practicable means for healthy recreation and influence they exert upon society can scarcely be over estimated. our staff carries on this legacy with the vision. in many ways the challenges and powerful influences remain the same, expanding the activities, working on hilly wind swept landscapes, safe clean beautiful places for the public and securitying bonds to fund the projects which we were able to do this year with as age of prop a. the san francisco health and recovery bond. these words have special meaning this year. san francisco has realized what the men and women of the building trades know. parks are not luxuries or nice to have. they are must haves essential

infrastructure. not just mys places with pretty leaves and flowers. they are sanity savers. they are the most equitable and accessible amenity that a city and state can offer its residents. they are important for everyone, but absolutely vital for those in cities and rely on them for access to nature and benefits. each of our award des today has my profound gratitude and deep respect. as we look to the future, a big reason the park system will continue to be accessible and joyous for all is, as i mentioned because san francisco voters passed prop a. this will shape the parks for the next decade in large part because of the vision and support from our mayor who we are honored to have join tuesday today to help recognize the excellence and resilience of our

park maintenance staff. i am proud to introduce one of our most dedicated advocates, the park champion and chief, mayor london breed. >> mayor breed: thank you, phil. i am not great at using teams. i didn't realize i wasn't to be the person admitting everybody. i was checking yes. scott weiner, i let you into the meeting. good afternoon everyone. thank you for the introduction. i am excited to join for the 12th annual awards. now when i served as supervisor i love coming to this event. it gave us an opportunity to recognize the dedicated work force of our rec and park department. we really appreciate you. we cannot celebrate this year in person, but i cannot wait to join you at the celebration next year in person because with the

first vaccine coming in san francisco today, some of the first folks received the vaccine, there is light at the end of the tunnel. this is really a challenging year. while businesses and event spaces, churches, so many places that we have closed unfortunately because we were focused on saving lives. regardless of what we have had to do, our parks have remained open and accessible. because of the commitment of the entire rec and park staff. other activity outdoor activity is important for physical and mental health, especially children. parkings and playgrounds are open thanks to staff keeping them clean and safe. i take walks every single day around san francisco. i walk to the park and go to the playground in golden gate park. i wanted to go down that slide

but i left it for the kids. weep had enough young people playing in the park. as general manager phil ginsburg reminds us every resident of san francisco lives within 10 miles of a walk or open space. residents and families are access the outdoor space during the pandemic. today is an opportunity. to recognize and show appreciation to this incredible rec and park staff. you all work so hard to make sure our residents have the best experience possible what accessing the parks and open spaces and our recreational programs, including really stepping up when we needed to the most to provide incredible learning hubs, partnering with youth and families. you enjoy the rec and parks to be teachers or educators or social workers you are there for our kids.

you adjusted. you saw a need and just did it and did it and made it possible for the kids to have places to learn and grow. i bet you got hooked on some of those kids. they will suck you in. you can't help but love and appreciate them as you watch them grow and the work you have done to make sure they have incredible hubs is appreciate. this award dedication comes from back in the 1870s by william hammondhaum, th hall. he had trees planted and pathways for visitors and the preservation of wildlife. the city's gardeners will plant thousands of new trees and tens of thousands of flowers across san francisco. when i am walking in golden gate

park which is regularly, i see the dedicated staff cleaning out the bushes, throwing the branches on the trucks that have fallen into the path, and doing what you can to make sure that our park system all over the city are some of the best and most beautiful anywhere. it is an honor to acknowledge the people who are dedicated to keeping the city green, clean and beautiful, which is why you see so many people flocking to our parks. the dedicated and hard work of our city gardeners, park supervisors, apprentices keep the parks clean and safe. their work allows san franciscans to enjoy the spaces. city manager phil ginsburg is mr. park. he walks around like superman for the parks.

we love his commitment to taking care of the parks and important people on the staff. thank you to the commissioners, led into commissioner beuhl who is a public servant dedicated to supporting the parks. to the 2020 award des, thank you for your service to the citizens to the city and council of san francisco. congratulations. i will see you in person next year. >> thank you for your remarks next up is a guest to say a few words. someone who i don't know if he ever missed this ceremony. he was on the board of supervisors and now in the state senate, never misses an opportunity to attend a park

event, advocate for parks or to show up at events like this. i am proud to introduce our newly-elected state senator scott weiner. >> thank you so much, phil. hi to your amazing staff and commissioners and most people who make rec and park run. i wish we had been able to see the tree lighting which is always one of the things i look forward to every year. i watched it on video. i know that soon enough we will be able to be together again. i want to thank the men and women of local 261, both rec and park and public works. you have continued to be on the front lines during the pandemic when the parks are, as the mayor

said more important than ever to make sure people have a place to go and recreate and not be couped up 24/7. the challenges we see as a city during the pandemic in terms of people really in crisis. you are there and i appreciate it. i love being in the state senate and representing this great community. there are plenty of things i miss from my time on the board of supervisors. one mucone of them is the time h local 261 members with rec and park staff. at the union hall or in the park. we were able to work together to get funding, whether for tree maintenance in the parks and on the streets for public works, more support for gardeners, the work that we all did together to pass several bonds so that these parks and recreational facilities are amazing as they can be.

i misspending that quality time together but i know we will be together soon. i am so proud of this park system. someone e-mailed me today saying i saw a national recommendation that the goal should be that everyone live within a 10 minute walk from a park. we should make that happen in san francisco. that is already in san francisco. we are so far ahead of our commitment to parks. we take that for granted. we all do. we assume this is the way the world is. when you look at so many communities around the country and world, they don't live anywhere near a park. they may not have a backyard and they don't have a park where they can easily take their kids. what an amazing thing. no matter who you are in san francisco, how rich, how poor, if you have real space at home or don't, whether you have a

home or not, everyone can access these parks and pools and play grounds and recreational facilities. you may being that happen and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything that you do. have a wonderful holiday everyone. >> the five most popular words 2020. i am thanking senator weiner not just for being here today but for advocacy for city and park system. he takes his park advocacy all the way to sacramento. it really matters and helps us with state park bonds and opportunities for funding that

are so important to our city. we appreciate it. now we are getting to the meat of the matter to recognize our award des. i want to turn this over to the best commission in city government. led by the president of our commission joining us is cat anderson and larry. we have commissioners to say a few words and announce this winners. starting with our president mark buehl. >> thank you, phil. thank you, mayor, senator weiner. you know, and thank you everybody that is participating in this. phil mentioned it, but i want to remind everybody. we had a bond measure in november that passed by 70% of the population. what it means is that san francisco and san francisco residents recognize the work that is being done at rec and park.

i would love to say that they have confidence in the commission or with the management but the reality is that it is as on the ground, what people see every day in parks. that is what they are responding to when they approve the bonds. they love our parks. that is because they love the work each of you do every day to make it better. particularly, during this pandemic when parks and playgrounds become essential outlets for people who are stuck in not the best of circumstances. as the mayor said, the light is at the end of the tunnel. we are be beginning to see hope that the vaccines will take us out of this. i am really here to do two things. i want to thank a few people. one of the people i think is listening in and on the call today is our former commissioner tom harrison.

believe it or not, tom devoted 56 years of his life to the recreation and park department. both as gardner and then as commissioner. tom turned out this last year and left the commission, but i want to extend my gratitude to tom for all of the hours that he put in and the devotion to the recreation and park department. fellow commissioners i thank you for your participation and for larry and cat being here today to help honor the awardees. i want to welcome our two new commissioners. we haven't met in person yet because of covid. we have chatted. we have zoomed. i know what they look like. we are honored to have them.

they continue along with the talented people who serve on the our commission. to general manager phil ginsburg. he knows how important it is to recognize the people doing the hard workday to day. i want to thank him for leading a people at the department making it one of the best in the country. we lead the way with no park being more than 10 minutes away from any resident. that is an extraordinary achievement. to department staff an and the coordinators of this process and nominating to see that people end up with an award, thank them as well. theresa and convince of local 261 for ongoing support and cord nation for this event. i want to thank the commission secretary, ashley summers. i can't tell you how hard she

worked to put this altogether. i am going to consider her my new tech support system. she helps me out every time i run into a problem. she has done an extraordinary job. ashley, thank you from the bottom of my heart. to all of the people who made donations to make this a success including the rec and park department, san francisco park alliance, laborers 261, local 38 plumbers and pipe fitters. to those who made contributions to put this selling operation together, i understand some of you have the golden mirror restaurant that put together a beautiful platter for all of our honorees. now, let us move on. i speak for my fellow commissioners and we truly hope the gifts you receive today are

emlemmatic of the gratitude for the hard work you do to keep parks clean, safe and beautiful for everybody. i would like to begin the recognition today and start by speaking about jose alvarez. jose has been a dedicated employee with the recreation and park department paint shop 28 years. general maintenance and painting jose provides rapid graffiti abatement. i wondered why we don't see graffiti. it is jose on the spot. his experience allows him to adds vice staff on commonly tagged locations. he inspects the entire site to ensure nothing is missed even if not on the orangenam work order. it may beings the contribution across the entire park system and for that we are deep leap

grateful. i understand that jose is not with us today. is that right, ashley? with that do we move onto our next one? thank you very much. >> the next award eis mafee. an incredible colleague who contributed greatly to maintaining parks and open spaces. she completed irrigation audits and discovered broken heads and lines caused by construction work. not only were repairs completed after the audit. her strong communication skills allow her to work with supervisors to correct the issues. in addition to technical skills and work ethic. she is a mentor to the

apprentices to teach irrigation maintenance. she is a great asset to the department and to the park patrons in her area. could i ask you to say a few words, please. >> thank you. the award is a recognition of my work ethic as public servant and contributions. i am committed to providing positive experiences to park patrons. in these times more than ever our communities need safe, well cared for parks and open spaces to connect with nature and

decompress. our park superintendent and i have something in common. water. specifically the rationale use of water. every drop counts. we are 40 million californians, let's not wastewater in landscapes. the community acknowledged our effort when they say thank you. today the rec and park commission and the mayor's office for the last 12 years. i appreciate the recognition. thank you. >> thank you very, very much. i love your glasses. our next award eis daniel. he is an essential part of the park services area two civic center team and some projects include the margaret hayward

golden gate planter mulching, the 18th street landscape enhancement, franklin scare and refor recitation among many others. dan has a desire to take an increasing responsibility and his teamwork goes beyond the civic center complex. he is instrumental in tackling group projects. passion for parks and drive to make lasting park improvements motivates everyone to engage in making improvements a reality. accomplishments are matched with joy for life and care and passion for environment. congratulations, dan, police say a few words. -- police say o. >> thank you. it is awesome to be recognized. especially by a department in a

city that i love to work for. i have learned a lot over eight years with the department. years like this may being me realizes you can't do it without supervisor and manager. as well as the whole crew. they are awesome. that allows me to be awesome, i guess. that is all i have to say. thank you. this is an awesome event. thank you for the wine. >> congratulations, dan. thank you very much. now we move on to the fourth award. that is dan. dan's dedication to teaching and public service is evidence through strong leadership as captain of the gardner apprenticeship program. the covid-19 emergency highlighted dan's resilience as

the program underwent changes for the crew to be able to garden in place. dan led with calm demeanor. his empathy and patience. his legacy will be evident as the next generation becomes permanent members of recreation and park department team. before i ask daniel to say a few words. i understand we have a video, ashley, is that right?

>> i cannot hear.

here it comes everyone. >> i am ali mccar three. i nominated dan. over the past year he exemplified a true leader in times of crisis. the hardships they are facing. dan comes to work each day with enthusiasm. his dedication and positivity are what public service is about. i am honored to work with him. dan is respected throughout the department. no more so than by the apprentices he mentors. i want you to hear their voices.

congratulations. >> congratulations, your peers love you. >> congratulations. good job on the award. well deserved. pleasure being an apprentice. >> you are the man. you are awesome. >> congratulations. >> thank you for everything you have done and that you do. >> thank you, dan. >> congratulations, dan, you deserve it. love you. >> congratulations, dan. >> thanks for everything, dan, hats off to you. >> thanks, ashley for putting that toeing. dan, could you say a few words and congratulations to you.

>> wow. that was incredible. thank you so much. first of all, i want to say congratulations to all this year's recipients. it is an honor to be recognized alongside you. i absolutely love this work being in a rec and park gardenner is my dream job. it means so much to me to receive this award. thank you so much. >> thank you, dan. congratulations. >> appreciate it. >> now it is my great pleasure to introduce you to a fellow commissioner. i will say as many of you know, larry massachusett mazola is pre building council in san francisco and prominent member

of the commission. for those in organized labor you have a great representative on all of the issues that are important to labor in san francisco. larry, take it away. >> thank you for your introduction and phil ginsburg and commissioners and ashley for the background work. this is a great event. i am proud to be here today to help celebrate with all of you. it is great to be here today. to recognize the essential work that all of you do to help keep our parks and open spaces running each and every day. to me as labor leader there is nothing more important than recognizing the workers. this is a great event to do that in. we talk about essential workers a lot this year. the work you all do is truly

essential and valued by your peers a supervisors and labor representatives as well. i would be remiss if i didn't thank local 261, vince and theresa. they started this 12 years ago. for the last 10 years it was their event only and they opened up to the building trades. i am grateful they did that and i appreciate it. it means a lot to other trades to be included. want to them them for starting this and carrying it on for the rest of us. with that being said, i will move on to introduce the next set of awards. i will start with delores. 3417 gardner mechanical garden.

she joined 22 years ago she has perform performed with passion and dedication. the serious plant woman with a admiration for the natural world she began at the san francisco zoo and the golden gate park and garden for the asia collection for 15 years. she planted many of the plants on display today including a good portion of the garden's prized magnolia collection. most eventually delores took on the further development of the mediterranean, ancient the himan garden. her colleagues want to celebrate her willingness to accept change and tenacity. before i ask delores to say