SFCRG's Second Annual Dinner
The second San Francisco Coalition for Responsible Growth annual dinner was on Wednesday, 18 May at Cappuros restaurant with a list over 200 guests. The list included realtors, land use attorneys, engineers, architects, contractors, property owners, commissioners and also three past directors of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection – Frank Chiu, Amy Lee and Isam Hasenin.
The guest speakers were San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee and District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell.
Mayor Lee spoke about the pleasure of working with the new generation of supervisors, working for entertainment, food, public safety and solace of the city. He said he wants to make advancements within city walls. He said he was at the opening of a woman owned small business who took the risk with a loan of $25,000 to open Mission Cheese. He also talked with Mark Benioff, CEO of Sales Force, who about a decade ago had one office and is now going to build a campus in Mission Bay that will employ 6,000. He spoke about balancing the budget including pension reform, which will be on the ballot in November also creating an economic climate that businesses believe in. 
Together with Supervisor Mark Farrell he is heading a technology task force to encourage new businesses. He is willing to work with the CRG and it’s a new day at city hall with decent conversations going on in City Hall and projects like Treasure Island and mid market will proceed, and that Mid Market will get revitalized. It is important that there be education and dialogue and also he is glad that Greg Suhr is the new police chief with his over 32 years of experience. He expects to announce a budget that will include pension reform, a pension that is dignified. While preparing for the Americas Cup, and creating programs to endorse local hiring, he wants not to only have a budget in place but also building affordable housing for our teachers, police and firemen. The best employees are those who live here. At the end there was a round of applause and chanting of "four more years!"
Supervisor Mark Farrell followed agreeing with Mayor Lee that there is a new cooperative atmosphere between the supervisors and the mayor. He also said he is looking forward to the pension reform that will be fair and just. He also spoke about Stock Options Legislation, which will create a competitive economic environment in San Francisco. The exciting event that he is looking forward to is the America's Cup, which is going to have an enormous positive economic effect on the City. He concluded saying that the critical role of CRG is in supporting common sense candidates in City Hall.
The dinner wound up with president Rodrigo Santos saying that it is critical that we keep families in San Francisco and the only way this can be done is by building affordable housing.
Article by Henry Karnilowicz
Board Member SFCRG