that is what we want for the students here. i also think they might share that with past alumni and the community, so they could no the treasure that we have here in the schools. many people have the same experience i did when i first walked into this building three years ago, being the new principal. the grandeur of these murals is fantastic. many of the students who have come here have come here and are very proud of these murals. they're so happy that they're still here and are being preserved. >> to learn more about the civic >> to learn more about the civic art collection, visit oh, my! haa ha ha! ha hha ha! [snortg]

>> let me make one announcement, item 5 a is removed from the consent calendar and will be heard on the general calendar. the ringing and use of all cell phones, pagers, and similar devices are prohibited at this meeting. the chair may order the removal of any persons responsible for the ringing of these devices. in order to facilitate an orderly meeting, we ask that you fill out a blue card if you wish to speak on an item.

the commission may ask questions of staff after the items have been disclosed. we are on item number two, which is the president's report. >> i did want to bring up a topic and as my fellow commissioners to give their opinion. the rules committee has held hearings about a proposed charter amendment to realign the way that commissioners are reported, to split that authority between the board of supervisors and the mayor's office. i would like to make an observation that many of the people that we heard speak

seemed dissatisfied with the amount of transparency and the amount of precipitate -- participation that the public has. when the mayor announces that the department is faced with 30% budget cuts in the general fund and you have to get a budget ready in a timely fashion, the challenges that you have two choices. we were looking at $12 million worth of cuts. the of the option is to try to find new ways to generate revenue. in the cases where we have been aggressive in trying to eliminate a reduction of staff,

there are people who have not been satisfied with the decisions that the commission has made. to the issue of transparency and outreach, we could to a better job. we have submitted to the recommendation that we hold public meetings in different parts of the community. as a second step in that direction, i have been advised that there was a process of having committee meetings of members of the commission on various items and they would be heard by committee and then come to the full commission. then came the opportunity for commissioners to hear concerns before the full vote. i have had a discussion with a couple of commissioners.

>> all and all, i think it was a very positive process when i came on the commission, there were three subcommittees. the one that i was on, it was operations. what we would do is that we would meet at the lodge and we always had a packed house. individuals, people from the public, this was say diverse group. from what i recall, people seem to be able to speak more freely and it was the tone of

discussion. i don't recall that we limited the discussion or presentations. the town of the meaning was such that it was a very open kind of dialogue. what i liked best about the process was that if there was any inaccuracies in times of the information' or any stakeholde'' that or not at the meeting that we felt needed to be at the full commission meeting, especially if there was action that was going to be taken, that we would have an opportunity to work with staff right then and there in terms of addressing any of the needs for information and to really make sure that all of

the stake holders would be present at some point. at least they would be notified and present the full commission meetings. overall, i thought it was a good process. when we did, and when those matters were brought before the full commission, it seems to me at the time that it was not such a contentious process. in regards to level of information that was being presented, i think that we might

be at a point in time in terms of all of our budget concerns and all of the special initiatives that have to be taken that we might be at a point in time where we need to have more dialogue. in regards to the generating of revenue initiative, we need to look at these more with the community. it might be that we are at that point that we need to work and to our due diligence and little bit better for a lot better in terms of getting more

cooperation with the public. my opinion is that we might need to reinstitute those subcommittees or do something else. in my opinion, we do have an issue that we need to address, and issue about reach and of public outreach and input. >> do not thank you. i am not looking so much for everyone to comment on this but i think that that is the direction will will be going in. i will encourage fellow commissioners and members of the public to give their opinion on that matter as we ponder what is the best way to try to get as much input as possible. thank you. we have a san francisco

certificate of appreciation for bill and angela -- are you here? please rise. [applause] i want to read this certificate before i come up and present it but this is awarded to committee members who have been talented dancers cents high-school. they have been teaching dance at the chinatown ymca and other clubs in the chinatown area since they retired 17 years ago. five years ago, they began volunteering to teach ballroom dancing at the golden gate park for the senior center. they are extremely energetic and engaged in a wide variety of dancers and styles.

this couple is a grid example of how when you give a little, you get a lot. we celebrate their an outstanding work and achievement and we thank them for their dedication to improving the lives of so many. [applause]

>> i just want to say that my greatest passion in life is ballroom dancing. i hope my students share the same experience that i have. we certainly enjoy teaching them. they are such wonderful students. we have class twice a week. we get about 170 and month. i hope to keep on teaching them as long as i live. thank you very much for the certificate. [applause] >> we will be teaching at 3:00. >> thank you. >> is there any public comment

under the president's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. we are on item number three, the general managers' report. >> good afternoon, mr. president. congratulations on your swearing in for a full four-year term. the report that i offer you today is actually the first report of the new fiscal year and it coincides with the completion of one full year which started on july 7th. we are celebrating a bit of an anniversary. i want to give you a brief look back at the year that was.

on saturday, i am pleased to report that the swimming pool reopened. this is one of the projects for which she made the decision to allocate the deferred money out of the reserve. this is the first time that of the swimming pool has been touched since the 1950's. over $250,000 worth of repairs were needed including new overhead lights, brackets, the walls need to be repainted, the locker rooms needed to be repainted, the old plaster lining, new anchors. i had a great pleasure of being out at the opening ceremony on saturday morning with members of our structural maintenance

staff the joy and passion -- maintenance staff. the joy and passion was pretty spectacular. this is a committee of where people come in swim and they know each other from their time overlapping and people coming in and swimming. this was a great reopening, people were excited. when you make these decisions, we have to remind ourselves that they had a real impact and they are very tangible for parks and recreation. over the past month as you know and most of the soccer-viewing public knows, we have been hosting a world cup observation.

the final was in the netherlands -- was spain versus the netherlands. we had about 10,000 people in the civic center to witness the event live. we have been doing this all month. the finale was really as good as it gets. that is one of the things that i look back on my first year and i am most proud about it. this is a culmination of a lot of the things we have been talking about, making our parks fun. we have relied on our partners to help us to do what we otherwise have not been able to do. encouraging our kids to get out

and play. it was really fantastic. what we thought we would do is sit here who is out there. mark is part of our team and he hadn't own initiative to just start showing up. he put together a small video that we want to share with you say you can get a flavor of what this was about. >> i want to ask anyone standing to find a seat. we don't have an overflow room today so i would like everyone to take a seat if there is an empty seat anywhere in the house.

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>> you just get a small sense of the joy of that particular day. [applause] we had a number of sponsors such as another planet, the laborers local 261, the firefighters local 798. i want to thank all of our sponsors. today, i want to celebrate our partner, the folks who helped us

put this on. are all of you here? [applause] we could not have pulled this off without their incredible commitment and partnership it was very rewarding. it was a joy to work with all of you. we cannot think you enough for the gift you have given. peter has it in his head, he showed up at the world cup finals.

he is an educator and he has these great buses any case people ford taurus -- and he takes people for tours. there are also members of our own staff. this was an enormous undertaking. we probably had about 40,000 visitors over the course of the month. it was in the middle of the budget season. we had people who came during the middle of the day. this was a very fabulous event. we are already thinking about

2014. on behalf of the recreation department, i would like to thank you all. thank you very much. you have brought san francisco such a great gift. you have helped to raise the money for this public private effort. thank you very much. [applause]

>> on behalf of america corp., we would like to think -- for the leadership. in this altogether. none of us could have done this alone. -- all of us working together, none of us have done this alone. it brought this city together, young and old, black, brown, white. we celebrated our country's of origin and our national pride. we look forward to the women's world cup.

[applause] >> i just wanted to say it was good to see everyone smiling. they will still looking happy in the park. i do in our mental education. for me, it is important to show them places like civic center. also to bring in a little bit of a dancing. [applause] >> we have a couple of other announcements and then we wanted to to our employee recognition.

this is part of many of the things we have discussed throughout the year at these meetings we discussed news that the department has been awarded a grant of $54,000 a year for each of the next three years to help support an additional day each week of programming at the -- rec center. we have had to make some difficult choices given the resources that were available to us. we are very much looking to partner just like we did during the world cup with the nonprofit community and the private

sector to make sure that we can do this. we are so excited. may this be the first as many. we will be holding a job fair on saturday, july 21st. we are looking for individuals to fill our positions focusing on community service, sports, athletics, leisure services. the job fair july 24th for those of you have a passion in a particular area of recreation and think you have something to offer, please come to our job fair. our family is evolving and

changing. since march 1st, 44 members of our staff have filed a force -- filed papers for retirement. we would like to invite you all to our special event that we are having for our retirees. we are experiencing a lot of retirement. there is opportunities and a time to appreciate our retirees. >> thank you. good afternoon, commissioners. i am the human resources manager

for the department. i am proud to be here to introduce the recipients of our program. i would like to refer to the criteria used by the correct -- by the committee. an accomplishment that improves procedures, saves time and money, improves customer service is heroic. this provides a model for consistent work. shows leadership these are the criteria we use. i would like to introduce our first recreation professional. allen started in 1996 as a recreation director. she was promoted quite well

within our organization. she was the back bone of the athletics division. she is currently at the richmond recreation center where she provides primary programming for classes. in fact, her family our tree classes were so long -- so popular that additional sections had to be added. news tensions have been made out of boxes and other items to make binoculars and other instruments. helen is renowned as an exemplary team player who is always helpful and resource