i did not come here to cause problems, but i do come here to point out areas where i think things are not being handled properly. when i go to other public meetings, i tell them, my two main concerns here are to ensure that members of the public are free to make meaningful public comment and they're given access to public records which in most cases you need access in order to form a format. a friend went with me to an arts commission meeting and after he recommended they might get some sunshine ordinance training, one of the commissioner said, and my allowed to comment to him? which if they knew the ordinance which he signed he have known td to respond and he said to the man, mr. whatever your name is, i do not know who the hell you

think you are but that is a bunch of bullshit and i do not appreciate coming here and being lectured by someone like you. if that is the response by the board commissioner to public comment, especially of legitimate public comment, it is disgraceful. people have a hard enough time public speaking. it is one of the things people fear most in their life and it is hard enough for citizens of the city to come to a board or commission when they are concerned about an item then address those boards and commissions and to be aware of the fact that members in the auditorium and members on sfgtv are also watching them. to have someone showed a total animosity not only says that message to that individual but it sends a message to every other person in the chamber and every person watching on government television. it's as we did not want your comments, we did not appreciate

them, and if you see the wrong thing to us, we will attack you. our response is ok, the ordinance clearly says members are free to express their opinions, to respond, and i want to thank you for the responses i have gone although i may have not agreed with each one. i respect the fact there were given and it is that give-and- take that really encourages people to participate in government. i think one of the things that i see separately is the fact that many people to not go to boards and commissions because they really do not feel that the board and commissions care about what they say. i have heard them do it. one time in a police commission meeting, they went to item no. 2 and covered a and b and went into closed session for four hours, it made everyone leave the chamber. there were 15 people that came

to talk about item number two. after the four hours, they came back, covered agenda item 2c, and asked for public comment and i was the only one that was left and i said that was not right. i was told by the vice- president, you cannot talk about that. it can only address the substance of the item, you cannot address -- you cannot address how you handle that. i respect the constitution and whenever i see people who are not allowed to comment freely without being discouraged, i will speak out. >> the last item on the agenda is public comment on matters appearing or not appearing on the agenda within the jurisdiction of the ethics commission.

>> when i joined the navy, i took an oath to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to bear true faith -- true faith and allegiance. one of the interesting things about that later when i left the armed forces examining station, i realized i had lived 20 years of my life, had these liberties granted to me by the constitution, not only in this case of the u.s. but in california, and i had never had to do anything in return. i also realized at that point i was never going to be able to and accountants to put the burden down. polehinke no me by my appearances here and i am not too shy about -- i think you know me by my parents is here

and i am not too sure about my parents is. it is my right to do so and i feel it is my right to do so, petitioning government for redress of grievances. when i see of their careers of the public and they're not given an opportunity to speak, or their comments are disparaged or whatever, i find that totally unacceptable. primarily because in many of those meetings, every member of the commission or board is taken -- has taken an oath to support the constitution of the ninth seat in california. by denying people those rights, they are violating that both in my mind. it is critical that people participate in government. one of the things i have learned in life, none of us is smart as all of us. one of the raises the bay area is such a magnet and such a vibrant and dynamic area is

because we have people here who've come, who are free to express themselves, whether it is the technology field or any other field and i think that shows well. government benefits at all times by being open and not just accepting public comment. so let's have a public comment. we're not just going to allow you to speak, why it to speak. thank you. >> is there a motion to adjourn >> all in favor? opposed? the motion passes. the meeting is adjourned.

>> there has been an acknowledgement of the special places around san francisco bay. well, there is something sort of innate in human beings, i think, that tend to recognize a good spot when you see it, a spot that takes your breath away. this is one of them. >> an icon of the new deal. >> we stood here a week ago and we heard all of these dignitaries talk about the symbol that coit tower is for san francisco. it's interesting for those of us in the pioneer park project is trying to make the point that not only the tower, not only this man-built edifice here is a symbol of the city but also the green space on which it sits and the hill to

which is rests. to understand them, you have to understand the topography of san francisco. early days of the city, the city grows up in what is the financial district on the edge of chinatown. everything they rely on for existence is the golden gate. it's of massive importance to the people what comes in and out of san francisco bay. they can't see it where they are. they get the idea to build a giant wooden structure. the years that it was up here, it gave the name telegraph hill. it survived although the structure is long gone. come to the 1870's and the city has growed up remarkably. it's fueled with money from the nevada silver mines and the gold rush. it's trying to be the paris of the west. now the beach is the suburbs, the we will their people lived on the bottom and the poorest people lived on the top because it was very hard getting to the top of telegraph hill.

it was mostly lean-to sharks and bits of pieces of houses up here in the beginning. and a group of 20 businessmen decided that it would be better if the top of the hill remained for the public. so they put their money down and they bought four lots at the top of the hill and they gave them to the city. lily hitchcock coit died without leaving a specific use for her bequest. she left a third of her estate for the beautify indication of the city. arthur brown, noted architect in the city, wanted for a while to build a tower. he had become very interested in persian towers. it was the 1930's. it was all about machinery and sort of this amazing architecture, very powerful architecture. he convinced the rec park commission that building a tower in her memory would be the thing to do with her money. >> it was going to be a

wonderful observation place because it was one of the highest hills in the city anywhere and that that was the whole reason why it was built that high and had the elevator access immediately from the beginning as part of its features. >> my fear's studio was just down the street steps. we were in a very small apartment and that was our backyard. when they were preparing the site for the coit tower, there was always a lot of harping and griping about how awful progress was and why they would choose this beautiful pristine area to do them in was a big question. as soon as the coit tower was getting finished and someone put in the idea that it should be used for art, then, all of a sudden, he was excited about the coit tower.

it became almost like a daily destination for him to enjoy the atmosphere no matter what the politics, that wasn't the point. as long as they fit in and did their work and did their own creative expression, that was all that was required. they turned in their drawings. the drawings were accepted. if they snuck something in, well, there weren't going to be any stoolies around. they made such careful little diagrams of every possible little thing about it as though that was just so important and that they were just the big frog. and, actually, no one ever felt that way about them and they weren't considered something like that. in later life when people would approach me and say, well, what

did you know about it? we were with him almost every day and his children, we grew up together and we didn't think of him as a commie and also the same with the other. he was just a family man doing normal things. no one thought anything of what he was doing. some of them were much more highly trained. it shows, in my estimation, in the murals. this was one of the masterpieces. families at home was a lot more close to the life that i can remember that we lived. murals on the upper floors like the children playing on the swings and i think the little deer in the forest where you could come and see them in the

woods and the sports that were always available, i think it did express the best part of our lives. things that weren't costing money to do, you would go to a picnic on the beach or you would do something in the woods. my favorite of all is in the staircase. it's almost a miracle masterpiece how he could manage to not only fit everyone, of course, a lot of them i recognized from my childhood -- it's how he juxtaposed and managed to kind of climb up that stairway on either side very much like you are walking down a street. it was incredible to do that and to me, that is what depicted the life of the times in san francisco. i even like the ones that show the industrial areas, the once with the workers showing them

in the cannery and i can remember going in there and seeing these women with the caps, with the nets shuffling these cans through. my parents had a ranch in santa rosa and we went there all summer. i could see these people leaning over and checking. it looked exactly like the beautiful things about the ranch. i think he was pretty much in the never look back philosophy about the coit. i don't think he ever went to visit again after we moved from telegraph hill, which was only five or six years later. i don't think he ever had to see it when the initials are scratched into everything and people had literally destroyed the lower half of everything. >> well, in my view, the tower had been pretty much neglected

from the 1930's up until the 1980's. it wasn't until then that really enough people began to be alarmed about the condition of the murals, the tower was leaking. some of the murals suffered wear damage. we really began to organize getting funding through the arts commission and various other sources to restore the murals. they don't have that connection or thread or maintain that connection to your history and your past, what do you have? that's one of the major elements of what makes quality of life in san francisco so incredible. when people ask me, and they ask me all the time, how do you get to coit tower, i say you walk. that's the best way to experience the gradual elevation coming up above the hustle and bustle of the city and finding this sort of oasis,

if you will, at the top of the hill. when i walk through this park, i look at these brick walls and this lawn, i look at the railings around the murals. i look at the restoration and i think, yeah, i had something to do with that. learning the lessons, thank you, landmarks meet landmarks. the current situation at pioneer park and coit tower is really based in public and private partnership. it was the citizens who came together to buy the land to keep it from being developed. it was lily hitchcock coit to give money to the city to beautify the city she loved of the park project worked to develop this south side and still that's the basis of our future project to address the north side.