>> on december 28, 1912. san francisco mayor, sonny jim rolph stared into the crowds of those who have gathered. a moment in history. the birth of a publicly own transit system. san francisco municipal railway.

muni as it would become to be known. happy birthday, muni, here is to the next 100 years. the birth of muni had been a long-time coming. over the years the city was disjointed privately owned companies. horses and steam and electric-powered vehicles. creating a hodgepodge of transit options. none of them particularly satisfying to city residents. the city transit system like the city itself would have changes during the san francisco earthquake. the transition that will pursue from this aftermath would change san francisco's transportation system once again.

facilitated by city boss, abe ruth, ushering in the electric city car. the writing was on the wall. the clammer had begun for the experiment including public transit people. owned by the people and for the people. the idea of a consolidated city-owned transit system had begun traction. and in 1909, voters went to the polls and created a bond measure to create the people's railway. would become a reality three years later. on december 28, 1912, mayor sonny rolph introduced the new geary electric streetcar line

and the new san francisco railway. that he said would be the nucleus that would host the city. and san francisco gave further incentive to expand the city's network. a project by way of tunnel leading into chinatown by way of north beach. in december the first streetcar was driven into the tunnel. just two years after its berth, muni had added two lines. and k, l and m lines that span out from westportal. in 1928, the j line opened heading west to the beach. in 1944 san francisco voters finally approved muni take-over

of the market street railway. by then motor bus and trolley bus improvement had given them the ability to conquer san francisco's hills. after the war most of the street-car lines would be replaced with motor or trolley bus service. in 1947, the mayor recommended replacing two lines with motor coaches. and it appeared that san francisco's iconic cable cars had seen their final days. entered mrs. cluskin, the leader to save the cable cars. arguing that the cable cars were a symbol of the city, and she entered a charter placed on the november ballot. it passed overwhelmly. the california street cable

railway was purchased by the city in 1952. there were cut backs on the cable car system and in 1957 only three lines would remain. the three lines that exist today. in 1964 the cable car's future as part of california's transit system was sealed when it was proclaimed a national historic landmark. in february, 1980, muni metro were officially inaugurated. in that same year, muni received its first fleet of buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. in 1982 when the cable car had a

shut-down, they added an alternative attraction to the cars. the festival was a huge hit and would continue for the next four summers in a permanent f-line that would extend all the way to fisherman's wharf, by 2000 the f-line was in place. and in 2007 muni extended the third line to the southeast corner and returning to third street. for the first time in 60 years. in the course of last 100 years, muni's diverse workforce forged by men and women of innovation have reflected the many cultures that flock to the city. muni's ground-breaking antidiscrimination has

guaranteed equal opportunity for all. the city's policy mandates the course for the future, as they work diligently to increase options and increase multialternatives, and deduce -- reduce the carbon footprint. it continues to improve the systems. during this sen -- centennial year we reflect on the transit system. driven not (clapping) >> . >> (speaking foreign language.) >> good afternoon, everyone this is feeling so good to stand before you this announcement is

tremendous we'll been working hard in the last year and a half this is a big day you've had personal and long connections to the building on 66 raymond this story of this building has been a rofks story of tragedy and of loss but today, we come to celebrate victory over one hundred years this building behind me has been in the community a tremendous and the that served generation many of the folks that participate in the community at it have you ever seen venue i want to acknowledge the long-standing community members thank you for being here and many of you know, we lost this exit to foreclosure we've been through many, many community meetings and many

hours discussing the future of 56 raymond to today it is with great pleasure and honor i announce the city of san francisco habitation acquired the ownership of this property 66 raymond (clapping) and what's most important this day is not about reclaiming a building but about reclaiming an important piece of the visitacion valley center community for the community this asset was lost a long time ago due to foreclosure but with the help of the mayor's office the help of my staff and, of course, the tremendous help of the community the members 3 stand behind me their advocacy we won this is symbolic because a neighborhood stood up and fought and we've delivered 2, 3, 4 tremendous interrelation mom

it's occasion to the visitacion valley center neighborhood we're here to be here i'm proud to deliver back to the community 66 raymond the city's ownership means the residents will have a health place for activities to gather as a community the cities ownership of this community center of this building we'll have a place tour our seniors and visitacion valley center thank you to all the community members that have remained steadfast and the next person you'll here from is mayor ed lee he'll share with you his vision after the mayor maria sue between many meetings she and i have met to late out a specific strategy and services that happening happens at 66 raymond

mr. mayor thank you for being here (clapping.) i think we want to make sure many have translations let me say something in chinese okay. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> cowen - raymond all right. i just said to them that supervisor cohen just announced that the 66 raymond street has been gifted to san francisco government so that we can in turn use it according to what supervisor cohen has explained for all the community uses and the seniors here that are gathered are here know this is an important thing you saw them

clap they've been for years wanting to make sure they've expanded the services limited at 50 raymond to now the other side of the courtyard filled with the capacity services of the city i know that supervisor cohen has think been here for quite some sometime and through her leadership that did owners of the building said we have to do this and make a difference we went through some times when we doesn't were not certain whether or not the owners of the building would cooperate now they have i serve as a back up to supervisor cohen and i said this wherever she said we have to do something and certainly the same thing with the board

president president chiu we wanted to make sure the funds we at the time set aside with supervisor cohen's leadership those funds would be spent to make sure that the buildings would be rehabbed and make sure that they would get a good level of rehab so that it could be converted to senior use a lot of champs but welcome everyone to visitacion valley this is a wonderful part of our as you can see xhooufd said the sun is shining on us we have good news and right here visitacion valley we were down here a few months ago opening up the supermarket and across the street you'll see 17 hundred brand new units of affordable housing because of the location here and because of the income that people make around here i know the developers right here

is excited about this we support him and make sure this project gets down this community is on the move a lot of things happening in the south crossroad of our city therefore this of 6 raymond is a good announcement and investment thank you to supervisor cohen for her leadership and quite franklin e frankly wouldn't be done without her tests her persistence as a team i mean team kind of like the team that is going to play tomorrow night and i want to say thank you to supervisor cohen we're happy to share this news with everybody who uses the center and wants more activities and more improvements we're going to be hearing a lot there's a lot of things to get done and thanks to her leadership with supervisor cohen we'll continue to get a done

your next up maria sue for families it oversees many of the families at raymond. >> it's a such a beautiful, beautiful day and appropriate we're celebrating if this with the sun and residents and community members i'm maria from the youth department i'm proud of the leadership with mayor ed lee and supervisor cohen and president chiu for truly bringing back this sister building of this true community interit has been is an anchor within our city and the visitacion valley center for well over 95 years and supervisor you said one hundred years this has been a place for residents this place is a place for parents to come to seek support services for their children to learn how to support

their babies a as they develop e develop a place for youth for mentor and place for seniors for nutritious meals for opportunity to congregate and socialize to bring meaning to their lives i'm proud to be standing here with the city community and our community balances partners to revitalize this center and bring that back to its full glory of what was was before i'm proud and committed as folks to bring the services back here to insure that our young people whether they're coming from school back into they're community there's a safe place to come to if they want that first opportunity for career development come here for the skills tests apartment that

need support for after-school program and services they can come here and receive the support i'm really proud the leaderships once again and mayor ed lee and supervisor cohen and president chiu and i look forward to working with them as well as our community based organizations and our community residents to make that as beautiful and vibrant as it should be thank you. (clapping.) the woman i'd like to introduce is my amy chung providing services to the executive director for the sales help for the elderly thank you