, half to create home. what is home for these people? the home is their cell. people talk a lot about noise -- very noisy in prisons. that is interesting to me. looking at the communication level, the rise of frustration of being caged, wondering, where does redemption fit into the equation here? [singing] i think both of us really believe the death penalty is wrong, and is flawed for many

reasons. the list is as long as my arm -- about several others. we feel this is important for both of us, personally, to participate in the debate of this issue in a way that we can help people frame it for a conversation. >> being a pedestrian in san francisco is not easy for

anybody. >> [inaudible] people push tables and chairs outside the sidewalk. >> i have to be careful not to walk the sidewalk. it is very hard. >> sometimes people get half way across the intersection. >> you have to be alert because there is always something coming up that you need to know about. >> i learned to listen to the traffic patterns. sometimes i notice the other pedestrians, they are crossing, on occasion, i have decided i'm going to cross, too. i get to the middle of the

intersection, and i find out that the light has changed. >> we need to be able to work and go from one place to the other and have public transportation. the world needs to be open. >> people on disability has the task of addressing all the disability. when we are talk about the sidewalks, ramps, we have very specific issues. for people blind and low vision, we have the issue of knowing where they are and when the cross. it can be hit or miss. >> at hulk and grove, that sound the the automatic -- it

helps people cross the street safely. >> now we have a successful pedestrian signal. >> i push the button, i get an audible message letting me know that i need to wait. when it is safe to cross, not only am i going to get an audible indicator, this button is going to vibrate. so it tells me it is safe. there is the driller sound and this trigger is vibrating. i am not relying on anything but the actual light change, the light cycle built into it.

>> it brings san francisco from one of the major cities in the u.s. to what is going to be the lead city in the country. >> city working on all sorts of things. we are trying to be new and innovative and go beyond the ada says and make life more successful for people. >> disability rights movement, the city has the overall legal obligation to manage and maintain the accessibility and

right of way. with regards to the curb ramps, bounded by a groove border, 12-inch wide border. for people with low vision to get the same information. the shape of the domes, flush transition between the bolt bottom of the ramp and gutter. >> we have a beveled transition on the change in level, tape on the surfaces, temporary asphalt to fill in level changes, flush transition to temporary wood platform and ramp down into the street under the scaffoldinging.

detectable ramps. they are all detectable. nothing down below or protruding that people are going to get snagged up on. smooth clean that nobody is going get caught up on. >> our no. 1 issue is what we see here, the uplifting and shreufting to concrete due too street tree roots. here is another problem we have with street trees. if i have i was a person blind, this would be an uncomfortable way to find out. >> we don't want to create

hazards. >> sometimes vendors put sidewalk cafes where people push the chairs too far out. >> sometimes it can be impassable. so much foot traffic that there is no room for a wheelchair or walker to go by. >> san francisco is a lively street life, it can be an issue with people with visual disabilities as well. they have these diverting barriers on other side of this tables and chairs area. if people can find thraeur way around it without getting tangled up, it is still fully accessible. >> we don't want anything special. we want people to basically

adhere to the regulations and laws as they are on the books now. people can also, just be cognizant if they have stuff on the street, they thaoed to have 48 inches so we can pass, think outside your own spectrum of yourself that there are other people you need to share the sidewalk with. we will all get along better. >> although san francisco is a hilly place for a whraoel chair user, we seem to be better at most. that doesn't mean we can't continue to improve upon ourselves. >> the public has a clear are -- of travel. we can't be every to make sure that is the place.

we have to rely on the place. call 311. give them your name. that goes into a data base. >> it is difficult, still, um to make the case that the disabled community isn't being represented. in some ways we are not. we have a long way to go. >> the city of san francisco is using the most innovative technology available. these devices allow people to remain out in their communities, doing things like shopping. it is great to be able to walk as a pedestrian in this city and cross streets safely.

>> recreation and park commission. could you call the roll please? >> [roll call] commissioner levitan is on her way. a few announcements as a reminder -- please turn off any electronic devices and please take any secondary conversations outside. when you come to comment on public comment on an item, please make public comment to the commissioners. they will not respond to questions. they will wait until public comment is closed, and then they or staff may respond to questions at that point. there are two items that we are moving on the calendar today. the first is the general managers' report, which is item three. that will go to the end of the

calendar. it will follow item 11. the second item is item five, the consent calendar. that will follow item seven. with that, we are on item two, which is the president's report. >> thank you. i will be brief. i know we have people here on other business, but we have a certificate of appreciation for the national aids memorial grove, and i would like to present that certificate. let me read from it. we have one of the most dedicated partners in our car drove partners across the city. its mission, conceived by a small group of san franciscans in 1988 is simple -- to provide a healing sanctuary to increase awareness of this national

living tribute in golden gate park and to promote a learning and understanding of the human tragedy of the aids pandemic. in october 1996, a historic milestone was reached when congress and then president of united states bill clinton approved the national aids memorial grove act, identifying the site as a national treasure. in addition, the growth was bestowed an award for excellence in 1999. truly a sacred space, it is cared for by those who have suffered the effects of aids either directly or indirectly. a healing sanctuary of space, anyone who has experienced a national aids memorial grove work day immediately feels the light and love by those present and memories of those lost. this group works. a renovation of the old

waterfall is under way. 17 defined areas are being planted and maintained by volunteers. six flagstone gathering areas are intended to regularly and the placement of an enormous sea are granite boulder, the 15 freestanding benches, have all been donated. the heart of the growth is the people. all who joined together to stand in solidarity against the tragedy of aids, by action of space on a monthly basis. on behalf of the san francisco recreation and park commission, we honor the thousands of volunteers and our partners at the national aids memorial grove. take a little picture. [applause]

>> thank you for this honor. my name is john cunningham. i am executive director of the national aids memorial grove. i really feel as a tribute to the public/private partnership that was entered into with the city and county of san francisco and the courage that his body as well as the board of supervisors and the then mayor took to step forward and realize that the community needed a space and had the courage to get a 99-year lease to a private organization that was very loosely assembled at that point -- working together over the last 20 years,

we have transformed not only that landscape, but we have also transformed countless lives to have assembled there together. this year, which culminated the restoration of a 100-year-old victorian waterfall that resided in the location. we could not have done it without the public/private partnership that we forged 20 years ago with not only the commission and the city -- and i really want to commend general manager ginsberg -- ginsburg and his entire team for working with us. we are honored to continue to forge forward and use this model as a model that can be used in other community parks. we know 20 years ago, the city was in a similar economic time to where we are today. we compensate the city back dollar for dollar for our

gardener, and we have built a $2.5 million endowment that will insure that this sanctuary will forever remember and honor those lives lost. thank you. commissioner buell: thank you very much. [applause] >> that concludes my report. >> is there any public comment on the president's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. we are now one item four, general public comment for 15 minutes at this time. members of the public may adjust the commission at this time on items that are in the commission's jurisdiction and not appear on the agenda. your opportunity to address the commission on the items on the agenda will be afforded when the item is reached in the agenda. come forward please.

>> good morning, commissioners. good morning, general manager. i was trying to approach the subject matter of candlestick park. hopefully, icahn in a short time talk about the bird cage -- hopefully, i can in a short time talk about the birdcaging. it has been the subject matter that has been going on quite a while. my approach is kind of unique. i wanted to look at it from the seismic retrofit, whether there would be external buttressing of the concrete structure, which has already settled in nicely, instead of all new buildings. that would be support and structuring of the entirety. another part had to do with how to get in and out of the candlestick park area. i look at it from the oval approach of the stadium where there would be a roadway all

around it, which encircles all around candlestick. you can go north. you can go south. you can go west. the east part, simply looking at it, there would be possibly even waterway for increasing in and out access to the troublesome matters of candlestick. it is not quite yet going to be going on the mayor's agenda, but i think he will have to start getting busy, the honorable mayor edwin m. lee will have to look closer into the candlestick negotiations. that is the part i wanted to bring in, where the accessing of the roadway increases the demographic complications that have been published in media throughout san francisco publications. i myself would like to see such building. i do not want to see our 49ers

go away. we have a lot of support from diana feinstein, senator of the united states. she wants to keep them here. we would have to approach the subject matter from demographics, getting in, getting out, increasing the access. the closest analogy i can give to you increasing the roadway has to do with when you wait to go on the golden gate bay bridge. you go around and around. this particular roadway would go around and around and whichever way you want to go, you go. thank you very much. commissioner buell: thank you. >> bruce stone. >> i am president of the san francisco marina harbor association. i just want to let you know we are pleased with the progress on the harbor. it is a great project and moving ahead. there is one area i was asked to

speak to you about. our last annual meeting was in november. there is an unfunded portion of the harbour east of golden gate yacht club that has attracted a lot of interest, especially among small vote owners. there is an area permitted for 36 slips, and it is supposed to cost just $1 million. it is a very economic project as dredging has been done. very good return on investment here we have had many people would like to put up the money. basically, the harbor trust has over $4 million in surplus. that money is supposed to be spent on the harbor. we have asked rec and park to focus on the idea.

we understand there is some kind of deadline coming up mid- january forecasting those additional pieces. if not, the cost rises quite sharply. we understand there might be various proposals for that. we are just asking you to put a lot of attention to it and ask recreation and park to allocate the money. commissioner buell: thank you. >> is there anyone else who would like to make general public comment? come forward. >> thank you. i see that my letter to the commissioners was acknowledged on this agenda. it is in regard to glen canyon park plan, the improvement plan. i just wanted to come and personally do a quick summary and ask if the commissioners -- i know it is a three-page letter, and i know that is

difficult to get through. i tried to organize it -- it is a complicated situation, and i hope that someone has had the chance to look through their and make some sort of response. the main issue there is that the park planners seem to have taken a very big jump in the initial eliciting of public comment. i understand that it is the job of planners to come up with some sort of an initial plan to work with, by one all the possible plans for the improvement of glen canyon park include the eradication, removal, destruction of a very long line of mature eucalyptus trees -- actually, possibly, a couple of monterey cypress on the hill --

without asking specifically in these meetings -- how important were those to the public? that question was never answered. all the possible plans not only could the destruction of them, but very -- i want to say -- well, they've very surreptitiously covered over that issue by creating the areas of the various new plans superimposed on what looks like it could have been a billing slate -- a blank slate. that area actually has trees that are older than, certainly, everyone in this room. i myself am a non-native san franciscan, but i know that there are native san franciscans who have grown up with these

tall, majestic trees, these specific ones, not just in general. and would probably be very surprised and dismayed to find out that this whole entire line of trees -- plus others because they have not been specific about -- they have acknowledged, "those will be taken out and new ones will be put in," but the specific ones have not been identified. thank you very much -- oh, i still have -- commissioner buell: that is just an early warning. >> again, thank you for your time and attention to this. the other thing i want to mention is the money. the cost of removing these trees is huge. i noticed on the agenda, we were talking about acknowledgment of costs, but we do not know how many thousands of dollars these mean.

>> is there anyone else who would like to make general public comment at this time? seeing none, general public comment is closed. we are on items six, the san francisco zoo. >> good morning. i have something fun to show you. this is a clip from the sharks player appearing on everyday jobs, and he opted to be a zoo keeper for the day. once we show that, i also have a curator here who oversaw the transfer of the bison. >> here we are with the family at the san francisco zoo. let's go play with some animals. >> i thought we could start on this side and work our way across, cleaning up as we go.

now they are going to feed them. >> that is awesome. >> we are going to have you make the diet for the porcupines. >> [inaudible] that is so cool. i think we are going to clean up some poop from the kangaroo's. >> we are going to clean up some nice branches and bring them out there. you can see this is their pride here. pretty small, pretty clean. not that bad. >> my hands in front of the net. >> all right, let's go over and say hi to the koalas. every day, they get five different species of eucalyptus, and that is all they eat.

what you want to do is set it off all right about there. there you go. i think he is hungry more than he wants to play. why don't you come over here on this side? toss it right on in. holding. >> the hazards of these guys, you may get some ankle biting. not too much to be concerned about. >> we are literally just going to take a fish, feed it, and let them grab it. just like that. >> you do not want to eat that. good agility.

do i get to throw a big one? we had a pretty unbelievable day today at the zoo today. saw a lot of unbelievable animals. there are a lot of things that i did not have the chance to do. thank everybody for that. it was really awesome. >> [inaudible] who oversaw the transfer of the bison in golden gate park. i thought you might have some questions for him. quickly, i will give you the attendance record for the first 12 days of christmas. we are at 12,941 visitors, over budget by 15.7%. we have also started our 12 days