we did not know much about the program. we knew about the opportunity for businesses in san francisco to hire. we sat down with steve and he had more questions than we had answers, but those questions helped frame the program. moving forward, it was an interesting partnership, and one that was healthy. we would get a lot of very constructive criticism about how we were representing the program. that came from the chamber and the membership of the chamber. it was very helpful in designing on the flight a program started quickly. i am glad steve is with us to say a few things. i want to thank him, the chamber, and the chamber membership on supporting this program and hiring many of you. [applause] >> thank you. i have to be honest with everyone in the room. the chamber of commerce gets a little bit nervous when someone knocks on our door and says, "i am from city hall. i am here to help." when trent knocked on our door, we opened the door and talked to him. this program sounded too good to be true. we dug into the details and

this program, arguably, is the most successful stimulus program in the united states of america, and i can back that up. this is a program that hires from the private sector does proportionally and benefits if the private sector does proportionally. this is a program that helps small businesses. for all of the rhetoric coming from washington, d.c., and sacramento and up and down the local municipal calls up and down this state and around the nation, here is a program that works. this is an interesting fact that underscores it -- congress, wisely and appropriately extended unemployment insurance. what is unemployment insurance to a family in california? it means you receive $450 a week. not to work. you are looking for work, but you receive a $450 check a week to work. congress, wisely, extended that. a lot of republicans opposed it because they said we needed to find a way to fund it, but in principle, they understand the importance of unemployment benefits. here's a program where people in the trenches receive $447 a week to work. let me repeat that -- we can hand out $450 a week not

we did better on the regional program. milestone missed was the big advertisement that have the attached reserve program, and there were research agency, that required we modeling, lead an advertisement for that project is now forecasted for august 14, and that completes my presentation. commissioner moran: some comments. first of all, this is the first quarter with a new format, and i found it greatly improved. wanted to pass that on to you. i am a total ban [inaudible] they make life a whole lot easier. i think the underlying report, especially with the graphics, is clear enough that the project level detail really is not necessary. that is one commissioner's opinion. but i thought the rest of it was so clear and easy to get through that it did not really need the treatment of the cover memo. the kind of thing that i think would benefit in the cover memo is very much the discussion you just went through in terms of from your level what the issues are that you are wrestling with at the moment, and i think if there was a p

we are thrilled at the program. it is the best lending i have ever seen of one side of main street with the other side. we do not want the program to continue forever. we do not want a handout, but we want to ask for one more year to give us the chance to put our risk into reality and jobs into the future of america and san francisco. i want to announce that we have been working very hard with the last week and with business leaders across america targeting 10 key states that have used this program to great success. mississippi, pennsylvania, florida, texas, michigan, and five other states, and we are starting an online campaign to petition signatures in each state, not only from the employee side, but from a business side. let us create more jobs. let us add to our payroll, payroll taxes, to help us at more to the government, but we need another leg up for another year. help us in his advocacy effort in 2010 and 2011. so, mayor newsom, thank you one more time so much. and i would like to introduce one of the faces o

those of the county assistance programs. we already saw when the unemployment debate occurred and there was still a question of the unemployment benefits being extended, you saw substantial increases, and double the number of applications on the county program. underbudgeted, subsidized by the county. two things happened. people go on the federal rolls. some may have already had experience on the rolls before and did not get the natural extension benefits. then they go on the county rose. the county has to subsidize it at a time when the counties are already financially strapped, versus a program that cost less money to keep people employed and creates economic output and sales growth. that generates more sales tax revenue and gross revenue. it has a multiplier with the stimulus. there is a physiology behind this. i am mesmerized that it is not so obvious to the folks in washington. it may be a complete disconnect. it may not be rhetoric. there is a disconnect between washington and main street. it was beautiful when you hear

we did better on the regional program. lestone missed was the big advertisement that have the attached reserve program, and there were research agency, that required we modeling, lead an advertisement for that project is now forecasted for august 14, and that completes my presentation. commissioner moran:

and the promotion of this program. we are only as good as the ability to promote this program. we should get people back with -- in this case, with hammers and nails, making the future that is more sustainable, hammering home the importance of sustainability, not as an abstract idea but something that we can literally bring to our houses. focus on the water conservation, which is a critical issue. the not only think about the light bulbs, think about being more creative in terms of these proposals and programs that you'll be able to design, and give the idea to generate even more energy efficiency, by going to the web sites and going through the questions and learning more about the different ways to save money, and save the environment. i will end with this. i will understand what believe is one of the most critical things that we can do. we have a fleet of electric vehicles. the most important thing is to make ubiquity with the infrastructure, would have to charge those vehicles. and that means bringing those electric charging stations to your houses. this is my announcement f

the curve. you have some terrific programs. they cover many different areas. they can create sustainable relationships with the community and its customers, and we will talk about what we think should be the next steps. we also found that there is not a standard definition of community benefits. nobody has won. there is no set of guidelines anywhere throughout the country. even in australia. we look as far as australia to see what they are doing. they are very much in the leadership in this area of community benefits. all were subject to some kind of economic or political climate structural organization or legal restriction. most utilities offer the baseline of community benefits like education, sustainability, tabling at community events. what we concluded was that out of all of those agencies was that there were three models -- there was a de-centralized model, which is one that is based primarily on a budget. whoever is in line first for community programs get that program. second, there was a case by case model, which was either based on pressure from the c

. >> report on the solar program. supervisor mirkarimi: ok. >> hi, again. commissioner schmeltzer also request lafco staff to research on the solar program that we got wind of. it is a program being conducted by the largest publicly owned utility in the state called public service electric and gas company. they are installing 200,000 solar units that consist of a solar panel and a communications system on utility poles and street lights throughout the state of new jersey. this program is expected to produce 40 megawatts of energy when it is completed in 2012. and something in florida is looking at a similar program, testing the similar solis system produced by a company in new jersey, and it just got with the that there are representatives here that might be able that answer some of your questions if you have a. a little bit of background about these units. do we have the image up? that is what it looks like. pretty self-explanatory. from my research, i found that the cost is about $6.44 for each what produced -- watt produced. in terms of financing, they pl

we have strong leadership from the board. this program -- people can literally go on-line, and they can fill out an application online to learn about their ability to take the advantage of this offer. what are the restrictions? can anybody walked in -- what in -- walk in? >> they can fill out the applications on line. if they do not have access to the internet, they can go to the branch library and fill this out right there. basically, you will go on-line and as the system mentions, the first that is understanding what will make the most sense for you in your house. you are getting someone to help you understand the needs of your specific building. we see people who want to come in and just to solar power. how can i save myself more money, faster. my bill came down from $85 to $25. >> and that is all that you are spending? >> this was working very well for us. we started regulating the energy efficiency. we are getting a payback from $6 to one year. we are hoping that this program will be helping others. and i should mention that for thos

. >> the story of the arts commission program begins with ruth fromstein. 2010 marks her 50th year as an art dealer. at the helm of the county, she had represented some of the most notable of bay area artists, and continues to look for new talent. >> the artists that i represent, what do i choose them, if asked to do with a background of what the gallery is about. i love the idea of finding new guys and watching them grow. it is the old fashioned way of having a nunnery, which is having a stable. what you have is loyalty to them, artists are loyal to you. the philosophy behind that, my philosophy, has not changed since i started 49 years ago. i take care of you and you take care of me. it has been that way ever since. >> ruth represents the estate of the world renowned sculptor peter focused. in 1971, he created and the love the untitled public work cited at seventh and bryant. like many other public works of art, this is in need of repair. ruth began conversations with the director of cultural affairs, a andart care was born. >> we look at all of the local pieces and decided which on

we're very honored at the cultural center that we can be part of the program. >> an addition to him, what are some of the other highlights of the festival? >> we have three gallery openings in the festival. one is called reclaim, which is a film art. the others are receptions that are happening at four different the supervisors' offices. the other is called mining the creative source. >> think you for sharing the content with us on "culture wire." >> thank you very much. >> it is in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the strikes at uc-berkeley of the study of ethnic studies. it is a celebration of that history, as well as some of the other items. >> what led to this multidisciplinary collaboration? >> i am from san francisco, and from the 1960's on, that is the aesthetics. the poets, working with the musicians, dancers, the waitresses, the jazz club, actors, whatever. the idea is we are all a community and we share this common story. >> did you reach out to the dancers? how did it come together? did they come to you? >> the choreographer and dancer actually was a student of mine a

also, monitoring the performance and burying it over the course of the program. there are some existing models for the existing structure. we would have to have a memorandum of agreement with the different transit operators as well. i will close by saying we are launching our fourth and final round of outreach. we have workshops at the end of the month and we will also be doing lunch time when dinars for those who are not able to join us. u collect for more feedback and get recommendations. commissioner chu: just two quick questions, one on the business impact, we see here a one-page slide on the business impact, neutral to positive, and in a private future meeting i would like to see what the studies were, i think. just a one-page summary does not do it for me. just that comment. and second, with regard to outreach efforts, to bring in folks from at least one of the proposals has significant coverage in the chinatown area, one area that might have monolingual residents as well. have you been advertising? have there been special efforts to go into the chinatown ar

this is where the program is moving in the long term. and because some of these programs are developed in the industry, we have a list of prescriptive measures. the measures that have been proven to be the lowest-hanging fruit, we have a list of those on the web site. and you can do those prescriptive measures. and if you can show that you have already done this as part of the project, this also counts as well. >> we have done all the energy efficiency and whether recession. i cannot show a 20% reduction. >> if there is nothing more that you can do to make your house more efficient, you will not be penalized for the. >> and we have tips on line to help you. you have the estimated energy, and i can show you a photo of my house? >> is this the street you were the one that is above? >> this is from above. but this will let you get started. you can put in the information and get an idea of what you could do to save some money. and you know what you are looking for. >> we actually did this a couple of years ago with the solar map, and with the

programs. commissioner norton: on hoover, for example, where we are going to save the spanish immersion program -- is that back on the table? are those kind of decisions going to be definite that we are phasing that out? are we going to start by not accepting any more sixth graders the coming year, or will we accept sixth graders next year with the new temporary plan? >> my understanding is we are not expecting any change at the middle school level of peter pattern. -- the middle school level feeder pattern. [applause] >> i do want to remind everyone that one of the reasons -- i heard what commissioner norton said it and do not necessarily agree or disagree. but the fact of the matter is that whether we like this process or not, this process is very helpful for us because it opens up a huge dialogue. we have been talking about the assignment process for over two years in this district. the rubber met the road to have genuine, great discussions that needed to take place. it was just the last couple of months, the best discussions we have had. i do not see that as something -- i thought that was

program, and the cma program, as well as assistance to sponsors with deadlines and grant obligations. on the sb 83 item, we would include additional information that can be used to inform the public about what the plan would be, and in preparation of the documents that would be needed to bring the measure to the ballot, which is something that is essentially ready now. on the regional transportation plan, on the transportation priorities and advocacies for san francisco, and then at the state and local level, all the tracking on legislation. the capital projects division -- before i go on, about the program division, the challenges that we have this year are particularly severe given the shifts in state funds and the lack of definition in terms of federal funds. i think there will be an additional burden on the side of federal. everything i've been tracking at the federal level, it seems very unlikely that there would be a successful move in congress or even a move in congress at all to try to reauthorize the surface transportation act. i have been so bold as to predict that we may n