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tv   [untitled]    May 5, 2012 12:00am-12:30am PDT

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they provide a sorely needed investment into the future of the bayview hunters point and district 10. the benefits are broad. and they create access to new homes in the development for both low income and working class district 10 families and residents. and with the goal of stemming the loss of affordable housing in and around the surrounding area, this agreement is also part of a strategy to bring those families who have been displaced back to the community. [applause] this agreement also secures funds for job training and workforce development grants, and provides the opportunity for stable, living wage careers in the community. later this month, we will be launching a community input
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campaign so that we may be guided by district and residents and our strategy for the use of the funds from our agreement. together, 8010 and the ic are committed to a transparent and accountable process that ensures all of the funds are deployed for the benefit of district 10 residents as an investment in the economic future of our communities. thank you. at this time, i want to introduce dr. hernandez. >> thank you. it is very nice to be here. i am glad i was here. it is a real opportunity, i think, for the san francisco foundation to be playing the important supporter role that the community and lennar have asked us to play. we are a community organization that is committed to economic
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and social justice issues in district 10, as we are throughout the city and region. the specific rules we will be playing will be to administer these funds to have the maximum impact in support of the implementation committee in the areas of affordable housing and job-training, as has been mentioned. these are two areas that are the priorities to the san francisco foundation, and we have been investing in for many years. we look forward to as well a very accountable, transparent process. there have been many, many hours by the implementation committee to understand these types of programs and to begin to understand how to have maximum impact. i want to thank all of them for their partnership, kofi for your confidence in the foundation. we look forward to continuing the work with the city. it is a day that is important in
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terms of getting the gift. it will be the best day when we actually have families living in the district, in affordable housing, and jobs that are really created to make economic prosperity. thank you very much. [applause] >> now i would like to ask mr. bonner, if you would -- and i want to ask members of the community, anyone who participated in any effort, to bring about this day, to please gather around for the presentation of the check. our friends from the fake-based communities, or as labor, implementation committee, dr. hahn a cut, dr. walker, please.
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>> there has been an acknowledgement of the special places around san francisco bay. well, there is something sort of innate in human beings, i think, that tend to recognize a good spot when you see it, a spot that takes your breath away. this is one of them. >> an icon of the new deal. >> we stood here a week ago and we heard all of these dignitaries talk about the symbol that coit tower is for
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san francisco. it's interesting for those of us in the pioneer park project is trying to make the point that not only the tower, not only this man-built edifice here is a symbol of the city but also the green space on which it sits and the hill to which is rests. to understand them, you have to understand the topography of san francisco. early days of the city, the city grows up in what is the financial district on the edge of chinatown. everything they rely on for existence is the golden gate. it's of massive importance to the people what comes in and out of san francisco bay. they can't see it where they are. they get the idea to build a giant wooden structure. the years that it was up here, it gave the name telegraph hill. it survived although the structure is long gone. come to the 1870's and the city has growed up remarkably.
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it's fueled with money from the nevada silver mines and the gold rush. it's trying to be the paris of the west. now the beach is the suburbs, the we will their people lived on the bottom and the poorest people lived on the top because it was very hard getting to the top of telegraph hill. it was mostly lean-to sharks and bits of pieces of houses up here in the beginning. and a group of 20 businessmen decided that it would be better if the top of the hill remained for the public. so they put their money down and they bought four lots at the top of the hill and they gave them to the city. lily hitchcock coit died without leaving a specific use for her bequest. she left a third of her estate for the beautify indication of the city. arthur brown, noted architect in the city, wanted for a while to build a tower. he had become very interested in persian towers. it was the 1930's.
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it was all about machinery and sort of this amazing architecture, very powerful architecture. he convinced the rec park commission that building a tower in her memory would be the thing to do with her money. >> it was going to be a wonderful observation place because it was one of the highest hills in the city anywhere and that that was the whole reason why it was built that high and had the elevator access immediately from the beginning as part of its features. >> my fear's studio was just down the street steps. we were in a very small apartment and that was our backyard. when they were preparing the site for the coit tower, there was always a lot of harping and griping about how awful progress was and why they would choose this beautiful pristine area to do them in was a big
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question. as soon as the coit tower was getting finished and someone put in the idea that it should be used for art, then, all of a sudden, he was excited about the coit tower. it became almost like a daily destination for him to enjoy the atmosphere no matter what the politics, that wasn't the point. as long as they fit in and did their work and did their own creative expression, that was all that was required. they turned in their drawings. the drawings were accepted. if they snuck something in, well, there weren't going to be any stoolies around. they made such careful little diagrams of every possible little thing about it as though
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that was just so important and that they were just the big frog. and, actually, no one ever felt that way about them and they weren't considered something like that. in later life when people would approach me and say, well, what did you know about it? we were with him almost every day and his children, we grew up together and we didn't think of him as a commie and also the same with the other. he was just a family man doing normal things. no one thought anything of what he was doing. some of them were much more highly trained. it shows, in my estimation, in the murals. this was one of the masterpieces. families at home was a lot more
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close to the life that i can remember that we lived. murals on the upper floors like the children playing on the swings and i think the little deer in the forest where you could come and see them in the woods and the sports that were always available, i think it did express the best part of our lives. things that weren't costing money to do, you would go to a picnic on the beach or you would do something in the woods. my favorite of all is in the staircase. it's almost a miracle masterpiece how he could manage to not only fit everyone, of course, a lot of them i recognized from my childhood -- it's how he juxtaposed and managed to kind of climb up that stairway on either side very much like you are walking down a street.
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it was incredible to do that and to me, that is what depicted the life of the times in san francisco. i even like the ones that show the industrial areas, the once with the workers showing them in the cannery and i can remember going in there and seeing these women with the caps, with the nets shuffling these cans through. my parents had a ranch in santa rosa and we went there all summer. i could see these people leaning over and checking. it looked exactly like the beautiful things about the ranch. i think he was pretty much in the never look back philosophy about the coit. i don't think he ever went to visit again after we moved from telegraph hill, which was only five or six years later.
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i don't think he ever had to see it when the initials are scratched into everything and people had literally destroyed the lower half of everything. >> well, in my view, the tower had been pretty much neglected from the 1930's up until the 1980's. it wasn't until then that really enough people began to be alarmed about the condition of the murals, the tower was leaking. some of the murals suffered wear damage. we really began to organize getting funding through the arts commission and various other sources to restore the murals. they don't have that connection or thread or maintain that connection to your history and your past, what do you have? that's one of the major elements of what makes quality of life in san francisco so incredible.
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when people ask me, and they ask me all the time, how do you get to coit tower, i say you walk. that's the best way to experience the gradual elevation coming up above the hustle and bustle of the city and finding this sort of oasis, if you will, at the top of the hill. when i walk through this park, i look at these brick walls and this lawn, i look at the railings around the murals. i look at the restoration and i think, yeah, i had something to do with that. learning the lessons, thank you, landmarks meet landmarks. the current situation at pioneer park and coit tower is really based in public and private partnership. it was the citizens who came together to buy the land to keep it from being developed. it was lily hitchcock coit to
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give money to the city to beautify the city she loved of the park project worked to develop this south side and still that's the basis of our future project to address the north side.
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>> hi, my name is katie the my first poem is "chipped blue nail polish." heads of the ground focus on her hands, altern ating expressions, multicolored moods, unpredictable. [applause] my second poem is about pro craffletination. that day i had a panic attack. i spent $20 for my class. running late, half-assepd and i still spent $20 for that class. red lights almost every black -- block. the traffic nearly made my heart stop. i ran through my class presentation straight out of
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the cab. i paid 20 freaking dollars for that cab. thank you. >> hi, my name is daniel and the first poem i'm going to read is shadows. ♪ i'm a shadow that moves away from night falls. i'm a shadow that makes other shadows rise. i'm a shadow that sprints, walks, and plays. some shadows are huge and mountains and others are tiny snails. some are old and others young. the sun generates our society. shadow gives a shade of dark to everything. shadows are your reflection on the ground. we are all in one society of shadows. we are all different sizes but aim for the same goal -- to be someone in this year the shadow is you.
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>> my michael -- mother say mountain holding up sky for me. she is the sun who gives strength to those who need it. my mother is the hand that helps me keep going in this world of chaos. she is a light that will always shine in my heart." my second one is called it's -- "dear president obama." dear president obama i hope you can change all the problems our world faces, the war in iraq, the war in afghanistan, pal istine and global warming. i am from california and in the valley here, people, especially from latin america, are getting sick in -- working in the fields for hours every day for little pay and no health care. please help them because without them no one could even be vegetarian the sincerely,
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natalie. >> sometimes desperate for attention but not rebellious. i don't have bad influences and i try hard not to give in to peer pressure but somewhere along the road someone calms long with temptation close to their side and offers me whatever they got, but do i get the power to say no? always sitting blankly at the sky hoping for a miracle to happen, hoping someone will come around to understand. i don't want toys anymore and i don't want it show my baby pictures and if i'm crazy and loud then you're insane and rude and if today is not our day, so be it, there is always
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tomorrow. thank you. >> ok. the average american dream and dreamer built dreams on shatorde hopes and left off on their own spaceships of life. but the average american laws are in a state of corruption. man is allowed to work -- to go to war and kill other. at age 18 but a man can't buy a drink until age 21. i mean the government has money to pay for wars but not to feed the poor. politicians say more taxes will solve everything -- everything the politicians say vote for me and i'll set you free. but then, dear politician, why are innocent men and women being arrested for helping a dying man on the street?
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men and women create but we got our name from our women and then we take from our women. when did we get to the point where we're buying everything but can't pay for anything? we have credit cards or checks and check books but not a dime in our pocket? we had dreams in the beginning but let them fizzle in the end so when the ship goes down we better get ready. thank you. [applause] >> ok the so it's called this guy. so there's this guy, right, and he has a smile that can turn my day brighter than bright and the scent he wears i can no longer bear because it gives me that sensational floating on cloud nine feeling. i try to restrain myself from
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pulling and grasping every bit of my attention toward it. notice how i said base hit not home run because in the end when the play is done there still wasn't an end run. you see, this guy i'm talking about, he makes me want to take a different route, a different sky, sing and dands -- dance and run and shout all at the same time. he makes me feel nothing but pure ecstasy whether he -- i think about him kissing melt he makes me want to find a cure for cancer and every question an answer. i will always be with him to the very end but him and me we're a different kind of friends, you see, him and me, there's this magnetic pool tonight -- attraction between us. if i knew he was here tonight
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i'd turn on my red light and probably have stage fright. but he's something new. maybe he's scared of change but if he would just let me, perhaps i could help him real estate range his thought process. so how about we put this game on pause instead of sneaking around like mice because we can focus on making an amazing display of something 35eusing, earth taking, something unfailing, smag maysing the but -- something amazing. but i can see it's impossible, unimaginable, and very unexplainable. i may not like it. i may hate it, hate it with every inch of movie body, with every atom that makes up my existence, every molecule, every cell in my system but
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life isn't like one big, bird and you can't always have things your way. before i say goodbye, there's this guy and when he smiles, everything just seems all right. [cheers and applause] >> up next is my girl lajenae. >> ok, well, my name -- the majority of people call me la. i wrote this poem this morning and it's dedicated to a couple of people in the audience right now. so -- never had someone like you. i understand you can only be you but does you include us? does you include the ones you are supposed to cherish?
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i remember those days we used to go to the zoo. nowadays you're mostly with boofment don't get me wrong but missing you and the way things used missing you and the way things used to be -- wow -- sorry, missing you and the way things used to be, now it's like we're paying the fees while you go where you please. now i'm asking for one thing and that one thing is please don't take my sister away from me. >> up next we've got talia baby. >> all right. all right. what's up? what's happening? >> i'm -- doesn't really need a time. if you should love a trip, i'll give you a clip but babe this,
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buttercup that, i've heard it all before. i'm in love with prada and christian dior. you see, i'm way ahead of your plan. not trying to have you as my man. my cell, please quit calling it. you see i ignore the calls. you can't play me. i'm done with games. stop with the kid games. got you heated because i'm done with you and you know i'm on to the next dude. love nobody, trust nobody, and most definitely near fear nobody. it's a cold game. play your part the you ain't even on topic. let's not speak about it. i do what i do and i does it with. i saw your mommas. i got me one and i call them daddy instead of papas. you ain't with it, you in the past. since i guess you have nice things well you whack and
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because of that aspect i never ever slacked. not the female you used to date. i got a unique type situation. i'm so glad these birds they just bloop me. i speak fluently. she busy with all that blah, blah, blah. hear me out though. i'm going to leave you stern. [applause] >> in an urban high school in the science laboratory lab, two girls are discussing their project. >> you don't even know what you are doing the -- doing. you're dumb. >> you test too much. >> the day has come. the projects are to be returned. >> see, i told you?
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mine was the best. i told you, dummy. besides, let me see what you guys have. >> you know, i'm leaving. after school, alice and delores park thinking about human behavior. >> i don't know what people want to -- from me, for real. i have to say i think people just want me to be perfect. but you know what? i am capable of doing anything. it doesn't matter who i am or the way i look. what matters is the effort. i will study more. >> alice studied hard. she gets automatic a's. she's on the honor roll! -- she gets all a's. she's on the honor roll. >> oh, my god. i can't believe it? you see? i am capeable. don't call me dummy.
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now who do you think schnur i am a girl with just good grades. >> the morale of this story is that no matter what people think about you, all you have to do is show who you really are. even if the situation isn't good for you, you must make the best effort you can and you will succeed in this life. jenny chuasiriporn did -- life. [cheers and applause] >> all right. yell about the shooting, about the killings. mothers don't remember reality. phone call. angers, her client. who the media pictures fighting and screaming. wife drops the bottle. neighbors. let mep put some ink in your