Ladies and gentlemen, friends, distinguished stakeholders, welcome to this historic sunnydale classic groundbreaking. [applause] we are honored to bring up our most distinguished guest, the leader of the city and county of franchise, please give a warm welcome to mayor london breed. [applause] mayor good afternoon, sunnydale are you here . [laughter] mayor all right. Im excited to be here today. I feel like i spend a lot of time here doing some amazing things. We know this is a long time coming. And, in fact, i keep going back every time we come to any of our Public Housing locations i continue to go back to when i grew up in the Western Addition in plaza east, and there were 300 units there that were torn down and only 200 built. And all over the city, we brought forth a program, through the federal government, called hope fix. You remember hope fix ran out of money, ran out of resources. And the people who were promised in places like sunnydale and all over the city, there was no support from the federal government to do that. And so at that time, gaff gavin newsom was governor, and they created hope s. F. , and they were coming up with Creative Solutions and saying, you know what, we made a commitment. We need to follow through and we need to get this done for the residents of sunnydale and batrail, and any other Public Housing that exists in San Francisco. Today is a day were breaking ground on 126 units, and we would think that would be easy, but it hasnt been easy. And it took not only the community and the trust from the community to make this happen, it also took the resources, the process and dont get me started with the bureaucracy and the drama that exists with City Government with trying to get an amazing project like this done. And so im really happy to be here today because it definitely took a village. But it is not just about rehabilitating or redoing or rebuilding the homes that people live in. It is about investing in this community. And looking at the fact that for so many decades, Public Housing residents have been treated, honestly, like secondclass citizens in San Francisco, and not been provided with the resources that are necessary to make sure that as families grow in these communities, they thrive. Just think about it. Thank you, Phil Ginsburg burg, it looks beautiful over there. A safe, great place for people to swim. And part of this project, and what i am most excited about is boys and girls clubs, working with the developers, related and mercy housing, and theyre not going to just help build a new place that will serve this community and serve families in this community with child care, basketball court, tutoring places and other things that are needed, they are investing their time in raising the dollars necessary to get this job done and do it right for the residents of sunnydale. And so we have come a long way, folks. I know it took almost supervisor cohens entire term to get here, but we are here, and im optimistic about the future. Earlier this year, when i held my budget announcement right here, in sunnydale, in this location, i made a commitment to make sure that this community is not forgotten, and that we fulfill the promises that we made to not only redevelop it and provide unit opportunities, but one for one replacement, look at opportunities for people hoorays their kids, and their kids to have access to the Affordable Housing in their communities. Making sure were providing and bringing the resources, and, in fact, coming up soon in the next month, there will be a job fair and other things that many of the young people have expressed that they want in this community on a more consistent basis. So weve got a lot of catching up to do. But it starts with so many of the folks that you see here, who have made the commitment to continue to invest and support this amazing community. And, yes, it is hot today. So were going to try to keep these speeches short so that we can get on with the ceremony and the festivities and get on with breaking ground on what i know will be an amazing, amazing contribution to this community and the best is yet to come. All 775 units that exist in sunnydale, one of the largest developments of Public Housing in our city, will be a one for wuone replacement. The mistake that happened at plaza east will not happen here. And we will continue to do everything we can to maintain that trust, to maintain that support, to listen to this community and continue to make the investments so that this is no longer a forgotten community but a Thriving Community of families, of people who are just growing and loving one another, and really moving our city forward in a positive direction. Thank you all so much. With that you can clap. [applause] mayor and with that, like i said, the way we get housing built is people who not only care about making the money from what they are making from these projects, but what are they doing to give back . What are they doing to hire from the community . What are they doing to invest in the community so that the impacts of what they do in building these infrastuctures has a Sustainable Impact for generations to come. I have to say that mercy housing and related have been invested in raising the dollars necessary so that we can build an amazing facility that this community wants. So at this time, i want to bring up phil witty from related, and Doug Shumaker from mercy housing to say a few words. [applause] we flipped a coin, and im going first. So i want to first of all thank the mayor and all of her staff for the incredible work on this. As some of you know, this sunnydale project is an incredibly long process, longer than i think any of us would have wanted it to be. What is incredible about all of it is just elected official after elected official, you see two former supervisors here, current supervisors, past mayors just the dedication and commitment to this is unusual, i think, for anything else you see in government. It is wave after wave of people committing themselves to this. I want to do a few thank yous. We would like to thank our incredible architect, and the general contractors that are doing the work that the mayor described earlier, the commitment to hiring and making sure that folks from this Community Get good jobs and career paths. I want to thank the staff from related, theyve been our partner since the very beginning of this. Couldnt ask for better partners on this. I want to thank the staff from o. C. D. I know we are sometimes less than easy to work with. It is a passion that we care about these projects as much as you do, and i think it has been a Great Partnership over the years. I want to give thanks to all of your hard work and dedication to this alongside our staff. And i want to thank a couple of groups of folks specifically. If the folks who work on the ground here at sunnydale, whether youre from mercy housing or any other organization, could take a moment to stand up. Because this is much harder work than any of the rest of us do. And i just want to acknowledge you. [applause] [applause and cheering] i am repeatedly amazed at peoples commitment to work here and other locations like this, where it is not esee. Easy. Were not giving you the most incredible new offices to work out of. And the conditions and other issues that have come with it are tough. Im amazed by the commitment i see by the mercy staff, and i know the other staff from the boys and girls clubs and the y is equal. I want to just acknowledge that. We also have a great team of folks working on this from our development office, david fernandez, and other folks. I want to single out one person in particular, and thats rani dare. [applause and cheering] she is probably hiding, as usual. She doesnt seek the spotlight. I can tell you mercy housing and related would not be here today celebrating this moment if it were not for her and her persistence. She deserves a tremendous amount of thanksp respect for the work she has done. And i want to bring up our partner, bill witty. People often ask me, what is a forprofit develop percent doing on this project . I think bill secretly wishes he ran a nonprofit. Bill . [applause and cheering] thank you. I wont comment on the last statement. But i will tell you what you just saw, when those folks stood up, is why were here today, and why this is going to continue to be successful. Because what doug and his team at mercy have done, led by rani, is not just work on land use approvals and design and construction, but being out here with the residents, in the community, letting us know what the problems are, how we can respond, hopefully building some trust and credibility. So i also want to thank the residents for their patience, because it has been a long haul. But i hope you can see were making progress. I will tell you, i said this at a meeting in claras point last week, ive been working in and around Public Housing for 40 years. There is no mayor ive ever seen devote more attention to improving the lives of people in Public Housing than london breed. [applause and cheering] what it tells us going through these 10 years, and i was there at the beginning weve had the unwavering support of everybody who had an influence here. Supervisor calia, currently supervisor walton, and were blessed, as San Francisco is, with the leaders in Affordable Housing in the state, including scott weiner. Maybe there is something in the water here, but it sure helps. I would lend my thanks, as doug mentioned, to the mayors staff, theo has coordinated this, dan and his staff at Mayors Office of housing, and everybody who worked on this. And finally to pick up on something the mayor said, doug and i and our teams are heavily involved in raising the money, with the help of Phil Ginsburg in the rec and parks department, to build a work class facility that were calling the hub, that will have all of the services that will make this a community, and not just bricks and mortar. Were going to get this done. Were going to get the whole development done, and were going to be with you for the longterm. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much, bill. So briefly, before the pool party after this, we have an incredible list of speakers. And my only job is to keep you on time. It is hot, youre a distinguished group. We have in many ways the most important speaker to come first, a resident, a mom, a leader of this community. I welcome ms. Betty hunter. [applause and cheering] hello, and good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is betty hunter. Im 28 years old, and im a San Francisco native. Ive been living in sunnydale since 2011. Growing up in San Francisco, east south districts, has not been easy. My parents were both addicted to drugs, and there was not much normalcy in my life. But with the help of my family members, they created some, and were very supportive. Since i have become a mother, i have tried to instill the same values, support, and structure in my childs life. The Affordable Housing act will allow me to give my child the opportunity to grow up in a community where he is safe, and with habitable, loving conditions. It is a pleasure to know that fractured communities like these ones have been disenfranchised, and looked at as a waste of space, are now, in the near future, going to be a place we can all call home. Being here and being able to speak today is an honor and a pleasure, and with the new development and promise from the Mayors Office, as well as the Housing Office of development and mercy housing, i know that this project will be a great im sorry [applause] it will be great for those who have been disenfranchised, and the children that live here. I want to say thank you so much for your time and for allowing me to speak. [applause and cheering] lets give it up for betty hunter. Amazing. Thank you, betty. [applause and cheering] next were going to bring up our Field Office Director from the department of housing and urban development. It gives us you cant do this without leaders in b. C. , and im honored to bring up mor gerard wynn. [applause] thank you. First of all, i would like to acknowledge betty. The reason were here is because of the families in this community. Were so proud of what youve done with your life, what youre continuing to do, and what you will do. First of all, also, id like to thank an unrecognized, unsung hero at hudd, who does a lot of work for San Francisco and sunnydale. His name is trevor alser, and he works for me in the local San Francisco office. I would just like to acknowledge his contribution. [applause and cheering] thank you, trevor. I mentioned those cities across the country that are going through a severe rental challenge. The worst case Housing Needs study says that they pay half of their income on rent or sub standard housing. One way shud hudd is addressing this is to build housing in the portfolios. The strategies and programs are assisting the San FranciscoHousing Authority here at sunnydale. The San FranciscoHousing Authority has been a National Leader in repositioning the Public Housing units. The Housing Authority has completed many projects in its commitment to preserve and approve Public Housing. To date, theyv approved more than 4,000 Affordable Housing units and leveraged millions of dollars to make these critical improvements. Hudd looks forward to partner with San Francisco and the city to help families living in Public Housing. And i would like to thank and congratulate Joaquin Torrez and Barbara Smith for their leadership and commitment to Public Housing in San Francisco. Please join me in congratulating Barbara Smith on her welldeserved retirement. [applause and cheering] i would also like to say thank you to the Housing Authority and Mayors Office of housing staff. A lot of people made this. I want to thank you for the service that you provided. It is essential to this project. I would also like to thank tanya lake and her staff, the Housing Authority team, and her commitment to continue to address Public Housing challenges here in San Francisco, and i look forward to working with her and her team in the future. I close by thanking, again, the families living here in sunnydale for their commitment to the community, for your patience during this process to obtain decent and safe housing. Thank you again to the sunnydale community. [applause] mayor thank you, and before i bring up the next officials, i also want to just remind everyone that we have a 600 million Affordable Housing bond on the ballot this november, that not only doesnt raise property taxes and is the largest housing bond in our citys history, it is the First Time Ever that we set aside 150 million to provide support and rehabilitation in the infrastructure needs of Public Housing in San Francisco. So this is really exciting. [applause] mayor and so with that, id like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the fact that we are so fortunate to have incredible state officials, people who do amazing work in sacramento, focusing on the kinds of things that are going to help create a better state with San Francisco as a beneficiary because of the challenges that we deal with here locally. And two amazing advocates have been absolutely incredible. First of all, assemblyman david chu is joining us, and i want to acknowledge him and thank him for being here today. And at this time, i would like to invite our state senator, scott weiner, up to say a few words. [applause] thank you, madam mayor. Having served with the mayor and colleagues on the board of supervisors, and now in a new role, working with our strong state city partnership, it is just amazing to see her deep commitment to residents of Public Housing in the city and county of San Francisco. For far too long we have this city almost forgot about the people who were living in Public Housing, often in terrible conditions, and that was never acceptable. And this mayor has been playing such a key role in turning that around, and making clear that Public Housing is critically important for so many families in this city. But it is also part of the future because we need to do more than just rebuild. We need to expand. We need to make sure everyone has a place to live in our great city, and that we are taking care and supporting all of our resi