embarrassing that we are saying that we have the best parks in the world when we don't. i ask you to come and see where you are putting our kids to play in. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. [ reading speakers' names ] >> i have been playing there for 14 years and when it was asphalt, nobody cared about that field. it was completely abandoned by

everybody. until 2002 when it was renovated and now everybody wants it play there and everybody wants to rent it. i have been following the rule for 13 years, you show up and you will have your time to play. and i started a petition in 2002, and i submitted that to scott wiener, nothing. he didn't reply i feel very attached to this play ground. i met my friends, good friends who have been in my wedding and know my child. that playground has been a hub for a lot of latino kids to play together and share and be part of the community.

i ask you to keep the community rule for ten years and look at the example of 21st and folsom. right now nobody cares about that field, nobody. they don't rent it, they don't go over there. look into that and i bet you the day they fix it, that we're going to have the same problem that we have right now with mission playground. just some advice, air b&b and all the big companies they maybe want to buy a lot and build their own field and maybe they can rent it you out. [ applause ] >> thank you. [ reading speakers' names ] >> good morning, thank you for your time. i really wasn't prepared to talk, but i have been inspired. so i'm going to wing it. i grew up in the mission. i was educated in the mission. and i was luckily was able to

afford a house in the mission many years ago, because right now i'm sure i wouldn't be able to. as a property owner, and as a person who pays my taxes, i demand that you guys do represent us, the youth, and i'm here also as a mother. i grew up in the mission using parks and recreation, and i raised three kids who played t-ball, basketball, soccer, baseball all through parks and rec, why? because it was affordable. right now there are many parents, many single moms who cannot afford it. i want to represent these mothers in the mission, because we -- you guys owe us a peace of mind. you owe us that we keep our kids safe. that when we go to work, they are not at home doing things that they should be doing, but worse, that they are not in the corner selling drugs, buying drugs or having drugs pushed on them. i am educated in the field of criminal justice and it's a huge concern and i'm passionate

about. it as a criminologist, i know the determinings dangers out there. we prevent gang and we prevent violence and we prevent drug use. we don't have to sell ourselves out. so please do us all a favor and work for us. i also use parks and rec, taking dance classs that are free and play raquetball. so please think about it and represent us. you guys work for us. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> there are copies here.

my name is gio hastings a native san franciscan and i played soccer in junior high school, lincoln high school on real grass at beach l.a.. i coach the kids soccer team in millbrae and work at 14 years plus as a city gardener for the rec and park department. i'm appalled that we'll put kids or anybody on plastic. when you hear nbc talking about cancer and new york city has gotten rid or going to get rid -- in their park department not going to put into these plastic garbage fields with toxins, the two largest cities in america, new york city and los angeles, about 4 million are saying no to it. that's wrong that they ever had the plastic stuff.

i'm far to the right wing type of person, but as you can see this is wrong to put people on this kind of poison. i used to work at mission playground as a gardener at the mission complex and now these kids are told to get out. that is wrong. it's basically veriong. wrong. i heard the old song and dance as 14 plus years as gardener and we seem to hire at the top and not the bottom. that is who does the work. we don't need big stadium lights and to mess up the wildlife. we need fields without the big ugly lights. yes on h, no on i and do the right things and maybe we can stop this nonsense. thank you very much. [ applause ]. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please.

josé muniz. >> good morning. my name is josé muniz and i have been a resident of san francisco since 1970 and i have seen a lot of changes and one of the problems as i see it that more and more these parks are being given to the more wealthy people here in the city. i'm not sure it's intentional, but that is what is happening. we need to give credit to the youth who stood up for themselves and i wish there were many other parks in the city, who are probably encountering the same problems and there is no outreach to them. i think it behooves the manager and maybe the commission here to reach out to those communities to see what problems that they are really

having? because one problem we have is we have no accountability and don't know if those people are facing the same issues that we're facing in the mission? so i encourage to you reach out to them and make sure that our youth here have a priority on those parks. not the adults. thank you. [ applause ]. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> commissioners we would like to introduce the kids and i would like all of them to speak consecutively. i know we have the two-minute time period. >> they will. >> the day of the incident, what happened -- >> speak into the mic, please. >> the day of the incident, when all of this occurred, we

all felt like we were going to get kicked out of our home, because we always go there to play soccer with our friends. we go and make new friends with the community. so we didn't like the way that we were being treated, and everyone here is saying like what they did was wrong, but at the same time, it's like we didn't know if it was a real permit or not? so we decided to stay on the field and we decided to not fight, but we decided to stay there as a team. we're always there as a group and we like to stand our ground there. so we felt a lot better about having the situation, having the talk about it. >> thank you.

>> keep talking, guys. >> so that park is our to-go place and where we really have fun. so not every day, but almost every day after school we go and ever since the beginning of summer, you know how they have the little league practice and everything? so we wait for the little kids to finish playing and then we're like all right, it's our fun time and we get to play now. but then they come to us with the paper, like, we have the field, you can't play. you have to leave. and it was like -- that is where we go to have fun after school. after a long day at school. so we feel like we had to do something about it, because it didn't happen once. it happened multiple times. >> thank you. who else? >> my name is nathan garcia. >> pull the microphone down so we can hear you. >> i'm nathan garcia and go to everett middle school and i'm in 8th grade.

13. i felt kind of like mad because i was -- we were at the park, and then people were going to come with the paper, and not just one time, but a couple of times and they are going to tell me to leave. and they start cussing me out and disrespecting me. like, i don't know how to say it, but you guys are kicking out all mission because you kicked out mission beacon and now what is next? the park. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> hector gomez and go to linc kon high school. i'm 15-years-old. it was a second home and i grew

up there and they kicked them out too. now that we came to this park and tried to shove the paper in our faces and it's not right. try to mistreat my friend nathan and i don't think that is the right way to settle the problem, but to work together and work on a solution. we tried to work on it, but then they didn't understand. that is all i have to say. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> hi name is hugo vargas and i'm the victim of getting kicked in the back. it was just unfair and i didn't deserve that. i was just tryinging to be a good kid and having a big argument -- what the heck? i didn't deserve that. just me being stubborn, i didn't tell anyone, because nobody is going to listen to a

15-year-old? but now i know i have the city on my back and it was just unfair for those people to kick us off our home, our community. they have been there for what? months. we have been here for years. this is my family right here. these guys are my family. if i need something, i can depend on them. i don't want to ever lose them. it's just not fair. and i go home thinking what if i lose the park? i lose my family, i lose my home. so please help and support. [ applause ]. >> thank you. >> hi. my name is greg garcia and go to mission high school and i'm a freshman. i have been going to the park since it first opened and i met a lot of my friends there. that is where i met these guys. i went there and i met people

and i made friends. i feel safe there. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> is that it guys? thank you very much. thanks for coming here today. [ applause ] who is next? >> george whiting and elizabeth mejas [ reading speakers' names ]. >> good afternoon commissioners. my name is george whiting. i represent the neighborhoods and i want to thank rec and park for meeting with the children in the mission

regarding the privatization of public assets. this started in 2005, phil ginsburg had no experience with rec and park, but he was -- [speaker not understood] mark buell made a large donation to gavin newsom and became head of rec and park and suddenly rec and park's budget was cut dramatically and got rid of all of their rec and park employees. what they did, they started to hire 6-figure employees who they gave bonuses to, to find people who would donate to rec and park to help rec and park and all of a sudden rec and park stopped serving the people in the city

and started serving people with money. and what you have seen over the last five years with privatization is there is more emphasis on people with money than there are with people in the community that pay for the you ballot measures that rec and park has been paying for. so i want to thank the people in the mission for pointing this out. it's going all through town and as affected -- they are trying to keep the fields open much longer to collect as much money as possible. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> elizabeth. >> hi. i lived right across from mission playground since 1992 until 2005 when i ended up having to move out because of

this displacement basically. somebody who had more money basically forced me out of my home. i had to move to potrero hill. i feel like we are incredibly lucky to have such youth that we have in the mission district, who are able to express themselves in such an honorable way and basically just tell the guys, hey, why don't we play together? these guys basically slapped them in the face, and now i hear that one of them actually kicked one of them in the back. so what are you going to do about it? what i mean is that we really need to learn a little bit of cultural appropriateness here. first of all the signs are in english and community standards are basically what we have to be all about. my son, i used to be able to rent the building for birthday

parties, but even the birthday kid had to wait his turn. it was pickup. that field has always been a pickup. and it seems to me that this issue was not only about the parks. it's about the whole damn city. and back in 1994 i remember tom ammiano presented a plan of progressive tax meaning that those who had more in the city, like the corporations and stuff should be paying their fair share. okay? that never got through. we're still back to zero. we're still back to zero. when are you guys going to understand or when is the politicians of the city going to understand that we -- that you guys don't work for them. you guys work for us. and the children who are now 16, 17, 18, the 18 years old are going to vote. >> thank you. >> they are going to vote.

[ applause ] >> alfred massia and valerie tulier. >> hello commission. i would like to thank you for giving us this time for public comment. my name is alfie massas and have been an at-risk teacher 12 years with the mission -- 7 years with youth art exchange formerly out of sight and five years with sf jazz. my work in san francisco has been specifically with our youth and i'm here today because the youth have inspired me or reminded me what it is to be a san franciscan. what it is to be a civil individual, to step forward and live in the city where the people have the voice. this is a working-class city

bottle by working-class people and not by twitter and not by facebook and not by air b&b. everything that they want, we built. and the commission needs to look at that. where mayor ed lee has championed his tech tuesdays and what happeneded to public schools wednesday? what happened to non-profit thursdays? what happened to san francisco families fridays? i'm sorry i'm getting a little emotional, but these youth have reminded what it is to be here and be a san franciscan and i ask that you stop all privatization of public seats that belong to -- for the people, by the people that built them. this is a matter that is much greater than just mission playground, but a matter affecting the city and needs a deep looking into. where is the mayor today is what i ask the commission? thank you. [ applause ]

>> good morning commissioners. my name is valerie tulier the facilitator the mission peace collaborative. first i want to high pressure our youth here for their strength to speak up for themselves, and for our community. [ applause ] and i also want to honor the ancestors that worked that ground where mission playground is, the ohlone people. and what i would like to -- [ applause ]. >> and what i would like to acknowledge the youth, their respectful way, their cultural attitude about sharing common ground and playing together. however, rec and park's behavior supports the gentrification. you kick out mission community-based organizations and now you are kicking out latinos from their park. neighborhoods should have culturally appropriate policies that support their neighborhood parks. instead, i want you to

understand the historically pattern of colonizing. these gent rifiers come with their attitudes saying that we are here and we bought you out with our resources and money. we have played by the rules that are established by institutions like rec and park that support our entitlement to this land grab. that is how they feel. that they are entitled to take your land. while i appreciate the meetings mr. ginsburg and efforts at damage-control, i'm more concerned about the ideology that frames your policies. keep our parks for our youth. thank you. [ applause ]. >> thank you.

[speaker not understood] she talks about how in the soviet union the bureaucracy of the soviet union came to feel that the state was private property. that is a natural tendency of bureaucracies as they think they own thing. rec and park doesn't own the open spaces of san francisco. [ applause ] >> they are there to administer that open space, but they do not own it. it's not theirs to sell or give away. the other thing that is true of the bureaucracy of the soviet union they felt it was their job to decide what was best for the people. it was their job to decide how people should live their lives and use their open space and everything. it's not the job of rec and park or the

commission, but their job to facilitate what the people decide is best for themselves. this system isn't working. it isn't working. it's broken down. we should not be coming here, pleading our cause to ask you for stuff. the open space of san francisco needs to be controlled by the neighborhoods, period. it should not be controlled by bureaucracy. it should not be controlled by a commission appointed at-large. i do not blame anybody personally. the system doesn't work. the open space should be controlled on a district by district basis. there should by district commissions that control the use of the open space and should not be -- it should not be controlled by a bunch of air technocrats. [ reading speakers' names ]

marilyn durrand -- i think the video really speaks volumes about what is happening here in san francisco. we have spaces where we feel like we can't go anymore and i think this is one giant example and it's not going to end here. i think this is just the spark of what has been happening here in the city and i think if it weren't for this video, nobody would know about it and we won wouldn't be here today. i don't know who said it --

[speaker not understood] if you don't have to pay, maybe to set up an app -- and there really should be someone there to regulate and make sures that things happen. these kids were being bullied and we should have somebody on-site to make sure these kids are not kicked in the back, even if it's just an accident and to ensure conversation about what is happening in our city. we all know gentrification is happening and we're having the privatization of these lands. and you know, there are people who have helped to create parks in our city, who have provided the -- this is a metaphor, the buns and meat -- , et cetera and the city puts the mayonnaise on it and says you have to pay to eat it. we need to ensure our youth have places to go. nobody wants kids to be selling drugs or basically having nowhere to go and being

depressed. these kids are active and these kids will grow up to be great people and the parks will help and very to make sure that parks and recreation ensures that. [ applause ]. >> thank you. >> i do understand that some people may be downstair and i'm going to call names again. julianne ball, oscar grande, gregory dillon, john murphy, denise dory, guillermo, kay walker, nancy mcnerney, terry almaguire. tony kelly. >> my name is greg dillon. i was taking my daughter to this park since she was in diapers. she is 22 now and we benefited greatly from the free programming that they had in the park. she played t-ball. she played volleyball.

she played soccer there, and particularly she played in the tennis program and ended up getting a scholarship and winning national championships. one of the schools that has a lot of tech people and this here is a plaque that i received back in august 28th of 1997. it is from the mission playground soccer tournament 2 for outstanding service to the community. so i know a lot about what has gone on in the park. i know when vidrio brought the goals over there. he was an employee who had a degree in recreation from usf and he was a giant that i take my hat off to for. we had luiz running the programs and it's so important to have bilingual staff because

the distance between mission playground and the permit place is not 52 minutes on the 33 bus you, but it's a chasm, because they don't have anybody in the park to say what do the people think? they wouldn't have made this mistake if they had directors there in the parks and oh, who likes this and who doesn't? let's also speak about the lights. recently they have been turning the lights early and told we're turning off the lights because if the park is not permitted we'll turn it off. i spoke with michele minor and it's all loged in there on saturdays and fridays turning it off, because the park is not performed. permitted. that is not correct. parks are for the community >> you heard about the guy who was killed -- things like people getting killed would not happen if we had staffing at

park to keep people safe. thank you. >> [ applause ]. >> thank you. julian ball, oscar grande, john murphy. >> thank you for the time. my name is john murphy, fourth-generation san franciscan. i grew up -- actually i wanted to say my grandfathers with a gardener and planted trees at lake merced. i am very grateful for the parks i grew up in -- signature and grove to the south, golden gate park to the north and how lucky i was to have all of these parks free. recently my father is dan murphy, a bird-watcher and has been educating me proposition i and proposition h