madam clerk, let's go back to item 23, regulations on harvey milk plaza. at this time, let's call on supervisor wiener. supervisor wiener: thank you, mr. president. i want to make some brief opening remarks. then i will be offering several amendments. so, today, colleagues, we are considering it modest and basic legislation to fill a gap in the law, putting ltd. and needed rules in place in two of the most important public spaces in the castro. the castro has very, very limited public space. while there are great parts on the periphery of the neighborhood, in the castro itself there is very little public space. jane warner and harvey milk plaza is not large. those are small and they've restrain space. there is a very diverse array of people using these spaces and it is important that everyone be able to use them. most public spaces in san francisco, while freely available to the diversity of the community, they have roles. we have a very extensive parts code governing the parts system. none of these roles have undermined the freedom of the enjoyed communit

. >> i am pete herrmann and i am a frequent visitor to harvey milk plaza. i want to say a couple of things. big tobacco claims to be our communities best friend. they are one of the top donors to the republican party. john boehner was caught on the floor of the house passing out checks from tobacco companies a few years back. how can they see as one cigarette ad in a program and an lgbt organizations fundraiser once did, whenever someone yells, that is so gay, we will be there. altria was the fourth largest corporate donor to republicans and r.j. reynolds and swisher international give significant amounts. these folks are not our friends. let's stop giving them our money. i want to say my mother died of lung cancer after years of the addictive smoking that she tried gallantly many times to quit. it is all long and painful death and anything we can do support -- to support folks who are avoiding these impacts is something to be considered. thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i am president of the castro upper market community benefits district. i hav

the rainbow flag at harvey milk plaza is not controlled by the public. do not give me this about you are interested in equality and everyone having equal access to these plazas. right now, access to the rainbow flag is controlled by the merchants of upper market. if you are not on good terms with steve adams, forget about having access to the public flag. the supervisor for the district has killed every effort to have meetings at city hall and in a district about the flag. we need -- the public wants a fully controlled by the public and not by [unintelligible] and the merchants only. [applause] >> learn a lesson, start having meetings in your district. >> we were founded in 1979 to address police violence. i can tell you that a very high number of our clients who come to us falling domestic violence and hate to refuge to escape the violence and abuse they were able -- experiencing. that means sleeping one or more nights in the castro. they may not feel safe in a shelter our access -- able to access the bed. we get calls of people who are fleeing abusive p

in the case of jane warner plaza, there are 12 apartments above the sidewalk. in the case of harvey milkis a condominium group that has their entrance on the sidewalk of the plaza. what we find is that without any consideration of the folks that live there, common sense and decency are being able to have a time of day where people can have peace and quiet in their own homes as part of the consideration. also, from this month and the policethe statistics are lookint the statistics within a certain radius. more than half of the reported incidents are happening after 9:00 p.m. and the noise complaints with the exception of one complained have been taking place between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. to align in consideration for the residents of that area, some basic common sense and rules and policies seem to make sense. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am a resident. the woman who spoke about living on harvey milk plaza, i am the next closest person. i live on the exit. i have a bird's eye view all the time and i walk through six or eight times a day. i am familiar with what goes on. former speak

we write in opposition to the proposed legislation because harvey milk's name is attached to one of the two plazas for which this is written. as a historic space that has been a site for free speech, harvey milk fought against that a law that had been written to target the hippies but used as a -- as an excuse to drive the game and out of the castro. for those of us who have been around long enough or are in touch with the community's history are familiar with the image of harvey milk and the plaza which was eventually given his name. to propose limiting sitting in that plaza is [inaudible] as a community forced far too often and for far too long to spend most of our collective lives of the closet, the ability to be free and public spaces is tremendously liberating. harvey milk do that was possible only if we escape the shadows of anonymity and and visibility. when we restrict those spaces, even when it's meant to be applied to another group of people, we damage to ourselves. we must recognize this law does not apply to another group of people, but it applies to us. perhaps the majority of homeles

harvey milk plaza, particularly that area around the benches, and jane warner plaza are small. there are narrow. jane warner plaza is narrow enough that when we have large community gatherings, castro community on patrol will stand in line to make sure no one is pushed into the market right of way. these are not spacious plazas, but there we have to let castro. it takes up a lot of space and has a real impact that even a baby stroller or bike does not have. if someone is pulling a granny cart through, it will not have nearly the same impact as someone that has a fall on a shopping cart. supervisor mar: i want to say i'm against the stronger provisions of secondhand smoke but i have concerns about civil rights that may be impacted by this legislation and i appreciate you being responsive to the condo owners and business people in the area and they are critical for the neighborhood. there is an open door to dealing with the broader problems that have been brought up and i hope that moves forward, but i'm going to be voting against the ordinance. you really work with everyone to a

express strong support for the proposed ordinance to establish rules for the jade warner and harvey milk plazas. the castro cbd began meeting with merchants to began brainstorming solutions to some of the challenges. some of those challenges included drug dealing in the morning hours, cellphone getting stolen, trash and debris collected at a laugh from individuals sleeping and spending at 8-12 hours in the plaza. meetings were held, and we began work supervisor wiener: in wiinr to bring the existing in standard rules in place to apply. the proposed legislation simply a sign existing park and wreck codes to both the jane warner plaza and milk plazas. posted hours will help of volunteers tremendously. protests, political campaigning, commercial endeavors and entertainment will all be allowed. it is a point to remember that both of these are a mixed use neighborhoods. people live immediately adjacent to both pluses. they identified it as keeping it clean and safe. [chime] supervisor mar: which business brings the chairs at the end of the meeting? >> they don't bring the men, they are locked up. th

they are not there anymore because harvey milk plaza in particular is a very uncomfortable place for about a different kinds of people to be because of the horrendous behavior that happens in that plaza. this is not about query youth -- queer youth and accessibility to neighbors, it is about making it accessibility to everyone, whatever your age or income. this legislation achieve that. colleagues, i respectfully ask for your support. supervisor elsbernd: i appreciate the supervisors' efforts. i am swayed by arguments and i wanted to raise the issue that there are eight members of the army milk club that have written to us, urging us not to support the legislation. it was a big issue in land use as well. i really do feel like, in many ways, supervisor, you are trying to address the concerns of merchants around the plaza. if i have to weigh in, i would have to do so on the side of the most vulnerable in the community. there are suggestions from a number of leaders, including those who have signed on in opposition. not because i do not respect the work that you have tried to do to keep

of san francisco is reportedly expanding of the ban initially covered jane warner plaza and harvey milk plaza and now the restrictions could be expanded to cover parklets, the former parking spaces that have been converted into mini parks. supporters say the ban is needed to provide smoke-free areas for the public to enjoy, but opponents argue it unfairly targets homeless people. >>> and i'm willing to bet there were lots of people enjoying the parklets today. let's check in with our meteorologist mark tamayo to find out about today's weather and rest of the week. >> that is right, plenty of sunshine out. there you may have noticed high clouds moving into the bay area by late-afternoon. in fact, you can see right now on live stormtracker 2 rain showers moving into northern california. heir is a wider perspective and you can see the bay area still dry, but as we zoom in, the overnight hours up in the north bay, primarily areas north of sonoma county, we could be tracking some spotty drizzle to start out your monday morning. the look at the satellite and radar, you can see the weak system movin

the ban would apply to harvey milk and jane warner plazas. the legislation has the support of local businesses. opponents argt plan unfairly targets the homeless. >>> the san ramon community center at central park is closed today because of a water main break. the leak was found yesterday afternoon. the facility located on alcosta boulevard was immediately clod closed for repairs. the building and all park rebs rooms should reopen tomorrow morning. >>> the upcoming 500th episode of "the simpsons" will include a best appearance from the founder of weather ikileaks. he lent his voice to the comedy for an episode set to air in a few weeks. he will playing himself as a new neighbor to the simpsons. he recorded his lines for the episode over the phone while under house arrest in the u.k. the show will air on february 19th. >>> coming up, we'll hear how you can weigh in on facebook's plans to expand. smart phone apps are very popular. how long do they keep people's attention? you will hear a surprising survey. the stock market is mixed it. does loo