>> clerk: okay. can you hear me now? >> president buell: yes. [roll call] >> clerk: okay. this is the recreation and park commission meeting of april 15, 2021. please note that due to the covid-19 health emergency and to protect board members, city employees, and the public, the meeting rooms at city hall are closed, however, commissioners are participating in the meeting remotely to the same

extent as if they were physically present. we ask for your patience if we experience any technical issues. public comment will be available for each item on the agenda. each commenter will be allowed two minutes to speak. public comment will be available via phone by calling 415-655-0001, and the access code is 187-326-5591. when you hear the agenda item that you were calling for, please dial star, three to enter the queue. the system will notify you you were -- you you are in line and waiting. alternatively, you may submit

public comment in either of the following ways. by e-mailing recpark.commission at sfgov.org. if you submit an e-mail, it will be included in the written file. written comment may be sent to san francisco recreation and park commission, 1 stannion street, san francisco, california, 94101. we are now on item 2, president's report. >> president buell: thank you. let me first note, for those listening to this, that we will not be hearing item 9 today. it will be carried over to the next meeting. item 9 is the memorandum of understanding for the park alliance, so for those of you who are tuned in expecting that to be heard, it will not be heard today. you are entitled to make

comment under general public comment, but that item will not be heard. it's a very pleasant task to welcome to people today. larry is retiring from the department after more than 30 years of service, and dan, general manager of friends of the urban forest, is retiring, as well, and i look forward to hearing from you for the report, but that's the end of my president's report. >> clerk: okay. if there's anyone on the comment line who would like to comment only on the president's report, you may do so by

pressing star, three, or raising your hand. >> operator: ashley, there is one caller on the line and they do not have their hand raised. >> clerk: okay. we'll move onto item 3, general manager's report.

fittingly, this month also marks san francisco's third annual climate action month. throughout the month, the department of the environment is hosting 43 on-line events and virtual learning opportunities as well as some socially distanced outdoor activities in our parks including volunteer workshops and organized bike rides. discover how simple actions can make a lasting impact on climate change and preserve our planet for future generations . as you know, april also also marks the celebration of 4-20

for our hippier residents. i don't want to get caught up in the weeds with all of the details, but fencing will go up around robin williams meadow in anticipation of 4-20 on tuesday and kept up until wednesday. so let me be blunt. the park will be inaccessible on tuesday, police officers will disburse any gatherings packing and will send any budding entrepreneurs on their way. citations may be issued to those who don't comply. parking officers will monitor parking control and flow in the surrounding neighborhoods. instead of coming to the park, we encourage folks to celebrate

a safe and responsible 4-20 but please be considerate of your neighbors. keeping people safe this 4-20 is a joint effort. all right. speaking of plants, mark your calendars for allemeny farms this saturday and next, april 17 and 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. offerings will include cabbage, kale, herbs, broccoli, and

more. sales are final and will benefit the farm. in addition, be sure to join the friends of allemeny farm for their 15 anniversary celebration on zoom on wednesday, april 21. you can dive into the history of the farm, community historian and friends of allemeny farm lisa ruth elliott will show pictures and information of the farm across time, and then, a ramaytush ohlone consultant will join the discussion to talk about food sovereignty among indigenous people. we are excited to share that two of our city pools are poised to welcome back lap

swimmers with reservations beginning tuesday, april 20. reservations for the lap times and drown prevention classes will kick off this friday april 16 at 8:00 a.m. on-line registration will be first come first serve and extremely limited as lap swimming is limited to two swimmers per lane. the rest of the pools are slated to reopen mid-june. this past weekend, youth sports returned to our parks. from san francisco youth baseball to soccer, we're excited to see the city's kids back on the field. rec and park's very own bayview united soccer teams scored a big 9-0 win this weekend against another team from america scores. i want to thank all the

coaches, players, and league staff for getting all of the kids out to play this spring and best of luck to the teams this season. we want to invite everybody to joint the san francisco human rights commission for a unity event this saturday to launch a campaign for solidarity. it brings down ourarian american, pacific islander, black, latinx and other marginalized communities together to stand against hurt and violence and inspire, inform, and nourish our neighborhoods across the city. for more information, visit

standtogethersf.org. then, every saturday in april from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., you can choose your own adventure in india basin and along the bayview waterfront, enjoy free drop-in fitness classes, live music, small business specials, all the while taking in nature and new art along the waterfront. you can visit the india basin tech hub sponsored by our partners at the india basin waterfront project or you can enjoy wifi, take in the view, and learn more about the project. you can stop by the learning center at herron's head park to get a special coloring book.

for more information, visit sundaystreetssf.com. okay. we've got two special recognitions today to wrap up the jam report. president buell, as you mentioned, the first person we want to honor is dan flanagan. he's stepping down from the friends of the urban forest as nearly 14 years. his leadership was key in the development and passage of

proposition e, the healthy trees and safe sidewalks ballot measure in 2016, which provided a dedicated funding source for the city to maintain all street trees and repairs and repairs to tree-related sidewalk damage. he also increased commitment to environmental justice by focusing the friends of the urban forest efforts in areas with the least tree canopy coverage. the strength of our parks goes hand in hand with the strength of our trees and street canopy. his work often cross pollenated with our -- hold on one second.

-- pandemic life. dan's approach to natural resource management not only extended to the streets, as i noted, but to our parks. he partnered closely with the natural resources management division and worked on the natural resources management plan, which will continue to help guide and improve our parks and natural trails in the next decades. these are just a few examples of dan's amazing legacy. you've helped make san francisco a more beautiful and healthier city, and so on behalf of the recreation and park department and our commission, we want to thank you for all that you've done and wish you the very best of luck in the next chapter of your life, and we would very much appreciate and welcome a few words. >> great. thank you.

thank you so much. this -- the kudos, i'm not used to. i'd rather do the work, but indulge me for two minutes. i'm going to tell you a story, and i think the story has some relevance to the things you were just talking about. it goes back to 1970. i was a freshman in college in vermont, and he sat down with me, and we decided to want to live in a tree. so we talked about it, and that winter, we went out and found a tree, a 50-foot elm tree, and as you can see, we decided to build a one-story tree house. we have a bay window, and there's a geo-dome on the other side. so it turns out we had a dream, but i turned out to be the word carpenter.

but my role turned out to be working with the administration and the deans to convince them that this was the most brilliant thing to do in 1970 and 71. and fast forward to, you know, 40-something years ago, i joined friends of the urban forest after a little detour from wall street. i went to the light side and got away from the dark side and started worked with nonprofits. but at friends of the urban forest, i worked with some really talented people. some from the council, and some on my staff, and some from public works. we came up with another dream, and the dream was we would have adequate funding for trees not only on the streets of san francisco, but all trees in san francisco. so we were fairly successful with prop e back in 2016, and i was most proud of my work

trying to support the natural areas program, and i think the fact that we got that passed, now in light of everything going on around climate change and the city's commitment to adapt to a new whole plan, in addition to that, with the biden influence in, i guess, funding, hopefully in the next couple of years, i desperately hope that the funding for trees all throughout the city, not only for parks but for park yards, and clearly, we have taken care of the street trees, that's something we can look forward to. so i think if you can dream of living in a tree house in vermont -- it was chilly. i only lived there in the summers -- i think you can dream of having an urban forest in san francisco that is adequately invested in and you can make it thrive. so phil and mark, thank you so

much for the kind words and honoring me tonight -- or this afternoon -- or this morning. i was thinking about it last night. >> thank you, dan. perhaps you've been spending too much time in the trees. we really appreciate your commitment to a more healthy and more environmentally sustainable city, so thank you. >> thank you. >> commissioners, i want to wrap up with one more very, very, very special recognition. i now want to recognize, really, a true legend in our department. larry mcnesby, jr., who will be retiring from our department after more than 30 years. larry got his start in our department in 1990 working

under his program in the trampoline program, and larry's son has spent some time with us up at camp mather, so i think there are four generations of larry's family working in our department. he's just grown into being a valuable employee with the department, including a recreation at glen park, sunset park and rochambeau playground. he became rec superintendent, and he became the manager of camp mather during the summer season. as part of his legacy, larry provided the city's youth with

amazing fundraising opportunities when they were old enough to get a job and beyond. larry, in my tenure, is really responsible for saving two things for this department and two things that are very near and dear to my heart. in 2010, amidst a really -- [inaudible] >> clerk: whoever is not muted, please mute yourself. >> our recreation programming.

in 2010, a horrific budget crisis had provoked fundamental cuts to staff and programs, and larry, wearing his new hat as an seiu shop steward, along with his colleague, don franklin, understood the importance of the moment and really led an effort to reorganize, reinvent, redeliver recreation with the resources that we had, knowing that we weren't going to be able to save every job, and knowing that we just had to build a better mouse trap for recreation to -- public recreation to survive as we knew it. that was incredibly courageus

courageus -- courageous. the model that larry and don built allows us to maintain timely, flexible, and culturally competent services that we were never able to offer before. the other thing that larry saved was camp mather, perhaps his most heroic action came at camp mather which was threatened by the rim fire, the largest in the sierra nevada at the time. larry helped evacuate the camp, occupied by 200 seniors that day. ash was raining from the sky, and the sky was an apocalyptic shade of orange, and larry was there in his orange t-shirt and fire helmet.

the most amazing thing about larry, after helping evacuate the camp, he went right back, joining the firefighters' efforts in helping to beat back the historic blaze. larry, you've done so much for san francisco, for california through your work. you have been a deer friend and colleague, mentor in what it really means to be a recreation professional, and sometimes, when people retire, they're just not replaceable. you're not, but i want to say thank you, and wish you the very, very best of luck in the next chapter of your life. >> thank you, phil. >> and larry, we'd love to see your beautiful face and say a few words. >> my camera is on. i hope you can see me.

ladies and gentlemen of the commission, phil, i am deeply touched by your words, and i want to get this message out. i want to thank you for the opportunity, and i'll be as brief as i can be. i've never stated publicly on the record that i am dyslexic, and reading and writing -- and especially growing up in the 60s, right, a million years ago? it was hard to be [inaudible], and once it was found, they had to deal with the dyslexic issue and working with me through that. so when you get on in years, and you're not getting helped

with your dyslexia, you're falling behind your peers. when i graduated from high school, i was reading at a fifth grade level. i graduated with honors. i don't know how that happened. i couldn't even spell my street name. imperial. if you can't spell something on your job application, you don't get the interview. i had the opportunity to work with a nonprofit, and once they knew me, they understood me, but they could never give me the title of professional because i didn't have a college degree. when that job ended, i didn't know where i was going to go. my father had passed on, and it

was june jackson who called me up and said hey, for the summer, could you do me a favor and fill out your dad's schedule just for the summer, and i agreed to do that just one summer. but then, when i continued to do it, i realized we had this great system in san francisco, and i hope you can spread the word, where my hours of experience counted as credit toward a college degree. and because of that, i had the opportunity to become a recreation director, an assistant supervisor, a supervisor, a principal supervisor, and ultimately, assistant superintendent, and i can't thank the city enough for giving me the opportunity to show that i was capable, and i really am sorry about all the spelling mistakes in all my

memos that i've ever written to anybody, but it came with the territory. but that never, ever slowed the department down. you guys were great to me, and i could not be more appreciative to denny, lorraine, james -- we know him as j.t., and phil ginsburg, who opened doors for me. and a big thank you to joel robinson who told me, you've got to go to work with a big smile on your face because work is a privilege, and if you're not happy, you might as well go find something else. i want to thank my wife for putting up with all my bad moods and picking up the phone at all hours of the day, my

son, connor and kirby, and my wonderful parents and grandparents. my grandfather on my mother's side was a cashier at

fleishhacker pool. >> larry, we wish you the very, very best, and thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. thank you. >> on that note -- >> yes, i'm sorry. i wanted to say something. is that okay? >> please. >> commissioner anderson: hi, larry. it's kat. i'm really sad to see you go, but i'm really happy because i know wherever you go, the people around you will be enriched. i wanted to comment because camp mather is one of my favorite places to be on this planet. i can't tell you how much camp mather means to me personally. camp mather is basically here because of the first woman supervisor in san francisco, which i like to keep pounding that drum. my children absolutely had an

incredible nonurban experience. they're born and raised san franciscans. just meant a lot to be able to ride their bikes without mom raising them down and worrying about something else. larry, you were so generous with your time, and i was particularly taken with your treatment of turtle, and larry knows who turtle is, and your mentorship there, and everyone around you. my heart went out to you as you suffered your worst loss [inaudible] and i am sorry we weren't able to be at mather for a while, but let's make it happen up there and enjoy some good times. >> thank you, commissioner

anderson. >> well, on that note, unless any other -- oh, it looks like commissioner mcdonnell wants to say something. >> vice president mcdonnell: absolutely. i'll be brief, i promise. larry, you know i love you in so many ways, so thank you. thank you for being the incredible human being that you are and the role that you've played in all our parks, especially camp mather. and i've always appreciated your commitment to park and to community. years ago, i was introduced to a word by a shero, and that was the word mensch. it means hero, and certainly

wish you all the best as you sail off into the sunset and your next journey, and wish you all the best. >> thank you, commissioner mcdonnell. there's no better way to end the general manager's report than with the words larry and mensch. and on that melancholy note, that ends the general manager's report. >> president buell: thank you very much. >> clerk: okay. if anyone on the line would like to comment on the general manager's report, please dial star, three and paul, if you would let me know if anyone raises their hand. >> operator: hi, ashley. i see three members of the public on the line and zero hands raised. >> clerk: okay. seeing no hands raised, public comment is now closed. we are now on item 4, general

public comment, up to 15 minutes. 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 address the commission when the item is reached in the meeting. and as a reminder, we are not going to hear item 9, so if you are waiting to speak on that, now would be the time to speak. with that, do we have anyone that wants to speak in public comment? >> operator: yes, we have two hands. >> hello, caller. you have two minutes. >> hello. my name is richard rossman, and

i was very upset when i [inaudible] interfere with our supervisor low inquiring in things, and i don't think the richmond playground should be held hostage. my comember wrote a letter, asking him if he would sit down with myself and the prosac leaders. not only did he not talk to us, he never even responded to our e-mail. i'm glad that you are postponing this, and i hope that you will look into this. we need new leadership or rec

and park needs to find a new partner, but this is really absolutely unacceptable. and i know i always come and complain, but the one solution is most of the cars in the community is coming from the v.a. hospital, and i think the city should work with the v.a. on how to reduce the cars. a friend of mine and myself came up with a plan. i won't explain it now, but we need to do that. and also, one of my friends, madeleine [inaudible] steady will disability access, and finding out more in summation about the garage, and we're going to set up a working group to help find the answers -- >> clerk: sorry, richard.

your time is up. >> president buell: thank you, richard. >> clerk: okay. next speaker. >> is this for me? >> clerk: yes. >> president buell: it's for you. >> all right. i'm debra dietz. i am with the dahlia group of california, and i propose a compromise to completely closing j.f.k. to vehicle traffic. my compromise is to open j.f.k. from the stannion entrance at mclaren lodge up to the tennis court barriers. this will give the bicycle people plenty of time and place and the skaters plenty of place to skate, but it also allows the tennis people and paddle

ball drop off at the brand-new complex as well as access to the circle where the dahlia grows. shutting down the street has twice been voted down by the people of the city of san francisco, and it's just been in this covid year that it took london breed as opposed to a public vote. so there are six individuals who donate and tend to all the plants in the dahlia dell, and they've had to trek in using laundry carts with plants, stakes, and all the paraphernalia that yields this place with world-class competition dahlias. they would like to have access

by vehicles because right now, the hike in takes so much time and energy that it's just hardly worth it. moreover, nonbikers appreciate the dahlia dell, but many of them cannot take the walk in -- >> clerk: sorry. [inaudible]. >> clerk: your time is up now. if anyone else is on the line that would like to comment during general public comment, please dial star, three. paul, does anyone have their hand raised? >> operator: there are no more hands. >> clerk: all right. great. seeing no more public comment, public comment is closed. we are now on item 5, consent calendar. commissioners, is there anything that you would like removed from the consent

calendar today? >> president buell: do we need public comment -- >> clerk: yes. if anyone would like to make public comment on the consent calendar, please dial star, three to enter the queue. paul, did anyone raise their hand? >> operator: there are no hands raised, ashley. >> clerk: okay. seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. >> president buell: thank you. commissioners, any comments or questions? the chair would entertain a moment to approve the consent calendar. >> so moved. >> second. >> president buell: it's been moved and seconded. all those in favor? all those opposed? hearing none, it is unanimous. thank you. >> clerk: okay. we are now on item 6, the san francisco zoo. >> good morning. this is tanya peterson, director of the zoo.

can you see me, ashley? any way, i thought i would go to my powerpoint, which is a better photo of animals than my messy office here at the zoo. and while ashley looks for the photos, i just -- did ann send you the powerpoint, ashley? i'm hoping. >> yeah, garrett, if you can put up the powerpoint, please. >> yeah. and garrett, if you could move to the next slide. so happy national zoo day. and garrett, if we could go back to the other slide -- that's a mexican gray wolf.

i don't know if i want to thank hallmark for recognizing national wolf day across the country. this celebrates our 13 year of recovering the mexican gray wolf. this is a species that, without the intervention of zoo, this species would have become extinct. i welcome you to come to the zoo to see our two wolves, lobo and garcia. and i go to the next slide with the bald eagle, and you see the tag on his wings. that represents a collaborative effort that we've worked on for 16 years to rehab and release the bald eagle. i'm happy to say that the bald

eagle is no longer on the endangered species list, and since we've been involved since 2009, the populations of the bald eagle have quadrupled according to the department of the interior. a beautiful animal, and we have two here at the zoo rescued with injured wings and who can no longer fly. to our next slide -- should be a picture of -- let's see...speaking of birds who cannot fly. most of the birds here at the zoo are on endangered or threatened species list, but the pelicans here are on the endangered species list. they are injured and cannot fly. we have two white and two pink-backed pelicans. they cannot fly due to oil

contaminants and other man made disasters. we recently moved them to our marine mammal recovery pool. that's a pool that was designed to house sea lions or seals that were blind or injured. thankfully, that pool is empty, so we moved the pelicans there. we can carefully watch them and feed them there and watch their individually. our pelicans range in age from five to 30, and they would not have survived in the wild, but they are thriving here at the zoo, so i invite you to come visit them. next slide -- let's see. it should be a logo of earth day. let's see what the next slide looks like. there we go. i see the general manager

mentioned earth day on april 27. we will be giving out a free tote not just to celebrate earth day but our new on-line purchase. like everyone, we had to purchase during the closings, and our zoo shop went on-line, just offering a few stuffies, but we wanted to celebrate earth day with a new tote. we estimate if you use this tote over the year, you will have received 83 plastic bags from going into the earth or ocean, so we're grateful to celebrate earth day with you. and then, lastly, it seems that the day to say good-bye to folks, bittersweetly, at rec park and here at the zoo, this week, joe fitting will retire. joe started at the zoo as a

volunteer in 1978. he has specialization not only in education but in working with raptors, and he worked with our rescued raptors in the current animal resource center. of course, he caught everybody with his personality. he takes the van to kids at risk at hunters point, juvenile hall, and other kids who can't go to the zoo. joe created a system whereby the zoo can go to the kids. just an invaluable spirit and source of energy. with the covid shutdowns and so forth, he thought it's probably time to move on, and we all wish him very much a lot of success, and he's in good

health, and good luck, joe, and visit us often. and with that, i finish my report. >> president buell: thank you. >> clerk: okay. if there is any comment on the san francisco zoo, please dial star, three to be added to the queue to speak. >> operator: there are no hands raised. >> clerk: okay. seeing no further public comment, public comment is closed. we are now on item 7, summer together initiative. >> commissioners, did we -- didn't we already present this, guys? >> president buell: you tell

me. >> oh, lorraine, are you on? are you going to present? sorry for the hiccup here. so this program that we are going to share with you is -- is a -- is the city summer program. it's a very fitting initiative that is designed to provide free summer camps and educational opportunities to all sfusd students. i think we are joined by my colleague, maria su. maria, are you on the call? >> president buell: phil, if you'd like, we can move onto the next meeting? >> yeah. why don't we move on further on the agenda so we can get to this very, very exciting item. >> president buell: okay.

let's go to item 8. >> clerk: okay. we are now on item 8, victoria manalo draves park draves park improvements project. >> okay. just wait a moment. i was waiting to turn this one on. hold on, commissioners. sorry. apologies. i'm just going to continue here. my computer is having a problem. can you see me? good morning, commissioners and manager. my name is lauren chaz, and i'm

a project manager in the -- lauren chavez, and i'm a project manager in the recreation and park department. i'm here to present discussion and possible action to award a construction contract for new lighting and other minor renovations of victoria manalo draves paper, rec contract i.d. number 21-0036 to cazadero construction in the amount of $1,284,093. this area is used by united

playas, the students of bessie carmichael, and dogs and dog owners. following the closure of privately owned public open space at the nearby inter-continental hotel, the in-lieu fee was transferred to the recreation and parks department to be used for lighting and security enhancements at victoria manalo draves. there was a community process that began with advocacy of united playas. this commission approved the vision and concept in 2019.

the program includes replacement of existing lights, new sports lighting at the ball field and basketball court, lowering of essential grassy knoll and includes more seating and planting areas, an experimental community garden, repair and replacement of the panels at the main entry gate, and some new storage sheds. the project was bid on march 8. we had eight responsive bidders with proposals received on april 7. you can see in the bid tabulation exhibit attached in your packet. bid totals ranged from 92 to

124% of the engineer's estimate of 1.4 million. and we were able to include all of our alternates in awarding of the award to cazadero construction. we evaluated the low bid from cazadero construction and confirmed its compliance with the contract requirements. the contract division is right now just crossing is and dotting ts in their contract submittals, but we're confident that everything is going to look good so far. the in-lieu fee was $2.6 million, and we have plenty of funds with this contract award. we plan on issuing notice to proceed as soon as possible and

starting construction sometime in late may. my recommendation to you all this morning, commissioners, is that you approve this construction contract for new lighting and other minor innovations of victoria manalo draves park, rec contract number 21-0036 to cazadero construction in the action of $1,284,093. that concludes my presentation, and i'm happy to answer any questions. >> president buell: thank you very much. >> clerk: okay. if there's anyone on the public comment line for this item, now is your time to speak. paul, is there anyone on the line with their hand raised? are there any hands raised?

>> operator: there is one member of the public on the call and zero hands raised. >> clerk: okay. seeing no further callers, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> president buell: commissioner mcdonnell? >> vice president mcdonnell: thank you so much. just a quick comment to the staff on moving this project forward. we all know, and i certainly appreciate this particular park in this particular neighborhood serving this particular community, so thank you, lauren, and the entire staff for moving this forward, and thanks, lauren, for not feeling well and still presenting. we appreciate you, so with that, i would move approval. >> president buell: thank you. there's a motion. is there a second? >> second. >> president buell: there is a motion and a second. all in favor? opposed? okay. >> clerk: we're actually going to move back to item 7 now --

>> president buell: i'm sorry. could i suggest that since we're going to lose commissioner low at 11:15, that we do -- >> clerk: yes. okay. we're moving onto item 10, 474 bryant street, and 77 still man street project. >> good morning, commission secretary and commissioners. if i can get the overhead, please. thank you. my name is chris townes. i'm a planner with the recreation and park department capital planning department, and i'm joined by the planner from the san francisco planning department. my presentation will provide you with a summary of the shadow effect from the proposed 474 bryant street and 77 still

man street mixed use project on south park, located in the south of market neighborhood. this supports item 1.2 of the strategic plan to strengthen the quality of existing parks and facilities. next slide, please. so for shared policy and code context, prop k, the sun light ordinance, aimed at protecting parks from properties -- ended up protecting park properties from negative shadow impacts. it was adopted by the voters in 1984 and went into effect in 1985. the [inaudible] finding that the shadow would not have a significant adverse impact on the use of the park property.

in 1989, the rec park commission and planning commission jointly adopted what's called the [inaudible] memo, which identified quantitative as well as qualitative criteria for determination of significant shadows. at this time, i'd like to turn it over to cindy luane of the planning department. next slide, please. >> thank you, chris. good morning, commissioners. my name is cindy luane, and i am a senior planner with the planning department

[inaudible]. >> clerk: if everyone could please mute themselves. i hear a personal conversation going on in the background. thank you. go ahead. >> sure. [inaudible] of two seven-story 85-foot-fall mixed use buildings on two separate parcels. each building will consist of 85,000 square feet of mixed use over a parking garage. in the project will also provide 72 class one and eight class two bike parking spaces.

in terms of outreach, a neighborhood preapplication meeting was held virtually on may 14, 2020, followed by additional hours available for phone calls and video conference later. the sponsor is continually working with soma filipino culture heritage districts and has been in contact with the supervisor haney's office. to date, the planning department has not received any communication expressing support for or opposition to the project. the project proposed two new office buildings with ground floor light manufacturing use which are higher and better use than the existing vacant p.d.r. building and will expand opportunities for current residents and attract such activities, which is a goal for the city and central soma area

plan. the project will exceed the amount of required bicycle spaces to encourage bicycling. the project will also include right-of-way street trees. this concludes my portion of the presentation, and i'm available for any questions. thank you. >> thank you, and if i can get the next slide, please. thank you. for orientation purposes, the image at the top is a planned view of where the project site is located in relation to the project park, south park. the street view at the bottom of the slide provides a visual of the existing project side along each of the frontages proposing each of the

building's depicted locations. it is a through site with entrances along stillman and bryant streets. existing project site is currently occupied by, as cindy mentioned, one and two-story p.d.r. buildings. next slide. south park itself is an existing .85 acre park under the jurisdiction of rec and park located in the south market neighborhood. again, it's an oval park surrounded by south park street on all ovid sides and bisected by jack london park.

it has a distinct curvilinear street around its perimeter. spaces include picnic seating tables at both ends of the park, a children's climbing play structure, a small central plaza with seating and various pockets of lawn expanses. currently, there's 14.0966% shadow impact, and the project would add .0053% shadow park increase. the diagram on the right is the project's full year shadow

pain, depicting the project's shadow impact, with lighter blue representing lesser impact shadows and darker blue representing more impact. the average daily shadow duration is 9:06, and the average size is less than 1% of the park area. with regard to shadow location, as you can see, in the zoomed-in image in the top right, these shadows fall across the southern edge of the park in two small slivers, impacting grass and

landscaping. next slide. the image at the top left is the maximum net view shadow. as you can see, it occurs in two small slivers of the park, outlined in red. again, sort of grass pathway and landscaping areas. the maximum shading occurs in the summer at 7:34 p.m., in which the shadow covers .017% of the park area, or roughly 65 square feet. next slide, please. in closing, i'd just like to highlight the 1989 memo

provides quantitative as well as qualitative create for determining whether a shadow on a rec park property will have a significantly adverse impact on the use of the park. parks less than two acres with less than 20% shading, which is the case here, but there is no published standard. this project would have a total of 14.56052% shadow. also, qualitatively, the criteria also considers time of day shadow, time of year, shadow size, shadow duration, shadow location, and public benefit served by the project, as cindy described. next slide, please. just lastly, for visual shared reference, here are some

existing site photos of south park capturing the images i mentioned, including picnic seating at both ends of the park, top row, more interior spaces on the second and third rows, showing the various lawn expanses, and the seating area. the bottom photo is the area where the shadow would touch the edges of the area. that is my presentation, and thank you for your attention. i'm available for any questions, as is cindy. >> president buell: thank you. >> clerk: okay. we're now in public comment. if anyone on the line would like to comment on item 10, please dial star, three to be added to the queue. i see that john kevlin has his

hand raised. john, go ahead. you'll have two minutes. >> thank you, miss summers. let me just share my screen real quick. good afternoon -- or good morning, commissioners. john kevlin on behalf of reuben, junius, and rose. as mentioned, the project proposes demolition of buildings at the property and the construction of two new buildings with roughly 100,000 square feet of office and 17,000 square feet of p.d.r. the project is northwest of the park. mr. townes did a good job of mentioning of there's an extremely small portion of shadow in the park. you can see these are two small little areas at the bottom of

the park surrounded by shadow at the end of the day. once again, these are indications of where the shadow is. you can see the one on the left is not really even useable space. despite the very small amount of new shadow cast on the park, modifying the project in a way to avoid the shadow would be quite significant. you can see here there's three areas of the massing of the building that are what caused the shadow, and they seem to be relatively minor, but when you actually have to carve out, you know, the building in order to be constructible and minimize impacts, we're losing 35 square feet at the front of the building. this is a pretty significant loss to makeup for such a small amount of shadow on the park. just to reiterate what mr.

townes said, south park is a small park per the 1989 guidelines. the guidelines recommend that these projects do not impact over 20% with the shadow, and the project would have a very small increase, below 15%, well below the 1989 guidelines. thank you for your attention, and we respectfully ask that you deny the significant shadow and thank you for your time. >> clerk: this is the time for public comment. paul, are there any callers on

the line for public comment? >> operator: there are two callers and no one in the queue for public comment. >> clerk: okay. seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. >> president buell: okay. commissioners? we have commissioner low. commissioner low, would you like to make a motion on this project? >> commissioner low: i believe that commissioner anderson had her hand up. >> president buell: commissioner anderson? >> commissioner anderson: could somebody please remind me what the park hours are? >> our normal park hours -- our parks are closed between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. i don't know off the top of my head whether south park has unique hours, as some of our

parks do. >> commissioner anderson: yeah, i was wondering if it had special hours. i do know if you wanted to reserve a picnic table, that closes at 6:00 p.m., but i just wanted to say that i do believe that this is close to deminimus. >> president buell: i would like to go back toition commissioner low. >> commissioner low: yes. i would move that the project as proposed does not produce a significant impact, and would move the item as proposed. >> second. >> president buell: we have a motion and a second. all in favor? opposed? seeing no opposed, it carries unanimously, and thanks, john.

okay. we're good. >> clerk: okay. so thank you. now, we will move on -- and just so everyone knows, commissioner low is off the call. we're moving onto item 7, the summer together initiative. >> great. sorry for the earlier glitch, commissioners. my colleagues, who i was excited to bring to this commission in the name of partnership in this exciting initiative, so i'm going to be handling this solo, but i'm going to be joined by anne marie donnelly, who are our recreation and business manager and assistant superintendent and has been instrumental in some of the planning in case that questions come up, which is actually a happy good news presentation that we just want to make sure that the commission and members of the public are aware of, so i will share my screen, and we will get into it. oh, let's see...there we go.

can you see the slide? >> president buell: yes. >> great. now -- hold on. let's make sure that i can advance the slides, which i can't seem to do here, so give me one second -- oh, there we go. perfect. we're on. so as you know, commissioners, perhaps if -- there aren't many silver lining from covid, but one is the incredible relationship that the department of rec and park has had with the department of children, youth, and families since the pandemic began. if you recall, nearly 13 months ago, our department shifted into emergency child care mode for health care providers.

-- providers when the school district closed in march 2020. last summer, we launched a special summer camp program that was covid focused, followed by our community learning hubs, which we've been operating throughout the year while continuing to operate emergency child care, and now, this summer, through some terrific partnerships, some philanthropy, and a partnership with our mayor, but including input from supervisors ronen, melgar, haney, and chan, focusing on what we can do for our school children who have been out of in-person learning for some time. so out of a lot of collective effort comes our summer together program, which i'm going to advance the slides,

where we are continuing to partner with a variety of agencies, community organizations, nonprofit, the business community, to offer free inperson and virtual learning experiences for sfusd students this summer. as you know, it's really been a very, very difficult year of loss for our children. we have talked about this in previous meetings, but it is really worth emphasizing because i think the impact on our kids and on our families has perhaps been understated throughout the year, but kids experiencing learning loss, isolation, stunted social and emotional support and physical activity for some of our most impacted and underserved communities of color. so this summer, we are doing everything that we can to give kids a little bit of a head start heading into the summer

to help combat some of the learning loss issues, to get kids back into a social setting, and to provide them with the supports that they need. all summer programs this summer will be a mix of enrichment and physical recreation but also some academic assistances and academic support. and as you can see here, we'll also be working with high school kids to recover lost credits and continuing to support the school district's ethnic studies curriculum. so this is sort of pyramid of how we're all doing this together thanks to the great partnership of the san francisco public library who will be using some space at the

palace of fine arts, all sfusd students will be eligible for up to ten summer reading books to are distributed by the san francisco public library. i don't think i have him on the call, but i want to really celebrate our city librarian, michael lambert, and maria su. we've been on the phone all year long, talking about how we can support children, youth, and their families. we are partnering with sfusd this summer, who is opening up a number of their facilities, and we are leveraging that by also identifying other community centers and private commercial spaces in an effort mostly led by dcyf to provide in-person learning for up to 17,000 students. rec and park comes in with some

of our traditional work, augmented by some trick lum support, where we will be offering up to 3,000 students summer camp opportunities and learning opportunities, and i want to be clear, we are prioritizing all sfusd students, and all sfusd students will have the opportunity to attend the program this summer. in addition, there are some more unique and boutique opportunities to reach students with personal support. as maria, who -- so i will refer to her as my partner in good. as maria likes to say, we are all in. dcyf, rec park, school district, library, everybody, all hands on deck to try to give our kids a little bit of

an extra boost this summer. here are the rec and park sfesk park san francisco elements of the program, and before i dive into them, i want to mention marie banford, and she has been excellent, as well as all of our rec and park members. i want to reiterate how much i respect all of our rec and park members who have come to work every day for the last 13 months to support our san francisco families. our staff is caring, incredibly flexible, and they have had to compartmentalize their own

families. this summer, we will be offering 35 day camps at 30 areas around the city for nine weeks of summer. this is not a typical summer for us because we are constrained by continuing health orders. kids will be asked to sign up for three-week sessions, which is very different, again, and i had -- and kids will be operating in pods. it's noted that those children 16 and over are invited to be vaccinated, so we still need to be careful and thoughtful, but we will be giving kids a taste of what we do best, which is camps around town, a.s.l. camps, where kids can

participate in sign language or learn sign language. we have neighborhood camps in chinatown and outer mission, we have a girls-only sport camp in mira loma. this is some of the best aspects of the san francisco park and recreation department. we will be hiring over 200 teens age 14 to 17 from all across the industry to work in our camps, and along with hiring a lot of young adults as rec leaders, so we are employing a lot of people, giving both our young teenagers and our older transitional aged youth and young adults some work experiences and some social emotional work experiences, as well. in addition to what we provide

in-house, we have engaged over 190 outside agencies that are interested in operating summer camp programs in san francisco parks, and to this, i really want to extend a tip of the hat to the amazing dana ketchum and her amazing staff who have been managing this, just a constant wave of changes in work relations and opening things up and shutting them down and coming up with lots and lots of agreements and permits and m.o.u.s in short periods of time. through dana's efforts and her team's efforts, we hope to be able to offer an additional 500 camp sessions or an additional 10,000 camp slots.

and the plan is for this summer tooth -- summer together plan, to allow kids or parents to prepurchase or purchase. to be clear, we don't have enough slots to place every sfusd student in a slot or learning opportunity, so this program will continue to prioritize families for highest need in early registration. and that includes families living in low-income housing, families experiencing homelessness, children in foster homes and low-income families with a focus on historically impacted communities, and families with kids with special education needs and i.e.p.s.

of course, we will continue to post opportunities for our special needs families, as well, as we have historically done. we are in the midst of an early registration period because it actually started on april 12 where we are identifying sfusd families, whether they are prioritized for early registration or not. we are identifying sfusd families who are interested in participating in our programs this summer because those families will be given basically two tiers of prioritized registration, and then, of course, for those that are participating in our programs, they will be free. but again, sfusd, dcyf, and a lot of school providers are also partnering with us.

so for those families at home that want to know how they can connect to this program, we want to encourage them by simply calling 311, and we will connect you. sfusd will be contacting families to enroll in one of their specific programs, which is really exciting, by the way. this is sort of the kernel of what will blossom into a partnership of recreational

departments. so a little bit more about r.t.d.s program. the process is open and will remain open until the end of this month. between may 3 and the 7, anne marie and her amazing team will begin registration for the highest needs families as discussed, and these are the very same families that we have been focusing on all year through our community hubs. then, on may 8, we will -- in the morning, we will open up registration to nonpriority sfusd families, and then, by noon on may 8, anne marie, if i have this right, we will open up remaining registration slots to nonsfusd families. for those watching at home, you

can find more information at sfparks.org/register. if you have any questions, please call our hotline at 628-652-2900. that's 628-652-2900, or if you can't remember that number or don't have a pen to write it down, just try 311, and both on the line and hotline, we have interpretation available for anyone who needs it. c.b.o.s who run their own programs are going to be reaching out to their own priority families to enroll them in a variety of programs. families that are not eligible

for early register will be able to register for all slots after may 8. we are in this early registration period. open registration starts -- well, rec and park will start their prioritized registration between may 3 and may 7 and the morning of may 8 for nonprioritized sfusd families, and then everybody else after noon, and then sfusd summer programs will begin monday, june 7. all other programming will begin monday, june 14, and they will begin three three-week sessions of camps. again, this has really been a tremendous partnership with dcyf, our school district, our public library. 311 is lending a hand. the city's department of technology is lending a hand.

philanthropy is important, and we're really grateful to crank start for their $25 million worth of support to this initiative, and i want to conclude by, again, just celebrating recreation division, supported and managed and implemented by just the amazing anne marie donnelly, but every single member of the rec team has supported all of our kids this summer, and we are very pleased and grateful to be able to be giving kids a lift, and to that end, you should also know that dana ketchum and i are working with the san francisco unified school district to organize and

potentially host graduation ceremonies, so the work continues. >> president buell: better answer that call. >> yeah, that, believe it or not, in another example of pandemic life, is my daughter. so i will exit the slide show, and that is the end of the presentation. >> president buell: thanks for filling in there, phil. i know it was short notice. >> no problem. >> clerk: okay. thank you. if anyone is on the call who would like to comment on item 7, summer together, please dial star, three to be added to the queue. >> operator: hi, ashley. there are two members of the public on the line and see -- zero hands raised. we are now -- oh, this is a discussion item. did anyone have anything they wanted to say before i move on?

>> president buell: questions? comments? i see some hands raised here. what's going on? >> commissioner anderson: i just wanted to say how proud and -- and just totally excited i am about rec and park's involvement in this and just echo how invaluable our staff is to this city. it has such a personal -- it's just so personal to me, one, having been born and raised in this city and going to camp silvertree. as the child of a working mother, it was so important to my child's development. and with my own kids, my daughter is one of those former recreation leads, and now she's a team, and she's coming back to kezar sports camp, hoping to

inspire the next generation of players. i'm so grateful for the staff. it's a lot of work, but all of our students, especially sfusd students need this so badly. so thank you for doing this work and thank you for helping with these programs and the graduation ceremonies, which are super important, so thank you all. >> president buell: thank you, commissioner. commissioner anderson? >> commissioner anderson: i just wanted to say what commissioner jupiter-jones said. what rec and park is doing particularly in a time when our children have not been able to attend public school, this kind of enrichment is mission critical, and i just want to thank folks who may not -- this may not be top of mind to

everybody, and that's fine. i guess that, but investing in our children is so important, and this is one of the most important vital -- and san francisco is one of the most important vital progressive cities in the world, and so i just want to commend everyone for doing that. thank you. >> president buell: thank you, commissioner anderson. i don't see any other hands raised, so i think we can move on. >> commissioner mcdonnell had his hand raised. >> president buell: oh, i didn't see it. >> vice president mcdonnell: i just wanted to echo the comments on so many levels. i just wonder, phil, it seems like this is a wonderful opportunity for volunteers, particularly in the reading context. i don't know if that is in the mix, and if it is, fantastic,

and if not, if there is a portal to invite folks in to support in the summer. >> typical great question, commissioner mcdonnell, and i will report back. you know, we use our recreation kids for different programs, but i will report back after consulting with director su about potential volunteer opportunities to support the program. >> i can actually chime in on that, phil. >> oh, great. please do, sarah. >> as you know, commissioner, the volunteer services division is part of our community affairs bucket, and we've been doing our best to try to support volunteers during covid. it's been challenging with some of the gathering regulations, but we have been working with the folks at summer together and together s.f., and the -- and dcyf to publicize

opportunities. so we have a list of needs from our staff. we do this every summer, but we're getting help and support publicizing in getting the word out because of the size and breadth of this initiative, so thank you for thinking of our good list of volunteers. >> vice president mcdonnell: thank you, sarah. >> president buell: okay. so as far as my screen shows, there's no further questions or hands raised, so let us proceed. >> clerk: okay. we are now on item 11, general public comment, continued from item 4. 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 on the recreation and park commission and that do not appear on the agenda. so if you'd like to provide public comment, please dial

star, three. paul, did anyone raise their hand? >> operator: ashley, i see two members of the public and no hands raised at this time. >> clerk: seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. we're now on item 12, commissioners' matters. would any commissioner like to speak? >> president buell: commissioner jupiter-jones. >> so this is very fitting, as today is 415 day, the 15 day of the fourth month, representing san francisco. i'm very excited to be able to talk about -- introduce the -- move forward with the department adopting a native lands acknowledgement, and i first want to say that even though i get the honor of kind of putting this in motion today that it's not -- you know, i'm new to the motion, and it's not me -- that this work has been

happening prior to me joining the commission, and i just want to thank commissioner mcdonnell and ashley and sarah and bethany and eric and, of course, director ginsburg, so i just want to put that on the record that just because you're hearing my voice today, it didn't just come out of my head. but, of course, we are here celebrating san francisco today, and we need to start by acknowledging the first peoples of this land and their history, and how all of us who are proud san franciscans grew to claim that title and all of our different ancestors. i'm hoping for our next may meeting that the secretary summers could help move forward with the drafting of a native land acknowledgement that the department will adopt? this will include a verbal

acknowledgement that hopefully we can present at the beginning of commission meetings and other department events. also, we're going to have a verbal and physical acknowledgement of these ohlone ramaytush people who are the first residents of this land, so i'm excited to work on this and have it come to fruition for the department. >> president buell: thank you very much, commissioner. commissioner mcdonnell? >> vice president mcdonnell: first, i want to thank commissioner jupiter-jones for this. i am excited for that and look forward to it coming forward. secondly, just in the context of us holding our equity moment, that was our equity moment, and just want to acknowledge that. and having said that, say two things. one, i have met with the general manager and sarah madlin and lorraine, other

members of the team, to bring more organizing around the equity moment that will be one part celebration and acknowledgement, one part reporting out on progress of the department on the internal reap as well as external engagement, and it will also create some space for actual agendizing of discussions, where we can grapple with some of the issues in the context of equity, so more to come on that, so again, i want to thank jupiter-jones for her leadership and also particularly in the space of celebration, really want toen courage or invite, rather, my -- to encourage or invite, rather, my colleagues to reach out to me if you're interested in sharing a particular equity moment in a given month. and with that, i would like to invite, because we've already had this discussion, to invite commissioner hallisy to be prepared for the equity moment

in may. >> commissioner hallisy: great. thanks so much, commissioner. i will be ready. >> president buell: great. thanks so much, commissioner mcdonnell. that will be helpful. >> clerk: all right. is there any public comment on item 12, commissioners' matters? paul, did anyone raise their hands on this? >> operator: there are no hands raised, ashley. >> clerk: okay. seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. we are now on item 13, new business/agenda settings. anyone with anything on that? >> commissioner anderson: yes, i have something that i would like to bring up. >> clerk: okay. >> commissioner anderson: i have been hearing a number of people expressing concern in the india basin area about a kayak launch in our area there, and i want to have an

opportunity to have that matter looks into and give an additional report, and certainly, i can talk at greater length with commissioner buell and general manager phil ginsburg. >> president buell: thanks, commissioner anderson, and the general manager and i have had some brief conversations about this, and there are -- there are some materials and responses to those concerns, so we'll look forward to sorting that out. >> commissioner anderson: thank you very much. >> clerk: okay. anything else, commissioners? okay. is there any public comment on item 13? >> operator: there is one member of the public on the line and zero hands raised, ashley. >> clerk: seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. we are now on item 14, communications. is there any public comment on

item 14? >> operator: there are two members of the public on the line and zero hands raised. >> clerk: okay. seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. we are now on item 15, adjournment. >> president buell: chair would entertain a motion. >> so moved. >> second. >> president buell: all in favor? opposed? thank you, one and all, and ashley, thank you very much. mr. general manager, thank you very much. we did some on-the-spot covering, and it went well. >> thanks, everyone. have a good week.