this is a city that has many thousands of small businesses. asomeone who used to run a small business, the city can do a much better job of nurturing that sector. that is part of the life blood of who we are as san franciscans. >> we could do better. are we on the right track? >> i think we are in a transition right now. we have an interim mayor and a new board of supervisors. i do think we have a new tone at city hall to move things forward. we have a lot of challenges we are facing. i am doing everything i can to put us back on track. >> let's talk about the role of sports in the city's economic future. are you happy with the plans for the america's cup? >> i have been a huge fan of the america's cup. i am proud of this board came together unanimously after a fairly contentious debate to support bringing the america's cup to san francisco in 2013. it is estimated it will not only be an incredible sporting event, not only showcase our city and the natural amphitheater of the bay, but it is estimated to bring in over $1 billion in economic activi

community, as a city. at happened when the 49ers won those super bowls year after year? that was a huge deal for our city and our community in san francisco. what happened with the world series this year when the giants won for the first time in over 50 years? incredible. everybody was celebrating. and that is a huge deal for our community in san francisco, but i think, economically, not only jobs in terms of construction of stadiums and what have you. economically, you know, for those people who do not believe or do not really fully appreciate what type of economic drivers the sporting events and teams are, go down to soma during a giants game. come to the marina when the blue angels fly in town. what it does to the local streets and bridges. come to district 3 and district two and districts 6 and 10 when the america's cup comes to town and see what type of influx of economic activity these events drive to us. i think that is something that is not talk about enough. both the community aspect, the intangibl

adding with all come together as a board, as a city. we should come together as san franciscans, and, colleagues, at this time, i hope, and i asked that we unanimously vote for ed lee to be our next mayor. this is also a historic day for the asian-american community. for a community that has been here in santa francisco, for over 160 years, i am a product of that community. i know the ed and all of us of asian-american decent feel the legacy. i want to thank all of you who have been part of this historic moment to make this happen. and say that this is obviously not just about a chinese- american community or an asian american community. this is about the american dream. the idea that anyone of any background of any color from any part of the globe can come here and sunday be at the very top of what our community is about -- and someday be at the very top of what our community is about. within our population there are people who simply do not have access to the internet, who do not have the means to access information the way that others

adding with all come together as a board, as a city. we should come together as san franciscans, and, colleagues, at this time, i hope, and i asked that we unanimously vote for ed lee to be our next mayor. this is also a historic day for the asian-american community. for a community that has been here in santa francisco, for over 160 years, i am a product of that community. i know the ed and all of us of asian-american decent feel the legacy. i want to thank all of you who have been part of this historic moment to make

forward 40 years, i did not expect that i would be the head of an international city, a city known for its relations not just as an american city but a city that offers relationships between the people's republic of china and the people of the united states and offering cultural exchanges as well as sports exchanges, and i am constantly reminded of that because we have a chief of protocol. charlotte schulz has been such a wonderful participant in our government here, and to make sure that we keep attention as an international city, so i find myself as part of history, being very lucky to be the mayor of the city at this time and also finding ourselves to be so fortunate that we remember 40 years of history, 40 years of building relationships between our two countries, and i continue to feel that i am is a student of this activity because there's so much in our futures in our country working with china to understand how we could help in that relationship, help people to people, culture to culture, and then realize that we are as a city, a gateway to so much of this activity, making sure that we can celebrate thi

we cannot ask businesses to do more than what we as a city or doing. i think it is important to be consistent, and we heard that comment from businesses, and we want to make sure that about address that. so the amendment that you have before you, in our view, is an amendment that strikes the right balance between the concerns that have been raised and the reamount here is we have a small minority of businesses taking advantage of the loophole. the intent of the order nabs was to provide health care, to make sure that health care was actually available to these workers. the reality is that right now you have a small percentage of businesses that are taking advantage of this loophole. many of these businesses are asking consumers to pay extra. we saw the copies of all the receipts in many of the restaurants that are asking consumers to pay more, and we know now from the office of labor standards and enforcement that 80% of that money is actually money that is never spent on that worker. this legislation is about protecting that consumer who is being aske

me in paying tribute to a man who has devoted the last 10 years of his life managing the largest general fund apartment in this city. greg joined the department of public health as a chief financial officer for the department community health network in june, 2001. by the next year, he was already serving as the chief wenzel officer for the entire department of public health. this task is not an easy one. every single person on the budget committee and every single budget chair has always gotten to know greg very well, especially in the month of june. while it has been said that one dog year is equal to seven human years, it could be said that once cfo year at the department of public health is equal to at least 10 human years. thank you to devoting at least the last 100 years to overseeing the san francisco department of public health budget. his last day will be this coming friday. yesterday, great received a commendation from the civil service commission, the mayor's office, and was serenaded by his staff with choruses of "taking care of business." i would like to thank you on behalf of the san francisco board of supervisors and hope you will hear all more ch

one of the things i spent the most time on in my prayer job as city administrator was putting together a 10-year capital infrastructure plan for the city. it is now four years old. we have been disciplining all of our capital infrastructure work in a better way. when we pass construction bonds, we have honored timeline for that. we are no locker telling people we ran out of money. we are doing better on a project it the last time we ran out of money on an art project was lebanon on that. that was not planned under the 10-year capital plan. the libraries are coming in on time, the parts that we are finishing up. everything is being designed for accurately, and the engineering of those things are more accurate, and we are holding contractors accountable for all the things they are doing so we do not run out of money. when we do that kind of discipline, we can promise the voters and property owners in the city, that your property taxes will not go up. 1996 was the last time that they went up. for this street repaving, we are making the same promise. we will not increase property taxes with

so that they know that we, as a city, as a community, built this library.e contractor or a department that you never see. we are doing it more and more with our local hiring ordinance. we grabbed the talent from within. we can build a world class libraries for everyone else to come to. that is what i enjoy doing, that is why i am here. i am also here to praise the library commissioners who are with us this morning, friends of the library, the manager who will be here. the library is our future. we are constructing -- reconstructing libraries all over the city. every time we come to the community, libraries are welcome because they are the new community center, the safe place for people to be. then you can allow your mind to go through these books. and it is not just books these days. computers, digital ways of learning. we can be global citizens. not just in bayview. you can live in bayview, but you can be a global citizen in your library. understanding that our whole effort to be a global city is directly part of every community, that is what maintains our

a very excited counselor for. we are all working together to bring in the sister cities and make sure we have excitement as a world-class international city, because with that comes the interaction of culture, more business, and the learning of what other countries are doing. and just the hope that because we signed the united nations charter here, that we continue that dream, that san francisco becomes the place where we continue to dialogue and we can suggest we can still have that international dialogue here. that, along with the perverse -- diverse corridors of the city, that is part of being a successful city. i want to continue that. to continue to have us face -- a safe, soldan, and successful city. and i can do that in a non- political way. i think the unprecedented dialogue with the board of supervisors, that we can get agreements, not yell at each other, not take some much political positions that are for san francisco. i think you for this time and i would be very willing to answer questions tonight. [applause] >> thank you. before we talk policy and the city stuff, i want to talk a little bit more about grow

what we have to do as a city, not just as a police department, but as a city. we're going to have to retool what we do and look at what works and what isn't working and make some changes. >> the chief says crime is up all across the bay area. he says that he intends to stay with the department for at least the duration of his three- year contract because his work there is just not done. >> two men fishing had to be rescued this afternoon after their boat ran into propeller problems. the men set sail from beckly and then got stuck. the net they used got tangled in the boat's propeller. one man was able to jump on to the rocks. the second man had to be air lifted off the boat. he was taken to the hospital and treated for hypothermia. >> it is foggy outside in san francisco tonight. lawrence pea soup out there. >> very thick in the bay area. i'm sure the east coasters would love to have that same problem. unfortunately, they have this guy. this is irene and boy is it whipping up trouble. not the strongest hurricane we have ever seen. still a category two. expected

worried might be behind, so i want to have a hearing early september to make sure we are on track as a city in developing the work force planned trade there are numerous job opportunities in construction and the jobs related to the offense for america's cup and we should be doing everything we can to make sure we have as robust a workforce development plan to hire local san france -- to hire local san franciscans. i also have my next item, a request for legislation to be drafted, related to the access for bicycles in commercial buildings and existing commercial buildings in downtown san francisco. i have had about four different bikes in my lifetime. three of them were stolen from me. i have had the current one for 10 years and i have been very safe with my bike to prevent theft. but one of the ways we can ensure our bikes are safe from theft is to be able to bring them into our building so that when i'd bring them in, we use the city hall locker room to be able to store our bikes. for many, there is not like access and we want to be able to provide that access in the future for cyclists in