really just providing the neighborhood with a face, this is something that we've seen work and something you can trust. >> together, city and community-based teams work daily to connect people to services, you're watching san francisco rising with chris manors. today's special guest is jeff tumlin. >> hi, i'm chris manors and you're watching san francisco rising. the show on starting, rebuilding, and reimagining our city. our guest is jeff tumlin and he's with us to talk about our transportation recovery plan and some exciting projects across the city.

mr. tumlin welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me. >> i know the pandemic was particularly challenging for the m.t.a. having to balance between keeping central transportation routes open, but things have improved. how are we doing with our transportation recovery plan? >> so we just got good news this week. we're getting an extra $115 million from the american rescue plan and this is basically the exact amount of money we finally needed in order to close the gap between now and november of 2024 when we'll have to find some additional revenue sources in order to sustain the agency. in the meantime, i finally have the confidence to be able to rapidly hire, to restore services and to make sure muni is there for san francisco's larger economic recovery

because downtown san francisco doesn't work without muni. >> quite right. i guess the other impact of the pandemic was that some projects like the valencia bike improvements had to be put on hold. are we starting to gear up on those again? >> yes, so it's an interesting case study. of right before covid hit, we were about ready to invest in quick build bike lanes. arguably the most important bike order in san francisco. that got stopped with lockdown and then as you'll recall, during covid, we invented all kinds of other new programs like shared spaces in order to support our small businesses as well as sunday street light events for neighborhood commercial streets where streets were closed off to cars and turned over to commercial activity. those successes now that they've been made permanent actually interrupt the draft design we had put together. so we've gone back to the

drawing board and we are looking forward to having some additional community conversations about other design ideas for valencia. we're committed to completing a quick build project on this calendar year. >> that's such good news. valencia is a really great street for biking. so there are two huge and exciting projects that are about to be or have just been completed. let's talk about the bus rapid transit project on van ness avenue. how extensive have the improvements been? >> what's called the van ness transit rapid project is in fact more about complete reconstruction of the street and most importantly, the 100-year-old utilities underneath the street. so all of the water, sewer, telecommunications, gas lines under the street were basically rebuilt from market street all the way to lumbard. the part on the surface which provides dedicated bus lanes

for golden gate transit and muni, that was relatively straight forward and we're so excited we're going to start revenue service for muni on april 1st. >> that's fantastic. i understand there were some sidewalk improvements too. >> there were sidewalk improvements. we planted 374 trees. there is new storm water treatment including infiltration in the sidewalk, there's a bunch of art. there's all kinds of things. we put in new street lights for the entire corridor. >> finally, the other big news is about the central subway. can you briefly describe the project and give us an update. >> yes, so the central t-line project, another stop at union square that connects directly into powell station and a final

stop in the heart of chinatown at stockton and washington. that project has also run into challenges. it's 120' under muni, under bart, 120' down and out under chinatown in some unexpectedly challenging soils. but that project is nearly complete. it's at about 98% completion right now which means we're testing trains, we're testing the elevators and escalators and the final electronics and we're still on track to open that in october presuming all of the testing continues to go well. so fingers crossed on in a one. we're really looking forward to allowing people to have a subway ride from the heart of chinatown all the way to the convention center to the caltrans station and all the way down to bayview and

visitation valley. >> it's great to see all these projects coming to completion. we're all grateful for your team's hard work and i really appreciate you coming on the show, mr. tumlin. thank you for the time you've given us today. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me. >> and that's it for this episode. for sfgov tv i'm chris manors. thanks for watching.

>> hi, you are watching san francisco rising. focused on reimagines our city. our guest is debbie rafael director of san francisco department of environment to talk about climate action plan. welcome. >> thank you. it is a pleasure to be here. >> thank you, too. i have seen the climate action plan.

it is a very detailed document that might be a little incontinue dating to digest is there a simple way to summit up? >> you are right. this is a science-based document. we are very, very proud of the rigor. over 150 implementable actions to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. i think i can summarize everything in the plan in four words. zero 80-100 roots. that is all you need to know and think about when you think about your own climate action plan. let me explain a little bit more. zero. zero waste. landfill incineration. zero toxics. cutting down what you buy altogether. that is really how we are going to reduce emissions upstream

from all of the manufacturing and mining that happens because of the decisions we make about what we buy. zero. everything in your blue and green bins. as little as you can in your black bins. 80% of trips in sustainable low carbon mode. public transit, bike, walk, carpool. think about the ways you can move around the city, achieve mobility without having to get into your own personal vehicle. 100. 100% renewable energy. that means, first of all, reduce the energy you use. energy efficiency. when you use it whatever source of energy it is, it needs to be all electric. carbon free. that means getting off diesel and gasoline. natural gas heats our homes. it is used in cooking and

cooling in buildings. 100% of that energy we use needs to be electric and needs to be supplied by renewable electricity. very easy in san francisco. you can buy 100% renewable clean power s.f., pg&e has 100% renewable. zero, 80, 100. that is how we do bad in the world. we need to pull out the carbon in the air. we do that with roots. using your green bin. every banana pill, dirty pizza box, eggshell put in the green bin. it becomes compost that is spread over agricultural lands radically changing soil

chemistries, improving health of soil,ability to retain water and pulling carbon out of the air to store underground. 180 pages of carbon action zero, 80, 100, roots. >> individual responsibilities really are important. we have a big part to play. how is this dealing with corporations and big businesses? producers of co2 and methane? are we putting pressure on the manufacturers, producers and distributors? >> that is a fair question. as individuals we have an important role to play. it only goes so far. san francisco has been a global environmental leader for decades. the policies how we hold others to act has driven action at state and federal level. there are two ways that san

francisco applies this pressure, as you call it, on others. first our authority to pass laws. second is to exercise our power as purchasers. let me give you examples. how do we pass laws? mandated city-wide composting, banned natural gas in that construction, all new buildings in san francisco will be all electric, and will be operating on 100% renewable electricity. that is the law. required installation of easy charging in parking lots, large commercial buildings right now convert to 100% renewable energy and electricity. we ban materials that can't become posted or repsych-- composted or resickled. we banned styrofoam takeout containers years ago. more recently be banned p fox a

forever chemical in the packaging making it impossible for it to ever breakdown. that second bucket is really interesting and very powerful and very quick. that is our power as purchasers to move the market. send signals to the market place. the kinds of computers the city buys. use the highest standard of environmental performance to drive manufacturers like apple and microsoft to make changes to the way they build the electronics. we have carpet standards to get rid of chemicals and plastics like pvc and rubber chemicals driving the marketplace. those are very effective tools. you are absolutely right. it is an and not an or. >> what challenges do we face as we pursue our goals. you mentioned one. >> the overarching challenge we need to bring everyone along.

i mean that in the broadest sense of that word. this will cost money to change natural gas water heaters, get off gasoline in cars. that is a cost. how are we going to raise revenue so we don't cause undue burden on those who can afford it least? those are most impacted by the impacts of climate change and pandemics as well. how are we going to raise the revenues we are going to need to help everyone who needs it. secondly the changes will require significant political will. how will we build more housing. there is a section in housing in the climate action plan. as the mayor says housing policy

is climate policy. we need to get out of cars and support transit and biking and walking. some is resources. some is political will. finally, some of the changes we need don't exist yet. we need new technology, we need research to new ways of doing things. our ski can't be responsible for that. how do we align with the people with the big bucks, state, federal government for research and technologies are developed to help us meteorchallenges. >> san francisco is known as the forefront of environmental movement. what are you most encouraged about for san francisco and climate efforts? >> end on the positive. it is easy when it comes to city and county of san francisco. i call it the eco system. there is a tremendous power in

the willingness of the san francisco ecosystem to work together to take action. that ecosystem are the residents first and foremost. elected officials and mayor, businesses and frankly also our city staff. that ecosystem gives me great hope. in fact, it is working quite well. the numbers show it. san francisco has reduced its emissions of carbon from 1990. that was the baseline to 2019 by 31%. that is a phenomenal number and the envy of cities around the world. 31% reduction in carbon at the same time that our population has grown by 22% and economy g.d.p. by 200%. those numbers send a very important message. that message is that it is

possible and san francisco is proof of this. it is a rising city and environmentally conscious one. we can reduce emissions and still have a thriving city. that gives me tremendous hope and democracy is important for people who share your values. thank you. >> thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show. thank you for your time you have given us today. >> thank you, chris. it is an honor. >> we will be back with another episode shortly. you are watching san francisco rising. for sfgovtv thanks for watching. you're watching san francisco rising.

today's special guest is monique gray. >> hi. i'm chris mannis and you're watching san francisco rising. the our guest today is marquise gray. he runs out of the office of the mayor in the city and county of san francisco. and he's with us today to talk about the recent progress of the sunnidale hope sf housing project. welcome to the show. >> good morning. thank you for having me today. >> let's start by talking about the existing residents of sunnydale and their history. >> so sunnydale was built in the 1940s for a workers. it's the largest public housing community west of the mississippi. it's about 50 acres. pretty huge.

about 760 single story units one to four bedrooms. >> i understand it's an ambitious rethinking of the residences. can you briefly describe the scope of the program and hope sf's involvement? >> yeah. the work of hope sf is this idea of more than housing. that acknowledging that our public housing community, the levels of violence and poverty that are in these communities are not by accident. you know, it's our opportunity to address a system issue, you know, that people need more than housing. they need health services. resources. economic investment opportunities, jobs and things of that nature. and so hope sf strives to work with our city systems to better serve our public housing communities. >> so recently, mayor breed and speaker pelosi toured the site to both put focus on a national

housing initiative and also to highlight the completion of the first new building. how many units does it contain and when will people start moving in? >> yeah. it was an amazing event. honored to have the secretary here with us as well in our community. it's 167 units. it's about 75% going back to the original families that currently live on site. so the replacement. so i did forget to mention i want to say real quick, the beauty of hope sf is housing development, new development without displacements or anti-displacement initiatives. so, for example, the building is 167 units. 75% of those units going to families that have lived there in the community for generationings and the other 25% are tax credit units adding to the affordable housing stock here in san francisco and those units are up and running now. they're leasing them as we speak. people are picking their units

each week until they're filled up. >> so was this particular building put on a new plot of land or did people have to move out so it could be constructed? >> that's a good question. our first building was vacant which you may have saw across the street from this building and then this plot of land is the way we kind of do it, we do it in phases. once one goes in, we're able to move families into the new unit and where they previously were occupying, able to demolish old buildings to build the new. so this area had some older units that were demolished. >> it's impressive that construction has been able to continue during the covid-19 pandemic. can you talk about some of the challenges that needed to be overcome and how the community has managed during the crisis? >> that's a great question. you know, in san francisco, if i understand it correctly, i could be wrong, i believe housing was an essential service.

the mayor made a strong commitment early on in the pandemic that we would continue to build housing as housing has been a critical issue in our city. so the housing part hasn't impacted us too much. 67 units have been going on its current time line. the bigger challenge for us was showing the families in our communities, low income families had the resources we need to survive the pandemic. many of our families didn't have the luxury of working from home, working in the zone and things of that nature. making sure they had access to covid testing and things of that nature. so i want to give a big shout out to our resident leaders, our service providers across all four sites. for those that don't know, hope sf is four sites. sunnydale is one of the four

sites. and so across those four sites, the most critical thing was making sure folks in these neighborhoods which have historically have been disconnected from resources have the things that they need to remain healthy, to, you know, survive the pandemic as we all had to survive the pandemic and we did pretty well. we were able to bring back scenes and covid testing on site. food distribution was happening all throughout the week. wellness services and things of that nature were all happening on site thanks to our resident leaders and our service providers across the sites. >> so, finally, when could we expect the next set of residents to be ready? despite -- i guess we just said covid doesn't have an impact on the schedule. when will the next residences be ready? >> yeah. things are rolling. we have block a3 and block b3 to the building we were

referring to earlier. and things are on pace. things are going really well. so we're looking at starting construction spring of 2022 and that will be 170 units and the goal is to have that lease up around 2024. >> well, thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show, mr. gray. thank you for giving us the time today. >> thank you, chris, and i really appreciate your time as well. >> and that's it with this episode. you've been watching san francisco rising for sfgov tv i'm chris manners. thanks so much for watching.