the legacies left behind by mayor sutro will be enjoyed by future generations. may he long be remembered for as member gifts to our city and also, happy birthday mayor sutro. this is the day in which he was born on april 29th. this building was started on april 5th of 1913. so it turns out that april is an incredibly important month. mayor sutro joins the other 14 busts that are presently at city hall. and now, we will hear from peter rosen, the german counsel

general. >> thank you so much. and thank you, especially mr. mayor for gracing this ceremony with your presence tha, is appreciated and i would like to thank individually the chief of the police and the chief of the fire department for joining us here today and for interrupting their important businesses for joining us here at this ceremony, ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming and also to my colleagues from russia and from insurance, this is a great honor for me. i think and i will be very brief. i think that this is really a day of which we can be of which many of us can be very proud. but, probably most of all, i think that he must be very proud to see this beautiful bust now in this wonderful position standing in city hall because he has been working so long on this project. and i really would like to commend him and thank him for

his tenacity. of course there are many more that i have to think, the artists and the sponsors and the political leadership of the city who all have supported this project but i think that he deserves a special thank you. [ applause ] . >> thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. >> now, i'm not going to add detail to sutro's biography, because i think that you may be hearing more of that from others, more knowledgeable ones. but let me just add one brief personal impression on his personality. i have developed the ha bit of going out to jobs on sunday mornings on ocean beach and when i was driving out there yesterday morning from my home in jackson corner, in light,

sunday morning traffic. by the street, it is still took me about 20 minutes to get from there to actually the parking grounds at the cliff house. and while i was driving there and thinking about today's ceremony, i felt that it is for me, it is hardly imaginable what visions this man must have had to build out in this, or at the time, his mansion and to later on build the sutra, and i don't even want to think how much time it must have taken at the time to get from the city center to there. and so, to have this energy, and this vision to build something out on the other edge of the city. and already for me shows what kind of a man he must have been. and as you know, he not only

build the bath and the cliff house, he even later on, he added a railway line from what i understand there was one. but he thought it was too expensive so he bought a second one which was going out from the city center, i think about eight miles to land, and to cliff house. to bring people there. and so, i finish with this. i think that all that he has done shows the wonderful entrepreneurship that he stands for and that characterizes especially jewish germans, who contributed so much to my country's development. unfortunately, as we all know, it took a very tragic turn. but he stands for those people that he would make enormous contribution to germany's development. and he came here and he made enormous contribution to this

city's development and i think that the fact that he became mayor, also pays tribute and shows the spirit of this great city. it already to me shows the diversity that characterizes this city and that already apparently existed at the time. a city that took up immigrants from all over the world and just treated them by marriage and not by any other criteria. >> so this is a wonderful tribute, i would say to germany in a way because he came from there and he liked to claim him as such. but especially to san francisco and to this man's entrepreneurship. and i would like to thank mayor lee for giving mayor sutro's bust this wonderful spot. thank you very much.

mr. mayor. thank you all. [ applause ] >> and now, we will hear from one of the descendents. miss cythia, soyster great grand daughter. [ applause ] >> well, i can't tell you how proud and pleased my family is today to have this event happening. and i have another generation with me. i have the great, great, grand daughter in law of adolf and my, the great, great grand daughter, and also here today. and they have come from out of town. but mostly i want to thank all of the people who made this

happen. the mayor, and the board of supervisors, and all of the commission and i want to thank jona for making such a wonderful likeness of adolf. he really is the person who made this happen. so thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you, guys. thank you everybody for being here. i appreciate this opportunity to be a part of the history of san francisco. and making this bust and sharing it with you for the people today. and moving forward in future.

and i hope that it inspires people to take up more of an interest in the study in sutro. what he stood for, and what those things mean today. and to visit the sutro library. >> the inscription on the pedestal of mayor sutro is quite, quite, something to read. it is almost like an inspiration and it tells you a great deal about this man's life. i have an incredibly fond memory of sutro, and it involves a blue and white bathing suit. and in a certain era of san francisco, people were required to rent a blue, and white bathing suit in order to swim in sutro baths.

unfortunately they were a little itchy and scratchy and then you had to sit on a sutro mat and it has left an impression, and i think that i am still scratching. hopefully i will never stop scratching, but i will always remember fond childhood memories of sutro baths and of the man who created them. so thank you all very much for coming and visiting us in san francisco city hall. and remember that april 5th, of 1913, they turned the first mound of dirt to build this historic building. and in less than three years, the building was complete. and we opened our doors, december 28th. of 1915. so, hopefully you will all get

involved in san francisco city hall centennial celebration. it is truly a magnificent building and it has had many, many incredible individuals serving as mayor of san francisco. and now, we have adolf in the mix here that was once occupied by willie brown, willie brown has moved upstairs. and there is sutro is here. and i think that this will be his permanent place. so, please, enjoy the inscription that is on the pedestal, and the actual bust is incredible. i watched jonas assemble this and polish this on friday. and i was truly amazed. he is truly a very, very talented sculptor who did an

incredible fete for san francisco and for san francisco city hall. thank you, again, for all coming to visit us at city hall, please do not be strangers. >> so, good morning, everyone. my name is mark farrell. i'm the supervisor from district 2 here in san francisco. last year, thanks to the great leadership of our mayor ed lee, his office of housing in

particular, olson lee and brian chu who are here with us today and my colleagues on the board of supervisors, together and with the voters of san francisco, we passed proposition c, the housing trust fund initiative, to create and approve affordable housing city-wide and to provide loans to assist with the down payment towards the purchase of homes here in san francisco. the passage of the housing trust fund was and is a huge win for all of san francisco and our residents as one step in the right direction towards continuing to solve our city's ongoing housing needs. we are here today to announce the launch of a renewed down payment assistance program for our first responders here in san francisco. statistics will say that the majority of all of our first responders live outside of our city limits, and i for one believe that our communities and our neighborhoods are strengthened here in san francisco by the men and women who put their lives on the line every single day for us as san francisco residents. those that are standing behind

me here today, living here within our various neighborhoods of san francisco, we're not only safer on a day-to-day basis in our neighborhoods when our first responders live in our streets, but also when the next big one hits here in san francisco we need to be ready to be responding and be a resilient city as we strive to do here in san francisco. when proposition c was being crafted, i introduced an amendment to help our first responders remain here in san francisco, to provide them an opportunity to qualify for down payment loan assistance programs that were not previously available here in san francisco. before we had a down payment assistance programs only for our police officers that amounted to $20,000 down payment loan assistance. it wasn't effective. it isn't enough, and didn't make a meaningful difference. as a result, those funds largely went unspent and unused, and police officers continue to leave our city to find housing elsewhere. after the voters blessed

proposition c last year, over the last few months i have been working with the mayor's office of housing. again, want to thank olson lee and brian chu for their strong involvement, in consultation with our first responders, their union membership, their union leadership as well as the general membership of their departments, as well as homeownership sf, a city-wide coalition of experienced nonprofit homeownership providers to craft an initial program that matched the intent of the voters while also taking into account the unique needs of our first responders here in san francisco. i believe that we have found a true middle ground today with all of the stakeholders that provides down payment assistance for our first responders and encourages them to move back into our city of san francisco. this next year is going to be a learning experience. we will continue to adjust the program over time with the goals of making sure that our down payment loan assistance programs in san francisco for our first responders is as expansive as possible and as

effective as possible. we want these men and women living in our streets and in our neighborhoods. given the support for this program here today and the overwhelming demand that i have heard from our first responders, i am confident that we will have a success on our hands and a program that all san franciscans can be proud of. but i want to list a few of the qualifications from a high level perspective for our first responders in this program. they must be an active member of our police, fire, or sheriff's department. they must remain an active member for five years after qualifying for this program. they microsoft must not have owned a principal residence in san francisco the last three years and this must be their only principal residence moving forward. each household is limited to one loan that is 200% of ami for the household ~. and they also must qualify independently for a 30-year fixed rate loan so that we can ensure that our first

responders that qualify and use this program remain in san francisco and are healthy financially. as a native san franciscan who grew up in the marina and whose family was deeply affected by the 1989 earthquake, i saw firsthand how integral our first responders are to making sure our streets and our neighborhoods are safer, again not just on a daily basis, but in a time of great crisis here in san francisco. this program is intended to truly help our city's first responders live in our neighborhoods and making our neighborhoods safer. it's a new policy priority here in san francisco based on vocation, not just income. and it's something that i believe the voters of san francisco have spoken for and something that we can all agree on as a priority for our great city. i want to thank everyone for taking the time to be here today as we get set to launch this exciting new program. and at this time really thank our mayor ed lee who not only was the leading charge behind

proposition c and had the vision to make it a reality for san francisco, and put so much on the line to make sure we passed it last year, but to also say that his leadership has allowed this program and this first responders loan program to happen. and i want to thank him for his leadership, again, the leadership of his team and the mayor's office and brian chu and introduce once again our great mayor ed lee. (applause) >> thank you, supervisor farrell. it's my personal pleasure to work with you. not only have you done great things for your district, but for the city as well. it was kind of fun, you and i and our friends being there at the white house lawn yesterday celebrating the 2012 world series for the giants, and having president obama give us such great warm accolades. that will help us this season for sure.

i am enthralled to join supervisor farrell here to launch our program focused on our first responders and help them afford a home here in the city. and for all of reasons that supervisor farrell listed. but i also want to take the opportunity to thank all the san francisco voters, our housing advocates working with business to help create this opportunity with proposition c last november. and giving us the privilege to implement it in the right way. and i know there's been good solid debate at the board of supervisors about how we go about doing this, but compromise has been reached. we understand they are giving all of us room to maneuver, to do the right things, have the flexibility that a pilot program takes. but the ultimate goal has been agreed on very strongly, and that is that we must have our first responders living in the great city of san francisco. our police officers, our

firefighters, our sheriffs, to people that we look to to depend on the first critical hours when an event hits our city. we want them here. but also on a nonevent basis. i happen to live next door to somebody who is a member of nert, the neighborhood emergency response teams. and he is so proud of being able to be trained in our neighborhood in glenn park. by firefighters who know what they're doing, and just having that presence there in our neighborhood makes our neighborhoods feel stronger, feel confident that government is there with them and for them, and that the people who work in this city are there with them in case anything were to happen. that's the feeling that i think is represented by the launch of this program. and, so, the officers standing to the side and behind me, not only am i proud of the work that you all do on a daily basis, but we want you here all the time, 24/7. we want to live next door to the people who are caring about the city. just as we would for teachers,

nurses and others who are also already participating in our first-time home buyer program as this program gets launched for our first responders. i think the city becomes incredibly more strong on an everyday basis on all city, each neighborhood basis when we have our first responders here. you know, the experience that we've had in the last few weeks at the airport again remind us how valuable our first responders are. i continue thanking them for putting their lives on the line and taking all the risks necessary to keep our neighborhoods and our city safe whether it's at the airport or in the recent fire that occurred this morning or all the other emergency situations we might face. at the same time on an ongoing basis, we need more of our city employees who work for our city living right here to take advantage of. that's why i'm proud of supervisor farrell who led the

effort with supervisor avalos and others to make sure that our first-time home buying programs are programs for down payment assistance are working well and working to get more of our city employees to live in our great city. i'd be the first to say we haven't done everything that we can possibly do. even though i know there's some 42,000 units under construction already in our city already permitted and whether they're here along mid-market or they're in hunters point or they're in treasure island or in park merced, and i think we've done well to get a lot of projects going. we have to also deal with affordability. and that was my link to the success of the city, that while we become more successful, we're not leaving anybody behind. we're a city for the 100%. and we want everybody who wants to live here being able to be here. and in particular, those that we want to be here are going to help us recover in any kind of

event. in an emergency event, i've been trained ever since my very first visit to new orleans after their disaster happened in katrina so know that we've got to recover better ~ to know. we've got to ask everybody today, we want you -- we ask you to live and work in our city. and if there is anything to happens, to be right there for people so we can recover extremely fast and well. this is the vote of confidence that our voters had in us, with the housing trust fund, and also working with us to make sure that we had a first-time home buyer program and the first responder's home buying program so we can locate everybody here who needed to be here to help us with a quick recovery if there is anything that should happen. this is the context in which we launched this program. we will adjust it along the way to make sure it continues to work effectively. and i'm gratified to be working with olson and his team of

people that are community developers and housing developers to make sure this happens for everybody. thank you to our first responders, to our chiefs, our sheriff, our police chief, our firefighter -- fire department chief, and all of the rest of the employees here who will take this opportunity to live in our city as well as work for the greatest city that we have. and as we become more successful, we'll take care of others who want to live in this city as well. with that, i'll introduce olson lee who can explain everything from debt ratios to how this program works and all of the different financing schemes that we have to make sure it works well. olson lee. (applause) >> thank you. i really want to thank the mayor and the board of supervisors for their leadership, again, on the whole prop c effort and also the voters of san francisco. i will not go into a front end and back end debt ratio because everybody will glaze over.

but i will say that we are picking up the program. we will have the great details about the program on our website. this is the mayor's office of housing website which you can reach through sfgov and that will be on the website no later than august 1st, which is on thursday. it's a great opportunity for us to expand what we have done previously with the down payment assistance program, and this is indeed an expansion of what the city has, has done to serve its residents, the city and the employees. at the same time we are doing this first responders program through the budget process led by supervisor farrell, this has been the first year of the housing trust fund program and there's been a variety of programs that have been funded with the housing trust fund passed by the voters. and this is one of the first that we are rolling out.

we will continue to roll out other programs related to the housing trust fund as the year progresses. but again, just to summarize, this is the down payment assistance program. as supervisor farrell said, it's $100,000, it's a shared appreciation program. the funds roll back into a pot of money that will be used on an ongoing basis to help not just the first first responder, but a subsequent first responder so over time this pot of money will grow because it will be replenished through additional budget cycle. and as both the supervisor and the mayor said, this is the first year and we will fine tune this program. we will try to identify what works and what doesn't work. the goal of any of our programs in the mayor's office is that the program is effective. so, where the program needs to be tweaked, we will tweak it.

we will report back to the board and to the mayor about the effectiveness of this and we really look forward to engaging with the first responders and making sure that we have a really successful program. i want to take this time to acknowledge brian chu from my staff who, along with jamie lou and a lot of folks on his team, worked really, really hard to sort of adjust the program to make sure that it worked for the first responders and we really appreciated all the input we got from the community as well as the first responders in trying to craft this initial program. so, we really look forward to this kickoff. thank you very much. (applause) >> thanks, olson. i want to recognize a few people here that have been instrumental in this program and the creation of it. again, we mentioned olson and brian chu, but want to thank our union membership. i see floyd from 78. i see marty from our police officers association. michelle and don from our

sheriff's unions. ~ 798. i also want to recognize chief hayes white, and sheriff mirkarimi, thank you all for being here and for showing your support. i want to introduce someone i felt was really important to make sure that we connect how this is going to affect the members of our first responder department on an individual basis. and i want to introduce someone who has been a part of the sheriff's department for ten years here in san francisco formerly a cadet here in city hall, now part of the investigative services unit, has been renting in san mateo, i understand, for the last five years and is looking to purchase a home here in san francisco. and one of those first responders that we are proud to have not only working for us as a city, but someone that we want to encourage to live within our city limits. allow me to introduce to you mercy ambat. (applause)

>> first of all, i want to thank everybody for being here today. my name is merci ambat. i'm so proud to be here representing my department, san francisco sheriff's department. i'm a senior deputy sheriff with the san francisco sheriff's department. i've been working for the department for a little over 10 years. actually, as supervisor mark said, i started out a cadet. thank you. i started here as a sheriff's cadet in city hall and then i got -- i became a deputy sheriff, then i got promoted as a senior deputy. currently i'm the sheriff's investigative services unit. as an immigrant to this country, i'm honored, peace officer of san francisco. it's been a really hard for me to find a house in san francisco because, as you all

know, the housing in san francisco is not that easy. but one of my -- one of my proudest moments in life when a former sheriff mike hennessy swore me as a peace officer in san francisco, that day i decided that this is my place, san francisco is my place. this is where i want to live. this is where i want to buy a house, in san francisco. and again, my department has been great support to me ever since i started the department. it's been almost 10 years. i can mention a lot of names who have been support to me including our chief of staff, former sheriff, captain, different numerous people have been helped me. i don't even know why they helped me. they didn't know me. so, to me i feel like this is the city i owe and i'm so --

[fire engine] >> sorry. again, i used to live in san francisco. but as you all know, the housing prices here are very high. so, i had to move out of san francisco due to the cost of living. now i am renting in san mateo. but again as i said before, this is where i belong. this is where i want to serve here because i'm a peace officer san francisco. and the city spent a lot of money for me, so, it's a pay back. and again, because i want to live in san francisco, i've been saving money to buy a house in san francisco. but again, as i said before, and as most of you know, the houses are very expensive here and then comes supervisor mark farrell and his excellent team, come up with a program to assist first responders with a down pay a