>> item 19 we can announce that no action was taken. i can take a motion whether to disclose. >> moved to not disclose. >> second. >> all in favor, aye. >> next item, any new business? we have been asked a dear colleague and dear friend of the puc and the city family passed

away just before the thanksgiving holiday. we have been asked to adjourn in her name. and her name is teresa burke. can we have a motion, please? >> i will move that. >> second. >> it's been moved and seconded to adjourn this meeting in honor and memory of teresa burke. the meeting is now adjourned. [gavel]

>> all right, good evening, everybody, who wants to see a tree lit? >> happy holidays, welcome to fabulous mcclarin lodge here in golden gate park. my name is phil ginsberg and i am the general manager of your san francisco recreation and park department and i want to welcome you all to the 83rd annual tree lighting. happy holidays for you all. the trust for public land as mr. mayor knows recently named your park the number one park system in the entire united states of america. [ applause ] >> we were also just named as a

finalist to host this cool international parks conference in 2015 in which we are going to be welcoming cities from all over the country to learn how we do it here in san francisco. and then, just last month, and a big thank you to all of you, san francisco voters approved proposition b. the cleanest safe neighborhood parks fund which allows us to renovate and juvinate your parks. 83 years ago, uncle john mcclarin and if you go in the gm office you can see a picture of him. started the tradition of lighting this mile-long stretch of trees started and ending here in front of the lodge where he lived for a number of years. so this, this is san francisco

official holiday tree right behind us, uncle john's tree. it is a cyrus that is more than 100 years old closer to 130 years old and tonight it sports over 550 christmas holiday lights. >> so i really want to give a big shout out to the rec and parks staff that has continued the tradition and i want to thank all of them and single out a few, bob pelosio who organized tonight's event. and i also want to single out loranie bamford whose team put this on and our entire recreation staff. and i want to thank our tree topers who get all the way to the top of this big tree to

hang all of its lights. i want to thank our electricians who make sure that the lights go on and i want to thank all of the crews and there are so many people that have a hand in planning the for tonight and give a big shout out for the hardest working team your rec and parks department staff. [ applause ] >> so we got a lot of special people here tonight, and i really want to single out a few who may or may not be here, i want to thank the rec and park commission, commission vice president tom harrison is here. [ applause ] commissioner page erata is here, glora buna is here and commissioner levatin is here and commissioner allan lowe is here and martin is here and give a shout out to mark who could not be here.

and i saw supervisor mark ferrell and his entire family in the house and give him a shout out for him. i want to give... let's give a big special thanks to scott weiner for all. he was out campaigning for the bond every night. thank you scott. [ applause ] >> i saw tom ewy the director of the department of building inspection who is here and i want to thank him and i want to thank the san francisco parks alliance who is here and the trust for public lands and most of all, i want to thank all of you, all of you for helping make this happen. [ applause ] >> oh, yeah. it is his last official tree lighting as a supervisor. where is he? come on up. yeah, we have already forgotten up here, you have got to come up. a big... our loudest, loudest

round of applause for supervisor sean elsbern and his son michael who is here. look at this guy who just showed up in the left-hand part of the stage, our former mayor willie brown who is here. [ applause ] all right. now, would you... thank you. so now, i want to introduce the city's park champion and chief and of course he shares our vision for making our parks, better cleaner, safer and more fun. he also loves to be in our parks and loves sports and he loves to play and pretty darn good at a game of ping-pong among other activities let's give a big san francisco welcome to our mayor, mayor ed lee.

>> thank you, phil. how about another round of applause for phil. >> i am so happy to join you with the supervisors and sean thank you again for all of those wonderful years that you have served the city thank you very much for being here. to all of the other supervisors, scott weiner and mark ferrel, thank you for your leadership on infrastructure and open space and parks and on supporting families in this city and to the hardest, most effective commission rec and park commission, thank you very much. all of your leadership there. but there is many other people to thank, we have got a lot of things to be thankful for this year. i mean it is not just prop b, we have so many other things that compliment proposition b and our open space, we have a renewed commitment to build infrastructure and see that supports a lot more things

because the most thankful things that we have, i think, are the very people that are standing to my sides and in front of me. these are the folks that we are most thankful for because they give us purpose, and focus for this city and where we need to take it. that is why we build more parks and we invest in our open space. it is for all of these children and the families. i also want to thank all of the sponsors i know three of them are big sports sponsors in the city. and the reflected by the toy train that you see on the side. you will see the caboose, led by golden state warriors. followed by the 49ers. [ applause ] and then two-time world series champions, san francisco giants. [ applause ] >> they give us all of this

inspiration and i know that we are looking at some of future players on these teams right here in front of us. so thank you everybody. if i may, during these happy times, when we are thankful for the things that we have and giving thanks for it, please remember the victims that continue to suffer on the east coast. and they are having a hard time it is very cold over there do anything that you can to help them. there are fellow citizens, they all wish that they could be here tonight. i am absolutely sure of that because everything is working pretty well in san francisco thanks to people like phil and all of the people that work hard especially the parents and the parks alliance and all of you neighbors out here, you help us make the city run really well. so i am thankful for all of you and all of the people that think together for the benefit of the city, so congratulations and have a wonderful holiday. and thank you mayor brown for being here tonight and to join

all of us. kids, happy holidays. all right. >> thank you, mr. mayor. so, a couple of other shout outs, our music concourse commissioner is here. [ applause ] and katie from the arts commission here and supervisor cohen just showed up in santa's sleigh and so speaking of there is a read jeep cherokee on conservatory drive, so if you have a red jeep cherokee you want to move your car. >> also want to thank whole foods for sponsoring tonight's event and so now mr. mayor and i am going to welcome you your predecessor mayor brown and i

would like you both to lead us in the count down, are are we ready to turn the lights on? >> the lights only are electricians are literally at the north pole and they can't flip the switch unless there was a joke about the candle stick. they can only flip the switch from the north pole as we really, really hear them. so before i turn it over to mayor lee and mayor brown to do the count down, i need to hear as loud as you could possibly scream, are you ready to turn the lights on? they said that they heard a dull roar but they could not hear it up at the north pole. one more time.

are you ready to turn the lights on? [ cheers ] >> they heard that. all right, mr. mayors all you. >> okay. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [ cheers ] >> it worked.

♪ >> our concern is they are going to be here for a couple of days and everybody is going to have a great time. and we have three days of them and 362 days of everybody else using the park. ♪ ♪

>> this is the fifth year of our partnership with another planet entertainment, where another planet puts on probably the greatest music festival in america for three days here in golden gate park. >> we work with them a lot to prevent and not have any problems. and what we have done with them is have roads built and have pieces under whatever equipment is parked. they do all of that. and then when it gets removed, they have very little damage. >> for me as a gardener and having to stay here and work after they leave, i am more than happy when i see their greening team come through and green everything up. >> we have given them pieces that they can use, and pieces that they can't use. so we are allowing them, again, because we have irrigation in the ground so they can use, and if they put up a tent they can stake a tent in some places, they can't stake a tent in other places. so we are protecting the golden gate park asset. >> so what is really special

about the partnership is not just the incredible music, that about 70,000 of our closest friends are listening to right now, but for the respect that everybody has for this park and the work that we do with the outside land music promoters to make sure that in a few short weeks, what you see out here will again be a beautiful, green, field filled with children playing soccer. >> everything pops back up, we are getting better and better as the years go by. bringing it back real quick, that is what we do. we bring the grass back and make sure that the plants are not destroyed. >> we work year round to plan for this event to make sure that all of the waste is picked up. 77 percent of all of the waste is diverted or recycling or composted. >> the gardeners work with another product operation staff to make sure that first and foremost we are protecting the

incredible trees, meadows and the incredible open space that is golden gate park. >> making the crowd make a choice of which band have want to see. so we don't have everybody going to one stage like a stampede. that didn't work for the event producers and it didn't work for us. we worked together and found solutions and it is working. >> you see a lot of people out here having a good time. you have no idea, how much work and planning has gone into this to make this sustain able and eco friendly park the greatest park in the united states. ♪ >> san francisco is one of those incredible cities in the world. i would rather be around trees, than like flat land, you know what i am saying? >> the fact that it is separate places it gives a lot of space for the amount of people that is here. i really appreciate that. ♪ >> san francisco, what is not

to love? >> a blessing with the space and a blessing being here and everyone else being here on public land and sharing this music and vibration together and we are grateful for the city and the park and rec for making it happen. >> we are keeping it cleaned by picking up, everything that we need help with, we can't do it without your help. >> it is amazing for san francisco and the music scene. this is a job creator and they hire over 3400 people. we bring in 50 to 60 restaurant and winerries. >> it is crazy. and it never stops. ♪ >> i only came to see stevie wonder. i just got a ticket. i am so excited. we are so blessed out right now. >> it is amazing, i came all

the way from israel to meet the people and hang out and she was amazing. >> the environment, the people, everything. it is like everyone has so much energy. >> hey, you are beautiful. and i love you. >> why? because... it is definitely a lot more fun than being inside. >> so far we have had zero problems. it is a long-step process, a lot of thinking and people involved. so we think that we got rid of all of the problems that could happen. they are doing it, and we are doing it and everybody is doing the best that they can. >> it is a wonderful out reach >> come. >> it is beautiful. ♪

>> welcome to "culturewire." today we are at recology. they are celebrate 20 years of one of the most incredibly unique artist residency programs. we are here to learn more from one of the resident artists. welcome to the show, deborah. tell us how this program began 20 years ago. >> the program began 20 years ago. our founder was an environmentalist and an activist and an artist in the 1970's. she started these street sweeping campaigns in the city. she started with kids. they had an exhibition at city hall. city officials heard about her

efforts and they invited her to this facility. we thought it would coincide with our efforts to get folks to recycle, it is a great educational tool. since then, we have had 95 professional artists come through. >> how has the program changed over the years? how has the program -- what can the public has an artist engage with? >> for the most part, we worked with metal and wood, what you would expect from a program like ours. over the years, we tried to include artists and all types of mediums. conceptual artists, at installation, photographers, videographers. >> that has really expanded the program out. it is becoming so dynamic right now with your vision of interesting artists in gauging here. why would an artist when to come here? >> mainly, access to the

materials. we also give them a lot of support. when they start, it is an empty studio. they go out to the public area and -- we call it the big store. they go out shopping, take the materials that, and get to work. it is kind of like a reprieve, so they can really focus on their body of work. >> when you are talking about recology, do you have the only sculpture garden at the top? >> it is based on work that was done many years ago in new york. it is the only kind of structured, artist program. weit is beautiful. a lot of the plants you see were pulled out of the garbage, and we use our compost to transplant them. the pathway is lined with rubble from the earthquake from the

freeways we tour about 5000 people a year to our facility, adults and children. we talk about recycling and conservation. they can meet the artists. >> fantastic. let's go meet some of your current artists. here we are with lauren. can you tell us how long have been here so far and what you're working on? >> we started our residency on june 1, so we came into the studio then and spent most of the first couple weeks just digging around in the trash. i am continuing my body of work, kind of making these hand- embroidered objects from our day-to-day life. >> can you describe some of the things you have been making here? this is amazing. >> i think i started a lot of my work about the qualities of light is in the weight. i have been thinking a lot about

things floating through the air. it is also very windy down here. there is a piece of sheet music up there that i have embroidered third. there is a pamphlet about hearing dea -- nearing death. this is a dead rabbit. this is what i am working on now. this is a greeting card that i found, making it embroidered. it is for a very special friend. >> while we were looking at this, i glanced down and this is amazing, and it is on top of a book, it is ridiculous and amazing. >> i am interested in the serendipity of these still life compositions. when he got to the garbage and to see the arrangement of objects that is completely spontaneous. it is probably one of the least thought of compositions. people are getting rid of this stuff. it holds no real value to them,

because they're disposing of it. >> we're here in another recology studio with abel. what attracted you to apply for this special program? >> who would not want to come to the dump? but is the first question. for me, being in a situation that you're not comfortable in has always been the best. >> what materials were you immediately attracted to when you started and so what was available here? >> there are a lot of books. that is one of the thing that hits me the most. books are good for understanding, language, and art in general. also being a graphic designer, going straight to the magazines and seeing all this printed material being discarded has also been part of my work. of course, always wood or any kind of plastic form or anything like that. >> job mr. some of the pieces you have made while you have been here.

-- taught me through some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. >> the first thing that attracted me to this was the printed surface. it was actually a poster. it was a silk screen watercolor, about 8 feet long. in terms of the flatwork, i work with a lot of cloddish. so being able to cut into it come at into it, removed parts, it is part of the process of negotiating the final form. >> how do you jump from the two dimensional work that you create to the three-dimensional? maybe going back from the 3f to 2d. >> everything is in the process of becoming. things are never said or settled. the sculptures are being made while i am doing the collages, and vice versa. it becomes a part of something else. there's always this figuring out of where things belong or where

they could parapets something else. at the end goal is to possibly see one of these collage plans be built out and create a structure that reflects back into the flat work. >> thank you so much for allowing "culturewire" to visit this amazing facility and to learn more about the artists in residence program. is there anything you like our viewers to know? >> we have art exhibitions every four months, and a win by the public to come out. everybody is welcome to come out. we have food. sometimes we have gains and bands. it is great time. from june to september, we accept applications from bay area artists. we encouraged artists from all mediums to apply. we want as many artists from the bay area out here so they can have the same experience. >> how many artists to do your host here? >> 6 artist a year, and we receive about 108 applications. v