>> good morning. daises the recreation and park commission meeting of april 19, 2012. we have been long calendar today and would ask that you turn off all of a truck devices. we would please ask that you take any secondary conversations outside in order for the meeting to proceed as efficiently as possible. if you would like to speak on any item today, please complete these blue cards. we will call your name for the items you have requested to speak on. please address your comments to the item being heard. if you want to speak under general public comment, item four, continued on item 14. please address your comments to the commission during public comment on items in order to allow as.

commissioner buell: thank you. the proceed with the calendar. >> item two. presidents reports. commissioner buell: i am going to forgo the president's report which should be a relief to everybody. i would like to call item seven out of order because we have some distinguished visitors and time restraints on their time. could recall item 7? >> item 7. mccoppin square. >> good morning, commissioners, and general manager. i am with the recreation and parks department partnership and resource development division. i am here today to recommend that you approve the permanent installation of a plaque in honor of fallen officer bryan

tuvera in mccoppin square, approve the wording and site location, and accept a gift in place of a commemorative plaque valued at approximately $9,600 from the san francisco police officers association. as i stated in my staff report, in 2006, san francisco unfortunately lost a very talented and dedicated police officer, brian tuvera. the police officers association has worked with carmen chu's office, the recreation and park department operations staff and capital division staff, and the community, to honor the officer. today, supervisor chu is with us come as is the officer spearheading the effort, and some members of the police officers association who knew bryan. the specific wording and design of the plaque is in my packet,

as is the same location. -- site location. this is a picture of the terrible police station located directly across the street from mccoppin square. that is where bryan was stationed. this x marks the location where the plaque has requested to be installed. i would like to give the opportunity, if this is the appropriate time, for members from the police officers association and for supervisor chu to speak on behalf of this item. commissioner buell: please. >> is there any public comment on this? commissioner buell: i think we will invite supervisor chu. welcome. >> thank you, president,

commissioners. i want to thank you for considering this item. i am here to speak in support of this moral. as staff spoke to or earlier, bryan tuvera was killed in the line of duty in 2006. he was very well respected and popular. his fellow officers miss him dearly. every december, dozens of sunset district residents come together, as well as friends from all over the city, to remember bryan and his contribution to the san francisco police department. at the committee meetings we had for the planning of the renovations of mccoppin square, one of the ideas that came to the four was the idea of honoring bryan. that was something that was strongly supported by residents and residentthose who rememberes ultimate sacrifice.

we wanted to recreate a reflective garden across from the police station. a place where the community could gathered to remember the officer, but also where officers from across the street could gathered to remember bryan's memory. now the community has come together to install a memorial plaque so that everyone can remember him. i hope that you will hear the words of the police officers today. though the this is a strong supporter within the community. i want to thank philip ginsburg and your staff for following up on with the community wanted. i hope that you will be considering -- consideration of this -- i hope you will support this. this will be a great thing. commissioner buell: thank you, supervisor. >> good morning, commissioners, directors. i am the nine supervising captain for the san francisco police apartment.

in 2006, the police station received a phone call from the capt. that said that bryan had been shot. i am a native son of san francisco and i live in the district just a few blocks from mccoppin square. i responded to the scene and took over the command post. we have been looking for the suspect for several months. bryan spotted the individual in the area of 25th and kirk and pursued him into a closed area where he did not have site of the suspect. he was gunned down in a broad -- he was gunned down. pacific to me deeply not just because of the circumstances of what happened, but because of bryan. i know when they go through things like this, we always talk about heroism, but not all police officers who died in the line of duty do so with heroism

attached to their death. and bribery. that is what we have here. we have an officer who died with bribery and heroism. that is why we have pursued this. -- bravery and heroism. i am a community member. i send my kids to public school in the city. i live a couple of blocks from the park. my wife says that if i ever decided to leave, i would be doing so with my next life. she loves this city. it would be great to have this plaque in a park that i am going to be going to for many years. i think the same goes for the other community members in the district, the people that are cooperating, nurses, public schools, people in the community, and i know that we have robust support for this now, but i just want to sum this

up by thanking mr. ginsberg. i know you support this from the beginning. thank you for that. supervisor chu, i do not want to embarrass you, but when she says time and again -- that was the case before she got there, but when she got there, immediately, we met in a cafe and it was full throttle from there. that is why we are here. i am going to turn it over to two of bryan's classmates that will be able to talk about who is we are honoring here. >> good morning, commissioners. thank you for giving us the a opportunity to speak about bryan tuvera this morning. i want to share a story, to put more of a human face on him.

i want to thank the public for showing up. it is great to see a full house for this important hearing. i consider myself a friend of bryan tuvera. he was my classmates and i have the honor of working with him in i want to share a brief story with you this morning that goes all the way back to the days of our academy in 2002 when i first met brian. as i think that, i almost always think of bryan as having a smile on his face appeared his quick wit and humor became apparent to all of us shortly after the cat we started. often during a class break, a smaller gathering would form around bryan as he revealed recruits with yet another humorous yarn. he always had this reputation.

this was great for our class. it built morale, camaraderie, and it launched our law enforcement career is on a high note. as part of the academy testing and evaluation process, police recruits engaged in simulations. during a simulation, as directors set up a scenario and you go through the scenario as a police officer to the valley with your performance. to do this, they broke the glass down into three squads. brian, myself, and body would go through these simulations together each time we had a simulation day. it just so happened that bobby wanted to go first to get it over with. i think bryan and i were just fine with that. while bobby was going through his for simulation, bryan and i were on the sidelines waiting for a return. i remember we were waiting to our return and bryan wanted to go next and i would be last.

there came a second when bryan looked at me and said, dana, i am scared. if you know bryan, he has a baby face, and he looked like he was fresh out of a school. we talked a little bit and went over the scenario. he was fine. surely after that, by the finished and bryan was ready to go. in this to say, bryan past his simulation with flying colors. little did i realize that on that day the wheels had already been set in motion for bryan to become a hero of our great city. as much a hero as milk or mosconi. bravery is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it. on that fateful night, in december, i do not know if

bryan was scared, but i do know he was brave. we honor people by remembering them and speaking of them and i am honored to be speaking with you about bryan this morning. one day we will be gone and it is my wish that his legacy will continue to be told so that future citizens of san francisco will know the sacrifice and dedication to service that bryan gave to this great city. thank you. commissioner buell: thank you. >> good morning, commissioners. my name is scott, i am a surgeon in the police department. just a little bit about bryan. i do not want to make it too long. i will be to the point. . everyone knows bryan was a great guy. everybody loved bryan.

he was a classmate, a friend of mine. to this day, i still see his family. but on that night, what he did was unbelievable. he went after a guy. this guy was waiting for him. it is really unfortunate to lose such a great guy like that. everybody loved him. i really appreciate you guys considering this plaque. i think it would be great for him, the police officers, and for his family. thank you. commissioner buell: thank you. >> good morning. i, too, like scott and boehner, was a classmate of bryan tuvera. i had the luck to be the actual vice-president in the platoon

of my academy class. a lot of guys would come up to me to talk about their concerns about their future in the department. i knew bryan well, spoke to him, had good times with him. once you graduate from the academy, our careers would take us to separate divisions, companies, and i did not get a chance to see bryan much during that time, but i did remember that fateful night, i was working. i remember looking at the computer when the emergency call went out. when i looked at the call, i was at the southern police station, and i could see the print out of all the officers involved in the incident. five out of the six officers were my classmates. when i heard an officer was down, of course, not just a classmate, but my heart dropped. unfortunately, it was bryan. even though bryan is not with

us, he will always be remembered. thank you very much. commissioner buell: thank you >> is there any public comment on this item? being none, public comment is closed. commissioner buell: commissioners? commissioner levitan: i just want to commend the police officers in general, for putting this forward and allowing us to honor such a hero i think my colleague has a comment, but at a corporate time, i would like to approve staff recommendation for this. commissioner buell: commissioner lee? commissioner lee: working with capt. stamford, when he was the captain at the richmond station and i was the chair of the richmond community police advisory board. as soon as he found out i was on

the rec and park commission, he said what our record to do about that black? it has been several years since we first heard about this. under the tenure of president martin, who started this conversation, i am just really pleased and privileged to have heard the testimony today. i want to thank supervisor chu for her work in making this happen and our general manager, of course, i want to congratulate him for making it happen. this is a very important message to send to young people in the city, who will play in the park, and who will see this park in perpetuity and think, who was bryan tuvera and what did he give to this city? this is a great story for the next generation of san franciscans. thank you. commissioner buell: with that, i

think commissioner levitan has made a motion. commissioner martin have seconded the motion. it is unanimous. thank you very much. [applause] >> we are now on item three. general manager's report. >> good morning, commissioners. tough transition. a few short announcements. this weekend is earth day weekend and we are having to partner with a number of different community organizations to celebrate our earth and bring attention to efforts to conserve our natural resources and to give something back this saturday, we will be partner with the fall of organizations to host volunteer cleanup days in our parks. we will be with habitat for humanity at hilltop park.

we will be with the friends of dolores park at dolores park. we will be with hands on bay area, rei, pg&e, and others at 26. we will also be at a community clean team event with the mayor, the part of public works, the part of the environment, and numerous other community organizations at union plaza. i think we are also going to be at our own park for their own event and clean up on ringleader policy. those interested in joining us can go to our volunteer page and sign up. i encourage everyone to get their hands dirty on earth day. on monday, 3:00 p.m., i have great pleasure of joining the mayor and the consular of japan who will be planting a cherry blossom tree in the japanese tea garden. it is one of 18 donated trees from our friends in japan.

the tree will be planted in the tea garden and there will also be a tree planting in union square, with the remainder planted in meadows throughout the park to celebrate the initiative from japan of giving us the cherry blossom tree. on may 12, we invite everyone to the palace of fine arts theater to laugh out loud for rec and park. something we should all be doing more of. a laugh out loud, the event benefiting rec and park's programs for children on the office of spectrum. as we have reported in this commission on a few different occasions, rec and park provides incredible programming for children with autism. we are proud of the opportunities we are present -- providing for duke of all abilities. this is a fund-raiser to benefit cancer and other year-long programs that benefit kids with

autism. there will be a comedy lineup that will be sure to have the rolling in the aisles. log on to our website to purchase your tickets today. camp registration is under way and off to a booming start. our summer program registration for the entire family begins on may 12. log on to sfparkrec.org to find out our offerings. a couple of quick updates. i want to thank everyone who came out to sharon meadow. there were about 10,000 people that came out on saturday april 7 to enjoy our third annual spring extravaganza family event. a huge round of applause and thank you to all the men and women from the san francisco police department who competed against our rec and park staff

in a new recipe-part rib cookoff contest. the competition was fierce, but in the end, the community relations police department came out on top. our friends at park station one the desert competition with an incredible bacon brittle. rec and park won the prize for the best side dish and taraval took home the people's choice awards. i want to thank everyone who participated, including mission station, no. station, the folks on brian, chief sur, a few of you were there participating as judges. it was a happy day. there were games, crafts, rides for the kids. really a terrific day. you will hear about the shortly, but for the past three months, staff has hosted 30 community meetings across the city to lay the groundwork for potential bond measures.

staff have been meeting with residents to is the feedback and would improvements they want to see in their parks. a draft of the final report is available not just in your agenda packet but also on our website. there are still some remaining community meetings. there will be a district 10 and 11 meeting posted by malia cohen, supervisor don abel lows, and the parks alliance this saturday april 21, at 2:00 at the louis center playground house. district 6 meeting code hosted by jane kim that and the san francisco parts alliance on monday evening april 23. i want to briefly recognize two individuals. one of them is here -- as you know we have our quarterly employee recognition. this is a peer recognition. i am incredibly pleased to be

able to recognize today karen from our capital planning division, are planning director. since her appointment in 2006, karen has been highly dedicated to ensuring the capital program serve the public. karen has made significant contributions to the 2008 parks bond. she is advocating for the inclusion of trees and the trails and our successful community opportunity fund, which has leveraged approximately $13 million in outside funding. she is someone who exhibits excellence in building community leadership, building morale, have shown exceptional skill in building a community consensus with state agencies, interest groups from the community, has inspired confidence through her park advocacy, responsiveness, reliability, for supervisor hads a goal and in the being the

advocate for the department through all stages of the joe dimaggio project, having forged a strong partnership with a library and stakeholders to move the project forward. if she had not been assigned to the project, it would not have happened. karen is now working on the environmental review, many aspects of the 2012 bond proposal. one of the things i belly most about caring is she does not just talk the talk, she walks the walk. she is very active the hayes valley neighborhood association and is a park user and advocate, both in her personal and professional life. she is incredibly dedicated to her job, one that constantly exemplifies professionalism. it is a joy to recognize her today in our quarterly recognition. [applause]

commissioner buell: congratulations. >> one other bit of recognition before we move on to our short video. with sadness, but with great understanding and appreciation for his 16 years with rec and park, i am announcing that rick saul will be leaving us and has taken on a great opportunity at the airport. that is a new challenge for him and something which will -- i think he told me it will take well over one hour from his daily commute. his wife and children are extraordinarily happy that he has made the choice to improve life balance, something to which we all strive. as a product manager, rick has worked on a number of signature

project from the harding park golf course to the music concourse renovation, children's quarters, the 2008 bond forestry program, and through all of his projects, rick is known for managing all situations with an incredibly calm demeanor, intelligence, a feminist, sense of humor, perspective, and commitment to quality shows and everything that he touches. like karen, this is extreme professionalism day at the rec and park department. rick, you have demonstrated nothing but professionalism throughout the time i have had the pleasure of knowing you. he has been an extraordinary colleague. i think many of his colleagues in the capital planning unit are here today. we are just going to miss him a ton. i promise you, rick, we will find a way when your kids are older to lure you back. given the fact that you probably

did more of your work in golden gate park than anywhere else, and undoubtedly you will have some work space at the airport where the office quarters are a lot more luxurious than our own recreation and park department, we wanted you to have something that was of any corporate size, given what i am sure will be an appropriately larger office for you to remember us by. commissioners, if you could join me in giving rick a little something to always remember us by. [applause] >> [inaudible] [applause]

>> just a quick thank you. i have been fortunate enough to work and park projects for the last 16 years, including some as many as five generations and my family have been able to enjoy. as a native to this area, as a landscape architect, it has truly been a dream come true. i have been able to work on many amazing projects, but i have also been fortunate enough to work with some great individuals who aren't dedicated and passionate to our parks, so thank you, and a special thank you to don and a very hard- working individuals of our capital and planning division who have worked tirelessly to continue to improve our parks.

thank you. commissioner buell: thank you very much. good luck with your new job. >> thank you. i want to conclude with a quick look at april and our parks. >> 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.