Exploits of a person, typically a man, almost always a man, and how he vanquished an enemy or conquered a new land that turned out not to be uninhabited, and monuments, that is their goal, that is their purpose. By contrast, murals like this provide a narrative, a much more complete story that often contains the good and the bad of a particular period to remind and critically inform us of this period, or in this case, the imperfect life of our first president. So while i can understand how aspects of murals are really offensive to some people, on a whole, they provide context to the people and times shown, and serve as a reminder of our greatly flawed history in a different way than a celebratory monument does. I also want to quickly address the federal art project and the administration aspect of this discussion. Both were phenomenally successful programs in our history, and it boosted the nations economy when we needed it, and it provided employment for many builders and artisans across the country. We have bridges and buildings and artwork, and some of them have preserved uncomfortable aspects of our history, such as dorothy langes new deal to form the security administration, photos of poverty. Nobody looking at them will misunderstand how difficult it was to be a sharecropper in the twenties. Without that, without those photos, i dont think we would have that level of understanding i also want to mention that this School Campus exists as an intact collaboration between an extraordinary San Francisco architect and a notable artist of the period, which is really rare, and very worth preserving. Architects and artisans dont get to Work Together and collaborate together to this extent very often. Finally, i want to mention that i would love deweys crumpler dewey crumplers response. It is like a poetry smacked down where both sides get to put their best visual forward. I would like to challenge the school board and the students to collaborate on a mural of their own about their own lives in 2019 where they can show the things they think are good about their lives, whether it is a good class, first love, whatever it is that they want to show, but also the stuff that is bad about their lives. Maybe its bullying, maybe its discrimination, whatever they think is important. It is important that we allow people expression of what they feel in a time and place. After thinking long and hard about this, it is my opinion that these murals should not be literally whitewashed, which would instead be preserved and shown, supported by a student mural or at least additional commentary from the students, singh what they want to say about the murals. And a minimum, the murals should be protected in situ. I also want to say, i appreciate the information provided by heritage. He gives us a lot of tools for the school board to follow. Some of them not at all expensive, and i encourage them to take all of this information in and i appreciate the opportunity to provide the comments. Thank you. Thank you. Initially i did have a question i wanted to ask mr. Miguel. I understand there was a poll taken recently. I think it was referred to in the sunday chronicle. Are you familiar with that pole . It was a poll of students. Excuse me, i do know about it a little bit. Out of the 17, i believe 11 said to leave them. Of the six, i believe there were two africanAmerican Students who had some issues with it, and i believe there was two or three asian students who said, i dont care. I forget the 17th person. But there has been a lot of commentary about what the students feel. Theres been essays written, class instruction last spring, and i believe one of the teachers had 305 or 40 students, and three quarters of them said to leave them alone. Everyone is skittish about this. I am not. They talk about the oppressed people that go to this school, theres four native American Students that go to a 2200 person school, 65 or 67 of the student body is asian, and i believe it is under 11 that are africanamerican. Theres been a lot of commentary about people speaking on behalf of first nation people entirely, or the africanamerican community, and i can tell you real quickly that is not the case. Come out soon. These things even about reverend brown, he said a week ago, not one person can talk about the african community, and he was speaking on behalf of the naacp. Okay. See it is interesting to me because theres a lot thats a law that has been made that these murals must be hidden, if not completely destroyed. And the interest of the feelings of the students. Normally, i dont think the feelings of the students are necessarily the end of the question. I do think that was very interesting to me. It was also interesting when i reread our statement that we prepared in connection with the land marking. And that noted that in october of 1968, there was a student protest about the scenes, and the question there returned when nearly half the student body reportedly showed that less than 20 of the students voted to have the murals removed, well 61 centigrade that supplementing them with additional depictions of africanamerican history was the preferred while 60 1 well 61 was supplementing them with additional depictions of africanamerican history was the preferred way. They do not feel they need to be protected from this. The 1968 response really was that there should be more discussion. I personally have always felt, when it comes to issues of free speech, that there is hateful speech, if there is hateful speech, the remedy for that is there should be more speech from people who were involved, not less speech. If there is less speech, then there will eventually be no speech, and we wont recognize that there was a part of a hit our history that is not what we today think that it ought to have been, or perhaps wish that it had been, so im very sympathetic to the idea that these murals do provide teaching techniques. Now i have read that there is, that these murals arent used as a teaching technique. In my opinion, this represents a second failure of our school board. The first failure is that they are not interested in education or a Free Exchange of ideas, but they are interested in doing what i think they feel, for people of their generation, is the convenient way to handle controversy, which is to make it a political issue, and then decide based upon politics. I dont think thats a good idea for the school board. It happens a lot, but i rather wish that it wouldnt. But the other failure is that with a magnificent textbook, and magnificent starting place, or a discussion, of what were the values of the 18th and 19th century america, the school board has simply done nothing. They ought to take advantage, in my opinion, of this wonderful asset right at their feet or above their heads. Now this commission spent a lot of time and effort on the question of land marking the schools. That time and effort was spent in days when the murals were not controversial. The controversy of the sixties had settled down. We were interested in looking at several schools, buildings, for other reasons. We found that, in our statement of significance, which page is 87, we listed why we thought washington was significant, and the ultimate paragraph says, finally, George Washington high school is significant as a property characterized by high artistic values, as home to four new murals and one outdoor freeze. All were sponsored by the w. T. A. Federal art project. The artist who executed these murals the artists who executed these murals may George WashingtonHigh School One of the most important composite tories of new deal artwork in San Francisco. Well, having said that this was one of the most significant, or one of the things that made George Washington high school significant, i dont think that we can now say to the contrary. And on page 90 of that same report, we listed the murals as a character defining feature of that high school. Every generation gets to make its mark, and certainly, the 19 th century historians made theres. In the thirties, it didnt matter if he was a formal or informal communist, this also shouldnt be the end of the discussion, particularly considering what has happened to communism in our lifetimes. They have run out of other peoples money, so the point is that each generation can have it say in interpreting can have its say in interpreting history. I think it is a bit arrogant of one generation to simply dismiss and want to paint over the plots the thoughts and feelings that drove an earlier generation it is fine to be critical of it, it is wonderful to analyse it, but to obliterate it, no, i dont think so. I would not be in favor of whitewashing murals, painting murals, putting them behind curtains so that we only let older people on tours see them and deprive younger people who could benefit from them, from that experience. Thank you. Thank you. And i would like you to put that in your record. [laughter]. I will. I just had another question form is ferguson. I was not able to attend this august 13th School Board Meeting when this decision was made, and i was just wondering, im assuming that they didnt define what coverup means at that meeting, they did not . I didnt attend the meeting either so i cant explain anything on that point. And then i was wondering, i think it is unanimous that the commission is definitely in favor of seeing how we could preserve the murals as is, and i was wondering if you could give us some Consul Council about how we as a commission can use our best efforts to make sure that we try whatever we can to make this happen, or at least, in some way, make our concerns very vocal and make it much more public to the general population about what we are feeling about this. We are the Historic Preservation commission and we believe in preserving history, and yes, i find it very offensive to look at these murals as a person of color, and i think alice walker, and i would recommend everyone go and listen to her interview that they did. It is on youtube right now. It is about making this a teaching moment. Dont cover it up. These kids are resilient enough to understand what is right and what is wrong, lets make this a teaching moment, so i want to know what we can, as a commission what we can do to make sure we do whatever we can to make this a teaching moment for the school board and for everyone else who may have some feelings against this to keep history alive. I dont need to put you on the spot, but im looking for some tools that we can use. It is good for us to talk, and it is good for us to be in consensus about this, but we really need to think about some serious and concrete steps to move forward. I think here theres been some terribly passionate and clear and well articulated discussion about the imperative itself. We do have a designation in process, which if the commission were to potentially attempt to influence the forwarding of that , it would provide yet another public forum to have further discussion and yet another slightly broader spotlight on the issue. Youve got your letter in the record and for the board, and certainly we will all keep an eye on any future related hearings, actions, or opportunities to intervene in that way. Can i ask something that might contribute to that question . One of the things that i think we should have in this letter is the question and how do we participate in the process of studying what to do now. [please stand by] clerk you could certainly have it agendaized. One thing i was curious about from the staff perspective, if we have an understanding what the School Boards action would require from our perspective if we were doing the ceqa review. That was one of my questions. If we were going to destroy the mural, from our perspective, we would be needing an e. I. R. In this case, covering it up, we could look at it in our jurisdiction. Its nonbinding, but we could give a question of what would be appropriate steps under ceqa. That would be my question. Miss vanderslice, whats your opinion . Allison vanderslice. You know, the Planning Department has determined that the high school is a Historic Resource and that the murals are character defining features, and so that regard, it would be our opinion that there would be a potential impact under ceqa. Its my understanding that the school board would therefore need to do ceqa review. So one further question. Where are we at in the actual process of the landmarking . Have we heard it twice and forwarded it on or in between . Thats my understanding but shannon can take the questions on the landmarking. Thank you. So it has been initiated and recommended to the board of supervisors . It has also been introduced at the board of supervisors. It has not been scheduled for committee hearing. Okay. So thats something we could ask for an update on. Commissioner johns . Commissioner johns well, in connection with our duties to advise the board of supervisors, maybe we could you know, supervisor fewer, in this district, was formerly on the school board. Remember that . Yeah. Commissioner johns so we might be able to ask solicit her opinion about how the school board works, and so that with that bit of knowledge, we might be able to better advise the entire board of supervisors. I volunteer president hyland and myself to make sure that we make that appointment to go see you took the words right out of my mouth. So well do that. So the last thing that i have to say on this is that i was going to recommend another mural be either commissioned or competition amongst the students or some other suggestion, so thank you for that, commissioner black. I think its time for this generation to have their say in this continuing story. Can i make a quick suggestion related to that . We live in a very technological time, and news and rumors move very quickly. But heres the teaching moment. Every year, the students of the school decide or every four years or whatever, and do a digital mural that then, you know, is captured on the schools website, and potentially, you put together a book of these things so that every single generation, not just the runs from 1968 and you know, that get the voice and the ones now, that all of them get the voice. Thats the teaching that is missing from this whole conversation. Okay. So what well do, commissioner ma mizuna and i will work with staff officers. And once we have better information, we reagendaize it here. We can certainly do that. Then, we can send to the board of supervisors. Well, at the very least, we would report back to the commission. And commissioners, would you like to see this letter before we send it out or do you trust me . We trust you to do that. Thanks, everybody, for your comments. Clerk if theres nothing further, commissioners, item 8, for the better Market Street project, this is an informational presentation. Commissioners, id like to introduce this item. From the Planning Department staff, im annemarie rogers, Planning Department citywide project. This ambitious and challenging project seeks to accomplish many goals, including improving safety for all users of the street, improving transit performance is a key goal. Replacing ageing infrastructure as it comes up as a critical issue as well as revising the corridor and landscape. Streetscape. Currently, the Draft Environmental Impact was published last february, and our environmental Planning Department are working on preparing a response to comments document which will be published sometime this fall. Todays representatives of the project team are here to answer any questions that you might have on the concept designs of the street. Id like to introduce the project manager, kristina olague from the Planning Department. Good afternoon, commissioners. Kristina olague, project manager, Planning Department. This project stretches long Market Street from stewart to octavia boulevard. We presented at the Architectural Review Committee earlier this year. Were here today to provide an informational presentation which makes up for the may 20 joint meeting with civic design review. Our presentation is divided into three sections exiting conditions and the need for the project, an overview of better Market Street, as well as the design details. Well address Historic Preservation throughout the presentation. Now id like to introduce nicolle bonn, executive director of the Mayors Office on disability. Good afternoon, commissioners. Im nicolle bonn, and im the executive director of the Mayors Office on disability, and ive been asked to speak of the disability improvements that the better Market Street project will allow for. One of the things that we know when we provide for better accessibility, we provide safety for everyone, so this project is going to allow us to update and renew our projectable warnings. For transit islands improvements, our current transit islands unfortunately do not meet straight accessibility requirements. We want to make sure or ramps are requirements. We want to have appropriate signals and bicyclist paths and navigation. We know that market is a High Consumer area for people with disabilities. Its also one of our high injury corridors, and fatalities have included wheelchair users, unfortunately. We have a very large demographic of people with disabilities in San Francisco, 90,000 according to the American Public survey. Its probably more than that. We know that at least half are under the age of 65 and folks with disabilities are using this area and to a high degree using public transportation. Specifically, too, some of our requirements under title 2 of the americans with disabilities act, which is what the Mayors Office on disabilities helps to oversee citywide in terms of project compliance, this will allow us to provide for the appropriate