Neighborhood, my experiences is that i think people almost universally in the neighborhood would like to see that developed as housing. I mean, we have a housing crisis in this city. And the parking lot itself, you know, in the long run, isnt what the community, i think, is going to want or need. The communitys becoming more tech focused. I think well see a decline in cars. Unless somethings done with the traffic situation there, i mean but tigers will be there forever. Tigers and glen park station, and la corneta, i think, will never go away. You know, this is a dilemma that im probably going to ask the department to explain, but you know, my auntie rosa owned the dry cleaner on the corner for years that had all the Police Uniforms on it. Yeah, thats my dry cleaner. Yeah. Yeah, i really think and to the degree that the five years im here, this is something i would push aggressively to see housing develop, because we do have a crisis, and for me personally, the more we can fill around the glen park b. A. R. T. Station, these are units that dont need cars. Maybe you can help your fellow comrads help the Planning Department write some legislation that would help us do this. Yeah, ill do that. Thank you. Okay. Is there any other Public Comment on this item . Come on up. Dont be shy. Good evening. Welcome. Hi. My name is joel campos, jr. , and im i wrote my speech on the phone, if its okay. Im the manager of the la corneta restaurant in the glen park neighborhood. We have been open for a little bit over 22 years, and our restaurant and other Small Businesses depend on the existence of that parking lot, whether its the market down the street or the Hardware Store on the corner, or other Small Businesses. The parking lot definitely needs improvements. The changes that the hayes family wants to implement, i think it would help the whole area significantly, because its not just customers, and you know businesses and employees that park in that area. Its residents. Many residents, they use it to stop by their housing and stuff, and im the one that operates security cameras that are aimed at that parking lot, and we have a lot of breakins. Theres certain permits that need to make lighting and all the other stuff that they dont give you because its just basically a grofl lot. And the sfpd officers are constantly calling me because theres always breakins in that area. And we believe that making that area more professional with asphalt and better lighting, it would help defer those individuals that are coming. Just like two weeks ago, in five minutes, three cars were broken into. Police cars were broken into. Its an ongoing thing in that parking lot, and i think it would help. The gravel is a problem. With the cars going in and out, it goes into the street, and theres ae all these dump trucks going in constantly, and theres potholes when it rains, and i think just putting concrete asphalt there im not asking for much. Just a temporary thing until they do their Housing Project. And having said that, i think if they do decide to turn it into housing in the future, i think the neighborhood would welcome it. That area im not sure if you guys are from the neighborhood. Yeah. I remember olympic savings. Theres some houses that are being renovated across from it. And with the traffic, there can be temporary parking on diamond street to alleviate parking for the merchants, people just trying to make a quick stop. So if they do want to build a hows in the future, its fine. Its not going to be affected, and i would implore you to please take into account theres no negative kops consequences in the area putting it into a parking lot. Its already a parking lot. Just let them put some asphalt, paint some lines, and some lighting. I dont think thats an issue. Your question, if theyre entitled to build a parking lot, and your customers love it, and then, seven years down the road, they want to build a unit, arent you going to be mad about that. I think theres several options that can be taken into consideration. I think you said youre supportive but i think theres options. Right now, they need the money to obviously develop it. Once they do that, i think theres some options for us merchants in the area that we can do. Other areas, they have this temporary parking. Thats fine. Or you know, the meters, instead of putting it for two hours, you can put it for 15 minutes or 30 minutes, well the bulk of the all right. Thank you sir. Any other Public Comment . No other Public Comment, we can take you look like no, no, you have rebuttal, so if no one else wants to speak under Public Comment. Well give you rebuttal after Public Comment, okay . Trying to be shy with us . Dont be coy. Welcome. My name is 4 oy campos. Ive known this hayes family for over 20 years. I came to the united states, and know this family since. You cannot find better lenders than them. They help you, they listen to you, and we are we are very happy if you succeed by allowing you to work with the property. For me, the parking lot is crucial. They stated already, patty stated already, and i just imagine that if i if they took the same thought that i was going to take with my property years ago, if the Planning Commission didnt allow me to put what we needed for that site, i was going to close it, and leave it there for my children or my grandchildren to develop it. Finally, they were sensitive. They agreed. I remember those great commissioners, like mike antonini, and all of them that allowed me to do it, and now, that building is going to be finished in a couple of months. I know the Planning Department takes forever to grant you a permit, but why not take the chance and allow this family to use it, to improve it. And later on, we will see. And finally, in other cases that i hear, the previous cases, one side was going to hurt if the other situation was going to be taken. In this case, in this particular case, the hayes family is hurting nobody. So if they decided to close it, its going to be less sales, less taxes, and probably less employees. So take the chance. Give them the chance. We are here to help them and you are supposed to help them, too. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Any other Public Comment . Seeing no Public Comment, we can take rebuttal with the appellant first. Yeah. I just wanted to comment on when we mentioned the longer Term Development plans, that certainly, as we talked with the community and planning, that we would theres options here. We could incorporate parking within whatever Development Plan that is, whether there would be some parking aside, that we could continue to support the community and the businesses. And as supervisor sheehy said, a lot of the feedback that ive gotten is from glen Park Community is that they do want to see housing there. Its a transit rich area, right across from b. A. R. T. , but with some parking. And so we do think they would be supportive of down the line of a Development Plan for residential and commercial. Any other. And were only talking about 20 parking spaces. Were not talking about, you know, a double or triple structure. Its, you know, a reasonable number, 19. And the ones weve talked to have said yeah, it would be great to clean it up, make it look nice. Weve got that green path thats right alongside it, parallel, and you know, put a sunset date on it, if you can, or a commitment that after so many years, well give you time to work on a longer term plan that incorporates parking and housing and commercial. We just wanted to make those comments. Thank you. Anybody else . I guess, just to follow up on the process that you your name, sir. Im sorry . Your name. Im sorry. Im dan hayes. Just to follow up on the process taking as long as it would if there is no, you know code or sentence or paragraph that you can lean on, can you create it . Is there something you can do so that if you kind of have some empathy for this situation, is there something that could be legislated in a decent amount of time that would allow that window, or to answer that question, if the process takes that long, thats a legitimate the legitimate thing to bring up. And but if something could be legislated in the meantime, instead of just sitting there, in the time it takes to develop. I have a question, whoever would like to answer. Have you charged for parking there before . Im sorry . No. In the over time, with the you know, my father and the breefs busineprevious busi there we there were periods of time where they did private parking, 12, 15, but once we took ownership, there was no paid. That was a while back. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Teague, rebuttal. Boy, scott leaves you the easy night, huh . Oh, sure, sure. You know, all the talk of process and timelines and current events, i think it is worth pointing out that one of the major initiatives mayor lee was working on was asking our departments and oc departments to develop plans for additional process improvements on top of what weve done in the past, and we worked really hard on that and actually submitted a plan to the Mayors Office december 1st, so hopefully in the future, the process times will go down even more. I know that is a big deal to him. We appreciated that. Specifically to this case, i would just provide one request, which is if you do decide to move towards overturning the letter, i would i would advise to think about whether or not you want to use the rationale of well, its been there for a certain amount of time, so it should be considered legal. This is a fairly feelgood use. The community likes it. Ive been tangential review of the Planning Departments use of this over time. The owners seem like good people. Theyre good people. This is kind of a good scenario for that type of event, but there are other scenarios with other uses and other people where that you know, that principle does not exist in the planning code. Theres no statute of limitations for how long you go operating without permits that you automatically become a legal use, so i would just maybe advise that if you go that route, that maybe if theres another rationale, whether give us some guidance. I mean, theres other things in there in in the public documents for this site. I mean, it was a parking it was basically being used as unauthorized parking when the city owned it, and they sold it to the private to a private member of the public, so that doesnt for the code to really convey that land use legality there, but the statute the statute of limitations kind of concept would be a little concerning, so if you do go that route, i would just advise to maybe consider another rationale if you can. What do you mean what do you mean, the statute of limitations. Im saying theres no statute of limitations in the code for how long a parking lot can operate without permits, and then be considered for legal use for a period of time. The statute is clear, public use has to be legally permitted. There was the argument its been here for 40 years, so it should just be considered legal, and i was making the point in this situation, this is a feel good situation but your point is [ inaudible ] that would not always feel at good in other situations, and so thats the only advice that i would give. That it would create a dangerous precedent. Yeah. Sure. Can i get further clarification on this. So so if we were to find for the letter of determination, we could find it based on the that the that the letter of determination was issued in error or if and what youre saying is that if we, again, found for the appellant on the on the basis that because the city historically had had authorized and or had used this space as parking, therefore, it should be authorized for that use in in the future, is that the slippery slope that youre referring to . Well, actually, first of all, i mean, i dont want to recommend a specific basis, obviously, to overturn the Zoning Administrators decision, but the slippery slope was the other, which is if you overturned it on the basis that its been operating for 40 years, so might as well call it legal, that would be more of a precedent issue, and slippery slope, so to speak. So im still confused about whats the hook . Theres no statutory provision. You cant just makeup a statutory provision. Thats the legislative responsibility. Sure, and that is and that gets to the basis of its been here a long time. If you go on another basis. Thats not a relevant issue. Its been there before b. A. R. T. I remember when the glen park station opened. It was so cool. I was like in the fourth grade. Awesome. Except the danger there is there are other situations and other contexts where weve said and others have said that just because its been there a long time, does that make it legal, and so i worry about us doing Something Like that without some right, and thats my recommendation, is to not have that be the sole basis, if you make that decision, because theres so what other recommendation for a basis he said he didnt want to. Not really. Pretend youre on michael. Give it up. I want something. Mr. Teague. Yes. The literature has certain references of potential master plan referrals back in the early 70s. Did that that never occurred, then. Im not sure i understand what you mean. The general plan referrals, the one thats specifically cited in the letter of determination is the one that was cited for the sale of the property. But theyre referencing not so specific, but they were alluding to there were other referrals that are forth coming, but im not seeing anything else. Im sorry. Not specifically in your search. Not specifically to referrals, and that was the general plan at the time of the sale of the property. Okay. Actually, i have a supervisor question. You look like you have a solution or a request from the public. Yeah. I think what were talking about is the city established the use. Thats the reason. They didnt establish the use, so the city established the use years ago, so were not really talking about the city being, you know that gets to i think his question of having a having the nonconforming use, but now having to conform. Its really like the city, years ago, established the use solely to the Property Owners having established the use, and then, you know, thats why were here today. Okay. So just to acknowledge that the city established the use, and reject the letter of determination as being in error, i think that could be a way to cut the knot. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Now, the matters been submitted. So id like id like to make that motion, that we would you like to talk about it before you make the motion . Well, i think thats the answer that we just heard, is is that the city established the use of this parking the use of this parking lot. The city authorized and the use of this space as a parking lot and operated it as a parking lot, and that sets the precedent. Not the ongoing use over the last 30 or 40 years or whatever, but the city itself authorized the use and then operated it as a parking lot historically. So that thats a i dont i dont find that a slippery slope, and that would be the the intent of my motion if i were able to make it or anybody else. I would concur with that. Im in the neighborhood quite frequently. Thats a pretty dark, dark space, to be honest. Like i said, just if we could get to a space where were not setting huge precedent here, right . I would add an amendment, if i may. I have made the motion. You can make the motion. Yeah, you can make the motion. Can i Say Something first . Yes. Since were about to make a motion. I am completely sympathetic, empathetic, whatever term you wish to use. I would very much like to see this happen. I have not been persuaded that there are problems with the letter of determination, so im a little stuck on that. I totally can envision what it is youre trying to do, but i dont know if i can get there. Okay. Well, hopefully, frank will have some problem solving skills. Well, if you have a motion, go ahead. No. Im going to let you make the motion. Id just like to respond to commissioner lazarus. I think the problem with the letter of determination is that it does not recognize the citys authorization of this space as and use as a parking lot, and therefore, its denying that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck, because they saw it as a duck historically. So thats the problem in the letter of determination is that they didnt recognize that it was an authorized use, it was a practiced use, and therefore, the practice of using it as a parking lot in the future should be authorized. Well, its already established already. Its already established. Thats, i think my response to yours. Since were all on the same side. Well, im not i think the language is a little bit different than that in the sense that, you know, the basis in terms of what the city authorized is one thing. But the continued usage of it as a paid parking lot created a legal nonconforming use. That makes sense. I would also add that to if we were to overturn the lod that on that basis, i would add to oh, whats the right word . Not necessarily confirm, but to substantiate that legal nonconforming use, i would submit a time frame of five years for them to permit that substantiate that legal nonconforming use. Commissioners, i would recommend thats outside the scope of the letter of determinations before you, putting conditions on what can happen here in the future. Youre just here determining if the Zoning Administrator abused or reached his conclusions based on the letter. Youre saying only only that . I dont whats before you is not whether there could be a time limit placed on the future. Its whether the za has found correctly that the use that theyve have asked about is a legal nonconforming use, and has found that its not a legal nonconforming use. Do you have a comment, mr. Teague . Just to reinforce the city attorney, i mean, all of our all of our letters of determination that specifically state that, you know, this is just an interpretation of the use of the code. Its not a permit, its not anything else to comply. We dont apply conditions to letters of determination. Its simply a question, is this a legal nonconforming Public Parking lot or is it not, and the Zoning Administrator said its not. So the real the decision. But hes not here. Im sorry . Im going to leave it with no condition. So was that a motion . Thats my motion. I would need you to please restate your motion, to grant the appeal and overturn the letter of determination that the Zoning Administrator erred. Because one that the city zoning preempted its use as a parking lot prior to the sale of the lot. And secondly, the usage of the lot after the sale as a paid Public Parking lot established the legal nonconform is use. Nonconforming use. Yeah, i agree. Just because they didnt establish and continue it doesnt mean it hasnt been established already. It was a parking lot. So the basis is because the city authorized the use of the property for parking before it was sold by the city and that the use of the lot after the sale has continued as a paid Public Parking lot. Is that right . To establish the legal nonconforming clause. Okay. On that motion, commissioner lazarus. Commissioner lazarus no. President honda aye. Commissioner wilson e [ inaudible ] okay. And commissioner. Commissioner swig no. Okay. Im going to move to continue this case. Oh, good. So that Additional Information related to the citys authorized use can be provided. Takes three. Okay. Vice president , do you want to pick a date for that . One month . January 17th, commissioner swig. Hows our schedule . Well, commissioner swig wont be there that night. Id like to be there. Perhaps if you want to look at a later date. You could do the 31st. January 31st . And are you accepting submissions from both sides . Yes. Okay. Do you want them at the same time or same time would be acceptable. Okay. So the motion, then, from the Vice President is to move this continue this item to allow Additional Information related to the citys authorized use and this would be to move it to january 31st, 2018. Both sides would be allowed to submit additional submittals. Do you want briefing or do you want to set a page limit . I think they should be able to do it within five pages. Okay. With just five pages of additional briefing allowed, plus exhibit, both to be submitted the thursday prior to the hearing, okay . On that motion, commissioner lazarus. Commissioner lazarus aye. President honda aye. Commissioner wilson aye. Commissioner swig aye. Okay. That motion passes, and that moti matter is continued to that evening. Next item is withdrawn, so commissioner honda, theres no further oh, you scared me for a second. [ gavel ] good morning everyone. This is a great occasion and i first want to say im not doug shumaker. You may wonder where he is, hes doing father duty and thats something we encouraged him to do and something important he had to take care of with his son that he will talk to you about if hes here before its over. Im jane grass, im ceo of mercy housing nationally. But i was in the role that doug is in and im delighted to be here and see the development come to fruition. Its been a few years. Some of us remember 1989 and then the long moment of what are we going to do, what are we going to do . Heres what were going to do, were going to develop 108 units of Affordable Housing in this wonderful neighborhood. There are a lot of people to thank. Im not going to thank them all today. Im sure youre happy to hear that. Theres a long list. Just know you are all thanked and some of the speakers will acknowledge all of you, no one is to think theyre being left out on purpose. When we step into the completed property in 18 months or however long it is, well do the official and proper thank yous. This is a village obviously and we acknowledge that. This is a great legacy of our former mayor, ed lee. And we all have been shocked by his passing and you cant start an event like this, which really does, you know, its a statement of his legacy without starting by acknowledging him and i wants to start with just a few moments of silence before acting mayor breed steps in and speaks for the city. Lets have a moment of silence. Thank you. There couldnt be a better person to be talking today than acting mayor london breed who is a champion for Affordable Housing throughout the city, for those most in need and those just in need. I want to thank london for being here today in her busy schedule. Please welcome acting mayor london breed. applause thank you all so much for being here today. Today was on the schedule for some time and i was supposed to be here with our mayor, mayor ed lee to really just welcome in what we know is going to be an amazing project. He and i worked really closely together on Affordable Housing. We know this was near and dear to his heart. What is so amazing about the project, 108 units of family housing. For not only low income residents but extremely low income residents. A lot of our homeless families that the mayor and i worked so hard to get off the streets into permanent housing, they will live here. They will live here when we get the project done. And im so excited about that because its moving forward as you can see behind us, all of the amazing people are already on the ground working to get this done. And so many people have played a role and i just want to thank mercy housing for working on this project for the services that will be here, the childcare, the residential support, all of the Different Things that are going to help to make this not just a home for families but a community. And we couldnt have done this project without the help and support of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association and you will be hearing from its president in a little bit. But the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, the group working on developing this area after tearing down the freeway. I grew up not far from here and i remember entering right here on to the freeway and i was here when the 89 earthquake happened and this freeway closed down and look how long its taken, 1989 and its 2017 and were finally, finally just doing so many Amazing Things in this community where the boulevard is now this beautiful place for people to enjoy. This is one of the final pieces thats going to complete this area. Thats going to continue to allow it to continue to be a thriving and amazing community. And i could not be more proud to represent you as supervisor and as acting mayor in mayor lees honor and get this project going so the families can move in. This is so amazing, this is what we do best as a city. And i will definitely be here, supervisor, mayor, whatever the heck im going to be at the time, cutting that ribbon and helping those first families move into that place. Everyone here, the financing we received from the state, bank of america, Mayors Office of housing, there are so many things that go into making this a reality. Thank you for your work. This is so amazing. Im so proud and happy today. This is what we do best. These are the kinds of things we have to shine light on to make sure people know all the amazing work our mayor helped us to do in our community and all over the city. Thank you for being here today. applause were going to move through the speakers relatively quickly because afterwards we want to toss the dirt, which is an important picture for all of us. laughter obviously. I want to welcome the ceo, president and ceo david sobal, thank you for being here. Thank you so much mayor breed and whatever title you have going forward, were so thankful to have you. Im going to be brief but i want to hit a few key points. Founded in 1988 by a group of Community Leaders focused on ensuring that African Americans and other people of color have a chance to stay in San Francisco. Unfortunately that mission is still very much an issue in San Francisco and not to bring us down today, but it is unacceptable to us as im sure it is to all of you that we have a city with fewer than 50,000 African Americans as we stand here today. Its unacceptable to us as im sure it is to you that we have lost half of our artists in the past 20 years in San Francisco. Im sure its unacceptable as it is to us, that we have thousands of Homeless People still on the streets and im sure its unacceptable to you as it is to us that we have thousands of working families that cant afford the median rent of a two bedroom apartment in San Francisco, which requires an income of 120,000 a year to be affordable. And with things going on nationally out of washington d. C. Present additional challenges obviously. That said, we are extremely fortunate to live in a city that is so supportive of Affordable Housing, that love to see new projects built that serve formally homeless as this project will. That we have a Mayors Office of housing and board of Supervisor Team and Mayors Office that supports all the work we do and mercy housing does. We are truly fortunate to have the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association that came out in full support of this project immediately. And so we have a lot of positive things behind us. We have a Wonderful Team of architects thats going to make this project absolutely gorgeous. And as mayor breed said, 108 families will be housed here permanently in Affordable Housing that is beautiful, fits in with the neighborhood and will be a joy and source of pride for all of us, including ground floor retail space and community garden. For that said, our lenders are going to speak in a moment, we want to thank bank of america and state housing of development as well. And i cant wait for 18 months from now, we want to do it faster and better, well see what we can do on that. Thank you for being here, we cant wait to celebrate and keep the legacy of mayor lee going. Thank you. applause thank you david. We all know that the city is an important partner financially and in every way possible but there are also other financial partners, the state of california through housing and Community Development is one of those partners. Craig shields is here to represent the state. Good morning. Last summer i had the great honor of breaking ground at an Affordable Housing development in the tenderloin with mayor lee and i think he would be very pleased to see whats happening here today. We know it takes a lot of devotion and determination to get the fancy shovels in the ground on a day like today. The California Department of housing and Community Development are so pleased to see this project moving forward. Together we implement Affordable Housing and sustainable communitys program. Thats a big name for a focused goal, to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions in the state of california. We encourage people to get out of their cars and walk, bike or take transit. And by placing Affordable Housing near key destinations like grocery stores, childcare and job centers. This combines all the great features in one awesome location. This mercy Housing Project was the recipient of one of the largest awards in the second round of funding, over 16 million. For many years this site was devoted to moving people past the neighborhood. Now its being reimaged to house over 100 housing units. The residents will have great access to several new sidewalks that will be improved as part of the program. We are so thankful to be here today and we are really excited to see this moving forward. Thank you. applause thanks craig. You always have to have a banker. They always come to these events. And today is no different. But were really pleased, we have a great Banking Partner in bank of america. Our guy, he takes care of us in many, many ways and if you im not going to tell you the numbers but theyre staggering, a lot of bank of america money is going into this transaction. Were pleased for arie to be with us today. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you jane. So its a pleasure to be here today. And first i would like to thank all the other great partners who are part of this great project, mercy housing, San Francisco housing association, california housi housing Growth Council and the Mayors Department of housing and acting mayor breed and late mayor lee. Obviously there was a huge loss when we lost our partner in crime mayor lee who has been the Affordable Housing mayor. Its hard to go to these events and not see him here with us. And not know that he is just he is missing the event hanging out with michelle obama, which i think happened a couple weeks ago. We invest over 4 billion last year in Affordable Housing. When we make decisions on where the money is going to go, the numbers are important. We are a bank. Whats more important than that are the people we do business with. Organizations like mercy housing and cities like this, like the city of San Francisco and mayor lee. A couple years ago, there was this crazy plan to rebuild all of Public Housing in San Francisco. And i took it back to the leadership at bank of america and washington d. C. And i said i want to talk with you about this plan, ignore the fact that this housing has been neglected for the past 40 years, that its very difficult housing that theres going to its going to be very complex. We need to do the right thing. We talked about it and every time something got difficult and we were trying to decide is this something we really wanted to do, we went back to who was behind the project, mayor lee and the fact that he grew up in Public Housing, the fact that he worked as a civil rights attorney protecting Public Housing tenants, because we knew he was going to stand behind the project thick and thin made the difference. Its the reason why bank of america was able to invest over 2. 2 billion in this city and it shouldnt be overlooked. People really do matter and having a mayor like mayor lee really mattered when it came to institutions like bank of america investing and putting our money in this city, something as crucial as Affordable Housing. I think its its fitting were here today to build more units. We look forward to building many, many more units. Mayor lee and i joked wed have 26 more parties, hes not going to be there but i think well all enjoy being there and every time someone walks into a unit, every time someone can live in the city, its a tribute to our great mayor, mayor lee. Thank you. applause thank you arie. Today we have Randall Winston with the california strategic Growth Council. I had to ask what their role was, they said capandtrade. I get it. Were really pleased to have randall with us today. Randall. Thank you. Thank you again. It really is an honor to be here mayor breed and other partners and ill be brief. Craig my partner here touched upon most of it but as a mobile agency body we bring together all the state agencies led by the Governors Office and invest 20 over a billion dollar capandtrade fund into Affordable Housing in sustainable communities. This project shows the types of investments we need to make to continue to link housing with transportation and achieving a host of our Community Benefits to achieve our states climate goals. Lets not forget we have the most Ambitious Goals not just in the nation but in the world. And so while were continuing to build projects like this, that advance sustainable communities, were thinking about our Larger National and Global Impact to lead the way. It really is an honor to be able to contribute to this project and we look forward to continuing to do so. So thank you. applause thanks randall. And finally, our last speaker today is probably one of the most important in many ways. This is hayes valley neighborhood and we all know what has been going on in the neighborhood for the past 30 years since we started dealing with this freeway, the central freeway. And were just so delighted to have a Neighborhood Group led by gale, led, am i correct . Youre the lead present lead that really is involved in this development and has welcomed it and is part of making it happen. With that, i would like gale to speak on behalf of the neighborhood association. Thank you. Hi, im president of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association and im going to end on a positive note, bear with me, the mission of the Hayes Valley Association is to present Friendly Association and Community Involvement throughout hayes valley. Preserve and reinforce cultural and economic diversity. Restore character, and architecture and make sure our communitys participation in the governmental process. Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association has learned when attempting great change, no is just another way to say yes. Yes to creating community that was lost. Yes to taking out a freeway that slashed community apart. Yes to finding safety for our family and children and especially our young black men. Yes to parks and green spaces and living alleys. Yes to morel meantry and middle schools. Yes to building more Affordable Housing, over half the freeway parcels are devoted to Affordable Housing and marginalized groups, such as mentally disabled and formerly homeless and lgbtq elders. A big yet to be amended yes to current legislation to allow subsidized hoa, yes to local artists installed in temporary settings for all to enjoy. Yes to maintaining and expanding our infrastructure that reflects 21st century ways of living in a dense urban environment. I stand on the shoulders who came before me. Over 50 of our freeway parcels like this one are dedicated to Affordable Housing. I can shout over that one. Bmr should be located on site to ensure economic diversity. Local businesses and artists ink baited to grow. Embracing all for the benefit of the community is our goal. We hope to see these new residents engaged in their community. To repeat what was said to me, welcome to hayes valley. applause nice gale. Thank you. We feel welcomed. Very well comed. Delightful. Okay. Im going to say one more thing about all the other theres a lot of people involved in a lot of financing of this development which is very expensive as we know. But then someone has to figure out how to build it, what it ought to look like, they have to do it, thank you to all the doers out there, some of you are obvious because you have the orange hats on and the little outfit. Some of you are not. Just so you all know, we recognize, we started, you finish it and make it happen. Thank you. You are acknowledged and adored actually for all your hard work and now im going to end this ceremony and were going to have those of us who have spoken put on hard hats and grab the shovel and take the important picture. Theres coffee, please drink the coffee and eat whatever they have over there to eat and thank you for being here. Ready . You have to throw it up. No way. Everyone look at me, please. Welcome to culturewire. Today we are at recology. They are celebrate 20 years of one of the most incredibly unique Artist Residency programs. We are here to learn more from one of the resident artists. Welcome to the show, deborah. Tell us how this Program Began 20 years ago. The Program Began 20 years ago. Our founder was an environmentalist and an activist and an artist in the 1970s. She started these street sweeping campaigns in the city. She started with kids. They had an exhibition at city hall. City officials heard about her efforts and they invited her to this facility. We thought it would coincide with our efforts to get folks to recycle, it is a great educational tool. Since then, we have had 95 professional artists come through. How has the Program Changed over the years . How has the program what can the public has an artist engage with . For the most part, we worked with metal and wood, what you would expect from a program like ours. Over the years, we tried to include artists and all types of mediums. Conceptual artists, at installation, photographers, videographers. That has really expanded the program out. It is becoming so dynamic right now with your vision of interesting artists in gauging here. Why would an artist when to come here . Mainly, access to the materials. We also give them a lot of support. When they start, it is an empty studio. They go out to the public area and we call it the big store. They go out shopping, take the materials that, and get to work. It is kind of like a reprieve, so they can really focus on their body of work. When you are talking about recology, do you have the only Sculpture Garden at the top . It is based on work that was done many years ago in new york. It is the only kind of structured, artist program. Weit is beautiful. A lot of the plants you see were pulled out of the garbage, and we use our compost to transplant them. The pathway is lined with rubble from the earthquake from the freeways we tour about 5000 people a year to our facility, adults and children. We talk about recycling and conservation. They can meet the artists. Fantastic. Lets go meet some of your current artists. Here we are with lauren. Can you tell us how long have been here so far and what youre working on . We started our residency on june 1, so we came into the studio then and spent most of the first couple weeks just digging around in the trash. I am continuing my body of work, kind of making these hand embroidered objects from our daytoday life. Can you describe some of the things you have been making here . This is amazing. I think i started a lot of my work about the qualities of light is in the weight. I have been thinking a lot about things floating through the air. It is also very windy down here. There is a piece of sheet music up there that i have embroidered third. There is a pamphlet about hearing dea nearing death. This is a dead rabbit. This is what i am working on now. This is a greeting card that i found, making it embroidered. It is for a very special friend. While we were looking at this, i glanced down and this is amazing, and it is on top of a book, it is ridiculous and amazing. I am interested in the serendipity of these still life compositions. When he got to the garbage and to see the arrangement of objects that is completely spontaneous. It is probably one of the least thought of compositions. People are getting rid of this stuff. It holds no real value to them, because theyre disposing of it. Were here in another recology studio with abel. What attracted you to apply for this special program . Who would not want to come to the dump . But is the first question. For me, being in a situation that youre not comfortable in has always been the best. What materials were you immediately attracted to when you started and so what was available here . There are a lot of books. That is one of the thing that hits me the most. Books are good for understanding, language, and art in general. Also being a graphic designer, going straight to the magazines and seeing all this printed material being discarded has also been part of my work. Of course, always wood or any kind of plastic form or anything like that. Job mr. Some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. Taught me through some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. The first thing that attracted me to this was the printed surface. It was actually a poster. It was a silk screen watercolor, about 8 feet long. In terms of the flatwork, i work with a lot of cloddish. So being able to cut into it come at into it, removed parts, it is part of the process of negotiating the final form. How do you jump from the two dimensional work that you create to the threedimensional . Maybe going back from the 3f to 2d. Everything is in the process of becoming. Things are never said or settled. The sculptures are being made while i am doing the collages, and vice versa. It becomes a part of something else. Theres always this figuring out of where things belong or where they could parapets something else. At the end goal is to possibly see one of these collage plans be built out and create a structure that reflects back into the flat work. Thank you so much for allowing culturewire to visit this amazing facility and to learn more about the artists in residence program. Is there anything you like our viewers to know . We have art exhibitions every four months, and a win by the public to come out. Everybody is welcome to come out. We have food. Sometimes we have gains and bands. It is great time. From june to september, we accept applications from bay area artists. We encouraged artists from all mediums to apply. We want as many artists from the bay area out here so they can have the same experience. How many artists to do your host here . 6 artist a year, and we receive about 108 applications. Very competitive. But everyone should be encouraged to apply. Thank you again for hosting us. Thank you for including us in culturewire. [inaudible] and Parking Authority commission on tuesday, december 5. Ms. Boomer, could you please take the roll . Please quiet down in the audience . Thank you. [roll call]