and president of the union square association. let's hear it for all those judges, ladies and gentlemen. now, these judges have a very, very difficult job. they have to rate the competitors. each bell ringer will be judged on rhythm, originality, and style. today we're going to find out who has the it factor and before the amateur competition stuff starts, i'd like to bring up a former bell-ringing champion, mr. carl payne, ladies and gentlemen. not one, not two, not three, 10-time bell-ringing champion. the only bell-ringing champion who is even close to this would be mr. byron cobb, who has five wins. and buddy, my second husband, what's the secret to winning? >> stay on god's good side. >> ah, that sounds good. now what we're going to do is ask you to go up and gib these fine people a sample of the championship bell-ringing that you have done since, oh, gosh, i can't even -- when cable car was in black and white. it's been a long time. mr. carl payne, the winningest cable car bell ringer ever. [ringing bell] [applause] >> carl

wes tyler of union square. wes? big mystery.by the process of elimination, it's koit! >> koit. mr. scotty bastopol for the third year in a row. love this city. thank you. >> runners up. the 47th not -- annual cable car bell ringing competition, no particular order, mr. trini whitaker. sullivan philips. ken lunardi. and joseph hsu. come up and get your trophies. thank the judges. [laughter] now it's time for what you've been waiting for, third place, ladies and gentlemen, mr. howard woo. howard woo. again, they're not booing you. all right. mr. ken mcdonald. chief of muni operations officer, please come forward to help me present the second place trophy. second place, ladies and gentlemen. mr. frank ware. and before we announce the winner i'm going to drag this out even longer. i'm going to take a moment to thank the kind people who made the 47th annual cable car bell ringing contest possible the the vice chair of the sfmt board of directors. and friends of the cable car music, union square association, trophy masters shanghai re

but the other service entrance will be at the union square plaza. there will be direct entrances at the union square grand jury at the north end. our third station of course will be the chinatown station. the inset picture you see is the property we are acquiring to build the station. that hogan-vest property is in that location right here. this is where the station entrance been llt. >> that is at stockton and what? >> it is at stockton between clay and jackson. i believe hogan-vest may be at jackson, but i will have to verify that. >> ok. >> it is washington. >> ok. >> the final design activities, as i said earlier, we have one construction contract underway, and the design teams are providing construction support and submital and request for information review. those two pictures of of that 1250 utilities contract. one is of piling at 4th street and the other looks like an interceptor vault for communications. that contract is about 50% complete, and we expect to complete that contract in april of next year. the other activities underway by the d

for example, minimal at chinatown, but definitely at union square. we have a very healthy community relations group as part of this project. there are a lot of elements that are working with the union square merchants and dealing with those issues. but we can come back with more of the details on that because those are questions that we had to answer a couple of years ago when we went through this process. but i don't recall the exact -- >> one would be to minimize it during the christmas season, obviously a busy season for them. as long as you are doing the outreach with the community, that is excellent. the one thing i note on this map which is an excitement to me, you have in here a possible future line which appears to be running along eerie. am i reading the map correctly? >> which page is that on? >> possible future muni line. >> this map was taken from some of the earlier preliminary engineering drawings, which had geary in the concept stage. at that time we didn't know if it would be a connection to the subway or a b.r.t. this man shows that

then it moves along fourth street and stockton to move up to union square, chinatown. in january this year, the transportation authority authorized the final design for the project. later in march, the transportation authority board adopted a budget of $1.5 billion, he residence service state of august 18. to date, from the inception of the project, $60.3 million in expenses. the full funding grant agreement is expected in november. that is the means by which the term federal transportation authority guarantees of the funding for the project. that is when the funding levels are agreed to. right now the project is in the final design phase which will be from -- has been running from june of this year until june 2012. the work is basically working on the design itself, plan specifications, estimates, but also, right away acquisitions, fta road map, it interagency coordination. the road map, which is attached to your documents, i believe it starts on page 54. it is a rather extensive list of deliverable that the fta has determined necessary to cement before they can agree

they can go in and around union square.ve space is now up in the castro, in fact. >> how many are there? >> we have about 420. >> are they here all year round? >> out of the 420, i know 150 to sell all year round. i mean like five-seven days a week. >> are they making their living of of this? >> this is their sole source of income for many. >> how long have you been with this program. how much has it changed? >> i have been with the program since it began 37 and a half years ago but i have seen changes in the trend. fashion comes and goes. >> i think that you can still find plenty of titis perhaps. >> this is because the 60's is retro for a lot of people. i have seen that come back, yes. >> people still think of this city as the birth of that movement. great, thank you for talking about the background of the program. i'm excited to go shopping. >> i would like you to meet two street artists. this is linda and jeremy. >> night said to me to print them -- nice to meet you. >> can you talk to me about a variety of products tha

story in many other localities and in san francisco it's been slow getting off the ground and union squares able to hire folks in order to provide uniformed guides that make the shopping insuranc expe much better and you have able t accept plement the services for keeping the streets clean and respond to graffiti quicker and marketing. >> and we are sitting in it as we speak and it's one of the only ones in the business district of san francisco and the other is union square and fisherman's wharf is one and mission is only one block and trying to improve things on our own but we could use the city resources to get things done. >> i hope that city hall begins to see what they need to do to help us, and be a bit more -- not just approachable, but responsible for the entire city. >> i think we are making great advances with the parks that have been neglected over many years and still we have a way t go obviously and the other is the planning process and we are on the verge of permanent controls for the mission district and the dot com boom and whatever form it takes in the future and will not

and, today, workers at the hilton union square hotel cast ballots on whether they should strike. ktvu's david stevenson is in san francisco with the latest. david? >> reporter: julia i'm inside the workers union hall where voting has just wound down. about over half of the will 00 eligible hilton workers today cast this ballot. the results won't be in for another hour and a half or so but the folks we have talked to say they have overwhelmingly voted to authorize the strike. even as they greeted guest and aided tourists workers at san francisco's hilton hotel in union square this afternoon were gearing up for a possible strike. >> to get a fair deal we've got to stay outside as long as we can. i mean that's -- and we're ready for it. >> it's health care, it's pension, it's wages, and it's the right to organize, it's, you know, basically workload. >> reporter: 9,000 employees at 60 san francisco hotels have worked without a contract for 13 months. union leaders say today's strike vote aimed to put pressure on hilton and encourage other hotels to make a deal. the union says the hote

of thousands of people every year to go to chinatown in a very expedited and fast manner, also union square. i think it does set an important milestone, in terms of providing rail access to other parts of the city. i think this is an important project and is good for the city as a whole. commissioner chu: thank you. any other comments from the committee? commissioner cihu? commissioner chiu: this is a project that will have an enormous impact on the community. insuring that we have real north/south access to our system will expand our transit options and will help the community in ways that is hard to imagine at this time, particularly being able to use such an enormous amount of federal funds in these tough economic times is an opportunity that we have already decided on numerous occasions as a city to move forward on and that i will continue to support. >commissioner chu: thank you. next item. >> introduction of new items. this is an informational item. commissioner chu: commissioners? commissioner dufty: earlier today, we took action on a number of black related funding items which all o

that we can prior, we did have some violence, in particular at union square.ue operators to come to city hall and talk within which it with him about what could be done, so approximately 12 new operators talked to the mayor, members of the staff and myself and mr. crenshaw. this was a reaction to the weekends incidents, -- weekend's incidents, and we talked about how to further professionalize the industry and avoid these things in the future. it has been a tough summer, as you know, and the mayor showed a commitment, i think, to this by spending more than 1.5 hours reaching for his cell phone at all and was completely attentive, discussing best practices and ways in which the city, including the police department, the entertainment commission, and his office, could step up to promote a safer night live, in general. the mayor asked for a draft document of best practices by the first of september, and a small group of us, including myself and some members of the command staff and a few industry representatives it, have been meeting to create that draft, as well

. >> reporter: the blazing sun beat down on competitors today in union square at the transportation agency 40th annual cable call bell ringing contest. >> they signify san francisco and our community. >> reporter: the high heat was another attractive tourism today. they scored into the 90s by noon. >> the weather is sensational. >> reporter: they wish it would drive visitors inside to spend money. >> sometimes the heat may want you to stay out more often. lately they have been coming in to drink our margaritas. people know that september and october are the best days of weather. >> reporter: san francisco did $7.8 billion in tourism sales last year. as the hospitality industry rebounds from the recession. >> this will be our busiest time for meetings and conventions. the tourism time is the busiest time. the fall and winter has been growing for san francisco. >> reporter: the convention and visitors bureau says it attracted a number of short term visitors from the central valley. in san francisco david stevenson. >>> california gave president obama higher marks than the rest of the nation.

i am here representing the union square business improvement district. we support this project, we believe that it will provide jobs and tax revenue for this city. with regards to the architecture, i would just comment that to the open facades will bring light to the street much like macy's does sense it has been renovated. i think that this is a nice improvement. we urge you to support this project. thank you. >> i am the chief executive officer of -- and we own or lease the golden gate. we more than anyone are aware of how challenging it is to do business in the mid market neighborhood. safety improved with the renovation over 10 years ago and attracted more visitors and locals to the area. the construction will continue what unfortunately has become a stall the trend in the area and it will attract more customers. this development will bring much-needed foot traffic west of fifth street and will help to revitalize the area and the increase safety. existing businesses will benefit from the increased parking. our theater doors have limited access to the

the union and hotel management at the san francisco hilton union square had no comment.but sources tell san francisco business times the strike could come sometime next week. just last week the hilton employees authorized again to go forward with the strike. the talks have stalled. >>> it is being described as a major engineers challenge. today work began on a 5-mile tunneling project under the surface of san francisco bay. engineers say the underwater tunnel from minlow park to newarck will carry water to the bay area. >> reporter: this is much about preserving the bay area's water supply when the big one hits. work began on what will be a 5- mile tunnel that transports water from yosemite to the bay area. it will run 40 to 141 feet below the bay bottom. >> we want a system that we believe will be back in service at a regular wintertime level we call it within 24 hours and will be fully operational within 30 days. >>> 2.5 million bay area people depend on the system for their water. the system pipes are old. laying pipes under the water is an engineering feat. >> there'

this is the union square business improvement district. they are hoping that they have a much better shopping this season and they are looking for more spending. macy's announced they will hire 6,500 workers for the holiday season. >> they have to do well during the retail season. this is maker or break, especially for a store like macy's. that they are hiring means that they feel optimistic. >> reporter: they expect same store sales to be up three to 3.5%. macy's may also need to improve customer sales. >> they got bad marks for consumers last hello day season. - - last holiday season. >> reporter: clients are spending more on clothing this year. >> my clients are feeling better on everything in general, the economy in general. >> reporter: but not everybody says they're going to spend more. >> i'm a penny pincher any way. so everyone in good times i watch my money. >> probably less. unless we go wild and spend. >> reporter: many retailers are beginning to hire people right now for the upcoming holiday season. live in san francisco, sal c

. >> reporter: workers at the hilton hotel in union square this afternoon were gearing up for a possible strike. >> we have got to stay outside as long as we can and we are ready for that. >> it's healthcare, pensions, wages and the right to organize. it is basically workload. >> reporter: 1,000 employees at 60 san francisco hotels have worked without a contract for 13 months and leaders say tonight straight -- tonight strike vote puts pressure on hilton and urges other hotels to make a deal. san francisco booking rates are up for a third consecutive month. >> our patience has run out and it's time to get one of those companies to negotiate a contract with. >> they will pay workers. we value them but we also need to be able to have contracts that are fair to the people not only working in hotels that own them as well. >> reporter: today's vote comes after a series of tickets this year and a spokesman says the hilton strike could damage his city's tourism industry. >> one of the advantages of packing those rooms with people is to keep the employees working and i think the union on the deb

the bid is the officer in union square. he's usually on a bicycle or on foot. any questions about the staffing? the breakdown of the district's -- >> i did have a question. the bilingual personnel section of that, i am glad you provided us with that. it shows an awareness of the language needs. i wanted to get information about that. there is a very large asian population and southeast asian population. how does that work for your district? do you have a need for more bilingual officers? how is the language access policy work? >> there is always a need for bilingual officers. that includes french and german because of tourists. we have two. wanna is a driver. -- one is a driver. we have a mandarin-speaking one. cantonese. we would like to get a couple more of those, if we could. our numbers always could be better, especially -- we are in the cambodian -- in this community, that is more of a need for us. we do have one japanese that is not up there, also. >> how are you able to address those needs? cambodian, it is harder to get that language. >> i had some wome

the film is being put on by the same person that puts on the films at union square, washington square and delores park. >> that is not true though. i am on the board of that organization. this is not our film. so -- >> who puts your films on? who manages them? the person who set everything up and it is tom boss. tom is the person who is putting this film on. i talked to him. i talked to felder to find out what the procedures were. he says you have to get a permit. took me probably a week to figure out the website. filled out a permit and i sent it in. in the meantime, this was kind of an add-on that bridge thought would be good for community building. there seems to be a problem in san francisco around project areas where there is almost a wall. we are trying to break that wall down. so, there was an advertisement in the -- that came out august 1. this is a copy of the flyers that were posted on telephone poles and light poles. and we knocked on doors. if nobody answered, we put them there. we had a meeting that was attended by about eight people. no one was against it. we talked to t

conveyance and development of the first phase of the hunters point shipyard, the renovation of union square, the new parking brought, the development of the hotel on former surplus property along the waterfront, and the renovation of harvey park golf course into a pga championship course, mission bay, and the trans bay development, treasure island development authority as well that he helped to create. all of those things seem so easy to say, but they have been tremendous. they have been huge. michael has spent more time outside smoking cigarettes and drinking diet coke than anyone i have ever known. michael has lived and breathed our city. michael cohen, thank you so much for all you have done. it has been huge. it has been big. come up here. and he is very modest. i want to thank your wife and your daughters for all the time they have given and all the i$iÑyów3 from them and all the nights you have woken up in the middle of the night thinking about what you should have said or what you are going to say. thank you. i hope you ark a while because just being a public employee is easy to say,

it's hot nearly everywhere, from san francisco's union square, the peninsula, the south bay, east bay, summer vacation one month late. let's bring in craig auraro? >> reporter: we did hit some records today, santa rosa and livermore two records today. it is a hot one right here, kids are out there playing and enjoying some of the cooler weather. this is going to be with us not only today but into tomorrow and monday as we go through the afternoon and into the evening hours,emperatures a bit close tore 80 degrees by the time we get into the afternn hours. by the time we get into tomorrow, we'll see more 90s,te the only place we'll see cooli will be closer to the coast, but even then, we're dealing with 750s and 80s. as we go into monday, this will be the hottest day. it's 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. stay hydrated, day two, you'll start to feel the effects of the heat. once we get into monday, we're looking at some 80s, 90s and by the time we get p into 4:00 p.m. monday, we're talking about 100 degree readings in the bay area. i'll talk more about the heat in a minute. raj? thank you. >>> san f

sadly, one shooting resulted in the death of a german tourist near union square around 9:00 p.m. and the other resulted in injuries near fulsome and sixth streets around 2:00 a.m. in the first case, the sfpd have suspects in custody. although know details other than that are available and this is an open investigation. verbal reports have indicated that the venues in the -- permitted venues in the area were closed and this violence occurred as a result of a private teen party in what we know is a comedy school that is not regulated by the entertainment commission. the second case, the victims are reported to have been patrons of the nightclub, but no further details have been sent to the entertainment commission offices. >> if i may interrupt the director's report to ask a question regarding the teen party, the police code under which entertainment permits are granted requires that a party for youth be specially permitted as a special dance, and i'm wondering if the venue in question that operated that evening as a teen gathering point had the appropriate permit from the entertai

they hit the prada store in union square about 4:30. a man and woman in their 30s walked out with several thousand dollars worth of things. the store won't confirm that. with in an hour the store was back open and it was business as usual. >>> drivers still reaching for cell phones with tragic results. why a group is pushing for a total ban on talking or texting behind the wheel. >> i love that idea. >> a new meaning of meals on wheels. how you can experience fine dining while being driven about the bay. >>> caught in the act. . brown and oakland's schools. what were the facts? fact: march 7, 2000. brown asks voters for new mayoral power to appoint school board members. he gets it, and promises better schools. but the drop out rate increases 50%. the school budget goes into a 100 million dollar deficit. the schools become so bad the state has to take them over. it was "largely a bust," he admitted. jerry brown. failure as governor. failure as mayor. failure we can't afford now. until two years ago, when my dad transferred to istanbul. t

nearly a thousand workers at the hilton hotel and san francisco union square are voting on whether orot to strike. the vote is because of stalled contract negotiations. the workers are among 9000 san francisco hotel employees within without new contracts since august of 2009. the delta workers union says they're arguing against proposed increases in workload, health- care costs and the freezing of pensions. >> open-ended until the contract is signed or could be three days, two weeks the membership at the hilton is determined to to do whatever it takes to settle contract. >> voting results are expected sometime tonight. a big crowds of the dmv office in fremont today as renovations at the hayward office kept customers from using their usual dmv. kron 4 shows us just how bad things have become frustrated customers trade >> just approaching the fremont dmv is not encouraging here's a typical experience >> hear my lunchi picked up the tickets first of all there's no parking, i parked a block away down the street walked to the counter and was told to get a ticket and it's in our wake. >> i

and we use the pedestrian scrambles in the financial district and south of market and union square when we have tight intersections and in larger intersections, doing a pedestrian scramble would require more signal time and that could have negative impacts on muny -- muni and those are things that we balance. >> and [inaudible] intersection is always my nightmare, and if we re[inaudible] driver's license and make a tough examination and they have to pass every question and if they don't pass, no license, make it work out. [applause] and instead of spending money, educating, there is no need for more education, they know but they ignore it. and we have to make it very, very, enforce the law very strongly. and in england and hong kong, and you know when you cross the street, you cannot pass [inaudible] and this side they got a green [inaudible] it hold up other traffic. so we have to maybe, be wise from them and make it tough not to get driver's license easily. and if they abuse and fine and hit that pocket very, very heavy. that's the only way to make them learn. we spend so much money e

nearly a thousand workers at the hilton hotel in san francisco union square where voting on whether notstrike. the vote has over stalled contract negotiations the workers are among 9000 san francisco hotel workers were been without a new contract since august of 2009. the hilton workers union says there arguing against proposed increases and workloads health-care costs and the freezing of pensions. voting results are expected tonight. >> we have a programming note to tell you about tomorrow nbc will air the giants game and tron will air nbc programming. at 8:00 p.m. on kron 4 if you can catch this season premiere of the apprentice. that will be followed by a special edition of the kron 4 news at 10:00. we'll be right back. time now to take a look at rob black females the first ones coming from indy should i take my retirement as a lump-sum of $550,000 or $1,800 monthly? let me guess eton hundred dollars a month. >> depends ultimately let's double that: a million dollars and 3600 she's getting a 3.6 rate of return may be a little bit less in the scenario. if you could live off that that

the building on union square, one of the finest buildings i've seen in pictures, in vegas memories also, which had a very fine preservation option that could have included a department store while maintaining that fine building. the loss of the city of paris department store on union scare, another fine component of that whole composition of the square. and the loss of an entire victorian neighborhood in the western edition and the loss of the cultural values of the many, many square acres, square miles of this city for really economic reasons and not for societal or cultural benefits. i know that working, having been on the heritage board and having had been on the review committee for many years, that preservation and development and economics are not at odds. that many developmenters who came before the issues committee were often very amazed that we could find solutions that actually benefited them but were also very beneficial to the preservation as well. with sustainability now becoming a very common commissioner veronese: badge in planning and preservation -- verbiage in planning