poorly against the family and i am not affiliated with the family in any way. >> thank you very much. >> i am here in support of ortega recreation. building is an essential part of the lake. this is in desperate need of renovation. we need a high-quality fleet of boats and highly trained staff. the plan includes a minimum of 50 new boats for the lake with a commitment to get more to meet

the demands if necessary. the staff is trained in cpr, first-aid, and other safety certifications and training. the new goal -- boats will need less maintenance. thank you again and i respectfully ask you for the staff recommendations to the family. >> i just want to say that i have not been to snow lake in years. i go by there once in awhile, i run by it. the taurus really like it.

-- tourists really like it. [singing] we are just ships that pass in the night i wanted this to turn out all right we are together and these past in the night we are just ships that pass in the night makes this item work out right we are still here, make the item turn out right like ships that pass the night stow lake will be fixing up all

right don't be out of sight with this item please fix it sailed away in the night please, make it right >> thank you. >> i will try to do my best. hello, commissioners. i'm a parent of two public school children. i am also the executive director of the activities leak. for over 50 years, we have partnered with healthy sports and activities. they have 5000 use every year and many are at the facilities.

this has put severe pressure on our nonprofits and city governments. it is more difficult than ever to meet the increasing demand for services. it is necessary to find new solutions, new partners, and new ways to meet the needs of our partners. we are partnering with ortega family enterprises to make a much-needed improvements and to help attract new patrons. this'll go back into improving our system. i look forward to ensuring that this is an attractive destination. i want my kids to experience this as it was for their parents, their great grandparents, all of them used the facility.

>> thank you. >> good afternoon. i have been involved with the concession for 61 years since receiving my first paycheck there. due to the spin f p r that has been going on, i request this agenda item be tabled until there is public disclosure. the response to the rfq and much of the spin is addressed. i am extending a copy of the august 16th memo that you will see containing many issues and requests and i request that it be included in the official minutes so it will be available

for public view. we will e-mail to anyone the requests. the three most significant items in this memo are the unknowns guaranteed rent revenue to be paid by the family. the corporation offered a minimum annual rent of $215,000. historically, the corporation has always exceeded its minimum guarantee. the second item is a material change to the historic nature of the building. this is the boathouse. this is not a cafe and a gift shop. the third significant item is a reduction in the fleet size from 85 votes to 50. they say they will have the leeway to the need. we have been there 67 years. 50 boats will not adequately

service the public. who will make the decision? in conclusion, the staff is recommending the severing of 67 business relationships. they have always paid their rent, provided first-class service to the citizens and visitors, maintain the historic nature of the building, never had a lawsuit, and willing to bring the building set up to as new, the store conditions. all this is being thrown out the window in favor of an absentee operator the proposes to convert the boathouse into a gift shop destroying its historic

presence. >> i have a prepared statement that i will spare you the details. you know the signs. my son and my daughter among decided to be a graduate of stanford and they came down here and they took my granddaughter.

this is still a nice place. i don't know what he will do. i recall john kennedy st. that by the time the decision as to his office -- same -- saying that the decision will get to his office. we would really like a chance. in the end, that might that be what you want to do. maybe, what i can say is that we will do the best we can. we would like you to look at the international park. what we do and we don't know in area, they did not understand in ferment of problems.

we figure out how to solve the problems. i would like to suggest that you check this out very carefully. we will commit to stand with the process, this one is in death valley. we are here. if not, we are ok with that as well. thank you. hfeu&

>> i would develop high-end restaurants. i know ortega for his son at stanford and i got to know the family, i got to know them really well. he brought me to the national parks, something that i thought that i would never do. a woman talked earlier today about a sustainable system. this is not only about local and healthy foods, this is about the sustainability of trash,

composting. the national park service had this rebuild to our specification which will be the first lead certified building in the national park. we are not greedy, we are not a corporation. we decided not to sell candy, bottled water, even though the of 20% of the sales for the previous concessionaire. when we came up with the plan, we decided to add a restroom. we want to create a fun and friendly approach, $3-a dollar food. -- $8 food. we want people to know where their food comes from and we want to give people an opportunity that it would expect when they come to san

francisco as they see in other venues. thank you. isn't any other public comment on this item? -- >> is there any other public comment on this item? >> hali am writing in support of the recreation and parks department -- i believe that this will be a much more attractive destination for families and tourists visiting golden gate park. i strongly urge you to prove the recreation and park department recommendation and proposed to

invest a sizable amount of funding. a fleet of 50 new boats and to install a cafe serving locally sourced food. the boathouse has seen few changes since it was built. taurus, bikers, other visitors will have access to a variety of local and organic food and vegetables while still being able to purchase other items. with this new items, the boat house will be able to attract a wider range of customers and is expected to increase concessions and revenue. this will grow the amount that goes back into our park system to maintain the open spaces.

this is essential during the $12 million deficit. i hope that you will approve this proposal and insure that snow lake is an attractive destination. >> thank you. >> is anyone else who would like to make public comment on this? >> i have been listening to both sides of this all day. i go to snow lake for mental health reasons, usually. there are pros and cons on both sides. what i think is extremely important is to respect the

tradition of san francisco and the family that actually build the boat house. we are dealing with a boat house. upgrade the boats. the other thing is it is reasonable and important to include the bathroom. on that point, i would like to see as people love wheelchairs' is instead of having all of the nice stuff in the boat house is to do something about the paging on the path because it is difficult for people who have mobility issues. that is all i have to contribute. thank you. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon. i have been listening on both sides today to try to find some understanding for myself. i don't see a distinct or clear vision of the direction of what the department's would like. they are separate things. ortega's is coming in with some money to develop capital and to improve things. i have a question about what really needs to be improved. i did not really see the representation of that. it seems seeing subjective as to what we want. do you want to have it be something that is an enterprise situation versus seven years the people who have been running it? those are very distinct.

one of the missing parts of this is the evaluation criteria which involves the length of the leases and what money is coming in. icy capital improvements that i don't see what is coming into the city. that is what you were all about, how do we balance these things. i am not seeing that. we lived in a few city. all of those things can be put into play i think locally. i asked that you look at this again. i know that this has been in a process and people have devoted time but this does not fit, it is not seem like these things are being considered so i asked

that you do look again at this. >> is anyone else don't like to make public comment on this item? seeing non, public comment is closed. >> i got involved in the selection committee, i have been on this commission for at least a few of the previous iterations that we then had to withdraw. i effort frustration from the committee and i volunteered to be on the selection committee.

selfishly, i want to be involved with this at snow lake. -- stow lake. we would like to know what this will look like. in san francisco, we are very open-minded and progressive. if you try to change something, everyone says do not. one side says, it is find a way it is, don't change it, it has character. the other side says, we can do this.

i don't see why this is utility exclusive. this is where i disagree with the opponents. i think that we can achieve maintaining this. i would not be sitting here, i would not be on this commission if i did not feel strongly about maintaining the integrity of the assets in this department. i am all about family friendly. that is a very fair argument. people say that they don't want the magnets for tourists, i'm sorry for those who do not support the tourist industry. i want this to be an important destination or locals. i don't know that this is a fair thing to say.

one of the charges of the commission is to bring people to the park. if the new and improved part does this, this is part of our commission. i don't want this to be a f oodie destination. is it so wrong for it to offer some good food and a place to sit down. i went to muir woods to the other day to look at their cafe. this was a very understated,

very simple. i found the menu which was wonderfully affordable. there were several things under the price of $8. i was pleased with the message in that cafe. this is about history. the take away for me in that cafe was that this is a historical space, this is a space that is mindful of the environment that it serves. it did have a lot of souvenirs' and frankly moving forward from this process, we will be doing public meetings and i understand the process, that is a valid concern.

i don't want to see their -- there a lot of -- in stow lake. there were three very good proposals. this is extraordinary. this hit on a lot of things that are important to the department and san francisco values. this is affordable, this is enjoyable, i think if we can improve upon a treasured place, we can enhance the experience and they will preserve and respect the historical nature of that place, why wouldn't they do it? we don't have the money to restore the boathouse. we just do not. where's the money coming from, one of the most important numbers is the money upfront to restore that building.

we don't have it. i think that that is incredibly important and i hope that people understand that. i think that that is all i want to say and i hope that this is a successful vote. >> for me, we have done at least three of these rfp's. having listened and reviewed and looked at these, i find myself in the place of asking staff and doing better. i think the financial aspect of this, as i recall the rfq first

played the capital improvements. now we're looking at these and we are not considering the channels of rent as a financial component. we are trying to be consistent in how we approach this. this process has prevented that, maybe this is something that we should look at again. i would say in this particular

area, i think that staff could do better and that we could get a better deal. >> i wanted to start off with a couple of questions about the rendering that we saw earlier today. the before photos are photos that i actually took and when we go out there the renderings, they were there. >> i don't know if you have them handy. the before and after photos, this is the current concession. one of the things that the people are skeptical of is an

attachment to a place that there parents visited. when i lived, my thought was that we could do a little bit better. that is my observation about that rendering. the rendering of the proposed caf -- proposed cafe, that looked appealing. this was bars a dedicated it to the food consumption with a couple of retail places to buy souvenirs. i would like to make sure that we keep it that way and this does not become dominated by

next and t-shirts. i know there are many people here who cannot approve and don't support the department's proposal. i want to say to them that you were really listening and i think the proposal that is before us today is quite different than it would have been without your input. i think the department has listened to. this is the proposal that will be affordable, and not a fine dining option. i think the department has done its best to listen to the comments from people who really loved this place and want to be able to provide and have it to be affordable, an experience similar to one that the families have had. i don't feel good about