the park all the time. the cleanup and the surrounding neighborhoods that c a lot of collateral trash and that sort of thing. and finally, the frequency of the events and how close they are we are -- that they make sure they go off without a hitch. it is important that the neighborhoods be considered. president chiu: i wanted to thank a number of community groups and for all was raising the issue to the concert promoters and the rec and park department to the planning association to the various groups within the police community relations meetings held by the police captain. the current police captain has been really great about

encouraging community input on events and mitigating and parking and traffic in instances in the neighborhood as well. -- and nuisances in the neighborhood as well. supervisor wiener: first of all, thank you for calling this hearing. it is always important to have these discussions. i just wanted to make some preliminary comments in that i was really thrilled that the economic impact report came out this past week or just a few days ago in order to create a complete picture and a complete context. one of the first things i did was call for an economic impact of the four entertainment and nightlife, including the outdoor

festivals so that as we are making policy and pulling down rules, they are actually taking into account the benefits of these events. it is not just about the negative side effects, and of course we have to take that into account. we work to improve the neighborhood quality of life and the collaborative. these aren't viewed as nuisances. these events are integral to the cultural life of this city, keeping a lively and vibrant city where all sorts of people want to come. young people and people of every age want to be here, in addition to generating jobs and tax revenue and increasing tourism.

the broad economic impact report is almost done and will be having a hearing, i think it will go as a great opportunity to learn about the economic impact, and i'd just want to make sure that we're always keeping in mind the importance of these events. we have to work collaboratively with the neighborhoods to make sure that we can haul a living is much peace and harmony as possible. it is tempting with other evidence to start increasing their requirements and the fees and the staffing requirements to the point where the events become hard to justify economically, what were the expenses become so high that we are seeing festivals that have either ended or at risk of

ending and the think it is important to keep all of this in mind. >> hut like to invite first department, they'll be followed by reps from the police department, so we have them both from the recreation and parks department, the director of permitting for the department and nec is the acting director. >> before we began talking about our plans and how we manage to impact these commands, we wanted to talk about what we think the benefits of the czar. they are part of the cultural fabric of this city. these events range from rock concerts to races in triathlons to fund-raisers. and really, part of what makes

san francisco such a unique city. obviously, also, these the offense to generate money. last year almost brought and $1.5 million. over the last four years, almost $4.5 million. that is money that has allowed us to avoid making any layoffs or any service reductions. last, there is an economic that affects local businesses. there will be estimated as a $60 million impact, and it is direct spending, a very conservative study that included spending by san francisco residents. it is really $60 million that

would not have been spent in san francisco. i know anecdotally, if you walk the businesses, they are packed and a lot of them will say that their busiest days of the year, i think definitely in the struggling economy, there is good sentiment for that. i would like my colleague to begin talking about some of the plans or procedures they have in place. >> there is a video. it will help us through this. what i wanted to do was talk about what we talked about a few years ago, and how we did. some promises we made, where we succeeded, where we didn't, and what we're doing. i will try to get through this quickly.

in just a reminder, as we look at the different uses, we balance a range of interesting. the impact on passive recreation is important. it is one of the few areas we can have a barbecue is because it is not adjacent to houses. we spend a lot of time making sure that we still have access and it is not taken over by big events. the impact on the park's landscape, and opportunity to generate revenue. we talked about some things we're doing starting in 2010 to improve the special event process. and one of the things we have done, before 2009, there was no online application or list of

events. the new application gives detailed questions, so we try to avoid having roamed large special events. -- rogue large special events. we created a master calendar for events, everyone said mets, and we look at the overall impact. we apply matrix for how we analyze events. there are a alcohol sales, and is at a concert? we have no impact events that are over by 11:00 a.m., a lot of

them are fund-raisers, community events and picnics. performances at the data show, they might impact the rest of the republic. -- of the public. there are very modest and small in scope, performances not concerts', single stage, and high impact. we have raises with extensive road closures, the san francisco marathon, the half marathon, of the aids walk. and high impact performances or multi-stage rock concert and all

day road closures. when we look at doing events, we care deeply about spacing between events, something we weren't focused on five or six years ago. we have a minimum of three weeks between in the event -- any event to allow ground regeneration. we do recognize that the highest demand is in the fall because of the weather. and we choose a limited number of major events with benefits. either they are cultural and recreational benefits, the economic benefit to the department, and the economic benefit to the city. one of the things that we look at spacing, we assessed generation fees around these events to pay for special park worked out i will talk about a little bit more later. supervisor mar: that is to

restore the grass? >> i will go into details about what we do, but we didn't used to do that. otherwise to be pulling gardeners' of work that we otherwise need to do. this allows us the materials and time to do it. we have special event staff assigned with gardening knowledge to supervise those events. i want to talk a little bit about events and what has been happening. since 2010, there are new events, a road closure on one side of the park for an all-day by events. this year is only going to be one time, and in april, we are moving it to the mlk side. it does involve a road closure which adds to traffic congestion. oyster-fest will be july, a

ticket event in a lower peak period of time. the lung cancer walk is in mid- september. it is late in the day, and it has been sort of an emotional event for the city. the aids walk musical festival, they are proposing to come in with a relatively small music festival and october. let's talk about some of the events that aren't happening. 2010 applications, a summer of love concert. a reminder that speedway metal has been renamed hellman hollow. we moved to jerry garcia. in 2012, there was a request for

a two-day cannabis festival that we denied due to over congestion. [laughter] the reasons that some of them aren't here is that we restricted them to the matter as or increased fees we have been charging. supervisor mar: power to the peaceful -- >> it is a tentative event. i know people are asking questions. these charts go through the impact events by season, i will not go through them in detail. if people want copies, i am happy to provide them. the spring calendar, the seller calendar -- summer calendar looks worse than it is. and the full calendar.

-- fall calendar. the things that we look to do is improve the notice to the public. monitoring amplified sound, in gauging the community in advance, as tighter permit provisions to make sure that they are followed. some of the things on improving the public notice that i talked about in 2010, we said we would put special events posted and continuously updated on the parks portal. the parks portal was something developed specifically for us and was difficult to navigate for us and the public and it did not work very well. we have created our own website and we publish all of the events there. it is difficult if you're trying to figure out the big events in

golden gate park. all special event applications that we received are posted on our web site and it is updated to at least monthly. i have an e-mail list, and i send it out to everyone, telling them about large events. we are making everybody that looks like they might be doing anything file a special event application so that list is really lengthy. new for 2012, we are going to be creating a golden gate park special event page that lists only the larger events, and we are working to create a detailed list of road closures with time. we are looking directly update information, and once we get back, we will direct. things do change in the last

minute, we'll have that up and going shortly this year. we're very excited about that. we know the road closures are very inconvenient for the community. in 2010, we promised to get range for sign ainge. they have increased their assignments to meet those requirements, and will be working to a more consistent and left. -- template. every promoter has been a thought on the style lay like to have on their signs, but there is a line we need to draw on that one. we wanted to create a notification e-mail list, where residents could sign up. it was difficult to maintain and

find that e-mail list. in 2012, the goal was going to be the web page with the most current information. the next thing was monitoring amplified sound and america's going to talk a little bit about that. in 2010, our goal was a five hour limit without going to the rec and park commission, and never before 11:00 a.m. starts. we implemented a fee for any picnics with amplified sound because of the impact that has on other people try to have passive recreation. far fewer people choose not to have the sound that is blasting at the event. we found that the events with amplified sound can grow to be huge in a matter of very few minutes. now we require a maximum

attendance, and we pull the plug on the amplified sound. it became unmanageable, and we also charges sizeable security deposit. it seems to have helped prevent the unexpected concerts'. supervisor mar: you revoke the permit while in the event was going on? >> we have not had to do it sensibly told them we would pull the plug. the event is supposed to be a friends and family picnic, but people have a lot of friends tell. and so what we were trying to do was say you better know who was coming so it doesn't turn into traffic gridlock on metal drive.

monitoring amplified sound, the permitted events are easy. the unremitted ones are harder because it just happened. we have been publicizing more and more to call park patrol to alert us and it has been implemented if there is amplified sound out there. we're also been working with larger events. improving the community outreach, we have had meetings each winter and spring to receive feedback for events that generated each issue. each of the following events have held meetings. [reading names] i think they had a beautiful day, but it was better than they

had ever been. i will talk a little bit about power to the peace. it was probably twice the size that had ever been in 2010 with record crowds. they applied to return this year, they will be having a community outreach with the different neighborhood groups with a focus on gun-control and traffic. we believe that we need to do something for safety reasons in order to have this event back because we can't have this many people coming to this event. supervisor mar: there are a number of people or under age drinking as part of the issues? >> we have been talking about closing jfk because it had been so big. we are talking about a ticket to the event -- a ticketed events.

limited number of tickets set in advance, and no tickets for sale at the door. you can't show up thinking you will get in, you have to buy it on line before you come. supervisor mar: one other concern was that it normally occurs at the end of august and power to the peaceful is around september -- >> there is a minimum of three weeks between all events. we will be looking for them to increase in forcing parking regulations and public transportation options. we just had the first meeting with them last week. another thing we promised was to work on permits to make it better, ensuring that the park is protected. we have clarified, we have set

checklists, and we are continuing to move forward to make sure all those things are done. all of those pieces that are so important. another thing that we have done that i talk a little bit about earlier was partly generation and protection. they have been assessing fees on larger events that would provide for seating and even improving the infrastructure by improving irrigation. we of also been requiring a relatively new product in traffic areas to protect the park and plywood whenever anything would be heavier. one of the things that supervisor chu's office addressed was the set up. without charge a fee for every set up a day in order to get

people to focus on the need to get in and out quickly. that fencing and the set up has a major set up on those that want to walk through the park. we have been pushing very hard on that. the other thing mentioned was trash. these events later in the day and you run out of daylight to clean up. often they stay until 2:00 in the morning, but it is the best they can do. we require that they be back with teams that sought out because it is one thing for a matter of to be messy, it is another thing to be there with no one cleaning up. they have to be back and have their team working to quickly clean up the mess. the, you are up. supervisor mar: i realize there

is the technology so that the grass is not damaged to the route? >> we have put that in place and we have gotten very knowledgeable about ensuring the protection of the tree roots and putting -- avoiding large vehicles on those areas. supervisor mar: that sounds like it has been resolved and even self parking as well. >> bluegrass, they expanded the parking. biking has become much more prevalent and not impact the neighbors.

>> i wanted to speak specifically to outside plans. i of the supervisor, your offer -- office in particular gets a lot of correspondence about these things managed by our property management division. in 2009, they approved a contract for outside lands. the contract established formal approvals each year for the site plans operation plans and transportation plans. there is a process where the event promoter and planning entertainment with a coordinate with the recreation and parks department. develop the plans on an annual basis such that we weren't

agreeing to stay static throughout the five-year term of the police. and also door in the event as well. they also require us to develop a comprehensive out reach plan. we also started expanding the lot of these protocols to other events in golden gate park. the operation plans each year present their plans to us and we reviewed those plans to ensure that the park is protected. when they leave the park, it

will be as good a condition as possible. we wanted this to have a minimal impact. we can really be sure that the park is protected. the phase construction, we started the most high-intensity area. i think it is important to note and that there have been concerned from the community about the amount -- is the area shut for a long time, that is a decision that is being made to protect the parks. how much time the need to do the job carefully and thoroughly

verses reopening it as quickly as possible. obviously, we retain final approval. each year, within 60 days of the event or before 60 days, they said that a transportation plan and will work with the park rangers to review those plans. the changes that we might want employment from the previous year, identifying the hot spots. bluegrasses not doing this as well.

that monitoring the park and situation to respond to complaints and deciding vehicles for telling as appropriate. supervisor mar: i know that without tidelands, you can track how many people have bought tickets you have not a very good idea of how many will be coming in? the transportation plan that seems like that would be at least a lot easier than how you determine a transportation plan with the organizers. can i ask how you address those differences? >> frankly, it is difficult because you never know what the split is going to be. we encourage people to not drive to the park, there is very limited parking and it is much easier to get there through alternative transportation.