we were reaching out to the stakeholders. we got tremendous support, actually, for this event. i was actually down there this past saturday when they have roped off the whole park. they actually were giving fliers to the neighborhood, and one of the comments i heard back from the community who was doing the volunteering was that there were not enough flyers. so you are right about that follow up and making sure. they wished there had been more. that is something we have learned. but those were the comments we got. when i was down there, there were people going, "what is this event?" but it is a judgment call, and we do our best to balance those different concerns. i have been to washington square three times and look forward to creating year but aren't -- look

forward to giving a report on that. >> on a couple of our items, there was a very nice description on the outreach that was done on some of these things. >> is that the one that is coming up? >> yes, i really appreciate to see that. >> we are merck -- working all the items that come before the commission, and gas to the point about making sure staff know the policies and procedures, but i have directed staff in every report that comes up. there will be a very specific section on the l reach that we will list because, quite frankly, it is the easiest thing in the world, particularly when you do not for an issue, and we do try to do as much out week as we can, given the capacity that we have, which is a very serious, limiting factor from

time to time. we do not have 15 community outreach officers that can room every single neighborhood in our parks. we have sarah and alton, literally. sometimes we are stretched by capacity, but we're going to start providing for you in detail all of the community contacts that we are making. i pulled out of this, and the reason we are raising this publicly is because we would like to update our databases. we would like to make sure we are working with people in a way that we are doing it effectively and efficiently, and it is something we want to do because i think we have a great story to tell. we are doing some exciting things. and there's not even many of us doing anything in san francisco, except maybe the giants, but we do have a good story to tell, and we are striving to try to broaden our reach. commissioner levitan: i think

personally, what i would hope to see out of this effort is some kind of a uniformity, frankly, a consistent road back, depending on what the need is, that we just sort of plugging in. we know it is good. we know it is reliable. you could argue or say publicly this is a reasonable amount of our reach, so, yes, some folks are going to say they did not know, but we can rely on that consistency. to my colleague's point, something as simple as putting notices in the recreation centers, i appreciate you saying that is arguably where we have not been good because our view of the, it's the easiest thing for us to be doing. we have not done it in the past, but it is good for us to do it going forward. when we anticipate, when we think something is a controversial issue or event and we need to do more outreach, half the time, we do not

anticipate the reactions that are coming out. i do not think it is a matter of doing more out -- because you think we need to. i think if we do our jobs right every time, we will get the turnout that needs to be turned out. and the one thing that i want to say, and i appreciate the work you are doing any work that is being done. it is a pet peeve of mine not to get stuff in advance, and i think is that -- it is a little frustrating today for us not to have something to be better prepared for today. i think it's a better use of our time, better use of the public for the time to know we were going to say because there were little things that pop up in his presentation i would have liked to have gone back to, and i cannot remember. years ago before most people were even here, we did have policies that the documentation was not ready, by the time the binder's went out, we did not hear the item, so please in the future, out of respect for everybody, please have that ready.

>> better outreach to the commission. commissioner bonilla. commissioner bonilla: speaking to that point, i think that' whn we are going through our dockets, reading up on all these items, i think we have to be absolutely sure that coming into this meeting, the we come to this meeting, that we have all the information at hand, that's there are not going to be any surprises. i think there needs to be the protocol in place that safeguards and provides some assurance that there are not base that that had been omitted in the process in terms of doing

outreach and that there is someone responsible in the department who use that protocol and says, "we did this, this, this, and back -- and hat -- and that, and we can assuredly come to the commission with this item." that it will not be a situation where the item is brought to us and then there is someone from the community who raises an important issue because perhaps this person communicated to the department, and that person was not responded to, so i think that is certainly a concern of mine. we take every step possible to make sure that we are able to hear the matter once it is brought to us. second, the other thing is,

there are rumored community meetings. you cannot say we are not having community meetings out there, and the staff is not merely in keeping the public. we cannot say that. but what i do hear often is back -- is that when feedback is given to staff in terms of some design questions, maybe some fonts or some designs in terms of capital projects, or maybe there is not that much of a consensus in terms of a project that we are trying to move forward, that we do not -- that there is it -- that we do not read that there is a lack of response on the part of the department to that feedback.

so i think there should be a protocol when we developed this outreach policy that says that we have an obligation to respond to the community and respond in a timely fashion so that the community does feel that they are being listened to and that the issues that they are bringing before the department and the commission, that they will be accessed at some point or another. so these are my comments. >> understood. part of that will be this policy that will help, but, as i said, he cannot guarantee, but that is absolutely our goal now and as we move through this process, so thank you. commissioner buell: i think

generally get the sense of the commission on this, and i think is probably because it is the single complete you hear the most, and is the one you hear at the rules committee regarding the charter amendment, so i think that you cannot go too far in this department. you have to be effective, so thank you. >> we do have public comment. >> good afternoon, commissioners. [inaudible] also with coalition for san francisco neighborhoods. my colleague -- my comments are in regards to noticing. i'm more familiar with the planning department, and i

normally in land use, but the planning department tried to comply with the codes, and there are codes regarding noticing. and they are required to give notice or any major issues 10 days in the newspapers. it is not even major issues. any action item. any major land use policy measures 10 days before. and if it is not noticed, it continues. i would suggest that one of the ways to improve out reach is to have a database of neighborhood organizations and community organizations and use that. either have them sign up or perhaps all the funding

departments. this perhaps goes beyond, but better to over notify. and e-mail is not very expensive. the two major issues, what comes to mind is the rfp for the open space -- i think it was peace plaza, union square. we did not find out until on tuesday that on a thursday there was an action item. i think it is important that you over notify. 500 -- five days of noticing is not sufficient. thank you. >> good afternoon. i apologize. i got here late because i thought the meeting was 4:00. anyway, i want to comment --

>> back out reach. >> very bad. nobody lets us know. --bad outreach. >> very bad. nobody lets us know. anyway, i'm glad they're recommended that they be out reach. without letting people an option to renew, and they are not going to renew, said they are leaving it, which is going to let us go ahead with the renovation, and that is what we were concerned about. so the thing is this -- we would like to be told about things. we would like to have a meeting in each neighborhood because there are 11 district. you should reach out to each district because when we come here, we have three minutes. we can ask a question, but we do not get an answer.

that is the problem. we need to have discussions and know what is going on and know what is going to be done because we are not getting answers. we are getting all kinds of evasion and this and that excuses, and it is not acceptable, so there are a lot of us. it is not just me. there is a whole lot of us that come before you that complain, and you know that. you hear them all the time, so let's get ahead with this thing. let's have discussions, and then, you could learn from the public. they know what is going on. be nice to us. you would get so much more. thank you. commissioner buell: thank you. >> pat anderson. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i just wanted to share some brainstorming for about a minute and a half. i have one of the family accounts. police said an e-mail blast

about these things, and i have never got one. you talked about having capacity issues. please recruit volunteers. i myself have given hours to heart and back, and another way i do that is through the marine a community association. i'm on the board of directors. i do think is a great idea to let all of the neighborhood association know, and we can help you without reached. put it in the neighborhood newspapers. posted on your web site. flyer the neighborhoods. look at the master voter files here. there are a lot of e-mail addresses their. flyer neighboring cafes. post listings on facebook. make announcements as senior centers because a lot of seniors do not have e-mail, and they would be willing to volunteer. and ask your own employees for

ideas on our reach. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. catherine howard. i would also like to speak to this. in some parts of golden gate park, that will get you a few trees down, and that is about it. i served on the community committee for the outside lands concert, and we asked and got the agreement that was the outreach to kiri, and -- if to geary. i would say that if the neighbors are going to hear the concert, let them know ahead of time. the surprise is that you worry about and people being upset is because we are taken by surprise. we find out three or four days ahead of time about something, so do not surprise us, and we will try not to surprise you. i would say the other thing is i had heard that you are going to

try project ahead of time on the web, and i would recommend the moment you start thinking about doing a project, that you listed on the blood, and you will find out right away how people feel about it. this is the advantage of knowing whether you should spend time, staff, and resources to do it, or if you have people who like it, and they will help you with it. more transparency, more our reach, and just let us know what is going on. thank you very much. >> is there any other public comment on this item? please come forward. >> i intended to only speak on aden's -- items 8, 9, and 10 today, but this issue breaks up some of the things i was going to say. i have two suggestions -- if you are doing more competitive solicitation, which, i think you mentioned, i urge you to reach out to other city departments

and have services responsibility for the various children's services. you have education, child care, all kinds of things that have not been touched, i don't think. that need to be. neighborhood organizations that i represent, the largest for of organization in the city -- we do not have departments. we are all volunteers, so everything hit us. and something about children services, we will know about it right away if they know that. we learned about the clubhouse shortly before july 1, and i noticed that you have the rfq for those leases on the agenda for july 1. at the same time, you have the approval for the lease agreements on their. that tells you something is wrong. you should basically approved the design objective before you

send out the presentation. then, you deal with the selections afterward, and those are separate issues. that is part of the problem we are going to have at the clubhouse. the other one is that they neglected to mention the mta's iscott. i urge the department to get involved in that period is a very good process. in fact, i think it is the only city department that does the outreach. when they use decoders, they tell everybody, not just neighborhood agencies, but federal agencies. anomaly deals with all the city departments. we have three major federal agencies that are part of our neighborhood. the city of trust, the park service, and the vmac, and they catch them all, and you have the

state highway department on ocean drive. commissioner buell: thank you. >> is there any additional public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner buell: this is the information i am only. thank you. i think you got some good feedback. i would like it actually approach individual commissioners as you put this together as well because i think it will get good feedback. perspective we have up here is sometimes a little different. >> absolutely. and if i may just be to the issue, we are members, and i apologize if i was not clear when i referenced that, of the 5000 significant permits, almost 80% of them go to another agency, that is primarily iscott. commissioner buell: thank you very much. commissioners, i know there's a lot of people here and some that have an attention span that may be matching some of the commission's, and i would like to take item 10 out of order if there is no objection, in order

to get testimony from people. do i need a vote on that? no, we will take in 10. -- item 10. >> good afternoon, commissioners. director of partnerships and resource development with the department. i would like to present to you today a proposal to lead the cal hollow and laurel hill to language in action. in this case, specifically

chinese and spanish language programs were lacking providing schooling to youngsters. she provides first come first served fee-based services to children ages two through six. she provides full day and a half-day programs to be an act of a -- three and five days a week. the goals are not only to teach language through recreational activities but also to teach students about the diversity that exists in our fair city, and lastly, a major goal of language in action is to provide teaching opportunities to first generation latina and chinese women. here is a sample morning schedule. as i said, the programs are half day and full day, but i just want to give you a sense for what happens with these youngsters' days.

they teach language through recreation. that might include free play outside in the climbing structures, emphasizing motor activities -- thank you -- dramatic play, movement, art projects. there will be age appropriate skills in the areas of language, but also literacy. again motor skills, academic readiness, and i coronation, table games, seasonal project, so it is a very well-rounded preschool program for the students. the lease provisions provide for about $28,000 a year annually for the there would be small areas that would be cordoned off for 81- hotwo 1-hour times per day.

the bathrooms will we made unisex. there are a few least amendments. the lease will be amended to read july 7th. monday through friday of each week, this phrase will be deleted. section 24 point to to be -- 24.22 b will be deleted. we actually put out an rfp in august of 2009. there was a need to close four clubhouses.

a survey was administered, and through our web site through our newsletters. starting in may of this year, staff took action to get feedback. some information when out to the members of these groups. engine, there was a number of phone calls and e-mail. this was posted on the clubhouses.

the former executive director of the parks trust and the current director. >> should we proceed with public comment? >> we can ask questions before this. >> i think we just need presentations from the public. >> you said there are two bathrooms.

one will be designated for the school. the other remains dedicated to the public. >> for a small portion of each day, a small underutilized portion of the playground, this is none of the play structures. the play area will be off-limits to the public. >> this will be available during all posted hours. this will be totally available except for a small time.

>> this is the entire area here. >> where is the entrance? >> it the area that will be cordoned off his right here. this is all concrete here. the area that will be cordoned off his right here. the structures that are already there will not be tampered with. there is one bench and this area will be temporary cordoned off. othis does not preclude them frm

playing in the structures with the rest of the kids. >> is this just when they have outdoor play time? >> no, just for two hours a day. >> i think that we can proceed with public testimony.

>> , and a big supporter of the language and arts. i just want to speed to this, i think these are very 50 locations. they are already geared towards preschool-aged children. -- will speak to you about the port -- importance of language immersion. she does an aging cultural programs that she does amazing cultural programs. i feel like this is such a uniquely san francisco program