there and do the work and can fit it into the rest of their maintenance day. thank you for your time this morning. >> i want to offer a very quick thank you to everyone for their partnership. i also want to mention the director of operations and the superintendent of parks. all of our parks services and rank-and-file custodians and gardeners who are doing the work and doing more with less and they deserve a great deal of commendation for the results you have seen over the last few years. >> so be it. thank you very much. >> the what i am familiar with his park presidio boulevard. it seems to me for something like a boulevard -- if i'm thinking of the correct one --

is that the one on 14th avenue on both sides of the freeway? >> yes. >> it is 14 blocks and there is part space on both sides. >> that one showed a decrease of 16.9% according to your numbers. >> that is correct, but the thing about park presidio boulevard is is a cleanliness issue. there are trees and very few elements. there are 14 elements in the standards. for a park with only one or two elements, those one or two elements can heavily skewed the overall property. >> that's my point. you look at the rest of your properties, it is unique. i'm wondering if this is something you can take out of your metrics and measure it to

account for what exactly you have described. it does sku when you have one or two measures and it's not taking -- that -- it doesn't match with your other properties. huf>> i would like to comment on this point because it's an interesting one. >> the methodology -- it took a number of years to come to an agreement. we started in 2003 and the evaluations didn't start until 2006. there are going to beat huge variations in the types of parts were looking at. many parks only have a few features, so those parks are going to have higher variability across the board. something we have talked about internally as looking at part

types, and i think we could look at a more refined level of these types of features and let's compare them to each other as opposed to a grand list. that said, the grand list is important. >> you could scarcely in my mind call it a park. it's not really a part in the sense that you think of a part because it's very narrow, there's very limited activity that could take place, perhaps just a dog trail -- a jogging trail. you have traffic on both sides, it's misleading in a sense to allow been with lincoln park and richmond playground and so forth since -- >> i think it's a fair point and

we do spend some time thinking about how we can refine -- it's like baseball statistics. once you change the ground rules, the historical data becomes less relevant. there are some trade-offs and this is a tool in the toolbox. it's not necessarily the be all, and all. we visit a park four times a year. the department scores -- those for visits constitute 50% and the controller's 1 visit constitute 50% because they are the control. but if the comptroller's office hits parker presidio on a bad monday when we have had challenges with a homeless encampment or letter from traffic and it's a low score, that's going to impact bat parks overall score. but i think there is enough data with enough parks that we are

able to measure general trends. i do not get too terribly worked up by a score in any one given part in any one given quarter or any one given year. if we see an entire district airpark area diminished by a significant number of percentage points, that's cause for concern. we are able to make some good operational judgment out of the data we have. but your point thurgood and it would be worth at some point because we have similar discussions about how to take this to the next level. >> no part score should stand alone, but the longitudinal data is where the information lies. anything maintained by the department is evaluated under our evaluation with the exception of what is classified

as open space. once as one or two features, that constitutes a park and it's in our pool of evaluations. >> what this report suggests to me is that in order to continue to have these outcomes, we need to continue to make efforts and actually make great strides, whether working with other departments in the city or however we do that, we need to continue to continuously bring more staff into the picture here. there's a huge infusion of man hours.

there were many nonprofits throughout the city that benefited from those resources and unfortunately, when those -- when that manpower went the way, nonprofits were impacted very seriously. to do this partnership -- we could continue to see those numbers godown. i want to thank the leadership of the general manager and staff in not dropping the ball and saying we have a reason not to do as well because we lost

all is manpower. the department should be congratulated for continuing along the same line in terms of some of the efforts put forward to acquire additional man-hours here. i just want to say that anything we can do is a commission to encourage that, we need to try to foster as many partnerships as we can. we've always known from day one that we do not have as much manpower as we need and we have a very severe shortage of staff in our parks and we need to

constantly keep that in mind. thank you. >> a couple of things -- on golden gate park, section 2 and section 5 -- section 2 of fundamentals and the other with open space -- how did they achieve that level of maintenance? >> can you repeat that? >> section 2, under ornamental gardens and the other, section 5 under open space -- why did they get such a low scores? >> i think we would have to go back to the raw a valuation data. -- the raw evaluation data. i'm going to guess here -- open space is a singular feature and

is evaluated on cleanliness and if there are five pieces of trash or 10 pieces of trash, it is a failed. i'm going to assume that golden gate park is especially driven by the open space feature, especially because it is fast. >> that would reflect on what the general manager talked about. >> i am happy to go back and look at the raw data and give a more refined analysis of that. >> if you look at ornamental gardens, one of our areas that's much more intensely maintained -- you either have that intensity with labor that's available or you don't. section two has a lot of our ornamental and high maintenance areas. you will see it there. >> thank you.

>> for those not familiar with the sections, section 2 is the music concourse, heavily ornamental gardens. section number one is conservatory valley, also have the on ornamental gardening. section 5 is the meadows and helen paulo -- heland hollow. the two features of those sections are unique as well. >> is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public, disclosed. this was discussion only. we are now on item 11, america's cup draft parks events operations plan. >> it is information only.

there is no -- its only environmental stuff. >> good afternoon, i ever made partnership and redevelopment office. and you're wearing two hats -- and at that as well as i have been working half time for the mayor's office of economic and work-force development of the america's cup project, so i am

here in both roles and i'm here to present the america's cup parks event operations plan. just to give everybody a little context, the schedule of america's cup events fault -- calls for two types of events. in 2012, the world series events, august 11th through the 19th and august 27th through september 2nd. this is a traveling exhibition of races the america's cup authority and race management are going to run the world, racing is smaller craft, 45 foot catamarans. they show up and it's a traveling road show with a common have wonderful events and an event village they create an race the boats near the shores of people can get a good sense of what their races are like and it's a great way to raise the profile of america's cup. we are excited to have them.

ultimately, for the 2013 events, they will be building at america's cup buildings on peer's 27 and at 29, but that will not be complete in advance. in 2013, the full america's cup event will come here and that runs from july through september, so three long months. this is the from the bay conservation submission package that it shows a rendering of what we think the america's cup village is going to look at -- going to look like. you are looking from the southwest. just to give you a little more context, there are quite a few documents produced and approval

process is as you can imagine. the event the agreement was signed between the city and america's cup about a year ago, and late december 2010. we're moving forward for the federal parks are going to be hosting some of these events. as part of the advance, the city authority agreed to write a series of implementation plans. these are documents that discuss how the city will be addressing issues like transportation, that is the people plan. there is a the zero waste plan, there is a security plan, there are about 11 or 12 of them. as the public outreach events unfolded, it became clear a parks and racec plan and shoulde included.

so what this document is -- there are a few reasons we decided to do this. one, it helps coordinate -- there is a city park land being affected, state park land and federal park land. it helps to coordinate between ellis' jurisdictional agencies and discuss how the event will be managed across the board so it looks like -- it looks like a seamless event. we were approached by a few environmental groups concerned about the natural resources and how they would be affected by this event. they wanted to make sure the city was taking the necessary processes to make sure everything was in great conditions. it is significant to note this plan is not part of the ceqa process. nor is it one of the mitigation monitoring and reporting

program. it's not a really a legal document. so what is in this sparks and operations plan? i helped, through my role at the mayor's office, helped draft the city section. it talks about all the jurisdictions. it is a comprehensive list of the recreational and natural resources in these parks that may be affected by events. it includes everything from turf to parking to docks to trees, everything we could think of that might be affected. and how would they be affected? then we think about different steps we could take to minimize impact, and then we talk about what we could do after the event to make sure that any damage that does happen is changed and everything looks just as good as

when we started. there was a specific discussion about what sort of site inspections we may do. the city is used to hosting shorter events. what we do is have a site inspection before, and after the event, we have a site inspection, and then we can discuss how to repair any damage that is done, but as the event stretches on, we want to minimize the impact and make sure the city is well prepared. i have spoken to other staff. i spoke to dana and nick, so we have a good sense of what kinds of things can go on and what can be expected. since most of the event takes place in marina green, the focus is on marina green, but there is a bit at the end where we talk about other parts that will be affected. they are thinking of putting large video screens of in union

square and civic center plaza. then, there's other parks that just may be affected by people wanting to come and see the race from of on high, since we have such wonderful typography -- wonderful topography. primarily, we are looking at the program spaces in the park, but we want to make sure we have a full breadth of everything. so what are the next steps? this document is just a draft. you all have it in your package, and you can see certain sections are more fleshed out than others. partially that is because ggnra is in the process of going through nepa, and their timeline is different than ours. the ceqa document is going for appropriation today. the nepa process will stretch

out into the spring. but we posted this document on december 1, and we are looking to get public input over the next month so that we can incorporate anything we may have missed or different perspectives from the community. we would also, of course, love to have input from the commission. ultimately, we will come back and present a final plan to you. also, it is important to note that drafting this document in some respects served as a wonderful preparation exercise for us. we will be drafting parks special event permits both for the 2012 event and the 2013 events. this helps us get our head around what will be included in that period that will come back later because we will need much more detail, so we anticipate coming back with that later in the spring. and i think that is it. any questions you might have, i'm happy to answer. commissioner lee: does this come back to us as a permit

application? >> yes. as i said, we will be drafting special even permits both for the 2012 and 2013 events, and it will be coming back to you guys for that. commissioner lee: what happens to soccer? >> we will not be able to have soccer on the marina green, obviously, during the life of the 2012 event, and plans are in place actually to accommodate the teams also. >> i think it is a good report. i know you are paying close attention to keeping costs down, since some poor soul has to raise the money to pay for it. >> and he is keeping very close tabs on rec and park's costs. >> it does exactly what you said, gives us a chance to get

our hands around what is coming. as you know, final plans are not yet in place. it gives a framework within which things will happen. congratulations. >> is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed, and we are on item 3, the general managers' report. >> i will be brief, commissioners. just a few short -- in the words of warren hellman, hot dog. katie is going to give you a budget update. we are heading into the budget season. and to end our meeting and commence our holiday celebration, we have a short video here it quickly, volunteer program updates -- our stewardship program is in full swing. another positive example of our ongoing relationship with our city schools.

by working with teachers to develop curriculum using our parks as an outdoor classroom as well as other traditional programming, ysp is working with the port authority and literacy for environmental justice to increase programming. volunteer program staff spent a day last week volunteering for the ggnra to get a better understanding of the volunteers point of view and provide better service. it is a very exciting program. the petition program celebrates its one-year anniversary, one of the best choice to come out of the last year and something that definitely contributed to our park maintenance source as strong as they are. just yesterday, we had the pleasure of celebrating the program's first-year anniversary. the mayor has been supportive of the program, as have all of you, and in one year, the program helped keep our parks clean and beautiful. under the supervision of the

coordinator, nine men and women have completed dozens of projects in 22 city parks, including printing and planting of the concourse, trail building at the interior greenbelt, restoring the baseball diamond, and obviously, there incredible work at harding in anticipation of the schwab cup. i want to thank a congratulate everyone who had a hand in launching this program. helen diller playground update. i am very happy to report that in the center of banks in our park system, the construction is now 52% done. the contractors completing with concrete work and irrigation water lines are being installed. we anticipate the delivery of the bridge, the very iconic bridge that will be part of the playground in mid-january, with new play equipment arriving shortly after.

we have got lucky with the weather, and i think some of the delays we could have experienced if we had gotten bad weather we have passed, so we are very optimistic. all this means we are moving ahead. the new playground will open to the public in spring 2012. the project represents a remarkable partnership model, and we are very excited about the prospect of opening this new playground in just a few short months. to set up to bid on construction, members of the public can log on to our web site and click our capital improvements have, where they can find updated information on all of our capital products. winter registration begins this saturday online and at 13 sites across the city. this season with the new year coming up and plenty of resolutions being made to get in shape, we're offering a wide variety of classes and programs, including movement glasses for talks, sports leagues for youth, fitness class is for moms and dads, and dance class is for

seniors. one program i want to highlight is a brand new partnership with san francisco unified school district where we are piloting -- we are bringing a basketball program to several of our public elementary schools for third- grade boys and girls. we bring the program to the district. practices are at district sites with games at district sites on the weekends. first time we have ever done this. i want to thank the superintendent. and as a testament to our growing and strengthening partnership. browse our programs and learn how to register. also because the sunset recreation center is being renovated, registration will happen this saturday. i do want to recognize marty hackett, one of our partners who retired in november after almost 30 years. we thank him very much for his service. i want to bring up katie very quickly to give you just a preview of the budget

instructions and some of the budget challenges which are better, but that we will nonetheless be facing in the coming months. >> good afternoon, commissioners. it is that time of the year. the mayor's office issued budget instruction to all departments last tuesday, december 6. for the coming two fiscal years, in fact, because the city is about to enter into two-year budget cycles. they have asked us -- they have given us general fund reduction targets both for fiscal year 2012-2013 as well as for fiscal years 2013-2014. the budget office currently projects a general fund shortfall for the coming fiscal year in the amount of $263 million, which, oddly enough, is actually good news, compared to

what they had originally projected and certainly what we have seen in the past number of years. the budget instructions for general fund departments this year come in four parts. the first is that we have been requested to submit a base budget reduction equal to 5% of our general fund support, which is equal to a little less than $1.6 million. we have been asked to submit a contingency proposal for 2012- 2013, equal to 2.5% of our general fund support for an additional $796,000. then we have been asked to submit a base budget reduction for 2013-2014, equal to another 5% of our general fund support. again, $1.6 million. we have also been asked to reduce our budgeted and funded

general fund fte by 1% in both years. it is still unclear in talking to the mayor's office exactly what they mean by this instruction, but i'm sure more information will be forthcoming in the next several months. the mayor asked departments to prioritize core operating functions, minimize service impact, and pursue solutions such as revenue options, administrative efficiencies, and program or function consolidation. he is strongly encouraging the department to foster community engagement during the budget development which, for the recreation and park department, will not be a challenge at all. we make a really significant effort to interact with the community, our staff stakeholders when developing our budget. the budget assumption that the