arnold townsend. >> thank you, president brandon, commissioners. arnold townsend. i just want to rise to support this development. i've been involved with this several years now, and the development is just tremendous. it really should become the model for development in san francisco. i even said to our late mayor that all things being equal, we should never accept anything less. if they can do it, other developers should be required to do it. in talks about this development, the affordablity. we talk about the affordablity, and we talk about affordable housing all the time in san francisco, and my neighborhood, every time the term comes up, it prompts a question. the question is, affordable for whom, and that means it doesn't affect most of the people that i deal with, most of the folks who are challenged for housing in our church. this will meet their needs. not only will it meet the needs of people who constantly fall through the cracks, but it will even offer opportunity to people who have been pushed out of the city to come back, and in some communities, that

arnold townsend. i came to support this project with brief remarks because i would hope that supporting this project is as easy for you as it is for me. i will say this: this project has been very frustrating to me on one level because one of san francisco's favorite pastimes is picking apart projects like this. i really tried, and i just wasn't able to. every time i turned around and i thought i had them, they got me. when i said there was something they were going to miss, i got a call about talking about workforce. when i thought there was some parts of the community they would leave out and wouldn't touch, i got a call about, can you help us talk to local pastors so we can explain the benefits of the project to them. when we talked about the diversity in the housing, they said, no, it's not going to be only affordable. we're going to have deep affordability, not the affordable that many of the folk that we serve in our church and community cannot even afford that affordable housing. we're going de

the reverend arnold townsend said something at the port commission hearing january -- >> thank you. and as the timer comes up, you're welcome to finish your sentence, so if we can allow people to do that, thank you. thank you. >> hi. my name is stephanie mueller. i'm here to represent delancey street neighborhood. i agree we've been friends and partners of the giants with at&t park and the entire building of the community, and we are so looking forward to the possibility of jobs, the possibility of some affordable housing. just as an aside, you know, as you know better than anyone here, delancey street's dedicated to helping people change their lives, and they spent two, three, four years in this neighborhood. when they graduate, looking for jobs or housing in san francisco, it's impossible, so we are so supportive and so excited about this project. and i just wanted to come here to be able to say that, so thank you. >> thank you, and we love delancey street. >> good afternoon, chair tang, supervisors kim, safai. my name is bruce, and i'm speaking in support of the items associated

and i do have one more speaker card, reverend arnold townsend after chad houston. >> good afternoon, supervisors. chad houston with local 261. i'm here to urge you to not delay this project. the two things i can speak towards are the work force component of the project and the affords ability component. with the extended a.m.i., helpful for our membership which has a little under 10,000 members and about 4,000 that live in san francisco. a lot of our members are being pushed out with the extended a.m.i. for the affordability. it allows them to qualify for the affordable housing, and the work force component, we are partnering with city bill and have a long standing relationship with the giants and we are happy to expand upon that providing a work force that's local to san francisco and providing jobs for individuals who also cannot stay in the city. so, i urge you to not delay this project and look forward to working with the giants moving forward. thanks. >> thank you. mr. reverend townsend. thank you for coming back again. >> thank you, supervisor kim, supervisor fewer. let me just