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. >> my name is victoria with that

neighbor's parks council. i am here to support the transfer from the wreck and park department. and i am here to really support the park in general. there was an independent study in 2003 and 2007 data is available on our web site where we really focused on achieving equity and open space throughout the city. it is really in an efficient neighborhood is considering the density and population growth over the last 10 years. it is our belief every resident deserves a access to parks and open space. what we're hearing today is that some of the great community members and organizations are seeing that we need a card. with that comes a great assets

of the parks department to have these health and from the beginning conception to where it exists in the future and having a love and ownership creating an amazing part that will connect to the mission even further. it is really a critical part of the eastern neighborhoods plan. the transfer of the property is really the critical first step. will be continuing along the way to make sure that the spark has great success in the future. >> i have been living here for almost 10 years, and i will tell you how much i support the park. i see a lot of little kids in the neighborhood, and definitely needs to be more green space.

he needs to also help with the over flooding that we have in the corner. >> patricia is my name, you have seen me before. i am emission residents. it is the industrial zone, so we have not had the parks in our area before. we did that a number of years ago, we built it and they have not stopped coming. >> i am coming to say a few words in support of this project. when land becomes available, it is not necessarily that it is

available. as you heard previously, the size fits very well with the focus concept. the rose document has yet to be adapted and if it's very well with the new acquisition policy that will be presented to you where and special needs are defined by less than half an acre within half a mile radius. again, it is important to have a recreation site at that area. the documents for acquisition emphasizes the importance of leveraging. as the policies adapt, it will go right to the head of the list. because of the acquisition recommendations have not been implemented, on this particular

item that not appear prior to being on the agenda. i hope that in the future, as the policy is adapted, and it will provide an opportunity to facilitate a more meaningful exchange on future acquisitions. >> anyone else that wants to comment on this item? commissioners? >> i think there is no question that this is an underserved area and it is a unique opportunity to add an asset to the department and i want to commend the neighbors and the community for their hot tenacity over the years, and i think you can be very proud of what you're doing and how you're doing it. with that, i will entertain a motion. all those in favor? it is unanimous.

[applause] >> of like to thank a couple of people that were working on this before my time. for years, they have been shepherding this to the place where i was able to get and work on and harder. and the landscape architects for making this happen. >> we are on item 12. is there anyone that like to make general public comment who did not comment under item 4. general public comment is closed. commissioner's matters? commissioner lee: last month, asked about giving a presentation on the recreation and advisory policy.

the recreation advisory committee. the recreation the advisory committee counsel. to see if we can get that on the calendar for next month or october. >> is there any public comment on commissioners' matters? new business? any public comment? communications? is there any public comment? we are on the adjournment. >> i want to ask the general manager to make a couple of comments and adjourned and the memory of an important civic contributor. >> i would request that we

adjourn today in honor of civil service commissioner who passed away this week. he was a friend and an important and well respected member of the city family. he was struck by a hit-and-run vehicle while jogging. he will be sorely missed by all who knew him. he was a fourth generation san franciscan, an attorney, and a very avid runner. i had the pleasure of going on more than a few evening runs with him. i got to work with him and my prior role as human resources director. his mother was a library commissioner and he himself served on the civil service commission for many years. he was truly passionate about public service.