a safe city. being here, and thank you for all of your support to, because getting this information out to the public is one of the keys to being unaware safety, and a resilient city. thank you. [applause] >> we will take a couple quick questions, and then we will do interviews afterwards. [indiscernible] >> there is a jump and we are looking at that very hard to. we believe two things. there are things that happened over the past year, we increase the training to our patrol officers, there was a lot more awareness, and we wage that cost and some of the increase. we actually are looking at the impacts of the closure of a red brook, which was one of the sites that facilitated a lot of the activity, the prostitution activity. that close down. we drove more activity onto the streets. those are factors we are looking at, and also how we report. we believe the increased training expanded the amount of cases that were actually recognized as human trafficking, and we wanted to make sure that we captured

he says the set up is one of a kind that would make city small livable. the people seven stories above us produce eight tons of trash a day. separating plastic from organic is still a major challenge for so many people when they throw away their rubbish but the manual task of separating all the gunk from junk is worth it nothing goes to waste these leftovers of pureed the fat siphoned off for using cosmetics the water removed from treatment all that's left a tiny little flakes sent off to a bio gas plant to create energy. six thousand for the dehydration machine saves a six thousand kilometers of unnecessary transportation within berlin every year instead of fifteen thousand containers we only have to transport five thousand fight in other words we reduce the garbage in our cost by two thirds. and that in a country often stuck in analog. and other details on the days are scanned this is the system knows which ones belong to which customers then they're billed and it's all logged and biggest. then there are others silver bins they detained since it is done

cities around the world are growing at an unprecedented pace. almost half a billion people are expected to move from the countryside to the cities over the next few decades my question on a monumental scale and one that involves monumental challenges. has come up with an idea to meet some of the challenges he's the co-founder of the successful cryptocurrency iota sheet or wants to use iota of technology to let machines in urban areas communicate with each other and turn megacities into smart cities. so the city of the future is obviously fully automatic where we have to sensors and actuators that are actually interacting with each other because the biggest problem that we have today is we have all of these different data side us where data is not being exchanged and through that we don't really have a smart environment and a city of the future stephanus smart network right where these different actors and machines and also human start exchanging data were to each other and then make decisions based on that data. created in twenty fifteen iota an

housing can no longer be a city by city issue. we have to work, we have to work together, large cities or small, or the bay area will not be affordable for workers and family. our cities will never solve this crisis alone, that we can do better. since taking office, this has been my focus. to get rid of the barriers and bureaucracy that get in the way of housing production, and to build more housing for people of all income levels. san francisco, are ready in my short time in office, i am moving forward with 300 million-dollar affordable dollars affordable housing bond. i directed my department of building inspection to get rid of the bureaucratic red tape that gets in the way of building we had 900 us -- accessory dwelling units backlogged. imagine putting 900 units on the market? eliminating the backlog, and most recently, i put forth legislation to eliminate the fees for in-laws, and affordable housing, 100% affordable housing during affordable housing projects, providing more affordable housing, and to get these in-laws into t

like to thank our city administrator. i like to thank the public works engineers and architects who designed and managed this project. a special shotout to the project manager. our city architect edgar lopez and roebuck construction, give them a hands. they really had to work hard. thank you. of course, all of the voters in san francisco that made this possible. this funding was passed in the 2010 earthquake safety emergency bond and this is the first of the full complete fire houses that the city has produced. isn't it beautiful? the bond which funded this upgrade is a voter-backed initiative and aimed to strengthening earthquake resiliency. public works takes great pride in overseeing some of the city's crucial capital and improvement projects. with the support of voters we can componen continue to work on world-class facilities to many diverse neighborhoods. at this time, i now have the honor of introducing our mayor london breed who has been champion making sure that san francisco is kept safe. join me in welcoming ou

she grabbed us at city hall one day. we were supposed to have a two-hour meeting, and it turned into a ten-hour meeting. she cancelled appointments and other things that she had to be at. she said we're going to finish this night, and she did that. she brokered a deal, and there's no one that i want to thank more than mayor london breed for getting this done. [applause] >> i also want to thank aaron peskin, who's not here, and ahsha safai -- did i get that right? ahsha had a lot to do with us and sat down with us hour after hour, days, weeks. we had conference calls at night, 1:00, 2:00 at night. i really don't want to think about what you were wearing during those conference calls, so please don't bring that up again. but i do want to thank you very much for all the effort that i put in, and thank you for letting me have a drink in your office afterwards. you know, san francisco, the progressive city that it is is first on everything -- on a lot of things, on most things. we're a model for the country. i've been saying

we're a patriotic city. we value our connection to the military, and we just had five people who were gunned down this chattanooga, tennessee. so one of the first things i did was take out our whiteboard, gathered everybody around and started writing down the rules of the road. this is how we're going to respond to this incident. our police chief who did an amazing job, we sat down and started going through what are we going to say? and the first thing that we said is, we're going to protect every single person. it was a muslim young man who killed these five heroes and we know that part of what we have to do is keep our muslim community safe over these next few days. and we also said another rule that we put down was no one will be radicalized as a result of this incident. not one person will be radicalized as a result of what happened here today. so this started us down the road of figuring out how we combat violent extremism in our city and around our country. the young man who perpetrated these horrific

how could it come to this in this legendary city what's really going on what's driving the city's wholesale exploitation i've come to venice to find answers who's profiting. who's paying the price what actually is being sold. for. access to this jewel of a city is over water most visitors a day trippers from nearby holiday resorts. booked my accommodation online like most net savvy people nowadays but rather than staying in a hotel i've opted for a private apartment it's cheaper untalented is a more authentic way to experience for city because one comes into contact with local residents. than thomas. thomas and. so this is the. case yes yes if. it's two hundred seventy euro's a night for three of us half the price of three equivalent hotel rooms in the same location everything nice to you and their houses completely restored inside and outside their roof. yes back only. about. five star. no you've never. really you just if you buy one house and you know it was so. is this is the business is it easy to to to rent a place like this. yes. yes. but you make your living with renting things that

his father actually works for city government, still works for city government today. just to show you how interconnected all this is, and i say this almost everywhere, he was not radicalized in chattanooga, but he came back to chattanooga to commit these acts, which means we are all in this together in a really critical way. so after we had done a lot of work, and we had a great response, a lot of articles were written about chattanooga, and our response afterward, we were contacted by the state department, and mike duffin is here with the u.s. state department. secretary kerry had started the strong cities network. it's all about how you combat violent extremism and try to prevent these acts from occurring. i started talking to other cities. they arranged that not just in the u.s., but all around the world. we had numerous visitors from places from the balkan areas to the far east. we have had tons of people and tried to learn what was happening. discounter violence extremism work is actually really important. there are people on the edges of our city, everywhere. so

you never think about that when you are a mayor and you are thinking about your city and your city will go down in history for this. it would never happen at tree of life because tree of life is literally mr. rogers neighborhood where fred rogers lived, two blocks away. it is where willie started we are family lived. it is the most diverse neighborhood in all of western pennsylvania. people choose to live in squirrel hill because they want to live around people who are different and they embrace that. that is my neighborhood. i live seven blocks away. those words just hit like someone punching you in the stomach and taking the wind out of you. everything you thought about your city has completely been changed forever. and of course pittsburgh being the city it is the victims themselves were friends, they were family members of her friends they've known 20 years. you get to go through this process of trying to operate and act rational in a time when emotions really are taking over and it becomes difficult. you hear about the stories of how the first officer arrived and upon coming out of

take the city, american forces carved up manila. the 37th infantry and the first cavalry would come into the city from the north. 37th infantry would cross the river near the presidential palace and turn the west, to drive to were the walled city waterfront. the first calvary would envelop the city from the east and make a parallel drive alongside, while the 11th airborne would come from the south end backdoor -- close of the city's backdoor. macarthur believed the japanese would evacuate just as he had done. he was so confident of this but he had his headquartered staff begin planning his liberation pickingdown to individual tsipras settlements for his senior officers and orienting the parade routes -- individual jeep assignements. there was a mix of intelligence coming into the city. guerrilla generals were reviewing the japanese troops were getting ready to leave the city. but by january, the messages coming out of the city had changed. filipino guerrillas were reporting construction of toll boxes and buildings. residents who had

this is a city that knows how. the innovation capital of the world his. [cheers and applause] >> the national leader on lgbt and immigrant rights, environmental protections, healthcare, and so many other causes. the place where my angelou rang cable car bells -- the place where my angelou rang cable car bells and the place where a girl from public housing became mayor [cheers and applause] >> our congresswoman is speaker of the house. our former mayor just became governor. another is the california senior senator, the state's lieutenant lieutenant governor, controller and treasurer are all san franciscans. [cheers and applause] >> our former district attorney could even be the next president [cheers and applause] >> it is time that our city holds its head up high again. it is time we believe again. yes, we have our challenges, i see them every day, just like you. i'm frustrated just like you about the issues that face our city, but i'm also motivated, because there is no problem we caps off together, no challenge we won't face together, there is , as pres

out of this city. sandra fewer gave her worried that she would present a resolution to abolish i.c.e., and hillary, when i asked if she would support such a resolution. this is my deepest concern. when i first spoke to the woman, there were no children that had died. two children have died now. two children have died in america. the problem is not people crossing the borders, it is corporations that freely go to any country, exploits their population and their labor, cap next rates of poverty that these people are driven to come here to be helped. since we cause these problems, we need to help them. in our own mission district, the owner of a story of a story has been investigated. he is a citizen. because he is it from africa still shift -- it was not created for that. we need to get i.c.e. out of this city, and stop them from harassing our people. on that because i. support hillary ronen. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. congratulations to all the pe

we will fight for the things that we are losing in the city that makes our city. i will be introducing that legislation really quickly. probably within a week or so. the rest i submit. >> thank you, mr president. supervisor brown? >> thank you. as we are all looking at the priorities of the city, and we have so many, i think education is the one that we all really care about, and making sure that our children have really great teachers that stay in the city, work in the city, to make sure that they have a consistency on teachers and they are there for them. but we also care about energy independence, and of course, the homeless. and i think all of us can't go to a neighborhood meeting, or all of the e-mails that we get about the homeless situation, and what are we going to do about it. so mayor breed and i are sponsoring legislation, and it is creative, and we are trying to seek some -- shake some fruit out of the tree. so what we are asking is the businesses that we normally pay into props see, while it is being litigated, to see if they are willing, are good cit

. >> a big loss for the city for sure. thank you, ian. >>> now to our other top story, a sam boer watch at a popular san francisco beach. police are guarding the area in fort funston where a woman believed to have been killed trapped under a landslide. this was the frantic search we brought you live this afternoon as firefighters feverishly dug with their bare hands for hours, hoping to save the young woman. that young woman swallowed by dirt while her friend and a dog made it out alive. nbc bay area's jean elle is there live. jean, the search for the body continues at daylight. >> reporter: it does, jessica. the search has been called off for the night, but determined crews did the best they could to find her, even after t with lightsn e cliffs, cadaver dogs searched for a woman buried in aalking h chief joanne hayes white says two women walking on the beach with a dog were suddenly buried in a mountain of sandstone just before 3:00. people on the beach were able to help dig out one woman, who was buried to her waist. thi

to honor him in the city in naming this as a city landmark. and as it's said before, the school district is a state agency, so really, they can do -- they don't need to follow the san francisco building codes or follow the landmark status, so it's just an honor of a recognition. and i think would be a great honor to -- for his tribute to make this a city landmark. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. rothman. and as the previous speaker said, there is actually a benefit to the school district which is this designation can actually allow the sfusd to avail themselves of the state historic building code instead of the uniform building code of the state of california. both of these case reports -- and colleagues, i don't know if you've read them carefully because there's a lot of pages in them -- were prepared by christopher verplank and donna graves. and mr. verplank is here. i have to tell you, i enjoyed reading both of these case reports this weekend. mr. verplank, the floor is yours. >> greetings, supervisors. my name is christopher ver

it will be reimbursed to the city when our city, our home passes through the court. please don't let business who don't want to pay their fair share of taxes, who make over $500 million a year in revenue, hold up the will of the voters by delaying the implementation of our city our home. the people dying on our streets today can't wait and neither can our teachers. this bridge funding is critical. thank you. >> joe wilson. hospitality house. just want to urge us to remind ourselves that they don't have to be any winners or losers in this discussion only champions. that's why we're here today. i'm actually thrilled to see so many compelling voices coming out and speaking on issues that are important to the community. as a point of a historical reference, the reason there is not eraf fund to begin with is that it's properly tax money that was stolen from the countries 25 years ago and resulted in billions of cuts to community service and human services. we're trying to set some of that right today. we can do that in advance to avoid pitting one class of people against

sustainable future . >> san francisco streets and puffs make up 25 percent of cities e city's land area more than all the parks combined they're far two wide and have large flight area the pavement to parks is to test the variants by ininexpensive changing did new open spaces the city made up of streets in you think about the potential of having this space for a purpose it is demands for the best for bikes and families to gather. >> through a collaborative effort with the department we the public works and the municipal transportation agency pavement to parks is bringing initiative ideas to our streets. >> so the face of the street is the core of our program we have in the public right-of-way meaning streets that can have areas perpetrated for something else. >> i'm here with john francis pavement to parks manager and this parklet on van ness street first of all, what is a parklet and part of pavement to parks program basically an expense of the walk in a public realm for people to hang anti nor a urban acceptable space for people to use. >> parklets sponsors have to apply to be conside

city borders. there's a lot of folks in the smaller communities, neighboring communities. i'm the mayor of everett, washington, just north of seattle. so what are you doing on a regional level to address this, and empower the local smaller communities to come up with solutions that may look very different than what you're doing in the larger cities? >> well, i'm glad you asked that question, because, in fact, we actually are working on a regional approach, and will be assigning an agreement that outlines things we could be doing in the bay area specifically that i think can transfer to the entire state of california. and i know this is the u.s. conference of mayors and we're talking about other cities and other states. but we're really focusing on, you know, even the smaller cities. we've been participating in a group called casa, bringing together a number of people in the advocacy community, the business community, the tech industry. elected officials. all over to talk about what are we going to

city plan p.p.o. rate. presentation by mike clark from acon. >> we talked little bit about rate stabilization reserves in the last presentation. page 3 give background on each the last two years. for the 2018 plan year, that was approved in june of 2017, the agency approved using was a $4,000,529,000,000 rate stabilization reserve to be applied by down 2018 premiums. we expected at the close of 2018 cycle, that we would have spend down the rate stabilization reserve. we looked at 2017 plan year experience. with that determined because of favorable experience, there was $1,000,661 available. that help all else equal to reduce the total rate increase by 4%. $1,661,000 equates to 4% of the expected city plan spend for 2019. we have slides in appendix that provides more details for your convenience. >> president breslin: when you apply a deficit, how does that work? i don't understand it. >> the deficit will then slightly increase the rates that we present in may and this is the case presently on the blue shiel

we are a city that is on the water. we need to act, and i believe that all the resolutions that we want to put forward will be helped immensely by that. having money in a public bank that is our own, that is the city's taxes, our constituents would see the results of the money going to us, so i urge you to support this unanimously, and help us move it forward. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i made district ten resident, in the electoral cochair of the san francisco democratic socialists of america. i'm here to speak in adoption of the it public bank measure, specifically the public benefits of community investment in a public bank. we talk about divestments as a benefits. we know the current general fund goes to the big banks. they put that into predatory loans and investments that are hostile to the businesses of san francisco. shark no shareholders around this country and around the world have more control of the san francisco economy and people's livelihoods and our reside

state legislation committee and the city lobbyists when lobbying on behalf of the city and transmitting the official policy positions to external bodies and agencies. >> thank you. once again, supervisor peskin, the floor is yours. >> thank you. i want to make a motion to continue this to the next government audit and oversight committee, the last day for introduction of bills at the state is this friday, so the city lobbyists is engaged in their job, so i'd like to continue this item for 1212 weeks. >> before taking a motion to continue, are there any members of the public who wish to testify? singh then, public testimony is now closed. can we take this without objection? >> i am hearing a continuation to the date specific of the 7th of march, 2019. >> thank you. mr. clerk, please call item number 5. >> agenda item number 5 is a hearing on the recently published 2017-2018 civil grand jury report. >> thank you. i would like to welcome some people from the budget and legislative analyst office were here to present on this item. >> good afternoon, supervisors. we were asked at the time of

currently we have enrolled about 86,000 customers across the city. about 20% of what we hope to serve in the future and in the next two years we'll offer service to all san francisco electricity customers. >> an easy way to align your environmental responsibilities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it and it doesn't really add anything to the bill. >> joining clean power sf is one of the easiest ways to fight climate change, receiving cleaner energy at low and stable rates, you're helping to support a not for profit that helps influence the energy grid and produce more production. >> i would encourage any business to seriously convert to the clean sf service. it's good for environment, business and the community. >> you can sign up online our call and the great thing is, you'll have the peace of mind that you're doing your part in your household to help the environment. ♪ ♪ >> my biggest take away is that you can always find a way. most people who go into public policies really want to make a differ

of brisbane and operate out of city boundaries. another term we use is community choice aggregator or cca program. that is a statutory program that is authorized to procure power which would then be distributed through the investor-owned utility infrastructure. so a cca under the statute doesn't exist in the absence of an investor-owned utility and would not order near overlap with a municipality or municipality utility district and we use iou or investor owned utility to describe pg & e or edison or san diego gas and electric. so in order to form a municipal electric utility and again, we have in san francisco, any municipal corporation or city can distribute that under the california constitution. municipal are not regulated by the california puc. the san francisco charter includes express provisions allowing san francisco to procure and distribute power and also allows the city to expand its municipal utilities if it chooses. so it could be an oversight role for the lafco. as distinguished from the municipal utility, a municipal

the city i saw as a child is not the same city i see now. the city that housed and protected my whole family. i've seen my tias and tios get forced out of their houses. i've seen community businesses that have been around forever get shutdown. i've seen our beloved trees fall just for generic condos to be built. every week, new monsters loom over our heads. the frisco i saw as a child walking through the mission is not the same. yuppies enter this town like it's theirs, making their patches grow into monsters, expensive monsters. only thing they do is shadow our schools, make us wait for grandmother's son, make our neighbors have to pack up and leave. now it's our turn, our turn to take back the family businesses, our turn to make the mission fluorish with art. >> president melgar: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is allison. i'm standing here with the others today to say no to the monster and yes to the marvel. the city's priority must be on providing 100% affordable housing to actual low and no-income san franciscans. the

it was formed to respond to the city's homeless crisis. what began as a one-year emergency interfaith winter shelter is now in its 30th year of providing shelter and meals to between 60 and 100 homeless men each night. beginning the sunday before thanksgiving, through the end of march. 18% of those self-identify as aging adults that are our clients. at present, our organization in collaboration with the major faith-based social service agency has applied for substantial grant with the hope of expanding the interfaith shelter for care for seniors and those during the inclement winter months. due in large part to the success of the interfaith winter shelter and the council's work in responding to homelessness, in late 2014 the city called on the council for the recipient of anonymous $3 million donation which enabled expeditious funding for the first navigation center. the success of the pilot led to the replication in other neighborhoods throughout the city. mission of our organization is to bring people of different faiths together to cele

the fee has to be tiefd to the city -- tide to the city's cost of the program. i don't know if there would be additional cost to the city in terms of inspecting larger properties with more vacant storefronts. that's something d.b.i. and the controller can look at. >> commissioner: i'd imagine the cost associated with administering the program wouldn't just be based on the actual number of places but there should be a cost associated with looking at the size of the property. i don't know if the sponsor was amenable maybe we can ask d.b.i. to look into that. that's one thing and this is something we heard on the land use and transportation committee for years but the issue of lighting, a lot of the storefron storefronts not only have they abandoned and unoccupied but don't have proper level of lighting. i wonder if there's a way we could look into having some of this fee be associated with or maybe a small percentage of it abated based on lighting if lighting were provided. if the storefront owner did provide lighting though the storefront was inactive and shown t

in the last 30 years from a city that was lost, literally, to a city today that is the most dynamic city in america. it really is. that deserves a big round of applause. [applause] what has happened in this neighborhood is many changes have taken place in this neighborhood. with the capital crossing's project, that was a scar through our city. to cover that over and connect the east and west of our city will be an enormous achievement. now to have the capital jewish museum centered right here in this location is going to be an enormous addition. i have been around when we did a couple other things, too. if you remember the jewish community center on 16th street. that was an abandoned building. i was the ac chairman. that's how long ago that was. back in those days we were able to reclaim the building for the jewish community, and now it is one of the most vibrant community centers in the district of columbia located on 16th street. and the synagogue on sixth street. what is the name of that one? it had some name, i knew. [laughter] i get them all mixed up. we claimed that. now it has bec

that's why they come to city hall to get shelter. we spend an inordinate time in our rest rooms and all over the city. anyone can talk the talk but when we give shelter to a human being specially for the night, let us give that human being a bed. if not -- [chime] >> clerk: thank you, m mr. decosta. >> commissioner: next speaker, please. >> i'm lavette arnold and born and raised here 58 years. i'm having issues. i'm disabled but also i have health problems. i came here years early talking to a lot of you guys. a lot of your faces are new here. i have constantly said something. i'm born and raised here. this is my home. i was born in a hadn't hospital here and my son died at 21 here and for people to say get out because i didn't want to do sexual favors and my rent went from $788 and i was only getting $888 this sis unreal. they say america's for everybody but this is my home. this is where i came out of my mother's womb and it's sad nobody's doing anything and section 8 is terrible but i'm talking about my issues. i'm a mother, great

the city is very progressive in terms of tobacco. we had a city tobacco policy. in that you can't advertise tobacco in the city, but there's nothing that prohibits vaping or tobacco firms from being located on city property. so from our perspective, it's very important that we think through how to avoid things going forward. we're always open to looking if our requirements are broad enough. i think it is an important principle for us that what we agree to with our investors and our developers is forward looking and that there's certainty for them. we want to provide the public benefits up front and have them meet the requirements. it is hard to deal with a shifting sand of regulation, so if we are to explore how to avoid this happening in the future, we would look toward a policy that is clear and concise and that everyone who signs up with us can under and we can enforce. so with that, i have more specifics around -- we don't actually -- i don't make an affirmative decision as it relates to the subtenants. we do allow for a nondisclosure for subtenants, but i ha

we know that our city supports us. i love san francisco. just to be able to stay in my community and continue to help the residents who live here and continue to see my neighborhoods move into new housing, it's been a real joy. a real joy. it's been a real joy. - working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world-class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast. - our 28,000 city and county employees play an important role in making san francisco what it is today. - we provide residents and visitors with a wide array of services, such as improving city streets and parks, keeping communities safe, and driving buses and cable cars. - our employees enjoy competiti

our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world-class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast. - our 28,000 city and county employees play an important role in making san francisco what it is today. - we provide residents and visitors with a wide array of services, such as improving city streets and parks, keeping communities safe, and driving buses and cable cars. - our employees enjoy competitive salaries, as well as generous benefits programs. but most importantly, working for the city and county of san francisco gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas, energy, and commitment to shape the city's future. - thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco. >> right before the game starts, if i'm still on the field, i look around, and i just take a deep breath because it is so excitin

i'm born and raised in this city, and i'm one of the few families who actually still left in the city, fighting every day to stay here. i am fighting for the next generations like my child to have access to quality, affordable child care in san francisco t francisco. the lawsuit that's happening with all of our funding is a slap in the face to everyone that's going to try to stay in the city. let's fulfill the will of the voters right here, parents, students, teachers, right here. i'm here to fight for what the voters want and what all parents have been saying across the nation. i heard that there's about 50 million that you are talking to go for education. please specify what that is so we don't have to fight each other, okay? specify what's child care and what's specified for public education. think about the parents, think about the students. thank you. >> my name's julie roberts-fong. i'm one of the founders of the san francisco parents families union. i want to say that k-12 and public school needs are happening to all the same families. there's about 2,000 families homeless in s

houston is the bayou city. the city was build along the bayous. after earlier floods in 1929 and 1935, they thought the best way to handle flooding was to turn the bayous into concrete-lined flood channels. recently, the people of houston have found that this approach actually worsened flooding, as the water from the impervious concrete channels would be met with rising storm surge at the bay and the water had nowhere to go. there are significant benefits to opening up the bayous and making them green. water can be held in green areas and they're opening thousands of green spaces parks. they're aiding with flooding but also adding to the quality of life for citizens of houston. >> there's been a lot of discussion in our field about whether green infrastructure saves money over gray. there is an equation that has two factors when you're looking at an expenditure. one is cost and the other is benefit. so even if the cost is about the same, the other half of the comparison is for the dollar what are you getting for it? and that's where we think green