Pelosi Statement Upon Opening of District Attorney’s Bayview Neighborhood Office

Pelosi Statement Upon Opening of District Attorney’s Bayview Neighborhood Office

Monday, June 18, 2007

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

San Francisco â€" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today as San Franciscans celebrated the opening of the District Attorney’s Bayview Hunters Point Neighborhood Office:

â€Å"Thank you Supervisor Maxwell and District Attorney Harris for your leadership and efforts to reduce crime in San Francisco. I am pleased to join you in celebrating the grand opening of the District Attorney’s Bayview Hunter’s Point Neighborhood Office.

â€Å"This facility will be home to the Bayview-Potrero Hill Community Response Network which will provide crisis response to families and victims of crime, case management and intervention for gang-involved youth, and outreach and support to engage high-risk youth. The people of the Bayview know better than anyone the need for these services, and I commend those in attendance for their leadership and involvement.

â€Å"Community-based programs like San Francisco's Community Response Networks are effective and deserve our support. I am proud to have secured federal funding to help the District Attorney provide these critical services here in the Bayview, and in the Mission, Visitacion Valley, the Excelsior and OMI. These neighborhoods have suffered greatly and continue to lose young lives. I am deeply troubled by the violence and heartbroken by the loss of life that has plagued our City. The violence must end.

â€Å"Increased violence in our homes and our neighborhoods is a reflection of economic insecurity. The time has come for all of us to address the underlying factors that steer our young people toward violent crimes so that we may be successful combating them. We must urgently address the fury of despair that leads to violence and provide positive alternatives and a brighter future for our children. A stronger commitment to education, detention alternatives and job training will help ensure our young people have options and hope for their future.

â€Å"I will continue to work in Congress to help ensure the revitalization of Bayview Hunters Point and other underserved communities in San Francisco. Just as DA Harris and Supervisor Maxwell are working to provide much needed services, the Democratic Congress is working hard to increase funding and support for local law enforcement and local crime fighting programs, and to reverse the drastic funding cuts we have seen over the last six years.

â€Å"House Democrats in February added nearly $180 million to local and state law enforcement efforts, and will continue to seek increases.  Just last week the Education and Labor Committee passed the "College Cost Reduction Act of 2007" â€" the single largest investment in college financial aid since the GI Bill â€" that will help millions of students and families pay for college at no new cost to U.S. taxpayers. Earlier this year House Democrats gave America’s working families the first pay raise in almost 10 years, raising the minimum wage by $4,400 a year â€" enough for 15 months of groceries or more than two years of health care. And I will continue to work to secure federal investments to revitalize the Hunters Point Shipyard and provide affordable housing for the benefit of the entire community.

â€Å"Thank you again to District Attorney Harris and Mayor Newsom for your leadership. Today let us all recommit to the struggle of achieving peace in our communities and social justice here in San Francisco and across our nation.”