provides switching, and all that, but i have a problem with the nails in the back of the paddy. i looked at it the time before and thought about it since the last meeting and the last meeting of the full commission. i think we have to take a better lock at that than nails in the back. i believe there's something probably wrong of the vertebra, so of the back part. maybe somebody who knows for about fusing the vertebra and joining them somehow and fusing and leaving the neurological openings. i didn't like that at all on the big daddy, the komodo dragon from madagascar. so if while the direct chair to

examine what has happened. >> is there anyone else who would like to make public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, this is discussion only. >> thank you. >> so we are now on item 7. the recreation park department budget for fiscal 2018-2019. and 2019-20. >> while derek is setting up the presentation, let me extend a thanks to derek and his team. this is a strong budget, and this is the first he has done as the head of the finance administration and worked very, very well with the staff and the community stake holders. and notwithstanding, a little

bit of financial instability city wide, we are proud of this budget. >> good morning, vice president low, commissioners. i am derek chiu, over eight months ago i started the recreational park department to attend glen canyon opening and the random museum opening and recently saw the new civic center. and this is a terrific place to work. and i'm very excited to be presenting the first budget. i stepped into some very big shoes that katie left behind. i'm trying my best to work as hard and as well as she did. fortunately, i've had the guidance and the visionary leadership of the general manager and his directors including denny, dana, sarah,

don, and toks. and also the fortune of having a finance and accounting and budget team led by maria sutton, alex, antonio. so let me start. i start with the mission statement, which guides everything that we do, and including our vision to inspire, connect, and play. and with the five strategies of inspiring space, play, investment, stewardship, and team. in building our budget we relied on the strategic plan, operational plan, capital plan, and also looked at everything we do through an equity lens using equity metrics to ensure we're providing services to everyone in our community. those communities that are disadvantaged nor low income.

we want to insure that our programs and services are accessible to everyone. finally, more pragmatically, i looked at prioritizing recreation and park programs as core services. i looked at investing in capital and deferred maintenance projects. we looked at maximizing revenue opportunities and al reallocating vacant positions and unallocated resource to meet new and changing needs. our fiscal year 18-19 proposed budget totals $240.1 million. as you can see on the slide on the left by program, our largest program is park maintenance at just over 52%. that's followed by recreation aquatics at 25% and then you see the other parts of our program spending including structural maintenance at 10%, park safety 3%, administration 4%.

on our revenues, our revenues are comprised of four main categories. our open space fund, which is 26% of the revenue budget, our general fund support, the subsidy that we see from the city at 31%, our earned income revenues at 20%, and our other revenue sources at 23%. our department resources, our staffing by program, and as again, as you might expect t majority of the staffing is in our park maintenance division that includes our gardeners, custodians, maintenance teams, recreational aquatic follows at 26%. and matching the core services and core functions, maintaining what we do and enhancing what we

do and investing in what we do so we're stronger. administration is at 7%. park safety grew a bit this year at 4%. looking at our revenues and a little bit more detail, you'll see the top three revenues -- open space, general funds supported, and earned income below the top. just below that are the pieces that make up the earned income revenues, and i'll briefly go over some of the changes there. in concession and rentals, we're seeing about a 5% increase or $500,000 in the new budget year. thanks very much in part -- well, all of these earned income revenues i deeply appreciate the work of dana catchum and the property management and permits and fees team.

they were instrumental in working with us in growing the revenues upwards of 4.5% or $7.9 million. permits and facilities rentals increase by $400,000 or 6.7%. program fees are recreation programs that increases by 4.4%. and i think that speaks strongly to the work of ann marie donali who do the programming to meet the needs and the growing needs of the citizens and residents of the city offering services and programs that are popular and supportive of what people want. >> our garage, paid parking revenue increases by 6.1%. our golf program increases by 2.4%. the only drop in our revenue in the new budget year is in our marina, and that is going down

1.8% or about $72,000, and that's because of the some of the changes in the slips and some of the work that we're doing going forward as far as looking at the east harbor renovation project. i draw your attention to the other revenue sources which is comprised of bond funds, grants, gifts, bequests, and other balances. you will see that goes up about $10 million, and that's due to the addition of new grants that our grants team led by tony as well as by our capital finance manager antonio have been working on over the past several weeks. but do notice that in fiscal year 19-20, there is a precipitous drop from just over $54 million to $13 million. that should not alarm you

because we are only budgeting the new grants that we know of and have identified in the new budget year, 18-19. we do not know yet what those funds will be two years out. when i come back to you next year, that number hopefully is something that will reflect closer to the 40 to 50 million range. we will have time to add to our budget when we do apply for them and when they are awarded to us and allocated to us. so where are we spending our money? what are we investing in? breaking this up by strategy and strategy one inspiring public space to look at our core services and deferred

maintenance and a project planner and an iron worker, a steam fitter, a plumber, and labor supervisor, several custodians, to supplement the capital planning and project management. we're adding a planning manager and project manager, and we are adding money to the community garden for deferred maintenance. in addition, for both the budget year and budget year plus one, 18-19, 19-20, we are adding two additional park rangers in each of those two years. currently we're at 45 park rangers currently. we are working to fill about eight of the vacant positions, and we will be adding additional positions. as i mentioned previously, we're in the process this year of outfitting 15 park ranger vehicles along with laptops, along with body armor -- sorry, body cameras.

and other uniform gear. in addition, we are maintaining our commitment to funding capital and deferred maintenance projects, and we are committing $15 million of our general fund support to projects including, as you can see, maintenance and renewal, playing fields, field rehab, street resurfacing, safety and security, signage and lighting, and then you can see some specific projects including the dog play area, the tennis center, 11th, buchanan street mall, and baby playground, hurts basin. in strategy two, inspired play, we are looking at investing in programs that support youth and senior, healthy and active living. the programs as you can see include an expansion of the

peace parks program the late mayor lee created just last year. we are also adding a new dance for life program. we are enhancing and expanding the tennis learning center program. we are adding an instructor to the sharon arts studio and a zumba coordinator. we are looking at providing additional resources for event and program activity outreach. we are looking at additional m sm&s, materials and fly supplie, bike park, pools, and leisure and sports and athletics. and we are looking at connecting kids to nature. a focus that we started working on last year in collaboration with many other city and state federal agencies, and we are crow yating programs including art -- creating programs including art in motion, canoe mobile, garden to table, let's move recess, and also an existing program, early child

ood -- childhood education. strategy three, our investments to inspire investment. i know, it sounds a little goofy. i had to stick with the standard, though. we are looking at increasing community engagement, public-private partnership development services as well as project planning and development. on strategy four inspire stewardship, sustainable land management, we are insuring that our natural areas division has the staffing and the resources it needs. we are adding an environmental review planner. we are adding materials and supplies for our park service are areas, the bow canal garden, the nurse -- the botanical garden, nursery, integrated pest management, and two gardeners to the natural areas trails

program. finally, on strategy five, inspire team, we are looking at investing in staff coordination and resources. we're adding funding for uniforms. we're adding upwards of $2 million for new equipment, mainly vehicles, but these include mower, stump grinders, passenger vehicles, crew truck, and so on. and the garden apprenticeship program, we are adding materials and supplies, equipment, and they will be receiving a ford f-350 as well as adding two apprentice gardeners in the second budget year, fiscal year 19-20. in the pre-apprenticeship program, materials and supplies and another ford f-350 truck, as well as additional services. so we are here, february 15.

the budget, the department will be submitting the budget to the mayor's office february 11 at which time we will begin negotiations with them going forward. i did receive additional good news this morning. the controller released the six-month report. and based on that, property taxes have gone up over the property taxes have gone up and the result is the recreationalened a parks department will receive an additional $2.2 million in open space fund, so that's positive news. hopefully that will grow further, and if it does, we will certainly work with the mayor's office and the controller to take advantage of any additional revenue that we can come up with. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> is there any public comment on this item? okay. being none, public comment is closed. >> commissioner harrison.

>> i have a couple of questions. early on in the report you talked about opportunities to relocate vacant positions and funds to meet new needs. what does that mean exactly? >> in the mayor's budget instructions, and over the past many years, the mayor's budget office has often asked departments not to add new budgeted positions to the budget. and so in order for us to maintain the flexibility to make changes to our staffing to meet new and emerging needs, what we do is look at vacant positions, budgeted vacant positions in our budget, not filled, and we look to move them to a new classification in order to meet whatever needs we may have at that time. so in the case of if we needed new gardeners and we don't have any budgeted guarden ins, we would look at other classifications that we have not

used for many, many years that are vacant and reclassify to the gardener position so as not to grow the actual budgeted position count. and also, we are looking at this -- in some cases there are unallocated sources of funds that aren't spent. we realize that program spending is not as much as we projected. we try to make efficiencies and reallocate those to other needs. >> one other question, and compliments on the apprenti apprenticeship program. i was confused by the wording. two new garden apprenticeships and plus one -- >> i apologize. that is budget lynn g dlingo. b.y. is the budget year. we are currently in c.y., current year, and b.y. is budget year, and second year is budget

year plus one, or b.y.1. and those positions would be added in 19-20. >> it is a two-year budget and we make investments in two years and start the apprentices and we're planning already to grow and i think under your leadership and with the great partnership with 261 when the program started seven or eight years ago, we had 12. and with the additional two, we will be at, i believe, 33 or 34. >> that's correct. >> so the apprenticeship program is growing and also in the pre-apprenticeship program, which is something 261 has been partnering with city build on, and so i think the workforce development side, things are going well. >> thank you for that. excellent. >> commissioner anderson.

>> okay. i have a couple of questions. i was looking at the line item for garages and paid parking. there's three columns, and it increases over time. does that take into account -- i noticed a significant drop in revenue, particularly union square parking lot. what is a counterbalance to that? >> we did. in the coming year working with m.t.a. on estimates, we are seeing an uptick in the union square garage based upon the scheduling of the construction and completion of work that's going on there. so and that is the main uptick for the garage increase. >> does that include -- is the mayor's office addressing decreases in revenue with some sort of subsidy or grant? >> no. >> no? okay. all right. and then where in here does it work, for example, i had

conversations with residents at the marina gray playground with an update on the springy padding on the playground. when we have something like that, where does this money come from? >> we don't budget per project like that except for the larger capital renovations that the general fund capital plan does have funding for program resurfacings as they start to expire. there are a number of playground across the si city and marina green is a project and a surface in need. we are very pleased to have made it about $3.5 million in new infor investment with the east playground with the pump track and playground there. we try to spread the investments all over the city, and with a particular focus on equity zones. >> i get it. i understand that, but you can imagine when we're attracting people to the new, shiny object,

we want to be sure that the one next to it looks good, too. so i've talked with a lot of residents who are quite concerned with the resurfacing of that, so just curious if that is in the hopper around how does that work? >> commissioner, as i said, we have funding, a bucket of funding for playgrounds generally and make decisions across the city based on need. >> okay. >> just a quick question. what also accounts for the drop in revenue from the marina? >> changes in slip usage. $0.some slips that were -- there were some slips that were down, and we are forecasting that the east harbor will be undergoing some changes in advance of the work that we'll be doing in the remediation and renovation. dropping about $72,000. >> thank you. before i ask for a motion, i also want to compliment you and

the staff on putting this budget together. it looks terrific. i know a lot of hard work went into it, and i just want to compliment your efforts in mutting this and as the first budget presentation. and we don't even remember katie -- i can't remember her last name. anyway. i'm kidding. kidding. commissioners, is there a motion? >> there is a motion. >> second. >> all in favor? any opposed? >> motion carries. >> thank you. we are on item 8t golden gate park tennis center conceptual design.

>> okay. good afternoon. the next item before you today is the golden gate park tennis center renovation, specifically the discussion and possible action to i a prove the conceptual design to renovate the golden gate park tennis

center. approval is action defined by the san francisco administrative code chapter 31. the tennis senter is located in the heart of golden gate park in district five if conservatory lie and the academy of sciences to the west, and sanyon street to the east. the golden gate tennis senter is park of recreation and parks greater tennis system which includes 130 additional free public courts. with stable maintenance and funding by measure b, and donor grants, we have begun to resurface 37 courts system wide. an additional 23 courts are slated so that that 1/3 has been tarring targeted for a recorrect

cent photos on the left and historichis t hisser to cal on the right. the first two tennis courts were laid in golden gate park in 1937. and then there was 21 courts in the same configuration you see today. many tennis greats have refined their game at the tennis center, including rosy, alice marble, helen wills, billie jean king, and others. the current clubhouse is the site's fourth. it was built in 1960 and has seen very few improvements since that point. so let's just start with an overview. and the existing sites and 21 tennis courts are not standard size. they are too closely spaced together and neither they nor the clubhouse are a.d.a. accessible. during the community process, many people wanted the course

spacing fixed so play was not constantly disrupted by neighboring court. there are currently no lights for nighttime play and the clubhouse is too small to accommodate robust programming. the court area was originally a band shell, so the sunken topography over a sand base results in bad drainage. the courts are badly damaged from the substrate, and simple resurfacing is no longer possible to remedy the extent of this disrepair. the proposed project includes 17 new full-size courts grouped in clusters for easy access with wide pathways in between for viewers. while many within the community had hoped for little or no reduction of the court number, the requirements for a.d.a. accessibility in conjunction to having to remain within the existing footprint of the site, to follow the guidelines outlined by san francisco planning and preservation and the golden gate master plan, provided a project constraint that made this unavoidable.

>> to the east. the new facility will also have an enhanced entry way with a single point of access off nancy pelosi drive. to the details. we have the clubhouse consisting of three solid blocks in glass. the north court is the reception and check in. pro shop and administrative offices. the central contains the locker rooms and the south block is dedicated for rpds tennis and learning center program. look at the western entrance. the main entrance and another at the south for direct entrance. the eastern side of the clubhouse is folded glass panes to provide unobstructed views to the court. this is the existing entryway that is uninviting. it is difficult for new and

infrequent visitors to find the tennis center. the proposed entryway the off nancy pelosi drive opened with a pathway and clear signage with the main entrance marked by yellow tile. as you walk down the pathway you will find the front entrance. from the lobby, players can see through to the courts. at reception they can access reservations on screen and a small pro shop with tennis necessities. this shows the feature court back towards the clubhouse. there will be seating up to 200 people and viewing from the players' lounge. now there was a desire from the community to honor the sport of tennis and the history of those who played on the sight. it will contain an educational exhibit to tell the history at golden gate park and serve as

backdrop for the players' lounge. will will be a wall -- there will be a wall with a series of inset panels. when walking from north to south, you will be able to read the word love. from south to north it will be all. so love all is in the language of tennis is very san francisco calling the summer of love and the neighborhood eight ash bury. here you can see how it might read from the courts. the tennis and learning center is a critical and beneficial piece of the project. the tlc is the youth development program for health and wellness and emotional development for under served youth. currently it served elementary children in three rec centers.

they are opening a fourth site and hopes for a fifth. when the tennis center re-opens it will serve middle school children that graduated from the elementary sites that show an affinity for continuing tennis instruction. there is a dedicated classroom space and rec room to be used for overflow for the tlc. the rec room can be used to accommodate alternate activities. it will normally house two ping-pong tables during the day with a storage closet so they can be tucked away. here is the garden area south of the building a place to eat lunch and outdoor teaching space, place for events and place to watch tennis. a small theater with movable tables and benches. a public art wall forms the

south of building and faces the garden. we are working to select the artists and artwork they will post their proposals for public comment. the total project budget is $26.3 million. it was out of a three way partnership tennis coalition of san francisco, san francisco parks alliance and rpd. the tennis coalition are the main drivers of the project envision and funding and community process. they have taken $23.3 million and hired the project design team. on the consent calendar was $3 million from the community opportunity fund. as a result of your approval, the $3 million of sty funds is -- city funds in the right hand column. in january of 2018, the san

francisco environmental planning derm that the project was exempt. it reviewed the full scope including the addition of lighting and concluded the construction and operations of the tennis facility do not amount to unusual facilities but have a reasonable possibility to impact the environment. with respect to lighting this facility is similar to our recreational facilities with lightning the city. the exemption included in assessments of biological resources and determined no unusual circumstances that would disqualify under seqa. they noted it was to comply with all local, state and felderral laws regarding birds, bats and wildlife including migratory birds act and california endangered species act.

it ensures it would not substantially affect the biological resources. they are following the green building code which states exterior and interior lighting must conform to zero beam. light poles were low profile and pointing downward. we are evaluating options for timers and lighting courts individually to minimize night lighting. building façade treatments utilize a fitted glass in san francisco standards for bird safe buildings. they will begin construction documents. we hope to reopen in 2020 in time for the 150th anniversary. the outreach was conducted in 2016-2018 with the goal of understanding the community desires and ensure they are in

the concept plan. the team first began to reach out to key stakeholders, neighbors, high school coaches and users and staff. the first official community meeting was march 2016 attended by approximately 100 people. at this meeting they worked to identify the community vision and goals and priorities. the next meeting was attended by 150 people in november. there was an open house attended by 50 to describe the project progress. in january of 2018, the final community meeting was held to an audience of approximately 200 people where they produced the final concept for review and approval. it is in the 3-d model. additional outreach has included movie nights that included

presentations on the tennis center and focus group leaders. after this extensive outreach the proposed plan obtained approval from the community stakeholders and attendees which you can see from the list of 188 supporters and 22 organizations in attachment b of the staff report. i would like to close by sincerely thanking the san francisco parks alliance for their partnership. it is with the leadership, vision, energy and generosity and dedication we are able to realize the tennis center to the full potential. we are excited to move forward and i am happy to answer any questions you might have. >> thank you. would you like to go to public comment? >> yes. public comment. i will read names again.

martha, julie, peg, paula, kay, lois ann and trish to start with. go ahead. >> i want to stress that we are very proud of the design and feel it is going to meet the needs of many different groups at the facility and we hope you support it. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> . >> i am a member of the tennis club, the u.s. ta, and i think the project looks wonderful. i can't imagine that we haven't turned over every stone and tried to answer and accommodate as many people as possible. i am looking forward to having

this new facility, and i hope you also appreciate the vision and the effort that has gone into it. thank you. >> next speaker. then i have david, kevin, donna, larry, steve, catherine, and mare mary ann. >> i grew up playing tennis at the park when i was 7 back in 1973. my family and my sister and dad started us out in tennis. golden gate park is where i grew up. people said where did you grow up? golden gate tennis park. it raised 20 or 30 of us young players that were toply ranked in northern california. people wanted to come and play at golden gate park. that is where the talent was. seeing the new plans and

program, it looks amazing. we had no problem playing there as kids, you know, it was the 1971970s and 1980s. the plaques and player wall is important. my name is on that plaque. i have played against rosemary's father would watch and train us. we have had many players through there, peanut louie. so many families. i was city champion for three years in a row for high school, youngest to reach the finals. i won the junior tournaments. my history there at the park, it gives us a place to go and we are family. i think you should continue to keep that for the bay area. we are losing so much of that. thank you. >> next speaker, please.

>> i am back. trish robins. active with the board of the tennis coalition since 2012. the renovation of the golden gate park tennis center was discussed at that time and the architectural drawings were drawn up by larry dodge. in 2016 there was the operational gift and we became a professional board and were able to organization and partner with the san francisco recreation and parks commission and the parks alliance to bring clarity to a tennis center to serve people of all ages and abilities. with the unflagging support of usga and tennis organizations we began the process of fund-raising, considerable amount of money for the campaign.

also, more importantly, to reach out to to community we wish to serve. some of wary of the proposed changes. we have listened closely to their concerns. the court cannot be re-surfaced again. drainage problems and lack of infrastructure and outdated clubhouse might mean no one plays there if we do not restore the center. private and public teamwork has brought in gifts and pledges. 80% of the $26.3 million required for this project. we are taking responsibility to make sure one of the san francisco most beautiful open spaces remains vibrant for generations to come. i thank you for listening and for considering giving us the go ahead to complete our mission. >> next speaker.

>> we have seen the presentation of what the tennis courts will look like. i would just hope you give us the okay to go ahead and continue this project and start to plan it, build it, and have it operating within a year or two. thank you. >> next speaker. >> then again i will call a few names. steve, catherine, mary ann and darlin'da and joan. >> kevin fry, teaching pro. it looks great especially for the tlc center. i love teaching kids, and i think this will be awesome to have that place for them, to have that space for them that they will have opportunities

beyond what they learn in tennis. they will get life lessons and network with people that can take them beyond tennis. that is where i grew up playing tennis not at golden gate park but in networks throughout the city and that is where i found friends who were born to places like university of california at berkeley, their parents. that is why i went to their school. i hope those kids can have that opportunity at that wonderful facility. i hope you guys go ahead and vote it in. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> i am the executive director for the tennis association of northern california. on behalf of myself and my board we support this project 110,000% and beyond.

i can't tell you in my 40 years of being in the tennis community i have been executive director for 11 years i have never seen this type of collaboration in northern or in southern california. this is an unbelievable collaboration between both city, the coalition and other entities to come to this point. the facility will be an icon. not only in the state of california, but all of the united states. there won't be a facility like this anywhere. that is something the city of san francisco should be very proud of. the tennis and learning center is very important. before i was executive director was was national tennis director. to have a space for these young individuals to be able to continue education and have an opportunity to learn tennis is extremely important. as we have seen for many times,

unfortunately, in days in our society having a safe haven for the kids could not be more important at this time than it has ever been. this is part. the reason for the extension and having the lightings, i can tell you i am from chico, california, we built a court and added lights. 40% increase in play by adding lights. this is extremely important. i thank you all very much and i look forward to the approval of this project. thank you. >> i will call the names. if i call your name come up to get ready to speak. catherine, mary ann, joan, alicia, elizabeth and hans. >> i am a pickle ball player and tennis player. more than addicted i can't brag

i played for 70 years at golden gate park. i play at least two times a week, maybe five or twice a day. i am a supporter of the plan. the people who put it together i am in awe of their work. we are lucky to have you. i would appreciate your support as soon as possible. i am willing to give up all of that time, those 18 months that it will take to do this will be a big sacrifice for many of us. it is an investment in the next 30 years that i plan to play tennis and investment in our children. thank you. >> . >> catherine howard. sierra club. we are submitting a letter with children concerns about the lighting.

the environmental conditions were not presented in the public meetings i attended. i am happy to see them. you may see duplication in our recommendations. we recommend that the center minimize the lighting impact on the surrounding parkland and wildlife. scientific studies demonstrate night lighting has negative impacts on birds and wildlife. it will save energy and costs and result in greenhouse gas emissions. all fixtures should be dark sky compatible, fully shield would no lighter than necessary. lighting would only be turned on when needed. that should be easy to light just one section if the rest are empty they should not be lighted. when people leave the courts there can be vacancy sensors to

turn off the lights. the glass building should have the lighting off at night and should have motion sensors or be turned off at night. we live in an era where over lighting at night is harm full to not only wildlife but people. the loss of the night sky, something our children will miss. we hope you will support implementation of our guidelines. thank you. here are two lidters. >> next speaker please. >> i ani am linda. i echo the statements of support. i am about safety in tennis. i decided to do a little light research thanks to google for

cost issues for repairs of public tennis courts. most were due to years of sketchy maintenance and the cities were faced with how do we fund these repairs now? this is what i really like. i truly respect about this project. the preparation that has gone into it, the department of the preparation, careful listening to produce eventual longevity of the golden gate park tennis center. they will have a skilled operator responsible in their contract. i love that. for the maintenance of the tennis courts. there wil will be a mandatory maintenance fund the operator has to pay into each year so that daily and cyclical repairs can be made quickly and not postponed. this can be be overlooked. it is a significant benefit, not

only to the users of all ages for safety but to the city. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am joan to lend my support to the renovation to tennis courts and to support the tennis learning center. i have played on on the city public ports for 44 years from league matches to the san francisco tennis tournament which i won in the 1990s with my doubles partner, and i have also played now, i play weekday mornings with senior friends who are retired. most of them have been long-time residents of the city. i am excited about the safer courts in the condition of the courts and the secure access with the single point of access with addition of lights, the

courts will be playable on weekday evenings creating much more playing time for those who have to work during the day, and also league matches will be able to play in the evening rather than just weekends freeing the courts for recreational play. i encourage you to approve this and i thank you. i am happy to be part of this civic process and thank you again for your service. >> thank you. >> i will read the rest of the cards. emily, katy, david and chany. >> i am alicia chew. i am a golden gate park volunteer. as a senior i look forward to playing pickle ball three to four times each week. i socialize and exercise with a

multigenerational multi-ethnic group of pickle ball enthusiasts. national and international visitors stopped by to hear the punk of the whiffle ball. we invite you in, introduce the game, take pictures and e-mail it back to them. this become was a vacation postcard playing pickleball with us in golden gate park. that is why it is so important this renovation plan goes forward with your approval. we can continue to extend goodwill to our global visitors like valentine from australia, south africa, german, italy, united kingdom and hong kong. of course, larry and connie, from prescott valley, arizona. norman and his wife from nebraska.

fourth this pickle ball makes me happy. my husband can attest to that. as one of our seniors say, i play and i giggle. i want to thank you and the tennis office for helping us grow pickle ball and special thanks to the tennis coalition for welcoming pickle ball in the renovation plan even though we are late to the table. anything to help promote and grow pickle ball is all right with me. i invite each and every one of you to join us. we are friendly bunch and we have cookies. >> next speaker, please. >> i am a former general manager

oraumemanuelger and i -- gen-- general manager. i am here because i think what you have is an extraordinary partnership. what you have done over many decades i know from personal experience is build public private partnerships that have balanced incredibly well. the various constituencies that need taken into account when you do the projects, whether it is labor, community, participants passionate about this game, the needs of the construction community or whether the needs of the city government itself. i think this project smells just right. it has all of th the constituens for success. i have been at public and private partnerships most of my

life. i am probably the only person who will speak who does not play tennis. i can tell you i know what a public private partnership looks like, when private investment and private passion is brought forward to create a great public facility. that is what you have before you today. i wish you great luck on this wonderful project. >> thank you. mr. of the general manager goldstein we are where we are today because of the hard work and foundation that you set during your term as general manager. it is an honor to succeed your work and carry it forward. thank you. >> next speaker. >> i am hans carter, a member of the leadership group of the pickle ball community. we support this project. we would love to see this facility multi-use, and that we have been included in terms of

getting some input from us to see that it has one dedicated pickle ball court plus eight pickle ball courts permanently lined is great because it is good to play in golden gate park. i have been playing there for about a year. i have played in other facilities throughout the city, but really, the best place to play is in the park itself. we are a group of about 200 on our mailing list. we recently took a survey. three-quarters of our players are seniors. 55 and older, and half are female. pickle ball is also the fastest growing sport in the nation according to the sports and fitness industry association. growing at 12% per year.

definitely as the population ages and more people realize that it is duff on your bod -- tough on your body to play tennis they will migrate to pickle ball. the one concern we have is that the operator will control the hours and access to the pickle ball availability, and we do hope that that won't become an issue relative to the availability to the community at-large. thank you. >> next speaker. >> i am emily senior designer on the project. it has been an honor to have the opportunity to work on a project within golden gate park, a place as san francisco we all treasure. we worked diligently to respect

the character and the history of the site and will serve and reflect the passionate and diverse members of the tennis community now and well to the future. as we mentioned tennis has been play order the site since 1894. i believe the clubhouse dates from the 1950s. we are trying to create a facility to serve the community 70 years from now. the community driven process is something we take seriously and we value. we have worked closely with the recand park, the parks alliance to create a world class public tennis facility to build the tennis community. i admire the dedication on part of this coalition to synthesize community input. it has made it better for it. we met with the tennis learning center members to make sure that

that program is going to be served with our classrooms and offices it will be flexible enough to serve them as the program evolves. we have heard from tennis players and pickle ball players to make sure they have viewing areas to serve them. we have met with accomplished tennis players. we thought about bird friendly design included the class to the east, north and west. it is one of the recommended guidelines of the bird friendly guide lanes looking at lighting that is downward facing and as low as possible. we reviewed the plans. by integrating the needs and desires we hope it is a facility to reflect and such port the tennis -- support the tennis community. >> next speaker. >> hello, commissioners, i am

david brenter. i am here. our mission is to preserve and enhance public recreation in san francisco. i believe earlier today you heard grants submitted for the playground improvement. we have been able to participate in that, and partner with the department in re-surfacing tennis courts city wide, and are funding oreck creational improvements in the city as well. we support the project. we support it locally as well as monetarily. we have a particular interest in the tennis learning center, which is an exciting opportunity for the city to combine academics and tennis learning for children fro