and sf clean city coalition. have accomplished and made possible seventh assata improvements along san bruno avenue. -- seven facade improvements along san bruno avenue. we have had a series of events to promote a neighborhood pride and involvement, such as an night on the portola, chinese leaders dinner, and a pop-up art gallery this past february right there in that space, which is available for lease. this is the site of our future pocket park and hopefully a coffee house right there in that space. [applause] and i wanted to thank others for their efforts and architects for humanity. [applause] thank you for helping us move this forward. i would like to give a very special thanks to oewd who has

been instrumental and supportive. this coming thursday at 6:00 p.m.-exact location, we will be having a needs assessment workshops to determine the needs of the neighborhood in hopes of continuing to make the portola of better place. we still have a lot to do. we're confident that with the mayors of the city's continued support, we're going to get some great things accomplished. thank you, mayor lee, for your commitment to helping the portola and other san francisco neighborhoods. [applause] >> ok, next we have a member of sin city coffee, one of the first revolving loan applicants. [applause] >> thank you all for coming. i did not really expect to see all of you here. 15 months ago i was laid off. with $25 and a big dream, i often -- and opened a little coffee shop.

amy came around six or seven months later asking if i would like to open another one. i said, if you believe in me, i will take a chance. the biggest gamble ever did. mayor lee, your staff rocks. thank you so much. i know what i do open, each and every single one of you can come and check out blue bottle coffee and single origin and chocolate. thank you. [applause] >> all right, in addition to all those departments that i mentioned earlier, i want to thank mohammed nuru from the department of public works to build ginzberg from rec and park, adrian, jose, von, tiffany, and lenita from the community challenge grant. and juaquin.

thank you. portola, portola, portola neighborhood. thank you for coming out to the portola neighborhood today. [applause] >> thank you for comment. i am with the office of economic and workforce development, but i

am representing quite a broad swath of the city and redevelopment staff who have spent rallying cry around this project. and i am here with a member of community folks who have been absolutely instrumental in putting this together. i wanted to start by introducing mayor ed lee to speak a few words on this exciting day in bayview, which has honestly left of me breathless when i walked in. [applause] >> everybody, welcome to our bayview. welcome to third and oakdale. we are proud to be here today. a lot of good things happening. we want to announce yet again a collaborative effort that has been going on for some time. but it begins with people who have dreams and we have one of those people here who have been working in the neighborhood, building a community garden, and

decided that perhaps it was time to be less and nomadic about his skill and to establish himself in a neighborhood that i know well not only welcome hands in, but there are employment opportunities here as well. certainly, there is healthy and very vibrant food menus that will be displayed at a radio africa and kitchen right here. i want to begin by it and looking a lot of the entities that have been around to this together. i know our office of housing has worked in collaboration with the redevelopment agency. tiffany is here. the redevelopment agency put in a lot of good work to get the tax increment dollars involved in this site. the work with the loan program with the mayor's office of housing. they got together with the housing developer and coordination that owns the house and around this area and packaged its together what some

small loans from our office of economic development, and collaborating about his dream and putting the financial package together. we all collaborated, and we have not ever, ever had a feeling of giving up in anyway to any part of their street. so you know that i was out here a couple months ago with a supervisor at malia cohen, who is here today. thank you for welcoming us to your district. malia and i have been focused on its third street continuously. we're not going to give up. there's no reason to give up. there is investment in people to be had here. wonderful people who live here want mendell plaza to be more successful, the bayview opera house. we open up a couple other storefronts along third street. we're going to continue doing

that with the personal investments that people are making on housing. i want to continue thanking the former commissioners of our redevelopment agency. leroy king is here today. along with commissioner dar. thank you. [applause] i want to thank the bayview merchants association. thank you for constantly working with us here and making sure we do the right thing and communicate with all the people and not let go. i want to thank our police department. the captain is here. he is working with everybody thank you for being here. [applause] askinder is very worldly. he knows what is happening in our city and in this neighborhood. he is investing in an

neighborhood he knows very well and investing in people. that is what makes a great menu, if i can put that connection together. a menu that will be reflective of the health of this neighborhood. it will get us involved. it will get the contractors involved. some are down here working in the bayview, along with the contractors and vendors throughout this corridor. he is working with mohammed nuru who is here as well with dpw. he is working with our city administrator noami kelly, who is also here. we're all here in collaboration to make sure that you know city hall is going to continue putting resources in. we are reinstating the revolving loan fund, putting more money into it. we will have more of that decision making with the budget committee, the board of supervisors coming in the next week.

then we will be walking through teraval this afternoon, touching all the aspects of it, in every district. you have supervisors like malia cohen who are no longer worried. they know we are working together. what they're worried about are the people's negative attitudes, which should not creep in. we are confident with the merchants in the city. we are going to continue discounthis positive outlook ane will continue to do it with neighborhoods, to make sure there is job creation and economic opportunity for everybody. thank you for being with us today. i look forward to an intriguing menu here starting with eskender. thank you for your leadership here. [applause]

>> he cannot talk get. he is at the very end. [laughter] i just want to thank -- then davis from the san francisco housing corporation. she helped to get this bill. i also wanted to introduce supervisor cohen to state a few words. we are all one family and we were together but i also wanted to thank every development staff, especially andrea baker for helping to manage this project. [applause] supervisor cohen? >> thank you, mr. mayor, for once again and leaving me with nothing left to say. it is good to see our city partners and a special thank you to the agency formally known as the redevelopment agency. thank you for your guidance in getting us here, to this ribbon-

cutting ceremony. it is an exciting time. we are starting to go through a rebirth, as we focus on how we are reprogramming mandel plaza, continuing infrastructure programs as well as structural improvements to the bayview opera house. i am putting everyone in their area on notice. this will be the spot. the third street merchants corridor is coming back and it will be bigger and better than ever. this bill be the new spot for international cuisine. we have a peruvian restaurant down the street. here we have eskender. this is mediterranean, modern african, very bayview. we have some fantastic asian cuisine along the corridor, along with fantastic taco

places. this place captures exactly what san francisco is looking for, bringing people and communities together over a wonderful meal. i want to thank the city family for being here, the friends and neighbors, those who said that it could not be done, those that said it would not be done. hero -- here we are celebrating the ribbon-cutting of a fantastic restaurant that will be opening up. i look forward to being a faithful patron. al norman, thank you for your leadership in the bayview merchants association. [applause] and if we have any aspiring business owners in the house today, there will be funds available for those people that have a burgeoning of

entrepreneurial spirit. i am very excited to be here and welcome you all here to this fantastic opening. [applause] >> we have what we call the third street corridor program here. it is a collaboration with the baby business resource center. is sharing here? it is a collaboration with them and redevelopment and a couple of city offices. over the last few years, we have been able to do improvements on 25 businesses on third street, which is no small feat. [applause] technically, this is part of the program. i just wanted to report from our staff, limon was standing room only on saturday night. [applause]

comintern in over now to tiffany for a couple of words from the four redevelopment agency. [applause] >> thank you. it is a pleasure to be standing here in this building. there are affordable homes here. this is a manifestation of the ongoing investments that mayor lee and others have spoken about, in terms of the physical and economic investment in the bayview. too many people are here to thank but this was truly a covered a partnership, both at the state level, to build these homes, from community development, redevelopment funds, to stimulus funds, the mayor's office of housing, up front equity. we are truly pleased to be able to continue to invest in ongoing vibrancy of this third street

corridor. and number of months ago, you saw the city's investment. we are investing in food for soul here through eskender's vision. i am pleased to be here today and i welcome you all. thank you very much. [applause] >> a couple of words from al norman of the baby merchants association. >> you want to welcome everyone here for this wonderful opening. keep your suits pressed because we plan to have many more openings like this in the bayview. we have a tenfold job here in the bayview. we want you to join us because we have big plans in collaboration with our mayor,

supervisors, but the other merchants in other districts here to make this one of the safest neighborhoods in san francisco. we want you to feel that you can come down and shop and eat and have a good time, as if you were going on union street. our job is to make sure that you are safe, having fun when you come to visit us, and make you want to come back and bring people with you. thank you so much. [applause] >> first of all, i want to thank you, mayor lee, andrea baker, for all of your hard work. [applause] from the bottom of my heart, i am very excited to move to this neighborhood. also, this is a long-term dedication. it may not happen over a year.

it will be a solid, simmering good movement that will change the way we eat around here and the way we live. for example, i do not know if you saw the garden over there. we are growing some vegetables and grains. some of did you will probably be eating today. i am so excited. i have something in the oven, so i cannot speak too long. i am so happy. i want to thank all of you, including the neighborhood. enjoy. there is plenty of food. thank you again. [applause] >> i believe there is a special table for the mayor and naomi kelly, tiffany, a couple of other department heads. thank you all for coming. we really appreciate it. congratulations, eskender.

>> want to thank you all for coming out on this beautiful san francisco winter day. we are delighted to be here in chinatown. thank you to all of you who came out. there's going to be some noise during this event. this is a very busy street. that's one of the reasons we are

doing this project. we are here today -- i am transportation director with the sfmta. thank you, boss. we're geared today to mark yet another important milestone and the steady, continued progress that we are making for the future generations of san francisco in this critically important project criticallyphase 2 of the light rail, otherwise known as the central subway. it is a project that is very important for building capacity, to move san francisco in the future. it also has benefits for current generations of san franciscans. the benefit comes in the form of jobs. you cannot mention the word jobs these days without thinking of our great mayor lee. out further ado, i want to ask mayor lee to come up and say a few words. mayor lee: thank you.

thank you for your great leadership. we would be dryer if the subway was built. we would be right here. i'm looking forward to it for the work that is about to happen. right behind me, you see this. i cannot be prouder of our mta. they're moving on this with the funding, with the schedule. they have been working hard with the neighborhood. we have the president of the chinese society here today. she has artist and a sense of old and new and it is reflected behind me. a vision of what the station will look like, and also the sense of history that this represents, only in transportation, but for this community. david represents the modern san francisco as the board president and also as a our supervisor in

this district. of course, clearly, the chinese- american supervisor for this district 3. very thankful to him. working with the chairman and making sure this continues to happen. we have some challenges with central subway. we have straighten them out. we step forward and continue to get really good news from our partners in the federal government. today, again, we earn the highest ranks with this central subway and all of the different federal and state agencies. right up to president obama's administration, to have set $150 million in his budget for this station, the central subway. that adds to the green light we

have gotten through the notice to proceed with the tunnel contract that is essential to this. today, the unveiling here. this will be geared towards the end of this year. you also need to know the little story behind this. how well our mta has been working with all the elements of the community. there's a little story here that i fit a lot of attention to, simply because my background is an attorney representing low- income tenants in chinatown. living above this building -- some eight small businesses that used to be in the front. while they're physically gone here, what does not go unnoticed is the way in which there was a solid communication with those

businesses, those business owners, the employees, those 19 households to get them to understand and agree that they had to temporarily relocate themselves. they have done that. they have done that without lawsuits, without protest, because we've taken care of their needs. i need to thank mta for this. we've had other projects in our city's history where the relationship with the impacted community was not as smooth. this is really to the credit of the whole mta family, working in concert with our community- based agencies, all these wonderful agencies that came together at a very early stage, identified resources that had to happen to make sure that the quality of life was going to be treated as importantly for people who are going to be displaced temporarily. we are going to find permanent

homes for all of 19 households. they are in temporary places right now. we have assured them and they trust us to find them permanent homes. we're going to do that. we've gotten temporary relocation for all the businesses. that is as important as announcing that we are forging ahead with a $235 million new subway station anin chinatown. then another station at union square and another at fourth. all part of a project that will be invaluable to connecting the whole city. i am here today to not only revealed the latest chapter, but to kind of congratulate everybody for doing it really well to this point in utilizing our federal relationships. i need to thank president obama,

a minority house leader nancy pelosi, senator boxer, all of our leaders who have been with us from the beginning. i'd like to say there's no stopping us now, but we have to get reviewed every step of the way. we are glad to do that. we've had the team together. we've done everything right. we are moving forward on it. the bid for the station is already on the street. there is a bidder's conference that will be held next week. the rest of the three stations that i just announced -- those bids go on throughout the year. i think every three months. every two months. we are on a very good pace to complete this. this is the moment i have been waiting for. i think this is the strongest indication. it gets stronger every time we are out here to announce it. today, it's about thanking the

community. they have never lost faith. i want to thank the board of trustees, the board of directors, the mta. thank you for your great leadership on this, as well. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mr. ma. yor. he has been a steadfast supporter of this from its inception. the board president who happens to represent this the district has also been a strong supporter of this project from the start. i want to remind folks that every single action that the board of supervisors has ever taken with respect to the central subway has been approved on an 11-0 vote. there's not a whole lot of things we could say sail through with that type of track record. it speaks to the city wide importance of the central subway. it brings very specific

benefits and very specific impacts to this neighborhood here. the board president and his role as district supervisor has been very focused on making sure that we do do the right thing, that we did the right thing in relocating tenants. i just want to acknowledge our real estate director, the city attorney's office, and our program manager. they all worked very hard to make that progress as smooth as possible in a way that meets the expectations that president chiu has set for us. without further ado, i want to invite our board president and district 3 supervisor, david chiu. >> i want to welcome you all to a warm day in san francisco. first of all, the mayor has thanked many of you who have been part of this tremendous

effort. i want to thank ed l foee for the work you have done. years ago, i served on the citizen advisory committee for the central subway. i remember having conversations with mayor lee when he was just a department head about the birth that we needed to do together. it is amazing and wonderful. i want to take a moment to say how excited i am because of my transit trip to get here. about 40 minutes ago, i rolled out on my bicycle and i put it away because of the rain. i then waited for a few minutes to try to catch a bus that did not come. i then waited for a few more minutes to catch a cab that did not come. i ended up walking about 16 blocks over the hills to get here today. i realized that if the central subway was in place, we'd have a

much more dry and quick ride. we know that when the central subway comes, rather than the 3 mile per hour trips that folks have to take down stockton street, we will be able to get here from all parts of the city much faster. we know that central subway will connect our communities all over the city, all over the bay area, not only bringing millions of tourists, but making sure our families will be able to be connected to folks who live here, not just in chinatown, but north beach, and fisherman's wharf. i know there have been a lot of thanks. i want to take a moment to thank the community partners that helped to make this happen. we spent a lot of time working with the residential tenants and the small business tenants who are here. thank you to ccdc and your advocates for working with the mta