water taxis will be on the full word calendar. as we look at february 28 and march 13, it will be all little after that. we will do that. >> anything else, commissioners for new business? we have public comment. we have one person. >> thank you. >> the clock is over here to the left. the time has started. >> can you give me 10 extra

seconds? i'm with a neighbor's organization down the street and i wanted to give you an update on the epic restaurant expansion. not only is there a concern about that expansion, but the expansion of many of the restaurants along the embarcadero that i understand most of a month to add these tacky metal and plastic extensions that seem one grade above a sears storage unit. i don't know where people got the idea that those tacky little buildings are ok, but if i can respectfully remind you folks you have obligations to maintain the fairly formal and the

elegant architecture on the embarcadero and these tacky prominent restaurant extensions are not ok. i pointed out at your last meeting of the ports of known deviations for the income park restaurant created a lose/lose /lose situation. the developer was allowed to violate the restrictions by building a second restaurant, exceed the square footage by over 50% and adding a second stories and exceeding the height limit. the epic restaurant is completely outside the area shown on the map in the rflp -- in the. the owner is crying he needs more room and if you stuck to your guns, there would be more than enough room. to build the current addition

which i have a schematic of, the port staff told the operator he would have to go to the south beach for approval. they shot it down. keep in mind this is a very conservative, pro development. i know because i served on it for two years and they usually rubber-stamp everything but they said this project is too much. so they started calling this addition a canopy. they were doing that because the restaurant was allowed to have a canopy. but this is not a canopy. i have seen the formal definition of canopy and that is one of those awning type things that stick out from a buildings doorway over the sidewalk.

they then went back with another plan and they shot down the project a second time. they stated it very clearly that the plastic siding being proposed is not acceptable, so the project never died. the port should be telling the operator that this is not a canopy. the community has spoken. your restaurant complex's 50% over size. you designed the restaurants the way you wanted them and you need to live with what you designed. we do not want tacky metal and plastic and we do not want them lining the embarcadero. thank you. >> any further public comment? >> do i have a motion for

adjournment? second. >> all in favor? happy valentine's day. >> when stephen de staebler died, he was working on one of the biggest shows of his career, matter and spirit.

it is a retrospective look at the many faces and faces of the life of an innovative artist from the california clay movement. stephen de staebler's developed in an area dominated by abstract expression. even his peers saw his form. >> he was able to find a middle ground in which he balanced the ideas of human figuration and representation with abstraction and found it even more meaningful to negotiate that duality. >> another challenge was to create art from a meeting that was typically viewed as kraft material. his transforming moment was an accident in the studio. an oversized vertical sculpture began to collapse under its own

weight and spread onto the floor. he sought a new tradition before him, landscape sculpture. >> you feel this extended human form underneath the surface of the earth struggling to emerge. eventually, it does. it articulates his idea that the earth is like flesh, and the archaeology and geology in the earth are like the bones, the structure of the earth. this tied in with his idea of mother earth, with the sense that we are all tied to nature and the earth. >> a half dozen bay area museums and private collectors loan the massive sculptures to the museum for its matter and spirit retrospective. but the most unusual contributions came from stephen himself. a wall of autobiographical masks and hence from the early decades of his private study. >> he had one of the most

beautiful studios i have ever been in. when you walk in, your first impression is of these monumental figures that you see in the exhibition, but if you went into the back corner of his studio, there was a series of shells with these diminutive figures. he told me, these are the heart of my studio. these little, and held intimate study is that he referred to as his sketchbook. a painter might make drawings. stephen de staebler made miniature sculptures. >> during the 1970's, he was inspired by the monuments of egypt. he assembled a large rocks of clay into figures that resembled the ancient kings and queens. he credited a weathered appearance by rubbing glazes' into the clay while still wet. the misfires from his killed were brought in his backyard in his berkeley home. he called it his boneyard. in the last year of his life, he

dug up the artifacts from his own history, and the bones were rearranged, in the were slimmer figures with wings. >> even if you knew nothing about his life or career, you sensed there was an artist dealing with this fundamental issue of life and death, the cake, netting back together, and you feel there is an attempt to deal with mortality and immortality. there is a seeking of spiritual meaning in an existential stage. >> during his 50-year career, stephen de staebler worked to form and out of the clay of the ground and give it a breath of life. matter and spirit gathers the many expressions of his meditations. and gives the viewer and insight into the artist's life. learn more about the retrospective on line at

>> [roll call] >> just as a reminder, we would ask that you turn off all the electronic sounding devices that may go off during the proceedings. if you are having any secondary conversations, we would ask that you take those outside so we can proceed as efficiently as possible. if you want to speak on an item palace filled out a blue card. anyone speaking will have three minutes on each item unless announced otherwise by the president of the commission. please address your comments to the items being heard. if it is general public comment you wish to speak on, that is item four, and then continued on item 11. please address your comments to the commission during public comment on items in order to allow equal time for the commission or staff to respond.

with that, commissioner. >> i will agree -- be brief in my president's report. on tuesday february 28, basically from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. in the green room of the veterans building on van ness avenue, there will be sunshine and ethics training for city officials. while it may sound routine, it is an important issue, particularly for commissions like rec and park. i want to encourage senior staff and fellow commissioners to attend. with that, let's proceed with the agenda. i have a couple of commissioners want to comment. >> i just want to report to the

commission one of our longtime patrons of our parks, member of the portsmouth board, louis passed away. i would request that when we adjourned, we do so in her memory. >> i am on the committee for the community opportunity fund. we have had our first meeting on that. for those of you that would like to apply for those funds, please contact our planning department. thank you. >> is there any public comment on the president's report? item 3 is general manager's report. >> good morning, managers.

spring program registration begins on march 3. summer day camp registration begins on march 17. we ask everyone to log on to our website to browse our catalog of classes for the entire family. to that end, we have some exciting data from the superintendent of recreation which shows in the fall and winter, recreation programming registration continues in a cigna been upward trend. we increased registration from fall 2010-2011 by 15%. our warning of scholarships also continues an upward trend. we are pleased with what is quickly becoming the recreation program of choice in san francisco. this saturday we have a benefit for a summer camp program for

kids in the autumn spectrum. the world renowned pianist and parent and a quartet will be playing. log on to our website to purchase tickets. if you're interested in testing your metal and some of the top pingpong players in the city, join us for the third annual open table tennis tournaments. you can also download the entry form on our website. spring extravaganza. i do believe pitchers and catchers report in a few days. our quarterly family friendly event will be held on april 7, including games, and annual rib cut off between the police and fire department staff.

a more somber announcement. we were informed on january 28 that dolores park suffered a severe bout of vandalism. the club house was packed, two tractors were damaged, lights were busted. the damage cost was estimated at more than $27,000. then on monday, we were informed the park was similarly vandalized again. we are working with a contractor to extend security hours from 6:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. during the final phase of the plague on construction and they're working with the police department to coordinate additional controlpa. in addition, we will be applying anti-graffiti on all services in the park. we ask the public to be

vigilant and report any activity to the police. damage like this threatens to delay the completion of this incredible capital project, philanthropy, that inflates the cost of maintenance. it is a burden cleaning up after people bad behavior. we continue to ask you to be vigilant and support and patience. more positively, district bond meetings continue. based on the success of the 2008 bond, approved by 76% of san francisco voters and has resulted in $185 million in capital improvement projects, our staff has begun meeting to solicit feedback on priorities for another bond proposal for the november 2012 ballot, including neighborhood parks sites and possible programs similar to the community

opportunity program that you just mentioned, commissioner. the public is more than welcome to view our schedule of the upcoming meetings on line and attend, or send feedback to us at rpd.bondfeedback@sfgov.org. at last month's commission meeting we recognized and honored raquel miller. she is our resident boxing instructor turned olympic hopeful. she is currently in spokane, washington fighting her way through the first-ever women's olympic boxing trials. we are happy to report that the dream is still alive. after an opening loss, she has bounced back with two wins. she will face off against a

fighter from michigan tonight. we are all rooting for her. i am now pleased to recognize self help for the elderly. tomorrow, we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the program at the senior center at south sunset playground. in 1966, self-help provided hot meals to those in chinatown, but today it provides training and social activities to more than 35,000 seniors across the bay area. opened in 1992, our senior center serves an insult -- an important community hub for seniors. our ongoing partnership with self-help for the elderly is significant because of our commitment to provide quality programs to the the elderly.

the self-help director betty fung is here. i just wanted to congratulate her on 20 great years and present this certificates on behalf of staff. [applause] >> commissioners, on behalf of self-help and the many seniors we serve, we thank you.

thank you for your help for the past 20 years. we have been operating at the sunset playground, providing daily hot meals and activities for seniors in the sunset. for some of the scene is we serve, that is the only hot meal they will get during the day because of their financial situation, and also with activities and socialization opportunities we provide, it helps promote physical and mental health. we are thankful for the partnership that has been expanded to the chinatown portsmouth square where we run a center offering a variety of physical activities. we would like to invite all of you to our 20 anniversary celebration tomorrow at the self-help center. we are very happy that

supervisor carmen chu and capt. of long from the terror of a police station will be joining us. it would be a great honor to see all of you there. again, we think you for the support and hope that this partnership will go on for another 20 years. thank you. >> thank you. as we always do, i would like to conclude with a short the video that is aptly called, this month in parks. ♪

>> make sure we are working in concert with our government agency. that collaboration will be a constant theme, not only of how we do business in our neighborhood, but how we want to do the business of the city. i want you to know that from here on, the community will always be included in the way that we think and do our work in city hall. with this kickoff, i am excited to follow the team for the rest of the year. i will be part of this.

♪

>> and that was just february. happy valentine's day, happy february. that concludes the general manager's report. >> is there anyone that would like to make public comment on the general managers' report? seeing none, public comment is closed. item four. general public comment. members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public and are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and do not appear on the agenda. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is mr. dillon. i live in the sunset area here in san francisco. it is a great managers over -- report we just heard from mr. ginsberg, and the audiovisual

presentation was great. i noticed there was a cameo appearance of the newly elected mayor ed lee in there. i also heard he mentioned community would not always be involved in our parks. that comment hit me because, coming to san francisco for the past 35 years, the equestrian community has always been a part of san francisco, historically and culturally. ironically, they have been aborted out of san francisco. kind of the way it does politics, if it is something that is not 100% politically

correct, they just abort it. the politics of abortion. that is what we are experiencing here in san francisco. basically, we have run out of time listening to you folks dillydally around. 2012, we are going to impact the recreation and parks commission. we are going to impact your lives, just as you have impacted hours. we are going to reconnect you to nature and to what is important, which is this moment. not living in some historical fantasy about we want to change things 50 years after the fact. not going to happen. thank you very much for your time. have a great day. >> thank you.

>> is there anyone else that would like to make a general public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. item 5 is the consent calendar. do we have any public comment on the consent calendar? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> entertain a motion. >> i wanted to offer some brief acknowledgment before you take a vote on the items in the consent calendar. we have some representatives present today from the usda norcal and we are pleased to be excepting a gift they are presenting involving tennis. this will encourage kids to stay involved in the sport. improvements will also allow kids to engage in even more healthy activity. i know we have today in the

audience the director of competitive play, usta norcal director, and president. thank you very much for your support, for our tennis programming, and most importantly, for our kids. >> thank you. would you like to say a few words? >> i am michael cook, and the president of the usta northern california. i want to thank you for allowing us to get on the court. a bit of a misnomer that it is just 10 and under. where we are finding when we put these courts down, we're introducing tennis back to some seniors, through their inability to move, are covering the court again, but grandparents playing with their grandchildren on and of corporate court size. it became much more inclusive

and inviting by these new rules put out by dennis for 10 and under. usta thanks you for accepting our gift and we look forward to working with the city as much as we can. >> thank you. thank you for your gift. motion. second? all those in favor? it is unanimous. >> we are now on items six, for san francisco zoo. >> good morning. executive director of the san francisco zoo. we closed in january on a high with visitor attendance over butted by 65%, 22,000 visitors. february has been doing well, in large part, too many events. febru