>> i did not think this day would come. i asked my boss about it, and he said, you can start to look for all home. i narrowed it down to two or three places, and he said, there has been a change. what do you think about moving to malaysia? i said, i am not interested in moving to malaysia. i just became a grandfather, and i am not interested. he said, we may need you to move to atlanta because that gentleman is interested in moving to malaysia. that is what happened. it was not in the plan at all i have been doing this for about 22 years, and with the work of jim and the team, it is an

immaculate golf course. it is a pleasure to say that is where we were holding events, so thank you for that. your team has done a great job. it was a huge change when jim joins us. he brought a different expertise, but i know we are excited about staying here and having the contract extended. the next thing is some of the events will be at a different time of year, so i can come and visit. i would like to thank the commission and your entire teams for helping me get the job done. thank you again. i really appreciate it. gooaxe congratulations. good -- >> congratulations.

[applause] there is a whole story about the work you have done. but is there any public comment on this item. we are on item number three, general managers reports. >> a few announcements. one presentation, and our monthly video. announcement number one, show your pride. rec and park is proud to show diversity in the lgbt convention. find out about exciting recreational events. we are located out booth pne4. happy pride day. stren grove kicks off on sunday.

join the festival for a vague no picnic -- for a picnic starring anita baker and featuring the family stone live ensemble. for more information, visit sterngrove.com. i invite everyone in the department and the chinatown community for a special event celebrating the reopening of the historic center in chinatown. as part of the 2008 clean and safe neighborhood parks bond, the center is set to reopen a new center named in honor of a san francisco native and national heroine thanks to this

commission. enjoy activities for kingston and light refreshments on saturday, july 14 -- enjoy activities for kids and light refreshments on saturday. it is a pro. this opens in july, because july is national parks and recreation month. goothis is the official parks ad recreation month. join us in celebrating all the great things we love about our programs here again -- our programs. visit us at sfgtv.org. we have got a number of things plan. speaking of anniversaries, i do not think they are in the audience, but i want to congratulate glen eagles golf course. glen eagles golf course celebrates its 50th anniversary. i want to thank tom and his staff that have done a

tremendous job of rejuvenating the course and making it one of the hidden gems of the city and probably the toughest nine holes anywhere. i have another special announcement and presentation to make today, and i want to ask gloria to stand up for a second. gloria has served as 5428 and a half years. gloria has had a positive impact on our parks, playgrounds, special projects. gov. passionate commitment to preserve and protect the framework and also by generations of gardeners whose true legacy of leadership for the park. her attention for high-quality

work performance has resulted in improved this does, better gardening, and a myriad of renovations and bio diversity. her efforts to rein resources and training. she effectively started. on behalf of millions of park visitors, thousands of volunteers, a professional co- workers commo, i want to saluter for her respect for our parks. goomr. president, if you can jon

us, congratulations on your retirement. did we have a number of colleagues to celebrate, and i want to add my personal notes, which is how much i have appreciated in learning from you. your historical commitment is incredible, and it has been nothing but an odd sloot pleasure. good congratulations. [applause] fax i want to say thank you. it has been an honor to serve this beautiful city. i am grateful for opening the

door for meaningful work, and i want to thank the recreation and parks department and a passionate and dedicated people who have the passion for all these years. good crops we have one thing i almost forgot. -- >> we have one thing i almost forgot. we would like to allow you to bring this home. [applause] >> thank you very much, and congratulations, and since you are so young, what is your next career. >> i will be coming back to volunteer. >> i would like to conclude the general managers' report with a

look at this month in parks. goo♪ >> because of our partnership we are giving kids a chance to make healthy choices, so thank you

very much. >> i am excited to participate in the festival. this is a great opportunity and demonstration of the collaboration. >> i want to say this playground was built in the mid 1930's, and it was made through the generations and when and a great staff of the rec and park department. we are going to transform this place. it is one of the treasures of the city. [applause]

>> as always, i want to thank jamie harvest for doing such an amazing job putting this together, and that concludes the report. >> is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, we are on item number four. members may address items of interest but are in the interest section of the commission and said do not appear on the agenda. your opportunity to address the commission will be afforded. now catherine howard. >> good morning, commissioners.

catherine howard, sf ocean edge. we have filed an appeal for the project hearing. the hearing will be on july 10 at 4:00. it is not the way we want to do things, but we have been left with no choice. the department is trying to pick residents against each other are not listening to our point of view. you spent $1 million on an eir that was not necessary. i am here to offer an appeal to reagan for two months we have been trying to meet with its general manager, and i hope you can help set up this meeting. good eveninone of our members mn

appointment. that appointment was cancelled. another one was subsequently set up. that was cancelled within 24 hours. he felt is respected -- disrespected. he did not want another appointment. i spoke to the general manager, and he suggested i made an appointment. i have called and called. his assistant has tried to do this, but i still do not have an appointment. we have some ideas. we do not want to keep fighting. i hope it can work out. >> my understanding is the meeting has been set up for july 13. >> is there any other public comment? seeing none, public comment --

>> hi, i am a resident and a property owner in pacific heights. it is currently the site of a major renovation undertaking at lafayette park. my understanding is this was founded after the 2007 initiative and the following bonds and over $10 million has been allocated for this project. good questions have come in terms of see " proprietary -- in terms of ceqa, a certain things for renovation as well as violation of the charter and violation of the current road as well as the draft road. at this time the plan is for an

11-acre park to be closed for 10 months. two small areas have been cordoned off for dog walkers to use. during this time there seems to be no plan whatsoever for watering the young trees that were planted over the last decade. they do require special protection, and a sensitive habitat will be lost. it has been noted by the city that is likely does qualify as a national historic treasure property, that is certainly qualifies under state guidelines for historic places, and right death of pinnacle --

right at the pinnacle where he fought for 70 years about whether he could keep his mansion with a million-dollar view that is shared by another mansion or it should be city park. during that fight commo, a lot f history transferred, and there were efforts to update parts of the park. now we have a plan that will take apart those historic features. what is going to go where the hallway mansion used to be? in part, it is going to be a new storage shed that will be five times the size of the existing shed, and a plan to put in a new facility not for recreational purposes is in violation of the city charter as well as several roads with protected nils --

hilltop views and historic places. another feature anticipated is regrade the slope and bring in vast quantities of dirt so another structure can be built here ago we have policies to not have new structures, and we have policies to maintain what we do have. good >> you have used your time, but i think we get your message. >> we need -- >> if i give you more than three minutes, i have to give everyone more than three minutes. fykes we lived across from the park, and we visit the park together with many of our friends, and they cannot go to the playground. it is a 15-minute walk by stroller, and we will not do

that twice today. we were hoping there would be a designated children's area during the renovation. we try visiting the area a couple times, but you are seeing a lot of dog poop, pee, ticks. it is not an area for children any more. another issue is the upcoming water feature. i am not a helicopter mom. i would like my daughter is in attendance when we play. -- my daughter to have independence when she plays. unfortunately with is being built, and we are concerned about sanity of this water feature.

there are habitats in the park, and we have a feeling this will be used for different agendas other than to play in. thank you. >> is there any other public comment? i just quickly to say that now they have been trying to get this meeting in which the general manager, and to find out evenit is after the appeal hearg is unacceptable. i have been trying to solve ongoing issues asner and amicably as possible, and i am not getting satisfaction. we had a surplus of money for sunnyside playgrounds, and we have been trying for three years to spend it. we cannot spend it, and now we

have no contractor to install it. we are being told everything that is expedient. everything is on back order. how long can a picnic table be on the back corner -- how long can a picnic table be on back order salmo? we paid twice to replace one section of sense that ended up being replaced twice for the benefit of only two residents while we had a lot of people who lost their privacy because of inferior work, so we have tried. we have done everything weeke cn to get somebody to talk to us.

there is no where we can go to get satisfaction. nor can we get someone to work this out for us. now we are living up to our part of the bargain. all of this had to be done again. now i am living up to my aunt of the bargain. we have already put tens of thousands of dollars of our time into this, and now they want to raise more money in? we cannot even get an audience. this is not the way this system

should be run. >> thank you. >> is there any other public comment? >> hello, i am a neighbor. i live a couple blocks away. i am happy to say we got part of our perimeter fence taken down. this should have been part of the planning. the historic resources exemption, if is a historic resources. however, the historic evaluation says certain things are going to

keep their integrity. the storage shed is requiring the removal of some very large, healthy trees in order to install this. we only found this out recently when we got a hold of the report. it is a moving target we do not know. they posted the trees on june 6, but the perimeter fence went up a couple weeks ago. some of them are required to be posted for several days. the ones in the middle of the park where we cannot get to them are unable to be viewed. additionally, the project manager went on vacation, so it was chaotic.

one thing is the migratory bird act and whether it has been followed. they are supposed to follow a certain procedure in order to not have this be an issue for ceqa. they are supposed to be doing a nesting survey. the report they are relying on is from the beginning of may. there could have been new things look at. i have seen them in other areas of the park. goothey have not contacted fishd game, as they stated they would do if they found a nest, and i have the nesting report

triggered a stated just yesterday they saw -- face faded just yesterday they saw the red hot fledgling and certain birds have disappeared. five public comment will be continued on item 13, but we are on item 5, the consent calendar. >> i am representing the friends of cumberland and playgrounds regent -- friends of cabrilla playground. we have been doing things to raise money and a generous donation to read furnish our clubhouse and to buy other types

of equipment not covered by capital funding. thank you. goo>> is there any other public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> moved and seconded. any opposition? seeing none, is approved. good >> item #6. the san francisco zoo. >> i brought our ceo because of the budget consent calendar. i also have our 17-year-old intern. i wanted her susie -- i wanted her to see the most functioning committee in the city appear again -- in the city. as you saw, they have profited for the school year. we hope you will find it controlled in terms of revenue.

we project 4% growth this coming year, but we are facing health- care cost increases as well. we plan to keep new hires at a minimum but invest in improvements, much like we did with the bobcat. our first public bobcat display ever, so we are happy about that. 10,000 visitors attended our free day. 45,000 visitors have taken advantage as well as 20,000 san francisco public school kids, and free memberships were offered to public school

teachers. i am happy to report we are over budget by 10%, and we are just a few away from reaching those kinds of numbers. if she does come to the zoo, we will be sure to reward him or her with something special. i want to thank the foundation for sponsoring our first virtual serengeti. it will allow us to make dangerous species with the ones we have at the zoo in the interior area of the pachyderm and building. with that, i conclude my report. >> is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. we are on item number seven.

good >> good morning. the item before you is discussion and possible action to recommend the board of supervisors to accept and expand a gift of $2.7 million to the recreation and park department for improvements. in april, we presented the concept plan and the overall project. this is the culmination of a three-part initiative. with me i have the california state director for the transfer of public land and the bay area and a director. good i wanted to mention briefly there has been one minor change. since two weeks ago, we have had to reject the initial round of gainbids. we