. >> my name is joan wood, and i live in north beach, and i have lived there since continuously since 1962, and i represent a whole lot of people just like me, that love the character of north beach, however, it seems to me that north beach has recently been discovered by the powers that be in the city hall and it has become yours and others favorite neighborhood also. however, this proposal seems directly aimed at us, and it was definitely change the character of north beach, i see no virtue in it whatsoever, except including formula retail in the proposal, just directly aimed at in the independent businesses or mr. macarini said something kind of obvious he thinks that you are here to help small businesses. i really have not thought about it that way. but i hope that he is right and i hope that you will listen to people like me. we have lost our hardware stores and we have lost shoe repair and that does not sound related to this proposal but i am getting at the changes that are happening to north beach for reasons like the proliferation of formula retail and also high rents and othe

davis, professor wood and steven anthony joan with the lorraine hansbury theater. was going to ask some arts questions but as you know, we just very recently lost a giant in maya i was going to ask you about this woman that was so eclectic, so influential. >> she is truly, truly, a giant. a great, great artist, intellectual who has worked with great sensitivity and insight, helped us better understand who we are, where we've come from and where we have to go. what's still left. none of us live forever but she will be missed. i had the pleasure of meeting with her years ago. she came backstage. i'm not generally one who's overwhelmed by celebrity. i was speechless. i was just absolutely speechless. >> as each of you know, it's tough enough to do one thing extremely well, to be a poet and author and a teacher and an actress and all those things. what are your thoughts about that? >> well, she was just a renaissance person. she came from a time when it wasn't unusual that one's expertise just spread across many areas. a writer, director, mentor, teacher. all of those