out the mayo the mayor of san francisco. give him a round of applause, because he deserves it. [applause] for the last seven years, he has been a steward of this city, helping us to overcome many of the challenges that we have faced, as you will hear throughout the program. part of what makes today so sweet is it was not easy to get here. it was really hard. there were a lot of bumps on the road to this fantastic moment, many things we could not have anticipated, many things we did not know. throughout it, the mayor has always supported it, help us to solve the problems we face. i think the biggest part of the to be to him is the fact that this is the first leed building the environmental certification the first leed hospital in california to be built. i think that really speaks to his commitment to environmental issues at a time, 12 years ago, when it was not so popular, and it seemed like a quixotic kind of adventure to be talking about it. he said it was real. he was
voted for this, or one of our wonderful residents who has been a volunteer here. all of you had a role in creating that facility we are so proud of. with that, i would like to bring out the mayo the mayor of san francisco. give him a round of applause, because he deserves it. [applause] for the last seven years, he has been a steward of this city, helping us to overcome many of the challenges that we have faced, as you will hear throughout the program. part of what makes today so sweet is it was not easy to get here. it was really hard. there were a lot of bumps on the road to this fantastic moment, many things we could not have anticipated, many things we did not know. throughout it, the mayor has always supported it, help us to solve the problems we face. i think the biggest part of the to be to him is the fact that this is the first leed building the environmental certification the first leed hospital in california to be built. i think that really speaks to his commi
health care center with great grace. thank you again. to the great city family, to the board of supervisors, to my colleagues in the state legislature,, it is a thrill to be with you. to. cutler, who is here representing the wonderful residence. we are thrilled you have this beautiful home in which to live. this is really full circle. laguna honda was first challenged because it was seismically unsafe. it was the unchallenged because it had 30 person wards, and that was unacceptable. and so the work again. we said yes we can, and now we say yes we did. we transform laguna honda into a remarkable long-term care facility for the residents of this great city. i was really privileged to be able to carry legislation. it was not easy, but we did come up with 200 million more dollars to put into this facility. your heart will skip a beat just like mine did when i walked into that building and saw the extraordinary are work that will live on in this building forever and that will b
crime rates have gone up. when you think about the cost to our society and every person that lives in our society. it becomes very clear that we have no option but to act and act now. i am hoping that you will be motivated to get involved in non ordinary justice. we have yet to live up to that promise. i look forward to working with all of you call ever to pla. we invite you to stay with us. we look forward to continuing this dialogue in the future. thank you very much. good afternoon, everyone. if you would take your seats for this incredibly happy occasion. i am the director of the san francisco department of public health, and i want you to think back 13 years, because that is when i began. and when i started, the very first crisis i had to deal with is what shall we do about the laguna honda hospital. it has always been known for the incredible care, the loving nurses, the fantastic physicians, the energetic volunteers, the courage of our residents, for all of the thi
health care, regardless of pre- existing conditions, regardless of your ability to pay? dr. mitch kastz has been the architect of all of this. thank you for your leadership. there is the old play towline that if there is any hope for the future of those with lanterns will pass them on to others. let me talk about those that carry bright lights, that pass those lanterns on to others. many of them you will hear in just a moment, because they are appropriately on stage and will be recognized for their own work. one is the former mayor, willie gramm, who deserves a tremendous amount of credit for envisioning the bonds that brought us here. i want to thank in particular the leadership of the city attorney, who in some ways is responsible for us being here because she created that impetus to initiate a federal lawsuit against a tobacco company back when few people thought there was any hope and that there should not be much expectation of success. she carried that torch. she succee