for the people in the community. thank you for your time >> thank you. >> hi i'm going to be brief i live within 5 minutes walking dissents of the park. and i fully am in favor of the current plan. i think it serves the did you go owners, it serves the active sport people and the parents and the little kids and bigger kids we are lacking at the moment a green space. i think, you know, on a sunny day i walk to delores a 20 minute walk to get somewhere for a picnic blanket down. i think this is really one of the reasons i'm not using the park as much as is would there's no green grass area. that's to me the biggest and

most important thing about the implement plan separating the people and the having the green space >> thank you. >> any public comment on that item? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> commissioner low. i think this process really demonstrates the need for small property owner in san francisco. i mean particularly we're going to add thirty thousand households by 2020 everyone is rights but it demonstrates our need for more small property owner and redemption that's for a later discussion and like the general manager to join me in that authenticity leadership with the may someday and excuse me. mr. president, too (laughter) >> but i think on balance this

plan well, not perfect xhaufz the best amongst the competing needs of the neighbors. we've heard this and capital committee and understood the comments from the neighbors but really in my mind achieves probably the best balance. i would say this is only a conceptual plan there will be more confinement and i look to marvin to better deny the dog friendly area so should dogs become off leash we have a barrier to prevent them from intruding into the people area. so could possibly be used for other purposes when there's no dogs in the area but that rewill

come when we're into the architecture plan. i do have reservations about building something we can't build phase one and two will prolong the discussion under the neighborhood if only phase one st. is built. i said the community opportunity award is going to come in september? >> september. >> september, october. i'd like to see this conceptual plan moved but if this is not a - if there's not adequate funding this come back before us >> thank you commissioner levitan. >> marvin i have a couple of questions this is one i'm struggling with because i feel

for both sides of the issue. there's a part of me that feels if we were enforcing the rules that were on the books and listen to what amazed to a quite a few of the people that are fine with the park it might work for everybody does not but grouping in the city we g didn't have a big background so my dad said that's what the park is for. i also know that a hard escape is violating important for our kids to be active. my parent used to send me to hit balls against the wall in the park and learned basketball basketball it was an option for me as a city kid. i'm not crazy about the idea of losing the hard escape but i want to ask you marvin about the

methodology i don't have the numbers but you said in taking the numbers there's a large number of folks who want to keep the park the same but you voted for some of the 0 change i struggle with this is my own struggle but what if people are give them the option of one option over another. i'm not suggesting to go back to public meetings but i guess what i come back to if we tweaked what we had we might be able to appeal to the greater number of people and that's the chief one is the dog issue. the birthing concern is nothing is going to change we have those beautiful small property owner area why do we think somehow it's going to chance unless we

enforce it i fear all for nothing i fear what supervisor wiener wants to do by getting nor park patrol but i have worries about that. so i reluctantly will support this but i also sort wonder it started off as a restroom renovation and now we've morphed into something that's better so - and marvin was there a question in there for marvin (laughter) >> well, i - no, no we arrived at this conclusion leave people not a big descriptioncy this many people don't want it how did you arrive at then president

change? >> well, i mean yeah. marvin you can answer that one because you did the community meeting and supervisor wiener said it best this is one we're really to to pieflz he piece the right way to design this park better a clear consensus didn't work. and so it's like, you know, in an constant run off there's not a clear majority that emerged so tlrns there's a strong sense if i said it, i misspoke the park was not working for anyone but the park design given the current usage has it's changes so there's a consensus for change. or there was enough of a consensus for change.

let's talk about that commissioner. with respect to off leash doing are not method doing their realistic based on resource constraints you'll suggest that 7 days a week during the park hours we'll have to have a that is correct control officer on duty almost all the mind that just isn't realistic. i think we can perhaps do more with siemg and education even if we're able to have more park parolee we need more park patrol officers there will be far more hours with no park enforcement so you try to improve things through design are we one hundred percent sure this is

going to exhaustive everybody does not no, but a great deal professionals tried to make design modification to the park that were more likely to meet some of the community needs we've heard decreed to we're not creating an off leash area only a place for fepg area for people. the other piece of green space we know that they're to be dogs in the park you have a accommodate people bus that's a multi use space. one thing that might make it easier i want to remind people of the discussions of asphalt and the need for active playing that's my part time i get it i'm

synthetic for that. one thing i'll add because of the partnership with the school district we w have a robust active area two schools are participating in the share program they don't have asphalt so i think there's a balance of recreational areas in the neighborhood that's what we're striving for >> thank you commissioner bonilla. >> i think there's a problem with definition. i think most dog owners define people space as having a place to take their dogs. i mean, that's pure and simple that has been is case with all

of our parks that the dog owners see being able to take their dogs to any of the parks walk with them and play with them and especially play with them with their children, you know. that's seep as a family activity. and so how do you get around that. it's very difficult i can't get around that. that being said i think it's any opportunity where we can have grass vs. synthetic fields i think we ought to seize that opportunity. we need to i mean- we need to

have natural grass wherever we can pit it into the parks for picnicking and for sitting out in the sun and enjoying the sun. if there's any way possible to do that that's a good thing. and we ought to strive for it. we might not be able to get the park patrols we need. and not been able to use i mean or have park patrol coverage to enforce the leash laws but it's not set in stone that we can't try and put every effort forward to have grass and to have the park patrols that we need to if

we don't try we don't make the effort whatsoever and just accept the fact it this whole city has to be turned into synthetic fields, you know, i don't think we want to go there. i'm talking about hard keeping hard areas vs. not, you know, having grass i mean, i think we need to have as much a pet park the grassy areas that we can make it. and that's actually what i'm referring to not that i'm complaining about synthetic fields >> commissioner low. i compromising didn't realize commissioner harrison wanted to

say something >> commissioner harrison. >> on mr. general manager with regards to the landscape do those tennis courts or basketball court can we line those areas that define the tennis or basketball courts for the schools. >> are you talking about the shared playground. >> that's both the basketball and tennis i don't know what affordable housing adversary but there are a couple of. >> alvarado has 2 and lake 6. >> so their defined lines and . >> i don't know about the tennis backboards their might be other people who know about the backboards at lake i know. >> it in it is interesting to

find out if we could install a tennis court somewhere and line it. >> where. >> in one of the schools that are nearby, you know. >> i mean our school district that doesn't get brought up but our school district adds to the playgrounds tennis courts are most likely no our upper schools our high schools rather than our middle school but our school district has tennis court. >> do we have one in close proximity to the noah courts and superstitions i don't know. i think supervisor wiener mentioned as part of this resurface to tennis courts that are currently out of operation to add to our intention court

inventory we care about we are working with folks in the room to improve the access of quality of tennis courts in san francisco, you know, your job is competing with park values on any site. >> seeing no other comments commissioner low do you want to a make a motion. >> yes. with the modification there's only one phase that phase one and two be constructed subject to the award of the community opportunity fund sometime in the fall and should that opportunity fund not come through that this matter be remained by the commission to come back before us. >> is there a second. >> so moved all in favor, say

i. and everybody does not looks perplexed to what happened. >> we're on item 10 general public comment this is continued from item 4. is there anybody who wants to make general public comment seeing none, this item is closed >> item 11 commissioner matters. i want to say one thing informing for who those how were not and library opening it's a great architecture i'm trying to get this power anchored the general manager is there are that's a simple for north beach and when joe d gets improved theres a mecca for the chinatown area.

any public comment on that item? seeing none, public comment is closed. item 12 is new business agenda that item? . seeing none, public comment is closed. item 13 is communications. any public comment on that item? . seeing none, public comment is closed. and item 14 is adjournment >> move to adjourn. >> moved and seconded. we're >> what if you could make a memorial that is more about

information and you are never fixed and it can go wherever it wants to go? everyone who has donated to it could use it, host it, share it. >> for quite a great deal of team she was hired in 2005, she struggled with finding the correct and appropriate visual expression. >> it was a bench at one point. it was a darkened room at another point. but the theme always was a theme of how do we call people's attention to the issue of speci species extinction. >> many exhibits do make long detailed explanations about species decline and biology of birds and that is very useful for lots of purposes. but i think it is also important to try to pull at the strings inside people. >> missing is not just about specific extinct or endangered

species. it is about absence and a more fundamental level of not knowing what we are losing and we need to link species loss to habitat loss and really focuses much on the habitat. >> of course the overall mission of the academy has to do with two really fundamental and important questions. one of which is the nature of life. how did we get here? the second is the challenge of sustainability. if we are here how are we going to find a way to stay? these questions resonated very strongly with maya. >> on average a species disappears every 20 minutes. this is the only media work that i have done. i might never do another one because i'm not a media artist per se but i have used the medium because it seemed to be the one that could allow me to

convey the sounds and images here. memorials to me are different from artworks. they are artistic, but memorials have a function. >> it is a beautiful scupltural objective made with bronze and lined with red wood from water tanks in clear lake. that is the scupltural form that gives expression to maya's project. if you think about a cone or a bull horn, they are used to get the attention of the crowd, often to communicate an important message. this project has a very important message and it is about our earth and what we are losing and what we are missing and what we don't even know is gone. >> so, what is missing is starting with an idea of loss, but in a funny way the shape of

this cone is, whether you want to call it like the r.c.a. victor dog, it is listen to the earth and what if we could create a portal that could look at the past, the present and the future? >> you can change what is then missing by changing the software, by changing what is projected and missing. so, missing isn't a static installation. it is an installation that is going to grow and change over time. and she has worked to bring all of this information together from laboratory after laboratory including, fortunately, our great fwroup of researche e-- g researchers at the california academy. >> this couldn't have been more site specific to this place and we think just visually in terms of its scupltural form it really holds its own against the architectural largest and grandeur of the building. it is an unusual compelling object. we think it will draw people out

on the terrace, they will see the big cone and say what is that. then as they approach the cone tell hear these very unusual sounds that were obtained from the cornell orinthology lab. >> we have the largest recording of birds, mammals, frogs and insects and a huge library of videos. so this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for us to team up with a world renown, very creative inspirational artist and put the sounds and sights of the animals that we study into a brand-new context, a context that really allows people to appreciate an esthetic way of the idea that we might live in the world without these sounds or sites. >> in the scientific realm it is shifting baselines. we get used to less and less, diminished expectations of what it was.

>> when i came along lobsters six feet long and oysters 12 inches within they days all the oyster beds in new york, manhattan, the harbor would clean the water. so, just getting people to wake up to what was just literally there 200 years ago, 150 years ago. you see the object and say what is that. you come out and hear these intriguing sounds, sounds like i have never heard in my life. and then you step closer and you almost have a very intimate experience. >> we could link to different institutions around the globe, maybe one per continent, maybe two or three in this country, then once they are all networked, they begin to communicate with one another and share information. in 2010 the website will launch, but it will be what you would call an informational website and then we are going to try to, by 2011, invite people to add a

memory. so in a funny way the member rely grows and there is something organic about how this memorial begins to have legs so to speak. so we don't know quite where it will go but i promise to keep on it 10 years. my goal is to raise awareness and then either protect forests from being cut down or reforest in ways that promote biodiversity. >> biodiverse city often argued to be important for the world's human populations because all of the medicinal plants and uses that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. while these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars, the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of

history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. >> this is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way getting people to wake unand realize what is going on -- wake up and realize what is going on. so it is a memborial trying to get us to interpret history and look to the past. they have always been about lacking at the past so we proceed forward and maybe don't commit the same mistakes.

>> 7 and a half million renovation is part of the clean and safe neighbor's park fund which was on the ballot four years ago and look at how that public investment has transformed our neighborhood. >> the playground is unique in that it serves a number of age groups, unlike many of the other properties, it serves small children with the children's play grounds and clubhouses that has basketball courts, it has an outdoor soccer field and so there were a lot of people that came to the table that had their wish list and we did our best to make sure that we kind of divided up spaces and made sure that we kept the old features of the playground but we were able to enhance all of those features.

>> the playground and the soccer field and the tennis fields and it is such a key part of this neighborhood. >> we want kids to be here. we want families to be here and we want people to have athletic opportunities. >> we are given a real responsibility to insure that the public's money is used appropriately and that something really special comes of these projects. we generally have about an opportunity every 50 years to redo these spaces. and it is really, really rewarding to see children and families benefit, you know, from the change of culture, at each one of these properties >> and as a result of, what you

see behind us, more kids are playing on our soccer fields than ever before. we have more girls playing sports than we have ever had before. [ applause ] fp >> and we are sending a strong message that san francisco families are welcome and we want you to stay. >> this park is open. ♪

>> good morning. the meeting will now come to order. this is the regularly scheduled meeting of the government audit and oversight committee. my name is supervisor london breed. i'm the chair of the committee. and to my right is supervisor katy tang and supervisor chiu will be joining us shortly. the clerk today is alisa miller. and i also want to thank sfgov-tv jesse larsen and jim smith. and, madam clerk, do we have any announcements? >> yes. please make sure to silence all phones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards and copies of any documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear on the june 3rd board of supervisors agenda