for that project, having worked substantially with the ir. and looking at the environmental document, there are many others. the army corps of engineers is here today. there are many others who have been involved in the project. thank you. >> good morning, president, members of the commission. i think that dan did an excellent overview on the project. it is a long coming project. we have had to get over a number of bumps in the road. it is very significant to be here, as the project itself was conceived of as being an open space that would be the lever -- delivered as part of the

redevelopment of pier 32. as we reported, we ran into problems with that development. i would specifically like to recognize career in woods and michael sweet as being key people, from the very beginning, locking us through the long history. through the different partnerships with public agencies as well as the community at large, we were able to force iraq and get over the requirements up to this point. included within that was this full environmental impact report analysis. as part of the grant street pier project, part of the redevelopment of pier 30-32, you can see the water mark condominiums that we were talking about earlier. at that time, we thought we had a good understanding of what the

historic resources had been. but it was not identified as a historic resources and was not analyzed in that fashion. subsequent to that, when we were actually doing the detailed analysis for the embarcadero historic district, that is when our historian at the time identified of the source, triggering the need for subsequent environmental review. it was only through the patience of the community of partners that we were able to pull together funding from alternate sources that ultimately led us to our partnership. producing this environmental impact report before you today. in coordination with the environmental national policy act document, the army corps needs to prepare to do their portion of the work for the demolition of pier 36.

the combination of federal, local, and state approval, coalesced to be able for the project to move forward. in that context, this has been completed. the planning department was also a major partner in helping us without having to hire consultants on that. it has been finalized and certified by the planning commission. at this point, the commission, which i understand you have all received copies of that, the summary is written up in the findings that are attached to the proposed resolution that staff is recommending to approve today. summarizing the findings of that eir, acknowledging that the ballot -- demolition of a war of section will be effectively replaced and are significant in

environmental impact in terms of demolition. as reflected in dance presentation, all of the work going into to deliver a public open space for south beach are bigger reasons to override the fact that even the we have significant environmental impact, the public open space benefits, the benefits to the day, the basis upon which you would be approving the findings. in association with that, there are a number of mitigation that the that are memorialized and attached to the staff report resolution, set with the dictates of which to be a part of the construction of the project and implementation of labor history and the more

realization of some of the physical gateways to pier 36. so, with that, hopefully that will give you a good picture of the overall history. we recommend that you approve the attached resolution. thank you. >> moved. >> second. >> we do have public comment. maryland? >> good morning, everyone. i am a member of the south beachgac and have been involved in this project for several years. this is a great report. a good way to continue on from the ferry building, all of the way down through the bay bridge,

all of the way to the ballpark. i definitely support this and look forward to having its completion in a couple of years. thank you. let's thank you. commissioner? -- >> thank-you. commissioner? >> good morning, commissioners. this is very exciting for us. i was the chair of the south beach cac redevelopment. i have been involved in this project since its inception. i am excited to see it before you. we hit some bumps in the road, but i would like to commend staff that worked so hard to bring this forward. i would like to thank staff for pushing this bond measure on to the ballot a couple of years

ago. i feel like we are almost there. i would encourage you to adopt a resolution to do what is necessary to move this project forward. hopefully, we will be able to complete this project in time for the america's cup, with that the desired end needed green space and beautiful elements added to the south beach communities for a long time coming. it will be appreciated. it is looking great. i am excited that we are at this point now. thank you very much. >> are there any other public comments? commissioner? >> i support the resolution. i wanted to speak to staff about the next steps, since there were many comments about historical preservation. will there be challenges as we continue forward? what is the next step in the process?

>> good question. i was remiss in not recommend -- recognizing the preservation community as well. at the time that the special policies were put in place, the preservation community was also a part of that process. at that time, there had been a survey of the historic peers. pier 36 was accepted as not being one of them. one of the reasons that this was identified as a good location to create a major open space. despite subsequent new information about historic status, there may be members within the community that still have some concerns and heartburn around the issue. by and large, they have been committed to trying to work with the overall community objectives. they have been very cooperative. the historic preservation commission commented as well.

so, everyone has been fully appraised of this project moving forward. >> with our commission, with planning commission approval, what other approval is necessary? >> that is going to be the construction process that steve will be bringing forward to you at the next meeting. this is the port commission, basically saying that they approved to go ahead because the implication steps in the process would work that needs to be done with that the army to coordinate the demolition of pure 36 will be construction of the plaza itself. there is a lot of technical detail that needs to be coordinated between those efforts. it has been under way, but with action today we would be able to pull through and meet that schedule for delivering in time for next summer. thank you.

>> it might be premature to ask about this. it might be something for the army corps, but i have a question about the existing tiles that are there. in terms of the reduction of the significant impacts, it seems that a lot of it relates to driving. are there any opportunities to preserve what exists, as much as what is being done at the exploreatorium? >> great question. during the detailed engineering design, we looked at several methods to incorporate into the new project that turned out to be more expensive. we went forward with removal and driving piles for construction,

which worked. the actual files, the zone that overlaps with new construction, is fairly small. but we did consider that. >> thank you. any other questions? >> thank you. this is a very long awaited project. i would like to thank dan, the in, and all of the staff that work along with michael, karan, and all of the committee advisory groups that have been involved. we cannot wait until we have groundbreaking and construction. thank you all very much. let's all in favor? >> 1154 has been approved -- >> all in favor? >> 1154 has been approved. >> is there any public comment

on new business? i would like to acknowledge the port delegates to the annual association of the annual meeting. >> ok. item #eight. public comment. >> is there any public comment? >> item #9, executive session. >> so moved. >> all in favor? executive session. >> conference with real council and real property negotiated. >> i can keep that? we are reconvening be open section.

with that we not disclose any of the items discussed in closed session. >> second. >> can i have a motion to adjourn? >> so moved. >> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> we are adjourned at 11:22 p.m.? >> a.m. [laughter] >> i was nodding, as to why it -- so i do not know what mike -- [no audio]

>> we are going to start today first talking about the data and then after that, we want to actually put some faces behind the data, so we will hear from some of our district leaders as well as a school principal and a student here at washington high school. we will try to make it sink, and we will stick around at the end to answer questions, of course -- we will try to make it sink -- we will try to make it succinct. >> thank you so much, and welcome to our press conference. i have the opportunity to present these wonderful results. we see an upward trend for this year. the students were tested in the month of may.

as you can see, they have moved in english language from 47.5% to 57.4%, so you do see a double-digit increase from 2006 to 2011 in an english-language arts. we have seen over these years a 10% -- approximately 10% -- increase. come on, let's hear it for san francisco. [applause] and our spectacular students, outstanding teachers, and greek leaders. let's move on to mathematics. the mathematics test is given from grades two to seven, and after that, they start taking algebra, geometry, algebra ii. you see that the scores have gone from 56.6% to 66%.

again, an upward trend every single year. again, let's hear the joy. [applause] ok, when we look at other content areas like science and social science, we do see similar patterns. especially in science, both at the middle school and elementary school -- grade five and a grade 8 -- you see almost 60% of the students performing at advanced. in social science, both at the middle and high school levels, you see the students performing at proficient or advanced, more than 50% of them. ok? those are the other content area scores. the other thing the district has been charged with, and it is

always focusing itself around, is narrowing the achievement gap. here are the results for our targeted students. we say we are narrowing the achievement gap if the student groups as a whole showed greater improvement than even the district. ok? so, they have to show greater improvement than even the district. this year, for the third year in a row, i am proud to announce that the african-american students in english language arts and the latino students in math and samoan students in both are narrowing the achievement gap. come on, let's hear it. [applause] ok, so those were some of the results you have seen charted in here. if you picked up the press release, some of our school- level successes are also included in there, so i would ask you to look at those. as compared to the state, we are

higher than the state in ela and math. we look at the results for our program students as well, both english language learners and math, and we saw similar success is where they are going -- growing at a great rate. last were our superintendent zone schools in both the mission and the bayview. successes as well, and i think that deserves a mentioned. with that, i will turn it over. >> thank you. she brings all the good news. first, i wanted to recognize a few of our board members who are here. emily, grace, joe, and dennis,

one of our partners, president of the teachers association. welcome. this is really exciting, not only because it is the first day of school -- you always feel like a kindergartner all over again because you get a chance to start over again -- and running around our schools makes you realize how lucky we are to have such a dynamic, great teachers that are doing a fabulous job -- to have such a dynamic, great teachers that are doing a fabulous job -- to have such dynamic, great teachers. you are wondering how we can do all this when in reality, if you look at our funding, it would be a steeper decline in terms of how much money we get, and yet, we are improving student achievement. especially in a school like this that took it upon themselves. the staff here -- they had some assistance by different groups.

what is the name of the group that helped you guys quite a bit? yes, national urban alliance actually stepped up to do a lot of training. it makes people realize that if we really do want to close the achievement gap, it will not happen by accident. nothing happens by accident. we have to be strategic and ask ourselves what we can do better. if we cannot do better, we ought to get out of the way and let somebody else do the job. the reality is teachers here in san francisco, principals, staff can do it better. i am really proud when we took on a strategic plan that we adopted in 2008, we said that we would make a priority to have african-americans, latinos, and pacific islanders to show some growth. unfortunately, they have always kind of been at the lowest levels, and that has been unacceptable to the board and, i think, to our community.

everybody stepped up and said that it was a social justice issue, and modern-day apartheid, having an achievement gap. who is affected by it? the neediest people in our city. we made a point, and every school convened with their staff and community and say -- and said, "what can we do about this? this is a civil rights issue. what difference can we actually make?" everyone got together and started thinking differently. we noticed in some of the schools, some of the kids did not have access to things that ought to have access to. we started thinking about what an equity-centered school will look like. what you see is the dreams and aspirations of a great community like san francisco with the school board, the teachers' union -- everybody, administrators, classified workers saying this is a civil

rights issue and our children deserve a better education. and they are doing it. that is a tribute to the folks out there. the doctor does not want me to brag a lot about stuff, but why not? everyone is always pointing out what is wrong with education. today, i am going to tell you what is right. 82 percent of our students now are graduating from our high schools -- 82% of our students now are graduating from our high schools in san francisco. it is only 74% in the state of california, so we are doing with better than everyone else. when you look at drop out rates, the state is 18%. our rate is 11%. we are doing some great things. when you look at suspensions' over the last few years, in the last five years, we have reduced over 1000 kids getting suspended

in the school district -- when you look at suspensions over the last few years. what good is it to suspend the same kid over and over again? let's find out why they are getting suspended. we talk to their families. everybody is pitching in to make a difference, and it is paying off. one of the things that we brag about, 10 years now, we have had increasing test scores in this school district, for 10 years. that is something that is amazing. if you look at the last three years, what we have done with african-americans, latinos, our samoan brothers -- they are showing the most growth of any group in san francisco. they are showing the double digit -- they are showing double-digit growth. find me anywhere else in america where that is happening. when you start looking at some of our superintendent zones.

we identified some of our schools under the school improvement grants, and when you look at the growth they showed this year -- go visit everett middle school. go see why they had double-digit growth in math and language arts. we were at paul revere this morning. look at the growth they had. i always tell people those people in the public who are the naysayers who do not believe it can be done -- to us a favor -- get out of the way of the people in the school districts who are doing this fabulous work because they get it done every day. i think this is something we ought to be celebrating, the success of our childn. we want to continue because even though we are closing the gap, that is not good enough. we have to eliminate the gap. until we eliminate it, shame on

us. there is still work to be done. our goal is sunday, the word does not exist in our vocabulary. there is no such thing about talking about a gap because we are providing equity and access in the basic fundamental civil rights to a proper education that every child in san francisco deserves. you're so excited that all of you came -- i am so excited that all of you came. has the mayor had a chance? then he ought to get a chance to speak. mayor lee: it is my pleasure to be here and, certainly, to come to one of the most beautiful campus is in san francisco, by the way. washington high -- when you go out there, it is a wonderful campus. [applause] there are so many things we are doing to engage and be supportive of the school

district. even the physical place we have here, we will be sponsoring a $30 million bond this november to help make sure that all of our schools are seismically safe. i will be a leading proponent of that because it is so important to have every school site as safe as possible for our kids. i have been here many times, and i want to thank the kids that are here today, the students that are here. you have probably seen me before. we were doing this saturday cleanups' together in the whole neighborhood and respecting the neighborhood where the school is located, and that has been wonderful, but these data -- i do not have to repeat them, but they are worth always paying attention to because they do tell the story of what we're doing here. i am not a teacher. i am not a principle --

principal. i am the mayor of san francisco, and i know at the heart of those relationships, it is about the school district. years ago, the school district was seen as separate, and when they failed, it was seen as their problem. never again will that happen in san francisco. it is our kids, our residents, our families that are here wanting to see help from the city, whatever we can do, and we have been helping a lot, and it has been something i have been proud to do. when i heard, for example, earlier this year that may be about 900 kids from all over the city might not be able to make it through graduation because they had failed their courses in math and science, we went right to work. we found extra money for summer school, and those kids got that summer school where every other jurisdiction in the whole area cut off their summer school. we found that money to make sure

kids got a second chance. there are many reasons why they get distracted, and we understand that, but we were not going to let go of those kids and have another generation of people not able to graduate. without that math and science course, i knew and everyone else knows in this city, they would not be able to qualify for graduation. that is the standards set for people to be able to graduate, enter into college. if you do not get that college degree, you will not have the basic foundation to get those jobs we are trying to create in the city at zynga, twitter, salesforce, really good paying jobs. those are jobs i always talk about to kids. when you get a college degree, you join that millionaire club. that is the difference between people who have a college education and people who do not that are in the work force. over that career, it is a

million-dollar difference. that is why this data, this improvement is so important for us. i want every kid in our school district system to be successful. not just graduate high school, but get into college and then be successful human beings and get the best jobs that we can possibly offer. that is the ultimate story year. while we are doing that, there will be distractions. there will be shortages of funding. there will be challenges that the city faces. i want to work with every element of our school district from our unions to the teachers and administrators. it is like not only cleaning up the area around the schools, but when i am notified that there are some foundations that have special funding to hit at these gaps that are so difficult, and i am going to be there as the mayor of san francisco talking mayor of san francisco talking to these foundations.