this week's business times. >> i attended the july 16 monthly council district merchant meeting. also on june 20, i attended the ten year anniversary of sfa. an organization that i founded to support local manufacturers, and a program oewd has been very supportive of over the last ten years he and much appreciated. >> i just wanted to report back in that with some heavy-duty construction going on in north each. they close down washington square park for many months. the norge -- the business associations along with neighborhood groups are still holding their feet to the fire to make sure it is happening in a correct manner that there are on -- no unnecessary delays.

we would urge every other neighborhood that is facing such a major disruption to business to follow our footsteps. get involved, and make sure we are actively involved with whatever the department and contractors that are involved. >> yes, i have attended the dumb festival in chinatown. it is organized -- -- dumpling festival in chinatown. it is a promotion for the businesses in chinatown. many of the restaurants participated by providing different types of dumplings. delicious.

>> i mentioned previously, i been working with oewd on a possible concert for jobs area that continues to progress. i just want to drop while everybody is here. when it hopefully pops up down the road, we are already to jump in and be supportive. >> any other commissioner comments? do we have any members of the public that would like to make comments on commission reports? seeing none. next item, please. >> item ten, new business. allows commissioners to introduce new agenda items for future consideration by the commission. discussion item. >> any new business or from any of the commissioners? do we have any members of the public who would like to comment on new business? seeing none. public comment is closed. >> richard kurylo please show the office of small business live.

-- sf gov tv please show the small business commission lie. >> a reminder that the office of small business is the only place to start a new business in san francisco on the best place to get an answer to your questions about doing business in @ san francisco. the office of small business should be your first stop when you have questions about what to do next. you can find us online or in person here at city hall. all of our services are free of charge. small business commission is the official public forum to voice your concerns about policies that affect the economic vitality of small businesses in san francisco. if you need assistance with small business matters start here at the office of small business. >> next item. >> adjournment. >> do we have a motion to adjourn? >> meeting is adjourned at 4:05 p.m.

>> everybody, i think we're going to get started. our honorable mayor is here, and i know that we have a huge crowd and some big celebrating to do, so i want to welcome you to the groundbreaking for 88 broadway and 75 david street. so i'm cynthia parker, and i'm the president and c.e.o. of

bridge housing, and i am the cohost today with our partner, john stewart, but what i want to do is acknowledge all of the people here in the audience who have helped us get here today. so with us, we have mayor london breed, our honorable and esteemed mayor, welcome. [applause] >> we have supervisor aaron peskin, who's been a big supporter, and thank you, supervisor peskin. we have elaine forbes who's executive director of the port of san francisco. thank you for coming and your help. [applause] >> we have many reps from bank of america. liz, thanks for coming. [applause] >> we have bruce cantor who's a member of the northeast waterfront advisory group.

[applause] >> and we have bob carrier who's a member of the barbary coast neighborhood association. so thank you for coming. [applause] >> this group that's sitting here today sort of does represent a neighborhood inside of a village, the village of san francisco. and two neighborhood associations, a waterfront advisory group, and partners with the city, with the mayor's office of housing and jayesco have really made this happen during the development period. i know that john stewart is going to comment on some of this, but i know there are 26 neighborhood meet -- there were 26 neighborhood meetings that made this happen, and i want to do a special shoutout to john stewart who lives in this neighborhood and wanted to make sure that these two developments reflect the values of this community, and i think

they do. so thank you, john, for all of your hard work, and forever, your partnership with that. when this r.f.p. came out from the city of san francisco, i ran into jack gardner who's the other principle at jay-esco. you know, he said, we did north beach together. do you think it's time to get the band back together and respond to this r.f.p.? i said yes, and we did it, and we were selected. frankly, i think we were the right team to pull this project together. it has made a big difference to this neighborhood for all the reasons i just said. 26 meetings, resident developer, and a commitment to make this happen. i want to also acknowledge some special shoutouts to both the city and the mayor, to your

commitment to affordable housing and to these kinds of developments. this project is really special because it is one of the few that's really said we're going to how's both seniors and a senior development and families and have an income mix that represents both formerly homeless people as well as people up to median income, up to 80% of median income, the missing middle. and that doesn't happen very often. i and believe it will completely -- and i believe it will completely be a success because it we've all -- because we've all worked so hard, and it represents this community. and i believe we will get more housing in the ground because we need nor housing in the city. [applause] >> so with that, i'm not going to steal the thunder. we have a lot of speakers here today, and with that, what i do want to do is invite our lovely mayor to come up.

she has the values and tgumptin to make affordable housing in the city. i invite you to come up to say a few words. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, cynthia. it's so great to be here with you because john, we know this project was a long time coming. we work hard in this city to try to repurpose this whole waterfront. some of you were around during this '89 earthquake. i certainly was. i remember when this used to be a water way, and look at how beautiful our waterfront has become with a lot of businesses, a lot of housing, and here is an opportunity to provide 178 units of affordable housing for families and seniors. this is absolutely amazing.

[applause] >> the hon. london breed: and let me just also say that last year, it was brought to my attention that for the senior development that were being placed here at 735 davis street, there were still so many seniors who didn't meet the minimum income qualifications because we know that there are a lot of different challenges with affordability in san francisco. people who are low, extremely low, people who are just exiting homelessness, people who just barely meet the minimum qualifications, and sometimes those who exceed it by just a little bit. it's why we have to change access to affordable housing in san francisco. and we along with the mayor's office of housing and kate hartley identified revenues in order to buydown the availability so that more residents who are in this

community can actually qualify for housing in the communities in which they live. so i want to thank you, kate, for your leadership on that effort. we are going to have diverse homes of mixed incomes living in these developments. so supervisor peskin, former president of the board, but representative of this district, you know i'm going to need your help to make sure that as we break ground on this project, we don't want any delays, we don't want any challenges, we don't want any issues because we need this housing, and a one-day delay is a one-day delay of housing for those who need it the most. we had a press conference for

$600 million affordable housing bond, the largest bond in the history of this city that the board of supervisors is going to be voting on unanimously to put on the ballot, and we're going to do so without raising property taxes in a very responsible way, which is how we should be handling the city's and the taxpayers' money in our city. but it means a lot because we know that there are challenges with affordability in our city. and we know that we have to work harder and faster to get this much needed affordable housing units built. people are counting on us to make good decisions and to not allow bureaucracy to get in the way of much needed affordable housing. thank you to everyone who's joining us today because those 178 seniors and families, when they move into those units, when they're looking out those

new windows, when they're cooking dinner on their new stove, can you think about how it might feel especially if you didn't have housing in the first place, if you lived in an s.r.o. and you didn't have a kitchen, can you imagine what it's going to mean to people to live right here in this beautiful, amazing community, which once consisted of darkness and a friday and is now open with all of the light and incredible views, a place where everyone want to live in in san francisco, and they will be a part of the future of this great city. no one will be left behind as a result of this great project, so thank you to john stewart and john stewart company. thank you so much to bridge housing and cynthia, to kate, to supervisor peskin, and all the community members and the people who helped make this possible. this is truly san francisco at its best, and there is more to come. thank you all so much.

[applause] >> the hon. london breed: sorry. i want to introduce john stewart, but i want to just say that i met john stewart over 20 years ago. and i used to work at treasure island, and some of you remember when that housing was empty, and it was vacated by the navy, and we have the task of rehabilitating those units and moving formerly homeless veterans, formerly homeless families and other people of all incomes into treasure island. the partnership with john stewart company was not just a partnership that helped to rehabilitate those units, they also helped to make sure that those formerly homeless families and veterans had working utilities, and that they had coffee makers and dishes and beds and sheets and all the things that so many people may take for granted. but these were people who were starting their lives over. and the person who led that effort without being asked to do so was john stewart himself, and so ladies and gentlemen,

john stewart of john stewart company. [applause] >> the mayor has been drinking early. we'll talk later. thank you so much. ed lee was once to say, i'll keep it short because i am short. that was his big one-liner. a few comments that i really wanted to speak about, i think two or three things. first, i get a lot of questions on the piles that we're sinking into the ground at 90 feet and 60 feet. they're not impact piles as the way that have occurred at many sites. these are augering, they're very sensitive to the neighbors because they're not impact piles. there's going to be 170 of them, and they're very sensitive to the neighbors.

and also, we don't want to repeat -- we got the memo on the millennium towers, and we're going to bedrock. it seemed like a good idea. also, people asked me about those cobblestones. when we dug down 8 feet, we found shoes, elixir bottles, and we also found a whole series of red caps which said make america great again, and we're going to be selling them later to enhance our financial balance sheet on this deal. on the subject of process, i think we're particularly proud of the fact that over 4-plus,

almost 5 years, we had a record number of meeting involving a myriad of local involvement, various people -- you can see authorities and housing entities that all had a stake in this thing, and they all came out, and they all spoke their piece, which i will in closing do a few shoutouts. there is something that i would call district 3 deja vu, and i'm looking at aaron now because 17 years ago, a young supervisor along with a young mayor at the time, willie brown, started working on a project called north beach place. it's out of the -- it's off the cliff side. it's a project that has great similarity to what you see today. for those of you that are a little long in the tooth, you

might remember that project. it also was affordable. it had mixed income, mixed use, and mixed age. we have, too, so there. and one of the things that strikes me about it, aaron peskin, i think really made a statement because he was boots on the ground, went to every meeting, very supportive of that project as he was then and he is now. it's my pleasure to introduce the supervisor. [applause] >> supervisor peskin: mayor breed, ms. parker, mr. stewart, to your respective organization, but most importantly to the community and amongst those and first and foremost amongst those, the barbary coast neighbors.

it is true almost 20 years ago that i attended all of those meetings at north beach place, but thankfully, i attended few if any in this particular project. but mr. cantor did, miss taylor did, and i want to say they made it a better project. this neighborhood involvement made this a better project. let me say a few words about what my mayor said, and it is the history of the embarcadero freeway which was, by all accounts, a terrible urban planning mistake. and then, in 1989, after the loma prieta earthquake, we had a mayor who had the courage to rip that thing down. and by the time then-state

senator quentin kopp transferred the property to the city for one american dollar, willie brown was mayor. and there was a little neighborhood fight about what we were going to do with those parcels. one was going to be a police station, one was going to be a butterfly museum, one was going to be affordable housing. i am pleased to say that today, they are all affordable housing for the city and county of san francisco. that is remarkable. [applause] >> supervisor peskin: now, it is true that i wanted this site, even though my friends at the barbary coast neighbors disagreed, i wanted this to be a temporary navigation site. but the mayor and i and supervisor haney have teamed up to find one not so far away. and i also want to agree with the mayor that affordable housing is actually not that

affordable, and we all know the numbers that we just saw, the homeless count. and it's just not san francisco, it's portland, seattle, and los angeles, continue to rise. so here are 53 units that are going to keep some of my seniors -- and this is the district that has the highest percentage of seniors in the city and county of san francisco from being homeless. but you know what? it's not affordable to many of our seniors, which is precisely why miss hartley, mayor breed, president yee and i teamed up to create what we called s.o.s., senior operating subsidies which is in this year's budget for shallow subsidies for seniors so they can actually continue to live and age in place. this is a great day for the city and county of san francisco, one and all, particularly to the workers who are building this thing.

congratulations. [applause] >> a . >> supervisor peskin: all right. this is a weird jurisdictional thing, because you think the owner is the city and county of san francisco, but it is the port and held in trust by the city and county of san francisco and lands owned by the public works. now weirdly enough, the port land is inland, and the public works land is closer to the water, which i've never figured out. but instrumental to this entire project was the port of the city and county of san francisco, their executive director, miss elaine forbes. >> hello, everyone. it's very great to be here today. we all love a ground breaking.

as you all know, the port manages 7.5 miles of waterfront property. our future is very brite since the loma prieta freeway came down, but nothing makes us prouder than to welcome the neighbors and residents who will come to enjoy this community. we are proud to announce what will be a solution to the affordable housing crisis. i want to acknowledge, and supervisor peskin knows this very well, it takes the port quite a long time to figure out what to do with its property, and 88 broadway was a very long conversation. and actually, it was the community residents that said they would like to use -- we would like to use these underused lots that you're using for parking.

so tom ammiano provided us a bill to be able to use this for housing. here is another example where we can welcome low, mod, seniors, and formerly homeless housing to our waterfront. for us, the northeast waterfront advisory group helped us provide standards for 88 broadway. it was a very patient process, and it did improve the project. it's that kind of collaboration, that kind of problem solving that got us here today. there's a lot of port staffers in the audience that have been working here for sometime. thank you so much, and i'd like to introduce liz minnick from the bank of america. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone, and what a glorious afternoon we have for this fabulous day

today. bank of america was founded in this very city in 1904 and has a long history of helping people get in homes and working towards affordable housing. from the work after the 1906 earthquake to the recent work with the san francisco r.a.v. commission and the rehabilitation of -- sorry. we'll let the coast guard get back. -- 29 properties for which we financed over $2.2 billion. for these two properties that we are discussing today, bank of america has provided over $133 million in financing. first, thank you to all of our bank of mercteams to continue their efforts on -- america teams to continue their efforts on helping to provide housing. and now, i will introduce

brynna cantor. [applause] >> good afternoon. we were involved in the long process of the design of this building. it's just incredible that we're going to see more family and senior housing here, which is really important to keep our city diverse. we certainly need more of them. it also includes a child care facility, so that's why i have my daughter here, simone, who has become a conoisseur of all the child care facilities in the city. since this center is going to have a playground, i think she's going to want to check that out, right, simone? >> mm-hmm. >> thanks to the mayor's office of housing and all the great

inclusive bidding that we had during this process, and of course, john stewart's wonderful team, including us along every step of the way. had countless meetings. our supervisor, aaron peskin, and the previous supervisor, julie christiansen, who really got the project going for us. again, just really impressed with the outreach from the community stages of the project. the team reacted to community concerns along the way and modified the project to a very mature building which you see on these drawings here today. in particular, we're really impressed with the ground level uses for the community, the services, retail, etc., that -- that activate the street. this was a great example of how our project should happen.

so you think that's good? >> yes. >> so i'll keep it here with introducing one of our barbary coast representatives, bob hauer. >> thank you, bruno. good afternoon, everybody. i know it's hot, so i'll try to be as brief as i possible can. first of all, i want to say on behalf of the barbary coast neighborhood association, i'm very happy to be here today as this project starts to take almost a concrete step forward to bring some badly needed housing to san francisco. and i also want to express my sincere appreciation to the port and the mayor's office of housing for all the opportunities that they gave to listen to the neighborhood and to work with us and to resolve -- well, not resolve, but to work with us to help

design a project that really will work for the neighborhood. i think there were many, many discussions and meetings and a number of outcomes that are very positive. two i'd like to mention in particular. first of all, if we look at the residents, not only will this housing unit have room and units designated for the formerly homeless and low-income, but it will also have units for the middle-income households. and this is a first in san francisco, and it's my understanding that this'll be the first large multifamily unit for affordable housing that will have units for the middle-income households, and i think everybody should be aware of the shrinking population that we have of the middle-income population in this town. secondly, i think the development of the ground floor

is another real positive outcome. rather than having a large parking garage that wouldn't add to the ambiance of the neighborhood, we have a location for child care for the children. all of this will serve to activate the neighborhood further. i think it will create a much more pleasant experience along this area of broadway. and then finally, i want to mention the -- certainly our appreciation to the john stewart company and bridge housing. the design is attractive. they've gone through a number of extra measures to make sure it's not a boring, institutional structure, and i certainly appreciate all the different opportunities that they have provided to -- for the neighborhood to get some input. so with that, i'll just close

by saying i think this project is a tremendous asset, will be a tremendous asset to the neighborhood, and it will make this stretch of broadway even more inviting. and so with that, i am done, and i will let john stewart handle the closing of this ceremony. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i have to add one codicil to what's been said. we observe neighborhood reactions to the concept of formerly homeless, and they run screaming from the run. there's a lack of opposition. on this project, there's six entities that reviewed all of -- all of our designs and plans and our sociology. not once did i hear anybody say oh, wow, you're going to have formerly homeless?

there'll be 37 formerly homeless? that to me was a first. and also, i think they liked the idea of combining the two. that hybrid between formerly homeless making general assistance 30% of a.m.i. and people making $10,000 a month will be a grant interesting social experiment that we as a company have not tried before, and i'm sure our supervisor will be making many calls to us. in fact, i can hear you now, aaron. his battery has gone dead. i will quickly say there were a few other stars in the community. i just want to give a quick shoutout to ed -- stan hayes. janet, barbara, janice, and

ken. the fabric of this neighborhood's going to change with the additional units. architect, l.m.s. bill letty, aaron thorton were in every one of the public meetings that we had over four years. they'll bore you to death talking about quotes, but they're really nice people at heart. lenders, b of a, and the woman with the money, kate hartley. thank you, and thank you. the contractor, what can you say? cahill happened to be the contractor 17 years ago at north beach place. actually, i think howard carlson was one of the supervisors then, and he still is, so that's what i call good

employee retention. we have alex shafer, don brooks, and of course, chuck pele is one of our stars. he's fantastic. and the port, we've already done that, elaine forbes. mickey tuzanni and michael martin. gail gilman and victor makras are on the commission, and they're here today, and thank you for attending. cindy's staff are what we call our intrepids. thank you, mayor breed, for causing them to be so totally active. i would start with kate hartley, kudos to you. you were with this thing from the beginning. we appreciate it.

you've got a great team. luther from social services, cushman and wakefield are all going to be contributors to this. we do have a cafe and a restaurant going in here, and you're all expected to come and be big tippers when we open up that restaurant. bridge side, and i have to say, i'm looking at cynthia, marie tabor, give her a raise. she paid me to just say that. you owe me, marie, and in our office, several people have dedicated a large part of their lives to this. lastly, there are some empty chairs who represent back in the day.

olson lee, we'll have the cobblestones along with the make america great caps. last, mayor ed lee. he loved this project. i remember talking to him about this the week before he left us, and he loved this. what a fantastic legacy for you to carry on, and don't think we forget about it, supervisor peskin. so with that, i stand between you and a free lunch, and there is one occasionally, so we are now going to do the ground breaking. somebody needs to get a shovel, and we need some earth. we'll do that, and then, we'll all get a free lunch. thank you very much, everybody, for coming. >> the hon. london breed: five,

four, three, two, one. >> all right. get to work!

>> this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your san francisco history used to be. >> we hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. >> even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. and they tell us that. >> you're going to get something made fresh, made by hand and made with quality products and something that's very, very good. ♪ >> the legacy bars and restaurants was something that was begun by san francisco simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. it really provides for san francisco's unique character. ♪ >> and that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy

business registration. >> i'm michael cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. ♪ the bakery started in 191. my grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. it is a small operation. it's not big. so everything is kind of quality that way. so i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. >> i'm leslie cirocco-mitchell, a fourth generation baker here with my family. ♪ so we get up pretty early in the morning. i usually start baking around 5:00. and then you just start doing rounds of dough. loaves. >> my mom and sister basically

handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking. after that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. ♪ you know, i don't really think about it. but then when i -- sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and everything and we've been over 100 and that is when it kind of hits me. you know, that geez, we've been here a long time. [applause] ♪ >> a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. we all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. our lineage and i'll use one example of tommy's joint. tommy's joint is a place that my husband went to as a child

and he's a fourth generation san franciscan. it's a place we can still go to today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was san francisco like back in the 1950s. >> i'm the general manager at tommy's joint. people mostly recognize tommy's joint for its murals on the outside of the building. very bright blue. you drive down and see what it is. they know the building. tommy's is a san francisco hoffa, which is a german-style presenting food. we have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. you prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket fatty or want it lean. you want your pastrami to be very lean.

you can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want it with some sauerkraut. tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. san francisco's a place that's changing restaurants, except for tommy's joint. tommy's joint has been the same since it opened and that is important. san francisco in general that we don't lose a grip of what san francisco's came from. tommy's is a place that you'll always recognize whenever you lock in the door. you'll see the same staff, the same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. that's important. ♪

>> the service that san francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in san francisco. ♪ so we'll help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of san francisco. but i say really, more importantly, it really brings them public recognition that this is a business in san francisco that has history and that is unique to san francisco. >> it started in june of 1953. ♪

and we make everything from scratch. everything. we started a you -- we started a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. the business really boomed after that. >> i think that the flavors we make reflect the diversity of san francisco. we were really surprised about the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. businesses come and go in the city. pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and there's so much competition. so for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor.

>> we got a phone call from a woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. she was our customer in 1953. and she still comes in. but she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that we're carrying on our father's legacy. and that we mean so much to so many people. ♪ >> it provides a perspective. and i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, you're missing the context. for me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. >> i just think it's part of san francisco.

people like to see familiar stuff. at least i know i do. >> in the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommy's joint and looks exactly the same. we haven't change add thing. >> i remember one lady saying, you know, i've been eating this ice cream since before i was born. and i thought, wow! we have, too. it. >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their shop & dine in the 49 within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services in the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so we're will you shop & dine in the 49 chinatown has to be one the best unique shopping areas in san

francisco that is color fulfill and safe each vegetation and seafood and find everything in chinatown the walk shop in chinatown welcome to jason dessert i'm the fifth generation of candy in san francisco still that serves 2000 district in the chinatown in the past it was the tradition and my family was the royal chef in the pot pals that's why we learned this stuff and moved from here to have dragon candy i want people to know that is art we will explain a walk and they can't walk in and out it is different techniques from stir frying to smoking to steaming

and they do show of. >> beer a royalty for the age berry up to now not people know that especially the toughest they think this is - i really appreciate they love this art. >> from the cantonese to the hypomania and we have hot pots we have all of the cuisines of china in our chinatown you don't have to go far. >> small business is important to our neighborhood because if we really make a lot of people lives better more people get a job here not just a big firm. >> you don't have to go anywhere else we have pocketed of great neighborhoods haul have all have their own uniqueness. >> san francisco has to all

>> it's great to see everyone kind of get together and prove, that you know, building our culture is something that can be reckoned with. >> i am desi, chair of economic development for soma filipinos. so that -- [ inaudible ] know that soma filipino exists, and it's also our economic platform, so we can start to build filipino businesses so we can start to build the cultural

district. >> i studied the bok chase choy her achbl heritage, and i discovered this awesome bok choy. working at i-market is amazing. you've got all these amazing people coming out here to share one culture. >> when i heard that there was a market with, like, a lot of filipino food, it was like oh, wow, that's the closest thing i've got to home, so, like, i'm going to try everything. >> fried rice, and wings, and three different cliefz sliders. i haven't tried the adobe yet,

but just smelling it yet brings back home and a ton of memories. >> the binca is made out of different ingredients, including cheese. but here, we put a twist on it. why not have nutella, rocky road, we have blue berry. we're not just limiting it to just the classic with salted egg and cheese. >> we try to cook food that you don't normally find from filipino food vendors, like the lichon, for example. it's something that it took years to come up with, to perfect, to get the skin just right, the flavor, and it's one

of our most popular dishes, and people love it. this, it's kind of me trying to chase a dream that i had for a long time. when i got tired of the corporate world, i decided that i wanted to give it a try and see if people would actually like our food. i think it's a wonderful opportunity for the filipino culture to shine. everybody keeps saying filipino food is the next big thing. i think it's already big, and to have all of us here together, it's just -- it just blows my mind sometimes that there's so many of us bringing -- bringing filipino food to the city finally. >> i'm alex, the owner of the lumpia company. the food that i create is basically the filipino-american experience. i wasn't a chef to start with,

but i literally love lumpia, but my food is my favorite foods i like to eat, put into my favorite filipino foods, put together. it's not based off of recipes i learned from my mom. maybe i learned the rolling technique from my mom, but the different things that i put in are just the different things that i like, and i like to think that i have good taste. well, the very first lumpia that i came out with that really build the lumpia -- it wasn't the poerk and shrimp shanghai, but my favorite thing after partying is that bakon cheese burger lumpia.

there was a time in our generation where we didn't have our own place, our own feed to eat. before, i used to promote filipino gatherings to share the love. now, i'm taking the most exciting filipino appetizer and sharing it with other filipinos. >> it can happen in the san francisco mint, it can happen in a park, it can happen in a street park, it can happen in a tech campus. it's basically where we bring the hardware, the culture, the operating system. >> so right now, i'm eating something that brings me back to every filipino party from my childhood.

it's really cool to be part of the community and reconnect with the neighborhood. >> one of our largest challenges in creating this cultural district when we compare ourselves to chinatown, japantown or little saigon, there's little communities there that act as place makers. when you enter into little philippines, you're like where are the businesses, and that's one of the challenges we're trying to solve.

>> undercover love wouldn't be possible without the help of the mayor and all of our community partnerships out there. it costs approximately $60,000 for every event. undiscovered is a great tool for the cultural district to bring awareness by bringing the best parts of our culture which is food, music, the arts and being ativism all under one roof, and by seeing it all in this way, what it allows san franciscans to see is the dynamics of the filipino-american culture.

i think in san francisco, we've kind of lost track of one of our values that makes san francisco unique with just empathy, love, of being acceptable of different people, the out liers, the crazy ones. we've become so focused onic maing money that we forgot about those that make our city and community unique. when people come to discover, i want them to rediscover the magic of what diversity and empathy can create. when you're positive and when you're positive and committed to using that energy, - working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change.

our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world- class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast. - the city's information technology professionals work on revolutionary projects, like providing free wifi to residents and visitors, developing new programs to keep sfo humming, and ensuring patient safety at san francisco general. our it professionals make government accessible through award-winning mobile apps, and support vital infrastructure projects like the hetch hetchy regional water system. - our employees enjoy competitive salaries, as well as generous 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.

welcome to the 2019 immigrant leadership awards. we're celebrating the 22nd anniversary and recognizing unsung immigrant advocates champions and supporters. so, i don't think i need to say that it's a divisive time here in the united states and globally when civil rights, are at risk, when anti immigrant sentiment and rhetoric have translated into hatred and talk of border walls and trust in the federal government and america's international reputation are at an all-time low. we must continue to see the light. to remember our core values and continue to work together for more just and equitable world. so tonight is about affirming our commit