from the department of public works to address your question. >> good afternoon, commissioners. we have been before you a number of times talking about our need to align our resources with the work that we have to do, so we have started the transfer of maintenance responsibility to private property owners for the approximately 35% of trees they're not already private property owner's responsibility. i would like to start by reminding you that most of your constituents with a street tree ready have responsibility to maintain that tree. the circumstances, there are a number of people who have been lucky enough to have the city maintain their tree.

because of reductions in our staff through many years of budget cuts, we simply do not have the ability to maintain the trees that are in the public area of responsibility. i have been doing a little bit of research. right now, the general fund and gas tax are paying for tree crews with about nine people. arborists and truck drivers who are taking care of those trees. the city of minneapolis where i come from, a population of about 380,000 people, about half of san francisco's population, they maintain all of the street tree. they actually have 200,000 street trees in minneapolis. they have street crews totaling 80 people. we have nine people in a city twice the size that are taking care of these trees. minneapolis has a fantastic urban forest. all of the neighborhoods are

well forested in that city. that is what the department of public works would like minneapolis to look like. we really are going to be coming to you in the near future and talking to you about -- how do we take care of not only the trees were talking about relinquishing to private property owners, but all of those trees that are already the responsibility of private property owners? many of them do not want the responsibility to maintain, do not necessarily have the knowledge about how to maintain those trees. it would be our dollar, and i think we have also talked about a study -- it would be our goal, and we have talked about a study to look at our urban forest. if it is a priority for us, we really should be looking to see how, as a city, we can maintain this urban forest and all of the street trees so we do not have the inequity of having some people taking care of their

trees and others not having to. it'll take an investment. it may take a new revenue stream or read prioritization of the city budget priorities. but to do that, we really -- we need to get it together. supervisor kim: thank you. to be more specific, this is a grant just to replace existing trees, not for new additional tories. >> this is essentially replacing trees that have died. they are in d -- empty tree basins. something has happened to them. they have been hit by a car. there have been vandalized. they got a disease. something has happened. this is to make sure we do not have empty tree basins. supervisor kim: i want to make sure that we have a process for new trees, because we are relinquishing many of the maintenance of trees.

i want residence to know if we are putting up new trees, they might be responsible for them. >> we will be notifying property owners who eventually will become responsible for that tree. if we're planting them, we are taking responsibility for establishing the tree, for making sure that it is healthy. as it grows, that we are watering of those trees. and then after a number of years, the private property owners, we're planning on it relinquishing these trees, and they are responsible for maintaining the. it is our intention for letting people know that it will eventually become the responsibility. i want to say that everything about trees -- your property value is greatly enhanced if you have a street tree. the livability of your block is

enhanced. there is a benefit for having a street tree. having an empty tree basin is a symptom of urban blight. that is worse than planting a tree, establishing it, and eventually asking the private property owner to take care of it. supervisor kim: i appreciate your comments. i am thinking about the future and residents coming to us for money. i appreciate your comments on this issue. i want to talk again about the equity issue. i think it is important that if we do not have strong organizational capacity in certain neighborhoods and we are not seen applications submitted by the, i think it is important that departments and the ta then identify locations in the projects themselves. this is something that occurred with district 6 in the previous park bond. we got very little of the money in the district.

the response was that no one in the district applied. i think that sometimes residents do not have the technical capacity to come up with which open space and which playgrounds are failing and what projects they can put together. sometimes i have to provide that assistance, if -- especially if we see an inequity. thank you. supervisor farrell: i would like to ask a follow-up in question. regarding these trees, when we did it in front of our house with the friends of the urban forest, it took a while. you talk about relinquishing that a certain point. maybe it is a gray area. well you hand it over when there is active -- will you be handing it over when there is active work being done being donetree? i wonder what the time frame will be. >> i will have our urban

forester respond to that. that is a technical issue. i think i know the answer, but she definitely knows. >> get afternoon. department of public works. generally, a tree requires three to five years of water to become established. at that point, it basically can survive on the seasonal rains. we choose trees that can survive on in the rain after the initial establishment time. before the trees are transferred to the property owner, we inspected them. we would do that initial care, that three to five-year time span. supervisor farrell: thank you. supervisor avalos: ok, we can open this up for public comment. >> what i have seen here with the presenters is that they have no idea whatsoever about the

demographics of san francisco. and while some of you supervisors arbitrarily are asking some questions, you really need to encourage young people to ride, and we have facilities, for example, in district 11 in the district 9 and maybe part of it in a district tend like mclaren park, allow young people to ride. but if you have the mentality that you're looking at only one segment of the population, it does not help. that is what i am seeing. if you look at the san francisco county transportation authority, there is no real representation from, say, the black community or really the asian community that lives here. we have like 10,000 businesses in district 10.

they pay a lot of taxes. what do we get? nothing. the sewer system in our area, something else in our area. what do we get? nothing. as long as they get $1 from the federal government or they get some money from the state government, they have to help. but you have all these the mormons here, and a lot of them are looking at -- you have all of these departments here, and a lot of them are looking at fte's. they're not looking so much as to the trees or to the infrastructure or to giving opportunities to our young people to bicycle, to address obesity, to help quality of life issues. no. the focus on fte's and payroll. no ability to look outside the box. [bell rings] supervisor avalos: anyone else who would like to comment? the seeing none, will close

public comment. thank you for your presentation. i am pretty excited about the bike share program. we just approved a contract for that. there's something happening in my district -- actually on the border between district 11 and district 10. actually, it is in supervisor cohen's district of a discussion about doing a bike skills program on the muni turnaround. there is actually an effort to actually reach out -- we have to do more, but reach out to more folks in the area to be part of that program. also the excelsior. you can teach about cycling and create better cycling in that area of the city that can link up to the transit as well. there is an organization doing advocacy around that called the san francisco urban riders.

i think that would be a good place to put some infrastructure in on cycling in the southern part of san francisco. >> thank you. we will look into it. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. this is an information item. we can go to our next item, which i think is general public comment. >> item number 10, introduction of new items. this is an information item. supervisor avalos: colleagues? seeing none. open it up for public comment. >> you know, supervisors, during your vote session, some of us who are tested and follow whatever you do -- who are astute cover public comment. now you do not see many people coming for public comment during the voting sessions because it is going nowhere.

i am is dating to you all that occasionally i come here so that -- i am stating to you that i occasionally come here so that i can write something about you do. cities that -- dizzies sad to say, year after year, despicable. -- it is sad to say. they talk a good talk, but they do not walk the walk. as you saw today, when the representatives are giving information that the last moment -- i was here. i did not get part of the presentation, because -- god only knows what. so we can not drafted in our blogs, because we can get it later online and address it. but if you have three or four members of the public here, give them the presentation to give them the information. because you keep making blunders and wasting our money. always remember, it is because of us, the constituents, that you all get your salaries.

and always remember, public comment is meant to shed light. [bell rings] shed light, sunshine. if you do not shed light, then the more people that really do not have morals and ethics, they do things behind closed doors. they do not represent us. people are suffering. people are really suffering. there will be a revolution. people are suffering. you do not seem to care. you do not seem to care. [bell rings] thank you very much. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. seeing none, we will close public comment. next item. >> item 11, public comment. general public comment. supervisor avalos: ok, seeing no one, four, we were close. >> item 12, adjournment.

supervisor avalos: we are adjourned. thank you very much.

>> i think it ae's public and private property. i'm against graffiti. >> who can get it out the most who can be noticed the most. >> i i've seen seniors doing graffiti. >> the city is art, other people who have their names

tag -- >> [inaudible] our unit there are 2 sections we are doing one is abating and others are notice of violation to private property. all the utility boxes in public right-of-way we abate. >> we abate calls that come within 48 hours. >> we are a small group in g f graffiti. we don't have enough help. >> i have a group in town down and china town and the north tunnel. [inaudible] the graffiti we abate everything is coming up to the areas now. >> i'm willing to take it on. i think -- >> you are telling me you are ready for this?

>> i think so. >> okay. >> there you go. >> all right. >> all right. >> ready to do it. let's go. >> want to get the gray signses this over here and the garbage can and normally we don't do private property since it's on the corridor route you can come with me we will use black. >> we had a lot of changes in the graffiti unit. we do private property if someone moved we remove it and send it to the attorney's office and they take appropriate action. >> damage their property there. it's important to write the color in case they want to say what part of our house you abated the graffiti on. >> using your safety glasses

the gloves. >> you got it. >> you know some places we gashi, people appreciate that. you know, a lot of timeses they say, thank you. >> the time where it's visible. a lot of people put it on the ground. >> i like when tourists come and say, you do this for your city and you get paid for that? >> we use the [inaudible] for the holes and the retaining

walls. [inaudible]. white on the fire hydrants. fire box red for the fire boxes. our brown for the pg and e poles. >> we are not painters we do our best. >> i'm assuming it has to do with gang activity. >> if it's territorial i mind. >> in case it's gang related and they are marking our territory i would like to paint it over. >> anything with numbers like x iv or x 13 west side mob and the bay view those are gang related. with gang related or profanity

we will abait it as soon as possible. >> i consider it an art. there are circles of people that form around it whether or not they should ruin public property. >> this is art work i'm for it. unless it's on someone's property and they don't want it there. judge kids with silver paint expressing their ego needs doesn't belong on our property. >> graffiti is when you don't have permission to write anything on their property. >> eighth street is part of your regular rout? >> yes. >> everyday. >> eighth street. divisidero street. irving street. every block they going through they paint 3 or 4 streets in the block the poles the utility

boxes, mailbox. >> thank you. >> okay. >> put the drop cloth. come on around. >> there you go. force for we have to remember we are not painters we abate graffiti. we are abaters not painters. get that out of the way and keep moving. >> how many of these do you do a day? how many poles we do a day? >> yeah. >> depends on the location. may be 20.

>> do you like working with the team? >> yes because i'm a people person. i like being outside and interacting with the public and i like the response we get especially from the good job we do in the community. >> goodbye.

>> there are kids and families ever were. it is really an extraordinary playground. it has got a little something for everyone. it is aesthetically billion. it is completely accessible. you can see how excited people are for this playground. it is very special. >> on opening day in the brand- new helen diller playground at north park, children can be seen swinging, gliding, swinging, exploring, digging, hanging, jumping, and even making drumming sounds. this major renovation was possible with the generous donation of more than $1.5 million from the mercer fund in honor of san francisco bay area philanthropist helen diller.

together with the clean and safe neighborhood parks fund and the city's general fund. >> 4. 3. 2. 1. [applause] >> the playground is broken into three general areas. one for the preschool set, another for older children, and a sand area designed for kids of all ages. unlike the old playground, the new one is accessible to people with disabilities. this brand-new playground has several unique and exciting features. two slides, including one 45- foot super slide with an elevation change of nearly 30 feet. climbing ropes and walls, including one made of granite. 88 suspension bridge. recycling, traditional swing, plus a therapeutics win for children with disabilities, and even a sand garden with chines and drums. >> it is a visionary $3.5 million world class playground

in the heart of san francisco. this is just really a big, community win and a celebration for us all. >> to learn more about the helen diller playground in dolores park, go to sfrecpark.org. park, go to sfrecpark.org.

i was just driving around minding my own business... when it came out of nowhere. suddenly, there were lights all around me. i'm like, "they're coming for me!" yeah, it was crazy. i just never thought they'd find me. not out here. it doesn't matter where you drive. if you don't buckle up, you will get caught. cops are cracking down all across the country. click it or ticket.