our city librarian. >> good afternoon. first and foremost, you are probably wondering what this is all about. i am very proud of the fact that today, i spent part of my day at argon elementary school to read poetry to youngsters from first graders through fourth graders, and i had the pleasure of having the general manager of the recreation and park department join me for that, so it was terrific. i mention that because it emphasizes the relationship that we established with the school district in terms of forging a very strong relationship, but today, i'm also here to ask for your support and endorsement of our literacy -- information literacy program that we have. in a nutshell, we are wanting to have 100% participation and ownership of a san francisco public library card for all kindergarten and first grade children. we have begun that effort by having the great collaboration of all the 500 classroom teachers literally issue out the applications. we will be reporting that back to our library and staff so that we begin b

. >> i am jill warren, a deputy city librarian. last time we were before this committee was to discuss historic issues. we are now discussing the whole project plan. before we start, we have a number of folks here to show their support for the project. we want to acknowledge especially the support from our young advocates from sherman elementary school, st. peter and paul, the neighborhood center, and those young folks are going to file out at this time so there will not have to stay to the entire hearing. thank you. [applause] we're going to go to the overhead. as you have heard, the north beach library is one of 24 branches to be renovated or build new as part of our branch library improvement program. the branch built in 1959 is no longer effective in meeting the needs of the dense neighborhood service. the library needs to expand, to become updated, and to have seismic and ada safety standards implemented. the north beach library is on the joe dimaggio playground, a heavily used urban park. despite its heavy use, the part is co

the city librarian would become -- i urge you not to approve these changes. thank you. >> good afternoon. espinoza jackson. i do not live in the area, but in bayview we are finally getting our new library. this is something for young people, not all folks. -- not old folks. you saw the babies in here today. this is going to benefit them and those coming behind them. i hope you approve this project, because we can't continue to wait on something which you might think happens. we need to be thinking about our youth today. those of us that our seniors -- that are seniors, we have somewhere to go. >> thank you very much, and thank you all for being here today. i am a little amazed that one thing has not been mentioned, and that is that the original library was also in violation and is on public land that it really should never have been. i wanted to vacate that particular issue. i understand we have 13,000 square feet of extra park space that we would not have been able to have had we been chopping everything up. coming from europe, i was amazed at the scarcity o

it is also important to underscore what the city librarian mentioned earlier. the one of the goals was parity, equity among all communities. it has been a long time coming, but i sense it a close to achieving that. i urge you to make possible the ultimate vision you have seen here, described by others, to create or we imagine, or revitalize -- or reimagine, or revitalize north beach park. >> good afternoon. thank you for this opportunity to speak. i represent no organization. i am a citizen of san francisco. i have been following this issue pretty closely. one of my concerns that i am hearing -- what i am hearing is a lot of excitement. i see a lot of pretty models. i believe the north beach library should be redesigned. the wholesale removal destruction of it -- i see the libraries in the presidio branch and the richmond district that have not been knocked down. these are beautiful buildings that have been augmented and redesigned. also, i see tax dollars wasted. i have seen lots of different types of proposals that actually improve the original design of the

we have the city librarian and a director of inter-agency planning.se, we have staff that is much more knowledgeable than i am. i will figure out how to do this. as we all know, summer school, summer needs, summer services are always great. particularly for this summer school, we are looking at public schools and in much earlier than before, perhaps a week or two earlier. the last day will be may 27. school will start again august 15. as a response to that, the city has gotten together and put together -- and one thing i want to call your attention to is on march 19, the san francisco unified school district along with dcys will be hosting our sixth annual summer resource fair. the san francisco examiner put it on again this year. we had approximately 200 summer school because of the larger venue, we will have more participants. we can advertise this event with our parents in this city. the parents that are listening or watching today, if you want to find out about any type of parent related services or activities, they are looking for an after-school

jill bourne, deputy city librarian on behalf of the sponsors. we have a brief presentation regarding the library and joe dimaggio master plan project. we're very happy to answer any questions you have as well. the north beach library is one of 24 branch libraries to be renovated or built new through the improvement program. the branch built in 1959 is no longer effective in meeting the needs of the dense and diverse neighborhood that it serves. the library needed to expand, become updated and meet current accessibility and seismic safety standards. the north beach library is on the joe dimaggio playgrounds, a heavily utilized park in a densely populated area of the city. the park is currently constricted by the numerous park elements, by buildings on the site, by sensing throughout a grade change and the streets bordering it. this slide shows the park before the library was installed on what appeared to be one of the tennis courts. recognizing that both sets of amenities are essential to the north beach neighborhood, the department entered into

i have family who lives outside of the city as well. as a librarian, i have a very strong sense of the public comments and the public good. these are not meant to raise money, they are not meant to generate revenue. as someone said earlier, the penny wise and a pound foolish. the whole atmosphere of san francisco is against having this kind of fee imposed and the privatization of the commons. i used to work for the san francisco botanical gardens society. i was there until april of last year. they have cut the library, use education back to practically nothing. they're putting all of their funding into trying to institute the fee and maintain it. we know it makes no sense financially. they are happy to have access restricted. they think that this is only for the few. they are unhappy about what was referred to as a mere comments which does not show that she understands what the idea of the public comments is. this is good for our physical and mental health, quality of life as a tourist destination and this is completely foolish to try and impose -- to

some 70 full-time part-time librarians receive layoff notices from city hall. that means this and all 17 branch libraries will see reduced hours. the go from being open four days a week now to being open just three days a week. in addition, children and other library services will be cut back. all told the cuts represent 20 percent of the entire library system budget. in san jose, kron 4 news. >>jacqueline: lots of sunshine out there for today. temperatures are little bit on the cool side. below what is typical for this time of the year. 69 concord still a nice day but the winds are really howling between 20 and 30 mi. per hour. sfo rate now reporting gusts of 32 m.p.h.. into the next few days things will warm up around the bay area. it was the temperatures on the rise and some really nice conditions for this evening, clear skies, gusty winds possibly as strong as 40 mi. per hour. tomorrow lots of sunshine, a chilly start inland possibly the 30's. definitely warming up by the afternoon. it '70s all run the bay area with lots of sun. i will show you the forecast

. >> they do not take into account the person who mows the lawn at the city park or the librarian. that's unfortunate because those individuals have worked very hard. they've put years into public service. and now they are being vilified. >> reporter: but the call for reform is growing. 70% of voters surveyed in a new poll say they support putting a cap on pensions. a survey conducted showed that 68% of voters surveyed want public employees to pitch in more for their retirement. and more than half support raising the retirement age. >> most citizens could not begin to understand the complexity of this issue. and would not be given a number of options. it would be a yes-or-no, a cut or a keep. and it's not that simple. >> reporter: out of the 44 homes on swiger's block, he says eight belong to public employees, some working, some retired. he wants for his neighbors the same thing he wants for himself -- a comfortable life in a city that's solvent. now, state workers, city workers, county workers all up and down the state have been asked to give back wage and pension concessions. man

san jose trying to close a $115 million deficit and the city is preparing to notify workers ranging from police officers to librarians, last year the city eliminated more than 700 position and laid off 215 employees, firefighters and three other unions have already agreed to 10% cuts in pay. >>> another target store is coming to the bay area, after heated debate san raphael city council approved plans for a large target store there the council voted 3-2 in favour of amending the zoning laws to allow the 137,000 square foot store the city will earn millions in fees and taxes from target, some local merchants though, say a big box store like target is going to hurt their businesses. others say the giant retailer will be bringing money and jobs to the city. >>> some pricey peninsula real estate is off the market this morning a palo alto office building has been bought by germany's deutsche bank for $64 million, that is $900 a square foot that shatters the going rate for office space in palo alto. >>> that price per square foot was the largest price per square foot of any building that had been sold in the united states

. >> reporter: people who don't work for the city but live in the city will feel the impact, too. librarians are on the chopping block, as are the people who process permits and as many 25 firefighters, too. that will mean cutting an engine company, staffing four firefighters per truck instead of five. it will also mean longer response times. >> over the last two years, we're at 150 firefighters in terms of what has been eliminated from our fire department. the ability to cover a city of one million people is challenged by the number of personal reducks, or reductions. >> reporter: the firefighters union is among those to agree to the cut. >> the cost for retirement benefits for a police officer is going up by $25 million next year. even if we get concessions from the police officers of 10% of total compensation, that's not enough to cover the cost increases in the police department. >> reporter: this is the third year of layoffs for the city of san jose. if you didn't feel them before, washington says you will feel them this time around. >> we have trimmed a lot of the fat. now they are goi

beginning this week the city will notify 10 percent or 600 of the workers, they may soon be of a job from police officers to librarians. off almost all departments will see layoffs. >> very scared, right now there are friends and colleagues that have families, mortgages and car payments. every expense that every other president has. >>reporter: older has worked for the city for 13 years and is also a uunion steward. we could lose their jobs, how severe pay cuts it does bring motivation down. if so >>reporter: city councilman said the layoffs are unavoidable. since san jose is facing a deficit of $115 million. >> it's because we have a pension system, that's unsustainable. >>reporter: said the city needs to fix the pension system fast that there was more jobs will be lost and future city services will be offered. >> to the problem is that this year and it will be worse next year because were going to carry over a massive deficit into next year. >>reporter: mayor and city council have been negotiating with unions representing city workers to reform the pension system. so far both sides have not come to an agreement. at

the city on notice by 600 workers that they soon will beatify a job for police officers to librarians. >> very scared. right now there are friends, colleagues, mortgages every single expense that every other san jose resident has. >> he's also a union steward he says morale is very low. it does take while motivation down quite a few notches. the city councilman says the layoffs are unavoidable. >> it's really because we have a pension system that is unsustainable. >> reporter: he says they need to fix it fast otherwise more jobs will be lost. the promise that this year it will be worse next year because we will carry over a massive deficit. they have been negotiating with unions to reform the pension system so far those sides have not come to an agreement. >> city council members will decide today what to do about the juror problems in san carlos and belmont. the city of san carlos looks to trim at least $1 million from its budget. one option is to use a private contractor this option is creating the most controversy. the firefighters' union has taken out an ad and is going door to do

beginning this week, the city will notify 10 percent or 600 workers they may soon be out of the job. police officers to librarians. almost all departments will see layoffs. >> very scared, right now there are friends and colleagues that have families, mortgages, car payments. every single expense that every other employee has. >>reporter: he is also union store, he said morale among city workers is very low. >> some areas where we could lose our jobs or take that as it does take motivation down quite a few notches. it's a >>reporter: the calcimine said the layoffs are unavoidable. since san jose is facing a deficit of $150 million. >> because we have a pension system that's unsustainable. >>reporter: he said the city needs to fix the pension systems in an otherwise more jobs will be lost and your city services will be offered. >> problem is that this year and will be worse next year because were going to carry over a massive deficit into next year. >> the city council have been working with unions representing city workers to reform the pension system. so far both sides have not come to an agreement. in san jose,