>> 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 beliehe