much of that is for beautification.tion we have had many philanthropic areas focusing on this day, allowing us to steam the weeds in the cracks and sidewalks and those types of things rather than using pesticides. as mentioned, under the leadership of the program we will continue to do so. chris geiger, as indicated, has shown that there is an inverse relationship between the number of gardner's and pesticide use. when we are under-resource, you do see that there is increased reliance on pesticides. that is the one thing i would flag. supervisor chu: is the department supportive of this? is there any foreseen potential impact that would be negative? >> we have worked very closely with the department in addressing those concerns. supervisor chu: what was the conversation like with other departments that use those pesticides? >> rather than speak for them, bart, would you like to speak? dpw is not here but they were interested in not seeing additional burdens on them. >> we worked closely with the department and the mayor

this is what it used to look like before the beautification efforts.rently, this is what it looks like. just east of the flag are those retaining walls. the next picture, this is what the base of the flag used to look like. now we see what it currently looks like with our beautification efforts. similar to activation efforts. the idea is to green and make things look pretty. thank you. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you very much for your presentation. any question? supervisor dufty: briefly, i want to say how proud i am of the castro community benefit district. i was very involved as the quarterback for the effort to secure from property owners in the castro. we have had an incredible contractor that has worked with us to provide cleaning services. i think that andrea and her board of directors and all of the leaders from the community that served in that role, individuals involved with businesses and property owners have really come together to be a force for good in the community. i am extremely proud and this is one of the things that will reflec

the community challenge grant program is funded through the neighborhood beautification fund paid for by businesses annualy. an opt in system. when you renew the registration on your business there is a check box that you check that designated a percentage of the money from your business to the beautific fund. it was created to make sure money goes directly to the neighborhoods. which is difficult to do through other vehicles in the city. so it pulls in

the community challenge grant program is funded through the neighborhood beautification fund paid for by businesses annualy. an opt in system. when you renew the registration on your business there is a check box that you check that designated a percentage of the money from your business to the beautific fund. it was created to make sure money goes directly to the neighborhoods. which is difficult to do through other vehicles in the city. so it pulls in a million dollars a year. twice a year we give away a 500 thousand dollars typically. there are 3 categories of grants. there are small projects, which are awards up to 10 thousand dollars. and those require a neighborhood match of 50 percent and i will explain how the match works. there are medium projects that go from 1001 do

on the public land side of things, have also provided many native plants for park beautification and improvement projects. neighbors just recently bought a bunch of native plants for a billy goat trail improvement in dominated those to the department. in my opinion, the urban gardening and sustainable landscape movement is the future of this department. we are really pleased to be in a place to be a leader in this city for both residences and public agencies partners. not a similar to where hank was 30 years ago in the recycling movement where it was really starting to catch on and we needed the infrastructure to support it. all throughout the city, it is being replaced with a native plant gardens and habitat and gardens. just out in front of us, the conservatory -- in front of the arboretum, they are converting someone there recently. like i said, the golden gate park community garden in the expanded native plant opportunities there will really put it at the forefront of this movement. for the department as well as the program that provides opportunities for more collaboration, and

concerns about the beautification, i appreciate the legislation of the staff. we have the worst cellphone service around. i guess because we don't have these devices much anymore because everything is underground. everything about it, we have a hard time calling the police. i am hoping you are considering this legislation and consulting in all of the emergency people that need to be involved with this conversation concerning the areas that don't have these devices. it is hard for us to get a phone call. it is not just a poor neighborhood since we started all of this underground, everything is bouncing off of the mountain of the twin peaks, we lose calls all the time. sometimes they're very important. there are a lot of other considerations that need to be considered when you talk about this cut of legislation. and we try to improve the quality of the cell phones and everything else. most people who don't even have the old phone anymore. it is cheaper to go out and get another one. it is easier. >> before my time starts, i need to ask the procedural question. we

they have marketing promotion programs with a neighborhood beautification safety plan.ail in the planning process with a plan on where to invest capital resources for improvement throughout the district. they have also participated in the payment to parks program and have been one of the main sponsors withhe

so, you know, like i said, neighborhood beautification. the wheels in terms of bringing the community together to transform this space were already moving. i was able to hop on that band wagon and so basically i created a letter of agreement with the pta and the principal. that the principal signd and the pta president signed saying they will take responsibility for removing graffiti that come up. that was a big issue. murals get tagged. i have done 60 of the projects and 3 have been tagged. it 's surprising to me how i hae not had a problem with vandalism >> on the one at 19th and everybodying the door next to the mural has been tagged the bus stop is tagged. they climbod top of the bus stop to tag the stop the star bucks build you but left the mural alone. why in i don't know. may be their siblings worked on the mural. may be they decided to leave it alone. it's a cared for space. that's a key thing if people see that a community's going to come back and remove the vandalism it sends a powerful message. that's one of the key things. that

they contribute to the beautification of the area, making it a more attractive location to live and work. furthermore, it is a critical first step in the creation of the arts district to create cultural visitors to the project area. second, no other reasonable means of financing are available. the project funding requires a 10% match which will be funded by brent revenue. it also requires advancing of funds. funds from the redevelopment agency will be used for this purpose, as no other means of financing are available. third, the funds will assist in the eliminated -- in the elimination of light conditions and is part of the implementation plan. the use of art in public park parcels in the hunters point shipyard beautifies the currently vacant site in makes it more attractive to live and work. the investment is also consistent with the project area implementation plan, which calls for the development of economically vibrant district for cultural, educational, and arts activity. the step requests the board of supervisors to make this finding, as required in health and safety code, and to

on the public land side of things, have also provided many native plants for park beautification and improvement projects. neighbors just recently bought a bunch of native plants for a billy goat trail improvement in dominated those to the department. in my opinion, the urban gardening and sustainable landscape movement is the future of this department. we are really pleased to be in a place to be a leader in this city for both residences and public agencies partners. not a similar to where hank was 30 years ago in the recycling movement where it was really starti

the total budget you have for the sidewalk beautification order is about 200,000. -- $200,000. how does that work with the graffiti abatement project? >> included in the budget is our police officer security. during the summer this year, we went to seven days a week. we have police officers from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. that is a big portion of it. the dollar amount, we spent about $65,000 this year on the police portion of it. the balance of it is graffiti abatement and the street cleaning. the balance of the budget is a -- is related to the graffiti abatement. supervisor chu: do you know what graffiti abatement is? >> i think it is close to $15,000. many of our businesses actually do their room graffiti abatement. if we were to look at the total, it would probably be higher. it is a daily issue for us. we have some areas that are attacked every single night. businesses report it. we have the company come out and it is gone within two or three days. supervisor chu: have you noticed, or has there been conversation with, the businesses, whether they have noticed they spend les

on the public land side of things, have also provided many native plants for park beautification and improvement projects. neighbors just recently boug a

on the public land side of things, have also provided many native plants for park beautification and improvement projects. neighbors just recently bought a bunch of native plants for a billy goat trail improvement in dominated those to the department. in my opinion, the urban gardening and sustainable landscape movement is the future of this department. we are really pleased to be in a place to be a leader in this city for both

more beautif holiday lights to share today. a viewer sent us this picture of a decorated house on carmel street in castro valley. gorgeous. upload your pictures or video of holiday lights or e-mail us. all right. there's a lot to do around the bay area to get you into the holiday spirit. arts and entertainment reporter don sanchez hashis what's how the. ♪ >> hig stepping high kicki rockette at the radio city music hall bring their speccular to us. oracle arena and the weekend at h. p. pavilion. sweet honey and the rock brings home the holidays to everyone in perfornce tonight at the palace of fine arts. ♪ >> innovative acrobats and the holiday circus comes to town. this is candice, some of the most powerful theaicals. ♪ >> naughty at night. a show for cabaret fans at berkeley aurora theater. ♪ >> a holiday classic movie comes to life on stage. a wonderful life, the musical as george bailey discovers wh life would be like without him. the heart-warming story in foster cy. ♪ >> the fire and passion of aflamingo by the class kick

the blast, the city council might use donations for a memorial for the eight lives lost or a beautification project. some survivors wanted money distributed in time for christmas, but the city says it will decide after the holidays. >>> a water main break in san francisco left a block of homes without water. it happened on the 2800 block of octave. a 6-inch pipe broke. neighbors on the block, still without water right now. workers are trying to figure out what caused the break. there was no construction going on in the area. >>> well, a sick sea lion found wandering the streets yesterday was rescued near a school yesterday, taken to the marine mammal center. she suffers from acid poisoning, an illness affecting animals that feed on fish that have eaten toxic algae. spokesmen for the center say the sea lion is eating and moving in her pen, a good sign. until a fullwork up is done, they can't tell exactly how sick she is. the same sea lion has been rescued two other times. >>> it's one of the most popular holiday parades in the bay area, but san jose's budget problems could end the city's cel

the total budget you have for the sidewalk beautification order is about 200,000. -- $200,000. how does that work with the graffiti abatement project? >> included in the budget is our police officer security. during the summer this year, we went to seven days a week. we have police officers from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. that is a big portion of it. the dollar amount,

we beautification, like putting murals in there. j2we just replaced the cited in front. signage in.hat is subject to budgetary restrictions. +xñsupervisor maxwell: i am concerned that you only fix the sinkhole only gets fixed when it becomes a problem. know they are coming, kind of need to do a thing before we get there. that is my concern. front of things. if we&(wo say, why don't we allow you to keep so much money for a whilebj -- well, we need o know what that is. wywhether it is formal, whether you spend $150,000 from dpw>?y i am not saying that at all. i justxxÑ hope that we can get n front of the obvious things. >> wesc addressed the simple problem as soon as possible. -- sinkhole problem as soon as possible. the roof, we got the funds in ]y÷the capital plan before it fl recently. we had permission2c carry those funds forward because we had difficulty getting the contract in place> to do the work. now we have read and park -- ret right now. it is a challenging, it is not an issue of health only fixing 12ssomething once it breaks. this is the process we have to work with. i

. >> my issue with this which is alive and well here in the district of columbia, beautification is okays long as you don't display people. >> reporter: there's a forum thursday at 7:00 being sponsored by 1c on ontario road, the dc council will vote on this december 21st, in adams morgan, karen gray houston. >>> most of us will agree that speed matters in the internet but most show that america is lagging behind in speed particularly broad band, the latest survey from the communications workers found nearly half of u.s. residents don't meet the broad band standard. one in three don't have access to broad band and 2100 can't get it if they want it because of location. here to take a look is the director of telecommunications, deborah gold man. thanks for joining us, it would take the you said 60 years to catch up with south korea. what is the holdup. >> other countries are moving factor and we have been stagnated. ening just this past spring, we did not have a national broad band plan. fortunately, this pass spring our federal communications commission did adopt a national broad band plan

>> beautif woman to begin with. >> look how teeny she is.rs a day. she's not, by training, a dancer. can you imagine trying to -- that's unbelievable. but i guess there's one scene -- it is a lot of her. a lot of her in the movie. >> it's amazg how you learn that, to me. >> attack! attack it! >> th movie was also nominated. that guy does really fine work. >> natalie portman is great, in anything. >> she's got the most buzz, i think, on this. >> i think so, too. and in the tv world, your show "glee" -- >> i haven't seen it -- >> five nominations. that's the most. >> that's pretty cool. i was surprised by "the tourist." johnny dp got two, one for "alice in wonderland" and one for "the tourist" but i think he was wasted in the tourist. i was disappointed in it because i love them both. >> i saw "alice in wonderland" and i was completely creeped out. i found it really creepy. >> i didn't see it. >> yeah. it was dark and -- i don't know -- funky to me. >> what? >> funky. >> ears are the second thing to go at my age. kyra sedgwick has announced "t