with so many differing opinions, i think the plan that we have in front of us is probably closest to when we'll have some community consensus. i think this is a good plan and i -- it deserves our support. commissioner buell: thank you. commissioner harrison. commissioner harrison: i would like to commend karen for her outreach. these obviously in numbers that you did and the people that were there obviously did a good job. i thank you for that. commissioner buell: seeing no other comment, can i have a motion? >> so moved. commissioner buell: moved. seconded. all those in favor? opposed? hearing none, it is unanimous. >> item eight, the rest room bond program.

>> good afternoon, commissioners, dan mauer with the capital division, i'm standing in for marvin yee who is the manager for the rest room program. as margaret alluded to, this particular item on the agenda is to award a construction contract for the renovation groups one and two of this multiphased program. what i passed to margaret is some additional information that came to us after we submitted the package to you for your review. essentially it's a summary of bid results that came in as part of this process. and it also includes h.r.c. review of the bid from their aspect. as part of this we sent this package out which included six rest room facilities at six different facilities -- parks, and the term renovation work with respect to the program is

basically to renovate the interior spaces of these rest rooms to bring them up to code and freshen them up so they meet the neighborhoods' needs. as part of this bid process we received nine proposals on the front cover sheet of the application you can see the range of bid prices. we had d.p.w. staff and h.r.c. review the top three in anticipation one would be the appropriate contractor. of the top three the lowest bidder, ahave a lon, and the third lowest bidder, alpha bay, did not adhere to h.r.c. requirements so they were disqualified. and so we are focused today on asking for your approval a ward this contract to cogent construction in the amount of $550,000 d.d. $550,100 for -- $550,100 for all these projects which is underneath the engineer's estimate which was set at $579,000.

ask for your recommendation to approve. commissioner buell: thank you. >> is there any public comment on this item? being none public comment is closed commissioner buell: commissioner lee? commissioner lee: we didn't hear this at capital? >> yes. you heard it as a general item. commissioner lee: thank you. commissioner buell: entertain a motion? >> so moved. commissioner buell: seconded. all those in favor. opposed? hearing none, it is unanimous. thank you. >> we are on item 9, a gift acceptance from henry mayo newhall foundation. >> good morning, commissioners, nicole avril. i'd like to present a gift of $15,000 from the henry mayo newhall foundation in support of camp azure, a summer camp for children on the autism spectrum. every family -- every summer families of children with autism

in san francisco face a critical challenge. the well structured environment provided during the academic year has come to an end and the need to maintain and improve upon the skills gained turing the year is crucial. unfortunately the expensive summertime options are despairing. at the same time the need for services is growing as rates of autism increase. in response to this community need, r.p.d. created and incorporated camp azure into its regular camp programming. it is based on the philosophy that all children, regardless of ability, can successfully participate in and benefit from community-based recreation activities if they have the support. the mission of camp azure is meet the individual and diverse needs of children on the autism spectrum so they can enjoy the benefits of a safe, supportive, challenging, and fund day camp experience. in appreciation of this need and the mission of camp azure, the henry mayo newhall foundation hasen isly supported camp azure with a gift of 15d,000.

the san francisco bay foundation was created in 1963 by fourth generation desendsents of california entrepreneur and pioneer henry mayo newhall. the foundation's purpose is to fund projects that improve the quality of life within the geographical areas associated with the career and legacy of henry mayo newhall. since its inception the foundation has awarded grants to more than 14u7bd organizations in communities where mr. newhall originally established his businesses or where those enterprises are active today. since the fall of 2010 the department has actively cultivated support for the camp. in addition to this gift from the newhall foundation, the department has received a $50,000 grant over two years from the city's department of children youth and their families, 84 -- $8,430 from autism fund bay area, $1,500 from c.v.s. care mark, and of

$5,315 from various donors. together these gifts totaling $80,245 have fully funded camp azure. on that note i would like to recognize a camp azure parent and a musician who did a benefit concert which raised considerable funds for the camp. i'd also like to introduce vicky, camp azure's manager, who has extensive expertise working with children on the autism spectrum and moved here from tennessee specifically to run the camp program. >> thank you. i don't know if your teleprompter will pick up on a southern accent or not, but we'll give it a try. i want to thank you for the opportunity to come here today. i humbly accept the donation on behalf of the recreation and parks department. when i started working with children with autism 15 years

ago, the statistics showed that one in 600 children were being diagnosed on the autism spectrum. currently it's 101 in 120 children. and of that 75% are boys. and of the 32 families that we were able to provide respite care of over 2,200 hours this summer, four of our campers were female. you can see that the statistics hold true that three out of four boys of the 120 of the autism spectrum are males. it's amazing of the families that we worked with how appreciative and how grateful they were of the opportunity to be able to be in the outdoors and participate in the setting.

i think we did reach our mission. i wanted to share just a few comments. i was receiving emails even as early as this morning from parents when i sent a request could you share some outcomes that you have seen in your family as a result of camp azure. and i won't take much time, but some of the comments, and i'll just read a few, my son roger is initiating conversations. asking how are you rather than just saying hello, because of camp azure. he is more social and using please and thank you and generally has more appropriate social skills. and he only attended two weeks. thank you for the great summer. my son julian had at camp. every day since it ended julian says he wants to go to camp and asks when he can go back there. i think he had a really great experience and look forward to having one next summer. he attended four weeks.

elijah has never slept as well as he's sleeping this summer. camp azure has moved to the top of his favorites. it used to be swimming and the trampoline. now it's camp, swimming, and the trampoline. my child's endurance was so low the first day he fell walking up the hill. by friday he was running down the hill and his therapeutic horseback riding lesson that week, his therapist noted he had made gains with his balance, his posture, and his strength in his hips. and we expected certain outcomes, especially with conversation skills, with social skills, making friends, but the physical endurance i really hadn't predicted that much. but with the hiking, the walks we were doing, and the climbs up the hill, and i can't tell you how many times i almost fell and i hope that some of this improvement we are going to do at the camp will allow. i know that i talked with mr. ginsberg and he saw the bill

that we have to go down that maybe we could put some steps there because it is kind of treacherous. and i had several counselors fall down as well. a couple more comments. and this particular family took the time to send this this morning. it increased endurance for walking and hiking, jake has an awk wardgate. he's usually wearing knee length orr thodics and could not walk long distances. he made friends. jake has a hard time making friends in his autistic classroom given some of his students were not interested in being social. he often resorted to attention seeking behaviors to make friends by teasing or pushing. at camp azure his counselors were able to help him facilitate positive relationships. he became very close to three

boys that he was grouped with. he has decreased in negative behaviors. jake has learned to have fun. it seems that his negative behaviors have decreased and he's choosing to participate and have fun instead of throwing tantrums and resorting to negative behaviors and attention seeking behaviors. and the last one, the camp appeared to provide a well supported and safe environment for kids with different abilities. after a month absence from his karate class that coincided with camp, jake returned to his private karate class where the instructor and i both immediately noticed that he demonstrated improved coordination, balance, and possible upper body strength. as an occupational therapist who has worked with persons with physical disabilities for 15 years, i'm fairly sensitive and knowledgeable in observing and assessing motor skills and i'm quite confident in this observation. so i want to thank mr. ginsberg

for the dream that he had and for his visit that he came out to the camp and was able to experience and see the children playing together and working together in inclusive setting. i appreciate the opportunity for being able to be a part of this first summer at camp azure. thank you. i'd like ton't dues steven -- introduce steven at this time. >> thank you. thank you, my name is steve and i'm a parent of a 10-year-old beautiful boy with autism. and i remember march of last year went by mclaren lodge and i saw you, phil, and i know you have told this story a couple of times how i brought my boy, a.j. there, and said, can you help us? my boy has autism. what can you offer him in the summertime as a camp experience? and that sort of began a long

relationship and wonderful time working with you and lucas and a number of other people here that spent time and effort trying to find ways that we could involve both the community, the private sector, and so on, to get this a reality. because it is expensive. the stats are really daunting that you heard from vicky. one in 120. mostly boys. that means one in 40 boys in san francisco has autism. and that's -- if there was some kind ever external threat that was neurologically damaging our children everybody would be up in arms. because it's mysterious, we don't know where it comes from. it's partially genetic, partially environmental. the needs are still not met. so what we needed 20 do -- to do is try to find a way that we could have this one-on-one with an aide and camper experience, and wonderful glen canyon's the ideal place, i have to tell you,

rather than a flat land, because of its location and the fact it is in a canyon that most of our kids, our special campers, are runners. that means if they are let go, they go. and because of this natural surrounding, it's almost like nature is giving them a big bear hug there in glen canyon and they can't run up the hill. they are safe, they are enclosed. vicky put together marvelous program. had some special tents just for kids. when meltdowns did occur because kids with autism often like being in closed areas. they feel safer. and a lot of the typical camp, why can't i have autism? i want to go into that tent, too. so i would like to just tell you a couple of the benefits and play a three-minute video on it. it of course prior to this year those four weeks were summertime in general are really difficult for parents. if you have a child with autism, you really do have to dedicate

your life to that. my wife -- very successful venture capitalist, but she had to let that go for a while to take care of her boy. here, sally, very successful lawyer, with her boy, jonah, had to let that career go for a while. she's come whack to it. -- back to t it's a full-time job. what do you do in the summertime? we don't see autism in san francisco so much because the kids and their parents are in their homes. the kids don't want to go out. they feel threatened by unknown spaces. parents are exhausted. they are overwhelmed. and this was just such a wonderful opportunity for these kids. to be outdoors, to get exercise, to sleep better, therapeutic for them. great for the parents. if you counted the number of hours, i think it was 2,600 productive hours given to the community. those parents can work or take care of themselves, exercise. that's a great gift the city of

san francisco. also a great gift to the one on one aides that seek employment. they learned and developed as human beings. learned something from this. and finally, it's a great gift also to the neuro typical campers there at silver tree because what we need to continue to do, as we know 80% of awe at this timists are under 18 years old. we need to cultivate this relationship between the autistic community and the neuro typical community. as many kids really don't understand autism. this was a great opportunity for them. in four weeks to get to know some and make friends with them and understand it is a developmental disorder. but these are kids just like any other kid that want to be outdoors and loved and have a really, really good time. one of the other things that we did is we did -- were able to get releases by parents who felt comfortable with their children being videotaped and have a private utube channel so that

these parents who were quite frankly many parents were a little bit scared. the first time, and to drop their kids off, their new camp experience, 20 of them all together. they didn't know what was going to happen. we were able to have some video footage there so the same day they could log on to that private youtube channel and see what's going on. see what's happening. and a little bit of that was put together in a three-minute clip. is alvin here? no. just so that parents actually could feel comfort and. -- comfortable. i have to say i also received lots of notes from parents. it's just a sampling of what vicky put together. i do want to say thank you for

taking this big risk to provide -- other cities, i have looked what the city of vancouver has done for their camp, their kids on the spectrum, and they are way ahead of a lot of cities and states, now san francisco has really come to the front and it's something i do want to -- help fundraising, whatever way we can do. i got tons of ideas. and i'd like to see the camp grow from 20 campers per week to hopefully more. just to say it would be great to have more options. this camp filled up in two days. this was in march. it went on line, bam, there was a long waiting list. it would be nice to expand the age range to include kids from 13 to 18 years old. there's many, many, many directions we can go to see this

very successful project grow. this is a little three-minute clip.

>> each one has a one-on-one special time for them and they follow them with the one-on-one aide and let them go on and explore themselves and we guide them. >> whoa! >> you don't want to do it yourself? you can try.

[inaudible] >> hello. >> hello. >> ♪ is anybody home >> ♪ is anybody home >> hello ♪ >> ♪ hello >> nobody's home >> ♪ nobody's home [beating drums] >> oh, good job. >> rope swing. [inaudible] >> where is this one going to go.

♪ >> give me five. >> yeah! ♪ >> wow. nice rhythm. ♪ >> nice. good job.

>> all right. >> so that's just a glimpse of those successful four weeks and i'd like to have sally come just for a couple minutes and share with her -- with you personal experiences regarding this. >> thanks. just want to thank parks and rec and especially steve and vicky for the amazing summer my son had. jonah is 10 years old. he's severely autistic. he's not verbal. every year we get the park and rec wonderful offerings. my daughter talks about what she's going to sign up for. it's it's what can we do for jonah? jonah goes to camp mom as steve alluded to and it's just not the same as being out with other kids his own age. it's so good for the kids. it's so good for the families.

it's so good for the siblings to see their siblings can go out. jonah has not been away from me. steve's son, my son, they're quite affected. they are not going to go into new spaces, overwhelming spaces without a structure and support and every day jonah happily got out of the car, ran to his wonderful aide, chris, and came home filthy. came home with dirt from climbing up the canyon and with the rope swings. and just happy, happy child. like every parent dreams of having is a happy child who goes to camp and enjoys his summer rather than enjoying the summer of no structure. i can't tell you what this has meant to all the families. i talked to the parents. they can't wait until next year. as steve alluded to, this is a long list for the camp. i am hopeful. i want to work with parks and

reck to expand this -- rec to expand this so more children with parent. hopefully with the speerties that vicky brings with -- expertise that vicky brings with this maybe we can get an after-school program. every kid deserves what all san francisco kids have which is a wonderful, wonderful youth program as you alluded to. it's expanded, the youth program in the city is amazing. this is a wonderful, embracing city that's done a lot for our kids and now i am really grateful that we're depog some for our kids with you a -- doing so much for our kids with autism as well. thank you. president buell: thank you. >> i want to thank those on my staff who has worked especially hard to raise the funds for this camp. they are extraordinary and they are to be commended for their work. president buell: thank you. >> is there any public comment on this item? being none, public comment is closed.

president buell: commissioner lee. commissioner lee: i just want to commend you all on the work that you're doing here. i have a close family friend who also has a child who's autistic. and, you know, it's a growing problem in san francisco. you see a large population that i think is growing and there is some research that shows there's a correlation with the demographics of the city, given our city is older, becoming an older city and as parents are starting families later and later in their lives that autism just seems to be on the rise. so this is something that is needed and maps with the trajectory of the demographics in the city. i was amazed to see that this program is essentially entirely privately funded.

through foundation grants. and that you are able to put a program together funded almost entirely from donations. i don't recall another program like that that was started up so quickly and that you managed to pull together. this is really a great testament to your work. president buell: i have a question, if i could. is there more capacity at the camp? if there was more money could they accommodate more kids? >> yes. president buell: what's the ratio of how much we can serve versus who we can serve? >> 2-1. there were kids that wanted to participate in the camp that couldn't. president buell: if we raised twice as much money you could accommodate that full list? >> that's correct. >> the camp ran for four weeks. we'd like to run it, you know, all summer long and i think vicky has some additional

capacity. obviously the key to the program is the one-on-one assistance that our kids get. but i think there is more capacity in the space and we'd certainly like to run it for a longer season. and my staff is also very creative. has begun to envision -- i don't know what the mission is. the saturday monthly sessions. one of the things i was most struck by, mr. president, is the conversations that i've had with steven and other parents who said, you don't know -- you don't really know what this does, not just for our kids but for us whether we can invest a little time in other siblings or in each other. and how important that is to having a productive healthy family. we are determined to figure out how to grow this program. president buell: i was going to say, stating the obvious but i think we ought to put in our goals a way to fill that camp with everybody that would like

to go. commissioner harrison. commissioner harrison: what's the age? range you can accommodate now? >> up to 12 years old. 8 to 12. commissioner harrison: so you're looking forward to -- >> sorry, 6 to 12. as steven said, the goal would to go older. i'd leave that up to vicky and the other staff to determine how best to do that, whether they want to expand both older and the numbers or just expand the numbers and the age range that we have now. president buell: thank you. barring any further questions, could we get a motion? >> so moved. president buell: seconded. all those in favor. aye. no opposition. thank you very much, everybody, that participated in this. >> thank you, commissioner. >> we are on item number 10, the japanese teagarden.