[roll call] >> clerk: thank you. this is the recreation and park commission meeting of february 18, 2021. please note that due to the covid-19 health emergency and to protect board members, city employees, and the public, the meeting rooms and city hall are

closed. however, commissioners are participating in this meeting remotely to the same extent as if they were physically present. we ask participants to turn down their computer speakers or volume on their phone. each public comment will be limited to two minutes. public comment on each item will be afforded by calling 415-655-0001, and the access code is 187-225-1500. when you hear the agenda item you would like to comment on call, dial star, three to be added to the queue to speak. while you are waiting, the system will be silent. the system will notify you when you are in line and waiting. all callers will remain on mute until their line is open.

everyone must account for the time delays and -- while speaking. written comments may also be sent via the postal service to san francisco recreation and park commission, 551 stannion street, san francisco, california, 94117. please note that this commission meeting is recorded and will be available on sfgovtv.org. we are now on item 2, president's report. >> thank you very much. i will be previous. we have a lot meeting today. it -- may only item that i want to point out is that, sadly, we're losing our chief park

ranger, mike celeste, retiring from our deputy after five years of service. i'd like to point out a few highlights of a resolution that i'm going to recommend this commission pass which highlights some of his contributions to the department. mike restructured the park ranger unit to improve supervisorial authority, implements structures to document ranger enforcement activities. he recruited and trained new park ranger sergeants to provide continuous coverage for our park security. he successfully expanded the park ranger to kpriez 41 park rangers, six sergeants, and five dispatchers, and he designed a 45 hour curriculum to design communication, outreach, and training in park

enforcement. he's worked with the san francisco police department, sheriff's office, and planning department. he led an in-depth project to review and consolidate all ranger policy, training, procedures, and general orders into one well organized ranger park policy manual. this is all by way of saying that he really brought a lot of new procedures and practices to park rangers and expanded the unit, and it's an area where we used to get a lot of comments, and now we're getting a lot more applause than questions. so it is with that that i see be it resolve that the members of the recreation and park commission on behalf of the employees and citizens of the city of san francisco do here

by gratefully recognize park ranger mike celeste's contribution to this city and do extend appreciation for his superlative service, dedication, and accomplishments. if i hear no objection, we will approve that resolution and give it to mike with our very best wishes. thank you, and that concludes my report. >> clerk: phil's hand is raised. i'd also like to give any other commissioners an opportunity to say something, and also, i believe former chief celeste is on the line with us. i'd also like to give him an opportunity to say a few words. >> sure. i'll just say a few words, and thank you, president buell, for highlighting some of the accomplishments of my career. this is one of those sort of

melancholy choices. mike has moved his family out of state. we will miss him, and he is someone who had, when he was park ranger, so shall integrity and love for the job, and it showed, and we just so appreciate his tenure with us, and i think a lot of the systems and morale building and professionalism that he imbued in our park ranger unit. he had to really delicately encourage people to use our

parks, and i'm so thankful for him. congratulate him. >> commissioners? >> mike, would you like to say a few words? >> move approval. >> sir, thank you so much for this. when denny gave me a call a couple of days ago and said you were all going to do this, it was great. i really enjoyed my five years there. put my heart into it. really enjoyed it, and met some outstanding individuals and all of you, and the support that i received from phil ginsburg and everybody, denny, i'm so appreciative. we made the decision to move my family out to idaho. it was a great decision. our kids are in school right

now. happy about it, really happy. it's definitely a good change, but like i said, i enjoyed it, and i will miss everyone there. appreciate it. >> well, michael, on behalf of the commission and all the people in san francisco, thank you for your service. >> thank you. >> wish you the best. all right. ashley, i'm going to make a note that the general manager's report is going to the moved to the back of the meeting only because we are aware of the time and some commissioners have restricted time limits, as well. let's move onto general public comment. >> clerk: well, first, i have to ask for public comment on the president's report. are there any public comments on this item? >> operator: i see one hand raised. >> clerk: okay. if you'd like to speak on the president's report only, you have two minutes.

>> i'm sorry. i did not want to speak on the president's report, i wanted to speak on esprit park. >> clerk: yes, i had a feeling. seeing no other public comment, public comment is now closed. we're moving from item three to item four. general public comment, up on 15 minutes. if there is more public comment, this item will be continued to item 11. 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 and that do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items, you will have the opportunity to at the commission when the item is reached in the meeting. if you'd like to be added to the queue, press star, three.

[inaudible] >> clerk: okay. you have two minutes. >> hi. my name's albert sandoval, and i'm here to -- can you hear me? >> clerk: we can hear you. i'm so sorry, but there's an echo, so if everyone could please mute themselves. >> okay. now can i speak? >> clerk: yes, go ahead. >> hello? okay. thank you. so i'm looking at this playground parks for citywide [inaudible]. i'm looking at the fiscal year 2019.

you guys do not include a.d.a. in any of these reports, and i have a whole bunch of reports [inaudible] from [inaudible] who's no longer there, director of planning capitol [inaudible] for chaz from a.d.a. issues to the capital improvement maps,

the plan, so i think there needs to be some sort of investigation why it was eliminated. maybe it's oversight. i know that's a very improper word to use when there's some kind of a lack of transparency. the oversight, the overview of the current fiscal year 2022-2023 [inaudible] the february 18, 2021 recreation [inaudible] all these reports don't show it. tiffany wong, budget manager, overview current. where is another one? i've got more. i've got so many, it's unbelievable. even the -- >> clerk: thank you. i'm sorry. your time has ended. thank you. your time has ended. paul, is there anyone else with their hand raised.

>> hello. is it my turn? >> operator: yes. there's one more, and they are unmuted. >> clerk: hello. yes, it's your turn. [inaudible] i am on the board of the rincon hill dog park, and i go over to the esprit park all the time because we have -- >> clerk: i'm sorry -- i'm so sorry to interrupt you. if you're here to speak on esprit park, that item will come later in the agenda. >> oh, i'm so sorry. >> clerk: no, it's okay. everyone is still learning, so we'll call that item, and everyone will be able to speak in public comment to that item. [inaudible]. >> clerk: okay. graez. okay. seeing no further public comment, general public comment is now closed. and just as a reminder, if

you're here to speak on any item that you see on today's agenda, when we come to that item is when you will press star, three to be added to the queue. so we are now on item 5, consent calendar. commissioners, is there anything you'd like removes from the consent calendar today? >> i don't see any. >> clerk: okay. is there any public comment on the items on the consent calendar? if you'd like to present public comment on items on the consent calendar, press star, three to be entered into the queue. >> operator: i do not see any public comment. >> clerk: thank you. public comment is now closed. >> thank you, ashley. the chair will entertain a motion to approve the consent

calendar. >> so moved. >> second. >> any comments or questions? all in favor? seeing none, it's unanimous. . >> clerk: commissioners, we are now on ice -- on item six, san francisco zoo. >> good morning, commissioners. this is tanya, and can i have my powerpoint, please? >> operator: yes. hold on just one second. >> no problem. i figured that photos of cute animals are better than photos of me.

okay, great. and then, do i manipulate it or do i go to the next slide? >> clerk: no, you'll ask gary to do it, and he'll advance it. >> okay. so since i last appeared here at the commission, we've had the good news of opening the zoo again following the mandated closure over the holidays. we were first opened at 25% capacity. we've recently increased to 50% capacity, although with the weather i think we're still staying at 25% capacity. we're thrilled to have folks back, but i have to say, i think the animals are more thrilled. those are the two mandrills

that we have, and they are literally jumping for joy, no joe. -- no joke. we have a full troupe of mandrills and highly endangered primates. just great to have people back at the zoo. my next slide, while we were in the closure, we were able to get some things done. thanks to a partnership with gateway charter school, we have created a student mentoring program here. these children in high school have presented a wish to work in the zoo. they have come every monday to

shadow one of our curators or senior staff to learn what it's like to work at a zoo. and also, after that, we created two summer internships as well as one full paid internships for three of these students if they so desire, so hopefully this summer i'll have three paid interns if they wish. we think it's great that they wanted to work at the zoo, although none of them wanted to a zoo director, but i'll work on that. the other thing that we were able to do -- and i thank the general manager for his assistance in making sure that this vital program continues. we're only one of the accredited zoos in the united states to have a horse therapy program. and while it was generally meant to be open to anybody

with certain disabilities, it was only open to families with younger children with disabilities. most of the horses we use are rescued animals from the slaughter house, and we hope to extend this program. we thank everyone who helps us with this program -- helped us with this program during the closure. we have the largest pen wing enclosure in the you -- penguin enclosure in the united states. we took the opportunity during the closure to check each and every penguin, and as you can see here, it takes two people

to do so. they get their eyes checked, ears checked, vaccines. i did want to show you this, and i thank my teams because this was difficult to do. we rotate staff, so we did rotate staff while we were doing penguin and chicks wellness checks. the other thing we did was to start in small ways back up construction. the first few months of our construction, we had stopped all construction, but we were able to, on a very limited basis, expansion -- expand the

enclosure of our snow will he -- leopards. we have had to expand their space, and by interesting design here, we're actually tripling their space, and by giving the triple space, we not only increase their vertical, but if i can show the next slide, gary, you'll see the back of the house and now to the right shows us that we can put in some animal and vet best practice spaces. instead of trying to move the animals to our vet spaces that we have on grounds, we moved the vet to the exhibit so to minimize the stress on the

animal during any procedure. if i can go to our next slide, how we did this was really taking advantage of the eastern walls of the lion house there. this has been permitted and has been funded primarily from the toby family, longtime givers to the zoo. we made some repairs to the walls. there was some cracking, so we made some repairs to those. you can see we took advantage in fixing those walls there. those are walls that were built during the great depression. they were starting to suffer cracks, and we were reinforcing them as well as filling in some of the grotto spaces. and then, my very last slide is

we had two cranes come in. snow leopards are from the himalayas and they like to climb. now, they'll get to see most of the zoo, including hippos and other cats. these are climbing cats, and i think it's great that tell abbe able to do this, and i thank the tobys for their donation. and that's it. >> clerk: thank you. is there any public comment on the item? if you'd like to enter public comment, please press star, three to be added to the queue to speak. >> operator: i do not see any hands raised.

>> clerk: thank you. okay. seeing no further public comment, public comment is now closed. we are now on item 7, budget fy 21-22 and fy 22-23. >> hi, good morning, president buell, commissioners. i am derek chu, director of administration and finance for the san francisco rec and parks department. also, good morning to the general manager. today, i'm here with a discussion and possible action to approve the recommended budgets for the recreation and parks department for fiscal year 21-22 and 22-23. before i start, i want to acknowledge the intelligent, compassionate, and smart work

of the finance administration team. without the team, this work that i'm going to present to you would not have been possible. next slide, please. so in developing the fiscal year 20 and 21 budgets, we were guided by the following plans: the strategic plan, the operational plan, the annual department plan and metrics. the strategic plan has objectives to achieve and initiatives to complete about 20% which directly enhanced

sites in or services to equity zones. this process is followed by annual development of two subplans: the operations and capital plans, which then forms the capital and planning requests. this then supports and furthers the department's intention to provide equitable conservation and stewardship of our comparable assets. next slide, please. the department met with members of the public staff, other community stakeholders, as well as the commission, to ensure that we receive -- [inaudible]

which is 3.9 more than the $83.4 million in the current year. the proposed fiscal year 22-23 budget, the following year, is projected at 226.2 million and is baselined on the proposed fiscal year 21-22 budget with the exception of the normal adjustments for annualization and cost of living adjustments for salaries, health care,

fringe, retirement overhead, costs, contracts, and capital fund projects. next slide. those two pie charts show the fiscal year 21-22 budget on the left and the fiscal year 22-23 budget on the right by program. as you see, the largest pie on the left on both pies -- the largest slice on the left is budget for parks and open space, roughly 43% of the department's budget. the next largest slices are for recreation, and structural maintenance. i think all this to show that the department has made a major commitment and focus on maintaining and enhancing our parks and open spaces and

creating new open space and parks, you know, when possible. next slide. these two pies show the same two proposed fiscal year by spending accounts. as with either case with recreation and parks, the staff provides the bulk of our work to our city, so salaries and fringe makeup a majority of the budget. 39% in salaries, 18% in fringe, and then, you see the nonpersonnel services, capital outlay for projects, work orders, and services to other city departments. next slide. briefly, for the capital budget, the department is proposing to spend $13 million

for general fund and capital series projects for the next two fiscal years. some initiatives include $100,000 for dedicated waste receptacles and benches throughout the park system and 150 to $250,000 for increased security and light projects. in regard to our proposed revenue budget, the department has [inaudible] in a state of flux since march 2020, the start of the pandemic last

year. last year, we successfully closed a $13 million revenue gap, and this year, we are working with the mayor's office to close an $11 million gap. next slide. so the open space fund -- so this shows our open program revenues. in 2019, our budget was $59 million. we actually received $41 million. we are now expecting in the current year to receive $29

million, but in the next two years, there is light at the end of the tunnel where we are projecting increases in fiscal year 21 and 22 to $46 million, and then in fiscal year 22-23, we are expecting to get back to prepandemic levels for earned income revenue of $55 million. next. this breaks down some of the earned and major program revenue by category. i won't go through each one, but you can see the v shape of each category, the first bar beingisk if will year 19-20 budget, and then, the last bar showing you the fiscal year 22-23 proposed, which in most cases shows an increase by the second year. next slide.

in addition, we replayed heavily on our -- we relied heavily on our open space fund. in fiscal year 2021, it only increased by just under $2 million. in fiscal year 21-22, they're projecting a very small increase of $2 million, but indicates in fiscal year 22-23, we will get back to our average of over $3 million. next slide. this just shows our revenue budget by major sources. again, the general fund support is projected to increase by just over $4 million or 4.6%.

again, i point out to you the second row in the table where we are proposing to use the open space fund balance. in fiscal year 21, you a see that we did -- you'll see that we did use $773,000 of the fund balance in the current year, but we are greatly increasing that request to just over $7 million for fiscal year 21-22, and then given the projections at our fiscal year 22-23 budget should be back to prepandemic levels, we will not be requesting additional open space fund balance for that

second fiscal year. next slide? so the department has been providing critically needed services during the pandemic over the past 11 months. the department has [inaudible], we have opened up learning hubs to help almost 300 low and reduced income families. we've adapted park ranger services to include raegsallout reach and mask distribution and provided over 700,000 hours of programming and support at the ecycs and community hubs, so we've not been standing still over the last 11 months but have taken the initiative to provide rec and park services

to the city and its residents. next slide. we are proposing to the commission to provide additional budget investments, the first one being to support a racial equity action planning and implementation team to lead, direct, and implement the department's new racial equity action plan. we are asking for additional funding, 500,000 for a new drawning prechbs program to be offered to ecyc hubs, children -- new drawning program to be offered to ecyc hubs. in the area of clean and safe parks and workforce

development, we are proposing a workforce development program to provide additional services to ensure that we continue to provide healthy and safe parks and facilities to park users. and also in the workforce development area, we are proposing to restore $500,000 to the gardener apprenticeship program so that the department can offer fully operational apprenticeship cohorts. next? we are also proposing budget investments in our general fund capital projects. the site is in need of a major renovation. the project will include interior painting, floor finishing, roof repair, security, kitchen upgrades, rest rooms, window and sky

lights, and exterior lighting. we're also proposing funding to the kezar pavilion project, it's in need of seismic upgrades, including a gym, renovated shower, rest rooms, multifunction rec rooms, and a new park ranger headquarters. finally, we are proposing to add funding to the hertz playground rec center. this new rec center, constructed adjacent to mclaren park, serving a very diverse and underserved community will feature an indoor basketball court, multipurpose room, kitchen, lobby, and additional areas. it will include adult fitness equipment and a nature exploration area. we'll integrate with pathway lighting efforts to provide a

cool sense of just flow and connection to the community. next slide? so with that, and with the staff report, the department is recommending and requesting that the recreation and park commission approve the proposed fiscal year 21 and 22 and fiscal year 22 and 23 budgets for the san francisco parks and recreation department and authorize the department submit the proposed resolution and budget to the mayor's office. >> thank you, derek. >> clerk: thank you. if you would like to provide public comment on this item, please press star, three to be added to the queue to speak. paul, is there anyone with their hand raised? >> operator: four raised hands.

i'm unmuting first. >> clerk: okay. so when you're unmuted, if you don't mind, please state your name, and you'll have two minutes to speak. >> my name is richard carnes, and i have submitted to you a four-page letter that deals with what appears to be to be incorrect figures in the tables at pages 14 and 15 of the report to you. i hope you got our updates letter. i know that some of your staff received that memo. there are -- the short version is that golf, unlike virtually all the other programs, has

been performing very well this year. the income has shot up, and the golf course that's had the most play has been sheriff park. and the allocation for the positions are incorrect because the figures that are used are incorrect for actual residents that has been received at the golf course. we go through this in detail on page three of our letter. we ask that you consider those apparent erroneous figure as

between sharp and [inaudible], and that you authorize at least discussion on these -- on the actual figures -- >> clerk: thank you. thank you. your time's up. >> you've got it in the letter. >> clerk: thank you. >> thank you, richard. >> clerk: next speaker. >> good morning, commissioners. john franklin, seiu rec park chapter president, and we'd like to express we appreciate the efforts on this budget to give us no layoff language, and we very much support that. we do recognize that the department is going through a lot of changes to accommodate

our mission, and we want to make sure as such that we don't forget our staff that's working in the department and hubs, but we do appreciate and fully support the budget this year for our rec and park. >> thank you. >> clerk: next speaker? >> my name is stephanie wise man. my name is stephanie wise man, and i am with keep the park dark. we oppose any lighting in the budget. lighting significantly impacts wildlife, and we view the [inaudible] as a giant strobe

light [inaudible] please protect john mclaren and john muir's life work to provide [inaudible] and wooded retreats from urban life. please do not betray their vision. please keep the park dark. thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> hello. my name is albert sandoval, and i want to speak about the budget. i'm very concerned about about this vaccination with this will inside golden gate park with this budget crisis that we're going through. you know, we have a pattern of taking care of a lot of special interests. right now, i'm looking at

corrupt [inaudible] and accountability from london breed. [inaudible] there's also a new release -- this is back when mayor lee was mayor about the park bond funds completely renovation of six park playgrounds, and i'm concerned, very concerned about how the grade system is. about how you guys go around to the parks and how you consider a park -- how you score them. there needs to be an investigation. why is this inaccurate -- and i'm not saying it's on purpose. i'm not saying that, you know, it's an oversight.

i'm not making excuses, but there needs to be an investigation. this is a pattern of equity zones -- and there's also -- the mayor's put out a thing about the equity. i have it right here. here it is, demographics. why is there engineering for equity [inaudible] the program has two objectives -- >> clerk: thank you. thank you very much. thank you. your time is up. paul, is there anyone else with their hand raised? >> operator: only those four hands. thank you. >> clerk: okay. thank you. seeing no further public comment, public comment is now closed. commissioners, i think commissioner low has his hand up. >> commissioner low? >> thanks. derek, i see that there's a line item that shows an

increase support from the general fund. i wonder if you could comment on whether that is assured or whether we have any indication that we might not get that increase. >> derek, i think you're on mute. commissioner low? >> yes. part of that increase, $3 million, is an assumption that the department will be receiving the $3 million prop b allocation that is provided to the department every year. at this time, the controller's office is still looking at the citywide projected deficit, which, from our department's perspective, looks as if it may not be as bad as originally

thought or because of changing revenue numbers, the deficit may be revised, and therefore, the allocation won't be pulled, so at this time, our information is we will receive the funding going forward. >> and just one more question. i'm not sure if i was reading the pie chart right, but it looked like there was an expectation of an increase in lease revenues and professional revenues, but it did look like it was going to trail off in the last fiscal year. i'm just wondering if you could comment on the assumption on the rise and fall of [inaudible] revenues. >> i'm not sure if i'm understanding -- >> derek, let me see if i can try that because i think i got commissioner low's question.

we are projecting increased revenues not over and above where we are now. derek showed a chart of sort of the abyss of revenues actually in this 20-21 fiscal year. derek, you're projecting -- >> yes, so in the current fiscal year, we're projecting $29 million. >> yes, and that's well off where we were prepandemic, and what we're suggesting is, look, there's some uncertainty here as we reopen a little bit, and the health order evolves to allow things like outdoor health and supports for which activities there's a permit -- i think s.f. travel has noted that they don't expect -- it's going to take three to four years for the tourist economy to fully evolve, but we're

expecting to grow out of the hole that we're currently in, but it will take some time. >> but the expectation is that will occur in 2021-22 and continue the trend upwards? >> that's correct. >> yeah. it's going to take some time, and, you know, a lot of this is -- you know, they're reasonable projections, but they're just projections, and there's some ways in which the economy -- you know, the economy's going to do funny things for the next three or four years, for sure, so this is sort of our best projection at the moment. >> thank you. >> clerk: you're muted, commissioner buell. >> do we see any other questions? phil?

>> i just wanted to take a moment to thank derek and his team, tiffany, maria, and several other people who have been involved in putting our budget discussion and community discussion about our budget. this is a hard budget, and frankly, you know, this is -- this is one of the more challenging budget years that i've certainly been a part of in our 12 or 13 years, and i think that the entire organization has really pulled together, and we've had some reserves or some of the -- like, our rec model, staffing model, like don franklin noted in his planning model, i alittle bit of flexibility to scale to the moment and have really protected our incredible staff from any possible civil service layoffs. and this does pinch a little bit, so i want to be clear. hiring is -- you know, hiring

and a bunch of other buckets in our budget, we've had to really, you know, sort of pinch. but i think that derek and teams has been really, you know, creative and thoughtful in our approach to our budget this year, and it honors the work that this department and our staff on the ground have been doing since the pandemic started. and, you know, the on-the-ground men and women of this department who have worked in the hubs, who've cleaned the rest rooms, who have been out as a ranger, educating people will pandemic-related risks, our structural maintenance staff who have come to work every day, this is a department that has come to work every single day. our park system has been completely open and fully operating and doing more with less, and i just want to take a second and acknowledge derek and team but also take another moment to acknowledge and

celebrate the men and women of this department for the year that we've had. thanks. >> thank you. commissioner jupiter jones, i see your hand is up? >> actually, i think commissioner hallisy raised his hand first. >> well, you go ahead. we'll honor your hand. >> thanks. i was just wondering, out of curiosity, in relation to the comment on this one as needed staff and also, like, the work creation program, which is amazing, what that might look like this year or what we're hoping it might look like in the next coming years in terms of budget. >> yes, i can take the recreation program. we are -- we are working now to recreate students and youth from the city to work in the

recreation program this coming summer, so that's in the works. we're hoping to bring in somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 to 250 kids, depending on the recruitment and the interest, so we are definitely continuing with that very important workforce development program for youth. and for as needed, again, based upon the services and programs that we hope to be offering once again in the future, we will be employing as needed staff, you know, based upon the programming that we've put forward. >> all right. commissioners, the issue there is under the health order, there's certain types of programs that have not come on-line, so we're scheduling our budget appropriately. as of today, our pools remain closed. we've already discussed that,

unfortunately, [inaudible] won't be ready to open this summer, so there are other types of programs which we've made some sort of covid related adaptation projections about what we're going to be able to do this year, and frankly, most of our staff are also unfortunately in the community hub business until our school district opens. so that's some of the, you know, sort of the tweaking. we support -- i fully support what rec park administrator don franklin supports. he and i had the opportunity to go over this together, along with chapter 261 staff, and we want to be doing this as quickly as possible and honor the programs and services that

we provide. >> okay. thank you. >> thank you. >> yes, commissioner hallisy. >> phil, thank you for your great presentation and to your team, as well. phil, two weeks ago at the operations committee meeting, once we saw and heard derek's presentation, i asked a question about how the racial equity planning and action team would be put together because obviously right now, you have employees that are basically working two jobs at this time, and i just -- you had a very good response to that, and i thought that the other commissioners might appreciate how you envisioned this team being put together? >> sure. the -- our racial equity strategic planning and implementation work has become a very significant focus of our department, and i am grateful to many of our staff and racial

equity leaders, and some of our staff, as you mentioned, commissioner hallisy, are doing two jobs. so we want to build the infrastructure to utilize the planning that we're doing and it becomes embedded in what we do. you saw at the top of the list of our investment of hiring staff that would be supporting all of this work both in our h.r. division and as a sort of staff -- staff coordinator to our diversity and inclusion coordinator on equity and our group and, you know, hopefully a leadership team level equity officer that would join our leadership team.

right now, lorraine banford is doing a great job, but she's also in our student orientation. so that was at the top of our investment list this year. >> and the candidates for this team, there could be some present employees that come to this team and some that come from outside? >> yeah. we would post positions and, you know, people can you decide they want to participate in this work from inside the department and outside the department, and then, we would engage in the hiring processes that we always engage, but we would make sure that we had really strong input and influence from our diversity

and inclusion on equity. i think it's really important that we bolster our incredibly hard working human resources team. a lot of stuff in our phase one racial equity and action plan really falls on our human resources team, so we want to add some staff competency with racial competency in this work to support a lot of the h.r. programs, which we have, you know, are fully intending to deliver on. >> okay. very good. great. i do not see any other hands raised. assuming that is the case, the chair would entertain a motion to approve the 21-22 budget and 22-23. >> so moved. >> second. >> second. >> been moved and seconded. all those in favor? any opposed? hearing none, it's unanimous.

derek, thank you very much, and please extend to your entire staff the commission holds for your work. >> thank you very much, commissioners, and president buell. have a great day. >> clerk: thanks. we are now on item 8, san francisco botanical garden nursery, conceptual design and donor recognition plan. >> good morning, president buell and commissioners. hopefully the presentation is up and loaded, ashley, correct? >> operator: yes. >> clerk: yes. >> all right. thank you. good morning. i want to thank everyone for their time this morning. especially i want to thank [inaudible] ginsburg and his operations team, planning and

public relations team on their help for this very important project, but a healthy thanks to our partner, the san francisco botanical gardens project.

[inaudible] along with an m.o.u. with the san francisco botanic garden society as well as a donor recognition plan. >> thanks. >> these are pictures of the existing nursery, and this is what you would see today if you would go down to the nursery. they consist of two major structures. a greenhouse or shade house. we use the back nursery to grow plants both for the largest garden but also to share with the community. inside these structures, there's multiple uses going on. obviously, because it's a nursery, the core is to grow plants, but then, there is

office space and storage space that we require because the hub of the nursery is just a small portion of the larger 50-plus acres, and all of our operations are sort of centered out of the nursery, and we continue to plan to do so. so because we're a nursery, we grow plants, and this is what the current facility looks like. again, more pictures of the current spaces that are currently used by the nursery. again, the greenhouse, shade house, and then, there's a pump house that is a remnant from the old irrigation from the

park that will remain as part of the project and will remain untouched. so within what we're proposing is benches and tables to grow plants, utilitarian.

there's nothing but spaces to grow plants in this structure. it's a combination of nursery-operation maintenance needs, so half of the structure is really devoted to tool and vehicle storage, and the eastern half is dedicated to continued office space, but the majority of it is a work space. so when we have staff or volunteers down at the nursery, working on the plants, you take little plants, sort of make them grow bigger, take them from a smaller container into a larger container and larger container. the core of that really occurs here, and it is a space that can be cleaned easily where volunteers and staff can work

together. the greenhouse is a machine. there's not much more to the greenhouse than a shell and plants inside. for an overhead perspective, we're proposing again -- this is a slightly different angle than the plans, but lincoln is back here, and then, the rest of the structures. there's the greenhouse, the head house, and then, the rest of the structures here that's really the growing grounds and the space used to grow plants. . this is a side perspective of what it would look like, the native gardens to keep a barrier fence tweend what is intended to be staff and volunteer space. you'll see right in here a

donor recognition sign of which there will be two, and which we'll talk a little bit about later. so how we came to that design, you may have remembered hearing about a nursery project at the botanic garden because we've been trying to build one for about 30 years. there were areas that we did a really significant study, received approval, and even building permits but weren't able to raise the amount of money needed for that project. that project in today's value is at least $25 million, and we never quite got to what we -- after releasing we sort of able -- realizing we sort of

able weren't able to fundraise, we stepped back on the nursery and started reworking, and that's what we're proposing today. but we do know the proposed site, one of the reasons it was more expensive in that past project is it's not a developed site today is there are no utilities and there would be significant site work requires to build a nursery on this current site, and we know that causes at least $5 million. [inaudible] is the four

different spaces, and how the botanic garden and our guests overall interact from the space. from the pictures, it clearly doesn't look like the beautiful garden that the rest of the garden looks like, and so many times, when we're here we'll see guests who come to this part of the garden, and they look like they're lost, so we're really trying to keep the nursery as a consolidated unit outside of the rest of the botanic garden so that our guests who come don't feel like they're lost when they're strolling through the garden. we want people to get lost in the garden and discover new plants, not get lost in the garden and feel like they're

somewhere where they shouldn't be. one additional item, because of a couple reasons, we'll be expanding the nursery based on the current space, which is currently overgrown with blackberrys. over the last year, we have made a diligent attempt on behalf of this project to expand our native areas. so the red is where the nursery will expand to, but really, the green areas highlight where we have done really significant renovation work and expanded the native garden, so there are thousands of additional native plants that have been planted out in the last year over those acres. a key design feature to highlight is what you'll see

from the neighborhood. so this highlights what you see today. and because of the building height and -- building height, it will be what you would see into the future, and we plan to be very cognizant of how this nursery fits into the current garden experience but also the neighborhood not wanting any impact. another key thing to highlight is in the center of the project houses a torrey pine, which is about 120 years old, and there was a strong sentiment to keep the tree. we'll be working around that tree and will be preserving it.

it will be untouched as part of the project. it will get a little bit of pruning from arbors that we've been working with, and there will be a strict tree protection zone around it to ensure that there's no construction within that zone in order to ensure the tree. and finally, i just want to highlight where we've chosen the growing grounds is really the most strategic place on the sites because of the latitude of san francisco, the amount of daylight that we get through the year changes, and we've done some studies to propose the growing ground a little bit north of the facility will actually get the most sun, and that is important, when you're growing plants, to get as much sun as possible. certainly, we've heard about our volunteers about something that's really important to them

. one final -- final piece here is that because we're building a new greenhouse and a new facility, it will be much more environmentally sustainable than the current facility. we know what our current usage of energy is between gas and electric or the current site, we've modelled out what we'll need in the future. technology has greatly advanced, and we know that there'll be a 40% reduction in energy usage. we're also proposing to eliminate natural gas for the facility, and i believe we'll be the first electric greenhouse, if not one of the first all electric greenhouses in california, which is, i think, a very meaningful step for the garden but also for the city of terrific as it strives

towards its larger climate goals. the overall project, you know, what it's going to cost, is around $7 million. around 20-ish percent is public funded and the rest is private funded. about 75% of the funds have been committed to date. the leadership gift is really from del maxwell and her husband [inaudible] hanrahan for a commitment of $3 million, which is a stunning investment into this garden and the project and the single largest donation the botanic garden has ever received, which we're so grateful for. at this moment in time, i think i heard yesterday there's about

$370,000 left to fundraise of private fund dollars, and we believe that will be raised in the next few months, even with covid. once it's met, it will be gifted to the city of san francisco both for the agreement of that gift as well as the donor recognition plan. the donor recognition plan will consist of two very thoughtfully constructed signs that is a precedent that we've used for a recent project around the garden, and there would be two donor recognition sign social security at two general entrances to the space. as part of the project, we've done many [inaudible] to make sure that this -- that we collect feedback from our core stakeholders because the core stakeholders will be staff and volunteers and [inaudible] on

the project, hoping to raise some money. but formally, we have a series of projects [inaudible], and that includes staff and board, volunteers, california academy of science, california state parks foundation, conserveator of flowers, tennis coalition of san francisco, the university of san francisco botanic garden, and the master garden program. with that, that is the end of the formal presentation. >> clerk: thank you. according to paul, we have three callers with their hands raised. if you are on the call and would like to speak on this item, please press star, three

to be added to the queue. first caller, please state your name, and you'll have two minutes. >> good morning, commissioners. i'm del maxwell, chair of the botanical gardens board of directors. i'm very familiar with what's needed for successful plan propagation. for more than 20 years, i volunteered at the botanical gardens nursery. now that the current nursery has been decommissioned in preparation for the building of this new facility [inaudible] helping our horticulturalist

with maintenance and planting. my husband, pat, and i are lead donor to the nursery campaign. we've committed a total of $3 million, including a $2 million matching challenge. i'm pleased to say we have 100% participation -- board member participation in the campaign. this new facility is crucial, a functional plant nursery is essential infrastructure for a thriving botanical garden and will greatly enhance our conservation efforts, and our volunteers deserve facility that's safe and efficient. thanks for your time and support of this critical project.

>> thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> hi. my name is jay ding. i'm a nursery district residence. i think i was trying to call in about the budget and the recreation programs and summer camps. i can drop off and ask that question during the follow-up public comment opportunity. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> my name is stephanie wise man from keep the park dark, and we support this project, but please request to add no new lighting, especially security lighting, to the area. we've [inaudible] and strawberry hill, which are the nesting locations of great blue

herons and great horned owls. so this is an area that is in clear sight of both nesting locations. if you could just please perform environmental impact statements to ensure that that looks good or at least have the -- you know, bring us back another project that shows us your lighting intentions, and please protect john mclaren and john muir's work to provide a quiet, natural, unlit retreat from the unnatural, unwooded, and very bright urban life. i thank you very much for your time. please keep the park dark. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. paul, is there anyone else with their hand raised? >> operator: yeah, there are six more? >> clerk: okay. and i just want to remind our

callers that this is for the botanical nursery garden, and if you'd like to add public comment, you need to press star, three. next speaker. next speaker, please. >> hello. this is lisa suran. i'm with the san francisco botanical guard board of directors? thank you for your consideration of our project? we are very excited about our facility which will allow us to receive plants from other institutions and allow us to care and observe unique and

endangered species. our existing facility has 35 years of service, but we need a new one both for our staff and our plants, and we appreciate your consideration for this. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is albert sandoval, and i'm calling regarding the botanical garden, i'm born and raised here in san francisco. when i was little, [inaudible] they would take us down there. that is a san francisco jewel landmark. a lot of san franciscans never make it there. i'm outside of my house,

looking at john mclaren park. i can tell you, that garden needs to be protected by all means with every tax dollar that we have. with that, i want to say that [inaudible] and she deserves it, and i wholeheartedly support botanical gardens with all of my tax dollars and every bond that we have passed. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> hello. my name is tissue brown, and i live on edgewood avenue in san francisco, and i thank you so much for the opportunity to speak in support of the botanical garden nursery, which i consider so essential in fulfilling the mission of the botanical gardens.

i am a five-year nursery volunteer, and i look forward to volunteering in the new nursery to provide our public with a look at plants that do not appear commercially available as well as local conservation efforts of caring for rare and endangered species [inaudible] i'm also a member of the board, and i'm speaking on behalf of the san francisco garden club, of which i am a member [inaudible] thank you so much for your consideration. >> thank you. >> clerk: next speaker? >> operator: that was the last one, ashley. >> clerk: thank you. seeing no further public comment, public comment is now closed. commissioners? >> any comments or questions, commissioners?

mr. ginsburg? you're on mute, mr. ginsburg. >> wait, where would you like me to be, mr. president? just a very, very, very quick acknowledgement and thank you to the incredible team that's been working on this for so many years. this is a project, as matthew noted, has been around longer than i have, and it's so nice to see this finally come to fruition. i really want to thank matthew on our team, stephanie, and the incredible del maxwell for her leadership and creativity in helping to do this and to support nature and to support horticulture in our beloved golden gate park.

>> gary, can you please share the presentation? thank you. so the item before you is discussion and possible action to, one, approve a conceptual design for the renovation of esprit park. approval of this proposed action by the commission is the approval action as defined by s.f. administrative code chapter 31. two, recommend that the board of supervisors recommend r.p.d. to accept an in-kind grant valued at approximately $835,000 from the dogpatch and northwest potrero hill design board, and three, recommend

that the board of supervisors accept and expand a cash grant valued at $4,165,000 from the california board of regents in support of this project. [inaudible] next slide. esprit park is located in the dogpatch neighborhood. it was built in the 1980s by esprit corporation and later conveyed to the rec and parks zept department -- parks department. the residential population in the dogpatch neighborhood has been growing for years as has

the recreational demands on the park. next slide. the following is a project vision statement that was written in collaboration with the m embers of the esprit community advisory group. this vision statement seeks the park being an urban oasis located in the dogpatch neighborhood which is transitioning to a high density residential neighborhood, and the park is experiencing an increased level of use by all. it also speaks to a partnership between the department and the community to use it in the spirit it was created and to focus on the park's resiliency, health, and vibrancy.

next slide. i'll now turn over the presentation to kelley rudnick. thank you. >> good morning. i'm kelley rudnick. i'm a supervising manager with the capital and planning division. this is a summary of the community engagement. the project has included a significant amount of community outreach. conversations about the renovation first began as a part of the planning department central waterfront dogpatch public realm planning process in 2015 and was approved by the board of supervisors in 2018. in 2017, rec and park kicked off a robust community outreach process with highlights shown here. this included eight esprit community advisory group meetings, three community meetings. most recently in december 2020, we held an on-line public

meeting. between 80 and 90 community members attended, and we conducted an on-line survey which had a very high response rate of over 400 responses. over the last month, we've conducted a final stage of outreach conducted with several organizations. next slide, please. at the december public meeting, we presented these six options to the community for their feedback on the park configuration. these options reflect input from the community, from star recommendations, and the expertise of the design team. it was our goal to incorporate the diversity of community viewpoints in these options, and we felt that these options were representative of a wide variety of desires from the neighborhood. each of the options considered different uses for the north meadow, the meadow you see on the right, and the north meadow, the one you see on the

left. five of the six options include an off-leash dog play area. three of the options include an on-leash dog meadow. three options include a family dog-free meadow. one option was presented that included a dog play area with half artificial turf and half natural turf. all the other plans include all-natural turf. we asked community members to let us know how they felt about the meadow options and how they felt about the park. you will see that option w received the most support with option d and option x next. next slide, please. in the survey, we also asked for feedback specifically how they felt the meadow feedback, the meadow use, and the meadow materials supported the goals. we saw that 70% supported is the double meat owe option. there was 60% support for an

off leash dog area and almost as much support for a dog-free family area. when we analyzed the survey results, the slide we saw before us, and the ranking of the meadow options overlaid with these inputs, we get to two options. next slide, please. the top supported plans were options w and option v. option w and v are very similar. they have a dog-free meadow in the south and an off leash dpa in the north. the only difference is in the option of the materials in the dog play area. option v includes half synthetic and half natural grass, and all w includes all-natural grass. during capital committee, in

discussion of the trade-off, commissioners asked staff to also bring option v forward for your consideration today. staff acknowledges that there are tradeoffs, which were explained in the survey and in the community meetings. synthetic turf can be used year-round, including during wet winter weather. the natural grass dog play area will need to be closed for some months during the rainy winter. they also have differences in their cost. synthetic turf has a high installation cost and lower maintenance cost. all natural grass requires a lower installation cost but higher maintenance costs. the main concern we heard about option w is the seasonal closure of the d.p.a.

combining all of the survey support priorities, w came out just above v. we would also note that during the community outreach process, we heard three passionate voices: passionate voices for family free dog free meadow, a family dog free meadow, for a dog play area, and for natural turf. here, you can see both plans which have a dog free meadow in the south, and a d.p.a. in the north. the only difference being the d.p.a. utilizing synthetic or natural turf options. next slide, please. during capital committee, commissioners also asked that we consider fencing options. of particular interest is

fencing for the dog play area. we took into consideration three criteria: the look and feel of the park, and maintaining a light touch so as to minimize heavy use by dogs. next slide. here, you see a pallet of tools that staff have been considering to enclose the dog play area. next slide, please. the current meadow is enclosed primarily by planting areas. the fencing strategy is to take what is working well and enhance it. the understory areas seen here in green, the lighter shat of

green, in some cases today, some planting areas are just mulch. next slide, please. this is the plan that reflects what staff was initially proposing, which includes a variety of ways to enclose the meadows. this option supports the goal of keeping the current character of the park by relying on planting and berms. those who prefer this option believes it provides an enclosure for dogs and maintaining the original character of the park. it does require people to be conscientious and watch their dogs. next slide. this alternative option shows how we could incorporate more fencing around the off leash dog play areas on berms and

behind walls. those who oppose this option have mentioned that it detracts from the minimal design of the park and over compartmentalizes spaces. next slide. the concept design for the park. the design was developed to support these activities: enjoy nature, picnicking, strolling, walking, running, exercises, playing, and -- exercising, playing, and enjoying the meadows. in the current park design, you will notice that we are not making any big shifts in the park to support the community goals to maintain the existing character and nature of the park. the biggest shift you'll see is

the addition of a central pathway and the incorp. race of a play area and dog free meadow. next slide, please. -- incorporation of a play area and dog free meadow. next slide, please. next slide, please. the enjoyment of nature is a top priority. shown here in bright green, the plan includes an increase in planted areas and highlighting the existing planting. this includes forested areas and understory planting and some low perimeter fencing to protect plants and support their growth. next slide, please. on the left is an image of the existing condition and on the right, a rendering showing what the park will look like. you see enhanced lush planting to support the goal of enjoying nature, retaining the existing and making it better by enhancing the natural elements. on the right, with you see the understory planting. next slide. sitting and picnicking is another aspect of the concept design that is increased, so as

people -- this plan includes a variety of locations to pause and enjoy the park and a diversity of types of seating and table options. in this plan see, you will see natural stone seating and two types of picnic tables configured in different ways. next slide. on the left, this is a photo of the existing conditions, and the right, a visualization of the proposed design which will incorporate a variety of seating and picnicking options. next slide. another aspect of the concept designs to upgrade with a.d.a. project materials to make the project accessible. this will be in balance with the goal of the maintaining the natural character of the park. it allows for natural definition of the meadow space and uses. next slide. on the left is an image of the current pathways.

on the right shows the plan for resilient, a.d.a.-compatible pathways. next slide. the plan calls for the current exercise stations to be upgraded with modern exercise equipment. one location will be added and some current locations will be adjusted. small exploration areas will be included in the area for children to discover and create. next slide. on the left is the existing exercise equipment. on the right, the proposal for contemporary equipment made of natural materials that meet and exceed needs and contribute to the natural character of the park. next slide. enjoying the meadows. the plan calls for replacing sod, replacing and upgrading the irritation and upgrading the drainage system. you can see, on the left, the existing condition, and, on the

right, the rendering. next slide, please. this is a rendering of the south meadow, the dog-free meadow. next slide. this is a rendering of the off-leash dog play area on the north meadow. next slide. the plans proposed today enhance the current natural character that is loved by the community. it makes space for sitting and picnicking while increasing recreational opportunities, and it makes esprit park accessible by all. next slide. the north and south meadows and the perimeter with recreational amenities. note the only difference between v and w in this rendering is with the off leash dog site area. in option v, it would be half artificial turf and half

natural turf. next slide, please. here's a snapshot of our funding and schedule. you'll note that planning is wrapping up the funds with this meeting, and that we will move into design with construction starting in 2022. funding. this renovation is made possible thanks to a $5 million grant from ucsf who is committing this grant to mitigate potential impacts from their efforts in dogpatch. of that $5 million grant, $835,000 is being managed by the dogpatch and northwest potrero hill greene benefit district in close coordination with rec and park. thanks to this part shership,

we were able to retain fletcher studio to continue the planning and now design phases of the project as well as utilize the g.v.d.'s connection and voices to the neighborhood to assist with outreach. the remaining $4.165 million will be granted directly to the rec and park department as a cash grant to be used for construction of the project. we're asking that you recommend that the board of supervisors authorize rec and park to accept these grants and enter the associated grant agreement to complete the project. that concludes the presentation. next slide. again, as a reminder, we are here, asking for your discussion and possible approval to -- for the concept design for the renovation of esprit park? also, recommend the board of supervisors accept and extend

in-kind grants for approximately $835,000 for the northwest and potrero hills green benefit district for design of the project and recommend that the board of supervisors approve a grant agreement for and authorize rec and park to accept and expend a cash grant valued at approximately $4,165,000 from the university of california board of regents for construction of the project. alexis and i are both available to answer questions, and for operations specific questions, eric anderson, our superintendent of parks and open spaces, are joining us, and our deputy director of partnership is here. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, kelley. >> thank you. >> clerk: great. so if you are here to speak on item 9, esprit park renovation public comment, please press star, three to enter the queue to speak, and i'm just going to

wait a moment to allow that to happen, and i'm going to ask paul to give me an update on the number of people with their hands raised. >> operator: i see 12 hands. >> clerk: okay. so we are going to allow one minute for public comment for this item. so you'll be notified when you have one minute, and i will let you know when your time has expired. so first caller, please state your name. >> hi. my name is donna louis, and i am member of friends of esprit park, a 315-member organization that's been huge in promoting the activities of the park since 2015 [inaudible] we polled our numbers this month,

and 70 responded. 90% of are in support of all grass. 95% would like to see the people only option of plan w converted to include people with dogs. this aligns with rec and park's direction that we don't advise a no dog area because it will be no dogs in name only, and without community buy-in, it will not be self-enforced. so i respectfully ask the commission to honor the spirit of the ucsf investment, which is to mitigate the impact of their development which is to rehabilitate the park, not redesign it, and set this up for success with programming that is a win-win. >> clerk: thank you. thank you so much. >> thank you very much. >> clerk: next speaker. >> good morning, commissioners.

my name is donovan macy. i'm an 11-year resident of the dogpatch and a member of the dogpatch resident association, and i live across from the park with my wife and my daughter. we'd like to thank everyone that's been involved in the esprit park renovation project for the last six years, and i think we're moving closer to something great. [inaudible] over the last ten years, we've constantly tried to take advantage of the [inaudible] what the park has become [inaudible] now we've had off leash dogs use our picnic tables as a toilet when we're trying to have birthday parties. we've had to come home, clean our feces off our shoes, our

stuff, our clothes. i know that's something you've heard from other families, as well. my families are strongly in favor of the two [inaudible] option -- >> clerk: thank you so much. your time is up. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> hello. my name is shelley constantini. i agree with the first commenter about having the two spaces allow dogs. if you have, you know, not just family only. i do think that the city has gotten narrower with regards to places where dogs can go and have fun, and i would hate to see my favorite park become like that with the astroturf. i'm absolutely opposed to astroturf. i think that dogs need to eat

grass like humans need to eat salad or it affects their diet. they don't need to roll around in smell owe, oversaturated astroturf. i think that's just horrible. i'd like to see the park stay natural. and, you know, i don't mind sharing with kids, but i don't think it should be -- like, what if there's no families there that day? we can't go and sit there with our dogs? but thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> hi, good morning, commissioners. my name is paul sears. i have been a dogpatch resident for several years, and i use esprit mark multiple times per day. i support option w, however, i voice my strong support for natural grass, not artificial turf. [inaudible] especially when

wet. i also plead with the commission and the project team to please revisit the project construction fund. community members were told the park would be closed for a full year. it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume an additional three to six months. closing the entire park would commit a huge impact to this community. please commit to closing one portion of the park at a time while leaving other portions open to users. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> good morning, everyone. this is judy deffenbach, and i'm calling on behalf of friends of jackson park to voice our support of an option for all-grass option in esprit park. it's essential to keep and even

increase all the carbon dioxide absorbing grass and plants that we can. we're opposed to artificial turf, and the park is just too small to support the professional dog walkers who will flock to the park in addition to the neighborhood dogs. we appreciate all the time and effort that has gone into pulling together this man, and we support a plan for dogs that are on and off leash areas. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> hi. this is tom borden. i've been coming to the park since it was owned by esprit, and i've lived in this neighborhood since 94. i've seen a lot of changes. it used to be a park for people, but in the last few years, it's been overcome by

dogs and people walking them. we need space for people who aren't -- who use the park who are getting pushed out by all the dogs, so i support the split park with a separate dog area. the astroturf, i don't like it, but the park has poor drain age, and in -- drainage, and in the winter, if that dog park is closed, you know where they're going to go. >> clerk: thank you, your time is up. >> okay. thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> good morning. my name is stephanie wise man. i'm a transgender female, and

my preferred pronouns are she and her. i'm a part of keep the park dark. we just want to ensure there's no additional security lighting included in this project. thank you. >> clerk: next speaker? >> good morning, commissioners. i'm patrick hochtel, a 35-year resident of dogpatch and friends of esprit park. i spend several days a week in the park while sipping my morning mocha and reading a book. esprit park is a small park. 1.8 acres, and one of the goals of this project was to maintain it as a meadow, i.e. in its original park.

the esprit park advisory group voted unanimously twice, no artificial turf in the park. you appear in your action of february 3 to ignore this community's input, and adding insult to injury, adding fencing on top of that, two things the greater dogpatch community is decidedly against. i would respectfully ask you to reconsider your position and approve a plan with all natural grass and no fencing. please respect the action of actual neighborhood residents and park users. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> hi, this is lauren spiegelman, and i'm calling to

speak in support of the second option for fencing. option two has fenced off dog areas. option one is large stretches with no fences at all. i think that the fence is essential for the safety of dogs. even good ones can attack or dart out and cause injury or damage to other things or dart out into the street -- >> clerk: thank you. thank you. your time is up. next speaker? >> hi.

my name is [inaudible] for [inaudible] including off leash dogs, and i strongly urge you to approve the conceptual plan w without fencing and artificial turf that will destroy this natural haven. but i also want to call attention to the bigger issue at hand, one that has simmered beneath the [inaudible] which is why we are fighting over every blade of grass in esprit. now is the time for rec parks to acknowledge the needs for building facilities to serve the central waterfront. please work with our community to renovate the esprit park now and expand what it can offer in

the future. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> good morning. my name is [inaudible] first, i'd like to commend alexis ward and her team for a thorough canvas of the dogpatch and potrero hill neighborhoods. i am a dog owner, and i'm also a grandfather of young grandchildren. currently, our dog loves being at esprit park, but our grandchildren can't use the park because of the large number of large dogs, because of urine and feces in the park. therefore, i'm calling in support of and ask the commission's approval on conceptual design option w for esprit park. this provides the two meadows with natural turf and no

fences, one with dogs, and one where children can be free of dogs. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> my name is dennis barr. i'm a 35-year-old resident of potrero. i'm a member of etag. for this project, at no time did anyone want artificial turf or fencing on this project, and it was only brought up by rec and park and no community members. second, it would be nice to have an unleashed area for dogs and an on leash area for dogs, and it would be nice to also keep the minimal parkscape as much as possible to keep the original design of esprit park.

thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> hi. my name is julie harris lay, and i am the president of the prefund board of directors. prefund is an organization helping to create a stronger, more vibrant san francisco, by ensuring that potrero families in a diversity of income levels can stay and raise their children here. as you can hear, i have two small children myself in the ground, and on behalf of prefund and myself, we would like to support both projects put forth. we support neighborhood elementary schools. the renovation project will make parks safe and accessible

to all mtd -- to all, and we'd like to ask you for all the work that you're doing on behalf of residents and families. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker?

>> [inaudible]. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> yes, hello. my name is sally stevens, and i'm with s.f. dog. esprit park is most like duboce park in its share and usage. duboce is not closed in the winter months. why should esprit be closed? social justice equity requires that parks in less than affluent areas of san francisco be open just like other areas yet the park and recs are

proposing to treat esprit park different than duboce. i would add that the rationale for closing off the off leash are model is douglas. it's not that situation here at esprit. there's no need to close the off-leash area for winters -- you know, for three to four months during the winter, so i encourage the commission and the department to not do that and keep this open. >> clerk: thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: next speaker? >> hello. my name is [inaudible] i've been a resident of the dogpatch area for a matter of years.

i represent a portion of the community that is unable to use this park because of off leash dog use. i think that option w is a proposed compromise between the people that want to use this park, and i would also like to say that artificial turf is not needed for this park. there's already an off-leash dog park across the street that is artificial turf that can be used whenever that north lawn might be closed for maintenance. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> yes, my name is magic altman, and i would like to say that giving one minute to the public is very offensive, and most commissions aren't doing that. also, it says, you are unmuted, and you can ask your questions, and we're not here to ask

questions, you're here to provide public comment, so the technology that you created is not created for the public. i support no astroturf. as you know, the people have opposed this over and over again, and it continues to be ignored. as they say, there's nothing natural, and you keep saying you're here to preserve the natural environment, and yet, you don't listen to the people who repeatedly say they don't want the turf and they don't want the park closed, either. i'm a resident of potrero hill, and i just just pretending to are for the natural environment disingenuous, and i hope that you'll finally listen to the people. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> hello. my name is natalie [inaudible] and i just wanted to voice my support for a lack of astroturf. i feel like it's really important in the world that we have right now with climate

change, and we, like, over conventionalization of lots of the city and lots of the world that's been overdeveloped [inaudible] and i think that having astroturf, like, really diminishes the natural aspect of the park, and i think that it would be worthwhile trying to make sure that we do do that thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> hi. my name is [inaudible] and i've been in the dogpatch neighborhood for several years now, and i enjoy esprit park every day. i do appreciate the opportunity to speak, even for a minute, as i understand the need to keep everyone's comments brief to support everyone's chance to speak. i support option plan w, but please, please reconsider the approach to close the park for an entire year to renovate. if this park is closed entirely

for a year, it will negatively impact our community, and i strongly suggest, and i know there is a more responsible way to renovate in segments? also as a dog owner, i would appreciate and support a dedicated dog area, definitely away from children, as that is the responsible way to do, and absolutely discourage the artificial turf. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? paul, was that our last caller or do we have another caller with our hand raised? >> i'm sorry. i was muted. >> clerk: okay. go ahead. >> hello? thank you. my name is arthur sandoval. i'm in favor of no dogged allowed in esprit park. it must be a family friendly open space with no dogs allowed

because the open space that is essential to the mental health as we have learned during covid-19 pandemic for the children. we have just had -- esprit park [inaudible] it needs drainage. it's a [inaudible] golden gate park entire budget [inaudible] was $2,709,744. you guys would rather take care of the dogs than the children. what is wrong with this picture? [inaudible]. >> clerk: thank you. your time is now up. thank you so much for your comments. next speaker? >> hello. my name is susan fitch.

i am a resident and homeowner in dogpatch for 20 years, a frequent user of esprit park multiple times a day. i have been involved in innumerable work groups for esprit park, and i was on the task force with louis. park and rec has been negligent in supporting district ten for decades. esprit park was donated to the city, and it was the community that got the $4 million for this renovation. i ask that you listen to the

community and do not have fences in the park and do not install artificial turf. >> clerk: thank you. >> as a homeowner who has -- >> clerk: thank you. okay. i just want to make sure that was the last caller, but i want to make sure that if you want to comment on this item, press star, three to enter the queue, and paul, just give it a moment for someone to raise their hand. >> operator: yes, ashley. i see one more. >> clerk: thank you. >> hi, thank you for giving me the time. my name is emily wang, and i'm a resident of the dogpatch potrero hill neighborhood. i don't think that astroturf or any sort of synthetic surface would be of benefit to this

area, nor do i think that physical separation and inclusion of fencing would be all other items related to the discussion about pursuing option w are really great. i think change is an adjustment that i'm fully supportive of. we don't have a lot of green space out here, natural green space. we have a lot of tree way and anything that would work against the carbon dioxide and work with this park would be great. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. seeing no further callers, public comment is now closed. commissioners? >> let me say at the beginning that i was one of those commissioners that asked to see some ideas about fence, and

after i've seen it, i have no desire to see fencing. if the dogs really do discourage families using the nondog area, that we may want to revisit that to see how we can mitigate it, but i don't think that's a necessary component to the plan. i only wanted to see what that looked like, so if that helps any other commissioners, that's my thought on it. i do think that to the degree that it's possible -- and i don't want to muck things up, but staging construction of building it out but not absolute closing seems like a compelling argument, but if it's a budget item and going to create a change in the whole ability to deliver that, then i

think we just have to bite the bullet and make the hard decision. so the issue of astroturf versus natural turf, i get it. if people somehow don't think that we're going to be closing the park in the winter because of weather and conditions, i think they're mistaken. i think that's going to be something they're going to have to live with, so i'm ambivalent about the astroturf versus the natural turf, by i think i will leave that to the judgment of staff on recommending this project, but those are my thoughts. thank you. commissioners? commissioner low? >> i actually thank commissioner mazzola had his hand up first, but i'll be happy to cut the line in front of him. >> why stop now?

>> i know. kelley, can you highlight maybe the difference between turf and grass with respect to the dog park. i realize we went over this at the capital committee, but i thought it would be helpful to have other commissioners briefed on this matter, about the difference. >> absolutely, yeah. so what we -- and as i said, i have eric anderson to speak to more of the technical issues. one of the overarching stores is when you have natural turf, especially the kind of things that you see in some dog parks, heavy use, natural turf is a natural material that needs time to rest and recover, to be reseeded. it also, in the rainy months, the soil can get compacted. so for those two reasons, for

the restoration and the protection of the soil and the medium in which the grass grows, we will need to close the natural turf dog play area for a certain portion of time in the winter. >> just to interrupt you here, what's the period of time that we would have to close an all-grass dog play area? >> based on our experience at other parks, and maybe i'll ask eric to pop in, it's three to four months. eric, you want to talk a little about any comparisons? >> yes [inaudible]. >> good afternoon, commissioners. so to answer that question, we have other, two other dog play areas reteenly closed three to four months at upper douglas and st. -- routinely closed three to four months at upper

douglas and st. mary's. we perform closures at athletic fields for rest and recuperation, but it's based on the aggrenomic of growing a natural surface, mitigating the action of dogs, aerating, providing organic matter, all the things that need to happen. in the winter, we look at a prolonged period of soil saturation and potential damage, so i think that the prediction, because it's going to be based on actual conditions that occur out there after renovation, but i think the prediction is, you know, you're going to have to close to protection it during those periods of saturation. >> and kelley or eric, how does

that compare to artificial -- to turf in terms of closure? >> so artificial -- yeah, artificial turf, we've -- we've resigned our design of artificial turf so that they are irrigated daily at a time when people are not there, so they're irrigated and resistanced daily? so that doesn't involve a closure. they are then cleaned about once a week, and i guess that would probably be dependent on how heavily this dog play area is used, but what we've seen in other dog play areas, it's once a week, and eric, is it two hours of closure a week we estimate, something like that, to do a full cleaning once a week? >> yeah. we currently close, especially one of our facilities, it just seems to be very highly used. walter haas is closed every

monday just for routine cleaning, but at max, a couple of hours a week is asin -- synthetic turf scenario. >> but at those other places, walter haas, those other play areas, could you just speak to the cleaning of the synthetic turf? >> yes. i would say that synthetic turf is less of a burden than natural turf. as kelley mentioned, synthetic turf is a higher installation cost, less on going

maintenance. it involves basic cleanup on a daily to weekly basis, but not all those activities of mowing, aerating, irrigating, all of those things that are a part of natural turf. >> so one last question, and i'll yield to my colleagues, particularly commissioner mazzola. as we navigate the dog and human activities and try to create harmony, what does that then speak to having the synthetic turf so there's less closure? >> i thank you for bringing up that good point, that that is the trade-off that we see and what we're concerned about, is that if we do have, as supported, a family meadow, that if the entire dog play area is closed, if it's natural

turf, when it is closed, that dogs will have to find -- they'll be able to use all of the pathways in the park and the picnic areas, but they will not have a meadow to use at esprit in those closures if the dog play area is completely natural grass. if we do have a portion of that area that is artificial turf, we do have an opportunity for people to use it year-round. we feel it may create more conflicts in the family meadow. >> thank you. >> commissioner mazzola? >> thank you. thank you, commissioner low, for letting me have the floor. can i ask alexis if you can put up the picture of the rendition of the plan options? i like seeing the option as

we're making a decision. >> it's option v and w, is that the slide? >> yes. >> gary, that's option -- that's page nine. there you go. >> okay. thanks. so first of all, i think that it's a great option. before i heard public comment, you know, i thought half of it being turf would be a good compromise, but i don't live there, and the public comment people do, and it kind of swayed me back to all natural grass, so i appreciate those

comments. i think it's a beautiful park that definitely needs to have space for people and dogs alike. the closing for construction for a year, although that bothers me a little bit, i think it would be better to have a nice beautiful park when done rather than just refur refurbishing something just to keep it open, unless, like president buell said, they can do it in a way that is equal cost in the long run. i was probably going to go with option v, but after hearing public comment, i might be going with option w. but like i said, they're both great options, and i guess the

last issue would be with fencing. as far as fencing goes, i'm on the fence on that issue. >> thank you, commissioner. commissioner anderson? is she still on board? i know she had to leave. commissioner anderson, are you still with us? i suspect -- i knew she had to leave just after noon, and we're at 12:30. other hands raised? allan low. >> no? >> no? you're flashing for some reason on my screen. >> president buell, i'm here. >> oh, go ahead, commissioner anderson. >> i want to thank all the community members. i know this has been a

multiyear process, and i know it's been a thoughtful process, and i also want to say that alexis and alex and carrie have been responsible to the surveys and the meetings. it's been tough. some people have been quite strong in their advocacy, and i would like to remind the public that our rec and parks staff are some of the most amazing dedicated that i know. they try so hard to make sure that all voices are heard and all people are represented. i want to put out, like commissioner mazzola did, where i'm at. i'm going to come down on v, the dog play area being at least part turf not because i think turf is such a great thing, but some people may recall that we got a new dog play area that's turf at

lafayette park in 2016, so we've had almost five years to see how that's been. i'm a dog owner. i'm out there a lot. it's very popular. it's easy to clean, you don't have to close it. dog claws can be really tough on turf -- on natural grass, so not only do we have to contemplate rain and needing to close it -- close it if it's all grass, but it gets really torn up by dog claws and needs more maintenance that you might anticipate. the park is very popular with dog owners, and i know i'm going to be out there, and i

would like the dog park to not be closed down at all. i'm a professional, a business owner nearby, a parent, and a dog owner, so i represent a lot of constituencies, and we need to make family centers safe from people that don't like dogs or uncomfortable. also, dog feces is really unpleasant, so they need relief from that. i'm going to come down on v, right? i think it's the split. and then, in terms of, you know, sort of, you know, phased use during construction, as commissioner buell and commissioner mazzola pointed out, it's really difficult to do that.

not only does it require more time and expense because you have to move the fencing around, but it really is an attractive nuisance. there's heavy machinery in there, and you don't want anybody to get in there. you just need to close it off. i'd like to say that rec and park projects have not only been on time, they've finished under budget many, many, many times, again, because we have such a great rec and park staff. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner anderson. i know that commissioner mcdonald's hand is up. >> can i suggest that, a, commissioner hallisy had his hand up first. >> i didn't see that. should we ask him to go first? >> yeah. >> okay.

commissioner hallisy, please? >> thank you, commissioners. i visited the park this past monday. i wanted to get a real feel for this project. i spent about an hour in the neighborhood. i want to say that i am a dog lover. unfortunately, we put our dog down a couple of years ago. he was 14. he was a west highland terrier, all white, and he immediately found whatever mud puddle was available when we visited a dog park, but i'm also a family man, and i believe that artificial turf negatively affects the beauty of a park. i am in favor of artificial turf in athletic fields. i am in favor of the double

meadow where the families have their spots and the dog walkers and the dogs have their area. but in my neighborhood, four blocks from esprit park, is progress park, which has a dog run. it is made up of dirt, sand. it's about 70 yards long, it's about 40 yards across at its widest part. it's actually a cone shape, but from my discussions with alexis and kelley on this, it seemed like the dog walkers, the dog owners were very much against taking this five-minute walk from 19 and indiana to 23 and indiana and taking advantage of

that in the winter months, especially if we might have to shutdown their area. as far as the construction goes, i agree with commissioner mazzola, commissioner buell, when he talked about sometimes we've got to bite the bullet, but i do believe there is another option within walking distance in this neighborhood. not only for the length of the construction time, but also, if esprit park is shutdown in that dog play area because of maintenance. >> thank you, commissioner hallisy. i appreciate that. and now, commissioner mcdonald. >> thank you, president buell.

i wanted to get the input of all interested residents, business owners, stakeholders, and folks who love parks, love dogs, family lovers, etc. there has been lots of energy brought into this space, and that's very valuable. and in that, also wants to

highlight staff effort -- also wanted to highlight staff effort.

i want to make as informed of a decision as possible. i would candidly encourage two things as we deliberate this. one, not at all wanting to change my colleagues' mind, i would say this: that we heard today 20-ish voices, and only 20 voices. so they were 20 voices with important points of view, but i would pan back out for those to see, and kind of as a data fact that when we came down to these options, they were almost evenly split. so when we heard today on either sides of the issue, everyone won or no one likes.

those are not factually true statements about any of this. what we heard on the scene about public stakeholders, business owners, etc., covers the spectrum, so i would encourage panning out past the 20 or so voices that we heard today to the other input that we got. lastly, i would say, to my point of view, is that option v represents that intersection both of families who want, you know, kind of the dog-free space, and option v represents that option that doesn't necessitate closing for long periods of time the entire dog play area. i agree with commissioner buell

that, while i wasn't in the capital conversation, i did come into this conversation leaning towards the necessity of fencing, but i do think that option v represents the -- while not perfect for anyone on either side, the ideal that allows us to have this valuable space to community available both to families, dog owners, and then all park lovers more broadly, so thank you for that, and again, i'm in support of option v. >> thank you, commissioner. i saw that tokes had a standup -- had a hand up for a minute, and i don't know if you're still on. >> yes.

good afternoon, everybody. this has been a spirited, spirited conversation today and the last two years since i've been involved in the project. first of all, i want to sort of echo commissioner anderson's comments. personally, i worked on the lafayette park as an example. the concerns raised about the synthetic turf were the same as raised today, and over time, we actually started our project with sort of half and half sort of synthetic and the rest was grass, and what happened about a couple months afterwards was that neighbors asked us that they wanted an entire synthetic turf was the way the field itself was looking and the way of the sort of customer experience between the parks

and the dog users -- the dog owners. so i want to sort of advise that we've been able to build [inaudible] with the synthetic turf areas for dog play areas with lafayette park with some of the other new parks that we've brought on-line. and i also want to say that we should not be impacted by just the folks that we've heard from today. we've heard from a lot of constituents about this park over the last few months, and i think that should be part of our consideration. thanks very much for your time.

>> clerk: commissioners, would anyone like to make a motion? >> i would like to make a motion to approve concept design v that has the half artificial turf-half grass and recommend to the board of supervisors to accept the in-kind grant and also to recommend to the board of supervisors to approve the grant agreement. >> second.

>> president pro tem, we're voting on a small stipend for the v.p., right? >> exactly. >> small stipend being in the range of 500 to 1 million? okay. i think he's trying to get back on. i don't see him in here yet.

>> clerk: just give me a moment. i'm going to check. >> thank you, and thank you, commissioners, for your patience.

>> can we sing "how much is that doggie in the window"? >> i'd rather hear phil's jokes than larry mazzola sing. >> me too, actually. >> commissioner mcdonald, there's actually two things on the floor, is that correct? we're not packaging everything together, we're first going to vote on these grants, and then, we're going to vote on the actual plan? >> that is certainly an option. the motion that was moved and seconded was actually combining

them all. >> combining them all. >> now if you're making a request to undo that, we can certainly hear that, but that was the motion. >> very good. first, i can say that i can live with v. i am in favor of w, but i can live with v. i think just looking at it, i think that one is going to fly with 100% approval, but as far as the actual construction plan, that may not be 100%. that's why i was just curious how we were going to approach it. >> thank you for that. >> clerk: and i'll say it looks like commissioner buell says he should be back on for a couple of minutes, so we can wait if you'd like to do that. >> yes, thank you.

i don't know if you have a preference around the actual view of point of staging or not. >> it did not include it. >> right, that's what i thought. >> but the modification to select concept plan b. but we can take it -- i'm happy to take the construction phasing up in a separate motion. >> let's do that. thank you. >> so mr. vice president, are we on the question for discussion or are we waiting for president buell? >> we are waiting -- thank you for that point of order. we are pausing discussion, and so we'll wait until he returns.

>> clerk: commissioners, it's going to take him about five minutes to get on there, so he's actually on the line with me. if there's no objection, we'll keep him on the line, and make his vote verbally rather than visually. >> okay. we'll just go back. commissioner low, if i can ask you to restate the motion. >> yes. the motion was to approve concept plan b -- it was to

approve the concept plan b and to authorize the board of supervisors to authorize the park and rec to accept and expend $835,000 for the northwest dogpatch and potrero hill green benefit district and to recommend the board of supervisors to approve a grant agreement for the recreation and park department to expand a cash grant valued at approximately $4,165,000 from the home of the golden bears -- sorry.

home of the golden bears was not a part of that motion. >> second. >> all those in favor -- >> on the question, just more of a comment, so as stated earlier, i was going to support option v before hearing public comment. i realize i have a portion of comments in our packet, which i read, on both sides of this issue, and it was kind of cut down the middle. so in hearing the public comment issue, it pushed me over the edge back to plan w, so i will just say on the record that i will vote against option v and hope for a chance to make a motion for option plan w. >> okay. can i be heard?

>> yes. >> you need to unmute yourself. >> i can hear him. >> that's because he was on my phone. i just hung up on him. you're still muted. there you go. >> okay. all right. i'm back. i heard the comments, but there's a motion and a second. if we could have a roll call vote. [roll call]

>> okay. as i count that, that's five votes in favor, two votes opposed. the motion would pass. thank you very much. i want to thank -- i want to call out, though, kelley and eric and lamont. we have 220-plus parks. some of them are more challenging than others, and as i've said, everyone loves their park, and rarely do two people agree on why. this has been a long and challenging project, and i think on behalf of the commission, we express our extreme gratitude for your efforts to make this all work. thank you. >> definitely. >> thank you very much, commissioners. really appreciate it. >> okay. >> clerk: great. thanks, everybody, and thank you, everyone, on the line for your patience with the technical difficulties. we are now going to move onto item number 10, golden gate

park music concourse-observation wheel permit amendment. while staff is coming on-line and getting their presentation up, as a reminder, if you're on the call and would like to comment on this item, you'll need to press star, three to be added to the queue to speak. thank you. >> hi, everybody. i'm trying to get my slide show up? okay. i'm hoping you see a big -- this is dana ketcham, director of property and permits. okay. good afternoon, commissioners. thank you for hanging in there with us all. i am here to present an agenda item which is a discussion and

possible action to authorize the department to amend the wheel permits from 2020, to extend the term for an additional four years to march 1, 2025 due to the impacts of covid-19. this action will be subject to receiving a certificate of appropriateness from historic preservation. i'll explain that a little bit more. for some of you that are knew or who were not here when -- new or who were not here, this project was proposed in december 2018 and was scheduled to be open on april 4, 2020. the pandemic was declared in mid-march, and the construction

was delayed. this map just kind of shows the sad story of all the red squares, all the days it's closed, and the green squares show the few days that it is open. i do want to just cover a little bit about the covid safety plan. i think many of you were out there about the brief time, but there is an extensive covid safety plan that was developed and built and approved by our health department. everything from each -- an observation gondola that you go in, just you and your family, separation of riders' tickets

only, to sanitation features. we worked extensively with the operator to make sure that was in place. okay. the other important piece about the wheel installation was an inclusion of an access-for-all community benefit. the operator is required to provide 500 free tickets a month to benefit underserved communities. we distribute those in november to nonprofits, but only a few have been able to attend and use those tickets because it was shutdown so suddenly. so what are we asking for? we're asking for an extension for the original four years both to fulfill original expectations and after extensive conversations with city leaders and -- and economists, support for the city's economic recovery.

how does this get approved? well, we went to operations information only because it hasn't gone to h.p.c. on february 3. yesterday, the historic preservation commission heard this proposal but deferred for two weeks at request of one of the commissioner and expect to be back before them two weeks from yesterday. today, we are asking you to approve the extension based on h.p.c. approval. we've done everything to make sure that you've gotten the same public feedback as h.p.c. we have some letters that went to one and not the other, and we tried to get those both in your packets. and so some people asked, why

the extension? first, it's an amazing positive interaction in our park. many just come to watch the wheel, and the increased activity at night has been really striking. it has made music concourse a safe, fun place to be in the evenings, and that was one of the original goals of the installation. we also were looking to bring a little bit of free entertainment, but we can't do that under covid. why? joy and fun for families and children of all ages. these pictures show it all, whether it's young or old, people have had a lot of fun, and we want to continue that fun and give people more chance. why? this was just an amazing picture that somehow -- i don't know who took it -- provides a symbol of hope during challenging times. we didn't photoshop it.

during this last dark year, the wheel showed us a shot of the future, and we want to celebrate it. the wheel celebrates history. this isn't the first time that there's been an observation wheel in the music concourse area. [please stand by]

>> we expect to have that happen by the end of the week so that the generator will go off shortly after closing and then come back on two hours before opening. short term we are still working on it. actively identifying options to buffer noise and find replacement generator, there are generators that are quieter. we need one adequate. finding generators because of covid-19 is difficult because they are being used to provide power for a lot of the on site outdoor testing sites and vaccination sites.

we are also looking to improve appearance of the fencing around the generator. with a four year term we would be able to fund a development of fencing that would really be beautiful in that setting. we are working on that. long-term we initiated conversations to provide additional power to the concourse, not just the while but neighboring institutions who need more power. the goal is a lasting legacy of the wheel after removed. this four year term allows time and commitment to invest in infrastructure to bring additional power to the concourse. as part of the outreach, we have

gotten tremendous support. we have support from open space and natural organizations like the presidio trust, ggnpc, of course, botanical gardens, sf children and parks alliance. we have gotten support from small businesses who many of you have heard from who really support these things to help their businesses. we have gotten support from economic recovery and tourism generally. everything from hotel council to the sf chamber, to the restaurant association as well as our city's economic task force that has been focused on rebuilding from the covid 19 impact. youth focused organizations because children love being on this and having this opportunity. neighborhood organizations from

those neighborhoods where we look to bring kids and families to the wheel to have this opportunity. then our partners all in golden gate park who like the additional activation both during the day and at night. in addition. over 1200 individuals have taken written action to show up port for the while by writing letters and signing petition. opposition. i tried to get every one of them. these are organizations that opposed it. we have 275 individuals who have taken written action to show opposition. at h.p.c. yesterday we counted. we had 42 speakers supporting, 21 opposing and two with other comments. a few of the quotes. i will read them if you can bear

with me. observation wheel and support. rodney fong, sf chamber, it will allow the wheel to support economic recovery as well as mitigating the financial hardships on the local businesses. founder of united players. i am pleased to witness did he e evolution of the park to stay relevant. i hope it can stay for the long-term. for future generations in san francisco and bring nor visitors to our great city. director of local preschool. the day the wheel was tested before the grand opening was the best day of my students' life. a student that the world was coming back together. two days ago we got heart worming one from a san francisco

resident. my husband was sick last year. during recovery he saw the story about the wheel. first thing when he gets health back visit the wheel on valentine's day or 30th anniversary. don't take it away. cathy shupe, as small legacy business in san francisco. this has been the hardest year of my 38 years in business in san francisco. the ferris wheel is so popular and adds foot traffic that our location with the huge reason we were able to pay rent and employees and taxes. the smiles on the kids faces and buzz to golden gate park is a glorious respite from the crushing reality of this pandemic. thank you for listening to me. that is the end of my presentation.

>> thank you. make sure you are all muted. >> commissioner anderson. >> i would like to make a comment. >> i understand you have a time limit. again, i want to thank everyone at rec and park for this thoughtful report and everyone writing to us about this and who is hanging out on the phone calls now including maybe a couple of supervisors. i have gone out there several times in the daytime and nighttime with many of our resident comments about the observation wheel. i want to say that, yes, the

generator is loud. i heard rec and park is looking into ways to buffer or get rid of that sound. that is great. i have a good friend who lives one block off the park. they are not bothered by the lights or the noise. they love the energy. what i observed out there which has been alluded to in the staff report is a lot of families, children, a feeling of joy. i will speak for myself. i wonder if others feel this. now is a hard time to find moments of joy in our great park system in san francisco. it has been tough. it was such a wonderful thing. it was really energizing to see the people out there visiting around the wheel and going over to the light garden at the

conservatory light show. it is part of a wonderful thing. i hope we can vote today to keep it going. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. we should go to public comment, ashley. >> there are 23 hands raised. >> let's go to one minute. >> there may be supervisors on the call. we are unable to allow you to speak first. we don't have the information of who each line is. we know you are there. one minute per caller. you will be notified when your line is unmuted.

if you do not have your hand raised press star 3 to be added to theque. >> with the supervisors i am hoping we extend the time limit. they represent a large constituency. >> i am albert. i vote no. i believe this is a sweetheart deal for relationships with nonprofit organizations that raise philanthropy dollars for the rec and park department. it is a right, opportunity for corruption and pay to play. i believe the amendment turned over -- i believe john

mcchairren is turning over in his grave. no-brainer. vote no. please do not rubber stamp a pet peeve project to authorize the department to amends the observation wheel to permit to extend the terms to march 1, 2025. it is a shame to ask to extend to pay and play to march 2025. that is all i have to say. i am sure it won't make a difference though like everything else. >> next speaker. [indiscernable] the wheel strobe light. lighting mitigation pictures are dishonest. one does not show the lights at

the top of the wheel completely misrepresented to the historical commission. please let john mclane's words and actions guide you. he fought against holding the 1894 exposition claiming the natural setting will take natural setting to reverse. 26 6-foot tower with 3,000 lights in the center of the concourse, community pressure developed to keep it afterwards with the wheel i mean the tower. john had the two legs of the tower and after it fell had it cut up and sold for scrap. please follow john's work and provide natural wood. >> thank you. next speaker, please.

>> it is so amazing we were given a pr presentation to sell this idea. like park and recit is to protect nature and not one word, not a whisper how it would affect the natural environment. not how it affects the bird, light, sound, not one word. you have mentioned some opposition. no quotes from opposition or telling us what the opposition was. it is amazing park and recis a club for the rich people to get connected and get what they want out of the park to make money, it is just amazing that not one word about the birds. it would be great in the day with no lights, turnoff the

generator at dusk and it is fun for children and families. there is no reason for it to be on at night or lights or disruption to nature. >> thank you. next caller, please. >> good afternoon. i am jackie flynn, executive director of the a. philip randolph institute. our organization is located in bayview-hunters point we serve low income families in the city. i support the amendment for the extension of the observation wheel to 2025. i worked with hundreds of kids that have never been in a plane or boat or the cable car. some of our kids have no idea what it looking like outside of san francisco. today some of those kids have grown to become community leaders like me. imagine what it is like to see

the entire city for the first time in one glimpse, dancing on the staging to your music with your moves, imagine unlocking the imagination and dreams. i have had the opportunity to connect parks and recreation. we have beautiful public spaces in our back yard. through our partnership with the park and recwe offered life inspires opportunities to live and play and thrive in city parks. thanks to the leadership from phil ginsburg and the staff we are building bridges to close the gap from a world away. i humbly ask you to support extension of the term to keep the observation wheel to 2025 so our families have an opportunity to ride and for the record i submitted a letter of support to this body and historic preservation commission. thank you for your time.

>> next caller. i am the district one resident. we are concerned about the traffic impact. you are going to close jfk, museum, the wheel. why can't like the wheel go to john mcchairren park or what is the traffic impact? has rec and park done traffic impact where the people come from. they are supposed to have a shuttle. how reliable is that service? i am trying to find out more information about the garage there. there needs to be better sign age on the garage where rec and park could have the hearing about the garage. to shine some light on the

garage before they approve this. i mean you should look to see what the impact is on how we put up with harley-davidson, things like this is going to be every day. how do we know this isn't going to be extended permanently. >> thank you, richard. next speaker. >> good evening. don franklin. we support this project from the revenues generated to come back to the city in terms of recreation programs. also, motto is get out and play. we have a year of kids. it is time to get out and do something fun. for those old enough to remember play land at the beach. this brings back fond memories. thank you very much. >> next caller.

good afternoon, commissioners, kevin carom president and c.e.o. hotel commission. i remember golden gate park every year. we fully support the contract for the next couple years. it will be anincredible symbol of san francisco welcoming local residents and visitors and introducing energy to golden gate park. our 25,000 employees have been severely impacted by covid. you can help tourism start to recover from the darkest time ever. visitors enjoy that and post pictures to be seen around the world. what better way to market our city and be demonstrate how fun

it can be to visit san francisco? i ask you to approve the extension and demonstrate to the city and world san francisco is recovering and welcome being people to city and park. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon, commissioners. san francisco chamber of commerce. thank you for hearing this issue. i offer our support for extension of the sky wheel. it is a critical roll of economic recovery. prior to pandemic we had 25 million visitors. as far as industry it has been decimated. this is a step to help. the economic vitality we are center based for residents mental health as benefit to get

out during the pandemic. the sky wheel has enriched the small businesses in the area to help us get back. this align was the mission statement of parks and rec for recreational activities for san francisco. i really appreciate the great mitigation that has been done to address. [indiscernable] for a positive outcome. thank you. >> i oppose expense. golden bait park -- golden gate park is not an amusement park. it has its own attraction and does not need a ferris wheel.

it should not have been allowed in the first place. move to fisherman's wharf to support small businesses in that area struggling. the high price of the ferris wheel is lacking in credibility and supposed to be temporary. the next thing they will want to make it permanent. i wonder what special interest is benefiting. the city is getting $1 from each ticket. opposition to commercialization. >> thank you. next speaker.

>> good afternoon, commissioners. i am kyle meyers. we produce and manage steep wide -- o city-wide events and the san francisco marathon. they wouldn't be iconic without all the things golden park has to offer. we are in the park every day. i support four year extension of the sky while. it is a wonderful addition and perfect compliment to activities in the area. as small business owner i am

encouragedded to know there is increased foot traffic in the park and local businesses. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am david harrison. long time san francisco resident and i am a neighbor and frequent user of golden gate park. i am here to support the proposed extension of this amazing addition to the park for all of the reasons outlined by ms. ketchup. i could go on and on. i urge you to support the extension familiar thank you. >> this is ben davis.

[indiscernable] i am calling to voice strong support for extending the observation wheel for all of the reasons mentioned previously and also part of the celebration of golden gate park. it is a more important place as part of economic recovery and spiritual recovery. it brings us joy and makes us gather together safely. it is going to help us this coming year in the years to come to eliminate. [indiscernable] >> thank you. next speaker. this is amy cohen from the office of economic and worke forcer development here to support the proposal today. echoing the comments made by rec and park staff and others about the importance of the ferris

wheel for economic recovery. in addition to the things said about supporting regional tourism, this is also important for supporting local neighborhood commercial districts. this is something i can attest to personally. we go the park all of the time with our kids and make a day of it. the struggling commercial corridors on both sides of the park benefit from this. thank you. >> this is a small business owner. i am speaking in my private capacity and m.c.a. board of directors. hello, chair, it is a long time. good to see your face. i am calling in strong support of the ferris wheel in golden

gate park. this is good for small business, good for the general economic recovery of our city and good for the civic pride and relief in our city. we need this. everyone has a different view of the purpose of the park, what should be inside, why it is there. not a permanent extension, not a permanent fixture in the park. it about a fighting chances to recover. a be conof light. be open minds and consider allowing one more tool in the tool built to rise out of ashes. i hope you will approve this extension. thank you so much. >> good afternoon. san francisco nature i oppose this. members of the public are able to call in if they like it.

we at society have seen not just us but birds and other animals in the park. we oppose extension. speak up not just for ourselves but the wildlife that can't call in to say they are struggling. they will be killed. [indiscernable] this was temporary with environment falimpact. four years is a long time. it is unnecessary. the wildlife impact. [indiscernable] >> thank you. next caller, please.

>> i am jason, i support the sky star wheel extension. we enjoyed it. a couple things you didn't say yesterday. i think they should do different lighting at night to make it more in sync with the conservatory and the natural environment and make the path have a ticket through the program. they also need to really make sure that the amount of tickets won't require or drive a lot of traffic to the park.

also manage drivings around there and have seen people speeding and not stopping at the stop signs. please look -- >> thank you. next caller, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners, catherine howard, sierra club. we oppose any extensions. the mitigations do not meet our concerns. four year extension is creeping approval. the wheel deserves full e.i.r. we are committed to equity in education. underserved communities cannot have that if nature is destroyed by artificial attractions. this threatens the future of all of the san francisco parks.

we are shocked that you are planning to vote today. yesterday supervisors asked rec and park to meet with them to address the public concerns and modify the proposal. voting today is disrespectful of the h.p.c. and board of supervisors. this should be delayed and extension denied. thank you. >> thank you. next caller. this is ann mcferson. i am one of the people who come early in the morning at 5:30 a.m. for tai chi. i haven't been able to do that from the noise from the generator. i don't understand why it took four months to realize they can shut it down and power it up a couple hours before it starts. i have been complaining from day one. it is a big deal. if i go and the noise is not

noticeable i get a splitting headache for two weeks. it is still going to impact sensitive people. you need noise stipulations if you do that and make sure we monitor this. i am unsettled by the fact they want four years. they said one year and i just can't see how you can go from one year to extra four years. i want to say i am concerned about tje; control. if you open them up it is forced air. >> thank you. so sorry to cut you off. >> i am a volunteer with the park. what is the difference between $18 observation wheel and the few observation deck a

few hundred yards away? the free deck is two feet shorter and you would be right. that is not all. the free observation deck doesn't have bright led strobe lights to interfere with bird and bat migration, no glaring lights to disturb the oil owls. it comprises biodiversity and climate action plan hammered out in the city. the differences are loud and clear. why add potential damage environmental damage to duplicate an experience that exists? please unplug the wheel. use science. thank you. >> next speaker.

>> good afternoon, commissioners. i am the acting northwest district mentor of the san francisco public library. i support the extension of the sky star wheel. this ensures everyone to get a chance to ride when it re-opens. i am happy to hear 500 free tickets per month will be distributed to disadvantaged families in san francisco. this would give everyone an experience to experience san francisco in a unique manner. it will provide a fun family covid safe activity within golden gate park. the wheel can help kids and families understand the geography and important role the green space plays to make our city enjoyable. >> next speaker. hello. this is stefani winder,

executive director of the san francisco botanical gardens. i am calling in today to say the botanical garden supports extension of the while. we are located near the music concourse which really hosts a range of great cultural institutions. we understand the need to balance the need for nature and protecting biodiversity. golden gate park is a large park for a wide range of uses. it is everybody's park. we have increased visitors to the area and merchants and the garden. we support the symbol of hope and hope it continues to shine in the park. thank you. >> next speaker.

>> hi, i aprobert. owner of san francisco mercantile that produce products for airports, hotels afternoon attractions for the observation wheel. golden gate park welcome center. due to the pandemic we are in deep debt and barely holding on. thousands of california businesses rely on tourism are in the same boat. to survive the current situation we need to be prepared to attract visitors when it is safe to reopen. the observation wheel is an attraction that brings joy to residents and visitors. it will attract more visitors to the city and keep people employed like my employees who are relying on this economic venue to help through the economic turndown. >> next speaker. >> hi, this is scott.

renter in san francisco. i am calling in strong support of ferris wheel. such a fun opportunity for everybody in san francisco to see the beauty of the city. i was moved by one of the public comments talking about children from the bayview can come and see this part of the city that may be they wouldn't have the chance to otherwise with the 500 free tickets per month. that is awesome. we have had a rough year. extending this another four or five years will be awesome. i am in full support. please extend so that we can get collective spirit up after the pandemic. thank you so much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am with the san francisco chamber of commerce and resident of richmond district asking you to support the extension of the

sky wheel. it is a mental health, physical health and park usage is higher than ever. there is a terrible economic downtown. highest unemployment. let's have fun. this is a recovery tool. please keep the wheel spinning. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, commissioners. i represent bike rentals inside golden gate park. we support the four year expense of the sky star wheel. it has been closed since installlation. they should not bear the brunt of this disaster. it should be allowed years to experience economic recovery. it is temporary, it may beings people happy apbeacon of hope. that and extending the permit

neats 16,000 free tickets bringing folks to the park who may never visit otherwise. we push getting outside to enjoy the beautiful park. we implore you to approve the extension as we rebuild san francisco. >> next speaker. >> yes, i am robert moon. i am a resident and live a block from the park and block and a half from the dejong. i am in favor of the extension of this temporary sky star wheel. it increases park activity, and it also enhances because people are going to the park especially now days, the appreciation of nature. it enhances community spirit.

the academy of sciences for people to learn grows as well. it is also fun at night to see the change with the lights. we have all been going through this doom and gloom the past year and have a little longer to get through it. because it is temporary, you know, it is a fun thing to have. i just want to share my support for that as a resident. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am a 50 year resident of the golden gate park. it stands on its own to attract people. every news article said there was tremendous increase in usage during covid having nothing to do with that cheap looking

carnival thing. it doesn't compare with the beauty and art of the carousel near the children's playground. it is the beginning of carnivallizing san francisco. it is a slippery slope. i am also looking out for the animals. their only place to really nest and regenerate. i will put money on it they will be back in four years and looking for this to be a permanent thing. i am sure you are going to approve it in some way. make sure you put strong language about it staying temporary for only one year. >> your time has ended. next speaker. >> i am david miles. i am part of golden gate park

patrol for 40 years. vi in the pack every -- i have been in the park every weekend for 40 years. i have a connection with the people that use the park especially that it is closed 24/7. i can tell you the people that come to the park love the ferris wheel. i am definitely keeping the ferris wheel in the park. just look at it. everyone knows what everyone has been through. i have a business that is closed. everything, people paying rent, trying to make it. the ferris wheel is more than just a wheel. it is a symbol. it is that one thing that just brightens up your day when things are bad. please keep the ferris wheel in the park. thank you for all that you have done, rec and park commission, for adapting and changing and providing the things that we the people.

i love the animals. we the people are suffering. we need this as a symbol. it is the kind of symbol that lifts you. continue to lift everybody up. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, commissioners, this is the san francisco parks alliance supporting the four year extension of the sky star wheel in golden gate park. it adds to the park and is everyone's park. there is something for everyone and everyone to do. this is perfect location for the while as it is the center of activities, segway tours and

museums and gardens. it will not take away from the natural offerings as the trails and wooded years continue to provide acres of that type of recreation for park visitors. response to the social media polls have been overwhelming supporting the wheel. 250 comments positive with 25 negative. we did a poll with 91% every spondepartments favor keeping the wheel. to ensure this wonderful attraction is accessible to all in san francisco, the idea of 500 free tickets each month is really amazing. please keep the wheel spinning for the economic vitality of san francisco. i appreciate everything you do. thanks so much. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am a san francisco native. i support a temporary extension

for two years after the wheel re-opens. ferris wheels are fun. after the year we have had, rec and park kept us all entertained. fun is needed. there is no significant impact on the natural areas of the park. my mom never had a chance to enjoy the ferris wheel in the past year. she got the first dose of vaccine and looks forward to taking a ride. i hope that can happen. thanks for your work. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello. i am janet a long-time residents of san francisco and user of

golden gate park. i hope you will not extend the lease beyond this year. if you do you must do a full e.i.r. we have to start taking into consideration the other creatures who eleven in our city other -- who live in our city. with the new usage of the park, the native natural creatures who made that their home are really taking the brunt of the extra use by humans. while we want to use the park and the ferris wheel may be a nice attraction. it is not placed correctly. i am in favor of moving to peer 39 or fisherman's wharf where it is more appropriate. we shouldn't use golden gate park an engine for economic redevelopment. that ferris wheel is not bringing that much economic redevelopment to local

businesses. >> thank you so much. next speaker. >> good afternoon, commissioners, i am jean bear parrish i live in the shadow of the ferris wheel. we have heard why it should stay open. most focusing on the financial benefits and the word fun, which i keep hearing to the point of being tired of listening to it. one of the things we haven't heard about is the impact on the natural environment should this ferris wheel continue to operate especially at night when lights are on until 10:00 p.m. we have to consider a balance between the benefits of the community and the fun people will have to use the ferris wheel with the importance of maintaining natural environment and protecting wildlife and birds and insects who need to live in a darkenvironment that

is not overshadowed with loud noise from the generator. when you consider how you will operate the ferris wheel in the future, please weigh the balance of the environmental impact on wildlife on which the golden gate park depends. the advantages other people feel it has. thank you. >> next speaker. >> i am one of the people that works at the welcome center in golden gate park. i would like to say since we opened in june 1 of the most important questions every day from visitors is the observation wheel open, running, illuminated? before the wheel opened people were really concerned that it wasn't going to get a chance to open on its own. they were disappointed when it closed down again.

they felt like they missed out and hadn't had a chance to enjoy it. i would like to see the observation wheel extended. also, it brings people that never venture from one side to the other side of the park. i hear people say that. please extend the wheel. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am martha i am wearing two hats. president of sunset park neighbors and we support the wheel. we hope it will bring back business to the neighborhood. the tennis center is opening soon. it will make people aware of this wonderful new facility in golden gate park. thank you. >> next speaker.

>> hi, i am kate reed. i am a neighbor in the mission district. this feels like something here for the residents as opposed for the tourists down in fisherman's wharf. because it is near the museum which has a platform that is specific for humans. this is minimal for the creatures. if we could reduce the lights at night. otherwise for me it is a source of pride and community especially in these difficult times during the pandemic. >> thank you. next speaker. >> this is kate. i grew up the richmond and i am now raising my family in the richmond calling to urge you to

extend the wheel. i am looking forward to bringing my son. this is a hard year for families and a opportunity for joy and something that can have a unique and special san francisco experience. this location in golden gate park the consistent with the history of the park and great draw for people from all over to come and enjoy golden gate park. thank you. >> next speaker. okay. that might be the last speaker. just quickly. if anyone else is on the line to speak on the observation wheel, you can press star 3 to be added to the queue. i will give it another minute. let me know if anyone raises their hand. you only are allowed to comment one-time. don't raise your hands if you have commented.

>> one more. [please stand by]

>> it's a history of building and rebuilding, and golden gate park itself is an enduring example that will get people back in the park to learn about the park and its impact on collective san francisco. [inaudible] so please keep it. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. paul, just want to confirm. is there anyone else with their hand raised? >> operator: yes. one more. >> clerk: okay.

last caller. >> okay. my name is greg miller. i oppose passing this. i feel that golden gate park has historically and for its history been a refuge, not simply for our animals but for urban dwellers in this city. it's a place for people to come and enjoy a green space in what is basically a green paved city. what this is an extreme effort to monetize the park rather than to provide a free, green,

open, and unspoiled space for the city and its residents. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. so seeing no further public comment, public comment is now closed. commissioners? >> let's take questions. commissioner mazzola. >> thank you, president buell. can you hear me? >> i can hear you. >> okay. i'm going to start off with a rhetorical question. why does everything have to be so controversial? it's a ferris wheel. next you know, they're going to cancel halloween. i heard comments that a ferris

wheel was for rich people. dude, seriously. i'm going to vote that the ferris wheel does not go down in the city, and the wheel in the sky keeps on turning. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. commissioner low? >> sorry. i was on mute. i actually have some technical questions. is dana still there? >> i think dana is still on board. >> the question is, can we actually vote on this without the historic preservation actually issuing the certificate of appropriateness? >> i spent a lot of time talking to manu about this and confirming. we can't actually sign an agreement until we have the certificate, right, manu?

>> hi, this is manu here, and yes, this is correct. >> so we would have to amend -- whatever motion's made, we would have to make it subject to whatever certificate of appropriateness and the approval by the h.p.c.? >> yeah. essentially, the department would have authorization from you, but it wouldn't issue the permit until all the those approvals were received. >> okay. it's a little awkward, but i'll take your word for it. and then, at h.p.c., there was questions by supervisors walton, preston, chance, and peskin, asking to be -- was it to be briefed or what was the purpose or they wanted to review it further? >> they asked for additional time to try and weigh-in on it.

i did reach out to supervisor chan last night. we haven't been able to touch base yet to fully understand. we're scheduling a meeting, i hope as soon as this is over so we can understand that. >> and you've made contact with supervisors walton, preston -- >> yes [inaudible]. >> supervisor chan has been my lead, but we will touch base with all of them. >> i don't know if it's too early to ask, but what do you think will be the result of those conversations? >> you know, commissioner, i don't know because i haven't had a chance to have a conversation, and i was surprised by this yesterday. >> how did we come up with the four-year extension? was this just a rough calculation so that we can make the operator whole or how is

the four years derived? >> no, i don't think the four years is the operator whole. we had a shorter term for that, but it was really looking at the economic task force reports, looking at the s.f. travel's view of what it was going to take to get the city back on track, and that this would be a tourist attraction to bring people back to san francisco, to have a new experience who had been here before and things like that, so we really viewed it as part of the economic recovery, and that it was a four-year recovery from now. everything is, of course, evolving. you know, a year ago, the economic recovery was 2.5, two years away, but now, it's a little longer. >> oh, i hope it's not four years. i hope it's quicker. just a question about the admonition. it says that the extension

would also be on substantially the same terms -- i don't know. can you shed some light on what other -- [inaudible] >> are we just seeking aful -- approval of extension of term? >> well, that's standard language. we are going to see if we can try to negotiate anything a little more? but i think the issue is really the use of the funds because the funds were all going to go to ggp-150, and now, the funds are all going to come to the department, and then, we have to negotiate the paying for the electrical power. so those are the two pieces, but they will be substantially the same. >> so should the motion actually then be amended -- or the wording in the agenda for the motion to approve be

amended so that the exceptions to a date not later than march 1, 2025 to give you some flexibility in case there's a layered agreement of a shorter term? >> i have no issue with that. >> and then, also, just make it subject to whatever -- well, subject to the issuance of a certificate of appropriateness by the h.p.c., is there something i'm leaving out that h.p.c. needs to do or is it just a certificate of appropriateness? >> it's just a certificate of appropriateness relating to the music concourse, and staff has already recommended, correct. >> well, with those two changes, i'm in favor of the motion, particularly as covid-19 has impacted all small businesses in the city, and

really, we have to give a chance for the small businesses and the rest of the city to recover, but i would be in favor of a motion with those two amendments. >> thank you, commissioner. let me call on commissioner jupiter-jones. >> thank you, yeah. i just wanted to throw my two cents in around how -- you know, there's a lot of talk around the history and preserving the intention of kind of the founding fathers and going to golden gate park, and i think that's important, but i would be remiss to not recognize that there's a problem of the history with some of our founding fathers and golden gate park, and golden gate park has not always been inclusive, doesn't always feel like it's the people's

park. i know growing up in the mission, it took a long time for golden gate park to feel like it belonged to me and something i could go to. as an educator working with families in the mission, the bayview, and southeastern neighborhoods, it was only like programs, recreational programs, field trips where we go to go to the academy of sciences, japanese tea garden, that's where i found my connection with this park. even though it wasn't my neighborhood, we live in this tiny seven by seven, but it can feel so far away, so i really want to, like, i'm -- it was important to me to recognize that the voices that we heard came from all different neighborhoods, right? and those folks that aren't the regular park users, how much in

support they were and talking about the sense of price they had, just the excitement, what it means for those kids and those families, that's what, you know, really struck me, and that's where my heard is, and, you know, with that, i would like to make a motion to approve the four-year contract extension with five star at the music concourse, of course, contingent on the approval of the extension of the certificate of appropriateness by the historic preservation commission, and that was my original motion that i came here to make. i realize, commissioner low, was there something additional you wanted to add about the language? i'd be happy to add that to the motion. >> yeah, just the date not to exceed march 1, 2025 to give the department some flexibility. >> okay, yeah, so i'm more than happy to add that on.

>> accept that modification? >> yes, yes, i would accept that. >> we have a motion with a second, but before that, we have two commissioners that i think want to weigh-in, so before that, i'm going to ask commissioner anderson? >> yeah. am i off mute? >> yeah, you're off mute. >> i think we're doing a tremendous job to organize a thoughtful voice for desperate voices and strong voices always around our park. i think all of us want to convey to the residents of san francisco and the people listening in and attending this meeting that we care about all of the issues.

we fund parks with our tax dollars mainly. sometimes, we do get grants, but we have to share that space with people that think and act and live very differently for all of us. what i saw when i went out there, frankly, we depend on revenue. we subsidize our programs in a lot of areas in the park. desperate times call for creative measures. we have a pandemic.

we've been hurting, the small businesses have been hurting. every department of the city is impacted, and i feel like, commissioner mazzola, you know, when people start calling us corrupt and selling off the parks and all that, it hurts. that's a dagger in our heart the people volunteering here on this commission, everybody working here are decent people. we're not selling out the parks. we're trying to keep them alive and keep them vital so when you're walking around, you don't feel like we're letting everything die. we're not. we're trying to keep things alive. it's a delicate balance. i appreciate everybody involved, and if anybody walks away feeling disappointed, just think about what we have to do. we can't please everybody, and i'm going to be voting to support this extension for the reasons stated. thank you.

>> thank you, commissioner anderson. commissioner mazzola, i see your hand is up. >> so i have a question on the motion. >> we have a motion and a second. commissioner jupiter-jones made the motion and commissioner low seconded it. >> as far as i heard it, it was also contingent on the historic preservation commission. >> we have no say on that. >> with all due respect to the commissioner who made the motion, i disagree with that. it turns out to be that way, any way. but what another entity does, they have nothing to do with us. let me finish. >> well, commissioner, they have something to do with the issue, and because they put the matter over for two weeks yesterday, we have no choice. >> i get it, but we're two

different entities. whatever we do, they're going to do what they want, and they're going to have the final word. why do we have to wait to see what they do? [inaudible] >> can i finish my comment? >> sorry. >> let's ask the city attorney who's on board. manu, do we have to make this motion with the condition of approval or can we just simply approve it and wait for them to take action? >> i think commissioner mazzola makes a good point. technically, the commission can act now. it doesn't have to suspend its decision, but the department -- i'm distinguishing between the commission and the department -- the rec and park commission can act now. it doesn't have to suspend its action on the h.p.c. >> thank you very much. so commissioner mazzola, i

didn't know you went to law school, but i'm pleased to know that you figured out what the legal interpretation is. i would ask commissioner jupiter-jones if she'd be willing to modify her motion to simply approve this matter with commissioner low's endpoint? >> yes, i would. let's just approve the four-year extension -- [inaudible] >> i'll let commissioner mazzola second it, because as you learn from lawyers, they never agree. i don't agree with the city attorney, i think we should not proceed with this matter unless there's a certificate of appropriateness, and i'm not making it subject to the approval of a certificate of appropriateness, but i don't agree that we can just approve the motion. >> and i believe you said we could approve it but we

couldn't enter into it without such approval. >> yes. >> if i can clarify -- this is manu speaking again. >> yes, please. >> the commission can authorize the department to enter into the contract once the department has h.p.c. approval. the commission may act today. it doesn't have to wait, but the department should not act until the h.p.c. has given its approval. >> doesn't that still mean it's subject to the issuance of a certificate of appropriateness? >> yes, in that sense, it still is. the final issuance of the certificate is subject to that, but the commission may move forward if it wants to. >> commissioner mazzola? >> i would like to second the motion, and i would like to say that even though i went to law

school, i went to plumbing school, and it's much the same. >> well, commissioner, i'm going to resist making any comments about either profession, but with that, we have a motion, and i believe commissioner mazzola was seconding commissioner jupiter-jones' amended motion to simply approve this contract with a terminated date. on the question, all those in favor -- and maybe we should call the roll because i'm not sure i'm going to get commissioner low to agree with this one. secretary, would you call the roll? >> clerk: yes, sure. [roll call]

>> so as i read it, we have

[inaudible]. i think we should, before we go to general public comment, this would be the time to do the general manager's report that we moved from the beginning of the calendar. >> okay. how about this? thank you all for -- we do have updates. i will share them with you at our next full commission meeting. thanks. >> well -- >> thank you. >> call the guinness book of records. >> clerk: before -- before i move onto the next item, i just want to double-check. if we're skipping the general manager's report -- >> we didn't skip it. he just gave it. >> clerk: okay. so i'm going to call public comment on general manager's

report. if there's anyone that would like to provide public comment, press star, three to be added to the queue, and paul, if you could just let me know if anyone jumps in. [inaudible] >> operator: i see two hands. >> clerk: okay. as a reminder, there is another general public comment coming shortly. if you want to comment now on the general manager's report, it would need to have been pertinent to the report, which was very short, so i may cut you off, but go ahead. >> hello. my name is [inaudible] please don't shoot the messenger. that is why they have the whistle blowers -- >> clerk: yeah, i'm so sorry, albert [inaudible]. okay. is there anyone else with their

hand raised? >> operator: no. >> clerk: okay. seeing no further public comment, public comment is now closed. we are now on item 11, general public comment. at this time, members of the public who were not able to address the commission on item 4 may address the commission on items that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the recreation and park commission and that do not appear on the agenda. at this time, we will entertain public comment. >> operator: okay. we've got two speakers, and i will unmute the first. >> hi. my name is alex sandoval. i want to talk about the san francisco 2016 [inaudible] engineering for equity program, and i want to talk about the a.d.a. because the a.d.a. is not being graded in your equity

zone parks. i'm fed up; and i'm serious about being fed up. when you go to your website to look at disability questions, look at the disability coordinator -- >> clerk: i'm so sorry, albert. paul, you're going to have to cut him off. i'm sorry. for general public comment, you can only speak once from general public comment, so this is continued from that item, so i'm sorry. you already had your chance. next speaker. >> hi. so commissioner buell and the rest of the commission, this is nancy destefanovich. i just want to say that the majority of the people calling in opposed the ferris wheel,

and in the rest of the meeting, you don't joke about any of the other items that were raised. i feel you're not a credit to this commission and the public, and i'd like you to think about that in terms of how you conducted this meeting and how you discuss the issues and how you made fun of everything. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. does anyone else have their hand raised, paul? >> operator: yeah, one more. >> clerk: okay. thanks. next speaker? >> hi. hi. can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, we can hear you. >> okay. so thank you for letting the public comment on everything today. i wanted to ask about summer camp programs and if they're definitively not happening for the general public in san francisco? the middle class, we can't really afford $1,000 summer

camps that are already being set up for people with lots of income during the summer, and we also don't qualify for the community hubs. last year, rec and park ran summer camps that had three-week extended periods for kids to be quarantined together or bubbled together, i guess, so i'd like to know if that's something that can be looked at by the rec and park commission, and i'm not sure if that's in the budget or if it's gone. thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: thank you. we just have one more -- phil, did you want to say something? >> would you invite that caller to e-mail us? obviously, it is our complete intention to squeeze every drop of summer camp that the health order and our resources allow, so we can follow up with that caller and make sure everyone is aware of our planning for

summer. we understand the issue. >> clerk: yeah. you can e-mail recparkcommission@sfgov.org, and i will connect you with staff. next caller? >> hi. i don't know if you can hear me. my name is [inaudible] thank you for your collaboration and service. i just wanted to note that [inaudible] in san francisco that are having to stay at home for virtual school, and there's so many studies finding that our kids are suffering. in terms of mental and physical decline from a lack of physical activity, so i'm calling to ask the department to see if they could offer increased programs to thousands of kids that are cooped up indoors, the 50,000

kids that are not being served by the community hubs. [inaudible] exercise groups at low to no cost. cities like los angeles and smaller cities are doing similar things. [inaudible] who can afford nice private workout pods or play with private sports clubs, but a lot of low and middle-income kids are not able to do that and are stuck at home cooped up. i would just ask if rec and park at low to no cost could team up with sfusd, dcyf, to offer our kids with more opportunities [inaudible] and i'd be happy to work with anyone on the commission or the

staff to pool together resources so we can get our kids mentally and physically well. thank you so much for your time and your commitment to our community. thank you. >> ashley, another one where if the caller could send a communication to you so we could follow up? we agree with her 100%, and we want to do everything we can to ensure that physical health and mental health of our students. >> clerk: yes. again, our e-mail is recparkcommission@sfgov.org. paul, is there any other callers on the line? >> operator: no, we called on all four callers. >> clerk: seeing no further callers, public comment is now closed. and we're on item 12, commissioners' matters. >> commissioners? been a long day. i don't see any hands. >> clerk: no?

>> no. >> clerk: commissioner mcdonald? is. >> -- mcdonald? >> we have had a good long meeting. in the future, i will ask to offer part of our meeting as a equity moment on an on going basis. >> thank you, commissioner. i'm in full support of that, and maybe we can ake it part -- more organized, as well. >> any other comments? commissioner jupiter-jones, i see a hand up? >> yes, just briefly, but i wanted to -- i think this came up at the health commission meeting yesterday, too.

if we could start kind of thinking about translation services for these meetings? i think all the instructions are given in just english, and i think the web system we use, too, the queue system is just in english, but i think that's something that we should look into. all the callers are english speaking, but in order to be a little bit more inclusive and equal, i think we should look into what it would take to provide translation services for these meetings. >> clerk: i'd be happy to look into that, commissioner, for you, and update you all. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> any other comments, questions under commission matters? okay. hearing none. >> clerk: is there any public comment on item 12? paul, does anyone have their hand raised for this? >> operator: yes, i do see one hand raised, and i will unmute.

>> clerk: okay. >> my name's albert sandoval. i've finally calmed down. i'd like to lift up and recognize [inaudible] to the taxpayer of san francisco. everyone deserves to get out and play [inaudible] and especially the disabled, who have been locked in their homes , and they need to have access to parks and playgrounds. without money, they can't do it. >> thank you. >> clerk: thank you. just a reminder, comments must be pertinent to the item discussed. seeing no more public callers, public comment is closed. we are now on item 13, new business-agenda setting. does anyone have any new

business items? okay. paul, does anyone have their hand raised to comment on new business agenda settings? >> operator: i do not see any hands. >> clerk: okay. seeing no comment, public comment is now closed. we are now on item 14, communications. if anyone would like to make comment, please press star, three to be added to the queue. is there anyone with their hand raised, paul? >> operator: zero hands. >> clerk: okay. seeing no public comment, public comment is now closed. we are now on item 15, adjournment. >> chair would entertain a motion. >> so moved. >> so moved. >> second. >> all those in favor? i believe it's unanimous. it's been a long meeting. it's been a while since we've had these types of issues confront us, so thank you.

stay safe.

>> mayor: thank you and good morning. thank you for joining us here today. i'm here with dr. co fax to talk about our case rate, our vaccination process, and specifically around the challenges with our vaccination process and supply, and also to provide an update on where we are with our schools. today the case rate is about 135 new cases per day. we have about 148 people who are hospitalized, and, sadly, we have had 346 people die in san francisco due to covid since the beginning of this pandemic. now, the case rate is down from its peak, but the virus is still in our community. so i just want to talk a little bit about what

happened over the