generally, lined by lower-rise buildings with some taller buildings punctuating the landscape that he vantage points. i mentioned the massing generally of the buildings and heights maintains existing view corridors. it is important to recognize there is significant typography on this site. it seems fairly flat, but there is substantial difference in the grade from 19th avenue down toward the west, toward lake merced boulevard. as soon as you move up 19th avenue, the site drops about 30 feet almost instantaneously. what that means is that the taller buildings on the western side of the site barely rise above the level of 19th avenue. the prevailing height does not rise at all. it barely punctuates it. so the existing views from the surrounding hills, from residential neighborhoods from the east, will not be altered at all. there will not be viewed blockages, or anything of that nature. i mentioned that the bulk of the units is located on the eastern half of the site. we will hear a little bit more about the community realignments and transit investments. i would just like to point out

. >> tree landscapes, the way the ordinance phrases it, you have to maintain it in good condition. it is a little vague, so long as it is not a blighted area. it doesn't have to be a manicured lawn, but we don't want it to be overgrown weeds. >> there are recent aamendments that say you can't pave over the required landscape area, in the front setback, particularly, planning says you have to maintain a certain portion of that ads landscape area, people have been paving that for more parking and we're starting to tighten up on that, in the city as well. >> okay, let's walk up the street here. okay. we're going to stop up here. and look at this. look at this cute little thing, what kind of tree is this? what are we looking at? >> that's the fruit of the strawberry tree. you can see the fruit t actually looks like a little strawberry and they are are edible, pe but they don't taste like strawberries, they don't taste like much at all actually. >> there's a difference between edible and good. >> that's right. it does not taste like a strawberry, but looks like a strawberry. it is reall

when you disturb soil to get rid of the landscape and put a new landscape in place, a lot of people don't know how the soil oxidizes and there is a huge amount of biological activity so that you get in n.y. -- a massive increase in the first part of your project. the reason there are questions on this page, the lansky releases greenhouse gases and is nowhere in the eir. that is why these are all question marked. we talked about this before. you add another 6000-8000 cars. it becomes ridiculous. i almost throw "you've got to be kidding me." you can have lower carbon emissions when you add this many parking spaces to a development. what we need instead is to have something like this, a scaled- down on demolished an alternative that uses gradual landscaping changes that are based on culture and carbon farming. using those techniques and retrofitting the old buildings that is what many people in this movement will tell you is the gold standard for greenhouse gas emissions, that is what could get us to the good of greenhouse gas profile. there is no alternative like that in the eir. in regard

i argue that landscaping is transportation commission. if you put services and businesses within walking distance of home, it is so much easier for people never to have to bring their cars out to take their kids to day care, to school, the corner store for milk. while we talk about transportation as pedestrian, bike, transit, and cars, land use is a big part of it. giving people neighborhood-scale services within a block or two of their residences is a san francisco tradition and one being proposed in this project as well. these are just images showing in addition to the design of the streets, we're looking at design of the buildings that face the streets. one major accomplishment here -- people talk about parkmerced as having the effect of a gated community, and there are only very limited access points. what you will see in the proposal is that we create new intersections that allow pedestrians to cross between parkmerced and the lake merced area appeared on the southwest corner, there is a major axis point to the recreation area from b

oftentimes, i take a look at the landscape and i say, let me remove everybody from the landscape that doesn't have a dog out here. a landscape is completely empty. i am wondering if that is how they wanted to be. they are worried about the clover's being stressed. there is no proof about them being stressed. if they are so stressed, why do they ride motorcycles up and down the beach? why do they have atv's, cars, bulldozers. i don't think they are stressed any more than seagulls, pigeons, or anything else for that matter. i am not an expert. [chime] is that it? supervisor wiener: thank you. [laughter] >> i have been a san francisco resident for 19 years. about twice a week, i crossed out and pick up trash. i have been hurt and surprised that dogs are allowed to run loose. it doesn't seem to be consistent with san francisco values. with environmental sustainability, we need to be [unintelligible] san francisco needs to be people encouraging ecological complexity and resilience. san francisco also values being -- allowing dogs to chase while the birds for no other reason is ok, and i do

the project will be improving those with new landscaping to make more ecologically sustainable as well as more useful areas. another important component, which is not part of the public open space, but which is more of a semi-private, semi-public system, is a system of courtyards. there has been a question about how much existing residence cherished their courtyards and how much they loved it about living there. there will be courtyards of similar character in new developments as well. granted, there will be adjacent to maybe some slightly larger buildings. predominantly, there will be landscapes semi-private semi- public courtyards of a similar nature, particularly on the west half of the site, where the building scale is lower, and residents will slab -- will have the same opportunities outside their backyards if they choose to live on the ground floor. those on upper stories can come down to the courtyards to let their children play and do all the things people normally do. chairperson mar: so for the garden view unit folks that have the shared backyard areas -- you're saying there

and hopefully, to plan who will be responsible for the landscape. to repeat this phrase, we see this executive -- we see this as the front door and we need to make this special. we are following this on the same lines. >> do you have a question on this phasing or development sequence? if the proposed heights and locations of the towers hold forth, this will require the demolition of the existing office buildings. is there a projected development time or build-out time associated with this? > i am not saying we are approving anything in terms of phasing. >> probably a bette rquestion -- better question for the project sponsors. building in some flexibility with how this gets. in terms of the tower locations, are they set or is there flexibility to change the locations? >> they are set by the way the project description was analyzed. we wanted to see some opportunities for flexibility. they kind of boxed us into these locations. the staff -- this has been our proposal. we are comfortable with these towers. >> if you have some ideas -- you don't have t

within those nine years they offered me a job landscaping. i now ha help of others, to be able to keep the island clean and green. thank you. >> good evening, board members and commissioners. my name is peter mccaffrey, the owner of wine valley catering and pavilion by the bay. i'd love to encourage you to support the e.i.r. and the whole agenda this evening. we supply real jobs to real people that live on the island, and in this economy, it is so needed. some positive news for so many individuals. i feel that this project is wonderful for the environment, it's wonderful for san francisco, and i just strongly encourage you guys to support it. thank you very much. >> good evening, commissioners. i am currently owning a business and a resident at treasure island. the address is 2 avenue of the palms. and i'm there on a daily basis. i see a fair amount of people, tourists and other people. most of the customers are tourists. they come to the store. and when they come, they ask me what's on this island, can you pass through the gate? i told them

my name is john, and i'm the general manager of rubecon landscape. our mission is to prepare low-income people to achieve national independence. we support the development and urge your support of all the issues being considered tonight because our presence at treasure island has helped us provide numerous opportunities for very disadvantaged people. we've been on treasure island since 1992 when we did landscape work for the u.s. navy. and we've been there ever since. all our hiring and entry-level workers is through the tie-dye and we have created over 70 long-term jobs for disadvantaged san francisco residents. we focus on individuals with a history of homeless and similar barriers. we help them by providing steady employment, a supportive environment, medical and other benefits, job training to make them professional landscapers, and this builds confidence and determination. we strongly support this development because it gives us more opportunities to help more people. thank you. >> hi, my name is dave alexander. i'm an employee of rubecon. nine

are still lush and use about 30% of what the subtropical landscape with turf would use. las vegas has adopted a drought tolerant ordinance. we're using less water today than we used five years ago, despite over 300,000 new residents. i think it's a pretty amazing example as to how a town can really turn on a dime if there's the political will and if the public gets behind it. narrator: even the casinos and resorts have adapted to efficient water use. mulroy: the las vegas strip uses only 3% of all the water that we deliver. and when you think about it, it's the largest economic driver in the state, the largest employer, bar none. they knew they had to go the extra mile. and they've embraced conservation. and it's almost beyond belief that they're right now in the process of building another 15,000 rooms. southern nevada recycles 100% of its wastewater. so for every gallon we put back in the colorado, we can take an additional gallon out, or we send it to reuse facilities. and we deliver it to golf courses and parks and other outside applications. man: water's about a thi

what is the role in the new media landscape? journalism academies in the hyper globalism journal, it is there and the advice for nonprofit working at the new media center? >> we can give that question to barry. maybe you can give her some advice? >> there are a lot of challenges in community media right now. i have been trying to get our local station to work with us to figure out how to work together to get things going in the community. one of the challenges right now that the media landscape has is that it has been remade for lot of the other stations. these folks that are doing educational government television right now are rooted in ratings in a lot of cases. anyone can be broadcaster and no one wants access to the channel anymore. really, we are just at the beginning of this. for example, i no longer have cable. i get all of my television of the web. that is not on the -- that is not an unusual situation. >> [unintelligible] first of all, back to the question of diversity, the fact that we even have to talk about diversit

from a tattered landscape to a sacred abbey. lee cowan, nbc news, london. >>> what a day, and speaking of these relentless images, we're back inside what was once a front room. a newlywed couple survived what went on here. the expression you hear in this area, this college town, roll tide. these are all over the place. we found an abandoned dvd, alabama '09 championship season. the story now will develop into people coming out to help. we have already seen them stream into this neighborhood. if you wish to do eelectronically, a number of organizations we have posted tonight on our website for you. for us for now, that is our broadcast from here for this friday night. thank you for being with us. lester holt will be with you from here all weekend long. we'll be back on the air tonight for a special broadcast of "dateline" 9:00 eastern time. i'm brian williams reporting tonight from tuscaloosa, alabama. good night, everyone. plummeting off a cliff. how a bay area man managed to survive a dramatic drop. >> you do everything that yo

i still do some work as a consulting arborist and landscape installer. i am a certified arborist, and i have a couple of street trees of my own in district 8 where i decide -- reside. i still an active with my son schools. and there were cultural activities. those are my qualifications. i would submit to any questions you might have. beyond that, my work with the council has been a pleasure. i feel like i am able to make a meaningful contribution. i appreciate your consideration. all of the work that has happened -- supervisor kim: i have seen all of the work that has happened in the elementary schools, and they are impressive. we don't have any questions at this time. i do want to know that you are also a certified arborist, you are also qualified for seat 3? >> i am embarrassed to confess that my certification at this point, although i am qualified, it has technically lapsed because mike continuing education has not been kept up. far and away, i can say -- supervisor kim: that's ok. >> i don't spend my day to day work as an arborist. i have to make tha

as a landscape architect, i have dealt with many e.i.r.'s in my professional career and this e.i.r. and in all the incarnations is completely derelict in its duty to serve the community in the function that it purports. the e.i.r. is a justification of the plan and it's not a true assessment of impacts of the project. and any adequate e.i.r. that does not assess all the real conditions is a violence of ceqa. there was inadequate time for consideration by the community and the lack of the e.i.r. circulation when major modifications were done to the project is also a violation of ceqa and this was not the case. this project has had so many incarnation and changes and we just haven't had adequate time to consider it. the e.i.r. contains misleading and incorrect figures. it is at the top of the hill. it doesn't really show that in the drawings and the figures. there is a figure 12 on page 124 that shows 24 homes in the area that are three stories and they are actually two stories. the impact is not laid out in this e.i.r. in both the draft e.i.r. and in the final responses and comments.

i'm a landscape architect. i live and work in the city. i've been involved in various components of this project dating back years, and i just wanted to urge the commission to support and approve the e.i.r. from a professional point of view i wanted to say that i've been continually impressed by the architects that the team has assembled and the impressive depth of knowledge that they've brought, and i think they've really shown that they've looked at every aspect and component of this over the years. and i also applaud the public agencies that have been involved in the process and the project and the cooperation that i've been -- i've participated in with the libraries, the parks department and their commitment to what i think is really serving the public's best interest. and then just from a personal point of view, having lived in the neighborhood, the neighborhood desperately needs more open space, preferably some green open space, and the library needs some -- is in desperate need of more space and renovation. so i urge you to approve

this new media landscape has top officials in washington worried that u.s. broadcasters are losing influence we are in an information war and we are losing that war i'll be very blunt in my assessment al jazeera is winning. the chinese have opened up a global english language and multi language television network the russians have opened up the english language network i've seen it in a few countries and it's quite instructive critics say the diminishing audiences are the result of the u.s. desire to influence rather than inform they're going to try to go into these countries and probably try to bind is basically a true propaganda arm rather than a news gathering and reporting outlet which is what archie al-jazeera and the chinese networks are going to be but when they look beneath for freedom of information abroad others have it silenced at home it's a propaganda campaign and right now we are warm and which you have global broadcasting during which to which you have from zero campaigning to have r.t. and al jazeera taken off american airways american taxpay

, if you simply play a sort of a thought experiment which my coleague mike has done here for the landscape of the united states, and what he's done is taken a census of precipitation, day by day every event that's occurred over along period, and he's cataloged how many of those events occurred where temperatures were in the range of minus 3 degrees celsius, just below freezing and freezing and what's shaded on here is the fraction of time for a given location in which the precipitation has occurred in that temperature range. that's a range of what we might call vulnerability because if temperature rises by three degrees celsius, all of the sudden we're not snowing anymore we're raining. you can think of this as a flood vulnerability map or a potential loss of snowstorm or the western problem as you can see and particularly areas like the west slope of the sierras and the cascades and part of the rockies are especially vulnerable to this. we in california have a huge stake in this sort of - this kind of vulnerability to warming. you can see there's some in the northeast but not to the degre

she walks into the bright vegetable garden, chopped water to life from brittle landscape, leans her hoe against goat wire, admires shoots balanced on turned earth, looks up, fulfilleds a leaves sigh, clouds, hands on her hips, her jaw falls open and a bomb drops down her throat. white. the horizon, a black line against brilliant white landscape, pale blue sky above it, empty except for heat devil blur, a raindrop sound hits a wooden post against cloudless light, another, the lamb, his children, wife, then he drenched in bullet rain. blue. the final moment of night passing, exposes limbs, torsos, heads, breasts, humans, cows, goats, curved and knotted heaps, lays blue against bitten grass. final piece, the title is the headline for a newspaper. anti-war activist immoh lates along kennedy's express way near giant flame of the millennium skull up tour 4 days before november 2006 elections and no one pays attention. everything but the heart reduced to ash. thank you. . >> i just want to thank george for bringing to bear some of the numbers, some of the horrific things that are happening in

the horizon, a black line against brilliant white landscape, pale blue sky above it, empty except for heat devil blur, a raindrop sound hits a wooden post against cloudless light, another, the lamb, his children,

a changing landscape in which we have higher technology and lower budgets. i think that this means for students graduating with degrees in radio and television is a job opportunity. because a lot of radio and tv stations have cut back dramatically, they are hiring younger talent. that is good for young people on the one hand. >> not so good for people our age. >> no, unfortunately. i think we are seeing that shift in generations happening rapidly. there are quite a few -- both radio and tv -- i am thinking about two local radio stations who i will not name who are paying interest to produce news content. -- interns to produce news content. what that means for quality is the big question. i do not feel fully comfortable having a discussion about quality of news without discussing what that means. how do we define quality journalism? i think today we have a much more scattered definition. the huge decline in our own way. previously, we only had three major networks. it was easier to define the "quality journalism." today, it becomes a much more difficult conce

i still do some work as a consulting arborist and landscape installer. i am a certified arborist, and i have a couple of street trees of my own in district 8 where i decide -- reside. i still an active with my son schools. and there were cultural activities. those are my qualifications. i would submit to any questions you might have. beyond that, my work with the council has been a pleasure. i feel like i am able to make a meaningful contribution. i appreciate your consideration. all of the work that has happened -- supervisor kim: i have seen all of the work that has happened in

i do not live in parkmerced, but in 2001 i did an analysis of the historical landscape of the st. thomas church of parkmerced. you have received a really excellent letter from the national trust for historic preservation and other preservation organizations in the city, state, and nationally, which lays out the importance of the historic importance of parker said -- of parkmerced. the supervisor elsbernd: -- the eir has not done a good analysis of the preservation alternative. i live in the outer sunset. i am very concerned about the traffic impact this project will produce, and that i will not be able to easily go to the airport. it will be very congested. also, there is a lot of foot traffic going over the great highway down the peninsula that will bunch up. the third point i would like to make is that i cannot understand how san francisco is considering to demolish the affordable housing in favor of market-rate housing. this is so religious. thank you. >> i am a new resident. sorry. i am not used to public speaking. i am a new president. i am part of parkmerced action coalition