listen to their feedback. >> they brought us in early so we had a chance to inform things was not as if we were being told what was going to happen, it was actually a dialogue. >> differences that the community proposed to us that we ended up incorporating into the design were really win-win for both of us. >> terraces were not part of the design, but the community came out and really wanted the architects to come up with a different way to sort of soften the façade of the building, and the terraces were a natural way to do it. >> the top lab that recently opened is a place for kids, five years of age and younger, and that has been an important addition to the neighborhood, because we have seen over the last several years, a growing number of families with very young children. >> we have the replacement of the pedestrian bridge fully landscaped with seating and public art. >> we have cooperated with the san francisco arts commission, and we have four installations in and around moscone centre.

>> the project is 550 million plus. >> the financing strategy was unique to some extent. we knew the city had to contribute to a portion of it, we had to agree on what stuff contribution staff contribution was, but we also needed the hotel community to be a part of it. >> the discussion about the expansion was unanimous and that we needed to do it. the hotels came together, and we voted on a funding mechanism which would put an assessment on the room revenue. that assessment is funding about two thirds of the project. the other third of the project will be funded by the city and county of san francisco. we can't move business forward unless we work together, and this is a great example of that. this is a great example of how public and private can come together. >> we've had a lot of collaboration. we have had a long history of neighbors being involved, and

city's leadership, nsf travel and all the partners really trying to do something great for the city, would also make sure that everyone feels good about how it impacts the neighborhoods , and how they partnered with such a good project. this has been a seven year project, and during that time, all of our approvals were unanimous at the city from the beginning, up until now. >> the moscone expansion had a significant impact in creating jobs in san francisco. over 3500 temporary construction jobs, and over 900 permanent jobs. >> we at the city have a requirement that we referred to as local business enterprise. we set a goal of 15% of participation, and over $60 million has been allocated to local frames for the design, and many of the construction signs. >> we had a poster of the globe on our field office wall, and we literally had a pain on every single continent from all of the

hands that have touched this project from all of the tradespeople. it is very much san francisco. >> we are seeing the reward from this project straight away. we have seen what the convention calendar looks like. 2019 will be one of the best convention years that the city has ever enjoyed. >> what is very exciting about this project as it will be serving generations to come. >> and to make it part of the welcome mat to our visiting the city has been just an extraordinary privilege. >> we deliver a significant building. it will be an iconic structure that sits in the middle of the city like a jewel. [♪] [applause] >> a truly has been an amazing

partnership, but the city, in hotel and hospitality committee, the neighborhood and our customers, to this holding is really dedicated ford to make this all come together. his and now we are going to cut the ribbon, and officially dedicate this building. we have spaces here after we cut the ribbon that we want to make sure you get around to see and see some of the meeting spaces, the ballroom spaces, the building on both sides will be open. our friends at the community benefit districts have great outdoor entertainment planned, and the golden state warriors and the giants will be displaying their san francisco pride by having all six of the championship trophies on display in the north lobby so you can take your selfies with them. we want to thank the giants from the warriors and we will officially open and dedicate this building. the mayor has a giant pair of scissors.

we will get this in place and cut the ribbon. >> six, five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] [♪]

[♪] >> welcome to "culturewire." today we are at recology. they are celebrate 20 years of one of the most incredibly unique artist residency programs. we are here to learn more from one of the resident artists. welcome to the show, deborah. tell us how this program began 20 years ago. >> the program began 20 years ago. our founder was an

environmentalist and an activist and an artist in the 1970's. she started these street sweeping campaigns in the city. she started with kids. they had an exhibition at city hall. city officials heard about her efforts and they invited her to this facility. we thought it would coincide with our efforts to get folks to recycle, it is a great educational tool. since then, we have had 95 professional artists come through. >> how has the program changed over the years? how has the program -- what can the public has an artist engage with? >> for the most part, we worked with metal and wood, what you would expect from a program like ours. over the years, we tried to include artists and all types of mediums. conceptual artists, at

installation, photographers, videographers. >> that has really expanded the program out. it is becoming so dynamic right now with your vision of interesting artists in gauging here. why would an artist when to come here? >> mainly, access to the materials. we also give them a lot of support. when they start, it is an empty studio. they go out to the public area and -- we call it the big store. they go out shopping, take the materials that, and get to work. it is kind of like a reprieve, so they can really focus on their body of work. >> when you are talking about recology, do you have the only sculpture garden at the top? >> it is based on work that was done many years ago in new york. it is the only kind of

structured, artist program. weit is beautiful. a lot of the plants you see were pulled out of the garbage, and we use our compost to transplant them. the pathway is lined with rubble from the earthquake from the freeways we tour about 5000 people a year to our facility, adults and children. we talk about recycling and conservation. they can meet the artists. >> fantastic. let's go meet some of your current artists. here we are with lauren. can you tell us how long have been here so far and what you're working on? >> we started our residency on june 1, so we came into the studio then and spent most of the first couple weeks just digging around in the trash. i am continuing my body of work, kind of making these hand-

embroidered objects from our day-to-day life. >> can you describe some of the things you have been making here? this is amazing. >> i think i started a lot of my work about the qualities of light is in the weight. i have been thinking a lot about things floating through the air. it is also very windy down here. there is a piece of sheet music up there that i have embroidered third. there is a pamphlet about hearing dea -- nearing death. this is a dead rabbit. this is what i am working on now. this is a greeting card that i found, making it embroidered. it is for a very special friend. >> while we were looking at this, i glanced down and this is amazing, and it is on top of a book, it is ridiculous and

amazing. >> i am interested in the serendipity of these still life compositions. when he got to the garbage and to see the arrangement of objects that is completely spontaneous. it is probably one of the least thought of compositions. people are getting rid of this stuff. it holds no real value to them, because they're disposing of it. >> we're here in another recology studio with abel. what attracted you to apply for this special program? >> who would not want to come to the dump? but is the first question. for me, being in a situation that you're not comfortable in has always been the best. >> what materials were you immediately attracted to when you started and so what was available here? >> there are a lot of books. that is one of the thing that hits me the most. books are good for understanding, language, and art in general. also being a graphic designer,

going straight to the magazines and seeing all this printed material being discarded has also been part of my work. of course, always wood or any kind of plastic form or anything like that. >> job mr. some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. -- taught me through some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. >> the first thing that attracted me to this was the printed surface. it was actually a poster. it was a silk screen watercolor, about 8 feet long. in terms of the flatwork, i work with a lot of cloddish. so being able to cut into it come at into it, removed parts, it is part of the process of negotiating the final form. >> how do you jump from the two dimensional work that you create to the three-dimensional? maybe going back from the 3f to 2d.

>> everything is in the process of becoming. things are never said or settled. the sculptures are being made while i am doing the collages, and vice versa. it becomes a part of something else. there's always this figuring out of where things belong or where they could parapets something else. at the end goal is to possibly see one of these collage plans be built out and create a structure that reflects back into the flat work. >> thank you so much for allowing "culturewire" to visit this amazing facility and to learn more about the artists in residence program. is there anything you like our viewers to know? >> we have art exhibitions every four months, and a win by the public to come out. everybody is welcome to come out. we have food. sometimes we have gains and bands. it is great time. from june to september, we accept applications from bay area artists.

we encouraged artists from all mediums to apply. we want as many artists from the bay area out here so they can have the same experience. >> how many artists to do your host here? >> 6 artist a year, and we receive about 108 applications. very competitive. >> but everyone should be encouraged to apply. thank you again for hosting us. >> thank you for including us in "culturewire." ♪

>> hi everybody, we down here at the /ep is a center which is our pop up space down here in san francisco where we operate a store front to educate the policy from the home owner who has center which is our pop up space down here in san francisco where we operate a store front to educate the policy from the home owner who has never done anything in the house to the most advanced structure engineers we have working around here. we we're going to here from kelly to talk a little bit about san francisco. how are you doing kelly? >> very well, thank you for having us here. >> in front of us, we have a typical soft story building. when i see this, i think this is some of the most beautiful architecture our city has. a lot of people don't know these are problematic buildings. why don't you tell us about some of the risks he we have in these buildings? >> soft stories are vulnerable in past earthquakes and the northridge

earthquake to this type of building and character of building. when we talk about the soft story, what we're talking about is generally a ground story that has less wall or other /pwraeugs to resist the lateral forces that might be imposed by the earthquake. so we're looking for something that is particularly weak or soft in this ground story. now, this is a wonderful example of what some of the residential buildings that are soft stories in san francisco look like. and the 1 thing that i would point out here is that the upper force of this building have residential units. they have not only a fair amount of wall around the exterior of the building but they also have very extensive walls in the interior and bathrooms and bedrooms and corridors and everything that has a certificate amount of brazing yea it's significantly less country

/srabl in those stories. now very often, we get even a garage or storage or sometimes commercial occupancy in this ground story. that very often not only has a whole lot less perimeter wall but it often has little or no wall on the interior. that wall is the earthquake bracing and so he see very significant bracing in the top floor and very little on the bottom. when the earthquake comes and hits, it tries to push that ground floor over and there's very little that keeps it from moving and degrading and eventually /paoerblly keeping it from a collapse occurring. so we know they're vulnerable because of this ground story collapsing >> is this only a problem we see in sentence france? san francisco? >> no, this is certainly a national problem. more acute in western

but more up to california, washington, moving out into other states. this kind of building exist and this kind of building is vulnerable. >> when you're involved with the community safety, this is a different way of thinking about these types of things. we had a community group of over 100 people involved and upper 1 of them. tell us about * how that conversation went. why did we decide as a city or a community to start fixing these types of buildings? >> there were a lot of aspects that were considered well beyond just the engineering answer that these are vulnerable. and that effort brought in a lot of people from different aspects of the community that looked at the importance of these buildings to the housing stock and the possible ramifications of losing this /houbgs in the case of an earthquake. the financial implications, the historic preserve vacation s implication as you

mentioned, these are very handsome looking buildings that are importance to the tourist city ask which make san francisco something that people are interested from outside in coming and visiting. >> it's such animation story when you think about the 10 years that the community spent talking about this /seurb but we actually did something about it. now we have an order unanimouses put in place to protect 100,000 residents in san francisco and retrospective in 2020. so on behalf of residents and employees in san francisco, we want to say thank you for the work you've done in pushing this forward and making people more aware of these issues. >> and it was a fantastic community effort. >> so in an earth quake, what happens in these kinds of buildings? >> what happens when an earthquake comes along is it moves the ground both horizontally and vertically.

it's mostly the horizontal that we're worried about. it starts moving the building back and forth and pushing on it. when you see i'm pushing on it, the upper stiff of the wall stay straight up but the lower floors, they actually collapse just like i did there. >> luckily, we can put this building right back up where it came from so it's a lot easier. now kelly, obviously these aren't real frame walls here but when you talk about buildings, what makes the property for stiff? >> the easiest and most cost-effective type of bracing you can put in is either put in a brand new wall or to potentially go in and strengthen a wall that's already there where you don't need to have an opening is where you maybe have a garage door or access to commercial space, you might go to a steel frame or other

types of bracing systems that provides the strength and stiff if necessary but at the same time, allows continued use of that area. but some combination of walls or frames or other tools that are in the tool kit that can bring the building up to the strength that's required in order to remove the vulnerability from the building so that when ground shaking comes, it in fact is a whole lot more resistant and less vulnerable. ideally, this story down here would be made as strong and stiff as the floors above. >> if i'm a property owner, what is the first thing i should do? >> the first thing you should do is find professional that can come in and help you evaluate your building in order to, 1, figure out that indeed it does need to be retro fitted and 2, give you some idea of what that retro fit might look like. and

third, evaluation and design to help you determine the retro fit requirement. >> well kelly, i can't thank you enough for being here today. thank you so much for your wealth of information on how we can take care of our soft story problem in san francisco. and you the viewer, if you have any questions, please feel free to visit our website >> in november of 2016, california voters passed proposition 64. the adult use of marijuana act. san franciscans overwhelmingly approved it by nearly 75%. and the law went into effect in january of 2018. [♪] >> under california's new law, adults age 21 and over can

legally possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis and grow up to six plants at home. adults in california can legally give up to 1 ounce to other adults. >> in the state of california, we passed a law that said adult consumption is legal. if you are an adult and in possession of certain amounts, you will no longer be tried. you will not be arrested or prosecuted for that. that is changing the landscape dramatically. [♪] >> to legalization of cannabis could bring tremendous economic and social benefits to cities like san francisco. >> this industry is projected to reach $22 billion by the year 2020. and that is just a few years away. >> it can be a huge legal industry in california. i think very shortly, the actual growing of marijuana may become the biggest cash crop in the state and so you want that to be

a legal tax paying cash crop, all the way down the line to a sales tax on the retail level. >> the california medical industry is a 3 billion-dollar industry last year. anticipating that multiplier as 20, 30, 50 times in the consumer marketplace once adult use is really in place, you could go ahead and apply that multiplier to revenue. it will be huge. >> when that underground economy becomes part of the regular tax paying employment economy of the bay area, it not only has a direct impact, that money has a ripple impact through the economy as well. >> it is not just about retail. it is not just about the sensor. is about manufacturing pick a lot of innovative manufacturing is happening here in san francisco in addition to other parts of the state as well as the cultivation. we should be encouraging that.

>> there is a vast array of jobs that are going to be available in the newly regulated cannabis industry. you can start at the top tier which a scientist working in testing labs. scientists working at extraction companies. and you work towards agricultural jobs. you have ones that will require less education and you look towards cannabis retail and see traditional retail jobs and you see general management jobs. those things that are similar to working at a bar restaurant or working at a retail store. >> we are offering, essentially, high paid manufacturing jobs. typical starting wage of 18-$20 an hour, almost no barrier to entry, you do not need an education. >> that means that people who do not have college educations, working-class people, will have an opportunity to have a job at cultivating cannabis plants. there's a whole wide array of job opportunities from the seedling to the sale of the

cannabis. [♪] >> last year, they said 26 million people came to san francisco. >> the tourism industry continues to be very robust here and the city and county of san francisco is about a billion-dollar industry. >> if we use a conservative cannabis user adoption rate to 15% that means 4 million tourists want that means 4 million tourists want to purchase cannabis. and we need to be ready for th them. >> in 2015, as adult use legalization efforts gained momentum in california, the supervisors created the san francisco cannabis state legalization task force. this task force offered to research and advice to the supervisors, the mayor and other city departments. >> we knew that adult use legalization was coming to the ballot and stat that would bring with it a number of decisions that the city would have to make about zoning and regulation and so forth.

and i decided at that time, at a know it was a great, that rather than have a fire drill after the ballot measure passes, as suspected it would, we should plan an event. so i authored a task force to spend a year studying it and we made it a broad-based task force. >> we prepared ourselves by developing a health impact assessment and partnered that with key stakeholder discussions with washington, oregon, colorado, to really learn lessons from their experience rolling out both adult and medicinal cannabis. >> within days of the passing of the proposition, ed lee called on agencies to act decisively. >> he issued an executive order asking the department of public health, along with planning and other city departments to think through an internal working group around what we needed to do to consider writing this law. >> we collectively, i would say

that was representatives from g.s.a., as well as the mayor's office, met with a lot of departments to talk through what prop 64 and the implementation of prop 64 it meant to them. >> the mayor proposed an office of cannabis, a one-stop shop for permits allowing operators to grow and sell cannabis. >> he wanted a smart structure. he wanted a regulatory structure that ensured that kids didn't have access and community's were safe and that consumers were safe. and he wanted to ensure, more importantly, it was a regulatory structure that encouraged diversity and inclusivity. >> this is an office that will be solely charged with a duty of wanting not only the policies that we create, implementing and enforcing them, but also executing the licenses that are needed. we're talking about 20 different licenses that will put us into

compliance with what is happening on the state level. >> this is a highly, highly regulated industry now, at this point. we have anywhere from 7-10 departments that will be working with these industry participants as they go through the permitting process. that is a lot of work at a loss of coordination. we are creating a permitting process that is smart and is digital. it is much easier for the user and for community input, and is less mired in bureaucracy. >> for the first time ever in san francisco history, standalone licenses are available for all aspects of the nonretail side of the cannabis industry. now, a cultivator can go in to the department of building inspection and to the department of health and say, with this first registered and temporary license, and then what will eventually be a permanent license, this is the project, this is what i am going to do.

>> very rarely in city government do we interact with industries that are asking to be regulated. these guys want to be regulated. they want to be compliant. they want to work with the city. that is rare. >> san francisco has created a temporary licensing process so that the pre-existing operators here in san francisco can apply for a temporary state licensed. >> we have taken teams of up to 12 inspectors to inspect the facility twice a day. we have been doing that with the department of building inspection and the department of public health. and the fire department. >> it is really important for the industry to know that we are treating them like industry. like manufacturing. like coworkers pick so that is the way we are approaching this from a health and safety and a consumer protection network. this is just the way practice happens with restaurants or manufacturing facilities.

>> because there are so many pieces of industry that people haven't even thought about. there are different permits for each piece. you have to set up a permitting system for growing, for manufacturing, for testing. for delivery. for retail. you have to make sure that there is an appropriate health code. certainly the regulation of alcohol in terms of restaurants and retail it's probably a model for how this industry will be regulated as well, both on sale and consumption. >> it is completely uncharted territory. there is a blessing and a curse with that. it is exciting because we are on a new frontier, but it is very nerve-racking because there's a lot at stake. and quite frankly, being san francisco, being the state of california, people are looking to us. >> we hope that cannabis does become more of an accepted part of society in the same way that alcohol is, the same way coffee

is. >> it is a very innovative fear, particularly around manufacturing. san francisco could be an epicenter. >> san francisco can be a leader here. a global leader in the cannabis movement and set a bar just to other communities and cities and states and this nation how it is done. [♪] >> welcome everyone. my name is david cook. i am the president of the board of the directors of the episcopal community services. is my privilege to thank you all for being here on this wet but

very important day as we inaugurate the bryant street navigation center. i wanted to take a minute to give a special welcome to our distinguished roster of guest speakers will be hearing from in a few minutes. the mayor is here, filled tagging tag tony tried various, and rebecca from google. i would also like to welcome leaders and staff of the department of homelessness and supportive housing, here. i would also like to welcome all our other partners and friends and members of the press who are covering these issues so diligently. a special welcome to the board members and staff who showed up today. one of our senior staff members will be offering some interesting insight into this new facility a little bit later on. last but not least, i want to welcome our navigation centre residents who are here in the room. the folks who are on the front lines who are experiencing or

have recently experienced homelessness first-hand. as you probably know, conventional homeless shelters have been around for a long time , but navigation centers are pretty new. less than four years ago, in march of 2014, we were instrumental in opening and operating the very first navigation center in the united states over on mission street. since that time, five additional navigation centers have been opened, and today, a sixth. the navigation centers in this town have become a national model for removing barriers to housing for high need individuals who are dealing with complex issues and two as a result, have experienced homelessness. along the way, ecs has continued to operate two of the navigation centers, but has established itself as an innovative thought leader in the field, providing

expert consultation to sister agencies both in san francisco, and across the country, and early-stage planning, set up, and ongoing operations, which brings us to what we are doing here today. we are so excited to be starting and operating this brand-new 84 bed navigation center here in the south of market. as you will hear, opening a facility like this requires the hard work, dedication, and generosity of a lot of people and a lot of companies and agencies. but long-term success in addressing homelessness can never be achieved without committed leaders at the highest levels of local governments. that is what we have in mayer london breach. just this past october, a few months after she was elected, she set an ambitious goal of adding 1,000 new shelter beds in san francisco by the end of 2020 and of getting half of them online -- [cheers and applause] >> and of getting half of them online by this coming july. eighty-four of them are right here. under her leadership, we are on the way. ladies and gentlemen, mayer london breed. [cheers and applause]

>> thank you. i am excited to be here today and i'm also excited to welcome in the new incoming supervisor for district six, matt haney, who is joining us here today. [applause] >> please direct any of your complaints to him. [laughter] >> this is a great day. i am just excited about what we're doing here in san francisco and it does take a village to get to a place where we can address what we know is one of the biggest challenges we face in this city, and that is homelessness. so many incredible organizations groups that continue to build partnerships with each and every one of us, to focus on providing shelters, providing navigation centers, providing services, one of our great partners is here today, thank you downtown streets team for being here, it all the work that you continue to do to keep our communities clean and safe, and many of you

know that this is definitely a top priority for my administration, and i am committed to making sure that we add at least 1,000 shelter beds to the city and county of san francisco by 2020, and what that would do is help provide a place for so many people that we know are sleeping on the streets every single night. we need to make sure that regardless of the challenges that we face as a city, in terms of building more housing, regardless of any of the issues around support for funding, for programs, we have to have places for people to go. we have to have places for people to go where they are able to stay for 24 hours and not be told that they have to leave in the morning. that is my commitment in helping to address this issue. it is an ambitious goal because we haven't increased the number of shelter beds by that amount since the 1989 earthquake. many of us remember that time in our city where it was a very challenging time. we know that if we are going to

get to a better place, we have to also be honest, and have an honest conversation about what we know are some of the root causes of homelessness. many people that sadly are down on their luck, many people who are struggling with mental illness, and addiction, we know that we can do better by providing more permanent services to get people to a better place. i am excited because since the navigation centers have been in existence, it is really a great place to transition people into more permanent housing. we have connected people to permanent housing. we connected people to resources and we have, through our homeward bound program, we have connected people to their family members. over 1,000 people serve through our navigation center program that have been reconnected to their families. what we are doing is not traditional in that navigation

centers are 24 hours, they have a great staff and team of people who continue to greet people with a smile, and treat people with respect and the dignity that they deserve. and more importantly, they have a really strong desire to help people get off the streets and get permanently housed. ultimately that is the goal, it anything that we do. we basically, with these navigation centers, people are able to bring their partners, their pets, and in fact with this particular center with 84 beds, 20 will be dedicated specifically to women peer given women a private location where they can get the support and the services that they need as well. just a few days -- 623 people out of our navigation centers since december have been transferred -- transitioned into permanent housing. 144 people have had temporary

placement, and over 1200 have been reconnected with their families through our homeward bound program. thank you all so much for that hard work in getting people connected to. [applause] >> we know that it takes a village to get to a place where we have more opportunities for people to get into permanent housing and to get stabilized, and a lot of this work is done -- bureaucracy is involved, but also creative, hard-working leaders like our assembly member who is here with us today, who not only pass the legislation that made it possible for us to lease the land for this particular purpose, but help to provide a significant portion of funding to get these navigation centers open, so i just want to thank phil for his leadership in sacramento, and continuing to push this conversation that has led us to this place of opening

what is probably the third navigation center since the work he has been doing, in the and the second on caltrain land specifically. [applause] >> i want to thank tony taveras from caltrain, because again the people who work for these departments are the drivers of what we need to do in terms of paperwork, and issuing funds, and those kinds of things. so thank you to tony from district four who is here with us today. and also our private partner, google, rebecca is here with us today. they provided $3 million to get this place open sooner rather than later. [applause] >> jeff kaczynski and his team from the department of homelessness, they don't just work on trying to provide these spaces, they work every single day on the front lines, the hot team, they are out there trying to get people to help, and the support that they need to, and

through our coordinated entry system, they have been able to register thousands of our homeless residents in order to get them into places like the navigation centers, and it has been a fascinating system where we are able to track people, and get them to help and the support they need without duplicating services. i want to thank you mohammed nuru with the department of public works who facilitated the building of this building, and some of the other navigation centers. i want to thank the real estate division in the city, and i especially want to thank the folks with community services for continuing to be a great partner in continuing to provide the kinds of services that we get to build, we go through the process, we get the legislation, but it takes community partners, and the work they do on the front lines in order to make that these places are working for the people that we want to take care of. it will take a consistent effort from each and every one of us if we are going to address this issue. every day i am thinking about

what are some more ways in which we can get to a place where not only we are able to address some of the challenges around homelessness, but how will we build more housing, pete -- keep people housed, and make sure that when someone is homeless, we are able to get them into some permanent situations where they are able to live in dignity while we have a lot of work to do, but this is a great start and i'm i am looking forward to getting to our goal of making sure that 1,000 shelter beds exist, an additional a thousand beds in addition to the ones we have and they are open and available to anyone at any time so that no one has to sleep on our street at night in the cold. thank you all so much for being here today. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. as she suggested, the challenges of homelessness require the commitment of knowledgeable and dedicated legislatures.

we also have this in our assembly member from the 19th district. [applause] >> thank you, david, thank you to e.c.s. for doing this amazing work, day after day. it is because of organizations like yours that you really make me so proud to be from san francisco. we have some of the best nonprofits, not just in our state, but across the country. thank you to mayor breed for your amazing leadership. it seems like a few months ago we are at division circle on caltrain land, and doing a similar celebration. i know that at times it feels so daunting. we walked the streets, would drive the streets, we see folks sleeping on sidewalks, sleeping in the park, and i think for years, we have always grappled with, what do we do while what can we do? it feels like we put people in

homes and in shelters and then there's more people in streets. at times it feels like an epic problem that really can't be solved. i think at times where i look at our city and we often times are a lightning rod for people. people are coming -- there are folks frustrated here and people are coming here from all over because san francisco is doing their part. san francisco is offering their services. that is one of the reasons why the state has decided to get involved. we realize this is no longer a city by city issue. mayor breed can't talk to other mayors, we have to figure out how to do this. everyone in the state has to do their part. one in four homeless people in our country lives in california. one in four. 134,000 people. we have 75 -- we have 7500 people here in san francisco.

los angeles has 60,000. think about it. that is not a small town. that is a medium-sized town in california. so the problem is great. it is also a stage that we know we can solve problems. we know if we can build bridges, we can build all these buildings , we can build all this amazing housing and build the economy. we have an economy here in san francisco with 2% of unemployment, we are the fifth largest economy in the entire world in california. there is nothing we feel like we can't do. if we can't find a way to put people in homes, if we can't find a way to have people, offer people a life with dignity, than i don't think anybody else can. we will not stop trying, because that is what our city stands for we know that we believe that we are welcoming people from all around the world his, all around the country to come and live here regardless of their circumstance, regardless of their documents, regardless of

why they're here, and because for the simple reason that they come here because this is a place where they can live, where they can thrive, where they can succeed. we want to continue to be the beacon of hope. that city ants that state where people want to come, where people can thrive, and where people can live out their dreams , that california dream is still alive and well. in terms of the state, we were so proud to work with the city about 20 years ago to ensure that caltrain's land, ten different parcels in the area, we want to thank tony at the team for working with us, to be able to give us land at a reduced rate. many of us probably walked by and drove by the slabs thinking okay, it is just empty land. it is just part of an offramp. before i saw the division circle , i had no idea what could be done with the parcel of land next to a freeway on-ramp or an

offramp. it is amazing. this is now an on-ramp onto a different life, right? [applause] >> not only can you go to oakland, you can go into other areas. that is what we want people to turn to. i am proud this is a team effort the city, the mohammed, our mayor, our new supervisor, state and caltrain saying, hey, i spoke to them and they spent about $60 million a year just shoeing people off their land. they said, hey, how about we helped house people? let's not waste that money and let's be part of the solution. so that is what we are saying. let's be part of the solution. so the state was proud to give the city $10 million for navigation centers. went on division center that got put off.

the state also said we will give $500 million across the entire state. $27 million to san francisco to help put up emergency shelters. why quiet we have an emergency crisis in homelessness. it is an emergency. when you have this many people living on the streets. i know that is the beginning. we need to do more and not only do we need to do more in terms of funding and taking a hard look, we need to make sure that everyone is building homeless shelters and housing for the homeless. not just us. it can't just b.s. it has to be san mateo, it has to be -- you can't just be us. it has to be all the different counties that haven't been part of that solution. we know it is part of the stuff we need to do with the other counties who aren't as onboard. we'll be taking on those challenges just like we are taking on challenges from housing. but again, thank you so much for the huge amount of team effort,

all of the city, state, amazing who are here today, and really to give 84 people this new on-ramp to a different life. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. as the mayor pointed out, it takes a village to open a navigation center, and you can't have a village without the land its built on. this is where caltrain comes in. i would like to invite the district four director to the podium. he will describe in more detail their role in making this navigation center a reality. tony? [applause] >> good morning. thank you assembly member, mayor london breed, and thank you to all the partners who made this navigation come to fruition. i'm so pleased and excited to be here this morning and celebrating the opening of the navigation center, and the partnership with the city of san francisco and the california department of transportation and

crafting an innovative solution to the challenges of homelessness. for us at caltrain, keeping people safe is what we do. it is at the heart of what we do we come to work every day committed to ensuring the safety of those who drive on the highway system, our maintenance workers who are out diligently caring for that system, and the pedestrians and bicyclists navigate highways that are also city streets. it is incredibly important to me that everyone, whether work or traveller gets home safe at the end of each day. and because safety is so important to me, i worry when i see people trying to create a home on our toughest -- transportation infrastructure. it is not a safe option and it puts people at risk because they are living close to heavy vehicles moving at high speeds, they are living long term in the exhaust of those vehicles, in their living without proper sanitary infrastructure and exposing them to disease. they are also living exposed and vulnerable to crime.

this is not what we want for our fellow citizens, and yet more and more people feel they have no other option than to take shelter on the transportation infrastructure. this place has been in jeopardy and impacts the communities around them. is a huge and overwhelming problem, and know one nonprofit or government entity can solve it. but such big problems provide us with opportunities to innovate and develop these partnerships, and the navigation center is one of those solutions. with the creative leadership of the city of san francisco and the state legislature, we are able to lend an unexpected hand. this location is not -- is now suitable as a permanent housing site, and it will also provide an entry point to help people on the journey out of homelessness. it will balance the urgency of the issue, the safety of the affected people, and the practical operational requirements on the highway system.

i'm excited to see the impact of this center, as well as similar partnership opportunities that we are engaging in the bay area. the celebration today highlights what we can accomplish when we work worked together to find compassionate solutions. we are very proud to be part of the effort to address the crisis of homelessness, and i encourage everyone to think outside the box and discover how you too can take part. thank you very much. [applause] >> tony didn't mention what the actual rent is, i think it is one dollar a month. is that rent control? [laughter] >> good news. opening a center like this also requires the participation of committed individuals and companies in the private sector. for that we have many people to thank, but none more so than google. i would like to introduce the chief of public affairs in california, rebecca pros and. [applause]

>> good morning. google has been a proud member of san francisco for over a decade his. since we first moved to our offices along the embarcadero, we continue to aim higher to be a good corporate citizen and neighbor, build strong and valued relationships with local nonprofits like downtown streets , community groups, and policy members are doing incredibly important work in the city. we have a long history of working with these partners to identify where we can best be of service. where everyone has seen the most need to, and where we can have the most impact, is homelessness their answers provided us with a multitude of opportunities. we provided free munimobile for youth, we helped install free wi-fi and 31 parks across the city, we have loaned city google employees for a civic leadership project to improve user experience and design of affordable housing which earned a government award last year, and we have also given

$1 million to the mayor touch a fund for homelessness to unify the systems for homeless i -- facing nonprofits and service is called the one system. these projects and more have combined for a total investment of over $63 million in the san francisco community since 2014. nearly a quarter of the funding is addressing the dire need for more resources for more homelessness. it is through ongoing conversations with partners, icu jeff kaczynski, that we first learned about the mayor touch a fund for homelessness and navigation center programs. this is more than worthy of the google grants provided to offset the $4.67 million construction cost. we are so proud and thankful to be here today as the doors are finally open, and more of our neighbors are able to access the resources and services they need we are honored to stand with mayor breed, with assembly member taking, supervisor matt haney, with episcopal community

services and caltrain, and other city leaders to provide services to other individuals in need. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, rebecca, and thank you so much to google for what they have done. our last speaker is ccs's director of programs who will describe some of the interesting details about this navigation center. ,. [applause] >> thank you. episcopal community services focuses on ending homelessness through housing as the brilliant navigation center is an essential component of the city 's homeless response system. as we serve long-term homeless individuals, our focus is on offering rest bite from living on the streets, and giving people an opportunity to change their lives. today, 34 people have moved into this navigation center and we

continue to accept people from the department of homelessness and supportive housing, and the homeless outreach team as we fill 84 beds. the brilliant navigation center is unique in that there are 20 beds designated for homeless women who have their own separate living and sleeping area, in addition to offering on site meals and showers and property storage, our guests will receive on site medical care, harm reduction therapeutic services, and case management connecting people to income, public benefits, interim housing and assessments for placement and longer-term housing. access to e.c.s.'s workforce development and healthy aging, continual services is also available for all of our navigation center guests. finally, e.c.s. is proud to be partnering with the city as they bring on the brilliant navigation center, and we thank you all. [applause] >> thank you. once again we would like to thank mayor breed, this family

member, and google and further remarks today and for their amazing supports. we like to thank all of you, a republican private partners, staff, residence, neighbors for attending this. we are committed to continuing to provide pathways to housing with tools such as this navigation center and the programs and services it provides. you are all invited to a short tour of this new facility that will be led by, and by john, our interim director of shelters and that will conclude our presentation today. thank you. [applause]. >> working for the city and

county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrate and dynamic city on sfroert of the art and social change we've been on the edge after all we're at the meeting of land and sea world-class style it is the burn of blew jeans where the rock holds court over the harbor the city's information technology xoflz work on the rulers project for free wifi and developing projects and insuring patient state of at san francisco general hospital our it professionals make guilty or innocent available and support the house/senate regional wear-out system your our employees joy excessive salaries

but working for the city and county of san francisco give us employees the unities to contribute their ideas and energy and commitment to shape the city's future but for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco >> the meeting will come to order. this is a regular meeting of the budget and finance committee. i am supervisor sandra lee if you are, chair of the committee. i am joined by catherine stefani , and welcome to supervisor walton. i would like to thank helena and tom from s.f. because --