remarks and then move on to the next person. >> good evening board members and thank you so much the board members and kim who started this in 2008 and i will go way back in 10 or 12 years ago when we had an action in front of 1950 when it was displacement 3.0, and where the city was beginning to take the flag and saying that this is a perfect opportunity for housing and for the working family and this is the perfect opportunity to keep the public access which is 1950 mission and keep it in the community's hand and keep it as a public good. and i applaud this effort and i am not going to take too long

because we are going to hear from a long list of amazing organizizers and community activists and residents, district families, teachers, but i will say, i am really stuck on what supervisor kim said, that you know the achievement gap does happen and it starts at home and it starts in our community and neighborhoods. and not having access to the fresh, foods, and unstable, and unaffordable housing which is only being hyper, hyper inflated and impacting all of us right now, as you all have read and seen and for many of us we are feeling. lack of access to jobs. and etc., so i think that it is very important to remember that we are all temporary stewarts of this public land and that it belongs as a public good and so we are applauding this effort and we are hoping that you support this deal. and i am very heartened to hear

that you know some of the ideas coming from the teachers union because i come from a long line of family you know my wife is a teacher, we have family that are teachers, and we are all about labor love, community, love, and we are looking forward to really creating some programs so we can create the teacher housing so that we can create stability for many of our teachers and para professionals that are struggling during this very traumatic moment in time and so thank you all for all of your support. hi, my name is bond and i am a member and i am a young member at a west bay program and i am a student at lowelhigh school and i support building more affordable housing and i used to live in the mal and i have lived there most of my life and since it is a one room, sro, that means living with other members and it was very

uncomfortable and i would not recommend it, i still have friends there now that i know that knows what i went through and i know that it is not fun and it is not what anybody really likes, and i think that is a reason why building more affordable housing is a very good idea and it can make a difference because it can make people's lives, kids, families, and everybody's lives a whole lot better. and i did not really say much, but i just wanted to support you guys out there any way. yeah. >> good evening i am from the west bay and we are an organization that has a lot of recent filipino family and i want to say thank you to the board of education and supervisor kim and everyone who has been working on this and like bond was saying, most of the familis that come to us live in these sros and many of

the families even right now, are being displaced, we need more affordable housing for them. so, i will keep this short, i want to say that i support it, thank you. >> good evening, my name is cynthia and i am a ten year veteran teach and her a mother of four and i have been a parent of the district for the same ten years. and i am here for many reasons. many. i was here last time when this issue came up and i also believed that we really need to came our teachers in the city and provide them housing and impersonally impacted by how many teachers across the bridge and i know that there are teachers that live in the city stay longer in the classrooms. and so i hope that this is a first step in the direction of using that circle, and figuring out not only how we can keep the teachers but how we can

keep our families and i just finished the parent conferences a couple of weeks ago. and i can't, i don't know how i can speak without crying when i think about the stories and the box of tissues that went to the family and to the mothers who work all night, rushing home to get their kids to school on time. after working all night. or the ones living in shelters. but i think that the story that i want to share the most as quickly as i can is maria story. thanksgiving just happened and her family was in an sro. and they had no kitchen to have their thanksgiving dinner. and thank god for organizations that provided a space for all of the families to come and share thanksgiving together. but it made me think about my own family and my children and my four and how many times i rush after work after teaching all day and stressing about what i am going to cook for dinner in my kitchen. and they have none.

i think about the programs that we have in our school about healthy meals and about how we are always telling the children what they should eat and what do we tell the familis that have no kitchens and they are the lucky ones or that at least have a roof over their head and i hope that we take advantage of this opportunity to provide our families, with a home, with a kitchen, with a place that they can work to provide the healthier meals. and so, i know that many of you have walked through the halls and some of you have worked directly with our family and i hope that you take advantage of this opportunity that i wish that i had to say yes, let's move forward in 1950. let's provide our families because when we talk about providing a place for children to do their homework, and to live healthier lives so that we can have the economic chance it really does start at home and so i really hope that you move forward with this.

>> good evening, thank you all for being here, my name is (inaudible) and i am currently with (inaudible) south of market community action network and also with the aws. and i work with latino families spanish-speaking families and i have been doing this for the past 7 years and since i moved to san francisco. i want to just echo what oscar said and also what kim said previously, regarding how it starts at home. and the familis that come in they are constantly coming in and there has not, and it is just been getting progressively worse. they either doubled up, tripled up, or they are displaced and they have to leave the city.

south of market, the action now currently serves over 200 families and even with the application process of trying to get them into the affordable housing, that process is also very difficult because it is also in the language. and so, it is i think, it is important that we are having this, and in this conversation continues. and we continue in that, and because we are all part of this, and affordable housing needs to be for the families and our working families, so, thank you. >> >> good evening, everybody, my name is ramond and i am the lead organizer of the community

action network and currently i have been working with 25 to 30 youth, and you know, regarding this issue, and i have had the privilege of talking to them about what they care the most, you know? and definitely one of them is education, but most of them actually said housing. and especially in the south of market and in the mission. i have a lot of youth that is coming from exelcier to the mission and south to the island and all over the district and all of them, you know, we have the youth that lives in that goes all the way to balboa and we have youth that have to wake up extra early to go to balboa high school and all of the youth that we are serving has to travel early? the morning and the same thing going back home. the thing is, with the housing issue, you know, one of the reasons why they say that housing was very important, issue for them, is because when the family move out of the

city, or displaced, you know, it is not only the parents that have to carry the burden, it is also the youth that are greatly affected and instead of them focusing on the school and trying to success, they are focusd on where are we going to live? they are focused on where are we going to make the money, and should i even go to school or should i just drop it now or just get a job to help my family, and you know, so i stand here before you guys. asking for your support

>> thank you. >> good evening, board, my name is amy, and i am the director of housing, at vernal heights neighborhood center, we do affordable housing development and we have for many years throughout the city and the reason that we do it, it is really for the mission, our mission is to preserve and enhance the economic diversity in the city and this mission was a call to action in 1978 when they were formed but it really resonates today and so what we are seeing is the loss of the neighborhoods and particularly in the mission in the south east, sector of the city, and really being devastated by this on fettered

development and over time that a piece of land is sold to a developer, the balance changes in our city. and there are 100 plus, units under way at 22nd and mission, 160 units now being proposed for 16th and mission, there is a property at 19th and valencia where apartments are selling for $1.6 to $2.3 million dollars that is affordable if you make $275,000 a year, i am not sure that is not what you are serving in the schools. and we applaud the unified school district for sitting down with the mayor's office of housing and community development and getting into the negotiation and considering how this should best benefit both parties. while the community activists and the policy trying to figure out the other ways of addressing the affordable housing crisis in the city. and really, we have to take advantage of the easy opportunities which are public resources and insure that they are used for public benefits.

and so, i, encourage you to proceed with this item, tonight. and we look forward to cell braigt a ground breaking with you folks at some point. bye. p good afternoon, commissioners my name is eric and i am with the (inaudible) san francisco and we are the merchant association in the mission and the last couple of months we have seen a big amount of displacement, along our corridor, you know there are ten buildings that i know of and i get calls every day from families who are being evicted. and not only the families but there are businesses and there is arts organization and there is non-profits that are all really coming in around this massive weight of displacement and affordability and one of the things that strikes the most is when a family calls they are, of course they are giving away the home that may

be lost and they are worried about their jobs and their kids. they are going to be taken away from their fmly and their friends and their neighbors and the school. and that is a big, big issue for them. so, i hope that you all support this transfer. and if these children don't have a stable home, you know, it is going to effect them and also going to effect them in the future, so thank you. >> good evening, i am the director of the mission resource center on cap and 16th street and also for the san francisco local homeless board. and i cannot tell you how excited i am to be here supporting your vote for the transfer to 1916, and i want to add just a couple more points to the reasons why you should vote yes. as a homeless board, we have been tracking as you have the number of homeless children as well as homeless families in

the city which increasing in 2010. and we need to look at homelessness in families and children and so this transfer in 1950 is critical to be able to house the very low income family and that is how we will be working with the mayor's office of housing and to get to the families that need it the most and that it is in the mission with the many speakers before and i have been working for 12 years did not see the ground breaking for any affordable housing in the mission is and so we are looking forward to that and we want to thank the leadership and supervisor kim and avalos and everybody else who is making this a reality. and just to close, i want to offer to the board we need better ties for san francisco, and the local coordinating board and so i will make sure that i connect with some of you to make sure that we have a closer connection, so that we really can address our homeless

children, in the school district and the families. thank you. >> shelter is one of the three basic human needs for someone to be stable and thrive and we have over 134 youth under 18, who are homeless right now. and only 7 percent of them are sheltered meaning that there are only 9 to 10 of those kids that come with a group, with a roof over their head every night and without a shelter a lot of these youth experience depression, and suffers the abuse and mental illnesses how are these kids expected to thrive in the school? if they have all of this instability going on around them and how are they expected to be successful as adults if they grow up with depression

and substance abuse and mental illnesses? and so i really like to urge you all to go through with this motion and allow more affordable housing to be available in san francisco. >> good evening, my name is nelly and i am with the south of market community, action network. i am here, and i am a low income, parent. and i am here to support the affordable housing. i leave at tenderloin with my husband and my two sons, we live in the small studio, because we cannot afford to rent even one bedroom apartment. so, i am here to ask you to support the affordable housing, thank you. >> good evening, everyone, and i am the director of the south of market community action

network. and as you know the district six has seen the massive development in all of san francisco. and fortunately those developments are not helping sustain families and are not helping diversify our city. and so we are here, and we are really happy and excited to be in support of seeing you vote for more family housing in san francisco, it is definitely a need, and we need it more, in san francisco, and we hope that this is one of the stepping stones to actually get more families and sustain more families in san francisco, and a lot of the members that we have in some can live in the single room occupancy or doubled up or tripped up, and happening in the south of market in the tender loin, everyone where, actually, and so, we are really happy to see this kind of collaboration and

partnership, by the city and we hope to see this more, and not just this year, but every year, because definitely family housing and housing for everyone working families is needed. >> i am a youth commissioner and just to give you a little bit more background of how i face a lot of struggling with affordable housing and i live downtown in the soma district and we were kicked out for a couple of months when i was in high school and weed to live in my dad's friends' house where there was no light and so kie not do homework at that house and i did not have anywhere to do homework. and that is the problem right now, when there is no affordable housing there are young people that need their homes in order to do homework and to do good in school and to

be successful and not be the big percentage of the homeless population that is right now in san francisco and in order for these young people to continue to thrive, and be continue to have this diversity in san francisco, is for them to have affordable housing, and the mission, i am always in the mission, as well. and i will love to say that i represent the mission district as well. just because i grew up going to school there and having a lot of family and friends that are there right now and they are worried about the affordable housing and i mean that we never know if we are going to keep living under this roof and like some of the people that came up here and talked, there are some families that did not get to have thanksgiving because they did not have an oven and i want you to think about the affordable housing for the family and the people who need a close place to have public transportation and other necessities for them to be living in san francisco.

thank you. >> good evening, commissioners my name is adele carpenter and i am a staff member of the san francisco youth commission where i staff the housing committee and unfortunately the chair of the youth committee is not able to be here tonight, he is in class at city college, but he asked me to come and just, you know, speak on behalf of his support and your support for this proposal and the house tion committee has not been able to take an official position on this issue, but wanted me to reiterate just the incredible importance and rarety of this opportunity to really take a stand on behalf of affordability and our families that are in need of housing in san francisco. and if i can, step out of my role as youth commission staff, i am a residents of the mission district and my wife teaches at mission high school where we are looking to or going to grow our family in spring of 2014,

and so we share many of the concerns around affordability, and around the need for workforce housing and also understand that these are not exclusive concerns and that is major quality of life issue for us as a youth worker and as a public school educator the ability of the young people that we work with every day to stay in the city and to be able to bring their leadership to the city and be able to thrive there and raise their family theres and i would like to urge your support of this tonight and thank you for your time. >> hi, good evening, my name is maryln, duran i was born and lived and raised in the mission district of san francisco. and so i think that 1950 mission should be affordable housing because point blank there is hardly any affordable housing left. you know i have many neighbors who are struggling to live in san francisco who are

considering to move out of here and taking their kids. and i think that this should be a lot more investment in keeping the low income communities who have really made san francisco what it is, and so many amazing things that people envy that is why they are coming here because the people who build this foundation of this city, you know, made this a great city and are being kicked out and we keep seeing that all of the time. and, you know, i think that we should really ensure that you know, the people who really make the city great like the teachers, and you know the community organizers and the grossers and everybody can still afford to live here because we were born and raised here and this is our home and we should not have to be forced out because other people want to be here and so my request is that the board of education do the land transfer and have, you know, the public in the community's hands, and you know, it is our land too, and i think that we should all get a say in what happens to it and we are pushing for affordable housing and i see the board of

education as really wanting our kids and our children and my brother who goes to lowell and a smart kid he does not want to leave here to thrive and that the kids can be able to leave here and thrive and make the city what it is, thank you. >> hello, everyone, my name is mario and i am a san francisco resident and i have lived there all of my life and i am 17 years old. and i am a youth organizer for them. and so, i believe that you guys should do a land transfer because my mom works at an sfusd school and she struggles each month just to pay her rent, because they raises three children on her own. and my dad is out of the picture and everything. and so, also, she is like a latino woman and her english is not that great, where is she

going to work? what if we get kicked out of our house, recently the landlord came to our house and started to take pictureses of our rooms to put up for the market and so i was like, i am in my senior year of school. i am colleges and everything, and what is going to happen to me? what is going to happen to my two sisters that go to robinson taylor elementary will they have to pick up and leave and go to a place that we don't know or will we have to move in with our family and live in closets and all that i want to ask for you guys to is dedicate this land swap to families like mine, who are like living in like, who can't meet, sorry, this is... who can't pay the rent each month. and you know, we want to stay in san francisco, if i wanted to live san francisco if my family wanted to leave, we would have left a while back,

except there is not enough affordable housing and we want to stay here so please do this for us, thank you. >> i want to read a couple more names, because the line is thinning out. could i read, sarah, short and seron and vasquez and tom kabrono. p >> thank you. proceed. >> we are waiting. >> i am here and i am a member of the boder and i have two sons and one that go to the

john school and one is... oh, [ speaking in a foreign language ] . there are 4 and 9. p john, and holland. i am here for the affordable housing. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> i wrote down what i was going to say but the best testimony is when it comes from the heart and i lived in the shelter. [ speaking in a foreign language ]

and it is a horrible experience not to be able to give your children a roof over their heads. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> and it is really hard when you are not high income earning and you don't have a stable job. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> and i think that it is really important that all of our children have a roof over their head as well as a good education. and for the future of this country. [ speaking in a foreign language ]

>> and just really that you are supporting affordable housing for folks like me that don't have a really high income. p [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> thank you and good night. >> i am a parent advocate and i could tell you the stories about the families that i work with, but instead of that i want you to remember that working families are the back bone of this city. and many of you here don't know what it means to be in the situation of having snaoe stable housing and maybe if you knew, you can hurry up and vote.

and so, i just want you to, and i just wanted to urge you to do the right thing. and make the affordable housing possible for more people in this city. thank you. >> i am an organizer and i am here because we are living in a housing crisis, this is ridiculous, like i don't know anybody who can afford, 2,000 for a studio, and i don't know anybody, i don't know if i have met anybody. and so i think that it is really important to acknowledge what the city has made really bad decisions in which the highest bidder has been the one that has been able to develop. in a city that our families have built and my dad was a laborer for 30 years and i have been a community organizer for 20 years and all of these people have the same story and help to create this beautiful city that we live in and so i think that the most