city guides and city journals, and they sent me the entrepreneurial city which mayor goldsmith led. and be i really -- it's about 100-page book, and i think i took three days to go through it because the first part of the book talked about, it was written by great mayors on different issues that they had been involved with whether it was public safety or neighborhoods, whatever, and then in the back of it it had a resource guide of each chapter. so i'm on the -- you probably don't know this either, i was on the phone with his budget director in indianapolis saying, how'd you do this? and calling people around the country. so it was a great opportunity for me to learn, and the reason he recognized a lot of the stuff in my book is because i stole most of it from be him. [laughter] and it was a, i can't overstate how important it is to have groups like the manhattan institute that are out there doing research and disseminating the people that are leading our cities and states around the country because you need to have that in order to progress. ideas, jeb bush is a good friend of mine

the city needs to recommit ourselves to the values that our city was named after. st.rancis believed in compassion for those who have less -- had less than others. those of us with opportunities have to give back. part of that entails taking care of the most important among us, the folks who have need, including our homeless. >> let's talk about the transportation situation in your district. you mentioned that transit could be better. how is parking and traffic? is there enough muni service now? >> you are talking to the one member of the board that does not only car. i get around my district by muni, bicycle, or hailing a cab. our transit system is truly challenge. our bosses are late one out of four times. -- our buses are late one out of a quarter times. they're still not as clean and safe as we'd like. we can do better and investing in our muni system. we need more taxicabs on the streets. is difficult to obtain a cab. i support the concept of centralized taxi dispatch systems so you know who you can call to get a cab. i am a big believer in pedestrian bicycling as

the city. and finally, i was thrust upon with the obligation to make sure that i selected a police chief, not a temporary police chief. a chief that will carry forth what i consider to be one of the most important things in this city, to secure the public safety of the great city of san francisco. i think i have done that, with the selection and now the appointment of the chief. so many people have come up to me and clearly you expected a chief who had spent 30 years in his life, but i did not realize how many people he has really known in every part of this community. they come up and they thank us for making that wonderful decision. you will see right off the that, if he will be a great partner to make sure our police force and all the public agency facilities work together and we produce a higher level of public safety in the new year. i set out for a number of these objectives to perform those things in the most non-political way and to give it my full, 150% attention. that means to not be

the city. that means today and it will mean for some time that my administration reflects a strong effort to create and sustain jobs for everyone. if i have learned anything in my visits throughout the city it is that everybody wants to get a job. they want to be here. they want to sustain themselves year. they know how expensive it is. i know how expensive is. i made one of the biggest, most nervous financial commitments buying a house here in my whole life here that was when mayor willie brown ordered me that if i wanted this job, i had to move into the city. i bought a couple of times, because finding a 3-bedroom house in the city was an enormous task. i did it well my kids were jumping up and down on the bed, saying "we are going to disneyland. we are going to disneyland." because their vision of san francisco was a place of play, a place where their eyes are open everywhere they go, they can get the culture and the arts, all the wonderful things we have invested in that make this city succ

i am a retired city employee. one thing about this proposal, for the restructuring of health services, it is basically designed to cut cost containment, designed to hold down service costs, if i am correct. it is designed to benefit the public, but we are also part of the public. we are your neighbors, we shop at the grocery stores, we are human beings. this will have a detrimental affect, potentially, on people who are critically ill, people on low income. this will work to the detriment of very vulnerable people. for that reason, i suppose this proposition. thank you. commissioner kim: thank you. is there any other public comment at this time? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, are there any comments or questions for staff? commissioner elsbernd: no, i would just like to thank everyone for coming forward to raise their issues. procedurally, what i would like to do is move this item to the four board as a committee report, so it can be placed on the agenda. there would be no vote today on the full

we need to look at what we do as a city and was services we offer. we have 26,000 city employees. our payroll and fringe benefits for city employees accounts for over 60% of our budget. if we are not willing to look at that issue, i do not think we are going to solve -- i know we will not solve our long-term financial issues. that, to me, is the biggest deal. second, it is about job creation. jobs are not just putting people back to work, which i think is the highest priority, but it is all the ancillary benefits we received, whether it be payroll taxes, an increase in property taxes. people who live and work in san francisco also shop at local restaurants, so shop at the local retail stores. it is a huge economic impact in san francisco. in my opinion, it is getting our costs under control but also promoting economic development so we have a financial engine that will continue to promote us year after year. >> what are your ideas on dealing with the issue of homelessness in san francisco? >> i am one that thinks mayor newsom did a great job thinking proactively about what we need

and shape of our city looks like. one thing i am proud about in this project, which i cannot take credit for, is the immense community outreach and input and process them and through this development, and to talk to folks who were formerly homeless who felt like their input was heard and taken into account into with this new neighborhood would look like. up to 2400 units of affordable housing for the city of san francisco, something that our city definitely needs. something to be clapped for. [applause] an unprecedented number of units going to formerly homeless communities as well. sherri williams and many of the community-based organizations will continue to not only provide affordable housing but actually support the community as well. we are looking at a mixed income neighborhood in treasure island. treasure island will have an impact on the city. i want to think ross mirkarimi and david chiu for introducing some changes to the development agreements, which will help to mitigate some of these impacts. of course, t

city, you have got it yes, city, you have got it. you are ready audit yes, city, you have got it you are the audit you are the city pride and joy the goddess of the city changed and you know i want some better change and i am wanted now i see and you have got it. yes, city, you are the audit you are the city audit you are the god of change and you have got it, keep it green, i mean it yes, city, you have got it you are the city audit you are the city pride of joy supervisor campos: next speaker please. >> good morning, my name is douglas yepp, and i have lived in san francisco for 59 years. i would like to thank the sponsor for this hearing. it is way overdue, and i would like to offer my own support for having the city services auditor working like a watchdog, rather than -- rather than a lap dog. i was happy to hear the gift fund come up for discussion. the reason why, i would like to recommend to everyone in this room read today's letter to the editor in "the examiner." the title is "sf should keep an eye on laguna honda gift fund

[applause] without his work, no question, from navigating the city bureaucracy, working with the city planner, public, this would not have happened without his efforts. from my department, his counterpart, nick ellser. from the mayor's office of workforce development, the mother of our communities in our town, lisa pegan. and the guy from the mta who gets all the difficult job of figuring out how all this all works, jerry robbins. those are the folks on the city side. there are a lot of other folks to thank, a lot of other work that went into this. but now, it is my pleasure -- this man was progressive before it was cool to be progressive, and he was innovating in the public rights of way before it was cool. as a public works director, he started addressing alleyways in chinatown, in the tenderloin, making them more attractive and welcoming, improving the public realm all over the city. he has since moved on to bigger and better things but has carried that affect on with him, forcing collaboration between city departments, the private sector, and this is the epitome of the kind of par

the city may accept the access way into the city system, but that decision will be at the city's discretion in the future, so the jurisdictional approvals were received on fidrych 10, 2009, and by the as the mta board in 2009. it was approved by the college board of trustees in 2008, the transfers along with the exchange agreement fell to be in accordance in a letter from the planning department dated november 5, 2010. both the jurisdictional transfers and the exchange system with the ballpark system area plant and its environmental findings, as adopted by the planning commission on december 4, 2008, and as further with an ordinance. so we secured a positive recommendation for approval of the jurisdictional transfer is in the even exchange agreement with city college. we have representatives of city college year as well as from the office of economic and work force development should you have any questions. supervisor mar: thank you. actually, i did have one question. it is the puc and a major -- major land swap, but there is also mta owning a number of parcels of property in the main area

welcome to city hall, your city hall. i wanted to make sure -- i know supervisor mirkarimi is here. supervisor jane kim is also here. they are both here because i know both have a strong commitment to our youth in san francisco. i want to welcome all of you here tonight for two reasons. one, i know we are going to give some awards out for our youth leaders, but the other reason i wanted to make sure you had a good invitation to come to city hall tonight was because we have been waiting for one of you to register, wondering if you are going to run for mayor or not. there is a vacant seat for youth to lead the city. i think you can take this job and run with it. this city needs to be more kid- friendly, more youth-oriented. i think you could have a big input to make sure that what we are doing will be there for you to raise families as well. i want to congratulate all the nominees tonight. all of you who have been participating in this competition for the fellowship have been doing great work. i have been reading through some of the accomplishments that you are a part of. i got to mee

the city. s.p.a. is just now rolling out a program for r -- will be the case by the summer. let me get one last point and on the question about relationships to lenders. the question was, do have to have an account with a bank in order to get a loan? may answer is no, but the real answer to it is certainly want to do that. one of the things we see as an important thing for you, as a small-business person to establish a relationship with a lender on a variety of levels before you look for funding. part of that is opening an account with them, letting a lender know about your business, understand your business, talk to them as you are growing your business. when the economy is strong, all lenders are shopping for transactions. in times are tough on credit, you want to rely on those deeper liberation ships with your lender. you want to develop a relationship with a lender. it is the case where you want to open up an account, while to have another bank services that you want to have a relationship

all that has to happen is the three people the city designated, the city-appointed seats, the management seats will refuse to speak. so you have a 3 and 3 split on the board and the 30 days goes by, according to what i have read, and then no actions -- there is no actions. the comptroller -- controller's nominee becomes the representative on the board. i do believe this is an egregious thing. and also notice that the legislative language specifically talks about reduced numbers, reduced numbers of medical providers. that means we will have fewer people we can go to. supposing we're going to someone on the city plan, a heart specialist, and they are not on the list. just think of that. i put this to you because that is going to be very unfair for a number of people who are elderly and particularly el. -- particularly ill. that particular asset -- it is not fair on the health care thing. and think you should review this. i think it is basically very unfair. thank you. supervisor elsbernd: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm here on behalf of the executive benefits. i would like

rowboat, lawless jury that beats up on city departments and tries to get conscientious city employees fired. this is from a recently issued said the grand jury report. because of the ethics commission's lack of enforcement, no city employee has been disciplined for failing to adhere to the sunshine ordinance. the commission has allowed some city officials to ignore the ruling of the sunset ordinance taskforce. second false statement. city public officials said they spent an extraordinary amount of time and resources complying with the ordinance. they described the task force hearings as tedious kendrew court. the fact from the civil grand jury report -- since october 2004, there have been 18 cases where the sotf has asked the ethics department in force this. the facts did not support the findings of willful violation. the others who were dismissed because the facts did not support the finding of violation -- none of these cases were heard before the ethics commission. denigrating public servants who volunteered to serve on boards in front of this committee does not belong to public of

hurwitz: currently, city tunnel 1 and city tunnel number 2 would be feeding each half of the city. so you'd lose half the city if you didn't have a replacement. narrator: without half of its water supply, the city would shut down. for nearly 40 years, new york has been in the process of constructing a solution. man: this project is water tunnel number 3. we started on this project in 1969. i'm a sandhog. i've been a sandhog for 37 years. 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 fi

attorneys' fees from the city. and neighbors are willing to pay for the experteds and there are no compelling reason to settle the case and bill sanders can go on at length about the abrams case and there are no compelling policy reasons to settle. claudia wilkins is an intelligent, thoughtful judge with a track record and a willingness to stand up for very powerful vested interests. and perhaps most important of all, the neighbors who have shown up today are unanimous in not wanting the city to settle this case, and of course, you are ultimately the elected representative of these folks. thanks for your time. and please vote to deny these settlement. thank you. supervisor kim: is there any other public comment? we had a motion to convene into closed session and we can do that without opposition. we are asking all members of the public to exit the room at this time. thank you so much for being here. we appreciate being here in the middle of the afternoon on this issue. >> madam chair, we met in closed session to di

and that means business, residents and the city

city fund. the to over $225 million a year had to be set aside just to pay for the increase in cost of pensions, and the tensions had to do with both the pension costs as well as the health care costs, and none of the health care costs have any coverage at all in our current budget. so i had to go to work on that very hard. we knew that it was going to take months and months of discussions, but we approached it in a way learning from what had happened last year in proposition b, as you recall, it was a proposition that mr. adachi had proposed. it went to the november ballot and got defeated in a very sound way. as a city employee for 21 years, i observed very closely what happened, and he, of course, and bird so many san francisco employees -- angered so many send francisco employees. janitors, street cleaners, fire, police -- they all in very large voices resoundingly helped to defeat the proposal because they felt it was done in a way in which they were never included in that discussion. it wa

i love dressing up and coming to city hall knowing where part of the city just as we are apart of city hall. this is a great crowd today. i have seen great improvements. the flag this year is new and crisp. the crowd is beautiful. everybody is organized. some of you dressed up and some of you did not. [laughter] that is okay. you are all welcome at city hall. before we do the formal program, i want to acknowledge that this is the same suit i wore years ago when nancy pelosi walked into the room and have the same suit on -- had the same suit on. i do not think she is wearing the same suit, but i am. [laughter] sandra, thank you for being here to represent her. [applause] this is a treacherous thing to do at city hall. it is full of protocol and eggshells. it is not easy to walk on egg shells with these issues. [laughter] i will try. if i make a mistake, forgive me. the most important thing is to wreck a bias -- recognize that we are represented by people who want to celebrate pride. to kick things off, i give you the mayor of san francisco, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you very muc

abbas born and raised in the city. i come from a working-class family and i went to public schools here. i'm currently at city college of san francisco. i believe i would be an asset to this task force because i know my community and city very well. i believe in the voting process and communities having input in city government. i've also a former youth commissioner, so i have experience serving my city. being part of the youth commission, i have learned to work across districts and find solutions. i have experience in the tobacco free project and in this program, i learned to assess the health needs of my neighborhood and work with merchants. i also learned the importance of action research and its relationship to policy. i believe my vision is to represent my community and the voices that have not been heard. i would like to see this city improved through this redistricting process. supervisor kim: thank you for serving as a youth commissioner and representing district 6. i saw that on your application. could you tal

city. i was with them last week. they had all these volunteers out helping us repair homes in our mission and excelsior for seniors, so it is a wonderful cooperation we have with wells fargo. how was the right coming in today? >> when a great way to start the morning. i wish i could start every morning like this. we have more than 9000 team members at work, so coming from marin county in the east bay from the south bay, so we are actively working with them and helping reduce greenhouse emissions. one of that is by the commute, so we are actively encouraging bike riding to work appear almost every one of our administrative offices has bike racks outside of it to help support our team members, so thank you, and thank you, mayor. >> joel. travel sf. our tourists and visitors are noticing this experience. what are you saying? >> travel and tourism in -- is san francisco's number one industry. 80 million people come here every year, and more than 1/3 are from international countries that are use

we try to keep our business in the city. when people come in, they see signs allover saying that our product may lead to cancer, this kind of stuff, it makes it really hard for us. if there was harm that would be done, this ordinance would be in place all over the united states. supervisor avalos: thank you. if there are no other members of the public, we will close public comment. i would like to call the director backup. just a few things the responsibility on the merchant selling cell phones, is that correct? >> correct. and back to the department of the environment is responsible for that most of the coach. it's simply -- it simply says that cell phone exposure, as stated by a number of studies and there is metalwork to -- under in the is there any consolation how that might protect themselves? >> one speaker spoke about her manual. it is true, and consumers have to be at and from asia collects for me of the good to know our profit. it unknown and -- i will protect myself. using handsfree devices, even when making phone

i will start you out with this fact, speaking of our beautiful city. 25% of our beautiful city is taken up by public right of way, streets, sidewalks, and scraps and parcels that the city leaders laid out to convey people and vehicles. the public rights of way are important. that is what we stoeward. a lot of it was designed more for utilities and vehicles than people. what you have seen over the last few years is a rethinking of the public rights of way. we're here to talk about one small example of movement in a positive direction in terms of how we use our public spaces in san francisco. without further ado, the man you would all like to hear from. he is serving the great city now and once did as the director of public works, our mayor, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for your leadership as well. i am up here for the ribbon cutting ceremony. i want to thank all the neighbors that live up here. you have seen corners of the city where grass is growing or people are neglecting these places. along comes a bureaucracy called dpw with others gaining confidence that we can

this is the inner city of amsterdam, and the rest of the city are the suburbs. the whole city, there are 2.2 million people, but the real city of amsterdam, there are less than 800,000, which i think is about the same as san francisco. i will also pass around a few sheets. the important thing is that amsterdam is one of the five major economic central's -- economic centers in europe, and we want to stay that way, and we are an attractive city for international business, like the american and asian companies that like to have business in amsterdam. it is a real nice place to stay. experts like to live in amsterdam, and is accessible from all parts of the world. it is also very important case of cycling. what irony said, 2.2 million and happens, but the last line may be the most important, about 120 kilometers per day traffic jams. that is qu7?) a lot. this distance is not more than 25k. we have a real problem. that is not good for business. for us, it is active transport, really important as a solution for being accessible. ok, does it work? yes. this is the city

i said, do you want to be in the city? yes, i want to be in the city. they were asking me about twitter. they play some of the zynga games. they did not know that their headquarters were here, but they need to know that, growing up. we want the chinese companies to also use san francisco as their headquarters and to continue to be the gateway. people love that about the city. asian families, the matter their income -- they could be a hotel workers, garment workers, for ceo's, they all want -- or ceo's, they all want a quality city. my job is to make sure they trust government, so that when we say something, we do it. what i do not like it, and past relationships with the government, they could not do what they said. that is where the mistrust comes out. that is why i am going around talking to every community possible. if i can take care of it, i will tell them. if i cannot, i will tell them honestly. i think honesty in government is the most important thing right now, especially at three are trying to build quality for the city. that is how i will appr

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 growing up in seattle. the fourth of six kids. tell us about the way you grew up, hal is shaped who you are now? mayor lee: i do not talk much about it because it was a hard life. we grew up in housing projects in seattle. we struggled. we were a large family. my dad was a cook. my mom was a seamstress. so, kind of typical for a lot of asian immigrant families. i had the unfortunate episode of my dad dying when i was in high school. so we literally had to be on our own. six kids, one long, full time seamstres

that is what being a neighbor of the great city is all about. that is what i love about the city. my neighborhood is doing the same thing with our street. we want to pay attention to it. we want to get a little help. they get it. we bring the bureaucrats out to the neighborhoods. we make everybody that much more appreciative of what kind of city they are a part of. i want to emphasize the strength of our city relies on the strength of people likfrom the community. you build it here, in glen park, the mission, chinatown. it builds up the strength of the city. it comes back to our department's opening up their resources, not protecting it like other bureaucratic agencies have historically done. we've said we can do it and be challenged with a grant program completely open to everybody. these things are worth the $1 million it looks like today. it is worth 10 times more in building camaraderie and companionship with our neighbors. i want to emphasize that. i want to represent that by giving what i can do to reflect our appreciation for the leadership. it is a certificate of honor to

i think that the city departments, it probably will month before the city good. if it is a city department recommending this, but for the utilities, it is my understanding that they mostly with before, the entities, that they will be increasing their competitive advantage or making more profits from their use of public space, butthe other utilt are commonly requesting these permits, besides at&t? >> currently, we are talking about 2 you a separate items. there are service facilities that are above ground for all agencies, be it from the city or the public or private entities. the utility excavation permit the department issues is not only to members of the city family -- puc, mta -- but also to your typical utility provider -- pg&e, at&t, comcast, nrg, and a variety of other utility companies authorized to occupy the public right of way, as allowed by the california public utilities commission. supervisor weiner: following up on the question about the is that tick determination and what matches and does not -- about the aesthetic determination and what matches an

i think we're in a very difficult city. we have tons of permits, tons of different apartments to go through. i wish there were a way to streamline the process, just to make it easier for them to be here in san francisco. >> what are your thoughts about expanding the tax breaks, giving business to other areas in your district? >> i talked a little bit earlier about raising taxes and raising revenues and fees, and for me, the tax exemption is something i do not philosophically supports. yet, i often represent part of san francisco that has been neglected for decades, and that is the midmarket corridor. we have over 3 million square feet of commercial real estate. a lot of it has been vacant for decades. the building twitter is going to be using, it has been vacant since 1968. we have to start looking at what tools do we have to revitalize the area, and what i like about this legislation is we are not just giving a tax break to come in. you have to create jobs. you pay your payroll tax base, but if you move to midmarket and cr