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. and i'm very proud of him. he is one of my athletic

directors. i'm don collins, i'm the commissioner for your san francisco section. and i've got 13, well, no, now 14 high schools, 22 middle schools. they playboys and girls soccer and we're expanding which i have the number of schools wrong. we keep growing and as we grow we have difficult getting fields. and when we get fields, we make it difficult for others to get fields. you've heard other people mention this. that's an athletic consequence. what i'm going to tell you is there is also economic consequences, the simple fact of the matter is that many of our students in our fine institutions do not have the funds to do what some people say to go outside of the city and rent the facility. we are here and we must stay here because of oufer finances. so we have an economic problem. and then we have an educational

issue. when you play on the grass field, if that springfield not usable. if your practice is cancel you trout out to the field, you cannot play, you have used up school time. the other educational issue is the area doesn't really one of these fields right now. which means that my richmond field go to amazon, an educational issue. so for the education, the economics and the athletics, i think we are compelled to deny the appeal and move forward with the project. and i thank you very much. >> mr. collins, i want to ask you a quick question. you are about as close of an expert running high school sports. we heard that the high school baseball fields are probably the biggest problem they have in terms of demand. what is your experience with that? >> high school baseball fields are a problem. part of it is demand. part of it is supply as ms.

kecham properly mentioned, we are forced to employ our middle school, high school baseball season in the fall so they do not overburden the people who play baseball and soft ball in the spring. she is very astute. went to harvard unfortunately but not yale. we forgive her. anyway, she made a very fine point. thank you very much. >> thank you much. >> next speaker. >> yeah, i want to thank you all for staying up this late. it's been a long evening. i've been here since 4:00. as many of you have. my name is rich. i'm on the cysa youth board. i want to point ute few things that some people reiterated. the big thing of water, question save a lot of water. there are a lot of water

projects in california. that's something to consider the leg say that you can leave if we had turf fields that you could save the state a lot of money. the other thing i want to bring out when we teach soccer referees, as they pointed out safety on the fields, i represent 12,000 referees from california north. and safety is the most important thing. i just want to reiterate one thing and you can think about safe fields. so fields are unsafe. i'm going to give something to the supervisors. we had to rent the fields. one of those fields was unsafe due to the golfers. i want you tulle remember that. you can wear that pin and think about i. think about the legacy that you're going to leave by supporting the front and voting down this appeal because safety is the number one reason and the legacy of our children to have a great place to play. hopefully some day we'll see

great fields at beach sole. i live there there. it is totally revitalized and it is a safe environment on and off the field. so safety's number one. let's make sure it's safe, fun for everybody out there. i know it's been a long evening for everybody else. >> thank you. next speaker? >> hi name is jane lancebury. i've been coaching for 25 years, both children, young adults and adults. and i'm also very happy you guyed decided to stay because i was hear earlier listening to the misinformation that was being given. but then i had to get in my car and drive to berkley in rush hour traffic for our 7:00 practice because it's the only place question get a practice for two hours which is what women need to practice the game.

we can't get that in the city. there's no place for us to do that. i have players on my team that would go on to play for national teams that would go on to play professionally and i can't have them play on a field that would snap their leg because that would ruin their careers forever. i coach little kids. we're given a quarter of a field to practice on for one hour. that's hardly any time to work with these kids. what happens as these kids get older and i've watched this because i've coached them tall way up. when they get about 14 to 15, we lose them because they go to better fields. the kids who are left in the city because they can't afford to go outside because they don't have a parent to drive them, stay here and play recreation nal. and the statistics will show you every -- over and over again, the kids that play soccer stay

away from drugs, go to college, do not get pregnant. we are doing a disservice with these kids when we don't give them fields to play on. as far as adults they need some place to play on too. all my girls called me saying i need a place to play at nighttime. dults pay taxes, they vote and they want to play on the fields too. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good evening. my name is edgar mayora. i represent the league. 35 years ago we had a few hundred players. now we're about 1,800 players during whole year. we play in spring and summer in san francisco in the winter outside of san francisco.

we spend about $80,000 a year. you imagine for 35 years that amount of money. we should be playing in a stadium. but unfortunately, we still play there. i hope one day it becomes a playable field and we all can enjoy it even if we pay a little bit more. it will be ok for us. our league is from 35 and older and the older sleeg from 50 and older. not only children play, the older guys are still playing. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> thank you for your patience tonight. i my name is poe bronson. i'm a local journalist. i was here in this corridors

back when marcelo was there. as a parent and as a volunteer soccer coach, i had the privilege of being elected as president of the san francisco vikings soccer league this winter. there have been some comparisons to new york city made tonight. in central park which is 843 acres. there are three soccer complexes comprised of 26 turf fields in central park alone. has more turf fields in central park alone than we have in our entire city. that's a big difference. supervisor mar you would ask him questions of malibu. malibu being 1,500 feet from the ocean. if you know malibu high school it's surrounded bay track. there's no tree canopy around it whatsoever. it's on open barren hillside.

it's on an ascending hill. down on p.c.h. and the housing there. there are 15-foot trees but nothing whatsoever to block any sort of canopy of the lights that are there. this is kind of a different circumstance. also the light system that could be used at beach l.a. can be user friendly. we are not asking reck and park -- rec and park to have a new system. they have one in place an they use it regularly at other facilities. i have come to learn that our teams are not just about soccer. they are our school's first teens. they are the bonding ingredient that makes our schools work. every elementary school in san francisco, parents come together and they get to know each other and form a community by their -- >> thank you. next speaker.

>> good evening, commissioners. my name is leo cassidy. we have been since 1961. we're starting the younger generation of them. we started with two teams two years ago. now we have 20 teams and we have 100 volunteers that volunteer their time to, you know, have the kids play in the sunset. so, you know, we have 1,000 achers in the park. i think there's room for everybody. there is pictures of the fields. in 1939, 1940, there were fields, we're talking about a surface. we spent $1 million e.i.r.

money that went to waste. we're talking about a surface here. they're giving their time. they're giving their money to, you know, help enhance san francisco especially in the times their in that we can't afford it in california because there is no money in the state of california. there are budget cuts every day of the week. as it goes for the daylight savings time, the lights are on from 8:00 to 10:00. two hours we're talking about at this time of the year. anyway to sum it up we need more fields. we play in a quarter of a field. each supervisor in each district, i urge you to look at your district and see if you can get a field in your district. that's the real problem right here what we need the san francisco. thank you.

>> so. good evening supervisor, my name is sonia cassy. i play with the s.f. clowns. i play on this fields. this season 10 games were canceled due to rainouts. i would love to play. that would be fun but we aren't allowed to because they closed the fields. if they were on turf fields we could play from morning until night, rain or shine. thank you. >> good evening. my name is john mccormic, i'm involved with leo with the team. we have 20 kids. 1,000 volunteers. but the kids, they're from all communities in san francisco. parents of voters, the taxpayers are from every part of san

francisco. i'm married. i've lived in fran for 22 years. both my kids play sports in san francisco. they love sports. they play sports. all the kids in san francisco just our team alone as an example, we had to travel to stockton to redding to la moore which is six hours away in the winter. why? because the fields are closed. we had to drive six hours away. get them into mini vans. get them toe play in the tournament and get them back. the fields are closed. if the fields were open, we would haven't this city. they're traveling outside of the city, but yet you don't have them in the city. why? these people object to it. these people the last meeting i was here, these people a lot of them are the older generation of san francisco. guess what? we have kids playing on la moore, in stockton, and they

don't object council member tatiana kostanian:. so it's a new generation of stran. the kids -- build it for the kids. a few years ago you passed the san francisco health act for all employees to make it for the health. but you won't build the field for the city. kids to make them healthy. you won't do it for the children? where's the logic in that? there is no logic. you can leave a legacy for the children of san francisco. i implore you build the fields and the kids will play. >> next speaker. >> good evening, supervisor, my name is joe dudan with the san francisco glens. we had two teams just two years ago. now we have 24 teams. last year we had zero girls teams. now we have seven. a lot of us coaches and parents here positively affect lots and

lots of kids. without field availability and access, we can't positively affect these kids' lives. i play for the glens for 15 years. i'd love for my kids to continue playing for the glens, play for the senior team again and have them coach their kids for 23 glens. that can't happen if we don't have fields in san francisco because just like other people here, families like mine will be forced to move outside the city where there are fields and adequate facilities. thank you, and i urge you to pass this project. >> next speaker. >> good evening. my name is genaro camacho. i volunteer for kids aged 6-14. the san francisco league has

been around for more than 110. most of the people here, their great grandparent who is brought this great sport from all parts of the world. now a days, we have teams such as -- that have been around for more than 60, 80 years. we have teams as sons of italy, the corinthians, salvador, mexicali and i can go on and on. almost every little part of the world of every continue is represented in the san francisco league. park and rec does a great job in trying to accommodate us every time the games are suspended because of the rain. and i believe that the san francisco league is an image of the city itself. you go out on sunday and you will see every ethnic group that

makes san francisco. so let's keep it going for another 200 years and let's get the turf fields out on the beach. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good evening. my name is libby rafold. and 17 years ago, i was a young parent looking for recreation nal opportunities for my son. so i started the micro soccer program and that got me volunteering with viking. i've been volunteers for 20 years. we practice with the girls. many of the girls can walk there after school. one problem that we really have is in the winter when the time changes, it's dark. and it's -- one, it's not safe for them to come there just for us to get in, you know, 45 minutes before it's too dark for them to leave. so we have to go all the way to

the other side crocker amazon which is a transportation issue for many of these girls whose parents are working and they have to take the bus from their neighborhood. so please support something in our neighborhood where the teenagers can play in the evening and that won't be closed for rain. thank you very much. >> good evening, mr. president and esteem board of supervisors. my name is alial-sharif. having played soccer, i understand how vital the opportunities are to be active for young people. the fields are a designated place to be active, build community and build self-respect. these doesn'ts are already limited we need to make sure we increase the ones that we have. i'm so proud to have heard tonight all the young children that came and spoke as they are a children that gets overlooked and their interests are not at

the forefront. it's a vote of our interest of our city's fleeting families. i ask that you think about the interest of the vulnerable population. think about increasing community safety and increasing opportunity for women and family. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker? >> hi, my name is sierra swan and i was asked to read a little from an 8-year-old named gabriel. and he's a part of the project vega which is a great organization. it uses soccer as a platform to help teach children of under representative communities, the skills necessary to be successful, healthy, confident adults and he wrote that it means a lot to me because i get exercise and i get competition. it is lots of fun and i want to play in college. it gives me a chance to play

organized soccer. i want more fields because more teams can play soccer. when more teams can play, i can get more competition. i would like astroturf because i can play in the rain. now, youk -- young gabriel's letter echos a lot of the speakers before me. it's important to understand that the beach l.a. project is not just a soccer field but it is really a chance for us to present children with a safe environment for them to learn and grow, to be really successful members of san francisco. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good evening. and thanks for the opportunity to speak to you this evening. thanks for your patience. my name is pat murphy and i'm a dad. born and raised in sunset district. i'm back to the sunset district raising my two kids. i played on that field growing

up against c.y.o. and the beach l.a. to be quite honest has always been sub par and always been a hazard. i've been amused as an engineer with some of the mischaractizations of the field this evening. refering to the project as paving it for a parking lot that it's somehow a center for wildlife viewing and renowned for that. that it's referenced to pristine meadow and that people are using the sight for astronomy. growing up, we didn't look at the stars. growing up in the city, you're not going to be able to see stars to begin with. regardless of that, it's my simple understanding that it's a soccer field. and that the end of the project would be a sork field. you start out with a crappy field and you have a nice one and we have a choice between the status quo and frankly a lot of

the things that -- growing up in the 1970's and early 1980's, the facilities twharnt great and been heartened by the level of rigor as an engineer that i've seen the staff put in the environmental report. there's credibility in the police chief. there's credibility in your board. my dad worked for rec and park and the know their character. i'm hoping that your own staff could take care of that and please deny the appeal and thank you for your time. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi. thank you. thank you, spouses, your kids. my name is collin schmidt. i'm the director of america's core area.

you know, i guess my big point here at the end of this long hearing is that this is an issue that affects all kids in the city. we work with 20 low income public elementary schools. over 600 families. these are neighbors the tenderloin area, mission, bay view, families on the other side of the city than where the beach l.a. project is being held. but these are kids that play on pavement. pavement five days a week. and if it's not raining they go get play at cocker on the sixth day. for for younger kids under 8, they do not even have a chance at turf, because there is not capacity. this last spring season, a third of their games were canceled. for most of these kids, it is pavement or nothing. we see this as an issue of

access, as not pavement versus turf, but something other than pavement for these kids to play on. we can't a kid earlier today who had to go home. he broke his knee, playing on pavement. more access on the west side of the city will free up all the other fields, all the other good city fields rec and park has been involved in, for kids who live in those neighborhoods, and give them more access to fields in general. thanks again for your insurance and your support of the project. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. if there are any other members of the public who wish be hit -- who wish to speak on the behalf of the project sponsor, please line up. >> i am the executive director of the san francisco parts alliance. we have 55 years of experience in philanthropy, advocacy, and

community mobilizing around parks, recreation, and open spaces. we examined this contentious issue. reviewed the literature. the stack is probably 18 feet high. we took testimony from opponents and proponents of this project. our full board voted to endorse the project as proposed. we started by identifying the refined the continued use of this site as a play field is consistent with its historic use over the past 80 years, as well as consistent with the golden gate park's national plan designation, eight major recreation area. we look to the question of the best use of this major recreation area. that is what leads to a paralyzing our rate of trade- offs. looking at all of those trade- offs, we find the ideal balance

is the project as proposed. that said, i do want to draw your attention to one opportunity among many to mitigate some of those trade- offs. that involves a contentious issue around lighting. despite all of the great research and analysis that has been brought into it, it is still theoretical. we still have a lot of fun known variables, particularly with the fog. we encourage the monitoring of the system after the lighting is installed, and to report findings back to the recreation and parks commission. finally, i want to thank you all for spending your afternoon, your evening, and a good chunk of your night focusing on this. president chiu: earlier this afternoon, i mentioned a board r