>> i now call the regular meeting of the health service board city and county of san francisco to order. holy stand and repeat the pledge of allegiance. >>[pleage of allegiance] >> the board secretary will

call the roll. >> rollcall. resident scott-vp lim commissioner breslin, supervisor farrell excused commissioner rigo expected commissioner-omission or sass. we have a quorum. >> item number two, shifted one, i'm sorry jacob thank you. item 1 action item. approval with possible modifications of the minutes of the meeting set forth below. together meeting of june 11, 2015. >> are there any additions or edits to the minutes? >> i move we approve. >> it's been properly moved we

approve the minutes is distributed and posts. is there a second >> second chapter properly moved moved and seconded. approve the minutes as distributed with the regular meeting of approve the minutes as distributed with the regular meeting of june 11, 2015. is there public comment? hearing none, we are now ready to vote. all those in favor say, aye. opposed, nay. the nay had. >>[gavel] >> item 2, >> item to discussion item. general public comment on matters within the board's jurisdiction not appearing on today's agenda. >> is there any public comment? yes, please >> my name is diane perla. i spoken to you before about nine- my dispute with-getting this oral appliance cupboard on the follow is it and i got a phone

call from the kaiser represented same that they had decided they were not going to cover it. i would get a phone call from ms. hill at the health services system explaining why because i asked her to send me a written statement so i would understand what's going on. this was about a month ago and i never heard from anyone at the health service system. i just think i am entitled to get an answer of what was decided and why. >> thank you. before you go accuracy, just remain there. i want to formally request that your request be given to director dodd and that she follow up with you through her staff member. thank you. any other public comment? hearing none, i like to go to item 3 which is the presence report. i do have a few items that i wish to cover. first, i have a privilege under the auspices of the board to participate in an

international foundation employee benefits plan trustees institute, which was conducted here in san francisco on june 15 of this year. this was a very wide range in -presentation. i found a lot of informationin some of the sessions. some of it was very, in my humble opinion, very elementary, but i think that you have to take that into account given a person's background and experience in the field of benefits. overall, the program was exceptionally well done. in order to qualify for a certificate of attendance, you had to attend 13 sessions. i did that. i think it's rthy that i go on television and say that i got my certificate in the mail, and

two days ago. saying that i really wasn't there. i know there was some question at least in my office, about where i was. i was at the sessions. there are any number of these items that i think will serve us well as trustees, or in our case, commissioners, as we have a little later in the fall and open forum for this board, which director dodd and i have discussing in terms of items for discussion at that session. not only is it a fiduciary responsibility information that we've asked our good counsel to begin to pull together. it was a very extensive session about. it was another session on various trends, economic and healthcare trends that plan fiduciaries and planned designers and administrators need to be aware of. one of the areas to me also very interesting was the fact that there was a session on

specialty drugs and a mystery, if you will about how indeed they are developed and priced. for us to pay for. this is been a central question for most multiple employer plans across the country and we been experiencing. as well and it's been a big issue at the state. so, i'll be happy to share the content of the sessions with any of the members of the board. i downloaded a number of the presentations and plan to send those over to catherine and her team so they can share them with the rest of the board, and wider as necessary. earlier this week, director dodd sent as a wall street journal article. it summarized a bit of the full report of the academy of actuaries, american academy of actuaries report, which was released on august 5. so delighted to see our actuary out there, neil, i want to tell you i went i read the full

report, neil. i'm going to send electronic version of that to kathryn because i think it's warrant some review by all members of the board. it is in english. it is in english. there's not a lot of formulas in it or anything else. it's really a very excellent summary of trying to find the drivers behind core medical inflation and the cost related to that more broadly across the country. it would be worth our while to kind of have that in our background as a prep piece, if you will, for the november form that were going to be having. so it can serve as a springboard for that get the wall street journal did a fine job in summarizing it, any actuarial report i think will give you a little more detail about how that-how they to some of the summary points, that particular link came from the international employees benefit plans on base. that's how i

found. it just was one of those things as part of their daily updates. we are all members of that group and so you'll be getting an e-mail daily from them. a lot of the stuff does not apply to is that you can skip right there. occasionally, there are these articles that are there. there is also a report that has come across my attention by a consulting firm by the name of deloitte. not a small firm. it is a survey on consumer behavior for people that are participating in exchanges. it's the first such nationwide report on that issue. some of the conclusions might tend to be surprising to some folks well people are going just to go to the exchange to get it insurance covers. every some of the early indicators

are that people are trying to make informed choices about various kinds of services, that they are indeed, trying to inquire about preventative care and how it's to be utilized in their circumstance for themselves or family, and there are other things that we would want to assume that people are doing around how they are using their health benefits. day in and day out. doctors visits, owing to the hospital, whatever happens today. so, this is another piece that i'll send along to catherine for distribution, but i think it's an enlightening starting point because in my mind, the question is, are members doing similar things? we are seeing things in this particular larger arena that might be very useful and the question is, can we learn from that and encourage our members to do likewise. sauce on that along to everybody for your perusal.

lastly, as far as my report, it is my great privilege and honor to say that we have a full health services board. i expect a little pause reaction around the table. with the appointment of dr. stephen elliott-good i'm not going to recite his entire resume, but he's had a very very distinguished medical career here in the bay area. more recently, at kaiser, but also part of the uc system serving at uc san francisco. he has taught in medical schools. he's done very special work in hiv and aids research. he has served as a medical leader in many many dimensions, both here locally, weaselly, and nationally. i am honored that you were willing to take time out of your day to be a part of our group, and i look forward

to working with you commissioner falkenstein. do you have anything you'd like to say? >> college essay is actually a privilege to be asked to join this board. i've been a resident of san francisco since 1977 and in practice here i started my training internal medicine at ucsf at that point, and retired in february of last year. so, 30 some odd years of medical practice. i would say that i practice in essentially every hospital in the city, after which don't exist anymore. it wasn't my fault. partial halo, french i could go on and on. i was cheap that staff at davies. i spent half of my professional career in what we call fee for service. but starting in st. luke's and then in 1998 joined kaiser in

the discipline of infection diseases and hiv medicine that i was also president of the dental medical society for agent. i really feel this board and the medical community that very well into my own passions. i hope to learn a lot from every single person in this room. that's what's fun about this. thanks >> thank you commissioner. we will look forward to working with you. so with that, that concludes the president's record in alaska there's any public comment? >> good after good afternoon commissioners. claire-president of retired employees and a former member of this board. i like first of all to welcome the doctor. it's really wonderful to see a full board again and it sounds like you're the kind of experience that will be helpful and beneficial to all the members and two other members of the board. so welcome. i also want to comment

you, commissioner scott, going to and the conference finally. it was something that we did a lot more when i was on the board in earlier days,, when the city's budget was so bad that all travel and training was removed from most budgets, are board get into the traveling to those conferences anymore, and the staff couldn't even though i think our travel and was to be paid out of the trust. but, it's very important. there's much to be learned in those conferences and i would strongly urge that we really, while there are a number of those presentations that are available electronically, there is something much more valuable in the person to person, the actual conference to beat it. it sounds like you discover that. because you interact with others. you find out who knows what and who doesn't. just that, networking, milling around, when everyone called is

extremely valuable. we also previous commissioner went through quite a career in the public domain within-because he served on our board and is also work for whatever actuaries. so i think the possibilities are there and i'd like to encourage everyone to take advantage of those conference opportunities. the ones that are specific to public-not public health, but our public lands. they are the most beneficial and they're so much to be learned. so, thank you very much. it's very interesting to hear the information that you presented and i look forward to trying to access some of that good i just want to add likely, retirement board yesterday did it five-year demographics report. i think while their populations are not the same, there is some very valuable information available on that report. i can get it electronically or be happy to share it. >> thank you very much. excellent. we look forward to receiving it if we can. thank you. is there any other public comment? hearing none, item for

>> item for discussion item. directors report. director.. >> catherine.director of health services. my report is behind tab for. much like we have a complete health service board we are very close to having a complete hsf staff. we are in the final stages of filling the graphic artist position, which is woefully needed. since we added bonus, rosemary, our communication manager's work has just quadrupled. so we did an initial interview and would do the final interviews on the 21st of this month. and have a graphic artist and an assistant person in place.. it just unfortunate we could not have done it. we the budget was signed into law on i think august 1 and we will have

filled this position 21 days. this is record time for the city and county. but, a lot of the open enrollment work was done. nonetheless, we are also in the final process of hiring the analytics staff person was going to work on the claims database. we have with us to new staff people. marie, murphy. read you want to read your and >> please stand. please stand. >> marie has a phd in sociology. that's not why i hired her. she's a research assistant for the departments. i will credit her with the eloquent testimony that in your book today on the codes on advanced care directives. we also have with us this should all-how to icy alaskan? i was right on. he is working on emerge to image 9.2.

transition. we are delighted to have him. he has years of experience with kaiser. so, >> welcome. >> jeff kleiner, who is not here, after 25 years, we promoted into senior eap and were adding a staff position in eap. this is the first time would increase staff for employee assistance program in 12 years. the operations manager, our new operations member services manager will begin on august 17. he will be at the next board meeting and he comes from usc w has lots of experience. and we will continue to keep two positions empty per the requirement of having attrition savings in the budget. which is kind of ironic. nonetheless, were almost fully staffed. maybe someday we won't have to keep

positions empty. in terms of operations, all customer goals were met. i just want to point out, we stopped 17 people on the holdover list. that's down significantly since i came. for those of you who don't know what the holdover list is, if you are laid off, you get health benefits at the same benefit rate you have for five years. that's for you and your dependents. every year we are required to make them certify that they don't have access to other coverage. so nothing for people actually have other coverage. because they found other work. open enrollment, preparations begin in june and we are in the midst of editing and editing. the changes include the new united healthcare national lapd ppo. they also include the new fsa vendor for

our fsa's. we implement the cobras in july. we are doing what they call six meetings as we convert to peoplesoft 9.2. so there've been several of those trying to make sure that transition goes smoothly. i think it significant to say we enrolled 700 new retirees in the last two months. so, that's a huge amount of work for our benefit staff. i'm going to skip through other than to say among you all approved the budget for the enterprise contract management solution, and that was approved yesterday. now all we have to do is select a vendor and start scanning and it's very exciting. i'm waiting for years for that. the web statistics are in your binder. finance wise, we went

before the board of supervisors. we responded to the board of supervisors budget analyst two-and were successful in having a majority of our cut being stored and restored and we want for the board of supervisors and i was approved and the funding on electronic contact management system was what was in jeopardy. so it's exciting to actually see that come to fruition. in your binder, you will recall you requested that wellness present to you every quarter. stephanie fisher, i wellness manager, is that eight data analytics training in sacramento. she cannot be here. she asked me to highlight a couple of things. so in the mitre ar in the binder are to reports. the highlights include that we had to 93 unique participants in the first quarter of the year.

and for 90 in the second quarter of the year. in the health wellness center. eap served 61 new contents and continues with 95. so that's another place where i just have to comment dhr.. they really are moving requisitions through quickly. deposition, jeff was promoted on monday and we had the position filled within two weeks. so hopefully, this will continue. we have a fitness event that attracted 270 people in three hours. it went through 10 different stations of things that can do. that is like. the key thing is we were new people. there were the same people that come to our classes. i want to thank the vendors who all came. the provided activities and handouts . we have recruited an additional 64 wellness

champions in different departments. we now have well over 120 of them. stephanie fisher presented the accomplishments of the wellness program, and the well-being assessment. we all took that well-being assessment last december. they finally calculated all the data and presented it by department. so, you were at a meeting that the mayor called. you were given a report on what percentage of your employees took the well-being assessment, and what the well-being assessment said. so, were people-did they want help and stress management class undernutrition? helping exercise? help do they want to work environment to improve? not only did you get the results, but she then-she and her staff-tthen gave you suggestions of what you can do to address the issues that

showed up in your data. she offered to meet with department heads and she met with several already especially the large department heads. to go over specific ideas and things they can do to respond to the well-being issues that came up in their department. i just will say, lucille attended the event and kind of got all the department heads excited. not that lucille is up--lucille from the giants. not that she is the picture of health. but she was lithe and at the meeting. the diabetes prevention program research study that we are doing with kaiser, that has been submitted. it was approved. to the irb. so that study will disseminate effectiveness of a worksite wellness online intervention versus a group intervention intervention to prevent diabetesood were getting ready to mail several departments employees and have

people take the test again to do a pre-diabetic screening metabolic syndrome screening. i did want to highlight in rosemary's reports on the eap services. i want for my new the increase. the number of people, even though gene retired after over 25 years of service. in the wellness center visits, i think what is interesting is that we've had new people. these are people that are not previously engaged. so, that's always exciting. the interactive seminars decreased. township your seminars. because of fewer seminars. but they included nutrition by

taliban. managing stress dealing with difficult people. understanding or metabolism. we are really getting the word out there so people know how to manage their health. i have also included just a statement on the 12th parity law that insurance are not the filling of promise. marie murphy will be working on querying all of our vendors to really say, how do you define mental parity and are retreating mental health the same rate we are treating physical health. mental bonuses, as you know, is a chronic illness. in response to the chairman's request, we've implemented an e-mail address and phone number for the board and we did have responses because we made that public at the medicare meetings. so, i put one of them that came-those go to-gratefully. the board now

has kind of a sounding board for people. i will point out in terms of vendor issues, the uh see is in the final stages of negotiating a contract with john muir. there are 28 claimants that might be effective should they not be successful in negotiating a contract, but maybe they're not sending anything appear they're not required by law to. we don't have a managed care plan there. i've added some items of note. let me just go back for a moment to data analytics. it actually entered our first set of data. after you know, it was this time last year you were approving the abcd and we now have data and we are actually -it's exciting to have entered data. that's from marina was also at that time.

>> if i might, in terms of a telephone number for the hss board. i like to at least have that part of this broadcast. >> absolutely part of this broadcast. >> absolutely part of this broadcast. >> absolutely >> 415-554-0662. the e-mail is health.service.board. at sf dog.org. >> thank you. i just added some items of note. you referred to them earlier to my commissioner scott. the mergers and it positions continue both at the insurer level and at the provider level. the largest ever is the anthem is acquiring cigna. it's still being contested in terms of monopoly power. but it will-it shows that the market is narrowing

down for from five dollars to three. in terms of the insurance market. uht will remain the largest in terms of revenue, but anthem will have a larger customer base once-if this goes through. this continued uncertainty about seton hospital, which is where many of our patients are admitted. the daughters of charity secured $259 from blue mountain is going to operate a health system. that's a nonprofit for three years after which they could acquire the chain and transition it to a for-profit system. so, that's the current plans for seton. average california. you may hurt has increased their rates by 4%. interestingly enough, the medicare trustees report, which referred to earlier, is saying that medicare policy are going up 4.2%. that's the range were looking at. last week, for

the third time since the passage of the affordable care act, the cms-the federal government produced their readmission penalties and that's one of the key indicators of quality care. one of the things we monitor in our organizations. among hospitals that were find include sutter, oscillates, summit. summers seep into the centerrenzo. kaiser south of san francisco. st. francis usf el camino and johnny are good i went to the listenable to where we had patients. no one is perfect. that's how cms is funding things. i know additional items other than i will be out of the country the next two weeks. mitchell, who will hopefully be back tomorrow, will be in charge. april financial officer

will be in charge of all things finance. i'm fairly confident over that amount >> thank you, director.get any questions from the board regarding any aspect of the report? is there any public comment? hearing none, we will accept the report as given. we will move to discussion item number five. >> item 5, discussion item ages just financial reporting as of ages just financial reporting as of may 31, 2015. pamela levin. >> i would like to take this public opportunity to knowledge the tremendous work effort of catherine and her team. in preparation of the budget and its submissions and all the interactions that go on to get that monster done. i thank you for that. i commend you for

your hard work. i'm pretty a pretty positive outcome after we went through it all. so thanks. >> thank you. payment of 11 deputy director chief financial officer. i do want to take a minute to introduce our new >> i'm sorry. >> contracts manager. she started in june and has coalesced so well with the team that seems like she's been here for long. >> her name is? >> amara marilyn. >> would you please them. well, welcome to hhs. >> thank you. today i'm reporting on the revenues and expenses of the employee benefit trust fund. also known as the trust fund and the general fund administrative budget. through may 31 as well as fiscal year ending objections through june 30. where we are right now, just kind of in broad generalities, is that the fiscal year closed

on 30 june. there are still transactions that are being processed and we always are behind a month in terms of its report. however, the projections that we have here are the general fund our actual actually based on last week and it was absent just a couple of transactions. the trust fund is the audit is started, and we think we are going to bounce around where are at and what are present in the report. the audit won't be concluded until october, and i believe that it will be presented to you in december. the balance of the trust fund on june 30, 2014 was 92.8 and right now we are

projecting and right now we are projecting at 70.5 million. it will be similar between that and 80 million. i believe at the end. the projected decrease of fort 14.3 million includes the reserves for unpaid claims and as a result of the following changes: city plans has a 3.4 million decrease in fund balance. this is attributable to 2.2 million increase in fund balance and offset of 5.6 million decrease in fund balance. we have had favorable claim experiences. we've had pharmacy rebates. but, what we did was we used some of the fund balance, 1.2 million, subsidizing the 2014 rate so that was the first half

of fiscal year 14-15, and then we also used 3.7 million were the 2015 rates, which is the second half of 14-15. then, we had also used .0 7 million without funding premiums in 2014 bringing in the 93-93-83 contribution model. you will note,, if you remember, we get by down the 16 rates also for city plans. the flex plan to my right now we are seeing a decrease of 17.2 million in fund balance. i hope we have 2.5 million in pharmacy rebates, that is offset by a 19.7 million decrease in fund balance. associated with 12.7 million unfavorable claims experience, we are monitoring that on a very regular basis.

having discussions with the aco's, and trying to improve or reduce claims or claims expense in the amount were paying out for claims. there is also a 4.9 million associated with subsidizing the 2015 rates from the claims stabilization reserve. then, 1.1 due to the use of erp funds. other seems to be is in the past because a lot of it occurred in the first half of 14-15. fiscal year versus calendar year, and plan your. then, there was $1 million associate with funding premiums in the 2014 plan year for unions, except 93-93-83 contribution model knows from

the last part of the 2% the shield profit pledge. other balances that are attributed -contributing to the 14.3 million decrease, overall decrease, in fund balance, is we have-there's always send him. this is the dental insurance plan. even increase in fund balance with favorable claims. kaiser and blue shield insurer hmo plans. we have an increase associated with that premium revenues including the use of er which reduce members premiums. we have an increase in interest, $.7 million due to the cash balance that we've been carrying, including the erp funds that we know ended in the end of 2014. forfeitures, we've had a decrease in fund balance associate with transfers to the general fund. to the general fund. to the

14-15 budget. that, for performance guarantees, we have a $.4 million increase in fund balance. we are working with--to make sure we are cover all required deserts. we do this during the process of the audit of the financial statement. overall, we are in a healthy state for the trust. not overly healthy, but not unduly healthy. so, just where i'm fairly comfortable with it. in the general fund administrative budget, we projected a balance of 1.3 million by year end. this-a lot of that is due to delays in hiring. we have asked for carryforwards or we will. it's

in the process. 200,000 in professional services. 70,000 in work orders. so, the general funds-ounce of 1.8ounce of 1.80 million will be turned to the general fund it as i mentioned, there still some offsetting entries that are being put into the system, and i monitoring those very carefully. are there any questions? >> questions by members of the board on any aspect of the financial report? >> maybe one question on the $12.7 million unfavorable variance with blue shield, to have a sense of whether that is from i merely an issue related to price of services was at issue more related to volume services? >> neil. outlast the actuary to come in. i think it's kind of a combination of goals. i think more so than we are not been successful in keeping people out of the emergency room. there's not a good sense

of making sure that the services are given in the appropriate venues. for instance, there is some-i mean, my senses there still some surgeries done in patient that should be outpatient. there's a lot of discussions about length of stay has increased. there's a lot of bouncing about. one of the things we did have was the 12% increase due to sutter. during the negotiations, when they stop talking blue shield and sutter stop talking we ended up having to pay the sutter hospital rates which were 12% more than we would've paid otherwise. we are not seeing the type told that aco's

had in-when the aco's first started. neil, j do you have any comments? >> please introduce yourself. >> neil kosher. aion ashtray for health systems check that the question was volume versus price. >> yes. their answer is there is an increased volume and prices have gone up. to add to what your cfo spoke to, i would say cost specifically specialty drugs, escalated in this time period with several fc drugs coming on board. his increased cost specific to just that. by an estimated 4 million of that $12. it's representative of that is the other issues and the fact that the aco though we are optimistic on a performance the level we should've started with. so those are several of the drivers. >> so, it was a common there was a 12% price increase by

sutter as well? >> the 12% price increase there was one month in discussion about how they were going to go for because they had separated ways for the negotiation. they were trying to reset their contract. the blue shield-sutter hospital conjugate we did see that experience that was a one-month do. any other questions? >> no. any other questions from the board? >> during that time am a do, we've seen a couple real serious cases that contribute to the increase in the medical claims. >> i did not hear. what? >> some very serious cases in which-claims. >> claims. okay. all right. >> i will just say this. we been getting quarterly of

reports on fellowship and because of the worst dismal report were now can be meeting with her monthly. i'll just give you an example. when we looked at the average length of stay,, which is above what was when we started, i asked about discharge planning and utilization management and brown and towing and sutter discharge planners only work 9-55 days a week. i made the suggestion that healthcare and recovering and being discharged was a seven-day week probably ten-hour day. hopefully, they will take some instruction >> when is your next meeting with them? >> the phone meeting on him i think it's september 5. it just got set. >> be sure that i'm notified? >> absolutely. >> thank you. thanks for a

much. any public comment court on the financial report? hearing none, we'll move to item number six. >> item 6, action item, approval of testimony on cms regulations regarding reimbursement codes for dance care planning. dir. god. >> catherine, as you begin to do this, and again, as were these points of continuing education, there are any number of policy issues that are-.com by way or out in the broader arena of discussion. catherine has tried to-whether it be at the state level or federal level, at least register it perspective from our point of view. some of these, is a large employer, we need to be

active in. so, it's a matter of why are we worried about reimbursement stuff from cms. what the devil does that have to do with the city and county of san francisco? well, these policy questions begin to translate into real dollars and it comes to how cost are driven, other managed and how they're determined. so, it's quite appropriate that we comments were given the opportunity.. more poorly, as we have been doing more recently, seek out the opportunities. so, with that, please. >> thank you commissioner scott. you all recall during healthcare reform there was a proposal to include medical reimbursement for position counseling and ecologic care. it was used as a campaign hot potato. >> death panels. >> just be clear what were talking up. >> with that behind us, cms

very appropriately put forth to reimbursement codes. they're called cpt codes. allowing for the billing of time spent with patients discussing the critical matters at the end of life, which are often called advance care planning and advanced directives. i will also have attempted to put in our performance guarantees with our vendors what percentage of your of our members in their electronic health records and because there's no building to date for this issue, it's not-no one counted. you have to go back and go record by record and do searches for the words to find it. so, giving this a billing code will allow us to measure our vendors in terms of how well they are doing and having this important

information in medical records. so, i will just say that we commented, as i pointed out or we get a very beautiful job on the issue that families face. it helps families prove quality of care. it also saves money because the majority of medicare dollars are spent at the end of life. blue cross wisconsin is often cited. even 90% of all the people who lived in across wisconsin regardless if they're over 18-year-olds there been a dance directive. it's part of their egos. their medicare spending is 25% less than medicare spending. in other places. so, the suggested rule said that we should do this counseling at an annual physical and when someone is sick. we are suggesting that we not limit it to that. if someone is-i offer you the example of kaiser that includes

exercises of vital signs. you go in and get your blood pressure and temperature and your weight then they say, how often do you exercise and for how long. i always kind of go,-but maybe will begin to add, you don't have an advance directive on file would you like to make an appointment to discuss that with your primary care provider should that's the hope. regardless-your dance directives change depending on where you are in your life. sometimes, you make one and you want to change it. we also recommended that they include actual training for the people who do this. that they not be allowed to be reimbursed for group settings. it's individual counseling talking about people's individual circumstances. we encourage them to include nurse practitioners physicians, nurses and social workers in the reimbursement codes

provided they have trained. we think that advance care directives should occur early and often so, we have before you the testimony and i think it's very thorough and i hope you recommend to send it forth to cms. >> either questions of the director on this topic? yes commissioner breslin >> how do you have is is that in with palliative care would this be pallet of care? >> this would it would be palliative care. this is been about counseling care but, if i were very sick, and i did in advance directive, i might say i don't want curative care. i just want harriet palliative care. where i were very sick and i could say that in advance. you know, under these

conditions, we included the reference to the physicians order for last sustaining treatment. under these conditions, if you cannot put me on a respirator or on oxygen to be me-make it easier for me to breathe come up that's okay but if i'm ever going to come off it, don't put me on it to begin with. it's talking about how you want to be treated in advance. >> i understand appeared to have palliative care or do with coverage for pallet of care? >> pallet of care isn't a code or is enlisted in her evidence of coverage, but i believe all of our vendors practice palliative care. >> like special certificates for persons practice? >> yes. you can be certified. medical boards offer certification. >> then they would get paid?

>> winner medical specialist you get paid a little extra through medicare. which is why they went first for the certification. >> oncology positions, internist to do-maybe you can speak to this dr. paul. >> yes. i'm not clear that there's additional billable reimbursement because one has some specially training in palliative care. it probably-in my fall open for different organizations among fall under different payment schemes. you know, i do think this is really nice document from my perspective. in our measurable outcomes, and i think all the things that concern me, it's great to encourage cpd codes and all that cv into documents that the discussion happened, but the outcome if someone does have attorney up our healthcare

has indicated advance directive and is a form in california called post. the position order for life-sustaining treatment. this is a legal document that allows any individual who is admitted anywhere to have his or her wishes honored even if the healthcare system they were taken to urgently isn't part of their system. because it is a physicians order, even from a physician who's not on staff at that organization. it let me remind 98 was put on life support despite her two daughters vigorously opposing this. because the physician was not on staff. it was a different hospital and it took them several days to get their 98 motor off life support. this solves that. as we begin these discussions with more direct terms, those kind of documents

did some concrete evidence that this is actually happening. as much as not about cost-saving. it's about caring out people wishes were dignified and. >> either other questions or comments from the board? is there any public comment? >> good evening. i'm going to comment on how they been doing [inaudible].

>> thank you for those comments. are there other public comment?

>> thank you. claire rcf says he says i'm writing the article for our newsletter, but i could be clear on this. i know that were probably going to encourage all our members to have these kinds of documents on file, but it sounds from this discussion that these are things that need to be updated regularly. you could put something on file and end up with one set of directions, but as you pointed out, dr. dodd, if your life situation changes, you may want to change your directive. a lot of people forget to do that. we have a problem with retirement system would advocate to update their beneficiary. we have a lot of problems like that. so, i am wondering if it's-and some people don't want to have that document on file. they prefer to have their representative

hang onto that so that it circumstances present themselves they can come forward and say here's the directive and what we do or don't. i like a little more clarification on white be the most prudent way to do this and how we would also make sure that members understand that if they do put this kind of document on file needs to be regularly reviewed and updated better latest wishes are what i most accurately reflected. times, when they go in when their health changes, they're not a position necessarily to do that changing either. so, whatever additional insight you can provide would be very very helpful because i like to put that in our articles. i? >> director doug,.com point >> on page 5, claire, it talks about frequency and under what conditions. you can probably take out language and put it right into your newsletter.

>> also, just like we do with everything else during open enrollment season annually, the mighty that trigger. we talk about updating beneficiaries and doing all these other things. maybe that something might want to call out is another health item to be checked as a person is doing these other things. it just a notion. >> is in all of our guides. >> very good. are there any other public comments on this item? if not, i'm willing to entertain any motion. >> i move we approve the testimony on cms regulations regarding reimbursement codes prevents care plan. >> it's been properly moved that we accept and approve this item. is there a second? >> second >> it's been properly moved and seconded that we accept this item. is there any discussion by the board? a public comment? hearing none, seeing none, no public comment were now ready to vote. all those in favor say, aye.

opposed, nay. >>[gavel] >> so ordered. item 7 >> item 7, action item, apartment of committee chairs and members for fiscal year 2015-2016. pres. scott >> happily. happily. happily. we now have a full board and are able to announce the appointments of the respective chairs of the standing committees for the health system's board. i would like to call to your attention the yeoman work done by our chair and governance. commissioner breslin. last year. i had the good fortune to participate somewhat in that work. along with the former commissioner. so, where it says position commissioner currently vacant, commissioner folstein. that's you.

>> i gathered >> as of this record. that group does not limit her issues in a be doing with a short term. for the finance and budget committee, i've asked commissioner lim to chair that committee. commissioners for oregano and sass will be members of that committee at either good fortune of being ex officio to everything as well, when i can. now, you may or may not recall that we had additional committees that were part of our former governance structure. tools membership and something called rates and benefits. all those have been folded into the work of the board itself. we meet as a committee am a whole as when those items are due to be discussed. we thought that was a more efficient way administratively to talk about those topics, because at the

end of the day, it's everybody piling in to my if you will on those topics. it does not mean that they will in any way be subject to less scrutiny that supports an oversight in the work that we will be doing. so, with that, i would entertain a motion to accept the approval of these appointments for the ensuing year. >> i move we set these appointments. >> is there a second >> second >> it's been properly moved and seconded that we accept the approve the apartments as outlined in the agenda. any comments from the commissioners? questions? any public comment? hearing none, and seeing none, no public comment were ready to go. all those in favor say, aye. opposed, nay. >>[gavel] >> so ordered. we are ready to move to either made. >> item 8, discussion item. introduction to voluntary

benefits am a director dodd. >> thank you good you have a memo that i sent to the chairman. we have not, in the past, provided voluntary benefits to anyone besides the miscible executive association. it's part of their mo you. every year i get calls from different department head saying, the summary with a card table in our lobby trying to sell us some kind of insurance. are they part of your shop. these, i don't use a derogatory term-these companies try to tag along with her open enrollment season but they also pop during the year. they talk they tell people they need to buy disability insurance or long-term care insurance or any number of the kinds of insurance. i think more and

more, having that availability where weekend that the actual vendors were we contact a vendor who that's the vendors, is really important and something that, whether the device or even pet insurance, where we want to be able to offer that protection to our members. we get calls same such and such insurance company isn't doing this. i've been off for four weeks and we will say, well, we don't administer that particular kind of insurance. so, the idea here is to make voluntary benefits available to all employees of the city and county. and have people feel better sense of protection. this would not cost us anything. it would be additional administrative work or both are finance and benefit

staff. there is a cost, but it's not a seven dollar per member per month. it's a work cost. i hope that you will agree that we should go forward and do this. >> to this point, as director dodd and i talked about this, you have these folks that do show up at these odd moments. they look very official and many of them are well intended that got all the appropriate whatever's. but this is not a matter of the health services system taken on an endorsement of these vendors. i want to be very clear about that. we are trying to, in some systematic way, determine if people do show up, who they are and what they are representing so that we can indeed, if called upon, communicate that to the members of the system. so, this is not about us endorsing these

vendors or the benefits that they are often bit i want to be very clear about that. they have these kind of random acts of presentation with no context whatsoever. it's also not serving anyone and we don't want our members to become prey , if you will, to kind of the outcome of whatever the folks are marketing. so, it's a matter of trying to put some structure around it and i think until we are little more systematic about collecting data and thinking through how we bet these and i would communicate about it, were still get a be stuck in this twilight zone. this is a first step in that process. it will come back for further discussion action as it might require. so, that just my two cents worth to add on to what the director said. are there any questions by any of the members were any commissioners at this point on the subject but >> had a question. is there any history of this happening within the city and county

where they either hire a vendor to that people who set up tables for any reason in public spaces? it seems to me-it seems a little bit of a can of worms in terms of opening up-but they cut benefits. do we have a-do we allow one vendor or do we have have a minimum of three vendors to provide pet insurance? how do we know who's done the vetting. who do the employees call if they have a problem with their pet insurance? do they call even though we say no, we are not involved, what we have been involved. he put ourselves in their come i think. i'm confused. >> thank you for the question. that's the situation as it is today. anybody can set up a table. some of the unions,

police and fire in particular, have long-standing payroll deductions with a couple of these vendors. in an effort to expand their market share, they then show up at a lobby of the mta board whatever. wherever they cannot get shootouts. she wouldn't not choose. there have been problems with what's been offered. what we will do is i quasi-rfp to select to what's called an aggregator who does that the vendors. then want to work with the emerge and there will be a payroll deduction. if there are problems, caused ma may come to us bu it will be a vendor we have said has been vetted by her aggregator,

whoever that ends up. then, we will deal directly with that organization. right now, municipal executives hasn't been called employee benefits specialist. they offer wellness good they offer accident insurance. they offer long-term and short-term disability insurance. there's a problem with those insurances, and they call our staff, our staff will call boy benefit specialists and employee benefit specialists will fight it out with that insurance company on our employees behalf. so, it really is protection idea. >> other questions? there is more to come on this, but is there any public comment? >> thank you commission did not speaking for myself. in nearly 40 years experience with the city, i've encountered this problem. numerous times. a number of different issues. one

is that also local 21 has employee benefit specialist analyst on cafeteria plan some things they offer that are similar to mba. they are, i think those are the only today have any specific going on. a lot of this has to do with whether or not department heads will give permission for anyone to be on-site to solicit employees. sometimes it's the manager of that worksite that is being approached. sometimes it's through the unions. sometimes it's through nefarious means. not to talk about it but i've seen a number of things over the years with regard to access to city employees. there is a rule,, i believe, that exists that says basically, no one is supposed to have access to city employees, especially during wartime. but this rule is continuously violated and has been for the four years i've been work working with the city. this issue has come before health service before.

again, we sent out notices to department heads to other managers, indicating that these are not benefits that are supported by our system. these are not benefit section by our system. the payroll system is a big issue with all this because they were not going to give any more payroll slots. so that may be a hurdle. i don't know if her beyond that these days with the emerge. but there's a long long history. this was going on long before i start with the city four years ago. it sounds like it still continues. it's really a matter of having the research and dialogue to work with the union. most of our unions, it represents to the employees, also have an aggregate of other services that they offer to their unions. then they make those available to their members. members are not always sure that those services come through their unions, and not to the city especially if they get a payroll slots. that's kind of what house people, that they think it comes through us.

because it's off on their payroll. therefore, it must be sanctioned by the city. it's not sanctioned by the city is not sanctioned by the health service boards. it's just that-it might've been for example, for some of these benefits that were granted to a different union that the payroll slot was available and someone else was able to use it. so there's all kinds of subtleties involved here. i think you will find as you go along, there will be many hurdles to overcome and that you have to have a lot of dialogue to find out these companies are, who has already vetted them and who is providing those services. it may be that maybe health service would want to touch it. by the way, there's a typo.. i had to point that out. a typo in the last sentence on the memo. that will be administered. i think it should be dead. that's the enemy, >> thank you very much. other

public comment? >> dial-in or look resenting the uf retarded as did i just a question. you would go with a plan like this anywhere with things like certain wellness programs or pet insurance. would you be excluding retirees from taking advantage of any of this? >> this is an active member benefit. because it has to be deducted from payroll check on a specific line. so, yes. >> other public comment? your name, please. >> stephanie johnson and i think that >>

>> [inaudible]

>> thank you for your comments. any other public comment? hearing none, number that concludes this item. for discussion. as i said, there'll be more to come. we may find, given the level of complexity in the ins and outs of this particular issue, it decide to do nothing. that's also a possible outcome here. item number nine. >> item 9, discussion item. report on network and health

plan issues. if any. vic do we have any plan representatives here that wish to bring any ring to our attention at this time? i said this at our prior meeting, but i will say it in their absence. we thank them for their hard work in working with us and with our staff and with the actuary to get ready for open enrollment which will be happening shortly. again we thank them for their continued work with us. number 10 >> item 10 discussion item opportunity to place items on the future agenda. >> just as a heads-up, i guess i can do this now at this part of the meeting, catherine, will probably not be meeting in the month of october. they'll be on a future agenda. we are looking forward to having a board for quorum in november. will be

working diligently to frame some areas are both education and information of the board might as well as, we hopefully the general public likes to watch the pursuit. on a wide range of topics. it is my firm belief that we kind of get into the cycle and becomes inside baseball. so, everyone's and in a while we need to stop and take a longer-term view and a wider view of some of the issues that are ahead of us not in that meeting in november will be devoted to that. i hope that you will ask all your family and friends to come out and participate. we just don't have an empty chamber here. so that's just a heads up as we go forward about a broader schedule. are there any other public comments about future agenda items? >> herbert leitner. i think the idea of a public forum is

wonderful idea. >> i want to be very clear i set up board form. >> a board form they'll be open to the public. >> okay. i think it's a wonderful idea, what time will be held >> it will be in a regular meeting slot is a tender plan at this juncture a lot more details as we go for. >> one concern i have is is don't people work during these hours and how much input are you going to get? i mean, i'm privileged position because a retiree. now, most people work,. they may have concerns to. how will we get some input to this quorum? >> will try to address the concern is we do our plan. that's all i can do today. i? any other public comments on this item? hearing none, will move to item 11. >> item 11, discussion item, opportunity for the public to comment on any matters in the board's jurisdiction.

>> is there any public comment on item 11 of the agenda? hearing none, and seeing none, we are ready to stand in adjournment until were next convened publicly. >>[gavel]

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recreation and park commission. could the secretary please call the roll. >> commissioner buell. >> here. >> commissioner low. >> here. >> commissioner [kpwrao-eupbl/]. >> here. >> commissioner harrison. >> here. >> commissioner mcdonnell. >> here. >> and commissioner levitan will be here in just a moment. just a couple of quick reminders. this is a special meeting of the recreation and park commission of july 16th. we ask that you turn off any sound-producing devices that may go off during the meeting. if you would like to have a secondary conversation with someone, please take it outside, so that we can proceed

as efficiently as possible. if you would like to speak on an item today, that is not on the agenda, but falls under the jurisdiction of the recreation and park commission, would you speak on item no. 4. if you don't have an opportunity to do it then, it will be continued to item 10. and last, when you make public comment, please address your comments to the commission. neither the commission, nor staff will respond during public comment, but the commission may ask staff to respond after public comment is closed. with that we're on item 2 the president's report. >> i will be very brief. i just want to congratulate staff and particularly the recipients of the awards for william hammond hall yesterday and margaret, i thought the whole event was very well-done. so congratulations, all the way around. that concludes my report. >> is there any public comment on the president's report?

seeing none, public comment is -- public comment is closed. we're on item 3 the general manager's report. >> good morning commissioners. i doubt i will be as brief and pithy as the commission president, but i will do my best. this month is national pus parks and recreation and the nrpa and park agencies across the country we're celebrating our parks by highlighting some of the events going on throughout the month that illustrate the value and important role our parks play in the community. last night's william hammond hall event is in july intentionally as part of the national park and recreation month. we couldn't have asked for pay better opening to parks and recreation month by co-hosting the women's world cup on july 5th outside of the civic center where more than 3,000 fans packed in to watch the u.s.

women's soccer team beat the japan team 5-2 and if you blinked it was already 4-0 and as we all know the women's team brought home the world cup. overall we hosted three viewing parties during the tournament which each one growing in anticipation and excitement as the tournament wore on, particularly for girl and women's sports programs across the country. this was a really important moment in women's sports history. a big special special thanks to lisa branston and her entire team for pulling off such a huge effort. parks and recreation month continues with a special volunteer with volunteers for outdoor california, which is hosting its annual weekend volunteer and camping event. this is the only time that camping is actually allowed in our park system. this year's event takes place at glen canyon and includes a

variety of volunteer protprograms after which participants enjoy activities. they have worked on a major trail project and will be with lisa wayne work on creeks to peaks and with vo cal's efforts the 2008 bond dollars and some other grant funding that we have obtained this will knock off a big part of the creek to peak trails structures. play day, next saturday, july 25th from 11 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. we're hosting a special play day event that includes sports, games, crafts and live entertainment, a free family event, one of four free family events that we host throughout the year and it's a great opportunity to get out and enjoy and of were you newren vated park. it may be one of our smaller parks, but we love it.

tomorrow afternoon from 4-7 p.m. we'll celebrate newly completed improvements with a special community event including our mobile rec climbing wall, zumba class for anyone who shows un, including you commissioner, low and bar-b-q. the park improvements include new amenities like benches, bbq pits and improved irrigation upgrades which were funded by the city's general fund and open space program. and then just a quick reminder about a couple of events coming up in august, like i need to remind anyone about this one: outside lands returns to golden gate park august 7-9 and features top selections in music, food, wine, beer and comedy and somed of year's lineup includes the black keys, mumford and sons, sam smith and sir elton john himself on sunday evening. on august 15th, and 16th,

soccer returns to civic center. each summer street soccer usa holds a weekend street soccer festival in the heart of civic center to promote its mission of improving the lives of homeless and at-risk youth through sports. this event is free to the public and also includes food trucks, djs, celebrity appearances. visit streetsoccer.org and recreation and park has a team in the tournament. and it is really, really amazing. after each match non-teams with non-homeless participants match up with homeless participants and they do team and group exercises together and learn a little about their lives and learn from each other and it's probably the best example of sport being a catalyst for social change that i know. it's really an amazing, amazing

organization, street soccer usa and this is their key event of the year. before we move on to employment recognitions, a bit of sad news is worth noting. we received word very recently that one of our long time employees percy true, when or who began his career with the department in 195 and spent 52 years with us before returning in 2004 passed away. percy was a fitchture at the chinese recreation center throughout his career with us and most noted for being quite a basketball player and coach in his own right. there is a very rich transaction of basketball that day dates back to the 19 30s percy played with the team and coached many, many generations of players after that. obviously our condolences go out to the family and his friend and family at recreation and park and we would respectfully request mr. president that the meeting be

adjourned in percy's honor today. moving on to tough transition, but i would like to move on to employee -- our quarterly employee reckion and i'm going turn it over to ken to make the presentations. we are recognizing two employees, very, very special employees today and ken, after you do your thing, maybe i could chime in just a little bit for each of them because they are well-deserving. >> okay. good morning commissioners, and general manager ginsburg. my name is ken gee and i'm the human resources director for the recreation and park department. i am proud to be here today to introduce the award resipins of the quarterly recognition program. the individual award recipient and the group award going to kimberly deford and her committee for their work on the greater and greener conference. there is the 7263 maintenance

manager for the department. will started in september of 2005s a truck driver with the san francisco recreation and park department. in april of 2013, will was appointed as the 7263 maintenance manager. steve flannery, who nominated mr. toggle has nomed will foyer three projects. the stabilization and roof replacement and the golden gate park recycle water project. as you know the house is an historic 1912 dwelling nearby famed lombard street. it fell in complete disrepair over the years. before the property became completely unusable, will worked with the contracts to

renovate the interior, which allowed the house to be safely used again. he worked on the historic 1888 build building that underwent renovation in 1984, but the roof was an asbestos-based one and now restored with special molding to its original design. the third project involved the golden gate park water mapping -- the water and approximately 13-mile irrigation system. originally there was underground water well, which supplied park with gravity-fed water system updated with additional plumbing in the mid-1990s from the existing groundwater practice to a compliant recycled water distribution system in golden gate park within the past two years. the new distribution system was

rpd with future water conservation strategies. there is working with kate u our engineer to entirely remap the system, as well as coordinate the work with the structural maintenance, plumbing and operational and engineering staff. on behalf of the san francisco recreation and park department, we want to thank will for his dedication and look forward to his if you knowed success as the employee with the san francisco recreation and park department. >> thank you. i was so pleased steve that you had the good forethought to nominate will for this award because it brings attention not just to will's incredible professionalism, but the importancing of our structural unit. they are the backbone of our organization and we have a very, very old park system, and the public just expects that it's going to work , whether it's our irrigation systems our boilers and our plumbing systems and pools, our

playgrounds are safe and it's the men and women who work for the yard that really keep our parks, do so much to keep our parks safe and keep them functioning. they don't get as much attention, frankly, and credit, as they deserve, because we just expect things are going to work. they are often behind-the-scenes and they work very closely with our capital division to make sure that the new parks and facilitis that we're renovating there is a seamless handoff between the construction firms that are building the new projects and then it becomes our responsibility for generations and generations to maintain them. and so while i certainly celebrate the folks who are here today, representing the yard and i see jack smith and steve flannery have come to support will and there is a new level of professional in the yard and i want to thank them for their hard work. will today we single you out for your dedication and

customer service between the yard and many different business units in the department, that are you're your customers. this is well-deserved and i was very pleased to see it happen. thank you, will. [ applause ]

ken, the next one i have the pleasure of doing. is that our script? >> yes. >> the next person we're recognizing is the wonderful, kimberly keefer is being recognized today for the lion's share of the 2015 greater and greener international parks conference in april. kimberly is our volunteer and outreach coordinator and she does many, many, many things and this conference goes into the category of "other duties as required." while this was

certainly a large volunteer component to making this conference successful, kimberly did so much more and really was the point-person on the ground, working with five or six other local agencies over 150 park agencies that are members of the city park as license. the city parks alliance board, vendors, you name it and kimberly was the quarterback and kept it all going. as you all know and most of you had the opportunity to visit the conference that featured more than 150 speakers and attended more by that 1,000 people from 200 cities and 20 countries around the world our commission president watts moderator and park tours and special events all focuses on the technology advanced in innovation in park management in the bay area, and around the globe and it was a seminole .

kimberly job was herculean and we're a team and i want to take time to thank the other key people who supported kimberly, including sarah ballard, beck montgomery, ryan, lisa branston and many, many other members of the department, whether they were participating on panels or supporting the conference behind -the-scenes that made it a really big success. it's my great, please pleasure to recognize kimberly with the quarterly employee recognition award. [ applause ] thank you fill

beginsburg our fearless leader and thank you president and commissioners. i'm really humbled at this moment. i would like to acknowledge my mentor sarah ballard. second, to rebecca montgomery who was amazing. i would like to acknowledge all of our team who worked tirelessly on the content delivery of the tour, et

cetera, et cetera. including you president buell and commissioner secretary this long list including 50 rpd staff and capital permits, operations, finance, hr and safety. special thanks to our maintenance team and structural maintenance yard. our psa1 staff 2 and their natural areas of course golden gate park was involved, the nursery and the maintenance yard. huge thanks to our recreation staff, mobile rec, as well as leader services and to our public affairs team, phil mentioned ryan, and tillman and connie. i say that you only as good as those around you and i thank my dedicated team for our busy earth month madness with the conference and that includes maryanne, david, zoe, tracy, will and jack. lastly i want to thank the city

parks alliance and my you colleagues of the 12 bay area leading agencies who worked in support and raising the bar as international industry leaders, doing our best practices right here in san francisco. it was a great honor to serve the greater and greener community at-large and facilitate such a defining proud moment for the department's proud stamp on innovation. thank you. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> all right, now for a quick look at this past month in parks. >> video. recreation and park capital and planning division is responsible for improving all of our you parks citywide and

even though we spend a lot of time in our offices planning our park it's a group of professionals deeply committed to improving our city. the 2008-2012 parks fund including funding for neighborhood parks, restroom innovations, urban trails, forestry and the community opportunity fund in which community members were able to improve their parks through a grant-style program. we have seen impacts citywide, including boeddeker park and mission dolores park. mission dolores park easily has 10,000 visitors on a given saturday or sunday. and aside from really respecting the history of the park, we really wanted to make sure we were planning the park to accommodate our residents for the next 50 years and most importantly because it's such an important event space for the city. we want to make sure that our operations staff had a chance -- [ inaudible ] where whereas boeddeker park is a one-acre park in the tenderloin and had all kinds of crime issues, but

we completely created a neighborhood hub in the middle of that neighborhood. our parks are really our primary community faces. on june 18th, safe harbor recreation and park opened the north side the dolores park and now we're beginning to renovate the southside. let's love dolores -- you on june 28th san francisco recreation and park celebration at civic center plaza with a record-setting crowd. [ inaudible ] we hosted a fee women's world cup viewing at civic center plaza where fans were able to root the team and witness the championship. [ applause ] >> july is national recreation and park month, so get out and play. >> thank you, jake gilchrist. [ applause ] i really do mean thank you. that concludes the general

manager's report. >> thank you. >> is there anyone who would like to make public comment on the general manager's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. item 4 is general public comment. i do have one card. tom swierk, is that correct? come on up, you will have three minutes. is that correct? >> three minutes. >> okay. >> good morning and thank you for letting me speak. i am here this morning, first of all my name is tom swierk, 20-year resident of san francisco. i live directly across from jefferson square park and i'm here today to talk about safety and 950 gothhousing which is so crucial for that park. and why is that? because it's actually not so much about an insignificant shade around 7:30 in the morning, but it's about public safety. we could go there now and find numerous empty cans of alcohol and walk the grounds of the

eastern half and find syringes. it's just horrible. 20 years i have livered there. i love that park. i love puc for donating money to improve that park. so my passion is about that park. what this eastern half lacks is housing. 1090 and 1080 eddy with more northeastern park and we overlook the park. we have an obligation for park safety. but next to us is sacred heart and there is nobody there and then 950 goth, which is empty, been empty for two decades and the two other church buildings heading towards goth, and turk. then there is the park view terrace, our third residential building and we have margaret hayward field. huge gaps that just allows people to con stantly shootup and do drugs and we intervened with the mayor's office.

we actually got the mayor's office with the chief of staff to act and he helped to get the sheriff shto do two walk-throughs and the police to do night patrols. obviously thankfully the recreation and park increased their clean-up. that is great. i want you to realize as you keep pushing off the 950 housing, it's going to take longer and longer for you to approve for the san francisco planning commission to approve and developer to build and the park to get more eyes and ears for public safety. that is all i wanted to saying and thank you very much for keeping us safe. >> thank you. >> richard, come on up. >> good morning, commissioners. how are you all doing? and of course, mr. ginsburg esq.. this morning i want to talk about what they are spraying

-- it's kind of like -- everything that has to do with the blue nile mosquito. so they are spraying the golf course and spraying the area around there. i just want to make sure that it's like the killer cocktail. that stuff is going to have another flyover with the helicopter -- recently there was a lawsuit. i believe that we have to keep it more or less preserved the way it is for the garter snake, the red-tail, amphibians and so forth. while they are still doing the methyl preen, is it going to extend to the parks in san francisco? so if we do have that, this stuff is not all that great. and it's got a terrible

half-life to it. it lasts for a while. if you use this kind of stuff in your own home, i don't think you would really want it. you probably would be more cautious of using anti-mosquito spray. i wanted the department to be aware that shard park is one of three locations undergoing such type of preventative measures. so myself, i rather not make any personal comment. i would think this has already gone through the department's operations and so forth. but it's very important that there are conservation groups looking after things such as the frogs -- when they breed around there, they lay eggs not in the pond, but they lay them around the grass and they got mixed up already. so that kind of stuff is going to be causing

some problems possibly. i don't know what studies that the state of california has done to look into this type of issue. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> is there any other general public comment? being none, this item is closed. we're off and on item 5 the consent calendar. would anyone like to make public comment on the consent calendar? being none, public comment is closed -- >> richard. >> sorry, richard, come on up. >> thank you. on the public comment, i wanted to be able to say some of the comments that i had spoken of, specifically balboa park. there in the committee, i looked at the concept plan and it looked very congested, very crowded. and i wanted to try to make more space available there. such as making use of a rock garden, which can be then in the summer months such as now, made into a nice little wading

pond for kids to walk around. so it wouldn't be just the big guys swimming there. the little guys can also have strollers around there and can wade around. it's a rock garden to the configuration in front of the pool area. so it won't be simply a place where you could have a couple of cars to park at. so that is one comment i had to say about balboa park. another one i wanted to make a little comment has to do with the statue -- la rose de vent. mr. highway hammond did the financing for the garage and

so forth. i looked at what he sponsors with the natural humanities type of work to do. so if you had a statue there, i was trying to stretch my imagination a little bit and try to bring in what if you had a statue? that one looks like a burning-man type of stuff. so i immediately said, hey, let's cool it on them that. it looks like burning man that will be up for a short time and come down. so if you ever had a statue come up there, i think i'm a little too ambitious. i like the italian fellow, michelangelo. it's also about 17-footer. so

like you say, if it's going to be -- [speaker not understood] i like something more permanent. >> thank you, richard. >> is there anyone else who would like to make public comment on the consent calendar? being none, public comment is closed. now we need a motion. >> entertain a motion. >> so moved. >> second. >> moved and seconded, all those in favor? >> aye. >> so moved. >> we forget to announce at the beginning of the meeting that item 6 is offcalendar. so we're going straight to item 7. buchanan street mall activation project. >> good morning commissioners.

general manager, ginsburg, my name is alex wolk from the capital and planning division and i'm really pleased to present this item before you today. we're also joined by valley brown from supervisor breed's office, who would like to make a brief statement following the presentation. i'm here today to present the discussion and possible action to one approve the concept design for the buchanan street mall activation project and recommend that the board of supervisors accept a grant valued up to $187,600 from the trust for public land for the design and construction of the community-supported park activation project and approve the grant agreement between the recreation and park department and trust for public land. i wanted to show a film that we showed to the capital committee

a couple of weeks ago. >> >> their cutoff street would be turk here and the reason being is it's been so much going on, that they are high a hot-target. you wouldn't want to be caught in a hot-target and these guys are pretty much there.

mine is like this. this whole zone, this big square here of red, that is open is my danger zone. you get what i'm saying? you have to keep your head basically on a swivel. >> ever since i have been about 14, i have been experiencing gang violence. i can't come out of the house without looking left to right first. being aware of my surroundings, especially at night-time. it just comes from living in the neighborhood, where you know that there are territory issues, turf wars, any funny

figures is a problem, it's like who is that? who is that? being shot the experience itself wasn't really that bad, but the aftermath right now, my nerves, the way my mind thinks. sorry to say, before i got shot, the shootings it was becoming kind of normal. you know, go have a drink or something, it wasn't nothing too much, but now i'm just so scared and a nervous wreck. it's like not even real. >> in dealing with these guys, i realize we are all from the same neighborhood. we lack support and have never been around each other. it started to give me a different perspective and i think at that moment, we all took different steps towarding growing up.

you feel trapped at times that it really controls your brain. i wasn't seeing justin as justin or darus or darus. and now they are my co-workers. the recreation and park department has partnered with the trust for public land to support a small and stand-alone community activation project for the buchanan mall and to do that tpl and rec and park have

partnered with green streets and citizen film, as well as the exploratorium to launch a sustained community effort through a series of design interventions and to begin to activate the mall in the way that really reflects the values of the community. the buchanan street mall is locate in the western edition neighborhood and runs north and south between grove and eddy streets and includes five consecutive blocks of green space, three playgrounds, half-court and various patches the lawn. a park activation is typically a capital park project that is small-scale, high-impact, completed in a short timeframe. it involves community design and construction. over the last several months green streets, citizen film, the exploratorium, tpl and rec and park have worked very closely to develop the concept plan to design with the mobile and modular construction to be

instraddle at various locations around the mall. the largest installation would be in a central location with smaller in stallations or entry markers scattered throughout the mall to unify the space with appropriately-sized components. using the modular constructions a base, the project consists of one or more of the following concepts. planters adorned with ports artful community images, a series of interpretative sign and play-making space that presents an opportunity for experiential learning. while the concept and locations have been identified, each element will go through an iterative process of prototyping where exploratorium and green streets fabricate elements and solicit community feed [pwha*-bg/] and modify designs over a period of several weeks leading up to final construction. all installations would be non-permanent and mobile and

could be reconfigure or enhanced depending on future funding and phasion. however the current project must be implemented by the end of september due to the grantor's requirements. since april, the project team has worked to establish a collaborative and participatory planning process, culminating in a design task force of members of the community, young and old, to engage and collaborate with and listen to the larger community. the design task force has weekly community meetings that focus on the design elements to enhance and activate the mall. during the first design exercise, participants individually marked up existing maps of the mall with abutting housing developments, utilized open spaces, territorial boundaries and areas where they felt safe or unsafe and even impressions and stories. the idea was to begin capture the important details to pain a richer picture of the mall with the reality is that many residents face.

the second meeting participants were given the opportunity to select from dozens of images that resonated with them and to put stickers on the images that conveyed goals. the design exercise no. 3, a design template was provided to the group to gain initial feedback to see what participants liked or didn't like? design exercise no. 4, participants were given instructions to actually start building models with various materials like string, and wood. just last week, members of task force traveled to the exploratorium and got to bring the concepts to life using a full-scale model where participants adorned wooden structures with

representational plants, photos and lights. before design wraps up later this month, all concept will be presented to the broader community for vetting and feedback and once prototyping begins, the exploratorium and design task force will continue to engage residents on the mall, showcasing prototypes of various community events and meetings throughout august, modifying designs as necessary and leading up to construction in september. we expect to complete the park activation by september 30th. thank you and i'm happy to answer further questions as can our design team. now i would like to also invite valley brown to speak from the supervisor's office. thanks. >> good morning, commissioners, and general manager phil ginsburg. i have to say i wanted to do cartwheels when i came in this morning because of the fact that this is so exciting for me as a personally because i have

an aide for 8.5 years and this has always been an area that i thought could be so much better for the community. but mainly for my boss, president breed. she actually grew up there. one of the dilapidated buildings that you saw at the very first frame of the film was right where she grew up, in plaza east. and she used to play in the buchanan mall. so she knows it very well. and when she came into office, this was a priority of hers. i know phil has sat through long meetings of her design process. if you let her, she would go design it itself. to actually have a group, like what we have like now, with green streets, all of the gentlemen here, the community actually taking the lead is amazing. and with the exploratorium, trust for public lands, citizen film involved and of course,

recreation and park being their supportive -- as supportive as they are. and letting them do it organically as a neighborhood is just amazing. just a little history that supervisor breed -- she would be here today, but she is down getting prepared for gao. as i was talking to her this morning, she was jumping up-and-down excited and just to let you know -- i'm sure you know this, but she wanted to let you know this particular park is so rich. it has four community centers. we start at one end of hayes valley and go to the african-american arts and culture complex where she was executive director for ten years and to the hutch and the buchanan yak. ywca and the

senior center and public housing and hud housing. this is probably one of the only parks that you step down from your stairs and you are in rec and park. in city central. it's an amazing, amazing area. and we're just really excited that a community-driven effort is going forward and wanting to activate it. they are bringing in all of the neighbors and getting their opinions, getting their ideas. and we're just really supportive. supervisor breed also had put money in the add-back process to help this and sle definitely hope to support it financially in the funding process. so thank you everyone, and i will probably do a cartwheel out. >> thank you very much. >> do we have public comment on this item? if so, come on up.

>> good morning. >> good morning. >> my name is raymond wade and thank you for having us here today about the buchanan mall. i would like to thank green street, citizen film and exploratorium and tpl to build something so well in an area that has been plagued by bad press. they have done so much beautiful upgrades to parks around the city and i feel this should be a priority for them, too. this is a beautiful, but underused area in the western addition. children and seniors alike could benefit from the upgrades of the buchanan mall. we're trying to do, as much as we can as a community to do this ourselves, but we do need the help of the supervisors, and rec and park and all of the others to get this done, to

beautify this area and to take it away from an area that is an area where gangs, and drugs abound, where old people are afraid to walk down the streets or down the mall, or where children don't have a place to play. this will be a good, a very good thing. as ms. brown said, supervisor breed -- this area is a huge area with so many people around it. it has seniors around it, children around it. children's elementary school. there is just so much there and it's so exciting for us. i just want to thank you you for allowing us to come here. thank you for green street, who those youngsters are just unbelievable; they really are. that is really all i have to say. i don't know if i said too much, but i hope i said enough. >> you did.

thank you very much. >> next speaker. >> hi, my name is shannon watts, you just watched me on the movie. excuse me, i'm a little excited and nervous right now. i just wanted to thank all of our partners. thank you guys. thank the people that are here showing interest. the buchanan mall really means a lot to me. it has went through a lot of transitions through my 28 years' of living. good, bad, ugly, it's such a mixed-populated area and i would like people to come together more because it's so segregated, but it's connected. i'm just very excited right now and i just hope that we can pull this further than just the installation we're going to do in september. thank you. >> thank you.

>> next speaker. >> good morning, my name is tyler mullins, co-founder of green streets. to piggy-back off what everyone said, really excited to do something good in the buchanan mall. born and raised here. played in the mall in my early days and then was responsible in my later years for being some of the reasons why it's not safe for people to walk through the mall and kids to play. it's been a wonderful opportunity to partner with so many people that have so much support behind the community effort and for us to go and do something as a community ultimate goal was to do something that ties in all five block because the segregation that shannon just spoke about can be broken down a little bit and some of the generational gap is being broken down as we speak with our meetings every thursday at the cultural center and getting all of these ideas from all of these different age

groups. at the same time being able to hear the stories, to learn the rich history about the neighborhood that we come from. a lot of things that i didn't even know and i'm 30 years old and to get the feedback from some of the elders, ms. henderson and other members who shared their storis with you. they understand what we are doing is really powerful and we can go up the street five, ten years to say to our kids and our community we were part of making that happen. that is a wonderful feeling and also to continue the mission that is green streets of bringing our communities together of. not only our communities, but the different communitis, disadvantaged communities around the city of san francisco. we have about 4% african-american and still finding a way to keep ourselves here and our culture and history and continue to grow in the city that has a lot of great wealth to it. we're trying to find our peace. thank you. >> thank you very much >> come on up? >> good morning. >> good morning. >> actually i am the only

youth here, so -- [ laughter ]so i'm just going to say what i'm going to say. the buchanan mall is actually a big, big, huge thing for me. i have been going to the park for 20 years -- it will be 21 next month. >> whoo whoo. >> it's a huge change for me, because when i first heard about it, i kind of got excited myself. like i just want to make a better change for my community. when i was a kid, i always used to want to make a better change for the community. watching crime, and drugs, and just a lot of things positive/negative -- negativity in the neighborhood, it wasn't right. so i'm just glad that i am here, here today. people behind me, i'm glad that everybody else is here and hopefully we can make a change. thank you.

>> thank you. [ applause ] >> next speaker. >> my make it is roger blalock and i work with green streets. i just want to say quickly that green streets is an organization that is built on trying to build our community. we're swamped in the western addition and we just expanded into the bay view area and we're trying to grow the business of self-ownership, several preservation -- several ownership for people in the community. we teach people how to recycle and love each other and care about the neighborhood as far as taking the trash out or simple things of keeping the sidewalks clean. that brings communities. i think green streets with the right backing and support of the city, we basically can get things done, so other

communities and cities can see what we are doing in san francisco, with the homelessness and mental health issues and stuff like that, and green street is just a product of our city. i just want to appreciate you have given us time to voice our opinion and let you know who green streets are and we're here to stay. thank you. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> hi. my name is trudy garber and i'm a project manager with the trust for public land. i want to thank the commission, phil ginsburg, london breed's office, alex, everyone here. so the trust for public land has been interested in the buchanan mall for over four years working with recreation and park for hayes valley and

as you heard it's a challenging and often dangerous place, but has the [t-ufpbt/] to be a community space, vibrant, healthy, green and just a hub for community. it wasn't until we met green streets that we felt like it was the right time to start this project. they are a group that has deep connections with the mall. they really understand about organizing and the importance of community space. and they have nothing, but passion for this space. so we had green streets on board and then we were so fortunate to partner with the exploratorium, too. this really innovated and committed to community engagement and skilled museum organization. so as alex said we're currently woring with the [stkao-eupbl/] design task force to develop the vision into a design and build this small installation project by the end of september. but we really hope that this

project catalyzes a larger process. we have so much momentum with this partnership right now, green streets, exploratorium and rec and park and hope it can turn into a larger planning process and capital improvement process and being even more of a great community space for the western addition, and for san franciscans. thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> hi. i am shaun with the city for public spaces at the exploratorium. we started this work about ten years ago based on a national science foundation grant with fort mason. their notion was that if the exploratorium is important to people about they come to the exploratorium, maybe we should try going out to where the people live and where they are all the time. so this started a trajectory of work working

with communities and most recently with the boys and girls club and building a park in the mission. one of the ideas behind the work, we want to do work culturally relevant. we're a design-build group and you know the exploratorium, we build. we build early and we build fast and we prototype. what we are doing here with this remarkable collection of partners. , -- it's an honor to be part of this with the exploratorium. the process is enabling the folks to redesign their community. it's a design scale that we're prototyping as well. i tell my team, a really hard-hit single up the middle will get us to the next stage. once we design and prototype the process, we'll go through the refinement process and looking forward to going to the next stage with this team. thank you. >> thank you.

[ applause ] >> good morning. [ inaudible ] my name is randolph lee. i am of the western addition and as my team will say i'm the old guy in the group. my team is young. they are an amazing group for me to be older and connecting with them and making our community better, i am so proud. i just want to see our community really grow, get back the essence of what we lost. like i said, i was once a person that seen good times and was creating bad times up in there. now it's time to fix it and with y'all help, everybody behind us, i just want to see this grow. thank you. >> thank you. >> is there anyone else who

would like to make -- come on up, richard. >> good morning, chair buell. this is a project i kind of bumped into at community and i like it's proactive and social activities available for people in the community, as well as people who are there. there then would be the opportunity to take your time to leave your own home or walk around and be part of that very important social aspect. no one is going to need to be staying at home, like in the picture earlier. the poor girl, she was a bit frightened after having been shoot. she got the initial sting to it, the hot flash, but then how

it continually grows on you. you get kind of needing somebody to take your hand and walk you back out in the street again. so when you have projects like this, a green streets project, as i said, it's pro-active and i think that is very important that we have such projects throughout the city and county of san francisco as well. but it's kind of like, wow, is there enough money? if there was something like only $187,000 and that is four-blocks of activity. i was glad to hear that the office of london breed is going to pony up some add-back money. so i don't know how they are going to get any more money and i think there should be possibly other funding available through the department, this department, as well as other departments. criminal justice -- the police department and others. they should be able to pony up

a few dollars into this type of stuff as well. when i look at this project, i like to say, on your mark, get set, go. i would say, hey, let's not go too fast on this, because it's going to take up a lot of space. i see that they have a section that deals with parks, the housing projects. it's very close to the senior center park there. it's not directly on buchanan, but it's nearby. so they are going to have seniors there as well. so they are going to have a place for old timers, old gals and so forth walking around and getting out of their house and getting out of their room and enjoy the malay little bit. myself, i used to have a german shepherd dog and this isn't far from the square. it's a street-type place, but is it going to be off-leash? i don't know how to approach that

with the department of recreation. thank you. >> thank you. >> come on up. >> my name is jackie henderson. good morning, commissioners. >> good morning. >> i'm a resident of a cooperative that borders on the buchanan mall. i lived there prior to it being shut down when it was a street, and it was hell. we finally got the street closed, and it continues to be a problem because there is nothing really positive going on there. and i was so pleased to find out about this project, because i have known tyrone since he was a child. i grew up with his mother and his grandmother, and we were all neighbors and i'm so pleased that he is involved in something positive, something positive that a young person is

trying to get done. as they say, we are old gees can say our peace, but sometimes it takes the young people to get in there, to make a project work. and i'm so happy that green streets and the exploratorium and all the others are involved in getting the buchanan mall some positive feedback, some positive things in that area. because it's long been neglected. thank you. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> is there any other public comment? being none -- are you going to make public comment? >> no. >> hold on a minute, being none, public comment is closed. okay. >> commissioners, just to end on an evening more positive note on this very inspiring presentation, i do want to let you know through supervisor breed's support there was $75,000 added to the recreation and park department's budget to

do a planning process and do an additional planning grant. we hope to put that grant out and we really encourage tpl and many other partners to apply. so that we can continue the work that has been started today. tpl and i have been talking about this particular spot for about seven years now. and it's very exciting to finally see this constellation of excellent partner and energy and enthusiasm finally come together to move us forward. we hope to put it out after labor day and continue the good work. >> thank you. commissioner mcgoldrick mcdonnell. >> really, really exciting and i would join valley with somersaults and all. while supervisor breed was growing up, i was at the other ends of the mall and my mother won't let me go to plaza east, just foo too crazy and it's unfortunate it's been that

crazy for that long, but at same time, very exciting to be at this moment. to have potential not to be changed for a moment, but to be changed forever. so really want to commend tyrone and the green streets team, while making it a safe place to step into, so we could land on a real concrete plan. really excited in the exploratorium. i remember as a child for me, there was no disneyland because we couldn't afford to go there, but there was a tactile dome at the exploratorium. that was the safe place to go and hang out and be in another world. so to have them as part of this is really, really exciting. thank you to the partners and commend that we are in this movement and look forward to the fruition of all of this really really good work. >> commissioner low. >> when this came before the

capital committee, you couldn't help, but be moved by this entire video, the entire efforts of the trust for public lands. citizen films, exploratorium and especially green streets. i just want to say this is a great example of how you might have differences, but you can come together and make a transformative difference. my message to green street is think bigger. you are doing such a great job on recycling and open space, think about community and cultural preservation and development. and really become a strong community organization. because this is a great start. >> commissioner levitan. >> i just want to piggy-back on what my colleagues have just said, and give an incredible shout-out to these partners. because this is a wonderful, yet again, so much of the great work that we do in this department is really collaborative. when we work with folks from the outside. thank you for that. what i think is interesting about this process is the process. and some of you gentlemen

talked about what has happened just in the planning. never mind what the finished product is going to be, but getting there has been transformative and in the process you are taking back your neighborhood and you are owning all of this so you are an inspiration to the next generation this. is your process. this is going to be your victory and all for your own neighborhood. this is a pretty special story. thank you. [ applause ] >> commissioner bonilla. >> i just want to say congratulations and don't stop here. >> seeing no other comments i will add my congratulations and supervisor breed for her vision in moving this forward and with that we'll entertain a motion. >> so moved >> second. >> moved and seconded >> i want to see the chart wheels commissioner mcdonnell. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> so moved. thank you. >> [ applause ]

i understand alex, is this your last day -- do i understand? are you heading out? >> tomorrow. >> thank you very much for your services. this a great project that will go on your resume and we're very grateful for all your help. >> thank you very much. it's been a pleasure to work on this project and this project team -- it's really amazing and a testament to all the great folks that have come out today. >> terrific. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> [ applause ] >> okay, we're now on item 8, union square parking garage, recommendation of approval of lease. >> we'll give everybody a chance to vacate the premises and then we'll take this item up. >> thank you >> thank you, appreciate it.

>> good morning commissioners. >> powerpoint presentation. >> general manager phil ginsburg. my name is andrew smothers with property management division to present on the discussion and possible action to approve a resolution recommending that the board of supervisors approve a new ten-year lease between the city and uptown parking cooperation for the operation of union square garage. the management of two cafe buildings on the premise, and the continued provision of supplemental maintenance services. i would like to start with a

brief history of union square garage and i know the terms "history" and "garage" are not synonymous, but it's the world's first underground garage that was designed by timothy pflueger. it's a very popular destination. a little bit of the recent revenue history. it is a substantial source of revenue for the department. last year, or excuse me in fiscal year 13-14, nearly $4.5 million was generated through the operation of the garage and the cafe premises. in the ten years prior, that is about a 98% growth. part of this is attributable to the economy rebounding and some bonds re[tp-fpb/]ed that saved the department about a quarter million dollar and rates were adjusted recently to reflect market rates. is it's a very important part of our annual budget and we

hope to continue that. a little history about the lease itself. in 1999, the city on behalf of the department entered into a lease with uptown for 50-year term, or upon the expiration of bonds. in 2003, the city again on behalf of the department, entered into a lease with uptown for the provision of cafe buildings -- granting them the authority to sublease on our behalf. and they entered into an agreement with cafe rule. fast-forward a few more years, the bonds expired and the 50-year term was not a 50-year term. it was 13 years. and so because it was going to trigger the expiration, our division came to the -- came

to this commission and asked for an extension while we renegotiated a new lease that went to the board and this master lease before you is the product of those negotiations. in 2013, a lease was brought forward, but it did not include the cafe premises. it did not wholly after the scope of responsibilities under uptown and this current master lease does exactly that. it's the same terms in 2013 which were approved, but it untils the cafe premises as well. so we have one controlling document. we don't have dualing documents. it's for clarity purposes essentially. i would like to discuss the terms of that lease before you today. it's a 10-year lease with two five-year options at the city's discretion. it's for the use of a parking garage and the cafe premises as well. all net revenues are provided

to the department and each year the annual operating budget must be approved by sfmta. so there is some oversight involved as well. what is interesting about this particular lease, there will be a capital account established, so $250,000 each year will be held in reserve for capital improvements. that account is capped at $750,000. another important part of this lease is the supplemental maintenance services. it's a very creative way to provide additional services, which include janitorial, logistic, and structural engineer, which makes the plaza first-class -- if you have been to the plaza, it's in tremendous shape. we still do work on the department's behalf we have a janitor and a gardener on-site. but this is a way to provide additional services beyond those that are already provided. a little history about uptown.

they have been working with the city since 1959 through the sutter stockton garage and they have a proven track record of success as you have seen with the recent revenue from the last ten years. we anticipate continued upward path on those revenues as we move forward. i would like to open up to any questions about this matter. >> is there any public comment on this? being none, public comment is closed. >> commissioner low. >> andrew, i guess i'm just trying to understand the lease. rent is actually net revenues; right? gross minus the budgeted operating costs? >> that is correct. >> that gets paid to the department. okay. because maybe the actual lease document refers to "gross revenue." but maybe that is just a mistake in terms in the lease. >> i think it's just a

definition in the lease and we could certainly tweak that definition. >> yes, because that threw me off. before we get to the sublease, the general manager has a right to terminate this lease as provided in the lease. >> correct. >> does that right also include the termination of the sublease? >> correct. >> but the sublease is now on a month to month. >> that is correct. >> and the plans -- the plan is to do an rfp for a new operator? i just didn't follow that piece. >> that is correct. the current lease provides 12 months with the current sublessee, the cafe rule. and that would provide the department time in discussions with uptown to begin the rfp process for a continue -- it would be a cafe -- at least the idea is to continue a cafe presence there, but it wouldn't necessarily be the same operator. it would be an open and transparent process.

>> so it may not be the same operator. >> it may not. i'm sure they would participate in the rfp process. >> are you able to charge-back to the subtenant some of the costs for the supplemental services? other operating costs related to the garage? or is that different? >> the supplemental services are secured through the garage revenues. if we issued an rfp, we could certainly address that at that time. but as the current document stands, it's a net lease. so their rent does not extend to maintenance services. >> it might be something to think about. at the time you do an rfp for the sublease. and then -- sorry -- i was bored and actually flipped through the lease. [laughter ] >> take another look at the lease, because i think the exhibits are screwed up. i mean there is not references. -- there are references in the lease and certain exhibits

don't correlate to the current lease. >> are you referring to the depiction of the premises? >> i don't think we need to see it again. just go through the exhibits that are attached to the lease. the referencess to the exhibits, they are supposed to be attached to the lease and just have them track. because there is missing areas like the description of cafe premises, the garage premises, the common areas, et cetera. >> thank you, commissioner. >> commissioner harrison. >> yes, i noticed that you mentioned that there was a custodian/janitor and gardener on the premises to take care of this, but looking over the maintenance, unless i read it wrong, about the lessee supplying a custodian/janitor and garden er. >> we supply one janitor and

one garden er and to extend to logistic coordinator and engineer, that is secured through revenues from the garage. so it's a separate funding for additional services. it's the garage revenue. >> not a landscape or gardener? >> no the landscaping and gardener and janitor from the department is secured through our annual budget. >> thank you. >> seeing no other questions, margaret, do we have a resolution on this? >> yes, the resolution in your packet, we would need approval of the resolution, please. >> is there a motion? >> so moved. >> second. >> moved and seconded. all those in favor? >> aye. >> so moved >> thank you, commissioners. >> thank you. >> we are now on item 9, st. mary's expansion. this is a discussion-only item.

commissioners dawn kamalanathan recreation and park department. i am here today to provide a long awaited status update on our negotiations with the owners of 500 pine. around finalizing the design for st. mary's square extension, as well as the status uh date on the agreemented that were reported as part of the deal to be placeplaced into escrow, et cetera and other necessary documents. no drum roll -- really? [laughter ] i'm happy to report that the agreements have been finalized. and we are in agreement. we are just now at this point going through the process of collecting signatures for the various documents that need to be executed and placed into escrow. i think a few months ago one of the other issues besides placing -- completing the documents as required, we wanted to have a discussion with the community about ways

that the design of the st. mary's extension could be tweaked to meet their need and ensure greater integration and make this a space that felt consistent with the rest of the park's feeling. and also trying to meet some recreational needs. so to that end we actually re-opened the design process and we had a very focused effort over two meetings to collect additional feedback from the community. and to revise the design for st. mary's square based on that feedback. the first meeting was a small focus meeting institutional community organization to set the goals that we needed to see incorporated into the park's design. and some of those high-level themes were around integration with the rest of the park, visibility, making it clear that as you entered the rest of st. mary's square you could see

there was an additional part of the park to go to, accessibility. making sure that the park felt open to all park users. safety came up as a theme as well so we met with the stakeholders and the architects for the you project and they are going to give a brief presentation on the feedback that they heard and how they responded to the feedback. then we had a larger community meeting where we met with any member of the public who wanted to come. we presented the revised design and collected additional feedback. the feedback was largely consistent with that provided by the original stakeholders. so we have been able, i think, to really chief achieve most of what folks have asked to. there are a few issues still on the table, which i think is something for us to consider as well. there is say desire there -- two planters that function more

than attractive nuisance, that are on st. mary's part of the square that we own and consistent feedback that people would like to see those removed, if possible. and with the removal of the fence that would separate the expansion area from the rest of the park, there are real concerns about safety at st. mary's square and some interest that we explore putting a fence around the parametererimeter of the entire park. that is something that as we engage in the planning process for chinatown around portsmith square and wong and we talked about how st. mary's square is developed with more of an idea in mind could really compliment those other pace spaces and maybe help to absorb the areas that could be shifted to st.

mary's square and to come back to you for the use of downtown park funds that could be used to meet some of the goals and requests from the community. so overall, i think it's been a very productive and focused process. and i would really like to thank the architects for the work that they have been doing on the project and their receptivity to the community's feedback and we look forward to it moving forward and finalizing the deal. the only other piece, major commitment made during the process was that the public art piece needs to continue to develop over the next year. so that piece, the arts commission works and oversees that process. the architect has been in close touch with community stakeholders about change something of their ideas to reflect community feedback of what the nature of that art should look like. there has been a commitment made by the owners of 500 pine to continue to meet monthly

with stakeholders to provide status uh dates on the public arts selection process and also encourage and solicit feedback to shape that process. so i think with that, at this point, i would be happy to turn this to the architect for the brief presentation on the design of the park. or jeffrey heller. >> jeff heller. so you have got a very good summary. in recent times we've been increasing our dialogue with the community, and i will go through the plan and just give you kind of the latest on all things. i'm sure you are quite familiar with the original plan and the fact that the st. mary's extension was not only a compensating piece for the original approval, but is the place in the middle of the day, which will be in sunlight. whereas the rest of the park is

heavily impacted by the shadow of the old telephone building. so it's a real opportunity for people, for usability of the space. the only access to the space is through the park. there is no access from below. so it's like a belvedere that overlooks, but it's really functioning as part of the park. the original plan, we had about 2300 square feet of planting. so there was less paved area or area for activity. it was very clear that was one of the issues in addition to the gates and so on. so the new plan, which has been vetted and i think everybody is quite happy with, now we have 1600 square feet of planting and overall the balance is activity space

and potentially art space. the detail of that includes how sitting edge should occur to the planter, the shape of the planter to encourage certain areas of activity, and we've also dealt with the fence behind and the landscape on the fence. so as to have visibility and openness to the park for safety. because we're all on the same boat on that one. the planting plan had that and the latest piece that i think is very cool, we have been talking to the chinese cultural center and the historic society on the site and is this is a board from some of the preliminary research on the site was a temple, which i

actually have heard -- -- cursed the site until we did something correct there. it was an important location and probably if it was there today it would probably never get torn down. we want to commemorate that and working with the historic society to get the proper research done on it. the latest idea with the cultural center, we had a meeting just yesterday -- the latest idea is perhaps a merging of the art and the historic aspect into something that is synergistically combined and unique to the square and the place. we have asked the cultural center to work with us to come up with a proposal and also the historic society. to go through a process of artist selection, wherein, the cultural society and community participate with us and come to

the idea of the appropriate artist for the site and this combination of things. and so everybody is very upbeat about that and the client is on-board. and again, reminding you, this is one of the first major projects in the city, where a major chinese company is the development partner on it. so they are totally supportive of all of this as well. it's been in recent times, it's come to everybody on the same page on what is really the best thing for it? we wanted to certainly be at the end of the day, when it's open and dedicated and all, something where everybody is really very, very positive about the result. as to the timeline, i think we have got that worked out. we have, like, ten months to go through the process and then the project would build-out for the artwork, that is, as appropriate after that.

that is it. questions? all of us are happy to answer questions. >> thank you very much. >> do we have public comment on this item? come on up, sue. >> good morning commissioners, my name is sue lee, i'm the executive director for the chinese historical society for america and very pleased to be here and very pleased with the recent progress of the projection because somebody actually asked us about the history. you know, everybody knows about the history about portsmith square and know that portsmith has a number of disparate historic markers in the park. st. mary's square is say little more quiet. and fewer people know it and yet the monuments in st. mary's are really more representative

of the chinese america history. you have the statue by benny bufano that was a downtown sponsored project. there is also a monument to the chinese killed in both world war i and world war ii, fighting for this country. very few people know that and the site itself, where this new building will be built was the site of the very first temple in north america, established by chinese. there was a big battle in 1970s about demolishing that gordon law represented descendants in 1972. so to commemorate that

in the park and we're pleased to work with the developer and jeff and his team. and look forward to something that will look forward to the public art piece and the dialogue that will ensue with the public engagement. i want to say that most of the chinese who live in san francisco now don't have any knowledge of that history that i just outlined. so it's really important that we continue to remind people about the important history of the chinese in san francisco. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> name is tang chou speaking on behalf of the chinatown community center. i think we have come a long way since 2000 when the first concept came on-board and you two years ago, when they came

to us. we were always excited to add new open space to chinatown. the purpose for us has -- we don't want a privatizeedd -- when you look at the first design today, we are very pleased that we have achieved some of those goals into the physical design that this park in the southeast corner of st. mary's won't be marginalized. and also grand avenue. so it really connects it to the neighborhood. i think we achieved it pretty well. also cultural -- i mean the purpose also is to make this park truly benefit chinatown residents. that people feel welcomed that the way residents feel welcome at portsmith square and also the cultural element.

as sue said, because we don't know much about history, but it's pretty exciting. at portsmith square there is nothing about chinese-american history and this is a pretty important park. i don't think we will achieve what we get without the support of commissioner low and phil and dawn for all of your leadership. also, grateful of the development team and also i know we can be a pain , but what we fight for is getting something better for the community. so we're truly looking forward to continue the conversation and we couldn't wait for the opening. thank you. >> thank you >> is there anyone else who would like to make public comment on the item there is come on up, richard.

hello. i was looking at the picture that you have on the laptop here. it's a pretty nice-looking picture. it looks nice and beautiful and all of that. it's just as simple as the principle architect, mr. heller said, is an extension. -- please standby --

there is no clubhouse. there is nothing there and that particular piece of property is subject is to eminent domain. so i'm not happy with just the top-half there. if we had a place where people could play at, but i think the cost is beyond the means of budgeting here in the recreation and park department.

that kind of building the location, you shouldn't be going too much higher than the assessed value when there is a building on the land, as is already filed with the planning department. but i think i might be a little ambitious. i think i want to stay on that line. if this does not pan out, i hope that the department would look into means of trying to obtain the property. so if the property is obtainable, it shouldn't cost more than what it cost to upgrade the chinese recreation center, $15 million. maybe inflationary $0 million and actually have the building. thank you. >> thank you. >> is there anyone else who would like to make public comment on this item? being none, public comment is closed. this was discussion-only. >> questions? commissioner low.

>> i just want to say to dawn, thank you. as well as to acknowledge the great collaborative work of the community, led about by the committee for better parks and recreation in chinatown, tan chou, as well as sue lee from the chinese historical society. i want to also acknowledge and thank the law firm of reuben and rose, as well as lincoln properties, jeb dale and heller mansis. we might have disagreed, but we got it done. thank you. >> mr. ginsburg. >> i will say dito. i wanted to thank dawn and my team for staying at this for as along as they did. it took us a little while to reengage, but the end result is a better product. i wanted to thank the community, and i wanted to thank the developer and the legal team, and jeffrey for

facilitating such a positive outcome. >> i want to thank commissioner low for his participation in the process and with that, we look forward to a very unique design and we'll be interested in the art that ends up there, too. i think it's a great idea. thank you all for making that presentation. >> we're now on item 10, which is general public comment continued from item 4. if there is any here who would like to make general public comment that did not comment on item 4, please come up. being no public comment, item 10 is through. item 11 is commissioners' matters. at this time, excuse me, this item is designed to allow commissioners to raise issues that they believe the commission should address at future meetings. there will be no discussion of items at this time. commissioners?

>> commissioner low. >> recently i was at the botanical garden opening anniversary party and had the opportunity to be able to tour the exhibition center, which i believe needs a little tlc and if we could figure out a way, mr. general manager, to give that a little nudge, a little tlc, a little money to fix that exhibition center up. i think that would bring a great deal more visitors, more revenue to the botanic center. so we could maybe discuss that in the august commission meeting. that would be greatly appreciated. >> seeing no another comments >> is there any public comment on this item? being none, public comment is closed. item 12, new business agenda-setting. is there any public comment? being none, public comment is closed.

item 13, communications. is there any public comments? being none, item 13 is closed. item 14 is adjournment. >> we are going to adjourn in memory of percy chu and i would like commissioner low to weigh-in. >> i just want to tell one store before story about percy chu, i remember trying to play basketball at chinese playground. i was slow and i couldn't play defense. i couldn't dribble and i always traveled. i threw bricks, [laughter ], which were supposed to be shots. he pulled me aside and said, hey boy, you might -- you might have talent, you just need to find it. [ laughter ]. i just wanted to say, if you listening up in heaven, percy chu, i never found that talent, but i'm still looking for it in other areas. >> thank you, commissioner.

with that, richard? >> richard, did you want to make a comment on the adjournment? >> mark, this is about percy chu? he was a person that i was pre-adolescent and on the sweet nelson team winning championships three years in a row countywide. this is very -- he was going around the city and chinatown with his cane. each step he continued to persevere. he was with the army in the korean war and mr. john blue, we call him hoorah ray, when we finally win a game. we only get one game, it was baseball. but percy, i see him a lot around chinatown and i was

shocked when you told me that. i would like to take this opportunity to thank him for having him spent all of years helping people in the community and trying to guide people straight, even trying to shove a piece of paper that quit smoking richard. it's no good for you. he is that kind of person who would go around the community and i'm going to personally have to go and say a prayer on my own later on. god bless percy chu, thank you for being here for us and thank the holy father that we had your presence with us. thank you. thank you, richard with that i will entertain a motion to adjourn. >> moved >> second. >> moved and seconded. >> all those in favor? >> aye. >> so maved. thank you alloff your electroni

they teend interfere with the equipment in the room and can we please rise for the pledge of allegiance? >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic, for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> i would like tacall roll call. >> thank you inspector. >> president loftus, here. vice president turman