actions that expose the individuals and institutions that are misleading or breaking the law, or covenant -- covering up to enable others to. the commission's minutes have gone missing from the website in violation of the sunshine ordnance. for contexts, at the previous meeting, lobbyists were utilized by this commission to introduce -- to falsely represent that lead and other heavy metals would not be components of this and this was done without a single objection from members of this commission, or the management, all of whom know this to be false. them that -- the meeting minutes with philip which -- would indicate the failure of the general manager to publicly announce and engine dies their controversial e.i.r.

and it would show the knowledge of the other items. we're putting in the words, public health, children's health hazards, carcinogens, benno particulates, zinc toxicity, mercury poisoning, dioxide, neural inflamation, pah's, fischer construction, pisces incorporated, city field,s, baycore builders, field turf incorporated, turf kickbacks.

we have hard copies of the submitted scoping guidelines. for accuracy and facilitated transcription, the copies were given to this commission and other interested parties. thank you. >> the next speaker? >> i am and retired animal keeper from the zoo. i would like to thank the general manager for inviting me to this event for former employees. i was at the grand parlor by was unable to attend. after i signed my papers i received a notice saying that i could receive a certificate

from -- for appreciation. they seemed surprised when i said i was interested and said they would do this at a future date. i received a call that this would be done at the next meeting, and i returned to the city, and was surprised that the morning of the meeting, i was told that this was not in effect and would not be offered. my actual motivation in asking for that privilege was that i wish to thank the commissioners present, and fall -- past commissioners including jim lazarus, who supported by that my suggestion to bring back grizzly bears to the san francisco zoo. this resulted in the construction of a world-class exhibit for those animals.

i think the commissioners for their support, and as far as the other item, it may want to check the materials that are sent to your retired employees. >> we don't usually respond to public comment, but thank you for your 30 years of service. will be honored to recognize you and we will make certain that this happens at an upcoming commission meeting. this is a partnership with the zoological society and sometimes communication gets cross wired, but we very much of value the people who have dedicated their lives to the betterment of open space and recreation, and we wanted to begin to do more to recognize those who had devoted their career to the department. you will see more of that in the

coming years. we will bring back this and other things. and we will recognize you as the future meeting and we are very thankful for your commitment to the zoo, which so many love every day. >> is his name going to be included in the plaque? i wanted to make certain because i know most of the retirees -- they will have their name on this. >> i will double check but i believe so. >> were you there? >> i was a delegate. >> i am certain that your name is going to be memorialized for some time because of your service.

we will have the names of everyone who has retired, -- >> you will double check that to make certain that his name is there. >> we wait with anticipation. >> victoria, and we have ernestine, nancy, and linda. >> i am with a neighborhood parks council, and i want to invite you to some upcoming events from the neighborhood park council. we're holding our town hall at the rec center, and we hope that you'll be able to join us. we welcome the commission and the department to join us, and we're happy to include -- to continue the dialogue so we hope that you'll join us. there is further information on the web site. and also, we're happy to

announce that we are served -- we are holding a summer social to celebrate the volunteers and we will be celebrating the part groups from all 11 of the different districts of san francisco. we hope that you'll join us. we are still finalizing the details but we hope to see you at either event, and thank you so much for your ongoing support. >> bernstein? >> you have damaged the gateway to the city with corruption, incompetence, lack of supervision and oversight, leadership, irresponsibility ai.

most of the park is pitch dark. there is crime and vandalism, homelessness, recommended outreaches missing, with money -- with no money for this. no. 2, the benches are black, but should be green. number three, the ultimate insult, violating the jurisdiction of ordnance. the community calls it weird. this is not a part, this is a junkyard. enough of your devious antics,

and the priority overseeing swans. the result is a disgusting display of dishonesty. you're conscious -- >> nancy? >> good afternoon. this is a hard act to follow. i will try to follow. i came here to discuss the change in the lease of the san francisco yacht club. i think you should consider the introduction of rent credit, as oppressive for dismantling the

fund's resources. this will take public funding, to allow the private entity to spend money without public -- without public review. the commissioners will not be authorizing the projects paid for by the public money, as you are now. just because the general manager will be sitting with his private club members behind closed doors to decide what to spend the rent credit on. there'll be no transparency, no hearing for the projects to be decided upon. your own committee has not been consulted about how they view this process working out. at a minimum, he should not act until they discussed the pros and cons about allowing a private entity from discussing the use of these funds. this takes money belonging to

the yacht harbor fund and allows private deals to be decided outside of the city's control. they will be advancing repair money and will pay the bills from their fund. nobody gets money for free. i want to know the interest rate that will be charged to pay in advance for these repairs and then wait for the money to come in. this is a very complex financial structure. also, there is no backup detail that i received when i got the details on the new spreadsheet. the repayment schedule does not tell me how the projections keep changing when the project has not changed at all. everytime i get a new copy, the numbers on the bottom line are rearranged. how was this decided.

we need to understand the basis of the new math. it is not prudent to remove the safety net with the future guaranteed income by the least. we have to be able to count on that for other issues at the marina. we need to have you involved on making these decisions. this decision will be taken out of our hands. please to not let these projections materialize without a full review of everything. this is a bad deal for the city and the department, thank you. >> good morning, commissioners. today i am wear my hat and i just want to let you know that i returned a week ago, and i was there as part of a volunteer

crew, and i wanted to complement the department on the amazing way that we have this camaraderie at that particular place, with volunteers and staff working together. this is a beautiful thing to see. i did all kinds of friends and got the camp set up with the general store. this is our second year operating the general store, and things are going well. i want to complement claudia and her staff because they do an amazing job. the camp takes a lot to get started, and the staff will go up and help out. everyone is working very effectively together. i was there that the dedication of the platt was unveiled.

this was a very moving experience. they were representing the department along with the rest of the staff. i had some pictures i've brought along to share. this is of the volunteers -- -- with the interior of the store. my husband and i stayed on for the senior camp, which is a success, and i just wanted to tell you about one of the successes. normally i come before with a lot of complaints but this is going very well. >> we have time for one more. >> morning, mr. president. i am here on behalf of the friends of joe dimaggio playground and the over 1000 north beach residents who

support the plan for the new library. last week, the board of supervisors ruled unanimously to approve of this project. with the funding secure, we have to move forward on the playground innovation. i asked to approve this resolution, to extend this for the renovation of the playground. on a different matter, from the parents and children who use the playground, i would like to thank the general manager for finding a way to reopen the clubhouse. this is very appreciated during the summer holiday. >> this includes general public comment. we are on the consent calendar and one person would like to speak.

this is just an inquiry, perhaps. i wanted to know if it was possible to get a copy of the lease for the playground, for the children's nursery school. is this something -- >> did you look into the general public information? >> this is in the consent calendar for today. >> is there someone else would like to make public comment on the consent calendar? public, disclosed. commissioners? >> i entertain a motion. >> all of those in favor signify by saying aye. >> we are now on item 6, the san

francisco zoo. >> thank you. >> good morning, commissioners. it is a pleasure to be here. this will come up on the screen? >> can you state your name for the record? >> before i go into the presentation, i would like to give you updates about what is happening at the zoo right now. we have lots of exciting programs and opportunities for everyone to learn about wild places. we have about 300 volunteers in the youth program, with the junior zoologists program. we have the teaching assistants to help with the program, and

they are waiting to have an encounter with you and tell you about wild places and wild things. we have a couple of exciting things going on. you may remember that we have a new sea lion cool, and they are doing fantastic. these are the blind sea lions that came with the marine mammal center, and they are adapting very well. i want to talk a little bit about the exciting news -- the tarantulas. this is not your favorite animal but they are a very misunderstood species. we have a fantastic exhibit with 20 species of these animals. please learn something about tarantulas. let me go into the conservation

report. i want to talk about the global programs. the first of these is about living with lions. these programs -- they are programs funded by the san francisco zoo, a conservation group that works in kenya with the people that live with clients, and traditionally they would kill lions for our right of passage, and also when they killed the cattle. this is changing their thoughts to save lives, and there is an economic event hitch in tourism. by supporting these groups, lions are being protected. we have donated close to $30,000. this is not the san francisco

zoo. we have a donation jar from when this opened in 2002. these are contributions made by the public to this project of over $30,000. this is supporting snow leopards and this conservation group is working with the communities where the snow leopards are found. they have traditionally killed snow leopards and their yaks -- were killed by snow leopards. we're helping them understand the importance of snow leopards and giving them tools to protect their cattle more successfully. this is a great partnership. the next one is the sahara conservation fund. the reason we chose this group is because there is not a lot

of conservation organizations working with this area, and we have a couple of species that represent this zone. this is an important conservation group that is wanting to make a difference in this very critical space. we have a couple of red necked ostriches. and we support the conservation programs with this species. since the opening of the lemur forest, we've been working to save the important species in madagascar. we are working witht madagascar since 2002. if you don't know about the iucn, the united states

government has the endangered species act. this is a global consortium of zoos, aquariums and governments that were to establish the status of wild places and wild things. this is a very important group, and as a biologist and a scientist, people go there to get the status of the wild places. this is a very important group. the conservation strategy funding was taken in 2011 and this is building on the domino effect. people tend to work for the other third world countries. they are brought to stanford and

they are taught economics and economic analysis to get a tool belt, so they can stand in front of the decision makers and really talk about the language of development, which is economics, and help make important decisions. this is a very unique model and this is a collaboration that we have just gotten into. the conservation strategy fund. if you are not familiar with earth watch, this assistance, science and action. you can help scientists do real work, to advance the science and conservation. you go to -- she is working with leatherback sea turtles, measuring them and getting

important information. this is one of the most misunderstood animals, one of the largest reptiles on this planet. you can help the scientist do real conservation work. what is amazing is that we have board members who have come up with this concept of the staff on earth watch, the research trips and over 20 years, since 1991 we have sent almost 40 members of the staff to go help. this is a great group. if you've never thought about this, think about it. i would like to talk about the local projects. this is our only native pond turtle, the only native freshwater turtles found in the united states.

the san francisco zoo is working with -- working to determine scientific data that will help this turtle in the wild places. we're actually had starting turtles that have been taken out of the wild for genetic research and we grow them up and release them into the wild. this is an important project, with the oakland zoo and the san francisco zoo, working to help this turtle. this is a very exciting one, and we're just not getting involved with this. it turns out there is a global collapse of amphibians, they're disappearing globally for a lot of reasons. one of them is a fungus, sweeping through california in

the high sierra. it has obliterated population of -- populations of the yellow legged frog. what we are doing is collaborating with the scientists, one of the premier scientists, and we're working with him and his population of frogs that were taken out of a while before this fungus swept through, and these are the only remaining species from this population. we will work on a breeding and release program, and we'll be taking the frogs into the high sierra and releasing them. this is a unique collaboration with san francisco state. and we have a working with the san francisco garter snake, one of the most beautiful snakes, only found along the coast here in northern california. we're working with california

state to continue moving the conversation about this important species. and a new and exciting program, we were approached by u.s. fish and wildlife and national park service to help them with the management of california condors. there would like to use our veterinary expertise to help with the annual medical procedures with california condors. in the past, they were taken from the wild, they would take the populations that they were working with, in the tentacle wilderness population that they are referring to. they would take a couple of them out every year and much of them for poisoning. many of these animals have been shot with these lead bullets, and so -- they have a medical

technique where they will leach out the bloodstream. we are delighted to be partnering with the fish and wildlife service. and the fish and game on this project. and i would like to talk about the san francisco zoo. like all of the communities and all of the city governments, it is important to deal with the waste stream, and people can help to select this and go to compost or garbage. we have been working with parks and recreation about this and we are up to 75% right now. we have biodiesel. we have these vehicles

going out into schools. i saw on the news today, the bay area transport commission is trying to get people to take public transportation. we have the employees -- if they get public transportation, we provide them a couple of money for the passage, and we also encourage people to come to the san francisco zoo by giving them a dollar off. this is a corrective action that will make this a better place. i went to a conference in seattle in march, and this was a conservation conference. this was from committees and zoos across the world talking about global conservation. what was emerging that wanted to bring to you is oha