creating a better city environment is up to everyone. nhk world, wuhan. >>> time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item sent by slrc sri lanka. sri lanka's first solar power plant was inaugurated on monday. the 500 kilowatt project has been funded by south korea at a cost of $3.8 million. the electricity is expected to save 200, of fuel a year and cut carbon monoxide emissions. by 2020, the government intends to increase the share of renewable energy in the national grid from the current 6% to 20%. and is planning several solar powered plants in other parts of the country. >>> malaysian cargo ships -- to protect them from pirates as this move through. a ceremony was held on monday to launch the second container ship to be modified to serve as an auxiliary vessel. in 2008, the malaysian navy deployed five ships to combat piracy. >>> in china august 8th has been designated as national fitness day to mark the start of the 2008 olympic games. visitors of all ages went into the bi

creating a better city environment is up to everyone. nhk world, wuhan. >>> time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item sent by slrc sri lanka. sri lanka's first solar power plant was inaugurated on monday. the 500 kilowatt project has been funded by south korea at a cost of $3.8 million. the electricity is expected to save 200,000 liters of fuel a year and cut carbon monoxide emissions. by 2020, the government intends to increase the share of renewable energy in the national grid from the current 6% to 20%. and is planning several solar powered plants in other parts of the country. >>> malaysian cargo ships -- to protect them from pirates as this move through. a ceremony was held on monday to launch the second container ship to be modified to serve as an auxiliary vessel. in 2008, the malaysian navy deployed five ships to combat piracy. >>> in china august 8th has been designated as national fitness day to mark the start of the 2008 olympic games. visitors of all ages went i

congratulations to all the community ambassadors for their commitment and passion to making sanfrancisco a better city. [applause] >> thank you, jenny. before we introduce the ambassadors, we would like to make a special thank you to some of the community advocates who have really pushed and inspired us to do better, and not just once, but every day, i hear from at least one of them. you have already heard their names, sharon hewitt, marlene tram, roger 10, eddie tseng. [applause] thank you so much, you are our inspiration. now we are going to introduce the community ambassadors team. as mayor lee said, in 2010 last year following a series of high- profile assaults, community activists demanded action. our city leaders responded. notnl

congratulations to all the community ambassadors for their commitment and passion to making sanfrancisco a better citypplause] >> thank you, jenny. before we introduce the ambassadors, we would like to make a special thank you to some of the community advocates who have really pushed and inspired us to do better, and not just once, but every day, i hear from at least one of them. you have already heard their names, sharon hewitt, marlene tram, roger 10, eddie tseng. [applause] thank you so much, you are our inspiration. now we are going to introduce the community ambassadors team. as mayor lee said, in 2010 last year following a series of high- profile assaults, community activists demanded action. our city leaders responded. not only responded, but excelled because of their commitment and leadership. so we have concluded in june a successful yearlong pilot with very positive results, and more important, the community felt like they were a part of this program. this is all about the community, regardless of how panty the uniforms look or how many praises you hear from people. it is about the community

this city has the money shining like a silver plane the goddess of everything i know we want better change city, you have got it yes, city, you have got it. you are ready audit yes, city, you have got it you are the audit you are the city pride and joy the goddess of the city changed and you know i want some better change and i am wanted now i see and you have got it. yes, city, you are the audit you are the city audit you are the god of change and you have got it, keep it green, i mean it yes, city, you have got it you are the city audit you are the city pride of joy supervisor campos: next speaker please. >> good morning, my name is douglas yepp, and i have lived in san francisco for 59 years. i would like to thank the sponsor for this hearing. it is way overdue, and i would like to offer my own support for having the city services auditor working like a watchdog, rather than -- rather than a lap dog. i was happy to hear the gift fund come up for discussion. the reason why, i would like to recommend to everyone in this room read today's letter to the editor in "the examiner." the title i

so the experts that i know, they think that the money is much better spent building better city, building better communities and being better prepared for hurricanes. >> interesting, because as you say, there's a politics even to -- a politics of weather interference. you don't want one state angry at another even if you could figure out how to do this. talk a little how you all do your work, trying to track these things? it's only at moments like this that we become aware of this huge infrastructure and the incredible efforts and skills of so many professionals trying to help alert folks to exactly what's going to happen. what's it like in terms of your own -- you know, nor shop. who's doing what? and how do you stay abreast of all of this? >> well, we've got 200 meteorologists here, and there's a tropical team. dr. rick knabb you see in the morning. me in the evening. you'll see carl park e, kim cunningham, all with tropical experience, and decades and decades and decades, when you add it all up, and then we have behind-the-scenes people that are tropical experts as well. so we analyze

city's economic development. are we on the right track? what would you like to change about the approach to developing the economy? >> we are getting better. the city as got more proactive about attracting businesses and new industries and providing incentives for them to come and stay here. it is still a very expensive place to do business in terms of the cost of labor, land. we need to make sure that we are not taxing businesses to the point that it is not profitable and we are not attractive for them to be here. we need to reform our payroll tax. that is an incentive not to create jobs. i know the board president david chu is working on possibility this there -- possibilities there. i look forward to working with him. we've targeted efforts to revitalize areas and bring industries here with the tax holiday and proposal introduced yesterday relating to parts of the tenderloin to provide some payroll tax relief to encourage businesses like twitter and others to go there. >> the governor has proposed eliminating funding for redevelopment agencies. what is your opinion of the plan? what are your thoughts on the value of redevelopment agenc

as a city, we need to do much better at creating an environment where we have more jobs and economic velopment. we are also extremely challenge in our public transit. we talk about being a transit first city, but everyone has had the experience of sitting in gridlock, waiting for the bus, trying to hail that tab, walking on pedestrian sidewalks that are not particularly safe. as a city, we need to do more to invest in the first-class transportation system. >> what are some of the biggest issues facing your district? >> in addition to the local economy that impacts the merchant corridors, to many vacant storefronts, transit issues, in every neighborhood we're having a real conversation about how we change, whether we should preserve aspects of the important characters of our neighborhood or think about building new things. there is also a real discussion we're having in many neighborhoods about affordability. i hear from too many tenants in the process of being evicted, homeowners being foreclosed on. we need to think about how all of us can continue to live in a city where the whole w