to keep it in mind. foster the well-being of san francisco's diverse community by maintaining the parks and providing enriching recreational activities. our department does all of its planning from year to year on seven core goals, which is to strive for continuous improvement. they are improving the quality of our parks. improving recreational choices. improving our financial capacity or financial sustainability. improving our environmental stewardship. improving our administrative efficiencies. with respect to improving the quality of our parks, parks cores maintained a level of 91%. i am pleased to report that are lowest performing areas -- scores increased by 6% 3 overall, been in the 90% range, especially given our staffing shortage, is a reflection of how

hard our staff are working to keep our park clean with limited resources and how successful some of our partnerships have been treat our apprenticeship program has been very successful. our volunteer program has been very successful. some of our other neighborhood programs are working. the structural maintenance yard completed 13,851 maintenance work orders last year. this is an increase of 639 from last year. we fixed everything from graffiti, broken water fountains, leaking roofs, swimming pools, irrigation lines, and broken toilets. our 311 closeout rate remains at 90%. we are closing out 90% of all calls or concerns that come in. we continue to respond to all

urban and forestry emergencies within 48 hours and graffiti reports within 48 hours. during the past year we implemented the first gardeners apprenticeship program. they have been working on various sophistication and improvement projects throughout the city, including in golden gate park, mclaren park and delores park, to name a few. we relied on 130 hours of volunteer time. our on going partnerships with the san francisco police department is also helping us keep our park clean to we partnered with local schools and san francisco general hospital to create a moremural to discourage graffiti. a proposed state pakate park atn

gate park. with respect to our recreational choices, we've talked a lot about this. we put a lot of focus and energy into our recreational activity and is paying off. we've increased the number of registered hours by 13%, providing more than 76,000 hours of programming to the public. we also had a significant increase of 20% in the total number of program registrations, meaning we have gone -- this year we were at 48,851. 16,000 alone in our summer camps this year. we've also gotten off the one- size-fits-all programming and we created new and creative programs to the public with significant input. recreation is not one size fits all. we have skateboarding, fishing,

serving, kayaking, rock climbing, and biking. we have increased our aquatics programs. we provided programming for l gbtq youth and young adults. we have talked a little bit about our scholarship program. to ensure the program's remain accessible to everyone, we expanded our youth scholarship program by granting over $500 ,000 in programming. this is an increase of 144% from last year. we have talked a lot about -- this commission has been very involved in supporting our efforts to create a financially sustainable partnedepartment.

our food concessions. significantly, we've had an 18% increase in program registration revenue, adding another $ 4 400,000 to help support our programs. we were able to submit a budget that for the first time in a decade included no layoffs, no service cuts, and no fee increases. our public-private partnerships are also contributing to our

success. they help provide broadbased support and a sustainable financial model. i am very proud of our partnership units. this year they generated $932,000 in phalanger before our operating programs. that is significant. to put that in context, one year ago, the same team generated $141,000 and philanthropic support. we have quadrupled the number in 12 months. some of the gifts we received were a generous gift from coca- cola. we got a gift to help with the golden gate park irrigation of great britain mercedes-benz donated $15,000 for our youth scholarship program. we got a gift from the u.s.

soccer foundation for mission soccer field lighting. improving our environmental stewardship. we are committed to being stored of our parks -- being stewards of our parks in many ways. we implemented and they are being installed as we speak, dual recycling in golden gate park. we have continued efforts to reintroduce the mission blue butterfly to twin peaks. also, a dedicated by calling in golden gate park. our department was recently the recipient of an award from the department of the environment for these efforts. the department has recognized the water resources conservation pre in partnering with th.

we have partnered with the puc to reduce water at 12 of the most water-consuming parks. leed silver certification. we've begun using a variety of alternative fuel, including electric power and compressed natural gas in our vehicles three we have a green. machine -- we have a green steam machine. we have talked a little bit about our efforts with respect to green wheat. the department excels in green waste diversion at a rate of 96%. we have partnered to denigrate compost giveaway program. san francisco was recently named

the most sustainable city in north america after an extensive study by siemens. the area where the city was ranked first was in its commitment to zero waste. rec and park contributes to that effort by partnering with the department of environment. our department has improved management of waste and eliminated 50% of our dumpsters in the late marced area. with respect to our efforts of fostering community loyalty, rec and park hosted a number of city family events. we are up to fight even spurrier. we have annual free events in our parks.

we took advantage of world cup madness and offered free women's world cup viewing. numerous other smaller community events. we provided 55,000 permits for a variety of events and free community space is provided to the public every week for meetings and other events. the department continues to work on its communications strategies. we've implemented a variety of social media tools to improve communication with the public, including a weekly e-newsletter, regular facebook and put your updates, and we've begun micro- blogging about what is happening in some of our neighborhood parks.

as you are aware, staff has held numerous community meetings on capital projects, budget, and other issues. we have open office hours every month with community members. our permit office installed a state-of-the-art telephone system to reduce waiting times. we have partnered with a variety of youth-serving agencies to offer teenagers and young adults the opportunity to work alongside rec and park professionals. we offered school-age children and teenagers hands-on bond hearing and learning at our parks. with respect to capital, we continue to renovate and replace many of our outdated facilities. we broke ground or opened 13 new facilities in the past year across the city, including the chinese rec center, the marina

at iraq arbor, michigan playground -- the marina harbor, and mission playground. phase 2 projects are all in the design process. 140th birthday of golden gate park. fountains, gardens, ball fields, and even trash cans are getting a facelift. the planning team oversaw the completion of the north beach library and secured prop 84 grants. bonn programs are under way. last is our commitment to our own administrative deficiencies. as we reported previously, our staff has achieved a $370,000

reduction in workers' comp savings in the last 12 months. we did a very detailed custodian service analysis. custodians were reallocated to better meet needs. we are just beginning a reorganization of our aquatics program that will ensure more and better service to the public. it has been a very full fiscal year 2010-2011. we are looking forward to a fabulous 2011-2012. a very big shout out and thank you to the rec and park staff. i can tell you without a doubt that this is the hardest working, most dedicated staff. that concludes the general managers' report. commissioner buell: for being

so brief, thank you. [laughter] [applause] i want to acecho the general gratitude. i've come to the conclusion that every resident has a different view. on balance and in total, i think the staff deserves an extra round of applause. [applause] commissioner lee? commissioner lee: i second everything commissioner buell said. i want to know to the work our capital staff, don and dan -- i took a tour of the sunset rec center a couple days ago.

the work that's been done there -- a $15 million project. it's the largest indoor and outdoor basketball court in the city and heavily used. we had to close this in may. i know many people had to be moved to other facilities. having taken that wertour and seeing what they're doing their, you will be pleased with the results. i was especially amazed at the work they are doing on the foundation, where they have employed a contractor who uses a special technique to shore up the foundation by drilling holes every four feet 30 feet down into the ground and filling

concrete. i think what you're going to get when we reopen next year is a great facility. thank you fortour. we're all amazed by the work that's been done. commissioner martin: i is what to say you are doing a fantastic job. all the people who have been telling me the wonderful job you guys are doing and stuff like that -- i wish you the best. commissioner harrison." : i would heartily second that. i think our staff is the greatest in the world and deserve all the credit. getting away from that, i notice we are not having capital report or open space reports in our agendas for a couple of months.

i'd like to see that. thank you. commissioner buell: thank you. i think that includes the general managers' report. >> we have public comment. catherine, jean, and tom. >> good morning, commissioners. catherine howard, golden gate park alliance. i'm here with the annual report. this report is also available through our web site, golden gate park preservation dot org. we have a summary on the first page, but it's always more fun to go through and look at the pictures. on -- the second first of all, we did a preliminary walk through. we went through the parts of the park. >> could we please have

everybody move away from the door? we need you to take your seats. >> on page two, there is a light standard. the weight was distributed unequally, which could damage the lawn. for some reason, the vip's seem to be the only group that does not understand you cannot park on tree roots. the chain of lakes were closed to parking. it looks great. perhaps it's time to start thinking about across-the-park tunnels, as was proposed a few years ago. >> here, here.

>> i want to know that the general manager said here, here to the tunnel proposal. some pathways were locked for days even after the concert was done. the complaints that i heard about the sound thing -- some of the gates could have been opened and they were not. it was difficult to get near the polo field at all. we did manage to go around 1 centfence. there was a lot of equipment that was too close. there's so much fencing for this event. we could arrange that so the security areas are fenced first and the rest last, that would be great. bikes were still chained to

trees and this was right next to the bike parking area. maybe we could get a person in charge of that. the cyprus at the speedway metal has become the dumping ground. that tree can only take so much. we appreciate the measures. commissioner buell: thank you. >> jean? >> good morning and thank you very much for letting me speak this morning. i am a resident of the richmond district. i live on 27th avenue and balboa. i'm talking about some of the abuses we've had as a result of this concert. i was the victim of a home invasion last week. that's the way it felt.

it was an invasion. it was not an invasion from these people. it was an invasion from another planet. from friday evening until sunday night, i was insulted by rally concertgoers, litter, and worst of all, the enlist noise of a thumping bass and other instruments. simply put, i was trapped and it was awful. one woman measured the sound level at her house at 23rd and california, which is almost a mile from the epicenter of the concert. 106 decimals in her house. this is twice the allowable sound level during and the noise in the city of san francisco. most importantly, there was not

any community outreach. rec and park had a party in our neighborhood and everybody showed a callous disregard for our hospitality. i'm here to make what i hope is a productive request. i'm here to ask that the outside lands producers and rec and park sit down with us, listen to us, and work with us in the future to mitigate these problems and other concerns caused by the outside lands and other park concert. please let's not go through this again. i also have a letter i am submitting. i will try to read it. summarizes some of my earlier comments. attached are complaints of other residents in the richmond district about the outside lands concert in golden gate park. my experience is

similar to those in the attachment. most of the times, it was very unpleasant. i was forced to leave my home in order to get a little peace and quiet. the excessive noise was only part of the problem. the neighborhood was covered with litter. there were illegal cameras in the park and there were complaints of other anti-social behavior. additionally, there's a great deal of resentment that this concert was planned with little regard to the residents of the neighborhood and joining golden gate park. i hope there will be fewer problems and other events in the future. your attention to these concerns is greatly appreciated. thank you. i would like to submit this for the record. commissioner buell: thank you. >> thank you. tom? >> hello and thank you very much

for giving me the opportunity to speak to you. my name is tom and i live in richmond. i got overwhelmed with the amount i would like to say, but i thought i would just address a couple of things. one is the issue of outside lands and the park. i feel that the issue with the park is to fwofold. the goal of the park is to provide recreation for the citizens and to encourage nature -- it's a natural setting. the falcons that might nest in a tree and then be chased off by a concert. there are many places where -- what is that? the other issue with the noise.

i am a little overwhelmed, but the neighborhood was affected greatly, yet they say it was not that loud at the concert. i believe it is an engineering issue. it should be engineered so that it is contained. that might mean elevating the speakers. that might mean creating a sail that you could secure that would bounce the sound in the direction that you want. in some areas, it was louder farther away than it was nearer the park. i have had a recent issue with sound. with the extreme sports encouragement that near my house i had the skateboard function.

and i had a couple of complaints about that function. one is that the staff wasn't wearing helmets. i have numerous photographs of staff members without helmets on. i think we need to teach children not to be little outlaws. and two, with having a p.a. system to crank rock 'n' roll from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for five days a week. very loud. and when i spoke to larry about it, he said, well, noise complaints are a matter of opinion. i'm concerned if we can have a concert a block away from the park, how long will it be until we are having concerts next door to our house in the playgrounds throughout our city? and another thing is that if we teach our children that they have a right to be exposed to music when they do their skateboarding, which skating is illegal in the park, it's posted, but they skate anyway-

maybe we should encourage the roller skaters back to the park. i guess it's legal. i'm afraid they are going to start bringing all their boom boxes to the park and feel that they have a right to be exposed to sound. thank you, sir. commissioner buell: thank you. >> is there anyone else who would like to make a public comment under the general manager's report? please come forward. this is the general manager's report item number 3. is there anyone else who would like to make public comment under the general manager's report? being none, public comment is closed. commissioner buell: item three? commissioner lee. commissioner lee: given the comments i was thinking i would be happy to convene a meeting or meet with some of the residents on this issue perhaps denny

might have some time and perhaps the organizers of another planet, we can have a meeting out in the richmond and hear some of the noise concerns and so forth and maybe take that back and attach it to our overall evaluation of the program for next year. and perhaps some ideas for abating some of these issues can be developed in time for next year's festival. that's agreeable to you. commissioner buell: i might get the staff to weigh in on this. >> sure. we will certainly, i know other planet will sit down and analyze all the complaints. i think it's worth noting that we actually do a lot of this already. we do a lot of outreach prior to the event and we will do outreach post event in responding to some of the complaints and analyzing the complaints. during public comment -- there is a significant amount of

outreach particularly in the sunset and richmond neighborhoods and how to balance what is a very joyous event and economically important event for a lot of people with some of the neighborhood concerns. we will continue to strive to do that. commissioner buell: so just recommend, then, let commissioners know if there is any appropriate time they could participate or be of assistance and we'll try and facilitate. >> we are now on item number 4 which is general public comment. it is up to 15 minutes. at this time members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of of the commission and do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items your opportunity to address the commission will be afforded when that item is reached in the meeting. i have tony, richard, and neal. please come forward.