Transcripts For SFGTV 20130904

Hello and welcome to meet your district supervisor. Were here with david chiu from district 3. That includes chinatown, Fishermans Wharf, and part of the russian hill neighborhood. He was elected to the board in november of 2008 and has served as board president since january of 2009. We will get to know him and talk about the toughest issues facing them. Thank you for joining us today. Tell us about your background. My parents immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. I was the first kid born in the u. S. My parents sacrificed everything so that their kids could have the opportunities that they wanted when they came here. I grew up in the boston area and lived in different parts of boston. I went to catholic price school in dorchester, a section of boston. I went to Catholic High School in dorchester, a section of boston. Because of my parents, my brothers and i were all blessed to go to harvard university. That is where i went to school. It was intense. I stayed there for law school and have a masters in Public Policy from there. Those are subjects i decided to study because i was interested in Public Service and Public Policy issues and government. You grew up in the boston area. What made you want to make the transition and moved to San Francisco . What motivated you to get involved in politics question marks before i ran for office, and worked in San Francisco as a criminal prosecutor and civil rights attorney. I got to understand how much of a be in San Francisco is to the rest of the world for social justice. I spent a number of years helping to grow a small business. I got to understand the innovative spirit in San Francisco. At night, i volunteered as a neighborhood leader and as feature of an Affordable Housing organization. I learned so much about the challenges facing our neighborhoods and the special jewels that are the urban villages we live in. I ran for office because i wanted to serve the city and protect all that is so special about San Francisco. What lessons did you learn after campaigning for supervisor . San franciscans are incredibly interested in their City Government, local politics, and making sure that we remain the most amazing city in the world. I learned that san franciscans during Campaign Read everything they are sent in the mail. They love to meet the candidates and engage in conversations with them. I learned how important it is to build bridges between different communities, particularly communities of diversity that we have. I was incredibly honored to have been elected in november of 2008. Where do you place yourself on the political spectrum . I consider myself someone who shares the progressive values that many sentences can hold dear. We have been a beacon to the rest of the world region that many sentences skins hold dear. We have been a beacon to the rest of the world for those. You are president of the board. Describe the role of the opposition and the responsibilities that come with being the president of the board of supervisors. As president , i preside over the weekly meetings we have tuesday at 2 00 here in the chamber. I also determine which legislations will go to various committees that we have. As a district supervisor, i sit on a number of legislative committees. What are some of the biggest issues facing San Francisco . We have a lot of challenges right now. Were still in the midst of the great recession. We know too many folks who are struggling in minimumwage jobs. We know folks who have been laid off of work. As a city, we need to do much better at creating an environment where we have more jobs and Economic Development. We are also extremely challenge in our public transit. We talk about being a transit first city, but everyone has had the experience of sitting in gridlock, waiting for the bus, trying to hail that tab, walking on pedestrian sidewalks that are not particularly safe. As a city, we need to do more to invest in the firstclass transportation system. What are some of the biggest issues facing your district . In addition to the local economy that impacts the merchant corridors, to many vacant storefronts, transit issues, in every neighborhood were having a real conversation about how we change, whether we should preserve aspects of the important characters of our neighborhood or think about building new things. There is also a real discussion were having in many neighborhoods about affordability. I hear from too many tenants in the process of being evicted, homeowners being foreclosed on. We need to think about how all of us can continue to live in a city where the whole world wants to be. It is a great place to be. It is a great place to be. How do you balance the needs of your district versus the needs of the city as a whole . I have an incredibly diverse district. It encompasses north beach and chinatown. We have the citys famous hills. We have for the world comes to work, the financial districts, where the world comes to shop in union square, where the tourists spend time on Fishermans Wharf , and the wonderful polk street neighborhoods. My district encompasses the ethnic and Economic Diversity that exists throughout the city. I think my district is emblematic of the entire city. You can find every political perspective you can possibly want in district 3. Oftentimes, the interests of my district and the city are aligned. I do not have to think about those differences quite as often as some of my colleagues may have to. Lets talk about the budget situation. We have been faced with some tough budget decisions again, including where to make cuts and whether or not to increase taxes. How will you approached these hard choices . Our budget is one of the very top challenges facing City Government right now. Over each of the years i have served, we have had to balance budget deficits that were around 500 million. This year, were facing another budget deficit of almost 400 million. Fortunately in recent years, we have had some ability to do some onetime budgeting tricks that allow us to balance the budget that do not exist this year. In past years, weve received federal stimulus money. We received more monies from the state government. Last year our labor unions decided to contribute a quarter of a billion dollars to help balance last years and this years budget. Those are things we do not have the ability to avail ourselves of us we balance the upcoming budget in a few months. We are faced with far fewer options. I think we are going to have to continue to look at very deep and difficult cuts. Our priorities have to be insuring and protecting the most basic City Services and helping to ensure that we have services to the most vulnerable during this great recession. What about the citys Housing Needs . What should the board due to address those needs . We are a city that is seventh by 7 miles. We have incredible density. Were the densest neighborhoods on the west coast. Everyone wants to live here. That drives up housing prices dramatically. The housing costs are driving out working folks, families, the middle class. We need to continue to reinvest, to build, to develop, and maintain a troop stock of Affordable Housing. I am committed to increase in more funds so that we can build more housing that can be afforded by folks of all economic backgrounds. What about the issue of homelessness . In recent years during the terrible economy, we have had to cut back significantly. Our socialservice net, programs for folks who may have mental illnesses, we have seen many problems become exacerbated on the streets. When you combine that with the fact that we have an Affordable Housing in most parts of the city, it is no surprise our homeless numbers have gone up in recent years. The city needs to recommit ourselves to the values that our city was named after. St. Francis believed in compassion for those who have less had less than others. Those of us with opportunities have to give back. Part of that entails taking care of the most important among us, the folks who have need, including our homeless. Lets talk about the transportation situation in your district. You mentioned that transit could be better. How is parking and traffic . Is there enough muni service now . You are talking to the one member of the board that does not only car. I get around my district by muni, bicycle, or hailing a cab. Our Transit System is truly challenge. Our bosses are late one out of four times. Our buses are late one out of a quarter times. Theyre still not as clean and safe as wed like. We can do better and investing in our muni system. We need more taxicabs on the streets. Is difficult to obtain a cab. I support the concept of centralized taxi dispatch systems so you know who you can call to get a cab. I am a big believer in pedestrian bicycling as options to get around town. Many cities in the world have far more people working or on bicycles into blocking or on bicycles. They are pleasant most of transit and are efficient. Many cities in the world have far more people walking or on bicycles. They are pleasant and efficient forms of transportation. That will take cars off the road and make it easier for those who drive. If we want to create a world class transportation system, we have to make a commitment to each of these modes of transit to allow us to move where we need to go. Is it safe for pedestrians on the streets . It is not. In recent years, we have had too many pedestrian accidents. There are estimates it costs our cities several hundred millions a year because of traffic accidents, injuries, and fatalities. I am asking one of our transit agencies to study where were spending our dollars around the district and whether we invested more money would help to reduce our overall costs that come when a pedestrian is hit by a car. Lets talk about crime in your district. How is the Police Department doing . Do you have any thoughts on how the city is dealing with crime . Crime rates have been down, particularly Violent Crime rates and homicides. That is a good thing. In the first few weeks of 2011, homicides have started to climb back up. We have to be ever vigilant about crimes occurring in all of our neighborhoods. I have been generally satisfied with much of the activity of the San Francisco Police Department. In my district on nob hill, we have always had too many automobile breakins. On polk street, there are many incidences of drug dealing and prostitution. In some of the entertainment quarters, we of shootings that happened. These are perennial issues that the Police Department needs to continually tackle. I am a big fan of the concept of community policing. That is the idea that our local Police Officers need to establish a better relationship with members of the community, residents, and merchants. Through that community partnership, we have seen true successes in being able to combat crime. You have eyes and ears on the street cooperating with the men and women in blue. That helps to reduce crime. I have been pushing our Police Department to implement that. Your district is a wellknown nightlife destination. How do you balance the needs of the residents with the needs of the restaurants and bars . I moved into my neighborhood in part because we have such a wonderful vibrant nightlife. San francisco is famous for our restaurant scene, are seen, club scene. Are sbar scene. We have had too much violence around these nighttime venues. I have passed several pieces of legislation to address the security and safety needs of neighborhoods. We all support a healthy, vibrant nightlife. But we also support a safe nightlife that complements our neighborhoods and is not in competition with our neighborhoods. What are your thoughts on the citys Economic Development . What would you like to change about the approach to developing the economy . As a city, i do not think we have been good at creating jobs and Economic Development. There are things we can do to make life easier for businesses. Businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. Over the past few years, i have helped to eliminate dozens of fees that have been nickeling our Small Businesses to death. I have been pushing for more stimulus from city contracts. In the past, those would be awarded mostly to nonSan Francisco businesses. San francisco needs to do a better job of cultivating business innovation. We need to be the city that competes with Silicon Valley to attract clean tech, biotech companies. We can do a better job of nurturing creative industries. We need to create a better economy for our local artists. This is a city that has many thousands of Small Businesses. As someone who used to run a small business, the city can do a much better job of nurturing that sector. That is part of the life blood of who we are as san franciscans. We could do better. Are we on the right track . I think we are in a transition right now. We have an interim mayor and a new board of supervisors. I do think we have a new tone at city hall to move things forward. We have a lot of challenges we are facing. I am doing everything i can to put us back on track. Lets talk about the role of sports in the citys economic future. Are you happy with the plans for the americas cup . I have been a huge fan of the americas cup. I am proud of this board came together unanimously after a fairly contentious debate to support bringing the americas cup to San Francisco in 2013. It is estimated it will not only be an incredible sporting event, not only showcase our city and the natural amphitheater of the bay, but it is estimated to bring in over 1 billion in Economic Activity with 8000 to 9000 jobs. It will be a lot of fun. I am very excited. Should we spend money to keep the 49ers . I just had a conversation with the head of the organization. I told him that i and many others would love to do what we can to keep our beloved 49ers here in San Francisco. They are having a conversation with santa clara. We think they need to be part of a city that is in their name. There is so much history intertwined between our 49 years and San Francisco. I am very committed to doing what i can to keep them here. Governor brown has proposed to eliminate funding for redevelopment agencies. What is your opinion of the plan . We knew that by electing a Governor Brown he would have to make incredibly difficult choices. I do think this through Development Proposal goes a bit too far reDevelopment Proposal goes too far. It would be catastrophic to many developments and proposed developments. I hope the ongoing conversations to change his proposal will modify it into something that will continue to help localities and counties like San Francisco. I think we can get there. Water some of the biggest land use issues in your district . In addition to the americas cup planning, there is a discussion around the development of cpmc. It would be the largest hospital project our city has seen in decades. It would probably be the largest land use project discussed this year. It is right on the edge of my district. It is seated at the intersection of several separate as oriole supervisorial districts. There are issues around displacement, the impact of a large hospital on the surrounding neighborhoods, and whether the size of this hospital and plans in the city wide picture of health care access. I am sure we will have robust discussion about this in the coming months. Are there any other issues that concern you that we have not discussed . Are there any other interests you plan to concentrate on as supervisor . One thing every supervisor works on is the relationship between our neighborhoods and city hall. I am blessed in district 3 to have a rich network of neighborhood associations, merchant groups, and nonprofit organizations that i interface with regularly. They often had difficulty navigating city hall. I am trying to help develop Neighborhood Councils that bring together these various groups to interface with city hall and city staff as a model to foster partnerships between and our neighborhoods and City Government. It is a model we have been working on for a couple of years in district 3. I hope to replicate it to out San Francisco fairly soon. We are out of time. Thank you so much for joining us today on sfgtv meet your district supervisor. We have been speaking with david chiu of district 3. Hi today we have a special edition of building San Francisco, stay safe, what we are going to be talking about San Franciscos earth quakes, what you can do before an earthquake in your home, to be ready and after an earthquake to make sure that you are comfortable staying at home, while the city recovers. The next episode of stay safe, we have Alicia Johnson from San Franciscos department of emergency management. Hi, alicia thanks to coming it is a pleasure to be here with you. I wonder if you could tell us what you think people can do to get ready for what we know is a coming earthquake in San Francisco. Well, one of the most things that people can do is to make sure that you have a plan to communicate with people who live both in and out of state. Having an out of state contact, to call, text or post on your social network is really important and being able to know how you are going to communicate with your friends, and family who live near you, where you might meet them if your home is uninhab hitable. How long do you think that it will be before things are restored to normal in San Francisco. It depends on the severity of the earthquake, we say to provide for 72 hours tha, is three days, and it helps to know that you might be without services for up to a week or more, depending on how heavy the shaking is and how many after shocks we have. What kind of neighborhood and Community Involvement might you want to have before an earthquake to make sure that you are going to able to have the support that you need. It is important to have a Good Relationship with your neighbors and your community. Go to those community events, shop at local businesses, have a reciprocal relationship with them so that you know how to take care of yourself and who you can rely on and who can take care of you. It is important to have a batteryoperated radio in your home so that you can keep track of what is happening in the Community Around and how you can communicate with other people. One of the things that seems important is to have access to your important documents. Yes, it is important to have copies of those and also stored them remotely. So a title to a home, a passport, a drivers license, any type of medical records that you need need, back those up or put them on a remote drive or store them on the cloud, the same is true with any Vital Information on your computer. Back that up and have that on a cloud in case your hard drive does not work any more. In your home you should be prepared as well. Absolutely. Lets take a look at the kinds of things that you might want to have in your home. We have no water, what are we going to do about water . It is important for have extra water in your house, you want to have bottled water or a five gallon container of water able to use on a regular basis, both for bathing and cooking as well as for drinking. We have this big container and also in peoples homes they have a hot water heater. Absolutely, if you clean your hot water heater out regularly you can use that for showering, drinking and bathing as well what other things do people need to have arent their home. It is important to have extra every day items buy a couple extra cans of can food that you can eat without any preparation. Here is a giant can of green giant canned corn. And this, a manual can opener, your electric can opener will not be working not only to have one but to know where to find it in your kitchen. Yes. So in addition to canned goods, we are going to have fresh food and you have to preserve that and i know that we have an ice chest. Having an ice chest on hand is really important because your refrigerator will not be working right away. It is important to have somebody else that can store cold foods so something that you might be able to take with you if you have to leave your home. And here, this is my very own personal emergency supply box for my house. I hope that you have an alternative one at home. Oh, i forgot. And in this is really important, you should have flashlights that have batteries, fresh batteries or hand crank flashlight. I have them right here. Good. Excellent. That is great. Additionally, you are going to want to have candles a whistle, possibly a compass as well. Markers if you want to label things if you need to, to people that you are safe in your home or that you have left your home. I am okay and i will meet you at. Exactly. Exactly. Water proof matches are a great thing to have as well. We have matches here. And my spare glasses. And your spare glasses. If you have medication, you should keep it with you or have access to it. If it needs to be refrigerated make sure that it is in your ice box. Inside, just to point out for you, we have spare batteries. Very important. We have a little first aid kit. And lots of different kinds of batteries. And another spare flashlight. So, alicia what else can we do to prepare our homes for an earthquake so we dont have damage . One of the most important things that you can do is to secure your valuable and breakable items. Make sure that your tv is strapped down to your entertainment cabinet or wall so it does not move. Also important is to make sure that your book case is secure to the wall so that it does not fall over and your valuable and breakables do not break on the ground. Becoming prepared is not that difficult. Taking care of your home, making sure that you have a few extra everyday items on hand helps to make the difference. That contributes dramatically to the way that the city as a whole can recover. Absolutely. If you are able to control your own environment and house and recovery and your neighbors are doing the same the city as a whole will be a more resilient city. We are all proud of living in San Francisco and being prepared helps us stay here. So, thank you so much for joining us today, alicia, i appreciate it. Absolutely, it is my pleasure. And thank you for joining us