>> good afternoon, hello. welcome to the ferry building's birthday, yoo hoo! what great weather we have to celebrate. i'm elaine executive director of the port of san francisco and i have the distinct honor of opening up this grand celebration. as the executive director of the port, my team and i have the awesome responsibility of 7 and a half miles of water front and it includes this they majestic building. i want to thank the people who put this together, lillian and

justin of my group. thank you people behind the scenes who made it happen. [applause] we've got some very special people here today to make this celebration very grand. we have our mayor, mayor london breed, who will speak shortly and we have supervisor peskin and also, thank you, and also we have commissioner ed herrington joining us today. thank you ed herrington. so it was exactly in 1898 when the first vessel arrived here, opening the newly fashion pier and opening an era of prosperity and diversity for our city. for nearly 40 years, it was the bay crossing that welcomed everyone in and out of the city. the bridge went up in 1936. so today, this building is such

a special place of travel, of welcoming, of diversity and we know that our ferry passenger ridership is going to go to prepandemickship as we have new routes and ferrylandings. [applause] this is a place where people gather for the most important city celebrations, whether that be the pride parade toxer juneteenth to markets and festivals or just to have a day of enjoyment. in our time, this building stayed open during the covid pandemic, getting farmers market getting ready to return safely as soon it could and getting our stores open and being ready for the first passengers ready to travel and now in our economic recovery and vitality, we're hosting millions in celebrations and enjoyment. now, we are going to make a capsule today that will be open in 25 years, in 2048, and when

it's opened, i know we'll have one thing to be extremely proud of, we are investing in the future of the ferry building to prepare for sea level rise. so in 25 years, the folks that are standing up here in the community, there would be a grand project that we're preparing to raise this building maybe up to 7 feet and to redo this plaza to make it as grand it is today. in 25 years, the people will be thinking about sea level rise and have plans that we're preparing today. i know this building will be a worldwide symbol of san francisco, of welcoming and new opportunities and that's what we're honoring today, the promise of the city. i want to introduce victor coalman who is ceo of hudson community properties. they ensure this building is beautiful and well maintained,

that's why the clock tower is covered because she is being painted. and we ensure that we have spectacular diversity and great opportunity for san francisco made products and that the building really reflects our values in san francisco. the team has worked hard to make this building special. with that, please welcome mr. coleman. [applause] >> thanks, eileen, welcome everybody to a great celebration. on behalf of the hudson pacific team, we're here and proud to be part of this 125 years. this building is iconic as everybody knows. this very building has lasted through many many events and has been most recently the pandemic. and after the pandemic right now, when you look behind you, we're 90% lease where the san francisco's tenants occupancy. and i could not be more proud

than the team in hudson who has catered to the city of san francisco to all the dynamic that we deserve. this building and the city, will celebrate this and many other things to come going forward. with that, as you can see, as eileen mentioned, we're about to paint this building and refacing the historic clock tower and on our way to many more exciting things here in the building. we diversified the tenants in san francisco and our marketplace and this city is reflective of what we see here at the ferry building and what we see going forward in the ferry building in the future. as we said here, there is a time capsule and i'm going to put in a time capsule right now, some photos that 25 years from now, will be picked up that will be redone and all the work that we've done to date, will be part of this photos. i'm going to drop this right here. as a little commemoration.

[applause] to that end, our company the hudson pacific, we believe that the future is our hands, we're excite today work with civic leaders and future business leaders to protect and maintain the safety and security and vitality of the city of san francisco. we have a lot to look forward to. applaud yourself, this is one of the greatest cities in the world. and we're here to celebrate this. [applause] our local leadership here is second to none. through various levels of diversity and positive attributes, you can see the future is going to be very bright and currently, i'm standing here today to segway to introduce, our leader of this city currently today who is focused on business, social, and the future of this city as

we stand and as we look forward it is very bright. our mayor, london breed, is a testament to the future of the city and the current aspects of where the growth of the city is. please welcome our mayor, because she is going to continue to make massive differences for us. mayor breed! [cheers and applause] >> good afternoon, everybody! welcome to san francisco!, we're so happy to see each and everyone one of you here at the ferry building celebrating 125 years! let's give it up for the official band of san francisco, the lesbian gay freedom band. [applause] don't you just love this city? before there was the bay bridge, before there was the golden gate bridge, there was

the ferry building. and this iconic building was home to trains, to cable cars, to street cars, to all kinds of vehicles, to ferries and the fact is, it was iconic back then in terms of its significant during a time way during a time when we needed a place like this for so many different modes of transportation to come. when we think about the iconic ferry building, we think about san francisco and we think all of the extraordinary things that this building has evolved to over the years. yes, it was a place that was created for trade, for different modes of transportation, but over the years with changes, we have seen it become this incredible place with over 40 vendors and businesses and playses for people to shop. to eat, to enjoy and to really experience the vibrancy of san

francisco. whuz thinks about many of the challenges that this city has faced, in fact, the 1906 earthquake, the 1989 earthquake and two global pandemic, this building continues to stand strong. before, the 1989 earthquake, there was a freeway through the embarcadero and some of us remember that freeway which really cast somewhat of a shadow on this building. even though an earthquake can be seen as a devastation, here in san francisco we saw it an opportunity, an opportunity for this location what it can be for the people of the city and those who visit and work in the city and use the ferries and other modes of transportation to come here. that's why being here today and celebrating 125 years of what we are today, is so special. because it's so important to remind us of the past and what we've been through and the challenges.

and when we talk about san francisco as a resilient city, one of the most iconic resilient buildings that exist, the ferry building is one of the places that we think about. a place that is withstood earthquakes and withstood pandemic and has withstood transition from the smaller buildings that were once the tallest buildings in the city to some more, iconic buildings and the city continues to grow. we know san francisco has experienced challenges but we're grateful and excited to take a moment in time to pause and to celebrate, this extraordinary mind stone, a place that people visit from all over the world. a place that i visit frequently and enjoy smft venues and places to eat and shop. and what i want to say to hudson properties, they have done a really great job of making this space, a vibrant

space, providing opportunities to local vendors. and creating a place where anything is possible for anyone who wants to come here. and i want to express my appreciation to elaine and the people that work for the port that commissioner, here and commissioner john burton, let's see looks like he's walking towards this way. i want to thu for all the work that you've done and i express my appreciation by giving victor a proclamation and officially declaring ferry building day in the city and county of san francisco! [cheers and applause] i also want to say, that city hall in recognition of this special occasion will be lit up

in a cobolt blue so make sure that you take pictures and also we're going to be giving out ice cream. who doesn't like ice cream, 500 lucky people here today, will get ice cream to really celebrate this incredible occasion. and what i plan to put in this time capsule, let's see what my team put together. first, i'm going to put my challenge coin that shows a picture of its city hall in gold and it also shows the iconic san francisco skyline and it has my name on it. and also because technology is changing and i think in 25 years, you may not have the ability to print these but you're going to open this time capsule and some people may say, when did they start making actual prints of photos. so i'm going to put in a print

of my photograph because in 25 years, there would probably only be digital photographs and my hope is that people will look in this time capsule and think, this stuff is really cool. when i talk to kids, they don't even know what a typewriter is, some of you don't know what a typewriter is, that scares me a tad bit. but 25 years from now, we'll be able to open this time capsule and look at what was and as we see technology changing here in the city and county of san francisco, we know just like the ferry building, we'll be leading the way for our technology and innovation and all great things and we're grateful to be here to share with you on this time on this 125th anniversary. and with that, i would like to introduce the president of the board of supervisors, who is joining us here today and represents this district, please welcome aaron peskin.

>> thank you, mayor breed. always hard to go after our mayor who said everything i had to say. i will add ad lib. this place, since the days preceding the gold rush. this is the building that for 125 years, welcomed our entrepreneurs, welcomed our immigrants, welcomed our residents, welcomed our visitors and established san francisco as a center of commerce on the western seaboard of the united states. it is also an edface that we can learn from. the mayor referenced the

mistake that we as a city and state made by wowing this incredible building from our water front and yes this building has survived two pandemic, the 1906 earthquake and 1979 and as a result of that, mayor agonos and the board of supervisors, used that opportunity to reunite the ferry building and our water front with downtown and the rest of san francisco which we should be profoundly thankful for. [applause] this building was designed by an architect named arthur page brown who designed another civic structure that we know and love, our city hall. and coy tower and the war memorial all iconic memorial buildings in san francisco.

and the reason i evoke him is because there is a lesson to be learned from this building that on occasion of celebrating the anniversary, should not be lost on us and we should remember for the next century, as we raise, the ferry building which is that we have a tendency to muck up our historic buildings. we did that to city hall in 1996, then mayor willie brown and the board of supervisors, made the command decision at the taxpayers expense to return it to its grandeur and in deed the same decision was made here in 2003 where we unmucked this building and we should remember that. until 1948, 50 years into this building's life, there was a

proposal to raeze, raise this demolished building, and the city fathers they were all men and the state board of harbor commissioners wanted knock this building down because of the advent of the car and the freeways and the fact that ferries were no longer the form of transportation. guess what, it's 2023 and now ferries are back in and this building is still here let us, remember those lessons. [cheers and applause] and while i do not for some reason, i do not understand how the power to proclaim ferry building day in san francisco which somehow has been reserved only to the mayor in a charter section that i will undoubtedly try to change, i do on behalf of the board of supervisors have the ability to recognize with our highest honor, the ferry building on the occasion

of this 125 years. and this will be the first time that i do not actually present the certificate to a person but place it in a box that we will open on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of this incredible edifice. thank you for your steward ship, thank you to your staff, thank you for the unmucking of the building and thank you to those who have stewarded along the way, equity office and now hudson pacific, and let's get another 125 years out of this building. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, so much. weren't those fantastic speakers. the mayor and president peskin taught us so much about this building and what it represents. and i'm going to put a

challenge coin into the box and about the soils and what it needs to raise it up. we'll get more information before the 25 years is unfailed. --unveiled. it's time to celebrate this building. thank you all for being here, on the 125th anniversary of this most beloved, exquisite, historically utmost building, let's hear from our official band, lesbian and gay freedom band, let's celebrate. thank you! [band playing]

is r. my name is debra alvarez rodriguez. i'm the deputy director in san francisco. my background is one in which

i have spent the entirety of my life committed to finding solution to poverty and addressing the issues of inequity so people and communities can have accesses to resources and financial freedom. one thing true anode dear to my heart was the power of business ownership in creating pathways to financial freedom. we have still in infancy. we had over 100 entrepreneurs come and start their businesses. some are food trucks. some are restaurants. some are in farmer's markets and so farther. that's an incredible legacy and record to build upon. this was the perfect opportunity for me to come back home, you know, come back to the neighborhood and take my skills and networks and resources and put it backseat in service of the community. given everything with racial

reckoning and pandemic it was time for me and everyone else that had the opportunity to leave and get educated to come back home. we have a opportunity to grow our impact in terms of the number of people we serve and how we serve them. we grow our impact in taking the money we make with our entrepreneurs and circulate those resources back interview the community for community development. the third thing is we have a opportunity to have an impact on public policy in terms of the policies and practices the district has been notorious about interms of inequities. all of those are just the beginning of what is possible in terms of growth and impact. ♪ [ music ] ♪♪

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.

>> good morning respond with here. settleal and commissioner settleal is absent today. warren post? >> here. >> turnerch >> here. woolford. >> here. >> zoubi. >> present. >> with 4 members present we are quorum for the public works commission. for members of public had wish to make comment from outside the hearing room today you will dial 415-655-0001