enterprise, our tax credit investor, a wells fargo bank, our construction lender, the federal home loan bank of san francisco through its affordable housing program, far east national bank, a program that sponsor, the california financing agency, the state of california department of housing community development, and finally, -- one more -- j.d. morgan chase foundation. looking out into the audience, i see a lot of familiar faces, including my fiancee. [laughter] that was totally impromptu. i recognize the difficulty of interrupting a work day and taking a pause for a moment of recognition and celebration. i am so happy that this is done. this is beautiful. so thank you all for being here today. and thank you to julie and

jeanine, who put together today's facilities. we have organized two self- guided tours. unit 204 and around the corner, on their way to get in line for food, we have a lovely court erred in the back and you can visit unit lo5. it is great to be here. thank you. [applause] >> and to conclude, can we give a big round of applause -- easy part of this project is now done. the hard part comes in operating it for the next three decades. so could be put it together for property management and social services staff? [applause]

thank you, everyone, for coming. we are done. >> i just want to make a public statement to acknowledge that appointments to the police commission and any commission which is a policy-making body is very important. i want to encourage about keep in front of our minds the importance of not only to elect women, but to work to get more women appointed to these bodies that help make legislative decisions for our city and

county of san francisco. >> i am from san francisco. i grew up in the local neighborhood. i did my under deprad wait work at fisk university, where i studied political science with a concentration in public administration and worked eight years largely in the public sector. then i earned a master's degree from carnegie melon in pittsburg, pennsylvania. i spent some time as assistant executive director for a non-profit. we did work if a lot of kids in the neighborhood. i have done fundraising for candidates and issues. i have experience with the federal reserve bank of san francisco. when i look around my neighborhood and see the changes that are happening, i so there is no neighborhood grocery store. i see that small businesses in particular are coming and going, and they haven't been able to really sustain themselves. from my work experience in working for the city in the mayor's office as well as in

the non-profit, i had a good sense as to what some of the challenges were. when i look in the future, i could see more challenges coming. i thought i had a set of experiences and more importantly a passion and desire to serve. >> i understand that no one wants to have their programs cut. of course not. i also want everyone here to understand that no one up here wants to cut programs because they don't care about the population being served. there are no value ains here. we are all on the same team. it is a tough situation, as we are here so that we can begin the work together. >> i am actually more forward thinking. for me it is less about being left or right, or in this town, moderate or progressive. it is really about the issues and about creating policies that will have a sustainable and lasting positive impact on the families that live here. it is very costly and difficult to do business in sfrinls, to raise your children in san francisco, and i would like to

have a voice at that table to really create policies that will minimize that san francisco is not a big business-friendly city. i think we started to go in the wrong direction. the reason why we started walking down that path largely was because of political ideology. when you deal with me, you are dealing with facts, less than politics. i really want to have a positive impact on the city overall. >> good afternoon, everyone. how are you? >> good. >> it's a nice day today. thank you for coming out to our community event. please give a round of [applause] to them. we have a lot of development going on. you see how lovely leland street looks. do you like it? >> yes. >> beautiful, isn't it? we are going to continue. we have a library that is going to be opening up in june. that's right. so i will see you all there at the library. there is a lot of activity going on. it is important we remain connected and engaged. >> would you mind if we were to pull the seniors together and

translate for me in a mini meeting? >> yes, sir. >> what we are going ready to do is we are going to have a quick little mini meeting to -- because we didn't translate my short message before. >> i just want to say i want to welcome everyone to the event. >> we have folks in visitation valley only talking with visitation valley. we have folks in bayview again only talking in a very small corridor of 3rd straight and the merchant corridor. we don't have people talking to the hill merchant association, doing patch. all these fragrmented conversations are happening, largely talking about the same thing, crime, keeping the streets clean, supporting sbaubs. that is something i made a concerted effort on the campaign to build bridges.

>> along third street, dog patch, and everyone along the cord door has the same complaint. >> i have the same complaint. >> we have the third street merchant corridor and an opportunity to revite lies what i consider to be the main artery of the business district. it is a pretty long street. there is a lot of opportunity there. let's not squander that. when we recruit businesses, we want it to be a healthy mix that reflects the cultural history of the southeast part of the city. we are all human, and how to connect with that human spirit, whether you are in public housing, own your own property, or if your asian, african-american, male or female, we are really a community. when we start to realize and move in the direction of being humans and having this human experience and connecting together, really if you will, being each other's keeper, then san francisco really begins to continue to thrive.

>> i think if you're going to continue with your intellectual honesty, i hope you vote against every project from here on out that includes below market rate units. because the same legal argument you're making to argue that this development agreement is invalid is the same one you should be making to the ordinance. >> next is the senior member of

the board of supervisors, not so much in terms of age but in terms of terms of service, and a man who nominated the mayor who is about to be sworn in. sean elsbernd. >> i was born and raised in district 7, montessori school right up the block. a grade school right down the street. my mom owned a children's clothing store right down the block, and i am lived here all my life, 30 years, and i have every intention of raising my family here. went down to a small school in los angeles, claremont mckenna, and came back here for law school and graduated. went to work here in city hall immediately upon passing the bar on the first drive. and work here in city hall for a few years. then lightning struck and i was appointed as a member of the board of supervisors in august of 2004 and have been here ever

since. most people would call me a moderate. i have a knack and a love for the law. i saw a way to combine that love with service to the political process. i think having watched campaigns not as a candidate, i do not appreciate the kind of thick skin you need is a candidate. being a candidate, it is not the easiest thing in the world. i have come since then to really appreciate my opponent, in the sense that while i may disagree with them, we have policy disagreements, they are putting their foot on the line. they're stepping into the arena. this is a lot about them. being a candidate is not an easy endeavor, and you have to respect anybody who does that. >> you are all about to get an introduction to the fairly daunting numbers that the city is about to face. that the city is facing right now. the mayor, the way the process works, the mayor introduces his budget, the first part on may 1 at a the second part on june 1.

then it gets handed off to the board of supervisors. this single most important issue is the budget. whether your concern is homelessness or transportation, parks, public health, fundamentally, it all comes down to how much money we have and how we are going to spend it. and looking forward, unfortunately, it is getting worse. the amount of money for spending is far outpacing the amount of money that is coming in. and getting our hands around that and how we're going to bring that into line is the biggest challenge. >> this is real reform. this is a real proposal that every single san franciscan can be brought to support come november. it is also important note, as much as we see real reform and a tattered million dollars to $1 billion over the next 10 years, that is also real sacrifice, real dollars from our public employees. >> i am trusting myself into what i think is the biggest challenge within the budget, and

that is the cost associated with our city employee pensions and health benefits. those are the single biggest drivers to our expenses, far exceeding our revenues. we're talking literally hundreds of billions of dollars, this upcoming fiscal year approaching on pension and benefits alone, spending just shy of $1 billion. >> i was hoping not to have to stand up. i do not think there would have to second the motion that is frankly so irresponsible, the notion that cost neutral is not defined -- all due respect, i do not need a definition to tell me what cost neutral and means. money comes in, money comes out. if it is neutral, it is neutral. i do not need a definition and a chart to tell me what cost neutral list. this is not a smart program. it needs to go away. extending it any wonder, spending any more money on this would be just a waste. >> i think the district has always been home to a voice of

passionate common sense. that is how i like to phrase it. and it has been for decades. it is the voicecenter to bring to the board of supervisors. >> three ballot measures were placed on the ballot at the very last minute by four members of the board of supervisors. i think in the last 48 hours, we have seen that those ballot measures were written rather hastily. they're all kinds of unintended consequences. this charter amendment fixes that problem. frankly, it gives it a bit of a lifeline to those four supervisors and to the mayor if they ever descending like this again. -- if they ever go through this again. >> the fact that we're taxing employers on how many jobs they create scenes of the counterproductive. we want to encourage people to create jobs. i do not think asking employers to pay a tax on how many they create makes a lot of sense. i think it is my job to be as

responsive to the businesses in the district as it is to be to the constituents. i am their face of city hall. i need to be accessible, open, and responsive. and i can help clear up a lot of this red tape for them. >> if you try to use a knife, you run the cheesecake. and he knows that, because when he sells the cheesecake, it comes with a piece of fish wire. and that is what you need used at this cheesecake, because it is so soft. it is so frothy -- [laughter] it is amazing. >> we have to think of san francisco 10 to 30 years from now and we have to prepare ourselves for what the economy will be. whether or not it is biotech, which i think will be a key piece, but information technology, can we be the hub of that? we have to put in place, whether it is addressing our payroll tax, whether it is addressing it land use decisions, put in place a conducive atmosphere to

attracting those economies. we do that, and it helps with our basic budget. it helps develop new jobs. there is a lot we can do to catch that new economy. >> briefly, this is your day, to those of you who have been elected. congratulations just duty off on what president chiu said. the little but i would say is it is going to be over before you know it. i am is sitting here, and it is dawning on me that it is my last time here in an inaugural meeting. take advantage of every moment you have here. go after every goal you want to pursue. do not shy away from the challenges. keep fighting, keep working for those who sent you here. and i guarantee, it will be a rewarding experience and the city of san francisco will be better off for the work that you do. congratulations. [applause]

♪ >> for those of us on the board, i know many of us have young ben was in the city. i know a ton of my friends have left the city. one thing that the strike me as we have a ton of data, but it is a different places. this year, we will call for those constituents to come

together to understand the issue better and, going forward, enacting policies to extend that period . of all the places i have been, this is my favorite. i am a born and raised san franciscan. more important, i represent district 2. i grew up in the marina district close to the palace of fine arts. my parents still live in the same set of plants that i live in. i went to grammar school here. i went to st. ignatius here. i am a proud wild cat. i went to college at loyola- marymount university in los angeles. i had a scholarship to play baseball. i remember coming down here to christie field, when my dad was in the military, seeing how the beaches have transformed into but we have today.

you cannot beat the views, of course. it just holds summoning memories and i can come here with our kids, our family. i ended up going to ireland to get a master's degree at the university college of dublin. i went back to the states and went to law school at university of pennsylvania. then i came back, and choosing to live in san francisco was natural to me. when you are a child, you do not realize what you had until you leave home. i had the opportunity to live in los angeles, abroad in ireland, and there is no place like home, when you are from san francisco. i have been a corporate attorney at palo -- in palo alto. i became an >> i worked in the finance industry about 5 1/2 years. in the summer of 2009 i joined a venture capital firm with two

other partners. >> we are all excited about the americas cup here in district two but one thing if you think about it everyone knows what fleet week is like here in the marina. this is fleet week on steroids. think about fort mason, these will be the most brings taken places to watch the americas cup. what we're working on and working to continue to work on and want your input on, how do we make it a positive experience for the people that live here. >> i'm happily married and my life and -- wife and i live around laurel village. we have two children, five around they. we are proud parents and now just excited to be here on the board. i think i'm in the middle. i'm a moderate person. fiscal fiscally conservative and that is the way i intend to practice what i preach here. in terms of getting into politics, i think for me it was really that reasons. first being from here, i think

that was part of my own motivation, feeling a sense of roots in san francisco. also raising our children here. i think we went through as a young family the discussion and dialogue that many young families go through. should we move to the suburbs? away decided to stick around and we are very happy we did. once you stick around i think it was a turning point to say we are here for good. what can we do to make this place better? there were a lot of lessons to be learned in running a race in san francisco. a few that stick out, money does matter. raising money. that is a simple, somewhat unfortunate fact if you want to be candidate. most importantly, one thing i drew out of it is hard work and utter determination is the thing that will, i think, allow to succeed more than anything else. i came from the private sector and looking at honestly answering the question did i have something different to offer that i thought would be

valuable it san francisco right now and i think a hrrpbl part of our -- large part of problems are financial and with my background i think i can add a lot of value and that is why i decided to bet in the race. >> it means there might be some small profit if you run it correctly but not always. that is something we really need to keep in mind in our city government. from my point of view is that. we have to figure out what is it lake -- like to be a business person in the city and what we can do to not only have full restaurants and bars but making sure it is worth it to continue to open successful places that make our community that much better. >> we have a huge unemployment rate in san francisco. it is about 9.6%. the fact that we have not done much about that in city hall i think has it change. that certainly is something i will be focused on in the beginning here in city hall.

putting people back to work. it is an individual issue but it is a family issue and we've a lot of families still struggling and i think people have lost sight of that. hopefully we will be getting out of the recession soon but we need to do a lot to accelerate getting out of that recession, making sure families are back at work and children are provided for. to me that is my biggest priority. i think that we do lose a lot of sight in the past district supervisors lost sight of the fact that we do represent san francisco as a whole and we need to make sure in city hall we are enacting policies, laws and legislation that move the city forward as a whole. these are the neighborhoods i grew up in, so for me it is fun to be in them to really understand what is going on and be able it fundamentals some of the thinking and some of the people that are making decisions. >> right here we played football. flag football right here every year. we hung out right in the gym.

directors looked after us. parents used to check in but not only one parent, they checked on all the kids. that is what is great about this district, the community. the family base of everything. >> exactly. and look how you turned out. you are doing ok. >> doing all right. two local city guys. >> there you go.

>> i get really concerned one ip -- hear people say the payroll tax is a job killer. maybe in some industries the payroll tax might be a disincentive on business going forward, but i would not be surprised if we came out of the whole discussion about remaking our tax for next year that it involves a combination of a payroll tax, commercial occupancy tax, and gross receipts tax. all of that could be in a remade

form of our business tax structure. >> that is a good question to ask. i will ask this monday. >> i was born in of los angeles. i was in a mexican-american, a chicano town. my dad was a launch your worker. my mother was an office worker at usc. my parents were divorced when i was 10 years old. i moved to the east coast and lived there for six years and then fled back to california after high school. i went to school at uc santa barbara. i have been in san francisco since 1989, have lived in the excelsior since 1999. the difficulty is, muni often sees it as an industrial area, not a neighborhood. we have to figure out how to make it work as a neighborhood and as a place that can service the light rail vehicles. i have had lots of different

jobs. my main job has been doing social work for san francisco state university. i have been a community organizer, a social worker, but i have also been a legislative aide. i worked mostly for community- based organization supporting kids and families, working for labor. i got to see how city hall could be an effective tool to create change. i looked at running in 2007, 2008, and somehow i made it. i have been in politics for so many ways, doing work around central america, supporting people in central america against u.s. imperialism, their right to live, self determination. i did a lot of work on that on campus when i was in college. a bit of work on apartheid when i was in college as well. >> i never got involved in

supporting a candidate. i never thought a candidate was someone that i would support. then when tom ammiano ran against willie brown, i got inspired. i thought, someone with integrity and honesty, if they can run for mayor, maybe i can be somebody who represents what is true about our people. that is what inspired me to run and be a candidate. one thing this year that i really tackling, and i expect to for a long time, looking at me and how it operates in my district. san francisco, we talk about it being a transit first city, but it does not mean a lot if transit is not very well thought out in places away from downtown. my district is where we need to create better options. all the way down to randall street, there is no accessible boarding areas for the church.

there is a woman that lives in a wheelchair on santa rosa. she has to go across to glen park to get out transit. >> those new stations, those are the ones that we are going to have to depend on. >> along balboa park station, near geneva, i have been pushing hard to get ramps for pedestrians. right now, it is dangerous to cross the street. i want to insure the department of parking and traffic is painting lines on alemany street. beyond that, we need to figure out how to calm the traffic. a lot of cars go speeding through. sidewalks are not convenient for people. >> i am the supervisor for district 11, the debt -- the best district in san francisco. this year, we get to show how great district 11 really is.

>> we are in our fifth year of major budget deficits. it is inevitable that we will make painful cuts. so how do we do it in a way that will minimize the impact on every day san franciscans? >> i really appreciate what you're doing here. you are a really patient gentleman, and i appreciate that. >> our parks are often cut first. how do we maintain our safety net, public health services, security services? all of these are critical decisions that have to be made. >> i have seen many people come forward today who i know whose lives have changed because of the services we are providing. that is something that we can be proud of and have a as a goal at the budget process to make sure that we can turn lives around and create a liveable communities. >> if we do not resolve the