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 and says hi,

phil. and then i saw this video, and i also feel -- somebody said they felt ashamed that they hadn't learned about the privatization of our parks until the video came out and i feel the same way. i did the research and looked on the internet and looked about the fields foundation and fisher and running our parks than what i experienced in growing up. i'm in solidarity with these kids. i'm so impressed by these kids and inspired by them and committed to stopping the privatization of our parks. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. katherine howard. catana galvan,rds or [ [ reading speakers' names ].

>> akia, my family has been living in san francisco for 90 years. we have all gone to public school here. we have all gone to san francisco state university. we all grew up going to parks, playing all over the city, not just mission playground. i didn't even grow up playing in mission playground, but i know what it's like to have a place that this is your space, and that is something that should never be violated. i feel when we have the privatization that is not even -- you guys don't even have the courtesy of trying to hide it and it's very blatant that you don't care about the people who go to the parks. you guys disgrace the name of san francisco, that my family helped to build and that the families that are sitting in this room and sitting downstairs and couldn't be here because they are out working to make san francisco and maintain what it is. what this board does is not that.

it spits on the name. it spits on the history that we have created here in the mission district and also in the city. this is a problem that is beyond your grasp, i feel, rec and park is just one finger of a hand of a body that is acting against us. i would just like to voice a concern and express the sense of urgency that we have here in the community that we need to find a solution here between communities -- between the ones that have been here and the ones that are coming because the fact that we all live here and we all use the parks. the parks are just as much for the new people, in the tech industry as for the people that have been here and what we need to do is bridge the gap and i don't feel that you all understand the gravity of the situation and how important that is to maintaining the culture that we have here in san francisco that has created

the beautiful place that we know as home. thank you [ applause ]. >> thank you. >> good morning commissioners. good morning general manager. my name is oscar grande. i am an organizer with people organizing through environmental economic rights. i'm a resident of the excelsior and father of four and grew up in the city and love my parks. everybody here loves our parks and growing up in dense neighborhoods and growing up as working-class, low-income families, my pop was a janitor and mom was a seamtress. our park were our safety nets and our open space and plaza is where we rest and socialize and

recreate and these youth are creating life-long bonds. my experience has been aquiring new lands. and thank you for your work for the new park coming online at 17th and folsom. those are all community efforts and we go to hotspot neighborhoods, neighbors that are hit first and worst with poverty and environmental degradation and lack of access and opportunities and we make sure that we get parks and open space there. so we're looking forward -- there is a disputed turf in mcclaren park, in dispute between your department and puc. and also want to applaud these young folks. these are our latino rosa parks who forced a citywide equity issue around access to parks and i want to give them props. what we have been hearing from all the speakers is the issues of equity and access. those communities especially in

the southeast, is it equitable in terms of the spaces, in terms of access to parks? you will hear from several speakers around the demands because there are demands because we don't want this to go away. we want a follow-up meeting. this is an iterative process and we need you to commit to a next meeting next week. thank you [ applause ]. >> thank you. >> really quickly, julian ball, denise dory- apologize if i'm mispronounce [ reading speakers' names ]

>> i would like to see some of them in writing and in terms of overall, what has happened to parks and rec is terrible and goes way back. my kids i took to the museum

for nothing and hall of sciences that was free to the japanese tea garden. it was free and now that you are attacking the parks with fees, i am totally against that as a san franciscan. we have all paid taxes for these parks. we are paying for the bonds, $195 million. [ applause ] you know, i think it was two years ago it was on the ballot. all of these parks should be free and if you want to organize it, do it with someone on-site as it used to be. maybe i don't remember, but i do. they had sign-up sheets and a person there and sometimes there were disputes and that person should be there all the time when teenagers or anybody is there to use the park and the schedule should we do fairly. no money, no money for the

arboretum. first you come for our houses, our pensions and now the parks. [ applause ]. >> thank you. >> before we have the next speaker, we need everyone to move away from the door, so either move to one side or the other, if you are going to speak. if you are not speaking if you could take a seat, please. thank you. >> thank you. i actually have something to present and first and foremost, i'm going to tell you all something that my mother told me a long time ago, where is that you are going to be later that is not more important than where you are now? i would appreciate those who are checking your emails and texting to stop -- i'm watching. >> we have electronic pads for the schedule. >> he is checking his email, with that said let's move on. i'm here as a san francisco resident and also i'm here to bring you to task on a point of

the language access ordinance and the violation completely of this ordinance and the lack of the parks and recreation of ever even thinking that they are going to do anything to accommodate this ordinance. every report that i have read regarding the language access ordinance has blatantly shown that rec and park -- they don't intend to allot any funds and they don't have the staff. multi-lingual staff, by law, anything that has to do with rights and privileges has to be in a language that people understand. in san francisco, any population of over 10,000, that means chinese, spanish, and the mayor just added tagalog.

have i the screen shots of those reports where you can see there is no intention of rec and park being part of the community that is the fabric of san francisco. you have to as commissioners start talking to task and taking the seriousness that we are not an english-speaking mono lingual society here, all right? [ applause ] . >> thank you. >> good morning commissioners. thank you for hearing the community today. my name is gabriel medina and i'm the president of the san francisco latino democratic club when we saw and heard about this injustice to the youth, we knew they were leading and we are here to get their back.

we're here for them. they have composed a variety of demands that they composed with mission-based agencies. and we would like to you respect those demands. we appreciate general manager ginsburg and being swift to reach out to us, to try to address these youth, as well as our commissioners. we thank you. but we want to make sure that we don't end here. because it's great that they got the lights, but they know that they have been out of touch for many years. this has been happening to them since the summer. and no one was there to reach out to them. no one was there to help them and ensure their safety. so they have a variety of demands and we would ask for to you follow-up on a commitment to work with us, and the community, to make sure that these demands that the youth created get heard. they need to be implemented, and we're open to work with you and set up a meeting as soon as possible to make sure that these youth are heard.

some of the follow-up items that they want to have is identify the violations of language access. the language is frankly a language violation in english. it is so undiscernible that i don't know when we can play with our loved ones as well. so please listen to their youth demands, this is driven by them and everyone is here for them. they are leading this charge and we're here for them. i thank you commission for hearing us >> [ applause ]. >> thank you very much >> next speaker. >> hi, my name is juan and a resident of district 2 and also running for supervisor there coincidentally and i'm also a member of the latino democratic party. i would like to first thank you for listening. it's really important. thank you for acting, and of course, thanks to these kids for being so brave in expressing themselves so clearly.

i would like to first express my support to the request that the committee has made from a slightly different perspective, slightly different district because i think this is systematic of the bigger picture what is happening with the city, where we just need to learn to work together to address what is obviously a very big issue. it is a symbol of it. there is great disparity between how the private sector is exploding and the progress we have in public sector. some is just normal and the fact of life, but the disparity given that we are in the center of the world's innovation, we might want to take a look at our problem and solve them in an innovative manner. so i would like to add a couple of items other than supporting what the community has been asking for. saying that the infrastructure that much of city hall, but definitely the parks area seems to be behind the times and i

think as was already mentioned transparency comes when the system actually works and adopts itself and clearly there was an issue with communication. it's extremely unclear, who and when is the parks reserved, across the city and not just in the mission. there would be a very positive impact of having the infrastructure to reserve these parks and who has them at what time and adopted in realtime. youth is extremely tech-savvy. so innovative solutions i think will help here in addition, to the demands made and innovative business models. i'm very supportive of the fact -- let's just think outside of the box and not charge the folks who have the least revenue. >> thank you. >> thank you. [ applause ]

>> before you go, just a few more times one more time. julian ball, denise dory. guillermo alvez, nancky mcnerney, tony kelly, alfredo golyingo [ reading speakers' names ] >> good morning. thank you for the opportunity to speak. before anything else, i want to congratulate the kids who stand to up for the community. the reason i'm here today, when i saw the video, it encouraged me i have been in the mission district for over 33 years. and i have been working with kids. when i start coaching kids in

soccer, when they were 7 years old, at the age of 12 years old, i heard the rumors why are we wasting fields on kids from the mission district? let's be realistic, how many of them are going to graduate from high school? when i hear those rumors, i said this can't happen. so i spent a lot of time sharing notes on this issue, starting from 7 years old and finished when they were 18 years old and we went back and forth, back and forth, we were back on the fields when franklin was dirt. it was sand. i have to rent lights for us to practice on the fields when no one was interest and then after that, it got fixed and started renting it and we got kicked out and we had no place to go.

we continued. i didn't stop. i continued because i knew that it can be changed. when they turned 18, we finished the program and now two kids in san francisco state, two in san josé state, two in chico state and two in east bay. [ applause ] >> so it can happen. it can be done. [ applause ] >> we continue working because there is a light, there is a trend that can happen. so kids from the community can graduate, they can be mayors tomorrow. they can be the president tomorrow, if they continue working and have faith. back in the 80s at dolores park

they useded to have a place kids could play and people to guide them. in the mission district, by valencia, it used to be a place that the kids would do their homework and after their homework, they would go and play and now there is no one in the park that can do that. there used to be a person that could talk to them and explain to them and guide them the right way, and on the right track. >> thank you. >> that they don't have to be involved with drug and alcohol. i request and ask that you please put people in the parks. thank you [ applause ]. >> thank you. >> hello my name is theresa and i'm a youth coordinator.

our experience has been that as an environmental justice organization in the mission, when i first started working there at 15 years ago we had less than 1% of the paragraphs parks and highest number of kids in the neighborhood. i'm very blessed and honored to have these kids stand and we're going to keep coming until the changes are done. we built the park with a lot of community members and i think it was a really big victory, but then at the same time, you know, like we're in this space right now where it's like a lot of us who have been here for a lot of generations, our grandparents and parents have built pretty much the infrastructure of san francisco

with our tax dollars and now we're being excluded from a structure because we don't have the money or we don't even have the internet access to rent a field; right? so what are the ways that you a community commission could be accountable to the community and here clearly there is a council, and how can we have a say what goes on in the neighborhood? we just heard the heartfelt testimony ofs what happens to our kids -- i guess i don't want to be here and be angry and talk to you that we have access to our public parks and that we have organized to build. nobody from parks and rec came and said do you want a park on 23rd and folsom? a lot of people here and their family

members are the ones who organized and get it. how can we ep[shrao-ur/] that we have access to it after we have built it. [ applause ]. >> julian ball, denise dory, guillermo alvez, nancy mcnery, katherine howard, et cetera. ? >> good morning commissioners, catherine howard and we support the kids and their efforts to open the playing fields to all players. it's important for city kids to have the opportunity to enjoy nature and also enjoying active recreation and this happens now in golden gate park.

golden gate park has a special place in san francisco. that is why we have asked people to vote yes on h. i also want to talk about privatization, because this is what everyone is really here about today. if you think that the privatization of the mission playground is bad, just wait until proposition i passes. it's being described as "good for kids." that is not true. it was written to take away control of our parks from the neighborhoods. you don't have to take my word for it. i will read you the statement of a former superior court judge and supervisor who said "proposition i arguably denies the recreation and park commission, that is you folk, who have signed on to this and taking rights away from yourselves -- the discretion to consider other policies before approving a project.

it clearly limits the powers of citizenss and their board of supervisors ." i encourage everybody to read your voter booklets. the judge goes on to say, "this is a trick and i do not like politicians' tricks." i encourage everyone to do the same and stop the privatization of our parks of >> [ applause ]. >> next. roberto hernandez with no eviction. 4,000 households have been evicked from san francisco. our seniors and our artists and youth and our disabled and familis are being evicted. we have been fighting to stop

the evictions. when you look at these young people who are my heroes today, because i remember being their age and some of you know me, we fought to get a recreation center built in the mission. mission rec center and fought to get rosa park built and fought to rehab garfield park and it's civil that these young people are subjected to that and not only them, but how many young folks and families have we heard of asked to leave a park because they don't have a permit? the reality is that you talk about money. why is it that the city spent $8 million for america's cup? $8 million. so don't tell us you ain't got money. don't tell us that you wish that you could have the money

to do it, because when this city wants to get something done, it gets done. the giant's stadium got built because the mayor said let's built a stadium. you all know what i'm talking about. so it's about time you stand up and represent not only these children and these youth, but if you look at the mission, we have had over 500 young people that we have had to bury, bury because they have died from gang and gun violence. just imagine in there were people working at these parks that could take our young people and guide them, just like so many people have testified. that is the right thing to do. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> next speaker, please.

>> good day. i'm representing the former mission beacon, where i know a lot of these students from. i just want to make connections between the bravery and the independence and the will that these young men showed to stand up for a community that adult and leaders have either given up on standing up for or scared to stand up for and besides the community being here today to support these young people, the people in charge are not showing the care and the love and the respect and responsibility that these youth have shown on this field. i just want to talk about the ways in which the man who spoke a couple of people before me, saying that kids in the mission this and kids in mission that and when the tech companies come in and decide to take these things away from these kids and the parks and

recreation try to sell back these spaces that we have fought for, i just can't -- looking at these students and looking at these young people, like many people in here today have said they are heroes for us today. when we're talking about staffing parks, staffing schools, staffing communities with people actually from the community, providing access to people actually from here, we're talking about helping more and more and more young people be able to make the stand that these young people made today. and having them next to me and having support that i have had in the mission, working in the mission, i know it's possible for us to come together and find something reasonable and something equitable and accessible to present because when they are in schools the school teachers are making connects with the communitis and issues that they are facing. the schools are making connections to the things that

these youth care about and instead of saying these youth are not prepared for college -- yeah, they know. they are out everyday standing up for what they are going to do in their own community and standing up for what needs to be done across the bay area, san francisco and oakland and other areas being gentrified. >> thank you. i'm sorry, we gave everybody two minutes. if we give you three, we have to give everybody three. thank you very much. >> i'm just going to finish -- in terms of the community today, i want to say thank you to you all, but thank you to the community for standing with these kids to show what we can do with our power. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> good morning commissioners. i am here on behalf of

supervisor kim, who has been following closely the discussion that has arisen out of the viral video of a scenario that has played out not just in the mission district or mission playground, but frankly across the city. thanks to commissioners bonilla and mcdonnell for pushing for meetings with the neighborhood youth and general manager ginsburg. clearly the amazing community advocacy warrants a response and with my want to recognize the positive outcomes that have come from having a public dialogue. we think we still have a long way to go and the city can play a critical role in fostering public play and community building. we hope that this public dialogue and action doesn't stop here with mission playground, but continues to the other low-income and impacted neighborhoods struggling to use the limited parks. the south of market neighborhood is an example of a community fighting for for years to