Public recreation has every bit of the talent and every bit of the heart and soul of anything that any families are paying ten times for. You were awesome. We have private and Public Gardens throughout the garden tour. All of the gardens are volunteers. The only requirement is youre willing to show your garden for a day. So we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. Its a variety all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. I have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to its history. In the early 1800s the portola was farmland. The regions flowers were grown in this neighborhood. If you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. In the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. One of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of San Francisco so they can share that history. When i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. We started doing this as a fundraiser. Since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. The Scholarship Programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a winwinwin situation all around. The Scholarship Program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. I was not sure how i would stay in San Francisco. It is so expensive here. I prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in San Francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i dont know where else i would have gone to finish. The scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [ ] [ ] you come into someones home and its theyre private and personal space. Its all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their Outdoor Living room. Why are you here at this garden core . Its amazing and i volunteer here every year. This is fantastic. Its a beautiful day. You walk around and look at gardens. You meet people that love gardens. Its fantastic. The portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. Mark your calendars every year. Good morning everybody. Thank you. It brings me such joy, gratitude, pleasure to welcome you to the rededication of ellis gardens. I hope you will join me in welcoming to the podium our mayor, london breed. Mayor breed i thought you were going to the project and talk a little about it. Fine, i will get started. Thank you everyone for being here today. I am excited about this project. This is the city and county of San Francisco working hard to fulfill a promise. A promise to so many people who live throughout San Francisco in Public Housing, in conditions that no one should have to live in. A few years back when i first started as a member of the board of supervisors, i met with mayor ed lee to talk about priorities. My number one, two, three priority as supervisor was Public Housing in San Francisco as a whole, not just my district. Mayor lee supported the fact that we needed to do Something Different because the kinds of conditions that existed for so many years and the amount of money that we received, there was no way to get to a better place. Over 20 years of my life in plaza east, i live in those conditions. The neglect, the bathrooms that didnt work, the mold, the conditions that you live in when you have had to live that way for over 20 years is something you never forget. This is why nothing is more important to me than changing the kinds of conditions that people live in. Here with 94 units of housing for people who are part of our very vulnerable community, our seniors, People Living with disabilities, people who have challenges, not only physically sometimes but also many of our low income residents. They deserve the kind of place that exists here today. They deserve to live in conditions where when they flush the toilet it will work. Where they have showers and some of the most basic things that some people take for granted. They have pest control so that they dont have to deal with the kinds of conditions that existed in the city in some places around Public Housing for far too long. When we brought in the program there were so many people who were skeptical. They were worried about displacement, what happened in the city in the past. There were some mistakes made in the past. I continue to go back to my own personal experience of living in Public Housing 300 units torn down and only 200 units built. Yes, a lot of people i grew up with were not given the opportunity to come back. That is why it is so important that we have partners and we work with each resident individually to help them understand that this is about them and to make the move and the transition while we are renovating these places as smooth as possible. That we make sure we are able to gain their trust and their support. In this city we have demonstrated through this program that we can be trusted to do the kinds rehabilitation work that is desperately needed to make sure people are living in great conditions, people are living in the kinds of conditions that they deserve. I just want to thank tndc for being our partners, for doing the work with compassion. This place, i dont know if you have been in here before. What we see now, i am overwhelmed by the walls and floors and everything i see today. It is so amazing. We know that San Francisco continues to have so many challenges. Yes, we have to build more housing because we know even outside these doors, sadly, there are people struggling with homelessness. We also have to make sure that we are taking care of the people who deserve a safe affordable place to call home. Preservation of existing Affordable Housing, building new housing in this city, that is what we have to do to make San Francisco a better place for each and every one of us. I am so grateful to be here, so proud of this work of this project, and i want to thank the people from project managers, to the financing. It does take a village that is expensive to do and to do rehappentation work in San Francisco. We rehabilitation work in San Francisco. I am happy for the residents. Congratulations on this incredible property and thank you, don, for all of the work you continue to do. This is not our first project together and it definitely wont be our last. [applause. ] i know i speak for a lot of people when i say we are grateful for your leadership, mayor. Join me in welcoming louise. [applause. ] good morning. I am the president of the ellis gardens council. I want to thank the mayor london breed for making it happening for providing housing. I came to San Francisco in 1962, when i was 12 years old from el salvador. Most of my life i lived in the Mission District before losing my housing. Thankfully, there was room for me at ellis gardens in 2012. Ever since i have moved to ellis gardens, i have become involved in the community such as volunteering in the boys and girls club. Volunteers is a positive and happy experience in my life. I love ellis gardens. It feels like an extension of the park now that the renovation is complete. It is now time to enjoy ellis gardens, have respect for one another and improve our community. On behalf of the residents we are very appreciative for the renovations and the support. Thank you very much. [applause. ] thank you. Please welcome supervisor matt haney. [applause. ] thank you, don, mayor breed. I want to give a special recognition to louise. He is not just the red of the Tenant Council here, he is one of the greatest Community Leaders in the tenderloin. He shows up in the neighborhood. You make this such a wonderful place to live. Please give him a round of applause again. I have been friends with who louise for a few years. Last year he invited me to visit the believe. To visit the building. It looks so beautiful. This area back here, the units. I got to visit on the tenth floor. This building is gorgeous. This is what people in this community deserve. This is what people in the tenderloin need in terms of open space, green space, finally living up to the name of this building, ellis gardens. This is a beautiful building for a neighborhood that is truly experiencing a renaissance of Affordable Housing, renovation for a community on the move in a positive way. I had a couple friends who visited the city recently. They are worried about the tenderloin. I said i was Walking Around and saw gentrification. I said what are you talking about . He said i walked around taylor and eddy and saw the condos popping up. I am worried we are building condos and not Affordable Housing. I said those are Affordable Housing buildings. Yes, they are beautiful. Yes, they represent what people in this Community Need andy serve. People are going to walk by this and say, wow, i wish i could live there. That is what we want for everyone living in the city and the residents. Thank you for allowing us to celebrate. Thank you for going through this process. I am sure there was a level of disruption. Thank you to bank of america and all of the project managers. I live one block from here right on hyde and ellis. This is my neighborhood. I walk by here every day and i am so happy for the residents and this entire community that this building has been expanded in the way that it has. Thank you. applause . Thank you so much, matt. Please welcome the executive director of glide Community Housing. applause . Good morning everybody. It is my pleasure to be here today. Flied Community Housing is honored to be in partnership. Thank you, mayor london breed and supervisor haney. Welcome everyone. We are so proud of the building we are being presented to you today the new ellis gardens. This project has been a labor of love. I would like to just pause and highlight the Development Team for a minute. Thank you so much for your level of excellence devoted to this project. Ellis garden reflects a strong commitment of collaboration and the team went above and beyond to make this a beautiful project. As you tour the building you will see their efforts truly exceed the baseline for the project. The structure here is sound and we are providing units of quality housing for years to come. As a service provider, glide Community Housing believes communities like ellis gardens are built on the strengths and talents of the members in the community. We are here to provide Supportive Services through effective case management. The goal is housing stability for the entire population of not only this building but other believes in the community. Our service Team Develops programming offering an array of multidimensional services and opportunities to travel new pathways to health, autonomy and growth. We believe that housing is the essential first step in supporting individuals to reduce barriers and thus breaking the cycles of chronic homelessness. In closing, i want to thank a few people in the room today. I really want to thank our staff. Glide Community HousingSupportive Services staff has gone the extra mile. It was our first time delivering services in an active construction site. Not only did you take care of your yells, you continued to deliver Quality Services and make sure the folks here were taken care of. Bank of america we thank you. We were able to deliver welcome home kits to every individual that received a new apartment got a kit full of basic household needs, dish us, towels, bathroom supplies to help them settle into the community. Gabe, thank you. Your leadership on the Development Team is exceptional. You went the extra mile. We thank you for your leadership. D and H Construction exceptional work. San francisco arts commission. We applied for the Community Challenge grant and were ag ablo partner. There is a beautiful mural on the wall. We are proud of the mural. Our partners with hsh, thank you. You allow us to work through Supportive Services. This Community Means a lot to us. There is a tremendous amount of gratitude being a lot of thank u. S. From the residents coming to Services Every day. Very appreciative of what we have done as a team. Thank you. We appreciate you. applause . Bank of america played a crucial role not only at ellis gardens but across the entire portfolio of rental assistance demonstration properties. Please welcome our long time friend heidi. Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for the warm welcome. Thank you mathank you, mayor br. For those who may not know, bank of america was founded here in San Francisco in 1904 as the bank of italy by the son of italian immigrants who wanted to serve immigrants, women, those who were just the common person, and not necessarily the financial elite. Fast forward over 100 years and bank of america represents over 4,000 teammates, clients, Community Partners in San Francisco and if it is iconic moments like financing the bay bridge or restoring the Ferry Building or providing almost 100 residents in the ellis gardens with a wonderful new Living Condition and the wellbeing that comes with a place that is truly a home, we are so proud to be part of it. How important San Francisco is to bank of america. It is fitting out of 4. 8 billion. I am a banker. I will talk about money. Invested in the Community Development across the country over 2. 2 billion is here in San Francisco. We are tremendously proud to be included today in the celebration. Congratulations to the entire resident bays, Community Partners and friends. Thank you all so much for including us. applause . Finally, gabriel, it is your turn. Thank you, don andthal you all for come thank you all for coming. My heart is filled with so much gratitude today. I recognize that i am the last speaker right before lunch. I will keep it quick. First, i want to thank the tenants especially for putting up witH Construction and relocation. Today is an open house of sorts. It is not the first open house. When we completed the first floor of the top floor we finished the first unit and held the apartment open for the tenants to come and take a look. Everything was done. We had it staged modestly with flowers. People came out on to check it out. I will never forget one tenant walked in to the apartment and said is this what you are doing to my home . The tenant reactions were great. I wish we had hgtv there to capture it. Those are a real reason why many of us are in this business and do the work we do. I will skip over the list of hundreds of people i want to thank. I would like to thank the dozens of people who will look after this building here on out and look after the health of the people in it. I am very proud what we accomplished together to be here today. We did so under budget, mind you. I am proud tha that we will accomplish all of this in the future. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you. I want to just offer a few reflections. One is that i hope you will hear from all of us just the expression of gratitude. We realize we are in a privileged position to do the work to serve others. That is what a lot of us are very motivated by while in this room. Seven years ago mayor lee and ed had a vision p. 29 properties. 2 billion and where was that going to come from . How was it going to happen . A new program that none of us knew or understood very well. I understand the housing director at the time telling me five singlespaced pages of exceptions to the rules. Like this is what it took. That speaks nothing of all of the people and the institutions who are part of it. I hope you will takethe time to not just read but to grasp what is involved with every one of the people. Most of you here and everyone on the list made a real contribution. I hope you will feel that you own this, if you will, because we were in this role at the center of the work but it is other people doing the work. I dont know what it means to own ellis gardens. This is a community asset. This is Affordable Housing forever to serve people with low incomes forever. There will be a whole generation of people here 40 or 50 years from now celebrating the next rededication. It is a profou