Good afternoon, thank you everyone for coming. My name is jeffrey come lin and im San Franciscos director of transportation. And im so grateful to have the secretary, the speaker and the mayor here to celebrate our progress on the central subway. We are joined by local community and im grateful to all of you in the local community who who have put up with years of construction and disruption here in the heart of china town but we promise it is going to be worth it. As we sit here i want to action knot the long history it has taken to get here including remembering the earthquake and the demolition of the embarcadero freeway and this project started both as a radical idea and a Strong Community partnership. In the recovery after the 89 earthquake and the 1990 and 1991 recession, San Francisco was facing tough times and at that time the city had a bold vision to demolish the embarcadero freeway and replace it with a surface boulevard but that wasnt good enough because we needed to serve the heart of china town so mayor willy brown and rose pack struck a brilliant compromise to agree to demolish the embarcadero freeway but build a subway into the heart of china town, connecting chinese San Francisco in the cultural heart of chinese San Francisco. But to do more than that, to revitalize the southeastern part of San Francisco, including the bay view, to connect African American and Filipino American and other populations to new emerging job centers in mission bay and all the jobs in union square and again here to china town. So, with support from Speaker Pelosi and a billion dollars of federal funding, we are almost there. Were also really grateful. [cheers and applause] were grateful to secretary butavig for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. This once in a generation opportunity. [cheers and applause] can provide cities like ours the resources that we need to make a Transportation System that works for everyone but particularly the people who have the fewest mobility choices. I also want to make my appreciation known for mayor breed who has continued in her leadership to prioritize the people who need mobility investments and access to opportunity. Opportunities that are being created right here in San Francisco. [applause] so id like to introduce our first speaker Malcolm Young who is the executive director of the China Town CommunityDevelopment Center whose work helped shape almost every detail of this project that you see here today. Malcolm. [applause] im going to go old school and read off my phone instead of paper, so that was supposed to be funny but i guess not. First of all, let me say how humbling it is to be here today. Theres so many important federal representatives, but just as just as important, theres local friends and allies a part of the project from the beginning and i wont name you all by name but thank you for being a part of this and being here. I know you feel the love coming out of this project. Let me extend a china town welcome to pete, mr. Secretary. I dont know if this is your first advise ilts here but i hope its not your last. We want to extend an open invitation to explore the underlining richness and we like to take you into our Public Housing so you can see what a deep investment affordability can do for families, adults and seniors. And investment is certainly the theme for today. Central subway is a once in a Generation Investment in this community and in this city. Unlike so many socalled investments in lowincome communities of color, central subway was not a topdown from city planning, it was demand from the residents and stakeholders and leaders of china town lead by rose pack who mr. Tumlin mentioned and the Chinese Chamber of commence. The Transit Research and improvement project, china Justice Project formed in the 70s by form mun bus drivers and the largest Tenant Association not just in china town and the Association Led by the its a demand for transit justice to fill in for the now torn down embark care dare em mayor brown championed this cause as well. Mayor brown may be the first black mayor of San Francisco, some say he may have been the First Chinese mayor of San Francisco, given how he has received when he comes to china town. Thats supposed to be a joke, not going well, all right. Mayor ed lee, the First Chineseamerican mayor of this city, also championed the subway to his untimely death and i had the privilege of working with both of them on this project. The central subway is an economic lifeline necessary to reconnect the historic immigrant neighborhood of china town with the populations of the city, visitation valley and bay viewers point and its a transient gateway for regional visitors and tourists to maintain the vibrancy and the pandemic threatened to erase and i was remind of this project and tam shaw dug up a 2003 chronicling thousands of signatures and delivering them to be a low see and feinstein and meeting with the congressional committee. Norman went on that treat or reverend fong. Sorry. And even 20 years ago, speaker a low sew and feinstein moved this project. China town needs this lifeline. But beyond the tremendous economic benefits of central subway will have, i want to share one impact that people outside of our community see. Several years back when tan and i were doing outreach on this street, there was one merchant who pointed out something i will never forget. I said central subway was more than action he economic benefit and having the world china town printed in a citywide map that everyone would see signaled something bigger and permanent for this community and the permanent of china town is not something we can take for granted. China town survived numerous attempts the relocation. First after the great quake 60 and the threat posed by the pandemic. The central subway means as mentioned, merchant implied and china town has been and is and will be forever a part of the fabric of San Francisco. Thank you. [cheers and applause] with no further or do, i have the honor of introducing the next speaker, someone who needs no introductions in these parts and not in this community, mayor breed has been a supporter of china town in the most important way and i have the honor of introducing our third chineseamerican lead, mayor london breed. [applause] i can truly attest to the fact that i definitely probably come in third and that mayor willy brown still comes in first every time he shows up to china town and so, im grateful for his leadership, for mayor ed lee and the work that they did to get us here today. But today, im going to take all the credit, now that i am mayor for moving this project forward which has been long awaited by this community and this city. But before i give my remarks, i want to take an opportunity to just express my condolences, many of you know that Queen Elizabeth the second passed away today and on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, we have setup a book for those who are interested in coming to city hall to sign this book. We will then present it to our Council General here who represents europe and make sure that the community receives this book of condolences and so, thank you all so much, many people reached out to us to want to know exactly what San Francisco plans to do and thats exactly what we plan to do. She was a marvelous lady and she definitely will be missed. And again, thank you malcolm and welcome everyone. I want to start by really thanking our leader, our Speaker Nancy Pelosi and secretary butagy for joining or maybe mayor, i like to call him mayor still because he served as the mayor but we are proud of his work as transportation secretary because it is definitely needed, having a mayors perspective is so important because he really understands what it takes to get projects like this done and thank you for bringing us all here today. I want to recognize city staff, many who have worked tirelessly to plan and build this project and thank the community for their patience during the many, many years of construction. We know transit is the backbone of this city and our priority right now is on our recovery and reopening. That means bringing back the transit routes and connections that our communities rely on to get to work and school and around the city or come out on a Beautiful Day and hang out in china town. What we know is that when we invest in transportation, it benefits our city and it benefit peoples lives and in april we opened up finely the van necessary bus Rapid Transit system whip has been a huge success system which has been a huge success. People are saving up to 35 of their time now now that brt is here. Thats a big difference. That difference is bringing more people to ride the bus and we are going to see those benefits again when the central subway finally opens up later this fall. It will serve some of the dense neighborhoods in the city and help people from china town to oracle park and chase center and the bay views point and it will reduce travel time and ease congestion in the cities busiest areas and it will connect to our Regional Transit systems, bart and caltrain and we have representatives from those entities here with us today and thank you all for your partnership and your work. Its going to connect the entire bay area network. Thats what this is about. So, with central subway opening soon, we already are thinking of what is to come next. I was telling the speaker, im like you do so much for San Francisco and we give you love and as soon as we give you love just like family, what have you done for me lately and what can you do for me next . Madam speaker, we appreciate you and ask you this, you know, from the heart, we have the central subway coming soon and were already thinking about what is coming next. We have so much more to do, more planning, more maintenance and more building. We have two funding priorities, we want to bring our existing muni rail system up to the state of good repair after decades of disinvestment and second, we always want to have a subway under construction. I said my priority was, as a native of san franciscan to get this subway all the way to Fishermans Wharf but native san franciscans knows what im talking about, it will be amazing but next on our list is the tunnel to connect caltrain and highspeed rail to our are transit center. Thats for all the commuters in the bay area. Thats critical to the future of our city and downtown and yes, secretary, we have applied for federal grant to help fund that critical project, but welcome to San Francisco. [laughter] when we invest in transit we feel the difference, its faster and more reliable and its a comfortable way to get us to where we need to go, it helps our economy, it helps our family and seniors and it helps our workers who rely on it. September is transit month and i cant imagine a better place to celebrate that than with all of you. I continue to love seeing everyone ride, our kids riding free, like we did when we were kids even though we were supposed to pay but we made it legitimate. Tourist taking our cable cars and people commuting to work. This is what it means to experience San Francisco and you know what, it feels so good. We wouldnt be here if it wasnt for the help of our Speaker Nancy Pelosi and funding from sfta new starts program. Thank you madam speaker for everything that you always done. I mean, i should just, you know, print a thank you something that she can carry it. Thank you for San Francisco residents because when it comes to transit, housing, i mean, you name it, she is always delivering time and time again for this community and thank you to secretary butaga for your support and being in San Francisco and theres so many places across the country you could travel but youre here highlighting the great work we do and the Biden Administration prioritizing transit especially rail bus, Rapid Transit and streetcars. You prioritized connecting communities that have historically been cut out from Economic Opportunities and we appreciate that. And youve also prioritized street safety, recently, we received a federal grant to help make Howard Street in south of market safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, thanks to these two extraordinaria leaders right here. As former mayor, you understand how critical urban connections are to making our cities more livable and successful. Thats the kind of leadership we need and we are thankful that youre joining us here in San Francisco and if there are any other projects you think you might want to throw some funding at, just let us know much dont worry. We have ready to go shovel ready, whatever it takes, San Francisco is your place. But seriously, thank you for being here and all of your work and your leadership and your commitment to making Public Transit more equitable and efficient and more sustainable for our country and ladies and gentlemen, without further or do, mayor secretary of transportation, pete butaga. [applause] thank you so much mayor. I will also proudly answer to the title of mayor but i acknowledge its only gotten more demanding since i wore that title and youve got so much to be proud of so thank you for the warm welcome and congratulations on everything that has gone on here. I want to congratulate jeff tumlin and thank you for your tour and you and your team has so much to be proud of and well keep you busy with the work ahead. Director and sf mta and union worker whos have been working for a decade including during the worst years of the pandemic to bring this to life and to those who spoken to what this means to a community and in this place you can feel the distinctiveness, not only the bustle and the food and the richness and culture but the sense of belonging thats so very important and were glad this project will support. Of course, it is my honor to be at the side of Speaker Pelosi. Someone who brought so much transformative Infrastructure Projects like the central subway to the bay area but also has brought so many Good Investments to the entire country and i spent a few weeks on the road and tulsa and indianapolis, northern New Hampshire and Southern California and today we were in the inland empire and the projects we saw in common, it wouldnt have happened without the bipartisan infrastructure law and the infrastructure law wouldnt have happened without the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and were thankful for that. [applause] and the president recently signed the Inflation Reduction Act. Something thats going to make a difference to so many people here and across california. Extraordinarily legislative achieve making prescription drugs affordable for seniors and helping families save on their utility bills and while unfortunately it didnt get any republican votes in congress, that bill has widespread bipartisan support yong the American People and thats reason that it got done. Were hard at work implementing the bipartisan law funding, so many Great Projects and the thing that i see and feel everywhere we go and certainly felt it here during our visit to the central subway is the passion that people bring, not maybe because they are transportation wonks like me because because they are passionate about their community and families and work lives and we know how that will benefit from the investments made here. Now, when it comes to the central subway, there are so many to acknowledge. The activist chinese town, taught to stabilize china town rent and played a key role in the construction of the central subway. So, we said that planning requires setting sites at least one hundred years from now. And that kind of longterm thinking is what we believe we need to bring to the investments that were making today and it was a long time that this central subway has been in the works. The department was proud to support it, a decade ago under president obama who nearly had a billion dollars in funds and is going to pay dividends for years and the most densely populated neighborhoods in San Francisco to the social economic lifer of the city and bring tour ifts for food and shopping and making its why for those who live here to reach schools and jobs and resources in the city. When people can get around with Public Transit, that makes everyone better off and it means faster commute and cleaner air and for those who dont use transit, theres less congestion and its a win win. Its the kind of project were going to see more of thanks to this buy partisan infrastructure that contains the bipartisan infrastructure and were going to work hard to deliver on that. Its the same programming that funded this program like the ones that allowed us to bring that good news. We drove up to get to our first stop upgrading Howard Street safer and Green Infrastructure and more with 23 million in raised funds and ill end with a broader thought about the worker what it means for the people of this country. Im proud of all of the transportation pieces of the initiatives and the vision that is going on right now under this administration but it is just part of a Broader Vision to make the entire country better off. To make it easier to afford to get through life, to protect our veterans, to resure manufacturing jobs to america and make sure that families can thrive in a future that has been all too uncertain as we have looked at the years that have led us to this moment. And with that, i have the pleasure of turning it over to somebody who represents an important part of what this is about, the job creation that will come with this infrastructure spending, Rudy Gonzalez who will introduce the speaker, represents the San Francisco building and construction trades who we are eager to keep at work with the funding thats going on and very much turning to do help prepare the workforce that were going to need and count on and importantly, to ensure that workforce is inviting. You have been working to women and workers of color who didnt have a family inheritance but pass generational wealth to the next generation of their families thanks to the good paying jobs so thank you again for the chance to join you and rudy, over to you. [applause] thank you, mr. Secretary. In organized labor we get excited when we see and you can see it in our eyes when we see Movement Leaders and see champions and i kind of had a transit nerd moment when i looked over in the crowd and saw adam from tpg and telly from the sfca and they were looking at secretary pete because this is their guy and its exciting and its transit week and we can be excited about that. People ask me about the green job that exist. Where is it coming from . What is the transition going to look like for workers, what might it be . And i say look no further than Public Infrastructure and transit. Those are the green jobs of today, they are the green jobs of tomorrow and i would be remised if i didnt talk a little bit about the history and being an organized labor, we owe it to everyone in our community to be blunt and to be honest like my partner in crime kim, the head of our ceo will remind, tell me like it is, right, kim. Well, like it is has to do with racism and inequality. And it has to do with connecting the southeast of this city, who have been left out of the economy, let out of our unions historically and it has to do with the chinese immigrant experience and aaip community and their struggle not just for relevant but survival and legitimacy in this city. We champion liberate and San Francisco values we we have to acknowledge the hard work it stood to get to this place. And even the interference at times from the Political Class of seeing a project like this come to completion. I hope that anybody who stood on the sidelines and talked about a boone dogle will have to smile with excitement the same way travelers did when they first crossed the golden gate bridge. That was directed in four years and four and a half months of construction or people talked about of the bart tunnels that was built in a little more than four and a half years but built nonetheless and it took bold leadership at that time, years and years ago, bold leadership, not in the assembly or City Attorneys Office as he sits now but when now City Attorney david chiu championed the entitlement for this project, many, many years ago and role in the board of supervisors. Having a vision and articulate a plan and then going for it. Taking risks, taking risks thats political but on behalf of community. I can tell you that in the audience is one of my personal heroes, meg ann prior and shes not anybody. Shes a member of the International Union of operating engineers. And shes a black woman and a leader in the operating engineers and working mom and she graduated from the City Build Academy and found her way into apprenticeship and shes a journey man in the Skilled Trades and its lives like hers thats changed and communities like hers thats not only connected through this Green Infrastructure but that are lifted up into the working class and given a future and they can proudly hand that down to others. So whether were honoring veterans who put in time after discharge from the military or given new life or Second Chances to those justice involved and previously incars lating and the building and we want to put everybody to work. In the pro Union Administration we have seen in our lifetimes, we know thats possible. We know that the, that the country in a bipartisan way support investments in our communities not just in San Francisco but across the country and we know with bold leadership and vision today, we cannot only see the completion of our a project like this but breaking ground like the transit terminal and other Green Infrastructure to keep our people working. So, on the note of keeping our people working, we couldnt be more excited than to be in the presence of another one of my heroes, madam speaker, nancy pelosi. You can clap at that one. [applause] the speaker shown bold and progressive values but shown what it means to demonstrate effective leadership and courage under fire and quite literately when our democracy have been threatened, nancy pelosi answered the call on behalf of san franciscans and Union Workers and families and behalf of allamericans and people who seek the promise of the american dream. I couldnt be more honored to stand with one of our champions, Battle Tested tried and trued, im honored to be with you and i have to point out shes wearing her Public Service award pin made for her on the celebration of our 125th year of lifting up skilled and trained workers but join me in welcoming our hometown hero, our champion for the working class, madam speaker, nancy pelosi. [applause] thank you very much, thank you very much, rudy for your generous remarks which i accept on behalf of the House Democrats who courageously voted for so many of these initiatives. Its an honor to be in china town and i join the mayor in wishing condolences on the passing of Queen Elizabeth ii. Were flying flags half staff at the capitol and do more bereavement in her honor but were here today to look to the future and celebrate as jeff pointed out, the path that took us here now talks about the Community Involvement of it all, the mayor and how leadership in our city weighed in time and time again to make this happen. Distinguish secretary of transportation talks about how it fits in with other pieces ever legislation that this president pieces of legislation that the president put in place, the inflation act which has many with the the priority of protecting the environment, many Public Transportation initiatives as well. And then i just want to then say that rudy has been a champion. If it isnt about good paying jobs, we are not interested in advancing it. We say to our colleagues in the congress, if you want to talk to us about advancing legislation, we are not going backward. Were Going Forward and that means we are going to have good paying union jobs. And not only that, let me say a few words and let me say how poppy i am to be in china town. When i ran for congress 35 years ago, the very first event that i was held for me was in china town tang. It is for your leadership in the community and to see david chiu represents our community so well in the state legislature and the board of supervisors as mentioned and thank you for your leadership and i want to mention another person because we talked about community and community as malcolm did beautifully. The fact is that its not only china town and all other communities that are served by this, it was the community that really sacrificed so much and that was union square and karen flood is here who helped orchestrate peace there in materials ever getting us through when everything was shutdown, mr. Secretary. Many businesses suffered but here we are opened up. Thank you, karen flood for your leadership. This president has been about protecting the environment, the transportation issues do that. Hes about justice in our economy and in our infrastructure. 60 billion in the infrastructure bill for justice, for fairness, for equity as secretary said, transportation to bring us together, not to celebrate us and that is what this president is about. So its about justice and that can happen if we are listening to the communities and opening opportunities for work to believing yoursly underrepresented people whether its women, people of color, apprenticeship programs thats in that bill but in our chips and science bill which wedge with this very important justice way which are in our infrastructure Inflation Reduction Act which interacts with this in an important way, so we have to be grateful to the president for his leadership, his value system that has impacted so many of the initiatives in these laws and then i want to say about community. Ive been here a long time, as the mayor indicated and we have been through a lot of projects starting with the indiscernible and they were instrumental in the earthquake and as well as willy and gavin newsom and mayor lee and our dazzling mayor london breed, thank you, mayor breed for your tremendous leadership, for putting it all in perspective for people and showing what comes next but when talking about this in the congress and ill tell you this, come closer, when we allocate resources, we want to see it happen. Theres competition for all of it. We want to see dirt fly. We want to see it happen. And so when the Community Comes together and advanced or in the course of all of this, we know that dirt will fly because people have come to agreement. We wont be in court the whole time. Were be underground or opening up beautiful, beautiful, you get my point now. I absolutely do. We have been there right, mayor and some of and all of you. At any case, this is cause for celebration. I was telling them when we were doing the groundbreaking a number of years ago, were sitting there, i think by then it was willy on stage and all ever a sudden, we started jumping up and down with joy. Of course we were excited about the project but we found out that the giants made it to the world series. They had won the pendant so we have our sense of community and this project will connect us to indiscernible , right, mayor. Yes, it will. If you buy a ticket to the game, you get a free ride to that and the mayor promises that on behalf of the golden state warrior. [laughter] to all of you and so many here, thank you kim for your leadership but i want to get back to the person who introduced me, Rudy Gonzalez. When youre talking to rudy and the other leaders of the building trade, their big interest are the workers. Are they going to have jobs, are we going to have good paying jobs and are we going to be able to lift people up in a way that has justice, fairness and opportunity . And not just jobs. Jobs that can lead to ownership, equity of all thats going on. So again for saving the planet, thank you, jeff, for saving the planet, for safety in our community in this system, for just moving kids as the mayor said, kids to school and parents to work and community and shopping and the rest. Its so perfect that we have this celebration here in china town. Thank you all for making it possible and again, i said to the secretary, our hopes are riding on you. Thank you, mr. Secretary. [applause] im supposed to open it to questions. Any questions . Did we anticipate any questions that you may have . [audience speaking] any interactions on what you shared with her. If i may, id be happy to answer that and im sure the mayor as well but to stay on topic for a moment, anything that relates to what were doing here for the moment . Okay. I was telling someone earlier today when i was speaker and her majesty came to washington, it was when president bush was president. She came in 2007 and they had a garden Party Outside of the residence of the ambassador and when she came to me, i said to her, you dont know if youre supposed to initiate a conservation with her majesty. I did. I speak around. [laughter] your majesty, my father was at your card nation. He was there as mayor conference, he was mayor baltimore and he was a get at your car nation and im telling you what i was told. After that lovely session with her, later i saw the ambassador and he said, madam speaker, when her majesty came in from seeing everyone at the garden party, she only said one thing. The speakers father was at my car nation. I havent shared that and the queen leaving us today, it was lovely. We will be we had been flying half staff of the capitol at the moment we had and well have bereavement resolution at the capitol and thank you for having the book of condolences for san franciscans to express their concern, mayor. Not that we always agreed on everything with the uk but nonetheless, a great leader for many generations. Any questions on what were doing here today . [audience question] well, thank you for asking it because i mentioned and ill go to the secretary as well, i mentioned the chips and science act. Weve been negotiating this bill for a long time. There are people that said lets do the chips and get it over with. We said thats fine for now but for the future, we need the science piece, the science piece is about education, its about research, its about involving many people in the community previously that havent been able to participate. People of color, women, et cetera. So, that part, that bill directly relates to what were talking about here today as well as what we did in the infrastructure bill. This project precedes all of that legislation but it still needs the people to make it happen and our building trades, and women of drywall and women of steel, women of the ibw, we have seen so many unions now and we have one here, she raved to us earlier, thank you again, at the school which i visited and its remarkable how it trains young people so your question is very perfect because we have to have the direct relationship with how we train the current and next generation on how to bring their ideas, the sense of their communities into the future. Mr. Secretary, did you want to speak to that . Sure, thank you, speaker. Very briefly, were thinking about generational wealth and when i say generational wealth, i dont mean the wealthy. I mean the Family Household weather that is built through the middleclass jobs that good paying construction working, union jobs can create and we know that were going to create so many of those directly through this infrastructure work. Extending them also to workers including women and workers of color who historically did not have the opportunity to get those jobs and even for those who dont work near the infrastructure field directly. Their opportunities will expand to access school, to access jobs, to access the places they need to be thanks to being better linked up to opportunity, as the subway will provide much also i dont want to be remised in adding to the other leaders who have spoken, i have done an expression for the british people of Queen Elizabeth and her extraordinarily reign. [audience speaking] the next big project will be years. How do we solve that . Whats happening here today should give people great hope. Hope that it can happen when there is cooperation and Community Involvement and where theres recognition about how needed this is. And that is really what the president s initiative have been all about, so im going to go to the secretary because we cannot when we were passing the infrastructure bill, people said oh, nobodys going to see it and its going to take forever and it will be like the other projects, it build free rail through our neighborhood, and its not going to be like that. Were celebrating what were doing here today but what we in celebrating that, were recognizing that things will be done differently and because of the leadership of the president insisting on justice and fairness and safety and the rest, it will be done again with Community Involvement which frequently can speed up the process, right, mr. Secretary . Indeed. We feel the expectation and the pressure to deliver everything were funding on time, on budget and on task and thats not an easy thing but my favorite things about transportation projects is the good ones make sceptics into believers and seeing is believing and when you get that benefit, its something that everybody is glad for. But tendency of large projects, to make longer and cost more than expected is one that goes back through Human History to the ancient romans and its one were up against and fiercely working to combat because we have to get every ounce of value out of this 1. 2 trillion and half for transportation, but to speaker and congress and president have entrusted us with delivering. Madam mayor, would you like to Say Something . I would like to add something to that. Thank you both to our speaker and our secretary for putting it into perspective. I mean, i havent heard one complaint about the brt on van ness since it opened and it was definitely not on time and not on budget and i understand the challenges that exist. You got to remember, San Francisco is a very dense city. There are complications underground, pipes and other infrastructure that hasnt been looked at or open for decades. And so, id rather be delayed in the project and do it right and make sure its safe and make sure its secure than to rush through to meet a deadline. These are some of the things we have to deal with as a result of making San Francisco a better place for the future. Making San Francisco a more transportation Friendly Network for the entire region. We cant just be concerned with what happens with us today. We have to be concerned about what happens with us tomorrow and the next generation as we try and deal with the challenges of making this Transportation System work. I often say to people, like, i wish people who came before me would have thought about putting everything underground so our entire Transportation Network functioned that way but that didnt happen. So were trying to make up for some things that did not happen and this is just going to be sadly the price you pay but what we appreciate is that we have the resources and the support from our federal leaders like never before and that means more opportunity to make things a reality. Many of us never thought the possibility of even going to Fishermans Wharf underground would be seen in our lifetime and the reality is, it could be. So, im looking at being optimistic and hopeful of the future and were going to be inconvenienced a little bit in the process. I may said earlier we were joined by the Lieutenant Governor of california and she had to go but she was with us earlier, so we have our shared values at the state level, thank you, david for being here, at the federal and state local level. [audience question] well, what i say is the transit is important, not only for those who ride it but its also in the national interest. The more People Choose transit, the more people have excellent access to transit and the stronger or economy and its no less a part of our fight against Climate Change than evs or anything else were doing to make sure we prevent the worst climate outcomes so in addition to supporting local communities and being proud and thankful for the action that the speakers and congress and president and others took to get transit going during the worst days of covid and we need to invest in the future, it may look different and we dont have a crystal ball to say how commuting patterns will look five or ten years ago but it wont be cease to be important for people to have safe, clean, dignified ways to get to where they need to be and transit is the core to make that happen. All right. Thank you, everyone. Thank you all very much. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much. I view San Francisco almost as a sibling or a parent or something. I just love the city. I love everything about it. When im away from it, i miss it like a person. I grew up in San Francisco kind of all over the city. We had pretty much the run of the city cause we lived pretty close to polk street, and so we would in the summer, wed all all the way down to aquatic park, and wed walk down to the library, to the kids center. In those days, the city was safe and nobody worried about us running around. I went to high school in spring valley. It was over the hill from chinatown. It was kind of fun to experience being in a minority, which most white people dont get to experience that often. Everything was just really within walking distance, so it make it really fun. When i was a teenager, we didnt have a lot of money. We could go to sam wongs and get super soup for 1. My parents came here and were drawn to the beatnik culture. They wanted to meet all of the writers who were so famous at the time, but my mother had some serious Mental Illness issues, and i dont think my father were really aware of that, and those didnt really become evident until i was about five, i guess, and my marriage blew up, and my mother took me all over the world. Most of those ad ventures ended up bad because they would end up hospitalized. When i was about six i guess, my mother took me to japan, and that was a very interesting trip where we went over with a boyfriend of hers, and he was working there. I remember the open sewers and gigantic frogs that lived in the sewers and things like that. Mostly i remember the smells very intensely, but i loved japan. It was wonderful. Toward the end. My mother had a breakdown, and that was the cycle. We would go somewhere, stay for a certain amount of months, a year, period of time, and she would inevitably have a breakdown. We always came back to San Francisco which i guess came me some sense of continuity and that was what kept me sort of stable. My mother hated to fly, so she would always make us take ships places, so on this particular occasion when i was, i think, 12, we were on this ship getting ready to go through the panama canal, and she had a breakdown on the ship. So she was put in the brig, and i was left to wander the ship until we got to fluorfluora few days later, where we had a distant florida a few days later, where we had a distant cousin who came and got us. I think i always knew i was a writer on some level, but i kind of stopped when i became a cop. I used to write short stories, and i thought someday im going to write a book about all these ad ventures that my mother took me on. When i became a cop, i found i turned off parts of my brain. I found i had to learn to conform, which was not anything id really been taught but felt very safe to me. I think i was drawn to police work because after coming from such chaos, it seemed like a very organized, but stable environment. And even though things happening, it felt like putting order on chaos and that felt very safe to me. My girlfriend and i were sitting in ve 150d uvios bar, and i looked out the window and i saw a police car, and there was a woman who looked like me driving the car. For a moment, i thought i was me. And i turned to my friend and i said, i think im supposed to do this. I saw myself driving in this car. As a child, we never thought of police work as a possibility for women because there werent any until the mid70s, so i had only even begun to notice there were women doing this job. When i saw here, it seemed like this is what i was meant to do. One of my bosses as ben johnsons had been a cop, and he i said, i have this weird idea that i should do this. He said, i think youd be good. The department was forced to hire us, and because of all of the posters, and the big recruitment drive, we were under the impression that they were glad to have us, but in reality, most of the men did not want the women there. So the big challenge was constantly feeling like you had to prove yourself and feeling like if you did not do a good job, you were letting down your entire gender. Finally took an inspectors test and passed that and then went down to the hall of justice and worked different investigations for the rest of my career, which was fun. I just felt sort of buried alive in all of these cases, these unsolved mysteries that there were just so many of them, and some of them, i didnt know if wed ever be able to solve, so my boss was able to get me out of the unit. He transferred me out, and a couple of weeks later, i found out i had breast cancer. My intuition that the job was killing me. I ended up leaving, and by then, i had 28 years or the years in, i think. The writing thing really became intense when i was going through treatment for cancer because i felt like there were so many parts that my kids didnt know. They didnt know my story, they didnt know why i had a relationship with my mother, why we had no family to speak of. It just poured out of me. I gave it to a friend who is an editor, and she said i think this would be publishable and i think people would be interested in this. I am so lucky to live here. I am so grateful to my parents who decided to move to the city. I am so grateful they did. That it never. A hi, im karen fry a project manager and sfpuc and the bureau of Environmental Management honestly ive not considered a Public Sector job i realized this was an opportunity to work on Large Capital projects from San Francisco all the way to our hetch hetchy and the Yosemite National park i work with engineers and City Attorneys and scheduled and we all work tom nolan e together on the project. The excavations are in red well have the interference to go under the street. My next project is the largest project in the Water System Improvement Program this is the southeast plan that involved a lot of kworpthsdz with the Community Groups and public when 9 commissioners such the Planning Commission and the board of supervisors or this ftc commission they help us in city hall this is a beautiful building it really is the inner workers of the building you feel youre in the heart of government and its exciting to be part of that evening, the regular board good