niversary of adoption of vision zero. that is event at city hall mayor spoke and director tumlin spoke and community and elected leaders spoke and i was very pleased we marked that milestone. >> good morning everyone. let's all give a happy birtday for golden gate park! [applause] a brief love note to kick off the festivities. so, in a city like san francisco, parks are really powerful places, and they rep mind us that place is powerful. and golden gate park just might be san francisco's most important place to understand golden gate park is to understand san francisco. from the post gold rush years to the 1906 earthquake and fire, from

the panama pacific international expigz and summer of love. aids epidemic and explosion of business and jobs it is a oasis through the joy, misery, growth, invasion. within the parks majestic canopy are stories. stories about class, about race, about nationality and religion. stories about conflict and peace. stories about gentrification and equity. stories about constancy and change. stories about stewardship and stories about destruction. stories about technology and nature, about celebration and suffering, about all arts, music and food. about love gartherings and solitary strolls. stories about communities neighborhoods and families. stories about all of us. on a personal note, this park is my post important place. no other place knows me better.

this park watched me fall in love, raise my two daughters, make friends, build my career. golden gate park helped me work through struggles and challenges and helped me find joy, health and inspiration. the trail network and tree canopy offered me privacy and shelter to find myself. during my time as our parks director i had the hum bllg opportunity to influence the park landscape, form and rhythm through both preservation and through change. through the ghost of william hamenhall and john malaren watching closely. over the last 15 years we restored the fountains and band shell and music concourse. rebuild the mercy windgil and mark station. renovated the soccer fields and club house. ceezer stadium, cezer triangle.

we added--behind me, the first piece of permanent art added to the park in generations in conserve tore valley. we added a restroom at the 45th avenue playground. renovating the bloleing greens. improve all the park entrances and signs. we now call speedway meadow hellman hollow and middle drive east, nancy pelosi drive and sharon meadow robin william meadow. we added a musical evening light show to the conservancy of flowers, piano to botanical barden. tea house. outside land music festival to polo fields and a portion of this beautiful space that used to be call jfk is now a car free prom naund for hundreds of thousands walk, run, roll, ride, sun-bathe and enjoy art music and food. while visitors once traversed

the park on horse and buggy, and now travel on scooters, segues, bicycles. the park became a safe refuge during the covid pandemic. we celebrated a bunch of anversity. the redwood grove, spreckels lake. holiday tree lighting. the 50th anniversary of summer of live and in 2020 celebrated in the rain the parks own 150th anniversary. we got a little shorted because of the pandemic, so 154 is the new 150, which is why we are making such a to do out of today. [applause] golden gate park is resilient and bigger then any one event, policy, decision or person. but that doesn't mean our kunt stewardship of the space isn't critical.

ernest hemmingway, today is one day in all the days that will ever be but what will happen in all the other days that come can depend on what you do today. perhaps only this park itself knows what the future holds. it is the keeper of all of this city stories and secrets. no doubt it will always be the guardian of san francisco's treasureed public memory, so happy birthday golden gate park. you will always be san francisco's very important place. [applause] not bad for 154 year old. i'm not that old. alright. so, we all love the space. and if is really really nice to be here. i'm going to introduce a bunch of special guests that are here. we have a lot of honored guests here. we have let's give up for the amazing rec and park staff for

generations and generations. [applause] but, i now have the great pleasure of introducing our city's official park champion in chief here to celebrate the parks beautiful birthday, our mayor, london breed. [applause] >> i mean, who doesn't love a birthday party? ! it is so great to be here to celebrate 154/i guess 150 years of golden gate park and what it is meant to the people of san francisco. how many of you were alive in 1870? nobody? nobody? okay. well, the thing about this park and the establishment, it made it possible for people all over san francisco to enjoy. it has so many stories phil talked about and it has a great story

i want to tell about the children's park, which was the first public playground for children in the city and county of san francisco, and how many of you have spent time going up and down that slide with a piece of cardboard? memories all over the place. and this place has so many more stories. the conserve tory of flowers behind me was the first building erected in golden gate park in 1879 and as time went on this place hosted over 2 million people for the world fair in 1894. when i think about the summer of love, because you think golden gate park and summer of love, this place has been a beacon of hope excitement love and laughter and we continue the tradition with so many amazing public performances with music,

including outside lands and comedy day and other events that really bring joy and lift our spirits. and we have the academy of sciences. we have the d young museum. we have so many other-we have the lisa and doug goldman tennis center and we have so many options for people to play and have fun and to enjoy. during the pandemic, i just to back up a bit, growing up as a kid in this city, we would catch the bus and walk to golden gate park and put on our roller skates and we roller skate and we would hope that somebody had a boom box because you know how it was with the batteries that wouldn't last very long, so people have their boom boxes, roller skating, dancing and everything else and david miles has taken it to a whole another level down the street with an amazing place for

people to skate and have fun. when i think about golden gate park, i think about so many things. this can be whatever you want it to be on any given day depending on your mood. but what it did for the people of san francisco during a global pandemic was extraordinary. in fact, a spent a lot of times during the pandemic with my hoodie on walking to golden gate park, walking through and around and honesty getting lost sometimes in golden gate park and this was a place where i saw people and i saw people outside safely social distancing with their mask on, but never the less, getting fresh air and coming together and bringing their kids and family members out here in wheelchairs and baby strolers and bikes and you name it, they were all out here enjoying this beautiful park. how fortunate are we that this park is

now being considered to be one of the best parks in the entire united states by usa today? [applause] and it isn't too late to vote so go online to usatoday to make it official. and by the way, we are 200 acre bigger in golden gate park then now york so they can continue to eat their heart out. [laughter] there are so many things we can say about the beauty and the transformation and i know everybody here probably has a personal story, maybe it was your first kiss, like phil talked about falling in love with his wife emily. maybe it was when you met someone and became friends over your dogs sharing a bond or your kids, who knows, but that is what makes this park so special, because of those stories and are those experiences and i guarantee

that all most every single story that you will hear about this park is one of joy. is one of happiness. is also one of pride for this park and for the city of san francisco, so as we celebrate today, i want to take this opportunity to of course recognize its history and its value to the people of san francisco and the visitors from throughout the bay area and the world and i want to take this opportunity to really thank those people who are really in the background, doing all the work. you'll see a tree, maybe have fallen one day and the next day it is not there. there are people who take a lot of pride in protecting, supporting and keeping golden gate park looking like one of the most incredible beautiful parks anywhere in the world and that is so many of our public-our rec

and park workers, our gardeners, all of you, please raise your hand if you are one of the people responsible for this beautiful oasis. [applause] thank you for all you do for not just go golden gate park, but 220 parks around the entire city. it is so great to be here with each and every one of you and to just celebrate this incredible milestone and of course, where there is cake it is always a party. so, thank you and at this time-am i introducing somebody phil? last but not least and as i said, as someone who grew up in san francisco, our parks overall have always looked good, but not this good. they have gotten so much better and i'll tell you, it is a is couple reasons. number one, it is the park bonds the voters continue to vote on to support parks, which provide the

resources for the investments made. number two, it is the park alliance and folks like ben davis who raise private dollars in order to invest in the parks, and number three, it is the people who do the work. i can't get my hair wet. number three, it is the people who do the work. thank you. thank you kat. rec and park, okay. [laughter] that's my bay sox jacket. these are hard to get. number three, again it is the people who do the work every single day and take pride in that work. i want to express my appreciation to each and every one of you for making today special and even the rain can't stop us from enjoying a good old fashion birthday party celebrating golden gate park. happy 154th birthday!

thank you. [applause] >> one thing better then cake and hat is rained on cake. we were here 2020 for the 150 and it was also raining and i just are want to make a moment to reflect on the four years since. who knew in february 2020 what we were headed to. this mayor steered us through one of the hardest times in the city history and did it with toughness and resilience, but importance with hope and grace and now we get to just celebrate joy here today so let's give it up for our mayor. [applause] the real reason we are hp celebrating golden gate park birthday, but this is get out of the vote ralee. we are in the middle of election, and i can legally from this microphone plug the election and tell you to

vote not just once or twice but every day between now and april 8. golden gate park is up for the title of the nation's best city park in usa today reader choice poll. anyone can vote, once per day. i do it every day, until polls close monday april 8 at 9 a.m. california time. the top 10 winning parks will be announced wednesday april 17. i'll let you in a secret, we are currently number one! but we dont want to let up, so what's everybody going to do today? what are you going to tomorrow? >> vote! >> what are you doing the day after? >> vote! >> there we go. alright. our next speaker, scott beck is the head of sf travel and scott comes to san francisco with so much joy and so

much excitement, and he and i had the chance to chat and totally understands how important this park is to getting people to come to san francisco, spend money in san francisco and enjoy san francisco. we do not have a bigger champion then sf travel, stow so it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the microphone sir to say a few words. [applause] >> wow. thank you for the warm welcome. as a new san franciscans i feel this is special opportunity. my association with the park began as a visitor. i used to chase my wife through the park on a bike when she ran several marathons. my daughters would visit the institutions. it was always on the-i'm excited to have it be part what i call home now. the park is also living example of san francisco creativity, ingenuity and

ongoing evolution as phil noted. it took imagination, invasion to transform sands into greenery, to turn the land into oasis for all to enjoy. and as the mayor noted, it takes dedication and ongoing work to keep the park shining and more accessible then 154 years ago. what other city contains a [indiscernible] arts and cultural institutions, wind mills, lakes gardens music concourse and so much more? this remains a must see for visitors who come to enjoy the beauty and magic of course alongside all of us san franciscans. as phil noted we are rooting for the outcome of usa today best park. i will ask you to vote. whatever the outcome though, this park is the best city park and magnet for the visitors that we bring to this community every day. attractions and places like golden gate park make san francisco a incredible destination and draw millions

visitors each year to this community. and we at san francisco travel will continue to share the park heritage and stories for years to come. we look forward celebrating many more golden gate park milestones and birthdays. congratulations and happy birthday. [applause] >> alright. we are getting down to the big happy birthday. very special acknowledgments. speaking of birthday, scott sampson and lee can you stand up for a second? it isn't just golden gate park birthday today it is academy science. it is true it celebrating the 171? it is older then this park and been in this park for 99 years i believe, is that correct? scott and lee, thank you for this park is great, because of your institution and we like to thank your institution is great because of this park.

happy birthday academy. [applause] and also want to recognize our amazing rec and park commission, our president kat anderson is here. our vice president joe. commissioner louie is here. we are also joined by a handful of really wonderful partners that make it work, rodney fong, head of chamber of commerce is here. stephanie linder, the head of the garden at golden gate park, we are in your front yard stephanie, thank you very much. you heard them back here hooting and hallering when the mayor talked about roller skating, david. skate and place. and then from illuminate who works tirelessly to light this place up and create joy and place-making, my friend ben davis. and i know i'm forgetting somebody and i'm losing my notes, but i most

importantly-oh our friend from another planet. there is special bit of news. we have outside land coming first week of august. already eager beaver tickets are sold out? that is because the show is hot hot hot. and thank you very much for assigning two very important members of your organization to join us for our birthday today. give it up for ranger dave and ranger roof. [applause] and as the mayor alluded, the most important round of thanks are for the hardworking men and women who take care of the part for 150 years with sweat, love and skill, this park is amazing because of them, to the rec and park staff. [applause]

alright. so, now is the time for happy birthday and to grace us with a ocpelo version of happy birthday, from very own young people teen musical theater company, jet. jet where are you? are you ready for this? alright. let her rip. >> just going to adjust the microphone really quick. alright. happy 154th anniversary. i'm going to be singing happy birthday for golden gate park now. [singing] happy birthday to you, happy

birthday to you, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you. [applause] >> wow! alright. thank you jet so much. here to the next 154 years of joy. happy birthday golden gate park, let's eat some cake.

you're watching san francisco rising. today's special guest is monique gray. >> hi. i'm chris mannis and you're watching san francisco rising. the our guest today is marquise gray. he runs out of the office of the mayor in the city and county of san francisco. and he's with us today to talk about the recent progress of the sunnidale hope sf housing

project. welcome to the show. >> good morning. thank you for having me today. >> let's start by talking about the existing residents of sunnydale and their history. >> so sunnydale was built in the 1940s for a workers. it's the largest public housing community west of the mississippi. it's about 50 acres. pretty huge. about 760 single story units one to four bedrooms. >> i understand it's an ambitious rethinking of the residences. can you briefly describe the scope of the program and hope sf's involvement? >> yeah. the work of hope sf is this idea of more than housing. that acknowledging that our public housing community, the levels of violence and poverty that are in these communities are not by accident. you know, it's our opportunity

to address a system issue, you know, that people need more than housing. they need health services. resources. economic investment opportunities, jobs and things of that nature. and so hope sf strives to work with our city systems to better serve our public housing communities. >> so recently, mayor breed and speaker pelosi toured the site to both put focus on a national housing initiative and also to highlight the completion of the first new building. how many units does it contain and when will people start moving in? >> yeah. it was an amazing event. honored to have the secretary here with us as well in our community. it's 167 units. it's about 75% going back to the original families that currently live on site. so the replacement. so i did forget to mention i want to say real quick, the beauty of hope sf is housing

development, new development without displacements or anti-displacement initiatives. so, for example, the building is 167 units. 75% of those units going to families that have lived there in the community for generationings and the other 25% are tax credit units adding to the affordable housing stock here in san francisco and those units are up and running now. they're leasing them as we speak. people are picking their units each week until they're filled up. >> so was this particular building put on a new plot of land or did people have to move out so it could be constructed? >> that's a good question. our first building was vacant which you may have saw across the street from this building and then this plot of land is the way we kind of do it, we do it in phases. once one goes in, we're able to move families into the new unit and where they previously were occupying, able to demolish old

buildings to build the new. so this area had some older units that were demolished. >> it's impressive that construction has been able to continue during the covid-19 pandemic. can you talk about some of the challenges that needed to be overcome and how the community has managed during the crisis? >> that's a great question. you know, in san francisco, if i understand it correctly, i could be wrong, i believe housing was an essential service. the mayor made a strong commitment early on in the pandemic that we would continue to build housing as housing has been a critical issue in our city. so the housing part hasn't impacted us too much. 67 units have been going on its current time line. the bigger challenge for us was showing the families in our communities, low income families had the resources we need to survive the pandemic.

many of our families didn't have the luxury of working from home, working in the zone and things of that nature. making sure they had access to covid testing and things of that nature. so i want to give a big shout out to our resident leaders, our service providers across all four sites. for those that don't know, hope sf is four sites. sunnydale is one of the four sites. and so across those four sites, the most critical thing was making sure folks in these neighborhoods which have historically have been disconnected from resources have the things that they need to remain healthy, to, you know, survive the pandemic as we all had to survive the pandemic and we did pretty well. we were able to bring back scenes and covid testing on site. food distribution was happening all throughout the week. wellness services and things of that nature were all happening

on site thanks to our resident leaders and our service providers across the sites. >> so, finally, when could we expect the next set of residents to be ready? despite -- i guess we just said covid doesn't have an impact on the schedule. when will the next residences be ready? >> yeah. things are rolling. we have block a3 and block b3 to the building we were referring to earlier. and things are on pace. things are going really well. so we're looking at starting construction spring of 2022 and that will be 170 units and the goal is to have that lease up around 2024. >> well, thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show, mr. gray. thank you for giving us the time today. >> thank you, chris, and i really appreciate your time as well. >> and that's it with this episode. you've been watching san

francisco rising for sfgov tv i'm chris manners. thanks so much for watching. 20 >> >> >> 554321. >> welcome to the san francisco small business commission meeting this afternoon at 4:30 pm., monday, march 25, in-person at city hall room 400 and broadcast live on sfgovtv channel 78. to participate, the call-in number is (415) 655-0001. the small business commission thanks sfgov for television today's meeting.