the community gardens program consists of recreational park apartment properties. the management of the community gardens is guided by the policy. the 35 gardens offer almost 1000 plots. the map on the overhead shows that there is a huge part in the center part of the city. despite offering close to 1000 garden plots, there are hundreds of people on the waiting list. the waiting list can be as long as seven years. indeed, in the past few years, the waiting list continues to grow. in our first inventory done, there are currently 700, an increase of 60%. i will go into that in my next slide. also on this list is a list of nearby gardens and just to show you the amount of growth. a surface area is defined as the extent to which the user is willing to travel to use the facility. the national parks and recreation association does not have an area defined for community gardens, but it has a surface area of the fight for community parks. and so, on the overhead, i have shown these service areas of about half a mile. they range from 25 to -- .25 to .5 miles. in fact, the lo

gardens. this response to many well- documented programming needs. it allows us to pursue multiple opportunities for community partnership with a broad set of stakeholders. the creation of the new community gardens -- it is one of the most needed facilities. it also states that the community gardens are one of the most important recreational facilities to households. this demonstrates the level of enthusiasm, and the project manager will describe in more detail. this is confirmed by our experience in managing the community garden program. the recreation and open space element also clearly urges us to expand community garden opportunities throughout the city, noting that it is a valid use of open space, revitalizing neighborhoods. in july, 2009, the mayor issued an executive directive stating that food production and horticulture education will be encouraged in the city at to the extent feasible on city-own the land. -- city-owned land. we also comply with one of the most important mandates, the master plan. we had extensive community outreach process.

there are four program areas identified. first is the garden plots. the plans show approximately 40 garden plots. the proposal is to have a maximum of 75% of those plots available under the community gardens program. at a minimum, 25% of those plots would be reserved for groups or what we are calling teams. this would be groups such as community groups, advocacy groups, school groups, or kitchens. this would increase the number of beneficiaries of food security. another program area proposed is the material distribution. this is an area where there would be open bins that would be filled with art materials, such as smoke -- mulch. that could be available to community gardeners and the general public. we propose to continue certain aspects of the current recycling, specifically the collection of cardboard. it can be used for weed control. we would also collect plastic containers. we have the tool-lending library. this is similar to a standard library. instead of issuing books, we would be issuing garden tools. this was available at one time through the

programs. children have field trips there. i also support gardens. we have a garden program at my school. we are excited to have learned in the last couple of days that there are other sites that have been proposed for a community garden park that would be more appropriate in terms of sunshine and clean soil. i fully support the hanc recycling center. i am extremely appalled and concerned about the community outreach, or should i said the lack of community a reach, that has taken place in this process, and i urge you to give more time so that everybody can look to the fact, and also to perhaps meant some of the divisions in our neighborhood that have occurred because of this process. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is richard ivanhoe. i am the current president of the haight ashbury neighborhood council. i was hoping i would be the last speaker said you could breathe a sigh of relief. i am sorry you have another item on your agenda. we support community gardens. maybe i should borrow one of those tags. but the question is why here, why now. it is the wrong location. as o

so, for example, the pta of jefferson which was already very involved in a gardening program. so, you know, like i said, neighborhood beautification. the wheels in terms of bringing the community together to transform this space were already moving. i was able to hop on that band wagon and so basically i created a letter of agreement with the pta and the principal. that the principal signd and the pta president signed saying they will take responsibility for removing graffiti that come up. that was a big issue. murals get tagged. i have done 60 of the projects and 3 have been tagged. it 's surprising to me how i hae not had a problem with vandalism >> on the one at 19th and everybodying the door next to the mural has been tagged the bus stop is tagged. they climbod top of the bus stop to tag the stop the star bucks build you but left the mural alone. why in i don't know. may be their siblings worked on the mural. may be they decided to leave it alone. it's a cared for space. that's a key thing if people see that a community's going to come back and remove the vandalism it send

service area of frederick street is gardens for the internment, which has offered educational garden programs that are successful and have been of great use to almost every garden in san francisco. this plan represents a duplication of the services offered at a garden for the internment. -- environment. we have worked to establish these types of services in this neighborhood. rpd prides itself on world-class garden. thank you. president buell: thank you. >> next speaker. >> greetings, commissioners. thanks for giving me an opportunity to speak. i am with nature in the city. we have had an ongoing relationship with hanc to promote and manage the new plant nursery -- new plant nursery. we promote what is going on there. we get people to go and buy a plant. we even promote a little bit of staff time. we get plants for our projects. our primary concern is for the native plant nursery, an incomparable community resource. we are concerned about the potential loss of recycling and that 10 green jobs. we understand the concern about the recycling center in golden gate park. we are very sympathetic to

we're changing the flavor of the community, and with the garden program and all of those things that i think folks have not had a time to take a look at. the task force -- how the task force was developed. the digester task force -- i see alex standing there. i am sure he will testify is true that the task force was a very diverse task force, and a group of individuals that in a lot of cases would not normally be on the same team. i think the puc certainly should be able to take some credit for that. but i think looking at it, the task force -- i think the digester task force has created a way to also make us closer in that community. i think those are some of the things, just shortly, i wanted to share with you, which i have not shared before. i think those are the things that create good neighbors and create -- once i think people need to understand quickly. we are part of the family of bayview hunters point. everybody fleshes there. everybody is a part of it. we are a part of a view. my office is in bayview. the of theory that -- the theory that we are different things -- we're th

service area of frederick street is gardens for the internment, which has offered educational garden programs that are successful and have been of great use to almost every garden in san francisco. this plan represents a duplication of the services offered at a garden for the internment. -- environment

businesses will be willing to donate either anything from refreshments to soil for ga gardening program. >> i come from a slightly different -- [inaudible] >> okay. and i will share my audio visual presentation with you. my office used to be above this cafe on windam. in the garage space and became this over night success of people coming and waiting in line for this individually made coffee. through that process this is a bit of the context of the proje project. people wait indeed line on the narrow sidewalks and rubbed elbows talk to people. there is a community that developed from that use on the space. and at some point somebody pulled out a table and chair on the 6 foot wide sidewalk and a neighbor complained that was blocking the sidewalk. he thought, the owner of the building and the partner said can we do a sidewalk encroaching permit. no, the sidewalk is too small. we were thinking there is a plan in the market/octavia plan neighborhood plan that has emphasizes the use of alleys as creating living space. the neighborhood that's grid with busy streets and in between are the narr

we're changing the flavor of the community, and with the garden program and all of those things that i think folks have not had a time to take a look at. the task force -- how the task force was developed. the

garden currently. i think that many people in this room have stated things that are quite misguided and i'm in support of hanc recycling program and native plant nursery. being next to a community garden. very few of those gardens are actually native plants. and i think many people have pointed out some good stuff thus far. it's amazing how you stand in front and get really nervous. so i do want to support hanc and i'm against this proposal. i think there are many better places for community gardens in the city as somebody rec creates or used to rec create in the parks as well. i think that park and rec needs to build better community relations and not separate them. so, again, i'm in support of hanc and the recycling center. thanks. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is janet rogers and i'm a longtime resident, over 20 years. i'm here today to urge you to remove the recycling center and replace it with a community garden. clearly hanc should be commended for its pioneering efforts in recycling movement. however, it has outlived its usefulness now that we have a curbside recycling program. a community garden would be an a