without the underground parking garage and enable further access to those who need it via that asset. thank you so much. [please stand by] >> it's not a joke. it's an absolute tragedy we don't have more safe cycling areas. it really is a miraculous change and we need to see more of this everywhere in thecity of san francisco . >> thank you for yourcomments, let's go to our next caller . >> i'm calling insupport of jfk . and i was askingmyself how my going to get by, how am i going to and meet .and buying food and also paying for gasand car repairs . i've got to find away to save money i've got to start riding a bike . it's easy, maintenance doesn't cost much and i've been doing it since then , last 13years . so arguments about equality and access, having a car is expensive. we need to make it easier to get around bybike. it's better for the environment . it's a great option and bts k opens a lot of opportunities to get around the city by bike. it's a fantastic resource and please let's keep it. >> i apologize for cutting you offbut we're providing one minute today . >> my name iscaches, i'm a resident of district 5 and i'm calling to encourage you to vote yes on the mayors legislation . car free jfk isa magical place . it's one of the most accessible parts of our city and if we have any chance of reaching our goals , car free jfk is what we thank them for their leadership on this, it means a lot. >> you for your comments. let's go to our next speaker. >> my name is lizzie, i live in district 2. i'm here to encourage you to vote yes for car free jfk. during the pandemic i wound up in jfk park and almost every day and it's brought so much joy to my life so pretty please vote yes and keep it permanent. >> thank you foryour comments, let's go to our next speaker . looks like that line is unattended so we will circle back to them. please come forward. >> speaker: my nameis hazel, i live in district 1 . i'm going to be biking to the jfk promenade. i want to say it was a special day today. we talked about the findings in thedecember report and what that means for cities . there arethree findings . cities introduced consumption, the transportation pattern. the second is a need to electrify and reduce, move to net zero admissions and the third is carbon sequestration through infrastructure. the proposal for poverty jfk promenade means officials use the power . please do. >> thank you foryour comments . let's go back. could you put the next caller forward. >> speaker: hello? >> please proceed. >> speaker: is this on? >> yes it is, wecan hear you . >> speaker: on john, i live up near the panhandle and as a millennial i've grown up here growing up with dire predictions about the future of our planet and i've watched our society do nothing to address the coming crisis so i'm here to support car free jfk. it's the kind of change we need to make if we are seriousabout a sustainable future . we need better support for pedestrians, bikes,scooters . i know for some people it will be a bit of a transition but there's a chicken and egg problem in that it's hard for people to start using sustainable transportation around cars. at the end of the day it's supposed to be an interspace. keep it permanently car free. >> thank you for yourcomments, go to the next speaker . >> speaker: my nameis jacob zimmerman and i'm calling for kids face sf . i make like a bicyclist and rollerskate or who supports the major recommendation. i'm grateful to the city for their leadership and all the efforts they've made to keep the park accessible to as many people as possible without turning jfk into ahigh industr corridor. i discovered skating and found it beautiful. and lgbt q friend , and i'm proud to be a part of it . now i see on the street almost every day there's a policy in place for the last years . we should prioritize public safety and climate change as a people have already spoken. with 72 percent supporting the cars. residents are more cars not less they want less pollution their parks, not more . let's do jfk car free. >> thank you for your comments, go to our next speaker. >> can you hear me.proceed. my name is denise and i'm from district to i am calling because i'm so grateful for the promenade for helping me change my life as i write every day and today i rode twice through the promenade to the courthouse to deliver documents, legal documents. and then i went to the grocery store. this is the change that's impossible only jfk is open and i feel safe. so i just want to thank you and urge you to accept the mayors legislation. thank you. >> this is emilycalling from district 7. i'm an 18 year veteran . with the dog as youcan hear in the background and a five-year-old daughter . and a girl scout troop . here at the city and car free jfk has been wonderful from families during the pandemic and i have so many great memories of walking through the park and bicycling through the park including walking through at night to get to the enchanted white forest with young kids which would not have beenpossible before so thank you and please support it .>> thank you foryour comments . next speaker. >> my name is joanna, executive director and i'm calling for my organization for car free jfk but more importantly i think that amount of time that was spent on this is indicative of process that maybe need some improvement. and in order for us to get a sustainable share, we need to get faster and more streamlined andstarting our infrastructure . to support betterways of getting around . >> can we get the next caller. >> my name is jesse and i'm calling in support of property jfk. i've heard concerns about equity access these are important. the solutions cannot be facing previous generations. it hasn't worked. we had to look outside to see if it's neither sustainablenor equitable . these issues predate carbon jfk.the change has brought this problem to the forefront while issues of equityreceive little to no attention . there's currently 3900 free arcing spaces in bold and a part of there's no amount of parking that will ever make the space equitableremedy equitable solution has to center on a investments in transition , rapid transport and safe a space i heard several supportersuse the word joy when describing their experience . when i'm there i'm reminded of what communities can be.let's get our next caller. >> good afternoon. born and raised in these districts, spent half of my life and hunter's point and i love biking. i love walking and taking public transportation and yet given the work i've done with the folks in particular in the big hunter! i understand that some people do need to drive to access the park and in particular golden gate park so i support continuing access for those folks that need to driveto get there . >> you for your comment. next caller. >> speaker: my nameis will halloran, resident of the one . i want to express my support for car free jfk. i use it quite often walking, running, cycling . i want to mention i think goldengateappreciates the lack of cars. we have to think about our animal friends as well . >> you for your comments. >> speaker: hello, can you hear me? >> yes. >> speaker: my name is sherry steiner and i'm a pass holder at the deyoung museum and i want to speak to the access days we have for people with disabilities. people who use wheelchairs, people who have cognitive difficulty . and so forth, the only way that so many of these people can come is if they can either bring their cars or van which usually has a number of people in them to the young museum and park right near the side entrance. so if we're going to make the park available to everyone i think we have to stop and say we need to keep it available to the people who can't necessarily walk in. there dependent upon having access to the museum from a disabled parking place. and that is true not only on the days that we have special days but also our regular. >> apologies for cutting you off butwe're setting thetimer for one minute . let's get the next caller . hello caller. >> it's me. sorry, i'm from district 1 and i support all the climate reasons people have brought up and i want to offer something new and original which iswe have two boys . one was three and the other one who zero and when the three-year-old we asked him what his favorite place in san francisco was when we were thinking about names for our baby he said goldengatepark because we spent so much time on the promenade during the pandemic . he just broke our hearts when hesaid . so we have a new baby, so thank you so much and please make it a car free river. >> thank you for your comments. let's take the next caller please. >> i went to visit adam. as supervisor chan asked benefits from car free jfk, anyone who visits the park and see the answer is the elderly, the disabled, the children and peopleof all colors who can enjoy the park without fear of permanent injury . muni also benefits and improvements to muni benefits usall. shared lanes are closed to the vast majority of cyclists . san francisco and this body allow car to drive and park freely in bike lanes which just contributes to injury and death the supervisorscompromise is a vote against equity and access . props to those who can but not everyone can afford to seven dollars a gallon for gas. who benefits fromopening jfk drives ? rich homeowners who don't care about access . closing jfk means 91 percent of the roads dedicated to cars sf claims to be transit first. a vote for jfk is a vote for ... >> apologiesfor cutting you off. let's go to our next caller . >> my name is liz donahue, i'm from district 1 and i'm calling to urge the board to approve car free jfk. i come to this because of the joy and the respite that has been me throughout the pandemi . but more important than that i asked my 10-year-old who was a public school fourth-grader what it means to him for car free jfk and he said it better than i did. he said it makesthe park a park. it allows me toplay with my friends withoutfear of cars . it allows me to hear the birds , see the wildlife , to smell the flowers and to bite and roll and play. so for him and for all of us i urge you to approve a carfree jfk . >> before we resume we have somebodyhere in person . >> i'm kate elston.i was on the phone for five hours and wasn't gettingthrough for whatever reason so i picked my daughter up from daycare and we drove over here . i've heard a lot of people today for five hours talk about their kids learning how toride their bikes and all i want is for my daughter to have that opportunity one day on jfk . i'm super in support of car free jfk as the university of san francisco student i wrote that every day. had so many close calls, unbelievable amount of terror. i don't know how i made it out and now that i live in district 8 , i was in no lethality where i with my baby and we drive there and wenever had trouble finding parking . it's fantastic. i took her there a couple of weeks ago on a horse ride. it brought tearsto my eyes to see all the people out and about and please vote yes on this . you so much . >> iq for yourcomments and coming in today . let'sgo back to our remote comment line. can we get the next caller . >> can you hear us?>> yes we can. >> i'm an 80-year-old still workingartists . if you close the park the cars you are effectively passing out the disabled and seniors to the benefit of the bicycle coalition, the special interes . this doesn't have to be an either/or situation. it's up to you the supervisors of this fine city to work on a solution so we can all enjoy the parks, not just the people with bicycles who can ride and the people withchildren that want to take their children but all of us . the seniors and the disabled. please don't close it. don't throw us out. we need you to help us supervisors, please . don't bail on us. i'm betting you.i need to go to the museum. i'm an artist. i can't walk, i can't bite. i can't do much of anything but i can still go to the museum and i can still ask you from the bottom of myheart , i'm beggingyou work out a solution. you don't need to answer this . >> sorry for having to cut you off but we must limit comments to oneminute today. let's go to our next caller . >> good afternoon, calling creek, i'm calling in to add my voice to those in to keep jfk car free as in the mayors ordinance . i want to highlight we finished revising the half cent transportation sales tax expenditure plan which you endorsed for the ballot and one of the major issues we talked about on the pack was how far they are from traffic safety for pedestrians and bicyclists in the city and if we really want to make our public spaces expand our parks accessible and safe for all kinds of people including the many pedestrians with limited mobility who don't have access to cars this board needs to get serious about how we prioritize non-car-based recreation and transportation so people can get around without cars. under the current application jfk drive has proved a valuable community and recreation space and we need to build on that. >> sorry to cut you off but we areproviding one minute today . >> caller. >> good afternoon everyone. i'm copresident of like an accident democratic club andget it . i support green energy and support really trying to do the best for our environment but what you need to think about is yourelderly and disabled . how you're not going to be able to pass have such easy access to the parks so we have to come up with another solution while rethinking of our elderly community, our disabled community so they are able to enjoy the park all of us who are able to . thank you so much. >> thank you forbeing here. let's take our next caller . >> i live in district 8 but i grew up in district 1. we go through jfk drive away from drop off our bikes to our kids all thetime . where a car free family because we are deeply concerned about theclimate crisis . but i also work with people in disabilities in my day job and i don't intend to speak on their behalf but i encourage major improvements to taxi access andmuni access for people with disabilities to shift more trips to sustainable transportation . thank you . >>thank you for your comments, let's go to our next speaker . >>. >> speaker: i'm a san francisco native and i'm to say equitable this means to have free open and available to all. let's make it equitable for everybody . equitable use aside san francisco is not a bubble because one on one, transportation for commuters, tourists must be considered and idon't think it's being talked enough about . a lot of your relevant details have been represented because they diverge from self-evident truths like this proposal given by self-interest and ideological special interest groups. get everything back to normal before the pandemic gets us back to normal with all open roads. thank you .>> thank you for yourcomments, let's happen next caller please . >> speaker: i'm aresident of district 8 and i'm calling in support of a car free jfk . i'm a rollerskate or an driver i've was here all by myself in the east coast after graduating college . i was here with nothing to do but go outside. i still liked for all the road closures to keep us all safe and sane. not to mention the climate crisis. please help keep moving the city into a brighter tomorrow, thank you. >> can we getthe next caller please ? >> speaker: my nameis alex, i live in the sunset . during the pandemic park free jfk was an oasis for myfamily and i . we would not have been to enjoy it as much as if cars were available but i also want to know that we are also count academy members and we regularly would take the cars to go to count academy and we'venever had any trouble finding any parking there ever . please keep its car free. >> thank you for your comments. nextspeaker please . >> d4 resident calling in support of car free jfk. having cars free spaces helped my family shift from biking to driving. it's what a small step. i'm so grateful for the work of the supervisors to address many of the access challenges including the free shuttle and i think keeping this small stretch car free is an important step and i applaud thesupervisors for supporting . >> thank you for your comments. next speaker please. >> good evening supervisors. sandy calling youfrom the richmond district . thanks your attention to this important matter. you can see a lot of people care about it and i appreciate youbeing here late . i don't have anything to say except i hope youall supported wholeheartedly . it's a wonderful thing. you've heard from a lot of people . in particular as an earlier call pointed out it makes the park more parklike so it helps rent and park execute and elevate their mission to extend more recreationalopportunities to more people . back to the streets. it's pretty inclusive. it needs to be always accessible as muchas possible . there's more we cando, there's more we've done . that's not a reason to wait please support this and will see you in the park. >> can we have the next caller? >> i'm a district to resident and i'd also vote in favor of keeping the jfk car free. it's no secret this is a question of lobbyists versus san franciscans and the majority of san franciscans want to keep jfk car free and some small powerful lobbyists don't read as all our representative of the people of san francisco you are obligated to voteon behalf of keeping a car free . please help me have some semblance of faith for representative democracies by representing us. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i think this sham propagation of the park that's been going on is to exclude disabled senior people and to make it for upper class and gentrification of san francisco. i think it's an outrage that people would say the issue of seniors are secondary to the use of parks. it should be illegal and i think the bicycle coalition gives money to campaign and the lobby shows the kind of systemic corruption in the city and county of sanfrancisco . they're trying to be gentrified but you should vote against this proposal and keep it available for seniors who are disabled tobe able to use the park . >> thank you for your comments. let's take the next caller. >> this is patrick calling from district 7. i love car free jfk. my kids love car free jfk. i've been hit by a car while commuting by bike. my daughter was on the bike with meand we were lucky we weren't killed .we were almost pushed out into traffic on o'shaughnessy. jfk is one ofthe places i felt safe with my kids on bikes . kids deserve to feel safe, peopledeserve to havesafe places to commute . that should not not be a question we're debating . >> can we get the next caller? >> i'm 81 resident calling installed support of a 100 percent car free jfk. my wife is a nurse who depends on a safe ride to parnassus campus but there's as san franciscans we have the opportunity to implement solutionsto the great challenge of our time, the climate crisis . a key role is to make it reasonable so dare i say fun for many of the households. car free jfk helps make the city funand livable for us and future generations . it's just underfour more parking will never be satisfied . we continue to find greater ways to make it accessible to all residents without dependency. thanks for hearing me andthank you for your service . >> wehave somebody here in person . >>. >> speaker: i normally don't come out for these kind of meetings. i've lived in san francisco probably the last six or seven years now and i just on a personal level keeping jfk car free, i use it for exercise. i'm getting so muchhealthier now being able to bike in the park and have a place where i don't have to worry about cars . i don'tnormally do this . it's one of those things were not only their better for the environmentbut also just in terms of you think of san francisco as a city . we like to think of ourselves as regressive and going above and beyond and what would be the reason for not keeping it car free? what would be the reason? we have this opportunity to provide a space where everyone can enjoy and a lot of people are getting so much benefit from it. that's all. just want to say thank you very much for being here. >> appreciate you being here today. sorry for cutting you off but we're only allowingone minute for everybody . let's go back to our remote system . hello caller. >> i want to say i run with a lot of support. the idea of space for bicycles, every time i look in my fridge i seafood that's been brought into the city by a fossil fuel vehicle. people are delusional if they want to get rid of cars. thepolicies , look everybody wants safety. everybody wants the environment to be treated well what people are going to continue to advocate for getting rid of carsthey're going to lose credibility . the right solution is to have access for everyone and designate safe places and designate the rightparts of the city for bicycles but also have efficient traffic . otherwise you just create more congestion. everybody consumes goods that are shifted to the city. people havegot to get real and figure this stuff out and if the supervisors don't do that we're going to vote . >> let's get the next caller please . hello. >> speaker: [inaudible] perhaps they put the phone down. >> this is lauren white, i lived in d1 and use car free jfk to commute downtown to work by bicycle many days and i recently moved to the seventh. i'm calling in support of car free jfk. it's a start to a transportation network across sf is safe for pedestrians, we need this safe network across the city because people shouldn't have to choose between carbon free transport and car free transport and personal safety . i think san francisco has a chance to be a leading city for what's possible in this new futureencourage you to vote for car free jfk . >> let's take the nextcaller . >> speaker: thanks for staying late. i want to call in support of car free jfk. it's one of the best places to bring families when you visit san francisco. it's a great place to be and oneof the few places you can be and feel safe . i'd argue they should just get access to the park already but i just wanted tosupport car free jfk . >> next caller. >> can you hear me?>> please proceed. >> i was born inthe richmond district in 1970 . i grew up with a single mom. raising two boys and so for the supervisors i would like to say i'd like you toreflect on who you represent . there's a whole lot of people here with a whole lot of different almost like a zero-sum game. it's like this or that there are a lot of people in all of your districts we need your help and they needed to represent them . and i would like you to just kind of reflect on that. they need you and i want you, it would be nice if you did something right so thank you, that's all i have to say. >> can we get the next speaker? >> speaker: kenny perry? my name is lauren. i'm calling live from car free jfk. it's gorgeous out. the cars, the people. there are people of all ages and everyone's having an amazing time. there are plenty of serious reasons like the fact that i ride a bike and i need a safe way to get around the city. but i'm telling you right now i am on car freejfk. it's gorgeous out and there's no reason to and this . >> can we get the next caller. >> speaker: residents of district 1. parents who use the promenade every day and we are supporters, a strong supporter of car free jfk. it's a great way for ourfamily and our children to move across the city thank you . >>let's take the next caller . >> speaker: my name is rabbi elias wayne and i'd like to add my call in favor of car free jfk staying in place but also push back about car free being a zero-sum. it's a marvelous idea to help the elderly get to where they need to go and we also need to create space for new people and experiences that are growing the whole character of the city so thank you for your timeand thank yousupervisors for your service . >> thank you for your comments, let's take the next caller . >> speaker: i'm a district 7 voter calling in support of car free jfk. i work on the east side. car free roads allow me to extend to work. thank you supervisor for safety as we all work to sustain across the city. pleasework in favor of keeping jfk 100 percent car free . >> thank you foryour comments, can we have the next caller ? >> i'm alpha from district 1. you've heard from a lot of people and a lot of minorities about cars but who you haven't heard from our all the residents who will be biking home. car ownership is a basic privilege cars are expensive . people who own cars are clearly entitled so we want to be honest with ourselves and assess in equity we should examine other forms of transportationso make the right call. keep jfk car free . >> next caller. >> my name is andy, i'm a district 5 residents and iwant to call and strongly support keeping jfk car free . i took a delightful bike ride to the theater yesterday and it was way more, way safer than i do when i like inmost other parts of the city . it's a treat and it's really parts are for people and we should keep it that way so thank you for listening and i hope we vote yeson car free jfk . >> thank you for your comments. let's take the next speaker. >> i'm calling to give my support for car free jfk. it's the only place i feel safe riding my bike. i can't even ride ina car physically anymore, it makes me sick . it's good to have a space where i can be mobile and i would say that 98 percent of infrastructure in fsf is four cars. it would be good if we had somethingthat wasn't there's all these amazing parks , so please keep it. thank you. >> can we get thenext caller please . >> my name is eric kaplan. i love car free jfk. we have some wonderful car free streets on telegraph hill and people like them. i like them. the only thing is the only things we can do our limited because their stairs on the side of a cliff. car free jfk takes these car free streets doing a whole other side of the city and it enables so many more activities on car free streets and you can do here because it's longer, it's flatter and it's really nice thing and i hope that you all vote to support this very reasonable proposalto bring a nice amenity to our city . >> thank you for your comments, can weget the next caller ? >> my name is lucio darnell. i'm at the finance museums of san francisco and i want to post. disclosure has been difficult for people with disabilities . our group is not that loud so we tend to be forgotten often and disclosure is a car shake for us. it's too difficult to close a stretch of jfk and i think it's the wrong one.i do support both streets but notthis one in particular . the one that brings a lot of sanfranciscans to museums and other places of culture and nature though i would consider you to vote or acompromise . >> thank you for your comments, let's take the next caller . there's an an comingthrough . >>speaker: hello . >> you need to turn down your television. >> can you hear me? >> yes, please proceed. >> i am calling to urge you to vote down mayor breedsproposal . choosing jfk drive for the 1 and a half mile car free stretch was a callous and cynical politicalmanipulation . there are beautiful stretches of golden gate park that could be turned into a beautiful space corridor or for bicycles, for walkers but you have removed access to all the primary cultural institutions in the park. i in particular and extremely fond of the rhododendron bill. i cannot get therebecause of my disability . i haven't been able to access the park in over two years. that's two seasons of cherry blossoms i have missed. that's two seasons of rhododendrons. i'm 70 years old . ihave a lifelong disability . >> apologies forcutting you off but everybody is receiving one minute today . >> my name is thomas fuller and i would like to point out that car free jfk has been a huge boon to my mentalhealth. i go there pretty much every day after work . where i'm not exposed to the fumes and sounds and i'm not afraid to get hit by them on my walks in grace and i heard all the supervisors to vote for this bill as is. >> can we get the next caller? >> i'm calling to urge you all tosupport jfk car free . i think it's been great and it's been great particularly for me at night time toride my bike and not worry about cars . i also work with seniors so i fully understand our elders and them being worried about access but i think you all have done a good job with the conservatory opening data and i think there's other ways to make sure that it's accessible but in keeping car free is the right choice and i urge you tovote on that . >> thank you for your comments, before we continue we willtake the commenters here in person to proceed . >> i am a registered nurse and for two years worked on the front lines of the pandemic and just wanted to second the other callers comment on how great it's been for mental health. i often go on my days off to jfk and bike around prior to being a nurse i used to commute from the richmond to when i was taking my careers and classes and another commentorcommented , i haven't i sense almost fractured my knee so i guess i just wanted to express my support for car free jfk. >> thank you, can we get the nextspeaker . >> i am a 10 year resident of district 5 and i'm here today to voice my support for car free jfk. when i left the house i went for a bike ride and when i heard the meeting was going on i came tovoice my support . for the course of the pandemic is really a reminder that the day can begin in a healthy way for me to access parts of the city which i would otherwise have to use cars to do and as someone who does not own a car it's been a great boon for me so iheard the supervisors . >> do we have any other in personcommenters? seeing none we will go back to the system . >> i'm a dq resident and i heard you to support mayor breeds proposal to make car free jfk permanent. my daughter's kindergarten moved into goldengate and it's been amazing to be able to commute to herschool without taking our lives in our hands. please keep this amazing asset to the community along with the network of collective connecting" that give us access bybike. >> can we get the next caller? the . >> i'm a senior, i live in district 9. i'm a walker and an art lover . i want to also speak insupport of the , keeping jfk car free. we are in a dense part of the city. we don't have access to that kind of greenery and it feels like the joy that i have personally had with my friends and otherwise just walking alone has been extraordinary at the time when our mental health is so threatened so this is a call to hillary, please support this andeveryone else . thank you. >> next caller please. >> speaker: can you hear me? >> please proceed. >> speaker: can you hear me? >> we can. >> i live in district 7. i urge you all to support the mayor'sproposal to keep car free jfk . recently i had an ankle fracture, my right ankle is broken, i couldn't drive and during the recovery one of my exercise was they urged me to ride a bicycle and being able to do that, not having to worry about cars honking was really helpful. i wanted to say thank you. >> can we get the next speaker? >> speaker: my name is octavio and i'm a district 8 resident and i want to voice my support for keeping jfk drive car free. in the first year of the pandemic i would go to golden gate park and jfk drive being car free was a great help for my mental health so i'd like to urge mysupervisor mandelman to support keeping jfk drive car free . >> may we have thenext caller ? hello, caller. please proceed. >> speaker: my name is ben, i'm a area resident and i live in walnutstreet . i took my five-year-old daughter to carfree jfk last month . we did a running race and it was exhilarating to walk. car free jfk, i am a, when i came to prominent national attention in the new york times , we had a few places to pay attention toin the world. that was tremendous. that would make a big statement . let's do it. >> thank you for your comments, next caller. >> my name is jen, i was born and raised in district 1. i'd like to jfk daily, my mom is a senior who wants from golden gate park almost every day. there are a lot ofpossible solutions owing back to the way things were to be one of them . improve the park shuttles, improved paratransit, create an environment that's sustainable. the bike lanes were notsafe . vehicles parked in the bike lanes with drivers that never looked over their shoulders before flinging their doors open. please find othersolutions to improve accessibility while keeping jfk car free . >> we have somebody here in person . >> good evening. my name is nancy and i just like to hear from the four. i came down here because i was mad because i heard somebody on the phone that sounded like they were speaking for me. that older woman from the west sideand i wanted to make sure people knew she was not everybody . and i'm not mad now because i wrote down jfk. and then i wrote down page street. and then i rode through traffic to get here and i can tell you the difference is like night and day.that there is nothing like being able to ride where there are no cars. i'm over 65.i raised my kids, talk to a lot of people to bite but i really appreciate a safe place to bike. there are almost none. >> let's go back to the remote system. can you send the next caller over? >> speaker: i'm tony from d9, a san francisco resident for 15 years. i'm calling in support of the mayor's proposal tokeep jfk car free .this is a 1 and a half mile strip of asphalt. this is our generation's opportunity to set this cornerstone for the future of the city and a grand example for other cities in the us. the generations lamenting the loss of joy of drivingthrough the parts are the same that are selling out ourfuture generations . do not join them in this problem . join us for the solution. please please support a 100 percent forever car free jfk. thank you and don't eff this u . >> let's go toour next speaker . hello, caller. they appear to be unattended. let's go to . >> speaker: my name is catherine, i live in district district 8 and i am a driver . i implore you to keep car free jfk. it'sadded so much to our city . i now go to takevisitors to this space that i avoided before to be honest . i have covid so please excuse my voice. please vote to make it a permanent feature. we really do need something like this, thank you so much. >> before we continue to promote line, go ahead. >> speaker: iwanted to express my support . please keep car free jfk and support the mayor's proposal . many cities the world over have implemented car free spaces and weall benefit . i want to also respectfully pushback on those who decry this is being selfish and shortsighted . and they do notrecognize the threats we all face from climate change . it's not change, it's the status quo and to we should have more spaces like this everyone toenjoy . >> back to the comments line. hello, caller. >> speaker: i am old and i am disabled. i wish you would open up jfk. there has to besomething other than an all or nothing . if you keep jfk closed, you're essentially giving everybody old and disabledthe middle finger .please find a differentsolution . thank you. >> let's take thenext caller please . >> speaker: thank you for having me on here tonight. i just want to say in response to some of these ridiculous comments that you can't access these museums and parks by muni, i look at the muni map and there's a bus route that goes through six stops right at these museums and i'll tell you something else. i really wish these facility supervisors likesupervisor chan would listen to public comment . it's hurtful to have these meetings and you don't listen to the public comment. at least supervisor stefani is listening but supervisor haney who i want to wish well on his upcoming promotion as well as supervisor stefanii apologize but i can't help it . i'm a supervisor stefani super fan. please meet meso i cannot get off the cube because i may have coded . >> thank you for yourcomments. can we have the next caller . hello. >> my name is lena. i work professionally in carbon sequestrationtechnology . i'm a scientist and i'm calling in support of maintaining the car free jfk space as part of our climate solution insan francisco. i think for preserving our natural landscape , producing carbon emissions from diesel are really important strategy that the city has to take on and keeping this short stretch of road inthe parks close is part of the solution . thank you. >> let's go tothe next caller please . >> i live in district 4. i've lived on and off for several years .i use golden gate park all the time since i was a young man and i use it as a driver to get through and there are multiple ways to get through golden gate park keeping jfk closed but the thing i want to say is when the park was planned there was consideration topull the roadways underground . atthe time it was considered unnecessary and i think that was a historical mistake . the city has an opportunity to correct that . i think putting it in a public space is calling into being because of the car free jfk. it makes san francisco a great city and probably if you do the metrics and increased property values for people in the sunset and i hope that the city uses its opportunity to correct this mistake and keep it close to cars. >> let's take the next caller. >> speaker: beforei submit my comments can you know how many people are in line ? >> are you providing public comment? >> speaker: before public comment canyou let me know how many people are in line ? >> proceed with your comments and i'll check. >>. [please stand by] >> hello. my name is nancy destefanis, and i strongly support car free j.f.k., however, i think it is incumbent on the board of supervisors and the mayor to [indiscernible] i believe it would be a step backward to reopen j.f.k. drive. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's get the next caller, please. >> hello. my name is [indiscernible] otherwise it's against a.d.a. it's discrimination. we are not secondhand citizens. let us go enjoy like everybody else. thank you very much. please, please keep it open for cars so we can go to park like other people. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's go to the next caller. >> i'm a very long time resident of district 4. i support -- it shouldn't even be two sides, but i support open access and car free j.f.k. the fact that the park leaders and transportation leaders have not really addressed and have had substandard access and equity to date all these years, and it's not that people haven't been fighting for it, makes me think that you must addressing in serious oversight and time certain meeting of access and equity agreements that are there in car free, and if you don't do it, the parks are not going to do it. believe me, the parks aren't going to do it. there'll be delays and delays. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we get the next caller? >> hi. my name is gina [indiscernible]. i live north of the panhandle, and i have really loved having j.f.k. drive closed to cars. personally, it's been an inspiration for me to run a marathon. it's made me feel so connected to the city, and professionally, i've worked as an urban planner, and i think that keeping j.f.k. closed to cars is incredible for our city and makes it possible for us to enjoy our green space on the west side. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we get the next caller. >> hi. i'm scott miller, a resident of district 8, and i'm calling in support of a car free j.f.k. i lived here in the early 2000s, but i moved back because this place is like no other, and it's more special with time. there are places that you can go in the city, but there are very few places that you can go like car free j.f.k. we also need to support access to the park for people like the elderly and disabled, but places like central park in new york city are car free, too. we can do this together. please vote for a permanent car free j.f.k. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's get the next caller. >> hi. thank you, everybody, and thank you to our very patient monitor and supervisors for being here so late. i implore you, please do the right thing and compromise. this is a compromise. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's get the next caller. >> my name is christina she, and i gave away my bicycle ten years ago. my 90-year-old neighbor was shut out of the park. i'm shut out of the park. i haven't been to the museum in two years despite being a member. my two experiences riding muni were horrible because of people not wearing a mask. bicycles are a primary form of transportation for almost 17% of san franciscans, and the most recent study done by sfmta showed only a marginal use of bicycles and a larger use of vehicles. why are you ignoring this? bicyclists regularly ignore stop signs and mingle in and out of walkers and strollers. make a new car free bike path if you want to maximize safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. there's no reason why you can't build a dedicated protected bike path, and that would be a reasonable compromise to allow that small 1.5 miles of roadway that people are saying is not essential, that's the road that gets you to the main attractions of the park: the museum, the california sciences, the special gardens, so i'd implore you to reopen the park to cars, and if necessary, make accommodations for the bicyclists by created a new protected bike path. that would be a genuine compromise. why are you opposing the popular will? this has already been put to a vote two times in the past, and a closed j.f.k. was opposed two times. that was the public sentiment, not this survey recently done by san francisco park and rec, which was answered mostly by white able bodied families making over 200,000. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's take the next caller. >> hello. my name is [indiscernible] and i'm on the san francisco league of conservation voters. first, i want to say thank you for your patience and your attention. i know it's been a very long day. i will keep my comments brief. i just want to thank supervisor chan for pointing out in her recent e-mail about how we need to try to live up to our current climate action plan for 2030. she mentioned the use of plastics, and while that's laudable, i think it's important that we work on the number one contributor to greenhouse gases, and that's private vehicles. we need to learn to get around in new ways: walking, biking, pedestrian access. if we start to find new ways in using places like the park, we start to discover oh, we can do that. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. we are limiting each caller to one minute. hello, caller. >> hello. my name is michael adams. i walk in the park, i drive, i bicycle, and i'm a former city planner in the midwest, and i think there's a way to accommodate cars, especially as the climate becomes electrified by just allowing the cars to travel on j.f.k. and then reach a cul-de-sac or a through way. it's just for cars that have an intended purpose to go in and visit the museum and other places to go. the street is wide enough for cars to drive, for bicyclists to bike, and walkers to use the walking paths. just turn that street into an access street with a cul-de-sac at the end so it's not a through way and you'll discourage -- >> clerk: apologize for cutting you off, but everyone is getting the same one minute. let's get the next caller, please. >> i'm tad. i live in district 4, and a couple of years ago, when we first moved to san francisco, we loved j.f.k., and i'd urge you to make it car free. thank you, bye. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. hello, caller? >> i'm richard. i live in the outer richmond. i use car free j.f.k. to bike in my workplace in mission way from the outer richmond. it's greatly reduced the number of car trips i have to make every day. i'd say keep it closed to cars and open to people. thanks. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. hello, caller? >> my name is rebecca gurney, and i live in district 1. i use j.f.k. all the time, and i really urge you to please leave j.f.k. open for all and make sure that it is accessible and make sure that people can take the bus or park there, but i don't think that opening j.f.k. to cars is the way to protect our safety and to keep us with this wonderful accessible park. thank you. please, please, please save car free j.f.k. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we get the next caller. >> hi. my name is john, and i'm from emoryville, california, right across the bay, and i just wanted to share the lifelong bike enthusiast, that there are very few places in urban settings like san francisco to afford young people the opportunity to experience joy and the joy of bicycling, and as a person who grew up from my childhood enjoying bicycles, and i just ask you to consider the future generations by giving a space to them. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> hi. my name is sasha, and i'm from d-9. i'm the cofounder of a nonprofit called wild awake that has led nature experiences for people of color in the park. in those experiences, we slow down and experience the wonder of the park. we believe that a 100% car free j.f.k. is a critical first step in building a more sustainable city and for helping people connect with each other in the natural world. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. get the next caller. >> hi. i'm a d-2 resident, and i've been living in san francisco for over 40 years, and i'm calling to ask you to return j.f.k. to how it was before the pandemic or go to connie chan's compromise. she asked who was this for, the closure of j.f.k., and i say it's for the young, the able bodied, the parents of young kids, and it's all organized by s.f. bike, walk s.f., and kid safe s.f., who activated their base to come out and take the surveys and write letters and distort the democratic process, while the normal hard working people are unaware, so can we please stop the political theater and the public comment farms race and put this to a vote, a citywide vote? if you were really serious about climate change, you'd be committed to make muni safe, more rapid, and ubiquitous, but you're not. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. sorry to cut you off, but we're giving everyone the same time for comment, one minute. >> hello. i agree with supervisor connie chan's compromise. it's the best option at this point because my number one would be going back to the way things were, but if that's not viable, then at least do the compromise. i think the benefits of car free j.f.k. are hyperbole pushed by special interest groups that a prior caller just mentioned, and there are already many miles of park in the city, and it doesn't make sense to close this road space, and when people say safer roads for all, it's kind of ironic that they're saying that because they're really -- >> clerk: thank you for your comments. if we can move onto the next speaker. >> good evening. my name is [indiscernible] tim, and i live in district 6. i walk in the park all the time, so i can frequent businesses across the park. i support fully car free j.f.k. this has greatly increased my enjoyment of the park and my ability to support district 4 and district 5 businesses. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we get the next caller? caller? it appears that line is unattended. let's circle back. hello, caller? >> hello? hello? >> clerk: please proceed. >> good evening. good evening. my name is gordon bellford, and i live in seattle, and i come to the east bay to visit family. i hope you all know that this is not just a unique general public space for your residents but for others, so i hope you'll keep it. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's get the next speaker. >> hello. i'm born and raised in san francisco, and cars are not the enemy. they pay a lot of registration fees, as should everybody who uses the road. the strangle hold is put on by people who don't live here, who don't use the areas. i'm disgusted by the political correctness that's ruining the city. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's take the next caller. >> hello. my name is andrew, and i live in district 5, and i'm the father of two small children, three and five years old. during the pandemic, all they knew was car free j.f.k., and what will we tell them if suddenly cars started driving on the road and they were running through the conserveatory of flowers, and they're just told all of a sudden, oh, you can't go on this road anymore. it's not safe, it's not for you. that wouldn't be fair, either. families have a reason to be here in san francisco. we want to stay here and be safe. thank you so much. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller, please. >> hello. it's been a long wait. hello, supervisors. you don't need to go back to the drawing board because there are so many people that are saying, you know, elders need to get in there. elders that can't walk or are very limited in their mobility, and i think that you just need to come to an equitable option. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's go to the next caller. >> hello. my name is eric, and i'm a resident of duboce triangle. i think everyone should have the experience of walking through golden gate park every day, and i think people should be able to walk down j.f.k. all the way down to the ocean without being impeded [indiscernible] and it's absolute essential that we change our built in environment with other forms of transportation, not noxious cars. thank you so much. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's go to the next caller, please. >> hello? can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, we can. please proceed. >> hello. i'm linda matthews, and i'm just calling to say i want the board of supervisors to think about what supervisor walton said earlier about making sure that you are not limiting access to this and keeping this equitable. there are a lot of people who feel like they can't access j.f.k. when the road is closed to cars all the time. i just want to reiterate that you can just close cars to j.f.k. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's go to the next caller. >> hi. i don't understand why pedestrians cannot use sidewalks. i live in west portal. i grew up here. pedestrians, there are sidewalks all the way out from the panhandle to the beach. there are bike lanes that we've designated. there's no reason why everybody has to have foot and bicycle access to all of j.f.k. all the time. you guys need to find a compromise. not fair to people as they get older, it's not fair to families. find a solution, but closing it is not it. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> hello. my name is jeff from district 10, and we need to open the park to everyone. keeping the parks closed are limiting access, crowding adjacent streets and highways just for an elite segment to use is totally unfair. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> i'm a district 7 resident. i've lived in the city for 70 years. what you're doing is a travesty. the bike coalition controls board of supervisors and sfmta, and i want you to reopen all the roads. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> my name is raul sanchez, and i live in district 5. the park is not closed. there's a ton of roads for cars to go through. you should keep j.f.k. closed and keep open other streets in the city. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we get the next caller, please? >> oh, hello, is that me? this is joanne collenbach. i live right next to golden gate park. i have very much enjoyed living in the park the entire time i lived here. i am pleased to say i taught my kids to ride a bike this last sunday in golden gate park. i was on that street every day pretty much while i was doing treatment, and i just want to say you need to accommodate -- whatever plan needs to accommodate different abilities and different speeds of travel by pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, and people with young people in tow. >> clerk: thank you very much. apologize for cutting you off. >> hello, supervisors. my name is annie, and i'd like to tell you to my first trip back to golden gate park [indiscernible] without the 48, i had to take the subway with one stop from castro to [indiscernible] hills. no big deal. [indiscernible] i'm terrified of going back. i got a lyft home. let's have it safe for people like me -- >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's take the next caller, please. >> hello. my name is gwendolyn, and i'm urging you to open j.f.k. the cyclists and pedestrians have a way to get around as it is. secondly, i am a sandwich generation. i have elderly parents born and raised in san francisco, and i also have children. it is not practical for me to take muni with my 90-year-old parents and my children on bicycles. that's just not even practical here in san francisco. reopen j.f.k. as a matter of fact, reopen all the streets in san francisco. this is a city that belongs to the people that pay taxes. and i'm one of them. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. we have somebody here in person. go ahead and proceed. >> hi. thank you all for being here. my name is james grady. the first is my wife and i commute from golden gate park from our house in stern heights to take our son to daycare every day, so that's four trips a day on a bicycle. i've ridden through the park thousands and thousands of time. i ride my bike so much statistically, i am going to die on my bicycle, and secondly, i put on world class cycling events in san francisco. i have an economic impact, it's not great, but it's about $250,000 a year. it's kind of shameful that we haven't been promoting alternative forms of transportation, and we are having this conversation right now. i appreciate everyone's work on this. i appreciate you keeping j.f.k. closed. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we go back to the remote system. >> i just made my comment. >> clerk: i'm sorry. next caller. >> this is truly a special thing, and every time i go to the park and see everybody enjoying it, and it's quiet, it's great. i really thank everybody who's made this possible the last two years, and sorry, i didn't say. district 6, and i live pretty far from the park, but you know, i go as much as i can, and it's really amazing, so thank you so much. i hope we keep it. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we go to the next caller? >> hi. my name is zachary schwartz. i'm 12 years old, and i wanted to stay the -- want it to stay the way that it is so i can have someplace to go with my family without being afraid of being run over by a car. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller. >> for people who have cars, i'm so proud that 95% of the roads are dedicated to you. for the rest of us, there's car free j.f.k. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we go to the next caller. >> hi. my name is alex, and i'm a resident of district 1. i'm calling on behalf of my father, who is 77, and has someone who has begun to go to golden gate park. as someone who's starting to lose his balance, his strength, and his hearing, he likes having a place where he can ride where he doesn't have to worry about being hit by a car. you will be a part of history with this decision. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller. >> hi. my name is tally, and i live in district 10, and i feel that car free j.f.k. is a form of gentrification. it's reduced access for people who can't walk to the park. i believe it should be a space where people from all over the city can access the park safely and fairly. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller. >> hi. my name is chris. i'm a resident of district 1, and i'm just calling in to voice my support for car free j.f.k. my wife, my one-year-old son, and myself use it on a daily basis to get to daycare, for my wife to get to work, and it's very critical that this remain a resource for it. i have to know that my wife, when she gets off work in a hospital late at night, is going to be able to come home safe, and car free j.f.k. has been one of these resources that's made that possible, so i very much appreciate everyone's time today, and i hope that you vote to make it car free. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's go to the next speaker. >> hi. my name is julian, and i live in the sunset, and i'd urge you to keep j.f.k. car free. please encourage you all to vote for car free j.f.k. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. go to the next caller. >> i've been living here four years now, and i think it's important that a section of j.f.k. stays open for people outside of cars. there's so many things in our time that demand change. the climate crisis, the traffic safety crisis, and it would be a travesty if the city lost this, this progress that -- that's so close, so i urge the board of supervisors to keep car free j.f.k. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's go to the next caller. >> hello. my name is tony, and i rise to ask for somebody who takes transit out there, it could take half of the day. based on this, it's been going on all day, they should really have a proposition on the ballot to, once and for all, decide for the city of san francisco, whether they want j.f.k. drive open or not. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's go to the next caller. >> hello. hello, can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, we can. >> my name is christina. i'm calling from d-1, and i'm calling to ask you to open all of the streets to their prepandemic original use. we need to put this to a vote to all citizens. not everyone has had a chance to answer a survey. i feel this has been done under the table and overtly in devious ways, and we need to have everything back the way it was before. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next caller. >> my name is scott feeney, and i'm calling to support making j.f.k. closed permanent. it's allowed me to get my friends who are hesitant about riding a bike in the city over that hesitation, and now that several friends who didn't do that before, they know they can ride their bikes, and they have a sustainable way to get around. that's what we should be doing, so please approve the legislation. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> hi. i'm jennifer, and i live in d-7, and i'm calling in support of car free j.f.k.? we have ridden our bikes to the park many times, we've walked around j.f.k. many times since the pandemic, and our family and relatives have been able to enjoy it, and i love having my son have a safe place to enjoy and explore and be a kid. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next caller. >> my name is liam hickie, and i think we should keep car free j.f.k. free of cars. i am only ten, but i think we should keep a car free j.f.k. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> hello. my name is rebecca. i think that closing it is not in support of the issues that we're talking about here. i think reductions in population and the increases in other population and infrastructure is more than just what we should be voting on. i think we should stop wasting our time and focus on issues that have a more immediate larger impact and have a more equitable and accessible outcome for everyone. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we get the next caller. >> hi. my name is kyle, and i'm a resident of d-9, and i'm calling in to support car free j.f.k. i love the park, and there's nothing better to do than biking around. keep it the way it's been the last two years. thanks. >> clerk: thank you. let's go to the next caller. >> hello. can you hear me? >> clerk: please proceed. >> my name is yvonne molina, and i live in the lower haight, and i urge the supervisors to keep car free j.f.k. i understand that change is not comfortable and people don't like to be inconvenienced, but people will adapt to positive change. keeping car free j.f.k. is a step in the right direction for the city. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next caller. >> hi. this is kelvin from district 5, and i am totally against keeping j.f.k. closed. the motorists, you pay registration and license fees that go to maintain the roads. bikers do not. bikers should have to be registered and should be licensed. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's take the next caller. >> hello. my name is ming huai, and i'm from the east bay. when i visit san francisco, i have options. i can either drive, but i don't like sitting in traffic, i don't like contributing to pollution, and i know neighbors don't like it when i have to park in their neighborhood. or i can take b.a.r.t. and bike on the panhandle and car free j.f.k. keep j.f.k. car free, please. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's hear from the next caller. >> hi. i'm calling to say i'm in support of car free j.f.k. i'm sure that each of you who has the incredible power or has the vision have not taken the time to visit car free j.f.k. on any day. it's full of people diverse in age, race, mobility, who joyfully, joyfully use this space. there's more work to do, as we can do that work with j.f.k. remaining closed. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you very much. let's hear from the next caller. >> hello. i'm shirley, and i'm a 70-year-old from district 1, and i would like to see the car free j.f.k. there's plenty of cars in the park, and think about it as an opportunity to support mass transit, which we take a lot. the muni drivers are great. i go to the park every day. it's a beautiful park. please keep the park safe and support our green climate. >> clerk: thank you. can we get the next caller. >> yes, this is harold haney from district 6, and i'm calling to say that you should open j.f.k. there's still plenty places for the bikers to bike and walk, and having it closed permanently doesn't really help anyplace but the elite. trying to get from one side to the city from the west side, it's horrible. i'm tired of waiting in traffic all the time just to get across the park just because of that. keep it open, close it on the weekends, that's fine. this is harold haney from district 6. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. let's go to the next caller. >> my name is sandra swanson. i'm on a conserveatory of flowers advisory committee. thank you for having this extended meeting for this very important input. i hear from our volunteers and staff who can no longer drop their guests and their elderly parents to enjoy the garden and especially the conserveatory. limited access diminishes our landmarks. we need access to the botanical gardens and conserveatory of flowers. please open up j.f.k. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next caller. >> yes, this is la wanda moller, and i'm calling in regards to car free j.f.k. and the issues it creates for those traveling from bayview-hunters point. i see this as a racist maneuver, and shame on you, mayor breed. you came from fillmore. shame. this is just a racist maneuver to separate and gentrify san francisco into these little fiefdoms where they're divided up. open back up san francisco to everybody. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. mr. president, that ends the queue. . >> president walton: seeing no other commenters -- oh, i'm sorry, we have one public commenter in the chamber. >> clerk: go ahead. >> my name is luke bornheimer. first and foremost, i want to thank all of you, your aides, the clerk, r.p.d., and sfmta staff and the thousands of advocates across our city for everyone's engagement and tireless work in this public process. the positive, empathetic, and constructive approach to this project is great for our future. this tiny fraction of our city has created community, improved well-being, and provided sustainable transportation. i urge you today to pass the mayor's legislation so we can work together making the city more sustainable. >> president walton: thank you. seeing no other public comments -- you didn't speak yet? >> no. good evening. my name is jodi madeiras, and i am the director of walk san francisco. after eight hours of public comment, there's one word that you're hearing over and over again: safety. i strongly believe that our city's agencies have proven that they have the commitment and are going to put the work into finding the solutions to make sure that everyone can enjoy the safe pace and all the park's attractions, so it's very exciting. it's time to make history and vote no on the future of car free j.f.k. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. do we have any other -- thank you. [indiscernible] . >> clerk: hello, caller. >> hi. my name is marbell, and i'm six and a half years old, and i want j.f.k. to be car free because i can bike and roller skate over there. thank you. >> clerk: are there -- are you here to speak in person? please come forward. >> i'm tom. i'm from d-5, and we moved to san francisco recently in the past couple of years. i'm -- this area of golden gate park, really, this structure of golden gate park is our favorite part as we've been able to have guests recently. it's been nice as has been said repeatedly that this is their favorite area of the city. you don't realize what you've got. you've got to keep it car free. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. do we have any other callers in the queue? >> hi. my name is andrew and i'm in fifth grade and i live in district 1. [indiscernible] and vote to keep j.f.k. safe for people. there are already parking spots for cars. why aren't you using them? to people saying kids have too much power, you are mean. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller, please. >> hi. my name is alexander, and i'm calling to continue to have j.f.k. open to cyclists and pedestrians in promenade park. learning during the pandemic 2020 how to ride a bike was great, and i urge you to keep the street car free to help the city achieve its climate goals. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller? >> hi. my name is margaret bonner, and i just wanted to say thank you for staying to here all of these comments, and vote for a car free j.f.k. >> clerk: thank you. can we have the next caller, please. >> hi. my name is [indiscernible], and i learned to ride a bike in napa county, and now, i live here in the city, and i would love to see j.f.k. opened up to cars. >> clerk: thank you. can we have the next caller. >> [indiscernible] we've always considered golden gate park to be the people's backyard. i ask you to vote yes today to permanently provide this stretch of the park for the people. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller, please. >> hello. my name is adam, and i'm a resident of district 1, and i'm calling to support a car free j.f.k., and i find the argument of supervisor chan to be very disingenuous because she is holding the water for the most elite organizations, which is the museums, and it's the province of socialites and wealthy people, and she's supporting them while claiming she's supporting the rights of poor people and minorities. earlier in the meeting, supervisor stefani called connie chan's proposals to be dishonest. thank you, supervisor stefani, and i hope that you find that this proposal of connie's is dishonest. thank you all. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller? >> hi. my name is luke, and we've lived in the tenderloin before moving to district 9 last year. we all love golden gate park, and we all deserve access and safety to parks. what are we doing today? what can we depend on? i hope we can depend on each of you to create safe car free spaces. we depend on this to make the j.f.k. promenade permanently car free forever. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller, please? >> hi. [indiscernible] and i live in d-8. we're talking about closing a small portion of the road to keep cars off of it and people onto it. [indiscernible] thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller, please. >> hi. our family strongly supports a car free j.f.k. as you know, there are challenges to raising kids in san francisco. we use j.f.k. to get to restaurants, shopping, meeting friends in restaurants, and i just want to urge you to please, please keep car free j.f.k. >> hi. my name is [indiscernible] and i am amongst other things a west side homeowner. i've lived in san francisco for over 20 years. my wife is a native. i'm sure i have some other credibility brownie points, but i just wanted to say that i support car free j.f.k., and i hope that you will vote to keep it permanent. thanks so much. bye. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller, please. >> hello. can you hear me? >> clerk: please proceed. >> yes, i am harry bernstein, and i'm in district 11. i'm a resident of san francisco since 1981, and it's wonderful to hear advocates for both sides, but you can't be all-or-nothing. you have to have options for people who are disabled, who cannot easily go on their own, cannot necessarily walk-through the museums. please open the road. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. mr. president, that completes the queue. >> president walton: thank you. seeing no more public comment, public comment is now closed. [applause] >> president walton: colleagues, do we have any additional comments? supervisor chan? >> supervisor chan: sorry. thank you. i -- before we went onto public comment, i laid out two motions, and i actually -- one is to make technical amendments to the legislation, and the second was to continue to the committee of the whole to may 24. i need to amend that motion. i am amending the second motion to send it back to land use committee with the understanding that should it be ready for ceqa determination and ready to be heard, it will then be heard as committee of the whole again. thank you. >> clerk: supervisor chan, you're rescinding that vote. supervisor mar, are you rescinding your second? >> president walton: now i need you to make a new motion. seconded by -- motion -- instead of going to the committee of the whole, the [indiscernible] seconded by supervisor [indiscernible] colleagues, any more comments? supervisor mar? >> supervisor mar: thank you, president walton. i do have some comments, and then, i have some amendments i want to introduce. i want to thank all the public commenters for this marathon hearing, and even before the hearing, we received thousands of postcards and e-mails on all sides of the issues, so i really want to thank everyone for engaging on this incredibly important decision. thank you to mayor breed and the department for your proposal of the golden gate park access and safety program, and thank you, supervisor chan, for also your alternative proposal on it. i did want to say that this debate has raised a critical conversation about equity and access in golden gate park, and i'm grateful to car free j.f.k. for starting this dialogue, but car free j.f.k. didn't start these problems. access to park was inequitable before j.f.k. was closed to cars, and whether the road is open or closed, it will continue to be inaccessible to some, and the equity showed that clearly in the needs and concerns of people with disabilities, and seniors and should not be waved away, but i think they're solvable. it shouldn't have taken a car free j.f.k. to make these things better, but it did, and now there's a further commitment to increased accessibility in the coming months. i have been convinced that mayor breed's proposals can accomplish this through some of the new commitments, particularly around garage access. so colleagues, i have one additional amendment i would like to move. it's been approved as to form and is not substantive. this is layered on top of supervisor stefani's proposed amendment, and it begins on page 14, line 21. it's for one part of the reporting requirement supervisor stefani has proposed, and it would require quarterly reporting rather than annual reporting for the golden gate status and operational policies beginning july 31, 2022, and continuing for two years. with this language, we will be better able to hold the departments accountable for the decisions that they've made and continue to ensure access and equity to the park. i'm grateful to supervisor stefani and supervisor chan brought forth another ordinance. supervisor chan's ordinance should still be on the table if we don't see the department making substantial improvements. i wanted to remind us of something the man himself said. change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. so we have the future in front of us with this vote, and with some trepidation to hold s.f. rec and park's feet to the fire, i will be voting for this today, and i would move to approve this amendment as described. >> president walton: thank you, supervisor mar. supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: thank you, president walton. i just wanted to make a few comments for the reason why i introduced the amendment that i did. obviously, over the last two years, this board has received thousands of e-mails, letters, and notes, and we've heard hours of comments on the proposals today. it's obvious that car free j.f.k. has become a well loved amenity by many, but it's clear that much more needs to be done to make sure that all concerned are addressed. i think that car free j.f.k. has been very popular and has united a lot of people, but i think unfortunately debate over the issue has become -- here, what we've become is rather a false and polarizing conversation, turning into an either-or fight instead of a both and collaboration. i am genuinely disappointed to see concerns around racism and accessibility to the park, and i remain deeply concerned that the viability of these treasured cultural institutions have been left out of the conversations. i've stated throughout this process that having worked by someone who uses a wheelchair has caused me to consider these. it is a reality that we have to deal with that tells me that we have to make it extremely easy to get to the museums, and we have to use under utilized options. we absolutely have an obligation to ensure that these institutions are able to thrive as we continue to recover from the pandemic. as its core, i also see the matter before us as an opportunity to make sure that the disability and equity communities have equal access to golden gate park. these are world class cultural institutions, and it's imperative that we make sure that everyone can access them. it's imperative that we make sure that everyone can access them through improved signage, coordinated taxi stands and that we're going to have the golden gate access to safety plan. we must do everything we can to make sure that people know how to get to the park. if you've been to new york, and you've seen the central park app, it's absolutely amazing. we need to make sure that it's the same for golden gate park. these are places worth celebrating and protecting, and we have to make sure we do that. i plan to ask the department to present, later this year, and quarterly thereafter, on the status and progress of these improvements. at that hearing, i also want to know about how our museums are faring in general. regardless of what happens with j.f.k. drive, we have an obligation to make sure that attendance improves. i look at this as an opportunity to not only vastly improve access for senior and disability communities, but i fully intend to see that that happens with assurances from the mayor's office and relevant departments, i am willing to try a both and response to the issue before us, and to that end, i have introduced the amendment that i read earlier today. so many of those who have opposed car free j.f.k. have done so because of concerns regarding access by equity priority communities, and my hope is that the quarterly reporting requirement will hold the city accountable to make sure that access is not impeded by closure of the street. i think that this is a situation, like i said, that's pitted a lot of people against each other. i hate to see that in san francisco. i hope that we can understand we all have different values, different experiences, want different things, but we all have to live here together. i'm hoping that, as we go down this road, that we do so in a way that is inclusive and prioritizes access to all parts of golden gate park. with that, i will be supporting in favor of this and saying that i will be staying very close to rec and parks to make sure that everything in this comes to pass. >> president walton: thank you. supervisor preston? >> supervisor preston: thank you. i think as others have said, this is a big deal, and i did want to make some final comments. i think that some of the push back, in my opinion, to car free j.f.k., comes from the fact that this is a lot of change that has happened quickly, with slow streets, with car free j.f.k., with some of these broader discussions. i think when i look at this, i see that change coming fast right now because we are so many years behind, and i just want to really put this on the record because i think it's important that advocates addressing transportation emissions, the rolling climate change, including at the staff level at m.t.a., folks have been pushing for policy for years that would have created more car free spaces, more traffic calming, and led us toward vision zero. prior boards of supervisors over the decades have not been as receptive to a lot of those policy change, and we were making progress on that prepandemic, and then, the pandemic, out of necessity, forced us to really embrace a lot of policies that, frankly, advocates have been pushing for for years. so i understand the challenges of having these kinds of changes, but i think we are way behind. these are things that we should have been doing for years. we have policies in this city that often gets tossed around as words, but they need to have means. things like vision zero, things like a charter mandate of vision first that tells us that pedestrians, cycling, public transit, that these should be our priorities when there's problems, with transportation being the largest contributor to emissions in san francisco. we're talking about a high injury corridor before it was closed to cars. now, it's a safe place. we hear from doctors and nurses in the e.r. about the injuries that they're not seeing. the public commenters who describe biking down, through golden gate park on car free j.f.k., going down dedicated bike streets on that, and going down the slow street on page, and when that ends, the difference in your personal safety is real, and are frankly traveling in a way that we want them to travel. so i take issue with some of the conversations who are biking, who are advocating for biking as a means of transportation. i think people are trying to stay safe in a city that has said, we want you to ride a bicycle, and in some ways, i don't want to say it's simple, but it is that simple that we need to be prioritizing safe travel. i also want to elevate, we talked about communities and people who are left out of the conversation. there is one part of the conversation that -- where folks are left out, and i want to elevate this. a few of our public commenters touched on this. one of them sang about it. i appreciated his song, and that is noncar owning households, noncar owning households. now there are plenty of noncar owning households who enjoy car free j.f.k. i'm one of them, and probably many others of you colleagues are in the same boat. we have 31%, over 30% of the households in san francisco that do not own a car, and we don't talk about them enough when we're talking about these people. some people choose not to own a car as a personal choice, but for a lot of people, they can't afford a car or they can't afford parking. they live in an s.r.o. in district 6 or they live in senior housing in district 5, dense housing without parking and don't have a car. and so the numbers -- the split of the households that do and don't own a car, it is overwhelmingly renter households. this is a class issue that overlaps with race, as well, but who owns a car and who does not in this city? if you look at ownership, people who own their homes, only 10% are car free. 10% who own a house. 43% of renter households in the city don't own a car, and i think it's -- as i mentioned, this is disproportionately residents of all types, senior housing, s.r.o.s, and i just think we need to be elevating those folks, many of whom, especially in the areas with geographic cal proximity to golden gate park are reliant on this form -- geographical proximity to golden gate park are reliant on this perform of transportation. as i said, we need to take that geographic lens and broaden it so that people all throughout the city on public transit in particular can get to the park, and that is our challenge today. i also want to make clear that i really strongly believe that the proposal before us does not close j.f.k. the question is whether it will continue as a safe haven for pedestrians and cyclists or whether it will return to being high injury vehicle dominated streets around golden gate park. in many ways, it's opening it for greater community use. we are in a climate crisis, we are in a street safety crisis. i think that we need to be acting boldly to address the threats of climate change in our unsafe streets, and i think car free j.f.k. is one important step in this direction. it's only one step, but it's a big one, and this is a huge part of creating that green mobility infrastructure in our city, so i look forward to continuing our momentum to create a network of safety streets for walking and biking across the city, and i can't thank enough all the folks who have moved this forward, all the advocates, all the staff, the departments that we've heard from, supervisors, our legislative aides, and i really want to thank preston kilgore who's worked really tirelessly on car free j.f.k. over the last year. so i really urge you, colleagues, for your support on this, and i appreciate the time for comments. >> president walton: thank you, supervisor preston. supervisor melgar? >> supervisor melgar: thank you, president walton. i'm not going to repeat the comments of my colleagues, but i want to acknowledge supervisor chan, who's put in more work than any of us and our staff for addressing some of the issues that still remain on the table. as this legislation goes through ceqa review and gets referred back to the committee as a whole, i do think it will, you know, provide an understanding. i heard from the representatives of the rec and park department that the opportunity of extending the shuttles to the western end of j.f.k. was a budget issue. that is what makes me nervous, colleagues, because i have lived in this city and been involved long enough to know that when budgets are lean, these kinds of things are what gets cut first, and i think when we are, you know, starting out a vision like my colleague, supervisor preston, just laid out, where we have a network of connected streets, of safe streets, of streets that promote biking and promote other modes of transportation, we have to have the capacity and the infrastructure of our departments to support that. and i fear that having a proposition for a car free j.f.k. may be a one-off. i have to think about how we increase our capacity at the m.t.a. to address closed streets and slow streets. how do we create this new vision of a more equitable connected network? so i am looking forward to seeing what is produced to address these needs, but i also want to state for the record that i am continuing to challenge our departments and our government to meet these needs, which are legitimate, and even though some of these issues were not created by the closure of j.f.k. itself, it is on us as we make these policy positions to address them as we go forward because, you know, our children will inherit this city, and, you know, we want to make sure that we are doing it the right way. >> supervisor safai: there's been a lot of jockeying to see who was actually going to lead this conversation. there's a lot of overlap between departments, but i think you've tried to do the best you could. nothing's ever perfect, but at the end of the day, we do have some result. i will say, the thing that gives me the most pause in this conversation, i think it's unfortunate, is that i think that two proposals that are in front of us today are actually not that far apart. i think that it's not really a reopen the road, i think it's a concern because i represent the part of town that has the most seniors and elderly aging in place, and i can tell you that they have felt the most pushed out of this conversation, and it shouldn't be that way. you it shouldn't feel as though the seniors and elderly are being pushed away from the conversation. these aren't private institutions. these are public institutions. this conversation has been had in this city since the 60s on this stretch of road. as a planner, i would say i think we're missing the mark from exclusively focusing on this one mile. i understand the symbolic nature of why we would do that, but if you were looking at this comprehensively, and you asked yourself, where would you want to shutdown a road in the park, i don't think you would choose this part. but i understand this has been happening since the 60s. i understand why people then would say let's then now take it a step further. i also think that you cannot dismiss the reality that our public institutions conserveatory of flowers, the japanese tea garden, both of the museums, have seen a major drop in their patronage, and we just went through an extensive debate in this chamber to make many of them free so we could encourage people to come to the park. so i think that it's unfortunate that we're in this final conversation that we're talking about, how do we soften the edges? how do we make those with disability challenges and seniors and those that can't -- i don't think anyone in any of the departments and anyone in the audience can say, it is easy if you're disabled to get to the dahlia garden. i don't think anyone can say that today with a straight face. i don't think you can even say it's easy to get to the conserveatory of flowers with a straight face. so what does it mean to those two institutions? what does it mean to the volunteers who are mostly seniors? what does that mean? what have we done, so i don't think the mayor's proposal is fully baked, i do not. when you're talking about we will do additional shuttles, and we will do additional parking, and we will do additional legislation, why are we only doing this now? let me say this emphatically. i'm discouraged that we're not talking about shutting down the great highway today. where is that conversation? i'm leading a conversation in my district about shutting down mclaren park. we have the most children in the city. i agree with, supervisor preston. some of this urgency is we've waited so long to create more of these spaces. i am in favor of shutting down the majority, the vast majority of j.f.k., but we need to think about -- and i don't even think the mayor is saying -- they're saying, talking about softening the edges. there is $25 million to $30 million in debt. that revenue is designed to payoff that debt. we don't have that sitting around somewhere. otherwise, we would have solved that. the museum, when it was done, was designed for patrons almost exclusively, so these are not easy issues, and i commend staff for trying to tackle them and take them on and really dive in deep. i'm not pointing fingers at you and saying you did a bad job. there's still a lot more work to be done, so my only reservation with the mayor's proposal today is that it doesn't do enough to soften the edges. it could do more, and what discourages me is the acrimony that has been created by the mayor's proposal and not the attempt to incorporate in more of what supervisor chan is proposing today. i've gotten e-mails, i've gotten text messages late at night, if you vote for this, you're voting to kill children. that's crazy. don't text me stuff like that anymore. i have two kids. my kids learned to ride their bikes on the great highway. that is silly. no one in this room does not care about children and pedestrian safety. we all care about vision zero. we all care about making more space in this city safe. all i'm saying is supervisor chan's is going to be continued. there will be a deeper study, there will be more conversation around that, and think about all the people that are being pushed away from the table, the senior and disabled community. that is real, and to say there's 4,075 parking spots, that is not a real thing. if you cannot get to something easy, you will not go. you just won't go. i can tell you that right now with certainty. that is what my community has said over and over and over again: if we cannot access it, we will not. so i am not going to support the mayor's proposal today. i wish that more work had been done. i wish that both sides had come together. i wish that supervisor chan's proposal to create a working group had been done, and i wish that we could have gotten a unanimous 11-0 vote today. in my opinion, there's still an opportunity to fix that. thank you, mr. president. >> president walton: thank you, supervisor safai. supervisor haney? >> supervisor haney: thank you, president walton, and i guess that supervisor safai that have been here for public comments that have gone ten hours. that's a first for me, so i think that's a reflection of the level of passion that exists on this topic, how many thousands of people have been touched by a car free j.f.k. and how important this is in terms of the decision that we're going to make today. i think this is something that has been under consideration in our city for, as you said, supervisor safai, many decades. there has been a conversation about doing this, and for us to be here at a point where we're actually going to make a decision that is historic in so many ways to make a car -- j.f.k. car free permanently i think is extraordinary. it took the pandemic for us to really try something that i think many residents knew had such powerful potential for so long. we had been doing this in some ways for weekends, we had been seeing what was possible, and like the pandemic forced us to in so many areas, we tried something different, and i think what we saw was powerful, it was beautiful, but it also has more work to be done. i think the question in front of us is do we move forward in the direction that we know we need to go, or do we move backward, or do we press pause? you've already said, supervisor preston, that we need to move towards a transit first future. we've made these commitments on climate, on safety, on transit, on moving towards more car free spaces in our city, and this is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that commitment. we still have work to do, and it's work that i know, listening to everyone here, that i know you all are committed to, to ensure that the commitments around equity and access and all of the work that everyone has done and supervisor chan and others have done are true, but we need to move forward. when you see what car free j.f.k. looks like, the families, the people building community, the joy, that aessomething that -- that's something that we have to act on. i think we would not be sitting here with this legislation in front of us if it was not for them. i want to thank the mayor for her leadership, to all the departments for their hard work after this, and something like this should give us a lot of hope for our city and what is possible. one of the thing that for thousands of people in our city was a positive that came out of a very dark time, a light that came out of a time that gave them a lot of fear, this gave them a lot of hope. i'm hopeful that we continue this work, and that as all of these amendments and all of these commitments are going to hold these departments and our bodies accountable to, this should be a joyous moment. it should be a moment of celebration, and we know that it is a step forward to a future that we have to take many more steps towards. our future has to be one where we make it much more safer and accessible where we bike and use our public spaces for people, and this is a step toward that, so i'll make the motion to approve that at the appropriate moment. >> president walton: thank you, supervisor haney. supervisor ronen? [please stand by]

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