with the pipes in the bathrooms, and some of the challenges that exist and we know that too often too many of our residents who live in public housing have not been given the support and the resources, and the things that they need to be able to live in dignity. today we celebrate the renovation of 138 units, of housing for seniors and people with disabilities. and i am proud of the work that we have done to help to lead the way to renovate over 3500 units of public housing throughout the city and county of san francisco as i said before kata, i grew up in public housing, and i lived in plaza east for over 20 years of my life. the frustration that came with making the phone call to get something fixed, and waiting weeks, and sometimes months --

sometimes months for things to be fixed, my grandmother raised me, in just the challenges we experience with having to get basic service was so frustrating and when i first became a member of the board of supervisors, one of the things i asked mayor lee to do is to work with me with focusing our attention and resources on the rehabilitation of the thousands of units that exist citywide. so many amazing people helped lead the way in moving forward and what i think is an amazing amount of time to get these units rehabbed so you have a safe and affordable clean and nice great place to live, to grow, and to thrive. i am grateful that as mayor, what's happening now is we are

seeing the fruits of our labor over the past couple of years, and in mayor lee's owner, i want to celebrate this, because not 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. [♪]

>> right before the game starts, if i'm still on the field, i look around, and i just take a deep breath because it is so exciting and magical, not knowing what the season holds holds is very, very exciting. it was fast-paced, stressful, but the good kind of stressful, high energy. there was a crowd to entertain, it was overwhelming in a good way, and i really, really enjoyed it.

i continued working for the grizzlies for the 2012-2013 season, and out of happenstance, the same job opened up for the san francisco giants. i applied, not knowing if i would get it, but i would kick myself if i didn't apply. i was so nervous, i never lived anywhere outside of fridays know, andfridays -- fresno, and i got an interview. and then, i got a second interview, and i got more nervous because know the thought of leaving fresno and my family and friends was scary, but this opportunity was on the other side. but i had to try, and lo and behold, i got the job, and my first day was january 14, 2014. every game day was a puzzle, and i have to figure out how to put the pieces together. i have two features that are 30

seconds long or a minute and a 30 feature. it's fun to put that altogetl r together and then lay that out in a way that is entertaining for the fans. a lucky seat there and there, and then, some lucky games that include players. and then i'll talk to lucille, can you take the shirt gun to the bleachers. i just organize it from top to bottom, and it's just fun for me. something, we don't know how it's going to go, and it can be a huge hit, but you've got to try it. or if it fails, you just won't do it again. or you tweak it. when that all pans out, you go oh, we did that. we did that as a team. i have a great team. we all gel well together. it keeps the show going. the fans are here to see the teams, but also to be

entertained, and that's our job. i have wonderful female role models that i look up to here at the giants, and they've been great mentors for me, so i aspire to be like them one day. renelle is the best. she's all about women in the workforce, she's always in our corner. [applause] >> i enjoy how progressive the giants are. we have had the longer running until they secure day. we've been doing lgbt night longer than most teams. i enjoy that i work for an organization who supports that and is all inclusive. that means a lot to me, and i wouldn't have it any other way. i wasn't sure i was going to

get this job, but i went for it, and i got it, and my first season, we won a world series even if we hadn't have won or gone all the way, i still would have learned. i've grown more in the past four years professionally than i think i've grown in my entire adult life, so it's been eye opening and a wonderful learning >> welcome. my name is caroline, i am the director of community real estate at mission economic development agency. happy new year, welcome to 25 sanchez who have not been here before. i returned to the -- as we turn the calendar to 2019, it is a perfect time to reflect on new beginnings, and that is

definitely the case. looking around at this refurbished property, i'm delighted to see a prime example of collective impact. it was four and a half years ago when taking on the city's call for nonprofits to take on the rental assistance demonstration, rad for short, it seems like a daunting process for us. after all, this was a brand-new process for us. that is why the support of many partners was enlisted. it meant city officials, funders , community members, and the residents of 25 sanchez itself, and to you, i now offer thanks for the key role you all played in making today a reality please give yourselves a round of applause. [applause] >> it should be noted that when taking a difficult project and putting all the pieces together, such as 25 sanchez, it takes a

trusted partner, and/or codeveloper co. developer, bridge housing, has been that trusted partner. thank you bridge. we could not have undertaken this work without such an experienced player in the fields [applause] >> it is interesting to note that the last two mayors of san francisco grew up in public housing. the late mayor ed lee championed the rehabbing of public housing and his beloved san francisco, having grown up in seattle public housing, and our new mayor, mayor london breed, is furthering that dynamic vision. we are honored she is with us today to cut the ribbon. [applause] >> what was our vision for the r.a.d. properties, it was to create functional, quality homes for senior and disabled residents, welcoming community spaces, and community ownership of those spaces. redefining public housing was our goal, and i'm proud to say that that goal has been met.

twenty-five sanchez is just one of five r.a.d. properties we have now successfully rehabbed. all part of the mission castro clustered that totals 349 homes pervert -- preserved for seniors and disabled san franciscans. we sincerely think their residence -- we thank the residents for letting us become part of their lives. your input was vital, and engagement was high, as evidenced by how interactive this building was during our teatime community meeting when we translated in our multiple different languages and in our many one-on-one conversations. additionally, throughout construction, we learned lessons based on your feedback. during the last three construction phases, you shared with us how we could consolidate our construction and then you worked together to prepare yourself for the changes as neighbors and as roommates. thank you for all that you have done. thank you also for your community input on these

beautiful murals, on the plans and the plants in the garden, choosing paint colors, and basically making this warm your home, which it already has been. thank you so much for making yourselves part of this. you epitomize what it means to be a community. you entrusted us as stewards of your longtime home, and that was a true gift. today we rededicate this building which represents the beginning of a bright future for this community. thank you. [applause] >> i would like to introduce cynthia parker, president and c.e.o. of bridge housing. [applause] >> thank you caroline. we were talking earlier about when we first met, i guess it was almost five years ago, to talk about our partnership and how we might approach the

potential of becoming partners and rehabilitating some of the public housing under the r.a.d. program. i'm very pleased to say that it has been a great success, and i thank you for your partnership, and i thank the city also for their incredible dedication to making this happen. this kind of public housing facility, which was originally built in 1972 really, due to a lack -- lots of factors had fallen behind, and really needed to have someone from the city and the housing authority champion it and say we are going to make a difference, we are going to put money into these projects, we are going to seek out federal funds, we will do what we need to do in order to make this place the kind of home that people believe in, and that will help them succeed in life, and unfortunately, i love that dog. [laughter] >> i wish i had mine here.

the kind of home that people have is the type of place that they need to be able to age in place in. this building had fallen behind, and now i think it is significantly better. i think with our partners, and our partners at bank of america who helped finance, we were all able to make incredible improvements to people's lives and improvements in this community room, and i think that with that, everyone can call this a place that they are proud of, and one they can call home. with that, i just said i would make a few comments on the kind of dedication it takes for this type of rehab of a public housing facility. the city of san francisco is just an incredible safety, and it is supportive housing. i wanted to make a comment about that because we do have a mayor in london breed who is a

champion. as with ed to lead, but certainly she is taking that mantle further, and also knows from personal experience how important a home is for someone. with that, i wanted to thank the office of housing, bank of america, our partner, and mayor breed, you really have made a difference in people his' lives, and i know you will continue to do so as mayor. i would like to introduce mayor london breed today. [applause] >> thank you and good morning. is that morning still? good morning everyone. i am so excited to be here today every time we do a dedication or rededication ceremony in one of our public housing developments where we are rehabbing them all over the city, 3900 units, i get really excited, but i also think about mayor lee because when i

first started on the board of supervisors, and he and i sat down and talked about what my priorities would be as a member of the board of supervisors, i made it clear that my top three priorities was public housing. because i lived in public housing, as was stated to, for more than 20 years of my life. we never had a shower, we had a lot of challenges with our bathroom and mould, we had a lot of issues with the plumbing in general, we had roaches, we had stuff that really, when you have to live like that for so long in your life, you never forget it. it becomes a part of who you are , so when you are in a position where you can change that for someone else who sadly is still living in a really terrible conditions, there is nothing you wouldn't do to fight for the people that you know deserve better, and i am so proud and honored to now be a mayor who is continuing that

fight for so many of our residents throughout san francisco who need us to be champions, who need us to focus on changing the lives of people who we know need for us to invest and improve the conditions of many of our public housing developments in our city so that people don't feel as though they are not part of san francisco, because as i said, growing up, i did not always feel like i belonged in san francisco, or didn't feel like i was part of the city, and i want residents of the city, no matter where you live, to feel like yes , you are part of san francisco, and today's investment is just one step in making sure that the seniors and the folks with disabilities who live in this community can live in place indignity, and know that we are here to support you with the many great services and things that we will continue to do. this community here will not be

forgotten. i want to thank so many amazing people who made that possible. starting with bridge and their partner. they really worked with the community and the people who live here to really ensure the residence that we are not trying to displace you, we are trying to work with you to make this community a better one, and i think, again back to my childhood, and when the property that i lived at just over the hill, 300 units of public housing. we were told they were going to be completely torn down and rebuilt, and only 200 units were being rebuilt, and that clearly meant that some people weren't coming back. it was important to us to make sure that we worked with a partner that would work with the residents to ensure people that the whole point of this is to make sure that you have a place to live and that this place is taken care of and i know this

community had a lot of inputs in the rehabilitation process, including developing this amazing community room, which is absolutely incredible, and also double pane windows, which i actually don't have myself. so i am just so happy about the little things that will make a huge difference in the quality of life for the residents here and i want to thank bank of america for your sponsorship and your investment and what we know has really made a difference. i saw all the work that was happening, and the scaffolding that was up, and even some of the folks who grew up in this neighborhood who worked on this project, it was really a team effort of so many amazing people , amazing city departments , and i'm really grateful to all of you he played a role in helping to not only get this project going, but get it going and moving it in a very fast pace, in comparison to how

projects take place in san francisco, we know they can take years, and here we are, not too long ago, we are at a place where this, along with so many other places throughout san francisco, where we are making the investments, making the properties that are, so i want to thank the residents does the residents for their patients, and i'm excited about the future at this location and so many other places in san francisco where we are committed to making these properties sustainable for years to come. thank you all so much. [applause] >> hey, everybody. i'm the district eight supervisor. welcome to district eight. i did nothing on this project. so it is an absolute delight to be able to land here. i'm sure i will in the future. i have some friends who work

here, and live here, but i just want to say how this is such a wonderful occasion, and how grateful i am to be part of it. one of the first jobs i had as a lawyer, two decades ago, was doing a finance project, representing local governments and housing authorities around the bay area. i am painfully familiar with how hard it is, how impossibly complex it is to put together the various funding sources to make 90 affordable -- to rehabilitate 90 affordable units , and to all the people at bridge and focus with the city and the mayor's office of housing and the housing authority, the investors, the other public partners around this, thank you so much for the hours of phone calls and document review and planning, and looking at spreadsheets, and all the work you did just to get us these 90 units. i do also want to say how pleased i am and grateful on

behalf of my district that these 400 plus units are being rehabilitated around district eight, and that there are thousands more around the city. we have received, from the middle of the last century, a precious legacy, which is these units that were given to us for folks who were not going to be able to afford housing on the market, in the first task has been and is to make those units rehabilitated and make sure they are available and that seniors and disabled folks are getting the best that our next london breed, that our next ed lee is growing up in a decent home, with a shower, and a bathtub that works, that we do not lose the cure for cancer or the solution to global warming that is happening that we might lose if that kid doesn't have a chance. so safeguarding that legacy and rehabilitating those units and bringing them into the 21st century is so important. but we all know that this city is so much less affordable than

it was in the 1970s when this building was given to us. so the work of bringing on the tens of thousands of additional units of subsidized housing that we must develop over the next year is critically important, and i'm so happy that i have a mayor who believes in that, who is pressing forward and prioritizing affordable housing, and i know will be relentless along with the rest of us and in looking for additional sources of funds for housing for middle-class and low income people, who must stay in san francisco if this is to be a healthy, dynamic, diverse city. i am grateful for what everyone has done here, and i'm eager for so much more in my district, and throughout the city. with that, i will introduce barbara smith, the acting executive director of the san francisco housing authority. [applause] >> good morning everyone. so i want to say that we at the

housing authority are thrilled that 25 sanchez and other public high-rise buildings could get the improvements they needed to provide and preserve this wonderful housing for our residents. before this, i would get into bed and pray that none of our senior disabled residents in the high-rise buildings would be out without elevator service, or worse yet, be stuck in an elevator. all too often, i would get a call during the night and scramble to get emergency service from our elevator repair company and send our duty officer take to help residents get to and from there departments and retrieve any essentials that they needed. i know how stressful this situation was for our residents, but with declining federal dollars, the housing authority was not able to do critical elevator and other modernization work at buildings like 25 sanchez. this enormous conversion effort to, over $2.2 billion in financing, for over $750 million

of construction improvements required the brilliant dedication and support from an incredible team, beginning with mayor ed lee, and now our new mayor london breed, including the mayor's office of housing and community development, bridge, bank of america, h.u.d., i wish you were here. the federal home loan bank of san francisco, freddie mac multifamily, our commissioners, our s.f. ha staff who worked very hard with this transition as well, the board of supervisors, the architects, fine line construction and others. thank you to all of you who made this possible for 25 sanchez and our other public housing residents. the results are beautiful, and a special thanks to the 25 sanchez street residents who had faith

in the process through temporary relocation, and living in a construction zone. at last, you have decent state housing with community-based management and connection to services. congratulations to all of you. thank you. [applause] and now i would like to introduce liz minnick from bank of america. it certainly couldn't have happened without you. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much. i don't know how to make this taller. thank you all for having us today. it is thrilling to be here at 25 sanchez to see the rehabilitation of these 90 units in this beautiful community room , and see the light pouring in from the garden. i will continue to think. thank you again, mayor breed, for your commitment to housing, supervisor mandelman, our amazing partners, you are just

really a pleasure with whom to work, and of course, the san francisco's mayor his office of housing and community development. this is found in 115 years ago in 1904 and one of the first things we have the ability to do was, followed the earthquake, help get people back in their homes. housing is of key importance to us, and when the r.a.d. opportunity came to us, we were thrilled to be able to support the $2.2 billion in our level of financing here. that is the largest project in the united states, absolutely the largest project by far from a bank of america standpoint. we are so pleased to be able to do so in the city in which we are founded. thank you for having us today. congratulations on this amazing amazing space, and all the best part of the program, let me please introduce a resident here who will sing. [applause]

>> good morning everybody. good morning neighbors and distinguished guests. is a pleasure to be here this morning. i am a resident of 25 sanchez street and i am also serving on the tenant association during the time of the renovation. it is a pleasure for me to be here today to thank all the partners, mayor breed calculates mayor ed lee, and also as a resident -- and the former president of the tenant association, i would like to say that the renovation was a very trying at times, but we worked very closely with bridge housing , also the northern california presbytery and housing services, it is also an integral partner in the development. we were very successful, and we

collaborated very closely. i am very happy to say that as a resident, and on behalf of my neighbors, i would like to say that it is a pleasure to be living in this wonderful location, we are all grateful that the renovation took place because we now have even more beautiful dwellings and homes, and that is all i would like to say. thank you so much for being here and for the celebration today. thank you. [applause] >> hi everyone. i had the pleasure of working on this really briefly with a large number -- large team of city staff and a number of you. thank you for serving for so long and listening to all of the gratitude that everyone is expressing. i will have an opportunity to thank a lot of specific people and i on a want for you to hear not just their names, the feel how many people really did come together to make this project

happen, to make this building a place where we are. thank you all for their your patients and they are snacks waiting so i promised to go fast first, fine line construction. and then our architect, wayne and melody tam, and tank design group, construction management, bridge housing, a huge team. and thank you to another few folks. i wanted to thank elaine g. -- elaine heat for starting off the

project and others. they all helped the project management and the changes in this building. augustus was also help of purging the neighbors move. the construction manager who works with the bank of america team, mo hcd, and of course, kate hartley for being amazing in helping us through this process. bank of america, we would like to thank you as well for all of your work in investing and believing in the financing of this building. thank you to our lawyers, and c.h.p. see, the people who helped us with putting together the numbers on this building. from our services team, we want to deeply thank you for helping to make sure that our residents continue to have a strong community. john mcdonald, molly marriner,

and cynthia rodriguez. >> she gave me all the challenging parts. this is the rapidfire round of all the vendors that we brought on. i may say them wrong, and you might not have any idea what they're doing, but is a big list good job to the brothers. put my moving. mhc engineering, acg engineering , tipping structural, rcl communications communications, already hsl, red cloud, watchtower security, and others. last, of course, is our funders, you really came together and helped us figure out the pile of matrixes and paperwork that make this real, the mayor's office of

housing, the housing authority, bank of america, a lot of this was mentioned before. merrill lynch, the tax credit allocation committee, freddie mac, enterprise community partners, and the u.s. bank. generally, thank you so much. please enjoy the snacks. we are really happy to have you here. [applause] >> i think we are going out front to do the ribbon-cutting now. >> here we go. >> five, four, three, two, one chair -- [cheering] [applause] [♪]