it is causing the light, and it is underutilized and does not serve the city. this is a terrible use of our waterfront. our ability to get their, so as you come down along the embarcadero, we do not have demolished lots, and we need to move this project forward and bring more vitality to the waterfront that we have and bring it to life more. chair mar: thank you. i am going to call a few more names. [calling names]

but aren't on the underutilized list. to get the properties on the list and we need to sell them off. here is two and a half acre. you can see the great views and where downtown georgetown. this is high value property s t sitting well over a decade. it is time for the administration to move. >> congressman mica, what were your thoughts on the hearing? i know you brought -- you were prepared in your remarks and said there is upwards of 14,000 properties like this. >> we have done hearings just in washington. this is our third property that is vacant and underutilized. again, prime real estate. georgetown. highest value probably on the east coast sitting here for more than deck dad decade. outrageous when you a soaring national debt and the federal governmenting sitting on this incredibly valueable asset. our goal is to get this off the taxpayer role and put it on the profit side of the margin ledger and get a return for the taxpayers. >> how confident are you guys that something is going be done that the next time on the r

but aren't on the underutilized list.o get the properties on the list and we need to sell them off. here is two and a half acre. you can see the great views and where downtown georgetown. this is high value property s t sitting well over a decade. it is time for the administration to move. >> congressman mica, what were your thoughts on the hearing? i know you brought -- you were prepared in your remarks and said there is upwards of 14,000 properties like this. >> we have done hearings just in washington. this is our third property that is vacant and underutilized. again, prime real estate. georgetown. highest value probably on the east coast sitting here for more than deck dad decade. outrageous when you a soaring national debt and the federal governmenting sitting on this incredibly valueable asset. our goal is to get this off the taxpayer role and put it on the profit side of the margin ledger and get a return for the taxpayers. >> how confident are you guys that something is going be done that the next time on the rec

it is reminding all of us what it is like to be underappreciated, underrepresented, and underutilized.

it is causing the light, and it is underutilized and does not serve the city. this is a terrible use of our waterfront. our ability to get their, so as you come down along the embarcadero, we do not have demolished lots, and we need to move this project forward and bring more vitality to the waterfront that we have and bring it to life more. chair mar: thank you. i am going to call a few more names. [calling names] justin, manny -- >> that afternoon, supervisors. i am with the sheet workers. i am in support of this program. i urge you to move it forward. this is to revitalize this portion of the waterfront. so we ask you to move this forward. thank you very much. >> get afternoon, supervisors. this is in support of the washington project. we believe this is a significant improvement. this has pedestrian friendly, publicly accessible open space, and aquatics center, ground- floor retail, an underground parking. the heights are appropriate for the area. the project sponsor has made adjustments for the design and scale of the buildings, and given the proximity, th

that face the central market district and those challenges include the preponderant of vacant and underutilized buildings. many of them historic resources that are in poor condition. a lack of neighborhood serving retail, a lot of negative behavior in the public from -- realm, and a -- there opportunities including payroll tax exclusion and expansion of technology companies in the neighborhood. an expansion of cultural institutions in the neighborhood and small businesses. a new energy from our friday of city agencies and external partners. it seems like people are ready to see something happen in this neighborhood. some of the incentives and programs that we have implemented in central market over the last couple of years include committed to benefit districts, payroll tax exclusion, and other incentives. it dedicated loan fund and the number of safety initiatives and others. you can see the boundary -- companies in that area are exempt from paying tax on net new jobs created and they are the first source -- their wors -- there are requirements that go with that. twitter moved giant earlier th

agree that there are too many schools that we pay the full amount to maintain, but they are badly underutilized. >> school officials said they will use that data to come up with a 10-year building plan. public hearings are planned for the summer. if you would like to look at the report, go to wbaltv.com. >> some encouraging news on the housing front. hong prices rose to nearly -- in nearly all major -- home prices rose to nearly in all major cities. increases in 19 of the 20 cities attract with an average of 1.3%. that is the second straight month the prices have risen. the attorney-general met with dozens of distressed homeowners deceiving in an effort to help with mortgage settlements. it is all part of an ongoing effort to help homeowners get the relief and assistance that may be available. the attorney general said he wanted to act -- one of the attendees to take one thing away from this workshop, ask for help. >> they do not need to do very much. they need to get a house seat -- housing counselor. $960 million, they want to get out to people on the brink of foreclosure. >> tonight's worksh

going to the planning commission on thursday with some updates by supervisor kim regarding the underutilized vacant buildings, which will not affect test due to the fact that anything that requires a change and use or occupancy or the number of units will require a new certificate of occupancy. that does have some effect on their legislation. we have made it very clear that that will have an effect on their legislation. it will be a change of occupancy in our eyes and will require a new certificate. it will trigger the effects of the rent control board. they are looking into it to see if it is going to really affect -- they are looking at the larger buildings to convert them. but we have to cover the bases in every kind of occupancy. that is all the legislation that we have right now, except for the state bills. we will be working on -- working with the mayor's office. >> item 12c, update on permit tracking system. >> i was just looking at the additional penalties for foreclosed properties legislation indicating that it is going to come up before land use after may 3. has there been any move

this only first came out and the occupancy or usefulness of occupied or underutilized properties was april 1 of this year i think that is a good day before which it has to be vacant. with regards to testimony by some owners and facilities, they are happy to have them and that is fine, there is no reason why if they have been successful or occupied or working, there is no reason why they would have to sell its. nobody is compelling anybody to do anything. i would be in favor of the legislation as staff has drafted its with considerations, of course, to the area of grandfathered situations. i think that if we get some agreement on that, fine. at least that part of it should be continued until a future today. the moratorium is a good way for the aircraft. >> i think it is two separate issues if it means more and the legal terminology, a also am very supportive of the amendment to justify -- i want to make sure that as part of the motion. the comparisons to san francisco state is different because it is a state institution and they can do what they want and we don't have any jurisdiction

and the project has high land use and urban design elements that redevelopment underutilized until sites currently consisting of a surface parking lot and a health club surrounded by a chain-link fence. finally, the product as the economic impact, including 250 construction jobs and 140 permanent employment opportunities supporting the new commercial uses. credit benefits specific to the port include -- continuing the ports effort that began with the ferry building, pier 1, to revitalize the waterfront and realize the vision of the port's waterfront land use plan, the pacific avenue corridor that will be reopened, substantial benefits including onetime payments and ongoing payments, revenue from the infrastructure financing district as proposed as part of this project, underground parking facilities, including no less than 175 public parking spaces, a widening walkway, a distinctive waterfront design and presence, and a destination that appears to residents of san francisco and the bay, as well as visitors to outside the region. removal of the only curb cut on the inland side of the emba

i urge your support of 8 washington as a much-needed improvement to the underutilized parcel on the embarcadero. it has too much to offer not to be improved. thank you. >> my name is michael. i am with the construction and trades council. both the board and the city have -- both the port and the city each have their respective needs fact, both financially and other needs. but the port is an economic driver in this city still. certainly, not the economic driver it once was, but the economic record will be -- economic driver it will be. it will produce jobs not just for us, but for others. well beyond the jobs projected from this individual project. the participation of the port and the city, their various participations are generically different. the city have granted additional hike in order to increase the amount of taxable property available to them. but the port is actually engaging in a land swap. that means a different structure of financing available to the port. it should be available to that port and to the city in this project. we ask you to allow it to go forward as quickly as possibl

included in the proposal which was a consideration for buildings that are currently vacant or underutilized we think we're working with the city attorney. we work to ensure that a lot of the concerns from the housing advocates are dressed. we're at the point at which a couple of changes that will -- i imagine staff will talk to you about or a can certainly describe -- i can certainly describe we feel safer about the conversion peace. what we're considering is is this the best way to address the issue we're looking at. as i reported last time, we have 15 single room occupancy hotels that were either 100% residential or ford taurus to use that are vacant -- for tourist use that are vacant.blid public safety concerns and we wanted to see if maybe student housing was an appropriate use for those buildings. will look very much forward to your feedback on this question and to the continued discussion that the board will entertain in the next month and that we as an officer committed to continue with our -- as an office are committed to continue with our stakeholders. >> ok. i will go over some in

the planning department, the first time they saw the project, said this was underutilized in terms of housing. this is a transit-rich area. every step of the way, the developer reduced the size of the project. the actual application was filed last august, august 2011. this has not been going through the process for seven years. the developer may have been wishing this was going through for seven years. he did not even have site control until three years ago. mr. snow grove has been wanting this to happen for seven years, but that is not the public process. you have a developer who is double dipping. that has been pointing out by the budget analyst. you need to go back require the first sale of the condos to be the transfer point where the tax comes in. the real world is that is the only place you will have a guarantee of transfer tax, at the first sale. they can be obscured. people will have huge incentives to not allow a second transfer, by doing a limited liability corporation and selling them like that, just like golden gate we did. chairperson chu: thank you. are there other membe

there are a lot of underutilized public space and i realize these soil needs to be rehabilitated but i think there might be a way we can work on sites in between development. there was some talk of this a couple of years ago but maybe we can start looking again at publicly owned, under-utilized sites since the idea is one that is being discussed. i look forward to having discussions with public health. therefore the lot on community health impact studies, i think that directly links to this issue of our urban agriculture. finally, i do srt

there are a lot of underutilized public space and i realize these soil needs to be rehabilitated but i think there might be a way we can work on sites in between development. there was some talk of this a couple of years ago but maybe we can start looking again at publicly owned, under-utilized sites since the idea is one that is being discussed. i look forward to having discussions with public health. therefore the lot on community health impact studies, i think that directly links to this issue of our urban agriculture. finally, i do support mr. allen's amendments of around the employment of the use and that sort of thing. the urban agriculture issue. will it be held in the department of the environment? where will that be? where will it be located? >> if i could answer, right now the city administrator's office is talking about the best place to house staff, said that decision has not been made, but that is something that i hope that the city administrator can make in short order. the idea was to get the department's shopping. >> -- supervisor wiener: dph be an obvious choice, i w

everywhere throughout the city, we will be able to identify unused and vacant spaces, as well as underutilized properties we can turn into greenery, where people can grow foods that would be sustainable for us and bring money off of it at the same time. i ask for your support. supervisor chu: thank you very much. i wanted to comment on this item. i support the goal of presenting incentives for the use that is vacant. i support the coordination of the urban agricultural activities across the city. another is about a half a million dollars that get spent in various departments for this area. however, i will be voting against this, probably in the minority. i want to explain why. the areas that concern me are not necessarily the intent, but some of the things it would obligate us to. it does obligate us to at least one full-time staff position. i am not sure i think that is justified at this time. second, it creates a one-stop shop in terms of a goal. it puts a goal of the least 10 new locations of urban agriculture to be completed by january 1. i am not sure what the plans are or whether the fun

and the project has high land use and urban design elements that redevelopment underutilized until sites currently consisting of a surface parking lot and a health club surrounded by a chain-link fence. finally, the product as the economic impact, including 250 construction jobs and 140 permanent employment opportunities supporting the new commercial uses. credit benefits specific to the port include -- continuing the ports effort that began with the ferry building, pier 1, to revitalize the waterfront and realize the vision of the port's waterfront land use plan, the pacific avenue corridor that will be reopened, substantial benefits including onetime payments and ongoing payments, revenue from the infrastructure

stewards of these resources, and they are often underutilized resources, so how do we improve access to those? there is a lot to learn from this that could be applied to the public comments. >> thank you. let's open it up. do we have a microphone for people to come to? ok, we will just it old school. if you have a question, raise your hand, and speak loudly. concise questions will be greatly appreciated. >> [inaudible] >> did everyone here that? ok. >> something that is really amazing about the sharing economy is it is being pioneered in cities. cities exist because of sharing because it is more efficient and more productive to collaborate and share resources, and that is something we are seeing, that our biggest markets are big metropolitan cities, which is different when you look at the tourism industry throughout the world. i mean, of course, we will be in the beach towns, but, the real innovative factor here is it is happening in cities, and it is because the way we work and live is different. we are more transient, mobile, flexible. we do not stay in the same job for our entire

this only first came out and the occupancy or usefulness of occupied or underutilized properties was april 1 of this year i think that is a good day before which it has to be vacant. with regards to testimony by some owners and facilities, they are happy to have them and that is fine, there is no reason why if they have been successful or occupied or working, there is no reason why they would have to sell its. nobody is comp

my neighborhood -- underutilized. do we get anybody there? not a one. we're still open for it. i'm really concerned about the dark skies. i come from a part of the country where other than africa the skies are the darkest there and this is just such an important issue. cities really have ordinances about keeping skies as dark as they can. why? well, next month we're going to have a lunar eclipse. how many people are going to be able to see that if we keep flooding our skies with this brightness? how many blocks are you going to be doing this to try to maybe see venus in the sky? i think this is a really critical issue. i don't think this process has been very well vetted. i don't think it's been thought through. i think we're trying to rush through something here. i think this is about money i don't think it's about kids. i don't think you should certify this and i don't think you sha prove the design. thank you. -- should approve the design. thank you. >> hi, my name is sue grissom and i'm 62 years old. i'm asking you to decide this issue on logic, not emotion and on science,

those tools including section 11b of the voting rights act are generally underutilized and should be put to use before new criminal penalties are created. we're talking about regulating political speech which we know to be at the core of the first amendment's protection and we know that regulation chills speech. the bill under consideration may chill legitimate expressions of opinion, it may chill statements on unsettled grounds of fact or law, it may chill the making of even truthful statements and it will do so within 90 days of an election and that's both federal and state elections because they frequently coincide. during that time, anyone who wishes to speak will have to think about whether not simply whether what they're saying is truthful but rather, whether that statement could expose them to an action from the opposing party. what we know is coming on probably thursday, we're talking about false statements and the court in alvarez will address the power of congress to impose criminal penalties for statements that are untruthful, and we know we can't read anything into an ora

it is currently considered to be underutilized and is deserving of improvement. it similarly emphasizes the naturalistic landscapes qualities at the same time encouraging increase visitor use of the western end of the park. locations include the proposed revisions would " improve the public recreation and increase visitor use. however, it would do so at some level of impact of the naturalistic landscapes qualities of the park. the department finds on balance the proposed renovation of the beach chalet soccer fields to be in conformity with the general plan. some of the highlights include, in addition to the ones i have already mentioned, that the evolving recreational needs of san franciscans require facilities to perform more efficiently than they currently do. we found that the 1000-plus acres of the naturalistic landscapes in golden gate park are not diminished by the proposed renovation. finally, that the large increase of the number of people using the facilities will result in a greater sense of safety amongst pedestrians moving through the western end of t