we are willing to volunteer our staff of the san francisco, puc, is willing to be the group that convenes the different communications heads. all of you have public relations people or head of external affairs, and we'd be willing to pull together that committee of different communication heads of different agencys to see about getting and energy gaming public outreach. any of us going to do heavy lifting with planning, legislation, we have to get the public to buy in and say, that's right way to spend our money, and yes, i will make that tough decision about conservation. i'll get off my soap box now but i hope you join me and e-mail and say, we're in. >> susan, i urge you to say what they can do about it's a well. not just how serious it is people are looking for that. and i'm sure you meant that but i wanted to add that. >> we have one response here and then we'll go to the floor. >> i just wanted to follow the very important point about educating the public. two of the questions inevitably come up, is what is the scale of the problem we face, and what might be done about it. and i was

i have an exand pl in california that's local to the san francisco, puc, the california commission has listed grant under their renewable fuels program and they are reported to supply several millions of dollars to demonstrate the viability of product that can be commercialized. all the good establishments in urban areas to convert to bio diesel fuel. these collaborative opportunities are available and have been used for many years now throughout the various states and, i think the opportunity is right in front of us to take advantage of these opportunities. in this particular case you have the state of california, you have the region nine, epa, so you have a regulator, san francisco ucuc. all contributing to funds offered by the california commission. so i'd like to suggest that we, as a group here, recognize that those opportunities are out there and that we leverage those opportunitys for the sake of reducing the carbon footprint and if we do that, these are near turn gains we can do as we get to the long-term as far as uncertainties and hydrological issues that might take a longer

this project has support from the city of pacifica water district, the san francisco puc, the rec and park capital could city -- capital committee. we urge you to proceed with this. >> next speaker, please. >> my name is richard mitra. i am a resident of the excelsior district, an avid golfer for a short period of time, and i support the opening of sharp park in the use of recycled water, which is a good thing. not having been a golfer for a long time, i had an image of golfers being elite. havingx been one for the past five years, i find it is every man's passion, as is conservation in my family. i find sharp park to be one of the most beautiful places to visit early in the morning. it stuns me, the grandeur and beauty of the place, and how well it has been taken care of. i did not know the history of sharp park until i talked to richard. the way that it was developed as a place to nurture and nature -- to nurture nature, in addition to providing recreation for the fourth most popular recreation in san francisco, other than a dog walking -- other than a dog walking -- other than do

start i want to thank our general manager leyall who has done an extraordinary job here at the san francisco puc and also i want to recognize two people that just walked in, our vice president commissioner ann (inaudible) and commissioner dennis nolan that just arrived. thank you very much. i want to echo what miss leyall said, welcome everyone to this historic summit here in san francisco. the next couple days we're going to tackle very tough issues, the issues of global warming, issues of waste water, hydropower, the electric power in the city and i'm very proud that california is leading the nation in those efforts. we're leading the nation with our u.s. senator barbara boxer, who chairs the most powerful committee of the environment and public works; our governor, arnold schwarzenegger, who is a leader in reducing green house emissions, and our legislator don perada and gerald huffman who you will hear from later on in the program, and of course our mayor, gavin newsom. gavin newsom has been a leader of the environment before it was the sexy thing to do. he has been responsible for putting s

the last speaker is tom franza with san francisco puc. we will have some questions among the panelists and a little bit of discussion, but our goal is to leave a minimum of half an hour for interaction with the audience so we will try to get on with it briskly here, starting with will. . >> thanks so much, mary. first off, what i would like to do is acknowledge somewhere out in the audience is leslie lako of our staff. leslie, can you stand up? there she is. leslie lako is the creator and manager of the project that we have at bcdc to deal with climate change and sea level rise. as usually is the case, she does all the work and so of course i get invited to speak. i want to make it clear that any errors, omissions, oversight or inappropriate comments are my responsibility. any facts, solid analysis and clear logic belong to leslie. leon canetto likes to tell the story about the learned professor and scientist who is on the rubber chicken circuit making speeches about a particular subject and the university provides a driver to him as he g

he is well versed in a lot of the different functions of san francisco and the puc. it is obviously one of the most important commissions in all of san francisco. mr. courtney sits as an executive officer on our legal counsel. -- on our labor council. the labor council recommends him highly for this very important position. supervisor campos: thank you. is there any other member of the public who would like to speak on this item? please come forward. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is gregory reed. i'm the executive director of the randolph institute, and i'm here today to give our support as well as with me today, and i brought a van full of community members and members of our chapter. we wholeheartedly give our support to mr. courtney's appointment to the puc. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello, supervisors. you may have in your packet a letter was submitted in support of mr. courtney. i have copies here for the clerk. we need vince courtney on the puc. i do not a with the discussion of the date is, but i cannot stre

terry mcsweeney is live in san francisco with more. >> the puc presidt fired rigd back. the meeting started out -- when this meeting started out with president pebby asking everyone to remember what president obama said yesterday in tucson, asked everyone to have more civil tone, less fiery words. that lasted about 60 seconds in here. take a look at the meeting when he was first up to speak and what he was saying is pg&e is a disaster itself. criticized them for not knowing what kind of pipe they had in the ground, the one that blew in san bruno killing eight and destroying 37 homes. he went on and on about pg&e's incompetence and then turned his sights on the puc, a culture this have complacency as he called it and it hit the fan. >>his commission has failed the people of california and especially the residents in my district by your culture of complacency. >> i think that wraps it up, mr. hill. >> to fill the vacationsies with individuals of experience and passion for pipeline safety. >> you were unmoved by the remarks i made earlier. and we appointed a five-member pan

exclusive, subsurface easements from cargill, inc., for the purpose of constructing the san francisco public utilities (sf puc) commission water system improvement program-funded project no. cuw36801, bay division pipeline reliability upgrade - bay tunnel, for a purchase price of $650; adopting environmental findings under the california environmental quality act (ceqa), ceqa guidelines, and administrative code chapter 31; adopting findings of consistency with city planning code section 101.1; and authorizing the general manager of sfpuc to execute documents, make certain modifications and take certain actions in furtherance of this resolution. >> good morning, members of the committee. real-estate division. the item before you today is a pc they-division reliability project. in particular, a tunnel facility that will lie within two different easements' acquired from cargill inc.. the length of these tunnels, one is 2,000 feet long, another is a data 37 feet long. this is a tunnel that will live approximately 80 feet in depth below grade at the bay. i have on the overhead a shot of the area. this is south of

terry mcsweeney is live in san francisco with more. >> the puc president fired right back.he meeting started out -- when this meeting started out with president pebby asking everyone to remember what president obama said yesterday in tucson, asked everyone to have more civil tone, less fiery words. that lasted about 60 seconds in here. take a look at the meeting when he was first up to speak and what he was saying is pg&e is a disaster itself. criticized them for not knowing what kind of pipe they had in the ground, the one that blew in san bruno killing eight and destroying 37 homes. he went on and on about pg&e's incompetence and then turned his sights on the puc, a culture this have complacency as he called it and it hit the fan. >> this commission has failed the people of california and especially the residents in my district by your culture of complacency. >> i think that wraps it up, mr. hill. >> to fill the vacationsies with individuals of experience and a passion for pipeline safety. >> you were unmoved by the remarks i made earlier. and we appointed a five-member p

the san mateo democrat told the puc at its meeting in san francisco this morning that it has been lacks in its oversight of pacific gas and electric company following the explosion and fire. >> i don't have the confidence that this commission will do its job. this commission has failed the people of california, especially the residents in my district by a culture of come complacency. >> a share of the commission responded that hill failed to mention the pcu has formed a panel to look into the san bru know explosion. >>> firefighters have a big clue as to what may have caused fire that destroyed several businesses near the bay area. you'll hear it ahead. >>> a one of its kind historical museum reopened in the bay area this morning, with what some people are calling a 21st century makeover. >>> we have the details on how much more rain we will see. >>> graffiti message written on a bathroom call at uc santa cruz has caused problems throughout the campus. >>> several businesses have been destroyed after a fire at a truck stop off interstate five early this morning. the fire started after m

san francisco this morning. democratic assemblyman jerry hill represents san bruno. he says last september's pipeline disaster has shaken the public's trust in the puc. hill is especially concerned that the commission has not leveed a single fine against pg&e for pipeline safety violation in more than ten years. and he believes it may be time to replace some puc members. >>> now the sheriff of marin county says he will not enforce the county's ban on pg&e's smart meters. sheriff bob doyle says county supervisors had no authority to impose that moratorium last week. and he also feels the smart meter ban would be impossible to enforce. many people are worried about the radiation coming from the smart meters. but a major study released yesterday found that there's no hashed scientific proof that the radiation poses a public health threat. >>> san francisco's new mayor is moving quick to try to find a new police chief. mayor ed lee told us he's already met with members of the police commission and told them to select up to three candidates for police chief as soon as possible for his consideration. >> i promised as i was appointed here that that would b

a step in the right direction for the puc, moving forward towards a more sustainable management in the watershed, and we think you have a project that san francisco can be proud of, not just going to restore the water supply capacity, also going to provide a number of jobs, and it will be a piece of the puzzle in restoring our native fisheries and bringing back some of the natural habitat in alameda creek. there is always a caddy at -- caveat. this was a long and controversial process from our point of view. a lot of things happened backwards. the benefits to the environment were tacked on at the end, mostly because a federal permit was being withheld, and another project is coming up downstream that will be before you this year, a recaptured facility in the sunol valley, and we had hoped to avoid some of the same problems and hope to address some of the fishery issues up front. we look forward to working with san francisco on restoring upper alameda creek, and we urge you to approve this. thank you. commissioner miguel: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm part of a coalition that has been looking at the water system improvement prog

puc's website. from sfgov. org. it's available on line. >> i want to talk about the hydrants. we have 2 types of hydrants in san francisco one is a backup water supply with big black plugs that's not drinking water. on the original roll out of the 100,000 hand outs they put a drinking water drop on the big hydrant. the reprints have the skinny knobby hydrants. the small little you know the british style smaller plugs much the big round one with the smooth head is not drinking water. the smaller standard white hydrant is the drinking water and the new reprint has the correct photo on it. >> that's a good thing to know. >> let me get through this last question of this and then we can open it up. how do a get a consultant to assess what i need to do to improve my building in the event of an earthquake and to help me to find softest spots in my house? >> urn fortunately dbi is not here they have a great table downstairs the dcht building inspection and they do all inspections they often offer classes free to the community where you go to the site and have an hour lunch training on what you are talking about. i want to promot

a consumer advocacy group along with the san francisco city attorney are calling for this investigation. they say up until now the puc has only had an informal private investigation which has not been disclosed to the public. meantime, the parents of a young woman who was killed in the san bruno explosion, they're filing a wrongful death lawsuit against pg&e. the 20-year-old was among the eight people killed in that explosion. she was visiting her boyfriend at the time. his home went up in flames after that explosion. the lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of pg&e and it claims it could have prevented the accident by fixing several safety hazards. >>> well, the stone lake boat house in golden gate park is a step closer now to being overhauled. a finance committee for the san francisco board of supervisors has voted to allow a mexico company to take over. replacing old paddle boats with a new fleet and turning an area reserved for boat repairs into a cafe. the plan now goes to the full board of supervisors for their vote. >>> as more bay area counties begin counting their homeless today, one group in san francisco

that agency that live in san francisco and are looking for a work, so i was totally confused by that article as well. just to mention, during the past week, i met with the puc regarding the calaveras dam project, and had a very pleasurable situation yesterday morning of attending a groundbreaking jointly. actually, two major projects in this case by martin buildings that are with amazingly complicated financing, coming forward. the financing is just unbelievable when they went into the details of nine years of work altogether, but at least we have two major rental housing projects that have broken ground, and that was an absolute pleasure to be on. >> thank you, commissioners. we can now move forward to directors' report. directors announcement and review, and the historic preservation commission. >> have to do the year, but sorry to report that the reason i'm here is because the planning director is sick today, so he sends his apologies. i do have a brief directors report and a report from the board of appeals. i wanted to let you know that we did have a public meeting last saturday morning at the planning department. we reached out to our group that we ca

the puc has been criticized that its staff is operating in private as it looks into the disaster. >>> in another development, a bay area congresswoman tells the "san francisco chronicle," pg&e can't find records to back up pressure levels for large sections of pipe. congresswoman jackie speier says pg&e's president told her that the utility is unable to produce documents on manufacturing and installation for 30% of its pipelines in and around urban areas. speier is concerned about faulty welds like the one blamed for the explosion in san bruno. >>> time now 6:04. get another check of weather and traffic. a lot of our cameras are showing a lot of thick fog out there, robert. >> there is significant fog in the area even at the coast. fog inland has triggered a fog advisory in effect through 10 a.m. for the north and east bay valley, carquinez strait and the delta. like the past 48 hours, it's reduced visible to a quarter mile and because we see a storm off the coast, we are seeing fog at the coast and a dramatic temperature reduction. 69 the high yesterday in san jose, today 66 the expected high. warm yesterday at half moon bay, a 6-degree drop today. we'll s

puc. without the hard-working staff, we would not be at this step today. the mayor talked about how it was so exciting to be able to fly over san francisco and see the solar projects. it is just as exciting driving by the solar reservoir every single day and seeing one panel go up and two channels and finally, all of them seem to be up. finally, it is very exciting to be the home of the sunset reservoir project. the solar panels here. the sunset really is a cool place to be. just two weeks ago, we open up the first lead certified public library in the entire city, the first ever, and now, we are at the home of the sunset solar project. the sunset truly is a cool place to be. i just want to say thank you to all of the amazing staff members who really helped put this together. it is exciting to see the panels of, to see them generating power, to see the people who now have job skills that are available to take on to other future projects. thank you to the staff, the mayor, and thank you to my staff for supporting this. >> you get a lot done with the sponsor of the board. it takes six votes to do a lot of things at the board of supervisors these days, and er

san francisco yet. the panel heard from lawmakers and public interest groups. one assemblymen said it took outside investigators to shed lights on problems that should have been the focus of the puc. >> i do not have the confidence that commission will do its job. they have failed the people of california and people in my district. >> in the next few weeks, governor brown will opponent as many as three new puc commissioners. watchdog groups say depending on who they change. >>> the contra costa water districts are cig watch out for imposters pretending to be water district employees to get inside your home. it's very rare for an employee to go inside of a home without first making an appointment. residents are advised to call the water district office to verify the identity of any employee that just shows up at your door. >>> 5:16 is the time right now. let's go back inside. >> traffic is moving along pretty well if you are driving around the bay area. the fog advisory has been lifted. it's still pretty foggy though. it doesn't mean it will be tough driving. take it easy out there. no problems on the bridge itself. san mateo bridge looks good and the fog is not low as steve has t

the puc has been criticized that its staff is operating in private as it looks into that disaster. >>> in another development, a bay area congresswoman tells the "san francisco chronicle," pg&e can't find records to back up pressure levels for large sections of pipe. congresswoman jackie speier says pg&e's president told her that the utility is unable to produce documents on manufacturing and installation for 30% of its pipelines in and around urban areas. speier is concerned about faulty welds like the one blamed for the explosion in san bruno. >>> the golden gate bridge board could decide today whether or not to phase out human toll collectors. sonja shin joins us live to explain what led to the upcoming decision. sonja, good morning. >>> reporter: good morning. tolltakers here at the golden gate bridge have been collecting tolls and greeting drivers since the bridge opened in 1937. but their days here may be numbered. yesterday the golden gate bridge finance committee voted 8-3 to get rid of human toll collectors that could save $19 million over the first eight years. the school board meeting later this morning and may vote today to eliminate the jobs of

puc says they can do it, they will. >> all right. simon perez in san rafael, simon, thank you. >>> despite a similar petition to halt installations, smartmeters are actually coming to san francisco. a board has rejected the city's request to put a hold on the controversial technology. pg&e plans to start installed meters this year -- to start installing the meters this year into 2012. >>> 78-year-old bob ferguson says he was attacked on saturday by a lab and boxer while walking his small dog in the blossom hill neighborhood. a neighbor saw the attack and chased the two dogs away. ferguson suffered bite wounds to his ear, head and right arm. the attack this weekend is reportedly not as severed athe one that happened three weeks ago. in that attack, 41-year-old woman was mauled outside her home. a neighbor came to her rescue but she suffered serious wounds. >>> the new governor gets down to budget issues on his first full day on the job. jerry brown and his finance director will meet at 10 a.m. with county government leaders from across the state. the meeting is to talk about california's budget challenges and brown's commitment to to return decision-making and authority to local