across the country are struggling with how we deliver services and deliver on the promises made by this country to take care of our struggling families, low income families. he has delivered with the kind of programs that hud has any kind of programs we have with our local talent. i want to thank reverend fong and others. we have a new director of the mayor's office of housing opportunities, partnership, an engagement. that is bevan dufty. the veterans, the contractors, nicole from our local offices. we have assembled contractors and a marvelous design team. their expertise is to use old

buildings that look worn and unusable and recreate them with the highest level of environmental quality we could possibly have. i know the best talent is here working with cahill and our veterans and veterans' offices to make sure that this housing opportunity comes in on time and does its best to reflect our values. i want to thank everyone for 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. >> [roll call] >> just as a reminder, we would ask that you turn off all the electronic sounding devices that may go off during the proceedings. if you are having any secondary conversations, we would ask that you take those outside so we can proceed as efficiently as possible. if you want to speak on an item palace filled out a blue card.

anyone speaking will have three minutes on each item unless announced otherwise by the president of the commission. please address your comments to the items being heard. if it is general public comment you wish to speak on, that is item four, and then continued on item 11. please address your comments to the commission during public comment on items in order to allow equal time for the commission or staff to respond. with that, commissioner. >> i will agree -- be brief in my president's report. on tuesday february 28, basically from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. in the green room of the veterans building on van ness

avenue, there will be sunshine and ethics training for city officials. while it may sound routine, it is an important issue, particularly for commissions like rec and park. i want to encourage senior staff and fellow commissioners to attend. with that, let's proceed with the agenda. i have a couple of commissioners want to comment. >> i just want to report to the commission one of our longtime patrons of our parks, member of the portsmouth board, louis passed away. i would request that when we adjourned, we do so in her memory. >> i am on the committee for the community opportunity fund.

we have had our first meeting on that. for those of you that would like to apply for those funds, please contact our planning department. thank you. >> is there any public comment on the president's report? item 3 is general manager's report. >> good morning, managers. spring program registration begins on march 3. summer day camp registration begins on march 17. we ask everyone to log on to our website to browse our catalog of classes for the entire family. to that end, we have some exciting data from the superintendent of recreation which shows in the fall and winter, recreation programming

registration continues in a cigna been upward trend. we increased registration from fall 2010-2011 by 15%. our warning of scholarships also continues an upward trend. we are pleased with what is quickly becoming the recreation program of choice in san francisco. this saturday we have a benefit for a summer camp program for kids in the autumn spectrum. the world renowned pianist and parent and a quartet will be playing. log on to our website to purchase tickets. if you're interested in testing your metal and some of the top pingpong players in the city, join us for the third annual open table tennis tournaments.

you can also download the entry form on our website. spring extravaganza. i do believe pitchers and catchers report in a few days. our quarterly family friendly event will be held on april 7, including games, and annual rib cut off between the police and fire department staff. a more somber announcement. we were informed on january 28 that dolores park suffered a severe bout of vandalism. the club house was packed, two tractors were damaged, lights were busted. the damage cost was estimated at more than $27,000. then on monday, we were informed the park was similarly

vandalized again. we are working with a contractor to extend security hours from 6:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. during the final phase of the plague on construction and they're working with the police department to coordinate additional controlpa. in addition, we will be applying anti-graffiti on all services in the park. we ask the public to be vigilant and report any activity to the police. damage like this threatens to delay the completion of this incredible capital project, philanthropy, that inflates the cost of maintenance. it is a burden cleaning up after people bad behavior. we continue to ask you to be vigilant and support and patience. more positively, district bond

meetings continue. based on the success of the 2008 bond, approved by 76% of san francisco voters and has resulted in $185 million in capital improvement projects, our staff has begun meeting to solicit feedback on priorities for another bond proposal for the november 2012 ballot, including neighborhood parks sites and possible programs similar to the community opportunity program that you just mentioned, commissioner. the public is more than welcome to view our schedule of the upcoming meetings on line and attend, or send feedback to us at rpd.bondfeedback@sfgov.org. at last month's commission

meeting we recognized and honored raquel miller. she is our resident boxing instructor turned olympic hopeful. she is currently in spokane, washington fighting her way through the first-ever women's olympic boxing trials. we are happy to report that the dream is still alive. after an opening loss, she has bounced back with two wins. she will face off against a fighter from michigan tonight. we are all rooting for her. i am now pleased to recognize self help for the elderly. tomorrow, we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the program at the senior center at south sunset playground. in 1966, self-help provided hot meals to those in chinatown, but

today it provides training and social activities to more than 35,000 seniors across the bay area. opened in 1992, our senior center serves an insult -- an important community hub for seniors. our ongoing partnership with self-help for the elderly is significant because of our commitment to provide quality programs to the the elderly. the self-help director betty fung is here. i just wanted to congratulate her on 20 great years and present this certificates on behalf of staff. [applause]

>> commissioners, on behalf of self-help and the many seniors we serve, we thank you. thank you for your help for the past 20 years. we have been operating at the sunset playground, providing daily hot meals and activities for seniors in the sunset. for some of the scene is we serve, that is the only hot meal they will get during the day because of their financial situation, and also with activities and socialization opportunities we provide, it helps promote physical and mental health.

we are thankful for the partnership that has been expanded to the chinatown portsmouth square where we run a center offering a variety of physical activities. we would like to invite all of you to our 20 anniversary celebration tomorrow at the self-help center. we are very happy that supervisor carmen chu and capt. of long from the terror of a police station will be joining us. it would be a great honor to see all of you there. again, we think you for the support and hope that this partnership will go on for another 20 years. thank you. >> thank you. as we always do, i would like to conclude with a short the video

that is aptly called, this month in parks. ♪ >> make sure we are working in concert with our government agency. that collaboration will be a constant theme, not only of how we do business in our neighborhood, but how we want to do the business of the city. i want you to know that from here on, the community will always be included in the way

that we think and do our work in city hall. with this kickoff, i am excited to follow the team for the rest of the year. i will be part of this. ♪

>> and that was just february. happy valentine's day, happy february. that concludes the general manager's report. >> is there anyone that would like to make public comment on the general managers' report? seeing none, public comment is closed. item four. general public comment. members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public and

are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and do not appear on the agenda. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is mr. dillon. i live in the sunset area here in san francisco. it is a great managers over -- report we just heard from mr. ginsberg, and the audiovisual presentation was great. i noticed there was a cameo appearance of the newly elected mayor ed lee in there. i also heard he mentioned community would not always be involved in our parks. that comment hit me because,

coming to san francisco for the past 35 years, the equestrian community has always been a part of san francisco, historically and culturally. ironically, they have been aborted out of san francisco. kind of the way it does politics, if it is something that is not 100% politically correct, they just abort it. the politics of abortion. that is what we are experiencing here in san francisco. basically, we have run out of time listening to you folks dillydally around. 2012, we are going to impact the recreation and parks commission. we are going to impact