sorensteins and all the great families that were part of our history and i want to create the next generation of philanthropic san francisco-loving people that we can continue the miracles for everybody. susan has been at that part of our philanthropic san francisco lovefest for many years and with that i would like to introduce susan corette, the corette foundation, the great miracle worker. [ applause ] this is wonderful. this is really exciting. it's really important to

introduce the koret foundation family. first of all our executive director mr. jeff, would you stand up please. [ applause ] . hiram, also. and then the next to you, that beautiful lady, gabrielle and my niece, kim. [ applause ] thank you. good afternoon. thank you for the opportunity to participate in this great milestone. i am happy to be here. st. anthony's has a special place in my heart, because it represents the vision of my

late husband, joseph koret. joe was born in poverty. he -- his wish was for no one to go hungry in his beloved san francisco community. joe would have been so proud to support this wonderful building that will provide so much care for so many people in our city. for me, st. anthony's also represents the three c's. care, community, and continuity. i bring you many congratulations from all of the members of the board of directors of the koret foundation and our very best

wishes for continued sucrose in -- success in the future. thank you. [ applause ] >> i saw merl and larry, if you want to join us. as we said, this building is complex. and it starts with the funding. it will get more complicated with the construction pretty soon, but it has really been an unbelievable group effort to pull together the different funders of this work. we heard about the koret's foundation amazing con tributionss and i know there have been so many amazing contributions on the st. anthony side. for an affordable housing project for this it takes incredible people and we start

with hud, who supplied over $20 million to make this project possible. larry ferguson is here, the director of the hud 202 programs that gets the senior housing funds and an important thing to know about the hud 202 programs not only do they provide capital, but a rental subsidy. so seniors on social security, or even less income don't have to worry about whether they can make a $1,000 rent payment. they pay 30% of whatever they can pay and the federal government helps us make up the difference, so we can keep people housed. there are folks out there who understand why this is not such a great investment. so i want to take one second to tell you about this. we know there that we can save money to medicare and medicaid by housing seniors in this setting. so it's an unbelievable investment and one that i hope we'll keep on doing. [ applause ]

i don't have time to thank you everybody at hud, but without your commitment to make these things real we couldn't get them done. we thanked the mayor, but the mayor's staff at the mayor's office of housing, one of the humblest public servants you will ever meet -- olson has been doing this i think since 1906. [ laughter ] olson has been doing this forever. and along with a lot of other people in the city, we not have the history of affordable housing in san francisco without olson lee. he has been tireless. he worked harder to make this happen than anyone that i know and committed than any human being i have met. i want to thank olson and the rest of the mayor's office of housing and the staff for their work on this sfwater. [ effort.

>> [ applause ] >> again in the obscure world of affordable housing, leadership pelosi has been a huge champion with senator feinstein in preserving the program. we know we have a huge champion in you as we look at tax reform, we're confident that you will be with us on that issue. we get investors to buy the tax credits and that helps to pay for the building. it's a very complicated transaction and todd is here representing the foundation.

they have brought in equity investment of over $1.2 billion. to give you a sense of how important they are and how important the program is. thank you. [ applause ] you know in san francisco, everything is green, but liz helps us go greener. and so they have provided an important pre-development grant to help us understand how to green this project and make them the most environmentally sustainability program. they are a huge partner with us nationally and with all the communities and the work that they do across the country. so thank you stephanie and liz. [ applause ] we have two different banking partners on this project that have combined to lend over $22 million to the construction loan on this project.

citibank and silicon valley bank. merl is around. former mercy employee, also wonderful human being. merl is also hiding in the background because he is also humble. these two banks have been huge up the supporters of affordable housing over the years. [ applause ] silicon valley bank i think we want to mention also the silicon valley bank has been instrumental in helping us secure affordable housing program grant for this project from the federal home loan bank system and thank the federal home loan bank and anita adams and her staff and still con valley bank for making that possible. it's a huge grant and a huge part of closing the gap. so thank you. [ applause ] i have been given the

inevitable task of thanking everyone. the department of health, they understood probably earlier than any other health department in the country that housing is health. and so they have been a huge part of the solution to homelessness in san francisco. here as they do in other buildings around the city, they are providing operating and service grants so that as people come into this building off the streets, we're able to help them stabilize, afford the housing that they are in and move on and reconstruct their live as tyrone mentioned. again i want to thank the department of public health. [ applause ] i'm almost there. we have lots of neighbors. if you have ever been next to a construction project, you want to make sure you thank your neighbors at the beginning. they may not want to hear your thanks, but the boyd hotel, st.

boniface, hibernia bank, the academy, senior action network, san francisco action ministries, cc y, and tenderloin district and father harden. [ applause ] since i'm up here i want to thank the mercy staff. i think there are probably 25 mercy staff distributed throughout the crowd. we do everything together. no one person is responsible for any one project, but some who have played extraordinary roles in this project. i want to thank the mercy staff who did so much. last, but not least, nothing happens in san francisco without dedicated community

advocates. for this building to be here for st. anthonies to be here and for the work that mercy does there are people over the years that make a commitment to making stuff happen. they are the voice in the back of the room and remining you over and over again that we have a commitment to make something better. mercy doesn't often name your buildings. sometimes they have glorious names like 122 golden gate, which was the name of this building up to now. it's very poetic. but we really wanted to do something to commemorate the incredible contribution the tenderloin community and we want to name this building after vera hale, who is here on stage. this building, once it's opened will be named the vera hale

building. for over 20 years vera has been a tireless advocate around senior issues, around economic security issues. she has worked at curry senior center and i have a list of the boards and commissions she has served on. i will read them to you because it's a longer list i heard many in my life. advisory council to aging and adult services, the mayor's long-term care coordinating council, the san francisco interim support task force and coalition of agencies serve the elders, and i'm sure will there are a hundred other that vera sat on. the list of things that she has worked on goes on and on. to me vera symbolized what san francisco is about. her work and the community she

fought so tirelessly for and on top of the dining hall, this corner will forever be st. anthony's dining hall, but the same piece that is mercy housing will be known as vera hale housing. [ applause ] so close. i have a long list. i'm on page 3 there is only seven more. [ laughter ] i'm kidding. i'm kidding. it does seem that way. i know. we want to thank our events sponsor, our general contractor. [ applause ] the hilton, citibank, banc of america, and barry will say more about them in a second. i'm sure i have forgotten something and i apologize in advance, but in the interest of time i will turn it over to barry. thank you. [ applause ] >> yes, to wrap this up here,

two lendors on st. anthony's side, the low-income investment fund, nancy andrews is here and the bank of america elizabeth shooten, i believe is here and we want to thank them both. because st. anthony's helps the low-income housing fund get started back in the '90s, we were going to have nancy say just a word or two. nancy. [ applause ] >> thank you everyone and it's just fantastic to see so many san franciscans turn out for this groundbreaking. i am nancy andrews. i'm the president and ceo of the low-income investment fund. we are a san francisco-based community capital non-profit organization and our role in this project was to provide a $10 million allocation of new markets tax credits. you heard leader pelosi speak

about the importance of this program. every year the new markets program provides billions of dollars to projects similar to this one. and it's a very important part of the fabric of what moves communities toward in today's worldful. we're incredibly proud to have had the chance to support this program, to support st. anthony's in providing meals, services and hope to san franciscans. but it's especially heartwarming to us to be able to collaborate and to bring housing and services together and the collaboration between mercy housing and st. anthony's. we would like to thank banc of america, who was our capital partner in the new markets program and again, we're simply thrilled to be part of this. it speaks perfectly to the vision that many of us share for how to move families and communities forward. i have to say that i for one, if this is what the groundbreaking is like, i am

incredibly excited to go to the grand opening celebration. thank you all. [ applause ] >> thank you, nancy. i would like to make sure that we thank the staff of st. anthony's, who is here in force today. raise your hands and thank them. [ applause ] a couple of other grantors to st. anthony's, thanking jack fitzpatrick, who is here. stephanie and the koretfolks that have already been mentioned. we're actually going to do a groundbreaking. so i would ask those involved on that, that is everybody on the stage pretty much to start moving into the pit. so if you can stand up

and start moving.

>> let me welcome everyone for coming out to this great kickoff event. mayor lee, supervisor chiu, distinguished guests from the community, city family, all of us coming together. last year we held a pilot project on stockton street to help the merchants and support the merchants in selling their merchandise. we were able -- we were very successful. we got a lot of great feedback from the pilot. so this year again, we are doing the second year of the pilot. all the agencies and the community and the merchants, we

got together, and talked about how we can do better. and without further delay, i will ask the mayor to come and say a few words, who is a big supporter of this project. mayor lee. >> thank you mohammed. [ applause ] >> i am very happy to be here. is this okay? all right. all right. [ laughter ] all right. first of all, happy new year to everyone. this is what i'm looking forward to every year and i know the merchants and residents and all the small businesses are excited. a year ago board of supervisors president david chiu and i and members of the community discussed how we can continue

the economic vitality of the city and clearly we registered a big support for small businesses. i wanted to make sure that everybody neighborhood in the city has a chance of cultural celebrations. when it comes to chinese new year, there is a huge celebrate in chinatown. we're a huge destination for visitors, a lot of people come to chinatown to celebrate chinese new year. as people come here, we wanted to help our small businesss with offering some additional space for them, but also make it even safer for our pedestrians. because if you have ever observed chinatown during the chinese new years, and david and i have been quite specific observers about this. you will see families and kids walk into the street in the middle of big buses and cars

coming in. we didn't want that to happen. we didn't want anybody's safety to be compromised as we celebrate this new year's. because that would obviously be a serious hindrance. our public health director barbara garcia and transportation director ed reiskin, public works agencis, our wastewater management, our police department, we have all gotten together to say how can we do this smarter with our small businesses, our chinese chamber, our stockton street merchant association and all work together to make this a safer experience for everybody? we came up with the idea that maybe we could simply expand the sidewalk by allowing everybody to use the sidewalk properly, but that the storefronts could have some additional space to offer their

goods, when the chinese new years is happening, and when people are wanting to buy all the things that they want to do to celebrate the new year's and to come down here and be safe. so this pedestrian expansion of our sidewalks was the idea that came forward. we piloted it last year as mohammed explain and thank you to dpw's great work, the pilot was successful. it was successful all around, particularly with our small businesses, particularly with our chinatown youth center and the people who are here to protect pedestrians. all the agencies got back in a very enthusiastic way to say we can do it better this year and get everybody's involvement. so it isn't just the pressure on the police department, that says we got to be safe. it is everybody working together on the front-end to produce an experience that is positive for everyone. so i want to thank supervisor chiu. i want it it thank him for his

leadership and the leadership of our constant street leadership. they get a little economic bump. that was the year of the dragon that we wanted to do something bold. the year of the serpent is like the mini dragon. it is there to also continue that great experience, but also make sure that we're safe for everyone. and so i want to register that we're going to do this again beginning this saturday. it will go for a couple of weeks before the actual start of chinese new year's, which is february 10th, but that leading up to it, all the merchants and in particular the small businesss along stockton street will get that economic bump as we work with chinatown youth center and all the wonderful non-profits that keep everybody safe on our sidewalks and have that positive experience. this is a great time for the city to celebrate. of course we'll be there from february 10th leading up to

the great parade that we have that invites thousands of people here. i know the merchants association, the neighborhood associations, the chamber of commerce all see this as a positive way to celebrate our new year's and get everybody involve in a positive way. i'm here with all the different agencies, our parking and traffic to mohammed and his wonderful staff working with our police department, working with sfmta, and the private sector as well. we're already looking at even better practices of picking up the garage earlier, getting the streets cleaner and making sure that we do everything to celebrate positively. everybody clean their house before chinese new year's. get rid of all the bad stuff that happened last year. [ laughter ] bring in the new spirit. this is the way to do it. as we celebrate and i am looking forward to not only a

great new year's celebration, but something along the lines of some local football team that we want to celebrate as well [ applause ] thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you, mayor lee. and like the mayor said, when we work here in chinatown or in district 3 there is someone that is always there with us, whether it's the broadway streetscape improvement, or the many projects that go on polk street or all around the neighborhood, please ask supervisor david chiu to say a few words >> good morning everyone, happy new year and happy new year of the mini dragon. i want to thank the chinese community coming together for today's announcement, as well as members of the honorary chinese community. this is a conversation that did start as i recall in one of the first meetings that i had with mayor lee when he was elected

last year. we talked about how do we ensure that the oldest, historic and most amazing chinatown community in the country can continue to offer a new year's experience that is authentic and reflects the community? and i want to thank the city departments for working together for the pilot program. we learned from that and hope to build from that. special thanks to our dpw crew and our police department and our department of public health to make sure that our pedestrians are safe and our private sector partners from ecology. all of us have come together and of course i have to thank the incredible diversity of our merchant community. bennie,pius, all of you who represent the community here. as our economy continues to recover, to make sure our merchants are thriving and this is the idea that will ensure that. i want to thank the folks that represent our residents who are

here. we need to make sure we're creating not just a vibrant marketplace and a vibrant community, but we want to make sure that pedestrian safety first and foremost. we want to remind folks that our pedestrian accident rates are still much higher than they need to be. so we'll make sure as we move forward with the program that everyone is safe, the merchants are displaying their wares that leave room for all the different transit vehicles to get through. thank you so much for being here. happy new year. >> thank you, supervisor chiu. you heard from the mayor and supervisor chiu, one of the major concerns is pedestrian safety and our partner agency, the san francisco police department has assured us again they will be here and working with everyone to make sure that everything is safe. let me ask captain tom come to the mic to say a few words.

>> thank you, mohammed. i wanted to wish everybody a very safe, happy and prosperous new year. as the new year comes we look for ward to the stockton street market. we want all the ped steins stay within the sidewalk. we'll have it barricaded off so no one gets into an accident. since this fair will bring in lots of people and business, we want people to be aware of their surroundings. be aware of pickpockets. put your wallet in your front pockets and just have a safe and very prosperous new year's. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. also as many of you know, stockton from corridor has got a lot of merchants and many of them sell food and merchandise. and enforcing compliance and making sure that business goes well.

i'm going to ask dr. garcia to come up to say a few words. >> happy new year. the department of public health as you heard pedestrian safety about three or four times again and i will say pedestrian safety is one of our major goals in the health department, along with food safety. we believe pedestrian safety is the utmost importance, but we also believe that the safety of the food, the people will be selling is also important to us and we'll be working closely with the merchants to ensure that they also follow the local and state law as round this issue. expanding the sidewalks and allowing for merchants to sell their important goods is such an important process to bring those two together. we're also looking at the bicyclists and pedestrians and walkers and those using transit to ensure safe passage through this new year's celebration. i want