out the cafe are the famous poet lawrence william getty and jack herb man go hung out. >> they work worked at a play with the god fathers and photos he had his typewriter i wish i were here back there it there's a lot of moving parts the meeting spot rich in culture and artists and musicians epic people would talk with you and you'd get

i'm senior project manager from affordable housing development. [applause] we like to start tonight with a long-held tradition of blessing of this land by pop [indiscernible] plaza draw your attention to the powerful ceremony.

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[applause] on behalf our group, we wanted to say thank you. it's an honor to have the opportunity for us to give this small ceremony. we humbly are here offering these dances in honor of our elements of mother earth, wint and fire most importantly honoring our community. before we end, one of the things

we wanted to really convey to you all, in building community is keeping the strong heart. i thank you from our elders, we are homegrown group from san francisco. we're here, very happy to be able send off to see them grow and develop all the beautiful people and agencies. thank you very much. in honor of our ancestors from mexico i wanted to say thank you before we end. please do not take pictures.

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now this is in honor of men and women and our elders, those who have passed on and our children.

we'll be facing the east in honor of the men. we are joined in a circle of community for love. ♪

>> i want to thank our partner, chinatown c.b.c., norman, thank

you. chinatown has share their expertise in this field throughout the process and through their actions have shown us what partnership looks like. so thank you. i also want to thank senior officials for their support and their ongoing hard work to make this project happen. then, there's the mission community who fought for this site. you took the leap of faith and trusted this team as stewards of creating your long-time home to get to know each of you during the community meetings we sponsored. your feedback translate translaa beautifully designe designed --k you. it's just one piece of

multiprong strategy for affordable housing in this neighborhood. we now have over 1200 units of preserved and pipeline housing coming up. 1200 units in 4.5 years. however, we recognize that the housing crises in san francisco remains. we're only at the beginning of in journey and our path to address the housing crises. together we must create more new units so displaced residents can return to their home. more acquisitions of apartment buildings to keep families in place, more affordable houses a provide vital services to the mission, san francisco and beyond. more commercial affordable spaces for family serving distances. this must be done together,

residents, must continue to fight the fight for what you need. community groups must continue to stand up and with alongside our community, investors must continue to finance projects that keep in place rather than displace. public officials must continue to push the limits of what can be done, given the limited resources available. i want to offer two last sets of thanks. first i want to thank the mayor's office and in particular, the san francisco mayor's office housing and community development, for trusting us taking this important development. we know you're working hard to deliver projects like this one and trying to address the needs while managing expectations and resources. thank you, kate. lastly, i want to recognize

karen lee fang. we know how talented you are, how much you have achieved in such a little time and how you daily push yourself beyond your limits to meet the missions. thank you. >> we all know the mission of transition. we see the change all around us. for our future residents, it's here to stabilize their rivals. life is also about transitions and when we looked at what our vision was going to be, it was to stabilize those transitions. transition of toddlers, transitioning to pre-k, young ones going to their new grades, first generation high schoolers, helping our families succeed and

our children to achieve. this is about keeping the promise. we're so excited that we're going to have 127 homes folsom. to provide a full resources for our families. so they don't i have to worry about this transition. we're so excited. with all of these folks there's advocacy involved to make this happen. we want to thank our city officials, funders, stakeholders, partners and community members we're celebrating today because all of us were part of fighting for folsom to be part of the city

affordable housing. i want to thank our funders. san francisco mayor's office of housing and community development. u.s. bank for believing in us in construction financing and equity investment, california tax credit allocation committee and strategic growth counsel. we're using cap and trade dollars that will fund this development and bearing for permanent fitnessing. i like to introduce mayor breeder for her continued support for affordable housing. >> mayor breed: thank you. i'm really excited to be here today. this is a long time coming. i know that the mission community has tried to push for more affordable housing and it's taken years to get to a point

where we're going to build 127 units on this site and we know that there are six affordable housing projects in the pipeline. today, in my state of the city address, i talked about taking a charter amendment to the ballot. sonjso we can do projects liking this faster. it shouldn't take years to gets a project that is 100% affordable housing done anywhere in the city. people need housing now and this will give us an opportunity to make sure that it doesn't take years reverend fong. i know you're ready to build it. i they're ready to be incredible community partners so that we have more housing in this particular community. more importantly, when we buildabuilding a housing, 40% be of the work we did years ago to

pass neighborhood preference legislation. 40% of the units built in any affordable housing built in this community will go to the residents of this community first. that is significant. now supervisor ronan won't get all those compliments from her residents about folks who may not have access. we're going to make sure that the resources are provided so that the residents are submitting applications for the affordable housing that's built in your community. i'm so indicated. i'm always excited when there's an opportunity to break ground on a new project, especially because incredible partnerships that exist. we know there's more work to be done. not just with building new housing but preserving the existing affordable housing stock. we will continue to invest in our small size acquisition program so that we can acquire

building and keep people housed and keep those buildings permanently affordable. we will continue to do all we can to coordinate with this community, to obtain more site and to make sure that we're investing in more affordable housing. the city is not done the best job of building housing period. we can do better. we are do better. we are do a better job of nation thesinmaking these right invest. working together, i know there's nothing we won't be able to do in our city. some of you may also have heard about the $300 million affordable housing bond that we are going to bring to the ballot soon. the goal is to make sure that when we need support for projects like this, they don't have to wait years. they don't have to wait too long. we are going to get some things done in san francisco and this project, as we all know, which

is taken long time, it's going to be completed and going to be an incredible addition to this community, we want to make sure that we continue in this direction and same spirit and that the housing that's built in the mission is for the residents of the mission. thank you all so much for having me here today. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. when meta to take affordable housing crises in the mission we needed to partner with an expert in the field. teaming up with chinatown cdc was a right choice. i like to invite executive director reverend norman fong to the podium. >> i'm supposed to thank everybody, she already did it. i'm supposed to introduce the

mayor, she already did it. we're going to do it together now. people blessing, just repeat after me. we want to bless this project. you can yell, all right. peace! wall ping! justice! love, peace, justice and love. it's an honor from chinatown to the mission, working together like this and there's so much love and advocacy that put us together. i love it. we're going to do the shovel thing now.

>> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! >> give me something here. >> i want to say congratulations. this is amazing. we are so excited. >> thank you supervisor ronan. i'm going to hand it over to preston. >> we're going to continue on with the program folks. preston here again with chinatown. it's an honor and so grateful to be standing in front of you guys today representing this wonderful partnership.

i joined the project last fall. i've been getting more and more excited about the work we're doing here. we're not only building a construction, 127 units of new affordable housing, we're also able to permanently preserve three nonprofit tenants here in the mission. good samaritan family resource centre and mission graduates. i like to introduce marilyn to the stage. >> please come up to support me.

i'll start while they make their way up here. it is really an honor to be at the groundbreaking of a development that was birthed from vision and people power solution. knowing we've been working on this site for more than 10 years prove this was no small feat. to thank the ancestors for taking care of this land and the

creek below us. this particular victory is an example of the power of organizing, conviction and the success of demanding for more affordable housing. landlords won't stop evicting outrageously raising prices because greed knows no bound. it tiptoes quietly in the background while the rest of us are left to fight for crumbs to live in tha this city. take a moment to think of of loved one, neighbor, friend, acquaintance that have been displaced or lived in fear on a daily base. gentrification kills. there's stories into the spirit of this space about two men

targeted by gentrification. the market is not here to build community, it's it destroys and breaks spirit. my friend was killed because of gentrification by the tools that makes gentrification possible and police brutality. they should be here today. when i see their names, [indiscernible] [speaking foreign language] this lot was won by organizing by creativity, by vision, by love and community.

when we hear that affordable housing is not possible, here's what we show the nonbelievers, that it is possible here. 2060 folsom. that doesn't include the mission. our demand don't stop here. we are well aware there's more gentrification coming and not enough affordable housing to resist it. laws that aren't strong enough to the protect us. we have people power, abundance of hope and history of winning and this abundance goes on for generations, moving hearts and minds along the way. this richness, this profound energy of community will win us more affordable housing without

compromise. everyday people can and have shaped our neighborhoods, that the mission. it is happening. you have to hear us and let us lead. we build by community design. we will defeat the monster and the mission and we will build 100% affordable housing on 16th and mission. we are fuel it with people power without compromise and led by our community. thank you. >> thank you so much. thank you for that heart felt speech. next up, i like to introduce mario from good samaritan family

resource centre. >> thank you. that's a hard act to follow. i'm going to follow your lead. i would like to ask staff to join me please. please come up. good afternoon everyone i'm the executive director of good samaritan family resource centre. this is a beautiful day. i was speaking to reverend fong earlier, he was praying we wouldn't be sitting in the rain now. i grew up in the city in this neighborhood. we know that in the mission, we need the sun, we get it. the sun always shines on the mission. first i want to convey our sincerist thanks to the great

meta team and the city and county of san francisco for county of san francisco for inviting us to be part ofa project. we know that for low income families in san francisco, there are two greatest challenges are cost of housing and theç cost d access for affordable early care and education. good samaritan is excited we'll be able to open new child development at this site. we're so honored to be por partf this mission. i want to thank our district supervisor and the mayor who had to leave, i know you share our hope that san francisco can be a city where all children and families can live and thrive. not just the fortunate few. that's what we're fighting for. we stand with you and i know together we'll achieve that vision. this is the first step to achieving vision.

last and most importantly, i want to thank our community. the hard working parents who struggle each and everyday just to survive to stay in the city. we know what your sacrifices are. they are here. they are the ones who inspire us, all of us to achieve a city can truly be prosperous for all. all i can say is, thank you for your struggle and this project is for you. thank you again. [applause] >> thank you mario. last but not least, we have mission graduates. i like to introduce eddie coffman. >> all right. hello everyone.

i'm eddy coffman i'm executive director of mission graduates. we as an organization are dedicated to ensuring that more student from the mission are prepared for and complete a college education each year. i want to thank hillary ronan and mayor breed and ccdc and the mayor's office of housing and community development for committing to the mission and to the nonprofits that worked daily to support the lives of mission students and families. we believe that higher education is the strongest tool we have to level the playing field for latino youth and families. mission graduates focuses on the whole family through our pipeline of services from kindergarten through college. casa will be a permanent home here in the mission that will allow us to continue to grow and serve more youth and students each year. joining me today are students from our elementary school, middle school and high school

college access program as well as some of our parent leaders from our parent engagement program. we're all here to celebrate our new home. tonight, we're taking the first step to ensure that mission graduates continues to serve the mission district for the next 50 years. as a partner if this innovative housing development, mission graduates will be able to expand our programming, to ensure that more students not only graduate from college but find meaningful careers that will allow them to remain here in the mission. we're excited about this partnership aknow that together we can emphasize college as a means for economic equity and strengthen the fabric of our community. together, we look it make college the expectation, not the exception for mission youth and their families. thank you.

>> can we get another round of applause? good samaritan family resource centre and mission grads? now we heard from some of the community partners, none of thus gets built without money pipelike to as.i like to ask liz come up to speak on behalf of u.s. bank. >> thank you reverend. hello i'm lisa gutierrez from u.s. bank. we are very excited to be here to celebrate the groundbreaking of casa, u.s. bank is proud to partner with economic agency and chinatown cdc to provide housing and services to vibrant neighborhood in the mission district. as a financing partner, u.s. bank provided commitment of

$51 million in construction financing and $39 million in low income housing tax credit equity. as you can see by the agenda, financing partners, it takes a village to close a transaction of this magnitude. hats off to the team. this one was a feat at the end of the year. with that, i like to thank a few of my u.s. bank teammates in the audience here who play a role in this project. u.s. bank, we believe in community possible, which is the foundation for how we provide time and resources in the communities that we serve. community possible focuses on u.s. bank community investments in three pillars, which is home, work and play. the building blocks of all thriving communities where all things are possible. but the foundation is home and without a safe affordable place

to rest your head, it feels impossible to move forward. casa embodies all u.s. bank three pillars with affordable housing and rent burden cities, education enrichment programs with good samaritan, and access to this beautiful park where children can play and families with gather. on behalf of u.s. bank, we are honored to be a partner ton this project and can't wait for move-in day which is one of my favorites to celebrate with newest residents. thank you all. >> thank you lisa. i would like to thank everybody for being here today, today is a historic day for the mission and for san francisco. you're invited to stay around and enjoy the beautiful park it's right next door to us. we will like to let you know

that we look forward to having you coming back in late 2020 when the building built. it will be 127 homes for families as well as transitional age youth. thank you very much for being here and enjoy. thank you. >> okay. we want to especially knowledge preston and elaine for being the housing project team and also, i think we forgot to mention larkin street are help us too. anyone else? anyone else? >> i believe that shannon dodge, you're here as well in the back. shannon has been working on this project as well previously before preston joined.

thank you shannon. that's it. thank you. >> my apartment burned down 1.5 years ago in noba. my name is leslie mccray, and i am in outside beauty sales.

i have lived in this neighborhood since august of this year. after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and find out about various programs that could help us get back on our feet, and i signed up for the below market rate program, got my certificate, and started applying and won the housing lottery. this particular building was brand-new, and really, this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. and i came to the open house here, and there were literally hundreds of people looking at the building. and i -- in my mind, i was, like, how am i ever going to possibly win this? and i did. and when you get that notice that you want, it's surreal, and you don't really believe it, and then it sinks in, yeah, i can have it, and i'm finally

good to go; i can stay. my favorite thing about my home, although i miss the charm about the old victorian is everything is brand-new. it's beautiful. my kitchen is amazing. i've really started to enjoy cooking. i really love that we have a gym on-site. i work out four days a week, and it's beautiful working outlooking out over the courtyard that i get to look at. it was hard work to get to the other side, but it's well worth it. i'm super grateful to the mayor's office of housing for having this for us. shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services within our neighborhoods, we

help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> my name is ray behr. i am the owner of chief plus. it's a destination specialty foods store, and it's also a corner grocery store, as well. we call it cheese plus because there's a lot of additions in addition to cheese here. from fresh flowers, to wine, past a, chocolate, our dining area and espresso bar. you can have a casual meeting if you want to. it's a real community gathering place. what makes little polk unique, i think, first of all, it's a great pedestrian street. there's people out and about all day, meeting this neighbor and coming out and supporting the businesses. the businesses here are almost all exclusively independent

owned small businesses. it harkens back to supporting local. polk street doesn't look like anywhere u.s.a. it has its own businesses and personality. we have clothing stores to gallerys, to personal service stores, where you can get your hsus repaired, luggage repaired. there's a music studio across the street. it's raily a diverse and unique offering on this really great street. i think san franciscans should shop local as much as they can because they can discover things that they may not be familiar with. again, the marketplace is changing, and, you know, you look at a screen, and you click a mouse, and you order something, and it shows up, but to have a tangible experience, to be able to come in to taste things, to see things, to smell things, all those things, it's

very important that you do so. san francisco, 911, what's the emergency? >> san francisco 911, police, fire and medical. >> the tenderloin. suspect with a six inch knife. >> he was trying to get into his car and was hit by a car. >> san francisco 911 what's the exact location of your emergency? >> welcome to the san francisco department of emergency management. my name is shannon bond and i'm the lead instructor for our dispatch add -- academy. i want to tell you about what we do here. >> this is san francisco 911. do you need police, fire or medical? >> san francisco police, dispatcher 82, how can i help you? >> you're helping people in their -- what may be their most

vulnerable moment ever in life. so be able to provide them immediate help right then and there, it's really rewarding. >> our agency is a very combined agency. we answer emergency and non-emergency calls and we also do dispatching for fire, for medical and we also do dispatching for police. >> we staff multiple call taking positions. as well as positions for police and fire dispatch. >> we have a priority 221. >> i wanted to become a dispatcher so i could help people. i really like people. i enjoy talking to people. this is a way that i thought that i could be involved with people every day. >> as a 911 dispatcher i am the first first responder. even though i never go on seen -- scene i'm the first one answering the phone call to calm the victim down and give them instruction. the information allows us to coordinate a response. police officers, firefighters,

ambulances or any other agency. it is a great feeling when everyone gets to go home safely at the end of the day knowing that you've also saved a citizen's life. >> our department operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. >> this is shift work. that means we work nights, weekends and holidays and can involve over time and sometimes that's mandatory. >> this is a high stress career so it's important to have a good balance between work and life. >> we have resources available like wellness and peer support groups. our dispatchers of the month are recognized for their outstanding performance and unique and ever changing circumstances. >> i received an accommodation and then i received dispatcher of the month, which was really nice because i was just released from the phones. so for them to, you know, recognize me for that i appreciated it. i was surprised to even get it. at the end of the day i was just doing my job.

>> a typical dispatch shift includes call taking and dispatching. it takes a large dedicated group of fifrst responders to make ths department run and in turn keep the city safe. >> when you work here you don't work alone, you work as part of a team. you may start off as initial phone call or contact but everyone around you participating in the whole process. >> i was born and raised in san francisco so it's really rewarding to me to be able to help the community and know that i have a part in -- you know, even if it's behind the scenes kind of helping the city flow and helping people out that live here. >> the training program begins with our seven-week academy followed by on the job training. this means you're actually taking calls or dispatching responders. >> you can walk in with a high school diploma, you don't need to have a college degree. we will train you and we will teach you how to do this job. >> we just need you to come

with an open mind that we can train you and make you a good dispatcher. >> if it's too dangerous to see and you think that you can get away and call us from somewhere safe. >> good. that's right. >> from the start of the academy to being released as a solo dispatcher can take nine months to a year. >> training is a little over a year and may change in time. the training is intense. very intense. >> what's the number one thing that kills people in this country? so we're going to assume that it's a heart attack, right? don't forget that. >> as a new hire we require you to be flexible. you will be required to work all shifts that include midnights, some call graveyard, days and swings. >> you have to be willing to work at different times, work during the holidays, you have to work during the weekends, midnight, 6:00 in the morning,

3:00 in the afternoon. that's like the toughest part of this job. >> we need every person that's in here and when it comes down to it, we can come together and we make a really great team and do our best to keep the city flowing and safe. >> this is a big job and an honorable career. we appreciate your interest in joining our team. >> we hope you decide to join us here as the first first responders to the city and county of san francisco. for more information on the job and how to apply follow the

>> this is a reminder to silence all electronic devices. fire commission regularti