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tv   [untitled]    July 28, 2012 9:00am-9:30am PDT

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and thank you mayor lee for being out here. i wanted to bring the perspective of the district supervisor. here, as you know for ocean beach, much of ocean beaches the backyard of the sunset district. for many of my residence, you cross the street and there you are it ocean beach. for us, what have bishop -- happens at ocean beach is very much a part of what happens to our own homes and neighborhoods. my interest first started to get peeved because of all the issues we had here. not only the erosion issues, but if you drive along the highway, the road closures that happens, among other things. as a city leader, one of the things we started to recognize is that the real erosion issues were starting to threaten a things like our server infrastructure, among other critical pieces of san francisco's in for a stretcher. so it became pressing for us to
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pull together a collaboration of individuals to be here. i wanted to speak about how thrilled i am that is a master plan has been completed. we have a long and a vicious road ahead of us for many of the improvements that are envisioned in the plan to go forward. without everybody who is here, we would be missing key components to make this something that could come to reality. not only our city leaders, the mayor, my colleague eric mar that is here, our spirit -- a city departments, our federal partners, and of course, ben mentioned that we had a representative from congressman jack e. spears office. we need our federal partners to be engaged as well because ocean beach is federal land. i am here to add my voice to support this plan. i think this plan -- this master plan has engaged the public to come together. also, all the stakeholders that
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are necessary to make this plan something that can be successful and to make sure we are speaking with one voice. thank you for being here, for recognizing the importance of this and for recognizing that ocean beach is not only destroyed four jaleel. it is city and federal resource that is important to us all. 5!óo=l-- is not only an importat jewel. resource that is important to us all. [applause] zio%.]sñ>> thank you. supervisor carmen chu has been part of the steering committee, and so has our next speaker, supervisor eric mar. >> thank you. and thank you to spur and the mayor and all the departments that have worked so hard on the spirited has been several years, a very inclusive process. i am here to celebrate a product division that represents more than 10 years of work of people putting out ideas of what ocean
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beach should be. the richmond district stretches from potrero heights to the cliff house, all the way down to linden boulevard. a lot of my residents are talking about the sand management, which is a cooperative effort between the national park service and our city agencies. also, how to reconnect golden gate park to the key treasure that carmen chu mentioned, ocean beach? many of us see that as our backyard. in my district, bonfires and production of sensitive habitat, like the birds that mayor lee mentioned, but other sensitive habitat that are critical. also maintaining the park connection to ocean beach so we have better access for families. i also wanted to say that the process has been incredibly inclusive with a different stakeholder meetings. numerous community organizations involved. my hope is that this proactive
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vision with action steps can be a spark for more discussions from neighborhood organizations, not only the surf rider foundation but many residents around ocean beach. my hope is that as we move forward with interagency 6wcyw$lcooperation, which is tht of this master plan, that we look at issues like these and management issues. also, how we create promise not like the area here or connecting golden gate park to the ocean as a great way to build community while having a sustainable future. thank you for being here. thank you to everyone for working on this master plan. [applause] >> next, we're going to hear from ed harrington, the general manager of the sfpuc. >> good morning. thank you for being here. i will be quick. i wanted to. spur and the folks behind me for the collaboration. a lot of us learned how much their love is for this plays out
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here and now we need to protect it. supervisor mar mentioned the sand management. you can see a lot of concrete. people do not like that. up the road, there is too much sand, morse and then you can imagine. in the old days, you could walk down on the beach. now you walk straight out onto the beach. we will be moving 100,000 cubic yards of that sand here. there was a meeting on making this work. that is very useful. our waste water system and our sewer infrastructure is something that is so large, you do not rearrange it quickly easily. if you were on the great highway, our sewer is the entire size of the highway. it is 45 feet wide and 50-feet deep. it is a huge thing. it comes to our pump station
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and then to the waste water plant. as we talk about changes to the process, it is longtime change. the process recognizes that. we're grateful for folks to learn about what we do and how that change may happen over time. thank you for including us today. [applause] >> thank you so much, and what for your leadership. next, mohammed nuru, acting director of the department of public works. >> thank you. let me join the mayor and supervisors and everyone up here in this great celebration, a celebrationthat i thing many people worked on. i want to thank spur and ben)2fr his leadership, for bringing us together. we said in many meetings talking about the future of ocean beach in what it should look like. i also want to thank laura for her wisdom. she has been here for many years.
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this is a great opportunity for all of us to come together. from dpw, frank as lead our efforts. we maintain the great highway on a daily basis. like carmen said, the great highway does get closed about 17 times a year due to stand. i was able to learn a lot from the vision in process, from different ecological methods on how we would plan and sustain ocean beach. good news is that in november, we did pass proposition become the road and repaving bond. one of the first projects will be paving from slote to point :5u 48t. exercie able to include about 15,000 square feet of additional soft scape.
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it makes it easier for people crossing from that side of the street to the beach. if you use the great highway, a lot of people are walking across 5t7ñ it is pretty dangerous. we will be able to at least began to implement some of the ideas or some of the things we heard from the vision the process itself. i am also thankful to mayor lee for his 17-point plan. it does encompass many points that he ran on when he ran for office. most importantly, infrastructure. the project i just spoke about is about $6 million. more importantly, we have a lot of initiatives to make sure we participate in meeting the city's goals for local hire and local contractor participation. i am very excited that this plan
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is becoming more public, and i'm looking forward to making the western edge of san francisco look more nice and sustainable. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mohammed nuru. excuse me. always acting but now permanent. i will like to express my thanks for the initiative to include the median at north of lincoln, which is a big first step for us for having a physical impact on the landscape that will help with pedestrian safety and esthetics. next, phil ginsburg, superintendent -- general manager of the department of recreation and parks, and the steward of our amazing collection of open spaces out here. >> thank you. mohammed nuru is a very tough act to follow.
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i am phil ginsburg, the general manager of the recreation and parks department. we're giving thanks to the mayor and to spur for the leadership and vision to undergo this project. we often have to respond to problems in emergencies of the day. arguably, there are a few out here, but this process has been speaking to the future. the trust for public land, an advocacy organizationñmiñ?!i, jt named san francisco as the number 1 urban park system in the united states of america. it is not just the city in the county, but our open space system which comprises 70% of all of this city's land, including the national park service in the state park system. it is so exciting to think aboutejjbkt what can be done o. we all look around. all you have to do is to a 360 loop and the word that comes to mind is potential. it is incredible and precious
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oceanfront open space. and the opportunity to think about how to agree a better accessibility between our beloved golden gate park, our zoo, lake merced, some of the national parkland here, and ocean beach in the great highway is a great opportunity. thinking about new trails from a new recreational amenities that can be out here. and areasustc to highlight some of e incredible special events which already have been out here year-round, it is exciting and fun. i want to thank our partners and stakeholders and community leaders for engaging. it is rare in government that it works so well. i have all these different partners and stakeholders coming together to think and plan. the recreation department is grateful to be a part of it. thank you. [applause] thank you. >> thank you. next, at risk in committee director of the san francisco municipal transportation agency
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-- ed reiskin. >> thank you. mohammed nuru after me, when i was public works director, great highway, despite its amazing location, manifested itself as a problem. the roadway was a deteriorating. ltgdh5ñwe were losing an endlese against the sand. then the roadway was literally falling into the ocean during my time at dpw. what this process has done is turn the problem into opportunity. what i see now from the transportation perspective is that, through this process, san francisco has decided we do not need a four-lane highway separating san francisco from our beautiful oceanfront, and i think that is agreed direction for us to be going as a city. we're going to turn the great highway from being a barrier to the ocean into a way for us to access the ocean, whether on foot, whether on bicycle, a
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weather coming on muni. we're going to a better access to the ocean, better access to all the facilities and the park space and the zoo. it is a great step forward. i want to thank everybody who has been part of the office -- process, but most of all, the public to give us direction in shaping this vision. i am excited to actually advance the vision in see some of these tough start getting into the ground. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much, ed. we look forward to working with sfmta and the sfcta to do the technical analysis required to make this vision into the kind of implemented all projects that the city can pursue. now i want to bring up howard levitt, the director of communication for the golden gate national recreation area, one of our most important federal partners. it gives you a sense of why spur
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ended up being involved, because it crosses jurisdictional boundaries, working with federal, state, and local agencies. they have been an amazing partner. welcome, howard. >> thank you very much. i am delighted to be here representing the men and women of the national park service here in san francisco. we are privileged to manage the western edge of this magnificent urban corridor, world class urban corridor. and, mayor lee, i appreciate your shout out for the importance bird. our former superintendent --on current superintendent reiterates what our former superintendent said, that it all begins with a vision. i think the ocean beach master plan constitutes a magnificent vision for this corridor. we, too, look forward to moving
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on into the implementation phase and bringing some reality to this. but it has been our honor and privilege to work with ben and the excellent team at spur that he has assembled with our colleagues, from the business sector, from the cadres of wonderfully elected officials we have, our colleagues with rec and park, and public works and the other agencies here in san francisco. it has really been almost a poster child for a collaborative effort, and we're honored to have been part of it. we cannot wait to get into the exciting next phase of implementation. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much for your kind words. next, we will hear from the director of the san francisco zoo. needless to say, a critical participant and stakeholder in this process. >> thank you very much. a zebra did not escape the zoo.
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it is me. [laughter] thank you for coming to this part ofz5 we are reminded that this treasure is being lost. the zoo feels it has to be part of the solution and dialogue. we have to conserve wildlife and wild things. this has to be one of our highest priorities. thank you all for coming together on this. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. next, we're going to hear from a couple community partners. on the issue of this not being the end, but rather, the end of the first chapter and the wanted to mention that as a result of this amazing collaborative work, and it is really this group of people and men -- many of the folks in the public as well,; been awarded over';#í funding to pursue a implementation studies and carry these ideas forward to the next level, do that technical work,
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doing the challenging effort of converting the big ideas into real projects that can be implemented on the ground. with that, i want to bring up laura, 2 has been working on this in bringing these issues to the attention of -- who has been working on this and bringing these issues to the attention of the city. she was there from the beginning of the process, having already put in a decade on this. [applause] >> thank you. good morning. i am a resident and business owner out here. and one of the biggest privileges i have had is to have been involved in a very long community process, combined effort to create a sustainable future for ocean beach. we began in 1998 with mayer brown's ocean beach task force, which was a very large body of
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local, state, federal agencies, community members, environmental groups, community groups, and we met for f part of what is the most proud of from that effort is creating the difference stakeholders and starting to create what i feel is a good foundation for the amazing and cooperative effort that we see today with all of our civic leaders. mayor newsom appointed the ocean beach vision council in 2007 where we continued the conversation. then in a 2009-2010, we started the spur process. i had the privilege of co- chairing the advisory committee with amy meyer,h leader, a community leader for tgnra. each of these councils still
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fund the work of the former, and countless individuals and organizations submitted so much time and vision, and that has been an amazing process to be a part of. i want to thankd our civic leaders that are here today for the amazing cooperation, a vision, energy, a commitment, and support towards this process. it has been an amazing privilege to work tospur and have that opera to -- to work with;hwnmpl and have that opportunity as a lay person to be involved. the vision took all of the ever -- other efforts and brought it to the realities we're seeing today which is incredibly inspiring and very gratifying for all of us out here that are so passionate about this beach. i also want to acknowledge
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former superintendent of tgnra, brian o'neill, who, as i am sure we all do, really wish to be here today to see how far we have come. he really was excited to start working with a really strong focus. i know he is here in spirit. finally, i would like to express my gratitude to all of the community members and environmental groups and organizations that have really kept this thread going in order to bring it along with all of our leaders, including san francisco's surf riders, save friends of sutro park, golden gate, audubon, a coalition that
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saved ocean beach, and there are also great individuals, including bob, who was not here today, but he has-wuyurç contrin many giveaways. thank you all. thank you for being here. looking forward to the next phase. [applause] >> thank you very, very much. last but most certainly not least, we're going to hear from amy meyer. if you look up and down the speech, you look up to lands' end and you cast your mind's eye to the presidio, down the peninsula to the open spaces there, the crown jewel windows the golden gate recreational area would not exist without the efforts of amy meyer. [applause] she got interested in a small land use issue in her neighborhood, and that became give us one of the greatest depths that we could possibly
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imagine living here. she has also been the honorary co-share of our planning advisory committee and a wonderful champion of this project -- co-gtjx4uechair of r planning advisory committee. >> thank you. we're going to be celebrating this year the 40th birthday ggnra. i can tell you something about its early time. that is right, this started with 12.5 acres. it is now 80,000 acres in three counties. it runs all the way almost to the top of the marin county to the middle of san mateo county. the whole idea was to take this fantastic coast and the injury of the golden gatev a national park, because that is what it deserved to be. what is so wonderful about this project, and i feel i have been privileged to work on it, as been that it is not just a matter of connecting the coast
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line and the environment, but really connecting this part of our park to the city itself, making it possible so that people will be able to enjoy this place746 it needs real politician or improvement will be improved upon, and where it needs being simply retained and kept because of everything, from the threat of climate change to changes in our society, that this will happen and can happen in good form as a result of this plan that has now come to completion. this rests upon the whole -- the whole park rested upon the fact that people in this area thought this was one of the most beautiful places in the entire world, and they were determined to save it and keep it. the idea that this group here and the people who have not been able to come here today, it is
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an enormous number of people. in this city and the two adjoining counties who really have worked to make this possible. so come in the fall and celebrate our birthday, because this park is one heck of a special place. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much. i wanted to acknowledge peter from the army corps of engineers, an important federal partner. they have an incredible role to play in the future shipping7 the beach and some of the great opportunity for solution to challenges. the last group of folks to acknowledges our consultant team. nelson from transportation. sure what design engineers on the sustainability. and infrastructure. esa, pwa, bob on coastal engineering. and they are hiding in the back and deserving of special
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recognition, ana and her team, ae com, who did amazing materials that translated a complicated set of circumstances into materials that conveyed the mayan a simple and accessible way to the public. thank you so much. i want to thank you all for sb÷s beautiful summer stay at ocean beach in hanging in through a lot of talking. i especially want to thank mayor lee for coming out here and his kind words of support. an incredible reception from city hall. thank you for coming. thank you to everybody who has been involved in this project from the beginning. [applause]
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on may 12, sf posted a benefit for project insight. canadians supported the
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recreation programs are too sick children. >> learn more
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