commissioners, and director henderson, i want to tell you how fantastic it's been working with you for the last four years. i'm no longer the president of rfj, but i want to say how much we appreciate your commitment to police reform, your commitment to social justice. it has been reflective these last years, and i want to say the last quarter of 2017 has been the most exciting times for officers of color and also i think for our communities because we really truly feel that you have embraced wholeheartedly the whole idea of police reform and what the doj has been speaking about. and now it is my pleasure to turnover the leadership of the officers for justice to monday g -- montgomery singleton and

trent williams. i will be as supportive of everyone as i possibly can, and i am sure you will continue to move in the right directions and be successful. and thank you chief for your commitment to the members of the san francisco police department. >> thank you, lieutenant will coms for your service to the officers for justice and for the wonderful job that you've done as your long tenure as their president. further public comment? >> i was listening to public radio, and there was a show about tear gas and within it, they discussed tazers, and i don't know if you're all aware of this. i never heard it told at any meeting that i came to, and i would just went to almost all of them, that the information from body worn cameras and the tazers, the data goes directly

to axon, tazers international. so why is a public service group, the police, sending data to a private corporation on the people of this city? if we -- we already have the body worn, and i'm still wait fighting against the tazers. i want to know about that. i want to know why this wasn't discussed. if you all have an issue about it, i hope you do. you know, probably the next thing is they'll want to collate the data and sell it back to us. this is appalling. the brown act, my reading says you can discuss the actions of any employee of the city by name, so at these meetings, when we say we can't discuss them, that's not right according to the brown act. as i now under the brown act,

have filed a complaint that is going to be heard by the sunshine task force. i differentiate what president turman says about tazers, and the action that you took at that meeting. for example, during the presentation, commander walsh twice apologized for going over time. no one stopped him. no one was concerned about it. he was, and i think that was respectful of him to say that. but that the woman that was speaking for us, kristina maria was cutoff immediately and the sound killed at exactly two minutes with no opportunity or respect for her to say, could you wind it up, could you -- other people want to speak. you know you're a respected member of the community. no, she was just cutoff. and so again, there was not -- no one informed us of where that meeting was moved to, and people were locked out of city hall, and that is not legal, so we're going to fight this tazer thing, and we're going to keep

being the best city in this country to not have violence and people being killed or tazered with electric shock that we at first also was never discussing was fatal. and now of course we have to own that that's the truth and over 1,000 people have died from tazers. and by the way, you know, the mental health issues within the police department and with officers in the correctional institutes is three times as high. the suicide rate, three times as high as the general public. are we caring about them? where's the concern about their mental health because they're not doing well living with these things. thank you. >> president turman: any further public comment. seeing none, public comment is now closed. secretary kilshaw. >> clerk: item 6, public comment on matters pertaining to item 8 below, closed session, including discussion on whether to hold item 8 in

closed session. >> president turman: members of the public, we are about to go into closed session to discuss both matters with legal counsel on existing litigation as well as other disciplinary matters. so any public comment on the fact that we're about to go into closed session and we're going to vote on that? sorry. mr. alden stood up on that, and i thought we had public comment on that. all right. seeing none, public comment is closed. >> clerk: item 7, vote on whether to hold item 8 in closed session, and whether to vote on items 8 a and b, and san francisco commissioners

51.7 section. >> president turman: okay. commissioners, i'll entertain the appropriate motion. >> i think we should go into closed session. >> second. >> president turman: all in favor? all opposed? before we say good night to the public, is there anything you want to tell them about the next two weeks? >> we aren't meeting -- oh. >> we're dark the next two weeks. sorry. thank you, commissioner. we are dark january 24th, january 31st, and we will be

>> clerk: commissioner, we're back in session and you still have a quorum. >> president turman: okay. item 9. >> motion. >> second. >> president turman: okay. all in favor? any opposed? thank you. that item passes. next item. >> clerk: item 10, adjournment, action item. >> motion. >> second. >> president turman: okay. all in favor? thank you, commissioners. we are now adjourned. today.

>> (clapping.) >> i've been working in restaurants forever as a blood alcohol small business you have a lot of requests for donations if someone calls you and say we

want to documents for our school or nonprofit i've been in a position with my previous employment i had to say no all the time. >> my name is art the owner and chief at straw combinations of street food and festival food and carnival food i realize that people try to find this you don't want to wait 365 day if you make that brick-and-mortar it is really about making you feel special and feel like a kid again everything we've done to celebrate that.

>> so nonprofit monday is a program that straw runs to make sure that no matter is going on with our business giving back is treated just the is that you as paying any other bill in addition to the money we impose their cause to the greater bayview it is a great way for straw to sort of build communicated and to introduce people who might not normally get to be exposed to one nonprofit or another and i know that they do a different nonprofit every most of the year. >> people are mroent surprised the restaurant it giving back i see some people from the nonprofit why been part of

nonprofit monday sort of give back to the program as well answer. >> inform people that be regular aprons at straw they get imposed to 10 or 12 nonprofits. >> i love nonprofits great for a local restaurant to give back to community that's so wonderful i wish more restrictive places did that that is really cool. >> it is a 6 of nonprofit that is supporting adults with autism and down syndrome we i do not involved one the wonderful members reached out to straw and saw a headline about, about their nonprofit mondays and she applied for a grant back in january of 2016 and we were notified late in the spring we would be the recipient of straw

if you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer thems in the month of genuine we were able to organize with straw for the monday and at the end of the month we were the recipient of 10 percent of precedes on mondays the contribution from nonprofit monday from stray went into our post group if you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer theming fund with our arts coaching for chinese and classes and we have a really great vibrate arts program. >> we we say thank you to the customers like always but say 0 one more thing just so you know you've made a donation to x nonprofit which does why i think that is a very special thing. >> it is good to know the owner takes responsibility to know

your money is going to good cause also. >> it is really nice to have a restaurant that is very community focused they do it all month long for nonprofits not just one day all four mondays. >> we have a wall of thank you letters in the office it seems like you know we were able to gas up the 10 passenger minivan we were innovate expected to do. >> when those people working at the nonprofits their predictive and thank what straw is giving that in and of itself it making an impact with the nonprofit through the consumers that are coming here is just as important it is important for the grill cheese kitchen the more restrictive i learn about what

is going on in the community more restrictive people are doing this stuff with 4 thousand restaurant in san francisco we're doing an average of $6,000 a year in donations and multiply that by one thousand that's a lot to ♪ ? an incredible program because we take regular kids teach them the love of the game. we have no emphasis on winning we only have an emphasis on learning and trying as hard as they can that's it and the chips fall where they may. when students leave our program whether or not adults or kids they'll have a mechanical

understanding of what they have. you don't have to be 7 feet tall or be super faster but you do need skwil. once you teach kids how to have control over the tennis courts they'll master. please invest >> president buell: this is a meeting of the recreation park commission. commissioner buell. >> here. commissioner low? here. commissioner anderson? here. commissioner mazzola?

here. and commissioner mcdonnell does have excused absence. just a few quick reminders, we ask that you turn off any sound-producing devices that could go off during the meeting and take any secondary conversations outside. if you would like to speak on an item today, we request, we do not require that you fill out a blue card. i will call the cards in order that i have received. after that, anyone else who would like to make public comment on an item can come up and do so. you will have three minutes, commissioner? >> president buell: three minutes. >> three minutes on each item. if there is an item that is not on the calendar but does fall under the jurisdiction of the recreation and park commission, you would speak under general public comment. that is item 4. we will have general public comment for 15 minutes and then

it will be continued again on item 13. when you do make public comment, please address your comments to the commission, neither the commission nor staff will make comments or ask questions of staff until after public comment is closed. last, if you do hear the emergency alarms go off, you need to evacuate the building. as note, the elevator immediately goes to the first floor, so you will not be able to take the elevator down. if you need assistance in evacuating the building, we would ask that you go to your closest place of refuge which is directly across the hall in the men's restroom. when you go in, you will see a little speaker, just press that, let the sheriff know where you're at and they will assist you. with that, we're on item 2. the president's report.

>> president buell: thank you very much. i'll be brief, but it gives me great pleasure to announce that on january 24th here at city hall there will be a gala by the trust for public land and they will be honoring none other than our general manager philip a. ginsburg and jackie and dan, who are very much trustees, i believe of the helen diller foundation which have been generous to san francisco parks. with that, i extend congratulations to our general manager and job well done. >> is there anything who would like to make public comment on the president's report? what time? [laughter] >> president buell: richard, it's nighttime. i don't know what time, it starts i think, of 30. -- 6:30. >> secretary: ok, seeing none, this item is closed.

we're now on item 3, the general manager's report. >> i only wish i could be as quick, happy new year, commissioners, holidays have come and gone and we're back kicking off 2018 and things are happening in the park system. i have quite a few things to announce. bear with me, i'll try to get them through quickly. all good. on january 27, from 10 to 1 p.m., we want to invite the public to join the recreation and park department and numerous other city agencies at the county fair building to golden gate park for the final in a series of three city job fairs that have been taking place in the month of january. we are joined by the airport, the human services agency, the sheriffs department, the fire department, and our good friends at the u.s. post office, providing job seekers with

employment opportunities, training and program resources. our department is looking currently to fill a variety of positions, including recreation leaders, camp assistants, camp culinary staff, gardeners, apprentices and more. you can check out our website. or call us. on january 27th, i invite everyone to join us for a graduation ceremony of our latest class of green agers at the boat house. green agers are teens who live or go to school in the bayview, chinatown neighborhoods and have learned about park stewardship and supporting parks and events and programs. they meet regularly with recreation and park staff. they research issues they're interested in. they create projects based on what they found.

this is a really amazing youth leadership program that we've been operating now for i believe six years. and was recently expanded with your support in your most recent budget. it is equity zone initiative and we're proud of our work cultivating the next generation of park stewards. moving into february, rec and park will host two public budget meetings on thursday, february 1, at the betty a ann recreation center and february 28th ingleside police station. you'll hear a preliminary report from our chief of administration and finance, derek chu, but you can learn more about the budget cycle and updates to our strategic plan and we want to hear from the public about your priorities and neighborhood parks. for more info check out our website. moving later into february,

we're so excited. to announce in partnership with friends of the randall museum, the grand reopening of everyone's favorite science nature and art museum. on sunday, february 11th. from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. come and explore the new museum, enjoy free kids' activities and entertainment, including the latin grammy award winning bilingual environmental science singer mr. g. mr. g. i'm not kidding about that title. the $9 million renovation was funded by california state parks grant. general fund support, park fund support and a lot of the philanthropy through the friends of the randall campaign that included a very helping hand and assist from our very own commission president mark buell. join us on sunday, february

11th. if that weren't enough exciting news, on valentine's day, everyone is invited to show their love for parks and for our very own civic center plaza by celebrating the grand opening of the new helen diller civic center playgrounds, beginning at 4 p.m., running to 7 p.m. thanks to the amazing support of jackie and the helen diller family foundation and trust for public land, their willingness to invest in the civic center and the neighborhoods. their trust in our own vision and ability to serve the growing children and families living in the area. we are making more than a $10 million investment in civic center to further empower our communities to enjoy healthy and safe recreation right outside of city hall. the new state-of-the-art

playgrounds are exceptional and will combine lighting, nature and whimsy to create unique play spaces that surprise and inspire. the event on february 14th will include kids' activities, ribbon-cutting and ceremonial first lighting of the playground lighting features. i would add that the lighting features are particularly poignant, because when maybe three, four years ago, we showed mayor lee the design for this amazing playground, he loved it, but he said there should be light. and there will be. >> beautiful. >> general mgr. ginsburg: yesterday marked the beginning of the west side enhanced recycling water project and continuation with the san francisco public utilities commission to build more sustainable systems.

this project will produce and deliver recycled water to irrigate golden gate park and the lincoln gate golf course. offsetting the need to use ground water and other potable water supplies. we've been working over a number of years to reduce our water use in our parks. when this project is complete in 2021, 70% of the water we use will be recycled water. and five of the six golf courses we operate will be irrigated with recycled water. overall, we have reduced our water usage in our parks by 43% since 2013. and that's through ways big and small, yes, it's through recycled water and this next project is a quantum leap, but it's also through repairing old inefficient irrigation systems, through sustainable design, it

is through technology, we are now using climate sensors, irrigation sensors in the parks that can pick up the moisture in the soil and only irrigate when it achieves a certain level of dryness. and most importantly, through the hard work of the men and women in our department, both our gardeners and our plumbers, who have really done a miraculous job and taken this initiative extremely seriously, as a result we have become one of the water conservation leaders, not just in the bay area, but park systems nationwide, so it's a good-news story. last summer, you may recall we were horrified at the news that the playground in koret had been vandalized, burned. i'm very pleased to report that with the funding commitment from mayor lee, and generous support from the koret foundation, the

san francisco parks alliance, our own general fund capital resources and other donors, we have sufficient funding to repair the playground. we expect to start the demolition of what is left of what had been burned, site preparation and site preparation and playground equipment replacement in february with anticipated reopening by the end of march. that returns the playground to its former glory. it is open for business and beloved and everybody is happy out there, but one of the signature elements is no longer there and that's what we're replacing. commissioners, if you recall we enlisted the help of phil wright, the assistant manager for sacramento and one of the state's key thought leaders on youth soccer. someone with experience managing soccer organizations to review our youth soccer field

allocation policy and make recommendations to us that addressed the significant amount of growth, and frankly, the change in the business model for the youth soccer organizations. and so how do we keep up with that? based on mr. wright did issue a report, you have seen it, and he articulated a number of recommendations, based on the recommendations now, we drafted proposed changes to our own administrative procedures and distributed them for comment to youth soccer organizations and nonprofit organizations with the hope of getting feedback and finalizing the changes in february. i believe you are getting, if you haven't already, you're getting a copy of the recommended policy changes and they're simple. they're to make sure we remain consistent with the park code and the approved benefit policy and that we use that tool to ensure equity and access in

youth soccer. a couple of recognition items. i do want to acknowledge my amazing team who hosted last friday's martin luther king day celebration at the rec center. our staff just did an amazing job in organizing celebrations, legacy of dr. king. it included our annual rec centre, which was the 34th annual community celebration, but it also included a family-free swim day at the pool in bayview and three other pools around the city and a number of volunteer work parties around the city in honor of the national day of service. our recreation staff including bob, jackie, lorraine, and linda, our aquatic staff, our volunteered division all deserve kudos for helping us celebrate and remember the positive impact that dr. king's life had on our

nation particularly at a time when our country could use reminding. i want to acknowledge and thank our speakers including the honorable brown, who gave an amazing speech and special shout tout margaret macarthur for her help in facilitating mayor brown's appearance. i want to thank our terrific police chief, chief bill scott, for coming to the event, bringing his team and for his remarks and lastly, i also want to acknowledge commissioner low and commissioner anderson both of who attended and commissioner low's introduction of mayor brown was awesome. it was really good. [laughter] it was really a beautiful event. lastly, and it was my hope that he was going to be here today, so we could vet him in person,

but unfortunately, tom hart is sick as a dog. so we sent him home. he showed up at the office is this morning to come down here today and dana took one look at him and using her strongest motherly instincts, said, tom, you're going home. so tom went home. so he's not here. but here's what i would like to say about him. he is one of our longest tenured employees and truly one of the nicest, kindest and sweetest people that work at rec and park, or may have ever worked at rec and park. he's going to be retiring next week. a member of our property management team that includes our golf division, tom joined the department in 1990 as a member of our purchasing unit. he joined the property management team as senior administrative analyst in 1994 where he's been since. over the years, tom has managed

a number of projects, but the ones that stand out and the ones he's most proud are the development of the golf agreements, the japanese teagarden rfp in 2009 and the subsequent renovation to the tea house and gift shop. some may not know this about tom, but aside from being a sports fan, the warriors in particular, he's a very accomplished singer who has performed around the world. and very coincidently sang at my daughter's bat mitzvah. he majored in music and vocal performance in kansas and had professional positions with the opera and symphony. the baroque orchestra and the festival. he was a founding member of the male a cappella group and toured

with that group over ten years, performing in a thousand concerts in all 50 states, south africa. he plans to spend his retirement singing more, he's booked for the next 18 months. and just a personal reflection, i just want to echo that it's rare that you meet someone so selfless and egoless and just so kind. and it makes me proud to be in public service, to be able to have worked with someone like tom hart. so i thought i'd end with a quote that i actually have to give credit to alton pond for finding, musicians don't retire, they stop only when there is no more music in them and tom has a lot of music in him yet. a big congrats to tom. i'm sorry he's not here to receive kudos in person.

there will be a celebration for him out at harding i think next week. and we will pass along information for that if any of you are available to attend. that is the conclusion of my recognition. we have this month in parks, we have a special video that may or may not have seen. it is our annual report. 2017. in retrospect. [ ♪ ] it's been another amazing year for us at the san francisco rec and park with 220 parks, 4,000 acres of open space, we have one of the most special parks in the entire country, but what makes our park system so special are all of you. the people who use the parks every day. who participate in your recreation programs, who

volunteer, who advocate, and who work in our parks. our accomplishments are your accomplishments. and without all of you our park system would not be as lively and vibrant. enjoy this look back at the past year in our parks. >> we have a great park system. >> a lot of folks. >> safe clean and fun. we promote our parks historic and cultural heritage and we're building the great parks of tomorrow. >> we were the first city in the country to place parks within a 10 minute walk of every residence. we cut 14 ribbons and broke ground on two additional park renovations. we bought land. we planned for parks of the future. we make our parks safer and

cleaner. we celebrated our history and culture. we promoted active living for the diverse and growing population. we help folks play ball. we let kids be kids regardless of whether they can afford to and connected them with the natural world. we let seniors be seniors and we made sure everyone can get out and play. in the last two years, we've hosted more than 172,000 events? our parks, little ones, big ones, fast ones, slow ones, strange ones, earthy ones. we inspire let'splaysf! a campaign to build new playgrounds. we created a new light art installation on the conservatory iconic facade. we worked with the golden state

warriors foundation to resurface the basketball court. we renovated the soccer pitch. we partnered with the san francisco conservancy to design a new park. we renovated and reopened south park and lincoln park. we helped to ensure that all san franciscans can get out and play. we didn't just inspire capital, we inspired sweat, lots of sweat. we aim to protect and enhance san francisco's natural resources from conservation, education and sustainable land management. we built for a better ecosystem. we taught our next generation about the earth. we call them green-agers. we save water, we cared for the trees. we cultivated a connective, engaged and aligned workforce that delivers outstanding service.

we measured, we innovated, we trained, we collaborated, developed, hired, recognized each other, we celebrated together. we're proud to be part of this team and we said everything matters, from the smallest park to golden gate park, our parks are diverse and unique as our amazing city. we're so proud to steward them on your behalf. remember, in 2018 -- >> get out and play! [ ♪ ] >> that was 2017, and that was the general manager's report. >> president buell: thank you very much. >> is there anyone who would like to make public comment under the general manager's report. richard? ok. >> president buell: so noted. being no public comment, this item is closed for now.

item 4, general public comment up to 15 minutes. this item will be continued to item 13 at this time members of the public may address the commission on items of interest that are within the jurisdiction of the commission. and that do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items, you will have that opportunity to address the commission when the item is reached in the meeting. i do have one card and that is henry. you will have three minutes. >> secretary: go ahead. take a seat. >> good morning. thank you for having this open mic session. my name is henry and i'm a member of the group of seniors who play tennis in the golden gate park tennis complex. i'm here to express my concerns

about the plans for the golden gate park tennis center. in two ways. first is, my first concern is the way that the plans were developed. these plans were developed by a group called the tennis coalition, and they have been successful in raising funds. however, the design and the particulars of the plan were not subject to public input. the group appeared originally with its first presentation and all subsequent presentations to have a pretty completed plan and although many suggestions were made and were solicited by the group, there has been basically no basic change in the plans offered. my concern is that the public should be the ones making the decisions, rather than a private selected group. and my first request is that the

commission work with the recreation and park department to create group that has chosen -- is chosen by the recreation and parks department after a widespread advertising and application from people who actually use the tennis complex. and i suggested to people and the parks and rec department, because they're the ones who were there at the tennis complex all the time. and feedback can be exchanged freely and in large volume. that's my first request. the second is that the particulars of the plan that i am and most of the senior tennis people i play with in the mornings have concerns about the plans. the first concern is that four courts will be eliminated and no one was in favor of that in our group and i don't think it makes sense to remodel the complex and

have fewer courts. the reasoning that the tennis coalition offers an explanation is that putting up lights, that will give more time to play, but that really doesn't address the daytime loss of courts which is where most of the people play. >> you have 30 more seconds. >> the other things that we were concerned about is the expansion of the buildings for the children's learning center. and that could have been done without the remodel. the hiring of a for-profit company was unanimously rejected by our senior tennis group and we feel it's inappropriate to lock up the courts with having only one entrance and exit so that the whole place is now being viewed as a private space and public park which we option. >> president buell: thank you, we have your printed comments as well. >> john melvin? >> thank you. i would like to echo henry's

comments and offer an observation. this proposal has been put together by an elitist group who want a fancy tennis complex that they can bring their friends to. these people are mostly members of private clubs. they don't play tennis at golden gate park, they're concerned about a monument. i think it stinks. this is a senior group that relies on these tennis courts literally for their life. that's our exercise program and to rip these up for a couple of years so they can have something fancy is an outrage. and not taking input. this is designed so they meet the standards, so that means we lose four courts. we need more courts. so, anyway, that's difficult for me to control my emotions, but this is a really big deal and the parks department, farz i can see, they defaulted the whole

project to this private group. i would encourage you to put this back on a public track. san francisco is not a for profit city, it's a nonprofit city and this should be run by a nonprofit. among other things. but let's get back to basics. fix the courts, they're in terrible condition. we have three courts we can't even play for, i don't know why they haven't been fixed, down for more than a year, and why they're not fixed is beyond me. and sometimes we shop, we can't get a court. and seniors really need their exercise. so, anything you can do, we would really appreciate it. thank you very much. >> president buell: thank you. >> secretary: anyone else who would like to make general public comment? richard? >> good morning. nice to see all you happy

commissioners, hope you had a nice holiday. what i wanted to ask about is what can be done over the cost issue of the lake, the boat and so forth, the upper, trying to get people to help pay for the changes that have been provided. last time i was here, i had spoken against charging it to seniors and the equity funds. i was looking later on, would there be available the homeowners association who can help contribute some funding to that. they had earlier been the party involved with putting in the sun fish family, large bass and all

that other stuff. i wanted to be sure i got that across. and there is other part that had to do with with whole -- [inaudible] work at port smith square, that's nice. general manager ginsburg, and that's about all, other than i'm going to try to say something about this and get another crane on the arts, so i'll wait until the zoo time. thank you. >> president buell: thank you. >> secretary: any other public comment, general public comment? seeing none, this item is closed. we're now on item 5, the consent calendar. is there any public comment under the consent calendar? seeing none, this item is closed. commissioners we need a motion. >> president buell: entertain a moment. moved and seconded. all those in favor, so moved.

>> secretary: we're on item 6, the election of officers. i wanted to go over very briefly what the procedure will be today. we are going to -- i will ask first for public comment and once public comment is closed, i will ask for a motion and a second. and then a vote to open nominations once we open the nominations, i will ask for the nominations to begin. we will need a second. then we will do the same thing, close the nominations with the vote. and then you will vote on the nomination. so with that, that will be for both the president and the vice president. is there any public comment on item number 6, election of officers? being none, public comment is closed. so, for the election of the president, i do need a motion

and a second to open the nominations. >> moved. >> second. >> secretary: ok. and i need all in favor? aye, any opposed, no. >> aye, aye, aye. >> secretary: thank you, ok. so now commissioner anderson i believe you have nomination for the office of president. >> commissioner anderson: yes, it is with great honor that i make the following nomination and if i could just have a minute, current president? >> president buell: please. >> commissioner anderson: i conducted a not so independent poll with the universe of six very interested people on qualifications and learned that we have a gentleman and a poet. a poetic presidential person, who most of the time makes santa claus' good list year to year and has a voice like robert wagner.

i'm not sure those are qualifications for president, so i found another source and learned that president buell inspires resources, investment and confidence in the park system. and we've seen more people voting for park bonds than ever before. and increases and positive responses in our park surveys and increases in our park scores. and we've recently celebrated the fact that each and every san franciscan lives a 10-minute walk from our parks, you will under president buell's leadership. and on those grounds, i would like to again nominate you for the president in this next term. >> i second the motion, even though i disagree with the robert wagner voice. >> secretary: any other nominations for the office of president? seeing none, the nominations are closed. so with the roll call vote,

commissioner anderson? >> commissioner anderson: yea. >> commissioner bonilla: yes. >> commissioner harrison: yes. >> commissioner low: yes. >> commissioner mazzola: yes. >> president buell: aye. >> secretary: congratulations, it is unanimous for 2018. >> president buell: let me say before you get to the vice president how much, one, i appreciate this commission and the trust that they have placed in me. i want to express my gratitude to them for the willing to show up at functions to celebrate openings and good causes, but genuinely, i'm very grateful, thank you very much. >> secretary: we're now going to the election of the vice president. i need a motion and a second to open the nominations.

>> so moved. >> second. >> secretary: ok, all in favor? opposed? ok, so commissioner bonilla? >> commissioner bonilla: i would like to nominate the vice president for vice president. commissioner allan low. in doing that i want to say that i continue to be extremely impressed with commissioner low's involvements in the community. i think if we took a poll as to -- actually in attendance record, as to how many activities that commissioner low has participated in, i think he would win hands down, in terms

of all the commissioners. and i also continue to be impressed with his due diligence in reviewing our contracts, the contracts that come before us, and his level of proficiency in keeping us focused on the decisions that we make with regards to our contracts. and always, always keeping us out of harm's way. we need that. we need to continue to depend on that level of proficiency. his involvement in the community, which i will always marvel at, and with that, i am once again express my nomination

for commissioner low for vice president. >> commissioner harrison: i'd like to second that, but before i do that, i would like to say, it would be remiss not to remark on commissioner low's humor and abilities in that. he could give each one of us a little square needle and keep the zinger and keep the lightness and fun of this commission. so i would second commission low for vice president. >> secretary: any other nominations for vice president? being none, nominations are closed. so roll call vote. >> commissioner anderson: yes. >> commissioner bonilla: of course. >> commissioner harrison: yes. >> commissioner low: [laughter] yes.

>> commissioner mazzola: yes. >> president buell: absolutely. >> secretary: congratulations. [applause] >> commissioner low: thank you. >> secretary: ok. we are now on item -- did you want to say anything? >> commissioner low: no, let's just keep the efficiency and roll to the next item. >> secretary: we're on item 7, san francisco zoo. >> thank you, happy new year, congratulations president and vice president. i think, right? let me give you attendance update for the zoo. thus far we're at 480,000 visitors, versus budget of 474,000. so we're almost 7,000 over budget in terms of visitorship. so with that, i'll go to the slide show, because we have a surplus and due to the gifts of some of the board members, our happy zoo year promotion for the month of january was

freeadmission for children 14 and younger and especially on mlk, we had nearly 5,000 children take advantage of that. i thank the board and everyone for the support of the promotion. love is in the air, it's not quite valentine's day, but if you know, you have seen the snow leopard they're beautiful, endangered in the wild and we have two new ones to the zoo to mate. they are going off and on exhibit as they learn and explore, but can hear their mating calls throughout the zoo, so it perks us up quite a bit. we're helping the snow members in the wild. they're elusive animals, hard to track in the wild, so we're capturing their digital images, with that we create algorithm so the trackers in the wild can use the algorithm to assess whether they're seeing snow leopards or other cats in the wild. i thank the staff again for the creative solution.

i want to let everybody know we're moving our dragon, big daddy, and he is moved from the alley to the former taber exhibit. this is near the rhino. it's near the asian center of the zoo. you can see it's a flat space. the reason we're doing that, if you show the next picture here of big daddy, in the back there, those two little rocks popping out of his hips are actually needles, big nails. he had a crack in his lower back, so he needs flat space. we think the crack is developed because he's actually the product of an immaculate conception, if you will. the reptile, if they find no suitable male partners, she can impregnates herself. and doesn't need the male species. there is evolution at work. [laughter]. >> what? >> uh-oh. >> i knew i'd get the attention

at that. it's true, reptiles can do that. but unfortunately, we're finding that the product, so the male still have hope, the products of these immaculate conceptions aren't always the strongest of the animals and there are cracks. big daddy will get a new spot. and maybe you need your dad after all, i don't know. the dragon is famed for eating wild chicken, we don't do that, we give him cooked chicken, but speaking of birds, i want to point out the most attractive group of donors. this is the women's auxiliary. they wear hats. they can't get through the front door, the hats so big. but they will be raising money for the two condors, these are beautiful birds that we have developed partnerships with

countries in south america, they're facing crisis because they're prey, it's causing the condors to come into the cities, prey on small cats and dogs and the population there, think their children are at risk, so they're starting to stone the beautiful bird. we have two at the zoo and will raise money for the new habitat. i thank the ladies and the their gorgeous hats for the efforts. i thank mark sullivan for hosting a one-day workshop on february 10th, where with talent or no talent, he will teach you how to draw a bird or other animals. birds can be difficult, so have patience. thankfully, we do have a very slow sloth in south american tropical forest, that may be the easiest to draw, but i thank mark for hosting that. and speaking of other great volunteers, we would not be the great zoo without january 21, we

have a doe set workshop. it's great to have the senior citizens working at the zoo, sharing knowledge, and their wisdom. i thank you. more information is on the website. with that, i finish my report. >> secretary: any public comment. richard? >> with big daddy, i'm wondering is if the evolution superior, self-propagate, i never heard of that. so darwinian type of analysis, is he a superior animal that such animal can replicate on its own? that's usually a sign like with

chickens or stuff like that, they have both the ovary and the testes, if harm comes to the ovary, the hen becomes a rooster, but i never heard about a dragon self-replicating. gee whiz. mark, are you up to pace. >> the flat worm splits in two, but i'mlering as you -- learning as you talk. >> oh, my goodness, what i wanted to talk about had more to do with the palace of fine arts and other wildlife in the natural area there, i like that place very much. and also, i also see that the crane that was placed in there that is cared for by the zoo people, i believe it is, but i only see one. is there more, possibly more than one,