they are a big purchase and in this effort as well. with that spirit, i am proud to ask todd hours to come up. he will talk about their great work. i hope he tells you where this idea came from, because it came from him, his partners. how long ago did you come in here? about five months ago. they said we want to work with the city and create a model that we can export to other cities. they challenged us, and we hope that we have met their challenge. we thank you for your leadership and for the inspiration. >> i have a few notes. contrary to popular belief, marines can read. mayor newsom, sincerely, thank you. you are someone who put your money where your mouth was.

you saw the issues at hand, and within a few months, you really stepped up and led the charge. iava is the first and largest organization built for the returning veterans of iraq and afghanistan. our mission is very simple, one that mayor newsom understand, to improve the lives of iraq and afghanistan veterans and their families. when my unit return from war, i was overwhelmed. there were so many resources out there, different outlets, departments trying to do things for us, it became overwhelming. it was sort of like drinking from a fire hose. one of the things we realized was there has to be a way that cities on a local level can provide these resources from all different agencies into a single place. that is where this idea came

from. we know in the city of san francisco, returning veterans will no longer be drowning from that fire hose. through this program, veterans of all walks of life, regardless of their deployment, will be able to call in and find these resources at a touch of a button. that is what we need, sparred, innovative thinking to combat these issues that veterans are facing right now. one of the main things that iraq and of canada and veterans are dealing with when they come -- afghanistan veterans are dealing with when they come home our mental health issues, difficulties in integrating into society. things can be overwhelming, so where do they turn to first? other local community. this initiative will make a difference. one of the innovative ways the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america have engaged this new

generation of membership is understanding that technology will be the key to outreach to a lot of these folks. we have developed something called community of veterans which is sort of like a social networking site for veterans of iraq and afghanistan. within their we are able to provide tons of resources, and we are ecstatic to be able to provide this resource in there. one thing that we also do is reconnecting veterans. when we deploy, we find ourselves on these little fobs with people. that is the goal. reconnecting people once they come home. the reliance we have on the national guard and reserve can be overwhelming. these folks are not on military bases, not in a place where they can reach out to a neighbor. now we know there is a community here in san francisco that will support the veterans when they return.

i would also like to propose another initiative. when i was in afghanistan, there was a tremendous amount of hills and mountains on a daily basis. as i was walking through the city, i was sweating and this little trolley came rolling up the street. we need those in afghanistan. it may save us in the long run. going up and down those hills is pretty intense. i sincerely want to thank you on behalf of iava, other veterans' organizations, everyone else who has been involved, thank you for your leadership. it is an honor to be involved today. >> now i will ask joanne peters of our va to come up. it is weird to repeat this, but there is so much of this va vs. city friction across the country.

i cannot express my confusion more because of our own experience. i will ask her to say a few words as well. >> it is true, we have a good working relationship with the city and mayor. there are a number of initiatives we are working on. mainly, working with homeless veterans. we partner with hud, the public housing authority. we have 5000 doctors to help the homeless. we have the cover project, which is out of the san francisco jail. we are helping them with different life skills so they can get back and be functional in society. we did the project homeless connect.

we worked with the city college. we also worked with the mental health station out there. they can see the veteran's right there. it is an issue. going out to the va is a roadblock. we continue to work well with the city. lots of different areas. we appreciate your support. thank you. >> we estimate in san francisco -- again, this is an estimate -- and the reason we are building this collaborative. there are anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 living in san francisco. again, just estimates. we are trying to work through the technological challenges to connect people in a way where we can get a better sense of that community. one of the real leaders in helping us with that is leon

winston, the coo of swords to plowshares. he deals with the challenges, acute and not so acute, every day. we talk about exporting models, swords to plowshares is certainly one of them. >> thank you. it is true, the amount of city support that we get. the resources that the va brings to the table in concert with that, with community-based organizations. i became homeless in the early 1990's, came to san francisco, and through court -- resources given to me by the city, of swords to plowshares, i was able to get back on my feet. san francisco gets a bit of a bum rap because we are a liberal

city, but as far as support for veterans, there is no city that does a better job. this goes back to the feinstein administration, every mayor since then. everyone has done a wonderful job supporting the veterans. san francisco is the only city we know of in the country that pays for mental health care for veterans out of the city budget. we have been doing that for 25 years. we have housing on a treasure island that is a no cost police for veterans. -- lease for veterans. in the presidio, 102 units of supportive housing. the city provides rehab funding there.

veterans with disabilities. more recently, the city made available a landmark building that has revived substantial rehab funding. in 2012, 75 senior hamas veteran will be able to live out their lives in dignity. i just cannot say enough about the job the city does of stepping up to the plate. it is not just about platitudes and waving banners, it is about getting the job done. we are great -- we are very grateful. >> randy martina's is the president of the city college. randolph will explain, through the gi bill, how they are now funding the gi bill. it is not about where you are from but where you are going to school.

because of the high cost of living, they provide more than just about any other city college in the state. >> thank you. but i am also a marine, [inaudible] thank you, mayor. policy advisers. thank you for having us here. i served seven years in the marine corps. i am here as the president of veterans alliance. our mission has been to create a home where veterans can come in and have a school that can offer so many things to them. one of the things that we've pushed the last semester was the better the resource center. dr. griffin made that happen along with walter newman. this veteran the resource center has brought a lot of good things

to veterans, such as the va right next door, the chance for veterans who do not feel comfortable going to a hospital, they feel comfortable at school, so we matched both of them. we are getting a lot of good turnaround. our mission also is to bring the veterans together in one home where we can have an easier transition from service to the higher education institutes. also, like the mayor said, we are trying to make sure all veterans coming to see the college are taken care of because it will be multiplying for time to come. the gi bill has been so great, making things happen, where today it can establish the economy -- to focus on the

economy, giving veterans a chance to go to school by providing the highest gi bill assistance we have had so far. we had an increase of 1000 veterans since last semester. last semester we had 200 veterans. that is a good initiative. this is allowing more people to go to school. i am also here because a lot of veterans have problems bringing their issues to the va, problems with learning. but they are so grateful for this city which takes care of them. this is another step forward to make sure that we continue that.

i want to thank san francisco for really helping us veterans. thank you. >> thank you all, very much. we are here to answer any question that you may have. >> can you tell us more how 311 works? my personal experience is, i often get another phone number. >> nancy, you can explain the website that is up. >> i am not a veteran but i believe in providing help to people, so we have designed a comprehensive web site with information in terms of general resources, job and education training, housing, social services, mental health. just a vast array of resources you can find in one place. in most cases, when people call

311, we can provide language assistance and give you the resources available, depending on the need of the veteran. we can provide them a link to the information, service, whether it is sorts to plowshares or anything else. we would provide that information to them. we would not provide the phone number unless they ask for it, but we would deliver those services, based on their request. >> so it is mostly referring them to the website? >> if they won general resource information, but if there is specific information, then we would respond to that specific question. so we would provide the information it to the person at that time, as well as additional links to any sort of information that they might need.

>> that can be a pretty time- consuming process. [inaudible] >> all of our staff is cross train, so they will be ready to help. >> it is one of the initiatives they are having right now, drilling down on this specialty. the backbone of 311 was generic, but we are building these backbones to have more specific concentration of on certain things. >> so if i called and i said i was a home was a veteran, can you find me a place to live? >> we would not find you a place to live but we would go to the resource which provides homeless assistance. we would provide you the resources to that. >> so again, are you just going to say, we have this program,

you should call. will that person actually be the lead person who gets to the housing? >> we would provide the resource to the agency, but again, we would provide you the information of what is required. it is not just saying "colorado here." it is more of a conversation, is this what your looking for? >> any other questions?

>> in the store manager, and i would like to introduce the mayor of san francisco and the newly elected lieutenant governor of california, gavin newsom. [applause] mayor newsom: is that me? supervisor, i'm not ready for this. welcome, everybody, and thank you all very much for coming out today on this special ribbon cutting.

supervisor maxwell and i were colleagues on the board of supervisors when this project was first brought up. i remember the controversy like it was yesterday. originally, as you know, this was supposed to be home depot. exactly. i knew it would be like saying the dodgers of san francisco or something. people immediately started to align themselves up in tents, those that just could not imagine a home depot, could not imagine a big box retailer in the city and county of san francisco. i remember all the community meetings of on the hill. all over. we were all over the city having community meetings about the basic future of san francisco and what kind of city we wanted. were we a city of neighborhoods,

or were we just going to find a suburbanized san francisco as our future? that was the debate, and home depot had to come to the table, spend a great deal of time with supervisor maxwell. the other supervisors wanted nothing to do with it at the time. but supervisor maxwell was open and wanted to make sure if there was ever going to be a retailer like that or a big box like this, that there had to be some strong commitments to the community, and they needed to take shape in a private meeting. they needed to be on paper. they needed to be in writing, and we needed to make sure the attorneys were there so that all those commitments were enforceable. then, home depot, out of nowhere, decided to take off, just like sirens on that engine, and all that work, the macroeconomics of the world started to change, and they

decided they had gone through the entire process, those arrows, those slings, and they went through all of that, and we had this incredible untitled project. every single thing approved. all those commitments. and the supervisor -- i remember the day after that announcement. we were on the phone talking with michael cohen, saying what do we do? and we got this call from lowe's saying they might be interested. i remember that conversation. we said, "can you believe this?" we were pinching ourselves saying, "this is too good to be true if." there were a lot of disappointments because of the commitments that were made and the negotiated agreements, and we had gone through all the politics of this, and we finally -- the community was very supportive out here.

not unanimously, but overwhelmingly supportive. we thought it was time to follow through on our commitment to the people of bayview hunters point, particularly 94124 area code. days became weeks and weeks became months, and folks in the mayor's office, my office, and supervisor maxwell's office, and lowe's said they were willing to accept all the commitments that previous books made. we thought they would say they would commit to everything, but then we thought they would start to unravel, and they would pull back. but the reality is they said they would commit and they committed. and here we are, and they did exactly that. the local hires i think are without precedent of any big project in this city. this is real on the destruction

inside and the permanent jobs that are being created. that is a pretty extraordinary thing. 211 or so jobs. 88% are just from in and around the area. it is an extraordinary story. i'm really proud of lowe's. we are not jumping up and down four big boxes. we will be candid. we love the sales tax. this is a big deal. but we are sensitive to what big stores do. because you guys are so good that some of the little guys can be threatened by it, but this location was the right location. this boulevard needed the economic stimulus, the anchor. look at all the fresh paint across the street. it did not always look like that. you are going to see in the next

few years this boulevard take shape. if lowe's continues to be the employer they have proven to date, a lot of families will benefit because of the jobs created because of this, so thank you for following through on all your promises. so far, you are one of the good ones, and we want to keep saying that for years to come. i thank supervise the maxwell for getting in the mix and holding strong because it was not easy. i was watching those votes, and, man. [applause] all the commitments on the work force training money, the day laborer program, all those new trees we were going to get -- thank you for holding steadfast. michael cohen and all the folks in my office that helped make this possible. we are on our way out.

we have had the best dam year. this is like 1998 and again or something. there's so much to be proud of or thankful for. with that, your supervisor, supervisor sophie maxwell. [applause] >> thank you. i remember like yesterday those five to six votes, but what made a difference was the community. what made a difference was young community developers and hard hats and yellow vests lining up the walls. 60, 70 of them, and each of them speaking about the opportunities that they wanted to become working people. they wanted jobs and they wanted a leg up, and that is what this was about, so that is what i remember.

i remember 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, but it was all worth it. i can hardly find a parking place this year. i'm really excited, and this boulevard -- you are right. we are working on becoming a home improvement district with lowe's being the anchor, so i think you are going to find a lot of fascinating things happening in this area, this district, so i want to thank the mayor and all of my colleagues. the so-called progressive -- they do not relate like economic development that much. they like programs. so aaron said that it was going to be rough, and i told him to represent the people standing here, and he did. i want to thank all the people who are going to come here and the 50% from 94124 and 93134.

thank you for that. >> and thank you to look of 22, local 261, to rsr construction. thank you very much. now, we are going to hand it back to lowe's and have the ribbon cutting. thank you. >> with all of that, we just want to thank everyone. first from the city of san francisco for welcoming us. we opened the doors, and it has been wonderful hearing all the comments from the customers about how excited they were to come into lowe's and how they look forward to come into lows. i want to thank the community and neighborhood for welcoming guests -- welcoming us.

i want to thank the honorable mayor of san francisco and sophie maxwell for welcoming us. i would like to thank rhonda simmons and her wonderful and entire staff for her guidance and support, and i would like to thank everyone for the partnership. i would like to thank derek smith for his guidance with this whole project. without your advice, i think we would be wandering through, wondering where to go. i would also like to thank my district manager for his support and guidance, but most of all, i would like to thank short

construction and the storm voice and their families for the hard work and dedication and the hours away from home that they spent building this store. it was a wonderful experience to bond with our group that were from this community. [applause] i would like to cite -- to thank malcolm x academy for allowing us to do a super heroes project at their school where we repainted and unified their school and planted for them and help them with their nutrition project, but i would like to present the thurgood marshall high school a check for $1,000. from cost to you,