>> instructor: commissioner buell? >> here. >> commissioner low? >> here. >> commissioner bonilla? >> here. >> commissioner harrison? >> here. >> commissioner mcgoldrick donnell? >> here. >> commissioner levitan will be here in a minute and commissioner wei has an excuse the absence today. >> thank you. >> just a couple of quick things before we get started. this is the recreation and park commission meeting of october 16th. if each person could fill out a blue card, that would be great. you do not have to fill out a blue card to speak. at the end of us calling all of the blue cards we will ask if anyone else would like to speak and if you would like to, you can come up then. so don't get worried if you haven't filled out a blue card and you would like to speak. we would ask when you make public comment, you do make it to the commission. our policy is to let you go

ahead and make all public comment. the commission will not answer questions during public comment, but once your public comment is closed they may ask questions of staff or ask further questions of the speaker. so with that, the only other thing if you could turn off any electronic sounding devices that could go off during the meeting, we'll go ahead and get started. commissioner buell. >> thank you. let me say at the outset i'm going to call general public comment out of order, so people can speak now and i know there are a lot of people who want to speak on this issue. and we want to hear what you have to say. can i have a show of hands of people who intend to speak. seeing that number of people i'm going to allow two minutes per person. it's going to be a long day, but we want to hear you. there is an overflow room

downstairs and there are cards there and when people are ready to speak and coming up we'll allow them plenty of time and call them in groups, so they can come up. i would ask the audience when you give public comment to try and keep it as direct and relevant to the subject-matter. we would have put this on the agenda, but it came up too late legally to put it on the agenda and that is why i'm providing this public comment period now in order to hear it. and i would ask that you be respectful of all points of views, and we can get through this as fast as possible. but we're very interested to hear the comments. with that i know there was a meeting yesterday and i'm going to ask the general manager to update us on that, and then open it to public testimony. >> thank you, commissioners and welcome everybody. thank you for giving me just a second to update you on

incident that happened at the facility. at the crux of the issue is the lack of the space and concerning gentfication and certainly underscores the need for better resourced open space as the density of our city continues to increase. we appreciate and celebrate the passion and care that people are expressed about our parks and this issue in particular. but i want to take an opportunity to clarify a few points regarding our field policies, particularly at mission playground and the steps we're ensuing our city's youth have every opportunity to play. part of the renovation converted an asphalt play area

into an synthetic play area. historickally the asphalt area at mission playground was never permitted as an athletic field and only utilized for open, drop-in play and distinguishing this site from other athletic fields that were customarly for play due to high demand. the rec and park park conducted extensive community outreach and residents were notified in english and spanish. three well-attended community meetings took place in june and july of 2009. recreation and park staff also met on several occasions with

pickup soccer players on-site and with spanish translation to discuss the project and their desires. based on community input and recommendations from pickup soccer players it was determined that adults would be able to obtain a permit to play from 7-9 p.m. on tuesday and thursday evenings and sunday unless that space was presley booked by youth play. all other times would be reserved for youth leagues or open play. open play was expressly reserved on monday, wednesday and friday from 6:30 p.m. to close and sunday 1-5. that schedule has been posted and in effect since the field opened in may of 2012. over the last year that schedule allowed for free or open play 96% of the time.

adults permitted or reserved the space for league or unstructured play 4% of the time at that location. adults can permit or reserve a field for $27 an hour, but depending on availability. permits can be obtained quite easily by calling 311 or our office directly or by email or by visiting our office. and while we strive to make the permitting process as easy as possible, the reality is there is no existing current mobile app that offers permitting of our fields. like many people in this room, the department recently became aware of a highly publicized confrontation that occurred between adult permit holders and youth requiring more players. the confrontation was posted op eau tub uniwidely covered in the media and triggered questions and concerns about the schedule at mission playground in place since 2012.

the department has long recognized that our city has limited open space for recreation. and we definitely lack play fields for both young and adults to play. this city's shortage of fields speaks to the importance of our efforts in recent years to renovate our athletic fields with turf and lights. by doing so we added nearly 80,000 hours of available play for everyone, but yet, clearly it's still not enough. department has recently heard from several youth-serving organizations in the mission, many of whom i am sure are represented today, but also organized youth soccer communities requesting additional hours for youth and for open play at mission playground. yesterday department staff along with commissioners mcdonnell and bonilla, who i think very much for participating in the conversation met at mission playground with representatives from some of community-based

organizations and specifically four of the youth involved in the mission playground confrontation. these youth i think i see them in the room were extremely articulate and underscored our need to continue to fight for fields and for resources that will help ensure our park system can continue to provide them with welcoming, safe places to play. our department policies and our permit system has always prioritized youth access to parks and fields, and as much time existed for youth and open play under the schedule agreed upon and in place and as much time existed for youth and open play under the schedule agreed upon in 2012, times change. and these youth convinced me and convinced my staff of the need for even more hours for

youth and for open play at mission playground. so effective immediately, and through a general manager's directive, that is being posted this morning, i think we have some copies -- we have made the following changes to the schedule at that field: there will no longer be adult permits issued for use of the field. three youth league permits shall continue to be available until 7:00 in the evening, every day. the field will be available for open community play from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. every day including sunday evenings which was a change specifically requested by these four articulate individuals. and as soon as we can do it, there will be signage placed at the park clearly reflecting this schedule. so that we have better communication and better awareness for different types

of users at the field. our engagement yesterday, particularly with the four young individuals who spoke, was actually incredibly affirming. it speaks to the passionate importance of our park and our open space, particularly as this city continues to grow in its density. and so together i'm hoping that we will all unite around that concept and continue to advocate for more fields and more resources for more programs for the city's children. thank you, commissioner. >> thank you very much, let's proceed to public comment and calling of the names. is supervisor campos here? supervisor campos has the floor. elthank you very much, mr. president, commissioners, mr. general manager, i want to thank the recreation and park commission for allowing me to

speak and thank the community members who took time out of their busy schedules to be here today. i am here to speak about the issue that the general manager just discussed, and i want to say that watching the youth in that video was for me quite a learning experience. i actually think that the adults who live in the city have a lot to learn from those young people. the way that they carried themselves, and the way they got to the very core of the issue by suggesting, you know, why don't we just play together? i think that is what we have a responsibility to do. how do we find it so that open space and recreational space is available to everyone? let me say that i appreciate the efforts of the rec and park department and i'm grateful to the general manager and his staff for the fact that they met with these young people and that there are changes instituted that the playground.

this playground is not in my district, but the vast majority of people who use this playground are from my district. i also believe that this issue goes beyond mission playground. and that is why i urge this commission to actually look specifically at the policy that you are following when it comes to the use of recreational space. i think that when it comes to reserving fields and playgrounds for purposes of league play, i think that is appropriate and i think that makes sense, but i think that when we are talking about privatizing the use of recreational space, even if it's limited, i think that is problematic on a number of fronts. one, the fact is that if you are from a low-income family, that necessary -- that prioritization even if it's for a small percentage of the time does limit your access to recreational space. and i can tell you from my own experience having grown up in

south-central l.a., where we live in a one room for five people in my family, we did not have a backyard. the park was the only available space we can go as kids and play and that is true for so many people in these neighborhoods. [ applause ] i know there is also a debate that is going on as to whether or not we should have artificial turf or grass and i respect that there are different positions on that. but i think that irrespective of where you are on that issue, the question before you is what do we do when we have a limited resource? because it's clear that we need more fields. should they be grass? should they be artificial turf? whatever your view is, we clearly need more fields, but i don't believe that the answer when you have a shortage of fields is to actually allow for privatization. i actually think prioritization makes it worse.

and so i think that this is an opportunity for us to come together and i want to take a lesson from these kids and use this incident as a positive way for the city to come together without vilifying anyone, because even though the adults in that video did not behave the way that i would have liked, i also know that there are many people in that industry who believe that they have to do better. and so i think that is there an opportunity for us to come together as a city, and in the midst of this affordability crisis for families are struggling, the least we can do is irrespective of income that they have access to public space. thank you very much. >> thank you, supervisor. [ applause ] >> [ reading speakers' names ]

>> the new york city parks department and school system no longer install the material -- soccer and football players alike are very familiar with them. the black dots called firm rubber are actually shredded car and truck tires, contain all of the same chemicals found in most tires. the international agency for cancer research labels four carcinogens jordan started playing goalie on turf when she was 12 years old and in high

school practicing as many as 20 hours on rubber and she was diagnosised with lymphoma. >> i would have it everywhere and have them in the tissue. >> last year theysis with diagnosised with non-hodgkin land use and economic lymphoma. fox four college football player now battling leukemia. i feel sick to my stomach that the artificial turf can have so many chemicals. >> the biology of cancer varies between different cancers. our own genetics vary and both of those have a big impact.

>> the doctor said in all of my years of medical practice this is the worst x-ray i have seen. >> hodgkin lymphoma, stage iv. >> you ingest it and it's unavoidable former reality star ethan has been keeping his own list. >> at four times a week i was on it for hours, sweating, bleeding, everything. >> she says i think it's something with the field turf. >> the [tpo-efbg/] husky goalkeeper was diagnosised with non-hodgkin lymphoma in college when doctors discover a larger deadly tumor. >> it was about the size -- a little bigger than a softball in the center of my chest. >> the pain is fresh for june,

her daughter a star goalkeeper died a year and a half ago. in 2008 we told you about a terrorisming stadium high goal keeper's battle with hodgkin lymphoma. back then luke and his family wondered if this had played a part in his cancer. >> it will stop the ball, but the pellets will go in my face and eyes and mouth. >> in 2008, the u.s. consumer products safety commission say thed exposure assessment did not include chemical or other toxic metals beyond lead. tires do contain metals and chemicals that had been ruled too toxic to burn in washington state. the average athletic field uses 27,000 tires. >> nbc news repeat lid requested an interview, but after several email and two phone calls, the epa refused. >> when we asked the cpsc for

an interview, the agency declined our request. >> we have posted more information on our website. tell you your story. >> i think we went well over the two minutes op that and what is really important that we keep everybody to two minutes so everybody gets a chance to speak. so thank you very much. next speaker. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> commissioners, president, general manager, thank you so much for having us. this has turned into something much bigger than i think anyone anticipated. on saturday, we saw the video. it's thursday, there is about 200 to 300 people standing outside of city hall demanding that policies made by parks and rec be changed. i want to thank general manager

phil ginsburg for meeting with us yesterday. the kids wanted to hear why -- what occurred happened and why it happened to them? and they were brave; these kids were leaders in their community without even knowing it. and they asked for things, asked for demands that they not only came up with themselves, but with the community. and one of them was no permitting in the evenings at mission playground. i want to thank both parks and rec and the general manager for saying let's do that. let's do that, respecting the kids' wishes and understanding this is a park that is not conducive to that policy. but it's much bigger than mission playground as mentioned by supervisor campos and we get bigger with the additional demands and councils created representing districts in the parks and rec, so that communitis and neighborhoods and people who live there and use the parks can identify the programming for each of those parks. the next one is equity.

we want to ensure that the money spent on parks is equitable throughout the city and equitable in the neighborhoods most dense like the mission. we want to ensure there is a dedicated staff at mission play ground because that could have prevented quite a lot. we want to ensure sensitive to the communities and there is a language access ordinance that this commission and this department must be in accordance with and it's not. it's a charter ordinance that requires bilingual signs and staff available to speak to our community members, if needed, if their native language and that is not occurring. i thank you for the time and i hope you listen to the community and one last demand after this is done that we have a meeting and we follow-up and we get the solutions for this issue. because again, it's much bigger than mission playground [speaker not understood]

>> cynthia cruz and tom temprano. hello commissions, tom temprano one of the presidents of the harvey milk democratic club and i want to start by thanking the brave youth who we saw in the video, who are here today, for doing what i want all of you to do. for standing up and saying that our parks are not for sale. our parks are for people. our playgrounds should be for kids and should not be for-profit. that should not be responsibility of our youth to tell the recreation and park commission or the rec and park body, that should be the job of the commissioners to make sure your youth don't have to go through what they went thereto. this is a problem that does

extend as edwin and supervisor campos said, what we're seeing in the mission to speak and on you to reverse what has been happen for the past five years in the city, where our kids are being shutout of our parks across san francisco. it's up to you who are here to serve the people of this city, not the bottom line profits of the other rec and park department to ensure our kids don't have to keep going through this. it is maddening. i'm sorry i'm getting a little red in the face, but please don't let what these youth -- use the body that you have, use the authority that you have to ensure that kids across this city don't have to be forced out of our rec centers, forces out of our playing fields, forces out of our parks. open the parks for kids and stop the profit model.

we're giving giant tax breaks and telling kids we can't afford to let them use the parks for free. this is not what san francisco is about and this is not what our parks are about and dedicate yourselves to ensuring that our parks are for our youth and our parks are for our people. thank you. [ applause ] >> let me make one observation before we continue and that is that there is no profit associated with the fees that are charged for permitting. it doesn't even cover the administrative costs. so it's a way of trying to provide a service to the community, but i appreciate the comment. >> cynthia cruz -- [ reading speakers' names ] >> good morning,

commissioners, reverend arnold townsend. here today vice president san francisco naacp and also president of the economic opportunity council, poverty agency serving youth along with other poor people in this city. let me say a couple of things real briefly. just want to remind you that having been involved in housing and youth activities for the last 50 years what i have realized that we live in an amazing time in history in san francisco because we live in the first period where the wealthy covet the homes and neighborhoods of the poor. we have always -- we have always coveted their home and neighborhoods and i remember when we used to get visitors from out of town. my folks would up from l.a. and

take the pacific heights seacliffs and see the beautiful home, but when people who have money want what you have, you are in trouble. that is what we have seen and if you don't believe me, look at old photos and drive through the filmore today. 50 years ago, this is what i want you all, and especially you young folks to be aware of, it's more than your parks. it starts somewhere and you have to be vigilant young folks and make sure this doesn't happen. let me say that the civil rights movement, cesar chavez movement was successful because young folks got involved. you have to get involved, stay involved and make sure that you do not lose what you have. now we had one of our parks turfed, and we went round and round and i'm a baseball purist and don't like turf of any kind, but what i discovered is

now that they are here and this is real important -- i'm sorry -- now that park is there, when the kids go to watch the adults who pay to play, our kids are profiled because they are afraid of their ipads and their purses. >> thank you, i have got to limit you to two minutes. [ applause ] >> cynthia cruz from the san francisco league of pissed off voters. we fundamentally disagree with phil ginsburg vision of rec and park being an enterprise department. rec and park should be funded by our tax dollars not by nickle and diming our parks and recreation centers. mission playground incident is just one of many example how rec and park focus on making the parks pay for themselves.

[speaker not understood] and now at victoria park we hear that the baseball league is being displaced for permitted soccer and kick ballgames and here is the league's plan to fix the mess at rec and park. rec and park needs to restore free play at every mission playground. the city needs to review and undo the past five years of privatiziation and an independent auditor needs to review the changes for all of the city's parks and recreation centers since ginsburg took over in 2009. the city needs to create new parks for low-income neighborhoods unstead of allowing wealthy donors to pick the new park locations. rec and park's acquisition policy needs to be made consistent with the park code

that emphasizes high-needs areas. and mayor lee needs to fire rec and park general manager phil ginsburg. this battle over privatization of the parks has been going on for years and instead of trying to work with his critics he tries to marginalize and dismiss us. he one is of the most divisive figures in the city and with new leadership that works with everyone. [ applause ] >> good morning. my name is [speaker not understood] and i'm a parent. a life-long citizen of san francisco, i was born and raised here. so i have seen several different phases of what is going on with the city and unfortunately this period right now is the saddest and breaks my heart. this issue touches me because i

have two young sons, actually in their 20s now and i have a 10-year-old. i have been part of the process of the new park coming up on 17th and folsom. unfortunately you say you have bilingual meetings and i don't think there was any and unfortunately the spanish-speaking parents, the people busy working and raising kids can't come to these meetings. what i witness in the meetings is that the majority of the people who went to the meetings were single people or people with small children. so i was trying to advocate for that park to have a basketball court, because i didn't really real it, but my son said mom i have no way to play basketball outdoors at least. the closest was mission playground and dolores park and what i heard was we don't want