>> good morning. welcome to the sales force transit center.

what a great day it is today. i'm jeff ge, the chair of joint power authority, tjpa. thank you for joining us here today as we celebrate a major milestone for the decades long vision of the transbay program. bringing caltrain to the sales force transit center and ultimately the california high speed rail into its northern terminus in downtown san francisco throughout the portal. today marks a momentous milestone for the portal with the federal transit administration advancement of the project into engineering face of capital investment grants program and committing to federal share of $3.4 billion to its construction. [applause] this brings the project to 2/3

funded. the funded commitment proceeding by $500 million from president fy25 budget proposal. the portal is the final component to be delivered through the transformational transbay program, which ushered in a wholesale expansion and modernization of downtown san francisco and created the largest multi-modal transit hub in the western united states. as i look out across the grand hall this morning, ypt i want to take a moment to recognize the partners instrumental getting where we are today. in addition to the speakers on stage this morning, projects of this scale and magnitude require many skillful hands. not only the 10s of thousands of skilled tradesman and women who constructed this magnificent

building-- [applause] -- but the architects, policy makers, funders, political leaders and countless staff who insured was funded and would get built. i like also to make a shout out to honorable willie brown and former state senator and congressman john burton for their vision and their relentlessness getting the transbay program underway and constructing the sales force transit center. [applause] yes. as a current chair of the transbay joint power authority i want to recognize fellow board members and are project partners working tirelessly and collaboratively on the portal. supervisor mandelman helped secure the passage of prop l, extension of

san francisco half cent sales tax for transportation securing $300 million for the portal. also see fellow board members board president ceo alicia john baptiste and caltrans district 4 director dina and district asirsant deputy director david [indiscernible] northern california regional director high speed rail [indiscernible] san francisco county transportation authority executive tilly chang. executive director alex [indiscernible] and caltrain executive director michelle brushard. thank you all for being here. [applause] looking across the crowd, we probably have assembly member phil ting and city attorney david chui, jim wonderman, all who lead countless efforts on the

local, regional and state levels to create a more seemless transit network and secure additional transportation funds including for the portal project. as i mentioned earlier, $3.4 billion, this commitment links two other major federal investments. the already constructed two level train box beneath us waiting for caltrain to come to downtown san francisco. the other major project that i'm very proud of as director and past chair of caltrain, is the electrification which achieves substantial completion earlier this month. [applause] an electifyed caltrain, quieter, faster, more sustainable connection between san francisco and

silicon valley. huge investments into the region that will make a huge difference for the san francisco bay area. and i think about the train box underneath us. i want to take a moment to recognize our steadfast champions, speaker emeritus pelosi. [applause] in 2010, she was the driving force behind the obama administration decision to provide $400 million to build the train box through the american reinvestment and recovery act funding the propelled economic activity and put people back to work during the great recession. with the train box built, it is no longer a matter of if, but when rail service will come into the transit center. with the $3.4 billion commitment, we can continue to work in ernest

with our partners on the federal, state, regional and local levels to deliver on the portal. as i wrap up, i want to thank our tjpa staff, our partners and supporters because they are all here today for all that you have done to get us to where we are today and are for joining us in the celebration of this momentus milestone. we still have a lot of work to do but with the support of all you and others, we will get the job done! [applause] it is my honor and pleasure to introduce california state senator, scott wiener. [applause] >> thank you chair gee. this is incredibly exciting. for those of us who have been working on regional transportation funding for

many many years, this is one of those visionary projects. sometimes you commit to do it, but it is so big in scale and seeing these huge milestones is just incredibly powerful, so congratulations and thank you to the entire tjpa family, the staff, the board, to all the workers who make this possible, thank you. and thank you to speaker pelosi for never geving up on the transportation future of san francisco and bay area. there have been a lot of nay sayers in the last few years. there are always nay sayers, but the nay sayers have been a little louder in the last few years. they have been very loud in criticizing and denigrating san francisco.

it never went away and coming back strong and i'm so optimistic about the future of san francisco, including our downtown and we are really in so many ways in the heart of it and this is just incredibly exciting for the future of this neighborhood, future of san francisco and the future of the bay area, which is very very bright. the nay sayers not with standing. we also heard a lot of nay saying about transportation projects and claiming never going to happen and that is just false. high speed rail is going to happen. this project is happening and i am very very excited about what that means for our city and for our region. and what it means is that, this region is going to be more and more tightly connected and integrated. the era of having different parts of the bay area that aren't that attached to each other is ending and we

are moving towards a truly integrated and seemless bay area public transportation system and particularly a rail system where you will be able to be in pretty much any part of the bay area and be able to hop on a train and in a very seemless way connect to another system if you need to and get where you are going and not have to drive and not have to worry about it and that's what this is about. we are-this is going to be the beating heart that integrating seemless regional rail system and that is incredibly exciting and so so grateful to the federal government and speaker pelosi for making this happen. i also just are want to say and would be remiss if i didn't that, building all this transportation infrastructure is incredibly important and without it, we can't operate our transit system. but it is not enough and we

have to make sure that all the amazing public transportation systems that will be feeding into this building in such a robust way, that we keep them strong. that they have the funding and the support that they need to actually operate on a day to day and year to year basis and we have been doing that work from the state level. it is happening locally and regional, so we have to make sure as we do the capital investment we support these incredibly important public transportation system which are so important for our city and region. congratulations to everyone. it is now my honor to bring up someone who has been just a great champion for public transportation and this is a incredible cheerleader for bringing san francisco back, the mayor of san francisco, london breed. [applause]

>> thank you senator. speaking of cheerleading, you all don't look as excited as you should for $3.4 billion! goodness, madam speaker! bringing home the bacon. this brings us 2/3 of the way towards completely doing what is necessary to insure that this portal is an opportunity for 11 different kinds of transit options in the bay area! it is a big deal! i remember the old station, so that's why i'm really excited, because i used to take gray hound when i was at uc davis and it was not pretty and look where we are now. look how far we have come, and i am hopeful. you would think that something like this would have already existed in san francisco and working with the

tjpa for the past 30 years now to really make this vision a reality, it will be something extraordinary. you go to places like new york and other places around the country who have robust transportation networks, i am typically inviious, the cities are not usually as beautiful as san francisco but transit is extraordinary and we are taking one step further to insure we are addressing a transportation challenge that exists in san francisco connectivity. people are talking about the downtown of san francisco now more then ever, and we have a commitment, 30 by 30 to bring 30 thousand residents to our downtown by 2030, but because of the portal, we have already brought 15 thousand residents and more to come. downtown cannot be a 9 to 5. it has to be offices, housing and

places for people to enjoy, because it is a real neighborhood with a park right above our heads that we can enjoy on any given day. that is the future. [applause] that is the future and it takes strong advocacy, visionary leadership, and someone who just will not give up and is relentless in not only paving our democracy, but also making sure that she is taking care of san francisco every time she steps on the floor of the house of representatives. i want to say madam speaker, thank you so much for all that you have done and continue to do to invest in and support and uplift san francisco. we appreciate you so much. [applause] and let me also thank our president, joe biden and the secretary of the department of transportation, pete--i get a call from him every time

there is money, because there has been a lot of money. not $3.4 billion money, but million dollar money coming into san francisco for our transportation projects, and because i think he was a former mayor, he is always calling me as a mayor to say, hey mayor and i'm like hey, mayor secretary and letting us know, we are committed to san francisco and will invest in san francisco and appreciate his leadership and the president leadsership and all he does. i finally want to give a shout out to the hands that will continue to build this project into the future, the community of labor including the building and construction trade. [applause] as well as laborers and others. we appreciate their work and advocacy and now at this time i like to introduce from the building and construction trades, rudey

gonzalez. [applause] >> thank you madam mayor. thank you for your leadership and introduction. good morning. i want to second the mayor's energy, because this is a moment of celebration. while many will lean towards the bureaucratic and technical tendency and look at schematics and slide deck jz i see my good friend bruce from community advisory committee and everyone is talking what's tomorrow, what's tomorrow. let's take a moment and celebrate today. let's be in awe of this beautiful struck ture and recognition we find in the local economy. not withstanding the backdrop what is happening federally. let's be clear, secretary pete will not call you if they make a mistake this november. mire job representing blue collar workers is tell it like it is. if we do not vote in november we will

have the billions and will not center the jobs and critical infrastructure 250 keep our country moving. we are enjoying a renaissance in infrastructure. saying good-bye a time infrastructure was a bad word. when it divided communities and lifted up systems of oppression. people thriving multigenerational communities, now infrastructure is a good word. it is a clean word. a green word. it means good jobs for our communities. it means health yer outcomes and more access to housing, right senator? more access to public transportation and this isn't tomorrow. let's celebrate, this is today! there are bus lines, there are bus operators there are building service employees. i did a ground floor walk before we came in, and it may be scary to say, construction workers at 10 a.m. out-number office workers 3 to 1, but i went through charley and are

there were 3 electricians and so 2 operating engineers and i was walking out and there were hard hats at phil's coffee. when you put money in thpockets of blue collar workers we spends money where we have our jobs. i'm grateful and excited because this is a thriving piece of community infrastructure from the park on the top floor to the otherwise dark and quite train box, i look forward to a time we can all celebrate downstairs. many stories downstairs in a mezzanine level of 50 thousand square feet of retail and good jobs that come in with and i also know people across the country are counding on us to deliver the project and counting on all you to vote in november because 47 out of 50 states, when you think material suppliers and other vendors, 47 out of 50 states in the country

actually enjoyed economic vitality because of the first phase of this project. we had 16500 in the first phase and 60 thousand across the country fill the impact of phase 1dtx. the portal will bring twice that much and twice that much to the nation so excited to be here. it is intermodal transportation. it is intermodal cooperation. we have leaders from all over the community and i'm proud to say that san mateo county is in the house. give it up for san mateo county. we have regional trade partners. regional workers. to the skilled and trained hands that built the first phase, this is the promise of putting our members back to work. we will not let people trash downtown. we will not let people speak poorly of san francisco. we are the city that knows how and we have a skilled and trained workforce

whether engineers, operators, labors, electricians, plumbers pipefitters we have a workforce ready to deploy and ready for phase 2. if we do what we are supposed to do in november i hope to stand here once again and have the privilege inviting up to the stage someone who talks the talk, walks the walk, walk that walk more energeticly then-understand these commitments can not be talking points. these commitments have to be accompanied by votes because let's face facts, we had people prior speakers of the republican hell house speak out against funding for projects like this. make public promise and commitment to roll back every prevailing wage job in california and do away with high speed rail. they were certainly happy when it passed because there were plenty pet projects to fund, but we must remember in november and go to the polls

like our lives and democracy depend on it and i know i will sleep better knowingory congressional representative is one and only nancy pelosi. thank you for your vision and commitment. >> thank you all. thank you very much rudey for not only your kind introduction, but your great leadership on the building trades. yes, today is cause for celebration. thank you mr. mayor for bringing us together and framing the purpose of today and history of it and the future of it. thank you. let's hear from mr. mayor mayor gee. and of course the chair of the tjpa board. adam thank you very much. i don't know if adam was acknowledged. adam vanderwater the executive director of the transbay joint power authority. [applause] thank you adam. adam and are i have shall we

say enthusiasms we discuss from time to time. all of you understand this, we have a transit oriented president of the united states. every day for decades he took the train from delaware to washington and back. when we talk to him about high speed rail and mass transit he said, you don't have to tell me, i'm the high speed rail president. we'll give you a opportunity to prove that and he did. our infrastructure bill which we passed under his leadership. and you should know, i'll take this opportunity to tell you, in it because something rudey said about justice and not dividing communities, he had 40 percent of the bill dedicated to justice, to equity, to despairty, to have many more people included in the decision making on projects as well as

the participation in the workforce. we had no intention of fighting for big money for allocation then if it was not going to have project labor agreements. it would not have prevailing wage for our workers. he understood that. [applause] and the jobs created by the construction not here, but 10,000 fresno building, that part of high speed rail, but we are talking about san francisco. madam mayor, when you get a call from secretary--and he is informing you of a project, take it as a big not only notification, but a complement, because all those projects are competed for and when we put in for the competition, we show san francisco is in the

forefront. that san francisco is a model for the nation and that is not just about us saying we need this, we need that, it is about showing off what is happening here. thank you madam mayor for your leadership because we wouldn't get the money just because we fight harder. we get the money because we are better and again, a model to the nation in every one of those categories. of course those categories beyond transportation, so san francisco rules. it is just an example. sometimes i think people are just jealous and they have to be the nay sayer. senator wiener, we don't pay attention to nay sayers. that's their problem. understand what is happening here. i'm glad john burton was acknowledged, because this project was his-i remember the dedication day, we had to wear boots that day because we were

under construction. you see the beautiful artwork that goes with it. you see that is so lovely, but the art has been part of the transportation piece too elevating it so it is very positive experience for people and a demonstration of the completeness of san francisco and the contribution to the effort. okay, so here it is, mass transit, but take it beyond that to high speed rail. this is about saving the planet. it is about clean air. it is about people. it is about quality of the air. it is about quality of the life. quality of people not having to be in cars for long stents adding to pollution, but none the less getting to and from work more quickly. adding time to their lives. and it is about housing that people can come from places where housing

may not be as expensive as it is and where workforce is and your district silicon valley and san francisco, but housing can be more affordable to them at a place that is not a 3 hour commute each day, but much much shorter. so it is about quality of life, quality of air, housing, so many things. it certainly is about the jobs and building the initiative, right? thousands of jobs and building it, but it is also about the commerce that is produced and the jobs for the future. as you said, it is not just about today, it is about how we go forward and we will--california will be-has been and continue to be, but on the high speed rail, a model for the rest of the country. in other countries, i have been to high speed in china and are japan, all the rest, there is a-i was on a

project in china, a town on the coast is about 3 hours from beijing, equivalent going to fresno. i wanted to see the city because they were making--few years ago, and [indiscernible] we go there, we arrive, the conductor announces, we have arrived, 29 minutes and 30 seconds. less then a half hour he was bragging. that can commute. they can commute, so just think of the opportunity it presents families for jobs, for education, for visiting each other, for being together as the mayor said, connectivity in every way. this is a big deal. [laughter] [applause] i didn't use the president expression, but you get it, right?

it is about good paying jobs in san francisco, convenient modern mixed use, commercial development, transit friendly neighborhood with 4,000 environmentally friendly areas. just read you some of this. smart sustainable design. again, under the leadership of the biden/harris administration, major steps and multimodal transportation. mayor, you know we had the celebration of electrification is a big deal. how can you say--any metaphor--it is just something remarkable that just takes us to another place, and [indiscernible] now kevin [indiscernible] all so much a part that celebration. senator wiener, again, in dc when we compete for the funds, it isn't about our excellence, but it is about our shall we say, determination that is going to happen and they want to see,

what is the state going to do and thank you for what you have done and the state's role in this. see what the city is going to do. we have a expression, it sounds crude, but--you can handle it i think. we say, when we want to allocate money, we want to see dirt fly. we don't want to go to court. we don't want to go to this--we have to have our act together, so that when the money comes, the process can go forward. i think that happily with all of this for all the [indiscernible] i associate myself with all the steps along the way that we will happily see dirt fly. in addition to that, i always say to all of you, you talked about the construction workers, the architects, the business, the construction, all the

rest that, when it comes to transportation, whether it is about clean air, quality of life, quality of air, housing, commerce and all the rest, when it comes to transportation, our hopes are riding on you. thank you all so much for what you all did to make this happen. [applause] >> speaker pelosi, mr. gonzalez, senator wiener, mayor breed, thank you all for being here. thank you for celebrating this momentus occasion. i want to conclude and say, let's get ready and let's make dirt fly! thank you for being here! [applause]

>> everyone loves a good sunset, but in san francisco we take to a new level. i'm city supervisor engardio and i represent an entire part of the city called the sunset. it stretches 30 glorious avenues. welcome to district 4! the sunset is a collide scope

of people culture and experiences for residents of all ages. we are a beach town, we are a chinatown, and not a town at all. the sunset is home to 80 thousand people and we love our dogs. we live in neat row houses, homes with yards, story book homes and every quirk in between. the sunset used to be sand dunes all the way to the ocean. when the city needed to grow, san francisco's future ran through the sunset. we built rows and rows of housing for a great irish population and welcomed a great chinese population. today home to a gowing number of families from all backgrounds and the future starts here. >> we chose sunset knauz we love san francisco but during the pandemic we needed more space and more family focused, so that is where we found the sunset. how walkable it is. we live along iving street

along where diana's school is our son's day care is. >> our kids and all the kids we knee in the neighborhood are really the future here and we are really excited to live in the neighborhood. we love it so much. >> nina and alex are expecting their first baby and it first leaders of the newly formed sunset community band which bring together musicians of all ages at special events. >> we are about to have our first kid and met so many younger people and so many moving into the neighborhood. exciting to raising our family here because this community is awesome. >> bringing the community together and making it stronger i think a band can help with that. it is a matter of civic pride and coming together and doing something as a community that really makes like us from a collection of people

into a neighborhood. >> sundays in the sunset are for worship, farmer's market and live music at the ocean. if the sunset had a town square, it would be this magical area that appears every sunday on 37 avenue. the sunset farmer market isn't just a place to get good food and produce, it is where community gathers live music from local musicians and cultural celebrations and [indiscernible] share ideas to shape our city. it really is the place the community comes together to celebrate the best of the sunset. >> something about it had sunset chinese cultural district is there a lot of opportunities to uplift the chinese voice and chinese people. when you look at the sunset, a

lot of think of trees and single family homets and the schools, but there isn't a lot of very iconic locations that people can look at and know they are in the sunset. one thing we are working on is to unveil a new mural in the park by community and as we do more work in the sunset and uplift the unique qualities of the community, we want to do more mural s and spaces that are iconic so the sunset gets a piece of being unique and identifiable. >> a supermarket for everything you need for chinese home cooking and [indiscernible] the rice noodles are so good they are featured in catherine moss latest novel, [indiscernible] takes place in the sunset. there is a old school menu at the ond mandarin islamic restaurant and a item so spicy they have to warn

customers. maybe bobo can neutralize the spice. the sunset has plenty options. try the bars at the beach. we also have the sunset reservoir brewing company and o'briens irish pub. cuisine in the sunset spans the world. [indiscernible] >> travel and work in [indiscernible] we have our own restaurant. and then, it was my turn to follow her to her country, so that's why we opened in her neighborhood. >> we are looking for more a local gentleman gem. we traveled around the world and what we highly value, a place for the community to gather. a local hang-out spot. that is why this isn't a restaurant, it is cafe, you can order a coffee, you can have a fuel full meal but

it is place to connect. whether parents kids friends is why we decide to go qulose close to the beach, a neighborhood i am familiar with. i run into people all the time. i live in a big city but why i chose district 4 outer sunset. it has a small town feel. i love our neighbors. >> the sunset has everything from footwear to hardware. here is great wall hardware, 3500 square feet of retail space. we carry about 22 thousand items and counting. it never stops because i have a thing. when a customer says don't you have this and i don't have it, it bothers me. i want to have it,s so it is just of those things about owner a hardware store, people expect you to have everything and you to fulfill that need. i like to serve my

neighborhood. most businesses you want to buy this or that or eat this or buy the widget. a hardware store is different. people come in and have a problem and need a solution and they are looking for you to navigate them through that problem and offer them products that help them get to where they need to go. people are great. i love this neighborhood. there is different ethnicities here, different cultures here. we all intermingle and mix together and we get along fine and i always like that about this neighborhood. it is just a nice place to be. it is near the beach, it is beautiful and near the zoo and near golden gate park, stern grove. great schools, great parks. whats there not to like? we also love pizza from hole in the wall to [indiscernible] hottest restaurants in the sunset tunching vietnamese food [indiscernible]

ice cream [indiscernible] this is great highway park. a great place to burn calories on the weekend. i'm here every sunday doing a long run and start with 5 miles and with this ocean view, if it motivates me i try for 10. the new york times named great highway park one of 52 places to change the world. it is that amazing and the gem of the sunset and people are finding new ways to activate the space. in halloween it turns into the great haunt way. >> we imagine a future from the part time road close toor to a park to welcome people all ages and activities to our coast. >> since we had [indiscernible] always looking for ways to sort of improve what is already good around us. the neighborhood is great. it will be even better with a park here. >> sunset turn to put a new

sign up on our coast. open for all. >> this is the treasure of san francisco and this hasn't been discovered yet. homes are still relatively affordable, there is decent schools and a place for kids to have a feeling they can run and play and take part in things. what i'm happy the great highway has become a park for the weekend. i'm glad we share what we have with the rest of the city and people come from outside the city. i'm sure people come from the east bay, and i just feel like, seeing the people out here enjoying this represents the hope for the future. >> imagine the potential of an emerald necklace in the sunset for safe biking and recreation along the green belt of sunset boulevard which connects lake merced with golden gate park and great highway park. quality of life matters and we

know how to take care of each other. sunset youth service helps teenagers find purpose and self-help for the elderly let's seniors shine. local artists capture the sunset experience and work is on display in cafes like java beach and black bird books. the art of conversation happens at this new barber shop called the avenue. the owner calls it a barber lounge because he wants to create a space for the community to gather beyond hair cuts. this corner is a hent of the future. you see new housing built for new generations and it is over a community space that everyone loves. the sunset is a place full of potential. >> the possibility is here, more then anything. you can start something here and people will get behind and the community finds there is a need for it and people support it. >> i always look around the corner, the next thing we can do to crank it up more and make it safer, make it

more enjoyable. bring in new business, support them. >> i really hope we bring just joy, because ultimately music helps bring joy to the community. >> this is where people are at. this is where people want to be, so it gives me a lot of positive energy. >> my office created the first sunset night market on iring street where i'm standing. more then 10 thousand people showed up. nobody has seen that many on--[indiscernible] here it celebrate all the fun things in life, food music and art. our beautiful sunset always amazed. the sunset experience is pure joy. the sunset is where we will create our best san francisco. join us.

you are watching san francisco rising with chris manor. today's special guest is sarah phillips. >> hi, i'm chris manors and you are watching san francisco rising the show about restarting rebuilding and eare imagineing the city. the guest today is sarah phillips the executive director of economic workforce development. welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me. let's talk about the city economic plan and specifically the city's road map to san

francisco future. can you give a brief overview and update on progress? >> absolute e. in february 2023 mayor breed released the roadmap comprised to 9 strategies to move the city forward understanding there was structural and lang lasting changing by the covid impact. 134 were shorter term impacts how people using transit downtown and coming out and are using small businesses, some of them remember long-term structural impacts. the way we work. how often we are in an office and how much office space companies who had headquartered in san francisco need. some of those were structural impacts how we stop. there has been a long-term change as online shopping takes up a greater share how we performs and covid-19 took a shift that would probably take 10 to 15 years happen and collapse what happened ofern

the timeframe to 2 years so saw structural impacts how people shop. we have seen a lot of progress rchlt we are 9 months in and significant things we have seen is efforts creating permitinant services and homes for people experiencing homelessness is dramatic. we increased the number of shelter beds dramatically and take-up of the beds dramatically, and there is more work to do. on the safety side there are exciting things that happened. we increased our police pay among the highest in the bay area which is a important thing for recruitment. police recruitment across the country is down so recruiting the best we can means we need to give a high pay set. august the highsh return in

graduates. we see 75 decrease in retail theft and 50 percent reduction in car break ins which is quality of life crime san francisco experienced so there is real progresses we are seeing on clean and safe sides. one thing important in the mayor roadmap we are not trying to get back to 2020 vision. i think covid showed having a downtown with people sitting at offices isn't the best downtown it can be. i think it is a opportunity to bring 24 hour life use downtown. >> music and concerts is a great way to bring people to a specific location. golden gate park we had lots of events in plazas throughout the city. can you talk about those and if there is upcoming events too? >> i think you touched on

something key to the mayor road map. for san francisco and particularly san francisco downtown to move forward and be successful as a great american city, it is about bringing people together because they want to be together not because they center to be together and music is a strong part that. the planet concert sear ries coming up and happening throughout the city not just golden gate park but downtown locations are a great example. there are smaller examples as well. the landing at--is a new plaza we constructed in the mayor roadmap where two streets come together akwraisant to a couple restaurants closed to cars in daytime, chairs and seating and throughout the week they have lunch time and evening music to bring people together after work. they participate in that. something we are working on setting up for next year which

is really exciting is our sf live program and that will bring a full 2024 concert series where we match local venues bringing their work and partnership to useian square, music center plaza and embark cadero. we will be able to announce concert series through the sf- >> you mentioned vacant to vibrant, that program has a lot of attention lately. can you talk generally what exactly that program is? >> yeah. so, we opened a program where we put out a call for landlords willing to offer groundfloor space for free for 3 to 6 month jz small business or storefront operators who had a proposal what they would do for 3 to 6 months.

it is pilot. we had a incredible amount of interest. we had--i'm forgetting the number of landlords, but more then we expected because we are in a place where commercial real estate understands they need to come to the table to help make our groundfloor lively and resulting in a transition where the groundfloor is seen less as a money making operation, but more as a leader to lease upper floors. if you have a active ground floor yields better on the other 80 percent of the building you are trying to lease. that was great, a lot of cooperation scr over 700 small business or operators responded to that call. it is pop up. there is no intention this would result in forever small businesses, but there is certainly a hope and i think what we are hearing, i don't have the final data, but there are 17 activators in 9 different spaces, some are colocated, which is why the

difference, and out of those 9 spaces that are being leased for free, now 7 of them are in discussions for long-term leases so the spaces continue. it is the program. we are hopeful to have a second and third traunch and hoping to pilot in other neighborhoods with other partners. it is not an inexpensive program because there is a lot of capital that goes into popping up for short amount of time but what we are seen is they visit the businesses, the businesses are successful and san francisco want to support this activation so hopeful to expand it. >> that's great. can you talk a bit about why piloting programs and testing things is so important? >> absolutely. you know, i would say not only the important generally but important in san francisco specifically. the benefit of pilot programs in the reasons they are really important here is, it allows us to try something and say, there may be consequence but let's

understand those in real time rather then waiting to start a strategy while we think about them on paper and if they are too great we can modify the program as we go. mta has absorbed the strategy whether a bike lane or other to figure how best to use the street? is this working? is it working for bikes and cars and buses? maybe not, let's switch it around and pilots have been important to oewd to our office particularly because we tend to have the ability and the mayor's support through the budget process to pilot things through request for proposals or rfp process where we can put out a small amount of funding, try activation and small public plaza, see if it works and i think the benefit there is, if it doesn't work we tried it and

had the benefit of seeing real time and when it does work, we are able to uplift that and move into a permanent strategy and that is where our agency turns over something we piloted to another agency because it is part of the city operating procedure. pilots also give people hope. when we have the short-term whether it is physical public plaza or activation that shows change is possible and allows them to vote for what they like. >> lastly, in lith light of the current ai boom, do you think there is a way to leverage those new changes to take a bunch of san francisco's status as a tech hub? >> i do, i think they work together. san francisco right now has a strong vacancy problem in our office space. and there is a back-story to

that. our zoning downtown has not prevented other uses, in terms of permitting uses of the multi-story building has been open including allowing residential but we put other barriers, cost and code barriers et cetera and what happened also during the height of our preevious boom is that, the amount that tech companies were willing to pay for office space bid everything out so we-without intentionally zoning a single use downtown, we de facto became a single use downtown and thereat is the opportunity you are pointing out. now because downtown was so convertible from work from home, particularly as tech based downtown was and how much companies put at the market in the office spaces we are seeing high vacancy now, all most 30 percent so there is lot of square feet but that presents a lot of opportunity. we have the ability to absorb

expansion of the tech industry we are so strong at. we have seen over 800 thousand square feet of ai space leased just in 2023 alone and there is still more demand out in the market, more ai companies looking for space so that is a growth spot absorbing some of the vac ancy. the opportunity too is prices for downtown lease s have also dropped and that opens up a breath of opportunity to a breath of companies that were priced out in 2018, 2019, 2020. san francisco has always been great at starting companies and allowing them to grow here. when our prices are too high it prevents that growth so now we are a super fertile ground for more start ups and invasion on the smaller end of the sector because they can come and enter our market and we have the space to offer. to talk about san francisco's assets and the leveraging that, we sit at the epicenter of

really great university and educational institutions. we are between uc berkeley and stanford. the graduates produced just from those institutions alone stay in the bay area and want to rise up and work here, provide a real opportunity for the start ups to build their companies and companies to grow here so we confident we will absorb a certain amount of office space with ai tech. with that, we are interested in increasing our human capital growing graduates. downtown university is something the mayor is open to pursuing and we are in conversations with uc berkeley we love to have as a partner in our downtown and then residential conversions are a great partner to that. as we build back the office space, people will want to live downtown again and we have a number buildings that can be converted to residential. the costs are high. mayor breed and her partners on the board made significant

changes to reduce the costs. we waived fees for change of uses in the downtown area. there are code changes that will make the conversions easier. there is a ballot measure on the march ballot that will attempt to reduce costs for those as well. it is ongoing process and none of those changes we talked about absent ai growth downtown, but institutional growth downtown, arts growth downtown and residential conversions downtown are long-term changes so one thing i want to say recollect i do think there is a opportunity per your question, but we also need to be patient because what we are talking about is is a real shift to the make-up of the downtown since from the growth it has been starting at since the turn of the century so that isn't a 2 year change, that is a 10 year change and we center to watch as it goes. >> thank you so much. i really appreciate you spending the time here today and your creative vision and positivity, so thank you so much. >> thanks so much for having me and hope you all downtown and

shop. >> that is it for this episode. for sfgovtv i'm chris manors, thanks

>> good afternoon. this is commissioner beltran, i'll running the meeting today because the chair of the visual arts committee, suzy ferras is