Public comment each person will have two minutes for Public Comment for each item. For each item, the commission will take Public Comment from people inperson and then remotely. For those who would like to join the meeting remotely, using the link provide at the top of the agenda. You may provide Public Comment via phone by calling 4156550001 using todays access code, which is my apologies, everybody. Todays access 26638055032 and webinar password is 0720 when you hear the agenda that you would to comment on, press star3 to be placed in the queue. The system will tell you where in line youre waiting. Everyone must account for the time delay and speaking discrepancies between live comment and streaming. In order to allow equal time for all, neither the commission nor staff will reply to questions. If there is an item of interest to you that is not on the agenda and under the jurisdiction of the commission, you may speak under general Public Comment. Alternatively, by emailing rec Park Commission, if you submit Public Comment it will be included in the legislative file. To San Francisco recreation and Park Commission san yo n street San Francisco 914117. If the fire alarms activate you must evacuate, please note that the elevators will return to the first floor and will not be of use. Inside the mens restroom is a speaker, let security know your location and they will assist you. We are now on item 2, the president s report and as a reminder this meeting is recorded and will be available for viewing later. Thank you, ashley. Today is going to be a very full meeting. Were going to have moments of solemn and sadness as well as moments of celebration and we all tend to be very respectful and to make sure that everyone is remembered and everyone is honored. We have lost four rethren, were going to have an opportunity to share about them. Our fellow commissioner Larry Griffin, our colleague in rec and park, paul martin, a person important to rec and park, sigh on williams and another colleague sean porter. There will be people that will talk about Larry Griffin, phil is going to talk about paul, im going to share about sigh on and sean, is that all right . Okay. So ashley is everyone that we were hoping might be for larry here . Yes, nobody from his immediate family is here, so it will be us, but theyre watching. So on our communication team, rye on has put a video remembrance about larry, so when we have an opportunity to queue it up, is that imminent . Yes, it is. Go ahead and well start with this. I knew larry for over 40 years when he was active in the community. I was delighted when the mayor appointed him to the rec and Park Commission. About layer eye, i said to my wife, were going to be saying goodbye to a wonderful man, and she was like what was he like . And i said two words, he was a sweet and a gentleman. With those skills, he had it all. Im a native san franciscan and i went to Roosevelt High School right down the street and i happened to swim on the pool, not on the first try but maybe on the second or third try. I welcome you to this pool, come on back. Sad, yesterday i had to go by the lodge to pick something up so there was a little confusion so i was outside and just the snow the eucalyptus, the snow of the tree, it brought up old San Francisco to me. I just wanted to share that, that is all. That is a beautiful video, thank you ryan and team for that. We are going to adjourn we are going to adjourn this meeting in Larry Griffins honor and each of the commissioner are going to speak if they would like, and phil will speak and we also have a special candle celebration that commissioner louie has set up. Im going to reflect later on, i have not had any republic to speak. Okay, phil, go ahead. Thank you, commissioner anderson. , pretty hard to be here and to see larrys chair empty, ill love a quick reflection and then commissioner louie has asked me to share a secular prayer to resite before commissioner louie lights a candle in commission griffins honor. Ive known commissioner given for a long long long time and well before he was a commissioner, i used to be a labor negotiator and griffin used to be, in addition to being a wonderful advocate for workers and labor, and really the honor of Public Service, i always used to see him in the front steps of city hall. And the thing that resonates most with me about larry is his belly laugh. There was always a little quip, or a little hey how are you and it was immediately a chuckle turned into something that was deep in miz keskis, that laugh its been a week or two since hes passed. I hear that laugh and so thats how i choose to remember him and then as a commissioner, as i, had the privilege of saying to to his chronicle for his obituary, its been saying that 90 of life is showing up, and larry always showed up for everything. And i think this Commission Role really mattered to him. He had been in other commissions and other forms of Public Service but it was very apparent to me and ive been doing this a long time and met a lot of colleagues, a lot of commissioners have rolled through this body and this deeply matters to mattered and that talk about him growing up in San Francisco in rossi pool where he learned to swim. Its often said that parks are about creating place, and the place is connecting the past to the present and then the present to the future. And you can tell whether he was telling the smell of eucalyptus or going into rossi pool to a Ribbon Cutting and thinking about that this job, this role was really a very deep part of him. And you know, you never know when your time is up, its almost poetic that he was able to serve in this role. And the last part of his life because he could make those Incredible Connection buzz his childhood and growing up about wanting to make sure that his wonderful experience wrz available for the next generation of kids. All of that, you can hear it when he spoke and the words that he used. You can just see it. Larry was also jewish and he and i for a while overlapped at the same synagogue. And when somebody passes in my faith, we ask that for those that are grieving his loss that his memory is a blessing for us always, we say may your, may larrys be a blessing for those grieving his loss. So when you think about him, or when i think about him im going to think about the belly laugh and him smelling the eucalyptus trees and thinking of old town San Francisco. Im trying to imagine larry floundering in rossi pool for a little bit. All of those are blessings to hold the memories dear. So commissioner louie, youre going to light the candle so im going to read a little prayer. As we light this candle may we honor and pay contribute to the Larry Griffin, rec and parks. And symbolizes the life of larry in spirit and serves as a remriender that the love and be loved Larry Griffin will live in our hearts and minds and work forever. Thank you, madam Vice President. Thank you, commissioner jupiter jones. Now is it more appropriate. There is surely so many wonderful things that is head and that well hear today about larry but i want to reflect on how much he loved this city. He loved this city, the time that i got to learn from him, was cut short was reflecting on what you share of his memory as a blessing and i learned so much from him in that short time about how to care deeply and passionately about everyone in this city. And he taught me to consider always, everyone and i i will hold that with me as i opinion to work on behalf of the city that we all love so much. So im really grateful for that time. And he will be missed but he will be with us. In deed, thank you, commissioner. Commissioner halasse. I first met larry in 2021 when he was appointed to the commission. We began as colleagues but then became friends and anybody that new larry that it was very easy to be friends with him. I brought him to a u. S. F became this february, he lived within walking distance from the campus. He enjoyed it so much that he purchased season tickets for this coming year. We spoke often over the last six weeks after larry became ill. And he told me a few weeks ago, he told me, im going to have to step down from the commission. And i said larry please, dont please dont do that. We have a very soft schedule in the month of july, were wide for august were not going to kick it into high gear again until september, youll beat this thing, youve got to stay with us. And i said please, do me one favor, throw, please let me know when youre about to step down because i want to talk to you and i want to talk you out of it. But as phil said, the commission is not just about meetings, committee meetings, full Commission Meetings, its about public events. And he hated to miss anything, any event, the park, any other get together where he could represent the commission, larry was there and the only reason he decided that maybe he was going to have to step down, was because of the type of man he was, the type of character he had. The worker that he was if, he was not doing something 100 percent, he thought it best to pass it ton to somebody else. Ill leave you with one other quick story about larry. Larry sat next to me here to my left, and from time to time, i wear loud socks. And the first time larry saw these socks, he asked me, are you hearing those so that i dont fall asleep during the meetings . And we just had a running gag with that. But this man, i would say this was a great man, thats the way i look at him and he was a great san franciscan. So thank you. Thank you, commissioner hallisy. Commissioner louie. Larry was a man bigger than life itself. We in the commission, were fortunate, he left us with a message, anybody that you work with, anybody in the department, ginsburg, any of you make sure that you take the time to say thank you, thank you for your service. You know, its not like this is an appointment. And why its so difficult, over 100 commissions in San Francisco. The rec and Park Department gets to to beautify projects and we might meet once a month, we may meet on our committee, but we meet sometimes 10 or 15 times at a park at open space where we get to pay tribute and respect to the department and to beautify San Francisco or the community. I know we have a lot of things to cover on our agenda today, but the point of the loss of Larry Griffin on this commission is what phil says, may his memory be a blessing. I particularly had a, we were appointed by the mayor on the same day. We went through rules on the same day. We were sworn in on the same day. We had a party in harbor in embarcadero on the same night. We became quick brother and sister. Larry never saw color, he treated everybody fair and the same. He always had equity in mind and the residents of San Francisco in mind, the voters of San Francisco and how he saw things for all of us. So its a great loss, we will continue to lose people that we care about even in our own family but there is some people that you have in one hand that will stay a memory and Larry Griffin is one of them. Thank you, commissioner louie. And we also have a tribute from commissioner mazzola. Ashley. Commissioner mazzola asked me to read this. I have always known larry to help anybody he could. He dedicated his life to help people and workers. Larry had a heart of gold and i was excited about being around him. We joked about being the only commission that had two larries. He was support pif of all things labor and all things San Francisco. He loved the city and its parks. I will miss him but always remember him as a class act and a great man. And i know, the Vice President wants to Say Something but if its okay, i would like to share a little bit about my relationship with commissioner griffin previously. When the mayor appoints a new commissioner, it affects my job very much because i interact with you every day. So the first thing i do is i google them. And i didnt know commissioner lucy or commissioner griffin but when i googled him, i said i know that guy because i had worked in city hall for so long and like phil said, he had a belly laugh. So i remember him all around city hall talking to people that big laugh and i was like, i know that guy. When we finally met, he knew me too, because he loved cats. Which when a grown man loves cats, it touches me. We had an event called 12 kittens, and his cat passed away earlier this year and he talked about max. And he called me every day, so when he stopped calling me, i knew something was wrong. He called me every day and one of the things that he said he asked about things that he thought. He asked my opinion and that meant a lot to me. The other thing i want today say on his behalf, is that he really loved being part black man affinity group. He started going on his own. He saw the meetings in our staff letter and he went every month and he just loved going and he felt so honored to be part of that group of men. And he was so proud that our department was so far away. And he talked about it to me all the time and i want everybody in that group to know how much that meant to him on a very deep level. And ill leave you with this, which is hawk landed on his balcony and he took a picture and he sent it to me and he was so bulled over by this and he noticed those Little Things. And i think thats a special part of his character, he noticed the Little Things like the smell of eucalyptus and hawk on his balcony. That was lovely, ashley. I want to say a few things. I cannot remember a time when i did not know larry. I was also a union member and leader at the pacific, which is a union for journalist and also very involved in Democratic Party politics, so i would go to the Martin Luther king labor breakfast. And you can hear larry before you even walked into the room, his laughter was boisterous and loud and containous. Contagious and i would often go near him to suck up that energy that he put out there. He was somebody that we would count on to do the right thing. He taught me to the secret to happy was being open and willing to be taught at any time. For example, when the last activities i did with larry was when we were invited to the Lawn Bowling Center and the lawn bowling taught us how to. And because larry had to use his cane, we said we have a special piece of equipment for you and it was a stick with a sling and they were teaching and he mastered that right away. And i thought this is great, and then i turned away and i looked back and there is larry, back on the ground feet up in the air now he had fallen and i thought it was a really good fall, he didnt hurt himself but he just got right back up and went back to it and beat all the guys that taught him to you to lawn bowl, he has such verb. This is the way we should be. He was ageless and that has a lot to do with it, i think. I also had a lot of respect for larry because he had no problem speaking his mind, hes a very direct person as am i, and sometimes we would get snip it with each other, never lasted very long. One time he said something, i dont know what it was but i think he could tell i was perturb so he called later and he asked questions to understand where i was coming from and i was able to talk to him about where he was coming from and we agreed to disagree. I tell you, i have so much respect for that. And i want to say, in this day and age and cancel culture and that stuff, i want to commend everybody and get to you think about that. If you disagree with everybody, dont fight with them in the open forum go and have a conversation and see if there is Common Ground. There usually is Common Ground and you can at least learn something. You should not pretend you know everything, because you dont. And larry was real good at sort of demonstrating that important life lesson and following up with folks and making sure nothing festered. And i so respected him for that, i cannot tell you. The other thing about larry, his base line was to get along. His base line was to get to know his base line was to love. Again, something i really really respect. It takes a lot of courage to swim up stream and larry had to do, he was the voice of the disabled in the senior commission. He really really wrestled with the decision of around jfk promenade it was agonizing, and in the end he did what he felt was right. I just want to thank you, larry for everything that you showed us. The next person that we would like to pay contribute is our colleague paul. Thank you, commissioner there are people in this room that knew paul a lot better than i did. But the way i would start it talk about paul, is with a quick story, there was a fire and gathered around with some folks, and somebody asked me where i wnt to school and i told the group where i went to college. And after that, it was greg sir who was in the police chief pulled me aside and paul said, nobody cares where you went to college the question is, important thing was where you went to high school. At that point i realized i was not a native san franciscan. Paul did. There are some people that worked with him and worked with the rec and park for 20 years, he loved this job, he went to o connell thats where paul went to school. And he was beloved, what has been and what will be and sometimes there are those tensions complete but the generational families that glue up here, they will never here is what makes this city very special and paul one of those people. He was beloved in our department. He