i am not affiliated with city government or the racing team. but i have been a longtime member of the st. francis yacht club. when i was, or we tried to bring the america's cup to san francisco with our team. we fell short, but i am very excited about the fact that the golden gate yacht club has succeeded where we have failed. i must say that many of the speakers before me have already made the points that i would make to you. but the one point that i would make is that i do not know if you realize how many other maritime cities around the world would love to have the opportunity before us right now. many people have been serenading the people to get this event. personally, i know that the commodore of the new york yacht club is a friend of mine. we have discussed this many times and he is very disappointed that the new york yacht club did not get this event back. so, we are on the 2 yard line, first and goal. do not let it get away. >> thank you. [applause] [reads names] >> hello, my name is rick dickerson. we manage approximately 1000 apartmen

i am in active labor. i am surprised you're so calm. i say, i'm surprised you're so calm. 11:30 p.m. dana drives to the birth center. i tell her right now i am not sad to do this. this is a solo expedition. i dark brown blob of slim e falls out. the mucous plug has to fall out. it's the mucous plug. i am in awe of dana. 1:30 a.m. i am naked. i modified downward dog. i think of the view everyone is getting. no one cares. 4:00 a.m., i am nine centimeters. i am pruned and exhausted. you are doing great dana says, i am not interested in being great. it's still nine centimeters. it's not time yet. she says me to blow out with my mouth. i say i might barf. 5:45 a.m. still nine, i hate dana. dana breaks my water. after 15 hours it's time to push. when you are this desperate, it's almost over. push, your pushes are excellent. 7:17. i can feel the baby's hair. you see your baby's head. 7:40. i do what she says. we rehearse. dana is guiding my baby's head. this is called ring of fire. okay. push hard. i moan like a walrus. my vagina tears to my a

. >> i am ed dunn. i wanted to speak against proposal for a preliminary concept design for the garden resources center. hanc is the best recycling center in the city because we're the only one to support community garden. we have a native plant nursery on site. we support community gardening projects around the city. the recycling center is out front on the community gardening issue. it shows what kind of a smokescreen this proposal is. that is one point. the other point is that recycling centers are still necessary. curbside recycling does not replace recycling centers. there is a requirement to have centers located conveniently around town. this recycling center serves our neighborhood. it is the convenient location for our area. if you get rid of hanc, the grocery stores will have to redeem and store. they do not want to do that. they do not have the resources to handle the demands. thank you very much. >> next speaker. >> i am so nervous. i am about to drop. happy holidays, commissioners. my name is

[applause] >> i am mike smith. there is a leaflet that has been going around asking if you want to have your house demolished. my answer is yes. i will pull the plunger if need be. i am not a long-term resident here. i do not have all the wonderful benefits of rent-controlled, although i do believe in it. i pay $24 a month. i pay $2,400 a month. it looks nice from the outside but of hot water will not come on for five minutes. the pipes will rattle. other things are going on. it is too much for a plumber or anyone else to be able to fix it the way it exists now. tear it down. build a new one. i might as well be sending a christmas card to the plumber as many times as he is at my place. i am not the only one. rent-control is a great thing. i love it. it is wonderful for a lot of the people who have been here 56 years. i pay higher rent. i expect a little more with that kind of rent. there are a lot of people in here that are newbies, so to speak. they probably feel the same way i do. i wish i had been here 30 years.

i am not a poet. i am not dying. weight loss can still be a choice. i am not a poet. i don't care much for. i don't spend me weekends read anything writing. i like to have cocktails but i do not have a drinking problem regardless of what state i wake up in. i don't need drugs to open up my imagination. i am not a poet. i can tolerate half an hour of spoken word poetry. what my cats are up to. i always carry my business cards. i am not a poet, i only write to masture bait my mind. i am trying to convince myself that poetry it save lives. it's the dust of art. and i am going to close with to poet. americano. i look at myself in the mirror. trying to figure out what makes me an american. i see chickens. practicing religions without a roof. i see my own blood. proud american blue genes labels. i see them sits outside with the eyes of an alley cat. i see myself trying to be more like james dean. i see carlos san tanna. more than sporadic latino explosions. as american as bruce spring teen and elvis presley. i see taco bell. i see purple, red, blue, green, orange. i see chee

[applause] >> i am the 20-year resident. i have spoken to you before at other meetings on behalf of parkmerced's plans. i come to you with a change of heart into its expressed serious concerns. within the past few weeks, certain things to come to light. it is not easy to do. i am an environmental activist. i really like the green aspects of the plan. it it has become clear that they did not appreciate the impact it will have on existing long-term tenants like my family. parkmerced has been clear about the tenants who will be using their existing units, but they have not taken into consideration the tower residents whose homes will remain intact, although greatly impacted. the plan calls for an additional -- i believe it is five other 10-story buildings to be built in close proximity, but one of them will be billed directly behind my building, the corner where 19th avenue curve toward the freeway. because of the nature of the curve, and it is going to block my view. it is going to take away my view, my life. i have a view depa

i am not against change. there is a positive change and- change, but there are things that should be brought to your attention. this is the only picture as i have of the park. this is washington street year. 90% of the activity takes place here. all of these pathways lead to the plaza, which seems to be a forgotten plays, but it is a major gathering area. it is the union square of lafayette park. everybody agrees each other there. it is a major central area of the park. if you look at the new plan, it is gone. there is no plaza. we now have a 15-foot pass away where that was common -- pathway where that was. people say, where are we going to meet? in the rain there 20 or 30 of us walking our dog. that is the only dry place we have to go. the picnic area and now is a perfect area. we are going to put it right next to the swap way so the picnic people have a place to go. we remove this crosswalks of the people here now have to walk on the walkway. we have a traffic issue i do not believe has been addressed prope

i am chris rawlinson. i live two blocks from the old location and half a block from the new location. a few years ago, there was a cafe, and they tried to put streets on -- i tried to put seats on the street. we appeal the decision and one to keep the tables and chairs of our street. -- we appealed the decision and won to keep the tables and chairs of our street, so our street was quiet. that changed after ike's opened. on weekends, we had people sprawled on the sidewalk eating food. i have had people sit on my window sill. it is ridiculous. now they will be a half block from where i live. i do not know if they realize how much business comes there. it is not from the neighborhood. there is no parking. our street is just an alleyway. there will be double parking constantly. it is a great business, but this neighborhood is too small for such a huge volume of people coming there. there is no parking. it is going to be a repeat of what happened before with people sitting on the sidewalk at all hours. it is jus

tavis: drug users turn down money. >> i am thinking the kingdom of god. s: ron isley, another great artist, a comic artist on this program. i asked him this program and i am going to ask you the same. he was telling me he was on lockdown. his brothers insisted that he reform. i assume you must of had the same. >> pretty much. [laughter] tavis: the brothers on the street will not sell you drugs, but the brothers in prison must have told you that if you did not sell you were going to be in trouble. >> they get action, you know? i sang and saying, and the one time i said i was tired, they called me a crackhead. [laughter] tavis: so when they said sing, you had to? >> you don't know. you might need them the next day. tavis: how did you -- this is not the way you raised. this is not the experience you grew up having. we grew up in the same church. how did you survive being in a place where you had no business to be? >> it is clearly not who i am. i hid most of the time. i found myself writing in my own house. that is how bad it had in my mind. i have a house wi

i am rose hilton. i am not a resident of park merced. i have a problem with the issue of neighborhood growth. i was in a planning meeting. you want to put growth somewhere. park merced was targeted. as a native san franciscan, i have seen this as a quiet, village community. it doesn't have these towers on third and king. the community people, i was shocked when i walked into this auditorium. so many of these residents are opposed to this project. there was nobody except the managment people who presented. the story we were told, a handful of people are against this. nobody else cares. this room -- it is totally different. don't listen to me. listen to the people. >> good evening. thank you for being here at a time where i am able to talk to you. i am anna marie bratton. i have lived here 19 years, 17 at 400 arbollo address. i will have to move and i can say, i do support this project. i love my little garden apartment. but as the previous speaker said, we have to look to the future. as citizens of the earth, we must look to the future. t

i am just kidding. i would be inclined to extend the time for rebuttal. this is pretty short, especially on complicated cases. >> we to extend this by asking questions. >> you can't always do that. if you can extend by simply saying that you -- >> ok. >> do you think that seven minutes will be too long. >> i might have a tangential issue. sometimes the way that we wind up? it is that certain people get much more time than others and that is not necessarily fair. maybe those are necessary. they did a lot of questions and therefore a lot more time. >> if i was an advocate, i would want that cut down. >> can we move on from that? i was wandering what they heard on the site visit. i remember going on the visit for them. we did was to take measurements. then the appellant and he had to hear those too late. he was not able to be prepared with his own expert. it seems like there is a trust issue. can you talk about that. >> some of those had bad results. >> they had a lovely funeral the next day. they have always respected the wishes of the property owners. [ina

i am representing the center three blocks away from the proposed mcd. pawlenty to root approve the appeal to -- i want you to approve the appeal to overturn this permit. we offer classes after school and on the weekends. we also helps to prepare for college, provide intensive counseling to distance on how to successfully applied to the college of their choice. our business caters exclusively to done people and we chose this location because the proximity to so many schools. up all of them are extremely close to the taraval corridor and supply many of our students. we are concerned the planning commission failed to consider the request that the permit be issued. president peterson: okay, thank you. next speaker, please? >> and the president of the taraval parks association. my family has been here since 1947. i have seen a lot of changes. i have seen a lot of asians moving into our community. they reach out to us. we're trying to reach out to them to bring us closer to gather. what happened the other night when this permit got approved, it tore us apart.

i am in full support. your efforts to bring this to the forefront are to be commended, supervisor avalos, as well as support from other supervisors and others in the community of san francisco. also that should be appreciated our the efforts of another, and the labor leaders are working with you to get this legislation passed. however, the efforts are not enough. unless this is actually passed. i think we understand the implications of this, what it means for employment, especially people working in san francisco, district 10 or the bayview. it would be against things like urban sprawl or environmental perdition -- pollution. i would add that, supervisor avalos, that this just be a starting point for us. something to allow private industry to follow this lead, as well. i think you will find out why it is not only here but in the local business community. as i said, your efforts are commended, and i really appreciate your doing this. thank you. chair avalos: thank you very much. >> good afternoon, superviso

i am from maryland. i am a dingy racer. ent four years races -- racing in high school and have since developed a water taxi business. i have worked with boston pedicab, which i convinced to branch out to san francisco. it is now golden gate pedicab. in the last six months, we have created 40 jobs. that was especially in front of the giants game. i want to do my part for the america's cup. we could launch it into something that could be used for the san francisco future. if i could have all of the money i could take, i would probably personally be able to create between 75 and 100 jobs in san francisco during america's cup. that might not factor into the analysis. basically, something that is important for the city to do -- we are transforming the waterfront. it is huge. i have sailed in maryland, florida, south california, the gulf, everywhere -- key west, d.c., boston. i have seen the waterfront from the outside in the inside. this is the biggest opportunity any city has ever had. i am really looking forward to the potentia

i am not convinced that is enough. in terms of the transportation plan, i support the tier 5 plan that has the m coming in in going back out through juniper. that would bring more traffic to help support businesses. i mean foot traffic, people, to support those businesses in the neighborhood. that is critical for them to exist, obviously. i have heard many people talking about the need for more housing in san francisco. i think that is true. i think this is a good place for it. looking around the city, this seems like the one best suited for that. i support that idea as well. housing alone, apart from the benefits that having more people would bring to the quality of life. rent-controll? i was at one of the meetings earlier down at city hall. supervisor maxwell, i do not know if i can say that she pledged the city to support making sure that there's rent control, but she made a statement to that effect, the way would be found -- that we would be found. it is not is the landlord working on it. the city is working on it.

thankfully, i am alive and in year seven. i have turned this into one of the top bars in northern california. but if i did not, i know plenty of people are just kicking along. commissioner o'brien: would that be -- i am sure one of the reasons you make that statement would be because rent is so expensive in san francisco. >> my rent is not bad because of fortunately took advantage of the sba 504 program and on my property. that is a rare and random situation to be able to fund a bar where the property was for sale as well. commissioner o'brien: it is great and interesting to hear that. what would be the things that we have control over that we could do to make it cheaper to do business in san francisco? >> well, i think the tipping exception on wage expenses, comparatively speaking across the industry, is a big blow to the industry here. the non-tip exemption on minimum wage on tipped employees, the health-care expenses. i would say since i opened, workers' comp has gotten better. workers' comp was a bare seven years ago. it h

thank you. >> i am chain. i would like to thank the commissioners for sifting through this all afternoon with all of the issues you have to decide about. you're wonderful to do that, even if i may not agree with your results. it was a real surprise today. i heard about this recently. i think the people in my neighborhood only seemed to hear about it last week. i think it would be good if you could conduct some meetings in the district where they could be informed about the issues. they seem to be divided on whether to have it. some people are for the changes you will make. a lot of people are opposed. i know that community gardens are very popular. i wondered why public land would be used that way. maybe they should give the food they raise to st. anthony's and the food banks. i don't understand. that is a personal thing. jennifer of san francisco tomorrow asked me to tell you that they support the recycling center. thank you very much. >> i live at 62 woodland avenue, about three blocks away from the recycling

i am also against is this actual vote is illegal. ded out to each of you a copy that shows court law, and it shows the initial 31.64% required to establish this a vote was not required. you did not meet the 30% threshold. what happened was there were a few properties that did not have the right to vote 100% for that particular property. they only have 50% or 33%, but for some reason they were voted as 100% ownership, so if you will stick no luck, -- take a look, you will find that -- >> thank you very much. thank you. are there any other members of the public who wish to speak in opposition? >> i am not a resident, but i am a person who has a recent cbd in my community, so i caution all the property owners and residents, and nikko's currently you have to check any -- and currently you have to check anything that comes into your county. a cbd doesn't have to be a perfect fit, like in our addition. they think they control everything because they have one coming for renewal next year. their leadership got together, and that is not the tr

my initial response is that i am concerned for the future of the port based on these leases, many of which are still unclear. i was trying to articulate that in my notes and have had trouble doing so. the balance of leverage in throwing this thing together over a short period of time, i am not clear at this point what the waterfront options are in trade-offs. what kinds of 66 year leases are negotiated on waterfront property? i am concerned about the balance in terms of what we have known over the years, putting these proposals together is a complicated process. leverage is an oddball park to get a deal. does that mean that my time is up? i did not hear that there was a time limit. >> thank you very much. [reads names] >> good morning, everyone. i am here to voice support for the america's cup. i am proud of the giants for winning the world series, but i was out sailing when the games were going on and i was not alone. i think that the perception that we are giving away the waterfront needs to be at rest or interpreted correctly. these concessions will be in the turn for benefits that

i am andrea -- >> i am andrea

i am the owner of a building carpenter. we are a subcontractor. we have done work >> arrive done it for many years. if you want real factual budget data, come see me at my office. i have done up to 68% local hiring in the million-dollar bracket projects. it is very easy. we are a union contractor. we pay good wages and benefits to the whole family, and we make it work. no one is going to be robbing the train here and stealing from the city and all its projects because we can make it work. the bottom line always works. anybody who says they can't do it doesn't want to do it. they don't care for san francisco. so mandate is finally here. i have been hoping too see this as a kid. i started my company because i could not find a job when i was a kid. now i own a company. i also own an electrical company. i had to buy my own. i couldn't become an electrician in san francisco. all trades need to be opened to san francisco youth right away. it has been a long time coming but never happened. but the budget committee needs to know we can make it work. to my

i am perfectly happy with this. recently had some documentation that was sent to me. >> commissioner wynns, i will make sure that you get that report. commissioner maufas: yes. vice-president mendoza: yes. commissioner wynns: yes. commissioner yee: aye. president kim: yes. this is on page 199. >> i think this is partners in school renovation. i am very happy with this. i am more interested in the overarching concept. what i want to know is, i want to know this later, i want to know what do we talked about in our planning? the assessment of what they do that helps schools improve and help our building capacity to do some of this themselves. what are we doing that a system level. not just that they're doing a good job of helping the school. i appreciate that. the whole point of a grant which is to help low performing schools to improve is that we should learn some lessons from that. not just say, we are great, but we cannot do it without them. there are a whole bunch of these contracts. this is just one. it happens to

i have been working in the construction trade and i am still an apprentice. i have been in so many jobs with different employers. sometimes a higher us for a couple of weeks, they let us go and they bring in their own people from out of town. i don't think that is fair because they want to look like they are presenting themselves to the city, meeting quotas or whatever. the mandate should be straight for all of us. we do spend our money here, and it costs a lot to go outside the city. i think we are losing a lot of people because we can't afford to live in the city no longer. if they don't have experience working for certain trades, how can they afford to live in san francisco that is a very expensive city? some people have moved out of the city, and with experience, they can come back here and help. i have been through a lot of mission hiring, and just temporarily, i am half of work for several months. -- off of work for several months. there are people coming over and getting our jobs, and they're the ones, we pay our taxes in our city. we don't have to go t

i am very active in my community. i will let you know why residential hotels for low- income people work. because my truth is i have suffered with mental illness most of my life. thank you, jesus. i am the perfect candidate to move into one of these hotels. the people, the neighbors, these hotels work. low-income housing works. it saves lives, gets people off the streets, and i am to tenant organizer of the raymond hotel, which the owner is here now. i am on to talk to him later, but it works. our building, we have our small problems and stuff, but basically we don't have a lot of people selling drugs out of from of the building because people like me and the staff make sure they don't do it. it can be done. residential hotel is not something to look down on. it is providing services, getting people off the streets, giving them self-worth. relate, if i wanted to move into that s.r.o. hotel on fifth street, i would be the perfect candidate. but if you look through my background, you would see i have had 73 suicide attem

i am going to talk about still like, but i want to speak here. i am a big fan of recycling and community gardens. the city does a remarkable job compared to other large cities in the recycling program. what the city could use more of its community gardens. there is a long wait list and not enough of them. parks are -- parks are for people and not industrial use. thank you. >> next speaker, please. if there is anyone in the north concourse who would like to speak, will you please come up? >> my name is mary sporer. after listening to everything, i think it is really clear that there is something very peculiar about this whole process. we have got here a chimera, a mythical beast made up of the body of one thing and the head of another. i am also reminded once again of lewis carroll, as you have heard your for in the past. it is through the looking glass. sentence first, verdict afterward. this is like a trial of hank that is attached to the body of the community gardens. it needs more time. there is no way you can make a rational process out of th

i am going to say no. tavis: you're trying to spend jack abramoff as modern-day robin hood in that scene? >> i think in his own mind, that is the orthodox robin hood. that is an interesting point. when i started doing research for the part, let's face it. he was painted as the devil incarnate. the lowest -- evillest, greediest man. was there a swiss chalet, was there a jet? he was not pay his mortgage. he was giving away a lot of the money and he was trying to do things to justify some of the things that he and mike scanlon did that were not kosher. tavis: who gets himself into that much trouble trying to do as you might put it, that much good? >> i am not saying he was trying to do that much good in terms of the lobbying industry. lobbyists now and to this day wield a tremendous amount of power and influence and money. into the political campaigns. it really damages the respect that people have for public service. with respect to what he was doing there, he was trying to influence and do what he believed e

i am sure all of you have heard about the rallying song. i know this is a family event, but if you have seen zoolander, i have a special talent just for you. [applause] >> world champions. we will do it again, baby. san francisco, i love you. thank you very much! [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, congratulations to the giants of 2010, and to you, i have the sound that you made at at&t park in the world series echoing in my head. we need it another few times as we face the winter ahead of next season. let's hear it again. let's go, giants. let's go, giants. >> let's go, giants. let's go, giants. let's go, giants. let's go, giants. let's go, giants. [applause] >> one more word from andres torres. >> i want to wish my wife happy birthday. i love you. many more. >> thank you all for coming to andres torres' wife's birthday party. i cannot wait to have another party next year. ladies and gentlemen, three and half months, pitchers and catchers report to scottsdale. and the giants will try to do it again. we will see you at the yard. the giants a

commissioner fung: i am looking at your letter of request. you brought that same position fourth at the hearing. at first i thought you were trying to make an argument that this body has the ability to review a non-action by the planning commission on the imp. but commissioner garcia brought forth that is not what you are saying. >> i am saying this board has the right to interpret the planning come -- the planning" acted on by the department. that is what i would like to to do. -- the planning code acted on by the department. that is what i would like you to do. you have interpreted the planning code under other circumstances. you have granted variances. you have interpreted the planning code and challenged the interpretation of the zoning administrator. i am asking you to do that again. i am asking you to do that to prevent this injustice. commissioner fung: thank you. president peterson: mr. sanchez. >> good afternoon, president peterson, members of the board. scott sanchez, planning department. the academy argues there is a lack of justice

. >> i am not aware, but i can look into it. secretary pacheco: over the years, the opinions have changed. president peterson: so moving on, section 9 clarify this jurisdictional requests and sets up the standing for granting such requests, and it does list the time that a successful requester would have for an appeal. i am looking at the rules that were distributed in your packets. commissioner garcia: this is what you are talking about. after you, commissioner fung. commissioner fung: i think that i would like to incorporate some language that goes beyond just the city. you may know, madam city attorney, but i am going to do it. commissioner garcia: we cannot put something in our rules. commissioner fung: why is that the standard? >> the only authority once the tender 15-day period has expired, which is set by law, that is based on case law, and there is one case that you're all familiar with, and that is the only standard that has been set that the city would be stopped from applying its own time limits when the city is someh

i think that they could get a lot better and i am certainly committed to that. market districts have been involved in the replacement of the banners and i think that they would be very active in making sure that we have good, well fastened banners. supervisor avalos: actually i think it is fitting to have the banner on that ramp. i just want to make sure that moving forward we are doing as little damage as possible. supervisor chu: clarification on the second amendment on page 4, adding the words that began on line 10 adjacent to the neighborhood, was there anything after that? >> starting at church street and ending at castro street. i neglected to add that the city attorney and planning department need to add subsection b that a duly noticed public hearing the historic preservation commission consider this ordinance document on