to continue with what i have prepared here, those of you who visit, you probably know it is really about fog and wind most of the time, and it is normally used primarily by dog walkers, people with their dogs, especially the fourth, and then a smattering of other types of walkers and joggers, surfers, people like that. my concern is that when we have to leave and go to the city parks, the force will be empty, and so we will have the opposite problem that they were describing, where we have these big empty beaches and in just one or two miles away, we have crowded parks, and in my opinion, that is just a really ridiculous use of resources, so i really urge you to pass the proposal, and i ask that you will come up with a more holistic approach.

supervisor wiener: thank you very much. the next speaker. >> that you for taking my comments. the proposed changes would affect my life on many levels. first, on a personal level, i would no longer have a place to exercise with my dogs. on a business level, dog walking business would be severely affected, and my livelihood would be in great danger. as a responsible member, of the committee, i am deeply concerned. i do not even want to imagine what my day-to-day life and look like if i do not have the ability to go to the park and exercise with my dogs. i think it is important to mention we're talking about 1% of the ggrna. that is a small amount of space to make sure that people have a place to exercise. we need to provide adequate space for them to exercise. we also, however, have a

responsibility to preserving be national and natural parks. that being said, i believe we can come up with a better solution, one that serves everyone. the gentleman from the ggrna mentioned that the other areas would be large. that is not true. the alternative leaves a very, very small area for us to walk our dog. if you take into account the number of dogs that frequent these places on any given day in the area that they're going to allow for off leash areas, once you put that large number of dogs, hundreds of them, in any given time, the incidence is related with people and dogs are bound to go up. there is just no other way to look at it. with regards -- i have seen dogs chasing the birds, and they do

fly away, but i would say for me, i am a runner. when i run by the beach, the birds also take off. supervisor wiener: thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello, my name is natalee, and i wanted to say a few things. i am pro environment, pro dog, and permit human -- and pro- human. i cannot stress at combating dog behavioral issues that only off leash play can give. by adopting a policy, it is inevitable that the congestion will lead to a situation with all dogs. we're putting so much money, time, and effort into a proposal but seems to be based on a lack of scientific evidence. this proposal takes no account

of the human impact in the area, like running, people's garbage, cigarette butts, the impact of other animals, and even just the threat to other small animals or the erosion of soil. all responsible dog owners and doc professionals are in favor of allowing this and collecting revenues and fees. we need to have a balanced and fair proposal for santa is the city parks as well f.m. -- as well best -- asd -- as the ggrna. banks. t -- hanks. >> my name is -- and i live just off of the embarcadero, and i will introduce my dog franklin, a service dog nipper -- who is with me.

i did like to give my time to this other person, who can speak very well. thank you very much. >> i am further down on your list. i am a reason dog owner. i got a rescue dog who is 18 months old. my husband and i, 1.5 years ago, and it was a revelation to me to see how much was available to us as elderly dog owners with our young dog. primary to that was the socialization, which occurred taking our dogs -- taking our dog to the park, where she could in to react with dogs and people. -- where she could react with dogs and people. a certain amount of dog training from down on the peninsula. she has turned into a wonderful, calm, a social animal. not that she was not pretty good to begin with.

the smell of urine is overwhelming as the snow melts, and my fear about san francisco, where my dog and my husband and i have roamed in city parks and in ggrna, the dramatic reduction for open space available for off leash dog walking, you're going to be creating terrible problems, because my understanding is there are at least 100,000 dogs in the city. the positive effects of having dogs at the fort is that i've never seen a homeless encampment, which i have seen in other parts of the city, and i have seen my dogs playing with the ravens, who might hear are attacking swallows. i heard that from a ggrna person.

so the ggrna as a huge number of problems, and i think this is the least of their worries, and i really thing that the board has done a wonderful job of stepping in and stepping up to the plate. supervisor wiener: thank you. next speaker. >> ok, my name is justin. i am a san francisco resident and am also an engineer. i want to thank you for giving us an opportunity to actually speak about this. public, it was really not being taken like this at the other meetings. taking a pretty broad look at this document and more of a scientific look as far as environmental impact statements go, i find it totally deficient in scientific data. i do not see the normal scientific data that is in these

reports. there are not very many studies that are in the document. there is no base line, from what i can tell, that was taken by the national park service here to truly engaged where we are at. if they were going to enforce the laws and regulations that are currently in place, it would have a totally different starting point that what they look at in this report. before they enforce the rules, we should not even have this report. i encourage you guys to pass this resolution. thank you very much. supervisor wiener: next speaker. >> i don't have an opinion as i have a well behaved and dog that has gone horseback riding after

words on the beach, the san francisco police department has a vicious and dangerous animal unit. even though i suffered a dog attack that left me in need of surgery and my horse with open wounds, i was neither able to avail myself to this unit can have a hearing nor was i even able to be provided with information of whether that dog had a rabies shot given the fact that my horse had open wounds. the owner of the dog was in sight of the whole thing, he did nothing, did not call his dog, and thinking he did not realize the gravity of the situation, i rode my horse up to the area where he was.

he still did nothing after i asked him. i tried to slide of my horse, but the dog was biting front to back. my horse fell and 1,000 pounds felony -- fell on me. the bottom line is, here i am. i love dogs. i love my dogs off-leash. but if there are no ramifications and i can't turn to a unit that is established to deal with this or turn to city officials to find out if they have rabies, something is wrong. [chime] >> think you for having this hearing. >> if i could call more names,

my apologies for interrupting you. [reads names] you may proceed. >> i am a 42-year resident of san francisco and also a homeowner and an active advocate for our city parks. i am also very supportive of environmental issues. but i am very worried about the proposed proposal to limit dog

use in the park. i am here to speak on behalf of my family, husband, children, and grandchildren. god planned activities are very much a multi-generational activity to bind families and bring us to parks. i also wanted you to know that we proudly show off san francisco's dog play areas to our out of town guests. people are amazed that we have this ability to show this kind of recreation as such a wonderful happy family home and recreational activity. they don't see it in other parts of the country. it is such a beautiful thing. you see people of all ages mingling together with their dogs. it is a wonderful thing.

i also wanted to stress what other people have said. the golden gate national recreation area is a unique urban park. it is the urban area that we want to combine with all of these recreational activities. >> next speaker, please. and if the speakers want to move up a little more, that would be great. >> i am a 30-year resident of san francisco. as we all know, when a control virtually all access to the waterfronts of the city. i am very concerned when 90% of the 1% area restricted, a figure that this is hardly a balanced

approach. i would strongly support a resolution for re-examination because i don't think the data is there to support such restrictions. i think we should come up with a better solution. supervisor wiener: supervisor campos has serious concerns about the proposal. he is not allowed to come up here because they constitute a quorum of the public safety committee. he wanted me to convey that. next speaker. >> i am a research scientist in san francisco. they don't let me out often. i am shocked and appalled when some of the people in uniform behind me are using in abusing

the data. that is how we got into trouble. weapons of mass destruction. are we are looking at her dogs of mass destruction. they have admitted that the same time there is no data for that. we should take this entire plan, throw it out, let's look at some real data and maybe we will find something else that helps the birds even more. after all, there is probably more scientific data that shows that cats indeed attack birds. we don't have any data that shows that the dogs attack birds except for an anecdotal data with no witnesses. i think it is time that the federal government stop using and abusing scientific research. i have a lot of confidence in the woman that was here earlier, it sounds like people from san

francisco really know how to manage things in san francisco. maybe we let rec and park takeover christie beach. maybe we are satisfied with local presence if there are great problems with the golden gate national recreation area. >> i live in the senate side neighborhood of san francisco. i am also an environmental activist. i have worked on climate change and renewal energy for a decade. a lot of folks sent pictures of people read creating with their dogs and it is such a diversity of people, i think it is amazing to see. i want to speak to why we should

pass a resolution. we need to make them take our concerns more seriously. it will not stop them from moving forward, and i am afraid that they think we can submit comments and they can keep going. but if the city of san francisco says this is not ok, they will take it more seriously. we need to get the city involved by submitting comments. passing a resolution will help the federal representatives get involved. if we can go to them and say, the city of san francisco is taking this very seriously, we need to take him seriously as well. i think we should pass a resolution to the knowledge the impact this will have on the community to reject the idea of that it is us versus the environment and insist that there is another way. i think we need a resolution because we need to tell them that you can slap together a bunch of data and make a

recommendation that isn't actually supported by the data. we also need to tell them it is not updated put forward an environmental impact statement that does not provide data of the impact of city parks. >> next speaker. gosh, this is my service in the mall. i really did not like dogs. my solution was to go to places where there were not dogs. it was not that hard to find. i had a change of heart when i got very ill and started to develop panic attacks. my friend cozy dog is what saved me from these panic attacks. her daughter would sit with me and make me feel better. i am starting to get to the point where i needed to get out of the house more, and this is in the best addition to my life.

one of the reasons or ways that i am able to have her with me all day is that every day, we get up and we run around for a least 45 minutes. we go to ocean beach or christie field. we prefer to go to the beach because the dog parks are overcrowded at lunchtime. that is when the dog walkers are taking the dogs back, after the lunch time walks. if you go to the dog park, it is sometimes so crowded that it is not comfortable. i am telling you, it is just a pack. those pictures are accurate from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. here in. she has been sitting here for over two hours, calm.

i am curious to know that our city has more acreage than any other city for dogs. how many dogs do we have compared to the other cities as well? if you could research this issue thoroughly in support the resolution, we would really appreciate it. >> next speaksupervisor wiener:t speaker. >> i'm a dog owner and i'm 13 years old. i am commenting because i think this is an important issue that should be discussed by young people. we take away these places and there will be nowhere else to go. there are other ways to help the environment. the birds need protection, but there are other ways to protect it. certain areas should be put

aside for the habitat and i acknowledge there should be certain rules put in place. the ggnra says they need to protect the area for future generations. i'd cut my dogs feces, why should i be punished? -- i pick up my dog's feces, why should i be punished. dogs will not be socialized. this will increase user conflicts and there'll be more accidents. it affects me because i will not get enough exercise, my dog will become unhealthy and will not be socialized. my community will be overcrowded. in the bay area, one in three houses have these cuts.

they don't have any proof that these things are true. i suggest next time they want to put out a test plan, they do their homework before. [applause] supervisor wiener: thank you very much. >> that is a hard act to follow. i want you to imagine this scenario. your buried under the rubble of a detached building or an avalanche. everyone has forgotten about you and you hear a webber or you feel a cold, soft nos. what would you do for that animal that came to your aid? i just want to read you a list of some of the things that dog to do for us. police dogs, service dogs, search and rescue, avalanche

dogs, cadaver dogs, and they were the unspoken heroes of 9/11. cancer detection, seizure detection, dogs have changed human beings lives. wheat domesticated them and we must take care of them. dogs need run free and the dogs. that is why we need to have a large area. of life came from the sea, that is why i like to take my dog to the port. i feel rejuvenated by the air and the people and the wonderful dogs around me. i would not go there if it weren't for my dog. i want to point out a couple of other things. i want to point out that we have rules: no age discrimination and the ata. the rules that let us what our dogs say that we may walk our dogs only at the beach.

i don't know about the rest of you, but i have had any operation. i can't get down that sliding path to the beach. that is discrimination. there are seniors that meet every morning that can't get down to the beach. let us mingo with everybody else and enjoy a where no one else will be. they are not nesting on those blocks. i would like to suggest that the dogs have to be restrained, let's restrain children. supervisor wiener: next speaker. >> i am here representing the san francisco lead of conservation voters. it is a stellar national park, one that would be a national park whether or not this area was next to it.

it contains an area more rare than any other national parks. this is unprecedented in the national park system. in its welcoming of dog activity in its welcoming of off-leash dog activity. it is already a huge compromise. one principle agreed to by all parties which i participated in was that visitors that wanted to have a dog-free experience in the park had that right. the plan prepared now would not allow such an experience in nearly every part. to those that claim there is no impact, the time has stolen many people's memory when there were brush rabbit in california quail.

we are lucky enough to live next to the ggnra. but it prevents the germans but other managers -- visitors and is causing unsustainable damage to the habitat. other generations will not be able to enjoy the park that we enjoy today unless this is brought under control. >> i am a san francisco resident. i wholeheartedly support the resolution opposing the proposed a dog plan and i don't know how you list all these comments. -- listen to all of these comments. a couple of things i will reiterate, and dogs are not off- leash because they are well behaved, they are well behaved because they are off-leash this

is about dog owner rights. limiting the tiny dog parks is a back of the bus segregation. there of recreation is limited by their own dogs. i don't have time to do by unexercised somewhere else. 1% has been said, i think it is worth stating again. i don't understand why proponents don't suggest that we take another 1% of the parks and allocate them to non-humans. they are supporting their own recreation. and i will say to that dog owners are not against wildlife. they're far more connected and empathetic to animals. the also have the authority to manage different than

yellowstone. i also question motives when they are using golden gate national park as the name is that of the golden gate national recreation area. the no-action option is misleading. it includes compliance management that would potentially lead to a total ban. they offer no way to go backwards. [chime] supervisor wiener: next speaker. >> a year ago, i adopted a dog that turned out to have serious behavior problems. including severe anxiety. i thought i would have to give her up. i was informed that vigorous exercise were important keys to resolving such issues. places like the off-leash areas have been an integral part of

her recovery at transformation into a well behaved member of the community. san francisco has more dogs and children. their well-being and their owner's said the, i understand some people are afraid of dogs, but the way to encourage enjoyment is not through segregation of animals or by relocating. that is what they seem to want. even the u.s. fish and wildlife service has not listed ocean beach as a critical habitat for those birds. ggnra has an obvious federal agenda that disregards the city and people of san francisco, not to mention the dogs. supervisor wiener: let me call some more names. [reads names]