i am a principal in the valley project here. we have been able to spend $35,000 and provide gardening opportunities for over 6000 people and educational opportunities for youth. something to think about when bouncing funds during this time. we need to look at how we are spending every dollar. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> hello, supervisors. i spoke at the last hearing. spoke at the last hearing and that that hearing and i talked about the reason that i use the hanc recycling center myself. at the last hearing i overheard one of the opponents saying that these people could just get other jobs. i have a neighbor with two sons at home with him. one has been unemployed for two years.

i do not think that we can cavalierly say that these people can just get other jobs. it can be difficult to find jobs like these with health benefits. i would like you to support this resolution and save these jobs. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is jim rhodes. i am a 35 year resident of weeks height. i am particularly interested in the part where they set up a really good recycling operation for golden gate park. we can do that. we have a lot of experience. in past years we have talked about doing that but there has never been follow-through. if we could do something together, i would look forward to it. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker, please. >> thank you for your time. good afternoon.

i managed two properties there and have been there since 1984. the people against the recycling center do not want to solve the issues, rather pushing them under the rug. i know this because i have a government employee and i understand why. we're going to get paid regardless and it is more work that we have to do on top of the other jobs. as civil servants it is our responsibility to properly vet issues. i do not think that recommend park did so and i think it is deplorable. we have beaten to death of the reasons why hanc should stay and pointed out all the reasons why beckham park is wrong. most importantly, in my

opinion, the recycling center provides revenue, jobs, and they are desperate for money. i do not understand how the unjustified moving to recycle and center initially to build a community garden that only serves about 50 to 60 people instead of the thousands in the community that it currently serves. there are better locations that recon cards have found themselves. thank you very much. -- wreck and park -- rec and park have found themselves. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. i have a few more names. [reads names]

>> good afternoon. i work with after-school youth development program for children in low-income areas. i predominant it work with it graders and one of the things i am teaching them is about global environmental issues. they are burning about the trash heap in the ocean that is the size of texas. we discussed why these problems exist. they have come up with ideas about lack of education, lack of access, and lack of incentive for recycling. this center provides those things. as greg was saying, this was cycling center is like an eco center. i come here for my recycling and composting. you can exchange things within the community. i have been able to put together our projects and a

costume box. so, i support the resolution. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> thank you for the opening remarks. i also wanted to tell you about the ecology class that i attended yesterday about the native plants and native wildlife that depend on the native plants. for example, the mission water slide that was introduced to the city last year depends on a particular loop. it is the oils and leaves that tell the butterflies that it is time to lay your eggs. later the larvae will get the signal from the oil in the beef to start eating.

so, it is very necessary for us to have the native plants for the native wildlife. services provided by hanc go beyond recycling with native plants and the nursery. i think that it is time for the city to acknowledge the services provided by hanc. doing something to highlight the services provided by this organization. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker, please. >> is this usable? no? my name is pam, i have lived in

haight for 35 years. hanc has been an invaluable resource. have concluded that the time has come to terminate 10 employees and close a fully functional service. the recreational recycling facility. for no reason other than to push against the progressive stance, generally. in the eviction of low-income folks, beyond that issues should not be confused. typically the folks that are defecating in our entryways and living in our driveways, lying

on our sidewalks, are not those the one -- are not the ones working tirelessly. as a society we need to provide to the homes more affordable housing, solving our mental health service issues. recyclers are tirelessly collecting bottles and cans. they need to be separated. so many people are bumping. we have been at work with homeless people for least 20 years. recyclers are clearly a part of the solution. the closure of the recycling center will clearly cause hardship for the people who, for a multitude of reasons, have come to rely on the meager redemption funds to supplement their income. i want to conclude by saying that in the event an eviction is available, all of us available to donate should continue to do just that.

pumping vending machines full of bottles and cans, hanc can hopefully be able to have a recycling center if that is what the city is demanding. the pioneer efforts deserve to be rewarded and not merely coopted by a handful of locvocal nimby. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am a resident and owner of coral st.. i am here to support the recycling center proposal to rescind the executive order. i call the san francisco chronicle the san francisco comical because of the reporting it has been doing.

i wanted to empathize with -- empathize with the gentleman who was looking for a metaphor earlier. there is something rotten in the recreation and parks department. [applause] by reasons for keeping the recycling center opened, i will not repeat myself. but it is part of the fabric of the neighborhood for almost 40 years. and my children have gone their to do community work. beginning in world revolution. i was in germany for years ago. they have recycling centers there that are very comprehensive. it is the forward way to go all of the other reasons why, between given by recycling, i

would choose to give it to the recycling center every time. the last thing that i would like to say, to close recycling centers are physically and morally wrong. please support this resolution. that is all i have to say. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i am probably preaching to the choir, but we need to see through the bog of what is going on. it is not a community garden issue. everyone here stands up for community gardens. what i would like to know is that -- an initial site survey was done? mclaren was the most feasible? what happened there?

also, for many of us it is not a recycling issues so much as a buyback issue. also, and how do i say this, the recycling center nursery has shown line for line that it meets the master plan for the park. it has taken steps to do so along the way. i wanted to point out those issues and bullets and things, looking you reach in the eye to say thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing this out and having more dialogue, which is really what we need. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is lynn stein.

i could not come a couple of years ago because i had one of my rare attempt jobs. -- attempt jobs -- temp jobs. any program that provides any revenue stream should not be gotten rid of in this economy. often when i am not working, i have my system with my bag and i pick up trash along there. if you put recycling things in golden gate park, people's behavior in these centralized areas, it will not be the same. a lot of people, most people will likely do the right thing, but many do not. trust me. they leave their recycling in

the trash or where they are. any incentive to get someone to find these and recycle them is so important. rescue these things. recycle them. fund them. often i am on the beach and i have discovered bottles that will become trash and then they will be gone. the cycle within an hour. because people have the incentive. that is all. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. >> i have lived in the haight for 25 years. three issues come to mind on this. one of them is practical, one is environmentally responsible, the other is ethical. to me it does not make sense that at any time, especially during budget shortfalls, that the city would cut off the actions of independent in the

fishing community organizations that put money into the coffers of the city and those efficient work that the system would not be able to make up for. all of us agree the community gardens are important. one does not have to be pitted against the other. there is no reason why a community garden has to be placed at the eastern end of the park. two weeks ago we saw mets with a vast majority of community gardens on the eastern half of the city. i would think that there will be priorities further west in the park to offset the community gardens in the western half of the city. on an ethical basis, rec & park did not do its job. they did not to be out reach needed to get people together to

discuss this critical issue in that part of the city. i've been asked the board to allow scrutiny and examination for the action or lack of action on the part so-called rec & park. -- on the parts of rec & park. thank you. aha supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. >> why am i advocating for keeping the native plant recycling nursery center open. the recreation and park commission makes it sound so, this, and industrial operation in golden gate park. this is a common sense and laudable effort. a local effort to think

globally have an act locally. with the other side, you have to pay attention. voting for their wishes. i am certainly swayed. wanting to make it public comment. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i was hoping to be last, but thankfully near the end of public comment. we have heard no opposition to the resolution.

so, please go ahead, pass the resolution, and then helped convince her colleagues on the board to support it. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. when reckoned parts on this on the community, they created the immediate impression that there was broad scale support for deploying hanc -- for evicting hanc from the center. i started asking around to people in the neighborhood and everyone that i spoke to supported keeping hanc firmly in place. we decided that because there was a complete lack of community process on this, we would call a meeting ourselves. in the hall of flowers be called for people from the broad community, including those that were opposed to hanc.

in three days 90 people showed up for the meeting. not a single person supported evicting hanc. not one person. we invited everyone. we urge people did these come. we asked for rec & park to come and argue their side. they did not do it. this false impression has been created and that the broad community is supporting hanc in supporting is a falsehood. you can look in this room right now. not one single person appear before you who is opposed to the resolution. not even one person even showed up here today. i ask you to please pass this resolution on to the full board of supervisors and to urge your

colleagues to support it. it makes eminent sense. it does give the opportunity for people opposed to this to come forward with true solutions for relocation. it is a very measured resolution. not one that is totally on one side, but it takes into consideration this point of view. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i would just like to say that nationwide, people are trying to go green. recycle. in our neighborhood we have a fight over where you can sit and lie in our neighborhood. there is a lot of difficulty when you have people coming and purchasing their homes in a neighborhood where they do not understand things and try to

force their opinions on the neighborhood. but, we have sit lie laws in this city now. residents that are not supposed to sit are still allowed to do so on ashbury and cole, the place where they tried to be implement the law. i would like you to realize that recycling and things are not done by everyone. the small bit that is done is a big help. we need the recycling center. we need the native plants. i appreciate your time and energy. thank you. >> supervisors. thank you for this hearing. i am going to talk about some inconvenient troops. everyone else has testified as

to the giving and generous quality of the community in the recycling center. it was identified clearly that we need to not hold public processes on november 30, just three days before the december 2 hearing. rpd has not had an outside recycling program for years. after months and months of lots of us criticizing them for that process, they just announced one week ago that they would do a broad pilot program in gold gate park, but there were skeptical about whether it would work. that they would spend $3,000 on each garbage can. it sounds like a very fiscally responsible decision. rpd did not attend the meeting

when they could have heard a lot of comments. finally, they announced that the recycling center has non- conforming use. what about the rest of the southeast corner of golden gate park? it has an apartment house, laundromat, other stores, where my wife purchaser bicycle, and a host of other things. they did not do anything about that. basically it is the private 49'er stadium. which was privately controlled by private interest. the final and inconvenient truth is that the hanc recycling center actually serves the community without taking from the community, as other private interests have done for so long. i would urge you to support this

excellent resolution. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i have lived in 7 cisco since 1970 and used hanc many times for recycling. especially cardboard. i have also taken several classes at the garden for the environment. we have the machines at bell market on 24th street in the past. it was an interesting experience. they were always broken. you had to stand there for a long time to make 20 cents. and there was no cardboard recycling. i am very to appointed in an "to san francisco chronicle" for the lack of balance reporting on

this issue. i would ask you to support the proposal. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i do not know if this is on. can you hear me? by name is beatrice laws -- my name is beatrice laws. we have lived in bp haight for 45 -- we have lived in haight for 45 years. i was disappointed in what appeared to be the overwhelming favorite of the struggle -- for this resolution. there are only four super burt -- supervisors who have heard this. i am here to plead with each of you to try to talk your colleagues into supporting this resolution. i think that it will be

essential for giving more time for this to be resolved. thank you, supervisor, for what you are doing to try to help and resolve this issue. i hope that the rest of the board will understand just how important this is to the city. thank you so much. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i have the privilege of being the husband of the last witness. we have observed events in the haight and participated in the

life of this neighborhood the entire time we have lived there. we have been a cycling at the center since the beginning. i find this entire situation reminds me of something that charles walton had occasion to say. that is how much effort it takes simply not to slide backwards. to wonder that we can claim to make any progress at all. all of this difficulty would not have occurred if there had been a full hearing on the issue before rec & park had it. as was developed during the testimony and from what we heard in evidence, had they taken proper proceedings cure the community and their many reasons why the center should be

allowed to stay. i share my wife's concern. that perhaps your colleagues misunderstand the situation. misrepresentations in the newspaper. i am urging you, in the event that anyone seems to be wavering, to plead with them to watch the last proceedings on television. there can be no other result in support of this resolution if they are fully informed of the pack. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker, please. >> thank you again, supervisor, for another wonderful resolution the to have brought forward. you brought one forward about how the commission disappointed.

i hope that it will be introduced again. there is no public process in the department. rec & park watch -- if you watched rec & park on line, you hear this complaint over and over and over and over and over. we are tired of it. be what some democracy. parks are important to us. i totally support the hanc has done. i do not have a cycling. i did not expect to have it for many years as i am in government housing. i use this was cycling. it is a great community. why would to break up a great, functioning community that makes money for the city? please, this resolution is a great idea. i hope that it is passed on. you should not have to