time and i really appreciate working with you, and i really appreciate every single member of the staff that has been wonderful. and i appreciate the city attorney's office and it is just about a really great, great experience. yeah. thank you very much. >> yes, and thank you. >> thank you. >> and we wish you well, in all of your future endeavors and so please stay in touch with you. in fact, if you would like you can come and sit in the audience. to comment. >> i would just add that commissioner andrews is a perfectly right and anybody who has ever had a deputy knows who the real boss is. >> pretty much. >> it was the partnership of a lifetime for me and i will miss it. >> okay. >> i just have one question in the report, i don't know what... and you may not have the answer and we may not have

your executive director's report from last meeting i just wanted to confirm the number on the revenue's report and our goal, or our budgeted goal is 100,000 and for some reason i am remembering a number like 16,000 in receipts has that number changed or has it always been 12,000 or did it even go up? does anybody know? >> i don't know if it went up or not, but i think that i mentioned, that the january time period is where most of our revenues. >> yeah. >> ran for. >> and i remember. >> not all of them, but most of them. >> so the confirmation on that in the last meeting. >> and i will double check those numbers, and shoot you an e-mail. >> okay, thank you. >> anything more that you would like to add to your executive director's report? >> no. >> any further comments or discussion off the director's report? >> i have none. >> no. >> if not, we will move on to

any items that commissioners may have for agendas on future meetings. >> i don't know that it, if at some point it will make it to, i think the ethics commission but i was wondering where they were with the proposed legislation, the chiu herrera legislation, where is the city with that? >> i know that they were revising it. and i am not sure exactly when they intend to. >> okay. >> and that is correct. it does not have the committee schedule, but it actually has not had it the full examination in a public hearing for public comment, but i think that people want to move it forward fairly soon. >> okay, thank you. >> and at some point, i would like to discuss something which

i actually saw in or on the materials last time, having to do with the executive director's power to dismiss complaints. and it is on the content calendar and one of us can pull it off if we want and it is nothing to do with your power to do that. it is just the options that are available because i saw one man and i am not going to go into it because it was on last week. and among the options, it talked about that you would exercise that power, if, for example, it was being investigated as a criminal matter, the district attorney was looking into it as well. and so, does that strike a cord with you, as mr. st. croix in terms of, without going into any individual matter that is

something and has been referred to us, and as an ethical matter, and it was also determined that it was being looked at criminally, and this district attorney or someone, asked us wait, don't get in our way, that it would then be part of your process of putting it on the consent calendar for dismissal. i saw one of those, and my thought was that it might be better idea in those situations if when they can come up in the future if they come up in the future, but rather than just dismissing it, that we have some provision where we could just defer it to some period of time, because of the dismissal means that it goes away from our purview, and it may be that

something is or starts out, or comes to us as an ethical matter, there st. croix sees that it is also being investigated by the criminal authorities by the district attorney. and the district attorney says that well, stay out of the way, which is quite appropriate that we should. i think that we should still keep track of it because it might occur that the district attorney for whatever reason might decide, well i am not going to go forward this, i am not going to prosecute it, just because of a belief that they might not be able to get a guilty verdict beyond a reasonal doubt, but there are live ethics questions in there that have not been... and i don't know where i am making myself clear on this. so, honestly, i think that in

those situations, i think that we might be better served if rather than them being just dismissed, that we defer them to some period of time. and look at them again, and like it is deferred for three months or six months. and then we find out what the criminal authorities, and the district attorney, might be doing with this and if they are going forward or someone has been convicted or whatever, we may want to just forget about the whole thing. but if they then, if we hear that the district attorney or the criminal authorities have decided, well, we are not going to bother, and we are not going to pursue any further action, at that point, we may want to take another look at it to see if we want to do anything. >> well, there is nothing to stop us if we dismissed a complaint to reopening it. and, there are, and occasionally there have been times when higher authorities pursue the investigation and did not necessarily go anywhere.

the problem with your solution, is we have to meet certain performance measures every year that the city requires of us, and the length of time that it takes to conclude in the investigation is one of those. so, if we left cases that we are not investigating open it is going to bring down the percentage or it is going to bring up the level of average time that it takes us. to complete. each investigation. and so it is going to hurt the performance. >> well that does not impress me. because what you are saying is that in order to have good statistics, showing that we are real efficient. >> and getting things done in, with this batch, we would allow something to get away from our purview, that we should not allow to get away from our purview. i would rather take the hit on

what the appearance of our statistics are. and in terms of well, we have continued something, for a while, so therefore, our getting and turned around does not look as good as it did before. and rather than risk the idea of someone who has committed an ethical breach that is under our jurisdiction, we have not done anything about it. and nobody does anything about it. because we don't get back to it. i understand what you are saying about the idea that nothing prevents us from refiling. or taking on a complaint again, after it has been dismissed. but, in my view, generally, once you dismiss something, unless something happens to red flag it for you.

>> what you are proposing or the help with the process where we put the referrals and the cases for the particular file and we will automatically review them after a certain amount of time but we are getting into a policy discussion that is not on the agenda, i don't think that we should carry. >> that is something. >> recommendation for a future meeting. >> and i do think that, and one of the complaints that we hear, fairly or unfairly that too many cases are dismissed and why are they dismissed and so on and so forth and so, i think that a good discussion by all of the commissioners, would be worth our time. and worth while to see if there is something that we can do, where we could still have good statistics but still also have

a sense that we are still keeping an eye on some questionable decisions, or activities. so, i think that a discussion for a future agenda is an order and it also brings me to something that i have been thinking about, and that is, i doubt that many know what the ethics commission is about and what we really do. >> and the ethics commission is that they have a completely different notion of what the work is, and not at all, a real idea of what the actual work is, and at some future meeting, i think that it would be worth while and especially if we have a good number of people in the audience to kind of go through

this is who we are and what we do. and we want the public to understand, why we do what we do. and it is not always what the expectation may be and there are reasons for it. and at some point, on the agenda, i would like to see us talk about who we are and how we do it. kind of educational and i know that we have the interesting party meetings and sometimes those are again, are people who are already very knowledgeable. something that the public can understand and they are televised and we can reach more people who amazingly watch this on tv and that is my recommendation at a future meeting and perhaps at the

beginning of the year. >> i know that we are not going to get into the policy discussion but i see the value in coming up with a mechanism that would allow us to fully exercise our duties and responsibilities and also, seek to not in any kind in any kind of way, damage, or effect, negatively effect our performance. you know, i don't know how many there are and i guess that is a question that we want to find out. and how many of those cases really are there in a year that ultimately have a higher authority investigating and in which case we dismiss and you could also, i believe with the power that measures our performance, ask for a waiver on those particular cases that say, for as long as this case is opened and pending, and an investigation under another body, we would, we request a

waiver that this particular case not be included in our performance and in the particular year, and i have done that in the key areas of performance at the organization. >> i think that your suggestion covers that concern. >> any further items for a future agenda. >> hearing none, i would like to call for public comment. but there is no public, joining us today. and this is really a first. at least for me. so, with that, i would like to call for adjournment. and could we have a motion to adjourn? >> so moved. >> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> the meeting of the san francisco ethics commission is

adjourned and amazingly so, 11 minutes after 6:00 this has to be a record, thank you all. 37 minutes is the record. >> okay, well, still we are doing pretty well. so. we are adjourned.

>> just a few steps away from union square is a quiet corner stone of san francisco's our community to the meridian gallery has a 20-year history of supporting visual arts. experimental music concert, and also readings. >> give us this day our daily bread at least three times a day. and lead us not into temptation to often on weekdays. [laughter] >> meridians' stands apart from the commercial galleries around union square, and it is because of their core mission, to increase social, philosophical, and spiritual change my isolated individuals and communities. >> it gives a statement, the

idea that a significant art of any kind, in any discipline, creates change. >> it is philosophy that attracted david linger to mount a show at meridian. >> you want to feel like your work this summer that it can do some good. i felt like at meridian, it could do some good. we did not even talk about price until the day before the show. of course, meridian needs to support itself and support the community. but that was not the first consideration, so that made me very happy. >> his work is printed porcelain. he transfers images onto and spoils the surface a fragile shes of clay. each one, only one-tenth of an inch thick. >> it took about two years to get it down. i would say i lose 30% of the pieces that i made. something happens to them. they cracked, the break during the process. it is very complex. they fall apart.

but it is worth it to me. there are photographs i took 1 hours 99 the former soviet union. these are blown up to a gigantic images. they lose resolution. i do not mind that, because my images are about the images, but they're also about the idea, which is why there is text all over the entire surface. >> marie in moved into the mansion on powell street just five years ago. its galleries are housed in one of the very rare single family residences around union square. for the 100th anniversary of the mansion, meridian hosted a series of special events, including a world premiere reading by lawrence ferlinghetti. >> the birth of an american corporate fascism, the next to last free states radio, the next-to-last independent newspaper raising hell, the

next-to-last independent bookstore with a mind of its own, the next to last leftie looking for obama nirvana. [laughter] the first day of the wall street occupation set forth upon this continent a new revolutionary nation. [applause] >> in addition to its own programming as -- of artist talks, meridian has been a downtown host for san francisco states well-known port trees center. recent luminaries have included david meltzer, steve dixon, and jack hirsch man. >> you can black as out of the press, blog and arrest us, tear gas, mace, and shoot us, as we know very well, you will, but this time we're not turning

back. we know you are finished. desperate, near the end. hysterical in your flabbergastlyness. amen. >> after the readings, the crowd headed to a reception upstairs by wandering through the other gallery rooms in the historic home. the third floor is not usually reserved for just parties, however. it is the stage for live performances. ♪ under the guidance of musical curators, these three, meridian has maintained a strong commitment to new music, compositions that are innovative, experimental, and sometimes challenging. sound art is an artistic and

event that usually receives short shrift from most galleries because san francisco is musicians have responded by showing strong support for the programming. ♪ looking into meridian's future, she says she wants to keep doing the same thing that she has been doing since 1989. to enlighten and disturbed. >> i really believe that all the arts have a serious function and that it helps us find out who we are in a much wider sense than we were before we experienced that work of art. ♪

>> 7 and a half million renovation is part of the clean and safe neighbor's park fund which was on the ballot four years ago and look at how that public investment has transformed our neighborhood. >> the playground is unique in that it serves a number of age groups, unlike many of the other properties, it serves small children with the children's play grounds and clubhouses that has basketball courts, it has an outdoor soccer field and so there were a lot of people that came to the table that had their wish list and we did our best to make sure that we kind of divided up spaces and made sure

that we kept the old features of the playground but we were able to enhance all of those features. >> the playground and the soccer field and the tennis fields and it is such a key part of this neighborhood. >> we want kids to be here. we want families to be here and we want people to have athletic opportunities. >> we are given a real responsibility to insure that the public's money is used appropriately and that something really special comes of these projects. we generally have about an

opportunity every 50 years to redo these spaces. and it is really, really rewarding to see children and families benefit, you know, from the change of culture, at each one of these properties >> and as a result of, what you see behind us, more kids are playing on our soccer fields than ever before. we have more girls playing sports than we have ever had before. [ applause ] fp >> and we are sending a strong message that san francisco families are welcome and we want you to stay. >> this park is open. ♪