Transcripts For SFGTV SFGovTV Presents 20240713

All all the way down to aquatic park, and wed walk down to the library, to the kids center. In those days, the city was safe and nobody worried about us running around. I went to high school in spring valley. It was over the hill from chinatown. It was kind of fun to experience being in a minority, which most white people dont get to experience that often. Everything was just really within walking distance, so it make it really fun. When i was a teenager, we didnt have a lot of money. We could go to sam wongs and get super soup for 1. My parents came here and were drawn to the beatnik culture. They wanted to meet all of the writers who were so famous at the time, but my mother had some serious Mental Illness issues, and i dont think my father were really aware of that, and those didnt really become evident until i was about five, i guess, and my marriage blew up, and my mother took me all over the world. Most of those ad ventures ended up bad because they would end up hospitalized. When i was about six i guess, my mother took me to japan, and that was a very interesting trip where we went over with a boyfriend of hers, and he was working there. I remember the open sewers and gigantic frogs that lived in the sewers and things like that. Mostly i remember the smells very intensely, but i loved japan. It was wonderful. Toward the end. My mother had a breakdown, and that was the cycle. We would go somewhere, stay for a certain amount of months, a year, period of time, and she would inevitably have a breakdown. We always came back to San Francisco which i guess came me some sense of continuity and that was what kept me sort of stable. My mother hated to fly, so she would always make us take ships places, so on this particular occasion when i was, i think, 12, we were on this ship getting ready to go through the panama canal, and she had a breakdown on the ship. So she was put in the brig, and i was left to wander the ship until we got to fluorfluora few days later, where we had a distant florida a few days later, where we had a distant cousin who came and got us. I think i always knew i was a writer on some level, but i kind of stopped when i became a cop. I used to write short stories, and i thought someday im going to write a book about all these ad ventures that my mother took me on. When i became a cop, i found i turned off parts of my brain. I found i had to learn to conform, which was not anything id really been taught but felt very safe to me. I think i was drawn to police work because after coming from such chaos, it seemed like a very organized, but stable environment. And even though things happening, it felt like putting order on chaos and that felt very safe to me. My girlfriend and i were sitting in ve 150d uvios bar, and i looked out the window and i saw a police car, and there was a woman who looked like me driving the car. For a moment, i thought i was me. And i turned to my friend and i said, i think im supposed to do this. I saw myself driving in this car. As a child, we never thought of police work as a possibility for women because there werent any until the mid70s, so i had only even begun to notice there were women doing this job. When i saw here, it seemed like this is what i was meant to do. One of my bosses as ben johnsons had been a cop, and he i said, i have this weird idea that i should do this. He said, i think youd be good. The department was forced to hire us, and because of all of the posters, and the big recruitment drive, we were under the impression that they were glad to have us, but in reality, most of the men did not want the women there. So the big challenge was constantly feeling like you had to prove yourself and feeling like if you did not do a good job, you were letting down your entire gender. Finally took an inspectors test and passed that and then went down to the hall of justice and worked different investigations for the rest of my career, which was fun. I just felt sort of buried alive in all of these cases, these unsolved mysteries that there were just so many of them, and some of them, i didnt know if wed ever be able to solve, so my boss was able to get me out of the unit. He transferred me out, and a couple of weeks later, i found out i had breast cancer. My intuition that the job was killing me. I ended up leaving, and by then, i had 28 years or the years in, i think. The writing thing really became intense when i was going through treatment for cancer because i felt like there were so many parts that my kids didnt know. They didnt know my story, they didnt know why i had a relationship with my mother, why we had no family to speak of. It just poured out of me. I gave it to a friend who is an editor, and she said i think this would be publishable and i think people would be interested in this. I am so lucky to live here. I am so grateful to my parents who decided to move to the city. I am so grateful they did. Im rebecca and im a violinist and violin teacher. I was born here in San Francisco to a family of cellists, professional cellists, so i grew up surrounded by a bunch of musical rehearsals an lessons. All types of activities happened in my house. I began playing piano when i was 4. I really enjoyed musical activities in general. So when i was 10, i began studying violin in San Francisco. And from there, i pretty much never stopped and went on to study in college as well. Thats the only thing ive ever known is to have music playing all the time, whether it is someone actually playing next to you or someone listening to a recording. I think that i actually originally wanted to play flute and we didnt have a flute. Its always been a way of life. I didnt know that it could be any other way. Could you give me an e over here. Great. When you teach and youre seeing a student who has a problem, you have to think on your feet to solve that problem. And that same kind of of thinking that you do to fix it applies to your own practice as well. So if im teaching a student and they are having a hard time getting a certain note, they cant find the right note. And i have to think of a digestible way to explain it to them. Ee, d, d, e. Yes. Then, when i go on to do my own practice for a performance, those words are echoing back in my head. Okay. Why am i missing this . I just told somebody that they needed to do this. Maybe i should try the same thing. I feel a lot of pressure when im teaching young kids. You might think that there is less pressure if they are going on to study music or in college that it is more relaxing. I actually find that the opposite is true. If i know im sending a High School Student to some great music program, theyre going to get so much more instruction. What i have told them is only the beginning. If i am teaching a student who i know is going to completely change gears when they go to college and they never will pick up a violin again there is so much that i need to tell them. In plain violin, it is so difficult. There is so much more information to give. Every day i think, oh, my gosh. I havent gotten to this technique or we havent studies they meese and they have so much more to do. We only have 45 minutes a week. I have taught a few students in some capacity who has gone on to study music. That feels anaysing. It is incredible to watch how they grow. Somebody can make amazing project from you know, age 15 to 17 if they put their mind to it. I think i have 18 students now. These more than ive had in the past. Im hoping to build up more of a studio. There will be a pee ono, lots of bookshelves and lots of great music. The students will come to my house and take their lessons there. My schedule changes a lot on a daytoday basis and that kind of keeps it exciting. Think that music is just my favorite thing that there is, whether its listening to it or playing it or teaching it. All that really matters to me is that im surrounded by the sounds, so im going top keep doing what im doing to keep my life in that direction. The Bicycle Coalition was giving away 33 bicycles so i applied. I was happy to receive one of them. The Community Bike build program is the San Francisco coalitions way of spreading the joy of biking and freedom of biking to residents who may not have access to affordable transportation. The city has an ordinance that we worked with them on back in 2014 that requires city agency goes to give organizations like the San Francisco bicycle organization a chance to take bicycles abandoned and put them to good use or find new homes for them. The partnerships with organizations generally with organizations that are working with low income individuals or families or people who are transportation dependent. We ask them to identify individuals who would greatly benefit from a bicycle. We make a list of people and their heights to match them to a bicycle that would suit their lifestyle and age and height. Bicycle i received has impacted my life so greatly. It is not only a form of recreation. It is also a means of getting connected with the community through bike rides and it is also just a feeling of freedom. I really appreciate it. I am very thankful. We teach a class. They have to attend a one hour class. Things like how to change lanes, how to make a left turn, right turn, how to ride around cars. After that class, then we would give everyone a test chance chance to test ride. We are giving them as a way to get around the city. Just the joy of like seeing people test drive the bicycles in the small area, there is no real word. I guess enjoyable is a word i could use. That doesnt describe the kind of warm feelings you feel in your heart giving someone that sense of freedom and maybe they havent ridden a bike in years. These folks are older than the normal crowd of people we give bicycles away to. Take my picture on my bike. That was a great experience. There were smiles all around. The recipients, myself, supervisor, everyone was happy to be a part of this joyous occasion. At the end we normally do a group ride to see people ride off with these huge smiles on their faces is a great experience. If someone is interested in volunteering, we have a special section on the website sf bike. Org volunteer you can sign up for both events. We have given away 855 bicycles, 376 last year. We are growing each and every year. I hope to top that 376 this year. We frequently do events in bayview. The spaces are for people to come and work on their own bikes or learn skills and give them access to something that they may not have had access to. For me this is a fun way to get outside and be active. Most of the time the kids will be in the house. This is a fun way to do something. You get fresh air and you dont just stay in the house all day. Iit is a good way to exercise. The Bicycle Coalition has a Bicycle Program for every community in San Francisco. It is connecting the young, older community. It is a wonderful outlet for the community to come together to have some good clean fun. It has opened to many doors to the young people that will usually might not have a bicycle. I have seen them and they are thankful and i am thankful for this program. Right before the game starts, if im still on the field, i look around, and i just take a deep breath because it is so exciting and magical, not knowing what the season holds holds is very, very exciting. It was fastpaced, stressful, but the good kind of stressful, high energy. There was a crowd to entertain, it was overwhelming in a good way, and i really, really enjoyed it. I continued working for the grizzlies for the 20122013 season, and out of happenstance, the same job opened up for the San Francisco giants. I applied, not knowing if i would get it, but i would kick myself if i didnt apply. I was so nervous, i never lived anywhere outside of fridays know, andfridays fresno, and i got an interview. And then, i got a second interview, and i got more nervous because know the thought of leaving fresno and my family and friends was scary, but this opportunity was on the other side. But i had to try, and lo and behold, i got the job, and my first day was january 14, 2014. Every game day was a puzzle, and i have to figure out how to put the pieces together. I have two features that are 30 seconds long or a minute and a 30 feature. Its fun to put that altogetl r together and then lay that out in a way that is entertaining for the fans. A lucky seat there and there, and then, some lucky games that include players. And then ill talk to lucille, can you take the shirt gun to the bleachers. I just organize it from top to bottom, and its just fun for me. Something, we dont know how its going to go, and it can be a huge hit, but youve got to try it. Or if it fails, you just wont do it again. Or you tweak it. When that all pans out, you go oh, we did that. We did that as a team. I have a great team. We all gel well together. It keeps the show going. The fans are here to see the teams, but also to be entertained, and thats our job. I have wonderful female role models that i look up to here at the giants, and theyve been great mentors for me, so i aspire to be like them one day. Renelle is the best. Shes all about women in the workforce, shes always in our corner. [applause] i enjoy how progressive the giants are. We have had the longer running until they secure day. Weve been doing lgbt night longer than most teams. I enjoy that i work for an organization who supports that and is all inclusive. That means a lot to me, and i wouldnt have it any other way. I wasnt sure i was going to get this job, but i went for it, and i got it, and my first season, we won a world series even if we hadnt have won or gone all the way, i still would have learned. Ive grown more in the past four years professionally than i think ive grown in my entire adult life, so its been eye opening and a wonderful learning [ ] my familys starts in mexico in a small town. My parents are from a very, very small town. So small, that my dads brother is married to one of my moms sisters. Its that small. A lot of folks from that town are here in the city. Like most immigrant families, my parents wanted a better life for us. My dad came out here first. I think i was almost twoyearsold when he sent for us. My mom and myself came out here. We moved to San Francisco early on. In the Mission District and moved out to daily city and bounced back to San Francisco. We lived across the street from the ups building. For me, when my earliest memories were the big brown trucks driving up and down the street keeping us awake at night. When i was sevenyearsold and im in charge of making sure we get on the bus on time to get to school. I have to make sure that we do our homework. Its a lot of responsibility for a kid. The weekends were always for family. We used to get together and whether we used to go watch a movie at the new Mission Theater and then afterwards going to Kentucky Fried Chicken. That was big for us. We get Kentucky Fried Chicken on sunday. Whoa go crazy so for me, home is having something where you are all together. Whether its just together for dinner or whether its together for breakfast or sharing a special moment at the holidays. Whether its thanksgiving or christmas or birthdays. That is home. Being so close to berkley and oakland and San Francisco, theres a line. Here you dont see a line. Even though you see someone thats different from you, theyre equal. Youve always seen that. A rainbow of colors, a ryan bow of personalities. When you think about it you are supposed to be protecting the kids. They have dreams. They have aspirations. They have goals. And you are take that away from them. Right now, the price is a hard fight. Theyre determined. I mean, these kids, you have to applaud them. Their heart is in the right place. Theres hope. I mean, out here with the things changing everyday, you just hope the next administration makes a change that makes things right. Right now theres a lot of changes on a lot of different levels. The only thing you hope for is for the future of these young kids and young folks that are getting into politics to make the right move and for the folks who cant speak. Dy mind motion. Even though we have a lot of fighters, theres a lot of voice less folks and their voiceless because theyre scared. We have private and Public Gardens throughout the garden tour. All of the gardens are volunteers. The only requirement is youre willing to show your garden for a day. So we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. Its a variety all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. I have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to its history. In the early 1800s the portola was farmland. The regions flowers were grown in this neighborhood. If you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. In the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. One of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of San Francisco so they can share that history. When i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. We started doing this as a fundraiser. Since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. The Scholarship Programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a winwinwin situation all around. The Scholarship Program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. I was not sure how i would stay in San Francisco. It is so expensive here. I prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in San Francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i dont know where else i would have gone to finish. The scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [ ] [ ] you come into someones home and its theyre private and personal space. Its all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their Outdoor Living room. Why are you here at this garden core . Its amazing and i volunteer here every year. This is fantastic. Its a Beautiful Day. You walk around and look at gardens. You meet people that love gardens. Its fantastic. The portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. Mark your calendars every year. Welcome. Thank you all for being here. Its just a wonderful, joyous occasion to celebrate such an important accomplishment. And without any further adieu, i would ask you to join me in welcoming to the dais our mayor london breed. [applause] thank you, thank you don. Well, first of all im really excited to be here today. I remember when i was campaigning to be supervisor of this district, one of the things that i made a priority when i got elected was to focus our attention on rehabilitating Public Housing in this city. And weve set out on a journey and ive gotta tell you that it was not easy. Some of you know that i grew up across the street in plaza east before they were what they are now, when they were similar to the pink palace. Which is now called rosa park apartments. The conditions that existed there, we all remember, we never had showers. We had problems with roaches and rodents. We had mold. We had just the kinds of conditions that no one should ever have to live in. And, sadly, you know, i mean, it was a community and i loved my community and i appreciated what my grandmother tried to do and so many of the other people who disciplined me and raised me and helped me through, yes, i love you too, randall. And the fact is the fact is that because this community took care of me and took care of my family, and i knew as supervisor that these conditions still existed in so many of our Public Housing developments that there was nothing that was going to be more important to me than trying to do Something Different to get the work done for the people who live here. [applause] so we set out on a mission. And it was scary. You know, joyce remembers when we went around and we did all of these meetings with people. And heres the thing we talked about r. A. D. And what it would do, and of course, people were very fearful. They were like am i going to bit displaced . Is something going to happen . Whats going to happen . And, sadly, we had a bunch of people who never set foot in any Public Housing development come in and try to invoke a lot of fear amongst the residents. And let me tell you, i appreciate the fact that you all trusted me. And that you were all patient with us as we went through this process. Because it was important that we developed a new Funding Source in order to pay for what we know were so many problems in these developments. The Housing Authority would get about 12 million maybe from the federal government to help with maintenance. And they had over 200 million in deferred maintenance. How were we going to make any change . And so thats why this program, when lee was our mayor, when olson lee was a director of the housing, and i was your supervisor, we aggressively pushed this program forward. And now here we are not only celebrating the completion of i know what was probably a challenging time for all of you, the renovation of over 200 units here at rosa parks, but so far over 3,600 units throughout San Francisco of Public Housing. [applause] it is so amazing and i see a lot of the folks who live here that are here today. Im so happy for you. And im so grateful to you for trusting us, for your patience, because i also know that it was very challenging to go through this renovation process. We know that that can be difficult. But i really want to thank the partners that we have and you will hear from some of them today. Tndc, thank you so much, don, who is here with us and your team at tndc, for your understanding and your sensitivity to the fact that we have people who are seniors, who live here on fixed incomes. We have people who have disabilities. We have people who work here every single day and being considerate towards the folks who occupy this space on a daily basis. And thank you to many of you may know bethel. A partner in providing and working with the community to help with Affordable Housing. Pastor shaw isnt here with us today but we will have someone speak on his behalf. And, again, thank you to this incredible community. The Mayors Office of housing. Dan adams is here as the acting director. So many people worked so hard. And we wouldnt be able to do this without the appropriate financing and so thank you so much to bank of america for continuing to work on all of these incredible r. A. D. Projects. Its like were like the dynamic duo when it comes to getting this work done and we appreciate the partnership that comes from bank of america. So here we are on an amazing day, celebrating an amazing milestone for San Francisco. And i am reminded of, you know, because ed and i worked together closely and im grateful to him for working with me to make Public Housing a priority. He knew how important it was to me but also truly important to him. And one of the things that he said on a regular basis is that its not it cant just be about making new promises. It has to be about fulfilling old promises. This community has been promised so much over the years and now today is a great example of a promise fulfilled. Thank you all so much for being here today. [applause] thank you so much, mayor breed. This truly is a fulfillment of a vision and its hard to understand or recollect eight years ago what was in your mind and mayor lees mind and to see this come to life is really amazing. So please next join me in welcoming sister stephanie. [applause] good morning. Thank you mayor london breed for coming. My name is sister Stephanie Hughes and i wanted to take a minute just to share a little bit about myself and what this build in the Community Means to me. I was born and raised in San Francisco. And i grew up here and i knew this area but the pink palace, but i dared not come over here. I was so afraid of the space. My mom was like, she was killed if we would come over here. It had such a Bad Reputation and so much danger and so many things happening in the community that were just traumatizing if i shared it with you. But i moved to bayview when i was 18 where i raised my five amazing children. Nine years ago i had the opportunity to and back to the western edition. And when i moved into this place i actually got a little scared because it was so quiet. I used to walk down the hallways and literally i was so not used to the quietness, it scared me. And me and my mom we would laugh when we were walking down the hallway. We both going, somebody behind you know, teasing each other about it, because its so different from what we knew growing up in the community. But i love this community. I love my community family. I call them all family. My asian family and my russian family, and my rosa parks family. My neighbors call me sometimes and try to speak to me. And i dont even know the language and its just funny. But somehow some kind of way we still communicate. We still communicate because theres so much love. You know, amongst us. And the staff here have been very supportive, we do an array of programs here. I do field trips, barbecues, and art therapy with the families here. And they the staff has just been amazing and the Tennis Association has been amazing and very, very supportive. And trying to provide things to bring us together as one family and loving and nurturing one another. Since the renovation, i love my space. So im now in a two bedroom. When i moved here i was in a one bedroom. And me and my son, and my dog, keeva, cant leave her out. So now were in a bigger space. And im just enjoying it. I am right there so i can see the courtyard, on the second floor and i can yell out of my window, hey, what are you doing today. Hey, come here. You know, i can holler out your name and, you know, i love it. I love being able to see what is going on over here at the center and the parking lot. You know, i dont have to come outside and i can get sunshine ancoming into my apartment. And then i can walk my dogs. Its easier for me because i can go down the stairwell and im right by the stairwell, a couple doors from it, and i love it. But im a little nervous, you guys, i dont know why. But i am. So let me finish. For one thing that i do like the about the renovated spaces though is that i like the way they did our cabinets. I like that the curtains are gone. Because that was costly to have to take your curtains to the washroom for me. But its nice and its neat. The shades that we have now, its nice and neat and all you have to do is just dust them off a bit. But what this space means to me is more than about cabinets and courtyards and my dog. Its about safety. My safety, the safety of my community, and the safety of my sons who come to visit me. My children of color who visit their mom. Its not easy finding a space where you can feel safe with your young men of color in the city. But here in this particular community, my children can come visit me and i am very happy that they feel safe and i feel safe allowing them to be able to come to see me. And for that i am very grateful. So thank you all on behalf of the residents and the Tenants Association of rosa parks and thank you for making this all possible. [applause] thank you, sister stephanie. Reverend shaw was unable to be here this morning because he was called out of town. And he is the pastor of Bethel Church. So here to speak on behalf of reverend shaw and the church, please welcome mr. Bobby sisk. [applause] i was given a 24hour notice, so i wont be long with you. Madam mayor, thank you for being here and to our partners, thank you. And to each of you and certainly to the residents. The Bethel Church has a 167year history in this city. 47 years ago they sponsored and built freedom west. Nearly 400 units that are situated around the church. Once that became 97 occupancy, the church moved out and the board of directors took over. But bethel didnt stop there. It went on to buy several other Affordable Housing properties in this city. When this whole notion came with the San Francisco Housing Authority selling off its inventory, our church became very concerned as to what would happen to persons, particularly in this community. We needed to find someone who would listen to us and have an appreciation that were a faithbased organization. Were interested in people. Were interested in people having safe and Affordable Housing. Although we own several buildings our mission is clear, that we want safe Affordable Housing. So speaking the others at the Neighborhood Development community, i always get that wrong but, anyway we decided that we would forge a relationship and we would do two properties together. So kennedy and the rosa park. We are delighted to have that relationship, that friendship, that allows us to have a say as to what is happening in this community with respect to Affordable Housing. Reverend shaw is about two years new to the San Francisco bay area. Prior to him being assigned, we had a pastor by the name of reverend jay egabor who was here for 22 years and was very instrumental in our housing portfolio. I believe that if reverend shaw was here today he would be overwhelmed by seeing a sea of individuals that are here, seeing this beautiful building, knowing that millions and millions of dollars were spent to get it to this level. And all of you that are here today. I want to thank you for letting us to be partners in this venture and say to you that anything that we can do, we are just situated there on the corner of golden gate, and we are here to serve, we are here to do all that we can to see that particularly division Affordable Housing is a priority in this city. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. [applause] thank you so much, mr. Sisk. Bank of america has been a partner not only here at rosa parks apartments and throughout much of the Public Housing reenvisioning that mayor breed referenced that has been a longtime partner in many different projects. Please welcome joy mccarthy. [applause] thank you, everyone. Thank you for having me today and its such a privilege and an honor to be here. The mayor and i have done some of these grand openings together and i will tell you that her passion runs deep. She doesnt miss a grand opening and thats a true commitment to the work that we started, but that she continues to carry out on a daily basis. So, again, bank of america, you have heard that has financed a lot of these projects and its called s. F. Ready. And i rad. And i want to make you understand that 2. 2 billion is the number that bank of america committed to and its only out of 4 billion nationally. So San Francisco is a very important part of what bank of america stands for. And they started in 1904 and financed projects like the golden gate bridge, the bay bridge, the Ferry Building and our commitment to San Francisco has never been stronger. So this is our purpose. Our purpose is to help, where help is needed, and whether asked by our city to step up, we make sure that we find the resources to do it. I see smiles on faces today and we know that no matter what we do to build a building, it doesnt matter except if it matters to the people who are in it. And im so happy that so many of you are here today. What it means is the relocation happened for a good reason. Like, you were able to come back. I know that theres gardens and i know that theres extra spaces and i think that i saw an elliptical machine over there. This is a place that you can call home. Its safe. Its for you. And we are so happy that it happened. Pretty much on schedule. I think that it was mostly on schedule. But, again, it is a wonderful project and there are 29 of them in the city and were so happy to keep doing this time and time again to make sure that folks have the resources they need, but, more importantly, to have a community they can depend upon. I heard your words when you say said that its safe to come home and maybe its not quiet but that its peaceful and you and your dog can have a great time here and meeting other people in the community. Its meaningful to us. Bank of america really tries so hard to make sure that we are part of everyday life in community of San Francisco, helping those who need it most but we want to continue to reach out and to continue to work hard on the projects that are yet to come. We know that we can provide financing but we know what we cant do and we have Amazing Community partners. So when we reached out to don and emily, we reached out to so many people to help us with things that we maybe are not thinking about when the financing came to be and we were so lucky to make sure that our Community Partners worked with us in lock step to make sure that this happened. So thank you again. Were so happy to be here today. I cant wait to keep touring the buildings and i look forward to our next project. Thank you again. [applause] its hard to convey the complexity, and the difficulty and the number of problems involved in undertaking a project this vast. And in these kinds of projects, one person is at the center of all of it and that is the project manager. I hope that people will give a warm welcome to emily van loom. [applause] thank you all for being here to celebrate the rededication of rosa parks. Ive had the pleasure of seeing this building through construction from 2016 to today. You know that theres a long list of folks who contributed to the success of this project and we couldnt have done it without you. Theres a couple of organizations that id like to call out for their invaluable efforts here. The Mayors Office of housing and community development, as well as the San Francisco Housing Authority. Hud as well as bachtio bank of. And our partners at bethel a and e. Our contractor kay hill. Los angeles as our architect, leevy Design Partners and the residents here at rosa parks. These folks were here every step of the way and they were great teammates. I also cant pass up the opportunity to thank my colleagues at tndz, past and present, for their hard work here. Thanks for your support. Your advice. And for trusting me to get this job done. Id like to focus on a couple of the big successes that weve experienced here at rosa parks. All of which you should check out today. First is the webster street Peoples Garden which was added to the plans during construction and paid for out of savings. It produces 100pounds of food every two weeks and it is home to the only greenhouse which provides plant starts to all of our nine gardens and farms. [applause] yeah. Rosa parks also has a Fitness Center that was upgraded during construction with help from residents and we chose Fitness Equipment that works for seniors here, including a treadmill that operates at lower speeds and the seated arm cycle that is perfect for folks in wheelchairs. And there were also a few traces of rosa parks past that were softened during construction. We have redesigned the entry lobby and reception desk, removing floor to ceiling security glass and creating a warmer space to welcome our residents home. And as don mentioned, an occupied rehab can be really be difficult on residents. We have an active construction site here for 24 months with 50 units under construction at any given time. This was a really big project. And theres a certain amount of noise, dust and stress that cant be avoided during a project like this. But despite this, the team here at rosa parks worked really hard to minimize the impacts on our tenants. My favorite example of this was when kay hill installed doorbells at each end of the long hallway under construction so that our residents could signal when they needed to pass through to get to and from their homes. It was creative and it kept everyone safe. And it also provided some laughs when residents ding dong ditched our contractors from time to time. [laughter] it was it was a great pleasure to work with the residents here at rosa parks. Thank you. [applause] thank you, emily. I want to take the opportunity to share just a few closing remarks. And i want to start by asking all of those who live here at rosa parks, the tenants heres, please raise your hands if you live at rosa parks. Would you raise your hands. Yeah. [applause] so we entered your homes. And i want to thank you for being so gracious and so helpful and for suffering the way that people suffer when youre undergoing a renovation. You are truly our partners and we could not have done this without you. I wanted to do another raise of hands as well. If you participated in the development in any way, if you touched rosa parks between 2016 and now, will you raise your hand for people. Can i ask all of the people who worked on the project to raise your hands . Right on. So thank you. [applause] so its just really important for me to recognize explicitly that it plays a role and we are only one of many. These developments do not happen but for an entire community of people who are working together to achieve a vision. And in many ways these events that we do to celebrate are events of gratitude. So i want to thank you all who worked on bringing this to fruition for your efforts. And then i guess that i want to also reflect that dndz in many ways were not only guests here in your homes but we are guests here in the western edition in rosa parks all together. And im just so grateful for the way not only that bethel and the entire community here has welcomed tndz to be a part of bringing our competencies and our resources in order to make something good happen. And for me that is what i see as part of the role. We are a part of a much larger important ecology to make the city and county of San Francisco better for the people who live here and im just so grateful for the opportunity to play that role. Finally, i want to invite you not to miss the opportunity that there are units open on the second floor and the 10th floor. And you can see the not only the garden but the urban farm outside. And enjoy the food afterwards. Thank you for coming. [applause] 3, 2, 1, yay [applause] i have been living in San Francisco since 1957. I live in this area for 42 years. My name is shirley jackson, and i am a retirement teacher for San Francisco unified school district, and i work with Early Childhood education and after school programs. I have light upstairs and down stairs. Its been remodelled and i like it. Some of my floors upstairs was there from the time i built the place, so they were very horrible and dark. But weve got lighting. The room seems lighter. They painted the place, they cemented my back yard, so i wont be worried about landscaping too much. We have central heating, and i like the new countertops they put in. Up to date oh, and we have venetian blinds. We never had venetian blinds before, and its just cozy for me. It meant a lot to me because i didnt drive, and i wanted to be in the area where i can do my shopping, go to work, take the kids to school. I like the way they introduced the movein. I went to quite a bit of the meetings. They showed us blueprints of the materials that they were going to use in here, and they gave us the opportunity to choose where we would like to stay while they was renovating. It means a lot. Its just that ive been here so long. Most people that enjoyed their life would love to always retain that life and keep that lifestyle, so it was a peaceful neighborhood. The park was always peaceful, and i dont know. I just loved it. I wanted to be here, and i stayed. Thank you very much for coming. Im going to let some people filter in here while i talk. My name is joanne im a reporter and anchor at abc 7news. Ill going to be your emcee today for this unveiling of this beautiful refurbished court and i know a little later on well have fun on it. So i just want to start off here we are at onetime sports. If you havent been here, this is a newly Baseball Court where the first time weve laid eyes on it, step on it. Its a great feeling. We want to thank the Warriors Community foundation for doing this and being here and making this all happen. [applause] also, for pepsi as well. [applause] and also creative Sports Concepts. Thank you, very much. [applause] so just to learn a little bit about what were on, what all is here today, the renovation work included a resurfacing of the entire court. Also the new booths and the back boards as well. And redesigned banner. We also have if you see this right here which i know the mayor is excited about. These solar powered lights that are going to be working here, which is really great for a really energyefficient city so this is a step in the right direction. Also here, the sport define features of course some key elements representing the warriors here. We have this Hometown Spirit in San Francisco. This renovation project was made possible by pepsi and creative Sports Concept and its positively impacting the community and were going to see it play out for us today. And recognizing mike taylor, you can raise their hand please. With creative sports, thank you, mike. To let you know that mike is the director of Global Operations and his amazing team and we want to thank them for this Beautiful Court and all the improvements you see here today. I also would like to acknowledge here, mike kits, your Senior Vice President partners. Raise your hand, please. Thank you, mike. [applause] and also yoyo chan. Warriors Vice President of public affairs. First up on our speakers list, please give a warm welcome to mayor london breed. Hello, everyone. You know, im really excited to be here today. Earlier today, we were at rosa parks. Many of you know rosa parks and the pink pallet down the street on connects and westbound ser and we celebrated the rehabilitation of over 200 units there just like we celebrated the units that were rehabilitated here at west side court last year in february. When we talked about rad and rehabilitation because of the many Public Housing units in San Francisco were being neglected and they were in need of refurbishing. No one wanted to do hardly anything and when i became supervisor, we were able to make this happen and but over 3600 Public Housing units throughout San Francisco has been refurbished. Its not good enough. This court, work had not been completely up to par. The nets were not up. The back board did not look like this. And we had so many kids who wanted to play on this court and we had kids who wanted to play when it got dark early. And so, at that time, we made a commitment to do something about it and today, were fulfilling that commitment faster than what i would have thought possible and clearly, you know, with the city and the challenge and trying to get things done in timely manner, the warriors foundation, the Community Foundation stepped in and said we would do it. Theyve done more than a dozen court refurbishing through out San Francisco because they know its important to have these fun, recreational spaces that are the places that create tomorrows steph currie steph cl the other nba players we love. We want to make sure west side court has the Community Resources they deserve. This rehab has been absolutely incredible and im so glad to see so many of the residents out here today. We also know that there are a lot of young people here who want to play and theyre also a lot of our elders who want to play as well. This space will do just that in bringing the Community Together. So im looking forward to the first tipoff. I see everyone has their jerseys on and the basketballs are all over the place. We are hoping that today is just the beginning of an opportunity for so many people to use this space to just develop their memories, have fun, enjoy one another, make that Community Connection and then who knows, maybe one of these kids might end up playing for the Golden State Warriors, you never know. [applause] thank you all so much for being here today and lets play. [applause] thank you so much mayor breed. The wind everyone, who knew. So next up we have here on our speaker listed dr. James mccrae from west side courts housing partnerships llp and he will say a few words for us. [applause] you got it, mayor. My brothers and sisters. I want to thank the city and county of San Francisco, the San Francisco Housing Authority, related and all of the many others who have opened this possibility up not only for participating as a owner and developer but also from all of the communities to experience the joy of having attention paid to you. The joy of having attention paid to you. We have a simple theme in tabernacle, its seek the welfare of the city for in its welfare you will find your welfare. It is this theme that is driven us over these now nearly 22 years to be involved in seeking the welfare of other communities cities and county of San Francisco from its top to its bottom. This moment is just the further indication that if we join together in seeking one anothers welfare, great things can happen and joy can be experienced. We can come together and feel good about what we have done and said rather than feel disappointment and shame. Thank you, everyone for being out this afternoon. For being a part of this opportunity to say we all matter because were all going to Pay Attention to one another. Thank you. [applause] next up i want to bring supervisor dean preston to the front. From district 5 here. Speak a little bit more about the impacts of this court. Thank you so much. Im going to move over here so im not looking right into the sun. Its really an honor to be here on this Beautiful Day with all of you and to celebrate this new court here in this community. Also, its an honor to be here with the mayor with our former supervisor vallie brown. We have two prior supervisors and the current so three in total here today, which i think signifies the importance of this investment in the community. As we all know too well, in district and an area of the city that has suffered from really decades of dis investment led by the assault at the National Level on our communitys particularly the African American communities in San Francisco and beyond and it is hardening when we see some of that being reversed through investments like the comments investments in the community and refurbishment of housing here and the refurbishment of this court which is so important as a place for recreation, athletics and as a Community Space to really build community that is absolutely essential particularly at this time so im looking forward to the tip off and to getting to know and i know some of you are looking forward to get to know those of you who i havent met before, i just took office a month ago and its just thrilling to be here as part of our celebration so thank you both to the mayor and our former supervisor and the warriors and to accept se pepsid aquafina. Pepsi values its partnership with the warriors and the Community Foundation which is why i would now like to bring up sean king, Vice President general manager West Division from pepsi co. Thank you, everybody. I think im going to try to move over a little bit myself to get away from the sun. First let me say, i am just absolutely incredibly honored and proud to be here today with the warriors, the local community, and of course most importantly the children that are going to be able to be playing on these brand new courts. Pepsi is proud to be a partner of the Golden State Warriors and it is incredibly humbling to be partnered with such a Great Organization that allows us to do events like this and have such a deep impact on the community. This is the fourth refurbishment we partnered in with the warriors and its part of a larger beautification effort across the bay area led by our brands life water and aquafina. Pepsi has deep roots in california. We have been in this state for over 84 years and have hundreds of employees that work within the bay. This is our community. We work, we live, and we are proud to represent the bay. Projects like this mean so incredibly much to our teams and our people and to this community. Which again, its something that all of us are a much bigger part of and wore so honored and excited to be here with this group. I also think its important to recognize the importance of Affordable Housing. West side courts offer San Francisco residents a chance to improve their quality of life with affordable accommodations and we are honored to help boost their Community Ties with this new basketball court. So again, o mayor breed, the community, the warriors, thank you for this incredible partnership and im very much looking forward to tip off. Thank you. Thank you, we are almost there to our exciting tip off. But first, i want to bring up brandon schneider, warrior chief revenue officer to say a few words for us. Thank you, very much. It is a very exciting day to be here at west side courts. Staring into the sun. As you can tell, we plan today specifically around the trade dead lines. Im sure everybody saw the moves bob myers and team made today. The good news is they spared me, i didnt get traded. Maybe that was just so i could spend the time here at todays events and maybe in the future, we will make sure to plan this after the trade deadline. Thank you to the city of San Francisco and all the residents of west side courts for letting us spend the afternoon with you. And a huge thank you to pepsi for your suppose sort and making this court possible for the community. I also like to specifically thank San Francisco mayor london breed, who we obviously just heard from and her team for their on going Community Impact efforts. This court is another example of her leadership in guidance to include all San Francisco residents access to Community Resources. I would also like to thank and acknowledge supervisor preston for his advocacy and representation of our city and district 5 residents. We look forward to partnering with you. So our goal with the warriors is to compete for championships every year. If joe was here he may not agree with me and the last five years, may tell a different story. Were probably not going to win the championship every year. This year may be an example of that. Well be back next year. I like that. But joes wife, nicole, was a big part of launching the Warriors Community foundation in 2012 and thats to ensure we can be championships in the Community Every year. Our Community Foundation granted over 12 million since 2012 to ensure Educational Equity in both San Francisco and alameda counties and one of the other things were focus on is doing Court Refurbishments threw out the bay area. Today is a huge milestone for us. As its actually our 85th Court Refurbishment weve done here in the bay area. They tell me its 380,000 square feet of playing surface weve done. I wanted to recognize again, lets have another round of applause for mike and his team from creative sports for awful their incredible work on the court tonight. [applause] so playing sports provides such an amazing opportunity for youth and Community Members to create positive change in their community and to build selfconfidence. This court will be an incredible center piece for the west side courts Residential Community and we hope that it instills confidence to those that use and and for you kids here today, we hope you will really take advantage of these new courts. You can truly be anything you want to be. Who knows, maybe one of you will be the mayor of San Francisco one day. [laughter] you stole my line. My other line was maybe one of you will follow in the footsteps of the next speaker who did play in the nba. So you guys may have noticed this tall guy standing over here, i dont know if this podium is going to work for him. The eighth over all pick in the 1997 nba draft Golden State Warriors drafted him. He played for us for 11 years, 1997 to 2007. He actually graduated in 1999 from Colgate University magna kum lad a means he is smart with a history degree. He is founded an Organization Called democracy matters to help deepen democracy and train youth how to run effective grassroots movements. His accomplished career includes his induction to the world sports humanitarian hall of fame first commitment to the community. Its my honor to welcome to the stage this is so awesome. Are you guys ready to hoop over there that doesnt sound con for instancing are you ready to hoop thats much better. I was dropped b drafted by the n 1997 and im still a part of this organization is their undying commitment to our community. As an organization and athletes, we believe that we have a morale imperative to help make our community better. And i think that from the organization from the top to bottom, all of our players embodies that philosophy. For me its a bit more personal. I think that sports is one of those things that give you amazing opportunities to do whatever you want to do. For me, its been about being the first person in my family to go to college. I got an athletic scholarship coming from an island of 500 people. What you guys have is a unique opportunity to learn some of the values that sports presents. Commitment, being selfmotivated, really the desire to compete at the highest level and still be great teammates. Those values are life values. But the thing that i want to leave you guys with before we play some basketball is a few things. One, you dont always have to be an athlete. You can be an incredible student. So the time you just need the opportunity to get into the dough. When i came from the island being the first person in my family to go to college, i played basketball very hard but i also understood that i have an opportunity to become exceptional with my mind as well as my physical body. You guys have that as well. The other thing is, along the way, there would be a lot of people who tell you you cant do things because of where you come from. Dont ever believe them. Theres everything you have within you guys to be incredible, to be great, to be exceptional. Just continue to believe that truth. This court is an opportunity for us to pull our Community Together but more than that, its to mirror values that i believe have been the corner stone of my life. A commitment t to a higher purpe than ourselves. So today, lets get some hoops going lets play i thank everybody for coming. You guys are truly incredible and i thank this community for allowing us to be part of it. Thank you guys so very much. [applause] thank you so much i want to say on behalf of the Warriors Community foundation, a big thank you to pepsi and also aquafina, San Francisco the community and everything here as well as the bay area. Also thank you to the Warriors Community and foundation and creative Sports Concepts for refurbishing this Beautiful Court that we are all on right now and most importantly thank you all for being here today so kids, are you ready to play baseballbasketball come on inside im going to ask the adults to make your way to the sidelines. We can get these athletes out here when he throws it up jump up and hands on 3, 2, 1 [ ] i just wanted to say a few words. One is to the parents and to all of the kids. Thank you for supporting this program and for trusting us to create a Soccer Program in the bayview. Soccer is the worlds game, and everybody plays, but in the united states, this is a sport that struggles with access for certain communities. I coached basketball in a coached football for years, it is the same thing. It is about motivating kids and keeping them together, and giving them new opportunities. When the kids came out, they had no idea really what the game was. Only one or two of them had played soccer before. We gave the kids very simple lessons every day and made sure that they had fun while they were doing it, and you really could see them evolve into a team over the course of the season. I think this is a great opportunity to be part of the community and be part of programs like this. I get to run around with my other teammates and pass the ball. This is new to me. Ive always played basketball or football. I am adjusting to be a soccer mom. The bayview is like my favorite team. Even though we lose it is still fine. Right on. I have lots of favorite memories, but i think one of them is just watching the kids enjoy themselves. My favorite memory was just having fun and playing. Bayview united will be in soccer camp all summer long. They are going to be at civic centre for two different weeklong sessions with america scores, then they will will have their own soccer camp later in the summer right here, and then they will be back on the pitch next fall. Now we know a little bit more about soccer, we are learning more, and the kids are really enjoying the program. We want to be united in the bayview. That is why this was appropriate this guy is the limit. The kids are already athletic, you know, they just need to learn the game. We have some potential collegebound kids, definitely. Today was the last practice of the season, and the sweetest moment was coming out here while , you know, we were setting up the barbecue and folding their uniforms, and looking out onto the field, and seven or eight of the kids were playing. This year we have first and second grade. We are going to expand to third, forth, and fifth grade next year bring them out and if you have middle school kids, we are starting a team for middle school. You know why . Why . Because we are . Bayview united. Thats right. About two years ago now i had my first child. And i thought when i come back, you know, im going to get back in the swing of things and ill find a spot. And it wasnt really that way when i got back to work. Thats what really got me to think about the challenges that new mothers face when they come back to work. When it comes to innovative ideas and policies, San Francisco is known to pave the way, fighting for social justice or advocating for the environment, our city serves as the example and leader many times over. And this year, it leads the nation again, but for a new reason. Being the most supportive city of nursing mothers in the work place. I was inspired to work on legislation to help moms return to work, one of my legislative aids had a baby while working in the office and when she returned we had luckily just converted a bathroom at city hall into a lactation room. She was pumping a couple times a day and had it not been for the room around the hallway, i dont know if she could have continued to provide breast milk for her baby. Not all returning mothers have the same access, even though theres existing state laws on the issues. These moms usually work in low paying jobs and returning to work sooner and they dont feel wellsupported at work. We started out by having legislation to mandate that all city offices and departments have accommodations for mothers to return to work and lactate. But this year we passed legislation for private companies to have lactation policies for all new moms returning to work. With the newcome accommodations, moms should have those to return back to work. What are legislation . We wanted to make it applicable to all, we created a set of standards that can be achievable by everyone. Do you have a few minutes today to give us a quick tour. I would love to. Lets go. This is such an inviting space. What makes this a lactation room . As legislation requires it has the minimum standards, a seat, a surface to place your breast on, a clean space that doesnt have toxic chemicals or storage or anything like that. And we have electricity, we have plenty of outlets for pumps, for fridge. The things that make it a little extra, the fridge is in the room. And the sink is in the room. Our legislation does require a fridge and sink nearby but its all right in here. You can wash your pump and put your milk away and you dont have to put it in a fridge that you share with coworkers. The new standards will be applied to all businesses and places of employment in San Francisco. But are they achievable for the smaller employers in the city . I think Small Businesses rightfully have some concerns about providing lactation accommodations for employees, however we left a lot of leeway in the legislation to account for Small Businesses that may have small footprints. For example, we dont mandate that you have a lactation room, but rather lactation space. In city hall we have a lactation pod here open to the public. So the more we can change, especially in government offices, the more we can support women. I think for the work place to really offer support and encouragement for pumping and Breast Feeding mothers is necessary. What is most important about the legislation is that number one, we require that an employer have a lactation policy in place and then have a conversation with a new hire as well as an employee who requests parental leave. Otherwise a lot of times moms dont feel comfortable asking their boss for lactation accommodations. Really its hard to go back to the office after you have become a mom, youre leaving your heart outside of your body. When you can provide your child food from your body and know youre connecting with them in that way, i know it means a lot to a mommy motionlely and physically to be able to do that. And businesses and employers can just provide a space. If they dont have a room, they can provide a small space that is private and free from intrusion to help moms pump and that will attract moms to working in San Francisco. If you want more information visit sfdph. Org breastfeedingatwork. S