mr. sanchez note that's some of the notes in the back of the permit mr. sanchez can come up and talk about that. >> and the other questions. >> and if it says legalized bedroom what i'm. >> someone has put in rooms down on the ground floor and come in and want to take out the kitchen but legal lids are the rooms connected could one the unit they take out usually the kitchen but i'm not sure usually it means legal listing and keep the rooms plus or minus a kitchen to connect the rooms up above sometimes you've inform got a ground floor garage garage and behind the garage someone has built a room and kitchen commemorated that to a local unit now it so you would they want to take out the kitchen and keep the rooms as part of the unit that's not what i heard the permit holder there was talk it feels confusing they're trying to legal lids it and take out the kitchen that didn't make sense soumd so you would they want to legalize the rooms no plan to see if that's connected some of the language from planning maybe mr. sanchez can talk about the direct assess som

mr. sanchez. >> yeah. i'm not sure they won't do that nicole i haven't seen the drawings it sounds like they're adding a storage room and reentered they're taking out whatever the second illegal unit is not calory on the permit they're saying maybe disagreeably with the destruction guess so if that's the kinds maybe a senior inspector could verify the violation is accurate but certainly removing one the illegal unit. >> we'll get clarification. >> there's no permit for localtion those ground floor rooms are there but not dwelling units under this permit they could though mr. sanchez. >> okay. thank you. >> definitely if i can clarify you received an nov i mean a climate issued a nova based on the work being done without a permit. >> yes. >> i understand has nothing to do with 80 with the illegal units. >> that's what it reads like. >> we need clarification. >> the illegal unit were there and the inspector sees a single-family and would the nov be and then to include. >> he knew we he feels going to a singl

mr. sanchez. >> scott sanchez planning department following up on commissioner vice president honda's questions or comments we don't have any records f that building is legal any permits to authorize that rear structure this permit seeks to remove the kitchen not abating any violation because again, no evidence of history no activity enforcement cases with the structure there doing their best to abate the illegal issue to sell the property but didn't necessarily clear all violations from the property it is a procedural error but a bit more than that had the proper process been fold they would have had a hearing at the commission and they did the permit shouldn't have been issued to say that was properly issued was incorrect it shouldn't have been issued we recommended the three the planning commission allow approval of the permit but they reviewed the facts and at the hearing decided to granted dr and deny the permit to remove the illegal unit that's the decision we're seeking to support that it was issued in error because the proper notice was not done that give them the ability to have the re

mr. sanchez, ask you a question? your analysis was on the basis that it had been and was going to continue to be commercial. is that correct? >> yes. where we found that there was no abandonment of the use, the last legal use had been commercial, the office space, and they were going back to that last legal use. >> do we have the actual language of the permit? >> i believe the permit is in one of the briefs. exhibit --. >> the description of the existing legal use of the property. >> can you point that out in our brief? >> exhibit e, the declaration of ryan paterson. and it describes the present legal use and the proposed use. >> i wouldn't mind your reading it out loud. i can't read this. >> present use, office, retail live-work. proposed use, office, retail, live-work and it describes the 6 existing dwelling units live-work spaces that are legal on the top floor. completely accurate to all respects, commissioner. >> i thought your permit was not related to the 6th floor. you have already stated that. >> excuse me?

mr. sanchez commissioners the matter is submitted. >> i just want to say commissioners before you started just wanted to make clear there's been a lot of using discretion you have here a strength but still a notable proceedings you don't have to find a error and you may modify the variance but have to make a finding that thought 5 requirements are met and specify the difference thank you. >> thank you for that clarification. >> with that. >> presented to comment. >> i'm presented. >> please go. >> start off i'll say the following that is a lot of discussion about the result of the variance and therefore what has been proposed for the design even though the there's a direct connection between the two i'd like is the following to some of the arguments made related to size of the building the third-story, the impact on the rear explicit resonate with me in particular instance but going back to the variance itself there are questions in my mind about the finding and the few look at the findings the

mr. pacheco is the board legal assistant i'm cynthia goldstein the boards director we'll to be joined by representatives that have matter before the board scott sanchez is the zoning administrator and he represents planning department and planning commission and joe duffy for the department of building inspection mr. pacheco go over others meetings guidelines and conduct the swearing in >> phones and other electronic devices are prohibited. out in the hallway. people affiliated with these parties must conclude their comments within 7 minutes, participants not affiliated have up to 3 minutes - no rebuttal. to assist the board in the accurate preparation of the minutes, members of the public are asked, not required to submit a speaker card or business card to the clerk. speaker cards and pens are available on the left side of the podium. the board welcomes your comments. there are customer satisfaction forms available. if you have a question about the schedule, speak to the staff after the meeting or call the board office tomorrow we are located at 1650 mission street, suite 304. this meeting is broadcast live on sfgovtv cable channel 78. dvds are avai

mr. sanchez. >> could you address for me and clarify for me, the issue of lack of notice i understand the residence is illegal i understand for a at least 5 years that individual is living there in a notice of violation and then when ash trail the building owner can get the permit then without notice to the tenant that's been there for 5 years which is not 5 months or 5 days not provide any, no, sir, whatsoever until a 60 day revocation process where's the legality and that's a great question so in terms of. >> sorry wacky question. >> is it a puny ditto our friend it is something we need to look at so under the planning code 311 we look at the code for expansion of building and for illegal unit but nothing in the planning code for that case for an illegal unit under the mayors directive we'll require a hearing at the planning commission that will be renoticed but given the number of unit in this building exclusive directive didn't apply i'll agree if you make a place our home for a number ever years it seems fair to get a no say it is being taken away to inform you have your appeal right

mr. sanchez you said it was a 4 foot reduction and two to four footed reduction somewhere else what was the suggestions or guidelines you provided in terms of the facts as you this was the original feedback it was at the first score the rear yard variance was acceptable and we said american people interior connection to the garage maybe provided the second-story no sprarndz for that level and the proposed third-story should fall with the fingertip of the existing second-story the mirror variants to align with the existing floor and the response from the project sponsor and seriously looking at the planned and seeing one of the issues the staircase and how do you build around that staircase and add a bathroom at the thirst level a bedroom at that level it is an appropriate alternative. >> i have a question which is more my lack of understanding do you view a rear yard encroachment devil if it is sort of gardener and mid block open space as opposed to an easement. >> the intent to preserve a mid block open space certainly the variance is it causing a problem with the mid block the parking the

mr. sanchez and the city attorney. is that fair? >> i think the rules as related to you by the effective director are correct. you apply them to the law that was in effect at the time that the zoning administrator made his decision, the decision being the request for release of suspension. and the law in effect at the time was not the interim zoning control. however, that's not to say that whatever you do, the zoning administrator or the department of building inspection couldn't take further action in light of the interim zoning controls. >> is this, following up on your statement, is this analogous to driving 65 in a 65 zone and then having it change to 55 the next day and then getting tagged for your previous action? >> in a manner of speaking. in a manner of speaking. you were lawfully driving, the law changed, you are going to be evaluated on the law. >> why do you think it applies? is it practice, is it --. >> well, i think it has been standard practice to apply the law of the day when reviewing land use matters such as this.

mr. sanchez. >> that was a joke. >> i was here last week my motion to grant the appeal and to overturn the rest occasion request based on the error of the zoning administrator? >> or the discretion. >> right i think you should identify the error or the abuse of discretion. >> so you might say on the basis of the zoning administrator record because or abused his discretion because - >> commissioner swig in the disconnection i hear our going i can give you a suggestion of an error the error would be that a permit that has been upheld by the board should not be revoked. >> it was still upheld we issued it by default we issued a decision to uphold the permit. >> no floor disagrees. >> yes. i have reservations i have reservations about that logic i think if the commission were to conclude that the permit was improperly issued that's was one thing but to conclude that the permit that the erred because of the default on the base it is a question - >> i don't know if i can make my motion i can't find of the error. >> i can make the opposite motion and take that vote is that acceptable the way to g

mrs. sanchez do something" -- [inaudible] please do something about it because they haven't done anything, and even my yard i can't go in my yard because the crap is there. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] next speaker. >> hi. my name is malcolm davis. i own the building that houses stable cafe at 17th and folsom and i wanted to show a diagram here. so there's a proposal to build a park that they have talked about putting retention feemps underneath and what i understand why can't they lower the entire parking lot and make it a very simple -- even if only needed to be for the 15 years it's going to take to do the big project if they could make a big depressed area there that's not covered. of course it costs a lot of money to cover it. couldn't we pick a bunch of parking lots and lower the level? i have driven down to the buildings during rainstorms at three in the morning and the parking lot is safe and dry and my building is under water. i am wondering about the calculations of the cost of these things and incredibly high cost for something it becomes undoable and i'm an architect. i

mr. sanchez. >> thank you, scott sanchez, i'll be brief. first, the city, the planning department, we do take very seriously the policies of vision zero and that is implemented typically flew planning code requirements which deal with various streetscape improvements. i think this project has been important for us to see maybe our current requirements in the planning code have some shortcomings. this is a unique site that doesn't otherwise trigger the requirements of section 138.1 to make streetscape improvements and this was a topic that was discussed yesterday and supervisor kim had these questions. we need to take a look at how we can improve the ability that we have in the planning code for specific maybe location-based issues to try to address these. i appreciate that aspect of the appeal being raised and these concerns being raised. this is an important policy, it shouldn't get lost with the many other important policies that we have in the city and we need to see how we can better implement it. available for any questions, thank you.

mr. sanchez, are there any variances that are for this project? >> no, this was a code compliant project. >> thank you. inspector duffy has indicated he doesn't have anything to add unless you have questions, commissioners, for him, we can move to public comment. is there any public comment on this item? please step forward. >> first of all, this is what the house --. >> please state your name. >> my name is laticia gonzalez and we are the adjacent neighbors on the east side of the house, directly impacted by this house. it's just my mother who lives there right now and myself. this is the house that they have, that's actually there. they seem to always show pictures of just the front end of the house where there's nothing but some garbage and things like that. that wasn't there until they moved in. there was always a lush green beautiful yard in the front until they came and they bulldozed everything down and they left a bunch of garbage there, then they ripped off the top of the carport. the place, what they call the story post, the story post n

mr. sanchez, how are you doing today? we were at the penitentiary of new mexico with inmate joe sanchez in the weeks just prior to his release date. he had already been informed it would be delayed by 15 days due to a miscalculation of his earned good time. but the news was about to get much worse. >> mr. sanchez, how are you doing today? got a little bit of a problem. in looking at your file, i have found an error -- i found -- >> you guys find errors. you never find nothing good. you're good at finding errors. just get to the point. >> okay. at this point in time i'm looking at like 88 days, not 15. >> 88 days? >> and that's what i wanted to talk to you about, but i think it's more appropriate -- >> you guys are [ bleep ] doing that wrong. i don't know where the hell you get 88 days or who the [ bleep ] made that up but -- >> that's what we want to talk about, and i think it's more appropriate to talk about that in a committee. >> you guys already did it so what the [ bleep ]. you already did it. you already done it. >>

mr. sanchez, you know me. i've been here for 15 years. you know me. you talking to me -- >> do what you've got to do. >> okay? >> do what you've got to do. >> i'll tell you what i'm going to do, i'm going to sit over here, right next to you. together. we're going to go over this together. on august 20th of '06, you were placed interim level vi. in the policy, when you're placed interim level vi. >> what was i placed there for? >> this is the one where you assaulted that guy. i think you were that -- were you in med-line or something like that? yeah, med-line. >> he had it coming. >> so this one has to be consecutive to the seg time you were doing here. it was, wasn't it? >> no. it's concurrent. >> no. policy says disciplinary segregation is consecutive. this is my biggest concern is this right here. is you're talking about 74 days. that's a large chunk of change for you, my friend. a large chunk. >> can you give me a positive out-date? i just want a positive -- i know it's not going to be no cinco de mayo now, but it will be in may, won't it? >> off t

mr. sanchez who had a hearing noted that if doesn't matter how many people will have working televised unless you have the information enforcement is noticing not going to happen i'll talk about limiting short-term rentals to 60 days a year we believe a hard cap has to be established the reason we've established the 60 days because after many discussions with tenant landowner and people in the distribute that have been impacted by short-term rentals we have heard is that 60 dazed it the threshold beyond which if you allow more than that you're giving an incentive to people to actually engage in the short-term rental arithmetic instead of what the need is the housing market so we believe that the facts that have 34r5i9d out through san francisco has demonstrated and fifth the unit list not recommended with the city it is exonerating if the rules are going to be followed then we have to make sure that hosting platforms like airbnb only listed those units if are registered if they under my legislation list the unit not registered they'll be fined up to one thousand dollars a day it is critical i

mr. sanchez is really nice he responded to my overwhelm and i'll write back to him and thank you and to the appropriate people in the building inspection i guess my point who is going to take care of this is the the building inspection or the how do you figure out this i felt bad for the people on jersey street when are we're going to know about the residential guidelines because as the previous speaker said those are for people that are really, really troubled by the loss of what we perceive to be their mid block open space thank you very much. >> i believe i'm next donald green i'm in lowell heights i've been observing the number of gas stations in the city i know the board of supervisors passed a code change some years back concerning the use of service station the dispositions are changing my concern we should have a citywide review of the gas stations and the policy towards increasing pumps that increases or reduced the price and the attractivenessness of auto and the public safety from increasing traffic in and out of gas stations the citywide study there are 73 stations in almost all

mr. sanchez i think commissioner richards brought up an issue that is important can we increase the percentage of car share given where we are. >> yeah. i don't see why we can't have a high-level of car shares. >> maybe the city attorney has an opinion and deputy city attorney marilyn a burn the car share ratios is set forth so if the commission were to require a ratio that is higher than and so forth that the commission make finding describing why this project in this location in particular should have a higher ratio than and so forth in the planning. >> i think that commissioner richards reminded us that market octavia is looking for a .25 whether possible we're being asked to supporting 2.5 to create the balance we're looking for if cars are not just being stored for a purpose that the participation of car share gets adhere. >> the numeral battalion with the market octavia is clear. >> okay commissioner richards. >> i guess based on commissioner moore's comments i'll move to approve the project with the two conditions the 3 conditions as read into the record. >> i believe that commissioner

mr. sanchez mentioned the brrl before i came up here president with breed and the newest member rick had a small ceremony you have a full board of appeals which is great legislation before you is follow-up legislation to president breeds recently passed e.r. divisadero those were supported in june of 2014 and passed the land use committee in 2014 and passed the board unanimously and signed by the major in 2014 they became effective in december a few months ago it runs 12 blocks from hate at the south to the north and it runs 9 blocks from ma please call the roll. >> to bush street ems it is more denser and courage the diverse modes of transportation and invites a framework for the neighborhood planning controls to the unique needs and atmosphere those nc ds are important to create the vibrant neighbors and corridor all the legislation before i does it remove the arbitrary density control all the other controls remain i know for those of us this is pretty well logical and easy to comprehend we're worried about high-rise in divisadero and other areas that is not the case i want to emphasiz

mr. sanchez if you can help us here. >> i think that the additional research looking at the existing lot merger programs and how they apply to the issue in question. >> commissioner antonini. >> yeah. i was going to make i think we pretty much got the motion i agree with what has been brought up with the conditional use it will be necessary for the lot morgue in those sizes and if it is small than that what happens. >> i want to clarify your including the other recommendations from the rezoning. >> that's correct. >> thank you. >> commissioner antonini do you want clarification. >> i want clarification on the motion i'm supportive but it says cruz on lot mergers are involved. >> the staff will determine it is the cu open lot mergers we may not want to encourage them there are instances it give us the control to make the decisions and the controls don't look at only the lot size but the amount of street footage. >> one further question is this for divisadero or mission shall we call them separately. >> they're called up together and similar in the amendments they're proposing so i i take

mr. sanchez. >> so commissioner antonini my may i respond to the questions about the division and the concerned raised about the public with a 3 bedroom unit into 3 separate one bedroom units there is a planning code section that prohibit that and the standards state that in order to even divide under the code the existing unit must exceed 2 thousand square feet and contain more than 2 bedrooms and no less than 2 hundred and 50 square feet in size and meet all the requirements for the exposure for open space there are many other factors that requisite the size of the number of unit in a building so exposure and rear yard requirements and other envelope requirements so i think we've got experience with that over the seven years since the market octavia and the eastern neighborhood plan allowed those types of unit to be created and this planning code revisions are been successful i believe and in regards to the kind of the unit mix requirement that is something we have been successful in implementing between the planning code and building code that result in the bedrooms that are fundamental bedr

mr. sanchez. >> thank you, scott sanchez, planning department. the appeal before you is an appeal of a release of suspension for the subject prompt. i'm here to ask you to grant the appeal and maintain the suspension of the permit. briefly, there is a long history, i will only touch on a portion of that tonight, the permit that is at question was issued in august of 2013, was not routed to the planning department for review, had benefit to analyze the project appropriately. concerns were raised to our department so we suspended this permit in october of 2013. that decision was appealed to this board. however, the apellant, the permit holder, withdrew their appeal. therefore that decision became final. so the suspension remains in effect to this date. there were interim controls that have been adopted by the board of supervisors over the past year from the end of 2013 to the end of 2014. also when the permit holder released or withdrew their appeal, they indicated some willingness to work with the city to look at alternatives to legalizing the bui

mr. sanchez, welcome to "mad money". >> hi, jim, thank you for having me. >> this is a very exciting businessand i want people to understand how you are leveraging secular trends in a big way that makes it so it's more advantageous to use ryder than build your own fleet. >> we're in the out sourcing business which means companies will outsource to us things they could otherwise do on their own. the trend that's helping us is those things are getting much more difficult and complex because of the quest for cleaner air and safer roads. so what that leads to is more regulation. more complexity, more technology. that's good for ryder. that means companies are more likely to outsource. as of now only 10% of companies outsourced those activities. we have a large market to penetrate as these activities have gotten more complex. >> when people see trucks for instance you have a maizing relationship with cvs health. >> that's correct. that would be called a private fleet. it's a company that needs a truck to move their product although they're not a for hire carrier. they with outsource to somebody li

mr. jones votes aye. miss sanchez. >> no. >> miss sanchez votes no. mr. forbes. >> aye. >> mr. forbes votes aye. mr. brady. >> no. >> mr. brady votes no. mr. miller. >> aye. >> mr. miller votes aye. mrs. davis. mrs. davis votes no. mr. wilson. mr. wilson. mr. long vin. mr. longevin votes no. mr. lobe yondo votes no. mr. larson. excuse me. mr. lobiondo votes no. mr. larson. mr. larson votes no. mr. bishop. mr. bishop votes aye. mr. cooper. >> aye. >> mr. cooper votes aye. mr. turner. mr. turner votes aye. miss bredaio votes no. mr. klein. mr. klein votes aye. mr. courtney. mr. courtney. mr. courtney votes no. mr. rogers. mr. rogers votes aye. miss songas. miss songas votes no. mr. franks votes aye. mr. garamendi votes no. mr. schuster. mr. schuster votes aye. mr. johnson. mr. johnson votes no. mr. conaway. there conaway votes aye. miss spear. miss spear votes no. mr. lambourne votes aye. mr. castro votes no. mr. whitman. mr. whitman votes aye. ms. duckworth. >> no. >> ms. duckworth votes no. mr. hunter. mr. hunter votes aye. mr. peters. >> no. >> mr. peters votes no. dr. fleming

mr. jones votes aye. ms. sanchez? ms. sanchez votes aye. mr. forbes? no. mr. miller? mr. miller votes no. ms. davis? ms. davis votes aye. mr. larson? mr. larson votes aye. mr. bishop? mr. bishop votes no. mr. cooper? mr. cooper votes aye. mr. turner? mr. turner votes no. ms. bor? ms. bor votes aye. mr. cline? mr. cline votes no. mr. courtney? mr. correspondentny votes a yes,e. mr. franks? mr. franks votes no. mr. johnson? mr. johnson votes aye. mr. conway votes no. mr. spear? mr. spear votes aye. mr. lanborn? mr. lanborn votes no. mr. castro? mr. castro votes aye. mr. whitman? mr. whitman votes no. mr. hunter? mr. hunter votes no. mr. peters? mr. peters votes aye. mr. flemming? dr. flemming votes no. mr. kaufmann? mr. coffman no. mr. walls? mr. walls votes aye. mr. o'rourke? mr. o'rourke votes aye. dr. heck? dr. heck votes no. mr. scott? mr. scott votes no. mr. brooks? mr. brooks votes no. mr. nugent? no. breeze gram in-- ms. gram? mr. multon? mr. multon votes aye. mr. burns? mr. burn votes no. mr. graves? mr. graves votes no. mr. knight? mr. knight votes no. mr. mccarthe

mr. chair arrest commissioner sanchez. >> yes. at this time i'm thinking about noopgsz pertaining to how we're going to continue and finish the critical work that is being done not only in the department of public health but the completion and the touchdown so to speak of sf depression h in december of this year and i always feel as in the past we have a lot of talent on this commission but it is a great opportunity to have them rotating through the chairs but we have a number of unique challenges we want to really complete during this year and i really think that dr. chow has not only chaired the ucsf at general but been the commissioner and has provided unique oversight i was thinking of the past which one of the ex-president spent the last two years of the president of the commission for oversight with the luggage hospital i think that is, i think that is a great honor at this point to nominate for president dr. ed chow to complete the business of the general and many challenges effectively this department. >> thank you, dr. sa

mr. sanchez. >> thank you for coming. november 20th, secretary johnson issued the memorandum establishing priorities for apprehension, detention, removal of illegal aliens. my first question is if an alien was illegally present in the united states but did not fall within the enforcement priorities would that alien still be subject to premove value? >> it could be because as i pointed out earlier there was a provision in here that says even if someone doesn't meet the priorities and -- but you believe they're a threat to public safety you're permitted to go forward with that, to speak to your supervisor and see if that -- if a difficultecision -- >> somebody is not in the one of the criteria, you obviously would note some affirmative evidence that they were a threat to public safety. there are people are threats that we may not have evidence for, so the absence of evidence doesn't mean they're not a threat. in that situation, if there's no evidence then under these enforcement priorities there would be no action whatsoeve

mr. cooper 51r1 on six portal monitors ms. sanchez 164 nuclear deterrent sanchez 241r1 and the sanchez 311r3 cuts to internet weapons activity. cost-sharing agreements and cooper 289. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from arizona mr. franks number 207r1 on missile defense. the clerk will call the roll. >> roback -- [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [inaudible conversations] the gentleman from texas mr. castro. mr. castro votes no. the gentleman from missouri mr. graves wish to be recorded? mr. graves bodes aye. the gentleman from rhode island mr. lender then how is he recorded? >> is not recorded sir. mr. lone german votes no. mr. longo then votes no. langevin >> the clerk will report the tally. >> 35 aye vote, 27 no votes. >> the amendment is adopted. the ques

sanchez. >> thank you, mr. chairman.nd once again i would like to thank both you and the chairman of our subcommittee mr. turner for the leadership this year on putting together a bill. it went very smoothly. we had some cuts in some areas, the programs that need to be cut. we have a lot of oversight. also included many reports with respect to some of the big issues going on. i think members over all will be very happy with this part of the committee of the committee's work and in the same fashion as mr. turner, i will submit my opening statement for the record so we can move on. >> thank the gentlelady. before turn 10 them as is any further discussion on the subcommittee mark? if not are there any amendments to the subcommittee mark? mr. turner. >> i ask unanimous consent to call up and en bloc package of them instead of an approved by the minority sector i want to thank mike ranking member deliver both this remark and these en bloc mms's. we think of represent a great deal of both review with our committee members, and

sanchez. they worked tirelessly with mr. herman's family and friends to create a very significant tribute in commissioner herman's honor. as far as we know this is the only cruise ship terminal named after a labor leader in the entire world and we're very proud of that. as you know, james herman was president of the port commission, alsoment of the international long shore man warehouse union and he left quite a legacy here. the event on march 26 was fantastic, commissioner adams was the mc and he was joined on stage by dr. mimi silver who knew commissioner herman very well. mayor art agnos, who gave a wonderful tribute to commissioner herman, the president of the iawu now following in commissioner herman's foot steps and sean farly, the president of the local. the tribute is hung right at the base of the escalator so as passengers and guests come into the facility and they go to make the turn up the escalator they can come within a distance close nufr to the tribute that it can voice activate and the words of jimmy herman c

mr. putin predicted a rapid recovery. as for sanchez, he painted them as an opportunity for economic reform -- as for sanctions, he painted them as an opportunity for economic reform. it is about using them for our dentist. -- for our advantage. this opposition figure asked about mounting evidence about russia's military aggression and ukraine. mr. putin was categorical. there are no russian troops there, he said. the whole event in the studio was clearly choreographed. but the questions were real. there was far less patriotic puff this year. and a much closer focus on russia's real economic and social problems. and that's what people we spoke to wanted to hear about. we found this man a few hours' drive west of moscow building a traditional bath house. his pension is not enough to live on. but there is little demand for his constructions. people here have less money to spare now. >> we want to live better, with better pensions. prices are going up. you still have to live. sarah: financial problems have left the train station deserted.