i think there has to be a real legitimate reason for us not to do an rfp. i guess my question for the port is, i like the proposal. i think that it's a modest proposal that would support the building the teatro. i like that it's a modest hotel and i like that there is going to be ten units that are reserved for artists. i think that is incredibly important. i guess my question is why can't we rfp out this proposal? a proposal that includes the rebuilding of teatro's theater, with hotel and these ten rooms? i can only imagine when it comes back to the budge committee, harvey rose's report saying that we don't know if it's the best deal for the city because it wasn't publicly rfp'd out? >> good afternoon, brad benson, director of special projects with the port and here

with ricky in support of the project. this question about competitive bids is something that we grappled with as well at the staff-level. you know, throughout the process we have been focused on relocating teatro on port property. we have the experience with the america's cup of dislocationing a lot of very good port tenants. we are able to relocate the large majority of those to other areas of the port property at the time. but with teatro, they really needed to be in the northern waterfront. they needed a longer-term lease at a new location that can't be entered at 27 because the new terminal construction. so that has been our goal. i think it was really teatro through the public process and understanding that people didn't want to go with the same form of the facility as it existed before, which was the tent structure. that people really wanted a

permanent facility at seawall lot 324 and prior plus planning had indicated a neighborhood desire for a hotel use at the site. teatro went out and they went with a very capable developer with hotel experience with a pre-existing relationship. that is an important component of a partnership like this. so if the port did go down the path that you are talking about, supervisor kim, we do normally a request for quality qualifications and we would be looking for somebody who is qualified to negotiate a deal. we think kenwood is qualified to build a hotel and i think that construct would be looking at sort of a forced marriage between teatro and that developer. you know, it's anybody's guess whether or not that could work? on balance, looking at it,

looking at the community's support for the project and looking at the experience at-hand in this relationship, between teatro and kenwood, i think what we thought was appropriate and the commission thought it was appropriate for us to bring the waiver request to you. this approach is going to be a much faster approach, and we have other means available to us to get to a fair-market value deal, which we would intend to bring back to you. so i think that is our response. >> can you guaranty that we'll be getting the best deal, that we would have if we had gone through a competitive bid rfp process? >> through the process, the port is going to look at comparable leases for hotels. >> my question is could you guarantee to the board that you couldn't have gotten a better deal through a competitive rfq process? >> so if we did a competitive process for a project like this, normally we would do a request for qualifications. >> right, rfq. >> so it's hard it say in

terms of a deal, which approach would yield the better deal? what the financial terms of this deal are going to be determined by looking at other hotel leases. for instance in at the port of san diego, they do a lot of leasing for hotels, and we can look at appraisals for the subject property to determine a fair-market value. so there are other ways to get to a fair-market value deal through the negotiation. >> is that a requirement, fair-market deal versus the best deal? >> we're striving -- >> i'm sure we'll get a fair-market deal, but my question is can you guarantee that we'll getting the best deal not going through the competitive bid process? >> no, i cannot guarantee to you this path will yield a better deal than a bid deal,

because we haven't done the bid. >> right. >> so i have nothing to compare it to. >> that is my difficult with what is before us today. and while we are early in the process, i feel like it's better to insert ourselves today than when this comes to budget committee and then the report comes out -- we don't know if this is the best deal for the city or not, because we didn't get to examine any other proposals? i actually really like the partners involved with kenwood, so it's not about any individuals involved in this. i'm certain if we -- i'm pretty sure if we had an rfq, they would rise to the top of the list of bidders and i appreciate all the work that they did in advance of coming to committee. but i just believe as a board, where we act as the safeguard for our public properties, that we want to be able to tell our constituents we were able to get the best deal moving forward from our public site. and i know it's an unusual situation. i'm not sure if there are other situations similar to, this where we already know what one

of the partners will be, teatro, which i support. i mean, we displaced them from pier 27 and so i believe it's our obligation to find them another site. and i also agree that it makes sense for them to have a development partner in order to do that. i just feel uncomfortable with a sole source waiver early on, not being able to guarantee this is the best deal moving forward. >> is that it? >> i'm sorry, one more question. the initial negotiations talked about a 10-15-year lease before it became a larger project. where do you anticipate the number of-years for this lease to look like? >> typically for new development on a ground lease we would do a 66-year lease. that is what is allowed under the burton act and that would be a time that would be

sufficient to amortization the amount of investment here. >> right. so again, even makes me more concerned about doing a full bid for such a long-term lease. it's not 10 or 15-years, but a 66-year lease. thank you. >> thank you. >> supervisor wiener, any comments? >> question for mr. benson. i know you touched on this before, but if this were not sole-sourced, how would the process proceed? what would we see here? >> we have never done something like supervisor kim is suggesting. in the absence of any prospective tenant, normally for a development project like this, we would have a concept, say a hotel and entertainment use. developed through the community process. then we would do a request for qualifications and we would be looking for a development partner who has the experience and financial capacity to develop the site. and then we would go through a

negotiation, where we establish fair-market value for the sites, looking at comps and using apraisals and other similar mechanisms that are standard for a real estate negotiation. and then bring that through the public approval process through the budget analyst for their review. we very infrequently do an actual rfp, where we're bidding price, and particularly we don't usually use an rfp for a development project. where costs are short of unknown at the outset of the process, the developers haven't had a chance to do due diligence, costs could escalate over the course of the negotiations, the public could demand more public benefits. all of these things affect fair-market value, which is why we typically don't do an rfp on price this. would be odd in that we would be saying to prospective development

partners that there is an anchor tenant that you must make a long-term financial arrangement with. >> that was my -- really, i understand and respect supervisor kim's view on this and frequently we would all be of unanimous mind on that, but this seems like a unique situation, finding this new location for teatro zinzanni and to go through that is not your normal type of deal, because as you said, we are saying this is the tenant. so i think this is a fairly unique situation and i'm prepared to support this. >> thank you very much. >> can i ask another follow-up question? did you propose to teatro they find a development partner on their own before coming to you with the final proposal? >> i think teatro had this pre-existing relationship, and they reached out, understanding what the community was looking for in terms of a boutique

hotel and came to the port with that proposed partnership. >> thank you very much. we're going to go to public comment at this time. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. benson. mr. yip, before you start, i have a stack of cards and we're going to go through the cards first. okay, public comment is now open. [ gavel ] i'm going call the list of names and please line up to the right of the chamber. just as a reminder, every speak has two minutes and there will be a soft bell, indicating 30 seconds before your time is up. [ reading speakers' names ] >> thank you, supervisors. cm louis, hotel and restaurant workers union 2. i appreciate and you are quite

right to ask the tough questions about a sole-source. you are going to hear in public comment the reasons that this project is quite exceptional. i just want to put this from our perspective: what is most critical here? as you know for almost two decades, the city has required to developers on their lands to protect the fiduciary interest of the city through labor piece agreements. this project goes way above and beyond this. the developer approached our union with the intent and idea of negotiating an agreement that guaranteed good quality jobss and not just this project, but every project that they develop nationwide going forward. and from our perspective, that really drives home the level of commitment that they have to making this project exactly the kind of project that the port needs more of. the kind of project that brings

not just jobs, but good-quality, living-wage jobs, to portlands, which have traditionally been the center of good quality living wage jobs in san francisco. and yet, have seen those jobs eroded. much like the warriors' project a few months ago or a couple of years ago. this is a truly exceptional project that is going to go a long way to leading to the kind of jobs that keeps san francisco affordable for working-class people. thank you. >> thank you, mr. louis. next speaker, please, just come on up. >> yes, thank you. my name is christen clayton and i have been a resident of san francisco and professional opera singer for 22 years. i am so proud to have been influenced by some of the

greatest comediennes, singers and songwriters in the world include mg others. i represent performers from the bay area and top artists including most of europe, canada, united kingdom and china to name a few. zinzanni has issued contracts to artists over the years -- the city has always shown a deep appreciation for music and high-standard entertainment. there is an appetite here for this modern theater. within the industry of the spiegel-tent, when i was playing the character of the diva, audiences are able to hear the sound and where else can you feel the wind of trapeze artists on your face as you are eating dinner? it was amazing as people

realized they weren't just observing the show, but part of it and being part of the north beach italian community on the embarcadero is important. the rich, artistic nature of san francisco is very important and as employeers they have embraced a sense of family from the beginning. my children feel welcomed with the staff and administration and as a mother, that makes my job coming to work truly less stress, juggling career and family. i love san francisco and all the wonderful performing opportunities i have had, but it's zinzanni that allow ed me to grow as an artist. [ inaudible ] >> thank you very much, next speaker, jim >> good afternoon, i'm jim cunningham and i'm here wearing two hats actually first i'm a board member of barbary coast

neighborhood association and we met with teatro zinzanni and kenwood several times. a recent meeting that was authorized to come here and say that we support their project and give our endorsement to what they are proposing today, and we support the resolution. we think that they would be a fine addition in return to san francisco. i'm also wearing the personal hat in that i live on davis street and i overlook broadway between davis street and the embarcadero, when means i look out every morning at the parking lot across the street. i think teatro zinzanni and this hotel would be a fine addition to that and support their project. we look forward to seeing what their actual project turns out to be, the details of it, at which time we would try, the

barbary coast neighborhood association and golden gate commons area, we would try to work with them for public meetings to let people take a look at what their plans are and hear when they have to say. so as my personal recommendation and that of barbary coast neighborhood association. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker is erica, followed by carolyn. >> hi. my name is erica gillfeather and i was an aerialist for zinzanni for tour years and my partner worked for them for 20 years and we now live in berkeley. zinzanni oftened offered everyone a chance to consider the best possible version of themselves. for the three hours you could imagine a version ofing your that was stronger, witier and wiser than what you knew yourself to be before. i hung above the audience every

night and watched their faces do exactly that. they imagined themselves differently and we do it along with them. i am originally from the midwest and there is no better way to see the bay area, there is a place for you at zinzanni. a few years later, i am here, getting a masters in the early childhood and now the executive director of child-care. i have had two children that are the actual better versions myself since then, and i feel like our children might be aerialists, they might be scientists or musicians or educators, but it makes us so proud to be part of this community, that will reflect so much possibility back at them. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker will be carolyn, followed by stephanie greenberg, followed by beaver

bauer, et cetera. >> >> good afternoon, any name is carolyn guatier and here to speak in support of the teatro zinzanni from the point of view of charitable organizations of which teatro has been a great supporter. we serve children, adults and elderly in homeless shelters, hospitals, convalescent homes, zool for special needs children, on and on. we produce 600 shows per year, throughout the bay area, for people who need entertainment. teatro zinzanni aloud to us use their beautiful tent and outstanding staff for benefit events in 2004, 2007, 2009,

2010 and 2011. through the generosity of teatro zinzanni we were able to raise funds for our neighborhoods most in need. teatro zinzanni has helped a variety of local charities raise over $2 million to support their work in the community. they include the san francisco

>> i was present at the presentations and there was literally no objections to this project. everybody wants to bring teatro zinzanni back. you are balancing three things. one is the sole-sourcing of this project, which may result in perhaps not quite the best deal -- you can't guarantee that. but you are balancing that against a, the desire to bring

zinzanni back and b, the promises that were made to them, that they would have first crack at a location nearby. so you have to balance those two things. what was mentioned by you earlier, it brings evening life to an area where there are only commercial offices. and that is a valuable thing in our neighborhood. thank you. >> thank you. so the next speaker is going to be roberto sanchez followed by bill hansen, followed by ron campbell, trish herman and ben horn. >> i'm robert snachez. i was working with them for ten years and saw so many people laughing -- to make the parade on marketing street and they did all the costumes.

what i really want to thank you that teatro zinzanni is my family now, a very big, strong family. they put us together on the show. they put the dishwashers on the show and make fun of it -- even if we bring a little tiny part of the show and people saw that reaction and said wow, my cocktail waiter is doing the child can can. this has been an experience working there and thank you to teatro zinzanni for showing me how the american hospitality. because i am from mexico, and then when i come here, i saw these beautiful people and they

feed me. they always give us a family bill, and then we have an opportunity to talk to each other with all the performers, all of the beautiful people, cosmopolitan people, thank you for the opportunity. i wanted to come to support those guys, and to bring -- [ inaudible ] >> thank you. thank you very much. bill hanson. >> my name is bill hannah and live five blocks from the proposed construction site. i have attended several of the community outreach presentations. the outreach has been very good

on this project. everything that i have heard about the size, the scale, the scope of the project is good. i am here to support the resolution. i look forward to seeing the plans when they are developed. i support the project. thank you. >> thank you very much. ron, followed by trish, followed by ben, followed by beverly. >> thank you supervisors. my name is ron campbell. i'm celebrating my 43rd years a professional actor. i am a lucky man. i feel like lou gehrig without the disease. i was always thinking that i hope i can get back to center stage at teatro zinzanni.

when i was center stage in greece, doing "oedipus." i was thinking boy, i hope i can get back to teatro zinzanni center stage. when i was a mime in the streets in rome, i was thinking maybe some day there will be a teatrodin zinzanni and i will be center stage there, why, because where else teatro zinzanni where a performer like myself to time a laugh, so the patron does a spit-take on his wife -- where else can i throw the first hat to a juggler and not just any juggler, but the best juggler on the planet? where else can i also do a high-five playing a character

with no hands to [stph-b/] without any hands and we're all laughing. you would see things like this -- i know this won't show up in the transcripts, but you will see -- [laughter ] and little kids going -- so i want that again. i want that for san francisco. >> thank you. trish -- she isn't here? >> ben. >> i'm benjamin horn, the executive director of the board of directors that represents 40 properties. 100 plus businesses and hundreds of residents nearby. i am here to speak in favor and in supported the port's request to enter into exclusive negotiating agreement with teatro