>> thank you. we will now hear from the project sponsor. >> good afternoon, planning commission. i would like to thank you for your time today. my name is charles tony the second. i'm a san francisco native, born and raised in the hunter's pointed district. i am in cutie applicant and c.e.o. of positive vibe. -- i am an equity applicant and c.e.o. of positive vibe. she loves to help people and has the spirit of giving that we all could learn and imitate. as a guy who extends that love to our family of the district -- speaking to the residents, we find out that people have to travel across cities to get medicinal cannabis. our research showed no dispensary within a 4-mile radius. it brings employment, education, assistant programs -- assistant programs and healing. i would like to thank the

planning commission and city of san francisco office of cannabis for restoring hope in our community through the equity program. it shows that my city that i love and care about shows equality. thank you. >> good evening, planning commission. i just want to speak on the tenancy issue. for two years now, we had a lease for the location. we were aware that the current tenant is month-to-month, so any fact, we are not taking them out , the landlord has the intention of doing that anyway, and i also have a letter here from the landlord for all of you to explain how he told it to us, and i just wanted to relay, for two years we have been working on this really hard. we have been doing everything we can, and i just hope our work pays off.

>> i am eric grayson, a member of the flight crew. i just don't want to hold you guys up. it was named after my mother, and i appreciate your time. it has been a long process. thank you. >> thank you very much. we will open up this item for public comment. anyone who wants to provide public comment on this item, please come up. i don't have any speaker cards. come on up. >> good afternoon. this cannabis dispensary will displace the community martial arts center. the center is valued as it's only committed to place in the plaza that actively serves families and people of all ages and backgrounds. it's beneficial for youth. the residents have noticed the develop meant of the native environment of the bar and smoke

shop and i have been personally verbally harassed. i would go to the martial arts center because it is a family oriented safe space. there is always an issue of cannabis being more readily available to youth in the area. it hasn't been long since i have been a young teen and i understand that it's very easy to get access to cannabis, especially if there is a dispensary, whether that be through purchasing via a fake i.d., or even through consumers who are 21 plus. family and teens should never feel unsafe in a shopping center surrounded by homes, and it instantly unfair for the residents, business owners, and consumers of the plaza services. i think we need to think about the negative impact of this dispensary that will be built in this specific neighborhood because it is surrounded by homes where a lot of youth live and a lot of this community will face the displacement of the martial arts center. they're both very closely related. thank you. >> next speaker, please.

>> good afternoon. my name is philip gray, i am here representing the randolph neighborhood community service project. i am a san francisco native. i grew up on randolph street, which is part of lakeview, which is the west side of san francisco. it is right in the back of the shopping center, and i grew up going to the shopping center and i currently have two small children who attend school in the neighborhood at her seo take a elementary school. -- at josé ortega elementary school. i just want to say one thing. i applaud your entrepreneurial spirit, and i've spoken with one of them, i think that they are very upstanding young men, and i think the equity program is something that is necessary, but to make an argument that cannabis availability is

underserved in san francisco is totally ludicrous. literally -- living in the neighborhood for the past four years, there is an overabundance of cannabis consumption on the streets. it affects our children, it affects our communities, and, you know, in speaking to people in the neighborhood about this issue and asking them where they get their cannabis, because we don't have dispensaries in our neighborhood, and they say, you know what, you can go go on an app and you can have any cannabis product delivered to your home in 15 minutes, on average. so they have a dominoes rule, they have a 30 minute delivery. i don't think that it's fair when you're trying to argue that the west side of san francisco does not have access to medicine for people who need it or people who want to do it recreationally

that is simile not true at all. -- that is simply not true at all. the dojo serves a community really well. there are kids who go through their from a multitude of elementary schools, high schools , and colleges in the area, so i know that has nothing to do with the conditional use permit, but to turn a dojo that serves a community in a strip mall in a residential area into a cannabis dispensary, when the market is oversaturated in the first place is not right at all. >> thank you, you have had your time spee -- you have you had your time. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> how are you doing? my name is daniel. i'm here to support this cannabis dispensary. it is well within the ordinance that was passed here in san francisco. they are following the regulations and going through the process to get permitted.

then they have to go to the state and apply for an annual license. i would also like to mention that it's not -- they are not actually kicking out the dojo such as the landlord has discretion on that, and he has decided to go ahead and move forward with them as tenants. i think this will be great for the community, especially since there's no access, you know, basically everything is south of market and in the bayview -- in the bayview district like you have mentioned. delivery service is not as easy as it sounds. it can take time and it they may not even have the product you want. if you want to go to dispensary in your neighborhood, you should have that ability to do that. thank you very much. >> thank you. any other public comment on this item? okay. i do have a question about the existing tenant. so does anyone know if they are being evicted? >> we were just recently informed of this issue, and it

sounds like there is a month-to-month lease agreement with the previous tenant, and the project sponsors have been in talks with the space for about two years now. it sounds like there was a lack of communication between the existing tenant owner and the members that use that service of the martial arts center right now, so most of them happen to have found out when the poster went up instead of previously when this was decided. >> i see. >> the landlord has elected not to come to the hearing. >> i get that, there is no commercial rent control, but i would haight to have an action that we took fuel the increase, the escalation in rental prices for these small businesses, but i also, like we didn't receive any correspondence from that tenant. there was no request.

>> nothing from the tenant. >> yeah, okay. thank you. commissioner fung? >> staff, this approval also involves consumption on site. is that correct? >> the potential to. >> okay. if you look at the floor plan, it is one large open space. where is a consumption going to occur? >> as with all cannabis retail establishments, consumption can be added at a later date with a building permit. the tenants -- the project sponsors are currently not proposing that. they just have the opportunity to, to the floor plan right now is designed is just for retail sales. >> any other questions? does anyone want to make a motion? >> commissioner moore? >> there's a comment in the letter that was handed to us that respectable of the outcome of this vote the lease for the studio would not be renewed, so

that is a very clear indication that the owner has other plans whatever they are we don't know, but it is not directly tied to this application. >> commissioner fung? >> along that same line of my question, is i'm not supportive of consumption on site here. >> commissioner hillis? >> let's just ask the project sponsors about consumption. is it your plan? i think we faced this and one other hearing where, i don't know if that is standard lang was that we put in, but we eliminated it and didn't have consumption on site,. >> we had a vote for two cases and it was -- staff was split on the two cases. >> commissioner his, we're just bringing the issue up because we are finding we want the commission to be clear on whether or not you will permit consumption on site or you would have -- you would prohibit it. >> i don't mind consumption, as

long as you have -- i don't like the uncertainty of this, like whether it is or not. i would like to approve it and have people vote on it. what is your plan? >> we wanted to go into the space, just on the feedback of the area, we wanted to get security in place, lock it down, and then maybe think about consumption, but that wasn't on our radar. >> okay. just for staff, what is the process then -- is it a d.b.a. process? >> it is just a building permit. since we have had this issue before, staff it is now taking the process of looking at whether to determine if we would recommend approval to allow the possibility of on-site consumption, if the applicable zoning district include prohibitions on similar on-site consumptions consumption such as alcohol uses. that is a reason why we would potentially permit them, and as

well if there are -- it is adjacent to any publicly open and accessible open spaces, and then what we've gotten from community feedback. >> okay. >> if my ad -- if i may add, when we are processing medical cannabis dispensaries, it was a lot easier to have a consumption area approved initially because you really just needed to draw it on the plans. d.b.h. now has much more stringent and much more difficult procedures and requirements for consumption. they also have discretion over there permits, as well. so if a space is not large enough to function as accommodated, they do have the discretion -- >> it has to be on d.b.i.'s permit? >> it has to be a building permit through d.b.i. and then sent to the department the department of public health for a ventilation system. it requires a mechanical system designed by an engineer.

it is typically something that a lot of our applicants are trying to defer to make sure they gain approval first. >> thanks. >> thank you. commissioner moore? >> was in there also a discussion that we ask for some guidance from the department of cannabis? we ourselves are unable to determine of how to really wait in a manner that is fair because we don't have any guidance on the subject matter. what are the parameters which surround on-site consumption? >> sure. on the first page of the executive summary we went into the different types of consumption permits that are available through d.b.h., type a , b. and c. we are trying to develop a more methodological method for determining what the department

will recommend where it is appropriate. our key considerations come from hearing from the commission and we are happy to get additional feedback if there are other criteria. we are really looking at the context and whether other uses like bars are allowed. for this context, the zoning district permits and bars, given its proximity to san francisco state, the department felt it was an appropriate thing to permit in the future. >> thank you. >> thank you. commissioner koppel? >> just one question. in your experience dealing with the other operators, the other neighbors whether for or against , where do you see consumption going? i am actually a fan of it because almost all of the opposition i have heard is people who don't want to smell or see people smoking it or have children access to cannabis, so i am trying to get -- i'm finding it hard that a lot of

these people don't want it consumed on-site. wouldn't they rather have it consumed on site? >> it does depend on the context when we look at the different uses, just a cannabis retailer versus a cannabis retailer that has consumption component on-site, in terms of how that space is used and how it interacts with other uses around it, a retailer generally, people are coming in, purchasing projects -- products and leaving there is a possibility that they might consume product in an unauthorized area, which is one of the criteria something we discussed on the 17th street in the castro making sure we're not spilling out onto the street on the flip side, when you have a space it has consumption, it may operate a little more like a bar and an entertainment use. we have heard from certain districts such as the mission that, you know, we don't want to encourage -- we want more of a traditional retail and less of an entertainment component.

>> thanks. >> thank you. commissioner johnson? >> i just wanted to address the neighbors. i know you brought concerns around the shop, and i just want to explain a little bit more. when you think about the equity program and about cannabis generally speaking, cannabis is legal. we have decided, as a city, not only to create an equity program to make sure that folks that were disproportionately caught up in the criminal justice system were on drugs and able to engage in this industry, but also we are looking for equity as far as where shops are located and making sure that they are spread out across the city. that is why, you know, we are making our deliberations. we totally hear you and know that there are delivery services and other things, but we're also taking a larger consideration of equity across the city into account as we consider this case

>> thank you. >> okay, i will just say, this is walking distance from my house. i support this project. i do support consumption on-site on site, and this is because, you know, to the question, it is all about the context. so if this was consumption below somebody's apartment and, you know, we weren't sure if the building inspection could yield a mechanical fix were not -- fort not to go into the apartment, and i would say no. that is what we did the last time. in this particular instance, you know, is a stripmall, and if folks can't consume it on-site, if they're smoking it or vaping it, they will go outside into the stripmall.

there are food establishments. it is across the parking lot and across the street, there is no housing for hundreds of feet on both sides. so, you know, i am totally comfortable doing the consumption there because otherwise if people don't consume on site, what they will do is smoke it in the green areas in the park. there are many. those green areas are close to people's houses. there between people's houses. and i just think this is not a good solution. i would support the consumption on-site, and i look forward to the department of public health and d.b.i. doing what they need to do to make sure that, you know, any secondhand smoke or, you know, things that might stem from that are addressed. thank you. commissioner koppel. >> motion to approve. >> second.

>> commissioners, just as a point of clarification, just to make sure that we address the on-site, the commission is supportive of on-site consumption, i just recommend that staff amend the motion to be clear on that matter, just to make sure that it is apparent. i don't think the motion specifically called out that item, so something along the lines that it will be amended to address future on-site consumption and support the parameters. >> okay. >> okay. >> staff said it is already in there. commissioners, there is a motion that has been seconded to approve this matter with conditions. on that motion... [roll call] so moved. that motion passes 6-1. commissioners, now i think we really do have to take a recess.

staff is actually stuck outside who are here waiting to present your next three items. >> any idea how long it will take? >> there was no eta given. there was a package and they're having dogs come in. >> for the folks in the public were waiting for the next item, there is a security issue, apparently there was a package found and sheriff his checking it out. there are dogs that have been brought in, so the staff that is supposed to present on the next three items is stuck outside and cannot get into the building. so we unfortunately can't proceed with this hearing. we could just postpone the next three items. >> we could continue the next three items if that is what you think. >> i think we may have to do that because we cannot guarantee when we are going to be able to resume this hearing. >> we have no idea?

>> there is no eta right now. we could continue it one week. >> okay. we can hear them at the very beginning of the agenda next time. >> does anyone want to make a motion? >> moved to continue one week. >> second. >> we need to take public comment. >> does anybody in the audience want to make public comment on the continuance of the next three items? come on up. next week, we're moving it to the beginning of the agenda next week. >> one week, next thursday. >> i think i can come. >> please speak into the microphone. we can't hear you. >> my name is cheryl, i'm here about the hopkins avenue thing.

>> right now we are only taking public comment on the matter of the continuance itself. >> i know, i understand. so it will be another week for this? >> there will be these three items that would be first for next week. >> i will move my schedule around. that is really too bad. thank you. >> we can't control it. thank you. next thursday. all right, with that, we will adjourn -- we have to vote. >> close public comment. >> close public comment. >> i need a motion to continue those items. >> do you want to can you -- continue any of the items for two weeks? >> is there a motion to continue >> we did. >> move to continue one week.

>> second. >> thank you for staying awake. >> on that motion to continue items 1880, 19, and 20 a to august 29th... [roll call] as acting zoning administrator, please continues items 18 e. and 20 b2 august 29th. >> so moved. >> thank you. >> okay. adjourned.

>> san francisco and oakland are challenging each other in a battle for the bay. >> two cities. >> one bay. >> san francisco versus oakland. are you ready to get in on the action? >> i'm london breed. >> and i am oakland mayor libby schaff. >> who will have the cleanest city? >> we will protect our bay by making our neighborhoods shine. >> join us on september 21st as a battle for the bay. >> which city has more volunteer spirit? which city can clean more neighborhoods? the city with the most volunteers wins. sign-up to be a bay protector and a neighborhood cleaner. go to battle fofofofofofofofofo.

san francisco department of environment is a place where climate hits the street. we know that we don't have all the answers. we need to support our local champions, our local community to find creative solutions and innovations that help us get to zero waste. >> zero waste is sending nothing to landfill or incineration, using reuse and recovery and prevention as ways to achieve zero waste. the grant program is a grant program specifically for nonprofits in san francisco to divert material from landfill. it's important to find the san francisco produce market because

there's a lot of edible food that can be diverted and they need positions to capture that food and focus on food recovery. >> san francisco produce market is a resource that connects farmers and their produce with businesses in the bay area. i think it's a basic human right to have access to healthy foods, and all of this food here is available. it's a matter of creating the infrastructure, creating jobs, and the system whereby none of this goes to waste. since the beginning of our program in july 2016 to date, we've donated over 1 million pounds of produce to our community partners, and that's resulted in over 900,000 meals to people in our community,

which we're very proud of. >> carolyn at the san francisco produce market texts with old produce that's available. the produce is always excellent. we get things like broccoli, brussels sprouts, bell peppers. everything that we use is nice and fresh, so when our clients get it, they really enjoy it, and it's important to me to feel good about what i do, and working in programs such as this really provides that for me. it's helping people. that's what it's really about, and i really enjoy that. >> the work at the produce market for me representing the intersection between environment and community, and when we are working at that intersection, when we are using our resources and our passion and our energy to heal the planet and feed the people, nothing gets better than

>> hello, everybody. i am london breed, mayor of the city and county of san francisco , and i'm really excited to join you here today, but i tell you that no one is more excited than the parents of the kids who will be returning to school on monday. and today is an opportunity to us to really get the word out to people all over san francisco that we have thousands of kids who are returning to school on

monday. we will see kids walking, we will see them by king, we will see them on buses and yes, some of them will get dropped off by parents in their car. but ultimately, we want everyone will get around this city safely because there will be more people out on the streets now than ever before as a school began on monday. so a part of today is really about highlighting the awareness that we need people to slow down we need people to be aware. we need people to do better. we have had sadly a number of tragedies that have occurred on our city streets and we know, unfortunately, that has a lot to do sometimes with speed. we need to slow down. yes, i have asked the chief to increase citations, and to be

aware in this high injury corridors, the need to make sure that there are consequences for people who are speeding, which sadly can cause tragedy. if a pedestrian is hit by a driver at 20 miles per hour, their risk of fatality is 5%, but if that is 30 miles per hour , their risk jumps to 45%. what we don't want to continue is sadly what we see happening on our streets where we are losing far too many lives, and our most precious assets are our children, so we want to make sure that when they are moving around san francisco, going back to school, that they are safe. when i was a kid, i went to school across the street from where i lived. it used to be called -- but the name is now rosa parks elementary school.

what was so cool about that is we would all just walk to school someone would walk up to my window, yell my name, there would already be three or four kids. we would get to the corner on eddie and buchanan, and then there was a crossing guard right there to make sure that all cars stopped so we could safely get across the streets and move on our way to get to school. i never realized how valuable that was until i became an adult and i see so many kids that are out there trying to get to school. we were also taught to look both ways before crossing the street. we also have to get back to some basics. this year we have hired more crossing guards and we want to thank the folks who are joining us here today for your service and for your commitment to making sure that people get around our streets safely. we also, as i said, we have the chief here. we will be placing additional enforcement in certain areas, and so i just want to also ask drivers to do better to stop

texting, to stop making phone calls, to stop making -- looking at your phones when you're driving on our streets, to slow down, and to look both ways and to be very careful when you are navigating the streets of san francisco to follow the laws. the stop signs, the crosswalks, and all of those things are there for a reason. it is to keep all of us safe. the protected bike lanes are there to make sure that by his -- bicyclists are safe, the people walking across the streets are safe, that people are moving. this is all about safety. this is all about highlighting the need for us as a safety to do much more than we have in the past so that we can truly realize the goals of vision zero , and that is no fatalities of any kind in this city because of traffic or cars or what have you.

at this time, i would like to introduce the supervisor that represents this district, represents marine at middle school where there will be a lot of kids here first thing monday. supervisor catherine stefani. >> thank you. i love the middle school. it is so beautiful. i want to thank everyone, especially mayor breed and the students, parents, and city leadership who were able to make it out today as well as crossing guards. the most important people in the morning when we're dropping our kids off at school who really did the important work of making sure our students are safe in our communities. my son just started high school on wednesday and my daughter is starting fifth-grade next week and i dropped dominic off at high school on his first day. i insisted i did it. and besides saying to me, mom, don't say anything weird when you dropped me off, this people

around, i said to him, look both ways. it is on a busy street. he is still 14 years old and still telling my child, be careful when his crossing the street considering how dangerous our streets can be. as we kick off the new school year, as we all know, hit and runs and collisions between pedestrians and bicyclists and be at -- vehicles are way too common in san francisco. nearly every community meeting i have been to recently, neighbors have voiced support force crating safer streets and sidewalks and i definitely share this goal. it is our collective responsibility to make sure our streets and sidewalks are safe and secure for families who are walking, for those who are driving, and for those who are riding their bikes to school. we know we all have work to do when it comes to making sure our kids are safe. i know i can always do better out there when you get to a stop sign, count to three, don't open a door before looking before -- for a bicycle and always be aware, don't take calls when you

were driving, just like mayor breed said. we can all do much better. i am so proud to join chief scott and his department who performed a traffic safety enforcement list earlier this month. i am grat -- glad i didn't get a ticket. interim director mcguire who continues to work with their communities and crating safe and sustainable transportation options, and marine, who has been an advocate for students and pedestrians across our city. and of course, again, mayor breed was continue to shine a light on transit safety and has worked towards creating a safer san francisco for all of our students. as we begin our school year, let's all recommit ourselves to making our commute to and from school safer. i look forward to working with mayor breed and my colleagues on the board of supervisors, our department heads, and families and all of our school communities to further our shared vision for a safer san francisco. thank you so much.

[applause]. >> thank you, supervisor. at this time, i would like to introduce our police chief, bill scott. [applause]. >> thank you, mayor. thank you. good morning, everyone. first of all, let me say thank you to the mayor and supervisor stefani for their leadership on traffic and pedestrian safety. back-to-school is an exciting time. it is exciting, it is a lot of work and we want to start with this. slow down a little bit. slow down. the mayor mentioned it earlier. speed kills. in terms of the focus of the violations that we concentrate on the most, we are trying to get people to slow down. as the mayor stated and supervisor stefani stated, we are going to be out doing enforcement. i want to also think the mayor and the supervisor because what allows us to get better at this is the generous support of our budget this year. last year the mayor signed a budget, and this year she signed a budget that included continuing our hiring plan.

what that has allowed us to do is increase the size of our traffic company and our motorcycle officers. we have at least ten more motorcycle officers then we do this time last year thanks to the mayor's leadership on the budget and the supervisor stefani's leadership on the budget. what that means is we are able to do more enforcement and get people to slow down and save lives. what that looks like in the first six months of 2019, we have had 19 light armed forces operations, we have head sting and decoy operations, pedestrian sting and decoy operations, we have had a bike lane enforcement operation, we have initiated over 2301 vehicle traffic stops through the office of traffic safety grant operations, we have issued almost 100 citations just for holding a cell phone in your hand. i mentioned this at last year's press conference, that is a big issue for us. people driving in our city while they're talking on the cell

phone or texting or distracted otherwise, and that is a big issue. will be focusing on that as well we sighted almost 75 of these operations just for citations for texting while driving, which is very dangerous. the bottom line on this is enforcement is only one part of the puzzle. we have tom maguire up here with this -- with us, we have crossing guards, this is really a community effort and a community event. we really need the community's support and your support to get the message out. slow down, pay attention, be careful because our kids mean so much to us. save lives. thank you very much, mayor and supervisor stefani for your leadership, and thank you all for being here. [applause] >> thank you, chief. another important part of making our streets safer is improving our infrastructure. now i know that sometimes this can be a bit of a tug-of-war because we have protected bike lanes that we need to install,

and sometimes that would require the removal of parking, and we have changes to the way that we need to develop our city moving forward to because because when you think about it, you know, 20 years ago, you didn't see as many people cycling, and now you have people using that as a primary mode of transportation. that is not only protecting our environment, but it is also keeping people healthy and it is also making sure that the buses are less crowded and less people are driving. so as we make these improvements to our infrastructure, the goal is safety. it is about making sure that everyone knows where they should be when they're on the road in order to keep people safe. so the m.t.a. is charged with the responsibility of helping us to reconfigure san francisco as a place that used to focus mostly on developing our streets for cars, and now it is time to develop the streets for the

future and that includes cars, walking, busing, and biking in all of those things in between, his the person who is leading the m.t.a. at this time is the acting director, tom mcguire. [applause] >> thank you for drawing the connection between the changes we see on our streets and the choices that all of us make every day about how we get around san francisco. our goal is to make everyone feel like it is safe for kids to be able to walk to school or bike to school or get to school on the bus. the 190 crossing guards will be out on the street this week. they are here with one thing in mind, that is the safety of the children of san francisco. we have been doing a lot of work this summer to prepare the city for a safe start to the school year. we read striped 90 of the crosswalks around schools around

the city. we've got troopers, we got transit assistance staff who ride the bus with her high school and medicals -- middle school students to make sure they are safe as they navigate the city, and we are ready for a safe start to the school year however you get around. the m.t.a. has got something for you to keep you safe. we are grateful for the support of the mayor and supervisor stefani. all the city's elected officials for the goal of vision zero to end traffic fatalities in the city. thank you. [applause]. >> thank you. we have a very special guest. the ladies of the westside waves are here today and speaking on behalf of the team is maureen. [applause] >> hi.

my name is maureen and i am here today because five months ago on march 15th, my friend was struck by a car and died ten days later, so i have normal memories of eighth grade. i remember my eighth grade play, spending iron -- hours on my science fair project and studding from a big math test, but i also remember coming in late to my homeroom when i saw my teacher crying. i remember my team and i knew madeline was in the hospital because she was 14 and of course, she was going to wake up i clearly remember spending my eighth grade graduation holding in my tears after her memorial because i didn't want to ruin my mascara. when someone dies, especially such a bright light like mandelman, a community suffers. and knowing she died in a way that is utterly human and utterly preventable makes it so much more heartbreaking.

our city has a problem and it is killing people. with all the statistics and initiatives going around, this is easily the site of the real impact madelyn's parents, or siblings, your parents and her teammates were left behind, trying and failing to move on. i am so grateful we have the support of so many of our city leaders. we got some of the change we asked for, but it is not enough. it will not be enough until this stops happening. we cannot lose sight of what happens -- of what matters. we have to remember what we as a city lose. we can end this. we will end this. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for really putting it into perspective of why we need to do better. so thank you to everyone who is here today. please keep in mind this is a changing city, it is a growing

city. we have a lot more people who are out there on the streets, on the roads walking, so please be careful. so we also will be out there and enforcing the rules of the road, and just keep in mind that there are a lot of people out there on the streets and your kids are out there, your mother is out there, your family members are out there, so just think about that when you are out there driving around and you get distracted by a phone call. that phone call can wait. what is so -- what is so pressing that you have to reach for your phone, which could risk the possibility of an accident, and the importance of today is really to shine a light on our need to be back here in san francisco, to make sure that not one more tragedy happens on the streets of our city. thank you all for getting the word out, thank you for being here, let's do better so that kids that are going to school on

monday can have a great day and they can enjoy themselves and laugh, and play, and smile, and make it home safely to tell their parents about what an amazing first day of school they had. thank you so much for being here [applause] >> welcome, everybody. it is such a pleasure to be able to welcome you to our event to

commemorate not only the acquisition of 270 turk street and the barcelona apartments, but to recognize the partnership among the mayor and city, the san francisco housing accelerator fund and others. the barcelona apartment is important, not only because of the accomplishment itself in this building, but also because it represents an important policy direction, and a bigger attempt to address the housing crisis in san francisco. please join me in welcoming our mayor and partner, london breed. [applause] >> thank you, don, and thank you for being an amazing partner in the effort to acquire welding his all over the safety to keep them permanently affordable. because we know that having affordable housing isn't just about new construction, it is

about making sure that we preserve existing affordable housing, whether it's property that we built under the old redevelopment agency, that are in disrepair, or its buildings like this where we are able to acquire it through our small sight acquisition program so that we can keep it permanently affordable. those are the things that are necessary to make sure that san francisco is a more affordable place for all san franciscans of all income levels. we have work to do, folks. the good news is that in this particular efforts, they basically kept their eyes open and saw that this was an incredible opportunity for the small sight acquisition program. in fact, even though we are celebrating 86 units here, we know that number one, we have almost -- we have acquired almost 300 unit so far through this program, there's another

110 in the pipeline, which is absolutely incredible. i am really excited about the future of this program, but a more excited about the 600 million-dollar affordable housing bond on the ballot this november. [applause] because it also provides us with an opportunity to acquire more property. i see randy shot in the back. thank you for coming. we just open the doors to the bristol hotel. another incredible site here in the tenderloin, and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that our residents have a safe, affordable place to come home -- call home. nothing makes you feel better than to have a roof over your head, to have that kind of security, to know that you will be able to afford to pay your rent. this is not just about acquiring this building, this is about providing a new home for formerly homeless families, it

is about providing wraparound supportive services, because we want to not only house them, we want to keep them housed. we want to make sure that they have a thriving existence while they are living in their homes, so sometimes it is just more than a home, it involves making the place feel like home and creating the kind of community that we know we can when we acquire sites like this. so i am very excited because this is like my favorite thing to do, and i think that we need to spread the word more about so many great things that we are doing to ensure affordability for all of our residents in san francisco, and so i would like to invite you up to say a few words. he is one of the new residents of this incredible establishment come on up and say a few words. [applause]

>> okay, hello, everyone. my name is richard, and i live here at 270 turk street in this building. it is really nice, yeah. i come from cambodia, and i came here quickly and settled down in this building with my family and i feel comfortable. i am happy in this building. i have some people who are from cambodia that live here in the

tenderloin, and i am so grateful for this building, for the new owners, for the tndc. everything, you know, is close, everything. i'm so happy, and i will -- i am comfortable to live in this building. thank you for everyone coming for today. that's all i have today. [applause] thank you so much. >> thank you. rebecca foster from the san francisco housing accelerator fund. >> thank you.

thank you so much. stories like yours are why we all do this work. my name is rebecca foster, i'm the c.e.o. of the san francisco housing accelerator fund and we are a nonprofit housing fund that was formed by the mayor's office and community stakeholders like many of you who are in the room. our job is to innovate smart approaches to housing finance that put public, private and philanthropic money to work to fund affordable housing. we were created to support important and ambitious projects just like this one. we are a nonprofit developer like our awesome partners at tndc. we are working every day to protect affordable housing, but they don't always have the right funding when they need it. when tndc approached us with this project, we immediately understood its importance. a chance to save 86 units and protect 72 current residents in the heart of the tenderloin in

an old, beautiful historic building. we knew that if these residents would be displaced, and many of them are long-term teachers, nurses assistance, technicians, restaurant workers, they would likely not find another home that they could afford in san francisco. to purchase 270 turk, tndc needed $24 million. about 18 million to buy the building, which is still a lot, and about $6 million for improvements to ensure that the building continues to provide a very safe and healthy place for all of the residents to call home. our partners in the mayor's office and the great team there will be able to come through with a long-term -- with the long-term funding for this building, but they didn't have the funds ready in 60 days at tndc needed to compete with market rate buyers to save this building. deals that are over $10 million are often nonstarters for most lenders, but at the housing

accelerator fund, we pride ourselves in being a creative and flexible lender, and even for us, $24 million is very significant, but we knew how important this was, his we rolled up our sleeves and sprinted to raise $50 million in additional capital in a few months, working with the mayor's office, and then working with the mayor's office tndc and the department for housing -- for homelessness and supportive housing where we structure the partnership that the mayor referenced that is really the first of its kind so that we cannot only prevent the displacement of the current residents here, would also open up 24 units over the next few years so that individuals currently experiencing homelessness can also have really quality homes in this building. and not only is that the right thing to do and an amazing way to use the money, it also helped be the piece of the puzzle that helps the financial issue work. we are thrilled that we could

step into support tndc and work with the mayor's office of housing and community development to get this project across the finish line. this is really hard work. deals like this happened really quickly and other small sights projects and they require very significant capital resources and a high level of collaboration and creativity and persistence, which is exactly why mayor breed continues to bring together such diverse coalitions of funders like ours to support much-needed preservation of affordable housing. some of those partners are here. partners lake city community development, thank you, dignity health, the san francisco foundation, just recently the betty ferguson foundation, and tipping point communities. we can't do this work without all of those partners, and that -- we have been able to over the last two years deploy $100 million to enable the preservation and construction of

417 permanently affordable deals -- permanently affordable units. a very complicated transaction, but like this one at the barcelona apartment projects that are way too important to walk away from. to keep it critical, we are working with the mayor to raise $50 million more in philanthropic and mission aligned capital so when nonprofit developers like tndc and the city need a trusted partner for the comp looks project like this, we can continue to stand at the ready. thank you. [applause] >> think, rebecca. thank you, mayor, for your partnership. i want to close with a few observations about why this is so important to tndc and to our community and the tenderloin. the tenderloin, like so much of san francisco, is gentrifying, and there has been a long-standing fear dating back to the seventies that the tenderloin would someday not to

be affordable to people with low incomes. when we buy a property like 270 turk street, one of the things that is really important about it is the fact that it is no longer owned by a for-profit. i want to break that down a little bit in terms of the way rent control works in san francisco. of course, under rent control, rent can only go up so much for an existing tenant, however, when a tenant voluntarily vacates, not is displaced, voluntarily vacates, that unit's rent can float up to market. that means that the next occupant will be higher income household. one can see that when one looks at the rent roll of barcelona apartments, and 80 or so people who live here, the people who moved in recently are paying a lot more rent than the people who moved in ten or 15 or 20 years ago. the key for us is that, number one, tndc can consider -- we consider ourselves forever

owners, so we intend to own this property in perpetuity, and when somebody moves out voluntarily, we won't raise the rent to market. we will essentially freeze the rents and the incomes of the people living here now for future occupants for generations so over time, this will become more and more and more affordable housing. it is a key part of the strategy of the tenderloin housing clinic , the tndc, and a lot of groups here to keep the tenderloin affordable for a group of people with low income. with that, we have a unit open on the seventh floor and i want to welcome people to go open -- go up to see it. i don't know if you want to take questions, mayor, or if anyone wants to comment. >> no. okay. thank you so much. i really appreciate your being here. thank you for joining us, mayor. [applause]