access to good quality playing fields. we have a foundation that will pay half the cost of the project. it does not seem that is something we can afford to turn down. the project opponents have nothing to other -- offer a six of the status quo. president chiu: next speaker, please. >> i am with sunset soccer group. i live in the city in supervisor cohen to's district. i am speaking on behalf of my soccer group which is mostly immigrants and adults remained they come -- we spend all of time planned the soccer field. this is natural turf, natural grass with israel difficult to play and without age, we got

injured. i am 35. we basically tried to avoided at all costs. there is some surprise their concern about really. this is the best service i play in and near its the zero injuries or major injuries. is your brain -- the zero major injury at all. when i see all these -- this misinformation and deceptive from all the comments, i have to show support as well as i am i looked at -- i looked at the documents and share my document. where are my colleagues and have an interest with this project and he agreed and i think this is -- i have checked and re-

checked because i like the environment and make sure that this present has no major impact for adults. thank you for your time. i support your decision to install turf fields. i have played baseball, not soccer. i know the field that is in a decrepit condition when i see one. they're suddenly -- seldom mowed or cute. turf fields do not need to be cut and are always in perfect

condition for ball game. in the jury of my teammates preferred term for over grass and emit i take lessons out there to days a week. the cages are also turf. as long as i have been taking lessons i am sure it is not toxic. i hope that today when you vote, you consider everybody including myself, my teammates, and everybody else my age and you respect their decision and as far as i can see, no person my age or younger spoke for the opposition. if they want turf field, the should be respected. thank you. >> i am a committee member for the chavez family vision. i am here to speak out on behalf of those who have no voice, our children. i want to know who is doing the

human impact report? i have not heard one person comment on the perils of playing on this gofer, ridden field. i think -- i can speak to the dangers. it is very personal to me. my son broke his fingers and months later, broke his arm. as a result of playing on the field. here sports -- he refrained from sports as soon as his arm had healed. as for the foster children playing soccer, it gave them a sense of belonging. they had to keep their grades up to play and learn run nutrition from the coast for it their lost weight and their self confidence improved due to living this healthy lifestyle. is on their behalf that i am here to speak. the er has already passed.

let's move forward for the sake of our children and for our diverse city. if that might foster children, i would drop one off and take the other two tutoring and pick the other one up and take that one to tutoring. what i picked them up, made people would tell me your children, they did so well and the kids would look at me and i would say, they did. thank you. that is what i gave them. it gave them a family. the only family they had and we need to have these fields. it is nonsense about the politics of it, it is about our children. president chiu: next speaker. >> i spent every monday night in that section over there for many years. some years ago. this of the first time i am on the side of the chambers and it is a lot more link the over here

so i will try to keep the short period -- this short. soccer is an urban sport and it is for the lower class working people. it is the opposite of what is here where it is a middle class board and the sport of the wealthy and the suburbs. we york train -- we're trying to change that. i am a parent starr king elementary. and have two children. the general education program, mentor and immersion, and a special education program. it is the most diverse elementary school in this district. a half through higher interest students -- 350 students. now they realize soccer through the police athletic league and through the vikings.

it is an opportunity that these kids would never give up. this field represents an amazing opportunity for them. i would encourage you guys during the season to come up to where we practice which is a portrayal hill recreation center. part iraq spent a lot of money trying to get that field in such a way that we could practice their without a threat of injury. that lasted about three weeks. the gophers to get back over and i know your hard and i am not criticizing. you are fighting and never- ending battle. we need fields like this for the children of this city, particularly the low-income children from public schools that do not have anything but the black top at their school and a little bit of 4 square that could be considered recreational.

>> i live in the mission district and coach two teams in the mission league. a lot of talk about endangered species. you have heard tonight from one of the most endangered species and that is families and families with children. san francisco is a world-class city for a lot of things. restaurants, views, architecture. you'd be hard-pressed to say we are a world class city for families and we're aware of the statistics. newark * talks about us stay. the areas an article in physical education. researchers at ucsf found 20% of elementary schools were meeting the standard requirement of 20 minutes per day. guess who is out there helping that? it is volunteer coaches -- is

volunteer coaches like us. the last line of defense in this area. one of the strongest partners we have is is if park and rec. they have been vilified tonight strangely in some nefarious plot they have with the fischers but they are as strong part and probably the crown jewel in san francisco's attempts to make this city family friendly. that being said, the hardest thing we have and the biggest problem we have is getting the -- for our kids. give us two, three fields. let's make this city it world- class city not only for restaurants but for families as well.

>> my name is richard cross. i lived in saccharin -- san francisco in district 5. i am a grandfather and a soccer coach for 35 years. i want to make some comments write some things i have heard yet. the city uses hundreds of thousands of gallons of water on the beach chalet every year artificial surface would use a fraction. what would happen if -- and has happened before if we had a drought. where do you think the bar will be cut first. we will be sitting some in our homes but the park department will cut back the water which will make these worse. as mentioned, the proposal replaces the existing brands

tucker fields with better soccer fields. some of the art. there been a tranquil meadow for least 75 years and is replacing one soccer field for another one. there's a question about that additional 9000 or so hours. that can generate potentially for $300,000 a year and, the fees that are charged by rec and park. maybe not that much but $300,000 would go a long way to satisfy some of the other requirements and pay for the resurfacing of the beach chalet in 10 or 12 years. that's vote for it. thank you. >> thank you for your service

and tinton. what a process and i think you for your dedication on behalf of rejecting the appeal. i want to acknowledge my friends and neighbors have done a lot of research, they have done a lot of work. i take issue with one comment that a couple of other people have mentioned. at no point has anyone ever offered me a single slice of pizza of. if there were people involved, i think i would know. i am here as a father. i am here with several children. i am here speaking in favor of families with children as often as i can and the facts on the grounds are these. from time to time our practices are canceled. our weather is not something that works.

every so often and we too often, we get our kids to play in fields outside san francisco because fields are not available. our children are getting from time to have time for her to -- time to time heard on the fields. it pains me to add this because i wish there were better and more efficient ways of keeping the fields better in shape and is a horrible thing. a synthetic field is one of those options we have to look at. those are things that we have to look at. things that make this work. i have to say that my children cannot be here tonight. there are some things they -- i do not want to see. this process is one of them. a lot and of -- a lot has been said about legacy. i know that you want to leave a city that works well and works better for the next generation. one of the things we can do is make sure they have fields to

play on. i add my voice to those of the families that are here with children who are trying to struggle to make sure they are available here. it makes a lot of sense. please reject the appeal. thank you for your time. >> good evening. i am a parent. i was born in san francisco. i came back here to raise my son. he is 11. i think we use to -- use the field five or six times a week. i am on those fields and lots. beach chalet is one of our regulars. we played lacrosse, we play soccer. those fields are used for many sports including rubber be -- were big. last winter, our games were canceled one-third of the time.

this has an effect that has not been mentioned much but parents, working parents by myself are scrambling because of -- a lot of the cancellations have been hours before syria have well- meaning volunteer mom's or dad's calling around trying to figure out what are we going to do with their kids. are the fields going to be cancelled? yes there, no they're not. the benefit of a turf field is you know with a large degree of certainty those fields will not be closed. there is an enormous impact and also in the kids, do you think the fields will be closed? i do not know. should we pack your cleats? yes, no. this is difficult especially for working parents. i would like to recommend pleased that we can keep those fields, get them to turf, they

spend a lot of time on that beach shelle -- chalet turf. i recommend we go forward with this. thank you. president chiu: if you could speak into the microphone? >> i do not have the words to match all the support of parents. i brought one of our soccer teams. we live in district 10. we have lived here for 16 years and we decided to make a stand against urban flight. i was all set to move to iran

and take your daughter out of san francisco and raised her in the public schools of marin. my wife was not as set on that. you make compromises. we have had a great compromise. we have found a home. we have formed a team. with the coach and a number of parents. we had 23 kids. soccer does not require a lot of money. it requires a ball and a field. one of our teams was known as the gophers united. the turf field was gopher ridden. the gophers are back. the important thing to note about these teams as we have had them over the seasons is the kids are smiling. they're all out working hard. this is the most recent team.

this is rhianna - brianna, elen, daisy, maxine, skyler, mackenzie, helen, and andrea. don't let them down. we have less rainout with turf. president chiu: thank you. >> good evening. i live in district four. have had to leave, one is still here. my wife is a lifer in san francisco. i ask that you reject the appeal and move the project forward. the eir was completed and this project is sound. millions have been spent and to reject it would throw this back into a continuing cycle i do not see an end to.

golden gate park is wonderful but is not a wilderness preserve as our opponent will make you think. it is a part in the middle of a major city. the soccer fields are already there. we're not clearcutting fields to put in a new facility. we're talking about fields that are there already although they're often closed. these are uneven surfaces. to listen to those thinking -- rejecting the er, you would think that the park would be bulldozed over and cemented, water supply poisoned and birds falling from the sky. we know that this is not true. they have been working on this for years. we have -- there probably national experts on what they're working on. please to not let the eir rejection go through. reject the appeal and move the

project forward. thank you. >> good evening. i am a 32-year san francisco resident and a soccer dad of two daughters. for me, they beach chalet is more than soccer. it is about committed to building. it is a great place for families, kids, and everybody else. anyone who has gone through south sunset and crocker amazon has to be struck by the sense of community you will find there. there are people of all ages, all ethnic groups, seniors, toddlers, newcomers. the fields feel like a community resource. our daughters are 16 and 18 now. they have played soccer in san francisco for 12 and 13 years. my wife and i can remember before south sunset and crocker

amazon were redone, we would sometimes play in those fields. in south sunset, it was a case where there had been a recent rain. you were playing in a mud pit. kids could simply disappear there. ryan crocker amazon, france would say you are planning their, you have to be careful. it is a little tough down there. all that changed when the fields were transformed. this could happen again at the beach chalet. it could be a place where people are brought together, people from different backgrounds come together in a nice, and ranching community sort of way. please support this project. thank you. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> i also have two children in the city and do my best to remain positive and loving of

this beautiful city. tonight we have heard fantastic arguments and when we evaluate a project like this where often considering benefits vs. costs and how to the benefits outweigh the costs we have to evaluate in a decision that ultimately is based on one which has a rigorous methods and best practices based on scientific evidence from other projects. the opposition has held the sponsor to enormous and exacting rigour with regard to proving that the environmental impact will be minimized. the sponsor has gone through

excessive project review and has been flexible to change the design to meet the opposition's needs as best it can. the benefits are three times playing time that exists today. the benefits are public health and safety, the benefits are community and community interaction. i've played with people from all over the world and we've crossed social, racial, ethnic boundaries. i want my children to participate in the same love of the game safely, on the beach shell appeal. please vote no on the appeal. >> thank you, next speaker. >> i'm jamie, i'm a 33-year-old citizen of the city. i've raised three natives two of

who are ardent soccer players. this meeting isn't about turf vs. grass. if turf were unsafe it wouldn't be used by municipalities and schools all over the country. and i trust the opponents would go to crocker amazon and protect the kids who go there. this meeting is about golden gate park and money. it's a terrific park. i side with the earlier parent who said if we were paving over a meadow, i would be against it. but this is 1,000 acres. the contemplated renovation is less than 10 achers. less than 10 achers that has been a soccer field since the 30's and has never been a meadow land or a bird sanctuary. what this is about is also money, of course. to uphold the appeal is to

invest my tax dollars in the least productive alternative, is to invest in having fewer hours of play for san francisco residents, children and adults. please shoot down this appeal. let's put tur inform the park where san franciscans can can stay and play. thank you. >> good evening supervisors my name is ron dudam. i live a half a block. i can observe that the soccer fields has grown and having had personal conversations with a will the of the neighbors, i can tell you it's through this information much of what you've heard this evening. i recall an earlier meeting where there was a map of san francisco showing the original master plan. a time in the late 19th century

when the western side of the city was considered uninhabitable. so master plan said leave it alone. if you were to do that, 200,000 residents on the western side of the city would need to leave. it's a ridiculous argument then. they've improved your argument but their rational is still flawed. the hybrid option is red herring. it is not meant to give you an alternative. it is meant to ofisca trve e the issue. it is disingenuous. our city is lucky who has a police chief who knows the city. his testimony should carry tremendous weight. the issues are clear. the evidence is overwhelming. this is not an issue. this is not an issue that's health. it's not an issue of anything

other than simply keeping kids in san francisco. it requires, i believe, a unanimous vote, a statement to the citizens of this city that the tactics that drives kids out of this city are no longer acceptable. so i thumbably asked that you consider a unanimous vote against the appeal and in favor of the project so they can move forward before the generation that you saw tonight is too told play there. thank you. >> thanks, speaker. >> thank you, supervisors and park and reck. my name is keniata scott. it's a pleasure to be part offer -- of this process. i need to give you a little bit of history. i initially when i spoke to park and reck was for the field and not for the lights. that was my decision at that time. where i am now, it's all abouter

quity, access and account -- abouter quity, access and account. 38 limited, 38, all of these are accessible for anybody to come and use these fields, the businesses along the judah corridor as well as the corridor from the beach could be revitalized. this could allow all female have access out there. you heard about the dangers that are there, but as as a resident who live at 34th and judda welcome the new vie brans that can come out there for this. as i learned with the park and reck commission, it's anish sthue all of your supervisors, all of your people can dom this area, all of the people that you represent can come to this area and utilize what is rightfully theirs. my heart goes out to the people that said they were thinking

about leaving the city. but i think they had the option. we have people who are in the city who cannot afford this option. but they need have access to things that can benefit them for all kids. now my background is, i'm representing cnra. i teach, coach, athletic director but i am also a resident. i'm right in that area. i'm against pollution. but you have a group who on a regular basis be there to take care of it. the outlandish festival that you spoke of, all the trash was horrendous. so that was a knee-jerk reaction. i look at what's positive. and what's positive -- >> thank you. it's very difficult to follow mr. scott. he was a very compelling speaker from lincoln high school.