Gail Gilman.

Present.

Vice President Stephen Englum.

Here.

Commissioner Willie Adams.

Here.

Commissioner Stephen Lee.

Here.

And Commissioner Ken McNeely.

Here.

Item two is approval of minutes for the April 28th, 2026 Port Commission meeting.

Can I have a motion?

So move.

I have a second.

We have a motion and a second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion passes unanimously.

Next item, Jenica.

Item three is the land acknowledgement.

The San Francisco Port Commission acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Rama Tishaloni, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula.

As the indigenous stewards of this land, and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramatishaloni had never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory.

We recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland.

We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the Ramatushalone community, and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples.

Item four is announcements.

Please silence all cell phones and sound producing devices.

Each member of the public may speak for up to three minutes per agenda item unless a shorter time is set by the port commission.

Comments must relate to the current agenda item.

Public comment will be taken in person first, then remotely.

To comment remotely, dial 1, 415, 655, 000 1.

Enter access code 2660, 135, 0751, pound pound.

Then press star three to raise your hand.

And audio prompts will signal when it is your turn to speak.

If watching on SFGov TV, note the broadcast delay.

To avoid missing your turn, dial in when your item is announced.

Mute your device and listen from your telephone.

Item five is public comment on items not listed on the agenda.

So is there any public comment in the room for items not listed on the agenda?

I see no public comment in this room for items not listed on the agenda.

Is there any on the phone, Jenica?

We have no callers, thank you.

Okay, then public comment is closed.

Next item, please.

Item 6A is the acting executive director's report.

For callers who wish to make public comments on this item, please dial star three to raise your hand to comment.

Good afternoon, President Gilman, Vice President Engblem, Commissioners, Port Staff, and members of the public.

My name is Michael Martin.

I'm the acting executive director of the port, and this is my report for May 12, 2026.

Before I get to the slides, I want to do a couple of items to sort of highlight a few things.

First, in May, we highlight we recognize and celebrate Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

This is an opportunity to honor the generations of AA and HPI individuals whose leadership, resilience, and contributions have helped shape San Francisco and our nation, as well as the port.

San Francisco's history and identity are deeply connected to AA and HPI communities and cultures, and the port is proud to recognize and celebrate those lasting contributions by participating in a series of internal events and educational opportunities throughout the month.

I'm also pleased to share some positive news regarding the port's financial outlook.

Our nine-month report, so that's nine months of the fiscal year, which ended uh the end of March, reflects a 10.1 million dollar net surplus.

This will allow us to do additional contributions to our capital projects and reserves beyond the conservative assumptions included in our adopted budget, which anticipated an 11.4 million dollars in net revenue, so a significant increase from our conservative projections.

These net revenues came from discipline fiscal management, including uh finding savings on our interagency work orders, continued strong interest earnings for our reserves and our fund balance, and a one-time $5 million legal settlement.

That was obviously the bulk of that of that revenue.

Um Commissioners, under your leadership, the port remains financially strong and able to take these really impactful investments that we're contemplating, a number of which we'll talk about today.

The controller's office is expected to publish the city's nine-month report later this month for the entire city.

Um relatedly, uh uh I have been joined by Deputy Director of Finance Administration and Administration Megan Wallace and our government affairs manager Belarus Delapine for meetings with the waterfront supervisors uh to prepare for hearings on our budget that you adopted back in February.

The Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee will be hearing our budget tomorrow afternoon.

So I'm excited to really push forward with this good news, but also to say our plan is strong, especially as to the capital improvements we've been working on to keep to keep the good investments going from all the grant money we've been able to spend.

Now to the slides and some really exciting news.

Commercial salmon season has returned, first time in three years after three years of closure.

This is welcome news for Fisherman's Wharf, our local fishing fleet, our restaurants, visitors alike.

Fresh local salmon is expected to return to markets and restaurants throughout the wharf beginning this month.

We're also proud to continue supporting the fisherman's wharf pop-up fish market, a weekly pop-up market operated by local fishers in partnership with the Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District.

The pop-up markets located at 101 Alskoma Way, hard by the Wharf J9 location where many of our off the boat fish sales are take place.

It's operated every Saturday from 8 a.m.

to 2 p.m., and we love the way it connects the public with the fishing industry, our maritime heritage.

Encourage everyone to support our local fishers, and uh very happy to welcome the CBD who's just joined us as well.

We'll be hearing from them later in the meeting.

I wasn't able to get to the pop-up market last weekend, but I'm definitely going this weekend, and I hope everybody else does too.

Um, keeping our cameras in Fisherman's Wharf or relating to Fisherman's Wharf.

Um, I want to thank everyone who uh helped make the April 30th kickoff of our community engagement process on the next phase of fisherman's wharf forward, such a success.

Um the event really reflected the port at what I'm really proud to say is our best.

Thoughtful planning, a lot of good information and expertise, but a lot of really great input from our community stakeholders.

Um we really appreciate the productive dialogue.

Um, in my opening remarks that night, I really pointed out you know, the port is is really taking a much more forward look at investing in our property than we have in recent decades.

Um, but to do that well to be successful, we really need the expertise of our stakeholders to let us know what's important about what they find in fisherman's wharf and what they want to see in this next generation of improvements that are intended to protect the wharf from serious risks of earthquakes and sea level rise.

Um, you know, our our stewardship in this sort of initial set of investments that we're delivering starting this summer with Aliotos Plaza and the smokehouse overlook and the improvements in the inner lagoon for the for the for the for the working fishing industry, I think are really a good down payment.

I think it shows where our heart is and where our where our expertise is going, and I think this the kickoff of this effort is really uh a sign of that.

Um we'll have a series of the on more of these meetings going forward this year as we bring forward alternative plans and ideas and try to get more feedback as we refine to what the preferred plan will be.

Um, our goal with this phase of resilience improvements for the inner lagoon, the entire sort of three sides and uh uh sort of improvements in the inner lagoon.

We're targeting 2030 for completion, and so this year is super critical to make that happen and getting all of the good thinking.

So, again, I appreciate everyone that spent time with us, and I'm looking forward to the next one so we can keep moving this important work forward.

Um, sticking with uh public engagement and waterfront resilience.

I want to uh uh uh talk about two upcoming community engagements where we're kicking off further down the waterfront, also in relation to our Army Corps of Engineers uh coastal flood resilience plan.

Um, so on the left side of the slide, you'll see the downtown coastal resilience project, which includes flood protection improvements starting all the way up at Broadway, but really focused on this area at Rincon Park between the AG building and Pier 24, um, really trying to create that durable line of defense.

Um, this is one of uh one of our most critical flood uh risk areas, as you probably all have seen and recall during the winter during king tides.

We'll see some flooding in this area sort of lapping up to the edge of the embarcadero.

And it's a really a wake-up call or a call to action because we know as sea levels rise, as storms get more difficult.

Um, the important infrastructure that this shoreline protects, including the MUNI portal that's in the median of the embarcadero, really needs a better and more durable shoreline to be able to protect it so we don't have uh increasing impacts to our various infrastructure systems.

So we're excited to have that initial community engagement to talk about the context of the area and our ideas about how to improve it.

In addition, sort of going to the right hand side of the slide, we have a South Beach Coastal Resilience Project.

So basically continuing and linking up at the edge at Pier 24, but South Beach will continue from Harrison Street all the way down to Townsend Street.

We're studying this stretch under a grant from the California Coastal Conservancy.

And as part of that grant, it calls for doing this community engagement.

But obviously, we feel like it aligns with our downtown work and hoping to sort of get as much of that community thinking about as we refine the plan and bring it to a higher level of resolution and hopes of getting into design in the near future.

So we know this is a lot for the community to engage in.

What we'd like to do is we're scheduled South Beach for June 2nd, and we're in the process of scheduling the downtown coastal resilience project meeting for later in June with a little bit of a gap between, so we're not hopefully demanding too much of people.

We'll also have an online option for those who can't come, but it's I think it'd be more beneficial to be there because it'll be more of an open house environment.

So that information as well as the defined date of the downtown project will be on our website.

You can find all of this information at sfport.com/slash WRP.

Um staying with resilience, but on a different angle in terms of the financial challenge.

I want to uh express the port's gratitude for Vice President Englum to have presented at the Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles earlier this month, one of the world's most important convenings of capital investors.

And uh we're really proud and appreciative that he brought forward the San Francisco waterfront case for how resilience infrastructure can become a more investment grade offering.

This is a multi-decade, multi-billion dollar project.

We really appreciate the generosity of the taxpayers for 2018's Prop A.

It's allowed us to do a lot.

But we know that we're going to need sources from everywhere to make this work, and so that we're not just hitting the city's tax base.

So we're looking far and wide in terms of the Army Corps match investment that we're excited to get into, grant opportunities with the federal and state governments, but also public-private partnerships.

We think private capital can really play a role in hopefully delivering this improvement uh fast and efficiently and in the way that the city needs to really define the waterfront for the next generation.

And so these kind of contacts with the conference and hopefully our follow-on work to understand more about what this uh set of investors is looking for, I think is going to be hugely helpful to us as we continue to refine our plan for the waterfront resilience project.

Um, and to that point, uh, I do want to highlight we continue to work closely with the Army Corps of Engineers to refine our our resilience pathway to making these improvements.

And we look forward to presenting you with an update uh this July as we approach our really hopeful impactful congressional action later this year.

Uh last week was very busy uh on a number of fronts, and and it was exciting uh updates for all of them.

Uh, on Thursday morning, uh we hosted our trades career fair at Pier 50.

This event connects young high school students and job seekers with opportunities, understanding opportunities that are out there and skilled trades and maritime careers.

This is hugely important for the port.

We need to find that next generation workforce that's going to come and build these projects that we're excited about planning right now and operate the waterfront for decades to come.

And to do it with people from San Francisco is really that next level that domino effect we want to see where the dollars that we spend to improve the waterfront are spent on people who are building careers and spending those dollars back in our economy.

I would I want to say I went down there early in the event, I was able to talk to some of the people tabling.

We had 27 participating organizations, uh city departments, unions, workforce uh resource partners, and they were all super excited with that same mission in mind.

And then to see the students arriving, we had over 400, um not really shown in these pictures, but it was full, I swear.

Uh Pier 50 was was really energy, a high energy place that morning, and uh seeing the those folks learning about what these opportunities look like.

You know, if we could open doors for just a few of them to come to the port, it would be a huge win.

Um so this was a great event.

I want to thank the human resources team uh for really organizing it.

But I want to say I I saw people from every single division at the port really out there making this event a success, and I'm excited to see it next year.

Um we were excited to welcome Mayor Lurie twice to Port Property last week, uh, the first of which was welcoming the uh brilliant lady on her maiden call at Pier 27, the James R.

Herman Cruise Terminal.

This is Virgin Voyages, a new partner of ours uh bringing their vessel here.

Uh so the mayor participated in a plaque exchange with the vessel captain.

Um it was a beautiful morning out there, a beautiful day, a beautiful uh vessel, and I I loved it as it departed, it gave us a little farewell note using the mayor's uh famous tagline, let's go, San Francisco, and its lights on the side of the vessel.

So a great new partner.

But I also want to appreciate our longtime partner, uh Carnival Cruise Lines.

Uh they've returned for a fifth season of seasonal home port operations, um so we very much appreciate that, as well as the inaugural season for the Carnival Luminosaur on Thursday morning.

We also welcomed the mayor down to Terry Francois Boulevard by Mission Rock to uh cut the ribbon on Terry Francois Boulevard bike and pedestrian safety improvements.

This was a project that the port uh conceived and funded, but we delivered in partner a great partnership with public work as well as the SFMTA and the Giants and Mission Rock partners.

This was just, you know, this is a location that's really part of the working waterfront.

And as we have this great new connection in Bayfront Park that really helped people uh bike and walk and push strollers and do everything to get from the ballpark area to the central waterfront.

This was a place that really needed uh uh some improvements to really help people understand where to go so that the working waterfront can still succeed.

But if someone's biking or walking, they know where they need to be on the road, and so we can have safe paths of travel for everyone.

And I want to say that this is one link in a chain that we need to extend throughout the port.

It's really critical to our future to be able to blend the waterfront with the active users, the people that are coming to connect with the bay, the people we're trying to attract with our arts and our culture, and so doing that in a safe way is absolutely a foundation for our success going forward.

Um before I close, I want to follow up on a previous port commission item request that from uh President Gilman regarding fireworks notifications.

Um so we've had an instance earlier this year where there were some fireworks that were not sort of the usual 4th of July, New Year's fireworks, and so people were surprised.

Um we have long maintained an email list that let people know when fireworks are coming, but we realized we needed to sort of take another run at re-energizing and republicizing that opportunity, so we've been able to do that to sort of point people to that email list uh uh so that they can get those push notifications.

But we've also gone further than that.

So we partnered with District 3 Supervisor Sauter, who put uh an advisory in his newsletter to join our list, but also has instructed his staff to help constituents point on our direction so that they can uh become more informed going forward, especially for the Northern Waterfront fireworks.

Um we've also expanded our own affirmative notifications, reaching out to city agencies at City Hall, as well as our advisory groups who are often kind of the center of their networks as relating to things that happen on the port.

So again, trying to get as much word of mouth out there as we can.

And then we've also set up our own web page so people who don't know about the email list can come to our website at sfport.com/slash fireworks to find out when uh upcoming fireworks displays are happening.

Um so we're we're definitely not resting on our laurels.

We're just gonna continue to find ways to push this out because we we definitely work closely um with city, state, and federal partners to ensure the events are conducted safely and responsibly in terms of permitting, but we know we need to make that next connection to the public so that these events can go off safely and we don't have any negative impacts.

Um so that concludes my report.

Uh, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

So now we will open it up for public comment on the director's report.

Is there any public comment in the room about the director's report and all that amazing news?

Okay, I'm not seeing any public comment in the room on the director's report.

So, Jenica, is there anyone on the phone?

We have no callers, thank you.

Okay.

There's no one in the room, and there's no callers, so public comment is closed.

Commissioner Lee.

I always the first.

But um uh director Martin, um, great report as usual.

As you see, we were going so fast, and summer hasn't even just hit.

I'm glad we have a surplus, a little less pressure.

We do have still a lot of work to do as a lot of offers are coming in on some of our empty uh real estate spaces, which is great news.

Again, I was on Pier 39 yes, last week for a tour, and I see that they're at 85% capacity.

I haven't been on that pier for a long time, and it's good to see a lot of new stuff.

And what I notice is uh it's all about experience, and I think right now our focus is not only that we're coming back, but in every sector, whether it's uh for the tourism, whether it's fishing, whether it's uh festivals at uh the CBD part area, uh water taxis.

Um again, I was on Pier 39 and the water taxi program.

We're kind of hiding in the cuts.

Um I really think the locals should be starting using the water taxis more, um, have more oppressors, only $10 to take a water taxi from or the waterfront to go down the chase, and I think it's a better experience.

I think that we should actually support that a little bit better.

Um I was at the career fair last year, and I'm glad it's even bigger this year.

And what I was um always amazed in the back was the vintage signs.

And so this is what's going on at Fisherman's Wharf.

We're taking down a lot of things.

I really like to see as long as as long as I'm here, you know, to see possibly a vintage sign museum, whether it's a one-day tour to show the city of our history.

I mean, we got it, we should use it.

And maybe if we if we have some extra space somewhere, I know that the fire department is looking to bring some of their vintage fire stuff down here to the port.

And again, it's to give all our visitors an experience, right?

To spend money down here and to eat our food, uh, to enjoy our waterfront.

So I think we're on the right direction.

There's so many things to do and exciting.

So let's just uh keep going.

And I think we're coming out of this really well.

So I'm gonna be you know putting a little pressure on some of these uh you know, properties that are dragging their feet, trying to figure out and you know things are coming back, and if we could support them more, I mean we'll do what we can, but it's time now to really put on the gas uh before other people will start wanting to come in.

So I'm looking forward to the next uh this summer actually.

So great report, thank you.

Commissioner McNeely, uh yes, thank you, Madam President.

Um great report, um Director Martin.

Uh a couple of questions, um uh and a and a comment.

Um on the um the budget.

Uh the the settlement, uh the one time settlement, and you said was a substantial portion of the surplus.

What's the um uh what would the budget look like without without that particular piece of it?

So that was five million of the 10.1 million sort of net surplus from our projected uh net revenues.

Okay, all right, thank you.

And that was associated with Pilot Thomas, the the spill up in fisherman's wharf, and it's intended to compensate us from future costs of our operations up there relating to um you know what we'd have to do to make sure we're not creating another spill.

Um so it was a good negotiation.

We really appreciate the support of the city attorney's office on that.

Okay, that's that was great work on that.

On the um on the um uh the you you mentioned the others, uh the other surplus uh items were attributed to budget tightening and being more uh exercising more discipline on some of the other items.

Is that something that you would see as continue a continuation that we would continue to kind of see this kind of fiscal management as we kind of move forward through the year and you're feeling confident about the budget going forward?

Absolutely.

I mean, I think the interagency work orders is is obviously a huge way, apart uh uh a way we get things done, but we want to make sure we're sort of minding uh what the work is and how we're getting it done, and how that lines up with the payments being made.

And so I appreciate uh the finance and admin team for really leaning in on that.

I would say a big portion of the net benefits is really interest rates.

Um we have a large fund balance right now, and so that has been one of the benefits of that interest income, and so that's part of what we talked during the capital plan discussion is um thinking about maybe we want to issue some debt so that we don't spend out of that fund balance on all of our capital, but can have a balance between those things to try to to sort of uh manage that benefit of the interest income as well as the the debt expense.

Sure.

Um the uh the the poor and the staff does a great job with uh with community outreach.

You always seem to have your finger on the pulse of the community and the work that you're that you were doing, and you uh mentioned around the cruise terminal and uh some of the outreach with the community, has always been fantastic.

Um on the uh fishermen's ward engagement, are we seeing um uh representation of residents and some of the businesses that have interest there?

Uh is it are we uh my concern is are we also reaching just the general residential community as well?

Um we are.

I mean there's definitely there were definitely people there that weren't part of the business or the or the fishing waterside community.

I would say there was a significant uh amount of representation from the fishers themselves who had a lot of of thoughts about uh what needs to be improved.

Uh we had a number of business owners who are definitely uh curious about sort of how we can build something that keeps sort of the economic engine moving during that really impactful construction.

Um, but that's why we're having more meetings.

I think we want to get out.

We also have the fisherman's worth advisory committee, which is a little easier for people to participate in.

It's a virtual meeting.

Um, but we know that you know we want to get as many of those thoughts in.

One other thing we've done is reaching out to stakeholders before the meeting to have interviews, just to sort of start preloading some of those thoughts so we don't have to force everyone to have that moment at the mic at the meeting to get their thoughts in and using a survey after the meeting to get more in as well.

Sure, and and last uh just uh congrats on the uh the the trades career fair.

It's uh uh it's great to see that it's it's growing and we have so many different trades represented there.

There's um there's there's there's been so much discussion around you know continuing to invest in trade work uh and ensuring that uh we're able to you know build that next generation of trade talent.

So I appreciate the work that you're doing on that on that respect as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Commissioner Adams.

Yes, um, Madam President, um, acting director Martin and I guess Michelle, I would ask to my comments would be lifted, and I'll explain why at the beginning of my report.

Mike, thank you for an extra report.

But before I start, um, I would like to pay homage.

Um we lost a great labor leader in San Francisco.

We lost Larry Mazzola, senior.

And I had an opportunity on Friday to attend his funeral.

And for me coming from labor and from the working class, I got to stand in the back with the working men and women that showed up in their uniforms.

I appreciated the comments of our esteemed Mayor Laurie and Leader Pelosi.

But uh Larry Mazzola was a labor legend.

He was a warrior, and uh he was the gladiator.

And my comments would be, Michelle, if it would be appropriate, and Madam President, that uh Director Martin would lift these comments and make sure that Larry Mazzola Jr.

and Rudy Gonzalez gets it to the plumbers local and Pipe Fish Local, number 38.

And uh Madam President, if we could have a moment of silence, sure.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

And just real briefly, I would like to read his obituary, Mr.

Director, Madam President, to the record.

A native San Francisco, Larry spent 47 years playing a major role in the leadership of the Bay Area's labor movement.

He served as business manager of Plumbers Union Local 38 forty-seven years and dedicated his life to improving the lives of working families.

Throughout his career, he served on the Golden Gate Bridge Commission, the Recreation and Park Commission, and as president of the San Francisco Airport Commission.

He also served as the United Associate District Five Vice President on the California State AFL CL board, and as vice president of the San Francisco Labor Council and as president of the San Francisco Building Trades Council for 30 years.

Larry is survived by his wife for 58 years, Stephanie, his children, Larry Jr., Stephen, Judy, Lauren, DuGran, DeMonico, his grandchildren, Joy, Nick, Sophia, and Stella, and his sister Joanna.

He loved his family, his friends, and all the members of Local 38.

Larry negotiated some of the best contracts and implemented some of the strongest benefits for the members of Local 38.

And his impact on the labor movement will be felt for generations.

Larry enjoyed horse racing, his monthly car games, Sunday flea markets, and family vacations, his favorite people called him Papa.

I also wanted to say in talking about Larry Mazzola Sr.

He was a part of the old guard, the OGs, that he really had the pride in the heart of San Francisco, whether the port, the city, and teaching younger people what it meant to be proud to be working with your hands and being a worker.

And may he rest in power.

And before I start more, I want to wish our my esteemed port commissioner Stephen Lee a happy birthday today.

Excellent report.

You know, this waterfront resilience and flood protection is something I think we're living in a time that I just saw that South Africa is having all these storms and wind.

So much is happening, even with the weather here in San Francisco, so unpredictable with this global warming and everything.

One day it's 70, the next day it's in the 50s.

It's just so unpredictable.

And this waterfront resilience and flood protection.

We we, you know, we have to get this thing done.

This is this is so important to the citizen.

We have to be ready for whatever is coming at us because we don't have a crystal ball.

I also am glad that the mayor is coming down.

You know, I was downstairs having lunch before the port commission meeting.

And even just walking around, and people don't know I'm a poor commissioner, I'm just a regular person like we all are.

But there's a different vibe walking around the ferry building downstairs and in the city.

I was up at Union Square the other day.

It's just feel that we're getting our way back to where we want, but we're also going out on a new chapter, a new adventure.

And it's nice to know that the port is a part of that, and that we're helping the lead, and we're transforming.

And we're going to be a different port.

And I kind of like that.

And I want to say to VP, thank you for going to LA for the Milk and Institute.

This is so important.

Five years ago, we wouldn't have never thought about this on the commission.

And I'm glad that these are the things that we're doing.

I want to follow up with uh Ken's comments.

The trades.

Because I think about all the trades that used to work right in the shipyards.

It was 12 different unions working in that shipyards.

The true working class, and then that email we got today, and I won't talk about it, but if there's a hope, and if there's a way, that's awesome.

And I will just leave my comments at that, Madam President.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

BP Emblem.

Thank you for the report.

Mike, it was great, great report.

And um, happy AAPI month.

I'm glad you started with that.

Uh, it's incredible to think about you know how the AAPI community really, you know, it's so intertwined with the history of our city and our current culture and the future of the city really is intertwined with that community.

So, you know, happy AAPI month to everyone.

I'll just use my time to uh just thank everybody for the support in sending me to Los Angeles for the Milk and Institute.

Um what I my takeaway from that uh conference was that the uh global capital community is interested in resilience.

There are institutional investors, uh philanthropic uh groups, uh, family funds, state uh you know Cowper's was there uh on the on the panel with me.

Was the Washington state um investment um pension fund?

Uh there is a great interest in resilience, and uh you know the the global capital markets are always looking for places to invest.

But I think what what I really learned was that in addition to our uh creating an engineering excellence state for our waterfront, we we really have an opportunity to lead in being a financial uh model as well because uh every city has this challenge, and we have taken a the work that the port our staff has done with our consultants and in partnership with the Army Corps has uh created a global uh case study of how to uh protect our our waterfront.

But what I what I really realized is that we have to we have to make this a um investment asset class that they understand.

So I think that we need financial innovation and um I think that um you know we one thing that I I really realized in just prepping for the panel is that we have to go beyond just sort of everyone thinking about this just as a this is not just a port issue.

This is a our this is it's yes, it's our postcard that everybody loves, but it's also our platform for our economy.

And it if we lead, if all we talk about is an $18 billion program, people glaze over.

But if you talk about the fact that this is $18 billion to protect our $350 billion worth of property role uh tax that's just here in our financial district, and the $35 billion worth of venture capital that has invested in San Francisco-based AI companies just this year, then all of a sudden it becomes like how can we not do this?

You know, it it's it's inevitable.

We have to do this, we have to do it faster than we currently project.

So that's why we need financial innovation.

The longer we wait to do this, the more expensive it's going to become, and the longer we're at threat of losing losing our our beloved um you know economy.

So we have to talk about it not just as a postcard, but it's a platform for everything that the city stands for.

All of our maritime industries, all of our tourism, all of the uh you know, our core economy.

So anyway, that was my takeaway.

There's a great amount of interest, and um, you know, I want us to run faster on this issue.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Um Director Martin, thank you so much for your report.

There's so much there to unpack and so many comments um from the fellow commissioners.

I think I um just wanted to do a couple of highlights.

Um first of all, I just really wanted to say um how magnificent it really was to um have the made in voyage of a virgin um come come to our come to our shores as they have the first route that they're doing um out of Los Angeles um up to Alaska and back as an incredibly popular route and it being for us not a deep markation, but actually a stop along that trip.

It brings visitors that maybe would not come to San Francisco, um, and particularly um the I think it's really interesting the cruise model, and we had an opportunity to really tour and see the innovation both from an environmental perspective, but also um from a market share perspective of what virgin is really going to.

And I think it's a class of ship that we normally uh may not always be receiving.

So I just really wanted to say I wanted to thank the port and wanted to thank Metro Cruz um and um virgin voyagers, so the opportunity to chart and learn more about how they're driving economic impact into San Francisco and how this is now a regular part of call for them.

Um it was really exciting.

I had a question about the net surplus.

Um you mentioned that 5 million came from the settlement.

I'm assuming it's restricted.

Is it a restricted use for the future to mitigate against expenses we may have, or is it cash to the bottom line for the port?

It's cash to the bottom line.

It was size relating to what we expected those impacts to be.

So but it's money we can use.

We don't have to reserve it.

Okay.

Thank you for the clarity.

So that is great that we can fund some of our other initiatives and put it towards our capital stack.

I think that is really um amazing.

Um I also you know did want to note that um the IEILW is also at the um cruise event, and really important to see the brothers and sisters who make that cruise ship terminal work every day participate in the event as well.

And then in closing, um, I'm actually gonna dovetail two interesting things, which hopefully will be of interest to more than just me, to come um VP Mlim's comments around working capital and the blue economy, and um Commissioner Adams' remarks about the labor leader um Larry Mazzola, who we lost, who I hope the commissioners, well, he didn't serve on this commission, his work in San Francisco, his trades made this waterfront that will close this meeting in memorandum to him.

Um Mr.

Mazzola had the opportunity now almost a decade ago to make a decision to be the first um labor union to put supportive housing on a parcel of land they own here in San Francisco when they rebuilt their hall, Jazzy Collins apartments.

And that in itself was the opportunity I had to work with him over many years to make that dream and that possibility happen.

But he was also it was the first private deal in San Francisco that ever used private capital to build 100% supportive housing without local or public funds, and the interest from that came from international capital, came from the pension fund of the AFL CIO, who had never made investments like that before.

I think it would be amazing to bring that legacy forward to how we're looking at sea level rise and the work we're doing here in San Francisco.

And as I said during a workshop during climate week that I got to participate in, the more we can monetize and start telling the narrative of the impact of the pandemic, which is recent and real in people's minds of what happens when we don't protect against a natural disaster.

A pandemic is a scientific natural disaster that happens to us as humans, just like sea level rise is gonna happen to our shoreline.

Um I think we can really make the case to have that private capital investment and have the foresight, like Larry Mazzola did, to see that you can finance housing a different way, and now that model's been replicated across the country.

So I just wanted to close with those remarks, and we'll be closing um in memorandum to Larry Mazzola and all of his dedication to the city and county of San Francisco.

And next item, please.

Item seven is the consent calendar.

For callers who wish to make public comment on the consent calendar, please style star three to raise your hand to comment.

Item 7A requests authorization to award construction contract number 2879 Pier 80 improvements.

This is resolution 2626.

Item 7B requests approval to terminate existing lease number L-10388 with JPPF 1300 battery LP, a Delaware Limited Partnership, JPPF, and enter into new lease number L-17390 with JPPF retroactive to February 1st, 2026.

That reduces both base and percentage rent and provides JPPF with up to 188,192 in rent credits for tenant improvements on the same lease term for approximately 4,635 square feet of a single story restaurant space, along with 2,992 square feet of outdoor dining area at 1300 Battery Street between Greenwich and Lombard Streets.

That is resolution 2627.

Item 7C requests approval of a settlement agreement for Bowers Intelligent Transportation Inc.

Bauer under lease number L-15004, Pier 50 sheds A and C.

Lease L-16206 401 Terry Francois Boulevard terminated.

And parking agreement 003805, Pier 96 terminated, to resolve all balances due, including port waiver of certain rent terms for completing safety upgrades to Pier 50 and resolution of litigation against Bauer upon compliance with the settlement agreement.

This is resolution 2628.

Thank you.

Do we have a motion?

So move.

Thank you.

We have a motion in the second.

Is there any public comment in the room on the consent calendar?

I don't see any public comment in the room on the consent calendar.

Is there any public comment on the phone?

No one on the phone, thank you.

Um thank you.

Public comment is closed.

Commissioners, we have a motion and we have a second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Motion passes consent calendar resolution 2627, 26.

2626, 2627, 2628 are all adopted.

Next item, please.

Item 8A requests approval of a proposed new lease, lease number L-17415 or lease with FBD Vanguard Construction Inc., a California corporation, Vanguard, for approximately 21,780 square feet on paved land for a term of 18 months and an additional adjacent 108,900 square feet to be used for no longer than a two-week period, no more than four times within an 18-month period, located at Pier 94.

This is resolution 2629.

For callers who wish to make public comments on this item, please dial star three to raise your hand to comment.

Good afternoon, President Gilman, Vice President Baum, Commissioners Happy Birthday, Commissioner Lee, Acting Director Martin, Port Staff, and General Public.

My name is Domino.

I'm your acting maritime director.

I'm proud to bring forward and introduce an opportunity at Pier 94 to present this item.

I'm uh joined by Charles LeBeaton, Maritime Business Development Manager.

Good afternoon, President Gilman.

Commissioners, my name's Charles Lebeton.

I'm manager of business development for Maritime.

Today I will make a presentation on the Vanguard lease for a temporary cement batching plant at Pier 94.

To give you some background, Vanguard Construction provides concrete for the Calcrans major US 101 freeway repaving and rehabilitation program.

If you've flown in and out of San Francisco in the last month, you may have seen some of the prep work that they've already done.

And if you're down by the Harning Interchange, you'll also see one of their primary uh temporary batch plans.

The project is phased into three segments.

The first segment, as you can see on the map, is from the Harney Interchange, which is down by the old Candlestick Park, up to the Highway 101280 interchange.

Segment two is from the interchange up to Cesar Chavez Parkway.

And then you've got segment three, which is Cesar Chavez, up to the Vermont Street exit by Potrero.

Um currently they will be moving the uh cement from the their plant at the Harney Exchange for segment one and segment two.

However, when they start working on segment three, it will be further away from the Harney interchange and uh anticipating highway traffic and the delivery of cement, which cures quite fast.

Uh there's issues that the truckers may divert and drive into the local uh Bayview local streets uh on the Saturday and the Sunday weekends that uh they'll be working.

I forgot to mention they will be working uh four times during an 18 month period, and uh each time they'll be working, uh two weeks of storing uh the material.

So they approached us a few months ago uh with the idea of uh placing uh their plant at Pier 94.

And there's many reasons for that.

Number one is a proximity to the uh segment three project.

Uh from there they can easily jump on Amador Street, Third Street, then on Cesar Chavez.

Uh and by doing that, the trucks would avoid having to drive through the Bayview community.

Uh we'd eliminate truck traffic uh emissions from the from the trucks, and they'll be using it for two weeks uh each.

What most of it will be for the storage of the aggregates, which will be rock and sand, and then uh the weekends that they'll be operating there, and they'll also need part of the land for their uh field office, uh, which is trailers and parking.

And you can see from the map, it's really only one sixth of the all Pier 94, and most of it will be used for storage.

Uh the benefits for the community, of course, will be reduced uh truck traffic.

Uh excuse me, eighteen eight thousand less trips, twenty-seven thousand uh less miles, and forty-five metric tons of CO2 emissions avoided.

Um there will be public benefits uh for the port by supporting Caltrans and the community.

And the good thing is the port will be generating revenue on property, which is has been a challenge to uh generate uh revenue from.

I'll go back to the other slide.

You can see the water ponding area there, and it this uh map doesn't show the other smaller water ponding areas in Pier 94.

Uh we are giving Vanguard the option to uh receive rent credit uh in exchange for remediating and filling in the holes and resurfing the water ponding areas.

So uh we'd like to request uh a reduction.

Well, we negotiated a uh rental rate uh that's favorable uh for the port as well as with Vanguard because they have to set up a second secondary plant operation, it increases their cost.

So uh and knowing that we need uh revenue for the port, we felt that uh it would be uh wise for us to enter into a lease with them.

We will generate 335,000 in revenue over an 18-month uh period, and possibly more if they need extra time to uh for their operations, and we also have the option or they have the option to uh fill in the water ponding, which will make the property uh more attractive for future leases.

So we're here today seeking request to approve the reduction in parameter rate uh as well as the uh option for them to rent credit in exchange for resurfacing the water ponding.

Thank you.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Thank you.

Do we have a motion to move this item?

So moved.

Thank you.

Is there any public comment in the room on this item?

Okay, I am seeing none.

Is there any public comment on the phone?

No, we have no colors.

Okay.

Then I'm gonna close public comment and go to commissioner questions.

Commission Commissioner McNeely.

Sure, thank you.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

Um it sounds like quite an elegant solution to a problem.

Um certainly 300,000 plus dollars is not inconsequential.

My question is um, have we considered any um uh uh negative impact on the communities around or uh the community around Pier 94?

It sounds like we've um will avoid substantial impact to the Bayview, but is there is there any on the way to Pier 94 that might be of concern as well?

Uh uh we uh socialized this with the uh Southern Advisory Committee, and we have their support.

And if you look at those streets, those are mainly industrial streets.

Industrial.

Amador goes through the CMAX facilities, so you always have cement trucks going through there anyway on a daily basis.

And it cuts through a little bit on on Third Street and up Cesar Chavez.

And that's really an industrial part of the city.

There's not much residential in that area.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Questions from commissioners?

Commissioner Lee.

Um, this ponding situation is this something that is the pad sinking or something, or is it just fixed?

They're just gonna fill it, or we still have to deal with this uh peer sinking.

Well, I think it's just wear and tear it's a dilapidated pier.

Um, when uh when they start the work, it has to be approved by our port engineers.

So there's specifications on how you know they would need to fill and resurface it.

Otherwise, what will we be using it for in general?

Just parking trailers, like we did before.

Since Martin Well, Martin Marietta was there uh previously, and when they left, they were able to pay most of it, but not all of it, because they're only on half of it.

Um so eventually the long-term plan, if it ever materializes, would use it for offshore wind uh staging for fabrication, and when that happens, the entire terminal would be redone anyway.

But it's still a long ways away, and we need to generate revenue until that time happens.

So by curiosity, what would it cost us if we had to do it ourselves?

Um, don't really have an answer for that.

We'd have to go through engineering what we can get back to I mean, we don't we don't think it'll be the as much as the uh uh as the rent as a matter of fact, I think it'll be low direct.

I mean the benefit is is we're getting rent, which is great, and if it saves us money from you know future repairs, that's even better.

I'm just curious, yeah.

You know how much money that we're actually gaining for that.

So no, no, you don't have to get back to me on that.

I was just curious.

All right, thank you.

Dominic, you have anything to say?

And then I'm no, I'm good because you said the southern waterfront advisory committee was good and gave it.

I'm good, but I just wanted to know you look like you wanted to say some, so I appreciate you.

Yes, I'm just saying.

Just stand by us for support, Commissioner.

Thank you.

I'm good, madam president.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Yeah, well, I'd like to just say, you know, I think uh I think this is uh in in my mind one of the most under uh sung roles that the port plays is this you know um place for the input and output through out input and output of these construction materials that that build our city.

You know, that's it's a really important role that we play, and I I'm not sure that the you know uh everybody's uh appreciates how important it is, and this is a incredibly important staging area, and that's what Martin Marietta does as a company.

I'm glad that we're you know um uh partnering with um Caltrans on this project.

I think it's a really important project.

I do think we need to be sharper in the story though about you know uh impacts because you know when I hear you know the others less air quality impacts on the neighborhood.

I I I just I want us to be sharper about like less than what, you know, like uh because you know you just look at the map and you think, well, if I lived at the southern end of Petrero, I would be waiting but this traffic's gonna be really bad for however long.

So I think we should just be prepared for with to be sharper with that story.

Um and I also think that the question that was asked earlier, like you know, it's I think we should always know like the cost of doing nothing on these sites.

Like we this is really I think it's a great story, and I just think that that partnering with Caltrans and and also, you know, I also think about you know, last year we were all really excited about the Amador um improvement, you know.

If all these things kind of feed on each other.

If we hadn't approved it, it wouldn't have been as attractive as a uh of a route.

And uh so I think this is a great story.

Um I just, you know, and that's not anything that I would ask to come back to commission, but I just think we should be, you know, and and even, I think uh I you know we we've all been getting excited about blue Economy.

Like I would like to know more about what kind of um cement is Caltrans using.

Are they are they using, you know, cutting edge cement in these projects?

You know, because I know there's a lot of research and low carbon cement being used, and I I hope that we're, you know, able to kind of understand that our partners are doing the best they can in the roles that they're playing in building our society.

So anyway, just some questions.

Thank you.

Um, thank you so much for the report, and particularly going to the Southern Advisory Committee.

I am supportive of the item and have no questions.

Thank you.

That concludes commission discussion.

Thank you.

Commissioners.

Thank you.

Commissioners, we have a motion.

We have a second.

Second.

All in favor of moving this item, say aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item passes unanimously.

Next item, please.

Item 9A is an informational presentation and update on the port's sole source grant to the Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefits District.

For callers who wish to make public comment on this item, please dial star three to raise your hand to comment.

Hi.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

Uh, it's Amy Cohen.

I'm with the real estate division.

Um, I'm just gonna quickly introduce um quite a team here.

I'm just admiring all the merch right in front of us.

Um we were here um about a year ago approving uh an extension of the grant that started with Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District in June of 2023.

A lot has happened since we were here, and um we promised the commission an update on activities.

There's been um so many activities, and I will turn it over to Bree to introduce or to update and talk about the future of summer activities.

But I just wanted to point out when when you see the first slide here, and yes, there you go.

Um I guess great evidence of the evolution of our partnership is that there are real flower baskets hanging on Jefferson.

And when we first started the grant, the CBD actually used some of our funds to put up fake flowers, which was so scary because we just didn't know if fake flowers could be cared for, but they showed that the fake flowers could be cared for and convinced us that real flowers could be cared for.

So it is um what CBDs do is provide services above and beyond what city agencies are able to do, and I think this is a great example.

Oh, and um Taryn Hoppe is here um from the board.

So anyway, I forgot to mention that, so I'll turn it over to Brie.

Well, good afternoon, commissioners.

Uh Brimon, executive director of the Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District.

Thank you, Amy.

Appreciate the intro.

Um I would like to start by taking a moment to show our gratitude to the port commission, uh, and for the leadership in this room and not here today, uh, for its investment and dedication to ensuring Fisherman's Wharf uh thrives for generations to come.

Uh Fisherman's Wharf is historically and iconically San Francisco through and through.

And it is at a pivotal time in its evolution, and we're grateful to the port for its commitment to this very, very special place along our waterfront.

We're also grateful to the port for its trust and confidence in the CBD to be a leading partner in the future of Fisherman's Wharf.

We've made a lot of progress, and that will share on that today, and we'll keep riding that wave well into the future.

So let's get into it.

And I want to start by reorienting ourselves a little bit.

And what was the original purpose of our grant?

And I'm gonna walk us through this.

Implement multifaceted public space activation and stewardship program, elevate fisherman's wharf experience through cleaning safety and hospitality, enhance public space through beautification and infrastructure improvements, reignite a stronger community, foster small business engagement, and support economic recovery of our small businesses.

And in the spirit of reorientation, we're just gonna give a high-level overview of the grant timeline in June of 2023.

Uh, thank you to the port commission for approving the first iteration of the Soul Source Grant, approximately just over 2.1 million.

The original scope was born out of a critical need for economic recovery on port property, supporting the activation of outdoor spaces through events, public art, marketing initiatives, and enhanced cleaning, hospitality and safety services.

And at the time, these were areas in need of urgent investment and support.

A year later, June 11, 24, we reallocated 400 of the original, 400,000 of the original grant to infrastructure improvements and new programming along Little Embarcadero, now named Fisherman's Wharf Promenade.

And we increased the original grant funding from 2.2 million to 3.2 to introduce that infrastructure improvements to the promenade.

And come May, a year later, after a proven success of this partnership and recognizing the ongoing need for continued economic revitalization, we were very pleased and grateful to the commission for approving the extension of the grant through January 9th of next year, 2027, and increasing that grant funding to 3.1 million, resulting overall in a new total of just over 6.3 million over the course of three and a half years.

We are now in this current phase, and I will present more on the progress and improved momentum that Amy pointed out as we move into our future this summer.

Let's review some of the services that the CBD provides to the port.

And I won't read through the entire slide, but I'll give a high-level overview.

We have daily on-site management of dedicated CBD staff.

We have an amazing dedicated clean and safe hospitality services team.

We lean into district advocacy collective with port, and we lean into economic development through business support, public space beautification, and a very robust events calendar.

And we are also the lead marketing and communications team on behalf of the entire district.

Oops, pardon me.

Moving on to stewardship.

At the heart of all we do is our ambassador team.

And with us here today are Vic and Perla from our amazing team.

These individuals come to work each and every day with an open heart and mind, ready to take on the day.

No task is too small or too big.

They're kind, smart, dedicated to ensuring Fisherman's Wharf is a clean, safe, and happy place for all visitors.

Over the last year, our ambassadors have addressed over 170,000 hospitality interactions on the promenade alone, over 131,000 hospitality interactions on the remaining areas of the port property.

They swept over 6,400 block faces.

Four faces make up a block.

Just call that out.

They collected a little over 2600 bags of trash that equated to just over 117,000 pounds of trash.

And we also supported the port's maintenance team by addressing the overflow bin portion of the trash cans, just under 5,000 incidents of that.

We also removed just over 4,500 instances of graffiti, and we help support our fellow humans with just under 2,500 wellness checks to ensure that these individuals were able to get the services they needed.

All right, and here is most of our team with our joint part walk with the mayor's office and district three supervisors' office last month.

Alright, let's talk about beautification and the amazing flower baskets.

We're also very happy about this year.

We really leaned into refining what our future goals are.

A dream, as Amy mentioned, has been lining our streets with fresh blooms, and thanks to this funding, we were able to introduce live flower baskets to Jefferson and Taylor Streets.

These baskets will be swapped out every spring and fall with fresh blooms.

Also, here you can see the desert shark in front of Pier 45.

We supported the port's efforts to extend the artwork walk through the wharf by amplifying the port's marketing efforts, being on hand during install as well as inspecting the artwork, looking for damage or cleaning needs.

We clean the artwork base, and if any needs arise, we immediately alert the port and building 180.

And moving on to the promenade.

Last year we worked with Street Plans and Port and the Port to create the whimsical fish shoals you see swimming around the promenade.

These murals represent fish that are vital to our commercial fishing industry.

This was a great partnership project with us in the port and street plans, and we hosted a volunteer weekend to paint the fish.

This funding was vital to improve not only the public space infrastructure but also the way that the public uses the space.

This funding transformed the area from an overpopulated, unpermitted vending public safety challenge to the vibrant, welcoming, and enjoyable public space that it is today.

It provided over 28 new scening opportunities to linger longer, enjoy our waterfront, the reconfiguration of 24 existing benches and 12 concrete planters.

The installation of 20 new redwood landscaping planters, the installation of eight units of interactive fun furniture for kids of all ages, and seven new pergolas.

Alright, now moving into events and activations, starting with our iconic Pier Party at the wharf.

This last year we celebrated our third season.

Pier Party attracted over 15,000 domestic visitors with an average dwell time of 47 minutes, excuse me.

We worked closer with wharf businesses to offer attendees meal and drink deals.

During our music breaks, our MC announced offers at various businesses, all in an effort to elevate economic vitality for our wharf businesses.

We also worked with Warrior's hype man Franco Finn to MC the concerts, elevate visitor experience, and expand our reach to new audiences.

We secured new local artists, creating fun, interactive admission intermissions and more.

And then also this year, around intermissions, we hosted the wharf's very first drag show celebrating pride.

We also introduced Trivia for Chocolate in partnership with local businesses and even salsa dancing, which was a great hit.

All right, and then Fleet Fest.

This year we solidified Fisherman's Wharf as the place to host Fleet Fest.

Within days, we banned together us and the Port and the Fleet Week Association to bring Fleet Fest from Pier 27 to the Triangle lot.

During Fleet Week, we welcomed over 150,000 domestic visitors to the wharf Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

While this traffic dip was due to the government shutdown and lack of participation from the Blue Angels and U.S.

Navy ships, Fleet Fest in the Wharf was vital to support our businesses and make the best of program of the programming we were able to host, like the Canadian snowbirds and the Colombian ships.

Several businesses commented that they were thrilled that Fleet Fest happened regardless, and the negative economic impacts were less than anticipated.

Fleet Fest was a shining example of what happens when a community aligns in heart and purpose, and it was truly a community event, and we're already in talks for planning this year's Fleet Fest.

And last but not least, warm-up of the wharf.

And who said San Francisco is not family friendly?

We brought a football field to Fisherman's Wharf and welcomed approximately 16,000 visitors to our event that weekend.

And thanks to our amazing ambassador team, we literally turned the parking lot adjacent to the Skystar wheel into a football field.

Visitors put their throwing arms to the test with a football throwing simulator, participated in crossfit agility challenges, listened to live music, received free liquid ivy giveaways, and parents and guardians enjoyed their kids' smiles as they played in Ugoobi's kids' sensory play zone.

Our fishermen's wharf businesses also brought their A game.

More than 25 businesses offered prizes from hotel stays, bay cruises and tours, free merchandise, rise on the Sky Star Wheel, and meal discounts, to free football-shaped sour dough drops from Bow Dean Bakery in the football field.

Our community really showed up for each other.

And around the corner in the Crab Wheel Plaza, we hosted Legends Pop-Up Merchandise Trailer as well as a Nike merchandise giveaway.

It was an epic weekend.

And then lastly, we also hosted our very first wine walk last May and welcome back our annual Crab Crawl this March and other small activations, such as a sunset sip and paint in the Crabwell Plaza, a dance class produced by Ray Studios this summer.

We partnered with Scrap SF Arts for an arts and craft workshop.

We also brought back our maritime market this holiday season.

Our ambassador team developed, designed the iHeart SF activation that was in the Crabwell Plaza, as well as we introduced our Wharf Wednesdays small business activation series.

All right, now let's move on to our pop-up fish market, as Mike mentioned earlier.

This January, we partnered with the Crab Boat Association to launch a pop-up fish market.

This initiative is aimed at re-inspiring San Franciscans to come to the wharf for their fresh fish, supporting our fishing fleet and celebrating the wharf's historic maritime heritage.

Every Saturday from 8 to 2 p.m., our neighbors can come to the wharf to buy locally caught fish.

Year to date, the market has served over 700 customers, not including last week's Salmon season launch.

And we're very happy to report that the fish market has been extended through September.

Let's touch on revenue generation, which the CBD has committed to reinvest it back into a thriving fisherman's wharf.

We have increased our revenue generation strategy by elevating our brand presence and marketing efforts, establishing a set event fee structure for events and activations based on the type of activation, as well as leveraging our existing iconic waterfront locations.

Through March, we've obtained approximately 201,000 in revenue, and we exceeded this year's goal by 100,000.

And we're on track to obtain an additional 37,000 by the end of this fiscal.

The revenue generated through these avenues is reinvested into the wharf.

And an example of this is the Warm Up at the Wharf event.

This event was fully funded through that revenue generation.

As the CBD increases its revenue generation strategy and secures more funding, our commitment is to reinforce invest it back into the wharf via more events, more public space beautification projects, and increased marketing campaigns and more.

And speaking of marketing, one of our core purposes, we've elevated our marketing and social media presence by hiring a new marketing and events coordinator, Marlowe, who is dedicated to planning and promoting our events and marketing new and existing public spaces and our iconic wharf businesses.

Over the past year, we've built a strong partnership with the Port Comms team through recurring biweekly check-ins to discuss current events and local initiatives, joint advocacy of D3 supervisor and central stations, Captain Delgondio, as well as with multiple collaborative press releases to promote Frab season, fishermen's wharf events, and the completion of the promenade.

And soon-to-be new Taylor Street Plaza.

We've also brought a new branding agency in, Creative Mint, to help elevate the Fisherman's Wharf brand identity.

We also collaborated with Portcoms at our workshop last fall and developed new guidelines and a branding roadmap that will help shape our collective identity and unification.

We've made progress on collaborative coverage between our organizations as well, including a piece from the San Francisco Chronicle highlighting the public-private partnership with a joint interview with the former director Forbes and myself.

Moving on to advocacy, advocacy plays a crucial role in building relationships, confidence, and elevating and addressing district cleanliness, safety, and economic development needs.

And the CBD, we hold a unique position as we serve as the primary catalyst for unification of Fisherman's Wharf.

From Pier 39 to Little Embarcadero to the High Street Pier to Garadelli Square.

This year we leaned in really hard.

We've increased advocacy efforts by engaging with civic leadership and other organizational partners.

Hosting district walks and regular engagement with the mayor's office, district three supervisor's office, Central Station MTA, SF Travel, The Chamber, and more.

And the results are coming in.

We're gaining recognition and responsiveness from the Board of Supervisors and City Hall.

We've positioned ourselves to be the go-to be the go to from for legislative feedback that will impact our small businesses and our fishing community as well as the tourism industry.

And we've also welcomed our fisherman's war footbeat back every Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.

to 9 p.m.

And our entertainment zone legislation was officially approved by the Board of Supervisors this year.

Will and it will increase district visitors and create greater economic opportunities for our waterfront tenants.

And last but not least, we've fostered a good partnership with the Department of Emergency Management to address the needs of our most vulnerable unhoused residents within the district, connecting them with vital support services while also increasing public safety.

And talking about foot traffic, our foot traffic is tracking on its way back.

What we're seeing from the data is that the 2223 was the height of the Doom Loop narrative.

And as the city has collectively campaigned against it, that narrative, as the 25 data shows, has improved or is improving.

And this year we're tracking well to continue that growth.

Historically, we've tracked unique visitor counts through PlacerI AI.

We track the entire district from Pier 39 to Garidelli Square.

And we also can create special zones like at the Crabwheel Plaza, the Triangle Lot by Bodine, and the Promenade.

However, being the tech capital of the world, tech is consistently evolving, and we're currently onboarding a new software called DataFi.

DataFi is another tracking software, however, with spending data, and has the capabilities to create targeted collective district campaigns.

Not only will we track foot traffic, we will also be able to track and analyze spending data and create custom marketing campaigns on behalf of the entire district.

As you can see from the graphic on the screen, we're tracking to exceed 2025 numbers if we keep heading in this direction.

And a little fun feedback.

Every year we document feedback and conduct outreach to the businesses to assess our impact, learn how we can improve our support, and improve upon our programs.

On the screen are a couple standout pieces of feedback from port tenants and others, another from a visitor last year.

From a port tenant, the promenade turned out fantastic.

The flea market and hot dog vendors are gone, and the promenade is once again inviting real estate.

And from a visitor, it's prettier and cleaner than ever before.

From another port tenant, the CVD programming has been instrumental in contributing to the vitality of fishermen's wharf.

Let's talk about those surveys for a little bit.

This year we introduced event surveys as another tool to learn more about our visitors, where they're from, what do they like, what are they coming to the war for, and what do they spend their money on?

We offered CVD blankets, water bottles, sunglasses, and more in exchange for completing a survey.

This year we gathered over 670 survey results over the course of our events, providing us with additional insight on visitor data and desired experiences.

So what's next?

What does the future hold?

This year we'll be working with the port to install a light canopy above the Crabwheel Plaza.

We're currently working on revamping the Jefferson Street banners, and soon we'll be extending the beautiful Joey Rose Fish Mural from the Crabwell Plaza west down Jefferson Street.

And for the upcoming new Taylor Street Plaza, we'll wrap the plaza into our daily ambassador schedule, caring for the space, removing litter, trash, graffiti, and biohazards.

We're also working with some of our other district partners like the Maritime Association and others to develop new programming concepts.

And our goal is to introduce concepts like maritime history, working waterfront lessons, sustainable fishing practices and waterfront stewardship, marine biology workshops, and more.

For events, we're expanding our peer party.

This year we're introducing a day and night concept.

So the second Saturday of the month will be a peer party afternoon with a fun, engaging activity.

We will also be introducing new large scale events to the waterfront, including a wine and oyster festival, a car and dog show, and we'll be bringing back the annual chowder competition.

We're gonna go big with the chowder competition.

We're inviting local celebrity chefs and civic leaders to be judges, and we'll be introducing possibly a chowder and bread bowl competition.

Live music prizes and more.

All right, and just to reorient ourselves a little bit with the budget, at a high level view review, we ended the fiscal year 25 with just under 400,000.

This was due to operational savings and strategically pausing the Crabwheel plaza light canopy.

Moving into this fiscal, we reallocated that funding into marketing, infrastructure maintenance, beautification, and stewardship, giving us a new fiscal 26 budget of approximately 2.3 million.

You'll also note the revenue that we generated, year to date, approximately just over 200,000.

We anticipate again to collect an additional 37,000 by the end of this fiscal.

Year to date, we've spent approximately 1.3 million, giving us a remaining balance through the end of this uh December, just of under 1.2 million, which I want to underscore, will be used to support the projects that we just identified.

In closing, the core purpose of the Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District is to promote advance and maintain fishermen's wharf as a world-class destination.

With our vital and very successful partnership, we're reinforcing our organizational core purpose.

I want to reiterate on behalf of the entire fisherman's wharf community that we are very grateful to this port commission, to Mike Martin, Scott Lansettle, Don Cavanaugh, Amy Cohen, which I would like to underscore Amy because she's been a key leader in this partnership in growing this program.

Also, Harold George, Kyle Thomas, Megan Wallace, Eric Young, and countless other vital port teammates that are not here today.

Teamwork makes a dream work, and we've got one epic team.

Thank you.

Thank you, Brie.

So is there any more?

No.

I'm just giving her some we're here.

Okay, thank you.

Is there any public comment in the room on this incredible item?

If there is, make your way to the dais.

Okay.

Jenica, is there any public comment on the phone?

We have no callers, thank you.

Okay, then I'm gonna close public comment, and I'm gonna go to Commissioner Lee first, who I'm sure has a lot to say.

Wow.

Well, first of all, when you guys uh when we appropriated the money, I first thought it was just gonna be entertainment, you know.

Uh and of course I'm gonna support entertainment no matter what, because that was bringing people back, but during the time we had no money, and uh, you know, uh when I first joined, it was like, okay, we gotta generate something from nothing.

But we still are able to give you this uh budget, and you guys spent it quite well, actually.

I mean, it's it's uh overwhelming that it's not just about the entertainment but how much infrastructure and and beautification that you have put into it, which is why um, you know, part of the reason why things are happening at the wharf, why small businesses want to come back?

Uh, why the uh our port staff is motivated, because you know, and your team, you know, the women in there, who's been so creative.

Because you know, doing events and and thinking outside the box of all these new things, all the things that you listed, you know, just one one small team cannot handle.

I mean, I couldn't even do it in just only one nightclub, have all these kind of things, and it takes so many people to do it, and and for you to have that budget, and I guess the confidence of the city to give you extra money because you're doing well.

I mean, we've seen so much, I think we were all kind of holding our breath is what they're gonna do with this money.

And you guys spent it so well, and I'm I'm just proud to be there with you guys to motivate you, especially in the entertainment, but um, I mean the public safety, the garbage, I mean everything uh that we need to generate more business and experience to the port.

So I don't know what else to tell you.

I mean, you're doing such a great job.

It's almost like you're you're your own port, you know, and and your team, and I appreciate you guys meeting me.

Uh, that's also a thing because I really think uh uh it's time for salsa festival, and I'm hoping that's in your program.

Uh and I don't know what else to tell you, but great job.

Uh I'm glad that we're here to support you.

I'm glad your budget got increased, and uh, and that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Commissioner McNeely, do you have comments?

Sure.

Uh yes, uh, an incredible report.

I mean, this is clearly money well invested.

Uh, the work that you've done uh has been absolutely incredible.

I was um uh at Fisherman's Warth uh uh or a couple of weeks ago, and the energy around the place is just uh fantastic.

It's clean, it's inviting, it's welcoming, and um I know a great deal of that is due to the work of you and your team.

Uh great work on that.

And I was I had a question, but then you you you answered it.

I was gonna ask about uh uh if you are able to determine local traffic versus um uh our tourists.

It sounds like you're doing some surveys uh uh that will help um deal with that uh or reveal that data.

I'd be also curious to determine, particularly with respect to residents, if it's uh if it's their first visit or second visit, and and trying to understand what's bringing people back, so that we could double down on some of that information.

Maybe we could do that with the marketing team, and it seems like there's a real opportunity there to really uh uh listen to folks and to give them more of what they're coming to the wharf to see and to get.

But congratulations, you guys are doing a fantastic job.

Commissioner Adams.

I'm looking at the staff in the front row, and you're smiling, and you're energetic.

But I would just say this that this is great because we're living in a time where the public is scrutinize everything that's being done.

And I think Director Martin has said it one time we're we're being watched, everything we do, and what I see right here is a comprehensive report, clearly attention to detail, detail.

And this is so important, because I think as a society, we have got to win the public's trust back that money is just not being spent or stolen or being misused.

The public has got to believe that the port and others that we are leading the way and that we're being accountable, and I really like this.

This is important, and uh please continue you know doing what you're doing.

I um there is that energy, you know what I mean, and that accountability, and we can't make it work, but some people don't know when they have power what to do, and they abuse it and they don't do what the money's supposed to be spent for.

And when you did come back, we gave you the money and and it's right here in front of us.

And I'm gonna say uh good job.

Please continue to have that oversight so we can when the public comes, we can celebrate, and we can make sure that everything is done decent and in order.

Thank you.

Thank you.

VPN.

Thank you, Brie, for the presentation.

All right, I guess I have a question.

It feels feels like the uh the scale of the wharf's impact on our tourism economy is much larger than what the scope of this presentation maybe was focused on.

Because I think everything that's in the in the presentation is impressive.

But then I I have a couple questions like the six million dollar investment over three years.

How did that compare to the other portion of where assessments came from?

Was there was there OEWD money?

Was there private assessments from the uh businesses?

So that's one question I have.

Can you help me understand that?

Yeah, so uh right now, let me actually take us back for a second.

So 2020, there were technically two CBDs, port property.

There was a business merchants or CBD district, not port property, there was a business merchants district on port property, the business merchants paid into the CBD.

Then Jefferson Street Building Edge South, the land side of the district, that's paid into by property assessments.

In 2020, both districts came up for new renewal.

The business merchants decided not to renew the port side CBD.

So it went away.

Landside CBD was renewed and it's still operating.

It's paid through by property assessments.

So does that help?

Well, sort of, but it maybe makes my question even more maybe a little because I'm I'm just trying to figure out how do we go forward with this because it's the tourism economy, you know, read statistics.

We have like a nine billion dollar tourism economy.

And I heard maybe what I heard was the punchline of your presentation was that we have 200,000 worth of revenue.

And I'm just trying to compute like fisherman's wharf is one of the most important puzzle pieces of our tourism economy.

How can we how can we connect the dots between the economic impact?

And so because six six million dollars invested and and then coming out and hearing two hundred thousand dollars worth of revenue, I don't think that's like I want us to I I want to celebrate everything we're celebrating, but I also want to connect the dots so we lift up the presentation and we we point out that you know the nine billion dollars worth of tourism economy that the fisherman's wharf is impacting that that way people who are looking for that sort of messaging get what they need.

You know, it also gives us a position as we move forward into uh talking about you know the future of fishing and the future of uh you know investing in these peers, like we all of it adds up to each other.

So I I guess that's my question is is there another part of the story?

I mean, to be quite honest, we didn't ask as part of this grant for them to do that kind of evaluation, which that kind of study could be done, and we could do it.

We have a lot of the data ourselves.

Right, it's sort of a choice between how much do you like spend time doing and spend money doing versus spend time studying, but we have sales numbers of our own tenants.

You know, we have sales numbers of their um boba container that show um improvements, and I think someone could, you know, ask for and create a study that would show some impact at the same time.

There's bigger global things going on in the city and the country, so all of this is sort of up.

I think it's pushing against pretty challenging trends.

Also, you know, that's what I think.

And and I I don't want to sound like I want to inspire the team who's already doing incredible work, but Amy, both you and Bree and your team, uh is that you know, I think that dimension, especially given the context of the trends that you're talking about, is that we are you know, I'm always surprised when I hear that our tourism numbers are so up when you listen to national news that you know you know that especially because I always heard that we have this outsized international tourism happening, and so I just all of these things, you know, maybe it's just a um a reminder to all of us that you know when we when we tell a really good story, we have to also just say, okay, well, what is it?

What else?

What else?

What other dimension is there?

Because I I'm, you know, I totally agree with my fellow commissioners that this is really important, but also we have to tell the story of that bigger story that you know, the fisherman's wharf is so important to our tourism economy, and if it's not clean and safe, people don't want to go there, then that nine billion dollars worth of tourism.

I wonder what those numbers would have looked like if we didn't spend the six million dollars doing what we did.

So that's huge.

And I I can add a note to that too.

Um, and our board president can definitely attest to this.

Um part of that increased advocacy efforts that we've been having and these deeper conversations with City Hall and our D3 supervisor is part that is part of that conversation is hey Fisherman's Wharf needs this attention, we need those resources, we need that support because we are the top tourist destination in the city.

Um so we are having that conversation.

Uh we're looking at ways that we can, you know, pull that data and share that story.

Um yeah, we'll keep leaning into it.

Yeah, and I'll just say, you know, it's good muscle for us to build too, because you know, we're starting this conversation about the central waterfront, and you know, we we have to get good at this story.

And I I know I know like Amy said, it's there, and I I know Amy's passionate about these topics, so I'm I'm confident we can do it.

And I'm I'm sorry, and I think what I think apologize, I think what BPM Lum is getting at, and I just want to make sure, and I would love to hear your comments too.

I know you came to the dias, is just to confirm because it was the leading part of his question.

So you you are validating that outside of the assessment someone who's familiar with community benefit districts, outside of the assessment fee on the land side of Jefferson.

Um, the only other public funding you've received to support the CBD has been from us from the port.

You have not received funding from OEWD, you've not received other tourism dollars.

I just want to clarify because that was the crux of his question.

Yeah, that's correct.

For our services on port property, it is all through this grant.

And the port grant does not pay for the landscape.

Correct.

No, I yeah, no, I understand.

I understand that.

We have received a grant for wayfinding signage uh from OEW or sorry, Avenue Greenlight uh project still pending per DPW, but that's all landside work.

Yeah, no, I just wanted to get sort of I think to the crux of the question, which was balancing an asset that benefits the whole city and county of San Francisco.

And and maybe a follow-up question when when those two uh districts split, what's the kind of geographic balance?

Like is one twice as big or are they both about the same area?

Do you have a sense?

Uh the port side is actually a little bit smaller than the land side.

Um port property goes up to the building edge of Jefferson Street, and then that's where the landside kicks in.

Okay.

And I just have a small, could you identify yourself?

Oh yeah, I'm Taryn Hoppe, uh the board chair of the Fisherman's Dwarf CBD and a local business owner.

Um and I I just wanted to point out that the sort of I don't think we should pay too much uh put too much attention on the 200,000 as the revenue generator, um, because the whole purpose of the CBD, of course, is was never to generate revenue.

The core purpose of a C D C BD is to provide services and of course enhance the area so that they can provide more revenue, which would be a great thing to learn if we could quantify how it's helped.

Um I think from anecdotally I can say as a business owner, um, it's been tremendously helpful.

Um, but uh that 200k uh sort of came out of just um the CBD, you know, knowing that the port grant is not guaranteed funding and there's always expiration dates on it, and um it's always something we have to prove.

I think that as a CBD, we wanted to look longer term and show the port that hey, we can actually you know generate some of our own revenue on the port so that we don't have to come asking for this money.

Um so it's just been a slow seedling that we really want to cultivate so that um uh you know, it's almost like a cherry on tops kind of, but it's definitely was is not the purpose of the CBD.

But that number has potential to grow for sure.

Can I make uh that's a for me?

You want to go for making a conquire?

Yeah, um, thank you, Commissioner Lee.

Um, so so Brie, I think first of all, I want to say congratulations as someone who lives near the waterfront.

I'm there every week.

I was there Monday at four o'clock.

Um, and there was absolutely full traffic starting from the crab wheel.

Now, before, you know, coming through the cannery, um, it was pretty sleepy.

But the minute you hit the crab wheel to to see Chunkis at Pier 39, it was it was jammed with people, both chur, you know, I assume tourists when, you know, when I I hear um folks um mostly conversing in non-English, but I could be wrong, they could be locals who are just bilingual or trilingual, and then like a mix of locals.

You could just sort of tell how people were moving through the experience.

So I just really want to say congratulations to you and your team.

I've seen someone who's there weekly a stark difference in the last two years, and it has been exciting.

Um before I get to like a question more about the economics and how in the future to generate revenue if the port can't support at this level, you know, because as you said, um it's always TBD and from us from a budgeting perspective.

Um, I do really with all this new programming, really would love to encourage as much as possible.

Um, some sort of look either local discounting or or targeting of locals.

What what I you know what concerns me always is that we're sort of I I don't want to see us as a district get to a point where it's tourism or I have tourists coming to visit me and I choose to bring them there.

And I think with all the activations as someone who's done the crab walk um crawl twice now, who's come down to your concerts, um still there needs to be more in-reach into the neighborhoods around the wharf.

Um, you know, with the family zoning plan, we're gonna see hundreds of units hopefully someday be developed along along that stretch of the waterfront.

And if there's any way to do promotionals, maybe even like the first hundred locals who sign up for this event get a discount or something so it doesn't eat into your revenue too much.

I just really wanted to encourage that because I still think there's a lot of folks, particularly um in Jackson Square and North Beach, who are unaware of the activities that are happening, which could be a natural draw to the waterfront.

Um, so I was just curious when when is the CBD up?

And do you have any plans to try to have a better encouragement zone?

I mean, to me, Pier 39 should be paying into this CBD as the master leaseholder um of port property.

So can you tell us a little bit about your strategy to increase the property assessment and what's part of your zone on renewal?

Um our board actually just approved an early renewal strategy.

So our existing management contract with uh City and County of San Francisco expires in 35.

We're going to early renewal.

Uh and we are looking at things like district expansion, reassessing our property assessment formula to increase property assessments and also expanding the district as well.

Uh we just created a steering committee that's comprised of CBD staff, board members, as well as port leadership and some other district stakeholders to help guide this process and work through the feasibility studies and an engineering report on you know what would make sense for property type, property use, et cetera, for formulas moving forward.

So we just had our first steering committee meeting.

It was very fruitful.

We were able to, at least in that meeting, kind of carve down boundary expansion, etc.

So we're in talks right now.

That's great.

Thank you so much.

And I know if I may uh uh answer your question around marketing to locals, it's been on our marketing committee's agenda to figure out how to develop a locals program.

Uh and it's a conversation that we're constantly having is how do we re-inspire our locals to come visit the wharf and spend money in our neighborhood.

Yeah, that's great.

Thank you so much.

And you're doing a tremendous job, and it it is a marketable um difference.

I would like to maybe when the management plan is finalized.

I'm gonna ask for under new business that the we get briefed as a commission um before it moves forward to I mean it's a very lengthy time-consuming process, but I'd love to just get briefed on when they land on a plan, kind of what that looks like.

Um, Commissioner, um we'll definitely do that, and and we're actually in discussions with the CBD about we expect that reauthorization or expansion plan to take some time, and we don't want to have a cliff as of January where there's no funding.

So I think what we want to bring back is both that discussion and our discussions with them about is there a way to uh sort of increase uh include funding for next year to sort of bridge to when that happens.

But to their point, they're still drawing that picture.

We're we're along with them on that on that picture drawing exercise, and we definitely want to come back to you to to talk about how that all fits together.

Oh thank you.

And you're the complete land side all the way from um High Street Pier all the way up to Pier 39.

Uh kind of.

Pier 39 is inside the district because they're garage is inside of our district, but that's where it's ends.

Okay, great.

Yeah, okay.

Well, hopefully, too, um, with all the news to our friends coming in.

I saw another restaurant's coming in across the street from where hopefully Lou's Everett's will be opening soon in the old blues blue barbecue space.

Hopefully, to um those landlords are seeing the benefit.

That concludes my comments.

Commissioner Lee, you had a comment.

Yeah, I just want to uh just reiterate that.

You know, when the when we had COVID and fisherman's work, we we basically had nobody to promote it.

And we would all fall down on the port anyway, you know.

I mean, and all for our tenants uh that were struggling.

I mean, the money that we allocated to help.

I mean, it's like we gotta, it's almost our responsibility anyway to provide a little bit of budget uh for the promotion and the beautification, where our port staff was already over tax.

So you kind of look at it as uh, yeah, we had to allocate money to it or give it an opportunity, but they've spent it well, and they're doing a great job.

And because they're generating income, most CBDs will just use the money and do services and support, but if it can actually generate income from however they're doing it and reinvesting in it, that's less money that the port would have to give them.

So so, in a sense, that yeah, you know, we need the data, be great, you know.

With the we wouldn't even have that nine billion dollar tourism industry at the port if the CBD fisheries we didn't give them that seed money to help develop it, and and as we monitor their success, that's why the that's why they're getting what they're getting, you know, in my opinion.

And you know, we do have as a as a port landlord, we have to give small business some support.

And I'm telling you, you know, coming here, you know, the port's been landlords mostly, but the COVID hit that changed the whole deal.

And I just welcomed the partnership that the fishermen's CBD and whatever we could do.

You know, when we were supposed to do a car show at Pier 32, and we had to bring it all down to you guys.

Hey, we're all there for it.

You know, because we want those tenants, you know, to be supported.

And so even if we don't get all the data right away, we know it's in the positive sense, it's being spent well.

It was a very well-dailed report, and I appreciate that.

And um, you know, I I think it's it's give them a little slack, you know.

They're they're they're doing great in my opinion.

Um thank you, Commissioner Lee.

And I think the whole commission really values this report, Brie.

You put a lot of effort into it, and your team all showing up here today.

I want to commend all of you for keeping Fisherman's Wharf um safe, clean, and vibrant.

And on that note, next item, please.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Item 10A is an informational presentation on the exploratorium's sea level rise education initiative, including an upcoming field station installation at piers 1517 to support an education and outreach program about sea level rise and climate resilience impacting San Francisco and other Bay Area communities for callers who wish to make public comment on this item.

Please dial star three to raise your hand to comment.

Over to you, Patrick.

All right, I'll set uh good afternoon, commissioners.

I'm Patrick Foster from the Ports Planning Division.

I'm excited to introduce uh this item for you today.

Um, after a lot of concept development work with the exploratorium, uh they're ready to present to you uh their upcoming sea level rise education initiative, uh which we're confident will be a great public benefit for both San Francisco and the Bay Area region as a whole.

Uh so I'll I'll go ahead and jump into my own uh quick agenda on the next slide for the introduction today.

So I'm gonna start with just a brief background on the genesis of this program, how we got here today.

Uh that'll be followed by a high level review of the different elements of the initiative, including uh the field station installation, which will be coming to the waterfront this summer.

And then uh after my quick intro, the exploratorium uh team who's waiting over here, they'll they'll get into a more detailed presentation and uh we'll be available for questions after that.

Alright, so the the overall idea for this program came from a recognition that there's an urgent need for much more public awareness about sea level rise and the risks that it poses to shoreline communities in the Bay Area.

Basically, we know that responding to these risks locally will require a lot of buy-in among the public and among voters.

So this program is meant to serve as a foundational piece in building that awareness.

So years ago, around when I started working at the port in 2019, the port and BCDC, our government partners started having informal conversations about the need for this type of program.

From there, the exploratorium was quickly identified as the best partner to help carry this out given their depth of experience in science education.

At the time, exploratorium had recently relocated to the waterfront at piers 15 and 17, which is also the perfect hub for the program's objectives.

So the port, we started facilitating joint meetings with the exploratorium and BCDC to strategize on how to best design and implement the program.

This is where we identified ideas for the program's content and structure and how success could be measured over time.

So during this same period, staff from the port's waterfront resilience program invested lots of time and energy in helping to develop and test elements of the initiative.

That included waterfront tours, youth programs, teacher workshops, and regional climate events.

So up here on this slide is a list of some of the main focus areas that we identified for the program.

At its core are the scientific foundations of sea level rise, and then the program is also expected to cover strategies for building resilience and adaptation, including nature-based solutions, while providing uh additional context on the indigenous connection to sea level and the history of Bay Fill, land use and environmental justice for vulnerable communities in the Bay Area.

This next slide shows the broad concepts that the program was designed to address.

First, we have public experience and engagement, which is really all about creating exhibits, programs, and online media that can be freely accessible to the public with the goal of amplifying sea level rise in knowledge and awareness.

The field station, which you'll hear about as part of this objective, along with more temporary pop-up activations that will take place around the bay.

The built exhibits will be supplemented by educational resources that will be hosted online and displayed in person at the exploratorium.

Next, we have a goal to reach directly to students and educators in the Bay Area, which will be done through free classroom and curricular resources and professional development workshops for teachers and community leaders.

The exploratorium will continue to host tens of thousands of students every year on field trips, and those can start to be tailored to include a focus on sea level rise adaptation and resilience.

The third objective is collaborative design and evaluation, which speaks to the need to consult with community groups and government partners as the program comes together to ensure it's successful.

So, yeah, finally, I'll just mention the field station.

The exploratorium will be presenting this in much more detail.

I just wanted to show kind of where we're at in the development, which will be located on the public plaza at piers 15 and 17 in front of the museum.

At this point, the exploratorium's completed most of the initial steps, including stakeholder meetings, the partners on what type of the exhibits the field station should include.

The conceptual design came together over the last year or so.

So now the exploratorium's focus is on testing exhibits and getting to a final architectural package.

And in the meantime, the exploratorium and port are working together on a joint amendment to the BCDC development permit for Piers 15 and 17.

And that'll authorize construction of the field station with the goal of getting it built this summer.

So with that, I'll let the exploratorium take it from here.

I think Rob Semper is here.

I'll introduce Rob, the museum's chief science officer, who will be given the presentation today.

Great.

Thank you very much, Patrick, and commissioners.

Shaney Krevsky is here, Laura Zander and Emma Greenbaum, and I want to thank you for the time we have to talk about this project.

We're very excited to present it to you.

And I just want to say at the outset that this has been an incredible partnership between Exploratorium, the Port of San Francisco and BC DC.

Patrick mentioned we started this about six and a half years ago.

We've learned a lot about each other, and I think that's what's making this project success.

I'm very, very happy to bring it to this point.

Let me uh find out which my arrow is.

I guess this one.

There we go.

Um so just to reiterate the um exploratorium sea level rise education initiative.

Um it's really uh aimed to increase public understanding of the impacts of sea level rise in the Bay Area using public education.

And the program outcomes are about public uh engagement, teacher workshops, school field trips, and regional collaborations.

It's definitely a joint effort between the exploratorium, between the port and the BCDC.

And I think part of this is a realization that we need to have a long-term education program because any of the things we implement, this is going to take a long time to work.

And often people don't know what it takes to do installations now that may take five or ten years to build and have implications 10, 20, 30 years down the line.

So part of this is education, not just formal education about why sea level rise happens, but what it means to have adaptation happening, what it means to invest in the future, and give people a chance to understand what's happening with all of these adaptation and investments.

And so it's a different kind of education in the environmental space.

Um, we had the fortune of moving to the piers.

Now it's been 13 years.

I can't believe it.

I was part of that move, and it seems still like yesterday.

We're so excited to be here on the on the uh on the property that we we get to enjoy on the port property.

And one of the things that happened when we moved there, uh, we all of a sudden got windows over at the Palace of Fine Arts.

We had no windows, but we got a great location.

In fact, we're able to build the Fisher Bay Observatory on top of the uh end pier and the building at the end of the uh piers.

And this has an amazing opportunity to both have windows onto the bay, windows onto the city, and we're able to start to design exhibits that actually related to observing the bay, observing the city, and began to get our own chops going about how to do exhibitory in a physical place.

So this is all really about location-based environmental education.

And it took us a while to learn how to do that.

Here's some pictures of some of the observatory exhibits.

This is inside the exploratorium, but this gave us the incentive about learning how to do this kind of education.

Um, we then quickly found out, of course, that we're part of a region.

We're part of a of an act of action happening everywhere about sea level rides, and we began to explore not only what happens at our physical location, but going out and visiting other opportunities that people had, whether it's up in San Rafael or down in in East Palo Alto or doing walks along the embarcadero, basically talking about, in this case, Royal Tides or the or the dramatic things that happened during these tidal events.

And we began to realize about this is a regional project, not just something happening in San Francisco, but we also know that we have an audience that comes to the exploratorium from all over the Bay Area.

Our field trips come from all over the Bay Area, and people walking up and down the street in front of the exploratorium come from all over the world.

We just heard about the wonderful stuff happening at Fisherman's Wharf.

The parade of people from the ferry building to fisherman's work is absolutely incredible, and numbers of people.

And we have a chance to try to engage with all of them with this project.

Um we also wanted to deal with the future.

We have an education issue that involves people who are going to have to inherit the world that we're working in.

And so this project that we're talking about also involves real active efforts with educators and students.

On the educator side, we do a lot of workshops at the exploratorium for teachers to give them tools to be able to bring sea level rise issues back into their classroom.

And we've been working a lot with the port and the ports activities of SFUSD to help those teachers learn how to bring this back into their classroom setting.

Those workshops turn out to therefore have impact year after year once we work with teachers in the workshop.

They can do this then year after year in their classroom.

And also, student engagement, a lot of student engagement happens in the classroom, but a lot happens at field trips at the exploratorium.

We have over 100,000 students come to the exploratorium every year on field trips, and our idea was to try to engage those students with sea level rise activities and see if we could help them understand the world that they're inheriting and see what's being done now to help their world move forward.

This picture is kind of interesting.

If you see these are some field trip students on the deck of our observatory, but also next to it, you see teachers who are at the seawall looking through our grate in front of our building where you can see the seawall.

It's not so easy, it's kind of slots, but you can actually see that seawall that's kind of paved over that no one even knows exists.

And you sometimes realize people are shocked that they're standing on water and not on land, for example, on across that seawall set.

So another thing that's been important that we've learned along the way is that this has to be a collaborative effort.

This is not an effort of one organization, the exploratorium, or even an effort of the exploratorium and the port or exploratorium port in BCDC.

It's involving all the people that are engaged in dealing with this throughout the Bay Area.

And so we've learned that having collaborative meetings, conferences, bringing people together turns out to be an important thing that we can offer at our facility.

And we've had this is for example, a picture of the Bay Adapt Summit that happened.

We had the second one here this fall.

It turns out to be a place that can gather people, is something we can offer because of our facility, and we hope to use that in this initiative.

I want to spend a little bit of time that I have today, limited time, to talk about a very specific thing that we're doing, which is the waterfront field station.

And this is a this is a project to actually build a public learning laboratory, a place that has exhibits, landscape interventions, place-based pedagogy, or as I said, our location-based environmental education can come together to provide the public a chance to really explore sea level rise, explore the adaptations that are being done, and begin to have conversations with each other about this effort.

So this is something that's being designed for the front plaza of the peers in front of Pier 15 and 17, the public plaza.

I'm going to show you some of the work that we're doing, just quickly, we don't have much time, to give you a sense of what we're trying to do out there on that plaza.

We've been actually prototyping exhibits out there for the last couple years, taking things out and seeing what works.

We're very much of a prototypical organization.

We test everything that we do before it goes out finally with the public because we've learned that people playing with our stuff teaches us what works and what doesn't work.

And this environment for us is different.

It's an outdoor environment.

People are passing by, they're not coming in to a visit of the museum.

We have to learn how does that work.

And the team that's here and the team that's working back at the exploratorium have done a lot of temporary things out there in the field to see what that's like.

And we've learned a lot about what we want to put out there in a more permanent fashion, more installation fashion.

Um, and that's what I'm going to show you next is this is we saw a couple of the pictures.

This is a kind of a rendering of what the installation is going to be like inside in front of the exploratorium.

That's Pier 17 over on the left.

Pier 15 is over on the right.

That square in the front is this grate that's over the seawall.

And so we're trying to make use of this facility, this closeness to the water, this closeness to the seawall to tell the story about sea level rise and adaptations.

Here's another picture of it, sort of from the land side, and um I can show you this, which is more of the picture that Patrick just showed.

One of the things I want to point out about this image is this cutaway is where all of the field trip buses stop to discharge the kids that come to visit the exploratorium.

So each of them are going to actually flow through this installation, both going and coming back to their buses.

So it's going to have a very interesting effect on the visitation, and it's going to give us a chance to talk about this issue with our field trip group.

Uh I'm gonna move quickly through the set of exhibits.

I had more than probably I can show in the time here.

So let me get to the uh move on to some of the exhibit sets.

Um this is an example of an exhibit just to see the kinds of things we're gonna have in there.

This is about shifting shorelines.

Of course, you all know that the shoreline was never really here.

It was back up closer to uh Koi Tower that the the uh hillside there.

It's very interesting to see the old maps of the city and the shoreline standing there looking at that space.

It's it's you really see what happened when they put the seawall in and they're able to gr gain all this other land, this flat land in front of the hills.

That placeness is what makes this exciting.

You're actually learning about something where you're standing.

So this exhibit um is going to be a really important one.

Um, another one that we're building is something that shows sea level rise over time.

It turns out that the tide gate that's uh the tide measurement that's out by the Presidio has been measuring uh tides out there for about a hundred and sixty years.

It's one of the longest measured tide height measurements uh in the Western hemisphere.

It shows the tides are the the level of water is slowly going up.

It gives you a sense of perspective over time with real data.

This is not some kind of mathematical calculation of the future.

This is real data from the past.

Um another exhibit shows the tidal patterns, both the the daily patterns and over a month and how the tides change over the month in terms of when high tide and low tides happen, the heights of the tides change during this period of time.

This is a sculpture that's currently up in the uh observatory, and we're gonna build another one that's out there in the public space out in front.

And finally, uh this is a seawall model, it's actually being made out of bronze to show you what the seawall looks like in cross section.

And actually, you can see our our little sign with the circle O for the exploratorium.

So right now the public would be standing there looking down and realizing that underneath them is this wall of rock, some maybe cement, some not so clearly cement, right?

It gives a sense of where you are, what's happening now, and how we have to deal with that in the future.

Um, so just quickly at the end here, I want to show you a little bit of a timeline.

We hope to do the installation later this spring, early summer, and then these workshops and field trips, et cetera, are gonna be happening over the next four to five years.

Uh, where and the exhibit will probably start to add some exhibits or remove them as we test them during the time.

So it's really an attempt to have this be a long-term installation out there to do uh collaboration and an evaluation of it with our evaluation team at the exploratorium to learn how well it's working, and really talk with the port and talk with BCDC about the progress on an annual basis.

Uh so I'm just gonna end and say again, this is an amazing collaborative effort.

Uh we've learned a lot about each other, how it takes how each of us work.

We all provide something different to this collaboration, but that's what makes it special.

If we're all the same, it wouldn't be as good as being different kinds of agencies, different kinds of structures, different kinds of rules about how we work.

We're very excited to be moving forward on this project and hope to invite all of you to see the installation of the of the uh of the field station, the waterfront field station when that opens uh this summer.

I'll stop there and see if there's any questions.

Thank you so much for your presentation.

We're gonna do public comment first, and then we'll get to Commissioner Comments.

So you might just want to sit up there in case there's questions for you.

Thank you so much for that.

Amazing presentation.

Okay.

So is there any public comment in the room?

Okay, I don't see any.

Is there any public comment on the phone, Jenica?

No, no public comment on the phone.

Thank you.

So public comment is closed on this informational item.

Commissioners, thoughts, comments, Commissioner McNeely.

Uh just a thought.

I mean, I just start by saying um this is just fantastic.

I mean I have uh two kids now are in college and they grew up at the exploratorium, and being able to see this come to life is is just the real gem.

And I really like the fact that it can be kind of self-taught.

It's there, it's there for all passing by.

Uh, it's information that it's timely.

Uh the fact that they are standing and you are telling them where they're standing and the uh the the geological, geographic implications of all of that and the history of it is just fantastic.

And I I think it's gonna be one of the I think you're gonna get a lot of people stopping in uh in front of your in front of the exploratorium.

I hope we have some ground, some some crowd crowd control uh mechanisms there to help with all the excitement that I think you're gonna generate.

Uh kudos to you on that and and the team, it's been it's fantastic.

I think it's gotta be a real ad to the embarkadero.

Thank you, Commissioner Lee.

Um I have a question.

Do you know the San Rafael display of the whole bay water?

You know, they have that.

Is it still there?

Yes, of course.

Come to the come up to the podium.

Yeah, that's a good question.

I think my team can answer that.

Yes, I don't know.

Brad Benson, the you're talking about the Army Corps of Engineers Bay model in Sasolito.

Yeah, the model of the bay that you shows the have you ever thought about doing a smaller display with a little model of the of our ferry building and then a little button where you know it shows the water coming up.

I mean, because you know, visual works other than what you see on the film, but when the kids are pushing the button and say this is what's gonna be in the year 2030 and the sea rights here, and you see our water like going over the bridge.

I mean, it's a really impactful display.

So I was just wondering have you ever thought about exploratory and creating something like that, you know?

We have not, but we have these brilliant people, partners at the exploratorium, and we will follow up on that.

I just brought it up when I saw it.

The commissioner asked the question, so you're you're you're welcome to come.

My name is Laura Zander, I'm the chief growth and operating officer at the exploratorium, and we have one of those inside the observatory.

It's an actual to scale Bay model, and over it we project data, could be population data, could be fog data, could be sea level rise data.

It's really, really cool.

So about actual water though.

You know, you push the button, we'll talk about it.

Okay.

I mean, that I mean, when I saw the model of what's underneath the pier, it just brought up the idea of you making go a little further and have a tank with a model of the ferry building and then I I know exactly what you're saying.

When I saw that model, I was really struck by I mean that's my only suggestion.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Lee.

Commissioner Adams.

I have to tell you when we first went up there and the way you articulate, I thought the movie Oppenheimer, you know.

I thought of that movie.

Seriously, I I did really.

Because the guy was out of Berkeley, right?

And the way you articulated, but um I really appreciate what you had to say because um again it's about education, and this is something that has to happen.

Once again, we have the public has to have faith in what's going on and they need to know.

Otherwise, people feel like they're out of the loop and they're not being involved in this education.

And I think a lot of the younger people will be able to articulate to their parents and even people a little bit older about you know what's happening and really understanding and the complexity of this.

This is just not something that just happened.

There's so many moving parts to it, and like you said, it's gonna take a long time it's gonna take a while.

Well, we live in a s where we live in a time where everything exists in gratification, we want it now, and it's gonna happen like it's not gonna happen like that.

And to take them along this journey, and I think they can enjoy it if that to really to bear down into the facts and stuff like this.

So I really appreciate the the process because it can be painful, but once I think you understand and you get it, you can really understand what's so much involved and why we have to do this and how it's going to protect generations to come.

And to have the exploratorium, and I really like it that it's the support, the exploratorium, and BCDC.

It's the collaboration of the three, and we're working and you're all working together to make this thing happen.

So everybody's in.

We've got to have them to own this.

We can't say, well, it's the exploratory or the port.

They have to own us.

This is a part of San Francisco.

This is a part of our future.

And we have to own it.

So I really appreciate how articulate you were.

And it's really it's really exciting and to know that these resources are here on this waterfront.

A lot of times the public doesn't really know.

They walk by, they run by like me.

I run by to explore them every time every morning, right?

But a lot of people, tourists, they come in and out of town.

I would even like tourists that come here to our city.

I would like for them to know and to stop in an exploratory and see like these extraordinary things that are going on here in San Francisco, because a lot of time people go, God, this great thing happened after the fact.

But to see what's really happening.

So thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

BP Emlum.

Patrick and Rob, thank you for the presentation.

It's uh I'm so glad the I think of the exploratorium is a gem on our waterfront, and uh the work you're doing is uh is fantastic.

Um and also Emma, it's great to see you.

Um thank you for your sustained effort on this.

We met during the resilient bay challenge, and it's great to see you and uh all the work that you're doing.

Um I you know, I just think you know, we need to do more of this.

We need um not just the kids, but also I think about and maybe this is uh with your chief development officer here.

Like, is there is there a CEO version of this?

Like, do we get all of our philanthropy heads in to understand this?

Um exactly.

So I'm sure you're doing stuff like that, you know.

And this model is the most sobering image I've seen in a while.

I I mean I've seen images of what we're doing with the Army Corps for a while, but somehow this model, and I can't wait to see it in person, it's really tells the story about how vulnerable our waterfront is.

That looks terrifying.

I'm scared to continue sitting here.

I looked at it at the same time.

I mean, it's a beautiful uh model, and I can't wait to see it in person.

So congratulations and thank you for all your uh efforts on this.

Um I just want to echo my fellow commissioners.

The exploratory's been an amazing partner for us.

Um, and it's it's been 15 years, right?

2013 is when we yes, coming up on 15.

Since the lease, yeah, since the lease signing.

So it's you've been an amazing partner to us to be C D C and to the community, and we're so excited to have you on the waterfront and to have this display.

Um it's gonna be really phenomenal.

Um for everyone, and I think you know, the one the one thing I will say was an earlier conversation we had here.

You can go back and look at the commission taping about our sea level program and how do we really break it down and make it digestible for people?

Um, and also how do we um monetize its impact that this isn't just something we're doing for the port and the port property, but we're doing for the whole city and county of San Francisco.

So to go to some of that data that you were talking about that you're projecting over, it'd be great for Brad and the team to interface with our comms and narrative team on how we really tell that story so that we can have that private public partnership when it comes to investment for this program.

So thank you for all the work you do.

That's that's all for this item.

Perfect timing.

Oh great.

So so Jenica on such a high positive note.

Um, next item, please.

Item eleven is new business.

Um we have a couple of items that I recall from the beginning uh that we're coming back to you to update you on, including um uh uh interest in understanding more about the uh the low carbon cement and other things on the on the blue economy incubator and the way they interact with our building materials operations.

Um you have the uh ending the ceremony uh in honor of Larry Mazzola Senior.

Um I don't have anything else listed right now.

Is there additional new business?

Um Mike, uh, is there possible that Andre Coleman could come?

I know they were gone for a conference, and we never got to say goodbye to Andre, but he did call me.

So I think it'd be appropriate for him to come and for the commission to say goodbye and to hear what we have to say about him and and to thank him for his service to the port.

He has promised me he's doing that, he wasn't able to come today, but I will definitely work on that for you.

And for us.

We'd love to see him.

I think that's it.

Okay.

So can I have a motion to adjourn this meeting in the memory of Labor Icon in San Francisco Giant, Larry C Larry Mazzola Sr.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

This meeting adjourns at 5 26 p.m.