[meeting adjourned] >> good morning everyone. welcome. i'm katie lamont and with me isroxany huey and together we are leading tndc as interim co ceo.

so pleased to have you with us this beautiful day to celebrate the reopening of ambassador and ritz hotel. exactly! this day has been a long time coming, and it is so wonderful to share with all you who help make it happen. as many know, tndc experienced a tragic loss with the sudden passing of our ceo. it is meaningful our first ribbon cutting without him is on the pavilion of this historic building. the bricks of the ambassador have witnessed pain, suffering and loss and they have also seen care, compassion, restoration and joy. we hold an amazing tenant talent show every summer where you all are standing and it is one of my favorite things about tndc. to preserve the life of the ambassador and ritz as supportive and

mindful homes where people live and develop community with their neighbors and with the people that work here, this is part of mor ilo vision endureing vision providing stable homes for all members of our community. i like to read a few words spoken by morilo about the ambassador and follow with a moment of silence in his remembrance. he said, the ambassador holds a rich and cherished history in the heart of san francisco. during the 1980 and 90 served as a sanctuary for newerous aids patients extending compassion and support to those without means to care for themselves or connect with support networks. we take great pride in continuing endureing legacy by preserving as affordable housing for our commune ity. let's take a moment.

[moment of silence] thank you. it is now my pleasure to get this ribbon cutting started by inviting district 5 supervisor dean preston to say a few words. [applause] >> thank you katie and roxanne and thank you all for being here and i want to first just start by acknowledging what a difficult time this is for the tndc team with the passing of morilo and thank you all for pushing forward and honoring his legacy of which this reopening of the ambassador and the ritz is a part. i also want to say, i am really

thrilled that katie and roxanne are at the helm, two incredible leaders and we are looking forward to continuing to partner with them and tndc. this is very exciting. to be here at this opening, i have the honor and privilege of representing the tenderloin in city hall. i wish i could take credit for all this, but there was this thing called redistricting in 2022, so the plans here were actually underway before i was even representing the district, so i feel i'm cheating coming in at the ribbon cutting and celebrating work that definitely pre-dated me here in the district, but i got my start as a housing lawyer in the tenderloin. have been in and out of pretty much every sro and as someone who represented tenants in sro's,

mostly in the privately owned ones when they were not up to code and tenants needed repairs, i can tell you the huge difference between some of the poorly maintained dilapidated old sro's here in the tenderloin and buildings like this, that actually get the care, the renovation and the supportive services to make these units real homes, safe, decent habitable and supportive homes in the tenderloin. our sro's here in the tenderloin are a huge part of why this community in the tenderloin continues to be a place and one of the few places in san francisco where low income people can afford to live, and it is really exciting to see this kind of attention and love and funding poured into making sure

these homes will remain low income housing for years to come thanks to the hard work of tndc with support from the city and i want to thank and acknowledge dan adams and mayor office of housing who are here and also other partners, including u.s. a bank and others who you will hear from, but looking behind me at the ambassador, i think one thing i'm struck by is i have never seen this kind of rehab. the combination of old and new here, i think it is fantastic. and looking at the exposed brick and the historic building maintained in this way, but updated so that folks who need affordable housing have top notch affordable housing in our district. we are proud to be a part that and looking forward to supporting not just the reopening here at the ambarder and

the ritz but expanding even in touch budget times to make sure we support the renovation and expansion of our sro housing stock here in the tenderloin so thank you for being here today. thank you again katie and roxanne and i don't know if i'm turning the mic back to you or whether turning it over to our next speaker. am i turning it over to the next speaker. alright. i'm pleased to welcome lisa gutierrez from u.s. bank. thank you so much. please give her a warm welcome. [applause] >> thank you. i want to start by sending deepest condolences to tndc on the loss of your fearless leader morilo but can't think a better way to celebrate his honor with affordable housing with the beautiful day and beautiful grand open. i'm lisa gutierrez with u.s. bank and thrilled to be part of today's event

for the ambassador hotel project we provided nearly $70 million in construction lending and nearly $67 million in tax credit equity. at a time when other financial partners hesitateed to move forward with the investment due to the complexities, u.s. bank leaned in and that seems to be part of our natural course and i'm proud of our team. some who could not be here today, so not nearly going to take all the credit it took to close this transaction. it was a real labor of love between the tndc, mayor office of housing and u.s. bank. we specialines complex development like this other 30 years. understanding the relocation plan of the vulnerable resident population to align with many public funding sources and rental subsidies all while managing the building rehab needs of this beautiful historic building.

tndc and impact finance worked together nearly providing $120 million in finance and $67 million in equity and regionally in san francisco metropolitan area impact finance provided $1.36 billion in construction lending and $1.40 billion in equity. since 2005, the u.s. bank foundation donated approximately $265 thousand to tndc. in fact, we look forward to support the 43 anniversary this may and we hope we see all you there. we believe everyone deserves a place to call home and in collaboration with many of you, we are truly making a difference in this community and across the state. our efforts care and creativity going forward will be critical as we continue to make affordable housing in our communities a prioorty. congratulations to all involved

in bringing this transformational development and get the well deserved refresh for the residents who call the ambassador hotel home. thank you so much. [applause] >> good morning everyone. thank you for coming out today to celebrate the regrant opening of the historic ambassador and ritz hotel. project manager with housing development team. i had the privilege to work on both projects during my tenure at tndc working on these complicated hybrid and scattered site projects really helped me understand and appreciate the hard work that goes into providing

affordable housing. i still remember the first time i attended a walk at the ritz. mind you, i never worked in construction before. the team handed me a roll of blue tape and said put a piece of tape where you see imperfections. i was so excited because i might not know construction very well, but very good spotting mistakes. in that moment, i knew being a project manager was for me. there were many people i want to give thanks to. the design team, the partners architects, construction managers, joe blanco and chris rivera, historic architect, tndc property management and countless consultants on the project. it took so many smart creative people to bring these rehabs to fruition. i like to thank the construction team who from day one were ready to help problem solve the uniquely

difficult financing and construction issues at these buildings. fantastic partners on a extremely difficult rehab. and now that i have been at tndc a few years i recognize how special it was to have a all woman project management and construction team on the ritz. thanks to their hard work, the ritz hotel has expanded community room, totally rehab common spaces and new windows. the team on the ambassador was especially patient with us as we work through so many potential ways to seismically strengthen the building. i like to thank jonathan, scott and the team for the incredible team work. you have a creative solution for every construction challenge we had. the enormous structure is part of the seismic upgrade work and don't know how they fit all the steel in the building. finally, i like to thank chris

comings, emily and alberta for housing development for leadership on the project and for being amazing mentors. thank you spending hours to explain the intricacy of the financing structure of the ambassadors and the ritz to me and others. i can tell you that there is nothing more fulfilling having tenant move back in and seeing how much they appreciate the new spaces. and that's it. next we have kevin, tndc overdose prevention outreach coordinator. thank you. [applause] >> thank you hang. good morning everyone. my name is kevin lu, a member of community organizing team as our overdose prevention outreach coordinator. you may wonder what that means. a important aspect of my work is meeting with residents in the sro's to inform on the challenges associated with preventing overdose in san

francisco as well as facilitate discussion around folks experiences and their overall sort of understanding of drug overdoses and what that looks like as far as solutions that they can come up with to this problem. that includes meeting with residents in this very building and we also outreach to folks in the surrounding community as well as the residents in the buildings. we partnered with department of public health to kick-start a project to install boxes that hold narcan on each floor of our three sro buildings including here at the ambassador hotel. with the help of the residents i meet with, i hope to collect survey and interview responses to understand how to better support and resource residents to reverse and prevent overdoses. what inspires me to do this work is sth legacy of hank wilson who operating the

ambassador as de facto hospice at the height of the aids epidemic. the sick were welcomed here. extraordinary care givers doctors nurses family members and volunteers and these providers learned the culture of the folks that stayed here and spoke to them as partners in care. full of compassion. the hotel was about caregivers finding way to reduce suffering and health risk due to drug use and hiv. community base harm reduction was the cornerstone. the efforts helped establish vaeft for residents and move the city of san francisco to establish needle exchange programs. as the overdose prevention coordinator, building community is key if we solve the substance use challenges in

the tenderloin and owe a lot to healthcare and public heth cares in the city. tndc is committed to bolstering the efforts. building community we can empower and educate folks to cocreate solutions that are grounded in the lived experiences and collective wisdom. i truly believe that when we amplify community voices, we can build the long-term systems we need to support those and address addiction in the city, so thank you very much and next up we have bob ostertech. [applause] >> thank you. i'm going to talk a little bit about the history here. i made a documentary movie about the early years of the ambassador in the 1970's and hank wilson, the force of nature behind it all. the story actually begins before aids in 1970's when san francisco

was just becoming the gay mecca and dozens of people were arriving at the grayhound station every day. many of them very young, teenagers, gay boys, transjnder people arriving by the dozens every day with no money and no where to go. a former kindergarten teacher named hank wilson decided he would make a place for them to go and answered a classified ad in the newspaper that says the ambassador was looking for a manager. he became the manager at that point. the building did not look like this when hank took it over most of the rooms didn't have doors, everything was completely trashed. hank furnished the building with donated furniture he found here

and there and created a space very very different then what we have now. there were no banks supporting the ambassador at this time. in fact, there were no non profits supporting the ambassador at this time. this was all done out of pocket and trying to make it work. check day was quite the thing at the ambassador. hank would go to the bank empty the bank account and cash into his socks and then walk back to the ambassador and cash everyone's checks. somehow made the thing work financially without any support from anyone. it was very important to hank that he didn't-he wasn't constrained by any organization, because he wanted

to make things work. he wanted-if something didn't work, he wanted to try a new thing and new thing and didn't want to ask for permission from anybody, and that's how he made it work and then aids arrived and the early days of aids are hard to explain to people who didn't live through it. there was a level of stigmatization that is hard to imagine, but all the other hotels in the tenderloin would not allow a person known to have hiv to enter the hotel, and so hank opened the doors and this became an unfunded, seat of the pants, diy hospice for indugent people dying of aids. many hundreds of people died of aids in

this building. one day five people in one day died in this building. they had memorials for them in the lobby. this was the time when it was difficult to even get a ambulance to come to the hotel. just making it work, hank was basically inventing harm reduction before we even had the term, harm reduction. he did it all out of the seat of his pants. he lived in a one room roach infested apartment. he didn't own a bed. he was very curious person, hank wilson. slept on the floor, lived on nothing and for 20 years he did this.

so, i'm very glad to be able to share that story. it is story that san francisco can be proud of. very unique story that i think shows the heart of this city. if there was anybody i have ever known who did not want to be recognized for anything it was hank wilson. very very big guy with a very very small ego. the running joke about my movie is he wouldn't have wanted the movie to be made about him. i walked in the lub lobby and shaw a beautiful mural painted by this wonderful artists and i think maybe hank would have been okay with people coming into the hotel and

seeing his smiling face welcoming them into the hotel. thank you. [applause] >> i'm now pleased to introduce our mayor, london breed. [applause] >> first of all, let's give brandon another round of applause! [applause] many have tried and have failed to do whitney houston justice and he definitely is one who has succeeded. it is so great to be here with each and every one of you and i just want to start by expressing my condolences to the tndc staff, morilo was such an amazing person and full of life and excitement for housing justice and i know it's a big loss to the

tndc community and we appreciate the fact that so many of you are still rolling up your sleeves and continuing the important work that he cared so deeply about. today is a perfect example that. both the ambassador and the ritz, not the ritz carlton, i know somebody probably used that joke. the fact is, we have a important responsibility here in san francisco to not just build new housing and be as aggressive as we can to remove the barriers on new housing construction, but we also have a responsibility for preservation, because we want to insure that no matter what happens, whether there is a earthquake or anything else, we are able to protect our existing housing stock, and by making the kinds of investments we are making today that provided an opportunity to do

significant rehabilitation on over 200 units, which includes as you know, the ambassador as well as the ritz, as a way to protect and support our most vulnerable residents, those with challenging disabilities and making units accessible. it was so critical that we did this work for preservation purposes, so we are grateful to be here to celebrate the milestone as a huge improvement not just for what we did and what we made happen, but for the lives of the people that this will impact. the people who will live here and will be able to enjoy this beautiful courtyard and enjoy their units and the people that they live with. it is truly wonderful to be here. it is such an incredible blessing that these individuals will have a chance at a new start at life, but also

for those who were moved temporarily and moved back, a new beginning with a new place with new opportunity and hope for a better day. so, ypt to thank you for the work they do for affordable housing for so many in our various communities. many people want us to do the job of helping people transition into housing and permanently supportive housing, but organizations like tndc do the work and in fact, since 2018 when i first became mayor, we increased our permanent supportive housing stock where we provided additional support for those who need additional help, we increased that by over 50 percent and that takes partners, that takes resources, that takes investment and that takes the opportunity for us to work and support the incredible things we know we need to do to get the job done, so

it is really great to be here to celebrate such a milestone, so thank you all so much for your work, your advocacy, and making it possible for people to have a safe affordable place to call home. thank you. [applause] >> do a quick photo op and then a closing. >> thank you mayor. appreciate your comments today. this past sunday was

international transgender day of visibility, which is a good reason to remind us that where we stand right now is only steps away from the riot at compton's cafeteria, which was a turning point for lgbtq plus activism. this building and this district have always been welcoming for the most marginalized people of the city and tndc is a part that. as a transwoman, i'm proud to be here now with katie and all the other tndc staff that are with us today who have the great responsibility to take care of this building and to take care of the residents of the ambassador hotel. i like to thank today's guest speakers, the residents of the ambassador hotel and all community leaders who

made this day possible and celebrated with us. i invite you to make the way to the pavilion. in the pavilion you will see a mini-art gallery features images of residents of the ambassador hotel provide pd by documentary photography darcie padilla who spent time in this building between 1992 and 1996. finally, if you wish to take a tour of one of the units, go talk to one of our staff at the tndc table and they can help you with that. thank you again for your support of tndc.

>> i'm also the chair of laco, local agency formation commission. and it's a pleasure of mine to be here with you on a friday afternoon, and it will be all you people clearly. with us here today on a friday afternoon, clearly it's very sunny outside and you have enjoyed the out doors today but here you are with us for conversation around our environment and