talking about lessons learned. specifically you mentioned sledding in the beginning, and although

online in other languages, but we didn't have it in other languages at that time. one of the things that i'm sure you all read about, which was connected to the flooding, but if the house wasn't flooded, some of the houses experienced sewage coming up through the houses. we had residents asking our office was it safe to clean up. i actually don't know if we -- this is something we'll discuss through the hearing, but is that d.b.i., department of public health, p.u.c., where is the

appropriate contact for residents to find out if it's safe for them to clean up. so, yeah, i just wanted to share some comments here. we'll get more answers at the hearing, and i do think this is an opportunity because it was 12 hours impacted or if this was a larger disaster. thank you so much. >> thank you. uh-huh. >> just wanted to give kudos to some of our personnel from our homeland security unit. captain chris put together an exercise that basically involved the station being incapacitated. we had an opportunity to pull out our continuity of operations, and it's an enlightening exercise. there are a lot of areas we need

to get better at. captain has done a good job and it's something we plan to do in other districts in our police departments. just for the group, if you haven't done that in a while, it was a very good exercise. i know from a city-wide -- and i know you have been working on table tops as well, but i wanted to put that on everybody's minds. those opportunities rarely come up. it's always good to practice. >> yeah. thank you. that's music to our ears. someone opened their c.o.o. plan. anyone else? >> yes, i just wanted to let people know that the hazard plan is our hazard mitigation plan required by fema every five years. it will be sent next week, and i wanted to thank all the departments, all the people, every department here has a strategy in that plan. it really takes some bold steps to move us towards mitigating

disasters and being more resilient. i appreciate you and if you could pass it to your staff that helped formulate strategies or spent time looking at the different hazards and putting it together. the department of public health, planning department, department of emergency management, and department of the environment. thank you all for that. we're going to continue to work on this as it goes out. we're not going to wait five years to open it up again. we're planning to do public outreach in the next year and to continue making it much more of a living document where people have access to the hazards, to the strategies online or through public meetings. thank you so much for that. >> thanks brian. anyone else? okay, with that i believe we can adjourn the meeting. thank you all for being here and we'll see you in the new year.

[♪] >> good morning. today is wednesday, december 18, 2019. this is the regular meeting of the building inspection

commission. please turn off electronic devices. first item is roll call. (roll call). we have a quorum. next item is presidents announcement. >> welcome to the building inspection commission for december 18, 2019. happy holidays. i am vice president filling in for president mccarthy who is away dealing with a family matter. i spoke to him this morning, and as i will get to later, this is the last meeting for many of us, and he has some -- he asked me

to pass along greetings, and i will when i get to that matter. i would like to thank the department staff who have been and still are attending the california building officials training classes this week. every year our staff members almost all of them are required to take classes and be up to speed on current code and issues in the building industry, and our staff attends these trainings at least once a year to refresh and enhance technical skills to continue to provide excellent customer service. everyone in the city benefits from these continuing education opportunities. our opportunities that we on this commission enthusiastically support and encourage. it is important to stay up to speed because so many changes happen on a daily basis here in

this industry. thank you to david letta of plumbing inspection who assisted a customer in resolving an issue with a sewer line. that is an issue for many as the rains come. we are in the final months of quarter four of 2019. it is time for the staff, supervisors and deputy directors to send in nominations for employee of the year. those who have performed outstanding service, please e-mail nominations to john patrick murray, all separated with periods at sfgovtv. or to patty lee at sfgov.org to select quarter four winner. president mccarthy will announce this at the january 2020

meeting. finally, as i was saying before, if i get teary, i will talk through it. this is my final building inspection commission meeting. i would like to express my appreciation to the director. we worked together for many, many years and done amazing things in this department. i also want to express my appreciation and warmth to all my commissioners, many of whom we have sat on this commission together, done really important things. in my now more than 20 years of serving on this commission, i know, time flies. i continued to be impressed with the dedication, hard work and professionalism of everyone working here. they perform vitalling safety professional services every day

of the year, and our city and communities benefit tremendously from their commitment. new commissioners will be taking seats in january, i believe a lot of us will be leaving. i wish each and every one of-fellow commissioners every possible success with the boroversight responsibilities you will be assuming outside of this commission and the folks remaining on this commission. i also want to express my appreciation to bill strahan, he has been our communication director at d.b.i. for 13 years, i believe, not an easy task. i am sure whenever your phone rings and it is the newspaper your heart beat goes up. mine certainly does. thank you so much for representing our department and our commission and our city to carry the message out to the

public. there are so many wonderful staff folks, deputy directors, and especially the secretary who actually i have said this. she actually runs the department. >> no, i don't, don't get me in trouble. >> she certainly makes sure we are dealing with the issues that come before us and carry forward ideas. members of the public present, someone, our friend, jerry dratler, we need to commit do to keeping our department accountable to the city. we are here to serve, to make sure that when projects come before us and folks building them need our help that we are here to serve, and we need to do

it in an equitable, fair, even way, consistent and transparent. one of the things i want to put on record in public. i have been obsessed about the permit tracking system for the last -- actually 15 years. who is counting? i am still committed to making sure that the point of it, which is equitable, transparent delivery of service and maintenance of data so that not only those doing the work but those in our city who want access to it can find it and know what is happening here. we need to be trusted by our city. i think we are getting there. it is one of the reasons i have been committed to that. i want to thank you. i want to thank the commissioners for serving. this is sometimes not an

exciting commission, but it is so important the things we do here. i value having been here. i feel honored to have been able to work with all of you to carry forward this message, and i look forward to the next steps. i will probably come back but i will be out there. just warning you. i think that is it for now. thank you very much. i am sorry. when i was talking to president mccarthy, he wanted me to echo his appreciation for serving with you all. the work that we do in support of him because the presidency does require a lot more attention, and he really appreciated the support from commissioners and the commitment you all have to our city. he will be back. he is away with family.

our thoughts and prayers are with him. thank you. >> thank you. is there any public comment on the president's announcement? seeing none the next item. >> go ahead. >> department of building inspection. it is my honor to work with you for the last -- i worked with the city 30 years, 23 years in the department of building inspection. in 2012, you know, you appointed me as inspection director. we have a lots of charge with all of the commissioner support. i think we don't make that many calls. i cannot guarantee you to make sure it works, but i would like

to stay as long as i can to make sure that thing will run. hopefully we have an alternative way. i am not a computer expert. i have the department of technology and controller to help me. there is a problem with the consultant. fortunately they don't cooperate with us. that is why we have trouble right now. hopefully, once we move to the new building, then we will sit down to see how to move forward. you are welcome to come back to guide us. we worked together for so long. all of the commission helped me, you know, to do my work, you know. hopefully in the future, our department will be improved, but i feel since 2012, our

department is moving forward with strategic plan and everything, but, of course, a lots of areas to improve. maybe now is the time you have a second eye to look at how we can do better and call me anytime and we can work together and the other commissioners to help me to see what we can do, you know, or the other president mccarthy can tell me. thank you. >> thank you. >> commissioner walker very clearly stated the feelings that i share when she called out all of the same people that, you know, have made my service, you know, short that it is compared to hers, one of the most

wonderful experiences i could have asked for. not only thanking the staff, my colleagues, as she pointed out, the public who show up regularly represented by mr. d ratler today. for their reminders, the information they give and passion they bring. these are all critical things that helped us to try to do the best job we can, and i know you will continue to be here to help on that. as she said, we will probably be out there doing the same thing. obviously, i would also like to thank mayor breed, wh who as president of the board did my original appointment and reappointed me and gave me this

opportunity. really what i wanted to focus on today was really thanking debra walker for the most extraordinary service to have given this length of time with such passion, such commitment, such dedication really is the model that i think we all look to in trying to see how we can best serve our city so if we can, you know, i am sorry we don't have one, water or whatever to toast her to thank her for her absolutely extraordinary service. >> where is the camera? there we go. thank you. >> commissioner walker, i count you as one of my friends.

i know you were appointed by the board of supervisors and i was appointed by the mayor's office. we see each other supporting different candidates. i know you remember that. we remained friendly and i appreciate that, and when you came back on the commission, i got to say you helped stabilize this commission. i will take you back 15 years. you remember how difficult it was, but when you came back on, i really appreciated what you did. you were a partner in getting the department to where it is today. i thank you for that. >> one more. debra, as you know, i am not a great public speaker. we talked about this. >> them of an engineer, though.

>> what i want to comment on is maybe a bit specific, but i have found when we have the aab meetings and we are stuck between a rock and hard place, which way do we go? i am amazed how you come up with a third way to save the day. i appreciate that. it goes well beyond my capacity to understanding issues. you understand them quite well, and i want to acknowledge that and commend you for that, and you will be missed. >> thank you. i appreciate that. that really makes me cry. >> next item. >> thank you for your comments. we are going to bring our commissioners back next month for some comments. next is item 4. commissioner's questions and

matters. a -- sorry. item three. general public comment. i apologize. we will take public comment on matters not part of this agenda. >> i would like to thank all commissioners for service. [ inaudible ] >> i am jerry dratler. [ inaudible ]

the revocation to the board of appeals. it was heard on december 4th. >> i will not read d.b.i.'s responses. question one. how many violations were public safety issues? this was asked repeatedly. why did d.b.i. revoke the permits versus suspend? question three. building permits were revoked on same day the two novs were issued. why was there no 30-day period before they were revoked. last question. did the building code violations at 3426 22nd street rise to the level of severity of past permit revocation cases? moving to 25 17th avenue. on november 18th.

i submitted a complaint that building permits be revoked due to numerous violations which resulted in the house occupying two properties for las last yea. they closed it on november 27th stating the outstanding issues had been addressed when they had not been. the very same day, november 22, the project manager showed up at d.b.i. and you approved a 300,000 remodel permit over-the-counter. he approved the permit denied by two d.b.i. employees. first over counter denial occurred on november 19th. you have a copy of a december memo inquiring into the unusual set of events. the second employee who does not

work in the area denied the permit and issued comments for the whole description on the december 12th copy of the permit. you have a copy. as of december 17, 2019, the second denial of comments have been removed for pts. this is a plug forgetting acella working. you have the facts. it is up to the inspection commission to decide if senior management acted correctly and if policy changes should be made and internal controls over permit revocations and over-the-counter permit approvals need to be approved. thank you very much. have a great holiday. >> thank you. this will be passed along. >> any additional public comment? seeing none. item four.

commissioner's questions and matters. a. inquiries to staff. at this time commissioners may make inquiries to staff regarding various documents, policies and practices and procedures, which are of interest to the commission. i believe that the 9:00 a.m. meeting time is not most equitable time to have the building inspection commission. i want to know what we can do to consider having it at a different time. the planning being the afternoon. the overwhelming majority of my generation can make meetings in the afternoon. we have complicated, frustrating generational land use issues that are coming up to a boil in the city, and to be frank, i would like to give our citizens

the biggest opportunity to attend and comment. that said, i have no idea what to do past that. is there a mechanism for that? >> you are doing that. that will be an agenda item to discuss. >> we can put it on the agenda for next month. >> any other commissioners? >> i would love, since i am not going to be here to bring it up later, i think it would be good to in the tenancy have that voice be heard. we have a robust code enforcement outreach to work with non-profits from the

landlord and tenant side to resolve issues so tenancy is not disrupted in the process of code enforcement, and i would love to have the commission discuss the program. the goals, how to do better at reaching it. there is a lot of construction that involves older rent control buildings in general, and i think it would be really good to get a presentation from all of those partners about the work and how they feel they are doing and maybe what is needed. i would suggest that. clearly it would be good to agendize updates as much as possible in our move into the new building and the appropriate business practices and tracking systems. you know, our permit tracking system process as we move so that the commission is involved

with it. i would just leave that as markers. i think all of these things help to some of the issues we deal with constantly about keeping track of projects, access to the data. it is good it is happening now in terms of the building. better updates. that is what i would suggest for the agenda. hopefully, somebody can approve it when i am not here. >> thank you. next item 4b future meetings and agendas. at this time the commission may discuss and take action to set the date of a special meeting and/or derm those items that could be placed on the agenda. >> the committee appointments

for the commissioners comes up so we have the litigation committee, appointments committee that you factor that into the new group of folks coming in and make sure we don't lose track of that. >> we definitely will and february we will vote on committee members at the february meeting. >> is the litigation in january? >> there is one scheduled in january. it would be something to consider. maybe we have to move it up. i didn't think about that. the election of officers. >> i know but it is important because litigation is an important committee to not skip. maybe you have to talk about doing that in january when we have new people in. maybe talk about how that works. >> that is a good idea.

i will follow up on that. is there any further commissioner comments? >> jim. >> is anybody who has been to these knows, one of my deepest concerns is that we build a close relationship with our colleagues and the planning commission, and i know that in response to prior request to have some additional joint sessions that president mccarthy is working with president melgar to do so, and just this one last time i would like to have the marker down to be sure that such a session occurs, and, hopefully, that we almost formalize it to either semi

annual calendared event. i believe that is a critical piece of making our reach effective, coordinated, and certainly goes in step with our now sharing physical facilities together. to that the only thing i would add, mr. dratler brought up a couple specific cases. while the direction of the joint session that i proposed was to have a comprehensive evaluation of all of the kind of problem child cases to understand how they have been resolved, if they are still unresolved or not, i do feel that the specifics of

the two cases that mr. dratler has brought forward now several times do warrant to be calendared and to have a specific response. i would urge that it get on an agenda early in the new term. >> thank you. is there any public comment on item 4a and b? seeing none the next item is item 5. director's report. 5-a. update on d.b.i.'s finances. >> good morning, commissioners. deputy director for the department of building inspection. before you is the november 2019

financial report providing revenues and expenditures for the first drive months july through november 2019. i will go over the highlights and they sound familiar. i have been saying the same thing every month. revenues are $28.7 million compared to $29.3 million last year. pretty much revenues are pretty much stable. a slight decrease is due not because of lower collection from permits but because last year at this time the controller's office had entered interest. expensedyters 27.2 reflecting an increase in salary that went up this work in salaries and work orders that is where you see th increase. we have an increase in expenditures from the cb o. they are turning in invoices

earlier. other than that we are remaining on the right path. our revenues are stable. we are always keeping spending within our budget, and i am happy to answer any questions. >> commissioners. >> seeing none. thank you for being consistent. that is what we aim at. >> 5-b. update on proposed or recently enacted state or local legislation. >> good morning, bill strong legislative and public affairs. as you know, we completed the trcode revocation and adoption. that means come january 1, we will have a new set of codes for the next three years. that part is on the correct path. we have also taken a look at

supervisor peskin's modifications for the housing code for heat improvements to make sure tenants are getting the heat that is required legally. that was passed at the board yesterday. it will go into effect in the next 30-days. i guess the only other item that i wanted to mention was on the state energy commission having passed unanimously the recommendations on a number of cities around california are making to switch away from gas appliances and to have all electric. as you know, berkeley and a few other municipalities have voted for new buildings to do that. san francisco is actually passing an ordinance on municipal buildings. it was very clear from the public testimony at the board a lot of people are ready for

addressing the carbon and climate situation by stepping away from gas. how that will play out with building remains to be seen, but as we know we have a lot of homes in san francisco using mixed fuels. i think that is something that will be engaged with for some time to come. other than that, i think if you have any questions, i am happy to take them. >> construction has to be gas? >> well, that is what they are proposed at the state level. in some municipalities like berkeley the city council passed the ordinance already. it is a matter of implementation. i think it is at least a year away before they start implementing it. >> that is new construction? >> on new construction, right. nobody addressed the retrofitting that will also be

an issue. thank you. >> we will be gone, bill. >> next item 5-c. update on major projects. >> good morning. department of building inspection. compared to last reporting period is increase 3.6%. i think it is due to if new code changes and also somebody talking about indexing of the planning, but that is major thing is the code change to meet the permit. any questions? >> okay. 5-d. update on code enforcement. >> good morning, commissioners.

ed see sweeney. 5338 building inspections performed. complaints 413. complaints with the first notice violation 51. complaints received without no nov253. beta complaints 34. second notice of violations 38. housing inspections performed 714. complaints received 292. complaint responses within 24 to 72 hours 284. complaints with notice of violations issued 112. beta complaints 261. number of cases cents to director hearing 30. routine inspection 63. code enforcement cases 165 to

director. abatements issued 40. cases under advisement 13. cases abatessed 179. code enforcement 321. number of cases referred to bic litigation committee two. we didn't send anything to city attorney. code enforcement outreach total 16,663 reached out to. counseling 1050. community program 2502. cases resolved 313. these are the numbers for november. >> thank you n.public comment on the director's report. seeing none. item 6. review approval of the minutes of the regular meeting november 20, 2019. >> move to approve.

>> second. >> motion and second. any public comment on the minutes? are all commissioners in favor? any opposed. okay. the minutes approved. 7. discussion and possible action on the annual performance evaluation for the director. continued from the october 16, 2019 meeting. any public comment? seeing none. is there a motion to go to closed session? >> moved to go to closed second. >> second. >> motion and second. all commissioners in favor. aye. we are in closed session at 10:10 a.m. we will >> we are ready to reconvene. this is the building inspection

commission continuing our closed session item number 7. this item d reconvene in open session to vote on whether to disclose any our all discussions held in closed discussion. >> i move that we do not disclose. >> second. >> there is a motion and second to not disclose the items in closed session. any public comment? no. all commissioners in favor, aye. >> next is item 8 adjournment. is there a motion to adjourn? >> move. >> second. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> we are now adjourned at 11:0.

>> good morning everyone. let's get started. i am tom mcguire, i am excited to be here today to christen this brand-new increasingly car-free space in hayes valley. remember the freeway over our heads. we took that down.

we didn't stop there. we have been working with the neighbors and residents from the city to make patricia's green and octavia boulevard to have more space to walk and enjoy the valley. we have several speakers sharing about the opening or closing to traffic and opening for people of this section of octavia. i want to thank the mayor, whose leadership has been very strong. i will introduce the district five supervisor valley. >> this is amazing, isn't it. it was interesting because i was standing in the street, and i thought i am in the street, i have got to move. my aid says it is blocked off you don't have to worry.

we are conditioned in streets to watch out. the city is dangerous that way. to actually now be able to stand on this part of octavia boulevard is a dream come true. i remember i was one of the activists when i first started being an activist when we talked about taking down the freeway. i remember so many said you can't do that because the west side of the city needs the freeway. maybe not. i also want to remember patricia walk up. she was the one that really inspired us all to think different and say, no, just because it was that way doesn't mean it is right and it doesn't mean it has to stay that way. when i think about this, i think about the hayes valley neighborhood association and a lot of them are here.

they are a neighborhood that says let's do something different. we don't have to do things the way the city has always done them. take the parcels here. i was a legislative aid when we were discussing these parcels. one of the things people said, and people in the city. i won't say who. they said i think we should keep them fenced off until we put housing. the neighborhood and people said let's try something new. then someone said i will take ahead of that. i will take that forward. now you have all of this space that everybody loves, and you know down to the beer garden. remember the actual neighborhood garden that we had. all of those spaces that were activating this neighborhood. now with the situation how can we make octavia and the

neighborhood safer for pedestrians, bicycles, and this a lot of you know page street is going to have a protected bike lane now, which is something we have been talking about for years, also. it will be one way going up. it is not be a freeway feeder any more, which will make a huge difference for the people living here. one thing we don't want is everyone from all over the city rushing to octavia boulevard to get on the freeway. one of the first things i did when i got into office is asked for a major traffic study for the area. it had been over 10 years since they had one. to go all the way up to see how can we divert traffic from this area? people on the west side if they need the freeway, they can get there. they don't all have to get into

hayes valley to go to the freeway. this portion of octavia came up. how can this be safer. as we know, and we have seen so many people walk from the coffee shop with coffee and phone in hand, not looking and walking across to the park. not a safe way to do it, but it just happens all of the time. how can we make this safer? we looked at closing it off, and making it a bike lane. this has always been a bike lane. if you have ridden your bike on page street or down from page street it is not safe. people are looking for parking and everything else so when i look at this now and look at what is happening and how fast you actually did this s.f.m.t.a. because so many things take so 0

years. this moved fast. this is something that i think people need to be thanked for advocacy and what they have done. i want to thank the whole team at s.f.m.t.a. they made this a reality. i want to say thank you. i know you get beat up a lot when you come to neighborhoods for new ideas. we thank you because we see the difference. walk sf and the bike coalition, thank you for being there to doing better for people who want alternative transportation. phil ginsburg and steve at rec and park said let's try new things. to look at the park extending over is something they really encouraged, also, and supported. as i said, the hayes valley neighborhood association. thank you very much for everything that you do.

you have made this an amazing neighborhood because people a lot of times think it is the city. it is the community and the community activists that make the neighborhood amazing. i want to say thank you very much. the merchants association. right now i want to bring up someone, lloyd silversteen from the hayes valley merchants association to say a few words how he feels about this space. where is lloyd? thank you very much everyone. [applause] >> thanks everybody for coming this morning on an overcast day. i want to say a few thank u.s. i am the new kid in the block. i moved from union square where i had a four generation business and i am thrilled to be here. i want to thank the mayor and supervisor brown and s.f.m.t.a.

and gail baugh for dragging me in, kidnapping ne, a labor of love and it makes these things move forward. i wanted to speak from personal experience. when is this happened i thought it would have a negative affect on the business. the city was smart enough to do trial runs to see how it was going to work. whoever they hired to do the traffic studies nailed this. most of the traffic that comes this direction off octavia is going east or west. if they are going north, not this way. in point of fact, when the streets were closed off for the trials we on linden so no impact. this was our first and hopefully not the last living alley. part of the beautification of this street was to encourage

pedestrians and merchants. i think we were able to accomplish both by blocking this off without a big impact. this is a bunch of thank u.s. from me and the merchants. i encourage the city to keep the open space here. housing is something we all need, but protecting the open space is a good thing. the day this opened there was a bunch of skateboarders and it was cool to watch. that is all i had to say. i am going to introduce bryan from the bike coalition. he can say a few words. thank you everybody for making this happen. [applause] >> thank you so much, lloyd. i am the executive director of the san francisco bicycle coalition. it is my distinct pleasure to be here on a beautiful san francisco day to celebrate this

space improved and remade for people right here in hayes valley. i will thank you, super visor brown. your leadership on this project and improvements throughout district 5 during your time in offers and during your time on staff for supervisor breed has been inspirational and key to getting the kinds of safety improvements we need in this neighborhood and across the rest of san francisco to improve biking for all residents. deep appreciation from everybody who rides a bike in this city. thank you, supervisor. i want to extend that thanks to mayor breed. her leadership provided support for this project. i am excited to see that continued leadership spread to more projects in the city. i want to thank walk san

francisco. this doesn't just benefit people who bike in the city but all of us who walk, that is about everybody here today. our community partners at the heys valley neighborhood association and merchants association. you have been a pleasure do work with. our memberships overlap. our office is here and we are members of the hayes valley neighborhood association. thank you for your support. this project, it has been said, really goes back to reimagining what the streetscapes look like with the teardown of the central freeway two decades ago now. that certainly thinking about that started over two decades ago. that dream of streets and neighborhood spaces that put people first is continuing today right here on octavia boulevard at patricia's green. we celebrate the beautiful space now open for peak walking and

biking but the bike lane behind us is going to allow people biking to have a safe connection northbound on to octavia to continue their journey. this is really, i hope, what is the start of a trend that we are going to see across san francisco that we can think creatively about the streets as active transportation thoroughfares and places for people first. we have a small space here we are starting with. the two blocks on either side on octavia. i want to see and the members want to see this kind of space expand across our city. to take what hayes valley knows works and prove that it can work in other commercial corridors and other neighborhood streets across the city. i couldn't get up here today and speak without mentioning the great changes we are going to

see coming on page street and to thank as well the hayes valley neighbors and merchants and supervisor brown for your leadership with a key connector for those who bike and transforming it to a safer place and not a freeway off and onramp. i can't wait to ride my bike on this street and with that i want to introduce or neighbors here and the great space that we are standing in front of. douglas burn hum from the proxy. >> hello everyone. i am the founder of envelope, texture andy sign. we are the crea turs and curators and stewards of proxy. today i am here as a witness. a wit to an exemplary public process by the s.f.m.t.a. on

this street closure. kc and mark and the whole s.f.m.t.a. team have been incredible leaders in this project. i want to sort of give my take on it. their process here. they had a rigorous pace of public meetings and information sessions that looking at my e-mails went back almost five years of just when this discussion about this closure began. they implemented live prototyping of this street closure, very low cost way to kind of test whether the closure would be possible and what the impacts would be. they have been in constant communication with the neighbors, with the businesses, and with the neighborhood on

this developing idea of the closure. kc, mark and the s.f.m.t.a. along with mayor breed, the hayes valley neighborhood association, vallie brown and sf park and rec. they have a vision for the city for a safer public realm. we have been questioning the outside role that the automobile has had on the city over the last century. they have been responsive to the negative impacts the constant stream of vehicles on this public space has had. they have been responsive to these emerging public spaces. there is an implicit understanding that the city, though it appears to be

incredibly fixed and rigid, is a flexible thing that can be responsive to the citizens and to community input. i would like to end as a temporary steward of this place to thank everyone for their tire less vision and for this closure and for making possible this safety improvement for the enjoyment of the citizens and visitors of san francisco. thanks. i will hand it back to tom. >> thank you all for the kind words. i think it is time to get the scissors out and cut the ribbon. three, two, one.

(applause).