equipment i have no problem with it. >> thank you, we agree. >> no public further public. all in favor. >> aye. >> thank you, very much. >> the motion passes 4-0. >> clerk: the public is now welcome to address the commission regarding items that did not appear tonight but within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission. speaker shall address the remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or departments or d.p.a. personnel. during public comment neither police or d.p.a. personnel are required to respond to questions presented by the public but may provide a brief response. individual commissioners and police and d.p.a. should refrain from entering into any debates and discussion with speakers during public comment. >> first speaker. >> current events have reviewed a grand jury in pennsylvania has revealed that there's been numerous sexual assaults on adolescents pertaining to little boys and little girls by people who are members of the catholic church. sf please. there's a 900-page report with that exhibit that implicated 300 predator priests who committed criminal and rehence able acts against little kids. one priest impregnated a 17-year-old little girl. these church members who went there the grand jury revealed that have many pages found that creditable allegations of more than 1,000 victims. the finding revealed the abuse and occurrence of hundreds of people who work at the church and 54 pennsylvania, 67 counties going back at least 80 years. a parenabuse denied and coverede attorney general mr. shapiro added. priests were raping little boys and girls and the metchosin god who were responsible for their get they hid it for decades. there were 41 predator priests. 37 in one town, 20 in another, 45 in another, 99 in another and 55 in an additional one. >> one of the things in general public comment, it has to be related to what the san francisco police department does. you are giving us a report about what is taking place in pennsylvania. if you are talking about a crime that could be happening here or has happened here. i need to focus you on to an issue that is relevant to the san francisco police department. >> that's what i was getting to. because this is a worldwide problem. and i'm demonstrating this pattern. one priest was found in los angeles, which is in the bay area. and this is a worldwide problem and my punch line was going to be that i move to have you conduct an investigation of all the catholic churches that are located in the bay area. there was a person by the name of jim linch who was raped by a priest and sexually assaulted when he was a kid and when he turned into an adult and fully grown. he attacked and defended himself and went to a criminal courtroom and the case was kicked out. i'm giving these demonstrations to show an investigation needs to be connected in all the catholic churches that are located here in the city and county of san francisco because i suspect and i feel the same type of activity is taking place here. the priests were moving priests all over the world who were attacking and assaulting little kids across the world. >> thank you, very much. >> next speaker. mr. jones. >> my name is john jones. i would just like to amplify my comment before that san francisco struck me as an unoccupied city. all of us are familiar to some degree or another to the french experience in world war ii. we may have have seen the movie "is paris burning." in the public library there is disk interests a french program. and this talks about the experience of a french town on the border of france during world war ii. and it wasn't one of these french programs where all the germans are bad and the french are good. it wasn't like that a lot all. those were the complexity of occupation. as i get involved, there's over six seasons. as i got involved in this series, it's in french of course, with english subtitles. time and time again i saw the actors acting out scenes that reminded me so much of san francisco. the different levels of authority. the petty authorize tarrism, the greediness. the pure brutality of it from time to time. this is really effected my thinking, as you can tell. let me give you an example how it has effected my thinking. in my view, a major defeat for civic san francisco that the bart exit by the burger king down there at hyde and market street was closed. that is a huge defeat for san francisco. it intercepts the flow of people to the art community. it gives victory to what is the expression, the street people who occupied that corner with their loud music and their coriousing and their booze. they beat you. the police department, with its guns and its uniforms, they beat the city and county of san francisco. they cut you off. that entrance is closed. can you read what that means for people. what that means for downtown san francisco. you should hang our heads in shame that that happened. >> thank you, mr. jones. next speaker. >> good evening, commissioners and chief scott. my name is tammy bryant i'm a resident of district 5. i'm really here to talk off the cuff. i want to express some concerns i'm having. i read a post on facebook from the mission police collaborative about the incident at balboa last week. i am concerned about it. i under, a friend of mine's son was the victim of what i feel was the victim of police -- bad policy. basically what i heard is that police -- there's classrooms pointing guns at student witnesses. i know that students were questioned about their parents and in this carrying i know that an isn't person who was not even a witness just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time was taken out at gunpoint. apparently his image has been in the media. i thought youth were protected from being revealed. so again, i know police are in a difficult situation and we want to keep everybody safe but i want that balboa incident to be looked into because i'm not happy as a parent. i'm here because that incident on muni the other day. i'm very troubled by it. i watched something very, very violent and i understand that the victim will not press charges. if he won't i'll press charges, just like there's a citizen arrest. i would stand up as a mother. if that was my son, i would be very upset. i do not understand why the police are not taking action against them. i was upset to read that the thugs and the violent criminals declined to press charges against the victim and i don't know since when do violent criminals get to press charges against the victims. i don't know how this is being framed. i would really like to see the police department take action against those thugs. i don't feel safe on mown' and that was unacceptable. it was attempted murder. i'm all for rehabilitation and as a model but this was senseless violence. before i run out of time, i'm glad i was here for the presentation on the homeless. i really do feel it has been too much in the purview of the police and it should be with social workers and other service providers. police should be there as back up for safety. it sounds like on some level you are moving towards a model but i witnessed the other day, i'm talking down goff street and i see police clearing away homeless and i said to them, i hope you are not just throwing out their stuff, it should be social workers here not you guys. i'm not angry at them per se but i'm angry at the policy and this presentation was encouraging but we have a lot more work to do and i'm just very, very concerned about the effort to get rid of all the tents when there's nowhere inform people inform get and i don't believe in take are their stuff and their tents when there's nowhere to go. one of the myths is they're turning down services because they're told we'll give you shelter for seven days. no one is going to give up their stuff and seven days later they're sleeping on the streets. this is of course a bigger problem than the police department. i just liked what i heard tonight. i really hope that more humanity and more compassion is demonstrated when the police are there to do the enforcement. >> thank you. >> i was going to say if she doesn't mind talking to one of the investigators if she has information or wants to file a complaint. i have my investigator here to speak with you. >> good evening. >> i just want to use the overhead again. i'm here to talk about my son as usual. he was first of all i want to thank everybody for the backpacks. for the school pack backs for my children and grandchildren. thank you. my son, who was murdered august 14th, 2006. and also thank you for the media coverage. i am still waiting for justice for my son. i haven't heard from my investigator to the media coverage. the investigator i haven't heard since then. can anyone check in with him and see what is going on with my son's case. again, i always bring these names of the people that murdered my son. thomas hannah bill, which is still here. paris moffett, andrew rodu. jason thomas, anthony hunter, and marcus carter. one of them is deceased. i always bring this because i wanted to say here it's crazy how death can bring families together and life can keep families apart. i want to remember my son like this. graduating from school. with a big smile on his face. that is the smile i will always remember. i don't have that anymore. it's been 12 years and i still have not any justice for my child. he had a mother and a father. even though his father isn't here i'm speaking for him. no mother or father should have to stand ove over over their chn death. our children should be burying us, not us burying them this is all i have left of my son -- to remember. this is my son laying in a casket. no mother should have to go through this. i still hurt y'all. after 12 years i still hurt. i'm still looking for justice for my child. they know who killed my child. >> thank you ms. brown. anybody has any information regarding the murder, please call the san francisco police tip line at (415)575-4444. ms. brown come back ever woke until this case gets involved. thank you. >> any further public comment. public comment is closed. please call the next line item. >> line number 5, adjournment action item. >> we have a motion. >> motion. >> second. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> aye. >> we're adjourned. thank you, very much. >> in november of 2016, california voters passed proposition 64. the adult use of marijuana act. san franciscans overwhelmingly approved it by nearly 75%. and the law went into effect in january of 2018. [♪] >> under california's new law, adults age 21 and over can legally possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis and grow up to six plants at home. adults in california can legally give up to 1 ounce to other adults. >> in the state of california, we passed a law that said adult consumption is legal. if you are an adult and in possession of certain amounts, you will no longer be tried. you will not be arrested or prosecuted for that. that is changing the landscape dramatically. [♪] >> to legalization of cannabis could bring tremendous economic and social benefits to cities like san francisco. >> this industry is projected to reach $22 billion by the year 2020. and that is just a few years away. >> it can be a huge legal industry in california. i think very shortly, the actual growing of marijuana may become the biggest cash crop in the state and so you want that to be a legal tax paying cash crop, all the way down the line to a sales tax on the retail level. >> the california medical industry is a 3 billion-dollar industry last year. anticipating that multiplier as 20, 30, 50 times in the consumer marketplace once adult use is really in place, you could go ahead and apply that multiplier to revenue. it will be huge. >> when that underground economy becomes part of the regular tax paying employment economy of the bay area, it not only has a direct impact, that money has a ripple impact through the economy as well. >> it is not just about retail. it is not just about the sensor. is about manufacturing pick a lot of innovative manufacturing is happening here in san francisco in addition to other parts of the state as well as the cultivation. we should be encouraging that. >> there is a vast array of jobs that are going to be available in the newly regulated cannabis industry. you can start at the top tier which a scientist working in testing labs. scientists working at extraction companies. and you work towards agricultural jobs. you have ones that will require less education and you look towards cannabis retail and see traditional retail jobs and you see general management jobs. those things that are similar to working at a bar restaurant or working at a retail store. >> we are offering, essentially, high paid manufacturing jobs. typical starting wage of 18-$20 an hour, almost no barrier to entry, you do not need an education. >> that means that people who do not have college educations, working-class people, will have an opportunity to have a job at cultivating cannabis plants. there's a whole wide array of job opportunities from the seedling to the sale of the cannabis. [♪] >> last year, they said 26 million people came to san francisco. >> the tourism industry continues to be very robust here and the city and county of san francisco is about a billion-dollar industry. >> if we use a conservative cannabis user adoption rate to 15% that means 4 million tourists want that means 4 million tourists want to purchase cannabis. and we need to be ready for th them. >> in 2015, as adult use legalization efforts gained momentum in california, the supervisors created the san francisco cannabis state legalization task force. this task force offered to research and advice to the supervisors, the mayor and other city departments. >> we knew that adult use legalization was coming to the ballot and stat that would bring with it a number of decisions that the city would have to make about zoning and regulation and so forth. and i decided at that time, at a know it was a great, that rather than have a fire drill after the ballot measure passes, as suspected it would, we should plan an event. so i authored a task force to spend a year studying it and we made it a broad-based task force. >> we prepared ourselves by developing a health impact assessment and partnered that with key stakeholder discussions with washington, oregon, colorado, to really learn lessons from their experience rolling out both adult and medicinal cannabis. >> within days of the passing of the proposition, ed lee called on agencies to act decisively. >> he issued an executive order asking the department of public health, along with planning and other city departments to think through an internal working group around what we needed to do to consider writing this law. >> we collectively, i would say that was representatives from g.s.a., as well as the mayor's office, met with a lot of departments to talk through what prop 64 and the implementation of prop 64 it meant to them. >> the mayor proposed an office of cannabis, a one-stop shop for permits allowing operators to grow and sell cannabis. >> he wanted a smart structure. he wanted a regulatory structure that ensured that kids didn't have access and community's were safe and that consumers were safe. and he wanted to ensure, more importantly, it was a regulatory structure that encouraged diversity and inclusivity. >> this is an office that will be solely charged with a duty of wanting not only the policies that we create, implementing and enforcing them, but also executing the licenses that are needed. we're talking about 20 different licenses that will put us into compliance with what is happening on the state level. >> this is a highly, highly regulated industry now, at this point. we have anywhere from 7-10 departments that will be working with these industry participants as they go through the permitting process. that is a lot of work at a loss of coordination. we are creating a permitting process that is smart and is digital. it is much easier for the user and for community input, and is less mired in bureaucracy. >> for the first time ever in san francisco history, standalone licenses are available for all aspects of the nonretail side of the cannabis industry. now, a cultivator can go in to the department of building inspection and to the department of health and say, with this first registered and temporary license, and then what will eventually be a permanent license, this is the project, this is what i am going to do. >> very rarely in city government do we interact with industries that are asking to be regulated. these guys want to be regulated. they want to be compliant. they want to work with the city. that is rare. >> san francisco has created a temporary licensing process so that the pre-existing operators here in san francisco can apply for a temporary state licensed. >> we have taken teams of up to 12 inspectors to inspect the facility twice a day. we have been doing that with the department of building inspection and the department of public health. and the fire department. >> it is really important for the industry to know that we are treating them like industry. like manufacturing. like coworkers pick so that is the way we are approaching this from a health and safety and a consumer protection network. this is just the way practice happens with restaurants or manufacturing facilities. >> because there are so many pieces of industry that people haven't even thought about. there are different permits for each piece. you have to set up a permitting system for growing, for manufacturing, for testing. for delivery. for retail. you have to make sure that there is an appropriate health code. certainly the regulation of alcohol in terms of restaurants and retail it's probably a model for how this industry will be regulated as well, both on sale and consumption. >> it is completely uncharted territory. there is a blessing and a curse with that. it is exciting because we are on a new frontier, but it is very nerve-racking because there's a lot at stake. and quite frankly, being san francisco, being the state of california, people are looking to us. >> we hope that cannabis does become more of an accepted part of society in the same way that alcohol is, the same way coffee is. >> it is a very innovative fear, particularly around manufacturing. san francisco could be an epicenter. >> san francisco can be a leader here. a global leader in the cannabis movement and set a bar just to other communities and cities and states and this nation how it is done. [♪] - >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their showing up and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so where will you shop & dine in the 49 san francisco owes must of the charm to the unique characterization of each corridor has a distinction permanent our neighbors are the economic engine of the city. >> if we could a afford the lot by these we'll not to have the kind of store in the future the kids will eat from some restaurants chinatown has phobia one of the best the most unique neighborhood shopping areas of san francisco. >> chinatown is one of the oldest chinatown in the state we need to be able allergies the people and that's the reason chinatown is showing more of the people will the traditional thepg. >> north beach is i know one of the last little italian community. >> one of the last neighborhood that hadn't changed a whole lot and san francisco community so strong and the sense of partnership with businesses as well and i just love north beach community old school italian comfort and love that is what italians are all about we need people to come here and shop here so we can keep this going not only us but, of course, everything else in the community i think local businesses the small ones and coffee shops are unique in their own way that is the characteristic of the neighborhood i peace officer prefer it is local character you have to support them. >> really notice the port this community we really need to kind of really shop locally and support the communityly live in it is more economic for people to survive here. >> i came down to treasure island to look for a we've got a long ways to go. ring i just got married and didn't want something on line i've met artists and local business owners they need money to go out and shop this is important to short them i think you get better things. >> definitely supporting the local community always good is it interesting to find things i never knew existed or see that that way. >> i think that is really great that san francisco seize the vails of small business and creates the shop & dine in the 49 to support businesses make people all the residents and visitors realize had cool things >> good morning, welcome to the wednesday september 5th meeting. my name is jane and i serve as the chair of this committee. i'm joined by our vice-chair peskin and brown. i want to acknowledge the staff on her first g.a.o. committee meeting. welcome. i want to recognize the staff at sf gov tv. lawrence bryant and tom loftis for insuring our meetings are available to the public and online. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: make sure to silence your cellphones. completed speaker cards and documents to be inclused should be pub committe. items will be on the september 18th board of supervisor agenda unless otherwise stated. >> thank you. would you please call item number 1. >> clerk: a resolution receiving and approving the annual report for the tourism improvement district and mosconia expansion district for fiscal year 2015 and 2016. >> i want to recognize our regular with the department of economic and workforce development. also, i believe lynn is also here. the executive district or of the expansion district towards improvement district. >> chris, office of workforce development. we're here for the fiscal year 2016-2017 annual report for the tourism improvement district and mosconian expansion district. the program is governed by two sets of laws. the state law, which is referred to as the 1994 act and local law article 15 of the business and tax regulations code. this resolution covers the annual reports for fiscal year 2016-2017 for the t.i. d. and m. e.d. they ensure all c.b.d.s are meeting their management plan. they conduct a review of the report and c.p.a. review and provide the board of supervisors with a summary memo. unlike many of the c.b.d.s are city wide business space zones so you have two different zones. first is zone one which is along the downtown corridor. there's zone 2, which is the rest of the city, for a lack of better terms. both are business based. the assessment budget of the t.i.d. is $27 million. the assessment for the m. e.d. is $19 million. t.i. d. was formed in january 1st, 2009 and m.e.d. february 5th, 2013 and the one that is closest to sunsetting is the t.i.d. in 2023. for the t.i.d., they review three bench marks. the first checking the variance between the management plan budget and the fiscal year budget by service category. benchmark two, the budget amount and extensions within a fiscal year and benchmark 3, whether there's carry over funds and how they will be spent forward in the coming fiscal years. for the t.i.d. and m.e.d., the executive producer and marketing and promotion, service and improvement to the convention center and addmin cost and they exclude the expansion of the convention center, development construction and financing. the convention center incentive fund. the center sales and marketing fund and a future capital improvement and renovations fund. for t.i.d., we have the comparative of previous years. they did meet this benchmark requirement for benchmark one. the expansion district met variance between the budget requirement. for benchmark two, comparing the variance of budget to actual spent, the t.i. d. about meet this benchmark and did carry forward and their management plan and financial review. thus meeting this requirement as did the moscone expansion district. in our findings recommendations is the t.i.d. and m. e.d. were successful. they do have organizations issues. we alerted them to the issues. broken links specifically. the website is out-of-date. and oewd reviews this website to ensure the corrections are being made. additionally, there may be some brown act violations by this organization during the course of website review. we discovered the last posted meeting agenda is dated october 30th, 2017. failure to post an agenda on their website is also a violation of the brown act. we recommended t.i.d. post all previously agenda and meeting notes to their website and that they post them in advance of meet this is accordance with the brown act and oewd held a training last week for all executive directours on the brown act and public records request laws. if there are no questions for staff, i'd be happy to bring up -- >> i have one question, madam chair. >> supervisor peskin. >> thank you. with regard to the t.i.d.'s actual income over extensions for the year-ending june 2017, wherein, there's a net income deficit of $1.8 million made up by a surplus in m.e.d. can you speak to that? >> what slide are you looking at, supervisor? >> i am looking at the report on page -- it doesn't have a page number. there are no page numbers on here. but it's the financials on the page after the t.i.d.-m.e.d. collection methodology page. >> i don't have report in front of me. i would be happy to go back to my office and get back to you on that. >> or maybe m.e.d. can speak to that? >> supervisors, the tourism improvement district management corporation. i don't have the slide in front of me. i do have to say the t.i.d. and m.e.d. act separately. i do know if there's a deficit in the t.i.d. it can't be made up by the m.e.d. money. because they are separate. potentially, the deficit in t.i.d. could be due to lower collections during '16 and '17 because of the moscone expansion district. >> so the 1.18 came out of reserves? >> i don't have the report in front of me so i'm happy to tack a look at that with chris after this and get back to you on that. >> and the way the budget and balance sheet are presented, it has a column for t.i.d., a column for m.e.d. and a total column, which is what led me to believe that your cross-collateralizing the two but it sounds like that's not happening? >> that is not happening. >> i would like to point out, the financials were reviewed by the city auditor as well. >> chris, if you can get back to me on that. >> actually, before you go, i had a quick question. just because i don't know the answer to this. in terms of the brown act violation, are there any other follow-up or is there -- what is the penalty for not following the brown act? >> the two penalties that could follow forward for a violation are one, an individual can sue the organization and demand compliance with the brown act and get attorney fees covered as well. a district attorney, in serious cases, could bring a case. >> got it. >> but those are the two remedies. >> thank you. >> we have a corrected our brown act. we are much more on top of it moving forward. >> i appreciate that. >> i wasn't sure if there was an automatic penalty or something that is point-driven. >> yeah, got it. >> so i'm just going to give you a quick update on some of the programs and services those san francisco travel have been doing, as the t.i.d. money and the moscone expansion district. tourism improvement district, most of it goes to san francisco travel for sales and marketing efforts. so our sales missions, we've reached over 220 meeting planners that year in washington d.c., chicago, and we've had 50 trade shows and we run the visitor information center located at holiday plaza and we service over 400,000 vis terse a year per there. we had about $1.3 billion in direct spending from visitors. we partner with s.f.o. on new air service. we've hosted 900 travel professionals, most of these are media professionals that then write stories on san francisco and as you see in the next bullet point, has $5.8 billion media impressions which equate to more than $375 million in value by hosting those journalists. san francisco travel.com continues to increase year over year with 6.3 million visitors and a direct spend of $216 million. again, we are very active on social media facebook, twitter and instagram and all of those followers and impressions go up year after year. also, in '16 and '17 we booked 1.5 million convention room nights for the city of san francisco. the process con yan expansion is to do the $551 million fully-funded expansion and renovation of months coney center and this is a public-private partnership we've worked with the mayor's office and controllers' office to finance this and with the department of public works to execute it. the construction started in the fall of '14 and it should be done bit end of this year. it was a four-phased construction to allow the link to remain open and operational over the past four years. there is continued communication with convention clients that are booked through these convention years. we are operating a fully functioning convention center while doing major construction on the other side of the building. we did complete phase 1 and phase 2. we started phase 3 of construction in april of '17. we also finished our howard street excavation. we have on going community outreach. we do biweekly meetings with a group of constituents around the center and on going client mitigation work around to keep clients happy and in the center. in addition they have an incentive fund to book and we've spent over two million dollars in this '16 and '17 and retain opportunity. that is the end of my presentation. i'm happy to answer questions. >> it might be a question, i'm sure i will hear about soon. >> all right. at this time we will open up for public comment on this item. i'm seeing no public comment. public comment is now closed. colleagues, can we take a motion to move this forward with recommendations to the full board? >> yes, assuming that i'll do that on the $1.18 million deficit in the previous fiscal year? are you sure about that? >> yeah. i mean we can send it out recommendation. either way is fine. >> why don't we forward it without recommendation to the full board pending the information getting to supervisor peskin and to the rest of the committee as well. thank you so much. so the motion is to move item 1 forward without recommendation to the full board. and we can see that without objection. >> clerk: a resolution for the mayor to sign petitions for the affirm a tive -- that iaffirmat, is not it. it is, excuse me. it is regarding the press for the proposed soma west communi community. >> thank you, very much, they are presenting on this item that before he does, i just wanted to thank mr. corgis, as well as many members to speak at public comment. this process has, well w. the specific process has been a little over the last year and it's really come out of eight years of my time on the board of supervisors. the south of the market in south market west has been a community that has long asked for more attention and additional services and i think certainly based on the data we have seen around street cleanliness and crime this is definitely an area that needs additional support. being surrounded by several c.b.d.s with central market, tenderloin they have seen attention other neighborhoods have gotten by forming a community benefit district and over several years, we decided to move forward with a process through which we can create a community benefit district and this neighborhood as well. to meet the additional needs of the community whether it is additional street cleaners that are just address some of the streets and the alley ways to additional public safety and security enhancements. we have had many community meetingings over the last couple of years that i did want to recognize james, who, you know, has volunteered to take up the time in doing a lot of the outreach and meeting facilitations and i also see our former director of the rec center who is also here today and has worked in the community for over 30 years as rec and park manager. and works on the benefit district as well. it really takes a whole village to move forward and there's a lot of outreach that needs to take place. i want to recognize all the parties involved and while ivy lee is no longer with our office, i want to recognize her because she staffed this issue. chris, i appreciate you taking the time. you have managed a lot of community benefit districts so thank you for making some time to create this one and our district as well. >> thank you, supervisors. chris corgis, still with oewd. i'd like to thank supervisor kim and her office for her incredible assistance on this proposed community benefit district and the amendments due to assessment formula changes to this potential district that resulted in lower assessment amounts for city parcels. this particular resolution will allow the mayor to cast on behalf of the c.b.d. that will help the c.b.d. reach the 30% threshold necessary to hold a special election. this proposed district covers 100 whole or partial blocks and has 27 parcels in it. the district budget is $3.8 million and the plurality is covered by public parcels owned by san francisco unified, the city and county of san francisco or the state of california and other public agencies. it comes out to over 11% of the budget coming from public agencies. this means that the 30% threshold that is required to reach the special election, actually the facto becomes 41% as they cannot typically pursue that 11% from public agencies. the 30% threshold is over $1.1 million, which is well over the assessment budget of many of our c.b.d.s. based off our current process, our current knowledge of the process, the district currently has 22% of the weighted assessments in support of the going forward with a special election. if the committee moves this item forward, this would put the committee right, the steering committee for the organization in good graces to meet that 30% threshold, hopefully by the end of the month. are there any questions for staff? >> seeing no questions from staff members, at this time, we will open up for public comment on this item. >> my name is james, i'm the chairman of the soma west cbd and my steering committee has been volunteering their time to bring this forward many of it is a large area. that is the western part of the soma and we really didn't want to forget anyone. i really appreciate jane kim's efforts, as well as the city. we've been working for a long time -- i've lived in the neighborhood since 2002 and many people i've spoken to are just pleading for something to happen to help out our neighborhood. this particular area, as chris had mentioned, we've been working very hard for the past year and we know have over $800,000 in our petitions already signed to get to that $1.1 million. that is actually larger than nine of the c.b.d.'s entire budget here in san francisco. i applaud where we're currently at. we're continuing forward. in fact, we have got another mailer that will go out to all the property owners again to readdress the situation and move us forward. i really appreciate the efforts. i definitely support this to help move us forward. there are, you know, a lot of freeways and city and even federal properties that we just can't deal with. but we are moving forward and i'm very excited when i hear people in the neighborhood and what they're really looking forward to. i do appreciate your time. thank you, very much. >> next. thank you so much. i did not recognize debra benedict who has been involved in this neighborhood and also in the c.b.d. >> thank you, very much, supervisor kim. and members of the rules committee. i wanted to say thank you, especially to supervisor kim, who has put in a lot of effort as well. thank you for bringing this forward. i've been living in the neighborhood since 2004, and i have been participating in groups such as western soma voice as well as the police meetings monthly, et cetera. i actually saw supervisor kim briefly in passing at the howard foalsome street scape that occurred through the municipal transportation authority. i wanted to say thank you to chris koralis, for all the help he has given. as a result, we have worked very, very hard, as you are probably a little bit aware. some of the people from the city have been there regularly. and we really are in support of this because we see that the needs of the community are not being met appropriately, as a result of -- i guess it's district envy. we see how c.b.d.s operate in other areas around us and we see the benefits that they give to the community. we would like those benefits too. with your help, we will be able to move this forward and get the support of the city for the seemingly large portion of properties that are under the city and county federal. thank you so much. >> my name is brendan tobin. i've been helping with coordinating a lot of the efforts in collecting petitions and doing public outreach, through mail, e-mail and other avs. i just wanted to reiterate, when drawing the boundaries, we very intentionally chose to encompass the area on both sides of the freeway, including the hall of justice and many of the other city buildings. we wanted to properly address all of those areas on the margins where problems accumulate and things like that. one interesting issue is the "san francisco chronicle" building has been left out of the c.b.d.s around it because of difficulties collecting its petition. so we chose to encompass the properties and the fre freewaysd these areas. even though it would be difficult to collect those petitions. having the city sign-i sign in f the buildings would be helpful to look after the entire area of the district and not have to make compromises in the boundaries. thank you. >> my name is tim. i was the coordinator to the rec center on sixth and folsom. i'm retired and i don't live at soma. it's been really important for me to help with this committee to better soma. soma is like a second neighborhood to me. with all the stuff that goes around there, the c.b.d. would help the neighborhood a lot. i've also helped with being the liaison to gain support and most have supported the c.b.d. and we've also manned tables at the folsom sunday streets and filipino heritages undiscovered. so we've got a lot of support from this so with your help, it would be great to get this thing passed and i want to thank everybody and of course supervisor kim for your support for all of this. so thank you, very much. >> thank you so much. >> thank you supervisors. thank you, chris. i've been helping with the steering committee also. i wanted to add that part of our vision for c.b.d. is to maintain in perpetuity some of the large investments the city is making, such as the folsom street scaping. i also wanted to say that the city participating in the petition here would not guarantee c.b.d. it would still be on the landowners to push us across the threshold. it would allow us to go to some of those landowners who are on the fence due to their own structural reasons. many of the large parcels are not sold but in contract leading to a misunderstanding of who should sign and how the c.b.d. will have individual transactions. in many cases we've talked to the developers who are in contract of purchase. they say we love it. we're long-time holders. we believe in the value. but we can't sign it because we don't own it. the long-time owners are scared to mess up with their contract. this would allow us to go to them and say hey, you can now push us over the line. it would be a great help. thank you. >> are there any members that would like to speak on this item? please come up. >> my name is antonio. i wanted to say that this is an area that would increase influence on the growing media community in san francisco. i think that los angeles is downtown arts district is a great example on what that can be if this resolution is passed. again, we need an area that can serve as a base for a growing media industry in san francisco today. and i think something that would be a relatively honest attempt at doing that. thank you. >> thank you so much. any other members of the public who would like to speak on this item? seeing none. public comment is now closed. i, again, i want to thank all of the members of this steering committee for working so hard to a.a, come up with the concept tt the c.b.d. would look like, numerous hours volunteered to the neighborhood. also, spending time on the outreach and making sure our neighborhood and property owners understand what the c.b.d. is and what the benefits of this process would be. again, i just want to recognize james spinelo and tim, debra benedict, alex, erik lopez, brenda tobin and ryan jackson along with ivy lee and chris corgis for bringing this all together. i'm very excited that we are reaching the point that we can make this into a reality. and having seen what other cbds have done whether it's providing additional nighttime security, alleyway street cleaning and greening and beautification, i've seen the difference that c.b.d.s can make and it also a louse us to truly take ownership of our neighborhood and invest in it ourselves and the c.b.d. includes the part of the neighborhood i live in as well. i personally am very excited about seeing this move forward and as pointed out, in public comment, this petition doesn't guarantee the passages of c.b