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tv   [untitled]    July 19, 2012 10:30am-11:00am PDT

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administration in golden gate park killed this garden. thank you. >> is there any other public comment? >> good afternoon, commissioners. sitting before you listening and handing out these awards and commendations, what strikes me is the people that work for recreation and parks department are extremely deceived. i heard a gentleman stand up and say he was from los angeles. he talked about san francisco's core values and the recreation and parks department. well, unless you are a complete idiot, there are no core values for this city or recreation and parks department. its core values were resolution
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633-01 which basically said that our culture and what we embody to the most valuable was equestrian activities, and you have taken that, scrunched it in a mall, and rooted in the trash. we are hijacking the city and we will do what we want to do. unfortunately, you can fool some of the people some of the time, most of the people most of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. recreation and parks department does not stand for anything and has no core values. what it does is it kicks out its historical community in the year of 2001 right around the time when the worst tragedy in our nation, our pearl harbor, and we say we will reopen it in the quickest and most efficient manner possible.
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and then they sit on their rear ends and then open up a chinese rec center in chinatown. and they say, wow, betty ann ong, you give up your life. the people who had horses in the city and thought they were living in a city that stood for something and had some values, those were the people that really sacrificed. they had faith that they were living in a city that had a government that would not stab them in the back a first chance it got, but that is what happened when you and your city up to a feminist government. nancy pelosi wants to put her name -- nancy pelosi drive, right? the lesson we have learned is
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when you and your politics to the women comment it go down the drain -- , it goes down the drain. >> if you want to comment on rec and park policy that is fine, but driving on about this is not worth its while. >> it may not be worthwhile to you, but people who live in this city and used to go to the park and visit people -- >> for the record, certainly, congresswoman pelosi was not the driving force behind naming the drive. was the people of san francisco. thank you very much. >> a more appropriate name would
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be ripoff drive. >> i hope i can get through this. i want to make a few more comments about the chinese recreation center. i was able to shake hands with her brother, harry, in person, and he was very pleased of everything that happened, considering there would be a tragic loss of life within his own family. myself, speaking before this commission, i would remark that it was not quite where my comrades were. i was more interested in the heroes, the navy commandos, the navy seal team, and myself, being a former navy medic, that kind of camaraderie. i just wanted to clarify in all of your minds that i would look at that, in the camaraderie >> i hope i can get through this. i want to make a few more comments about the chinese recreation center. i was able to shake hands with her brother, harry, in person, and he was very pleasedsince, c. i wanted to bring in the camaraderie.
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i have all that in my mind and i get a chance to speak with terry in person. harry seems pretty happy about what is happening. i see him at the consulate. he is working hard to develop some of the funding for the community people there, along with my comrades were his sister and br- law. i will be seeing them again later this month. harry seemed to have been -- well, how can you say it? there was a loss of life. i just wanted to thank all of you for listening to me this morning and may be clarifying a few of the points. it is good that people do get together and honor fellow americans. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> is there any other public
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comment? being none, public comment is closed. item four. general public comment. at this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and that do not appear on the agenda. is there any public comment? >> my name is bill wilson. you should have in your packet a letter that i wrote to the commission where are in the
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acquisition of the india basin properties, also known as 900 and its ave. i will not read the entire letter. i hope it will be included in the record and the information that i included with that. i wanted to talk about something -- it expound on one sentence that i said which the department should not be shy about using eminent domain to acquire these properties. i know that is the shock word. i honestly feel the only way that this city is going is through eminent domain. the fact that the property owner was well aware of community support for this city acquisition of this and he chose to give it, and that is why it included the great deeds, so that is not speculation on my point. he gave it to the tenderloin housing clinic. for the tenderloin housing clinic to come around and say we will sell it for $17 million,
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when they did not pay a penny for it, it seems to me, you would have quite a hard time making a case for that. i went through the public records. the assessed value of these properties is 1.5 -- a little over $1.5 million. of that, $1.4 million is the assessment by the tenderloin housing clinic. way that this city is going to acquire these propertiessince yd diva only cost to the property for them was to make this approval so that the owner could get his ira's tax deductions. i may respectfully suggest there was incentive to inflate those property values. i am not a conspiracy theorist. i will let you come to your own conclusion. how i specifically asked for three things from this
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commission. an action item be placed on the agenda of the capital committee and commission for their august meetings, to make 900 ennis avenue the top priority for acquisition. no money be spent out of the open space acquisition fund until the commission comes up with a priority list of projects for acquisition. that comes up because i was very surprised to read that, evidently, the noe valley people will already commit to their town square project. i know that that acquisition is not even on the roster to be considered. i do not have any doubt that it
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will be if the process starts, but i am really concerned that money seems to be committed and that puts herself in the position where -- >> i think your time is up. we get the point, thank you. >> richard fong. >> this is a different issue. it has been brought to my attention that they have a security safety issue at the betty ann ong center. they have a facilitator and one other person to look after the entire area. the part that was brought to me has one part, on location, security, surveillance cameras that can be placed on this site.
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they do not have that yet. as i was thinking about it, i did not get a chance to talk with terry yet, the area part,cameras, when they also be placed in other facilities, such as north beach, and joe dimaggio, and other places where there is a centralized way to look at the land every without having to constantly patrol? that is one point. the other part has to do with are you going to increase pork patrol officers at chinatown or do you try to get the sfpd from central briefing to beef up patrols? they do not have enough people. only two. you have a facilitator and then another worker and there are a lot of rooms, and they cannot cover everything. i would like to recommend that the surveillance cameras and that kind of activity can be placed at specific sites at the
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chinese recreation center when d other sites where there would be a centralized area with a supervisor. thank you. >> thank you. >> just me again. simple resident from san francisco wanting to enjoy his recreation activities in a manner that is historical and has been going on for hundreds of years, but here we have these people asserting themselves into our government. i just want to ask them one question. 50 horse stalls generate potentially $400 to $500 each per month. that is $25,000 a month you guys
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blow out your you know what -- >> if you cannot keep this to a simple conversation, we are not interested in hearing it. this is a public meeting where we are trying to have constructive comments. >> if you cannot debate the facts and then go after the person talking about them. $300,000 a year you blow away with your supposedly new fandango the way of doing things. we do things differently in san francisco. just putting a different wrapper on rip-off, aren't you? yes, that is all you are doing. for years, we have read the papers and they said x, y, z, equestrians tables to be rehabilitated. we watched that in the papers
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for about four years. at the time, it was a general manager. you know what i'm talking about. you keep saying a word diversity. you know what it sounds like? the worst city. the worst city. thank you. >> is there any other public comment? being none, public comment is closed. general calendared. item five, the san francisco zoo. >> i am more coming up as a feminist zoo's director. we have a short power point as we and our fiscal year. i thought i would give a quick
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review of some of our monthly attendance numbers and perhaps with your help we can predict trends for the future. attendance, thankfully, above projection for most funds. you can see in march, we were negative 1.5 for the month of march. june we became so much smarter and brighter, and sunnier skies. 60% over budget. for the year we are 816,000 visitors. that is nearly 100,000 improvement from last year's attendance. thank you again. the big number we wanted to make was 800,000, and we did it. other interesting data. we are in a lease management agreement. it requires that certain days are free for san francisco residents. we are happy to report that we were able to host 12 of those
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days this year. over 43,000 residents came in for free. over 21,000 public-school students came in for free. every other year we offer free membership for our public school teachers. this is the highest we have had on that. over 800 teachers took advantage of that membership. all the three days are posted on our website. the next day is wednesday august 1. this saturday is a march of the penguins. this is our annual event where the penguin chicks leave the penguin colony at the avian conservation center and joined the adults. they literally march through. it is a very popular event. they marched through the zoo, excuse me. members can come in one hour early. we will have a naming contest. i believe two have already been named.
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a lot of fun. come see our penguin chicks. i wanted to show that our employees very much wanted to participate in the pride parade this year, and so they built this themselves to that is my husband's tahoe pulling it. we use old party favors. there are our two gay penguins. maybe next year it will be more professional, but we did not have much time. our thanks for letting us do it. and we will also have a temporary video are installation in the old pachyderm building. we have refreshed the western side of it with exterior paint, upgraded the asphalt and exterior, and then we are putting a wall within a wall, and we will have a video installation where it extinct
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animals and other animals at the zoo could mingle together. hopefully, we can prevent further extension and get folks to think about that. we have a new bobcat. there he is. the exhibit is that the grotto across from the snow leopard. a very popular event. we always have a crowd in front of him. and he likes to stay at the top of the stump. it is the reuse of an era that had been closed. it had been old liquor storage. it is now a new exhibit and we are thrilled to have him at the exhibit. olympic fever. we decided to embrace the olympics. we have zoo games and activities. 10 stations. we hope to get kids moving. we want to educate them about
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animal behavior. we try to compare animal behavior to that of humans. kids will also receive a free activity book that will encourage wellness and activity. some examples of the stations. leaping like mlemurs, the tongue twister with the anteater. a lot of fun. further example of the great activities of the hour now retired president of marketing. she has now left the zoo. we wanted to thank her for her 30 years of service. i also want to thank president tool for helping us center off on a good front. so with that, i and my report. >> thank you very much. >> is there any public comment on this item?
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>> just two seconds. bill wilson. if you have not been to the march of the penguins, you should consider going. it is one of those events -- i want to say only in san francisco, but i'm sure other cities have penguins. what is so unique is you really understand how personality comes across in these animals because -- i have been to several and there are no two that are the same, no two penguin chicks that are the same period a really assert their personality. it is a great time and everybody has fun. >> is there any other public comment? being none, public comment is closed. item six. waving notice period under commission's naming policy and renaming middle drive east in golden gate park. >> good morning, commissioners. director of policy and public
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affairs. it is my honor to be here today to ask for your approval to rename middle drive east in golden gate park in honor of nancy pelosi. many of you were with us on on y 21 when mayor ed lee announced his intent to ask for your approval to rename this half mile stretch of road which connects martin luther king jr. drive to john f. kennedy drive. it was remarkable times that that would be a fitting location for leader pelosi's name to be placed. we have got some pictures scrolling if you want to go to the monitor. as san franciscans, i'm sure you are aware of many of leader pelosi's accomplishments. i will not keep us here all morning in emerging them, but i want to hit a few highlights.
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elected to congress in 1987, she became the first female speaker of the house in 2007. i do not think many of us will forget the image of her surrounded by all those children as she walked. burger quarter century of service, leader policy led the fight to convert the presidio to a park, ensured over three and half million dollars -- excuse me, billion dollars in relief to the city of san francisco after the loma credo earthquake. in 2010, led congress in appealing the military don't ask, don't tell policy. while she has been exceptionally busy in washington, she has not lost focus on those of us back in san francisco and has fought for the redevelopment of both the hunters point shipyard and treasure island and has been a dedicated volunteer to the growth in golden gate park. as a mother of five and grandmother of eight, she frequently visits golden gate park. at the ceremony on the 21st, brought a scrapbook of photos of her family, which was quite touching. for these reasons and more, the mayor has asked this commission to consider renaming middle
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drive east in honor of nancy pelosi. before we turn it over to public comment, i would like to ask my colleague the call to come and speak on behalf of mayor ed lee. >> good afternoon, president, commissioners. it is so nice to be here today to speak on behalf of mayor lee and in support of this item before you. i know the mayor had a chance to write all of you a letter and speak to some of you personally. sarah just outlined many of leader pelosi's contributions to the city, but to reiterate, this item is before you today to recognize and celebrate leader pelosi's 25 years of distinguished service as our representative. she has given so much back to the city, preserving and protecting our open space, expanding our transportation, and ensuring our residents have affordable housing. she has shared so many of our values here in san francisco on a national scale.
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she led the way on health care reform, hiv aids funding, she has led the way on equality for all. she has created, as numbers of jobs, and all while accomplishing all of that, she also managed to be elected the first female speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, making her a role model to many. that is why it is a personal honor and privilege to be here today to communicate to you that the mayor whole lot of the supports this item before you today and encourages you to pursue whatever action is necessary to ensure its final adoption. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> we do have public comment on this item. gene morrison. >> nancy pelosi had done a wonderful job representing san francisco and reported to us
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what is happening in congress. she devotes a lot of time here. she is also supporting our positions all over the united states. she probably sleeps more on their plan and in beds because she is constantly traveling here and there to help somebody get elected. the first woman speaker. that is very important to people like me. that is about all i had to say. i want to thank the commissioners for listening to us. it is considered a great honor to be a commissioner but we forget about how much time you have to spend listening to us. i think we should make it nancy pelosi drive. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> harrison lim. charles. >> good morning, ladies and
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gentlemen. my name is harrison lim. before i retired, i was a social worker in san francisco more than 35 years. i know nancy pelosi, not because she is a high-ranking officer, but as a committed servant to this great city, and have seen all the great work that she has done for san francisco. i believe it is a great idea to name a drive in golden gate park in her honor. she deserves it. she has secured federal funding to help develop and transform san francisco into a world-class city, such as the presidio is well-kept and maintained.
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treasure island is a living tourist attraction. hunters point will have a bright future, too. this is all because of nancy pelosi's effort. i know that she has also secured money for training and placement programs. this is important for low income families and immigrants. her love of golden gate park is there. she took her children there to play when they were young. her heart is in san francisco. she cares for people.
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i have seldom seen such a high- ranking political figure who was so concerned and connected to the local community. again, i stronglyi have seldom . thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. i am here to oppose this based on -- let's take a look at the situation. i have been back in san francisco for the last two years. i was born here. i have looked into government and i have seen a lot of corruption. this board have violation sent to the ethics commission for violating the sunshine act. right now we have a situation before us where you want to ratify acts that have already been taken. there is a support sign up thats nancy pelosi drive. there was a dedication ceremony. what are you people tried to
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pull over the eyes of people in san francisco? no matter how good this idea is, as an occupier, i have learned process is important when you forget it. when you forget it, you get corruption. you get a lot of corruption. we have of mayor, a member of the bar that is not entitled to practice law, perjuring himself according to the head of the democratic party. every department i look into is run in this fashion. you railroad and roughshod run over the people of san francisco, and i will show you why. in this situation, that middle road has two roads next to it named john f. kennedy and martin luther king, both assassinated martyrs for civil rights. and you dare to suggest nancy pelosi at this point? you should namehe