Receive kudos in person. There will be a celebration for him out at harding i think next week. And we will pass along information for that if any of you are available to attend. That is the conclusion of my recognition. We have this month in parks, we have a special video that may or may not have seen. It is our annual report. 2017. In retrospect. [ ] its been another amazing year for us at the San Francisco rec and park with 220 parks, 4,000 acres of open space, we have one of the most special parks in the entire country, but what makes our park system so special are all of you. The people who use the parks every day. Who participate in your recreation programs, who volunteer, who advocate, and who work in our parks. Our accomplishments are your accomplishments. And without all of you our park system would not be as lively and vibrant. Enjoy this look back at the past year in our parks. We have a great park system. A lot of folks. Safe clean and fun. We promote our parks historic and Cultural Heritage and were building the great parks of tomorrow. We were the first city in the country to place parks within a 10 minute walk of every residence. We cut 14 ribbons and broke ground on two additional park renovations. We bought land. We planned for parks of the future. We make our parks safer and cleaner. We celebrated our history and culture. We promoted active living for the diverse and growing population. We help folks play ball. We let kids be kids regardless of whether they can afford to and connected them with the natural world. We let seniors be seniors and we made sure everyone can get out and play. In the last two years, weve hosted more than 172,000 events . Our parks, little ones, big ones, fast ones, slow ones, strange ones, earthy ones. We inspire letsplaysf a campaign to build new playgrounds. We created a new light art installation on the conservatory iconic facade. We worked with the Golden State Warriors foundation to resurface the basketball court. We renovated the soccer pitch. We partnered with the San Francisco conservancy to design a new park. We renovated and reopened south park and lincoln park. We helped to ensure that all san franciscans can get out and play. We didnt just inspire capital, we inspired sweat, lots of sweat. We aim to protect and enhance San Franciscos Natural Resources from conservation, education and Sustainable Land management. We built for a better ecosystem. We taught our next generation about the earth. We call them greenagers. We save water, we cared for the trees. We cultivated a connective, engaged and aligned workforce that delivers outstanding service. We measured, we innovated, we trained, we collaborated, developed, hired, recognized each other, we celebrated together. Were proud to be part of this team and we said everything matters, from the smallest park to Golden Gate Park, our parks are diverse and unique as our amazing city. Were so proud to steward them on your behalf. Remember, in 2018 get out and play [ ] that was 2017, and that was the general managers report. President buell thank you very much. Is there anyone who would like to make Public Comment under the general managers report. Richard . Ok. President buell so noted. Being no Public Comment, this item is closed for now. Item 4, general Public Comment up to 15 minutes. This item will be continued to item 13 at this time members of the public may address the commission on items of interest that are within the jurisdiction of the commission. And that do not appear on the agenda. With respect to agenda items, you will have that opportunity to address the commission when the item is reached in the meeting. I do have one card and that is henry. You will have three minutes. Secretary go ahead. Take a seat. Good morning. Thank you for having this open mic session. My name is henry and im a member of the group of seniors who play tennis in the Golden Gate Park Tennis Complex. Im here to express my concerns about the plans for the Golden Gate Park tennis center. In two ways. First is, my first concern is the way that the plans were developed. These plans were developed by a group called the Tennis Coalition, and they have been successful in raising funds. However, the design and the particulars of the plan were not subject to public input. The group appeared originally with its first presentation and all subsequent presentations to have a pretty completed plan and although many suggestions were made and were solicited by the group, there has been basically no basic change in the plans offered. My concern is that the public should be the ones making the decisions, rather than a private selected group. And my first request is that the Commission Work with the recreation and Park Department to create group that has chosen is chosen by the recreation and Parks Department after a widespread advertising and application from people who actually use the Tennis Complex. And i suggested to people and the parks and rec department, because theyre the ones who were there at the Tennis Complex all the time. And feedback can be exchanged freely and in large volume. Thats my first request. The second is that the particulars of the plan that i am and most of the senior tennis people i play with in the mornings have concerns about the plans. The first concern is that four courts will be eliminated and no one was in favor of that in our group and i dont think it makes sense to remodel the complex and have fewer courts. The reasoning that the Tennis Coalition offers an explanation is that putting up lights, that will give more time to play, but that really doesnt address the daytime loss of courts which is where most of the people play. You have 30 more seconds. The other things that we were concerned about is the expansion of the buildings for the childrens learning center. And that could have been done without the remodel. The hiring of a forprofit company was unanimously rejected by our Senior Tennis Group and we feel its inappropriate to lock up the courts with having only one entrance and exit so that the whole place is now being viewed as a private space and public park which we option. President buell thank you, we have your printed comments as well. John melvin . Thank you. I would like to echo henrys comments and offer an observation. This proposal has been put together by an Elitist Group who want a fancy Tennis Complex that they can bring their friends to. These people are mostly members of private clubs. They dont play tennis at Golden Gate Park, theyre concerned about a monument. I think it stinks. This is a senior group that relies on these Tennis Courts literally for their life. Thats our exercise program and to rip these up for a couple of years so they can have something fancy is an outrage. And not taking input. This is designed so they meet the standards, so that means we lose four courts. We need more courts. So, anyway, thats difficult for me to control my emotions, but this is a really big deal and the Parks Department, farz i can see, they defaulted the whole project to this private group. I would encourage you to put this back on a public track. San francisco is not a for profit city, its a nonprofit city and this should be run by a nonprofit. Among other things. But lets get back to basics. Fix the courts, theyre in terrible condition. We have three courts we cant even play for, i dont know why they havent been fixed, down for more than a year, and why theyre not fixed is beyond me. And sometimes we shop, we cant get a court. And seniors really need their exercise. So, anything you can do, we would really appreciate it. Thank you very much. President buell thank you. Secretary anyone else who would like to make general Public Comment . Richard . Good morning. Nice to see all you happy commissioners, hope you had a nice holiday. What i wanted to ask about is what can be done over the cost issue of the lake, the boat and so forth, the upper, trying to get people to help pay for the changes that have been provided. Last time i was here, i had spoken against charging it to seniors and the equity funds. I was looking later on, would there be available the Homeowners Association who can help contribute some funding to that. They had earlier been the party involved with putting in the sun fish family, large bass and all that other stuff. I wanted to be sure i got that across. And there is other part that had to do with with whole [inaudible] work at port smith square, thats nice. General manager ginsburg, and thats about all, other than im going to try to Say Something about this and get another crane on the arts, so ill wait until the zoo time. Thank you. President buell thank you. Secretary any other Public Comment, general Public Comment . Seeing none, this item is closed. Were now on item 5, the consent calendar. Is there any Public Comment under the consent calendar . Seeing none, this item is closed. Commissioners we need a motion. President buell entertain a moment. Moved and seconded. All those in favor, so moved. Secretary were on item 6, the election of officers. I wanted to go over very briefly what the procedure will be today. We are going to i will ask first for Public Comment and once Public Comment is closed, i will ask for a motion and a second. And then a vote to open nominations once we open the nominations, i will ask for the nominations to begin. We will need a second. Then we will do the same thing, close the nominations with the vote. And then you will vote on the nomination. So with that, that will be for both the president and the Vice President. Is there any Public Comment on item number 6, election of officers . Being none, Public Comment is closed. So, for the election of the president , i do need a motion and a second to open the nominations. Moved. Second. Secretary ok. And i need all in favor . Aye, any opposed, no. Aye, aye, aye. Secretary thank you, ok. So now commissioner anderson i believe you have nomination for the office of president. Commissioner anderson yes, it is with great honor that i make the following nomination and if i could just have a minute, current president . President buell please. Commissioner anderson i conducted a not so independent poll with the universe of six very interested people on qualifications and learned that we have a gentleman and a poet. A poetic president ial person, who most of the time makes santa claus good list year to year and has a voice like Robert Wagner. Im not sure those are qualifications for president , so i found another source and learned that president buell inspires resources, investment and confidence in the park system. And weve seen more people voting for park bonds than ever before. And increases and positive responses in our park surveys and increases in our park scores. And weve recently celebrated the fact that each and every san franciscan lives a 10minute walk from our parks, you will under president buells leadership. And on those grounds, i would like to again nominate you for the president in this next term. I second the motion, even though i disagree with the Robert Wagner voice. Secretary any other nominations for the office of president . Seeing none, the nominations are closed. So with the roll call vote, commissioner anderson . Commissioner anderson yea. Commissioner bonilla yes. Commissioner harrison yes. Commissioner low yes. Commissioner mazzola yes. President buell aye. Secretary congratulations, it is unanimous for 2018. President buell let me say before you get to the Vice President how much, one, i appreciate this commission and the trust that they have placed in me. I want to express my gratitude to them for the willing to show up at functions to celebrate openings and good causes, but genuinely, im very grateful, thank you very much. Secretary were now going to the election of the Vice President. I need a motion and a second to open the nominations. So moved. Second. Secretary ok, all in favor . Opposed . Ok, so commissioner bonilla . Commissioner bonilla i would like to nominate the Vice President for Vice President. Commissioner allan low. In doing that i want to say that i continue to be extremely impressed with commissioner lows involvements in the community. I think if we took a poll as to actually in attendance record, as to how many activities that commissioner low has participated in, i think he would win hands down, in terms of all the commissioners. And i also continue to be impressed with his Due Diligence in reviewing our contracts, the contracts that come before us, and his level of proficiency in keeping us focused on the decisions that we make with regards to our contracts. And always, always keeping us out of harms way. We need that. We need to continue to depend on that level of proficiency. His involvement in the community, which i will always marvel at, and with that, i am once again express my nomination for commissioner low for Vice President. Commissioner harrison id like to second that, but before i do that, i would like to say, it would be remiss not to remark on commissioner lows humor and abilities in that. He could give each one of us a little square needle and keep the zinger and keep the lightness and fun of this commission. So i would Second Commission low for Vice President. Secretary any other nominations for Vice President . Being none, nominations are closed. So roll call vote. Commissioner anderson yes. Commissioner bonilla of course. Commissioner harrison yes. Commissioner low [laughter] yes. Commissioner mazzola yes. President buell absolutely. Secretary congratulations. [applause] commissioner low thank you. Secretary ok. We are now on item did you want to say anything . Commissioner low no, lets just keep the efficiency and roll to the next item. Secretary were on item 7, San Francisco zoo. Thank you, happy new year, congratulations president and Vice President. I think, right . Let me give you attendance update for the zoo. Thus far were at 480,000 visitors, versus budget of 474,000. So were almost 7,000 over budget in terms of visitorship. So with that, ill go to the slide show, because we have a surplus and due to the gifts of some of the board members, our happy zoo year promotion for the month of january was freeadmission for children 14 and younger and especially on mlk, we had nearly 5,000 children take advantage of that. I thank the board and everyone for the support of the promotion. Love is in the air, its not quite valentines day, but if you know, you have seen the snow leopard theyre beautiful, endangered in the wild and we have two new ones to the zoo to mate. They are going off and on exhibit as they learn and explore, but can hear their mating calls throughout the zoo, so it perks us up quite a bit. Were helping the snow members in the wild. Theyre elusive animals, hard to track in the wild, so were capturing their digital images, with that we create algorithm so the trackers in the wild can use the algorithm to assess whether theyre seeing Snow Leopards or other cats in the wild. I thank the staff again for the creative solution. I want to let everybody know were moving our dragon, big daddy, and he is moved from the alley to the former taber exhibit. This is near the rhino. Its near the asian center of the zoo. You can see its a flat space. The reason were doing that, if you show the next picture here of big daddy, in the back there, those two little rocks popping out of his hips are actually needles, big nails. He had a crack in his lower back, so he needs flat space. We think the crack is developed because hes actually the product of an immaculate conception, if you will. The reptile, if they find no suitable male partners, she can impregnates herself. And doesnt need the male species. There is evolution at work. [laughter]. What . Uhoh. I knew id get the attention at that. Its true, reptiles can do that. But unfortunately, were finding that the product, so the male still have hope, the products of these immaculate conceptions arent always the strongest of the animals and there are cracks. Big daddy will get a new spot. And maybe you need your dad after all, i dont know. The dragon is famed for eating wild chicken, we dont do that, we give him cooked chicken, but speaking of birds, i want to point out the most Attractive Group of donors. This is the womens auxiliary. They wear hats. They cant get through the front door, the hats so big. But they will be raising money for the two condors, these are beautiful birds that we have developed partnerships with countries in south america, theyre facing crisis because theyre prey, its causing the condors to come into the cities, prey on small cats and dogs and the population there, think their children are at risk, so theyre starting to stone the beautiful bird. We have two at the zoo and will raise money for the new habitat. I thank the ladies and the their gorgeous hats for the efforts. I thank Mark Sullivan for hosting a oneday workshop on february 10th, where with talent or no talent, he will teach you how to draw a bird or other animals. Birds can be difficult, so have patience. Thankfully, we do have a very slow sloth in south american tropical forest, that may be the easiest to draw, but i thank mark for hosting that. And speaking of other great volunteers, we would not be the great zoo without january 21, we have a doe set workshop. Its great to have the Senior Citizens working at the zoo, sharing knowledge, and their wisdom. I thank you. More information is on the website. With that, i finish my report. Secretary any Public Comment. Richard . With big daddy, im wondering is if the evolution superior, selfpropagate, i never heard of that. So darwinian type of analysis, is he a superior animal that such animal can replicate on its own . Thats usually a sign like with chickens or stuff like that, they have both the ovary and the testes, if harm comes to the ovary, the hen becomes a rooster, but i never heard about a dragon selfreplicating. Gee whiz. Mark, are you up to pace. The flat worm splits in two, but imlering as you learning as you talk. Oh, my goodness, what i wanted to talk about had more to do with the palace of fine arts and other wildlife in the natural area there, i like that place very much. And also, i also see that the crane that was placed in there that is cared for by the zoo people, i believe it is, but i only see one. Is there more, possibly more than one, solitary numbers of one is difficult with even animals. Why would an animal be in solitary there. I thought perhaps we could have another crane or others to accompany such animals. And the fish that were put in there, the koi fish, theyre doing good, keeping the bottom clean, but theyre prolific breeders, so i dont know which animals are attracted to getting the small fish, but thats part of that wildlife to it. Thats the food chain. Sometimes if you see the crane there, it doesnt even look like its alive, so i thought maybe you had another one there. Hopefully, i can get that from the zoo, where they find another matching crane. But i also heard from the director of operations it doesnt want them breeding, so you got to have the same gender. President buell thank you. Secretary anyone else who would like to make Public Comment under the zoo item . Being none, this item is closed. This was discussion only. Were on item 8, the joseph l. Alioto piazza, approval of a temporary art installation. Good morning, commissioners, im here to ask your approval of a request by the Arts Commission to place a temporary arts installation of 40 sculptures by zak ove, called invisible men, at civic center from july 2018 to october 2018. If we could turn on the overhead, please . Thank you. There will be 40 identical sculptures that are reminiscent of figures. Theyre entitled invisible men. Each is 6. 5 feet high and weighs about 300 pounds. The pictures you see is of installation in other location. For stability, they will each be sit on a base filled with concrete and to hold them down. Structural engineer has confirmed wind resistance, we spent a lot of time with the risk managers, that somebody couldnt tip them over. And the weight will be subject to a Structural Analysis that is consistent with the weight for civic center. They will be placed down the decomposed granite area of the plaza. The Arts Commission gave us a little explanation of the art, because not my expertise and i want to share it with everybody. Its fascinating. They were displayed at Somerset House in london, which is similar to our civic center and were designed to reference a play performed there in 1605 entitled the mask of blackness, which featured white actors in black face which was reflective of society shift toward preference for lighter skin in the 17th century. The artist alludes to the acclaimed novel, the invisible man, a pioneering consideration of racism and marginalized communities in america, told through the eyes of its black protagonist. The handsup could be construed as channelling the symbolism of the black lives Matter Movement currently. At the time when slavery monuments across the country are being removed, this is a time of placing peaceful sculptures of black men, it is insertion rather than deletion. With the departments support this installation. Secretary any Public Comment on the item . Did you want to speak . Ok, please come up. Good morning, commissioners, happy new year, im jill from the Arts Commission, its a pleasure to be before you today. I wanted to thank the recreation and Park Department commission for enabling the Arts Commission to produce and present these projects. We have the ideas, we fund the artists, but you wont property and i think its been a very positive and fruitful relationship over the years. Dana is terrific to work with, denny weighed in on the project, id like to thank them. I think together we make a great team. And i hope that you will support this project. It was enthusiastically approved by the Arts Commission on january 8th. And acting mayor breed has seen it and is supportive of the project as well. Im happy to answer any questions you may have before your vote. President buell thank you. I dont see any questions. Commissioner bonilla. Secretary were going to close Public Comment first. Any other comment . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Commissioner bonilla i was wondering, will you have youve just given we just heard a description of the meaning of these soldiers. Will there be something there, some signage or something for the public is that gives perspective, a little bit of background or history where how they originated and what the meaning might be because honestly, i wouldnt have ever in a lifetime thought about that is what that is what the meaning is. So i just wondered if thats going to be made possible . Yes, commissioner bonilla, you raise a good point. I agree with you that the public needs this information. And were also going to work with our colleagues from the city Team Involved in the Civic Center Commons initiative to discuss possible programs that might occur, dance performance, poetry reading, talks by the artists, so that it wont just be a visual exhibition. There will be hopefully other programming components. Commissioner bonilla thank you. President buell i dont see any other comments from the commission. Thank you very much. Youre welcome, my pleasure. Moved and seconded, all those in favor . So moved, thank you. Secretary were now on item 9, the Acquisition Policy review. Good morning, commissioners, jordan harrison, Capital Planning division. The item before you is review of the departments Acquisition Policy, we are providing this review sorry. Were providing this review as a recommendation from the 2017 civil grand jury report that suggested that the Commission Consider our Acquisition Policy before january 2018. The agenda for this overview is a policy overview, a summary of the nomination process, plan and recent acquisitions as well as a summary of our funding. The Acquisition Policy was adopted in 2006 and updated in 2011 with a lot of assistance from the provides general guidelines on how to go through the process and find the best sites for acquisition. The main policy goals are to select Properties Located in the areas of high need or open space deficiencies. Leverage funding from other sources for the purchase, development or maintenance of the site. And include properties that provide a variety of recreational opportunities. Informed by the park code, which provides guidelines for acquisition that focus on high needs again. The acquisition of properties where there is growth, which reits to the high needs russ the high needs. The two Work Together and the park code guidelines are integrated within the policy and discussed during the nomination processes. Ill go into more detail about the high needs areas defined by the open space element of the open plan. This map illustrates the high needs area and ill walk through the components that led to the creation of the map. The deeper the green, the greater the need and the areas of focus for acquisition. So there is density, general density, household income. Use and senior density. As well as the deficiency maps which show walkability for specific park types. All of these are within 2014 and are somewhat static. So this is one piece of what forms the acquisition thought process, but we also keep it flexible and integrate policy changes as they come. For example, the equity zones, which youre all familiar with from previous presentations. So thats kind of the overview of the geographic thought process behind the Acquisition Policy. Ill quickly go through the process. This process was worked out with prozac in 2011 and can be initiated by staff or a member of the public. They provide a site intake form which is available on the website to staff. Staff conducts analysis among the different proposals. We provide that analysis and ask for their concurrence or agreement with our recommendation and that puts the site on the roster of potential acquisitions. From there, it depends on numerous factors of which the department does not have complete control what is pursued, but that is how we create a consistent sort of apples to apples discussion of different sites. Please stand by. So, finally ill just go over some quick quickly planned and recent acquisitions. The top part of these tables are acquisitions we know we will be pursuing within the next five years. I will briefly mention them. The parks are dependent upon the timing of the development of that site. The protrero is depending on the timing. And it is going to be purchased in this year in spring of 2018, were going to close the deal. It has been approved and the funding has been appropriated. We are waiting for the seller to close the deal. The second half is recent acquisitions, which i wont go into until you have questions. This map illustrates where they are and these are also in your packet. Finally, ill just go over the funding process for acquisitions. The department uses 5 subsidy from the open space fund. This funding can only be used for the acquisition cost. It cant be used for construction or maintenance. We leveraged funds from impact fees in the Development Areas of the city, grants, transfers from other agencies as well as gifts from donors. The balance is around 4 million and the estimated annual addition on property revenues are around 3 million. And i also illustrate the funding obligations we have in the future, which we are
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