a pit bull, she bites, doesn't let go until the issue is resolved. and i think the council would be very well served. she's probably very modest in her accomplishments and i think, you know, she's probably the mvp of the council. so please retain her for another term. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors, my name is charles, i'm on the tar bell station pcab and i've come to know rose through years of working with her on the coalition for san francisco neighborhoods. i've worked with her at the level of the executive committee where i'm

the recording secretary of the government committee, of which i am the chair, and i don't think you can find, as previous people have said, a harder worker, someone who is more tenacious, disciplined, tireless, a self-starter. she is a great researcher and writer. and so i come cap in hand to ask you to reappoint her and one of the great things here, too, is that she is experienced, this is a reappointment and so you don't have to have somebody come in and learn on the job. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors, catherine howard, landscape architect. i do have some experience with tree issues in san francisco, having worked with friends of the music concourse to protect the historic hundred-year-old trees in front of the band shell when the garage project threatened them. i've known miss hillson

and her work for many years. i am on the open space coalition. in our monthly meetings we sit through a lot of meetings, many of them extremely complex. rose is one of the go-to people for a clear understanding of policy and planning issues. she will be vital as a bridge between the other members who may have technical expertise but may not have the depth of background on planning and policy issues. she is dedicated to the community and to serving the neighborhoods on community issues. i encourage you to reappoint her to the council. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> supervisors, i'm here to support rose hillson, i'm not going to say a lot because everyone else is. i'm just going to say since i've known her she is incredibly helpful

any time you need help. she is exacting like everyone says and i encourage you to reappoint her. >> thank you very much. >> mr. chair, honorable members of the committee, judy berkowitz, president, san francisco neighborhoods. i know rose mostly through the coalition for san francisco neighborhoods. she has been vice president for 3 years. that position entails making public the policies that we have adopted at our general assembly meetings. at this point in public comment is feels more appropriate to just say ditto because so many people have sung rose's praises. it is truly amazing that she does not have an

agenda in her work and what she does when she advocates for all sorts of different causes. she does it for the love of the city and she does it because she understands how proposals will play out in the long run. she has the ability to look down the road and see what one proposal and another proposal, if they are adopted by let's say the board of supervisors, if they come up through the committee to the board, if the two proposed pieces of legislation are both adopted, what this means and how it will play out in the long run. in closing, i'd just like to say that she has actually gotten praise from one of the people that is very very difficult to get any sort of

praise from and it was done in all caps, shouting, email and that's sue hester who seems to have praised rose publicly. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> thank you, good afternoon, supervisors, i am kathy devonchenzy, chairman of the heights association. miss hillson has a long and distinguished history of representing the community in myriad activities and she has received awards that have acknowledged her community service. in 2014 in honor of the asian pacific american heritage month at the recommendation of supervisor mark farrell, the board of supervisors gave a commendation to rose hillson for 15 years of service to the city. and we submitted a letter but i came

down here personally today to tell you what a good representative of the community she is. as you have heard from the prior speakers, mrs. hillson is extremely thorough and observant of detail. she carefully reviews and researches matters and she prepares very carefully considered analyses and written comments on the issues that she deals with. and because of this she has credibility due to her thorough researching and analytical abilities and she would continue to provide the type of representation on the urban forestry council that members of the community would trust and respect. and i think that's been evidenced by the accolades of the 8 prior speakers who are representatives of the community who are often very involved in these matters. so i would urge you to reappoint this very excellent representative of the community. thank you. >> thank you very much. and seeing no other member of the public come forward we will

close public comment and this is live before us. i think there is a lot of support for miss hillson, it seems. and she presented very well, of course. i think the biggest thing for me is to assure that we have some geographic representation for the city and i did engage in some discussion with mr. flannigan about conditions in district 11 that are really key that we do put trees there but we also lose trees. in fact, there is a pretty significant tree, i'm not sure if it was actually an official significant tree, on rec and park land that was taken out delano and geneva avenue as part of the gardens being bit. it was a redwood tree that was taken out. i heard about it

after it was taken out and i don't think it's possible to get another one in there. i do want to make sure district 11 is represented on the council so i am going to be supporting sandy sherwin going forward. she had some health issues last year but is now back so i want to put her name forward. we have six applicants, 7 applicants and 6 seats so i know we have to drop someone who could be a current member. i just want to initiate conversation that way and see what we can do concerning conditions for the rest. everyone here is very well qualified, the newcomer is miss loman and she would need a residency waiver as well. though she has support, has a great deal of expertise given she is doing the work on the rain forest at the academy of

sciences but she would need a residency requirement. i could possibly, you know, given that she is already well participating in supporting trees in san francisco she would probably be one that i would be able to let go of but if colleagues want to put her name forward with a residency requirement i could go along with that as well. supervisor tang. >> thank you all for being here and waiting till the last item. obviously this is an issue that's important to all of us in the different districts. i would support moving forward all of the exiting members. however, for seat 5 only because i know dr. loman a bit more than i know miss sherwin would i recommend dr. loman for seat 5. her work is incredibly important and even if she is not appointed i know she will continue to do amazing things around the world. i do

recommend dr. loman but i am okay with keeping all the incumbents. >> i, too, would like to show my support for dr. loman for seat 5. >> so i would like to make sure that we have, we keep a district 11 resident on the commission and i do believe in terms of geographic spread of where commissioners come from, there are very -- she would be the only one from the southern part of san francisco. i think from close to the southeast part of san francisco i don't think there's anyone from the southeast part of san francisco on the commission, so we'd like to be able to keep her on there -- sandy sherman, she is a district 11 resident.

>> may i speak on -- i'm a little concerned about supporting sandy sherman she did miss several meetings and not reaching out to the office. you heard me ad nauseam about this. it is easier for me to support dr. meg loman >> i did mention last year she had some health issues and that has now passed, but she -- that was the reason for her absences. i can't speak about her outreaching to offices but generally there's a lot of applicants and our offices could be engaged in meeting with people over and over again and not get any other work done if we were to do that, but i know it's really important we connect with people who are coming forward. i take it both ways, meet people here in the

hallway, on the street or in my office, whatever way we do it. let's go down and just check the seats we have. we have all but six, i think. one, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. one, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. that's six seats. i made this matrix, this piece of paper i can't seem to find but hillen is only up for one. i would -- we only have 4 and 5. my recommendation is that we go with hillen for 1, sherwin is only going to be available for 4 or 5. is it possible to put loman in another one besides 4

or 5? that would be a way -- that would bump probably mr. sullivan or miss akita from those seats to be able to keep a district 11 resident. >> sandy sherwin did email earlier this week and i forwarded to you, she does qualify for seat 7 as well. >> that puts us in a bind, too. colleagues, i welcome your motions. >> so i am prepared to support hillen in seat no. 1, sullivan, seat no. 2, kita, seat no. 2, flannigan, seat no. 4, dr. loman, seat no. 5, hillsen, seat no. 7. >> okay, supervisor tang.

>> thank you. i would say again although i am more familiar with dr. loman's work and i think she is incredible, i do understand supervisor avalos's desire to have a district 11 appointee on this, so i am willing to cede my recommendation for seat 5 to miss sherwin again with the understanding that i believe dr. loman will toipb do amazing things in the community and really around the world. even without her presence on this council. >> okay, well, i really appreciate that and given the comments from supervisor cohen right now i think we can get consensus on that as well. so if you want to make that motion, if hillen for 1, sullivan, 2, kita, 3, flannigan 4,. >> through the chair, make that recommendation with a positive recommendation to the

full board of supervisors. >> i second that motion. >> okay, colleagues, thank you very much, i appreciate your flexibility and we'll take that without objection. okay, we have one more item before us. >> item no. 7 is a resolution amending the administrative code to extend the city's hiring policy and (inaudible). >> okay, this is a resolution that i have submitted and before us, we had actually passed a similar resolution last year as well and this is regarding our local hire ordinance. the ordinance actually discusses ramping up eligibility for local hiring from 5 percent a year the requirement from 5 percent a year starting from year 1 i believe was 20 percent going up 5 percent. right now we're at 30 percent and what we found as we are seeing construction boom

both in the public and the private sector that we are actually able to put a lot of people to work but we also are doing an evaluation to how well the program is functioning, what the experiences of all the different players involved from the developers, contractors to our training center as well as our work force pipeline. so we're still gathering data on that. we also expanded our local hire mandate to private sector development on public land so we know that we're actually expanding the places where people can find work. so in a way the percentage is not as critical while we're seeing that expansion happen. it could be important later to lift that but right now we're going to keep it at 30 percent according to this resolution so we can continue to gather data and make sure the program is running effectively. we have mr. pat mulligan here

who is with work force development programs with the city and he can give us further background on legislation before us. you've been here all day so we have to have you come forward and thank you for your help in making these programs work. >> thank you, supervisor avalos. this recommendation was in part a by product of a market analysis as well as input from the mayor's construction work force advisory committee, as well as supervisor avalos. just to kind of reiterate some of your comments. there's a considerable amount of pressure on the local construction work force because of all the private development as well as the large infrastructure projects. there's currently 5 active construction projects in san francisco valued in excess of a billion dollars. we have nearly 40 tower cranes up. there is not another municipality within the united states of our size of under a million people that comes

anywhere close. this is construction activity that is more consistent with new york or chicago. also we're still trying to gauge the potential impact of last year's expansion of local hire to private development on public property. the first major project along those lines will be pier 70 in district 10. it's nearly a billion dollars worth of private development, all falling under local hire ordinance. also there's enhanced first source requirements on a number of major projects which is also something that developed after the introduction of local hire provisions, so both on california pacific medical center as well as for park merced development which will be coming forward. in addition just last year also the unified school district adopted local hire provisions as well, so as much as this is really positive but it also creates additional pressure on the local work

force and it's really exceptional construction economy. and lastly, and this is as recent as last week, as most know who are following the mandatory local hire ordinance, there's an exemption for projects that receive federal funds. several of the projects have been led through the mta, the municipal transportation organization, sfo, fta, federal dollars, they are exempt from mandatory local hire ordinance. very recently the u.s. department of transportation has amended regulations to allow local hire provisions on projects with the fha, pilot program beginning february 24th of last month and outcomes will be evaluated to determine further guidance. so mta is actively involved in setting language forth for one project

already. it will be the brt bus rapid transit project on dennis avenue, so just outside of city hall, from mission street all the way to bay street. and i wouldn't be surprised if this is certainly one of the first projects in the united states with mandatory local hire provisions on it. >> wow. >> precedent setting. i think since many of the local hire provisions throughout the united states have been modeled after san francisco, it really puts us in a leadership position around this. >> all part of obama's amworks program? >> i'm afraid to speculate but there's something going on. there's some consistency around the policies but it's really encouraging that san francisco has been in the leadership role around this. all the more important for us to ensure the continued success of this program. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and thank you for all your work. i actually have been

very impressed with the level of work that, interacting with all the different agencies and players and the unions in this effort and it's been pretty great to see. >> well, we have really strong legislative tools that have been provided to us by the board of supervisors. thank you for all of your continued support. >> thank you. >> so this item we can open up for public comment. if any member of the public wants to enter the room and provide public comment and seeing the doors not open, we will close further comment and colleagues i would love to have your support to just make sure that we are putting this pause in continuing it to be able to collect that information needed to be sure we can really make improvements to this program that may be needed. >> absolutely. >> okay so we have a motion from supervisor tang. >> through the chair, happy to support this, thank you for bringing it forth. i would like to bring this forward to the full board with a positive

recommendation as a committee report. >> thank you. second from supervisor cohen. >> absolutely. >> we will take that, colleagues, without objection. thank you, everyone, i think that's our last item but before we adjourn i do want to thank sfgtv staff for their work broadcasts, jim smith and jessie larson, i would also like to thank our clerk for her work and mr. gibner as well. thank you. >> everyone. (meeting adjourned).

>> you're watching quick bites, the show that is san francisco. and today you're in for a real treat. oh, my! food inspired by the mediterranean and middle east with a twist so unique you can only find it in one place in san francisco. we're at the 55th annual

armenian festival and bizarre. this is extra special not only because i happen to be armenian, but there is so much delicious food here. and i can't wait to share it with all of you. let's go. armenia, culture and cusine has had much cultural exchanges with its neighbors. today armenian food infuses he flavor from the mediterranean, middle east, and eastern europe. >> this is our 55th year and in san francisco we're the largest armenian food festival and widely recognized as one of the best food festivals in the area. we have vendors that come up from fresno, from los angeles showing off their craft. we really feel like we have something for everyone in the neighborhood and that's really what it is, is drawing people to see a little bit of our culture and experience what we experience weekend in and weekend out. >> we are behind the scenes now watching the chef at work preparing some delicious armenian kabob. this is a staple in armenian cooking, is that right?

>> absolutely, since the beginning of time. our soldiers used to skewer it on the swords. we have a combination of beef and lam and parsley. and every september over 2000 pounds of meat being cooked in three days. >> after all that savory protein, i was ready to check out the fresh veggie options. >> this is armenian cheat sheet. it's tomatos and mint and olive oil. that makes summer food. and what i'm doing is i'm putting some nutmeg. it is kind of like cream cheese. in armenia when they offer you food, you have to eat it. they would welcome you and food is very important for them. >> in every armenian community we feel like we're a "smallville"age and they come together to put on something like this.

what i find really interesting about san francisco is the blends of armenia that come together. once they are here, the way people work together at any age, including our grandmothers, our grandfathers, skewering the meat, it's fun to see. fun to see everybody get together. >> we call it subarek. it's a cheese turn over if you want. we make the dough from scratch. we boil it like you do for la san i can't. >> the amount of love and karin fused in these foods is tremendous. they come in every day to prepare, cook and bake bread, all in preparation for this big festival. >> nobody says no. when you come them, they have to come tomorrow for the feast. >> what a treat it is to taste a delicious recipe, all made from scratch and passed down through generations. it really makes you appreciate the little things. >> it's one of the best festivals. it's outstanding, a marvelous occasion.

>> we're outside checking some of the food to go options. i grabbed myself a ka bob sandwich, all kinds of herbs and spices. i'm going to taste this. looking fantastic. one of the best i've had in a long time. you know it's delicious b i have just enough room for dessert, my favorite part. we're behind the scenes right now watching how all the pastries get made. and we've got a whole array of pastries here. honey and nuts and cinnamon, all kinds of great ingredients. this is amazing. here's another yummy pastry made with filo dough. oh, my god. really sweet and similar, it's lighter. this is what i like. we have a lovely row here. looks like a very delicious and exciting surprise. i'm going to bite into it. here we go.

um. this is great with armenian coffee. now we're making some incredible armenian coffee. >> we buy our coffee, they have the best coffee. they come from armenia, specially made. and would you like to try it? >> i would like to try. >> would you like sugar or no sugar? >> no sugar today. i'm so excited. really earthy. you can really taste the grain. i think that's what makes it so special. really comes out. i hope you try it. we're having a great time at the armenian festival. we ate, we saw, and we definitely conquered. i don't know about you, but i have to go down to the food.

check out our blog for so much more at sf bites at tums abler.com. until next time, may the force be with you. ♪ ♪ >> first of all, everybody is welcome and we ask two things when they get here. one, that they try something they've never tried before. be it food or be it dancing or doing something. and if they feel like it was worth their while to tell one person and bring that person, that family member, that friend down the street to come with them. >> we're going to have to do a lot of eating so get ready. >> get ready. and you diet tomorrow.