had the impact the graffiti has on the system. i like to call our director of transition that will give a report. >> a couple of points to make as he raised the issue on what the impact of graffiti at a previous meeting. in terms of an introduction, i would want to make three points. this is a serious and onerous problem for the agency of in terms of cost, the diversion of resources from other critical functions. it remains a major problem not just for us, but secondly, at the same time, we have had some success for we have reported major incidents of graffiti to the use of the following a police resources and also through the use of video. from an enforcement standpoint, we have had some discussions. if you're going to make a significant road into the problem, we need a major attitude change. it will not deceive those of us at the mta, but the willingness to accept graffiti at any point. in terms of the overall -- and bear with me. 1100 instances of graffiti each week. it occurs throughout the system, and the number of incidents

i know of that policy is different with graffiti. we don't want the bus drivers text and while they're driving. is this something built into the system but allows them to also be an enforcement mechanism? >> let me try to answer the two- part question. when you either text or call 710-4455, it goes to the control center. it will be on a real-time basis. the control center will call the police and we can dispatch and the police. we have not only our own police, but the ability to have city-wide taking over. it is very important. the second part of your question, we don't want to put them in harm's way. the same time, which said that there has to be less tolerance for somebody marking the seat or somebody painting the ceiling. we need to work with the operators to give them additional tools, if you will. there are some silent alarms that we have in the event that there is an issue. the head of the type of incident, this rise to that. i think one of the things that is important in this whole communication message that we have to get aft

paint to paint over the graffiti. once we received the notice that the building needed to be cleaned up, it is cleaned up in a matter of days. however, it has been tagged again three times since then. i'm not certain whether or not this is revolving around an additional incident of graffiti, but i want to put my objection on the record. this is something we deal with seriously on a monthly basis. we take care of it as it comes to and i personally find the assessment to our building to be unconscionable. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> my name is kevin gilbert, 21 paterson street. the letter we received, we took care of it a media elite and painted are building a few months prior to receiving the letter. we rode back to dpw with a certified letter and never got any response back. we are objecting against this fine and we keep our building is clean as we can. we have extra paint on hand and where there monday through friday making sure it is clean. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> good afternoon.

paint to paint over the graffiti. once we received the notice that the building needed to be cleaned up, it is cleaned up in a matter of days. a matter of days. however, it has been tagged

we generally contract out graffiti painting. in mr. blackman's words, the cooling fans on the new boxes in it a sound equivalent to an electric toothbrush all day long. competition is a great thing and we could use more of it. but at what cost? with all the advances in technology and considering how innovative the bay area is, does it make sense to put these all over? >> i am representing the rebel we could neighborhood association. -- the eurkea valley neighborhood association. we want to know what the alternatives are. we don't except there are no alternatives. -- accept there are no new alternatives. we are talking about technology. it does not go away. the city should be looking at this in a broadway about how to provide the technological advances to the residents without creating like and possible hazards to pedestrians , and putting impediments in the public right of way. maybe the eir is not even going to be sufficient to do what is necessary to prepare for the future here. but it certainly is a step. all the alternatives will b

what we get the notice of graffiti, we removed it with a short time. then again, i got the notice for the charge of $250. the third one is on 2853 mission street. same thing. when i got the notice, i removed it. i cleaned up, but sometime in the glass window with a chemical thing that i cannot remove completely. we did our best to remove everything. then of course, i don't know why, i still got the notice of charge to hundred $50. -- of charged $250. i want the supervisors to waive that for me please. i think the graffiti problems -- sometime weekly one day and after two days, it's again. [tone] i want to ask you to stop that, please. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> of one of the owners at 24 01 fell more. i want to repeat what everyone's been saying, but the building is constantly getting hit and we always corrected. this time it was two days late, but my issue -- i've got no argument -- we still got fined, but the argument is the amount of graffiti was small. less than a foot wide by a foot high and you had to search to see it from the st

if the graffiti has been removed at that time, the case is then closed.operty is then posted for a 15-day blight notice. at that time, the $250 administrative fee is attached but they do have another 15 days to remove and they can also file for a blight hearing to oppose the fee at that time. back to the 30-day notice, if there are problematic property that is frequently tagged, they have the opportunity then to file for a hardship hearing before an a.l.j. that will hear their case and if they prove hardship, the department will take over that property for up to six months and maintain it for them. they do have opportunities to remove, to file for hardship, blight. they can appeal the blight fee by requesting a blight hearing. commissioner wiener: thank you. i just wanted to comment, you know, i think the common theme from the property owners that we heard was frustration that despite best efforts buildings are continually being tagged and frankly, the city, we're not always fulfilling our role, not d.p.w., but i'm talking law enforcement in terms of hold

when this is private property, we cannot just remove the graffiti. graffiti. we initially give the property

people painting the graffiti off the walls and poles, people picking up trash in the parks that were left by a lot of these big parties that were irresponsible. so we're try to make a connection with the places where people are going to rehab themselves with life's reality and in those programs, kids learn quick not to form graffiti because when you paint them off, that's just as dirty and they see how it afpblgt, they are learning how graffiti affects the quality of life in communities like this. so we're trying to make those connections, there's a lot of differences of opinion about how you rehab somebody and how you educate that person, different levels of education, different cultures, we're all trying to, i went to the first, in fact, i was the first mayor to ever attend a re-entry counsel discussion with people from the jails, police department, the d.a., the public defender, all of them in one room, trying to figure out better programs to make sure that recidivism, people who had committed crimes, they have a chance to change their lives. a lot of them were telling us about th

when this is private property, we cannot just remove the graffiti. we initially give the property owner 30 days, which is what the ordinance requires, and if this is not removed we can send somebody to the property and we will build them. the ability to do this was strengthened by legislation a couple of years ago. this is the ordnance that allows us to recover the cost to the taxpayer dollars that have been spent. with regard to the street trees, this is the situation. most of the trees that lined the streets in san francisco, that are the responsibility of the property owner. i have a couple of trees and of my

when this is private property, we cannot just remove the graffiti. we initially give the property owner 30 days, which is what the ordinance requires, and if this is not removed we can send somebody to the property and we will build them. the ability to do this was strengthened by legislation a couple of years ago. this is the ordnance that allows us to recover the cost to the taxpayer dollars that have been spent. with regard to the street trees, this is the situation. most of the trees that lined the streets in san francisco, that are the responsibility of the property owner. i have a couple of trees and of my house and it is my job to keep them well maintained. some streets in san francisco -- for no reason, the city maintains those trees. i am responsible to maintain my trees, my neighbor -- the responsibility is done by the city. we have three crews responsible for maintaining tens of thousands of street trees in san francisco. the three of them cover the whole city and this is an adequate for us to do this. we are supposed to do this every thre

i've heard a lot about graffiti on boxes. where i live in corona heights, i have a phone box a couple of doors down from me and occasionally it is tagged with graffiti and at&t has been very response 95 getting that graffiti removed when i contact them within a couple of days, sometimes within 24 hours. thank you. >> hi, my name is ashley chang, one of the community ambassadors but i'm only speaking on behalf of myself as a resident of district 10. we heard a lot about cumulative impacts and i'd like to take a minute to talk about economic impacts for our community. there's overwhelming needs in my community, especially the asian community in district 10, about digital equity. right now, comcast is the only in-line service provider in our area. as the area that is known for low-income families and residents, we really do need choices, thereby keeping the prices in check. because in reality, t.v., in many cases, are the only form of entertainment that the residents can afford. so please, if at&t were to install any boxes, plea

graffiti ordinance, we then issue a blight notice. it has been very effective. we are not getting a lot of requests from the public for non-graffiti blight issues here that said, it has been very effective. our sidewalk repair program has been very effective. we want to use the benefit of those ordinances to be able to address all the rest of the aspects of right of way enforcement that we are responsible for. supervisor avalos: ok, very good. just one brief question. you and i met in my office about a month ago. i gave you a few sites to look at in terms of blighted properties. not in public right of way. it was actually the top of edgar street. there were two, maybe three properties, just completely abandoned buildings on the top of the hill that are very visible from a lot of sites around the city. i'm not sure if anyone owns the property at all, or is just sitting there for a long time. how would we go about getting the property been -- is that where we look at dpw or dbi? >> somebody at the town hall meeting the other night sent

if the graffiti has been removed at that time, the case is then closed.operty is then posted for a 15-day blight notice. at that time, the $250 administrative fee is attached but they do have another 15 days to remove and they can also file for a blight hearing to oppose the fee at that time. back to the 30-day notice, if there are problematic property that is frequently tagged, they have the opportunity then to file for a hardship hearing before an a.l.j. that will hear their case and if they prove hardship, the department will take over that property for up to six months and maintain it for them. they do have

the graffiti, you have graffiti everywhere and as a lot of people have stated, it would bring jobs to the city, taxes to the city. it would bring a lot of good things to the cities of san francisco and one of the biggest things it would bring would be a good competition between comcast and at&t. but i believe at&t will rise above and will offer a lot for other people. you go out and buy a car, you have a lot of cars to choose from, not just one. this opens the door for people to have more than one choice. thank you. [applause] president chiu: are there any other members of the public that wish to speak in support of at&t? at this time, why don't we hear back from the appellate who shall have up to three minutes for a presentation. >> hello, again, susan brand holly for the appellates. getting back to the question before this board, which is whether the categorical exemption is supportable, we all agree that a key question is presented by the exceptions to categorical exemptions, so basically, the class -- without parsing class three, it's not applicable if there's a fair argument befo

we, despite having some excellent people in law enforcement who are focused on graffiti, the systems for actually enforcing the graffiti laws, finding those who are doing it and then once they're actually arrested actually holding them accountable, is really challenging in the city. it's hard to find the people and once we do, there are judges who do not want to put even the most egregious offenders in jail. it's viewed as a "victimless crime." and we know that when you hold people accountable, whether you force them to clean the graffiti themselves or send them to jail and appropriate circumstances, it can make an impact but i think people know you can come to san francisco to do graffiti and nothing's going to happen to you so i've been working with supervisor carmen chu's office and we're working to improve those systems so people are held accountable so we're not simply imposing the obligation on the property owners but we're doing our part as a city to help address this issue but with that said, i think that d.p.w.'s actions here were appropriate and i'll be voting to affirm tha

my interest is graffiti murels and architecture. my last exhibition was my graffiti and street art. for my exhibition i researched and -- i researched history about graffiti and artists. that led to an internship at an art gallery called 1:00 a.m. i did an interview with my mentor and a shadow day. for my shadow day i painted a wall that they always do murels on. i also wrote a proposal to my principal about doing a murel for the school. i am now starting another internship where i will be doing a missourial for a community -- mural for a community organization. with the work i do at school and my internship, i hope it will -- i hope it will help me to get my high school credit so i can graduate and to pursue my interests. for my next project i plan to start learning more about architecture and the history of some buildings. i'm hoping to start a program called build s.f. in the fall where i will learn about architecture and how to design buildings. i plan to stay here at big picture for a couple more years because i get a lot of support here. thank you. next will be austin. >> hell

. >> reporter: the loitering has led everything to from graffiti to gang problems. and to stop it brentwood police have installed a couple of these, cameras with motion sensors and a speaker box all in one. >> leave the park immediately. >> just tell them, you know, audibly, that they are not supposed to be in the park so need to leave. >> reporter: then the device snapped several rapid fire pictures. >> most people will look up to see where the voice is coming from and then takes another picture immediately. >> reporter: from as far away as 200 feet. and look how detailed the pictures are. you can see the officer in the picture clearly. but look closer, that small sign on the fence is legible from 100 feet. >> so far it's been great. we have gotten very positive feedback from the neighbors and people who live in the area. >> i think they are getting a little overzealous on the whole thing. >> reporter: some neighbors say it feels like big brother is watching. >> the double-edged sword. we're glad to have, you know, hopefully some guarantee of increased security. bu

was the fine line between fine art and with graffiti a controversial work gives a state prize but critics say it's just an act of violence vandalism. this week marks the twenty fifth anniversary of one of the worst manmade catastrophes in history the true noble disaster even today the thirty kilometer exclusion zone is a grim reminder of the dangers of nuclear negligence that lies cold and desolate and as he reports it will for centuries to come. it's not every day you can see the chernobyl exclusion zone in ukraine as crowded as this hundreds including the russian and ukrainian presidents came to the monument beside the nuclear plant to mark the date which changed the world the twenty fifth anniversary of the chernobyl fallout. i believe those of a huge amount of citizens just from ukraine and russia was put in to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy in the face of such disasters we should be honest it's the government's obligation to tell people the truth we need to admit on the back and then see that the government was not always doing the right thing nowadays distil looks like this

plus a controversial group of russian artist wins the highest state award with a piece of phallic graffiti evoking an argument over the border between art and obscenity. four pm in moscow i'm at treasure good to have you with us as we look at today's top stories and a look back at the week's news here on r t revolutionary fever in syria shows no sign of letting up around seventy people have reportedly been killed since friday in military crackdowns against anti-government demonstrators that's on top of some five hundred others dead in two months of upheaval in the wake of the latest bloodshed the u.s. has tightened sanctions and intensified rhetoric against syria's political elite parties really delusion goes when finding out whether some of the closest allies of damascus may be next in line for a western backed popular uprising. some like it hot but this spring things have heated up perhaps too much in the arab world. egypt tunisia libya now syria northern african region and the middle east are gotten brutal civil wars with the western powers playing an important hand some believe this wa

a controversial group of russian artist wins the highest state award with a piece of ballot graffiti evoking an argument where the line is between a large and of seventy. seven pm in moscow i'm at treasure bring you today's top stories in the at the back of the week's news here on r t the revolutionary fever in syria shows no sign of letting up around seventy people reportedly killed since friday on military crackdowns against anti-government demonstrators this on top of some five hundred other deaths in two months of syrian upheaval in the wake of the latest bloodshed the u.s. is tightening sanctions and stepped up its rhetoric against the country's political elite meanwhile syria's neighbor israel fears washington's role in the region's recent turbulence could backfire by clearing the way for extremists or he's possibly or has more from televisa. these gunmen mean business and they're upping the stakes just that little bit higher. is the egyptian regime design is the enemy trying to stop us foreigners and girls are but we always got the weapons we needed to fight the zionist enemy.

trying to punish all who want a controversial piece of graffiti gets a state prize that's critics say it's not so founded rather than come up. with. are you watching r.t. and our weekly news review welcome to the program well this week the arab world has remained inflamed bromo still raining down on libya syria sort of balance crackdown against protesters syrian troops continue the siege in the southern city of daraa. suggesting forty two people were killed in the week ahead five hundred have died since the government began in march washington has imposed a new set of sanctions granting high level officials in the syrian government and criticised the mascot's from britain and iran for this critical script i want someone to run could be next in line for western backed or the uprising. some like it hot but this spring new things have heated up perhaps too much in the arab world egypt's tunisia libya nawas syria northern african region and the middle eastern gulf the brutal civil wars with the western powers playing an important hand some believe this won't stop anytime soon so who's nex

now a giant piece of graffiti has ignited debate in the russian art world after what many perceived as an obscene image was branded a national award the work drawn next to the federal security office and this work was given recognition as a sign of an emerging free society in russia and it expects. this is award winning art according to russia's ministry of culture a sixty five metre phallus whitewashed on a drawbridge and petersburg has won the twenty ten innovation prize for best visual artwork self-styled art terrorists vyner meaning war in russian are the unpopular with us. i think it's essentially vandalism a breach is a cultural and historical monument and to pin anything on it is an act of vandalism and it should be punished not rewarded and. here in the center of contemporary art you can see the other entries for the award nothing is stimulating or a shocking or innovative as viner's and according to the jury that's why they won purely artistic merit but now it's not as simple as that the same symbol the ministry rewarded is now being brandished in mocking protest this russian

and the decision to hand of the national art awarded to a controversial piece of graffiti drawn in the historical center of st petersburg has sparked a debate in russia many see the giant phallic symbol as obscene others say it's the sign of an emerging civil society i robot it looks at both sides. this is award winning art according to russia's ministry of culture the sixty five metre phallus want washed on a drawbridge instant petersburg has won the twenty ten innovation prize for best original artwork self-styled art terrorists by now meaning war in russian are the unpopular with us the arts or i think it's essentially vandalism or a bridge is a cultural and historical monument and to pin anything on it is an act of vandalism and it should be punished not rewarded already here in the center of contemporary art you can see the other entries for the award nothing is stimulating are shocking or innovative as vine us and according to the jury that's why they won purely on artistic merits but now it's not as simple as that. the same symbol the ministry rewarded is now being brandished in

and to punish or reward a controversial piece of graffiti gets a state prize but critics say it's an act of vandalism and not our. two pm in moscow i met treasurer good to have you with us here on r t our top story the week the arab world has remained inflamed with nato bombs still raining down on libya while syria saw violent crackdown against protesters syrian troops kept up their siege of the southern city of daraa with reports suggesting forty two people were killed over the weekend more than five hundred have died since the an arrest started in march washington has imposed a new set of sanctions targeting high level officials of the syrian government and criticized damascus for bringing in iran he's really good reports on raw iran could be next in line for a western backed up rising. some like it hot but this spring things have heated up perhaps too much in the arab world is it's easy a libya now syria northern african region and the middle east and often brutal civil wars with the western powers playing an important hand some believe this won't stop anytime soon so who is next

to punish reward a controversial piece of graffiti gets a state prize for six eight snaps of vandalism rather than not. you're watching r.t. and our weekly news ricky welcome program all this week the arab world has remained in flames with nato bombs still raining down on libya syria so violent crackdown against protesters syrian troops continue their siege of the sudden city court suggesting forty two people were killed over the weekend over five hundred died since the unrest began which washington has imposed a new set of sanctions on high level officials in the syrian government decides to . plus this will bring. us a total that is part of the game problems in the world it may not be doing many favors for israel its closest friend in the region because. these gunmen mean business and they're upping the stakes just that little bit higher. you gyptian regime like a zionist enemy trying to stop us foreigners and girls are but we always got the weapons we needed to fight the zionist enemy. and now they're giving more than they could give a hopeful but for me gyptian president hosni muba