really have to offer. stadium and events, it's not the building a lot of times, it's the people that make things works that keep things alive and moving. a lot of times it's those operational folks sitting behind me that don't necessarily get the credit. so what you are doing for them today is quite remarkable. they deserve it and i'm happy to be a part of it. we bought some small tokens of our appreciation of candlestick memorabilia. by no means do we want to over shadow what you are doing because it's paramount and extra special. i want to say this you for being a part of that. it is a bitter sweet moment. i don't know who is doing the work today. thank goed the park rangers didn't show. there is a way we can correct that and make it a

special moment for those people as well, just maybe not in front of you, but maybe we can do something for them because they are in post. congratulations to all of you. it is bitter sweet to me personally and for the 49ers, there will be a nexus to san francisco. we love san francisco and we love the parks and recreation department and certainly those that represent them and you today. so again, hats off, ladies and gentlemen. you are good people. with that, we would like to say thanks again and start passing out some gifts. >> thank you. jim. >> so i know i called out our lineup, mike, george, patricia, fred: amanda, stand up. let's give them a big round of applause. [ applause ]

our stadium operations team, now, if they can be joined by steve castillo, roger rival, larry gill, caesar, mike, stand up. and i do want to say as old as the stadium is, i get great pride in telling people it is the best turf. i'm coming down to join you.

this week has been kind of bizarre. i have over the years spoken to a lot of press, but it's -- i didn't expect this today. you know, i feel very honored. it's all i have to say. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] easy to follow that, roger.

>> i will try. i always wondered when i started at candlestick and now it's almost at hand. it a really strange feeling to be going there these last few days and thinking pretty soon i won't come here anymore and it going to be hard to drive up the freeway and not see that big gray edifice looming in the distance. you have to wonder what's going to be there. over the years, i think we've made a lot of improvements in turf management and we've been lucky that we've been allowed a freehand in experimenting with different methods. i think it's all paid off and it's because of the management that we've had and the crews that we've had out there. they deserve a round of applause. a lot of them aren't here. some of them have passed away. i think we should all be

respectful of the fact that this is a real team effort to make candlestick what it is. sometimes when i tell people that when i started out when i was the gardener outside of the stadium, people would say, what's there to do outside because they walk in and they don't see what's outside. i think we have 300 trees to take care and and the lawns and statutes, and it's sort of the minutia of day-to-day things that made my job a great place to work and a facility where we can get great equipment and maintenance. it's meant a lot to the staff that everybody had a lot of faith in us and we did the best we could. people don't realize how dangerous it is out

there when after a football game people want your equipment. putting concerts together and tarping for different events. i have seen people thrown through the air on the tarps and injured, broken collar bones and backs. it's fairly dangerous work. everybody did the best. all the people that i have worked with. they all deserve a lot of credit for everything they did that almost nobody knows about. thank you very much for the opportunity. [ applause ] >> thank you. i'm going to ask all of you to come up and circle us behind the podium. jim, c'mon up. danny, anna. and we'll get a photo and hopefully someone will figure out how to make cop easy -- copies and make sure you get one.

>> let's squeeze in together.

how about go 9ers? >> thank you very much. [ applause ] .

>> thank you very much. that concludes the president's report. >> so is there anyone who would like to make public comment on the president's report? being none, public comment is closed and we are on item 3, the general manager's report. >> that's tough to top. a few announcements. we've had a lot of focus on the stick and now monday is very likely the last game, last 9ers game, but we are continuing to work on keeping the facility activated and healthy until it's time for it to come down. in honor of monday's game we have a contest

for a lucky fan to win a pair of tickets. it's slighter better than winning the jackpot. all you have to do is share a favorite photo or memory. the entry tonight deadline is at 7:00 p.m.. we can honor the stick one more time on monday night. before you and i think there are some members on the public, we are pleased to issue our fiscal report which mentions a lot of the projects for the past fiscal year. we are proud of what we do everyday to get residents at our park and i encourage you to enjoy it. i want to thank the staff for

doing such great job for putting together the report and all of the men and women volunteers who give us the content. one way to stay warm and active this winter is participating in a parks and recreation program, our winter session program is under way and it will accept people until the start of classes in january. we have many activities financing options kids, adults and seniors and we have over 7,000 registrations. we are offering winter break camps for families trying to figure out what to do with their kids for winter break. come join us. we have available for families looking for healthy positive programming for their kids during winter

breaks. in a few short minutes you are going to see our parks and rec video. two of our videos won a national award at the telecommunications officers and adviseers. the national association representing local government jurisdictions and consortiums and those that see communications and broadband technology. both of them find in sf parks. i would like to thank sfgtv for producing our videos and mark who both do so much to give us, help tell our stories. the videos can be found on youtube by search sf parks. i'm proud to announce the graduation. the green

ageers accomplishments of 2013-2014 term. the green ageers term is made possible by the san francisco alliance and improving their role in communities open space. an as team of motivated youth, they work with the southeast sector of the city and hosting volunteers and they gain everyday skills applicable to everyday life. i want to give advanced congratulations to this years class and commissioners you are invited to join me at the ceremony -- on january 8th. i want to say to the commission and staff and park volunteers and park advocates, happy holidays! >> thank you, sir.

technical difficulties with this month in parks. if we get it fix, we'll show it, otherwise there will be one next month. there we go. [video] >> that concludes the general

manager's report. >> thank you very much. >> is there anyone who would like to make a comment on the general manager's report? seeing none. now we have public comment on items that do not

appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items your opportunity to address the commission will be afforded when the item has reached in the meeting. i have four cards. i have mark, rick, an nance astasia. >> good morning, commissioners, my name is mark hawthorne. i was here last month. i know we want to end the year on a positive note. hopefully i will do that. in terms of letting you know how supportive camp has at the department and in terms of volunteer hours and what those hours equate to in terms of monetary value. in the 2012-year, 1118 hours were donated by the volunteers,

friends of camp. somebody came up with the value of $25 an hour. that's $43,000 worth of assistance there. there were 1700 volunteer hours in 2013 donated at the camp. that equates to about $78,000 if you do a conversion. those hours do not include approximately 1400 hours that was put in by the the friends of camp at the board of directors of meetings. i just want to let you know that the friends of camp supports the parks and recreation and the venue will continue to do so. just to finish up, i don't know if you got this information. since

2003, the friends of camp mather have reinvested $70,000 equipment to make it enjoyable to the people of san francisco. we are looking to do a fundraiser february 22nd, notices will go out. it's planned to be a grab feed and hopefully one of the new venues out at the boat house. we are looking to do that. thank you very much. and happy holidays! and happy new year! >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> i'm sorry to add a negative note. can i use the overhead?

my name is anastasia. i'm here to talk about the parks and recreation. there is no safe use of herbicides. they call problems and dysfunction. the danger water supplies. the natural areas program is the worst offender. on this chart, if you can see it, but two herbicides in areas has increased by all measures. in number of applications of pesticides used by 200-400 percent. the data is available to 2012. by the way, it has not

database for the documents. the second chart compares the herbicides used for all the departments. it includes the golf courses with the use of the nature areas program and to have the complete picture, you have to control the land of the san francisco which is -- but to have the picture, you have to multiply it by three. the use of that. it will give you about five more the use than the other parts combined. last week there was a use n of herbicides. i don't know what's happening. last month, mid-november there was the use

of herbicides in it was milestone. you have an article in milestone. it's so bad that the crops were ruined by the manure from the animals which eat hay by herbicides. we have it in our parks, in older parks. it's this program is very costly. i don't have much time. happy holidays! i hope they will stop doing this. >> thank you.

>> next speaker, please. >> my name is robin share. i would like to say it's the founder of friends of camp mather. thank you for everything you are doing at the camp. now i'm switching, as they say in dr. sues book, i'm speaking for the trees. i don't know what's being carried out in our parks. not everybody is able to come to meetings on a workday. i know when people come to the parks and they see the trees taken down, they are very disturbed by that. recently there have been articles that talk about how natural is so subjective,

invasive, so subjective. wild is what we had. we don't have it so much anymore. we are having some very manicured parks. i'm going to read some of this. it starts out with something that comes from the you can. it says that the biouniversity, those displaced by this species is irrational and mistake for scarce conservational funds that is especially damaging. to me the eucalyptus is the tree of san francisco. i'm always happy to the back. population and species have begun to evolve and hybridize. putting a back what we consider to be native

is not possible. we don't know how those chromosomes have changed. the wild life and with americans, during once managed ecosystem was at the height of it's degradation to the species. the word invasive is loaded. we hate invaders. it's focused solely on the species, yet the ability to survive is due to interactions with biological and physical environment. we are calling our trees when we are the greatest invasive species here in san francisco. when we restore landscapes or more often introduce a set of species that have decided are the ones we want to see there, we are changed the landscape to match what we want this, not some divine plan. again, when we

restore landscapes or more often introduce a set of species are the ones we want to see this, we are altering the landscape to what we want to see there. i thank you all very much for your service. i would like to say, phil, every time i find an open bathroom in the park, i thank you. >> thank you. speaker: next speaker, please. >> good morning, commissioners and general manager. my name is richard rothman. i'm one of the city guides at the tower and i would like to thank sandra and the rest of the staff for giving us the opportunity to make tours. the people really enjoy it