and sit down, i won't bite. i promise. come on over, everybody . thank you for coming. okay hey . come on. is that the controller's office up there? don't worry. you can be seen today. which really brings us

here today. hi everyone. i'm san francisco mayor, london breed, and it is right. really great to be here today. today to make one of the most challenging decisions. oftentimes a mayor has to make. and that is appointing a controller. and not every mayor gets an opportunity to appoint a controller because as each person can serve up to ten years and when ben rosenfield told me that he was cutting his terme a little short , i said, okay, ben, i'm going to let you get away with it. since you've been here for 16 years now, doing an extraordinary job for the city and county of san francisco with an amazing team. and so i want to say thank you, because what happened with this particular office is something that no one

really knows. because they don't experience problems. and when things get handled appropriately , you don't even know who the controller is. and that's what's happened for ben in most cases, except for people who had to work with him in city hall and department heads and others. everyone knows how valuable this office is, but they also know that this office has a reputation for doing extraordinary work. and to give you some sort of understanding of that, that because we have both the department of public health and doctor grant colfax here, as well as the controller's office and during covid, we had such a difficult time in san francisco. there were a lot of expectations, especially from city leaders like members of the board of supervisors. and so i'm glad

that so many of them are here today because folks like them and me, we ask for a lot and we expect to make sure that in the process that we dot all the i's and cross all the t's and do all the technical work and make sure the money is in and make sure the money is going out and it's going out to the right person and all the appropriate paperwork is signed and done, and it takes a lot. and that's what this office has done very, very well. during good times. and certainly during very difficult times. and so i want to thank you, ben, for your work. uh for serving the city and county of san francisco for so many years and just for helping us weather the storm in the way that you have, um, working with a lot of elected officials and department heads and your amazing team and really delivering excellence for the

city and county of san francisco. so thank you. and don't worry, everyone, there'll be a party for ben. i've never seen him smile so much. by the way, i didn't know it was in him . and so today i want to officially announce that i am sending a name to the board of supervisors to request their support and approving the next controller of the city and county of san francisco, mr. greg wagner. now some of you are asking, number one, why greg and number two, who is greg? he works for the city. well, yes, he does

work for the city. and in fact, again, it makes him the perfect candidate for this position. one, because we don't really want to know the controller. we just want information and we want strong leadership. and greg has been a strong leader. he has worked for two previous mayors, mayor ed lee and mayor gavin newsom, dealing with sometimes very challenging budget circumstances. unlike the circumstances that we have. fortunately been able to enjoy for a few years as well. now we have some very challenging circumstance races ahead. and greg understands what that means . and even though he worked for two previous mayors, he's already said that i was his favorite. and right then and there i said, okay, let me let me figure out who this guy is. but fortunately for me, i got to

know greg when we were when i first became mayor, i knew who he was. i knew what he did with the budget team. i understood his history around budgeting and work in san francisco. but when i was going through a transition with the department of public health, not only did greg wagner step up and manage that department through a challenging time, he was very helpful around the finances, very helpful around the work with the staff and helpful in that transition. he was a professional, he was knowledgeable and he was exactly what the department needed as it went through a transition in and that work didn't go anywhere. it continued because he stuck with the department and in fact, the department of public health is one of those departments with thousands of employees. a lot of challenges, a lot of ups and downs, and none of us expected to be in the midst of a global pandemic. and adding to the

responsibilities of what needed to be done and public health was at the center of that. and they did an excellent job in delivering for the community and delivering for the people of san francisco. so and helping us get to a better place. and there was a lot of money and a lot of resources and change going out the door. and greg was at the center of so much of that work. in addition to that, we had a number of challenges with laguna honda and i must say, the work that we did with public health, with labor, with the people who work at laguna honda to what we were able to do. you took a lot of over site and work and find chances. and greg again delivered and it it's the people that you don't see sometimes that make the biggest difference in in what you do see in terms

of the accomplishment that occur in san francisco, when we're able to go out and talk about what an amazing job we've done, i, as mayor, end up taking all the credit, of course, but the fact is, i know that so many of you here today, especially those in both the controller's office and the department of public health and in various capacities in the city and county of san francisco. i know that you are the driving force behind all of that work, and having talented leaders who are capable of steering the ship and getting the job done and being fiscally responsible and providing accurate information and getting the politics out of all of the decisions that need to be made in order to deliver for the people of san francisco is not an easy thing to do. and greg wagner has done it. so so.

doctor colfax over here looking like a proud papa. that's my baby. and so with that, i will be forwarding his name to the board of supervisors and i want to thank the members of the board who are joining us here today. and at this time, i want to invite the president of the board of supervisors, aaron peskin, to come up and say a few words and to commit his support to this appointment. thank you, mayor breed. uh, indeed, you have made a very wise, wise nomination. uh, doctor colfax, your loss is the rest of the city's gain, uh, to the staff and employees of our steam

controllers office, you have nothing to fear. and i say that as somebody who is now on the eve of their third controller, this is an office that, yes, has some duties and responsibilities around controlling fiscal spending. but it is an office that for more than a quarter of a century, has done so much more , starting with ed harrington, who in many ways, as the politicians were toing and froing and fighting about this or that, was the glue that held the city and county of san francisco together, not only in the realm of the fiscal and the economic, but actually in a larger realm of helping us work through creatively so many issues as and when that transition, uh, over a decade and a half ago happened from ken harrington to ben rosenfield,

that same tradition was continued. and so i'm saying to the staff, who are really such remarkable, excellent professional staff at the controller's office that that is happening yet again. so i want to thank, uh, mayor breed for making a very thoughtful, well considered decision. and i don't want to speak on behalf of my colleagues, but i have every confidence that mr. wagner's nomination will be, uh, confirmed by the san francisco board of supervisors in the weeks to come to comptroller rosenfield. and i want to personally thank you for, uh, not only for being honest and forthright. uh for sharing the information impartially in a non partizan way that we need to make decisions. but about about letting us know that there are choices and helping us figure

out what those choices are. and without steering us in those directions, doing it dispassionately and letting us come to our own conclusions, as it has been remarkably important in the governance of san francisco, i want to personally thank you for that. uh, to greg wagner, i've known you now for getting on to a quarter of a century. i know that you have the knowledge you have the chops. if you can do it at a $2 billion department, that is the department of public health, you can do it for the entire city and county of san francisco. and with that, it is my pleasure to introduce the comptroller for another two months. ben rosenfield. thank you. thank you. well, now.

yeah. thank you, mayor breed. thank you, president peskin. uh, for those kind words. and i can safely tell you, no one is happier to be here today and see this process progressing than me . um, and i'll have an opportunity another time to kind of say thank you and send my well wishes. but again, for all the years i have greatly enjoyed the work and loved it. today i'm very excited to be here to express my beliefs that greg will be a fantastic comptroller for the city and county of san francisco. so if approved by the board of supervisors and i appreciate your nomination, then, uh, madam mayor, i've worked with greg for years, um, in a number of roles that he has held with the city and a number

of roles i've held with the city in good times and bad times. i know he has the experience and a record of accomplishment in those roles. that tells me that he will be a fantastic controller for the city and county of san francisco. so and maybe more importantly, i've seen greg exhibit the qualities in performing that work that tell me that that he would succeed in this role in a way that would be an honor to the controller's office in the city. um, both as a person, as a manager and as a leader. and i think those qualities are perhaps as important as the skill he will bring to the job. um, it has been an honor to perform this work. it was an honor to succeed ed harrington in this role. and with this nomination and with the board of supervisors approval, it will be an honor to hand the reins to greg as our next controller. so greg, thank you. i know ben is

thinking to himself, oh, now they want to listen to me. oh well, now that i'm leaving, um, but again, ben, thank you so much for your work and your commitment to san francisco. we appreciate it. so much. and look forward to seeing what comes next. and with that, ladies and gentlemen, uh, for those of you who don't know, greg wagner, wagner, here he is, our next controller, our. hi, everybody. um i got i got a smile on my face. for now, i'm going to take mayor breed's advice and be short and try to stay. stay under the radar. so none of you remember who i am? um. uh i first really just want to say thank you. mayor breed. i am so, so deeply honored to be

nominated as city comptroller. um, it is in many ways, i feel like a culmination of a lot of the work that i've done across my career. um, so thank you, mayor breed. um, i also want to thank you, president peskin, for being here. and the kind words from both both of you to the other members of the board of supervisors and our elected city family. it is such an honor to have this group here today. um, so, uh, the mayor described some of my history, but i've been working for the last 17 or so years, uh, working to improve city finances. and, uh, the services that our city delivers. um i'm proud of the work to do the things that are at the heart of the comptroller's office mission, like managing the city's finances. that's the lifeblood of any public agency, but also the larger role of the comptroller's office. uh, which which, as we heard previously,

is about, uh, promote ing the integrity and honesty and ethics and accountability in the city and making sure that the city, uh, makes decisions based on data and follow through and measures its results. um like many cities across our country, i know that we're facing some challenging financial times ahead. um but i really do believe in san francisco. i believe in the future of this city and i believe in our ability to tackle these, uh, financial challenges. mayor breed described some of our history in doing that. we did that during the great recession, and we did it by partnering with the board of supervisors. our labor partners, our elected officials and department heads across the city, and keeping our north star on providing high quality and efficient public services. and we're going to do that again over the coming months. uh, we've done it through the years. during the

late 20 teens, when a, a certain federal administration was attempting to dismantle the funding for our safety net programs, and we did it through the covid pandemic. and i think and i believe that my background prepares me for that challenge. again, i am honored by the opportunity to take on this role . um, so i'll just last lastly say, um, it's been a privilege to work with you, ben, and with the previous comptroller, ed harrington. uh, they did the job in different ways. uh, but i took from them a lot of lessons, including approaching the job with competence, integrity, independence and accountability, and focusing on data driven decision making to inform decisions by policymakers in the city. i will take that. and if i have the honor of being confirmed by the board of supervisors, i'll take those lessons with me into the job. um, i'm also really eager to work closely with the incredible

staff in the comptroller's office, as maybe up there on on the balcony. um, and i just want to say a thank you to doctor grant colfax. uh, and the team at the public health department who are close to my heart and working with you has been a wonderful experience. and i will continue to partner with you, uh, as i transition into the new phase to the members of the board of supervisors. um, we'll be talking soon. i'm looking forward to working through this next, uh, phase in the nomination process. and i'm eager to talk with you and hear your thoughts and answer your questions. um, so with that, uh, thank you again for this honor. mayor breed and i will leave it at that. and i'm anxious to get to work. he even sounds like a controller. no concern about him

running for supervisor. guys so good for us. yeah. so, san franciscan raising his family here, and he's going to focus on the fiscal responsibility of dealing with san francisco, along with the work we have to do around tax reform. um, and, and just so many layers of things. and my hope is that the work and the information you provide will continue to be the guide that we need in order to make the best decisions to get us through a very difficult time in the coming years in san francisco. so we are grateful that you are stepping up. uh, we look forward to the process. and again, thank you, ben. thank you. members of the board, and thank you to the public health department, as well as the comptroller's office and everyone that's joining us here today. now, let's get back to work.

>> today's special guest

michelle ginsberg. >> i'm chris and you are watching san francisco riegz the show that focused on reguilding and reimagining our city our guest is the general manager of the san francisco rec and parks, with us to talk about new parks, music and other developments. mr. ginsberg, welcome. >> thank you a pleasure to be here >> nice to see you again. >> last time was during the pandemic and virtual. so it is good to be back here. >> before we get in specifics, let's start with a broad question, how can will park's system play a part in the economic recovery? >> well, our parks system playing an important role throughout the pandemic. parks were here when people in san francisco needed them the most. a place where people could gather and could care for

mentality health and fizz cat health and have a sense of community and a sense of place during a really weird time. and now that things are reopening and figure out how to recover, parks are going to continue to play a significant role >> people are out and having a good time. there are special events happening in parks. concerts and the weather is good. the best way parks play a role in our economic recovery is to motivate -- people to come to our city from other places and to motivate our residents to get out and enjoy themselves >> exciting to her we opened a new park and there is another. what is special about the 2 new projects? >> sure. san francisco is going through, i think, a park renaissance. we opened the francisco park, which is just magnificent

property that sits on top of an old reservoir dating back to the gold rush and has tremendous views of the golden gate bridge and bay and a place where you can bring kids. a cool play ground to bring dogs an amazing dog park. a meadow to watch the fireworks. fog willing. fleet week, community gardens, it is just such an incredible unique space. we are proud of it. >> and then right down the road in a few years, we will be pleased to welcome everybody to india basin in the bay view in the southeast part along the southern water front. 1.7 miles of waterfront that until recently has been under utilized and under fulfill in the a community this needs it

the most. india basin is really a feel moment for the bay view and southeastern part of san francisco. it is going to be san francisco's next great and one of the most important parks >> that's fantastic. now, we have a great history of having conference in parks. can you touch on the year's highlights? >> upcoming and on going. this is something i'm particularly excited about. i don't think there is ever have been more music in san francisco parks than there is right now >> so, let's go around the city and talk about music. stern grove, is in the 85th concert season. back after the pandemic. in this just fabulously treasured meadow. free concerts all summer long. in golden gate park, at the man shell not guilty music concourse free concerts 4 days a week.

wednesday, friday, saturday and sundays. we have sing are song writer wednesday. jazz and seoul on friday. communities performances on saturdays of different kindses and sundays reggae it is extraordinary. and of course, later this summer we are pleased to welcome back outside lands for an exciting 3 days and 3 nights of incredible concerts and food and community. as we go across the city, we got wonderful performances in the jerry theatre in mc clarnin park a special jerry day coming back to the theatre. on june 21st we had make music day appearing all over the city in park in civic center. on the marina green. again in golden gate park. it has been a great time for

music and ties into the recovery and the tremendous energy where we are feeling and -- you know anybody who says san francisco is struggling needs to hang out in the park system. where well is joy and beaut and he inspiration every day. >> so, the san francisco board of supervisors passed legislation to make jfk drive in will golden gate park car free. how have residents responds. >> the san francisco residents responds positive. families. bicyclists, joggers, people with dogs and people from every corner of san francisco have discovered that jfk promenade is a treasure. it enhances the parks so much. imagine a beautiful day in the park and weather on foot or on bike you are strolling down jfk,

you pass sixth avenue and head to the music concourse for a concert or the museum; it is joyous and made golden gate park sproord. i have been hering about disk golf and pickle ball. can you tell us about and where people can practice and play. >> i knew you were going. pickle ball the fastest growing sports. you know across between 10 and is ping pong and may be with a whiffle ball. ping pong on a life sized course it is easy to learn about skill based people who are good are irrelevant good and it is easy to play. it is fun and accessible. we are trying to accommodate sport. we have over 55 courts around san francisco. 11 dedicated just for pickle balt others per pickle ball and

tennis. we have 5 or 10 space you can play pickle ball indoors and keeping up with the tremendous popularity of the sport. disk golf has a loyal following it is also going to continue to growch we opened our first disk golf course in golden gate park in 2005. and you know, whether you are an expert at disk golf or beginner, the idea of chucking a frisbee through the beautiful park and. it does not matter what you score t. is just a good excuse to be outside and enjoy a beautiful day in nature. >> exactly. well, thank you. i really appreciate you coming on the show, thank you for the time you have given us tuesday. >> thank you, i hope everybody enjoys summer. get out and play in san

francisco's parks. >> thanks again. that's it for this episode we will back with another shortly you have been watching san francisco rising i'm chris manners, thanks forrrrrrrrrrrrrr good evening. this is a meeting of the san francisco commission on the environment. the date is monday, february 5th. the time is 5:07 p.m. please note that the ringing and use of cell phones, pagers and similar devices is prohibited. please be advised that the chair may order the removal from the meeting room of anyone using a phone or similar device. public comment will be available for each item on the agenda, or comments on matters that are not on the agenda. there will be an opportunity for general public comment participants who wish to come to wish to comment will be asked to come forward. one by one and speak clearl