bay we come from -- bay area we come from diverse backgrounds and diverse people and have different stories from our parents and ancestors but what joins us together and what is rarely thought of as a political thing is history, and within the san francisco watershed lies lake po seatos and that most of the public don't know exists. this was the first potable water source for san francisco. this building wouldn't be here if that lake wasn't there and [inaudible] to the mountain and [inaudible] red road flume when san francisco was purchasing water by the barrel for gold so within that valley lies the lake and stone dam and great beautiful places that people don't know exists but are

important to the history to the city and all of the great rock and roll out of the city and the things that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the lakes and with history i would like to thank the bay area ridge council for the vision to see that the stewardship of people to manage land responsibly is tied to their emotional ownership of that land in the history of it. thank you. >> thank you very much. before the next speaker a few more cards. [calling speaker names] >> thanks supervisors. i want to thank you for this hearing and also thank supervisor avalos and wiener for their leadership on this issue. my name is sasha mcgee and a member of the san francisco urban riders. i want to under line the urgency that

supervisor avalos is giving this issue. this is land that people are crying out for. san francisco and our neighbors to the south really have limited recreational opportunities within an easy bike ride or quick transit ride of the city and so i think this is a great opportunity to open that up. i always want to address supervisor avalos' question around trail stewardship. off road cyclists in san francisco have put in thousands of hours of construction and hundreds of hours and creating world class trails for hiking and cycling around san francisco is an opportunity that we should not pass by. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> i am speaking for the local

chapter of the california native plant society that historically been opposed to increased access of the watershed. we continue to support of dosen lead walks. we think that is the way to go. there are two commoditys in the world that focused world attention on: oil and water. the quantity and quality of water is a great problem as you know. many nations are in serious trouble because of this. one of those was south south africa which has a government lead program, a lot of funding for control of invasive plant thases are drieg up their streams. volunteers like thousands of people. we don't have that kind of support, but the watershed does need it.

this is not a park. people need to understand that. it is not a park. it's a watershed and it must be protected. this is not an opportune time for people to be pressing for greater access with the dry years we're experiencing. san francisco itself has rows of trees that are dying now from lack of water, and they have not faced up to this problem but they had better soon. we were lucky in 2014. we will not be so lucky this year. we have six, seven, eight months of dry weather ahead of us. humans -- we mess things up. we spread weeds mostly, annual weeds which add to the fuel load. we bring in weeds and envissive organisms

and pathogens on boots and clothing. is that it? >> that's it. thank you. next speaker please. >> hello. my name is vern smith. i work for the bay area ridge area council and speaking on behalf of council today. we have other volunteers and active members and board members in the audience and i will call one out in a moment. the bay area ridge trail's mission is create a 500-mile trail along the entire bay area open to everyone on the ridge lines with views of san francisco bay. i think it's probably obvious to you why we worked for many years and instrumental in getting the ridge trail -- that portion of

the ridge trail open in the watershed back in 2003. the development of that trail was partially funded by a grant -- a partner grant that the ridge trail council operates with the coastal conservancy. the funding for the most recent ridge trail work on the watershed, the upper crystal springs trail -- that's the extension that tim talked about, planning and funding was by those groups secured for the puc. the ridge trail idea goes back to the 30's. part of the trail in the san francisco watershed were identified as part of the california riding and hiking trail route back in the 30's and 40's when the state adopted that, so that is in fact the sawyer camp trail is part of that trail. most recently i want to point out some things that we have accomplished right

in the vicinity including last year the ridge trail council secured a trail easement from the skyline memorial park for the ridge trail on portion of the kay hill ridge road and that easement we will transfer to puc as part of this ongoing planning process. we support liberalizing access to the ridge trail through the puc -- >> that was your time. >> and i would like to invite you to take one of the tours. bob if you could hol up your hands -- >> could you finish up. we have another hearing as well. next speaker please. >> hello. i am [inaudible] and cyclists for sf urban riders and our group works to promote cycling and everyone that can

enjoy and since we live in this area we drive cars to search out opportunities and. we want to encourage more [inaudible] (low audio) and do this in participating in habitat trails and workdays and both are needed and working with agencies and hosting rides and events for the members. as a sf resident and open space enthusiast i support access for all users. i want to like to thank supervisor avalos, wiener and others for providing the leadership for access. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. i am charlie and a member of the [inaudible] water county board and the board of the silicon valley mountain bike riders and a chapter in

the international biking association and we are excited what the puc announced and the ridge trail and running the crust of the watershed. we are exciting that the whitening ridge trail will begin the permit process and go across the northern end of the watershed. we feel as a group we would like to do more. we would like to see east-west connections back and forth across the length of the full watershed, maybe a few more connections. they would afford the residents of san francisco and the northern peninsula lots of opportunities to have the spectacular routes out to the coast. if you could hike from san mateo to maverick and to moss beach and loop trails and

exciting to the residents of the peninsula and exercise opportunities. now i realize the land has been shut down for 80 years and there's probably some institutional pressure within the puc that is resistant to allowing people into the watershed. i think it's a rare opportunity i think that we can push past some of that that it's a rare opportunity that so much can be done by one government rule change and make so many people happy and cost so little. i urge you to work with the puc and parks and others to get the trails opened up. thank you very much. >> thank you. before the next speaker a few more cards. [calling speaker names] thank you. that's all the cards. >> chair, supervisors, my name is gary cremein and for

identification purposes i'm the elected care of the santa clara water district. we responsible for watershed, flood control and providing water for the .8 millions residents of santa clara county and. >> >> wholesaler for the water but at the same time i'm a founder of several middle size employers of san francisco. many of our employees complain of how crowded and impacted our recreational resources are in san francisco. i think you're all familiar with it so i am here to support collaborative process to kind of balance some of the environmental stewardship issues, giving full support for ceqa issues and other issues that we will have clearly and access for people. we did a pretty good job in santa clara county. a lot of what we're talking about is existing fire

road and opening up a couple of gates and i will cede my time to others. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> i'm a fifth generation san franciscan and member of open san francisco watershed and the peninsula watershed open space coalition. as we talked about how dense things are getting we have neighbors building second homes in the backgrounds. we don't have the same accessibility in the northern county of san mateo or san francisco for the open spaces that they have in the southern counties south of 92. i come here also as 11 years ago i went through some stuff. i was partially paralyzed. i have some disabilities. having the existing fire roads open in the northern county where i can access them would be a great opportunity for not only myself

but a lot of people like myself that can no longer do the hiking that i was doing. my dad was 91 and used to run through the watershed as a child and i listen to the stories and he's raised me to appreciate the world is my classroom and the out door space is god's cathedral. it was great hearing tim talk about the plans and i am thankful to the supervisors here and supervisor dave pine for getting this on a fast track. it's not wait 13 more years and thank you for this opportunity. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> hello. my name is urrie freed man and have a bike shop in the sunset and a avid biker and i want to say thank you to everyone that brought up the issue to be potentially opened up. i think it's a phenomenal idea to have more access and i

agree with others that the restriction of the dosen lead tours doesn't allow access to many people especially starting on the southern portion and allow for a questionnaire required to get your permit i think would be a good way to ensure that people are going to be responsible and understand what is required for them to be there and in particular as a bike shop owner and having traveled around the country and world i feel like california is really at a loss for having more trail and road access that is limited to just cyclists and runners and walkers and prevents them from being in contact with cars and therefore makes it more safe and encourages people of all ages and all abilities to use these networks. people who tour through california definitely have a tricky time navigating through particularly the end of the trail that now stops because of the bridge over the dam not being there. it's

wonderful to hear that will open up and there's not a challenging detour with a monster hill for people to get through but most importantly having access to the trails is a wonderful idea and i look forward to it happening. thanks. >> thank you. >> good afternoon supervisors and members of the public that have committed the time to come today. my name is jim sullivan and a resident and member of the piivegga open space -- pacifica open space council and member of the midtrails council down the coast there but i am here as a private citizen to encourage you to support opening up this access. i would also like to thank all of the agencies that have taken their time to show up today. i think it's really what is going to make this particular study work is to engage all the

national parks, state parks, and you have other state parks there that connect all through the upper areas of the watershed. you have talked about engaging stakeholders and i'm a member of the san mateo county devil slide program which is great group of folks that spend their time up on the trail keeping an eye on the slide. that's one of the major concerns the watershed. every year you read and hear about the pot farms that happen up there and pretty much they have harvested or are in the process and getting eyes and ears up there will really assist in making this a successful venture so thank you for your time. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon members of the board of supervisors and thank you supervisor avalos for bringing this issue to the agenda. i am the policy director at the san francisco

bicycleel coalition and here to express our support for looking at ways to open up the watershed for access for people walking, biking, running and looking for ways to appreciate the outdoors in that space. in addition to being a place for outdoor recreation it's a communicating corridor for -- commuting corridor for people looking to avoid the congestion of san san francisco and the southern peninsula and there is a way to do that and we support the movement going forward and balance all of the needs of stakeholders and i appreciate this opportunity. thank you. >> thank you. >> hi. my name is lena martinson. i ride my bike and hike all over the peninsula with one notable exception, the one

currently discussed. it would be wonderful to have the opportunities we would get for opening the watershed and commuting. it would be great. there are many of us that commute by bike to the peninsula in san francisco and other parts of the peninsula. we would appreciate opening the watershed. and freedom to roam was also mentioned earlier. i am originally from sweden where we have freedom to roam. it means you can go to most places in nature as well as you don't destroy anything you can walk there, ride bike there is and it's a wonderful way for everyone to get out and enjoy nature and this is true for public lands as well as private lands and it includes watersheds, and if that works out well in sweden i am sure there is something we can figure

out that addresses the environmental concerns with the watershed and allowing people to have access to it than the much more limited form that is suggested here. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> . i have one more card and julia miller and come forward. thank you and anyone else that would like to comment please line up as well. >> [inaudible] (low audio). continuing this process and moving forward and thank you -- >> please speak more clearly into the mic. >> you can pull the mic up as well. >> thanks to all of the agencies that did come and show the support for the initiative. i would like to echo the comments said already. as an avid outdoor lover and maintaining the trails and keeping invasive species out of these areas can be very well utilized and using a model of

other regional watersheds here in san francisco and the peninsula to open up more territory for the public to access. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. thank you for this privilege to speak to you. my name is julia miller and i have served on the san francisco bay trail for 18 years and have been a team leader and responsible for opening several miles of the trail including one behind moffit federal air field so when i listen to this hearing, which i am totally in support of, i realize it meets the collaboration of all of the stakeholders and i hope the stakeholders including the puc will include the open watershed group. by working together we can identify the barriers and create solutions for the opening. with moffit field we had to work with the federal

government, the united states air force moving emissions, bunkers, protecting a turtle and boroughing owls so i know they all can be protected and the public can have access to this beautiful land. thank you for your time. >> thank you. we have one more speaker. please come forward. >> hi. my name is rez. i work with trail construction volunteer group, the volunteers for outdoor california, the sa. f bike -- sf bike project and the sf urban riders and we look forward to access as soon as possible. we have been looking at these trail systems. they already exist from publicly accessible crystal springs and it's important that we allow people to have as few barriers

to accessible as possible. it's great there is a dosen program but as mentioned those that don't drive have a hard time getting on the dangerous 92 to meet with them in the morning and we're all looking forward to being able to take greater appreciation of our open space and i think there are environmental issues to keep in mind and i think habitat restoration maintenance happen best when there are members of the public actually out there able to see things and appreciate the dangers of oak death and the drought on our public spaces. >> very good. thank you. are there any other members of the public that would like to comment? seeing none. public comment is now closed on this item. and we will close out this hearing. i think supervisor wiener will have

comments as well but i want to thank everyone for coming out and most of all thank the public utilities commission and their work in coordination with the golden gate recreation area, with san mateo county as well and other agencies to help move this forward. i actually do -- i heard several theme thases were part of this hearing. collaboration was key, especially under scored at the very end of the hearing, but of course that we actually move forward responsibly opening access without dosens, but doing so in a way that we can look at having a strong stewardship program, one that can maintain the trails that don't need to be constructed wholly but in need of care and the habitat that is there and the sensitive species and i am excited that we're seeing that coordination happen and i think urgency is going to be really important especially when it comes to the east west

connections, not just from the ridge trail down to the ocean pacifica, but east west connections that could cross the watershed areas as well that could create the kind of loops that would not mean that you have to go from one end to the other completely but shoulder trails to hike or bike or enjoyment of the nature so i want to say thank you to everyone for coming out and i am excited about this moving forward, the work that has been done so far and i will yield to supervisor wiener if he has any comments. >> thank you supervisor avalos and thank you to you and your staff and work on really moving towards expanding recreational access to this really majestic area in our urbanized region. it's interesting when you talk

about our natural resources it's always a balance because you want to preserve and keep things in their very pristine and natural state, but you also want to make sure that people have access, and the access is not -- it is of course to make sure that people are able to utilize and enjoy these spaces and incorporate it into their lives, and we as a region need more open space, but there are also advantages to the overall movement for good environmental stewardship by allowing access. you know it's interesting in the last item that we heard before this for those here that we recommended legislation to ban the use of exotic animals for entertainment purposes what is exempted from that legislation are zoos and aquariums because abusing animals is a bad thing

but allowing people to experience animals builds support for the humane and good treatment of animals, and when people especially children but people in general can experience animals and see how amazing they are it only builds support for the broader movement. the same is true with our public lands. when people are actually able to experience the absolute majesty of lands like this watershed it only builds support for good stewardship and for working not just here but around the world to preserve our open space, our for ests, our watersheds, and allowing people to experience that beauty only has positive benefits. of course it has to be done in an environmentally sensitive way. i have a lot of respect for mr. sig and the si

era club and i completely understand the concerns and i know from everything i heard from the puc this is going to be done in a very responsible way and not haphazard way and i think we can strike a balance so i am glad to see the direction we're moving in. >> thank you supervisor wiener. supervisor avalos and wiener would you like to table it? >> file. we could file the item. >> so we have a motion to file. could we do that without objection? [gavel] thank you to everyone coming out to speak. the next item mr. evans could you call item 3. >> item 3 is a hearing addressing bias in the san francisco justice system and requesting that the public defender, and office of citizen complaints and district attorney to report. >> thank you and as our speakers from the last item leave quietly i wanted to say we're joined by our president london breed and malia cohen

and supervisor avalos is staying and david campos couldn't be here with us, but very briefly so we can hear the public comment and the presentations the five of us supervisors are responding to the recent reports of the racist and homophobic texts that were reviewed in the san francisco police department. we called for this hearing and engage the police department and the city organizations to address the issue. i wanted to thank officers for justice and the leadership here and many community based groups being here with us. i wanted to acknowledge we will hear from the public defender jeff hi darby and thank you to chief chief and others that are here and staff for the district attorney george gaston and the chair of the human rights commission and many others. thank you to reverend amos brown

and naacp and the aclu from california and just cause and a number of other speakers. valerie from the mission police collaborative and many others. i just wanted to start briefly by saying that these text messages demonstrate to me that racism and home phobia and other issues are a significant problem and maybe a culture within the police department and our justice system and i feel that we cannot let this poison the justice system. i think it's important that the law enforcement agencies and others here today up hold civil rights for officers for justice and it must be under a system free of bias. free of bias that is also

conscious bias and unconscious biaslet public defender will point out but to me what is more worry some we don't have a clear picture of how the clear biases from police officers play out on the streets or in the courts. at this hearing we will discuss how the police departments and agencies and community groups have historically come up with strategies to address these biases within the institutions and the culture of policing and law enforcement. i think we're trying to do our best to address the issue from a long-term perspective. this hearing will be the first. my hope is we will human this to the call of the chair and come back within a couple of months, perhaps in june, to hear more data and information about strategies. also my suggestions as the chair of the public safety committee will come from the or pointed out after the presentations. i think the racial justice committe