presentation, and so, i don't think as a board i get the sense that we are going to be ready to adopt anything on march 25th. >> so i am not really, i am just going to at this point i am going to ask the board members what their thinking is. i think that we have to end the presentation at this point. so, directors any thoughts? >> my only thought is that i would like to be presented with options that the team believes would be appropriate to move on, not only options that the team believes would not be appropriate to move on. >> so i understand the team does not want to cut on the rva analysis, again, i do not want to second guess that. so how about being presented with options that get the number down that the team believes would be constructive? >> we actually we are going to present you on this. >> as part of this presentation. just a reminder to everyone, we are on march 25th, we will be

looking to present to you is an action item to recommend to allow to give the design team allowing to move ahead for the rva and we have to move on the rva because the construction documents are due may 31st and the longer we put that off the more expensive this project becomes and it defeats everything that director metcalf is looking to do which is save money. the seconds thing that we are going to come back to you on march 25th. was a recommendation on what to do further with skanka, do we ask the board to allow us to negotiate further? reject the bid? and they will have a recommendation for you then, we are not coming to the board on march 25th, with the recommendation to adopt the reserves and contingencies we can at this point because we need to give web corps times to relook at the whole structural steel, do we repackage everything? do we redesign the steel in some way to be able to give the response that you asked for.

so march 25th, would be allowing us to move so that the design team could finish and that would just include the direction on the rva and the direction of what to move forward and that is it for march 25th and changing the facade from the grass to the metal and we can do that presentation as well. i would ask the board to consider maybe starting our meetings at 9:00, we have a very complex project and i understand, we have never had a time limit for when this board meeting would attend but it appears that most need to leave at noon and i would ask for consideration that we could start earlier, i can start as early as anybody can available and but we really need to start thinking about starting earlier, because there is a lot and it is a huge project and a lot of material and we don't want to keep disappointing the public that we are going to present something and we don't have the time. please allow us some consideration. >> i think that is an important request. any other... i am happy to

start the board meetings at 9:00 a.m. if there is no objection, we can certainly. >> and i want to apologize to those of you who are here and not getting to present. >> i also just asked the board members if they can let me know in advance when they have meetings schedule afterwards so i can give staff a good sense of when our meetings need to end by, these presentations are great actually. i really appreciate the incredible level of detail, but i think that we don't need to go over it orally. i think that it is important for us to see visually. >> i think just to that last point, it would be helpful to get these in advance so that then we have, you know, for us and the public to be able to review and we don't have to go bullet by bullet. i am glad that hear that we are not going to need to try to contemplate a full budget adjustment at the next meeting because we will not be ready for that. what would be helpful in addition to what the previous director's mention, one would be an understanding of what the

change process is within the program. i don't know if there is a change board or a configuration board. because it seems like there is a lot of things that have kind of moved along the course of the program, and it would be helpful for us to understand how those things get vetted and if we could cover that at the next meeting and we seemed to have stopped getting or receiving the monthly reports which was the one thing in writing that they were getting each month. maybe i missed it. i don't feel like i have seen one in a couple of months and that would also help with my understanding of what is happening here. and then, i guess to the point about to what extent the current projections what they are anticipating it sounds like for the steel, the estimate was going up over time and we ended up with something quite a bit above and i think to director metcalf's question what does that mean for the glazing and the other big packages and the other big packages that you

referenced are still to come? i guess that it is more than a third and we have big ones that are further out in time and subject to further escalation and out for one of those packages and i am wondering what comfort level that we should on the estimates now and what we are seeing for at least this one, just the recommendations to cover at the next meeting. >> that is helpful, director could you repeat the first one? because i did not quite catch the first one on the order and the change of the process? >> like to understand what the program's change process is. so how we get to the point where we are needing to authorize additional design budget. >> how we move from one? >> where internally how those decisions are being made to advance to the board? >> okay. >> and we do have a change management, budget change management procedure, that documents exactly how that is done, and the sign-offs and

approvals. so we can send you that, procedure in advance. >> perfect, thank you. >> okay. so, i think that that is good. it is a good way to move forward. i do want to say as we move forward with the entire budget through april and may, if it is that we are just looking at 164 million dollars, it is 164 million dollar gap, i still would like the number to come down more. that is just where i am at today. i actually think that the presentations have been great in explaining why they are the way that they are. but i just... it is a big number for me, still, to swallow. and the last feedback that i just wanted to give is that given how competitive, the construction market is today, i think that we need to be very thoughtful about our rfp process and i think that in years past we could be more thorough and ask the bidders to give very complicated packages, and bids to tj pi, i think that

given the current climate that we should think about how we could be competitive in attracting the bidders. i want to commend the staff and i think that the staff is thorough and this is not, i am not being critical of that, because i actually appreciates that level of ten acity and detail, i just want to be sure that we deliver the project to our city within a budget that works. given the public tlars that are spent on this. we are meeting again on march 25th. >> i am going to keep that time at 9:30. >> has it been publicized yet? >> it has not, so we could make the adjustment. >> it seems to be a shorter meeting. >> it feels like 9:30 works for that one. >> i would suggest nine because we are going to have the presentation by fred on the skin. and maybe some questions.

i really would recommend 9:00. there was never, there is nothing written anywhere that this meeting ended at noon, but if that is what the board wishes we need to start earlier. >> we can start at 9:00. >> i will have a hard stop on monday because i am on a committee in the afternoon so i can have the meeting go past 12:30. >> so we will start at 9:00 a.m. on monday march 25th and do that there after. >> and at least in spring through june. >> so we will actually have to adopt the change of the bi laws and we can call the meetings every month. >> i would rather keep it special meetings for may, april and, may, i think that once we get through, this, through the budget, i think that meeting at 9:30 will be appropriate. >> i don't want to go through changing the by laws. >> okay. >> that would be my preference >> thank you so much. the staff, and thank you so much to board members and if there are no further announcements are discussions the meeting is adjourned.

all right. every year we come out to celebrate arbor day in the month of march and i'm

happy to kickoff this year arbor day here at this special location. joined with us today we have several guest. i know dan is here, larry stringer is here and our colleagues and our partners in arbor day. today like many other days, trees will be dedicated in someone who has contributed to san francisco either through their work or given back to the environment through culture, through arts and through many of the hard work and we will unveil who will receive this dedication today. as many of you know trees are very important for our communities. they provide us shade, they deter water from going into our storm systems, they provide a place for birds and butterflies

and of course they help us clean our air. arbor day is a very important event. it is celebrated not just in america, but all over the world and i'm honored that we are kicking this event. i would like to thank the mayor for bringing arbor day back to san francisco. this is our 8th arbor day. i will welcome mayor lee to the stage. >> thank you the dpw, the recreation department, to all of those who helped us in working today. arbor day, it is an annual celebration that we have struggled very hard to

make sure this city appreciate because the trees are part of a great answer and solution to reducing carbon emissions and be sure we have greenery and beautification for our citizens. a lot of my friends celebrated chinese new years in china and this year for chinese new years, wilhelm wundt wilhelm wundt of the one of the gifts they gave to the employees is an air mask. if you don't start contributing to its purification, you don't get the kind of air like you do in san francisco. this is why trees are so important to our nature and this is what i love about the city because when it comes to our environment, we do

make some serious investments, whether it's green buildings, waste management or going into electric vehicles or getting everybody to change their habits, one of the habits that we want to continue having is planting trees. and so every year for the last 8 years, we have select a signatory to plant and we have taken the liberties of honoring people that have contributed to the quality of life for all of us. in past years, people like rosa parks, caesar chavez, people that we know and are familiar with, along with people that we are not that familiar with but have made some great contributions. today we thought we would take this opportunity to celebrate an icon of san

francisco. the brown twin sisters have been with us for many decades. mary is here today, she's here in celebration and memory of her sister as we all are and we want to take this opportunity to use the arbor day to have a cedar tree, a tree that will grow taller than mary or i. it will grow to be a hundred feet tall. it will be a tree that will be celebrated here in san francisco for generations to come and we thought it would be not only appropriate, but we thought it would be our honor by planting this tree in recognition of vivian and her wonderful contributions to our

city. and we are especially blessed with maryann honoring us with her presence. it's not that easy for her to get around these days but she has and continues to be part of an incredible twin sisters. but now she's also missing vivian as much as we are and we felt this would be a proper way to create a celebratory atmosphere on how we miss vivian, how much she meant to us and take this opportunity for arbor day to plant this tree in her name. how is that, maryann for a great celebration? >> wonderful. i know my sister from heaven is watching. >> all right. she said vivian is up there applauding us and we have a great time of celebrate. ing. with that,

supervisor lee, you should know, it's always been under dispute as to who is supposed to be responsible for this piece of land. was it the highway folks, the residents who built their homes here, was it dpw, we are trying to gift it to rec's and park for nothing because it's an incredible responsibility. look at how beautiful this place it. we do keep it up. it does barrier the intense traffic that we deal with here. i travel quite a bit and everyone i know always glances here and takes a breath of fresh air a

midst all of this traffic. this adds beauty and value to this area. i would like to give this proclamation to maryann and have her treasure this and the permanent memory of her sister and how we celebrate people who are part of our culture as the brown sisters have been and also have been on literally every page of our wonderful visitors galleries, they have been in movies, commercials, they have become a part of what we see in san francisco and how we advertise ourselves around the world as a great place to live and work in. with that, with this proclamation, declares today to be vivian brown tree day in san francisco

and also appropriately names this california cedar to be the tree for vivian brown in san francisco. >> beautiful. thank you all for coming. >> all right. like the mayor said, this is a california tree. the tree bark was used for making medicine for people with stomach aches. it's also been used as a wind break and been used in many many parks. tree comes from the cypress family and the botanical name.

i'm happy we are adding such a tree to san francisco and to honor the vivian brown sisters. now like we've done in many of our events, it's always an honor to introduce the supervisor of the district and like he said, we are very familiar with this piece of land. this land has had many trees that act as a buffer to the neighborhood and the neighborhood appreciates it but we are still trying to figure out who is the legal owner of it, but in that process, dpw and the neighbors always join and the one thing we do know is we need to take care of the trees and we do that with that, i introduce the supervisor norman yee. >> thank you, i'm just one of many san franciscans celebrating this day, arbor

okay for vivian brown. i'm so glad that we have an opportunity to have a celebration in this district 7 to be able to celebrate more intensely this great icon of san francisco and i just hope that i get to see the tree when it's a hundred feet tall. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you. also as part of our partnership as many of you know we partner with many of the non-profits i see san francisco beautiful here. welcome, kristin who is a great partner with us and we also partner with other great cities. i would like to ask mr. -- to come up and talk to us if you would. >> thank you. it's an honor to be here to celebrate arbor day

with you. this is an okay to celebrate our trees, in 4,000 open acres of our city we are able to enjoy and benefit from over 140,000 trees and a couple interesting facts on arbor day, there are trees and responsible for the creation and monterey pine and different types of trees which you can find in the panhandle which was a laboratory to find what best trees can grow and they settled on those three specific trees. what i would like to say and i can thank another partner mohammed

a friend of the forest who cares for the city so well. i also want to give a big shout out to the men and women who take care of our trees, the gardeners, laborers. mary, i would like to end, did you read the book about a tree that gives and gives to a person who started out as a young boy and all throughout life he came to visit that tree and took a little bit from that tree until the tree had nothing left to give. i think you and your sister have given so much to this city and have contributed to its spirit that there is nothing that is more fitting in honoring the two of you than planting a new tree to give and give back to the community. so congratulations and i'm over

joyed to be part of this honor. >> san francisco [inaudible] you take care of people and that is wonderful. we have always enjoyed living in san francisco. it's you people, people that make this world. what would this world be with no people. so we love san francisco. never leave your heart in san francisco. always come and find it here. [ applause ] . >> okay. and also as part of my job being responsible for many trees and i can tell you that this has become one of the

harder parts of my job and we have gone out and tried to get people more involved and between the right of way there are about a thousand trees and from the parks about other 120,000 trees. we are working very hard to make sure we preserve that asset. many of our trees have aged and we need to start a process of reforestation and it involves good planning. i will ask the veteran of the department who has the policy group to advise us on what we should do as the city. melanie. >> thank you. good afternoon, everyone. it is an honor to be here on behalf of the department with all of to you celebrate arbor day. this is a

department of the environment, one of our favorite days. what we support is the climate program. we look at what is our carbon inventory and where is our carbon emission come from. we know it comes from the environment and we are working very diligently to mitigate the carbon sectors. we know that many trees is the answer to reduce the carbon emissions further. in addition it's critical to our adaptation strategy thinking about if we can't ward off, trees will

continue to help us with storm waters and they boost property value where they have a robust urban forest. i wanted to mention when i first moved to san francisco, i lived on russian hill, i would sometimes take the cable car and i would often see you and your sister see both of them smiling and the warmth they shared as twins, it brought a smile to my face everyday. as you said before you started your sister is smiling down today and it will live on for both of you, thank you. >> we are going to lower the tree and plant the tree in

honor of vivian. miriam i'm so happy that you are here with us today >> i have glad to have seen all of you and hope you have a great day and never forget the beloved city of san francisco. >> we should turn around and get the shovels. after 3. 1, 2, 3. all right. [ applause ] . all right.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> the san francisco playground's history dates back to 1927 when the area where the present playground and center is today was purchased by the city for $27,000.

in the 1950s, the center was expanded by then mayor robinson and the old gym was built. thanks to the passage of the 2008 clean and safe neighborhood parks bond, the sunset playground has undergone extensive renovation to its four acres of fields, courts, play grounds, community rooms, and historic gymnasium. >> here we are. 60 years and $14 million later, and we have got this beautiful, brand-new rec center completely accessible to the entire neighborhood. >> the new rec center houses multi-purpose rooms for all kinds of activities, including basketball, line dancing, playing ping-pong, and arts and crafts. >> use it for whatever you want to do, you can do it here. >> on friday, november 16th, the dedication and ribbon cutting took place at the sunset playground