>> we're very excited to be her' attention a little bit. we're very excited to be here

that has been many years and i think a great labor of love for all of the organizations or all of the organizations that have been involved. i always say about projects like this it is the ones that are the hardest that you end up liking in the end. this will be one of those truly special buildings that people look back on and say, boy, it was really hard but, boy, is it worth the effort. we're here to celebrate the opening of arc mercy at page. this has gone through many twists and turns and started in one direction and come back to the use today. there will be a group of speakers. we'll try and move through this relatively quickly. the first among them is the number one house in chief. he doesn't need an introduction. he's done a lot of these. for those of you who don't know who has done a lot more than most

mayors in the country and that is mayor lee. >> yeah, yeah. >> very good. >> yeah. >> if i would have had a role in this i would have said ice cream for everyone this. is how i celebrate another milestone in our city's theme that we are a city for everyone, and i mean everyone when i talk about this particular site it's few and far between that we have a site where mercy can work with us on our department of housing this project has been through doug, it's been through olson, now it's kate, but ted densey as well. we are trying to help the most needy and the people with

disabilities. yes, it's going to take a long time. yes, it's expensive. yes, there are not enough units to satisfy all of us. so let's take the opportunity to celebrate this milestone in our housing stock that we have now 16 additional units and we're looking at other sites where mixed uses acan afford other units for people who are will which yenninged in so many ways yet, the affordability and crisis in our city adds more barriers to it. i'm very proud of everybody who has put this site together. it is at the heart of where people want to live. this is a great place for it to happen in the center of our city

i want to say how proud i am of it. everybody stepped up. against, mercy and arc, thank you for your contributions. >> thank you. >> i want to say this, i am looking for more partnerships because we are losing partnerships on the federal level. this is the last one that was targeted for people with disabilities. it is a sad part, it is a sad day for federal but for san francisco we are moving forward. we are enhancing our ability to do better locally. we'll need the state to help us with our future. and they just signed a barrage of housing bills that i think will really help us. there's other partners. supervisor london breed. she's not here right now. >> yeah. whew! >> she's a great champion at this. she was right there at

the start making sure that she was part of our housing plans. i want to say thank you again to the design team. i know that arc mercy had a design team with prescott & associates with contractors and roberts obyoshi corporation has been a steady contractor to help do a lot of affordable housing. of course, indicate -- of course, kate hartley's group was there. it shouldn't surprise you that my bank since i've grown up to own a bank account in my life is bank of america. >> yeah! >> they stepped up, yet again, bank of america. we were there with housing in recents and stepped up with me to do the financing. these were partners in an effort to make sure the theme that i articulated in the beginning, we're a city for everybody. and with the most challenge, we want

to be a city for them. because we have great accessibility programs r. we have buildings that have got to be successful. our muni system has to be accessible for everyone to get around, our parks have to be accessible. and now our housing with the most severe barriers for people have to be more than accessible. they have to be welcoming. so arc and mercy, congratulations working with us. >> thank you. >> let's keep opening up more of these units and, doug, next time, let's get ice cream for everybody. >> thank you. all right. so i just heard from kate that the mayor will be down at haight and ashbury buying. it's only a couple of bucks

away. he'll be there for the next 45 minutes. no. i agree. ice cream would have been a good call today. just a minor correction. the general contractor for this is kay hill. >> thank you, kay hill. >> and paula taggert was the architect. >> thank you. i'm home. >> ert that. >> and while i'm on that i'm looking at consuela cast awho worked with mercy and donated these lovely plants and was out here last week with barbara and consuela, thank you for everything that you do. i'll have more thank yous and arc mercy was working on other projects and i hope will work with us on more. i knew very little when glen came to talk to us. he knew other folks but

didn't know about the arc and glen said to me -- >> yeah. >> our board chair said, you know, i want you guys to come over to our break fast so russ pitt who is the no here we walked down to the breakfast. we were totally vandalized. i've never been moved by an event. i don't think we walked out of there poorer with how impression your mission is. i feel like our mission is really important. i feel that it is amazing to run into an organization that has such a profound mission and does it so well and so wonderfully and i want to thank the board chair of this incredible organization. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you, mr. mayor. thank you, everyone. distinguished guests. having affordable housing means we're able to maintain neighborhoods with

socio-economic and diverse populations that makes our city the one that we love because of all of the community it has. among those diverse citizens are those adults with disabilities who,despite their disabilities, contribute to the work force, contribute to the cultural landscape and to their communities. as a long-time board member of a school of children with autism and now advice chair of the arc for the board of san francisco, i can tell you what people need and that they appreciate access to affordable housing here in our beloved city, which happens to be one of the most costly real estate markets in the country. achieving independence is what everyone wants. i know our clients want what we all want: safe housing, work, friends, and to feel like they are valued

members of their community. without housing they can't be established, and they can't be part of communities. they end up living with their relatives or in care or worse, homeless. as a family member of a person with autism, i can tell you why my family appreciates the hard work of mercy housing and the arc san francisco in making these apartments available to adults with developmental disabilities. and what it means to my son to possibly have this opportunity one day. at almost 30 years old, my son, abe, wants what his peers have, to live in his own apartment where he learns to be independent, he goes to work with his peers, contributes to his community. he's excited by the fact that maybe one day, he will have keys to his own house. he'll be able to kick his own pizza and have his buddies over to watch "the warriors." they are all simple things that we take for granted

but what makes living with an adult with disabilities a source of great pride. in san francisco, we literally put the stake in the ground right here at paige and masonic we can move forward with adults with disabilities and we have the expertise. we should move forward because it is the right thing to do. with this partnership, we removed the final and biggest barrier with adults with developmental disabilities. housing is the definition of independence. home is where we begin our day with coffee and tea and coast. it's where we seek rest at the end of a long work day. it's where we share with family, friends our celebrations, our cult yours, our successes. it's where we sleep with safety and security. we thank everyone who has supported this effort, and we look forward to continued successful collaborations like

this one. with successful collaboration, i know that home can be the goal of community and treasure in the exiewpt. i have the pleasure of introducing the next speaker, ted. he's been an advocate of people with developmental disabilities, has been associated with the arc of san francisco for many years. and he assisted us in administering a legacy gift from the late barbara shuffman from residential services. he's a former director of the san francisco's mayor's house of office of housing and former acting director of the san francisco public housing authority. he presently works at gersin, baker & associates which was formerly a real estate development company and is now a property management company. he co-allerred the economics of housing services in low-income

neighborhoods, a review of non-profit develop corporations, and he received his master's degree in city planning from u.c. berkeley. go bears! >> whew. >> oh! >> please welcome ted to the podium. [ applause ] >> as was mentioned, i was director of the mayor's housing office from 1992 to 1996. one of my tasks was to go to a number of ground-breakings and ribbon-cuttings and to say something appropriate. and i inform knew what the appropriate thing to say was. however, 25 years ago at the first such event, which happened to be a mercy project in the mission, i told a story. it was appropriate then and may be appropriate now of when i was young, i was told that the 22 letters of the hebrew alphabet

all petted to be the -- all petitioned to be the first letter in the bible and berhet s hote is the first. and we were told that the first letter began with a house but it didn't end there. just as mercy has created this housing unit, it is now arc's task to make it into a community. so all of the people who worked on this project deserved to be thanked because they worked hard and it is difficult and other people will do that. but i think we should be pleased that we live in a community with surplus and the other goes to providing funding, such as this it is one building at a time.

we should be pleased that we have this building, and we should take pleasure of this building and go on to build more. thanks a lot. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> okay. great. thanks, ted. there are too many former directors of the mayor's office of housing in this room. i'm not offering to lead. i'm just saying there are too many of us. so i do want to take this moment and introduce my supervisors, also the supervisor for this district. she, i think, brings a unique passion for housing. she understands virtually -- no, she understands better than most. >> oh. >> i don't want to get tweeted about. the president may tweet about me if i do it wrong. i think she understands better than most

elected officials the experience that relates to affordable housing and what we're all trying to achieve 234 creating a san francisco that continues to be home to the kind of people that have been here many years before. we worked with supervisor breed on many projects. i know about her intense passion and leadership. and i hand over the supervisor of projects. >> hi, everybody. >> [ applause ] >> i'm excited to be here. oftentimes when you have a role in approving legislation that helps to get projects done, sometimes it takes a long time to see them happen. and today i'm so excited to see this project happen. i want to thank the mayor for his support. thank you, kate hartly, for working with us on this particular project. and thank you to mercy. because, you know, mercy decided to work with us and work creatively with the arc and come up with what i think is going to

be an amazing project. and i have a personal connection to the arc and i worked with them for many years because some of you that work at the arc know michelle brown also known as nikki. she's my aunt. the arc was an amazing program that really supported her, nurtured her, cared for her. but also there were a lot of folks in the community who loved her. that's what this is about, making sure that there are not only the programs and the resources to support the people who are going to live here, but they are a part of this amazing community here in the haight-ashbury.

this is going to be great for the emwho live here. they can go right around the corner and hang out at haight. hopefully, they'll ignore the requests for paraphernalia and other things that exist. but it's the haight-ashbury neighborhood. and i see ted from the haight-ashbury neighborhood organization, one of the organizations that also supported this project. you know, there are a lot of organizations that exist in this particular community, including faces across the street, which is one of our childcare facilities of everyone came together, urban and others. they said, you know what? we want this project here will we want to support having this done here and look at how amazing it is. so many different layers of a community. that's what makes san francisco such a wonderful and special place to live because it is a quilt of neighborhoods and people and communities. and it's so beautiful.

tut is a beautiful day for an opportunity for housing for those who deserve it the most. thank you all so much for being here today. [ applause ] >> now i'd like to introduce jennifer. >> yeah, jennifer! >> jennifer holds a degree with a master's in health and focus on health in education from u.c. berkeley. go bears. so many berkeley grads here. jennifer has over 20 years of experience with people with developmental disabilities including job support, supportive living, comiewn building in chicago. and she also worked in england as a case manager with for adults with developmental disabilities in surrey county. she's been with the arc for 12 years. the center for health and

wellness is the perfect place for her education and work and experience. pleasure welcome jennifer. >> go jennifer. whew. >> hi, everyone. i am really excited to be here today for the dedication of this really wonderful arc mercy community. the arc san francisco has the privilege of partnering with mercy housing to be able to develop 17 units for people with disabilities to live in san francisco which is just amazing. i want to tell you about the role, one of the roles that arc san francisco had in this process. we do the outreach for the provider of people with developmental disabilities. we got the word out that this building with these wonderful apartments was available to sign up for the lottery. we got the word out. we actually had an information session at the arc, so people knew what to expect when applying. we supported 30

people through the application process, which could be kind of a complex process for people with developmental disabilities then, for those who are lucky enough to have their lottery number drawn, we helped them get qualified to be able to sign a lease. >> yeah. >> and we continue to support people. we support 90 people total. what we do is we help

people be good tenants and good neighbors. one of the ways we do that is through our services, mr. deer who is out there. >> yeah! >> and he lives on site. we provide fs ises for individuals. that is different for everybody. but what that means is we help people with whatever they need support in to be a successful person in the community. that might mean they might need help with cooking, with banking, with navigating the neighborhood, with shopping, whatever it takes, we're here. the arc is excited to be part of this process. this formed the other we have over at 6th and howard which is another one of our buildings we do look forward with future partnerships with mercy and other organizations to continue to be able to provide units for people to continue to be able to live independently in san francisco. thank you. >> i want to thank the haight-ashbury council and the folk from faces across the

street. we have father ray allen here from st. agnes church and the urban school, all of who really made this possible. it is really easy to stop something in san francisco. it is much harder to make it move forward. >> that agirl! >> thank you for all of those who helped it go forward. i want to thank steve wallace and the other employees. >> go, steve wallace. >> someone else hiding out there is tim dunn, who was our project manager. many of the folks live pretty close by. the person i'm about to bring up is larry ferguson who has got many connections to this project and to all of us.

and we have conversations and on the way to muni and sometimes we have a lot of time. i didn't say that. larry has been a force for affordable housing for many years. i think this is a project that is very near and dear to his heart. he is here representing the department of housing and urban development without whom we wouldn't have this project because they played such an incredible role. as the mayor said it's really -- it's too bad we don't have any current appropriations for rental subsidies for new projects like this. but hopefully more people hear about amazing work like this and not the construction budget, but the end result. >> thank you. good afternoon. it's a hot day

and it's a beautiful project. i'm delighted and honoured to be here representing hud. i want to congratulate mercy housing, arc san francisco. >> whew. >> their board of directors, their hard-working staff who put so much time and energy in to this wonderful development. we have had this thoughtful renovation that has created affordable housing and this community will enable our developmentally disabled residents to live independently and to allow them to follow their dreams. we are proud to

continue our partnership with mayor ed lee and the officers in housing. we would like to see more of these as well and we have supported housing dollars to help and providing a long-term rent subsidy to keep rents affordable to everyone who calls this home. our section 811 program, i'll talk about it for a quick sec has created high quality housing for over 25 years. and alshow the projects coming in in california.

this project itself has green and energy-efficient features. i could go on but let's face it. this isn't nearly housing, okay this isn't just about sticks and bricks here. this is what folks call home. this is what folks call community, okay? and this day is a really special day for the residents of mercy arc community. and on behalf of hud, i want to welcome each an every one of the residents to their new homes and their new community. i, myself, have lived in the upper haight for 23 years. and i enjoy this and its charms and amen 'tis. so i hope the residents enjoy it

more than i do. so i personally want to welcome each of you to my neighborhood, our neighborhood, all right? to close there are a couple of the people on the hud side, jim meyers, regina bill and darryl mutton. thank you for hearing what i have to say on behalf of the department. and welcome to the neighborhood. welcome home. [ applause ] >> okay. believe it or not, we're almost through our program. there are a couple of people from the mayor's office. i want to call out ruby harris, the project manager. there she is in the back. joe mcnamara and theresa younga i don't know if it is the right

word and helped this project come to be, mid-wifed it or something. we would not be here were it not for theresa. so thank so you much. and ms. menendez and the management company who will hopefully take care of this building as well as they do everywhere else. we do a lot of these openings with bank of america. they are probably, i would say, the most active bank right now in san francisco in terms of financing and investing in affordable housing. for the last month or so, ary has been a very busy man and as i follow the mayor and as we celebrate the reopening of a lot of the buildings that have been renovated around downtown. he's done a great job of making the

bank a partner with affordable housing and. >> all prospective jurors: of other sponsors and with that, i i bring you ari valleha. >> thank you, doug. it is an honour to be here roping bank of america at this grand opening. oftentimes people say it takes a village. in affordable housing it takes the city government, the state government, multiple mayors. a great mayor, a great supervisor, thanks and a lot of other people to getting thises done. but we -- but every single part of that loves doing this work. so it's amazing how i always place last right before the tenant and the food, so i'll take the hint. i'll try to go quickly. first, let me thank many of those people. first of all, the

affordable housing mayor, mayor lee. i'm really happy to follow you around. >> yeah. >> it is quite an honour. >> and the staff, the supervisor s, hud and, of course, the great organizations that are developing this project, mercy housing, as well as arc. you guys picked great partners to do this work. >> yeah. >> whew. >> our relationship with mercy goes back really far. we've done over 46 projects together and half a billion dollars. >> wow. >> so that's absolutely amazing bank of america is really committed to san francisco. i don't know if you know this but bank of america got it start in san francisco as bank of italy. we've been here all along through the great fires, through the good things and through the bad things. we are following the mayor around. and we invested $2.2 million in

financing or other projects. little projects are also important. every single unit matters. every single person who lives in these matter and we are happy to call home to these services. we're happy to contribute to big and small projects where we contributed $8.5 million. so we invest the deposits that you give us. our people invest their time. so we have over 4,000 associates in san francisco, including ann marie back there who -- who is the person that gets stuff done in the san francisco office. i apologize for embarrassing you. >> awww. >> but i wanted to acknowledge you. an she and many other people contribute over 40,000 hours of community service every year in our communities. so thank you. thank you for allowing bank of america to be part of this. i hope there is going to be many more grand openings. we need every single

unit. we need every single building. and thank to you the community who embraced this project and made sure that i went for it. [ applause ] >> okay. we saved the best for last year. one thing i wanted to say there were over 4,000 applications for the six units here. it was a strict set where not everybody could apply. you really needed this type of housing. there are only 44 units of 811 housing in san francisco prior to the work that has been done by the arc and in the market. we've almost doubled the amount. but it's an incredibly small resource relative to the need. if you do run into an elected official, particularly, your congress people or your senators, just let them know how important and wonderful this resource is and

that we wish we had more of it. it's not one of those things with he can afford to discontinue the way we're doing. all right. that's my little soap box. one of the folks that was lucky enough to move in will say a few words to us. i understand she's a little shy. so i know all of us will be incredibly supportive and welcome here. we'll love to hear what you have to say. with that, one of the newest residents of this neighborhood, rosetta burras.

>> good afternoon. i'm rosetta burras. i'm going to read you a piece of paper. welcome to my new home and allowing the presentations. >> so what are some things that you like about your new apartment? do you like the elevator? >> yes. that's the main thing, the elevator. the elevator. >> all right. >> and then i like my apartment

it's nice and cozy and roomy. i can get around in my apartment real good. thank you everybody for giving me this studio apartment. and to all people, i want to thank them, too. and you all are welcome to my studio apartment. it is on the third floor. and thank you very much for having me here. >> all right. [ applause ] >> thank you. all right. so that i think concludes our

program. i do want to thank -- i want to join everyone in saying -- i want to thank all of the residents for welcoming us here today. >> thank you. >> i'm extremely excited. i'm not as excited as you are. >> i am so lucky h. >> all right. you are making this real for all of us. >> and i was there. >> we're going to give it up again. there are tours. i'm looking around to tim. where will they start, tim? >> moe. >> moe, who is in the back, is going to start. >> moe. >> if you would like to take a tour, moe is your guy. otherwise, enjoy the refreshments. okay. and if you spoke, we want you to come out front and join us for a

quick ribbon cutting. thank you very much. >> a picture before we cut? okay. one, two, three. nice. let me get one more. okay. and one, two, three. okay. are you ready to cut? >> yeah. >> okay. cut. >> here we go. >> three, two, one. >> whew. >> it's going. it's going. >> yeah.

yeah. >> manufacturing in cities creates this perfect platform

for people to earn livelihoods and for people to create more economic prosperity. i'm kate sosa. i'm cofounder and ceo of sf made. sf made is a public private partnership in the city of san francisco to help manufacturers start, grow, and stay right here in san francisco. sf made really provides wraparound resources for manufacturers that sets us apart from other small business support organizations who provide more generalized support. everything we do has really been developed over time by listening and thinking about what manufacturer needs grow. for example, it would be

traditional things like helping them find capital, provide assistance loans, help to provide small business owners with education. we have had some great experience doing what you might call pop ups or temporary selling events, and maybe the most recent example was one that we did as part of sf made week in partnership with the city seas partnership with small business, creating a 100 company selling day right here at city hall, in partnership with mayor lee and the board of supervisors, and it was just a wonderful opportunity for many of our smaller manufacturers who may be one or two-person shop, and who don't have the wherewithal to have their own dedicated retail store to show their products and it comes back to how do we help companies set more money into

arthur businesses and develop more customers and their relationships, so that they can continue to grow and continue to stay here in san francisco. i'm amy kascel, and i'm the owner of amy kaschel san francisco. we started our line with wedding gowns, and about a year ago, we launched a ready to wear collection. san francisco's a great place to do business in terms of clientele. we have wonderful brides from all walks of life and doing really interesting things: architects, doctors, lawyers, teachers, artists, other like minded entrepreneurs, so really fantastic women to work with. i think it's important for them to know where their clothes are made and how they're made. >> my name is jefferson mccarly, and i'm the general manager of the mission bicycle company.

we sell bikes made here for people that ride here. essentially, we sell city bikes made for riding in urban environments. our core business really is to build bikes specifically for each individual. we care a lot about craftsmanship, we care a lot about quality, we care about good design, and people like that. when people come in, we spend a lot of time going to the design wall, and we can talk about handle bars, we can see the riding position, and we take notes all over the wall. it's a pretty fun shopping experience. paragraph. >> for me as a designer, i love the control. i can see what's going on, talk to my cutter, my pattern maker, looking at the

designs. going through the suing room, i'm looking at it, everyone on the team is kind of getting involved, is this what that drape look? is this what she's expecting, maybe if we've made a customization to a dress, which we can do because we're making everything here locally. over the last few years, we've been more technical. it's a great place to be, but you know, you have to concentrate and focus on where things are going and what the right decisions are as a small business owner. >> sometimes it's appropriate to bring in an expert to offer suggestions and guidance in coaching and counseling, and other times, we just need to talk to each other. we need to talk to other manufacturers that are facing similar problems, other people that are in the trenches, just like us,

so that i can share with them a solution that we came up with to manage our inventory, and they can share with me an idea that they had about how to overcome another problem. >> moving forward, where we see ourselves down the road, maybe five and ten years, is really looking at a business from a little bit more of a ready to wear perspective and making things that are really thoughtful and mindful, mindful of the end user, how they're going to use it, whether it's the end piece or a he hwedding gown, are they going to use it again, and incorporating that into the end collection, and so that's the direction i hear at this point. >> the reason we are so enamored with the work we do is we really do see it as a platform for changing and making the city something that it has always been and making

sure that we're sharing the opportunities that we've been blessed with economically and socially as possible, broadening that