>> okay. wasn't that great? [applause] >> i'm going to welcome amy lozardo back to the stage, but we need you to sing along as loud as you can. [singing "here comes santa claus"] ["you're a mean one, mr. grinch" playing] [applause] >> gimme that, and thank you for singing my song. and san francisco, could you pipe down? i'm trying to wallow in self-pity here. >> hold on. you're not santa klaus. >> oh, you wanted him? you guys don't like santa claus, do you? [applause] >> santa claus, boo! boo! [applause] >> well, what's to like about him? oh, i know. do you like santa claus because he gives you presents? you do? well, i brought you some presents. >> oh, you have presents? >> i do. >> maybe you are santa claus. oh, no. unrecyclable plastic. no. no, you're definitely not santa claus. >> you can say that again. >> well, i have an idea again. >> what? >> if you can just be quiet for a second. hey, kids, i think we can get rid of the grinch if you can do one thing for me. if we start chanting santa's name, maybe we can get rid of the grinch? >> no. [chanting "santa"] >> ho, ho, ho. >> i think i hear him. >> ho, ho, ho. [chanting "santa"] >> it's santa claus, everybody. >> oh, great. >> there he is. your cheering worked. thanks, kids. it's santa claus! [applause] >> merry christmas, boys and girls! >> yea! merry christmas, santa! >> is that the grinch? oh, grinch. >> that's my name. say it, don't spray it. >> are you harassing the children? >> well, no, we were just having fun till you got here? >> well, boys and girls, don't worry, grinch, i have something very special that may change your mind about christmas. >> i doubt it. >> i have something very special. it's a present, because i know when you share presents, you always have a good heart. and i know you have a good heart, too, grinch. >> oh, take that back. >> well, here it is. >> there's nothing you can give me -- >> here you go. >> is that really for me? >> it's a present made by the elves. >> oh, how sweet. >> oh, don't cry, grinchy. >> well, what do you say, grinch? >> oh, oh, i love it. >> can we all wish everyone a big merry christmas? >> this is one. merry christmas. >> oh, ho, ho. that feels like christmas to me. >> well, i don't have any bear food. what am i going to feed this thing? >> hey, i've got an idea. it looks like you both have really warmed your hearts. i think the grinch has turned a new corner. what do you think, kids? isn't he so sweet, so cute and nice? but santa, i know what really would set this night off. should we light this christmas tree? >> oh, that would be good. boys and girls, are you ready to light the christmas tree? >> that's wonderful. i'm so excited. at this point, san francisco, i would like to welcome to the stage some very special people from the mayor's office who helped make this entire event possible. so please, join me in welcoming naomi kelly, phil ginsburg, breanna torres, and mayor london breed to the stage. [applause] >> welcome, welcome, welcome, one and all. >> the hon. london breed: hello, everyone. welcome to the front yard of city hall, and happy holidays to each and every one of you. make sure that you come back on december 9, sunday. we're going to be having so much fun. a lot of face painting activities and fun things for the whole family. hi, everybody! are you guys ready to light this christmas tree? >> let's do it, boys and girls. >> the hon. london breed: have you guys been naughty or nice? okay. presents for everybody. hi, mr. grinch. >> hi, mrs. mayor. >> the hon. london breed: hi, santa. >> hi, mrs. mayor. >> the hon. london breed: i've been good this year. >> don't worry. we have a very special gift for you, too. >> the hon. london breed: all right. come on over, everybody. can you help me count? okay. we're going to start with ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, everyone. happy holidays. >> merry christmas, boys and girls. thank you for coming out today. >> this has been a dream in the making, especially for our general manager, for many, many years, to be able to allow residents of the tenderloin and western addition to be able to walk and skate at civic center plaza and experience a little slice of an east coast winter. >> it truly was a one-of-a-kind collaboration between willie b. productions and the city departments. he said i want to challenge you to come up with something bigger and more fun, and something in such a historic location right here, right in front of city hall. this is amazing. >> we starting off by leveling the entire plaza. it was about a two-week process to get the area brought up to a dead level because the ice risk itself is not tolerant of any change in slope, because the water would build up at one end. then, we brought in these refrigeration panels that we can circulate a brine solution in to bring the solution down to colder than 32°, and then, start spraying water on it, which, for the last two days, nature has taken care of that for us. and then freeze it, and it becomes ice that you can skate it. >> as you can see, the ice is about an inch thick, and it'll get up to 1.5 inches thick. with that, we can control the ice. most people that do outdoor skating rinks make a big sand box, and they lay these tubes in it, cover it with sand, and then, the ice gets to be about 6 inches thick or 8 inches thick. well, with that thick, you're not going to control the surface. it gets wet with the sun. that makes it unique with our 1.5 inch thick ice, with the panels. >> this year, we're bringing a unique feature to san francisco. it's a skate track that runs down through the trees. it's over 400 feet of track. this is sort of models after -- modelled after the city hall in austria. you can make a narrow skating path and get that experience. >> what we are doing is working with the san francisco unified school district to bring any kids who go to school in the tenderloin to skate here for free. the operators have been wonderful in making that possible, and we have been -- we, the recreation and parks department, have been the people connecting schools to this ice rink. >> there has to be well over 100 people that have either been married or proposed to on the ice. in fact, they have this club that gets together once a year, and they go down to john's grill, and they celebrate and drink and eat and dine, sometimes before, sometimes after skating. they go to union square, and they relive those magical moments all once again. so who knows, with city hall being right here, we could see an increase in proposal and marriages on the ice. i don't know, but i've been on it. it's not just about you coming and getting on the ice, it's about you coming and skating successfully, skating safely, and creating those holiday magical >> you guys ready to light a tree? it's that time. all right. so good evening, everyone. my name's phil ginsburg. i'm the executive director of your san francisco rec and parks department, and i want to welcome you to the 89th, let me repeat that, 89th annual tree lighting right here at mclaren lodge. so let's start with a big round of applause for the young teen people musical company, and its director, on their recent first place win at san francisco's youth arts summit. they are an amazing, amazing organization, and i'm particularly grateful for the hanukkah song. so i'm so honored to be joined tonight by our amazing mayor, london breed. [applause] >> and our rec and park commission president, mark buell. [applause] >> and so i want to start by acknowledging all of the special people who are here with us tonight. these are folks that make this event happen that makes your parks the best park system in the united states, so they deserve some acknowledgement. let me start with senator -- state senator scott wiener, who's here. state assembly man phil ting. city college -- they're on their way. if not, they should be behind me. city board of trusties, john rizzo, chanel. on their way are trent rohrer, and the department of environment deputy chief jennifer katz, and a very special shoutout to a person who's come to every tree lighting since i've been general manager, but this is her last tree lighting at our fire chief, a big, big, big round of applause for our fire chief, joanne hayes-white. [applause] >> our amazing rec and park commission. i mentioned our president, mark buell. also here are commissioner cat anderson, gloria bonilla, tom anderson, eric mcdonald, and commissioner larry mazzola. i want to thank them. they -- the citizen members of the park recreation open space advisory committee. they help you make our park special. our president, stephen franz is here. i want to thank our amazing partners who make this possible. supporting us today is kaiser permanently, illuminate, our conservatory of flowers. all right. let tease talk about the tree we're supposed to light. mayor, we've been liethsing tre -- lighting trees around the city, but this is our official industry. this is a cypress that's over 131 years old, and despite losing a limb or two over the years, it stands super tall and super strong, and tonight, it's supporting over 550 lights. let's give it up for uncle john's tree. [applause] >> and then a few special people. i want to welcome the boys and girls for hamilton recreation center, who are here. let's give it up for hamilton rec. [applause] >> and none of this would be possibly without the hardest group of city employees. all my respect to our amazing department heads. madam mayor, your san francisco rec and parks department putting this on and they're amazing. i also want to give a big shout out to our tree toppers, all of our struck ral staff and deputy maintenance staff who make this possible. let's give it up for the rec and parks staff. [applause] >> we have the holiday train that is just over to my right that has been painted every year for decades and decades, and the last several decades, by our painting supervisor, joe padilla. the theme of tonight's event is world peace. may tonight's tree lighting shine a bright light in all corners of the world and provide peace to those in need. and speaking of peace, leading the way and bringing peace to our amazing city, please give a warm welcome to our mayor, who's going to light tonight's tree, mayor london breed. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, phil ginsburg, and the folks at the rec and parks department for keeping our parks green and beautiful. thank you all so much for being here tonight. when i was a kid, i would get my toys from station five, the firefighters. thank you, chief hayes-white and the firefighters spags tiev fire department. i used to go down to the emporium cat well. you remember the emporium cat well? tonight, as we light this tree, we are creating memories for the next generation of young people growing up in san francisco. it's something that i'm so excited about, and in fact, at city hall, in our front yard at civic center, we have an ice skating rink. we have incredible, beautiful playgrounds and activities and things for kids to do during the holiday season. this sunday, i hope you consider joining me in city hall. we'll have santa and face painters and hot chocolate and cookies, things that help create tomorrow's memories. so i want to thank all of you for being here tonight, and i want to ask for some assistance in lighting this tree. you guys want to help me out? come on over. come on, help me out. all right. you guys excited? you want to count with me? going to hold the switch? all right. here we go. ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] >> the hon. london breed: magic! thank you, ladies and gentlemen and happy holidays. [cheers and >> everything is done in-house. i think it is done. i have always been passionate about gelato. every single slaver has its own recipe. we have our own -- we move on from there. so you have every time a unique experience because that slaver is the flavored we want to make. union street is unique because of the neighbors and the location itself. the people that live around here i love to see when the street is full of people. it is a little bit of italy that is happening around you can walk around and enjoy shopping with gelato in your hand. this is the move we are happy to provide to the people. i always love union street because it's not like another commercial street where you have big chains. here you have the neighbors. there is a lot of stories and the neighborhoods are essential. people have -- they enjoy having their daily or weekly gelato. i love this street itself. >> we created a move of an area where we will be visiting. we want to make sure that the area has the gelato that you like. what we give back as a shop owner is creating an ambient lifestyle. if you do it in your area and if you like it, then you can do it on the streets you like. >> a big warm welcome, as you are all here and gathered to the grand reopening and rededication ceremony for 1750 mcallister. i want to kick things off by introducing our chief executive officer, gail gilman. [applause] >> thank you. i want to thank all of you for being with us here today. today is a historic moment for community housing partnerships, as we have completed rehabilitation of the units here , and seventh -- at 1750 mcallister. so many people helped bring this project together. by the people i want to thank first and foremost are the residents of 1750 mcallister. [cheers and applause] >> for your patience, for your diligence for keeping us on our toes to make sure that we provided you a home that had your thoughts, your amenities, and what you thought would make a great home for you. i also want to thank the western edition community that welcomed community housing partnership into its arms. we have a property at frederick were -- roderick and scott that we have been operating for over nine minutes -- nine years. we are so happy to add this to our portfolio. want to thank a couple of other people before we get the program started. i want to thank all the staff at community housing partnership who worked on this, the mayor's housing of community development , the housing authority, bank of america who underwrote this poke -- program, the design partners, fine line construction, who worked very hard to mitigate construction, armando, i also want to thank david and amy, former staff of community housing partnership for all of their work. [applause] >> i will be speaking a little later about why today is also important for other reasons, but it is my great privilege and honor to introduce someone who everyone in this room knows, and i believe loves and two understands what the value of a safe and stable home can do for your life. it is my honor to introduce the honorable mayor london breed. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. i'm so excited to be here today and i'm excited because we are doing exactly what our late mayor talked about, fulfilling all promises made to members of our community for so many years. i grew up just down the street in plaza east. many of you knew i grew up in public housing under some of the most challenging of circumstances, but also some of the most terrible conditions. reverend brown, you remember, plaza east, reverend davis who baptized me, and reverend townsend from when you both were at first union baptist church. many of the people that i grew up with went to your churches in the community, where we were dealing with not just just worship services, boulevard too many funerals. from lives lost, from hopelessness, from frustration, from despair, so my life's work of working with the community for so many years had everything to do with changing what was normal for us, and opening the doors to opportunity. so when i had an opportunity to serve on the board of supervisors, and i met with mayor ed lee, and we talked about what my priorities would be as a supervisor, i said to him, he said what is your top three? and i said public housing, public housing, public housing. as we move the city forward in so many people enjoy the prosperity of what has developed over the years with the tech industry and all of these great things that san francisco has to offer, we can't continue to leave our residence behind. the conditions that have existed since i lived there, the mould, the busted pipes, the messed up bathroom, the roaches, when you have had to live like that for over 20 years of your life, there is nothing that will be more important to you then changing the conditions of people who still, unfortunately, have to live like that. i want to thank the mayor ed lee for supporting what i cared about, for helping to work with the mayor's office of housing housing at the time, under his direction and now under the direction of of kate harley to bring r.a.d. to the community. we all know it was not easy. we had many meetings in this exact room where people were not necessarily comfortable, and that is why i and supervisor vallie brown showed up to those meetings to talk to the community and to hear the concerns, and to make sure that you knew your rent would not be impacted. we temporarily had to do rehabilitation and you may be moved here or there, but ultimately, what happened to us in plaza east where they tore down 300 units and only built 200, there was no way we were going to let that happen to any other resident in san francisco, not as long as i had the ability to work in a leadership role, and to make that a reality. so i am so happy to be here today. ninety-seven units completely rehabilitated. [applause] >> thanks do not just working with the residence and working with community housing partnership in working with the san francisco housing authority and working with the mayor's office of housing, it was working with the entire western edition community because i wanted to make sure that they were actively engaged, whether they lived in public housing or not to, and people were actively engaged in this process. so we could protect one another, and we did just that. i can't even believe how great this room looks right now compared to what it looks like before. and i'm so happy about the courtyard and the chairs and the paint on the walls and this bookshelf thing over here. it is absolutely amazing. part of what we also have to do is support our community, especially our senior community. we have to make sure they have what they need in terms of services and support, so this partnership with r.a.d. is just amazing, and i'm so grateful for all of those involved, including bank of america for underwriting the expenses associated with this major undertaking. but also this was community, and it involved someone from the community who was just a blessing to our community. this building is dedicated in honor of the late rachel townsend, a community advocate, the daughter of reverend arnold townsend who is also an amazing community advocate, someone who worked her butt off for this community. i mean the june festival would not have even happens happened all of those years ago. [applause] >> all of those years, had it not been for rachel townsend. the work that she did to not only support the community, but when her father was sick, she was right there helping to care for him, and looking out for him and others in the community. she was one of the sweetest people you would ever want to meet, and the only problem was, she never said no to anybody. she never said no. can you do this, rachel? yes. >> can you do this, rachel? what time is it? she was there for so many of us in this community and it is such an honor to choose to name such an amazing place that represents fulfilling a promise to this community. it really means a lot to reverend townsend back to all of us here in the western edition community. especially many of us who have grown up here and worked here, to dedicate this building in her honor. so with that, i would like to say thank you to everyone involved. thank you to so many amazing people. thank you to the residents for your patience through this process, and for trusting us to do what we needed to do to make sure that your lives are better for it. this is an amazing community, and i'm honored that i had an opportunity to participate in a small part of making this possible. thank you everyone for being here. [applause] >> another speaker i would like to welcome is a district five supervisor, vallie brown. supervisor brown has a long history advocating for residents in affordable housing in san francisco. we are thrilled she could join us today and celebrate the rehabilitation in a building in her backyard. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, and thank you mayor breed. it reminds me when we met over 15 years ago what really made us bond was housing security, with how she groped us grew up and what happened to her family when they rebuilt plaza east, and people didn't have a place to come back to. and my experience of never really having a stable home growing up and being evicted and living in all kinds of alternatives, that you really think about stable housing, and stable housing for your loved ones, and your community, and i was here 11 years ago in a neighborhood and a resident meeting. people were talking about the things that they would like to see and their issues. i remember going into one of the units and there was some issues, but then i also -- when we came back with mayor breed, supervisor breed at the time, and talking to residents about what they would like to see, and they were very honest with us and sometimes brutally honest with us. which i personally love. and now to come back and see it like this back and talk to people like robert who had, if you don't mind, he was homeless for 25 years before you came in here. i mean, this is why we do this work. this is why we get up in the morning. we get beat up all the time for the things that we do. but we want to make sure that we have places for people like robert and others to come to and to live and to be stable. when you are a senior, you are disabled to, this city is cruel, and it is hard. and so we need places like this and other affordable housing, and i am dedicated to make sure that we have affordable housing, and preserve affordable housing so people can stay in place, and people like robert have a place. it is so important. i definitely want to talk about rachel townsend. 1212 words to describe rachel. both of them start with a.c. cowgirl, and community. those two words. if anyone knew rachel, she loved horses. she loved the community, and sometimes she was able to put those together. like when we had the black cowboys. it was amazing. and she would teach kids how to ride to. she would teach kids, city kids that had never been around a horse their whole life that they didn't have to be afraid. that these magnificent beasts could actually be their friend, and she was pretty amazing. i had worked with her for years, and believe me, ripped -- rachel and i would sometimes go out. yes, she always said yes, but she always stood her ground. because that's who she was. she knew herself. she knew her community, and i always respected her for that. the last conversation i had with rachel we were talking about housing. rachel -- this was her community but guess what? she didn't live here. she was pushed out of san francisco because she couldn't afford it. we talked about her getting into the affordable housing pipeline and how to do that. she did not make -- it cost -- you have to make, as a single person, $47,600 a year to qualify for our affordable housing. she worried about that because she worked all kinds of jobs to support herself. i remember having the biggest fight with her and saying, you need to apply, just applied. we will figure it out. and now that there is actually a place, a home named after her, it is kind of ironic that she didn't have a home here. yes. so today, in memory of rachel townsend his, i'm happy that we are dedicating this beautiful building for everybody else who is vulnerable just like rachel, and i want to thank dale gilman who came up and really said, hey , we have an idea. reverend townsend saying yes, i love your idea, and rachel's mother and her newfound sister that she never knew. thank you, everyone, for making this happen, and thank you for the community that would come here and take time out of your day. rachel would be so happy to look around and see all of you and that you came here. i know a lot of you came here today for what she stood for. she stood for community, and that was her number 1 thing. so thank you everyone. i will give it back to gail. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone and thank you for being here today. my name is daniel potter and i'm the project manager and i have been working on this building for the last year and a half. one of my favorite parts of my job is working with incredible funders who came together to make this project possible. and now i have the great pleasure of introducing heidi with bank of america kirk bank of america has been an incredible funding partner and we could not have done it without them. please welcome heidi. [applause] >> hello. good afternoon everyone. a tremendous thank you to all of our distinguished guests. mayor breed, supervisor brown, and the four most all of the residents of 1750 mcallister. i am honored to be here representing over 4,000 teammates in san francisco and the east bay and it means so much to us because this is where we started as a little pipsqueak bank, called bank of italy and founded by italian immigrants, and it really was about making sure we helped banks -- help bank the underserved. the minorities, the women, those who were not part of the mainstream. over 100 years, we have been with the city through good and bad. when we had a mayor and a supervisor who were this passionate about public housing, and came to us with this radical idea, and the bank stepped up big time because it was a passion project. it wasn't just about making the numbers work. it was about truly investing in the community. what i'm so proud to share with all of you is everybody here knows that west coast is the best coast and san francisco is its crown jewel. but for us a bank of america, investing in our community development banking. 4.5 billion across the country. but wait, 2.2 billion here in san francisco. so i am proud to share that. with all of you. but those are ultimately just numbers and it is really about the people here at 1750 mcallister, at over 29 properties across the state -- across the city through s.f. r.a.d. and what it means to us to be part of the community in partnership with the mayor touch office of housing and community development, all of our partners , but ultimately we are proud of who we are and who we had the opportunity to be in partnership with the city and the county of san francisco. thank you and congratulations. i got to hear from several of the residence. one complaint about noise, too many dogs, too many music that i said you know what? that is a great problem to have when it is in urine new community. congratulations to everybody and thank you for being -- allowing us to be part of it today. [applause] >> okay. one of my other favorite parts of working on this project has been building relationships with the amazing residents in this building, and today we are lucky -- lucky enough to have one of those residents with us. robert matheson has been in the building for the last 11 years, and i have really enjoyed getting to work with him and the other residents. they have really taught me so much. i would like to welcome up robert to say a few words about the transformation the building has undergone. [applause] >> mayor breed, and other honored guests, welcome to our newly renovated home. i can't speak for other residents of 1750 mcallister, however, i can articulate the importance of a clean, safe living environment. as a disabled man who pulled himself out of the gutter of over 25 years of chronic homelessness, i can say that community housing partnership proved to me that if you have hope, you are never a lost cause community housing partnership, and in particular, the staff of 1750 mcallister, replaced fear of the san francisco housing authority with respecting -- respect and kindness that everyone deserves no matter how low our society -- on society's totem pole you are. i have come from the dangerous halls of new york city's seltzer -- shelter system where predators roam, to a home that uplifted my formerly low self self-esteem to a new beginning where i can strive to achieve a high school diploma as a student at the adult wording editorial centre on community college of cisco. [cheers and applause] >> thank you community housing partnership for letting me know i was never a lost cause because you gave me hope for a brighter future in my wonderfully renovated home on the tenth floor of 1750 mcallister. [applause] thank you. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> so we have one speaker left who i have the honor to introduce. before i do that, i want to actually, the community has been spoken about a lot today. we are all interconnected. where i was born and lived the first ten years of my life, in the bronx, i played at the same part that robert walked his dog. that to me is interconnectedness. as most of you know, i grew up in affordable housing in new york city and finding stable places to live, and even when i moved here in 1994 give me the opportunity to go to college and go to school and have this incredible honor to lead this organization that is changing the lives of so many people. one person to change my life when i first got here, and who i've known over a decade was reverend arnold townsend. i am -- yes. [applause] i am actually deeply embarrassed to say that i actually never met rachel. my own interaction was through facebook posts from reverend townsend to, our lunches spoke of her, so i never had the honor by reverend townsend helps community housing partnership gain community acceptance for the first 100% supportive housing ever to be cited. we now call hayes vallie. dr raine and julian richardson of apartments which opened in 2011. he helped us with rents when we decided to bid on that project and he rallied the western addition community around this little nonprofit that was known to only mostly working in the tenderloin and building housing for formerly homeless individuals and families. he made me always come out to the fillmore street to see him and we would have lunch. i'm so deeply honored that i have the ability, the foresight, and have this opportunity to dedicate this building after reverend arnold townsend's daughter, rachel townsend. i am so honored that this man is in my life. let's welcome reverend townsend. [cheers and applause] >> thank you first of all, let me apologize. i thought i would be better and look tougher today, and would not be shutting so many tears. don't misunderstand, i'm still tough. [laughter] don't be trying to take liberties when we get out of here. but this is just overwhelming. it is amazing to me. let me do this right first of all. to our honorable and esteemed manner, i don't think i need to do for her going into what i feel about her, number 1 is a person, and as my friend. let me tell you, if you don't know, everything she says about caring for people, she absolutely means. i'm sorry. let me put it this way. when our former mayor, willie brown received a metal, i was in san antonio. one of the high points of my year every year is i go to the naacp convention, and i would recommend everyone in this room, no matter what color you are a, religion or anything else, you ought to see one of those conventions before you die. if you do if you haven't seen much like it here thousands of african-american folk are there and it is a working convention. they get things done. and prepare for the work in the coming years. please think about that. but i was there in san antonio when he got the award. former president clinton introduced him, and then the mayor spoke as he does. after he got through, and he delivered was the entertainment, and in his performance, he said i know it is hard for me, i will try to make it quick as possible , because you are last on the program, i know that all of you really want me to do is hurry up. so i will try my best to hurry up. so eddie does his set of his music, and as he was getting ready to go into that, he explained how both of his sons passed within 18 months of each other, and he said something that helped me process of verbally what you are feeling in a situation with the loss of a child. he said, every time it comes up, whether it just comes in your mind, or people bring it up, and people can bring it up -- you can bring her up to me anytime you want to, i understand, we are all processing. but he said, every time it comes up, the wound reopens, and every time the wound opens, it bleeds. and that is the perfect description of what so many of us in this room are feeling. let me just make some real quick introductions. if i don't get to everybody, i know you were important to rachel, and you know you were. like i said, they want me to hurry up. the first of all, let me introduce rachel's mom. she is here. susan hayes smith. [applause] >> whatever i did to help make rachel who she was, she did more , because she put up with her every day, and when she wasn't with me. and mark, her oldest brother, mark hayes sitting next to his mom. [applause] >> he laughed because he knows what rachel was like. she wouldn't ask all of you all. [laughter] >> the rest of us in the family, i told a young man once he said he was interested in my daughter , i said well that's all i will tell you. if you are going to holler at rachel, i can tell you what they tell the boxers when the fight starts. protect yourself at all times. i love her, but i wouldn't date her. [laughter] >> that's just who she was. and then let me say, dell was here somewhere. another brother and there are others that couldn't make it today. some of rachel's dear friends, her pastor, reverend davis is here. our pastor is here. also, vallie brown already started it, let me introduce again rachel's sister that she never met, natalie douglas. [applause] >> whenever you are in new york or anywhere, checked the entertainment book or go on her page. she is quite a singer. she is professionally a jazz singer, but we found out on sunday she don't do bad with gospel either. [laughter] >> she sang at our church on sunday before our priest. my dear friend, in one of my best friends in the world, brenda jackson is here. [applause] >> billy joel, natalie's husband , wave your hand. i have a new son out of the process as well as a doctor. one of rachel's other brothers, corey jackson is also here. he has got my new grandbaby, emma rose in his hands. and nadia is down there on the floor. she is the big girl. and so many of you others who are here. i see friends go back. i saw tim and bill, thurman white, our friend thurman had to watch what boys. rachel was in between them age wise. they used to play together when they were little. there's just some wonderful associations here. i wish i had time to -- oh, i have to introduce a k. raise your hands. there used to be three girls -- when they were in oakland, they handled it. and it was rachel, a.k.a., and masako. she could not make it today because she could not get off work. those three have been together since the second grade, and they all calmly pops. they have all left me in taking care of me right after rachel passed. they picked me up and took me to dinner and just loved on me for a while. and the really exciting thing is when they were starting in second grade until the fifth, i was a designated field trip parent, if you can imagine that. everyone entrusted their kids with me, and i did grab a little boy by the neck one day and thought i was ready to get prosecuted but i'm old school. anyway, let me just do this real quick. when we did a summer program for london, we were supposed to have 35 children and we ended up with 150. that meant me and reverend davis had to be there every day. that was not how he planned to spend our summer. when they would asked me what i was teaching in the program, i would say, i teach boy, girl, sit down and hash 101. [laughter] >> let me say this. if you can't do it, find somebody who can,

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