>> ashley, would you please do roll call. >> commissioner anderson. >> here. >> ha will i see. >> here. >> jones. >> here. >> louie. >> here. >> mesola. >> here. >> >> reading [ramaytush ohlone an zest ar land] good morning and

welcome to the rec and park commission meeting. this meeting is being held in hybrid format with the meeting happening in room 416 with option to see join and provide public comment in-person and remotely. we ask that you turn off any electric devices in order for the meet to go proceed as efficiently as possible. we ask for your patience if we experience any technical issues. public comment will be available for each item on the agenda, unless otherwise announced by the president, each person will have two minutes for each item. we will take public comment first from people attending in-person and then from people attending remotely. we ask that you request but do not require you to complete a blue card. for joining remotely, you may view the meeting live, use, you

may provide public comment remotely by calling 415-655-0001 using today's access 1, 266129431925 and password which is 0018. dial star-3 to be added to the queue to speak. every one must account for delays. please address your commentds to the commission in order to allow equal time for all, neither the commission nor staff will respond to any questions during public comment. the commission may ask questions of staff after public comment is closed. if there is an item of interest that is on on the agenda and it under the jurisdiction of the commission, you may speak under public comment and that is item 4 and continued on item 14. alternatively, you may commit public comment in the following ways.

if you submit public comment have i email, it will be--may also be sent to san francisco rec and park commission, 501 san francisco, 94117. the following are short announcements for those joining in-person. if the fire alarms activate, you must exit using, please know that they will return to the first floor. if you need assistance out of the building, please make your way for refuge. inside the men's restroom is security box. let them know your location and will get to you. we're now on item 2, president's report. >> thank you, ashley. i would like to differ item 2 until the end of the meeting, please, if you can remind me before we adjourn. >> okay, we will move item 2 until the end. we are now on item 3, general

manager's report. >> good morning, commissioners and happy new year. forgive me i did not get hit in the mouth with a pickle ball or racquet, i had a tooth extracted yesterday, so i am a little puffy here. my speecis just okay. >> we'll get you an ice pack. >> thank you, i need one, particularly after this meeting. all right, it is the start of the new year and our 2023 community report was released yesterday with all of the highlights from this past year, if you have not seen it, please take a look. it's electronic, we'll have hard copies for every one. it's really excited. some of the best moments included the renovation of u.n. plaza into a clean and safe place filled with fun activities, 13,000 square feet has been put to good use, with

skaters skaters and on lookers. it's the only city to adopt a design at this scale that integrate both pedestrians and skaters and something that we should all be proud of. we made significant progress out in modern park, with the second phase of our really really big project under way and anticipated to be complete later this year, we will be cutting a ribbon on phase 2 of the projects and hopefully breaking ground on our third, i will not say final phase but third phase of the project. super exciting. indian base includes a national best practice equitable development plan which, raises funds in its community lead strategic plan. the intent is to strengthen the resilience and stability of the existing neighborhoods and make sure that the park serves this

community, not who might come back next paws we're making significant investment in the space. in an examment is our safety swim and splash programs which provide free swim lessons for any kids including any kids named miles, so that every kid knows how to swim. we have a workforce development program that graduated 16 constructional professional after they went a 6-week train thating prepares them for union careers and other skilled workers. also, this year our beloved tennis center was selected by u.s. tennis association to receive the 2023 outstanding facility award. in addition to state-of-the-art center also earned the associations top recognition featured facility of the year award and yes, the golman

tennis center includes five dedicated pickle ball courts. we made advancements with pickle ball and i'm going to talk about this in a second because i know some people are here to vent. adding 8 new pickle ball courts at larson. we also added three indoor courts at the palace of fine arts. this is all part of a larger effort which i'm going to comment more later but to date, we have 87 total places to play pickle ball in the city. just five short years ago, there were 18. and those 18 evolved rather quickly. we also completed and began several renovation projects at our park throughout the year, including hertz playground,

esprit park and more. rec and park had 18 projects in construction in 2023 alone with projects budgets totaling over $100 million. lastly, during the 2023 fiscal year, our parks average 91% maintenance score, maining our parks remain pristine accessible and joyous for all. it was a good year. to view the entire community report, please visit our website at sf rec park.org. i am sure the president is going to comment upon this at the end, so we're getting used to the dance of not stepping on each other's reports but i wanted to acknowledge our two newist commissioners, who were celebrated during an official

ceremonial swearing in meaning you have been at work for a few months, but didn't get the joy of the official swearing in hosted by mayor breed. there was a lot of history, thank you both for signing up for this, for this work. and thank you for guiding us on what was a successful year and as we've discussed and you'll hear more about later, we've got some choppy season ahead and we're going to need your steady hand on the pillar so we appreciate you and want to thank you in advance.

in his former role as superintendent of parks and open space, he managed some 360 staff members who carry out landscaping and custodial duties and more than than our 225. i actually think that number is getting stale after mission day, i think we're closer to 240 parks in open spaces. eric had been serving as acting director of operations and did an excellent job in his new role. he'll lead two new divisions, our structural maintenance yard, urban forestry, psa managers and so much more. these divisions cover about 85 percent of our department star. i'm thankful to he quick's

leadership and i'm excited to work with him and all of you in the years to come. last week, and thank you president anderson for attending last week, we said goodbye to a monumental wrecking. this will art installation consisted of 350 four-foot high sculpture crafted in black steel and vinyl tubing that brought to the united states. this piece came at a critical time, as this country began reevaluating the kinds of monument that's belong in public spaces. we unveiled the piece on the eve of 2021 with a large celebration featuring music and dancing. in our art public spaces has the extraordinary power to transcend boundary, initial

conversations. over the past two years, it became a catalyst for dialogue, a con col of black history and america. and a powerful reminder that our parks can be living briefing, reflections of our shared history. i want to thank, the artist responsible for this installation, dana king for creating this powerful and provocative art as well as illuminate our parking for helping to bring it to golden park. okay, let's talk about pickle ball.we are excited to announce six new duel line pickle ball courts coming to mus coney playground. it calls for the two tennis courts adjacent to be duel line

as quickly as the weather will allow us to do it. we are grateful to supervisor stefani for financial support and leadership to get these installed. and this expansion comes as we just openedle new dedicated pickle ball courts in carl larson. we fully understand the popularity and passion of what is the fastest growing sport in america. the sport's explosion over the past few years, has lead us, inspired us and challenged us to work steadily, diligently with great focus to increase the number of places to play. we are a dense urban city.

every single blade of grass, every square inch of sport court or hard surface is spoken for. so to accommodate the needs and desires of pickle ball players all across the city, it's not just the challenge for us here, it's been a challenge nationally. we love the sport. one of our commissioners is a huge pickle ball advocate. she has given me a beautiful necklace full of pickle balls and a paddle to remind me just how much she loves the sport. i love the sport. i really like to play, i'm getting not just because i'm getting older, but because tennis is a high skilled sport.

my cousin ezra plays pickle ball. we get it, and to those in the audience, we get it. we understand how popular and how passionate and how important this sport is. which is why in five short years, five short years, we have gone from 12 courts in this city, to 87 total places to play. several people here are upset that we have are going to remove the lines, from two, pickle ball lines from two tennis courts in persido wall. pickle line are on four courts, they're on two courts. i would like to explain why.

while many people who play pickle ball don't know that a pickle ball working group actually exist, it does. it's a group of representatives of pickle ball, players and advocates who have been advocating for a long time. to find space to see accommodate this fast growing sport. nyago, we reached an agreement with pickle ball group totem po rare' expand access at per sidio wall until 8 full-time dedicated courts are completed. they are t complete. of course every site is different and this is our challenge.

we all have to share in the city and we have a responsibility to be a good neighbor. kifn the proximity of this sport which we know has a very very noisy ball and invites large groups of people to congregate, and again, that's fun. we get it. but those two front courts were having a heavy impact on other recreational ability on the ability to access the site for other reasons and something that we have to take seriously on the mental health of some of the neighbors, we--folks.

folks, that's actually not funny, it's quite serious to the point where we have received lots and lots of complaints, very serious ones. threats of lawsuits, people who have been forced to move out of their homes, guys. >> please do not make audible comments. >> don't do it, i'm not exaggerating. i'm being quite serious and it is actually disrespectful to just laugh that off. now we all have to balance needs and uses. this department is very pro-pickle ball. we want to find access to every one. i'm going to keep repeating 18 to 87. so most importantly, there was

an agreement to do just that. which is to remove the two front courts which the larson courts opened. so that's what we're going to do. we're going to accommodate the growth in the sport. but this is going to require some sharing. and it's going to require some inconvenience for different stakeholders at different times. i know that people have a lot to say about this, and i'll end the report and invite respectful, the public report. >> thank you phil. >> so we will now move to

general manager's comment on the report. i know many of you are here for pickle ball. i have you for item 4, so if you want to here to comment on anything else. anything in fill's manager's report. besides pickle ball thaws i'm going to get to that next. seeing no public comment, public comment is now closed. we will move on to item 4, public comment on items that are not today's agenda. at this time, public may address the commission on items that are within the jurisdiction and do not appear on the agenda. couple of notes for folks, if you have not commented before, there is a timer right underneath the microphone, so you can take a look at that. it will chime at different seconds, that means you have 30

more seconds. and it's up to the president if we continue past 15 minutes for item 4. if we still have a lot of folks to go, and the president decides to continue it to the later in the meet, that will be item 14 so. if we don't get to you during item 4, you'll be able to comment again i. i have three people not commenting on pickle ball, i'm going to call them first, so they can get out of here if they want to. >> ashley, first, i will keep this first bid of general comment to 15in so for the pickle ball advocate, pick your strongest speakers and make sure that everybody sets something different, we get it. we know what the issues are. that would be my advise. >> okay, i'm going to start

with decyrus, tom and steven. >> speaker: good morning, thank you for your service, commissioners, staff and community members. i'm proud to be here today to tell you about an exceptional group of athletes, that we're all proud. 10 of these young athletes will join team u.s.a. in malaysia this july *.. these athletes have been training for nearly a deck ated. the ten youngster i'm here to tell you about, the third set of athletes are called to youth. first set was in 2015. two years later, 15 of our athletes competed in australia. our program to train young athletes began in 2008 and we're proud that through the support of rec and park and our adult athletes, we've been able to train young athletes free of

charge for over 15 years. these athletes play a sport kaned under water hockey. while the club dates back to the 19 70s, our youth program began in october 2008, it takes nearly an decade to train an athlete to 2ñbe competitive at world level. two head coaches received accommodation from our board of supervisors for their unwaivering commitment to our youth in our community. we have a lot to be proud. can you imagine getting to play for your country at a world championship before graduating from high school? that's what these athletes are doing. they'll be able to achieve anything in life, and that's our expectations for them. thank you. >> cyrus, thank you so much.

>> speaker: good morning. when i called leadership, told the youth that we were going to work with the city to put a smooth and safe surface at the bottom of the pool that they practice in, they scoffed. but i'm here to let this commission know that this club has been going down this path for the past month and we'll continue after we achieve what we promised. somebody from our club will be herm+every meeting to provide update. we should have come sooner, we are working with prosack. the log jam that is blocking our request. steven asked rec and parks for dimension drawings of the pool so we can seek photos for

variety of exceptional for the bottom of the pool. we still have not received those plans from rec and parks, and we've had to resort to using a sunshine request to get the plans. we've also received commune kaixes that we see as stolen tactics when communicating with the department staff about how to collaborate relate today this improvement. with the commission aware of how important this is, a community that is systematic neglected bit city, we'll be able to make more meaningful progress this year. if you're not already aware, has a substantial, we've been informed that the department is planning to make significant repairs this year. and repair the pool bottom. we believe this is the only

second renovation that they received. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> steven? >> thank you, i'll hopefully be completing our comments. the first major renovation to the building was in 1983, according to that, we're five years. we have been applying for grants to observe any costs that is safe and smooth pool bottom would require. at a minimum, we need the xhifting plaster polish to be experience so our athletes don't experience road rash. we're also looking into a pox' surface treatment that are gaining popularity in florida for safety profile and reasonable cost. to meet the standards of pools where championship right side played, we need a tiled bottom

and that's even more expensive. we're willing to be flexible and advocate for what is best for all stakeholders. in addition to bottom surface, we need ways to fix the bottom. a feature that keeps them at a disadvantage. there is already an engineered method for adding flood attachment points for custom built portable walls and those walls will be provided by a nonprofit that is organized for organizing under water hockey. walls are important for our team to train with. make no mistake, we'll be successful in deliver and show them with hard work anything is possible. please help us to inspire them. if we miss this opportunity while the pool is already

refurbished, we'll have to wait another 30 years. some may have grandchildren by then. we ask that this commission put us in contact directly with the stakeholders who are working on this improvement. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> okay, i'm going to begin calling folks here to comment on pickle ball. i'll call three of you at a time. if you can move it along by standing up and getting up from your seat. and i'm going to start with mary, peter and then lisa. sdmfrment i'm mary hickey. u.s.a. pickle ball is--as a u.s.a. pickle ball ambassador my mandate is to promote pickle ball in the bay area. as such, i plan to do whatever i can to keep all 12 courts in

persidio. regarding the sound concerns, i've provided canceling curtains cut the sound by 60% of the pickle ball noise. second, u.s.a. pickle ball has come to xli paddles that cut the noise by 50% and i'm willing to do test with that. laguna beach in southern california had the same issue. they had pickle ball encroaching with neighbors, and neighbors complained about sound. and they did a test by using these owl paddles, it cut sound by 50%. problem solved, everybody is happy. so what i'm looking for today are two things. first, remove the rolling nuts as well as until number 2.

a meeting can be held with the community, the neighbors and rec and park to discuss the concerns that neighbors have. we wish to have an independent moderator to moderate that meeting. thank you very much. >> next, peter and lisa and then nafparli. >> speaker: i'm peter i'm a 40-year resident in san francisco. and i've been playing at the per sidia wall for 5 years. park and rec needs to be responsive and. it certainly feels like there is a real lack of balance and the recertainty division to

inhibit particularly in light of the 12 plus signatures on the resent petition opposing the elimination. for the hundreds of residents who play there, the wall has not been only a place to play pickle ball but for highly social interaction particularly for those players advanced age including myself. eliminating six courts will overload the six courts on e other side and extend the waiting time between games for more than an hour. the new courts is touted to be eliminated. they are affective replacement for the old park side courts and already parked in a daily basis by the players used to park at park side. they have added new xas ilt for the san francisco pickle ball community.

the location is also particularly inconvenient for the majority of the players. i would like to recognize and support of eliminating six of the wall and propose mitigation efforts as mary discussed. one, no permits for the rolling nets, on its face and easy recommend deed. too many people using the courts causing notes and congestion, a very legitimate concern but true for any outdoor pickle ball. >> i'm sorry, your time has elapsed. i have lisa and then natali and then susie. >> you may want to coordinate somebody to read the rest of your note using their time. okay, go ahead, please. >> speaker: you want me to finish this, okay, i will not say mine. by installing sound reducing

curtain. in addition there are now paddles, mary already talked about this. the issue of parking is, parking at larson is limited, the solution has been to expand the parking spaces closest to the courts at persidio wall. , okay, i'm going to read mine now. in closing, i would propose the rec and park suspend elimination of the courts and rather actively explore the solutions for mitigating the local homeowners as i've outlined. that's peters. my name is lisa and i live in the inner richman fnlt the appeal to pickle ball is concept of open play, you just show up. the closer the courts and the greater the quality, the better which is for me persidio wall

is ideal, it would be devastating if courts were removed because of a few complaints. i know that the extended times were added because of larson but they have inspenced. i am a tennis player and also a certified pickle ball coach. but i'm not here with those pats on i'm here as a empty nester who no longer have the parent community i had for 15 years and for me, per sidio wall is my happy place where i can see 20 plus people i like and know and get a laugh. these people and are female and male and range from age 23 -- ~>> so we have about two and a

half minutes left. >> one more speaker. >> speaker: i'm naftaliy, i want i play per sidio park. and this was considered a temporary solution for a year until larson came up. i'd rather you think of it as a trial run and it's been wildly successful beyond anybody's imagination. i don't know any place in my life where i can meet people and get to know and become friends with them, who don't like me and don't have the same demographic, this is a wonderful blend. and i would imagine that rec and park would want to encourage it. it's unique and also, going across town to larson it takes me ten minutes to get to per sidio park, it would take me more than and a half hour.

so i hope that you take into consideration the number of people that will be made unhappy by this change. the old adage, if ain't broken don't fix it, seems to apply. do the right thing and revisit this poorly considered policy. thank you. >> we have about another minute, do you want to let the other person go? go ahead. >> speaker: i just want to point out inaccuracy in our pds and now phil's comment and response in the email. about the lines being temporarily, it had nothing do with larson. the extended hours were done in 2023.

it was a solution from the overflow and to be permanent, since you are saying that you are going to paint lines on every resurface tennis court so why take six courts away? pickle ball has increased and tennis players have found other place to see play. pickle ball is a hub, i got thrown off, but, anyway, it's almost as if we're being punished for using these courts too much and those were rec and park comments of extensive courts. in my opinion, you know, extensive view should be viewed

as a positive result. there is not any other activity that is free that draws all ages together and provides mental benefits, finally taking six courts and replacing them with six courts with no nets. and those 87 courts that you keep speaking about, do not have nets. we can count on two hands how many actual nets are there to be used. so please stop saying 87 courts. >> council president: thank you. >> thank you. >> so for every. please reframe from clapping. for the remainder of people here, we have general public comment again at item 14. so you're welcome to stick around for that. okay. we are now on item 5 consent

calendar, commissioners is there anything that you would like to remove from the consent calendar today? okay, we'll now take public comment on item 5, the consent calendar, does anybody have any comment on item 5? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> all right the next agenda item, is election of officers. >> we need to vote on consent calendar. >> can i get a motion to approve the calendar please? >> sxl a second. >> second. >> all those in favor, say aye. >> aye. >> any opposition? none, all right motion carries, consent calendar is approved. >> okay, so we're now on election of officers, really quickly, i'll go through the procedure as a reminder. so first, we'll take public comment on item 6. then we'll open nominations for

president, we'll need a motion and a second to open the nominations. then the nom nition begin. all nominations need a motion and a second. and the nominations are complete, we will move to voting on any of the nomination sxz we'll remove the process for vice president. would you like to say anything before we get started with this? >> i don't think so. >> great, okay, so first we'll take public comment on item 6, is there anyone that is here to comment on the election of officers? what? we'll now move to opening nominations, we'll need a motion and a second to open the nomination for president. >> so moved. >> second. >> okay, all in favor of opening the nominations. >> aye. >> aye. >> great, thank you. >> okay, so the nominations are now open for president, does anyone wish to make a nomination? >> yes.

i would like to nominate kat anderson to become president. we have served on the commission, we have become friends but more important in my nomination today is speaking about her qualifications as a colleague. she has more experience on this commission, she is approaching 8 years now, than anyone else. she has earned the right to be president. i believe the last four months have been, a small sample size of what she can do. she is a, tremendous communicator. talks to everybody about everything and not just fellow commission members. she communities well with phil,

sarah, members of the staff. with the woerkz in this department. and above all, she loves her city. in general, but specifically she loves this department. and that is why i am proposing that we let her continue as president because i feel it's only going to get better under her leadership. >> thank you, commissioner. nominations need a second. would anyone like to second that. >> i second. >> i would like to second that. you know, joe, you stole everything that i was going to say, everything. so i would just second that nomination. >> okay. >> okay, would anybody else like to nominate any other person? >> i have no request to speak. >> okay, so seeing no other

nominations, nomination right side closed. now we will take the vote by roll call. so the nomination of kat anderson is before us. commissioner ha will i see. >> yes, aye. >> jones. >> aye. >> commissioner louie. >> aye. >> mazola? >> aye. >> anderson. >> aye. >> do you have anything to say. >> i'll say it after the nominations. >> so now we are going to move to vice president, we need a motion and a second to open the nomination of vice president. >> i have a motion, do i have a second. >> second. >> okay, all in favor of opening the nominations state aye. >> aye.

>> okay, we'll begin the nomination for vice president. commissioner louie? >> i would like to nominate commissioner halisy, as our vice president. he has done a great job. and commissioners, i hope you xwraoe. --agree. he has been a mentor for many of us and joe exemplifies everything good and fair. and he is *, he's a great leader. a humble teacher and he has very thoughtful oversight skills. he cares about the residents of san francisco, ada access, equity and all his other jobs.

as a fireman and sports announcer at many of the venues in san francisco specifically with the usf dons. and i have seen him speak at chase center, you know, when you're announcing for you know, basketball one of the most beautiful venues in san francisco, joe does a great job. he's a big voice here on the commission and so, i would like to nominate him as our continuing vice president because no matter, if the topic is simple or complex, he puts in the same effort. >> thank you. >> would anybody like to second the nomination. >> i would like to second the

nomination, echoing everything commissioner louie said. my buddy on the commission, we started this urn' together and it's been a joy to do this work with you. always do the work with love and equity at heart, shows up for everything and i have a 100 percent in trust in your leadership and i'm excited to continue it this year. thank you. >> thank you. >> okay, would anyone else like to make a nomination before we close nominations? okay, seeing no other nominations, nominations are closed. we'll take a vote by roll call of joe hallisy, commissioner anderson. >> aye. >> joejz. >> aye. >> louie. >> aye. >> mazzola. >> aye. >> commissioner wintroub? >> aye.

>> commissioner zwart? >> aye. >> commissioner hallisy? >> aye. >> would you like to say something. >> i'm 'em boled to serve in this commission as vice president and i hope i justify your faith in me. i real appreciate the support from every one. >> thank you, joe. there is a request to speak from commissioner anderson. >> commissions joe. >> thank you. >> and thank you to my colleagues. i share with joe that i'm

honored with this vote of confidence and i think we make a great team all of us and i especially love my chief coconspirator, joe. you never meet a group of people that love the city collectively more than we do. you know that we're volunteers and we try to go to everything and support every one and i want to you feel that you're heard. and if you feel that we fall short, it's hard to satisfy 900,000 people. we do our support. we have a superlative executive staff and our pd staff and phil and his colleagues. we all breathe all of this stuff.

it's been quite, amazing. i feel so lucky to have the confidence of our mayor, london breed, i just want to thank you for appointing all of us. this is a fabulous, fabulous body to serve and you are definitely our part champion and chief, we love you and i love especially to see you with the children out in the park. our mayor loves to talk with the kids and that means a lot to me as a parent. so let's, have a great year, we have a lot of amazing things to look forward. a fabulous gym, a role model. and we'll be doing it under strict controls, it's going to be a tough couple of years on the budget.

we might have to say no, because we don't have the money yet. but we are excellent at long-range planning, believe me, and we have our eye on things, our eyes on things that maybe you're not thinking about yet, but we are. and we're going to roll up the sleeves and do our work. and i want to thank everybody here, i want to thank you for being here. it means a lot to us what you have to do to be here at city hall. so thank you. >> thank you, every one. we're now on item 7, the san francisco zoo report. >> good morning, tanya peterson with the zoo logical society, welcome and congratulations. it seems to me that running the commission is a little bit like

running a zoo, good luck to you. is want to share some new zoo items, we kickoff our campaign, beautiful photography, we start withed the a rang ton which is a story of hope, they would have gone extinction, this is a story of hope, we have two at the san francisco zoo. but our new tag line, zoo animals amaze but it's zoo conservation that waive. other new items for us is a new wolverine, he comes to us at 11 months of age.s arrival coincid u.s. endangered species list. i want today name him after a

famous actor who plays a wolverine but we decided to name him after our board chair, edward. there is edward. this is our first time ever in our zoo's history, this case ucsf, there you see many some of our primate who is over 50, females over 50, tend to have certain problems so we needed help with human doctors and there is our chief vet, dr. adriane, the anesthesiaologist and oncologist and others are all from ucsf. this agreement is mainly around our primate care. now speaking of primate, we recently had a special visitor help us with conservation. i don't know if you recognize the man in the hat and

sunglasses, that's michael tomas. he's in town for an symphony. is know he's beloved called mtt, he has been public with a rare disease that he's suffering from and he recognized the animal's power to heal and one of the things that he want today do was walk with our lumer. i'm please today report that both lemur received a standsing ovation. iconic tree is nearly 3 stories high, i'm please today report that the top story houses five sectterians, if you like creepy things, i invite to you go up stair.you may recall, madgascar

within the conservation zone which is in the center of the zoo. but recentlily in the news, another zone popped up and that as our aisha zone and that's our aisha conservation zone and this became in the news because of the following the apec conference. in 1985, there is a photo of thendiane feinstein, she worked two orphans, they were three years male and female. they came the month of november, that month alone, 150 visitors came to visit us. they donated 150 to the cause and it was a $500,000 retrofit of our lion house to accommodate them. in that vain over the years, we

continued relationships, myself going to the shanghai zoo in 2013 and in 2014 my favorite photo of all, was me with a panda, so i was thus pleased years late tore welcome senior engineers to giant panda center, they brought cups, not cubs, but maybe we'll talk work on it. and we talked about our collaboration. and global biodiversity conservation as well as energized and sympathetic citizen tree. there in khien a they do have some problems with the zoo visitors not respect the animals. so together we created a

signage respecting animals, and emphasizing the magnificence of the animals. we created a hotline, if you see anybody disrespecting the animals. we shared that in 2019 and continue to work with our colleagues. and lastly, even if we don't win the race to the giant panda, i remind you that we have a repanda at the san francisco zoo. and with that, i finish my report. >> is there any public comment on item 7? seeing none, public comment is closed. any comments from our commissioners on this? okay. we're now on item 8, recreation and park department budget overview, as a reminder, this item is discussion only. and we're calling item 8 and 9 together today. so there is an action for you

but the staff will present 8 and 9 together. >> let me just set this up for antonio or chief financial officer, you know him, he does an incredible job and we also have tiffany wong. and needless to say, we're all spending a lot of time together. all of the comment sxz wishes and needs and urges that you hear every, every single commission meeting and public comment, whether it be brand new, elaborate for pickle ball courts or new surfaces for pools relates to our resource sxz ability to get that work done to provide for san francisco. i've been doing this job since 2009. i think, the era that we're headed into is the most serious,

most serious era with the most significant financial constraints and structural and financial challenges that we have faced. so this is the real deal. so i'm going to antonio and tiffany are going to walk you through how we got here and the why. when i refer and thank you in advance, for your steady hands-on the tiller, this is why. >> thank you very much, antonio gera of finance. this preptation is composed of four parts. we have the city and mayoral direction, the rec park and fiscal outlook, our proposed

principal and action. so the first part is really talking about the city overlook. you may have read that the city's is facing a 1.3 billion dollars deficit. as of december, the number for next year, was 245 million dollars. sxl that number is important for us the department, i will get back to it, that in a second but for many of you that know, was part of prop b, is the deficit goes over a certain threshold, we do not receive additional 3 million dollars of subsidy. next slide, sorry tiffany, the final take away from this slide as we talk about this city's problems, the take away is that expenditure projected to go up by 30 percent. while revenue is project today go by 2 to 3 percent.

so why is that? what is happening with revenue? we have a slide that shows that key resources in the city are down by 20 percent when compared to the prepandemic year of 2019. some drivers include the business tax, sales tax, lower. hotel tax, while hotels may have rebounded, rates are lower. so that is seeing a big drop. and the purple bar, the tax that occurs when property changes hands, that is incredibly variable and that's a drastic drop when you look at last year's actuals. next slide. on the expenditure side, one of the big issues has been the cost of personnel. you're looking at a number of the personnel, the cost has grown when you compare from

year 19 to 20004, we've added as a city, not as a department nearly 3000 full-time equivalent positions, people who work 40 hours a week. so next slide. now, this is a dashboard of some key economic drivers for the city as a whole, when it comes to this budget presentation in the upper left hand quadrant, the city is at 30% office occupancy. as of q3 what i heard anecdotely, that is continuing to rise. 60% of total attendees compared to 2019, that's convention attendees, that's a drastic drop in downtown activity. in the lower left hand quadrant local and state sales tax is now flat. xairds to year over year growth and then the right hand

quadrant, the city has used a quite a bit of one-time sources to balance the budget. three of the sources include, fema reimbursement for disaster relief related to covid. and additional, there are general fund reserves and fund balance left over from savings of previous years. so that is, the issue currently going on overall when we look at the city and county of san francisco. on the next slide, we talk about the mayor's priority as we tackle these budgets. and they're improving public safety and street conditions. city wide economic vitality, focus on reducing homelessness and transforming mental health and accountability in services and spending. and then on the next slide, we can talk a little bit about what has already happened to this department.

we've undergone mid-year budget cuts. and we have been told to keep those on going over the next two budget years. and the city is total, i believe the number was 75 million overall in the current year, because city had a current problem. those mid-year cuts include keeping positions vacant, small amount of funding and 175,000 of a work order between ourselves and the city department. we have been told not to add additional positions. we need to prioritize staffing and key areas related to public safety. we need to only fill essential positions in the current year plan towards using additional vacancies for budget savings. we need to focus on core developmental and services and finally the mayor is going to continue to convene departments

to propose further city wide solutions and strategies. so we are not going at this alone. this is taking place in city hall and really trying to put everybody together to find solutions for overall issues that are challenging in san francisco. so we talked a about the city at the beginning of the presentation. i do want to talk about and move on to rec and park in particular. so if we are a base line department, why do we have a problem? because the whole point of the prop b is that the department would be buffered for many of these economic challenges. so on the pro,we have more control over our operating expenditure and the ability to tackle differed maintenance. that has been great for us, if there is an arson at a park, we're able to tackle that immediately and take care of that. but there have been a lot of negative impacts.

so the first, the three million dollars of general fund allocation that we are scheduled to receive every year, has not tracked cpi, that's a flat. so it's a lot more than 2024 dollars. it also not tracked the escalating cost of city services. we'll get to that later on on this presentation. secondly, during a budget down turn, they have not received an increase. so instead of saying, we're going to take a pause and you'll get the 3 million dollars and another 3 million next year, you're getting 3 million dollars next year and you're getting nothing. so it's just on going. and then finally, third, the department is no longer guaranteed to keep the expenditure savings, which is what we were able to do in the past. fourth, and finally, there have

been dramatically large increases based on new cost allocation mythology. so overall the department will be paying an increase of 9 million dollars despite no change in utility usage. so on the next slide, we're going to a little bit about specifically, what are department projection looks like. so this is a bar chart showing quite a bit of red ink, next year, fiscal year 2r5, at the moment assuming that we get the 3 million dollars of general fund and our earned revenue stay the same, we're balanced because we have a rolling two-year budget and we balance over two years. the out years is where we start to see a large and escalating problem. so 67 million in fiscal year 26 followed by in fiscal year 28,

cumulative, and we create this projection in the same way that the city creates its own five-year plan with some specific data related to our internal debt service and rates. next slide. what is causing our structural deficit at rec park? the first thing is the open space fund, which is two and a half cents. it has really kept us afloat over the last decade. we've seen great increases in this fund, because the valuation of property has increased in san francisco. where in the past, we're seeing up to 6 million dollars a year increase, coming out of the pandemic, over the next four year in this projection, it's very very minimum. very minimum, 0.2, next year,

0.9, 1.6. so open space fund growth is flat. and on the next slide, you'll see that our overall general fund department revenue, this is everything excluding related to the marina and the gulf fund. when you look at it, when you look at fiscal year, 19, prior to the pandemic and actuals from last year, we are basically flat again. so, the open space fund, not a lot of growth. our internal fund earned revenues, basically no growth. on the next slide, you'll see quite a bit of growth. these are three key city work orders that, that are spread among all of our funds and general fund open space. this is the department of technology.

central shops. so in fiscal year, 19 , we had an actuals 15.7 million between the three of those. in the current year budget, is 22.9 million dollars. so, while our revenue base is relatively flat, these costs are going to continue to increase. so we've seen the next slide before. this is our work order and for our new commissioners, this is a very roning look back and also a forward looking document. so, looking back, the department used to only pay for power and waste water costs. beginning in fiscal year 2008, the department began to pay for water. i don't want to go into too

much details with the sf pc, 2002 was able to assume control of water throughout san francisco. the department began to be charged for water cost in 2008. the water costs due to the water system improvement program and the large amount of capitol debt that puc had undertaken to seismically strengthen, caused water rates to grow around 8 to 9 percent a year, far greater than inflation. that's i couldn't see that water bill skyrocket. and then we have a couple of other points here that add up to 9 million dollars. in fiscal year, 23, this was the first time that we saw a large increase related to the

elimination of a subsidized municipal rate of power. now instead of being, a benefit of a city wide, power utility, that rec and park is part of the city. rec and park is a customer and pays the same amount of power as other customers. that is four million dollars on annual basis. and what is 5 million dollars is what was implemented this year, and if there is a long implementation until fiscal year 2030 of what is known as the storm water surcharge. the surcharge is a new charge on our waste water bill that basically, says that 20% of the costs of the waste water system in san francisco is related to storm water or run offs. and instead of charging, utilities customers we're going

to charge them based on the amount of land they are. and we are 15% of the city. so that is a large costs that has been placed in this department. actulyback to the 23 utilities budget, 11 million dollars, fiscal year 2030, 34 million dollars, it is a major driver of cost. enough about that slide. let's keep moving on. what else has challenged this department? there is been public policy decisions made as a government that have basically put restrictions on the what the department has received. free parking at union square. the flexibility to raise rates based on demands.

so unlike departments, excuse me, sfmta, the airports. those departments can advise in certain areas, we cannot. on to the next slide. we also expanded our work and in many cases, we have been happy to do so. we brought francisco park, mission bay, we're going to have a playground, u.n. plaza, just recently and trans bay block 3 is coming soon. now, some of these places, came with revenue, allocated to operate the space. some of those did not. we also have expanded program, peace parks, park stop program,

activation at u.n. plaza, activation at mark field, mcclairen park.■1 expansion of baby and tennis learning center as well as workforce development programs. some of these like equity have sweet beveragages to pay for the operations but some of them we've been able to expand within our own budget. additionally, on the next slide, i mentioned we're at 15% of the open space with the space in san francisco, it takes a lot to secure that space and make sure that it looks clean and in good shape. some of the areas where we've observed additional security costs, what does that mean? it means park rangers and expansion of the program and restroom monitoring. and additionally, one thing to

note, vandalism repair, 4.5 million dollars and that includes, mansell club and as well as the overall cost to abate. and then additionally, last year, we've had quite a bit of storm damage, 18.9 million dollars. we're not tackling all of it because we don't have all the money, we're tackling a substantial portion through our base line. so the whole clubhouse, we're working on that. we're expecting reimbursement from fema, we are picking up the trees. all of this is cost to the department. on the next slide, we wanted to identify some consequences of not identifying way to see increase certain revenue.

we will not have enough money, because we will not be able to tackle immediately and during restrooms and shorter hours. reduce safety, fewer program offerings for kids and seniors and we will be unable to meet the demand for additional open spaces. so on the next slide, we have, the discussion and action of some potential budget principles for the commission to guide us. as we go about balancing the budget. i'm going to read them, we're going to make budget choice that's are responsible and responsive to the on going structural financial balances facing our city and budget. while honoring the mandated, mental health and accountability and equity. we're going to best support the city's economic recovery most

directly align with the strategic plan and commitment to equity. we're going to continue to uphold the role parks play by ensuring that our places are clean and accessible. we'll make budget choice that support equitable park access and recreation and youth development for high needs families and vulnerable populations. on the next page, we have five more. by relying on new partnerships, technology and work practices post pandemic. we'll honor veteran by minimizing cuts to dedicated funding for maintenance. we'll make budget choices and support the city's adaptation policies. make choice that's protect core services and partnership through the general funds and earn revenues impacted by the pandemic. and we'll make budget choices

that support engage workforce that delivers outstanding service. >> do me a favor, pull the mic a little closer to you. >> speaker: okay. this is what happens when you move around during a presentation. i apologize. but the final one is connected engage force that cliffser%backer delivers outstandin■g■uservices. so on the next slide, we're going to talk about next steps and out reach. so we have all-staff meeting next week on wednesday. we have committees, on early february, where we'll be bringing this presentation to prosac, february 15, the commission will consider the full budget. in march, specifically march 31, we will have an updated budget deficit number and we'll know if we're going to receive the 3 million dollars in general fund support. and then june first, the mayor is going to propose a budget to

supervisors. on the next slide, that is it for our presentation, i'll be happy to take my questions. >> the budget principles are an action item. we've done this in the past and they're a product of prior budget conversations, community, input, staff discussion. and they will help us sort of align some very tough decision that's we're going to need to make. but our the action item is to say that we're going to try to make them in a manner that is consistent with the principles. >> okay, so first. president anderson, would you like to take comment on both of these items together? >> yes, we'll do public comment for 8 and 9, is there anybody that would like to comment on 8 and 9? okay, seeing none, do we have

any hands raised on the web ex for this item? i think we may v.we have one. let's unmute that caller, please. you'll have two minutes. >> okay, i think that person wanted to comment on something else. >> commissioner mizzola. >> thank you, good report, thank you. just a few questions. so we cut six informations, were they, they're not obviously, filled but they're budgeted positions? >> correct. >> not having a person in them.

to me it's cheap tore full-time employees than contract out. that's just the question that i had. if we do a lot of order contract. >> i'll grab that one, antonio. we do some, we do two types of, sort of and maintenance and construction work. all of you are familiar with the work that we do and renovate parks. that would be an example of using outside to do the work. they're often, as you will tell us, commissioner mazzola, there is sometimes jurisdiction battles about what workers are doing what type of work. we understand all of that and we'll continue to work with you.

we have as part of our delivered maintenance and our lifecycle work, we do have a differed maintenance job order contractors on call for certain types of work. but the vast majority of our differed maintenance stuff happens through our structural maintenance yard. they're very good and this is a total ballpark, but it's, 90% of it. that's what you're referring to. a list of preapproved contractor. because we don't have the paperwork in cutting each and every single project out to bid.

small enough that we can manage that way. i believe it's in the administrative code, there are some limits that we can use that mythology for. >> thank you, i appreciate the answer. >> thank you, antonia and tiffany. if we can get the slide up that says pc order projection. for myself and other people in the room here, i was wondering if you can educate me a little bit more to know what it meant to have the elimination of the power rate, obviously, something is being eliminated, was it a benefit? the way it was before, maybe you can comment as you're telling me about what the municipal power it was and then the other one, can you explain

why we have, a new storm water surcharge. and there was a tiered rate structure. where enterprise departments like the airport, paid one rate and general fund department like rec park made a much cheaper rate. the thakt that it's one government.

product 218 is mentioned by our colleagues that customers there could not be discrimination with customers. in reality, rec park is a customer of the fucpc and that's a utility and if that's the case, we need to be charged the full cost of power, just like everybody else. our base line was not built that way, our base line was built assuming that we were getting this rate. it was all one government. so that slow ramp up in cost and it's done as a, you know, a small cent at hour. overtime, it's really four million dollars.

the storm water surcharge, they told us, they've been thinking about this for quite sometime. the waste were based off water usage. so, if you have an apartment building and there is 50 people in the apartment building and you have a homeowner and let's say, they all have, the homeowner has, you know, uses the same amount of water as somebody in the apartment building. probably unlikely because they have a lawn, let's say they do. in that case, they would have the same. but what they're saying is that homeowner in the case of the

parks department, that land owner of all the property in san francisco, you're also responsible for storm run off. so they have said, that storm run off is about 20% of the cost of, of the sewer system. and so they're going to reallocate that cost based on property. if it's concrete, there is going to be more water, in the system. the water goes in the sewer system. so that is a giant cost for us. and originally, they were talking about implementing it, fairly shortly last year, we worked on this that is going to

be a 7-year phase-in. by the end of the 7 years, additional 5 million dollars, it's a dramatic increase for the department. we have been undergoing negotiations with the sfpuc to have them to work on to get them to reimburse us for other types of costs that we might have at property that they own. so places like lake merced. so those discussion right side on going. --discussions are on going. it is going to be a major challenge for us, major major challenge. >> do you know if, and phil might comment on this, do you know if prop 2018 was designed to erase the municipal power rate? thaws watt point? was that the point?

i don't think what prop 20 was? >> we don't, as much as i, i'd love for a desired answer, this is more of a question of interpretation by a mix of lawyers and water policy experts which we're not. >> i understand, that's why i said, do you know. okay, thank you. are there any other questions from any other commissioners? go ahead, commissioner louie. >> is there a possibility or the idea of since, our parks okay fied like you said 15% of our city, and we have several elected leaders at the state level and the federal level.

is there a way to include them in the decision ?z is there a possibility where we're certainly not experts here, but we've seen other relief coming from the state and federal level, just putting that out there. >> commissioner i'll try to answer that. we do to the extent that antonia mentioned, the track innocented dero. with worked with emergency relief to the extent that we can. we tend to get more support with our state and federal elected, we understand its value. but we tend to get more support from the state and federal

government on capitol projects. things like, you know, prop 68 and, and orlp which is, federal program that provides grant funding for specific capitol construction projects, the state and federal epa, we got a grant for it. our state and federal partners are actually critical partners for most of our capitol work for which we, you know, we don't always have the resource that's we need to do the project that we feel like the community expects and that we need to do. on the operation site, it's a different story. i don't need to, remind you of our federal government deficit. so you know, we're not going to get much operating support with some exception.

we're in the middle of you'll hear more about this next month. a partnership that could help us continue our workforce programs relying on state and federal support that goes to the human services. this is a very creative entrepreneurial team. we are going to uncover every rock looking for resources. but this is a warning for this commission and for the public that we are facing some tough decisions. and we would much rather earn it than cut it. so we need to be entrepreneurial and even if there is some discomfort and some pain with some of the things that we're going to propose better earned revenue

which is flat since the pandemic. we're not getting any relief from the open space fund. we lost 30 million dollars during the pandemic. if we expect the same level of service, that's the level that we kind of need to do better at. you know, and that means thinking through more creative tragedies in a way that does not, you know, either violate some of our core values and one of them being that every one regardless of ability to pay, should have access to our parks and programs. but there are things that we've been doing free for a long time that we may not be able to do if free. >> any other questions?

seeing none, thank you. >> all right, commissioners, so now you can choose to vote on item 9. >> do i hear a motion and a second to approve the budget principles as outlined in the previous presentation. >> so moved. >> second. >> all those in favor state aye. >> aye. >> any opposition. >> thank you. >> passes unanimously. >> okay, we're now on item 10, lake merced trail improvement contract award. >> we're going to take a brief bio break at noon. >> go ahead. >> all right. hello, good morning, commissioners, general manager. my name is omar davis project manager with the capitol

division. the next is to award a construction contract for trail improvement project to construction up to 2,223,000. this project is in line with the department strategic plan 1, and 2 and strategy 3, inspire investment. lake merced is located in the southwest corner of the city, nearly 5 miles trail and circle the lake. allowing both pedestrians and cyclist. this focuses on rehabilitating the trail amenity and landscape adjacent to the trail. this project is a part of 212 clean and safe neighborhood parks bond city wide program. as reminder the rec park commission approved the plan in

june of 2019. since then, site preparation with tree maintenance and removal was completed in 2020. the first phase began construction last year in the southern portion of lake merced we're delivering a fitness court, two picnic tables and ada parking spaces. this work in the southern portion of lake merced is under a separate contract and will wrap up in the coming month. the one presented is the last phase of work of improvement project which is the in the northwest corner of the lake, between sunset and inter section of sky land and hareling road this. includes the replacement of much of the permitted use. installations of furnishing, fitness equipments, the as palt

will be reconstructed and made ada accessible to create a running walking surface. and at the sunset circle parking lot, six will be replaced with new ada spaces. new park fitness equipment will be installed on concrete pads along the trail edge. finally new signage will be installed to assist with way finding. with the assistance of public works the recreation department advertised the bid for the project on october 12, 2023 with a published estimate of, 1562,551. bids were opened we received a total of five bids. a tabulation of bids was attached to the staff report two bids were removed by cmd on

december 19 2023 tore failing to meet subcontracting goals. the lowest was from treaty construction in the amount of 2,323,000 no alternate. contract which includes compliance with the contract monitoring division or cmd requirement has been confirmed. this was also presented to the capitol committee for discussion only in december of last month, but the project is here before you now as an action item. funding sources include the california natural resources agency grant, 2012 clean and park bond which is both city wide park and forestry as well as the sports park infrastructure revenue enhancement grant.

with five and a half months. in summary staff recommends that this commission approve the action to award a construction contract for the lake merced trail improvement projects to treaty construction in the amount of 2,023,000. thank you for your consideration. i'm happy to answer any questions. >> all right, we'll do public comment on item 10, is there anyone in room 416 that would like to comment on item 10? seeing none. and do we have any hands raised in our web ex? no hands raised, so commissioners in your court. i see no questions.

>> we need a motion and a second to approve the item. >> so moved. >> i hear a motion, do i have a second? >> there was a motion. >> motion second, all in favor, state aye. >> aye. >> any opposition? none. passes unanimously. i'm excited about this beautiful project, i cannot wait to see it completed. >> all right, we're now at item 11, and 11 and natoma future park.

>> okay, i guess that's the bell to fwet started. thank you, commissioner, good morning, commissioners, we still have a morning. my name is a brian i'm a planner with capitol and planning division and i'm bit planning staff who will present the a portion of the pertaining to the public description public out reach and benefit of this item. where i'll be focusing on the shadow analysis upon the affected park.

our presentation will provide you with summary of the proposed installation of a roof top wireless facility on 30 otis street under the jurisdiction of the recreation and parks department. as a reminder the review of the item shadow. in the 1989 memo jointly adopted by the planning commission and the rec and park commission. the proposed otis project will place several wireless antenna and a screened enclosure around other equipment on the penthouse of the building. note that the building itself was constructed in 2021 and

shade on the plan natoma park was reviewed in 2018 when this commission pound the building's net new shade was not significantly adverse. the planning commission approved the project. you can see the building today just five blocks out of city hall. today the commission is being requested to review the new shadow that would be cast upon the park from the addition of roof top facility only. you can see, in the blowup on the image you see there, you can see a little cylindrical, has the adage and you may be able to see it on the left as well. now i'm going to pass it over to linsay from the department who will provide a brief

overview. lizzie? >> speaker: good morning, commissioners, elizabeth planning department staff. the proposed is installation of at the la communication facility consisting of two new antennas that have a maximum side of 42 inches. proposed facility will be located on the roof top of existing 26-story mix use. the existing building con sainz 2200 retail space, 16,000 square feet of activities and theater of l.a. art school and was completed in 2021. the proposed wireless telecommunication is needed to provide dish wireless by the

area bound by market street and u.s. 101 highway to the south and oak street to the west. necessary to fill the coverage gap nat area for customers to receive reliable wi-fi services. it will enhance emergency plan anding communication preparedness in the city. the need that's been verified. the project conducted a community meeting regarding the proposed wireless facility on march 15, 2023 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. neighborhood organization within 100 feet. no community members attended this meeting and i will pass it back to brian. >> thanks, lizzie. as you can see in this picture,

on the red circle on the upper left, that is the area where the added facilities will be, to raidon towers and thent screening in the center. you can also see on the image on the right that it's only at the very center of the building where these new facilities will be add in the center of the square. this slide provides detail of the concept design here which was approved by this commission last december. the point 4 acre park is surrounded by a mix of commercial buildings. and the property is currently a commercial building earned by the rec and park building. and it will be built into a park starting in 2025. it will include a half court

basketball adult exercise equipment, and a community plaza with central garden space with seating. here you can see rendering of the space. to go over the quantitative elements, 23.2 shadow mode. meaning the 22.3 annual light is shaded. the project would add a fractionual amount. in terms of the time of year and time of day, the product shadow would occur in spring and fall. and only in the late afternoons, after 4:30 p.m. maximum at 5:30 p.m. just

before sunset. the average daily daouration of shadows is president would be about 15 minutes. covering an average of 245 feet of the park which is 1.45 percent of the park area. with regard to the location of the new shade, it would cover portions of the children's play area, seating and basketball court. here we have a rendering shine the shadow where it would fall during the 8 weeks that new shade would happen. in the left it shows portion of the basketball court on september 20th and march 22, as well as the children's play area on the right on september 27 and march 15. all after 5:00 o'clock are these images. in closing, i would like to

highlight that the 1989 memo provides quantitative end and criteria for determining whether a project shadow would have significant adverse impact on the use of the park. quantitatively the memo states that parks smaller than 2% in size with more than 20% existing shadow as is the case for 11th and natoma, they recommend no new shadow, the park is point 4 acres in size, experiencing 26 percent of the shadow and the project would add new shade for a total of 23.265. quantitatively, they also include the time of day shadow, time of year, shadow duration and location and public good as previously described. thank you.

this ends my presentation. both planning staff and myself are available for comments and questions. >> thank you, brian. we'll move to public comment on item 11. is there anybody in room 416 that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, and we have none on the webex, so public comment is closed. >> thank you, ashley. do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments? >> i do. >> joe, first. >> just brian, i'm curious, we've had many shadow issues come before us, at least in my three and a half years in my commission. and it's always an existing program with a new structure to come. is this the first time that this has happened in reverse in your career? >> in my personal experience and wiefb with the department almost 9 years, i did present

in 2018, the same project for the building itself at that time, there was no design. so that's somewhat of a president. but this is the first time to my knowledge where a review has happened before the park physically exist. >> i see, very little impact here, point 002 percent. i was just curious in your experience if it had happens in this order rather than the one that we're used. >> not in my experience during my time, to my knowledge. >> thanks, brian. >> raises the question of applicability since the park does not exist. but i agree with my colleague, i find point 0003 percent

deminutemouse and i'll support. >> we need a motion. >> that this shadow does not have a significant adverse impact >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> and do i have a second. >> second. >> second. >> all right, all those in favor? >> aye. >> aye. >> any opposition? none. it's unanimously passed. >> thank you, commissioners, thanks brian. president anderson, we have 11:54, if you want to do a bio break now or you want to hear the item first. >> let's take a three-minute biobreak. >> okay, i'll set a timer. three minutes. >> hurry up.

>> wiier here to present the park maintenance annual report. and ju a little background on the program. it was voter approved back in 2003, prop c which basically states that, and also department needs to maintain our parks, that's why we're here today.

our contact information is up here so if any of you feel trouble accessing, feel free to contact. and before i hand it out to my colleague here, who would show off all the juicy details and what not, i would briefly go over the agenda. so we will be talking about the city wide scores, we're going to look at specific geographic scores, specific feature scores. and we're going to talk about i new content spotlights that we're going to look. and we're going to see what is ahead, so i'll hand it off to craig. >> thank you, ben.

>> fiscal year, 2023, results which i'll refer to as fiscal 23ment this presentation focuses on the latest findings however, historical data is publicly available and if you have any specific, we would be happy to oblige. these were produced by the controllers office, by the recreation and parks department. there are nearly 200 to measure park performance in terms of maintenance. these standards are specific to ensure minimum risk between one evaluater and the next. you can see three examples on the screen.

our pd and con staff jointly conduct quarterly park evaluation, where they will physically travel to the park and inspect it using these maintenance standards. the results that you will see momentarily come from evaluations which ranges from july 2022 to june 2023. this chart shows the city wide score overtime. city wide score is calculates a simple average of each parks, individual annual maintenance score. this metrics speaks to the overall maintenance of the park system, and the score is used in rpd's strategic plan and

mayor's book and annual report. on this chart solid blue line shows the city wide score going back to 2015, the dashed yellow line shows the department's official performance goal. the dotted gray line representative a separate metric i will speak to on the next slide. in fiscal year, 23, score was 91 percent. the fourth consecutive year that rec and park met the target. when the program was suspended due to the covid-19 pandemic. this chart shows the number of park that meet the minimum score of 85%. the boted line i referred to in the previous slide. this is a metric that supplements the official wide performance goal.

rpd separately counts the number of parks that score above 85%. which indicates the park is generally well maintained, this is used as a benchmark or minimum goal. in fiscal year, 23, 88 percent of parks met this minimum goal, slightly down from the prior fiscal year, when 90% of parks scored at least 95%. this map and table, shows scores for supervisor district. district scores are calculated as a simple average of their underlying park scores. in the event that a park's boundary is split across supervisor districts, that park score is counted multiple times in each district's average.

10 out of 11 supervisor district scores were very similar defined as in the rage of 2 percentage point above or below the city average of 91%. district 6 is an outliner, scoring 9 percentage points below the city wide average. district 6 has five parks, the lowest number of any district, by comparison, the average district has 15 parks. one possible xlaition for the low score that we see, is that district 6 low number of parks makes it prone to dramatic fluctuations based on a small sample size. regardless the situation should be monitored in the upcoming fiscal year. this map and shows maintenance

for rpd service areas. park service area is away that rpd organizes its maintenance operations, it breaks down into region and golden gate park. and each psa has their own manager and set of staff to perform maintenance activities. each of the 7psa's scored similarly, defined as 2 percentage points of 91 percent. this chart shows the average park maintenance scores broken out into these that reside equity zones and outside of he quit zones. an equity zone is defined as a census track that is burdened by certain environmental health or discriminatory factors such as historic pollution.

the data comes from the state of california and census bureau. and what you see on the screen shows that parks residing in the tracks continue to lag their peers by about 2 percentage points including this year. however that is not a rule, in fiscal year, 2020 for the first time equity zone parks scored higher than their peers. this chart shows the average maintenance score broken out by specific feature. this is another way to look at the data rather than seeing how the park is doing, as a whole how are our athletic fields doing?

the outdoor courts, et cetera. and we can see an interesting trend where features that are defined as fas i have recreation, meaning they are not directly used, you know, things like an ornament al bed a tree, those tend to score higher than features that are considered active recreations, things like children's play areas, restrooms, outdoor courts et cetera. tiz time, i'll pass the mic to my colleague ben who will note some new content in this year's analysis. >> thank you, craig as o mentioned, this is the 16th edition of park's annual report. each year, we like to kind of shake things up a little bit.

this year, we decided to see how new parks come to our portfolio and how it gets into the park evaluation program and also how it scores. for example, something that is always interesting to me is when the park is built from the ground up, such as francisco how does that do in the park evaluation program? and i'm happy to say that frank cisco park scored 98 which is in line with what we,000 was going to happen. this year we decide today add a third party score just to see how our score lines up with all the metrics. we do want to stress that our part maintenance score is based on maintenance while this third party metric that i not be.

so we decided to look at the score which rated us as the 7th rank park system in the nation and let it show on record that i do not agree with this. but we decide today have this as part of the report to see how our program aligns with other scores. and lastly, we decided to provide something for all of those data nerds like myself, and explainer document which basically says how exactly did we come up with the scores? francisco scored 98%, what does that mean? we have a supplementary that explains how who how we came up with the score. and then also looking ahead, what is going to be in the

upcoming reports. so new visualizations, we built such an amazing program with the park evaluation program. we collected so many data points. we've been looking at a much higher overview. it may be interesting in years ahead, we may want to look at a much lower level of detail. for example, we may want to look at maintenance by specific amenity such as pickle ball, as we all seen today. it may be interesting to see how the pickle balls do. it may be nice to ex prakt that

data out, or not. another thing that we may want to do. reonly release the annual report once a year. so it may be interesting to see if we want to make a look at how things are going quarterly instead the one time a year. and again as i mentioned, we built this program with the help of consultant but we run it in-house. we take care of bugs on the house. we have an amazing app built on the esry platform. it's the leading platform in the world. and all of us do our evaluation

and so we will love to continue to improve the program to continue to improve the accuracy and integrity of the data that we collect. and that concludes our presentation. okay, we'll move to public comment on number 12. i believe we have one hand raised on our webex. let's unmute the first caller. caller are you there? why don't we unmute the caller and they can raise their hand if they need later. >> mr. beginbergh, don't scare the staff.

>> we have supervisor melgar for the next item. this is a program that requires a lot of work and management to cultivate all the data. and the data is only as good as what we put into it. you can got some anomalies, you get what you get on a given day. it's almost like sports analytics for parks. if you're a stat geek, this is for you. ben, thank you. lydia who i think started this program, has been working on it for much much years. thank you. since we have the supervisor here i'll show off a little bit. this is a national best practice. no other city in the country does this period.

so thank you. >> thank you, i i was hoping you would show off to our lovely supervisor, mirna melgar. we'll get to you soon. brianna? >> well thank you again for this. i love the power dash ports. so looking forward to how you can get into that again. are there certain things that they want to see. i know a lot of people stack erg different parks. you can also overlay when there are peek times et cetera. and i'm curious if you think about supplemental? are you also thinking, we have the park side as a national, but best practice. how's are we looking at data for our program as well.

>> i can answer the first part. we do have an interactive dashboard on the website where you can look up your favorite park, favorite amenity, a lot of data is on there and that's available on the controllers side website. >> on the creative site, it's great. we're a little behind. we look at registrations, we look at people in our programs. we look at the percent that our programs are actually at full capacity. there is a percentage that if we have a program and it's only at 30% capacity, that's telling us something, right?rely heavy evaluations, but it's not as sophisticated as this program. >> we can overlay it, so a

supervisor can look how many programs are in the district? what are the resources? definitely worth a conversation. >> fantastic. >> vanita. >> thanks, ben and craig, we all paid attention, we don't know how much work but we know you put a lot of work into this. and it's comforting to know that our commission has their own geek commissioner on board. so you know, all eyes on you. another thing, since the department's continue to ratchinger nationally, we should get a little discount on water. >> i wanted to commend you on this, i went to a park and saw how it worked.

i did notice though, we were at a park that had a community garden. >> we do evaluate community gardens. we don't evaluate paid facilities. >> all right, annie? >> sorry, my mic is off. just piggy backing on commissioner zschwartz. >> we don't evaluate indoors, unless they're restrooms. we look at outdoor maintenance,

no gymnasium? >> is there a reason why? >> that's a great question, when the whole program was established, it was looking at outdoor maintenance what are our gardeners are doing on their day-to-day routes. general manager, that may be something that we may have a conversation about as well. >> sure. >> if there are no other questions, thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> next item? we're now on item 13, golden gate park stow lake renaming with lemont.

>> good afternoon, president, and commissioners. i'm lemonte which is to remove the name of stow, about the house located in golden gate park surrounding straw behrly hill and the drive circling strawberry hill and to rename lake to san francisco's celebration of diversity and this item fits our strategic by meeting strategy one to inspire a place and strategy to inspire play. before i get into my presentation, we're happy to have supervisor melgar who is author of the resolution to take up this renaming and i would like to invite her to the podium, please. >> thank you. good afternoon, commissioners, thank you for having me.

i was actually really happy to sit through the previous presentation and learn that district 7 has the best park. so you are all welcomed to come and hang out with us anytime. good afternoon, president anderson, and welcome new commissioners wintroub and zwark. so i'm happy that we're going to work together. so i introduced this resolution, it's in my district and we've all hung out there quite a bit for my lifetime. as you know, the lake was named after mr. stow park commissioner. he was a member of the know-nothing party which was a

party that was founded to hate on immigrants, on people of color and on jews. he was particularly virulent in miz anti-semitism. as a speaker of the assembly, on the floor of our state, announced that he wanted to introduce a bill to tax the jews of all of their income to leave california and he said a bunch of other things that would not just pass modern discourse today. so over the last few weeks in our city, we have seen a lot of conflict and discourse. over things that are happening across the world. and you know, i think this is a good moment to take a stand as san franciscans that we lift value of saint francis of a cece who is our city's name sake that we stand for peace and that we stand for tolerance

and justice and that our values reflect that. in the naming of the things that we told in our public trust and stow lake is one of those. mr. lemonte is going to give the historical facts. . i'll just tell you a little bit what we've done in our office to get the conversation started. with the folks in our community. we as required bring you, have had the three community meetings but since my background is in youth development i went out of my way to talk tips. i went to a bunch of private and public schools to talk about the kids about stow lake, the kids are big users of the lake and the boats. and they were very engaged in this conversation, they all said, yes we want to live in a

city with equality and we love the lake, it's something that we can all be proud of. i want to give a particular thanks to mr. steven miller who is a constituent amateur historian who brought this to our attention and did a lot of research that is before you today, about mr. stow. we ended up work to go do a poll which was very popular, all kinds of people weighed in on it. we chose to go that route because our own population from our city, prevented us from doing, serving monkey or google poll because going through the process of vetting, which is why we chose that route it was easy and quick and folks loved it.

in addition, you probably read an article of two, we got a lot of press about this issue. people were talking about it, all sorts of press that was it had. people talked about it. i am not coming to you recommending a particular name, i do have any personal preferences but that's immaterial. i can tell that you in the conversation that's i had particularly with the kids, they preferred turtle, strawberry and golden, kids connect with those things. i think that adults had opinion about a particular person. i know that you got a better from kimberly ellis on the commission of status of women talking about mary ellen pleasant, we don't have enough

things in our city named after women particularly women of color, the most popular name was the blue herinbecause of the conservation work that has been with the herin. and if you have not seen the movie, i recommend and it's very timely right now when we're talking about herrins. with that, i'll turn it back over to staff to give you the facts, if you have any questions, i'll be happy to answer them too. >> thank you, supervisor. >> and that was my presentation. >> i just wanted touch on a little background and a little more about william stow.

in 1881 william bond richard made a for reservoir to be used for ir gabesinger exercise and pleasure. the construction began years later after attorney william w stow was appointed to the recreation and park commission in 1989. with a--1889, i'll speak to that a name a little bit later. stow was able to extend the lake against the hill. they lined the lake from the area near turk and to visit western elusion. the lake was ready for the mid-winter fair, held near by and named in honor of william w stow. how did william stow get to be such a powerful player? after his incident in the state assembly, he ran for the govern

and was successful in his bid. around 1856, he quit his political career and moved to san francisco where he became the partner law firm of latterson stow which handled land use issues. he made a name for himself as attorney for calling b huntington and pacific railroad. he was primarily responsible for the railroad to build the railways to raise mass inamounts. facing the railroad and became huntington strategist in california. he was appointed to the commission and began to complain about the funds.

iconickly advocated to cut funding for the goenld gate park. and because of his fund raising, he was the golden gate park was named, this was lake was named in his honor. and supervisor melgar shared with you the repurpose of the naming. and resolution which is file 221088 was heard in the public safety and neighborhood committee where people from the public came out and shared their comments, and it received a unanimous recommendation on may 11, 2023. the resolution was adopted by the board of supervisors on may 16th, 2023 and became affective on may 26, 2023. this is not the first time that the commission has heard a renaming of the park issue.

in fact, on september 19, they approved o the name change from julius con playground to persidio playground at the request of group. he was instrumental getting the racist chinese exclusion account. --act. sales, semitism and anti immigrant believes do not express san francisco's values. the parks should not have people who promoted hate receipted. which was adopted on may 114, 1981, three meetings were held to explain to the community the that i am change and propose suggestions and recommendations

on possible renaming options. these community meetings were held on september 27, 2023 at the san francisco county fair building and on november 20th, best and were attended by 10 to 25 community members per meeting. as commissioner melgar shared, she engaged the youth from the district and provided information at her office hours in district 7, excuse me. her district newsletters and other community events. some of the media that were engaged in this out reach efforts including ktv news and san francisco standard, sfist the examiner. as supervisor also mentioned, a city wide was conducted by san

francisco standard from december 4, 2023 through december 17th. readers were asked to read from candidates. the san francisco standards received 336 votes, with the majority collecting blue herin lake. and second strawberry lake with and in third place, turtle lake. blueherrin lake is the spois. we recommend changing stow lake drive to blue herrin lake and blue herrin lake boat house. this concludes my presentation

and i'm available for any questions. >> we'll take public comment. supervisor, please come back. to find for signage. that is not enough, but i will continue to work as a supervisor for this district to make sure that we're all okay with that. and i also wanted give particular thanks to emma hikeen and mike if he ra on my staff who did a lot of the heavy listing to do this. >> thank you for that gift, we'll put it to good use. all of it. >> commissioners, i have two blue cards. >> sorry, i add back money, sorry. i have angus first and then

judith, you can bring it up. yeah. thank you. >> we have visual aids, >> wonderful. >> begin. >> commissioners, i'm angus mcfarlan. this is patrick. patrick just wants to come home. patrick was the original miracle worker. in 1873 patrick was hired to be the first laborer in the park. he earned 80 dollars a month to work six days a week hours a day. for 40 years, from 1872 to

1912, patrick worked many hours manual labor into his 80s, 1,000 acres of sand, patrick devoted his life to his devoted park, stow lake. this picture was taken from patrick when he was 83 years old, he would die a week later on the job. he literally gave his life to give us golden gate park. his obituary credits him with creation. patrick, wiz wife and 12 kids, worked. three died in early infancy.

from a panhandle to ocean beach. commissioners, the honorable, the right, the only choice is to name it in honor, i repeat in honor of golden gate parks original miracle worker, please, please, bring patrick back home where he believes. thank you. >> okay, i have judith and honest. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i live patrick was my great great grandmother. hz one of his did i send enters, the park has always been part of my story. my grandmother, who's mother died before she was six years old.

they would track down to visit their parents. she also told her how her school age brothers would strap themselves to wind mills for a ride. and my grandfather told us how he quartet my grandmother around the park. that's lovely, however that's not why patrick's name should be considered. patrick and the many hundreds of men who worked with him, gave themselves year after year, in deed decade afterdeck aid doing back breaking physical labor in order to turn this wind swept san dunes into the magnificent park that has been the place of res pid and so much more who those who live and visit san francisco. yet as so oftener the case, carry the names of the healthy

of their times. thank you for considering renaming the lake for patrick and in so doing, recognize the >> thank you, next speaker. >> what a treat, thank you. >> thank you, my name is honest buck ling, you can call me honest. it's a family joke. has been and flagged since 1900. in my conversations i found

that many are unaware that we have a city flag, let alone that it features a phoenix or significance. as a sitor to the lake and an enthusiast for hikes, i felt that the contours spoke in essence of the seen ix nest as well. through its history, notably the original poetous was rebuilt after fire in 1937. adjacent to the lake. or boat house to be unveiled to commemorate the 1120th anniversary of the 1906

earthquake accompanied by a plaque to honor the victims of the fire. thank you for considering renaming the lake to phoenix lake. thank you. >> thank you. >> you, anyone else in the room, please come on up. >> thank you. >> my name is jerry rice, we've been walk in stow lake for many years. it's provided peacefulness and in that time, the word stow lake has been synonymous with the lake is personal. i would like to mention that the board of supervisors has

directed that the name should recognize the multi cultural diversity and values as a city of san francisco. it's all very well intentioned about turtles and heroin and such thirdly, there is no one that exemplifies, the mother of civil rights. if you read the short information that i provided to each of you, then you already know about mary pleasant's work as philanthropist and advocate fauxer the rights of people and women of color during san francisco's years and decades after 1850. she provided housing and employment to enslaved people who would then form the nucleus of african community.

san francisco also has a history of discrimination, including housing segregation enforced by red lining and bulldozing of the neighborhood in the 11960s. today the move to end the zoning puts a target on the neighborhood as a tsunami washes down the third street corridor. it would make a statement of support. to designate the lake as the most beautiful spot in san francisco. >> thank you, jerry. >> is there anyone else that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, and we have no hands raised in our webex, public comment is closed. >> commissioner hallisy. >> thank you, president anderson, i want to thank supervisor melgar for being today and emma, thank you for

your participation as well. i also want to thank angus and judy, honest and jerry for being here today as well. as lemont said, the policy on naming and/or changing the designation of facilities was part of a resolution adopted in ma1981. the policy states that it has to be the name of a person. now, i am 100% in favor of this. in my opinion, it's far too special to give this permanent honor to a bird, a reptile or a piece of fruit. it also states whoever the honoree must be deceased for two years before being considered. now we did adhere to this policy and renaming visitation

valley for granny houng, she had been gone two and a half years. now the policy was amended in 1988, 1981, 1993 and 19 94, but until another amendment is proposed and passed, i think we should follow what we have in front of us. now personally i'm fully behind taking william's stow's name off the lake, off the drive, off the clubhouse, however i would like to find out a little more about the poll that was used to rename. now despite your best efforts, the community meeting was not well attended. i believe the remote meeting

had 17 people take part. second, in-person meeting. there was 10 people present and 25 in november. but in addition to engage width folks in the community, you started this online poll in the month of december. and 'em o, i'm not trying to put you in the spot. this is just my education, as to how this poll was put together, i'm assuming that it was one computer, one vote. buzz if you can tell me how that process worked? bho was on the receiving end and how they were tabulated, i really appreciate it. >> thank you, no problem. i'm emma miking and i'm a aid for supervisor melgar. as mentioned, we did have some

legal hurdles for conducting a poll within our office. so we did call on the standards to conduct the poll. i worked with them to provide the information. i was not inlv technological so i cannot speak to them. i do know that the folks in the standard did their best to ensure that the voters were san francisco residents and were only to vote once. i'm not sure how strict that was, i apologize, i don't have more specific answers, because it was conducted externally. >> all right, thank you. i know the primary trust behind supervisor proposal, was taking the stow name off the lake, of the clubhouse of the drive. me personally, i'm in favor of that.

but i would like more time as far as renaming and i hope that there is more engagement with the community to do this. i appreciate the proposals today. mary allen, those were fantastic, there may be others that i have not heard yet. i support the proposal, but and i'm one vote, one person, i would like more time to rename. >> i think that that is a perfectly fine approach and i do think the limitation to see pursuing more out reach and community engagement, would be budgetary and that process has been completed. and so more out reach would require some sort of additional staffing support. >> okay, thank you and i appreciate it.

>> thank you, carry. well i just want to first say that, i think as a department and a commission, we should tread carefully in the renaming business. we can spend a lot of time and resources in this. and i do wonder if somebody lived 1150 years ago that name and their history as, terrible as it may be, still does harm in the way that certain flags and statues and names have done harm and it rightly have been removed from public space as cross our country. personally read abouting william stow as a person of jewish faith, i was disgusted by the things that he said, but still i ask that question, if this is, you know, still doing harm to people. i was not aware of that history

before very recently. having said that and i think we should renaming as being exceptional. anti-semitism and i do appreciate that as does the ju i believer community. and i do appreciate the time to talk to kids and to conduct the poll. and to, to find 50,000 in a tough budget environment to make this happen, because we're resource constrained. so personally, i, i am in favor of removing the name stow. and it's similar to what joe said, what is our process?

how do we rank somebody's contribution to san francisco to our parks to our society how are we going to make the decisions. we do need a process what is that going to look like for us as a commission in the city. >> thank you, kerry. annie? >> so i, i'm definitely in support of renaming stow lake and i don't think that hate or exclusion has any place in our beautiful park system that our designed to bring people together and a place for for being inclusive. i do agree, thank you commissioner hallisy for taking time.

i was a little bit torn about which name out like the right, the right one to rename my, i'm a youth development practitioner too, i work in the field of youth voice and leadership. i believe that sometimes as adults, we need to let the young steward of our resources of our city and weigh in and thaingz speak to them are important and it's important to listen to our young folks. and blue herrin seems like a right sense. how do you measure one or the other. but i also wanted say thank you to our community members who shared the comprehensive information about patrick and

about mary pleasant. i was able to pass the packets, i have a 13-year-old daughter and i said, i'm going to have to vote on this, why don't you do read anding research and tell me what you think. she was not really excited about adding homework, she would rather be out there swinging baseballs. but she said it and learned about it and after being force today force down to read she was interested about reading both stories. she had a hard time choosing one or the other. they felt that they both kind of deserved. her vote was for mary ellen pleasant because she recognized there is not a lost places named after women, women of color. i wonder if giving us more time and giving the public more

information, i'm sure, i'm making an assumption about young people that may be more familiar with what with strawberry or herin than mary ellen. yeah, i think it's more time. it's a big responsibility. i understand that it takes a lot of time and resources but this is our responsibility. i think giving us some more time to carry this responsibility with the weight it deserves would be my presence as well. >> thank you, annie. larry? >> thank you. so i am against renaming stow lake, with all due respect to jewish community. and i want to make something

perfectly crystal clear, that there is no way i condone anything this guy did or said. obviously the dude was a scum bag waoezle. the way i feel, growing up in in the city, for my whole life, 5 4 years, i always call it stow lake, even if the name gets changed, everybody called it candle stick. this is something that happens in the 1800s. if you go back and start looking at every street and everything in the city, you're going to find a whole lot you'r some that were racist towards italians, but i won want to change that name at this point. i think that, you know, there is more important things that

we should be doing. and this is not one of them. i'm going to vote no to change the name. >> thank you, larry. brianna? >> agree ana. >> i have many thoughts and i'll try to be concise as i know we're all hungry and tired and i don't know about y'all, but i'm cold. i want to thank first of all, the community for coming out here and doing your work and your job and caring about the city. it's a beautiful thing. it does break my heart that there was no more community involvement in it, there was no more participation.

phil was asking me about the difference between these commission meetings and the commission of status of women where you know, things that we tackled regularly were pay equity, domestic violence, sex work, gender equity, stems for girls. and i'm going to say this would be a packed house, there were not a lot of people that cared enough to say, yes we need this or no i don't want this and here's what needs to happen. we were over flowing whether it comes to pickle ball for san francisco. so that time and dedication, is commendable and i appreciate you all for that. it means a lot to be on this dais and to have the

responsibility to take on renaming. thank you to staff. for doing this as well. i do have a question, when did this process start? >> it was bh this commission member, visited sandra, he came back to supervisor melgar and brought it whack to her. so i know it's been going since 2018 . and i want to remind the commission, that is a community driven process. the department does not do this. this is to be prolonged, who is going to pickup the mantle and take it forward. and regarding mary ellen pleasant, we're aware of what

she has done and she's on a name on indian basin shoreline. >> that's good to know. >> i understand how some of my colleagues are asking for more time, it's something that i ask for god multiple times a day. because i need it. i also believe that there is times when you have to do the work and show up when the community tells you that this needs to be done and it has been going on since 2018. i'm not going to, create a motion create but if anyone wants my support to not take a vote for a yes or no or to move forward with some type of action today, i need that vote or motion to include a date so it does not look likelier shrinking our responsibilities and kicking the can down the road.

we have to do our work as well what we were entrusted to do and move forward. people are flawed, i will quote fidel castro. he always says revolution, what people need to remember, revolution is done by man not god. there are people who have shown us some of the darkest part of ourselves in maou manity. humanity. and you can always mind something that is wrong. i also believe in finding the light, and it's not just what is said but our action values. and i'm very proud that the community brought this up and wants to make a change. and it is a balance that we

always have to do. not just we can't rename everything because we talked about the resources, it's, you know, quote unquote make everybody happy in the time to do this. i also want to point out to some principal that's is brought for us, we also have an ordinance, 243-18 which walls on the commemoration of for more females within the city as well. we have beautiful birds and nature. we also have a problem in our society that does not recognize over 50% of its own population.

when it comings to the work that was done. it's not always just the man who was given vision and image to those people. so with that ordinance and it's something that i worked on with the arts commission. ipg diane feinstein is one of the art works that we have as a female. i would like to support moving forward and renaming, i'm happy to explore other names. but i also don't want to do this blindly, if one of my colleagues want to say by these dates i also want to say we are a commission and we have been empowered to do the work and to

set up the process and standards today. and i would urge us to do so. >> thank you, brianna. vanita. >> renaming something is the most unfavorite thing to do unless it is of graman wine, it was clear when we renamed the playground and we had representation from her family and the valley community. but having said that, and growing up assan francisco and going to stow lake every saturday, if we named it pink popcorn lake, that's okay. that's what i begged to get, was that rectangle pink popcorn but that's where we're going.

in all due respect, we're working with policies and a document from the 90s, where we can't do this and we should do that. if we're going to go through a process, are we going to open and big a big can of worms and look at the charter and look at it rewritten, there is a lot of, work involved as an oversight body to a department. so we can spend as much time or as little time. but the poll that was taken from supervisor mirna, melgar which does have some weight. there were votes taken whether it's four votes taken, there is a vote taken.

beau herrin collected the most votes. three amount of people voiced. so i think as an oversight to a department and we're the voice of the voter, that poll still has some weight. now i will go with what the commission decides whether to table and put in more work. at this point, renaming something is not, my favorite thing to do because we can be spending a lot of more time on things that are going to affect the department in this new year. >> thank you, vanita. >> i want to add a little bit of color to not the results of

the poll, but the items that people are allowed to vote on. the namesed were collected by supervisor melgar's office and we did take the extra step to both confirm that the folks were san francisco residents. and require that they provide an explanation. we got a lot of recommendation frz across the country a cross the world and so i did narrow it down, to san francisco residents. i just want to add that color to the poll. >> thank you. did you want to speak? i still see your name on the list, are we done? anybody else want to add, i wanted to go last, if anybody

else wants to speak. >> i did want to address the question about if we did decide to delay it, who would do the work? of like, and so, yeah, that is a question. tuz anyone have thoughts? before deciding today. so the boeshd of supervisors does not contain explicit out reach item. and i imagine that the recreation department does not include. that would have to be added to the budget which would be of course done by mayor the or the board of supervisors. so i think that would be the

process. >> okay, sarah? commissioner sarah madeline, just to be clear, the department also has a policy and process. and that process is that it's a community driven community lead process. i believe it may have been part of your packet, if not i'll be happy to share. volve multiple meetings and consultation with the supervisor. this is not something that rec and park staff lead. we embed and support but it's not something that staff drives. there has to be a community group or outside force that is leading it. so to answer to your question given to our policy and way we have set up, they involve a lot of input na it is best that be a grass roots process that staff, stables but does not drive. >> thank you for that clarification, sarah.

kerry? >> i'm just curious with the julius renaming, i know there was a lot of out reach, how many people voted for the per sidio wall? and i ask because if you had 5,000, there is still one half of one percent of the san francisco population. it's just not broad babesinger that's why i'm questioning when it comes to name it all or specifically naming after a person. i don't know the number of people that participated. i know i can get you the information. there were neighborhood or

faith base organizations that participated and spoke for a larger community. so conveners are often involved. i'm not going to rattle off all the groups that participated but i can share some with you. not just individuals but community or faith base groups that represented their membership in those processes. does that make sense? i will get you, beth had to leave and she lead that process, but we can get that staff report. >> so i had some thoughts i wanted to share too. i think all of us have been losing sleep over this, because it's an incredible honor and a heavy duty to rename something that is carried a name for 150 years.

it's, it's an important responsibility that still is reposed in the power of this commission. so in a way, 7 people get to decide a new name and we are taking this very seriously. and we waufrnt to make sure that we express our sensitivity, i was so glad to hear kerry speak up, she is a person of faith, and to hear from our native san franciscans, how they feel. it hit me that one day we're going to be walking around the lake and the 7 of us, can say, wow we named that, that has tremendous impact. so i want very, we all want to be sure that we justice with this input.

we're hearing all the input. emma thank you very much from supervisor melgar's office. i can tell you that i have over 105 communication nz favor of some name change and 15 opposed. so i think generall we're not lot of people means they trust the process. that with great reluctance we would change a historical name, that is in our commission policy with great reluctance. also talks about how, we would want to name it after a person who has been dead at least two years. are you speaking to me? >> no. >> i really want to thank angus

and jerry for putting together a beautiful packets about patrick. patrick quiingly stands for the worker who made things grow and transform the park. and he was a person of irish dissent, i believe his wife was named mary and they had nine children some of whom died in the park and the ones that lived, thrived in the park, that was their home. a worthy candidate and then we have mary allen pleasant, unsung hero. there is a medallion to the pack heights area, it's a tiny little pocket park. she was a wonderful character,

i would have loved to be her best friend, she said, i don't care what society sees me as, i'm going to succeed and i'm going to support my people. her number one mig was to free people. she supported the john brown rebellian and self made intelligent person who worked as a cook and domestic who listened to the movers and shakers and did what they did and invested her money and became a self made millionaire, she would be a billionaire. i admire this woman so much, i would personally would love to name the park after her, or this lake after her, pleasant lake. maybe there is some future

plans for that name. and then, in the materials that emma gave me blue herrin lake got the most votes and then kurtle sxl her' beacher stow would be a good idea because you only have to add an e, saving us some resources. and one last thing i wanted to add, if we do, consider the name of animal, the great blue herrin is the color of great mist reflecting in blue water. she a patient, solitary hunter,

standing alone as long as it takes to snatch her prey, like a predaishs bride made and yet on rare occasions she hunts on the wing, dart anding diving sharply, short-like beak. this is by dillia, who wrote where the craw duds sing. i suggest that we bifurcate this vote and vote whether we're going to remove from the lake and the drive and the boat house. then i suggest we get to the renaming which i think is going to be a harder process. i would support bifurcating this way? i need a motion and a second. i suggest that we bifurcate the

vote, first we vote on removing the name of stow from the lake, the drive and the boat house, period. could we do that. >> after we close public comment, somebody raised their hand, it's just one person. >> no. we've got rules for reason. sorry. all would anybody like to move and second my suggestion? >> i would like to move that we take the stow name off the lake, boat house and drive, what is presently known as stow lake and area. >> do i have a second? >> i do have a second, all those in favor, as stated by commissioner hallisy, state aye. >> aye. >> any opposition. >> no.

>> so we have 6 ayes and 1 no. we have removed the name of stow. all right, that is a historic moment, thank you commissioner, commissioners. supervisor melgar and aid emma. we ar■?7te righting a wrong, i at the monumental wreck ening, it's called a homecoming, the sculpture, is we should not try to erase historical things so but we should teach. this is a teachable moment. what i would like to share on that is the following, because sometimes politics can loom large. sometimes one can can do nobel things and sometimes one can great things but in the annals

of history, what we want to see is are you always trying to do the right thing? so we just did the right thing and thank you for every one who participated. now, on the next part of this, could i have a motion and a second or actually, i think what we have to do is we'll state a motion and then have discussion. so i need a little help here. are we going to go down individual names or do we want to suggest a group of names and then have discussion. >> commissioner, just a point of clarification, as you go through this process knowing that there are some commissioners who have expressed a desire for more discussion and time. >> i agree. >> i presume that removing stow is contingent on there being another name. >> yes. >> so we may want to clarify

that, in that prior foetion that you're directing the department to remove the name of stow from the road and the building at such point as new name is actually selected. >> good point, let's have conversation to see if we can get four votes for a new name. and if we cannot we'll go and revote on taking the name off. >> okay. >> i was thinking and i'm all about expedientcy, if we do want to take a little more time, i think we have to decide

if we're going to take more time, then perhaps at the next commission, we have vetted some options more thoroughly, more thoughtfully, or should we be deciding on a name now and it's person or it's a an object jekt. >> okay, let's, then i suggest that the next motion that might be made is, is are we going to decide today on a new name or are we going to decide at a date certain a new name? does that sound fair. >> can i have my say here on this. >> yeah. >> i was reading just in the last couple of days, about justin herman plaza and julius playground. and one thing in the story about

justin herman plaza, the commission vote today take justin herman off the plaza but in the document or the information was that this could be renamed something else at a later date. so they took and actually, commissioner mazzola and anderson were on the commission at the time, so they took the name off but the option was in there, that maybe we will rename this at this point. now i also wanted say that commissioner zwat want more time, but i want people to think that we're shalljerking

this responsibility, i believe if we said that we're going to have a name, that we're going to vote on at our february meeting, that might satisfy some of the people on the commission including myself that feel like we need a little more time. >> do i hear a motion? >> can i clarify something. >> yeah. >> i think on the renaming of justin herman, we renamed it embarcadero. >> yeah. >> embarcadero was its prior name. we removed, we removed the commission removed justin herman and it it remains embarcadero plaza today. i think we can have our

historian do a little bit of homework for us, i'm unaware of what stow lake was called before stow. >> i think it was called a pit, it was made and it was named, if i understand correctly. >> so i want to clarify, i think yes, that's what what my ideal situation is if we can come back in february and have a date and say we're going to decide on a name by then. but it sounds like we're still unclear. we're hoping on more community input. but it sounds to me that's what we're being told is the department is not going to conduct anymore community meetings.

if we're delaying it, what's the point to delaying it to february. >> this is a community driven process and staff just supplies information to the community. so they would be responsible and we would have to identify somebody from the community to pick the continued out reach. >> so that would be our hope that somebody would pick it up, but we cannot guarantee that. >> that's correct. >> i have a practical response to what you said, annie, that makes sense. if i had another month to think about it, and there is no support to collect for information from the community, i would probably become more confused about what i should be doing today.

there are so many opportunities for beautiful names and i would do more research and talk to some friends xw walk around the park some more and try to get some inspirations. but to be fair, a lot of ve com and we know that there are people out there that feel strongly about it. and a lot of people came and created some good packets. i want to go along and i'm wondering, you know, how am i going to change my own mind in a month. >> vanita. >> i am going to put a little twist, it's named stow lake, i never questioned why it was

called stow lake, i always thought that it was named stow because the turtled the stow, from changing it from a noun to a verb, the definition of something that is stowed is carefully and neatly put away in a particular place, like the lake, like the body of water. that's something to put out there. i just thought the turtle stowaway there on the rock. >> is would like to move that we rename to stow the verb. >> do i have a second. >> second.

>> all those in favor, raise your hand. >> three. >> all those opposed, raise your hand. four. okay, now we're going to go to another vote. >> there were 24 names that they had the option to choose from. and those three were the top vote geters. >> yes. >> and in your packet are the names of the other names. >> we have blue herrin and turtle lake and strawberry. anyone want to move, i think we need to try this for a couple more rounds, okay. may have a motion and a second for a different name, please. larry. >> i would like to make a motion that we keep it stow lake. >> any second. >> i'll second that. >> all those in favor, raise your hand. three.

all those opposed, raise your hand? okay. it's not going to be stow lake. >> can i say something, we just voted to remove the name stow, as i said earlier, before all of this history, you know, came to the for front, you know, a lot of people didn't know the name stow. i don't know that that name was doing harm to people everyday, but i cannot represent everybody. but we have moved, we have voted to remove the name. the most expedient path and probably one which will not come back in the future because again, if you put a pers name on it, it's really it could be a lovely honor but we can find a skeleton in somebody's closet later where times change. if we want to resolve this, instead of keeping it stow, we should remove stow as we voted and name it, you know, not for

a person, the name blueherrin lake, whether we have enough data it may be as much data as we're going to collect. if we're not going to delay this and have a more rigorous i would move to rename to blue herrin lake. >> do have a second. >> i'll second that. >> brianna do you want to speak. >> i have a question. >> turn your mic on. >> i know we don't have our city attorney here, but i thought i was in the charter or, if that's not true. >> it's a policy and it can be. >> it was a policy passed by the commission. >> for you guys, commissioner hallisy you raised this issue about what the policy says. >> exactly.

>> and fair enough, right, there is a commission policy, i think you have when was the year it was rasta mended? >> 1999. >> 94. >> okay, so it was last amended 19 years ago. policies. 29 years ago, sorry. i'm old. let me put my lawyer hat here, it's not in the ordinance, it's not in the charter. policy should guide policy making bodies but you are not required to abide by them literally. you want to draw your spirit or explain why you're not. as you can see from our our

prior graming at renaming, you're not required to do that literally. >> then i don't understand it, it's been a while since we have amended this, or people before me that have served on this commission. i just don't understand why we have it if we're not going adhere to it. and if somebody would make a motion to put in another amendment forward, to take the naming facility for a person, out of the document. i might support that, i will say that.

but that's what we have. >> that's a reasonable policy, if the question specifically and i don't know if our city attorney is watching and wants to come up. >> i already asked to clarify. >> if the question is specifically, is this body required today to follow a policy ratified 29 years ago, the answer is not literally. >> we just, the new park that we're having in the east coast is going to be pelican park. then, if this was something that we were not allowed to do that would have come up then. i would suggest, i agree with maybe there needs to be some, some updates to the policy and maybe we can put that under commissioner matters or work at first.

i did talk to our deputy city attorney brianna. >> one other bid of just, suggested guidance, the way this got to this commission is that there were, there was a recommendation through the process that was initialed by the supervisors office of three names. three different names for the lake, you don't have to pick any of those today? but i would suggest that we did publicly notice the three names and that's, what you are considering today. and also getting back to the poll, it's possible that people could have voted multiple times

for a choice, we cannot say that that did not happen. >> that's why i would like these emails, i feel this is a percentage of how it would have been in a greater vote and blue herrin came out twice ahead. >> but 18. >> it's small, i know. i get it. >> we do have a motion. >> we do have a motion that we vote on. >> kerry has moved for the name of blue herrin lake and we need a second if anyone has commented. >> on the motion to rename stow lake on blue herrin lake. let's take a roll call. >> anderson. >> yes. >> hallisy. >> no. >> jones. >> no. >> commission m zarahzzola. >> no.

>> yes. >> that's 3 nos and four yeses. >> motion carries. >> thank you, commissioners. >> thank you. okay. thank you everybody. >> can i just have a word. >> hold on one moment, we are going to reopen general public comment in a moment not on this issue but, the time for comment on this issue has passed, unfortunately, yeah, i'm sorry. okay. so thank you everybody. we are now going to move to general public comment and i have a few blue cards left and i know some people probably left because who what's all day to sit at a commissioner meeting. but i'm going to call names, if i call your name, go ahead and

start walking up to the front for public comment. i have laura karmny are you here, and annie wellham. are any of those folks here? i have peter, i see you bill, why don't you come on up. just come on up, if you didn't comment earlier. there is not that much of you, so you can just hang out and wait up here. bill why don't you come on up, come on up, yep. ready? somebody please come to the dais to speak. thank you. >> speaker: i'm here to comment on letter that we received from

beverly on 113 -- ~>> can you put the microphone right to your mouth. >> speaker: sorry. >> that's okay, i just want to be able to hear you. saturday 1113, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. it says thank you for meeting this week to review the agreement from last year when we temporary expanded pickle ball at persidio wall. this is creating a false narrative. that never happened. so my history is i've been working with the pickle community since 2016 the first time. and also it says, december of

2019 when then, president of this boe,d brought his staff dana and this was the issue that was on the agenda. at that time, we had 50 to 60 people showing up court 2 to play pickle ball. we're working off that false narrative. in fact, the superintendent made the same statement that this was a temporary expansion, that has to be understood wrong. the other narrative that is incorrect is it says and within six years, rec and park has 63 outdoor pickle ball courts, that narrative is 100% wrong. first in order, if you play,

bad beton volleyball, tennis, pickle ball, basketball, you need a net. >> sorry your fiem is passed. >> speaker: holy. >> hello, i'm add avid pickle ball, in fact i'm going to persidio wall after we're done speaking here. a pickle ball net cost at least $70 it can be as much as $200. while i think it's great that pickle ball courts have been expand approximated, i don't think that it really counts simply to paint lines on the court. i think we need to dial back how much they've been expanded.

so my suggestion for balancing the described mental health needs for the per sidio residents with those of the 1200 people who signed the petition who of course have mental health needs and enjoy the socialization and exercise, i would like to urge san francisco which has been a leader in so many important issues across the country and across the world to cease this opportunity and be a model for how other cities and towns can address noise issues, somebody else mentioned that sound curtains have been used in other cities as well as noise canceling pedals and balls, i would love to see us first move there. and i would like to point out that we had 70 people who waited three hours to speak. i do think that this deserves a little more time and attention and should not be swept under

the rug with a no-vote decision. thank you. >> next speaker. >> speaker: hi good afternoon, sorry to make you wait a little bit longer for lunch. i'm here in support for pickle ball today. i just want to appreciate one underappreciated of the sport is the positive affects from court density, the increased number of courts where any community members without making reservation, can create fun and competitive games and making players more likely to return. they have supported persidio wall and very grateful for it, have been become friends with teenagers and elder players. just because the number of courts there. open play is ultimately the foundation for the community building affects that we know

pickle ball can provide in the time of increasing loneliness, it has been a solution for up and growing community. the 12 courts do not equal 1 court each and while 6687 courts going away, sounds small it matters which courts go away. compared to some of the other things on the agenda, i know this seems trivial, the commissioners have done, a lot of deliberative work on some really important issues so i appreciate you listening out. i ask that there be a moderation to talk about the resolution to see sound end parking complaints. thank you. >> next speaker. >> hi, my name is peter. i'm with executive board of golden gate pickle ball.

wert largest and fastest growing pickle ball organization in san francisco. we have youth ramp programs, we have out reach and we want to be here to help with the strategic planning of more dedicated courts. we don't want to be in conflict with tennis courts or basketball courts. i have a long history of working personally with rec and park on restoring facilities, designing and constructing new facilities. there is a process to make all of this happen. and what is happening is a very active community, a lot of our members played there and i'm here to support them. there is a plan that i designed last year. like adam said more courts

where people can come and meet people from crosses of life in san francisco. they don't have the community out reach. community driven, that's the way we work in san francisco, we have community input, this does not seem like there was community input. i just heard about this and i'm at the for front of everything happening, i heard about it on monday that the courts were being removed, that does not seem like a community driven process. thank you. >> next speaker.

>> speaker: my wife dropped me off this morning, and she said remember you don't need to comment. and i feel like i have something important issues to emphasize. first i have parkinson's that i've had for 20 years and all of those people you meet and have fun with. this will be a much more dismal place. will thes health aspects of pickle ball should be evidence in me. because 20 people that i knew in washington before i moved down here, none of them are

around anymore. i am. so as completely different than tennis. tennis is a lot of strain on your body. i played tennis. so i think, that you can expand unlimited. >> speaker: that the two minute buzzard. >> you have 25 more seconds. >> please continue. >> speaker: i'm sitting in between going to lunch and people listening to my health issues.

my hope that you consider make iting a center of pickle ball rather than just a bunch of scared courts. if you have the opportunity to do that. >> thank you. >> thank you, we appreciate you waiting. >> if there is anybody else that wants to comment during public comment, please come on up now. >> speaker: hello i'm mell, i'm a u.s. pickle ball ambassador as well. and i along with mary lisa's is no longer and couple of other people teach free novice class on tuesday mornings at persidio wall, we've had something like 1200 people take that class. as it has been used 20 people a

week, so the sport is really expanding and you know all that, so i don't want to explain it but that's the reasons it's expanding. we taukds about noise reduction in terms of fan, u.s. a pickle ball has all sorts of solutions and we need to explore those conclusions.them is to measure the noise put those solutions and then measure the noise again and see if we made improvements. this is included with the fencing new paddles, et cetera. so we have not done very much to measure noise, we just heard that it's noisy. and we want to reduce it one of the way to see do that is the fencing and the new paddles but let's measure it. okay. the other thing i wanted to address was the parking.

if we had angle parking instead of parallel park ing, you would find that we would have moved the barriers park. closer to persid i don't boulevard, we would have much more parking and get it off the neighborhood streets. finally your resolution on sto*e. >> sorry, you cannot comment on item that was on agenda after it's passed. >> speaker: okay. >> i want to know what you want to say. we'll wait after. >> >> speaker: okay, that's it. we want to stay the meeting. >> is there anyone else that wants to comment. i have people on the webex, so i'll get to you folks in a second. anyone else want to comment during public comment that did not get a chance today?

can you unmute the first speaker. >> thank you for those who came and hang out for so long to talk to us, we appreciate your time. >> speaker: hi i'm annette hurts and i'm asking the commission to direct the staff not to restripe the courts at pickle wall to withdrawal the requests that the nets be removed. until we can have community meetings to discuss a comprehensive strategy and plan for city wide pickle ball in san francisco. the courts at per sidio wall are uniquely diverse and inclusive community in the city. it is the only place where you can find young pros terrified of old ladies. ttsz the only place where women

and men, young and old, people of color, rich and poor all play together. and the ability to have that is only because we have a critical mass of courts that support open play. the culture of pickle ball is the culture of pickup games and open play, we need all the courts to support that diverse equitable and inclusive culture. and keeping all the courts substantial to that and it's particularly a poor policy choice to pit the embodiment of dei against the only in my back yard which pickle ball players

up the hill. it's terrible policy to do that. i implore you to stop the restriping and withdrawal the net and keep the courts while we can all come together to develop a strategy that supports this incredible sport. >> thank you. next speaker. >> speaker: good afternoon, thank you for your time. my name is nathan, i want to iterate what others have said. >> nate, i apologize for interrupting you, i'm going to stop your time. your voice is coming through very choppy. so, i don't know if you can do anything now to fix that or if you want to hang up and call back while i work with the other person. >> speaker: does it work. >> still a little choppy.

>> hang up and try again, you're digitized. >> hang up and call right back and raise your hand and probably will still be available because i have one more caller. can you unmute the next caller, sf gov. tv. >> so i want to thank the commission for supporting the renaming of blue herrin lake. >> nancy, i'm sorry i have to interrupt you. you can't comment on item that was already heard at the commission. i'm sorry that we were not able to hear from you earlier, but the commissioners did get comment ahead of time and read it before the meeting. apologies. i think we have more hands raised so if we can unmute the next caller. >> thsz nate, valentine, is that better. >> much bert.

>> excellent, i just want it make one point clear, i think you all know that, importantly, the benefit of pickle ball is not a sport that you get three buddies and go to one court. the benefit is a community that is formed around multiple courts during open play. i've been living in san francisco for 25 years, i have met more diverse people, age economically, racially, every which way you can imagine through pickle ball through my 20 years in san francisco. that's because of open play and density among courts in a location. taking away six courts and replacing with six courts that don't have open play time and lined without nets, it's not a solution, it's eliminating one of the best things that has occured to me and many people in san francisco. i would urge you to consider

the impact that this would have on a community that is driving. it will change that community in a way that it's negative and will not be able to replace by adding six courts. thank you for consideration, thank you for commission, i know it's a difficult job, we appreciate you. >> thank you. i believe, nate is the last caller. okay, so seeing no more comment, public comment is closed. we're now on item 15, commissioners matters. >> i'm going to do my report because we put it at the end. >> okay. >> i want to thank my colleagues today again, for the election. joe and i are great team and we're very committed. and i want to greet and honor again, kerry and brianna and we had a lovely ceremony in the historic room, the mayor swore them in and it was great to see your family and friends, welcome again.

i look forward to continuing to work with you. just want everybody to remember that we had a great graoufp 350 statue called monumental where the former francis scott key was. and it was a very solemn ceremony on friday with the sculper discussing, when people would leave them alone to honor a memorialize their loved ones and the 350 statues represented the enslaved which ironically called the saint john the baptist, go figure that one out. and dana talked about how we

should not erase history but teach and learn. i would like to say that was a great thing that was brought to the park, thank you rec and park for that. and, ashley, i think have i now covered everything that i discussed? thank you, i'm done. >> anything else commissioners? okay, any public comment on commissioners matters? okay, seeing none, i'm going to move on to new business agenda setting, anything from the commissioners on that? okay, any public comment? let's move on to communications. any public comment on the communications? seeing none, public comment is closed. we're now on 18, adjournment. >> i need a second. >> second. >> all those in favor say aye.

>> aye. >> aye. >> any opposition. we are adjourned at 1:58 p.m. >> thank you. >> thank you. [♪♪♪] >> i just wanted to say a few words. one is to the parents and to all of the kids. thank you for supporting this program and for trusting us to create a soccer program in the bayview. >> soccer is the world's game, and everybody plays, but in the united states, this is a sport

that struggles with access for certain communities. >> i coached basketball in a coached football for years, it is the same thing. it is about motivating kids and keeping them together, and giving them new opportunities. >> when the kids came out, they had no idea really what the game was. only one or two of them had played soccer before. we gave the kids very simple lessons every day and made sure that they had fun while they were doing it, and you really could see them evolve into a team over the course of the season. >> i think this is a great opportunity to be part of the community and be part of programs like this. >> i get to run around with my other teammates and pass the ball. >> this is new to me. i've always played basketball or football. i am adjusting to be a soccer mom. >> the bayview is like my favorite team. even though we lose it is still fine. >> right on. >> i have lots of favorite memories, but i think one of them is just watching the kids enjoy themselves. >> my favorite memory was just

having fun and playing. >> bayview united will be in soccer camp all summer long. they are going to be at civic centre for two different weeklong sessions with america scores, then they will will have their own soccer camp later in the summer right here, and then they will be back on the pitch next fall. >> now we know a little bit more about soccer, we are learning more, and the kids are really enjoying the program. >> we want to be united in the bayview. that is why this was appropriate >> this guy is the limit. the kids are already athletic, you know, they just need to learn the game. we have some potential college-bound kids, definitely. >> today was the last practice of the season, and the sweetest moment was coming out here while , you know, we were setting up the barbecue and folding their uniforms, and looking out onto the field, and seven or eight of the kids were playing. >> this year we have first and second grade. we are going to expand to third,

forth, and fifth grade next year bring them out and if you have middle school kids, we are starting a team for middle school. >> you know why? >> why? because we are? >> bayview united. >> that's right. >> the stewardship program is a (indiscernible) based program. we work with student kind r garten through 12 grade and work with scrks fusd and (indiscernible) focus on 5 themes. sense of place, plant adapation and animal adaptation, water soil or (indiscernible) depending on the grade level and accommodations the class may need the educators work to adapt the programming to be whatever works best for the class, so they can gain activities (indiscernible)

some don't, we try to meet students where they are at and get comfortable connecting in the space and feeling a sense of ownership and safety within their (indiscernible) >> the first component of a youth stewardship program trip will be a in clasds visit where we go to the school, we give a presentation on the natural history of san francisco, we talk about the concept of a habitat, so what does a habitat contain, understood, water, shelter, space. >> children at this age, they learn best through using their senses, having the real life ence and (indiscernible) students also learn about responsibility and it is a great message for student to learn, if you take care of environment, the environment will take care of you.

>> so, when we finally get the kids outside, we have two main components to the field trips. one is going to be the restoration component where we are working on the habitat and parks by pulling out (indiscernible) or maybe watering, and then the other side of our trip is going to be the educational component, which can ■# range from a nature walk with a sensory theme where we are talking about what we smell and hear, to a focus on plant adaptation and animal adaptations. >> (indiscernible) >> just a great opportunity for students to learn more, connect with nature, and hopefully what they learn from the youth stewardship program they can take with them for the rest of their lives, and they will appreciate their environment more. hopefully, when

they appreciate it, they take care of it more every day. >> (indiscernible) >> so every year we open the application up in the fall. interested teachers can apply for a classroom visit and up to two field trips to the city park of their choice. field trips are 2 and a half hours long and like i said, they can happen in any city park (indiscernible) . >> golden gate parks largest body of water ska great labor for scrolling and picnicking

and both miking which can both be rented at the boat house and the lakewood design for leisure boatings and carriages and a treasure trove passing hunting ton water falls two bridges connect the strawberry island and inclient to the hills the highest upon the in golden gate park and more than free hundred feet and you can catch glimpses will from the city at the top of a romantic lookut and for

commissioner benedicto is in route. commissioner janez, president. commissioner byrne here. commissioner yee here. vice president carter oberstein is in route. president lyons, do you have a quorum? also with us tonight are chief scott from the san francisco police department and executive director paul henderson from the department of police accountability. thank you. welcome, everyone, to our january. seventh meeting. we can't believe we're already halfway through january. um, all right, let's get this party started. so go ahead. linein