Good morning. So im mary ellen carol, the executive director at the department of management. Welcome. Were here to talk about the 911 which is so going to help us from a Technology Perspective to bring our 911 system to what we call next gen, next generation. So ive been the director here for a year, and its just amazing how much we are able to accomplish, but with technology that is literally decades behind. Were so grateful to leadership, of our mayor and our governor, to help us to bring forward this funding that honestly is going to help us come to technology that most people in their daytoday lives in their personal technology have above what 911 is. This is going to make our calltaking more efficient and honestly its going to save lives, which is really the bottom line and why were here. Thank you so much and ill hand it over to our mayor. Mayor breed thank you so much for being here today. I want to add to what mary ellen said about what we need to do to take our Emergency Response system to the next level. Nowadays its not just about making phone calls. People are Text Messages and delivering messages in a lot of different ways. So it is time that our systems reflect the changes in technology. So ab 911 is just an incredible step forward that will provide us with the resources necessary to improve our system throughout the entire state of california. I want to thank our governor for signing the legislation and his leadership and vision on moving us forward to the 21st century, because we know that when someone reaches out and they are in a situation of an emergency, that they clearly need help and we need to have a better response system. Im sure many of you remember years ago when people when cellphones just began well, that was a long time ago, but cellphones first became a thing and how people would use cellphones in some instances to call 911, but they would be transitioned to another county and there was some difficulty in communication and how we provided Emergency Response to get to that location. So things have definitely gotten better since then, but there is so much that we can do to make it even better. Having the funding necessary to invest in new technologies so that text messaging and all the things we do now to communicate are used in a way to address any situation, whether there is a wild fire or a heat advisory or all of those different challenges that sadly weve had to endure, we want to be prepared, we want to respond in a timely manner, and we are ready to move forward in making those investments to do just that. I want to introduce at this time our governor, who has again been a leader in this effort and on new technologies and used to have my job as mayor. Welcome home to our governor. Thank you, mayor. Thank you all for being here. It is nice to be back. This is my first day on the job as mayor was in this building when i convened what we called at the time the disaster council. I was, i guess in looking back, overly anxious during my time as mayor we would experience a major earthquake. Thankfully we did not. I maintain that anxiety as your governor. That anxiety was only heightened after ridgecrest. Its been heightened certainly after the last two wildfire seasons as well. As ive navigated this state and learned more about our 911 system, it goes without saying its only reinforced that anxiety. The 911 system as we know it today was established in 1973. The technology is outdated. The technology lazily can be referred to as analog technology. It predates the internet, as the mayor suggested, it predates smartphones. 80 of the activity that occurs around a call center is smartphone based not landline based, though we have a system to finance our call centers that predates this new technology. Were overly relying on burdening landlines and as a consequence we have not been able to modernize our system and weve been disproportionately burdening those holding on to that technology, tend to be people on fixed income and seniors. Weve been fortunate. Theres been efforts over the last few years to update our system that have fallen short. We were successful this year in pushing through our budget and ultimately in this what we call trailer bill to get to the point where today we can formally announce that by the end of this month we have identified the vendors and we will be moving forward with updating not only the state lay of the 911 system, moving from analog to digital but our four Major Regions that define this state. There are about 437 other call centers like this, 438 in the state of california, which is an extraordinary number. The reality is they dont have the technology, they dont have the tools to connect. They dont have the capacity to redirect call volume if something goes wrong or theres a surge in that volume. It is selfevident to anyone in San Francisco if theres a major earthquake, the surge volume here will simply overwhelm this call center. Our ability once this new technology is deployed will allow the call volume, as an example, potentially to be redirected to sacramento, redirected to eureka, redirected to l. A. , wherever the capacity will allow. Thats what this technology does. It has a geospatial component. It allows for a substantial amount of bells and whistles. I can get into that and ask our executive director of this and i can ask the o. E. S. Director to fill in the blanks, but it allows us to meet the challenges and the needs of a multiplicity of issues that we face when it comes to mercy planning in the state. This is a big deal. I appreciate the reference that this is about lives because quite literally this is going to save lives. Im proud of the legislature including the by partisans. Final word on this topic, there is a fee attached. I know that generates headlines. We are still among the lowest in the nation in terms of that new fee thats been established. I think thats a nice and important thing to point out. Usually were one of the highest in areas. This is where were among the lowest. So i know there was some anxiety related to that, but i hope that assuages some of those concerns. This, by the way, in closing, has been part, this announcement today, part of our week of announcements around Emergency Preparedness and planning. Yesterday i was up with governor schwartzeneggar. We were talking about some of the work were doing on vegetation management, prescribed burns, making sure were more resilient in 200 communities across this state. Were stepping up our game and getting more ready for Emergency Planning and preparedness. More than 1 billion has been spent to make sure california is more resilient and prepared than ever. Im grateful for the support we received up and down the state. Im grateful for the mayors leadership in this space. She was on the Fire Commission leading these efforts for many, many years and as conversant as any mayor in the state of the needs and desires not only of her constituents, but as it relates to the need to update these technologies and recognizes she cant do it alone. The state needs to do their part and were honored to now be doing our part in this space. Were grateful for that. Were also grateful for you being here and happy to answer any questions on topic. Then we are happy for any questions for mayor breed off topic. Any questions on this subject . Reporter question i was just wondering what you observed in your tour today . To be honest with you, a lot of familiarity, and i think that goes to the reality. We were talking to the o. E. S. Director and asked how does this compare and contrast to other call centers up and down the state. It is put in the top tier, but that bar is not as high as it can be. At the end of the day that capacity is limited because of resources. Our new fee will generate 175 million a year. It will allow the services to go in around october. Well start implementing these new tools and technology up and down the state. Thats what was missing, that state support. This will allow you know better than i the capacity to do things you are losing sleep over currently and do it in the next few months. This is going to move pretty quickly. August 20th were going to identify these vendors. And as soon as october, right, were going to start seeing the application of this promise and promotion. Anybody . Im going to hang out more in San Francisco. [ indiscernible ] i shouldnt say that. She never speaks anyway. I actually sleep pretty well because i compartmentalize as well. As an example, one of the technologies that we all use every day to grab an uber and your uber can find you in a moment or even ordering a pizza, that kind of technology for us when calls come in has not been available to us until really the last few months. And after extensive effort to work with Third Party Vendors who are helping to kind of pull this data together. A lot of it has to do with the state of our technology, which makes it a lot harder. Moving from this analog to a more digital level is going to make that Technology Much more accessible to us, so that we can use that type of quick information that you use to catch a ride or to get your lunch to get help to you, whether its Law Enforcement or a medical response or fire. So it just speaks to the ability to have access to this kind of Technology Much quicker. We alone would have been able to go to. Secondly, this is probably just as important, this will provide us with a lot more resiliency and redundancy. The governor explained a little bit and mayor breed about how this allows us to have more mutual assistance between other jurisdictions and their 911 centers because we dont have to put everything in a suitcase and walk across the street. Well be able to flip a switch and work out so that if we have an earthquake or a potential power outage thats extensive, we very quickly will be overwhelmed at our center. So this allows us to go to other jurisdictions who can pick up and get those calls and make sure help is getting to people when they need it in the time they need it. You mentioned the fee. What is the fee and who pays it . Its going to be one flat fee across the board. We have multiple fees right now. 0. 33. We are authorized to go higher. We are very confident that we will not need to go to what is authorized, which is closer to 0. 80. 0. 33 puts us on the lower tier. Current landline users are paying 0. 50. That will use to 0. 33. A disproportionate amount of smartphone use is text and data, not voice. So we have a system thats collapsing in terms of its funding capacity, and thats why we have been struggling to get this up in sacramento. Fortunately we were able to get it in the budget. We had a few supporters from north state that experienced the ravages of mother natures fury as it relates to the campfire, and i think that really truly brought home this reality and need. So i just want to acknowledge them because they did something within that party that often is not done when encouraged to do the right thing despite the political consequences. I couldnt be more proud of those two individuals as well as the others in the legislature who supported this. The first day in the nation since 1973 that mandated 911. We have lost our leadership a bit. Were now going to reassert our leadership. 27 Million People use this system. We have 1. 4 i think just here in San Francisco. You drop even for a minute the calls, that literally puts lives at risk. So it is not, again, an exaggeration at all. This is a lifesaving fee that will go a long way to making california more resilient, more capable in emergency environment to do justification to it, that is to have someone to answer the phone in an emergency 24 hours a day, seven days a week. [ indiscernible ] those companies are competing for these contracts, so all of this is in collaboration and partnership with those companies. Well see. I dont know who will wind up winning these business, but theres some wellknown brands in the state that are competing. I dont know if you want to talk more about the deeper collaboration with Cellphone Companies or maybe just flesh out other attributes of this system very, very briefly. Sure. Thank you. In regards to the cellphones, what this will do is harden that 911 connection from our Community Member on the street, whether youre using a cellphone, your office phone, your home phone. That connection through your provider, thats up to that vendor to be able to harden their infrastructure. But once it recognizes that you have a 911 call, were going to create redundancy and resiliency in the network so it can get to our local dispatch center. Thats what our job is, to make sure that 911 call is received, routed to the appropriate peace app as quickly as possible. We believe it can be done in 3 seconds from the time you hit 911 to the time the dispatcher receives the call. Full disclosure these things will take a few years. They dont just happen overnight. By december 2022 it should be fully operational. [ ] a way of life in San Francisco. When the next major quake hits, the city hopes a new law requiring seismic upgrades to five story buildings will help keep more residents safe and sound. Tell me a little about the soft Story Program. What is it . Its a program the mayor signed into law about a year and a half ago and the whole idea behind it was to help homeowners strengthen buildings so that they would not collapse. Did you the soft Story Program apply to all buildings or building that were built in a certain time frame . It only applies to buildings built in the time frame of 1978 and earlier. Its aimed at wood framed buildings that are three or more stories and five or more units. But the openings at the garage level and the street level arent supported in many buildings. And without the support during a major earthquake, they are expected to pancake and flatten ~. Many of the buildings in this program are under rent control so its to everybodys advantage to do the work and make sure they protect their investment and their tenant. Notices have gone out to more than 6,000 owners of potentially atrisk properties but fewer than onethird have responded and thousands might miss an important deadline in september to tell the city what they plan to do. Lets talk worst case scenario. What happens in a collapse . Buildings have the tendency of rolling over. The first soft story walls lean over and the building collapse. In an earthquake the building is a total loss. Can you describe what kind of strengthening is involved in the retrofit . One of the basic concepts, you want to think of this building kind of like rubber band and the upper three floor are very rigid box and the garage is a very flexible element. In an earthquake the garage will have a tendency to rollover. You have to rubber band analogy that the first floor is a very tough but flexible rubber band such that you never drive force he to the upper floors. Where all your damage goes into controlled element like plywood or steel frame. So, here we are actually inside of a soft story building. Can we talk a little about what kinds of repairs Property Owners might expect . Its a very simple process. We deliberately tried to keep it that way. So, whats involved is plywood, which when you install it and make a wall as we have done here already, then you cover it with this gypsum material. This adds some flexibility so that during the earthquake youll get movement but not collapse. And that gets strengthened even more when we go over to the steel frame to support the upper floor. So, potentially the wood and the steel it sounds like a fairly straightforward process takes your odds of collapse from one in 4 to one in 30 . Thats exactly right. Thats why were hoping that people will move quickly and make this happen. Great. Lets take a look. So, lets talk steel frames. Tell me what we have going on here. Well, we have a steel frame here. There are two of these and they go up to the lower floor and there is a beam that go across, basically a box that is much stiffer and stronger. ~ goes so that during the earthquake the upper floor will not collapse down on this story. It can be done in about two weeks time. Voila, youre done. Easy. For more information on how to get your building earthquake ready, welcome, everybody. It is such a pleasure to be able to welcome you to our event to commemorate not only the acquisition of 270 turk street and the barcelona apartments, but to recognize the Partnership Among the mayor and city, the San FranciscoHousing Accelerator Fund and others. The barcelona apartment is important, not only because of the accomplishment itself in this building, but also because it represents an important policy direction, and a bigger attempt to address the housing crisis in San Francisco. Please join me in welcoming our mayor and partner, london breed. [applause] thank you, don, and thank you for being an amazing partner in the effort to acquire welding his all over the safety to keep them permanently affordable. Because we know that having Affordable Housing isnt just about new construction, it is about making sure that we preserve existing Affordable Housing, whether its property that we built under the old redevelopment agency, that are in disrepair, or its buildings like this where we are able to acquire it through our small sight Acquisition Program so that we can keep it permanently affordable. Those are the things that are necessary to make sure that San Francisco is a more affordable place for all san franciscans of all income levels. We have work to do, folks. The good news is that in this particular efforts, they basically kept their eyes open and saw that this was an Incredible Opportunity for the small sight Acquisition Program. In fact, even though we are celebrating 86 units here, we know that number one, we have almost we have acquired almost 300 unit so far through this program, theres another 110 in the pipeline, which is absolutely incredible. I am really excited about the future of this program, but a more excited about the 600 milliondollar Affordable Housing bond on the ballot this november. [applause] because it also provides us with an opportunity to acquire more property. I see randy shot in the back. Thank you for coming. We just open the doors to the bristol hotel. Another incredible site here in the tenderloin, and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that our residents have a safe, affordable place to come home call home. Nothing makes you feel better than to have a roof over your head, to have that kind of security, to know that you will be able to afford to pay your rent. This is not just about acquiring this building, this is about providing a new home for formerly homeless families, it is about providing wraparound supportive services, because we want to not only house them, we want to keep them housed. We want to make sure that they have a thriving existence while they are living in their homes, so sometimes it is just more than a home, it involves making the place feel like home and creating the kind of community that we know we can when we acquire sites like this. So i am very excited because this is like my favorite thing to do, and i think that we need to spread the word more about so many great things that we are doing to ensure affordability for all of our residents in San Francisco, and so i would like to invite you up to say a few words. He is one of the new residents of this incredible establishment come on up and say a few words. [applause] okay, hello, everyone. My name is richard, and i live here at 270 turk street in this building. It is really nice, yeah. I come from cambodia, and i came here quickly and settled down in this building with my family and i feel comfortable. I am happy in this building. I have some people who are from cambodia that live here in the tenderloin, and i am so grateful for this building, for the new owners, for the tndc. Everything, you know, is close, everything. Im so happy, and i will i am comfortable to live in this building. Thank you for everyone coming for today. Thats all i have today. [applause] thank you so much. Thank you. Rebecca foster from the San FranciscoHousing Accelerator Fund. Thank you. Thank you so much. Stories like yours are why we all do this work. My name is rebecca foster, im the c. E. O. Of the San FranciscoHousing Accelerator Fund and we are a nonprofit housing fund that was formed by the Mayors Office and Community Stakeholders like many of you who are in the room. Our job is to innovate smart approaches to Housing Finance that put public, private and philanthropic money to work to fund Affordable Housing. We were created to support important and ambitious projects just like this one. We are a nonprofit developer like our awesome partners at tndc. We are working every day to protect Affordable Housing, but they dont always have the right funding when they need it. When tndc approached us with this project, we immediately understood its importance. A chance to save 86 units and protect 72 current residents in the heart of the tenderloin in an old, beautiful historic building. We knew that if these residents would be displaced, and many of them are longterm teachers, nurses assistance, technicians, restaurant workers, they would likely not find another home that they could afford in San Francisco. To purchase 270 turk, tndc needed 24 million. About 18 million to buy the building, which is still a lot, and about 6 million for improvements to ensure that the building continues to provide a very safe and healthy place for all of the residents to call home. Our partners in the Mayors Office and the great team there will be able to come through with a longterm with the longterm funding for this building, but they didnt have the funds ready in 60 days at tndc needed to compete with market rate buyers to save this building. Deals that are over 10 million are often nonstarters for most lenders, but at the Housing Accelerator Fund, we pride ourselves in being a creative and flexible lender, and even for us, 24 million is very significant, but we knew how important this was, his we rolled up our sleeves and sprinted to raise 50 million in Additional Capital in a few months, working with the Mayors Office, and then working with the Mayors Office tndc and the department for housing for homelessness and Supportive Housing where we structure the partnership that the mayor referenced that is really the first of its kind so that we cannot only prevent the displacement of the current residents here, would also open up 24 units over the next few years so that individuals currently experiencing homelessness can also have really Quality Homes in this building. And not only is that the right thing to do and an amazing way to use the money, it also helped be the piece of the puzzle that helps the financial issue work. We are thrilled that we could step into support tndc and work with the Mayors Office of housing and Community Development to get this project across the finish line. This is really hard work. Deals like this happened really quickly and other small sights projects and they require very significant Capital Resources and a high level of collaboration and creativity and persistence, which is exactly why mayor breed continues to bring together such diverse coalitions of funders like ours to support muchneeded preservation of Affordable Housing. Some of those partners are here. Partners lake city Community Development, thank you, dignity health, the San Francisco foundation, just recently the Betty Ferguson foundation, and Tipping Point communities. We cant do this work without all of those partners, and that we have been able to over the last two years deploy 100 million to enable the preservation and construction of 417 permanently affordable deals permanently affordable units. A very complicated transaction, but like this one at the barcelona apartment projects that are way too important to walk away from. To keep it critical, we are working with the mayor to raise 50 million more in philanthropic and mission aligned capital so when Nonprofit Developers like tndc and the city need a trusted partner for the comp looks project like this, we can continue to stand at the ready. Thank you. [applause] think, rebecca. Thank you, mayor, for your partnership. I want to close with a few observations about why this is so important to tndc and to our community and the tenderloin. The tenderloin, like so much of San Francisco, is gentrifying, and there has been a longstanding fear dating back to the seventies that the tenderloin would someday not to be affordable to people with low incomes. When we buy a property like 270 turk street, one of the things that is really important about it is the fact that it is no longer owned by a forprofit. I want to break that down a little bit in terms of the way rent control works in San Francisco. Of course, under rent control, rent can only go up so much for an existing tenant, however, when a tenant voluntarily vacates, not is displaced, voluntarily vacates, that units rent can float up to market. That means that the next occupant will be higher income household. One can see that when one looks at the rent roll of barcelona apartments, and 80 or so people who live here, the people who moved in recently are paying a lot more rent than the people who moved in ten or 15 or 20 years ago. The key for us is that, number one, tndc can consider we consider ourselves forever owners, so we intend to own this property in perpetuity, and when somebody moves out voluntarily, we wont raise the rent to market. We will essentially freeze the rents and the incomes of the People Living here now for future occupants for generations so over time, this will become more and more and more Affordable Housing. It is a key part of the strategy of the tenderloin housing clinic , the tndc, and a lot of groups here to keep the tenderloin affordable for a group of people with low income. With that, we have a unit open on the seventh floor and i want to welcome people to go open go up to see it. I dont know if you want to take questions, mayor, or if anyone wants to comment. No. Okay. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your being here. Thank you for joining us, mayor. [applause]. Good morning. Welcome to Life Learning Academy. My name is craig miller. I am a founder and the chief operating officer at the school. We are so thrilled to have everybody here today to celebrate this milestone event for the school, to provide a home for the kids who need us the most. Terry and i and the entire Life Learning Community could not be more grateful to all of you for everything youve done. Id like to thank the sponsors for todays event. Bear with me, it is a very healthy list. The Northern California carpenters regional council, ey, lows, jamel and tom perkins, linkedin, Russell Reynolds first bank, Community Vision and capital consulting, rubicon, kayhill construction, and oliver and company. I also want to recognize a few donors who have made the dorm possible. Tipping point. Valerie powder, the zeler box foundation, the louis r. Laura foundation and linkedin. This group, along with the city, and sfusd exemplify a Publicprivate Partnership model that has come together to meet the needs of young people in San Francisco. We are honored to have mayor breed with us here today and to have mayor Willie Browns daughter, susan brown, here with us as well. Without question, it is because of the support of mayor breed and mayor brown that we are standing here today about to open this beautiful dormitory for kids. [ applause ]. Its pretty cool. I would like to begin our program by introducing susan brown, who is going to comment on her fathers longterm commitment to Life Learning Academy. Susan. [ applause ]. Thank you very much, craig, for that very warm introduction. Im susan brown and my father is willie brown, former mayor of San Francisco. He was unhappy because he could not be here today, but he asked me to see what i could possibly say. So im here to give you a few words. So our family is extremely proud and extremely happy and extremely excited for these dormitories. In 1998 when my father was mayor, he formed a partnership. And because of that partnership, Life Learning Academy exists. What began with that partnership would culminate into what you see here today Life Learning Academy, an organization which not only provides excellent Educational Excellence and experience for students but has acted as a catalyst for change for so many people who have walked through the doors. Hundreds of lives have been positively impacted by through their programs over the years. And the dormitories today is a goal that they set, which is basically their Mission Statement at Life Learning Academy. So it is my great honor to introduce to you today the principal of Life Learning Academy dr. Terry delane. [ applause ]. Okay. Some people out there who really know me know that i dont need a microphone, but im going to do what im told to do today. Number two, i left my notes at home. So what im going to have to do is just go from what i know. I have been here from day one for 20 years i have witnessed kids come through these doors and in this school and commit to change and commit to nonviolence. I am really lucky because i am somebody that has never forgotten where i come from. When i was 16 years old what stands out in my mind as a runaway and heroin addicted, i was with a boyfriend who was really violent. One night he beat me up, threw me out of the apartment we were in, in the middle of the night. What stands out for me is i was sitting on the Street Corner crying and alone and trying to figure out who to call. Everyone needs to have somebody to call. Not too long after that i got a chance a Second Chance at my life and i went to delancy street foundation, where my life was saved. I met mimi and i learned about community and i learned about fami family. And it has been my mission because i know that i owe for the rest of my life to right whats wrong for our kids. And especially those that dont have a safe place to live. [ applause ]. This building which you will all see is not a dorm. Its a home. What it represents is love and support where these students that live here will be able to thrive and grow and have the best of what they deserve. To build a circle of support of which you all are now a part of. When we go through this dorm, you will see how covered we are. We have the willie brown memorial mayor willie brown memorial family room. We have mayor london breeds beautiful baskets that she sent to us yesterday for every kid thats going to be living in there. We have mayor ed lees legacy in our Memorial Garden named after him. We cant be better covered than that. [ applause ]. I am managing not to break into sobs because this is such an amazing day and i am thrilled because it is now our mission to make this a model so that other schools know what is possible when you can no longer go home each night knowing that you have kids that you love every day that dont have safety, not okay. And can nobody tell you what cant be done. Now im tired of yelling at you all. Its not your fault. Sorry, craig is used to that. He said, no, thats not you yelling. Thats you talking. So i have here with me a young woman named lynnie. I call her lynnie and ive known her since she was 16. She knows what its like not to have a safe place to live and she found herself a family. And then after being in a few high schools, she came to Life Learning Academy and thrived. I want her just to tell you a little bit about herself and she came here from long beach to be with us. She is family for ever family. Our life learning family has been going on for 20 and our kids never forget us. So id like to introduce lynn ward. [ applause ]. Good morning and thank you so much for having me. My name is lynn ward and im a proud alumni of Life Learning Academy. I was raised in a Housing Project by my grandmother. Im the youngest of five sisters born to parents struggling with addiction and mental illness. I found comfort in books early on and excelled academically. I earned scholarships. I was always seemingly good on the surface, but my life home was very chaotic. The environment was making it hard to succeed and my neighborhood was filled with the enticing entrapments of the street lifestyle. This all came to a head in my junior year in high school where i was incarcerated for a robbery with a group of girls. This was a culmination of a longtime struggle for me on two diverging paths the school or the streets. I had a choice to make and it grappled internally with this decision. I had a hard time believing in myself and could not see that there was a life different than the one i was born into. So there i was facing serious charges, kicked out of high school. I needed a change in my life and my best friends dad asked if i was ready and to make a phone call. That phone call was to terry, the principal of Life Learning Academy. I interviewed with her, and during my conversation i realized my life was not a game, that turning my life around was important to her, to the school, and that i had a community that was willing to support me. I knew this because terry told me herself that she would be on me like white on rice. Those were literally her words, and she was. So was my college councilor, the vice principal. I knew the schools number and terrys cellphone number by heart because if i missed school or was late, they were calling me and asking me where i was at. A kid like me, thats what i needed. I needed caring and constant adults who noticed when i missed class, provided me with the resources to earn money and the environment to self reflect. I needed real conversations about the struggles i faced and opportunities for future success. I graduated this past june from Cal State University long beach with a masters degree in political science. [ cheering and applause ]. I am a senior employee with a Small Business in long beach, having been with the company for four years. Im a mentor. I volunteer. I like to travel. I like yoga. I live a positive life. Without Life Learning Academy, i would not be where im at today. Sorry. Life Learning Academy helps give you the Building Blocks to build my life to Something Better than i thought i could be. Because of the impact on me, i was invited to speak about Life Learning Academy at a conference this past october in San Francisco. Mayor breed gave the keynote address at the conference and i was fortunate enough to meet her. She took time to talk to me. She offered me an unpaid internship upon graduation. Like me, mayor breed was raised by her grandmother and the Housing Projects of San Francisco and was able to fight her way out through the support of her community and educational opportunities. I admire her because shes charted a path for herself, rising above the obstacles to become the first africanamerican woman mayor of San Francisco. [ applause ]. She never forgets where she comes from, where we come from, and continues to advocate for more equitable society, especially for youth, evidenced by, among other things, her ongoing support for l. L. A. That is why i am so honored to introduce her today. Ladies and gentlemen, mayor london breed. [ cheering and applause ]. Mayor breed thank you so much. Thank you so much. It really is an honor to be here and let me just say thank you to lynn. We are so proud of you and this is what this school represents. I got to tell you, when i was growing up, we didnt have Life Learning Academy. In fact, the very same kind of circumstances that lynn experienced was the same kind of circumstances that i experienced. The reason why i was raised by my grandmother had a lot to do with challenges with my family. And unfortunately, it didnt end up so well for my brother, whos still incarcerated, and my sister who i lost to a drug overdose. So im one of six siblings who was really fortunate to have supportive people in my life. Thats why the work that i do is so important to support young people, because i know the difference that it can make. So when i worked here at the Treasure IslandDevelopment Authority many, many years ago some of you probably didnt know that i remember the day that mimi silver came to the Treasure IslandDevelopment Authority, building 1, and someone said, well, mimi is downstairs and they called upstairs. Theyre like mimi silver, send her up right away. People lost it because of the fact she was there because they knew how hard she worked for the community. She along with others were really putting together under the leadership of the former mayor willie brown this incredible Life Learning Academy and i had the pleasure of working on the lease to get this thing done. Im really proud of the work that i did. I made the mistake of attending the first graduation 20 years ago. For those of you who go to this graduation, you make sure you have your tissue because i was i think i was sitting next to mike delane, terrys husband, and i was boohookiing the whole time. These people couldnt believe they made it through. I remember the story of one of the young men who said he wasnt going to school that day when the delancy van showed up to pick him up. And the guy who was driving said ill be right here waiting until you get into the van. They would not take no for an answer. They were on those kids like white on rice. They were not going to let one of those kids fail. So thats why today is so incredible. Its long overdue. Its long overdue to have a place for kids who may not have the best environment at home, where we know the challenges of sometimes living in poverty can take you in the wrong direction. Where we have seen too many of our kids cycle in and out of the criminal justice system, when we know they have so much indecreed potential to do Amazing Things. Providing a safe place for them to be, a safe place to call home and be amongst one another and a supportive environment where they are part of a real family, because delancy street is a loving family, they provide love and good food and hugs. Terry hugs everybody. That is what you need to grow and to thrive. Theyve been doing it for 20 ye years. Over the years i worked with young people at the africanamerican culture complex and as soon as i had a child that was in and out one of the schools like, ive had kids who sadly went to almost every high school sometimes in San Francisco. The person i would call and ask, can you please take my baby because he needs structure, he needs support, terry without hesitation always tried to make a way for any kid at the Life Learning Academy because she knew if she got her hooks on them they were going to graduate and they were going to go on and succeed in life. Now shes probably going to move into this dormitory because this is going to be an incredible place so that we can make sure that despite the circumstances that some of our young people are facing in their home environment, they have a home right here at the delancy street Life Learning Academy. This is one of the most and im not crying. My allergies are killing me. But this is one of the most Amazing Things that we can do. This example that were setting today by opening up this dormitory will be a model for other schools throughout the country. This is how we make sure that our kids succeed. This is how we make sure that despite the obstacles theyre facing, that we provide that wraparound support which includes a place that is safe, that is secure, and provides the love and the support that they need to succeed. In San Francisco we know we have some major challenges with homelessness. When im walking the streets in the tenderloin in particular, i see a lot of folks who i grew up with who fell through the cracks. And i cant help but think if we as a city can do better by all of our young people, we will prevent that from happening to them in the first place. Part of the investments that we have been making to End Youth Homelessness in San Francisco, including the rising up campaign, has led to although the homeless point in time count has gone up for the city as a whole, for Youth Homelessness weve seen that decrease by 10 . We need to get that to 0. Because we have an obligation. I believe as folks who have been fortunate to succeed in whatever capacity, it doesnt matter if youre rich or poor or what have you, we all can give time and of ourselves to invest in young people to make sure that they grow and they thrive. Thats what im committed to, not only with the rising up campaign, but with the opportunities for all programs where we will make sure that every High School Student in this city has access, lynn, to a paid internship if they desire. So today is an incredible day of celebration. We have waited so long for this, and i cant thank all of you enough, especially the people who have contributed to making this possible. Yes, the city was able to provide some support and we should provide support and i will continue to make sure that we make investments to support this incredible institution. But the people who really contributed and continue to support the Life Learning Academy and making this dormitory a reality for our kids, thank you so much. This is absolutely amazing. Its really an honor to be your mayor and really great to see projects like this happen because this is going to save and change lives for future generations here in our great city. Thank you all so much for being here today. [ applause ]. Okay. So, i mean, mayor breed said she the city put in some, but the truth of the matter is without mayor london breed we wouldnt be standing here. The city came to our what we asked for, the city gave us. The belief in us and the support from mayor breed, the vision and leadership from mayor willie brown is why were standing here right now. So again, i want to really thank them and thank susan so much for coming. She took pictures of Willie Browns beautiful plaque when youll see as we do tours of the dorm. Now, what were going to do first is take some pictures well, were going to take some pictures up here for a few minutes. Im going to have my kids come up. You can mingle around and have a bite to eat. Our chef derrek is amazing. We eat like this every day. Food is so important to us. Then well come back and have tours of the dorm. Thank you all so much. [ applause ] [ ] good evening, and welcome to the august 7th, 2019 meeting at the San Francisco board of appeals. The president is joined by the Vice President and commissioners commissioner Darrell Honda is absent tonight. To my left is the deputy City Attorney who will provide the board with any needed legal advice this evening. At the controls as a boards legal assistant. Will also be joined by representatives from the three departments that have cases from before the board this evening