benefits programs. but most importantly, working for the city and county of san francisco gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas, energy, and commitment to shape the city's future. - thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco. >> good morning everyone. let's start the celebration of this beautiful amazing building. i'll begin by introducing myself. i serve director of public works for the city and county of san francisco. today, we're going to be celebrating this amazing fire station. how about a big hand for the fire officials.

[applause] today is an exciting day. not only for our fire department but for the entire city of san francisco. every time we open a new civic building for our first responders, we are providing a safer san francisco that will be prepared when the disaster strikes. this new fire station, which was built from ground up, replaced one that failed to meet today's building codes and first responder needs. the new fire station meets national accreditation and seismicresilientcy standards. like to thank our city administrator. i like to thank the public works

engineers and architects who designed and managed this project. a special shotout to the project manager. our city architect edgar lopez and roebuck construction, give them a hands. they really had to work hard. thank you. of course, all of the voters in san francisco that made this possible. this funding was passed in the 2010 earthquake safety emergency bond and this is the first of the full complete fire houses that the city has produced. isn't it beautiful? the bond which funded this upgrade is a voter-backed initiative and aimed to

strengthening earthquake resiliency. public works takes great pride in overseeing some of the city's crucial capital and improvement projects. with the support of voters we can componen continue to work on world-class facilities to many diverse neighborhoods. at this time, i now have the honor of introducing our mayor london breed who has been champion making sure that san francisco is kept safe. join me in welcoming our mayor london breed. [applause] >> mayor breed: good morning. i'm so excited to be here today. it's always a good time when you're able to come to a new place a new an improved place where some of our most important

services take place. the people who are first responders, the people who helped to protect the city and county of san francisco, whether it's a disaster, whether it's a fire, what have you, they deserve beautiful space where they also feel safe. today, we are opening up just what is a beautiful fire house. couple of years ago, i was there when we cut the ribbon on fire station one and also i'm looking forward to finishing the new station 49 where our e. e.t. and paramedics will have a safe space to respond to emergencies in a timely manner. today is just really a commitment by the voters through the issa bond that provided an opportunity to make sure that we have the funding necessary to rebuild this incredible fire

station which we all know was not in the best shape. we also know we have other fire stations that we need to repair all over san francisco and i can't wait to cut the ribbon on station five this year. you know, building a resilient city and dealing with the challenges that we know exist and the possible earthquake and other challenges that are yet to come, we have to think about the future. how do we make sure that our public safety folks are in building where they feel safe so that they can respond to emergencies to help people in need all over our city if the time comes. as our population increases and our city grows, we need to ensure that we have the capacity and the resiliency to survive in

the future. i want to thank you for being here today. to thank the chief and the san francisco fire department for their work and also president of the fire commission as well as steve covington who is also joining us here today. thank you to local 798 and members of the fire department. i know the former president is here, thank you tom o'connor for being here and so many others. this incredible neighborhood, thank you for your patience during the time of construction. last but not least you want to thank the 33 members of the fire department who are actually stationed at station 16. thank you for your patience, thank you for allowing this process to occur and the inconvenience that occurred more importantly, you continue to do your job without complaint during this process and made

sure that our city remains safe. we want to thank you all for being here. i'm looking forwardly to cutting this ribbon and opening this fire house and the best is yet to come with so many other opportunities throughout our city. thank you again for the voters of 4 san francisco for investing in our public infrastructure. we'll continue to make sure that we invest endollar wisely and you see the results in places like this. thank you all so much. >> i will introduce the interview of the district. >> i don't know if any of you have the chance to see state of the city yesterday. you should watch it, it will make you proud to be a san

franciscan. mayor breed said something yesterday that nothing wrong with san francisco that can't be fixed what's right about san francisco. today is an example of that. i want to welcome everyone to district one. i want to acknowledge all the people here who's leadership and hard work was vital to it project. thank you to our amazing san francisco fire department and chief joann hayes white and to our fire commission president and fellow fire commissioners to our service. thank you to public works and our director for delivering this incredible project and doing it on budget. it was definitely worth the wait. finally, i want to thank the residents of district two and san francisco for your support and commitment to prepare a resilient city. we know this project could not have been possible without passing the bond in 2010 and 2014 and your commitment to earthquake safety makes all the

difference in the world. it was worth the wait like i said. fire station 16, originally built in 1938 has been a home for the firefighters who proudly served geldengate valley and marina for the last 81 years. it's not just a building. i lived in this community for 18 years. it means so much to the people who live around here. i'm a mom i have a 14-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter. my son is in boy scout, we've been in this building with the firefighters teaching them about emergency preparedness, teaching them about fires and it means so much to the community. i can't tell you how many times we've dropped off cookies and brownies. i hope they were good and probably not if i made them. there are so many other people that have done that. we are so excited to have this

station up and running again. i live just down the street, everyone morning when i'm going to work, i drive by here and i wave to the firefighters. they wave back. it means so much to have this as a part of our community. it's another example of san francisco pushing us to be prepared as possible in the event of an earthquake and we know in san francisco, earthquakes are reality. we continue to have to be prepared over the past several years, we have made massive investments in our most critical safety and emergency response infrastructure cruing our -- including our new fire station and improvements to emergency firefighter water system. for the safety of all san franciscans, i look forward to continuing to work with mayor breed and all city departments to continue making our city safer and more resilient. i want to introduce my old boss, former boss, naoimi kelly our city administrator who is vital so our city and county of san

francisco. >> good morning. this was very exciting for me today to pull up and see this beautiful fire station. as you all heard, the city of san francisco, especially if you group up here and grew up here, we think about resilience all the time. we think about our private assets. on the public side we have a 10-year capital plan we're looking at all our vital public facilities and the fire faces are vital along with our police stations. we pass earthquake safety response time in 2010 and in 2014. we're looking again for another bond. we have been very thankful to the voters because they see that we accomplished what we're doing. they know that we are not

issuing new debt without paying down old debt. we have oversight bond committee that is making sure we deliver on those projects. we're united. we're united with the fire chief, local 798, department of public works, board of supervisors and the mayor-in what are the priorities for this city. not only that as we talked about -- with live in earthquake country. there's 73% chance of 6.7 magnitude earthquake by 2043. the mayor directed us to look at our private assets. as you know, we adopted an ordinance that impacted the marina district to make sure our private asset are strong. we want to make sure not only we survive this earthquake, we reoccupy our buildings and get

back into our lives in san francisco. that is why we're all here today and i want to thank all of you for supporting our earthquake safety emergency response bond. it's for the people of san francisco. [applause] >> thank you naoimi. we'll hear from our fire chief who calls me all the time, checking on all the projects. she's a project manager herself in addition to all the work she does. >> thank you mohammed. i have his number on speed dial. i did want to say, first and foremost, welcome to new station 16. it is something we anticipated for quite some time. the quality is amazing. i want to take a full tour around. this is a public building all of you are welcome. neighbors and anyone from the public will be happy to show you around our new station. good morning to everyone that's

gathered. we're very proud to have reopen this station. it's brand new. definitely want to have lot of thanks. i know you heard other people thanks. i want to thank our mayor london breed. she always been a champion for public safety. thank you very much for that. from executive branching to legislative branch, also champion for public safety. always has been and that -- i wanted to thanks you both. as mentioned three fire commissioners are hear.

d.p.w., it's an incredible team. we work with them all the time on projects. edgar is here today as well as charles. thank you very much. roebuck construction, thank you for the work they did. quality craftsmanship. before going on too much further, support services, that's a division in our department. they get all the work done. under the direction of the assistant deputy chief, this project would not have come to fruition. he was strong advocate on what they wanted. he worked with captain steve. both of them had incredible construction knowledge. i have my command staff here, the neighbors, we want it thank you. we know it's a long process.

there was some hardships along the way. thank you very much for your support in public safety. this project in particular but in general the voters on the bonds have been supportive. last but not least, we have our members. there's nine of them working here today. today's officers -- all the members, i looked at the roster today, i hired every single one of you. as i look forward to your retirement, it's time. i hired all these people that are working here today. thank you very much. you were hugely patient. they kept this neighborhood in mind and kept this neighborhood safe responding from different areas. we made it work. we always do. there's one person in the back, i wasn't going to recognize him. i wasn't sure if he was here. he's amazing to me. that's our chaplain, father john

green who recently -- thank you father green for being here. he wouldn't want anyone to know, he was very ill earlier this month and really huge that you're here today. if it fits in the time limit, at the conclusion, i like to have father green to join us to give us a nondenominational blessing. i like to thank san francisco, mayor and myself and others, native san franciscan, that is president of the fire commission. thank you everyone. >> good morning everybody. thank you very much chief hayes-white. she will retire very soon. 15 years as the first woman chief of the san francisco fire department. i wanted to definitely acknowledge our mayor mayor

breed, champion of the fire department. also former fire commissioner, also supervisor from my districting in japantown district five. this is all part of a collaboration from the bond through the voters through the collaboration to the supervisors. we all appreciate that. i wanted to recognize that today. we have the vice president of the fire commission francine covington. we wanted to acknowledge joseph who's the neighborhood supervisor who remind us constantly that station 16 is his neighborhood. fire station as well. it's very important in 798 is represented as well. we thank you so much. we look forward to the work. this is the greatest example of san francisco which is collaboration and taking care of

public safety. we also have mr. kendall coleman. thank you so much for all your contributions. thank you for the neighborhood in terms of your patience. thank you for being part of san francisco. thank you for this beautiful day. thank you. >> are we ready to cut the ribbon? father grown, will you come up u come up and say a prayer for us. then we'll cut the ribbon. >> we'll pray that the scissors

work. i thank chief hayes-white for her kind words. i liking to meet that father grown some day. sounds like a nice guy. for all those who work at station 16, may this house always been a sign of safety and service for this neighborhood. amen. >> okay. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

>> san francisco is surrounded on three sides by water. the fireboat station is integral to maritime rescue and preparedness not only for san francisco but for all of the bay area. >> fire station 35 was built in 1915, so it's over 100 years old. and behind it, we're going to build fireboat station 35.

>> so the city's capital planning committee, i think about three years ago, issued a guidance that all city facilities must resist sea level rise. >> fireboat station number 35, construction costs are approximately $30 million, and the construction is over complicated because the float, it's being fabricated in china and will be brought to treasure island where the building -- the actual fire station will be constructed on top of it, and then brought to pier 22 1/2 for installation. >> we are looking at late 2020 for completion of the fireboat float. the historic fire house will remain on the embarcadero. we will still respond out of the firehouse with our fire

engine and respond to medical calls and other incidents raratin the district. >> the if a sill has to incorpora incorporate five to 6 feet of sea level rise. it's built on a float that can move up and down as the water level rises, and so it's on four fixed guide piles, so as the seas go up, it wican move and down with the bay. it does have a full range of travel from low tide to high tide of about 16 feet. so that allows for current tidal movements as well as several extra feet for sea level rise in the coming decades. >> the fireboat station float will also incorporate a ramp for ambulance deployment and access. >> the access ramp is rigidly connected to the land side or more of a pivot or hinge

connection, and then, it's sliding over the top of the float. so then that way, the ramp can, you know, flex up and down like a hinge but also allow for a slight -- a few inches of lateral motion of the float. both the access ramps, of which there's two, and the utilities, need flexible connections when connecting from the float and back to the building. so interesting power, water, sewage, it all has flexible connections to the float. >> fireboat station 35 will provide room for three boats and one fire boot. >> we would like to establish a dedicated marine unit that would be able to respond to multiple incidents. looking into the future, we have not only at&t park, we have a lot of kayakers, but we also have a lot of developments

on the southeast side, including the warriors stadium, and we want to have the ability to respond to any marine or maritime incidents along all of these new developments. >> there's very few design references for people actually sleeping on the water. what we really looked to were cruise ships, which are, you know, larger structures, several times the size of station 35 but have a lot of people -- a lot of sleeping, but they're really the only good reference point. and so we looked to the cruise ship industry that has kind of an index for, you know, how ma many -- how much acceleration they can accommodate. >> it's very unique. i don't know about any other fire station built on the water in the united states. >> the fireboat's a regional asset that can not only be used for water rescue and stin wishment of fires, but we also do environmental cleanup. we have a special rigging that

we carrie that will contain oil spills -- carry that will contain oil spills until viermsal can come out. this is not a job, it is -- environmental can come out. this is not a job, it's a lifestyle, a community, and we're willing to help people any way we

. >> i love that i was in four plus years a a rent control tenant, and it might be normal because the tenant will -- for the longest, i was applying for b.m.r. rental, but i would be in the lottery and never be like 307 or 310. i pretty much had kind of given up on that, and had to leave san francisco. i found out about the san francisco mayor's office of housing about two or three years ago, and i originally did home counseling with someone, but then, my certificate expired, and one of my friends jamie, she was actually

interested in purchasing a unit. i told her about the housing program, the mayor's office, and i told her hey, you've got to do the six hour counseling and the 12 hour training. she said no, i want you to go with me. and then, the very next day that i went to the session, i notice this unit at 616 harrison became available, b.m.i. i was like wow, this could potentially work. housing purchases through the b.m.r. program with the sf mayor's office of housing, they are all lotteries, and for this one, i did win the lottery. there were three people that applied, and they pulled my number first. i won, despite the luck i'd had with the program in the last couple years. things are finally breaking my way. when i first saw the unit, even though i knew it was less than ideal conditions, and it was very junky, i could see what

this place could be. it's slowly beginning to feel like home. i can definitely -- you know, once i got it painted and slowly getting my custom furniture to fit this unit because it's a specialized unit, and all the units are microinterms of being very small. this unit in terms of adaptive, in terms of having a murphy bed, using the walls and ceiling, getting as much space as i can. it's slowly becoming home for me. it is great that san francisco has this program to address, let's say, the housing crisis that exists here in the bay area. it will slowly become home, and i am appreciative that it is a bright spot in an otherwise

>> hello, everyone here i am a london breed. i am the mayor of the city and county of san francisco, and i am so very excited to be here with each and every one of you here. many of you probably know i grew up not too far from here on eddie and laguna in public housing that was managed by the san francisco housing authority. we knew this property here was joe's has been managed by the san francisco housing authority, and some of you who have lived here for years have been frustrated with the elevators, 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. [♪]