botanical garden, it gives them a reason to come back. you think let's go and look at the pretty flowers. these are pretty flowers, but they are flowers with weird and fascinating stories behind them. that is really fun and really not what people normally think of when they come to a horticultural institution. >> "wicked plants" is now showing at the san francisco conserve tore of flowers. unless next time, get out and play.

>> we have a couple of announcements. in no. 7 will not be heard today. the st. francis yacht club will not be heard today. please turn off any electronic devices, in the secondary conversations we ask that you please take outside. you will have three minutes to speak on any item today unless the president announces otherwise. please speak to the item that is being heard, and if you want to speak on general public, and this is either item four, or

item number eight. thank you. we are on item number two, which is the president's remarks. >> i do not have anything to report. >> and is there any public comment? public comment is closed. item number three, the general managers' report. >> i have a few things to report. this is all good news. tuesday the 21st, the 23rd. thursday, june 23, we will have the william hammon hall award at 2:30 in the conservatory, and the awards are jointly presented by the parks and recreation

department, and laborers local. next tuesday, june 21, the department has been invited to participate in the blue-green awards, to support the employees and apartments who have shrunk in the carbon footprint. two members of the staff -- will be recognized for their achievements and their efforts in reducing the carbon footprint. the department leaves the city for this waste, and we're working on strategies to continue to reduce the overall footprint. next month, the superintendent will make a presentation on the department's action plan. next month, we will present the

year in review for the department. i wanted to give you a sneak preview into some of the news, that we are particularly proud of. we are expected to conclude the year with a reduction in workers compensation costs, with an almost 11% reduction. this triple of the goal that we set at the beginning of the year. i want to commend the department manager who oversees the workers' compensation program, and i want to talk about the strategies that we have employed, and i will bring the workers comp team back to talk about this a little bit further. the department is committed to save money wherever that we can, and i wanted it -- to command the entire staff for

their commitment to the program. we require all the staff to identify modified duty assignments that the injured employees can do, getting them back to the work place sooner. we have improved the rate from 60%, resulting in increased savings to the department and increased morale for the injured employees. their days out are less, and we traded a staff safety advisory committee, to champion a safe work practices, to recognize and reward safe workplace behavior, and to keep this on our consciousness, that the goal is to be safe, and the department staff members on the safety

advisory committee are kimberly from the volunteer program, and john miller, the gardener, supervisor, jim wheeler from aquatics, and the committee is chaired by sean mcfadden. this is a very fantastic result and we have talked about the responsibility in difficult times, to operate as efficiently as possible, and we have much more to come next month when we talk about the year in review. and we have received two additional fantastic grants. we had a $15,000 grant, and this is our summer camp for children

of the autism spectrum, conducted in glen canyon. this is extra staff for children who need this, and they will be working with mainstream silver creativity's. we also received last friday, 1251 week camp scholarships from the children across the city. this year, and we will talk more about this next month, we have awarded a half million dollars in scholarships to children who need them fulfilling the commitment to make certain that all the children participate in all of the programs regardless of ability to pay.

i was actually looking -- >> this is an event done by mercedes, and the 50th anniversary -- discarded viewed in 1961 and is 50 years old, and if they offer up the car, this would be worth a lot more. we brought kids down to see all the cars, many of them had never been down here, and we arranged perfect weather, so this was very lovely and we're very happy for the support of mercedes. we have had a number of groundbreakings, but rather than have me talk about them, this

time for this month at the parks and recreation department. ♪ >> 1, 2, 3. here you go.

first epigraphy [unintelligible] [unintelligible] ♪

[unintelligible] ♪ >> what's your favorite thing about pine lake? what about sports? ♪

>> thank you for putting that together. this summer, we're taking care of 15,000 children across the city, something this commission and the city should be very proud of. that concludes the general managers' report. >> i noticed in reading the financial part -- there are a lot of nice things happening with the maintenance. i would like to hear something about this.

>> we would be happy to include a section on this. you can ask the question. >> there'll be an item scheduled for next month, at the capitol committee and the full commission to talk about how we spent the maintenance funding, in the current fiscal year and proposing how we will spend the maintenance funding in the next fiscal year. we will be here. we will be here to talk about this next month. >> the large and small items are getting taken care of. thank you. >> and is there any public comment on the general manager'' report? public comment is close and we are on item 4, which is general public comment. members of the public may talk

about items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission, that did not appear. that did not appear on the agenda, with respect to agenda items. we have allie watts and victornia bell to begin. >> i represent the growing number of citizens groups that have tried to work with the commission to minimize the environmental risks being imposed on san francisco. following the advice of the council, we are comparing for litigation by compiling the

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 i was there that the dedication of the platt was unveiled.