this was true of william hammond hall and john mclaren's vision. also the desire to make san francisco a distinctive place by providing both for its residents and for the nation in place, a distinctive and beautiful place to recreant within the city. the city as part of our infrastructure and it does help make as you need. aside from central park, how many city parks do you know of that are commonly referred to by many americans? the golden gate park is one of the top city parks in the country. we're a city that is hungry for green space and not fake green. we want a natural look by working with nature. we want something that is free to the public. it is our park. when i was unemployed, the park was my refuge. when i was ill with cancer, it was a restored of space. i am close to being an elder and the park will be my delight as long as i am welcome. i want it to be a delight and not a blight. for all. keep out the astroturf and keep the stadium lights out please. thank you. president olague: sir? those in the second row? these are the people that r

thank you for joining us. 82 years ago, uncle john mclaren, our first park superintendent started the tradition of minding a mile- long of live trees at, to where he lived at the time. behind you is the official entry of san francisco, and it is called uncle john's tree. it is a monterey cypress that is 131 years old. it is over 100 feet tall. it has over 700 lights. it took 8 rec and park tree toppers to light this up. let's give a big round of applause honoring john mclaren, who would be 160 today. 82 years later, our staff has continued the tradition, and i want to thank all of the park staff, recreation staff, tree toppers, electricians, structural maintenance crew. everyone had a plan in -- hand in planning this tonight. i want to make sure that everyone is applauded for the great job that they had done. [applause] i also want to thank the city family who is here tonight. mayor ed lee. we will hear from him in a second. members of the board of supervisors, including supervisor farrell, supervisor elsbernd, supervisor wiener, i think supervisor mar is trying to park. supervisor mi

signup is easy, online, at mclaren lodge, or read any of our rec centers. queried about the cost? inquire about our scholarship opportunities. >> this is holly lee knox. there are some proud pet owners in san francisco and they have brought all their pets here to strut their stuff. >> it's an annual event that we've had. this is our 18th year. we bring in rescue groupers, vendors, supporters, lots and lots of animals. it's a proud day for us and for the animals of san francisco. >> the costume contest is really fun. people get really creative. it's a really fun event. people go all out, create costumes, buy costumes, whatever it is. but there's some really fun ones. >> we're just celebrating the pets and just their companionship and how they are invaluable. so everybody's having fun. >> we're the city's open door shelter. that means we take in every animal that comes through our door regardless of age, condition, species, everything in the city comes through us that is in need. >> animal care control, it is such an important agency and is very understaffed, has very few resources.

what would a mclaren do today about a proposal for natural grass replaced with astroturf? concrete and electric lights? he would block it. that is what he would do. gotten good evening, commissioners. haven't been here since you got promoted. i am a native san franciscan, naturally i am against this project. i am john wooden, i live in north beach. it is a professional soccer stadium masquerading as a gift to the children. all the projects i am against are either masquerading as being something for children or a way to create jobs. when the city let them go to an mx suit -- a new mexico firm, a pretty much gave up. but i owe it to my mother who was a native san franciscan to be here to try to persuade you, even though you're not in a position to turn the project down, i think you could send a message if he sent it back for corrections or perhaps a few extended the public comment period. there is a reason san francisco was voted to be the second best city in the united states, it was in the paper yesterday. hot windy city let them go, what has to wonder -- and one has to wo

signup is easy, online, at mclaren lodge, or read any of our rec centers. queried about the cost?nquire about our scholarship opportunities.

signup is easy, online, at mclaren lodge, or read any of our rec centers. queried about the cost? inquire about our scholarship opportunities. >> good afternoon. are you ready to go? i am the transportation director for san francisco. we have a little feedback. a little high? back off a little bit? thank you all for coming out today. we're here to talk about the intersection of two things in san francisco at a very important. one is partnering and the other -- one is parking in the other is technology. parking is important in san francisco. there is a lot of competition for the public rights of way. parking is something that people in san francisco care about. it is something that we at the sfmta have to manage to make it work, to enable transit to flow in keeping with the city transit first policy. parking is important. to manage it, we create rules and regulations. a lot of people may not like them, but it is what we need to do to make parking and transit work. the purpose of the rules and regulations are not to get people caught up in them, but to make transit work and make tra

it follows a tradition first started by park superintendent john mclaren. it is a celebration of the holidays. this year, we will have live entertainment, christmas carols, writes for kids, arts and crafts, and a rumored visit from santa claus. i would now like to quickly show us, to deny to cover everything during the report, some of the highlights from the last month that rec and park. ♪ >> this is a story of people be having at their worst that and with nonprofit organizations and different government entities coming together. it is people functioning at their best. ♪ >> x 6 ability, a brand new restroom, and we really transformed what had free fall into just a beautiful, beautiful civic square. ♪ [animal sounds] ♪ >> i want to thank jamie, mark, and quincy for putting the video together. and that dance was actually a flash mob. nobody knew what was happening. another act was onstage, and suddenly hundreds of kids from out in the audience kind of started doing whatever is i am doing right now. they made their way to the stage. it was a fantastic event, h

john mclaren's for everything was putting hedges around monuments because he wanted to maintain their rural character. my father's attitude was that way. all the old line rec and park people have the same idea. one of the earlier speakers talked about the birds. we are part of pacific flyway. lots of birds come through and the also [unintelligible] you want to maintain an environment where they survive and do not fly away. >president olague: if looks could limit their comments to the draft eir, we would appreciate it. >> if there is anyone else in the second row who wants to speak at this time. we can go to the cards. there is a gentleman in the third row. that is fine. >> the evening. -- good evening. i love soccer, adult soccer, youth soccer. however, i do not believe that the soccer field should be synthetic or feature nighttime light spread the field should remain natural with no lights. the west sunset fields should be considered an alternative. the planning department needs to take a comprehensive look at what is happening at the western edge. they are having a wastewater treatm

you have john mclaren, the godfather of san francisco parks, representing the area. it is a historic landmark by any means. it does not belong to the board of supervisors. it belongs to the people of san francisco. as a practical matter, there are 400 acres of coastal property not in the interest of san francisco. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello. thank you for listening to me. i do not have a prepared speech. i might be stuttering a little bit. supervisor avalos: could you please identify yourself? >> can you hear me? >> can you please identify yourself? >> i cannot hear where he is saying. >> [inaudible] >> my name is janet braver. sharp park, no one said where the money's coming from for what you are getting out of this if all you are trying to do is save the frogs and snakes. this is being done -- there are ponds there. there are at least three where there are growing frogs. there's lots of room. also, the golf course takes a very small amount of space. i walked there. it is very small. it is not a big place where you go hiki

for information on classes and registration, go online to www.sfreconline.org, or visit mclaren lodge in golden gate park. get ready for extreme classes. get outside and play in the urban outdoors of san francisco. the rugged geography of the city is prepared for the sport of skateboarding. sf rec and park classes are designed for those who are beginning and those who have mastered the fundamentals. choose between beginning and intermediate class los. begich learn the basics and fundamental safety. learn how to take a fall and get back for more action. dropping in on a quarter pipe and try the basis of all the tricks, progress to kick flips, sliding, and writing. increase your skills and move up to

signup is easy, online, at mclaren lodge, or read any of our rec centers. queried about the cost? inquire about our scholarship opportunities. >> recreation and park commission. could you call the roll please? >> [roll call] commissioner levitan is on her way. a few announcements as a reminder -- please turn off any electronic devices and please take any secondary conversations outside. when you come to comment on public comment on an item, please make public comment to the commissioners. they will not respond to questions. they will wait until public comment is closed, and then they or staff may respond to questions at that point. there are two items that we are moving on the calendar today. the first is the general managers' report, which is item three. that will go to the end of the calendar. it will follow item 11. the second item is item five, the consent calendar. that will follow item seven. with that, we are on item two, which is the president's report. >> thank you. i will be brief. i know we have people here on other business, but we have a certificate of appreciation fo

might not have heard of, they put out a couple of pretty great records, and in 1970 -- >> malcolm mclarenvered the new york dolls, because they were really about fashion. in fact, they dressed pretty wildly, even by late '60s, early '70s standards. >> now, when did they break away -- was that '73, '74? >> they got their record deal in '73. by '75, they were pretty much -- >> what about the ramons? were they '75? >> the ramons came together in late '74, '75. and one of the things -- researching this book, which is really very interesting, the early days of springstein and the ramons and patti smith, they were all kids. and they were all really kind of inventing themselves. and they were reinventing music at the same time. and so hearing them kind of learning -- you know, figuring out how to make something for themselves make music that was different from the '60s, but that would work at this, you know -- >> yeah. >> so what resonated by springstein, for example? what -- why did he resonate? >> well, one of the things i found out doing a lot of research on youtube was bruce springsteen we k

i'm the president of friends of mclaren park. it is one of the oldest neighborhood community park groups in san francisco. i give a lot of tours through the park. during those tours, a lot of the folks in the group will think of the park as very scary. it has a lot of hills, there's a lot of dense groves. once you get towards the center of the park you really lose your orientation. you are very much in a remote area. there are a lot of trees that shield your view from the urban setting. you would simply see different groves that gives you a sense of freedom, of being outdoors, not being burdened by the worries of city life. john mclaren had said that golden gate park was too far away. he proposed that we have a park in the south end of the city. the campaign slogan was, people need this open space. one of the things that had to open is there were a lot of people who did a homestead here, about 25 different families. their property had to be bought up. so it took from 1928 to 1957 to buy up all the parcels of land that ended up in