today i'm at the presidio trust, a treasure within san francisco, because the presidio trust is really a national park in the center of an urban setting. it dates to the very founding of the city. national park. toting me today to talk about this amazing exhibition at presidio habitat is cheryl hanes. can you tell me a little bit about the idea of the presidio habitat? >> succinctly, i have been long involved in the presidio. i was here when it was still a military base in the 1980's. i remember driving down walmart to the golden gate bridge and seeing the military guard at the gate and being utterly fascinated. >> so presidio habitat is an exhibition where you have invited, how many artists to think about the habitat? >> we put together a list of possible participants, local, national, or international, of people who are concerned with environmental concerns, made some sort of contribution to the landscape and conversation we're having here. we said that broke -- proposal requests and we received 25 back. from that 25, we went through and chose tend to realize in the landscape. >> inc

today, as far as the action to reaffirm the commitment to the presidio park way project, you are going to be approving a swap of almost $20 million in state local partnership funds that will then move to the central subway, freeing up some of the commitment the central subway had of regional improvement funds. that has turned out to be a better fit for both projects because it vacates a few questions that were raised about the eligibility of the parkway project for the state local partnership funds, and at the same time, makes funding available to central subway sooner than otherwise we would have had. better market street -- we have an attitude under way. there is a danish firm that will be doing some surveys as part of the public space and public life study. there will be some of that activity happening on saturday. some of the schedule has been moved a little bit because of the rain. but very interesting work that i think will support creative thinking about how to make the better parts of better market street real. going to keep you posted on that. major milestone on the van ness b

he was one of the architects to be chosen to do the presidio habitat. when you heard about this project, what inspired you about that call? >> our inspiration is a great blue heron. it was the site itself that attracted us. this is an incredibly beautiful outdoor room. we did a bit of reverse engineering once we knew we wanted to work here. which animals live here? the great blue heron jumped out at us. we walked around, and quickly, you get into another pace. you slow down, leave the city behind you. you can feel the wind and the breeze. in our increasingly frenetic, fast-paced, connected life, the chance to be of here and slow down a bit was part of the agenda. as part of the installation, it was suggested that this would be deliberately not mowed because it would allow the sustaining of insects, plants, that would graduate -- that would gravitate to the area. >> that is right. i think you quickly notice that. >> thank you for being here. presidio habitat is an exhibition at the presidio trust. it will be in san francisco through may 2011. we hope you

the presidio, the presidio large historic building rehab. that was financed in the worst of times, but a testament to force city possibility to gain financing, even in bad economies because of our 90-year history of strength. it is also an example of the local-private partnership, which is when and where the presidio had multiple goals they had to contend with. how do they achieve the highest level of sustainability, open up access to the parks to the surrounding neighborhoods, create an economically viable project for themselves that could help revive the 42 acres that this district is within, etcetera, obviously, historic issues involved. so there is an historic and revitalization component to it. the fivem project is an emerging project. hearst corp. came to us. this is where chronicle is located. it is where they used to do their printing. obviously, they have now taken a smaller footprint that things have evolved. their challenge, how do we make this the next media technology campus and involve where the markets are going? we took a dif

the presidio park when does qualify. -- innovatively financed. commissioner campos: thank you. colleagues, any action on this item? let's open up to public comment. is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, this is an action item. can we have a motion? motion by david chiu. seconded by scott wiener. without objection. thank you. we now have item seven. >> item 7. update on the regional transportation plan/sustainable communities strategy and san francisco transportation plan call for projects. this is an information item. >> in light of the hour, we will go through the early slides and share the presentation with our policy and programming division. we have reported in previous meetings in the regional transportation plan that this time around, it is being conducted as an overall transportation project. we will be talking about the current call for projects, which is this item beginning on page 47 of your packet, describing the significance and process for submitting projects for consideration in t

also to reiterate, we have concluded the commercial close on the presidio parkway project, and the financial close will be on schedule to happen toward the end of the summer. and finally, i would like to introduce two people that have joined the authority team. first of all, matt lee, who joins the capital projects division as senior engineer. he is a san francisco local. he has lived in six of the 11 districts over 30 years. he is, like commissioner cohen, a grade wait locally, and he has an underdegree from the university of cal davis, and a masters in engineering from san francisco state. he has spent part of his life in the public sector and some in the private sector. he is great to work with, and i am delighted to welcome him to the authority team. i was like to introduced alex chiu. he is part of the outside counsel bureau, and we are delighted to have him as well. commissioners, that concludes my report. >> welcome, gentlemen, to the staff. commissioner mirkarimi: colleagues, any comments or questions for the executive director or myself? any public comment? seeing newspaper, public

i became interested in sf from my work as president of the richmond presidio neighbors, a collection of hundreds of neighbors in the richmond district bordering the presidio. i came to understand and appreciate how fiercely our city residents are about preserving their quality of life in their own neighborhood. there are no residents more interested in preserving their neighborhood and our seniors. on my block alone, of the 30 houses, single-family homes, about half are owned by residents in their 70's, 80's who have lived there for more than 40 years. san francisco village is a nonprofit community-based membership organization that empowers the adults to remain in their own homes as they age. it became a private 5013 c in 2007 and after a couple years planning, we successfully launched in 2009 and currently have 130 members with five reduced the members. we are financially sound with a balanced budget projected to 2015. we have both foundation and individual support, and if we were able to obtain city backing, it would allow us to obtain water foundation support so that we conserve m

i was fortunate that i worked at the presidio and established an infrastructure group. prior to this meeting, i did have a small talk with him. i read some comments about union workers having some conflict, but he explained to me the issue. some creative financing that could help the united states, its prevalence in europe, in canada. some of my partners are involved in that type of creative financing. but what i am concerned is that dole will drive -- doyle drive is built on time, hopefully in two years. that should be good. i wanted to wish you all the best. i followed you on this project for a long time. you are one of the better project managers. something that has to be emulated by the rest. you can see you walk the walk. next, talk the talk. we need people that are good leaders. we have little money. we cannot waste money. every dollar counts, and i am looking forward to seeing doyle drive completed in less than three years. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you, sir. any other public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. maybe take this wi

we could have moved this population to treasure island, and to the presidio. when the government gave us those bases, we were supposed to use them for the homeless. no, we make the presidio into an office park, and we are going to make hotels and condos on treasure island. that was done by your predecessors at the board of supervisors. remember -- the reason that neighborhood is holy hell is because of randy shaw's business plan. the drugs, insane people, and attics that are there are his customers. that is your problem. supervisor chu: thank you. let me read a few more names. [reading names] >> good afternoon. i have been at the civic center for the last 13 years. i'm yet to top about the impact of the 1.5% tax credit. every year, when i set my roommate, one of the main decisions i based that on is based on my neighborhood. -- when i set my room rate. the value of my neighborhood is the value of my room, so i have to incentivize people to come into my area because of the neighborhood. if i take my rooms and add the three major hotels, we have 1000 rooms with a

exhibition and great natural treasure. >> to learn more about the other habitats installations in the presidio, visit >> mayor for the city and county of san francisco. >> tonight, san francisco has a new interim mayor. >> a few minutes ago, city administrator now interim mayor ed lee, emerged happy but humble. >> in 2011, a temporary or interim mayor was selected by the board of supervisors, what is an interim mayor? why do we need one? is it the mayor's supposed to be elected by san francisco voters? how did this happen? let's rewind the story a little and look at the people and complicated process that led to this historic transition. the last time san francisco had an interim mayor was 30 years ago, when, in 1978, george mosconi, was assassinated by supervisor dan white. >> both to grow rather mosconi and harvey milk have been shot and killed. >> they needed a new mayor at the time. the board got together and appointed dianne feinstein. >> we did not have much to go on and looked at 1978. there were no hints as to who put it on the board, if any discussion occurred about a process. >> what

the ferry building, the cruise terminal, the presidio. i said i would get here in four minutes and 30 seconds to talk about ideas. the concept we have, we call i2c, which is in innovation and invention community. it is not to expand it any further than it already is but to come up with something that is a center to attract a lot of the south bay i.t. firms and create jobs in lincoln to the mission and the enormous number of employees that want to live there and do not want to drive to the peninsula. are steps would be immediately to stabilize the historic buildings at risk. our first step would do -- would be to do an evaluation on historic buildings and make sure we do not lose them because they are a huge income and cost generator. we would do a master plan, perfect the master plan, and extend the master plan. we think it is under -- it is important to understand the larger scheme of things. we would immediately embark on building a 500,000 square foot speculative building to form an economic hub and create an attractive leasing environm

there is talk about sending us to the presidio, but imagine how difficult it will be for our disabled veterans to get out there for meetings. so this is a commission that needs your help. i wish we were also house here in city halls of this commission had more transparency. thank you very much for your time and consideration. supervisor kim: thank you. brendan culver rogers and then stephen noetzel. >> i believe we got an e-mail from mr. rogers -- supervisor kim: sorry, mr. rogers is currently deployed. there are so many applicants in front of us. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i currently serve as the recently elected secretary to the veterans affairs commission. i have been on the commission for almost two years now. i do not know if this committee recognizes that the veterans affairs commission is really currently under a renaissance. we have been operating in the past two years with new vigor, with new vision, and with a new focus on paying attention to the needs particularly of all the returning veterans coming back from deployments and coming back from our overseas commitments

looking back from the golden gate bridge to presidio, you are more aware of the park land and less of the roads. and the viaduct will parallel the existing one and to the south and can be built while the existing one remains in operation. and the two bridges there with open space between them and your views constantly change and not aware of the traffic in the opposite direction and notice the views more. and the lanes of course are a foot wider than they are today. and they will be shoulders and if your car is disabled, you can pull off to the edge. and the next area, the tunnel portal will have a view centered on the palace of fine arts and as you come out, you can see alkatrez island and bay. and the next area is about 1,000 feet long. and when you come into one, you can see through the other end. it's almost like driving through a building than through a tunnel. and noise from the roadway will be sheltered. and the traffic will be out of view. >> when you come out of the last sort tunnel and as you look forward, you see the golden dome of the palace of fine arts and what more perf

it's a fully immersed of driving experience where i can actually experience the new presidio parkway project, three years before its ever constructed. this is a tool that's a lot of fun, but it also enables the project team to visualize the project and make critical design and engineering decisions that they otherwise might not be able to see without a this enhanced a building visualization. it's also a great communication tool for the public. the public is able to release see what this road we will look like years before it's ever constructed. at the end of the day, it's a lot of fun to drive this and really experience it. i'm seeing which would actually see as your driving down the road. i'm hearing the sounds and my seed is actually vibrating and i'm feeling the motion of the road here. this is used to really help the project team create a better project. they're able to use these simulations and visualization capabilities decreed a better design. the ability to make these design decisions and really create something that's going to be the best possible design, is the real value. i

>> alan, we are at the ymca at the presidio. and the large treetop pelled away from the building. we have seen the close calls throughout the bay area today which kept tree removal companies busy. piece by piece, branch by branch, this tree is coming apart. the homeowner heard the eucalyptus fall on to the roof in the middle of the night. luckily the damage was minimal. >> i heard it crack real loud and then it rolled into the side of the house and i looked out the window with my flashlight and tried to see something. i said, well, noly -- 2340* leakage. terry's tree service has been going from house to house. and that's when the phone started ringing. >> really they didn't start coming in until early this morning when people were finding stuff. it was about 6:30, 7:00 and then once one came in, it kept coming. >> >> with wind gust in excess of 70 miles an hour, it is no surprise trees and branches came down all over the place. a tree came crashes down on fountain grove parkway. no one was hurt, but the back end was crushed. the storm hit the peninsula just as hard. there was a tr

golden gate park over to the west, the presidio, and one down to the south. when we talk about urban watershed management, it really means just that. we are constructing storm water elements that will help us control stormwater. we want to be able to capture rainwater and reduce the load on the system, so we have enough capacity to mitigate flooding, encourage potable water reuse, but it is like a project in itself. it is not just putting out one area and hoping it will work. it is engineered. it requires engineering and development. we do not know much about it. we are going to have a long way to go as we develop these projects and learn how effective they are and what the costs are. so one nice little starting point is in a natural system, if we were to get a rainstorm, most of the water is either evaporated or infiltrated. very little is running loss. however, in an urban setting, most of the water is running off -- very little is running off. however, in an urban setting, most of the water is running off. paging, steep slopes, urbanization -- paving, stee

accept and expend a grant administered by the san francisco county transportation authority for the presidio park would project in an amount of up to $1 million. we came before you in december, as you will recall. the strategies are temporary, to be implemented while it is under construction, and it will be restored back to its existing condition at the conclusion of the project in mid-2014. the funding was approved by the authority. the strategies developed to assist the palace of fine arts theater at exploratory m., who are our attendance, to help minimize parking overflow into adjacent neighborhoods. i will be happy to answer any questions you have. commissioner harrison: he talks about the improvements that are going to be made, the changes. as mentioned, driveway modifications i am a little confused on. what does that mean? >> the drive with modifications noted there are modifications to the driveway to the lot when it is put back on line in mid-2011. those are just curve modifications. if you recall, as part of our presentation in december, the lot will be brought back online after it