tv Mayors Press Availability SFGTV July 5, 2021 9:10am-10:01am PDT
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>> 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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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[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
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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.
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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
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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
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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]
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>> 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.
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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!
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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>> 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
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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
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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.
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>> 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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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].
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a day. so we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. >> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to its history. in the early 1800s the portola was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere
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future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a fund-raiser. since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a
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win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here. i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor
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environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. >> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files of san francisco. we help san francisco remain unique, successful and right vi.
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so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i'm one of three owners here in san francisco and we provide mostly live music entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and it's not a big menu, but we did it with love. like ribeye tacos and quesadillas and fries. for latinos, it brings families together and if we can bring that family to your business, you're gold. tonight we have russelling for e community. >> we have a ten-person limb elimination match. we have a full-size ring with barside food and drink. we ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar.
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we're hope og get families to join us. we've done a drag queen bingo and we're trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. this is a great part of town and there's a bunch of shops, a variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. there's a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hang out at. we have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. some of the older businesses are refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and it's exciting. >> we even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. it's in the san francisco garden district and four beautiful murals.
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>> it's important to shop local because it's kind of like a circle of life, if you will. we hire local people. local people spend their money at our businesses and those local people will spend their money as well. i hope people shop locally. >> this meeting will come to order this. is the june 24th budget and appropriations committee meeting. i am matt haney joined by supervisors. i want to thank
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