least the tower to the current vendor to provide amenities and elevator service to the observation deck. they have continue to operate on a month-to-month basis since 2002, when their lease expired. the department issued 4 rfp's since that time. 2006, 2010, and 2011, last october. there has been quite an extensive community process associated with these rfp's. since 2006, the department collaborated with surrounding neighborhood groups, including the telegraph hill dwellers to develop guidelines. this collaboration included numerous public meetings with interested stakeholders. in 2008, they submitted a

principles document which is in your packet. the document outlined a number of guidelines for the department to adhere to an operating a coit tower concession to rid the majority of goals were incorporated into the 2010 and 2011 rfp's. among those goals are high quality food and beverages to be operated from a cart outside of the tower. no commercial advertising and no amplified sound. and they should sell high- quality items that relate directly to the tower and the history of san francisco. we are also requiring the concessionaire to update the merchandize and traffic flow within earshot. very important, the vendor to provide a mural protection plan with their proposal. they are encouraged to get to the guests -- to encourage their guests to get to this tower in a

bus or private cars. the last rfp was issued last october. prior to issue a -- prior to issuance, the department reached out to the surrounding community. they also contacted over 5000 businesses and every single merchant organization listed as a small business. we received three timely responses. the current vendor did not submit a proposal. the key terms associated with this or that the respondent would pay a minimum annual guarantee or the percentage of gross revenue, whichever was higher. no less than $540,000 per year. the percentage of rent on each revenue stream -- extreme, with the exception of the elevator,

which the department has the 90% gross revenue of. the lease term should be no longer than five years in length with a three-year option to extend. the minimum qualifications associated with this are that the respondent had to have five years of experience in fully managing a business of this nature. sufficient financial capacity to undertake the concession capacity, including the ability to upgrade the gift shop and deal effectively with community issues and act as a -- as an effective caretaker of this iconic landmark. as with all our opportunities, we had a lengthy selection process. as i mentioned, we received three timely responses. the department convened a neutral selection panel to evaluate and score the proposal based on the criteria stated in

rfp's. we carefully assembled a panel to honor and respect the variety and diversity of uses at the tower. we wanted a local community member, a representative of the north beach merchant community, a capital planner, and a knowledgeable public art professional as a member of the panel. here you have the details on the panel. diaz was a community representative. she is a founder and acting member in the friends of joe dimaggio playground. she is a small business owner in san francisco, owning north beach marine campus. she is also active in the north beach boys and girls club and treasurer of s.f. bay. we also have the co-president of

the north beach chamber of commerce. he is a business corridor member of the mayor's center for economic development. allyson is a senior registrar for the entire city art collection and public art program with the san francisco arts commission. tom is a property manager with the department. we also had another member as the capital planner. he is also the planner who is going to be managing the $1.5 million deferred maintenance program at the tower as part of the high-level needs identified issued in the recent report. the selection panel recommendation was for terry grimm to operate concessions. as you can see, he well outscored the other panelists,

receiving 88% of possible points. i wanted to give you a little bit of background on terry n.y. the selection panel thought he was most qualified for the opportunity for it since 1977, him and his wife has operated the oyster bar, a friendly neighborhood restaurant with a loyal following. they received a number of accolades and recognition from distinguish publications such as zagat's and the michlin guide. they also maintain a four-star rating on yelp. as a general contractor, terry grimm designed, built, and operated a spa until they sold it in 2006. kenwood inn and spa has

received an award of merit from the sonoma county historical society, which honored the rehab of an existing building. currently, he operates sorrento imports, a vintage motor scooter company in sonoma. they also have a coffee concession on site that serves high-quality food and beverage to the public on a daily basis. very important was a mural protection plan. the arts commission is currently developing guidelines to best protect the murals. any future concessionaire or visitor or user of the tower will be required to follow those guidelines. in addition, the department will dedicate 1% of revenues from the concessions to the arts commissions for merrill maintenance and protection. this is in addition to the

recently allocated $250,000 that the department gave to the arts commission for mural recommend it -- for mural restoration. in addition, mr. gramm proposes to implement a program to complement the current city walking towards which are every wednesday and saturday. as soon as i was assigned this project, i took it and learned a lot about the murals and had a whole new sense of appreciation for them. if you can, get out there and take a tour. in addition, he will install signed an rules in place to preserve them. i wanted to give you a proposal summary. all terms and all items propose are just a proposal. that will still have to go into negotiations to iron out the details. consistent with the tower principles and goals document,

mr. grim proposes to sell high- quality items. he will install department- approved custom shelving to better utilize the space and enhance the visitor experience. and he will work with his wife to custom build a department- approved food and beverage cart. the oyster bar will provide the food and beverages on a daily basis. they planned offer a variety of fresh food and many of their ingredients are purchased from local and sustainable vendors, such as hog island oyster company, calif. shellfish, and panorama bakery. he will work with the department and his staff -- and supply his staff with knowledge and facts about the tower and the surrounding neighborhood to make

the visitor experience more enjoyable and informative. he also proposes to increase the daily cleaning schedule to better honor and present the tower to the public. in addition, he would require that all employees dress and interact with the public in a professional manner. again, with these proposed financial terms, they are not final. the minimum annual guaranteed for this opportunity was $540,000. i just wanted to give you a comparison -- in 1992, it was a bit over $89,000. the proposed percentage -- i mentioned earlier that the elevator was determined to be a 90% remittance to the department. the respondent proposed to supply the department with 20% of gross revenue on the gift shop, 15% on food and beverage, 30% on special events, and 30% on binoculars revenue.

projected rent to the department, a little over $677,000. that is compared to the last five years, a little over $638,000. in addition to the community outreach, i will note that there has also been a fair amount of press. i am sure you have been reading on this subject in the chronicle, the examiner, the business times, the new york times, the l.a. times, and various new stations. another opportunity for us to spread the word about this process. i will not go through all of the names listed in this line. we did in form number of groups and individuals about not only the opportunity, but about the full commission meeting considering this recommendation today.

the slide shows the merchant outreach that was conducted. i should note that the department determined there is not just one best way. we take the approach of having a broad spectrum of outreach. including hand-delivering materials to various merchants. i mentioned this earlier, but every single merchant organization listed was also contacted and their presidents were encouraged to give information to all of their members for writ we informed san francisco travel, the sentences the chamber of commerce, the union square bid, the golden gate restaurant association, the twitter feed and newsletter, current vendors with the department, and all entities registered at anlbe with the human rights commission called local catering groups, local special event providers. coffeeshops, local museum stores and vendors with the golden gate national recreation area will

all contacted. community feedback thus far -- the support that has been communicated for the selection, specifically of terry grimm, has been from the selection panel. sonoma valley chamber of commerce, the mason center, golden gate restaurant association, san and cisco chamber of commerce, ken bailey, julie christensen, john franklin, john hirsch berger, ryan hubert. the opposition has been from stephen worsley and generally from john gollinger, and otehrs.

-- and others. continuing public process, there will be no less than eight public meetings on this topic, including this meeting and the previous operations committee. all opportunities for the public to weigh in on the process for it should the commission select terry grimm, staff will do the following -- hold a meeting in the community to introduce him. in addition, after a successful lease negotiation, we will go back to the city to present the negotiated terms before we come back to the commission for recommendation to approve those terms. we will then come to the operation committee to consider recommending to the board of supervisors. we will then go to the budget finance committee, the full board of supervisors, and the mayor will have the offer -- the ultimate decision.

that concludes my part of the presentation. i would like to have terry grimm come up and introduce himself. i am more than happy to answer any questions you may have. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good morning, commissioners. i am really thankful and humble just to be considered for this. i have been doing a lot of research on coit tower. its story past has always been filled with controversy. i do want people to know that i understand that as iconic as the tower is, that telegraph hill is just as important. i want to work with the group. i have been in touch with sander

costello daily since this was announced and she assured me that she is open to public opinion and getting this right. i understand what an icon coit tower is and how important this art work is. it is a collection that cannot be repeated anywhere. it is a wonderful collection. i would like to make this, the visitors' experience, authentic and knowledgeable, have them walk away with an appreciation that they probably did not have before they visited. i think we can do this with passionate employees, trying to create a program where we can get college students to come and work. i just wanted tell everyone i appreciate being in this position, i take it seriously,

and i will try to make this a project that everyone would be proud of. i understand just how important the tower is. thank you. >> thank you. >> we do have public comment. todd, steven, anne. >> good morning, commissioner spirit i have worked for roseanne and terry since 1988. i work full time from 1988 through 2002, when i went to the university of notre dame to get a ph.d. in english, which are almost half. there are great to work for. i still work for them during the summer when i come back. i love being at the oyster bar. it is an asset to the community.

i was a support volunteer for the ishaqi project for five years. during that time, there was tremendous support. donations, gift certificates, time off for training. they have integrated themselves into the community in very positive ways. the oyster bar itself, it you look at the outside of it from 1977, when it opened, just a storefront window. there are very attentive to the spaces they create. i watch them turn it into the internationally-renowned place that it is now. a fairly ramshackle antique shop, to put it gently. again, they create value and respect the spaces they are in. as far as the quality of the food, i do not wanted to my own horn, but i think the oyster bar is great. any food that comes from there is going to be top-flight.

in my capacity as an academic, i am helping him develop a program. i e-mails several of my colleagues about this. there are so many local colleges, berkeley, stanford, the art institute, that have undergraduate students that would be hungry to do research projects. the question is how to give them the credit they are going to want. everybody in academics was that extra line. if we could find a way to make that work for people, that would be great. i will keep my comments short, but i strongly recommend terry as an operator. thank you. >> hello. the people, from what you hear

from the media all around the country, what the tower to be a heritage museum. simple as that. of all the things rec and park does so well, i believe that fine art is be on your stove. for example, i applaud his work. the idea of young kids this week. what about somebody who lived through the great depression? i read this thing called coit forum. out of all the people, 100% of the people thought that the art collection was poorly managed. they supported the idea of museum status. museum status, unfortunately, would take control away from you. it would make it a museum. coit is art-driven.

those fresoces are majorly significant to what it means to be an american. having a restaurateur or a hot dog guide, those things are unnecessary, unwanted, and long, let alone tacky. that is objective. we will not go there. i stood out there in front of the tower for an entire day of my life and interviewed everybody from all over the world. locals, natives, voters, everybody. they all thank you for giving them a free tour. the message in this art work is very hidden. it is innuendo. they could not really say, we have got to worry about hitler. we have got to worry about mussolini. online and apricot industry is going to save us.

there is more than that. i have learned in my life that change is inevitable. it can be quite positive when guided in the right direction. if you were to allow this tiny little spot to become a museum, it would be a feather in your cap. you will always have the money, the exorbitant l.a. riot, but the art, the stairwell, the whole thing up stairs, the old expression about artists must be told. the great depression really did happen. it affected my grandmother and all of us here. i believe that there is no interaction here. this place should have museum status. thank you so very much for your time. >> thank you.

>> i have lived on telegraph hill for 20 years. i have been very involved in the pioneer park project, which has mostly to do with the landscaping. trying to make sure the transit -- the trees get trimmed in a reasonable way and things like that. i have also been on the sidelines, observing the process of selection of the concessionaire will last seven years. i think this is the first time we of, with someone i could really support as a concession there. i think terry grimm does have the right quality. i do agree about the character of the murals. i think we have to find their way, with an whatever framework, that those murals are treated as a museum-quality. i do not think that responsibility can be entirely

assigned to a mr.grimm. it is the responsibility of the art commission, as i understand. there are some aspects of the proposal that need to be worked on. i think he is a great choice. he is a responsible person that goes well with people. after this decision is made, if it is made, in addition to introducing him to the public, which is the responsibility of the department to engage the public in the terms of the concession, because there is, as you know, great controversy about everything we do. and there is great controversy about the events being held in the tower. i am not sure they really bad enough to the revenue to consider having them in the inside of the tower. he might consider having some outside. the public needs to be engaged in that.

if you do not, someone will put it on the ballot and we will have a referendum. that is the threat i get from my neighbors all the time. i encourage you to take it seriously, to move ahead and be strategic. the other thing is the $1.7 million the mayor has allocated for taking care of problems. we need to plan for that. we need to know how it will be spent for the future and be serious about it. thank you for listening and goodlatte. -- and good luck. >> i have known terri for about 15 years. i sell all of trees. -- olive trees.

his scooter store has a very large parking lot. he is a businessman, so i told him, how about if we put a few olive trees outside of the parking lot? he said, i cannot do it. i said, what you mean? we would just put a nice tree for landscaping and nobody will know. and then we can still do it. he said, i just cannot do it. that shows you that he follows rules. i think that is very positive. on top of that, i have known him and his family about 15 years to. they are a family that is very creative. very respectful. i think there would be the right people to take whatever exists already and take it to a better level for the people to enjoy

the tower anyway. >> grazie mille. >> good morning grit i am here today representing two different groups and urging your support for mr. grimm. i am associated with his wife as part of the oyster bar. i am also asking your support for the underlying plan to operate coit tower concession and the related activities in a very reasonable manner. that is a bit of it the -- a bit of an elephant in the room today. mumse has about 250 businesses in the castro. the venerable cliffs variety store and steve adams of

sterling bank, also the president of the small business commission. they both had other commitments but could not be here today. you have, in your packages, and april 30 letter that confirms mr. and mrs. grimm's operation of the oyster bar and its quality, innovation, and community support. i am also here with my buena vista neighborhood association hat on. that group has about 400 currently paid members representing over 400 households. the castro district is the preferred place downhill from buena vista for miami -- for member -- for many of our members to eat and shop. certainly, the anger oyster bar.

we can confirm anchors excellent credentials in terms of quality and long record of community respect and involvement. we ask your support. since there are a few seconds left. i have to recollect on a personal visit, showing some visitors from out of town around town. we went up to the tower. what a disaster. it is an embarrassment. it makes fishermans wharf look like bloomingdale's. i know terry and his associates can do a much better job. i urge your support. thank you. >> good morning, commissioners. i am davy crockett, a san francisco realtor. francisco realtor. one of the nice things about