[gavel] >> good afternoon. welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting of tuesday, march the fourth, 2014. madam clerk, could you please call the roll? >> supervisor avalos? avalos present. supervisor breed? breed present. supervisor campos?

campos present. president chiu? chiu present. supervisor cohen? cohen present. supervisor farrell? farrell present. supervisor kim? kim present. supervisor mar? mar present. supervisor tang? tang present. supervisor wiener? wiener present. supervisor yee? yee present. mr. president, all members are present. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen, could you please join us in the pledge of allegiance? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> colleagues, we have our meeting minutes from our january 28th board meeting minutes. could i have a motion to approve those minutes? motion by supervisor campos, seconded by supervisor mar. without objection, those meeting minutes are approved. [gavel]

>> madam clerk, are there any communications? >> there are none today, mr. president. >> could you read our consent agenda? >> yes. items 1 through 12, the consent calendar are considered routine. if a member objects, an item may be removed and considered separately. >> colleagues, would anyone like to sever any of these items? roll call vote on the consent agenda. >> supervisor yee? yee aye. supervisor avalos? avalos aye. supervisor breed? breed aye. supervisor campos? campos aye. supervisor chiu? chiu aye. supervisor cohen? cohen aye. supervisor farrell? farrell aye. supervisor kim? kim aye. supervisor mar? mar aye. supervisor tang? tang aye. supervisor wiener? wiener aye. there are 11 ayes. >> those items are passed. [gavel] >> next item, please. >> item 13 is an ordinance amending the police code to require applicants for commercial parking permits to provide residential zip code, gender, and duration of employment for employees and

other individuals working in privately owned parking lots or parking garages. >> colleague, can we take this item same house same call? without objection this ordinance is finally passed. item 14. >> item 14 is a resolution authorizing a 10-year lease of 35,579 square feet at 1145 market street for space for the san francisco employees' retirement system from 1145 market street, lp, a california limited partnership for $113,727.50 monthly for an approximate total of $15,645,100.01 for the period of august 1, 2014, through july 31, 2024. >> supervisor kim. >> thank you. i just had a question for the real estate authority employees retirement system. >> do we have those city departments represented here today? >> or to the mayor's office. >> mr. elliott, are you able to answer some questions? [multiple voices] >> no, i'm definitely not, but i was offering to try to contact someone for you. >> i'm also happy to push this to later in the agenda so we can ask those questions. >> colleagues, if we can pass

over this item till later on the agenda. and if mr. elliott, if you want to let us know when you're prepared to answer those questions, we can recall that item. item 15, madam clerk. >> item 15 is a resolution authorizing the sheriff's department to enter into a contract with the california department of corrections and rehabilitation to contract for, accept and expend up to $4,195,576 to establish the san francisco county secure reentry program facility to house for up to 60 days state inmates that are scheduled to be released from state prison within 60 days or less to post release community supervision in san francisco county. the sheriff's department will provide housing appropriate for program delivery. the adult probation department will provide intensive, in-custody evidence-based reentry programming, which will address offenders' underlying criminogenic needs. the sheriff's department and adult probation department shall jointly report to the state legislature and cdcr on the implementation of this sprf after a period of one, two and three years as part of this pilot program, to commence upon board approval for a three-year term. the sheriff's department and adult probation will report annually to the board of supervisors and the capital planning committee on the increase in the average daily inmate population. ~ facility. >> colleagues, can we do this item same house same call? without objection this resolution is adopted. [gavel] >> item 16. >> item 16 is an resolution extending an agreement for an additional six months between the public utilities commission and hdr engineering, inc., through december 29, 2014, and increasing the estimated cumulative contract amount to $27,500,000 for additional construction management services, pursuant to charter, section 9.118(b). ~ management services. >> colleagues, can we take this item same house same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted. [gavel] >> next item. >> item 17 is a resolution adopting findings under the california environmental quality act, including the adoption of a mitigation monitoring and reporting program, and a statement of overriding considerations related to the peninsula

pipelines seismic upgrade project in san mateo county. >> colleagues, can we take this item same house same call? without objection this resolution is adopted. [gavel] >> next item. >> item 18 is a resolution authorizing the department of the environment to apply for a $250,000 grant from the california strategic growth council to create the biodiversity action plan, for the period of july 1, 2014, through june 30, 2015. ~ action plan. >> colleagues, can we take this item same house same call? without objection this resolution is adopted. [gavel] >> next item. >> item 19 is a ordinance amending the planning code, zoning use district map zn01, to provide for eligibility to sell transferrable development rights for property at 133 - 135 golden gate avenue (st. bonafice church and rectory); and making environmental findings, and finding of consistency with the general plan, and the eight priority policies of planning code, section 101.1. ~ we can requisite findings. >> colleagues, same house same call? this ordinance is passed on the first reading. [gavel] >> item 20 is an ordinance amending the planning code to allow non-conforming secondary structures in a c-3-r (downtown retail) zoning district to be demolished and rebuilt to the prior non-conforming size under

certain conditions; making environmental findings, and findings of consistency with the general plan, and the eight priority policies of planning code, section 101.1. >> thank you. supervisor tang? ~ requisite findings. >> president chiu. >> thank you, mr. chair. colleagues, this is an item that would amend the planning code to permit a new apple store to be built on union square. i want to just take a moment and thank all the stakeholders who worked with my office to move this forward. there were a number of issues that were raised first around the [speaker not understood] fountain, from the arts and education and asian american community, and i'm glad that that issue was resolved. and then i want to thank members of the community labor coalition that worked with my office as well as with apple around productive discussionses and moving a number of item forward, and appreciate the fact that we arrived at a better place. and with that, colleagues, also want to thank the land use committee for their unanimous

support of this item and ask that we move this forward. >> thank you, president chiu. supervisor wiener. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm just -- want to express my gratitude that this was worked out. i know this was heading to a very contentious space and i think a lot of us were very concerned that it would become a real fight. and i want to thank president chiu and his office for bringing the these two parties together and really spending a lot of time ~ in getting an agreement hammered out so that we can move forward as we should with this important project. this is going to be a really terrific addition to uni i don't know square so that we don't have a vacant space and a better space for the apple store. and it will do it in a way that's i think consistent with a lot of our community values. so, i want to thank president chiu for bringing the parties

together and getting this resolved. >> thank you. supervisor cohen. >> i, too, wanted to just take a moment to recognize supervisor chiu's leadership and also acknowledge the labor leaders that came and coalesced around this particular issue, and also the apple -- management of the apple store. president chiu, congratulations. i know this was a hairy situation, but you did well. >> thank you. so, colleagues, can we take this item same house same call? thank you. without objection. [gavel] >> this item was passed on first reading. madam clerk, please call the next item. >> item 21 is a resolution determining that the issuance of a type 42 on-sale beer and wine public premises license to timothy lee for liquid gold, llc, located at 1040 hyde street (district 3), will serve the public convenience or me it of the city and county of san francisco in accordance with california business and professions code, section 23958.4, and recommending that the california department of alcoholic beverage control impose conditions on the issuance of the license.

~ public convenience. >> colleagues, can we do this item same house same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted. [gavel] >> item 22. >> item 22 is an ordinance amending the health code to require electronic applications for registration of hazardous materials and for underground storage tanks to be filed through the california environmental reporting system, to eliminate the requirement that registration of hazardous materials plans include a program for reduction of hazardous materials, and to provide for free adjustment; and making environmental findings. ~ requisite findings. >> colleagues, can we take this same house same call? without objection this ordinance is passed on the first reading. [gavel] >> next item. next item, please. >> item 23 is a resolution amending the terms of the existing local agency formation commission positions by expanding the scope of services for the senior program officer; extending the term of employment additional three-year through june 30, 2016; and utilizing the existing lafco budget to continue funding this position. ~ for specific lafco activities. >> colleagues, same house same call? without objection this resolution is adopted. [gavel] >> madam clerk, i understand

mr. updike from the department of real estate is here for item 14. so, i'm wondering, supervisor kim, can we recall that item? >> i think my questions he were really directed to the employment [speaker not understood], but if [speaker not understood], yeah. so, thank you. i know you went through budget committee twice already, and i wasn't on the committee so i wasn't able to ask the questions. i appreciate work went into reducing the square footage and reducing some of the cost of rent. i think that as we look at rising rent and expanding city departments we should be more thoughtful in terms of how we do real estate. so, one of the questions that i had was had we thought -- had sf first considered doing more digital and telecommunication? because one of the major needs that i saw in kind of the additional square footage was not just office space, but the need for conference rooms and

private one on one rooms. but with the technology that we have today, we can skype for employees and not even come into your office, which would save us time and make us more productive employees because he i know we are around the city. i would rather not come into your office if i don't have to if i can skype from the convenience of my desk. that would take away or preclude the square footage you're asking the city to fund in terms of rent. so, i'm curious how much work went into that perspective. and i know not all of our retirees are going to go on skype. i want to respect that. but i think that certainly our current employee base are cape alan of doing that. >> supervisors, jay hughey, executive director of the retirement system. part of the excitement that we have about this new space is we're going to be doubling the public space. and three years ago we evaluated the types of transactionses and how many of the transactionses related to retirement do require face to face counseling. and we found that probably 95%

of everything that we do is currently or at that time conducted on a face to face, a walk-in basis or making an appointment. we are definitely focused on the idea that we want to off load as much of that, make it available 24 hours a day 7 days a week rather than during regular business hours. part of this new space would entail doubling the public area which is where we would install kiosks. we also administer the deferred comp program. we know that certain of our participants and city employees don't have access regularly to computers or to that technology. so, we want to make sure that rather than they still might have to come there physically, but they could self-serve once they got there. so, we are attempting on our website, we're going to be introducing electronic forms where we're working forward for electronic signatures because a lot of our work entails not a really quick answer to questions. some of the questions we can

answer very quickly, the e-mail, skyping. a lot of it entails researching a member's file to come back to them with information. and the preferred method had always been, we'll do it in writing and sort of confirm it in writing. but we're definitely looking going toward something that would be, first of all, accessible 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and clearly making it easier for our members, including our retired members to get the information. but a lot of our transactions require forms, changing of address, changing of tax forms, mainly beneficiaries, electronic signatures and that type of technology is here and it's available and we're pursuing it. >> okay. so, what i was concerned about was actually that doubling of the public space. and, so, could you explain a little bit more how that's broken up? the concept of the kiosk isn't new to me, but my understanding was you have more one on one

room counseling rooms. and i guess what i'm saying is that if anything, i would think there would be less of a need for that now because we have video, you know, we have video skype programs and other things which would save us time and coming all the way to your office. for me it's fine city hall is a couple blocks away. but some of our employees are all around the city and i would rather them be able to use that technology and reduce our square footage. and be really thoughtful about how we do real estate, right. >> okay, the public space currently, most of our business that is by appointment are people who intend to retire. and, so, we generally schedule them for one-hour appointments where they come in, we go over their file, we explain the forms. that we have not considered potentially trying to, you know, take off line. i think there is a value in having people be able to answer questions, have us access to their information. >> but they can do all of that. they can still ask you questions. you can have access to their files without them coming to

your office. >> well -- >> if you want a video conference, there is no reason why you wouldn't be able to do any of those things. >> and if we had electronic signatures where we could witness forms signatures and verify it is in fact you on the other side who is electing, for example, nayvtioning your beneficiary or selecting, you know, how you want your pension distributed or what options you want. you know, that clearly -- and that's the basis of the additional space. right now there's no privacy to discuss, for example, maybe a divorce in someone's case. you're right, by technology, the confidentiality is there. the verification of who are we dealing with on the other end is still an issue that we have to pursue and we have to be careful about. so, there isn't anything in -- i mean, the fact that we're anxious to get additional space where we can provide the access for someone not having talked directly with someone to conduct business or to go online and conduct that same

business without having to come into the office, we're there. but as far as what signing of contracts for retirement or signing contracts for purchase of service credit, those are still issues where we're focused in on, it needs to be a one on one counseling. clearly the technology is there to go off-site, but that's not part of what we're looking at this space for. >> i don't want to take up the whole board's time on this issue. i really want to appreciate your response. i think for me, you know, real estate is getting more expensive in the city due in large part to our success and i would like our city department to be more thoughtful in terms of what their needs are, but also using the technology that exists to actually reduce their square footage versus what we're doing right now increasing square footage. [speaker not understood] and i visit companies that are using less space and they're not having -- you know, i guess some of this is personal. you definitely want the privacy issue. i just feel we have technology to address a lot of it.

so, i'm not going to be supporting this today, but i know this will be going to the board. it's a signal for me i would like future departments to be more proactive in thinking about how to reduce cost. this is not where i want to be spending our money on rent when i feel like we have innovations intact that can help us reduce our costs in that arena so we can spend that money elsewhere where it's really needed. but i do want to appreciate the response and i know i'm not part of the budget committee and i was be part of the discussion and process, but that's where i am today. >> supervisor cohen. >> thank you very much. just wanted to speak a little bit to supervisor kim and some of the concerns that she's just raising which are very interesting. first i want to encourage you to come down to the retirement board and see and feel the current space and the set upright now. one of the things that really struck me is that when we deal with issues that are very popular is that we he don't even have a space that is large enough to accommodate public

comment and that we're literally relegated to a very small conference room, smaller than what we have in like in the board of supervisors conference room. so, when issues come up, divestment from fossil fuel, divestment from manufacturing, these are politically charged issues and people come and raise their voice and they're part of the process. the challenge is we don't have an overflow room. we don't have a room to accommodate them. so, that is a little bit a part of the desire to expand in space. the other thing is the folks that are coming to public comment, people that are retired, the retirees, the beneficiaries are really from a different generation. and i think it's presumptuous for us to say we like to use and increase technology when on the other end, the end user, the beneficiary, literally talking about older people that don't utilize technology the same way that you and i would, and probably many people in this chamber.

so, you have to be able to meet and reach people's needs on multi--- a multiple front. so, yes we can elevate and use technology. i'm sure if we were to retire we would have no problem jumping on our smart phone, however we're dealing with people who have retired and really come from a different generation and want to express this concern, but want to be sensitive to them. as the board representative on the retirement board listening and hearing, they're not folks like -- the demographic is not representative of what we have here at the board of supervisors. they are definitely older, less connected folks that are engaged -- that are engaging and consuming information quite frankly through either a meeting or through a newsletter. so, it's a little bit of a different way that people are consuming and i just want to be very sensitive to that. thank you. >> supervisor wiener. >> thank you, mr. president. i have a question for you for

the operations of the retirement system. last year i had sent a letter to you and making inquiry about the extent to which your retirement system is invested in russian securities, given some of the stuff we've been seeing in russia recently in terms of complete oppression of lgbt people and you did respond to that in term of a small number, a small amount of retirement system investment in russia. i then sent a follow-up letter asking if the retirement system would evaluate whether it is feasible consistent with the system's fiduciary obligationses to divest from russia. it was simply a request for an evaluation because, of course, the most important thing for the retirement system is to fulfill its fiduciary obligations to retirees. so, the request was to

determine whether consistent with that fiduciary obligation divestment of a small amount of russian securities would be appropriate or feasible. we have not received a response to that inquiry. my staff has followed up at least once, maybe more than once, and we've not received a response. and i'm wondering when we can expect a response to that inquiry. >> supervisor wiener, we forwarded the letter, your second letter to the full retirement board and under the board rules, any board member or retirement board member can request that an item be calendared and we would calendar it within a reasonable piered i don't of time. do date we have not had a member of the retirement board request that the russian divestment issue be calendar for consideration by the retirement board. ~ calendared >> my request was not please divest and take action. my request was to do -- to evaluate whether consistent

with the funds -- or the system's fiduciary responsibilities, it would be feasible to do so because i think it's important to have that kind of information before you make a decision about whether to make that kind of request. i didn't want to jump out ahead and do that without knowing first. so, did you it take the board's action even to do an evaluation of whether it would be feasible? >> supervisor wiener, it is a policy call of the board whether to consider, and that is part of the analysis. their policy says staff would need to bring forward a complete analysis of what it would take or what the impact would be at any level of the social investment policy. so, because it's a policy call, not something that would be a staff recommendation, generally speaking the practice has been, for example, for firearms, for fossil fuels, for bank loan mortgage services, that it has been a board member who has requested, not necessarily to

advocate for it, but just to bring the information forward because there is staff time involved and we do take our assignments and our priorities from the retirement board. and, so, we considered your letter, passed it on to the retirement board. but because it's a policy call, staff -- >> mr. president, i wanted to just caution the board that we're speaking about the city's divestment in portfolio is not on the agenda. this item is about a 10-year lease. i just want the board to be aware that we need to stick to item that are actually on the agenda. >> thank you, madam clerk. again, i just want it remind colleagues what the subject matter is in froth of us. it would be entirely appropriate for this issue to be raised with other contexts if people do want to have a hearing on other item. but we are talking about the ten-year lease here. >> mr. president, i would take the position that when we're talking about this lease, i think the operations of the retirement system are absolutely germane -- this issue is absolutely germane to

the broad operations of the retirement system, which i think that lease or a larger space implicates in term of asking questions about the operationses of the retirement system. >> further discussion? supervisor farrell. >> thank you, president chiu. supervisor kim, i appreciate your comments. just so you know, and i invite all my colleagues if you have any interest on any items at the budget committee, please come when we hear them. we welcome everybody. and also that i want to thank director hewett and mr. updike. we had an original item before us. it was more square footage than it is today and they did a thoughtful analysis to come back to be respectful of what supervisor cohen was speaking about, within their needs and desires within their community, but also be respective and came back with reduced square footage decrease. i see similar concerns you don't like to see square

footage increases. when you dig deep, [speaker not understood], the building they had before, the marked reality was it was going to be some increase. from my opinion, i think our budget committee's opinion, not to speak for my colleagues, but they did a very respectful job of being mindful of that and coming back with the recommendation. i will support t. if my colleagues have any questions, please come to committee and we can talk about it there as well. >> supervisor kim. and then followed by supervisor campos. >> i want to thank the budget committee for reducing the square footage and having that thoughtful conversation at committee. one other thing i'll bring up i didn't bring up in my original comments, i'm not clear they have [speaker not understood]. we have so many conference and committee rooms. it doesn't make sense we are paying more rent. so, at the first retirement board can meet in your office, they should meet somewhere else if they don't have the space to accommodate public comment and overflow and all the staff and all the members. we have so many rooms and i just feel