office in terms of lobbying them, and getting it with the budget analyst, office, before we get to the board because by the time that you get to the board for the most part they are going to go along with the budget analyst. sucking up, or working in the analyst office and in regard to getting these and taking care of your budget problems if >> yeah, forgive me, because my experience, holly rose has never recommended an increase in anybody's budget. >> and i got it. often. >> and well, that is news to me, actually, and we do interact. >> and i know that many other departments and maybe things have changed in the 15 years that i was out of the city

government and harvey rose was always the guy to the back door and work on, and the budget analyst, is assigned to you was always a person to work on if you wanted to get something done, and that was not just the percent of any kind of particular adeptness that i had in the public defenders office and the stories were legend about other departments as well and so you are expressing to me a certain amount of ignorance in that process. >> yeah. >> it is concerning to me, because the point is, that the reality of san francisco, city government, is that there is a lot of things that are done in the back door. and there is nothing wrong with it in terms of this is not an ethical process or anything like that, in terms of lobbying the budget analyst. and so when i see it, when i see the department or when i see a line item, that is not

filled, because the money is not there, my immediate instincts based upon the 20 years that i was in that situation of doing budgets is what did you do with the budget analyst office and for you to tell me no one gets anything from the budget analyst, and you are wrong. and i would suggest, and i would really advise you to and work on the aspect of that. >> and i would have to say that i spend my year, defending the budget to the budget analyst so that they don't recommend the cuts in it and that is the process in my experience. and i don't want to use the

term back door to scribe anything that the ethic commission does and i will see what and it shows, because if you look at our budget today as opposed to when i started here, it is significantly different. >> okay. >> but, there is nothing wrong with back dooring the budget analyst, because that is the name of the game, and not just to send in the budget and argue in front of the finance committee because by that time, everything is pretty much a done deal. >> i appreciate that and i have sat through the budget hearings every year that i have been here and i have never seen the budget analyst recommend an

increase. so i will have to go back and look at how that works. >> it works. >> okay. >> and i would also point out that the board of supervisors when we were talking about the civil grand jury report, and the government oversight committee did discuss that it possibly during next year's budget season, they should because of the civil grand jury recommendations they should seriously look at, giving us additional resources, and >> i saw that and, i think that is you see that is the kind of ammunition that you use, in my, or in trying to get a, and you are not asking for an increase and all that you are doing is asking for a position that has been authorized. >> yeah. >> to be funded and so we are not talking about an increase in the budget, we are talking about the funding something that is already there. and now, that you have got something, like the civil grand

jury's civil grand jury's statement that this should be put in there, i would use that to whatever extend that you could and use it very powerfully in regard to your discussions with the budget analyst in the budget process, before you get to the actual finance committee matters. and i, i don't want to lecture you like, and like i am a school master. >> actually you be a school master. >> i am just a humble schoolteacher actually. >> but i think that there are things that can be done that and i would recommend it that you think about it. >> public comment? >> items for future meetings? >> anything for the

commissioners? >> is there a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> so moved. >> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> aye. >> opposed? hearing none, meeting is adjourned.

>> hi everyone, welcome. my name is jason freed man and with the associated estates and this is really exciting, i have to tell you, to see all of you here and to be standing at this site, in which for many of us, has been a long time coming. and this spots that been in the works for 7 years, plus. and to see it actually being built, especially for many of you who have been gone for that long. and this is, this is exciting. >> and thank you for joining us here today, for the official ground breaking ceremony for project known as 35 , supervisor kim for being here today and really your support for this project continues to support in the community is very important to us, and so thank you.

>> mayor lee, you really did a fantastic job in this city of san francisco, both in raising the commercial and the residential development and really unprecedented development. supervisor kim, your team has been really supportive and we are very appreciative. your efforts we could not do it without you. and we thank you very much. >> let me tell you a little bit about the ro ject for those of you who don't know, we do have photographs up here and probably the most important one is to my left, which is where we are in the city of san francisco. truly a gateway site, and a gateway project, and we are proud to have it stand out in san francisco as a place where people will see, recognize, know, and be proud to be a part of. this project really is a

culmination of a lot of thought and effort into trying to embrace the community. and the neighborhood. through the task force, and the local community members, we now have a project that embraces the neighborhood, and it has a lot of unique feature and we have 7 buildings, distinct buildings with the unique design. 410 apartments and 62 of which will be affordable. we are going to have restaurants, neighborhood retail and over 10,000 square foot office building at that end of the project and we have over 1,000 square feet of unique zoning called pdr state and which is production and distribution and repair and really a very complimenting use for this area. and where we are sitting right now is going to be a public park, and probably one of the most exciting parts of this project and it will be open to the public and we will have

restaurants and coffee shops surrounding it and it should be really unique and special. one of the most meaningful parts of this development has to be the valley, which is just behind us. as many of you know that the valley has significant social heritage to the lg btq community. and there are nearly a 2 million dollar investment by the city to improve the (inaudible) valley will insure the preservation of the history and the significant improvement to one of the most well known streets in the city. and just like western soma, we believe that the community will be a greater sum of all of its parts. >> in order to pull off a development like this it takes coordination and kaor ration with the city and the development team and the community is represented by the western soma task force, and with the many ways a conscience of this project.

and they set the high expectations and desired it to be as special as it is of course, the gateway to san francisco. thank you for keeping us on track, and making sure that we preserve the integrity of what has come before us. when developing urban core properties like this, the come mri date indicated and responsibilities fall on the shoeders of many groups like the planning department and the task force and other city agencies like dpw and mta and dbi. all of these groups have been and will continue to be critical partners in helping us realize the full potential of this project. thank you all for all that you have done and your continued efforts. and it has been just as important to have good partners, and let me first thank aig, and the global real estate and the partner in the development and they continue to be an invester in the

community and an owner of property in san francisco, and together, with us, they see that the true potential of the 358. and we have been doing business with tnc bank for over 30 years. and there is support has been tremendous, and to have them involved in really what is a transformational project means a lot and thank you for your support. >> certainly last but not least, in order to pull off the development like this, they do not appear just out of the ground and then they are created for the brilliant minds like massey and his architect team at kma, and probably the most important person that i need to acknowledge here is amir massey amir has been the one is responsible for meeting with the city and working with the community and going to i have heard, 120 meetings and 150 meetings, and a lot of

meetings. and that is really the difficult part of creating a project like this. and i know that amir is excited to see his brainchild come to life and get and so con congratulations he and his team have the great support from the best professionals in the business including the general contractor, robert sobiahi, the developers and the operators of the department communities all across the country, associated estates and has some exciting cities that were in, but i have to tell you that san francisco is the most exciting city that we are in. definitely the most eclectic city, i know that for many of my new friends here what makes the city great is that it is different and unique. and we are so pleased to call

san francisco home for us now. and we are proud to be part of your community, and we want you to know that we take our responsibilities very seriously. and we plan to build and operate a community that all of us will be proud of. associated estates has been in business for over 50 years, and when we come to the community, we make it our home. san francisco is a place where we will call home for many years to come. and we want to be proud of our contribution to the community. and i can tell you that it is my goal that when the people drive down the highway, or 8th or harrison, and they look at this beautiful development, they will say, wow, that is where i want to live. thank you, again for all coming today and mayor lee, and supervisor kim and i would like to invite you up to say a few words and thank you again for all of your support. enjoy. [ applause ]

>> jason, thank you. and good morning, everyone. welcome to the heart of san francisco, our western soma. and it is great weekend and let me tell you that i like getting up on monday mornings when the giants win the 9ers win, and when we have developers that love this city and know what it is about. it is great to get up and let me say this, this is a very first time supervisor kim and i have been together in a ground breaking in her district. first time this week. and a monday. but i will say this, in reference to jason's wonderful comments, he is absolutely right, you know, sometimes when you are trying to bake something really good and you want to demonstrate how much this development can be for the

community and you spend that quality time and i just didn't know that it would take you seven years to do so. and so, of course i walked up and i told tom and taken seven years to get the permits and we better move faster than that, but when you look at what they have proposed here, and what they are about to build and what they are permitted to build, you already can recognize that there is a tremendous reflection of respect to this community, supervisor kim knows that because she works with a lot of developers and we work with a lot of developers in the city. and yes, these are good times. but we distinguish between developers that love our city and developers that just want to make a buck. and it is nice to be here with a developer and a team of team that are reflective of what this community wants and needs, and spend the quality time doing that and this will be a very distinctive measure, reflected in the way that you have done this and i love the flexibility that you have made,

it is not just forwarded and ten units of people living there, they are flexible units and they are units that will come in a different lifestyle and a different sizes of families, and the measurements that you made for the streets and how your designers have regarded how people get around these streets. and making sure that people just don't use the alleyway as a pass way to freeway on-ramp and the pedestrian safety is not only to be reported and honored but the open spaces that you have designed here will allow the people to stop and say, hey, this is a community, that we have here, not just a place where people live, it is a community of space, of retail, of small businesses, and of manufacturing, and i was there just a block away at pinky's bakery this morning and they got the really sense and they were telling us, when is it? is that really for sure? and of course, they are

expressing the years that people years and i wondered gosh isn't that a little bit under utilized and

when we saw the other developments go around, we became more convinced that the excitement that this will have and we knew that during those years that you were working hard to meet with everybody and make sure that you did it right, and did it well. and it is already reflected in the designs and the concepts that building that you have here and, so, you have created kind of the giant 49ers type of excitement here and we are going to win with this one, and we are really going to win world class, designs, and a complimentary of our neighborhoods and just, timeliness, is so important, and certainly, with your investers and this is a good time but it is also a time to say let's do something for all of our communities and let's really have a blessing here rather than a ground breaking and it is almost a blessing that it compliments the hours of people's input, and everybody is excited and anxious that you are here, we are going to not only watch we

are all participate in some level to support this going up, and going out, and then, to be able to have and invite hundreds of families to live here, and work here and we are excited about this, so thank you, for bringing this development here. and we will do what we should do and we will honor this investment appropriately, and we will work with everybody to resolve every problem out here, and anything that you need will be there for you, and certainly, i know that supervisor kim is excited about this as well, and i think that we both share this as a great, great moment, moving forward, thank you very much for being here. >> [ applause ] >> and supervisor, this is the first of this week, supervisor kim. >> thank you mr. mayor and we often trade off at introducing one another. and really the incredible case of construction development

that is happening here in this part of the city and the growth that is happening here in the south of market, throughout district six is truly tremendous. but i have to agree with mr. mayor, and actually he gave me speech, and i don't know if i needed to talk to them, and for them to stop talking to one another, but that was really my exact speech and this development is really a jewel at the heart of western soma, and i do meet with a lot of developers, but sometimes when developers come in with a project and a plan, i don't want to sound cheesy, but the project actually kind of sings to you and it is beautiful. and when amir came to our office, and by the way, i have only worked on a withs with the western soma for three years, there are many here that worked for 8 years, and they served on the task force for 8 years. and i know that amir was a integral part of the process

every part of the way, but when he came to our office to present the two projects both, the bus depot, and the musical concourse, i was struck how incredibly sensitive that the project was to the neighborhood, and often times, we spent a lot of time wrangling and we would like to see this and how we will fit into the neighborhood and we want to see the affordable housing and we want to see the jobs and a diversity of jobs and all of that came wrapped in this beautiful project that came to our office, because, amir had spent the countless number of meetings i guess it was 150 meetings listening to the community about what it wanted to see from a major development project. and 8,000 square foot of pdr i see sf made here and which trains, you know, women particularly immigrant women to run their own businesses and in a city that is obsessed with food. and so they can share in the wealth of this economy and thank you for being here, and we want to see the affordable

housing and thank you for doing 15 percent on site, that is a huge commitment. >> and making sure that we have a mix of jobs and also recognizing the stud bar which is an icon in the western south of market community and making sure that we respected that cultural icon here and of course as the mayor mentioned the history of the lgbtq is particularly the leather community in wrinkled alley and that park and alley way is going to be one of the most exciting parts of this project and i can't wait for the stone benches that are warmed by underneath, i am always cold in staoet city and so i live two blocks away and i know that i am going to come here with friends and sit on a warm bench and those are the creative ideas that are going to make this project a true part of what san francisco is. and san francisco is eccentric and diverse and that is why the

people want to come here and live in the city and it is great to not just get another glass project which i also support in san francisco, but it is something that really going to fit into the fabric of the neighborhood and make the identity of this neighborhood even stronger not less so. i want to recognize a couple of other folks i mentioned the eight years that i see paul lord a former planner with the planning department and i know that his heart was in the western soma plan and so thank you for all of your work and dedication and we will be making this a community process and i know that was challenging for the planning department for us and so thank you, and i don't see corey, but he took over and really, and really, made sure that the true vision behind this plan stayed true, throughout his course, and i see sf county transportation authority, and that worked on the transportation portion, and we super chesser young and i know that liz bryson who could not be here and of course,

chang and the pedestrian safety improvements are essential as we move from more of a manufacturing neighborhood and the light industrial neighborhood to a mixed use neighborhood and we need those crosswalks and we need the wider sidewalks and to be safe for the people to walk so that they can go to work and safely and to bike safely. and throughout the neighborhoods so that we can build that smart road of neighborhood and so finally, and amir i want to thank you, and it was truly, an extraordinary effort to put this project together and incorporate everyone's idea and make it fit into this one project, and i am really excited for this project to get built and i know that you did a lot of work with sunny and gulo in my office who also went to a lot of meetings on behalf of this project and april, but we really want to support this project and this was something that we were really proud of to be a part of and to support and thank you all, thank you to everyone, here. that is participating so that

we could be at this ground breaking today, thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you both, for speaking and for being here. we have we do have real shovels here to actually dig some dirt and as everyone knows we have a big hole in the back here and so we have already started officially, this is a ceremony event and so we would like to invite you to come down with us and take the photos and have our official ground breaking. thank you all for being here, today. >>

>> i tried to think about this room as the dream room, where we dream and bring some of those dreams to life. i feel very blessed that i have been able to spend the last 31 years of my life doing it my way, thinking about things better interesting to me, and

then pursuing them. there are a lot of different artists that come here to work, mostly doing aerial work. kindred spirits, so to speak. there is a circus company that i have been fortunate enough to work with the last couple of years. i use elements of dance and choreography and combine that with theater techniques. a lot of the work is content- based, has a strong narrative. the dancers have more of a theatrical feel. i think we are best known for our specific work. in the last 15 years, spending a lot of time focusing on issues that affect us and are related to the african-american experience, here in the united

states. i had heard of marcus shelby and had been in join his work but never had the opportunity to meet him. we were brought together by the equal justice society specifically for this project. we were charged with beginning work. marquez and i spent a lot of time addressing our own position on the death penalty, our experiences with people who had been incarcerated, family members, friends of friends. pulling our information. beyond that, we did our own research. to create a picture that resonated with humanity. it is the shape of a house.

in this context, it is also small and acts like a cell. i thought that was an interesting play on how these people make these adjustments, half to create home. what is home for these people? the home is their cell. people talk a lot about noise -- very noisy in prisons. that is interesting to me. looking at the communication level, the rise of frustration of being caged, wondering, where does redemption fit into the equation here? [singing]