care in our city, and put thousands of san franciscans to work. i also want to take this moment and mention my personal thanks on behalf of the city, if i will, and i know the board will join me. i want to thank cpmc for their deliberate participation with some 10 other bay area hospitals to respond in the highest professional fashion to the critical emergency needs that we had this past weekend. you were one of many hospitals that took care of very seriously injured passengers on the asianic flight and i want to personally thank you. i want to be doing that, and happily doing that in the weeks to come as we celebrate our heros, whether they were the emergency responders or working in the hospitals and volunteers and the nurses and everyone in those hospitals. but i think it's very timely

that since we're doing this to give a special shout out to cpmc as one of the great bay area hospitals that responded effectively. that is why we have so many of the passengers and the crews that are surviving this big crash that could have been ten times worse. having said that, that's just an example why we're doing this today because san francisco will enjoy two brand-new hospitals, 120 bed state-of-the-art hospital at st. luke's will be built. a brand-new hospital, of course, at cathedral hill that will have anywhere from 2 74 to 304 beds depending upon the circumstances. but our residents in the bay area will receive guaranteed levels of charity care, medi-cal treatments at these hospitals, and of course with all the other parts of this wonderful agreement we've got

innovative improvements to our neighborhood medical clinics, much needed affordable housing, transportation improvements and pedestrian safety for all of our neighborhoods. the list will go on and on and the agreements reflect all of that. but i am happy that we all got through to this day. and, again, i will repeat, given the mass casualties that occurred, this is one of the reasons we want our hospitals in a seismically safe built environment. i will also say that almost a year ago we were all at a different place. an impasse had cast some doubt as to our ability to move this project forward. and at this time i would like to thank and acknowledge several individuals that have been instrumental in bringing us back to the agreement, back to the table and building the consensus we needed to get this done. three members of our board of

supervisors spent an extraordinary amount of their personal time as well as their city time to get this done. board president david chiu, supervisor mark farrell, and supervisor david campos spent an extraordinary amount of hours and i personally want to thank them for doing that because i know that those early morning hour meetings that occurred, the weekend phone calls, sometimes the phone calls were from lou to get them back to the table after some doors were slammed. and we know that because i've been through that myself. yet i would say that dedication and leadership persevered through our supervisors, and they made it happen. this could not have happened without a local businessman's participation as well, and of course i'm speaking about lou girardo. he agreed to serve as a mediator, gave a huge amount of his personal time to this

effort. and while i know he didn't realize what this would take when he first volunteered after we asked him, i also know that he worked through a lot of frustration to get this agreement happen. and it wasn't just the meetings that he had between cpmc officials, sutter officials, and the board of supervisors. he took those extraordinary steps and all of us usually ask of each other. he worked with labor. he worked with associations of nurses and others to apprise them and keep them updated about what was going on. he worked with community leaders to make sure they knew about the things they negotiated, whether it was through their supervisors, through the mayor's office or through their direct contact with cpmc and sutter, that they were also -- their needs were being honored. he worked with housing advocates in the community to make sure their needs were

heard and that this additional effort wasn't going to necessarily sacrifice a lot of things they had felt were of utmost importance to them. so, i just want to make sure we give a big shout out to lou girardo as well for his efforts in bringing everybody together. last but not least, i want to give a big thanks to mike co-hill and dr. warren bronner representing cpmc and sutter for them being able to take another look ~ when supervisors called and when we got a mediator back together. i know it's hard when you think you have an agreement and then doubts are cast and things have to be relooked at, and they had to go back to their hospital administrative officials and their board to assure them that a deal could be had. and that's not easy in these times. by the way, i want to remind everybody, during these last year and a half, two years, all

of the questions around the federal affordable health care act were also trying to be understood by everyone. that takes great toll on people who are spending millions of dollars on a hospital and not knowing what the future needs might be and how affordable care act would impact that. their past models had to be challenged and reviewed so that they can take care of folks for the next 10 to 50 years. so, i know and understand that there had to be a lot there. going back to lou, he's often said that he's just a businessman, a baker, if you will. i think lou got the right recipe on this one. [laughter] >> and i think the recipe was all the things i just said about what he had to do to get this done, and the recipe included some main ingredients from our board of supervisors to add to that.

so, brown the bread. lou, i just want to let you know that not only have we appreciated your work, but we all appreciate this wonderful approach that you did. and it was unique, but it was something that was absolutely necessary to get everybody out of their positions and into an agreed upon posture. with that, i'd like to bring board president david chiu to the podium because i know he spent incredible amount of time on this. and, again, thank you, president chiu. and thank you, mark farrell, and thank you, david campos. david chiu. (applause) >> thank you, mr. mayor. and for the record, my recollection was there was only one door slammed, and i can't remember exactly who did it. [laughter] >> this is a great day for the health of san francisco. this is a great day for the future health of our city. i'm so delighted to be here. and let me also say that it was about a year ago that a couple

of us at the board, including supervisor cohen, we held a very different press conference over on the board side and i am just amazed and so grateful that we have come as far as we have gotten to where we are today. it takes a village to build two hospitals and i want to take just a brief moment to thank everyone who has been part of that village starting first and foremost with the community. the leadership behind the elected leaders here who ensured that this is a deal that's not only good for health care, but ensures that we are meeting our local hiring needs, our housing needs, our transportation needs, our neighborhood needs around the city. and, of course, i want to thank family of labor, both from the trades as well as our health care workers and our nurses who are very instrumental in making sure we get to the right deal. shout out, of course, to the entire lee administration starting with mayor lee, but i want to just take a moment and single out ken rich who i think really has birthed the baby

that is represented here. [laughter] (applause) >> of course, we have to thank cpmc. i want to single out dr. bronner and mike cohill and just say we will be meeting you guys at boudine's bakery tomorrow. [laughter] >> a.m. and p.m. two days ago we took a moment to thank a true hero in our community, and everyone knows who i'm talking about, a man who -- whose own organization starts with the letter b, i refer to him as our batman because we put up a bat signal in the sky next time there is a need in san francisco. lou girardo. and i thank my colleagues and their support. every one of our colleagues lended perspective to help make this deal better. thank you to katie tang who are here and eric mar. of course the three a ~

amigos, david and mark. we come from slightly different places but each of us like everyone here in the room, we wanted to make sure that thai 21st century health care system is created here in the city and this balances out what we need to make san francisco great. so, with that it's my honor to introduce the second of the three amigos, supervisor mark farrell. thank you for being here. (applause) >> thank you, david. it's really great to be here today. we are so fortunate as we come before you, signing legislation to build two brand-new hospitals here in the city of san francisco, to upgrade two other hospitals in our city, and that being the cpmc campuses at davies and supervisor wiener's district, as well as the pacific campus here in district 2 where i represent. and i do want to thank cpmc for their incredible leadership and their involvement, for sticking with it, dr. bronner and mike

cohill, thank you so much. to mayor lee and his team in particular ken rich. enough cannot be said about ken's leadership and really quarterbacking this project throughout the process. and to all of the leadership, to president chiu, supervisor campos, and all the board members that helped during this process. it was truly a team effort. and i also want to take a moment to thank the members in district 2 where two of the existing cpmc hospitals are being housed right now in the california campus and pacific campus. and across the street will be from district 2 will be the new cathedral campus. and to all the neighborhood groups in district 2 who came together to work with cpmc, to work with my office, to work with the mayor's team, to make sure that all the neighborhood needs were met, to make sure that as we build these hospitals we build them in a way that makes sense for our neighborhoods. but in particular, in a way that we can deliver that health care into the next century for san francisco and really make sure that we continue to be at the forefront of health care delivery, not only here in our city, but across the country.

we're extremely lucky in the city. we are the envy of other cities and states in our country. we add two new hospitals. we're product to be here today. i want to introduce one of my colleagues that played such an integral role in the process where one of the brand-new hospitals are going to be built square in his district. he was the biggest advocate for t. he needs to be congratulated for all of his work, supervisor david campos. (applause) >> thank you. thank you, santa ferv. thank you, mr. mayor, to you and your amazing staff, and ken rich who has done an incredible job navigating this complicated process. i don't want it repeat some of the things that have been said, but i do need to thank the people who have made this possible, beginning with the coalition that has included a very broad and diverse group of folks from the community, from labor. they have truly been the backbone of this effort.

~ supervisor farrell and they are the ones that deserve the largest credit for this history. i also want to thank cpmc and stutter. ~ sutter. it's been a difficult process. i'm very appreciative to dr. bronner, to mike cohill that you kept an open mind and that you were willing to sit at the table with the three amigos and lou girardo and the mayor's office. it was not an easy thing to do. let me say that for me this is a very personal thing because one of the things that will happen because of this deal is that we will have a new, larger, viable world class st. luke's hospital. it's a very personal thing. i talked about how, you know, my mom was rushed to the er at st. luke's, and, so, i know that this means a lot for so many different families. i also want to thank my colleagues on the board of supervisors and i want to thank supervisor wiener, supervisor

tang, supervisor wiener for being here. they put a lot of trust in us and in this process. i know that they have their own issues and their own constituents. so it meant a great deal to me that you would put that kind of trust in us so it is greatly appreciated. and now it is my honor to introduce someone who, you know, one of the most rewarding things about this experience is that i had the opportunity to get to know one of the most remarkable people that i've had the opportunity to meet in government. there is something about bakers. my grandmother was a baker and she's one of the most amazing people that i have ever met. and lou girardo, i have yet to meet a finer individual, a finer public servant, someone who not only has the skills to mediate something like this, but who is brilliant, who has a great deal of integrity and, of above all, who has a big heart, a real hero of mine, lou girardo. (applause)

>> thank you. thank you very much, david. i simply want to say that it was a privilege and an honor to have been asked and to have been able to serve in this capacity. i want to thank warren bronner and mike cohill for turning this into a transparent process and allowing all of us to be educated. they are both very good professors. i want to thank ken rich for the job he did for the mayor's office. ken kept us all alive and moving throughout the process and was the man who was better detailed than the rest of us. the three supervisors, i've said before and i'll say again, i've read about in the newspaper. i hadn't known them very well. i've not been involved in politics much in the last few years. and came in somewhat skeptical about who they were, what they were, and what they could achieve. but i would like to say that san francisco is very fortunate to have the 11 members of the board of supervisors that we have. they are all wonderful people.

and i came away knowing that they believed in common good and that they were able to drop their political narcissism if they have such a thing, they de politicized and they put their ambitions aside to make this work. and at the same time, i think that the coalition of coalitions ~ needs a big thank you because they were a great educator as well. they kept us all informed as to what their issues were. but they weren't just giving us opinion, they were giving us fact. so,s we learned a lot from them as well. so, here's to san francisco. we're lucky we've got such a great government. we've got a wonderful mayor, a great board of supervisors and now we're going to have two wonderful hospitals to take care of everyone. so, thank you all very much for the opportunity. (applause) >> i better sign these before the political narcissism steps in . [laughter]

>> lou, thank you. thank you very much. supervisor farrell, thank you. supervisor campos, [inaudible]. [laughter] >> dr. bronner, thank you. mike cohill, thank you very

much. and this is a special one for somebody who has been working pretty hard, ken rich. (applause) ...

(applause) >> good morning, everyone. we're going to get started now. thank you for attending today's announcement. my name is adrian, i'm with immigrant affairs. let me first start by introducing the other partners for today's initiative lunch. first of all, the san francisco foundation, dr. sandra hernandez and tessa rivera, [speaker not understood], senior program officer for immigrant rights and integration, walter and alise fund, also known as the haase senior fund. pam david, the wallace alexander gabode foundation, stacey ma and thomas, concerned

with immigrants and refugees represented today by felicia barto, deputy director. also present today are commissioner canali vice-chair of the san francisco immigrant rights commission, city librarian, luis herrera, [speaker not understood], and clementine of the african advocacy network. so, let me provide first of all just a little bit of background on the initiative. in 2008 while serving as city administrator, mayor ed lee created the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs, one of the first such offices in the nation. the intention was to better communicate with and engage our city residents while providing opportunities for meaningful participation and particularly for under served and vulnerable communities. in 2009 the city had the pleasure of collaborating with business community and

philanthropic partners for the 2010 census count. we learned a lot about applying relevant street wise, street smart approaches to outreach and supporting community stewardship. this successful outreach effort and ongoing relationship evolved into a new model of engagement and collaboration. last year under the leadther ship of mayor ed lee and dr. sandra hernandez of the san francisco foundation, ~ planning began on a city-wide citizenship initiative, a total of five philanthropic foundations, a national grant makers organization, and trusted community partners are working together with the city on this effort. we will be starting the pilot phase of the initiative after today's announcement. we hope to include more partners as the initiatives progresses into full implementation over the next three years. so, mayor lee will now announce the initiative. and as a long-time civil rights champion and leader, mayor lee

has infused san francisco's city government with a new sense of inclusive collaborative leadership effectiveness and boundless energy, creative innovation and energy. so, mayor lee. (applause) >> thank you, adrian. i don't know about boundless energy. [laughter] >> but i do -- i am inspired by our immigrant community. we've done so much that i think the city is -- its dna is really about our diversity. let me thank adrian. she's been a wonderful leader at the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs, leading an effort not just with the immigrant rights commission, but a good strong relationship with our community-based organizations that do all of the great on the groundwork with our immigrant

families, people who are coming here as refugees, adjusting, people who come here, permanent residents, people who have come here seeking their future, their hopes for themselves and their families. also people who often came here by different ways and stayed, and maybe overstayed their status, or are escaping from war-torn or impoverished countries. we will be a sanctuary city for many years for people who want to be here. having said that, i am glad to be here this morning with adrian, dr. hernandez, and also, again, teaming up with board president and supervisor david chiu who i got a chance to work with very early as we prepared back in 2010 with all the community groups and with the board of supervisors. and then i was the city

administrator tasked by the mayor and the board with this big challenge of how do we go about of the census, knowing that every census in past history and those brief partial census efforts that go on in between the 10 years always under counted our folks and people who have been here. all the groups that i just described and the folks that we have tried to serve and knew that they were living sometimes in the shadow, sometimes without a lot of help and support. how do we count them in as residents of this city? and, so, we began on a very strong outreach program that depended upon service providers, to be quite candid. not just government agencies, but providers that sacrifice much of their time in the nonprofit world, surviving on

very, very much foundational grants, foundational leaders who oftentimes were the only ones that heard the voices that we need help to really identify these folks because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have people coming out and telling us what diseases were causing them problems, what was spreading, what were the fears in our immigrant communities that were preventing them from participating, from not getting licenses, not accessing themselves to job opportunities, being perhaps caught up in underground economy. and you know what that leads to oftentimes is many problems that also may have challenges in our criminal justice system as well as our economics. but we wanted all of that to change. we for many years kids of immigrants, we always felt it was our duty to take up what maybe our parents and our friends were not able to out of fear or out of the lack of

government action or accountability, or even a safety net for people to be able to speak freely. taking all of that immigrant life lessons and now placing them in effect i have culturally competent programs was our task. and, so, back in 2010 we tried to do that, and i think we did very well in the census count by bringing forth so many groups to be counted and not to be afraid and not to be experiencing consequences. but the census was only the beginning. we knew that. and in our follow-up conversations with dr. hernandez who helped lead a lot of the community-based efforts as well as conversations with foundations and grants, with people like annie chung and others who are community leader, with different ethnicities, and i mean all ethnicities. not just ones that dominate, immigrants in san francisco

like asians and latinos, but our african community, our eastern europe committee, our middle eastern communities are all engaged in this effort. and our goal was always beyondv just being counted, how do you participate fully in american society? ~ how do you get to a david chiu as the supervisor or ed lee as the mayor and register your heart felt viewpoints on how your park should look like? what kind of education level your schools should be in? what kind of community safety plans would make you and your family feel safe? what kind of level of health care, which is a big, big challenge for us these days, that you need in order to keep healthy? all of these kinds of issues, including input in the government, we've always wanted to improve. well, today there is over 100,000 permanent residents in san francisco who are not fully engaged yet in everything that

they can be doing in registering their voice. and, so, we want to announce today a new initiative, it's the san francisco pathways to citizenship initiative. its job, its focus is to work with all the community-based organizations in the public-private way, work with the foundations with historically supported these efforts to bring voice and communication to hidden communities and unannounced communities, and to bring them to a path of citizenship, and to talk in culturally competent ways what the benefits of full citizen participation are, and there are many. if you are becoming a citizen or if you become a citizen, you're going to have a lot more fuller rights. for one thing, you get to vote in san francisco. you get to vote in america. and that voting right is so precious. and we saw just a month ago or

less than a month ago how we revisited how valuable that voting rights is, and all the sacrifices that heroes of this country had to protect that right for everybody. we want everybody to enjoy that because that gets you a voice and all the things we initially talked about. we want citizens to have a proper rich orientation and training classes that will conduct -- that will be conducted through this initiative, nonpartisan voting, the rights to vote, the right to be educated around every ballot measure that we have, whether it costs you more money or it doesn't cost you anything, or how do we improve muni, whether it costs you more or doesn't cost you anything. how do we do all of that in a much more involved way? education, outreach, more engaging new citizens to mentor and help other eligible

immigrants navigate the citizenship application process. we think this is our next big challenge, but opportunity just beyond the work that we did which was groundwork to get people counted. and i said earlier, our diversity is not just to be tolerated. it has to be celebrated in every way, and full participation is the goal. well, i want to thank wonderful historic and new funding partners that through their leadership and generosity in this initiative, certainly sandra hernandez and the san francisco foundation have been long-time partners. she's been so helpful in many other things and many of you know she's helping me on hope s.f., provide housing opportunities for some of our worst dilapidated housing. now she's also again stepped up with additional partners. and i want to just signal to you some of these historic partnerst