supervisor mar: good afternoon, everyone. thank you for coming today. the meeting will come to order. this is the monday, november 14, 2001, meeting of the land use and economic development committee of the san francisco board of supervisors. i am the chair. soon we will have supervisor cohen. to my left is supervisor wiener. ms. miller, please give us the announcements. >> please make sure to turn off cell phones and electronic devices. documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the court. items acted upon today will be on the november 22 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. supervisor mar: thank you, and i would like to thank the sfgtv

staff for televising is today. please call item 1. >> resolution approving conveyance of easement of a perpetual easement to silicon valley power. >> good afternoon. thank you. this item will be fairly brief, fairly straightforward easement agreement before you. between the city of san francisco and the city of santa clara, in this case acting by and through their electric utility, which is known as the silicon valley power. this particular location -- i will start with that to get you oriented -- in the city of santa clara. just south of the flight path of an airport along the guadalupe river.

zeroing in on that site. we can show you overhead. and then, more particularly, this is the area of the easement. this particular easement is a little over 6000 square feet. it is to provide power to the pc's facility that runs adjacent and through the area -- power to the puc pose a facility. in exchange for a no-cost easement, we received the power drop and service from silicon valley power. this item is clerk of the -- part of the water service improvement project. in particular pipeline numbers three and four, all of which have ceqa clearance, and the general referral specific to this item is included in your board package.

again, it is at no cost for the easement itself, which is also in your package. happy to entertain any questions you might have. supervisor mar: thank you. let's open this up to public comment. seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, let's move this forward without objection. thank you. please call item terribly well. >> item two, resolution accepting an expanding a gift valued up to $2,500,000 from the trust the public land to the recreation and park department for the balboa park improvement project. >> good afternoon, supervisors. sarah ballard, recreation and parks department. just briefly wanted to speak about this item. this is part of the trust for public land parks for people initiative. they have raised over $16 million for three parts in our system. as you probably have seen since this is just up the street, the

playground reopened this past june and is a great project. we are grateful to the trust for public land partnership and urge your support today. supervisor mar: thank you. let's open this up for public comment. is there anyone from the public would like to speak on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. let's move this forward without objection. please call item three. supervisor wiener? supervisor wiener: we passed it along already, but i wanted to thank the trust for public land for being such a terrific partner. the hayes valley playground looks amazing and is a huge service to the community. in an age of difficult budgets, especially for our parks, it is really critical to have these strong partners, so thank you. supervisor mar: looks like it will be progressing as well.

ms. miller, please call item 3. >> item 3, ordinance amending the conditions previously placed on portions of sue bierman park and authorizing construction a playground structures. supervisor mar: president chiu is on his way. we can hear him running up the steps right now. he is fast, yes. we have just called item three. supervisor chiu: thank you. good afternoon, colleagues. this is a piece of legislation that deals with the allowing of building of a playground near the waterfront. as i think many of you know, my district have the least amount of open space and the least amount of recreation space of any district in the city. since the last census, as we also know, our city has lost thousands of families, although we are starting to see more families with children under 5. in recent years, the

demographics of the neighborhoods near waterfronts have changed, though. there have been quite a few more families with children in these neighborhoods that do not have a playground they can walk to. the nearest playground is in chinatown, which, obviously, is very far from the waterfront neighborhoods. i want to thank the friends of waterfront playground for working over a year to look a much-needed playground near the waterfront. initially, the community was focused on location near the ferry building at the site where occupy sf is right now, but for a number of reasons, that location turn out not to be a good fit. the land was later named sue pierman -- bierman park. a law was passed that prohibit a permanent structures on the parcel of that park benches. the intent was to prevent building structures that were actually buildings or larger structures from being built on land that should be open space,

but it inadvertently prevented playground structures. the legislation i am asking you to consider would keep the restriction of permanent structures but actually allow for an exception to playground structures. i would like to acknowledge the work of many community members who are here as well as the golden gateway residents over the past 10 years in helping to protect the open space and creating a wonderful park that is their right now. i think we all understand how important the future of the park is, and has been a broad coalition of community groups that have come - to support the placement of the playground, and you will hear from some of those representatives today -- community groups that have come together. the recommendation was for the board of supervisors to approve the legislation before you. i would like to ask the recreation and park department to provide an initial presentation, and then we will hear from members of the community. i know there have been over the

past weeks some discussions within the community about exactly where the playground should be placed. the recreation and park department has just been a prize. they are looking at options and we will have the conversation today, but it is my hope we will be able to just move this legislation through committee so that we have options of placing a playground within sue bierman park hopefully in the coming weeks. we can absolutely locked out exactly where this is going to be. with that, why don't i asked for recreation and park to make a presentation. >> a share -- sure. we are waiting for my colleague, who was going to make the full presentation, which i can work my way through in her continued absence, but i wanted to be here to thank supervisor chiu for the legislation and thank the waterfront community for their advocacy and passion for open space regardless of the different viewpoints that certain communities have had

about the location of the playground. the need is great. playgrounds are critical for age-abroad replaces to boost a child goes to cognitive and social development, and at a time in nearly 30% of san francisco's children are considered obese, having more ability for active physical play is critical. there has been a lot of conversation at the board of supervisors and throughout the city about keeping san francisco a family-friendly environment, and for obvious reasons, playgrounds and fun, safe, community places to play off for that. there are over 1000 children in the neighborhoods. in addition, child care centers for over 400 children daily. the embarcadero ymca camp serves 280 children. we have over 700 summer campers at the twin cloud, and the ferry building track hundreds of additional children in

neighborhoods. this is a neighborhood with changing demographics and higher numbers of children. san francisco does not do as well as it should in terms of offering playground space on our density. in fact, the trust for public land, the organization about which we just heard an item, puts out an annual survey and says that nationally, the mean for playgrounds for 10,000 residents is over two, and san francisco is significantly under that number. it's at -- statistically, at one point, eight. a number of cities like seattle, portland, denver, san jose, boston are offering more playgrounds for families with children. this is very much a project that we support. in 2004, recreation and park led a master planning process for severe and part -- for sue bierman park. construction of the first phase, which included re-grading the

pathways, planting is complete. we're very proud of the work, and i know there are many members of the community here who are also at the commission meeting that were very pleased to see that take the form that it has. the community discussed the inclusion of the playground as part of the planning process, but at the time, the legislation that supervisor chiu is offering to amend today prohibits structures including playgrounds in the park. two water for neighborhoods of our association together comprising over 12,000 residents, have really worked hard to support the concept of a playground in the area, and it is true that a number of occasions have been considered, including on justin herman plaza south, but we seem to be working towards sue bierman park in the section 202 or 203 as a logical location for the

park. our hope is that this legislation will pass, that will allow us to continue our work with the friends of the waterfront playground, and all of the community groups around the neighborhood to find what is the most appropriate spot for the playground. we would then bring a concept design back to the commission, and i know that friends of the waterfront playgrounds is very strongly -- has worked very hard at trying to develop some philanthropic resources to support the playground, which is very much something we appreciate. with that, i will certainly take some questions. supervisor mar: i cannot have any questions. we will see if any colleagues do. supervisor wiener: my understanding is the design will go through a community process. >> there have been a number of

meetings to discuss the playground to be, but the exact sighting of the playground and the concept design is not yet completed, and we are certainly open to working with the community to find the best site. supervisor wiener: this is an issue i have sort of focused on recently. a lot of playgrounds are very focused on younger kids without adequate attention being given to older kids. a lot of times you have parents who are involved to have young kids that helped design it, and then the kids get older, and it is not as useful. i know recreation and park has recently been focused on this to make sure a range of children are able to use the playgrounds. >> absolutely. our playgrounds serve children of different age ranges.

i think you are referring to the episode i of those part playground, which we work with recently, and we are on the verge of breaking ground for a playground geared to slightly older children. it is my understanding from conversations with our playground advocates that the idea would be to have it accepted for basically two different age groups and also proposed play equipment for older youth. supervisor wiener: thank you. >> i was just going to ask -- i appreciate what you said about keeping families in the city and challenging obesity with more outdoor activity. i know you, as a father, and a family guy show that in your life as well, but differ neighborhoods like chinatown and north beach are fighting for more open space with the playgrounds at the library. what is the library? >> joe dimaggio playground. >> i know there are significant families around there, but what,

it rapidly, are the families around sue bierman park -- demographically? >> it is predominantly in the south of market area. we have about 1000 people in the area, but predominantly, it is in the south of market area. >> we were discussing justin herman plaza. a number of families came out identifying that spot, but the ferry plaza or sue bierman park seems like a gray area with changes along the waterfront as well. >> right. i think the debate is that that particular platform is used for a variety of other purposes. right now, as supervisor chiu noted, it is occupied, if i may offer a humorous hon. there's a lack of grass or open

space and trees, and it is adjacent to both the muni turnaround and the embarcadero highway. also, just because of its signature location, i think some of the design elements of the playground would be heightened, making it slightly tougher to implement. supervisor chiu: did your colleague come by? i was not sure if he wanted to. >> he is here. supervisor chiu: why don't we go public comment. i know from recent conversations, we will probably have some conversations. we have a number of people that have submitted cards. let me first acknowledge -- [reading names] we have 15 or so cards. with your folks in that order. would you like to set up? -- if we could hear folks in that order.

>> i am and resident of the barbary coast neighborhood. i have lived there for about six years. i am and other two. i have a three year-old and a three-month old. i have been trying different playgrounds in our neighborhood for three years, since my oldest was about six months old. it has been a very long, frankly quite frustrating process in terms of looking at the available public and private lands that could accommodate a playground, and it has been a very long road. i think ginsburg made a strong case in demonstrating the need for a waterfront on the playground. as you will -- i do not know if you have seen the report, but we have a number of letters of support from over 14 different organizations representing homeowners associations, neighborhood associations, businesses, veterans -- that are in support of a playground in sue bierman park.

the community is pretty clear he said in terms of recognizing the need and wanting a playground in sue bierman park. one thing i would like to point out to you is there will be a handful of parents here today that you're going to hear from, but i just want you to realize that this is a tiny fraction of the hundreds of families that exist in the neighborhood that are supporting these playgrounds. as you can probably occur -- appreciate, it is quite challenging for working parents to carve out an hour, two hours, three hours in the middle of a work day to come out to city hall to speak. i wish we had more representatives here, but the ones we do have really make quite an effort to be here, especially considering the great turnout we had on the november 3 hearing and recreation and park. the final point that i would like to make is -- and again, mr. ginsburg spoke about this a

little bit. it is quite challenging today's kids in san francisco. there are issues about affordable housing, the public school system and the lack of amenities in our neighborhood that provide our children with opportunities to play. i think that in a playground is a tremendous community asset. -- i think that a playground is a tremendous community asset. it strengthens community ties so that families have fewer reasons to look to leave the city and moved to the suburbs, so i think that is something that will really strengthen our community, and it is something that is sorely needed. supervisor chiu: thank you. could we hear from our next speaker? if folks could line up as i call your names.

>> thank you very much for listening. i have been a resident of the golden gate with for over 10 years. i have raised my two girls there. they are twins. they are now 12 years old. i also have two older boys and now a grandmother of three grandchildren that live in the area, and i need that park very badly and i could use it all the time. i can attest to the fact that things have changed dramatically over the last 10 years. there has been a huge influx of young families. our halloween parties are much better attended, and hundreds of kids that attend those as compared to 5010 years ago. -- as compared to 50 10 years ago appeared to swim club attract kids from all over the city. it is not just in our single area. i think the park would as well. there are a lot of kids that come down on weekends because of a ferry building. the whole sea waterfront has

changed, and there are kids everywhere. i love the area. i love living where i live, and i would love to continue to do so. i plan to continue to do so, but there's a couple of things that i would like to see. as you know, parks are extremely important for children cognitively. and they say that there's a correlation from lack of parks, and that is a known fact. so every day, i used to drive my kids every single day to chestnut street part -- park so they could play. i would love to see this develop. supervisor chiu: banking. that speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. -- thank you. next speaker. >> i would like to speak up for the seniors and the grandparents. as the last speaker mentioned, we mostly live in the golden gate way apartments and so

forth in a rather small accommodations, so it would be nice to have -- with the grandkids come, had a place to go and to take them, so i think it is really important, and there are a lot of seniors in the neighborhood. even though we are really happy to see the families and seem to be more of them. i am kind of speaking for the grandparents that would like to have an outlet to take the kids to. it would really mean a lot to us. i think this park is a great place to have that playground. thank you. >> 155 jackson st.. in 1973, it is the first time i visited embarcadero and golden gateway apartments. i was on an urban studies field trip to see this urban redevelopment area. our professor wanted to show us a successful project when so many had not been in this country. walking through the golden gate

we courtyard, i distinctly remember the woman next to me telling me her name and saying it would be" to live there some day. now we do. in cambridge, massachusetts, we lived in an apartment building, next to one of the oldest city parks in america where george washington took command of the troops. then, there was a playground. it was really an important facility for the parents because it was surrounded by streets, high fences that provided a safe place for children to play under the watchful eye of their parents. i was back there a few years ago i live, and we walked through the cambridge, is, and nothing had changed. there had been a slippery slope about the development that occurred in this historic park, except there was a playground.

we then went to downtown boston and walked along the boston commons, which i have been told is the first city park in america. there was a change there. it is now a playground. i think it is possible to accommodate playgrounds without leading to other development. we have noticed that this neighborhood has changed since 1973. it is not just the embarcadero. there have been many decisions made by policymakers that resulted in a dramatic change to the demographics of the area and the type of housing that now exists. it simply was not there in 1973. i would suggest that by providing a playground, you will really be doing just one thing -- you will be providing a little bit of joy to a small

parcel in our city. basically, i think, by adding a playground, sue bierman park will be a great place for children, but i think children will also be great for sue bierman park. thank you. supervisor chiu: thank you. before the next speaker, let me ask other speakers to please line up. if you could all please line up on the left-hand side. >> mr. chairman, members of the committee, supervisor chiu, thank you for a moment to say few words. i am an attorney and an author. i live at the golden gate way. i am the past president of the golden gate we tenants' association -- at the golden gate way tenants association. one of the issues was when i

first became aware of this idea of putting a children's playground at sue bierman park, it was late in the game. i contacted supervisor chiu and asked if he could get it continued for me briefly. i am here today to emphatically support a kids' playground in sue bierman park. i am here to report that i think i can tell this committee that agreements have been reached whereby the support for this children's park is unanimous as far as the golden gate way tenants are concerned. last thursday, i believe it was, and that with the board of the golden gate tenants' association -- i met with the board of the golden gate tenants' association. we discussed the proper part of the park