>> goovend, everybody. >> how is everyone doing today? >> awe some. great weather we were dreading it would rain today and look at the sky behind me. gorgeous. this was meant to be. my name is natasha i'm the executive vice president the development at bridge. for northern california. i will also be our mc today. on behalf of bridge and ken lombard could not be here today. i want to welcome all of you and thank you for take the time to

celebrate the grounds breaking for potrero block b. bridge was seconded by san francisco to partner with the residents of the potrero community and literally redesign the landscape that you see here. together, we embed on the long over due and critical task of figuring out how to figure out the potrero terrace andaneck. hours of discussion, design charettes and focus groups with the community resulted in rebuilt potrero. an ambitious vision to redevelop the site in a master plan with 1600 housing units, parks and open space, new street grid other thanning retail and community serving space that grand vision is surely taking shape before our eyes with the development of the second phase with 150, 7 units of affordable

family housing and infrastructure. [applause]. 1101 connecticut the building behind you, this you see across the street is 72 family housing units that opened in 2019 as phase one of potrero. potrero block b includes a 6,000 square foot child pace and provide a home notoriety cross cultural family center a childcare provider serving the communities for many years out of 2 existing apartments. in addition the block b development will include 4,000 square foot public minipark. the first of several parks in community serving open spaces that are an important part of this master plan. our mission is to communities. i have been with bridge for many

years. i joined the potrero team earlier this year. this is really personal for me. i upon really want to take this opportunity to thank the residents of the potrero community and all the other stake holders including supervisor walton and his staff. mayor breed, staff at mayor's office of housing and oewd. the san francisco housing authority, i see tonya here and staff. hope sf for welcoming mow to the team and post in the our collective effort to rebuild potreroism look forward to working with all of you to further our mission. lastly, a shout out to the small and mighty bridge team. april tale. susan newfeld. t. j. bryce. listen all instrumental in

bringing us together. give everybody on the stake holders the community let's give everybody a round of alaws. [applause] i would like to welcome supervisor walton who has been the champion of the rebuild potrero project. good morning, first of all welcome to the beautiful district 10 the sun is always shining. even with the expectation of rain. this is truly a beautiful day for us here and community to be breaking ground on another building more housing and affordable housing in san francisco and in potrero hill. my conversations with bridge start in the 2007 and 8 when i was the director of the family

resource center and talking about development and talking about how we would rebuild potrero we are 24 years later, we have first unitings up. more units on the way. this is what we really call fulfilling a promise. and we will make sure we continue to finish all the units that are going to be replaced here on the hill. when we replace units we are not replacing community. we make sure community can stay, live here in the same neighborhood where they have been raising family and work for the last decades. i'm excited to be on the board of supervisors to see this enter fruition. i look at members in communities and folks, note only lived here for their lives and worked here and been a part of making sure we got to this day and thank the

community and residents, they have of course had to endure all of the changes and designs. all of the different models before we got to this date and to see the work coming. thank you for your resiliencey to the community and thank you for showing up today. looking forward to had this is finished, we'll be back to cut the ribbon and people are moving in. thank you. [applause] >> thank you supervisor walton. i would now like to invite eric shaw to say a few words, potrero with the other hope sf project in san francisco would not be possible without the on going support of the mayor and certainly her staff at mayor's office of housing. eric? [applause]. >> thank you very much. and also proud to say i'm interim director of hope sf.

i wear 2 hats and proud of both and want to thank and blessed and fortunate in that initiative as well. i'm proud to be here to celebrate the construction of another building of affordable home in potrero hill. it reflects the promise we made to the potrero public housing this no residents be displaced as we transform this to a racially and economically inclusive neighborhood. this is a vision of hope sf to create new possibilities and for a city on aging public housing cites this anies back years and guess back to previous mayors. promise deliver on the vision pass friday mayor to mayor. because while the city and the person in city hall may change the community deserves these projects. original buildings built 80 years ago and not built to last for as long as they have.

we worked to rebuild the community surrender way with residents move in the 72 new homeos 1101 connecticut. this will be here will be the seconded affordable housing to break ground as part of potrero hill master plan. will bring 157 new homes to the neighborhood. 117 of those reserved for current residents already call potrero home and will create 40 additional affordable homes new housing opportunity here as we reimagine this neighborhood. includes 10 units servesh reserved through the preference program so they are not displaced. the building will have on sight property management and service. community gathering spaces and on sight minipark and the public. affordable childcare approximate this is just the beginning. i am honored gather to break ground on the next step for the

community and i can't wait to be here for the grand opening the next decade planning up to 1700 new home in the neighborhood and 65% will be affordable. and as we invest more in potrero and build the housing we the great new community spaces, job ands transit opportunity. celebrate >> moment and lift up our communities and create tunes for all regardless of backgroundses. and for recognitions. i like to thank everyone involved in hope sf. raise your hands. >> [applause] i would like to thank bridge housing and team's architects, contractors and service providers took the time to gather feedback from the community. your work made sure the voices were heard and the needs were met. i want to thank the san francisco housing authority and are tonya? who has been an amazing partner through this whole journey.

and ultramarathon if we call it that we are coming in mile 25? thank you very much for your leadership as well. i want to thank the city departments including all my teams and the mayor's office of housing community development. can you raise you were hands? mocd? and our funders it is all about money and by the way we need more. thank you very much. i always have to ask. the supervisor that was your talk happening points to ask for more money. we will do that off line. i want to thank the california department of housing and communities development. provides fund to the california housing accelerator to allow this project to move forward this is one of 5 projects hope sf that are funded. i want to thank you very much. and finally i want to thank the community. you put your faith in us and work for us and without you none of this will be happening.

continue to work to commit it possible as we strife for a san francisco that is affordable to everyone. and with that i will bring my fellow partner and development and financials from the stage. ditransition. [laughter]. hands it over. >> okay. there you go. all of us should ask for funding. it takes a village in that space. thank you very much for your partnership as well. [applause]. before i start i need to take a picture from up here. i -- all of you etch raised your hand and i am getting pictures one at a time. congratulations your victory! good job! thank you. >> of course eric. good morning, everybody. i'm hernandez deputy director for communication at the

california d. housing and community development. it is my great pleasure to be here today. [applause]. on behalf of governor newsome, yea. don't record that. acd director valasciiys wanted to be here today and our entire departmentive want to wish a congratulations and honest low a thank you. i will go off script as i was upon listening to the speakers and eavesdropping on the side conversations, what really resonateed me and is at the core of great investment is community. theancy displacement efforts for this project are critical, they are so important and they speak to when we really care about that is giving people safe, affordable homes for long-term. thank you for this hard work.

thank you to the community. i know it can be tough to trust government. and work with government. and i hope today you feel some success. we cannot be here without you. [applause]. so as you heard, we invested through our housing accelerator fund approximately 94 million that mean this is project within 6 months went from the, ward to today this . is unpresidented, record breaking and critical to keep this project moving. we put in another 20 million with the california growth council for investment in infrastructure, bike ways, walkways and making better transit connections the under production of house nothing general and affordable housing coupled with historic red lining and other policies made housing unaffordable for far too many in

our state and for too long. we need more communities like this. the housing accelerator will provide approximately 5,000 new housing units throughout the state they will come online extreme low fast. developers like bridge and per ins like in the mayor's office. want to thank mayor breed, eric, your team. we need that commitment. this project is years in the make. and we need that dedication so no matter who is in office the projects move forward and represent the community who deserve and over looked for too long. look forward to victim in the city of san francisco. look forward to more opportunitiful i will get prishths after this. i'm looking forward to. thank you again and i cannot wait to be back. our director wants to back when we cut the ribbon and welcome more residents home.

thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. we appreciated both the state and the mayor's office of housing for the funding they have provided this and other projects. i would like to invite jonathan, executive director of j. p. mother abchase. >> chase bank provide financing for block b. in addition to the subsidy funding reach out to the banks and our investors always to get more funding and we want to thank you for your support. >> thank you. jonathan beach with chase community development bank. an honest torto be here thank you for inviting me. just to start, i joined chase 4

months ago. prior i managed santa clara affordable housing department of i want to admit i have didn't least amount work of anybody here but get the honor of speaking at the ground break. that said, i want to thank bridge. and all of our partners here today and congratulations on the ground break. i have been a fan of bridge for a long time at the city and at chase. and i could not think of a better development team to tackle a complicated and master plan development on a site like this the oldest public housing sights in the city. you know chase roll roll was to provide 150 million dollars in construction financing and 50 million dollars in permanent financing and despite the big number there is is no may the project is feasible without the mayor's office, housing authority. monica mentioned, this project here is an example of the

success of the state's housing accelerator program to fund projects that would have been stuck in the bottle neck to get tax credits. this projects this otherwise may not have been funded. who knows where the project would be today without the accelerator program. chase, we funded a number of fais phases through hope sf. we are prud to be a part of the broader initiative. but what is happening at potrero. i want to thank bridge for having us here today and block b is part of the larger goal to the larger goal to increase access affordable housing for everyone. i think we are looking forward to seeing your vision realized here. and come become to see this master plan development fulfilled. thank you and looking forward to communities thrive here.

[applause]. >> thank you. i would be remiss if i did not mention the housing authority as always one of the providers for all the projects here. housing authority [inaudible] and i want to reach out and thank my colleague, tonya, for her leadership and partnership and looking forward to working with you to expedite when we have here. thank you. [applause]. and last but not the least, i want to invite april tality tow come and say a few words. and acknowledge and village of folks you tell we partnered with to make it happen. >> i want to thank april for her dedication approximate hard work in piecing together the financing, you all just heard how much it takes to put the

projects together. and as monica said, and i think eric you mentioned this and jonathan; we applied multiple times for financing throughout state under a different program and not successful. and the govern obviously upon his priority is to increase the amount of affordable housing and expedite building housing. i want to thank april she was curating the applications and trust mow they are not easy. lots of details. i don't know april how many times you applied, twice. >> okay. >> i really would like for to you come up here and say a few words about the projects, your experience and we want to acknowledge everybody. instrumental to work here today. thank you.

>> good afternoon, everybody. i think we can do better. good afternoon, everyone! >> thank you. i'm april tally senior project manager at bridge. i am delighted to be here as it has been a challenging and yet rewarding time. on behalf of bridge housing i would like to take a few moments to thank several team members for make thanksgiving development a reality. i like to acknowledge the residents of potrero public housing. thank you for your patience with this process. we also like to acknowledge the neighbors of potrero public housing as well. we looic to thank our community based organizations that support and uplift residents such as the

chant shanti project, care. stand in peace, neighborhood house and rdj. >> our architects paul, jeffrey, alisa and anthony for the creative design. thanks to gary string and the team at gls for landscape design. i like to thank our consultants at ph pc for financial consultation throughout the predevelopment through construction closing. next i like to thank acc, sunlight and power. concord group and way point our construction managers on this project. thank you to matt irwin. robert and the kay hill team for

partners in the redevelopment of potrero. you all know kay hill was the gc for connecticut as well. we appreciate supervisor walton and his staff for supporting the project and a huge thanks to the california department of housing and community development for helping us >> yes. helping us put your funds from the california housing accelerator. they were in lieu of traditional 4% tax credits and bond [inaudible]. this project would not have been able to start construction and create jobs without them. once again, thank you to the mayor's office of housing and community development for providing both predevelopment and gap funding. i want to thank ryan. sailor abrendzon dwyer. sarah, lydia and eric shaw.

additionally, i like to thank staff at oewd for support and asisterance with needlement approvals and the permit process which can be crazy. special thanks to hope sf staff for your community development effort. thank you to our construction and lendser chase bank for funding the development. i would like to thank acknowledge -- henry, wendy richardson and linda for their hard work and next i like to thank the staff at bridge. we could not have reached such a mile stone without you our accountant. and also a some thanks to our community and residence dents services team for their work to

support potrero residents. thank you to jeffrey mccormick and bpmc for letting the potrero hosting and available to answer questions. and finally i want to lynne and ellen for host thanksgiving events. thank you all. [applause]: >>ing events. thank you all. [applause]: >> music music [music] >> this neighborhood was lived for approximately 22 years. >> yeah, like 21 years. >> 21 years in this

neighborhood. >> in the same house. >> we moved into this neighborhood six months after we got married, actually. just about our whole entire married life has been here in excel. >> the owner came to the house and we wanted to sell the house and we were like, what? we were scared at first. what are we going to do? where are we going to move into? the kids' school? our jobs? >> my name is maria. i'm a preschool teacher for the san francisco unified school district. >> my name is ronnie and i work in san francisco and i'm a driver from a local electrical company. >> we went through meta first and meta helped us to apply and be ready to get the down payment

assistant loan program. that's the program that we used to secure the purchase of our home. it took us a year to get our credit ready to get ready to apply for the loan. >> the whole year we had to wait and wait through the process and then when we got the notice, it's like, we were like thinking that. >> when we found out that we were settling down and we were going to get approved and we were going to go forward, it was just a really -- we felt like we could breathe. we have four kids and so to find a place even just to rent for a family of six. and two dogs. >> we were going to actually pay more for rent and to own a house. >> it feels good now to have to move. it feels for our children to stay in the neighborhood that they have grown in. they grew up here and they were born here. they know this neighborhood.

they don't know anything outside san francisco. >> we really have it. >> we'd love to say thank you to the mayor's office. they opened a door that we thought was not possible to be opened for us. they allowed us to continue to live here. we're raising our family in san francisco and just to be able to continue to be here is the great >> i went through a lot of struggles in my life, and i am blessed to be part of this. i am familiar with what people are going through to relate and empathy and compassion to their struggle so they can see i came out of the struggle, it gives them hope to come up and do something positive.

♪ ♪ i am a community ambassador. we work a lot with homeless, visitors, a lot of people in the area. >> what i like doing is posting up at hotspots to let people see visibility.

they ask you questions, ask you directions, they might have a question about what services are available. checking in, you guys. >> wellness check. we walk by to see any individual, you know may be sitting on the sidewalk, we make sure they are okay, alive. you never know. somebody might walk by and they are laying there for hours. you never know if they are alive. we let them know we are in the area and we are here to promote safety, and if they have somebody that is, you know, hanging around that they don't want to call the police on, they don't have to call the police. they can call us. we can direct them to the services they might need. >> we do the three one one to keep the city neighborhoods clean. there are people dumping, waste

on the ground and needles on the ground. it is unsafe for children and adults to commute through the streets. when we see them we take a picture dispatch to 311. they give us a tracking number and they come later on to pick it up. we take pride. when we come back later in the day and we see the loose trash or debris is picked up it makes you feel good about what you are doing. >> it makes you feel did about escorting kids and having them feel safe walking to the play area and back. the stuff we do as ambassadors makes us feel proud to help keep the city clean, helping the residents. >> you can see the community ambassadors. i used to be on the streets. i didn't think i could become a

community ambassador. it was too far out there for me to grab, you know. doing this job makes me feel good. because i came from where a lot of them are, homeless and on the street, i feel like i can give them hope because i was once there. i am not afraid to tell them i used to be here. i used to be like this, you know. i have compassion for people that are on the streets like the homeless and people that are caught up with their addiction because now, i feel like i can give them hope. it reminds you every day of where i used to be and where i am at now. >> good afternoon, everyone. happy monday! that was funny. i'm san francisco mayor london

breed. it's great to be here with each and every one of you to talk about exciting programs that we plan to launch today. i know there are a lot of people here. people from our ambassador community, folks from various companies and entities and i had a lot of meetings over the last couple of months. after coming out of this global pandemic and what i've been hearing especially from many employers and employees who make san francisco so vibrant and great is that they want us to do more to improve safety. they want to make sure that when people are catching bart or munithat when they move around e city, they feel safe. another thing i hear from folks in the community and people who visit san francisco is how great at the feel when they're down downtown when they run into a

nem an orange jacket and when they're in the tenderloin and help someone find the right path of travel. this is a challenging city. we know it's a major city and a city that so many people want to be in. when people catch bart from the airport, they get off here and go up the escalators with their suitcases to go to check into their hotels. people who visit and come visit san francisco for conventions, that's a big part of our economic engine. that's a big part of how we're able to afford to pay for the city services in the first place. today when we talked about safety, we talked about a desire to have people return to work in the downtown area can. we talked about how people who work in the downtown area in general want to feel safe and secure. so today, wa we want to announce is a significant investment in

our ambassador program that will change not just what happens downtown, but will change and support communities all over san francisco that we know are in desperate need of it. [applause] you know, i'm proud of this city because safety we know is not just about our police force even though we have a need for police officers. we are looking at ways in which we can have alternatives for what exactly we're talking about specifically downtown, having eyes and ears on the streets and those who welcome visitors and even folks who live and work here with a smile on their face. we're going from an ambassador program that includes attendance at the bart station -- love you

too. and our downtown ambassadors, union scare ambassadors, we're going from 200 ambassadors and adding on top of that a whole additional 150 ambassadors that will not only support this downtown area, but will support important communities like thelma, like the mission and other places where we know they are so desperately needed. this is just one step forward in hoping to address our public safety challenges in san francisco. we know it's complicated and we know we have a lot of work do, but what i appreciate about today -- today is about community, today is about people who work here. today is about business, today is about our city workforce. today is about bart. it's about our partnership and working together to make san francisco a safer place for awful us.

safer place for all of us. so many things happy as a result of the pandemic. now the pandemic is almost preempty much behind us. how do we roll up our sleeves in order though move the city forward? how do we roll up our sleeves to make san francisco the place we know and love? i hear people talk about san francisco and how it's such a beautiful city. we know it's a beautiful city but how do we keep it that way? we fight for it. we keep it that way by making the appropriate investments. keep it that way by working together. today is a testament to that. i mentioned the need for additional officers. and i want to thank members of the board of supervisors including the budget chair, hillary ronan and mike dorsey and supervisor mandelman because we wouldn't be able to just get our additional resource toses

backfill positions in our police department, but the work we feed to do for ambassadors and our crisis response team and wellness team and all of those things go hand in hand in making our city a safer more vibrant place and i wouldn't have been able to do that without their help and support throughout account budget process and the work we do here today. i want to thank fem for joining us heerd today as well as staff members and people are various communities, it takes a village, but we won't give up on the city because it's too magical. the city is a place of opportunity. people come to san francisco for opportunity. let's make sure as people come here for opportunity or to work or visit, that they have a great experience that they walk away and tell their friends and family how amazing san francisco is. we're going it fight for this city every day and i hope you'll

join news that fight to make san francisco a safer city for every person who is a part of it. with that, i want to introduce our chief of police, bill scott. >> thank you mayor breed and good morning, everybody. i'm going to start off with just a little quick history of it program. and when mayor breed sat with me in her office and this vision was being inspired, i saw the gloom in the mayor's eye that it's something not only that they wanted do but wanted it right now. this was over two years ago. and about a week or two after that meeting with the mayor, we were at a luncheon being hosted by the union square bid and the

mayor announced that the the amr program. and i knew she wanted to get it done. it was just a vision at that time. we took that back with our team and made it happen. and here is the result of that vision by our mayor. the program started as a pilot about two years ago. this was during the global pandemic when we were constructing the program and doing everything we had to do. we had to get the support of all these wonderful elected officials behind me to get it funded. but within pretty quick amount of time, we started with 10 ambassadors assigned to union square right where the mayor made that announcement. so she delivered and we driferred on that -- delivered

on that promise. the goal was to hire a retired police officers not to replace but support our 50 officers in the union street area. we were intentional with piloting this program in union square. i'm happy to say that we met those expectations of the mayor and i firmly believe we metropolitan the expectation of everybody in that room when the mayor made that announcement. today we have 50 ambassadors. and we have a list of retirees who want to be an ambassador. in addition to union square, we have ambassadors in chinatown, fisherman's wharf and haight. mainly what they do is help us reduce harm to our community. the harms we see day in and day

out. the harms that we get complaints about,mthe harms we get demanded to do something about. the harms that we as a city can make boater. better. they increase visibility and presence. they are an arm of the san francisco police department and free up personnel so they can focus on policing. ambassadors have police radios. they know how to communicate cuss. wust. they are a force multiplier in a time when our staffing has been reduced to critical lows. i'm going to read to you an example of this ambassador's

program. this was an e-mail sent to me by a man who doesn't live in san francisco. my wife and i along with close friends tasselled to your city this past weekend for a vacation. we spent the first day traveling through the city in a cable car. we got off in china down towrn and metropolitan by two ambassadors. after retirement they were hired by ambassadors. they explained their job to us. this is an outstanding program and i hope it helps. they were professional and courteous. they made our time in chinatown more pleasant. i spent 48 years as a first responder in the fir service and a part time police officer. i retired from both but i miss the job. i would definitely work as an ambassador in our city if i had the opportunity to do so. this is an outstanding program

and you have two outstanding officers working this assignment. i'm sure this program helps keep things a little safer. thank you. this story can be repeated over and over again. this is not the only message of thanks that we get from our ambassador program. with you that typifies what this is about. people visiting our city having a better experience and feeling safer. that is what they do. and that is why the mayor's vision was so important. in closing, i want to say a few more things connecting people and need to services. our ambassadors do that very well. again, i can tell story after story where that has been done. they're trained in first aid and deescalation and they have a direct line to our on-duty officers which means faster

response times which equates to better service. in addition to the ambassadors, pair breed is asking for additional police service aid with the same kept to free up the very, very critical under-staffed police department so officers can do more critical work. and i support at that whole heartedly. i know that her vision to do that will work like her vision to implement this ambassador program. there is more work do. we can't make up 500 officers that we're short, but we are era darned sure to be innovative and creative to make things better and that's what this ambassador program has done. again, i want to tharchght mayor for leadership and guidance and thank supervisor dorsey and roan and mandelman and the entire board. i want to thank kate and her

team. i can go on and on. fire chief, this is a all a partnership. if you don't hear anything else, i want you to hear this. this city is a family. just like any family, when we face hard times, we kol together and make it happen. with the leadership of the mayor, that's what we'll do. this is a bigger issue than the latest new thing. what we're building here is capacity to reenvision and change policing in our city. by being creative. thank you, mayor and board and thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon. i'm bob powers and i'm the general manager at bart. nice to be here. first, let me turn to my left and thank the mayor for her leadership on this prioritizing

this initiative with including public transit. there is nothing more powerful in the bart system if you're taking bart to work or taking your family into the city or out, to see two ambassadors in the train walking through the train or on the platform to see two ambassadors walking by, it means a lot. when i'm in the system, that's what i hear first and foremost. madam mayor, thank you for your leadership. we know at bart, nothing goes further than having ambassadors in folks like crisis intervention specialists in the system. i'm joined here as the bart general manager by two bart directors. billion a year ago bart -- maybe longer -- bart embarked on a placing bureau.

really it is so complementary to the vision that the mayor has right now. it has ambassadors in attendance and crisis intervention specialists partnered with sworn officers. i can attest about the concept of a force multiplier. that is what is happening in the bart system right now. and expanding this madam mayor, is going to be transformative. not only to the city and county of san francisco, but all of the bay area. so i compliment your leadership on this and i have numbers here. we just started our elevator -- restroom attendance. since march when we started adding restroom attendance right here, there is an attendant right here. we had over a hundred thousand forecloses using the restrooms and not one call for a sworn

officer at those restrooms. talk about a force multiplier, it's very, very powerful. [applause] and our elevator attendance. you want to take the elevator from the street to the bart platform, there is an attendant if there. families coming and folks with mobility challenges. there is somebody in that he elevator, it's safe and clean and convenient. again, i look forward to the partnership, madam mayor, and i think we're on to something here. thank you for your leadership. with that, i'm going to introduce district 6 supervisor matt dorsey. >> thank you so much. i want to thank you. mayor breed, thank you for your leadership. chief scott, my former boss and i remember being part of the announcement of the program. i was moved when the chief

talked about the e-mail he got from a retiree. it reminded me, 20 years ago i went to work for the city attorney's office in san francisco. there is a program where retirees come back. as i get closer to retirement eaj myself, just because premier done with their public service careers doesn't mean they're done giving back. that's one of the things i love about this community program. that is why people respond to positively to it. this is something that's going to add 150 new ambassadors ask attendants all around town town, tenderloin and tourist areas and high twrask areas. it's going to combine a combination of safety ambassadors, welcome ambassadors and the psas or public service aids that free up staff. i want to give a special shout

out. i live in mid market maibd e neighborhood and i think the most popular public servants in the neighborhood is urban alchemy. i say it like -- it's good to have you here. it's not just eyes on the street, it's the welcoming smile and a feeling of safety. only complaint i hear about urban alchemy is we want more of you and 24 hours a day. we are requesting to do everything to empower you and get more of you for longer hours. thank you to everybody for program we are announcing as the force multiplier of giving back to our city. with that, i'll hand is it off to supervisor mandelman. >> i want to thank the mayor and the chief and each of their teams and all the other folks who w[ñ$/q to make this happen.

we foe we have a significant challenge in san francisco in terms of the chief staffing. we're short more than 500 officers. that number is not static. it's growing as officers retire. i think that's one of the biggest challenges that the mayor and board of supervisors have to address in the coming years. the mayor has begun to in the last year's budget. in the meantime, we have public safety challenges now. what i appreciate about the announcement today is that we are not waiting years to recruit new officers, we're figuring out how to use the offices that are we have now most effectively and how to find other people who maying able to do those jobs and get them out. if your home is broken into, bet getting someone who is not a sworn officer to take the report more quickly so the officer can be on the street in the castro or mission or soma and addressing the needs ever constituents and making

residents and tourists feel safer is all for the good. this is smart. glad to be here and express my support and thanks. i'm going to introduce a colleague who i know works every day with her office on some of the challenges that have emerged in the last few years around illegal vending, drug dealing, drug use on the street. awful the challenges that we hope this announcement and drug use -- that we hope this announcement is going to try to kreas. to address. i want to call up supervisor ronan from district 9. [applause] >> thank you so much. i want to say right now as we speak conditions on the street in the mission district are unacceptable. i want to shout out and thank a couple of people, ryan is here from mission merchant soargs.

the small business commission they have been working with us and we have been working with the mayor's office to change that fact. i want to thank urban alchemy -- give them another hand. providing a model along with the mayor that we want to replicate in the mission. we want to return the vibrancy, the beauty, the healthy feeling of the streets of the mission. but we want to do that without criminalizing poverty. without making it more difficult for people that are poor to survive in the most expensive city in the world. we believe the community ambassador program is the way to do that. bringing people from the community to walk the streets and make sure that the communities are safe, clean, healthy and vibrant is exactly the right strategy. thank you, madam mayor for

creating the strategy and investing in more and adding the mission to this important effort. ask thank you urban alchemy and all the incredible workers doing that work successfully every single day. thank you. [applause] now it's my pleasure to introduce orlando white from lincoln. >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm orlando white and i head up community development. at linked in our vision is trade economic opportunity. for us to reach this ambitious vision we work alongside the community organizations to demonstrate that we're living this vision locally in our own neighborhoods. we've been proud to work alongside mayor breed to support programs for the opportunities that connects young people for

employment and job opportunities to learn. we're proud to be a part of this community. the feedback that we have received from our employees is that they love the energy, the vibrancy and atmosphere of this city. they want to have a safe and efficient commute into san francisco. we appreciate mayor breed's commitment today to expand the city ambassador programs. these are a key presence in the city and are an invaluable asset for our employees who live and work here. they're city-owned that this city cares and wants to ensure safe commutes for all of us. i know that we ats at linked-in are are not o lone in our commitment to the city. we hear from other businesses that they're excited. we're proud to be a part of this

great city's future. thank you so much. >> as i said, this is definitely a collaborative effort. it's us coming together to try to address some of the most challenging issues facing our city. but i also want to say what i especially appreciate most with urban alchemy and the downtown ambassadors and union square ambassadors and attendance in bart and retired police officers, from my own personal observation, seeing how they engage with the public and try to be so helpful whether it's giving someone's direction ors restaurant recommendations or helping someone foo treatment and sadly in some cases helping to reverse their overdose using narcan. these ambassadors are the eyes

and ears of the streets, the guardians of the city, they're here to support and protect the public, whatever that means and it it involves a variety of things whatever necessary to keep people safe in san francisco. i'm excited about the opportunity not only to expand it in the downtown and tenderloin but neighborhoods like the mission and west porten and other communities that need it. we ever a great city and a lot of people that want to be a part of it. nothing makes me feel better than when i see one of our ambassadors with love for san francisco talking to someone else and that smile on their face about telling them about their favorite restaurants or favorite places to go in san francisco. that's the kind of city we're trying to create after coming out of a challenging time of a global pandemic. i want us by wrapping it up, to

remember who we are as san franciscans. we've been through challenging times. we are a resilient city. we're at a point where we're getting to zero new h.i.v. infections in san francisco. we've seen freeways collapse and turned them into neighborhoods on the waterfront and community. this is o no different after coming out of a global pandemic. we have an opportunity here to transform our city to make sure that it is clean, that it is safe and that it is vibrant and thriving for everyone who wants to be a part of it. safety has to be at the forefront of the work we do to get there and i'm so excited and proud to be working with all of the people here joining us today to make that commitment, to make san francisco what we know it can be. thank you all so much for being here today. applause plaza.

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[gavel] >> the meeting will come to order. welcome to the public safety and neighborhood services committee. i'm chair gar do not mar, and and soon will be joined