>> all right, mayor, we've got a program. so be patient with us. all right. it's been a long time coming. hi, everybody, my name is phil ginsburg and i'm the manager of your recreation and park department and it's about time. it's really happening. it's really happening. you look over my right shoulder and you can see all of the work that's already started on our pathway to environmental justice. and -- and joy and community and resiliency. but before we jump into our program, we want to do a couple of things. and the first is that we want to acknowledge that the land that we are currently standing on is the unceded ancestral home of the first nations people. as stewards of parkland, our department recognizes the duty

to honor through thoughtful and informed preservation and interpretation of ancestral lands. as uninvited guests let us all affirm their sovereign rights as first peoples and pay our respects to the ancestors of the people. thank you. [applause] just a few hours ago our recreation and park department, and i see numerous commissioners here, commissioner anderson and probably a few others that i'm not seeing behind the crowds, passed the land acknowledgement and i want to thank greg castro and jonathan cordero who worked with our department in the crafting of this acknowledgement. and i want to -- you should please join me in thanking our amazing entertainers for their performances prior to the program. first the tai chi group, give it

up. [applause] the sasamoan community dancers. lion dance me. [applause] and following the program, there will be a performance by seilin finesse. [applause] we have a lot of partners, and i want to acknowledge -- before i turn it over to our m.c., first of all, mayor breed, thank you, thank you for believing in this project and thank you for pushing for it. and thank you for supporting it the institute, and i'll turn it over to jackie in a few minutes i want to thank our e.d.p. leadership committee, what is an e.d.p. leadership committee? this project is like no other, we're not just renovating a park, we're trying to work hard to understand what the community needs to thrive in this space. so it is yours. and there are several e.d.p. members and i see oscar james

and michael wong, and jill fox here. so i want to thank you a few of the e.d.p. members and for all of your effort in guiding us, in not just how to build this park, but to make sure that it is really for this community. i want to thank the trust for public land, and the san francisco parks alliance, drew becker is here and numerous members of his team. we have several representatives from our city family. i saw ken nimm and i say caller eisen, there may not be a city department that is not working on this in some way, shape or form. and i want to acknowledge our partners across the basin from bill dink, and i see lou vasquez here, lou, thank you for being here. and i want to give a special recognition to a guy standing right in front of me, john, thank you. john fritzker whose philanthropy turned this from a dream and a vision actually into a project.

so, thank you, john. let's give him a round of applause. and thank you, moe, and john and moe were recently married just a few days ago and they came back early from -- moe doesn't really call it a honeymoon, called it a camping trip, but they came back early to be here with us today. so thank you both very, very much. [applause] this project has many, many, many people rooting for it. it's gotten private philanthropy and it's gotten local bond money through the leadership of our mayor and several -- and san francisco voters. and it's also gotten a lot of money from the state of california, senator wiener, and commissioner chu, thank you for your leadership in making it happen. this project has even gotten federal money. we've gotten money from the e.p. e.p.a., and we have gotten -- anywhere that there's money we're trying to raise it for

this project and it's actually starting to work out. today's groundbreaking is the culmination of seven years of planning, outreach and fundraising on a project that will finally address decades of pollution and environmental degradation in a neighborhood that once helped to drive the economy of san francisco during world war ii. after the decline of butcher town, the decommissioned -- the decommissioned shipyards and the forced removal of the chinese shrimping villages, indian basin, was shut down to decay. the work that we're kicking off right now will restore public access to the shoreline, and create a robust wildlife habitat, laying the foundation for a new $140 million park in the heart of the bayview. this clean-up phase of the project is led by the bayview's own rubicon builders whose officers are just down the road on third street. the team highlights a key goal

of the india basin project, to serve for equitable and inclusive growth, which includes providing workforce and business opportunities for all bayview hunters point residents, regardless of income, race or demog raggy. and giving disadvantaged individuals the first opportunity to apply for entry level jobs in san francisco. the program is administered by oewd, and you'll probably hear more about that, but thank you, ken, and thank you oewd, for your incredible partnership. lastly, remember that this project is only made possible as much money from government as we've been able to obtain for this project, it's only made possible through substantial private/public partnerships. some of our partners, like t.p.l. and the parks alliance, have been working on this for years. and others like arpi, arguably

even longer and have now stepped into new and indispenseable roles to move this project. i want to thank everyone for their support. i'll now turn the program over to one of the leaders of this project, jackie flynn. jackie has been working on this thing for i don't know how long and has been a community advocate for even longer. she is my colleague, my partner along with drew and ali and their organizations on this project. and she is making sure that this community is involved in every single aspect of what happens next. thank you, jackie. [applause] >> thank you, phil. and welcome. first of all, i want to say welcome back, san francisco. it's so nice to see everyone and see your faces. and thank you so much, mayor, with your leadership on getting our city back and up and running. my name is jacqueline flynn, and i'm the executive director of the philip randolph institute and i'm your m.c. today, so i

wear many hats in this community. and my -- my small organization, apri, i want to thank my team because i could not do this work without amazing supportive casts. so thank you, my team at arpi. and i have the pleasure of also serving as the equitable development plan manager on this project. and ultimately what that means is that for every step of the way on this project we want to make sure that we're looking through a lens of equity. and thinking about building back within our community, and making sure that we're supportive of the existing community. and, you know, as we continue to invest in this park, i want to make sure that those investments actually make it and impact the families that i work with every day. as we kick off this year's juneteenth, i have been inspired by my ancestors and thank you so much, brother clint, for acknowledging the adversities that folks have gone through to be here and the fights they have

won and lost. i'm very proud to stand behind so many folks before me. this park is very near and dear to my heart. my office is literally a block away. and as you all know as a community leader, i've been here over 20 years. and i used to knock on doors to get folks to vote and i still do it now. but really what i'm interested in is making sure that this next generation is inspired to do the same and to be leaders in their community. you know, i see how much this project can impact this community right behind me. so i also want to acknowledge all of the folks that live on this hill that have been here for generations. and it's so important that this park is being built for our residents. so i'm excited to say that this is just the beginning. and we have a wonderful brief program, so i'd like to introduce our first speaker, mayor london breed. mayor london breed -- [applause] -- is a san francisco native. definitely raised by her grandmother in plaza east in

philmore western edition, but, definitely roots here in san francisco. and she was elected as the first african-american woman, and second woman in san francisco's history to serve as mayor. she's been re-elected to her first full four-year term in november of 2019. i know that we lost a year in this last year, but we are going to keep pushing. mayor breed is a tireless advocate for all san franciscans and helps to lead our city through a very tumultuous time as we helped to rebuild this great city and come out of that terrible pandemic. so without further adieu, welcome, mayor london breed. [applause] >> welcome, mayor. >> hello, everyone. first of all, phil, i don't know why we have to subject these kids to this when there's a park right over there. are you guys going to be able to play in the park? >> no.

>> no? what's going on. they're supposed to be having a good time this summer. okay, well -- if any time during this event you want to take them over to the park, feel free to do so because we want them to have a good time. it's been a long year for our kids in this city. and it's time for them to have fun again. [applause] i'll start by saying yes, i'm from philmore. but i do have roots in the bayview hunter's point community. in fact, my grandmother's father worked at the shipyard. he was in the navy at a time when there was segregation. and he worked with what was considered a colored group of men and i find it quite interesting that in our not so distant past, the level of discrimination that existed in

this city, you know, what's interesting is that my grandfather served in the shipyard in a segregated unit and now today his granddaughter, the first black mayor woman of san francisco, signed an official declaration after the president declared it a national holiday. i declared it a holiday in the city and county of san francisco. [applause] juneteenth is an official holiday for all of our city employees. i'm not saying don't go to work tomorrow. i'm saying for those essential services that we still need to you go to work but you do get a holiday in lieu. you're welcome -- no, not you're welcome, mayor, you're welcome black people. [applause] so let me just start by saying thank you.

phil ginsburg, i want to just say to you, because let me tell you when phil came to me with this project, i'm like, phil, well, what about, you know, some of the other parks in the bayview hunters point? and we talked around our plans of retrofitting a number of parks and what was important to the community. and i thought about it for, like, really long and hard because at the time i was supervisor for district 5 and ma leah cohen was the supervisor here in the bayview hunters point community, and this community pushed hard for a change because of the environmental contamination that took place here, because of what was happening all along this area. and i think about the many people who had asthma in the bayview hunter's point community and cancer and other ailments because of the environmental injustices that have existed in this community. it is so fitting and about time

that we clean up india basin. we clean it up. [applause] and just a couple weeks ago i was just at the power plant where we broke ground on what will be 2,600 units here at a polluting dirty power plant that former supervisor sophie maxwell led the charge on shutting down, and here we are connecting this bayview community, india basin, and the power plant and all of this beauty together in a way like never before. you know, it is amazing also that this community decided what was best for them. and that was really important, making sure that india basin task force of residents, of people who lived here, provided input. and cleaning up a place like this is expensive. and making it beautiful is even more expensive. so i am incredibly thankful to the voters who time and time

again passed propositions to allow us to invest in parks? i am grateful to people who just, you know, are amazing san franciscans like john prixter and his family for committing this money -- as many things that he could have committed, this $25 million to the largest parks contribution in the history of this city. he said that he wanted that to support the bayview hunters point community, so we are so grateful to you, john. [applause] we are grateful to the parks alliance and the land trust and so many organizations for helping to work, to see this project through. it does take a village. it does take $140 million to do exactly what the community wants to see here in india basin. and i also want to take this opportunity to thank governor newsome and thank senator scott wiener and david chu and phil ping for their support on the

state level. it was a $25 million commitment, and we still have a few ways to go, but we are committed to cleaning up this area so that those kids that you saw right here can play freely and safely and not be concerned about their health. that is what is most critical for us is transforming this beautiful waterfront and making it what it -- what this community deserves. and so i'm really excited about this. and i cannot wait until we are able to see it through. it's going to be absolutely beautiful. we've seen the pictures, but it's nothing like seeing it in person, connecting the bayview hunters point all the way around the waterfront of san francisco to the golden gate bridge. now you know what the marina looks like? that's what the bayview hunter's point is about to look like. [applause] with green and structures and all of the amenities that this community so deserves.

so, you know, congratulations to this community for your hard work and your effort and sticking to it, and staying together. we know that the challenges that exist, specifically for the african-american community in this city and this country still persist. but in me you have a leader who is committed to transforming that and i want to make sure that everyone in this city, no matter what your race is, understand that when we see injustices anywhere, it is clearly as dr. king would say a threat to justice everywhere. everywhere it is a threat, and it is up to all of us to take it upon ourselves to push aggressively for change. so thank you in joining me for change in india basin. congratulations to the bayview hunters point community. and let's get this project going. [applause] >> thank you, mayor. before i give it back to jackie yet again, just a couple more

thank you and acknowledgement. alex walker, thank you for being here on behalf of assemblyman phil king. assemblyman king calls almost every year and says what i can do for india basin, and we appreciate it. and david lazar, thank you for being here. i already acknowledged carol eisen and i want to acknowledge the co-chairs of the bayview alliance. and talking about coalition building and trying to pull people together to do good, thank you, sissy and chuck for all of your work and counsel on this project. i know that jamie bruni-myles, the current c.e.o. of the ymca is here. and the ymca will partner with us to teach all kids to swim and to make sure that everybody feels safe around the water in this beautiful park from this neighborhood. and then i also want to acknowledge dr. nina roberts who is here from san francisco state. she's been our academic advisor on our equitable development

planning efforts, and thank you for your support. and i turn it back to jackie. >> thanks, phil. and just before i get into our next speaker i want to acknowledge the leadership committee that has served on behalf of this community, committing their time and their vision to the project and making sure that the community voice is heard. so i see a few of them, jill fox, and oscar james, tanansha ocori, and i see a ton of you guys, and thank you for your time again on the project. so next i'd like to introduce one of our assembly members, a neighbor in our -- in our community -- and someone that -- you know, i have known for the last decade and he's worked extremely hard for the city of san francisco. and i would like to introduce our assembly member of district 17, david chu. [applause] >> thank you, jackie. good afternoon, san francisco. are we ready to play? all right! let me first ask the mayor -- the mayor refer the as herself

to the resident of philmore. do we have residents of the hunter's point, bayview here? all right, this is our day. let me first start by thanking -- it takes a village to do this, and it takes the leadership of a mayor working with amazing departments and an amazing rec and park department and working with the private sector and working with philanthropy and working with civic partners and working at the state level and i want to thank you for that. as the mayor was talking, i thought 13 years ago when i was on the board of supervisors, i had a conversation with then supervisor sophie maxwell and she said, you know, david, the southeast neighborhoods are forgotten. and we don't invest in these neighborhoods. and a couple years later i remember having a conversation with supervisor cohen and she said, you know, david, the city forgets about the southeast neighborhood and doesn't invest in us. well, today the city hasn't forgotten these neighborhoods

and the city is investing in india basin. phil ginsburg invisitted me and then supervisor walton to come to india basin. phil, you will probably remember this and we didn't know what we were coming to see and we got here and he looked at me and said, hey, chu, i need a couple million bucks. so i said, all right. and scott wiener, and phil and i, we got together and one year of the budget we said, okay, phil, we have $4 million for you. and then ginsburg said that we need another $8 million. so i said, okay, all right, you know, money -- we'll get another $8 million. and then he said, we need another $25 million. and then we asked, well, how much does this darned thing cost? and we all know the answer to that. but let me also say a week after that conversation right here, i was sitting in room 200 with

mayor breed and she said -- and i think that this is one of those one-two things. she said, david chu, you heard about this project called india baseip? and i said -- basin. and i said, i have. well, we're making this a priority. and i just have to say, mayor breed, thank you for your leadership. i think that but for you -- and i know that supervisor walton and phil ginsburg and so many folks here, you are the village that is making this happen. so thank you. [applause] let me just end with one thing. so i am a resident. i live about 10 minutes from here and i moved to the southeast neighborhood the day that my son was born five years ago. and i moved -- we moved here in part because i believe that the future of san francisco is reflected in the southeast neighborhoods. if we can lift these neighborhoods up, there is no end to what our city will be about. and so the last thing that i'll just say is that there are a lot of folks who refer to this

project as the chrissy field of the southeast. and i'm going to say that by the time that my kid is a teenager, i think that chrissy field is going to be referred to as the india basin of the north, all right? [applause] and with that, have a wonderful afternoon. and thank you so much for being here. >> thank you so much, assembly member chu. we have a few changes to our program, but it's okay, we always make adjustments and i want to make a couple more acknowledgements before we continue to move forward. we have additional park commissioners here and our president, mark beull, and i would like to acknowledge the president and the commissioners here and also eric mcdonald, i'd like to acknowledge you guys. thank you for all of your work in serving for our parks commission.

before we move too much forward, one acknowledgement that we would not be here without the work that supervisor cohen did prior to moving into our state. so i just want to make sure that everyone acknowledges the work that our previous supervisor malia cohen did. and so let me go ahead and get to our next speakers. please let me introduce drew becker of the san francisco parks alliance and guillermo. and drew is from the san francisco parks alliance and guillermo for the trust for public land. drew has served as the chief executive officer for the san francisco parks alliance since 2017. and in 2018 alone, drew led the organization as it completed 20 plus park projects engaging over 100,000 plus residents in park programming and helped to raise over $20 million for capital projects across the city.

also helped to celebrate the 150th year at golden gate park. and then also guillermo was appointed to our california state director for trust for public land in 2017. he brings over 20 years of successful non-profit private sector and local government experience to the organization. many people don't even know that guillermo mentored me way back in the day. and he's responsible for leading the trust for public land ak sigdz, park development and policy activities throughout the state. really both organizations have immersed in the community and they'll briefly share their role on the renovation project and the other work that they're doing in the community. so come on up, guys. >> i'm here. >> okay. okay. and just after them i will follow up with another speaker, but come on in. >> this is not guillermo, this

is alex with the trust for public land so that everyone knows. we're going to tag team here. i'm with the park alliance. so exciting to be here today. we're all here because we love san francisco and we know that it could be better. we have been doing that for 50 years at the parks alliance and we're honored to be part of this important project. indian basin is part of a larger project called the blue green way. and india basin is the largest public investment as part of that blue green way project. and it is a large step forward on creating a more equitable city. and it is a part of a better, safer, more accessible southeast side. public/private partnerships are vital to the success of public spaces and have been for decades. we are proud to partner with trust for public land and also the rec and park department to raise private funds through philanthropy for this project. we think that is truly important. all public space does better with a mix of funding.

it shows commitment by the community and it shows commitment by the leader and it shows commitment from the city and commitment from the state. so we're proud to be part of that. the community engagement is the heart of what we do, grateful to the bayview hunters point community for their continued involvement and advocacy for this world-class park for which in a few months you're going to see the transformation of a basketball court up in india basin shoreline park that we transformed by artists with murals similar to what happened at hayward playground. i know that the mayor knows that one pretty well. it will be pretty cool when that happens here. i would like to thank the parks alliance team on making this a reality. mya rogers, thank you so much. and phillip wynne and mark hannon and steve frederick, and sonya gonzalez-banks and our board of directors for their commitment to project. i want to also thank the mayor and her leadership and the bayview for steadfast support of

the parks alliance and for her vision for san francisco. we are proud to work with you, and i'm really excited to work with your team on making and reopening san francisco. the investment in san francisco's parks and public spaces have been extraordinary throughout this pandemic. and i think that you saw that in all of the residents saw that. and what you are doing with investing in this park and others and supporting other departments on our public projects and our public spaces is second to none. we support your vision 100% and anything that you need we're behind you. thank you, mayor, so much. and i also would like to thank -- i would also would like to thank president walton and his team in the mission to build a more equitable san francisco. i also want to wish everyone a happy juneteenth. thank you so much. and i'm going to turn it over to ali, my partner in crime on the non-profit sector. >> hello, everyone, as you can see i'm not guillermo, he got

stuck in traffic so you have me i'm the bay-area director of the trust of public land. and as jackie, i wear many hats and i have been deeply involved in this project and working in the neighborhood for years. actually, mya and i worked on another park to see it happen before we started on this project. so i am so honored to be here celebrating this milestone with all of you today. at the trust for public land, we believe that the parks are essential for healthy communities. and parks should not have a nice-to-have amenity for a few, but a must have for all. we see that what is happening here in india basin, we see it as a national model for how we should do parks throughout the nation. this project is not just about building an amazing park, which it will be amazing, but it is much more than that.

as you have heard, it is about equity, it is about investing in this community that has been suffering this investment for decades. and it is about renewal and environmental justice. we're cleaning up, and giving it back to the community so they can have access to this beautiful shoreline. every time that i come here and i look at this view and it takes my breath away. so we need to make the shoreline better so that everyone can enjoy this. this project is about opportunity, it's a -- it's about giving opportunity to local businesses, workforce and youth. it is about celebrating and honoring the bayview hunter's point community and the rich history and the culture. and it's about resilience and hope. this community fought really hard for change. they faced many injustices.

and we are here starting to build the park they fought so hard to have. so this wouldn't have happened without all of you, without the many partners that have been mentioned. i want to acknowledge a few. phil ginsburg and his staff, and the rec park commission, amazing partners throughout this. drew becker, mya rogers with the san francisco parks alliance. also amazing partners. jackie flynn and the apri staff, having worked tirelessly, you know, you have seen them operating the tech hub and really fighting hard for this community. and then the many other groups -- there are too many to mentiog support for this. of course, our elected leaders. without you, mayor breed, supervisor walton, without assembly member chu and phil king and senator wiener we

wouldn't be here. as you heard, there's a lot of investment in this project. also our funders -- john fritzer and his funds for taking the risk and the same with the public funders. you know, they took a risk. they invested. they believed in this community and last, but not least, i want to acknowledge again the bayview hunter's point community for their resilience and advocacy. without you we wouldn't be here thank you very much. [applause] >> thanks, ali. i made a quick mistake in the program, we always have different updates last minute, but i forgot to mention someone that has worked fearlessly in this community, and i don't know how i can miss him because he's probably one of the tallest folks out here. but i would just like to welcome up our state senator scott

wiener for a few brief remarks on behalf of the project. thank you so much for bearing with me as i adjust and thank you for -- >> thank you, jackie. they didn't like to bring me up because i mess up the microphone for everyone else. sorry. so i'm just -- i have been a huge fan of this project for a long time. and i remember early in my time on the board of supervisors, some community folks asked me to come down and i came down and they're like, okay, we know that it doesn't look awesome right now and there's a lot of sort of neglected areas, but we have a vision. and i am just so proud of this community for coming together and moving that vision forward. and then also i had an opportunity to have involvement when i represented the park area on the board of supervisors and we wanted to buy what is now the noe valley to turn it into a park.

and working with noe valley and rec and park we decided, you know what, we don't want noe valley to just move forward but we want to make this about various parts of the city and we want bayview to be involved and our southeastern neighborhoods to be involved because this is a part of the city that has been neglected for so damned long and we need to be there for all parts of this city and lift everyone up. so we were able to acquire not just the noe town square but at the same time that parcel right there as well as a parcel delta market. and it's just amazing. and noe valley town square is a much smaller, simpler project, but it is done. and it has added so much to that community, but that pales in comparison to what india basin is going to add to our southeastern neighborhoods and we talk about it being like the marina. let's think about embarcadaro, and taking a neglected part of the city, in piece of a piece of

land, and turning it into an inspirational place for people to be, and i know that is what this is going to be. and we have a lot of other work to do around housing and making sure that we can connect with transportation so that people can get in and out of our southeastern neighborhoods more easily. but, boy, having a world-class waterfront beautiful park is just going to be a game-changer so, congratulations, you will have my -- i know that assembly members chu you will have our support to get this project going. so thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you so much, senator wiener. a few more acknowledgements to my community. my friend, and her organization "from the heart" has been doing a significant amount of work here on the shoreline and connecting families to health resources and housing access.

i just wanted to say thank you guys for your commitment on this project. and i've gotten her on our leadership committee as well so that the voice of the community is truly heard on the project. so i do have one last speaker, did you want to make a few remarks? i will ask her to come up for remarks before i bring up our last speaker. come on. [applause] >> hello, everyone. i'm mieka pinkston, i'm the founder of "from the heart" and it's been a pleasure to work with arpi. i'll tell you that i don't trust many people, so it was -- [applause] it has been beautiful. it has been -- phil, david, everyone has been really, really, really helpful to me and to our community and i truly appreciate it. i know that this is in regards to a park, however, we have so many other things to address

here. and i thank everybody -- i thank the mayor, david -- everybody. we are all going to be a part of this, because it's not just about this park. we can't have a park and people homeless. so, you know, we -- i just want to say that. and i am here to help our community to better ourselves, so to educate our community on living a healthy and natural lifestyle. you know, i come with healing so that we can boing some of that good energy in. and i just try to keep us all on a positive page. if we can stay on a positive note we're going to be all good, y'all, that's all i want to say let's all just stay positive, let's heal together. and let's remember that it's going to take all of us -- no matter what color we are -- no matter what we do with ourselves, it's going to take each and every last individual here in this park and outside of

this park to make everything that we want to happen look like the marina. it ain't going to just take a park, okay? so that's what we need to remember is that it's going to take everything that we have to rebuild hunter's point. i'm born and raised here. so we got this. let's do it. thank you, guys. >> and that's just one of the examples of making sure that we make a commitment to this existing community and involve our residents every step of the way as we go. there's one last speaker that i'd like to invite up and i have known this young man over the last, i want to say six or seven years that we have been doing this work. darryl watkins came up in one of our youth programs, and he continued to come back and serve with our organization, volunteering for events, going door-to-door to pass out fliers for voting. and when the opportunity came around with our resource development firm, c.c.s., they

were happy to bring on a fellow and they said they wanted to make sure that we made a commitment to this local community. and i was very proud when darryl applied and he actually scored one of the highest scores through the application process and at the end of the day, i wanted to make sure that that opportunity went to someone that understood the legacy of what it was to grow up in this neighborhood. the generations that have served many years before we got here, and i really am proud that i think that he is going to be a great model for all of the young people that you guys saw a little earlier, but he will be serving with our resource development team, really helping to figure out how to come up with a strategy to fundraise, not just for the park, but equitable development, really investing back in this community. so without further adieu, i know that his parents are here and his sister is here, really excited. darryl watkins, please come on up.

[applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. thank you, thank you. my name is darryl watkins. sorry. my name is darryl watkins and i'll i'm an incoming junior at the university. i'm excited and honored to accept this position, to be a part of this community and to be a part of this u.c.s. project. i want to first thank the apri for the leadership development to prepare me for this opportunity. next, i want to thank my family for always being here and supporting me. [applause] this park is a symbol of hope. it starts with us. i really want to help this community in different ways and it starts with this park.

thank you, thank you. i want to encourage all youth of all ages and all races to help this community. so together we can change how the bay view looks. it starts with the youth, so when we get older we can be in the same position that everyone else is. but thank you for your time. [applause] >> all right, thank you so much, darryl. and, again, that's just one very small example of making sure that we invite our young people to participate on this project and build equity from within. so we're going to just acknowledge a couple more folks from our mohcd, eric shaw, and thank you so much for coming. from oewd and city build, ken nim, our trades workers over here. and i want to say thank you for

jessica fontanelle from our success center. thank you so much. and so we are going to go ahead and do the shovel ceremony. just remember that like our shovel ceremony, it's really a way to honor, you know, not only the gift, but this is an opportunity for future prosperity and success on this project. so i've got a few folks that are going to be coming up to get a shovel in the ground. >> are we ready? okay, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... [cheers and applause].

>> when i first started painting it was difficult to get my foot in the door and contractors and mostly men would have a bad attitude towards me or not want to answer my questions or not include me and after you prove yourself, which i have done, i don't face that obstacle as much anymore. ♪♪♪ my name is nita riccardi, i'm a painter for the city of san

francisco and i have my own business as a painting contractor since 1994 called winning colors. my mother was kind of resistant. none of my brothers were painter. i went to college to be a chiropractor and i couldn't imagine being in an office all day. i dropped out of college to become a painter. >> we have been friends for about 15-20 years. we both decided that maybe i could work for her and so she hired me as a painter. she was always very kind. i wasn't actually a painter when she hired me and that was pretty cool but gave me an opportunity to learn the trade with her company. i went on to different job opportunities but we stayed friends. the division that i work for with san francisco was looking for a painter and so i suggested to my supervisor maybe we can give nita a shot. >> the painting i do for the

city is primarily maintenance painting and i take care of anything from pipes on the roof to maintaining the walls and beautifying the bathrooms and graffiti removal. the work i do for myself is different because i'm not actually a painter. i'm a painting contractor which is a little different. during the construction boom in the late 80s i started doing new construction and then when i moved to san francisco, i went to san francisco state and became fascinated with the architecture and got my contractor's licence and started painting victorians and kind of gravitated towards them. my first project that i did was a 92 room here in the mission. it was the first sro. i'm proud of that and it was challenging because it was occupied and i got interior and exterior and i thought it would take about six weeks to do it

and it took me a whole year. >> nita makes the city more beautiful and one of the things that makes her such a great contractor, she has a magical touch around looking at a project and bringing it to its fullest fruition. sometimes her ideas to me might seem a little whacky. i might be like that is a little crazy. but if you just let her do her thing, she is going to do something incredible, something amazing and that will have a lot of pop in it. and she's really talented at that. >> ultimately it depends on what the customer wants. sometimes they just want to be understated or blend in and other times they let me decide and then all the doors are open and they want me to create. they hire me to do something beautiful and i do. and that's when work is really

fun. i get to be creative and express what i want. paint a really happy house or something elegant or dignified. >> it's really cool to watch what she does. not only that, coming up as a woman, you know what i mean, and we're going back to the 80s with it. where the world wasn't so liberal. it was tough, especially being lgbtq, right, she had a lot of friction amongst trades and a lot of people weren't nice to her, a lot of people didn't give her her due respect. and one of the things amazing about nita, she would never quit. >> after you prove yourself, which i have done, i don't face that obstacle as much anymore. i'd like to be a mentor to other women also. i have always wanted to do that. they may not want to go to

school but there's other options. there's trades. i encourage women to apply for my company, i'd be willing to train and happy to do that. there's a shortage of other women painters. for any women who want to get into a trade or painting career, just start with an apprenticeship or if you want to do your own business, you have to get involved and find a mentor and surround yourself with other people that are going to encourage you to move forward and inspire you and support you and you can't give up. >> we've had a lot of history, nita and i. we've been friends and we have been enemies and we've had conflicts and we always gravitate towards each other with a sense of loyalty that maybe family would have. we just care about each other. >> many of the street corners in all the districts in san francisco, there will be a painting job i have completed

and it will be a beautiful paint job. it will be smooth and gold leaf and just wow. and you can't put it down. when i first started, it was hard to get employees to listen to me and go along -- but now, i have a lot of respect. port t i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i'm so excited to be here at the port today. we were just here celebrating juneteenth. every weekend there are some incredible markets and it was so crowded. the waterfront was alive and well. and, in fact, last weekend i think it was, these days go by so fast, i was at the giants game celebrating with roscoe. a full -- almost a full house, but it was amazing. amazing to see the waterfront

active, to see it alive, to see the excitement and now we have a couple other things to add to our re-opening efforts. in fact, ferry service started today. additional ferry service around the bay area. and, we also have opening this weekend the exploretorium and for tours the s.s. brian. and we even have more common includes fireworks on the northern waterfront for the 4th of july. and, finally, to top it all off as we get ready to re-open our city, it just wouldn't be the same unless we had fleet week returning in october. so a number of incredible

milestones. a lot of great activities. san francisco has been through so much this past 15 months and i want to take this opportunity as i always do to really thank the people of the city for complying with the very challenging orders to shelter-in-place to wear a mask, to get vaccinated. over 82% of san franciscans have been vaccinated and we just saw the announcement from the cdc that people were vaccinated don't necessarily need to wear a mask, however, we know there are still a lot of people that are not vaccinated and just because san francisco is doing a great job, doesn't mean there are others out there that aren't. we want to ask you because the cdc talked about today the variants and how the vaccine protects you from the variants and those who are vaccinated

and we don't want to go backwards. we don't want to go back to that place where we're shutting our city down. i hope we don't have to go back to that place. in the meantime, it's so important that we enjoy our city. we enjoy all these great attractions. we support one another, we have a great time. and what i've also consistently said, it is so important that when you are out in the streets now that our city is re-open that you keep a smile on your face because, right now, this is a privilege. and we have to remember, we were on lockdown for over 15 months in san francisco in the bay area and other parts of the country and so how much do we really appreciate being out here, being able to see faces without masks, being able to enjoy this cloudy, beautiful san francisco day. i will tell you that i am showing up to everything i'm

invited to if i'm available. i've been to baby showers already, and birthday parties and other activities. openings. block parties. i even crashed a block party before when i was just driving by. i said you know what, i'm going to say hi to a couple of neighbors because it feels good to see people again. because it feels good to be out again. keep that same positive spirit as we re-open and as activities begin and as folks are out doing and eating and drinking and being merry and having a good time because san francisco's coming back and we've got a lot of making up to do with the activities that we want to do that we missed out on the past year. thank you all so much for being here. enjoy the waterfront this weekend and some great activities and at this point, i want to introduce the director of the port of san francisco, elaine forbes.

[applause] >> welcome everyone. i have a smile on my face. it's great to see everyone here at the waterfront not wearing a mask. we're welcoming back 4th of july fireworks and fleet week. two cornerstone events for the waterfront. today we're celebrating the re-opening of the exploretorium and the s.s. jeremiah. increased ferry service starts today with 30% more ferries running. the ferries are here to enjoy the beautiful bay while commuting or just having some fun. next month, we have the return of cable cars and meanwhile we have the f-line running up and down the embarcadero. summer on the waterfront is here. there are so many adventures to be had. the port is proud to be home to really an amazing seven and a half miles of bayside

waterfront in the city. our water front includes peer 39, fisherman's wharf, and amazing parks and opens and heron's head park in the southern waterfront and more than 10 installations of public art. i want to thank our mayor, mayor breed for her incredible support of this waterfront and bringing back events like the 4th of july and fleet week. and of course, for her stellar leadership in navigating the pandemic and getting us safely to today as she re-opens and oversees the comeback of our city. the port welcomes more than 24 million visitors a year. economic activity here supports $4 billion in economic annual output for the city and more than 16,000 jobs. that is why we're excited to welcome back cruises this fall which brings about 300,000 visitors to the waterfront each

year. our cruises will follow the cdc guidelines and we'll have vaccinated passengers and crews and we're expecting our first cruise ship in september. this fall, we're partnering with small businesses and local artists. we want to show case our local talent and create tailor made experiences for fun and enjoyment. from crane cove park to pier 29, activities draw people to the waterfront supporting economic recorpse. these will happen as we welcome cruises, cable cars, fleet week, and hopefully a giants playoff season. thank you all for coming out today supporting our waterfront, a prosperous waterfront is a prosperous city. we welcome you to come down and enjoy some of the world's best

views, best food, and best experiences. and now, please join me in welcoming phoebe white. this museum brings hundreds and hundreds of children and adults to our water front for learning fun. following phoebe white, we'll hear from louis lovan and rear admiral wayne bays. thank you so much for being here today. [applause] >> thank you, elaine, and thank you, madam mayor, for your remarks today and more importantly for your leadership. we're so proud to be part of the san francisco community. i'm absolutely thrilled to see the progress we have made against the pandemic. it's an absolute honor to be here today and with our

colleagues and neighbors on the waterfront of this wonderful city. i am delighted to share and you already know that after 15 months of closure, the exploretorium opened today. it is wonderful to see our community re-opening fully and to be part of the collective energy that is reemerging and gaining momentum in the bay area. i would also like to personally take the opportunity to thank elaine forbes and the port for their support and partnership since we first moved to the waterfront in 2013 the exploratorium is a learning organization. we as a community have also

learning and experienced more directly than ever the critical role that science plays in all of our lives. whether it's the science behind the pandemic or vaccines or climate change or the role of technology in our lives today. some of the defining issues of our time have all highlighted how important it is for everyone to engage in topics of science. our vision is a world where people think for themselves and can confidently ask questions, questions answered and understand the world around them. at the exploretor yum and explore topics of science and ways that work for them. we don't tell people what to think, where to go, what to do. there are no right or wrong answers when you're exploring

and learning. so come on down. go online, purchase tickets yes, we're managing capacity and we honor all e.b.t. and museums for all card holders at the door but most of all, have fun. thank you madam mayor for the privilege of speaking today and i'd like to introduce louis

lovan executive director of san francisco fleet week. thank you. >> let me take off my super cool san francisco fleet week mask. thank you very much, phoebe. by the way the exploratorium rocks. do you guys still have the tactile dome? okay. that's the thing to do. it's true, we have all these events that are going to take place out on the waterfront. i have commander of strike group 3. admiral bays' assets are what will be coming up to san francisco and he'll talk to you about that. i'm very excited to bring back the live fleet week events including the fleet week air show presented by united. if you don't know it, you'll know when it arrives. it comes big and loud and it's

a wonderful thing to do down on the marina green throughout the city and the bay. most of our events are outdoors. we'll have neighborhood concerts. the parade of ships, of course. and a number of other things that you can find out about by looking at our website fleetweeksf.org or follow us@fleetweeksf. get the up to date information. right now, it's a full complement of fleet week events and, with that, i'm going to introduce admiral bays. >> wow. what a pleasure it is to be out here live in person without a mask on. thank you, mayor, for including me in today. yes, admiral wayne bays. i'm honored and excited to be with you today on behalf of your navy corps and coast guard

team. as you all know, we could not do a fleet week in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. but i'm really happy to say we're going to bring service members from the navy, marine corps and coast guard to be here with you in person for fleet week 2021 to celebrate the strong, long-lasting bonds that exist between the military and this community which is a wonderful place. we're bringing ships, we're bringing aircraft, we're bringing equipment. we're going to bring the navy blue angels. i'm going to bring bands from the navy and marine corps. but the best thing we're going to bring -- yeah, that's okay. bring the hands. but the best thing we're going to bring is young sailors and marines and coast guard men and women to be part of this city and to meet you. [applause] yeah. so the last 15 months, we couldn't get out and about. but because of the change conditions, i want these sailors and coast guard men and

women to come outlet amongst the community and meet you in person. i was here last time in 2014 when u.s.s commissioned. you're going to be as proud of them as i am. now, fleet week is fun, but it's not just all about a port call. we also do training while we're here. we take advantage of all these ships and equipment and people getting together and we work to do training on things like disaster recovery efforts with local experts here. so i'm talking about emergency management, police, fire and medical professionals and other recovery people. this is about practicing our skill sets so that during times of emergencies or crisis, the military can support military authority its effectively and efficiently. it's really important training i think when you look back at the pandemic, it kind of puts

an accent on the importance of that continued effort. so we cannot be with you in person in 2020, but i do believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder. so we're super energized to bring everything we've got to make this the best fleet week possible in 2021. i thank you so much for the hospitality of this city. i look forward to meeting you all and my wife and i sincerely thank you if from the bottom of our hearts for celebrating our men and women that serve the military on behalf of this great nation. thank you so much and i hope to meet everybody in october. >> thank you, admiral bays and we really appreciate having you here and just touching a little bit about fleet week and our plans around emergency preparedness and our director of the department of emergency management is here. mary ellen carol. thank you so much for being here. she did an incredible job leading the efforts around

covid here in san francisco. and so we will definitely take full advantage of the opportunity during fleet week to make sure that our emergency personnel are working with federal officials to take advantage of the opportunities to train, to learn, to grow, and to be prepared for any situation for each and every one of you. when i look out into the waterfront and this area, again, i tell you all to keep a smile on your face. when this waterfront had the freeway before the '89 earthquake. and i remember when i was at galleleo high school. they would fly over at practice when we were out at lunch. it was incredible to have these planes fly directly over our schools and i think about those

times and i think about where we are now as a city today. we've experienced challenging times before, but like this beautiful waterfront that's now open with no freeway in sight and if you didn't know about the history, and you probably would never imagine how our freeway could block such a beautiful place. san francisco is a beautiful place and we celebrate our history and our diversity, but more importantly, as we come out of this pandemic, we celebrate our resilience to survive another situation that could have knocked us down. it set us back just a tad bit and as a result of that, we're coming back stronger. the phoenix will rise again. san francisco is rising again as we begin to re-open and having these incredible spaces, all these wonderful activities along our waterfront is going to make re-opening so much

better. so i hope you will take advantage of these great opportunities to enjoy san francisco, to welcome your friends and family members from around the world, an the united states, around the bay area. there will continue to be activities and always great food and wonderful views that will just continue to put a smile on your face. so thank you all so much for being here and thank you all for helping us get through this pandemic. san francisco is back. thank you. [applause] 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. >> neighborhood in san francisco are also diverse and fascist as the people that inhabitable them we're in north beach about supervisor peskin will give us a tour and introduce is to what think of i i his favorite district 5 e 3 is in the northwest surrounded by the san francisco bay the district is the boosting chinatown oar embarcadero financial district fisherman's wharf exhibit no. north beach telegraph hill and part of union square.

>> all of san francisco districts are remarkable i'm honored and delighted to represent really whereas with an the most intact district got chinatown, north beach fisherman's wharf russian hill and knob hill and the northwest waterfront some of the most wealthier and inning e impoverished people in san francisco obgyn siding it is ethically exists a bunch of tight-knit neighborhoods people know he each other by name a wonderful placed physically and socially to be all of the neighborhoods north beach and chinatown the i try to be out in the community as much as and i think, being a the cafe eating at the neighborhood lunch place people come up and talk to you, you never have time alone but

really it is fun hi, i'm one the owners and is ceo of cafe trespassing in north beach many people refer to cafe trees as a the living room of north beach most of the clients are local and living up the hill come and meet with each other just the way the united states been since 1956 opposed by the grandfather a big people person people had people coming since the day we opened. >> it is of is first place on the west that that exposito 6 years ago but anyone was doing that starbuck's exists and it created a really welcoming pot. it is truly a legacy business but more importantly it really at the take care of their community

my father from it was formally italy a fisherman and that town very rich in culture and music was a big part of it guitars and sank and combart in the evening that tradition they brought this to the cafe so many characters around here everything has incredible stories by famous folks last week the cafe that paul carr tennessee take care from the jefferson starship hung out the cafe are the famous poet lawrence william getty and jack herb man go hung out. >> they work worked at a play with the god fathers and photos he had his typewriter i wish i were here back there it there's a lot of moving parts the meeting spot rich in culture and

artists and musicians epic people would talk with you and you'd get we are celebrating the glorious grand opening of the chinese rec center. ♪ 1951, 60 years ago, our first kids began to play in the chinese wrecks center -- rec center. >> i was 10 years old at the time. i spent just about my whole life here. >> i came here to learn dancing. by we came -- >> we had a good time. made a lot of friends here.

crisises part of the 2008 clean neighborhood park fund, and this is so important to our families. for many people who live in chinatown, this is their backyard. this is where many people come to congregate, and we are so happy to be able to deliver this project on time and under budget. >> a reason we all agreed to name this memorex center is because it is part of the history of i hear -- to name this rec center, is because it is part of the history of san francisco. >> they took off from logan airport, and the call of duty was to alert american airlines that her plane was hijacked, and she stayed on the phone prior to

the crash into the no. 9 world trade center. >> i would like to claim today the center and the naming of it. [applause] >> kmer i actually challenged me to a little bit of a ping pong -- the mayor actually challenge me to a little bit of a ping- pong, so i accept your challenge. ♪ >> it is an amazing spot. it is a state of the art center. >> is beautiful. rights i would like to come here and join them

>> chair haney:this meeting exactly to order. this is the june 25th, budget and appropriations committee, i'm matt haney, the chair of the committee and i'm joined by president walton and supervisors ronen and safai and mar and our clerk is mr. brant olivia. and i thank sfgov-tv for broadcasting this meeting. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: thank you, mr. chair. the minutes will reflect that the committee members participated through video conference to the same extent as physically present. and the access to city services is essential and invite participation in the following ways. public comment will be available on each item on this agenda, either channels 26, 78, or