started. i want to welcome you today. my name is supervisor

malia cohen and your district 10 supervisor. how are you? good morning! this is a big day for all of us here. okay, i want to thank we will have translation today. i want to thank ocia frubeing here from the mayors aufss for doing the translation. okay, here we are, we are gathered at 66 raymond. this is a long time coming. this is process that the mayor and i have been working on the for last 3 years and i want to acknowledge every single community member that has joined us along this journey. thank you. [applause]

for over 100 years this building is extremely important to the community. many people have danced, many people have shared a meal, there are wonderful cultural performanceess here in this building and today we come as a community to celebrate the reopening and rebirth of 66 raymond. thank you. today is

not just a about reclaiming this building we lost but reclaim agsymbolic importance this plaiz holds in the community. i'm proud to stand before you today to deliver a promise that i made to you that the mayor made to you to insure this building was open and it will remain an asset in the community. this building reflects diverse population of the viz valley community. this building will serve everyone from those that live in public

housing all the way down to the community members that will join us when the projeblth project is rebuild. so, you might be wondering what type of activities will be held here in this space. i want to introduce to you a few members of our city family here todayment we have a lot of people we want to recognize. first and for emost the department of aging as well as department of children, youth and families. these two departments alone are going insure that we got services to offer fwraum the kind ergartners to the seniors of the viz valley community.

there men people that are a part of our xhounty that remained steadfast and dedicated to this vision. i want to recognize community leaders. i saw patsy teato and

want to recognize [inaudible] doing a fantastic job with the beamen centers. i want to recognize the [inaudible] supporting the viz valley neighborhood. i want to also recognize the leadership, i see tony from apacc that are here. thank you for the community members that joined us and partnership and stephen i see you. [inaudible] i want to recognize the folks here and able to join us today. i want to bring up to speak a man that delivered on his promises, who is a man i have come to grow to respect and admire his commitment and tenacity. he needs really no introduction, but he is our wonderful mayor, ed lee. please welcome mayor ed lee. [applause]

>> thank you all for coming to this opening of 66 raymond street. in addition to all the people that supervisor malia cohen just mentioned we just have carmen chew come in as well. she helps make sure we get all the revenue in the city so malia cohen and i can respond spend it. let me tell you a little story about this

place because a lot of people through chinese radio and letters and advocacy with supervisor cohens office and my office to many different channels wanted this place open, but want to explain why has taken a little longer than we had anticipated. a few years ago, this location was put in bankruptcy by the bank.

unbenonesed to us because supervisor and cohen and i were working to make sure we got it from sth the bank, the bank sold it to a individual family. so, about two and a half years ago supervisor cohen and i said, well, we have to sit down with the new owner who bought this through the auction and bankruptcy court to plead the them on behalf our visitation valley and district 10 community that we needed the place for the benefit of the seniors and our families. and

so for several months we got in touch with the owner and their representatives and we discovered that they are a old san francisco family that also listened to our request on behalf of the community. and so, after those many months and after we representing the interest of the city and the community, they agreed to give this property to the city on

the condition that we use it for this community's benefit. the building was not in very good shape. there was a lot of things that were broken. a lot of conditions that were poor maintenance and so part of the condition was that we would use the money that we originally were going to use to buy the building to invest in it so that the real estate department can work with public works and police and fire and human services agency, work with

department of aging, work with xhern children youth and family, all the different agencies, work together to make sure we have the building in shape so when we promise to have a place for people to use, it would be a place that would be in good shape. so, i know

that it has taken a little long , but on behalf of supervisor cohen and me and all the departments, i want to thank you the members of visitation valley community for being so patient to have your own center and to make sure we set it up so there could be meals for healthy seniors and families here. it could be used for kids and childrens plays. we have a brand new floor behind us that will be used for entertainment and for the kids to have. we have a kitchen that works. we have rooms that are safe. no leaky roofs. all of this is all done together because we care about the quality of life of the people who live here. so, we are very

happy not just to open the center, but we have agencies that the city funds and whether it is self help for the elder ly or whether it is the asian pacific community that the board is here. i see many the directors and board members that are here. they will all create and support programs that we fund so that everybody's lives can be

enriched here because we know that if there is any communities that feel isolated from the rest of the city, it is not good for the residents and that is why supervisor cohen and i worked skoe so hard not just to get the space, but our commitment now is going to be that we support all the programs that enrich peoples lives and have the center a healthy place, a fun place, a place that supervisor cohen because i don't dance anymore but she can still dance. she can dance in high heels backwards with carmen chiu and i will sit and watch. and that people have a place where local officers also help keep the community safe. it is place where people can learn how to be citizens and good pathways

to citizenship and unit family members rchlt you will see me come down to support all the wonderful programs just like the bayview opera house. we are never going to allow these communities to feel isolated and abandoned, they are part of the city just like everybody should be. and so with the

support of our office, neighborhood services and support from all the groups, i want to say thank you for everybody's strong advocacy. now you have a safe, a really great location and now i can ask mar lean tran to come and say, thank you rather than, you haven't done yet what you are promised. we delivered on our promise mar lean and she will say thank you i know that as well. thank you everybody. lets talk and have fun and make sure the programs that improve the quaument of life, make sure everybody that is safe. this is now the community center and we are very proud to have done

our part to deliver it. let's use this place for all the right reasons and let's have fun. thank you. >> thank you mr. mayor for those wonderful words. i appreciate the mayor taking a moment and walking us back in time reminding how far we have come when we lost this location and we went and fought and got it back. thank you for your support. there is a couple things i really want to talk about and we have speakers that will touch on it in depth. one thing i have been hearing in the community is there a certain this place will be exclusive to one segment of the neighborhood oppose today opening up for everyone. there

mayors staff and i have taken careful steps to insure that this is go tog be a location for everyone. the viz valley community has a very rich history they share with multiple cultures and this community we need to come together, we will come together and this is a space that is going bring us together. i like to bring up sharine mac faden from department of adult-dos, what is that? aging and adult services. she will talk about the senior programming. she will talk

about the rfp process. i want to make sure the space is utilized from morning to sunset. why don't you come up and share with us your vision. [applause] >> the folks at the door, why don't you come in. there is space along this wall. come on in. come in. it is a fire

hazard for everyone to block the exist door so i need everyone to come in and not block the exist. >> good morning everyone. so i'm delighted to see this room full. i can't believe it. last time i came in this room was empty and still being worked on and can't believe because that was about a month ago, i can't believe everybody pulled this off. but i'm really delighted to see all of the senior citizens in the room today and just ask if you are a

senior citizen and proud of that fact, if you can just raise your hands. that is fantastic. one thing i want to say before i talk about the process here is aging is all about living. and i'm so happy and think all are so happy we have a mayor ed lee and a beard of supervisors today led by supervisor cohen who really support aging is all about living. so we envision great

things to happen here and i just want to start by thanking annie chung who is ceo of self help for the elderly because self help for the elder when we ask them to, jumped to come in here and start the meal services and to start some activities. i just want to thank annie chung and her team for asking so quickly. [applause] i also like to thank

[inaudible] and apacc and his team for the services they have been providing for over many years here. and i also like to thank amor saunt augo and apa for being a fantastic master tenant and thinking about services for seniors and children and everyone between. [applause] and i like to thank

my colleague mu aria sue from department of children and families because i think we will have a great partnership. i just quickly want to say we started serveish meals self help started service meals september one and we are serving generally speaking 80 meals a day here. today i think we had more like 150 but that may be because we have celebrities here today. in addition to the meals we have

activities here offered by both apacc and self help for the elderly and those include things like, karaoke and dancing and exercise classes. but in addition to that, department of aging and adult services have just put out a informal bid for more services and so we are looking for organization to apply to us so they can provide more services in this building because as mayor lee said, we want the building to be used from morning to night. sqump and i

just want to reiterate what supervisor cohen and mayor lee said, this building is everyone. visitation valley has a rich and diverse history and so when we look at the proposals when they come in we will look for really strong partnerships to make sure we are serving all the community.

so i just want toened my reminding you aging is all about living. [applause] >> thank you there are a few community partners i want to acknowledge. i want to recognize our outstanding police department, the ingleside station in particular that patrols the streets of visitation valley. we have officers here with us. thank you vaer much for being here sfpd, we appreciate you. i also want to recognize department of real estate that was this incredibly instrumental helping negotiate the property and want to

acknowledge john gaven from department of real estate. and finally, i also want to recognize adembly men david chiu, he is where us every step of the way when a member the board of sfr visor squz now a representative for saf san francisco and sacramento. he has two staff persons here who probably don't need introduction mr. chan and [inaudible] the next person i like to introduce is dr. maria sioux who is the director of

department called department of children, youth and families. she is considered the expert here in san francisco when it comes to early childhood education and programming, summer program. dr. sue will help us program the space for our children. [applause]ue who is the director of department called department of children, youth and families. she is considered the expert here in san francisco when it comes to early childhood education and programming, summer program. dr. sue will help us program the space for our children. [applause] >> good morning everyone. i'm maria and thank you so much for visor cohen for that generous introduction. so today is a wonderful day. i remember 3

years ago standing here with mayor lee and supervisor cohen when they made a promise to this community and their promise was that, we have to close the doors of 66 raymond today, three years ago, we will come back and make this place better, safer, more engaging and for everyone. today they have succeeded. so thank you so much to supervisor cohen and mayor lee for holding and keeping your promise to the community. [applause] it has

take an while to get here, we are here. i am so happy to be partnering with other city departments, brother and sisters to make the programs here and facilities here as bright and as brilliant as the people who live in this community. so you already heard about all the wonderful

program s that will come here for the seniors. let me share all the other wonderful programs we have here for the children, youth and families. we have over at 50 raymond two amazing amazing partners. first is cross cultural family services and they run a very high quality preschool program and we jointly fund that program with first 5 san

francisco, the human services age and department of children, xhoo youth and families. so, cross cultural also runs an after school program for us and it is also available to all our families here as well as lots of other programs within the visitation valley. thank you mayor lee. so, we also have

apa family services and we are very grateful to have amore san tiaugo here. a pa runs the resource center also open to resident in the visitation valley community. let me tell you about a couple new things we will be doing, more things we will ing bring into this facility and visitation valley community in general. first,

we will be partnering with first 5 san francisco department of human-human services agency and our department to release a joint rfp which is competitive process to put more family services and family support programs here in the community. and then, dcys in july 2017

will release our big rfp for children, youth and family services and that's to provide funding for non-profit agencies to run after school programs, teen programs, youth workforce programs, health and wellness programs and overall violence prevention programs. i remember when i was in this community talking to the board of dbcc several years ago and they said to me, we will hold

you dcyf accountable to making sure that whatever it that you do to help the community thrive you need to make sure we do tit more in visitation valley and with more commitment and dedication from our staff and i want to share i'm delivering on that promisement . we will allocate funding to visitation valley community and-air yae than other places in the city because we believe the need in visitation valley is really great. we also believe that everyone in visitation valley deserves to have access to high quality programs and services so we can all as a community thrive and be amazing and do better because san francisco, we believe that it is great place to be and to grow up here and let's do this together.

[applause] thank you. >> we are all most done with our program. i like to bring up to the microphone, mrs. luvon king, she a long time viz valley resident and community activist and leader. mrs. luvon king.

>> good morning. my name is luvon king and i moved into this neighborhood 40 years ago. i had a 6 year old and a 2 year old. my husband and my younger brother had been killed

. a purchased my first home, it was 4 bedrooms, 2 and a half baths. when people would knock on the door i would open the door and they would say, where is your mommy. and i would reply, i am the mommy. now, my 2 year old is 47 years old and she works with the san francisco police department.

and my son still needs a lot of love and prayer from all of us. and this center supplied groceries next door, provided childcare. we came in here and had classes and had fun and did dancing and art work so this is a rich history for me i'm a miracle that is happy to be proud of it. i'm honored to be here today and we will continue to mix and mingle. there is no little i's and big u's we are all one big family. you's we

are all one big family. this facility has supervisor cohen said is open to everyone. we want to you to spread the word. there are services for seniors. i'm a senior citizen and malia cohen called me grandmaand i just happen to be nana and happen to be 70 years old and i feel great. [applause] and thank you all

very much. [applause] >> okay, laink ladies and gentlemen i want to say thank you for joining us. we have refreshments we are honored to sirfb you as a token our our appreciation for your patient and kindness and remember today is a celebration for a new beginning and new birth right here at 66 reaened. raymond. thank you very much , have a wonderful day. and before we conclude our program,

we will have a ribbon cutting ceremony and i like to bring up our recorder campen carmen chiu for a short presentation. >> [speaking chinese] >> i'll keep my remarks brief. i want to come out here to say, a lot of the wurk we do bring revenue in is make sure we are able to provide for services like this. for us, being able to provide service for seniors is so important. you raise us when we were liting it is important for us to take care

of you as we are able to. [speaking chinese] [applause]

5, 4, 3, 2, 1! [cheers and applause]

>> the city of san francisco sfgov tv meeting of the rules

committee occurring thursday, september 22 2016 will begin shortly. in each of

>> in 2007 when i retired for my 35 year career in investment real estate i met my friend phil tang saying i want to get more involved in government services oh was initially appointed in the fall of 07. from that point on it was a complete roller coaster. as you know we entered the initial downturn and the number of appeals went from 1000 to less than 2000 year at the assessment appeal board one by dan to ran up to 5000 appeals in 21 2010-11 could swipe witnessed the actions of the board and don durrant and the assessor's office under phil tang and no carmen chu and chief appraiser matt thomas as well as the board and the additional board three to accommodate the dominantly homeowners in the evening with their appeals and all of us

about to make dramatic changes in how we became more efficient, more knowledgeable andcapable particularly at the assessor's office coming before the board. i'm an opportunity to do that as well as interpret the revenue and taxation codes board of equalization, assessor's handbook and it's been a great experience. i'm looking forward, i'm energized and want to be reappointed to another three-year term. so if you have any questions on the happy to answer them but thank you for your consideration as he was shortened i think that just for all the applicants were here today, just to speak to kind of the set of criteria or values you use as you are evaluating these appeals i come before you from more difficult than others. how you make your decisions going forward so he could speak a little bit to that may be also offer any

insights as to whether you see any improvements that could be made to the appeals process? >> what i've done in conjunction with don durand at the board met thomas and the assessors, particularly with a magnitude of appeals, is to develop a methodology whereby the assessors became more consistent in how they went about presenting their evaluations, the method methodology, the not analysis and the conclusions being better founded, the assessor's office having an opportunity to hire better appraisers with better experience. we've had to england time limits for those presentations by the parties to basically have them present key information needed for the board to make a decision that could go anywhere from 10 min. for one side or the other, to

15 days for the recent giants at&t park presentations. so, efficiency and knowledge, presentations go, they bowl gradually improved during my term in the hearings i participate in i generally cheer those hearings. i would like to further that advancement of the board and working with both the board and employees and the assessors office and also the representatives of the property owners who appear before us on a regular basis. >> okay. great. thank you. seeing no questions or comments, let's go on tour next applicant eugene--if eugene is here? >> good morning and thank you. i have-i understand you see my

resume and application and so forth. so i won't repeat any of that. just summarize cpa california real estate industry for 40 years. this just is completing my first three-year term on the board. looking for renewal for seat number four. so, if you have any questions for me i would be happy to answer them >> are there things that you are now seeing giving your first term that you would like to improve upon or any process changes were things that you would like to see done differently what do you think things are going pretty well right now? >> no particular order, and no offense, but were making sure we start on time out of respect for the applicants and in the assessor's office not that we don't always start on time. secondly, i talked about a visual aid like a whiteboard

because there are times there's confusion like to the location of the property or how it sits relative to the use and with a whiteboard it would help out significantly. i won't repeat what my associate jeff morris said please correct a boat on those counts. but by and large, the administrative staff of the assessment appeals board does an outstanding job and for the most part, the assessors are capable. so it's really just building on the efficiency. the one other thing i'll mention there's always considerable postponements among which as you read sometimes some of the explanations, i am not sure are appropriate and if anything i'd like to see less postponements of cases that really need to be heard >> okay. thank you. now we are

joined by our committee members supervisor mar. i wanted thank supervisor avalos for helping us get started. i don't have any other further questions. so don't want we move on to assessment appeals board number two applicant. we have john lee [inaudible] i apologize if i miss pronounce your last name. >> good afternoon supervisors. mar tang and avalos. supervisor avalos i could on john lee seeking reappointed for assessment appeals board number two could of been serving on the board for the last three years. occupations of installing real estate 28 years now. i [inaudible]. my spirits on the board has been positive. so far. what i think i bring to the board is because i do sell real estate i do know the neighborhoods really well. many of the commissioners are cpas, attorneys and i think i bring

more color when there's a set assessment appeals going on. i can explain with the neighborhood loci, which side of the street is more valuable because of the views. which property is higher worth more, closer to the secret in the richmond district is worth more than central richmond and a lot of people when they make their arguments they use const to enhance the cases. let's just say it. that your question as to what i'd like to see, what i can see doing better on the assessment appeals board? i think the assessors have high turnover in the department. so some of the new appraisers coming in probably should be trained a little bit better because when the pet peeves we have winnie we hear these cases is, well, the properties on that block. it's much better than the . especially for the people note the neighborhoods. i'm seeking reappointment [inaudible] >> questions >> thank you very much. any

questions or comments supervisor mar >> i just want to thank mr. ricci i think your column every month in the various publications is very helpful and a great community service in your knowledge of the different neighborhoods i think particularly valuable for the assessment appeals board. thank you for your service >> i actually read both of your columns, to >> thank you. exley of mervy:. we are now joined by supervisor cohen. >> it still good morning. supervisors. my name is merv: could i've served on assessment board number two for many years . my career encompasses about five years of buying and selling real estate as a broker and 25 years appraising. i had a mee medium size fo many years

, 8 to 10 people. at a moment i consider myself semi-retired but so i bring quite a bit of experience in real estate to the board. it has been, for me, a very positive experience and i must admit i actually enjoy working with people in the assessment appeal office and on the board, t00 if there's any questions i welcome them. >> yes. as i asked all the other applicants can you address some of the things you hope to work on better moving forward are their influence you could see to the process for appeals and so forth? >> yes supervisor. board number two handles single-family-to-four in the main. so, the people that come before us, that is the taxpayers, tend to be a bit

inexperienced. many are pretty confused and are not acquainted with the process. as perhaps the applicants and board number 1 r. i believe that's the assessment appeal board and the office should probably look a little more closely with these taxpayers and try to get them up to speed so that your presentations are better prepared and they are ready to face the board. >> okay. colleagues, any questions or comments for mr. collins? seeing none, thank you very much. we will call up joseph--. >>