my name is wilma pang, and i am from chinatown. i just want to question one thing about the validity of the center subway for seniors. i am older than most all of you, so i can speak on behalf of the seniors. supposedly if i live in sunset, i have to taking the l or the n car, and then get off on powell and mark streets. but there is no connection. so i am forced to walk from market to union square. one way or the other, it is about a thousand feet. then i will take the subway to chinatown, which is clay and washington, a mile and a half. but if i wanted to go to broadway and pacific, where most shops are, then i have to walk. is there a bus going that way? it is too much trouble. the bus service will not it officially anyway. and then after that, with bags full of groceries, i have to walk back to clay and stockton, then go down all the way to the subway station, take the bus to union square, then walk again to powell and market. i say hey, that is too much trouble for me. i would like to take the bus or just forget about the whol

for will been business and visitors to chinatown. -- or will bring the businesses and visitors to chinatown. to keep that, we have sponsors that included youth programs at the chinatown ymca, senior programs, and programs for chinese newcomers, self-help for the elderly, cameron house, there is help their, needless to say in the chinese new year festivities. also programs for hepatitis b awareness which is prevalent in the asian community. we have also sponsored women's resource programs. we are looking forward to another 40 years of participating and making chinatown a vibrant community and continuing to bring in revenues for the city and county of san francisco. thank you. >> thank you >> i am the president of the portsmouth garage. on behalf of the court of directors, i'm here to urge you to agree to the terms and conditions that were accepted by the recreation and parks commission on december 21st of last year. the natomas success this is an indication that this is a good deal for the citizens and city of san francisco. -- and the unanimous success is an indication that this is a good d

it will be -- it is a project that the chinatown community center did were carved. we made sure that we had services for folks to come together. ross mirkarimi had a certificate of commendation that we will present to the sponsors. in recognition of the mary helen rogers senior community groundbreaking in the western addition for honoring one of the hardest working community advocates that fought for one of the most vulnerable advocates in san francisco to ensure economic equality for all. the board of supervisors extends its highest commendation. [applause] >> thank you. hang on. we want to present it to the family a little later. is rev. boyd or reverend walker here? i can see rev. pounds in here. million not join me in welcoming another champion for san francisco? they are on the redevelopment commission. for how long? 32 years. commissioner lee roy king. >> i have been listening. long before any of you were born, before you were around, mary rodgers came from europe and traveled throughout the world. she came here and got this housing, this school here, got this

>> reporter: here in chinatown, a series of paintings hung on a wall of a famous chinatown restaurants telling a very unique story about chinese-american workers. people have been talking about the missing paintings for years, now they can see them. chinatown's storied past is coming to life in san francisco. in the '50s and '0s, cannes restaurant was all the rage with hollywood types. johnny cannes knocked down cultural barriers. >> he opened the doors to celebrities and politicians and beautiful people. >> reporter: a series of paintings cannes commissioned disappeared until now. >> we thought all that was left of this collection were postcards, here we get an e-mail telling us they existed. >> reporter: su li read that e-mail one year ago, she's been on a treasure hunt ever since. the chinese historical society of america raised money to buy 7 of the 11 known paintings. >> where's the 12th painting? >> reporter: a scene from dead wood, south dakota, the fourth of july, hub to hub, firehouse race. >> that year in 1988, two chinese teams competed against each other. >> reporter: unlik

the year of the rabbit is already hopping in san francisco's chinatown. that means working overtime for frank wong. >> basically for the next week, two weeks families will get together have dinner or lunch to celebrate. >> reporter: at orangey lounge tables are packed with families. if you don't have a reservation you may be out of luck. >> we have dinners for the next four nights. >> resting up for days of celebration angela wong and her family picked up take-out. the new year is about spending and sharing money. >> keep coming in. starting today actually, yeah, so we got some lucky money to represent good wealth for the year of the rabbit. yeah, food and everything abundance. >> reporter: while families feast, watching the clock the countdown to the famous chinese new year parade is on and the wear house is buzzing. he's carving figurines out of styrofoam teaching her 9-year-old daughter for sculpting secrets. busy bringing the talented and ambitious rabbit to life. and making sure every float will shimmer with gold. back at orangy lounge wong can't wai

we have representatives from the mayor's office of housing, chinatown cdc. chairperson mar: is there anyone from the public that would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, can we move this forward with a positive recommendation with the objection? -- without objection? thank you. >> item two, ordinance ordering the jurisdictional transfer and sale of city property at ocean avenue and phelan avenue. >> john updike, real-estate division. this project has quite a long history. i will give you the recent version, give you some context of what is before you today. on december 4, 2008, a final environmental impact report and monitoring program of the balboa park area station plan, was adopted by the planning commission. in may of 2009, the board of supervisors and mayor approval of the plan took effect. the parcel is located just west of the intersection of phelan and ocean. the funding source is tax increment financing. assure you a closer look at this plan. included with this is a summary vacation and jurisdictional transfer of land

it is the only property left in chinatown that has a nearly completely intact ground floor, for when the historic area was first built. as i expressed in my statements earlier this year, i think in the past there have been some people who honestly misunderstood my intentions and thought, well, he wants to preserve everything. and that is not the case. chinatown is a living, breathing community, with people coming and going all the time, and nevertheless, this building, of all 380-some odd buildings from 30 years ago, was called out at that time as being basically a supreme example of what once reigned in the entire neighborhood. so i thanked -- so i know what i am asking for is the board decision on this property really well. it has been for too long piecemeal and picked apart, and there is a lot more understanding of a lot of the other people who have been party to this, as to the significance, as to the meeting, and as to what is going on. and i think if we can direct this to a better design, everybody will have won. and there is no loss. i have never been looking for anyone to los

these are small, chinatown- based nonprofits to strengthen the community and serves. it is one of the number of city garages operated by nonprofits. that includes the largest to russia in the city, the second largest for rushed in the city. -- garage in the city. the lease you have before you is for a term of four years. the length of time is -- a term of 40 years. didn't the time is to amortize that would be developed at a future date once the lease is executed. there would be an initial grant of $880,000 paid to the city, an initial transfer from the existing capital fund to the general fund during this budget year. the city would continue to receive 85% of net revenue. 85% of net revenue goes to the recreation and parks department general fund and a portion goes into the capital improvement fund at the site. we will be able to continue to issue small micro grants to neighborhood nonprofits. we scaled this back to $50,000 in this fiscal year. those would be subject to city approval. the parking rates would continue to be set by the mta commission. additionally, the

this is a unique situation that our office has been working with with other members of the chinatown community. the restaurant is located right next to the campus of the new city college, the chinatown campus, that is under construction, and so, obviously, being right next to such major construction, there have been some impacts, and the commissioner was very helpful with helping our office, and then there was a big event on friday to help revive the business, so i want to extend our appreciation to you for providing that support. under policy matters, the ada had a presentation at the meeting in terms of a program that we have to offer, so i just want to provide to you the list of entities, merchants' associations that i have already been to to provide presentations. on the 31st, there was a joint meeting with the neighborhood market place koran or managers, and there was our neighbor and economic development organization, those that do business-technical assistance that gets funding from the city, and so, we clearly expressed to them that the supervisors of the expectation that the

chinatown will be crowned in a coronation ceremony in chinatown later tonight. it is a particularly important deal this year because at the head of the parade was the first chinese mayor in the history of san francisco. this parade has been going on for about 120 years. and the first time a chinese mayor is leading the chinese parade. and going to chinatown later tonight, it will be celebrated with what we know to be tons of firecrackers. >> a beaute of sight and it doesn't look like it is raining right now. >> it is going to stop when the parade starts. sure enough, it did. good luck. >> don knapp in san francisco. thank you. >>> well, the san jose sharks and stanford blood center hosted a blood drive at the shark tank today. the annual event is the largest global blood drive and any fan who donated blood was rewarded for being allowed to watch the sharks at the game. and the greater reward was knowing the difference that their blood donation makes to nose who need it and one former recipient is on hand to show living proof. >> people like me, kids who need a b

some of our families came all the way from chinatown. i want to ask them from -- ask them to stand up. they came through the rain and the wet today to attend. these are the real folks who trudged and battled the crowds. it is because of families like these that our organizations are out here. we know that with the budget cuts coming up this is just one tiny victory that might be a hopeful sign for the upcoming budget fight. also, this $1.4 million -- there is no question that it should be distributed now. it was not distributed last year. i know i am preaching to the choir, but the supervisors support the resolution with the community. to me, we should not even have to be asking for this. it should be assumed that this will be distributed to the families that need it in san francisco. i know there is strong community support here. we will show the mta next month that this is the only position they can take on this. there is no other alternative. it is an important first step to creating accessible transportation for people in san francis

. >> also chinese new year brings thousands to chinatown. how san francisco is sprucing up and even handing out some fines. [ music ] . >> closed captioning for the 10:00 news is brought to you by mancini's sleepworld best buy mattress sale. . >>> we are following developing news. police are searching in the area of the 600 block of victoria avenue right now for a man wanted in a shooting. they are asking residents inside a two block perimeter to stay inside their homes. the area includes from canalworth to bank i don't want and doweling to broadmoore boulevard. police say the man is wanted for a shooting in oakland but not releasing any other specifics. >> today ktvu's john sasaki caught up with dozens of children as they marched in an effort to keep their school open. >> keep our class open. >> reporter: 7, 78 graders are marched today. >> what's great about this school is they have a lot of different programs that other schools don't have. the after school programs. some special ed programs that others don't have. >> they are looking at s

and chinatown. supervisor mirkarimi: since the city college satellites that are hosting this is in the south, southeast, isn't there any way they can also be encouraged? and john adams can is near the western addition or chinatown or what have you that we can actually also have outposts for the training in those city college campuses as well? >> we are limited by the facilities that are required. you need april is a given amount of space and could dent. with our other programs and academies, we are actually partnering with the john adams can around our health care academy, which of course has lab space. city college and we are therefore somewhat confined on the facilities needs and restrictions we have. we try to ensure that we are partnering with as many of the campuses as appropriate. it does require that folks travel. we do provide, if needed -- typically they are needed -- travel vouchers, muni passes and things like that on a monthly basis. supervisor mirkarimi: i am looking for a nexus of thos

there's a famous example roman polanski's chinatown. the punch line at the end of the movie was forget it. it is chinatown. meaning anything will be in serious and negative. there is a reason charlie chan became a very problematic character. on the one hand of the cold war mentality and the other the racism against asian-americans. there is a very good reason at that point out that a famous asian american writer announced in 1993 that charlie chan is dead. there is a very good reason for that but somehow charlie like a calf with 9 lives has lived on and i don't really think we can explain his longevity in american culture by simply referring to the persistence of racism. i don't buy that argument. to me is essential charm was being a hilarious wisecracking -- he reminds me of one who hides his weapon. charlie chan hides his weapons inside his sizable tully. his so-called inscrutability, close negative stereotypes against asians is they're incredibly, right? but charlie chan's inscrutability is really asian humor in disguise. for instanc

lunar new year signals the beginning of one of the busiest times of the year in san francisco's chinatown. rob roth also found it keeps the city busy cracking down on illegal dumping. >> at the empress of china restaurant, the year of the rabbit means big dinner crowds, especially on weekends. >> we have many parties for the association for the chinese association. they have big parties, you know, like sometimes about 500 people. >> reporter: hundreds of thousands of people are expected to visit chinatown over the next two weeks and spend millions of dollars. some stores tell us they see a 20-50 percent increase in business. >> these two weeks here we are really busy. especially on weekend we have a couple of fairs coming up. parade weekend just wall to wall people around here. >> before sunrise this morning, ktvu was out with crews from san francisco's public works department as they engaged in a massive effort to clean up chinatown. it is a chance for the community to put its best foot forward. the crews also focused on the many alleys often targets for illegal dumping. they found envel

again i want to stress that we want reliability transit for the people in chinatown, and this project is one the community has been behind for over 20 years, and we appreciate your support today. commissioner mirkarimi: thank you. any further public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. the matter is back before the commission. commissioner, weiner? commissioner wiener: thank you. i will be supporting this item, and i do support the central subway. we do need better norton-south service in the -- north-south service and better access to chinatown. i do believe it is important to keep reminding ourselves that the has not gone or is not going as far as i would hope that it could go at some point in the future. we have a history in the bay area and san francisco of building rail and subway systems that are not extensive enough. we made a huge blunder in building bart and allowing some counties to opt ow. we are now paying the price for not having an extensive enough bart system. we have another transportation system covering a small portion of the city, leaving the west side to

she has the contract of building the community college in chinatown. it will be another two years. it will be in operation. it will be teaching 5000 students, learning english and other job skills. she just came off the immigrant rights committee commission. in that commission, she helped the immigrants to find their first jobs, to find their homes. all the other immigrants will look forward to her as a point lady or ideal person. she really rises and drive san francisco. she will do a good job in serving our city hall. i urge you to appoint her to the city hall preservation committee -- preservation commission. thank you. chairperson kim: seeing no further public comment, public, it is now closed. -- public comment is now closed. thank you for being here. i am excited to support your nomination, just knowing your work, both to support new residence in san francisco through your radio show and charity work, but also your tireless advocacy for immigrant rights issues and creating more local jobs for san franciscans. i know you have done that through your work in your company, hiring

the focus is on chinatown because of the chinese new year's., getting ready to celebrate the new year. the problems they say they see here, they see everywhere. >> live in san francisco, claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> it is 8:36. on sunday, the pittsburgh steelers a green bay packers will play with the retractible roof closed at -- closed at coy bye stadium. coy boy stadium -- cowboy stadium. craig boswell is live there now. how cold is it? >> reporter: i think we're a 21 balmy degrees. the wind is still blowing here. this, of course, not what they expected when dallas/fort worth area started to plan for super bowl xlv three years ago. but of scores -- of course, weather is the one wild card that you just can't control. during the week we had the snowstorm earlier that cancelled flights and actually shut down dfp for a few hours -- dfw for a few hours. hundreds of cancellations in flights. this has forced -- over at the cotton bowl, a huge tent set up for a party there, it collapsed because of the weight of the snow and ice. friday and

i noticed that some streets in chinatown, the oldest neighborhoods in the city -- there are sidewalks that are graded -- that are graded to the entry level of these historic buildings. with the department of public works here and with the major sidewalk projects that will be coming up, sidewalk improvement projects, is there an opportunity to work with some of our older neighborhoods, particularly low-income or outlying neighborhoods, with sidewalk repair and grading to eliminate these four-inch steps at the same time? >> our responsibility stops at the front door, usually. i know this question comes up a lot. one of the possible solutions is always to change the sidewalk. the building has to eliminate the step barrier itself, but at least if you get an entry that is reasonably level from the sidewalk you can cope with it. for reasons that make perfect sense, the department of public works is usually resistant to doing that. it creates a sometimes a worse hazard to have an undulating sidewalk going down the street. people do not pay attention. they slip and fall. they get to a landing