|
There are so many people to acknowledge and thank for getting us to this important milestone. Without the support of the Japantown Foundation beginning in 2017 and continues today, the project would have never gotten off the ground. The Foundation seeded the Peace Plaza Renovation Project, deemed a “pipe dream of a project which had only the slimmest chance of success” and championed by Jon Osaki, Executive Director of the Japanese Community Youth Council (now Co-Chair of the Peace Plaza Committee) and the late Bob Hamaguchi, former Executive Director of the Japantown Task Force. Read the full story here. More recently, when rising costs related to the pandemic created an enormous budget shortfall that threatened the Renovation Project, community leaders in partnership with the Rec & Park Department successfully secured federal funding through the leadership of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and state funding through the leadership of Assemblymember Phil Ting. We thank Mayor London Breed and members of the Rec & Park Commission for their strong support and leadership of this important project. President Kat Anderson Vice President Joe Hallisy Commissioner Annie Jupiter-Jones Commissioner Vanita Louie Commissioner Larry Mazzola Commissioner Carey Wintroub Commissioner Breanna Zwart
We also thank Rec & Park Director Phil Ginsburg, Deputy Director of Policy and Public Affairs Beverly Ng, Peace Plaza Project Manager Marien Coss, and Jennifer Cooper, Manager of the Department of Public Works Landscape Architecture Bureau, for their deeply collaborative efforts. JTF community consultants include Mike DeGregorio and Susie Kagami. This work builds on the tremendous contributions of long-time former JTF board member and President Sandy Mori, former Executive Director Steve Nakajo, and the multitude of community advocates who participated in the creation of the Peace Plaza Vision Plan that informs the project — you know who you are! Please consider yourself thanked for all your efforts.
|
