i think this is veryvery importantly a neighborhood organization that many of us have deep roots in and take great pride in. have i been recycling at hanc all of these years specifically because of the grants that it funnels back into the community and which gives me a sense that i am directly able to affect the welfare of many people in my community whom i don't even know. so ripping hanc out of our midst, especially on short notice, i think would be an extreme trauma and shock to this community, and on that -- in that regard, i would also like to object very strainously to the lack of any dialogue, any notice despite your highly touted new outreach policy. i wonder why that doesn't apply

to the haight-ashbury? and i hope you will answer, does that only apply to certain neighborhoods and certain people? >> next speaker. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is greg gar. i ran the recycling center in the mid-80's and started the native plant nursery about seven years ago. this whole process has been very divisive in the neighborhood. there was not enough public process. paffs a big -- that was a big mistake. it's a unique facility because it propagates only san francisco native plants. these are adaptive to san francisco's environmental conditions that are habitat for our local wildlife. the nursery staff and volunteers have planted over an acre of gnative plant gardens adjacent

to the stadium. the garden supplied seed for propagation of more native plants. all of the potting soil is made on site. we supply plants to the natural areas, programs, green hair street quarter, green school yards program, mount sutro stewards. the nursery should remain as a valuable and appropriate use of golden gate park. thank you. >> about afternoon, commissioners. my name is tess wellborn, a long time resident of the ashbury. i recycle at the haight-ashbury recycling center and buy native plants there. i would like to address location, first of all, of community gardens. you have already approved a site at the top of this picture. secondly, there is a triangle at

fred wick that is much, much larger size, probably an acre and a half. that gets full sun and would be an excellent garden site if you need a second one. as far as the industrial, if you look at what it says in the golden gate master plan, it says stopping an industrial use at this center would mean stopping pickup around the city. the fact is that we only pick up in the immediate neighborhood and most of our donations and buybacks are from people who live in the immediate neighborhood. we get 3,000 people a month at that recycling center. most of them come in cars or on foot and obviously, our address showing they live in the vicinity. so don't be fooled by what they say about industrial. we have the -- the center has complied with what it says in the golden gate master plan. >> a few more names.

antonio ramon, elizabeth martin craig philip, steph any, pat green, nicholas bellny. bruno waltner. quentin mechanicy. mark marden and janet rogers. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is suze yes and i'm the program director for garden for the environment, a fiscally sponsored product of the haight-ashbury council. i also served as a stakeholder representing the urban agriculture specter. i'm a community garden advocate but i oppose the plan for the garden at 780 frederick street. while i applaud rec and park for allocating a quarter of a million dollars to create a community garden and resource center, considering the deep budget cuts for the department, a contradiction lies in the displacement of hanc to create a community garden. over the year hanc has supported

the san francisco urban agriculture community by providing grant funding for community gardens for compost bins, material and divorces for new garden as well as serving as the fiscal sponsor for garden for the environment for last seven years. last year per the request of the mayor and san francisco food policy council, all city departments and agencies were asked to conduct an audit of the land suitable for urban agriculture purposes. not only did 780 frederick street not appear on the citywind land audit, another location did. commissioners, i urge you to take a step back and initiate a public process that is transparent, participatory and inclusive. a comprehensive process that addresses the current associated concerns with hanc as well as the community garden and urban farming communities in san francisco. thank you. >> thank you, commissioners. my name is kevin hart. i'm a resident of the neighborhood and have been for

18 years. and i support the community garden proposal before you. it seems to be an excellent use as far as i know enjoys a great deal of support of the immediate neighborhood. i would also like to commend the process. we've been there for 18 years. this is discussion has been being had for ten of those years among neighbors, i believe in this room and thanks also to the press. i would also like to commend hanc. for its obvious and exemplary early leadership in building the recycling center and i would like to ask them to recognize that, that function is now obsolete, especially when it's located as it is an industrial use on public land, public park land, which is a value to all of us in the city. thank you. >> thank you. >> good evening, commissioners.

my name is paul green. i'm a member of the board of the neighborhood association. i have also been a resident of the area for 25 years. hanc has been a great resource in the early days in recycling. that resource is now superfluous with curbside recycling for the fast majority of people. i have visited many of the world's great parks and i know no other park in the world that has a recycling center in it. it was classified golden gate park say great park. having a recycling center in there is inconsistent with its use as place of recreation and i hope that hanc can continue its function in a more appropriate location. thank you. >> thank you. >> name is antonio romano, and i'm a lifetime native san franciscoan and urban farmer and co-founder of the san francisco

agriculture alliance, which opposes this measure. the main reason why i oppose this measure is because it just doesn't make sense. the site is not appropriate. someone tried to equate growing native plants with growing food plants and that's just ignorant. there's a big difference in the amount of food food plants need to native plants. that is a factor. there's plenty of available sites that have been explained and i would say yes, we want community gardens in that space. i live in the mission. i don't live in the neighborhood but i can imagine there's a lack of community gardens and i support making community gardens but that's not the right part. to me it seems like a railroad process, very undemocratic and made in the sense to demonize the poor yet again. for rec and park to participate in the process of demonizing the poor and trying to with hanc. some people don't like homeless people and that's inappropriate. if you don't like homeless people, you should do something else about it besides evict hanc.

>> good evening, commissioners. i just want to say i'm supportive of the community garden because we're taking a space that's being used now for profit and turning it into an open space area and that's something we need to look at here too, that we're always talking about the department being greedy and taking money left and right from everybody and this is a situation where we're actually taking something where we are getting money and going. let us -- let's give it back to the community. this is something that might be -- this is a very good point, and i think everybody needs to pay attention to that as well. also, one quick other point issy live in the lower richmond district as most of you know. i basically kind of scared the hell out of the people taking our recyclables this week and i talked to them a little bit. everybody i asked that was taking recyclables basically said we're going to golden gate park. so that's something to look at

in the outlying districts that they basically are getting them that way. so there you guys go. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is quentin mechanicy. i believe our office in addition to senator mark leno's office have submitted letters to this commission. and i should be clear about the intent of both of those letters in conversation with senator lengio's office, it's not to oppose community gardens. it's to oppose the decision and process by which you have now chosen to evict hanc. we are in favor of community gardens as i'm sure if you took a hand raising exercise here in this room right now, you would find the majority of people raising their hand in favor of community gardens. in october of 2009, this commission approved funding for a community garden in front of mclaren lodge and yet there's been no response as to the status of that. that was over a year ago. unfortunately, the administration and the department has made a very clear

choice to take what was a controversial and historical issue within this neighborhood and made it a family decisive issue that has separated every neighborhood around the recycling center. it's unfortunate and quite frankly didn't actually have to happen like this. not only was your outreach policy not followed, it was generally ignored. there have been no community meetings that we have been taken a part of or invited to attend. in closing we ask you to reject this proposal and keep hanc where its site is. >> good evening. i'm on the board of directors of san francisco community recyclers. i want to thank the commission for working with hanc for so long. would i suggest you consider renewing the lease for five years. that might be in order. thank you.

good evening, commissioners. my name is mark martin. i have worked in the area for years, and my great friend, late friend david brouwer might remind you that the environmental movement is not about ue taupen ideas but the future of the environmental movement is environmental justice, which involves dealing with people of all classes and all races. and i happen to have worked for hanc for a couple of years too. there is nothing like hanc on the planet. i have covered environmental issues for many years as a journalist. the meeting of races and classes at hanc is like nothing else in san francisco or anywhere that i know of where people from all levels of society come and participate in something that they love. this is a great, great social benefit that hanc does and i -- and i support the mezzureb. thank you. >> thank you.

>> i will read a few more names. marcus major, gary delaineous, karen fishkin, susan carasoft, anna cho, martha offman and matthew leviscay. >> good evening, my name is james. i'm a resident of the haight-ashbury since 1984. i have dedicated my career to parks and rec and actually work next to a community garden currently. i think that many people in this room have stated things that are quite misguided and i'm in support of hanc recycling program and native plant nursery. being next to a community garden. very few of those gardens are actually native plants. and i think many people have pointed out some good stuff thus far. it's amazing how you stand in front and get really nervous. so i do want to support hanc and i'm against this proposal. i think there are many better places for community gardens in the city as somebody rec creates

or used to rec create in the parks as well. i think that park and rec needs to build better community relations and not separate them. so, again, i'm in support of hanc and the recycling center. thanks. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is janet rogers and i'm a longtime resident, over 20 years. i'm here today to urge you to remove the recycling center and replace it with a community garden. clearly hanc should be commended for its pioneering efforts in recycling movement. however, it has outlived its usefulness now that we have a curbside recycling program. a community garden would be an asset to the neighborhood as it would be a lovely place for residents to gather to meet each other and to do community gardening together. thank you.

thank you. >> thank you. >> good evening, i'm elizabeth martin craig. one one of the cocoordinators of the agriculture coalition urban alliance. the san francisco agriculture alliance is firmly in support of garden resource centers and in support of the continued operation of hanc recycling center and native plant nursery. we do not think hanc should be closed in order toin stall a community garden. the hanc recycling center at that location is already providing an enormous benefit to the gardening and agriculture community by fully funding and operating the nursery dorks nating tons of card bore for mulch and projects like hay valley farms, agriculture workshops and classes and by acting as a garden resource distribute post for compost. they support equal access to production and believes a new garden resource center would

best serve san francisco if in a location that did not currently have a garden resource center. in conclusion we strongly support community gardens but not at the expense of hanc. thank you. >> hi. my name is stephanie. i'm just coming forward today. i'm a resident of the haight-ashbury community and i'm coming forward to express my im coming forward to express my concern i'm coming forward to express my concern regarding the potentialm coming forward to express my concern regarding the potential eviction of hanc. i think that i would be very disappointed to see hanc go. think from the clearance site for the garden would be awesome. i'm totally for community gardens. i don't think this is the appropriate place and i don't really think that rec and park really went about it appropriately. completely ignoring all of the policies and procedures that they put in place. i don't think that there's enough time to make a decision. especially a decision that will affect so many people in the community the way this would affect us with hanc closed.

and, yeah, that's pretty much it. i'm in support of hanc and i really hope you can really think about this before you make a decision. and think about what everyone here came to say. so that's all. thank you. >> hi, commissioners. i'm martha hoffman. i'm a homeowner on wall street near the hanc recycling center and nursery. the center is not the cause of camping in the park and not the cause of crime in the park and it's a very safe place. i have resided by hanc recycling center for years. it's popular, successful environmental center, outstanding operation and it should continue. i recycle there to support neighborhood green jobs, volunteers and because the center gives regular grants to the community, including at one time helping to restore the carousel. rec and park has handled this

effort in a really dishonest, disrespectful way and i appeal to you commissioners to put the brakes on this effort and to work towards the process to maintain the center improved at its location. >> next speaker please. >> good evening. i work with building resources in support of hanc. opposed to your motion. i am all in favor of garden centers. i would like to see gary boulevard ripped end to end and planted with trees but i don't think i will get it. what i would like is honesty. what this policy boils down to is the let's kill the buffalo. that's what we did to the native indians so we could make farms. that's what you guys are doing. we're blaming hanc for the homeless problem and i think it's appalling. thank you. >> thank you.

>> good evening, commissioners, the pleasure to be here. name is marcus major. i'm an urban farmer and pride myself as being openly clear urban farmer and part of the rainbow chart alliance, which is a group of farmers and gardners internationally known, mind you. i think it's really important to bring up issues here. rec park, this is a stellar park system. it is world class and i invite you if you act world classly in opening communication space with the community. as an urban gardener here, we need more community gardens. it's not an issue. i think it's a red herring. i invite all of you to look at this as a multiagency approach. if we lose the ten green jobs, what will happen with the health care? they will not happen. they will not have it. so let's call d.p.h. why is d.p.h. here? we will need them to help take care of some of the loss of

health care and not only the ten jobs, but the partial hundreds of jobs that people will lose. i think the important thing is about empowerment. if people feel empowered, they're able to have jobs and they're more likely to make positive health choices and i think we can all make positive health choices in helping support community gardens and recycling centers as well. thank you very much. i oppose the ordinance. >> my name -- >> linda, duncan cavy, carol glausening, linda stark, brian hornbeck, gilbert johnson and kathy belan. >> hi, i'm karen siskin. disclosure, i'm on the hanc board and on the hanc recycling committee. i was going to come in here and talk about integrity but i think we've heard a lot about that. but decided instead i would focus on the issue of smell. this gentleman segued me right into it. i want to talk about red

herrings because we've had so many red herrings thrown out here during the course of this meeting. the first one was smell and calvin welsch addressed that. that's never been hanc or the advisory committee. red herring. noise, captain newellen at his request we had professionals come in and test the sound from the recycling center within limits. red herring. crime, captain newellen again in several other people pointing to the crime directly related to the recycling center and around the recycling center brfment you take that on face value, check out the crime stats we have. what you're facing here is neighborhood politics, agar jakes called it. you're being asked to participate in a really dirty process and i hope you will look into all of this more thoroughly. thank you.

>> hello, commissioners. my name is linda stark and i'm speaking today just for myself, not representing any group, but i wanted you to know that i was a volunteer coordinator at hanc way back in the beginning and i completely support their program. i don't want to repeat what anyone else has been saying but hanc has over the last 36 years been "the expendables" particularry what they have done for bringing in jobs. what i wanted to mention today is the $250,000 that has been talked about as possible money for this new community garden. we weren't aware there was any money available for community gardens. i would really like you to consider the fact that our existing community gardens all over the city of san francisco are in desperate need of funding and money. we also have a number of plots available in the southern part of the city. i know the commissioner said you saw the entrances to the park.

we know there's need there. we have money available. if it's there, i think we need to think seriously about taking care of what we already have. thank you. >> my name is carol glossinger. i'm a longtime resident of the haight-ashbury, 36 years. i live near the recycling center. 20 years ago i was president of the coal val yim provement association and at that time we were concerned that the recycling centers, the large trucks coming in and it was becoming industrial site and we were talking with members of the park and rec department and here i have in my old files a letter from park planner debra learner to mary burns, the current general manager regarding the recycling plan. and i will just read, if i can. the goal is to move

progressively away from recycles generated by the residential sector, away from recyclables generated by the residential sector to trails generated by the commercial and institutional sector. institutional and commercial users will be the growing source of material for the recycling center. as a sender works to increase demand his income large volumes of material will be brought to the site. the park is not appropriate for commercial recycling. this type of quasi industrial land use is fundamentally incompatible with the land use policies for golden gate park. this has been going on 20 years. this is dated december 1990. >> thank you. >> next speaker please. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is brian hornbeck. i'm the president of the san francisco skateboarding association. we would like to support the

plan to remove hanc from the recycling area. we know from from having quite a few events from waller street that there are a quite a few homeless people that circle around between lake albert and going into the recycling center, going up to the liquor store and coming back and buying drugs and coming in and out and going through that anybodyhood. we don't feel that it's appropriate to have that kind of use there and to bring kind of activity around where we want to have a skatepark. we want to bring more children to that area. we support the rec and park department in removing the hanc recycling center. thank you. >> good evening. my name is luke. i grew up in the sunset and first i want to thank hanc for establishing a recycling center 30 years ago with the future with my generation in mind. but there comes a point when my but there comes a point when my generation needs to think about

paying it forward for the next. an outdated, archaic and intimidating site is not the best thing for the future. i support the proposal because it would provide the community with a beautiful and productive site for future and that's what we need to think about. thank you. >> next speaker please. >> hi, this is susan. and although i'm an vad kit for community gardens i respectfully request you vote no on this measure. my husband and native wildlife and garden and i support the recycling center and native plant nursery. a shady spot say perfect place as a nursery for small, native plants and any small plant. as they get bigger for food plants, you need sun for most food plants. a shady spot will be inadequate for a community garden. and inappropriate. so our garden started four years

ago with the variety need of plants and local birds and bees and insects turned up their noses at the nonlocal san francisco -- the nonsan francisco plant. so we went to hanc and replanted and we got beautiful plants. beautiful plants from hanc and native plants are gorgeous and they support our wildlife. so, please, please, permit it to stay where it is. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> i'm duncan,. i'm a san francisco native. i think one of the things that makes san francisco so great is its immense capacity for change without losing its sidety. i think that in the last 30 years, the hanc recycling center has become outdated. we have recycling bins in every driveway. and what i'm asking the city for and the community is not to abandon the past but to embrace

new options for the future. and i think the hanc recycling center is a great place to begin. i'm a big fan of community gardens and i hope we can consider that option. thank you. >> few more names. rossia moss, chris sandler, susan, wayne wily, jerry burpire, arthur boone. >> good afternoon. my name is linda, and i live in a very large couldn't minimum complex and we do not have curb ps side recycling. a lot of people do not know that. there are a lot of us in san francisco that do not have it. large complexes such as these as well as large rental complexes are not required to recycle and many don't recycle. this is a major loophole in the recycling laws in san francisco. i am forced to bring recycling to hanc recycling center at least once a week so i can take part in recycling. i'm extremely grateful for the scavengers that collect the recycling from the dumpsters where i live and all over san

francisco. they are the environment's garden angels. if you remove the recycling center, i will lose the possibility of recycling. this will harm the environment. over the years i observed the park does no recycling of bottles, gas, cans, plastic and metal. it's all thrown in the garbage. the carve enjers removed the recyclables from the dumpsters throughout the park in order to redeem them, thus saving the environment. some at the park are so critical, maybe they can pay the scavengers for splitting recyclables and split the redemption with them. it's just a thought. community gardens are great but not here. san francisco is number one in recycling in the u.s. and hanc is part of the reason for this. keep hanc where it is. fix the loopholes and recycling so everybody is encouraged to repsych. -- recycle. thank you. >> christopher cane, lori leaderman, flip sorrow, john berry, alex