this legislation is actually a long time in coming. when the city adopted the eastern neighborhoods plan many thought we were making a mistake for zoning portions for pdr uses and no longer a demand for manufacturing in the city and i am proud to say those people are wrong. data shows that we have an increase of need for space in san francisco. the legislation does a number of things to support and grow our manufacturing sector in san francisco. specifically it removes the requirement to obtain a conditional use approval from the planning commission for common pdr uses who want to locate in those districts. it also allows small manufacturers to pull their resources and share accessory retail space which are central to their businesses. it supports the development of new manufacturing spaces in conjunction with the rebuilt self storage use. it facilitates the development of small develop work space in a greater number of areas and is an incubator and incentive for new pdr spaces on vacant or under utilized parcels in the industrial dist

my understanding of this legislation it's really an enabling legislation, allowing different non-profit and community groups and individuals to step up and submit proposals to be stewards of certain plazas. and very similar to a friends of program, friends of mccleran park or what have you and i see great potential across the city not only in our district for this program. we have been working very close with my oewd on this legislation over the past couple of years and i think maybe a good example, as to why we need this legislation is possibly holiday plaza as you know many ways the gateway to san francisco and certainly coming to the airport off bart or what have you, it's often people's first impression of san francisco and it's certainly an underutilized space. we could do a lot to improve that area. currently there are three different city jurisdictions that oversee that plaza and so as lynn it said, when you want to apply for a permit, it's quite confusing and deters people from activating that space and really making it more inviting. with a stewardship you might have one group

with the legislation offering new ways for graffiti offenders. all is important as the information streaming and costs, and the ability for the city to seek civil and administrative actions against the offenders. and of course better protection of our parks and public vehicles against graffiti vandals. i hope that you support this effort to hold graffiti offenders for the damage they cause this city. it's a step in the right direction to shift the burden from the victim to the offender. and it sends a message that san francisco is able and willing to take steps to address the offensive and destructive graffiti problem. this is the right thing to do for the city and thank you for your effort and time. >> thank you, next speaker please. >> good morning, madam chair, london breed and board president chiu and board of supervisors tang, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. i am here to represent, i am a member of the graffiti advisory board and a long-time resident and property owner of san francisco, where i live and work. i have been a

we urge you to adopt the legislation as written. we will hear from some of the companies that will benefit from the legislation and for them there are so many others that couldn't be here today. the men and women who couldn't take time away as those here did and explain why this is important us to. this vote sends a message to this sector we care about this sector. we recognize this sector and provides jobs to the people that we are worry about and affordable housing and this is where they work and thank you and i am humbled to represent these companies here today. thank you. >> thank you. that's a great segue into public comment. is that okay mr. chair? >> great. we will call a handful of names and you don't have to speak in order that i call you but if you could line up when i call you, and if anyone needs special accommodation for whatever reason let us know and steve cooklyn -- i apologize for mispronouncing names. (calling speaker names). sorry, i cannot read the last name. michael giewtenburg. autumn [inaudible]. hi. >> good a

. >> thank you, colleagues today is legislation for a long overdue legislation to establish and codify and enforceable and improved process to governor the placement of utility cabinets on our sidewalks. i want to thank the public works and rec and park department and the planning department and as well as sf beautiful for working closely to craft this ordinance i want to thank my co-sponsors in the legislation supervisor breed supervisor chiu and supervisor cowen and supervisor kim for their support. this legislation for the first time will establish binding procures to require robust outreach to our neighborhoods. and in the placement of those boksz boxes to allow community input to require murals on the boxes some have refused to do and require the utilities to plant greenery such as landscaping near the boxes and maintain the improvements over time. the legislation will impose strike out graffiti removal for almost two hours we've heard one public member expressing criticism and sometimes anger over 0 process that's failing that pits neighbor against neighbor nebulous and confusing

based on the input from the list of questions we made changes to the legislation. they're listed in your 3 page table in your packets i'm going to do one slide. there was initial confusion this might include the property under the rec and park department that he amended it to state clearly no project shall be under here. we've heard the impact so we amended it for the weight addressed the concern through the add minute and planning code and do admin code we added the bulk decision requirement under unless the board of supervisors says that's not feasible for the plaza. in the planning code additional language is included. and there are several new layers to address this continued. we amended the legislation including a 3 hundred foot marital to neighborhood groups and residents we'll draft the procedures to make sure that no neighborhoods are left out that will include those on the planning department's neighborhood notification system. in order to give the communities for sustainability tools the legislation will preoccupying propose up to 8 events that could rest

i'm the author of number one so colleagues before us is legislation to establish and codify an improved process for the illuminate cabins on the situation of san francisco. i want to thank the dictionary of public works including the street mapping as well as the planning department and the rec and park department for the insights as we created the legislation thank you to san francisco beautiful for the partnership and collaboration in moving this forward and thank you supervisor breed and supervisor chiu for signing on as co-sponsors. this legislation first time will establish binding procedures around is surface mount facilities i he utility cabins for robust outreach for neighborhoods and allowing for meaningful and real community input and having the murals on their boxes and requiring planning of greening and maintaining that greening on around the illuminate boxes. is legislation for the first time will require meaningful efforts to place on the private prosperity o properties for the annual feasibility on the playing of boxess on the ground. colleagues as i recall in january we

support the legislation. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >>> good morning, my name is wendy [speaker not understood]. i am a [speaker not understood] consultant but also a building code consultant. i started out 10 years ago as a field admin working in the field making sure we're following the building code, [speaker not understood]. uti started sending me down to the building department to pull permits for them full time. when 2009 came i lost my job and i had to go independent so for gci and i work for several general contractors and architects including [speaker not understood] the chair of the code advisory committee. i'm well respected by these people and i'm consulted by these people on a regular basis to help them get a permit. we do small tenant improvement jobs. jobs are usually under $2 million. jobs that are for law firms, for nonprofits, for start-ups. these people have no influence over any kind of public policy in the city. they are people who are trying to grow jobs and part of construction is growing jo

last week and briefed them on the roll of the newly passed legislation of the inlaw legislation and director also responded to a wide range of questions from the members about the building code and so thank you director for that and a special thanks to the director and chief building inspector ron tom who completed a new information sheet, g12 which updates the building prior to processes. for affordable housing projects. in the community and investment and infrastructure and these will be helpful to the staff as well as project developers and so well done for putting that coalition together and getting everybody on the same page director and ron, tom. dbi is working with dpw and consultants in evaluating the existing space and documented needs for the additional 30,000 of square feet of space to meet additional customer demands and we will host a one stop workshop tomorrow april 17th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 201 at city hall. all of the departments will review and with the goal of knowing the amount of space needed to meet the mayor's goal of improved one stop services with dbi and pe

this is a fine piece of legislation. but it seems for the second time within a year passage of this bipartisan legislation is in question because senate republicans keep changing their request. and this time around the minority party seems intent on a repeat performance of last year. remember last year, same thing. we want this, we want this. but the clincher we were told is that last year that they wouldn't vote on the bill unless we brought up a bill sponsored by a senator from louisiana. a name was not -- landrieu would be the junior senator from louisiana, saying i demand a vote before we're going to do this legislation. i'm doing away with the health insurance. senate staff out. can you imagine that? but that was his demand, and it's his demand again. he called to tell me that. mr. president, in order to allow us to vote on this bill, i was told before the break that the republicans wanted a vote on keystone, a sense of the senate resolution. i thought about it, and i came back to them pw-fs recess and -- came back

and that's the way the new legislation is written they have to come up with two alternative sites and that still pits neighbors against neighbors but didn't require the secondarily battles between neighbors. and this sets it up as a better field or landscape in which to discuss that issue. with the court decision by the court of appeals that you turned down the appeal there will be some accomplishments >> thank you. next speaker, please and the folks i call can line up - wait i'll call a few more names (calling names) i'm sorry. i'm not able to read this name. >> i'm peter the point of san francisco beauty but i'm outraged the state elective has allowed companies to hijack our sidewalks and i thank scott wiener for this legislation it's a slam dunk good idea for the reaps supervisor wiener said. it's going to save a lot of strife and anxiety and help the residents get along. thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon community members i'm nicholas the vice president of the land park association. we've got a lot of boxes in our neighborhood i appreciate this proposed legislation it's s

maybe making legislation that legislators don't believe are appropriate.i have been a judge ride for that happened and i've been there when it happened. a judge the show's faithfulness to the rule of law will apply precedent faithfully and while it is true those issues, the equal rights issues have not come before me on a regular basis as an appellate judge, the jurisdiction i have on the court of appeals is broad. and in each instance, i have been faithful to follow the rule of law. >> you could engage in what some legislators may consider to be judicial activism based on the facts of the case and was presented to you. >> i can't presume what a state legislator might think about any decision. one like me may very well criticize me. but what i would say to that is that i have shown dedication to the code of judicial conduct and never decided cases based on fear of clamor or fear of criticism. >> just for clarification, as a state court judge, have you had a cases dealing with marriage equality, equal protection for gays and lesbians, and i think you noted

so we hope you support this legislation we appreciate our time as well >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good evening supervisors i'm steve with the san francisco parks alliance we're you're going you go u you to support this legislation that helps to streamline the process for plazas we're currently partnering with the city with our pavement to parks and very excited to have this additional space for perm or permanent spots. there's a strong need to the 40 in the city more housing created and along with that the need for new gathering places and there's also a need to repurpose much of the extra land area that's in dpw or center street right of ways that can be used to creates new spaces. the plazas program and the street parks and our pavement to parks helps to get people engaged it's got great outreach for the community design and implementation of the spots along with the stewardship and we have over one hundred and 40 street parks throughout the city and see that growing as the strong demand to sign up for new spaces. thank you, very much for your considerat

i think this is incredibly important legislation. when we talk about the economic changes in san francisco i think there's a lot of good and a lot of challenges and the reemmergance and the growth of the manufacturing sector in san francisco has been just a true bright spot in recent years and sometimes it's a different kind of manufacturing. we're living in 2014, not in 1950, and there are differences in our economy and what types of businesses that are going to be viable in san francisco and i think that we have to be flexible and adjust to fit the realities of our situation and our economy, and i think we need to be very proactive in city city hall to make sure that the businesses can flourish and i know some of the commenters said we're staying here regardless and we're committed to san francisco and thank you for that. that was music to my ears but it's not good enough for them to stay here. we need to allow them to be successful and to grow, so it's not good enough for us to say okay you're stable in your space and you can mana

because as i said, i think this is the most significant and impactful piece of legislation that we're going to -- that we have ever seen and will see with regard to small, locally-owned businesses as we know them today. >> and it is very serious that we all should be getting involved in this and really talk to your neighborhoods and peers on this from across the city. this is, like commissioner dwight said, this is probably the most important piece of legislation that is going to affect small business in years. again, i thank you again for your leadership. and i am learning a ton from you and i love it. any other commissioners? next item. >> item 11 general public comment, discussion item. >> do we have any members of the public who would like to make a comment on any future meetings? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item. >> item 12, new business. discussion item. >> seeing none, next item. >> item 13 adjournment. >> i would like to move to adjourn in honor of john ligmeeto. john was the vp group manager of the san francisco regent for ecology. he was already chair of the

i hope every senator would be on the legislation when it comes to my legislation. so with that, i will go ahead and make the unanimous consent request. i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader that the senate proceed to consideration of s. 1670, the pain-capable unborn child protection act, and s. 1696, the woman's health protection act, that there be up to eight hours of debate equally divided in the usual form to run concurrently, that there be no amendments, points of order or motions in order and that upon the use or yielding back of time, the senate proceed to vote on s. 1670, and that following the disposition of 1670, the senate proceed to vote on s. 1696, and that both bills be subject to a 60-vote affirmative threshold for passage. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. reserving my right to object, and i will object, i respect my friend and colleague from south carolina -- and we are friends and we ag

next for legislative work. they will take up 10 bills first. several dealing with human rights issues overseas, and also with the department of veterans affairs. later they will begin work on 2015 federal spending. debating a $51 billion commerce, justice and science spending bill for the next fiscal year. this year's bill, a $38 million cut from the previous year. live coverage now on the -- from the u.s. house here on c-span. he motion to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4587 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4587, a bill to impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for carrying out or ordering human rights abuses against the citizens of venezuela and for other pur

you can always say that, but that is the nature of a legislative body as large as ours that when legislation is ready to go to the floor, it is ready to bring it to the floor. >> thank you. >> thank you, all. >> thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] voted 303-wantse to want to limit the nsa collection of americans phone records. 303-121.s. house voted american -- from the founding of the american republic, this country has been engaged in a profound debate about the limits of government. in the federalist papers, the founders argued passionately for a federal government that would protect the american people from foreign threats. at the same time, the founders struggled to create a structure to contain and control that government in order to protect the god-given rights of the american people. they carefully crafted the constitution and bill of rights to accomplish these two different yet complementary goals. in essence, this debate has illuminated the exceptionality of the united states. the ceaseless effort to he restrain the reach of government is in our d.n.

bodies and legislative bodies, what we are talking about here is a legislative meeting of a legislative body, and it would be -- it would be incongruous, as this court said in marsh, if congress could have legislative prayers and the states couldn't. it would be equally incongruous >> well, the essence of the argument is we've always done it this way, which has some -- some force to it. but it seems to me that your argument begins and ends there. >> no, your honor. i mean, as we -- as we said in our brief, the principles that undergird the establishment clause are equally consistent with the position we're advancing here. as the -- as your opinion in the county of allegheny case indicates, the fundamental -- the core of establishment clause concern is coercion or conduct that is so extreme that it leads to the establishment of a religion because it is putting the government squarely behind one faith to the exclusion of others, and that's clearly not what's going on here. >> may i ask you about the individual plaintiffs here. and what do we know about them? they obviously have appeared a

and so i urge you to move this legislation forward. thank you very much. >> thank you >> next speaker, please? >> thank you, supervisors, and lewis, the hotel and western workers local two, and you know how quickly people forget, eight years ago, and it was costing in this board and there was nobody at the table at the time who imagined that employers would figure out how to reach in and take back hundreds of millions of dollars from workers pocket money that should have gone to providing healthcare for them and making them more able to stay in the city that we are increasingly being driven out of. at the time that the restaurant industry figured out as dennis said that, you know they could impose a surcharge and low and behold the surveys shows that the consumers were more than happy to pick up the costs knowing that it would go to healthcare, they did not know and had not figured out, that they could exploit this loophole and scroll forward to today, four years after the affordable care act. i am astounded and speechless, and at a lo

i'm asking supervisors tang and [speaker not understood] to consider that and not legislate this legislation move forward. the way it is written it is far too broad. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >>> good morning, supervisors. henry kamilowitz, [speaker not understood] also the south of market business association. this is not an easy process to get through the different departments to get a permit issued. so, for someone today [speaker not understood] to go out and get a permit, you have to navigate through so many areas, you know, starting from planning to dpw to health to a whole mo rass to try to get a permit. that's why people come to dpi. they get lost in there trying to get from one place to another. so, it really -- what conceptual consultants is to be able to navigate, to get a permit quicker because they know who to go to see, what to say with their -- with the drawings, sometimes the drawings aren't correct. you have to go back and [speaker not understood], so forth. bottom line, though, bottom line, permit consult atctiontion ~ consultants are not lobbyists. they do not dea

we just spend a significant amount of time a few weeks ago, be very thoughtful about the legislation brought forward by supervisor cohen and we added a couple of special conditions that were very well-expressed by supervisor cohen. we're looking for net zero and creating that slippery slope by which we are not only undermining the maintaining and growth of pdr, but we are also ignoring the direct linkage to housing affordability and how we are basically employing people who are struggling with jobs and maintaining homes in the city. i feel it is beyond anything that i could participate in approving today, because i feel we are falling right in the middle, where this area is being examined for some form of reconsideration. but from my perspective, feel i would take the first step in initiating something, which i don't even fully understand. somebody captured that by using the word "commercial gentrification." it's a very, very scary word and nice to think about higher and better use and that is what they teach you in planning school. the reality is there is say direct connection with

gwen moore for her work on this legislation, i want to thank louise slaughter for her work on other legislation. i want to commend all the members that are working on these five bills that we'll be voting on later today. most importantly, i want to thank law enforcement and victims' advocates who worked with us to share their thoughts, share their expertise. this isn't a problem that's going to be intoifed one group working alone. it's going to take all of us working together, learning from each other, coordinating efforts and then coming together as a community this legislation, by the way, is endorsed by the national fraternal order of police, the national alliance to end sexual violence and the national center for exploited children. madam speaker, i'd like to enter for the record several letters of enforcement -- endorsement for this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. paulsen: this is an opportunity to save lives and give hope to thes of sex trafficking victims in america. there's more work to be done and working together we can put an end to sex trafficking. i yie

we have introduced legislation. l.n.g. supporters are a critical component of stopping russian aggression against our allies and strategic partners. nine of our nato allies import 40% of their gaze from russia. these are our aliessments yet they are being held and heavily dependent on russia for their energy. l.n.g. exports would help our nato allies, would -- as well as as our strategic partners an allow them to free themselves from russian energy. that's why our nato allies are calling on us for congress and the dwriews expedite these l.n.g. exports. these are give ow our allies an alternative supplier of natural gas and enable them to resist riewshes aggression. it's going to be an added benefit for our country in terms of creating thousands of good-paying jobs in the united states. as the economists explained, l.n.g. exports to generate tanker loads of gas for america, will create jobs and gas mills in wyoming, still mills in our nation's ports. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the

we've got a lot of boxes in our neighborhood i appreciate this proposed legislation it's seems to be comprehensive and hits everything we're concerned about and really support it fully support that. particularly by the amount of effort that was blatantly not put into the outreach of our community i'm pleased that's part of the legislation proposed. thank you >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors i'm ted the president of the hate ashbury association we've obtained to the placement of some of the facilities in our neighborhood. i want to show you the notice that gets sent and contains this photoshop effort to show you what the facility might look like on the sidewalk. the thing i've noticed about those notices the photograph shop creation is about 20 percent to 25 percent undersized. it's literally lies about the size of the boxed and that's the way it should be solved through legislation is to require that a few size make up be taken by the utility to the site and placed there and photographed to that's a real photograph and a cut off of a human figure not how

so we're going to continue to propose meaningful legislation. senate republicans assert that increasing the minimum wage will not help working families. that assertion is not only wrong, mr. president, it's -- it makes no sense. no sense. it's illogical. 28 million americans stand to benefit from an increase in the minimum wage. i repeat, about 10% of all americans stand to gain from the legislation before this body we're goin.and we're going to ve if we can begin debate later today. almost two-thirds -- i'm sorry, almost 75% of small businesses support raising the minimum wage. why? it creates more business for them much it's good for the economy. so the assertion that boosting the minimum wage would hurt businesses, again, is wrong and it is illogical. researchers at the federal -- at the chicago federal reserve bank have found consumer spending increases, yes, increases dramatically following a minimum-wage hike and businesses reap the benefits of a minimum-wage increase. that's what these experts said. this minimum wage legislation is good f

since this is pending as has been pending for awhile even if supervisor yee's legislation going into effect if we delay it again, this time the ordinance passes does that apply to our action or not? in other words, would we have to apply the 5 hundred i think it's the 5 hundred rule >> if we continue it to a future date the new legislation is in effect we would have to - >> that's the governing protective at that point. >> we'll have to follow the law. >> i have to follow the law at the time. >> thank you. commissioner borden >> so right now it's at the mandatory discretionary review but the applicant has to file a new application it's a different process now. >> so there's no cu on file. >> if we continue it will they have to file a new cu and they wouldn't be heard that date anyway. >> the department will have to take it in and review it as a conditional use. >> so continuing it basically is definite for all intents and purposes so they'll have to file a new application. >> i believe that's right it requires a 20 day notification period as well. if the new legislation requires this

size of the boxed and that's the way it should be solved through legislation is to require that a few size make up be taken by the utility to the site and placed there and photographed to that's a real photograph and a cut off of a human figure not how big that door is but a 6 foot person next to the mark up. secondly, if the legislation didn't call on the specifically the notification that is being sent should be sent to a somehow foot road us from the proposed site and thirdly, it's important that the city has skin in the game is one that park or at&t park or other public land can be used for citing this this is a suitable location as well. at&t keeps on insisting those or off limits but we need to see this in legislation as well >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon chairman i'm kissing it on the executive director for the san francisco beautiful thank you supervisor wiener. i want to echo the words of our where had president we know this legislation is a slam dunk we've been listening to the public and works to address each the issues so thank you on behalf of the

it was something i know other legislators struggled with. the overwhelming majority of the constituents in my one county that i represented which likewise contain a minority population that was not ignorant of, overwhelmingly, those constituents wanted georgians the opportunity to vote on whether to change the flag. that is why i cast the vote the way i did. i'm glad the flag was changed. it reflected something that i thought georgia could be better with. >> since you understood that the debate in your time dealt with issues that at least brought up echoes of race problems and slavery, let me ask you this. when you compromise design was proposed in 2003 that remove the confederate x that echoed the confederate stars and bars flag, this design was supported by african-american democrats and you voted against it. why? >> yes, sir. for the same reasons. the overwhelming majority of my constituents wanted a choice between the 1956 flag and the current flag. intervening between the vote in my original vote was another opportunity to vote for a re

cohen for co-sponsoring this legislation. this is simple, straightforward legislation. it clarifies the relationship between the immunity from seizure act and the foreign sovereign immunities act to encourage the foreign lending of art to the united states. currently, art work loaned by foreign governments is commonly immune to federal court decisions. and cannot be confiscated. if the president finds that their display is in the national interest. however, foreign governments do not have immunity when commercial activity is involved this bill seeks to clarify that artwork imported into the u.s. for temporary display is not commercial activity and should thus be immune from seizure. specifically, my legislation would revise the united states code and make clear that the import of artwork is not legally considered commercial activity if three elements are met. first, the united states or an educational institute therein and a foreign government must agree to the exchange of artwork, second, the president must determine that such work is of cultural significance and the t

when i was a legislator i wasn't a judge. i wasn't making decisions in that capacity into so i think the distinction is determining what i was at the time but certainly you are correct they were reflective of the sentiment that you expressed. >> for the decisions that you make could be described by state legislators engaging in activism. >> judges at all of the levels or routinely criticized for making unpopular decisions that legislators do not believe are appropriate. i've been in hearings when that happens. the difference is that they are going to apply precedent faithfully and while that = issues haven't come before me as an appellate judge the jurisdiction i have is a broad and i've been faithful to follow the rule of law. >> so you could engage in what legislators may consider to be judicial activism. >> i can't presume that a legislator might think about any. one may very well criticize me that's what i would say to that is i have shown and dedicated to the code and never decided the case on criticism and i commend to