too many mayors would have taken the kind of risk that he did to do exactly what we are doing here today. i just felt strongly that we couldn't wait another 10-15 years, we couldn't continue to weight and say, we will figure it out, we will get the money, through our program, we have been able to get creative about solutions to invest the dollars in you, to invest the dollars and making sure that the places that you live in are great places to live in, just like anywhere else in san francisco. i am excited about this, the jfk tower, in the 2698 california are both great examples of our rad program which has had a tremendous success. i'm looking forward to doing even more of these developments, and i want to thank mercy housing, the john stewart company, bank of america for the financing, the mayor's office of

housing, and the housing authority, the u.s. department of housing and urban development , also known as h.u.d., because in trying to do exactly what we have been trying to accomplish here, it does take a village. it also takes the will, it also takes a great community partners , and i hope you enjoy your new double paned windows, which i actually don't even have i hope you enjoy your great community space and how beautiful and clean and bright and more open it is, i am looking around, i can't even believe what i am seeing right now. this is absolutely amazing, and it belongs to the residents of this community. congratulations on this great success project, i am so looking forward to doing so many more throughout san francisco and i would like to take this opportunity to introduce your representative, the person who

continues to advocate for resources for district taught about where you reside, who is a great member of the board of supervisors, a great advocate for communities, and will always be there for you, ladies and gentlemen, your supervisor, catherine stefani. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. we are so lucky to have her leading our city. good morning, everybody. her remarks were absolutely amazing, and it is the r.a.d. program, it is reshaping public housing in san francisco for the better. the program has provided so many people across the city with rehabilitated quality and affordable housing. i cannot state how thrilled i am to be standing here today for the grand opening of this renovated tower. this tower has been iconic in district two for so long. it is beautiful, it is colourful , and i'm so happy we are standing here today in this

renovation. also for 2698 california, which will provide together 138 units of affordable housing for seniors and individuals with disabilities. i would like to say thank you to so many people for making this possible. first, mayor breed, you have made affordable housing a key part of your agenda as we face in affordability crisis. your leadership on this issue is inspiring and absolutely essential for those in need of housing, and your experience, your how you talk about it, it connects all of us to you, and i think it reinforces the need for affordable housing and how important it is for our city. and doug shoemaker and everyone at mercy housing for ensuring that jfk towers and 2698 california are not only beautiful, but safe and affordable places that residents can live for decades. paul taggart architects and rivera consulting group for your work in making this project happen, in making these buildings seismically safer. and also barbara smith who is

the acting executive director at the s.f. housing authority. thank you for all that you do and taking all our calls when you get them. and also liz, who i just met this morning at bank of america, and bank of america for the financing. we cannot do this without you. finally and most importantly, the people who call out these amazing two buildings and district want what their home. it really is an honor to serve you as your district two supervisor, and i want you to know i am here for you. call me anytime. we can work together on issues. i would love to come and visit periodically. please know we are here for you always. the work we are celebrating today has created a more welcoming community, and better housing. j.f.k. towers has a new community room. i think we are in it right now, a patio for residents to enjoy, and the units have modern amenities and new appliances, which are so essential. every person living here deserves to be able to easily

access their home, and use of community spaces of the building this renovation has improved the elevators which is so necessary, as mayor breed is said, and enhance accessibility features to eliminate barriers to access. finally, san francisco must be prepared in case of an earthquake, and the fact that we have seismically safe buildings is so important. we agree that san francisco is one of the most beautiful places in the world his. i think pacific heights and district two is one of the most beautiful places in san francisco, so i'm really happy to be here today to celebrate with you, and no i am here for you going forward to. thank you mayor breed for all that you do. at this time, i would like to introduce and think again doug shoemaker, the president of mercy housing. [applause] >> good morning everybody. we are so blessed to have elected officials like the two that just spoke here. we work in a lot of different communities around california and a lot of communities around the country, and more often and not to, your trying to convince

elected officials of the importance of affordable housing in san francisco we have the opposite. we have officials that lead the charge. if you think about places in this country where you would see public housing preserved and strengthened in the most expensive real estate in the country, and in neighborhoods like pacific heights, i can tell you this is an all too rare occurrence across the country, and a testament to the tremendous agreement amount just among san franciscans. we really appreciate your leadership on this topic and on future ones. for folks who don't know, there is more work to be done with the housing authority. we are working with barbara and the mayor and the supervisors around the remaining public housing that really needs to get to the level of quality, and we are looking forward to more support around that topic as we move forward and make better reality for your colleagues and friends and others living around the community. i will introduce the next speaker who i have known for very many years.

she has -- the last time i talk to her i think she told me that the number of housing authority directors that she previously worked for was greater than my age. i am 24, so that is a lot. in all seriousness, around the country, but in particular around san francisco, the housing authority has done a really difficult work with very few resources compared to what the need is. nobody needs to be in a situation like that and you're trying desperately to get all of that done, and you know the federal government is not sending you enough money to get it done, but you have to do everything you can to make it work. art barbara smith has been one of those people who stood up to that challenge, she has done the work, at times desperately under resource. finally on these r.a.d. projects at on the hope s.f. projects, resource the right amount. she has done this work without complaint, with a characteristic smile, and has been a real

champion of the work. i want to thank them for all their great work. >> your way too kind. we could not do it without partners without mercy and leaders like mayor lundin breed, and our new supervisor stefani. so we are really thrilled with j.f.k. towers and 2698 california, and the other public housing high-rise buildings that are getting the improvements that they've needed for so long to preserve this wonderful resource for our residents. we are especially excited to see this crescent shaped midcentury modern j.f.k. towers rehabilitated with its primary colors, restored to its original appearance in the front, but with all kinds of improvements, the new community room, the new

office space, and improvements to the residence's units. we are really excited about this pic i don't know if you know, but john bowles was the architect. he also designed other areas. we are preserving and keeping this building for long-term affordable housing for our seniors and disabled residents. before the rental assistance demonstration program, i would get into bed at night, and i would pray that none of our senior and disabled residents in our high-rise buildings would be without elevator service, and also, the worst yet, be stuck in an elevator. all too often i would get a call during the night and have to send an emergency repair service to address the problem and i were a duty officer to help the residents who were stuck in the lobbies or needed things from there apartments. i know how stressful the situation was for our residents,

but with declining federal dollars, the authority just wasn't able to keep up with repairs and the work that buildings needed. this enormous conversion effort, over $2.2 billion in financing, and over $750 million in capital improvements really required require the brilliance, dedication and support of an incredible team beginning with mayor ed lee, our new mayor, london breed, and including the mayor touch office of housing and community development. i know we have olivia ely here, kate hartley who was also instrumental in all of their support. mercy housing, bank of america, h.u.d., we don't have h.u.d. here right now, but hopefully we will have them here soon. the federal home won't bank of san francisco, freddie mac multifamily, our commissioners who were put many hours into approving all the documents that it took to put this together,

authority staff who worked very hard throughout the conversion, the board of supervisors, nappy brothers contractors who really did carry out the work beautifully, and others. thank you to all who made this possible. for j.f.k. towers and 2698 california and other public housing residents. i want to give us special thanks to our j.f.k. residents. raise your hand if you are a j.f.k. resident. we have a lot of you hear while supplies. >> and 2698 california. he lived through this process where you had to temporarily relocate, and you had to live in a construction zone, and thank you for your faith in the process, we hope you really enjoy the new housing and all the improvements that you have. thank you very much to everyone. [applause]

>> all rights. we are in the special part of the program where we list lots of names, but i do want to spend a second to acknowledge the partnership that was here. japanese-american religious foundation and the john stewart foundation, and mercy decided early on that when we are looking for the opportunity to work on these buildings that we would do better partnering to compete to do this work. this is part of the ethos of san francisco. we lucked out there, and we said we can do this better together. i want to acknowledge jack and margaret to her on the back and responsible for the california property and others. i don't see will hear from the foundation yet, there he is. great. the partnership is fantastic and i think it is part of making sure that we are effective stewards of the trust the public is putting in us as residents. it was mentioned already, but mike and bob are here and they have led this work.

i want to -- maybe the rest of the folks who worked on this could raise their hands. bob, you can raise your hand. i know you are trying to hide back there. [applause] >> the work of being a general contractor in an occupied building is a special thing and we knew we had a really good choice. if they have done great work for many people around the city on this work, and a lot of it has nothing to do with understanding construction, but to relate to people as people. i know paulette and our architects, i want to recognize them both for our great work on that big i don't know what happened in the hallway, but thank you for whoever did that. take a second to acknowledge joe should the way the work happens at mercy is very much team driven. no one is individually responsible. with that said, this was an

unusual project, and i want to say thank you to tim and mike and others. i think mike kaplan himself probably took more calls on this project than he'll ever take on a project again in his life. mike and i are hanging out somewhere, with thank you for your perseverance on that. if you work with mercy, please raise your hand to receive thanks on that. [applause] our great property management staff, i want to acknowledge our board chair, gillian burgess, he does not live very far from here so she can come visit. one small anecdote i want to add about the primary colors of the doors, someone door somewhere along the process, we were offered money to paint them different colors. i'm happy to say we didn't. i think they are part of what makes this a very iconic property in san francisco. it really stands out. the world needs less boring buildings. i'm happy that we have a bright building that everyone can spy when you say, which one is j.f.k. towers, and you can say it is a rainbow coloured one with all the doors, and everyone will know what building it is.

we do not need another beige building. with that, i want to acknowledge that one part of what made r.a.d. really only in san francisco, we often talk about how special we are in san francisco, and generally it is true. sometimes we are exaggerating. on this project, i think if you look around the country and what was able to be done around public housing preservation, there really are very few examples that if you look at the trouble they are having in new york city and all around the country was doing what san francisco got ahead of, you can see what a special opportunity this was, and how much work it took to get there. part of doing that was to recognize that we had to have an unusual financial partnership. to -- san francisco developers were very special people. we want to be treated differently on every project. it was the mayor touch office of housing that said we would not be different from each other, we would all do it the same way, which frankly hurts. we did not like to hear that message. with that said, we didn't have a choice, and may be that is a

lesson for leadership, but they turned to a single financial partner in order to make sure they made this work. there are few organizations in the work, -- in a world, corporate america took a step up to the challenge for a financing perspective and a philanthropy perspective. we were lucky early on to have the partnership of bank of america on this project. is quite exceptional. i want to bring up now liz minnick who is the bay area of marketing executive for bank of america to talk about it, but i want to say, come on up, i want to say the tremendous work of the bank over the years, and appreciation for the team in terms of working on this and partnering with us on this. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much and good morning everyone. as a fellow district to neighbor , it is so very special to be here today, and i want to thank our two elected officials,

mayor breed and supervisor stefani for everything you have done in your ongoing support. bank of america is thrilled to have been able to be the financial partner of the san francisco r.a.d. redevelopment and financing $2.2 billion for this project. not only the largest in our history, but the largest in the united states. it really is something special. we think we are special in san francisco, and especially from a bank of america standpoint. we were founded 115 years ago as the bank of italy. as we think about our legacy here in the city, certainly after our founding with the 1996 earthquake, and the importance of getting people back in their homes, that is what we are able to do. thank you to all of the people involved. thank you for the relationship we have with mercy housing. thank you to the san francisco department of housing, to get our elected officials, and to everyone a blank -- bank of america who made this possible. thank you so much.

[applause] >> all right. probably the most interesting part of all these presentations is withstanding all of our excellent talk. it is really to have a chance to hear from the resident about what the experience has been like. we do this work for residents, that is the reason for mercy housing to work. and i think many of the people in the room, that is a reason why we are here. i want to share a few words about their experience at j.f.k. towers. thank you john for taking the time, and being willing to share your story. [applause] >> i believe that mercy housing makes life worth living.

to illustrate, let me tell you in the -- an interesting story. a personal experience. one day when mercy first came here and people were gathering around, and not quite used to anything yet, that one day, a staff member from mercy housing came in from outside and he saw me and said, john, i saw your picture on a meals on wheels vehicle. i said, you didn't see the other 19 of them in the truck. , he then called me mr john, a gentleman is standing in the doorway right here. that started something i would never have expected. i would come down in the morning

, and angel in the office or mary, our manager, would say, good morning mr john. that grew. then it was staff, it was tenants, but mostly, it was housing and construction. they would get in the elevator with me, and they would say, mr john, and one man said, i want to show you something, and he took out a photo of his infant daughter, sharing it with me. i thought this is very rare. this is extremely nice. that went on for some time. everywhere i would go, it would be mr john. i would go out for a walk, and the men would be outside doing something at the fountain, have a nice walk, mr john. i would come back and say, did you have a nice walk, mr john?

then they began showing the part -- more pictures of family, particularly the children, and i thought, well, this is very nice at my 93rd year, and so then came a very interesting time. near navy construction had left the building -- except for a handful. they were all done here. they came and said goodbye. they knocked on the door of my unit to tell me goodbye, mr john and then came the day where there were about a dozen left on the rooftop just above my unit, working on waterproofing. they had a problem. while i'm standing in the

doorway, waiting for meals on wheels delivery, the supervisor came and said, my crew will be leaving about 11:00 o'clock. would you stand in the doorway and say goodbye? and by the way, after you've done that, stay in the doorway until they've gone down the walkway and have left that area, that balcony. about 11:00 o'clock, with the door open, i heard them coming down from upstairs. i stood out in the doorway, they came by, and all very cheerful, and very pleasant, and then they walked down to go to the elevator. they didn't go in the elevator, they stayed out of the balcony, about 12 people turned and looked at me, and in a cacophony

of languages, english, spanish, i think arabic, someone said, and i thought, this was interesting, and when they have finished, the supervisor spoke in a very big voice and said, they said, goodbye mr john. so living in housing is an uplifting experience, and at my 93 years of age, i could not have asked for more. not just the building, it is what you do. and i thought, i am a very lucky man. thank you all for coming. will be glad to see you again next time. [applause]

>> i'm sure i just did a very bad job of reading my notes, and in here i was supposed to say thank you mr john. i will do it now. thank you mr john. i want to acknowledge two more things. i want to echo what has been said previously about the residence and living through a rehab, we thank you very much for living with a rehab. we look forward to working with you over time. i hope we can continue this great relationship going forward , and i welcome your feedback about it. i hope we continue to do all the special things that it sounds like the nibbi folks did with you, mr john. i want to acknowledge mr davis who is responsible for the artwork and the music, he is a resident here, and has been a resident for 18 years. [applause] >> with that, we will call our program to a close.

i want to thank everyone, especially the mayor and the supervisor for getting out here on a rainy day. we will do a ribbon-cutting, which will occur outside where he says, and then there will be tours for the j.f.k. towers the start of the elevators. there are also tours a 2698 california that will be occurring, 15 minutes from now. not occurring. not occurring. notorious. yes, they are. okay, yes, they are. if you want to tour 2698 california, jack and margaret are hiding out the back. they were hiding, the camera is trained on them. thank you very much everyone. [♪]

>> good evening, everyone. i want to welcome you to our 22nd annual lunar new year's press conference. my name is kyra worthy. i'm the executive direct of san francisco safe, and today is all about kicking off our lunar new year, and the safety initiatives we're preparing for the year of the pig. while the lun an new year is a time to celebrate with family and friends, and wish of a prosperous new year, unfortunately, it's a time when the chinese community is frequented by scams and extortion-related crimes. i'm here to let you know that san francisco safe, and our

partners are doing everything we can to make this a crime-free new year's. this begins with our speakers today in law enforcement to let you know what's going to be happening. today we are honored to have san francisco mayor london breed here with us to launch the secelebratory season and safety season. >> the hon. london breed: good afternoon, everyone. i'm so excited to be here today, really, the gateway to chinatown in the city and county of san francisco. as we begin the process of celebrating new year and the year of the boar here in the city, with so many faauuestiva and events, there are so many things that bring people here to san francisco, but more importantly, it also supports a lot of our chinese community

and their history and the traditions that existed for so many years. i'm looking forward to the excitement of what lunar new year will bring in san francisco, but this time of year, it is important that we protect our communities, as well. during this time, we know that there is unfortunately a lot of crime that takes place that targets especially many of our chinese residents, and in particular, our senior community. we know of a recent incident that occurred, a tragic incident, and we are -- our thoughts and prayers are with the victim of -- a woman who was also attacked. but we know there are a number of scams, a number of issues that take place that we need to do a better job of working with the community, that we are providing resources so that people know who to call, and that our folks standing behind me, so many incredible members of our law enforcement

community, they are going to be out there walking the beat, and in many cases, they speak cantonese and mandarin and are here to work with you. that's the goal of sf safe, to highlight the awareness of keeping our community safe, and have a safe and happy and prosperous new year in the city and county of san francisco. so i am looking forward to the excitement, a lot of folks that are shopping here, but we will be paying very close attention. and we want the people of this community to feel comfortable calling 911. no matter what the case is, if there is a crime, feel comfortable in reporting it, in calling it. in fact, a couple months ago, i was with supervisor aaron peskin at portsmouth square where we opened a drop-in

centers for people to meet with police officers to report challenges or issues or crimes in their community. it's open two days a week. so we know there's a lot of work to do. and we don't want to just arrive when there is an issue, we want to make sure that we're being proactive so that crime never happens in the first place. that's what today is about. and last, but not least, i think it's important to talk about how we as a city need to do a good job of looking out for one another. we need to have conversations with the merchants and with our neighbors so that we are truly our brother's and sister's keeper. so that we are paying attention when something is going wrong or something is going right. just a conversation can make a difference in having someone who may have been a victim of a crime in reporting it. it may be the difference between having a crime from happening in the first place. as we go through the celebration of this year and

year-round, san francisco will be paying very close attention to do everything we can to protect the residents of our city, but especially keeping an eye on our seniors. and that means not just our police officers, that means the residents, too. we have to make sure that they are in the forefront of our thoughts, of our prayers, as we move forward in the city together with these incredible celebrations and the changes that continue to occur. san francisco is a great community because of its people, and we're going to have a great and prosperous and safe lunar new year. this is all so much for coming here today. [applause] >> now, we have deputy chief mr. redmon. [applause] >> thank you, kyra. good afternoon to everybody and thank you for being here this afternoon. we appreciate your time and interest in what we all have to say today about the lunar new

year. as we know, the chinese lunar new year is a time to celebrate with the community, family, and friends, and to wish for a prosperous year, this year, of course, being the year of the pig for the san francisco police department, as well. [applause] >> yeah. only i can say that. while we wish we could solely focus on the festivities surrounding this time of year, we have to focus on safety-related crimes. while the department has reduced the numbers of relates crimes, there is still a reason for us to be vigilant. just last month, we arrested

two chinese nationals linked in scams targeting chinese seniors. both subjects are still in custody. i want to recognize sergeant jason hui and captain sergio chin who are here from the special victims unit. they are still investigating this case and are looking for more victims if they're out there, but i think they deserve a round of applause for putting together this case and continuing the investigation. [applause] >> a couple of safety tips for the residents. be cautious if you're approached by a stranger who asks you to follow them somewhere, wants to come home with you, ask you to withdraw money from an a.t.m., or engages in similar suspicious behavior. when in doubt, please contact the police. a lot of people ask the police department a lot of questions about what number they should call. this is definitely a 911 call

to the police department because it is an active crime in progress and this person is trying to harm someone else, so please call 911. all of you, please help spread the word during this lunar new year about the existence of these potential scams, especially to our el dder community members who are often the targets of these scams. in closing, i'd like to urge members of the chinese community who have been confronted by suspects in these possible scams to contact us. we are here to work with you and to create a safer san francisco. happy lunar new year, and there's one person i would like to recognize. there is a change in command we have in the central district. captain paul yep has been a major player at central station, and our new commanding

officer, captain robert yeh, as well, and paul has helped with that transition immensely, so we're looking forward to the lunar new year. thank you, everybody. [applause] >> now, i want to introduce supervisor aaron peskin. [applause] >> supervisor peskin: thank you, miss worthy. miss worthy is worthy, and sf safe is a great organization. i just want to say that that joke was so funny, i regret having you to arrest you a few years back. but in all seriousness -- [speaking foreign language] [applause] >> supervisor peskin: mayor breed, to the president of the san francisco board of

supervisors, norman yee, to the representatives of the other supervisors and elected officials gathered here today, to the command staff of the san francisco police department, to the representatives of the chinese consolidated benevolent association, to the representative of the chinatown community development center, mr. norman fong, and most importantly to the rank-and-file members of the san francisco police department who you see gathered around here today who do the incredible, culturally competent, linguistically competent work here in district three in san francisco's beloved iconic chinatown, i want to thank you for your service. you are the definition of community policing. the first one of these events i went to was 18 years ago, and i am pleased to say that the

number of incidents not only here in district three in chinatown, but in the archipelago of other districts, in the richmond, the sunset, and in the southeast corner of san francisco, have gone down. we remain resolved, we do this year in and year out, and i have to say it's come with profound results, and i want to thank the san francisco police department and the working men and women of the police department for making that happen. [speaking foreign language] >> supervisor peskin: and happy new year of the boar. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor peskin. now we're going to have assembly member david chiu. [applause] >> good afternoon, san francisco. happy lunar new year. it is happy to be back in this spot. i often like to brag to my

colleagues in the california state legislature that we have the best chinatown not just in california but in the entire country, and here at the gateway -- [applause] >> give it up for chinatown. [applause] >> here in chinatown, we meet here once a year, and i think i have been here almost all of the ten times that we come here to celebrate community. it's important to celebrate, it's important to gather, and it's important to be watchful. but men and women around us are responsible for keeping us safe, and we know that happens with community partnerships with nonprofit organizations, with our family associations, with our merchants, but particularly with the leadership of our men and women in blue. i want to salute our san francisco police department for their successes in making sure that we are bringing clark

county artists to justice. i was with family members and community members in visitacion valley this weekend as we are praying for the health and for justice when it comes to the case of our chinese grandmother in visitacion valley who was brutally attacked last week. we have work to do, but we can only do this work together, and so we want the public to remember that in partnership as one family of san franciscans, we can keep our community safe and ensure that all of us will have the happiest lunar new year that we ought to have. have a wonderful day, and thank you. [applause] >> thank you. now we want to introduce our commanding officer of central

station. thank you very much, kyra. hello, everyone. i am a proud fourth generation san franciscan and a native, and i'm proud to be the commanding officer of central station of which includes chinatown. today, i am joined by my colleagues at central station, including my housing and foot beat personnel, and i'd like to introduce them. first is sergeant albert chiu. [applause] >> officer dustin sang. [applause] >> officer dexter sang. [applause] >> officer marisa chung. [applause] >> officer philip leung.

[applause] >> officer alex anton. [applause] >> officer jennie mau. [applause] >> and officer reginald pena. [applause] >> and all of them, as i mentioned, work housing and are foot beat officers, and they primarily focus in the chinatown area. it is very important to us that you know us and that we add faces to our names so you can recognize us whenever you need us. you heard earlier that during the lunar new year festivities that we want you to have fun but also be alert. you should watch out for each other and report suspicious activity, criminal behavior, and especially if it involves seniors. which brings me to telling you

on how to report crimes related to the lunar new year. first, a reminder to say no calmly if someone tries to intimidate you into giving money or valuables. never go with anyone to the a.t.m. and/or disclose any of your information with them. please report all extortion attempts to the police immediately by dialing 911, and now that mandarin and cantonnese language assistance is available. dial 911 if the extortionists are in or just left your home or business, or dial the non-emergency number: 415-553-0123 to report an extortion that occurred at any time, either past or current. a blessing scam hotline is available, as well.

415-553-4212. you can also make an anonymous tip at 415-475-4444. in closing, on behalf of central station, i would like to say -- [speaking foreign language] >> have a happy lunar new year. thank you. >> president yee: i want to say this is one of the most important media events for the chinatown community and beyond because every year, people get scammed, and we need to, every year, remind people that you have to be careful with the people that are coming towards you and asking for your jewelry, asking for your money in the name of blessing your family. now it's been powerful that the community has come together with the police department. when i was growing up in chinatown, that wasn't the case where the community worked with the police department, and people took advantage of that.

and now what i'm seeing is we're working together, we're watching people, we're preventing things from happening, but it takes the community to join not only the leaders that are here today, but also the police department. we need every single one in our community to talk to at least two people, whether it's your relative or a friend, a neighbor that's a senior, talk to them, remind them, remind them over and over again because people are still going out there, they're -- after their wealth. so i want to thank all the media out here, and especially the police department for hosting this, making this a reality that we can have a safe lunar new year. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. now we have jason collins from the district attorney's office. [applause]

[speaking foreign language] >> good afternoon. i'm senior inspector jason colin from the san francisco district attorney's office, and i want to let everybody know that just like the new year when it's january 1, chinese new year is also a time to give thanks, and my district attorney, george gaston, would like to pass on the thanks. the first is we want to thank you, san francisco police department, for assigning sergeant jason hui to be my partner in the series of blessing scams. sergeant hui, who's somewhere behind me, has worked tirelessly on this case.

he worked the entire night of this case, and he hasn't taken a day off during the three-week holiday. he is a great partner in this case. the other thing is i want to thank community for stepping forward with videos, and for taking the time to talk to us. over the years, the blessing scam, as we found out, is an international crime syndicate coming out of one city in main land china. we've had many -- help from many agencies across the globe. i don't have time to list the names, but i do have a chinese interpretation of agencies that helped us in this particular series of ten cases in the last couple of months. finally, i want to share something. i get very emotional when i think about this, a lot of

folks, whether english or chinese speakers, they come to me because i have interviewed at least 60 victims of these blessing scam cases since 2012. and they ask me, well, why are these seniors so stupid in giving away all their stuff? i say, you know what? they're not stupid. they're actually smarter than us, because they care about the life, the welfare of their loved ones more than they care about the material wealth that they have. give you an example. right up the street here, spoke with a victim. she lost $4,000, her life savings. she worked cash jobs in chinatown, and she saved up for about six years for this money. and as i was talking to her, she said well -- i said well, what was this money for? she goes, look at me. she's in her 50's. she only had two teeth left. all the other teeth had fallen

out. she said look at me. i have a hard time eating. i have a hard time looking at you right now. i could spend the money to fix my teeth, but i don't want my son to have my life. this money was for my son to go to college in a few years and hopefully get out of this chinatown that's keeping me here. another incident, i spoke to a victim recently. she hasn't left the house in about two months since a blessing scam happened to her. the worst part about it is this is an affinity scam. she trusted the scammers. she trusted the scammers with her family members. now she trusts no one. lastly, another victim i had, she described to me for about ten minutes how she lost all her jewelry and a large amount of cash, but this one piece of jewelry meant the most to her.

it's a bracelet, it's the last piece that she got from her mom. and the story is there was a house fire back at home. mom ran upstairs, grabbed her jewelry, threw them out the window where a neighbor caught the jewelry as the fire was approaching, and the fire came close. her mom jumped out of the house. she fell -- she died in the fall, and at the time, she was wearing this bracelet. after the fire, the family never recovered the heirloom -- all the jewelry that mom threw out the window. the only things they recovered was this bracelet. so these are the people and these are the faces that i speak with. these are the victims. i want everybody to understand, please be supportive. they're not stupid, they're people just like us.

they think about their families more than they think about themselves and their belongings. and with that, thank you very much, and in english, happy new year, and may good health be with all of you. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. now we're going to have miss kong from carmen chu's office. [applause] [speaking foreign language]

[applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is michelle kong, and i'm very honored to attend today on behalf of san francisco's elected treasurer, carmen chu. our funding goes to support vital city services for san francisco communities, including public safety. as the only chinese american assess or in the state of california, assess or chu is pleased to see the strides that

the community has made to be incluesive of our diverse chinese community in san francisco. as the new year approaches, please remember to take care of your valuables and to report any suspicious behavior, and on the behalf of assessor chu, we thank you for your service and wish everyone a happy new year. [applause] >> thank you. now, to close us out, we're going to have mr. fong, reverend fong. [applause] >> she said breathe. you're going to help me with this prayer, and -- 'cause i believe in the law -- all people should pray once in a while. this is the prayer that i did for the family of mrs. wong that was beat up in viz valley.

you don't have to shout it, but say it with feelings. we need each other, we need the cops more than ever before. why don't you guys drive by phelan every day on your way to work or something? okay. any way. we're thinking of the two seniors that have recently been beat up. a lot of people are upset. let's soak it all in. repeat after me. peace. [speaking foreign language] >> safety. [speaking foreign language] >> love. [speaking foreign language] >> we need peace, safety, and love to feel a little better.

we need this city to get its act together, and we're depending on the city, mayor breed, and all others to jump in really fast. [applause] >> thank you. so i just want to jump in and stay it's been a pleasure to be here with everyone, all the leaders of our central communities. everyone has a idea of what's going on and wants it to start, but together, with our collaborati collaborative efforts, we can make it a safer san francisco. a special thanks to nanny, she'll be giving out 10,000 piggy banks, and fortune cookies with a different tore tune inside. if you could, join us on the merchant walk, say hi to the

different merchants, and help give out our materials. thank you so much. [applause] >> chair peskin: good afternoon and welcome to the land use and transportation committee of the board of supervisors, our first committee of the new committee structure of the new year. monday, january 28, 2019. i am the chair, aaron peskin, joined to my right by supervisor 5 hsha safai and shortly to be joined by supervisor and new committee member matt haney. our clerk is