it was said by john mclaren at golden gate park is the lungs of the city. if that is true, then dolores park is its heart. on the average weekend, there aren't 10,000 people here. many of them are crammed in this immediate space. in this world-class city, this is the heart of the city, the heartbeat of this city that we are able to cut a ribbon today on what can only be described as a world-class playground.

>> thank you, commissioners. that concludes the general manager's reports. >> we are now on items 4. i'm sorry, is there any public comment on the general manager'' report?

being none, public comment is closed. we are now on item four. general public comment. at this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public better within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and that do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items, your opportunity to address the commission will be afforded when the item is reached in the meeting. commissioner buell: before we get comments, how many people in the room are intending to talk about any item at all? i want to get a sense -- we are going to have quite a bit of testimony today. i am sure to set the stage at two minutes, in the interest of everybody. >> catherine howard. >> good morning, commissioners. katherine power -- howard. i am here to talk about the athletic fields in golden gate

park. for a background, for the general public, the athletic fields is a project that would remove over 7 acres of meadow and golden gate park and would be replaced with artificial turf. it would add 150,000 watts of night lighting at ocean beach in the park. there would be additional parking. in a city that is possible transit first there will be more paving and more lights. it is something to contemplate as we celebrate earth day, what we're doing to golden gate park and ocean beach with this project. over the last few months we have distributed bulletin's giving background on the draft environmental impact reports. public comment at hearing often gives little time for thoughtful communication about the myriad of issues surrounding any project. these bulletins are our effort to more fully inform the citizens of san francisco and our city officials about this project. it is probable negative impact on golden gate park, the plaza in the draft an arm of impact

report, an alternative to the project. we expect a final comments and responses for the environmental impact report to be issued on may 9. we're going to be some documents which we hope you will read and keep them in mind as you read the report. we would also like to say that members of our group would like to meet with each of you individually to discuss not only the project but also alternatives which could result in a win-win situation for everyone. and there is a letter in here with my phone number. here is the information that we have been distributing. please look at it. if you have questions or you would like to know how we can make the product works better for everybody, please contact me. thank you. >> thea barbaria. >> good morning, my name is david barber reappeared i hear about these sunny side park projects.

i have here documents and pictures of the fence, as it was supposed to be. when i called meghan -- i understand you are very nice. i cannot say much about the other person. commissioner buell: excuse me, let me stop there. for public testimony, what people to be courteous and respectful. we know everyone has their own opinion, and we hear loud and clear, but let's be appropriate. >> anyway, the fence was also supposed to be 85 feet. i measured it at 127 feet. it is very nice, secluded, private. they tore down all the vines and everything off the fence, including mine. now i have a fence with a view

of the park. i have no privacy. this is my house, as you can see. that is actually the ivy next door to me. my house is just to the right. that is, according to meghan, she said that this is part of the damaged offense and is supposed to be replaced. i called her, she denied everything that was there. here i am again this week to try to get some privacy in my house. i am sure that if this was you, you would want privacy also. this offense is totally bare. it probably cost a couple thousand dollars to take it down and put it back up -- to have a matching fence. i am having a hell of a time -- i talk to people -- they say good luck.

fortunately, i am retired. i have lived here for 45 years. i am one of the longest living neighbors in the area. commissioner buell: the clock has gone but thank you. i would like staff to report back on this because i know that you were here before. >> i would like to have a meeting if possible. commissioner buell: let's see what we can arrange with staff to start with and we will pursue it. daniel weaver -- >> daniel weaver. >> good morning, commissioners. today, i am speaking as board chairman of the geneva car barn and powerhouse. as you may know, we are located in district 11 and is an organization created and

partnering with rec and park department to rehabilitate and program the historic geneva car barn on san jose and geneva. in brief, a quick summary of how this has come about. 1999, primarily through neighborhood efforts, we save the building from demolition. in 2002 through 2004, we established a partnership with the rec and park based upon the idea that programming for recreational purposes for 14 through 24-year-old was an area of that the department was weak, and the goal here was to develop a new approach to recreation at this building. the building is also the center piece around the center of the district 11 neighborhood, and it is right across the street from the bart station and extremely

transit accessible. that was another major reason why the department was interested in locating a facility for this purpose at this location. in 2004, the building was psychically upgraded with funding from muni's demolition fund for the building and from the rec and park department, and also from grants which the geneva car burned received. we hired staff people, started the recreation programming. we have been on the back burning in terms of rehabing the building for the past 10 years. we have met with the mayor in the last 10 days. everyone at the meeting agreed that it is time to move the project to the front burner. we think the best way to do this is to have us a named project on the upcoming parks bond. thank you. commissioner buell: thank you.

>> bruce bonneker, bruce stone. >> i also serve on the friends of geneva car burn. could you distribute this to commissioners? what i am passing out here is a quick summary of what dan was speaking of, and also identification of those people who have been helping us through the years in our efforts to help the department of recreation and park on this effort to put the geneva car barn into productive use for the benefit of teens in district 11. district 11 has a significant need that is probably not as

clearly defined as in other districts. it is one of the most culturally and racially diverse districts. it is the district with the most children in it. it is one of the district's the lowest per family income, so therefore, there is a crying need for programs for the youth in district 11. frankly, geneva car barn will be useful, because it is so close to bart, for the districts as well. we know it has been in your charge for at least eight years and was being considered for your charge for two years before that. it is still vacant, it is deteriorating, it is a landmark. it cannot go away. it will only get more expensive if we do not deal with it soon. we would love to be identified

as a named project in the bond, absent that, obviously, we would love to have some of the undefined moneys put toward it. we are prepared to, shall we say, a campaign very vigorously for the bond issue if we are a named project. thank you very much. commissioner buell: thank you. >> bruce stone, president of the merida harbor association. i am here to address the 2000- 2008 budget analyst report that was conducted by the board of supervisors, requested by the harbor association. this report documented accounting issues, management oversight. we assume many of these things have been taken care of under mr. ginsburg's administration, but there is a lot of capital funds that should have been

refunded to the harbor trust, which we have not seen documented, yet the budget analyst pointed them out related to double charges on utility bills, garbage collection, so forth. this is an important amount of money, over $600,000. we would like to see accounting records disclosed to members of the harbor and reviewed by you guys. i do not know if you are familiar with the situation. in addition, the report noted accounting irregularities, lack of staffing, lack of ability to track checks, which went uncashed for many months. stale checks being handled by the harbor. we are worried that the nitty gritty procedure is coming up under the next topic later, that the staff is not setup to handle that. well we think many of those procedures are important, we think many of them are completely inappropriate and they cannot handle 1300 pieces

of fresh paper. we would like to go back to the budget analyst report, renew -- review the recommendations, document whether the department is taking care of them before you even get into these new rules and regulations, because we do not believe rec and park is staffed for that. on the age our side, it took two years to get an apartment master. we do not think we have the staff set up to implement these rules and regulations. commissioner buell: thank you. >> is there any other public comment? being none, public comment is closed. we are now on item 5, the consent calendar. we have one comment from the public on item h. frank triska. >> hello, name is frank.

i came to comment about the playground and restaurant. i was on the task force for the renovation of the park restaurants. so my experience with rossi park is as a visitor there in conjunction with whether the building should be torn down and replaced, or renovated. when we went out there, it was pretty obvious the building was obsolete, it cannot be brought up to 88 requirements, and should be replaced. the people in the nearby desert in a restroom. -- ada requirements, and should be replaced. but in talked-about, the restroom, there is a street in between, which i believe is an inherent danger situation. there will be signed inch, but to me, that is a distraction. a kid in a career, even on the on busy street, a driver with his radio. when i was 10, i was run over by

a car in a school zone. i was not seriously hurt, but that is the way it is.ds get di. sign it always helps. being hit by a car doesn't make me a safety expert and i do not think there are many in the room, but there are safety experts out there, so before you approve these plans, i would ask that you have the plans of the alternative reviewed from a safety perspective. if i'm wrong, we will all feel better about the decision, but if i'm right, you may want to consider moving the restaurants to the main part of the park. nobody wants to see a kid get hit by a car on the way to the restrooms. commissioner buell: thank you. >> is there any other public comment? >> good morning, commissioners. i will put on my other hat. i see there will now be a plan for the music concourse. we are happy to see that. we are sure this will be done tastefully and appropriately. we look forward to learning more

about what you're planning to do there. thank you. >> is there any other public comment? being none, public comment is closed. commissioner buell: commissioners, on the items on the consent calendar? moved and seconded. all those in favor? it is unanimous. >> we are now item 6, san francisco zoo. >> good morning, donna peterson, director of the san francisco zoo. i know that these are going out of fear but i want to point out this to make the cover of the real pages. -- the yellow pages. there was a young man that negotiated for this to happen for free. thank you very much for that. maybe next time you can get the park on there? you are welcome, danny.

i wanted to report that we lost a sumatran tiger earlier this week. she was 22. she was the oldest sumatran tiger in the american association of zoos and aquariums. she is thought to be the oldest worldwide with only one male 18 days older than she was. she was beloved by staff and visitors and she had a calming influence on her neighbors, the siberian tiger. we hope to bring a male sumatran in the summit to agree with our remaining female leanne. she is a sumatran as well. she successfully mother of three cubs recently. she is smaller in size than the siberian beer there are only five and left in the world feared other good news, we brought in a new fema lauder to meet with our mail. they are going through a slow introduction process, like any other couple. have to work things out. staff is slowly introducing them.

she is excited to meet trent, trent, not excited to be hurt. we are participating in earth day this weekend as well. and much cheaper talks, solar presentations, the cafe will be offering low food mile specials for lunch, and we will be introducing our global tap water changing station. this is a partnership with the puc on their drink tap initiative to forgo usage of's and bottles at the zoo. we think the puc for that. lastly on attendance, march 10 was impacted by rain. as you missed a march projection by 9000 visitors, 16% pure thankfully, april is off to a good start with visitor attendance over budget by 8000 visitors for the first 15 days. with that, we continue to stay ahead of you to the projections by 10%. that concludes my report. commissioner buell: thank you very much. >> is there any public comment on this item?

being none, public comment is closed. we are now on item eight, and general obligation bond november 2012. commissioner buell: can i ask the folks in the back and corner, if you could find a seat. we are trying to have everyone seated in the room who is here. if you have other business, please take it outside and you can come back in.

>> commissioners, planning capital director. i am excited today to be here to share with you the result eight months-plus of work to develop a proposal for the november 2012 ballot. we are entitling this the san francisco clean and safe neighborhoods park bond. i am here today to talk through that proposal with you. also, to review the process that we will be going through from here until hopefully the board of supervisors places it on the ballot. san francisco parks have been the beneficiary of voter support over the past decade. we have always -- voters have recognized the central role that parks play in san francisco and their quality of life, and because of that, we have received support in the open

space fund, the 2004 bond, and the 2008 park spawned. that being said, we also have a fantastically whatever system. if that is part of what makes it great, but that means we have 220 parks, over 400 built structures, and everything from as you to our marriot harbor to manage, maintain, and renovate as needed to insure those facilities remain open to the public and that they continue to enjoy them. ina lot of our system was builtn the 1950's. what we're seeing over this past decade as the aging of those facilities and it was a renaissance of investment. these bonds were necessary to bring the whole system upgrade again. with our past few bonds and in 2012, i think we will be able to say we really reinvested in the backbone of the park system and put in a good course for another 50 years. that being said, we still have over $1 billion worth of need,

even with these investments. i think what we have learned is that in addition to park users, our staff are also incredibly impacted by this outdated infrastructure. it makes it very difficult to maintain those facilities in these revenant -- renovations and modernizations are very important to making facilities that we can maintain his lead and provide a high-quality experience for users. with that, i am going to let our staff talk for us. we have robert and james talking a little bit about these renovations and why they are needed and what they do for the park system.

>> difficult to maintain. a new or playground would probably take half the time -- >> ok, let's see if we can get the video up. let's come back to this. so what robert was saying, and hopefully we can get the video back up and running, but he was talking about playgrounds and pools which are a big part of -- >> now we cannot hear you. >> can you help me? >> try the video again. >> let's try it again. >> we have a pretty much obsolete -- they're not really fun enough for the kids. they did not draw them in. you have to give them a better product.

the playgrounds are have, some are probably 40, 50 years old and a difficult to maintain. a new or playground would probably take probably half the time to clean than the older playground. >> all of the city pools are 60 plus years old. every year we close the for maintenance. but every time we close a pool for annual maintenance, we have overruns for time. we find more problems. so when we can rid of it, we can, number one, take care of mechanical closures that have cost us over 20 weeks worth of extra closures this year for the public cannot get access to the we have replace antiquated systems with new technology, like ultraviolet lights for water quality. the other thing it allows us to do which we will show you at hamilton pool is again put in bulkheads and a separate our

100-ft poles into two separate bodies of waters. right now, it is there's one team or inaba, labs or nobody, swimming lessons or nobody else. water exercise for youth, adults, and seniors, swim lessons for all ages, can all occur at the same time that people are able to swim laps and utilize the deep end of the swimming pool. so we can have a multiple program. last year, 352,000 people visited our nine city pools. the year before that, only 320,000. the demand keeps growing, and our infrastructure cannot keep up as it currently exists. >> james, the head of the aquatics division, talking about the importance of our swimming pools. we have renovated many of them in the past two months. but -- ok, thank you. we renovated many of our polls in the past two bonds but we have three remaining pools that

need to be renovated. many of them are some of our highest use polls -- pools, like rossi pool. our community outreach folks here about this the most. calls about one is the pool going to go up again? we have seen unusual delays. the equipment is old. in is to be replaced. when we can replace these swimming pools, that will be an investment that can hopefully last another 50 years. the two dozen a clean and safe neighborhood parks bond was the first bond in the 10-year capital plan to that is explicitly designed to address these kinds of significant capital needs. not as for the recreation and parks department and waterfront open spaces, but also for public safety facilities and streets. the great thing about this plan is that it is based on the tax constraints. the idea here is that as we pay off old debt, associated g.o. bonds, which can issue new debt

to replace it. with keeping consistent with the tax rate. the continues to be our goal. to stay under that kecap silicon the benefits without park users filling an additional pinch in their annual tax bill. our 2008 bond was approved with some 1.6% of the voters. that is a steep threshold. we have to cross 2/3 but i think that success was based on a deep commitment to consist sets -- consensus-building and collaboration with neighborhood associations and park users. we have climbed up to now passed the 40 mark in terms of public meeting. many which have been very well-attended a back collaboration has been our focus for the 2012 bonds due, as well. we have been meeting with many neighborhood associations to collect feedback and respond to those concerns.

that framework, i think, was successful, and we're trying to use that as we go forward with 2012. we have been able to allocate $185 million to park improvements across the system, as you can see how many neighborhood parks we have been able to touch with those funds. all those projects have been on or under budget. that has been both because we have been extra prepared. we were very conservative in 2008. we allocated healthy contingencies. we had outside cost estimators look at and review our figures. we're carrying those practices forward in 2012. we have also had the benefit of a positive bidding climate. one of the silver linings of the poor economy was we could get very competitive bids on our projects. that is one reason why we want to sustain the momentum of the capital program, because we felt like we can deliver more park for your bu rightsc nowk. these are it -- for your buck