Open space task force, the open space committee, and also as a councilmember. And in the process, we preserved more than 500 acres of open space through our efforts, political efforts in our community, our preservation efforts in our community. So, i just want to say that as a preface to my comments about Sharp Park Golf Course, in the entire time that i worked on these projects in our community, no one ever considered taking away the golf course. The golf course was always viewed as kind of an ideal situation where you had endangered species, habitat that had actually evolved over time by the creation of Freshwater Habitat there. And the issue of the work at Laguna Salada which really began i think almost six years ago was to remove some of the tooling around the edges so frogs could get to the edge more easily and prevent flooding because Laguna Salada was filling in. And that was the beginning and it was a very sensible thing. And i really want to commend San Francisco for bringing
City that we all loved. And there were avid gardners and nature lovers and i have a background in the arts. So, what followed was what inspired me, anyway, was two things. The wonderful [speaker not understood] in the presidio. And in new york, if youve been to the jaialai, you know these are two projects that have brought artful interventions to lots of people in an urban setting. So, i love that idea. So, that led me to Phil Ginsberg who is very enthusiastic and he arranged the tour for me to look around all their wonderful sites. And it was kesar triangle that really took my heart. So, there was something about it, its kind of under loved and a little scrappy, didnt seem to interrupt any activities that were going on. What i really love was that you could not only experience maybe something artful on the ground, but it is as well when you drive by, maybe there was some way you could catch peoples imagination. ~ as well when youre up in csf looking down there is an aerial view from [
Council which represents, i believe, 20 plus neighborhoods west of twin peaks all unanimously oppose map. Theyve communicated that through the recreation and Park Department and to the mayor. Mount davidson, aside from sharp park which i dont know anything about and which is not within the boundaries of San Francisco, Mount Davidson is the most affected by map. I mean, their proposal is to cut down 1600 trees on Mount Davidson and the neighborhoods surrounding Mount Davidson all are opposed to this plan. Spending another 200,000 to make this plan possible is throwing good money after bad. I believe that Mount Davidson, based on the neighborhood response, should be excluded from map. Apparently there is a proposal to exclude sharp park from map, too. While people are trying to get huge parts of this program excluded from it, can you please not spend precious funds on this program and instead spend it on thing that are really needed like basketball courts and tennis nets. Thank you. Than
Department of public works to establish a new crosswalk there across kesar drive. Presently the existing crosswalk is at the left there. People have to cross into an island and wait at an island and cross to get to the childrens playground. So, we did manage to secure an assurance from the department of public works that they would establish a new crosswalk there with crossing lights to make a direct link into the park. And our plan consists of increased planting at the edge at the southern edge to kind of shield the parked cars from view and reestablish the meadow as a form. There are a few new trees that will be planted in the park. There are new entry areas that will have kiosks. Trash cans and features of the park that will kind of locate people where they are and direct them into the area. We had located along the pathway several locations for benches that will allow people to sit and enjoy the park while weve maintained the openness of the space. You can see in the plan the kind
This triangle is an example of one of the types of agricultural art projects that is being proposed in the plan and the idea is to plant barley since this is a natural plant and was once grown there to feed the horses. This is an example actually of an art project that the Arts Commission considered more landscaping rather than art. So, this was not one that they thought the need to review or approve, but i did want to share it with you today just to show you some of the beautiful ways that artists can install some natural art that sort of is there for people to enjoy and then kind of blends in with the current grass. This is an idea to add some color and beauty to the discus cage while it is not being used. This is an anonymous artist who may be able to decorate the cage. And as i mentioned, the friend of kesar triangle have had numerous picnics and social gatherings at the triangle and they plan to continue doing so. The mou before you establishes the framework for collaboration betw