. >> we're going to rack up the score in california. it's going to be really good here in our effort to win the house for democrats. >> belva: and voters will decide whether to modify term limits for state lawmakers, raise taxes on cigarettes, and enact pension reforms. plus a look at the role asian american voters will play this election year. all of that and more as we examine the dynamics in this election special coming up next. >> belva: good evening, i'm belva davis, and welcome to this special election edition of "this week in northern california." joining me tonight are carla marinucci, san francisco chronicle, senior political writer. richard gonzales, reporter with national public radio. jerry roberts, calbuzz editor. joining us from sacramento, dan walters, sacramento bee columnist. jerry, there are two major issues that are game changers in this election. one of course is redistricting. the other is this top two system for choosing a winner. explain the last one because it seems to be the most confusing. >> well, belva, as you

an american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 funded grant in the amount of $200,608 from the california energy commission's state energy program through the local government commission to support greenfinancesf. >> we have mr. rodriguez from the department of the environment. i am the sponsor of this resolution. it is seeking approval for associate membership in the california rule, -- home mortgage finance authority by joining the authority, san francisco residents and businesses will have access to their low interest loan program as an alternative to tax lien financing for homeowners performing home energy improvements. we have worked on a pace program last year and the year before, which was unfortunately struck down by federal authorities. now the san francisco board of supervisors -- we approved the program. we called it sustainable financing program sf to provide the tax lien financing to residential building owners to perform energy improvements. but this program was suspended in it 2010. by joining this mortgage finance authority, it provides an additional financing tool that he

the how of bringing high-speed rail to california is as important as the why. to provide economic vitality to california and to our cities. i would like to again thank the association for organizing this event. i would like to thank governor brown and the california high speed rail authority for bringing forth a new business plan that really response to the earlier criticisms and sets us on the right track. in closing, i would like to thank president obama, leader pelosi, secretaries boxer and feinstein, as well as leader lahood for the commitment to public transit, creating jobs, and investing in san francisco. again, thank you this morning for being here, and let's get it done. appreciate it. [applause] >> tonight, we paid for the two teachers, especially those in san francisco public schools who have made san francisco the top- performing urban school district in california. each day, thousands of teachers provide children with the skills to be successful in life, including learning how to analyze problems, appreciate the arts, and become active in sports. we

i would ask you to eliminate this from the san francisco building code and go back to the california building code. gregg's -- >> as someone who was very involved in the eastern neighborhoods, when you found out about this, from where your position was, that this was countered to where you were trying to achieve down there, is this right? rex right, the project had been approved -- >> right, the project had been approved in the 2007 building code and that had changed in the 2010 california building code. it got preapproved in application and then submitted and they went to pick up their permit and were not allowed to because the code had changed. this section of the san francisco code had changed. their project was 90% finished. the appeal to the board of examiners who up held that project and referred it back to the code advisory committee to eliminated from the san francisco building code and refer back to the california building code. >> that was how it came to our attention at that time? gregg's you never had a conversation with stakeholders -- >> eun never had a conversation with

exactly 100 years ago, women were given the vote in california. le for women's suffrage was not an easy one. it took more than 70 years. a woman could run for president in new york. >> organizing this conference, basically it modeled itself on a declaration of independence for women. it marked the beginning of the women's equality movement in the united states. >> at that time, women were banned from holding property and voting in elections. >> susan b. anthony dedicated her life to reform. >> suffrage in the middle of the 19th century accomplished one goal, it was diametrically opposed to this idea. >> many feared it would be corrupted by politics. >> women in the 19th century had to convince male voters that having the vote would not change anything. that woman would still be devoted to the home, the family, that they would remain pure and innocent, that having the vote would not corrupt them. >> support gradually grew in state and local campaigns. >> leaders like ellen clark sgt come repeatedly stopping these meetings -- , repeatedly stopping th

>> we have been on the path for healthcare reform for a long time in california. we had many starts and stops in 2010. we began to implement the affordable care act. we have been meeting for the last year and a half since the exchange started in january of 2011. we have many pieces in place, but we have much more to do. we have been operating at full speed to this point and now we have to find a gear higher than that and move into warp speed to get all the work done that we must in order to have the coverage that people need in january of 2014. >> so you have been operating on faith that this would work out? and so far it looks like things are going well for california. could you explain the key point of debate and that was over the mandate. what exactly is it, if it can be explained quickly and is it all that you -- this is all you could have possibly expected, i guess, from the courts? >> sure. it is what we hoped for. the idea of an individual mandate coupled with the subsidy as the federal government will provide to make it affordable to people is like a carrot

i am the chief operating officer for the northern california business units, as well as the 12 california businesses that live nation operates. we have been operating on masonic for three years with no significant incidents. when we first partnered with the masons, we did so because they wanted a personal event partner to could ensure that the venue was booked professionally and responsibly, and we believe that live nation provides both. the plot -- the masonic our arena is the only special events space in san francisco that sits at that capacity. unfortunately, many events are going to the fox theater in oakland. live nation has a long history of responsible event management come out managing the fillmore, punchline comedy club, the theater, and outside of san francisco, the shoreline amphitheater. and before that, bill graeme presents. we know how to work with our neighbors and we know the importance of working with our neighbors. every since we assume to be -- ever since we assumed the responsibility of the masonic, we have assured best practices for the building. after hours of negoti

>> when the new california academy of sciences opened in 2008, it quickly became one of the top tourist magnets in the city. part of the cal academies' astronomical success is the weekly nightlife party. >> i am joined by helen, who is here to school me on all the nocturnal activities that are getting ready to take place here. tell us a little about what we can expect to see at nightlife. >> we open up the doors every thursday night at the california academy of sciences. there are certain things you can see every week you can go to the museum, visit the planetarium, and we bring in bars and a deejay or band. it is a different feel from during the day, something different every week. tonight , we have beer and music. -- tonight we have great beer and music. it is beer week. we have a dozen local brewers in african hall. we have a deejays to set up throughout the museum and a live performance at 9:00 p.m. tonight. >> what has been your favorite part as a participant or as an observer? >> my favorite part is to walk around the aquarium in to see people with a drink in their hands, getting

supreme court ruling on the afford able care act means california's reform on the way is on the right track. >> the era of late budgets is over and i believe that if we continue on this path, this era of unending deficits will be over. >> california has an on time budget, but it is not without some pain, including furloughs for thousands of state workers and the elimination of the healthy families program. education funding remains intact if the voters approve the governor's tax plan in november. state funding to keep all state parks open past the original july 1st deadline. the need for a long-term funding solution remains. coming up next. >>> good evening. i'm belva davis. welcome to "this week in northern california." joining me tonight on the panel are, paul rogers, san jose news environment writer, and josh richm richman. we start with a look at thursday's highly anticipated ruling by the u.s. supreme court upholding key provisions of the affordable care act. how does the decision impact california where reform is already under way? >> we love obama care! >> the constitution does

do not close the california campus. move the skilled nursing beds to the california campus. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am speaking for the president and ceo of the san francisco community clinic consortium. i am eleanor jacobs. we feel having a new hospital from the ground up will be good for the san francisco health care system. the building of the hospital will bring new jobs in to san francisco. a new hospital has the potential to recruit new providers and replace retiring providers. we are excited to work with all hospitals to improve the health and welfare of san franciscans. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker. >> i want to take time to support what alex stated earlier. this is not a fight between labor and community. it is not either or. we support builders. we support the community and labor work together to create a healthy community. i want to go further and say when employers coming to the city, we need to start holding them accountable for being part of the community. let me say that cpmc has already d

the centers play an important role in california. about 850 million on an annualized basis is disbursed annually. the long mandate crv zones and recycling centers to ensure reduction options and that they are spread across the area, as well as to provide funds to local governments and curbside programs to provide that as an option. the california legislature last year in this year is looking at efforts to increase the redemption value, moving from 5 cents and 10 cents to 10 cents and 20 cents. it was vetoed last year. it is being considered again this year. if that happens, we will probably see that additional uptake i participation and collection. what does collection look like in san francisco? in san francisco, more bottles and cans are recycled through recycling centers than through our curbside program. this represents a total of 17 million in crv production, 6 million going to curbside and 11 million going to our recycling centers. i will note here on our recycling centers, what we tend to see is that folks are taking high value

for the purposes of this hearing, the california department of alcoholic beverage control, abc, six inmination from the board of supervisors as to the approval or denial of this license. police calls for service from july 2010 to january 2011, 101 police calls the police reports for the same time span, 14 reports. this premises is located on a slot 224. the high crime area is defined as 215 or more police reports in a plot. this one has 480 reports for 2010, over the high crime area definition by 265 reports. the applicant premises is located in a high crime area. this premises is located in census tracts 176.02, and population is 534. off-sale licenses of christ is one. active off-sale licenses, seven. the applicant premises is currently located in an undue concentrated area. three leopard -- letters of protest or received by the abc. no record with abc of letters of support. there's no opposition. the alu recommends approval. the following conditions recommended. number one, sales and service is about public beverages should be committed between the hours between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00

the people of california are ready to end the death penalty. a couple of weeks ago we were able to do a poll on the question of the governor converting all of these 713 death sentences to life without possibility of parole, and a change would save the city california $1 billion in five years. 63% of the voters support this idea across the entire state. every region of the state had a majority of support. a majority of republicans and democratic voters support this idea. 63%, ready for the governor to take everyone off of death row. this is an important change from where we used to be on this issue, because for a very long time, politicians have been afraid to talk about reasons for ending the death penalty and this has been seen -- been seen as an issue that would run political careers, as the former district attorney has shown, the death penalty is no longer of liability and the voters are ready for candidates who will say that we need smart criminal- justice policy, to keep the community safe and that will hold the offenders accountable, and

research done and the california academy's i rhinology lab suggests that the assassin spiders have been doing this for over 150 million years. this glassed in room is a real scientific laboratory, and the people in that room are preparing specimens of vertebrate, that is mammals and birds. the way they do this is to remove the skin, sew it together in a relatively lifelike pose, and ensure that it does not decompose. >> i am a really big class actress fan, so i am here to see them, and beer week. >> i wanted to learn something and have fun. >> i always enjoy it. i am not all is well -- always working as i am tonight. sometimes i come to enjoy the music and to dance. ♪ >> culturewire covers the arts in san francisco, and one of my favorite culture artists is here tonight. jason, thank you for being on culturewire. tell us about some of your posters that we have here today. >> most of the posters here are four specific shows or tours. i am hired by the bands or the venue. >> what is the inspiration behind these posters? >> no, disease of the related to the bay and, of course. music -- it

this used to be the palate -- california pizza kitchen. we have been open for about five months now. we are currently applying for a place of entertainment permit. the reason is because of the close proximity to city hall. we have been having a lot of couples coming by wanting to do right -- wedding receptions. the selling point is always whether we can bring in a live band or have a deejay. right now, we do not have the ability to do so. that is why we are applying for the permit. also, because of the close proximity of the theaters, you know, the opera, the symphony, and the ballet, we feel that having music or a d.j. adds to the experience of the patrons that are coming in for dinner to go to the theater and then come by afterwards. it adds to the experience. we understand we do have neighbors above, and the next closest neighbors are residents of the opera plaza. we have reached out to the property managers and let them know our plans, we are trying to do we have residents who frequent our establishment and have signed letters of suppor

the feel of the state of california shote -- seal of the state of california shows the state before the bridge was built. today, i do not think there are too many people that have difficulty finding our bridge. now we understand the many ways in which this harbor has represented the promise of california since the gold rush times. indeed, it is my honor to welcome to the podium, a man whose family name is synonymous with the state of california, whose father served on the golden gate bridge port of directors a few years ago, and who himself has many ties to our beautiful golden gate bridge. ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the great governor of the great state of california, gov. jerry brown. [applause] >> thank you. it is really an exciting day. i am glad you reminded me that my father was on the golden gate bridge authority. growing up as kids, we had a free pass. every time we went across the bridge, we never had to pay the toll. i thought that was a little unreasonable. that is when i got my first notion of political reform. [applause] -- [laughter] in those days,

our research found that a law is in existence, the california art preservation act, and that requires that the artist, or if he or she has died for 50 years, the heirs and personal representives must be given the opportunity to remove the work and take it from where it stands. in the city's haste to destroy this mural and to get rid of it, it has not only neglected it and had a trail of illegalities in the process of having approvals and getting rid of it, but in this instance, it was ready the next day to remove this mural without having made the proper notification. and i certainly hope that supervisor cam pose is paying -- campos is paying attention. the scaffolding had gone up on friday 8 and and they were scheduled to paint out that mural starting monday, june 11. only because the heir of the artist, arch williams, who was one of the haight ash -- hate asbury muralists, only because his he risks r contacted the city officials did this stop. i am showing what was planned to replace that front panel. just that. the illegalities, i've talked about it previously. thank you. president

it's a tremendous opportunity for california to do the right thing not only for california but the whole world. >> a lot of people should pay attention even if you don't live in california, as to what is happening there. it could be an inflection point in what has been happening for a long time with big tobacco and smoking cessation. i don't get to see you in person, but thank you for seeing us. >> up next, beautiful and bold. we get the story behind these children's dolls that have no hair. stay with us. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning.. you can feel. introducing the all new cadillac xts, available with the patented safety alert seat. when there is danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. ♪ in a world where ♪ there is so much to see ♪ there's still no other place ♪ that i would rather, rather ♪ rather, rather be ♪ [ male announcer ] dip into sabra hummus and discover a litt

that will remain the law of the land in california. the real question here, what about the exchange? california was the first state to set up one of the so-called exchanges where people who don't have employer base insurances would be able to shop for supposedly affordable insurance. well, if you have no mandate but still the guaranteed issue, that means the premiums are going to go up and it may not work as intended. what you could see as a result of that is the exchange kind of keeling over underitself its other weight. what happens to medi-cal, about 8 million people brought into the fold with expansion of medi-cal funding thanks to federal dollars. if the health care reform law goes away, so does that money and that in turn is going to affect spending on the people who need it most. the people at the lower end of the economic spectrum. >> wouldn't that put an end to the county hospital system? it's overburdened with people who can't afford to pay anything. now all these new people in there, would this not be a disaster in terms of r

the world, live in different countries. i am a relatively recent transplant to california. ke to let the governor know that i am happy to be here. it is a good space. recently, governor brown has spent a lot of time, focus, and effort making california a better place. focus on eliminating waste, increasing efficiency, decreasing the budget deficit, and real focus that we appreciate in northern california on clean energy. for example, moving the state's goal to be 33% clean energy producing. it is my privilege to welcome governor brown to the panel. [applause] >> and to introduce our next panelist, i would like to welcome steve ballmer, senior bp -- vp. >> good morning and thank you. next up is governor hickel lipper -- hickenlooper. he is the serieaal a entreprener each of you have in your respective parts. he became very successful in the brew pub business. he never had a single election not even for stink -- a student council. governor? [applause] in keeping with the discussion, he is keen on innovation and things of that nature. i know that will come out. thank you, gover

together, we can end the death penalty in california. [applause] >> thank you for having me here today. i would like to close by saying i have had the opportunity to view this issue from every point of view, having been the warden at san quentin state prison. i am absolutely impassioned about the fact that it is time to end the death penalty in this state. life without possibility of parole is the real sentence. hold people accountable and gives them the opportunity to change within the prison system, and they can give back by working within the prison system, giving restitution to family members and working on behalf of the state of california on a variety of projects that go on inside prisons. i also want to echo what the process said -- please join, please help -- i also want to echo what natasha said. talk to 10 of your friends, send e-mails, send letters. thank you. [applause] >> 1985, when i was sentenced to death for a crime i did not commit, i thought right away that this would be rectified. i was convicted of two different crimes

i think women will lead the way. california will be central to this. >> you've also throughout your career been a leader in fighting for civil rights, gay rights. you're at the forefront of the whole crisis over hiv aids. how do you think the same-sex marriage debate will play out in this coming election? >> younger people, people thinking in a more fair way about our country don't want to support any kind of discrimination. neither does our president. to hear the president of the united states come forth in the very poernl and lovely way that he did was really a great moment i think for our country. >> how are your energies as a leader in the house? the impression is by many that the congress doesn't do very much except have debates over what they disagree on. >> that's right. well, i'm very proud of the work that we did in the four years that we were in the majority. in the house, the speaker has awesome power and sets legislative agenda. in that time especially when president obama was there to sign the bills ending discrimi

the difference is in the california building code. i can also give you tips on how to choose and specter appeared first of all, the program has an inspector's knowledge of the california building code, and the reason why that is so important is because you have to comply with both. the california billing code is enforced when you get a building permit, and forced by the local building requirements. it says all new buildings have to be totally accessible. it also says that new buildings when you do an alteration course have to be accessible when you do a project. there's a big difference between a big project and a little project. a big project is going to be not as accessible as a new building, but a smaller project actually has a smaller level of access required in the california building code. you might think that because you got a building permit that that means that everything is good and you are complying with the ada, but it is actually the difference in the building code because its is even if you have an existing building and h