commissioner lowe? here. commissioner mcdonnell? here. just to remind everyone, we request that you turn off any electronic sound producing devices that could go off during the meeting, so cell phones, if you could please turn those off or on silent. we request that you take any conversations outside. if you would like to speak on an item today, please create a blue card. unless otherwise nounszed by the president, each person will have three minutes for public comment on each item. if there is an item of interest to you that is not on the agenda and is under the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission, you may speak under general public comment. that is item 4. it will be heard for 15 minutes and then continued again at item 12. please address your comments to the commission during public comment on items in order to allow equal time for all. neither commission nor staff will respond. the commission may ask questions after public comment is closed. if the fire alarms activate, you must evacuate using any exit. please note that elevators will return to the first floor and are not available for use. if you do need assistance out of the building, make your way to the closest area refuge across the hall from the men's restroom. inside the restroom is a speaker box, press it and city hall security will answer it, let them know where you are and they will assist you. item number 2. the president's report. >> president buell: thank you. let me begin by simply saying no words can possibly express the sadness that we all feel in this department and this commission for the very tragic loss of our mayor ed lee. there simply aren't the right words to do it, but first, we will adjourn in his memory. and two, as someone very high up in washington said in a text to me, in troubling times, he was a very, very decent man. and so we will remember him with sadness. with that, that concludes my president's report. >> clerk: anyone who would like to make public comment? being none, we are on item 3. the general manager's report. >> thank you commissioners and president buell, i didn't realize how hard this was going to be. yeah, i mean, we're all heart broken. and so today, rather than run through a typical general manager's report, i wanted to highlight the mayor's commitment to parks. for us all. and in honor of the mayor, i'll try to be short, because i am short. [laughter]. he was just -- we're going to let the slide show run here, but he was such a champion of our parks. and certainly understood the importance of making them accessible to all residents. there were probably no single statistic related to parks that he was more proud of than being the first big city mayor to be able to brag that 100% of residents that lived in the city he led lived within a 10-minute walk of a park. he would almost every event since we reached that honor, mention it right out of the gate. and that was because of how much he cared about infrastructure and investment. and during his tenure, under his leadership, we have invested over $350 million in parks. including voter-approved bonds in 2012. the implementation of a bond in 2008, and although that was before his mayoral tenure, if you go back a little further, the mayor city administrator was the author of the city's 10-year capital plan, which laid very much the groundwork for all of investment. parks that were reopened during his tenure include chinatown, delores park, glen canyon playground and recreation center, lafayette park, reopened the sunset recreation center, reopened the joe dimaggio playground. opened a new plaza where town square on 24th street. acquired open space out of india basin, francisco reservoir, st. mary's which opened under his leadership. under his leadership voters approved proposition b in 2016. which really has been a true stabilizing force for us and will be even more valuable as we head into rockier budget times. just in last year since proposition b, we have resurfaced total of 15 tennis and basketball courts, most of which are in underserved communities. he understood the importance of public-private partnerships and through you are partnership with the city field foundation we've renovated 21 soccer fields, added 80,000 hours of play. through our partnership with trust for public land, we opened -- renovated bo decker park, balboa, the amazing playgrounds that have sprung out of the ground, right in our front yard of this building which will open on february 14th, have his fingerprints all over them. i remember vividly meeting in his office with my good friend jackie and folks from the trust for public land and we excitedly showed him the design and he said light, there needs to be light. and light he got. and light he will get. when these playgrounds open, you're going to see a brand new energy and face out at civic center. one of the things that i really connected with him and loved him for was how much he cared about our kids and how much he cared about active recreation, whether it was the mayor 3 on 3 hoops tournament, coming to crabfest, promoting the scholarships, whether it was supporting the summer camp programs, whenever he was around kids, you would see him smile and just light up. he loved sports, loved sporting events, loved community. he created his -- the mayor's annual ping pong tournament which started and runs throughout chinatown. golf. whether it be the first tee and teaching kids who have never picked up a golf club the importance of the game, or having the world's best come to harding for the president's cup. am ex championship, the president's cup, all brought to san francisco because he was our park champion and he loved golf and the pga knew he loved golf and knew he would make it work. he always came out to the events. never missed a tree-lighting. in fact the last time i had the honor of being with him was at our tree-lighting this past year, where again, he bragged being the first mayor in a country where 100% of us lived within the 10-minute walk of the park. we've increased scholarships to san francisco families. we've run the teen outdoor experience seven years in a row, which was his vision to bring kids who touched the juve nil system, up to mather for a long weekend when it was just theirs. he provided over the greater and greener parks conference where we brought the nation's park leaders and some of the nation elected officials to show off the park system. we presided over the centennial. he presided over the summer of love celebration. he led pride parades. giants and warriors championship parades that ran through our parks and facilities. he welcomed the world cup to civic center plaza. and there may have been no bigger san francisco deltas fan. although they were only around one year, they made significant investment into our stadium for generations of folks to enjoy and they won the north american soccer league championship their one and only year. i could go on and on, but i'll stop there. i wanted to say how much i'm going to miss him and how grateful i am, how much he truly loved and cared about parks and the city's kids. to that end, we have some really, really special kids. i thought this was the right way to end today's otherwise sad general manager's report. i want to welcome the young people's team music theater company to our commission. they are a performing arts company devoted to bringing quality and professional level theater to young adults in the bay area. this is your program. this is a san francisco recreation and park program. they offer quality instruction in drama, voice, acting, dance and technical theater. founded in 1984 by diane price. they are selected by open audition only. this past month, under the amazing leadership of nicole, they won first place for the second consecutive year. they performed excerpts from their upcoming production of bat boy, the musical, this production will revisit the first show ever put on my nicole, who is celebrating her first anniversary with us as director. [applause] the show -- [laughter] the show will take place on january 26-28 and february 2-4 at the museum. and in honor of the holidays and our beloved mayor, i invite them to perform now. [ ♪ ] [ ♪ ] ♪ has come from the cold ♪ [ ♪ ] [ ♪ ] ♪ it's a joyful moment ♪ may the joyful noise ♪ make some noise ♪ make some noise ♪ sing it proud ♪ all night long ♪ make it noise, noise, joyful noise ♪ ♪ make some noise ♪ praise god ♪ so like the prophets we're told in the days of old, make joyful noise my soul ♪ ♪ make joyful noise my soul ♪ make some noise ♪ make some noise ♪ hallelujah ♪ all night long ♪ make joyful noise ♪ of joyful noise [applause] [cheering] >> well, that's a pretty awesome -- >> wow. >> -- way to end the year in the general manager's report, in honor of our beloved mayor. >> president buell: we found a new way to open every meeting, that's terrific. >> mr. president, can you join me for a picture? how about we all go? >> president buell: the whole commission down, come on. [applause] >> commissioner, she's on the way out of the door, but i want to celebrate chris boettcher, who oversees all of the music programs, including this one, so thank you, chris. [applause] >> is there anyone who would like to make public comment under the general manager's report? ok. [laughter] seeing none, this item is closed. we're now under general public comment, is there anyone who would like to make general public comment? ok being none, richard? ok. >> what would our meeting with without? >> can you sing, richard? [laughter]. >> good morning, everyone. i just want to make a few public comments, i try to speak a little bit about phil but what happened every time i walk around in chinatown park and i see something wrong. one of the things has to do with the new, brand new, restroom facility. and one of the doors always locked, the one with non-gender, family use, and everything else. is that ever going to be open? that's a very simple thing to do, open it. the room to whatever is holding it up. the other thing that i looked at, currently the location is going to be under a lot of renovations. i was thinking if it would be possible to get a temporary fix. i walk through there, i see the pot holes, they're probably dug up by rodents, or unwanted rats. they have traps around there. could they do something like, use soil impact, hanging around the temporary fix and top it off with some of the broken up bark so it doesn't look so -- because at night it gets spooky and it makes different sounds in the park. i think the -- [inaudible] a good job because a long time ago i had spoken when he, lee, his wife, she wanted her name left off, but she, herself has passed on and was a great sponsor of park activities throughout the chinatown areas, basketball namely. so of the interest, there was the slope in front of the park on the cray street side and she had shown me pictures of it. it looked awful because it wasn't cared for, there wasn't much maintenance done. i asked the maintenance about it. i don't want to fall down, it's a very steep slope there, maybe even get a stick or something, break it a little bit. that's how i remember edie. and then ed lee and those other people, who have already passed on. i hope i'm not going to be catching up with them. thank you very much. >> president buell: thank you. >> clerk: anyone else wants to make general comment? seeing none. >> president buell: before i entertain a motion on the consent calendar, we have a request to speak. we welcome you and send our regards to supervisor yee. >> today i wanted to speak on 5-c, the west portal playground and i'll read a letter that the supervisor included in the report. i'm writing to express my support for the prioritization of the west portal playground renovation project. west portal playground is one of the most utilized playgrounds in district 7. due to the playground state of disrepair, the failing playground's task force identified it as a priority for renovation and is classified as a tier two approximating playground of the lets play sf tt initiative. since 2014, my office has been working in collaboration with the recreation and park department, san francisco parks alliance and the friends of the west portal playground to continue driving this project forward. while the project has stalled at times, my office has continued to work closely with all stakeholders, particularly with the community members to raise funds and donor recognition ideas. to maintain the project's momentum. the community as represented by the friends of the west portal playground, greater west portal neighborhood association, west portal merchants association and students from west portal elementary school, totalling 160 community members are deeply invested in seat playground renovations completed on a timely schedule. it has been three years since my office first started collaborating on playground renovations and we want to see the project remain on schedule. i hope the capital committee will approve -- the commission will approve the concept wall design to the members can enjoy a safer and engaging playground. this concludes the letter. >> president buell: thank you very much. >> clerk: any public comment? richard? >> i would like to follow up on the west portal playground design. i seen the particular model, i see the dragon, everything else, what i didn't see was the kids chasing after the big train, maybe they could have dragon hands or whatever else. there wasn't very much for younger kids. even though it's designed for them, it's a lot of open spaces. where they have the dragon, i was thinking about, a lot of the parks have a spring, you got a little seat on it and the kids can chase after the dragon, or running along with the dragon. that was one thing i liked add onto the concept design. i liked the idea, a nice little park, portion dealing with growth [inaudible] -- plans, so on other issues, on the geneva community gardens, as well as the other geneva car barn, i believe that the -- i read the contracts between mta, there is something about locking in the 7-year with the rooms that are going to be rented out at low cost. i wanted to include a possible addendum to that where there would be possibly interconnected rooms and it would be a display of earlier iconic type of structures, for example, even the -- i can think of the portals of the past out there. and that used to be on sacramento street before the great fire. throughout the city here, we have a lot of iconic artifacts that would be beautiful. there was a place that people can visit. and it would be like a recreational park area. i hope to keep it open so that you don't just totally lock in. [inaudible] commissioner lowe, but possibly locking in on the 7-year space. i like to keep the addendum option open. thank you. >> president buell: thank you, richard. >> clerk: anyone else would like to make public comment? seeing none, this item is closed. >> president buell: chair entertains the motion? moved and seconded, all those in favor? so moved. >> we're on item 6, the san francisco zoo. >> thank you, good morning, tanya peterson, director of the san francisco zoo. we support the supervisor's efforts in regards to the west portal and appreciate it. i want to add our thoughts about our wonderful mayor. i first met him when he was at dpw and i was a board member for the zoo. the zoo is a public-private partnership as the general manager discussed. way back when we were just little people, young people, we were charged with raising funds for our new education center. and as things go, there was a lot of value engineering, budget cuts, et cetera, but one thing was really important to ed lee at this point, the little door handles that had squirrels and things on them, ed thought it would be so great fort kids to open the doors when they saw the squirrels and other animals. we kept those in the budget and he personally screwed the door handles in himself. so here we are years later, he's the mayor and i'm the zoo director and he's standing in front of the door handles and he was tickled pink that the door handles was now there, he was mayor and i was zoo director and we were finally somebody. we thank him for that. and a chuckle, that's one of the bald eagles, one of the successful conservation programs and we were explaining to him we had to separate the parents from the offspring to protect the health of the eggs and we used technology to do so. he said i wish i'd has he that technology with -- had that technology with the two teenagers in my house. with peace and love. speaking of programs, there is a product of 300,000 children have gone through the doors now since the mayor created these doors & we'll have winter camp over the break. there is still some room left. it's one of the more popular camps. i encourage if you want to put a child in, do so quickly. we love seeing the children at this time. november was the neighbor month and we partnered with one of the neighbors and most recently we partnered with the pomeroy center. if you don't know, it's behind the zoo. often people go to the pomeroy center thinking it is the zoo. so we -- if somebody wore pink pomeroy colors, we donated to the center. they have one the largest warm pools for rehab and support disabled adults. they have free access, secret access to the zoo. and we were happy to give them $2,000 donation, 2000 people came through in pink, and then we also -- you can see the flamingo chick to the right, we named her pomeroy in honor of our neighbor. love the pomeroy center, good work, good people. it is that time of year, the rein deer are here on loan from the north pole -- no, southern california if you can believe it. we have three this year. people cannot believe they're real. they love graham crackers, so if anybody wants to do a special feeding, they really enjoy the graham crackers. they may lose their antlers soon because of the weather has been warm here, but they will be with us until january 1. they're near our friend-family playground, a great place to bring children, grandchildren, et cetera. if you saw in the chronicle today, both the oakland zie and san francisco zoo have zoo lights. these are free for members. if you buy online, $2 discount. otherwise, $10 for adults, free for seniors and kids under 3. we'll have santa here and when he goes, we'll have zoo lights in the area of the giraffe barn as well. a great way to celebrate the lights. the weather has been fantastic and i think this is the best lights show we've had so far, knock on wood, may help there isn't a monsoon. but anyway, speaking of holid s holidays, commissioner harrison gave me a great idea, you can give gift memberships to family and friends. we have adopt an animal program where you can buy a certificate, and they will be adopting and taking care of an animal for a year and that's a great way to connect the young generation to our animals. that's a boon there, the black rhino, they are nearly extinct. he's one of the few left in the world and we are happy to have him. boon is named after, i think football player in the 49ers who is now gone. lastly, a thought about mayor lee, we were one of the only zoos in the world on ocean front and we've complained about the fog and wind. and i was talking to ed lee and i thought, wasn't it time we embrace the coast, the fog, the views and maybe we even talk about climate change, but i was very nervous and ed and i have seen the impact of budget cuts and so forth. so he jokingly said, well, why don't you create a climate change pop-up. everyone is having a pop-up these days. i think he was joking, but i took it seriously and we're seeking just a temporary permit to have these two old shipping containers and have a education site here talking about climate change, coastal conservation. and really, have a stake in the ground as zoo on ocean on a coast, important coast at that. so again, his inspiration, we will pursue that if possible. with that, i finish my report. >> president buell: thank you very much. >> clerk: any public comment on the item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, this was discussion only. >> president buell: any commissioner comments? seeing none. >> clerk: item 7, capital planning and software licensing agreement. good morning, the item before you today is the discussion and possible action to approve the 5-year license agreement with four rivers software systems in an amount not to exceed $1.5 million for capital planning and facility conditions assessment purposes. under our strategic plan, this initiative alliance with strategy one, inspire public space. strategy 3, inspire investment. and also to increase public investment to better align with infrastructure needs and service expectations. this would be a bit of background for you. next year, the department will begin preparing for the next geo bond proposal. over the coming months, staff will focus on replacing the outdated current conditions assessment database with a system to provide direction on investments required to preserve and also to extend the life of our assets that are renovated through our bond program. rpd has made a commitment to allocate funds. and to address the department's needs, deferred maintenance backlog, to shift from an emergency sort of focused practice to a much more proactive one. in preparation for the infusion of resources, rec park homes to further integrate the department's preventative maintenance and capital planning work flows. our goal is for core asset classes like rec centers, play fields, playground and courts, the department staff will have access to -- dynamically updates, based on preventative maintenance work performed by the structure maintenance staff. the first step to that goal is to complete comprehensive assessment of our assets. the core capabilities of this life cycle system will be -- it will be able to sort of organize our conditions assessment data, assign index score to the facilities. it will be able to store cost data. we'll be able to prioritize projects based on the quantity of data. provide interface that allows for straight forward data entry generation by end users will be able to perform queries on this system. and we'll be able to produce plan and reports. staff has recommended that the department pursue a waiver for four rivers software to conduct this assessment. we have approval from the office of contract administration and we have approval from the civil service commission earlier this month for this work. just to tell you about justification for the sole source, staff identify four rivers as the only vendor with the knowledge and expertise needed to both perform the facility's conditions, life cycle assessments required by the department, and to provide the data collected through the assessment and perform complex analysis of that data. our capital planning division performed extensive research and spoke to different counties and municipalities, all over the country, before we came to this decision. among the people we spoke to, we spoke to santa clara county, the east bay regional park district, marine county parks and the city of seattle. we also met and viewed demos from other systems that are out there. after viewing the demos, we came to the conclusion that they're the only vendor that meets our needs. four rivers proprietary assessment methodology and technology, the company employs a team of engineers with knowledge of mechanical, electrical lines in our facilities. experience and expertise for life cycle assessments. if you approve the contract, conditions assessment will start in late january, early february, and we should be complete with those assessments in august or september this year, and we will come back to you to provide our findings of this assessment. we have also support from the office of capital planning from the city. we also have support from -- for this. therefore, staff recommends that the commission approve this agreement with four rivers in an amount not to exceed 1.5 for capital planning and facility condition assessment purposes. i'll answer any questions you have. >> president buell: thank you very much. >> clerk: did you want to about go to public comment or commissioner? >> president buell: let's start with commissioner comments. >> commissioner anderson: this is exciting investment. i was interested in part of it and wanted to highlight it for anybody out there listening besides us in this room. part of the reason we're doing this to is address the deferred maintenance backlog. i often hear in the parks, people concerned about plants dying or maintenance or pipes broken or whatever. our department does a great job and there is no korcritique the but people see that in the parks and they want it attended to. i'm excited about that aspect of it. can you explain how people out in the field are going collect and record this important information to get it back to the mothership? are we there yet? are there handheld devices? >> commissioner, let me provide context. park maintenance, we have a robust system we've operated and you're going to hear our annual report later today, where we go out four times a year and evaluate all of the parks. and that is a mix of sort of cleanliness and landscape standards. and some deferred maintenance standards. and that data is done with hand held devices, information goes up. this is a slightly different system. this is, i think, i don't know if toks ajike useded phrase, budget life cycle, but we're to assess the assets in the expected life cycle. so where are we in the renewal cycle. what the program does is breaks it down into large classes of assets. we have experts who come up with base score using complicated methodology, almost a capital asset depreciation kind of module, we will be able to, a, understand the current condition of the assets as we head into the next -- into bond planning, but also be able to predict when the asset needs to be renewed. the other key element of this, which is something we've talked about a long time, is this is the beginning or the backbone of a preventative maintenance schedule. so people don't go out regularly for this. they take up a base measurement of different classes of assets and populate the data. >> commissioner anderson: i understand. >> i can add to that also. one of the things that happens when we do capital implements in the project, that data itself does not go into a database to ensure that work has been done. what this software allows us to do, it allows us to update the database itself. in addition to that, it provides intelligence to say, you need to go back and replace filters in two months at this place, so we're not waiting for it to break. it's a much more proactive approach instead of reactive approach. >> commissioner anderson: i looked into the contract and one is training. who is going to be trained? >> that's a very important question, actually. at first capital planning staff is going to be trained first to be able to use this data. we also intend to train our sort of operation staff, including structure maintenance staff, who are going to be using the data also. in addition, also, operations staff also. so it's a much more sort of comprehensive approach to sort of looking at this data and being able to see that it's accessible and transparent. >> commissioner anderson: thank you so much. >> president buell: commissioner low. >> commissioner low: the software that we currently have is over ten years old, so it's in dire need of upgrade. but i want to ask one question, you mentioned about the sole exception waiver. that was issued? >> i'm sorry? >> the sole source waiver was issued? >> yes. >> commissioner low: that's all i had. >> president buell: commissioner mcdonnell. >> commissioner mcdonnell: i'm excited about this and in full support. i'm interested in maybe post assessment. so there is assessment which leads then to prioritization and so i guess i would ask, frankly for the benefit of the commission, i know you're going to bring the findings back, but also an additional step in the process of communicating back out to the general public about those priorities. and this may be in place, so forgive me if it is, but it seems it would be helpful in managing the collective expectations of the public to have that kind of information available on an ongoing basis, so when i drive by my favorite park and wonder why my slide isn't fixed, there is a place to go rather than assuming you guys aren't listening, you don't care and i'm being ignored. i don't know if something like that is already in place, but i think it could be helpful to manage the collective interests in expectations. >> i think this is a little bit of a new journey for us. what its full capacity is and how it allows us to communicate oni on an ongoing basis, we have a look. but this will align data to the community planning process for the next bond. and in prior bonds, obviously, we go to life safety, seismic and life safety defishes first and then look at different classes of assets and what condition they are. so at least for the bond conversation, it helps us align data to prioritization. in an ongoing effort i do see us also being able to use this to plan for, for example, a lot of the court resurfacing that you're seeing now, are really done less based on data and life expectancy than either complaint or frankly general manager's observation. and so i think this will give us a tool to engage in better planning. and also make the financial case for the resources that we need. how we -- how we use the tool to communicate city-wide prioritization of different classes of assets is a work in progress, because i don't think we fully understand how the data can be presented in realtime, et cetera. >> and also, that's a very good question. to speak to that and one of the things that we're doing differently this time, is that we're actually hiring full-time staff who will be the custodian of the information. and what i mean by that is that if you came to us and said, toks, how many square feet for asphalt do we have in the park? this is information we can pull up for you and give it to you. this is the type of information that the public will ask and we'll be able to provide the answer. >> i would just say in closing, i would encourage toward more data share than not. i know across the city, there is a concern, sometimes legitimized by the more they know the harder it will be for us, i think it will help us the more they know. if they know swings are 82 on the list, it will manage their expectations around scream being the swing. >> sure. >> if you hear screaming about swings, let me know, because those are easy to fix. >> will do. be careful what you ask for. >> any public comment? >> first of all, i want to give my condolence to ed lee, because i know ed lee personally for a number of years, 25, 30 years. i knew ed lee before he got into politics. let me give you a short story. i knew ed lee, the one of the first times i meet him, history. me and another brother kicking tailbones in this city, the summer came, he said, ace, come to the office, take this paper. you need a job, go down there to 25 ns, we going to get you a job. you think you like politics, go down there, they give you a job. conedy said, look at 25, i go down there, althoulo and behold is there, the jokester ed lee. the first time back in the paper. that's how i got my start politically. but then i had been on jack davis, helped elect the first -- not the first policeman -- who was that, anyway, so i'm around. i'm here for the city and i be back. although and behold ed lee wasn't even buried yet. i have somebody -- i know you all seen it in the paper, they was talking about the resident, here's his legacy, but the next page said, name the name, justin herman, after ed lee. to the hell about having that about ed lee, he had nothing to do with the black community. another thing, you have not one black official say anything about ed lee publicly, because he say all you negros -- >> president buell: i think we're talking about -- under the rule, you can speak under public comment about whatever you like, this is about the agreement. >> i'm going to go there, sir. >> president buell: please do. >> you messed up my time. >> president buell: i'll give you a little more time. >> nobody said a damn thing, don't stop me. there is no justin herman. i wish i knew that. i'm on this case, the bottom line is this agency, made a big egregious mistake on his name. you didn't vote, did you? but bottom line is, i want to know, like all the rest of us black folks, from that time when -- where does it go from here? because in the paper, this guy from real estate said name it justin herman. didn't mention about the black people who lost it, so i know it was orchestrated by somebody. fake news, alternative news. this department, you're responsible, where does it go now? about justin herman name. i ace washington declaring, i'm start ago committee to rename it barack obama. it cannot be challenged. it cannot be denied, it cannot be erased. my name is ace. i have three generations under me. park and rec, we're going to talk. you gave $300,000 to do what? to do what, tear it down and rebuild because the blacks ain't going to be there anymore. ray charles, they're trying to get rid of you all. my name is ace, congratulations on -- >> president buell: thank you. >> clerk: anyone else who would like to make public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> president buell: entertain a motion? moved and seconded. all those in favor? so moved. thank you. >> clerk: before we go to item 8, you can come up, i just need to make one announcement. and that is we're going to switch the order of 9 and 10. so we'll hear the strategic plan before the operational plan. we're on item 8. >> good morning, i'm gary mccoy, policy and public affairs commission, community affairs manager with the department. i am here to speak on naming the area known as sharon meadow and golden gate park in robin williams. i don't want to repeat what is in the staff report, but highlight that the area known as sharon meadow has not officially been named by the commission and there has been significant press coverage over the last two years since this was brought forward with vast support by many folks and some in this room. including former mayor willie brown and late mayor ed lee as well. there is no known opposition and i could answer questions. >> clerk: we have public comment. anyone who would like to speak on this item, come on up. >> good morning, commissioners, my name is debbie durst, i'm the president of the board of comedy day and producer of comedy day. it still rings true with me and just for -- i apologize, if you've heard it before, but for the commissioners not here at the last meeting. i'll read it now. dang it, they broke. the very first comedy day was 1980. we moved the laughter to the western end of the golden gate park for a few years when we outgrew the bandshell. but for the last 20-some years comedy day's home has been sharon meadow. it's a perfect fit. it's a day of agree comedy. there are very few things left that are free to the public. it's a san francisco tradition, so close to the history of hippie hill in the meadow. even more legendary was this one man. this man was talented, smart, funny and one of the most generous and philanthropic. he loved coming year after year, hang out with the contemporaries and shower the stage with genius. comedy day has always been about bringing the funny. laughter is the best medicine and this man brought huge doses of it. you could feel the electricity come forward in waves. i felt compelled to do something for this man who was such a part of comedy day and city of san francisco in a way that would honor his memory and comic spirit for all time. with the help of phil ginz berg, mr. mark buell, the president of the san francisco parks commission, former assemblyman, maggie lynch, our late mayor, ed lee, beth, who did tons of research on the man known as william sharon and acting mayor london breed, this hollow place of humor should be known as robin williams meadow. i look forward to seeing all of you at the last sunday of summer, at the 38th annual comedy celebration day, at robin williams meadow in golden gate park. >> president buell: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> hi, i'm will durst, i'm her assistant, and i -- she and i are the only two people who have performed at every comedy day. so she's invested in this. the fact that they have the tunnel that is named after robin williams and you feel, oh, when you go through it, we got nothing. and i don't think william sharon would be pissed. i haven't heard anything from him. so if you could do this, i think it would be great for the city and fort comics, because it would give us something to aspire to. thank you. >> president buell: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker? anyone else? >> i got to beat richard every time. good morning. >> president buell: we'll give you his three minutes, too. >> right on, i'll be a true comedian and not run the light. i'm a standup comedian here in san francisco. i've been attending comedy day for 20 years. i've been volunteer for them for about a decade. i've been performing here in san francisco for about a decade. and robin williams meant a lot to me. i think -- if you remember his first hbo special it was at the great american music hall four blocks up the veto and opened up the show by saying san francisco, the city, my home, every time i'm away from it, i'm drawn back to it and conversely, every time i see robin williams, i'm brought back to the city. and as a comedian, i'm very, very proud to be standing in front of you, this is such hallowed ground, i've been considering it robin williams meadow a long, long time. i hope you can see making the name change for us today. >> president buell: thank you very much. richard? >> i've been looking over some of the requirements to get a place named after a person, and i'm looking the at all of you, i think this is going to be a very supportive commission in favor of the name change.