>> park commission of february 15 to order. ash li, please call the roll. >> commissioner anderson. >> here. >> commissioner hallsy. >> here. >> jones. >> here. >> dolla. >> hoar. >> commissioner winthrop. >> here. >> commissioner dwawrt. >> here. >> we a acknowledge that we occupy the homeland of the original tab tants offer the san francisco peninsula. we honor them as their

indigenous protectors of the earth. they have never ceded, lost, nor for gotten their responsibility as the caretaker of the police. we honor the ohlone of the ancestral land. we wish to pay our respects to the ancestors and elder the of their community. good morning and welcome to the parks and recreation committee of february 15th, we ask that you please turn off electronic devices and take any secondary conversations outside in order for the heating to proceed. we ask for your patience if we experience if he technical issues. public comment is available for each item on the agenda.

foor each item there will be two minutes and take people from people attend in-person first and remotely second. we for those of you who would like join the meeting remotely, you can view it live on sfgovtv or live. you can call 41565650 # 01 using today's being ses code which is 26616552703 and the webinar pots word 0215. you can call star 23 and lined up in the system in the order you dial *3 and we'll notify you when you're aim. 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 to you, you may speak under general public comment item 4 and will be continued to item 12. alternatively you may submit public comments by e-mailing parks and rec to fs goff. written comments scb consent to 051 stanyan street san francisco. the following are short announcements for you joining us in-person today. if there is a fire t we evacuation please evacuate immediately. if you need ra assistance out of the building please make your way out of the building through

the restroom. let them know your location and they will assist you. please note this commission meeting is recorded and available for later viewing on sfgovtv.org. we will he go to the president's report. >> welcome, everybody. february is a month of great celebration, we have black history mobt and lunar new year. i would like to cede some of my final over to commissioner louie. >> welcome, everybody. this year we are going to say good-bye to the year of the rabbit february 10th, marks that year and we're going to welcome the year of the dragon. and although the year of rabbit was a very challenging one, it is said so will be the year of the dragon. but we are hopeful, february

23rd, they crown a new miss chinatown usa and there was a pageant and on february 24th is the alaska airlines sponsored chinese new years parade with 174 floats. it's the largest parade outside china. best wishes for the new year and best health and happiness to you all. >> thank you. it's also black history month. i wanted to share a little something that came from our health and human resources department in the city. there is a wonderful on line -- there is a wonderful website put on by the association for the study of african-american life and history.

cabinetlinger be steager stayinger established the focus of the attention of the public. we focus on african-americans and the arts. there are wonderful events happening this month and i encourage you to check out the city's website and attend some. there was a joint one with the asian american community i think over at the library. lots of great celebrating there. and i wanted to mention -- and it made the news yesterday that we did a ribbon cutting at the trail on south side on john mere. there is a beautiful ada entry to the trail. and there is a new work out facility. phil will have it in his report. >> is there any public comments

on the president's report? seeing none, is there anyone with their hand raised on our web ex? none. now item three, the general manager's report. >> thank you. i will join the happy new year lunar new year expwh happy black history month greetings. we have a roft staff happening for the lunar new year. as staff noted, we're coming in hot. you can catch the lunar basketball jamboree february 17th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00.

also on february 24th, there is a parade and party at the southeast community centerrer in the bayview. our project partner zip hop for change will be there at the celebration recruiting community members for their 2024 program. last week i think a few of you were able to join us at the rec renter groundbreaking. this is a big deal in the neighborhood. it's the very first major named project of the 2020 health and community health and -- it's what called? community health and safety parks -- the 12020 part it was a parks bond. this is the first major project in the bond. this has been if the planning for well over 10 years. we were joined by the mayor,

supervisor dorsey. former supervisor jane kim. alan lowe and the son of the rec center's name sake don friend. the friend family have been great stewards of the space going back to 2009 and 2010 when they funded the costs for the new design. it's a state-of-the-art 25,000 square foot rec center and it be itwill be a hub for adaptive sports. included in the programming there, it will host our

wheelchair barkt ball program and adaptive power soccer program. and we had some adaptive athletes joining us at the ceremony. the gym will have a modern exercise area and kitchenette and outdoor area. there will be a new playground ask picnic area and landscaping and lighting. we're slated to be done in 2026. we're all very have excited about that. the project is actually designed by mark cavenero and associates. so this is really just a terrific project also supported by the trust for public land and we want to thank them for their help. i want to talk a little bit about u.n. plaza which is quite

abuzz with new events. the transformation in our mid market civic center area outside city hall continues. u.n. plaza is a hub for fitness and skating and a new music series. earlier this week we announced a free six-month concert series which is i believe on tuesday's thursday's and friday's out in between the library from noon to 3:00 p.m. we're also installing with some murals on fulton plaza hardscape. i think it's a massive coy by artist germy novembery. later this injure jeremy novy. there will be a mural hung above

the plaza. this actually adds to artist charles gaddclin's exhibit. entwined as evolved and we have any new exhibit dis some of the trees from the park are now gracing u.n. plaza. this weekend we'll host the bay area skate-fest on sunday, february 18th. it's a free all-ages event featuring skateboard lessons with gear provided by "skate like a girl." lessons will be followed by a trick contest and more from 1:00 to 3:00 and finally we recently installed two new corn hole

boards and three new foosball tables out at u.n. plaza. for those ever you in and around city hall coming to meetings to give public comment. go outside and play some ping-pong and foosball. it's lovely out there. as president anderson noted, we got to reopen lake merced south yesterday and got to be joined by vice president halsey and commissioner wynn trawb long with district 7 supervisor and lots of community members and staff and part of that construction and design teams where we completed the first phase for lake merced trail improvement project under the first phase, lake merced south received a fitness court. you can find one at u.n. plaza and also at the marina green.

new picnic tables and benches. new ada parking at john river drive lot. new signage and landscaping upgrades and all kinds of good stuff. second phase will get on this spring and focus on the lakes and northwest corner as we do ada accessibility improvements to the pathways and we will a be also adding some accessible parking spots in sunset circle off of lake merced boulevard. some additional fitness stations on the north side for adult exercise and we're quite excited. this is a 614-acre park is regarded adds a premier destination for a lot of different forms of recreation. boaters, golferses hikers and birth watchers. we're quite thrid as we thanked him profusely yesterday. a shout tout toe phil tring

wrapping up his 12 years at the state assembly where for the last several years he helped secure a million dollars for the project through state funding from the california natural resources agency and i think over his 12 years somewhere between 23 and $27 million assembly member grant has -- i mean is eam bli member ting has dwawt $27 million in grants but he's helped deliver a lot of investments in our parks and we thank melgar for being in charge and around the city many. tomorrow we have another reopening, the park dog course with a brand new clubhouse being

built and necessitated by vandalism but we're may going the most of a sad event and we've redesigned and figured out how to build the clubhouse. the new clubhouse featured a multi-functional land to serve as an important hub for golfers and people who actually join that space and would like to grab a bite to eat. it will have food and bench and restrooms and other improvements include accessible parking spaces and ada pathway. the clubhouse was constructed on the same footprint as the previous structure, but is a lot better designed. and as part of a separate project which was mostly driven by philanthropy, the first p completed a renovation of the

nine-hole golf course for anyone who wants to enjoy the sport in san francisco. many people first played golf at that site. it underwent a lot of landscaping upgrades for natural turf and drainage improvements so a shout out for the first tee for that. last week we held our 40th mlk 409. this is one of our proudest traditions at the mini levy ward rec center. the annual event celebrates community members who possess the values that dr. king embodied. speakers included the director of the dream keeper initiative. mayor breed, supervisor walton and ahsha and dr. veronica honey cut.

as part of the luncheon, staff who will did such amazing job gave out three keeping the team alive awards. the first was the african reparations advisory committee. former commissioner eric mcdonald accepted the award. eric is also the co-chair for the indian basin campaign committee. and [indiscernible] received an award for her work and the rec and park bayview wide and indian basin program received an award. this program is based out of mlk pool and is a part of our equitable development plan designed to reduce gaps in

ability to swim in historic black communities where for generations we had segregation and discrimination in our pools. weave been able to -- we have been able to put 400 kids throw this program since 2022. a shout out to the stoof at the ymca for their support of this initiative. members of the y and rec and parks teams accepted the award. just a couple more both weather and seasonal rn related. i do want to comment on the wet and windy weather over the last month. climate change is a real thing and you'll hear it later in our budget presentation, it has real impacts not just on our operations, but on public safety.

as the wet and windy weather continues, we're conservatively closing a number of locations to ensure park-goers safety. we have a canopy of over 70,000 trees in our park system and mother nature has her own plan and it's not necessarily predictable. frankly, we manage over 130,000 trees when you slu sharp and mather. a shout out toe staff and our forestry crews that braved terrible weather and windy conditions. they're on 24 hour call throughout the storms. there are lots of other members of the structural maintenance yard that are contributing and guarding staff. a shiny moment for their represented men and women of our

organization. commissioner mazzola, i want to thank our park rangers and crews for doing everything they can to keep or park safe. be on the lookout, we are -- when you're in parks even if the weather has cleared after a storm event, it is important not to be looking down at our phones but to be keeping our heads up and be aware of our surroundings. we do experience tree failures and limb failures. it's an uncomfortable part. more beautifully and opt optimistically, it's pique bloom for the botanical gardens. this should be on every san franciscans bucket list every year between february and march.

wefl -- we enjoy at the botanical garden the most significant selection in the united states. they'll be in pique em all in bloom and they bloom at slightly different times during the window of peak bloom filled with bright spring colors filled with pink and white and magentaa. for more information, check out the gardens of golden gate park.org. i never miss a visit to the garden at peak bloom. that concludes the general manager's report. >> thank you so much, phil. we'll now go to public comment on item three, general managers report. is there anyone in room 16 wanting to comment?

seeing none i will close public comment on item 3. we're now on item four, general public comment up to 15 minutes or the chair's discretion. we'll continue this to item 12. at this time members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and to not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items you'll he haven opportunity to comment. i will several blue cards. i'll read you have three at a time and be prepared to stand up when the person before you is done. i have dan and peter and mary. >> general manager ginsberg, members of the commission, my name is dan landy and i'm a member of the pickle ball working group. i'm here to correct a erroneous statement made by mr. ginsberg lant mos.

you said there was an agreement with the working group to temporarily expand pickle ball access on presidio ball three and four until larsen became available. that much was true. the expansion was for open play on weekend. you said there was an agreement to remove the pickle ball rinds entirely at that time. as a member of the working group, i can tell you that is absolutely not true. the pickle ball lines were put down on those courts in march ever 2022 before anyone knew that larsen was happening. when the lines were put down, there was no scuftion them being temporary. we would not have agreed to having the lanes removed completely especially given how many people had come to rely on the courts at presidio hall. this kind of misinformation creates a lack of trust and

makes people angry. i would like to give you another example. on web pages and public statements you claimed there are 87 places to play pickle ball in san francisco. yes, that's the number of dual-lined courts. however, pickle ball requires not only line bus net. only a tiny minority of pickle ball players have their own. there are only 23 courts where there is net provided. every player knows there are not 87 courts straibl. if you would like to earn the trust of the pickle ball community so we can work together on solutions, i would like to suggest you stop making these claims. thank you. >> thank you, dan. peter, mary -- peter muler, mary and peter blackman. >> i'm peter meuler and i live

across from grace cathedral. i love mikal ball for the fitness ask social benefits. i want to talk to you about the importance of collaborative engagement. last month i wroapt you a letter on why pickle ball lines should not be removed from the courts ever presidio wall. pickle ball needs long term planning because of the growth. i received a canned letter and i was disappointed. here is why. it contained no person to respond to, i was disappointed that no one wanted to engage. i experienced this before with e-mails that are rpd has ignored. it's unfortunate because i believe that good solutions can come to collaborative engagement and positive chats.

the letter dwected me to a positive website. there was nothing strategic or visionary, it was all tactical. if i had a part of my business that was exponentially growing, i would want to understand the potential, cost, options to grow and how we get there. do we have the right people on staff to make an assessment? it's an out of the ordinary situation. the planning is viet explg a better understanding of issues and opportunities can come through engagement with constituents. announcements remove the lines a shrewded it was related to arson but it wasn't. now pickle ball is unfairly reduced and communicated with language that appears like a parental punishment when we were never informed of the rules.

>> your time is up. >> i want to conclude my asking you what are your thoughts to have rpd leave more heightenedden gaugement -- >> i'm sorry. mary and peter blackman and sues be. >> i'm mary hickey. parks evolve on public neat. there have a need and demand for pickle ball courts in san francisco. why we are so passionate about presidio wall is thefl 12 courts. while it's needed, 12 courts is a hub and hubs create activity for round-robin and tournaments. next i would like to address the noise concern. a lot of taxpayer money is going

to difficult readers reading pickle ball noise and they read the noise of the children playing. every time i look at the report, the children's noise is louder than pickle ball. i know pickle ball noise is distracting. there is a solution and i've writ been this and sent e-mails. you've oo seen john mcenroe playing with these. lisa and i will demonstrate this. these are the quiet paddles. pretty quiet, right? certainly the children are louder than this. okay. now we're going to listen to regular paddles. a little annoying, i agree. do you hear the difference? one more time.

these were devolved by usc pickle ball. thank you for listening. >> thank you. peter blackman, suzy and lisa. >> i'm peter blackman and a resident and pickle ball player at presidio wall. we've addressed the issue of noise disturbance from local residents. here sound intlok i highly effective solution for pickle ball courts. simple to install with a life of 8 to 10 years. it provides 32 dba sound reduction recusing the noise from any pickle ball match. for this win win solution for the residents and the community, park and rec has simply refused

to respond. i now crede my time for response. >> we have soucy&naphtali -- suzy and naf stally. >> to date i have only received eight letters from five people which represent only four households. some of the comments in these complaints do not make sense because if you cannot -- you cannot play pickle ball at 6:00 a.m. because it's dark. pickle ball as other homes sold. i also requested the noise impact report. the report review had so many inaccuracieses, the expansion of using courts 3 and 4 were not temporary. only hours of play were

extended. i would like to write the inaccuracies in an e-mail if you want. the pickle ball community is insulted by the interview on television saying that players were urinate in driveways and leaving garbage onts courts and more. these are mean and uncalled for fabrications. you e-mailed rpd questions but they refused to answer. mr. ginsberg, but get an impact report before you made your decision? did you have a meeting with all neighbors? are there more than four house olds complaining? did you can for camera footage? what about the 30 kids yelling

on the basketball court other than playing basketball? this is a high decibel level. so i think it is fair to say these questions and other questions that come up need to be answered. they are city employs and do not have the luxury of ignoring questions they don't like. >> lisa, naphtali and chin. >> i'm reading on bow half of joe and dave bushman. i live a block from the presidio ball court. my son and i are players here. i am unable to attend this meeting but asked ashley to read this statement. i've been a resident here 25 years and visited the park multiple times during that time period. over the course of these 25 years, i can remember three transformational events within the space. the renovation of the playground, the renovation of

paul good field and the inproduction of pickle ball. this has been a place for a wide range of res drchts. the game is social and allows the courts we are simp thetic to our neighborhoods and concerns. the concern understood within the pickle ball community. i am aware of a good faith and expawsive effort to satisfy the concerns while preserving play for the pickle ball community on the north side of town. if that is correct, it's an obstacle to a thoughtful solution.

the sound issue is not eu he can nikkei for this neighborhood and i urge parks and rec to research potential solutions and achieve a mutually a agreeable outcome for both groups. >> i'm naphtali and i've been playing pickle ball for three years. don't paint over the pickle ball lines. don't mess with a driving community of friends and neighbor whose love the sport. presidio hall is one of the most cohesive and welcoming pickle ball communities in town. by cutting the number of courts in half, you especially harm younger player whose can only come on the weekends with long wait times to play resulting in far fewer games. the process of removing the nets was disrespectful.

there was almost no notice, no attempt to bring stakeholders together to seek a good solution for all. phil ginsberg started the last meeting saying it was a done deal effectively selling us before we spoke that we would have no impact. that's bad public policy. when the six courts were added in twa there were not con fingt opening on larsen. that's a false narrative added to the fact to justify this deed. larsen is is a hassle to get to for most of us who live mere presidio. you want more traffic in town sending us over there. the impression many of us have is that park and rec is fan dering to the rich and behaving like an autocratic bully. don't paint over the pickle ball courts. don't destroy something that rec

and park should be proud of. thank you. >> thank you, chin, bill and veronica. we have two minutes left in our 15 minutes. >> i'm tan beuy and i've been a resident of enrichment district for 34 years. my family loves exprek park facilities. my first packs was tennis where i was a sterling athlete at city college and volunteered for the golden gate park tennis club. a life threatens interest of cardiac arrest leaves me lucky to be alive and well and i enscwie pickle ball. it's at presidio hall where i

play with a diverse group of pickle ballers with he can nick backgrounds and economic levels and ages. the thing that separates us in san francisco is it doesn't matter which neighborhood you're from. you have access to all of the wonderful facilities and our children are better. the wall is let's find solutions that don't eliminate pickle ball playing at presidio hall but rather enhitch the healthy endeavors. thank you. >> commissioner louie is part of our pickle ball working group. we want you to know this conversation is on going with

staff. okay? >> we're out of time. would you like to defer? >> pickle ball? >> i believe so, yes. >> those two and then we'll move on to the next item. approximately bill and veronica. >> i'm bill lafferty. i'm part of the pickle ball group. a month ago we noticed from park and rec they told us we had five days to remove our net, our rolling net. that was the reason. we did what was asked of us. we have a problem. those rolling nets didn't have a permit. the problem is those nets were on the court for almost two

years. park and rec never approached us in any shape, form to say that we were delinquent in having those nets there. so for two years while those nets were there, we had to remove them in five days. that is incorrect. you cannot do that to a community. the other issue is i sent letters to park and rec, no response. looked on the internet, no response. called the permit people, they don't have a clue what i'm talking about. i'm asking to you step up to the plate for the pickle ball community and find out what the hell the rolling net is to we can complete the form. we have 63 net courts that don't have nets. every court, i would like to have your support in making every court that has double lines on it have rolling nets to make it accessible to the community so people can play.

i'll see you next month. >> veronica. my name is veronica paige. i've been a homeowner for over 20 years. we're here because of what park and rec built was more than pickle ball courts. everyone that reached out who signed the petition, writing e-mails and leaving voice mail or showing up at city hall are saying that these courts made our lives better. sure, to the blind eye these courts gave us all especially on the north side, a chance to learn, play, or perfect their pickle ballgame. because of the concentration of courts, it allowed us to play with stranger who turned into good friends. this sense of community through pickle ball is why we are so passionate. this sense of community doesn't

happen when single courts are disbursed throughout the city. currently we have these communities at lewis fetter on the south, larsen on the west and we hope you'll continue to let us build the presidio on the north. they mention homelessness crime and drugged and someone should bring a camera and see how it was able to help build community by offering free outdoor open play activity in a city as dense as san francisco. at presidio, residents volunteer to teach free lessons. these courts are a play where individuals of all ages can show up and play. presidio hall has a sense ever belonging. we are a group much passionate

and reasonable constituents. please work with us. >> thank you, veronica. okay, so see nothing further comments, i'm going to close public comment. if anybody didn't get a chance, we'll go back to general public comment during item 12. we're now on item 5. the consent calendar. commissioners -- first i'll go to public comment. i have stephan frans. >> there is no vote on it. >> commissioners, madam president, general manger ginsberg, it's a pleasure to see you today can i'm here to testify on item 5. i know there is no item to be call, but our group felt that we needed to do something to up lift our park after losing 14

trees over the past two winters. at a random friends of lafayette board meeting, we took on a mighty fund raising campaign. we raise $35,000 for the lost trees. we raised that and 20 odd thousand dollars for this purpose. i testify today to show that i can get on record as saying that public and private partnerships are the future both in our city and in our world. the idea that we can work together and identify problems and concerns, and then as a group -- again, this wasn't a heavy lift and our neighborhood d-23, we understand where we live. but most 6 these donations were $50, a hundred dollars. these were people that saw these

trees fall and saw a path to fixing the problem. not for us, not for now, not for a 48-inch box tree, but for 70 years if now when people say wow, sheetion people cared about their park! they spent money out of their on pact to plant trees. i heard the general manager announce a new concert series. i've appeared in front of you, i book and program the golden gate park band shell. we have a new community-based concert series starting tuesday. we invite you all. it's across in fulton plaza. so i hope to see you all out there. thank you for your time. >> thank you is there anyone else here to comment on item 5? stephan. >> i was going to -- >> come on up, ma'am.

>> he's going that way. >> i'm gina, i'm representing the san francisco park as lines as well as friends of la fay yote park. lafayette park. we're excited to support them and receiving and providing this donation of up to $63,000 for funding for new trees for lafayette park. this might include the installation of new trees as well as an arborists report that details the status much all trees in lafayette park. can san francisco has lost hundreds of trees across the city in the past winter storms and we see them continuing in these current winter storms. we see that this can be an expensive and time consuming burden on recs and parks to

replace them across the city. after seeing this loss in their own park, friends of lafayette sought their own funding for this. i spoke with stephan about that sense offer creating the lasting legacy. look back on the stewards in early 1900s who had planted the original trees. looking at a legacy that you can build for generations to come in the same neighborhood. friends of lafayette park has been a great partner with us since 2009 and joining advocacy for better financial resources to support the park including an extensive $10 million renovation project in 2013. we're pleased to support this group. they are highly involved in the

community and knowledgeable about the park system and increasing community engagement. >> thank you. is there anyone else to comments on item 5? seeing none, any hands raised on webex? see nothing further comment, public comment is closed. commissioners. >> i would like to hear a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar. >> so moved. >> second. >> all those in favor state ai. >> aye. >> aye. >> any opposition? the consent calendar is approved. >> we are now item 6, the san francisco zoo. do you have a presentation? great. >> good morning. my name is chris connors, i'm the vice president of strategic planning for the san francisco zoo.

my report will highlight this past year's accomplishments as well as up coming events. as was mentioned, this year is the year of the dragon. at the san francisco zoo, we'll seven brait the year of the dragon on february 17th through the 19th. with a number of outdoor activities including dragon dancers. if you didn't know this, we have two beerlded dragons that are rescued pets as well as one komodo dragon. so we're all about dragons at the zoo. please come out weather permitting. with covid, everyone was impacted by covid, 2023 was our bounce-back year so we're happy to be back and it was a busy year at the zoo. some of the highlights include a new fag line, an maz amaze,

conservation saves. it will be soon on signs, banners and more. this is how animals touch our health and there will be vital roles in the wild and why we need to protect and avenue them. we have a number of critically endangered species at the zoo and we continue to care from those in 2023 including perw iso asski's horgses. they were once extinct in mongolia but it's now in recovery thanks to the help of zoos and global conservation specialists. we're excited to open the first faises of the littman's family madagascar center. we open the first phase of this dedicated center with the hab hat for endangered foosa, the

primary predatory species. guests can come to a giant tree to say rare invertebrate species. moving forward to 2024 conservation campaign, we have 14 critically endanger species at the zoo. this year, we'll be highlighting one species each month. january, we highlighted trang tangs and this month we'll highlight black rhinos. we have two new zoo tours. here from the san francisco zoo's team of experts about seven different species of

leerms and spiders account beetles, cockroaches and more. you'll hear about diet plans, physical characteristics and the status in the wild. join us at the insengt zoo on saturday at 2:30 and lemur forest on sundays at 11:00 a.m. that's right. come to the zoo. zen at the zoo returns for visitors and staff. tickets are on sale on sfzoo.org. don't miss 24 chance to master yoga poses on the savanna. vinationa flow offers a variety of poses with breath to

movement. expect sun,al is taitions, standing and seated positions and strong focus on the power of breath. lastly, larry's new digs. larry is our gray fox. he was named in honor of the late sf recreation and parks commissioner larry griffin who was an enthusiastic member of our committee. we think they would approve of his new habitat in the exhibit. he's been exploring the new area and he's described as a gentle being like his name sake. thank you very much. >> hold that screen. i want to see a picture of larry's new edition. digs. 378 all right. >> all right. any new commence on item 6?

seeing none and no hands raised on the webex, we'll close public comment. item 7, playground renovation. >> good morning, commissioners. i'm stacy bradley in the capital planning division. i'm here before you while on the allocations and contingency. first want to thank commissioner jupiter jones and moozla for sponsoring these two efforts. we work hard to buffer against financial challenges. and create reserves. this allocation here is to go towards three efforts, two in the mission which is what commissioner jupiter-jones is sponsoring. it's first at kid-power park

where we had some arson destroy the playground there. so these funds will replace the pray ground and we'll be doing painting at mission rec center to help refresh the interior of the building. eric anderson is here if you have any questions. the other project that commissioner moozla project is sponsors is to award the construction contract. these additional funds will help us deliver some of the items with nature and storage in the area to connect the playground with the neighborhood. and we'll deliver boarlsd that border that same area between the playground and the lawn space adding more play value to the space. exciting to me and i'm glad that we're able to use these funds to

support both of these efforts in the mission growth. eric and i are here for any questions. >> thank you stacy. do we have any public comment on item 7 in room 14? do we have any on our webex? public commence is closed. commissioner. >> we have an action item here. do we have a motion and a second? >> i want to make a moment provment to approve. >> second. >> all those in favor aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> approved unanimously. numb item 8. >> good afternoon commissioners. i'm abigail mayor with the recreations and parks department commission. i'm here to present item 8 action to recommend that the

board of supervisors approve an increase to the original grant from the bay area young survivors by approximately $300,000 so they can deliver the grant of a ren vaimented seating area on conserve at this drive east on the boulevard. the survivors is a support and action group for young people in the bay area diagnosed with breast cancer at the age ever 45er younger. bays and rec park have been working together to deliver the bays memorial garden and golden gate park. bays is offering to fund the design and construction of the project. on december 15th, 2022 this commission recommended that the board authorize the department to accept the cash and in-kind grants for bays for the project. on in a third. twrea the board approved that resolution.

in april 2023 they approved the site plan and donor recognition plan. since then, bays has been working to reviewing bids from contracte bids are higher than anticipated so bays has a fund raising goal of $300,000 to bring their total funding up to approximately $800,000. the board resolution authorizes a donation up to $500,000. therefore, rec park needs authorization to accept more additional in-kind funding for this project. that concludes my presentation. i'm happy to answer questions or show any visuals if you would like. >> do you have a visual? >> sure. >> i would love to see that, please. in the meantime, does anyone have any public comment on this item? okay. seeing none, i don't think we have any hands raised.

i will close public comment on item 8. >> thank you. >> so slide before you shows the location of the proposed project. look i mentioned, it's in golden gate park right where conservatory drive east and west converge. the photo below shows the existing seating area at that site. this seat area will be renovatea will be renovated. when i was before the commission with the concept plan approval, this was the concept plan we showed. this shows the different features of the memorial garden. an actual memorial feesm

seating, a new plaza, ada accessible entrance, and beautiful new native plantings. this is the rendering of an area perspective. we had some great community outreach. we have a lot of different individuals and organizations who support this project. and bays has been volunteering with the department since 2015 and they plan to continue volunteering since the memorial and garden is built. >> this is beautiful and i want to emphasize this is the breast cancer memorial garden. therefore, i'm going to call on all commissioners first and let commissioner louie speak last. commissioner hallsy. >> thank you, abigail for your report. just one question, this

additional $300,000 -- yes. >> the fund raising will be the bay area young survivors group. they're spearheading the fund raising? >> correct, they have committed to funding the entire project. it's mostly in-kind. there was $35,000 in cash to support our capital project management of this project, but the rest of it is an in-kind donation of improvements to our space. >> very good, thank you. >> if there are no other speakers, commissioner louie. >> abigail, thanks for presenting. i had the pleasure going out to this space when general manager ginsberg brought commissioner griffin and i out to the promenade. he stopped the golf cart and showed us the future breast

cancer space and it's a special spot. he liked it and said i'll sit there too. as a breast cancer survivor, it's nice that the rec and parks department is offering somewhere a solace space for anybody that is suffering from best cancer. one in seven women -- from breast cancer. one in seven women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and one in 50 men will be diagnosed. it's nice to know the spot out there. it's accessible and beautiful and we want to thank you very much. i can't contemplate a single person that hasn't been touched by breast cancer. my friend dona was taken by breast cancer is in six months. i can't wait to be in this space

and think about our sisser toes and brother whose fight the good fight. please extend our deep gratitude to all people and en'tis involved in this project. >> i will, thank you. >> did you make i motion yet? mac a motion yet? >> i make a motion for approval. >> bonita. >> i motion to accept the item as presented. and i'm looking for a second. >> second. >> all those in favor state aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> any opposition? motion is approved. >> thank you commissioners. we're now on item 9. civic center drive [indiscernible] easement.

>> the overhead please. thank you and good morning. i'm a plan where the recreation and park department. i'm joined by the of real estate. this item is pertaining to a property under the jurisdiction of rec and park but pertaining ton an infrastructure element specifically a subterranean garage owned by real estate. the item is for your consideration is whether to grant an access and utility easement can. to the energy center of san francisco ll krrgs who would assume ownership and operational responsibility for the steam loop and i'll pass it to the

director of real estate. mr. pennic. >> thank you commissioner rnd sonl, commissioner general manager ginsberg, i'm an dreekoo pinnick. i have no position on pickle ball. i'm before you this morning seeking your approval of an easement for an existing segment of the civic center steam loop. the steam loop runs along the right-of-way under poke street, grove and larkin. however, the mcallister street segment runs through the civic center garage. you can see the outline in red there. it basically circles civic

center plaza. the seem loop was built a hundred years ago and ask now under the jurisdiction of red. steam loop is in essence, a pipe that transports steam for heat and hot water to surrounding city buildings including the bill graham civic auditorium, 101 grove street, city hall and the superior court on mcallister. as you can see, this infrastructure serves some very important buildings in the civic center area. ucsf stands for -- ecsf is energy center san francisco. ecsf is the sustained utility provider. they're familiar with the steam loop and have repaired it over the years.

the overall objective of this transaction is twofold, the part that is before you today is to talk about the easement. that easement facilitates a secondary goal offer an overall transfer of ownership of the steam loop from the city to the steam loop provider ecsf. the overall objective is to transfer the ownership to ecsf to maintain the status quo for operations. no relocation will be involved as part of this transaction. the easement and the transfer will provide a continued service and maintenance. and the city will continue to purchase from ecsf for a minimum of five years. next slide, please. basically what i'm trying to say is that with this transfer, the

city will become a steam loop customer just like all the other steam loop customers within the city. the city is the only steam loop customer that provides its own pipe. ecsf steam comes to city hall and the other buildings i mention to a pipe owned by the city which imposes upon the city costs for maintenance and repair. by this transfer, those responsibilities will be transferred to ecsf and we'll get the steam without getting due responsibility or liability of the pipe that transports it. why are we doing this? if you've been on the [indiscernible] side of city hall latey, you've no doubt seen

steam coming up along goodlett. it's because it's in need of emergency repair. fortunately the segment that runs through the garage is actually in good shape. upon transfer, ecsf will perform the emergency repairs pipeline and bring the steam loop back to reliable operation. why do we need an easement. ecsf as a steam s steam provider has a franchise agreement. it gives them access and controls their use of the right-of-way to provide steam. however, since the mcallister segment runs through the garage, which is city-owned property, we need an easement to provide them access. the easement will allow them to operate, maintain and access the steep loop.

it provides a contractual mechanism to protect the city, rec and parks and barrage parkse operator and make sure that revenues are not disrupted. the essential terms of the easement are fairly straightforward. this is an existing facility and no expansion of facility can be done without rec and parks approval. it provides ecsf with reasonable access. it allows for compensation for negative impacts to garage revenue and requires notification of sfmta and rec park for any drr prior to any required work happening within the garage. it allows ecsf to repair and replace any damage to the pipeline as well as requires ecsf to repair and replace any

damage to rec and park property. it also provides a right for the city to suspend ecsf's access and use of the barrage if necessary to accommodate any rec park repair maintenance and modernization and reconstruction or rebuilding of the garage. next slide, please. i want to thank general manager ginsberg, chris towns from rec and park, nancy from the city office and [indiscernible] from real estate for their hard work on the ceasement. this concludes my presentation. i'm available to answer your questions. >> any questions here? missioner missoula. >> thank you, thank you for your report. who currently maintains the steam loop? >> it's under the jurisdiction of the real estate division, so i do it.

from my physical who turns the wrench, the steam stop from dpw has rye mayor responsibility for maintenance. because of their expertise, we oftentimes contract out to escf to do that work. so they've been repairing the work as a city vendor. >> okay. so, is this going to be -- let me see if i can phrase this right, is this going to be a temporary bypass until you fix the lines that are broken? or is this going to be the new steam loop and then you're going to discontinue the old line? >> no. this is a transfer of ownership and maintenance responsibility. so the footprint of the steam loop will remain as-is but a couple of things will change.

ecsf will do the emergency repairs so you'll no longer see steam coming up out of the ground as you see on good llt. any future radio pairs will be the responsibility of ecsf and not the real estate division. >> that means that members of dpw that have been working on this for many years, their work flow will be cut back extra after this happens, if this happens. >> that's correct. in the large part, the steam loop shop is relatively small. they contract with ecsf to do the work that needs to happen. >> i'm not sure if that is all together true. so -- and you said, if this passes, you would transfer the

ownership for a five year period? is that what you said? >> no, the transfer would be permanent, but as part of the transfer agreement which is subject to to the board of supervisors approval, the city has promised to maintain it's relationship with ecsf, we'll buy steam for them for at least five years. it will probably be longer than five years, but they get a five-year guarantee that we'll remain their customer. >> so this is basically a permanent contracting out. >> you could look at it that way, yes. but i have to say that the reason for the transfer is in large part fiscal. the ecsf can do the immediate repair work for $3 million. it would cost the city $8 million approximately. after that emergency repair

work, it's just -- goes with the cost that it takes dpw to do this work. >> i've been around a while. every time you contract oit, it costs more. i've never seen it cost less. i have a major problem with this. members working at the steam shop out there that now may be laid off because of this move. contracting out has become a major problem with the city. we're going through bargaining with the city. the city contracted out $5 billion in work last year. i'm not sure this is the best route to take. >> commissioner miz la,? , if imay.

i see and hear how this would impact city works. that's not one of the goals of this transaction. but because of the fiscal difficulty the city is in, every year i ask for money to fix the steam loop. every year i get denied. this loop sheuive replaced -- it's a hundred years old and getting older every day. it should have been replaced in its entirety 10 plus years ago and it hasn't because every time you go to put in a capital plan request, that request gets denied. >> by whom? >> the mayor's budget office and the board of supervisors. so the reason that we have steam coming out of goodlett. the reason we have steam coming out of grove is not because the people over at dpw don't know their job, it's because i don't

have the money to pay them. >> that's not the workers' fault. >> it is not. but this transaction is not meant to lay off workers, it's meant to provide reliable steam to very important buildings. >> well, and again, i think that our members can do that. they've been doing it for a hundred years. >> we have no disagreement with that. >> you're going to basically give this company, i don't know if they're workers or if they're nonunion, you're going to give them a monopoly forever on this work. this doesn't add up to me. i'm against this item. >> chair, did you want to move to public comment before you have further discussion in or do you want to continue? >> i would like to ask if you could comment further on -- if i'm understanding what you said,

the dpw steam workers have never worked on this project because it's infer been approved. >> no. we have done repair work in the past. and the dpw steam shop has worked on some of the more minor repairs. i would like to ask vasud from the real estate division and he can speak more directly as to d p, w's involvement. >> i would like that. please approach. >> thank you. so to get into that, pbr whoks is the wing of pdw who does the repairs. >> if you could explain what the letters stand for. >> bureau of building repairs is a part of bpw that does actually

the repair and maintenance. they are the ones who have the shop who works on steam lines. it's a small shop. it's i think there is like three people in there. and the capabilities that they have is only to do a small amount of the maintenance. any time we have had likes on ln the line, that work goes out through a dpw contract. the reason that the costs are significantly different if we do it in-house, because the design, the management of the project and all of that work would be done in-house. when it's done imi this entity which is ecsf who is the provider of steam and it's the only entity in san francisco who

provides steam and who works on steam lines, because that's what they do every day, they can do it much quicker and with a lot less cost. >> flew the chair. >> yes. >> until the private company hands you a change order. >> that's why this is actually a transfer. so that they have the responsibility to fix the line and maintain it and continue to operate it. san francisco, the city is the only entity in san francisco who provides the pipe and buys the steam. everybody else through ecsf who

are a lot of the key building down, they purchase steam at the border of their property. so they pay for the steam, and they get that steam -- they don't have to deal with the maintenance of the pipes. we're the only entity who choose. and when the pipe is transferred to ecsf, we continue to purchase steam at the same rate we do now, but we'll not have to pay for the cost to minute tain and upgrade it. so that cos upgraded is the savings that this city of sphrks would see and the taxpayers. and i want to stress the point that -- director pinnick made

that i've been involved with this, the maintenance of this line for about 20 years. and funding to do the maintenance it's not been available. the funding to replace the signals that are leaking that needs excavation and a change of the pipe, it's a major cost that hasn't been available up to this time. >> thank you. i appreciate your further explanation. let's move to public comment if there is any. come right up and get ready, anybody who wants to speak. thank you.

>> good morning commissioner anderson. commissioners. i'm john kranston a member of local 38 and a business agent for the public sector. i remember a lot of you from the william c. hammond awards where you acknowledge the work at that city workers do for the city every day. and to hear them they they didn't have enough money for 10 years and now they want to contract our jobs out is ridiculous. we can makes it line. dig it up today. our members will makes it. another thing is real estate is shifting all liability of oir steam that they haven't maintained on to rec and park. into your garage, into your property where you guys will be responsible. if there is a steam leak or someone hits whatever, they transfer their liability on to

you. this makes no sense. fix the infrastructure you have with our people and move forward. there is no need for an'sment and all this other contracting out of our work to a company from phoenix arizona. they might be here but they're faced out of phoenix airs ars. arizona. because they didn't put the budget -- the resources of the budget into fixing this line when they should have 10 or 15 years ago, now you want to contract out our 7348 steam filter work and i don't a approve this easement. thank you. >> thank you. is there anyone else from the room that would like to comment? come on up. >> hi, commissioner. i'm chris and working with the steam fitter shop and i'm a

member of local 338. i've been working with public works since 2012 and been working with masude on small repairs of maintenance. we've been able to work, you know, upwards of a thousand hours a year divide over -- we have six guys in the shop. so it's been something that we've been working on for the last 10 years that i know. i know my predecessors will always work on the steam loop. it's good for the work and good for the workers. you know, i know that we've been hitting budget short falls with the repairs and i know that real estate has been trying to get the repairs done. and we haven't had enough money to continue with the repairs. that's why we've seen some of the conditions we do today. but i do have guys that are willing to repair it.

and we don't have a backhoe in the shop. so when we've had steam likes in the street, we've had to contract out because we're not able to dig it. it's usually ri sold as a package deal. so ecsf has been involved with some of those repairs. those bigger type jobs we had to give up. we can do any of the smaller repairs and it keeps our guys busy. >> thank you. anyone else commenting on this item today? >> commissioner winthrop. >> public comment is closed. >> i had a few clarifying questions. if we were to approve the transfer, has the city approved budget dollars to pay for the emergency repairs? that's my first question. my second question is on-going

maintenance, is there a longer term contract ?r what would be the fiscal impact on the city to outsource this work rar than having the city perform the work internally? it may be a savings now, but is it going to cost us more down the road? >> those are two good questions through the chair. the first question, is there money set aside for emergency repair? the answer to the question is yes in that as parts of the transfer for the board's consideration, we have set aside $3.1 million to do those repairs. that is a set sum. so to commissioner missoula's

comment, the risk belongs to ecsf. they've agreed to dot emergency repair at $3.01 regardless of the tall cost. secondly to your question about future costs, and future liability, the answer to that question is no. we are transferring ownership and with ownership comes responsibility and liability. that transfer is going from the city to ecsf. if after the emergency repair is done there is another leak, they have to repair it at their cost and the leak after that and the leak after that. the city will no longer be responsible for paying for the repair or maintenance or replacement of the steam loop,

period. there is one other thing i would like to say. one of the gentlemen who spoke during public comment made a comment this would transfer liability from real estate to rec and park. that is not true. liability is to the city and county of san francisco, we're one family. and in this case, the liability transfers from the city to ecsf. not real estate, not rec and park, not mta, no city department would be exposed to liability once the transfer takes place. i do want to say one other thing for the sake of full disclosure. as part of the transfer agreement, the city retains liability for any damage that occurred prior to the transfer. so if something happened last quek www.last month, last year

dr -- last week, last month, last year and we find out it tomorrow, the city retains that liability. it doesn't transfer. anything that happens after transfer, belongs to ecsf. >> thank you andrico. i have questions from halifee. >> thanks for your presentation today. the ownership and the operational responsibility for the steam loop is going to be transferred from the city to ecsf. now does that mean that your division, the real estate division and sf public works are now out of this coordination loop and it's going to be rpd and ecsf as partners going forward? >> as it relates to the maintenance of the steam loop,

it's all going to be on ecsf. if in maintaining that loop they need access to the garage, the easement provides for a mechanism for doing that. they have to give you notice in advance. >> point of information, this is not our [indiscernible] -- the steam loop does not belong to the recreation and park department. i asked if r and d were a partner to this. >> no. >> other than getting access to the garage, park and rec would have no involvement. >> one of the olympic commenters also talked about that partnership so thanks for clarifying that. last question, do you personally anticipate any loss of union work for our city workers should

we prove it today? approve this today? >> i do not. as one of the gentlemen stated during public comment, the steam shop at dpw is relatively small outfit. they have been doing small repairs but any major repair are done by ecsf. i don't know what the steam shop does in addition to minor repairs to the steam loop, bure whatever that other work is would not be effected of -- affected by this decision. >> so ecsf has not been involved? >> anyone know how long? >> they have -- this was owned by pg&e.

this has been over i would say 80 years or so. >> so ecsf has been involved in this type of work in san francisco for a long period of time. >> yes. >> okay. >> thank you commissioner halsey. >> jupiter-jones. >> forgive my ignorance in this question, but this is very much outside of my expertise, why is this coming to us? >> we own the -- >> the item before you is really only for approval of an easement into the civic center garage. that allows some of this maintenance work to happen. that's it. the other issues that commissioner missoula is concerned about or exploring is separate policy issues but not within direct jurisdiction of the park department.

>> thank you. commissioner mazzola, do you want to go last? >> no, i'll go right now. so, even though it's just about an easement, it has a residual effect. and the bottom line is local 38 members will lose their jobs, somebody will whether it's one person or 60 or 5 or 2, it doesn't matter. the more the city contracts out, the more relose jobs. there are jobs that have not been back filled for years here in every department, not just rec and park. the workforce has been shrunk and it's a big, big issue. and our next item number is about the budget and i get it. i get it when times are tough, you have to cut and find out where you save money but not at the expense of workers. this is not minor because

something else might be miner and pretty soon you're contracting everything out and you have no sphi workers. this is where i dwraw the line and i don't think we should give them this easement because it has residual effects on workers and that is something i care deeply about. i'm going it vote no and i ask my commissioners to vote no. >> commissioner louie. >> i want to thank commissioner jupiter-jones for bringing up the same question. why is this item put before you? if we, thank you general manager, for explaining that we're voting on the implementation of an easement. but by us voting, i also think it's going to trigger all the other things that we're concerned about regardless if we have knowledge about it or not. it sounds like it's more complicated -- it's a more complicated issue.

>> commissioner halsey. >> general manager ginsberg, just a quick question. obviously rpd owns civic center plaza. correct? >> correct. >> as a result, even though we don't operate it, we control the civic center garage. >> that's a good question. >> we control the civic center garage. >> correct. we control it. >> and we help mta to manage it. >> that's why this has come before us today because this is happening on our turf so to speak. the easement that is requested would be for garage access. >> that's correct. >> the steam loop as an asset of the city is not ours and never

been ours. >> right because those buildings are separate from the garage. >> and i think the steam loop runs down pope street and mcallister. >> the steam loop, ownership and maintenance, none of that is actually within our jurisdiction. >> if i could remind everybody that we have a huge budget session coming up. has there been an issue of ecsf access to the garage? >> no, because the section of pipe is somewhat protected by the garage itself, it's actually in fairly decent shape. i think they haven't had to access the garage for minor inspection and repair, there are not any issues with the garage segment of the steam loop.

>> why do we need the easement? >> the steam loop belongs to real estate. it rubs through property that -- runs through property that belongs to rec and park. the city attorney opined that once the steam loop transfers out of city ownership that an easement would be required from rec and park in order for them to access and repair it. that's why we are a he before you today. >> imimpressed with your pension. as an attorney, i can see the usefulness of this easement. this should be a simple thing. however, our commissioner here who know what is going on with grsh knows what is going on -- who knows what is going on with

workers, is speaking out with a small possibility but it is a possibility that dpw workers would be impacted by the loss of this work. >> again, i can't speak with clarity on how much of this work the steam shop relies upon. i have to imagine that they have other duties other than the steam shop. even by their own admission, if the size of the work reaches a certain threshold, they have to go out and contract out anyway. >> because the shop is so small. is there anyone from dpw that can speak to us? if we never work on the steam loop again, do we have enough work to keep people employed? if i can speak to this, sir, please come.

>> hello again. i mean, i could make bigger repairs to the steam loop if i hired more workers and we were allowed to do the work we needed to do. i usually give them a lot of ideasen how to repair the steam loop every year. since it -- we have a lot much plans and budget to consider, and we're always trying to keep the labor, you know, stocked work to do so we can negotiate more work. >> i didn't catch who you are and what you do? >> i'm chris kazarian a member of local 38 and wok for the dpw team shop scld i dot maintenance and repairs on the smaller items in the loop. >> thank you, sir. >> all right. >> mazzola.and then missoula.

>> i within the to clarify this, it's to grant an easement which may trigger a number of other decisions, but decisions about fiscal impact, getting the repairs done and who is going to pay for it and who is going to maintain the pipes and a steam ray in the future. all of that will be decided by the board ever supervisors, that's not for park and rec to decide? >> you are correct and i was about to mention that. >> thank you. >> if i may, there is also -- there is a little bit of a time element to this. i know it's a weighty decision, but as you have seen, we have steam coming up owcht the ground.

in one section, the roadway melted and we had to put a steel plate over the hole to prevent injury and liability. we run the risk of people being injured either by exposing themselves to the steam and getting burned or falling through a hole if the asphalt melts and also more importantly, the potential damage to other infrastructure, communication lines, electrical lines because steam is escaping into places it's not supposed to be. i wanted to make you all aware of that. one, the ultimate decision of whether to actually transfer the steam loop will be made by the board of supervisors at a later date. and secondly, every day that passes brings potential liability exposure to the city. >> thank you so much. i'm going to take one more

comment from a commissioner and then i have to stop. >> do you want me thorough last? >> i have just one question. we're voting on the easement and it's scary that there is kind of a big safety issue with this steam coming out of ground. so this whole implementation and what is brought on after that has no cost to the rec and park department? >> that's correct. >> go ahead commissioner mazzola. >> okay. so my final comments will be that it's not real estate's fault. it's not park and rec's fault and not the workers' fault that

the budget is the way it is. but the city does spend a lot of money. $5 billion on contracting out and i could go on on how many non-profits are paid that don't do anything. there is a lot going on there. and i hate that it puts us in a position to make a decision on our workers. with that being said, i'm going to vote against this and i hope the fellow commissioners will support me on this. if there was a which to let the dpw shop to continue to do the work that they've always done, and after that threshold, the company comes in and does the rest i would be more amenable to this. but to strip tp away doesn't make sense to me. you're a taking jobs away. but go there is a threshold

where they we do the smaller stuff and we contract out the bigger stuff, i wish somebody would have talked to me before. this came out when i read my agenda last night. when there are jobs that are affected on something, i wish the city would reach out to the affected workers and say this is what we're going to do and this is how it will affect your shop. i want to make that clear because this will affect jobs. i don't care how you look at it. we're not in the business of taking jobs, we're in the business of creating new jobs and keep people working in san francisco. i think this is the wrong message to send. transfer this to some private enat this that's going to be carte blanche forever.

if there is a way to have a threshold, i would be happy to sit down and talk. but i wish this was brought up earlier. >> thank you. this is a net neutral agreement in terms of the rpd's role. in section 4-a, if there was anything that happened to affect the revenues, they would make us hold, is that correct? >> that is correct. there are aspects that make total sense and it's fiscally responsible. in general, i'm in agreement that we should approve this easement. because my colleague, larry, who i believe is the subject matter expert on the work that is going to be taken away, he's given a creative suggestion on a neutral

impact on the workers. i think that we need to do the fiscally responsible thing to do and we need to ask the commissioner about this and i think we need to close discussion and go to a vote. >> may i make a motion. >> yes, sir. >> i would like to make a motion that the rec and park commission deny the easement for the steep loop. steam loop. >> do you have a comment on that? >> i do. first, with regards to outreach, it's always my desire and practice to outreach to commissioners who want to be outreached to before an item comes before you. i apologize that that didn't happen. i was under the impression that -- >> don't put it on me. >> no i'm not putting it on you, i'm apologizing to you because i

was under the impression that no one desired one and obviously that was a false impression. secondly, i wish that the compromise that commissioners suggested would be possible, but unfortunately ownership is binary. you either own something or you doesn't. in order for the city to do some work and to have the company do other work, we would have to go back to the status quo qur the city owns the steam loop and then we have the ability to decide who does that work. we have the condition of the steam loop when the city maintains ownership. i don't think that condition is going to improve. i sincerely believe it's going to get work. >> thank you. we have a motion on the fable. is there a second to larry

mazzola's motion? >> second. >> all those in favor -- are we going to do roll call? >> i think that's a good idea. >> commissioner mazzola, what is the motion? >> the motion is to deny drosh not recommend that the -- to not recommend that the board of supervisors approve an easement for for the steam loop. >> to interrupt but maybe andriko or anybody ashley or stacy, what goes to the board? is it the easement itself for the approval or the transfer of ownership of the asset? i'm not sure, commissioner mazzola, i'm not sure that the motion would be though recommend

to the board that they deny the easement. >> it says that on here. i was reading this. >> let me read the wording -- >> we have a city attorney here. sorry, madam president, i didn't realize -- >> it's business cli kind of a go forth sort of thing. it's up to the board of supervisors to approve access to the utility. >> the board normally does not approve us granting easements typically. so i just want to mac sure that what you guys are voting on is under your jurisdiction. >> i'm looking at the agenda wording, that's all. >> what are they voting on?

>> we're sorry to put you on the spot. do you want me to read -- can i read it to you, please. >> sure. >> discussions and possible actions, meaning we don't have to take action. discussion and possible actions to recommend that the board of supervisors approve an access and utility easement for energy center san francisco, llc, to be able to access the steam loop located under civic center plaza and the civic center garage. >> right. and what questions do you have about that? >> my question was when -- is the board actually approving the permanent -- the easement because it's longer than 10 years, or is it the board's action to approve the transfer of steam loop which is not in our jurisdiction, to this other

entity? again, commissioner mazzola, you could move to dent easement. but is the board acting on the easement? or is the board aking on the transfer of the asset? that's what i'm trying to understand. >> i understand. give me one moment. >> while they're conversion, we can vote to move forward. >> the transfer agreement has certain contingencies to the close of the transfer of the asset. a condition to close is that they obtain -- one is to obtain the easement for the facilities located in the garage. obviously one title transfers to ecsf, they within the to make sure that they have recorded right to access the facilities

that they own so that they can maintain them. the transfer agreement will go to the board of supervisors for approval and they will also approve this will -- or deny this easement as well as another easement for a different portion of the loop. >> commissioner mazzola, may i suggest that you reword your motion. >> i think it was perfect the way i said it, but i'll reword it. i recommend -- no, moi motion is that we do not recommend to the full board to give a utility easement to ecsf. >> and do i have a second? >> second. >> all right. let's have some comment from our attorney. >> sure. the only piece i would add to what my colleague said is that the general manager mentioned, the pipes themselves are not --

they're under the park but not part of the park. the specific question before the commission is approval of the easement. that is assuming the board does approve the transfer, the easement would allow the transfer to access the pipes. >> we get it. and they haven't had an issue to access as it is. >> to the chair, the way i look at this, do we recommend they do it or not recommend. frankly they never care what we say or recommend so they're going to do what they want anyway. >> the motion is that we do not recommend this. >> that's the motion. >> and to make sure the record is clear, is the recommendation that you're making against the transfer, against the easement or both? >> we do not recommend that will

the board of supervisors approve an access and utility easement for energy center san francisco to be able to access the steam loop located under civic center plaza and within the civic center garage. >> that's what i said half an hour before. >> that's we're voting on now because we have a motion and a second. >> i guess we're repeating how it's written. >> or commissioner mazzola, we can vote not to take action which is what i prefer. the board of supervisors is going to do what they want to do. he can withdraw his motion if we decide we're not going to take action. >> i guess the question, it's up for you how to structure your motion is assuming the board

were to approve the transfer and it moves forward, would the commission still want to disapprove the easement? >> only if it came back to us we we even have to discuss it. >> right. >> so i think we should -- i like the idea of changing this. let it go to the board of super vieshesz. let them hammer this out. and if it comes back to us, we'll tackle it then. may i suggest a friendly amendment. >> ing is something. >> i would like to suggest we take no action on this item. >> i will change this motion that we take no action on this item. >> do i have a second? >> second. >> second. >> let's go a roll call vote, please. >> do we need a roll call if we're not taking an action? >> we could have commissioner mazzola withdraw his motion and what i think you can see is the

commission is not taking action on item 9. i don't think we need to vote on not taking an action. >> commissioner mazzola, would you entertain withdrawing your motion? >> i will withdraw. >> and will you withdraw your second? >> i will. >> is we're in agreement, we're take nothing action on this item. let's move on. >> we are now -- unless anyone else -- we are now on item 10. more fun with the recreation and parks budget overview. this is an action item, by the way. >> thank you, ashley. thank you commissioners. director of administration and finance, antonio gerra here to discuss the budget proposal for allenging budget situation been

that i have seen in my over 10 years here in san francisco. and so, what this presentation is, is a recap of our projected deficit, what caused the deficit, the department's plan on how we go about solving that, and what happens if we don't get [indiscernible] to protect this department. with me here is tiffany wong, budget manager. so this projection from december 2023, as you might recall, we started off fiscal year 25, with a small slight deficit but in the out years. we begin to ever large projected deficits. this is a rolling year budget

fiscal year 26. using estimates that the city uses. on the next slide, we talked about these key drivers of our department's deficit in prior meetings. but to recap, expenditures overall are growing. both the costs of personnel and -- our revenues are flat. our property tax is slowing in terms of growth. the general fund baseline is not matching the cost of services and in fact, further on this slide, the implementation challenges of prop b, our support is not indexed to inflation and we have to absorb cost increases from other city departments. when we do lose $3 million during that deficit years, it's not one time, it's on an on-going basis. earned revenue, third component of our budget is flat when you look at pre-pandemic highs back

in 2019. utility costs and overall $9 million increase with the loss of the subsidized power rate and the cost of the new stormwater surcharge, there are restrictions on our earned revenue. our scope has expand due to new spaces and programs and costs are increasing due to weather and street conditions. the next few slides have our budget balances pr ins which you approved in january. and we tried to present a proposal to the commission that takes into consideration every single one of these principles. i will read these quickly, but i want to read them for emphasis. we'll makes budget choices responsible to the structural finance while honoring the mayor's stated priorities.

mentality health, accountant and equity. make choices that best support the economic recovery and align with the commitment it equity. continue to up hold the role parks play while maintaining the parks to be clean and accessible. we're going to challenge us to deliver core services as effectively as possible by relying on work practices post pandemic. to sustain our responsibility as environmental stewards and support the city's adaptation spol sis. protect core services by supporting partnerships to replace depleted general funds and earn revenues impacted by the pandemic.

continue to support and cultivate a workforce that delivers outstanding services. in brief, how are we doing this? first, we're going to implement the million dollar budget cut as directed by the mayor including the reduction of six positions. we're not anticipating any layoffs. we're anticipating 78 or 79 ftes will be unfund by fiscal year 26. second year of the budget, divisions are proposing to keep vacant positions open and reduce non-personnel services. we're assuming 5 million-dollar of additional earned revenue in year two of this budget. without new earned revenue, the risk of layoffs increases. about eight to nine positions for each million dollar deficit.

that's what happens if we doesn't get additional revenue. first with the departmental deficiencies and park reductions. golden gate park and natural areas, we'll see a $4 million in unfunded. positions. 4,000 unfunded positions in urban forestry and marina temporary salaries. no reduction to the rangers. we'll have smaller garden apprentice classes. as i mention, no change for staffing. the recreation program will have $3 million reduction composed of unfunded positions and reduction in salaries and materials and supplies. golf and turf is a $1.1 million reduction proposed of rediks of

materials and supplies. this means reduced rec center and hours. fewer overall rec programs and fewer resources to maintain golf courses. structural maintenance yard and asset management, $1.5 million. capital and planning will have a relimb nation of work order and $3.2 million reduction from materials and supplies. this means fewer staff available to fix and maintain park facilities, respond to storms and vandalism and manage administrative functions can. on the next slide, we talked about one of the strategies being that we're going to have our self-supported programs run as enterprises.

first fee increases up to 34.1% to cover the deficit in the marina. a new fee proposal has been proposed to we lymph nate this deficit. golf courses, they're considering at sharpe and lincoln. budget an additional budget and fiscal year 26. >> antonio, sorry, you're droning out. >> the budget is a bummer can. >> i know. i'm having a hard time hearing you. >> at mather, the department will budget an additional $200,000 in fiscal year 26 and work towards developing initiatives to reduce the subsidy. some of our other initiatives

for efficiencies and cost reductions. talked about contracting. contracting in the park program and partnership with human services agency. we're still analyzing when this would take place, potentially january 1. by fiscal year 26, $450,000 to be exact. these program changes are still in progress. we're looking to revise our agreement with san francisco -- . >> we have a current contract with a non-profit park stop that we feel we can take advantage of human services agencies, state and federal and local workforce development opportunities and bring that function in-house saving money. >> thank you for the clarification.

>> we would like to revise or remove the san francisco botanical garden society. it's a conservative estimate of $500,000 in year two of this budget. the agreement that we have with them sthaits we have to wait to revise it until the third year of the agreement. that is coming up so it has to be next year. we're looking to off set water increases with operational support on properties managed by both them and rec park. so as you are aware, utility costs are projected to annually rise overall by roughly $1.9 million in both years of this budget. the department is continuing negotiations with for work performed at lake merced, camp mather and other owned

properties. we have slight reductions to workers compensation costs $150,000 in savings. still in progress, consolidating office space. we're looking specifically at 49 south van ness and looking to reduce technology, vehicle leasing and utilities in and of themselves. on the next slide, i think those first slides talked a lot about reductions. but why are these reductions takes place and how do wen sure we have the revenue to stop the bleeding? you've often heard us say there are three main sources of revenue in the department. it's the general fund, open space fund and earned revenue. the inability of these revenues to keep pace is the driver of

the deficit. with the general fund, where assuming based off of current budget projections that there will be a $3 million increase annually off set by budget reductions direct by the mayor's office in $600,000 in both fiscal years. the one thing we should point out on the budget schedule, march 31, if the budget is larger than $273 million, we'll not receive the $300 million in funds. we received up to $6 million of an increase in the past. we have in our budget keum laipted increase $300 million in fiscal year 2025. earned revenue. for fiscal year 25, the first year of this budget, we actually lowered our earned revenue

projection by $2 million. in the current year, we do a six month report, we are not meeting our projected earned revenue estimates by $3 million. we've talken a look at the revenue. we are going to reduce it by 2 million to reduce it and our projection. in the second year of the budget, we're increasing earned revenue by $5 million. in both of these years, we are assuming marina fees increase. specific for year two, there are a lot of various items that are consist of this increase. but we are really working on trying to improve our earned revenue. >> with that, include the renegotiation of the gardens of golden gate park. >> that's part of it. yes. on the next slide, a little bit more detail on the revenue categories. this is essentially a roll-up of

the main categories that mentioned that are composed of this budget. fiscal year 25, $2 million reduction. we talked about the current year performance. we are assuming revenue from tennis court reservation fees. fiscal year 26, that inkeys in total earned revenue of $5 million meaning 69 million in fiscal year 26. if you want to point out one of the budget principles is to protect core services by pursuing new and bolder revenue ideas and partnerships to replace revenue funds impacted by the pandemic. in are additional revenue in special events and parking revenue. we've seen this slide before we want to to point it out again. what happens if we don't increase our revenue? there will be more program

reduction necessary in the public -- and the public impact will be greater. worse park maintenance. dirtier restrooms. fewer program offering for kids and seniors and inability to meet demand for additional open spaces. on the next slide, i want top point out what we're trying to protect here in this department. and capital equipment, when i started as budget manager, we had our high of $15 million of capital. it was incredible. that was -- i'm dating myself. this was 2015. it's now 2024 and our capital budget is $15 million. it has not grown. we're trying to keep it where it is bus the cost increases due to storm damages are just -- i won't say it's exponential, but it's rising dramatically. the storms are getting strong

exprt needs are getting greater. we have trees down in storm grove that we have to clean up. preparation for the grove festival is happening now. this is how we tackle that. we're trying to continue to up hold the essential play by making sure our areas are clean and accessible and minimizing cuts to dedicated funder for maintenance. equipment piece is the tools our members use out in the field. those are mowers. we're trying to transfer over to electric equipment as opposed to gas powered. that is what they use. >> is that mandated that staff is candidly unfunded? >> it was $2 million if you want to know when i started in 2015. we have 1 point a in this budget. so we are really trying to protect those core -- these core

pieces of the budget. on the next slide, it's a discussion about our capital planning committee. we present prep unfunded capital request to the city administrator's office through the capital planning committee. we have two of them in this budget. house of fine arts, $15 million. roof repair. additionally we have suer water that is not properly drained and backflows into the occupied space. we anticipate a new sewer line will have to be installed and a gnaw marina seawall. high priority items include sidewalk work. do i anticipate getting $92 million? no. but potentially we could get

money. >> we have grants to fema, right? 37 we're looking at grants there. >> that's not an easy source to procure. >> i know. we. >> new parks in the southeast, our p.d. will begin to name the shipyard parks january 1st,. we'll ask for five positions eu for a total of $1.1 million. additionally, we are looking to add in this budget a new campus manager position that would coordinate the services and programming at the new waterfront park in india basin.

that's a few pieces of silver lining in this budget. on the next slide, budget outreach and schedule. in bold is today's dated february 15th for to you consider this budget. february 21st, by law, by the stay charter, our submission has a department is due to the mayor and controller. i'll talk a little bit about the technical piece here. our computer access gets cut off and we hand it over to the mayor and it's all yours. mayor's budget office will take the baton and start running their piece of the race. in march we'll find out if we get $3 million general fund. june 1st the mayor will submit her proposal to the board of supervisors and committee hearings will begin. this proposed budget is going to be changing by june 1st, there will be labor negotiations.

we'll get work order changes. the mayor will review this and her team will review this. this is one step along this road. and i would like to thank you. >> i'm going to wrap this up before we go to public comment. i want to start with deep thanks to antonio and tiffany. this is a challenging one. this is on par and maybe even more [indiscernible] with my first budget in this department which was in 2019. it's the same kind of wow! this is that. bad. the level of transparency and communication and coordination not just with members of the public, not just with this commission, but with all of our staff from our, you know, rank and filed field staff all the

way to the directors and managers as been extraordinary and it's been an internal principles of ours to be transparent and honest and open and also to listen. we've had antonio and i had wonderful conversations with staff members who after our all-staff meeting had different ideas, some work and some don't on how to generate revenue and save money. we take it seriously because often some of the best ideas come from men and women in the field. next is the budget principles that you've seen three or four times that you approved that an tone started with this presentation remain fundamentally important to us. no one will be denied access to services based on ability to

pay. the city in general and you saw this conversation on the item before, the city has to reduce the scope of what it can do. it does not have adequate funding to continue to provide the same level and depth of service that it's been providing. and there are obviously policy choices that we make here but policy choices that the mayor and board of supervisor ises are making aas whole as to what the priorities are. there will is down ton economic recovery, these things remain important priorities figuring out how to continue to manage the sentinel epidemic. everything you see here, we intend to honor the principle of

making sure that regardless of who you are or what neighborhood you're from and what your economic status is, you will have access to our programs. it's why we have our scholarship fund. and where we are trying to move to in recreation in particular is trying to figure out what is on a macro level, the proicht level of subsidy for recreation programs. we currently subsidize 80 cents on every dollar of recreation programming that we deliver. our cost recovery is 20%. that is on the low end nationally. there is just no question about that. what should the level be meaning that those who can pay should pay and those who cannot, we still want -- it's still our principle and philosophy it protect.

then the side about enterprises remains fundamental. it's not just policy decision, we have enterprising budgeting and funds to marina and golf in particular, they're supposed to pay for themselves. they have not for a number of years for a variety of reason. we need to move in that direction. we can no longer justify using our general fund dollars that keep our rec centers open and keep our parks well may tained and keep our irrigation systems functioning. we cannot use that source for golf and the marina and frankly we need to get mather slightly more in that direction too. what antonio said -- there are no layoffs in this budget which is frankly pay miracle. i want us to take pride in the fact that we have been responsible about our reserves.

we've been thoughtful, dana and her team have done a wonderful job in bouncing back from the pandemic -- by the way we lost $35 million in revenue from the pandemic. we're just now come back to that amount. but when antonio said, you know, back in 2019 my mantra was this is a math problem for every dollar we earn, it's a dollar we don't have to cut. so that -- you're not seeing them this year, this queer we think we have this mostly managed with some team. the concern for us is in our two, three and four where our structural deficits jump to 12 and 18 -- where antonio? >> 17, 24, 27. >> right. those are serious numbers. if we do not increase or revenue and it is going to require us to

come to us some unpopular decisions. if we do not do that, it's cut and that means layoffs. not this year, but down the road, if we do not solve the structural imbalance, that is what we're sort of what we're facing. so i think overall, there will be some impacts keeping positions vacant, for the entire year and some for longer as we turn up attrition but we'll get through this. i don't think for the most part the public is going to -- there will be some impacts but we think they're manageable this year. we have to take this seriously for the next three years. i'll stop there.

>> thank you. do i have any other commissioner questions at this point? annie. >> i have a couple of clarifying questions. >> public comment. >> we'll have questions first. >> so, first -- thank you so much. i understand this is so hard and i think the budget values and guiding principles are super helpful. you know, i have utmost trust in all you have our staff that we're doing this with heart and head. it's a great reminder as we go through. it's going to be a hard process. so i just wanted to -- so we're great about the no layoffs but i'm looking specifically at the recreation slide and a reduction of temporary salaries. does that mean that as-needed employees? >> i'll try to take that.

it yes, it means that -- our model, we have a permanent civil service corps staff. commissioner, you know this well because you're embedded in our program in many ways. and then we have these recreation leaders to deliver programming. our overall budget for recreation leaders is going shrinking. >> okay. >> now of impact that has, means we have to take a slightly harder look at how we staff programs and making decisions on programs that are under-enrolled. there are some ways to do this that may not pinch as much but it will pinch a little bit. you'll see fewer programs offered on a macro level than offered in previous years whether that's during the school

year or during summer camp. we have some core programs that we're not going to touch. but we have to make some tougher decisions about that and this is why we talked about really our strategy -- we mentioned sort of drop-in fees as a strategy. that is part of a larger strategy which means we need to have the conversation about what based on what other jurisdictions are doing and what we can afford, what is the right level of subsidy for our recreation programming. we should be subsidizing recreation programming but is it 20% or 50%? if it's 50%, how do we recover costs that doesn't impact our most vulnerable children.

>> and so, a follow-up, a reduction in the temporary rec lead as lead employees are going to be seen in this fiscal year? >> yes. >> that's not a four or five-year thing. >> correct. >> and then i think when we had this presentation at capital committee, i brought up something that i'm curious about is the scholarship. just -- a theme that would he see in this budget is the increased costs for everything. so, i'm curious and gun i want to ask this question again, do our scholarship kind of categories or qualificationses, when is the les time we looked at those? are those being adapted and increased in relation to the acceptance that things -- there is a higher cost of living. basically i'm asking who is going to qualify for these? >> i think our scholarship

program which we're proud of which has been developed over last during the team's tenure, remains viable and applicable. we have different levels of scholarship. it's basically modeled after the district's lunch program. youth in public housing, receive 100 percent scholarship from us. they'll continue to do that. we're not tinkering or reducing or constraining the ebl jibility for our scholarship program nor are we growing it. this gets to what is the right level of overall level of cost recovery? our guiding principle that everyone shall have an opportunity to enjoy our programming regardless of ability to pay invie

lot. we'll not touch that. what is our process for that? >> we don't have a specific -- we haven't had a specific budget. as we proceed in the next few years, we may have to decide, okay, maybe a scholarship eligibility for one, two, three programs pu flot five, six or seven. we're not going to -- we're going to stick by the free and reduced lunch eligibility criteria. i don't think you'll see an expansion of scholarship programming because that pushes us into a different direction that we cannot afford or sustain but we're protecting it. >> for the record, i think if

we're going to go down the road of increasing payment for adding anything new, that would be something that i would want to be looking at. >> of course. the drop-in is a small piece of this. it may not have warranted the profile but the scholarship program would apply to that. >> if we're in the position where we're cutting programs, so we know our programs are so great and so high in demand, if this is going to be even harolder for folks to access -- and i'm thinking recreation, this is my thing, are -- is there also -- i would like us to think about that is considered.

who is the most at-need for these programs and it's going to be harder for folks to get into this. that is part of this conversation. >> i think you may or may not be aware, but i hope you'd be proud of the fact for the last severae not changing this too, we have started to offer things like early enrollment for our scholarship kids and we've done more targeted registration outreach in some of our more vulnerable communities to give the kids that need it most and their families a leg up into being able to register and access and every year we run into regardless of the status of our budget, some of our summer camps are like dare i say, popular right now --

>> the golden ticket. >> taylor swift. like a tail shall swift ticket. everyone wants a particular camp on the third week of summer, there will be a lot there. >> thank you. >> i'm curious about the other earned revenue streams because that seems to be a lever to pull that's in our control. how do you cal great what the market can grsh calibrate what the market can bear? have you done an analysis to

raise the fees and have as many families go? there are so many different areas that we could probably charge more, but how much? >> we are sensitive to that. our harbor master is involved in the marina conversation. we have still have long wait lists for slip access. boaters are not going to be happy and you'll probably hear from some of them. but i will also kind of remind you that what happened at the board last woke made it much more difficult for us to continue. i'm not going it use general fund dollars if any more for that purpose. and then, with respect to things like mather, first of all, there are remain certain controls on what we can charge and what we can't. and yes, we are definitely

sensitive to the demand side of the curve here. and we have some assistance with that in-house. we've had experts in the past. it's not lost on us is what i would say to you. we look at best practices. we looked at other marinas and other program programs in the public and private sector. we're toggling between making sure that we're accommodating our most vulnerable communities and families that can afford it versus those that can't pay. >> so we don't lose our commissioners, let's see if we can wind this up. i have one public comment.

can we hear from them, please. >> richard. >> i am richard harris with the san francisco public goft alliance. first, congratulations to the department and for opening this weekend the golden gate park nine-hole course. it's a wonderful facility and the department worked well with the golf community. as a kick-off to the letter that i hope you've seen, thank you. your biggest source by far of earned revenue is your golf courses. and where you have a customer

that has shown a willingness to pay and you're looking for new revenue, go to that one. don't disappoint the customer or break promises to that customer. i've given you -- i've not given you chapter and verse in this six paragraphs of text, but i have it and will be happy to share it with you. the -- with the golf courses with the notion of public/private partnership at lincoln sp golden gate, we support that and will support that with all our energy and resources. wen courage you to do that as soon as possible.

and in the meantime, as you're working on that, keep these two courses particularly in better shape than they are now. sharpe and lincoln. and we'll encourage that ask do everything we can to help you with that. we'ren enthusiastic and we want to keep working with you. >> thank you, richard. >> and hope to see you tomorrow. >> is there anyone else here to comment on item 10? okay. seeing none, commissioners. >> i would like to say thank you to antonio and your staff. and i just want to give kudos to phil and the experience that he brings. i've had an opportunity to meet privately with him from time to time and the depth and breadth of his knowledge because of all

the experience he's had and the connections running up to the state levels, i know you guys are mining every opportunity here and that this department and your division will work magic as appropriate. so, although it pains me greatly, there is a lot -- there are a lot of pain points in this budget and we're going to hear things like privatization, but i do think we need to be fair about what can people pay. are we charging fees commensurate with other large metropolitan areas? we need to keep those sorts of things in mind and we need to take responsibility in communicating with our supervisors for example. everyone here can make a huge impact talking to their supervisors. with that, i would like someone to move to approve this budget

amendment i guess is what it is. >> i move we are prove the recommended budgets for the recreation and parks department for 24/25 and 25/26. >> do i have a second? >> second. >> do we need to do a roll call? >> no. >> all those in favor state aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> any opposition? none. therefore all approved. thank you everybody. next item. >> we're not item 11. this is a closed session. before we go into closed session, i'm going it take public comment on item # 1. is there any public comment on item 11? okay. seeing none, and we have no callers, public comment is closed. commissioners, i need you to vote on whether or not to hold a

closed session. >> do i hear a motion and a second? >> second. >> all those in favor state aye. any opposition? none. it's approved to go into closed session. it's going it take me a second to put up the sign and then i'll >> we're back in open session. ashley, please lead. >> commissioners, i now need a motion and a second on whether to report on actions taken in closed session or not to take action. >> second. >> therefore therefore aye. >> any opposition? none. >> and also a move to disclose discussions. >> i move not to disclose discussions.

>> second. >> all those in favor aye. >> any opposition? none. >> we're now on item 12, public comment. anyone in the room? anyone on webex? public comment is now closed. item 13. commissioner matters? >> there are none. >> item 14 new business agenda setting. anything on there for you all? >> no commissioner has asked to speak. >> and no public comment on the communications. anything from you all on communications? okay. and we're now item 16 adjournment 37 move to adjourn. >> second. >> all those in favor aye. any opposition? none. we are adjourned at 12:51 p.m. thank you everybody for hanging in.

>> we broke ground in december of last year. we broke ground the day after sandy hook connecticut and had a moment of silence here. it's really great to see the silence that we experienced then and we've

experienced over the years in this playground is now filled with these voices. >> 321, okay. [ applause ] >> the park was kind of bleak. it was scary and over grown. we started to help maclaren park when we found there wasn't any money in the bond for this park maclaren. we spent time for funding. it was expensive to raise money for this and there were a lot of delays. a lot of it was just the mural, the sprinklers and we didn't have any grass. it was that bad. we worked on sprinkler heads and grass and we fixed everything. we worked hard collecting everything.

we had about 400 group members. every a little bit helped and now the park is busy all week. there is people with kids using the park and using strollers and now it's safer by utilizing it. >> maclaren park being the largest second park one of the best kept secrets. what's exciting about this activation in particular is that it's the first of many. it's also representation of our city coming together but not only on the bureaucratic side of things. but also our neighbors, neighbors helped this happen. we are thrilled that today we are seeing the fruition of all that work in this city's open space. >> when we got involved with this park there was a broken swing set and half of -- for

me, one thing i really like to point out to other groups is that when you are competing for funding in a hole on the ground, you need to articulate what you need for your park. i always point as this sight as a model for other communities. >> i hope we continue to work on the other empty pits that are here. there are still a lot of areas that need help at maclaren park. we hope grants and money will be available to continue to improve this park to make it shine. it's a really hidden jewel. a lot of people don't know it's here. [♪♪♪]

>> 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. chinatown. >> (music). >> welcome to san francisco

japantown. >> san francisco japantown is the oddity downtown in the united states. >> it was founded in the late 1800s by japanese immigrants for construction over the jars japantown has become a home to a japanese community with restaurants and shops and a popular tourism decision in the heart of san francisco. and san francisco and japantown is quite unique it is one of the three remaining chung's by the states and how i explain japantown we're a city within a city to taste and experience the japanese culture but really be a community what is all about and one of the best things about japantown is the food. there are dozens of shops in the

neighborhood serving from modern deserts and go with friends. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> my name is t a leader of the japantown to we try to provide something they creates like savory yummy favors we try to provide like japanese flavor as well as for the japanese customers. >> if you're foodie or looking for a quick and delicious meal you're sure to find something. >> it is a authentic japanese deter and drink shop special lists in we also offer a roasted

green tea and we have flares and other flavors we're known for ice cream and sun disingenuous. >> japantown is a variety of culture contributions with the community center the eight amendment association of north california. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> this tearoom is designed by the tearoom art (unintelligible) and then they built everything in jpa that is a a he ship it to the united states. with the carpenter and this is one of the public only two in the united

states and the japantown takes you on journey sdlts neighborhoods and the history was a self guided tour you start by japantown center west mall and work your way and learn about the history what made japantown had say is today. >> what as young people; right? what to make sure this stays here for the future. speaking of future you can enter the world of augmented reality created we adobe in a phone stand under which of the store we call that the tree ar experience a great opportunity to do something completely different that will take you to the future with a immersion of an experience?

incredible. in addition to the culture and ar contribution japantown hosted festivities and events throughout the year some are the cheri blossom festival. and after dark japantown comes life with night clubs and or joy serene moments through the illuminated part and san francisco is japantown an engaging community that likewise people to experience japanese culture with food and exciting events and japantown is a must see for any visitor to san inst

>> hello, everybody this is americans first and the oldest house we are known for handmade our family is the (inaudible) is unique and one of the few places you that is happening in the world and and few items we add on the menu food from the old school handmade from other places. this was fined by a german person that's why the chinese hang out. you see chinese around chinatown because in the first block of chinatown will say chinatown on that and

th >> making to may grandkids a program all about pop ups, artists, non profits small business in into vacant downtown throughout the area for a three to 6 months engagement. >> i think san francisco is really bright and i wanted to be a part of it revitalization. >> i'm hillary, the owner of [indiscernible] pizza. vacant and vibrant got into safe downtown we never could have gotten into pre-pandemic. we thought about opening downtown but couldn't afford it

and a landlord [indiscernible] this was a awesome opportunity for us to get our foot in here. >> the agency is the marriage between a conventional art gallery and fine art agency. i'm victor gonzalez the founder of gcs agency. thes program is especially important for small business because it extended huge life line of resources, but also expertise from the people that have gathered around the vacant to vibrant program. it is allowed small businesses to pop up in spaces that have previously been fully unaccessible or just out of budget. vacant to vibrant was funded by a grant from the office of economic workforce development that was part of the mayor's economic recovery budget last year so we funded our non

profit partners new deal who managed the process getting folks into these spaces. >> [indiscernible] have been tireless for all of us down here and it has been incredible. certainly never seen the kind of assistance from the city that vacant to vibrant has given us, for sure. >> vacant to ibvooerant is a important program because it just has the opportunity to build excitement what downtown could be. it is change the narrative talking about ground floor vacancy and office vacancy to talking about the amazing network of small scale entrepreneur, [indiscernible] >> this is a huge opportunity that is really happy about because it has given me space to showcase all the work i have been doing over the past few years, to have a space i can call my own for a extended

period of time has been, i mean, it is incredible. >> big reason why i do this is specific to empower artist. there are a lot of people in san francisco that have really great ideas that have the work ethics, they just don't have those opportunities presented, so this has been huge lifeline i think for entrepreneurs and small businesses. >> this was a great program for us. it has [indiscernible] opening the site. we benefited from it and i think because there is diverse and different [indiscernible] able to be down here that everybody kind of benefits from it.

city. >> hi other supervisor joel representing the great district and want to say congratulations on thirty years of sfgovtv. you know. if when i was a kid mtv revolutions my tv now we want my sfgovtv and revolutions. >> join the center in celebrating thirty years of sfgovtv. thank you for promotin

>> good evening welcome to the february upon 7 meeting of board of appeals. president lopez will be the officer and joined by vice president lemberg. rick wig and john trasvina. eppler is absent. also jen hoover who will provide needed legal add video vice. alec and i'm julie the board's executive director. we'll be joined from the city departments that will present before the board. up front corey teeth za with planning. kevin, chief building inspector.