solution we're proposing here is not a good one. we need to continue the process, analyze the problem, and make a fix. the fix is not delay, and i'm going to withhold money and i don't like it. vote no on this resolution. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you, sir. next speaker, please. >> commissioners, ron miguel. the last time i came before you was chair of the r.a.v. study, and i appreciate your acceptance of it. i'm here to speak strictly on the resolution of item 11. it's my understanding that what has to be done or should be done in the process would be for the comptroller's office to conduct an evaluation of the tjpa's management delivery, star perform a review of alternative oversight and governance models, and that those studies be put

before you in order to go forward. chronicle was nice enough to quote me at the end of the article in today's paper, and basically what i said is, i would not like to see this project derailed. that's an understatement. and i like to see it start up again in at least six months, but not three years. the previous makers have mentioned the fact that we have to move ahead and not delay it any longer than necessary. that necessary is very true, and i thank president peskin for considering that. you don't go ahead with the same people who are under question until those questions have been decided. and, again, please not three years.

>> chairman peskin: thank you, mr. miguel. next speaker. >> first of all, best way to take care of this confusion were documents haven't been presented to you pretending to both negative and cash flow of the project. i believe it would be ideal if this board, when calling a hearing, not only pertaining to this matter, but any other matter, is to instruct the respondents to supply documents pertaining to both positive and negative cash flow, so you can pinpoint exactly how much progress is being made and how much debt is being made. and as far as this overrun extension and more time to complete the project, the developers got nobody to blame but themselves for that. the developer knows how long it's going to take to complete a project, and it should be a protection clause in there to

protect the city if the debt line is not met by the developer, any additional expenses must be paid by the developer. now, about this beam, this might be an exception on the grounds that the organization that fabricated this beam might have used materials that didn't meet the american society of testing materials is concerned. that's probably why that beam is defective. but the developers got nobody but themselves to blame when they don't meet a deadline that was targeted on a contract that they bid for and claimed that they would have the project completed at a specific date. you got nobody but to blame but yourself for that. now you want to spend more money, and as a result the city's supposed to pay for it. and you're getting a $260 million loan on top of that, plus interest, you got nobody to blame but yourselves for that. >> chairman peskin: next speaker.

>> good morning, chair peskin, commissioners. my name is bruce agad, chair of the tjpacac, member of the community working groups and board member and transportation rep of the south beach recognition bay association. first i'd like to thank chair peskin for moving this resolution forward. this is an example of good governance, which is so much appreciated. with that said, until the d.t.x. is completed, both caltrain and high-speed rail will use 4th and king as their northern terminus. with additional ridership associated with caltrain e lin 2 and high-speed rail in 2027, the station and neighborhood won't be able to safely and efficiently handle the anticipated volume of passengers, residents, workers,

and visitors without major infrastructure and station improvements. this is problematic from both a passenger and community perspective, and a basis for this it recommendation. to have the d.t.x. completed by 2027, i would recommend that we move forward with the items identified in the resolution in parallel with continuing the 30% design. if it's determined a different oversight and governance model is identified and preferred, plans could be made at that time to transition this work to the new structure. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, i'm peter strauss, i'm on the board of the san francisco transit riders and also working with the friends of d.t.x. there are a number of us down here on item 11, and i think you'll hear some differences in the particulars we're recommending, but what we're all saying, i think, is that we

recognize we acknowledge the need for you to exercise your due diligence over this project, but at the same time we all agree that the schedule and momentum for completing the downtown extension must be maintained. one month ago i stood here and tried to remind you that we all bemoan the latest projects at their completion, but whether it is housing or transportation, it is at the beginning of the project that we have the most control, the most ability to exercise delays in project momentum and ultimately project delivery. i would urge you to consider alternatives to a shutdown, such as you did with construction management of the transbay transit center, for instance, you might consider asking mohammed to have his department review invoices and task orders while you conduct your due diligence rather than shutting

down the process at this point. at any rate, i very much urge you to consider how best to maintain the momentum of this project as your due diligence proceeds with minimal impact on the critical path for project delivery. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you, mr. strauss. next speaker. >> commissioners, i'm jim haas, i was a member of the r.a.b. working group, and as some of you recall, i appeared a number of times over the last decade about this project. and, of course, we were reaping what has -- what we sowed long ago by not paying attention to it. the basic problem was that the first executive director kept the project and the agency under wraps. she asserted it was not a city agency, and she did her best to keep the city out of the project, as some of you are well aware. including the mayor at the time. and so, you know, a lot of what

went on occurred because nobody knew what was going on. there's an old expression that says, a power deserves scrutiny, not gratitude, and i think that your desire to change the bureaucracy around is not as important as developing a way to scrutinize what is going on. to open it up to the largest extent with technical and public involvement. so along with my colleagues worried about the time frame, i, too, would like to see some of the work continued and would rather than six months, 90 days to figure out if you're going to change the bureaucracy around, and please don't try to construct something that needs new state legislation and all that sort of thing that would take years, because it's important that we have a finished plan with the engineering and the environmental work done, even if we don't have the money to build it, because if we have that in place, then we're going to have a better chance to get the money

to build it. so scrutiny, in my view, is the most important thing that should be looked at in the next several weeks. >> chairman peskin: thank you, mr. haas. next speaker, please. if there are any other members of the public on this item, if you line up to my left, your right. >> i'm bob finebaum, the president of save muni. we are very definitely supporters of the downtown extension of caltrain. we agree with the r.a.b. study, which had a timeline that showed this project could be delivered with caltrain coming to the transbay center at the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027. but it cannot be delivered if you halt the funding. this is a separable matter, ladies and gentlemen. on the one hand is the

governance side of it, which the comptroller and the t.a. staff and others can weigh in on, but on the other side is a strictly technical matter, which are the engineering drawings for the 30% design of the d.t.x. that should go forward in parallel with your discussion about the govern, and i think that if you adopt the resolution as it's stated, you should add one other organization to the review, and that would be the coroner's office, because clearly you will be killing the d.t.x., thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you, seeing no other members of the public, we'll close public comment.

let me ask you a question relative to some of the speakers. phase two, downtown extension, estimated cost is? >> $4 billion. >> chairman peskin: and that does not include grade separations? >> does not include grade separations. that's based on a 2016 cost estimate, supervisor, and we've been working with staff on funding to update the cost estimate after we do the 30% design. >> chairman peskin: and grade separations are worth over a billion dollars, $2 billion? >> based on the r.a.b. study. >> chairman peskin: so we're looking at a project that's north of $6 billion. is that a fair statement? >> as we currentliest mate. we would need to do some more assessments and establish a program based on that, and that's the allocated previously

for us and discussion today. our focus is the $4 billion, not the $6 billion. we have a billion dollars in starts and another billion in local and other funding, and we're looking to have discussions with high-speed rail and caltrain on passing a facilities charge for folks that would use the trains from the 4th and king station and to a transit center that would also generate approximately $2 billion over time that we can -- >> supervisor, the reason i'm asking these questions, i want to make it clear that this project is not fully funded. we're all committed to getting it fully funded, but i'm saying that by virtue of the fact that -- and let me associate myself with some of the comments, which is one commenter said the right time to get it right is at the very beginning,

and so this kind of is the very beginning, albeit we've already allocated over $50 million. and the whole notion that this is just engineering work actually engineers work as instructed, so transbay was designed -- the terminal was designed by engineers, but we could have given them very different instructions and had a building that cost a lot less money and didn't crack, so i agree that this is -- let me also associate myself with the comments of the individual who said that the agency was not very transparent, didn't work with the city and county of san francisco, and that's precisely why having a governance structure that is willing to stand up to that kind of a culture, i think, makes imminent sense at the front end. this is not designed to be -- by the way, the only tool that we have to fix this is money, and my fear is, if we give them

continued money, then they will continue down their same old path. i realize that, again, this didn't happen on his watch or not entirely, but the notion of having the city comptroller conduct an evaluation of tjpa's management and delivery of phase one and having our own staff come up with governance models that would be ant thetical to that kind of veil of secrecy and lack of oversight is precisely what we will get if we withhold money, and i hope that we can do it in a handful of months, but we finally have their attention, and i think it would be fool hardy to not use that leverage while we've got it. with that. >> i want to clarify a couple of things, there is a change of leadership at the tjpa, and you're aware of that.

i started two years ago, i've been transparent with all our stakeholders, including executive director chang and her staff. they are embedded in our team. we have biweekly meetings with them, we have peer reviews together. for me, it's been a matter of oversight, a matter of importance resource that i have available for me that i've been using. so, just to, you know, just to be fair, the organization has changed and is changing and i've mentioned before in front of this board that moving forward with phase two, this would be a collaborative effort with all the stakeholders, including m.t.c. and caltrain. i do support your call for the san francisco city comptroller's office to conduct an evaluation of the management and delivery of the transit center. i think that's fair. i think it's valuable to have that, because it will give us valuable lessons learned that we can incorporate for phase two. i also support the efforts to review alternative oversights

and governance structure. we welcome that effort. we welcome any effort to strengthen the t.g.p. organization, but we recently added high-speed rail to provide us the strategic leadership that we need to deliver phase two, so currently we have numbers from the city and county of san francisco, two members on the board from the state of california, one is high-speed rail and one is caltrans. we also have caltrain and transit. having said that, i'm sure my board will welcome any ideas to enhance the leadership of the board. having said that, i think we can all do these things in parallel with moving the 30% design so that we're not incurring any delays. and more importantly, not losing any opportunities for funding. we are losing funding opportunities. we had a very good funding opportunity with s.b. 1. however, we did not have the environmental document approved in time, so we lost that opportunity. so i think moving forward in

parallel, in cooperation, will enable us to stay on schedule and capture any funding opportunities that may arise, as well as satisfy your concerns on the project. thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this. >> chairman peskin: thank you. any comments from commissioners? commissioner tang. >> commissioner tang: thank you. and i definitely hear your comments, but i think from this board at least, or this body, you know, i think that there has been a lack of confidence on a wider scale, and so i think that at this time we would feel -- i would feel comfortable moving forward with such a resolution in terms of this authorization until, i think, that all of us can feel more confident in how it is that we move forward. there has been a lot that's happened in the past, and so if there are future updates where you can restore that level of commitment to us, i think then we would be more than happy to move forward more funds. so, i will be supportive of this

resolution. >> chairman peskin: thank you, commissioner. are there any other questions or comments from commissioners? seeing none on item 11, a roll call, please. >> clerk: motion? >> chairman peskin: is there a motion to move item 11, seconded by commissioner brown? colleagues on that motion made and seconded, a roll call, please. [ roll call ] we have final approval. >> chairman peskin: thank you for that, colleagues, and is there any introduction of new items?

seeing none, is there any general public comment? mr. wright. >> yeah, i want to speak up about the matter close to millions of dollars that's being spent on bicycle paths that's located on treasure island. i believe some of that money should be spent on testing the soil materials that the youth and lessons and adults, as well, that's going to be using this path to test the soil, which i believe is contaminated because a lot of that soil comes from the hunter's point naval shipyard. and also, this demonstration pertaining to contracts and taxes, you've got a differential treatment that you're applying to taxes.

you want to tax certain organizations, and then you turn around and don't tax the corporations that's a multitrillion, billion dollar organization and you're applying taxes to companies that's head is nowhere as far in their area of profit as the high-tech companies. it's not fair. you can't have a situation about one company but not enjoyed by another. i spoke about that company called chariot, where they just have an employee that was killed by a negligent driver. they came in here and made pleas to be excused from paying payroll taxes and highlighted by the m.t.a., and yet they cannot be exempt from payroll taxes, because they get along with the m.t.a., but yet you turn around and exempt the high-tech companies from payroll taxes, giving them a break. they don't need a break.

since when does a mul multi trillion, billion dollar corporation need a break? the people that need a break is the people that's most vulnerable, who you campaign and say that you want to help get situated in the city. >> bob finebaum from save muni. well, you've done the wrong thing, but i hope you realize that what you've also done is criticized and commented about the tjpa board. the tjpa board is controlled by the city of san francisco -- >> chairman peskin: so, i don't want to interrupt you, but in as far as item 11 has been discussed, this is general public comment, so if you want to make general public comment, you can, but you can't talk about something already on the agenda and we had public comment on. >> this is general public comment, because the tjpa board

is controlled by the city of san francisco and by adopting that resolution, you are also adopting a vote of no confidence on the tjpa board. you should realize that. >> chairman peskin: thank you for those comments. seeing no other public comment, public comment is closed, and the t.a. is adjourned, but please stick around, because we're going to reconvene as timma for one item. >> clerk: timma board meeting will start in five minutes. [ five-minute break ]

good afternoon, colleagues, and welcome to the most exciting part of our day today, the board meeting of the treasure island mobility management agency. please contain your excitement. our clerk today is alberto quintanilla, and i'd like to take a moment to thank felix and charles at sfgov tv for broadcasting our meeting and ensuring it is available online. mr. clerk, do we need to take roll? >> clerk: yes. [ roll call ]

>> chairwoman kim: can you call items two, three, and four together? >> clerk: items two, items three, item four, approve the minutes of the june 26, 2018 meeting. this is an action item. >> chairwoman kim: thank you, colleagues, this meeting is somewhat apropos after our deep dive and discussion into congestion management and mobility management in our sfcta committee meeting, and this is really our first foray into introducing a mobility management program on treasure island, and create a revenue source to fund a brand new ferry and bus service, as well as

autonomous shuttles to policy frontiers related to tolling and equitable access. earlier this month i joined my colleagues who represent districts that border the 180, i'm sorry, the 80, the 101, and the 280, and we, along with our san mateo policymakers, traveled to los angeles to study the experiencing with tolling and another context that of freeway express lanes. we toured and learned about l.a.'s decision-making approach for the 10 freeway, which was experiencing heavy congestion, as well as generating harmful emissions in the neighborhoods adjacent to the 10 back in 2012. and i want to thank supervisitors mandelman, ronen, cohen, for attending this trip. we also learned it's as much

about congestion as the health of our residents. the world health organization estimates up to 80% of residents around the world are caused more than 3 million premature deaths worldwide every year, and so it's important for us to address air quality. at this time i want to open up for the executive director's report. director chance, who is shaking her head. >> thank you so much. i'll submit that online and forego the verbal presentation. >> chairwoman kim: thank you. the clerk has also called an action item, approval of minutes. are there corrections to the minutes or comments from colleagues? seeing none, we'll open up public comment for items 2, 3, and 4. seeing no public comment, public comment is now closed. colleagues, can we take action on the item? we have a motion from commissioner fewer, second from commissioner yee, and let's take

a roll call on this item. >> clerk: on item 4. [ roll call ] we have final approval. >> chairwoman kim: and the item passes. mr. clerk, can you please call the next item? >> clerk: item 5, approve a three-year professional services contract with hntb corporation in an amount not to exceed $250,000 for conceptual system design, operations oversight, and evaluation services for the treasure island autonomous vehicle shuttle pilot program. this is an action item. >> chairwoman kim: this was heard at committee and is incredibly exciting. it will be the first time our city launches or pilots an autonomous shuttle program here

in san francisco, and so this is just to begin the design operation oversight and evaluation services. we have mike tan here if anyone has any questions or comments. seeing none, we'll open up for public comment on this item. seeing no public comment, public comment is now closed on item number 5. mr. clerk, can we do same house, same call? >> clerk: motion and a second? >> chairwoman kim: sorry, we have a motion from commissioner yee, a second from commissioner peskin. >> clerk: we can take it same house. >> chairwoman kim: same house, same call. mr. clerk, can you call items 6 and 7? >> clerk: item 6 is an information item, item 7, public comment. >> chairwoman kim: colleagues, are there any new items you would like to introduce today? seeing none, public comments on items number 6 and also general public comment at this time. seeing no public comment, public comment is now closed for item 6 and 7.

mr. clerk, any other items before this board? >> clerk: item 8, adjournment. >> chairwoman kim: seeing none, this meeting is adjourned. see you all at 2:00 p.m. let's get started. we've got some ice cream to serve. good afternoon. my name is phil ginsberg, and i am proud to work for the mayor and be part of the one of the

best park systems in our country. as president of the rec and park commission, mark buell often notes that victory or success has many parents. today, we celebrate an incredible community and city agency partnership that is giving this neighborhood what it most deserves, a win. the civic center neighborhood welcomes people from all communities: from little saigon, hard working local merchants, visitors, museum and library goers, to the children who visit our family playground does. if victory has many parents, victory also loves soft ice cream. and if that's true, we have our

children to thank. will celeste step forward? celeste drew plans for this playground, and at the end, when we asked her if it needed anything else, she said... >> soft ice cream. >> soft ice cream. so we owe a huge thanks to the kids of the tenderloin for their mission. all right. we have many people to thank, and a few different speakers, and we're going to get through the program as quickly as we can, but to celebrate with us today is our mayor, london breed. i confess, i don't know her favorite brand of ice cream, but we'll find out. she is here at civic center

every day, and it is my great honor to introduce our mayor, london breed. >> the hon. london breed: wow. what an amazing community. thank you all for being here today. we know we face many challenges in our city that i am trying to address as mayor with so many people that we are addressing today. there is one thing that i am kmipted to doing, and that is making sure that civic center and this area is a safe, fun, and happy place for children and parents alike. so i'm excited for these parks and as someone who's looking for a good place to have lunch and a good place to have lunch close to city hall, i am so excited for birite here. i want to thank captain of the

northern station, captain engler, who spends a lot of time here making sure people are safe. i want to thank hunders point families for the work that you continue to do. i spent a lot of time, as some of you know in this area, trying to address some of the challenges, and i want to thank the homeless outreach team as well as the department of public works, it really does take a village of people to try and help many people that we know are struggling. and part of making sure that you all have an amazing experience at civic center has everything to do with activating this space and keeping it available for everyone. our goal is to make sure that everyone feels welcome in civic center. and so let me tell you two initiatives that were as a result of birite opening here on

this corner in san francisco. first of all, birite is going to be partnering with the san francisco libraries, so kids who visit the children's room and a teen room are going to get a sticker where they can basically redeem pieces of fruit. now i know they were thinking ice cream. it's free pieces of fruit. we're trying to keep you healthy. and let me also say this before i bring up sam, the owner of birite. so when i was supervisor in district five, and birite moved into the divisadero in the neighborhood, in the nopa neighborhood, his company spends so much time working in the community, hiring from the community. they really invested in the community, so when they decided to come to the community, the community welcomed them with open arms, and they became a

natural part of the community. this was their second store, after their store in the mission district. we were proud to welcome them here, and they are very much committed to hiring people who live in this community, which i am so excited about, and they are people of their word because many of the people that they hire in the western addition are still working at birite and in some instances have been promoted. so i just love the fact that they love san francisco and they're committed to making sure that the opportunity here to be in civic center is an opportunity here for all of the residents in civic center. so with that, i'd like to bring up sam to say a few words. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. she said it all, right?

there isn't much more that i need to say. i did want to thank you, mayor breed, and phil, and jackie, for everything you did to make this happen. i mean, this has been an extraordinary project. i also want to give a huge thanks to the birite team. you all know who you are. you've all worked so hard, i couldn't have done you all. i want to thank my wife and our two daughters for putting up with me i am, like, especially excited to have my father and uncle here, along with my mom and my aunt. they started birite in 1964. i reluctantly inherited it back in 1998, and it's become something that's had such a community impact. as a native san franciscan.

any other natives out there? yeah. to be here, in front of city hall, in the heart of our city, it's kind of a dream, right? it's -- i'm excited. i'm excited to be partnered with everybody on this project. super excited about the alignment of vision and how perfectly, you know, our cafe being right here on this corner lines up with our community for food. i saw the impact we had on our community. that block, when i took it over, had storefronts that were covered with metal grates. we took those grates down, and all of a sudden, we saw things happen. 300 jobs are created in that 1800 block of eighth street. things had happening in the divisadero, and that's why i'm excited to be here now.

that's the power of good food. it brings people today. it slows us down, it allows us to communicate -- except when your mouth is full, right? i'm excited to feed kids, to partner with this library with the program that we're going to have with the main library. we're going to continue working with the same businesses that we've worked with the same dozen years in this community, but we can't do it alone. we need you to come back tomorrow, come back the next day, come and hangout, eat, share the love. thank you all. [applause] >> thank you, sam. one other person deserves a very, very, very special acknowledgement before we move onto our next couple of

speakers. under president obama, sayery jewel was the secretary of the interior, and she said excellence is the foundation of education. a heard felt thank you to you, jackie, who serves as the president of her family foundation. for those of you that don't know, it is jackie's gift thats helped us build both these playgrounds and this amazing cafe, but even more is her transformational vision to take a chance on all of this, and for believe in the community, private sector, and public-private partnerships, and using the community for good. thank you so, so, so, so much. if sam could come back up --

jackie, we want you to have this on us. sam, i was going to say your business is just about perfect, but it's missing that. i now want to bring up phil batali representing the trust for public land. the trust works with us in nine partnership projects across the city over the last decade, their most recent endeavor, partnership with us is this, the new helen diller civic center playground. they have done more for this city than many people know, so i'm proud to bring up phil batali, the senior manager for t.p.l. >> the trust for public land is excited to be here, celebrating with all you partner.

at the t.p.l., we make sure that everyone has a quality playground within a ten-minute walk of these playgrounds. over the past several years, we've partnered with the tenderloin and civic center communities to improve the parks and their densely populated neighborhood. we've heard it through the design and renovation of several playgrounds. the community brought up the idea of having a place for seating and a spot for the community to come together and enjoy a stay in this amazing plaza, and thanks to the generosity of jackie safir and the robinson family foundation, this vision has become a

reality. there were many people involved in this project, and i want to give a shout out of thanks. first, i want to give jackie sefir for their vision and creation in the city. i want to thank phil ginsberg, and i want to thank the trust for public land, our board and our staff, the project manager for this project, who isn't here today but led us with graze and dedication. i want to thank our design team, and the contractors who did the construction as well as the many other consultants and contractors who were involved in this project. i want to thank sam and the entire birite team, and last but not least, i want to thank the community members who were designed in this process. this project isn't the first nor

the last that the land project is committed working with the community to improve this public space. we boast new swings, open space, and not only snacks, but snacks by birite. >> thank you. madam mayor, as you know, under the direction of director bowel, and commissioners francisco and low, san francisco is one of the few cities where every citizen lives within a ten minute walk of the park. the numerous agencies are a part of the success and representing all of them and his own amazing department to talk about health

and vibrancy is our fantastic police chief, bill scott. >> thank you, phil. just take a second and take a look behind you. isn't this beautiful? this is really beautiful, and this is -- this is what san francisco is all about, so first, let me begin by saying thank you to the community. at the san francisco community, we are part of a larger community. we know that, and it is our goal to work among the community and with the community to make transformations like this happen. and i want to give thanks to, first of all, our mayor, mayor london breed. with her leadership, her sense of urgency, we have seen just a tremendous amount of work and collaboration in making this happen. phil ginsberg in rec and park. one of the things with the sfpd

and the things that we have to do to keep this city safe is work with other community partnering. this has really changed the game at civic center commons, so phil and your team, thank you for that. so if you've walked around the area in the last month or so, you've probably noticed some differences. we have committed as a city to really take care of what i believe is the front yard of our city government. this is the front yard of city government. the mayor has made it a top priority, we have made it a top priority, of course, because the mayor made it a top priority. but even with that being said, it takes a community to make this happen. you did see san francisco police officers in tenderloin district that starts right across the street along with a whole host

of city departments, department of public health and city housing. department of public health, we know we have to work together to make our city safer, cleaner and really restore of beauty of what this city is all about. we have to be consistent, persistent, and we're committed to doing that. every time we increase the programming in an area like this, i think we have a better chance of sustaining our ability to make our city shine, and that is what we are committed to do. so i hope everybody's enjoying the beauty of this day. please enjoy it. return, shop at birite. i just met sam for the first time today, and i've got to say, it is just really, really heart are warming and impressive to see all of this come together. i'll speak on behalf of all the

men and woman of the san francisco police department. we are so fortunate to be blessed and a part of this wonderful community, so thank you. [applause] >> all right. just a -- a few thank yous, but sam apparently has said that his soft ice cream server that he hired to come out -- serve -- what's -- what's -- this is birite's newest soft ice cream server. he needed a job. what's your name, sir? ladies and gentlemen, willie brown. all right. some -- there are a lot of thank yous, and we're anxious to raise the curtain, but let me just do a few quick thank yous so the community leaders -- to the community leaders and officials that are here today. i first want to thank -- i know

amy cohen, executive director from oewd. tom temprano from supervisor mandelman's office. frances johnson from assembly member king's office. gary mccould i from nanny pelosi's office. i believe joaquin torres, the director of economic and workforce development is here. thank you to the building of building inspection for keeping our construction on schedule. thank you to hunters count family and downtown -- hunters family and downtown streets team. special thanks to sean roblin who introduced us to roblin construction. and of course i want to acknowledge our staff, lexie

sharma, who was our project manager. jackie ho, who was also our project manager. and all the people who keep this park incredibly build, the c.b.d., too many people to thank, so if i missed you, i apologize. now time is the time for the ceremonial awning raising, so -- oh, supervisor mandelman is here, not to mention tom tamprano. okay. ma'am, we're in the middle of a -- okay. yes. okay. [inaudible] >> right on. okay. so mayor breed, mayor brown, you guys, the most important people here, will you join us, and we

are going to count down. credits the y.m.c. after school program from tenderloin community school -- oh, oh, guys, actually, you know what? we're going to do it from over here because otherwise, that'll kind of hit you in the backside, so let's move it back even a little bit more, guys. come on back, mayor. if you could join us back behind these flowers here because this is actually a big piece of equipment, and we are going to count down. we're five seconds to ice cream. ready? eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

[applause] ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you all to birite civic center, the civic center playground. let's go get some ice cream. go ahead, you guys.

>> you're watching quick bite, the show that has san francisco. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we're here at one of the many food centric districts of san francisco, the 18th street corridor which locals have affectionately dubbed the castro. a cross between castro and gastronomic. the bakery, pizza, and dolores park cafe, there is no end in sight for the mouth watering food options here. adding to the culinary delights is the family of business he which includes skylight creamery, skylight and the 18 raisin. >> skylight market has been here since 1940.

it's been in the family since 1964. his father and uncle bought the market and ran it through sam taking it over in 1998. at that point sam revamped the market. he installed a kitchen in the center of the market and really made it a place where chefs look forward to come. he created community through food. so, we designed our community as having three parts we like to draw as a triangle where it's comprised of our producers that make the food, our staff, those who sell it, and our guests who come and buy and eat the food. and we really feel that we wouldn't exist if it weren't for all three of those components who really support each other. and that's kind of what we work towards every day.

>> valley creamery was opened in 2006. the two pastry chefs who started it, chris hoover and walker who is sam's wife, supplied all the pastries and bakeries for the market. they found a space on the block to do that and the ice cream kind of came as an afterthought. they realized the desire for ice cream and we now have lines around the corner. so, that's been a huge success. in 2008, sam started 18 reasons, which is our community and event space where we do five events a week all around the idea of bringling people closer to where the food comes from and closer to each other in that process. >> 18 reasons was started almost four years ago as an educational arm of their work. and we would have dinners and a few classes and we understood there what momentum that people wanted this type of engagement and education in a way that allowed for a more in-depth

conversation. we grew and now we offer -- i think we had nine, we have a series where adults learned home cooking and we did a teacher training workshop where san francisco unified public school teachers came and learned to use cooking for the core standards. we range all over the place. we really want everyone to feel like they can be included in the conversation. a lot of organizations i think which say we're going to teach cooking or we're going to teach gardening, or we're going to get in the policy side of the food from conversation. we say all of that is connected and we want to provide a place that feels really community oriented where you can be interested in multiple of those things or one of those things and have an entree point to meet people. we want to build community and we're using food as a means to that end. >> we have a wonderful organization to be involved with obviously coming from buy right where really everyone is treated very much like family. coming into 18 reasons which

even more community focused is such a treat. we have these events in the evening and we really try and bring people together. people come in in groups, meet friends that they didn't even know they had before. our whole set up is focused on communal table. you can sit across from someone and start a conversation. we're excited about that. >> i never worked in catering or food service before. it's been really fun learning about where things are coming from, where things are served from. >> it is getting really popular. she's a wonderful teacher and i think it is a perfect match for us. it is not about home cooking. it's really about how to facilitate your ease in the kitchen so you can just cook. >> i have always loved eating food. for me, i love that it brings me into contact with so many wonderful people. ultimately all of my work that i do intersects at the place where food and community is. classes or cooking dinner for

someone or writing about food. it always come down to empowering people and giving them a wonderful experience. empower their want to be around people and all the values and reasons the commitment, community and places, we're offering a whole spectrum of offerings and other really wide range of places to show that good food is not only for wealthy people and they are super committed to accessibility and to giving people a glimpse of the beauty that really is available to all of us that sometimes we forget in our day to day running around. >> we have such a philosophical mission around bringing people together around food. it's so natural for me to come here. >> we want them to walk away feeling like they have the tools to make change in their lives.

whether that change is voting on an issue in a way that they will really confident about, or that change is how to understand why it is important to support our small farmers. each class has a different purpose, but what we hope is that when people leave here they understand how to achieve that goal and feel that they have the resources necessary to do that. >> are you inspired? maybe you want to learn how to have a patch in your backyard or cook better with fresh ingredients . or grab a quick bite with organic goodies. find out more about 18 reasons by going to 18 reasons.org and learn about buy right market and creamery by going to buy right market.com. and don't forget to check out our blog for more info on many of our episodes at sf quick bites.com. until next time, may the fork be with you. ♪ ♪