motivation here. no one got to say anything. you had a more accountable only to the mayor, a decision that was made by the mayor. this whole process spells, smells of something not fair. so please do something about it. we do not need to fix something that is not broken. you're going to have to pay money for this other thing which will not work. >> i am going to call some names before the next speakers. he lane cigar rock. michael job. >> just a few quick point. you have heard all the arguments. first, recycling is the way to go. there is no substitute for it.

those machines will never work. it has been an incredible biological and social economic resource for the city for 30 years now. it is a resource we should never paved over. there are better alternatives. as a citizen of san francisco, a parent, whose child benefits from a local public school, do the right thing. do with thousands in the neighborhood and thousands in this city want you to do. it is the best opportunity for all of us in san francisco. do not just keep it going. expand its impact. >> next speaker please. >> let me thank supervisor at avalos, mar, elsbernd, and especially mirkarimi for considering this issue. many of the criticisms of this

have already been mentioned. the loss of 10 jobs. the simple fact that even if it were at fault of the proliferation of homeless, its removal would only ruler could the problem instead of dealing with the source. i am here to talk to you as a gardener. although i would love nothing more than a community garden across the street, there are simply better locations. first of all, exposures. the site only gets one-third direct sunlight. would take extensive pruning and tree removal to bring it up to acceptable level of sun exposure. furthermore, the site has been operating as a recycling center for 30 years. trucks and forklifts have been driving through heavy oil and other pollutants in the soil. because of that, the amount of money, labor, and time, it would take to run -- without the

asphalt and remove trees would simply make this fiscally irresponsible. on top of all that, what makes it even more ridiculous, there are numerous other sensible locations for community gardens, as was mentioned two weeks ago. there is a spot near mclaren lodge, as well as a two-acre field to the west of the recycling center. if even a small portion of that were allocated for the community garden, it would leave over 1 acre for field games. if the rec and parks department ultimately decides to stay there course, i hope that they will at the very least postpone these evictions until they can relocate the recycling center. thank you for your time. >> if i have called your name, please come into the middle of the aisle. next speaker. >> my name is michael job.

i am a member of the haight- ashbury. thank you for the resolution. i want to speak on being careful with who you listen to with regard to the community gardens. commissioner mirkarimi, if you come to the 600 block of schrader street and see with the greening of the sidewalk has done there, the department of urban forestry allocated all that. one year later, the permit was okayed, after it was a done fact. the same thing is going to happen, as you heard from the speaker before, if community gardens is allowed to be put into this space. it is not thought of by the ones proposing it. all i am saying is, be careful review take advice from. in regards to community gardens and so on. please keep hanc recycling center opened. >> thank you.

supervisor mar: i -- thank you. i am going to read some names. >> greg gar.. i have worked at the recycling center for 27 years. i started the native plant nursery. of course, i support the proposed resolution. i hope we can get the votes from the full board. i understand it will not overturn the rec and parks commission vote, but it is an opportunity to go in another direction. when you actually combine the recycling, native plant nursery, a native plant gardens, composting, that ecological classes that we have at this site, the end result is really the golden gate park because center.

that is what the facility is, and eco center. the rec and parks department, the department of environment, and hanc should be partners in sustainability. all stakeholders should negotiate and find common ground. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> kevin bayuk. member of the hanc recycling center council. it is clear this is not about community garden spirit to do the retrofit at frederick and make it a community garden, you would have to remove asphalt, soil testing for chemicals and tens of thousands of dollars of additional cost, which you would not have to do any of the other applications approved already by the commission. in terms of being fiscally

responsible, i would answer questions about that. it is also important to mention, the hanc recycling center already provide additional services to the agricultural community. that would be provided by rec and parks proposed community gardens urban agriculture site such as the ability to pick up mulch and compost. hanc is providing those services at no cost to the city. it has already been proposed that they will not be able to use the capital budget that they have been allocated. hanc is able to provide those services today at no cost to the city. something very important to consider. in terms of money spent, $250,000 to get 45 garden plots.

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. inconvenient troops. everyone else has testified as