>> alright. good morning. my name is ann, ceo for nor cal affordable at related and i'm joined here at the podium by doug, the president of mercy housing california and it is our honor to welcome you all here to the topping out ceremony for sunnydale 3a and 3b. thank you all for coming. [applause] we are so happy to have everyone here to celebrate. it is a big crowd, very exciting and we are also honored to have such distinguished speakers with us today. we will soon be joined by mayor breed, we have senator scott wiener, supervisor walton, dr. tonia,

[indiscernible] from the state of california, so a really amazing line up of speakers. i want to say that, passion and determination patience are what the residents and the community have shown for more then a decade while participating in the creation and evolution of the plan not just for housing, but also for jobs, for services, for families, for children all here at sunnyvale. and while it is incredible to see and celebrate the progress, which we are doing today, we know there is a lot of work that still needs to be done, and in fact, work being done in the background behind us. there is a lot of work that still needs to be done and we are here for it and hope you are all too. we do want to take a minute to celebrate this really important milestone. we are celebrating the

construction of two hundred percent affordable apartment communities together will provide 170 new homes, including 127 that will be set aside for the sunnydale residents. and amazingly, this is not just housing. we also will have 24 thousand square feet of ground floor space that will house vital resources, including child care, health and wellness, neighborhood serving retail and that is in addition to the 30 thousand square feet right next door under construction at the hub, so incredible resources here at sunnydale. and it is windy. turning my page for me. alright. i do want to acknowledge that this development would not be possible without so many of you. pat yourselves on the back. there are so many people who have given so much time, energy and

commitment to this development starting with the san francisco mayor's office of housing and community development. thank you all so much. you know who you are, but in case [calling names] [applause] and of course, the san francisco housing authority, dr. tonia. linda mason-board of commissioners including joaquin torres we saw here behind me. thank you again for all that you have done for this project and our partner. i am really-i am honored-- >> [indiscernible] >> i'm too. nothing to do about that. i'm honored to be standing here with doug. doug and i have known each other for i don't know, 25 years.

we have been in and around this industry, and it has been so rewarding to really lean into something that we both feel passionately about and think is so important. i'm so imprezed and amazing by doug and the entire mercy team. cannot thank them enough. i'm looking at ramey who moved on, but still her heart is here and gave so many years and commitment. elizabeth, ashley, claire murphy as well as the entire mercy real estate development team, property management and the community leaf team. thank you all so much. it is a honor to partner with you. i will turn it over to doug to say a few words. [applause] >> ann and i have dueling script s. nobody knows what will happen today. i will return the complement. when mercy housing california years ago decided we were interested in

trying to work with the residents, we knew it will be a struggle to do this, not alone because there are so many other folks involved, but jean reached out to bill whity here. he was a teenager at the time, and said, do you want to work on this with us and for whatever reason bill said yes, and so the partnership has been great. i also want to thank ann and bill and the other folks on the related team. it has-you can't imagine how much work goes go into these projects and developments so it is a real team effort. just really thrilled we are here today. i'm very excited. and keep looking over there at the center at the hub and getting more and more excited about the opening that, so i just also want to thank all the city folks here today. we'll be introducing a couple of them in a second, but it is a unbelievable amount of work for all the parties involved. i see the mayor breed is not

yet arrived, which means that we have the opportunity to introduce supervisor--sorry, senator wiener. >> dueling scripts. here we go. i am so honored to introduce our very first speaker. i had the pleasure introducing senator scott wiener in the past and feel i never do him justice because he is that amazing but i'll try again. senator was elected in 2016 and reelected in 2020. and he represents the 11 sinatorial district. senator scott wiener worked tirelessly on so many very important causes, transportation, lgbtq, criminal justice reform, clean energy, poverty eleaveiation and most important to many is-they are all very important, but housing. he chairs multiple communities

including the senate budget committee so important now and authored 75 bills that have been signed into law. he is so productive in sacramento. thank you. among the recently passed bills is--i know, yes. [applause] i'm not naming all 75, but among the recently passed bills, sb4 [indiscernible] the landmark laws of sb35 and sb43 which has changed the landscape of entitlement for housing and resulted in thousands of new affordable homes. some that are now being occupied by residents instead of on the planning books, so it has been a huge change. we are so grateful. please join me in welcoming, senator scott wiener. [applause] >> thank you thank you ann. always happy to stand in for

the mayor. so, i love coming down to sunnydale to see the progress and i go out of my way to do it, because i'm so excited about this project. yes, the buildings that we are talking out today, but the entire master plan for what's happening here. the housing, retail, the community, support services. the hub is so exciting. when the state still had money, which we don't anymore, hopefully temporarily, but when we had money we were able to get $5 million from the state to support the hub, which is just to me so essential in terms of the health of the community for young people for older people, allowing people to be physically active and have a place to go.

it is super exciting. and of course, i love this project because it is lots of new housing and i love anything that adds a lot of new homes. i'm for it. it is fantastic, but what is exceptionally exciting about sunnydale project at large, i think a lot of times some of the fights we have around housing is there is sometimes a perception that housing like is being put in not for the people who live there, and we can have all our discussions about the overall housing market and building more homes is a good thing, period, but sometimes there is that tension and that frustration like, how is it going to benefit our existing community. and this project is such a perfect blend of adding a lot new housing and lot of new capacity period for a lot of people, including people who don't live her now or born yet but

intentionally and directly benefiting the local community. benefiting the residents of public housing who have struggled for so long in public housing that is simply not up to par. benefiting the young people and older people who are here and need recreation, directly benefiting the local community in a very specific and tangible way, while also helping the city of san francisco meet our very ambitious housing goals and just putting the city on a more solid footing with housing. lastly, i just want to say that, our south eastern neighborhoods and supervisor walton and i had many conversations about this as i did with supervisor cohen, before when we served together on the board of supervisors, south eastern neighborhoods have been just so neglected for so many

years, and you know, it needs to end. i think it is ending. we are seeing much more focus on the need of this community. it is a essential part of san francisco, of the fabric of our city and long past due for us to be making these incredibly important investments, so congratulations to everyone and just very very exciting. thank you. [applause] >> thanks so much senator wiener. it is also my pleasure to introduce someone who doesn't need much introduction in this neighborhood. very well known from time as president of the board of supervisors, district 10 supervisor and well known to the community long before that for his work as a non profit leader working on jobs, community development and really every issue that facing these communities. he dedicated his life improving

the communities particularly of southeast and proven track record for positive change. needs no introduction, supervisor shamann walton. [applause] >> thank you doug. good morning! >> once again, it is no surprise the sun is shining in the southeast sector of san francisco. since the early start of the millenia, we had several conversations about what it would look like to rebuild in sunnydale to make sure that the community had the housing that it deserves. obviously that conversation is also a big part of hope sf and making sure that all our major housing developments in the southeast sectorer were revitalized so folks could have the homes they deserve. so, we are here again really just to celebrate another milestone and fulfilling a promise. we said that we would build new

housing. we said that folks wouldn't get this place. we said we would bring an amazing facility to community where young people would actually have a place to go. often times people get frustrated with the youth and they talk about the fact that they may hang out in areas where typically people don't think young people should be, but they never put their money where their mouth is, so i want to thank senator wiener, i want to thank mercy, i want to thank--i want to thank of course the folks in community who really worked hard to make sure that we could realize the space where our young people would actually have a opportunity to thrive, poorticipate in activities, participate in programs right in their very own community. if you look at the building that is being built, the hub, if you look at the new housing, you can kind of get a feeling and understanding that

people were not coming to the table to say they are getting things done but working together to make it happy. i'm happy to be here with all of you today. we are not finished yet. there is still much more work to do, but most certainly over the course of the next couple years we will see a vibrant space in sunnyvale in the heart of the community so thank you for your work and participation and thank everybody not just coming out today, but continuing to understand how important it is to make sure that folks thrive here in sunnydale and in the southeast, because so goes district 10, so goes san francisco. thank you so much. appreciate you. [applause] >> thank you so much supervisor. now it is-before i introduce mayor breed, as i said, ann and i work different scripts and forgot to

mention something very important, which is our staff works work together with the resident to try to figure what the two buildings should be named and i think naming has a incredible importance and tells you where people are from and what people's history are and where people are going so the residents came up with these names and ultimately voted for them so happy to announce these two buildsings are called nia, swahili for purpose and [indiscernible] swahili for peace. give it up for the residents. i think it will be fantastic. p [applause] >> with that, my honor to bring up mayor breed. obviously the mayor of san francisco. she's been working on just like the supervisor for years back as a district supervisor, a redevelopment agency commissioner. she has been working on issues of housing, community development, economic insocial security all her life and career. unbelievable champion of the

work we do here and also particularly of the work in public housing, so with that i bring you mayor london breed. [applause] >> okay. it is a little windy, so bear with me, because i don't want my hair whipping all over my face! i am so excited to be here, because it has been a long time coming and i when i say a long time coming, even before i was mayor, a lot of the work that the community here in sunnydale wanted to do to help address the conditions that they were living in it, was a ongoing battle and i remember there was hope 6, and hope 6 promise to rehabilitate public housing all over san francisco and at the time, i remember the director ronnie davis and i was living in plaza east public housing when we were given all of this hope of

rehabilitation and investment and then the money ran out. gavin newsom was at the mayor at the time where he made a commitment to create a program called, hope sf. even though the funds to rehabilitate public housing were not longer completely available from the federal government, he made a commitment from the city and county of san francisco to put together all the state, federal, local resources to fulfill the promises we were making and ed lee came along and said enough of new promises, let's work hard fulfilling the old promise s and when i came along, one of the first budget or i forget which speeches i gave was here in sunnydale to make a commitment that we were going to make sure that we did everything we can to deliver on that promise, but

also work hand in hand with the community to do it. this is a long time coming and there is a lot of blood and sweat and tears to get to this point, and i couldn't be more excited and proud to be here with so many people who have had a real important role in helping us to get there. it does start with the residents and the people who live here and the people who lived here when it was problematic to the people who are still here, larry, who are a part of the solution to make it happen. we are finally getting to a better place, not only the 222 units that have already been completed but 170 units we are topping off today to make sure there is a real one for one replacement to support the existing community in sunnyvale. [applause] but, having housing is just one part of it. making sure that the amenities,

the grocery store, well ness center, child care and i got to say, you go, working with mercy and working with related has been different for this project more then anything else. they have made it very personal and they have gone out of their way to not only help us to raise the private dollars necessary to get this project done and the community center we are seeing here today built, they actually put up financial resources themselves so i really want to thank bill whity and related for their work and advocacy to help invest in this project, and to thank mercy and doug for all of the work that they did as partners to really get us to this point. thank you for being more then just developers but being a important part of the fabric of making sure we have the financial resources to get the job done. [applause]

and of course, success has many parents, because there is a lot of money that is needed to get it done. between supervisor shamann walton, senator scott wiener from the state and also one of my favorite people from the state--i'm talking about him, because let me tell you, san francisco is very expensive to build, and we need a lot of tax credit, state resources. we need a real partner in this work, and he understands the importance of getting the job done. he has done incredible work hand in hand with the city and county of san francisco not just in this project, but also through the pandemic where there were serious challenges around housing and we want to appreciate you because we wouldn't have been able to get the all most 5 thousand affordable unit we have been able to build since i have been mayor, we would not have been able to do that if not for your

leadership and the governor at the state level so thank you so much gustauvo. i think there is a bunch of other folks who need to speak, but i'm so happy to be here. i don't know what to do. this is a long time coming and i am so grateful to each and every one of you, whether niby, whether the community, whether the boys and girls club, whether it is all the folks who are part of the community. this is extraordinary. i want to give a shout out to housing authority. tonia has been able to work with our hud secretary who we brought out here at one point. she just retired, former mayor my friend marsha fudge who made a commitment to section 8 vouchers for this project. all the things that had to happen to make this pencil out to get this work done has been extraordinary and i just

want to thank from the bottom of my heart, the people who put the time in, who put the resources in, who made it really personal and who helped deliver this project for the sunnydale community. thank you all so much and thank you everyone for being here today. [applause] >> so, by way of introduction of the housing authority, we are lucky to have commissioner torres with us. he has many other rolls. you pay your taxes through him among other things and also a unbelievable champion and want to echo the mayor's comments. i was thinking about it last night bought tonia was nice enough to attend our event and just thinking what a incredibly hard job to run a housing authority thin midst of a transformation. no one gives you the credit for propping up a very very difficult ship and i think i just want to say thanks to you and everybody else there.

it must be a unbelievably different psychology to do that then to build something up and i think she has been a incredsable partner so ypt to thank tonia and introduce commissioner torres. [applause] >> thank you doug and thank you mayor breed and senator wiener, supervisor walton, all attending today. there was a extraordinary opening in the novel by james baldwin, another country and metaphor what is happening here today. and response to that story. a young man without any hopes, no dreams was slapped in the fanc when he looks to see a shiny ball with so many glittering lights of reflection but can't seem to see himself reflected there. for so many in this community the dream is look across at the city and sky line and still not able to see themselves reflected there.

so, i was so important when mayor breed talked about opportunities for all of our community members. and now because of this event and the stewards who believe in the promise of making sure that people can see themselves reflected in their own communities and images of success and hope and possibility, that this extraordinary accomplishment and this momentum being built in sunnydale can be rep ruicated for so many lives at home, units, at play and is severs and centers and hub as and require s extraordinary leadership doug talked about and mayor breed talked about and we are so lucky to know we have the steward in dr. tonia who has been leading the authority through a reform process to insure we can live up to that promise to the people can see themselves reflected and respected in the sirty city and county we

love so dearly. with that, tonia of the san francisco housing authority. [applause] >> thank you. i have a script but i want to speak from my heart. every time i come to this site, i come to the site often, and i just think about the amazing opportunity that mayor breed gave me to be able to come to the housing authority and when i came to the housing authority, it was in a lot of trouble. we are still working through many decades of challenges and issues, but what's been so important to me, each and every time i come to one of our sites is to see this transformation. because i know that this transformation makes the difference in how individuals can see themselves, how

individuals can believe that anything is possible. i grew up in a house where my parents told me, you can be anything you want to be, and when you have a place that you can call home, and it feels like home, it looks like other people's home and it is filled with lush green grass and trees and you can look at the nature and you can breathe clean air, and things seem to be moving well, you can thrive in your life. each and every time i look at the new buildings and i still have to address what's going on in our old site, and i always tell myself, i don't have a magic wand i can wave and make it all work together, but with each and every one of you with our mayor, who deeply in her heart she cares about each and every residents in the city, on

this site. she is committed to this work. it makes my work easier. when i work with doug and we are problem solving how to get to the next place and the next place, it makes my work easy because they are committed to the transformation, to the lives. when i talk to supervisor walton, and we are trying to figure what is going on, why it is going on, but it makes me work easy when i see new buildings coming online and residents moving to the next place in their life to their new building. to see this community center coming up that will provide economic opportunities. that will provide different types of services that are so necessary to have a vibrant and fervent life. i love when the mayor said that, this is a opportunity for individuals to have their-to live their best lives and she has been shepherding the

opportunity for sunnydale members to have-to thrive and to have a way to live their best lives and i just want to thank you for that mayor breed, because each and every day when i wake up i wake up with our community on our mind. i go to bed with our community on our mind and i told her numerous times, i love each and every resident we serve, even though i don't know them. i'm deeply committed to the work, because i know the difference that it makes when you have support, when you have the things you need to live your best life. when i look at the children that are here and our youth i always tell myself, i'm not willing to lose another generation. we cannot lose another generation. each and every one of us have a responsibility to this generation t. is easy to complain what they are not doing and where they are and why they are where they are, versus saying, what can i do to make a difference

for this generation. every day that i'm committed to this work, i'm like, i'm here for the next generation. i'm here for their parents because i want them to be well and i want them to have a life that they believe is worth living and i'm a part of the mission. mayor breed thank you for the opportunity to come to the housing authority. thank you cend rubecause there are many things she explains things to me i don't necessarily understand that have opened my eyes to the community and helped me to have a very different passion and understanding about things that i didn't necessarily know. this job has been phenomenal. yes, i have a doctorate but the education i gained academically is nothing compared to the life education i have been experiencing here. i want to say thank you to the sunnydale residents. i want you to know i'm committed to you. that i love you and i

appreciate how you have been patient with the housing authority, how you have been patient with the city, how you have been patient with mercy because you are living among all of the construction. as you are watching your community transform, i want to thank you for being patient with us and i want to thank you for trusting us with your life. thank you so much again. [applause] >> thank you dr. i think everyone is really starting to understand and already feels and knows how personal this work is. how important it is to all of us to everyone involved and thank you for those remarks. mayor, thank you for all of your comments. they were all so wonderful. i really appreciate hearing the parents to success and i will build on that, because there are so many parents to the success of this, including all of

those with check books, so i really do appreciate and i like to just comment and acknowledge the commitment and the contribution from our financing partners. wells fargo bank is a very big participant in these phases. 40 million in tax credit equity, over 100 million between the two buildsings in construction financing. city bank, 40 million befween the two phasing. mayor office of housing, thank you all you are doing day to day is and also the financial commitment that made this possible. over $40 million for housing. over $10 million for ground floor retail and over $27 million for infrastructure. i know we don't have the emotional attachment to those roads we do to some of the buildings, but i have to tell you, they are so important and they also are blood sweat and tears inducing i will just say.

alright. also, to the san francisco/california housing finance agency. combination the bond recycling program. we were the first to use the bond recycling program here in san francisco, so innovative and thank you for $20 million in recycled bonds. the california department of housing and community development. you are going to hear from director vulas cz in a moment, but significant dollars in the accelerator program. the infill infrastructure program. a combination again with hcd and the strategic growth council with asec. i will say and talk about our staffing in a minute, one thing that in the last several years happened, we had a in-house conversation that related about continuing on, because we kept submitting application after application after application and we were not getting the traction and looking right at you two.

there was a moment of,b what do we do? how are we going to make this happen? will this happen? how do we continue and all of a sudden we started getting funding awards and all a sudden all this became possible and i cannot tell you how amazing that was, so thank you very much. it is my- [applause] it is my honor to introduce our next speak er. this is very very exciting for me, i have to say. this year marina wiant appointed by treasurer fa executive director of the california debt limit allocation committee and credit allocation committee. both committees are chaired by-role promoting private investment and affordable housing through tax credits. has a huge job and will continue doing

excellent working forging partnerships befween state agency jz all the developers and cities and local partners throughout california to produce more affordable housing just like this. thank you to marina and are please help me and welcoming her to the podium. [applause] >> thank you. good morning. i will go off script too. my grandparents were immigrants in the late 40 and settled in san francisco and my mom was born and raised here and so, when i come to the city i am reminded of the opportunity the city provide for all people and it is a city for all, a city of opportunity, and but it is rooted in community and my family had the lack of having a very strong russian community that held together and lifted them up when they came to this country and so knh when i

look at sunnydale and hear the remarks of the speakers talking about the community here,b it means so much to imagine the lives that would be changed from this community today we are building and it is such a honor as a executive director and on behalf of the chair of treasurer to be here today and to be part of this project by providing the tax credits and the bond financing for it and it is-proud to be part of this amazing team that brought this dream to fruition to the development team and staff and city and county and housing authority, you name it, it sounds like a lot of people were involved and just really honored to be here today. i have two certificates to present to mercy housing and related on behalf of the treasurer as a thank you for all the hard work around sunnydale. best wishing and congratulations.

[applause] >> thank you. that was exciting. this is a exciting day. alright. it is also my honor to introduce our next speaker, directser vulas quz. in 2020 appointed by the governor gavin newsom as director of the california department of housing and community development, hcd. he leads california housing policy agenda and administers a wide range, a huge range of programs that produce

affordable housing in communities across the state including this community. affordable housing after years of trying this partnership--i referenced that. years and years of trying this partnership received significant support from hcd to fund this development. please help me welcome gustavo. [applause] >> thank you, good morning. thank you. great to be here in sunnydale. i appreciate two of my favorite not just mine, but state capital, two of the favorite people in the affordable housing industry, doug and ann. build wide groups that are partnering are just phenomenal across the state. we are so happy to be holding hands with them. i want to thank the mayor, thank you for your very kind words mayor. she knows, we only hold

hands--the local powers continue to be important, significant, critical in order to continue to build the housing that we need in the city of san francisco and she's been the champion working hard with the planning commission, board of supervisors, but it is you that is making projects like this possible, which is a facilitator and partner in the process. thank senator wiener for just support of hcd programs. protecting our programs and being certainly the champion of such consequential policy across the state. it is just been remarkable. he's tinnier tenure in the senate. i just want to say, as you know, last year there is a lot of talk about the roll role of the state department. not only helping finance

affordable housing, we have shortage across the state. more then 2 million homes short to stabilize the housing market, especially at the low income side of income scale, but obviously our work on working with localities for housing creation that is needed. that's been our housing accountability work that has been kind of growing, growing and last year there was a lot of talk about this review that the state started working with the city around delays in the entitlement and approval of affordable housing. the mayor was the first one to embrace alongside senator wiener these efforts, because they travel across the entire city, not just any particular political district, but across the city. they know how important it st. to speed up the creation of housing.

for all to say, this is really about partnership. this is not only about reviewing the localities complying with state law, but demonstrating committed partnership behind those efforts, and one of them is this project with a state financial assistance in the amount of nearly $75 million across different programs. the program that supports enhancement in infrastructure, a program that demonstrates the connection between our climate goals and housing goals in the state, and of course, the program called california housing accelerator that was a idea by the governor since we had so many projects that were stuck for the limitations of tax credits and tax exempt bonds and they needed an infusion of dollars in order to go into construction and this project was one of the 58 awardees for that

funding. i'm sure there will be probably a reporter that will start writing about so much taxpayer subsidy to one particular project, but let's just get the facts straight. first of all, this project is all about density. it is dense. something that will keep people in place in the sunnydale community. this is with everything we hear about housing creation, creating the pressure for the displacement and gentrification, this project does the exact opposite. this project is about building community, mercy and related are here not just to build homes, but to create an entire project around the community and community of sunnydale. this project is about the proximity to so many services that the residents will need, which helps reduce the green house gas emissions that are

created by use of vehicles. deeply affordable units, which is the biggest shortage and i can go on and on. again, it is a lot of fundsing into one project, but it is about the rebuilding. continued community that has to be put in context before we start really talking about so much money going into a project. it really is community rebuilding and that is why we are here, because we see this project and the community of sunnydale as a bright spot in the continuing efforts to have san francisco continue to be the big hope that it has been under your leadership, mayor. thank you very much and thank you for inviting me. [applause] >> okay. our last speaker is lynn, executive director of the strategic

growth council. for those that don't know what-10 member council that helps put together funds for issues related to climate change and strengthening communities around the state. invested over $4 billion arounds california. this is my fortunate second timeane week to be with lynn. the last time she kicked my hard and why she has a cast on her foot. but, lynn, welcome and thank you for all your support. [applause] >> thank you doug. good afternoon. it is such a pleasure to be here today. we have been speaking in the governor's office administration so much this year about implementation, implement ation. making sure that all of the work that we have been doing over the last couple years on building programs, working with the legislature, thinking through solutions gets to these moments where you see the work in place. you see the community being

benefited so directly by the incredible investments, ideas and visions that come through projects such as these. now, one thing that i enjoy so much about working on the affordable housing sustainable communities program is this program is really centered around this idea of building homes near people's daily destinations. supporting folks where their are at with high quality affordable housing so close to the places they work, educated, go to school and play. making sure that then not only is it a housing project, but also then wrapping around the transportation and the support services that it will make it easier more comfortable and more climate resilient in terms of able to be supported in moving around a space in a given day. so, all the folks today talked so much about the housing and the affordsability and units and i want to take a minute too to also talk

about the transportation components we'll see here. in addition to the housing this also purchase two electrical units for caltrans corridor, bike facility and bike path and cross walk and sidewalk improvement for crossing between the community garden and playgrounds. this provides unlimited monthly transit passes for the next 3 years. not only is this a incredible place to live, it is easier to move, easier to get to your daily destinations and going to help build up the transit system which are so important to able to meet our collective climate goals in the state. so, getting to this point it takes a village and it is so incredible to hear the stories, hear the personal connections, hear the testimony of what it took to get to this moment and so the strategic growth council we are so proud and honored to be part of this moment and we thank you for allowing us to be part of this partnership.

we know it is a year of community organizing, engagement, planning, partnerships, i think there was a blood sweat and tear reference earlier to get to these points where you have this collective moment of success and celebration, so congratulations to everybody here for the places that you participated the role you played and the incredible community investment that is here for the community of sunnydale. thank you so much and again, congratulations. [applause] >> come on up. so, we are closing up now and want to thank all the folks here today and particularly the staff that run and operate these buildings. the residents, many whom work in various based community organizations on the site. everyone on the sunnydale work is trying hard to make sure the

community is running and operated by folks from the community as much as possible. that is what we are hoping for in the retail space. i want to thank the folks out here every day when there are not tents and cameras it makes a difference in the lives of people. [applause] >> i couldn't agree more. thank you thank you thank you. very very quickly, just want to very quickly say thank you also to the folks who are building these buildings. thank you to our architects [applause] who are doing such an amazing job. please come back for the ribbon cutting and see their beautiful beautiful work. to our construction manager, to our legal team, to the related team, to bill whity, who was here at the very beginning and continues to be committed. he is leader er and joined by

carlos, kaitlyn [calling out names] i want to thank everyone for being here today and give you the instructions now. we are going to invite all of the speakers to walk over to the beam behind us. i think we are going to sign it. >> making to may grandkids a program all about pop ups, artists, non profits small

business in into vacant downtown throughout the area for a three to 6 months engagement. >> i think san francisco is really bright and i wanted to be a part of it revitalization. >> i'm hillary, the owner of [indiscernible] pizza. vacant and vibrant got into safe downtown we never could have gotten into pre-pandemic. we thought about opening downtown but couldn't afford it and a landlord [indiscernible] this was a awesome opportunity for us to get our foot in here. >> the agency is the marriage between a conventional art gallery and fine art agency.

i'm victor gonzalez the founder of gcs agency. thes program is especially important for small business because it extended huge life line of resources, but also expertise from the people that have gathered around the vacant to vibrant program. it is allowed small businesses to pop up in spaces that have previously been fully unaccessible or just out of budget. vacant to vibrant was funded by a grant from the office of economic workforce development that was part of the mayor's economic recovery budget last year so we funded our non profit partners new deal who managed the process getting folks into these spaces. >> [indiscernible] have been tireless for all of us down here and it has been incredible. certainly never seen the kind

of assistance from the city that vacant to vibrant has given us, for sure. >> vacant to ibvooerant is a important program because it just has the opportunity to build excitement what downtown could be. it is change the narrative talking about ground floor vacancy and office vacancy to talking about the amazing network of small scale entrepreneur, [indiscernible] >> this is a huge opportunity that is really happy about because it has given me space to showcase all the work i have been doing over the past few years, to have a space i can call my own for a extended period of time has been, i mean, it is incredible. >> big reason why i do this is specific to empower artist. there are a lot of people in san francisco that have really great ideas that have the work ethics, they just don't have

those opportunities presented, so this has been huge lifeline i think for entrepreneurs and small businesses. >> this was a great program for us. it has [indiscernible] opening the site. we benefited from it and i think because there is diverse and different [indiscernible] able to be down here that everybody kind of benefits from it. >> you're watching quick bite, the show that has san francisco. ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ >> we're here at one of the many food centric districts of san francisco, the 18th street corridor which locals have affectionately dubbed the castro. a cross between castro and gastronomic. the bakery, pizza, and dolores park cafe, there is no end in sight for the mouth watering food options here. adding to the culinary delights is the family of business he which includes skylight creamery, skylight and the 18 raisin. >> skylight market has been here since 1940. it's been in the family since 1964. his father and uncle bought the market and ran it through sam taking it over in 1998. at that point sam revamped the market. he installed a kitchen in the center of the market and really

made it a place where chefs look forward to come. he created community through food. so, we designed our community as having three parts we like to draw as a triangle where it's comprised of our producers that make the food, our staff, those who sell it, and our guests who come and buy and eat the food. and we really feel that we wouldn't exist if it weren't for all three of those components who really support each other. and that's kind of what we work towards every day. >> valley creamery was opened in 2006. the two pastry chefs who started it, chris hoover and walker who is sam's wife, supplied all the pastries and bakeries for the market. they found a space on the block to do that and the ice cream kind of came as an afterthought.

they realized the desire for ice cream and we now have lines around the corner. so, that's been a huge success. in 2008, sam started 18 reasons, which is our community and event space where we do five events a week all around the idea of bringling people closer to where the food comes from and closer to each other in that process. >> 18 reasons was started almost four years ago as an educational arm of their work. and we would have dinners and a few classes and we understood there what momentum that people wanted this type of engagement and education in a way that allowed for a more in-depth conversation. we grew and now we offer -- i think we had nine, we have a series where adults learned home cooking and we did a teacher training workshop where san francisco unified public school teachers came and learned to use cooking for the

core standards. we range all over the place. we really want everyone to feel like they can be included in the conversation. a lot of organizations i think which say we're going to teach cooking or we're going to teach gardening, or we're going to get in the policy side of the food from conversation. we say all of that is connected and we want to provide a place that feels really community oriented where you can be interested in multiple of those things or one of those things and have an entree point to meet people. we want to build community and we're using food as a means to that end. >> we have a wonderful organization to be involved with obviously coming from buy right where really everyone is treated very much like family. coming into 18 reasons which even more community focused is such a treat. we have these events in the evening and we really try and bring people together. people come in in groups, meet friends that they didn't even know they had before. our whole set up is focused on communal table.

you can sit across from someone and start a conversation. we're excited about that. >> i never worked in catering or food service before. it's been really fun learning about where things are coming from, where things are served from. >> it is getting really popular. she's a wonderful teacher and i think it is a perfect match for us. it is not about home cooking. it's really about how to facilitate your ease in the kitchen so you can just cook. >> i have always loved eating food. for me, i love that it brings me into contact with so many wonderful people. ultimately all of my work that i do intersects at the place where food and community is. classes or cooking dinner for someone or writing about food. it always come down to empowering people and giving them a wonderful experience. empower their want to be around people and all the values and reasons the commitment,

community and places, we're offering a whole spectrum of offerings and other really wide range of places to show that good food is not only for wealthy people and they are super committed to accessibility and to giving people a glimpse of the beauty that really is available to all of us that sometimes we forget in our day to day running around. >> we have such a philosophical mission around bringing people together around food. it's so natural for me to come here. >> we want them to walk away feeling like they have the tools to make change in their lives. whether that change is voting on an issue in a way that they will really confident about, or that change is how to understand why it is important to support our small farmers. each class has a different purpose, but what we hope is

that when people leave here they understand how to achieve that goal and feel that they have the resources necessary to do that. >> are you inspired? maybe you want to learn how to have a patch in your backyard or cook better with fresh ingredients . or grab a quick bite with organic goodies. find out more about 18 reasons by going to 18 reasons.org and learn about buy right market and creamery by going to buy right market.com. and don't forget to check out our blog for more info on many of our episodes at sf quick bites.com. until next time, may the fork be with you. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> so chocolaty. mm. ♪♪ >> oh, this is awesome.

oh, sorry. i thought we were done rolling. ♪♪ >> all right. we'll start this - >> (multiple voices). >> >> maybe. >> okay. everyone. >> welcome to the san francisco civic design review committee meeting this afternoon at 2:00 pm., monday, may 20, 2024. this is the gorgeous beautiful day and i would i'd like to call the meeting to order. and i will ask program social to call the roll. >> commissioner schnair here. >>