we are celebrating the glorious grand opening of the chinese rec center. ♪ 1951, 60 years ago, our first kids began to play in the chinese wrecks center -- rec

center. >> i was 10 years old at the time. i spent just about my whole life here. >> i came here to learn dancing. by we came -- >> we had a good time. made a lot of friends here. crisises part of the 2008 clean neighborhood park fund, and this is so important to our families. for many people who live in chinatown, this is their backyard. this is where many people come to congregate, and we are so happy to be able to deliver this project on time and under budget. >> a reason we all agreed to name this memorex center is because it is part of the history of i hear -- to name this rec center, is because it

is part of the history of san francisco. >> they took off from logan airport, and the call of duty was to alert american airlines that her plane was hijacked, and she stayed on the phone prior to the crash into the no. 9 world trade center. >> i would like to claim today the center and the naming of it. [applause] >> kmer i actually challenged me to a little bit of a ping pong -- the mayor actually challenge me to a little bit of a ping- pong, so i accept your challenge. ♪

>> it is an amazing spot. it is a state of the art center. >> is beautiful. quarkrights i would like to come here and join them . >> okay. mr. mayor good morning everyone. i am mr. alva residence and the director of the housing authority and today mayor lee will be announcing one of the most extraordinary funding announcements in the history of my 26 years in this business to ever occur. today we're going to get twins. we're going to get -- the mayor is going to talk about two choice initiative planning grants,

this i believe culminates the mayor's leadership, cements the idea for hope sf and restores hope to hope sf and we have resident leaders here, the commissioners. i want to be clear this is a priority for the housing authority. it's a priority for me. it's a priority for the residents. we are committed to hope sf and to move it forward and the mayor announcement is another part of that moving that initiative forward. mayor lee -- i also have the director of hud here and he is going to lead us and then we will have mayor lee up in a moment. >> thank you very much and it really is a privilege to be here with you today and to build on henry's comments and it's extraordinary that the grants across the country that were awarded to hud two of them are in the same state and it's more extraordinary that both of them are in the same city, san

francisco so congratulations. [cheers and applause] so for context i just want to mention a few things and this is no news to all of you here in the room and the people standing up with me today, but today in america more than 10 million people are living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty and limited investment and opportunities for themselves and their children, and we know that one of the most important factors in determining the economic and financial success of peoples whether or not a child grows up in those high poverty neighborhoods? a. the fact that we can predict health, education outcomes of children based on the zip code, where they live is really a tragedy and it's not something that we as americans want to see

as an outcome for the next generations and part of the obama's in fact and i have builds on this and the revitalization program and with choice neighborhoods including the planning grants we're announcing here in san francisco we intend to replicate that success across the count ree. as you know today every federal dollar is precious and with choice neighborhoods we have been able to leverage that with other capital and we have grants and including $30 million that was awarded just a little bit ago for the housing development in the bay view, but those $125 million have leveraged additional 1.$6 billion in other funding and that is a ratio or return of 13 to one which is extraordinary as well, so a

couple of things , the neighborhood and build the sustainable community of approximately 1600 mixed income units and in the sunny dale neighborhood the corporation will use the grant to have a transformation grant for the neighborhood and reverse the community's long standing distress and it's important to call out the other important partners, city college of san francisco, public health and san francisco public health, the metropolitan transportation authority and parks and recs and the boys and girls club among others to deliver the opportunities and services. at the out set what i also wanted to say and i was taken by henry's comments so i diverted a lot but i wanted to say how

pleased i am here to join the mayor and the supervisor and the house leader pelosi, representatives here from the two neighborhoods and others, and really to say that, and i think henry you talked about the mayor's leadership here and really about the vision of transforming our housing, improving schools and supporting economic development that these are the most effective when the public and the private institutions work together and break down barriers and cut through the red tape and thank you very much for your leadership. [applause] so choice neighborhoods is just one powerful example of the

obama administration investing better and we do what works and stop what doesn't work and form the partnerships that we need to solve the challenges of irnlt generational pof poverty for once and for all and it takes on average two generations to break that cycle of poverty and we are trying to break it in one and the efforts we're supporting and we want every american to have the chance to get ahead no matter where they are and live, whether it's a second grader to go to school or a parent walking their kid safely to school around the corner. we recognize that america built to last draws from the ability of the future and tap all of the resources. that what is takes to build the economy for the 31st century and that's what these grants are all b it's a pleasure to you here

with you. >> >> [applause] >> thank you and thank you to our hud partners and at this moment i know i don't need to introduce him. i want to present to all of you mayor edwin lee. >> thank you henry and thank you deputy administrator henry for being here today. two fantastic planning grants from hud as part of a intense national competition and the reason we got this nod is the people decided they're going to come together and get this done. this is a choice. this is a choice that we made with our residents here that we're going to better ourselves. we're going to lift ourselves up. we're going to do it together. that's what it means. that's why the housing authority is here because they believe in

the same thing. i want to thank the commissioners and staff and henry a fantastic job and all the leadership with all of the commissioners. i want to thank our partners. let 300,000 grants and they reflect the deputy administrator a collaboration and agreement that we're doing it the right way, and i want to thank president obama. he has been wonderfully supportive of the examples we provided here. i want to thank secretary shawn don van and his staff and the regional staff for recognizing what is going on here. i want to thank hope sf and all of the partners that we created. you know i was here when the planning grant was given to alice griffin and it wasn't just the celebration of the grant. we went to work. we went to work with the residents, the

neighbors. we went to work with our supervisor and i know ms. cohen is out of breath and knows how important this is for her constituents and this district, but most importantly we knew if we didn't just talk the talk, that if we actually took the residents with us, and took all of the talent that we had in the city from the housing authority to our mayor's office of housing, to the redevelopment people, to the private developers, to the staff that has been so diligent, to the private nonprofit sector. the in incredible community based organizations and the bay view y and all these wonderful people that have been struggling for years saying "can we get some help? can we get some love in the town? can we do something that will get us all together? and we can all these nonprofits

and bridge and mercy and coming together saying we can all do it and we team up with hope sf and the partners they created in saying it's not just brick and mortar that we're doing here. it's people first. the first thing that we have to do is bring hope to the people living there and then we went about saying what is the best way to do it? what are the best examples of rebuilding -- not housing. we said rebuild community. that's what we invested in and that's where the labor partners became so important too because we needed people trained and retrained in skills. we needed them to say "you're going to help us build the community". not that we will build it for you if you can afford it and then come back. that's years past. we learned from those mistakes and invested

in people first and that's what the grants recognize and that's how the city is going about doing t i am very proud. i am very proud because -- you know, busty posy hit a grand slam and we all celebrate that and i'm going to use baseball analogies all along and these grants don't win the series or the whole ball game but they are important building blocks of steps of confidence that involve the people. the next people up at bat are the people themselves and you're going to get trained in the people that we need. you're going to help us create better schools with our school district because that is part of the neighborhood. better transportation systems. small businesses that have all of the streets we're rebuilding and the old redevelopment and the

successor agency called office of community investment and infrastructure. they're succeeding. they're the ones there. they're going to use smart investment strategies with the communities to build businesses there. we learned. you just can't put poor people in housing and expect them to survive and succeed. that's not how we have done it. we have done it because we built communities and people can work in different economic spectrums and ethnicities and bringing people together and how do you figure out the best restaurants and neighborhoods come together. you invest in this and that's why choice neighborhoods is such a significant program. i had a chance to speak with the secretary and choice neighborhoods and we're going to have the debate and not doing hope six and not investing in

hud. we have threats of discussions of the future of hud but if you allow us the opportunity to work with our people then we'll succeed because if we put people first that will always succeed and that's what we're doing and what is being recognized. i am so proud of our residents, our neighbors and community organizations that stepped up with both labor, with the cities and the strange bureaucracies that change all the time and leaders are stepping up to help with this from the city administrator, to public works and all the agencies you see reflected behind us. let's continue investing in our family and the home runs will come and see alice griffic and the brick and mortar being put together with the residents. i will repeat that. it's important.

with the residents and helping to building and get the jobs and start the services and transform our communities and make sure people don't leave. that they have a hope here to stay and build their future. that's what these planning grants are all about, and these home runs will then lead to the multi-millions of dollars of good series that we're going to do on the way to a world clatsz city with world class standards and opportunities for all of us to share and thank you to all of you for working so hard and three years of uninterrupted effort without a lot of praise with some people in the community still not understanding. they do things that we don't want to have happen but we will still work them and present hope and give the kids the opportunity. i am proud of you being here and celebrating these home runs and let's get to the all series for

everybody. thank you very much . [applause] >> thank you mr. mayor. thank you very much. next up we have supervisor cohen. >> thank you everyone. leave it to the mayor to always give a shout out to the giants. he's so smooth in how he slips that in. i want to acknowledge the 49ers are doing just as well and looking forward to that game on thursday. welcome. this is exciting. it's good to see a fairly good representation of the housing authority, of residents and family and friends and staff. thank you so much for being here. secretary donnavon. >> i will say hello for you. >> all right. thank you for being here and representing the secretary. is that correct? okay. thank you. i will make a note in my talking point.

okay. somebody's job is on the line. just kidding megan. but no -- but in all seriousness today is a wonderful day. we have an opportunity to celebrate. remember last year in august when many of us came together about the -- what $30 million grant that they received. i don't know if you remember that. i got choked up and today we're still celebrating two grants for two pieces of large parts of san francisco. po tearo hill. anybody from that area? i know we have some of those folks and sunny valley here and visitation valley. thank you for being here. this is like a pep rally. if the mayor can go on so can i. this is the most exciting part of san francisco and yes we deal with challenging things and interesting votes and we also get it right and this is

example of us getting it right and for the residents and making change happen. it's like a tsunami of change happening and it's not going to crush us like in the past. this tide will bring us out of the darkness and i am pleased to be here and celebrate the grants for both neighborhoods and as you know i am very honored to represent. thank you director alva residence for your leadership and commitment. we are a true testament of exactly what public housing can produce. you beat the myth. you are reframe being the conversation and i thank you for your leadership. mr. mayor, thank you for allowing henry to continue to have a job. and thank you for the

leadership as well and the commitment to the neighborhoods and it goes beyond public housing and hope sf gets filled and the merchants along the corridor and those that need our redevelopment. thank you very much. city administrator thank you. thank you. [applause] so both areas have unique challenges. i don't think there is any secret any that. that's why we are here and particularly excited to putting the commitment of putting our money where our mouth is and where our mouth has been for years and i am committed to the improvements for the areas and as the supervisor i will work towards safer streets and more resources and stronger commercial corridors and education for everyone. to echo what has been said earlier this morning the choice initiative program, the goals of not only investing in

the neighborhood and housing and also improving the lives of residents. i think that's what we're talking about here. we're putting people in front of policy instead of people behind policy. sometimes people get ran over with bad policy in place and now we're putting the people first and supporting with thoughtful and solid policy and leadership. as a city we are fortunate to have big and bold projects. yes they're lofty and we have millions of dollars we're trying to raise and thank you to sandra for the leadership in doing that. we have the blue angels and a possible new warrior stadium and technology and creatively innovate the transportation system but it's the investment and success of the neighborhoods in san francisco because that's what counts. when a neighborhood is strong a city is strong and that is a message that can't be missed and we can't lose sight of that and thank you hud for

the grant and believing in our city's comprehensive approach to improve public housing and it's nice that we received two. that'sow awesome we are and i want to say thank you very much. >> well ladies and gentlemen i'm going to wrap up. i'm going to take about two minutes. i just need to thank a bunch of folks and of course mayor lee thank you for had opportunity. i know last time i did this dancing and that's not going to happen today but i am shouting and carrying on but we're not dancing. we have dr. hernandez and chairman and the commissioners and i think allen is here and the public tenant housing and gina and lots of associates and i want alex to step out for a second. we couldn't do this

without speaker -- i mean leader pelosi and soon speaker again and all of these folks. it takes a village to get this done. i know to my friends and colleague i have been a pain and to one guy i need to say a special thanks and step up here for a minute and this is important. i spent 18 hours on a plan and bugging him about the grants and we're in the middle seats and six and a half ride from dc and all he did was smile so i want to say thank you for believing in us and going after the two grants and everyone thank you very much. it's our absolute pleasure. yay giants. yay 49ers, the commissioner is here as well and thank you for being here. i really appreciate it.

. >> yeah, if you'll just remain in place, we're going to shift, we'll bring the panel up and the person that will be introducing the panel, lewis loeven. i have to tell you, lewis loeven is the person that put all this together. he's worked months for this so i want to thank you publicly, lewis, for this. >> thank you. while the panelists are coming up i'd just like to tell you when general myat and i went down to brief secretary schultz a couple months ago, he invited admiral roughhead and secretary perry into the briefing we had

a discussion about the whole program at fleet week. we talked about all the public events that went on but we also talked a lot and concentrated a lot on the senior leadership program and what the rest of disaster preparedness was about. in that conversation we started talking about the internationals a special agent of fleet week. secretary perry actually suggested that we extend invitations to people from around the world that they might benefit from the discussions that we're having. admiral roughhead suggested that his friends from chile had an experience down in their part of the world with an earthquake and thought it would be a good idea for us to hear about the operations that the chilean navy had undertaken for helping out their citizens. we have a panel here today, we actually have two panels we're going to roll through. one is stories from the field, if you

will, people's experiences in working in international environments to help promote humanitarian missions. fleet week got involved with a humanitarian mission back in october in the earthquake in van, turkey. there's a heavy kurdish in san francisco and the ... better recover from their event and how to better prepare in the future from the katz traufk event that had taken place would not occur. we got a phone call at the fleet week association to ask if we could help bring together some resources and leet a fact-finding mission and we did that. one of our panelists is up here, second from your left, rob dudgeon, he's with the department of emergency management and he's the director of emergency services. rob's organization has been

instrumental in creating the program that we have from back in 2010 all the way through to today and i know in the future we're already talking about putting together a hot wash of everything we've learned through 2012's fleet week. so rob is going to talk about the van, turkey mission. from turkey we have rear admiral guereva he has more than 14 years sea-going experience serving across various frigates. he assumed command of the suband joint command, chilean joint chief. he has been promoted to the rank of rear admiral. nita demato, serving as a major, she actually has a dual

career. as a reservist she's also a professional educator and she's currently serving as a congressional fellow in the office of bob casy of pennsylvania focusing on the appropriations in budget for veterans and rebalancing services for future engagements but really what we're going to hear from her is an amazing story about the marine corps's activities in afghanistan and creating and promoting safe school environments for young girls and women. colonel barry newman is someone i met back in 2003. i at the time was chief officer for the city and county of san francisco serving in the administration of then-mayor willy brown. and general myat and i were talking about putting together a table top exercise and in came from some exercises from the