assembling together to make sure this promise is delivered. a special thank you to our hud national office, the secretary, donovan. we had a chance to talk about this system -- specific project. the deputy secretary came out to view the progress. it emanates from the national leadership by an increasing strongly that we are delivering on our promises. this is why we get to announce that we're still the third lowest unemployment rate in the whole state of california. we are delivering on these promises. thank you for all coming today. [applause] >> at this time, i would like to ask the assistant secretary to come up and say a few remarks.

as the mayor mentioned, she is a wonderful supporter of affordable housing. her lifelong career as been committed to economic justice and the creation of affordable housing. she is a personal friend and somebody in the right position at the right time. without further ado, assistant secretary marquez. [applause] >> it is my pleasure to be here. i do not get to come home very often. it is nice to be here. we have been friends a long time. we're both natives. we have watched the city changed over the years for the better. mayor, congratulations on your election. we're also proud. i want to thank you for helping us out and doing such a wonderful job in this area. at hud, we're focused on the

issue of ending veteran homelessness. we have made a commitment to the president that we would end veteran homelessness in five years, along with the secretary of the va. we have worked hard to deliver on the promise. in the past year, we have brought it down by 12% in one year. that is difficult to achieve. it comes from specific focus between the va and different offices in hud to make that happen across the country. this particular project is wonderful. it is serving those who have been on the streets along time. there are folks who have really suffered. we do not want to forget them as young girl men and women are coming home. we do not want to forget the folks who have been on the streets along time -- a long time. they have aged beyond their years. we want to help them. this is the type of program that does it. does it with special plans.

the whole program has built over 1 million units in 20 years. it is a fabulous program. it helps extremely low income people all the way to home ownership for people just beginning. this is an incredible example of that. the couple of days ago, the president made a huge announcement about housing. one thing that does not get as much play in the press is the focus on the very poor. he made a $1 billion commitment to the first affordable housing trust fund. he has said it will be included in his budget in a few weeks to congress. that affordable housing trust fund is focused on rental housing for people at 30% or below the area median income, folks like those that will get the opportunity to call this place home. we're very excited because we're already working on what has been

passed but never funded. we're calling on congress to fund it. the president has also made a commitment that included in his budget will be $15 billion program called project for build. it is the neighborhood stabilization program to rehabilitate foreclosed properties across the country. it will put people back to work. we estimate the $15 billion program will create over 200,000 jobs and treat over 350,000 units. many of them look like this and achieve these goals. today we had encouraging news. the unemployment rate in january dropped to 8.3%, the lowest in three years. over 257,000 jobs were created in the last month. we're moving in the right direction. we have a long way to go. a comprehensive list of programs like the one the president obama announced a couple of days ago,

for the struggling poor, those working their way into the middle class, and ultimately a national refinancing program that will help those are current in payments to stay current. it will ease stress and help families save about $3,000 a year. we're talking about a full complement of programs that takes you from when you need a hand up to those who just need a hand to stay where they are and keep fighting for their families. i am pleased the mayor and staff invited us to witness this. i grew up here. going to school, i was right here every day riding by. i knew exactly where this building is. thank you for to beautiful day to be home. congratulations, mayor, and your entire team on what you are doing. i have had the pleasure of

working with the non-profit communities involved in this project for a long time. other members of my family continue to be involved in san francisco. best of luck. i look forward to coming back and greeting the first tenants calling this place home. congratulations and thank you. [applause] >> thank you, very much. the mayor mentioned the development team managing the construction of the project is ccdc, chinatown community development corporation. the project manager is kim. she gets to the day to day work to shepherd this through. one of the greatest challenges of affordable housing is that it is difficult to finance affordable housing and get it

constructed. it is even harder to keep it running. the organization that will be keeping a running -- it running and serving the residence for many years is swords to plowshares. they will have the heavy lifting over the long time. to really change the lives of those residents of this particular development. they have had a long and successful track record in doing so and deserve all of the support that we can give them going forward in the future. the whole notion of it takes a village, it usually takes a whole district to do a project. in some cases, it takes the delegation in washington, d.c., also to help. there are many people to thank.

i would like to thank the leaders office. i see dan and nicole, also the d.c. staff, bob edmonson, i want him to know that we really appreciate his efforts on behalf of this project. the leaders in helping to finance this particular project also. in addition to the leader's office, we want to thank senator boxer's office. there they are. thank you very much for being here. thank you for all of your assistance. supervisor kim, she is a wonderful supporter of affordable housing. she could not be here because of a scheduling conflict. as we have wonderful leadership at the national level at hud, we

also have wonderful leaders about the regional level. this is the regional office that has contributed greatly to the success of affordable housing in san francisco. i would like to acknowledge ophelia. [applause] rafael, maria. [applause] they are the team that does the implementation. one thing about this project, we have talked about the sponsors, the bottom line is it is about the people who will be here. i wanted to do a shot out -- shout out to cheryl cooke and the county veterans office as well as john from the veterans affairs. they are the folks locally looking after our veterans.

they are advocating on their behalf to ensure that they get the services they deserve. lastly, i would like to acknowledge the department heads who are here. mayor mentioned bevan, also trent. there are awards the will help to fund the operation of this development. the ongoing operating support will probably come through his department. this shows the commitment of the city towards providing wraparound services to our veterans. leslie, i like to acknowledge -- lastly, i like to acknowledge those whose debt financing helped -- gap financing helped. you on the unit contributed to the project. this project is have we done.

-- you have all contributed to the project. this project is have we done. it will be even better when we can open the doors. blogging rosenthal -- bobby rosenthal from the veterans department. [applause] we are going to pass out hard hats. we will see them before. i am sure everybody will be here when we open the doors again for our veterans. they do, everyone. -- thank you, everyone. [applause] >> thank you very much.

commissioner campos: good morning and welcome to tuesday january 31, 2012 meeting of the san francisco counterattacked his majority. my name is david compost. i am the acting chair of today's meeting. the clerk of the committee is erika cheng. please call item one. >> roll call.

we have a quorum. commissioner campos: please call item no. 2. >> approval of minutes of december 13, 2011 meeting. this is an action item. >commissioner campos: before we take any action, do we have any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. we have a motion by david chiu, seconded by commissioner farrell. without objection? please call item 3. >> chairs report. this is an information item. commissioner campos: we do not presently have a permanent chair. unless there is an objection, we are going to skip the item.

is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. please call item four. >> the executive director's report. this is an information item. >> good morning. i have a fairly extensive annual report that i need to make later in the agenda. so in deference of your time, i will skip making a separate report. the only thing i would like to do in place of that report is to offer a warm welcome to commissioner christine al-awlaki as a new member of the board. -- a olaguolague to the transpon board. >commissioner campos: i would also like to welcome you to the board. is there any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. please call item 5. >> election of chair and vice chair.

commissioner campos: this is an action item where we allowed the chair and vice chair. we are having technical difficulties the system right now, so we are unable to see who is requesting to speak. in light of that, if you would like to make a nomination, please raise your hand so we can proceed with the meeting. commissioner jane kim? commissioner kim: thank you. today, i want to nominate our vice chair for the chair ship for the transportation authority body. i have had the pleasure of working with you but also know your incredible commitment to public transit here in san francisco and also to creating more equity among its many different communities that do not have access to transportation. you have been truly committed and have made this a priority in your agenda and that usurped as our representative for the board

of supervisors for the mtc. i think it would bring a lot of good connections to the regional work if you also chaired our transportation committee. i am nominating vice chairman david campos for the chair ship. commissioner campos: if i could ask commissioner farrell to chair this portion of the meeting. commissioner farrell: colleagues, do we have any other nominations? commisioner wiener: i just wanted to speak in support of commissioner kim's nomination of commissioner campos. he and i have worked closely together over the past year on many transportation issues, particularly at the mtc, but elsewhere as well. although we do not always agree on everything, we have developed a close working relationship on these issues and will be supporting the nomination. commissioner farrell: thank you.

commissioner cohen? commissioner cohen: i would like to nominate commissioner wiener for vice chair. commissioner farrell: i think will hold off on my chair until we finish the chair voting process. commissioner avalos: i just wanted to speak in favor of commissioner campos' nomination to chair the transportation authority. i am a firm believer in his integrity and his great work, working in regional bodies, working with the mtc, golden gate, bridge authority. i think he will bring a great deal of knowledge to the transportation authority. we all work well collaborative lee with supervisor campos. his work on the fast pass has

been instrumental in moving an agenda that is really about transit justice in san francisco. having a person with his perspective on the transportation authority chair role will be extremely important. i give him my firm support. commissioner farrell: thank you, commissioner avalos. commissioner chiu? commissioner chiu: i want to echo the comments of my colleagues. i have been very pleased to have had the opportunity to work with him over the years over many years on transit justice, making sure that, particularly, low income communities, communities that need good transit but does not have access to it, gets that. happy to support him for that. i know it is slightly premature, but i also echo what supervisor cohen will say, having the

second member of our party be a part of this conference. supervisor wiener has also worked hard here at the ta, and makes sense. commissioner farrell: any further nominations? with that, nominations are closed. we are going to take public comment. is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? >> i approve the nomination of the chair david campos. as some of you supervisors have alluded to, he has stepped

forward to do the right thing for those segments of our population that need help, whether they are the physically challenged, or students. i do not approve your nomination for vice chair, but that is your prerogative. as somebody who has been following transportation issues for a long time, i do not approve the nomination for vice chair. i do not know what basis it is. some flimsy reason that somebody has worked with somebody for a year. that is not how i would adjudicate such a serious position. as most of you know, you are on

the board of supervisors, but here you are commissioners, so you are given added responsibility. we need the vice chair -- commissioner farrell: we will have public comment on the vice chair nominations after the chair. >> ok. i will stop talking about so and so and move on to the chair. i have known david campos for a long time, have seen him in action. i can give you some examples. not too long ago, we had an area of san bruno ave that needed some fixing. the minute i brought it to his attention, we worked together to fix it. those are the types of actions

that they're well to our chair. what i want to say is, let's not appoint people just because we feel they need to be appointed for reasons that are not practical. good leaders know the way and show the way. it so happens david campos belongs to my district, district 9. i would advise him, as somebody that is older than he is, that he be fair to all san franciscans. commissioner farrell: are there any other members of the public and wish to comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk, could we call for a vote? >> on electing commissioner david campos to the chair.

[roll call] the item passes. commissioner campos: colleagues, thank you very much for the nomination, election, and the kind words said today. i will not be later my remarks. i simply want to know i look forward to working with each and everyone of you to make sure, not only we move for the major projects this agency is overseeing, but that we also do our best to make this agency even more relevant to what is happening in our individual districts. one of the things i have asked

and the executive director to do, going forward with these meetings, at every meeting, we get specific reports focusing on individual districts, with the transportation authority is doing in terms of work happening in these neighborhoods. it is important for us to recognize, at the end of the day, the major projects, as important as they are, it is the things happening on the ground but also make a big difference in the lives of people. that is one thing we will be focusing on and working on. to the extent the brown act allows, i will be having individual meetings with members of this commission to make sure your priorities in your districts and neighborhoods are being taken care of. i look forward to those conversations. i also want to highlight that we need to continue to focus on the collaboration between the various city agencies that work on the area of transportation with the mta, certainly, but

with regional bodies. with that, i will do my best to make sure i am a chair that represents each and everyone of you, and the interest of the entire city. thank you very much again for your support. i look forward to working with you. we now move to the nomination for vice chair. if we can have -- are there any nominations? commissioner cohen? commissioner cohen: thank you. congratulations to you. i want to nominate commissioner scott wiener to vice chair of the transportation authority. commissioner campos: is there any other nomination? seeing none, nominations are closed. any comments, colleagues? commissioner kim.

commissioner kim: i think it is important we have supervises that have made transit their priorities other legislative agenda. i know supervisor wiener has taken an incredible amount of time and commitment to these issues. it is also a representative of the mtc for the mayor. i think these leadership appointments are prepared for these two individuals and am excited to support both of you. commissioner campos: comments? let's open this up to public comment. >> commissioners, let me allude a little bit to what i think a good care and by chair should stand for -- chair and the vice chair stooshould stand for. from time to time, i attend

these meetings. from what i have seen over a long period of time from the vice chair, he may mean well by putting forward legislation, ever since the six -- in section, but he seems to target the most vulnerable. whether it is the homeless, the lgbt community, youth in the open space. area. any human being can make a change. that is why i am speaking to this point. because of the dire economic situation that san francisco is in, even though we have 60 billionaires', we have a lot of poor people that take public transportation. this commission has to have a

benchmark. and let it not be a cozy relationship where you come together to make policies or frame legislation. as the chair alluded to, he wants to make some practical changes, he wants to go to ground zero and see things, as he has done before. so if the vice chair has a change of heart and follows in the steps of the chair -- because i will be coming to meetings to point it out. when i say i will do something, i will do something. one of the reasons i come here is not to waste my time. is to see what you are saying, and then i can use it in my blog.

the website helps to document -- it is a kind of empirical data. you are going to have your elections. it kind of sounds like you have made up your mind before you came here to make it smooth and easy. that may be so. you are a good human being, if you are a decent human being, give us good representation. thank you. commissioner campos: is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, is there any member of the commission that would like to add anything else? if i may, i simply want to echo the comments from commissioner kim. i think commissioner wiener has demonstrated, in his short tenure on the board, his commitment to public transportation. i think his leadership on that issue