that's why we have this workshop. we clear all the questions that the parents have.am i going to have to pay this back in a year, two years, three years? no, it's free money. that's why we have this workshop and we have it from usually 3:00 to 8:00, five-hour span so the parents can come after work and they're able to have their questions answered. we definitely take our time with them to make sure that they go without any unanswered questions. >> sonja, how safe with are these funds right now? we all know what's going on in sacramento. the state budget it is what it is. they're trying to find every direction to pull money from. how safe are -- is the financial aid situation in california? >> specifically for the cal grad program which has been from year to year fluctuated in terms of its funding and ability to continue the program itself as it is in its entirety. we are hoping that the program will not be cut by the budget cut. there is talk that there might be some reductions, not understand whatting that reduction could mean. it could mean students that are previo

first-time college students. >> of course, and that's why we have this workshop.e clear all the questions that the parents ask. am i going to have to pay this back in a year, in two years, in three years? no. it's free money. that's why we have this workshop, and we have them from usually three to eight -- five-hour span so the parents can come after work and they're able to have their questions answered. we definitely take our time with them to make sure that they go without my unanswered questions. >> how safe are these funds right now? we know what's going on with sacramento. the state budget is what it is. we're trying to fiend every direction to pull money from. how safe are -- is the financial aid situation in california? >> specifically for the cal grad program which has been from year to year fluctuated in terms of its funding and ability to continue the program itself as it is inspect its entirety, we are hoping that the program will not be xwkted by the budget cuts, although there is some talk that there may be some reductions. not necessarily understand

whether it's a reading at a workshop or if they are in the festival for emerging artists. lot of people say they never started thinking of themselves as an artist until they perform indeed that festival. the feedback i get when i talk to people is that they have a unique sense of home when they come here and also of feeling they are part of a very rare community that's strong and giving and rich. not everybody will have material that's about asian americans. not everybody will have work where you look at it and say that's an identity piece exploring their family and history. what we are trying to do is create a space for asian american artists and community members to come together and think about what it means to be asian american and how there is not a strict definition of that but it's changing and expanding and also relevant it's relevant to all of national issues. and human issues personal issues. >> these conversations are taking place at a unique time in kerny street's history. original ksw measures are interacting be artists. ksw's community acrosses in generatio g

that's the way the workshop is going to go. i will pass it along to our panelists to introduce themselves and talk about their organizations. thank you, again, for coming. [applause] >> hello i'm charl davis program direct for the mo magic which is western addition fillmore of adolescent growth in our communities. i'm a resident of the western addition and been doing work in the community before this was organized. mo magic is part of the bay view mag i believing in the public defentders office it started in the bay view in 2004. last year supervisor mirkarimi liked the work that was doing done with be magic and wanted it expanded to the western edition. as of november of last year the program was organized. it seeks to bring community based organizations. cities and residents to talk about how to best serve the community and how we can work all together. we meet every other week in the western addition to discuss that. even though it's focused on the western addition we try to work with everyone in district 5. in serving the y

. >> and can you describe to me who comes to these workshops? >> during the first year, because there are very, very few, but everybody in the neighborhood came to the workshop, children, seniors, different areas, and they do the lantern festival in their area, but they do not have the technology. if you go to a place where you have a filipino household, chances are, they have the lanterns, because that is a symbol of hope and blessings, so, therefore, filipinos identified with the lanterns -- identifiey with the lanterns. it is a great collaboration. they are more connected with this community, but then to showcase them and their performance, their profession, the festival, and the most prestigious award of the year -- >> i want to thank you so much for sharing this insight with us here on "culture wire" and bringing this cultural tradition to san francisco. >> a thank you. >> the bards commission has played a leading role -- >> thank you. >> the bards communication has played a leading role. ®Ñdcommis sion has played a leading role. thank you

over the last 18 months, we went through hearings and workshops and public workshops and hours and hours of discussion and came up with goals and levels of service for the waste water system. i'm going to run through these five, and then we will start drilling into what the project are in a sewer system improvement program, what size we want to look for in the future, and getting started. the first goal is provide reliable, resilience, and flexible systems that can respond to catastrophic events. that is to do with compliance with state and federal regulatory requirements, really making sure that all of our equipment is up and running during the wet weather events and making sure that our collection system is utilizing capacity. our combined sewer system is unique in that we are holding everything, capturing everything and trying to treat it. we want to make sure that our critical functions have 100% redundant. the force mains i showed you, we are concerned because we want to be able to have two ways to be able to convey that much flow, or a rupture could cause waste water into the bay o

a special budget workshop meeting. >> any additions or corrections? all those in favor? it is approved. >> general public comment, members may address the public -- members of the public may address the commission on members -- items within our jurisdiction. >> the afternoon, thank you for hearing me. i like to thank the general manager and staff. in support of the infrastructure development. i just wanted to introduce myself and provide an invitation to the public utilities commission for a conference to be held in coordination with the federal government tomorrow. information is in the folder. we have been in the improved labor compliance program. i am one of 40 certified consultant in the state of california to provide assistance. we have been able to collect over $2 million or a correction meeting to be made. we are interested in facilitating contractors that are having problems making sure that the local hire requirements are fulfilled. we would like to express our support for that. it is certified by human-rights commission. i have a master's in

the focus of this workshop not the workshop the summit today is tow repeatedly hit us over the head with hurricane katrina when the compliment to that which is an earthquake the stronger neighborhoods will survive and the ones that are capable will dealing with a variety of issues and used to talking to one another a buddy system of a variety of levels. because i heard alarming things about the new orleans neighborhoods that in neighborhoods in new orleans in which there was not the history of conversations or history of shared projects and activism. the decision about the future of the neighborhoods whether they would exist or not is being made by the federal government and many of the neighborhoods will be park lands. that's the opposite extreme of what you want to have happen in san francisco. san francisco is about neighborhoods but some neighborhoods are better than another. community challenge grants are a fun way to stimulate these conversations. i want to point out a few great people in the room that you don't already know. give you examples of further examples of what things are

we had a series of workshops, opportunities for community members to come and talk with us in person, including in my office. we had a variety of documents on our website. we will certainly build on those here. commissioner maufas: thank you. my second question was -- you mentioned the shift on some government programs to the local level. i know we do not have the full breadth of understanding of what those things will be, but will we have some idea of what is involved? >> we can certainly give a more detailed description of those specific proposals. we can do that either at the next board meeting on february 8 as part of our budget update -- commissioner maufas: i think probably as we go along, anything you know and that we can let our families and staff know would be appreciated. thank you. president mendoza: thank you. >> great. commissioners, this evening we have two distinguished service and special service awards. to present the first distinguished service award, i would like to call the assistant superintendent to talk about the first award. >> good evening, commissioners. it i

we have been held there since spring 2009, and number of workshops that planning has hosted, workshops the sfmta has posted related to parking and transportation, we have been at the glen park neighborhood association meetings, and have been working closely with other agencies. we have also done office hours at the glen park recreation center, if people had questions, made ourselves available that way. people have been really involved, and that is great for our work. there are a variety of opinions, of course. in general, when we released the draft last september, we opened a comment period for this, we got about 70 different comments from different people. generally, there was support of the plan, which was good to hear. of course, they did not agree on all the different aspects. pedestrian improvements, pedestrian safety came through loud and clear as something people wanted improved. in terms of the transportation projects, people are interested in the transportation projects, supported the bigger ones, but wanted to see smaller, near term projects. people are tired of waiting. this

and the commission has been interested in that enough so it's held workshops with all parties, utilities, ourselves and our allies and there's been discussion about the way that the exit fee has been calculated, what goes into that, is it appropriate and is it unbiased unfairly in favor of utilities, and from participating in those myself along with our regulatory staff and others, there definitely seems to be i would say a broader consensus certainly on staff at the cpuc and just the higher level cpuc by, you know, having staff be looking at this question that there's interest in moving forward on that. >> and would any changes require any statewide legislation that could be done in the cpuc? >> this is within the pevey of the cpuc and regular setting of rules. it's not the type of thing you generally would see in state legislation, i believe, because it's fairly wonky. it's the type of things we're arguing about is what type of factor should be included in reaching the benchmark portfolio price for the cost of renewable energy and how do you figure out what is a fair benchmark renewabl

we taught a workshop, and we showed an example. the more people start thinking about accessibility, they will come up with their own solutions, because it is not really rocket science. as far as highlighting businesses, it is an interesting idea. i am not sure how people to the. -- how people do that. getting that information will make it so people can look at how people solve the problem, because it is really just problem-solving and a sixth of. >> any further questions? >> have you ever encountered in a situation that could never be solved, given the few just say, given seven out of faith, the eighth one will be insurmountable? >> skycam mentioned, there was one project that came through -- as i mentioned, there was one business that came through there was no way. we would recommend other businesses that are acceptable or provide home delivery. i did one project where they put an intercom at the street level, and there is no way to put an elevator to the small restaurant at the second floor, press the button, and we will take you

the 20 inmates in the workshop all hold associate of arts degree from patton university if oakland.he school run workshop is supported by the law school. >>> the 20 by 30-foot mural that was on display in the demolished terminal c has been installed now in the new terminal. it shows the regions history from native americans to spanish explorers. it was peeled off and remounded outside gate 15. >>> and showers were close to us today. they were just offshore, let me show you what we have. a short system center. what we have right now is this system tracking downright down the coast. it's going to kick in around south of point conception. northern baja and southern california. we get a break but the next one has the same trajectory. notice the flow, it's just dropping straight down. we have one building up in the arctic region that's going to drop right down over the top of us. where they come from is where they're about. this one came from the north. it was a colder system, that's why we had snow over the weekend. the next one is even colder. doesn't get here till thursday but definit

the 20 inmates in the workshop all hold associate of arts degree from patton university if oakland. the school run workshop is supported by the law school. >>> the 20 by 30-foot mural that was on display in the demolished terminal c has been installed now in the new terminal. it shows the regions history from native americans to spanish explorers. it was peeled off and remounded outside gate 15. >>> and showers were close to us today. they were just offshore, let me show you what we have. a short system center. what we have right now is this system tracking downright down the coast. it's going to kick in around south of point conception. northern baja and southern california. we get a break but the next one has the same trajectory. notice the flow, it's just dropping straight down. we have one building up in the arctic region that's going to drop right down over the top of us. where they come from is where they're about. this one came from the north. it was a colder system, that's why we had snow over the weekend. the next one is even colder. doesn't get here till thursday but defin

we have no way of contacting you once this workshop is over unless you sign in. i particularly as coalition for san francisco neighborhoods would like to have especially those who said they want to start new organizations or revitalize an organization to get in contact with me or give me your information personally so i can help you with that. as to treasure island i'm going to have to pass on that one to somebody else but i could help you with your organization. not as a specific geographical. >> i'd like to address your question. may be we need to talk off line but it's engaging the residents everything starts as a seed. any idea even with our neighborhood watch programs on a block by block level what we are doing is getting 2 or 3 residents together they form critical mass and they meet and it's a gathering a seed process you have to water it. if there are 3 or 4 of you interested in creating a neighborhood association. put up a flyer at the coffee shop and may be you will get more joining you. it will flower if you are consistent with your meetings. you need

this actual workshop is what we call a 30,000 feet aerial view of what we do. the lower haight motd we created a few models for safety and some are complex and a lot of information. we are going to give you just a little bit of this today. we will talk about how to connect with the different city agencies, your supervisors, your captain at our station. the city attorney's office and beat officers or street officers. one of the things that i would like toit introduce the panel. captain from northern station. regina from the legislative aid of ross mirkarimi one of our supervisors. from the da's office. the president of our merchant's association of the lower haight. ron, a beat officer and antoine another beat officer. the city attorney was at our morning session this morning and had to leave. regina and i work with the city attorneys office and will talk about that today in the lower haight or modo is to build a safe and caring neighborhood and foster that. we believe to build a safe neighborhood you have to build a caring neighborhood. it goes hand and hand. o

so we held a workshop and had all of the agencies that would aid us in recovery there. we had even we provided residents with text messaging assistance for elderly who never texted before. one of the things we realized after the storm we could not use our cell phones even when we were evacuated. the cell phones were down. one thing you could do was text. it was interesting. you can send a text message. we are trying to get our residents give them the knowledge to do that should we need to evacuate again. and this is just an example of a flyer for our expo and you have to tailor it to the diversity of your community. making sure what other dialects or languages that are present in your neighborhood that you address that. and you make sure that you are inclusive to everyone. just an example of our agenda for our expo. and the communications, this is a piece that we have come up with post katrina and that is a 1-800 evacuation check in number that our residents can call into in the event that we must evacuate. residents can call and let the improvement association know whe

evaluate this workshop it helps with the others we might have. the message before we open it up to you is that i will say this, you can start with onor 2 people. power is right here. these are our resources. they are our partners. we are a team. i consider them my friends and a team. but it's the community thal drive everything you do in your community. all the good and positive will be driven by you. we will open it up. are there questions? >> wow! we were good this time. >> okay. >> [inaudible] >> uh-huh. >> well, what we do and actually m oh , magic cheryl davis is on the community building panel. we work with them alot. mo magic came out of bay view. what she does and what we all do is volunteer and go to the meetings, is they actually find all of the different support and community based organizations from youth on up, families. they connect it to the community. they have a special events the black and white ball was put on by the mo magic. we did a call out and said come and volunteer at the black and white ball. even though it's not no in

predominantly have been clamoring to get revisited for years and the commission hasn't even had a workshop. we've been very interested in doing much about that through various procedural mechanisms, we've been requesting along with our allies, that the commission relook at that and start developing more of a record and see if the rules for setting the -- the mathematic method for calculating what the exit fee should be, if that should be revisited. and the commission has been interested in that enough so it's held workshops with all parties, utilities, ourselves and our allies and there's been discussion about the way that the exit fee has been calculated, what goes into that, is it appropriate and is it unbiased unfairly in favor of utilities, and from participating in those myself along with our regulatory staff and others, there definitely seems to be i would say a broader consensus certainly on staff at the cpuc and just the higher level cpuc by, you know, having staff be looking at this question that there's interest in moving forward on that. >> and would any changes require any stat

based upon those questions, we will direct them to the sba for workshops, courses. there is other entities that also provide workshop courses score as well in terms of helping to write business plans. also helping to educate the distinction between the micro lender, our bank, and our larger financial institutions and how those lending -- what is the difference in how this entities will lend, in addition to the sba loans that are available. also in response to the economic crisis, which hit a couple of months after we open our doors, the mayor reinstated the revolving loan fund, and we partnered with tmc working solutions, which is a micro lender, to provide a loan fund for start of an existing businesses to help them. today, that loan has given out 23 loans, and they are averaging around $15,000 or $25,000 each. another unique thing that the city is doing in terms of helping our businesses and dealing with capital needs is as a city, sometimes, we implement regulations, and you would think that might require some substantial capital for small businesses to do an und