i am of course concerned about the artificial turf. i think everybody knows that it is poisonous. but go ahead. the long-term effects have not been proven yet. do you want to wait for that? the other thing that concerns me is cutting down 55 trees, which serve as a windbreak between the ocean and the park. think carefully about that. at least send the eir back for modifications. by calling them bushes, these are 30 feet tall on average. that exempts them from close scrutiny. even the eir acknowledges that the essential character of golden gate park will be changed by this. i really cannot believe that in good conscience you will approve this. i would urge you again not to do so. thank you.

>> i feel sympathy for you tonight. many that are talking here tonight think your job is to bad. actually, your job is to decide whether the eir is fair, unbiased, and honest. i am going to show right now that it is not a fair eir, but a biased eir. the golden gate park master plan is the constitution of the park. it took 10 years of citizen input to create. the master plan must be followed. the eir acknowledges this. let us take a look at the master plan items. the demands for recreation need to be balanced with the objectives of preserving the of original intent of the park as a pastoral retreat.

historically, signs have been kept to a minimum, because the conflict with the pastoral nature of the landscape. somehow, signs are a problem, but 7 acres of dead, plastic turf that is toxic is ok. the absurd. lighting is for safety purposes and is not intended to increase might use. that kills the whole thing. how does the eir handle that? they do not mention it. they realize that sentence would kill it. it shows you what a fraudulent eir this is. there is a nice section on the bottom of page 100 of the eir. it describes the existing lighting system of the park as a

acquitted and in need of replacement. why did they put that in there? might as well put in 60 foot towers with lights. president buell: that is two minutes. thank you. you can leave that, if you like. [names are read] >> my name is marsha denver. i am a resident of the neighborhood. we are very concerned about the way this plan is shaping up in golden gate park, which we have

always considered is best served by being as rural and undeveloped as possible. when people go down to the ocean, they would often like to be able to watch the natural change of lighting as the sun moves down, and experience it that way. that will be totally destroyed by these huge lights. and the toxins going into the water system, the awkward for, the water table, and into the ocean, from the toxins that are in the turf that are talking about -- they have a beautiful area with a windmill and tulips. this will totally destroy the feeling of being in that area. i just cannot believe that anybody would choose to have that when they can have turf kinds of things with plastic

grass in other parts of the city. do not rule in the west and of golden gate park. thank you. >> my name is kerry jones. i am a representative of the california youth soccer association, which affiliates the local youth leagues. local sports groups began advocating for the installation of artificial turf in 1998. fortunately, the rec and park department has embraced the concept, and has provided some beautiful complexes. there is not enough complexes. the local youth leagues are growing. they still need more places to play. beach chalet has been a traditional facility foreground sports in san francisco.

previous renovation occurred in 1998. unsafe conditions became apparent to mayer brown, and he remedied it. unfortunately, that has dwindled since then, due to lack of maintenance. the opposition seems to be out of touch with the realities of providing natural turf fields in our environment. for sports facilities, we need practical solutions. i am wondering if they will next the demand that the park tennis courts be converted to grass. this is a practical solution to the shortage of soccer fields in the city. this is a safe alternative. i support the project. thank you very much.

president buell: we have a kid'' group. some folks have been waiting. if we can back up some of the teams together, and may be one speaker for all of the green team, that would be great. >> i am a new manager of the competitive team in san francisco, the nighthawks. it is very difficult to find playing fields as a team in san francisco. this project allows triple the amount of playing time. the lights provide very little effect beyond the area in which that are lighting. we believe that this project for youth and adult sports is very important.

this area of the park is historically one that is used for active recreation. it is our belief that this renovation of the part is consistent with that usage.>> ye down a little. it makes it easier. >> i live at 745 10th ave. i love playing soccer. i think kids in san francisco should have more turf fields to play on. president buell: thank you. >> good evening. i am a 28-year-old san francisco

resident. i grew up in the shadow of mountains in montana. needless to say, i have terrific appreciation for the environment. the weapon year earlier, but i made decisions that necessitated i stayed at work. i spent an hour with 10 disadvantaged high-school students. second, i spend three evenings a week with boys as a little league baseball head coach. i do not have a child in school or in little league. i do not have children of my own. i simply believe i can do more for the kids of san francisco. i am advocating port in preschool programs for disadvantaged kids. i support increased opportunities for kids to be kids. i can happily tell you that 13% of our citizens were preserved

because south sunset has field turf similar to what is being proposed at beach chalet. that allowed for more help the competition and more smiles. that is as good as it gets. i got involved in little league to facilitate more as opposed to less chances for our city youth to compete. much like adults should not get in the way on the ball field, adults should not be an obstruction off of it either. >> i am representing mission green. i think the children in san francisco should have a chance to play on turf fields because

there is a lot of holes in natural grass fields. the turf fields are open longer than and natural grass field when it rains. >> my name is mark. i think that artificial grass will make it better, because the fields will stay open when it rains. if we had lights, the adults could stay off the field in the day and play at night. the kids can play during the day. >> i live five blocks away from the field. our coach tried to get permits, but we could not. my parents cannot afford a car.

>> my name is angel. i am going to say this in spanish. [speaking spanish] >> i have to go across town to play soccer at crocker, because it is open during the reign. -- the rain. this would be more efficient. you do not have to cut and water the grass. you just have to make a safe environment for the kids.

you would have more kids sitting at home, plain text box -- playing xbox. president buell: thank you very much. [names are read] after this, we are going to take a short break. >> my name is michelle. i am a third-generation san franciscan, raising my fourth generation, or raising a fourth generation. i am a volunteer for the schools of sacred heart for field day. my daughter does play soccer and i am in support of soccer. i want to turf beach chalet.

i have 400 boys out on the field day i have done for the last nine years. i cannot tell you how many injuries i get on a field day from the boys on that field. i am also up at night, wondering if the field will be closed. i have to have a backup plan. as i call to get a reservation, every year, there is a tossup whether it will be closed, if they want 400 kids on the field. if we had more turf fields, public schools and independent schools would use them during the day. i pay considerable right to rent the field during the day. that is more revenue to the park. that is for the use of turf fields. nobody wants to go out. nobody wants 400 kids during the

day, because they are afraid it is winter ruin these grass fields. >> i am a strong supporter of this project. i am a resident of the outer sunset. our family has benefited tremendously from similar projects that have been accomplished by the foundation in other parts of the city. i believe that golden gate park is a treasure. it is not a museum. this needs to be changing, not static. i believe the eir documents the fact that the park has been changed throughout history to meet the needs of the residents of the city. clearly, the hot button issues for the project deployments are turf and lights.

those are the elements of the project that are going to dramatically increase the plate hours for the residents of this city. with respect to the lights, lighting has been used throughout the park throughout its history. as early as the 1920's, there was letting on tennis courts. there are various pedestrian and the vehicle pathways' throughout the park. those are done to increase the use and enjoyment of the residents. as i travel through the bay area, i am blown away by how many other jurisdictions in public and private institutions are trying to weigh the cost- benefit analysis. many of them, i believe, make the decision that synthetic grass makes sense for sports fields. these projects have had a transformative effect on the neighborhoods they have been

accomplished in. for me, crocker amazon has rekindled my love of the sport. playing on the turf, under the lights, as an adult. i am hopeful that one day this project would go forward and i will be able to stand on the fields with my children, and tell them how important it is to stand up for what you believe in and positively affirmed what you believe is a good thing. president buell: next speaker, please. >> i live in the sunset area. i am a lifelong soccer player. i decided to come out and speak for the turf field. i think it is a great thing that

south sunset and amazon are turf fields. our group grew from six people to 145 people in two years. it helped a lot of new immigrants and adult players. we have been able to mix into the society. i am a certified professional in leed. i heard a lot about toxic materials, this and that. the fact is the most toxic thing is disinformation. if you pick the right material, i think the clean building council is not as people describe. it is good for the water and

preservation, which we are short of. i think it is good for the environment. i read the eir with my environmental colleagues. they agreed that it is a very good report. that is very important, and minimizes injuries. we stopped playing at the west sunset playground as well as the beach chalet because we had so many injuries. we must play on turf fields. but it is so limited we do not have enough slots. we have booked them all. thank you for your time. president buell: are there any speakers that we have called? we are going to take a 10 minute break k

>> the special joint meeting of the recreation and park commission and the planning commission is back in session. commissioners, we are still in public comment. >> william holmes, rocky, kenieta scott, john collins, marisa margle, keith englebrick. who is here? young chin, jessica roible, ryan farrell, jane midge, shelly m, sir, thank you for your help. but i think we got it. steve begley. >> steve!

>> a little chippy tonight. >> thank you, guys, for being here. alternates a pleasure to -- it's a pleasure to speak with you. i know you have an interesting decision. my name is kenyatta scott, athletic director for abraham lincoln high school, teach mathematics. i've traveled extensively refereeing around the world and seeing soccer in many different levels. even when i was asked to come here to speak, was it pretty much in support of the beach chalet project but it was also, i have to speak the truth. i live right next to golden gate park so i'm a sunset person and i've come here from somewhere else but there are two things that concern me. one, it is the limited amount of field space that there is in the city and grass fields but i have to say, listening to everyone, i've been more conflicted than our pris recent

decision he came to over the past few years because i am for the environment, i am for education and i am for kids being able to have a playing space. but the items are, i am for the field, i'm not for the lights. the reason i come to that conclusion is, it's very nice to go out and see the night sky. as an educator, i am dismayed when kids do not have a sense of wonder when they walk into my classroom, that they don't know the other heavenly bodies that are out there. we just had an amazing celestial event this past weekend with the eclipse and some kids don't get a chance to see that. what also i do like seeing in parents having the ability to take their kids to places but sometimes there's a time to say no, that if the kid is not up at the field, you can be around the dinner table, having your kids read and do other things. but the field, i am yes for, that's a compromise i am willing to make because being next to golden gate park, i would rather not have that there but it's

necessary and that's a compromise i am for so if you accept this, i would ask that your decision be fields yes, lights, no. thank you. >> thank you. >> my name is steve begley. my understanding is that the commission today has to decide on the e.i.r., whether or not to verify it. i'm six foot tall and this light is maybe like a watt or so. can you imagine me if i'm 60 feet tall with 150,000 watts. that's a lot of light. that's kind of annoying, i would think. so i'm thinking, you know, i work in public relations and media and one of the things that i found out is that pretty much if you want to, you can get a

report that can prove scientifically anything you want. and it's a good trick. i have this book here, called "trust us, we're experts" and it talks about how the industry manipulates experts in science in order to get what they want. i want you, when you look at this e.i.r., to pay attention to richard drury's letter he submitted that says look at some problems with the science. there are serious flaws in the research. now, earlier, you probably heard the kid who said, you know, i looked at science and i had lead in the grass and lead in the astro turf. you wouldn't necessarily pay attention to that kid, would you? right now, some of the science in the e.i.r. is almost as weak. they only have one test that they did on the particles that was for ingestion. they took one of the grasses,

the tire particles, put it in a vile and shook it up and said there's no lead in there. that was it, just one test. that's the kind of research flaw that the people in new york found and that's why they have a moratorium on that. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> thank you. let me adjust the mic. he was six feet tall. i'm 6'2", not quite as animated. my name is don collins, commissioner of athletics for the school district in the san francisco section. we have 13 high schools playing boys soccer and 13 playing girls soccer. in the middle schools, we've been running co-ed league with 22 schools, we're doubling it.

they will now play boys 22, girls 22. we put a strain on the fields and it is very hard for us to get them. when, a long time ago, when we played solely on grass fields before the advent of the current synthetic turf load of fields, our seasons were often prolonged. there was an educational impact. students would leave school, they would go to a field, if it was closed, they would come back, the game would be rescheduled and they would return the next day. this was not in the best interest of education. we have benefited from the current level of synthetic turf fields but we must note that the side of town in richmond where beach chalet is going to be doesn't have them and it causes a travel issue for our young kids coming from marina middle school, lillianthal, those

people have to travel a long way to gain the benefits. that has an educational impact so we support the e.i.r., we support the fields. we do so for athletic purposes. we do so for educational purposes. i thank you for having me here today. thank you very much. >> next speaker. >> my name is dave fromeer and unfortunately i'm 5'6". seriously, i wanty to thank everyone for their patience and for their sincerity and for the dignity of this proceeding. i grew up living in the richmond district a block from golden gate park. my family spent every weekend in golden gate park. my parents love the flora and fauna and have always been very active in environmental issues.

i first discovered a soccer ball when i was 13 1/2 or 14 and five years later in 1961, 50 years ago, our soccer team, the under 19 boys team, won the united states national championship. this is the first youth team from west of the mississippi river to win a national championship and to this day the only san francisco youth team that has ever won a national championship. most of the kids, incidentally, were poor kids from all over the city and beach chalet was our haven, our heaven. and it was an amazing opportunity for us to grow up playing soccer there. i wanted to say that since i started coaching in 1960 and i've coached about 70,000 kids

in that time, and i've also been very concerned about environmental issues. and i wanted to say that i am a little conflicted as the previous speaker indicated, and there are many, many things they am concerned with in terms of the e.i.r. and the plan to go forward, but i think that the greater good is definitely with the kids and there's a strong need, very strong need for this turf field at beach chalet. >> thank you. >> and i don't want talk too long but i advocate it with all my heart. thank you. >> thank you very much. ok. sean shannon, jay moore, libby