structural repair. the whole clubhouse initiative is supposed to be raising all this money for the department. i would like to know if it is: to raise any money. has there been any financial analysis of what the city will get after they make their contribution. >> thank you. >> there is the whole concept of privatizing prayer for property. and i include the park and the

best example would be outside. i do not think he would have this. every time you have that kind of arrangement, we hear about it in our neighborhood association. you can buy exclusive use of a property. these are both good programs. they are needed by our children. the other is the financing of their program and this is extraordinarily complicated and this is getting more complicated

because of the enormous reductions they have going on right now. eyeless% involved in the negotiations of those arrangements. you should be talking to the department of human services. all of which put money in. give us a chance to work out the problem. >> thank you. >> 40 years ago, his son, our son, his brother, all paid

baseball at war allies. -- played baseball at laurel heights. >> i would like to make comments in regard to the clubhouse. and to make a decision, to do this without the process would be worse. the city college program as you

have heard many times over. that is quite a long time. i think that needs to be considered. you have to make this right. thank you very much. >> i am here speaking before you to support language in action. we have heard a lot of things.

one of the things you talked about was trying to bring to a senate seat to the city of san francisco in regard to providing services for the community and also for the private committee as well. i also think that it should be noted that while it is being privatized, this is being privatized with the goal of supporting children and community education and providing jobs to a lot of people who otherwise would not able to have them.

>> who would like to have them be able to have their family here. >> we will have to leave if this kind of thing cannot be sustained.

there is kind of a happy medium to raise the money and to try to keep people mix with each other. at the same time, we have to leave options for people like us. allow us to stay and make that difference. that is what i wanted to express. thank you. >> is there anyone else that would like to make public comment on this? >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am a legislative aide. i just wanted to recognize that the supervisors sent me up here today. we understand we are in an extremely budget -- difficult budget situation. we have four neighborhood groups that are very concerned.

the concern we have heard is about privatizing a public place for five years. the length of the lease is something that they're concerned about. they are also concerned about the private use of what they feel is public property. they are asking for a one-month continuance. she recognizes the language and action is a great program. two years ago, she worked to help on sacramento street. many neighbors were not too fond of this. we are talking about public property, a private use, long- term lease. it is really upsetting to a lot of our neighborhood associations. we understand there are some alternatives that are being

discussed and we would like to know if one month is enough time to discuss those alternatives. a lot of times we tried to be nice. we hear this all the time in the city. you just did not noticed your notice. this is a real issue for some people that really care about it. we need to see if there's something you can do in the next month to perhaps address those concerns. we would like to know whether or not this will impose a serious burden on them. if we can continue this for a month, the supervisors would like to see this happen and we would like to gauge some of the conversations going forward. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon.

i am not part of any neighborhood association. i am a neighbor of the program. on wanted to address these things. first of all, the public property, a private lies, there are plenty of examples. this sounds like a bit of a red herring. the real question is will language and action truly make the best use of that space. we are not language and action parents. we do want to address the previous speakers questions about the burden of waiting another month. the burden on us, a key working parents, we have not been able to find a preschool for our daughter.

it might be too late for another month. my wife has taken at our daughter to the program. it is a couple of hours a day. from what she tells me, this is basically children playing outside and then they gather for a few minutes. this is not a school. this is not a place for kids to go and get a real deep learning experience. also as a native san franciscan, this is concerning to see properties lying fallow for so long.

>> thank you. indee>> i believe that languaged action is a very good school. i am very proud of my mom. i have noticed that the kids love the teachers and sometimes they don't even want to go home. i think the most important element that they have is the diversity that they have and that they share. this is a very good school. thank you for your time. >> thank you.

>> i actually went up to borrow hills this week to see what it was. this is a great school. this is a playground. i say there are 80 separate values here. this does provide many services to people. on the other hand, i think that this also provides valuable services to people. there of about 40 kids up there with amazing amounts of activity. i talked a couple of the mothers so i said, do you know what is calling on here, what you are involved then? they said, yes, we kind of did

not know that this happened. we did not know what was going to happen next. i do want to speak for the one mother who said this. the distinction is that parents stay with their kids. she said, i learned to indictable things to this program. that is what i want to share. she said, i was having another child soon, i did not know how to deal with this. that service provided her with guidance in her life. >> thank you. >> is anyone else that would like to make public comment on this?

>> i want to make one small comment. there has been a lot of requests for a continuance. i was calling to of my daughter start at language and action next month. we go where we can kill. most preschools have it mission in september. if we hold for another month, most of the parents that are planning to go full time are not planning to go. -- on not going to be able to be there. >> is to anyone else who would like to make public comment? seeing none, public comment disclosed. >> thank you. let me express to everyone that i appreciate your devotion on

both sides of this issue. as stated earlier, these are both good causes. i will encourage my fellow commissioners to ask a prepared questions of staff and also the interested users so that we can come to some resolution. do we have staff,? >> i want to correct one thing. one supervisor of with language and action in the past. that was a different company. that was language in play. that is a major difference. >> thank you. and wh>> we are talking about a-

year lease. we are talking about budget problems. if we proceed today, what happens? let's say that the program is firmly established and the neighborhood love said, there is resistance to moving it and changing eds. what do we do? >> we did talk about where to set. we were specifically talking about these two clubhouses. we decided that the five-year lease, it takes time for a program to establish itself.

we have determined that the five years is what we would go for. we did not include an option to extend. we felt that it would be giving too much time. >> it is that ok? they recognize that is a possibility? penn in five years, we've made very well want to revert back to something. >> this is a question for the city attorney. it was brought up here that it was illegal for us to least property to private entities. i know that there has been some city attorneys on this. can you brief us on what those

are? >> under the charter, there is a restriction. this is a private verses non- profit entity. this is for a recreational purpose. there are many examples with an ancillary purpose. if actually serves a purpose to allow people to visit the park, this is an ancillary purpose. i cannot give ancillary purpose.

you have proprietary firms that lease our property. this allows people, there is a restaurant. there are things there. there are leases of both kinds. that is not the issue. you have two leases, that they could be argued to be ancillary. you have a difficult decision. >> go ahead. >> there are some opinions about

the city attorney's and what was given regarding the uses of our facilities, clubhouses, and the like. i think that you said something. >> yes, there has been a series of opinions over 50 years when these questions have come up. there have been questions about the rowing clubs, for example. as long as these unavailable to the public, meaning that they don't discriminate, that is the one that you might be thinking about. those questions about whether these could be done. >> my next question is, the language and action might be by the organization, four fees that they charge to their participants? how would that fit into that decision? >> this follows the decision in

that these are membership clubs. there's nothing wrong with that as long as they don't discriminate and they are not closed in some way that would violate the state law. that is what that decision was about. that does not mean that you cannot have a membership, it just means he cannot discriminate. >> if they do get these, then they would have to open cal hol heights? >> the student would have to apply and meet the criteria. >> they could discriminate against who comes in this and pays the member of the school? >> yeah. the discrimination in the way -- discrimination on the basis of race and national orr gin or religion, basically violating

the state nondiscrimination statute. but there are activities on park property that people pay to participate. >> i like to point out, it is first come, first serve. there's no discriminatory policy. >> right. >> the application is first come, first serve. >> all right. thank you. >> commissioner martin? commissioner martin: i don't know why you don't talk to the community first. but to do this, i'm not with you. >> koll missioner sullivan. commissioner sullivan: i'm trying to understand the language in action now. they're in existence in another part of the city?

>> around the corner, right. they wanted to expand for more space. they certainly were aware of the -- heard about the arts too. as i said, we did have a public meeting in june of 2009 explaining -- which i believe you were at, commissioner. talking about the four clubhouse that is would have to be closed. at that time we announced that we would have a survey for the public to be able to give us ideas of what they wanted -- wanted to see in the clubhouses. we had no predetermined idea of what we wanted there at that time. we -- as nicole said we put the survey on our web pain and we notified people of its existence. we had help from n.p.c. and the parks trust to get the word out about the length. we had 102 responses to the survey. that was for the four clubhouses. the idea of putting out an

r.f.q., when i brought it to you, i did post a flier on each clubhouse, that there would be an r.f.q. for the site. i did that at that time. that we would try to match the proposal with -- with what the communities wanted for the clubhouses. we received no proposal for cal hollow. we received no proposal for laurel hill. we received two proposals for merced heights and one for lewis. as i mentioned, i finally in march contacted city college after mass oing view approached the park about the two facilities. and told them that -- that, reminded them that there was -- there was an r.f.q. out. i was told they had no money to participate as far as rent is concerned. so, i told them that -- that we would not pursue anything until after their spring term because everything that had already been

advertised for their classes and we didn't want to preclude their activities there, so then i proceeded with -- discussions with the language in action. >> a couple of the -- of the parents speaking had said that they would not -- you know a continuance would be a burden on them, because they -- they needed to make a decision about a preschool in the near future. if the schools in existence around the corner, i didn't understand that comment. >> i think amory could answer that better than i could. >> identify yourself. >> i'm amory donahue. i'm the founder of plan in action. since 2003, we have been operating as a private recreational program out of 2830 baker street. when -- when i have -- i got the r.f.p. via e-mail. i was like, wow this is a great

opportunity but at that time i wasn't interested. we were happy in our location -- state licensing has changed. i can no longer operate as a private recreational program. i need -- i need to become a preschool. so licensing came to me and they said, you either have to have the children for just four hours or become a preschool. why aren't you a preschool? and -- so, we wanted to keep our -- our children in the program. i wanted to keep my employees employed. so i had to very quickly find a new location. i cannot stay at 2830 baker street. i'm not expanding the program, i'm actually -- the program will be slightly smaller and i have to be at two locations, not an one location. so i was very -- i picked up phone and tried to find the right person at rec and park

because they're recalled seeing the e-mail about the r.f.p. i was happy to find out, quite surprised that they were still available. so that is when -- when tom and i started -- visiting the site and figuring out how we could coexist with the community. it was -- it one a natural -- unnatural to me because my neighborhood playground was there and i had that framework. we been coexisting in the cal holl hoe play ground since 2003, going up there as visitors. i knew it was really important that we made decisions so that we could complaint to coexist. as i stated earlier, the parents that are in our program are living in this community. so -- so we have to leave 2830 baker street and go to the

locations. parents -- it is very hard to find preschool for children in the city, especially if you're a working parent. if you look at my schedule -- i'm very -- it is odd for preschools. i tried to accommodate the working parents. i tried to accommodate the stay at home parents. that's why we half day and full day programs, so we could open our arms to all families. my parents have been very patient. this has been going on for -- for quite a while. they have been patient but they're getting nervous. they're -- their school starts and we can't continue to stay where we are. >> i don't want to -- to interrupt but if you could answer. what will happen if you don't get this lease? what will you do? >> i'm going to have to tell me parents that i don't have a place for their children and jobs for my teachers.