Transcripts For SFGTV 20120825

>> excuse me, i wanted to make a few comments. for those of you who attended to advocate for kimmitt -- for opportunities, i think it is important for me to add the knowledge that even though you are here at the puc, there&,g lot of opportunities throughout san francisco. the fact that you are coming out and you are making it clear to the public, especially those watching on sfgovtv is a critical starting point for making sure that the the message of jobs for the community continues to resonate with the citizens and the city and county of san francisco. i urge you to continue that. i want to commit that we will continue to do everything we can to help you out. president moran: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i have a few handouts for you. i am here to talk about the proposed water transfer. back, we were discussing in 2008, we were very concerned about the proposal. now we are looking at -- we are back of to the 25. very disappointing for us. when it was being discussed, they werenooñqe looking at a t- year average. it was even lower in 2008. the 265 cap was already compromised. we did not oppose that at the time. the water transfer was controversial at the time and was a very hard decision, even for the planning commission. there is a letter from the chair, it says a lot of things. the river is a precious resource and we should continue to protect it. the system used to hundred 12.8, which is 20% below the cap. -- 212.8, which is 20% below the cap. it is a bad deal for san francisco taxpayers. this is for water that san francisco does not need. it is a direct subsidy. the puc would be spending 2000 per acre for water that is actually used. it is a bad deal for san franciscans. they drop their demand projections from 194 to 172. there is a lot more potential there. the transfer is a bad idea. it disincentive baez's conservation. -- disincentiveihwhw conservati. you're supposed to have a plan for the dam back in the mid- 1990's. there was a proposal from a fish and wildlife. we have not had that for 20 years. the ecosystem project is now way overdue. that is all information that would be helpful with the transfer. if we have problems, we have to challenge early and often. that is going to be very problematic. we are hoping to rebuild the trust we have shared with you for the last four years. president moran: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am here because of the article in the paper this morning that left a lot of unanswered questions. the puc and the pacific rod and gun club. the lease calls for 4 acres, so they have been squatting on additional 10 acres. here is another thing that has never been brought up. the rod and gun club has zone off about eight or 9 acres of water. you should also be mindful that 's, let's san francisco police department, who has a shooting range, also shot over the water. for safety reasons, at city hall terminated that practice. hé-ñthe question sty was the police department shutdown? and not the pacific broad and gun club? at the time, this commission did not have jurisdiction. or was not implementing their jurisdiction. it was the rec and park department. that question should be answered. what we are most fearful of is for the 14 acres, they will be rewarded with a new lease. i would like to call your attention, we have talked about this in the past, and page 14 e> clear that the current storage facilities is inadequate. the downstairs is no longer meets the needs of the rowing clubs. the rowing clubs have been there for the last 15-20 years. over 200 high-school athletes that use that lake. we need more space. how are we going to get the additional storage space? we really think that should be a top priority. also, you are probably already aware of this. $2 million is allocated for the lake. the opposition to this bond is pretty sophisticated. you know one of the persons quite well. i will be supporting the^ francisco. let's talk about storage, let's help make this bond a success in november. november. thank you. saying the projected rates increased. i want to make sure we're getting the best bang for the buck. whether it is the perception of seeing crews doing work where it is a bit out to the contractors, you see some very fast turnaround. streets reopened very quickly with spots or repairs, water water department crews doing jobs, it seems to take huge numbers of staff and seems to linger for much longer. use seat dpw and repairs and it does not seem to be -- you see dpw and repairs and it does not seem to be -- there/ñ/ñ: perception. whether it is reality or not, if we could get some breakdowns of what it cost for cruisews, so we can compare them. so we can see whether it is a perception issue or reality. is it a management problem? we have different management styles of contractors and city departments. when are we going to tell city departments they have to pay closer to market rates for what they're getting? ratigan park, at city buildings for water and power -- rec and park department, city buildings for water and power? i do not think it is a fair subsidy for these other departments. they generate revenue, they know they will be getting a really good deal. if they had to go outside for power, it would cost them quite a bit more. we need to put the money up so that we are not asked for more bonding. i do not think the future generation is going to be able to afford these rate increases. four time rate increase for a small household? that is an incredibly large amount. i would love to see those figures, thank you. president moran: thank you. >> we have been working for the last several months to try to get the pacific rock and gun club under a new lease. and we send an eviction notice with eviction effective august 15. the last draft least, they came back recently and said we will agree to all these terms. we said we would extend the period and by which we would evaluate those until september fed. one of the questions is, they have 4 acres, but they have occupy 14 acres. we think it is prudent to lease the entire 14 acres. we're getting them under a month-to-month lease that would establish a business relationship with them. we will evaluate the cleanup options. that does not mean they get a long-term lease on the property by any means. this is an interim police until we resolve the cleanup issues. president moran: what about the questions about shooting over the water? >> i am not familiar with the specifics. if they are controlling more than the 14 acres, that is something we need to take into account. president moran: thank you. commissioners? >> they are shooting over the lake? is that the allegation? >> yes. i do not think anyone has filed that as part of the lease. it is water as opposed to land. that isopoph% a fair question. >> are people where they are shooting? -- aware there are shooting? >> certainly, they hear it. >> right now, the sound of shots, the only notice there is a potential voter would hear? >> yes. all of the boating clubs are fully aware. local conditions. everybody knows everybody else. >> i do not understand. >> gun clubs have shot over water because there is nobody there to hit. >> my understanding isgñgñ,$ the things they are shooting bailout overland. -- shooting bailout overland. ñ8ñ8 yards. >> they are contaminating the water? >> there is lead shot in the like, yes. -- lake, yes. >> the club was roping off a portion of the latke? that would hopefully it gives folks some morning. that raises a series of issues. >> that went bankrupt 20 years ago now and that cost is about $20 million in repair money to clean it up. >> that is really disgusting. $20 million to clean up a lake. what is the estimated clinic for this lake? >> $10.7 million. >> none of that is receivable to the gun club. >> they have made communications said they do want to participate in the cleanup. they think they might have some resources. >> do you anticipate those resources to be realistic? >> i would not venture an opinion at this point. president moran: thank you. communications. the commission haslglglh quite k of communications. one of the items on the west side recycled water project, that was partial response to a question i posed some time ago asking -- i appreciate the information was presented. we need to have some additional discussion about the broader picture. it is a complicated issue that -- it to come back to the commission. we will be continuing the discussion. >> i have a comment. i do not understand how the reverse osmosis is going to be cheaper. i find the whole thing. curious. -- a very curious. >> it does cost more, but as a result, you are able to use more water in different areas. the unit cost per acre foot of water goes down by adding reverse osmosis. the total cost, yes, it is more expensive. >> ok. president moran: part ofqmqmrq e additional discussion is for the portion that would not be served, if you include that in the equation, the numbers are different. any other questions or comments about the communications? public comment on the communications? commission business? seeing none. commissioner caen: under the regional quarterly, under the project performance summary is, i am curious to know why we are exceeding the limits, why all this is showing up now. we did not have indications of this beforehand. [laughter] >> you are referring on the schedule status? we have had some work going forward in the alternatives analysis. the presence of slow down a bit. we expect a revised budget scheduled ready by this fall. commissioner caen: that is going to be coming up? >> yes. president moran: part of that, if memory serves, is in response to trying to have the rate of rate increases at a more manageable level. >> one of the things we have been looking at, can we stagger the project in some way that allows the rate increase to be smoothed out over time? commissioner caen: overall, looking at all of these reports, i am very surprised that we are now finding this out. they are either over budget or behind time, this should have been reported as we go along. i thought it had been, but i was quite surprised how many red areas there are. this is not only you. >> i will leave the wsip for julie. we're catching up on all of our other capital projects. that transparency, i think, is pointing those things out to us. yes, there are problems with projects. we are finally confronting them in a better way. we will go through a phase where we are going to have reds. we will more aggressively stay on top of them. commissioner caen: ok, i will except that for now. >> this is literally a step forward for the organization in terms of tracking of capital projects. we're starting to take the lessons we have learned and apply them across the board. there will be a little bit of a painful shaking out for us. president moran: that is one thing i have been asking staff to do for some time. :c:c8yreporting structures and applying that across the board. so that we have the same degree of transparency to the retain capital projects. that is the good news. the bad news, when you open the door, sometimes what you see is not pretty. >> before we started doing these zszsolreports in a consolidated fashion, you never would have known. you would never have gotten any quarterly reports. president moran: was there a question for julie? commissioner caen: i am surprised that we are learning these things after the fact. we have not been apprised of it as it comes to be. there are some issues with your reporting later on that i will bring up. >> on wsip, we have been doing these reports for some time. on the other reports, the idea that the upgrade is now seven months behind. that is projecting that it will go to 2017. the whole project has been slower than maine thought he was going to be. it is not that we are -- we are ++>> good afternoon, commissioners. there are two items. the one on the calendar is the water system improvement we have done that because of the speed of things. our information should be up to date because we will have more frequent reporting. >> good afternoon, commissioner. i do hope you feel that i do apprise you timing and made at every meeting. we try to give you a five- minute update with 86 projects, you have to be selective. if i could have the connection to my presentation, the quarterly update covers the period of april 1st-june 30. i do not seem to have control. over the presentation, which will be a problem. >> [inaudible] >> there is presenter blood. -- presenter mode. the whole computer is frozen. is the presentation in your package, commissioners? president moran: yes, it is. >> do you want to skip my item? ok. >> you will be moving the pages also. the public will not be able to see it, that is the problem. >> [inaudible] >> close enough. ok. president moran: item 7a. >> i think we are good to go. shown here is the summary of the progress that was accomplished the past quarter. on our active projects. two of the 19 projects that were in construction moved to close out. the close out of the pump station was also completed during the quarter. this is the updated status of our regional and local projects. that is what it looks like at the end of june. as with the past several quarters, most of the focus is in construction. we now have 17 regional and local projects worth nearly $2.5 million -- billion dollar