and there are kids in africa, and they are really poor, and they cannot afford anything. what they do is play a game of pickup soccer and just play, play, play. they do not need all of this stuff. they are better than us. president chiu: [chuckles] [applause] [laughter] why do we need all of this stuff? just do it yourself. it is they're all of the time. [bell] [applause] >> this was actually from -- that i'd picked up. on this side -- migratory. president chiu: thank you,

ma'am. we do about every speaker to speak for up to two minutes, so you can, you can. [bell] [speaker speaking off microphone] >> aluminum, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, magnesium -- i cannot pronounce it. >> manganese, nickel.

>> zinc, tin, sells for -- sulphur, carbon dioxide, phenol, -- >> ethylene. president chiu: i am sorry, again, ma'am. i want to abide by the rules of the chamber. we need to have one speaker at a time. each speaker gets to speak for a damp -- up to two minutes. we will hear from other speakers who have not had a chance to speak, we can do it that way, also.

thank you very much. why do we not hear from our next speaker? >> here you go, mom. president chiu: can we hear from our next speaker? >> my name is lisa. you have to excuse my entire. i just came from the park. i am a special interest being here today. i am a mother. these are my two sons. they are five and seven-years old. i live approximately one block from where this will be developed. so it is literally my backyard. we use the park as a backyard. it is one of the things, the beauty of san francisco that maintains me being in the san francisco. this is one of the cultural centers. our kids to public school. we pay taxes.

the housing crisis. this is an area of our backyard, destroyed. it is questionable whether or not like many other middle-class parents we would stay. thank you. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> honorable chair, commissioners, and the 25-year resident and a landowner. and a taxpayer of ocean beach. i am an environmental lawyer and an professor, and i am attending your hearing today after watching this combined planning parks and recreation commission meeting on the web in order to alert you to a really severe a train wreck that presumably you would like to avoid. without commenting on the merits of the project, one way or another, i want to relate my

shock and having watched your planning commissioners who are supposed to be assisting you and the public repeatedly declared that the project location was not in the coastal zone. on the world wide web. this is elementary, supervisors. there is a color map, and it shows this and extending east to the golf course. it is not up to opinion or debate. what is even more amazing watching this proceeding is the utter failure of your staff to correct and educate the commissioners and the public regarding these erroneous declarations. i am not making this up. coastal staff then write to your staff, informing them in no uncertain terms that this was appealable to the coastal commission and very likely to survive even a cursory scrutiny under the coastal act. [bell] you cannot just simply acknowledged the mistake and keep going.

as your city attorney advises, you need to start over and do this correctly, because the eir is critically flawed without having resources and coastal protection. thank you for this opportunity. [applause] president chiu: thank you very much. before the next speaker, i am just on to mention one rule in the board chambers, which is we ask the public not to express your support with applause or opposition to comments with this thing, out of respect to speakers and to expedite the line. if that could be the case, i would appreciate it -- or opposition to the comments with hissing. >> i am concerned any time children are used for political leverage, in i am especially skeptical about using incentives such as pizza, game, to draw miners into the political arena.

my son was at city wall, and reported that at least half of the kids did not know what they were here for. second, i am concerned by any public process that lacks transparency or direct community involvement. as a parent, i was never contacted about my support for this alternative versus any other alternative. however, i was directly contacted to silence my dissent. if parents are not ask, what does this mean about other stakeholders, other park users, or other use advocacy groups. -- groups? secondly, any time they try to get the shared park land for their exclusive use, i played soccer as a child, as has my son, but we have also flown model airplanes, climbed trees, and spend as many evenings sitting by bonfires on the

adjacent beach that will be forever changed by the installation of stadium lighting. we are happy to have imposed one activity or another, but if people a players' league roster to us, where it strictly bluegrass had plans for a permit ampitheater, that would be another story. this park is used by many people for many purposes, no single organization, no matter how forceful its lobby, should be given a way to do this in a way that diminishes it. thank you. >> supervisors, i appreciate this opportunity to express my views on this matter. my name is roland campos.

i have been a longtime resident of the sunset district. i grew up there. i was a soccer-aged kids it in the sunset. when i first heard about this idea of putting this in golden gate park, i was shocked. i could not believe it. where is the city had improved it is very simple to say that the proposed project as it is would destroy the western end of golden gate park. it would destroy the esthetics there, totally. i do not need, for my kids, i do not need an environment impact report of pages and pages of data. it is easy to see. i know it is necessary in the process, but it has just obscured the simplicity of the issue. we have a solution.

we have an alternative plan. this would be a win-win for everyone. i think it is very good that children have more places to play. but i also think that kids who like astronomy, as i did when i was a soccer age kid would also have a way to look at the stars. this would destroy this opportunity as it is now. to me, this is a litmus test for the leadership in this city. does the leadership of the city support green values? does it support protection of golden gate park? does it respect the golden gate park master plan? or is it --

president chiu: thank you very much. thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello, my name is thomas babbitt, and i just moved. once this is gone, it is gone forever. these are fine. i am not against kids playing soccer. i encourage them to play soccer. i encourage the alternative. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> i am charlotte hennessy, and i am a retiree of the national park service. i have been a defender of the environment for my entire life. i find this project as proposed

appalling. the hybrid seems more reasonable to me. i am not just about the birds and fish. the humans. they need a spiritual connection with the earth. if we have a polite it, no stars available, no oasis, the city of san francisco does not have too many oasises. please think about it. would you want that to be a legacy? thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening, supervisors. my name is david ray romano. -- david romano.

you are the last place for this contentious issue. it is up to you now to represent all of the people of san francisco and save golden gate park from artificial turf and stadium lighting. there are other locations for these artificial turf playing fields. if you survey the city from the top of twin peaks, what you see stretching out in every direction is an expanse of concrete road race -- roadways. ms. hartley a green patch to be seen. and i have been seeing that a lot of the agreement is not really a dream but artificial turf. how can we be a green city when we replace this with artificial turf? supervisors, please do not let this be your legacy to san francisco. how about this.

how about leasing this out for corporate offices? why do we not lease out city hall? mr. ginsberg, why do you not share an office, and then we can activate your office? this must not only stop, it must be reversed. no fees at the arboretum. no outside milan suggestible, -- now outside festival. perhaps mr. ginsburg does not belong on rec and park. he is unclear on what a part is. president chiu: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. i live in district 9. i am a soccer mom, a teacher, and a runner. my son played the last season. this was at the last of the season.

while everyone agreed that the field itself was not fantastic, and there are gopher holes, but it was better than what they played on the previous season, which was a very hard surface. the lines were drawn. those games were very difficult to referee. my major concern is the crumbs that end up in the eyes and mouths that end up in their mouth and hands. i know this to ensure you have to you have a tire to suffer adverse health effects, but we do not know the long-term effects. we once believed that asbestos was safe. we once believed that second- hand smoke was safe. this brings communities together. we are able to watch a picnic --

watch the game while having a picnic. i cannot run barefoot on turf on a 70-degree day. it burns my feet. finally, our kids are more than soccer players. they are stargazers and wildlife watchers. when we left the last game, my son and i watched a go for broke in and out of its hole. -- my son and i watched a gopher go in and out of its hole. he could not do that. this or what we choose to destroy. thank you. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i am jason. a richmond resident. i am speaking on behalf of some friends.

i want to try to emphasize these points that have not been fully addressed regarding the eir inadequacies. the first point is really a moral one. it has to do with the objectives. you need to understand, and this has been confirmed by dan at par and wreck, some of the increase plane time will be for adult leagues. -- confirmed by dan at park and wrecked -- rec. the second point has to do with health. first, please understand, there is a water pumping station that will be going in under any the offer that underlies the soccer field. -- that underlines the offer --

offer -- aquifer. they address this not only to the players but for those living in the surrounding neighborhoods. points fru -- four and five, and there is one issue that has been dormant. i understand that supervisor farrell has been looking at these impacts. this is an excellent idea. this was as compared to golden gate park, which has sent millions of people tromping through it. i think it would be more

convenient for all. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> supervisors, president, thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak. at the last, it was the viking kids, and a lot of them did not know what they came for. they came for pizza. i want to underscore what my neighbors said, and and there are many, many points, but the biggest ones is that i got up in san francisco in the richmond district. i have dropped this incredible water from hetch hetchy, and i hear that is going to be mixed with the offer -- aquifer and that it will be pumped right near the soccer fields.

the pesticides, it is horrible, but it is another thing to give it to your children, your elders. this is at golden gate park, as a result of putting this terrible, terrible high temperature. that is all i want to say. president chiu: next speaker. >> hello, supervisors. think you for listening. i appreciate it. i live out in the avenues about 20 blocks from the project. i love soccer. i think it is a good idea. there is obviously a need, but this is the wrong idea and the

wrong place. please consider preserving the western edge of golden gate park. please. >> i am urging you to go with john mclaren, who designed this park, and design it as an open area, not to be destroyed for a use of a small percentage of people. >> the greater amount of people use this park, and that is the area. please represent us. i grew up in this city. i grew up collecting sand crabs. looking at the trees, and loved that. they love wildlife, not just soccer. there are many more of us but love soccer. with me, that loves soccer.

president chiu: thank you, next speaker. >> you do not know when you have bought until it is gone. they paid paradise and put up a parking lot. the situation is appalling. my name is ready. i am a speech pathologist. i live in the richmond district. the reason i tell you what i do for a living is that i care about human needs. especially children. however, as a humanitarian and a nature lover, i am appalled about what is about to happen at golden gate park. i attended the meeting with supervisor mar. i attended a planning meeting. and i had to endure five hours. the soccer fields, the big stadium, the parent drop-off and pick-up points, what this would be better.

i waited five hours until i could speak my piece. what i had to listen to is just pure manipulation, and it was just really sad. it was from children were coached to do this and adults that should know better. the big question is why, why when there is an alternative, why this insistence on golden gate park. and do you know what? hi found out the answer. there is the fischer family, the owners of the gap and others, they said they were going to fund it, but they were not going to find it unless it was at golden gate park. i guess it means one thing to have a placard even if it causes the death of animals, birds, the night sky that we all enjoy, those of us who live out there. i am going to be really fast. you are going to hear arguments about a broken hip from mr.

bronson. you can break your hip walking down the sidewalk in san francisco. should we put that on the sidewalks. president chiu: thank you very much. >> supervisors, my name is beth lewis. i live in the richmond district. it is one thing to a were rubber-stamp this project. it does have the approval of soccer teams throughout the area, those that seem to benefit, but, please, consider what you would be doing. today, you will hear a lot of projects. a lot of bay area projects may look like a good idea at first. the embarcadero freeway, which was later torn down. filling the san francisco bay was once considered a good idea. even the proposal to develop the marin headlands.

it could take one decade or more for government bodies to the knowledge this in an appropriate and certain area. reversing projects that have already been implemented is very costly. what is the definition of development. the paving over of this right where it interfaces' the ocean with toxic tires, plastic grass, and 150,000 watts of lights, i would argue it constitutes inappropriate development in a very, very special place. it is an open space resources that should be protected by you, our elected supervisors. you have that power today. the benefits of this project and not outweigh the damage it would cause. how the planning commission and

parks and recreation commission could ignore the master plan and approve this project is beyond belief, especially when there is a perfectly viable alternative. keep the golden gate park natural. but the artificial turf elsewhere instead. again, approve the alternate plan. president chiu: next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. for land use and the housing committee, i would like to read a portion of a letter, it is four pages, so we cannot do the whole thing. i will highlight it.

this encourages the board of supervisors to support the appeal of the eir for the balletic -- athletic project. they believe this is inadequate, in complete it, inaccurate, in insufficient, and it urges the board of supervisors to not certified the eir. and they believe in an alternative plan. this has been presented but not seriously veted. it gave such a fantastic presentation. for any person to absorb what he said. it would be a shame.

his rationale, explanation was very thorough and logical. in my time, i cannot -- in mind -- i cannot better that. that was very logical. and last in closing, in the next session, they're going to have a bunch of adorable kids, soccer players, in their uniforms. they are going to come out here and say, "we love soccer. we love playing." well, they do not care if they play their or at west sunset. president chiu: thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello. i am -- a biking soccer mom here to represent the biking soccer parents that at not yet been

heard. this is better for our children, our environment, and our city. however, our members have asked that they not be named for fear of retaliation of which you have heard. leading the league. -- leaving the league. some of those children, we thought they were being taken to practice. they would rather play on playing fields rather than on plastic turf. plastic turf. of the over 1200 games played,