san francisco spca. the paws group, the vet sos, pets unlimited. and we all have gotten together and have been getting together for over four or five years now to talk about how we can educate the public about being prepared for a disaster as it involves your pets. >> a lot of services. i understand that if you have to leave your home, we are encouraging people to take their pets with them. >> absolutely. we think that that is a lesson that we concerned from karina, if you are being evacuated you should take your pet with you. i have a carrier, and you need to have a carrier that you can fit your pet in comfortably and you need to take your pet with you when you were evacuated. >> i am going to thank you very much for joining us and bringing oreo today. and i am go

all right. good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i want to welcome you to the budget and finance committee. we have a late start, hopefully make up as we move forward. apologies, recognize our clerk, mr. victor wong, serving with us today. also recognize adrian starks and michael balthazar.

the screens on our desks are not showing the chamber, like a screen saver. never mind. there, we fixed it. no more technical difficulties. let's get on with the party. adrian starks, michael, thank you for assisting us. recognize my colleagues on the committee, supervisor sandy fewer on my right, my left, supervisor stefani and supervisor yeah. >> silence all cell phones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards and documents should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear on the june 5th board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. i believe supervisor sheehy has noted he is unable to attend

today's meeting. >> that's correct. what i would like to do, make a motion to excuse supervisor sheehy. take that motion, seconded by supervisor yee and without objection. thank you very much. supervisor sheehy a speedy recovery. call items 1, 2, and 3 together. >> clerk: item 1, hering to consider the mayor's proposed budget for selected departments for fiscal years 18-19, and 19-20. item 2 is proposed budget and appropriation ordinance for selected departments as of may 1, 2018, for fiscal years 2018-19, and fiscal years 2019-20. item number 3, the proposed annual salary ordinance for selected departments as of may 1, 2018, fiscal years 18-19, and fiscal years 19-20. >> supervisor cohen: thank you mr. clerk, appreciate that. ladies and gentlemen, i would like to call, i'm going to let

you know what the departments, we are going to be calling, first the san francisco international airport, port of -- excuse me, port of san francisco, the s.f. library, s.f.m.t.a., environment, public building inspection and public utilities commission. so -- we can begin with the international airport. thank you, welcome back. >> good morning. thank you, madam chair. members of the board, thank you for coming back and addressing any follow-up questions you may have. i believe you are in receipt of our written response to a number of the questions raised last week in the budget hearing and if it pleases the committee, i would like to walk you through the analysis we did on the -- >> yes. >> on the police department staffing. you'll see on the first page a

lot of the analysis was based, the 0 based analysis based on a number of factors and see the factors relate to the significant growth we have seen since 1997 to 2017, and probably most meaningful is the column on the right that talks about the percent change in the factors, and it's a function of the growth we have experienced and some of the impacts that it's had. you can also see it, our request as a function of the new facilities that we have opened since this time, and those are also listed on the page. many of the projects related to the airport capital improvement program of the late 1990s and early 2000, and the projects underway related to the $7.2 billion capital program. on page 2 of the analysis, some

metrics we looked at. the first being the increase in passenger and plane, and the growth, the line is the budgeted officers that we have experienced since 1997 to current. and then the bars are the passenger growth we have experienced. so you can see that the officer count has not kept pace with the growth and passengers over time. and then below that, another metric is the amount of terminal space, the amount of coverage required of the officers to patrol and we have experienced significant additional square footage. you can see the numbers there and the number of a metric of square footage per officer, we were at 20,000 square feet per officer in 1997, and today we are at about 36,000 square feet per officer.

and the next page we talk about what we are trying to achieve with the increase in staffing. and first of all, it is that visible presence that i spoke of last time, we are also adding five new functions and you can see the list there. bicycle patrol, to get to some of the outlying areas is an important new initiative. and then also coverage of the new facilities hotel response, as well as homeless, we are seeing an increase in the number of homeless coming to the airport, and also i would point out the perimeter security and additional patrols around our perimeter. if you flip that over to page four, also traffic enforcement is becoming a more important aspect of our business so we are proposing an increase in motorcycle officers. we are also proposing to double

the size of the ground transportation unit and you can see what's driving that around, just the increase in commercial, the commercial ground transportation, largely a function of uber, lyft and the t.n.c. operations. and then if you flip over to the next page, we have some enhanced special services we are looking at to again increase the posture of the airport and be prepared for additional vulnerabilities and be able to respond as the ever changing world of terrorist threats and our ability to respond. it's important we are prepared for any type of event that may happen. and then on the last page, you can see how we -- what the 0

based staffing approach has done, and i'll just point out that with this two-year budget, we are proposing 229 officer staffing, so it does not get us to the full complement of what the 0 based staffing, but it gets us quite a long way towards what the 0 based staffing numbers would indicate. so 0 based staffing would show a number of 278, we are getting to 229 with this budget. and with that, i would be glad to answer any questions. >> supervisor cohen: thank you very much for the presentation. colleagues, as reminder, the airport is one of those unique departments. the budget is entirely based off its revenue and thank you. because you also give a portion of its revenue to the general fund. i believe 12.7% of the budget is increased in year 1 and 10% increase in year two. does that sound right? >> yes. >> supervisor cohen: and then we

have a -- increasing the number of full-time employees by 12.75, which will bring you, correct me if i'm wrong, bring you up to almost 1500 employees. 1585.95. i don't know how you account the.95, but that's good. so, are last week we asked questions about why there were so many police officers designated or allocated, and i just want to also acknowledge that you have answered the questions and in the answer to the question is, is that the airport -- the airport has just been understaffed for several years, and that you are proposing 72 full-time police, which is about 42% of the officer pool already in existence. excuse me, 42% are officers, meaning that you are not going to be too top heavy, i think that's important. and recognize that you are paying for two work orders, two academy classes to help fund and

pay for the officers that were going to be at allocating to the airport. i do have one final question. also want to recognize the b.l.a. has indicated that their requests are reasonable. but my question for you, what changes would you be able for the pick-up plan, specifically about uber and lyft at the corner. how will that be reconciled moving forward at the airport? >> try a couple initiatives in an incremental way, both the traffic congestion and the curb side congestion. >> supervisor cohen: are you actively working to solve the congestion problem? >> we are, we are. we are working -- with uber and lyft currently around a premium pricing model for curb side access, and so try to have an incentive to use the garage, a premium fee a dollar, up to $2

if they use the curb. we have more dramatic initiatives as well to make sure we solve the issue, which is at some point we may move all of the pick-ups into the garage. right now we have a project underway that is resurfacing the fifth floor of the garage, that would be the dedicated area for staging. we will be preds to make that move if need be as we prepare for the summer season to see how much congestion remains after we try the incentive approach to use of the garage. >> supervisor cohen: when do you plan to roll this program out? >> we started now with the working with them on any changes we need to make to their app, to make this happen and help designate where other pick-up opportunities are, so another initiative, can we spread people across the doors, they congregate at certain doors, and so we are doing that right now.

premium pricing into effect july 1st, and then by late summer we'll be ready to make that more substantial move of pick-ups into the garage. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. recognize supervisor yeah. >> supervisor yee: thank you, chair cohen. can you clarify, the numbers, i have different numbers here. on the slide, it talks about 229, and then i'm looking, this slide says 229 showed. and i'm looking at the report on page three, and this is 255. proposed f.t.e.s, 255. can you tell me -- >> on page three of that, let's

see -- >> supervisor yee: b.l.a. report. i'm sorry, one sec, supervisor. apologies, supervisor. >> supervisor yee: even before you get to that, in your mind, you are trying to increase the number of staffing for policing by how many? >> trying to go from 142 officers to 229 over the next two years. those are the key numbers. and then our baseline report

says the appropriate number is 278, but we are trying to get to 229 over the next two years. >> supervisor yee: include other positions, would it be more than that? >> those are just the officers, patrols and traffic management folks. >> supervisor yee: so that's -- and increase of about 70, 60, 70, 80, 80 or so. ok. >> yes, sir. >> supervisor yee: the question i have is in regards to gearing up to increase those numbers, is over a two-year period. >> that's correct. that happens in the second year, essentially happens in the second year. >> supervisor yee: and you are offering to pay for how many training classes? >> a total of four.

i believe there are two that are allocated costs where we will get not all of the academy class and then two dedicated airport classes. >> supervisor yee: ok. that's fine. just want to make sure that we are covering what we need to cover so that it does not deplete the existing police force or in the city of san francisco. >> thank you. >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much for answering those questions. i wanted to know, what are the number of motorcycle officers that you hope to have at the airport? >> i'm going to have to ask the deputy chief. >> we have one in six and hoping to go to 2 and 10, a broader coverage across the week and

also hours of the day. >> do you also pay for the equipment, motorcycles, the vehicles? >> yes. >> supervisor fewer: airport pays for the vehicles dispatched out there. and if you ever explored whether or not there would be cost savings if you had the san francisco sheriff's department take over some of the duties. such as the curb management or some of the garage surveillance, i looked on your thing. so, have you ever thought about having, you know, i think that in the city and county of san francisco, in the city of san francisco, is that we would all like to have more police officers at our district stations and out in the streets in san francisco. and so when i see that you are beefing it up to 229 officers, sworn officers, that sheriff's are also peace officers in the state of california. wondering if they could be taking over some of the duties at a lower cost and also relieve

some of the uniformed folks out to our district stations. >> one of the issues that we have with that is we actually are in san mateo county and law enforcement services to see that authority to us. we have to start that conversation with the san mateo county sheriff. >> supervisor fewer: would there be a cost saving? >> it's a math question. >> i'm horrible at math actually, also. ok. that's just a question. and then please explain to me again a little bit more in-depth about starting january 1st, july 1st you are hoping you are going to be introducing premium pricing for just t.n.c.s or also for taxi drivers? >> just the t.n.c.s, and just the low occupancy vehicles of the t. n.c. so, we would not subject the high occupancy vehicles like

charter busses and other, those fees. so, just the t.n.c.s with the 1 or 2 riders, typically. >> supervisor fewer: have we ever looked into maybe a partnership with m.t.a. around bart service out to the airport and some sort of incentive to, for people to take part out there? >> we do offer an employee incentive through the money that we give them every month, if they give up their parking spot. and we have seen great, really uptick in migration of people taking bart, particularly employees. we have not looked at other options with the m.t.a. that i'm aware of. we would be glad to explore that. >> supervisor fewer: i think you said 800,000 trips out to the airport, t.n.c.s. and seems as though we probably should be thinking about some

incentives to get people to take public transportation out there. and then i just wanted to know, when you say that we are thinking about putting all the pick-ups in the garage, does that include taxis also, or just the t.n.c.s? >> the taxi operation would stay where it is, at the lower level, at the median curb. so, we are really talking about uber and lyft. we would also offer that to the passengers as an express pick-up and dropoff and probably will increase the length of free access, so right now it's ten minutes free access for the public. we would probably look at increasing that to 20 minutes or so. to try to move some of that traffic as well. >> supervisor fewer: thanks. and you see in the one, you have 12.7% increase and in your 2, 10% increase. would you ever think about eliminating the pick-up fees for taxis? >> you know, we are unable to do that because of the model of the allocation model and the cost recovery that we need to achieve through our financial analysis.

so what we do, we spread it around and make a fair base for everyone to pay their fair share. unable to offer free access. >> supervisor fewer: any other ideas for incentive for people to take public transportation or taxis versus t.n.c.s out to the airport? >> you know, i think we have a good partnership with bart and there are some avenues to explore there, potentially. and so i'll reach out to the bart folks and what are those opportunities. i can't think of any off the top of my head, but that's something that we could explore. >> yeah, i said -- i meant bart. i think if there was a financial incentive to take bart out to the airport, that maybe more passengers would do that instead of t.n.c.s. those are the majority of them, single occupancy probably going

out there, too. ok. thank you very much. >> ok, thank you. >> supervisor cohen: anything else? >> no, thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you very much. the next department we will hear from is the san francisco port. >> supervisor cohen: i'm sorry, turn on your mic. ok, they are on now. yes, i do want to hear from the b.l.a. i read your mind. yes. >> you did read my mind. madam chair, members of the committee, referring to the airport's physicians as shown on pages 3 and 4 of our report, and supervisor yee's numbers, provided by the airport to our

office. we know that the number of sworn officers in the airport would increase from about 39%, from 184 to 255.69, that's full-time equivalent positions. the largest increases among the police officers specifically, the lieutenants were increased by 1.54, sergeants 10.77, and police officers 59.38 for a 71.69% increase. we also report that in 18-19 and 19-20, the airport proposed budget includes 11.7 million and 12.2 million respectively to fund 120 slots in three police academies and ten lateral officer hires for 133 new police officer positions. page four of the report we note

in 19-20, the airport plans for a similar number of slots, academy of classes for new recruits and lateral police officer hires, but the dates of the academy classes are not yet known. supervisors, i would report that we will do further analysis of this matter in the june budget and that's related to the police department's budget. as you know, these positions are included in the police department's budget. now, regarding the overall budget of the airport, on page five of our report, our recommended reductions to the proposed budget total 3,416,184, in 18-19, of that amount, 2,407,158, ongoing saving, and there are one-time savings, still allow increase of

121,620,000, or 12.3% and the year 18-19 budget. and i've already gone over the police department item, we would say at this time it's a policy matter for the board of supervisors on that item. and, but i also mentioned that we will do further analysis in june. for fiscal year 19-20, recommended reductions to the total, 2,672,299, of that amount, 2,438,049, ongoing savings. and there are one-time savings, reductions would allow increase of 108,256,596, or 9.7% in the department's 19-20 budget. as i understand it, the department concurs with our recommended reductions which are shown on pages 6-16, and happy

to respond to any questions. >> supervisor cohen: one question for you. i was under the impression there were officers already in the academy, two academy classes were already underway, and that these officers would be allocated to the airport in september. >> yes, i think that's correct. i think that's in the report. i believe there are 20 that are underway that would be allocated. this is an enhancement, i have to look back in the report, i think we give the numbers in our report. >> ok. thank you very much. thank you, mr. rose, appreciate your presentation. colleagues, any questions? supervisor yee? >> supervisor yee: not to him. not to mr. rosenberg. but a general question. maybe trying to get to this earlier in terms of my concerns, i think last time we -- >> supervisor cohen: he --

whoever is representing the airport come forward. >> supervisor yee: i'm a little concerned, and maybe more appropriate to the police department. but as, because i heard somebody say the last time we had this discussion that many of the police officers that get assigned to the airport, because of seniority, many of them are not your people that are coming out off the academies, meaning, i'm a little concerned, because what we are doing is all of a sudden we are having a big drain on possibly a big drain on the seasoned police officers in the city of san francisco and having a lot more rookies percentage-wise in san francisco. if it's true that many of the seasoned police officers want to just transfer over to the

airport, it may not be true, but if it is, it's a big concern of mine. >> supervisor cohen: ok. so, any time an officer moves. >> a sergeant or officer, after probation, it is because they have put their name on a list to request to be moved. officers do it all the time, sign up to go to richmond, or wherever they are going to go. one of those lists is the airport. the chief of police, with however many officers that person has, has to decide operationally where they are going to send officers from the pool they have. the airport is one of those places that needs officers. but to make sure that the city does not fall behind in officers by filling the obligation to staff the airport, the airport is funding classes so that there will be officers in the city. and it is true that when the officers transfer down to the airport, that they are coming from the more senior ranks.

but that's true for any officer that transfers anywhere in the city, if they move from northern to the richmond, they are coming off a seniority list. so you are always moving the senior officers around. but in this case, you are establishing a pool that supports that movement. >> supervisor yee: and thank you for that explanation. i guess what is the nuances of this, you are asking the airport is asking for basically in two years 70 new assigned people, meaning richmond district station is not going to ask for 70 more new officers. it may be they increase it by 5 or 10 or whatever. so, my concern is we are taking 70 senior officers off the streets of san francisco to the airport. no fault of the airport. so, i don't have a solution, but

maybe the police department is aware of that already. >> right. i mean, we do -- what we do is, that's an excellent question. what we do is we look at, so, myself as the deputy chief of the airport and the deputy chief of operations, who oversees patrol and investigations, when we are timing out the transfer, we are looking across the year so we say all right, let's move these people in these groupings so that we don't create a sudden drain up in the district stations and what events are going on during, throughout the time of the year, so we time it when we can move people, train them up into the airport because as you know, it takes a little training to then convert to san mateo county protocols, we map out how the transfers happen to mitigate that effect on the districts. and they are pulling from ten areas of the city and also from investigations and also from special operations, so that the

impact can be spread out across the board, across the year and across the -- >> supervisor cohen: reality, it's not a decision you necessarily make, it's a decision the chief of police makes. we heard yesterday in the rules committee hearing, we talked about language access, and we did have some conversations around senior members of sfpd. heck, when i come off the board of supervisors i'm joining the team, who does not want to go to the airport. so i completely understand. i think i have -- kathy, carry my message. oh, there he is, ok. so, but, so, i echo the concerns, too. we don't want all of our rich resource knowledge base going out to the airport and i'm not implying that they are hanging out, the airport is very high stress area as well, they are not going to chill, right?

>> that is quite true. they are not there to chill. >> supervisor cohen: but you do understand our concern, we represent different neighborhoods, different environments and we also want the benefit of the senior members of the police department to be out on the streets, to be patrolling, in my mind, senior members would know how to handle tense situations in a more efficient manner than some of the new rookies, naturally, like the rookies on my board. and a rookie over here. they look to us veterans to show them how to hold it down and how to do it, it's just natural. i was a rookie once, you were a rookie once, and you just keep at it. i'm sure you can understand our concern. i understand completely what you are saying supervisor yee, but unfortunately, i don't know if we can address it in the budget but probably can begin to address it in our discussions with the chief as well as maybe

through the police commission which is the poll at this authority for the commission. thank you. >> and if you could keep in mind the same process that brings officers down to the airport also returns officers back to the city. so, our officers get notified that their opportunity to transfer back up to the city comes up, and some take advantage and move back to work in the city. so, there is an ebb and flow of experience that comes back and forth. >> supervisor cohen: thank you very much. any other questions? all right. >> supervisor fewer: you know, i -- so, deputy chief, not about you, personally, but i do have sort of this question about why a deputy chief is needed out at the airport when you have a commander. i just think that why would we have a, you know, a deputy chief out at the airport.

i just think the command staff is pretty heavy out there, and i know that you are the deputy chief out there, so i know this is a very awkward conversation. but just why would we need a deputy chief out there? seems you already have a commander, you have captain, you have a lot of lieutenants and you are adding lieutenants on and also a lot of sergeants. so, why would we need a deputy chief out there? >> so, the deputy chief meets first with the airport director and also the director of operations and security facilities and also the senior staff to make sure the mission is carried out but the three separate bureaus. also meets with the sheriff and the police association members regularly to make sure the county policies we meet the obligations, that they don't infringe on san francisco policies and police department

policies specifically. we, we serve to ensure that the federal agencies that are out there keep, that the police department operates in the guidelines of how the federal agencies operate, that the -- that where we come up against each other follows the policies of the city and county of san francisco and the police department. and it's a very, very busy place, you know. 65 million budget to manage, all the materials, the training, the management of personnel. the commander position meets regularly with the captain, and reports up. the deputy chief meets with the budget director and the fiscal side of the airport to make sure that all stays in line. so, there's a lot of functions the technology division of the airport, pretty much falls directly under the deputy chief and we meet with the airport technology side. so, there is a lot of

administrative function that goes into the task, and there's a lot of investigative patrol and traffic investigation and special operations that falls mostly to the commander through his captains. >> supervisor fewer: ok. you are telling me it's more of a high level administrative coordination and oversight of the airport and something that a commander can't do. >> it's the -- it's the 3, 5, 10-year planning position for the police department at the airport. how do the changes at the airport industries, having to carry out all the projects they have going, the capital improvement projects, building of the airport hotel, the expansion of the air train, all of these long-term capital improvement projects or construction projects, retail projects, how those are going to impact the demands on the police department and then part of my job to convey that to the chief of the police through my

assistant chief and make sure the chief of police is aware of what the priorities are down at the airport. and what opportunities there are to partner with the airport to make sure the city does not bear an unfair share of that expense. >> supervisor fewer: ok. thank you. >> you are welcome. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. deputy chief, i have a question for you. just over here, though. over here, a side bar. so, at this time we have heard the b.l.a. presentation and i would like to make a motion to -- wait, we have to take public comment. public comment on items 1, 2, and 3? public comment is closed. thank you. i would like to make a motion to accept the recommendations from the budget legislative analysts. is there a motion? motion made by supervisor yee, take that without objection. thank you. excuse me, i would like to table item 1 and continue items 2 and 3 to the call of the chair, my

apologies. >> supervisor yee: are we going to call other departments before performing that function? >> supervisor cohen: good idea, absolutely. my notes are hard for me to understand this morning. yes. we need to hear from the port. rescind the vote. we'll do that unanimously. thank you. port of san francisco. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is katy patricione, deputy director of finance for the port, here on behalf of our executive director, elaine forbes. i would like to say that the port is in agreement with the budget and legislative analyst's recommendations about our budget. i would like to thank mr. rose, ms. campbell and mr. hulliber for their time and attention to the budget this year. happy to answer questions. >> supervisor cohen: thank you.

colleagues, do you have any questions? we have one. before you ask that question, i want to give some port highlights. 30% of the budget, 30% budget increase in year 1 and 15% decrease in year two, minimal f.t.e. growth, like what, .87, and that has to do with -- >> annualization of prior year positions. >> supervisor cohen: the budget is really driven by the seawall and ferry capital projects. so, both very important infrastructures that our city needs. go ahead, supervisor, and then hear from the b.l.a. shortly. >> supervisor fewer: i want to know if you have plans for expansion in work force programs. >> work force development programs? in particular, we are very conscious of the fact the seawall program, knock on wood, is going to launch with i hope

approval of a general obligation bond this november. and that that is going to be a very large opportunity for us in terms of work force development. we are very committed to developing a program, probably in partnership with the office of economic and work force development that really does, i hope, focus on locating and training folks from low income communities in the city and really funneling them into what are going to be a good number of high paying construction jobs when that program really does launch. >> supervisor fewer: ok. thanks. because actually, i am looking in the fiscal budget about work force development and how we can get more people actually to work and in the city department. so, thank you very much. >> supervisor cohen: seeing there are no other questions at this time, katy, we are going to

go ahead and hear from the b.l.a. >> yes, madam chair and members of the committee. on page 29 of our report, recommended reductions to the proposed budget total 581,336 in 2018-19, and of that amount, 270228 are ongoing savings and 311108 are one-time savings. still allow an increase of 40.5 million, 40,571,055, or 30.5% in the 18-19 budget. recommended reductions total 576,483 in 19-20, and that amount, ongoing savings, and 1831350 are savings, and does

concur with the recommended reduction, shown on pages 30 through 33. >> supervisor cohen: i have a question about the programmatic cuts. what was the process that you went through to determine which programs you were going to be taking from? >> collaboration with the port, understanding where they had some excess capacity. >> supervisor cohen: and done to control growth? >> that's -- yes. >> supervisor cohen: ok, all right. >> also, supervisor, we base it on prior experience as well. and projected expenditures. >> supervisor cohen: i know, that's what makes you so wonderful, prior experience. you are the best. all right. that's good. so, i appreciate that. colleagues, do you have any questions, anything about the problematic cuts or the port budget? all right, thank you. we will continue moving forward. san francisco library. >> madam chair, may i call the associated item? >> supervisor cohen: yes, you

may. call item 4. >> clerk: resolution authorizing the san francisco public library to accept the grant in the amount of $813,350 of in-kind gifts, services and cash monies, from direct support for a variety of public programs and services in fiscal years 2018-19. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. welcome. yes. >> good morning, chair cohen, supervisors. thank you again for the opportunity to present the library's fy-19-20 budget last week. finalized the reductions with the board's analysts and we are in full agreement with their recommendations. i would like to thank the board's analyst, hampton smith, sefrin campbell and menard for the time and help. and jillian johnson and kelly kirkpatrick from the mayor's budget office for your guidance, and special thanks to the

controller's office for your ongoing support. maureen singleton and i are here today and more than happy to answer any questions you may have. [please stand by for captioner change].

-- ongoing savings. $300,000 one-time savings. reductions would further reduce the planned decrease of its 1920 budget to the a decrease of $9,508,737 or 6% in the 19-20 budget. as i understand it, the department does concur with our reductions shown on pages 37 and 38 of our report. >> supervisor cohen: so the savings include capital expenditures and savings? >> that's right. >> supervisor cohen: and savings from retirement and lower freight delivery and licensing fees. >> correct. >> supervisor cohen: last week we talked about rfid. it was a spirited conversation,

if you will. do you want to make a presentation about it? >> i can certainly offer some additional remarks. let me first state that the only risk or way a patron's borrowing habits could be compromised is through unauthorized access to a secure staff database. rfid has no bearing on that risk. that risk appears today. we do have safeguards in place that would mitigate that from happening. with regards to rfid, our intended use is from direction of american libraries association office of intellectual freedom and national information standards organization. our privacy policy governs our use of rfid technology. we have a plan to use a passive rfid tag. this will entail not placing an rfid tag on a library card. there would be no patron information stored on an rfid

tag or any bibliographic information. the author or subject of a given book would not be stored on an rfid tag. all that would be on that tag is a series of numbers that is plainly visible on every item in our collection on the bar code sticker. i stand by my earlier statement that there is no risk whatsoever to patron privacy. >> supervisor cohen: okay. supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: i wanted to mention that after last week's conversation with rfid, i met with mr. lantern and i feel very comfortable in approving the recommendation for that expediture. and i also just wanted to say that we had a conversation about if we should be building some affordable housing above our libraries that are to be renovated in a short period of time. we think it with probably be good use of public land. thank you. >> thank you.

>> supervisor cohen: any other questions for this gentleman? thank you. we appreciate your presentation and clarity. >> thank you. >> supervisor cohen: however, i still think the conversation will rage on about rfid. >> okay. [laughter] >> supervisor cohen: m.t.a. >> madam chair, i was wondering if you want to do that based on what you did at the airport and also at the port. i don't think the committee -- >> supervisor cohen: took office. >> as to whether or not you accept our recommendations. >> supervisor cohen: you are right. i realized that and was going to come back to it. let's go ahead and complete item 4 and then take action on -- >> madam chair, i'm sorry to interrupt. should we also speak to the accept and expend for the friends and foundation? >> supervisor cohen: sure. the $813,000. >> thank you. the resolution before you today would authorize the library to accept and extend up to $813,350

of cash and in-kind contributions from the friends and foundation of the san francisco public library. this amounts to an 8% increase over last year's gift and we're extremely fortunate to have such robust support from our friends at the library. these funds allow us to enhance the level of service we're able to provide to the community and it funds popular programs like our open house events the a at neighborhood branches, summer stride, our one city-one book program, and innovative initiatives like science bio blitzes. we appreciate the partnership with the friends and we appreciate your consideration of this grant award and i'm available to answer any questions you have about that as well. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. i don't think there's any questions about the grant. it's pretty straightforward. donations are cash and in-kind gifts. colleagues, am i wrong in my assumption? okay. looks like we're okay. just so there is clarity for the men and women in the chamber, items 1-3 will remain open.

we'll take the b.l.a. recommendations as each department comes before us, but item 4 we're going to take action and take public comment on. since there are no other questions, why don't we take public comment on item 4. please come on up. >> excuse me, i'm not clear. are we doing 1, 2 and 3? >> supervisor cohen: no, we're not. 1, 2, and 3 are remaining open. and we're taking action on item 4. >> deputy city attorney john gibner. i believe the committee opened public comment on items 1, 2, and 3 after the airport presentation but before taking any action. so now you are taking public comment on item 4 and the additional items on the agenda as you go through the day, bun, -- but 1, 2, and 3 have received public comment. >> supervisor cohen: it's open. maybe i should make a motion to

reopen it. >> if there are people that missed the public comment call, committee could reopen public comment and take public comment on 1, 2, and 3 as well as number 4 now. >> supervisor cohen: okay. >> i understood that you did public comment on that department and then went on to the next department and that the action on items 1, 2, and 3 related to the first department that you heard. i certainly would like to make public comment on 1, 2, and 3 and the acting city librarian has just given you an extensive description of what his thoughts are on items 1, 2, and 3. i think that merits public comment, separate from item 4. >> supervisor cohen: back up. so for items 1, 2 and 3, we haven't heard the full -- i'm going to keep it open. there will be an opportunity for you to take -- for us to take comment on items 1, 2, and 3. >> today? >> supervisor cohen: yes, of

course. what i would like to do is complete item 4 and take public comment on item 4 at this time. if you would like to speak on item 4 -- >> i think that the committee should take a very close look at what the library is not only taking supposedly from the friends but in particular what is being provided to the friends in a whole range of benefits that are not mentioned and invisible. so the first thing is, we've repeatedly found that the friends are keeping some 90% of what they take in and giving the library 10% or less. that certainly was true in the past and there's a whole range of things that the friends are giving -- supposedly giving. for example, at the library, it's shown as a $9,000 donation, but it's a gigantic advertising piece for the friends that they

get exclusive use of and extensive use of in that publication. they get to have a bookstore for $1 a year in the main entrance of the main library as the first things that you see. and it contradicts the library slogan of "free and equal access." the friends get to essentially sell library assets for selected donors at various levels. so the naming of rooms, and the naming of bookshelves, the placement of bricks on a revamped library. there's a whole range in essentially they're selling off the public good. and i would certainly be concerned with the friends -- some other ways in which they use funding and it's not visible. we know that the fppc in sacramento found the library in

violation of open government law with respect to the prior reporting and luis herrera did not follow the law and had to sign a stipulation that he had violated the law for three years in a row by claiming that he had gotten nothing in the way of donations from the friends. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you for sharing your perspective. next speaker, please. >> members of the board of supervisors, ray hart, director of san francisco open government. and can i get this to work? >> supervisor cohen: sfgov tv, overhead, please. >> and could i get my time back while we're waiting for -- can i get the 30 seconds i've lost waiting for that?

politics author frank hubbard says that politics is the art of appearing candid and completely open while concealing as much as possible. you have seen something similar to this, the friends and family grant. and they will come in and say, we want to get $820,000. this is what they do. they put other people's money, the designated donors, as an inclusion as if it's from the friends. what the friends in this particular year gave was $410,000. this from the website charity navigator, the numbers were provided by the friends to this website and they tout its wonderful thing. if you look at what they spent during the same year, $4

million. so when you were a citizen of san francisco and you go to the library's website and there's a link directly from the city department website to the friends, you think your money is going to the library and only 10% or less is actually going to support the library. 90% of it doesn't go anywhere. i've gone to the library commission meetings and said, this is a fraud, this is a scam, and they don't bother -- and i said, if you can prove i'm wrong, i would think you would want to shut me up by proving him wrong and they never do. and the bottom line is, mr. warfield previously stated, we took the former city librarian to the fbbc in sacramento because for three consecutive years, he filed his statement of economic interest saying he got nothing from the friends and the fbbc after investigation ruled he was getting $5,000 a year of stuff he was supposed to be reporting

and failed to report. so basically, this whole thing is a scam the citizens give the money thinking that it's going to the library and 90% of it. >> supervisor cohen: next speaker for item 4. >> good morning. my name is carol simmons and i'm a san francisco resident and a former library director in the bay area. i'm speaking to congratulate the friends and the library on their wonderful partnership. i have to tell you that as a former director in daly city that the san francisco friends and foundation has been a model for us in how to create a successful partnership between the library and the city. and so when we were forming our foundation in daly city, we turned to san francisco friends and foundation for advice and for mentorship. and they were extremely gracious in giving both to us and have

helped us as we've come along and really raised some money for the daly city library. so i did want to congratulations the friends and family for this wonderful donation to the library and celebrate the partnership. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> good morning. i'm maria sapella, executive director for friends foundation of the library. we're happy to be here. we've been a backbone and partner that allows the community to support its library. we do more than this gifrt -- gift to the library. the interpretation that you just heard is not correct. all of our audits and annual reports are on our website. half of our budget is in our book program. and so it's pretty much a

neutral, sometimes profitable program of our book selling, which is a community organization of our own and we have our philanthropic piece and we're a very big advocate for the community. much of what we do is make sure that the library preservation fund is maintained, that can be renewed and that the library has a very strong public base. i will just invite you to continue to look at the numbers. they mean different things to different people and can be interpreted in many ways. when you look at the breakdown of restricted and unrestricted funds, the restricted funds that are being referred to are funds that we -- we manage five endowments on top of the restricted amount. there is management of these assets that are managed and released in a way that's strategic to the library. once again, we're happy to give this money and continue to be the community's advocate for probably the best library system in the country. thank you so much.

>> supervisor cohen: any other member of the public that would like to share their ideas or comments? seeing none, item 4 is closed. colleagues, can we take action on this item? may we move with a positive recommendation? >> yes. >> supervisor cohen: all right. we'll move with a positive recommendation. mr. clerk, i want to -- i'd like to clarify to the public that item -- and would i like to take public comment on items 1, 2, and 3. public comment for items 1, 2, and 3 are open. yes, we're reopening it. >> again, ray hart, director san francisco open government and i'm talking about the budget of the library. i have 36 orders of determination finding violations of the sunshine ordinance, which are violations of either the brown act or california public records act. a dozen of those are the library eitherin