the pathways were upgraded, the a-d-a improvements, of course, this extraordinary playground for our kids, the improved lighting which will make it all safer. and i m glad, phil, that you mentioned the fact of this epidemic of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes. you know, one in eight of us today will experience type 2 diabetes, but a generation from now that means kids here today, if we don t change course, 1 in 3, there are predictions in every californian will have diabetes by 20 50 which will completely overwhelm our already taxed health care system. so, get out and play is more than just some words. it s something we must do. it s for us to make sure that our little ones have the benefit of parks like these all over the city. so, to carina jones who led the fund-raising for the playground and lynn new house seigel who led the fund-raising for the friends of the park, and folks at dpw mohammed nuru, phil, your team. it s a thrill to be with my colleagues on the board o
million parks bond, neighborhood parks bond and the $10 million invested into lafayette park. i used to live at hyde and geary my first four years when i moved to san francisco, now 36 years ago, and this was my neighborhood park. and i ve loved it ever since. the combination of the palms and the pines and everything in between, this is a jewel of a park. and when i saw the fences go up i got a little nervous because, well, it was going to be closed for a while. and i saw on some of the signs that some trees were going to come down which always makes me a little uncomfortable. but now seeing the result, it is magnificent. and, so, i want to thank all the folks who have invested their time and their efforts to make sure that the tennis courts got their renovation and the pathways were upgraded, the a-d-a improvements, of course, this extraordinary playground for our kids, the improved lighting which will make it all safer. and i m glad, phil, that you mentioned the fact of thi
supervisors who lead the charge every day to make san francisco a better place. i ve got proclamations for all the folks i just mentioned. thanks again for being here and celebrate this beautiful day here at lafayette park. (applause) so, mark, we have a little parting gift for you to commemorate this great day. and to encourage you to get out here and take this and play with us. we have a lafayette playground sign and a rec and park picnic blanket for you to enjoy. congratulations. (applause) thank you. next time we need a park bond. while you go to the voters, i m going to call sean parker. [laughter] thank you, mark. all right. i mentioned there are a variety of city departments here. i want to give a shout ought to battalion chief williams from station 38. where are you, chief? there she is. (applause) and i think we have some activities going on over there. i also want to give a big thank you to fire commissioner and lafayette park champion don. where is don? (ap
already and this is yet another great draw and we have the great investers and they are all rebuilding on the ends of these blocks and mind us, and not only building, but they are also utilizing the programs that we have to ininvolve the local neighborhoods and be great neighbors to be involved neighbor and to be engaged with us. this is going to be a lot of stories about this establishment and while we say that it is temporary, gosh, there is nothing, temporary looking about this and actually it looks like exciting to be here and almost like it is already belong that we are just kind of unraveling this present, for the rest of market street to enjoy, and this is literally like a present, and so, i am here to say, thank you, and to also know that myself, and anita when she gets better will be down here eating. and i invite the friends to be here and enjoy the food, and establishment, but also, get a sense that this is part of what we always said market street was all about an
so, at rec and park, we re encoloneling people to get out and play. that s our tag line, get ready, 1, 2, 3. get out and play. we say that because of the importance of keeping our families active and healthy. this is a real serious issue. according to the center for disease control, childhood obesity has more than doubled in our children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. in 2010 more than one-third of our children were overweight or obese. it is important that we get our kids outside. our children today average over 7-1/2 hours behind a screen. listen to that. 7-1/2 hours behind a screen, less than 30 minutes a day outside. that has to change. and this playground helps get it done. and i wanted to just offer a quick quote from richard lu who is the author of a book called the nature principle which encourage uz us to reconnect with nature and create a balance between nature and the ever evolving world of technology. ~ he says imagine a world in which all ch