This lodge is home to some of the best fly casting pools in the world. These shallow concrete pools dont have fish. This is just a place where people come to practice their fly casting technique. Ith was built in the 1930s and ever since, people have been coming here to get back to nature. Every year, the World Championship of fly casting is held in San Francisco and visitors from all over the globe travel to be here. We are here with phil, general manage of San Francisco rec and Parks Department at the anglers lodge. What do you think about this . It is spectacular, travis from oregon, taught me a snake roll and a space cast. There are people from all over the world come to San Francisco and say this is the place to be. Yeah. Its amazing, we have teams from all over the world here today and they are thrilled. I flew from ireland to be here. And been practicing since for the competition. All the best casters in the world come here. My fellow countryman came in first place and james is on the current team and he is the head man. Its unique. Will not see anything like it where you go to compete in the world. Competitions in ireland, scotland, norway, japan, russia each year, the facilities here in the park are second to none. There is no complex in the world that can touch it. Im here with bob, and he has kindly agreed to tell me everything i need to know about casting. Im going to suit up and next, were in the water. What any gentleman should do. Golden gate angling has free lessons the second saturday of every month. We have equipment show up on the 9 30 on the second saturday of every month and well teach them to fly cast. Ok. We are in the water. Let me acquaint you with the fly rod. Nice to meet you. This is the lower grip and the upper grip. This is a reel and a fly line. We are going to use the flex of this rod to fling away. Exactly as you moved your hands. Thats it . Thats it. Im a natural. Push both arms forward and snap the lower hand into your tummy. Push forward. I did gave it a try and had great time but i might need some more practice. I met someone else with real fly casting skills. Her name is donna and she is an International Fly casting champion. I have competed in the casting ponds in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I have been to japan and norway for fly casting competition. I spend my weekends here at the club and at the casting pond. Its a great place to learn and have fun. On a season day like this, it was the perfect spot to be. I find fly casting very relaxing and also at the same time very challenging sport. Takes me out into the nature. Almost like drawing art in the air. And then i can make these beautiful loops out there. Even though people from across the globe come here to compete, its still a place where locals in the know relax and enjoy some rely unique scenery. Until next time, get out and play good morning, today is november 12, 2015 welcome to rules committee of San Francisco board of supervisors. I am john avlaes. Joined by vice chair supervisor catty tang and cohen. The drurk is derek evans. Make sure to silence cell phones and electronic devices. [inaudible] will appear on the december 1, 2015 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated thank you. The main show today is the rec and chaerterpark Charter Amendment. Item 1 is hearing to consider one member term ending jan 6, 2020 student the Small Business commission. First up is item 2 is hearing to consider appointing member term ended february 1, 2017 to the advisory committee. Very good. Calling up steffan franz. Welcome. Good morning. Thank you. Good morning, supervisors if you want totalk about your interest in the committee and spend a couple minutes and your experience in the parks. Absolutely. Thank you it is a pleasure to serve on [inaudible] now 5 years. I sat at the vice chair 2 year now t. Is a wonderful experience because it is truly hand on. I love my park and i feel like this committee allows me to represent other stakeholder kwrz be a part of makeic our parks better. It is a joy i have seen so much progress over the years and would like to continue my role. Thank you, what is your park . My park is Lafayette Park. You know i spend plenty of time inmic lairen. Lafayette was amazing to see what opened up in terms of the formation of water. What do you see the progress as been over the past few years i feel [inaudible] represents the entire city. We represent the supervisors district and also represent stakeholders and as a stakeholder and friend of Lafayette Park there are items i see just items with recreation park and department and maintenance, areas where i feel i can be a liaison between rec and park and the stakeholder and to be that is my role. No other questions. Thank you for being here today and the service on the committee and well go to Public Comment. Any member the public who would like to comment please come forward. Good morning. My name is dens [inaudible] i serve on frosc representing district and ask you to reappoint steffan franz. He has been a serious and dedicated advocate for the park system and his own park. One thing he pushed and several other members pushed and made it a issue is the issue of the connection between the Capital Development and pass to operations where there has been a fall down or let out. Also on the issue of long time defered maintenance we pushed and push and pushed and now see today that issues come up around the Charter Amendment and steffan is a voice that pushed that well. Anyway, i ask you reappoint him. Thank you very much. Next speaker good morning supervisors. I am may from acsels yrb. Steffan doesnt represent me or my district i worked with him in mclairen park. He is a pleasant person to work with and very efficient and kind. I hope you will consider his years of service and continue to have him there, he is a great leader. I expected he lived in certain part of San Francisco. Im linda [inaudible] and serve as chair of park and rec open space advise rea committee and support the reappointment of steffan fraunz as a mib of the committee and first vice chair. I will not always be chair and my hope is steffan will consider remaining on board and perhaps running for chair and continuing the work we started to keep the impetus going. Many of the comments today have been dealt with directly with members such as steffan particularly the new park squz how when they open up many issues arise around maintenance and the question about who handles them and whether there are funds sufficient to keep the park running. Thank you any other member of the public who would like to comment . Seeing none well close Public Comment. A motion so moved there is a second [inaudible] we take that without objection. We are also still on item 1, so if miriam is ready. Hello. Honorable Committee Members, thank you for having me. Ill try not to reiterate what is before you and that is my credentials and the different city sponsored initiatives i have been involved ichb. I want to give a sense of my intention. I try to operate from honestly and intrigue. There is so much going on in the city that is all connected so look forward learning more about other taskforce squz committees and finding opportunity for progress. I believe in direct democracy and setting up practical channels between community, policy makers and those that have a disproportioninate influence on the e market. I have a interest in economic theory. I am constantly thinking about the future. I know how to engage in formal network squz appreciate debate and negotiation. I have a rare Historical Perspective not only in the [inaudible] sector but also the political history of how the city has engaged with the Business Community as a whole. At this point i have experience in legislative processes and a literacy at the city level but most of my knowledge about how things work is coming from my day to day interactions with elders, youth, other business owners, workers, vendors, customers. For example, paratransit driver park in fronts of our store and my families business is on 11th and howard in the south of market district. One of my buddies became the shop studered and told me about the subcontracting battles. I amave aibl to give advise because i have experience with con tractionual stuff and Regulatory Affairs trying to make my families own business citythrough the process of being city vendor and certified city vendor. Another example, we have catering delivery so it is my dad and i going to Different Company squz all sorts of different businesses. We went to lagoona hospital. The [inaudible] telling us ghost stories. I grew up bearing witness to the folsom street fair as well. The kids taught me and learned personal narratives of help access and Racial Justice and people power and historical moment that led to political precedence. I had cops come in the store and recognize me from protests the week before. I have [inaudible] calling me freaking out when they get letters to business about change in recycling law or trying to understand why my generation is so obsessed with animals and how a customer made him turn off the lights and create sanctuary when a humming bird glue flew in the door. Those are examples of day to day experience squz move around the sit aetd and talk to people and businesses and relate things going on at a city level and communicate them to folks that otherwise may not have access or understanding. As a Third Generation of a business i have been exposed to both ends of the business model. Dad really loves the fax machine but uber can use smart analytics to deliver our food. It makes things exciting but it isnt without struggle. This is the experience of many the Small Businesses who operate from the box, brick and mortar, durable product side of business. Im participating in a tech divide training for Small Businesses and i look forward to the continued efforts both coalitional and through the city for that will help people and businesses get access and remain cue competitive and explore change because to get my families business pasted sustenance and towards creativity is a haun rbl cause ill work for. With that said, if you have questions about the more substantative committees and Advisory Boards i have been a part of up until anow you can ask me. Thank you i had the opportunity to talk with you and impress would sth work you have done behind the scenes especially working with the small corner shop business. Good morning. Colleagues i will support mrs. [inaudible] i met them at a small mixer reception several years ago and left a favorable impression. We meet many people and think miriam has the ability to stand out and has a curiosity to do the right thing and support business. Small businesses are feeling the pressure of the decision that we are making, increasing minimum wage is one example. You mentioned about pets in stores and food establishments. It is a interesting mix of issues so im happy to see you before us today and have my unwavering support. Thank you. Thank you. You have my support as well but before that well have Public Comment. Public comment is open on item 1. I have 3 cards. If you can come up in the order you are called. David [inaudible] henry [inaudible] and debbie long. You can come up in any order actually. Honorable supervisors. My name is david [inaudible] miriams father. My parents started teds market in 1967. They were both born and raised in San Francisco. When my father and mother opened teds market got a lot of opposition from neighbors and relatives and said he would never last there. In those days it was called skid row. Ted and penny opened up for 30 years after day. Holidaysi began working at teds market at age 12. In 1997 my father passed away and Third Generation was called upon and that was miriam. Miriam came to work with me 5 a. M. And coffee for the customers and stand on a bagel andshe has been a really helpful in our business. She is tearing me away from the fax machine z says dad, no one uses those anymore. She helps in many ways to bring my business up to speed for the new generation. My mother on her buthday june 16, 2013 received a certificate of honor on her 90th birthday in recognition for her contribution of south of market. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. [inaudible] supervisor jane kims office. We are supporting mrs. [inaudible] i met her a couple months ago and really impress jd more impressed knowing her the couple months i have. It leaves everybody else is able to state their support better than i am, so okay, thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning supervisors. My name is [inaudible] Committee Member in south of market. I had the pleasure to work with miriam for ever a year and half with south of Market Business Association. She sits on the Energy Efficient committee and Advisory Board for Healthy Retail sf and she has a passion and dedication to really serve the Small Businesses in the area. She is smart, energyetic and will be a asset to the Small Business commission so hope you support her and she is a great candidate. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. Michael [inaudible] i am officer with the south of Market Business Association. I have my card here. I have got toon know miriam over the last couple years where she served on the board of directors for sam bah. I can appreciate her vision and commitment to the Small Business community and believe she will be a asset to the the Small Business commission and want to voice my support in her faurfb. Favor. Great, thank you very much. Good morning supervisor, henry [inaudible] south of Market Business Association and i have beenit is a hundreder to work with miriam. She is on the board of directors she is very keen, dedicated, honest and reasonable and involved in Small Business. She will bring diversity to the Small Business commission which i feel we dont have. Her age and background. She is a marvelous person [inaudible] i mean it from my heart so i hope she gets the position. Thank you. Very good thank you very much. Any other member who would like to comment . Seeing none well close Public Comment. Supervisor tang thank you very much to everyone who came out. I really love seeing a young person with a lut of experience will join the Small Business commission so great that i think i have seen you before actually and glad that you came back and decided to apply again based on your previous experiences. Im so happy to recommend her to the Small Business commission. Thank you very much. I have a motion and support as well. I think a young person who has done a incredible amount of work in her Small Business since 1997. You must have been very very young at the time. Your father says you run a soap box. You are networking with a lot of Small Businesses here as well and like your level of diversity to the Small Business commission as well so whole heartedly support. If we can take mysecond. We heard from sfr visor cohen so take that without objection. Congratulation. [applause] item 3, please. Charter amendment first chapt to amend the chart of of city of San Francisco [inaudible] based on city spending for park and recreation purpsh for fy 2015, 16. [inaudible] election to be held june 7, 2016. Okay, very good. Supervisor farrell. Thank you chair avalos and colleagues for hearing this item today and all my colleagues who worked with me on this. Our park squzopepen space drive high equality of life we join as san franciscan, from golding gate park to chrisy field and mcclaren and deloris park. They are the great equalizer. Our parks cut across every age boundary and demo graphic boundary we can think of. From every persons perspecktdive their ability to access use and enjoy which ever city park they prefer is a huge deal. Asour city grows the use of the parkerize at a all time high. The recreation and Park Department work to address the [inaudible] over the years funding for the reck and Park Department hasnt kept pace with needs and issues that need to be addressed. The reason [inaudible] Park Alliance has shown reck and Park Department has lagged. In 2000 the reck and Park Department received 2. 1 percent the general fund in and in the past year 1. 3 oof the general fund. Analysis from the Controllers Office show reck and Park Department is [inaudible] emergency driven with maintenance. 97 percent of the calls are done on a emergeacy basis. In september we embarked on a process with Neighborhood Group close to 30 neighborhood meetings in different jurisdirkzs to make sure be see how they use the Neighborhood Park squz what they wanted to see done if they can do it better. Meeting after meeting we herd concerns about maintenance and safety and the potential to acquire new space as our city continues to grow. We took the Community Feedback that we heard in meeting after meeting to form the Charter Amendment and i want to the thank you a number of partners in particular the park appliance there from the beginning. I see many people here from kelly and matt and phil and everyone im blocked from seeing at that this point but i want to thank you for your support. They have been every step of the way making sure what we craft is based on Community Input and improve the park experience for all San Francisco residence. I want to thank supervisor wiener, tang, mar, yee, christensen and cohen and breed. Even if we are not cosponsor, i thank all my colleagues. Since introducing it is clear parks matter to everybody in the city and every supervisor and dont think you find any supervisor on the board that isnt a 5d voicate for there park system and have a interest for getting it right. This Voter Initiative is a Charter Amendment that guarantees 350 Million Dollars in new fundsing for the reck and Park Department to address the structural short fall and inshrure safe and clean parks not only today but the children moving forwards. It establishes a baseline funding that increases year aryear. It provides for guide squns Accountability Measures as well. The measure mandates the department periodically update the Strategic Plan and [inaudible] review and approve the departments Operational Plans which allow for appropriate feedback and input not just here at the board of supervisors. To insure these new dollars are spent wisely and efficiently the measure mandates a auditor perform a audit to make sure the goals are met in the plan. Since introducing it we worked with Neighborhood Groups and community advocates, want to thank prosc a number of other parks leaders so we vanumber of amendments that are reflected here and reflective of conversations. I want to thank supervisor avalos who is a huge park advocate. I want to thank you for his input, it is very meaningful. A number of the amendments i want to highlight them here, the First Amendment clarifyathize baseline funding trigger can only be suspended in the fis clt year the budget deficit is projected. Second, the amendment clarifys protects baseline appropriations against cost of mew suvss from other City Departments. Third u clar dpieing reck and park keeps any general fund or additional revenue to enhance the park any year the sur pluses may occurment fo mandate reck and park adopt a fuls spend any fund in the reserve and report to the mayor [inaudible] we clarify the Acquisition Fund dpls are only used for site acquisition and not development of new parks or design or construction of new parks. Six, that came in particular from prosc, we mandate prosc afforded the opportunity to review and comments on the truteejic planch before adopted by the commission. We allow the change of the reporting deadlines if necessary for the plan and mandate the board and mayor must adopt a resolution approving deadline changes if necessary. We mandate the department maintain environmental guide lines for park squz open space. Many are technical in nature and a number are substantive in nature. I know supervisor tang has amendments that she will introduce and again very much appreciate her involve ment and care for this. I want to highlight additional changes that we will incloud as well that are not reflected in the core amendments here regarding equity and how ecquity is respreckted out of San Francisco. Page 1 line 1, we include a sentence under subsection a, establishment of the fund state the department embraces geographic and social Economic Equity as a guiding principle and expend the funds across open space to provide park and recreational access to all of San Francisco diverse communities. Page 8 line 12, we have copies of this for the city attorney, the Operational Plan shall include a Equity Analysis of Park Department program jz resources. [inaudible] for low income neighborhoods and disadvantage communities with programs available to the city as a whole. I want to thank supervisor avalos on these items and make sure they are reflected here. I will say in conclusion, im a Firm Believer clean and safe park enhance the quality of life for San Francisco residence and provide countless benefits as well. They are a source of pride for the city of San Francisco and a source of quality of life for everybody that lives here. Our world class parks and open space deserve sustainable Funding Source to make the badly needed improvement and upgrades from everything from fixing the swings to added custodeial service squz Programming Options in the park. This [inaudible] fix everything we may want to see fixed but it goes a long way and stabilizes the department not only today but for future generations. I want to insure as the city continues to grow these future generations dont have to worry about whether we will be add more open space or replace the monkey bars at the Neighborhood Park. This measure guarantees improvement and upgrades to many parks across San Francisco and for years to come. Since we introduced the amendments today and supervisors tang amendments which i support this will need to be continued since it is a Charter Amendment but want to thank everyone who came out today and the next hearing. This mexer is based on Community Support and input so i want to thank you for your involvement. From my perspective it means everybody care deeply about our park squz have their own opinion squz hope we will be able to development this as a 61 census measure. Thank you so much and appreciate your work on the Charter Amendment and the communication we had helping it move forward. I thank you for recognizing i have been a park champion and i cant help being a park chaimpian because there are so many in district 11 that are park champions. Be it mclairen park or [inaudible] all these parks are in great need of care and there are a lot of residence that bring the parks to my attention. There are also people that work in the parks and thatd is something important to me as well. The people working in the parks and doing the mairns and operation have the experience and resources they need to do their job jz over the years that i have been on the board i fought hard to make sure we have option operational dollars. When i was budget chair in 2009 and 10 put forward about 3. 2 Million Dollars into he parks. The parks were a place we pumed dollars to make sure the city provide the dpraiter services and pulled too many dollars that year and it was important taput dollars back so that is what i felt we needed to do to preserve the work reck and park does and preserve the jobs the people doing that work. I think the is important we have a lens about workers. I do appreciate the language that is added arounds equity. All too often we see that equity is defined in narrow ways looking at things that are equivalent that isnt the same as equity. Equity is resources going to where it is needed most and make 24 biggest difference. Equal amount to every part of a city doesnt get us to the level of parody so equity is important that we insure neighborhoods that dont get the same attention others are getting get the resources to help them come forward. That is neighborhoods in every district in San Francisco are under that demand and need so it isnt necessarily gobbling up resources for certain parts of San Francisco, it is all of San Francisco has equity needs we need to address and socioEconomic Equity is a level of equity that is important for me to move forward on. I havent offered amendments mostly just conversations with supervisor fairbl and reck and park advocate and department and to me this Charter Amendment is something that i want to support and i do support it but i want to put my name on it when i feel like we had a really strong and thorough approach to seeing how we can make it the best amendment it can be. In concept i support creating a baseline and support added more funds to reck reakez and park and want to make sure as we do that we make the structure and organizational approach of the department as strong as it can be to meet the residence needs across San Francisco. We have supervisor tang who has comments and can go the the presentation thank you so much sfr visor farrell and everyone else that worked on the amendment. I think a lot is said about the need for making sure we protect our assets especially during the bad economic times. I appreciate we are trying to create stability and as our population grows our parks become even more and more important. Happy to cosponsor this and today i do have one minor amendment but trying to highlight some of the things i would likeory City Department and general public to tame into consideration as we look that department and defered Maintenance Plan they are developing. My amendment is on pages 67 there is a section referring to reporting that must be done in conjunction with the capital plan. Page 7 line 1 after it talks about going the commission for approval, i would like that language saying the Capital Expenditure plan includes the deferred Maintenance Plan that takes into consideration the following. Financial condition. Needs that unaddressed result in additional cost and hazards in the future. C, priterization of utilizes assets. City wide input. Geographic equity and social Economic Equity. The capital plan should also address water and [inaudible] those are some of the policy and other factors that i would like the department to make sure is very explicit as they present the defer Maintenance Plan and do other reporting such as under the capital plan. I think it goes to the concerns that or issues supervisor avalos brought up, but leaves room for when there are changing needs in the future not trying to tie the hands of the department because we all know the maintenance for some of our facilities are assets can change over time. I have submitted copies to the Committee Members as well as the clerk and city attorney. Great, thank you very much. Do we want to do these amendments now or Public Comment first or presentation first . Public comment is appropriate. I think we have a presentation. If i can say one thing real quick recollect i want to take a moment to thank margo kelly and [inaudible] as well as [inaudible] from my office. [inaudible] to all most every one of the Community Meetings with the Park Alliance and also want to thank Rachel Norton and todd [inaudible] it takes a lot of rft and evening and that is that way since the summer so thank you for your support. As well to the reck and Park Department, phil and katie. The whole department is involved so want to thank you for this and their negotiation of this topic over the past few months. Very good. We have a presentation from the department. None other than general manager phil gensburg. Welcome. My old man glasses. Good afternoon. I have a presentation here. I will use this mic. Let me start before we get into this by thanking all you for caring so much about our parks and park system and the people who use them. This is a happy and exciting moment for parks and for our communities who so desterate desperately need them. Thank you to supervisor farrell and mayor and everyone who cosponsored the measure. Each of and have been kraung advocates for the parks in your district and the concept of protecting and preserving what really is one of the urban park systems in america. Thank you to each of you and all the park advoicates. Give you a overview about the park system since we are talking about pretty substantive potential inivistments and over site and planning changes. Ill troy to do that relatively quickly. I want to start by looking at the park system. And why it matters. There is a lot of dialogue about the nationally. Cities are becoming more dense and people are moving back to cities. The importance that parks play in the urban fabric cant be understated. Here in San Francisco the Planning Department estimates San Francisco is going to add 280 thousand residence and 97 thousand Housing Units in the next 25 years. Since 2004 [inaudible] 10 or more units meaning no more backyards. Research by some of the park policy think tanks [inaudible] park users are 3 times as likely to use renovated park in the recent experience concerns that. Recreation improves Mental Health and contribute tooz violence prevention. Parks decrease depression anxiety and [inaudible] i want to highlight the violence prevention programs you supported that we operate such as ps program in the summer. [inaudible] which is a Great Partnership with the juvenile Probation Department and dcys. [inaudible] parks encourage healthy outcomes. Enhance access to places for physical activity cdc determined lead to 25 percent increase of [inaudible] nearly 1 3 of all san franciscan are considered over weight. Parks improve our environment. Our park system and 131,000 trees absorb nearly 750,000 cubic feet of storm water and purify 130 tons of air pollutants [inaudible] free and affordable [inaudible] equity is a important conversation in the city and nationally so i think it is worth noting the direct use benefit for park users, parks that create in the system is determined by [inaudible] equivalent to more than a 200,000,000,000 dollar a year public benefit. [inaudible] which is important. They are a economic driver. Property text revenue attribute today the proximity to a park have add td 25,000,000 to the general fund is [inaudible] 47,000,000. Um, it is often difficult to see the forest through the trees, butd i have opportunities to speak to my counter parts and we get a lot of feedback from National Park advocacy oergzs. We are known nationally as having one orphthe best urban park system in america. There is no stat about which we should all be prouder than thafact that 98 percent of all San Francisco residence live within a 10 minutes walk of a city park. There is nothing that speaks more to equity than that point. A little about our the brenth of the park system which is a reason we have some of the operational challenges. We are lucky, nearly 15 percent the city land is open space. We support over 4 thousand acres of park land, 220 Neighborhood Parks and growing. You see playground and basketball courts [inaudible] we oprait27 full service [inaudible] this is a little of oo old stat. Up to about 7 thousand recreation programs a year and insure everyone has a chance to get out to play we offer overa million a year in scholartions. In fact, since the creation of the recreation model in 201011, recreation increased by 17 percent and the size of the wait list increased by nearly 60 percent. 76 percent of the programs are now at full registration. Nation wide the best practice standard is [inaudible] nearly 95 percent othf summer camps are at full capacity. We have ever 700 classes in Early Childhood inrchment throughout the system. We have more and more work to do but through the partnership with Controller Office we keep data on our Park Maintenance scores. The trend has been positive. This is a staff and so proud of the working men and women from local 261, custodeians, structural maintenance staff from the Building Trades that have done more with less for several years. The part im most proud about is the gap between the highest parks and lowest scoring parks have narrowed. There is absolutely positively more work to do in this regard. Perhaps the thing everybody notices about the system is the Capital Program and Capital Investment and we are blessed by the support of the cities elected leadership and San Francisco voters in 3 significant park bonds since 2000 and this doesnt include other procs we have gotten through grants. Each of the dots are all of our facilities that received Capital Investment from our bond programs since 2000 and you see the geographic and socemnocic equity in this program. A little about our budget and where it stands. Our 201516 budget is about 178,000,000 the capical budget which flex waits up and down and how much support we get in a year. This year the budgeset 3 1. 1,000,000 and includes [inaudible] significant and relates to a amazing opportunity in the measure which well get to in a second. We have 3 primary sources of revenue in our budget. Our general fund support, our open space fund which is currently at 2 and a cents of every hundred dollars of property tax revenue and money that we earn lout the system. Each are important drivers in delivering the programs and services we offer. Supervisor farrell noted our jen frl fund subsidy since 2000 has not kept with pace with the city general fund grouth. The budget increased from 1. 4 billion to 3. 9 billion [inaudible] our agency share the general Fund Increased during that same period of time. With more and more people using the parkt and us acquiring more land a little about the challenges we face to set the context for the measure you are considering. We are challenged in keeping the parks clean, safe and greenish. Brown may be the new green but dead isnt the new alive as we like to say. It is a cheerful balance. You should coin that. You already did. 3600 vandalism incidence every year in the system. There is really good investment in our park rageer unit and will enable to do more in the future but they are taxed in keeping our parks safe and helping to keep eyes on the parks and protect them from vandalism. The Park Maintenance scores have done well but sort of hit the wall. Meaning you wont see them continue to improve with the resources that we have. Significantly one of the Biggest Challenges is our staff spend 25 percent a day picking up trash. We struggle from a lack of staffing and are a 24 7, and 2 3 of the park acres a irrigatedism people talk about their broken swings or broken pipe which hopefully we getting to more quickly. The staff is juggling 15 thousand work orders a year. [inaudible] road way infrastructure and we are fortunate to [inaudible] between mclairen and Golden Gate Park that has a twnt Million Dollar infrastructure deficit. Fran cisco reservoir [inaudible] 17th and folsom will be developed and maintained. Future open space, as we think long term redevelopment and ocii created wonderful open space opportunities but how are those parks going to be maintained in the future . On the reck reasian side, 19 percent the house holds have a child under the age of 18 and Planning Department projects the population of children will increase by 44 percent between now and 2040. I talked about recreation but you can see in our recreation is heavily subsidized and only rover recover about a 3rd of the cost of the fees we charge and no one is denied on the basis to pay. The scholarship has grown from [inaudible] our centers and swimming pools are funding for a 5 day week operationism we have a long wait list. Materials and supplies per facilitiesthe national reck park standards says every fusimties needs about 100 thousand in materials and supplies and average 20s thousand. As more people come and use the parks we see a significant increase in people using the facilities for prifens purpose whether it birthday parties or Community Meetings. Our ball field in parm of the city Field Foundation program we have nearly doubled the number of supports teams in the city from 220 to 450 in the last 4 years. This is a big focus in the future and open space sw preserving open space. We didnt inherent from the ancestor. We need to doa better job to maintain the urban forestism we 131 thousand trees [inaudible] on average our trees are between 70 and 100 years old. We have massive gaps in the park canopy. There is a study done that recommend said spending 78 thousand a year just on tree maintenance and replanting a thousand tree as year. Our drought is well discussed and we have met our obligation and reduce the water use by over 30 percent in our system but to do that over a long term period of time requires change in park design and ecology and irrigation infrashuckture and maintenance. Lastly, this is sig competent to the average park user and those focused on the planning and administrative capacity, keeping place with customer expectations. We need to do a better job of investing in the customer focus technology and the long term planning and Strategic Planning which is why we are pleased to see the focus on Strategic Planning included in the report. So, this is where we can get to the moment of the day which is the significant of the measure before us. In our view it does 3 fungdmental things, provide the park system with stability, provides it with careful planned incremental growth and givers us a opportunity to invest. The baseline aspect of this measure really will protect us from feature economic down turnsism we are just coming out of the economic downturn from 2008 and 9 and there will be another one and parks are so significant and give us a better shot at protecting it. Second, 3 million in general fund support allows for incremental growth for operationing and planning qu lastly, the 15 million in general fund capital per year for 15 years is for us which will be significant in giving us the opportunity to make the defered maintenance that is discussed significantly. Thank you very much. Supervisor cohen thank you. Good job. Our team and maintaining our park squz open space and how did you describe [inaudible] camp mather is our one family something it is our one family camp, that is awesome. If anyone has been to camp mather you know it is a awesome run facilsty. I want to say thank you for bringing this to us. I know i was sloi to get on board and want the folks at home the reason i was slow to get on board i was getting more comfort with the idea of setting aside that ties to future contributions that historically may be uncomfortable but we are in a great and robust time and should allocate money and put our priorities in line with our words. I also want to acknowledge the equity language i believe you will incorporate in support ofworking with supervisor avalos. I think that is important to me representing a lot the open space and parks on the southeastern part the city that historically have had failing remarks but let me tell you, we are on the up trnd and i think i saw a park advocates out there. There she is, hello. With that said, supervisor tang i also support your amendments. Itsomes fair and open and clean. Thank you. Thank you very much. Lets save comments for after Public Comment and hear from the public and ill have comment at that time as well and i have a number of cards and if you can come up and generally in the order that your names are called and if you havent submit ted it isnt necessary but lets get to the cards first. First off, sorry if i get your names incorrectly. Looks like ace [inaudible] amanda lang. Kennedy [inaudible] jacklen [inaudible] phil arnold. Familiar face. We have one announcement of our board of ed commissioners Rachel Norton is here so ill stop there and call after this batch of people. You are not wearing a hat though. Please come forward. Amanda. Im president s [inaudible] we have been there for 40 years in a quite corner. One the most affordable preschools in the city and every day we work with [inaudible] to maintain our dilapidated and joyful but supporting by tooth picks playground. [inaudible] gratin. 3 my window and see night time activity of all kind of things that shouldnt be going on in a childrens playground so clean and safe priority is des prit for us. It wouldnt take much to put gates up. We fight for funding every year and miss out on the small money that would keep us running and safe. Wree supportive of this. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. My name is phil arnold. I speak to aioas the former assistance general manager of recreation and park and board member of San FranciscoPark Alliance. I want to underscore how important this measure is for the health of the recreation and park programs in san francio. Devoteers have been generous to support bond issues and open Space Program contributed to providing a measure of support for recreation and park programs, but unfortunately the general fund side of the recreation and park support hasnt kept pace with the growth of the city. As a result, we have some fabulous new facilities and along side we have failing play grounds and urban Forest Program that is collapsing aroun us and huge back log of maintenance needs. The measure will address those problems and we hope [inaudible] continue to be supportive of major Capital Improvements so urge your support for this program. It is vital to the health of San Francisco and all the parks and recreation programs we love. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good to see you here. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is katie [inaudible] and i started working at the gratin playground about 2 years ago as a member of the friends of gratin playfwround and had a lot of fun learning how the process works in the city and have gotten informed and interested. I think it is wonderful and so nessy for the city to have more money for the parks. It is good to keep the city in great shape so everybody can [inaudible] families are leaving because it is too challenging to be here and there are these great initiatives like the failing Playground Task force that happened and the Park Alliance but up other forum like a design forum and state of play and the city and people have had impact in where the money will go and that is a great thing so hope for that to to continue and the money that gets spent will focus on the maintenance and the how you get everything to go up together. All the parks and playground. Thank you for considering this. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon supervisors and thank you supervisor farrell for the motion. My name is jackie boss and im with the friends of jodumageio play ground in north beach which is opening tomorrow after a [inaudible] Million Dollar innovation. Im a mother of 3 children under 6 and live in a small place in north beach with no backyard so rely on the playgrounds. While the playground is under ren ovation my children have learned to ride bikes on the side of the road. This is the only green space in north beach we have with the facility like that. It is well used by the seniors who use the club house. There is a lot of low income people who use the playground because chine a town is there and north beach has a lot of low income housing, so it is afternoons in the playground are so busy. Everyone loves the playground. My school go to school in potrero hill so i see a playground that well used also in the mornings. There are a lot of Homeless People who live along side around the new north Beach Library and grinch street and we see the mess they make. Im glad they have facilities but [inaudible] the bathrooms and leave at Jackson Playground the mothers see syringes under the play equipment and condoms. My kindergarten twins [inaudible] telling them this is a condom and they are 5. This is a syringe dont touch it. We have a working group that picks up the syringes and condom [inaudible] we want to make sure we have adequate custodeial services. Thank you, that is your time. Appreciate your comments. I will call a few names before the next speaker. Linda [inaudible] gene [inaudible] good afternoon. Rachel norton director of policy and communication of Park Alliance and director [inaudible] i want to thank you all for discussion you are having today. I think first and formost the amendments proposed are very good amendments, we are very supportive and think they will boost the equity of the amendment and also the accountability so thank you. We have been working with supervisor farrell for all most a year on this and we have heard literally from hundreds of park advocates and have more than a hundred park groups that we engage with regularly on the issues that are seeing with the parks and improvements they want to make and what we hear is the department is working very hard to address maintenance and operational issues in the parks but there isnt the funding available. When we look at the reck and park budget over the past 15 years, we have seen that there has not been stability for them. They have not been able toplan consistently for a certain amount of money year to year. There are very bad years budget wise and this amendment takes that into account so there is flexibility for the city should we go through a recession and need to free up frunds. The realty is the Department Needs a stable source of funding they havent had and more funding. This will proceed provide those thing jz are supportive and thank you supervisor farrell and cosponsors and supervisor [inaudible] thank you very much. Good morning. I would like to thank mmy name is linda [inaudible] chair of park and reck open space advisory committee. I very much want to thank you supervisor farrell to taking the lead to introduce the legislation, it is extremely important and the start of what we hope will be some improvement in the 1,000,000,000 dollars of differed maintenance that is on the books. As members hof prosc 22, appointed by you the supervisors we hear from the community and work with reck and Park Department and they are True Professionals who work with very very little and need that funding to do a better job in maintenance. So, i do appreciate the fact that this has come before you for amendments. Unfortunately it doesnt go far enough and do think more funding is need ed to address the overall problem and i understand that may not be possible, but we are here to propose that. It has been 15 years since the charter has opened so i agree since it will be in effect for a minimum of 10 years we should do the best in the worder to get the strongest laj nguage we need. We have 3 areas, accountability exwuty and extend the open space fund. Keep the charter laj wchblg in there. It will support the later audits and annual reviews. Equity is addressed. You may look at prop j and the language in the open space funds. It speaks well to that. Protect and extend the open space fund because it is due to expire in 17 years. If we extend it to 30 years we can create Revenue Bonds in reck and park and be able to thats your time. I think your last point was taken. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning supervisors again. My name is dens [inaudible] again. Im a district 5 representative. In support of greater funding fori want to share my concerns about the propose td amendment. I can only support this measure if it specifies priority spending principles. What is the main purpose for the funding increase . To address maintenance . This allows them to go after defered maintenance but that isnt in there. Which areas are prioritized . Are expenditures [inaudible] distribution. The second draft deletes important language directing expenditures. It is justified [inaudible] i want to share with you the spinge language in the aopen space fund adopted november 1974. The recreation and open space element shall continue to identify neighborhoods which are in special need of recreation and open space facilities skn desinginate neighborhoods as high needs neighborhoods. That is in the original open space funds. Monies should be use for acquisition and development of lands [inaudible] that is it in. Until this morning there was no language in the second draft that spoke to paraied and equity and appreciate those amendments. It lacked language that spoke to the high needs neighborhoods and i am pleased with that amendment. I urge retaining language in the open space fund which provides direction, speaks of maintenance improvements and enables accountability deleted the language precludes accountability. Dleted all directive language [inaudible] tax dollars without direction and continue the same lop sided priorities that led to decades of neglect. [inaudible] thank you very much. Next speaker, please. I did request budget analyst to look at open space fund and how it is used and the processes in the Decision Making and thing that is important to look at as well and ill test that off. It was last year i called on that study and it is important we make sure what we say we will do we do and do it effectively. Thank you. Next speaker thank you for considering this amendment. Gene [inaudible] from potrero hill where i lived 40 years. I have seen a lot of chaipgs and expect student see many more to come. By 20032 the Neighborhood Parks [inaudible] have fallen to disrepair and encouraged criminal behavior and served as a place for dumping. Search for reck and park funded was met with there is no money and today 2015 after 3 grants and add back from the supervisor we have a Neighborhood Park that provides social opportunity for neighbors to engage in [inaudible] walk their dogs, lighting and open landscape plan [inaudible] Neighborhood Parks improver the quaument of life. We are a shawl success kory but there are men a more Neighborhood Parks that need attention and Community Involvement from reck and park. Lack of stable depend funding led are lack of Park Maintenance. Reck and park found a way to increase a charge for public pr use of park. This ballot measure will lead to a sustainable source of revenue which will help with long term planning and redlus the need to continue to find way tooz charge the public for services that were once free. San francisco population expected to increase by 20 percent by 2040, much of the increased density is expect today fall in the eastern neighborhood. Neighborhood parks are important for quality of life and a predictable source of income will help i engage the neighborhoods in park plaining will help keep San Francisco as a desirable place to live and i support the proposal. Thank you very much. Next speaker please and before the next speaker a few more cards. Steffan fraunz [inaudible] ill name one more. [inaudible] thank you for hearing supporters of our park system. Appreciative of the work by the Park Alliance. Supervisor farrell and others. I am Jessica Clausen and here to support this Charter Amendment to stabilize the funding. My family probably enjoys our parks about fifen or 6 times a week between taking the pup to the dog park, playing tennis a couple times a week, bike riding, my son flies his air plane around and baseball. We are at the local park and [inaudible] sauch great resource. But we have this aplaizing resource but the fundsing for maintenance is falling short. I will focus here because i havent heardben else on the ballfields. We are a Little League family. Betweenwe have a good local professional team here and so what is happened is in 2010 and springf o2011 we saw a explosion of sign up for all the leagues whether it is Little League or [inaudible] there are a thousand kids playing ball in the city and it is exciting to see. There are fields throughout the city in all the districts and neighborhoods, but our field maintenance has not kept up. Our fields rin really bad shape. Very bad shape and the local city team my husband coaches are playing in [inaudible] they have beautiful fields and ours are falling short. Here to say for the next [inaudible] for the next jennyfinch who will come from San Francisco i hope you endorse this proposal. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Supervoiz visors thank you for having and hosting the hearing. I think it is a very important subject. I am steffan fraunz and district 2 from [inaudible] advisory committee. You have seen before today. As a number of years i have seen the need for park system close and glow over time. I have seen the budget year after year leave funding for the parks just short to keep up with the needs of the growing neighborhoods and parks. Just like supervisor farrells remark, the funding for the parks havent kept pace with the funding directed to other City Departments. Months before the initiative was introduced supervisor