would people need to know about the city thank you for your all you do to show the heritage and bright future more importantly and thank you for your thirty years >> welcome we hopeed be outside today. with the sunshining it is peeking out. but it is a good moment actually to thank our colleagues at public works and the men and rem in reshg and parks for all of their work this weekend. mayor, it was a hectic weekend. we are here it is driveway in the building even if we turned off the heat. and we have an incredible celebration for you. so -- i'm phil the general manager of rec and parks department. [applause]. thank you. and -- we are going to start

with land acknowledgment and take a second. to acknowledge. [land acknowledgment] >> thank you. okay. here we are. in the heart of san francisco

south of market. serving the soma filipino cultural heritage district! jean friend soma rec center. the site serving the community since 1990. soccer, youth and after school programming. seniors, a play grouped, weight room and more. >> this place -- like a few other facilities has been literalliful loveed death. it is time, it is is time to give this place a refresher, renovation we will make it bigger and grander. this project is part of the 2020 health and recovery bond. although, i will note and you will hear from speakers, donny, and i will -- introduce you in a minute. this upon mine the very first

reshg center i visited as gm, i have been as a san francisco and might have the first one this goes become it 2009 this is how long this project has been percolating. you remember, you and your brother came and we did weight room way back when. i will talk more in a second. these things take time of we could not have gotten here without our mayor and the commitment of the 2020 health and recovery bond. [applause] >> it turns out the projects are expensive. and without this bond we would not be here today. we want to thank the voters. during and after the pandemic there were challenges around

upon this project. increased building costs. supply delays. decreased project revenues. downtown construction. everything this could have prevented this project from happening, happened. and yet here we are. and we are here. because of passionate partnerships. ir want to shout out to guillermo from public lands. community rep centation. generous [inaudible]. >> leadership and passionate commission. that's how we get here and get the places like this today. so, navigated the changes and make sure that the funding for the project. so madam mayor? mic is yours.

[applause]. >> okay. can you hear me? phil i could hardly hear you. got this snaked in here. i will talk as best you can. let me really start by thanking phil for his extraordinary leadership for the park system in the city. he and his team from the p rangers to the gardeners to everything in between and our commissioners. we have the best parks anywhere in the world. and i mean that. because when people come to san francisco, folks say a lot of things about our city the one thing they can't say anything bad about are the parks and the how amazing they are. the open space. and how so men kids, seniors and

communities from all over they fill the parks with so much laught and joy. and so much excitement. that's why being here today to do when this community has been asking for for so long. and we have a lot of great representatives from the community, i see you rude freunited players. thank you. [applause] not only for your w in the community but your advocacy when we put this bond on the ballot in 2020 asking the votereds of san francisco to support projects like this. the people of the city were amazing and did in the hesitate. i want to thank the community and the folks part of this. and the trust for public land for their continued commitment to the city of san francisco. because -- the health and safety bond was not all we needed in order to get this project done.

it took a lot of different liers and so i'm so glad to see my friends don friends joining us today. the son of jean friend who will talk to you in a moment. it did take a village to bring this together. when i appreciate most the kids, families and people who used this park. they other ones had helped to decide what will happen. more gym space. work out facility. a kitchen, two community rooms. protected area for kids to play outside. picnic areas. this will be the place to be all over san francisco but -- i gotta say, [applause] i know this the kids who grow up in this space take pride in how they helped to usher in what will be a new extraordinary

addition to san francisco's rec and park system. i want to thank you again for voting on the health and safety recovery bond in 2020. and all the resources and support we get on make this happen. this is really one of the things i'm most proud of in san francisco how extraordinary we are when it come to our park system. and i will tell you as someone who grew up in the park system of san francisco, to go from swing this is are broken, fan that was filled with other stuff. and the challenges this existed and what we had to pull things together to make some of the equipment and stuff we had the basic stuff we had work, to see where we were and where we are now, we have to remember what happened in the past to appreciate how wonder actively is to be here today and to realist celebrate this amazing

accomplishment because of so many of you who are dedicated when park system here in san francisco. thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause]. >> i think it is mayor suggested i should use the mic. up next my pleasure to introduce a champion of this community. our district 6 supervisor matt dorsey. this neighborhood i think many in the room would acknowledge and advocated for a lack of park. this is a neighborhood that over historically has evolve friday being an industrial community to a residential community. and a very dense one and a community with a lot of kids. and we are so pleased through the leadership of the district 6

supervisors and the odd jens. thank you supervisor kim. [applause] between all of the good stuff and investment at dmv. and now this facility we feel like we are creating an incredible hub. a bit about this hub this , is also a hub for in the just all of our youth in the neighborhood but it is a vocal point for adaptive recreation. and we hosted the bay bridge tower soccer tournament upon for, dappive soccer played modified power wheel chairs. dapped basketball. we have a very we all you know warrior s and 9 and ares giants

but do we been our ducks based here. the new jean friends will be an,dition to community and youth and senior serving in new disability sport's hub. for everyone to give everyone an opportunity to get out and play. whether it is basketball, wheel chair basketball or goal ball for blind and visual low impaired. athletes. to power soccer. of this is also a site hosted community ccelebrations. and -- this is a wonderful community. to talk more about temperature matt dorsey. >> thank you. hold to to the mic. i'm new as a supervisor that you know sometime when is there is an events for a project i will

describe myself in this case as the rosy ruiz of the jean friend recreation centers if you don't know this reference it is the winner of the 1980 boston marathon who won until than i found out she jumped in the race a quarter mile to the finish shrine and took credit. there are people who deserve credit before i was on the 16. matt hene now in the assembly. champs of this. james was mentiond and i think that there are lead whores brought important leadership and mayor breed and the w she did to get the bond paddle for this. phil is smg somebody a friends and colleague from the city attorney days. i have known him for years and well served by his leadership. er mostlyleadership.ers mostly thaefrg could have delay

third degree came up. one of those i crossed my desk and remember when we were having discussions about this. i mentioned to some people as a supervisor we come and goment important people who are served by this are the community. people like united play, west bay. the residents we will be here be for 4 or 8 years. we everything we do should be guided by when we are leaving for the community. and this was important and i want to express my gratitude to leaders for everything than i have done on this. >> and -- i know we will hear from don friend and i think i want to mention i did not know him but i new him by reputation.

a successful business machine and more then and there that somebody who was invested in spreading the details as rec and park commissioner and did the w to make a difference for the city. and means a lot to represent a district that has a resource like this that recognizes the leadership this gene brought to this community and the friends family continues to. this means a lot, too. with this i will handled off and want to say, it is an honor to be a part of this and looking forward to coming here and -- being part of the things that will celebrate kick it off. thank you! [applause] >> so. our next speaker is don friends.

don, you and your brother bob were with mow in 2009 when i think rudy i think the community asked for support to renovate the weight room. i remember your brother saying, phil, don't put your fell's name on a building. because when is breaks you gotta fix it. you were family never shied, way from stepping up as leaders of the city. doing what you can to help the city and parks specifically in honor of your dad. and after we did a small project here fix the weight room we did the out door basketball court. we all decided it was time for this build to have i bigger refresh. and keep came back and said can you help us with the design and

out reach and of course you said, yes. >> and -- your support for trust for public land the per in in the design sxroesz introduce our design neap a bit allowed us to dream big. which is what the community deserved. thank you we love to have you come up. [applause] >> well, an honor to be here today. first of all, my dad really did serve in thanking for your kind words he was serious about president of the p and rec commission and other civic leadership activities he engaged in. he wanted make sure this people

from all overnight city were able to access the parks. and whatever way this took. whether to bring kids from the tenderloin to the zoo. or make use of this facility, he wanted to make that happen and so -- when phil came with this. idea of making dolling place up, it med all the sense in the world. it was very, very intimidating with the amount of cost it would take to do this. am so. to have everyone team up mayor to have you come together and put this bond and get it it passd and work together as a community is special for us to see. my family origins from this area up on the sixth street notoriety

cable car turn around on powell my grandfather and father had the first retail business. at this served the community and they irrelevant and love third degree people that were around here they understood the need sxsz understood how people were lifted up by participation. and so -- it is meaningful for us to have had the mayor brown at the time to shepherd the naming of this facility after my dad. it is warmed my heart to see all of you this have been so active in making this a turn around. so i guess our target is 2016 to get there and i wore my basketball shoes but we will not play yet with the boards

missing. i hope we will of have a grand opening at that time and -- justment you all to than if my dad may rest in peace, were able to see what is going on he would have a smile on his face and thank you for your support and participation. look forward to seeing you more here in the future. [applause] >> all right. this fam sillity has been about community. the neighborhood has a rich diverse history. it is known for filipino, lbgtq+ culture, political activism. it is grounded by the community organizations that serve it. or per ins united play, multiservice center, up and west

bay played an irrelevant in the out reach process. they have been partners in every sense of the word. and -- this project -- the history of the site is community first the project and design community first when it reopened it will be my great pleasure to introduce vanessa. [applause]. >> hi. everyone. this is a bittersweet experience i'm so happy to see positive change happen nothing my community. i was worn in the neighborhood. i have been to the rec since the second grade. when carmichael was where the p is now they took us here for pe class. this is where i met a lot of

good people. childhood friends i still connect with today. i met rudy here. before a know what his mission was. united players. and tim my first basketball coach. i'm noted going to lie i was trash when i first starred playing ball. and i knew that well, when i started playing i knew he was. tim was my first basketball coach and i was treasure i know he knew that. but never showed me discouragement. he kept mow in good spirits and motivate mode to go sxhard that made me want to be better. he instilled resilience where i did not want to give up i practiced until i got bfrment by the time in the fourth and fifth grade i was balling. i remember this one game it was

soma and st. mary my coaches were gar and he tim at the time. and we went in double over time and the team could make the next shot winful it was nerve racking you felt the gym's energy and going back and fourth for 3 possessions. until i was abling to get a steel. i was going for a drive and heard and saw tim waiving to go for a lay up i stopped mid range and slowing up a shot i swear time stopped for seconds and i med the wing shot. everyone was going crazy and it was a good feeling. i go become to the bench, and celebrate. tim yelled his line, vanessa business get down to business! which is his nick name he gave me and this day i hold it dear

to my heart. there will be takeing rec down that has held so men memories and helped build character for so many people i hope this when it becomes this modern state of the art woulding we never lose itself trough soul. we will keep it alive and we can build more legacies and generations to come. and i look forward to being a part of this. thank you. [applause]. >> you can see, this is personal. you know it is a bond for some and another plans and contract for other this is is personal for us. i'm michelle the director of community and family engagement with united police born in san francisco and live in south of

market for over 20 years. thank you, thank you, to everyone who helped us get to this day. we have to give a shout out to former commissioner lee for being soma champion for years. on the park and rec commission. former supervisors kim and mt hene. and a huge shout out to melindz at project manager. she has done her fwoeft stay engage exclude make surety new building the meet community needs as much as this one has and they will get in on schedule! [laughter] and also huge thanks to the friends family for your support of soma and helping to make this place as great as it category. as was stated soma neighborhood

with the least amount of public open space and this is our one and only indoor facility. in the neighborhood of crisis and chaos. this has been i safe haven, refuge. a place of rest for men young and old, like. this building held so men events and moments for the community. good moments, hard moments, but we have done together because of this place. building never dltd land and oz for kids and summer program plays. and the city was the hoyt of the pan dem thick was a life safer. it allowed us in west biit hold the cityy largest community hubs for neighborhood kids it do distance learning safely. the walls of building have nurtured the neighborhood's future like vanessa.

and so many of our staff. so many of staff grownup in this building. my own children grownup in this building. and so we are excited for when the future holds as vanessa tuesday is bitter we. we are so thankful for our partnership with phil and rpd staff. shout out tim we love you, june. we could not do when we do without this partnership. buildings only matter because of the people this fill them up. we are so excited be back here with all of you in 2 years or so for a ribbon cutting for the new facility or neighborhood deserves. we are committed to moving back in, running program. holding events and creating community. and continuing this partnership society new rec center means as

much to the neighborhood and the people in the future as this old building did. thank you all for being here today this building deserves the most amazing send off and we are happy this we are able to do this in community with all of you. and will see you soon. [applause]. >> so. vanessa we have a present for you. and misha you took the thank you section out of mine you were awesome. in honor of coach and his incredible legacy and memory here. and his influence on you, vanaesz this is a net from this building. that we are -- presenting to you.

[applause]. >> all right. a few thank you and we are going to break grounds! there are folks we want to recognize and acknowledge. supervisor safai, thank you for being here and interested in parks [applause] david mentioned --the trust for public land. guillermo. thank you for involvement in this project. and your stewardship of an incredible design team. i want to call them out. mark and elizabeth from -- architecture landscape [inaudible]. [inaudible]. youville your moment. supervisor matt hooern staff member is here. thank you. [applause] our great rec and p commission helped us steward

this project. we got our vice president. joe and commissioner louie is here. >> i want to acknowledge allen low for passion in this neighborhoods and the space. and fighting near this community. >> the san francisco parks alliance. their neighbors down the street. they will help us program this space and helped us lift up the culture in san francisco they deserve applause, too. [applause]. i mention third degree design team and i want to mention the construction team. misha gave a shout out i will, too. to angie lieu and [inaudible] here [applause] and all come together under city staff, our public workers sdreshth carla short is here.

with her staff. our [inaudible] rec and pak sdreshth stacy bradley and melinda sullivan. thank you for your leadership. carla the executive director of west bay multii service center here. thank you very much! the can equity center a great per in. i mentioned soma filipino and rec program helping elevate the game and make sure all are acceptable to all of us. thank you and also to our great park staff that will steward the space and david williams and lucas is here. i'm sure i have left folks out. you can remind me of that later.

now we will get down to business and we are going to break ground. so if -- you know -- if you are not outside bring outside in here come the dirt. and so i life to have the mayor donny -- supervisor dorsey. vanessa and misha and after that we will take some photos i would like to welcome our rec and park commissioners. guillermo, rodriguez. carla and june and tim is here. i did in the, oh . come on up. hi, june. and we will break ground. come join us.

here we go! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! [applause]

>> there is a lot of unique characteristics about visitation valley. it is a unique part of the city. >> we are off in a corner of the city against the san francisco county line 101 on one side. vis station valley is still one of the last blue color neighborhoods in san francisco. a lot of working class families out here. it is unusual. not a lot of apartment buildings. a lot of single family homes. >> great business corridor. so much traffic coming through here and stopping off to grab coffee or sandwich or pick up food before going home. >> a lot of customers are from the neighborhood. they are painters or mechanics. they are like blue color

workers, a lot of them. >> the community is lovely. multi-racial and hopefully we can look out for each other. >> there is a variety of businesses on the block. you think of buffalo kitchen, chinese food, pork buns, sandwich. library, bank of america with a parking lot. the market where you can grab anything. amazing food choices, nail salons. basically everything you need is here. >> a lot of these businesses up and down leland are family owned. people running them are family. when you come here and you have an uncle and nephew and go across the street and have the guy and his dad. lisa and her daughter in the dog parlor and pam. it is very cool. >> is small businesses make the neighborhood unique. >> new businesses coming.

in mission blue, gourmet chocolate manufacturing. the corridor has changed and is continuing to change. we hope to see more businesses coming in the near future. >> this is what is needed. first, stay home. unless it is absoluteliness scary. social distancing is the most important step right now to limit spread of virus. cancel all nonessential gather everythings. >> when the pandemic litly land avenue suffered like other corridors. a few nail salons couldn't operate. they shut down. restaurants that had to adapt to more of a take out model.

they haven't totally brought back indoor seating. >> it is heartbreaking to see the businesses that have closed down and shut because of the pandemic. >> when the pandemic first hit it got really slow. we had to change our hours. we never had to close, which is a blessing. thank god. we stayed open the whole time. >> we were kind of nervous and anxious to see what was going to come next hoping we will not have to close down. >> during covid we would go outside and look on both sides of the street. it looked like old western town. nobody on the street. no cars. >> it was a hard eight or nine months. when they opened up half the people couldn't afford a haircut. >> during that time we kept saying the coffee shop was the living room of the valley. people would come to make sure

they were okay. >> we checked on each other and patronized each other. i would get a cup of coffee, shirt, they would get a haircut. >> this is a generous and kind community. people would be like i am getting the toffee for the guy behind me and some days it went on and on. it was amazing to watch. we saw a perfect picture of community. we are all in this together. >> since we began to reopen one year later, we will emerge stronger. we will emerge better as a city because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> when we opened up august 1st. i will not say it was all good. we are still struggling due to covid. it affected a lot of people.

>> we are still in the pandemic right now. things are opening up a little bit. it is great to have space to come together. i did a three painting series of visitation valley and the businesses on leland. it felt good to drop off the paintings and hung them. >> my business is picking up. the city is opening up. we have mask requirements. i check temperatures. i ask for vaccination card and/or recent test. the older folks they want to feel safe here. >> i feel like there is a sense of unity happening. >> what got us through the pandemic was our customers. their dogs needed groomed, we have to cut their nails so they don't over grow. >> this is only going to push us forward. i sense a spirit of community and just belief in one another. >> we are trying to see if we

can help all small businesses around here. there is a cannabis club lounge next to the dog parlor to bring foot traffic. my business is not going to work if the business across the street is not getting help. >> in hit us hard. i see a bright future to get the storefronts full. >> once people come here i think they really like it. >> if you are from san francisco visit visitation valley to see how this side of the city is the same but different.

>>

>> >> my name is alex sinclair of willow on the green in san francisco. we are the only british tea shop on the west coast and focused on high quality luxury goods from the u.k. and we have teas and baked goods. we came up with the name because willow is made with baskets and the parklett, a willow green and that is a picnic in the park. i have come up with the idea because i have lived in the neighborhood for a year. seven years ago we had a tea shop. during covid we needed to have a new flavor and rejuvenate the

business. we are between two beautiful businesses. i realized with the shop opening next to the bakery, we had a beautiful tea shop in the area. we started with british teas and want to support local tea makers in the local area. and once you have cheese and biscuits need tea and jam and lemon curd and chocolate and all of these parts basically imported from the u.k. our most popular products come from wales. it's an extra cheddar and next popular product is a jam made with alpine strawberry. so you get a taste of a nice

strawberry. this is about supporting cheese makers and business in the area and women-owned businesses around the world and always want to support the community. we support concerts, we support charities and come to the aid to those in need such as the british society and the san francisco society and the -- >> if you have never had british cheese, i recommend you come in on weekend. all of our staff are highly knowledgeable of all of our products and we are really passionate about what we do here and gives you a chance to explore our culture and food and our values. i encourage you to come to the inner sunset with a beautiful park to be young and academy of

sciences here. come to the shop. we have beautiful baskets and blankets so you can enjoy this wonderful nature and you can support these wonderful businesses out here. >>