the commission said no. as i said at the very beginning of this question time. the san francisco public utilities commission's primary responsibility is to protect the rate payers and in rejecting these rates with shell energy north america, they are not going against the board of supervisors. i think they were fulfilling what they believed are their sworn duties and responsibilities under the city charter. really, the critical issue here is that recs have a questionable environmental benefit. just don't take my word for it. the former general manager of the san francisco public utilities commission said last year that doing a program that is mostly recs is kind of putting lip stick on a pig in some sense. your underlined power is still down power. you're buying renewable credits for somebody doing green power. i don't know how i can say it more clearly than that, supervisor campos. i also recall a lafco meeting. six months ago when you, supervisor, made sure to point out that a major differentiating benefit of our cca program was that it did not include recs. look, i understand that sometimes ci

clean power sf program and trying to exposed -politics i issued a letter of inquiry to the public utilities commission to ask why they did not provide the not to exceed rates and i will ask the public utilities commission staff to present their quick response on these questions and i believe they have a draft response that will be a shared with the public utilities commission for the commission to respond on in their own words. but to me, it was important to ask the questions. the answers i'm curious about but i'm not thinking there is real answer in the questions because what i felt like the commissioners had provided in the form of question and direction for puc staff were very limited and not thought out and more like efforts to delay the clean power sf program with very flimsy rational and didn't amount to much. i would like to have puc staff today present their responses to that. i will begin with that part of the update on lafco is to be able to hear on puc staff on the letter of inquiry that we've issued and we'll take it from there without any questions that arise as we move forward. i think m

the city attorney, dennis herrera's office [speaker not understood] that the commission is authorized, not required or compelled, but authorized to set rates for community choice aggregation. so, the public utilities commission took a look at the latest version of cca and said, this is not what the board adopted and this isn't good for the rate payers. i would submit that the commissioners exercised their oversight rule as an independent commission under the charter and i'd argue that protecting tax payers and rate payers is precisely what the commission exists to do. supervisor, you asked what my office is doing to support the city's clean energy goals and what we can do together. i think there's very great deal we can do and i'll detail that more in my answers in the next two questions. but i will say that we are leaders and signing a contract with a fossil fuel company in texas that forces san franciscan residents to pay more for electricity that isn't generated here and doesn't produce direct local jobs or environmental benefits doesn't measure up to what our residents deserve and expect. thank you. >> i have the next question. mr. mayor, could you please outline your objections to the clean p

citing the board's role as the preeminent policymaking body in san francisco, urging the public utilities commission to set not-to-exceed rates for cleanpowersf without any further delay, and promising further action if the public utilities commission fails to set rates. >> supervisor breed? >> thank you. since this item is up for adoption without reference to committee, i'm going to try and keep my comments as brief as possible. but this issue really addresses two things. the first is the merits of clean power. the second is the board of supervisors's role as policy maker -- as a policy making body for the city and county of san francisco. on the first point i would argue and i don't think this is an exaggeration. the cleanpowersf is the program is the singlemost important environmental initiative in san francisco. we have the opportunity here to provide 100% renewable californian and union made electricity. that is a major, major achievement. according to the epa production and transition of electricity is the single largest source of greenhouse gases in the country. more than transportation, more

>> i'm asking the public utilities commission to please not let them take my community's water. do not support the 45-year contract. please protect us, thank you, luke. >> with one young fryeburg resident testifying, you have people tweeting us from fryeburg. >> we have nick, he's concerned about the conflict of interest. who knows, i don't know the laws, but shouldn't it be tightened to even serve on a water board? we have nicki, talking about the public utilities commission, and no one spoke out about the contract. so the people of fryeburg are asking a lot of questions. mike, what are you thinking? >> mike, hang on, before you jump in there, i want to give thomas a chance to talk here, because we're talking about the public utility commission, and i want to explain the conflict of interest issue that a lot of people are talking about. we mentioned at the top of the show, an advocate, all of whom have ties to nestle. and thomas, you've not decided whether or not to recuse yourself yet. two people already have, two are left. and why have you not decided and what are the conseque

citing the board's role as the preeminent policy making body in san francisco, urging the public utilities commission to set not-to-exceed rates for clean power sf without any further delay, and promising further action if the public utilities commission fails to set rates. >> supervisor breed. >> thank you. colleagues, i would like to ask for a continuance for this item to next week's board meeting. >> colleagues, supervisor breed has made a motion to continue for one week. seconded by supervisor avalos. if we could take that motion to continue without objection. that shall be the case to the 17th of september. [gavel] >> madam clerk, can you read the in memoriams? >> yes, mr. president. today's meeting will be adjourned in memory of the following beloved individuals. on behalf of supervisor mar for the late ms. susan heron zib ot. on behalf of supervisor tang for the late young kevin john mcguire. on behalf of the full board of supervisors for the late ms. gail bishop. ms. evelyn wilson. and ms. christine vandemere. >> and is there any more business in front of the body? >> that concludes our busin

this is a commission that consisted of all the same members that are currently on the commission according to radika fox of the public utilities commission. one person was absent. that was commissioner cain, but all the rest of the commissioners were present. this is a resolution that approves the shell energy contract. it approves the general manager going into negotiations with the shell energy contract. the mayor said that the shell contract was a sole source contract, but we know that these contracts were contracts for providing clean power to the puc and consumers in san francisco. it was competitively bid. there was a lot of discussion over and over again from the mayor's responses that the board of supervisors had approved by resolution an ordinance a certain energy mix of 95% clean power and only 5% recs. there is nothing in the resolution ordinance that says that you would have that energy mix and there is actually in this resolution that comes from the puc, there is nothing there either. so, there's no reference to -- it's only anecdotal discussions that we talked about a framework that could be 95% affirmed energy m

again, i'm radika fox with the san francisco public utilities commission. i want to thank supervisor mar for the opportunity to share some of the work that the puc is doing, both about helping our public, our residents, our rate payers understand where their water comes from and the benefits of drinking tap water. to start, i just wanted to -- i wanted to begin by just sort of situating our work around promoting access to tap water in the context of our broader public outreach and education efforts. a you all know, the puc provides water, wastewater and municipal power here in san francisco. and as we think about our public education work, we really focus on sort of the theme of one water one system. we want people to understand where their water comes from. it's pristine [speaker not understood] from the sierra nevada that travels by gravity to san francisco. but then what happens after that water leaves their tap, leaves your body, and to really help people also understand about our wastewater system and the work that we do to make sure that that water is

on items 8 and 9 it is to be determined by the public utility commission and some language should be strictly and on page 3 line 6 there's a refers to the san francisco water department it should be for the public works commission. so those are technical amendments i'll move when we go to public comment. >> great is there any public comment on to me number 1? seeing none, public comment is closed. i'll forward this to those the board >> so first could we move the technical amendments. >> yes. >> and i'll move this for the full board tomorrow. >> item 2 is an ordinance for the use of self-prethat he would to permits the projects to the city of san francisco. >> supervisor kim is the leg legislator and they want this to be turned to the call of the chair for rehe scheduling at a later time. >> i'm happy to support given that supervisor customs not here it's solicited an interesting conversations. over the last twoou hours i've heard that the industry is trying to found a better way to muffler the sounds out of their planes. okay. is there any public comment

utilize the building for an office building. to build an icon i can building that will house a lot of city departments. >> the san francisco public utilities commission an important job. we provide clean, pristine public drinking water to 2.6 million people in the san francisco bay area from the hetch hetchy regional water system. with also generate clean renewable energy for city services like public buses, hospitals, schools, and much more. and finally, we collect and treat all the city's wastewater and stormwater making it safe enough to discharge into the san francisco bay and pacific ocean. >> in 2006 the puc was planning a record number of projects. >> the public utilities commission is a very infrastructure-rich organization. we're out there rebuilding the water system. we've budget working on power generation in the country. we've been doing sewer for the city. we're looking at a brand-new rebuild of all watt systems in san francisco and we haven't had a home that's been other than mental. >> they staff over 900 people. the puc is in two office locations. >> you know, this is such a great place for a building. if the puc owned that building a

i continue to be grateful for their services to our city on the public utilities commission along with commissioners moran and deter. i have been very clear in publicly stating my concerns with the community choice aggregation program for many months, including the compulsory participation, the higher electric rates, the lack of a real plan for local jobs and local renewable energy. but it's not just me. our friends and labor movement have also been vocal in their concerns. they voted back in may to formally oppose the cca program. and if you read their resolution as i did, you'll notice that their rationale for posing the latest version of the community choice aggregation is exactly the same as mine. first and foremost, they want to see a program that actually creates jobs in san francisco by creating city-owned sustainable energy sources. this could include building wind farms, installing solar panels on municipal buildings, doing energy retrofits to existing residential or commercial buildings. supervisor, the voters are the ultimate policy makers of the city and county of san franc

meal amelia cruz of the san francisco public utilities commission. >> thank you, commissioners, my name is emilio cruz for the public utilities commission. the puc thanks you for this tonight. project pool is established by two men robert kelly and robert mason. the idea of the program is to reach to some of the our less advantaged high schools and employment to high school students. the point was to give them employment to help themselves and families and exposures to careers throughout the city. 32 you that program it grew through the years and this year the public utilities commission under the general manager has hired 140 students from local high schools to participate in project pool and through its investment and our partners we hired a total of 640 youth this summer to give them exposure to units. [ to opportunities. [ applause ] the last thing i will say that there is so many other reasons to support diversity. as we bring these students into puc and as they commas high school students and college interns, they see the diversity within our organization. they see an african amer

of the california public utilities commission. >> there's another issue, this one is happening behind closed doors during a meeting with san bruno's mayor and the city manager. offer chief investigator with more on a growing conflict and the controversy as well. >> witnessed something like that before. >> reporter: it happened inside the san francisco offices of the california public utilities commission. >> his behavior was highly unprofessional and inappropriate. >> reporter: at a meeting between san bruno leaders and puc president michael peavy. >> we sat down and the first thing he said was, this is your meeting, you called it. what do you want? >> what was that tone? >> the tone was arrogance. i was a little surprised. >> reporter: san bruno's mayor and city manager called the meeting last december to discuss pg&e's penalty and safety plans. it was two years after the deadly san bruno pipeline explosion killed eight people, injured more than 60 and leveled an entire neighborhood. >> he said, what you did in front of my building was bull [ bleep ]. and i was taken aback. he was re

in the public utilities commission, the chief counsel and the public utilities commission work for pg&e up to 2008. that's the concern i have. >> just goes to show you when you're on the inside, you're really on the inside. i want to thank you for joining us. we covered a lot of area there and now get back and try to do some more okay? >> do some next year. >> when we come back -- we'll be right back. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, weapons arsenal. some republican lawmakers say it will allow >>> a new debate over the diplomatic deal to get rids of syria's chemical weapons arsenal. some say it will allow syria's president time to delay and conceal. the president says syria can't use the deal as a stalling tactic. >> we are not just going to take russia and assad's word for it. we need to see concrete actions to demonstrate that assad is serious about giving up the chemical weapons and if diplomacy fails the united states and the international community must be prepare today act. >> we turn to former mayor brown on -- for more on the behind the scenes politics and how president obama handled the crisis

the public utilizes commission have tried to protect the water supply and protect the services. i say this last weekend and the incredible staff and operations they have full-time 24 adheres a day. their staffed here in the city and they're up coming facilities have been working around the clock and they deserve our thanks. the san francisco fire department have sent several strike teams to protect the water assets they've done an incredible job and they've exhausted. our rec and park department have kept the staff to help protect the properties and the firefighters. the fire came and i'm sure we got the updates within 1 eight of the property and san francisco families can continue to use the camp and make memories for generations to come. i want to thank the department of emergency and management the multiple city departments and keeping the city for the record o informed and lastly thank the planning department so we can begin the process of collecting costs. i want to ask my colleagues to support this. it is an essentially step to make sure we have the opportunity to gather t

public utilities commission. >> commissioners, [speaker not understood] tag teaming you here. the item before you is discussion of possible action to discuss the memorandum of understanding between the san francisco public utilities commission and the [inaudible] to address maintenance, operations and recreational program at lake merced. first, a bit of background because it does have a large background here. as you know, lake merced is a 300 acre freshwater lake which sits within a larger tract of property known as the lake merced tract. it serves multiple purposes including acting as emergency water supply in case of disaster and has a destination for outdoor weighter based recreation such as boating and fishing. in 1950, the public utilities commission adopted a resolution giving the rec and park department the right to "occupy, use, and improve for park and recreation purposes the lake merced tract." your predecessors on the rec and park commission accepted this offer and for the last 53 years rec and park has managed recreation, landscape, maintenance, and property leases on