day admission.s s. these concerns fall into two categories. i would like to first ask our current curve manager to comment on the media to impact in the immediate visit the. -- the city. --a vicinity. >> the negative impact that the recycling center has had has been significant in throughout deregulation -- throughout the facility. one of the things i have asked over the years to the users and the staff is that, it could be

attributed to the smell or the odor that is created from the recyclable material. it tends to blow a rancid odor through the stadium. all of a sudden, this wall of stench hits you. it is enough to turn your stomach sometimes. the second thing i would like to go into is the noise generated from the facility itself. once or twice a day, we hear a larger booming noise. the crash of glass, the smashing of cans. the backing out of trucks, the use of vehicles in and out of the city. and it just makes for a very noisy environment. i like to point out the use of

illegal campers. for instance, on any given morning, you can turn the corner and there will be illegal campers out in front of the recycling center, sometimes up to five illegal campers the. you have to be aware as your driving in the roadway. what will happen is that the campers that are outside the gate directly will actually get up off the bench and they will come into the stadium. and it will proceed to the garbage cans, remove the garbage, collects the recyclables, and leave the trash there for others to pick up. it really has an impact on the gardening staff. we don't have the time and the staffing to do the work twice what we can be dedicated does resources to other things. things that we picked up in addition to that is bringing dogs into the stadium.

they defecate on the property, there is broken glass, there are steaks, garbage bags, everything left over as a result. thank you. >> to address the impact throughout the park, i would like to ask the supervisor of one of our job training cruise, they work seven days a week cleaning up encampment sites in doing general cleanup of debris and other things that they find. >> i have a park section supervisor. the biggest problem that we have, especially for my job, is to remove illegal cans.

remove an average of over 3 tons of wheat of debris out of golden gate park -- 3 tons a week of debris out of golden gate park. a lot of them are using the facility to bring recycleables. they bring other things to the facility and to bring to recycling. they are finished with those bags, they just leave them there. we have to come along, go around the facility, clear up the area, so it is an ongoing process and just around the facility to keep that area clean.

it is not just our one area, but it is a big area. it is a nuisance to bring that area under control. >> i would like to summarize what would be some of the public safety concerns. i have oversight and management of the park patrol unit that works very closely verysfpd. -- with sfpd. you heard us speak of illegal camping here, and we will update you on the efforts. reducing the presence of golden gate park, we are at a point where we have the long-term and very persistent population that

we estimate with our cleanup crew experience, the clean-up crew is 7 days a week. eight hours a day. through both of their collective experience, we estimate long- term population of 30-60 -- at least one half of this population is regular recyclers. we have documented it. we also factor in the cleanup crew that experiences the periodic influx of campers. and with the large events throughout the year, we estimate is 50-75% that recycle.

this is a significant concern to us, because recycling provides the economic means to continue illegal camping throughout the year in the park. among the reasons we remain so focused is because it is clearly not save -- safe, and it creates a public safety concern for the wider public. for the last 12 months, there have been a number of violent criminal events in which either the perpetrator or the victim was an illegal campers. it is our position that without this economic means to sustain illegal camping in the park, the illegal activity will significantly decrease and increase the public safety packer -- factor.

>> to address these consistent concerns, we have pursued an alternate use of the site. but as clear compatibility with the operation of this department. it is an ideal place to introduce this kind of garden and the sustainable practices it promotes. i would actually like to invite the national areas program director to talk about the synergy. >> my name is lisa, and i am the director of the program. we are in charge of preserving san francisco's and native flora and fauna. that means of promoting the

biological diversity in our spaces and promoting sustainable landscaping. i worked with the department for 13 years, and 13 years ago, few people really understood or appreciated urban gardening. in the last 13 years, the popularity has really grown. san franciscans understand the value of native plants, how they can provide wildlife habitat, that they require less pesticide use, etc.. awareness has grown over the years. the nursery has been there to meet some of those demands. both in the public and private sector, over the years, i received many phone calls, people looking for plants.

there were only a few places to really send people. obviously, there is a thriving nursery that is providing that to residents of san francisco. on the public land side of things, have also provided many native plants for park beautification and improvement projects. neighbors just recently bought a bunch of native plants for a billy goat trail improvement in dominated those to the department. in my opinion, the urban gardening and sustainable landscape movement is the future of this department. we are really pleased to be in a place to be a leader in this city for both residences and public agencies partners. not a similar to where hank was 30 years ago in the recycling movement where it was really

starting to catch on and we needed the infrastructure to support it. all throughout the city, it is being replaced with a native plant gardens and habitat and gardens. just out in front of us, the conservatory -- in front of the arboretum, they are converting someone there recently. like i said, the golden gate park community garden in the expanded native plant opportunities there will really put it at the forefront of this movement. for the department as well as the program that provides opportunities for more collaboration, and provides

opportunities for expanded operational programming. finally, something that has been talked about over the years among the environmental community is the movement that is referred to as a backyard habitat. this is something that numerous environmental groups have wanted to promote, that is really trying to get habitat plant growing in people's backyard and promoting wildlife in people's backyards that is an extension of what we are trying to do. there is more habitat for more species. people's backyards are converted to wildlife habitats as well.

>> commissioners, what will this transition of uses look like? the department renewed its lease in 1996, which expired in 2001. the department will issue a notice of termination of lease. in recognition, to provide time to figure out ways to figure out how they can be involved, they will receive a 90 day notice. the department would begin demolition and cleanup of the existing site into it initiates a community meetings to refine the design of the site and work with community partners have identified desired features. we will also create an advisory board of neighbors, partners, and community gardeners to provide oversight. the community will be asked to

refine our concept plan which i am not going to ask our project manager to describe in more detail. >> good afternoon, commissioners. first of all, i'd like to begin by describing, what is a community garden? according to the policy that was adopted by the recreation park commission in 1996, it is a site that is operated and maintained by the recreation and park staff as well as volunteers. these volunteers are assigned plot allotment in which to grow, and they are not for

commercial use. they will often have a self- imposed garden and do. the community gardens program consists of recreational park apartment properties. the management of the community gardens is guided by the policy. the 35 gardens offer almost 1000 plots. the map on the overhead shows that there is a huge part in the center part of the city.

despite offering close to 1000 garden plots, there are hundreds of people on the waiting list. the waiting list can be as long as seven years. indeed, in the past few years, the waiting list continues to grow. in our first inventory done, there are currently 700, an increase of 60%. i will go into that in my next slide. also on this list is a list of nearby gardens and just to show you the amount of growth.

a surface area is defined as the extent to which the user is willing to travel to use the facility. the national parks and recreation association does not have an area defined for community gardens, but it has a surface area of the fight for community parks. and so, on the overhead, i have shown these service areas of about half a mile. they range from 25 to -- .25 to .5 miles. in fact, the location would help provide a community garden plots for those who are untested -- who are interested.

along the transit route, the surface area will go well beyond half a mile because people will be able to travel along transit routes. now we will look at the site itself. the site is located about the corner of frederick. it is located in proximity to transit, about 2/3. it is largely unpaved and includes a couple of and to read -- or a couple of entrances. now i would like to speak about the suitability of the community garden use. in terms of sunshine and shade conditions, the site currently contains sufficient sun to grow

plants on the site. this photo was taken yesterday. even yesterday, in the winter season, the sunshine as low -- the sun is low on the horizon. i just want to go back to the previous photo. we have aerial photos showing a significant amount of sun over the site. this is a photo taken of one of the community gardens. it is located near sunset, not too far from the subject site. the relationship between the trees and the garden plots are similar to that proposed for the golden gate park site. you can see that it is a thriving garden.

in regards to suitability, there is no indication that the site has a high level of toxins. as part of our planning process, we will conduct a soil test. should there be a finding of high levels of toxins, the standard construction details would holley address them. the plants themselves are to 24 inches high. most plant roots are within the top 12 inches of the soil layers. we have addressed this condition in the past at another community garden at a site with a high level of toxins. to conform with the city's policies and the mandates that have been outlined that the department has identified angles for the site as a community

garden, first of all, there is a need to address the demand for more garden plots. that is something that we would like to include in the improvements to the site. as mentioned, there is a native plant nursery at the site. this would promote the diversity of environmental stewardship. also, the department has received requests for garden materials. these items we do not currently provide to the general public, however, we would like to include this type of material support to the general public in the community gardens program. lastly, the department would like to convert the current pavement to a new and innovative green use.

on the overhead is the proposed plan. it shows two phases. the first phase would comprise those improvements that would be as i have stated that are within our budget. i will go into each one of these program areas. there are four program areas identified. first is the garden plots. the plans show approximately 40 garden plots. the proposal is to have a maximum of 75% of those plots available under the community gardens program. at a minimum, 25% of those plots would be reserved for groups or

what we are calling teams. this would be groups such as community groups, advocacy groups, school groups, or kitchens. this would increase the number of beneficiaries of food security. another program area proposed is the material distribution. this is an area where there would be open bins that would be filled with art materials, such as smoke -- mulch. that could be available to community gardeners and the general public. we propose to continue certain aspects of the current recycling, specifically the collection of cardboard. it can be used for weed control. we would also collect plastic containers.

we have the tool-lending library. this is similar to a standard library. instead of issuing books, we would be issuing garden tools. this was available at one time through the library. that service is not currently available. the department of public works has agreed to work with the recreation and parks department on providing that tool library. of course, we have the native plant nursery, which would be operated in collaboration with the program. the recreational park department invites hank to continue participation at the site. i would like to thank hank and greg for meeting with me.

in regard to implementation, there are $250,000 available for improvements on the site. the assignment of garden plots would be done with the assistance of the san francisco garden research organization, which is a community garden advocacy group in the city. it would assist with organizing the management structure. once the site is up and running, it will be managed by the recreation and park department. it would -- there would also be volunteer opportunities. in the future phase, this would be vertted -- vetted out in the planning process. we would include ideas the

community would like to propose. >> commissioner, thank you for the opportunity to share the information about the project. we think we have an exciting potential use for golden gate park that has many opportunities for partnership with hank, other community gardens, the neighborhood, and a broad set of stakeholders interested in urban agriculture across the city, who i think would really welcome this use. with that, we would be happy to take any questions. president buell: thank you. let's hear public comment. then we will weigh in. >> i will call several names off. if you are in the overflow room, please come up. [reading names]

please come forward. >> good afternoon. my name is marilyn. i hope the press notices that the department was given 45 chances to -- 45 minutes to give their presentation, yet the public is being given one minute each. i was at a public meeting was held on very short notice because, as usual, most of this was prepared in secret two days ago. 90 people were present. jane, could you stand up, please? jane chaired this meeting.

this meeting adopted a resolution unanimously, which said that we here assembled call upon the recreation and park commission to allow hanc to continue to operate. >> next speaker, richard. there is another one. ok. michelle? dennis, kelvin. >> commissioners, my name is dennis. i am a native san franciscan. if the recycling center is closed, before you establish a location in the same zone, you

are out of compliance with state law. since the rpd has no park land recycling program, we urge you to partner youhanc -- urge you to partner with hanc. rpd does not have the funds to operate its facilities. it wants to shut down a recycling operation that helps recycled refuse -- recycle refuse. there are complaints about homeless people, not about a need for community gardens. we urge you to delay any eviction. [tone] don't end it. amend it. >>