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. >> okay good evening and welcome to the march 5th, 2025 meeting of the san francisco board of appeals. president trasvina will be the presiding officer tonight and he is joined by vice president j.r. eppler commissioner rick swig and commissioner lopez. also present is deputy city attorney jesse minority who will provide the board with any needed legal advice at the controls as the board's legal system alcohol only. and i'm julie lamar, the board's executive director. we will also be joined by representatives from the city departments that will be presenting before the board this evening. up front we have corey teague, the zoning administrator representing the planning department and kevin birmingham ,deputy director of permit services for gbi. i think i actually got the title wrong. chief chief. chief inspector. sorry. we expected mr. hospital tonight. okay so the board meeting guidelines are as follows the

board requests that you turn off or silence all phones and other electronic devices so they will not disturb the proceedings. no eating or drinking in the hearing room. the board's rules of presentation are as follows. appellant's permit holders and department respondents each are given seven minutes to present their case and three minutes for rebuttal. people affiliated with these parties must include their comments within the 7 or 3 minute periods. members of the public who are not affiliated with the parties have up to three minutes each to address the board and no rebuttal. mr. long way our legal system will give you a verbal warning 30s before your time is up. since the board has a vacancy only three votes are required to grant an appeal or to modify a permit or determination. if you have questions about requesting a rehearing the board rules or hearing schedules please email board staff at board of appeals as of borg now public access and participate motion are paramount importance to the board as of gov tv is broadcasting and streaming this hearing live and we will have the ability to receive public comment for each item on today's agenda as of gov tv is also providing closed captioning for this meeting to

watch the hearing on tv go to assist gov tv cable channel 78. please note that it will be rebroadcast on fridays at 4 p.m. on channel 26. a link to the livestream is found on the home page of our website at s.f. government or forward slash b away. >> now public comment can be provided in three ways one in person to v zoom. go to our website and click on hearings and today's date then click on the zoom link on the right side of the page. you can also provide public comment by telephone call 1669 968 33 and enter webinar id 819 6688 9986 and again as of gov. tv is broadcasting and streaming the phone number and access instructions across the bottom of the screen. if you're watching the live stream or broadcast to block your phone number and calling in first star six seven then the phone number. listen for the public comment portion for your item to be called and dial star nine which is the equivalent of raising your hand so that we know you want to speak you will be brought into the hearing when it is your turn. you may have to dial star six to unmute yourself. our legal system will provide

you with a verbal warning 30s before your time is up. please note that there is a delay between the live proceedings and what is broadcast and live streamed on tv and the internet. therefore it is very important that people calling in reduce or turn off the volume on their tvs or computers otherwise there is interference with the meeting. if any of the parties spencer attendees on zoom need a disability accommodation or technical assistance you can make a request in the chat function to alec long way the board's legal assistant or send an email to board of appeals at s.f. borg. you know the chat function cannot be used to provide public comment or opinions. >> please note that we will take public comment first from those members of the public who are physically present in the hearing room. now we will swear in or affirm all those who intend to testify. please note that any member of the public may speak without taking an oath pursuant to their rights under the sunshine ordinance. if you intend to testify at any of tonight's proceedings and wish to have the board give your testimony evidentiary weight. raise your right hand and say i do after you've been sworn in or affirmed. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give

will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> okay. thank you. if you are participant you're not speaking. please put your zoom speaker on mute. so item number one is general public comment. this is an opportunity for anyone who would like to speak on a matter within the board's jurisdiction but that is not on tonight's calendar. is there any member of the public who wishes to speak on an item that is not on tonight's agenda? if you're on zoom, please raise your hand. okay. i don't see anyone so we're going to move on to item number two. >> commissioner comments and questions. >> thank you. thank you, mrs. lamar. i want to welcome everyone to the march 5th meeting of the board of appeals. we have some familiar faces here and we hope to be able to provide justice to to all of you. and i also want to mention i believe i was remiss in not introducing our our new council just the minority at a previous meeting and we certainly want to welcome jesse to our work

here. >> he has had a long history with in different positions of service legal service to the city and county of san francisco including previously with the mayor's office and within the city attorney's office and we've been as you know, we've been have a very good record with with deputy city attorneys providing us guidance and we have there are a lot of experts over there. but as i understand it, when the experts are stumped, they go to the experts expert which turns out to be just a minority. >> so we know that we will have a very good legal service and advice from him. so welcome and we look forward to our work together. >> okay. i don't see any further comments. is there any public comment on this item? i don't see any public comments so we're going to move on to item number three, the adoption of the minutes commissioners before you for discussion and possible adoption or the minutes of the february 26, 2025 meeting.

i move that we approve the minutes. >> okay. is there any public comment on the motion to adopt the minutes ? >> i don't see any so on that motion by vice president eppler to adopt the minutes commissioner lopez president trevino high commissioner swig i so that motion carries 4 to 0 and the minutes are adopted. we are now moving on to item number four. this is appeal number 20 5-003. mickey and art christopher now versus department of building inspection planning department approval. subject property 670 shotwell street. appealing the issuance on january third, 2025 to beth miles of an alteration permit front building install one three by six eight inch exterior door at rear of the unit construct side yard and rear yard condon condominium line privacy fence and gate. this is permit number 2024

09170992. and commissioners as i as i advised you before the meeting the parties have come to an agreement and they would like the board to grant the appeal and modify the permit to remove the fence and gate from the scope of work on the basis that the fence and gate are built entirely on the permit holders property and they do not require a building permit. so the parties are not testifying and this was an agreement that was facilitated by the planning department. so that is what they would like to do and we i have them on record with their agreement to this. >> thank you. and i want to thank strategic for his help in in facilitating what i understand to be a full agreement and something where we can go forward. i would be i don't see any of my colleagues who want to speak out on this matter and before we go to public well when when we if we have public comment i

,i would just be happy to have you, ms. lamar state the motion that apparently is the one that they have agreed to and i'll be prepared to move it. >> commissioner swick. yeah, i was just going to reiterate i would be supportive of accepting the agreement. >> okay. is there any public comment on this item before we call in the motion? >> i don't see any public comment. >> so is anyone making a motion who's making that motion? >> i will make the motion but i'd like to make sure it's in the words that you okay. >> so i'll read the motion. the motion is to grant the appeal and modify the permit to remove the fence and gate from the scope of work on the basis that the fence and gate are built entirely on the permit holders property and they do not require a building permit. >> okay. thank you. so on that motion commissioner

lopez vice president eppler i. >> commissioner swick. so that motion carries 4 to 0. thank you and thank you to the parties. so mr. zak, why don't we speak tomorrow and i'll just we'll talk about logistics of getting this through. we're just going to have to have to get a special conditions permit. there won't be a fee for that. we just need a revised drawing which at that eliminates the fence. so okay. thank you so much. and that concludes this item. so we are now moving on to item number five. this is appeal number 20 5-001 be hall number ten versus the zoning administrator. subject property 2a1 ashton avenue appealing the issuance on december 16th, 2024 to me hall number ten of a notice of violation violations of planning code sections 132 the front setback 172 unpermitted structure and 175 work without a permit a solid fence was built within the required front

setback that is more than three feet in height which is beyond that permitted by section 136 c 17. a trellis was constructed within the required front setback that is larger than that permitted by section 136 the zoning administrator directed the property owners to correct the violations by obtaining a building permit to remove the trellis and legalize the side portion of the fence authorized by the front setback variance granted on july 30, 2019. this is record number 2017 012837 and we'll hear from the appellant first. >> welcome december ten. >> you have seven minutes before i begin can i ask permission from president trasvina? i made hard copies of the slide deck today that i can make available to the board and if possible make that part of the public record.

>> is this the slide deck you're going to be showing? >> this is the slide deck that i'm presenting. yes. and let me make sure the i have a copy for planning or i. i made five i only made in keith i'm sorry. okay.

okay. >> tonight we will discuss fair due process abuse of discretion and relief requested the neutrality requirement of assuming the truth of the facts alleged in the complaint helps to guarantee that life, liberty or property will not be taken on the basis of an erroneous or distorted conception of the facts or the law. california law legislates that abuse of discretion is established and planning has not proceeded in the manner required by law and the california supreme court confirms any process of law that sanctions penalties upon an individual through the use of the fruits of official lawlessness tends to the destruction of ordered liberty first zoning administrator corey teague's assertion that the references to blight controls per administrative code chapter 80 are not relevant to the subjects and a v is that which is not true. california law designates a code enforcement officer employed by any city or county has enforcement authority for health, safety and welfare requirements to prevent public events.

second planning code enforcement is authorized through administrative code chapter 80 to coordinate efforts across departments including the planning department to enforce municipal code and chapter 80 legislates when a notice of violation is issued, it must include one or more photographs of the property showing the blighted conditions plannings and ovi void of any description or photographs of conditions of public nuisance violates chapter 80 in california penal code 820 9.5 third plannings and ovi assertion the subject lot has the required front setback of approximately seven feet five inches is that which is not true planning's miscalculation of the front setback is predicated on a nonexistent public right away. commissioner eppler confirmed that the question of whether this is public or private land is not a question that we're going to answer because that's a state court question. fourth, zoning administrator corey teague's assertion that the board confirmed the location of the property line is determined and understood by the department of public works . is that which is not true? the board of appeals has limited jurisdiction to review

permit denials, suspensions or revocations or zoning administrator decisions containing abuse of discretion or error. the board of appeals does not have jurisdiction to determine if rights away are public or private. >> fifth planning's assertion of a nonexistent public right away to miscalculate the size of the setback also misplaces the front setback in the middle of the yard which is not true planning's misallocation of the front setback violates planning code 132 requirements that front setback locations be truthful six plannings miss location of the front setback invalidates plantings and of the assertion that a fence was built within the required front setback because according to plannings miss location of the front setback the fence along the sidewalk is not within the front setback seven and of the assertion a fence was built that is more than three feet in height which is beyond that permitted by section 136 see 17 is a fraudulent allegation of a fence crime. the four foot height of the historically four foot fence was legalized with the variance on july 30th 2019 and dpw was illegal hold on the fence

permit since 2021 predicated on a nonexistent public right away. invokes equitable tolling and equitable stoppel regarding planning's statute of limitations claim for their 2019 variance eight planning's innova assertion that the trellis within the required front setback is larger than that permitted by section 136 is that which is not true? the west portion of the trellis is not in a front setback but is truthfully in private open space and 130 685 legalizes and private open space overhead horizontal projections leaving at least 7.5ft of headroom or the depth of any such projection is no greater than ten feet nine plantings and over assertion pursuant to planning code section 175 a building permit is required for the construction of any structure subject to the planning code is that which is not true 175 legislates no permit shall be approved by the planning department contrary to the provisions of this code 175 does not create a permit requirement for trellises ten planning's assertion that the trellis requires a building permit is that which is not

true? san francisco building code 106 8.2 exempts structures from a permit when the projected roof area does not exceed 100ft2 and california building code building code defines roof area as the roof deck substrate or thermal barrier insulation vapor retarder and roof covering are trellis does not maintain any of these components of roof area ensuring that 1.68.2 applies 11 plantings and of the assertion that the trellis is an obstruction violating planning code is that which is not true because the trellis lacks a roof area and is open on the sides and top the trellis meets planning code 135 definition of a solarium which planning credits is private usable open space when 50% or more of its perimeter and 30% or more of its overhead are open to error 12 planning code one on 1.1 legislates that open space and access to sunlight must be protected from development plantings and ovi mandate remove the trellis from the front setback violates one on 1.1 by mandating removal of a structure that preserves

and protects open spaces from development. 13 planning code 121.1 legislates that prior to taking any action the city must ensure that such action is consistent with the general plan planning zenobia mandate remove the trellis from the front setback further violates 1 to 1 by violating 20 recreation and open space policies of assets. general plan 14 the zoning administrator corey teague's assertion that the s.f. general plan is not related to private open spaces and is irrelevant to this case is that which is not true? the s.f. general plan identifies private open spaces as part of the city's open space system 15 while planning code 176 authorizes planning to issue a notice of violation for violations of planning code. neither are trellis nor fence violate planning code which invalidates all of plantings 2024 and 2021 violation notices 16 zoning administrator corey teague's assertion that the fence and trellis construction was visible from the street and aerial photos somehow legalize the government search of private property without probable cause and without proper consent is that which is

not true? the supreme court corrects planning's error in is essential to any seizure of the knowledge of property conditions that planning did not violate the fourth amendment in arriving at the place from which the evidence could be plainly viewed, planning must be lawfully authorized by the existence of unsafe property to view private property and the supreme court further compare confirms a search of private property without proper consent is unreasonable unless it has been authorized by a valid search warrant. thus we humbly request this board declare the zoning administrator abuse his discretion, rescind in reverse planning's unlawful violation notices order planning to issue new lawful decision 30s and order planning to adhere to municipal, state and federal law. >> thank you. okay. thank you. we have a question from president trasvina. thank you for your testimony and for them the materials that we could follow along with here and the planning tonight you have you have a copy of this, right? >> right. um, the question i have is is

on the page that says second abuse of discretion is that that's the trellis correct? correct. and when we talk about projecting from the house it doesn't project it's not attached to the house. it is not attached to the house . and how how is it does it come out of the ground or it is attached to the ground? okay. and the and its height is it more than eight feet? it is eight feet. we had a landscape licensed landscape contractor build arbor and he said it was eight feet by grade on his plans and people can see through

through this court at least this picture makes it look like people can see through it. >> yes, the walls are all open. right? right. is it your view that it can be anywhere on your property or that this particular location is not prohibited? >> this location is not prohibited by planning code. thank you. >> okay. commissioner lopez, thanks for for the materials for your testimony. >> can you can you provide a little bit more color i'm curious about the the statement about the four foot fence being legalized by the 2019 variance. >> can you give a little bit more background on that? okay. yes, i can give more background. can you clarify a little bit more about what you're just how how how from your perspective

how did that work was that came to be was that specifically outlined in in the variance is that in the in the in the in the text of of that variance so in 2017 a neighbor filed a music complaint and the building department came out and did a search and their search they said oh you built this fence and we said no, we repaired a fence that was already there and planning said then filed their notice of violation for the fence and said we needed to get a permit. and so when we went to get the permit for the fence at the building department they said oh, we don't permit for fences. you now need a variance. so then we had to go through the work of getting the variance for the fence and we did get that variance. scott scott sanchez was the zoning administrator at the time and approved the variance and the variance allowed the four foot height of the fence which was always four feet since before we moved in and so

and so that then is your is the issue that you have i'm just looking at the language of the seventh point that you're sharing plannings and of the assertion quote a solid fence was built within the required front setback and continuing is is the issue then the the fact that this was a repair and that it wasn't built or or you're saying that this is a non-issue entirely because of the variance so planning in their brief said that oh our variance expired or that we gave in 2019 because the fence was or the fence we permit wasn't completed the fence repair permit wasn't completed but db dpw has had a hold on the fence repair permit so they won't let us complete it because of their claim of a public right away that doesn't exist. so we could not complete the

permit and so planning in their brief said because that permit is still open that there's a statue to limitations on the timeline of the variance that we gave you in 2019. but again that's why equitable stoppel and equitable tolling apply because we weren't allowed to to complete the permit per dpw got it. >> okay. i understand now. thank you. okay. thank you. no further questions as we will not hear from the planning department right. >> right. good evening commissioners

president chair senior corey teague zoning administrator for the planning department. >> as you are aware the appeal before you tonight is of a notice of violation issued for 201 ashton avenue and related specifically and primarily to the trellis structure that is located within the required front setback. the proposed variance for this trellis structure was heard actually a couple of years ago but actually issued last year was a denial and that was following the appeal action by this board on the minor encroachment permit that dpw had had denied initially and this board granted with conditions that variance denial then was heard by this board last october and the board upheld the variance denial at that time. >> as you've heard and can see in the brief the appellant's argument is not is not that the trellis itself is a permitted obstruction within the required

fronts setback which it is not . it is instead that the existing trellis structure is actually not within the required front setback. however, that claim relies on the disputed location of the front property line and the board can already confirmed agreement with the department of public works on the location of that property line through its actions last year related to the minor encroachment permit for the structures within the public right of way. i mean again if the property line is where the appellant claims it to be then that minor encroachment permit would have been unnecessary to begin with . and so as was mentioned this issue can be played out in the courts but from the city's perspective that is the location of the of the property line and any deviation from the city's determination on where that property line would be at this point we're kind of retroactively in conflict with the prior actions on the minor encroachment permit and the variance denial as well to

going back to what is permitted in the acquired front setback. again, that's not a claim that the appellant is making so i won't go into detail on that point now but of course if there are any questions or any desire to discuss the nuances of what's permitted within the required front setback under the planning code, i'm more than happy to speak to that. so the appellant also argues that this enforcement is not valid under chapter 80 of the administrative code and that section is very much related to blight specific to blight. however, that argument is misplaced in this case because the notice of violation in question is only related to a violation of the planning code for an unauthorized structure in the in the required front setback and the notice does not reference blight or chapter 80 or really have anything to do with that issue or that administrative code chapter. and then finally the appellant claims that this enforcement

action is an abuse of discretion discretion. however in fact this enforcement case is actually quite common and straightforward. additionally, because the unauthorized structures are visible from the public right of way, the planning department never had any need and never did enter the appellant's property so to my knowledge there have been no planning department staff that have ever set foot on the actual property. i also just want to point out that the appellant has filed two separate claims in court related to the location of the property line. the enforcement of all the city agencies relative to these structures and to the variance in iowa. so any claims that the appellant may have disputing the city's position on the property line or the conduct of enforcement anything related to that there is an opportunity through through the judicial system for that to be addressed further beyond what we how we may or may not address it here at the board. so given this information it's my opinion that the notice

violation in question is accurate and appropriate. it does not represent an abuse of discretion and as such i would respectfully request that the board deny the appeal and uphold the violation. and if there are any other questions regarding kind of timeline of events or any other issues that were raised in the briefs of course i'm happy to address those as well. >> thank you. thank you. commissioners, quick so in in in reading the the lengthy brief presented by the appellant i was really wondering the things that i was wondering was what haven't we dealt with before and what is above our pay grade on this on this commission that's a metaphor for we you know we have the opportunity to take a position on on certain items

but certain items are and i'm probably going to ask the city attorney to to jump in on this later. but not not right now because i want to wait until there's been rebuttal and then i'm probably going to ask you the same question what is above our pay grade meaning what can we handle here and what really should be left to the civil courts but give you a chance to think about it how that better than jumping on you spontaneously so but but you know what what have we not done before we on the related to where the the the line is where the setback is measured from we dealt with that before. >> correct. i mean on this specific project . yes. yes. so this was very much one of the primary issues that was addressed through the appeal of

the denial initially of the minor encroachment permit from dpw know dpw determined that the minor encroachment permit was necessary because of the city's records of where the property line is which meant that the the the lower fence that wraps the property line is actually in the public right of way. so that's what an incessant necessitated the minor encroachment permit in the first place. now dpw denied that initially because that fence was taller than what their standards typically permit. so through the appeal process that happened through i think two hearings here at the board there was this question that was discussed at length about where is the right of way and public works really is our agency that oversees kind of the subdivision act and does a lot of the mapping for the city and they're kind of our experts

on where the public right of way starts and stops and it was very much their position that the public right away was wider than what the appellant contends and that was essentially an important distinction because again if the if the property line is where the appellant's say that the minor encroachment permit was never needed in the first place, there was no need for the board to grant the appeal and issue a minor encroachment permit if the if the work wasn't actually in the public right of way. so to that extent the board has heard this question on the location of the property line acknowledge that you know they were kind of confirming dpw position but also acknowledging that the appellant has the right which they are taking currently in court to dispute that legally so that that's what has happened already on that issue relative to where whereas the location of the property line right so we've accepted the location of the property line and we we've accepted that that's our decision by making taking the

position that we did by by public vote and we've also taken the position that if we're wrong that's up to a civil court not ours, not for us to reverse but rather to take it to a civil a civil court. >> am i am i captured capturing that properly? >> that that's correct. the only thing i would adjust to that is that i wouldn't characterize it as you know, it wasn't a decision necessarily the board had to make. it was a determination that the city made right through the department of public works. >> it's a character it's a characterization that we accepted by virtue of our right . all right. yeah. and and then we have we and then on the whole issue of of the trellis and did we did we not take that position did we not take a position on that

by by denying the in our in our last last time that we were here. >> correct. so okay you've kind of actually made two decisions on the trellis because part of the minor encroachment permit based on the property line for dpw records is that a small portion of the trellis is actually in the public right of way. yes, the majority of it's on the the actual private property. when you took granted the appeal and approve the minor encroachment permit with conditions you actually approve moved the portion of the trellis to go within the public right of way to basically allow to see what would happen with the variance right so that if the variance was approved kind of the whole trellis could remain but then the variance for the trellis was denied and then that question came before this and we upheld the position that it should be

denied. >> the board unanimously denied that appeal and the variance denial was upheld right. so that was my question have we not dealt with everything here and therefore with all due respect to the appellant, my question why are we here because we already ruled on that and any ruling that we would make according to this appeal would be contrary to what we already ruled on. and if again we are incorrect in that ruling then a civil this becomes a civil matter because it is the well it becomes a civil matter that we won't participate in but it but rather a civil matter that the courts can take up and tell us that our our point of view was legally incorrect. >> correct. i mean the issue of where is the property line from the city's perspective has kind of been addressed twice to both of those actions. you know, the i think the appellant is making some additional claims about this

enforcement that go beyond just where the property line is the abuse of discretion, some other things that aren't necessarily about that. but the only argument the appellant is making to m knowledge about the trellis itself and the front setback issue is that it's not in the required front setback because of their position on where the property line is, right. and so on the subject of and as i was going through this which was handed to me the the one page that i did you know, put a reminder on for myself is the issue of abuse of discretion and can you tell me your argument as to why you did not abuse that why there was not abuse and abuse of discretion from your point of view? >> sure. i mean this was a case where there initially the complaint came in to be for i mean music

was part of the complaint. it was also constant construction is a combo complaint about the construction and the music involved. it was a scope that i felt should be also referred to planning because it was a potential planning code violations that was referred to planning. we opened the case again in terms of the issue of were there structures that were constructed without a permit and that were in the required front setback like that was easily observed. and so and we then you know, i think we've been very open and working with this property owner even with the fact that through this whole process we held off on actually issuing the notice of violation so that we could go through all of this due process and we didn't actually issue the notice of violation to all of this due process kind of landed to confirm everything we had. you know, our position up to this point. so i think based on that and again to my knowledge i'm not aware of any planning department staff ever going on

the property. so there's definitely i don't think there's any issue of any kind of violation of their privacy or property or unauthorized searches or anything of that. >> that's a large i mean i feel like it's like we kind of followed this to the book and it's been very reasonable and i don't feel like there's been any abuse abuse of discretion, you know, to the to the point of abuse of discretion or or or sneaking onto the property or having a drone fly over and take a photo or it's kind of like what we hear many times which is somebody in the neighborhood walks down the street and says about some construction going on wait a moment, what are they doing there? and then they go because it's there. it's visible from the sidewalk. it's very obvious. so what that neighborhood representative would do would call somebody and say what's going on there? we haven't seen a permit. we haven't been advised this

seems to be illegal. is it at which point you get a either a a chronicled or an anonymous notice of violation filed correct or complaint filed in open complaint. and so and that didn't take anything covert. it took somebody walking down the street going wait a moment. i don't remember seeing any neighborhood notice on that or i'd haven't seen a permit filed on. so it's as simple as that. you you all you all saw as everybody else could see something being built. you suppose you saw that that thing was not done with the permit or done in your view illegally but it didn't take any covert action on your point and your part to discover that because it was there in front of everybody and easy to see. >> is that your point? yeah. i mean the obviously people file complaints in all kinds of manners and for all kinds of reasons but once we get a complaint like this is really about is there an abuse of discretion on the zoning

administrator or the planning department side through the enforcement of this case and i'm not aware of any specific point raised that would be actually pointed to as an abuse of discretion. i don't think that there's been any abuse of discretion in this case. >> yeah. so wrap up to my my three points. one we handle the the site the property line issue. the first time we heard this we came to an agreement on it as a board and voted to as part of our our as part of our vote part of our motion to recognize that as characterized and second of all in our second hearings on this we we we dealt with the issue of the the trellis and and thirdly to my question this is as simple as walking down the street and seeing something built illegally and somebody filing a

notice violation going we'd like some clarification on that. this is not being done legally, correct? sure. okay. thanks, president. just when you i often think a lot like commissioner swig but in this case i'm i'm hearing your exchange with him kind of want to come with a completely opposite view and i hope you can either bring me back if i need to be brought back or correct the record or confirm the thoughts of this idea about somebody see something from the street and starts a complaint this didn't this start back in 2017? >> i believe the initial complaint that was filed the dba in 2017 i don't know that i don't know who filed that complaint and i mean i don't want to characterize it as someone walking down the street . it was i think as someone who spent time nearby. >> yes, that was part of the complaint. there was as i recall, it was the only part no that the

complaint also was for constant construction and playing of loud music. >> i'm sorry what was the first word of concern? >> i think the actual words were constant construction and the playing of loud music. >> yeah, noise noise. >> i mean the constitution should not it absolutely nothing to do with what was being built. it was not someone saying oh we see a a problematic incursion into the right of way or some of those too high it was playing music and construction at times that they said were inappropriate. so 7 or 8 years later we're still here and i'm just i, i can see why a member of the public would would see a little bit of abuse of discretion on this. but what i'm trying to bring back on onto this and where

where i differ with commissioner sweig is i really do think it would help to have either the deputy city attorney or our executive director confirm or go over some of the work that we have already done on this case because i appreciate the issue of maybe this belongs in court rather than before the board and i'm i'm especially cognizant of that because i have voted in the minority on what the board has done and i try to respect what the board has done and i consider if the board has done something then that is a new factor in how i view right away placement a placement of the placement of the of the trellis or the or the fence. so i'm was hoping either this lamar or mr. minority could could confirm what it was whether whether we have established the existence of the right of way and and it's and how far it goes i'd be happy and when i was up since

mr. minority was here i can just let you know what the procedural posture was although i do understand that he went back and watched all of the hearings so he's not well he's prepared but so we had appeal number 20 3-067 was an appeal of the denial of the minor sidewalk encroachment permit and the board granted that appeal and reinstated review of the permit on the and placed imposed conditions they adopted . if you may recall that public works changed some of the features. so basically the board granted the appeal reinstate to review the permanent condition that it be revised to incorporate the conditions or requirements set forth in the brief from public works dated june 13th, 2024 which was submitted for the hearing with the following modification the pergola can

remain in place subject to the planning department's consideration of the variance application for the pergola and the order was made on the basis that public works recommendations are consistent with the code and public works. traditional behavior in similar manners. and if you recall we had three hearings for that appeal and it was continued at one point so that a surveyor so that we could get a survey and the survey confirmed the city's position as to the location of the property line. so that was that was quite rigorous. >> it was rigorous. i'm just hoping you can say or either one of you can say yes or no that the decision that we did make was based upon either a finding or assumption that the city's position on the location of the right of way is the one that governs right.

well, you you made the decision on the minor sidewalk, the denial of the of the permit and that decision presumably was based upon the survey. so you didn't you didn't make a finding the survey is valid but presumably you would have made this decision based on your agreement that the survey was correct. >> so subsequent to this appeal she applied for a variance for the pergola. that variance was denied and the board upheld the denial of the variance for the pergola since she hasn't removed the pergola or secured the permit for the side fence that the planning department issued a notice of violation which is before you today. okay. do you have anything to add mr. minority okay. >> okay that that's very helpful for me and i hope for everybody who is who's followed following this case.

the other question i had is the appellant says that the trellis should be considered a solarium . why is why why why is she incorrect? >> well, i don't know that she claiming that it should be considered a solarium. i think she was trying to express an analogy which is not actually appropriate here a solarium as a structure is not permitted in 136 and if you look at that if you look at 136 it's not in there and 135 section 135 which is where we talk about required open space. generally speaking required open space is required to be open is outdoors. um there is an exception in 135 that says within certain parameters a solarium because it is essentially allowing light in if a solarium is

meeting certain parameters it can be counted towards your usable open space but that's purely a question of the provision of this usable open space. that's not a question of what kind of structure may be permitted within a yard or a setback so that that analogy is not really relevant for this situation. >> okay. well at least in the 11th abuse of discretion she states that he troubles meets the definition of solarium and you're saying that it does or it doesn't and i'm saying i don't think it meets either the definition of what is lariam would be under section 135 and it's also not relevant because the provision of a solarium is not something that's covered under 136 for permitted obstructions and in alaska it does relate to section 136 and you provided as as an exhibit pages 46 and beyond. can you can you walk walk

through is is there is your view or is the law that if it's not contained on the one of the many, many uh sub clauses and then they go up to like 23 or more that if it's not describe there it's not permitted and sure can i get the overhead please over in overhead. thank you. okay that's the one i printed this version out because i realize the one that i printed out from the code is not the easiest one to read so i printed one that was a little more easy to zoom out please, i don't need this. >> i mean, i think this is what i got. yeah, i think i'm happy with where this is because it specifically says here that the following instruction shall be permitted i should say even in the title this is for

instructions over streets and alleys in set regard setbacks in required yards and in usable open space it talks about basically they're permitted as indicated by the x symbol in the columns and you can see we have four different types of areas. not every permitted obstruction is approved. we can't see the column. >> i think you know i moved away. here we go. but mr. and first describe why why this is considered an obstruction what is it obstructing sure. so when we have a required yard or setback it's basically required to be left open like no buildings, no structures except what is permitted per section 136 so this is basically this building or a structure or right. >> so this would be a structure technically a building is a type of structure. a building is something that is roofed and walled where a structure can be open structures like this that aren't necessarily enclosed and projection is out from the building and the structure is up from the ground. >> yeah, i mean basically a

projection is going to be a feature from an existing structure or a building and then a separate structure will be something the stand alone. >> so this is and then specifically those i was going to get to your original question basically there's language here that basically says only those things in 136 are permitted within within yards and setbacks in open space. that's kind of your original question. that's what i'm trying to trying to get to to answer. that's where that's where that provision is, right? so if it's not on here it's not allowed as long as it's an obstruction or a right structure within it required setback or yard. yes, because the point of those are to be open and not built upon and so if it's not called out in 136 then it's not permitted to be within within the yard or set back and it becomes a structure when it's built into the earth or comes out from the earth a structure

doesn't have to be built into the earth. we can get the code if you want and online we define a building and a structure. there are other features that are called out in here that may not fall under those definitions. i mean there's a lot of different things in 136 that are called out that would not be something you think of as typically a constructed building or structure but basically those are the features within one of the things that are called out in 136 or what permitted within within yards and setbacks or required yards and setbacks. right. but as long as they're built right don't know if i understand the question too. >> i mean you can get prefabricated buildings that aren't built and set them down and those also have to meet the requirements of the code. you think of storage buildings or other kind of prefabricated structures that aren't necessarily constructed on site. those are also covered by this

well what about a ladder? >> yeah so that's i mean is i mean i'm trying to i'm not trying to be flippant here and this is an important issue and i respect your professionalism. your expertise are far more than mine on on on this on this matter but i read 136 and i read about obstructions and structures and i get projections but what why is that what would make this trouble is not a structure? >> well i don't want to get to caught up into things being a structure or not because for example one of the things that are called out in 136 are like landscaping features or outdoor furniture. those things aren't structures, right? that's what i'm trying to get at is that the 136 does cover things that would be considered buildings or projections off of an existing building and structures but it also covers features that are not that are not wouldn't that

those those either now for something to be a structure or and again i could get the exact definition i don't have it in front of me essentially it's a it's something that does require kind of fixed placement right and that's not defined exactly what that means. but like for example, this trellis structure does have kind of pretty substantial footings into the earth to hold it hold it there. it's definitely the type of feature that we would consider a structure. anything else that makes it i mean it's it's opaque, right? >> you can see through it and sure and and 136 calls out some of those types of features you know for example you can have a gazebo in the required rear yard and it has to be open to a certain extent. it can't be fully enclosed and the high and the square footage is limited. so the fact that it's whether it's open or not wouldn't mean it's not covered under 136. it might mean it just falls

under a different a different provision. but again even things like that the gazebo, the 100 square foot storage shares the things are a little bit more substantial. those are generally only authorized under 136 in the rear yard they're not permitted within the front setback and in subsection 21 landscaping and garden furniture are allowed, correct? correct. and 22 garden structures enclosed by walls. so this is an enclosed eye wall so that that wouldn't apply right. 23 other structures commonly used in gardening activity is such as greenhouses and sheds no more than eight feet in height and no covering no more than 100ft2. >> correct. but that's only permitted in the in yards the x they're the only that's called out in yards that's not permitted in over streets and alleys within setbacks or within your required usable open space. >> so so it's only the right

the right two lanes rather than the correct yeah and because we have those four different types of spaces. >> again, not everything in 136 is permitted in all of them. they're generally speaking the larger more substantial structures and features are permitted in yards because those are usually in the rear makes less visible and rear yards typically tend to be bigger and the required front set back the only things that are typically permitted there are far less substantial things you know three foot solid fences retaining walls, front entry stairs, things things of that nature. >> well, i appreciate your taking the time to give me that. education is very helpful i hope i hope it informs not just me but my colleagues and the appellant and shall have an opportunity to speak in rebuttal about it. >> thank you. no problem.

>> thank you vice president eppler thank you. two questions one since we talked about it and i'll help you out a little bit would you agree that the this sounds like the definition of structure anything constructed or erected that requires a fixed location on the ground or attachment to something having fixed location on the ground? >> i would okay. thanks. the second question is in the ninth abuse of discretion there's an assertion that planning's assertion that the structure, the trellis needs requires a building permit is incorrect. can you explain to us why a building permit is necessary for something like what is built on the property there? >> yeah, generally you know the purview of what requires a building permit falls to the department of building inspections. however when there are features that require approval under the planning code we have the ability to acquire a permit be obtained to document those

features especially features that would require a variance even if it might not otherwise require a building permit from dvi. so a good example of that it's not what's happening here but with vbi if you're doing a fence that six feet or less that doesn't require six feet in height solid stance that doesn't require a building permit but again in your required front setback you can only have a three foot solid fence. so if you were going to do a solid fence taller than that that would require a variance and we would want that authorized under a and documented under a building permit as well. >> okay. and so then in this circumstance because a variance would be required for this structure then a permit would therefore be necessary under the planning department's rules. >> correct? okay. and it's my understanding and i don't speak for my colleague but i think it would also just trigger a building permit from dba as well. >> okay. thank you, chip. thank you for the questions. >> we will now hear from dubai

from president trevino, members of the board kevin birmingham representing the building department this evening i believe corey covered most of it but alex, can i get the overhead real quickly overhead please? the building department is slightly different than the planning department. here is the frequently asked questions and it says here does a garden structure such as a pergola cabana sunshade require a building permit? and the answer is yes. if the pergola cabana or sunshade structure is more than 60ft2 it and more than eight foot in height or is more than 50% enclosed it does require a building permit and also planning department approval. so under the building code they would trigger a permit the need for a permit and also planning approval that still needs. okay. thank you. are there any questions? i don't see any so thank you.

you can be seated. thank you. we're now moving on to the public comment portion. is there anyone on zoom who wants to provide public comment ? i don't see any hands raised so we will move on to rebuttal december ten you have three minutes. i pull something up on the computer and show it now. >> yeah that'd be great. >> computer please. thank you. >> okay. i wanted to answer dr. or

commissioner swing's question first about what happened. we cover before this is actually the first time we've ever been able to challenge planning's allegations of code violations that has never been allowed in the permit or in the variance hearings because it was assumed that those were all accurate. and so that's what is different here is this is the first time we're actually able to challenge their interpretation of code if that's accurate. the second question was does this structure violate any planning code and it does not. the structure is both in private space and in front setbacks and i pulled up planning code section 130 6c1 and 130 6c1 says in a front setback and you can see that there's the check in the front setback projections of an architectural nature that are at least 7.5ft clearance and do not increase the floor area or

the volume of the opens of space enclosed by the building such as cornices sunshades are allowed in a front setback. >> so when i brought this up to planning planning in 2021, the reasoning that planning gave me was that oh it doesn't it violates this code because it's not attached to the home and that was actually the purpose of the initial variance was to say is that a correct interpretation that the only reason that this this pergola is being targeted is because it's not attached to the home even though i brought that up during the variance that was not addressed by the zoning administrator, the new notice of violation no longer mentions that it needs to be attached to the home and they said it's larger than needed but the planning codes allows the trellis structure and structure of an architectural nature in both open spaces and front setbacks.

so that's the first thing. the second thing i wanted to just read the complaint that was filed in 2017. the resident at this address has been consistently doing construction and playing loud music from 10 a.m. to 6 to 7 p.m. most days of the week. i would like to request the music volume be lowered or turned off. i can hear it in my apartment all day. that is the original complaint and the question about the survey. >> the surveyor only confirmed the presence of this right away. the surveyor did not say if it was a public right away or a private world away and was not able to make that determination and and the only i think that's everything that i had wanted to make sure i included. thank you. i don't any questions i don't see any questions this point so you can be seated we'll hear from the planning department.

>> hello again president senior commissioners corey teague, zoning administrator for the planning department. i mean just very specifically to address the 130 6c1 reference in the 7.5ft clearance i can pull it up but if you look at that that's permitted everywhere including over streets and ali's and the types of features that they're calling out that is specifically and also. further up at 136 it says anything that's permitted over a street an alley must have a minimum seven for seven and a half for head clearance because you're going into the public right of way. you got to have that clearance so that just doesn't apply to this at all. that's really talking about bay windows cornices architectural features that project off of a building over the public right of way or into the required front setback not a standalone structure that is within the required front setback. so that i think that provision is just simply not not applicable here. and then the only other issue i

would point out is that like we've been here multiple times on this issue and you know i've had conversations with the appellant it's all been very, you know, respectful. you know, there's nothing i think we've worked with them as well as we can within the framework of the law that exists and treating them the same way we treat everyone else who has the similar situation. i don't think that obviously what is the violation here is like the most egregious violation in the world, right compared to we have we have a situation where someone built an entire single family home without permits like that's much more egregious than than this. but it is within the framework of the code that it requires. >> a permit does not meet the code. it requires a variance. we've we went through all of

that process. the the the appellant has had adequate due process on this issue and i think that has run its course and we've been i think very respectful and we've tried to treat them with respect and we really play it by the book and be as open as we can and understanding as we can through this process. so i just want to be clear about that. there's no kind of disrespect or animosity between the department and the appellant. i understand their desire to keep this. it's you know, it's a it's a feature that people would want to keep on their property. >> i completely understand it. but under the provisions of the laws that we have on the books today, we've been through the process to to try to have it legalized and that hasn't been successful. and as a result the only option left under the code as it exists right now is to remove remove the structure or replace it with something that is permitted under the planning code. so thank you and i'm available

for any questions you may. >> thank you. commissioner swig then president trasvina so the item that the opponent just brought up it didn't apply is what you're saying? >> no, it does not apply. okay. but the unfortunate thing on this and it keeps on on coming up and i and that is you know, it could have been a contractor could have been the appellant could have been a friend it could have been anything there was there was music being played. somebody made a complaint. this is a chronic condition. we're tired of it and they've they've they've they fire they file a complaint because they just want the music turned down and then it's like the it and then and then this happens because there's as a result their complaint which was for something completely different although there was mention of of ongoing and and seemingly

chronic construction that that other other things surfaced is this like what i read in this anonymous what i read in the paper yesterday about the the the random traffic stop of a car in santa rosa where the car pull pulled the car over and for a just to go say there was an an infringement of of driving and then in the process in the back of the car they discovered drug paraphernalia drugs and and an illegal harvest of abalone oops and therefore suddenly that random traffic stop turned into something far grander. is this is this synonymous to that where there was a complaint made somebody from the city responsibly made the respond to that and then discovered oh we see a lot more

here than just loud music is that is that is that is that a fair well comparison? what i want to say i don't want to make direct comparisons and i don't want to speak for tbi because initially this complaint was filed to them. they looked into it determined there was an issue and then also referred it to planning. so you know, we get complaints filed in so many ways and for so many reasons and that's really not the issue. right. because it's hard for us to judge on our end why a complaint was filed exactly who it was filed from. the question for us is you know, is there an issue that needs to be addressed? i don't know if this is a situation where db i went out to the property to address the the issues and saw a structure constructed and or being constructed that clearly didn't have permits and then that's an obvious issue that needs to be addressed. and then once that said known issue it was referred to the planning department. >> yeah i mean that's that's kind of where i was getting

that we've had we've had many, many, many, many complaints here about where where a citizen looks up and says that doesn't seem right and then phones tbi or phones planning and said that doesn't seem right can you go have somebody check on it and the that that doesn't seem right part turns in to the minor issue when they discover oh my god what's happened here and then suddenly we have pandora's box right? >> and i want to be clear that we don't you know when we have complaints like this filed and we go to a property, it's not a scenario where if this was a complaint about this front trailers we would not ask to see everything on the you know we're not going out looking for hidden violations. however, if we go out to a site to investigate something and there is obvious issues present right that you can't unsee we don't we don't turn a blind eye to that either. we're not we shouldn't. right. because there's all different

kinds of violations. again, i mentioned we have much more egregious violations that happen and those permit and those complaints come in for all kinds of reasons as well. we're really focused on once we become aware that there is an issue how do we address the issue as we're required to under the code? >> yeah. so my point of all this is that we shouldn't focus on the fact that oh my god, this was just a noise violation and then this happened. it was yes there was a noise violation and in response to the noise violation a responsible inspector saw that there were other issues and it was their responsibility to call that call those issues to the attention of their respective sheriff chapter heads or department heads. >> yeah. again, i don't want to speak too directly to that because the initial complaint and investigation was from through dba. but if it had been a planning department complaint and we investigated for one reason we

saw an obvious violation in the front of the property yeah we would need to take action on that. >> yeah. so mr. birmingham has hopefully paid attention to this line of questioning so that's why i have to repeat myself. can you respond to that please mr. birmingham in your your follow up testimony? okay. thanks. >> thank you. president just veena has a question. >> the only the only question i have a relates to and pretty i appreciate your you're describing the the work you've done with the appellant and and these things get tense but be a as you describe professionalism and providing providing us the city's position in all of the discussions back and forth over a number of years and particularly on the on this on this trial as have as anyone from the city said here's the problem and here is an alternative to what your front

yard could look like. i mean i'm sure that we've communicated to the appellant that, you know what is there is not permitted under the code or require a variance like if you want something else there without a variance it would have to fit under something that's permitted under 136 i don't know that we've been proactive in the sense that we've just proposed other ideas to them because obviously we don't know what the appellant would would like to have. they might not like to have anything else in the front yard other than this trellis but if they but if someone asked us just to let you know when people do say can i do this instead or can you help me figure out what i could do, are there alternatives? >> absolutely. we're we're always happy to help people understand because you know, the code isn't always super clear. you know, it's not always easy to just go on the website and be able to completely understand what's permitted and what's not permitted and we understand that. so i think we definitely are always willing to help people

understand the code and understand what their options are. that's things like can't before if it needs to be reviewed or can't be on the front it's got to be in the backyard. >> yeah, absolutely. we always try to give people options and the reason that's important is because when you have a violation we're just confirming there's a violation . there may be five ways you can correct that violation. we're not going to dictate to that person. right. but we want to make sure they know what those options. >> thank you. okay. thank you. no further questions. we'll hear from gbi commissioners. there was a complaint filed. we are obligated to investigate it. i remember when this happened first i talked to the inspector inspector weaver who was out there and i asked him what happened. he said the guys were still actually working on the fence. he went up he observed it was over three feet tall, said you need to get a permit. we're planning approval because it's over three feet tall which isn't usually a problem. i think the problem occurred

when it was work. is it on public land or is it on private land? the initial variance was granted so if you know we have to act we can't just turn a blind eye and say all right, it's a little over three feet or whatever we you know, we need them to get a permit because it's on the corner there if you're driving it impedes your view around the corner. so it is a safety issue and that's why the three feet high is there basically. but our hands are tied. >> we saw it. we have to write a violation. >> okay. thank you, president christina. okay. yeah. this issue may be growing far more important than than it should. yeah, but as i understand it and it it bothered me the first time i read the case and at the first hearing and number of people i think i believe may have brought it brought it up that this was a noise complaint

and construction ongoing construction construction construction noise or construction construction that said a loud music and construction ongoing all the time. i mean if we go out and we see construction we have to address it. >> if they don't have a permit we can't just turn a blind eye and ignore it. i mean it's it was it's a long fence right on the corners as as as i recall it was construction all the time. not it's too high. >> it's too low. it's too so it's construction and we saw it and we saw it didn't it? it required a permit for it. it's not the code. we can't just turn a blind eye and ignore it if they were putting on a new roof we couldn't say well we weren't called on for a new roof. we write them up for you know, replacing a roof without a permit. so i mean we can't just turn a blind eye if we see it and and i would think in this case the

that the whoever put in the complaint would say i saw your guy out there. >> how come he didn't do anything about it? thank you. thank you. no further questions. thank you commissioners. this matter submitted. >> i want to thank everyone who has testified on this matter both in terms of the presentations today as well as the materials that have been submitted both today and in the record is a very, very helpful to try to perhaps make this the final time that we have occasion to address the issues at 201 ashton and as commissioner swick stated, i think a big question is what is better off being already addressed by the superior court and what it is that we can handle. so i am i am i am for for just from from my own perspective i

did not agree with the disposition of this matter by the by the board previously but i feel obliged to adopt as my own thinking and views what we have already done and i believe in this case my own my own view and i want to make sure all our all my colleagues are weighing in heavily actively fully is that these matters are not are not properly before us that the real crux of the issues are are elsewhere and i would not i would not uphold the appeal commissioner swick as as threatened mr. minardi can you can you tell us where what we should be, what we are really capable of handling tonight regardless are our positions as

stated by president trasvina but where are we over our pay grade? well thank you. i think i would preface this by saying that the issue before the board is whether the notice of violation the innova was issued its issuance was an abuse of discretion or an error on the part of the zoning administrator. so that requires an application. did he error in applying the law to the facts at hand in this matter? so that includes a determination by you as to whether he interpreted the law correctly and whether he understood the law, the facts on the ground correctly. now it is true that this board has dealt with these issues before, has seen a number of these things before. as i understand it, i wasn't here i was a little before my time and that it made determinations with respect to

the facts and the law either explicitly or implicit lee in its rulings and certainly this commission would be entitled and to the extent it wanted to be consistent with those prior hearings would be entitled to rely on those determinations with respect to the location of the trellis as well as the depth of the the setback and those things that were already done. you know, i just i wanted the the i wanted the public to be and the appellant to be knowledgeable about that that position. i, i think that we and if i can continue i think that we've we've dealt with these issues before. we we had our findings no, nothing has changed. i don't see that there was any abuse of discretion because nothing's nothing's changed

and in the so the applying the straighter zoning administrator sorry showed us chapter and verse how he arrived at his decision so if we upheld this appeal or found him for the appellant we kind of be turning on ourselves because we are we are came to a decision twice and on top of that i think the zoning administrator properly showed us diligently where where his position came from and i don't see any conflict with that. so i, i don't think i could support an appeal at this point . but but that being said, i you know the next step obviously if somebody disagrees with our position is that they're going to find themselves in a in a civil court that's and that's

above our pay grade. let's let's try as an employer no i agree and i was quote in the brief making the statement about the state court question and i think that still applies and i do think that, you know, we have we concluded that this pergola was in the setback in the right way and required a variance and you know, we basically set forth a series of decisions that the planning department has since interpreted and applied the planning code to on the basis of what we said in the past. and as a result, you know, there's no there's been no error and the issue of the issuance of this particular notice of violation mr. lopez i just want to state i've always been extremely sympathetic to the appellant and if you recall even in the in the in the first matter before us i was trying

to to probe the testimony of dpw and and test their enforcement practices in the past and pushing for some of the items that are no longer before us that were in the first hearing that led to the granting of the appeal in in some parts and trying to kick the the trellis question to the variance decision. and i have to reiterate some of what was said before i think we should all be so lucky to have neighbors like the appellant and and the care and and resource investment and commitment to improving if you remember the before and after pictures of this property it is striking and and i know that there's also been been contact with the supervisor in in ingleside and that that's been on her radar and that that this issue

is endemic to the neighborhood and so i'm i'm extremely sympathetic at the same time nevertheless on this specific question which in my mind does turn on the same crux of the property line question um you know we we have reached those determinations in the past essentially a couple of times and i don't see new facts in this instance that would give rise to the finding of an abuse of discretion discretion or an error by the by the by planning. and so i would essentially move to deny the appeal in this case . thank you. and i just just want to add that i think every every resident of district seven and ingleside terrace holloway ,ashton ocean avenue should be on notice and if concern of the

of the position of the city that apparently the findings that we've already made that that this is a in a sense a ticking time bomb it could have this could this situation could confront any number of property owners that a property owners there it's beyond our scope tonight but but i do want to reiterate that and i. >> commissioner lubbers, did you formulate that into a motion? >> yes, i did. and are you making this motion on the basis that the zoning administrator did not error or abuse his discretion? yes. okay. so we have a motion from commissioner lopez to deny the appeal and uphold the notice of violation on the basis that the zoning administrator did not error or abuse his discretion on that motion. president trevino i. >> vice president eppler high commissioner sweig i so that motion carries 4 to 0 in the

appeal is denied. so thank you all. there being no further business before the commission. >> we stand adjourned. thank you . s.f. gov. tv san francisco government

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of condor beach in san francisco. condor was created [indiscernible] when it started in 1964, the club becoming the first adult entertainment, club regal in america, that was something big, that was huge. condor givers you a little of everything. we open in the day on the weekends so we have a live band that play and night time we transform where the entertains come on and we have the gentleman's club vibe along with the sports vibe. we show the ufc and boxing events and major sports and do little things like [indiscernible] comedy nights you can find what we are doing through our website. condor gives you a little bit of everything that you want when you want to go out and have a good time. being here in north beach and part of san francisco we put a lot of ourselves in the business. the good work we were able to

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recreation and park commission on february 20th, 2025 actually please call the roll. commissioner anderson here commissioner halsey here commissioner clarke herrera here commissioner mazola here commissioner weintraub here commissioner louis has an excused absence and commissioners work will be joining us shortly as will our general manager who's walking and right now for the. >> as you're going to do the other intros yeah okay go ahead and take the san francisco recreation and park commission acknowledges that we occupy the unceded ancestral homeland of the raw material any peoples where the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula . we honor the raw material only peoples for their enduring commitment to mother earth as the indigenous protectors of this land and in accordance with their traditions the raw materials and have never ceded loss nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional

territory. the stewards of parkland we recognize our duty to honor the fallen through thoughtful and informed preservation and interpretation of ancestral land as uninvited guests we affirm their sovereign rights as first peoples and wish to pay our respects to the ancestors, elders and relatives of the ranch community. good morning and welcome to the recreation and park commission. please turn off electronic devices and take conversations outside. public comment will be available for each item on the agenda unless otherwise announced by the president. each person will have two minutes for public comment on each item. >> comments or opportunities to speak during the public comment period are available both in person in city hall room 416 and remotely please address your comments to the commission during public comment on items neither the commission or staff will respond to any questions during public comment but the commission may ask questions of staff. after public comment is closed general public comment is reserved for items not on today's agenda that is under the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission. public comment may also be submitted via email and us

mail. please note that this commission meeting is recorded . >> we are now an item to president's report. thank you ashley. >> february has been a busy month. >> we got to celebrate the year of the snake and had a citywide chinese new year parade and i think this happened for the first time. our very own commissioner vinita louis rode in the parade along with one of our newer supervisors of district two stephen cheryl and it was a real thrill to see her in the parade. spreading the good cheer that auntie louie does best. we had a few other events in february and i would love to have some of my fellow colleagues share their experiences at these events and we're going to start with commissioner carey winter. >> would you please talk about the free park reopening? sure. >> commissioner halsey and i attended the reopening of a

spring park. it actually turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day between violent winter storms. so we got really lucky. it's an absolutely beautiful park. it was filled with young children and dogs and seniors there was just built into the park and all of its elements. >> there is literally something for everyone there and i think it's also just another shining example of a complex but successful partnership among rec and park and neighborhood groups and ucsf which was a huge partner to the. to the project. it was really fantastic and if anyone has a chance to go check it out i highly recommend it. thank you commissioner winter let me see hold on a second. we also had a citywide job fair and our own commissioner and vp joe halsey attended. i'm wondering commissioner halsey if you might share with us about your experience there

of course it was on saturday february the eighth at the county fair building a job fair which featured all city agencies willing to talk to people that were seeking employment. >> there was representatives from the fire department, the police department. the biggest contention contingent though was from the recreation and park department and diana ju put this group together. i did communicate with her online and was able to get a list of names of the workers that day and actually share in that as well. >> it was a great day when i left early in the afternoon they had already had over 300 job applicants come in and i think they ended up with close to 350 for saturday afternoon. so it was very well attended.

it was very well organized and diana ju and her team did a fantastic job. thank you commissioner and housing of course february has been huge with basketball and we'll hear here from phil in a minute but at jackson park there's a new basketball surface and some art that phil's going to comment on. but we had a really good time and our new mayor came out and we were tossing basketballs around and playing with the kiddos and i was there and it was just a glorious glorious day and said going back into basketball there was a bet on a basketball jamboree which joe also attended and i was wondering if you would share with us what occurred there of course and actually commissioner louis was there earlier in the day. i was there later in the afternoon this basketball jamboree is an annual affair. it's actually been going on for many, many years and it used to be an adult event, adult teams

playing each other very competitive. now it's segway it into a youth jamboree all sorry that's okay . >> well all elementary boys and girls about 60 kids took part. the big surprise of the day though is that nike who was in town for the nba all-star weekend showed up to the betty ong rec center and they gave free shoes to all of the children playing in the rec center that day as well as jerseys and shorts. >> the shoes they gave to all these kids are these shoes are not even on the market yet. they're the kobe bryant black mamba shoes. it's the year of the snake. they thought it was great. >> every single participant

that day was wearing these shoes by the end of the day. so it was a great affair. it was very well attended. kids had a ball and they got a pretty good goodie bag when the event ended. >> so yeah it was fantastic. commissioner, can you can you raise your foot to see what kind of sneakers you're wearing? >> oh yeah, i did actually. >> did you get some joke? maybe that would have been some sort of conflict. yes, yes. yeah but but but but they actually nike actually had a huge truck parked on the street and when you went in there it was like a shoe store and they had every children's size you can imagine and it really was it's always a great event but that's this was kind of like frosting on the cake on the on this particular day though and joe would never to his own horn but in the basketball vein he is the voice of the dons at usf and we're very proud of that fact and he does a fantastic

job and whenever i hear his voice i definitely sit up and listen a little more carefully . >> thank you. and now i would like to hear from our lovely commissioner sonia clark career about the pre apprenticeship graduation. yes, the success center and liz simpson did such an incredible job, was honored to be there. you really emphasized the relationships that you've created in the community. all the different partners were featured. i was humbled to be with rick and park and with the staff that was there from rack and park to support and i was mostly inspired by the the talent the young people that graduated first of all the facility we were in they built so we're looking around and this is how we learned how to build this and we made this and we created that and it was just talk about hands on learning. so i think what you're doing there is really important. i'm so glad all of your different supporters came out and it really does show and to

feature what you know what i've said before what real community collaboration is like it's not easy especially with transitional age youth and we didn't have nike pull up but we did have really good tacos. >> so you know everybody gets a little something at these events and that's all that i don't know if that was a conflict of interest but i had some oh gosh. >> but thank you for including me. thank you for the work that you do and thank you for featuring rec and park and all of the collaborative spirit that goes on. >> appreciate it. and with that we conclude the president's report. okay. thank you. commissioners, is there any public comment on item two? okay. >> and no hands raised on our webex i presume? >> no. okay then public comment is closed for now and item three the general manager we had a public comment coming on come on up. go for it. good morning commissioners and thank you so much commissioner clarke career for coming out. it means so much to our young people just to see and to know

that the community cares and is concerned and we want to thank you and and laurence obvious for coming out and we had you know, the families when you just see the families come out to celebrate our young people who for the first time in their life have been publicly recognized for the achievements we hear about all the crazy things that our transitional age youth do but very rarely do they get much press or support for the things that they're doing positively and their hope and desires to help out with that. buchanan with your buchanan mile project and our training to to is geared to lead them to that. so again thank you for these opportunities for our community, for our young people and thank you for coming out and always being a strong supporter for young people. >> thank you. thank you and don't be too shy please let us know who you are, what your title is and what you do. >> i'm sorry. that's okay. my name is liz jackson simpson and i'm the chief executive officer for success in this. >> thank you and thank you for all that you and your

colleagues do i know the deep and meaningful work that happens out there. >> thank you. any other comment on item two? okay. seeing none public comments closed we're now on item three general managers report. >> good morning commissioners. >> first a really heartfelt thanks for being so out and about these last couple of weeks at it took most of my the gm report it's all covered so i can be relatively quick for me yeah i have a lot of that it was present anderson as you say a very, very busy month between black history month, lunar lunar new year all star game weekend. so i'll just try to comment a little bit on things that you guys did not already talk about. well, let's start with a quick shout out about the nba all-star game. it was a big weekend for our city obviously. and you know, in hindsight you can say what you want about the

structure of the all-star game and its future but we were amazing hosts and the mayor had his whole team fire in and on call and and the city really, really looked good. the event brought the league's top players celebrities, fans to chase to mosconi as well as a number of our parks as you guys noted, including union square where the warriors installed a halfcourt hoop for shooting contests and we were also joined by b patisserie as you have read and know who came into union square as a pop up and did really well and their food is delicious and they were lovely and everybody was kind of just chipping in make things happen out there. so this was the little fun fact the first time in 20 years that the all-star game has has been in the bay area and we're very excited as commissioner weintraub, you know, because you have a family member who's

deeply involved in this. this was also a warm up exercise for the super bowl next january in the world cup next summer and while i am a crazy sports fan and loved every second of the all-star game and will love every second of the philadelphia eagles repeat super bowl victory next january just wait till the world cup. that's when my real crazy comes out so but it was a lot of fun, a lot of coordination with city agencies. dana ketchum and her team in particular deserve a big shout out. commissioner anderson i'll talk about jackson in a little bit but we had a just a ton of amazing events lunar new year apparently we all were seated in different parts of the parade but i actually got to be a judge which was really fun and there were seven pages, maybe 75 different floats that rolled by that we had to score big shout out to argonne

elementary school where my kids went for their participation in the parade might have been a homer soft score on that one. it was just a really, really, really lovely event and again watching our city come alive and shine was was terrific at betty and ong in addition to the basketball tournament i wanted to highlight there the san francisco scenes chinese basketball team's legacy project. the team has been around since 1947 and there's an exhibit at that in and outside the percy chiu gymnasium. percy chu was a long time rec director at the recreation park department and you know he was at betty and then called chinese rec and his son derrick was our chief financial officer for a long time and the gym is named gym floor is named after percy. the exhibit has photographs,

trophies and more. so we wanted to thank the san francisco saints chinese basketball team for the in-kind donation of all the sports memorabilia that you may have seen in the gym. terry trio i think terry trejo was very involved in it. >> yeah. so thank you joe. big shout out to terry in the rec division for supporting that event. we have our superintendent nick williams with us today in honor of black history month. i wanted to invite you all to the annual black history month celebration and tonight at petro hill rec center it goes from 6 to 9. it's a community focused event. we've done quite quite a bit this month in honor of black history month. but this event honors our city's vibrant african-american community which obviously contributed very significantly to our culture, politics and social fabric. the event features speeches and spoken word performances and then you all may have seen by now the pbs special featuring a

woman who is 91 years old who was also worked in our recreation division many, many, many years ago who came back to golden gate park for the first time in decades and they took her on a tour and it was just all very delightful and she shared her own her her own history in that. thank you commissioners wynn traub and halsey and maybe am i if i'm missing anyone forgive me, kat, were you there at the u.n. plaza skate opening? no, you weren't. you weren't there but that was really great. that was our kickoff to all-star weekend. it was a partnership with converse and the skate park foundation. we added 20 100ft2 of scalable surface to the northeast corner of the plaza featuring these three unique scalable geometric art pieces designed by alexis sablone who's an olympic skateboarder and an mit trained architect and a professor at the university of chicago. she's incredible. the new design blends skateboarding with public art,

creating an engaging experience for both novice and experience skaters. we're getting a lot of young people out there. the event was we were joined by board president rafael mandolin d-5th supervisor bilal mahmoud again the skateboard project and their great ceo ben machine converse vp brandis russell and then alexis was there too. and then on saturday converse the skate park project and skate like a girl hosted a celebration to kick off the expansion featuring skateboarding competitions, giveaways. this was a build on the $2 million effort we undertook in 2023 that now has seen 350,000 people come to u.n. plaza each year for four healthy and happy reasons. we're very, very, very proud of this project. it's also result it resulted in nearly an 80% reduction in daytime crime in the space. >> it's really turned the corner. so i want to thank our partner the civic center community benefit district which we work

very closely with the department of public works. we work closely with the san francisco police department. we work closely with in the space the library, the asian art museum and obviously most and most special of all to our staff dan mauer in particular here who never stops hustling out there are wreck division who's always out there our park rangers keeping the space safe. this was not even a park space three years ago and now it's one of our most thriving locations. so it's a really good news story. >> and then the week before we were out with our partners ucsf supervisor sherman walton, the dogpatch community we unveiled the newly renovated a park a long time coming. >> this was the park's first major makeover in its 43 year history. the last time this park received really only minor improvements was 2005. the renovation aimed to preserve the park's open and natural atmosphere while also modernizing it to meet the

growing needs of the community. we have a lot more people living there, a lot more people with kids and a lot more people with dogs and kudos to everyone who worked on that project. kudos to the community for the very long, slow, arduous, sometimes contentious process to negotiate and navigate what the design of the park should be so that it's a space for everyone. and i think we've been very successful thanks to david fletcher who is the landscape architect on the space who also designed south park for us and it's incredible. it's got adult fitness stations, nature exploration areas. it's got new seating and tables ,fresh new landscaping. we preserve the redwood grove. the park now has lighting that's going into it these really beautiful boardwalk. >> it's it's stunning. so stunning that my daughter's in town visiting from brooklyn and this weekend i brought her and my wife emily out to india

basin and then to a spree just to see it. it's that special this was an $8.5 million renovation made possible again through a partnership with ucsf who i really want to thank and the dogpatch and northwest petro hill green benefit district. i already thank david fletcher and fletcher studio. it's a great project. we're really proud of it. and then moving just a little bit south east to jackson. >> thank you president anderson for for being there at the for the debut of this new mural at jackson playground. my staff wrote in my notes the court is being considered a slam dunk that's even almost to dad jokey for me and that's saying a lot last but the mural is really fantastic. president anderson as you know to mayor larry was there said he was sherman walton this was

a collaboration between our department artist victor solomon who designs nba courts and actually is the artist who's redesigned all of the nba trophies the most valuable player award, most improved player award and the courtside foundation and then of course friends of jackson playground. it's a teaser for what's to come in the space. obviously we are contemplating a major renovation of jackson playground. the project is in the works. we're partnering with friends of jackson playground. you know we're still working on funding and fundraising but the new mural was inspired by the colors of the san francisco bay features overlapping and contrasting circles to reflect movement and vibrancy symbolizing the energy of basketball. >> this was a generous in-kind donation from the courtside foundation diluted over approximately $50,000. and you know, we've done this on a handful of our courts. these murals on basketball courts are really special. they make you know, they really create stewardship within the

community and and are exciting. so thanks to victor. thanks to the friends of jackson playground and more to come in that great space. >> lastly, a little update on what's happening out at ocean beach and the great highway as we continue to plan for the park opening later this spring. i do want to highlight a really recent and significant volunteer event that was held along the beach. we had over 100 volunteers who attended a dune replanting event which prioritized replanting native beach wild rye grass along the dunes near judah and great highway. if you've been out there you certainly know that that sand movement is a real challenge in the space and that's because our dunes have have eroded. so this restoration work is the real way to make you know, to preserve the beach, to prevent further erosion and sand displacement and all those sorts of things. the replanting aims to restore the health of the beaches vital

dune ecosystem by stabilizing the dunes and preventing further erosion. this too is a big partnership with the national park service, the california academy of sciences, san francisco estuary institute, surfrider foundation and friends of ocean beach park quite a partnership and the project aligned with some of our goals outlined in the $1 million grant from the california state coastal conservancy board and then the california coastal commission's permit for the eventual transformation into the park. so more to come on this we the city is working very hard on some of the traffic mitigations that are really important in the sunset. but you know, the transition is starting to happen and we're you know, from a park perspective we know there's some angst out in the community about it and we're honest and open about that and want to work with the community to mitigate it and be good neighbors. but this is a really significant opportunity for our city and for our park system and we are excited about it and i think that's oh one more

sorry go and get bandshell is back. our good friend stefan franz the fifth season begins on saturday march 1st i will be there. i invite all of you and stefan texted me four times to ask me to remind you all to try to come on saturday march 1st illuminate rec and park are teaming up again 125 free concerts in 2020 illuminate helped us renovate the bandshell adding world class sound and lighting systems making it a real prime venue for small independent music. it's been a hub for really diverse music genres and legendary performances. we've had the kronos quartet out there victor wooten, pato banton, many others over the past four years think about this 600 free concerts drawing nearly a million people for them over the course of the four years. it's a great place to be will be open and operating wednesdays, fridays, sundays and even some select saturdays

from march 1st through november . i really thought i was done commissioners lastly but this is important too if you are and aren't though file or we know what an anto file is a person who loves flowers if you're an anto file then boy do i have a deal for you. our magnolias are back. they are in peak bloom in the botanical garden in golden gate park. it it is one of the largest and most significant collections of magnolias in the united states that right now are in full bloom from january through march with over 200 stunning magnolia trees showcasing their velvety silver buds and their large colorful flowers. yes, valentine's day is past but that doesn't mean you can't share the romantic aromas and breathtaking sights with someone special.

thank you. daniel montes for that really poetic talking point. and here's a tip you can use the park's magnolia map to curate your very own self-guided walk through the garden exploring all of the magnolias in full bloom. you can go to the gardens of golden gate park website to find the map download it. it's amazing. i never miss it. it's really fantastic. we have the opening of san francisco youth s.f. wible which is a partnership with flame and the fire department. this weekend we are expecting our mayor and our new fire chief to join me in throwing out the first pitch and participating in the parade. come on out to that one. it feels like spring is in the air. there's a lot of good stuff happening and i'll stop there. thank you. wow. okay. >> is there any public comment on item three? okay. seeing none in the room, is

there anyone with their hand raised on our webex? no hands raised on the webex public comment is closed. we are now an item for general public comment this is the time for you to comment on items that are not on today's agenda. >> if you have a do you have a general public comment? come on up. oh yeah, yeah that's fine. good morning mo. yes, morning. >> okay. i talk fast. don't worry. two minutes make me look like bugsy siegel but i can't see anything otherwise. i am maureen mcverry. i've lived on patrol since 1984. i do want to thank you very much for showing up, mr. ginsberg. and i especially want to thank you, ms.. anderson, for showing up. it was an incredible event. the artist his name is victor solomon and when you go there look at an aerial view online because i kept looking around oh, where's the mural where it's a mural. it's on the ground. okay. so friends of jackson park has been around for ten years. if a child was born when this organized organization was created they would not be ten

years old. >> could we get this park done before they graduate high school, please? the thing i would like you to discuss among yourselves is the the rule that says we cannot start anything at the park until we've raised the complete amount of money and this is a problem for us because it's kind of turning into the boy who cried wolf because we've had so many meetings and some little i believe that when those bold and that we have raised millions i believe when the bulldozers show up i think the funding will go up from businesses parks i think people will mainly want to get it done . so could you among yourselves talk about perhaps waiving that rule so that we can push this remodel forward bravo to a spree park but it now it's our turn. they've only been around for how many years did you say it is now been 77 years since our park got a remodel 1948. this is just unconscionable. >> okay, moving on a the

commission please. >> please. all of you look at the plans. they're online. it's a great design. i know it seems like a lot but it needs to happen. >> the dog walkers fight with the both teams. everybody's fighting with each other. it was not designed well in 1948 and it's time for a redo. it's like a house. it's falling apart and so but i know it seems like a lot but we have generated so much money for the city since 1984. >> now my daughter maureen read the chronicle a new flower market. >> you check it out pennsylvania next speaker thanks. >> good afternoon. my name is david hooper and i live in mission terrace and i'm here to make a general comment about the level of engagement with the community regarding increased services and improvements in the parks.

>> boy i'm waiting to see what what was transpiring yesterday for the crocker amazon effort to improve a park that gets an incredible amount of use because there are so many kids and families and active participants in the community in the excelsior crocker, amazon mission terrace, cayuga terrace, all of district 11 and district ten and and this is really appreciated. the general idea is that balboa park which saw major improvements starting 18 years ago including the renovation of the pool which is a great addition, a great improvement in the community is engaging the community is engaging about improvements further improvements at balboa park. why? because there are so many kids. i stand at the corner at our house and i see baby carriages. there's trains of them, there's scooters kids stopping at the

corner waiting for their parents to show up so they cross the the streets so they can cross san jose avenue and go up to the improved balboa park. but there's still work to be done and i appreciate the staff and their willingness to participate with the community and this all started with kaboom. please take their money. >> thank you. is there anyone else in here who'd like to speak during general public comment today? okay. seeing none and no hands raised on our webex. public comment is closed. >> okay. we're now on item five the consent calendar. before i take public comment on the consent calendar for commissioners, is there anyone who'd like to take anything off of consent today? >> okay, great. so now we'll take public comment and item five is there any public comment on item five k seeing none do we have any hands raised? no hands raised on our webex

public comment is close. >> i'll take a motion and a second on approving the consent calendar so moved second. all those in favor state i i any opposition none consent calendar is approved thank you commissioners. >> all right we are now on item six the san francisco zoo. all right. we'd love to hear from our zoo colleagues. come on up, ingrid russell. good morning. good morning. >> let me get my my presentation somewhere as a captive. >> got it. got it. okay, great. good morning. my name is ingrid russell. i'm a member of san francisco zoo's conservation and wellness

department. and i'm going to give the update this month. >> happy year of the snake. everyone at the san francisco zoo and gardens our mission includes all people and we are thrilled to celebrate san francisco's diverse community this year to help commence lunar new year celebration and local dance and music groups of all ages were asked to perform and connect with zoo visitors. we thank cheng ngai dance troupe and the fine angels chinese dance corps for their performances which received rave reviews and helped bring our different communities closer in a similar vein. as a community institution we welcome the collaboration of asian art museum chinese chamber of commerce and bay area council to invite residents of sanford's sysco's chinatown to the zoo's free day which was held on lunar new year. it was a first visit for many.

>> also happening this month we the wu at the zoo returned. >> we celebrated valentine's day by getting the insights scoop on the mating and breeding behaviors of animals during wu at the zoo and adults only fun and eye opening event . >> i'm sorry that i missed that. guests enjoyed a multimedia presentation on saturday february 15th and learned how san francisco zoo assists in the breeding process of threatened species through its successful breeding programs. >> little learners returned. >> it had been on hiatus since 2020. the education team real very positive learners launched our popular live program in january of 2025. the new little learners program airs live from the little learners cabin on thursday and saturday mornings from 1030 to 11 a.m. via zoom. >> the little learners program

explores the abcs of the san francisco's zoo's animals with a focus on fun interesting facts interactive activities to do at home and connections to hands on science and art projects. the program was developed to engage toddlers and preschoolers by following the education framework work of headstart which is pre-k educational standards and recommendations for early learners by first five of california. we have seen a large interest in little learners with over 160 sign ups. families and preschools are encouraged to register on our website and registration is currently open and free to the public to participate. >> just recently held our annual penguin round up and this time of year it's when the zoo embarks on the round up which is a chance to perform checkups from our medical staff

on each of our 51 magellanic penguins. with the help of their caregivers, the zoo's penguins were corralled and afterward each individual penguin was given a thorough exam which includes a body condition score meaning how round are they and an eye exam. check their feet and trim their nails and beaks if there's any overgrowth. each penguin also received a vaccine for west nile virus and was weighed. additionally, penguins were scanned with a metal detector to see if individuals may have ingested coins found in their pool which unfortunately is an issue for us since it's an open exhibit and we highly discourage guests from contributing by throwing coins in our penguin pool. thank you. the penguins were awake for their exams and some were a little squirmy in others but were all happy to return to penguin island after their checkup. here's to another healthy year

for the zoo's penguins. lastly, speaking of endangered species, the san francisco zoo continues its endangered species conservation strategy and we were honored to welcome two six year old western santa cruz giant tortoises to the san francisco zoo. the species are critically endangered and a species of galapagos tortoise and are found only on the southwest end of the santa cruz island one of the galapagos islands. these amazing animals are amongst san francisco zoo's critically endangered species. >> also on our critically endangered list we recently welcomed a red fronted macaw. these animals are social from the mountains of bolivia and also last but not least, we

also welcome two critically endangered yellow named amazon parrots. that's it for the zoo for this month. >> thank you. thank you, ingrid. >> is there any public comment? an item six. >> okay. seeing no public comment on item six public comment is closed. >> we are now in item seven golden gate park skate area naming proposal. >> good morning commissioners calling president anderson morning bird missioners. i'm beverly king with san francisco recreation and parks department. i'm pleased to present to you

today the golden gate park skate area naming two zion skate on skate plaza park the name will recognize zion's amazing contribution to the skateboarding community in san francisco. >> i didn't mean i don't mean interrupt. i think we're going zion skate plaza not going on zion skate plus a park. >> i know i'm not there. sorry. >> it will be reflected correctly on the slide. so just to give you a little background on waller's skate park. so this area was a busy roadway for quite some time until 1998 when the golden gate park master plan reprioritize set to be a community use space. it was converted into a parking lot in 2007 and then transformed into a skate park in 2011 with input from the skate community. there was a major remodel and upgrade to the plaza in 2022 with asphalt and skate elements and landscaping to really help a thriving skate community come together.

>> this was a space where grassroot community members really came together with local skate shops and businesses to transform the space to a thriving community that it is now. we had support from the low key skate shop idea acts as a skate club. thrasher and others who are really engaged in making sure that this space was meant for the community. so talking a little bit about who we are naming proposing naming this plaza after communities and built it is usually ignited by those who have a rare gift to inspire change and some leaders are born with the power to unite, uplift and transform. in zion one games is definitely one of them born in june 20th six, 2002 and unfortunately passed in june 19th, 2003. zion's journey was one of passion resilience and impact. born in san francisco, raised in new york, he found a

profound love affair with skateboarding at the age of 11. he quickly became a fixture with the skate club mastering skate, mentoring young skaters and giving back to the community. his heart was in for service and community. he loved skating and organizing skate marathons for cancer research food programs for the unhoused. toy drives, backpack giveaways and much more. >> after losing his sight to an unfortunate gun violence incident in 2021, zion was not deterred. >> he wanted to ensure that he can continue to skate and inspire others as well. he doubled down on this mission and co-founded the friends of waller to ensure that the skate plaza remained safe and inclusive for all. >> zion embodied leadership, perseverance and community spirit and values that our department upholds. so it is undeniable that the community supported around waller skate plaza being renamed after him. and so today we are presenting

to you the zion skate plaza. >> talking a little bit about the community engagement in january 11th we had a community meeting with over 40 people who came and attended and put their preferences in terms of what needs to be considered. before that the family members for zion as well as other community members had deep engagement with the community. so there was a lot of good feedback and understanding of what was walked into for the community meeting. >> so for the meeting there were different option names being present in zion. zion gaines zion. william gaines. overall the family was deeply overwhelmed by the community support and asked our advice because these were all great name options but wanted something that really behold the legacy of zion. >> so working closely with the department based on community trends. zion's family and lasting impact of park names. the department recommended that the wallace street skate park being located at 731 stanton

tbe zion skate plaza. this will recognize his legacy and everyone who has come before and after him in the skate community. the department will also install a commemorative plaque to honor his legacy, ensuring his story and impact lives on inspiring future generations. about his passion resilience and wavering dedication to the skate community. >> to end i would like to invite zion's grandmother batya to come up to have a closing statement and then we'll be happy to take public comment. good morning. good morning. so much that i can say but i have the best grandson. he was gentle. he was kind. he was loving.

he didn't hurt anyone. i thank you so much for honoring him because he deserves this. he didn't deserve what happened to him. no. but i want his name to shine. i want him to be known all over. he was one of the best skateboarders. i used to take him when he was 12. i would sit in the car. they didn't have cell phones then but i would sit in the car while he skated and did tricks and i would watch him. when he got older i was able to leave him at the skate park and he knew when i texted him meet me outside. but he was a good skateboarder. he was my everything. he was my only grandchild and i appreciated and i thank god for you guys. i thank god for him the time that we did have with him. i thank god.

i just want his name to shine and i just want him to live on and i thank you and god bless you all. >> miss betty, would you stay with us for a second, please? yes. >> we share your grief for the rest of my life but this would help me. i'm going to grieve because the love that i had for him occurred as cord. >> i did anything he wanted me to do for him because that's the love i for you. it takes a lot of courage to come up and say what you've said and it takes a lot of love to acknowledge how important zion was. >> it's a topsy turvy world when we bury our young. >> no mother or grandmother

wants that and we sometimes wonder why the world doesn't just stop and grieve with us and yet it continues to revolve which sometimes seems unfair. >> thank you for bringing this to us and allowing us to be a part of trying to help heal the wrongs. i really appreciate zion's commitment and contributions to co-found this group and i hope that you will come out and visit and spend time with the young people there. if you're not doing it, do it. i'm so glad you do. i would love to come and join you sometime. thank you. thank you so much. thank you. >> all right. do we have any public comment on this item today? any family members or come on up. >> hello again, liz jackson

simpson ceo success nurse partner tears. but thank you all for considering this and making this happen for charmaine, his mom and his grandmother betty zion was phenomenal. i don't know any task that he took on that he dedicated his hard to. not only was he an incredible skateboarder and even after his disability who could do that? that was ariel like that with very, very limited sight amazing young man. >> but he was also a prodigy and drumming he was an incredible drummer too. so anything this young man set his sights to he was able to achieve and that's all we want for young people is to provide them with the space and opportunity to realize their dreams and hopefully again his life has gone way, way too soon but hopefully family you see

this as part of a continuance of his legacy and him living into perpetuity. so thank you commission thank you. department of recreation and parks for considering this and i am in full support and whatever i can do as an individual, as a citizen here and whatever success it is could do to turn this dream into a reality, we're here. thank you for your consideration of that and would anyone else like to comment today? >> good morning. good morning. my name is natalie for here i'm zion's is so much i can say about zion you know how some people say oh my kid is so wonderful even though we know what they're doing?

>> zion was really wonderful. he decided to be a painter at 16 years old he made us get his l l c he made us go all the way by all of the gear he painted what i said he painted my whole house. i can't even get it painted again because he did it right before he became blind zion literally went to the young kids in the community and taught them how to skate. he went to the different skate parks and took his time out and literally one of the kids didn't have a skateboard or didn't have a helmet. he will buy them one or call us and say somebody get over there and bring home bring him a skateboard like he always donated from his heart to the youth. so what we're doing now is we're doing we have done backpack giveaways, food giveaways, events just in a

park for the kids to come out and enjoy. we have made weiler just a place of family and a place of love and we've been sharing our love at weiler park hopefully now zion and all but we've been sharing our love there and i just want to say thank you guys for allowing us to be there and thank you guys for sharing your love because every time we went out you guys backed us up 100%. so i want to tell you thank you, zion father couldn't be here today but he wanted to let you guys know it's not enough words in his heart that he could say to let you guys know how much we appreciate you guys. so thank you guys so much for everything. >> and if you guys ever need us for anything else besides just zaya, let us know the whole family is your family now. thank you. thank you so thank you so much. thank you.

thank you. okay, so anyone else who would like to comment today hello hello everyone. >> i going we try not to cry this time and so i wanted to just to thank you guys for this whole process and it it comes with good and bad and i know since my baby is gone it's tragic but it's things like this that help me mentally and spiritually to move forward and to because of who zion is and was we have a legacy to kind of keep going even though like my sister always say he's so young so i he experienced all those life so yeah so it was like okay i feel i have to do better and so with that you guys make an a platform for us and i'm just thankful that you guys consider it. i'm thankful you guys even acknowledged it. i'm just thankful you

acknowledge him in trying to learn who he is and feel you know you guys some of you guys already know him but in fact is that you guys are giving us this opportunity because weiler has been a little piece pocket a piece and i feel god does give that to us and i feel it's a part but it's more than just a park sometimes certain spaces on earth can kind of fill a void and that's a spot for us there and it's when we're there i'm there every weekend my sister if i'm not there my sister and my grandma so we're there all the time and now they know oh this is this family. >> so it's like okay now we kind of be part of the cool kids you guys now this is recognizing who we are. you know we're able to like always do the board. i just feel we always have free range there and the blessing is that parker we've always been supportive of that and to allow us to do that and we have big plans because zion left us with a task list and we didn't share a lot of things. we made another binder and i was able now that i feel better this coming year to kind of write out what he always expressed her.

so this is just the beginning and i know way and i just want you guys to know it that we're going to honor this place treated with integrity and try to inspire lives all ages though that was he loved the youth but anybody in one we had received a lot of reference letters and i also put in a binder for you guys to read and i just kept flowing in and just kind of seeing how the impact he had on everyone and to is reverse the community had an impact on him because i think that's he kept getting poured into from strangers from people from everywhere and youth and things like that so i just want to say thank you and thank you guys for considering this and allowing us to have a space hopefully. >> thank you. you're welcome. thank you. okay. i believe was that our last commenter? okay. so anyone online that's waiting to comment? no. okay. so public comment is closed commissioners commissioner halsey just as in f y i turn to

the remainder of the commission that was not present at operations on february 6th. commissioner clark herrera was present that day filling in for president anderson. commissioner louis was there as well. just for the record, what we approved that day was the zion w gaines skate plaza. >> now this change in the title is better. >> i am 100% on board with this. just want to make that clear as to what transpired february 6th and what you brought to us today. i think the zion skate plaza is perfect regardless of what the title is. that's what people will call it. also the addition of the plaque which may include his full name and his bio is tremendous. >> i know commissioner larry griffin, our former colleague

knew the family well and he would be in full support of this. >> and also i want to say that we we or i push this with the the backing of commissioner clark herrera and commissioner louie. sometimes things will get passed during committee we thought more people should be able to hear this story and that's why we forwarded it to the general calendar. and so the commissioners who are not on the operations committee could hear this this great story and i think everybody is in full support of it. also i want to recognize barbara shami. i'm telling you that i spoke briefly with charmaine after the operations committee meeting and bev, you gave a great report today. >> thank you. barbara charming is one of the hardest working, compassionate

people in this department and she was the perfect choice to bring this project to the finish line and i know anybody that knows barbara knows this is true and charmaine knows this is true and just wanted everybody to know who the driving force behind this was so thank you, barbara, very much for your work on this project. wonderful. thank you. commissioner halsey phil, thank you commissioners a true to true to the pattern of the day commissioner was he took the air out of my balloon because i also wanted to thank also wanted to thank barbara for her work and stewardship on this one and i just wanted to speak to the family a little bit and say that i'm not sure in my 15

years if we've had an opportunity to honor a life in our space that i actually knew and i did get to know zion unfortunately too close to the to the end of his life but i can see him and i can kind of feel his vibrating joy and so this is a this is an honor to do and charmaine, you said something that really resonated with me. you said, you know, spaces like this are more than parks. they they fill a void and i think you and i could job share because that is precisely why

parks matter and why they're important they are more than just jumpy houses and slides. they're a place where we connect the past to the present and the present to the future and you you you know, unfortunately through tragedy but you so implicitly understand that which makes this a you know, doubly sort of joyful honor to do so to all of you i just want to say thank you and and i know that zion's memory is going to be a blessing for all of you and for all of us forever. thank you, phil commissioner missoula thank you. thank you. and thanks to the family for being here. you know, if you don't know me i'm not big on renaming parks and renaming streets but and

this this this is a this is a huge exception to me and this is right this is right to do it seems like this young man was was well known in the park, cared about the park. it was his happy place. and i mean this is a no brainer to me. seems like this park exemplified everything that he was and to remember him by name in this park after him i think is a great idea and i'm just happy that it's on the agenda. and like i said, it's happy to support this project in his name and you guys called him z which is cool but happy to support z and keep his memory going. >> thank you. thank you commissioner mazola um charmaine mommy and travel dad you had an exceptional son. you have exceptional son

because he's still with us. >> i love it that you named him zion because some of us know that means the heavenly city or the kingdom of heaven and i feel like zion was an angel on earth and we should celebrate and rejoice at the time of the time that we had with him instead of focusing on so much loss he brought so much to the community and to your family and i agree with commissioner mazola that this is a worthy worthy renaming. i've been on this commission for a number of years and i think this is the one that deserves it more than any other and for all the right reasons because zion was such a positive force and because he encouraged others to engage in play and recreation. so thank you so much and may light perpetual shine upon zion the oh we now have a request to

hear from commissioner zwart. thank you for that. um just to add to that i think i don't think i know the importance of joy and how that has to be centered in our lives and especially now and forever more people try to take that away and so it is so important and i am so grateful that we are doing this to center joy and and positivity on such a beautiful, you know, human being. so thank you again for being here. we appreciate you and you know, looking forward to sharing that joy with other members of the community and spreading that light. >> thank you, commissioner. i think that's all our comments

. >> are we ready for action? all right. if you'll turn to the wording of general count calendar item seven discussion and possible action, we will have action to rename the waller street skate park located at 751 stanton street to zion skate park. i'm i'm sorry. yeah. zion skate plaza. >> yeah. zion skate plaza and authorize the department general manager to approve the wording and location of a plaque to explain the history of the naming. >> do i have a motion in a second? so moved, so and seconded all those in favor state i i any opposition? none. the motion is approved and thank you all for your hard work here and we'll just give our family a minute. >> yes. come on. yeah. natalie all right. thank you. >> oh.

oh, thank you. if people feel that they'd like to move on, it won't hurt our feelings at all. if you need to leave the room. >> well, anthony antonio sets up what we have coming up. >> item eight recreation and parks department budget overview. >> thank you very much commissioners. hello antonio. >> good morning. good morning. my name's antonio guerra. i'm the director of administration and finance for the department here to present our proposed budget for fiscal year 2526 and fiscal year 2627. >> so on today's agenda i'm going to try to roll through this. it's a somewhat of a long presentation but i will try to be concise as we go through

this. we're going to look back at our past financials and look at our projection again, focus on what our services and priorities are as a department a quick inclusion of our budget balancing principles that were adopted back in january a focus of our new park maintenance agreements and our annual capital and it submissions and then the core of what this budget is our budget initiatives and efficiencies as well as some revenue ideas from staff. and then finally potential fiscal year 2627 public impacts in case we aren't able to solve our deficit. so what's next steps? so here's the first look back slide and this was i believe it was included in our january presentation. but as a reminder our sources what we use to fund our expenses in the general fund our general fund support over the past five years have grown more slowly as a whole when

compared to the city. so if you look at our sources in the general fund, our general fund support 5% growth compared to the city's overall 10% growth of the general fund. and if you look at the total budget, our total budget has grown 10% and the city's total budget has grown by 70%. so that's one item to remember as we think about this budget. and then the second city costs have increased more than our revenue. so we are a baseline department. we are not guaranteed additional funding for city expenses that outpace our revenue. so compared to that look back in fiscal year 2021 on the previous slide our total budget has grown by 10% but personnel pay growth salary growth through the approved pay raises has been 19% and our interdepartmental services are our colleagues at the sfp. >> u.s. department of technology, ag city attorney's

office, city administrator's office all of those costs that get passed down to us. that has grown at 28% and just this one key bar graph on this slide our total general fund support grows from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2024. 25 was $3.8 million and our work orders grew by 7.7 million . so not only are we getting less of the city pie the city the city family is taking more of our sources. and so as we look forward and this is again from the january presentation in year one of this budget we're trying to solve the million dollar deficit in year two it's $15 million now the overall city deficit through the city projections presented in the chronicle and through reports are $876 million over the next two years. we should point out next year

$3 million of assumed general fund growth would be suspended if the deficit is above roughly $270 million. >> it is not at this point but we will find that out in march . and the other thing to remember is that based on prop b, we have always been assuming an additional $3 million a year but that ends in fiscal year 2627 and our general fund is only projected to increase by $1.1 million because it is an increase based on a percentage of the city's aggregate discretionary revenue growth. antonio can you say those last couple of sentences again please? of course. so in year one of this budget we are assuming that we're going to get $3 million but if that deficit is above roughly 270 million which we'll find out in march, i'm all looking into my crystal ball. it doesn't appear that it's going to be over $270 million but never say never. we would not get that 3 million and then in year two of the

budget, prop b was built in an assumed $3 million of additional general fund sources on an annual basis that ends and we will now only receive an increase based on a percentage of the city's aggregate discretionary revenue growth which is the same way that other city baselines work. >> these are technical requirements or technical features of proposition b which passed in 2016. >> and do we have any idea maybe from years past before prop b or just kind of projecting if we don't get the 3 million and we use the fallback formula, what might that number be? >> there's there's there's let me try to answer it and tell you there's there's no fallback formula. you're saying if property didn't exist is that the question i guess it sunsets right? >> so we don't get the 3 million so then we go back to the formula just stated no that's actually not what happens if we don't if the

there's a sort of a trigger written into the into the measure or that if the deficit exceeds 269.8 the city may not show the city may withdraw what is otherwise a guaranteed $3 million worth of general fund increase. okay. you have to keep in mind that our operating budget is now posted to 52 to 50 and tony little above that now. >> yeah. so it's so it's 3 million on to 50 to 60 right so that is you know was almost less than a percent right so or right around 2% yeah if i have that right and then in 2627 madam president the the formula changes from an automatic 3 million that could be pulled to a percentage of the city's we're linked to how well the city's revenues come in and in

2016 that didn't seem terribly concerning but we're about to hit a really really rough patch and the burdens that we have of being a baseline department and it's a mixed bag. there are some things that have been very good about proposition b but the burden of being a baseline department is the expectation that we continue to absorb all of our own cost increases in other departments that are not baseline departments and those are typically supported by the general fund those increases. so when salaries go up those are supported by the with an increase in general fund when you know water costs or power costs or interdepartmental work orders go up in other departments those are supported with additional general fund not for us and that is the real structural dilemma we face particularly in a climate where

as antonio was about to explain revenues are are flat and because of the economy our open space fund source has really flattened out and that one actually tends to lag a little bit behind the economy. so even as the mayor's you know, said a few times, there are green shoots everywhere and there are right. you know, we're hopeful that things are starting to get better but our open space revenues are expected to lag well beyond that. >> that's correct. >> and if i can add on to what the general manager just mentioned not to i don't want to confuse things but in the current year our open space fund property tax revenue is lagging by 2.4 million $2.4 million under budget according to the six month report. >> so it is an ongoing concern what the property valuations are in the city. >> okay. thank you if i haven't bond all for the corruption. >> no, no. thank you for the questions. i do want to focus on what's at

stake and the danger of having a cfo take a talk about psychological needs and our human motivations. we're about to find out but what we do believe here in this department is that every single human need of the people in the city has some type of connection to what we do whether it's safety keeping parks clean and safe and having park rangers making sure that trees that fall during storms are cooked or taken away by the our boots on the ground those psychological needs about love and belonging and esteem or we talk about our volunteer program and the type of events that take place at senior centers, our holiday events, the type of opportunities that we provide to young people across this city through the green agers program and internship and then

self-actualization how we might be inspired to be the best version of ourselves if we're playing basketball on a regular basis or attending a yoga class. >> we think all of that is really important and that's why this budget is really important and that we try to figure out the best way and a very thoughtful way of how we go about balancing so we can save these services. so i'm going to read all of these budget balancing principles. these were adopted last month but this is the core of how we have thought about this budget and how we went about trying to build the next two years of what our revenue and expenses look like. >> i think number set can you just focus on number seven for a second? of course. so all of these principles and

i think every year the commission we revisit the principles that you know you provide us this commission provides us with the the wayfinding signs and the map to have our budget conversations and to make budget decisions based on these principles one through six are sort of our values and what we do but how it's effectuated really sits in number seven and what we're about to lay out which is to advance policy decisions that that address our are our budget deficit that fulfill principles one through six. and you know our focus is really in making sure that we can protect our core services and to do that we do need to better align the money we earn with the costs of what we deliver. and you know, we need to continue to strive for partnerships and creative ways

to make up for frankly a shrinking general fund subsidy. so that's where we set so on this next slide we're going to talk a little bit about our our agreements to maintain new property. and the first is treasure island and yerba buena island. we have been working with tie to the treasure island development authority on a new park operations and maintenance interdepartmental services proposal and an eventual mou. we've discussed funding 15 fte, one manager, seven gardeners, two natural resource specialists, a park section supervisor as well as a plumber, a painter and an arborist tech and so the way that breaks out in year one of this budget title wants us to bring the manager on six months ahead of july 1st, 2026 when a

potential transition would take place and then two months ahead for all the other staff. that's roughly $600,000 and then the actual transition the full turnover to our maintenance staff and operations would begin july 1st, 2026 and that's $3.5 million and the source for that is treasurer and the community facility district funding. and then the second agreement that we have been developing is at the hunters point shipyard and this was brought to the commission last year as part of the budget process an moa is being developed with the office of community investment in infrastructure. upon approval rec park would begin operations july first in the current base 2526 budget there were three gardeners, half a custodian, half of a supervisor and one full time equivalent of funding for structural maintenance and once again this source is community facility district funding at the shipyard and so we're not changing that as part of this

budget proposals we're keeping it the same. and then additionally there's other new parks that don't have funding sources that are coming online in year one of this budget we're adding funding for the great highway twin peaks promenade and hers rec center and these could be new sites or renovations that is $1 million and that's the core of what we talked about in that deficit in our five year financial projection and then year two is $1.9 million and we are also including shoreline park and idea base and big green which has additional funding sources but the net new fte that will be added would be 11.6 antonio i think for four purposes is not to try to use the commissioners i think with respect to india basin the big green is the space at 700 ines that is being developed by building that will eventually come back to us. that is a ways away so i don't see in this budget cycle or

maybe even the next any new cost impacts and that would be funded by community facilities, district funding. i also don't see any new fees so that 4.2 that you see there is not coming anytime soon. i think that's just to let you know that it's on the horizon but not really a part of our budget conversation today. >> thank you. additionally we have our annual submissions to the capital planning committee we are submitting we have submitted $15 million in year one of this budget and 15.5 million based on escalation and you're to some of the key initiatives are playground maintenance 750,000 and your $1 million in year to court resurfacing is going up to roughly $875,000. >> our forestry program is key to talking about safety in the city roughly $800,000 in both years of this budget as well as

paving a million and ada work is 800 thousand dollars. >> we also have a playing fields replacement program that we budget on an annual basis where we combine fund funding with the city fields foundation to renovate our turf fields throughout the city. that's $3.2 million in both years of this budget and we have a committee on infrastructure technology here in san francisco. we are requesting additional funding for security cameras. it's it's not technically part of our general fund support. we're asking for more it's $125,000 in year one and $135,000 in year two as part of the mayor's priority to maintain public safety and clean streets. and so what is what are these type of investments have resulted in? we have a brief picture on this slide of just recent capital work funded by the baseline. so it's things like crockery, amazon green infrastructure, larson pickleball courts some paving at harding park go and park trail repair and other

types of work that really make a difference throughout the park system. now under the budget initiatives and efficiencies for the next two years, the budget summary overall for the operations of this department in year one we're looking at $263.5 million and in year two $270.7 million for operations. >> the vast majority of our budget, its operations and operation and specifically the operations division which is composed of parks and open space and recreation as well as structural maintenance and the parks safety which is which is our park ranger group parks and open space is 123.4 million recreation 35.8 and structural maintenance 31.9. we have also a capital planning division of $29.2 million when you include the baseline but then everything else

administration is just 6% of our budget in both years. i do want to point out in year two of this budget we also are assuming $70 million for the eventual build out of the east harbor marina capital project which we're kind of excluding out of this pie chart because then capital is so lumpy that $70 million makes it look a little too large. >> so happy to footnote that here. the other thing i'd point out if you look at the lower bottom the left the bottom left hand of this slide, the general fund support relatively flat or annual open space relatively flat but earned income is increasing in this budget. >> onto the next slide antonio can you explain the sliver of the pie that says volunteer services? >> what does that mean? yeah that's our volunteer program. so we have a volunteer program

funded out of open space. they work with residents who want to volunteer within parks. >> i don't know if there's anything else you want me to add. well, under sara matthews team is our volunteer services division that jennifer g oversees and it includes our green acres program, our stewardship program and all of our volunteer work. it takes a actually it does take staff to structure and plan and support volunteer projects. we just don't give people shovels and say go wherever you want. so there's a there's a staff that works on that and it's just through frankly a little quirk in history that we show that as an independent budget line and i think in part because the source for that is the open space fund. so we we show it we don't show all of our different divisions and programs but volunteer services has always had its own little sliver of the pie chart in her the way our budget is constructed. >> that's correct because it's

has a different reporting line you know in our span of control well so there are expenditures but there's also value added. oh absolutely. okay. yeah. you can't just look at one side of the ledger, right? >> like what we're receiving from the volunteer program. >> yeah. it's how you add it is in kind. we don't we don't we don't add you know we don't add to the sources for the value of the of the in-kind because it's a little imprecise. >> i just think it's a very important little element. >> absolutely. thank you for pointing that out. >> president anderson so the first major initiative that we have been planning for is a new scholarships and cost recovery model. and so what this would look like is a codification of our scholarships program. the scholarships program is currently a policy here at the department. we would like to bring

legislation to put scholarships into that legislation and as well as a tiered cost recovery model where our recreation programs have separate prices for seniors, youth and adults as well as individual tiers or whether or not a program is of an individual or benefit versus a community benefit. and as part of this budget we're assuming roughly $600,000 in year one and $1.2 million in year two of additional revenue. the second proposal is a recent middle of our court reservation fee that we brought last year well aware of many other cities that currently charge a fee for tennis court reservations and we're assuming roughly $1 million of new revenue from implementing a $5 per hour court reservation fee. >> the third big initiative and we're working on this right now is to initiate a request for qualifications and or proposals

process for golf course operations and maintenance maintenance including leases. and in year two of this budget we are assuming that we are going to generate some additional cost efficiencies and savings through this process and we're proposing to eliminate our general fund subsidy of roughly $6 million. >> and then kate parking we are proposing a budget that assumes net revenue from paid parking implementation at golden gate park. and we're assuming that we would generate $1.2 million in year one of this budget and $9.2 million in 2627 and that would be net revenue. finally we also want to look at cost efficiencies. >> we are projecting current year workers compensation savings of $200,000. this will result in budget

savings in year one of this budget as well as vehicle leasing and maintenance. so we're budgeting $2.5 million for equipment as well as half a million for vehicle leasing. i pointed this out if a few times aren't the average age of our fleet is 13.75 years old and we have gardeners operating ford rangers that are over 20 years old and we don't ask our administration staff to work with computers that are 20 years old. it's not only is it a little unfair we would be able to reduce our annual maintenance costs if we are able to purchase new vehicles as well as improve the emissions of the fleet and generate savings in fuel and power. so it is a it's a major initiative where if we can lease vehicles, get new vehicles this we see this as a

as a major untapped source of savings. >> we also want to bring up some examples of revenue ideas from staff. there's four specifically that we think are the strongest ideas adult sports league expansion rentals at camp mather where we could have outside companies or groups rent mather increase sponsorships and ads as well as look at seasonal attractions and festivals those those four seem the most promising to where we could generate significant revenue as well as some of these other ideas which potentially might be able to get smaller amounts of revenue. but i think that the four in green are the most promising. and then finally what are the potential impacts in year two of this budget? and i do want to point out this is a two year budget. if our revenue doesn't

increase. >> so if we can't solve this structural deficit in fiscal year 2627, our park system will suffer the following impacts. we group these into three categories but in park cleanliness we would need to reduce or eliminate the gardiner apprenticeship program. we need to eliminate our restroom monitors. we would have less frequent mowing a ball fields and meadows and reduce custodial services. and in recreation we would be looking to reduce recreation facility hours across the city from 60 hours to 40 hours per week. >> looking at a closure emission pool and or rotating pool closures elimination of general fund support at camp mather fewer summer camps and safety in parks as we mentioned the elimination of restroom monitors but also just a wholesale reduction in park ranger services as well as an increased backlog of deferred maintenance for playgrounds ballfields buildings, pools and

parkland. >> our schedule today you're considering the budget. tomorrow is the official charter mandated day where at 5:00 the system turns off to tiffany wong, our budget manager and her team and we need to be done. prozac was rescheduled to march 4th. we're going to go to the youth commission on march 17th to talk about these potential impacts. there's also that march update to the joint report that the comptroller's office provides where we will have confirmation on how much general fund support we will receive next year. and then in june mayor lurie will submit a proposed budget to the board of supervisors and budget appropriations committee hearings. so i also want to end on a note where i really need to thank my budget staff this year tiffany wong, judy evelyn i have tiffany swords. i have a whole crew of people michelle del mike they know who they are. if i'm neglecting them.

alex chang on the capital side if you haven't noticed i have been working with a little bit of a disability going to the doctor's office, going to physical therapy and not only that, this is probably the most influx budget we've ever submitted. and so while i am the one speaking, they're the ones really doing the work this year not saying to blame them blame me. i'm just saying they're the ones who have really done the work this year and i really need to thank them so i just want to share my thanks publicly with all the rest of the great staff as well as our key leadership team members. and i just want to remind everyone i know this budget was a. we do have a plan as a general manager said in his general manager report. >> spring is on the way we can feel spring. i'm trying to end on a slightly positive note so with that well because we've been tag teaming just a little bit let me conclude by thanking antonio and obviously tiffany and the

entire budget team but you can just tell from his presentation presentations just how thoughtful antonio is and how caring and protective he is of the work that we do. he's extremely creative, facil ,attentive and collaborative and we are very, very very very lucky to to have him in this role. this would be a lot choppier without him. >> so thank you antonio. i agree. thank you antonio and your whole team rather than thinking about it as doom and gloom i just like to think that we are dealing with practical realities and we have an amazing team led by phil and his executive staff and all of the support i know that we're in good hands. i know we're going to find solutions. i also feel like we're going to see an uptick in the realities of our economies here in san francisco.

>> so we're all going to do our part to help. is there any public comment in the room today? come on up. you'll have two minutes. i do have a couple of hands raised on our webex as well. commissioners looks like we're going to have a tie who's going to get their first come on up richard. good morning commissioners and staff. >> good morning. i'm richard harris with the san francisco public health alliance. we've given you three letters most recently about an hour ago on the on the matter of the management of the of the golf courses. we're glad that you're taking the of the path of new management agreements and they

can be different types the what we are not happy with is that you have said that this budget says that on one year notice this new management agreements have to solve a $6 million problem. we don't have those new agreements yet. those will be difficult enough to reach the a department has not done that has been talking about it for years, has not done it and now says cold turkey to golf if if a $6 million problem isn't solved in a year we think two things golf should not be singled out as

among all of the two different things the department does for cold turkey. no general fund sport number two this should be conditional on on some success with getting the new agreements and that's going to take time. you have you have five different golf courses that by the end of this year are going to be new agreements. >> thank you so we we have put our position in three letters mostly recently. thank you. one thing that you got this morning. >> thank you very much. next speaker thank you, richard. thanks, richard. >> my name's embry or i'm the executive director of scalable cities where a nonprofit that advocates for skateboarding for

transportation and recreation throughout the city. i don't want to single out golf. that said, i heard the last meeting. it's subsidized to the tune of 5 to $6 million per year. skate parks remain one of the top two most used facilities by people the average age of a skateboarder is 19 years old. the city benefits from at least a few skateboarding camps. that said, there are only seven facilities throughout the city compared to hundreds of tennis courts and at least five golf courses. >> there is a huge opportunity to get increased revenue from skateboarding facilities especially when they are designed for entry level folks. missing from this budget which i would love to see is an audit of the skate facilities in the city because there is an opportunity to increase the level of service and we know that supply creates demand to that same end. i believe there should also be an audit for small wheeled access in all of our parks facilities. there are many pathways that

are full of routes that are disturbing them and expansion gaps that are too large to be navigated by things with small wheels and making a useful movement for people will increase the amount of use in the facilities around the city. >> so i just want to highlight here that there is a tremendous area of opportunity within skateboarding and all non-motorized use propelled vehicles including roller skates and it's challenging for me to see new pickleball courts and grants being accepted for say six new baseball diamonds when we have skate parks at the intersection of many public transit stops that are in risk of being decommissioned unless our community comes forward and raises funds for design and building of those facilities. >> so we really like to see our support for this most popular recreational activity for young people in the city. >> thank you. thank you. >> thank you. is there anyone else here to comment on this item? >> come on up. good morning. good morning. good morning, commissioners.

my name is natasha parks. i am a homeowner, a voter and a retired san francisco city and county employee. i've been a golfer for less than ten years but i have read and agreed with the letters that the san francisco public golf alliance written by richard harris regarding the upcoming budget discussions today to raise golf fees at our municipal golf courses. i strongly agree and support and believe that ending the month of month operator leases and issuing our fees for new extending operating agreements will incentivize improving maintenance at san francisco's muni courses. i am hoping the committee can offer long term contracts to the different vendors at the golf courses to ensure these valuable resources are available for san francisco residents like me for the foreseeable future. i do not support raising fees without improving the conditions of the courses. if these courses continue to deteriorate we will lose golfer revenue and golfers will go to other surrounding counties. there is an opportunity here for better golf courses and increased revenue to the city. i have experienced this firsthand with the successful

renovated golden gate golf course. although many may think this is a game or a sport for the rich ,women and people of color are growing the game new as well as experience golfers a.k.a. regular golfers, regular folks need reasonably priced courses to play and san francisco's many courses offer that opportunity to everyone at affordable prices. golf is appealing to me because it allows me to be outside exercise, socialize, enjoy other people that enjoy golf and play a sport that i hope i can play for the rest of my life. i invite commissioner weintraub who i know is a golfer based on that in online to come out and play a golf around a golf with the women's starting group meeting with our club and just see the course and the conditions of the courses that we have. >> thank you for your time and i appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. thank you.

president anderson. commissioners general manager ginsburg thank you for allowing me to speak today. my name is andrew sun. i'm a resident of the richmond district and a proud member of the century golf club which was founded over 75 years ago primarily by japanese-american, nisei and asian americans because we were not allowed to play at many of the private courses and we relied on public courses for the ability to grow our game for those that were that came out of the camps after the war and also for our young people. we are now 75 years old. let me congratulate the department on what i think is a remarkable budget program. if you look at your year to date analysis in almost all categories the budget we had that you adopted for 2425 were on target and or exceeding them. let me specifically go to the golf fund in particular because

you called for a $6 million reduction from the general fund in 2627. was the promise long overdue of essentially moving to reevaluate the contracts that we have with many of the vendors? as an example, the lincoln park golf course. received their contract in the year 220 2000 which is almost 25 years ago. i noticed earlier today you talked about replenishing your vehicles because they had an average of 13.7 years. i think it's long overdue that we begin to do this. >> i specifically want to raise the question of whether or not we haven't seen a plan a timeline, an analysis of the economic impacts of essentially moving to that plan. clearly there probably will be an opportunity to to replenish the general fund with $6 million maybe by 2627. but there needs to be a spelled

out process. we need to do an analysis. we need to do an economic publication. we need to look at the capital improvements that are necessary. thank you. thank you, mr. sutton. >> i'll put some submit some more comments in writing. great. >> thank you. is there anyone else in room for 16 to comment on this item? i have some online hands raised . >> okay. can you unmute the first caller please? >> good morning. my name is patrick goggin and i am the president of the gleneagles golf course golf club. i'm a covid adopter of golf and it pulled me out of depression initially. i want to thank you for initiating the process for the four rfq four for long term operating agreements and leases. this will increase investment in our courses. however, a last minute 11th

hour decision to eliminate $6 million in golf but subsidies completely defeats the purpose of the rfq process. it is unfair. it's unrealistic that new agreements and leases will cover this grand canyon size gap. this is an inequitable and unfair policy change. by cutting the entire golf subsidy and not doing so from any other activity we golfers pay for the use of our courses while other activities largely do not. this is a very upsetting and bad political decision. it's unfair to pit activities that other athletes against one another instead spread the pain

of this 5% cut across the board and not single out golf. don't throw the baby out with the bath water. find and find an equitable alternative to this unconscionable policy change. that will kill golf in our fair city. thank you. >> thank you. can you meet a meet the next speaker? >> hi, i'm paul hagan. i'm the on the steering committee of friends of balbo. i'm here to make a budget ask even though the budget is really in a mess. but antonio, antonio and phil, we want to be your best friends and thinking about having a fiscally sound structurally sound but a jet. so i also want to preface this with and i speak i think for our community we love our park and the amazing staff brandon johnson, our gardener who runs the pool they do an amazing job and we love it so what's the

issue? we've got about a third of the park that's actually functioning for a taxpayer's right now boxer stadium is locked up and used very, very seldomly. the baseball fields are in disrepair and often not used. we got a $10 million pool that is is only open about 40 hours a week. we lack lighting to use the park at night. we're really running a park at about half mast which i think is not only it costs a lot of money to maintain but is missing revenue opportunity and and really failing to address the needs of a park in an equity zone and it super it certainly falls short of of some of the guiding bulls around an accessible well program space so we have a few asks i think you guys the commission has has seen we've sent in some letters around our budget asks those are based on about 200 responses from the community we sent a survey in

english chinese and spanish. it's not all of the things that we want. it is simply the short list of the top priorities. we think those things can be done in a fiscally responsible way by activating these resources inside balboa that are are currently not used unlocking boxer stadium and to the public and more broad based permitting would generate a lot of revenue opening the baseball fields to multisport permitting would generate revenues and certainly opening up the swimming pool for more open swim and swimming lessons could generate revenue. we'd love to engage as a community and that conversation and add to those ideas about and really be a partner. antonio on on on ways to generate revenue or cost recovery thank you mr. more services thank you i'm out of time the next speaker. hi i guess that would be me.

good morning commissioners. my name is lily atkins. good morning. i am the president of the harding park women's golf club and a san francisco native born golfer born at mount sinai hospital. i'd like to say that i have read and agree with the san francisco public golf alliance letters written by richard harris regarding raising golf fees at our municipal golf courses. >> i strongly support and believe that ending months and months operator leases and issuing our fees for new extended operating agreements will incentivize and improve golf maintenance at these courses. i do not support raising fees without improving the condition of these courses. >> actually at harding park it is our 100 year anniversary. i'm not sure if you're aware of that in 1980 and 1998. our course was so deteriorated that it was used as a parking

lot during the us open for the olympic club. >> a private country club? yep. a renovation began in 2000 to. and since its reopening in 2003 it has hosted many professional golf tournaments even a tournament that tiger woods who everybody knows won. we have a great golf courses here all of our munis the longest consecutive golf tournament in the country and maybe even the world is the san francisco city tournament and that's hosted by our lincoln golf course in harding park. i believe that there is an opportunity to have increased revenue for the city by improving these courses and as a minority woman a somewhat

american. >> q i believe. thank you so much. time is up. i don't believe we have any other hands raised at the moment and see no further commenters and here public comment is closed. any comments from commissioners kerry? thanks. i just have a question. given that this is you know some of the most extreme budget changes we've faced in many, many years and the department has already tried to implement creative ways to to cover some of our costs through fee generating programs like court reservations or charging for, you know, programs in the park and that and so forth. we then met with resistance from the public as well as the board of supervisors. and i'm just wondering like what is our communication plan for both constituents to ensure that we are able to make some of these unpopular but necessary changes in order to

weather the storm? >> well, i mean i think that it has already started during you know, this budget process and it's the reason we have you know, we have so many outreach meetings and we come to you as often as we do so that people understand the why. right. like why are we making proposing some of these difficult choices? there will be more policy development over the coming months. as antonio noted, the mayor does not submit his budget until june and things move and things change and as we do on pretty much everything we do you know our responsibility is to hear feedback and process it and listen and answer questions and then ultimately to try to advocate for the policy positions that we think are going to ensure the most sustainable and healthy park system. we have to make some tough

choices and we will do that. we have, you know, an amazing government affairs team. you know sara and bev and lamont and many others who work closely with the members of the board and the mayor's office and obviously antonio and i work with the mayor's budget staff and some of the mayor's senior team and we'll do our you know, we'll we'll keep listening. you know this what we're proposing today is what we're proposing to send to the mayor's office by the deadline and it is the best way to balance the difficult financial spot we're in as antonio has noted several times during his prior budget presentation ones we have already kept over 60 positions vacant and unfilled. we are getting to the point where the quality that people have come to expect in our park system is going to start to suffer and where you know the

access to our pools and recreational programs that people expect is going to shrink. so it's not a it's not a great budget. i mean i don't you know it's and we're trying to do our best to keep things going at a level of of quality that we think san franciscans deserve. thank you, larry. thank you. first want to thank antonio and his team for taking this task up. it's not an easy one. i know we have some hard decisions to make so thank you guys for all your hard work putting this together. but i do have some questions and probably comments so give me some clarifications on a few things. so in the budget we want to raise the green fees for golf and we're also going to put an rfp out for golf courses.

which ones? all five i think still is still in policy development and i kind of think a couple of the folks that came to public comment are absolutely right. there needs to be a business plan and some analysis. we were further along than i think people think because lincoln and sharpe and a few of our courses apart from harding in particular you know have been on long term month to month leases and we have dana ketchum and her team have been exploring the feasibility of different types of arrangements to to make those management agreements or leases more more current. harding we know it's finances quite well. we know what we subsidize at the end of the day in many cities and counties around the

country golf is a source of revenue in los angeles and new york in a variety of places. golf actually brings in revenue. we are somewhat unique in the level of subsidy that we offer. it is and it is a beloved activity and i really appreciate the golfers who came to speak and i don't want anybody to feel too much angst at the end of the day we're trying to preserve golf and preserve the sport and we very much appreciate it. but golf more than a senior program functions as a concession that is really how it is typically treated in many public sector jurisdictions and we have not you know, we're sort of half and half out on on how we treat golf and it's

gotten to a level of subsidy that if we really are serious not just serious if we're forced to really protect our or our our core services and we have something that does function as a concession and can potentially bring in more revenue than it costs us, we have some responsibility to try to pursue that. so thank you. i understand that but the answer my question then i think if what you're saying is everything's on the table, all five are on the table including already. yeah. okay. so from from my standpoint, you know, privatizing the golf course takes away jobs and i can't support a budget that has jobs being taken away in it. i think privatizing golf courses is the wrong way to go especially hardy but all of them because people will lose

jobs and and we have good union paying jobs right now that are maintaining these golf courses and privatizing these golf courses means that a either nonunion people will come in and do it or be one one union will come in and do all the jobs like it's happening in other places in the city. so i can't i can't support a budget that has this in it. as far as the golf courses go, i have other questions to commissioners. all yeah, i just let me just respond to that one and then you can move on to your sure your other questions. and first of all i want to thank you and i appreciate really appreciate your perspective. i know exactly where you're you're coming from and so i hear what you're saying. there are just a couple of things that i want to make sure that you have in context. i think what we're trying to do here is avoid layoffs and at the end of the day if we cannot

balance and we cannot generate more revenue from the opportunities we have to generate more revenue than we have to cut across the board. and so i know that you want to preserve jobs. i think there is a method to do this if we can do this we don't we may not have to lay people off and we can have people work on other things. antonio shared with you some of the new spaces that are coming online that are funded by other agencies. so we we i understand your point and i'm not trying to be too cute. we wouldn't have in that sort of scenario we may not have a public sector unionized workforce at the at those jobs at the golf course but we wouldn't be eliminating the incumbents in those roles they would roll in to support the rest of the department's work. we have attrition every year we

have these new spaces with outside sources of funding and as someone who i know cares deeply about the workforce and i want you to know that i do too and this is why this gives me so much angst i think our stat antonio is that for every million dollars out of balance we remain it's about 7 or 8 jobs and so you see a $15 million problem in a year or two for every million dollars of revenue that we are unable to generate or to your question, commissioner weintraub, that the board doesn't approve or the mayor doesn't support or whatever it is you know, the alternative is is reducing our workforce. we kept 60 positions vacant last year. we're beyond the point of just not fill and by the way, that's sort of a reduction in jobs too even that you know, you and i have had conversations about

you know, we need more plumbers or you know, more of everything and we're keeping 60 positions vacant right now. the next the next step if we're unable to pull this off may very well be layoffs. well, thank you for those comments and i understand where you're coming from. but at the same time i can't approve or vote for a budget that privatized the jobs with the threat of losing jobs on an on the other side and i think you're at bare bones now and i don't even think you could cut if you wanted to i mean you have 60 unopened jobs and you're going to you're going to fire more people on top of that. i don't think so. i don't think that's happening. but anyways, let's move on other questions. >> so i saw in there that we're funding the great highway 300,000 a year for the two year

budget. >> is that correct? it was roughly 600,006 that was funding for additional maintenance needs and there's a potential restroom coming online. so is this normal or do we do this every year just because prop k passed? >> we have i can answer that. we we have actually regardless of prop k, we have a lot of acreage out there that's been ours that is our responsibility to maintain. so we do have a workforce out there. we're going to expand it very incrementally because we because the voters passed prop k, we will at some point have some other other maintenance responsibilities and we don't want to put too much on the backs of the workers that are that are out there. we're getting more acreage. so that's a space where we have to augment. you saw it's a very slight increase given the amount of acreage we're taking but we feel like to make sure that we're good neighbors in the sunset and that the space is

safe and clean. we do have a responsibility to make sure that the that we're staffing it appropriately. i appreciate that because prop k passed in the future is is the department going to be weighed down by a bigger budget now? >> is it going to cost us more because prop k passed? i don't really anticipate that where the where it is likely to cost us is down the road on way down the road on a renovation of the space for the time being and for the indefinite future i think we envision a space that functions as it does now on the weekends but perhaps with more of the elements that you might see on the on the jfk promenade some art, some music, some

yearling you know some you know, relatively cost effective recreational features and that's how i think that's that's our immediate plan to operate that space down the road like we have all over the city. it's a park that will need a renovation. thank you. as far as the parking in golden gate park i saw that was in the budget. so what it what does that what does that mean? does that mean parking meters throughout the park or section of the park? the whole park? >> what are we talking about? i think that the you know, there are a variety of ways to to do this and to scale it in and each have corresponding associated revenue. but just like the presidio and just like fort mason and just

like major parks in almost every major city we would envision you know, a kiosk we're not going to put a meter in every single spot. we actually also operate there are parking lots right now in golden gate park as you know that you know that are free. so you know, we would work with mta and try to develop a proposal that was park appropriate that was very, you know, affordable and accessible . right now it costs approximately $3 to take a bus to the park or to take a train to golden gate park to take muni. right. that's the meaning. right is three bucks but it doesn't cost three bucks to drive and keep your car in the park and you know it doesn't give us any pleasure to propose this. there's no but it is a best practice and you just you see it over at the presidio now you

see it at fort mason now you see it in central park, you see it in big parks all around the all around the country. i think we would try to do it in a way that like we do everything that honored the esthetic of the park and try to, you know, keep you know, the rates or potential rates at the you know, same cost that is to take a bus. thanks for the answer on that. i'd have some little heartburn on that too. you know we've already closed roads in golden gate park and now we're going to charge people just seems like we're driving cars out so that's not something that i want to do but so if the deficit gets better then the joint report how does that affect the budget and what cuts would go off the table? is there is there like a list of cuts in it if the deficit

gets better we could add take some off. >> how do we do that? i mean i think to be clear in san antonio you can supplement i think we're trying as much as we can to avoid cuts beyond what we've already done, beyond those 60 positions that are actually strongest you know, shrunk our apprenticeship program and you know, did some other things. this budget is not actually as presented is not a cut budget. it's a preserve budget. and i think if revenue were to dramatically get better we would rebalance based on some of the revenue initiatives that we're able to implement and look at the ones that were not . and then in a perfect world, if we were really able to do it you know we as you know and as we've discussed we have, you know, positions in the field that you know, deserve to be filled. so i think we would we would

start there. all right. thank you. so one last question. you know, i asked this i think last month or the month before but since we're in such dire straits in a money crunch, i asked if we could look at our open space fund or the commissioner's fund or whatever in the amount of money we have in there and the option of putting some of that money in cd's or rolling cd's since cd's are at like four, four, 4.5% at this point which could turn into hundreds of thousands of dollars which would be helpful in this situation and i just wanted to bring that up again and see if that's an option or not. >> i can i can take this one. phil i had this was back at the december commission. we were talking about the rainy day reserve and so our treasurer tax collector invest based on safety, liquidity and yield in that order and i apologize i couldn't remember it at the time. it's difficult when you're prepping for surgery but i will

say that they do invest in short term investments but we do not have control. it's completely at that where we entrust our funds with the treasury tax i think it's called a pooled account. >> yes. antonio it's a pooled so all of the departments that have reserves and funds they sit with the treasurer's office and it is the treasurer's responsibility to invest in to try to generate an appropriate yield on those funds. so we have we have no control over our funds as far as investing correct? we do not invest our own money and does it come back to us? >> yes. okay. yes we do receive interest back into the open space fund and the goal fund. all right. appreciate the answers from antonio and phil, i just got to reiterate that as a labor rep i can't support a budget that has a privatizing golf courses in

it. >> so those are my comments. thank you commissioner mazola i don't have any other commissioners with their hands raised any comments from others i a commissioner clark herrera sorry for just putting that on. i really appreciated your questions larry because there was a lot there to unpack and antonio i've seen this presentation in different versions from operations and the different meetings and these are such incredibly difficult decisions and complex decisions. i have seen the iterations of the budget now several times and this seems like it brings around the only options that we have for revenue generation potential like those top four that you highlighted. first it was a list of 20, then

it was listed first. and so i know that you've called every single way i you know, love skateparks want to see that developed. i love governing. i want to see that worked on but i'm not sure that we can keep operating unless we do this in the way that the mayor has asked us to balance our budgets. is that correct? we have to submit this in some shape or form to get approval or ultimately our our responsibility is to balance our our budget and to abide by the set of budget instructions that the mayor issues to this to ensure that the city balances its you know that the mayor balances his entire budget which he submits on june 1st that's that's our our responsibility this is a stage in the process where we ask the commission to approve the budget so that we can send it off to the mayor's office by the deadline and then there's a

whole nother set of conversations which will take place over over succeeding months and there's new information. antonio mentioned the joint report in march. there's a nine month report that's issued in may that may or may not change the city's budget forecast for and our budget forecast for the good or for the bad. we are concerned about open space funds meeting the amount that we've budgeted for them. you know, it is possible that we will have additional challenges come march, april or may. it's also possible and fingers crossed that things get a little better by april or may. so this is a stage in the process that you know, we are obligated to comply with. okay. thank you for your clarification. all right, ashley, it's up to

you guys now. >> okay. >> you guys can see the language in the item. my ipad has died. do i have a motion in a second pursuant to that language in our agenda so moved second all those in favor state i i any opposition? no there's one motion carries thank you commissioners okay we're now on item nine general public comment is there anyone who did not get an opportunity to speak during item four who'd like to speak now? >> okay. thank you everyone. thank you. antonio tiffani everyone did you want to comment on that? >> go ahead please. embry we're here with scalable cities. i apologize and thank you for your patience with all of my discussions about skateboarding. >> i'm sure i'll be seeing more of you.

i realize i'm new to this commission but i spent plenty of time with dpw and the mta for me skateboards and small wheeled modes in general become a very useful lens to understand the built environment and understand efficiencies and opportunities in public space. so just sort of want to make a general introduction here. this could be considered a comment about the budget but just in general too i just want to make it clear that status quo provision of tennis courts and golf courses and everything else you know, they're not just subsidized by the budget, they're subsidized by the lack of use hours that we see for other types of facilities. i want to make a general request here that we understand that the skate facilities that we do have could be made all the better with more public input. i understand that the great highway has a skate facility that's slated for it and i would like to request that a public process be opened up to make sure that we are not prioritizing speed and service of quality. there are opportunities to be very capital efficient and have

facilities produced which serve all users. i'm impressed with the speed at which you when plazas first and second iterations were created and also know that there is a lot of use hours left on the table because we're not planning for newcomers. most of our skate facilities in fact all of our skate facilities in the city are programed for intermediate to advanced riders and do not incorporate the whole suite of disciplines everything from downhill to sort of pump and jump type things you know flow parks, things like that. we have a transition and we have street skateboarding but there is a lot of other opportunity in the city. we have a lot of tennis courts all with section 3 or 2 saying no skateboarding i understand we want to protect those surfaces but if we do not create the supply we will not have the demand and we see that with golf when you have acres for golf you have golf advocates. >> thank you. thank you, aaron. just point of clarification in my opinion what you just said was what you already said and

so normally in public comment and you get a chance to say it once. so my point i just you're done but i just want to clarify that. okay. public process is what got me an email. okay. well thank you. >> thank you. is there anyone else here to comment during public comment casing none and no hands raise public comment is close commissioners we now have commissioners matters and new business any of those today i haven't seen any. >> okay move on to discussion communications any discussion on those? >> we're now an item 13 adjournment. >> can i have a motion to second to adjourn please? so moved. >> all those in favor say i. i any opposition we are adjourned at 12:17 p.m. and thank you everyone for your time

>> we have private and public gardens throughout the garden tour. all of the gardens are volunteers. the only requirement is you're willing to show your garden for a day. so we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. >> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it

links this neighborhood back to its history. in the early 1800s the portola was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a

fund-raiser. since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here. i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪♪♪]

[♪♪♪] >> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. you can see us on the website

>> right before the game starts, if i'm still on the field, i look around, and i just take a deep breath because it is so exciting and magical, not knowing what the season holds is very, very exciting. it was fast-paced, stressful, but the good kind of stressful, high energy. there was a crowd to entertain, it was overwhelming in a good way, and i really, really enjoyed it. i continued working for the grizzlies for the 2012-2013 season, and out of happenstance, the same job opened up for the san francisco giants. i applied, not knowing if i

would get it, but i would kick myself if i didn't apply. i was so nervous, i never lived anywhere outside of fridays fridays -- fresno, and i got an interview. and then, i got a second interview, and i got more nervous because know the thought of leaving fresno and my family and friends was scary, but this opportunity was on the other side. but i had to try, and lo and behold, i got the job, and my first day was january 14, 2014. every game day was a puzzle, and i have to figure out how to put the pieces together. i have two features that are 30 seconds long or a minute and a 30 feature. it's fun to put that al together and then lay that out in a way that is entertaining for the fans. a lucky seat there and there,

and then, some lucky games that include players. and then i'll talk to lucille, can you take the shirt gun to the bleachers. i just organize it from top to bottom, and it's just fun for me. something, we don't know how it's going to go, and it can be a huge hit, but you've got to try it. or if it fails, you just won't do it again. or you tweak it. when that all pans out, you go oh, we did that. we did that as a team. i have a great team. we all gel well together. it keeps the show going. the fans are here to see the teams, but also to be entertained, and that's our job. i have wonderful female role models that i look up to here at the giants, and they've been great mentors for me, so i

aspire to be like them one day. renelle is the best. she's all about women in the workforce, she's always in our corner. [applause] >> i enjoy how progressive the giants are. we have had the longer running until they secure day. we've been doing lgbt night longer than most teams. i enjoy that i work for an organization who supports that and is all inclusive. that means a lot to me, and i wouldn't have it any other way. i wasn't sure i was going to get this job, but i went for it, and i got it, and my first season, we won a world series even if we hadn't have won or gone all the way, i still would

have learned. i've grown more in the past four years professionally than i think i've grown in my entire adult life, so it's been eye opening and a wonderful learning >> when i first started painting it was difficult to get my foot in the door and contractors and mostly men would have a bad attitude towards me or not want to answer my questions or not include me and after you prove

yourself, which i have done, i don't face that obstacle as much anymore. ♪♪♪ my name is nita riccardi, i'm a painter for the city of san francisco and i have my own business as a painting contractor since 1994 called winning colors. my mother was kind of resistant. none of my brothers were painter. i went to college to be a chiropractor and i couldn't imagine being in an office all day. i dropped out of college to become a painter. >> we have been friends for about 15-20 years. we both decided that maybe i could work for her and so she hired me as a painter. she was always very kind. i wasn't actually a painter when she hired me and that was pretty

cool but gave me an opportunity to learn the trade with her company. i went on to different job opportunities but we stayed friends. the division that i work for with san francisco was looking for a painter and so i suggested to my supervisor maybe we can give nita a shot. >> the painting i do for the city is primarily maintenance painting and i take care of anything from pipes on the roof to maintaining the walls and beautifying the bathrooms and graffiti removal. the work i do for myself is different because i'm not actually a painter. i'm a painting contractor which is a little different. during the construction boom in the late 80s i started doing new construction and then when i moved to san francisco, i went to san francisco state and became fascinated with the architecture and got my

contractor's licence and started painting victorians and kind of gravitated towards them. my first project that i did was a 92 room here in the mission. it was the first sro. i'm proud of that and it was challenging because it was occupied and i got interior and exterior and i thought it would take about six weeks to do it and it took me a whole year. >> nita makes the city more beautiful and one of the things that makes her such a great contractor, she has a magical touch around looking at a project and bringing it to its fullest fruition. sometimes her ideas to me might seem a little whacky. i might be like that is a little crazy. but if you just let her do her thing, she is going to do something incredible, something amazing and that will have a lot of pop in it.

and she's really talented at that. >> ultimately it depends on what the customer wants. sometimes they just want to be understated or blend in and other times they let me decide and then all the doors are open and they want me to create. they hire me to do something beautiful and i do. and that's when work is really fun. i get to be creative and express what i want. paint a really happy house or something elegant or dignified. >> it's really cool to watch what she does. not only that, coming up as a woman, you know what i mean, and we're going back to the 80s with it. where the world wasn't so liberal. it was tough, especially being lgbtq, right, she had a lot of friction amongst trades and a lot of people weren't nice to her, a lot of people didn't give her her due respect.

and one of the things amazing about nita, she would never quit. >> after you prove yourself, which i have done, i don't face that obstacle as much anymore. i'd like to be a mentor to other women also. i have always wanted to do that. they may not want to go to school but there's other options. there's trades. i encourage women to apply for my company, i'd be willing to train and happy to do that. there's a shortage of other women painters. for any women who want to get into a trade or painting career, just start with an apprenticeship or if you want to do your own business, you have to get involved and find a mentor and surround yourself with other people that are going to encourage you to move forward and inspire you and support you and you can't give up.

>> we've had a lot of history, nita and i. we've been friends and we have been enemies and we've had conflicts and we always gravitate towards each other with a sense of loyalty that maybe family would have. we just care about each other. >> many of the street corners in all the districts in san francisco, there will be a painting job i have completed and it will be a beautiful paint job. it will be smooth and gold leaf and just wow. and you can't put it down. when i first started, it was hard to get employees to listen to me and go along -- but now, i have a lot of respect.