spewing stuffed into the air. for many reasons, i think it is a great plan. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you, commissioners. i live in russian hill and have been a resident for 15 years. my husband and i own a business in the city. we raised our three kids here. i strongly believe in the need for recreation for kids to keep them from watching tv, video games, and out of trouble. all three of our girls have chosen soccer as their favorite sport. my oldest girls play in competitive travel teams representing the city. instead of running around building confidence in their

skills, they are usually left to fill their free time with more sedentary activities. we live in a city with a long rainy season. it did start during daylight savings and my kids practice is run past 6:30. this is less than ideal and often not safe. we need to be dick -- we need to build capacity for the demand that the playing field system cannot address. the city will still be short what it needs, but it means there will be progress. this eir started three years ago. having looked at the eir comments and response document, it is clear to me the issues raised have been addressed and mitigated. now it is time to move forward.

please approve the eir tonight. we have already waited way too long. thank you. >> next speaker. >> i play soccer for the viking week. i think the beach chalet should be turned into a turf fields because there is only one big turf field in the city. it is all the way down on the south side of town. we need a turf fields in the northwest part of town. turf is way safer than normal grass. it would be much more beneficial to soccer teams if we had a turf field, to buy. >> together, with his brother and sister, they are soccer players. during that time, we watched our friends leave this city, move to

the suburbs, they have more fields to play on, they do not face some of the injury challenges. it makes my heart is heavy to see that. i would love it if you all could do something for all of us families in san francisco. we're driving across town to crocker, which is a great facility. to make it easier for those of us committed to the city, and who believed in the public- school system year, help us with some of the after-school activities and bring as a field in golden gate park. it is a centrally located place for families to get to. if you could make it work for us, that would be terrific. >> next speaker. >> i am jason mitchell.

two of my daughters came to speak. san francisco has the lowest per capita amount of children of any city in the country. i am so heartened by the activists and the activism of all of us. i am also frustrated and irritated. this is a simple thing you could do to value us as parents and children. you have no idea how hard -- to any of you have children? >> we are allowing kids right now. >> do something for us as families and children. thank you very much. >> next under 18 speaker. [laughter] >> add does she want to speak? -- does she want to speak?

>> the reason that we want beach chalet soccer field is so kids can have fun and have saved fields to play on. >> thank you very much. >> i have been serving the across community since 1996. i am going on the record. one of my future superstars, you will see him on tv sunday. that is not why i am up here. i coached a lot of kids that are on tv. it is about teaching. i think that is the most important point. all of these teachers and coaches, we teach these kids to be good citizens, good

teammates. >> to respect your teammates and coaches. >> attitude. >> what does attitude mean to you? >> e means effort. [inaudible] >> that is what we are as coaches. when you shut down a field and we do not have turf or whites, you shut down a classroom. a couple of years ago -- turf or lights, you shut down a classroom. it is very important that we have a facility like beach chalet. thank you. >> i play for the varsity

united. i wanted to say how turf has affected my life. if it wasn't for turf, i would not be the soccer player i am now. the grass is hard to run in and the ball slows down. with the turf, it goes wherever you wanted to go. thank you. >> i want turf because if it rains, after 20 minutes or so, you cannot play because it is mighty and the grass is soaked. -- muddy and the grass is soaked. >> i think the field should be turf because if it is grass, there are potholes. people can twist their ankle.

i want the field to be turf, thank you. >> thank you. >> ok. i think i want turf fields because when it rains, we cannot have practice. we cannot practice when we have games. >> [inaudible] i know you are hearing a lot of comments about the studies that have been done. i hope you are able to make a decision. for her, six months is a long time.

i am hoping we can move it along. >> thank you. next group of youth speakers. coach? >> can you speak into the microphone? >> i was a native richmond district did. i had my first soccer game at beach chalet. i had my first high school game at beach chalet. a couple of things i wanted to say about artificial turf. better for soccer, less injuries, and i think the arg is that there are toxins in the

artificial turf. you can use biodegradable, they use coconut treading right now. more importantly, when i listen to the nature, and i am a fan of all nature, my favorite sound is to your kids laughing and playing. that is what i want to say. >> i think there should be turf on the fields because people trip, fall, sprained ankles, and get hurt often because the grass has pot holes. there should be turf. >> is this the last group of kids? i think we are going to -- we kind of understand. [laughter]

thank them for coming down here today. >> i want turf because you did not have to water it very often. if you have real grass, you have to come down and water it, like, the whole field. >> my name is henry. i like turf fields because if you slip on a pothole or fall in a pothole, you can get seriously injured. there are no pot holes on the turf fields. there would be no injuries any more. >> my name is kevin and i think there should be turf fields.

when you play on a grass field, and their brains, -- and if it rains, you can slip. >> on turf fields, you can always play soccer. >> i would like a turf fields because it will not hurt as much. never mind. >> my name is grace. i used to play on grass fields. when i did, sometimes i got

injured. i do not want to get injured anymore. >> my name is caitlin. i want turfed because when it rains, the grass gets muddy and you can hurt yourself. >> i want turf fields because in the grass, you can hurt yourself and you cannot play soccer for a little bit. on turf fields, you cannot hurt yourself. >> my name is james. for the generation at san franciscans. i used to play on those fields as a kid. my dad used to play. it has a long history of

recreation. parks is an extension of families in the city, at an extension of the residents of the city, for recreation. right now, it is not fulfilling its purpose. the idea of bringing the turf and is being done all across the country. if you google turf fields in this city, you will see hundreds fields being converted to turf all around the country. for many reasons. family is one. less injuries being in another. increase in recreation. it would be a crime not to take this opportunity to increase these fields capability. thank you. >> my name is henry. i am a richmond district

residents. i coached three teams and often times in the winter, we are forced to practice in the parking lot of the church because the fields are closed. i think it is important that we have a place to play rather than waiting for 8:00 or 9:00 at night. thank you for your time. >> we had games canceled this year due to rain. we badly need these fields so that we can play year-round. i have a seven-year-old. he has been in a cast because of these fields. i had to pay $80 yesterday for -- because of these fields. we need this badly. >> thank you.

>> hello. i think it is a beautiful thing to see all these kids here smiling, looking forward to playing. let the kids play, thank you. >> i am the mother of six children. when its rains, no soccer. they just want to play soccer and i think turf is the way to go. it is an excellent idea for the children get out and get active and be involved with other children, meeting the other children. thank you.

>> good evening. thank you for allowing me to speak this evening. my name is bob. i am the father of three very active young boys. ages 10--- ages 10, 8, 6. i am in favor of the turf.ed toe due diligence that you have done in taking up the studies in regards to the utilization of the field. >> can you give him another minute or so?

>> thank you. the studies that you have done in regards to environmental impact, i appreciate all of that. i am glad you have done that due diligence. i want to touch on the safety factors that have been discussed earlier. those are -- and other safety factor that may be overlooked is when children are coming and going from these fields, there is a lot of activity in regards to automobile traffic. in other parts of this project is to increase the size of the drop-off area. that is going to be very important. thank you for your due diligence. i would ask that you pass this project forward and unanimously of votes the turf project forward. thank you.

>> i understand there are some more youth speakers. >> [inaudible] >> we have lots of kids and folks with accommodations. -- we have let kids and folks with accommodations. >> we have had two hours or so of the kids speaking. maybe after this next group, we can just kind of left of the speakers speak. they have been here a long time. they just keep coming.

>> since i am disabled and you have graciously provided this opportunity, i thought i could quickly filled this space. i think i know some of you from different works that have done with the city. are retired from the mayor's office in 1999 -- i retired from the mayor's office in 1999. i was the first founding director of the mayor's child care. i have a daughter that is a third grade teacher at spring valley. she was the only girl on be a varsity soccer team in san francisco. i have a number of prepared articles and i have spent 40-60 hours in the past couple of weeks. after reading the papers and finding that the so-called

opposition is highly organized. i would like to -- i am concerned and i want you to be concerned and share my concerns for children. the children testifying that they do not want to break their legs or that artificial turf is so terrific, i'm also here to tell you i have about 12 attachments. about the risks of turf. right now, all of the baseball teams and all pro football teams are reverting to grass. children were being told to eat organic food and limit the chemicals and her body. it is not safe. there is ample data, i've only done a sample, a small sample,

of some of the most reliable groups in the country. they had knowledge -- they acknowledge the impact of chemicals. we do not know why there is so much optimism -- autism or brain tumors. there may not be enough chemicals and artificial turf to cause cancer or neurological problems, but i can tell you this. if you add up the combination of all the toxins that our kids are exposed to, it is substantial and it is a real problem. it is tragic that the opposition, which i am not part of any organized opposition, i have not been to testify in front of a committee, but i cannot afford this because of the grandmother and a mother and

-- but i came out because i am a grandmother and a mother. please look at the data. >> your time is up. >> next group of speakers, please. >> i am 12 years old and i dent in the district -- and i has been in the district for almost my entire life. i've only played their about five times because it is in such bad shape. it should be changed to turf because then it is open daily and not even rain could keep me from going there. i live very close to there.

>> is there a full group that is coming up? >> i think turf fields are better because you do not get hurt as much. >> my name is connor. i have played on beach chalet for a long time. the fields would be much better if they were on grass. i want them to be on the turf fields.

>> my name is brian. i want there to be more turf fields because the ball can move faster and you do not get hurt as much. >> my name is conner and ti hope there can be turf fields because i feel more safe. on the grass, there can be more bombs and i can slip and fall. -- there can be more bumps and i can slip and fall. >> i think that turf fields

would be great because they would be able to stay open a lot longer. even if it rains, you can still play. that would make everything easier. >> i want turf fields because it is easier to play on. >> my name is joe. i would like to have turf on the beach chalet fields because there are too many problems with grass. >> i live on 44th avenue, only a couple of blocks away from beach

chalet. if it was a turf, we would have a lot more opportunities to play. >> i am 11 years old. we just wanted to say we think it is important to get the turf fields because there are many factors that turf fields prevent that the grass fields have, like, getting more injuries, you slip a lot. it is a lot neater and the grass field are getting out of shape.

we are voting for the turf field and we think it is safer. >> the turf fields, you did not have to water in it. it is better for the environment, and that is an important factor as well. >> a lot of games are rained out here in san francisco. it also prevents a lot of that. thank you. >> anymore kid speakers? ok. i am going to go to cards. i am going to call some names. if you want to line up on that side of the ram. [reading names]

if i have called your name, come on up. >> i played soccer at beach chalet. when i became a city gardener, i also worked out there. turf stinks. it is not natural. they do not have enough money for the gardners. it is ridiculous. they cannot fire me because i am gone. a lot of kids do not understand because they are young and because they are young and inexperien