Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Land Use Committee 20240713

The majority of the reports were Domestic Violence related. Again winning no reports were denied. And again, the majority of the reports were made by the victims themselves. And still under the last quarter of 2019, it took a little over a day for these reports to get returned and available to the requesters. We do track although not required, we do track the forms of how the requests are being made. The majority of reports requests are made in english, but also the spanish population has also been using the forms to request these forms. Going forward in 2020, we will get back on schedule where the First Quarter of 2020, that report will be delivered to the commission on april 15 and then subsequently the following squad car quarter of july. Any comments . Vice president. I just want to say, i was on this working with commissioner hamisaki and this is fantastic. This is both helpful information to have and its great to see how quickly the department is filling these requests and helping Domestic Violence victims get results. I want to thank you and commend you again. Commissioner tailor is still in my line. Just, we sat through a working group together and came to agreement on a form and a procedure and the reporting requirement. I think to see this actually come out now and to see that we are actually in compliance within five days of all of them in the reporting period i think is really impressive. Thank you for your report on this, and we look forward to the next quarterly report. Okay. Thank you. Next line item. Anything else on the chiefs report or is that it . If i could just thank both the commissioners that were on this. This was a pretty long process, and i think again it shows the work that we can do with the department of Police Accountability and our many groups in the community who were very concerned about this. We have staff in the room who were a big part of this behind the scenes. So i just want to thank everybody for actually making this come together. We still have work to do, but well enjoy this and continue to move forward. Thank you. Next item, please. Line 1 b. D. P. A. Directors report. Report on recent d. P. A. Activities and announcements. D. P. A. Ooess report will be limited to a brief description of d. P. A. Activities and announcements. Commission discussion will be limited to determining whether to calendar any of these issues raised for a future commission meeting. Director henderson, welcome. We are at 23 cases so far that have been opened this year. These numbers are also up from last year. This time last year, this early in the year, we were at 21 cases. So far this year weve closed 49 cases. This year weve closed only 33 cases. Weve tried to keep up with the increased volume by keeping these cases closed. We still have 339 cases that are open and pending. This time last year we had 229 cases that were open and pending. This is a reflection of the volume that has increased. So far this year we have sustained two cases. At the same time last year we had not sustained any cases. In terms of the cases that are passed at the ninemonth mark, we are at 24 cases. Of those 24 cases, 10 were told cases. Weve had three cases that have been mediated this year, which is the same number of cases we mediated last year. In terms of the 1421, i have no new statistics to report since last week, but i just wanted to mention that we have interviews scheduled over the last two weeks for the 1421 paralegal finally. So thats where we are in the process. After they were released, were trying to get those folks in as quickly as we can. In terms of mediation, for outreach, we expanded our presence and the mission, what we had talked about last week was many of the flyers were testing to see where our information is being picked up and where were running out of. A lot of the Spanish Language information about the d. P. A. In the mission area was running out a little more quickly. So we put more of our information in different locations, the womens building, the reinvestment coalition, the native American Health center. Our information can be found there now. We just did that this month. We also met with, and this is a new initiative or a partnership, expansion, affiliation, with pretrial diversion and we can see how we can be working better with them to have our Information Available through our work as well. We also participated in northern stations Community Meeting last week. Thats it for my update. For the audience in case there are issues that come up, i have my staff. Our new investigators are also here in the audience tonight to he help. Can we see their hands . Yes. [ overlapping speakers ] thats what i said. Welcome here. And coryann is here. Barceloni . Barcelone. These are the new investigators. Youre all going to have to give him a phonetic spelling of your name. Welcome. Any questions . I dont see any. Thank you, mr. Henderson. Line item 1c. Commission reports. Commission reports will be limited to a brief description of activities and announcements. Commission discussion will be limited to determining whether to calendar any of the issues raised for a future commission meeting. Commission president s report. Commissioners reports. I dont have any reports. Just briefly. This week one of the days, i met with the deaf and hardofhearing working group that has been working on the new d. G. O. And working through some final comments that came through the d. O. J. Process. And i think we are about done and hope to have it to this commission soon. So i think thats going to be a pretty exciting d. G. O. That we adopt. Thank you. Anybody else . Okay. Next item. Item 1 d. Commission announcements and scheduling of items identified for consideration at future Commission Meetings people waiting action. We have one. What type of cases, the majority of cases being referred and the race of individuals being referred. Well have to get that to staff to articulate that. Chief, do you know, are there d. G. O. S directly on that point . There are or is a d. G. O. O on when we work with federal agencies, it has to go through a process that includes a chain of command approval up through the deputy chief. In terms of the filing of cases, i dont believe there are any d. G. O. S on policy. Ive never seen that. But we have d. G. O. S on federal cooperation. I do want to look into policy. That will get into an vend. Next item. As a reminder, the Police Commission meeting is scheduled for wednesday, february 5, 2020. The public is invited to comment on items 1 a through 1 d. Any Public Comment . Only on items weve discussed so far. Klein item 3, presentation of the Department Budget process overview for fiscal year 2020 21 and 2021 22. Good evening. I understood this is a relatively short presentation on the budget and next month we will have a more detailed presentation on the budget, correct . Correct. I do appreciate it because last year it was a problem. We were rushed and i felt like there wasnt enough time. So i do appreciate you and executive director maguire giving us greater time for this years budget. Good evening, chief scott, president hersh, Vice President , commissioners. My name is patrick leon. I am the chief Financial Officer for the San Francisco Police Department. In tonights presentation ill be going over the budget process and the steps the department will undertake as we develop our budget for fiscal year 2020 21 and fiscal year 2021 22. In this presentation well be including a brief overview of the citys budget process, the Budget Development timeline, the departments internal Budget Priority development process, and defining the various budget phases. Well first go over the budget requirements. City departments must submit a twoyear Budget Proposal by february 21. This is required by the San Francisco code 3. 31 a. So our fiscal year 2020 21, 2021 22 is scheduled for february 12. That is when we will put our anticipated budget submission. The Commission Must adopt those budgets before february 21. That is our submission deadline. In terms of budget timelines and phases. This is where the Commission Issues budget timelines and the ujt system is open. February 21 is the due date for the Department Budget submission. In march and april is where the Mayors Office works with city departments to fund new policies and projects. May 31 the mayor publishes the budget. In early june, the budget legislative analysts reviews the budget and makes recommendations. In june the budget and finance committee holds budget hearings and solicits public input. In july the full board of supervisors adopts the final boardadjusted budget. So in determining our fiscal year 2020 21 base budget, its derived from our current budget. Back in 2012, the city adopted a twoyear budget cycle for all departments. So in our approved budget cycle for 2019 20, it includes an estimate for fiscal year 2020 21. This becomes the base starting point for our budget 2020 21. This following pie graph represents our funding resources. The majority of our funding is derived from general funds. The airport provides an additional 11 of our source of funding. Services to other department represents another 3 . And special revenues and general Fund Projects represents approximately 1 each. Diving into each of the areas. Within our general Fund Operating budget, its split up into various categories. Salaries and categories represent the total budget at 85 . Professional services and other payments represent 2. 5 . And examples include noncity rent, contracting services, material and supplies represent less than 1 of our budget. These things include at some times such as uniform safety equipment, office supplies. Equipment represents about 1 of our budget and items like patrol cars and safety equipment, thats over 5,000. The last item is services paid to other departments. These are services that are work orders and these include items such as city rent and utilities, phone and network infrastructure, that goes to the department of technology. In total, our budget for the current year is 900,000. In fiscal year 2021, there is an increase to 612 million. And the majority of this increase is related to cost of living adjustments thats negotiated between the city in the employee unions. Our other budgets, general project expenditures is approximately 10 million in the current year. Special revenues, these include state mandates such as our vehicle theft crimes misunderstand and it also includes state and federal grants. This totals about 8 million. Our work order represents services that we provide to other departments for police services. And then lastly the airport fund is about 78 million in the current year and it jumps to 100 million for next year. That increase is due to their anticipated the increase of officers that theyre anticipating us to be able to send to the airport. If we arent able to meet all of our recruitment efforts, we wont be able to actually send as many officers there. That number is budgetary and may not reflect what is actually expended. In total, over 90 of our Department Budget is for positions. And as i said before, the increases between fy2019 20 and fiscal year 2020 21, there is a 46 million increase. Thats attributable to cost of living increases and the increase in the airport fund budget. Identifying Department Budget priorities for fiscal year 2020 21. We started this process by conducting and holding several internal meetings including all hands on deck meeting to help identify Top Priorities for each bureau. With this process, it included captains, commanders, deputy chiefs, assistant chiefs, and directors of each units for them to be able to provide their feedback in our budget process. The next step is outlining the priorities theyve identified in our Strategic Plan and outlining the priorities with the mayor priorities. Reviewing budget request. And lastly, balancing our budgetary needs versus our budgetary limits. And this is a framework that were using to develop our budget. For our department timeline, today were showing that our budgetary process is that on february 12 we scheduled a meeting to present to the commission our budget phase proposal. On february 21, this is our due date to submit our budget to the Mayors Office. March through may is where enhancement requests are presented to the mayor. In june 2020, well come back and well provide the commission with an update on the mayors phased budget. And in august well provide the commission with an update on the boardadopted budget. With that, that concludes my presentation. Next month, well get the actual proposed budget . Thats correct. Ive heard that departments in the city are being asked to cut their budgets. Is that correct . Thats correct. The Mayors Office instructions to department is to cut 3. 5 . This year and to try and cut an additional 3. 5 the following years. So its compounded and its 7 for next year. Do you know if thats true for all departments, not just the Police Department . Its the budget instructions for all departments. Its still were still early in the budget process. The its a wrestling match . Yeah. Just quickly. One of the things in budget is equipment. The state of our fleet of cars is embarrassing and its a Public Safety concern. Its dangerous. A young officer sent me of a picture of an old Crown Victoria that has a bullet hole and the door is falling off a bit. There are not wellintentioned moves by members of our board. I stress that this commission pushes. It is a dangerous issue for the officers. We need new vehicles. Vice president. To point to specifically where i think it is on this presentation that you gave us. I mean, it says that 1 i think of the budget gets put towards equipment and next year its contemplated to cut that in half, so next year a half a percent is going to go towards the cars. Is that right . Thats currently the base budget. Ultimately with the budget submission as we go through this process, those numbers will change. Well have more final numbers to present in approximately a months time. But that number is the starting point. That number will change. I mean, 1 is bad as it is, but cutting a 0. 5 is concerning. Along the similar lines, this increase in airport fees, given that there is not enough money for basic safety equipment, is there enough need to transfer people to the airport that would justify a 20 what was the number . The increase in the airport fund from 78 to 100 million. So the airport budget is okay. I take that back. All good then. Were good. So we get this on february 12 and we have to vote on february 21. Are we meeting on february 19 . Were going to have to vote on the 12. If we could get it well in advance, that would help us to study it. Were meeting in a station on the 19th, so we wont be able to take this up. I wanted to make sure that we have enough time and comfort with the numbers and what youre presenting. I would request it well in advance if you can. Well try to make that happen. Another request i have, chief, and for both of you. If you can get us some specifics about the vehicles on the 12th. This commission can make a special request to the Mayors Office and to the board of supervisors is they seriously consider funding far more vehicles than we have. We just need some information on that. Yes, sir, well do that. That would be great. This one officer i was talking to was driving a car older than him. Thats a fact. Was he 11 . [ overlapping speakers ] i was going to mention the cars. We dont get enough money to replace the cars or extra. My concern is a lot of this is salary and benefits. My concern is with the infrastructure. My concern is i. T. Infrastructure. You know, we have all these the department that hit us up and said we cant talk and pull all the personnel records and keep track of personnel and training and put this together for the e. I. S. System. All of that costs money. So im assuming thats in the payments for other license contracting. I could be wrong. Do we have any plans to upgrade or to buy programs for i. C. Does that make sense . You know what im asking . Yes, maam. Those things are on our list of priorities. So we have to work through, as was stated in the presentation, the limits of the budget compared to what we need. So well be working through that. But that is particularly you mentioned e. I. S. And the other Technology Needs are on the forefront of our ask. I would like to know your priority list, where is it on that priority list, is it five, 10, 15, 20, how far down is it or high . Technology i believe is number two. Our Top Priorities, technology is one of those three. I think it was listed as second. Theyre all important, but technology is definitely in the top three. Good evening, commissioners, executive director katherine flyer. Well be presenting all of that information on the 12th. Hopefully we can get you in advance a little bit more detail. Just a note on equipment and budgets. [ please stand by ]. Vice president taylor can we also divvy up the salary so how much we know is the salary and how much is the overtime . Yes. Salaries are a separate line item a salary, from overtime budget. Commissioner dejesus and we can see how much hes over the overtime budget. President hirsch okay. Thank you both very much. Next line item, please. Clerk Public Comment online item 3. President hirsch okay. Were ready for Public Comment on the line item. Yeah. The public would like to have advance notice on it so we can review it. President hirsch okay. Thank you. Any other Public Comment on the budget . All right. Seeing none, next item, please. Clerk line item 5. Discussion and possible action to approve revised department general or the, discussion and possible action. President hirsch okay. Good evening. Hello, president hirsch, commissioners, and others, i am the chair of the bias working group. As a result of the d. O. J. Report on the San Francisco Police Department, we began reviewing d. O. J. 1107 in june 2019, and we finished our work in november 2019. On behalf of the San Francisco Police Department and the bias working group, i am pleased to present d. G. O. 1107 to the commission. The changes to the general order which have been tracked for your convenience on the copies as well as theres some for the public, as well, can be brokendown into five categories. One, new language that reiterates the sfpds to fair and equal treatment of all its members and its ethical and legal obligations to treat all individuals with dignity and respect. Two, new language to reflect current federal, state, and local laws and ordinances. Three, clarification of and improvement of improvement to sfpd procedures. Four, expanding definitions and including new definitions. And five, inclusion of a new section, mandatory training that outlines the mandatory d. H. R. Approving training for all members. I want to thank the members of the bias working group, commissioners taylor and elias, and the california d. O. J. , director linda simon from d. H. R. And chief scott for their dedication throughout the process of drafting this report that sfpd can be proud of. With that, im available for any questions if you have any on 1107. President hirsch thank you, and thank you for this. I know that rachel kilshaw watches this every wednesday, and i want to thank the commissioners for the long work that theyve done on this. Commissioner elias . Commissioner elias i think who should be added to this are the Community Members and the working group that were extremely diligent. And have this d. G. O. Right when it went into concurrent after the chief gave us his comments was probably the most productive working group ive seen. It was well received. I really appreciated, chief, how you took the time to sort of go over it and send your comments back to the working group and keep them informed as to what changed you made and what you were thinking. So i really think that the community that the working Group Members really did appreciate that, and i know that d. H. R. Had a lot of the input, and the community or the working Group Members were able to sort of respond and they could be heard in this process. So thank you, and thank you to the working Group Members as well as commissioner taylor and myself. President hirsch thank you. Director henderson . One thing that i wanted to prove, this covers the sworn and the civilian members of sfpd, so i think thats an important point to know. And d. P. A. Was an active member of a working group. We just wanted to say, because we put a lot of work into this, that we appreciated the input that came from the obligation we see reflected in the final policy, and we see how well the collaboration process was for this d. G. O. So thank you for the hard work to the group and to the commissioners. Commissioner elias and i apologize. Summer was vital for giving the input and recommending some of the changes. She wrote what i just said, just so im clear. President hirsch commissioner hamasaki . Commissioner hamasaki i reviewed this, and you can see all the policy and thought and research that was put into this, and it looks like a good, solid d. G. O. With regard to this department, so im happy to vote for this and support it. And thanks to commissioners elias and taylor and all the Community Groups that worked together on this. Hirs president hirsch comma, i know i didnt attend the meeting, but i would get feedback, and i appreciate your hard work and patience. I heard that was patience necessary in this working group. Okay. So were going to have a motion on this, but first, we need Public Comment. Is there any Public Comment before we vote on whether to passadopt d. G. O. 1107 . All right. Seeing none, its closed. Is there a motion to adopt it . Motion. President hirsch is there a second . Second. President hirsch all in favor, signify by saying aye. Opposed . All right. It passes unanimously. Thank you. Clerk line item 6, general Public Comment. The public is now welcome to address items that are not on the agenda but within the commissions jurisdiction. Speakers shall address their remarks to the commission as a whole. Neither Police Commissioners or d. P. A. Are required to answer on comments. President hirsch okay. General Public Comment, please. Good evening, commissioners, good evening chief scott, and director henderson. I have a couple of handouts for all of you. Trying to figure out how to work the overhead projector, too. President hirsch why dont we stop the clock while were figuring that out. Okay. Back on the clock. My names brian cox, and im from the public defenders office. A few months ago, on november 14, i presented who had been the lead and asked the sfpd to explain the Racial Disparities in the data. Since then, ive had a chance to dive deeper in the data and had a chance to participate in the lead and who did not because sfpd did not refer them. President hirsch can you remind the public what lead is . Yes. So Law Enforcement assisted diversion, so effectively, its a person who could be prosecuted for various crimes but instead are diverted from prosecution. So we looked at some of the data, and this chart, it was straight the racial composition of all the l. E. A. D. Individuals in 2019. In other words, all those who not only participated in l. E. A. D. But who could have. Black and latinx individuals comprise about 19 , whites comprised about 38 . The next chart shows those who actually did participate in l. E. A. D. That 56 black and latinx majority of all l. E. A. D. Individuals trims to 40 while the white was almost half. The final chart here, shows a much different image. As you can see, those are people who were not referred to l. E. A. D. Based on an assessment by the public defender president hirsch all right. Your time is up. I know you have other folks from your office. Commission commissioner dejesus, did you have a question . Commissioner dejesus yes. Im so the first chart oh, the number of people. Exactly. Commissioner dejesus okay. So she could have answered that. Commissioner elias but i have asked to agendaize this because i think its an important president hirsch thats all right. Well get an agenda item on it. Okay. That was my final ask to please agendaize it. President hirsch all right. Next speaker, please. Magic altman. Good evening. President hirsch good evening. As you all know, jamaica hiltons leg was amputated. He will never be the same. He had found his footing in the world. Apparently, he relapsed, and that is the incident that resulted in him being hunted like prey and shot eight times, three entering his young body. Its a tragedy that could have been avoided if time and distance would have been used. But instead, a young officer used pepper spray. He should have stepped back. His partner should have modelled the correct use of force policy, but instead, we watched in horror as the officers continued to raebleac that overrode all humane compassion and behavior. Neither of these officers should be armed and on the streets. I call on the commission to change policy around Rookie Police and make sure that they are told to stand down in such tense situations. A witness also who was his drone was confiscated, i emailed the chief, i talked to christine, i talked to oconnor. He just wants his drone back, and theres no guarantee that he can get his drone back without being assaulted and accosted. If you want to subpoena him, subpoena him. Give him a guarantee that he can come and get his own property back. Thank you. President hirsch thank you. Next speaker. Good evening. My name is Fabian Hernandez and im a medical student at ucsf, and im a member of do no harm. We have been by jamaicas side since he was shot. We were there when he was in Critical Condition and intubated. We were there when he could first speak, and we were there when his leg was amputated, and we would like to stand with jamaica and his family tonight. Jamaica hampton was on the street with an unbroken glass bottle. He was struck three times, shot seven times. He was shot while he was on the ground. President hirsch thank you. Next speaker. Hi. My name is nathan ken. I am a do no Harm Coalition member, also a senior medical student at ucsf. A lot of this has been about lack of sufficient training. Thats not an excuse. His training officer, you can see him tell florez to stop, stop, stop. He was already he is already under disclaimer review for the brutal beating of Jeffrey Kilroy in 2018 after which he was caught laughing. Chief scott, you have the power to fire officer florez. You know that even without a Police Commission hearing, and especially if you think this goes against department policy. You did this once before for officer christopher ulloa. Fire officer florez. Hi. My name is christine, and im a member of the do no Harm Coalition. We know that Police Involved shootings are a Public Health issue, and we see the impact in our clinic. And in addition to the excellent points brought up, we want to highlight that these continued shootings cause trauma for the community, and as we saw at the Community Meeting several weeks ago, theres a lot of unhealed trauma. And deciding to put the officers back on the streets and reinstate them will send a very clear message to the community that their safety is not being prioritized. And any decision that comes out of the Department Needs to be done with that in mind. How can we work to undo the legacy of over 100 Police Involved shootings in the last 20 years that has made the community afraid, devastated, upset, and not feeling listened to, and not feeling safe . Let me just remind myself of the other point i was going to say oh, we also want to make sure that any further discussion about the reinstatement of these officers does not take place in a closed session and involves the Community Members more proactively and involves jamaica hamptons family, as well. Thank you. President hirsch thank you. Next speaker, please. I dont have any complaints today, first of all. I just want to say, im honored to stand in front of our Police Commissioners, executive director, Paul Henderson of d. P. A. , and chief william scott. Im here to announce that the officers for justice has had their elections of officer, and i stand before you again as the president of the officers for justice. [applause] president hirsch congratulations. This evening, we did have some of our Board Members here. Unfortunately, they had to leave. Theres one thats still left here, and we just want to say that first and foremost, we would be honored to have our Police Commissioners and the executive director of d. P. A. To march with us on m. L. K. Day, which is monday at 11 00 a. M. And also, i stand before you because the officers for justices wants to assure you that we are still committed to social justice and equity for all, and we are offering our services once again based upon the department of status of woman report that we heard last week. We are more committed to the fact that recruitment should still be done by o. S. J. We know how to recruit black and brown women, and we know how to recruit women. So were offering our services to the Police Department, and we also want to let you know that we will be coming back again, and were prepared to do the hard work and volunteer when needed. Thank you so much. President hirsch thank you, lieutenant. Commissioner dejesus congratulations. Commissioner elias yes, congratulations. Can you make sure we get the report . President hirsch good evening. Good evening. Id like to use the overhead. Im here about my son, aubrey abrokasa, who was murdered in august 2014. I lost my investigator. I dont know who to call, whos my investigator, and i believed last time that someone would tell me something today because its been a while since i was told. And during christmas wasnt the time to tell me. My son loved christmas, but i still need an investigator. He gave me some names, but i dont even know who they are. And i need to talk to them, and i need them to look up my sons case and see whats going on. I still need help. I still bring my pictures because i want you to know what youre going through. My and my son just here in his casket, and what they left me with, his body. And i come here every wednesday, hoping to get some justice for my son. I need another investigator on this case, and i need to know who they are. Thank you. President hirsch chief, can we get an investigators name to miss brown tomorrow or by the end of the week, lets say . Yes. And i had a conversation with investigations, so it was my understanding that you would be notified, but i apologize if we didnt get that to you. An investigator has been called or assigned to your case, so ill make sure that okay. cause i never got a call. Thank you. President hirsch thank you. Any other Public Comment . All right. Public comment is closed. Next item, please. Clerk line item 7, Public Comment relates to all matters below, including item 8, whether or not to hold item 9 in closed session. I just want to reiterate that the jamaica hampton case needs to be held in public, not closed session. President hirsch this is only if were going into closed session or not. Okay. Any other Public Comment on that point . Hi there. Im Danielle Harris with the public defenders office. I also represent jamaica hampton. Im commenting during this item because his matter is currently listed under closed session 9a, officer involved shooting 19003. Im asking that nothing about that shooting be held under closed session. Understated commitments to transparency and repairing relationships, and the public has a right to know if officers sterling hayes and Christopher Florez are going to be returned to duty. Further update on mr. Hamptons condition. His left leg was amputated last week, as well as part of his left thumb. He also has massive nerve damage in his left arm and h d thumb, which is his dominant arm and thumb. Im asking that officer hayes and florez not be returned to duty. Mr. Hampton was not attacking officer hayes when officer hayes shot him, and that it may be a closer call than officer florez situation does not mean that officer hayes should not be back on the street. Officer florez was nowhere a close call. He exaggerated his injury and mr. Hamptons conduct and shot him when he was on the ground with nothing in his hand, having already been shot in the arm and the leg. Had hayes not told florez to stop, florez would likely have killed a man just four months into his duty. The public interests will not be served by returning either of these officers to our streets. Hear, hear. President hirsch thank you. Commissioner hamasaki. Commissioner hamasaki just a point of clarification for the public and miss harris. The commissioners dont vote, we dont decide for a return to duty decision, so we dont really have we dont have any power in that decision, so i just wanted to let you know that. Its listed as review over the chiefs decision, and i dont know if if you all or chief scott noticed, i was looking at him to direct my comments to him. I hope they were heard. Thank you. Commissioner hamasaki thank you, miss harris. President hirsch commissioner mazzucco . You should know, we review these every year. 100,000 people a year review die in medical malpractice. Those are reviewed in private and not released to the public. You make life or death decisions in a split second in the public. So do these officers. Just so were clear, everybody has to be cognizant of what is happening in these situations and be realistic. We review every one of these situations, but everyone has to step back, take a deep breath, and realize that mistakes happen, and even in your own profession. President hirsch thank you. Council, id like to ask the city attorney. We hold these in closed session for what reason . Its the performance evaluation of the chief that you have authority over reviewing his performance. Commissioner hamasaki because its an employee review, that requires it be held in closed session . Please, can you elaborate a little bit . Commissioner dejesus why is it because of the Performance Review of the chief. Thats his personnel record, and you are reviewing his decisions as it relates to this particular item. Commissioner dejesus and there are things that get calendared for us for closed session, and well have a different agenda. Miss harris just cited names and line items. So can you talk to us why we have a different agenda with names that arent released to public, people who are subject to disciplinary actions, people who have actions pending. Police officer records are protected under 832. 7. That includes any of the underlying facts that you may be reviewing with the chief, so those are not subject to release unless theyre under a court order or any other body of law. A lot of times people are mentioning sb 1421, but theres a lot of cases in there and tolling provisions as they relate to particular cases when those items are discloseable. President hirsch all right. Thank you. Next line item. Clerk line item 8, vote whether to hold line item 9 in closed session. President hirsch all right. Is there a motion to hold line items 9 a through e in closed session . [gavel]. Clerk president hirsch. We are back in open session. You still have a quorum. President hirsch okay. Thank you. Next item. Clerk line item 10, vote to disclose any or all items in closed session. San francisco code 67. 12 a. President hirsch is there a motion not to disclose . Motion. Second. President hirsch all in favor . Opposed . Public comment. Okay. Next item. Clerk line item 11, adjournment. President hirsch okay. Do i have a motion . So moved. President hirsch do i have a second . Second. President hirsch thank you all. My name is andrea, i work as a coordinator for the City Attorneys Office in San Francisco. A lot of it is working with the public and trying to address their public records request and trying to get the information for their office. I double majored in Political Science and always tried to combine both of those majors. I ended up doing a combination of doing a lot of communication for government. I thought it would connect both of my studies and what was i was interested in and show case some of the work that government is doing. I work for the Transportation Agency known as muni and im a senior work supervisor. I first started as a nonprofit and came to San Francisco and started to work and i realized i needed to work with people. This opportunity came up by way of an executive fellowship. They had a program at mta to work in Workforce Development type project and i definitely jumped on that. I didnt know this was something that i wanted to do. All i knew is that i wanted to help people and i wanted to empower others. The environment that i grew up that a lot of women were just stayathome moms. It wasnt that they didnt have work, but it was cheaper to stay home and watch the kids instead of paying pricey day care centers. My mom came from el salvador during the civil war. She worked very hard. When she came here and limited in english, she had to do a service job. When i was born and she had other kids, it was difficult for her to work because it was more expensive for her to be able to continue to work in a job that didnt pay well instead of staying at home and being able to take care of us. There isnt much support or advocacy for black women to come in and help them do their jobs. There also arent very many role models and it can be very intimidating and sometimes you feel uncomfortable and unsure of yourself and those are the reasons exactly why you need to do it. When i first had the opportunity, i thought thats not for me. My previous role was a project manager for a biotech start up. I thought how do i go from technology to working in government. Thinking i didnt know about my skills, how am i going to fit in and doing that kind of work. Thinking you have to know everything is not what people expect have you, but they expect you to ask questions when you dont know and thats important. My mom was diagnosed with cancer. That was really difficult. She encouraged me to go to school because in case anything happened i would be able to protect myself. I wanted to be in oncology. I thought going to school it would set me for the trajectory and prepare me for my life. We need the hardships to some of the things that are going to ultimately be your strength in the future. There is no way to map that out and no way to tell those things. You have to do things on your own and you have to experience and figure out life. You dont have to know what you are going to do for the rest of your life when you are in college or high school because there are so many things to do. I would encourage you to try to do everything that you are remotely interested. Its the best time to do it. Being a young woman with so many opportunities, just go for it and try everything. Her administration has been so welcoming, so open can so accessible and on the ball and i am proud to call you my mayor. Everybody, london breed. [applause]. Thank you. First of all, thank you also much for being here. Lets give brian and the q. Foundation another hand. [applause] rhys isabel brought brian and other Service Providers who serve People Living with h. I. V. In San Francisco and wanted to make sure that i knew what people needed because i didnt want to spend another dollar without clearly understanding where the deficiencies were, and it all went back to housing. It all went back to the need for subsidies, the need to help keep people housed, and this is the first time in 12 years that we have allocated a Million Dollars to provide subsidies which will help [applause] which will help at least 120 individuals and im so grateful and excited for the providers who are here, the people who will work with us on this. The work that we are going to continue to do because we want to make sure that we are helping some of our most vulnerable populations. When you think about it, sadly people who are homeless, living with h. I. V. , they are less likely to get services and treatment and stay healthy as much as they possibly need. They need stable housing. Housing and health go hand in hand and it is why [applause] it is why i am fighting so hard to build more housing in San Francisco. Yesterday we opened a 200 bed Navigation Center and the embarcadero. The days are running in together we Just Announced yesterday a new Navigation Center for transitional age youth. [applause] so the investment that we are making our Good Investments and part of the challenge is we need more housing. We need more housing. I grew up in San Francisco, as many of you know and i have seen so many of my friends and family members, who i grew up with in public housing, a leave San Francisco because in some instances, they couldnt get a unit even in public housing. They couldnt qualify for Affordable Housing, and we dont have enough units. So part of my focus is to address homelessness and to address the challenges that exist, but to also think about roads that lead out of the shelters, roads that lead to affordable places that are safe for people to live, and that means that we have a lot of work to do. I know this is going off course, but i also want to thank you all for supporting proposition a this last ballot measure for 600 million for Affordable Housing. [applause] because we know we have a lot of work to do. There is Nothing Better than having a roof over your head and the support that you need and i cant i will say, if it werent for my grandmother raising me and two of my brothers, i dont know what i would done. It could easily have been a situation that could have been the difference between me being here as you mayor today or anything else. That is what i think about when making these decisions. When i look at the data, another major investment we made that i am really proud of is trans home s. F. We know that folks, brothers and sisters from our Trans Community are 17 more times more likely to experience homelessness than anyone else when you look at the data. Which is why those investments are so important. So here in the city we know there is a lot of work to do, but im so grateful to this community and the work that you are all doing to be advocates to really push the city and what we spend our resources on in the right direction so they actually have an impact on peoples lives i have said this to Department Heads and to folks who work for the city time and time again. Dont waste a dollar on a paperclip because thats the difference between being able to house someone or help someone and we dont have money to waste because people are counting on us to make the right investments that is exactly what i plan to do. I want to thank brian and the q. Foundation. And thank you all for being here i am so looking forward to seeing this program have an impact so we can continue to make the right investments. Thank you, again, and thank you for all the support and the work that so many of you have done for so many years. And finally, now i thank you have a great partner in the Mayors Office who will continue to work to really put our money where our mouth is. Let me just add one more thing, i talk a lot, im sorry. I have to say this one where thing because this is something i am also really proud of because so many people set the path to make this happen before i was even thought of and the fact that this years data on new h. I. V. Infections in San Francisco has dropped below 200 for the first time in our citys history. [applause] i am so, so excited about that and how we, as a community will truly get 20. I also want to say that those numbers are still relatively high for africanamericans and latinos and that means its important it is important that we make deliberate investments, which we have, and those political particular communities to do a better job around outreach, around support, but ultimately, i keep going back to housing. We will continue to work with you on these things and we are grateful to have an amazing partner in the q. Foundation and all of you. Thank you for so much for having me here today. [applause] thank you again. Her administration has really turned the tide when it comes to housing in San Francisco and we deeply, deeply appreciate all the support. Next is is regina here . Where is miss regina . Come on up. Next i am so proud to welcome regina allen. Before i obtained the subsidy from the q. Sub q. Foundation , now i have a house. I live on folsom street. I have stabilized housing. There were times prior to me having stabilized housing that i couch served, looked for any temporary housing opportunities and with the hope that and i was worried about being homeless as a senior and as a mother. Lets see. It hasnt been easy living in San Francisco with h. I. V. I was diagnosed in 2005, so i have been living with h. I. V. For 15 years and this is the first time im actually speaking publicly about my diagnosis. [applause] i did speak with my children and my family about it first and they said, do what youve got to do, mom. It is good. Anyway, is so when i was homeless and i didnt have a place, i didnt think about my medication, i didnt think about life stresses were going on for me with children and everything else. I have my notes. You are good. I was a nervous wreck. Anyway. Before i got my stabilized housing, you know, it was so stressful because i didnt want to share with my family members that i am, you know, if i dont get housed, i might die out here because they didnt understand what it means to be homeless and with h. I. V. I have always had a place. When i became homeless, it was very difficult. But now that i do have a place with these new luxury apartments , yes, i have a luxury apartment. I am on the sixth floor, baby, its fine. Its beautiful it is beautiful. It is beautiful. Its so peaceful. I think i earned that working in the city forever and raising children. Im so thankful for brian and the q. Foundation. Its so easy with your services. Once you are online with the services it is automated. I dont have to worry about getting my rent paid on time. I have money to even have cable. [laughter] i had to lie to even get into a project recently. I had to lie and say that i made x amount of money. Anyway, in the last couple of years, that is when i met brian. I never utilized services. I was a case manager. I realized i couldnt i could live here. I met brian and i fell in love with him and the whole staff. They are very beautiful. I want to thank london breed. I love london breed. [applause] i know some of your family members. I am thankful for what you are doing for San Francisco. Since you have been mayor, just to see in these areas where they dont want people housed, and to see that you fight for us. Thank you for that. [applause] i think the q. Foundation, i think brian. Brian is just awesome. This man is a bail buster. Thank you, everyone. That is it. [applause] i cant believe it. I have never told people that. I have a client here of mind that you never knew and i didnt utilize services because im very private. I didnt want them to get a misunderstanding or judge me. Anyways, thank you everyone. Happy holidays. Miss breed, thank you so much. [applause] regina, we are going to miss you. She was my ambassador at monterrey when i would go down there. I would turn around and suddenly there is an entourage of people Walking Around with us. Always making me feel welcome and at home. We know that you are out here in this luxury highrise, at least you are a little bit closer to the office now. [laughter] thank you, regina. Next, joe from the San Francisco aids foundation has done remarkable things in transforming that organization. Earlier i talked about mayor breeds administration and how open and accessible and effective they are, in the same thing under joes leadership with the aids foundation. Were continuing to build closer and closer relationships and working together on solving all of our joint issues and its absolutely the d. N. A. That joe is creating in the organization. I welcome you to come up and speak. [applause] good afternoon, everyone. I want to echo everything that was said in terms of thinking the mayor for her continuous support around addressing the homelessness crisis and the housing and affordability crisis in our city, and i want to thank and congratulate brian in the q. Foundation for this exciting announcement today. Is the mayor suggested and said, we are at a Pivotal Moment in our fight to end the h. I. V. Epidemic. Last year we had fewer than 200 new cases of h. I. V. And over the last five years, we have seen a decrease by 50 1 in the number of new cases. What we also know as a number of new cases amongst people experiencing homelessness is on the rise. In 2,000 and for in 2015, there were 29. In 2018, there were 40. So what we know is that in order for our safety to get 20, which is the ambitious goal we are all railing rallying behind, we must address the issue of housing and we much must address the issue of homelessness. And of the people who are on the streets each and every night were living with h. I. V. , we know that just 33 of them are virally suppressed and that the best way to get them access to care and get them into consistent treatment is to make sure they have a safe place to rest their head each and every night. That is not a shelter, it is a home. So today [applause] so todays announcement is quite exciting and it will get us even further to this goal. Would also want to acknowledge is it is not just people who are living on the streets that need the support. We are an Amazing Community and made amazing by the longterm survivors and the people who responded to the aids crisis in the early 80s. Right now there are over 16,000 individuals living with h. I. V. In San Francisco, and 65 of them were over the age of 50. What we know is that these individuals are not saying that they are theyre h. I. V. Care needs are going unmet. They are experiencing housing insecurity and experiencing isolation. So again, housing is the solution. Housing is the answer. By making sure that these survivors, survivors of the Worst Epidemic in modern time can survive this crisis of housing and stay in our city, the city that they made great, is something not only the aids foundation and q. Foundation is committed to, but i mayor breed as well as supervisor mandelman are all committed to. I couldnt be prouder to be part of todays announcement and cant wait for their collaboration with the q. Foundation and more of our partners in the room in ensuring everyone has access to Affordable Housing. [applause] i cant even remember when i first met rafael nadal him in. It was before my hair was grey. [laughter] and he has always been such an incredibly grounded, honest, and natural communicator. Of the many things i like about raphael is he has the ability to so easily put into words his values and how his policy positions connect with them and do it in a way that leads everybody else to that place. Is like, this is why we believe in what we believe, and that is such an incredible skill that i always hope to aspire to, and so im so proud to welcome supervisor mandelman here today and thank him for his leadership and getting out this 1 million with the mayor. [applause] thats ridiculous, im not nearly as eloquent as brian said im not eloquent at all. We all know San Francisco has a homelessness crisis and we also all know that the best solution to homelessness is to prevent it from happening in the first place. So that is why this program is so critical and valuable and why i am so grateful to brian and the q. Foundation for your relentless, tireless advocacy, but also for the h. I. V. Aids Provider Network and others who make the rounds every year in city hall, along with the aids foundation and joe, to ensure that the hivaids communities not forgotten in our annual budget. I think that we have gotten some significant wins in the last year. We are nowhere near where we need to be, but this is a really significant win. So thank you to all who made it happen. My aid and i are ready to go into another budget cycle and we look forward to working with you to make sure that no communities left behind, but particularly not to the hivaids community. Thank you. [applause] theres a lot of credit to share. Im so happy that we were able to invite some of the people who deserve our thanks, but theres also many others in the space of time and we dont always get a chance to thank everybody. One of the things i want to acknowledge is our partnership with the Mayors Office of housing and community development. We got our first funding with them 15 years ago and they have been an incredible partner. They are open, they listen to the community, they incorporate our feedback and it really is this incredible collaboration. They are also really good about getting contracts done, paying bills on time, so from leadership to envisioning, all the way down to administrative finesse, i am so thankful and proud to be a partner with the Mayors Office of housing and community development. Helen hale will be our new connection point with the h. I. V. Subsidies program. Everybody, please give them a round of applause for all of their years of service. [applause] i believe all of our speakers are done. Awesome. Everybody who has spoken has to go to another event. You are allowed to go now. This is where we will just move into the part where we talk about some of the eligibility. In this San Francisco office, there are about 1400 employees. And theyre working in roughly 400,000 square feet. We were especially pleased that cleanpowersf offers the super green 100 clean energy, not only for commercial entities like ours, but also for residents of the city of San Francisco. We were pleased with the package of services they offered and were now encouraging our employees who have residence in San Francisco to sign on as well. We didnt have any interruption of service or any problems with the switch over to cleanpowersf. This clean power opportunity reflects that. I would encourage any Large Business in San Francisco to seriously consider converting and upgrading to the cleanpowersf service. Its good for the environment, its good for business and its good for the community. Good morning everyone. Can you hear me . Lets get this party started. Before the sun goes away. Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for being here with us on this exciting, groundbreaking. Of course, you know, 20 years in the making. Finally we are here, joined by community, our local representatives and leadership. As you know, for over 60 years, we have been at the forefront of providing community services, quality programs to our community from cradle to rocking chair. This building here really is a testament to the history and the commitment that we have two this multigenerational community, starting as a Head Start Program , them the house of mission girls, and now, transforming into housing for formerly homeless displaced seniors. [applause] thank you. Yes. Of course, this vision, this dream, this accomplishment, would not have been possible without the fearless leader, santiago. Please let me welcome him. [cheers and applause] good morning. Welcome and thank you all for joining us this morning. I would like to impose on you just for a few minutes, briefly. Just to give some context to the comments that you will hear from distinguished guests this morning that we will take to the podium, starting with the honorable mayor, who had a most beautiful inauguration yesterday very classy, maam. I am not saying it because i was there, im saying it because it was absolutely beautiful. That blue carpet, i have never seen it before. It has always been red. Anyway, thank you very much, everyone. This site used to house one of our head start classrooms and we are providing we were providing services to 60 children, if i remember correctly. The site, over two decades ago, was put up for sale, and it basically, Mission Neighborhood programs were under threat for displacement. We were being evicted. We learned that it was being sold by the owner to none other than pepsi co. Corporation. Pepsico was acquiring both lots, specifically for a taco bell franchise. When we learned of this fact. , we were somewhat alarmed, not just because we are being displaced, but the Economic Impact, the negative and adverse Economic Impact it would have for the 24th street corridor considering the food establishments that are mostly familyowned in the area. So we opted to be bold about this issue and canvassed the 24 th street corridor and interviewed or polled residents, homeowners, tenants, business owners, and the consensus was unanimous feedback that we received that we need to remain onsite. So we rallied old friends, friends of the community, neighborhood residents, and nancy pelosi, are tagged no and jim gonzalez, who, in a 90 day period, were able to generate a lot of help from the 24th Street Revitalization Committee. I wont forget. They were able to identify 500,000 that we utilized as a down payment for the acquisition of these buildings. The idea was to make this a Community Asset, and it remained a Community Asset and it will remain it will continue to be a Community Asset as 45 seniors will be able to call this their new home. These are formerly displaced Senior Citizens. Hopefully they will be Senior Citizens who are displaced from the mission and we will say [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] with this piece of history being shared with you, i want to acknowledge a couple of individuals before the mayor takes to the podium. And romero is with us today. And, thank you. The meres office of housing and community development. Kevin is also with us this morning. Where is kevin at . Did he leave . There you are if i am missing him, my apologies, but these are individuals that throughout the last 20 years were always by our side no matter what. One in particular that started a relationship with Mission Neighborhood centers is none other than barbara. I know she is here. Where is she . [applause] she held onto this project like there was no tomorrow and so we are creating and we are extending or bestowing her with what we call the endurance award thank you, barbara. You are always by our side no matter what. With that being said, i would like to introduce our illustrious mayor london breed. Thank you. [applause]. Thank you. I am really excited to be here today. This is the sixth round breaking in the mission since ive been mayor and i am so excited. It amounts to over 600 new units in this community. And the reason why this is happening at this pace has everything to do with the advocacy of the people who are part of this community, starting way back in 2014 when roberto and others were marching the halls of city hall as we prepared for the 2015 housing bond. In that housing bond, when the late mayor was our mayor, he committed to making sure not only that 50 million in that housing bond was set aside because of the gentrification and displacement of what was happening in the mission, he committed to making sure that we did a better job to pay close attention to this community and to not only build more Affordable Housing, but we worked sidebyside when i was on the board of supervisors to pass neighborhood preference legislation, so that when we build in this community, the people from this community have access to the affordable units in their community. I am so grateful that the work that weve done, not too long ago, is actually, finally being realized. This incredible project of 44 units for seniors and the manager unit is just the tip of the iceberg. Next month, we will be opening 94 units at shotwell, and those are all 100 Affordable Housing units. It is because, again, of this community and the work that continues to get done to make sure that we are getting those applications in, that you are at the forefront of these groundbreaking his and the Community Activities that happen around Affordable Housing. This is how we support and protect this neighborhood for generations to come. [applause] so im looking forward to even more because of this community and because of the voters of San Francisco. Together we passed a 600,000,000. 40 will housing bond last year, the largest in our citys history, and we are hopeful [applause] that with the support of what the 2015 housing bond has yielded and the 2019 housing bond with purchasing properties, we are breaking ground, we are building more housing, we are doing small sight acquisition to protect people in their housing, because when its all said and done, we know that what has happened in our city over the last 20 years has everything to do with the fact that we have not built enough housing in the city for the people who live here and are struggling to live here. That is our commitment. We will work harder, and hopefully with new policies, we will work faster and get more units open sooner rather than later. I want to thank sam and Mission Neighborhood centers for their dedication to this community, not just was housing, but with programs, childcare centers, with everything that you do to look at the entire family and bring people together and provide the wraparound Supportive Services needed. I want to thank mercy housing and Doug Schoemaker shoemaker for being here today and the work we are doing to make this possible. We are so looking forward to seeing the seniors move into this property and become part of the fabric of this Amazing Community. Thank you all so much. [applause] thank you. I would like to introduce hilary ronen from district nine. She has been a long Time Community advocate for the Mission District, formally an attorney fighting for immigrants and workers rights and serving six years as the chief of staff for david campos. Supervisor ronen has demonstrated a strong commitment to the community she now represents and is wholeheartedly dedicated to addressing street homelessness in our district and ensuring Public Safety and all district nine neighborhoods, building more Affordable Housing , and protecting the culture and character of our neighborhood. Please help me welcome district nine supervisor. [applause]. Good morning everyone. What an amazing way to start 2020. [cheers and applause] yesterday we got to go, and i agree with you and sam, to the beautiful, elegant inauguration of mayor breed and we got to celebrate the inauguration and now we get to break ground on 45 units of truly Affordable Housing for formerly homeless seniors. What a way to start the year. What i wanted to say is i wanted to thank santiago and think mayor breed for the History Lesson because we have to understand our history to both learn from our mistakes and to know what we have to do in the future. And what is another little piece of history about this exciting project is that it is the first 100 Affordable Housing complex built on [speaking spanish] that is what happens when i try to makes languages. Since the 1980s. Since the early 1980s. That is not acceptable. Thank you to all the communities for making this happen again. The way that we protect this community is by having housing that the city subsidizes, that the government subsidizes, because we know that nobody but the ultra rich can afford to live in San Francisco nowadays if we dont have affordable units. So it took 20 years to get this going. That is way too long to state the obvious, but what all of these six projects that we have Broken Ground at at the mission, they all happens, they all started a long time ago, which means we need, right now, to be fighting for the projects that we will break ground on in this decades to come. So i am 100 dedicated. I know the mayor is 100 dedicated to it. I know this Mission Community is 100 dedicated to it. We will get it done, just like we did last time. Thank you so much. This is very exciting and its a pleasure to be here today. [applause] thank you, supervisor ronen. We have been working handinhand to ensure that our Affordable Housing vision for this corner, with an unwavering commitment to the cultural character of the neighborhood, becomes reality. Mercy housing has been a great partner. With us today is doug shoemaker, president of mercy housing california, a leading provider of permanent homes and Transformational Services for vulnerable people. Previously doug directed the Mayors Office of housing in San Francisco, the citys engine for financing and developing Affordable Housing. Doug has 25 years of experience generating Affordable Homes and leading initiatives to expand housing access. Please help me welcome mr. Doug shoemaker. [applause] i dont think i wrote that bio. It sounds better than the bio usually use. I will go with that. I also want to add our thanks. It really is an honor to have been asked by sam and Mission Neighborhood centers to partner with them. Having started my career in the mission, i know the legacy that sam and maria and the rest of the organization have in this neighborhood. It really is an honor to be able to participate with you. We see ourselves as working in the service for the Mission District. I really appreciate that, as to all of us. You are right, barbara has held onto this project. She has projects that she loves, some more than others, and this has been a labor of love for her for many years. You deserve a perseverance award as well because this project has not been the easiest one to move forward. There are lots of people who could have contributed to making sure we are here today and we are finally able to get going on creating some new housing. I would not be able to mention everyone who has been helpful. I do want to acknowledge a few people. I saw miguel earlier. He has met big supporter of this project. Our neighbors and amy and a Supervisors Office who has been very important. Our colleagues at the Mayors Office of housing. I want to acknowledge our general contractor. These are not easy times, but this is a good time to be working on this project. [applause] the designs are beautiful. For that we have to think our great architects who are standing behind us. They are doing great work. [applause] we have a number of Financial Partners on this project. It costs money to build buildings, so the National Equity fund are here, from Silicon Valley bank, as well. The Mayors Office of housing provides critical financing. The city provides really important financing to make sure we can serve seniors that are formerly homeless. For that we want to thank the department of homelessness, as well as the department of Public Health. This project is unusual, and maybe some people dont realize that along the way, as we are trying to scrape together enough money for this project, we had something that almost never happens to us is something called us up and said they wanted to give us some money for Affordable Housing. George and evan are here in the front. [applause] this project is the beneficiary of five milliondollar requests from the Betty Ferguson foundation. We were very lucky through steve , who is a longterm attorney that some of you know, he referred them to us and said they wanted to do something to help create more for the housing for seniors in the bay area. We knew exactly where to put the first bit of money for this project and we want to thank them and the Betty Ferguson foundation for that. Thank you so much. [applause] i am almost done. There is a long list of other folks. Im sure i will not mention everybody who has helped move this project forward. I want to say that it really is an honor. I hope that this building, as beautiful as it looks on paper, when were done, i hope we are around to celebrate. As roberto said to me earlier, we will do our best to make sure the folks moving in here are folks who have been moved out of this neighborhood, not there any choice of their own, but because of the incredible pressures that this city is under. It will be an amazing day when we reopen this building. We welcome back folks who have been living in the neighborhood who have been forced out. That will be one of the greatest pleasures that we will all have. I share your wish and i thank you. [applause] thank you so much. Last but not least, i would like to welcome eric. He is a founder and president of [speaking spanish] originally from nicaragua, he has called the Mission District home since 1963. He has been a Proactive Community advocates since 1996 and an Amazing Community leader fighting for the preservation of latino culture district, and against the erasure of the latino community. Please welcome eric. [applause] [speaking spanish] how is everyone . Welcome to the cultural district this is our centrepiece, right in the center of the latino cultural district. We are very proud. I want to thank, of course, mayor london breed and supervisor ronen. Thank you for being here. Sam, it has been a long time coming. It has been 20 years. We have seen several designs, several ideas. Money was there than it wasnt there than it was back. You did it. You had a vision, you followed it, you have the Community Together Community Together to support it. We are very proud for that. We have been fighting for Affordable Housing for a lot of years in the neighborhood. We have reached out to about four or 5,000 people in the area , finding out what their needs their needs are, and all we ever heard from the community was affordability, affordability, affordability, whether it is services in the area, and especially for housing here we are. We are providing that and we are very proud. Thank you everyone. Congratulations to the entire community because it will benefit us all. Thank you. [applause] thank you all. I wanted to acknowledge two things. One, i wanted to acknowledge the board of directors that are here present with us today. Without the support of our board of directors, this would be a lot more difficult and they have been with Mission Neighborhood centers, with sam and part of this vision throughout the decade. If you could stand and be acknowledged, our board of directors. There we go. [applause] thank you so much for your support and your leadership. I also want to acknowledge someone who is here representing Assembly Member david chiu who surprised us with three certificates of recognition, one for Mission Neighborhood centers , one for mercy housing of california, and one for [speaking spanish] acknowledging todays great event. Thank you so much. [applause] finally, i would like to welcome back up to the podium sam who will be giving us our closing remarks. Thank you. [applause] thank you, everyone. I will try to be as brief as i can. I just need to be honest with you. This is a very very emotional moment for me. Bear with me, please. Honestly, mayor breed, thank you for joining us this morning, as well as hillary. This project is basically none other than a team effort. I am glad that layla asked our Board Members to stand and be recognized. I am a blessed man. I consider myself a change agent , a community builder, and when you engage in that level of practice, it is very contagious. I tend to attract people who think the same and to behave the same and to do it out of love with passion. Not because of the money, but because what it represents to our community and to the future of our community. So it has been my board, year after year we questioned, one will this get built . Its not easy. Sometimes i had to sweat it before a Board Meeting because i knew what the questions would be all i could say is bear with me, trust me, it will happen. Its happening now. It wasnt just the board who asked those questions and supported my efforts, it was also community. There wasnt a single moment when i did not receive any support when i called community for help. Whether it was our illustrious neighbor, whether it was the mayor of the mission [applause] or eric, and then, of course, you have individual professionals in this community who believe in what you do because it is for the betterment of your community. So i want to say thank you and i want to ask a special friend whose name i just mentioned, to say a few words. A few closing words. I also want to acknowledge anthony. The number of times that i sought your support in designing this, you were there for us pro bono. Thank you. That is appreciated. But now i would like to ask my good friend, and i have to let you know that he is also my friend. The mayor of the mission. Excuse me, madame mayor, to say [laughter] to please come up and say a few words. [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] its days like this that i feel like [speaking spanish] sam, come here, my brother. Come here. You know what . To your board of directors, and defence of sam, what you did not know is that sam had a 2020 vision. He had a vision this would get built in 2020. So next time you go to a Board Meeting, dont question him, just let it roll. Sam is the man and sam will get it done. [applause] thank you, brother. [applause] i was reflecting this morning and i just want to give a little history and a lesson. This place has been a center of change. At one point, and i saw George Simpson, where is George Simpson at . This was the home for [speaking spanish] which was a drug rehab program. Maria, please stand up. You were part of that. Thank you very much. [speaking spanish] worked with people who at that time were on heroin. Its very hard to work with people who were on heroin. Then you had horizons limited, which went through some changes, and thanks to sam again, he provided a home for transitional for transitions and horizons unlimited, another organization from our community. And then you had the 24th street merchants association. Where is eric . Sam, once again, he gave a home to that space. And then he gave space when carnaval San Francisco was going through transition. And mecca, and then mission grove. And. [speaking spanish] , anyone here from [speaking spanish] where are you at . Thank you. Sam, once again, he gave home to it. So this has been a transitional space for our community, which has a lot of history. Its kind of a bitter but sweet moment today. As i walked over here, because i only live two blocks down, i didnt have to drive or catch a cab or ride my bike or my low rider, you know, but it is, as i reflect back, you know, i honor you, brother. Thank you so much. I know that he did call me a couple of times because some people werent paying their rent i wont mention which organizations, and sam was having a budget problem. I need you to make a phone call, and of course, i would call people up and say go pay sam. And they did. Everybody paid their rent, right that is why the buildings are being built because everybody paid their rent. And the last thing i wanted to share is when he talked about the eviction they are going through, and he did call me, and at that time, we had 24th Street Revitalization Committee which i was part of creating with others. And at that time, supervisor jim gonzalez was the chair of the committee. We did that on purpose because we wanted to hold him accountable to make sure he did some work as our supervisor. It was insane how we were not only able to get 500 thousand 500,000 for Mission Neighborhood centers, but it was a package that we got of 1 million for 24th street. We were able to abide not only this property, but we were able to buy brava, theatre, and Mission Housing was also able to buy a property across the street that was three properties we bought because we got creative with city funding within a short period of time. Can it be done . Yes, it can. We are the creators and we are the intellect. We are the thinkers of change. It takes everybody to work with us, and im glad we have our mayor here today who got sworn in yesterday, and that was sweet to hear santana. I look forward to working with you, to continue the work that we have been doing to build Affordable Housing so that we can have justice for our community who has been displaced and evicted violently. Gentrification in this neighborhood, more than any other neighborhood in San Francisco. Once again, congratulations Mission Neighborhood center and thank you, my brother. [cheers and applause] [indiscernible] thank you. For the record, i was able to spend some time with mayor brown on new years eve and i acknowledge and thank him. He appreciated the reminder. Thank you. Thank you. With that being said, thank you, everyone, for joining us for this historic moment for our community. We all appreciate it and we hope that when we start accessing those units for our Senior Community that you will come back and that you will see this dream become a reality. Thank you very much everyone. Have a good afternoon. Thank you, mayor breed, and thank you, hillary. Please join us for Light Refreshments and coffee right in here. Are we ready . Five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] and our general contractor is going to clean it all up. This is critical work. [laughter]. Yeah. You know what im talking about