scholarships, a 15% of all registrants, generating $1 million in program revenue. it is absolutely spectacular. we have a lot of outdoor recreation, including eco adventures, fishing camps, neighborhood camps in all of our neighborhoods, including the sites of some of our club houses, were we obviously have controversy about our inability to program them. we will again be partnering with the san francisco housing authority. more details to come on that. i think the mayor will make an announcement. we will department with the standards as the housing authority to ensure -- we will be partnering with the san francisco housing authority to ensure all kids have an opportunity. more good news. the california department of parks and recreation has awarded

a facilities grant in the mouth of $5.4 million -- in the amount of $5.4 million. the park is located -- it offers interactive programs emphasizing science and the natural environment. it has programs for children of all ages. it is in partnership with friends of the museum, a private non-profits. -- private non-profit. they will make major site improvements including the trail of blood species in their natural habitats -- live species in their natural habitats. there will be the construction of a new exhibit lobby on the lower floor that will allow the display of extensive zoological collections for the first time ever. right now, they are literally in the closet. and the construction of a hands- on laboratory curious so, i

really want to give to those -- kudos to chris, tony moran, and the whole team. this is one of the largest prop 8 grants that has been given. as part of the 2008 park spawned, there were approximately $4 million for small and capital projects. we had 22 brand new groups we hope to be receiving program applications from. this is the direct result of the hard work and out reached done by our staff -- outreach done by our staff. we now have two quick presentations. it is our quarterly employee he recognition.

i want to bring up our human resources director, because we have a truly worthy recognition award. >> good morning. my name is ken ghee, and i am proud to be awarding the recipient of our quarterly employee recognition program. before introducing our recipient, i would like to briefly review the criteria used by the committee. it is an accomplishment that improves procedures, saves time and money, is heroic, displays innovation, provides a model for consistent work excellence, star -- shows leadership, or increases morale.

ray is a recipient. he began his career in 2000, and he joined the maintenance division in 2004. he is responsible for facilitating the daily operation of the structural meanness' yard main office. this is a challenging and dynamic assignment, critical to the overall operation of the maintenance funds. in addition to providing support to the 10 craft shops, one of his primary positions is to prioritize work order request. he reviews, evaluates, and roused the work orders to the appropriate craft shops and tracks progress. in fiscal year 2010, the meanness yard received approximately 15,000 work order requests -- the maintenance yard

received approximately 15,000 work order request. he also produced numerous 311 health, safety, and maintenance requests, submitted directly from the citizens. timeliness is important to public well-being. raymond's ability to communicate clearly and in a timely fashion has been a strength. raymond was nominated by recreation coordinator kay elk. she said of and what i find him to be one of the most thorough and professional employees in our department. he has coordinated our emergency in routine requests. he has helped me to keep our center in to shop -- tiptop

shape. ray has been critical to this operation. he is the point person for the tma work orders. his performance exemplifies professionalism, and hence his amiable personality. congratulations, raymond. [applause] >> commissioners, phil, ken -- thank you. i will be retiring in june. and this will be a nice thing to retire with. if i have to work for a living, i will work for rec and park. but then i am used to it. i worked for pacific bill through the divestitures.

president buell: thank you. [applause] >> i have one more certificate of appreciation and one more special thing we want to get through. last thursday, carl watson, a professional skateboarder has been skating in the east bay for over 30 years and recently started his own foundation. this is at the tenderloin children's playground to show off moves and donated 50 skateboards to the new skateboarding program. this program was created by dee gordon and tim roth. we are really reaching out to kids with the sports they wanted to. we are working hard to get our new program off the ground and

buying new equipment. i had the great pleasure of being with him and dee and tim at tenderloin rec center last thursday. he will see a little bit in a video we will show in a second. the picture on the kids' faces made all the aggravation worthwhile. it is a reminder of why we're making the difficult decisions we are. i really want to give -- i wanted carl to be here because his gift to our department and his enthusiasm, if you could see his smile, is so infectious. i want to present carl with the certificate of appreciation. [applause]

[applause] [applause] >> hello, commissioners. hi. i have been skating in sf for 23 years. i never thought i would receive an award like this. i appreciate it. i have been doing it for a long time. i just appreciate you guys

acknowledging my hard work. thank you very much. president buell: thank you. >> all right. last, but certainly not least -- with the help of one of our interns at san francisco university, and we have catherine in the back room -- we had eight fantastic intern's from sf state as part of the rec and parks tourism program. they have been doing a tremendous variety of projects for us. this is the second year in a row. we will show the work of one of our interns, ginnie hopper -- jaime hopper. if you of been to our website recently, you would notice we have launched our recparktv.

there are a number of basically guerilla videos about what we're doing in our parks. i have a very short two to three a video for excerpt about some of the things that's been happening over the last month. i am supposed to cue the overhead. i do not know how to do that. [laughter] volume tax -- volume? it is an ode to the silent movie era.

[no audio] >> so, elton, when we come back when you figure out how to get us some volume? but you get a strong sense from the video of all the things that happen in the park last month.

that concludes the general manager's report. president buell: thank you. good report. >> is there any public comment on the general managers' report? seeing none, item number three is closed. item number four, general public comment up to 15 minutes. at this time, members of the public may addressed the commission at items under the jurisdiction of the commission that do not appear on the agenda. i do have one speaker, richard palm? >> good evening, commissioners. general manager. it is hard to talk after all the awards ceremony going on. that is terrific. i want to approach the subject

of -- there is our recent problem coming up the past to do with dgnra have off-leash running around problems. i look at it from a different angle. we have parks. there will be of flooding of people into the parks with their dogs. it will likely get into trouble. the rangers will come. it will get into issues. i spoke up at the dog advisory committee when it was through sfrpd. i do not like using the meadow areas. we have playgrounds their four children.

so, it is a concern. they are planning to close the beaches. they are flooding into such a landmark, and i like it very much there. ibm -- i am a hot young fellow, and i will not speak up for that. i wanted to talk about the fees for the parks, where there are costs to you off-leash areas, and any john or jane doe wants to use the park, you get on the computer, go to the location, and then you pay the fee beforehand. and if there is operation involved, then you would have the park patrol officer checked sporadically, or however you

check. and there would still be a huge amount of on-leash parks. but about the fees -- jim lazarus here is looking at revenues. some way of getting revenues from this. and also the cost effect of this. it lowers the attendance of these off-leash areas. that is something i want to go through the operations committee and the capital committee. that is something i look forward to, because the dog quagmire is getting kind of heavy. [chime] >> thank you. is there anyone else to like to make general public comment? seeing none, item four is closed. item number five, the consent

calendar. is there any public comment on the consent calendar? seeing none, item 5 is closed. commissioners? president buell: all those in favor? motion passes. >> we are on item number six. >> good morning. tonya pedersen, director of the san francisco zoo. we were granted an accreditation by the association of zoos and aquariums this past month. we underwent a thorough investigation to make sure that we meet ever-rising standards in animal care, a veterinary programs, conservation, and safety. we provided a clearance to complete this rigorous foundation process every five years. the accreditation process includes an application and facility inspection by a team of

trained professionals not all facilities receive accreditation. we have learned to do more with less. i could not be more proud of the san francisco zoo. president buell: congratulations. [applause] >> and the month of april is off to a good start attendance-wise. we had visitors of 250,000, creating a favorable variants of 570 visitors. we anticipate a - 6% variable, due to pour water up -- poor weather in march. this weekend is our annual big bunny spring fling. say that 10 tons fast.

this feature is all things bunny-related this includes a puppet show. it provides a safe and enjoyable family we can to educate our visitors about the proper care of domesticated rats. you can visit our website for more information. lastly, it is that time of year when we have our yearly collaboration with public schools. we become a hands-on classroom where students receive credit for visiting the zoo. at the end of the year, a winning entry is chosen for each grade. you may have seen last year's entry, which is the owl in all of our banners. [unintelligible] art and science project here at

the zoo. here is an entry from the garfield elementary school. the project was "scavengers'." there is an arrow pointing to the left corner. that is a dead animal for the scavengers. we have the cycle of life here at the zoo. we also have the vibrant al. that was -- vibrant owl. that was from a first grader. we also have a kindergarten in tree on the right. on the left of that, this was drawn by a second grader. and a third grader highlighted our sncc conservation programs to the right -- our snake conservation programs to the right. on the left. highlighted by a fourth grader from jefferson elementary, and a

fifth grader provided our upcoming sea lion exhibit. they are coming to the center this coming may. also, there were some temporary projects from students at the academy. here is the migratory birds. there is a temporary installation of those birds by students. we also have engaged in a conservation -- a frog conservation program. he will see some walking up the walls of these do. here is the lion's fountain. and lastly, students were tasked of trying to improve our trash can service. those are all animals sitting on these two trash cans.

i think the students for improving and beautifying the zoo. with that, that concludes my president buell: reportbuell -- that concludes my report. president buell: thank you. >> is there any public comment on item number six? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, do you have -- president buell: no. sounds like a busy time at the zoo. you look very zoo-ish. >> we are now on item number 7, sunset playground. >> good afternoon, commissioners. the item before you today has two components to it regarding the playground as one of the 2008 bond projects. the two items before you today is one to approve the date for

the builders, and to award the construction contract for the renovation project to clw builders. as i mentioned at the committee level, we send this project to the department of public works. all estimates came in under the engineer's estimate. which was terrific. as we were looking through all documentation, we found the low bidder was a builder who left off a 6 on a digit of thier -- their personal item. we as an official body have to relieve their bid. that is the first action item.

you will see documentation from the department of public works. there is detail on that process and numbers on that. staff recommends that action, which leads us to the second low bid, which is clw buiol -- builders. we received a bid from the fifth lowest contractor based on some subcontracting issues with a roof subcontractors. during a detailed review of that bid process, we determined -- we determined the bid protest would be rejected on information provided in the documentation. since the committee level, i was able to provide documentation on the human rights investigation, which was one of the items on

the bid protest. i would be happy to describe this in more detail. it's convoluted. essentially, the city attorney's office projected that did protest and seen to that appropriate. -- and deem that a corporate. >> is there any public comment on this item? please come forward. >> good morning, commissioners, general manager. i am from supervisor carmen chu's office. she wanted to express her support for this project. it has been a long time coming. it will be worth it in the end. we are very happy with the way the rec and park department has communicated with the community. there were a few wrinkles in doubt.

we are looking forward to this project moving full steam ahead. the supervisor wanted to make sure you understand she is in support of this project. >> is there any other public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner? president buell: do i understand it is one action? >> that is the motion that is made. president buell: i understand the motion. it has been moved and seconded. all those in favor? opposed? hearing none, it is unanimous. >> we are on item #8, the lawrence park -- dolores park. >> hello. i am from the capital improvements division. the item before you now is de extension of contract for the

helen diller playground at dolores park. this will include the bass bid as well as seek -- base bid as well as the first six alternates. just to give you background, the playground is a cooperative project by the recreation and park department with the neighborhood parks council and the delores park playground. the project was first bid in -- i believe it was september 2010. we received three bids, all that were beyond the available funds for the project. since then, we have been reviewing and by a-engineering project. we received five bids in 2011,

many of which were within the available funds for the project. after the bid open, we received a protest from one of the bidders that indicated to us that the low bid, they did not mean the -- meet the 17% required by the project. we were waiting for the final determination from hrc. since that time, hrc has deemed that the bid was responsive, but this was a clerical, mathematical error, which resulted in a 1% failure to meet the goal. the delivery of this project will result in an 80% lpe participation on this project. we will be able to deliver the

project at each division, the donor, the community, and the commission. staff is recommending new award the contract today. >> is there any public comment on this item? please come forward. >> good morning, commissioners, general manager. i'm here to speak for the neighborhood parks council. we support awarding the contract had and further recommendations. we believe it insures the best possible project with the efficient use of funds. we support the -- we feel the contract meets. the council has had the pleasure of working with the friends of