hetchy, the honor of the greatest engineering feats, reflects what our puc does for our public, and for generations to come it will educate everybody. >> i'm really proud that one of the greenest and most sustainable buildings is here in norm in district 6. the wind turbine, the solar power, the living machines, recycled water that ed and the mayor has already spoken to. and what's also amazing about this building is it's not just internally, but you can actually see it on the outside. so, when people are walking around the city they can actually see the green and environmental aspects. >> what better way to show that the puc cares about the environment and the puc is going to show everyone else, you can do this, too. and you can do it in a way that makes sense, that's affordable, and that is better for the environment. >> and this is the most energy efficient government building in the united states today, if not the world. and it is an example that the entire united states can look to and say, that's what we need

to do to save our city hundreds of millions of dollars in energy consumption a year and set an example to everybody of how to save energy, to be green, to be sustainable, to be responsible. the city is leading the way. >> it will be immediately recognizable and iconic from various parts of the city or even if you see a picture. that's the sfpuc building. it's a wonderful building. ♪ ♪çq

>> good morning. welcome to the regular meeting of the budget and finance committee. my name is carmen chu, chair of the committee. supervisor avalos will be joining us shortly. he is currently at the bay area air quality management district. i'm also joined by supervisor kim. our clerk today is mr. young. at sfgt we have jennifer low and mark bunch. mr. low, do you have any announcements? >> yes. please turnoff all cell phones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards and copies of any documents to be included as part of the [speaker not understood] should

be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear on the december 11, 2012 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> thank you very much. would you call item 1? >> item number 1, resolution authorizing the recreation and park department to accept and expend a grant of $870,355 from the san francisco parks alliance for the design and construction of a playground in sue bierman park. >> thank you very much. do we have a representative on this aye fen? -- item? please come on up. >> good afternoon, supervisor chu. good afternoon, supervisor kim. my name is abigail [inaudible] with the partnerships division with recreation and park department. i am here to talk about the accept and expend grant from the san francisco parks a likesv in the amount of

$870,355 which will authorize the recreation and park department to accept and expend this grant for the design and construction of a playground in sue bierman park. i'd like to spend a few minutes to give you some background on the group that's working on this project and the playground as well. the friends of waterfront playground is a volunteer organization formed by two waterfront neighborhoods, the barbery crist and [speaker not understood]. currently there are about 12,000 residents and it's growing to 20,000, which includes over 1,000 children. in addition to those children, there are 700 children that come to the area every day in child care centers and the ymca camp. however, there are no public play grounds within a half mile of the area for these children

to play. the friends of waterfront playground have been working in partnership with the san francisco recreation and park department and their fiscal sponsor, the san francisco parks alliance, to plan for and build a brand-new playground to serve these neighbors and these children in sue bierman park. sue bierman park is located in the embarcadaro. it covers about two city blocks bounded by the embarcadaro washington street, clay street and davis street, and it's bisected by drumm street. in 2004 rec-park led a [speaker not understood] for sue bierman park. at that time the community did express interest in including a playground, but there was a ordinance that prohibited structures including play grounds. so, this group, the friends of waterfront playground, they worked with supervisor david chiu's office and supervisor chiu in october of 2011 introduced legislation amending the ordinance to authorize the

construction of a playground on portions of the park. this legislation was passed by the board of supervisors in november 2011. so, at that point the friends group engaged rome adi sign, which was the landscape architect that had helped design the master fit plan for the park * and they led a community process to design a new playground for sue bierman park. the proposed playground is approximately 5,500 square feet. it is carefully nestled into the park land. it is designed for children 2 to 12 years of age with a mix of equipment for younger children and then some equipment for children 5 to 12 years. the play area will be fully a-d-a compliant for accessible play. it will feature a port and place rubber safety surface and benches to match the existing park benches. the play area will be surrounded by landscaping and a fence with a gated entrance from the existing interior park pathway.

there will also be a donor recognition plan to tastefully recognize donors who support this project. in march of 2012 the rec-park commission approved the conceptual plan. the donor recognition plan, and the recommendation to the board of supervisors to accept and expend this grant. and in may they approved the memorandum of understanding between the parks alliance, the friends group and rec park. so, now the san francisco parks alliance, as the friends group fiscal agent, they are prepared to make two grants. one part of the grant is a cash gift valued at $37,500 which is to fund the cost of the rec parkman jerk to oversee this project during construction and to make sure that the friends group really adheres to the city's policies and guidelines. the second part of the grant is

about $830,000, and that is the cost of the entire playground which will be a gift to the city. currently the friends group is extremely hard at work fund-raising. they've raised approximately $300,000, and we have in place an m-o-u that the friends group may not break ground until all the funding is in place. they expect to break ground in the spring of 2013, but we work with them closely to make sure that everything's on track before they start working on city property. thank you very much. >> thank you. for this item we do not have a budget analyst report. so, why don't we open this item up for public comment. are there in a minute bier of the public who wish to speak on item number 1? come on up. * members yes, hello, ronald [speaker not understood]. i'm new and i'm asking the

rules -- the clerk -- said i could ask questions. you might answer questions at the edv, it's not required. and i'm asking is there a bidding process for this or is the construction person already chosen? and are you able to make it a time certain amount of time that the park would be closed to people using it? i just went to jackson square park. this is the one on turk street opposite emergency management, supposed to be open in september and it's still closed. so, and, of course, lafayette park, that's in litigation or discussions about whether such and such should happen, and that's closed. so, i'm wondering if you can attach something, a time certain thing, that the job gets done and that park and rec can't use discretion to keep things closed. and also i'm wondering if you are able to -- because port supervisors and port clerk get

all the hassle on these things. i'm wondering if you're able to announce when you receive and assign this to the committee who is the contact person on staff. i just found that there are 401 people on city staff in san francisco earning over $200,000 a year and it seems like they have enough money at park and rec they don't need more money from this group that's trying to build things to have money designated for a park person to do this. and again, this is a large amount of money. i hope the clerk reads out the amount of money on all these things on the agenda today. huge amounts of money are coming up here. thank you. >> thank you. are there other members of the public who wish to speak on item number 1? seeing none, public comment is closed. if i can just ask, abigail, if you would speak briefly to the bidding process for a work like this or construction like this.

>> this playground project is funded solely through private funds, through the from youedxctionv of waterfront playground and their fund-raising effort. and, so, the bidding process is different than the normal city bidding process since it's not being put out to bid by the department. so, the friends of waterfront playground, they work with the san francisco parks alliance to put together the bid package and to actually hire the contractor. and the project has been put out to bid. i don't think at this point the contractor has been selected yet. >> and even though it's all private dollars that we're talking about here in terms of the construction of this structure or this playground, the idea is that they would put out the private entity puts out the bid for the contractor, but there is rec park oversight over the construction, correct? >> yes, yes. and there's rec park oversight or there was rec park oversight

putting together that bid package. >> okay, thank you. any other questions, supervisor kim? >> i just had a quick question about the maintenance. is the [speaker not understood] playground in the long term? i just had a question about the funding for the maintenance of the playground in the long term. >> sure. during the community -- during the community process, the recreation and park department was very involved in that including our operations staff who will then be maintaining this playground. so we made sure that the equipment that is being used is equipment that our structural maintenance yard can actually maintain and if needed over the years, replace or fix. so, it is coming from city approved vendors. and the landscaping, the plants and the materials that will be used are materials that our gardeners really approve of and know that they can maintain. and we are in discussion with

the parks alliance and with the funds group to provide an ongoing maintenance fund. and in addition to that, a stewardship, a commitment to really help volunteer at the playground and help maintain it over the years. they're a very committed group so we feel strongly that will happen. >> by the way, i'm very appreciative of the san francisco parka linetionv and the friends of the waterfront playground. * park alliance we depend on these partnerships and really invested committee members to fill out the new open space especially in district 3 and district 6 which i represent, which has the least amount of open space in the city. i'm very appreciative, even though this is right across the borderline. i know many families in the south of market will certainly benefit from a playground being in that area. i know it's a big debate with the boce ball court down the way. i think a lot of our families will be very excited to see there will be a playground on the site. but of cou