Alright, good morning, everyone, welcome to our plans and programs meeting of the San Francisco tran por transportation thortd, today is tuesday january 17, 2017. Our clerk is steve stamos and today we are joined by two new commissioners, commissioner jeff sheehy and [inaudible] safai, with that, mr. Clerk, lets call the ro l. Iem tem 1, roll call, commissioner breed, absent, commissioner farrell, absent, commissioner safai, present, commissioner sheehy. Er prenlt. Sheehy, present. Commissioner tang . Present. We have a quorum. Er thank you, item 2, please. Er item 2, Citizens Advisory Committee report, this is an information item. Alright. Thank you, we have chris [inaudible], our cac chair here. Good morning, commissioners, welcome, new commissioners, good to see new faces and current faces, good to see you all, we only had one item thats on your agenda this morning, item number 4, the allocation of 653 thousand in prop k funds to bart for balboa park station. Very minor in a lot of ways but we had some concerns over the et thet ix of the glass head house in comparison to the brutality earn design that is at glen park and balboa park station. I spoke with the architect and he said that the designs were to honor and complement the existing designs so the glass head house was mostly the issue, so the glass versus [inaudible] was something that people on the cac had issues with. Regarding Cost Increases, we wondered why the engineering estimates were as low as they were in comparison the the ultimate contractor bids, increase ins the scope and change order with also of concern so, nr the end, we wondered whether it was the bid environment or staff engineers and contractors not scoping a project budget or a combination of all of these things. This item passed 2347 favor, one abstention and three members not present. Great, thank you so much. With we get to that item, im go to literally play around with chairs here, one second. Thank you. So, when we get to the staff presentation, im going ask them to address the concerns you raised, thank you, so are there any members of the public who would like to comment on item 2 then . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed and item 3. Item 3, approve the minutes of the december 6, 2016 meeting, this is an action item. Alright, can we get a motion to approve the minutes . So moved. Alright, thank you, and well do that without objection then. Sorry, do we have to go to Public Comment, yes, item 3, Public Comment, minutes, seeing none, Public Comment is closed and we had a motion and well do that without objection. Roll call. Were a mess here, sorry, so item 3, lets rescind that and lets do roll call vote. Er item 3, commissioner fa tsai. Yes. Safai, aye, commissioner sheehy . Frjts aye. Er commissioner tang . Aye. The minutes are approved. Alright, thank you t minutes are adopted, im supposed to be the veteran here but im messing up, item 4 . Recommend allocation of 653 thousand 101 in prop k funds with conditions to the Bay Area Rapid strans sit district for if ball bow ka park station eastside connection, additional scope project subject to the attached fiscal year cash flow distribution schedule, this is an action item. Er im mike pick flooder, we have one request as you know this morning, bart is requesting prop k funds to exercise a contract option which is not relate today the base projts but and expand the scope of its existing project, the balboa park station eastside connections project and that is kurntsly under construction. So, the base project will create better connections between muni and bart station by constructing a new accessible muni platform and walkway and head house that would connect to the bart station. We have an illustration of the base project here, so the Transportation Authority has allocated 2. 2 in prop k and 1. 9 in Program Transportation funds to the project since 2010. The work that bart is requesting funds for today would improve the appearance and comfort of the station by refitting glass window ins the clear storey, as you can see illustrated, where theres currently deteriorating opaque panel, this will increase Natural Light nr the station as the original design intended. The additional scope will also construct a new ceiling and light ining the concourse of the station. This work package was a contract option in the contract to do the base project and was authorized by the bart board subject to finding availability, so now prop k is able to leverage other sources including measure rr bond funds that were passed by the voters in november and some state funds to get it done and the entire project will be open for use by june, 2018. And with that, i can take any questions. Great, can you would you miepd addressing some of the comments that chair wad ling addressed through the cac and Cost Increases or at least i guess the bidding, he had a question around that too. We were hoping bart staff would be here but i dont see any at the moment, one thing i will say is the request under consideration today is a contract option that is separate from any of the costs involve ined the base contract itself. I think what weve referred to in the scope in terms of the cost of the overall project was the last time that the Transportation Authority saw a request related to this eastside project, so it was less well developed at that point, you know, i cant get into details about every single element of the cost but i know that the budget was less well developed at that point and as youve seen with other Construction Contracts around the city, this is a very competitive time to be building anything here and if [inaudible] would like to add anything to that. Good morning, commissioners, welcome, im anna law ford, director for policy and programming with the Transportation Authority, apologies on behalf of bart staff, they are stuck in a bart delay, but [laughter] so ill pinch hit for the this was also brought up at the Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, the original contract was put out to bid over a year and a half ago and may have been longer before because the project is well under construction and this is a contract option that was originally bid on when the contract was originally let or issued if you will. We did follow up with bart staff about the reason for the overall project cost increase a portion of it is due to this additional scope, a portion was due to the bid environment at the time of the contract being out on the street. It is typical of what we have been hearing from some of the sfmta projects on the transit projects, sometimes there is a single bidder for several contracts so were left to negotiate with a single bidder or reject a bid and take a risk that youre going out to a more favorable bid environment. I dont know for sure if the number of bidders on the original scope of work, we can find that out if the commission is interested in that, and then so there were so, theres the additional scope, there was the contracting environment and then theres corresponding contingency amounts and projts management costs that go up when scope increases as well, so naoez are the corresponding costs that go along with the scope increase. Okay. Great. And then in terms of i cant recall, did you have an issue, mr. Wad ling, about design as well. Im not sure if bart can address the design. This was also brought up at the Citizens Advisory Committee meeting and bart staff replied that there had been many, many discussions about the design at the time that the head house was being designed and one of the including with the architect that was involved with the new features so there was the sentiment that the station needed a front door, if you will, some kind of an access and entry point, there was also the sentiment of wanting to stay away from the concrete that existed now, so not setting up more concrete, to put up light and glass and recognizing that it was a contrast but that that was where it ended up with the then bart director and with the conversations that took place at the time. Okay. Alright. Well, thank you for your presentation and answering those questions, colleagues, do you have any questions or comments on this item . No . Mr. Safai . Frjts yes, i think this is an important step in helping to really open up and redesign a poorly designed station that gets a tremendous amount of use, particularly from people that are pedestrian nas are trying to connect to the other side, i commend you and this is a great project for our part of town, thank you. Alright, okay, great, so with that, then lets open up item 4 to Public Comment. As i mentioned, chris wad ling, cac chair, i spoke with the architect who helped design the head house, i wanted to enter into the record what he communicated to me. He was basing his designs off of one of the brutality architectures by the name of james sterling, sterling design, crystalline glass forms with rough concrete, it was from their varied works, because his environments were overcast, he designed more glass forms into his architecture, similar to barts beginnings and the main reason is function, the groan house is compatible with many overcast days of marine environment, roof format is the existing v over the station, it and its glass walls differ from concrete and are a complement to the heavy forums, the head house incrude thing v that looked like too much v, they considered the passions of the original Design Architect who was earnest born and he was more into a medievalist type churches, he f you figured he would introduce [inaudible] those were his design comments and as commissioner safai mentioned, the community agreed those were well worth it. Any of the members of the public who wishes to comment on item 4 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. I do agree that i think probably almost any change under the Current Conditions will look way better so, with that said, then can we get a motion to approve item 4. So moved. Okay, and we will do that, same house, same call without objection. Alder, item 5 . Item 5, introduction of new items. Great, so im guessing that ta staff have already briefed the new commissioners on new items, i dont think well have any today. Well go to Public Comment on item 5. Okay, seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And now item 6. Item 6, general Public Comment. Yes, good morning, andrew here, the haubl u [inaudible] of human heart leads to the recovery of holy heart and [inaudible] with good conscious for once knowing the capabilities of uses and pathways, one [inaudible] wellbeings for the [inaudible] people, helping hands for people in the days of difficulties, the pitching of true principles for their full awakening and turn the dangers to back to forever security are known as [inaudible] for the holy way, such relief acts of mission [inaudible] also promote the free spirit of public nature for the person, [inaudible] one will make use of restfulness, good nutrition, meditation for the nourishment of ones spiritual soul for a healthy life, the internal and external works of holy way and holy virtue will ensure of completely [inaudible] of once holy objective of advancement, with that, the recreation of personal, family and social relationships will come to an absolute [inaudible] of ultimate virtue, of loyalty, of parental love, of dignity, of maou manatee, of justice, of proper manners, of wisdom, of trust, such 9 vir chugs of a beautiful person shall be actualized of holiness, amen, thank you. Any other members of the public wish to comment . Is there someone else . No . Okay, seining none, then the before you close Public Comment, i want to recognize todd morgan is here pr the bart Financial Management staff and hes here to answer any questions that you have from bart staff as part of Public Comment or as part of the item. I dont think were able to take Public Comment on the bart item only because we only went through that, if we have followup, well approach you personally, so with that, Public Comment is now closed. Item 7. Item 7, adjournment. All right, we are adjourned, thank you. meeting is adjourned . Announcer b dreams and good grades arent enough to get into college. There are actual steps you need to take. Finding someone who can help is the first and most important. For the next steps, go to knowhow2go. Org. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to beautiful delores park. This is a long time coming. Back in 2008, voters approved a clean and safe Neighborhood Parks bond which allocated about 14 million to improve this incredible park. Our goal together we are going to build the new dolores park that is going to be built to last. It is going to retain all of its important features, all of its historic qualities, all of its essential beauty. But yet be built with the idea that this is whenever people come. We are going to be renovating all six tennis courts, replacing the Basketball Court with operations underneath so the staff has the ability to maintain the park. We are completely renovating the irrigation system and in addition to the operations we are building two new restroom buildings. This fund was part of the park renovation fund. We knew community was very supportive of a renovation fund. We engaged in a Community Process which we began with the park to do a detailed assessment of the condition of the park and very details conversation about what we can do in the park and utilize what we can. Parks are where people can gather and where to relax and a lot of people in the city dont have back yards and this is where we come to be with our community. 1, 2, 3. [ applause ] [ cheers and applause ] the work begins. There is one problem, it seems like it is a excluded place. They have the Fire Department that will get possibly injured. I looked and said wow, there is no snow under them. Thanks. Is there anyone else who would like to make Public Comments under the general managers report. At this time members of the public may address the commission within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and do not appear on the agenda. With respect to items you have the opportunity to address the commission when the items is reached. I have 4 cards i will call them off. Jill, dee, sally and kelly. Come on up. Any order. Jill, dee, sally and kelly. Can you hear me . Yes. Thank you. Good morning commissioners. Good morning. The [inaudible] Areas Program will have us believe this plan you will address is all about saving endangered species. They made statements about 50 loss of bio diversity in the plant program, but i want to clarify something, enfact the plant itself required monitoring of only 8 species of plants. Zero or endangered, threes of locing concern which is lower than federally endangered. Three are California Native Plants Society to be listed rare, threatened or endangered in california but more common elsewhere. Two are on the California Native Plant Society level 4 which is plants with limited distribution. I like you to think the trade off and monitoring of 8 plants and worthy selling 18, 448 healthy trees mpt the other thing i like to speak to is the concept and that is the concept oft bio diversity. Saving bio diversity is the linchpin which tries to save bio diversity in the remiant areas but the response to come, the final eir doesnt define what bio diversity is nor the draft eir or Management Plan. By inserting the word native into the employed definition of bio diversity the meaning the term is high jacked. All trees and plants whether native or not native are part of our local bio diversity like people from everywhere are part of our sit as diversity. Adding the word native to bio diversity demonizing native species. The urban forest are part of the totality of variation in San Francisco and have been all most 150 years rchlt we believe all trees and plants whether native or not native are part thof local bio diversity and valued. We traced the definition in the sustainability plan which was fed into the sin ramp and eir and came from eo wilson they say but says biediversity is the totality of all variation in life forms of earth. We believe that native and non native coexist together like pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and part of what are now called by scientist novel forest eco systems and these eco sestm provide essential services for all plants and essential to our bio diversity. Thank you next speaker, please. Sfgov tv, video, no audio. Ime rrp here today speaking on behalf of families and rpd gandner grounds keepers regarding the elth issue associated with exposing to the cancer causing chemicals you introduced into San Francisco play areas. Im addressing the lack of posted chemical warnings add these sites. We experienced the tragedy of a oakland warehouse fire. What makes this pertinent and city officials have known qu down ployed the raisk for years. Former mayor brown as a city leader you assume sth people with this responsibility are doing their jobs. This commission along with the rpd nurt deuced to public parks thousands of tonls of chemical mixture who pfs count is found by the state of california as a prop 65 xhemical known to cause cancer. You continue to do this without posting warnings as to the it helths risks. This is sth same mixture we see in the video being treated by San Francisco children like it was sand as they walk bear foot in it, throw it in each others face and place it in their mouths. As they breathe in the harmful chemtuals under the gaze of their caretakers rchltd if your intention is replace the fields, years down the road this does not mitigate the ongoing chemical exposers imposed every day on the intsent users of the neelds. The National List of cancer victims associated with exposure to these chemicals continues to grow. I heard the commission and rpd justify the actions by bragging you increased field usage. Even if you take such a claim at face value, this means you also increased the amont of Exposure Time as to the toxic chemicals for thousands of lives. I once again ask for you to take as steward the obvious step and that is at the vaer least post prop sick 5 signs at every entrance at eerfb field that contains the chemicals so sth users less willing than your suvls to expose the children or grand children to these chemicals are given a reasonable chance to make a informal decision. Multiple federal ages have taken concern regarding the chemicals and use on the fields rchlt these incluseu scpa, national statute of health kines, Consumer ProductSafety Commission among many others. The state of california continues its own study which wont be concluded for years from now. Thisthank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. My i ask you to speak into the m oorks c. My name is jill, im a parnt of two kids and who go to Outdoor Education schools and the glen park southern neighborhoods. This is one of them, this is pharyn my son and im here today to ask you to think strongly about the herbicides in the parks. I put my kids in outdoor schools because i believe in Outdoor Education and children having access to nature and i came across as soon as my sons School Started i came across posting signs they were spraying round up and garllen in the different areas where my kids are playing and i started a petition last year and got over 12,000 signatures and these kidsi was with them ipschool yesterday and all the kids were picking this sower grass, which he is eating now and they are picking it and putting it in mouths and making daisy chains and this something kids do naturally and i know it is policy tospray pesticides on these plants and i like to ask you guys to reconsider that and maybe think of coming up with a policy to prohibit the use oaf herbicides in the public parks because they should be for the public and enjoyment of families over everything else. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, next speaker. Hi, commissioners. Sally stephens and if you wonder why the [inaudible] program is so unpopular with people who live near the parks with natural areas in them i like to give two examplesism grainview park which is a hill top in the western part the city, surrounded by housesrec and park planted a ice plant which is the only thing that held the sand in place, nothing else worked. When the [inaudible] program took control of all of Grandview Park the first thing they did is [inaudible] sand started to drift to the backyards of peoples who properties abut the park. They had Property Damage in the backyards from the sand and the Neighborhood Association meeting and couple yearsa number of yoors ago, lisa wanes respaunss when they asked what can we do about the damage is there is no spaunlt to anything that happens outside the park. When fish and wild life tried to [inaudible] franciscan manzanita discovered in the doyle droiv redue they included land in glen canren. When the fennel version of habitative r was released included 3. 2 acres were added because [inaudible] asked they be added. The problem is sth added land is not rec and park, it was peoples backyards and the people whos yards they were were never asked if they wanted their property designated as critical habitat for the plant and stuck with the designation and it effect the property values. Fish and wild life says we wont bother them but the realty is they could. Never held meetings to determine which parks have natural areas, they just took control of 1 quarter thoch city parks and not been a good neighborhood to the people who live aroun the parks and will only get worse if they get the free rein the Management Plan gives them. At this pont is there is no accountability so encourage you to implement the alternative and protect the park neighbors. Thauj. Anyone else who would like to make general Public Comment as this time . Come on up. Tom borden, with sf Forest Alliance and just wanted to make you aware of one thing going on in rec and park and that is the department of environment, ipm rules are being violated. The natural Areas Program is spraying [inaudible] tear one herbicide to kill native plants and we have a video of it, i think you may have seen it. But, in june they sprayed like a huge amount in Glen Canyon Park below the miro loma trail and the sign said they were spraying poison oak but it was coyoteee brush and sticky monkey flower. I took pictures that show a halo of death around the park. In the mairpwork for the next ipm hearing for reduced riskpisticide it is reported there is a up tick in spraying and attributed to poison oak along the trail in glen canyon. Not only where they breaking the rules because the plants where not invasive and lied about it and reported as poison oak spraying so keep your eyes open for that. It is indicative of something we have seen over and over again and hope people will Pay Attention and get everyone to play by the rules. Thank you. Anyone else who would like to make general Public Comment. This is closed. We are on the consent calendar and i have one card for richard fong. Good morning. I wanted to make a few comments about the [inaudible] willie wong chinese playground. There was found there were infrastructure needs, one way valving on the sewer system because blocked up tennis courts. That will be a big cost addition. There is another point in the sewer methods, im not a plumber or engineering you have student have good terrain because the building across the way sometimes has had many pluming problems so im troy toog look carefully at that. There should be make the money go up a little bit. There is part about [inaudible] on the cost part. I may as well get to the other part. On the other has to do with bridging of communities. I tried to put on facebook and not too good at that. I couldnt get the comment on it. [inaudible] women who are going to be the aquilizers of [inaudible] through the chinatown area. These particular people rpd woman, terri and all the rotary club, those kind of people want to help out bridging the community. There were a lot of supporting people of this particular Rehabilitation Project but there wasnt much talk about funding our fund raising and that type of stuff. I want that to come back into focus. There will be a lot of other people using this same facilities. Children use it usually during the sum squr at other times they are not using it. The big point i want to bring has to do with lighting and the tennis court and the possibility of a tennis court. I looked at the plan and nothing indicated a tennis and that is a very famous court for people who got National Ranking there. Anything you have to do to include tennis of appellanting of the lines as well as putting poles into the ground so you slip in the other poles and pull up the net. If you did that and of course you have to cap it when the kids are playing soccer but if they are playing basketball they dont have to take down the net. That is something use frd the community and continue the support of tennis. Thank you very much. Thank you. The poles are too high. Any other Public Comment on this item . Item 5, the consent calendar. Being none, Public Comment is closed. Commissioners. Entertain a motion moouved. Movaled and seconded all in favor. Aye. So moved. We are on item 6, the San Francisco zoo. Powerpoint, please. Thank you. Good morning president buell and commissioners general manager ginsburg. Thank you for coming outlet in the wonderful wet weather. In my office i have a meeting with someone named noah and if i see the animals lining up 2 by 2 im heading for high grand. I want to thank you on behalf the San Francisco zoological and oversight you do make us much better. On a personal note, as a former resident of noe value congratulations on the town square. Fantastic. Last weekend part of our mission is one of the c is knhunty. Last weekendtwo weekends ago, december 3, we hosted one of the most incredible events, 15 oanniversary of the San FranciscoFire Department with the chiefment we had over 650 people present and i know arfbd had a wonderful time and we were proud to be able to host this event and group of people so dedicated and also for many years in a row we partner would the Fire Department on the toy program collecting thousands of toys so thrilled to be a partner with the Fire Department. Part of our Conservation Program we brought in two new birds. It is called the bali mynahs the male is from South Carolina and fenail from the miami zoo. This bird is critically endangered in the wireld squewoo are part of the acasa program which is the Species Survival plan to help protect this bird. In fact, San Francisco zoo conservation efforts are vast and this is one of 32 ssps just within the aviary department the San Francisco zoo has. This bird is only found on the island of bali so thrilled to be a partner with the ssa program. If you come out to the zoo, i think you all seen our 3 female mand rills. We have a male, his name is badgeo. His face is bigger and has the blue color. He is a incredible animal. They are getting along well and hope the family will also be growing in this exhibit. Starting in january ewoo will have a docent class. Every year hundreds of docents help support the zoo with volunteer efforts through thousands of hours and cant do it without them. They are the ambassadors of the zoo. On saturday january 14 we will have docent orientation if you know anyone interested or yourselves in spare time of course and beginning february 5 we will have a new Docent Training Program that starts and lasts several weeks. We thank you the docents for all their efforts. Wroo mobile. Last time i was here about 4 weeks ago qu showed a picture of the new zoo mobile that we have out in the public. Sinss then we partnered with San FranciscoUnified School District with this program to enrich the science programs and already vized 38 title 1 classrooms with additional 24 that are currently scheduled for the spring months. If you have any ideas of schools and chasss that would love our program please let us know and happy to bring out zoo mobile to the classes. Additional growth at San Francisco zoo just in the last couple weeks we added babies. New infants at the zoo ft, top right is one of the new howlers so there are two of the primates in the Discovery Center on the far left exhibit said. There is simang and next is the howlers. Yes, those are the ones that howl. If you live nearby the zoo you will hear them a good half mile away. Additionally, in the lower left we have a new kudo caf that joined us november 30 waying in at 30 pounds so come out and see as the zoo continues to grow. We talk about global connoisseursation. Consurivation from San Francisco zu zoo that wnt to churchmill hann togueo to look what is happening to the polar bear population. Wurbing with the program called the Polar Bear Alert Program. The one thing you want to note especially when we talk in the narrative of climate change, thiss is end of november and you see it is dirt so should be a lot of snow at this time. This program that i mentioned the Polar Bear Alert Program goes back to flaen 80 and they collect bears that are huh rassedments to society and put them in jail. Luckily there are zoos such as ours as part the conservation efforts to take the bears. Hulo the bear who is 35 years old came from this facility 33 years ago. She was a bear that gout into peoples garben and she and sister and mom broke into a house so wnt to jail but is part of San Francisco zoo 33 years. It is great San Francisco zoo can look at the programs and work with the groups. Another interesting conservation group, our lead vet Graham Crawford is trying to protect seberal differentagys in the lemur. The communities are very impoverished and using lemur as nourishment. The reason for that is chickens, the population of chickens have been diseased ovmany years so he has worked over the last 8 years with this Incredible Team to vaccinate the chickens of madagascar to make them ed b8. This has incredible Global Impact so we have been work wg the mad gar car Vaccine Development and Harvard School of Public Health and 3192 chickens have been vaccinated to save the speess of lemur. Winter zoo camps have a few openings so if you want to help support the camp or during the holidays make sure that the kids are out of the house. Please snd them to San Francisco zoo and we are happy to take them in. As yoi know, santa claus lent us bell, holly and perp mint for the reindeer romp. They are on site have aggreat time. Reindeer come from the north pole, here is a side note useless trivia they are a semi domestic species the care bu. Just recently they were reintroduced into scotland extinth since the [inaudible] finally zoo lights begins tomorrow night, december 16 through the 30 accept for the 24 and 25. Please join us filled with hundreds of thousands of lights and food and music and will have a great time and the weather starting tomorrow will be perfect. That conclude my report. Thank you very much. Is there Public Comment on this item . Being none, Public Comment is closed. Commissioners, this was discussion only, so we are now on item 7. Lets play sf approval of the agreement between the rec and park defarmt in San FranciscoParks Alliance in acceptance of the grant. Good morning, lisa bran stn, director of partnership in rec and park. Thrill d to be here for a mile stone in a project we have worked on for some time with