our public fees and that is 55 acres at 5.5% of our largest crown park. there should be no fee to walk in that park. i want to also point out that in last two and a half years, you guys have given the san francisco botanical garden society $725,000 to help pay for the administering of the fee. so the fee itself and whether or not it really produces the kind of money that was suggested in the cover letter that nick kinsey said, $1.3 million, i'm not sure that is accurate , but i'm not going to challenge that today. i want to talk about on page 14 in section f, both single dot i and double dot i, i want the language and i think a lot of people including t bop and kaf want to see that it's explicit in this agreement that there is nocilltowers,

no commercial antennas in the garden and no commercial billboards, signs or advertising kiosks in the garden. last thing i want to make is the hours of operation. we urge three changes. one, that there be free entry from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., like there used to be. very few people come in there that will pay fees, but people from the community would go in there and i was one of them we urge free entry at the last hour day. the last entry hour there may be people that come -- may i make my last point? >> please do. >> thank you. we also urge that you add this to the section. any extended evening hours shall be open without charge to the public and that the public shall not be excluded from enjoying the garden premises while a private party is convened. that is while private party is going on, because they are going on all the time, the

public should still be able to walk in the garden and should not become the exclusive 55 acres of the garden society. thank you very much for your consideration. >> thank you. >> david. >> good morning. david. i just want to point out here on here specifically - i am here specifically to talk about the lease agreement and going through the 70 pages of it, to add some possible amendments to it, that i feel protect the garden and its purpose there. one is that in regards to the sublease and i will say it's on page 40-17, that basically the wording there is saying that

the botanical society become essentially the land managers at that point and it doesn't go through back to the whole process of what the lease is and being vetted with a public hearing or a commission. so we feel that that sublease clause should be deleted. and and going along the lines of advertising, that there are sections, page 58, it's about vending machines in the garden. again we would like the garden to be kept in the way it's been kept in its pristine forms and not have machines that advertise things being visible in the garden. there is obvious language for bringing foodservice in of some kind of so. so i guess that is what goes on in lots of places

now. that is not the objection.and also to rereiterate something that nick kinsey was saying and yes, the botanical society spends hundreds of thousands for their programs and the city gives them a grant. so that was my understanding to clarify that in the presentation. and again, i still strongly feel that this is not the time for the fees and i have to say that people have worked very hard advocating for other ways

and i hope that continues on and is recognized as our efforts. thank you. >> thank you. so we have sue anne; [speaker not understood] >> thank you very much. i am sue anne, executive director of san francisco botanical garden society, and i am here to speak in support of the lease and management agreement and our continuing partnership with the city and the recreation and park department and i want to start by thanking president buell and thanking general manager ginsburg for also serving as auctioneers at our big event and helping us reach record-breaking results. so thank you very much. there are a number of trustees here today, and docents and other supporters and i would just like to ask them quickly

to stand. so that you can all see. thank you very much. our city's botanical garden has become one of the most important botanical gardens in the world. our magnolia collection is recognized as the most significant for conservation purposes outside of china. we have three cloud forest collections and only botanical garden in the world to have this. our community should be proud of the almost 60-year partnership that makes the botanical garden and its plant collection and its garden displays and its programs possible. the botanical garden society exists for only one purpose, to support the botanical garden. our mission is to build communities of support for the garden and to cultivate the bond between people and plants. the botanical garden society's annual budget has ranged from approximately $2.5 to $3 million in recent years, depending primarily on the

extent of the improvements within the botanical garden that we are funding. we fund and staff all of the botanical garden's education and community outreach activities. these are with privately raised funds at this point, and we spend more than $730,000 a year in direct expenditures for this purpose. these programs include our youth education program, in which we serve 10,000 children a year, most from san francisco public schools. our library, which is northern california's most comprehensive horticultural library. our volunteer and our docent program, our free guided walks for visitors, our community events and classes, our programs for families with young children. just quickly, in addition, we

also fund $400,000 a year for curatorial work and voluntary contributions to the city to support the hiring of an 11th gardener. lease and management agreement is important because it sets the framework for how the botanical garden society and the rec and park department will continue to work together for years to come. i urge your support thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> and don, our board chair sends his apologies. he was here at start of the meeting, but he had to get on a plane to go to his son's graduation. i have a letter of support from him. >> thank you. tracy, mary pitts. joseph. lawrence pitts. barry galvin. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> i was asked last night to come speak to you.

my name is tracy thatcher, the founder of flower and designs and i an educator and i teach botany, organic gardening and soil. i am a child docent and adult docent as well. i am strongly in favor of this lease agreement. and i just want to say, as far as the children go, i probably do about three tours a week, and now we're extending our enrichments, our classes throughout the summers as well. and i am joining up with that as part of the redwood walk with the children too. i do weekends to the tourists and adults that come through. it's wonderful. i love it. i was listening to the other

people, and i don't like the fees. i see a lot of tourists turning away because of the fees and it almost breaks my hearts because they should see our garden. it's a beautiful garden and what people don't realize that i told the children and the parents that come through with the children is that all of these plants are brought in. it is a museum. it's a plant museum. so everything within here in san francisco is brought in from around the world. this lease is very important for continuing the education of children and the adults. you would be surprised how many people don't even know that lettuce has a flower and needs seed and this is important and i start from the soil-up and i start educating the children at the gardens. and i also take it into the schools. so i am doing both. i am doing, as much as can i

can regard to plants and educating. i take classes at the garden, enrichment classes that ch are free for me because i'm a docent, but pay to take classes that the public can and i am a parent of two as well. i support this lease and i am glad that many you came to the garden yesterday. it was wonderful. the warmer was amazing and thank you for hearing me and please reconsider the fee, if that is in this discussion at all. thank you. >> thank you. >> mary, joseph, lawrence, barry. >> good morning, commissioners. i want -- >> could you speak into the mic, please. >> sorry. >> thanks. >> my name is mary pitts a

long-term resident of san francisco and volunteer at the botanical garden for 15 years and i'm currently a trustee there. i have seen firsthand as a volunteer, but more important as a parent with raising children in san francisco, going to the botanical garden and enjoying what was there, but seeing it develop beautifully over the 40 or more years that i have been here. yes, we love the trees in the botanical garden. the san francisco botanical garden at strybing arboretum, but some of those trees are there because the botanical garden society, funded by the society and we very much appreciate the cooperation that we have from the city and from the parks and recreation to help make the garden as good as it can be and better and world-class. some of the trees that are there were not there when my children were tiny. i bring my grandchildren there

to see them, and something like the handkerchief tree, which is a beautiful tree with tiny flowers with branchs that float like a hand kerchief in the wind along with other plans in the cloud forest collection because of work done by the botanical garden society. morning aspect talked about is the library and justed yesterday in the garden i spoke with a young woman who was visiting the garden for many years and takes classes at city college and studies at the garden. up with other aspect cooperation of the agreement and cooperation with the city are the many opportunities for volunteers. there are hundreds and hundreds of volunteers there.

these volunteers have an opportunity to have an engagement with their community, something that enriches their lives and enriches the lives of san franciscans who visit there and enjoy the benefits. so i urge you to support this lease agreement. >> thank you. >> joseph, lawrence, barry- [speaker not understood] . >> good morning commissioners, i am here to speak? support of the new lease and management agreement between the department of recreation and park and the botanical garden society. the new agreement will replace the initial agreement, which was implemented in 2002. by way of introduction, i am dr. joe -- i serve as a life member of the board of the

botanical garden society and serve as an adult docent and children docent and my wife and i are the circle of strybing contributors. the garden became a major focus of my community service before, but especially after my retirement in 2003. by the time i became a -- or about the time i became a board member, the society became concerned that since the beginning of the private-public partnership we had no written agreement establishing the parameters of our working partnership, which would layout the specific responsibilities of each partner. we worked hard and long with the help of pro bono legal counsel, and with the department to establish the first memorandum of agreement implemented in 2002. i think the experience that both partis have gained in our working relationships since then has provided an excellent

background for the formulation of the lease and management agreement before you today. in my opinion after reviewing the major points of the agreement, the document seems to me reasonable, practical, comprehensive and lays out clearly the responsibility of both parties. if adopted the agreement would help facilitate the continued development of botanical garden into an evening more effective institution than today. the san francisco botanical garden has earned an international reputation of serving well the people of san francisco, the bay area, and beyond, with its collections of plant and it's programs. by adopting the agreement, the commission will affirm the intent of the community of supporters of the garden to continue to educate children and adults of the area, in this

critical relationship of people and the world of plants. not only now, but in the future. thank you. >> thank you. >> lawrence. >> good morning, commissioners, my name is lawrence pitts, i am a 44-year resident of san francisco and profession of neurosurgery. things that struck me very on the fragrance garden with many plants with lovely smells and braille signs so poorly-sighted people can enjoy that part of garden and wandering through the garden one day, young

german visitor wanted to see a rare plant and took him over to the chain link fence that is covered with the species. it's a remarkable place. it's a living museum. and it requires ongoing support as a museum has to do. the extraordinary partnership with rec and park that has supported the botanical garden with the society, providing major resources for education, for maintenance of plants, for addition of new plants and for interaction with arboretums around the world. it's just an essential partnership that needs to continue and the new lease and management agreet will support that and i hope that the commission supports that as well. thank you. >> thank you. [ reading speakers' names ] >> thank you. my name is barry

galvin, third generation san franciscan and i have a son and granddaughter who were born here, a real believer in san francisco. i have also been the chair of the docents. and i look upon many volunteers and the docents as the real boots on on the ground. we are the face that people see when they come into the garden and i think having the cooperation between the city, the botanical garden society makes it a very special place. i have visited many botanical garden in many other parts of the world and i think we do a superjob in represent the garden and i think this cooperation speaks to the city

and i would ask you to support this agreement. >> next speaker. >> good morning. i think it's still good morning. >> it is. >> and i follow barry as the docent council chair and you will find docents in the garden every single day of the year, regardless of holidays and the weather. we are there. and we are working of course as you know with children, as well as with adults.

and we are there to help people enjoy the garden, to enjoy it's benefits. we are there to help them understand how plants grow, how plants thrive? what the conservation ethic of the garden is? both within san francisco, within california, and of course, within the whole world. and we are there to share our knowledge, and our responsibility for the garden. and we want to see that flourish. i want to be sure that the botanical garden is well-cared through, through a flourishing future and as we often joke at the garden, a flourishing future well beyond our lifetimes. we see this garden as stretching into the years of our children, our grandchildren and our great grand children. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you.

>> next speak, do we have monica or helen here, please? >> good morning. i am helen mckenna and i am a science educator and i was thinking on my way here this morning i have been a science educator in san francisco for 50 years. i taught in the san francisco unified school district and san francisco state and for the last six years i have been teaching at the garden. at the garden i am a volunteer. at other places i was paid. so i do it out of love for what i call "a scientific institution." i think that garden doesn't really convey a role in the community. we are a repository of 8,000 plants. we have a staff, 4-6 curators who catalog the plants and who

label those plants. we have the only garden map geopositioning map of plants and i think i have mentioned before you can go online, any one, any citizen in the world can go online and see our plants with photographs and names. they are all located by bed. this is a scientific institution. this is, if you will, a living collection. and i think we have a responsibility as a society to preserve this collection, along with our book collection. we have over 8,000 volumes of books and these are open to all people who come into our library. and we actually lend them to children who come in. so i think the society has been responsible for creating a scientific institution just as venible and just as important as our neighbor the academy of science. i appreciate the opportunity

you have given us to create such an institute in partnership with the city and i believe that the society is the best steward of that legacy. thank you. >> thank you. >> if there is anyone else who would like to speak, just come forward and speak. come on up. anyone else? yes, just line up. she is going to speak and you can follow her. >> thank you. my name is joann taylor. i am a docent for the past 16 years. but my connection started many years before. first, growing up in the sunset, next to golden gate park and later as a member of the society. i have watched the garden that has grown ever better. based on my experience with the previous agreement, i feel that

the new agreement will provide a tangible structure and a meeting point, so both the city and the society can continue to function well in support of this amazing botanical garden and arboretum. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker and if there is anyone else, could you please line up by the door? thank you. >> good morning, commissioners. >> good morning. >> my name is barbara campanoli and i am a retired san francisco police officer of 30 years and i am in my third year as a docent at the san francisco botanical garden society and i take the little ones on tours exploring the gardens and it's a blast. i am having the best time ever. and i want to thank helen mckenna, who was my ini was able to take affordabl

botany classes through the botanical garden society. so that i could learn a little bit about pollenation and the hard work that those icky bugs do to create this amazing place called the botanical garden arboretum. it's fabulous. i just encourage you to vote for this 30-year lease. so i can keep playing with them. i love it. thank you. >> thank you. >> okay. is there any other public comment? being none, public comment is closed. >> i'm sure we get some commissioners to weigh in on this. i want to make some preemptive comments to frame this. i read the letter from dennis and i this there are good points in in it and i wish they would have come to committee

and worked them out before coming here, because i think they have merit. i don't believe at a rec and park commission meeting that we can work out all the detail and get all the answers to all the issues in a constructionive way. so what i want to suggest is to get comments from commissioners, but to end up in a place where we give those comments to the staff and the staff and the society weigh in on all of them. because as i say, i think there are some good ones and i will say that i think the name is an important one and it ought to stay as the strybing arboretum and historically as it has always been. i think serving the public with that language has merit as well and i also think that regularly

scheduled food trucks and no advertising on vending machines is good ones, but as i say, this is not the place to try and do that, but with my can send our recommendations to the board of supervisors, when they consider this. so with that, i would like to start with commissioner low. >> i read dennis' letter as well and i want to address a couple of items. isn't the name of the tenant the san francisco botanical garden at strybing arboretum. is there any naming issues at the actual botanical gardens? >> in terms of? >> using that name? because that name is throughout the lease. >> yes, there is no intention to change the name of the arboretum. >> and then looking at the

assignment and subletting clause it's pretty broad and it includes anybody using the gardens other than itself. it requires the consent of the general manager and it's sole and absolute discretion and wouldn't that include the concerns of cell phone towers? food trucks? vending machines and other concessions? >> yes. >> so maybe the way to address those points is to say that the general manager has the discretion to withhold its consent to those uses. those are my only points and i think that covers most of the issues in dennis' letter to us regarding use. because i think it is captured in the assignment and

subletting clause. i'm leaving probably my colleague to address hours of operation and fees, but i think with respect to the concerns for other uses of the premises, we do capture in the assignment and subletting clause. >> commissioner harrison. >> i was looking at the amount of money received there was $1.3 million, nick? and then that the department derives $750,000 out of that $103 million and aside from collecting those