new business? item a. requesting authorization to modify the exiting grand agreement with institute on aging for the provision of increasing the center for elderly suicide prevention and grovgrief-related services for programs capacity. during the period of july 12,018th through june 302,019th for $180,000, for a new grand amount of 485,273, plus a 10% contingency for a new total amount not to exceed $533,800, welcome. >> good afternoon. president, commissioners and director mcspadden. i am program annalist. today where here to seek your approval for a modification to i.o.a.s, center for elderly suicide prevention as known as the cesp program.

the cesp program provides 24/7 crisis support to older adults and adults with disabilities. out calls that increase social connectiveness for isolated individuals. as well as grief support groups, grief counseling sessions and outreach and education for caregivers, and provencials related to topics on suicide risk, assessment and suicide prevention. the program has seen a increase in its demand for services over the past three years. additionally, the community education and training sessions it provides. during that time, the program has provided more than 2,000 individual grief counseling sessions, provided trainin traid outreach to 3,900 individuals and served 5,000 residents in san francisco. in addition to the increase call volume, cesp has seen a shift in the types of calls it receives.

callers are presenting with more complex emotional issues, including showing initial signs of mental health issues, as evidence by exhibiting symptoms such as delusional thoughts, paranoia, anxiety and depression. it could be relighted to increase in promotion and awareness of the program services through insurance companies, clinics and other community providers. to manage and properly serve clients in the community need, csp is looking to increase services, which includes increases in staffing, as follows with proposed contract modifications. the program will use additional funding to help pay for five friendship line councillors, part of their role is to support and manage the volunteer staff. the program will be using funds to cover the cost associated with training the volunteers. which is a corner stone of the cesp program. last fiscal year, they had 176

volunteers come through the program. costs with training volunteers include background checks, putting together and producing materials for a training binder that every volunteer receives. in addition to providing lunch for the all-day training sessions they have for volunteers throughout the year. the program will use funds to pay for the overnight supervisor of the friendship line. this is a 24 hour crisis line so the crisis line is operative for 15 hours a day during normal business hours and in the evening hours there's a volunteer each night that staffs the phone line for crisis calls that come in. additionally, the program will be increasing service units to increase the call volume and need for program services in the following catagories. i'm going to speak to the service unit increase that's will happen. first, the unduplicated client will increase from 850 to 1200

per contract year. the hours for grief education. we're talking hours not individuals. the hours for grief education, training and community outreach will increase from 25 hours per contract year to 50 contract hours per year. the number of participants who are provided grief education and training will increase from 500 per contract year to 725 per contract year. the number of unduplicated consumers provided formally motional support increasing from 125 consumer a year to 150 per contract year. and finally, the number of individual grief counseling sessions will increase from 50 per contract year to 150 per contract year. thank you for your time and i'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> thank you, very much, mike. any comments or questions from the commission? commissioner lou. >> what is the patten for this

program? in san francisco we have different ethnic groups. do they have bilingual people in different languages? >> that's a great question. right now services are provided in english and spanish. i.o.a.cesp program looks to engage diverse communities within san francisco to get individuals to come in that speak multiple languages. there's active involvement when they're out doing their training education and their promotion to seek out bilingual individuals to help with the program. at times, we're able to get more people. there's a low. they did have chinese-speaking capacity with some of the volunteers later in the last fiscal year. those people have since moved on and now they're actively looking to recruit more volunteers from the chinese community. >> we have a large asian population in the city. i thought, you know, maybe with

all the staff at least they could be actively recruiting bilingual-asian and volunteers just are volunteers. >> correct, yes, my understanding is they are actively pursuing that and it's part of the interview process to find out if they have bilingual capacity. chinese and spanish and the targeted languages in san francisco. >> when they do the educational to the community and other agencies, do they have bilingual materials? do you know? >> to my knowledge they don't have bilingual materials at this time. >> will you be encouraging them to have bilingual materials, because, you know, we a diverse community in the city of san francisco. >> it's a point that's very well made and i agree and part of my on going conversation with leadership and cesp is diverse

staffing and looking into getting materials translated as appropriate into alternate languages. >> one last question. and i just feel very uncomfortable about the increase of the rent on the last page. it's jumps from $9,856 to $19,445. i mean, i know that -- i brought this question up in the past. it's like a base on the number of the staff. but it really -- i just feel uncomfortable about only having four additional staff and a little increase of other staff and yet the rent has gone up so much. i'm a program person. i just felt like if we have less to reduce the operating costs,

we will be more beneficial to have the program. >> sure. >> john. good afternoon. contracts director for h.s.a. we'll see this a lot more with the increases in rent. i'm sure the commission understand the non profits are struggling with the cost to rent. it drives a lot of the non profits out of the city. out of city government, there's a program to help support non profits to stay in the city. so having said that, when we review the contracts as they come in from the program and we present them to the commission, we look at line items and try to see if they're within a reasonable cost. and so, a lot of times with non profits they own the property so there's zero rent. in the old days, if you were to break it down per f.t.e. it

might be 200 or 300 per person per month. on this i think it's 5.6 and it comes around 430 -- it us didmendoesn'ttake into account . nowadays square foot for office is $76 per square foot. this is actually -- where we're seeing the increase is. some of the stuff for some of the programs we're seeing $900 per person per month and this false in the $430. it's a big jump but i think it's a reflection of cost to rent, office rent in the city. it is one thing, i think an easy rule of thumb is to take it and divide it into the rent and try to factor in if there's additional space that that program uses. >> institute on aging have their

own buildings so they have no threat of increasing rent. isn't that right? >> i.o.a. is here. you can talk to them? >> it's their own building. >> my name is car -- >> speak into the mic. >> i'm the senior director of behavior health. i oversee the friendship program. this is mia greg the director of the friendship line. i.o.a. owns the building. >> may i ask a question. it's my understanding that some of the programs of i.o.a. have been utilized at a building owned by cpmc that they lost that lease and so they're actively looking for office space.

i'm wondering if this is part of that issue? >> i don't know that i'm qualified to provide the answer to that question. i don't know whether or not that is what would contribute to this. that is true, we have lost space and we're seeking out additional space for our programs. >> ok. >> we're not sure if this program represents incremental, actual incremental cost in terms of rent or a riel occasion of existing rent. we don't have the answer to that, is that right? >> so our rent is based on a standard equation used across all programs in the organization. it's based on, as was said, f.t.e. and square footage and so, our program is quite large. we have over 100 volunteers at any given time. we actually have a fair amount of square footage within our building. the rent that was presented is based on adding those f.t.e. in

a larger space. previous personnel allocated were generally in much smaller office spaces sharing -- you know, two desks within a space that was previously for one person. you are seeing an expansion because it's in a larger space. >> and again, even if the premises are owned, there are expenses associated with rental property, they would have to be allocated out. this program, is it taking place in owned premises or in leased premises? >> owned premises. >> owned premises. so this represents an allocation to in theory, the costs are fixed so another program would be getting less of an allocation, which mayor may not be a program we'rmay -- may orme funding.

>> one thing that sometimes i think for non profits in the budget, there are costs that are associated that are treated as rent that are not rent. there's ways to capture through depreciation and other items. i think we'll have to look at this budget item and categorize it in terms of how it's charged and determine what costs come under it. >> what might be helpful in the future for issues like this, is if we might told whether this is actually an incremental expense to the agency or rie re allocatn of existing expense. any other comments or questions? >> i just want to thank you for the presentations but also on the challenges non profits face. my organization convenes the c.e.o.s of the 15 major faith-based non profits, which,

during the great recession, were being asked to cut their budgets by 30% and the programs and staff were disappearing. they were never fully reinstated and with the housing affordability crisis and the real estate affordability crisis, so many of them were displaced. and so, they are struggling. they continue to struggle. the issue of retaining and attracting staff is an equal struggle. i just wanted to thank you for highlighting that. i would also ask, with the question of language -- [ please stand by ]

>> i don't have the latest numbers off the top of my head. i can get those for you. there has been an increasing age 50 and above the. we can get those to you off-line eric and the other part of this is a communities are more aware of the friendship line than they were in previous years. there is a more common resource that may be four or five years ago. now there is a combination of statistics of suicide rates of for seniors increasing, and then locally, more communities, more providers out there and referring clients to it. it is a combination of both. i will get you those numbers so you have them for reference. >> president serina: don't go to a great deal of trouble, it is just something to monitor. because if the need is increasing as well as the awareness, then we may want to look at this again. thank you. any other comments or questions?

called the question. all in favor? >> we actually have to wait for commissioner loo to return. >> president serina: thank you. [laughter] >> you don't have a soft shoe act? >> president serina: i do. but i did not bring it. music art -- [laughter] >> may i ask a more -- more questions about the friendship line in general? with this modification and the questions that have proceeded, with this modification helped me to demand -- do we have the capacity of volunteers and resources to meet the perceived demand that is out there clearly does this get us there? >> that is a great question as well. the program for program file for the last three years has physically seen the increasing services needed. they are monitoring visits. they have met or exceeded their

service units. the areas where we are seeing increases is based on the fact that there are more people in need and more people calling in and more people wanting the outreach. the big indicator could be the tripling of the grief counselling sessions. i mean, that is huge. that is the in person or group sessions. entered -- individual. you know, when i was reviewing the service unit increase, that is one that stuck with me the most. the individual need for support around loss and grief. >> president serina: out of curiosity, are there care for the caregiver programs we for folks who are injuring secondary trauma. >> right. there is a component of that in the program with the grief and loss groups. sometimes people call in who have lost somebody and maybe

they're not exactly suicidal, but they are going through a major life trauma and to the friendship line has the capacity to field the call and get them appropriate services, whether it is with this program or something else. >> my question was more towards a volunteers who are on the line or the staffing. is there some support for five them? >> that's a great question. the friendship line counsellors that are now staffed, there is someone there for every hour of the day picked a 15 hour shift is supervised by the friendship line counsellors. they are there for for the volunteers if they have any questions. if an unexpected call comes in that they need assistance with, yeah. >> president serina: thank you. any other comments or questions? all in favor? any opposed degree thank you. the motion carries. item b. requesting authorization to

enter into a new grant with trans- metro for at the provision to provide transportation services for office of the public conservator and adult protective services during the period of september first 2018, through june 30th, 2021 in the total amount, not to exceed $80,000. welcome, sandra. >> good afternoon president and commissioners and executive director. i am the program manager at the public conservator office. in the regular function of the public conservator office and the adult protective services program, we often need transportation services to serve clients who have very high levels of need. through the use of this contract, will be able to provide this service to those linked to these programs. the public conservator uses a service approximately 5-6 times a month, typically to transport clients between varying levels of care to attend legal

proceedings, and/or medical appointments. the adult protective services context, transportation is used to assist clients to meet with legal services providers, attend medical appointments and/or to obtain benefits. commissioners, i seek your approval for this contract. thank you for for the consideration and i am happy to answer any questions you may have. >> president serina: thank you. any comments or questions? >> i did have one quick question. so the staff for trans- metro will provide couriers to vulnerable clients. whether it be mental illness, physical fair teat -- failed to, welt -- wheelchair device mobility, et cetera, are they also et cetera, are they also trained in cultural competency, lgbtq awareness, different language considerations as well? >> that's a really good question. i believe that came up in one of the discussions, but i defer to the contracts manager to verify. >> president serina: thank

you. any other comments or questions? commissioner loo? >> president serina: we have not asked for public comment. >> good afternoon. and the project manager. although those are very good traits and skill sets that was not part of the original association we had. however, that is something that if we need to incorporate as part of the dissociation going forward, we certainly would like to take that into consideration. >> sure. >> president serina: commissioner into consideration. >> sure. >> president serina: commissioner loo? >> vice president loo: this is a new contract, ok. how many people bid for this contract? how many agencies? >> two. >> vice president loo: how many? >> two. >> vice president loo: so they were selected. i have a question. this is a new program. how would the client be -- before this, how was this handled in transporting the client's?

>> through our previous contractor. this is a new contract for for us. we had a previous provider. >> vice president loo: oh, oh, k. how many clients are we talking about? >> we use the service about 5-6 times a month. our unit caseload is about 550 people. it is not often. >> vice president loo: ok. i just looked at the budget. it seems like its a little bit high. eighty-five dollars an hour. i don't know. i do not have any money to take this. [laughter] i am just wondering, is $85 an hour, and is a minimum of 44 hours per trip. am i correct? >> that is correct. >> vice president loo: and also the attendant care is 49 dollars and 50 cents an hour. isn't that expensive?

it is a question. i don't know. i know that some of the residents in my facility, they use attendant care and it is $25 an hour. and this is 4950. i am just trying to ask the question. isn't that a bit high? >> on the contract director with hsa. people are coming out of mental health facilities and are being transported from the hospital to a program or back. it is not like a normal transportation where you are just going in there. it is the rare circumstance when you have to bring in someone under that type of situation so they can move from a facility to a home where they will live for back. so there is higher liability. >> president serina: commissioner pappas?

>> commissioner pappas: typically services are provided by the driver themselves. if there are places where the park and accessibility, or if there is no parking where an attendant has to assist in this location to the actual permit itself, or have special needs, that is where the separate attendant is added. it is not a standard addition to the hour, plus the attendant. the attendant is optional. >> vice president loo: are you telling me that may be also the attendant has some special training create they are not the regular attendant that does housework? >> that is my understanding. it is also more so with the manpower and the actual assistance available. >> vice president loo: thank you. >> president serina: what kind of vehicle do they use? do they have their own vehicle? does they have their own vehicle? >> yes, they do. they have their yard right across by 15th and scent

bernardo avenue. right by ups by the freeway. >> president serina: ok. thank you. any other comments or questions? 's. >> commissioner wallenberg: i did have one other question. services will be requested by e-mail. i would assume that there is a provision if there is a crisis situation when somebody needs to be reached faster, that it would be by phone or through other means of communication. is that correct? >> that is correct. we discussed that in the event there is something more urgent, they would be willing to help us. they have a rather large fleet's. >> commissioner wallenberg: thanks. >> president serina: thank you. any other comments or questions? and eat from the public? hearing none, called the question. all in favor? every commissioner should say yes. thank you. any opposed. thank you. the motion carries. thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> president serina: any general public comment or any announcements. >> clerk: commissioner, we have to vote on a. did weekly. >> president serina: we did. we voted on both. a and b. >> clerk: my apologies. >> president serina: >> president serina: any announcements. patty? >> good afternoon commissioners and deputy director. i wanted to announce the health and wellness affair that is coming up september 15th. it is a saturday. from 11-two i put out flyers for all of you at a put flyers out off i guess here that are in chinese, spanish and english. it is something we have been working at really hard to. we are happy to say the event is growing and we have five community business sponsors this year. we have an amazing raffle. three vaccinations vaccinations, blood pressure checks, dental screening, and it is a family affair. it is fun for all. you are welcome to come join us. we invite you and we want to get

the word out. we will be sending out electronically all over the city too. >> president serina: thank you eric any other announcements? any other public comment? do we have a motion to adjourn? >> vice president loo: so move. >> a second. >> president serina: all in favor? by rising vote, we have adjourned. [♪]

>> good morning. good morning! all right. i am mohammed nuru. i serve as a city's director of public works. and the chairman of the transbay joint powers authority board of directors. on behalf of our board, i want to welcome you to the salesforce transit centre and the salesforce park. i will also be introducing you today to our masters of ceremony. the former mayor, willie brown, in a few moments to begin the program. before that, i want to start by personally thanking all of you for coming. you have been waiting for this day for a long time. you all received a commemorative pin and that is our official

opening date. august 11th, 2018. that is eight years to the date of the actual groundbreaking for the center. four years ago, i had the honor of being appointed to the tjpa board by mayor ed lee. i have watched this project, weather at challenging times and come together and exceed our expectations. the salesforce transit centre is the true regional partnership designed to help bay area commuters get to and from their destinations. it also will become a destination all over town with beautiful gardens, and out court -- outdoor amphitheater, public arts, and the children's play area. in the future, there will be cafés, and great places to shop. the center mean so much to our

city. a mean so much to our economy. the south of market neighborho neighborhood, and the future of transit. at this time, i would like to take a moment to introduce and welcome my fellow board members. jeff key is that by -- vice chair, james davis, greg hopper, supervisor jane kim, boris linkedin, ed risk in, nadia's essay, bruce r. instead, lisa ortiz, to me chan chan and former board member from transit. [applause] >> also i would like to give a shout out to the project team which was guided by the tjpa and ron alameda from public works as well as all the staff from all

the various agencies who worked on this project. let's give them a round of applause. [cheers and applause] >> this project, as many of you no kak has serious financial and schedule challenges that required a deep design or construction experience-based leadership approach. the creation of the salesforce transit centre provided san franciscans with thousands of new permanent jobs and tens of thousands of union jobs. in fact, between workers and materials, nearly every single state in the united states contributed to this project in some way. more than 5 million -- [applause] >> more than 5 million work hours where we logged for this center and we exceeded our city's a local hiring requirement. how about another applause for that. [applause]

>> we have a great program at hedge. before we get started, i would like to take a moment to acknowledge the late mayor, ed lee. mayor ed lee was instrumental in making sure that we would be sitting here today. he made sure that the transit centre was delivered in a physically responsible way and that it would be topped with a beautiful public park. he always shied away from taking credit because he just wanted to get the job done. but today, let us say thank you to mayor ed lee. [applause] >> now it is my great pleasure to introduce our mc, former san francisco mayor, willie brown. [applause] >> mayor -- mayer brown

supported the demolition of the old seismically unsafe transbay terminal to make way for where we are standing today. he saw a promise of a new neighborhood, he saw the promise of affordable housing, and economic opportunities for projects like this would create or our city and our region. quite simply, without him, the transit centre would not have been possible. let us welcome our mc, former mayor, willie brown. [applause] >> thank you very much for the very kind introduction. you will be introduced and presented to a whole lot of folks who are here who have something to do with the center. but none more probably than the two people in the halls of the legislature. one, a member of the assembly

and one of the senate to, at the time, that was needed to get the state on the right plan page for the center. i am speaking of course, of john l burton. where are you? and nancy skinner. [applause] >> john is somewhere. i thought he was, anyway. of course, there would be be no possibility without the consistency in the mayor's office provided by none other than the man who is going to be governor and will be called upon to finish financing. [laughter] >> every aspect of what is not yet paid for. [laughter] >> of course, i am talking about

gavin newsom. [applause] >> the next lieutenant governor. there will be some other people who we will run into as time rolls on. let me tell you, in the process, some of them will be making remarks. as they make the remarks, i will occasionally drop by. i want to get all of the business parts here. in my new role in life now, i do not offend anybody. [laughter] >> under any circumstances. it is better that way, for me and for them and for my clients. [laughter] >> so we will proceed in the proper order. i didn't go through the briefing. they had a flow of program briefing. and i was kept so busy visiting that i want to apologize to the people who plan to this event because i am winging it all the way.

and in the process of winging it, i know exactly how this program should start. this program should start with none other than the 45th mayor of san francisco, the second woman ever to be the mayor of the city, and the second african-american to be mayor of the city. but none of those things qualify her as much as her interest in every aspect of the quality of life for everybody in this city, regardless of their station in life and early on, she helped orchestrate the process by which resources were made available so that, in fact, as this fabulous centre would be a real reality. ladies and gentlemen, the mayor of the city and county of san francisco, my friend, london read. [cheers and applause] -- london breed.

>> mayor breed: good morning everyone. welcome to the salesforce transit centre. at this place is absolutely beautiful. as a youngster, i used to come to the old place and i don't know if any of you are old enough to remember what it looked like, but it was a dark and dreary place. one that we try to avoid, or at least we went running to meet to get the greyhound bus faster than we would have liked to. this is an incredible accomplishment. not just for san francisco, but for the entire region. the entire state of california. this represents san francisco at our best. it reflects our commitment to innovation, to transportation, environmental sustainability, adds community development. it also shows what we can accomplish when we work collaboratively, together. this project could have not happened without our regional

state and federal partners, many of them who are here with us today. the salesforce center will make transit a seamless, easy, convenient and a very pleasant experience. i just walked across a beautiful bridge, that starting sunday, will bring people directly from the bay bridge into the heart of san francisco. it is critical that we build our infrastructure, our transportation infrastructure, not just for what we are going to do today, but for how we are going to grow in the future. our city is growing with jobs and people, adds we need to do a better job of moving everyone around through this region. this transit centre will do just that. the transit center goes far beyond a transportation hub. it is a thriving place of economic activity. it helps with critical housing

needs and it creates new open space while also protecting the environment. this project as a catalyst for providing much needed affordable housing. over 3,000 homes, and 41% of those homes will be affordable. i am confident that this spectacular centre will quickly become a worldwide destination with its beautiful public art, beautiful rooftop parks, with free events, activities, shopping and dining, i do not blame us if you missed your bus. because you are so distracted by everything that is going on around you. i want to take this opportunity to thank so many incredible people who made this possible. of course, our extraordinary leader, nancy pelosi who is fighting the good fight. [applause] >> mayor breed: in washington d.c.. she has not only been a fierce

advocate for this project, but she continues to fight for all the needs of our city and our region. i want to thank the transbay joint powers authority under the leadership of mohammed nuru. our assembly members david hsu and phil tang, are state senat senator, and also members of the board of supervisors who are here today. you will be hearing later from supervisor jane at kim who represents this district, as well as my, well, i was gorgeous a colleague, but new supervisors, vallie brown and raphael madeleine, as well is our city attorney who is here today and our sheriff. thank you all so much to the numerous departments. all the workers. all of the people that made this project possible. what an extraordinary and beautiful place and what an

amazing representation of san francisco at its best. i am looking forward to seeing this place packed with people, with kids, with activity and vibrancy. make sure that you don't miss your bus. thank you. [applause] >> at each stage of the decision-making process involved in this project, legal representation was more than important. it was totally and completely necessary in the decisions that had to be made quickly. no one provided better skill and guidance in that regard then our own city attorney who is here in the front row. [cheers and applause] >> on many of those calls, they ended up being received in washington by none other than the congressional representative

from this particular part of our city. from day one, my administration, she always told her colleagues, anywhere there is dirt to be turned, we ought to finance it if it means something for the benefit of the people. that reflected itself at each stage. i don't think there is been any single project in san francisco affecting this region that didn't always have federal assistance provided by and directed by and engineered by none other than the next speaker of the house. nancy pelosi. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, willie brown. and he said that about any project where there is dirt to

be turned is true. i would say to him if the community is together and there is consensus on a project, i can sell it in washington by saying, there is agreement. if we provide the money for san francisco, dirt will fly. [laughter] >> thank you, willie brown. it is an honor to be here with you and to see that this venue had to replace something that was even dangerous to the public good. thank you for your leadership in so many ways. it is visionary, for our city, both as our mayor and the speaker for so many years. i join you in recognizing assemblywoman skinner and john. john where is john? john burton for their leadership in getting us to this place and mayor breed. congratulations on the work you did as a supervisor and president of the board. but what you will be doing as mayor of san francisco, because

we have more to do. especially with this project. it is wonderful to be here with so many members of the official family of san francisco in terms of the mayor, members of the board, the city attorney, they have been acknowledged as well as our members from the state legislature. david hsu, phil tang and as well as supervisor jane kim who is with us here. this is a representation of what can happen when people work together. public, private, nonprofit. community. the word community has the word unity and it. if there is anything that demonstrates the unity of our community, the work of our skilled building trade workers to make this possible, let us applaud our union members who made all of this possible. [applause]

>> when you see and when you tour, you will see the beauty that our artists at their architects made here. so typical of san francisco. san francisco is the city that knows how. mohammed, thank you for your ongoing leadership. we have come together again and again the first to break ground, and then to pour cement, and then to unveil the penrose awning. i understand sir penrose is here with us. that beauty up at all. and today, to cut the ribbon. for something so spectacular, we will say to the rest of the country that these initiatives in our community are of national significance and modelled for the country. of all the things that mayor breed said about housing and economic development and jobs and success. i want to just say something about president barack obama. because this took resources over $400 million and even more of

that from the american recovery investment act. [applause] >> one day after his inauguration, we passed the american recovery and reinvestment act. for our region, that meant a billion dollars for the central subway. studio parkway over $300 million, the caltrain electrification, almost a billion dollars, over $400 million for this. closer to 700 if you add some of the appropriations. that bill was very very important to us. but the fact is, our community met the standards that our community would make. [applause]

>> again, a model for the nation of national significance. i just want to say something, i am so glad that mohammed reference our dear mayor lee. he was so operational having being the chief administrative officer. he got things done. we certainly miss him but will always remember him and acknowledge him. that he saw, and so many of you gathered here, sought that this is a truly revolutionary initiative, appropriate for this trail of innovation that we live in. the center does not only curb congestion and cut down commute, it transforms how we work and how we travel and how we live. and anything that has to do with infrastructure is about time. it is about time. the time we take people out of their cars pick the time the buses are not on the streets. it is about improving quality of

life and improving quality of air. it is about the good health of our children. it is about the time we save and that all the big buses will be taken off the streets. some of you no kak you created it. it is a remarkable thing. i want to associate it with something going on in california at this moment. at this moment, we are suffering some terrible, terrible wildfires lack of intensity and density exacerbated by climate crisis. and what we are doing here is to alleviate some of that. by removing our dependence on elements that would heat up the air. all that we are doing with mass transit and high-speed rail and all of those subjects are about making the planet a more wholesome place. lowering the temperature. lowering the heat. so we are all connected when we

engage in infrastructure that is truly green. and this infrastructure, the sales floor transit center is truly green. for these and so many other reasons, i want to join in acknowledging everyone who played a role in this. i want to acknowledge maria, she was here for all of those things. the groundbreaking's and pouring of cement. now here today for the ribbon-cutting. mark from the tjpa, the executive director, thank you. where is mark? thank you for your leadership. and yes, we are very proud to play a big role. we saw that it was very helpful with that and it helps to have a president who appreciates what we were trying to do here to help us to be on the appropriations committee and it helps to be speaker of the house to get the money. but it doesn't work unless there is all this matching initiative. whether it is the public paying their fair share in the bonding

and the state and local commitments to its. this, today, is about community. let us thank everyone in our community for the role they played in making this initiative of such natural significance. people visit here want to do it where they live and also see that we have more to come. thank you very much. these. [applause] >> as indicated by nancy pelosi, seldom, if ever it is a project of this size and this magnitude gets completed within the time period that any of us holds the public office. this project, is in particular, the beneficiary of a group of people who have handed it off from one time period to another,

as they have managed to get themselves collected public office. the city embraced and scent david to to the board of supervisors. his colleagues made him the president of that board and in his capacity of the board, he cast the deciding vote to replace newsom with ed lee as the mayor of the city. and then he promptly took over and became a member of the california state assembly and in the process, literally became one of the god angels of what happens with this transit centre. all the time, he had been part of the team, moving the project. ladies and gentlemen, a man who is a housing expert, as perceived by his colleagues in the legislatures, sustainable transportation, options, advocate, assembly member, david to -- chu.

>> the son is signing to shining on the transit centre. grand central west is open for business. the sceptic said that we wouldn't make the tough decisions. we wouldn't choose the tough decisions to make it happen. what we chose differently, we chose to address the congestion on our freeways and our airpor airports. we chose to tackle the environmental issues to reduce greenhouse gases. we chose to bring together the myriads of interest in our bay area. bringing together eight bay area counties to the center. bringing together 11 transit agencies to this centre. by the way, we have 60 more transit agencies to go. we have come so far. we have only been able to do it

because it takes a village to create the transit village. and all of you have been those village leaders. i have the honor of helping to recognize a couple of the state partners who are responsible for this -- responsible for the vision, the design, helping to fund debt and helping to build it. thank you to stay partners. i know caltrain is represented today. they are represented here today. the california transportation committee. i have a number of california state legislative colleagues here. representing berkeley, senator skinner. representing san jose, assembly member kara and representing oakland, assembly member rob popped up your act together with my colleagues and with all of you, the voters passed regional measure three in june. [applause] >> as he assembly leads, we are

talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that will go to help support this very project. there are to watch what hopes i want to mention as we move forward. last week, i had a meeting with fellow legislators from the states of washington and oregon. they do not want us to have the only grand central west on the west coast. they have a vision that we should be able to travel by train from san diego to l.a., to san francisco, to portland, to seattle, and to vancouver. a west coast a vision for how we live. [applause] >> i have one additional hope and that is the hope for my 2-year-old son. i mentioned that word, high-speed rail. [applause]

>> it is my hope that someday, my son gets on a train here that is like our experience of getting on b.r.t. and caltrain and he visits his friends in l.a. in the time it takes for me to visit my friend in san jose. some day that will happen. someday we will celebrate that. until that happens, we party on today here in california, here in san francisco. congratulations. [applause] >> as i stated, it is one relay process after another for the resources that are needed to. san francisco has always been blessed in the halls of the legislature, even though we have very few members, so to speak, in terms of members. our members always seem to project themselves and present themselves and their colleagues

embrace them and give them great assignments. the man that i am about to present to you is exactly in that category. you want to be nice to him because he is the budget chair. that means if and when there is a need for some immediate financing, he has the authority to leverage on behalf of san francisco in this region, on behalf of this project and we will hold him exactly to that. he did not have to leave the assessor's office and go to sacramento but he chose to do that. now he has the responsibility and the obligation of making good on that. ladies and gentlemen, phil tang. chair of the budget committee. [applause] >> thank you mr speaker and mr mayor. yourself, leader pelosi, have always set the example for what

responsible legislating is. for not just san francisco, before the bay area. i think we see our responsibility in ourselves, all of us to make sure that san francisco and the entire region gets the resources it needs to continue to be the economic powerhouse that it is. we have seen what happens today when we do not have enough housing at enough transit. we've done a phenomenal job creating jobs. our economy is doing incredibly well and we have a chance at a challenge to move people around. that is what this transit hub is. this transit hub signals not just to san franciscans, but really people all over the bay area and people all over northern california that we are a region. unless we think regionally, but it can move people regionally and house people regionally. we will not be successful.

they used to be a time when the city could go it alone and do it by itself. but that time has long gone. week are a complete region. sent this sculptor san francisco post's future is tied to oakland, berkeley, as it is to silicon vallie and san jose. our region has to work this way. we need to step up and sat -- sacramento and that is what we do every single day. i am proud to chair the bay area caucus and we are a caucus but we are fighting for the critical resources at the bay area. because if we don't, we will know there is an economy at stake and lives at stake and there's a quality of life at stake. we have seen what happens in washington and pelosi is fighting the good fight out in washington and we see what disastrous decisions have just -- occurred in the last 16 months. decision after decision is attacking the environment and attacking ci