session. >> i think the mics are on now. >> i move to reconvene an open session. >> second. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> i move to not disclose anything discussed in executive session. >> second. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> back in session. >> ok. >> please be advised the meeting -- the meeting of use of cell phones, pagers and similar sound producing electronic devices are prohibited at this meeting. please be advised the chairman ordered the meeting room any personal responsible for ringing of or use of cell phone, pager or other similar sound producing electronic device. please be advised a member of the public has up to three minutes to make pertinent public comments on each agenda item unless the port commission adopts a shorter period on any item. item 7-a, executive director's report. >> good afternoon port commissioners, port staff, members of the public.

thank you so much for joining us here today. i have one item on the executive director's report but first i want to pause and wish our vice chair a happy birthday. please -- [applause] and thank her for giving us your time on your special day. i really appreciate that. thank you very much. and happy birthday goes out to jerry and denise turner as well. very fortunate day for the port of san francisco. next, i want to wish the port of san francisco a happy 149th birthday because it is today that the state legislate legislature adopted a bill called sb-90 which created the state of board harbor commissioners 149 years ago. so we are now going to launch 150th, i believe it's called a sesquinn centennial, a word we hopefully will have rolling off

our lips over the next year, using the port, remind people of the port's purpose and interface with it every day through activities or commerce or just plain relaxation. but the port as i was memmingsing was created in 1863 by the state legislature, interestingly enough that was the same year that the state adopted an eight-hour work day. also the same year the stock exchange was created and at the same time that the board of harbor commissioners was created at the local level, a board of title and trust commissioners was also established, which is no longer so. is the port of san francisco in its current fashion of which you are the heirs or successor entity has been around 149 years, almost 150 years. what led up to the creation is that the water front kept expanding, shoreline kept moving and it was being done in a very chaotic way. there were not great strong rules or laws about that what

could be done. it was done mostly by individuals and private entities and so around by 1850, almost 6,000 feet had been built with about a million dollars all by private interests. so then in 1850 the state actually granted control of the waterfront to the city and county of san francisco for the purpose of building out the war at the end of all -- wharf at the end of all streets. that's why we have these peers at the extension of the street grid mapped ott by forefather when's they mapped out the city overall. so wharfs were built, some with permission, a lot without permission. as they were being built, no one was paying attention to the shoreline or navigation. so navigation started to suffer and in the middle 1850's, the state investigated and found that they needed to have more control. and so they established the port commission almost ten years later in 1863, and the main job of the board of harbor commissioners was so build the

sea wall and take control of the port and most importantly be a self-administrative agency, both operationally and by revenues. so at that point in time that was a very unique status and we are the only entity that has lasted as a port in the united states that has lasted as both a public agency that is self-supporting for as long as we have. so we're very proud of that. the staff in those days consisted of engineering department, wharf insurers department, belt railroad department and maintenance department and commissioners were three commissioners appointed by the governor. the sea wall began in about three years thereafter and ultimately it wasn't finished until 1938. so in just before world war ii, the sea wall was actually finished. it was overseen by 12 separate chief harbor engineers and so there are, i believe, 42 segments to the sea wall and many of them are constructed

differently depending upon who was the chief harbor engineer. in 1913 during the port's tenure, the port adopted a state law for civil service reform for purpose of being able to hire its staff based on merit and not for political reasons. and back in 1913 the port began establishing its advisory committees. and at that time the advisory groups consisted of ship owners, merchants, labor and other interests. of course, in 1914 the panama canal opened and the port had to be very responsive to that and at the same time world war i started. so there were some very chaotic times for the port. during the depression era, the port actually partnered with the federal public works administration, which was the agency set up under the new deal to do construction throughout the country and then, of course, in 1934 there was an 83-day strike, labor strike at the port resulting in bloody thursday and other attributes.

and so that is a is he important part of our history. in 1939 world war ii started and port became primarily occupied by the amy and navy and it was our job to supply all of the personnel and much of the goods to the pacific, defense of the pacific and then in 1950's after everything finally settled down, containerization started and ports began to think about how it was going to continue to mauve nuver itself and how it was going to evolve for purposes of maritime commerce. and then we get to the history we all know, which is in 1969 the jurisdiction of the port returned to city control and development projects started to begin starting with peer 39 development in the early 1970's. in 1991, embarcadero freeway came down and that really brings us to the present day. so the port was recognized and continued to be recognized for most of the heritage as a pioneer of port operations and as a model of what a large port

administration should look like. it was for a very long time an important commercial and transportation hub. it was lauded for its design and construction of its facilities, which are now listed on the registry of national historic places and as i mentioned earlier, it remained under port control. in the last 150 years the port is created and maintained a sea wall, portfolio of unique facilities including 39 peers and 80 wharfs. it's been a steady employer and provider -- provided homes to numerous maritime commercial enterprises large and small. and so as i mentioned in the next year we want to gear up to celebrate the centennial and use the birthday to remind the public of who we are and what activities are available and outside our room, there are seven imens of i believe 15 posted, which we hope to display throughout the next year and throughout the celebration, reminding people of what we are all about, which is now a very, have i diverse set of

activities. we have established a planning committee for the 150th anniversary events and internally those are led by our own renee martin, with assistance from dan, jerry, mark pious, damon, wendy proctor, and consultant ken mailei. we are looking to do -- as a host committee we are looking to partner with many partners of the city, many of whom have a shared history with the port and we're very excited about the year ahead. and in the year ahead we will probably be coming back and talking to you about events in april of 2013 to celebrate our anniversary. 2013 will be a great year for us because we will start with our birthday. the exploratorium will open the doors at peer 15. louis vuitton challenger series, final match fleet week. bay bridge opening. the list goes on and on and on. and so we've had the privilege of partnering with a number of different departments and being that transportation hub one of

our sister agencies that's very important to us is the municipal is transportation agency and they are celebrating their 100th anniversary and so we thought it would be a great time to celebrate together and so tonight following the port commission meeting, we will have a reception right outside to launch our beginning of our celebration and we invited cheryl brinkman, who is the vice chair of the m.t.a. to say just a few words about their anniversary and, again, invite all of you to join us after the commission meeting. >> thank you very much. president, commissioner, executive director. thank you for the opportunity to represent the san francisco m.t.a. on this day as you begin to mark your 150th anniversary here at the port of san francisco. i'm standing in for tom nolan, our chairman of the board, who couldn't be here this afternoon but does he plan to join you this evening. as you know and monique mentioned, muni is celebrating its centennial this year. it's very appropriate our two

agencies have decided to team up and remind people what amazing things we've done for the city in terms of transportation. this is the building where our muni cable cars and street cars come down to meet the water borne transportation as they have done so long. so people can board ferries to locations around bait and ships to destinations around the glone. the most important thing about a city and its growth is mobility and transportation. and the fact that our city, which was basically a peninsula of sand dunes and marshes has developed into such an amazing global city. really speaks to the synergy that exists between the port and muni. and providing the requisite connection between our vehicles and your water craft and your areas. as an enduring premier city on the rim, san francisco continues to provide the vital transportation connection to those of us who are lucky to live here and the millions who visit us every yore. in the years tom could, we're confident we will continue to balance the mobility equation in this city for the best interests

of all of us who want to continue to move around this city. speaking for all of us at the sfmta, wleek forward to working at the port to ensure vital mobility for generations to come. thank you for the opportunity to be here today and congratulations on beginning to celebrate your 150th anniversary. thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> we're looking forward to the reception, where we will actually celebrate some more, the anniversary and birthday. thank you. >> that concludes my report. >> public comment. >> executive director's report. hearing none, we will move on. thank you. >> item 8-a request approval of resolution supporting mayor edwin lee and board of supervisors placing a neighborhood and waterfront park's general obligation bond measure. on november 6, 2012 ballot. >> so moved. >> second. >> public comment. sally stevens.

>> hi, my name is saly stevens. i'm here representing the san francisco forest alliance. city wide collision of people concerned with rec and park department plans to cut down thousands of healthy safe trees just because they're not native. part of the rec and parks natural areas program. we're concerned that they use huge amounts of truly nasty herbicides and plans to close miles of trails in our city park. there's growing opposition to knapp. in a short period of time the forest alliance has a petition to stop knapp with 25 signatures and more coming in every day. our first public meeting was standing room only. people are furious at nap's plans for quarter to a third of the city parks but why should you care? the 2008 parks bond contained a pot of money for trail restoration that could only be used for trails in natural

areas. trail that's needed fixing in three quarters of our city's park that's don't have natural areas were excluded from consideration for this money n case after case, nap took bonged money for trail restoration and used it to do a whole lot more than that, tearing out existing habitat not close to trails and replacing it with new, often butterfly habitat. seems as though they're using bond money to implement essentially they're general management plan even though the e.i.r. has not been finalized for the plan. people opposed to nap's plans to cut down healthy trees and use repeatedly use nasty herbicides and close access to large sections of parks are worried nap will take the money from the forestry and restoration pots in the 2012 bond and use that money to further its increasingly unpopular plans. at recent public meetings about the bond, people have said they will not support the bond if any money in it goes to nap. i urge you to talk to the mayor, rec and park and supervisors and tell them to include language

specifically excluding nap from access to any bond money. with that language added, opposition will largely evaporate. without that language i'm concerned enough people will vote against the bond that it won't pass and otherwise worthy projects including those for the port will remain unfunded. why risk it? please include language in the bond that insures no money from it can be used for nap. thank you. >> we have one other public comment. >> i have very little to add to what sal question had. i'm a member of the public that's here to voice concern about the bond including funding for nap. if you look at the 2004 survey that the park and rec did, the trails are one of the most important facilities for people. and that's w45 -- what the natural area will many pact. it's concerning to be going to the parks and seeing trees and natural habitat cut down as well

as escalating use of herbicides in the parks. so i expect over the next four to six months because it's coming back for approval there's going to be an increasing public awareness and i personally it's like i support the bond and i would hate for this to be something that would be december tramental to the pass -- detrimental to the passing of it. >> thank you. >> is there any other public comment? questions? comments? >> i would like to make one comment with respect to the concerns about herbicides and point out if you're not aware of it -- >> excuse me. if we're going to have discussion, this would need to be withdrawn from the consent calendar by motion. >> i just wanted to make a comment as opposed to discussion if that's -- >> it should be withdrawn from the concept calendar by motion and then the commissioners can comment and discuss the item. >> i move to withdraw the item

from the consent calendar. >> second. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> aye. >> thank you. i just wanted to point out that the city has passed legislation and has a preferred plan pesticide -- pesticide reduction. so to the extent that not addressing some of the merits of the issues you raised but both of you pointed out herbicides are being used and city has requirements to use the least toxic option available. and that was legislation that was passed pre2000. so that was something that should be focused on to ensure if herbicides are being used, if that needs to be highlights and better alternatives are available. but thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. >> any further discussion? if not, can i have a motion back to approve this resolution?

>> so moved. >> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> thank you. >> item 9-a, request adops of california environmental quality act findings including a statement of overriding considerations and mitigation monitoring program be release the decision agreement with america's authority for the 34th america's cup project involving use of peers 30, 32, 9 south apron, 19, 19 1/2, 23, 27, 29 and 29 1/2 and adjacent water areas. peer 45 roof phase, brandon street wharf. areas between peer 32 south and peer 36 and along peer 14 north all located along the embarcadero waterfront and peer 80 located along the north side east of illinois street. request approval of at least the position agreement for the 34th america's cup project involving

each venue and form of venue lease. >> commissioners, brad benson, special projects manager. i'm here representing a very large port and city team that's been working on this project from about summer of 2010. feels a little like deja vu. i think we were here on this action in december. but we're happy to bring to the commission the last set of major discretionary approvals associated with the 34th america's cup. and it's rolely been i think an extraordinary body of work that has led to today. and at the end of the presentation i will invite mike martin, america's cup project director, to come and address a commission about a few items that are city related and there

are a lot of folks not city staff in the audience today who have been critical to the effort and i will point them out as well. so as i was thinking about the policy context for the actions today, i ran across a line in some state legislation that is on the lead finding in some of the state legislation we pursue for the court and i thought it was a good quote. the san francisco waterfront is a valuable public trust asset of the state that provides special maritime navigational recreational, culture and historical benefits to the people of the region and the state. and if you think about that statement in the context of the america's cup project, the project is really hitting each one of those points our tick lated in that statement. i think it would be hard to find

a project that is more consistant with the port's public trust mission then the project before you today. so getting a little bit more specific about the policy context, we've referenced some of these items for you in december but san francisco bay has been known among sailors as a great place to race. winds, particularly certain times of year are fantastic. but i think america's cup offers an opportunity to make that better known across the globe. threw the work that we're doing to prepare the waterfront for the event, we're going to see pretty dramatic improvements to public access. make major improvements to the port's facilities including pierce 30, 32, which is near the end of its useful life. we have done a lot of work together with the department of

the environment and office of economic workforce development as well as event authority on race management on natural resource stewardship. we are also doing this for economic reasons. the ports, maritime and retail tenants will see a major uptick in business activities over the course of this year, racing events in 2012 and 2013. along with that we look forward to substantial new local employment. i think the thing nearest and dearest to our haferts has been the way this project has helped us move forward the cruise terminal project and get through a very complicates process and bcdc and other permitting process associated with that cruise terminal project. so the actions we're requesting of the commission today are to adopt, revise, seek findings and

mitigation monitoring and reporting program. that action would replace the action that you took in december along those lines. authorize the port director to enter into a lease disposition agreement for short-term use of venues for the america's cup. and then enter venue leases in a form consistant with the form of lease on file with the port commission secretary for these major location as long the waterfront, pierce 27 through 29 1/2 venue, 19 through 23. if needed, peer 9 south and pier 14 north for super yachts in 2013 and pier 9 subject to renegotiation with existing tenants. piers 30, 32 and pier 80. i will get into visual representation of what's going to happen at a few of the major locations later in the

presentation. the process as you know has been very inclusive. there's been robust public involvement both in seekia itself and through the involvement of implementation plans that mike martin's office led. there were a lot of changes made to the progress through the process which i think is a good indicator that sequa is doing its job to minimize environmental impacts. most recent changes to the seekia findings reflect the elimination of mitigation measures associated with long-term development since long-term development is no longer a part of the proposed action today. so specifically the lease disposition agreement specifies port obligations to improve port property for the event sets forth conditions for delivery of that property over a period of

time. if the commissioner approves the action we would hope to start transferring under venue licenses some properties as early as may 2012 and property returning to the port as late as march 15, 2014. mike martin will talk about some of the provision to protect the harbor fund and city's general fund. >> this slide shows about half of the work that the port is going to undertake to improve the waterfront, well known are the projects at pier 27, cruise terminal removing pier 36 and constructing brandon street wharf. you will hear later in today's calendar detailed discussion about improvements planned for 3032 to strengthen that pier and provide truck access to it. but we're making improvements

really on a waterfront wide basis. new apron at pier 19 south, in electrical service at pier 23 and removal of historic fill pier 64 to clean up the waterfront. and the port would also undertake dredging activities at a number of locations but mainly south of piers 30, 32 and brandon open water base sen. here's a heil-level sum are you of the some of the terms of the lease disposition agreement. we worked really hard to accommodate fleet week both in 2012 and 2013 to make sure that the navy can use piers 30, 32 for birthing purposes. we provided special provisions in five dates for 2012 and

additional dates at 27 and 30, 32 subject to the port's approval. other provisions include port repair obligations, we have been doing a series of walk-threws of the port facilities with the event authority, identifying conditions that need to be improved not only for the event but will provide a long-term value to the port and port is obligated to pay up to $500,000 in repairs and working closely with the maintenance division to implement that repair plan. venues will be provided rent free. we plan phase delivery particularly of piers 27-29 site. we need to accommodate construction activities of the cruise terminal up through march of 2013. but we will be handing over parts of the site as turner is done with them. likewise, piers 30, 32, the goal

here is to phase construction activities at that site so that we can take a break in construction, accommodate the world series in 2012 at pearces 30, 32, start construction activities again and have 2013 event centered at that location. i mentioned already the form venue lease is on file with the port commission secretary. there are a few key points with respect to that. port staff is working with america's cup race management on a detailed environmental operations plan that will govern the activities on port property and that's subject to the port director's approval. so i would like to share with you maybe some images you have not seen before. these are result of detailed work by the event authority and race management with a variety of federal and local and state agencies.

first the race area for 2012 and 2013, this has been developed in consultation with the coast guard and will be permitted under special local regulation after nepa is completed. you see the footprint for 2012 is quite small and expanding in 2013 with provisions in yellow to provide for transit zones so port tenants and other vessels have a way to access the bay dwurg the race periods. this gives you an overview of the america's cup village site that is planned at piers 27 through 29. it will be center of public activity during the events. with storage and race management and television activities in the adjacent piers in 19 and 23.

you will see from the planned view this is going to be the focus area for crowds in 2013 with a temporary stage set up that could house up to 10,000 people for concerts. that could occur up to 40 times in 2013. there will be allot of activity throughout the year next year at this location. at 30-32, teamless have their teams industrial basins in tent-like structures with the crane on the face of 32 and morning locations south of pier 32. this is also going to be an attractive spot for the public. there's planned public access out onto the piers. so the public can really get in and see what's happening in these team bases. we've seen a great deal of public interest in this activity