. >> if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encoura >> welcome to culture wire. we're going to take a look at one of the biggest and most significant public art projects today. ♪ on june 26, mayor newsom and other officials gathered at the hospital to cut the ribbon and welcome the public into a beautiful new state-of-the-art facility. >> 3, 2, 1. [applause] >> in has been 10 years since voters approved the measure for the new building. >> when they cast the vote, we have an exciting opportunities to rethink how art is done in a hospital setting. >> replacement program generated approximately $3.9 million in art enrichment funds for a comprehensive art program that contributes to the quality of life at the hospital by enhancing the environment and supporting the hospital's needs and therapeutic goals. artists were commissioned to create 100 original works of art. as was for the gardens and courtyard areas. >> be artwork does more than just hang on the wall. it will enhance the t

whether or not we consider ourselves a local city, our regional city, an international city, it is job creation that makes the city run well. for all of us here, i know you have great hope that the city will be able to have decent jobs here that can maintain, that they can spend a good amount of their careers in, and that is why i spend a lot of time with chief adviser kim and supervisor david chiu and the other supervisors talking about how we can sustain the midmarket. that is why we passed a week ago the midmarket payroll tax exemption. we wanted to welcome new companies into the city and understand what it was blocking their ability to stay and to grow. to hear a company -- not just from the cfo, from the president. when i visited twitter, i closed the door and they allowed me to speak to their engineers, to their workers, to the people doing the engineering work atwitter. as we closed the door, i laid out -- ok, kids. what do you really want out of the city? in very plain language, they said, "mayor lee, we like the culture of the city. we like the local restaurants. we like that

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> good morning. good afternoon. i think some of those of you who are standing could take a seat over in a chair if you would like to. welcome. my name is ann warner cribs. i'm a 1960 olympian, but i as swimming, not in ping-pong. i am the president and ceo of the san francisco bay organizing committee. we are so honored to be part of this 40th anniversary celebration of ping-pong diplomacy, and we are honored to welcome the delegation from china. welcome. the promotion of peace and good sports is one of our missions. ping-pong diplomacy is what i love about the will of the games because it brings the world together through sport. ping-pong diplomacy is probably the best demonstration of the power of sport in diplomacy over the past 50 years, so i congratulate all of you. i shou

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> foreign language speaking. [applause]. >> foreign language speaking. [applause]. >> foreign language speaking. [applause]. >> foreign language speaking. w3 >> i am very happy to be here. i feel very honored to have been asked to interpret this poem and make it a song. it's funny because something like two days before he asked me to do this, i was thinking to myself, i wonder what it would be like to write a song to the poetry. the reason i love the poem that we chose is because everything that i love in this poem, it's different, but, it has this magic in it and it's what you heard in spanish. of unexpected and beautiful things being placed next to each other in a way that surprises you and makes you realize life is always magical. here it is. [music] >> this is the way the w

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> being a pedestrian in san francisco is not easy for anybody. >> [inaudible] people push tables and chairs outside the sidewalk. >> i have to be careful not to walk the sidewalk. it is very hard. >> sometimes people get half way across the intersection. >> you have to be alert because there is always something coming up that you need to know about. >> i learned to listen to the traffic patterns. sometimes i notice the other pedestrians, they are crossing, on occasion, i have decided i'm going to cross, too. i get to the middle of the intersection, and i find out that the light has changed. >> we need to be able to work and go from one place to the other and have public transportation. the world needs to be open. >> people on disability has the task of addressing all the disabi

two local city guys. >> there you go. >> the san francisco cons tri of flowers in golden gate park is now showing a new exhibit that changes the way we see the plants around us. amy stewart's best-selling book, "wicked plants" is the inspiration behind the new exhibit that takes us to the dark side of the plant world. >> i am amy stewart. i am the arthur of "wicked plants," the weeds that killed lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities. with the screens fly trap, that is kind of where everybody went initially, you mean like that? i kind of thought, well, all it does is eat up bugs. that is not very wicked. so what? by wicked, what i mean is that they are poisonous, dangerous, deadly or immoral or maybe illegal or offensive or awful in some way. i am in the profession of going around and interviewing botanists, horticulturalists and plant scientists. they all seem to have some little plant tucked away in the corner of a greenhouse that maybe they weren't supposed to have. i got interested in this idea that maybe there was a dark side to plants. >> the white snake root. people wh

we pulled together some numbers about what is going on, and i stopped counting after 100 local dot-com's. 14 city-wide newspapers, 13 ethnic, 16 different neighborhood papers. the high schools, the special interest things, universities, tv stations, radio stations. together, those add up to 100 units of local coverage, and that is not counting all the new stock that venture capitalists like we fund in the jungle all the time. this is at some level deflowering of local journalism that happen because it is cheap to be in business now. you do not have to have a big printing press and truckers and unions and all those things. you can be right in the business in a way that was impossible in the last 25 years. i think there is a flowering going on of local journalism and lots of capital chasing that opportunity right now. >> would you agree with that? when you look at local news, do you think it is being covered well by the sources that were just cited? >> i think in the san francisco area that is true. that is probably not true in all areas, but we are seeing with the development of patch and many oth

two local city guys. >> there you go.ervisor chiu: i fully appreciate the concerns raised by some tenant leaders. i would never supported the project if i did not feel comfortable that tenant rights have been protected here with parker said -- part merced. i say this as one of the few tenants on the board of supervisors, who has been a staunch advocate of tenants before i was elected and with my votes on this board. my parents immigrated to the united states in the 1960's, and i was the first kid born in the u.s. my parents sacrificed everything so that their kids could have the opportunities that they wanted when they came here. i grew up in the boston area, live in different parts of boston, went to a catholic high school in dorchester, which is a section of boston. because of my parents work and the opportunities they gave me, my brothers and i were all blessed to go to harvard university. it was intense. i stayed there for college, for law school, and i also have a master's in public policy there. those are subjects i

narrator: sandhogs are the men of local 147, who work deep below the city. they began building the infrastructure of new york in 1872. from the subways to the sewers, the water tunnels to the highway tunnels, new york city thrives because of their work. ryan: you got one little hole in the ground, and nobody knows we're here. see the empire state building, right. that's 1,000 feet. so you figure, you go down 1,000. how high that is -- that's how far we go down. narrator: stretching more than 60 miles under the city, tunnel 3 is taking generations of workers to complete. ryan: i don't even want to imagine what my father had to go through. when we first started, it was a rough job. everything was dynamite. now, they have these machines called "moles." it's like a big drill, and it just cuts right through the ground. so there's no more dynamite. and it's still a rough job, but it's gotten to a point where it's a lot safer. in the '70s, we lost a man a mile basically. here, maybe we've had two or three deaths in the last 20 years, which is too much anyway, but i

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> foreign language speaking.

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> we do not have a quorum right now. we will start with non-action items and hopefully we will have a quorum when we have action items we have to address. please call the roll. >> commissioner diazjoseph. >> commissioner joseph: here. >> commissioner roja: >> here. >> members may address the commission for up to three minutes at such a time the item is called. does anyone want to address the commission on an item not on tonight's jeagenda? >> i want to say that folks in the north beach corridor are anxiously anticipating the passage of the limited live entertainment area. there are businesses entering in, very excited about the opportunity with this legislation to pass. it is an accessory use so it will help some of the businesses adjust their models. it will be a warm and invi

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> good evening and welcome to the board of appeals. we're joined by representatives from the planning department and the department of building inspection. we are joined by a -- representing the department of public health. at this time, if you would please go over the meeting guidelines and then conduct the swearing in process. >> the board request that you will turn off all phones and pagers so they will not disturb the proceedings. the rules of presentation are as follows, appellants, permit holders, and a part of representatives each have seven minutes to present and three minutes for rebuttal. people affiliated must conclude their comments within the time given. those who are not affiliated with the party have up to three minutes each to address the board. to assist the bo

our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> hello, good evening. welcome everyone to the 2011 you for your awards ceremony where we honor the amazing accomplishments of 15 of the most lot inspiring and wonderful leaders of san francisco. i am the youth advocacy coordinator of the youth empowerment bond, part of the department of children and youth and their families. i have had a wonderful honor of working with the 50 warriors in the past five months. each warrior before you was nominated by a community-based organization and has dedicated their knowledge, skills, and talents to improving the lives of others living in san francisco. although all warriors are similar in their passion for community change, may differ greatly in their path to positive change. through making documentaries, political organizing, creative workshops, and even boxing, they h

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> hi, everybody. my name is carmen chu. why don't we get started. with a marking up with the department of small business -- we have been working with the department of small business. this project started when we heard from neighborhood merchants. unfortunately, they had access issues, visibility access issues. we have been working closely with many of our partners year today to educate about these -- many of our partners year today to educate about these issues. also in terms of board guidance. i want to thank all of you for coming. many of you may have assistance. i know many merchants could not be here. please do it share this information with other merchants in the area. we have virginia from the office of small business. we have roger from the bar association. no carla jo

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call mayor lee: good morning. thank you for coming out here. you know the san francisco general hospital rebuild it is one of the most important projects the city has ever undertaken. as you recall back in 2008, the voters voted hysterically leave largest general obligation bond project in our history. that project -- this project was required by state seismic laws that we must replace our hospital and it must be seismically safe. you see behind me the team of people who have been assembled and have been working together for the last two and a half years. a few were working together even before the 2008 passage to ensure this was engineer properly. we learned from the past if we did not invest in the engineering assets of this, we would be surprised. so, our general hospital staff, t

two local city guys. >> there you go. >> hi, everybody. my name is carmen chu. why don't we get started. with a marking up with the department of small business -- we have been working with the department of small business. this project started when we heard from neighborhood merchants. unfortunately, they had access issues, visibility access issues. we have been working closely with many of our partners year today to educate about these -- many of our partners year today to educate about these issues. also in terms of board guidance. i want to thank all of you for coming. many of you may have assistance. i know many merchants could not be here. please do it share this information with other merchants in the area. we have virginia from the office of small business. we have roger from the bar association. no carla johnson from the office of disability. -- we have carla johnson from the office of disability. i want to especially it acknowledge my colleague to help us get the resources and brought legal expertise to the table. i do not want to take too much of your

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call hello, and welcome to the department of elections ranked-choice voting instructional video. this video is part of the department of elections' ranked-choice voting outreach campaign and is designed to educate san francisco voters about ranked-choice voting. today we will learn what ranked-choice voting is, and who is elected using this new voting method. we will also talk about what the ranked-choice ballot looks like and how to mark it correctly. finally, we'll see how the ranked-choice voting process works and show you an example of an election using ranked-choice voting. so, what is ranked-choice voting? in march of 2002, san francisco voters adopted a charter amendment to implement ranked-choice voting, also known as the instant run-off voting. san francisco voters will use

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> i want to thank everyone for coming. we aren't trying to do a lot to restore the luster of the uptown historic district. in the past couple of years we have installed the store? . we have a landmark sidewalk program that we want to institute. we also want to restore some of the historic advertising signs, which developed the neighborhood's character. in order to get this money, there is a challenge grant program. when we applied for this grant, the person in charge of the program was ultimately a cao named ed lee. so the mayor had to decide whether or not to fund this project, so i am glad that he did. we had support and additional financial support from the people that run the organization. jon dugan as well. you can see that great historic pedestrian lighting, which we only

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> welcome, everybody. to the 2011 justice summit by the book. i'm so excited to be here. you know, we've been doing these summits now for seven years, but this by far is the most exciting summit. i cannot wait to hear the panelists that we have today. we're going to be delving in to some of the most critical issues affecting the criminal justice system at this time. and we're going to talk about, what is justice and what it means. you know, plateo said, "i do not know what justice is, but i know what it is not." and that is very true when you think about it because it's something that we take for granted, that we believe in, that we hope for, but the reality is is that we don't understand and appreciate justice unless we are deprived of it. and in many cases the definition of j

. >> my bill says that a local city and county cannot discriminate against waste from another jurisdiction. >> a place like san fransisco that needs to get rid of its trash has to rely on the counties around it. >> reporter: so why voters here want a cap on imported waste that philosophy might not work for the neighbors. and cities like san fransisco is such a neighbor. some folks in sohano county are -- solano county are feeling dumped on. >> it was an initiative adopted here in solano county. >> reporter: in all that garbage, environmentalists see money. >> the rest. the explanation for the bills are just cover for the fact that two big garbage companies want to expand a landfill. >> reporter: but the bay area has to take its trash somewhere and like most issues in the bay area, this one doesn't stop at the county line. >> it passes across state lines and county lines, and we're in the business of dealing with trash as a commodity. it's our business. >> reporter: a business that's not closing up shop any time soon. . >>> coming up, an attack worse than columbine. >> i was shocked. >> how

or as she puts it -- >> my bill says a local city and county cannot discriminate against waste from another discrimination. >> a place like san francisco has to rely on the counties around it just like it relies on the counties around it for its workers, for its transportation network. >> reporter: so while voters here want a cap on imported waste that philosophy might not work for the neighbors. and by neighbors we are talking about cities like san francisco. as you might expect some folks are feeling a little bit dumped on in this county. >> it seems to be directly directed to an initiative in this county. >> reporter: in all that garbage environmentalists see money. >> the rest of the explanation for the bills are just cover for the fact that two big garbage companies want to extend the land fill. >> reporter: but the bay area has to take its trash somewhere and like most issues in the bay area this one doesn't stop at the county line. >> i mean it passes across state lines, passes across county lines and we are in the business of dealing with trash as a commodity. it is our business. >>

nice weekend. >> if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encoura>> thank you, everyone, r being here this morning. i have indicated to our new chief and i will be an active participant in comstat. of course, this is only one of many ways that we measure our effectiveness in the community policing in the city. i have been fond of looking at data and making sure we compare ourselves to previous years, look at trends and specific categories, crime to property, homicides, violent crime to aurora's, and other areas. various local captains of all the stations know that the chief and i, command staff, and police commission, are working together to make sure that we work our best and keep our positive trends going. we are now enjoying, year to date, a 6% improvement over last year on all categories of violent crimes. we are still down in homicides since 1960, continuing a trend that was very strong last year and continues to this year. all of this as a result of the men and women of the

two local city guys. >> there you go. >> this is where it techs started and this is where we lead from. it is with great pleasure of publicly announce -- i publicly announce the expansion into an additional 50,000 square feet of offices. [applause] we have quickly proven our ability to build a thriving and profitable ecosystem of some of the best tech startups in the world. these are our next generation of stars. this will be the center of epicness in san francisco, the place for tech entrepreneurs to build their dream with the support that san francisco has to offer. i was greatly encouraged when the mayor came to meet the company's. it would appear in the industry -- any industry is in need of support and lack of disruption. your support shows needed political support for the technology industry in san francisco. thank you for that. ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce our mayor, ed lee. [applause] >> thank you. congratulations. it is a wonderful building you have here. it is more than just a building. this building houses some of the smartest people you could find in technolo

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> i never thought i would be at a press conference in the city surrounded by a bunch of pickup trucks. here we are. these are no average pickup trucks. these have solid green credentials. san francisco has a long history of groundbreaking initiatives an enlargement of victories. this is where the latest bring innovations have been, whether it is pursuing our zero ways to goals by 2020, when the reducing toxics in san francisco, whether it is becoming the electric vehicle capital of the u.s., this is where green innovation happens. and we practice what we preach in san francisco. every city of san francisco's department is required to develop a department action plan annually, which inventory their own emissions and sets common action targets for the department. this process eng

number four, authorizing the executive officer turn for local power for services of task and development for r.s.p.'s and other tasks for in-city renewable and demand side technologies consistent with the clean power s.f. program. supervisor campos: miss miller. >> yes, this item is before you for consideration to enter into a contract with local power. they are one of our selected consultants under the r.f.q. we issued a few years back to develop the c.c.a. program. since february they have been negotiating with advocates pursuant to a resolution attached to my staff report to you. this is a resolution from the s.f. p.u.c., and local power under contract with them for development of what i will call the renewable portion of the local in-city renewable portion of the c.c.a. program. one of the potential tasks under that contract is they've been attempting to negotiate for that scope for some months now, and it has been a back-and-forth process but one that has not yet resulted in a task being contracted for. so i'm bringing this item to you. there are certain of the task in the scope of work that we can contract for. what this

. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call >> good evening, and welcome to the july 27 meeting of the san francisco board of appeals. the presiding president is president goh, vice-president garcia, commissioner fung, and commissioner peterson. at the controls is the board's legal assistant. i am cynthia bornstein, the executive director. we are joined this evening by representatives from some of the city departments that will be appearing. we have tim fry, representing the historic commission, and joseph dufty is here representing the department of building inspection. we anticipate that the zoning administrator, scott sanchez, will be here shortly. at this time, if we could go over the meeting guidelines and conduct the swearing in process. >> the board requests that you turn off all funds and pagers so they will not d