department to file environmental law and get the eir. the eir has cost $800,000. to complete the circle on the argument, if golden gate park had been left with no sports like, you now have $800,000 to spend onwe asked the departmento examine their priorities in golden gate park. thank you. >> thank you. this is about the fourth time i've heard this presentation. i've been to a couple of meetings and i have seen it evolved. staff has been very forthcoming to suggestions. i'm really sorry about the natural areas program and i hope

they decide not to vote against it because of some particular issue. i think staff has put a large amount of time into it from the 2008 bond program, my neighbors have benefited enormously and i've been involved in planning and they have been very forthcoming. i have to say i have to strongly support the bond issue and i hope differences can be resolved before november. thank you.

>> community engagement has been

a real factor in putting this together. i have heard a lot of compliments around town about it. i think there is concern about the natural areas plan and we cannot legislate a solution to that. i don't think it ought to be included in language but i would like to encourage folks about how to minimize the negative impact. it is important and it is a legitimate point of view as we try to meet that myriad of demands on how we recreates in san francisco. thank you for that testimony. with that, we have a motion. >> i want to did go to the remarks regarding the national areas project. i was involved for many years with that, especially when i was

president of the commission. with actually passing the eir on this project and i think it is crucial we have key stakeholders from that program supporting this project, so to the extend we can work with those key stakeholders to make this more of a win/win, i would appreciate that. >> there is a motion and a second. all those in favor? it is unanimous. thank you. >> we are now on item number nine, but decker park. -- boeddeker park.

>> let's wait for everybody to exit. >> it good afternoon president and commissioners. i'm with seed capital and planning division of recreation and parks department. the item before you is discussion and possible action to improve the conceptual program for boeddekker park.

this is the third of three parks in the trust for public land. in september of this year, we expect to open about ballpark. we will be back if you approve this conceptual plan in june with recommendation to approve the gift in place. in the ensuing weeks since capital committee, we have close the funding gap. with that, want to turn it over to the director of the parks for people program. thank you. >> thank you very much. we are really excited to bring this project forward. to share with you -- we have been working with the community around boeddekker, attending meetings and learning about the

challenges and benefits the park brings to the tenderloin community. from those initial discussions, taking it on in partnership with the recreation and park department to give it a full- scale renovation. a quick orientation to the project. i'm sure you are familiar with the project, but i don't need to tell you it is located in one of the most diverse neighborhoods in san francisco. it is the only park open their to adults without children, so it is an important asset to the neighborhood. 50,000 people live within walking distance of the park and these are people who do not have yards to play in. the park is very well maintained by the department and community volunteers. there are a lot of design issues with in the park that make it

underutilized and difficult for the staff to supervise and run programs in the park. you can see in that aerial photograph, there are two parcels together. the clubhouse is 4 feet below, so it is impossible to look out. the fences are tall and surround the park and divide up every activity in the park. no matter where you are, you feel like you are in prison and cannot see throughout the park. spaces are odd. there is a triangular or lawn and only one remaining playground which is unsafe. there is a half-court for basketball which is still functioning but does not serve the community as well as it could. we held about 10 community workshops trying to get input

from a broad spectrum of people on the concept plans. we had our reach in multiple languages and tried to make an inclusive process. the committee came up with the fact that it should be safe for all residents and should provide something for everyone and make the best use of park space available. with that mission and specific comments of the community and working with staff about how the park can become great and operate and maintain it to its fullest extent possible, that drove the design. this new park plan is a brand new park. a new park designed with those goals in mind. it addresses safety and improved recreation features.

there is a new clubhouse, over 400 square feet. it is near the zero building designed with energy efficiency in mind. it also has a lot of glass so that visibility is not an issue. it is raised that to make it easy for people to enter and exit and opens up to the back garden, improving the accessibility to a space that was a little bit awkward or trapped in that area. that has opened up to the clubhouse as well. there are to play areas, an area for outdoor gym equipment. the whole site is fully accessible without stairs and that is a critical piece of this community where there is a lot of strollers. we want this park to be used by all. there is improved gardening area

for seniors that is much larger and will not only viva front corner piece of the park demonstrating its oasis, but a place where kids can play proper games. there are places for people to socialize and improve the stages for the events and music that happens in the park. there will still be a secure fence but not like a prison. it is more transparent and you can see through it. i mention the issues with the clubhouse. there will be lighting and as far as beatty is concerned, we maintained all of the trees that were important to the community. there are few removals and we're planting 10 new trees. all of the trees were either in fair or poor condition or

conflicted with the new amenities. nothing that is very historically significant. the sustainability features, i mentioned a couple of issues. we're doing on-site rainwater capture to help with irrigation. there is concrete on the side and we are trying to plant drought tolerant plants and will be education and interpretation systems echoes to the park so people can be educated about these improvements. it is voted for a pilot program for the sustainable sites initiative and this project is a pilot project, so we're hoping to get that certification.

we are nearly there, waiting to hear back from a couple of grants but we are optimistic. pending full funding, we expect to break construction in about august. we want to thank recreation and park as our primary partner. six years is a long time to help the community get what they need but this part is really challenging and they have been with us every step of the way. real diverse dollars. thank you very much to the state grants and private funds and the mayor's office. a number of community groups and members supported the project. the boys and girls club, the tenderloin, san francisco --

there are a number of groups who were there representing their interests and supported the idea is and items in the plan. we are hoping this will become a catalyst for transformations in the community and provide a beautiful oasis for the tenderloin neighborhood. thank you for everyone who helped make the project happen. >> thank you. public comment? >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is mike williams and i would like to take the opportunity to bring some other folks water from the neighborhood as well who were unable to attend the meeting. i have been involved with this project for a couple of years

and just want to say the tenderloin is looking very much forward to this park. i have been excited about this project as i have been a 12-year resident living across the street from the park so it has been a very exciting thing once i learned they were going to be doing this park. what i must say is they have done this right. rec and park department and everyone i have met has been absolutely wonderful. the biggest thing and most appreciated thing i can say is we had a lot of neighbors who came out to the meeting. walking the entire boundary of the tenderloin, telling everybody, children, adults, teenagers and so forth to go to these meetings so they can hear

from our community what they wanted in this park. that is exactly what happened that i was very appreciative of that. the neighborhood is appreciative and we can't wait for this project to get started and have a new park in our area. i'd like to think a number of people in that community and iraq and park. good going. i asked you to approve this part. thank you. >> hello, commissioners. i am the coordinator of the friends of boeddekker park. we started in 2003. years before we were considered by the trust for public lands, we still have the vision thing sessions as what we would like for this park and there were whole list of things, but we realized none of them would take

place because of the prior item. you see that demands on the city and funding and boeddekker was not even on the priority list. when the trust for public land came along and met with us, we could see there was going to be these changes because many people who use the park, i don't know if the commissioners have visited recently, but this part is like a prison with all of these fences around it. it does not provide adequate recreation for the kids. there is only a small basketball court. in the new plan, there is a new full-court basketball. the play area is woefully inadequate. there will be a new clubhouse and you have heard of the descriptions already. we had numerous meetings -- it's

hard to get some people out for regular meetings. one saturday, the trust for public lands put it out into the park and got the regular visitors who do not come to meeting to give their input. we feel we have gone out of our way to get community input and i and other friends of boeddekker park cannot understand why you would not move this on. it is a treasure and a gift ttyn particular. >> my name is carol smith and i am the co-director and founder of the luggage store gallery in

the tenderloin in a pocket space two blocks west of boeddekker. i've spent over 25 years involved in the tenderloin. i believe it was the vision of father boeddekker, and with this plan, to underscore the comments that have been made previous that it reflects the vision of a neighborhood comments were the most adverse community of people in san francisco in the most desolate -- most densely occupied area of san francisco can meet and share recreational activities. i want to introduce keith career. the park opened with this man as the first director of that facility and we ask you to fully support this plan. i think it fairly reflects the overall sentiment garnished

through this process. was very thorough and fair and a thank you. >> i am robert glass. i have been working in the tenderloin national forest as an artist in residence the for an ecological engineer firm. i'm a landscape architect and i am here to support this project. the reuse of the rain water is something our firm is interested in and it is new as far as parks in the city. since we have been in residence, have been walking around the area to find other green spaces and this park itself is always a shutdown and there are many

communities around. i met with the mission of yesterday and they have a program where they train individuals, homeless individuals to create jobs skills so that they can go on and work and this would be a a great opportunity to get involved with the park to maintain and provide community support for it. i hope you'll pass it.

>> a couple of different reasons. it reemphasize is our commitment to the communities that need it most. the tenderloin is one card densest the breadth and have an incredibly high population of children and emigrants and lacks a healthy place to congregate and form communities. your vote reaffirms the commitment to all of our communities in san francisco. it is also emblematic of the commitment to partnership. thank you for you and your organization and all you do for us helping to revitalize what is the best urban park system in america. but when the you think about where the funding has come from, there is a little foundation money bundled in here, but we

were able to successfully get a proposition 84 grant from the state's and some foundation support. our community fund which we just talked about, that is why it is such a great opportunity because of leverage is these other assets. the neighborhood, what is amazing if we want to be honest, we have a $150 million parks bond we just considered and we have many people here speaking out for their corner of the neighborhood park as we did for the previous item. i would like to thank mike and all of those who spoke to your determination in making the community better. this is such a pleasure and i cannot wait for the groundbreaking. >> seeing no other comments, i share everything.

they have been a terrific partner and the staff has done a great job with outrage and this is one of the tougher parks to consolidate the various interests and to make them work. i congratulate you on that and it's nice not to hear anybody yelling or screaming at you when you put together these different aspects. >> at the solution is not just about the design, but is about operation and maintenance. the have extended their commitment beyond the job to outline a strategy for operations and programming beyond construction. we will be spending that time figuring out how to meet commitments to the city and the department has helped taking a lead on that. >> with that, i entertain a motion. >> moved and seconded. of those in favor?

it is unanimous. >> we are now on item number 10. golden gate park. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am here on an o approve an exception to the oyster fest on june 30. extending the evening hours to end at 6:00 and for an extra half hour, this is for a committee that supported it but wanted to confirm we had completed all of the appropriate outrage. we have done that. organizers attended the community meet organized by a sf tv and we have reached out to the supervisors' offices directly from our department and have no comment back from them. they have reached out to the

haight ashbury neighbor it council and improvement district. so far, we have had no opposition. >> is there any public comment? >> is there any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> moved and seconded. all in favor? >> we are now on item number 11, professional tennis rates. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i and the general manager with the department and i know you have a long meeting heavy still so i will try to make the snappy. i am here to talk to you about professional tennis rates. the department contracts with a

limited number of professionals to teach tennis. these third-party lessons are taught in addition to the other options like group lessons and tennis academies the department offers itself. the department is pursuing this rate increase for lessons taught by only third-party instructors. the rates for department programming will not be affected by this increase. the goal is for a third party professionals to increase access for these services. this slide is meant to show you the current rate for a one-hour lesson with the golden gate tennis complex. it is $50, well below market rate. we are nearly 40% lower than their rates at the presidio. these rates have not been raised

since 2006. this slide shows what our proposed rate structure will look like. all of our competitors, we are still below and we feel like we struck a good balance in offering rates still affordable to the public but able to attract high-quality professionals we're looking to provide these lessons. we're still 12% at lower than the ymca. this is about increasing access. we were able to offer between eight and 15 lessons per week. we are hoping to offer 93 lessons per week. this increases access and increases our bottom line. we are looking at an increase of

about -- up to about $7,000 a year in our years out here. we performed extensive outreach, including with the golden gate tennis club as well as other groups. we received support to a variety of organizations and receive one e-mail in opposition. we hope to have your support today to make a recommendation to increase our rates. i'm happy to answer any questions you have. >> is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> do we have a motion? moved. >> i'm going to recommend a 10 minute b