>> the person you are looking to point to this thing, his duties will be management capacity between the staff and you? >> his or her. they will run the scheduling, administrative oversight. all of those oversight and management functions, they will not be out in uniform. that's the problem we are trying to solve. >> that person would oversee the park patrol dispatch unit. >> a very good. thank you. >> that was a good question. as you know, in addition to the base budget submission we have been asked to provide, the mayor's office has also asked the department to submit a contingency budget proposal. approximately $800,000. at this point, the proposal we

would intend to submit to the budget process on tuesday would be proposal to sell to vacant parcels yet to be determined of property. prior to the department being able to sell any property, we would need a vote of the people to approve that sale. >> and there is no determination as to what the parcelled might be? >> the department announced a fair number of parcels that are not particularly useful. for any kind of active recreation, we have a number of steep hillsides, for example, they are not particularly useful in terms of park lands. if it came to this, we would need to go through a process to

clearly identify with the parcels were. >> that would involve work with parks and recreation advisory committee and the charter requires that before that, the city can sell or dispose of, it would require a vote of the people. in a world of bad choices, in terms of the contingency cut, that's the best one we could come up with. >> we are submitting the budget to the mayor's office on tuesday. in the next three months, we have to work with the mayor's budget staff to make any changes, additions, or deletions to the budget. it then the mayor will submit his budget to the board on june the first. we are scheduled for a hearing

at the budget and finance committee i believe on april 11. we will make a presentation to them at that time and after the mayor submits that, the board will hold their annual to hearings on the budget and we will engage with the board of supervisors' budget analyst and the board, the full board will vote on the budget some time in the middle of july. we have a ways to go yet, but very pleased we are almost over the first hurdle. we're glad to answer additional questions. >> when you talk about scholarships, you are not talking about cash scholarships. you are talking about what instead of paying the fee -- the fee is waived? >> correct. we are operating with a sliding scale.

we have people who are paying nothing to use our programming and it slides up to about a 50% payment of fees. the criteria we use would be is your child eligible for a free or reduced lunch in the school district, for example. >> my question has to do with the proposal for cost recovery on recreation programs. i am very hesitant to raise fees on a recreation program. i've talked to a lot of seniors and different groups and people are all struggling right now in this city. the people who use our programs may not all fall into the category of a scholarship, but what they do pay is a burden to them to enjoy the recreation

under taxes, but their taxes fund our department. i think when this discussion comes back to we take a careful look and not forget who uses this department, the people who rely on us, and that we are not going to price people out of this, and weren't privy feel entitled to as taxpayers of the city. >> we feel very sad commentary strongly at staff has are balancing principle states, if there is a fee that somebody can not pay, we would never refuse them access to programming. i think the growth of our scholarship program over the past several years really does

show our commitment to that principle, and we would expect that growth would continue, going forward. from my standpoint, and this is a legitimate policy argument, i believe people who can pay should pay. we are in a time of very limited government resources, as we know. unfortunately, that forces us to a place where we are not able to subsidize our recreational programming at a 100% level. that would be fabulous, but that is not the world we live in. the real issue for us is trying to strike at right balance. we really look forward to having this conversation with you all about what that of corporate balance would be.

commissioner lee: the general managers talked about this, the idea of a set-aside, parcel tax which would help fund our operation, which is what is needed, to keep stable funding and the department. >> absolutely. that would be nirvana for the chief financial officer. commissioner levitan. commissioner levitan: high want to commend you for your work and for the staff people who came up with the idea potentially for us to save with a garbage collection. i know that was an idea thrown out by the general manager a while ago tried to solicit ideas from our staff. those are the books on the front line, our eyes and ears, and we should be encouraging them to give us ideas.

thank you. commissioner buell: commissioner harrison. commissioner harrison: what you gave to us talk about reducing the general fund budget by six full-time employees. in your report, that is not going to happen? >> no, that will not be a part of the budget we submit to the mayor's office. commissioner buell: commissioner molniya -- bonilla. commissioner bonilla: the reductions for 2012-13, 2013- 14, are those hard and fast? could there be some down more upward adjustments in these? i think there is always the possibility, of course, that there could be new revenues

generated. the projections of the city is coming up with all the time he seems to be -- it varies. it is not always set in stone. i wonder what kind of conversations you have had with the mayor's office, in terms of any possible adjustments, a board or downward. >> the numbers for 12-13 are pretty solid. 13-14, much less so. we absolutely will be back here next year and those numbers will likely look different. commissioner bonilla: i would think so. >> one enormous unknown for the mayor's office is labor negotiations. as i think you all know, pretty much every labor union in the city, i think, except for police

and fire, is open for negotiation. certainly, the mayor's office has an expectation and target of reduced salary and fringe benefits that they would get out of those negotiations, concessions from the union. when that will end up being is anyone's guess, at this point. commissioner bonilla: best case scenario, if we are generating these types of revenues, we may have an opportunity to utilize revenues in other areas needed within the department. that we'd be the best case scenario. -- would be the best case scenario. commissioner buell: mr. ginsburg. >>, to continue to send my thanks to cady, who does such a wonderful job looking at the

commission's finances, given the climate. there is a department head meeting going on right now about the city's budget. because you're in this commission meeting presented our budget, they know we are not here. the message the mayor is conveying his although the city it is certainly happy the six- month report indicated positive news, structural challenges certainly remain for the city. it is the mayor's office boss expectation that we continue to manage the budget, which is why it is before you today. for the second year in a row, we will have no layoffs and no program reductions. i think that is a credit to the tough decisions that you as a commission have been making to offset some of the general fund cuts we have had to experience with earn revenues. so on behalf of not just staff,

but those who use our services, think you for your leadership in helping us maintain services. while we are at a moment of certainly less bad news and we have had in the past, it is important to note a big piece of our budget challenge this year was better than expected news out of candlestick. it is important for us to remember, as we look ahead, the department, commission, and city will have to grapple with a very serious hole in this department's budget, if and when the niners stop playing at candlestick. it is something that we have to keep in mind under a two-year budget cycle. potentially, we have to begin the discussion next year. there will be up and downs and we will continue to keep

updated, but we have some good news, we were making the right decision to create programmatic sustainability in our department, but we need for public investment in our parks, and we need to continue to be as efficient as we can and think about ways to support the department through earn revenue strategies. commissioner buell: commissioner harrison. commissioner harrison: by way of an explanation for my concern, i think we should be cautious and controlled on any hiring of new staff, at the same time, having our staff several furlough days, non-paid work time. these are things we have to keep in mind when doing any future hiring of staff. commissioner buell: commissioner bonilla.

commissioner bonilla: for all of us who manage budgets, and we are always looking at cost savings, looking and generating new in come to operate our programs, think it should always be said and done. even if we have a balanced budget before us, and we are not going to be experiencing any cuts in salaries, so on, we should always continue to look at efficiencies. everything that we do, i think, we should always look at, -- any program we operate, whether it is being operated efficiently or

not. efficiencies will always go a long way to put us in a situation where we are not constantly depending on generating revenue. i just want to keep at the forefront, that we always need to continue to do work on efficiencies, in terms of operating our programs. >> we do have public comment. matt o'grady. >> good morning, commissioners. executive director of the park's alliance. with all due respect to phil and

katie and the fine would have done in presenting the budget to you, especially with a creative approach they have taken to minimize the pain and service reductions that would be associated, san francisco parks alliances opposed to making any cuts to the general fund allocation to the rec and parks department in the first place. here is why. you all know that over the last six years, allocation to the rec and parks department from the city general fund has been cut by 26%. it now makes up less than 2% of the total general fund for the city. over the same six years, that has grown by 22%. the result of that has -- we are digging ourselves into a whole. the analysis recently published in the report identified the recreation and parks department is now running a product offering deficit of about $35

million a year in order to sustain the care that we need an. new data we have to present to you is, in a recently completed a report with the parks alliance, we learned 91% of likely voters in san francisco strongly believe the parks are very important to their quality of life in san francisco. we also learned 80% of voters want to see the city put more resources into our parks systems, not less. further cuts to the recreation and parks department budget are running against the will of the voters. for six years and beyond, we have been digging ourselves into a $30 million-plus whole. the first thing you do when you

find yourself in a whole is to stop digging. we believe the city should cease its cuts to the general fund allocation to the recreation and parks department. thank you. >> is there anyone else who would like to make public comment? >> good afternoon, commissioners. dwindling members of the public. i hope you appreciate you are preaching to an empty audience here. i have been coming to recreation and park commission meetings for over 20 years. prior to your political occupation of this city, they were always packed, always a good place to be. right now, listening to katie

petrucione, it is like listening to bernie madoff making a plea to shareholders. it is a disgusting. the way she talks with her squeaky little voice, talking about all the stuff-- commissioner buell: if you cannot be applied in your presentation is not appreciated. >> horse stalls generating $50 a month and you are telling you are doing everything to save the parks? you are just like the captain of that ship. the ship is grounded. it is going under and you are having lunch. wake up. get into reality. you cannot continue this method of politics of ignoring san francisco's culture, recreational activities, going on with your political act like nothing has happened.

do not buy anything in san francisco, do not visit san francisco. do not set foot in san francisco, because it has a career of the government. it is a great place to bring your wife for her birthday if she wants to get shot in the face. it is a great place to get your family murdered if you want to drive around the city, but you cannot touch a horse unless you go to the zoo. and you cannot even touch them. how long do you think you can go on with this type of ruining our recreation and parks to permit and pulling the people? bernie madoff got caught. it is only a matter of time. thank you very much. >> is there anyone else who like closed. commissioner buell: this matter is now in the hands of the commission. can i entertain a motion?

moved and seconded. all those in favor? hearing none, it is unanimous. >> for the record, katie, we love your voice. >> i will work on dropping my register. >> we are now on item 11, and general public comment. is there anyone who would like to comment that did not comment earlier? being none, public comment is closed. item 12. commissioner's matters. commissioner buell: commissioners do not matter. >> any public comment? being none, public comment is closed. item 13 is new business agenda study. any public comment? commissioners? 14 is communications. is there any public comment? being none, public comment is closed. 15 is adjournment. commissioner buell: commissioner

lee, commissioner lee: i wanted to adjourn this meeting in memory of may louis, a longtime patron, a supporter of the community. you can read her obituary in "the chronicle." over 50 years of support. she was very helpful with the portsmouth gracia, donating to -- garage, donating to athletics around the city, especially in chinatown, the rebuilding of the chinatown recreation center, which is under way as we speak, -- unfortunately she will not be here to see the opening. i just wanted to adjourn in her

memory. we are very grateful for the years of service that she has provided this community. commissioner buell: let the record so reflect. second to that motion? moved and seconded. unanimous. >> i think a lot of times we look a community and we say, there is this one and this one,

and we all have our own agenda, when our agenda is to create great work. if you're interested in that, you are part of our community. >> it is a pleasure to have you here tonight. >> we are trying to figure out a way to create a space where theater and presentation of live work is something that you think of, the same way that you think of going to the movies. of course, it has been complex in terms of economics, as it is for everyone. artistically, we have done over 35 projects in four seasons from presenting dance, producing theater, presenting music, having a full scale education program, and having more than 50,000 visitors in the building almost every year.

a lot of our emerging artists generate their first projects here, which is great. then we continue to try to support figuring out where those works can go. we have been blessed to have that were produced in new york, go unto festivals, go on to the warsaw theater festival. to me, those are great things, when you see artists who think there is no or else of someone being interested in me being a woman of color telling her story and getting excited about it. that is our biggest accomplishment. artists becoming better artists. what is great about surely coming back to brava, we have this established, amazing writer who has won a slew of awards and now she gets an opportunity to direct her work. even though she is an amazing, established writer, the truth is, she is also being nurtured

as a director, being given space to create. >> and the play is described as ceremony and theater meet. in the indigenous tradition, when you turn 52, it is that the completion of an epic. the purpose of this ceremony is to celebrate. whenever you have been caring for the first 52 years, it is time to let it go. they have given me carte blanche to do this. it is nice for me in the sense of coming back 25 years later, and seeing my own evolution as an artist and a thinker. the whole effort even to put the

indigenous woman's experience center stage is very radical. because of the state of fear, it is a hard road to hold up an institution. it really is a hard road. i am looking at where we're 25 years later in the bay area and looking at how hard it is for us to struggle, to keep our theaters going. i would like to think that i am not struggling quite as hard personally. what i mean by that is that in tension, that commitment. what i see is that we're here to really produce works of not be produced in other places, and also to really nurture and women of color artists. i think that that is something that has not shifted for me in 25 years, and it is good to see that brava is still committed to that kind of work. you know?

♪ >> happy birthday to you happy birthday to you ♪ >> windy will talk about the reflection of the community, we can only go with what we have on our staff. south asian managing director. african-american artistic director. latino outreach person. to us, aside from the staff, aside from the artists that we work with him being a reflection of oz, yes, the community is changing, but brava has always tried to be ahead of that, just that sense of a trend. i tried to make about the work that shows the eclecticism of the mission district, as well as serving the mission. that is what i feel brava is about. ♪