>> this is the meeting of the recreation and park commission. >> arata. >> here. >> commissioner bonilla. >> here. >> commissioner harrison. >> here. >> commissioner martin. >> here. >> and commissioner levitan is on her way. just to a few reminders for those joining us this is the rec and park meeting for march 21, 2013. we welcome you today but we ask that you turn off electronic devices that may go off during the proceedings. we ask if you have a secondary conversation take it outside for the meeting to run

as efficiently as possible. unless announced by the president of the commission each person has three minutes to speak under public comment. as a reminder we have public comment on item four and then -- and that is for 15 minutes total and then again continued on item number 10. please address your comments to the commission during public comment on items. in order to allow equal time to all neither the commission or staff may respond to questions. the commission may ask questions of staff after public comment is closed so with that we have one announcement and that is item eight, the america's cup permit at the marina green and small craft harbor has beeny removed and not heard today. with that we are on item two, the

president's report. commissioner. >> thank you very much. very briefly. complements to our general manager on taking over shawn elsbernd and a benefit the department and we are raising money every way we can to get it back in line. congratulations on a successful event. moving forward on something that is of interest to me i am determined that we get to a paperless commission so we are looking at ipads and a system that will put the agendas on the ipad. we had a run through of a system yesterday that looks promising and used by the airport commission and i want to talk with the commissioners to make sure they're happy with that system and if that is the case i'm going to move forward and

find the money and make us a paperless commission so with that be warned those like me are technically challenged. we will overcome those challenges w that that concludes my report. >> okay. is there any public comment under the president's report? seeing none public comment is closed. we're on item three, the general manager's report. >> good morning commissioners. i do have a number of items this morning but i want to start with a presentation from the new chair and we going to get into the routine and having linda present. >> welcome. >> thank you general manager ginsburg and good morning commissioners. we passed a resolution at the last meeting they would like to read into the record and it's in support of

question sartrack and we talked about that and we brought it to the members and we had all but four members present in all of the membership and that is a really resounding support of our resolution. whereas the track was installed in 1991 and whereas this type of track is known to have a useful life of 15 years, and whereas the track replacement has been a listed item in the budget request to the mayor's office since 2008 and whereas the track is used by at least 22 middle schools, 10 high schools and many community individuals and user groups, and whereas the track has exceeded its life span by as much as seven years and whereas the track is now in a condition which makes it possibly unsafe, and whereas delays in restoring

the track is continually increasing the cost of restoration, now therefore be it resolved that we join the community, the advisory committee, haight-ashbury neighborhood council and other groups for the recreation and park commission to work with the mayor to find the necessary funds to restore the track to the original standards. passed unanimously by the members on this date and submitted by myself, chair. >> thank you very much. >> this week i got to spend some time in washington dc at the in fact recreation and park conference for urban park directors and i joined them in

meeting members of the interior and transportation and white house to talk about the park system and federal legislative priorities and the meetings were productive and i think we are developing a better handle of existing federal grant opportunities particularly those in urban development and for bikes and open space and we going to be developing those in the months to come. i wanted to let you know about the three legislative priorities that urban park systems are advocating this year in congress. one is full funding for the water and conservation fund. the department of the interior is preparing their spending levels and the president is about to introduce his budget. the water conservation act is authorized

at $900 million but never fully funded and we're asking to allocate 40% of that and through the program how the money trickles down to local jurisdictions. the fund and program has invested millions of dollars and funded local projects in san francisco and mclaren park and recently a grant for the visitation green valley development project and for buena vista park and we urged congress to provide funding so that was our main legislative initiatives. two others very quickly the national recreation park association is looking for a sponsor of a park infrastructure and finance act. the act is modeled after the

transportation infrastructure finance and innovation act in place since 1998 and create a program for competitive loans and credit for the construction or cost of projects. this is a great way to leverage existing public funding or private funding to fill the gap. for example we have a funding gap for the sustainable nursery project in the botanical garden in golden gate golden gate park and this would be a mechanism to close that for that project, and finally we are advocating for the reconstruction and support of the community parks revitalization act and sponsored by kay hagan to carry out a revitalization program for the rehabilitation of critically needed parks and recreation areas and facilities and significantly the development of improved rec programs and

purposes so this is a piece of legislation that would provide funding for urban park systems for capital and operating needs so those are three of the top legislative priorities and it was a good visit, both from the perspective of the opportunity to meet some of the federal agencies and partners to share with members of congress some of the great things this department is doing but also to meet our colleagues in other big city districts. i spent a lot of time with the new director of the washington park system and it's just interesting how the issues are very much the same in all big city park systems. tomorrow morning at 1030 rec and park and we will have a celebration of world water day at jefferson square. this makes the improvements that have taken place and save 5

million-gallons of water a year and with the grants which were intended to fund the retrofits through the innovative practices. this was achieved replacing antiquated systems and a lawn alternative. last month the california parks and recreation society gave the award for excellence to camp [inaudible] and for children on the agtism spectrum and make sure that kids of all abilities get out and play and i want to congratulate the staff who really created something spectacular and we get an email from a family everyday grateful for the opportunity for their child. registration for day

care started and we have half of the capacity compared tolet increase of 40% last year and the slots by the water camp were filled and we actually had so much popularity on the first hours that we did get quite a few emails saying "we can't get into the system" and that because the system has a limited system to process them. we have silver tree and pine lake and lacrosse and art in the park and museum camps, the randall over night kaism for kids 10 to 12 and discovery camp and it's not too late to register so sign up

today. recruitment has been begun with san francisco and the parks alliance. we are looking for kids in age group. teens upon work in the parks and open spaces and advance their leadership and gain valuable work experience and for more information call our office. i would now like to invite larry barry from san francisco youth works that wanted to make a quick presentation. larry, come on up. >> thank you commissioners and good morning. as he said i am larry barry. if you don't know we have an internship program

11 and 12 graders participating and that includes recreation and parks and i am here today to present an award to you for your contribution to our program. we have been able to provide 54 internships over the last year to kids in san francisco. we worked with a host of sites including the ones mentioned over the summer and pine lake and silver tree and douglas play ground and it's been a wonderful importance and wonderful opportunity. not only do the kids get the internship opportunity they get to see the public sector and what it means to serve the public so with that said i would like to present this award. it's an appreciation for all the work and support you have shown our program and we can continue this in the future. >> all right. thank you larry.

[applause] >> thank you very much. >> next saturday march 30 rec and park department hosts our annual spring family event featuring games and carnival rides and barbecue competition between rec and park and san francisco fire. we welcome everyone out there next saturday. our mobile is up and running and we are bringing these services to the neighborhoods historically under served. and at the tenderloin center and we will moving to another areas and for our schedule you can visit our

website. we were informed that the roads in mclaren park needed major improvements and not that we needed to be informed of that. anyone that spent time there it's apparent. the portion is own contact the -- this roadway is poorly designed and confusing to drivers for a variety of reasons. the lanes and speed limits change three times. there are no crosswalks at most intersections and no places to wait for buses. rec and park has been asked to address these and will require funding in october with sfmta

support we applied for a grant, organization of bay area governments to fund the sidewalks, and other improvements. staff along with the community has been working on a concept design that is going to greatly improve this road and recreational space. one popular -- pedestrian and multiuse on the other side of the median. we're going to give it a road diet and move it from four lanes to two. if we secure the funding -- this is special

presentation for me and i got to watch lonnie in action. last month during the early evening hours of february 22 there was a horrible senseless incident that occurred outside the recreation center and lonnie who is one of the leaders. he has been with the department since 2010 and was on scene when the incident happen and charge of a facility with about 80 people in it at the time there was a shooting that resulted in a horrible

homicide. lonnie acted quickly and calmly to call 911. he notified his supervisors and lorraine and bob and i were on the seen and jackie battle was there and he had the presence of mind to escort 60 to 70 members of the public who were using the facility to a safe location away from the incident that occurred and if you think about this for a second there was a shooting but no one knew about the shooter was and it's times of crisis that you get a look at someone's character and i want to thank lonnie for his actions and calmness. he knew the item of the incident and he emotional issues to deal with while acting professionally and i am so proud of how you handled that evening lonnie and i wanted to

thank you. [applause] >> good morning. my name is lonnie beard. i would like to say thank you commissioner, and me -- i of associated with park and rec for 20 years before i got with park and rec in 2010. the 20 years i was with park and rec and pel i was down in gill man for me to get with park and rec it was a blessing to give back to the kids so i want to say thank you again and i will continue to try to keep up the good work and give park and rec a good name.

>> thank you very much. [applause] >> before we move to this month in parks i want to take a second to commend jackie battle and lorraine and bob. it's amazing when you see your folks in action when something bad happens and by the time i got there they were already there and spent quite a bit of time comforting staff and helping make sure the place was safe for everyone, and so it's times like these that you remember our staff on the ground are true heroes. >> maybe they could stand up and take a bow. [applause] >> all right. are you ready? this month in parks.

>> we're glad you're going to be playing and to opening day and a great baseball season. we hope that you learn about the game and more importantly how to be good teammates to one another. >> don't stop thinking about tomorrow. don't stop. it will be here. it will be here better than before. yesterday's gone. yesterday's gone

(fleetwood mac). don't stop thinking about tomorrow. >> happy new year everybody. i really love the fact that we're doing a tournament here. whether you go play college or in the nba or not we know that team sports are building skills for the future and i expect you will be leading us in the coming years because of the leadership skills you're learning here on the course. >> and that concludes the general manager's report.

>> thank you. commissioner low. >> i'm still moved by the coach's plea at for the track at the last commission meeting and i want to follow up. where are we are at kaiser? >> we are supportive to figure out a strategy to replace the track. what we have been doing and we made the request in our capital fund submission, so there has been confusion about the true replacement cost would be and i asked our staff to refine the cost estimate for the track which we still think is around $2 million but when you do a project like that there are other considerations and we have been consulting with the mayor's office on disability and others and we hope to have a sharper estimate within a few weeks and we would forward to the

commission and the mayor's office as well. >> thank you. >> does that conclude your report? >> yes. >> okay. so we do have two folks who wanted to speak on keysar now. you can come up now. mark and lorrainea. >> we do have an overhead. sfg tv will deal with it. >>i am mark christian son sitting for 24 years on the advisory committee. i have some pictures to show with regard to the condition of the track and one of the things -- this is an article that appeared on follow 28 in the chronicle that highlighted the significance of the replacement of the track. here are some pictures taken

recently that show the condition of the track, the most severe area is at the start of the 100-meter dash if you notice the area that is right there is actually 14-millimeters lower than the existing track. i will show you a picture of what it should look like very quickly. this is the new surface and this is the subsurface. that is 14-millimeters thick. then there is the subbase and the sub-base is asphalt and that's the asphalt that is now showing through. now that's the most severe area of the track. however if you look even at the areas along the inside lane it is approximately seven to

8-millimeters lower than it should be and water now sits in there. this track was put in 19 91 and obviously needs replacement at this time so i am asking that perhaps the commission can have a resolution that goes forward to the mayor and that there is set aside capital budget request that has been in there since 2008 so we are requesting that you move this forward to the mayor and the committee to fund this at the earliest possible convenience. thank you. >> thank you. >> we're back and we will keep coming back until this track gets back on track. i am lena and chair of the stadium advisory committee. we have been dealing with this issue for a very long time and i know all of you want to main