been working in our operation division since 2005. as the principal administrative analyst for the entire operation of divisions, lydia methodically plans ahead, sets achievable deadlines, manages performance to meet on the bonds and meets and exceeds all division performance measures. she is possible for our propositioned c scores, responsible for interfacing with 311, all park user service calls, requests to fix things, she is our -- is responsible for our fleet inventory. she is irresponsible for the data that we keep with our structural maintenance, deferred maintenance database. she recently led the installation of all gps technology in our vehicles. everything that is data and system related in our operations division, including the

important data ike it included for you in the report is the product of her great work. she is one of our unsung heroes. she is what i would call a back of the house star. she is the glue that helps keep us going. lydia desserts -- i cannot think of a more worthy recipient of this award. congratulations. [applause] >> thank you, everybody. usually, i'm up here delivering statistics and data. today, i get to speak from a heart. i see that my husband is here. that is part of conveying --

actually, i used to think that these were pretty corny and trite. and then you get one. it is surprisingly very touching to me. i deeply appreciate it. i found out luckily that it is real field staff that nominated me. to me, that is a double honor because that means i'm serving those people that provide service to the public, so that is important to me. lastly, something kind of interesting is a lot of times, we might go to a conference or talk to a colleague in an agency in and of the municipality, and they might ask if you are a reccie or a parkie?? i found out that i'm neither. i'm a groupie. i like both. thank you very much. i really appreciate this.

>> not to pile on in the athletes, but one thing was mentioning, that the maintenance standards programs that evaluates our quarter, that libya has been a systems architect of in many respects, was recognized by the park and recreation society, and it won an award for excellence. it really is a tremendous program. before i conclude, i did not realize that kristin was here. please stand up so we can give you a proper round of applause, too, for your work. [applause] >> is there any public comment and the general managers' report? >> good afternoon,

commissioners. catherine howard, park preservation alliance -- golden gate park preservation alliance. i just wanted to comment on the historic district. i wanted to repeat what i have said often, which is that golden gate park has had a master plan since 1998. the plan was created after 10 years of public input from various organizations. it was sponsored and paid for by the department of recreation and park. it had community input. all the apartments had input, and it has its own environmental impact report. we believe this report is not being followed, and that is why we are being concerned. this is also why we support the historic district and why we think we need to have another level of review for golden gate park. i believe everyone here functions with a good heart, but it is hard to resist the pressures of the moment, and you are under a great deal of financial stress right now. so we are going to try to help you, and we are supporting the

nomination for golden gate park becoming a historic district. please do not be afraid. this is not going to be a terrible thing. everyone is participating. there is no legislation yet. nothing really has happened. i encourage the public to participate. i encourage you to find out, if you want more information, go to our web site and let us know what you love about golden gate park. let us know what you would like to see preserved about golden gate park. and the legislation gets shaken out throughout the various parts of city government. whatever happens, there is still a process. people can come here, go to the commission, go to the board of supervisors. it is not the end of being able to do things with golden gate park. it is the beginning of preserving something, which i believe is the gem for our city, and i would say, from the press that has resulted from the

"chronicle" article on tuesday, it has been picked up all over town. the golden gate park means a lot to a lot of people, and we should be proud of it, and we should protect it and take care of it. i hope you will all participate. thank you. >> is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. we are on item four, which is general public comment period up to 15 minutes. at this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items, your opportunity to address the commission will be aborted when the item is reached in the meeting. i have two members of the public wishing to speak. please come up. >> good afternoon. i'm very happy to report that

ferry park is taking a tremendous leap into the future, and i already see the pathways being established, and so they are putting in polls for the light fixtures. it is really very thrilling to see. the best news of all is the bridge is coming down. tuesday, the 25th of january. that should be a major event. that will accommodate all the hell i had been through. that will get rid of skateboarders, derelicts, heroin users, you name it. finally, that will be a beautiful place with floral arrangements, and it will be converted into a terrific park, and i cannot wait. however, there is another downside. the other night, i passed by the embarcadero coming into the park where yin and yang statues are, and it was filthy from the homeless being fed by certain

groups, and i do not know if they are getting a permit because i called boston property security, and ask what was going on. the other group that leaves on sunday leaves it in very nice condition, so that has to be looked after. the other thing is i'm attending the steering committee at the downtown financial center, which has been going on for a long time. finally, it is taking place, and this will get rid of the homeless downtown, and all of the bad things that go on there. skateboarding in the medium of harry bridges plaza, biking. just the way people are trying to cross that medium, and people are losing business because they do not want to go to the ferry building farmer's market and go through that mess and endanger themselves by bikers and skateboarders. it is really dangerous. that has to be looked into, and

the cbd will take care of it. also, i have to tell you, the boccie court, as i predicted, failed. nobody is there. nobody uses it. please restore it to the grassy area. why can we not have that here? please, take care of that. we need flower beds, not balky courts. -- not bocci courts.

>> there is more there issfnpc.org. -- there is more information act t sfnpc.org we hope we see many of you. we had our first part -- town hall lane 2010. it was an excellent opportunity to get feedback from the community, butnpc recognizes that not all members of the community can attend the meetings here as part of this, we released our first 2010 park users survey. we had it open for three weeks and had an overwhelming response. at over 1400 people respond to the survey, when we had hoped to have a report. by the end of last calendar year, unfortunately, we were crunching numbers even through the holidays, so we are at the point where we are hoping to finish up the report. we are really excited to be partnering and having some

feedback from the department, which we were absolutely amazed at the debt and insight that we are getting, and we are looking forward to giving that to you and the public in the upcoming weeks. again, hope to see you on the 29th. thank you. >> is there any general -- any other general public comment? seeing none, item four is closed. commissioner lee: i had a question regarding the general managers' report. i saw today the -- in the newspaper about the america's cup, and that the rec and park was going to be the agency managing the spectator facilities and so forth. are we going to get -- can we expect any revenue sharing from that? will that help us? i would like to know what kind of benefits our department can get? >> it is a great question.

maybe there is somebody here on the america's cup organizing committee who could help us answer that. [laughter] commissioner buell: thank you. none of those issues have really been resolved, but the basic idea is to provide bleachers or opportunities for bleachers and make them free to the public. that does not say that there are not some opportunities for the department to use some of its facilities and generate some revenue, but it is too early to really get into detail about that, but there may be some opportunities. >> perhaps, we can call on our president to use his influence over their to see if we can convince the america cup organizers to use more of our

facilities and perhaps help us with some of our budget gaps. commissioner buell: let me give you the picture then. i will be raising money to give them to give us, so i will do my best. >> just one serious note -- yesterday, we met for a couple of hours about this very topic, and we are putting together an internal working group within staff to make sure that, you know, we do not just have america's cup coming in two years. we also have the marina park renovation project, and we want to make sure that we are contributing and supporting the america's cup efforts, but we want to make sure also that we are not maximizing opposition is associated with the america's cup for the benefit of what we do, and that we are tracking all of our costs and expenses and staff time related to america's

cup preparation. it is a multi-faceted approach with representatives from different divisions within the recreation and park department, but we will be getting -- meeting regularly and staying on top of this. >> on that same article, you were quoted as saying perhaps we might have a parcel tax this year or perhaps in the next cycle, that may help us with our budget. >> i think that might have been a different article. it was a column in the "chronicle" about our budget, which you are going to hear more about. we've been saying for two years now that we believe that this department needs dedicated, sustainable funding. we continue to work with our park advocacy groups, are council of san francisco parks trust, and we continue to work internally within city government to explore different ideas and advocate for different ideas for this department.

you will hear more about this in a little bit, but while we think because of some of the difficult choices that this commission made last year, we are better positioned for this budget cycle than last year. so that is good news. but the structural challenges in our department were made, and as far as i can tell, and i'm reading the same stories that you are, is the city's budget challenges are somewhat structural, too, as are the state of california's, and they will be with us for a long time, so we need to continue to fight an advocate for resources for this department. >> we are now on item 5, the consent calendar. is there any public comment under the consent calendar? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners. >> move to approve the consent calendar. >> second. commissioner buell: moved and

seconded. all those in favor? suppose? -- opposed? passes. >> we are now one item 6, election of officers. is there public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. i'm going to let you know the procedure. we will first be the president and then the vice president. with each of the elections, we first need a motion and a second to open the nominations. you will vote on that. then a motion -- motions for the nominations, and second. then, you will go ahead and close the nominations, and then you will vote on the actual nomination. so president, and then vice president. first, i would need a motion to open the nominations for president. >> move to open nominations. >> do i have a second? then a second. buell: all those in favor?

>> do we have a nomination? >> i would like to nominate -- are we ready for nominations? >> yes. >> i was just going to nominate mark buell for president. and cut my speech short. >> i need a motion and a second to close the nomination. commissioner buell: it has been moved and seconded to close the nominations. all those in favor? >> ok, now, we will take a roll- call vote on the nomination of president for the commission. commissioner harrison. commissioner bonilla. commissioner lee. commissioner levitan. commissioner margin. and commissioner buell.

congratulations. commissioner buell: i will make this very brief. this is one year that completes the first year of my service and my service as president. i can honestly say that it has been a real pleasure. it has been an education. there have been times when it has had its stressful moments, but by and large, it has really been a very rewarding experience. i will tell you why i find it so rewarding -- because i found that everybody in san francisco has an opinion about their parks. they care about their parks. they care about the condition of the parks, and they freely express those feelings, and i think that is very healthy. sometimes we have not always agreed on things, but i think we all share a love of the parks, and i consider it a privilege and an honor to serve this commission. i thank my fellow commissioners. it has been a pleasure working

with you. i want to commend the general manager, the secretary of the commission, and the staff. it has been a real pleasure to get to know the staff, and i can assure people in the public that they were paid on an hourly basis, it would be a low number because they put in so many hours. that has often gone unseen by the general public, but they care deeply about the parks as well, and we are all in challenging circumstances. i will not reiterate them. everybody knows them. i look forward to working with you for another year in this capacity, and i thank you. >> ok, now, we are on the election of the vice-president. i need a motion and a second. >> so will. second. commissioner buell: so moved. all those in favor? >> we now need a nomination. commissioner levitan: i would

like to nominate my friend, my colleague, and my seatmate, commissioner harrison. commissioner buell: moved and seconded. all those in favor -- i cannot do that can act? motion to close. it has been moved and seconded to close the nomination. >> now look to roll call vote. commissioner buell: we have to make sure everybody is in favor of closing the nominations. all those in favor? now you may do the roll-call vote. >> commissioner buell. commissioner adams. commissioner bonilla. commissioner lee. commissioner levitan. and commissioner martin. congratulations. commissioner harrison: thank you very much. >> any comment? commissioner buell: he is

overwhelmed with emotion. >> we are on items seven, the san francisco zoo. >> good afternoon, and congratulations to both gentlemen on your reappointment. i did want to get some good news on attendance, particularly with the three-day martin luther king holiday. we have over 12 dozen visitors. that brings our total month attendance to january. thus far, we would only project 21,000, so off to a good start for 2011. with that, i thought i would briefly give you an update on capital projects. we are contemplating at the zoo. before that, i have to show you our handsome head of -- hippo, and i want to thank the commissioner who assisted with that.

lastly, fedex kindly donated the air transport, which diminished the time we had to travel. that was about a $90,000 gift from fedex, thanks to our friends at fedex for that generous gift. also, we have a baby anteater going on. this is on display today. this is the first giant anteater born at san francisco zoo in over 10 years. these infants do not make it for a number are reasons. this and that will stay on the mother's back for a year. anyway, in healthy condition and adorable. with that, back to business. were those of you who do not know, our master plan for the sentences the zoological society is to divide this is now, it is

time to look at those areas in between. our first area, thanks to the tobey foundation, we are remodeling the aviary. this is a historical building, built in the 1930's as a result of the great depression, and it was a wpa project. in unfortunately fell into disrepair. with house animals that are victims of the illegal pet trade. in south america, it is a $10 billion industry, right up there with guns and drugs. i just want to show you some concepts for the interior. we will also take rescue perutz,

a top restaurant in both north and south america. it will house various inhabitants of south america and the alien. and then an overview shot, we want to immerse the visitor in the south american forest. on the exterior, we will house the monkeys on the threatened list. we just brought them in from a research project. they were about to be euthanize, so we were able to rescue them. the origination of their exhibit is the yoke of a tree there. you see on their design, we will have an organic tree like exhibit for them. it is a concept for the xl area.

in another area of the zoo, adjacent to the grisly gulch, we want to create a gateway to north america and house those animals at risk in north america, particularly will. for those of you could do not know, the gray wolf just went back on the in danger -- for those of you who do not know, the grey wolf just went back on the endangered species list. i will show you the concept drawing here. we have the moose and the wolves in the far right there as well as the beaver exhibit and play area for children to mimic the beaver area, and the next area thanks to a friend family --

they have provided a gift to redo our youth zone. it, too, will replicate various conservation zones in the world. just an example, this is a tree native to asia. it replants itself. it is hundreds of not thousands of years old, and this will be sort of the centerpiece of the playground. you will see that it will be play activity for both the young and growing and disabled children. and another region, for example, is the polar region. obviously a great conservation issue for all of us. here, we have tunnels, slides, and other play areas in the polar region. again, the playground, trying to connect children to nature conservation issues in the form of fun and play. that is the next phase of our capital campaign. and i welcome any questions. commissioner buell: do not see

any. thank you very much. >> is there any public comment on this item? richard. >> good afternoon, commissioners. the parents of telegraph hill, when they were lying around. they are quite numerous now. it is about the avery they are going to be rebuilding at the zoo. would they have access to hospitalization or anything like veterinarian services? and we have the parents that were spoken of that would have escaped or got away, and other animals at the aviary, redo. i just wondered, and the time being, will there be any emergency care for the parents that telegraph hill? >> as a reminder, no questions

during public comment. is there anyone else would like to make public comment? public comment is closed. commissioners. commissioner buell: thank you very much. congratulations on your new our rivals. maybe you can get back to answer that question privately, off camera. thank you. -- congratulations on your new arrivals. commissioner bonilla: before you leave, as is also wanted to commend staff for bringing the hippopotamus to san francisco. already, and hearing in the community that people are really excited about it. so thank you. >> we are now on item 8, the san francisco marina not harbor west harbor renovation contracts. >> -- commissioner buell: i'm going to remind the audience just so they know that the matter was heard in committee, and we will hear an abbreviated

report today. they'll be ny. i will ask commissioner lee at the conclusion of that to weigh in on anything. >> i am the project manager from the business division. the item you have before you today is a construction project for design build services, the west harbor renovation project. we are recommending a word of the contract to -- a board of the contract to -- award of the contract to [unintelligible] the preliminary design package was advertised to a group of pre-qualified contractors. we received 2 the ball bids. the apparent low bidder has