this is the area surrounding the park. here's some images of some of the housing down the street from the park. and one of the images i show from red star. you see that compared to the housing. and here's the park site plan. i know this came before you. this plan is conceptual. it shows a playground. we're thinking of both area for adult and kid play. lawn areas. and some very, very state-of-the-art environmental sustainability features. i really think that this park in many ways is a flagship park for sustainability in our system providing bioswells. and the new park design we've ever implemented including low-impact design which is the reuse of water collection on the site. using a cistern. performance bases for the opportunity for community to perform on site. and other educational elements. so something the community has been very actively interested in seeing at their site.

so here's some images of the adult exercise equipment and the lawns and other types of things that could be included in this park as we move forward. again, there's been a lot of different partners helping us to make the park what this neighborhood has been asking for. and to the next steps we'd be going to the public utilities commission in early mid september and then the board of supervisors would review and hopefully approve the jurisdictional transfer and also continuing our community outreach with the partnership of municipal transportation agency and additional design workshops in the fall. and i'd like to at this time pass around -- i know you've already received a big packet of emails that we've gathered of let irs writ -- letters of written support. i am going to ask april to come

up. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is april and i'm here on behalf of supervisor kim. she couldn't be here today but wanted to convair her strong support of the park -- convey her strong support of the park. to bring to you all as commissioners. i just wanted to read this letter for the record. "dear commissioners, i'm writing to express my strong support at 17th and fulsom in my district. district six a vibrant mixed use district which lacks open space for our residents, young and old, to safely engage with neighbors. this park will support an underserved area of the mission district and identified as an opportunity suit in the eastern rezoning process. this is an exciting opportunity to transfer surplus property

for affordable housing and open space. i want to commend the staff, the planning department and recreation and park commission for their work in conjunction with the community to develop preliminary design concepts. by engaging community members, supervisors and other city agencies to get honest feedback from honest stakeholders involved. this shows community involvement such as encouraging multicultural uses of the park, including the use of solar, energy and creating space for recycling and environmental conservation education. the project also addresses the city's continued need for affordable house and family-friendly neighborhood planning. our office is committed to supporting this effort. identifying key stakeholders and engaging in a community process. which includes their input. sincerely jane kim." thank you very much.

president buell: thank you. >> there were additional supporters that had to go back to work but there are other people, i'm sure, that will speak on their behalf. thank you. president buell: thank you. commissioner lee had a question. commissioner lee: yes. i had a question on maintenance. when we heard this at capital you said there was a possibility that you could -- the maintenance costs were, what did you say, $40,000 annually? >> yes. commissioner lee: and you believe you could raise the -- to pay those funds with moneys raised from -- >> we have the first three years of maintenance funds in hand. it will be coming through the eastern neighborhood impact fee which is a fee levied through the eastern neighborhood plan for development so those dollars are already in place. those will pay for the first three years of maintenance. after that time i think there's options of community and we've been talking to folks through

the neighborhood planning process about potentially having concessions or other things that could also help further fundraise for the site. but i think it would be good for the first few years to see how it goes and what the best plan goes. commissioner lee: i encourage you to come up with a plan because those three years will go by very fast. i'd be interested in hearing when you do have a plan in terms of a sustainability plan to continue maintaining the site and how we can fund that. i'd like to hear that when you got to together. >> thank you. president buell: thank you. >> we do have public comment. mara blitzer, oscar grande, francisco ramos. norma. enrique delvilla to start with. >> hi. actually, mara had to go back

to a meeting so i'm here in lieu of her. my name is serena. i work for a 30-year-old nonprofit housing development corporation that develops, owns and operates and provides services for 3,000 low-income individuals and families in 30 buildings within five neighborhoods throughout san francisco. we own and manage mosaic apartments and mosaic senior housing which is located at 18th and alabama which has nine apartments for families and children and 10 specific to seniors. these families will greatly benefit from this park, and community programming that is being planned for the 17th and fomsom site which is less than four blocks away from the building. we really urge the commission to continue its support and the community's effort to convert

this site into a park and we really continue to support all the energy that has started with the eastern neighborhoods and is continuing on in this development with this park and so we're just here today to just voice our support and we're really, really excited about what this park will do for our community. thank you. president buell: thank you. >> oscar. >> thank you, commissioners. my name is oscar delvilla. i am glad to be here with my comaneros and companeras. this is a vision -- has been a vision 10 years in the making. while we're dealing with issues of housing displacement, skyrocketing rents, you know, street violence, environmental

injustices at the same time grappling with those issues we're always constantly, how do we create, how do we create something that will really create a resilient community through thick and thin, through good times and bad times? and really that way is through a community park in the neighborhood that has had its unfair share of negative impacts and burdens. and so i'm not going to take up all my time because there's been people that have been rating a long time. i wanted to share a couple of comments. there's been a few key leaders that have left and they wanted me to make sure i convey kind of some of their ideas. and one of those leaders is imparo villa. his family has owned a company. she's a native san franciscan. she lives close to the site. she went to go pick up her granddaughter who goes to school right down the street at st. charles. and so she, you know, i think

is reflective of the diversity of voices you're going to be hearing that are supporting this park. another person who couldn't be here today is alissia, a strong active leader who unfortunately got hit by a car a couple days ago actually going to meet us. she's been very active. she's ok. she's recuperating. but she's been a strong instrumental leader. especially in her myan community. we have an mayan community. we have an emerging mayan community in the indigenous neighborhood. we've been hearing from mayan leaders this is what they want in the community, a place where they can some of their cultural, some of their traditions to the broader mission community. and so i just want you to please support and approve taking ownership over this site and we look forward to working with the commission, with the department, with the other city family. and so we're looking forward to

that. thank you. president buell: thank you. >> ok. we have francisco. then, nora. what about enrique? malvita, she left. fanny valencia. >> hello. good afternoon. my name is enrique. i come here to support the park. the community has been trying to be -- to build in this community. you know, this park -- this commune park can be a great benefit for the communities around this. i live a couple blocks away from this park, from this

proposed park. i walk by this site all the time. you know, since i live a couple blocks away. and this is close to 16th street and mission where there is a lot of activity, you know, but there is a lot of, like, drugs going on. at night i'd seen prostitution walking around. what it would benefit is for the community, for the children, for the moms that walk by. it should be better for these families to walk by inside the park rather than walk by 16th and mission. but, yeah, this -- i think this park can benefit the community

and the people and even for the city. you know. so i think it will be great to build this park on this site. thank you. president buell: thank you. >> fannie. teresa olmigare. jamie chavaria. miguel. >> buenos tardes. >> good afternoon. my name is fannie. [speaking spanish] >> i'm a mother, a single mother of kids and i'm here to ask for your support to develop constructive site because this is important for families like

mine. i have a child that's 2 years old and it's difficult for a family like mine. we're low income. we're low income, and it's hard for children to be contained in a small room, four walls but no place to go. this is a big opportunity for our community creating a park.

i know as a mother that it will benefit mothers like me, families like mine, especially for children that are in that development age between 0 and 3 years old. open space, parks are very important for their development so they become -- development into the future. you know, just like we heard earlier that parks and open space are tools for kids to develop themselves. therapy, development.

also, for adults it's a huge benefit. we have the capacity to be like kids again. kids see this example. kids follow and mimic when they see parents and adults doing good things for the community. ok. thank you. we wait for your support. thank you. president buell: gracias. >> teresa. >> hi, commissioner. thank you very much. it's been really nice to be here and listen to all the beautiful things that the park

and rec department is really doing. i work for poder. i work for the youth program. i think it's important to support this park project because this is a community that's zoned both residential and light industrial and someone who was born in this community, someone's -- my dad was a laborer and worked in this community most of my life, it's really important to also note that, you know, it's a community that's been neglected of open space and parks. there's an inequity. and so a lot of the youth, a lot of the children that are born in this neighborhood have to deal not only with a lot of heavy traffic, with the freeways, with a lot of the light industrial pollution but also then don't have parks to go play at. just as was stated in the earlier presentation, we have less than 1% of the parks in the city and so i think, you know, i just really recommend that the commission prioritize

investing more money even if it's just for maintenance or for more parks in this community because we have a high number of kids. and just like our -- at the last testimony we heard, a lot of these kids live in one room with their families, you know. we all know that, you know, inflation in the city is ridiculous. or has been ridiculous. and a lot of our families have had to really downsize in their living environment. and all this environmental impact can be seen in the public -- department of public health's website where you see high instances of asthma, cancer and lung disease in neighborhoods like the mission. i think this park is a necessity and is really something that our community needs to become healthier, to have places to exercise, to have greenery, and we've been really working hard within our neighborhood to build that awareness with our youth, to do ground trooping which is to really map out all the toxic

hazards and see how we can work in partnership with the local businesses, with the local light industrial because these same businesses are the same ones that gives our community jobs so we can have a healthier neighborhood. also, i just wanted to say that it's really important that, you know, you know that we're working and there's already a lot of investment from a lot of the families and youth and really trying to make this park green, you know, whatever that is. and so for us, you know, that means -- water catching and that means open gardens that aren't locked up. for us that means we're going to be volunteering and really looking at, you know, using our sweat, our hands, our thoughts, our organizationing skills to make sure this community is a success and that, you know, we have ownership and we're keeping it beautiful and a space where we can continue to build the health of our neighborhood. so thank you very much. president buell: thank you.

>> ok. we have jamie. miguel. lara margarajor. elsa ramos. we'll go with that. >> hello, commissioners. i'm jamie. i go to leadership high school. so my own personal opinion i believe that this park down at 17th and folsom is actually a really good investment to look at as an open space for families that live in the mission and also building the affordable housing because right now in the mission there's been a decrease in the number of latinos that are currently living there. the census that just recently came out showed that our number of latinos went down from 60% to 40% now. the people are the ones who keep the community together. what i mean by that, they keep the culture in the community. and with the demographic now changing to less latinos, a

latino culture in the mission that made it popular to tourists is now going down. and for kids and the parks, basically having another park and definitely the mission is a great thing. there is a lot less green environment in southeast san francisco compared fought presidio, compared to sunset where there is golden gate park. most of the parks are in presidio as well. i want to say that and thank you for the time. thank you. president buell: thank you. >> hello, commissioners. my name is miguel molina. i'm 16 years old. i go to school in the city. i was raised in the city for four years, but due to rising cost of housing in the city my family moved out. so i know how important the housing that's going to built on the other side of this lot. it's for all these families coming in. what i'm here for, i'm here to ask you guys to take responsibility for this lot so

that we can take responsibility and really turn it into something that families in this area can use which will be a park. and as a lot of people have come up and said, the mission only has like 1% of the park in the entire city. and i find that to be rather ridiculous considering how dense the, you know, the population is there. and when i'm walking around the city with all my friends, i'm walking around seeing these kids, like, playing in the streets. you know, fausing a football in the middle of traffic -- tossing the football in the middle of traffic. it's dangerous because they don't have these parks, these areas to play in. you know, it's just -- it's kind of sad to see that. these kids don't have anywhere for themselves. it's not something that benefits these kids. like you saw in some of the pictures, there was like equipment for older people and it helps parents, you know, go out and take their kids out and have them be able to play in this open space and so they're not stuck in their house for

the entire day. so that's really what i'm here for, just to ask for your support and taking this lot so we can do something about it and make it something that would really help our community in the area. thank you. president buell: thank you. >> lara. is she here? elsa? >> good evening, commissioners. good afternoon. i'd just also want to share my experience with you guys. i'm 20 years old and i have been living in the mission district my whole life. i was born on 16th and south venice. i can relate to what one of the previous speakers said about how it's really hard for parents to, you know, raise a family in that type of neighborhood. really dense. very low on parks. i was also -- i was also living in a one-bedroom studio with

five brothers and sisters and my two parents. so i personally know how difficult it is to not have space, to not have a place to let everything out. and you do see people yearning for that. you see people walking around the block so they can have a little time for themselves. or like someone said, play in the street with your little brothers and sisters or in the hallways or anything like that of your apartment studios and i really am asking for the support for the park because i know that it would help -- it would have helped my family a lot. now that we're all grown. but i know that this district has a lot of families exactly like that, and it would be a really big help for the youth there. also with so many schools around that neighborhood. my elementary school, my middle school and high school were in the same neighborhood.

it would just be a really good place to, you know, for people to be there and be in a more safer and greener area. and i'm also wanting to show support for the 7 t.p. youth program. it's less than half a block away from the parking lot. and i've been a student there and i'm also came back to work there and i know that they have been writing letters yesterday and today and they will be sending their letters of support for all the middle schoolers and high schoolers. i think it's good to have a park right next to the center instead of having to go to delores which is really crowded all the time and no running space. or franklin which is always busy with soccer players. and it's a little bit farther. they are really in support of this park, and a lot of the staff and a lot of the youth organizations around there would also really benefit from having an extra open space around there.

so i just wanted to share my personal experiences with you guys and ask for your support for this park. president buell: thank you. >> thank you. >> raul and charlie. >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is raul. this is my fifth year in the u.s. it's really interesting how like it's really sad to see even in a country that has almost everything there's no like services for kids or for children. which are the most important -- especially because they're groipping and learning all these things from their environment -- they are growing up and learning all these things from their environment. i got accepted to training -- to the poder organization and it's really like -- it's really hard to get in those

organizations. there is a few, there is poder, mission, and they have really limited spaces. if the city is not willing to offer spaces for kids, for children, at least make parks where they are able to get in those programs are able to like share their experience or leave -- in open spaces like parks. i feel like a park on 17th street where it's really crowded, is really dense, is a really important place to put a park in that space because it's really crowded and everything. kids, they grew up in a dense area. in school it's not going to be a space where they can -- where

they can experience like healthy environment because all these kids are growing up in a really stressful environment. and basically what they do is they tend to be more violent. like in other neighborhoods. and a park like this will make the kids feel that they can do things that they can't do at school or can't find or new ways to express themselves. i consider myself an immigrant. it's really important for the immigrant community, the especially the youth that are growing up in these places, they are learning from thistheyd

getting these experiences. they are not growing up as healthy as they could be. i've appreciate you for hearing my comments. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. it was over 10 years ago that members of the community came to city hall to advocate for a new land-use plan in the neighborhood. one of the crowning achievements of that land use plan was to rezone the and the site into 100% of the space and affordable housing. they did not hand the victory to the city. when we think of planners, we think of institutions, the planning department, harken director.

in this project, we brought that expertise from the city, but the community stepped up as members themselves. we have organizers that came together to facilitate workshops, organize different educational activities, conduct surveys. and really bringing together the expertise to create a vision for this site. the community has brought their heart and soul into this project and we hope that we can create a genuine partnership with the park and recreation department with long-term public investments to make this project successful. >> anyone else that would like to comment? could you please come forward and the light out by the door? thank you.