real estate director, the city attorney's office, and our program manager. they all worked very hard to make that progress as smooth as possible in a way that meets the expectations that president chiu has set for us. without further ado, i want to invite our board president and district 3 supervisor, david chiu. >> i want to welcome you all to a warm day in san francisco. first of all, the mayor has thanked many of you who have been part of this tremendous effort. i want to thank ed l foee for the work you have done. years ago, i served on the citizen advisory committee for the central subway. i remember having conversations with mayor lee when he was just

a department head about the birth that we needed to do together. it is amazing and wonderful. i want to take a moment to say how excited i am because of my transit trip to get here. about 40 minutes ago, i rolled out on my bicycle and i put it away because of the rain. i then waited for a few minutes to try to catch a bus that did not come. i then waited for a few more minutes to catch a cab that did not come. i ended up walking about 16 blocks over the hills to get here today. i realized that if the central subway was in place, we'd have a much more dry and quick ride. we know that when the central subway comes, rather than the 3 mile per hour trips that folks have to take down stockton street, we will be able to get here from all parts of the city

much faster. we know that central subway will connect our communities all over the city, all over the bay area, not only bringing millions of tourists, but making sure our families will be able to be connected to folks who live here, not just in chinatown, but north beach, and fisherman's wharf. i know there have been a lot of thanks. i want to take a moment to thank the community partners that helped to make this happen. we spent a lot of time working with the residential tenants and the small business tenants who are here. thank you to ccdc and your advocates for working with the mta staff and others in making sure the transition will be a smooth one. the reason we have this beautiful our work behind us is because of the work of the chinese historical society. thank you. i also want to thank the chinatown ymca.

the young people helped to create the minerals. from left to right, it tells the journey from our past to our present and really to our future to a beautiful new structure that will be built. this structure is being billed with the generations of struggles and advocacy represented by all of us here and by the good work of the city, working with the private sector, working with our community. thank you for being here today. look forward to future announcements as we go to our milestones. thank you very much. >> thank you, president chiu. >> the other parts behind this project is the mta board. the maker referenced -- the mayor referenced some of the work they have done. we have issued two notices to proceed. that is under way. next, the $235 million chinatown

station the mta board has authorized us to advertise. that will be followed by another $600 million or so of construction projects, all of which will be awarded in this calendar year. this is a big year. this is a big year for the project. that's a big responsibility that we are asking of the mta board to authorize nearly $1 billion of construction work to make this happen. the leader in shepherding this project along, both as a board member and as chairman of the board, mr. tom noland, who we are very happy to have here. mr. chairman. >> thank you. thank you very much. i have the opportunity to be in washington, d.c. earlier this week. everything the mayor has said is exactly right. to be able to represent the officials in the administration and in congress that this city

has united the entire political leadership of san francisco -- totally behind us -- that means so much. they all understand that. on behalf of the board, i want to say how proud we are of the board of directors and the entire agency of mta. we've had a number of critics through the years to have said -- do it some other way. my question is, have you ever been to chinatown? what is another alternative? the alternatives were considered. this is clearly the best one. i look forward to the day of the dedication. when this is done, 35,000 more people per day will be able to take this system. it will be better for the entire community all the way around. on behalf of our board, i am very delighted to be here. i look forward to the grand opening. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you've heard a lot of talk about partnership. the board president and knowledge ccdc.

i want to thank the reverend and the planning director. great partners in working with us. andy, the associate director of the chinatown ymca. i think they were going to bring a bunch of kids out, but given the weather, -- oh, it is a furlough day. my kids are home today. i forget about that. that's where they are. ymca. we have a lot of great community partners. the mayor mentioned we have a pre-bid conference and meet and greet. we also want to bring jobs to the community. we want to make sure the community access has jobs. we want to make sure everybody has some of the benefits. the beautiful work behind you was put up by a local

contractor. we want to thank them for putting up that wrap. and then the chinese historical society. i want to thank sue lee and ask her to come up and say a few words. >> hello, everyone. a pleasure to be here and an honor. the historical society will be 60 years old next year. this mural is a mural that was made in 1952. on the occasion of the opening of what we would describe as one of the two significant transformational projects of chinatown. it was commissioned for the opening of the public housing in

1952. it depicts 100 years of chinese american history. it reads from left to right. the original is donated to the historical society. it was restored by the historical society. it hangs in our wells fargo learning center. members of the public are welcome to visit the actual mural. what i said about transformation is so important. we are standing in chinatown which was rebuilt after the earthquake and fire. virtually every building in chinatown except for old st. mary's church was rebuilt after the fire and earthquake. there have been few sites that have been we developed since that time. one exception is this building right here.

it was truly transformational in that it constructed decent affordable housing for china totwon's overcrowded citizens. the advocacy for that housing took 20 years. advocacy for public housing in chinatown started in the 1930's. we are pleased that the artwork has always been a part of major public projects. this will be the new central subway station for chinatown, which is also transformational for chinatown. not only will it bring visitors, workers, shoppers to chinatown. it will provide much-needed transportation connections for chinatown residents to go elsewhere in the city. it is transformational because it will transform this corner. this building was built after the earthquake and will become a

new gateway for chinatown. really positive things for the future of chinatown. we are not a stagnant community. history is not stagnant. we are really proud to be part of this transformational project. thank you. >> thank you. i could not have said that better. we really appreciate and acknowledged and respect and honor the history of chinatown, of our city, and by celebrating the installation of this wrap today, a big step forward in the progress of this project. we are honoring that. we are keeping the site looking good in the process. we're doing our part to keep chinatown as strong and vibrant as it has been for 100 years. this is a transformational historic project. we are honored to be able to participate in it and bring this

great change to chinatown and to san francisco. with that, and we are concluded. there's more information on our web site. i want to thank you all and are dignitaries for joining us today

>> good morning, everyone. my name is naomi kelly, city and minister -- city administrator. welcome to the portola neighborhood. we're celebrating the successful efforts to revitalize san bruno avenue. this city has had a great partnership with the portola never its steering committee, where some of it's never the investments include streetscape improvements, from planting trees and leaves to utility underground in and fixtures and to install office saw improvements and much more. today, mayor edwin lee will talk about launching the investing in

iran initiative. joining him is supervisor malia cohen, robert ramirez from the portola neighborhood steering committee, and many department heads, including jennifer from the office of economic and workforce development, ed harrington from the san francisco public utilities commission, regina from the small business office, bevon from sf hope, and revitalizing our commercial corridors has been near and dear to mayor lee's heart since his days as director of dpw and as city administrator and down as mayor. whether it did the dpw community corridor program, ambassador program, or the challenge grant, the mayor is always asking us how can we strategically deploy our resources to revitalize these aboard commercial corridors in areas that need it the most?

with that, i would like to introduce mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> thank you, city administrator. good morning. welcome to the portola neighborhood. that is the pronunciation that i learned many years ago when we were picking up garbage in these little pockets all over this san bruno avenue. and we learned that very quickly, because the neighborhoods fell that we were not door to make investments in our neighborhood, and if we did not, it would go downhill very quickly. so we started with a number of debra agencies to work together along this corridor. guess what, a few years later with that kind of investment, we have trees alive here. we have got sidewalks that are not only clean, but they have been redone. you have got signage at both ends this a welcome to portola. as a result of that investment,

there is a vibrancy that i have not seen in other corridors comparatively. one of the statistics i want to make sure you know is that during the years where this great recession that hit all of us, i think the city's self tax -- maybe we did a little better than other years. maybe 3%. this corridor along san bruno experienced an 8% increase in sales tax, just because people believe in this neighborhood and continue to come in here, not only for the coffee shops. for the giver and clubs, at the activities, youth activities, -- for the different clubs and activities, positive activities and the neighborhood investments. i could talk all day long about job creation. as you know, cougin recent weeke have been announcing the big leases with a successful

technology companies. that is excellent for the city. it is very much in downtown and south of market and in our mission area. but i want you to know that we're paying just as serious attention to our neighborhood corridors throughout the city. yesterday i walked with carmen chu, supervisor chu throughout the teravelle district and got a good sense of some of the challenges and listened to the copy shop owners, the insurance company owners, some of the other areas where they are giving us and put about how we can improve all along that commercial corridor. this morning, i got the and breakfast with supervisor malia cohen just a block away, and we talked about the different sections of san bruno, how wonderful of an emperor of man that has been over years of effort that has been a collaborative -- how wonderful

of an improvement that has happened over the years of effort. this is the kind of framework that we wanted to continue establishing throughout all of the commercial corridors, the merchant corridors throughout the city. as we walked along third street yesterday with the opening of the kitchen, that was exciting. we commented on how positive the feeling was. it is a framework that wanted to make sure that you know as we discuss things like the revolving loan fund at the board of supervisors, as we discussed programs were we're linking an technology challenges with our neighbor minutes. we wanted to do it in a framework in which the public knows we're bringing together all of the different departments in all of our neighborhood corridors, to make sure you know we are going to take care of a lot of things. this is just an announcement here or there, it is an announcement in concert with

everything else we are doing. the most important thing is that you know we are working with neighborhood leaders when they come into the corridor. it is not about a parklet that is going to be isolated. it will be embraced by the residences and businesses that will use that. make sure that it is a part of the vibrancy. that they have input to the leadership in developing. every one of our corridors, and we're going to look forward to not only teravelle, noriega. supervisor of a los -- avalos wants is to pay attention to the geneva corridor. bernal, as well as the traditional corridors. we're going to be working on ideas about a small business loan and what it means to get resources out here where people feel, maybe they're reading the paper every day and see that we're paying attention to the downtown and south of market interest. we're not and inlet.

we're just going to be as investment-friendly to our merchant corridors throughout all of the city. even as we set the agenda for the old redeveloper over subcommittee, we are going to be paying attention to all of the kind of commercial corridors that they pay attention to as well, whether it is midmarket are outlining areas like san bruno avenue. that is the framework in which we wanted to make sure the discussion continues. it is the portola, the neighborhood that has been out here. the neighbors that want to continue investing, want us to invest in debt. it is a coordinated and collaborative effort. today we begin identifying the key partners and leaders. so i wanted to announce that noami kelly is the city administrator and will be working with jen matts as kind of the two leaders in this initiative of the neighborhood investments.

the neighborhood investment initiative is going to reflect collaboration of all of the different elements that made a san bruno successful. in an addition to the small business loans, we're going to have a lot of other ideas. where do we bring more of our community ambassador program as we invest in that? where do we bring in the collaboration with our police department here today, where they can have more visibility so people can feel safe? how do we get our office of small business -- regina is here today, to get their programs out where needed, and to lecture the commissions are paid attention to all of the different corridors. this all has to do it collaboration and a coordinated effort. when we announce the $1 million this year and the $5 million small business loan program, it is in the context of a very good collaboration that we have from

agencies like the puc. ed harrington is here today. dpw, community ambassadors program, muni, our police department, and cdbg, our mayor's office of housing. it is all part of the way in which we should do business, getting collaboration as well. so that when we meet with neighborhood leaders here, they know they have got connections to every single agency. when we work with sf ci5tty and quarter and eight permits online. when we do things like an event parklets and make those successful and accessible. or use money to create an even better coffee shop that will come here to san bruno. it is going to come very soon.

we have leadership in place. we have coronation. funding is in the works. -- we have coordination. we're on a positive scales in our economy. i am going to use the additional revenues we see coming into this city. make sure we do it and use it smartly. we are going to invest in our community challenge grant program that has been so successful all along this corridor. they have worked magic with the neighborhood groups that want to see greening and better programs. the murals in place of grafitti have been wonderful. it will be replicated throughout the city. thank you very much for joining us.

[applause] >> coldiron, we have some more people -- hold on, we have some more people. there will be questioned. next, i would like to invite up supervisor malia cohen. [applause] >> good morning. i think today is another example, as was yesterday, of the physical manifestation of what happens when thoughtful people and thoughtful leaders come together. i like to publicly to thank the portola neighborhood steering committee. thank you for your leadership and commitment to san francisco and to this little cove that recall the portola. my home. i was raised here. my parents still live here. this corridor means a lot to me personally. it is a very committed to continue to support the merchant corridor, as low as the neighbors, and continue to improve our efforts to beef up and maintain the safety as the number-one priority here on the

margin corridor. thank you to our community leaders. [applause] >> , thank you, supervisor. next, i would like to introduce reporter wrote rivera's to speak on behalf of the portola neighborhood steering committee -- i would like to introduce roberta ribble -- roberto ramirez. >> good morning. we recently went through and name change. we're not the portola neighborhood association. i am making the official announcement today. i want to thank the office of economic and workforce development, as well as liz. our partners. i also want to thank the mayor and his staff for being here and enacting the initiative this morning here in the wonderful portola, where we have accomplished a number of great things in the past couple of years. and number of volunteers

successfully completed the first phase of the island beautification project at the intersection of allegany boulevard and san bruno avenue. we're still hoping to complete phase two and phase three of the project soon. we hope with your continued support, mayor, that we can accomplish this. mid the first phase was made possible by efforts of dpw, mohammed nuru, liz, and sandra. greening and planning has been made possible by dpw and staff and sf clean city coalition. have accomplished and made possible seventh assata improvements along san bruno avenue. -- seven facade improvements along san bruno avenue. we have had a series of events to promote a neighborhood pride and involvement, such as an night on the portola, chinese

leaders dinner, and a pop-up art gallery this past february right there in that space, which is available for lease. this is the site of our future pocket park and hopefully a coffee house right there in that space. [applause] and i wanted to thank others for their efforts and architects for humanity. [applause] thank you for helping us move this forward. i would like to give a very special thanks to oewd who has been instrumental and supportive. this coming thursday at 6:00 p.m.-exact location, we will be having a needs assessment workshops to determine the needs of the neighborhood in hopes of continuing to make the portola of better place. we still have a lot to do. we're confident that with the mayors of the city's continued support, we're going to get some great things accomplished. thank you, mayor lee, for your

commitment to helping the portola and other san francisco neighborhoods. [applause] >> ok, next we have a member of sin city coffee, one of the first revolving loan applicants. [applause] >> thank you all for coming. i did not really expect to see all of you here. 15 months ago i was laid off. with $25 and a big dream, i often -- and opened a little coffee shop. amy came around six or seven months later asking if i would like to open another one. i said, if you believe in me, i will take a chance. the biggest gamble ever did. mayor lee, your staff rocks. thank you so much. i know what i do open, each and every single one of you can come and check out blue bottle coffee and single origin and chocolate.

thank you. [applause] >> all right, in addition to all those departments that i mentioned earlier, i want to thank mohammed nuru from the department of public works to build ginzberg from rec and park, adrian, jose, von, tiffany, and lenita from the community challenge grant. and juaquin. thank you. portola, portola, portola neighborhood. thank you for coming out to the portola neighborhood today. [applause]