>> clerk: and both commissioner bonilla and anderson are on their way. oh, first one is here. okay. super quick, if we could just get everyone to turnoff any sound-producing devices that would go over during the meeting. also, we would ask that you take any secondary conversations outside so the meeting can proceed as efficiently as possible. if you speak today, we would

request but not require that you fill out a speaker card. commissioner buell, how many minutes -- >> three. >> clerk: you will have three minutes to speak. if you don't have the opportunity to speak on item 4 because it is for only 15 minutes, you may speak on item 12. it's continued from item 4. when you address your comments to the commission, please note that neither the commission nor staff will respond to any questions during public comment in order to allow equal time for all. the commission may ask questions of staff when public comment is closed. last, if the firearm alarm goes off, you must exit the building in an ordinarily fashion. please note that the elevators

will return to the first floor and are not available for use. if you require an elevator, please make your way to the closest gathering area, which is in the men's rest room. use the box. it will ring the fire department, and they will be able to assist you. >> i did receive a communication regarding the passing of an employee, doctor carlin. dan was an enthusiastic team member who never lacked for a kind comment or word of encouragement. he made me feel welcome here immediately upon my arrival at this department and always sought to be helpful. i've heard it said that dan is probably the few people we know who lived his life with vigor

and had very few if any regrets. he was one of those people who could fit into any group and bring the fun do it. almost everyone knew dan and dan certainly knew everyone. living a great fun life was more important. he warned me about this on many occasions. dan will be very much missed here in the carpentry shop where he spent time. so with that, i would ask that we adjourn the meeting today in his memory and turn it over -- that concludes my report. >> clerk: is there anyone who would like to make public comment under the president's report? okay. seeing none, this item is closed. okay. we are now on item 3, the general manager's report. >> mr. president, commissioners, thank you for adjourning today's meeting in memory of dan. dan was an extraordinary employee, part of our carpenter

team. dan was someone who had a smile that could light up a park, light up a room, light up a building. incredible amount of love and invested an incredible amount of love and time for camp mather. about 1.5 months ago, getting ready to open up for the season, dan led the charge to get it ready for the season. he worked up to 18 hours a day trying to get things done. and he did it with a smile because that was who he was. we spoke wi-- all i can say is

that he will be missed and his memory will be a blessing for all of us. > turning over to more joyous topics, yesterday was play day. we were visited by over 1,000 kids, the large majority of which were our kids from the bayview, but we had kids from -- not just from our summer camps, but from nonprofits from all over the city who came for rides and games and activities. we opened up the pool. there was paddle boarded and kayaking and food -- paddle bore boards and kayaking and food and the pool. it couldn't do anything but put

a smile on your face when it was there. so it was joyous, but seeing these kids outside, running around, being treated like kings and queens for a day was really something special. i want to thank lorraine banford who oversees these events every year, and it was really, really, really remarkable. turning -- or moving from the bayview to the mission, i want to talk about ian chanka hall and its community garden. presented by liveable city, the liveable awards honor

individuals and institutions that have made contributions to san francisco's liveability. the hall opened in june 2017. it brought much needed green space to a dense, diverse neighborhood that was searching for a welcoming communal space. it was literally a parking lot. a committed group of volunteers helped us to transform the park's community garden into an area representing neighbors from across the globe. the group hosts cultural events and grows produce often hard to find in local groceries. as you know, our program supports and manages a program of 40 community gardens and growing. we have a couple more on the horizon, where members can grow

produce and cultivate ornamental plants for person use. each is run by a committed group of volunteers. moving back to the bayview, supervisor shaman walton joined local kids on a newly renovated basketball court for a game. rec and park, as you know, has been making a significant investment in the southeast part of the city and specifically in district 10. i don't know over what period of time, but capital projects in district 10 right now total about $80 million, and the operations division alone has invested nearly $1 million in

resurfacing projects in district 10. and since 2012, district 10 has received well over $40 million in philanthropy. so a lot of good things. bayview playground, k.c. jones is in the construction design phase. youngblood coleman, you know quite a bit about india basin which is in the concept design phase, and a variety of other improvements beyond the court resurfacing projects are underway, so a lot of good things happening in the southeast sector of the city. all right. let's turn to soccer. fresh off the excitement of the u.s. national women's soccer team's stunning world cup victory in france earlier this

month, we are proud to partner with street soccer u.s.a. and other agencies and nonprofits to bring two fields to the city for a summer of play. there are open field times for youth and adults. there's organized team play. anyone can use the courts, so for more information, visit our website at sfrecpark.org. we move on to golden gate park and stern road. we have the stern road festival. outside lands comes to golden gate park august 9 through 11, but now, through july 22, the

san francisco botanical garden hosts its annual flower-piano event, placing 12 pianos in some of the garden's most beautiful locations and inviting anyone to come and play whatever they want. this year, flower-piano invites more people to play, more performances by professional musicians and special events for families including two new even time flower piano at sunset. there's also been a piano sing along, free lessons, flower piano at night, including one this evening, and it's where the garden is all lit up, and there are food trucks. it's really amazing. the 12 pianos are tucked away

within the garden and are available for the public to play 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. through july 22 except during select performances. if this piques your interest or you're interested, contact sfbg.org. while we're still in the summer, it is not too early to begin planning for fall. registration for all begins on-line and at 15 select locations throughout the city. we have something fore everybody. you can log on to sfrecparks.org to register. next week, i and several others

will be attending the greener park conference in denver. we hosted this conference in san francisco in 2015 where we'll share the role of parks and recreation departments today. i will be involved in two sessions, one creating family friendly downtowns, where i'll be discussing our work at civic center plaza and best practices for driving equitiable investment in parks, we're really proud to be taking such a prominent role in this conference, and we will certainly report back next

month. all right. we do have a brief bit of recognition before we conclude the report. it is national recreation and park month, and so in celebration of national park and recreation month, we want to give some recognition to an outstanding volunteer group. we really like to thank airbnb, who has become one of our most active and dedicated volunteer groups. volunteers from airbnb over the past year have dedicated their time and energy to improving our park spaces and proving to be really traffic community members. including at victoria manolo park, where 10 to 15 volunteers gather to cleanup the park.

in total, airbnb volunteers have provided more than 2,200 hours of volunteer time in the last year alone, making them easily one of our most prolific volunteer groups. we have several of them here with us today, so mr. president, join me in offering a certificate to them and offering them an opportunity to say a quick word. thank you, airbnb.

[applause] >> good morning, everyone. thank you so much for welcoming us here today. we're incredibly honored to be receiving this recognition, but really and truly, we want to thank you all for opening your doors to our volunteers and allowing us to support the wonderful park and recreation department that we see do amazing work every single day. i thank you all for creating space in the city that's accessible to everyone, and so really just want to be grateful to you all for creating that space for us to volunteer.

a little bit more about our program. each employee, a full-time employee at airbnb has four hours a month to volunteer in our community, and we want to make sure that our employees have an opportunity to give back to the city that gives us all so much. so thank you all for the space, and i don't know if you have anything else to add. >> keep volunteering. [applause] >> all right. commissioners, we conclude with the video of the month -- before he you do, ryan, let me back to soccer. you see the women's national team push for equity, but one of the real challenges in the sport of football or the sport of soccer in the u.s. that we face is the u.s. soccer

federation and all of us have to do a better job of exposing this game to communities of color, particularly african americans, making it more affordable, making it more accessible and more equitiable. if you look just -- i'm a soccer fan, so i'm going to go off a little bit. if you look at france's success and their success on the field, it is focused on communities of color, and it's something that the u.s. does not do well. we are engaged in an effort to introduce the sport to communities that have not historically or traditionally had access to it, so your recreation and parks department has created its own soccer club, bayview united, and i'll turn on the video.

[video] >> and that concludes the general manager's report. >> thank you very much. >> clerk: is there anyone who would like to make public comment on the general manager's report? okay. seeing none, public comment is closed, and we are now on general public comment. this is up to 15 minutes. if the 15 minutes is up, this item will be continued to item 12. at this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest

to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission that do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda item, you will have the opportunity to address the commission when the item is reached in the meeting. so i'm going to call up the first five cards, and then, we'll have an opportunity to continue. susan, micah, bob, maureen, and denise. >> hi. i'm susan, and i have a tale of three gardens. in 2015, rec and parks installed beautiful plants in

the north park library and the dimaggio playground. they are beautiful, but the only species that they attract is the invasive norway rat, and the hawk that may eat the rats. in another park, rec and park installed a variety of native plants, that is attracting native wildlife. we have multiple species of birds, and because rec and park put nonnative -- native parks, i have multiple -- native

plants in my park, we attract birds and bees and we have biodiversity. i want to encourage you to continue planting native plants. in fact, please plant exclusively native plants so we can meet california's and san francisco's biodiversity initiative as well as improve san francisco's resilience to climate change. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> clerk: next speaker, please. if i called your name, come on up. >> my name is micah kemp. i'm 16 years old and a rising junior in high school. i've been playing squash for six years and i'm a recently certified squash coach. squash has been dubbed the world's healthiest sport.

it's up and coming on the west coast, and i'm working with a nonprofit organization called squash rights which is an after-school program based in oakland that benefits underserved bay area youth.

i'd love to meet with any commissioner interested in this project. let's make the city better together. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> clerk: next speaker, please. >> i want to thank you very much. my son went to college back east and learned how to play squash there and loved it, so i do support that wholeheartedly. i wrote my remarks. commissioners, i want to thank you for the opportunity to speak again. thank you for your service to our city. last month, you must have felt assaulted by the citizens of potrero hill and dogpatch, but i want amaze -- i was amazed by the amount of support. [please stand by]

. >> -- and they are both in the planning pipeline, 20-story

towers. during the last -- in the business section during the last month in the san francisco chronicle, which is setting on my kitchen table, chase added $34 million to the project. it will a jewel in our skyline. so we want no phases. we want the construction to be done without phases. half this generation's children will be affected if it's taken many years -- excuse me. thank you very much. 2020 bond. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> clerk: okay. bob or denise? >> good morning, commissioners. today, i urge you to update rec and park policies and practices to manage all parks' trees incorporating climate change and biodiversity which are the

council's top two priorities. i have a dense stand of combustible trees in glen canyon park. the other taken in 2013 when the trees were fairly green. the other, a few weeks ago, showing more brown. we want healthy parks, not to follow the unfortunate example of ucsf reserve on mount sutro where a significant portion of standing trees were found to be dead or unhealthy. neighbors from diamond heights, glen park, and mt. davidson have communicated our fears of wildfire to rec and park. i urge you to promote cal fire and u.c. guidelines.

perhaps you've seen combustible trees within the defensible space of homes and overhanging utility lines along the bosworth entrance to glen canyon. planting local native plants. plants in the rec and park golden gate park nursery are overwhelmingly not native to san francisco. removing dead, dieing and unhealthy trees from our parks would provide opportunities to plant local native plants in support of the city's biodiversity resolution. thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: next speaker,

please. >> hello and thank you for that great list of achievements that rec and park is achieving. i'm here to talk about another issue i know you'll knock out of the park. i want you to try to set a measurable goal of restoring biodiversity in city parks. a recent study in the jec ecological journal -- mclaren and golden gate park represent ample opportunities to help

tackle the biodiversity crisis that you're hearing about so much. the study is titled nonnative plants reduce richness and host lepidoptris plants. nonnative plants supported significantly fewer caterpillars of significantly fewer specialists of general species, even when nonnative were close relatives of the native host species. i realize these parks were alter altered before your time here, but now you have the opportunity to fix the damage a long time. new york city's local laws of 10 and 11 of 2013, laws, not a resolution. they actually have teeth to them, "represent an evolving approach to protect our native plants by focusing on

biodiversity rather than individual plant species and reflects an increased understanding of plant conservation. seen through this lens, the protection of native plants is linked with the protection of sustainability of ecosystems." it's time for san francisco rec and parks to get real about the effects such unnecessary plantings are having on our local caterpillars, moths, butterflies, bees, and birds. please set a goal, a measurable goal for future plantings of, i don't know, 80% of native species or more and start conducting an inventory of biodiversity in your local parks so you can have something to measure against. >> thank you.

>> clerk: so i have two more cards and then we'll be done with this portion of public comment. i have brioni and sean, if you could come forward, please. >> hi. my name is brioni doyle, and i'm here talking in support of justin park. i really want to emphasize that we are getting a huge influx of new residences in the neighborhood, and we really feel that the park needs some love. a lot of it has not been updat updated as marie spoke to in half a century. we worked with the community and had a number of community

meetings to represent what they want for the park, and we want to get on the bond to help support that money to do that project, and we ideally want to do that project in one phase so that it can be completed in time to support the huge number of new residents that we're going to have in potrero hill. thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: sean? >> hi. good morning. my name is sean ingles. my family goes back about four generations, and i've been

lucky to live in specific neighborhoods. when i came to potrero hill and purchased my first home, i was shocked at the lack of parks and open space area. as we all know, potrero hill has traditionally been a neighborhood that was red lined. you couldn't get mortgages in the neighborhood back in the day, and in the 70s, it was just invested in city infrastructure. now we're in this development, excessive overdevelopment in this area that it's housing, etc. -- this is obsolete because it does not include bridge development, but we have massive overdevelopment of housing. and if you go back toward 2008, we were promised at least four acres of new space -- of park space, and we were also promised that existing infrastructure would be improved. i'd like to share with you what we have actually with the parks

as you can see in the green, we only have three spaces that actually can have programmed recreation on it. the red spaces that are supposed to be open space cannot have recreation programmed on it. what i'm here to do is to urge your support for the parks bond to include jackson playground. we've already had some people talk about there's a little bit of improvement on the space, and -- but it's seriously lacking for the number of investments. we are projecting about 5,000 new residents in the next few years that will be descending there, and we have no parks and open space. so please, if the commission can include some funds for jackson playground. we have a plan presented. friends of jackson playground

has already paid for that and we're already in the development of acquiring funds -- gift funds that will be gifted to the city to help to do this improvement. right now, we have over $2 million in our bank account as a nonprofit, and we hope to acquire up to $18 million. thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: okay. we are at time for item 4, so we are now on item 5, the consent calendar. is there any commissioner who wishes to remove an item from the consent calendar? okay. none. is there any public comment on item 5, the consent calendar? seeing none, public comment is closed. we need a motion and a second. >> so moved. >> second. >> all in favor? opposed? >> we are now on item 6, the

san francisco zoo. >> good morning, commissioners. i have a powerpoint slide show here. so can i just tell you that it's been sunny at the zoo? summer programming is underway. our summer programming includes zoo camp, and through the first two weeks of summer zoo camp, over 200 k-8 students have participated since june 10. other programming includes our popular nature trail where guests can meet animals and learn from our knowledgeable teams. wildli wildlife theaters are back, educating and entertaining audiences. and life on the farm, where a

guest can meet farm animals like pigs, miniature horses, and more. next, we have partnered with disney, a.z.a., and the discovery network's part of the pride. since disney's lion king was first released in theaters 25 years ago, we have lost half of africa's lions. in conjunction with the open of disney's lion king, the zoo is hosting a special lion king weekend. this weekend, july 20 and 21, there'll be prizes, a special roaring contest, and more. next week, we have march of the penguins on july 27.

penguin chicks are learning to swim, walk, eat whole fish and learning how to interact with their caretakers. the public is invited to walk as they waddle and walk to their permanent home on penguin island. in addition to watching the penguin chicks, guests can participate in activities such as cookie decorating, paper crafts, and more. and now until july 26, guests visiting the zoo can actually name a penguin chick by attending a penguin feeding and donating. next week, we are celebrating

90 fest, and through this weekend only, we are featuring a 200 foot-along 30-foot-high zipline. next, this is part of it -- actually, here's our zipline and our ad campaign, which is 90 years of summer fun. next, are orangutans. they are brand-new that arrived recently that are still getting acclimated to their new habitat, and here are our two, male and female actually on one of the passageways that would lead to the habitat. in august, we're celebrating

the 40th anniversary bug-i-versary. thank you. >> clerk: is there anyone who would like to make public comment on this item, item 6, the san francisco zoo? okay. seeing none, public comment is closed. this was a discussion issue. we are on west portal playground award of contract. >> good morning, commissioners. i'm the director of capital planning. i wanted to use this opportunity to introduce to you kelly rudnick who's the project planner. although she's new to us, she's not new to the city. she comes from public works.

she has managed several projects that have come before this body, including washington square. we're happy to have her, and you'll be seeing a lot of her. thank you so much. >> good morning, commissioners. sitting in general manager and secretary, thank you for that production. i am today presenting west portal playground renovation contract for jackie ho, who is on vacation today. so we bring to you the west portal playground renovation possible action to award a contract treaty construction in the amount not to exceed $2,095,000. this project supports the strategic plan strategy number one, to inspire public space, and objective 1.2, to

strengthen the existing parks and facilities and objective 2, to strengthen play, and 2.2, to strengthen and promote the health, safety, and well-being of san francisco's youth and seniors. the west portal playground is in the west portal playground and in district 7, at west ulloa road and lennox way. the port westal renovation project is part of two clean and safe neighbor parks bond programs. the communities opportunities fund and the let's play s.f. initiative. the community outreach process was mainly conducted during the community opportunity fund program application between january and march 2014. on november 20, 2014, this commission adopted the resolution authorizing r.p.d. to produce with design development. the proposed -- the scope of work that we're bringing to you

today for the project includes the new children's play area, accessibility improvements to the clubhouse rest rooms, replacement of paving and waterproofing, fencing, seating, accessible parking, an access pass, and a nature nook, featuring drinking fountain, landscape, and irrigation. the plan is handicapped accessible and meets all a.d.a. requirements in design. the project, beginning in fall 2019, is expect today last nine months. the staff requests the commission award a contract to treaty construction for

$2,095,000. this is supported by president norman yee, and others, along with let's play s.f. and the s.f. parks alliance and a donation from the friends of west portal playground. >> thank you. >> clerk: is there any other public comment? seeing none, public comment -- oh, richard, come on up. didn't see you. >> good morning, commissioners, mark. >> good morning. >> i remember this project a while back, so when i get to see something on a slide, it's really interesting. i just want to include if there was any possibility around the slide areas, little dragons that they could play on.

why i'm bringing that up is i didn't talk about it before, but in chinese, the culture, you know, that tunnel that you've got right out there, twin peaks? they always call them dragon, you know? so i just thought it might be a little nice for the people out there, when they get a little -- not totally disseminated from their culture. it's something that would be good for the few generations that you have asian culture. so that san francisco being diversity influence and practicing, i just want to thank the planning department, r.p.d. for putting in the slide. thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: is there anyone else who would like to make public comment on this item? okay. seeing none, public comment is closed. >> commissioner low? >> do we have any history with

treaty construction? have they done any other parks projects? >> yes. right now -- tooks might have to remind you, but right now, they are working on -- sorry. i had this this morning but i've forgotten. >> yes. they're actually working on merced heights right now. they are also working on some public works project streetscape projects with public works, so we have vetted them. we believe they can do the work. >> okay. >> okay. seeing no other questions, chair would entertain a motion. >> move for approval. >> second. >> moved and seconded. all in favor? okay. >> clerk: we are now on item 8, award of contract. >> commissioners, general manager, secretary, kelly

rudnick. i'm here to bring you george christopher playground award of contract. this is also for treaty construction in an amount not to exceed $3,335,000. this supports both strategic plan number 1, objective 1.2 to strengthen the quality of existing parks and facilities, and strategy two, objective 2.2 to strengthen the health of san francisco's youth and seniors. there were three bidders for this project and bids were opened on june 14, 2019. george christopher playground is located in the eastern edge of glen canyon park in the diamond heights neighborhood, bounded by diamond heights and gold mine drive and apollo lane to the southeast. the 6.8-acre site includes

clubhouse with rest rooms, a softball field, tennis court, children's playground, pathways with bench seating. the trails from george christopher park and playground connect to nearby glen canyon. the george christopher playground renovation is a named park in the 2012 clean and safe neighborhoods bond, and the purpose of the project is update the current playground for safety and accessibility and provide accessibility to the on-site public rest room. the community outreach process was held in 2015 and 2016 to get the community's desires and conduct the outreach plan. process includes conducting

community surveys, prioritizing of desired play elements and feature features, incorporating feedback to iterative concept adoptions. the commission adopted it in june 2017, and since that time, the department of public works has continued to provide regular updates to community stakeholders, including through meetings to explore additional scope to the project. in june -- just last month, 2019, following a community stakeholder funding request, the district 8 supervisor's office provided additional funding to support additional work at the playground consisting of the repurposes of three midcentury play structures and the expansion of the courtyard fence around the clubhouse. the scope of the work for this project includes the renovation of the children's play area and associated amenities serving

it. the plan is fully accessible and meets all a.d.a. guidelines for accessible design. again, i want to note that $140,000 was just received for this project in this year's capital budget from the district 8 supervisor's office for that equipment, so this award request, this request for approval of award includes a base contract amount of $3,335,000 which includes this add-on work for this repurposed equipment since this funding was just received. the construction is expected to start in fall 2019 and has a ten-month duration. and the project so supported by district 8's supervisor mandelman's office, friend of christopher park, diamond heights community association and the noe valley nursery

school. the staff recommends that the commission award the construction contract to treaty construction in the amount of $3,535,000 which includes change orders for $247,000 for the work identified for the equipment that was just funded by the supervisor's office. >> thank you. >> clerk: is there anyone who would like to make public comment on this item? okay. being none, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> commissioner low. >> maybe my math is off. $247,000 for a change order, but $140,000 was that back -- from supervisor mandelman's office, so isn't there a gap there? >> yes, that's a good question. the -- the gap has actually been funded through some procedural general fund capital funds that we have so we're

supplementing these efforts on our side also to make that whole. >> okay. >> sarah, did you want to weigh-in on that. >> yeah, just to clarify, this was -- the community really wanted to see these -- what would you call them? almost statues retained, and so we worked with the supervisor's office to say if you come up with half of the money, we'll come up with half of the money. >> okay. seeing no other questions, commissioners? >> i would like to move for approval. this is actually a park that i grew up in. my mother referred to me as a park rat. i am a nonnative species. i move to approve. >> it's been moved by the park rat and seconded by commissioner anderson. all in favor? so approved. >> clerk: we are now on item

9. >> good morning, commissioners. i'm monica scott with the capital division. i'm here before you to discuss the construction contract for yerba buena association to increase the contract amount by $339,000, bringing the total not-to-exceed amount to $1,017,000, which is greater than 10% over the original approved budget of $678,000. i want to stress for the commissioners that this is not a request for additional funds. the project is fully funded. as you all are aware, this was -- this is a very historic site and there were a number of unforeseen conditions that arose in the course of the demolition of this site. we have conditions ranging from layers of asphalt to historic

subbase structures for monuments dating back to 1888, so i'm here today to recommend -- i should say this is supported by the tennis coalition of san francisco, as well, so staff recommends amending the construction contract for the demolition and abatement to increase the contract amount by $339,000. and i'll just repeat the agenda wording, bringing the total not-to-exceed amount to $1,017,000, which is greater than 10% of the original budget. thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: is there any public comment on this item? okay. being none, public comment is closed. >> commissioners? >> move to approve. >> second. >> move to approve and seconded. all those in favor? okay. thank you. >> we are now on item 10.

richmond playground -- >> i'm here for discussion and possible action to authorize the recreation and park department to enter into related agreements with the san francisco parks alliance under the let's play s.f. initiative for the renovation of stern grove playground and richmond playground. as we move through the initiative -- and i'll give you the presentation, but i wanted to pause and say that these are the last two related agreements of the initiative, so it's a really nice milestone to hit. so just for some quick background, as you know, let's play s.f. is a public private partnership initiated to renovate san francisco's 13 most deserving playgrounds. on november 13, 2016, the commission approved an agreement between the department and the parks alliance to accept up to $15

million for let's play s.f. and recommended that the board of supervisors approved the grant, and the board of supervisors gave that approval on february 1. also, on december 15, the commission approved an m.o.u. that defined the general working relationship between the department and the parks alliance, and that agreement called for the alliance to partner on each park that would receive funding under the agreement. both projects are tier two projects, which means that they will be largely privately