a world class arts district one that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike. we know that cultural travelers make-up a significant segment of our visitors and contribute a great deal to our local economy. they spent $1.1 billion each year generate $1.78 million in local taxes. these include restaurants and and local facilities including museum options we have. the proposed mexican museum will be a valuable addition to this broad range of cultural facilities, one that is different from other museums in the city. we hope that you will

support the construction of the mexican museum and help finally committee the vision of creating the yerba buena cultural district. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. i'm here in support of the 706 mexican museum project. i very pleased the project includes this which is an asset to the neighborhood and with the proposed changes today facade is even a greater asset. finally with the historic buildings, it will be only a figment of the imagination. this project will achieve that. so i strongly urge you to deny the atc appeal and let this project go forward. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker.

>> supervisor, i'm dwight long. thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on the proposed building. over the years our firm has had the pleasure to work with the architects on the historical projects of the city. after reviewing the erinson building, i can say that this is a great example of the way that the historic preservation process should work. to not only restore the historic beauty of the structure, but also to enable it's productive use far into the future. as you are all probably aware, the erinson building is a quake survivor built in 1903 and we want it to continue. the development of this building of the terra

cotta will be repaired and the large entry on mission will be reintroduced and elements such as the 1979 additions will be removed. and providing a new rooftop garden will greatly invigorate this corner. therefore i highly recommend your denial of this appeal of the hpc findings of the project. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, my name is eric broaders, born in san francisco. one of the things that makes this city great is our historic buildings. i work in a building that had a historical upgrade 25 years ago. i feel that the upgrades

for the erinson in the building does the same things which help reinvigorate. i support the appeal be denied. good afternoon, board and san francisco. my name is benjamin. i'm a city college san francisco city instructor born and raised here in san francisco in the mission district and graduate of uc hastings college of the law. in anticipation of this great san francisco mexican human finally being approved, i would love to share a story with you that reflects san francisco's genius and growth. this past sunday here in san francisco in my cherry black 1966 lowrider. i

cruised around a latino friend visiting from phoenix arizona. together we bumped salsa and oldies music while sharing these sounds. this man told me it would not be allowed in san francisco. latinos he told me live in fear. what a great day it is, that i, a brown person, a latino from the mission district can greet you with courage here in our great city of san francisco. thank you for listening to our concerns. and i know you will favor a mexican

museum here in international downtown san francisco where we can feel a pride of the constructions that we've been part of and also our own very place of art. thank you. always amor. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, i'm a former deputy director at the san francisco redevelopment agency, but more importantly the 17-year long director project director for yes, yerba buena center. the benefits for the city of the 706 development are so many. it benefits the neighborhood including ways that it increase the vitality

in the area, badly needed homes for san franciscans, economic benefit, preservation of the much discussed erinson building, complete the dream of the diversity of celebration of many cultures, art in this area. the mexican museum has been long been a building to share the finest collection of mexican art in the american with this neighborhood. adjacent buildings are similar in height, to saint rejis. i thank you for your consideration and your favorable vote on this enormously important project. thank you. >> good afternoon president

chiu and distinguished members and board of supervisors. my name is david de la tore. thank you for considering this and respectfully reject the appeal. today p many of our members support this district. your actions are critical to the success of our mission and object the first voice institution and to support the social benefit of our museum to the yerba buena arts district. the mexican museum has worked long and hard with our partners with the city of san francisco to put the best project before you today. it is the culmination of many years of hard work. san francisco should be proud that in this community

we have the largest collection of mexican, mexican american, chicano, latino and latin american art. we have over 14,000 objects of our collections. the fate of this collection is in the fate of your hands. your denial of appeal today and your approval will allow us to build a worthy home to draw millions to san francisco. this will not only advance the quality of life to the city but also add to the economic and sustain ability in san francisco. thank you for your support. >> thank you president chiu, members of the board. i would like to take a moment to introduce two other board members to the museum, nora

wagner, arturo, we congratulate you on your engagement. my name is andrew and on the board to the museum. i'm a bay area resident since 1963 born in mexico. i here to speak for new support of the 706 mission street mexican museum and residential project and to support the erinson building as proposed by the sponsor capable of city planning staff and city's historical preservation experts. i worked at one time when i was going to law school as to one of the schools there. the building is being advanced at the highest national level to ensure that we in san

francisco have rich and cultural assets. i stand before you to share with you that as a trustee, we take our job and responsibilities extremely seriously to the point where we have been acknowledged the first in the west coast and san francisco. to bring about this final adoption of the development of the mexican.

>> good afternoon president chiu. medications -- members of the board of supervisors. i'm here the urge you to affirm the permit and wanted to read you a letter from the improvement district that addresses their support. dear supervisors, as you know the district is dedicated to the improvement of the neighborhood in general and the union square in general. we support this project. the development of the mexican museum would be a major addition to the san francisco and the neighbors. the additional of the additional residents will add street light in the area. we have reviewed the study to mission and find any impacts in the park to the

minimum. the union square business improvement district has voted for considerable work and contribution for improving the square area and union square park. we would oppose any project that would harm the park. in this case with the limited negative impact we support this project. thank you for your consideration and david, president. >> thank you very much. i just want to mention to members of the public we have a rule in our chamber of no signs because they are a bit disruptive to the proceedings. you are welcome when it is your turn to speak about what you would want. otherwise community with your sign. if i can ask you to put the signs down. that would be appreciated. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i just heard the news. i didn't know this, president chiu and

congratulations. well, i'm here again to ask you to approve the changes on 706 mission on the building that we have the mexican museum. this is it. more than 20 years of work for so many people. the goodwill has been there. few people are opposed to having this museum. yet we haven't built it. everybody is in favor of it. so i'm asking you to deny the appeal and to approve the permit. this is it. one vote. and to do it in favor of the project to build the mexican

museum. >> i want you to support this project. the funding that is needed to sustain this museum that's why i don't want to reduce the height. i do realize that some people are upset because their views might be compromised that's why you have some contention. i also understand the shadow impacts are very minimal and they will

probably occur very early in the morning in the union skar square area where most of those shops aren't open. i want you to consider the 20 years that the mexican population has had to wait. the treasures that need to find a home and all the stories that need to be told if you prove this promising, this has a legacy for future generations and tell the story of the many contributions that the mexicans have contributed. without that we are not mexico. >> good evening, my name is marie and i serve for the chair

of yerba buena garden. as an organization we are pleased to see that one of the many benefits including this project is the on going contribution of the management of the security. yerba buena garden is the jewel of the area and we are so happy that the partners is able to make the contributions to keep the park thriving. it's bringing new housing and mexican museum would add to the vibe of the area. please do not delay any approvals any longer and please deny the appeal an allowing this project to move forward. thank you.

>> i'm here to support the program. what's really unique about our program is we work with predominantly philipino families and the amount of pride they have for their philipino culture is amazing and the new pride they have for san francisco. i just want to express my support for initiatives to keep our parks open and have open spaces, the community organizations that we work with other than help with this vulnerable population.

thank you. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisor. i'm the executive director of west bay services. the union square occupy and precedent place in our heart in philipino. it portrayed the victory of the use against the spanish fleet that freed the philipinos from the spanish occupation that lasted for almost 400 years. as i understand it, the appeal was because shadows would fall on union square between the hours of the 8 :00 in the morning. that is none an issue to stop the construction we support

this project. >> good evening supervisors, my name is virginia and i'm from the yerba buena alliance. i'm here to speak in support of the mexican museum project. we believe this proposal will truly be an asset to the neighborhood and only add to the vibrancy of yerba buena. the museum will reinforce the

area to determine another venue of high quality and world class art and culture institution. >> we are also so pleased to see that millennium partners offered gardens an annual gift of $55,000. we believe this is going to be a fantastic and essential contribution to the neighborhood and allow the yerba buena to flourish. please do not delay and please vote to

allow the project to move forward. thank you. good afternoon. my name is rocio. i'm the executive of vocational school. for project development and project and hospitality and all this technology and graduated over 28,000 students who are parents of children in our school district. as a former board member of the san francisco unified school district and president for 2 years, i'm very sensitive to the tremendous amount of time that you have to invest supervisors. i'm not going to repeat all the benefits and

reasons why this project should be supported except to ask you to support this project. you know that the culture and value of the mexican museum will strengthen the education sensitivity and self-esteem of our youth that need this kind of encourage many. i ask to support this mexican museum at last a reality. a gift to the city, to the children, to the youth, the latino community and everyone of us. thank you for all your work and thank you for supporting this project.

>> buenas tardes. i want to go back and show you what we did to get the mexican museum, the piece of property in yerba buena. the yerba buena, as many of you know historically was for mexicanos lived back in 1800s. they were the shipyard workers. it interesting that here we are before you today 20 years later asking you to vote in favor of the mexican museum. i want to bring to your attention that this city of san francisco voted to give 1,000 feet to transtower. 850 to 51st street. 750, 600, there was no issue about shadow. but yet, they created shadow in 10 parks. and not 1 person got up

here from the four seasons to protest about shadow. it got approved. every step of the way. yet the mexican museum has been an appealed every step of the way. let's talk about shadow. all of these projects, right here behind me ten parks. shadow. mexican museum, union square. 0.06. this building has gone from 600 to 500 to 480. we hope that frida kahlo will be able to have her artwork in this museum. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. let's hear from the next speaker.

>> hi. my name is rocio. i part of the youth program. i'm here to support the community benefits fdot soma that is part of the mexican museum in our neighborhood. thank you. >> thanks, next speaker. >> hi, fernando and i'm here from united players. i support the mexican museum project. >> hi. good afternoon, my name is juliusa. i'm part of the organization called united players. oom -- i'm here to support the mexican museum project. thank you. >> good afternoon, president chiu, district supervisors. my name is rudy corpus. i'm the executive director of violence

prevention program in the soma area. the program is 18 years long. we originally started in district 11 and was also in 10 but has made an impact in every district here, in every neighborhood. proud of the bay area. i'm born and raised in the south of market. i raise my family there and i'm very very supportive of the project that's being built in the 706 mission, the mexican museum project. i truly believe the diversity. this is san francisco, we encourage that, in the soma there is a lot of filipinos and a lot of everybody else. i believe with the museum there, diversity is stronger. i know the city supports diversity. i want to

acknowledge supervisor kim for being a champion in our neighborhood and standing up for the things we need. i just want to acknowledge you and salute you and thank you for that. [ applause ] >> thank you, next speaker. >> president chiu, supervisors, my name is rick smith. i live across the street from the project site. towers next to the building will be home to their neighborhood. saint rejis has this -- i'm grateful for the potential come of the museum and for the benefits in the sale agreement for a needed pedestrian study in the area and pedestrian and development for the open care in the south of market. thank you president

chiu and for advocating in the community benefits. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. i'm 49-year resident of the san francisco mission district. i'm here m support of the museum. it seems like many have advocated for this place. please deny the appeal. thank you. >> thank you, are there any other members of the public? >> hi, my name is edmond. i would say -- good morning america. have you noticed i said -- i was here in the

earthquake in san diego. i got hurt working with mexican workers. as i see americans are leaving here, all the buildings that we are building here have a lot of mexican workers building these high rises. you have the jewish museum, all of these museums. i often wonder why we don't have a month for mexicans. we have a black history, asian history month, lgbt pride month. we don't have anything for mexicans. zapa set said it's best