Communities, many cultures and ethnicities, many heartbeats acting as one. It is from this unified heart that we derive the name kapuso at the upper yard, taken from the tagalog word for heart. We added a car in front of it to show the unification of many things into one. At its core. Kapuso at the upper yard is all of us, its community, its developers, its politicians, its allies of Affordable Housing coming together to form one heart. And we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Thank you. Now id like to ask Ann Silverberg to step up. Thank you. I am Ann Silverberg. Im ceo for norcal affordable at related and we three are sharing the welcome. So im going to do my part and say welcome to everyone. Thank you so much for coming here today. I know some of you have traveled very far, but it is a Beautiful Day in the city and we are really, really happy that you are here celebrating with us. Youve heard a little of this development. Youll hear so much more over the course of the program here. But this development really is a perfect example. All of what we can do when we all Work Together toward the same end goal, thats what we try to do all the time. But that really, really happened here. As youll hear throughout the program about the partnership between so many critical players, the community, the city, the developers, the, the state, the transit agencies, the funding partners, the architect, the contractor. Everybody worked together. Everyone really brought their a team, their best, best players, really, truly excellent folks coming together and really feeling very passionately about making sure that this got done and got done well. And i think if you kind of take it in, if you go to the ground floor and the retail spaces and the Community Spaces and take in the public art, which is so gorgeous. And i hope you all come this way and look at the mural as well and the connection to transit and the plaza and all of the attention to details and the Beautiful Homes that were created here. I hope you feel as i do that this is not just an ordinary building. This is an extraordinary building. This is really an amazing place to be. And i think it is really the passion, the collaboration, the partnership, everyone coming together to make this happen. And its really the heart and the unity that sam was talking about, that the community, the concept that the Community Created so many years ago, its a continuation through the development process. And we really hope it continues for all of the residents who have decided to make kapuso their home. All right. So today, may we have a number of very, very distinguished guests to help us celebrate this grand opening. Im very, very excited about this all star team here. We have treasurer fiona ma, we have senator scott wiener. We will soon have mayor london breed and supervisor asha safai. We also have Vanessa Rodriguez from wells fargo, janet lee from bart tilly chang from the San Francisco county transport authority. Terrence valin from the Filipino Community center. Juan moya, thank you. Okay, good. I did it. One of our wonderful kapuso residents, unfortunately, secretary Castro Ramirez and director Gustavo Velasquez were not able to make it today, but they send their regrets and we are very, very appreciative of their support. I would like to also say we would not be at this point today without the San FranciscoMayors Office of housing and ed eric shaw, lydia ely, sarah amaral, jennifer collins. The newest addition to the team. Mara blitzer. Robin wang and brendan dwyer. Thank you all very much. Also, the partnership and coordinated efforts with bart janis lee, bevan dufty, abby, abby thorne, lyman, who recently left bart but worked very hard on this project. Carly paine, tim chan, Nicole Franklin and many others. And our wells fargo partners provided an incredible amount of capital. Vanessa rodriguez, terrance cordero, eric limbach, tim mccann, john coe and lorenzo cordova. And i last want to mention our fabulous, fabulous development partner, Mission Housing. I cant say enough about them as a partner or about this partnership when it works well. It really works well. And both partners brought their strengths and supported each other. We worked really, really well all the way through the process, so im very grateful to sam moss, marsha contreas, kevin kitchenham, wade reynolds, julio lara and scott falcone. So thank you very much. And also to the caritas management company. Thank you, sam. Thank you. Thank you. Okay more from me. We have someone whos not here yet, so were changing the program a bit. All right. So i know you all know this already, but developments like this require layers and layers and layers of funding and id like to acknowledge the very critical capital from the California Department of housing and Community Development, as well as the strategic growth council. And we have money through the program as well as the iig program. The Mayors Office of housing and Community Development, wells fargo bank, and our permanent lender, the California CommunityReinvestment Corporation mission. All right. So im going to introduce our first speaker. We are thrilled to have california state treasurer fiona ma with us today as californias 34th state treasurer. She was elected in 2018 with more votes than any other candidate for treasurer in the history of the state of california. Thats amazing. Her office provides funding for schools, roads, recycling and waste management, hospitals, public facilities, crucial Infrastructure Projects , and most importantly, to many of us, housing. And she does all of that to better the lives of california residents. In december of 2020, she approved 47 million of tax credits and 60 million in tax exempt bonds. For this development, please help me welcome treasurer fiona ma. Thank you very much, anne and sam. And to everyone it definitely takes a village and this project is probably one of the hardest ones that have come through my office since i got elected as state treasurer in 2018. I served on the San Francisco board of supervisors representing the sunset district from 2002 to 2006, and some of these projects are still working its way through the system. This was one of the more difficult ones and i just want to let you know that your mayor london breed your supervisor, asha sapphire, were on the phone with me a lot saying, hey, we need more of this. We need more time, we need this, we please wait and, you know, put us back in line. But everything did work out. And over the last four years, we have really focused on new construction for very low and extremely low individuals. And this example is for amis of 30 to 80 of ami for working families, which is sorely needed. And of course, the transit is right here. So this is clearly one of the Transit Oriented Development projects, one of the stars. But it kind of wasnt ranking that high, believe it or not. I mean, we should have given it extra points, but maybe it would have been built faster. But thats how the system works as your state treasurer last year, 3. 7 trillion went through my office. I invest the states excess funds as well as issue all the bonds, even through the pandemic. And we never missed one round here at cid or tcac. We got two rounds of federal 9 federal tax credits, which went to help some of the fire devastated regions and just working together with all of my partners and all of you, we are continuing to see movement in this Affordable Housing crisis. So kudos for this amazing project. Thank you, bill witty. And thank you to our partners at the state and at our transportation levels. As well. So thank you. Thank you, treasurer ma. So id like to introduce our next speaker. We are very, very happy to have with us today mark caswell, Program Manager for the Affordable HousingSustainable Communities Program at the strategic growth council. Mark, there was a there was an illness i think in your stepping in, he promises hes trained in improv. Im so impressed that he is doing this. So thank you very much was a very important part of the Capital Stack for this development provided very important funds for the housing. But also paid for the plaza. If you could see behind us the whole bart plaza was paid for by asic and so its very, very important funding and we appreciate your being here today. Mark. Right. Thank you, anne, and thank you everybody for being here. Mark caswell Program Manager. Affordable housing Sustainable Communities Program, which is in the strategic growth council, which is in the Governors Office of planning and research, and our director, sam assefa, sends his regrets for being unable to attend today, the program really brings makes sure that were funding not only Affordable Housing, but also bringing together other components that will help benefit Community Members and the surrounding community. So not only did we fund 20 million worth of housing funds, but were complementing that with the 9. 5 million investment. Thats to build transportation and other public goods. Were building a bikeway on. Were funding the building of bikeway. The sfmta is building the bikeway on 19th Street Mission avenue, which is actually under construction right now. Theres also pedestrian bulbouts throughout the area to improve pedestrian safety, and we widened sidewalks as well. And then we also have a Great Partnership with bart, with the developers are able to Work Together with bart to purchase three new bart cars to reduce Greenhouse Gases and really help make sure this this program meets its goals and the state is able to reduce Greenhouse Gases while also building more Affordable Housing. So were really combating both the Climate Crisis as well as the Housing Affordability crisis. And this program and this project is such a great example of our Work Together there and our commitments at the state. So i just want to thank everybody for being here. Thank you. Well done. And thank you, mark. Thank you. Um, so our next speaker, vanessa, Vanessa Rodriguez is the managing director and the head of Community Lending and investment at wells fargo bank, one of the top, top lenders and investors in Affordable Housing in the united states. Vanessa manages a team of 170 associates, a nationwide with debt and equity portfolio totaling 24 billion in commitments. Her Team Provides various Financial Solutions to support Community Development needs, including debt and equity for neighborhood revitalize nation through tax credit equity for Affordable Housing and projects like this. She and her team played a key role in financing this development with a construction loan of over 80 million in tax credit equity as well. We are incredibly grateful for the partnership. Thank you. Please help me welcome Vanessa Rodriguez. Thank you, anne. And thank you so much for inviting me to speak today on behalf of wells. Guess i just want to start off with saying that wells believes that everyone should have a quality place to call home Affordable Housing is a top priority of the bank, and over the last five years weve provided about 21 billion of capital, all for the development and rehab of Affordable Housing throughout the us. We have a number of other initiatives around housing that include flexible down payment Financing Options for our homebuyers. Weve. Provided 450 million of flexible capital for Community Development, Financial Institutions and nonprofit Housing Developers nationally. And weve donated over 500 million to help address this housing affordable quality and stability in both Single Family and multifamily rental space. So it is a top priority of the firm and i hope those numbers tell that story. In terms of San Francisco proper, where weve done about 1,000,000,003 of capital through construct finance and tech Equity Investment over the last ten years, since 2012, as well as another 230 million of permanent finance through the gses during that time frame. This represents development and preserves a nation of approximately 3200 units in San Francisco. And these figures do include the 138 million of capital that we provided to kapuso at the upper yard. My colleague terrance schooled me on the term, the terminology here kapuso a tagalog word. So thank you, terrance, for bringing me up to speed. The translation hearts coming together for or of the same heart, which i think is really beautiful. Its a testament to the Larger Community here, you know, coming together, moving together, looking towards a common goal of affordable, quality housing. Were thankful to be a part of it. Were thankful to be part of this collective vision, to take a city owned parking lot and turn it into this high quality, Affordable Housing adjacent to bart and really make a place here, you know, pedestrian friendly, public oriented and this beautiful plaza behind us. So this project hits like a lot of levers for us is affordability, right . Targeting low and moderate income families and individuals, sustainable will be a big priority at wells as well. And we think a critical aspect to providing safe and stable homes for families. So the Energy Efficient designs here are the addition of adjacent to bart and the addition of the plaza where the community can come together for events and everything. I think, hits all the hits, all the buckets for us at and you know, the support from hcd and the city and county of San Francisco for the development and the transportation infrastructure improvements. Its really just a win win. All around. I certainly would be remiss if we didnt acknowledge the great sponsorship here, which in our view is certainly top notch. The related companies is a huge client of ours. The relationship spans 25 plus years. I dont know if you have this count, but i think weve done over 65 projects together nationwide and four projects in San Francisco through 2020 2022. Thats about 335 million. In those three four projects excuse me. And about 580 units here in San Francisco. So and we just recently partnered with them again on the revitalization of the sunnydale community, specifically blocks three a and three b, so were really excited about that one as well. And were delighted to continue the relationship with Mission Housing, one of the Top Community based Affordable Housing developers and operators in San Francisco. This isnt our first project. Weve done a few with them already, creating over 200 Affordable Housing units. So you know, were extremely happy to be here. Were so excited about this project and watching it come to fruition. Thank you to my team for always doing a great job of taking care of the clients in the community as we thank everyone for their partnership and congratulations to everyone. Thank you. Cheers. Either im growing or the mic is a little low. Thank you, vanessa and thank you to wells fargo. Wonderful partners of both. Both of both developers sitting here today. It is important for us to recognize our community. Like we said before, it takes a village. We could not get here and we probably would have never gotten here if it wasnt for community. So it is my honor to really recognize the work that the community and its organizers here in district 11 did for more than a decade. The organizing work of the Communities United for health and justice were super here was really vital. I cant even stress that enough. Vital in ensuring that this piece of land here where were standing and were celebrating now got to this to this place and this far welcome supervisor and today we just want to make sure that we acknowledge them and express that not only was the work done, but also they did it with their heart, just like the name, right, that weve been talking about. Kapuso and their meaning, but also the unity it took all all of them, plus the work that the Community Came together to do. Theyre really inspired not only for us to name this building kapuso, but also be able to be to build this 131 unit developed here that is housing thats going to house so many families. So it is my great honor to basically introduce terrence valin, and he is the founding organizational director of the Filipino Community center here in district 11. He is responsible for their Strategic Planning and resource development. So please help me welcome terrence to the podium and he will share a little bit of his thoughts. To everyone. Its great to be here today. This is kind of surreal to be here. Folks mentioned this is more than a decade of work. This this wouldnt be here. Actually, this work started with the community. And so the fcc started almost 20 years ago. Next year is our 20th anniversary. We were there on the backside of the ocean Avenue Presbyterian Church on san juan avenue. Their neighborhood house. We had meetings there to gather the community, as sam mentioned, Communities United for health and justice. My colleagues here, elaine, marybeth, reyna, ted, oscar, antonio, weve worked together over the years as fcc, the Filipino Community center poder coleman advocates also worked with chinese for affirmative action and Bernal Heights neighborhood center. Over the years, we gathered Community Folks who are not at the planning table. These are young people, you know, children, grandparents, seniors, recent immigrants, nonenglish speakers , the fcc. And so the name is very appropriate. Kapuso because when we were building the fcc 20 years ago, we knew our community is very much connected to the diverse immigrant communities of this neighborhood, in particular, the working class returning immigrant communities. And we know what we need. We know we had a vision for what we wanted, and we also helped to put the resources in place to make sure we can build more Affordable Housing here in San Francisco. So we had meetings at the fcc at balboas high schools green room at the new excelsior work center, and we hope to have meetings here as well moving forward because we still have a lot of work to do to stay connected to the Community Like like the name says kapuso. Sam explained it well. Kapuso in tagalog or filipino connected hearts, the ka is kind of being connected and puso means heart. Dont hear that word very often, but i wanted to share. This is what the its indigenous script. So the ka is like a symbol that has sometimes they talk about the earth and the sky connected by this line here and our communities have always and continue to be need to be connected. The work of the sam mentioned it at the groundbreaking that this is a new standard for Community Collaboration with city, state and other government officials and other developers to make these things happen. We are literally it was legos on a map , a desk map with fernando martin, an asian neighborhood design, and others who are visiting. How do we do this on a triangular space next to the freeway . So these are Community Members who are never at the planning table, who are talking with bart mta bay area air Quality Management district, the Planning Department and others. And we said that we can make this happen. Its possible. And we have this vision and you need to help us to get there so that People PoweredCommunity Planning process that we did in 2011 and then finished and published a report in 2012. Were invited. Rest in peace. Former mayor ed lee to come. And we gave him valentines on february 13th, 2012. So here is our report out. This is what we need and we would love for you at the event called home is where the heart is on that ocean Avenue Presbyterian Church space that we had 100 people gathered. We had hundreds of Community Members out there doing surveys, making sure we knew what we wanted, what we needed, and what the city needed to do to step forward and get this housing for us. So were very happy. 130 units of housing are here. Theres a lot more work we need to do. Some of our community got displaced, but we have we lost some of our Community Members. Theyre still in our hearts. Mayor ed lee tatay Arthur Castro was a Filipino Community member who made every single meeting to make sure that this gets built and other Affordable Housing projects in the neighborhood get built 100 Affordable Housing for the most vulnerable and the lowest income folks. Now, we need to continue to do that. So i hope kapuso remains an institution or proud. Its named in a filipino name connected to the filipino Cultural Heritage district in south of market. But were proud that this is here. Theres a lot more work we need to do to strengthen the filipino and all of the communities of excelsior, district 11. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, terry. And now it is my honor to introduce supervisor asha sapphire. Supervisor sapphire became supervisor in San Franciscos district 11, in 2016. And i can absolutely say that he championed this development from day one. In fact, he summoned bill and i into his office on the first day to talk about it. I mean, he invited us. It was great. Supervisor sapphire is proven time and time again that its his passion for Community Based developments like this that really help him fight for high quality, Affordable Housing throughout his district. And as people have repeatedly said today, were excited that he was part of what we hope becomes the standard moving forward. And so, without further ado, supervisor. Thank you. Mission housing. Thank you, sam. Thank you, marsha. Thank you so much for all the tremendous work that you all have done to get us to this point. I mean, we were sitting in the room over there, balboa high school, started off some contention, but it was just as terry said, it was very Community Driven from the beginning. One of the things i love about representing this part of town and i tell people this and i dare and challenge anyone fun to challenge me on this point. This is the most diverse neighborhood and community in the entire united states. And i can tell you because i have knocked on almost every single door in this community. Thats how i got elected. And thousands and thousands of doors. And you go to one home, african american, you go to the next home, filipino, you go to the next home, latino, you go to the next home. Italian next home, chinese. And it just keeps repeating over and over and over again, sexual orientation, asian age. This is one of the this is the bedrock of San Francisco. The folks that live here are second, third, fourth and fifth generation san franciscans. And so this project today, this development is a manifestation of all of the great things that this community represents. And theres so many people that participated in this to make sure that this was a reality. See, this is the gateway to the oh, my lake view, right . So i want to i want to i want to shout out to lakeview and all the folks that have been here for generations and what that means. Also want to recognize is as as terry said, this is the largest concentration of filipino households and filipinos in the entire city and county of San Francisco. We have the highest number of people aging in place. We are predominantly immigrant. We are predominantly folks, working families. So theres so many Amazing Things about this. I want to call out a few people. I want to thank the mayor. And she came in early, made a commitment to this project. We needed some additional money. Theres always gaps, right. Bill whitty and related. Thank you for all your tremendous work. But the person that really brought it home in the end and i say this with no joke, we would still be in the phase waiting for the money is straight is state treasurer fiona ma because she made the decision to reallocate tax credit dollars that were going to some high speed rail projects that werent being utilized at the time. She made the decision to come in with the additional dollars that closed the final gap. And when youre talking about Affordable Housing financing, its all layers. Its like layers of a cake. You have one group thats doing a grant, and i recognize the mayor and the work that she came in with that money. Then you have private financing, then you have state financing and the icing on the cake and the big piece that we would not have been able to get done with. State treasurer fiona ma. So without her we might still be waiting for those dollars. But i want to thank sam and his team. I want to thank the community. We also want to recognize that this project is unique in the sense that it represents Affordable Housing for different different scales. You have extremely low income, you have moderate, and its an expansion of that definition because we also want to be able to take care of the teachers, the nurses, the firefighters, those that grew up in this community, that are also to being displaced. And we had some uncomfortable conversations, right, sam . But in the end, i think we made the right decision for this community because its representative of this community. So thank you. Thank you for all your tremendous work. Thank you for the community that did all the initial groundwork and laying. And one more thing, and i dont want to miss him without sb 35. I guarantee t you and scott wiener i guarantee you this project would have been appealed. But there was no appeal and because of that work and i think at the time i was the only man on the board that supported that in concept. Oh no, that was sb 50. Sorry. You have so many, but it was all about streamlining and making it and there was some opposition to that too. And so thank you, senator wiener, for increasing the ability for us to put Affordable Housing in this community and increasing the time that we got this done in record time. So thank you, Mission Housing, and thank you for the opportunity to say anything and thank you to all the community that participated in making this a reality. And i have to say it is surreal to be standing here where at one point we had safe parking for those living in their vehicles, and now were sitting in a building thats going to house families that can Stay Grounded in this community. Thank you. Thank you so much, supervisor sapphire, for your words right now, we want to also acknowledge, just like we were talking a little bit about who are we housing here at kapuso. Well we started our lease up already, so we want to recognize also some of our residents have already moved in. So it is my great pleasure today to really introduce someone thats already living here. But i want to share with you a little bit more about who he is so he is not only a father of, you know, of three little ones, but also he is a community volunteer. He has lived in San Francisco for the last 15 years. But most importantly, what really caught my attention was what he did during the pandemic. We all knew the pandemic was a hard time for everyone in must have been for him to. However, he decided that during the pandemic he wanted to use his time as a volunteer, and he also provided some of his savings to be able to share some of the food and boxes that were needed in this community. And he himself was actually taking those boxes and delivering them to families. So isnt that wonderful to see someone that does thats done so much work for his community here . Be able to move in at a building that, you know, is within the community that he was serving. So with that being said, i like to introduce this to you and i, i can say it correctly. I hope im saying it correctly. Juan, your to the to the podium and. So let me just explain Something Real quick. He will be speaking in spanish in spanish, and i will hopefully be doing some translation. So please bear with us. Buenas tardes, ingles. Muy bueno. Good afternoon. Mi nombre is juan moya feliz de estar aqui hoy. My name is juan and i am very happy to be here with you today. La vivienda para nosotros a sido un gran desafio housing has been a tremendous challenge for us. El aqui kapuso knows cambiado la vida totalmente living here at kapuso has changed our life drastically. We. Especial lo. El aqui en kapuso nos ha cambiado la vida totalmente especial. Mente ahorita viene el frio has changed my life tremendously, especially now that the cold weather is arriving. Don de vivir ver calefaction un frio los viejos where we used to live, there was actually no Heating Capacity in his apartment and the coldness really got even through his bones is how he felt. Recupera la salud de mis hijos. He was worried about his familys health. Aqui nos sentimos seguros e mis hijos estan felices en este ambiente accuweather. And now that they live here at kapuso, his family feels safe. And they are happy that they are living in a cozy environment. Quiero darle gracias a dios por vivir aqui en kapuso y tener una Vivienda Digna y saludable para mi familia. First of all, i want to say thank you to god for allowing me to live here in kapuso and have a dignified housing that is safe for my entire family. Agradecer a las personas trabajan aqui ellos siempre tienen una sonrisa conferta el corazon. I want to thank the folks that work here at kapuso. They always have a smile that really comforts my heart. Thank you so i muchas familia siento aqui in San Francisco. There are many families that are not living. They dont have a home in San Francisco. I it kapuso les the welbeck la esperanza a esas familia kapuso brings hope for those families. A Las Comunidades pertenece hemos brings hope to the communities in which they they have grown. Mija genesis un suprema no sufrido en esta vida con no arbol de dolor nunca un hablo de dolore just like my daughter. Genesis states in her poem somos un that has not suffered in life really can talk about pain. Someone that has not experience este pain really they cant really talk about that. It Las Comunidades gracias a todos por estar aqui and communities deserve better. So thank you so much for everyone thats here today. Feliz mas de la espanha dios bendiga kapuso. Happy latin heritage month, which is very appropriate. Well be celebrating today, mayor and hes just basically basically saying blessing to everybody here at kapuso. Thank you. That was that was fantastic. Thank you so much. Um, i have the pleasure of introducing our next speaker elect covid in 2016 and representing district 11 senator scott wiener authored and championed sb 35, a historic bill that allows for simplified and expedited approval process. Heard a little bit about this already from some of the speakers, including supervisor safai. This development, kapuso was heading down a path of conventional entitlements when sb 35 passed. It was made law. We very quickly pivoted and used the legislation to receive land use approvals in a few months, months instead of years. Ordinarily, this would take many , many years. We submitted in july and were cleared in october for the quick entitlements that propelled the project forward, allowing us to Start Construction and eventually open the doors to residents in the time it would typically take to just entitle the project. So we have people literally moving in today. In fact, there was a moving truck out front like literally moving in today in, you know, years ahead of schedule. This would never have been possible without sb 35. We are proud to be one of or perhaps the First Development to use sb 35 in San Francisco. And we will be eternally grateful to senator scott wiener for championing championing this legislation and its extension. Sb 433 sen. Scott wiener has is not just a champion for housing, though he also has authored many other bills centered around transportation, civil rights, criminal justice reform, clean energy, alleviating poverty. It is my true pleasure and honor to welcome senator scott wiener. All right. Thank you. An this is super exciting. It was. It was great. I took bart here today and it was just so great to be able to get off the train and like two minutes later, here i am. And this is exactly what we want to have. Affordable housing, a range of incomes, so all sorts of people from different backgrounds and income levels can live together as a community, right . Buy a bath station. By the way, as an aside , we need to make sure that we save bart and that bart continues to serve the community. So a big project for next year. And so this is this project is ive been hearing about it from, from from supervisor safai and others for, for years now. And this project is really just it makes me smile and i think it should make a lot of people smile. And im you know, i also just want to say that we for a long time we viewed creating more housing as something we get around to it. When we get around to it, not a priority. Take our time. No sense of urgency and by doing that, for many, many, many years here, not just here in San Francisco, but throughout the state, we have driven the car into the ditch. It didnt just randomly happen that rents got as high as they are with so many people have been pushed out of the city, whether by eviction or even more common, just not being able to afford to stay here. It didnt just happen that that we moved away from the old school notion that if you have to move for the million people, go for the million reasons that people have to move, you just find another apartment. Thats how human beings historically have like lived. If you need to find a new home, you find a new home. But in San Francisco, thats not how it works. The number of people over the last 26 years that ive lived here who have said to me, if i lose my apartment and i have to either be homeless or leave San Francisco, that is not normal. That is not healthy, and that is not something we should ever accept in San Francisco. And so the work that we have been doing at the state level and im proud to have authored sb 35, im proud that sb 423 its extending an is on the governors desk. Im proud that this law has entitled about 3000 homes in San Francisco, overwhelmingly below market rate. Im very proud of that. But we have we passed a series of state laws along these lines. And these laws is a basic theme that you set up the rules ahead of time. What the height, what the density is, what the Design Standards are. You set up those rules and then if someone comes forward and says, i want to build to your rules, you give them the permit in months, not years. Thats also known as good government. And so. And we have a lot more work to do. We as i mentioned, we have the extension of sb 35 on the governors desk. But i also just want to say that one of the Biggest Challenges that Affordable Housing nonprofit builders have is getting land and having to compete for land that is often very expensive. And we have another bill on the governors desk, senate bill four, that will open up as much as 170,000 acres of land statewide and only for 100 Affordable Housing and churches, synagogues, mosques, nonprofit colleges. And so we are working very, very hard at the state level. And i want to thank the mayor and the board of supervisors and everyone in the community who works hard locally to actually deliver the projects. This is a partnership, a state, local partnership. One of these days, well get the federal Government Back into the business of housing. And we know what we need to do. And i think we are finally heading down a better path. So congratulations to everyone in the district 11 community who worked so, so hard on this project. This is a very, very good day. Thank you. Excuse me while i. I think. In both directions. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much, senator. Thank you so much. I would like to introduce our next speaker since the inception of this project, kapuso and throughout the construction period, our team has worked very closely alongside bart. And i agree we need to save bart. Janice lee was the first elected, was first elected to the bart board of directors in 2018 and reelected in 2022. So she is the bart board president and a huge supporter of this development. We really appreciate the work that bart has done to make all of this possible. And we appreciate janice lee. Where is janice . Oh, there you are. Thank you, janice lee, please welcome. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is janice lee. Im your bart board president. Proudly, actually representing the station right here at balboa park. I know my fellow San Francisco board directors, bev and dufty and lateefah simon. Regret they arent here celebrating with us. But unfortunately, we. We actually have a bart Board Meeting going right now. So they are there for but really is in credible that we are here today. And for me housing will always be personal. When i first ran for the bart board at age 31, i was just another young person who was just scraping by in the city. I didnt know how long i was going to be able to afford living in my district and serving in this role. And even five years later, now, i still worry that im going to get priced out before i get voted out. So i know how urgent it is to build housing in San Francisco that keeps people here, keeps people like me, that keeps families, that keeps us. And keeps our communities here. I especially say this as a queer person, an immigrant from hong kong, but San Francisco is truly an amazing place to live, an amazing city. And we have to make it. We have to stop making it so darn hard to afford to live here and stay here. So to make that happen, we all have to be part of the solution. And thats why i feel a special pride to be standing here alongside such an amazing array of housing leaders in particular, i want to thank our state senator, scott wiener, who i would say drank the Transit Oriented Development koolaid before many of us ever did. And look at the tod bandwagon now. And of course, i also want to thank mayor london breed for always making housing a priority for san franciscans. So thank you. I just have a yeah, lets give it up for pro housing people. So just a couple of things i want to say as bart here. So first, this is when we get it right. This is what happens when we have community making demands. Elected leaders who listen staff are various agencies who go above and beyond to make it all happen alongside a developer and funding partners. But kapuso this should not be rare and bart will continue to be at the table to figure out how we can continue to build housing at a near transit stations with urgency. Im proud that our light and air easements are helping build an additional 30 units of Affordable Housing here. Which gets me to my last point, which is that a project like this makes sure that Everybody Wins by building Affordable Housing right here on a bart station. Were able to pull more funding together for Housing Production and transit improvements. So i do want to shout out the states Affordable Housing and sustainability Sustainable Communities Program just mentioned that this is helping fund some new bart cars. This actually has helped us get to a point where just a couple weeks ago we now have only new bart cars in regular service. Its funding and its actually projects like this that help us get there and that is being coupled with other critical voter approved measures like bart measure rr, prop one, b, and especially prop k, so a special thanks goes out to sfcta. Director tilly chang and board chair Rafael Mandelman for the funding support to make these transit and plaza improvements possible. Building housing here makes balboa park station a vibrant Community Space for everyone having places for the community gathered to have Youth Arts Exchange and poder del pueblo on the ground floor for people you know these spaces for people to enjoy themselves. These are the kind of places that make our community safe. And so when we move out to the plaza for the Ribbon Cutting shortly, please take in the brand new design, the ada accessible path, a new passenger drop off area, and more Community Gathering space is personally my favorite addition is going to be the new real time display. So, you know just how fast you have to run to catch your next train. So thank you, everyone on the bar team. I just want to shout out in particular, Nicole Franklin, tim chan, molly burke, mike wong, giovanni nebty and hongmei. I know we have a whole team of folks here as well. Im honestly just the one who gets to swoop in at the end of all the work and maybe hold some big scissors in a moment and cut some ribbons. But so many of you have been with this project through its years long journey, believed in the project, and always believed we could do more and do better. So thank you. Thank you so much. In the city of San Francisco, there is no greater advocate for Affordable Housing than our mayor. London breed. During her administration. She has prioritized policies and programs to address some of the most crucial issues facing San Francisco include workforce development, transportation and, of course, Affordable Housing. Please welcome and help me welcome 45th mayor of the city and county of San Francisco. Mayor london breed. Thank you, marsha. Its so great to be here. Finally at this project which every one has said everything that needed to be said. And so im just the closer to the food. Thank you all so much for being here. And let me just say that housing is finally, finally, finally take taking off in our city. It is taking off of significant proportion because we have courageous leaders like state senator scott wiener, who is putting himself on the line every single day with the kinds of housing policies that honestly should be happening here locally. Housing policies like sb 35 housing policies like sb 432 for three to will be a game changer for San Francisco as it relates to housing. Why is this so important . Well ill give you a perfect example. Projects like park merced was approved even before i was on the board of supervisor powers and is still not moving forward. San francisco has over 50,000 units in the pipeline line to be built, and many of those have not even Broken Ground and its why people are so happy to be here today to celebrate something that would have been delayed, delayed, delayed, especially if it went through our normal processes here in San Francisco. It would have been delayed, but it was not denied. And i am so excited that we have 131 units of housing where families are moving in and are living here and will be able to have a safe and affordable place to call home. This is how we should be doing every project in San Francisco when we have these Great Partnerships with the bart and with the state and other financing from the state. Thank you so much, fiona mar, for being here and the work that you provided in terms of tax credits and other relief, because cause we know that it does take a village, it does take us putting all the resources together to get to this point. We wish we could make this happen here locally without state intervention, but alas, that has not been the case. And so what will be happening in the future here with the Housing Element of 82,000 units that are required for San Francisco to build in the next eight years, and with my housing plan, my hope is that the board of supervisors will stop playing games with housing policies and pass very important legislation that are small steps towards getting us to the right direction with Housing Production, we cant just show up to Ribbon Cuttings and make declarations and claim that these projects are important without out making the hard decision to pass the kinds of policies necessary to get us here. Peoples lives are depending on it. Folks who are struggling on our streets depend on it. People who need housing in this city are depending on it. And im looking forward to doing more than projects like this to deliver for San Francisco. We have the makings to do it. We have the strong support from the state to do it. We have the exciting moment and the momentum and we have extra ordinary, extraordinary Party Leaders like Mission Housing and related who are willing to work with community to deliver what the Community Wants to see in their neighborhood. And i want to take us back to neighborhood preference. Im so proud of the work that i did to get neighborhood preference passed in San Francisco when i served on the board of supervisors making sure that when we build housing, that the people who live in the Community City have right of first refusal to get access to that housing. This is housing ing done right. This is housing of the future for San Francisco. And this is why im so excited to be here to celebrate this extraordinary milestone. And not to mention access to public transport nation in this way where you can just walk, get on the bus, get on bart, get on whatever, and get anywhere in San Francisco building housing, close to transit corridors is also critically important to ensuring the success of housing and transportation and our Networks Overall in our city. So im excited to be here. Im grateful and looking forward to seeing more families move into this project. And im looking forward to seeing San Francisco doing projects like this, uh, on a regular basis with not only the financial resources, but the political will to change the policies, to be courageous and to get things going. The momentum is on our side for housing. Finally, in San Francisco. And this is a great example of that. Thank you all so much. For starting with my five, four, three, two, one. Yeah. When i first started painting it was difficult to get my foot in the door and contractors and mostly men would have a bad attitude towards me or not want to answer my questions or not include me and after you prove yourself, which i have done, i dont face that obstacle as much anymore. My name is nita riccardi, im a painter for the city of San Francisco and i have my own business as a Painting Contractor since 1994 called winning colors. My mother was kind of resistant. None of my brothers were painter. I went to college to be a chiropractor and i couldnt imagine being in an office all day. I dropped out of college to become a painter. We have been friends for about 1520 years. We both decided that maybe i could work for her and so she hired me as a painter. She was always very kind. I wasnt actually a painter when she hired me and that was pretty cool but gave me an opportunity to learn the trade with her company. I went on to different Job Opportunities but we stayed friends. The division that i work for with San Francisco was looking for a painter and so i suggested to my supervisor maybe we can give nita a shot. The painting i do for the city is primarily maintenance painting and i take care of anything from pipes on the roof to maintaining the walls and beautifying the bathrooms and graffiti removal. The work i do for myself is different because im not actually a painter. Im a Painting Contractor which is a little different. During the construction boom in the late 80s i started doing new construction and then when i moved to San Francisco, i went to San Francisco state and became fascinated with the architecture and got my contractors licence and started painting victorians and kind of gravitated towards them. My first project that i did was a 92 room here in the mission. It was the first sro. Im proud of that and it was challenging because it was occupied and i got interior and exterior and i thought it would take about six weeks to do it and it took me a whole year. Nita makes the city more beautiful and one of the things that makes her such a great contractor, she has a magical touch around looking at a project and bringing it to its fullest fruition. Sometimes her ideas to me might seem a little whacky. I might be like that is a little crazy. But if you just let her do her thing, she is going to do something incredible, something amazing and that will have a lot of pop in it. And shes really talented at that. Ultimately it depends on what the customer wants. Sometimes they just want to be understated or blend in and other times they let me decide and then all the doors are open and they want me to create. They hire me to do something beautiful and i do. And thats when work is really fun. I get to be creative and express what i want. Paint a really happy house or something elegant or dignified. Its really cool to watch what she does. Not only that, coming up as a woman, you know what i mean, and were going back to the 80s with it. Where the world wasnt so liberal. It was tough, especially being lgbtq, right, she had a lot of friction amongst trades and a lot of people werent nice to her, a lot of people didnt give her her due respect. And one of the things amazing about nita, she would never quit. After you prove yourself, which i have done, i dont face that obstacle as much anymore. Id like to be a mentor to other women also. I have always wanted to do that. They may not want to go to school but theres other options. Theres trades. I encourage women to apply for my company, id be willing to train and happy to do that. Theres a shortage of other women painters. For any women who want to get into a trade or painting career, just start with an apprenticeship or if you want to do your own business, you have to get involved and find a mentor and surround yourself with other people that are going to encourage you to move forward and inspire you and support you and you cant give up. Weve had a lot of history, nita and i. Weve been friends and we have been enemies and weve had conflicts and we always gravitate towards each other with a sense of loyalty that maybe family would have. We just care about each other. Many of the street corners in all the districts in San Francisco, there will be a painting job i have completed and it will be a beautiful paint job. It will be smooth and gold leaf and just wow. And you cant put it down. When i first started, it was hard to get employees to listen to me and go along but now, i have a lot of respect. I general meeting of the San Francisco police commission. Before we get started, i just wanted to acknowledge the untimely passing of christopher shea. Christopher shea was an attorney who appeared before the commission and represented officers before the commission and represented them zealously and demonstrated