the already full. it is a great testimony that was needed here and in terms of affordable housing. we know the success of the bay area's innovative the economy is critical to our nation's prosperity and global competitiveness. i want to thank the speaker and hud for giving us the $5 million that will be put to good use. we understand that we will only be truly successful if we are able to create a middle class jobs and affordable, accessible communities that provide a path of upward mobility for all of our working families. this grant will provide a regional prosperity plan to do just that. abag, which is working for the nine area counties, is in partnership with mtc, and they both will be working and producing a sustainable communities strategy, which needs to be approved over the next year. we're looking forward to working with the bay area consortium of local government agencies, organizations, foundations to

provide innovative ideas to the regional planning process but include the economic or gratuities strategy, as well as housing the work force strategy. we do have seven of our nine bay area counties and cities, at least cities, represented in this grant, and over a dozen nonprofit organizations from san francisco, the south bay and north bay. this is truly a bay area program. we look forward to working with staff. abag has been doing the heavy living -- heavy lifting. have i said abag five times it? he will not put me on his christmas list for this year but at this point, i would like to introduce mayor lee. mayor lee spoke at our abag general assembly in san francisco in october. i am sure that was critical to his reelection success. [laughter] mayor lee -- [applause]

>> yak yak, i think we're going to try to announce the banning of plastic bags peter thank you, everybody, for coming today. leader pelosi and i just finished a wonderful visit to the roof garden, and if you can actually feel prosperity, you should have been with us, because this is a wonderful project, and it is a partnership with so many people. later on when you have an opportunity to ask her, asked about the private financing that went into this. it is very remarkable that the public-private partnership that went into this project is very unique. i want to join supervisor campos as well as supervisor wiener and our mtc representatives, also abag and all of the agencies that work together, particularly the federal agencies. hud, dot, and epa coming together to work with all of our

communities. all of the community organizations have been identified. i already know that there are probably several more that we forgot to mention. i know that spur was working with us as well. individuals spend some good quality nights writing the application, making sure it reflected the strong collaboration. because i think that is -- leader policy, that is what makes san francisco so special to you know that as much as i do. when people come together with a good cause and then they speak to everybody and they get the best ideas, and collaborate, there are no boundaries as to what we can do. i am excited because it is not just the $5 million that we are getting. it is what that money will leverage with everything else. in fact, it immediately will leverage the local dollar is pretty awesome making the commitment that we're going to use this money and the rigid with other monies that we have to make the planning process even more vigorous, more complete, more inclusive, so

that we can get the best planning ideas and balance all of these issues. because we are always going to be challenged by the lack of resources. planning and planning better and better with everybody is going to be really the way to succeed. if you look back, you'll see the wonderful beaufort -- beautiful mural that i think reflects the prosperity that we're talking about today. you also know and appreciate that every time leader pelosi comes into town, and i think that is every two months, there is a very special announcement. she will tell us some of the bad news and will not happen. but then she will sprinkle it with some things that are always going to be heartfelt, evarts that she has personally made that have generally been almost always successful in getting the bay area to reflect our success. as long as the key collaborating, planning, and including everybody in the process, i think we can keep that coming. and a leader pelosi has a

tremendous challenge. we are all backing her up 150%. we need to back up our president, president obama, as he is challenged with our economy. i certainly want to thank senator feinstein and senator boxer for joining in. leader pelosi, i just want to thank you. every effort is so precious now. we want to really appreciate every moment that we can, especially at times like these where resources are so limited that we can leverage this with so many opportunities. she will talk to you about the challenges with the funds. all across the country, we're trying to use those monies and the most demonstrative way. the best thing we can do is bring more people about. that is what i have been all about. i am so glad to take this opportunity to introduce our leader, leader pelosi. thank you very much for coming. [applause] >> thank you.

thank you very much, mr. mayor. and this program we're introducing, and want to return the compliment back to the mayor and thank him for his leadership, congratulate you on your recent election and for the successful first year. again, thank you, mr. mayor. let's acknowledge the mayor. [applause] as i listened to patricia, to jared, mayor green, abag -- did i say it? and our mayor, and especially, with all due respect, to everyone, to gail gilman, as executive director, to talk about what is happening here. as i heard all of you speak, i was thinking about what the president -- when he was elected, he took office, and in one of our first meeting, he said we're going to do things differently. it was really only a matter of

months after his inauguration that this collaboration was formed with hud, the department of transportation, and the epa. so i want to acknowledge secretary donovan, administrator jackson -- is that the word we use? administrator. and of course, secretary lahood, as well, for their responsiveness in getting this going. it was not long a time after, san francisco can be the beneficiary. but it is no accident that we would be a leader, an adult -- a model to the country, having an initiative of national significance right from the start. collaboration, regional collaboration -- dave is gone but i am not taking attendance, but i was referencing him. but, steve, you know that early

on if the mtc said we have to think regionally. we have to take our best shots. we have to help each other. and that collaboration among the bay area has served us very well. it was actually written into one of our -- into the transportation bill, a long time ago. so the san francisco bay area, once again, in the league. in the private sector that the mere reference, the low-income housing tax credit, has been a priority for our office for nearly 25 years. because when i went to congress, it was iffy. then it was we had to approve it every year. then we wanted to make it permanent. that was a way for the private sector to visit a low-income housing tax credit to exploit, and the best possible way of using that term, the other community resources that were available. but what is really important about this is, of course, that

the president took the lead, had an idea, appointing the people that can make it happen very quickly, and the fact is the most important people involved in this are the people who are served here. all you need to do is look around here, visit the apartment of the continuum of care, where the needs of the residents are met. the roof garden, being outside right here, to know that this is about them, that they are the important ones. they are our vip's. the dignity they reserved -- and deserve, at the respect that they are receiving is really the success story. it is a very pleased to join -- i want you to know that this $5 million is very significant. it is part of almost $96 million for cities and regions nationwide. and more than $115 million in

matching grants across the country with close coordination of the epa, transportation, and hud. it is about sustainable communities. and isn't this just the perfect example? location near transit. like you said, no parking needed, because of the smart way that this has been thought out peter it is pretty exciting, and it is very helpful to me that i go back to washington, d.c., to say to my colleagues that this works.but community-based soluts are a major part of it, listening to what the residents would want. it is michael here? thank you for what you're doing for our veterans and probably some of them will be taking advantage of the housing here. in this month of november, we thank our veterans for their

service to our country. we had an event with the mayor and the salvation army some weeks ago leading up to veterans at day, and in the same month, we thank god for our blessings. among them are our veterans. again, we owe every person the respect that our veterans a fight for, a future worthy of their sacrifice, and this is a shining example of all of that. so i want to thank all of you who were part of this come into our official family in san francisco, board of supervisors, abag, mtc, and all that -- in congress, we talk about the lists that have been given and expanded upon. but this is something that puts people first. i cannot tell you how exciting it is to see it go from the expression that the president

used at the beginning -- i have some new ideas about how this should happen and how we can make things work faster and better for people. it is also really wonderful to be here at richardson in hayes valley, because julian and ray richardson, the oldest black african-american bookstore in the country, and they were involved in education. so this is about community. it is about honoring our responsibilities to each other. it is about regional collaboration. it is about national cooperation among agencies. it is about the american dream that the president has always spoke so much about. and for these people for reigniting the american dream to give them opportunity to reach their aspirations and their own fulfillment. so i thank all of you who were so much a part of this.

it is an honor to be here with each and every one of you. as i look out there, i see leaders in the community. low-income housing tax credit, every aspect of what makes this a tremendous success. so let it be a model to the nation. it is a national significance. we want more, don't we now, mr. mayor? and mr. director, to all of you. happy thanksgiving. congratulations . let's gail again -- let's applaud gail again. isn't she remarkable? [applause] >> on behalf of community housing partnership, on behalf of the 120 individuals who are no longer spending their nights on the streets of san francisco or in institutional care, and want to thank all of you for

attending today. i want to say that without good planning and good policy makers from groups like the council of community housing organizations, meta, spur, and others, it would not be possible for us to build this kind of housing in communities that provide a platform of driving for our tenants. i want to thank all of you for attending today. and welcome to richardson. thank you. [applause] >> please join me in welcoming our mayor, ed lee. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. i am very happy to join all of

you here today. it is an exciting day to join our high school kids, our high school, here at john o'connor. principal gomez, our deputy superintendent, our school board president, and our building trade, thank you for being here. the director of the joint power trended authority. we have the sfpuc, the school alliance, school district personnel. we are all here because we are excited about this wonderful announcement. we are here in a very green, multipurpose use building that has just been opened. this is going to be representing something that i am quite familiar with. i know mike and others closer to my age, we had a wood shop. we had metal shop in middle

school. we had exposure to how to deal with graphs. more importantly, you are talking to somebody who used to spend five years at the department of public works, as the director. we're having to pay attention to our infrastructure, one of the most important things any city can do. when we are trying to grow a new economy -- and as you know, i have gone around the city selling this idea about how the economy is about tech jobs, but we also have an important infrastructure to take care of. if we do not take care of the infrastructure, these other jobs will not be here. jobs at the transbay terminal, which we are already building, celebrating and historic project labor agreement. we also have a commitment to our

growing kids, that we are going to get them there. they are not just going to school to get bored. they have to have those jobs here, and we need them trained and ready for those jobs. so, in this new economy, when we are investing, like our city is, my commitment to the city is making sure we pay attention to infrastructure. we are going to do it right and make sure that our kids know, by fulfilling their educational goals, being exposed to a facility like this, where you are building our labor representatives with the curriculum that the school district has offered to work with the infrastructure agencies that we have just mentioned, we have a curriculum that will train them in the jobs to come. being able to pay attention to this overt -- capital structures

of the city, our high school kids can be exposed and get the experience, whether it is automotive, engineering, architectural design. they will get that exposure here in the center with all of the participants. so i am excited about this because it blends so much of what i believed in, what we have been doing in the city. all of our facilities that we are building in the city, whether you look at the mission bay, the building's at hunters point, treasure island, a partner said, all of these projects, or the hospital's going up, they will all meet plant engineers, in infrastructure commitments. for our high school kids, as you often heard, maybe not enough, i want to welcome you to the million-dollar club.

that is the difference, what our school district is trying to teach all of you, to make sure that you know there is a difference between someone who just graduated from high school, and someone who will go after their college education. it is a million-dollar difference. i want all of you to participate in that million dollar economy, because that will be the difference. and we will be working, not only through the school alliance, city colleges, local colleges to make sure we reinforce that. i am here to celebrate, participate, and the knowledge all of a great, wonderful entities that have come together to create this tech 21 center, where this exposure and experience will happen, with your leadership, printable gomez. these kids will be able to see they have a way forward in this challenging city, but one that will be there city, when they

have all the skills. thank you very much for being here. [applause] >> thank you. mr. mayor, we want to thank you on behalf of the 56,000 students in the san francisco unified school district, children of our community, for your tireless work on their behalf. we look forward to calling you a long-term partner. thank you. the mayor was gracious with his time. as you can imagine, he has a full schedule today and asked to be part of this ceremony today to show his appreciation for the work being done here. we want this to be a celebration and i would probably take until now until 3:00 to thank all of the dignitaries here, but i wanted to recognize some of our elected officials and dignitaries. of course, you met mayor lee,

and we also have with us today two commissioners of our board of education. commissioner sandra fuhr. we also have commissioner moss. [applause] we are very happy to with us also -- the mere mention her -- our transbay executive director maria ayerdi-kaplan. thank you for being here with us. and the executive vice president for the united educators of san francisco, linda, thank you. and our president of united educators of san francisco, denis kelly. thank you as well. whenever you go down this path, you are going to miss someone.

with all due respect, as i see you, i will call you out as we go through the program. thank you for being here. i serve as the separate -- deputy superintendent for social justice. what i would like to think about, as the good to this dedication ceremony, this is a tangible, real world artifacts of social justice. if we believe social justice is about kids having opportunities to explore career paths, opportunities to have jobs in the real world, if it was not for these types of opportunities, that is social justice. we are happy to have you here to be part of the celebration of social justice. on a personal level, i will say to you, this is so important to me, because i stand before you as the son of a dirty man she metalworker.

local 353 in tucson, arizona. why is that important? it is important because mayor lee mentioned, you cannot run a city, have infrastructure for a city, without these jobs. there is a connection between college and career and career and college. they are very much interconnected. as my father, who never graduated from high school, later earned a ged, the person who taught me geometry was not my geometry teacher, who had a master's degree. she was wonderful, but i was just one of those kids. i learned geometry with my father actually doing the work. when you are cutting out sheet metal, bending the angles, you have to make it fit and you have to measure. i learned about ankles and how geometry works by actually doing it.

when i say that career tech education is about college readiness, it is about utilizing all of those skills that we send kids to school every day to learn. this gives you a reason to read and write and do arithmetic, because you get to apply it. that is the duty of what is happening here today. happy to have you here. what a wonderful building. what do you think? do you like this building? [applause] this is our flexible use green building. we call it the text 21 building. we have not named it officially yet, but there is a naming opportunity for you, if you want to take advantage of that. just kidding. before we dive into the program, i would like to talk more about all the wonderful individuals that have made this a reality. this has truly been a collaborative effort on the part

of our partners, union partners, labor partners, educators, former administrators. you will hear from the former principal, dr. schultze, who was part of the original work. before we get to that, i want to introduce the current principal, martin gomez. this high school is named after one of san francisco's own labor champions, and john o'connell. i want to introduce to you the man leading the academic work in collaboration with all the wonderful teachers here at john o'connell high school. [applause] >> it is a lot more full than it was five minutes ago. as principal, i want to welcome

everyone to this event. it is important, not only for o'connell students, but all of san francisco. the district is making a push to include, improve, and pushed toward education. today, we are here to celebrate another reason of how o'connell is supporting and encouraging all students to be prepared for college and for a career. while some people are spending their time looking at what students are going to college, which are going to a career, with this new tech 21 program, the courses will support students to be prepared for a career, and for college. that is the difference between the programs of before and now. the new tech 21 courses will require students to be able to apply tougher math concepts.

the program will recruit students that are college-bound and students that want to go straight into the workforce. the whole purpose is to make sure that these students are prepared for the requirements that internships and jobs are asking for out of high school. we want to ensure all of the graduates are prepared for these requirements because we are promising them jobs and internships, which is huge for our students, and for san francisco. i want to thank mark, david, the entire ct department, all of the stakeholders, dr. schultze, the previous administration, for making this building, and the course of the reality, which is much needed in san francisco. it is an exciting time to be a high school student in san francisco, but particularly,

that john o'connell, and if you are excited about these tech 21 classis, please stay in touch with us as we figure out ways to continue supporting students. thank you for your time, thank you for coming out, and let's move this forward. [applause]

>> i tried to think about this room as the dream room, where we dream and bring some of those dreams to life. i feel very blessed that i have been able to spend the last 31 years of my life doing it my way, thinking about things better interesting to me, and then pursuing them.