It's that time of the month again. Time for our regular visit from Uncle Ed Lee who will discuss policy questions from supervisors in the odd numbered districts. With a few administrative items and less-than-noteworthy appointments making up the rest of the agenda, we expect the cuddle session with the Mayor's mustache to be the most exciting part of tomorrow's meeting. With a possible cameo by the cadre of bleeding hearts if the board decides to hold a public hearing on the Department of Public Health's proposal to eliminate some services for the needy. First things first, the questiosn for Mayor Lee:
Leading off from District 1, Supervisor Mar posed an important question about affordable housing: How does the mayor's office propose to build or finance affordable housing when the property and land values in San Francisco are so damned high? A fair question which Mar, having no visible ambitions outside of his district, frames in the context of the Richmond.
From D3, President Chiu went with the perpetually relevant public transit question: he asked the mayor to describe the SFMTA's major challenges for the rest of the year. (Presumably Chiu only cares about the rest of 2011 because he plans on being the actual Mayor come January.)
In District 5, Ross Mirkarimi has been pushing for ways to protect homeowners in the wake of the foreclosure epidemic. The Mirk wants to know if the Mayor's office is working on any proposals that would help San Franciscans stay in their homes should they find themselves staring down a foreclosure.
From D7, Sean Elsbernd puts a sharp point on his question about a "substantial rebate" the city expects to get as a Blue Shield of California policyholder. Elsbernd wants to know if His Impermanency would commit giving that rebate to the Retiree Health Care Trust Fund.
In District 9, Campos went hyper-local: Worried that the Cal Pacific Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital won't be financially viable in the long run, Campos would like to see the mayor support his request to have a specialty service located at St. Luke's in order to attract a higher number of insured patients.
From D11, supervisor Avalos wants to know how the mayor's office plans to address neighborhood concerns about the surge in litter and graffiti along major corridors despite DPW's limited budget and lack of resources.
On to the regular agenda:
Items 12 and 23: Zoning 701 Lombard Street - the Joe DiMaggio Playground/North Beach Library plan already passed on first reading. Item 12 gives final approval to re-zoning the land at Mason and Lombard streets and item 23 vacates the block.
Item 17: 2009 Housing Element Update - This was delayed a while back, but it usually brings out a nutjob or two to make a public comment.
Items 18 - 22: Treasure Island/Yerba Buena Development - Just needs a final vote at this point.
Item 25: Parking in SoMa and Mission Bay - Establishes some maximum parking limits in SoMa and discourages long-term commuter parking.
Item 28: Western SoMa Community Stabilization Policy - Supervisor Kim is letting her constituents do some of the heavy lifting for her. Item 28 urges the Planning Commission to adopt the policies created by the Western SoMa Citizens Planning Task Force.
Item 30: Elimination and/or Reduction of Health Care Services - We're not entirely sure how you can eliminate and reduce something, but item 30 could lead to a public hearing on whether or not the Dept. of Public Health should eliminate services for the poor and needy. If the board opens it up to public comment we expect the usual assortment to show up and say their piece.
Items 31-34: Certification of Environmental review for Booker T. Washington Community Center - Another week, another EIR appealed. One Stephen Williams is representing the appellant who doesn't approve of the community center at 800 Presidio Ave.
From the Clerk's Mailbag this week:
- One letter [email?] from SF Homeless Yahoo Group, regarding pedestrian safety issues in San Francisco.
- 25 letters opposing a charter amendment that would allow the board to make or repeal amendments without voter approval.
- 13 letters urging the board to repeal Sit-Lie
- One Letter from Barbara Dennes, regarding the use of Segways in Golden Gate Park
- One letter from Alvin Hebert, regarding the Fire Department's recent response to the drowning in the Bay.
- One letter from James Chaffee, regarding an article in the NY Times regarding the “City Hall Family."
The full board agenda is available here and the meeting thing kicks off at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays. For those of you who like to follow along from home, you can stream it live on SFGovTV.org.
