A Nation of Immigrants

#TimeIsNow
During the District work week, I was honored to attend several events that demonstrate the values and diversity of our City. One such event was the foot-washing ceremony with immigrant families at the St. John Evangelist Episcopal Church on Holy Thursday. At this sacred ritual of foot-washing, we came together in solidarity for comprehensive immigration reform.

In the name of the families who suffer from the pain of separation because of deportations, we demand a vote. To restore respect for our values and our history, we demand a vote. For the bipartisan and overdue immigration reform our nation needs, we demand a vote.

The time is now for Speaker Boehner to finally give us a vote on legislation that will stop unnecessary deportations, unite our families, protect our workers, and provide an earned pathway to citizenship.

Congresswoman Pelosi assists Bishop Marc Andrus as he washes the feet of immigrant familiesat the St. John Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission, where she discussed the urgency of passing bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform.

A Model for Our City
At the Hunters View Grand Opening, I joined with residents and community members in heralding the rebirth of a formerly dilapidated public housing facility into a model for our city and the nation. These new modern buildings reflect a revolution in how we rehabilitate aging and isolated public housing, and create new affordable housing.

These beautiful buildings represent new homes and good-paying construction jobs for local residents — providing more than 1,600 jobs, almost half of which were filled by local workers, many from this very neighborhood. They also represent our city's renewed and growing commitment to rehabilitating and strengthening public housing like this across San Francisco. Through the Public Housing Authority Re-Envisioning, and HUD's new Rental Assistance Demonstration program, we will ensure that all our public housing can benefit from the model of the modern, safe units in Hunters View. We must rededicate our efforts so that the residents of Sunnydale, Potrero, and other HOPE SF sites can also see this type of transformation.

We must build and expand on this project's success, and continue to improve the quality and quantity of all forms of affordable housing throughout our city. Let us renew our commitment to affordable housing to ensure that every San Franciscan has a place for their family to call home.

Sowing a Stronger Tomorrow
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending two events that demonstrate our City's ever-growing commitment to the health and quality of our environment.

At Florence Fang Asian Community Garden Groundbreaking in the Bayview, we celebrated our city's first Asian-styled community garden and began work on a new space that will strengthen the diversity of our community. Thanks to Caltrain, the Asian Week Foundation, and the Green Initiative for Asian Families, the garden will be used to grow fresh produce, to exercise and practice Tai Chi, and to showcase both native and traditional Asian plants.

At the CEMI (Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative) Western Regional Summit, I met with innovators, entrepreneurs, and community leaders to discuss clean energy manufacturing opportunities throughout the Bay Area. As always, I was proud to see that many of the bright minds that stand at the forefront of this initiative call our beautiful city home.

In an age of rising seas and temperatures, we must focus on creating greater energy efficiency; decreasing carbon pollution; and developing renewable sources of power. Here in San Francisco, we have always proven ourselves as leaders of innovation and will continue to carry this mantle as we build a brighter future for our environment and for the generations to come.

Congresswoman Pelosi breaks ground with Namesake Florence Fang, President of the Board of Supervisors David Chiu, and Supervisor Malia Cohen at the Florence Fang Asian Community Garden – San Francisco's first ever Asian Community Garden – in the Bayview.

Preserving an Open Internet
The Federal Communications Commission released a new draft proposed rule on protecting the open Internet. Press accounts of the draft proposal from the FCC raise serious concerns that the Internet might soon lose the core of what it is – an open space for innovation, entrepreneurship, connection and communication. Clearly, the American people believe in preserving an open Internet where anyone can bring an idea to the table without seeking permission or paying a toll to each internet provider.

Success should be founded on merit and good ideas; not on who has the deepest pockets. We must not allow broadband providers to relegate competing ideas, products, and services to slow, congested speeds.

I urge Internet entrepreneurs, experts, and users to contact the FCC to make their voices heard and urge the Commissioners to establish rules of the road that protect the freedom, entrepreneurship and openness that must always define the Internet and American innovation.