you should not certify it as this time. we can have great feelings for children in this city and also a great resource in -- we can have great field for children and the city and also a great resource in golden gate park. if you proceed, you were not fulfilling our responsibility as members of either commission. thank you for your time. it has been a long night, and we do appreciate your work. >> i am having a difficult time understanding how the planning commission can consider certifying the eir for the renovation of the beach chalet athletic fields. the eir is a blatantly biased. it's even includes basic errors of math. the current field covered 9.4 acres, but the total size would cover 11.2.

in numerous places, the eir calls this an increase of 6%. it's it's actually 19%. -- it is actually 19%. what else have been missed? i fell the planning department's response to most of my comments to be inadequate. i am submitting additional comments today and they are all my own work. i also want to deviate from my written comments and say despite what many of the children told you, the evidence on injuries is clear. there is no difference in the number of injuries that kids sustained on artificial turf versus grass. there are different types of injuries. what is unknown is what the long-term injury rates is for kids who play on artificial turf. there have not been enough studies.

i would ask you to take that into consideration despite everything you have heard. artificial turf and does require maintenance. it does require water. it requires water to cool it down. it requires chemicals to clean it. this is the truth of the matter and i hope you do your research. >> i am the executive vice president of the california soccer association. i am in favor of getting the artificial turf. i would like to commend the commission on your patience today. i would like to recruit each and

every one of you to become the members of the california soccer association. you are the kind of people we need that have the right this position to be great coaches and leaders in our association. everybody is talking about artificial turf. a lot of people are talking. if we could get the three field out there, it would support rec and park. this is the best commission i have ever seen. i am a newcomer here. without any doubts, the best commission i have ever seen. you are so progressive and forward-looking and it is something that we really need.

we have registered in san francisco for different adult leagues. these are all adults we're talking about. these are all the people but want to play after hours, when the lights should be there, ok? >> good evening. i am the conservation director with the golden gate audubon society. i am asking you to refuse to certify the eir. we believe the eir is very inadequate and represents another -- is very inadequate.

we are losing -- because of ongoing conflicts with human activity in natural areas. i was going to talk about the specific plan. one of the things that has gone over tonight, is that we need more playing fields. there is a great demand for it. that is completely understandable. if you look at the history of golden gate park, there are always good reasons to develop the park. good reasons to do more and more there. that is why the general plan recognizes the value of golden gate park cost the western end. that is why the golden gate park master plan specifically says that the park -- it is expected that the plan will retain the integrity of the original design.

the plan says all activities and features and facilities should respect the unique design and character of the park. the irs acknowledges the significance impact -- the eir acknowledges the significant impact on the part. this project removes it. it is not just the turf. it is the lights that fundamentally change the naturalistic character of the park. there is no way that the department or the commission can find that this maintains the naturalistic character of the park. please look for an alternative. there are good alternatives before you. president fong: thank you. [reading names]

>> good evening, commissioners. we are the largest parks serving organization and the city with 55 years of experience. the parks alliance strongly supports this proposed project. we encourage the commission to approve the eir. the parks alliance believes this project will be -- will do significant public good. the project represents an uncommon opportunity to

ameliorate the city's document a shortfall of available playing field recreational hours. the city has adopted synthetic turf standards that requiring recycle turf materials. with the implementation of storm water collection and testing requirements, the field would not contribute to degradation of ground water quality. the are also fines proposed lighting is unlikely to spillover the boundaries substantially enough to impact the surrounding neighborhoods. because weather conditions create on known variables, the alliance proposes that the city monetarist one state are installed. -- monetarist once they are installed. the parks alliance is aware of other recreation agencies that have addressed this question

with creative funding mechanisms that pay for that sort of replacement. we encourage you to examine these funding models and if applicable, to adopt them. the beach chalet will provide a healthy recreation to thousands of children and adults for years to come. the parks alliant lent its strong support and urges you to approve this eir. in short, let's play some soccer. >> i am a former u.s. olympic coach. i am a soccer parent. i would like to echo the comments of many of the others about the social and health benefits of soccer. i have seen it over the years and it is astonishing. i would also like to reiterate

the transformation that has occurred at crocker from a long series of grassy ruts to what has become a people's park in terms of its constant and positive views. i would like to say that the park itself is an artificial construct in its natural state, it is sand dunes. we made the park to serve the needs of the city. as i think the speakers have shown tonight, the needs of the city are for soccer fields. finally, i am a city kid myself and my daughter is a city kid. she wanted to go to practice and i told her, the boss is right -- the bus is down there. beach chalet is one of the asiest places to get to.

it is a part of our overall -- i think that is a significant factor. i think the commissioners for their amazing patience and i support the project. president fong: thank you. >> i am a 33-year resident of the city and a father of three. this controversy is not about a dangerous chemicals and turf. if it were, i trust the opponents of this project would be supporting and protecting the health of thousands of players on the other fields. this is about money. this is about the city of san francisco, which is facing deficits, providing the most hours of recreational play with

in its financial means. with that consideration, there is no alternative to approving this eir and going ahead with this project. grass fields are wonderful. there is a reason why all the pro teams use them. they have. maintenance budgets for them. municipalities and school districts all over the country are going to church because it provides the most hours of recreates -- going to turf because it provides the most hours of recreation for the lowest dollar. grass fields, if you had the money to maintain them, but not necessarily be closed and the rain. they would necessarily be closed for maintenance because you cannot use grass every day to the extent that the residents of the city will use it. it is impossible. please approve the eir.

>> i am a project manager that works with and nonprofit agencies like the trust for public land, the neighborhood parks council. i hope strategic planning -- i helped strategic planning. i recently finished a playground in the mission. i have a letter from -- the authors of the master plan. douglas nelson wrote this letter. the rehabilitation of the soccer field with synthetic turf and lighting for extended use. because synthetic turf was not contemplated, there are no direct recommendations are policies that address synthetic

turf. there are no specific conflicts between the master plan and the use of synthetic turf. lighting was not considered at the time because the grass fields cannot tolerate any additional use. potential future lighting was considered at the tennis courts. the synthetic turf was considered at the time of the master plan development, it is likely that soccer fields would have been included as a potential night use area. i would like to submit this. thank you very much. i am in support of this project. president fong: ok. [reading names]

>> good afternoon or good evening. i am a high school athletic director. i spent five years running san francisco delete here in the city. i am very much -- san francisco little league here in this city. i am very much in favor of this project. as a high school athletic director, we struggled with the condition of the grass fields in the city. we have parents that that does not to send our teams to play at feels that have become degraded and dangerous. we send our kids there and a kid gets injured, we felt horrible. the synthetic turf fields are

the safest fields in the city. from an athletic director perspective, this is a fantastic project. as a former president of the youth sports organization, speaking on behalf of the people the care about their kids, i want to say how when pour into this project is. these people give us so much of their free time to the kids of the city and to be supported by the city is a fantastic thing. this eir process -- we understand the process needs to happen. please accept the eir. do not accept reasons that we do not believe are justified for additional delays. led the project moves forward and support the volunteers of

this city. >> good evening, commissioners. i want to thank you for your eternal patients. i was here dating back to 1992, 20 years. we all -- we did almost all of our soccer field and all of them deteriorated immediately. i wish we could maintain regular field, but we cannot. i know you have reviewed the thousand pages of the responses. i reviewed all of them and made less. one thing became very clear. those people that use beach chalet support the project. those people that don't use beach chalet don't. what i seek is an age-old contradiction between parks and

recreation. i do not know how many of you remember when there was a parks department and there was the recreation department. now we have a planning and parks and recreation department. it would seem this would be -- in 1928, john mclaren and the park department said this shall be an active recreational space. why don't we make it the best space weekend? if any of us will go down to the area, you do not even know there is a soccer complex. you have to be 50 feet from it. if i would happen to be down there on a foggy evening, my heart would be happy. that my fellow citizens were out there running up and down. active recreation is a good thing. thank you very much.

>> thank you for the opportunity to speak. i am representing lacrosse. i am in support of the plan for beach chalet. when i first moved to san francisco, the program was actually canceled. we practice once a week for one hour. due to field conditions, we have had to cancel over half of the practices, deal with minor injuries, compete with adult themes for field space. this project would increase playing time, allow been the kids to further develop individual teams -- a lot and the kids to fellow -- for develop individual teams and life skills. i would like to request

approval and may for beach chalet to move forward. thank you. president fong: ok. [reading names] if i have called your name, come on up. >> i would like to start by submitting -- there are eight

copies. i did not realize there were 12 of the. i am a resident of san francisco. i worked in the field of field development to or promotion of field development and as a coach for over 20 years. i would like to start off by stating that i am not the biggest proponent of filled turf, but considering the conditions of san francisco and of this west and area, it is the only choice. if we look at the polo grounds, the city invested zero million dollars into refurbishing them. -- $8 million into refurbishing them. -- a million dollars into refurbishing them.

the things i just handed you, it completely eliminates the white issue. there is a new company that has created lights that diminished the spill of light by 50%. it decreases the amount of cost and energy consumption by over half. it is a viable agreement solution to eliminate a lot of the problems that the opposition are talking about. in addition to that, it is not about whether we want to change this area. it is a belt that we need to. because of what happens in the bushes that night. the drug use, the sexual things that we know are going on out there. those sorts of things were happening at crocker. if you put the lights in here, it it will make it a destination

spot. we will no longer have the crime or the problems we have in that area. we are short of the field and this is a perfect opportunity to make this an icon of the city. even better than what we have going on at crocker. this puts it or everybody can have access. thank you. president fong: due to be our commthe hour, there are a groupf kids. you guys want to quickly speak? a small group, hopefully. maybe have one or two speakers representing you.

>> i am the father of this girl and the volunteer parent coach of the san francisco seals. we are a soccer team. most of the girls on this team have been playing together since pre-k. we have played in all kinds of fields in san francisco. grassy areas that are not fields, but according to the leak, that they considered them places for us to play. a lot of people have spoken that those are not good places for kids to run around. they are in pretty bad shape. we have seen a lot of injuries. we have seen it girls trip in holes. whenever we have games over at turf fields, they are excited to

play. they are very happy about that. thank you. >> i am a parent of the seals. i am also the granddaughter of the parks and recreation commissioner for 25 years. he still gets very excited to hear about her playing soccer and coming over and talking about things. i know he would absolutely support the turf fields so that his granddaughter -- so that his great granddaughter could place safely and have a great time. thank you agreement. -- thank you very much. >> i am a parent, a resident of 15th avenue in san francisco. and also a huge part supporter

-- parks supporter. i have been a big supporter of renovation, i have been a campaigner for and fundraiser for. what i see that works in those projects are renovations that serve the constituency. in those cases, not every part can be everything to everyone, obviously. but those projects are succeeding because they know what the constituency wants. they're making projects, making parks at work. we have a constituency that has been certified by the city for twice as long as i have been alive. if we have a chance to make that better, we should do it. please support this program, thank you. president fong: thank you.

>> the children are a little shy. one of the things that both of my daughters want to speak about is how much they dread when they have to play at places like -- and they are seeing this as a great opportunity for kids in the city. i think we are now at the point where the comments are almost abusing the system on the process. we have had a hearing that started at 3:00. i would really encourage you to move forward with the process. i think the comments have been addressed. this is what people dislike the most about government, that it goes on and on and on and there

is no resolution. i would ask you to move this process forward and make san francisco proud. president fong: next team, please. we want one speaker or two speakers per team, thank you very much. >> [inaudible] president fong: thank you very much. >> thank you, commissioners. i am a father of three children. my oldest is 10. they thoroughly enjoyed sports. i also coached soccer, baseball, basketball. i am a strong proponent of fitness. i think it improves the all- around ability of the kids. i just want to give you a personal experience. i went back and look to my

calendar. i had 21 cancellations of practices or games. only two of those were legitimate cancellations that would have happened on turf. it was not a very rainy season this year. maybe you already know this, but the demand for sports in the city is very high. my younger daughter, who is 8, 1 to play baseball so bad she made me get up at midnight to register her. the lacrosse registration for my eight-year-old daughter ended within one hour of registration been opened. demand for field is there. it would be a great