>> special commission meeting today if we could go ahead and my name is joaquin torres president of the commission and we are ready to call roll for today's meeting friday, january 13th at 3:07 p.m. yes, starting off with president walking towards president commercially rolando president commission we want to come. present commissioner marian pike's item three this is the acknowledgment of the raw material only community the

housing authority of the city and county of san francisco acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the roma to show loney who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions the raw materials we have never ceded lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory as guests we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders and relatives of the raw material only community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. >> thank you president torres. item four is general public comments. before we begin i'd like to note this portion of the agenda is not intended for debate or discussion with the commission or staff. please simply state your business or the matter you wish the commissioners staff to be aware of. >> it is not appropriate for commissioners to engage in

debate or respondent issues not properly set in a publicly notice meeting agenda. if you have questions or like to bring a matter to the commission's attention please send your communication via email to s.f. h.a. public comment at s.f. dot org. that being said we can open for any general public comment. you don't have to fill that out . and this is also open for anybody online too. if you're online you can just raise your hand and then this is also for folks in the room that would like to give any general public comment very much. all right. all righty. see here i guess i'm ready to go. hello everyone. >> my name is ace. of course. how do you know that? it's been a while since i've been here. but i'm here to talk some historical things here. >> well, one of let me just say you all mean that no.

but because of the housing authorities having their meetings in city hall that was because of my lobbying to the board of supervisors years ago. a no mystery just checked the history is because of my lobby and y'all had meetings here and also mr. washington. yes, sir. not only are the meetings happening in city hall but they're also being recorded so that they're on s.f. gov tv. >> right? that's a good thing. >> that's the cool and they recorded on ace on your face show to no but all of that's wonderful. and the other thing i wanted to say was because of my lobbying years ago supervisor windy nelda handy school i lobbied them to come out to hays valley and at the time it was a chanty . they came out the oh we did all these places like that. we're going to have to write to her to find out what's happening and then that's when her came down to the city and started the programs that we read and the other. so i just want to meet that little historical notes there but i'm here to talk about some

of the issues and i guess when i have time i will come back but my name is ace. i'm on the case and good to see all of you. happy new years. i really didn't know that jail was still operating. i thought the rent switched over to under the mayor's office. yeah, i probably will have to explain that to me right now but we do got a lot of problems in the west. in addition we got six sites, a few fuel going into construction. >> i heard that this billions of dollars going on and you got these developers that's coming to my community. we don't know what's happened so i want to know what's happening. my name is ace. i'm on the case. i'll be back to you next time we have public comment. >> thank you, mr. washington. do we have any more public comment before we move on please? hello. >> my name is howard hill from 25 sanchez street bridge housing is the i think the stakeholder there what they call them property manager property manager and we have in

that heat and eight days and they temperatures go below 40 every night or below 50 every night. what we'll do right now is if you can provide so it's 25 sanchez will reach out to the property management team right now through the housing authority and find out what's going on. okay. all right. thank you. i'm sorry that you had to come in today to tell us that but that i'm sorry that you had to come in today to tell us this. they should just be taking care of that immediately without you coming by to ask for support. so i'm sorry you're dealing with this. okay. yeah. the other issue is do we usually have a i don't know what they're called. they're not security guards but they're uniformed people from private agency to want to open the door, watch the door and we haven't had one of those for i don't know three months. >> okay. is that a requirement of the

building? >> we're not going to be going back and forth right now. but what we will do is we are going to be reaching out and wolf right right behind you is our director of of operations who will follow up with you right now. >> okay. thank you. thank you very much. and then additional public comment. okay. we can close general public comment. we have item five for regular basis action item starting off with item number five a and actually i should ask before we proceed if the commissioners like to take these two items together or separately as far as presentations, if there's no preference we'll take them one at a time. >> so we'll be item five a resolution approving authorizing the chief executive officer of the housing authority of the city and county of san francisco cisco to enter into an agreement on behalf of s fha housing corporation with bell properties for initial two year term with the option at the authority's discretion of three additional one year option periods for a maximum term of

five years and an amount not to exceed $2,100,000 to manage and operate the sentido velasco betrayal annex and potrero terrace housing developments and as we represented by our housing operations director kendrick crawford. >> good afternoon commissioners . >> good afternoon. good afternoon. andrew crawford housing operations director. >> the item the action item request authorization and approval by the board of commissioners the housing authority of the city and county and county of san francisco to approve i see a contract between authority and bill properties for the property management of sunnydale velasco potrero annex and pedro terrace with the anticipated term commencing on february third, 2025 and ending on january 31st 2027 for a total contract amount not to exceed $2.1 million.

and then i'll just go through the background of the procurement on october 22nd 2020 for the request for proposal was issued on the housing agency marketplace e procurement website. housing agency marketplace is the lead provider of e procurement software and we're specifically designed for procurement by hood and public housing agencies. the procurement website notified 1670 vendors of the 1670 vendors 35 reviewed the rfp and one responded. the proposal was provided by bill properties the crown in chronological order of our rfp is as follows. on october 22nd the rfp was issued october 28th 2020 for a pre-poll proposal conference was held november 4th 2020 for question submittal deadline

november 15th was the proposals submittal deadline that was extended and on january 23rd their proposal was received january 31st 2025 is today which is the authority board of commissioners meeting their proposal for bail properties was evaluated by a three member panel comprised of one staff member from the oakland housing authority and two san francisco housing authority staff members. additional procurement activity was performed that included but was not in was not limited to validated given that the offerors proposals were correctly represented referenced were checked, references were checked. debarment was checked. conference her confirmatory conversations etc.. upon completion of the review the firm was ranked and vetted and further vetted through our procurement process. >> any questions on the

timeline or any other information? >> commissioners any questions ? >> yes. so the start date is february 3rd. that is correct. and does that mean services will begin on february 3rd? >> and commissioners, your my microphone should be a commissioner commissioners linda mason general counsel services are not passing the services contracts are through the mayor's office of housing and community development and they are continuing without any pause. they've been informed of this transition and all residents have also received a notice of this transition this week. and just a quick it's not a correction. this was the original chronology that you see in your staff report but worth mentioning is that because we did not receive any bids, we actually continue to extend the rfp over and over and over

until we got to the last one where we got a bid on january the 16th i believe it was that friday. we immediately hosted a panel to make sure that the the bell properties was qualified and they did qualify as you can see they received a 74 in their ranking and then we immediately scheduled this meeting to ask commission for approval because ebc was scheduled to and their contract january 31st of 2025 were were any special exemptions or provisions needed to be provided for us to move forward with this with this contract? no. right. and again, just with regards to the services that will be provided by bell, those are meant to supplant ibm's. >> correct. they are taking over as the property management for sunnydale potrero terrace and patrol annex. >> correct. and can you talk to me a little bit about how that transition is going to be facilitated for a seamless handover between ibm's and bell?

>> yeah. and my colleagues feel free to jump in. i can start this is fairly quick and we have been very fortunate that we've worked closely with ibm's over the last two years in particular my colleague kendra crawford has worked very closely to get ibm's c and send down patrol and territories and annex up to really standard performing properties as developments. and so we have regular contractors that are performing . and so the idea now is that the vendors we have would be transitioned over to bell properties they already have and they already have the bell properties was more than open to taking on employees upon interviewing they've actually started interviewing already this week. they started group sessions on wednesday and they've been interviewing thursday, friday and on monday they have a translator coming in to interview all employees who don't speak english. so the transition is happening quickly. president torres and it seems

to be moving seamlessly. we have a daily check in every day and every week we're going to focus on different areas to make sure that there's a very smooth transition. >> so does this mean that as bell begins your contract on february 3rd which is monday, correct? correct. is ibm's c completely out of the picture at that moment in time? >> no. the next item on your agenda is that we have negotiated with ibm's c in amendment extending their contract for two months and i will be talking about that next because we were negotiating until i walked in this building. but we have confirmed an additional 60 days with ibm's c and they are committed to a smooth transition because everybody has really worked hard to get the properties to where they are and it's in everyone's interest to make sure that the residents feel that there is hopefully no change. right. hopefully things are smooth and continue to be smooth at the properties. >> great. i mean i just want to say to tanya let you and to the authority staff i know how much work this took to dive to dive

into and we are extraordinarily appreciative of the amount of effort and tenacity and determination to ensure that the residents of sunnyvale and potrero would be able to have a property management provider that would support services on site. and i'm so wonderful wonderfully pleased that they are coming in and and i would expect it i know all of us would and certainly the authority that the expectations are that this is going to be a benefit and continued benefit to the environment of the residents and as well as a benefit to the residents themselves. so i just want to say thank you so much for helping to facilitate this. i'm very much looking forward to both approving this item as well as the next item to help ensure for a seamless handoff of property management responsibilities that will and rightly so benefit our residents at sunnydale and potrero. >> so thank you all so much and before we open for public comment we want to give james

davis and bill properties an opportunity to speak to the board if he chooses as well. >> something that we forgot to note is that we have notified our residents by certified mail that this change is happening and that the office addresses and the phone numbers will not change. so that things will remain consistent for the residents to minimize changes. >> great. so so just from a resident perspective, same phone numbers ,same address, same points, same points of contact in terms of who they reach out to. it just will be different you know, different company with different names and faces with the exception of potential employees who may carry over in providing services on site, correct is correct. >> fantastic. thank you so much. great job. thank you. and i'd like to add if i may through the chair not only were the letters sent certified but they actually were also hand-deliver to all residents and the authority will continue to work with services as we're doing going through the transition so that our

residents are fully aware of the cadence and how that cadence continues so that we can ensure that we're effective and efficient in continuing services. >> thank you. good afternoon. i'm james davis. i'm ceo of bell properties. i just want to express our gratitude for the opportunity to serve the communities of sunnydale and potrero terrace. >> fantastic. thank you so much for joining us today. thank you. if there's no additional comment from commissioners we can open for an item five a and this is specifically mr. washington on the item we just discussed exactly. >> i will specifically start off with that. listen, i'm here to just to get an update of san francisco housing authority for the last couple of years i've been quite busy working with the fillmore corridor ambassador and i am officially the fillmore quarter ambassador. i'm happy to announce.

>> so we have six sites in our committee but we talk about the trail hill standing there so let's go into that red and red is still involved with that, correct? i'm sure. and so i was there maybe before everybody was in here involved with the red when he first in la or whatever mayor turned it over to the housing authority. so what i'm asking respectfully as the fillmore cordon and i put it in writing is an update of the rad program which has been going on since the beginning just ensuring that we we heard your request very clearly, mr. washington in your previous public comment this is specifically on sunny i'm an average girl. >> you know how we do it. >> i know i know the ropes now as long as i talk about it i could have a sideline conversation. >> the bottom line is i need update of the rad program that involvement with sunnydale in the betray rock and gives me great arm to work with.

how's that? 30 years ago before everybody was here when he just had the housing authority. but i got some problems right now because i really don't know what's happening and i'm sure the residents don't know all talk about oh, we're going to give this to a resident but i don't know if the residents know want to know about the association. >> so i'm requesting again something in writing to give me an update of the rad program as it relates to trail. he'll deal in all over the san francisco bay area. so anyway that's it. my name is lisa monaco. so we had in this time i could talk. thank you mr. washington any other public comments and specifically item five then we can close with a comment and ask for a motion for approval. >> i move to approve and then second back in. thank you. roll call vote commissioner bikes yes. commissioner tim yes.

commissioner lindo yes. and president torres i thank you so moved our next and final action item item five b this is the resolution approving and authorizing the chief executive officer of the housing authority the city and county of san francisco to enter into amendment number two to contract number 0029-20 between the authority and eugene program management corporation for the management of the devil velazco and potrero housing developments to extend the term of the contract for an additional two months through march 31st, 2025 and this will be presented by linda mason, our general counsel. hey commissioners, as you've been aware from the updates provided to you the abc contract was extended last year through january 31st, 2025. the housing authority has been working to retain another property management company for petro and sunnydale since october as you just heard and has been working pretty diligently to see if we could

get not just a any property management company but a qualified property management company who we believe will serve the residents in the way that they need to and deserve to be served. with that said, since we have a qualified property management company now stepping in, that also means that abc will be stepping out in order to ensure that there's a smooth transition. we requested that ebc stay on an additional initially an additional 60 days. we've gone back and forth on their comfort level around 60 days between 30 and 60 days to be quite honest. and we just confirmed this morning 60 days is going to work for this contract and they will be paid 60 days. so worth mentioning that is the difference in the cost is that we will be providing payment for all vacant units as well. so at the same rate that we're providing payment for occupied units we will also be providing it for vacant units in order. it's really in consideration for them to stay those extra 60 days. additionally worth mentioning

is that the indemnification clause and this is a change from the version that you received will be removed from the existing role. they will not be indemnifying the housing authority for the additional 60 days and then the last part of the contract worth mentioning that is we've gone back and forth on is there was a request for an early termination clause and we believe that if we're paying for 60 days we should make sure that they're available for 60 days because it's not just the onsite management but there's also some outstanding audit needs and we want to make sure that we receive everything that's needed for the audit as well and before they exit. so those are the substantive changes that have occurred since you received your books and at this point we are comfortable entering into an agreement as are they for their confirmation and are there any concerns that you can share with us or considerations around the indemnification being removed at this point no, because bel properties as part of their contract are indemnifying the housing authority and the housing corporation so that begins

february 3rd as of monday. >> thank you very much. and again commissioners just want to thank you and the staff for helping to make this seamless transition possible but also ensuring we have some safeguards in place to ensure that on behalf of the residents. >> so thank you. question so if so e.b. emcee will stay on for 60 days starting january 31st. forward bell properties will start january 3rd monday what happens in terms of indemnification action from saturday sunday and i'm sorry should be clear february 1st and second. so so there's going to be a clean crossover. it would just be effect because bell properties is effective february 3rd. so the extension essentially actually starts february 1st including the indemnity. so we would we would need to be clear that the indemnification is for the first and the second. >> so there is no there is no break in terms of indemnification, correct? that's correct. so while there is i'm sorry

help me understand while there's overlap. yep. i understand bell properties will have indemnification and ibs-c will not but what happens? hopefully there won't be any but if there were any issues that were that were to occur that might be attributed to abm's see is that something that would be covered by bell properties under their indemnification? >> it depends because this is where there's a gray area that there's risk obviously and i don't know that we wouldn't have it in open conversation but what i would say is that the employees are still ibm's c's employees through the month of february. so the commitment is that bell properties will offer positions effective march 1st. but with that said they are going to start working directly with ebc. they actually already have on what the day to day tasks are at porter and sunnydale. but yeah, i mean the answer would be that the if there was

any issues or claims that came up they're generally tendered over to the company that is currently indemnifying the housing authority and i will say from experience that our experience with a number of our contractors is even when we're indemnified we oftentimes have to make the argument that we should be covered anyway. okay, thank you. great. >> we have any public comment? actually president terms before we have public comment we do have three specular attending online from eugene berger management corporation and we want to allow her an opportunity to speak if she chooses at this time. >> absolutely. >> good afternoon commissioners. i'm sorry i couldn't be present to be with you today but i did want to absolutely be part of the conversation and expressed great appreciation for the opportunity to be able to serve the rural and semi dell residents through the period that we have and will continue to do so through the extension

period. it truly has been an honor to be part of this transition. it's been difficult for our residents as there's been a long history of operations that they had to get accustomed to and we have been very, very fortunate that they have been able to garner the trust of many of the residents at both sites and because of our diligent interpretation and for that trust we want to make sure that it's a smooth situation transition with our properties and we are absolutely committed to work very closely through this transition and we wanted to also express the great efforts and support that we have received through this from the housing authority a tremendous amount of work has been exhibited on all parties both sides in the housing authority side to support each

other through this transition while going from the public housing arena into a third party management. and i wanted to also thank each and every one of you commissioners today for their also continued support of thank you teresa. we can there's no additional commissioners comment we can open for public comment. there may be additional commissioner comment but can we hear public comment first? >> any public comment on item five be hi margaret mcnulty from resident council advisors. i'm hoping that you indulge me just for me because i couldn't make earlier public comment. >> let me just make sure that mr. washington this is an acceptance that i would make for you as well if you had missed general public comment as well. >> no, just if you had if you had missed general public comment, i would make the same exception. so make sure you know that. >> absolutely yes, please.

thank you. i just like to say i've been in and out of the hospital for the past couple of months so i haven't been at the top of my game. but meanwhile i've transitioned my proposal that i would like to ask for time at the next meeting where 1 or 2 that you could let me re proposed how it's changed and formulated to meet the needs of the tenants and to not believe the hate campaigns of the jealous people out there. great. thank you. so thanks for that. i'll be in touch with bennett about timing only so much and anything that they five and five b it's just fantastic to know that this is going on. >> thank you. and the additional public comments online or in person for item five b so so in in the interest of the records yes i'll speak on betrayal hill and hunts point because i really didn't know the change in management i'd like to get the name of the company that's there in a company that's coming in and i guess there's

the gentleman there and we definitely got the monitor now i asked for his card. he didn't have it to him but he probably say who's this guy on my car? well my name is ace. i've been on the keys for many years. how is it to go? i go way back. so the thing is i'm surprised that the rare thing in public housing is carrying on and no one's paying attention. no one is monitoring it. it just goes on and on and on and has so i'm here coming back this whole breaks up. my name is ace. i'm back on the case. i like to get updated about betrayal hill and sunnydale in writing from the management and who's all participating because i like to monitor the situation and i have the liberty to do that even though i'm in the west. in addition, i'm the fillmore corps ambassador. but before i came i worked in on this point up and i worked all over so i'm not new to the

game but i'm just here to say that it's a new day. >> listen, it's a new era. we have no time for errors misguided leadership, failed efforts and the most egregious thing is undermining our community and if i recognize it, i'm identify it. that's all i'm doing. >> my name is danny and i'm on the case. >> thank you, mr. washington. right. i just want to thank ibm's c for the willingness to provide this negotiated i'll be albeit negotiated a period in grace period for us to help ensure that our residents are being served the best would be possible and again thanking the authority for all the work that's been done to make this happen and make this so and to build properties for again for stepping up and i'm very much looking forward to approving this and moving forward. >> is there a motion for approval? >> motion to approve and the

second i'll second thank you. look, vote commissioner pike's i commissioner again i push only do i and president joyce i'm so moved thank you we could have item six for any additional commissioners comment and report commissioner anything new to report beyond happy new lunar new year everyone the year of the woodson it's a year the what? the wood snake. >> the wood snake a time to shed the past and get with the new so let's move forward okay no no comments no thoughts no observations poetry no quotes. all right, move to adjourn. thank you. the time is 3:37 p.m. thank you, everyone

>> we think over 50 thousand permanent residents in san francisco eligible for citizenship by lack information and resources so really the project is not about citizenship but really academy our immigrant community. >> making sure they're a part of what we do in san francisco the san francisco pathway to citizenship initiative a unique part of just between the city

and then our 5 local foundations and community safe organizations and it really is an effort to get as many of the legal permanent residents in the san francisco since 2013 we started reaching the san francisco bay area residents and 10 thousand people into through 22 working groups and actually completed 5 thousand applications for citizenship our cause the real low income to moderate income resident in san francisco and the bayview sometimes the workshops are said attend by poem if san mateo and from sacking. >> we think over restraining order thousand legal permanent residents in san francisco that are eligible for citizenship but totally lack information and

they don't have trained professionals culturally appropriate with an audience you're working with one time of providing services with pro bono lawyers and trained professionals to find out whether your eligible the first station and go through a purview list of questions to see if they have met the 56 year residents arrangement or they're a u.s. citizenship they once they get through the screening they go to legal communication to see lawyers to check am i eligible to be a citizen we send them to station 3 that's when they sit down with experienced advertising to fill out the 4

hundred naturalization form and then to final review and at the end he helps them with the check out station and send them a packet to fill and wait a month to 6 weeks to be invited in for an oral examine and if they pass two or three a months maximum get sworn in and become a citizen every single working groups we have a learning how to vote i mean there are tons of community resources we go for citizenship prep classes and have agencies it stays on site and this is filing out forms for people that are eligible so not just about your 22 page form but other

community services and benefits there's an economic and safety public benefit if we nationalize all people to be a citizen with the network no objection over $3 million in income for those but more importantly the city saves money $86 million by reducing the benefit costs. >> thank you. >> i've been here a loventh i already feel like an american citizen not felt it motorbike that needs to happen for good.

>> one day - i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, for liberty and justice for all. >> you're welcome. >> (singing). >> (clapping.) >> introduce the san francisco field officer director ribbon that will mirror the oath raise your hand and repeat the oath i hereby declare on oath repeating. >> citizens cry when they

become citizenship to study this difficult examine and after two trials they come back i'm an american now we're proud of that purpose of evasion so help me god please help me welcome seven hundred and 50 americans. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> she wants to be part of the country and vote so much puppy. >> you know excited and as i said it is a long process i think that needs to be finally recognized to be integrated that is basically, the type of that i see myself being part of.

>> out of everybody on tv and the news he felt that is necessary to be part of community in that way i can do so many things but my voice wouldn't count as it counts now. >> it's everybody i hoped for a bunch of opportunities demographics and as you can see yourself there's a good life for everyone. >> that's why. >> you have people from all the walks that life and they're

standing in water 8 hours to be an american citizen and contribute to the city and that's really what makes this worthwhile. >> ♪♪ ♪♪

>> making to may grandkids a program all about pop ups, artists, non profits small business in into vacant downtown throughout the area for a three to 6 months

engagement. >> i think san francisco is really bright and i wanted to be a part of it revitalization. >> i'm hillary, the owner of [indiscernible] pizza. vacant and vibrant got into safe downtown we never could have gotten into pre-pandemic. we thought about opening downtown but couldn't afford it and a landlord [indiscernible] this was a awesome opportunity for us to get our foot in here. >> the agency is the marriage between a conventional art gallery and fine art agency. i'm victor gonzalez the founder of gcs agency. thes program is especially

important for small business because it extended huge life line of resources, but also expertise from the people that have gathered around the vacant to vibrant program. it is allowed small businesses to pop up in spaces that have previously been fully unaccessible or just out of budget. vacant to vibrant was funded by a grant from the office of economic workforce development that was part of the mayor's economic recovery budget last year so we funded our non profit partners new deal who managed the process getting folks into these spaces. >> [indiscernible] have been tireless for all of us down here and it has been incredible. certainly never seen the kind of assistance from the city that vacant to vibrant has given us, for sure.

>> vacant to ibvooerant is a important program because it just has the opportunity to build excitement what downtown could be. it is change the narrative talking about ground floor vacancy and office vacancy to talking about the amazing network of small scale entrepreneur, [indiscernible] >> this is a huge opportunity that is really happy about because it has given me space to showcase all the work i have been doing over the past few years, to have a space i can call my own for a extended period of time has been, i mean, it is incredible. >> big reason why i do this is specific to empower artist. there are a lot of people in san francisco that have really great ideas that have the work ethics, they just don't have those opportunities presented, so this has been huge lifeline i think for entrepreneurs and

small businesses. >> this was a great program for us. it has [indiscernible] opening the site. we benefited from it and i think because there is diverse and different [indiscernible] able to be down here that everybody kind of benefits >> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files of san francisco. we help san francisco remain unique, successful and right vi. so where will you shop and dine in the 49?

>> i'm one of three owners here in san francisco and we provide mostly live music entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and it's not a big menu, but we did it with love. like ribeye tacos and quesadillas and fries. for latinos, it brings families together and if we can bring that family to your business, you're gold. tonight we have russelling for e community. >> we have a ten-person limb elimination match. we have a full-size ring with barside food and drink. we ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar.

we're hope og get families to join us. we've done a drag queen bingo and we're trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. this is a great part of town and there's a bunch of shops, a variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. there's a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hang out at. we have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. some of the older businesses are refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and it's exciting. >> we even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. it's in the san francisco garden district and four beautiful murals. >> it's important to shop local

because it's kind of like a circle of life, if you will. we hire local people. local people spend their money at our businesses and those local people will spend their money as well. i hope people shop locally. [ ♪♪♪ ]

>> when i look at an old neon sign that's working or not working, i feel the family business that was in there. >> since 2009, citywide, sf shines, has supported businesses and sites like the ones that receive new neon signs. >> you know, sf shines is doing an amazing job to bring back the lighting and the neon glow

of san francisco. >> sf shines is such an amazing program, and i can't think of another program in another city that gives matching gunned funds to store owners, mom and pop owners, and if they've got a neon sign, they've really got a great way to advertise their business. >> this is a continuation of the sf shines program. >> focusing other neon signs is relatively new to us. of the seven neon signs, we've invested about $145,000. >> a good quality sign costs more, but it lasts infinitily longer. as opposed to lasting five years, a good neon sign will last 15 to 20 years. >> in san francisco, the majority of neon signs are for

mom-and-pop businesses. in order to be able to restore these signs, i think it gives back to your community. >> part of the project has to do with prioritizing certain signs in the neighborhood based on their aesthetics, based on their current signs, and base on the history. in the time that we've been here, we've seen a number of signs restored just on eddy street. >> there are a number of signs in the tenderloin and many more that are waiting or wanting to be restored. i have worked with randall and al, and we've mapped out every single one of them and rated them as to how much work they would need to get restored. that information is passed onto sf shines, and they are going to rank it. so if they have x budget for a year, they can say all right, we're going to pick these five, and they're putting together

clusters, so they build on top of what's already there. >> a cluster of neon signs is sort of, i guess, like a cluster of grapes. when you see them on a corner or on a block, it lights up the neighborhood and creates an ambient glow. if you havy got two of three of them, you've created an atmosphere that's almost like a movie set. >> some of the hotel, we've already invested in to get those neon signs for people to enjoy at night include the elk hotel, jefferson hotel, the verona, not to mention some we've done in chinatown, as well as the city's portal neighborhood. >> we got the fund to restore it. it took five months, and the biggest challenge was it was completely infested with pigeons. once we got it clean, it came out beautiful.

>> neon signs are often equated with film noir, and the noir genre as seen through the hollywood lens basically depicted despair and concentration. >> you would go downtown and see the most recent humphrey bogart film filled with neon in the background. and you'd see that on market street, and as market street got seedier and seedier and fewer people continued to go down, that was what happened to all the neon strips of light. >> the film nori might start with the light filled with neon signs, and end with a scene

with a single neon sign blinking and missing a few letters. >> one of my favorite scenes, orson welles is chasing rita hayworth with neon signs in the background. >> i think what the office of economic and workforce development is very excited with is that we'll be able to see more neon signs in a concentrated way lit up at night for visitors and most especially residents. the first coin laundry, the elm hotel, the western hotel are ones that we want to focus on in the year ahead. >> neon signs are so iconic to certain neighborhoods like the

hara, like the nightcap. we want to save as many historic and legacy neon signs in san francisco, and so do they. we bring the expertise, and they bring the means to actually get the job done. >> people in tenderloin get really excited as they see the signs relit. as you're driving through the tenderloin or the city, it pretty much tells you something exciting is happening here. >> knee an was created to make the night more friendly and advertise businesses. it's a great way of supporting and helping local businesses. >> there's so many ways to improve public safety. the standard way is having more eyes on the street, but there's other culturally significant ways to do that, and one those ways is lighting up the streets. but what better way and special way to do that is by having old, historic neon signs lighting up our streets at night and casting away our

shadows. >> when i see things coming back to life, it's like remembering how things were. it's remembering the hotel or the market that went to work seven days a week to raise their money or to provide a service, and it just -- it just -- it just - >> we are doing is filipino and

mexican cuzeen. the main component the filipino style meat originated. we grew up on that. the most popular items are burritos. we have really something for everybody. we have a salad, we have tacos, we are natcho s and-trying to create something quick and casual, something you can get anything any time. for me i love food and didn't want to be a chef. i was in the business side of it and bring something special to san francisco so why i reached out to my business partner gil and he wanted to partner for food and we share a passion for food that comes from our parents cht it was a honor for us to be able to do this for ourselves and also for our parents and you know, our

families. for us to have a business as thriving here in san francisco, such a honor and makes me feel proud of myself and of my city as well. just to be able to add to this city that is so special. we are just a speck of the specialness, but you know, to have any part that is just a honor. >> who doesn't love cable cars? charging emissions and we're free which we're proud of you know, it's not much free left in the world anymore so we managed to do that through donations and through our gift shops. you got a real look and real appreciation of what early transit systems are like. this was the transit of the day from about 1875 to about 1893 or

later, you know. cable car museum is free, come on in. take a day. come down. rediscover the city. you can spend as time you want and you don't have to make reservations and it's important to be free because we want them to develop a love for cable cars so they do continue to support whether they live here or other places and people come in and say, yes, i have passed by and heard of this and never come in and they always enjoy themselves. people love cable cars and there's none left in the world so if you want to ride a cable car, you've got to come to san francisco. that what makes the city. without the cable cars, you lose part of that, you know, because people who come here and they love it and they love the history ask they can ride a cable car that has been running since 1888 or 1889. wow! that's something. can't do that with other historical museums. rarely, have i run into anybody from outside who didn't come in and didn't feel better from knowing something about the city. it's a

true experience you'll remember. i hope they walk away with a greater appreciation for the history, with the mechanics with people are fascinated by the winding machine and i hope the appreciation, which is a part of our mission and these young kids will appreciate cable cars and the ones who live here and other places, they can make sure there will always be cable cars in san francisco because once they are gone, they are gone. it's the heartbeat of san francisco that founded the cable and the slot and without the cable cars, yeah, we would lose something in san francisco. we would lose part of its heart and soul. it wouldn't be san francisco without cable cars. [bell ringing]