director goldstein: thank you. we will start with item number one, which is public comment. is there any member of the public to wishes to speak on an item not on tonight's calendar? seeing none, item number two is commissioner comments and questions. commissioners? seeing none, we will move to item number three, which is the adoption of minutes. before you for discussion and possible adoption are the minutes from october 26, 2011. president goh: comments, commissioners? i will move for their adoption. director goldstein: are there any comments? seeing none, mr. pacheco, could you read the roll? secretary pacheco: on that motion to accept the minutes of october 26, 2011. those minutes are adopted. director goldstein: item number four is a special item, an informational presentation on proposed planning code amendments. i think that the zoning administration. administrator would like to introduce this to the board. >> good afternoon, president, members of the board, scott sanchez, planning department. the presentation on planning code amendments, and we think this is relevant

supervisor daly: welcome to the september 16 -- director goldstein: welcome to the november 16, 2011, meeting of the board of appeals. we have these commissioners with us, and we also have victor pacheco, and i am cynthia goldstein, executive director. the senior building inspector is here, and we are joined by legislative affairs staff and the zoning administrator. at this time, mr. pacheco, we will go over the board meeting guidelines and conduct the swearing-in. secretary pacheco: the board requests that you turn off all phones and pagers and so they do not disturb the proceedings. please carry on conversations in a hallway. the board rules for presentation are as follows each have seven minutes to present their cases and three minutes or rebuttals. people affiliated with these parties must include their comments within the seven or three-minute period. members of the public were not affiliated with the public -- with the parties have up to three minutes each to address the board and no rebuttals. to assist the board in the accurate preparation of minutes, members of the public who

michael goldstein, that passed away this last friday. it is hard to imagine san francisco without his presence. michael was a longtime lgbt rights activist. if you look at michael's personal story of how he came to san francisco, it is a story that is very common within the community. he was an openly gay man, by virtue of being openly gay, was not accepted by his family had left new mexico, coming to san francisco, a place where he can be who he was. it is perhaps because of that that michael of the san francisco. for some many years, he dedicated his life for making the city and county a better place. those of us that have been involved on some of the issues for rights, rights of women, people of color, workers' rights, you can't imagine an issue of social justice where michael was not also active. michael of the city and county of san francisco and through the years serve the city in many different capacities. he was a member of the campus task force created by then a supervisor and was selected by the rules committee to serve in that

michael goldstein is someone that i have known and worked with for the last six years. i met him as a board member of the san francisco people's organization, a group trying to build a coalition among labor and activists. really got to spend a lot of time with him during those years and got to really appreciate his tremendous dedication to the community. michael s. someone that was always there. he showed up to everything. it was strange not to see michael at a community event or in march. this year we have been -- experienced a lot of loss of leadership and activism. it caused me to reflect a lot of what it means to continue leadership and grow leadership as we build and to celebrate the accomplishments that have occurred in the city and how far we have moved in terms of benefiting the communities and neighborhoods. michael was a large part of that. michael and i did not see eye to eye on everything, he was incredibly and blunt and honest and direct, which i really appreciated. we want to have honest dialogue here, and seeing him last month just as an indication, micha

goldstein is the vice chancellor for city college and he apologizes he could not be here today because he is in labor negotiations. supervisor kim: thank you. are there any questions or comments? we will open up for public comment. seeing none, public comment is closed. we have a motion to move forward and a second. we can do that without opposition. thank you. would you please call item no. 2? >> hearing to consider appointing one member term ending november 19, 2012 to the bicycle advisory committee. there is one see. >> -- seat. if you could please come forward. we ask applicants to speak briefly about their interest in serving and maybe some things you would like to accomplish on the advisory committee. >> i am an avid cyclist. i am also a new member of the california bar. i spent a lot of time studying law and policy. i find when i am on my bike there are issues with safety, with traffic laws are obeyed by motorists and cyclists for it i would love the chance to be able to work somehow toward whether that is increasing by planes or any other safety measures -- bike lanes or any ot

ken goldstein, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> ifill: for more on how the leadership change inth korea could affect u.s. policy toward the isolated nation, we turn to former u.s. ambassador to south korea donald gregg. he's now chairman emeritus of the board of the korea society. and balbina hwang, a visiting professor at georgetown university who was a korea specialist at the state department during the last bush administration. ambassador gregg, the president was in washington saying the u.s. is an asian power. here is the first test. what is the u.s. to do with this chafrng of leadership? north korea? >> well, that's a very good question. i think the timing of his trip to asia was excellent. he ran head on into the growing influence of china and one reason china's influence has expanded is that we have done nothing to talk with north korea in the last two or three years and so the chinese influence has increased as it has become the chief supporter of the north koreans. so we have some things to talk about with the chinese about their role in north korea and the president ha

this is dressed in goldstein's account of what happened. >> my first thought was i left the light on in the kitchen and i went running to the fence line. i ran to the kitchen and saw what looked like the burning branch on the pipeline. i called the fire department, i saw lights on but didn't see anyone in the house. i got out and got the hose and try to let down the route to get the blame and try to get the little water on the house. >> now we are told that the 1007 property where the fire started is owned by the cunningham family. there was the great amount of concern here on the scene but they were inside the home at the time. now we were told by mr. goldstein at the cunningham's made it out of the property and is believed they are up to hill on the other side of the fire crews. we will bring any updates to you but for now that's to latest from berkeley. >> thank you. the reason occupy oakland movement has been shut down by police today. it's not clear when the dozen or so protesters move into it, but the owner wanted them out. capers are cute though and had no legal owner and offi

goldstein.mors and true rumors and things like that, but you can't put that on your block. the iowa supreme court. the district court judge and as chief judge of the iowa court of appeals before his appointment to the state supreme court in 1998. next is judge anthony sirica of the third circuit court of appeals who has previously served as chief judge of that sarah -- circuit and as a district court judge. prior to his appointment to the federal bench he served as an assistant district attorney in a state representative in pennsylvania. finally of a marine, a graduate of the university of chicago law school, the supreme court and appellate process and the washington d.c. office of laden and what is where she works today. from 1991 to 1993 served as the united states deputy solicitor general. we thank you all for joining us, and we will begin at testimony with senator specter. >> hearing all of this very important. i am pleased to be back. and i have spent many interesting hours on the other sid

we also will hear from tom goldstein, founding partner of goldstein and russell. he's argued before the supreme court 24 times, but who is counting? he also teaches supreme court litigation at harvard and stanford law schools and publisher of the scotus blog, a place to look for insight and true rumors and things like that, but you don't put that on your blog. next is chief justice mark kady of the iowa supreme court. he served as an assistant county attorney, district court judge, and chief judge of iowa court of appeals before his appointment to the state supreme court in 1998. next is judge anthony of the third circuit court of appeals previously served as chief judge of that surface, and as a district court judge. prior to his appointment to the federal bench, he was an assistant district attorney and state representative in pennsylvania. finally, marine mohoney, a graduate of stanford law school, and she works and from ?un to 1993, served as a united states deputy solicitor general. we thank you, all, for joining us, and we'll begin our testimony. >> [inaudib

reporter: that's just what marina registration at the present times and san francisco neighborhood goldsteinand his wife has done. prepare as much as they can. admitting that they were not prepared in 1989. >> and it was swinging in an arch, i would say of about 30 degrees. >> more and more communities recognizing that emergency help may not be immediately available are training residents to form their own response regimen. >>> the screens are not from actors but from volunteers. >> not breathing. >> reporter: who are training san francisco residents to join their ranks as n .e.r.t.s. >> we want a n.e.t.r. trained on every block. >> reporter: in two days of training volunteers learn how to turn off natural gas and other skills useful after an earthquake. it's trainee emily gallagher's first pull on a fire extinguisher. >> it was a lot easier than i thought it would be. there was not a lot of pressure, it was pretty easy. >> reporter: n.e.r.t. was started to assist themselves and overwhelmed responders. >> one thing kwráur -- you're going to experience is ready at arrival. >> this is called t

i am here tonight with brooke goldstein. what a wonderful cover. she is the found -- she is the founder of the children's rights institute. there it is, brooke. if you just waited awhile, i have to show the book. as if anybody could see that, it is called law fare, the war against free speech. i have no idea what it is about. i bet it is a pop up book. if hilarity was a baskets of buscuits i would bang him against the ground. and even his shadow has light, my side kill bill schulz. and he has -- bill schulz. and he has more talent in his pin key. he is the star of idol and rock of ages and a tony nominee, constantine moroles. good to see you, pinch. >> the critic's notebook visi the beloved museum of the confederacy. whereupon the author and the proprietor sat out on the veranda and discussed the wharf northern aggression while drinking sweet tea and enjoying the breeze provided by an over sized fan. of course, certain topics about this magestic time in art history were considered i'm polite, and therefore not touched upon. rhymes with shmavery. th

michael goldstein. president chiu: is there any more business? >> that concludes our business. president chiu: we are adjourning for the evening. >> when there is this a children's theater, it is a good theater. it is a good theater, you would like it, even if it is for children. that is what i think. i feel like it is both a story for kids and for much older people. it is both about being a young child and letting a toy or a friend, and it is also about what it means to get old. ♪ >> in 1986, my son was two, and i decided i would like to go over the story of the velveteen rabbit, mind you i had never read it myself as a child. i only heard it as a mother. my first-time hearing it was a bedtime story recording. it was through that that i found the theme and determined how it was going to produce this story. it was through listening to it. when a first mated, i really did watch my son, because i took him to live performances as soon as six months old. he loved it when someone was on the stage. he loved it when somebody was reading to him, the language. >> there was once a velvet

and serve as vice president when she was president along with director gold seen -- goldstein and theuty city attorney, we rewrote the rules together and it was a great experience for me. we were successful in our attempts to make them more fair and protect the due process. i just want to say commissioner peterson will be sorely missed. vice president garcia: i would agree. i will not make a big speech about it because i hope someday she will come back. so that we can properly honor her. anyone who is watching the meetings is properly familiar with the skills she had up here. she could analyze issues that were relatively complex and could concisely state what her points of view were about that. all that is self-evident to what i would want to talk about. i was always impressed that she would come here after a long day at the zoo. she has two children, running a household, taking care of that. she would have to deal with going back and forth across the bridge and a couple of days every week. she would always show up here totally cheerful and upbeat. it was pretty remarkable. anyone who

those issues could be better directed to director goldstein. because we have had this allegation or these allegations about our fairness and due process, i wanted to remind the public that our practice is to disclose any ax party communications we have and we will disclose them on the issue. that is a reminder for everyone. thank you. any other comments are questions? is there any public comment on item two? we will move to item number three, the adoption of minutes. before you for your commit -- your consideration are the meeting minutes. i move the adoption. >> please call the roll. to adopt the november 16 minutes, commissioner fung, aye. vice-president garcia, aye. commissioner hwang. aye. president goh: is there any public comment? we can move on to item no. 4 which is our first appeal. appeal no. 11-110. elias louh as -- doing business at st. paul's market. appealing a 70 day suspension of the tobacco product sales establish permit imposed on october 4, 2011. reasons for suspension, selling tobacco products to minors. this is director of

michael goldstein. president chiu: is there any more business? >> that concludes our business. president chiu: we are adjourning for the evening. >> good evening, everyone. my name is filled in the third, the director of your parks department. my job can be challenging at times, but on and that light tonight, i feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be here, to support families in the event like this is truly fantastic. this is the greatest city in the world, the greatest parks department. thank you for joining us. 82 years ago, uncle john mclaren, our first park superintendent started the tradition of minding a mile- long of live trees at, to where he lived at the time. behind you is the official entry of san francisco, and it is called uncle john's tree. it is a monterey cypress that is 131 years old. it is over 100 feet tall. it has over 700 lights. it took 8 rec and park tree toppers to light this up. let's give a big round of applause honoring john mclaren, who would be 160 today. 82 years later, our staff has continued the tradition, and i want to thank all of the par

michael goldstein. president chiu: is there any more business? >> that concludes our business. president chiu: we are adjourning for the evening. >> i came out to san francisco about seven years ago. i was trained as a carpenter. i got sick of the cold weather and the hot weather. i wanted to pursue art. i thought i really be here for about three years. here i am, 7 years later. ♪ i have problems sleepwalking at night. i wanted to create a show about sleep. a mostly due painting kind of story telling. these are isolated subject matters, smaller studies for the larger paintings. i fell in love with it and wanted to create more of them. it is all charcoal on mylar. it is plastic. i was experimenting and discovered the charcoal moves smoothly. it is like painting, building up layers of charcoal. it is very unforgiving. you have to be very precise with the mark-making. a mark dents the paper and leaves the material embedded. you have to go slowly. the drawings are really fragile. one wipe and they are gone completely. it is kind of like they're locked inside. all of the animals i a

because that's how long tom taylor and jerry are -- jerry goldstein has turned their house into this christmas post carried. so many interesting and beautiful touches, most notably the 50-toot pine tree with ornaments the size of beach balls and wonderful gadgets, trains and carousels, that are a feast for the eyeballs as well. they say they're house attracts some 30,000 visit yoors year. they won't tell us what it costs to put this up and keep it running. main they -- maybe they don't want to think about it. but they certainly enjoy doing it. >> the things i find most interesting about the tree are the number of people that come to see it, the variety of people that come to see it, and how much joy they get out of it. >> you see the reaction of the kids. and now many of the kids that started with me are adults, and as they come back and hear their comments, they think it's part of their life. a whole different aspect than i ever thought of, that's for sure. >> it is certainly a feast for the eyes, this display will remain standing through january 2nd. the light goes on at 5:30 and s

director goldstein: no other questions? ok, thank you, sir. we will hear from the zoning administrator. >> thank you, scott sanchez, planning department. i am joined by the deputy city attorney, a representative from the mayor's department on housing, and someone from the planning department, who actually processed this many years ago. this is a notice and penalty for failure for conditions of approval relating to an approval that was more than eight years ago now, and the project has subsequently been built, and what is unique in this case is we have an appellate self -- not disputing this accept the conditions. the appropriate time to make those arguments would have been eight years ago when those conditions were imposed because of the novel legal issues, we called upon the city attorney to help us prepare our brief, which you may know it was submitted to you, and she will give the bulk of the presentation. i just wanted to provide some background and the timeline. in august 2001, the conditional use authorization request for the property wa

president olague: i just wanted to ask that we close the meeting, and in honor of michael goldstein, he was an activist in the lgbt community, and he watched our broadcast here all the time and spend a lot of time educating me, at least, on issues that pertain to the need for affordable housing for different low-income communities and medical cannibus issues as well -- medical cannibis issues as well. it was a huge loss. he passed away last friday. i would like to close in his memory. commissioner moore: i assume that everybody has read in the paper that the w hotel filed an appeal on the museum. and on another point, the aia is created website to connect tall projects with architects and investors bid aren't up that was a very interesting thing, actually a nationwide thing, and i thought that was projected to give people an ability to really look at what is on the board and what might be part of financing. i think it creates a message in regards to them being active on that. >> thank you. madam president, do you want to go back? president olague: yes, lets discuss the calendar. >> i

tom taylor and jerry goldstein's house has become a tourist attraction. >> it's great to have people get into a taxi in san francisco and say, show me something never seen before. >> the centerpiece, 54-foot pine tree decorated with beach ball sized ornaments. hard to believe this started as a simple house plan 30 years ago. tommy jerry planted the tree here in the mid-70s and began decorating it later, add tolling the display with each passing year. >> this tree kept growing, and the crowds kept growing, and people kept egging me on to keep going. >> going for 22 years now. the two created a feast for the eyes of all. and the imaginations of little ones. what is your favorite part? >> the train. >> merry christmas! >> the kids also sit a spell with santa and grab a candy cane. this display is for everyone of every age. >> what do you like most? >> the fact that the people were kind enough to decorate this tree year in and year out. i think it's wonderful. >> for tom and jerry, the hardest part of the tradition is yet tog it dow tearing it down. but the dismantling won't take place u