But as a result och good investment jz result of having great bond ratings and borrowing opportunities well invest in our libraries and make sure that they reflect what we want for our families, for our kids, for our parents, a safe, clean place to read, to learn. More and more you see the libraries are full of computers now too so they can access the internet, learn how to use it effectively. We do that and know we do that in the Bayview Library branch jz other branches so that we can use the libraries as 1 of our ininstruments to fill the Digital Divide at the same time. [inaudible] [yelling in background] for anyone to suggest that investing in our Neighborhood Branch libraries is i think a incredible gap of understanding. But, let me say this and ill want to make sure that you know that the 12 departments of the city out of the 53 departments is the announcement for todays may 1 budget. Those 12 departments comprise the 4 enterprise departments and a number of departments that have fees as rather than the general fund as their major source of revenue and includes all of the departments that deal with our cities basic infrastructure. They together all 12 together comprise some 4. 9 billion dollars in investments in the next 2 years that create and sustain some 41,000 jobs in the city. This is announcement and proud working with our office, they are working and will be presenting of course in the budget to board of supervises and well seek their approval of their budgets and it continues our Strong Economic Foundation for the city in making sure we take care of our infrastructure. In the 12 departments ask include the airport and port and Public Utilities commission, the Municipal Transportation Commission or building inspection as a example, you have at the airport. They will continue refurbishing our terminals and making sure they support the incredible historic levels of visitors coming into the sitee. They also have a incredible turnout the airport is building its own hotel that will be part the Visitor Experience that will be reflective of the number 1 driver in the citytoryism and haase pitality. We will make invisment in theport that will be one the biggest infrastructure challenges in the time and chablg for reziziancy and that is making sure the sea whaul wall will be there for hopefully another century or. The sea wall is something well teach the public about because it is underground and along the entire eastern side the city and you dont see it, it is below ground but if we dont rebuild the sea wall and make sure it is safe, everything along the water front from embarcadero to piers is under incredible challenge. The puc will make investment jz water system and sewer system and our pawer system and mta that will be improving transit and making sure the city is safer and longer last aing and includes funding for some 30 vision zero projects that total 70 million. We want to come pleat the vision zero projects and make sure the goal is met in 2024 so this budget will do that. Well also have something we are experiencing in the mission and that is a much more cultural Effective Response and prevention and too the fire squz anything that will destroy Affordable Housing so we have within this and again thank you to the leadership of tom howee and building inspection collaboration with the Fire Department to insure education in the communities where fires seem to be still ones that we want to prevent from happening that will have a comp tent response making sure that all of the residents and building owners have a higher level of safety for these very valuable Historic Buildings and buildings that are housing a lot of affordability at this time. Those are the sros and the low income apartment buildings that still exist in the mission district. This budget will also reflect the moving forward and muni forwardforward muni program we have that increase the service ublth by at least 10 percent. Muni seems to enjoy a better relationship with the riding public these days and want to continue that investment, make sure that we continue to have free muni for elderly and for people with disabilities along with youth up to the age of 18. Again, to also make sure that we instrest in the routes that make muni more efficient, gives people moving to the places of work or to their education or Branch Libraries in a more efficient way. This is just the may 1 budget with these 12 departments. The other departments that are general funds related will be part of our june 1 budget and we are working hard on that and we are making sure that we could step up with the 246 million challenge we have. It is a deficit we have for the next 2 years and well bridge that without decreasing services in the general Fund Departments and we are working hard on that and will be ready to have a balanced budget by june 1 and beginning discussions with members of the board of supervisor so they know what we doing in a transparent way. We are Holding Community meetings and neighborhood meetings and meetings with the supervisors to get their input to see what the next budget will reflect. The budget is reflection of sth cities values and will continue reflecting that. We have been able tobalance our budget. My tum as mayor for the last 5 year jz continue doing so i fill unthe gaps and making sure the cuts that may come from the state or federal government we want to reflect in the budget are taken care of, but other things whether they are homeless shelters improvement or Navigation Centers or Affordable Housing or challenges of affordability in general, i think the Branch Libraries is a huchblg contribution to the affordable because they are all free and safe and have the modern technology in them but also the books that we increase and the link to our Public Education system. They are linked to our neighborhoods they are strong. They are linked to even Small Businesses who may want to come in and take a respite from the Small Business and get on the internet and maybe open up a business they want it through the business portal, all that can hpen inl the Branch Libraries. With that, i want to say we are happy to initiate the may 1 budget of the 12 departments i we are working hard to make sure the rest of the departments get the treatment deserve and will have announcements in the coming week. We are work wg the board sw neighborhood groups and can do this because we vastrong economy and we can do this because we are transforming our actually transporting the type of revenues we do so from evonets like the superbowls and the neighborhoods that need them and continue building strong neighborhoods. With that, i can take a f questions if you have them, the budget or anything else and then well go on. [inaudible] well, it is a old old library just like this was and the physical changes we identified in some of the paperwork we are passing out. They will havethey are kind of behine the walls. They want more technology in the Branch Libraries and part of that will be upgrading the wiring system that is very old. We dont have room to expand so we actually have to comp sate for that limited space and make sure that all the spaces used and upgraded with wiring and new technology. We also will increase those hours in the librarylike i said in all the Branch Libraries including chinatown that will have the Library Hours expanded as well. When i go out there it was very crowded and everyone uses them throughout the weekend so expanded the hours is also part the deal. Well, certainly muni has ever reason to do with transportation so one the programs that we supporting is called muni forward and that means increasing the services of muni by at least 10 percent. All the Services Include additional routes and includes improved routes and includes making sure muni moves deliberately on thosroutes in a safe way so it is very hard to get all the specifics but we can do so because it is part of the muni forward plan they approved. At the same time, they have some 30 vision zero projects. Projects that will make the streets safer and engineered and designed to be safer. Slow down traffic where the projects have pruben traffic going too fast and people are not taking the turns in a safe way to cause safety challenges for pedestrians for seniors, all that is in the 30 additional projects we want to complete and want to do so i cost some 70 Million Dollars that is incraseed in the muni projeblths. And keeping muni free for seniors and people with disabilities and youth, that is all part of the budget as well. Thank you. You get your room back kids be joined by City Attorney jessie smith also here are tom [inaudible] evan [inaudible] kristin jen son and victoria, all working diligently on the action we filed in San Francisco superior court this morning. Im joined by supervisor aaron peskin and soon scott wiener both of whom are working on isues related to this defend for many years. Today, im announcing i filed suit against the silties largest Property Owners and land lob lords acad amof arts that detailed [inaudible] purchase and Lease Properties for use city wide. Again and again aa [inaudible] use thrf property acquired was unauthorized, unpermed or prohibited by local law. Again and again aau [inaudible] at planning and Building Code requirements which every other San Francisco Property Owners is expected to follow. Again and again aau flouted basic requirements involving signage, Historic Preservation and Environmental Review and more. Most seriously of all, again and again aau acquired residential and xhrjs properties to convert to student dorms and facilities. In doing so aau derived san franciscan of 300 residential developing we need in the misof Affordable Housing crisis as well as critly needed office space. Infact, the stale of aaus defiance is breath taking. According to a Planning Department memo last month, the 40 properties aau operates in San Francisco shown on the map to my right, 33 failed to xum ply with permit entitlement or authorization requirements. Academy of arts is a agregious land use scauth law and defiance per cysts at the worst possible time for our residential. For as long as aau has been breaking the law, city officials have been working to get them to comply the law and ill confez i was sometimes less patient than some of my client departments about those efforts. Make no mistake, for more than a decade our city worked with aau to resolve the violationment we extended aerfck professional courtesy and no one can doubt the good faith San Francisco showed work wg aau and yet again and again aau met our good faith with bad faith and again and again sought to fix existing violations and scheming to commit new violations. Aau set deadlynns it missed and made promises it broke. With a lawsuit today the again and agains end. Sue toog end the wrong doing we ask to adjudicate 23 aau properties in violation. Another 10 properties on the map remain under review by my office and may be added in a complaint in a later date. Our litigation make certain San Franciscos rights are protected and seeks objective no environmental r view process alone can accomplish. We seek to restore [inaudible] residential units. San franciscos right to have a voice shaping their neighborhoods. To end unfair Business Practices which disadvantage competitors who play by the rule jz penalties that are commensurate and sufficient to detrer would be laws in the future. Im conclude saying how thankful i am with the lawyers. Im grateful the effort and patient of Zoning Administrator scott sanchez, to the Planning Department and to our planning commission. Im grateful to aaron peskin who includes many San Franciscos properties where aau is flout thg law for leadership and hard work over the years and to to scott wiener who pushed legislation to design to limit the aaus ability to flout San Franciscos zonejug land use laws. Before i take any questions i like supervisor peskin and when supervisor wiener can join us to say a few words. Thank you City Attorney, im here to commend the City Attorney and staff for finally bringing this action. We have been waiting patiently perhaps two patiently for over a decades. This is disproportioninately impacted the Northeast Corner othe city where hundreds of units of Affordable Housing are removed during the height the crisis. The academy played San Francisco for a fool but that is coming to a end today so let me thank City Attorney her aa and deputy City Attorneys. Thank you supervisor peskin. Ill let supervisor wiener say a few words when we gets here but in the interim happy to take questions or refer to my staff. [inaudible] took so long for . All this to come to a head. [inaudible] for a long time. It has been no secret i have been less patient than others. There has been i think a process of [inaudible] and dlie by academy of art leading people to believe they were going engage in a good faith effort to remedy the issues and to our clieants credit they gave them every opportunity. They bent over backwards to give them every opportunity and despite that the academy of art did not engage in good faith. There is no secret that they are economically politically powerful and have a lot of resources at their disposeal and used every one to kick the can down the road. This has toened and that is why seeing the Planning Department issue their round of notice of violation and think everyones patients has run out. [inaudible] it can not alone. You probably heard or may hear from aquadomy of art we are so far along in the eir process why in the world would you drop the law suit now . This has nothing to do with slowing down anything. The eir alone doesnt remedy past wrong doing ortake care of violations that are currently there. It doesnt slow down the eir process at all and the fact of the matter is this process has been going on for more than 5 years which is unheard of and that is because of their delay. The academy is iis aing they had a generous settlement proposal on the table and you turned it down. I say that is groussly over states the facts. Settlement discussions the particulars i cant go into because they are conficial but nothing is further from the truth a generous offer was put forth. There was numerous settlement discussions but it became clear to me they were going no where because the aau wasnt taking this as serious as they needed to. I wouldnt have fall filed the suit if i didnt think i needed to. Before i take questions i want supervisor wiener to say few words. Happy to have supervisor wiener here and he has been pushing legislation and working for years to limit the aaus ability to flaut the law and make sure we have even handed enforcement with educational institutions and mast r planning. Jerk thank you dennis i want to thank the City Attorneys office to moveic forward to enforce the law. It is a basic concept that Everyone Needs to fall ow the law. When we passed zoning limitations, when we passed housing measures to try to protect our scrarserantal housing stock, it is important those laws mean something and it means something when the board of supervisors passes a law that says universities need to build their own housing but cant buy rent controlled apartments and convert to dorms. It means something when we have restrictions in the planning code limiting how you can use properties, there is a reason why we do that and Everyone Needs to follow the law. In 2012 i authored Student Housing legislation to do that, give incentives for universities to build Student Housing, we dont want Student Housing at the expense of the general population cannibalizing the housing stock. Just a couple months ago we passed a legislation and thank to supervisor peskin to support it, to beef up our coud enforcement efts to make it easier and more efficient for our department to enforce the law and to empower the City Attorney to step in when thingerize not moving quickly enough. Thank you to the City Attorneys office to moving forward to make sure everyone follows the law. Thank you. Ileler continue taking questions to the extents people have them. You seem fired up i am fired up. This is embarrassing, we are sitting here and fighting this for 10 years and im angry about it. I know these two supervisors are angry about it. Im angry about it because the vast majority of people in San Francisco know what they have to do to play by the rules and if you had a issue at your house or Small Business you know the standard and the process you have to go through with the Planning Department. Here we have a entity that didnt just ignore the rules, they actively flouted them and it is infearating. I think this go tooz had heart of what either inspires or detracts from the publics confident in the integry of government. When they see a large and powerful entity flouting rules that the ordinary san franciscan has to abide by, it creates a confidence in their perception of the integtry of government and that denigrates all our residential and what we do, so i am. [inaudible] greed. They are one of the largest Property Owners in San Francisco and this is a highly lucrative run by the institution and it is very profitable. Is there evidence at all or investigation as to whether or not the corruption at city hall that allowed the academy to [inaudible] violating the laws over a decade . We are focused on remedying the problem and can tell you that i do know that while i may have differed with the timeline that my clients over the Planning Department were taking, i know they were doing the best they can and were motivated in good faith. I look forward work wg them, their patience has run out and they have had it because they know how much time and effort they put into it. We are just moving forward with that and cofds we will be successful working together. [inaudible] as i recall where the academy appeared [inaudible] that is the timeline and the path that it is on to benow, there are other timelines that havent been met, so it may be met, it may not be met, but i think the Planning Department planning commissions is clear about their expectations so like i said, that in and of itself doesnt remedy any of this. They are still a lot of work that needs to be done. There is lot of host of buildings probably more than a 3rd of what we identified to get the use authorized they have to go before the board of supervisors to get legislative changes so there is a fair amount of work that needs to be done. [inaudible] economic and political power to [inaudible] they know it was tremendous money and resources. We have been through probably 7 or 8 law firms they have been through that made various promises, different promises, different representations to property the boferd supervisor jz Planning Department and planning commission. A great deal of advocacy use that makes use of their economic power and use of political process. That is what i think has enable d this to gee on for as long as it has. So, i think everybody has come to the ends of their rope. Okay. Thank you very much
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.