it is an embarrassment. every time i look at what they have on east bay and come back here, i am embarrassed and ashamed. this is not an heirloom to be handed to family members, this is about the international community coming to san francisco. i commend the staff. they have done due diligence. this process has been fair to everybody and we deserve something better at stow lake. thank you, commissioners. >> thank you. >> the next speaker? >> good evening. my name is ted. i also want to commend you for the work that has been done to get to this point. i guess i need to say i am a recent native of san francisco. but you have a contract in front of you that i think has gone through the normal channels.

it looks like a solid contract, and the important part of this is it is really straightforward. the ortega family has negotiated this lease that is really looking forward. it cannot accept this least at this point is to do nothing, -- to not accept this least at this point is to do nothing and move backwards. the road around stow lake is atrocious. it is rotted, bobbie, multiple repairs, it is awful. why you are at it, fix that road, please. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> i just wanted to hear both sides of the story and i wanted to hear what the ortega family had to say to the citizens of

san francisco. everybody who has a restoral like emblem on them is reading or rehearsed. they are all from the ortega family. i think the ortega family is making a big mistake. i walk around the lake. i have walked around the lake for 30 years. these are not people who will spend money. they are elderly. they walk their dog. they sit. some young people come with strollers, purchase popcorn, feed the ducks. the people who rent the boats were at the boats on the weekend on a sunny day. when the tourists come, they covered the summertime. in the summertime, stow lake is fogged. they think they're going to make a lot of money, but that concession come even with the

cafe, will not make money all year round. it will make money september, october. during the week during when i walk it, it is mainly the older people sitting on the benches with their dogs. it is a quiet place. where the money is being brought in is from down below, or the bikes are rented. take the bicycles away, what is going to happen? there is also not enough parking. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> hello again, commissioners. christine hall. i will make you very happy by talking about the lease itself. i have a number of questions that have not been addressed and i have not had a chance to pose because something that has not been mentioned at the last committee meeting -- at the

last committee meeting it degraded into a tumultuous meeting where there was enormous confusion. i never got to ask a number of questions that i have. these are matters on which the lease is completely silent. i hope that you will be able to discuss these points at all for the committee some assurance about things such as night the lighting, hours of operation, and strangely there is nothing and of these about the proposed hours, alcohol use, which would make a huge difference in people's ability to enjoy the place quietly, bird feeding restrictions, music in particular. are you going to allow music? which would be very disruptive. i find it very concerning and

alarming that the lease mentions nothing about these critical issues, and i hope that you will take care to include some attention. thank you. >> thank you. >> the next speaker, please? >> good evening. " my dad started the stow lake concession 67 years ago and i will address the lease itself, as you requested. when it was approved on august 19, there was no. and at least. it was absent that the silent currie -- it was absolutely silent. the lease has a number of problems. having been involved 61 years myself, every lease for about last 30 years i negotiated, i think i understand what it should have in it. there are a bunch of sleepers in there. it a lot of promotion is made on

the note ortega unisex bathroom. hidden in the lease is that you are paying for that bathroom. you may not know that credit is in the least. at your insurance risk manager is wrong. we have carried watercraft insurance. >> i need more time. we have carried watercraft insurance 67 years. it is a separate endorsement. we have had different brokers over the years who said we had to have it. it is expensive. and if you want that operation to run without it, remember, you have exposure also because you are the next layer after the insurance, $1 million, has been used up. the most important thing, but me get to rent credit nick mentioned in the first year that

stow lake would pay $153,000 and ortega would pay $200,000. that is not true at all. stow lake offered $215,000 minimum. there has been a lot of spin, but it has not been on the table. it has been ignored. ortega offered $140,000. stow lake, but dollars215,000. -- still like, $215,000. those numbers are indexed. the last 20 years, we have had 2.73% cpi. with our national debt today, 3% average over the next 20 years as conservative. that ends up at over 8 $2

million differential on the minimum rent. inow, your staff has mentioned that the ortegas will succeed at the $140,000, 200 in the first year. if they believe that projection -- and i believe projections are nothing more than marketing tools, look at the bay bridge -- but if they really believe they will have those numbers, why not guarantee it? stow lake is willing to guarantee that $215,000. we have a 67-year track record of paying the rent. we're not newcomers in town. so i think that you have a real need to let -- to look at the

economics and study that four page document that shows a lot of the warts that are sitting inside of that lease. you wore this fiduciaries. that building is your responsibility, that concessio is your responsibility, and if you put out the least that i read, you will regret it, because it is full holes. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> good evening, commissioners. first, respectfully, the 115,000 they offered is a canard. i will offer $315,000 under the same terms and conditions. however, that would be bad for

the community and bad for san francisco. but if that is what the city once, we will raise it $100,000. that is a canard. aside from that, i think you. thank you very much, and i would like to submit this long list of people who say we represent truth, justice, and the american way, environmental organizations and that sort of thing. >> thank you. >> is there any other public comment on this item, please? if there is anyone else, please come forward now. >> good evening, commissioners. i have a variety of comments. >> is there a market of trading minutes out there i am not aware of? >> absolutely.

>> go ahead. >> i sat through these meetings. i am surprised, there were only a couple of commissioners there who were interested in landmark status. i think what the staff has presented is not quite accurate. second, you have a letter from the golden gate audubon society about the international audubon, which apparently is not a good organization to listen to. they supported the golf course that killed federally listed endangered species and i hope this organization will be taken off the list. the truth about talking about letters that you get, i am very concerned, one of the letters was from the fisherman's wharf wax museum. what is that? i we talking about the modification of the boat house?

-- are we talking about the mummification of the boat house? >> you cannot control where the letters come from. >> i know that staff is beating the bushes to get these letters. i think it is weird. >> be nice to the staff. >> it is their job. >> my last comment, this points to the trend to make golden gate park a tourist attraction, letters from the visitor's bureau. idoes not what golden gate park is there for. all of the testimony that you have heard today is people's love for their parks and the institutions. you are taking a course that i think is affecting us in a very unfortunate matter. you will not have any money next year. you need the people's support and you need to think about this very carefully. thank you. >> thank you.

>> is there any other public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> commissioner lee? >> i want to back up to the gentleman who just spoke. just a moment ago, you offered to increase your guaranteed minimum right to $300,000, which would be double what the minimum rent is on this. >> what? i don't remember that. i offered $315,000 straight on exactly the same terms and conditions. if you allow me to sell cost of food and have boats that are 60 years old, if you allow me to run it in the same way, if you tell me you did not what the store renovation, you don't want me to take the oil and jumped

and everything out of there and return it to the historical integrity, if you don't want us to implement all of the environmental measures that make it something special and raise the level and standard for all national parks at, then yes, i am raising the ante. i am telling you what the mcclellans are offering. he looked like a really smart man. just look at their offer. you will know that what we're offering is something totally different and much better. respectfully. >> nick, have you study this proposal? and what mr. ortega is considering. is there some halfway point, perhaps, where we can increase the guaranteed minimum rent and also have the type of concession that we as a commission want? >> yeah, so just to back up, the

rfq the commission approved in december of last year poor air ties capital improvements of the building -- prioritize the capital improvements of the building. there were no financial terms included in the rfq because we wanted to get a concessionaire that was willing, able, and committed to restoring the historic stow lake boat house. we negotiated a contract with ortega that while we think certainly meets all of the commission's request regarding the improvements it makes the improvement and renovation and restoration of the still like boat house also has an aggressive right package. we would see a year one increase of 33%. the direction staff has consistently received from this

body is we should prioritize the capital investment there. the idea of reducing that capital investment and increasing the capital needs is not one that staff has pursued. commissioner lee: this is the first i have heard this offer from mr. ortega. that is why i have asked if when discussing bill weast be discussed the possibility -- when you were discussing this police you discuss this possibility and are we getting the best deal? >> we evaluate whether we are getting the best deal that we could, and we feel that staff firmly believes that would follow the commission's direction the negotiating a contract that has aggressive for rent coupled with not only upfront capital improvement costs but also ongoing maintenance budget, a dedicated budget.

>> let me interrupt. i think what is being said by mr. ortega, if he matched apples to apples with the existing operator, that he could offer more moneyb. itut the rfp and the direction from this commission was to upgrade the food and the building and the service. he is saying having done that, he is giving to proposal that is in front of us. so i think that is a fair statement. we are improving from our own edict certain aspects of this, and i don't think it is a smart idea tonight to try to renegotiate the lease. commissioner lee: i am not suggesting that, but -- >> but that was the point, you are comparing apples to oranges if you think his number and their number are the same. commissioner lee: for clarification, i did vote

against the rfq for that reason, because i felt that when we took the vote that emphasis should be placed on the rent. that is why when we take a vote, i intend to vote against adoption of this, for that reason and others. president buell: thank you. are there any other questions? the three motion? it has been moved and seconded. all of those in favor? >> aye. president buell: opposed? commissioner lrr id oppodrf. -- commissionlee is opposed. >> we are on item number 13. public comment.

president buell: we're going to have some public comment. >> to so i don't have to keep repeating myself, if he could direct staff that future agenda items include discussion of the status of the environmental review in every action that comes before you, and if there

is documentation, whether it is eir < whenever the documentation, that is included in your packet and properly before you as the decision makers on discretionary actions within ceqa. that would be quite helpful. president buell: we would expect nothing less than the staff informing us of any ceqa or environmental implications on in the decision. there is a great dispute by everybody about what projects require it what type of ceqa review. it is not the intent of the commission to ask the staff to address that on every particular issue, but only those that are applicable from the staff's if you point to have ceqa review, and i would expect that we get it. if we are not, i would say we're not getting the staff service we deserve. >> i agree, and there may be a

change in local law that would actually required that more specifically. president buell: make us aware of it and we will ask our attorneys to inform us what is appropriate. >> i appreciate the dialogue on this. although you have had a very long meeting and many people did not agree with decision you made, i felt this was conducted very respectfully and that you were a liberal in terms of time and in gauged in some dialogue, which not all commissions do. the past has not always been that way, and i appreciate the work all of you are doing. i would not be surprised, however, if the charter amendment to restructure this commission comes back if there is further debate about the merits of your decision. it be that as it may, i just appreciate the manner in which your deliberations were conducted. president buell: i appreciate your comment.

thank you. >> anyone else would like to make general public comment? item 13 is closed. item 14, commissioners matters. and the commissioners matters? any public comment on the item 14? seeing none, 14 is closed. item 15 is new business agenda setting. commissioners? vice president harrison: i would like to have placed on the agenda at a discussion on community gardens and oversight. >> ok, is there any public comment on this? singleton, 15 is closed. 16 is communications. is there any public comment on 16? seeing none, 16 is closed. at 17 is adjournment. president buell: so moved. >> second. president buell: so moved and secondeded.

thank you, one and all.

>> cents and cisco's buses and trains serve many writers -- san francisco buses and trains serve many riders. the need to be sure they can get off at their intended stop. the digital voice announcement system, which announces upcoming stops, can help these low vision riders know where they are, but only if set properly. >> it is a wonderful piece of technology, but in practice, it is a little bit more tricky. oftentimes, i find that the automatic announcement system is turned off or turned down so low

that i'm unable to hear it, or it is turned up so high that the sound is distorted. >> most of the time, it does not ever seemed to be on. or is it is, it is a really quiet. occasionally, it is so loud that it is distorted. >> driver, may i have california st., please? >> no problem. >> whenever the announcement system does not work properly and a driver does not call out the stops, and i'm totally lost as to where i am. the announcement system calls out the stops, but to help the customer, i caught the destination, transfer points, and requested stops. and it is the law. >> i use the p a system to make sure everyone on the bus here is my announcements. >> i have had both experiences with the loudness and the to stop for the announcements. you are never going to have it

exactly balanced for every trip because your level of noise changes. the announcement system ranges from 1 to 10. 10 would be too loud, a little distorted. eight is a good number. not too loud, but loud enough for everyone to hear and understand what is going on. >> i think bus drivers might not be aware of the fact that if you let a visually impaired person off at the wrong stop, number one, they may be absolutely unfamiliar with the area they are in. >> the driver overshot the stock that i wanted. i decided to get off and find my way back, but it was very disorienting, not exactly understanding how far i was. number 2, it might be a potentially dangerous situation if they do not know the area and are attempting to make crossings that they are unfamiliar with. >> they let me off somewhere else. i had no idea where i was.

i missed the stop, and the bus was gone. then, i look around. i tried to find someone to help me, and i cannot find anybody. i would have no way of knowing where i am at. >> [inaudible] i asked why he did not stop when i asked. we did not panic. we do not know where we are. we do not know what is going on. i get over there, and right away, i almost got killed. >> #3, it's the person in question is trying to get somewhere, it is going to make them late for whatever they are doing. >> i had to find my way to a corner and ask someone where i was going to and how to get there. i eventually made it to my appointment, which was with social security, but i was very late, and they almost did not

see me. >> i was very late former doctor's appointment, and there was concern about whether or not i could be fit in. >> when i get off i stock that is unfamiliar to me, because i have no sight, i cannot just automatically orient myself off to a new environment. it takes a lot of training, a lot of work. there are a lot of skill sets involved when i am first introduced to a new area. to get off at an unfamiliar bus stop for the first time and to do it unintentionally -- it can be a really disorienting experience. >> i think there is a sense that it is ok, that person is going to find their way, and did they do not know where they are, you are potentially putting them in a seriously dangerous situation. >> i always appreciate when the drivers are proactive in asking

questions like, "where do you want to get off?" i appreciate when they help find a seat for me. i also appreciate when everything is working properly as far as the voice announcement system. they make sure that it is turned on, that it is loud enough for everyone to hear, not turned down so low that it helps no one. >> excuse me, driver, what stocks are we at? can you remind me when we get to venice and broadway? thanks. >> what we're talking about here is full participation and inclusion. i want to be able to lead a full life. the only way that i'm able to get from place to place this by using a fully accessible public transit system like meany -- muni.