the deck's depth by two feet, reducing the deck's depth 2 feet to 10 feet, on that motion, commissioner antonini? >> i'm sorry, i'm not sure if it's 10 feet or 10.5.

>> 10 feet. >> is that correct -- >> i was pulling it back by two feet, that's correct. >> i think it was testified that the depth was 12.5. >> 12 and 12, 12 and 1 inch. >> 10 foot 1 inch, close enough. >> reducing the depth of the deck by 2 feet. on that motion, commissioner antonini? >> aye. >> commissioner borden? >> aye. >> commissioner hillis? >> aye. >> commissioner moore? >> aye. >> commissioner sugaya? >> no. >> and commission president -- excuse me, commission chair wu? >> aye. >> so moved, commissioners, that motion passes by a vote of 5 to 1 with commissioner sugaya voting against. commissioners, that will place you on public comment. i have no speaker cards. >> is there any general public comment? okay. seeing none, meeting is adjourned. [adjourned]

>> hi. welcome to san francisco. stay safe and exploring how you can stay in your home safely after an earthquake. let's look at common earthquake myths.

>> we are here at the urban center on mission street in san francisco. we have 3 guest today. we have david constructional engineer and bill harvey. i want to talk about urban myths. what do you think about earthquakes, can you tell if they are coming in advance? >> he's sleeping during those earthquakes? >> have you noticed him take any special? >> no. he sleeps right through them. there is no truth that i'm aware of with harvey that dogs are aware of an impending earthquake. >> you hear the myth all the time. suppose the dog helps you get up, is it going to help you do something >> i hear they are aware of small vibrations. but yes, i

read extensively that dogs cannot realize earthquakes. >> today is a spectacular day in san francisco and sometimes people would say this is earthquake weather. is this earthquake weather? >> no. not that i have heard of. no such thing. >> there is no such thing. >> we are talking about the weather in a daily or weekly cycle. there is no relationship. i have heard it's hot or cold weather or rain. i'm not sure which is the myth. >> how about time of day? >> yes. it happens when it's least convenient. when it happens people say we were lucky and when they don't. it's terrible timing. it's never a

good time for an earthquake. >> but we are going to have one. >> how about the ground swallowing people into the ground? >> like the earth that collapsed? it's not like the tv shows. >> the earth does move and it bumps up and you get a ground fracture but it's not something that opens up and sucks you up into haddes. >> it's not going anywhere. we are going to have a lot of damage, but this myth that

california is going to the ocean is not real. >> southern california is moving north. it's coming up from the south to the north. >> you would have to invest the million year cycle, not weeks or years. maybe millions of years from now, part of los angeles will be in the bay area. >> for better or worse. >> yes. >> this is a tough question. >> those other ones weren't tough. >> this is a really easy challenge. are the smaller ones less stress? >> yes. the amount released in small earthquakes is that they are so small in you need many of those. >> i think would you probably have to have maybe hundreds of

magnitude earthquakes of 4.7. >> so small earthquakes are not making our lives better in the future? >> not anyway that you can count on. >> i have heard that buildings in san francisco are on rollers and isolated? >> it's not true. it's a conventional foundation like almost all the circumstances buildings in san francisco. >> the trans-america was built way before. it's a pretty conventional foundation design. >> i have heard about this thing called the triangle of life and up you are supposed to go to the edge of your bed to save yourself. is there anything of value to that ? >> yes, if you are in your

room. you should drop, cover and hold onto something. if you are in school, same thing, kitchen same thing. if you happen to be in your bed, and you rollover your bed, it's not a bad place to be. >> the reality is when we have a major earthquake the ground shaking so pronounced that you are not going to be able to get up and go anywhere. you are pretty much staying where you are when that earthquake hits. you are not going to be able to stand up and run with gravity. >> you want to get under the door frame but you are not moving to great distances. >> where can i buy a richter scale? >> mr. richter is selling it. we are going to put a plug in for cold hardware. they are not available. it's a rather complex. >> in fact we don't even use

the richter scale anymore. we use a moment magnitude. the richter scale was early technology. >> probably a myth that i hear most often is my building is just fine in the loma prieta earthquake so everything is fine. is that true ? >> loma prieta was different. the ground acceleration here was quite moderate and the duration was moderate. so anyone that believes they survived a big earthquake and their building has been tested is sadly mistaken. >> we are planning for the bigger earthquake closer to san francisco and a fault totally independent. >> much stronger than the loma prieta earthquake. >> so people who were here in

'89 they should say 3 times as strong and twice as long and that will give them more of an occasion of the earthquake we would have. 10 percent isn't really the threshold of damage. when you triple it you cross that line. it's much more damage in earthquake. >> i want to thank you, harvey, thanks pat for >> all right, everyone, want to say thank you all for being here today at balboa park and want to say, first off, thanks to the trust for public land who played a key role in renovating balboa park and to put it to be where it is today. and i want to thank you all for your efforts. you know, one of the best parts

about being an elected official is the ability to effect change in san francisco in a very positive way. and today i'm very proud to announce that after two years of incredibly hard work on behalf of a lot of people, we are announcing a new project in san francisco to bring free wi-fi to 31 different parks, plazas, and open spaces across our city. from areas such as the marina green to washington square park to sunset playground, all a moe square, civic center, bernal heights to right here in balboa park, this project is going to touch parks and plazas across all of san francisco in every corner of our city. san francisco has been a leader in our technology community and our technology economy across our country and now we get to continue to play a role in being a leader bringing technology solutions to improve the lives of our residents here

in our city. it's been a privilege to work on this project and to lead this effort the last two years and look forward to bringing the broader vision of free wi-fi across san francisco in the next few years with all the partners behind me today. this has been a strong collaboration on behalf of a lot of partners. in particular, google, sf city, our recreation and park department as well as our department of technology, and i want to thank all of those involved. this project started a little over two years ago with a conversation i had with an old family friend from google. and i want to take a moment to thank the entire google team that worked on this project. it's been two years, so, it's touched a lot of desks and had a lot of approvals and in particular want to thank veronika bell who is here from google for stepping p. up. google is providing a financial

gift of $600,000 to turn this into a reality. this is with the recreation and park department. i want to thank phil ginsberg, katy, so many people from the rec and park team that really brought this project forward. we selected locations throughout san francisco on a number of levels. first of all, we wanted to make sure that we continue to bridge our digital divide that exists not only throughout our country, but here in san francisco, to place free wi-fi networks in under served communities and across different parts of san francisco. but also to make sure that we provide wi-fi access in some of the most heavily trafficked parks and plazas in our city so we can have the greatest impact throughout our great city. i want to thank sf city for their strong partnership in this project. we started working together a little over a year ago. they are not only the leading effect knowledge jai voice in san francisco, but they really stepped up to the plate to be the project manager here who are going to oversee the installation of this project.

and i want to thank in particular alex turk for his leadership during this effort. i certainly want to thank our department of technology and its new leader mark tuitu for also stepping up to the plate. mark is such a visionary and i think we have years of great things to come out of our department of technology and this is just the first step. and lastly i want to thank my staff and in particular wherever margo is, mar co-kelly. -- margo kelly. margo spent the last two years quarterbacking this project. she spent so many hours of her life dedicate today bringing this to the residents of san francisco and we shall all be incredibly thankful. the benefits of free wi-fi in san francisco are many. not only will it further open up our parks and our city to innovation, to education, and includetionthv i. for all san francisco residents, but it's also as i mentioned before a

significant step towards bridging our digital divide in our city. it provides local groups and community residents access to the internet they might not have had before, as well for our rec and park department as phil knows all too well many rec centers still use dial up service. when we think about registering our children for camps and play grounds, what we need to do in our daily lives, but also our government on a daily basis to use technology, this will be an incredible boone to our rec and park department and something we should all be very excited about. in terms of the details of the gift, google is providing a $600,000 financial gift to our city with no strings attached. i think a lot of the prior debate around free wi-fi in san francisco that never moved forward was because of different questions about business models or so forth, to emphasize this is a free gift of financial benefit to the city of san francisco with no strings attached.

the money will come through sf city which will manage the installation of the wi-fi network from beginning to end, and our department of technology will accept that gift on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. and ultimately rec and park will be the host of the wi-fi network on their properties. and at the end of the day, it's going to be all san francisco residents who benefit from this. after going through all the necessary steps in city hall, the timing right now is that we believe installation will start in december of this year and should be completed by the spring of next year. so, this is going to be a project that will become reality very, very soon for the residents of san francisco. again, on a personal level, i'm incredibly proud to have led this project over the last two years. it's very gratifying that when you see an idea from the initial conversation to the project itself to now bring it to reality, to a city and park where i used to play ball in high school, to announce a

project, this is something i've been incredibly proud to work on and something we started years ago and finally bringing to reality today. i again want to thank everybody who has been involved. this has been a complete team effort. and certainly want to thank mayor lee for his support during this process. mayor lee has been an incredible friend to our technology community as doing incredible things for our great city. and, mayor lee, i want to thank you and introduce our great mayor, mayor ed lee. (applause) >> thank you, mark. welcome, everybody, to balboa park. and i know we have a couple of hosts and i want to meet and recognize of course our recreation and park department. phil is here. he'll speak in a minute. also recognizing john avalos, our supervisor for this district. but often a voice at the board in this city about issues of equity, and that is why i think it's important that we announced it at a place like balboa park.

i live here just literally two minutes away, so, i often see this park completely crowded with so many families, especially with all the great improvements that rec and park has put in, in collaboration with the supervisor, because i know that some of his discretionary funding has often gone in to support efforts here and, of course, across the street with the challenges of the -- both the bart and the muni station. but it is all about our neighborhoods. and i go back to what supervisor farrell said, and i want to again thank and appreciate supervisor farrell, his staff margo kelly, another great effort. this is what innovation does in the city. it gets everybody to actually work at even higher levels in government in a public-private partnership with companies like google and all the rest of the wonderful members of sf city to do what we can do and to do more than we think we can. in order to bring benefits,

bring equity, bridge not only the digital divide, but perhaps bring the whole innovative spirit to every community in san francisco. this is what i think this wi-fi effort of our 31 parks is saying. and the nice thing about it is that when you study what we're going to do here and accomplish with the 31 parks, and that we along with our technology partners, our communications partners, our department leaders, new ones as well as old ones, are saying this is just the beginning. this is literally the beginning of a continued effort to innovate, innovate, and innovate. and i like what mark said. not only are there no strings attached. really the benefits are targeted at our residents and our visitors, but that the only thing we're going to see is

wireless connected to our fiber. we're learning that. we're learning that our fine and some of the backbones that we've always had to depend on can be improved on. i have to admit, the new director will also tell you we are behind. i call our self-the innovation capital of the world, but we're behind in many ways and we need to catch up. we need to do more, but sometimes the funding wasn't there and it costs more than we think and we're trying to figure things out and trying to get as modern as fast as we can. and this is where i think that relationship with the private sector, particularly with our technology and innovative companies in san francisco is so important to us, that we gain a knowledge and a confidence that we can improve city government services, and also at the same time when we

get wi-fi here, not only will the kids that play and visit here and utilize the services here will they have a better experience, but our seniors, people who don't have access at home will come here and visit. they'll take advantage of it as well. and this is why the list of 31 sites that you've been given are really important because they represent a lot of communities where if we just concentrated on the things we know about, they would not get the service, i think, in a valuable time. this city has always been and i will continue with the board of supervisors in collaboration with them, with leadership of supervisor farrell and avalos to make sure that all of our communities get taken care of, that they all get connected up, they also experience the innovative spirit of the city. and that we do it in except ration that while technology

companies are incredibly successful, challenged as well as successful in the san francisco and bay area, we take the opportunity every moment to say what else can we do to help our residents, help our citizens. and this is another great example of it, but i tell you, it's just the beginning. we have many more parks, many more plazas. we have corridors of our city yet to be connected up so that when anybody comes in to the city, whether they're visiting from another state or whether they're from another country, they'll know that this city reflects the innovative spirit when they arrive at the airport, when they arrive at the port or they arrive on muni. they'll know we're all connected up. so, again, i want to say thank you to supervisor farrell and his staff for shepherding this, for all the departments that have worked collaboratively with google and our sf city,

our citizens initiative for technology and innovation. they are an incredible group of people. and, by the way, i've been told now they sport 600 members and they're still growing. i wouldn't be surprised that they will now comprise the majority of the over 1800 technology firms that exist in san francisco. and they want to do more and they want to join all of our neighborhoods to do more to improve life in our city for everybody. so, thank you to everyone on this wonderful effort. now, may i present to you the host for district 11 and someone who we were commenting earlier he will be signing the budget in the next few hours. he was the budget chair years ago and mark, of course, was the budget chair this year. i want to again thank supervisor avalos and supervisor farrell for their wonderful leadership continued here.