california's initiative process a form of democracy where citizens or special interests propose initiatives to the voters. >> i think the initiative process is important because the people need to have a say in what's going on. >> what's gone wrong with the process that we are now at a point of saying we have to create initiatives to finally go get a vote on this because the legislators are not voting on it or bringing up what's gone wrong there. >> others say it promotes spending without raising revenues and is controlled by special interests. nicholas berggruen ironically plans to finance his own ballot measures so californians can vote on the reforms his group reposes. >> the goal is to go beyond special interests and parties and come up with a compromise that benefits all. and because the initiative process you can do something in california that you probably can't as easily in washington. >> but in the past, voters despite their unhappiness with government have quashed reform proposals. but still citizens and politicians alike are under more pressure than ever to fix a broken state. >>

over the initiative, which the current d.a. is continuing with the partnership of ed lee, over the last four years consecutively, we have seen a substantial decrease of truancy for that population. in fact, over 30%. [applause] and some people, some people said well, you are trying to criminalize parents. the last thing we want is for parents to be locked up. i agree. but you know the beauty of this initiative? we drew this initiative and had interactions with hundreds and hundreds of parents where we did what we call the d.a. mediation. sometimes i would have some of my prosecutors come and sit in the mediations. when i first rolled it out, because this was not traditional for a d.a.'s office. alameda county is doing it. i took volunteers because there really wasn't the budget for it. my first volunteers were my homicide and gang prosecutors. i would have them sit in mediation, and those dudes already look mean. the parents would say who is the mean-looking dude. that is someone the d.a. sent up because they are going to start

-- the completion of the initial training or maybe even during or beforehand. yes. commissioner chan: and i heard -- commissioner slaughter: sergeant night came up with one so we'll run it by you, too. involving the phoenix. 's commissioner chan: i want to thank the chief. i heard the chief put on his calendar to show up on the first day to welcome the first class of the c.i.t. students so thanks very much for that. thank you, commander, for recruiting this many officers to take part in the first training and a big thank you to is a seal connor -- to cecelia connor and to the group for your voluntary free labor and hope that runs through the grant writing process and through the department and hopefully long term there will be a more sustainable way of launching this. thank you. president mazzucco: any further questions? we'll now open it to public comment. >> members ofs commission, ray hart, san francisco open government. i'd like to play off one of the presenters, kind of almost startlement to the fact this is happening so quickly. and i would take that as a

somebody has to be able to stand up and dead the ballot initiative in court. when public officials refuse to do it the people who started the ballot initiative are the only logical people to do so >> reporter: dean johnson thanks for that. more at 4, 5 and 6. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. >>> other big story occupy wall street protester are calling for a day of action nationwide on this two month anniversary at the occupy movement. police were out in full force in new york city as thousands tried to bring business to a halt at the new york stock exchange. despite their efforts the trading day is continuing as usual. >>> a stand off at nearby zuccotti park. protesters attempted to remove police barricades put up after police evicted the protesters if the park tuesday that was where the original movement started. police made dozens of arrests. >> in los angeles 500 people marched into downtown financial distick this morning. police arrested nearly two -- two dozen as they sat down in the middle of the street. in the bay area police removed occupy cal tents at the,

somebody has to be able to stand up and dead the ballot initiative in court. when public officials refuse to do it the people who started the ballot initiative are the only logical people to do so >> reporter: dean johnson thanks for that. more at 4, 5 and 6. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. >>> other big story occupy wall street protester are calling for a day of action nationwide on this two month anniversary at the occupy movement. police were out in full force in new york city as thousands tried to bring business to a halt at the new york stock exchange. despite their efforts the trading day is continuing as usual. >>> a stand off at nearby zuccotti park. protesters attempted to remove police barricades put up after police evicted the protesters if the park tuesday that was where the original movement started. police made dozens of arrests. >> in los angeles 500 people marched into downtown financial distick this morning. police arrested nearly two -- two dozen as they sat down in the middle of the street. in the bay area police removed occupy cal tents at the,

we believe the initial estimates provided by the vendor were overly aggressive and would not be met, and we have subsequently had discussions with the staff, and we still believe that. we are concerned that that system, which is important for the future control of projects, is going to run behind time and cost more than it originally was expected. >> ok we're shifting now from our concerns and to recommendations. we have already talked about the asset management teams. we would like to make them, asset managers be responsible for some of the areas that were questions in our charter like state of good repair, what the delivery method is. would we design or build with the contract manager or so on? and measuring performance against baseline budgets, putting more time into the front end, which is item b. and making sure the project manager has cradled the grave responsibility for projects. that is all we're an estimate is required. -- that is where an estimate is required. we have talked along the lines of the improvement of board reporting. in an appendix 5, there are examples of vario

the theory of action for this initiative is very simple, but it is not simplistic. if the 13 priorities were implemented, we want to further close the achievement gap and meet the goals that continue to be the foundation on top of which we build all of the work we are currently engaged in. we want to achieve double-digit gains for three years for our five key performance indicators, and as i mentioned, these are the performance indicators the superintendent has outlined in terms of the judging whether or not we are making progress. when we reflect on the accomplishments, there are some things that have happened that have moved the ball further down the court. we have revised 13 interconnected strategic project with goals we shared with the board. we also continued implementation of the 13 priorities within the context of the budget with a focus on the foundational priorities. we established teams. we developed project plans. we created protocols, and we provide a critical path issue to resolution and support, and we have highlighted some of those examples in various

positive findings we should draw your attention to is the capital programs in the construction division initiated new control systems authorizing the development of a capital program control system, and this is absolutely the right thing to do, hibecause the current systes are outdated and do not meet modern standards. the second thing is we examined some projects in detail, and for example, at the subway project. we found that was within the constraints of the mta. rather well organized. we particularly like the fact there have been substantial risk analysis. we liked the fact that they have regular meetings with outside bodies to give them their views, and as a result the fta has given them one of the two projects that have the highest ratings from the fta for grants. >> that said, we would like to discuss five areas of major concern. the first one is how well our projects managed -- are projects managed from looking at the results they achieve or do not achieve? so we picked 13 projects that have been up history, were far enough along, so that we have visibility either an overrun or a potentia

and in maine this initiative very focused.ying to approve racinos. >> shepard: what's that? >> gambling at the racetrack, basically very specific places. maine has this issue almost every single ballot. something voters there are very used to. >> shepard: gerri willis part of the west team in business. her program the willis report airs every day on the fox business network at 5 p.m. >> in ohio whether to block obama's health care law and d.c. a panel dismissed the lawsuit arguing that the law is unconstitutional because it requires people to pay for insurance or face fines. that suit claimed the violators of religious freedom of those who don't want insurance because they rely on god to protect them. atlanta struck down the same requirement while another court in cincinnati upheld it differing decisions are hold setting up a supreme court showdown most expect. in fact the nation's highest court could decide within days whether it will take the case. one year ahead of the presidential elections, a change at the ranks at the wh

i urge you to adopt the resolution of intent to initiate in for a public hearing. thank you very much greenhead -- thank you for much. president olague: is there any additional public comment? >> i was here at the hearing before the legislation were you approved relieving new student housing of the requirement. i stood up and testified in favor of that. as you have heard me say many times, what we really want to do is convince organizations to build new dorms and not cannibalize existing housing stock. i am happy to be here to support this legislation. recently, i was elected vice chair of the central market tenderloin area advisory committee. set up as part of the twitter payroll tax deal. that group is very interested in this topic. they are afraid of what could happen in the central market tenderloin area as the university grows and takes on more of the apartment buildings and residential hotels in their neighborhood. they were delighted to hear this. they're very supportive of this. i just want to thank staff for taking the time to do this and do it right. the

we are targeting that initial 50-75,000 residential customers. that allows us to flex up in the program offering if it turns out we have higher numbers of customers saying no thank you during that process that mr. harrington mentioned. we will process those and hope to stabilize the program in the early months of the program. we are resuming relatively high it off-ouopt-out rates. the fact that we are offering our customers 19% renewal product, we see this distinguishing our product from the product that pg&e is offering. wanting our program in mid-2012 will correspond with -- and that pg&e regulatory authority house authorize them to implement in june of 2012. we do not want to get our message is mixed up with the rate changes that are happening on the usual schedule with pg&e. the shell energy folks will be providing the energy products for us. noble america will provide the customer-side services. and then the as i mentioned, it will require an 19.5 million appropriation to launch the initial phase out. finally, in terms of term sheet highligh

the start initiative also fosters coordination between public and private entities that is necessary to counteract terrorist threats throughout the supply chain. the next conference to be held on thursday and friday here in san francisco will review the apec region's progress in securing -- [unintelligible] over the last 10 years and will define key priorities going forward. in 2005, a set of principles and standards were adopted the provide predictability within the supply chain. by having one set of standards, the framework makes security requirements less burdensome to businesses and the international trade community. a number of major counter- terrorism initiatives related to secure trade in apec have gotten under way since then. ladies and gentlemen, as we pursue the free and open trade in the region, we should continue to strengthen regional efforts to bolster the region while promoting trade efficiency. the apec secretariat looks forward to a successful apec transportation meeting and to the directions on the agenda that are set. thank you. [applause] >> me remind everyone, we

we saw the initiative down in mississippi. the ballot initiative on personhood sale.ow big do you think social issues will play next year? >> i think there is no question that it's going to be the kitchen table issue that's will dominate when you've got a 9.1% unemployment rate and we're broke and climbing and really no good leadership out of the president on energy and job creation. there is no question these economic kitchen table issues will dom nai. i think a lot of us believe these traditional values have been the bed rock of american society for a couple hundred years are still important. life, team, marriage and protection of individual liberties so yeah, they'll be important and the guy with the best vision on creating jobs and controlling spending and creating a sound energy policy is going to win this election. >> bret: thank you for your time on this election night. >> bret, thank you. now, we turn to chairman of the democratic governors association. maryland governor, thank you for being here. you heard governor mcdonnell across the state line. your reacti

state supreme court giving them legal standing to defend the initiative in court. denying them that right said justices would grant veto power over initiatives they don't support. >> this is a win for the citizens of california. and that the court says their will must be defended. >> and same-sex marriage supporters gathered outside of the building today and down played the importance of the ruling. >> this appeal has taken a long time. the fact they're giving this ruling to the ninth circuit allows us to move forward which is all we wanted. >> today's decision is nonbinding because federal appeals court does not have to abide by a state court ruling. >> and major corporation is giveing bay area economy a welcome gift. 400 new jobs on the way. david louie is in san ramone with the story. >> this is good for everybody when more jobs are created. we're thrilled to have them here its not a start up. the company moving here is general electric ranked number six and this will be the global software headquarters. ge vice president says it had to be the bay area. >> i thi

so building on our alliance through this new initiative is about stability. it will be good for our australian defense force to increase their capabilities by joint training, combined training with the u.s. marines and personnel. it will mean that we are postured to better respond together along with our r other partners in the asia pacific to any regional contingency including the provision of humanitarian assistance and dealing with natural disasters. in addition to discussing this global force posture review by the united states. and these new initiatives in our alliance, the president of the united states and i have had an opportunity to reflect on a number of other issues, to reflect on circumstances in the global economy. to reflect on a clean energy future for our nations and for our planet. to reflect on the forthcoming east asia summit, president obama will proceed from australia to that summit in indonesia, where he spent time growing up. we've had a comprehensive discussion, a very much welcome president obama to australia. i think he's already see

but the next item is an update on the strategic initiatives. this was originally presented last week, but we did not have participation of the entire board, and we wanted to save it for the board meeting. >> thank you. we would like to present this presentation to you this evening recognizing the time constraints we have. we are going to move quickly through the slides, but we do want to make sure the commissioners understand we will happily entertain questions as we go. this is going to be a joint presentation by myself and the special assistant to the superintendent, who is also now taking on a new role for us. she is heading our strategic project implementation and working with strategic implementation with all of our departments in our school district, so we are very excited about her role, so you will see a lot before we are talking about where we are going. she is a renaissance woman, absolutely. the objectives for tonight's presentation are threefold. we want to present a revised framework for managing the implementation and monitoring t

we saw the initiative down in mississippi. the ballot initiative on personhood sale. big do you think social issues will play next year? >> i think there is no question that it's going to be the kitchen table issue that's will dominate when you've got a 9.1% unemployment rate and we're broke and climbing and really no good leadership out of the president on energy and job creation. there is no question these economic kitchen table issues will dom nai. i think a lot of us believe these traditional values have been the bed rock of american society for a couple hundred years are still important. life, team, marriage and protection of individual liberties so yeah, they'll be important and the guy with the best vision on creating jobs and controlling spending and creating a sound energy policy is going to win this election. >> bret: thank you for your time on this election night. >> bret, thank you. now, we turn to chairman of the democratic governors association. maryland governor, thank you for being here. you heard governor mcdonnell across the state line. your reaction

these are not the initial capital improvement project estimates. these have some rigor behind them. there is also then a contingency, which i think by practice is 30%, that is our understanding. you have another question. given those things, we think it is certainly a poor performance. supervisor campos: in light of the poor performance, i do not understand how it is in terms of oversight that the board of directors provide, that when all of these projects came before the board there was at traffic, a green traffic lights if you will that made it sound or look like everything was going

initial phase out. finally, in terms of term sheet

we saw the initiative down in mississippi. the ballot initiative on personhood sale.ow big do you think social issues will play next year? >> i think there is no question that it's going to be the kitchen table issue that's will dominate when you've got a 9.1% unemployment rate and we're broke and climbing and really no good leadership out of the president on energy and job creation. there is no question these economic kitchen table issues will dom nai. i think a lot of us believe these traditional values have been the bed rock of american society for a couple hundred years are still important. life, team, marriage and protection of individual liberties so yeah, they'll be important and the guy with the best vision on creating jobs and controlling spending and creating a sound energy policy is going to win this election. >> bret: thank you for your time on this election night. >> bret, thank you. now, we turn to chairman of the democratic governors association. maryland governor, thank you for being here. you heard governor mcdonnell across the state line. your reacti

initially, every first choice vote is a candidate.ny candidate that receives a majority, more than 50% of the first choice to vote, is determined to be the winner. if no candidate receives more than 50% of the first choice votes, a process of eliminating candidates and transferring votes begins. first, the candidate who received the fewest numbers of first choice votes is eliminated from the race. second, voters who selected the eliminated candidate as their first choice will have their vote to transfer to their second choice. there, all the votes are recounted. fourth, if any candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, he/she is declared the winner. if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the process of eliminating candidates and transferring votes is repeated until one candidate has a winning majority. now let's look at an example of an election using ranked choice of voting. in this example, we have three candidates. candidate a, b, and c. after all the first choice votes are counted, none of the three candidates has

that is why, yes, i would want to come over and see that particular initiative. because when we do these things here, sometimes it requires a change in at the law to facilitate the effective implementation of a community- based idea. sometimes we have to change the law. sometimes we have to increase the funding. sometimes we have to raise the visibility. end -- and the presidio would not have happened without that. your ideas, community-based, developed by veterans themselves and those who care about them, not only are effective here to serve as a model for the rest of the country. one thing that has told this is they wanted their own budget in wanted it early. the want to get involved in all the budget debates that had uncertainty as to how the veterans would be funded. we said if we win, we will have a veterans of budget, and it will be advanced funding. any arguments you see budget, none of that applies to vets, because there advanced funding for another year. they said it wanted -- [applause] they said they wanted a gi bill for the 21st century, and we did ju

we located this initiative within the mayor's office of housing. this is in partnership with the housing authority and the redevelopment agency. because there is a physical and human aspect of this, we are trying to it change the lives of this as well. we worked with several different service organizations as well as agencies to create a whole service connection program to the site. we have assembled a development team that is among the best in the business. it is not about physical, it is about the social. we have partnered with a lot of nonprofits as well as for profit organizations. some are partnering with us to raise $25 million for the initiative. what got us here? about five years ago, we looked at the public housing portfolio and realize to bring it up to the point where people cannot live in affordable, decent housing it was going to take a certain amount of money to do that. this was at a time when the housing organization was operating at about 80% of its bubble. it was not operating at the level it needed to in terms of funding. that wa

italian parliament gives final approval to a sweeping new austerity initiative paving the way for silvio berlusconi's resignation as the country strains to restore confidence in its filtering economy. the arab league decides to suspend and sanction syria in an effort to force assad to stop bloodshed in the country but the move spawns fears of a western backed repeat of the libyan scenario. but wonderland for travelers turns into a hub for high profile discussions as the heads of the asia pacific nations gather in hawaii hoping to isolate themselves from the spreading euro zone crisis. and china's booming economy is now always met with open arms for the united states sometimes paging the emerging superpower as a dangerous prospect our top stories this hour. international news and comment live from moscow this is o.t. with you twenty four hours a day it's a lower house of parliament has given its final approval to a vote.

and the initial pricing initiatives in san francisco also did very well, of course. i would note that both commissioner campos and commissioner reno made comments about the need to further take into account, in the evaluation of both the end of the door projects and the program might alternatives, this is the commitment to housing supply, a way to reward what local jurisdictions are doing. and the quality of targets need to be more closely included in the evaluation that is done. and results released for the rtp next month. i think that will give us an opportunity for an interesting discussion about that before the planned moves to next year's steps toward adoption. some wanted to also point out that the san francisco transportation plannin is making progress, and we have had more briefings of our advisory committee and other groups. we're looking now at some things that will probably not get as much attention in the plan. these are subjects that we intend to govern in a more comprehensive way this time. there's more information on our web site on the transportation