movement camps for tots, skateboard cans, fishing camps, art in the park, and of course our traditional camps. for the first time, we're offering a summer overnight camp experience of that camp nader. in july, 12 let the boys and 12 like the girls will be able to register for that. there will be camping up there and will lead able to participate in their programs. on saturday from 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., we are hosting a summer sampler event in district 6. families can register for camps at the site and a sample of variety of fun activities they will find this summer. more positive news. helen keller playground reopening. this is truly some great news from the mission, with generous donations of more than one part $5 million from the mercer fund in honor of helen diller.

with the great support of the friends of the delors park playground and other stakeholders. our major renovation of the delores park playground has been completed. we will be hosting a grand opening event on march 31 starting at 2:00 p.m., including air ribbon cutting ceremony, music, and entertainment for children and families. if you have had the opportunity to drive by the playground, it is truly spectacular. spurring extravaganza. april 7, another family- friendly end on april 7 with egg hunts, carnival rides, games, live entertainment, and the animal -- annual barbecue read cookoff. park and directing staff, police department staff, and fire department. richmond station has taken the rib award two years running. a lot of teams are ready to topple them. presells start on march 26.

this is one of our great four family-friendly even if that we do year-round. we have our tree lighting in front of the lodge in the winter. extravaganzas in the spring. play day on the marina green in the summer. that actually concludes my report. i now want to actually show a short video this month in parks. >> q the monitor, please. -- cue the monitor, please. >> i love parks. i love them because the air is good, because there are plants. i love parks because there are lots of good people in parks. ♪

>> we cannot do it alone. we have to educate new generations of people to recognize the value of our trees. when we do that, there will be other generations that will appreciate it. i want to thank all of you for coming on carper date. -- on arbor day. ♪ >> 131,000 trees, many of which were planted well over 100 years ago. so one of the reasons you all are out here today is to

celebrate this, right? >> yeah. ♪ >> we're adding square footage for more programming, redoing the playgrounds, redoing the fields. there will be solar panels. it is going to give this community the space it very much needs and deserves. ♪ >> as always, want to thank

jamie and mark for the great work. that concludes the general managers' report. >> is there anyone who would like to make public comment? richard, come on up. >> good morning, commissioner and general manager. i kind of like seeing all this activity and of this kind of show in the general managers' report. it gives us more insight on what is going on in our parks. i just want to say keep up the good work. commissioner buell: could you say that again? [laughter] >> is there anyone else would like to make public comment? public comment is closed. we're now on item number four which is general public comment, of the 15 minutes. members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public better with in the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and that cannot appear on the agenda. with respect to the agenda items, your opportunity to

address the commission will be afforded in went the item is reached in the meeting. is there anyone who would like to make general public comment? richard? >> good morning, commissioners. i will touch on the subject matter and will try to remain anonymous on it. to the kind of tetchy. i will be talking about what happened to my brother when he was and didn't call in our parks. he is the kind of -- when he was bitten in one of our parks. he is the kind of fellow that is tough and the part of our muni department. i do not know what to do, so i shall remain anonymous while i speak about it before the public. when i went down to the west end on the south park, going back roadway, there is a parking area out there. that is where was pointed out to

meet that was where the dog bite incident happens. a dog runs past him and he is doing is cardio fitness routine with his bypass surgery, so he is not healthy. the dog passes among, comes behind him, and slams it's fangs into his calf muscle. such dog has not been found. there were three of them. he does not even want to talk to me about it, but he did tell me that he had a dog bite. he has been through the anti- rabies infections. one thing i did notice in looking at parks, there was not many signs in the area. the polo grounds. and i think that is an area of san francisco that should be better secured, better security. a lot of people go there, play soccer there. you can see the grassy fields,

people running around. most of the people when i went out there to do kind of like an investigation, as soon as they see me and other people around there, they put the leash on their dogs. giving it a once around. i would recommend that there be better science in different locations -- better signs at different locations, parse -- possibly the north end or they had the restaurants, have a better signage. no off-leash in the park and play areas. the issue of enforcement, we have park patrol people and we have sfpd and the animal control people. [bell rings] thank you. commissioner buell: thank you. >> is there anyone else to look to me general public comment? >> cocamonga zalea resident of the city of san francisco. -- i am i resident of the city

of san francisco. i will like to note the golden gate park golf course is being discussed today? i was told that that was part of the agenda. the first tee program will be taking over. that is not part of the agenda? ok, thank you. >> you're welcome. anyone else? general public comment is closed. item five, consent calendar. i do have two cards. jonathan and meredith, come forward, please. >> good morning, commissioners and a general manager. meredith with the san francisco parks alliance. i wanted to touch on a couple items on the consent calendar. the park's alliance supports the approval of the botanic nursery project for the arboretum. we look forward to the

completion of that project in the value added to the park system, as well as the approval of the community opportunity fund program. it enables community groups to see improvements to their neighborhood park, even if they were not specified on the bond itself. and your continued support and approval of the waterfront playground project is very important to as as we kick into high gear on fund-raising to enter the community can deliver the playground at sue bierman park. on behalf of the board and the parks alliance apart stressed, it is our pleasure to engage in fund-raising activities with you and hope that you enjoy and appreciate the kids we're getting from the funds raised at the party for the parks. the relationship with the department and ensuring that our parks system as well funded. it is core to our mission that will engage in philanthropy activities. thank you for your support on that project and enabling its success.

i want to thank the board and the staff of the san francisco parks trust that may no longer be affiliated to the parks alliance. thank you very much. commissioner buell: thank you. >> jonathan? >> good morning, commissioners. my name is jonathan goldberg. i am here with a small 65-year- old organization called san francisco beautiful. we have long been involved in approving the amenities of golden gate park and the restoration of murphy's windmill to the alternative preservation for mill rights house to access to performance appeared we're here to ask you to adopt a negative declaration for the new botanical garden and improve its construction. we found a new nursery fits perfectly with the park's master plan. it will enhance the educational opportunities for the over to a dozen students visiting the

garden each year and greatly enhance the collection of plants for further agricultural uses. the new nursery locations allays the potential to static impacts in the parks. on a personal note, as a former botanical garden volunteer and avid horticulturalist, this proposed nursery is sorely needed. i witnessed firsthand the conditions that the is and gardeners do their best to promote the jobs in the existing nursery, and i wholeheartedly recommend that this construction move forward. i hope that you can go ahead and support this today. thank you. commissioner buell: thank you. >> anyone else who would like to comment on the consent calendar? seeing none, this item is closed. commissioners? commissioner buell: mr. denver? >> i wanted to extend our profound thanks to the san francisco party alliance, which was previously the san francisco parks trust and the

council. they came together, and the partnership rehab with the parks alliances so important. we cannot do it alone. they have done an amazing job of helping fill the need. the money they raise, a lot of it does to our youth scholarship program. we have focused on our youth scholarship program so we can fulfil our mission to make sure that no one is denied access to our programs and services based on an ability to pay. four short years ago, the department offered about $80,000 in scholarships. this year we are well over six and a thousand dollars in scholarships. it is because of the work of the san francisco parks alliance and our other park champions. meredith, please bring our profit odd banks for your partnership back to your staff for doing such an amazing job. and a brief thank you to jason and jessica of philanthropy

batik, who held a special event and a donated all of the profits generated at the store in the summer and fall of 2011, looking to a total of nearly $20,000. commissioner buell: thank you. >> ok, commissioners. do we have a motion? >> moved. >> second? it has been moved and seconded. all those in favor? opposed? hearing none, unanimous. thank you very much. >> we're now on item 6, san francisco at the zoo -- san francisco zoo. >> good morning, commissioners, commissioner buell, phil ginsburg. >> on behalf of our executive director, it is my pleasure to get this report to you. i'd like to start with a quick attendance that day. february was a great month for us.

over 60,000 visitors versus our budgeted goal of 39,000. our fiscal year-to-date attendance is 517,000. trekking 14% above the budget and 50% above the same time last year. march through this weekend is also very strong. 26,000 visitors with the budgeted goal of 19,000. we are ahead for the moment. looking outside, you know that rain is a strong deterrent for us. we're currently on budget and above 177,000 for the month versus 127,000. we should be a will to absorb the weather-related fall-offs, as long as it does not keep running for the rest of the month. keep your fingers crossed for that. programs, at this moment, the wild about art and science program is taking place. this is a great program which we do in conjunction with the san francisco unified school district. we have teachers to come in and ask their classrooms to each

take a particular animal, learn about it, study it, and report back within their classrooms. i have with me some copies which i would like to share with you. cuyahogsome of our winning entr. i can give these to commissioner arata to share. would you have before you are our winning entries from special-education, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and fifth grade. one of the greatest things about this program is that we're seeing teachers return year- after-year to come back and have the next range of classrooms engage in this program. that tells us it is very popular, and we hope that will continue for quite awhile. as you look at those, i want to share some things from the animal front. as a pleased to report we had a sighting of our new baby wallaby. the joey just poke his head out

of his mother's pouch. he is doing well or she is doing well. we do not know the gender yet. we hope to have some photographs and an update at our next meeting. yesterday, during the pouring rain, we put our news small american pig species on display. our livestock curator spent six hours in the pouring rain, getting them acclimated to their new exhibit. he came into my office soaking wet yesterday to report that they're doing very well, and he is excited about having them as part of the zoo. on the event friend, our san francisco zoo auxiliary, and all-volunteer group, held two successful defense recently. on february 12, we brought jack hanna, a world renowned wildlife expert, judy zoo. he conducted a show using our zoo animals and his own wonderful tales of white -- live

in the wild life. we had about 400 people, a sold- out show. the kids are captivated by it. it was agreed community-wide event to showcase our zoo's relationship with other zoos and wildlife experts. it was a great event and fund- raising event. this past the senate, we held our zootopia event, a dinner that honors community leaders who have been strong supporters of the zoo. we honored ted and dione talbie. they have been big supporters across the area. diana's a board member and chairs the capital campaign. they were thrilled to get the proclamation from mayor li, proclaiming march 12 diane and ted talbie day. there were very happy to get that. coming up in april is our biggest event of the year.

the annual zoo fest on april 28. the chair by longtime bay area philanthropist, kelly roberts. she has chosen as the theme to be an evening of pelicans on the serengeti. the idea is sort of black ties in the brush. -- an evening of the allegations on the serengeti. burlap and black ties. we hope some of you will be able to join us. i want to highlight sending that i think is indicative of how much the zoo has once again become a cornerstone of the san francisco community. a key element of zoo fest is there a silent auction. for many years we had trouble getting people to donate items to our silent auction. this year we have had phenomenal responses. people coming in and saying, can we donate something? we would love to participate. my colleague, jessica, has been managing the silent auction, and we have had so many items. we're trying to figure out how to package them.

to me, that underscores how community is coming out in support of the zoo. i wanted to close my report with a bit of sad news. as you know, we unfortunately lost a few animals in the past month. gene, our rino, our seal, and a bear were all very elderly and had been ill for some time. they ultimately succumbed to the illnesses. while it is always sad to lose the animal, we have come for knowingly give them the best care possible. that closes my official report. however, our chief of veterans services is here in casing of the commissioners have any questions about our animals or other animal issues. commissioner buell: commissioner lee? >commissioner lee: tim, greece seeing you. we used to work together on a

board. >> you have risen up in the world and i have gone down. [laughter] commissioner lee: sorely mistaken. my question has to do with -- i recently went to the zoo with my family. we were there on a day where we heard a lot of -- i guess there's a shooting range nearby. but it seemed really loud in the part of the zoo that we were. we heard shots. is sounded like it was right next door. but obviously it was further down. i do not recall a time when i have been to the zoo when i could even hear shots. is it just environmental conditions or what could cause that? i am concerned about -- i was just thinking, one of my kids was saying, doesn't that disturb the animals? anyway, just curious if you know

anything about that. >> i have not heard of other people reporting that, so i will look at that and actually check out to see what might be causing that. in terms of your question, it is an important one about what types of environmental noises might affect the health and well-being and the animals. i might ask my colleague if he could address that. sort of address the question there about, just in general, what types of environmental noises might be disturbing to the animals and what might not. >> thank you, commissioners. i think that is actually the police department firing range on it lake merced. commissioner lee: i just have never heard it before at the zoo. maybe it was that day that the acoustics were such that i could

hear it. >> it can be pretty dramatic. as far as affecting the animals, i do not think it does. it is not consistent. it actually might be enriching for them, because they will probably stutter and think about it and then go about their business. i do not think it is a problem for them. commissioner lee: it might have been just the day that we were there and the accused the conditions. we have never encountered that before. so it thank you. >> thank you, commissioners. >> is there anyone who would like to make public comment? richard? >> good morning again. i have to make a few comments about the zoo cosmological. i spoke before about the bear, hippopotamus, and i think that was a part of the change of

names. i you know did that if it is a hippopotamus, it has a big size to him and other should be an enlarged area for the hippo to rest. i looked at the location out there. they have the elephant a long time ago, her old revving tree, that would not help the hippo too much if it is hot. the few days that we get hot weather, that is. so if there would be slight changes in the hippo's quarters to make it more conducive to a hot day, summertime, i think that might be a little bit better for the hippo rather than

the small pool he would be stuck in and it would be hard on his homeostasis, staying warm, keeping warm. i do not like it or you do not have a flat area somewhere where the big fellow, the bear can step out of the pool and get a good rest not in the water, such as when he has to have his bowel movements. that used to be a big thing to do, go out there and watch the zoo when you are a kid. and when the bowel movements happened -- i do not think that is too nice for the hippo would be in the pool when that happens. that is all, i recommend a look into looking at other ways of enhancing the quarters. thank you. >> is there anyone else who would like to make public comment on this item?

seeing none, public comment is closed. that was discussion only, so we are now on item seven, department of children, youth, and their families. >> good morning, president buell, general manager phil ginsburg, and commissioners. as the director for the department of children, youth, and their families. i am once again presenting before you another plan which is our second part of a three-part or a three-year planning process. if members of the commission remember, last year approximately at this time, april of 2011, i came in front of you to present the results of our community needs assessment. now what i want to present to

you are the results of what we called the children's services allocation plan. it is based on those needs and budget projections, how do we plan to meet those needs? before i died and to our presentation, like to acknowledge the wonderful and great -- before i dig into the presentation, i would like to acknowledge the wonderful and great relationship rehab with general manager phil ginsburg. it has developed over the years. at this point, we feel that we are completely in sync at 100% in agreement around of policy decisions for how we ensure that all san francisco children, youth, and families receive services but also in terms of program development and design. i just want to publicly recognize phil ginsburg for his leadership and far actually all the staff within the rec and park department for being extremely supportive of all the programs that dpyf funds and the

things we're doing in partnership. i think i just did that. once again, our process, last year we presented the needs assessment. this year we're presenting our final children sources allocation plan. we have gone through many public meetings regarding the details of this plan, and about what we're doing is going to all the commissions to gather feedback and guidance around the final development of the plan. we will then present the final plan to the board of supervisors for their approval so that we can then implement the plan through a competitive solicitation process, which is called the request for proposal. once again, this plan and the request for proposal will be for the 2013-2016 year. so not for this year or for next

year. in development of this plan, we wanted to make sure that we created some guy in the principles. in previous years, there have been s and flows in our budget. when the budget changes, we wanted to make sure that we had released sending we could fall back on to ensure that we can stay within our frame and within the thinking that we created. we created four guiding principles. one build on a double-one, build on what is working. there's no need to redesign. it is better to have continuity of services, particularly services for children. draw on and use data to really help guide the development of programs but also to make sure that we support programs that are not meeting those data. with the data principal, we do want to focus end a look at our data with three lenses