is. she is always looking for new ways to implement new program that brings positive changes. so any time there is any new programs or anything going on, she is always like, come here. and sometimes i'm, like, oh, man, here she goes, but that shows how dedicated and compassionate she is about over all community. i don't think there is a better person, so please consider her. thank you. >> hello, supervisors. i'm here in support of the s.r.o. housing justice slate of courtney brown for seat four, christopher meika for seat one, and jordan davis for seat nine. i have so many great things to say about christopher and jordan. i really respect these individuals so much, and have seen them do so much work on the d.s. a.

housing and homelessness committees. but i want to focus most of my time talking on courtney brown, who is a former co-worker of mine at the tenderloin housing clinic, and someone who helps connect me to the san francisco suicide prevention hotline that i now work on. courtney has soft-pedalled some of her accomplishments. she really, like, wrote the training manual that we use at the suicide prevention hotline. she was a tremendously important advocate for folks on the margins of society who are experiencing suicidal ideation. oftentimes these feelings are related to, you know, their housing and things that feel outside of people's control. i don't think that there is maybe anyone in the city who is better positioned to really hear

and understand the really intense problems that people in the marginal society are experiencing. working with her at t.h.c., i saw her rise immediately to a position of great leadership in the organization, where she has been sort of looking after over 2,000 tenants as a supportive housing manager and deputy director of support housing. >> chairwoman: thank you very much. >> my name is clifford gilmore. i am here in support of who we affectionately

called r.j. for district one. it is said you know a tree by the fruit it bears. and r.j. has been in our program for about four years. and he is really the foundational and pillar of our private organizing efforts. that effort, as mentioned, is working with private property owners and privately-run hotels. the structure is not there that is there in supportive housing. but as r.j. emphasizes, it is about building relationships with tenants and management to work together to solve issues together. and so he has this quiet leadership skill about him. he is not necessarily a vocal leader, but he is a very detailed person who wants to sit down and find solutions. and so his track record is proven for our program, and i think he would

unquestionably be a great representative on a body that needs to understand that none of us get everything that we want, but sometimes we have to be willing to see the big picture and also work together and compromise. >> chairwoman: thank you so much. is there any other member of the public who would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. i just wanted to start out by saying thank you, again, so much. we have amazing, qualified applicants. and i guess wil there are two seats that we have to make a choice. i wanted to see if either of my colleagues wanted to say anything. i'm happy to hear -- >> again, once again, we are brought, of course, with a hard decision to make. i want to thank everyone for coming out today. this also is important work. seeing you here, i'm encouraged to see that so

many people want to fight for our tenants and our s.r.o.s, and make sure there is collaborative work so they get the support and services they need. we appreciate each and every one of you. we have less seats available than we do than the folks nominated, but i want you to stand encouraged and continue to do the work because there are more seats and more task forces to serve on in the future. >> chairwoman: supervisor mar? >> i would just add my thanks to all of you, not just for your willingness to serve on the s.r.o. taskforce, but for awful the work that you do to protect and improve our s.r.o. housing stock, which is such an important part of our housing stock for low income residents here in the city. and i did want to say that

maybe focused on one of the contested seats, where we have a difficult choice to make, on seat four. i very much appreciateed and was impressed by courtney brown's tremendous work at the enter loitenderloin housing clic and as an activist on these important issues. i would move that we recommend an appointment of dion roberts to seat number four for the s.r.o. taskforce because i think it is very important to have the important sort of perspective that she would bring to the table with the depth of her experience working with formerly homeless women with special needs, who are very low income, and many of whom are survivors of domestic violence. i think that's an incredibly important perspective that we want to have represented on the

s.r.o. taskforce. >> chairwoman: yes, again. you have to understand the impossible situation that we're in up here because we get too many qualified people for the seats. and so what we're looking for is balancing out the different types of expertise and communities represented on one body, knowing that, you know, all these meetings are public, and the input of everyone is always appreciated, and that we like to rotate as much as possible representation on the taskforce. so i want to say i very much you know, deeply appreciate the work of court mcourtney brown, who is an amazing, amazing individual, but i would tend to agree with my colleague, supervisor mar, that having representation from the mary elizabeth inn, who hasn't had as

strong of a voice on this commission is something new that we can gain. i think that's important. and that's not meant, in any way, to disrespect the slate or to disrespect ms. brown, who is extraordinary. i would tend to agree there. this one -- the other one is also very hard because here we have christopher meika and randall sloan, both residents of s.r.o.s, one who is my constituent, and i just so deeply respect both of your expertise. the work that you do to advocate for your communities is absolutely extraordinary. and i could not commend you enough. and i wish that i could put you both on this body. and, you know, i would just say that i'm going to put a motion forward to

move forward randall sloan to the position. again, because of just the community who came out to speak today and spoke of the impacts that you're having, mr. sloan, on your community and your building. that really impacted me. which is not to say mr. meika, that you're impact is any less extraordinary. it's just, how do you resolve an impossible situation? i don't know. so, again, just like we said with the immigrant rights commission before us, where i could have appointed any member, i feel the same way here. so i would encourage you to apply to open seats in the future, and to continue to invest and be involved in this important body in our city. so with that, i just want to put forward the full

motion and see if that works for my colleagues. so i will make a motion for the appointment of -- sorry, let me make sure i'm getting this right. where is my papers here? i want to get all of this right. so i would put forward randall sloan for seat one. surash patel for seat two. shanita gardner, seat three. and for seat three, with a residency waiver. dion roberts for seat four. juan alejandro gar garcia for seat five with a residency waiver. clifford gilmore for seat

six. angela chu for seat seven, and raul fernandez for seat eight, and jordan davis for seat nine. is that okay? can i take that without objection? without objection, that motion passes. thank you so much to everyone. is there any other items on the agenda? >> that completes the agenda for today. >> chairwoman: that completes the agenda. then the meeting is adjourned. thank you so much.

>> good afternoon and welcome to the land use and transportation committee for the san francisco board of supervisors for today, monday ape il -- april 8, 2019 and our clerk is ms. major. do you have announcements? >> clerk: yes, silence all electronic devices an anything

to be part of the file should be submitted and items will appear on the agenda unless otherwise state. >> thank you to the folks at sf gov tv and madame clerk can you please read the first and only item. >> clerk: yes, a resolution imposing interim zoning controls for condition use authorization and specified findings for a use from a childcare facility for another use and affirming appropriate findings. >> we'll start with public comment. kelly ing come on up and you'll have not to exceed three minutes. >> hi, good afternoon, commissioners. my name is kelly ng with wamai school. our executive director ben wong sends his greet and wishes he could be here but is unable to make it this afternoon.

i'm here to speak in support of the passage of interim zoning controls. conditional use authorization for conversion of childcare facilities to other uses. i would like to thank president w yee and sandra fewer for the bill allowing for increased protections for childcare facilities at a time where cultural erosion and gentrification continues to threaten communities in san francisco. wamai was established after the supreme court ruling that ensured non-english speakers has access to equitable education. it's best known as the first and longest serving bilingual school in san francisco. it operates pre-school, after school, summer camp and for 45

years it's been dedicated to providing affordable bilingual and multicultural and early use development programs. we're proud to serve a culturally diverse and mixed socioeconomic community. half our enrollment is for low-income families for receive subsidies. we serve over 260 families every year. and this afternoon was slated to be honored with a distinction at the small business commission hearing. our school was notified our landlord was placing the property on the market for sale immediately placing us at risk of displacement. it was cited as having potential -- [chime] . >> commissioner: you can wrap up. i think you're the only member of the public speaking on it and

in the interim the zoning control sin large part spurred by the situation your discuss sog -- discussing to please wrap up. >> it was cited as potential for future residential development or continued use. the loss of the school would be a loss to the community as much-needed childcare services for working families in the neighborhood and city. passing of the interim zoning controls would help protect childcare facilities like the school and ensure when a building with childcare services goes up for service the wired community is aware of the potential neighborhood impact. it would help to ensure not only we maintain community-based childcare service but we as a city take a pause to evaluate the transformation of our neighborhood. we must be sure to maintain others at risk of closure and i

urge you to approve this ordinance to ensure childcare is protected in san francisco. >> i know we have a representative here to speak after the author of the measure. are there other members of the publ public here to testify on item number 1? seeing none the public comment is closed. i'd like to welcome supervisor safai and norman yee. the floor is yours. >> thank you, chair peskin. the legislation is a small attempt for us to address the growing need for childcare facilities in san francisco. we have 23,000 infants and toddlers and nearly 20,000 preschoolers in this city. 85% of the children 0 to 2,do

not have licensed care and many have unmelt nee-- unmet needs. there are over 2,000 families on a wait list to receive care at it hit moment continues to grow. while the passage of the early care and education for all last june meant an unprecedented level of investment to eliminate the waiting list and to expand access to our middle income families, we're still awaiting court decisions. at this point in time, we have a long way to go in order to provide services for this growing demand. and we certainly need to do more to support the childcare educators who are barely getting a living wage despite the significance of their work. we all know how expensive it is to seek quality childcare for a child. it can cost more than rent and college tuition. what's becoming more apparent to

us is that it's also exceedingly difficult for childcare facilities who operate. because of the speculative real estate market, many childcare facilities are at risk of displacement and are unable to find new spaces. we are hearing stories from long-time childcare providers uncertain about their future. even in the past couple of months we heard about a pending childcare closure in my district that is for sale. there's a childcare there and they've gone through anxious moments and they're pulling out. and wamai was not sure they can say in their site. when it closes it impacts the

entire neighborhood and educators and students and families. the city may lose slots that may never be replaced and leaving a gaming hole in the community. we're already falling behind in existing needs. therefore we need to stabilize our existing licensed facilities if we ever want to serve the families who seek childcare. in order for us to better understand how to support our existing childcare facilities and how best to encourage new license childcare spaces, we are proposing an 18-month interim control that would require a constitutional use authorization. sorry, conditional use authorization if an existing childcare facility is changed to another use. and i want to emphasize that it's only when a childcare facility is changed to another use. as san francisco grows, we will

need more childcare spaces to accommodate existing needs and to protect our young child population. i want to thank supervisors mar and fewer for co-sponsoring this legislation. during this interim period, i want us to better track childcare facilities and think creatively on ways to support them while also encouraging new site developments. i hope i can count on your support. thank you. >> thank you, president yee and colleagues if there are no question or comments from committee members at this time i would like to ask ms. quan on behalf of supervisor mar to come up and offer comments on behalf of the district 4 office. >> hi, i'm a legislative aide to supervisor marr co-sponsored by supervisor fewer. i wanted to echo the sentiments

expressed by supervisor yee. the school sits on the border of district 4 and 7 and holds immense significance to the chinese community, bilingual education community and immigrant community. but the legislation is more than just about one site and more than two or three districts. while most pre-school needs are met there's an 85% unmet need in childcare for infants 0 to 2 and many don't have access to the subsidies. in conversation with oece we know eight centers that have recently faced possible displacement due to high rent or building sales. these are centers that are proactively reached out and we know they do not represent the whole landscape. the interim zoning would give us

an opportunity to understand the pressures childcare centers face. we know they're not immune to private housing market pressures. this would give us an opportunity for look at uses and about the creation of future child sar -- care centers and we look forward to working with president yee during the interim period. >> commissioner: thank you. supervisor safai. >> thank you, chair. i have spoken with president yee about this i have an unusual situation that could potentially or may not be impacted so i wanted to ask a couple questions. so there's an existing proposal to develop on a site in our district, deputy city attorney through the chair. that site has a childcare facility. though the childcare facility

has purchased another site and they're on a month to month lease. in the next probably two months they will relocate at the same time, the project sponsors will be coming in front of the planning commission and because it's a home sf project, i think they're going to go through what would be similar to a conditional use authorization anyway and they are working with an existing childcare center to come back and relocate on the ground floor. they're in the process of finalizing an agreement. how would this legislation impact that scenario? >> deputy city attorney, john gibner. i have a hard time answering without knowing more and talking to the planning department on what that kind of approval that project needs. it does sound like if the project sponsor is seek ing a

chink -- childcare use it would require approval requirement during the interim controls resolution. >> also, i heard supervisor safai indicate they were planning to have a childcare facility in the new structure. >> like said, i'd need more specifics on the use of the property. >> president yee. >> let me ask for some language. it's not my intention in this situation where a child care facility will be removed but it will be replaced by a child care

facility. it's not my intention, that that particular condition would trigger a conditional use. so if we need to add some language to clarify that, i'd be more than happy to entertain that. another example of this is the sunny dale they're going to knock down a center in this site and rebuild the sunnydale project another site to replace it. if we need language would be able to create it? >> i think it depends if they

are seek change of use authorization as part of the project of the move of the center within the project. i can talk to planning. it's probably a simple fix at the board when the resolution comes to the ford and if you did -- board and if you did amend it would not trigger a referral back to committee. >> thank you, president yee. thank you, supervisor peskin and deputy city attorney. is there a motion to send this to the full board of supervisors with the understanding that in the intervening eight days we'll figure out whether any amending resolves are required? >> so moved. >> can we take that without objection? that lb the order and we are adjourned.

>> good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> all right. let me thank everyone for coming up today -- coming out today. it is a wonderful day for our city. okay. and we are all here because we are going to celebrate the project. [applause]

and for many of you, the project -- there is a little bit about the project itself, it is 1.8 miles long, and it started from peach street all the way to mcalester and some people say, from the day to civic centre. so it is a long stretch and we are very excited that this project is complete and as many of you know, this particular street before this project happened, this corridor was one of the high injury network corridors here in city, and through the work of many of the commissions and many people, we have been able to improve the streetscape. today, that path is behind us. how about a clap for that. [applause]

>> the streetscape is a makeover that offers several pedestrian crossings, bike lanes, and more importantly, it helps the businesses along the corridor be more vibrant. we are excited about that. the project has improved lighting and has improved landscaping, it has many new pedestrian bulb outs, a lot of work to the infrastructure, new paving, and of course, underground and sewer lines that also crossed many of the upgrades here. this is a complete streetscape. the project has happened with a lot of strong partnerships, with many community groups that help us to transform the street itself. but as we can see some of the alleys got transformed, so for an alley that we are standing in here today, they have this beautiful new look with enhanced

safety elements, and raised crosswalks, and a nice pedestrian scale. that is how many of the streets are supposed to look. they all make up the project of this streetscape. we all know it also takes whole community, it takes a lot of political leadership to make progress here, and on many of our projects, and leading that charge will make san francisco a much safer and more vibrant and welcoming city, is our mayor, london breed. let us welcome her with a big round of applause for her leadership. [applause] >> thank you, everyone for being here. the rain couldn't stop us from celebrating 18 years of construction to get this project done for the residents, for the businesses, for the people of this community, and i want to thank each and every one of you because i know it has been

painful. i know it has been challenging, because of your support, we have been able to get it done. and what we have, as you can see , even in the alley, this beautiful streetscape. this community will be more vibrant, it will be more resilient because of this work, and also, it will be safer for the kids that are joining us here today from reading elementary school. we have to make sure that they can walk the communities and feel safe. we have to make sure that as people use different modes of transportation like bicycles and scooters, that there are dedicated bike lanes so people are safe. we have to make sure that we change our streetscapes in general and we repair our infrastructure. this project started i think when supervisor peskin was supervisor of the first time, and now we get to finish when he is supervisor the second time around, and it is absolutely

amazing. san francisco, as we know, many, many years ago, the infrastructure was developed to support mostly cars getting around. now we have so many more people living in san francisco. our population has grown. more people who are riding and using alternative modes of transportation. so as that changes. our city has to change. we have to adjust with the ultimate goal of not only moving people around, but moving them around safely. that is what these improvement projects are about, and on top of that, the ability to repair our infrastructure, the pipes and all the things undergrounds that make our cities and our businesses work. that is so important. so critical to the sustainability of our city for generations to come. so i am so excited about the completion of this project, and i'm so excited about what it is going to do to improve public

safety for each and every one of us. we know that there are a number of investments the city is making all over all the neighborhoods around the city. we have a lot of work to do, and i want to thank san franciscans for their support of these projects, for their patients as we move these projects through because we will be a better city once we complete and make san francisco safer for all of us and improve it, especially for the next generation of residents right here to my right who walks through this area and we are so glad to have you, and we are looking forward to more projects like this for future generations thank you all so much for being here today. with that, i would like to invite supervisor at district three, who complains about everything that doesn't get done in a timely matter in his district, he is here today to be happy and excited about this

amazing project, supervisor erin peskin. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. i take absolutely no credit for this because all of it happened when i was out of office. all of the controversy happened under my predecessor, but i really want to shout out the community first and foremost. the lower polk area of district three was historically neglected by city hall, and it didn't really have a voice until john and shirley malone came along and started what became a real community force for the neighbors. i really want to shout out to the polk neighbors. [applause] this 1.8 miles actually stands three supervisorial districts. does represented by supervisor

matt haney in the north, district two represented by supervisor, and stefani, and in between in district three, and along that corridor, there were many voices. the middle polk neighbors, the russian hill and neighbors, the distant -- district merchants, all of him collaborated to make that such an excellent project. i would be neglectful if i did not shout out one name, and that is the name here on this sidewalk that these wonderful students from reading elementary are looking at, and that is an incredible force knelt -- named schulte thomas. still ahead a vision for polk street that we are realizing today. he passed away untimely in 2014 and this sidewalk is in memory. i just wanted to shout him out and say this would not have happened without his vision and his tenacity and having a vibrant polk street. thank you to shall thomas. [applause]

and i know that mayor breed said it was an eight-year project. it might have felt like eight years, but it was actually three , and i want to shout out to public works and sfmta who actually implemented this in the smoothest way possible. i know there were concerns, and they made raj -- representations to the businesses and the residence, and i think all of those representations came true. i think mitchell berg did exactly what he said he was going to do in those first controversial community meetings that we had three years ago, so thank you to public works. thank you to the staff of the sfmta and two others who had to listen to everybody screaming at him about parking spaces being taken away and all the rest of it. this is a transformative streetscape project that i think is going to be something that we are proud of for generations to come. with that, it is my honor and

pleasure to introduce the supervisor from district six, supervisor matt haney. [applause]. >> well, let's see if i can get this up here. is everybody excited about polk street? okay great. this is an impressive turnout, especially in the rain. i want to thank the community. this is a multiyear effort that has been a really alleged by the neighbors and push for by the neighbors. we are tremendous partners in the city. the polk street is one of the premier commercial and residential corridors in our city. finally you will have a streetscape that matches the dynamic nature of this corridor, the people who work here. the many uses that we know. i want to give a huge shout out to the kids from reading elementary. thank you for hosting us and having us here in your hood. they are what this is all about.

seniors being able to walk down and use this street in a safe way, in a way that really activates. i tell everybody about the alley right now. what people say we have challenges with the alley, they look over here. this is the model for what we can do for all of our cities. we have also learned from what we did in polk street so that we can do this quicker, so we can do it stronger protecting the bike less onerous street and we know that when we don't do this, it can be deadly. over the last two weeks we have seen people on our streets and high injury corridors, pedestrians and cyclists who have lost their lives, and this is a solution to that if we do it right. we need to do it quicker and we need to do it with stronger protections, but we have learned from this process, and we know we can build on it and continue the great work. last thing i want to say, thank you to the business community who have stuck with us through

this process and i looked down polk street and icy parking and vacant storefronts, it is a challenge that i hope we are able to change now this project is completed and we can really support the residents here and the business community. thank you to the sfmta, the department of public works, mayor breed, supervisor peskin, and most importantly, to all of you. this is a fantastic day despite the weather, and more to come. [applause] >> and there are many lessons that have been learned on a project like this. and when public works implements these projects, we don't do it alone. we do it with a lot of other agencies. it is my pleasure to introduce the director of m.t.a., ed risk in. [applause] >> thank you. supervisors, it is great to see you all. it is great to be here after so many years. we started the conversation with

all the community groups and stakeholders the other folks had been talking about. it was many years ago, but we started that conversation because what we identified, and this is before we had even defined the high injury network as we know it today, we started the conversation because we saw too many people being hurt as they were traveling on polk street, particularly people traveling by bicycle, and people who are walking. we decided back then before we we had adopted vision zero that this was unacceptable, and that this was preventable. so we sat down and we worked with the many community groups involved. we worked with the merchants, we worked with the residence, we worked with the neighborhood association. you heard many of them named before and it was through that collaboration and understanding what the needs of the businesses where, the needs of the residents in understanding the perspective of transit riders. understanding the perspective of people who use this to bike to work or bike to school and

particularly, those who are walking and trying to get across the street, trying to get to where they are going. we took all of that and put together a project that was complicated. it was not an easy solution. there are different neighborhoods as the supervisor said that this goes through with different crash profiles, different geometries, and we had to knit it together into a project that would definitely meet the needs of all of the stakeholders while making the street safer and i think that is something we accomplished. just accomplished. there are trade-offs along the way, but we were able and there's a lot of controversy along the way, but we are able to get to a consensus project that is resulting in a polk street that i think is a quantum step better than what we had before we started this project. a quantum step better in terms of safety, in a quantum step better in terms of fatality and

livability, and really supporting and advancing what is great and special and unique about the polk street corridor and the multiple neighborhoods that it runs through. we are just very pleased to be here on this day. as others said, lots of lessons learned. we need to do more of this and we need to do it better and we need to do it faster, but we have a great product here because of the great collaboration among so many different stakeholders throughout this process and also , i want to acknowledge, in addition to the mayor and the supervisors, the great leadership by the sfmta board of directors that had the tough job way back of approving this project amid all the controversy there is one director who was on the board at that time here. the difficult work of approving the project and getting the funding together so we could move this forward. i want to thank all of our partners and community stakeholders and congratulate all of the neighbors along polk street for this great project. [applause]

and one of those stakeholders that has been with us from the start, sometimes working with us , sometimes fighting with us, but always advocating for safer and better streets in san francisco, has it been the san francisco bicycle coalition. i want to invite the executive director of the coalition up. [applause]. >> thank you. thank you to you and your team for putting on this event. special thanks to mayor breed for your remarks and supervisors peskin and haney for being here. we are here today to celebrate the completion of the polk street improvement project, and there are some wonderful things to celebrate for an alley in front of us, that is a great example of what the city can do to make our streets and alleyways more human scale. we have great new pavements, there are sewer lines, so many wonderful things that are the result of this project. i do want to call out that from a bicycle safety perspective,

i'm not sure we are 100% complete and what we need on polk street. with only like a part of the project containing fully protected bike lanes, this project, whether it was three years or eight years to go, when it was approved, it doesn't quite meet the standards that we have established today or protection and safety for people who bike on our vision zero high injury cora doris. the streets where we know people are getting injured and killed. we are at this this point because polk street the project we are celebrating today, is the result of a process that started years ago. what we have learned since then is that all of the outreach and planning and construction delays , they are not necessary to wait whether it is three years or eight years, to get the safety improvements that we need for people who bike. we have seen with the leadership of mayor breed and members of the board of supervisors that we can get those safety improvements in the ground in a matter of months rather then years. so the lesson in the take away from me here is that there are

these important projects where we are transforming our streetscapes and they are important to get right. we need to be speaking out for the voices of young people, for seniors, for people who bike, but they're also things that we can do immediately to make improvements. i'm so happy again, in response to the recent fatality that supervisor haney mentioned on howard street, that the city is stepping up and putting the safety improvements in the ground to help save lives and prevent more people from being injured. we look forward to working with the mayor's office, with the sfmta to evaluating polk street, to seeing how it works, what needs to be fixed and tweaked, especially from a bicycle perspective in the months ahead, and hopefully, making improvements to close those gaps and safety and protection where we know they exist. the memories of the lives we have lost and that the lives changed by people who were seriously injured demands that we continue to make fast and real change. thank you so much.

[applause] >> okay. presenting s.f. walk is dodi. please come on up. >> good morning, everybody. thank you, mayor breed, supervisors. i stand here today thinking a lot about a phone call i received recently a couple of weeks ago from a woman who was seriously hurt and hit and a hit and run just a couple of blocks away from here, and she thankfully survived the crash and that was one of the hardest because i have ever received. the calls never do get easy, it is projects like polk street where we do the necessary work and put in the time and energy and investment into streets like this where we know that they are streets that need our attention

because people are going about they're daily lives and still encountering unsafe conditions. i am so happy that one of our city his most dangerous streets has gotten safety improvements. the crosswalks, the bulb outs, divisibility striping, because we know that this is the work that it takes to save lives. the project was designed at a time before we had the city's goal of vision zero. before we had leaders like mayor breed who made it clear that people's safety is the number 1 priority above anything else. that means we have a lot more work to do here on polk street. we have to be more aggressive about the quick changes. yes, we all do stand here today in celebration because this alley is beautiful, we have amazing pavement and so many good things that we know are improving this corridor, but as a city, i think that we are ready to take more than small

steps towards people's safety. we really need to be racing towards the future for everyone, of every age, every ability who is on our streets. thank you so much. next, please let me welcome christian martin, the executive director of the lower polk c.b.d., whose organization was definitely a key partner in the development of polk street. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you all for being here on this rainy day. we are thrilled to see everybody out here. thank you, mayor agreed and supervisors. i hope direct to -- director numeral, right rough, thank you to the lower polk neighbors for your vision and the clarity and explain to the city what we do want to see more of as opposed

to what and who we don't want to see more of. it is critically important. thank you to the d.p.w. workers, the engineers, the architects that had a hand in creating this beautiful space, for your hard work, skill and dedication, it speaks for itself. many of you may notice, but it bears repeating that in the tenderloin and lower polk neighborhood, there is the amount of open space is equivalent to two people sharing a yoga mat. let that sink in. what we know about open spaces is critically important to the mind, body, in spirit and that is simply not enough. so we are very proud to add an alley to the available open space in the neighborhood, and we hope, for the benefit of the future, that we can continue to keep it clean and safe. i would like to thank the staff

of the c.b.d. for doing the hard work day in and day out. johnny, andre, john, ronald, ronald, we appreciate you, we see you. i would like to thank the board of the c.b.d. for giving me the support to do what i do every day. i love my job. thank you to all, thank you to the sponsors for your amazing investment in this neighborhood for the health and vitality. thank you to the st. francis foundation for all the work that you do and the neighborhood parks, our friends and colleagues at other c.b.d., thank you so much. randall, everybody else who i don't see. and i would like to reiterate what supervisor peskin said

about shall thomas, a man who i didn't have the pleasure to meet , but whose legacy and vision you are all standing in. thank you. we are incredibly proud to be the stewards of this amazing, magnificent public space. it is a responsibility that we take seriously, and we hope to infuse our future programming with equity and inclusion so that this alley can fulfil the promise and the pride of this special day. thank you very much and let's cut this ribbon. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, a christian. christian has been an incredible partner and there's been many, many neighborhood groups, many businesses, a lot of people who have been involved in this. i do want to thank the planning department, i want to thank the public utilities commission. they have also been part of this project. i would also like to thank m.

squared and the contractor who worked very closely with all the neighbors to make this project happen. [applause] >> and personally, a voice of appreciation for our project team. without them, this major undertaking, they actually got it done in a very nice day. a big hand for all of them. and now at the moment we have been waiting for is the children from reading elementary school will come over here and cut the ribbon. i want to thank everyone for coming out. police enjoyed the polk street and any experiences that you have, share them with us so we can do better. thank you. thank you. >> can i get some girls over here? okay, here is the thing, watch your hands, don't put them in there, and don't put them in

here. i you guys going to help me count down? >> five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] [applause]