little city gardens is an urban far more people can come to learn about agriculture and talk about food systems. little city gardens is also a small business in that we aim to support the work that we do have a place that we hold in the community by growing, selling, and distributing fresh produce. we started this business because we believe that productive urban farms have a great role to play in the future of our cities. urban farming has always had an important presence in san francisco. we felt like the agricultural movement could take on the sustainability of some of them could support themselves economically. when we began, there were no gardens that we could look for as a model. we knew there'd be ample benefit and ample challenge in the process. we have experienced plenty of both. we are totally awed every day. and also, as we are trying to carve out a new space, we have challenges every day. as many of you know, the first major obstacle here was the fact that selling the produce was not legal. the zoning code did not allow us to support ourselves. thank you for all of your hard

it is critical to life in a dense, urban city, so we prioritize revenue over cuts. we do not want to cut staff or our programs. we what our pool and recreation centers open. then, we want to make sure that our parks remain clean, safe, and fun and that we have healthy, active, recreational opportunities for all of sentences go, regardless of ability to pay. that is how we prioritize and make our budget decisions. we have made some tough decisions in the last couple of years, and they are starting to bear fruit. our efforts at prioritizing revenue. i am pleased to say that i think this year, even though we have budget challenges, we are going to be able to solve them without laying off our staff and without further reductions in our program. quite the contrary, we are headed very much in the other direction, expanding summer camps and recreational program offerings. specifically for district 8, and i will stop in a second, there is so much good news. there is so much good news for this district, particularly on the capital side here yesterday, we would just awarded $

we're joined with carla short who's the city urban forrestor. is that right? >> uh-huh. >> she's going to look at trees and talk about tree issues. and we invite your questions. she knows all about trees. we have a whole pile of trees ready to put b put in the ground. what kind of trees are they. >> victorian box trees. >> what size are they? >> a 24 inch box, which is the new standard. we do at least 24-inch box or larger unless the site is to constrained that we have to go small every. er -- smaller. it increases the survival rate of the tree. so this is our new standard. >> it takes a little while until they can adapt to the location. how long does that usually take? a couple of seasons? >> it does. we normally will water a tree throughout the dry season which we estimate about nine months of the year. so if it is -- has not rained, we have to go water the tree. once it is established, then it does not need our help. >> there's a particular problem with trees that are in boxes or in planters or that are not planted in the ground and that's that they have a

the city leases it back to the common good city farm. >> if you have urban farms throughout the city, that should take care of the problem. >> okay, prince charles is still on the inside. he's going to be here in 45 minutes. no chance to talk to him as he goes in and comes out, i'm told. i can tell by the sound of the music, he's on the inside listening to go go music. should also point out the lease on this place for this urban farm with the city runs only until october. the people here would like a long-term lease. they would like this kind of farm in every quadrant of the city. back to you anita and lesli. >> it would be great. freshfresh produce is a problem. >> absolutely. and he's there 45 minutes. i'm trying to figure out what he's doing in it there for 45 minutes. >> can't figure it out. >> and why can't we talk to him on his way out? we'll see. >> well, here's some more news for you. bring a reusable bag to the supermarket or be prepared to pay the price. montgomery county approve add 5- cent tax on paper and plastic bags. the new law modeled last year. montgomery county law

urban cities, boston and chicago, had higher prices than just outside of town. but big, suburban areas, including orange county, california, and jacksonville, florida, had higher prices near the beach. one other tip we found. this was last month. if you bought gas on friday morning, it was cheaper than saturday morning. that's when they bump up the prices the most. prices are going down. maybe, dan, you can get a deal on a saturday morning. >> thanks for the advice. we appreciate it. >>> this is not a relaxing holiday weekend in joplin, missouri, where they're still looking for the missing after that massive tornado. there's already signs of recovery and some reasons for hope. our matt gutman is in joplin, missouri, this morning. matt, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, dan. amidst all of this wreckage and debris that you see, there really is some new rebuilding here. this is going to be a hair salon. it started just a couple of days ago. when we came, that roof hadn't yet been put on. this morning, it's already there. they hope to finish this place

cities. yes, this is a uniquely beautiful urban location in areas, in many of the cities of california have more space, more urban -- excuse me, more rural areas, even within a city that they can place these, so they may have different impacts. we also have the director from ed lee and other pieces of information in the record where this city has acknowledged that these boxes will have the potential to cause blight and for that reason have to be carefully cited. i don't know how those cities -- i truly don't know how they proceeded, what evidence they had and where the locations were or how many of the boxes were needed. we really don't have the information. what i do know is the fact that other cities didn't do it doesn't mean that the law doesn't require it here. it's not really relevant. supervisor elsbernd: ok. let's talk about the categorical exemption and the class three, two arguments here. one that you're suggesting they're applying the wrong type, that they should be applying the first type within class three, as i understand it there are three types within class three. what i heard you

rarely do we have an opportunity to have a city project that provides services from two different departments in an urban environment. >> thank-you. i just want to echo what our city librarian has said. this has been a remarkable civic collaboration. in recreation and park, we talk about the need to partner. this has been a partnership within the government -- not just the library and recreation and park, but public works in the planning department collaborated well together. most importantly, it has been a partnership with the north beach community and north beach neighborhood. this is one of the densest projects in the -- densest urban environments in the entire country. there are 4.5 acres of open 1000 residents. that is 95% below the city average. this truly is a dense urban neighborhood. we do not have tremendous opportunities to create more open space or to add recreational amenities in this neighborhood. here is a project that will result in a 20% increase in open space, 12,000 additional square feet of park and playground. and it has been designed in such a way that it makes the park more accessi

it's the largest of six graves found in that city's urban areas. mass graves may hold the bodies of executed gang members or possibly kidnap victims and police. >>> coming up next on nbc bay area news at 11:00, choosing the lesser of two evils at the t.farm p fat or sugar. we take a look. >>> sugar and fat both have a reputation of some of the biggest dietary dangers. but of the two is worse? nbc reporter kristi nelson shopped with a dietitian to try to figure out what to avoid. >> reporter: humans love the taste of sugar, but our bodies need fat. as health hazards, they both have again a lot of attention. but which is worse, and which of the culprits is most responsible for making us fat? >> fat actually yields more calories than sugar does per gram. so it's not really an apple-to-orange comparison. >> reporter: dietitian amy goodson says it someone of the biggest conundrums people face when trying to figure out what to look for on food labels. >> sugar is definitely a culprit to added weight in america, because sugar adds calories, but people lik

extensive and on the second amendment on the memorandum of understanding for the urban areas securities and a shift. we represent the city of san francisco, the city of oakland, the city of san jose, the county of alameda and the county of santa clara. we request you authorize us to go forward with that second exception. supervisor campos: we have a second extension. i don't know if you have any question or comment, colleagues. thank you very much. why don't we open it up to public comment? is there any member of the public like to speak on this item? seeing a nun, the public,

back to where we are and where we are, urban the city and urbana university. as all of you know here are both bursting with chapman appleseed connections. urbana was where chapman met with john james to discuss a possible legal concerning skin turning one of the sources. one of those rare moments when historical figures steps up out from behind the curtain and lets us have a good look at him. for the record chapman pace the room while he chewed on nuts. john james for his part -- as the only affiliated college west of the alleghenies, a dream held by john chapman. the first present of the university shared many common interest with him and reportedly committed a paper would almost certainly would have been the most lengthy and illuminating manuscript -- portrait of chapman and his contemporaries but that alessa's gone missing. so many things have gone missing, so many tempting moments that you can't quite find the document. maybe you all have the documents in your home drawers and if so let me know. the johnny appleseed complex where we are meeting today is lo

also it would be great to talk about the cities in the urbanism in the third world where problems have poverty and over population are dominant. >> absolutely. i think those two questions are connected; right? so, in fact, the new york issue is the hollowing out of the middle class. : go up near the stop, okay? does that mean that those subway tracks are making people poor? they are magically um positivishing those people. it's the people to value the ability not to have a car for every -- for every adult who needs to get around. now, in the developing world, cities provide an even more important path out of poverty. gandhi talked about how the future is in the villages but this is plainly nonsense. the future are in the cities in the ways that connect with the outside world. and it's unquestionably true that life in a village is difficult. it's a life none of us would want to live for days let alone for years but there's still reasons why people come there. it still beats the poverty and deprivation of the rural northeast of beverly hills and it -- brazil. and cities provide that prom

it talks about in the book i talk about i guess, the first city leadership and an approach to urban leadership to help bring our cities back to america, and at the same time, it provides a look into the life of a large city. as mayor goldsmith said not as large or new york or chicago. st. pete, for those who are not familiar, in the last census it was the 68th largest. it's a big enough city to provide some lessons, but frankly a smaller city where you can get your arms around the challenges quicker if you apply ideas to make it work. the second part of the city is the life of the mayor a little bit because, because there's challenges that you have, and there's opportunityings you have, and a lot of people don't quite see the day-to-day lave. i know mayor goldsmith can testify to that, but how does it impact your family? how does your faith interplay? i talk about that in the book. i know i received criticism for that. i'm okay with that. i think faith is a big part of all of us and important to see how it plays out. we talk about those things. it comes from the perspective of, of course, my e

urban neighborhoods in the city, octavia, hunters point. an excuse corridors, -- in mixed use corridors, these are quite important. looking at el camino, some other key corridors that are served by bus and will need you to be served by bus rapid transit. the task at hand is to find projections to meet the projected population growth for the region of roughly 2 million people in a way where we no longer assume people will drive to manteca and find a house they can afford. and to do that in a sustainable way where people will drive less. if you look at the chart on the screen, you will see the 2035 regional plans. that is our forecast. that is already heavily focused on transit-served areas. then you see the growth. our path was to accommodate the growth increment. unsustainably as possible. the road beneath that, that is the regional housing target. in terms of the overall housing distribution, this is a very focused-growth scenario 70% would be a priority areas as opportunity levels. it is a transit-oriented approach. it encompasses very li

my expertise is in city planning, urban design and architecture. in my professional opinion the cpmc architecture design and public realm improvement work is smart, sustainable and urban ifert lickly sophisticated. if it's hospital beds were transit and people are located and does so in a way that enhances street scrapes, roof tops and solar access to surrounding properties. the long range plan places scales appropriately to the surrounding urban context to pacific heights, the triangle and district neighborhoods while concentrating the highest concentration of beds and services at the van ness and geary location where the infrastructure will best accommodate them. the van ness location used a very innovative drive -- mid block drive through and drop-off to move traffic -- remove traffic queuing from the surrounding streets is, which to my mind is the first time an urban hospital in california has integrated this into the footprint. the hospital building type is inherently inefficient with respect to energy use but filtered outside air, extensive d

he wrote a book called green cities, urban growth and the environment and his most recent book, climatoplis features cities in the era of climate change. fun facts about matt kahn, he likes to talk about how much he looks like quentin tarantino. [laughter] >> the truth hurts. [laughter] so, matt, here's my question. climatoplis is written in the breezy popular style, and it has a sort of breezy optimism to it. you write at one point and i'm quoting here, the innovative capitalist culture will allow us to make a faludi stifel these cade from climate change most devastating impact. what makes you so sure of that? >> my mother always told me to avoid wishful thinking, and i always try to be provocative to see if the folks are a week. i take climate change very seriously now that 12 minutes is up -- [laughter] i love good jokes. i take climate change very seriously. and my optimism is really -- the core of my optimism, and i don't want you to walk away thinking i am a 90 optimist is that when we anticipate a challenge that our minds in the world of 7 billion people, perhaps 9 billion people, if

the challenge of urbanization in delhi and the challenge of urbanization in our large cities is huge. >>reporter: another huge project will create 15,000 kilometres of new roads and highways at an estimated cost of 30 billion dollars. >>however while this may be great for people in the big cities, 90% of indians live in villages or towns of less than two hundred thousand people, far from the great new highways.... >>dr. mccartney: there is a tendency to the big and the glamorous infrastructure projects that lendthemselves to ministerial visits and cutting ribbons on new highways; commonwealth games, these big exciting flashy infrastructure projects rather than making rural roads passable in wet weather conditions. the boring, low key, small scale infrastructure but nevertheless makes a big difference to lives of ordinary people." >>reporter: that said, the project has made a real difference to many rural indians, especially farmers. it's estimated that 25% of perishable goods rot, because bad roads stop produce getting to market on time. >>singh: "there is a lot of progress, there are

cities that are being asked to apply the exact same lot as we are today. the urban settings of california? >> sure. we have deployed these in every major city of california, and, in fact, we are now in the central valley, up in your rica, other areas -- up in eureka. there was deployment about three years ago, and we had issues before the board. we withdraw the application and continued to build in other cities. we have statewide ceqa laws, as you all know. most of the cities, over 260 cities, have not required any ceqa at all. as the total vacations kroatian, a utility. there are four or five cities that have required a ceqa review, and they have given us an exemption. supervisor elsbernd: you have not had to do an eir? >> we have not. supervisor elsbernd: thank you, ken. if you can complete your analysis? >> sure. in fact, i do not think i got to the cumulative impact, but to get to it, there is an evidence standards, which i think i sort of mentioned, but the only punitive impact that has been addressed brings us back to what i was going to talk about in the cont

of said it is good to apply for, accept, and expand the city's fiscal year 2011-2012 whole program entitlement from the u.s. arm of housing and urban development in the amount of $7,576,727 and to expand program income in the amount of $430,000. supervisor chu: thank you. we have two representatives on this item. >> good morning, supervisors. director of community development for the mayor's office of housing. we have in front of you three resolutions. we come to you on an annual basis to ask for the approval for the acceptance and expenditure of our community development block grant funds, emergency shelter funds, and home funds. you see in the attachment to your materials the list of community-based organizations for which these funds are intended. as you recall, our office, along with the office of economic and workforce development, met with you earlier this year to present what was then a draft allocation reflecting a much more significant cut that was actually received at that point. the house had proposed a 62.5% cut. we tentatively went forward with the 30% cut allocation. when congress finally revised their budget, the fin

public hearing, staff presentation and discussion of the draft 2010 urban water management plan of the city and county san francisco. the commission will consider approval at the june 14th meeting. >> i'm here to talk about the 2010 plan. this is the 2010 plan even though we are in 2011. these are adopted on five-year cycles. this was delayed because the state took a long time giving out guidance. that is why the anomaly is up there. the urban water management plan is intended to accomplish a few purposes. it gives the supply and demand projections through 2635. it includes customer projections under various conditions. it addresses the urban water management requirements which are set in state law as to how all of our urban agencies, how they will meet their demands in the future to show them everyone is taking seriously the responsibilities. lastly, to incorporate elements from the water conservation act of 2009. this plan is available for public review and comment through may 27th and we expect to present it for your approval on june 14th. some of the changes between the last urban one s

those strategies are at the heart of the department's urban partnership program, which includes a handful of cities that made aggressive and creative plans to reduce congestion. san francisco is one of our urban partners and federal highway administration was pleased and proud to award that grant of $20 million that was mentioned for this project. but this is not just about technology or pricing. it's about making it easier to park in a major city and all of the benefits that flow from addressing that one issue. it starts with reducing traffic by having fewer cars, double parking or burning fuel or essentially being dumb as the mayor so eloquently put it, as you're looking for a parking space. by giving the same motorists -- and i have to confess, i have been dumb -- by giving those same motorists realtime parking information. we help keep traffic moving, reduce congestion, improve air quality and make even a beautiful city like san francisco more liveable. we also make it easier for people to shop at local businesses, help buses and trolleys more effectively and make streets generally safe are for

the program hopes to increase awareness of how to interact with the city's urban wildlife. the meeting began about 15 minutes ago at the hall of flowers in golden gate park. >>> hundreds of bay area commuters ditched their keys today and biked to work. today marked the 18th annual bike to workday. cyclists took advantage of some freebies at an energizer station out at the golden gate bridge. advocates say the economy is driving many people to change the way they get to work. >> higher gas prices go up the easier it gets. people want to get out of their cars. >> and it also helps that muni which can slow you down now costs you about $70 a month. studies by san francisco transportation experts show biking has increased almost 60% just in the past four years. >> also helps that the rain didn't move in. won't be here until sunday. >> that's true. i had so many people tweet me today asking me if i was going to ride my bike to work. that doesn't allow for a very nice hair day. you get helmet hair. we have to work with that. >> i will fix your hair. >> i know. right? >> i saw you

president vietor: it may be interesting as an urban mitigation strategy for climate change in the city overall. >> one last slide. just to discuss briefly the next steps. next week, april 21, we will be before the title board and planning commission for the certification of the eir, as well as the general plan and zoning codes, the planning amendment that would need to be done by the planning commission for the approval of the development agreement and other supporting documents and title approval of the development agreement and all the support and assistance to go along with that. all subject to the eir being certified. then it would be back before you on april 26 for the adoption of the ceqa findings, the mitigation and monitoring development plan, the approval of the ica, and by attachment, the infrastructure plan. in the final board of supervisors approval is anticipated for early june. with that, i would open it up to any discussion. president vietor: commissioner courtney? commissioner courtney: if it is not too much trouble, could you repeat the jobs data? what classification w

he is slated to visit common good city farm, an urban farm that grows food for low income d.c. residents. he will meet with president obama tomorrow. >>> we suspected it was only a matter of time but prices at the pump, yeah, they have topped the $4 mark in the district. regular gasoline is selling for $4.41 at the exxon station on wisconsin avenue northwest. it is not that much better at the sunoco on 21st and p street northwest. regular gas now selling for $4.28 a gallon there. according to aaa's fuel gauge report, we're well above the national average. that is $3.96. >>> the national teacher of the year is being honored at the white house. here is a live look at the ceremony right there on your screen. michelle shearer is on the left of president obama. she's speaking right now. she is from frederick county, maryland. she teaches chemistry at urbana high school for 14 years. she was named maryland's teacher of the year last october. congratulations. >>> it is official! scott pelley will take over as anchor of the "cbs evening news" starting june 6th. he will replace katie co

many of the problems we have to urban stock and it's important to do what we can to upgrade the city and provide good residential areas. i used to cover this body in a previous life when i was urban affairs person for the examiner. i used to write what the neighborhood was going to say before they did it. but anyway, i strongly think we need to move and move quickly. thank you. supervisor mar: supervisor chiu? >> so i've called all the cards. if there's anybody else at the last minute that would like to speak, please come forward. >> i am a parkmerced tenant since 1993. i opoem 100% the parkmerced project. the only acceptable alternative for me is the no-project alternative option. both the merced project will cause irrersable damage to my health, to my family's health and to the health of the entire community but the enormous amount of toxic contaminants that will will released through the airplane by such a massive demolition and construction if this plan is approved. the c.d. is going to create a nightmare for years to come and environmental disast t

. >>> according to a business by a global business concern, the city plays one of the most innovative urban economies. it also ranks high such at liveability, transportation, safety. san francisco is number 3 that are rich in economies. >>> mayor has just finished a in-depth study looking into the city's future over the next five years. it concluded that spending will outsours -- will far exceed anything and the deficit could triple. >>> the governor is saying shortening a school year by a month could be a real possibility. the republicans dismiss this suggestion as a mere scare tactic by democrats. teachers, unions and lawmakers would have to give approval for the move. >>> a big step in rebuilding san bruno. the city issued its first permit that was explosion -- that was exmoded in the -- exploded in the blast in september. >>> tracking expenses is something that pg&e would be required to do if it is eventually allowed to pass along the cost to customers. the california public utilities commission may vote on the issue tomorrow. >>> if you rent a car, there's a big, new reason to fill up