happiness, tomorrow march 20th and in honor of the day, the coit tower and the empire building will be lit yellow to support the building of a happier and healthy planet. this is a united nations-led effort sharing in the belief that happiness is a cause and universal right for governments everywhere if we are to evolve into a brighter world. and because parks make people happy, we decided to sign on to this effort. so this friday, march 20th, light up yellow, wear yellow and show us how happy you feel by sharing a photo in your favor park with the following hashtag # happy day and # sf rec and park.

i'm not kidding about this. red tricycles has named its top indoor swimming pools for 20 1 and and hamilton, safa and north beach were among the selections. this recognition is testament to the hard work our staff has put into making our pool programs some of the best and i want to thank bob and jim and our entire aquatic staff for a job well-done. summer isaround the corner, as you heard earlier and featuring a wide array of more than 80 summer camps including our traditional camps like silver tree and pine lake and our skateboarding and rec and park has something for everyone. registration begins at 10:00 a.m. on saturday, march 21st online at sf rec online.org. for more information or to browse our catalog today, visit

sfrecpark.org and for many parents they treat this day like trying to get tickets for paul mccartney. i spoke to one parent who was waking up to be first in line at noe valley rec center. it's serious stuff and a true testament to how popular and affordable our summer camps are. from summer back to spring, extravaganza on april 4th, 11:00 a.m. with the fire and police departments advanced tickets are available by calling 415-831-6800 or log on to our website at sf recpark.org. march is women's -ry month and this week wore honoring a look

at some some women who are making their own mark on the baseball team traveling to orlando, florida to travel for the first national girls baseball tournament loved by baseball for all a non-profit organization that provides meaningful opportunities for baseball, especially for girls. tournament features 24 teams from across the nation and brings together the past, the present and promote the future of girls baseball with the added participation of members of the original 1942 all-american girls professional baseball league, that was featured in movie "a league of their own." and other baseball pioneers. rec and park team, the so much bay socks including players aged 11-13 from san francisco who competed for roster spots and a handful even played on their own middle school teams. the team practices three times

per week and just scored a victory against the boys winning 8-1 the bay sock are coach by rec and park own rochelle hanley, who was recognized during women's month last year and is a member of the 1994 colorado silver bullet and all-female baseball team who competed against mens teams. so very exciting stuff and i believe that concludes the gm's report and we're going to take a look, because we had a lot of fabulous events this week, this past month in parks. and before i do, actually i want to recognize -- san francisco state interns, if you would please rise? [ applause ] as we have been in subsequent years, we're very pleased to be joined by our interns and i think here are

nelson and rebecca jeana, and jessica, are you all here? not everybody is here. why don't you introduce yourselves very quickly, starting from left to right. >> i'm natalie, aquatics manager. >> rebecca montgomery -- [ inaudible ] welcome one and all. our partnership with san francisco state is now its in 4th year, i believe. and it really is a workforce pipeline. we have a number of alums of the program that have worked for us ever since and these guys are a terrific class, including carlie, who is queuing up the video here. now we go to this month in

parks. >> thank you. [phao*-ubgdz/] [ music ] [ music ] >> i oversee anywhere from 3-6 girls teams and kind of guide them throughout the season and prepare for for successful seasons. the challenges that young girls face growing up and to be able to come into had a gym and be surrounded by your peers and able to work with the team and as many different people as you possibly can, relating to different people. i feel working as a unit, in a sport, it prepares you for all of that. it's so empowering, and amazing to be part of an all-girls program.

it just gives them a sense of strength and there are no limits for women. on february 28 san francisco rec and park and san francisco fire department kicked off another season of the san francisco youth baseball league, a 30-year partnership that gives san francisco kids the services and commitment necessary to experience competitive baseball. on february 28th at hamilton recreation center, the department honored black history month with the spoken word, dance and food. on march 5th, chinese recreation center began the tradition by inviting seniors living in chinatown neighborhoods -- -- -- safe -- the importance of

unplugging and reconnecting with family, friends and ourselves. >> terrific video. i hope everybody got the unplugging part there. and thanks to commissioners low and commissioner mcdonnell for not being the only ones to outsprint the mayor as he opened up kezar track. [laughter ] >> i want to note that commissioner mcdonnell beat everybody in slacks. [laughter ] >> and that concludes the general manager's report. >> thank you for that happy report. >> is there any public comment on the general manager's report?

seeing none, public comment is closed. we are now on item 6, san francisco zoo. >> >> good morning. tanya peterson, it's still morning -- again i apologize i missed last month. thank you i had a nice ski week and a lot has happened since then. i will report on february attendance, if i can go to the computer, the powerpoint, please. we were over 70,000 visitors. as you see budget, 59,000. this is the highest february attendance ever, since the non-profit took over management. i know part of it has to do

with the weather, but i also think it's the good works of staff as well. i would like to report on free admissions year-to-date, we have over 65,000 folks come through the zoo for free. as a reminder all public schoolchildren come through the zoo for three free we're over 606,000 visitors over budget by 78,000 folks. for those who like it visually, there is it going the right way, going up. the actual there is the blue. the budget is the red. and the green is last year's numbers. you can see that we have been consistently beating budget and last year's attendance numbers. now i don't want to jinx it, but if it goes this well, we could possibly have a million visitors this fiscal year -- of course i just jinxed by

saying that. [ laughter ] >> ways that we're trying to increase our visitorship is to entice the 11-14 years old, we call them "tweeners." i have two of them, to come to the zoo and figure we had feature the tweeners animals. they are not quite babies, but they are not quite grown ups either. again, like my own kids you will see these on the pole banners featuring their growth. we have a temporary rope course until the end of june for 14 and under as a way to reach out to the 11-14-year-old age group. we're also going to celebrate many activities over the earth day, but one in particular is the 5th-year anniversary of greenies conservation corner. this was actually the brainstorm of our vice president of education conservation, whose new title

is deputy zoo director, when i thought reflected his 30 years at the zoo and his idea was to take an aging animal exhibit and turn into a browse and volunteer garden island area and that is five years strong and we'll celebrate that this earth day. you probably read about our chimps. over the last month or, so i felt like i was in the movie "sofie's choice." in so much as our accrediting body said that we are under the recommended number of four chimpanzee. i asked for a fourth and was denied that request. i traveled to find another place for them. we all decided cobe was too old to integrate with another group.

he has been top dog for 40 plus years at [stkpwao*-r/] san francisco zoo and it would hard to integrate him with other males. we have a $1 million gift to augment the exhibit. this is not the state of art exhibit we had hoped to put in africa. that range is something like $10 million, but we can do a lot with $1 million. the inspiration for this comes from the ropes course. the next picture is my daughter on the ropes course. there she is. this is on the eastside of the pachyderm building and i had an idea what if the chimps had a rope courses. so we have architects looking at the left side of the pachyderm buildingwhich is closest to the chimpanzees and would expand their area considerably. they could access the outside

grottos via the chuted system that is working well at the philadelphia zoo. they could have this indoors. especially as they age, they can have more privacy and more climbing areas and more room to play and age gracefully. so that is what we are working on now with zoo architectcl r who have helped us over the years. i had point out that cobe was the oldest and we decided to make all our geriatric animals stars. we have with the oldest polar bear in captivity and we're putting out more signage and brag about the care that our animals receive, living much longer at our zoo than they do in the wild. as nature continues, i have to celebrate a recent birth and i hope you can see the infant howler monkey there. that howler monkey was just

born and the father of that howler monkey is named robin williams. he was named after the late actor. we fortunately were able to introduce the late robin to his name-sake and if you remember his quip "finally an animal as hairy and loud as i am." again in memory of robin williams. i have finished my report. >> thank you. >> anyone who wishes to make public comment? richard, come on up. >> good morning commissioners. >> good morning. >> i just wanted to tell you people that i had a pleasant time going to the zoo this sunday. specifically to take a look at the chimpanzees and i will speak about that later. of the hippos they did a fantastic job on the hippo place. they had the new pool and the

step-ups and they also had a little place for them to lay down. when i went out there, there would be that beasty looking animal that came out and looked at me and blew a spouted. i thought that is not good. what happened he actually can come up to people, open his mouth, about this wide. i need a box of strawberries to put in his mouth. it was so nice. he is a vegetarian so he wouldn't be eating anybody. but they did have -- it was the alternate animal -- somebody who had pouched his

lower teeth. he looked like he is really happy there and that is the part i wanted to commend the commission for doing the good work, as well as the department and tanya peterson and her staff and people working on the programs. the hippo is going to be an excellent exhibit. on the chimpanzee, i think they should stay in place, but when go to the location, we look around the place -- what is the temperature kept at is in the it seemed kind of warm and the hair looked maty. i looked at structure and there was no circulation. so i wondered about a window of circulation, the doors just drop down and those particular paws are very dangerous and i was hoping to have handrails

along the pod as you approach it. it the one on top fits all three together. tanya was talking about developing another rope climb. i would like to add another rope climb -- this particular place, you have the air requirements so they can have the air conditioning when it's too hot and warm when it's too cold. thank you. >> anybody else wishing to make public comment? being none, public comment is closed and commissioners that was informational only. >> thank you. we are now on item 8. the st. mary's square expansion and commissioner, i believe you said we're only going to be doing 8. >> that is correct. b is not operable.

>> commissioners dawn kamalanathan of the planning department to tell you about the 500 st. mary's square area. i am joined by city attorneys as well acid representatives from [speaker not understood] in may, 2000 the board of supervisors city planning commission and recreation and park department approved the general framework of a deal to have basically an exchange for 350 bush which was a building proposed. which was going to cast shadow on st. mary's square and needed to meet open space requirements. that the roof of 500 pine,

which is adjacent to st. mary's square be developed as a park. thereby increasing the number of park hour/daylight hours in the system and meeting open space requirements for 350 bush. in 2000 the recreation and park commission approved this general idea and then also directed that the general manager work with owners, city attorneys and other folk s to develop a set of documents that could guide this transaction. in 2003 the recreation and park commission adopted another resolution accepting those documents as to form and also directing the general manager to executive such agreements and terms of the agreements as they became realized. since in 2014, now the economy basically fall from underneath us shortly thereafter. when the deal was originally constructed i think it was

anticipated everything would be executed within three years. that didn't happen with the economy. there were a number of delays to the project. the developers did return in 2008 per the agreement to share a concept plan for 500 pine, the roof. which was approved by the then general manager. then the project went on hold again and in 2014 reuben rose approached the city to bring up the rest of the document and seek their final execution. we involved counselor freelander, who pick a very convenient time to review the documents from 15 years ago. identify what the requirements were on both parties? we have been working for several months with the developers to finalize those documents for eventual execution. during that time over 15 years a lot has changed in park policy and we as department

have raised with the developers and working collaboratively with them to meet ways to meet our interests around three specific issues. those issues include park hours. currently the agreements that were approved, but not executed by the commission and planning commission and board of supervisors set forth hours of sunrise to sunset. st. mary's square hours are governed by the park ordinance adopted by the board last year to set hours for the park. and then also the park design itself, which approved in concept level in 2008, but since then the committee for better parks and recreation in chinatown have reached out to department, staff and developer to ask for fairly minor design changes to improve the usesability and accessibility of the space, as well as to recognize its historic value of the site of a former temple.

third, park maintenance that currently the documents that have been approved outline that the developers will -- are responsible for paying for in perpetuity the siting and rec and park has express the interest in custodial gardening service and being compensated on that. on those three points we have had productive conversations. the reuben rose and architect form are responsible for designing 500 pine have started to work with the community to develop alterations that may respond to their concerns that conversation has not yet concluded. mr. fraten and i had a number of conversations about hours and denny kern has proposed that the st. mary's square we return to the commission and set hours of 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. as an initial starting place.

but the question remains open about what the commission's authority will be? and the current documents hours can be changed with expansion area only with consultation and approval from all parties. so it would require approval from the owners to change the hours of expansion area in the future. in terms of additional approvals or i should say milestones that remain for the execution of these agreements, there are two in particular that i think are worth noting. and miss burn and miss frank can speak to these in more detail. first is that for the final architecture addendum to be approved by the city planning department, planning does have to approve the final design before those documents can be finalized and the planning commission is very open to working with the recreation and park commission to ensure design goals for st. mary's square are met and filled. also the certificate of

occupancy for 350 bush cannot be issued until 500 pine is delivered to the recreation and park commission. mr. fraten informs me there is a nice lead time between the two milestones and there isn't a concurrent delivery problem and expected that 500 pine will be delivered well over a year before coo is sought for 350 bush. so with that, i'm happy to take questions as are miss burn and missbrant. >> prior to taking public comment are any of these issues close to coming into agreement? >> i think that there is substantial progress being made on both the design and hours front. on the design front there were a couple of concerns voiced by the committee for better parks and recreation in chinatown and the question about the gate and

making the gate disappearancing that separates the expansion area from the rest of st. mary's square. the developers have proposed a sliding gate that would disappear behind planters and have a broad entrance as opposed to a narrow one. there are also on the interpretative -- i should say the materials to honor the historical -- history of the site. the architects have also proposed a number of kind of nice treatments that are actually, i think, nicer than typical interpretative signage to kind of reflect the history of the site. they have also worked the arts commission to identify a number of chinatown or chinese artists for the community to provide feedback to select the artist who would develop the eventual artwork proposed for the site. the remaining design issues is really a disagreement right now about quite a large planter envisioned for the site. and the community would like to see the footprint of that

planter reduced to open up the usable space. the developers are exploring this as an idea, but have also responded that they are concerned about exiting requirements for the number of people that could be in that space, getting out of the area in a timely fashion. that is something that i think we can continue to explore and brainstorm together. the question on hours. the original documents proposed sunrise to sunset. we have spoken to mr. fraten about the -- given the recent changes in park policy trying to bring those two ideas in closer alignment, he is open to denny kern spoke to his staff and said that our deal goal is first of all to make sure that st. mary's square and expansion area have the same hours. it doesn't make sense to close down one part and denny proposed hours of 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and mr. fraten is

agreeable to that and could amend to those hours. the broader question is how can the commission continue to -- a lot has changed in past 15 years. looking at the next 30 years or 50 years, how can the commission retain the authority it needs to manage the park as a park and make sure it's accessible to the public as these spaces become more and more valuable? i had proposed the idea of maybe setting a window of hours, a morning and evening kind of book end within which the commission could unilaterally make decisions to set hours for the st. mary's expansion area. he is open and amenable to continuing that conversation as well. but we have not completed it. on the maintenance question, at this point the developers have expressed a strong preference for hiring their own private maintenance custodial landscaping force. they are open to us providing a

scope of work and cost estimate for what it would cost for rec and park to provide those services, but they do have an established preference for hiring their own private staff to maintain that particular area. >> is there any public comment on this item? richard, come on up. richard. >> good morning richard fong speaking. i understand it's an informational discussion. so when i look at this particular property, i look at the statute -- not so much the development, but the statute of limitation of the conditional use permit. they would have been granted a permit, but i think it's chapter 31 administrative code

-- do they have a continual timeline to infinity? that is where i think there is a big problem. and they also have two pieces of property. you don't have one piece property that -- transfer ownership -- every time they have this kind of where you have a permit, you can increase the price. i don't think it's proper to be a government policy that you get a permit, sell the property and increase the price. right now i'm kind of hoping that there is a with a that the city attorney can work with the board of supervisors -- i think when you sell a property, it