Pelosi Joins Celebration for Bayview Opera House Restoration

Pelosi Joins Celebration for Bayview Opera House Restoration

Monday, August 29, 2005

San Francisco -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined the celebration today of the restoration of the Bayview Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theater. Pelosi secured $200,000 of federal funding for the restoration this year through the Save America?s Treasures initiative.

?I am proud to have secured funds to help restore the magnificent Ruth Williams Memorial Theater, which is a beacon of the redevelopment of the Bayview Hunters Point Community,? Pelosi said. ?The opera house, its history, the programs, and the community it serves are certainly deserving of these funds.?

The Save America?s Treasures funds will assist Bayview Opera House, Inc. to restore the 1886 opera house and building an addition. Repairs needed for the existing historic building include a new roof, and façade and interior restoration. Bayview Opera House, Inc. has begun a campaign to transform the theater a premier urban arts center for the 21st Century. The Save America?s Treasures initiative of the National Park Service was established by the Clinton Administration in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private non-profit organization, to protect our nation?s threatened cultural treasures.

The mission of the Bayveiw Opera House is to provide cultural enrichment by promoting community arts and education, foster a safe and productive environment for program participants, and ensure economic and employment development in the Bayview Hunters Point Community. Completed in 1888, the Bayveiw Opera House is San Francisco?s first and oldest opera house. It is owned by the City of San Francisco and is operated by Bayview Opera House, Inc.

?Bayview Hunters Point is the source of great diversity, which is our strength as a City, and of creativity and vibrancy that is embodied in this theater,? Pelosi said.

In recent years, Pelosi has secured funding to expand services at the Bayview YMCA, support children?s asthma programs and environmental job training in the Bayview. She has also secured $23 million for the Third Street Light Rail and Central Subway project, and more than $260 million to for environmental cleanup and infrastructure improvements at the Hunters Point Shipyard.