 Welcome to all of you. This is a very special day for all of us. We'll be talking more about the project that we're celebrating this morning. But we're excited, one, because the weather is just perfect. You know, with January, you never know what you're going to get. So we've put in the weather and we were blessed. So I think that's a good omen. So to get started, at this time I would like to invite our councilwoman, Shirley Gonzalez, to present this great supporter of libraries and literacy, and especially services to families and children. So at this point, it's my pleasure to invite our councilwoman, representing District 5, Shirley Gonzalez. One of the reasons that I think this is such a great partnership is because I believe that this Collins Gardens neighborhood is really the model for neighborhoods all around the country. And so those of you that have come to some of the great grand openings we've had lately, whether it was the HEB, or the park, or the community garden, know that this is really the model that the country is after all over. And so we want to have our parks and our neighborhoods and our churches and our libraries and our retail and our jobs all right here in one place. And this is really what all the country is striving for. And so those of you all that live in this neighborhood, I think can be proud to know that this is the best neighborhood in all of the city of San Antonio to live in. And with all these great updates, I hope you all are enjoying every part of it as much as I am. So Amita talked a little bit about the library and my experience with the library. We grew up in the area a little bit closer to the west side, closer to downtown at Buena Vista in Sarasimora. And the Balsam Library was really an instrumental part of my upbringing. Back then, and I think maybe still, the library ends up being sort of your second home. It ends up being the babysitter. It ends up being where you wait for your parents to pick you up after school. You just walk on over to the library in your neighborhood and you stay there almost till closing, almost till it gets dark and your family is anticipating you. And this is how I think our library has evolved over the years as a community space, as a place for children to gather, as a place for families to gather. And it's been really impactful in my life and I think has made me a lifelong reader. Just because before then, and most of you all here I think, I know that there was really no internet at that time. So we would come and we would just read books and we would play board games and we were supervised and there was air conditioning. And so all those things made it for a really great space to be in. And now that's changed very much over the years about what our libraries are and the impact they have for our community. The things that they do here are much more impactful and much more all-encompassing. So I think that's what makes this library so great. And I'll start with a little bit about talking about the mission of the libraries and its impact for our children. My children I think will have a very different experience. And some of the kids I see here in the back I think will have a very different experience than we did. And this Collins Gardens Library is really transforming how families interact with our library system. And this is state-of-the-art when you guys come in and see the new transformation from the library I think you will find that it is not the library of our youth. And I'm grateful for this city and everybody involved for making that transformation. I feel very humbled to talk about the COPS Metro folks that are all here with us today. As many of you know, my cousin is Ernie Cortez. He was one of the founding members of COPS Metro. When I was growing up in those early 70s my parents and my mother were very afraid of some of the transformations. They were afraid for Ernie because they said they're going to kill you. You have to... And the family would gather. My father would tell me the family would gather and say it's dangerous. But Ernie, along with all of you we're not afraid. You took it out on the streets, you gathered, you organized, you went through the churches and you got what was so essential for this community. And it really is a result of all of your work, of all of your efforts, of your tireless organizing and the fact that nobody was afraid. We said we're not going to be afraid. We're going to organize and we're going to take care of ourselves and take care of our family. And it is because of your work that I am able to be before you today that Latinos can represent communities like this one. That we can have beautiful libraries like this one of your courage and your persistence over the years has brought to where we are today. And so for those of you who don't know some of the younger generation COPS Metro is a grassroots organization that began 35 years ago to advocate for basic infrastructure in San Antonio's poorest neighborhoods. The organization's work has improved the quality of life for thousands of families in San Antonio. They played an essential role in the city's library master plan and were actively involved and instrumental in building seven libraries as part of the bond program to serve COPS communities. The Collins Gardens Library is an important part of the story and of this community and of its past. So honored to have Andy Saravia here with us today. All documents that I was cleaning out one of our files at my store and there was Andy Saravia's name advocating for streets, for bridges, for drainage, for the Gateway Project, the Gateway Historic Project on Commerce so many years ago. I think it was dated in the 1980s and I was so honored to have you here today and I invite you to come forward and address us and I also just want to mention very briefly Mr. Sead whose vote is here with us. Mr. Sead would come every day during the early voting and he would sit here and he would greet the people and he would remind them of the importance to vote. That was just maybe last year, two years ago and so we sure do miss Mr. Sead and I'm so honored to have Mr. Saravia come and address the group. We were scared. We did get a few death threats but we had our faith to correct the Councilwoman and one thing is 41 years of this beautiful library. Everyday people just like yourselves who of the neglect of our SCOPS we organized, took on city and government, forced a bond issue for election, forced a library and made this and other libraries possible. Along the partnership with scholarships for high school children we created Project Quest, an adult job training program and we created our Golden Crown Palo Alto College who will continue to be here. I'd like to take time to introduce some of these leaders as founders of COPS that are maybe here today present. So we're all you founders and there's nobody under 60 I can recognize you. Mesa. Because here we have children and grandchildren of the CS. Cece, Celia, Immaculate Conception. Who else is here? St. Bonaventure. St. Bonaventure. St. Stevens. All these organizations we span all the way from Holy Family all the way to St. Bonaventure. We had 30 some odd parishes, parishes and they're still organized under COPS management. For you young people, I don't see too many young people today here but I serve the ones that are here need to be here. These leaders that you see here are part of the history of San Antonio. They dedicated themselves while at the same time raising their own families to this struggle in our communities for all our generations to come to see your young faces here smiling young faces enjoying the fruits of our labors makes it all worthwhile. Your heroes are not on television in the movies or in sports. It can be your parents, your grandparents and your great-grandparents. These are the real heroes and role models of your lives taking care of you, sacrificing to make a better life for you and your family. And a kiss now and then is the easiest way to thank them. To ask them about their lives, their hopes, their adventures and their struggle. And someday when the time is right your books will be in this library. This is a very critical year because we're going to elect a new president. Decisions are going to be made that will greatly impact all decisions is to vote, register and vote. Get your sisters, your brothers, your neighbors your compadres, your comadres, your friends and your enemies to vote. Your job is to keep nagging them until they vote. And which Democratic Republican will run for the president? Early voting starts February 16th and ends February 26th. On November 8th, we will... Aquí estamos, aquí nos quedamos y aquí votamos. Cops Metro for your support and for your libraries. We greatly appreciate it. Now it's my pleasure to invite to the podium Paul Stahl who is the chair of the library board of trustees for the San Antonio Public Library. Paul has been a board member for about 11 years. Most of those years he's in the leadership position and Paul is very passionate about libraries and we're very fortunate to have him as our new chair. Paul. Thank you everyone. Thank you Romero. Andy. I mean, pretty tough to follow that. I mean, you know, let's give another kind of a community organizer as well from a little farther west from here closer to Sassanmuda and Fredericksburg. And, you know, our struggles, what we've tried to do to build and revitalize our communities over there, it really can't even be compared to the struggles that y'all have done before. I mean, we certainly stand on your shoulders and I want to personally thank you and the rest of your group for the good work that you've done for San Antonio. I want to recognize my wife, Catherine Torres Stahl, where she is. She's a former judge of a district judge here in the city and her neighborhood is where we are. She grew up on Drake, one block over, so this was her library, so I'm proud that for once maybe I get to be involved in something that she sees, you know, and maybe is happy about it. So thank you for having me here this morning. The San Antonio Public Library, you know, we continue to take innovative approaches to serving the San Antonio community. I want to highlight some of the great things that are happening. This year we'll be opening two new branch libraries, one in District 2 and the other in District 6, bringing our total library branches in this city to 30. I don't know how everyone knows that, 30 branches. Both those new libraries will have innovative features that are worth mentioning. The District 6 Library is going to be co-located inside a YMCA, a true innovation for the community providing an array of services in one location. The District 2 Library is going to feature flexible space and state-of-the-art technology. And in addition to pushing innovation in our libraries, we're also focused on building partnerships to leverage the resources, the partnerships that you see today with having the council district office here co-located with the library. In the last few years, San Antonio Public Library has made great strides in building partnerships to serve the community and establishing libraries outside the traditional four walls. With our communities and as they change, as the makeup of them changes, as the expectations change, organizations such as the library also have to change and respond to what the community not only wants, but what they need. A few examples also include Cafe Commerce at Central Library, the library portal at the Briscoe Western Art Museum, the digital library kiosks at the airport. I don't know if you've seen those. Nice large screen interactive monitors that allow you to check out books and download digital media right onto your smartphone. Also, the new co-located field office here with our Collins Garden Branch library. So these examples of innovations we're very proud of. The partnerships also demonstrate our commitment to creating a forward-thinking organization. And I'm proud to say that today, we are viewed by our peer libraries around the country as an organization that inspires and helps to shape the vision of modern libraries. By focusing on enhancing the customer experience, we're leading the charge in developing innovative approaches to serving our communities. So on behalf of the San Antonio Public Library Board of Trustees, I'm excited to be part of the growth and expansion of the San Antonio Public Library system. We're excited to be delivering this new space to you. You know, Ramiro went down of a luminous list of all the individuals that are responsible for this and beautifully, so we were able to also include the COPS organization because, as was mentioned, I mean, they are the true genesis of why this library is here. But all the people on the staff of the San Antonio Public Library, the City of San Antonio, just tremendously dedicated individuals, and I really want to just highlight, it's certainly very easy for us to look at this beautiful, renovated structure and see the fruits of their labor. But what they're really doing and what we're doing, as your representatives on the San Antonio Public Library Board, is, you know, we're working towards the transformation of our communities. We want and are proud to have here, you know, right next to a chapel of the Lord, a sanctuary of knowledge, right? I mean, Councilwoman Gonzalez mentioned it perfectly. I mean, we need to have these types of integrations to make a stronger community. So what we're doing is the best that we can do to provide the community with a wonderful product that helps with the further education and strengthening of our communities. So thank you very much for joining us here today. I hope you're as proud as we are of this, and I can't wait for us to get to go in. So thank you all very much. Thank you, Paul. Next on the program is your representative on the Library Board of Trustees, is Luper Chaua. Thank you, Ramiro. I am so pleased to be here this morning representing the San Antonio Public Library Board of Trustees. I think that it is important to take the moment on this day to remember and to thank the Collins family. The site of the Collins Garden Branch Library was built on land donated to the city of San Antonio in 1917 by F. F. Collins. His grandson, Phyllis F. Collins and other family members worked to reverse the clause on the deed to permit the building of the library in response to COPS request for more libraries in the neighborhood. In appreciation, the Library Board voted in October 1983 to name the branch Collins Garden Branch Library. The groundbreaking for Collins Garden which was the 15th branch of the library system was held on December the 4th, 1983. It was officially dedicated on December the 2nd, 1984 and open to the public on December the 17th, 1984. This put an excellent example of individuals who stepped up took for the greater good of the community. The improvements that we are celebrating today are a testament to the San Antonio Public Library's dedication to the San Antonio community. The branch library will continue to serve as a place for people to meet, exchange ideas and participate in the lives of their community. We have reconfigured the spaces of the library to offer community space for local organizations to have a place to meet, teach classes and use technology to communicate long distance. Children and teens will now have dedicated spaces to interact and engage with each other in a fun, out-of-school learning opportunity. A create space will allow makers, artists, craftsmen to explore creative endeavors. An increase in the number of computers means that there is more opportunity to serve, to search for jobs, to connect with loved ones, to access services and so much more. On behalf of the Library Board of Trustees I thank you for being here and for supporting the Cullinan Garden branch library. I hope to see you all soon again. Thank you very much.