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tv   Government Access Programming  SFGTV  March 26, 2018 11:00am-12:01pm PDT

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present on this item. >> i am speaking here in my individual capacity and not as your legal advisor as the contracts before you pertains to the firm that i am currently affiliated with and the firm that i will be affiliated with starting next thursday. our firm that has been providing legal services to you is splitting. the firm will be splitting into two firms. a new firm is being created called renne public law firm, and that is the group that i will be affiliated with, starting on march 1. we will be located in the offices that are currently located in, and have a similar name, but it is a brand-new firm. in order to allow me to continue to provide legal services, we have made the request that the lafco agree to an assignment of the existing contract with the existing firm under the same terms and
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conditions without any additional extension from the old firm to the new firm for services beginning on march 1. any services that are provided between now and the end of february , including, for example, my attendance here today, will be provided on behalf of the current firm, and the current firm will eventually submit a bill for those services for anything between now and the end of february . and so with that, i'm going to go ahead and defer to your interim administrative officer for any additional questions, but if you have any questions about the split of the firm or how that is going to work or what this means for you, i'm happy to provide that information. but as far as from my perspective, you will not see any change. the only change will be the name of the firm that i'm affiliated with. >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. yes, miss calvillo? >> yes, thank you, miss
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stricker. the other point that i wanted to make is we had the city attorney's office review the terms of the assignment agreement, and they have signed off on all of the language. we're happy to provide that to you, as well, members of the commission, and that beginning march 1st, the assignment agreement will take place, and we will have all of the files transferred from the hyde, miller, owen and troste to the new renne law group. >> supervisor fewer: okay. colleagues, any questions, comments? okay. let's open this up to members of the public. are there any members of the public wishing to comment on item nine snoo seeing none, public comment is closed. do we have a motion to approve the contract for renne law group, llc. great. moved by commissioner ronen,
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seconded by commissioner pollock, so approve the contract for the renne law group, llc as our law group. madam clerk, can you please call item ten. >> item ten is public comment. >> supervisor fewer: this is the time for members of the public to address items on the panel's jurisdiction and not on the agenda. are there any members of the public that would like to speak. >> yes. eric brooks. this time i'll speak on behalf of our city, san francisco and the san francisco green party. as you move forward and start working on affordable housing, there's a desperate issue that's not being addressed in san francisco and that is small businesses, local small businesses. they are going out of business as if there's a wildfire going through the city. the costa hawkins repeal bill and ballot measures that are in
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planning are not going to solve the problem. in my neighborhood, we've lost micano's possibly the best greek restaurant in the united states. polk street produce went out of business because of increased rent. the gangway bar, one of the most historic bars in san francisco for the lgbt community is going to have to go out of business or move. in commissioner fewer's district, she knows there's a natural food business that's being driven out of the district because of the decision by the building owner. we are losing key businesses so fast in this city that san francisco's not going to be recognizable in the next decade if we don't do something about this. so as you move forward on supporting affordable housing and the homeless, we also need
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to think that some of those homeless may be small business owne owners that went out of business because no one can cap their rent. and that in turn is replacing all of our businesses with formula retail. it's just -- we're not going to have san francisco unless we solve this problem, so i'd urge you to put that on your future agenda. thank you. >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. seeing no other public speakers, public comment is now closed. madam clerk, can you please call item number 11. >> item number 11 is future agenda items. >> supervisor fewer: are there any future agenda items that my colleagues would like to comment on or discussion. seeing none, let's open this up to members of the public. are there any members of the public who would like to comment on item number 11. seeing none, item 11 is now clerk. madam clerk, are there any other items of business before
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us today? >> that concludes your items of business for today. >> supervisor fewer: there being no further items of business, we are adjourned. >> when i open up the paper every day i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about the planet i want to leave for my children and other generation, i think of what contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. ♪
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clean power sf is san francisco's key way of fighting climate change by renewable energy and offering it to san francisco customers. i'm from the san francisco public utilities commission. the program came about with state wide legislation in 2002 to enable people to take more control over supplies. i first heard of the program when the organization was advocating to launch clean power sf. what i'm most excited about, it's going to bring 100% renewable energy to my home and reinvest into renewable energy infrastructure and jobs. i had gone to a lot of street fairs and heard from the staff at the san francisco public utilities commission to sign up for clean power sf even before it launched.
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>> we learned about clean power sf because our sustainability team is always looking for clean operations. linkedin is the largest online network. there are about 530 million members using our site. in this san francisco office there's about 1400 employees working in roughly 400,000 square feet. >> after signing up for the program we heard about the san francisco program and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. i'm the co-owner of the new wheel electric bike shop. we opened this store in 2012 and the new wheel sells and services electric bikes. 11 people work here in san francisco and our store is about 2,000 square feet. electric bikes are fantastic for
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transportation in the city, they're clean and green and you get places faster than any other form of transportation. it amplifies the power, it doesn't replace it. it makes it easier to get places by bicycle and it's so enjoyable and environmentally friendly way to go and more convenient in san francisco. >> clean power sf requires two products, green, 40% renewable and competitively priced with pg and e. for those who want to fight climate change more, 100% renewable at $0.02 per kilawatt. >> i decided to go with the super greens, after finding it only to cost about $5 more a
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month to have super green, that's a no-brainer, i can do that. >> we were pleased that clean power sf offers the super green 100% for commercial entities like ours and residents for the city of san francisco. we were pleased with the package of services for linkedin and now encouraging our employees who have a residence in san francisco to sign on as well. >> clean power sf buys its power from renewable plants that feed the energy directly into the grid. >> there's a commitment to sustainability throughout the entire organization and this clean power opportunity reflects that. >> one of the wind farms we use is the shilo wind farm and that is large enough to be able to provide energy for up to 200,000 homes. >> our mission is
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sustainability, even though our bikes are minimal energy use, it still matters where the energy comes from and part of our mission in sustainability is how we run everything -- run our business. having the lights come on with clean energy is very important. >> the sunset reservoir has solar panels that take up about four city blocks covering the reservoir and the solar power generates energy for city resources and clean power sf for residents participating in the program. >> it was easy to sign up for the program, i went online to cleanpowersf.org and i started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going to be switched over and it just happened. when i pay my bill, i still go to pg and e and i don't see any difference between now and a year ago.
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>> sign up online, just have your account number ready and it takes about two minutes and there's nothing to install. no lines are getting connected to your home. all the power goes through the existed power grid. >> we haven't had any problems with the switch over to clean power. >> it's super easy to sign up. our book keeper signed up online, it took about 15 minutes. nothing changed but now we have cleaner energy. >> we see clean power sf as a key strategy to meet renewable energy goal, we have a goal of 50% renewable energy by 2020. currently we have enrolled about 86,000 customers across the city. about 20% of what we hope to serve in the future and in the next two years we'll offer service to all san francisco electricity customers. >> an easy way to align your environmental responsibilities and goals around climate change
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and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it and it doesn't really add anything to the bill. >> joining clean power sf is one of the easiest ways to fight climate change, receiving cleaner energy at low and stable rates, you're helping to support a not for profit that helps influence the energy grid and produce more production. >> i would encourage any business to seriously convert to the clean sf service. it's good for environment, business and the community. >> you can sign up online our call and the great thing is, you'll have the peace of mind that you're doing your part in your household to help the environment. ♪ ♪ -
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>> san francisco is known worldwide for its atmospheric waterfront where spectacular views are by piers and sight and sounds are xhanl changing we come to the here for exercise relax ball games entertainment, recreation market, exhilaration a wide
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variety of contributions easily enjoyed look up the bay the waterfront is boosting for activities boosting over 25 visitors every year the port of san francisco manages 7 may have million dollars of waterfront from hyde street and fisherman's wharf to the cargo terminals and name shoreline the architecture like pier 70 and the ferry building is here for the embarcadero and a national treasure the port also supports 10 different maritime industries alongside with the recreational attractions making san francisco one of the most viable working waterfronts in the world but did you think that our
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waterfront faces serious challenges if earthquake to damage the seawall and the embarcadero roadway rising seawalls will cause flooding at high tides and major repairs to a safe many of the piers the port is at a critically turnl point time to plan for the future of san francisco's waterfront this year the port is updating it's marts plan the plan working group to invite a wide variety of poichdz from the city and bayview and other advisory teams to share their expertise if intense and maritime operations the waterfront land use plan has guided the use and development of the lanes for the last 20 years
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major physical changes take place along the waterfront and now is the time to update the waterfront plan to continue improvements that will keep our waterfront vibrate, public and resilient the biggest challenges facing the waterfront are out the site an aging seawall along the embarcadero roadway and seawalls that will rise by 21 hundred to provide and productivity of tides seawall is built over weak soils and mud the next earthquake will cause it to settle several feet without the urgent repairs that will damage the promenade and other things we've been fortunate over the last hundred years less than one foot of seawall over the next hundred years scientists say we'll have 6 feet of seawall
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rise imagine the pier 30/32 will be floated, the embarcadero will be flooded our transportation system is fog to be heavy impacts unfortunately, the port didn't have the financial resources to repair all the deteriorating piers let alone the adaptations for sea level rise. >> it is clear that the port can't pay for the seawall reinforcement or deal with the sea level rise on its own needs to raise money to take care of the properties at take care of the maintenance on the properties no way absent anti funding the issues of sea level rise or the schematic conditions of seawall can be development. >> as studies talk about the seawall challenges the working group is look at the issues please come share our ideas
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about recreation, pier activities, shoreline habitat, historic preservation and transportation issues and viral protection. >> we know this planning process will not have one question and one answer we need the diversity of the opinions how people feel about san francisco waterfront and want to hear all the opinions. >> the challenges call for big decisions now is the time to explore now and creative ideas to protect and preserve san francisco waterfront. >> now is the time to get involved to help to shape the future of our waterfront. >> we need the debate please come forward and engage in the process. >> this is your waterfront and this is your opportunity to get involved be part of solution help san francisco create the waterfront we want for the
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future. >> this is really to dream big and i think about what our waterfront looked like for all san franciscans today and generations to come. >> get involved with the planning process that will set the fraction for what is coming at the port. >> find for in upgrading dates on the ports website. >> (ship blowing horn in distances) i want to thank everyone for coming here, all of the guests
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and leaders standing behind me. we're here today because history, earthquakes and climate change compel us to protect our city. history. over 100 years ago, the 'em sea wall was built and we're fortunate it lasted this long. it was built at a time when they didn't know how to stabilize against earthquake risk. we know the big one will strike us at some point over the next three decades. and if it does, we'll see flooding along the water front. climate change, despite climate deniers we know that the estimates of sea level rise by the end of the next century are 4-10 feet. we need to fix this sea wall. what is it that we're trying to protect? millions of san franciscans and californians who live work and
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play along the waterfront. we see 24 million tourists visiting our waterfront every year. it's imperative we protect this asset not just for san francisco, but the bay and the california economy. i want to again thank everyone standing behind us, our mayor, board of supervisors. when i was on the board of supervisors, i served on the capital planning committee, where we planned for how we took care of tens of billions of dollars of assets. this is at the top of the list. i want to thank my current colleagues in the legislature. you'll hear from scott wiener. in 2005 they established the financing district we're talking about today. she had drafted the legislation to ensure we're investing in infrastructure as well as historic resources, the bill we're discussing today is to
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ensure we're expanding what it is that we're protecting. protecting our shoreline, ensuring we can rebuild our seawall. before i introduce our next speaker, i want to say two things. we're here in part because we have to come together as a community. you'll hear about the efforts at the local level, as well as at the state level and what we had hoped was going to be the federal level, but despite what donald trump is saying what he is doing about infrastructure, none of us are holding our breath. so san francisco and california need to act. we're here for our kids. and our grandkids. none of us are going to be around when the next century turns. but my hope is my son and his friends and his next generations, will look to this day as a day that our city leaders came together to care for and steward the assets of our city. our next speaker is someone who has children of his own, and i
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know that he cares very much about ensuring that the future of our city is in good hands. i'm delighted to help introduce the mayor of the city and county of san francisco, mayor mark farrell. >> thank you, david. i am proud to be here as the mayor to thank -- [horn honk] i'm going to start off. i want to thank mr. chu along with assembly member ting, but specifically on this issue here. leadership is critical to the future of our city. critical to the future of the waterfront and proud to be here at this announcement today. our waterfront is one of the most iconic parts of san francisco. it always has been. subjects of pictures, it's why tourists come here. it's one of the most beautiful parts of our city.
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and holding up the waterfront is our seawall. these are the buildings, the waterfront, the restaurants, the small businesses, but it's been holding back the bay to make sure that our tunnels are not flooded. holding back the rising tides of our san francisco bay to make sure we can walk along the waterfront in front of us here today. it is critically important to san francisco today and to the future of our city. we need to do everything we can as a city to make sure it survives and it's strong for the next generation. this project is not cheap. i want to really thank elaine for her leadership and the entire port commission for making sure we plan for the future. it is a $5 billion project that we have to plan for. the voters of san francisco will have a bond on the ballot going
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toward this effort. and the bill is going to play a huge start in kick starting the project. and let's be clear, this is about planning for the future of the city. it's about infrastructure and making sure our city is resilient when the next earthquake hits. the next earthquake will hit. it's not a matter of if, but when. we need to be strong and ready to respond and make sure our infrastructure is ready to protect the residents of our city. proud to be here today and really want to thank assembly member chu for his leadership. thank you, everyone. >> thank you, mr. mayor. some 13 years ago in 2005 when they established the legislation to take what were known as public trust lands owned by the state to turn them over to the authority of our port department for stewardship, i want to thank
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elaine and her department and commissioners for bringing this to our attention for so many years. i championed the earthquake safety emergency response bonds. there were two of them over the years. unfortunately, we were not able to the bonds to develop or create the assets to protect what we have here at the port. with that i'd like to bring up elaine forbes to tell us where our seawall infrastructure needs to go. >> thank you so much, assembly member chiu. i'm representing the port staff. we have the port commission president by my side and she'd she's been a steward of the waterfront for 20 years. i can say this is a dream come true day for us. it's remarkable to see the leadership behind me embracing and supporting the need for investment in the waterfront. as our mayor and assembly member has said, this seawall is a work
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horse for the city. so much economic activity. the infrastructure. and there is other things, too, that the seawall does that goes unseen. it's going to be the place of emergency response. we expect people to go out by water in the event of a major earthquake and goods to come in by water. this has to hold up. if we're preparing and preventing disaster, it will be five times less to do so proactively. this represents how we can get this done. how this daunting task of a $5 billion effort will come to fruition because the leaders behind me are making this a priority. we start with the $500 million phase, laying out the improvements for 20-30 years and then tackling the most critical pieces first.
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i want to give a huge thank you to naomi kelly behind me. she pole vaulted this project along with mayor lee by identifying it as a critical piece of infrastructure for the city. so we're so -- port staff, port commission and i are so excited for the day, so thankful for the state leadership for assembly member chu, ting, getting us $250 million for the project, should this be approved, we'll work hard to get it done. we're so thankful the leadership has heard our call and is going to prioritize a safe and vibrant waterfront. thank you so much. >> i'm grateful to my colleagues for representing this effort. phil ting, as well as our next
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speaker, senator scott wiener. >> thank you, david, i want to thank assemblyman chiu for his leadership. when we served on the board of superviso supervisors together, we all care about infrastructure, but david took so much leadership on not just the sexy infrastructure, but on the infrastructure that we depend on but the people don't see. and the seawall is certainly part of that. i want to thank the port. i am really trying to work and support the port's effort to move this bond to the ballot. i want to thank elaine, my neighbor, and the entire port staff for its leadership on this critical issue. this is really about two realities of life. sea level rise and earthquakes. and as much as we want to wish them all away, we can't. the big earthquake is going to
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come and unless we take radical, radical action today around reducing carbon emissions and fighting climate change, we're going to continue to see sea level rise. and sadly because of the disaster known as washington d.c., there is no bold action happeni happeni federally to address climate change, and we're doing what we can but this is a national problem we have to resolve. we're going to continue to see significant sea level rise. our downtown is so at risk of inundation, we're doing what we can to reduce carbon emissions. doing what we income the bay area. just a year ago we passed a tax to start restoring the wetlands destroyed in the bay area 150 years ago, because that will help us to mitigate sea level
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rise. but with everything we're doing, we have to have the seawall. it has to be intact, has to be able to with stand an earthquake and be able to protect us from the bay. we love the bay, but the bay is going to cause us problems when it floods the muni subway tunnel and downtown areas. we need to get this bill passed. this is just one step. we need the bond. we need this bill and a lot more work to fund this project. i look forward to collaborating to get it done. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, senator wiener for reminding us we're putting the sexy back into infrastructure. i want to thank everyone for coming together. i want to invite the next speaker, someone who has been a champion for infrastructure in our city, supervisor london breed. >> thank you, everyone for being
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here today. you know, it's easy to talk to residents of san francisco about the need for more housing. the need to address challenges with public safety and homelessness and things we can see. what is harder is trying to help people to understand the significance of the things that we can't see. the infrastructure needs that hold our city together. we know the consequences when we don't do what is necessary to protect our infrastructure. we only look at new orleans and what happened with the levies and how that devastated that particular city. and so we in san francisco, we must be proactive, we must take these kind of bold moves and creative solutions. i want to thank assembly member david chiu for finding a very creative way to help us pay for it. i want to thank the voters in advance, because this fall, we're going to have a ballot
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measure that is going to help with $350 million to help in this effort. we know that there is so much work to do in san francisco. and as the president of the board who now serves on the unknown capital planning committee, the needs of our infrastructure are at the top of my list on a regular basis. i want to thank not only noemie kelly, but also elaine forbes. she would reach out and say, supervisor, i want to meet with you about the seawall, i say, wait a minute, i have to work with this challenge. she always brings it back to how important it is not just to protect my district, but to protect the entire city. her leadership along with port commissioner president kimberley
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brandon that been outstanding. they've been in sacramento, in d.c., they've been all over the place trying to put together the money for this particular seawall and i know with their leadership and the work of all the policy behind me, we're going to get this done for the people of san francisco. thank you so much. >> thank you, president breed. our final speaker is someone who represents the district we're currently in who knows that it is her residence and businesses that could be flooded if we do not invest in the infrastructure. please join me in welcoming supervisor kim. >> thank you, assembly member chiu. as someone who represented your sister district when we both served on the board of supervisors, we understand the importance of strengthening our seawall, shield that prerkts our residents and workers and many of the tourist attractions up and down the waterfront. mayor mark farrell, myself,
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supervisor cohen and peskin represent the districts that are along the boundary lines of the seawall lot that we're here about. so much of what we love about our city is just along the waterfront, our housing, offices, jobs, transportation, the giants who i see in the audience today. it is important to make prudent investments today to strengthen the seawall shield and strengthen the unbreakable bond between the city of san francisco and the waterfront we love so much. i want to thank our san francisco delegation in sacramento, for making sure we're prioritizing the very infrastructure that will keep the city beautiful and running, thank you very much. [applause] >> that concludes today's press conference. again, appreciate everyone coming together around a plan to protect the future of our city and our seawall.
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any final questions? we will end the press conference and open it up to folks to ask individual questions. thank you very much. >> ok, i'm going to hop around like this, it is cold in here. that's dirt.
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this is a ground breaking. there is a big banner and if you've been involved in the project, you know that the banner has been up for a long time. it says the future of the neighborhood starts here. at long, long, long, long, long last, the future of the neighborhood starts here. applause line. [applause] 116 years after this building opened, 116 years. we are on the precipice of just an amazing transformation of this space. commissioner, can you -- this is just recent history back in the day when, i don't know what we were doing here, but trying to keep the thing still standing. so that in i think it was 2002
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or 2003, mayor brown and then recreation and park general manager, elizabeth goldstein and i'm not who was running mta at the time -- dan? michael burns. so we were able to transform -- well, this property was given to the recreation and park department and, boy, were we happy to get it, sort of. [laughter]. it's what i would call a fixer upper. and it has taken the last 16 or 17 years of sweat and desire and push and pull and push and pull. and leadership, which you're going to hear from today. and community leadership to get to where we are today. this really genuinely is the
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little project that could. and so here we are, it's just a joyous moment. mark buell, who is not here today. here's our mayor, but i meant to go over here to the commissioner. mark buell is president of the rec and park commission, and says it takes a village. this takes an entire city to pull this project off. and there are so many people to acknowledge and thank. i'm going to that and then turn the microphone over to our mayor. there are a lot of people who have had some skin in the game here. let me read off the beginning of a list. obviously, let's start with the late mayor ed lee. who was here for -- [applause] our current mayor mark farrell who has been a park champion from the get go and helped make
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stuff happen. representing assemblyman phil ting. he delivered a total of $6.5 million of state funding, including $3.5 million for this project. our recreation and park vice president allan lowe, who has given this project all kinds of leadership at city hall. we have representatives from the performing arts workshop here today. the community arts stabilization trust. you're going to hear from them. todd. joachim and amy, thank you, thank you, thank you. equity community builders who did the financing and historic preservation financing. officially the most complicated project in recreation and park department history. it makes the soccer fields seem
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like a cake walk. the san francisco community investment fund, sf, todd wearing two hats there, for the new market credit financing. darling design. former district 11 supervisor john ablows. let's give him a round of applause. your district 11 supervisor, safai. the head of the arts commission, tom dekaty. department of public works, rob bot construction. i don't know if she's here, but our city attorney, she earned whatever she billed to this project, which was a lot, adira
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tailor. and two special people that i want to take an extra second to thank. there is a lot of other names i'm going to fill in over time. i want to thank two members of my own team. reama. and then nicole. come here, step up. this woman right here. [applause] she started this project -- where is dan weaver -- working for friends of the geneva car barn. i stole her which made them -- you guys very upset. but you know, sometimes you can bang on the door from the outside and it takes somebody with nicole's talent to make it happen from the inside. this project does not happen without nicole abele. more thank yous to come, but let
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me turn over the microphone. the guy behind me has been all over the city, parks, parks, parks, there is other stuff to do, but all he cares about is parks, parks, parks, parks. mayor mark farrell. >> i think phil took care of the thanks, but let's give a round for phil ginsburg, our general manager. thank you, phil. and to the entire rec and park staff, thank you for all the work you've done on the project. to assembly member phil ting, i know we're here in large part because of his efforts and want to thank supervisor safai. this was something he talked about when he was running for office. we talked about it in the board of supervisors. such an amazing advocate for the
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neighborhood. it was about 5-6 years ago that as a district 2 supervisor, weaver came to our office enough that we came here and went on a tour of this place a number of years ago. and so this has been an issue and project that because of the advocacy of so many of you has been in the forefront of peoples' minds. who here is a neighbor? give yourself a round of applause. this is grassroots, built from the neighborhood, with a lot of support. but to cass and all the people making this work. i want to say thank you for everything you've done to get us to where we are. i'm curious about what is buried under the ground, looks suspicious to me. but this is phase one. advocacy does not stop in terms of the entire project, but thank you all for the work you've done, the leadership behind me. but really for the neighbors.
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and you know, continue to make sure that everybody knew this was a priority for you and what this will do for the neighborhood for years and generations to come is incredibly exciting. proud to be here today. thank you, everyone. [applause] >> so before i bring up the next speaker, i also want to give a big shoutout to beth ruebenstein who has supported this project wearing a variety of hats. thank you, beth. so, this project has benefitted from the great leadership of two district 11 supervisors, but i am very, very proud to bring up the current district 11 supervisor, whom frankly we could not have asked for more from. he's helped power up our balboa park pool, scored funding for a dog play area, he just joined us last week at the opening of the geneva community garden down the
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street. which is amazing. he participated in the planning and design conversation to make the playground better. he was there to celebrate the bike project. this guy really fights for district 11 communities and parks and green space. ladies and gentlemen, supervisor safai. >> all right. i'm going to take a minute to give a little bit of history. when i first was involved in this project, it went back to the geneva car barn, that's what we called it at the time, with marion harris, dan weaver, some of the folks and we met for hours and hours and hours. and every time we'd have an opportunity -- and steve courier -- and every time we had an opportunity, and sharon, i
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know i'm going to forget someone, linda, linda lighthizer who won't height lighthizer back then. and she would say you don't want to get involved, you do want to get involved, you don't want to. but every opportunity dan weaver had, no matter who was in the mayor's office or the general manager was, he said i want to bring folks down to the car barn and we have to do a tour. and we have this amazing asset and resource in our community. it's one of only two historic buildings in our district. balboa high school and the car barn. because of the tenacity of that man and all the people i named and folks in the community, we're standing here now with phase onefully funded. let's give it up for phase one!
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[applause] and then we had an angel investor from the state assembly who knows his assembly district very well. and as he said, he was the parks champion of 2017. and that was assemblyman phil ting who came in with $3 million. and our former supervisor who was able to go through the outside of the budget process and push really hard and got the attention of his colleagues on the board, and with the tenacity of beth ruebenstein and we got an add back for this. take the advocacy of dan weaver, assemblyman phil tinge and then the leadership of the wonderful parks and rec manager, phil ginsburg. and phil pulled it all together. i can tell you my first week in office, i was standing there and i met tom and he said the people that you need that is going help
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bring this project to whole and bring it to fruition is cass. and i was like, what do you mean, what is cass? i've never heard of it? there you are tom. and we engaged them. phil is not exaggerating. the amount of time and effort and energy with the tax credit and the new market tax credit and the historic tax credit and all that to be said, the financing and the layers that go into this project are tremendous. so rheem, nicole, phil ginsburg. he took this on as a baby. one of his projects that he has a lot of children, but he was not going to let this go until we got it done. and the wonderful city attorney taylor and all of them got together and were able to bring this to fruition. now, cass is charged with helping lead the effort for phase two, so we're excited
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about having them involved. excited to have moism, steve oliver and their entire team. this is not just a building. this is a place where we believe it will be the premiere performing arts facility in the entire city and county of san francisco. [applause] so performing arts workshop is going to work with all of the different people in the arts community. and i want to recognize a special guest, david, from the conservatory of music. he's standing in the back. they have committed to be an initial partner here working with the performing arts workshop. and that is also as a result of reverend brown's leadership. so david, give a wave back there. thank you for coming out today. [applause] conservatory of music is going to be a big part of this, along
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with performing arts workshop. we're so happy that district 11 is no longer treated like the forgotten part of san francisco, but a rising tiger in the city. and thank you to our mayor for supporting us. [applause] >> a couple of other quick shout outs as i see people in the room. equity community builders, john clawson in the back, here's the genius of the tax credits. and then john is pointing at his colleague, kim nash. kim, john, thank you very much. supervisor safai used the word tenacious to describe dan.
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i'm going to describe another, that is amy cohn who helped to make this project happen. i got to introduce rheem and nicole, but i see kara and koch who helped to run the capital program that is responsible for building these amazing parts. we talked about assemblyman ting who couldn't be here today, parks mvp of 2017, so accepting the award on behalf of assemblyman ting is his aid alex walker! >> thank you, phil. good morning, everyone. it's great seeing so many friends and neighbors here today. my name is alex water, here on behalf of phil ting. i want to say myself personally, i've been a neighbor of the project, at mission terrace, i've been a neighbor here 7 and a half years and it makes me so
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proud to see this coming to fruition. i know we had a lot of people to thank, because so many people with the hands in our project. i want to recognize the surrounding community leaders. al harris here from the omi and thinking about all of the children and the people this is going to serve, i see joel from the outer mission merchants and residents association. i see mel from the excelsior district. and you know, we're also going to be seeing across the street, housing built by mission housing. so it's great to see a transit hub building here. as mentioned earlier, we were proud to get $3.5 million in the budget to help get the first
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phase started. on his behalf i want to say thank you. one more shoutout, i see genesis is here, from david chiu's office. and a connection with david chiu's office, a shoutout to judson, who is the chief of staff, but used to work for sandoval and it goes all the way back. so it's so great to see years and years of work by dan weaver, so many people come to fruition. we were so proud to get a little bit of money to get things kick started, so happy to see the process. thank you for having me, thanks to phil, the commission, the supervisor and the mayor, great to be here today. can't wait to see the first phase when it opens up. thank you, all. >> thank you, alex, a couple more shoutouts from the design
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here is what takes your breath away. from darling design, we have josh, able and nicole here. can you raise your hands? thank you, josh. and by the way, the design, much of it it was in-kind contribution to the project which makes it even more special. thank you, josh. and alex mentioned mission housing across the street. sam moss is here? sam is not here. never mind that. i was told sam was here. moving along, so i have lots and lots of bosses. last count 890,000, but within that, i have this boss and then i have seven bosses on the recreation and park commission. i also have 11 on the board of supervisors and lots of others. but the -- it is really a pleasure to work with the rec
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and park commission. they are the people's voice and that's a really important thing in parks. but there is very much a shared mission of trying to steward what is the best park system in the united states of america. and it is a great joy to work with the vice president of the commission who blocks and cheers for parks like the best of them. my pleasure to bring up allan lowe. >> thanks, phil. just wanted to tell you this morning i was sitting on my kitchen room table trying to think of something inspirational, motivational about patience and waiting. and i just said screw it, let's just build it. speaking of patience and waiting, i really want to acknowledge dan weaver and the friends of the geneva car barn.
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that was a long community advocacy. it's gone longer than my marriage and louder than my wife. glad to have this happen. i want to acknowledge all the civic leaders, in particular the late mayor ed lee, who really wanted to put this into execution. and the mayor's office and their staff. joachim, when i first joined the commission told me about the geneva car barn and i said, i don't know where that is. i want to thank the tax credit investors, the financing to make this possible. a big shutout to the department staff who pulled this together. our general manager who held our hand and explained to us what -- inside tax credit investor joke.
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but thank you. rec and park, we have the saying let's get out and play. when this opens up, i think we're going to have to change that to go to the power house and create. thank you. [applause] >> all right. so, the city folks have done their thing. now we're going to transition to community past, present and future. so i'm first going to bring up the chief on the project, tenacious, but dan, it is truly an honor given the length of the journey to invite you to speak. you all know him, ladies and gentlemen, dan weaver. [applause]
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>> thanks, everybody. i'm just the face of a board that has been from the beginning together with us and we've been working and moving and dealing with whatever happens. by order of a rival here, al harris. [applause] if i say your name, would you raise your hand if you're back there still? alex? over here? neil ballard. tom? over here. mel flores. sharon evet.