>> good morning, every one. hello. thank you so much for coming to today's press conference mayor, conference and our lunar year the year of the dragon. san francisco has a special place in history, in december of 1992, san francisco watched the city where the historic unveiling of the first-ever lunar new year took place in this entire country. and since 11992, we have many national first days and national ceremonies. but whether we get the first day or not, we always have an

unveiling as part of our lunar new year celebration. it's very excited. last week i was very comfort to join seattle to join the postal state for the unveiling of the lunar new stamp. it was attended by 300 people by eduardo who is the president of the retail of the postal service. vod me and the public that lunar new year is the most successful program in the commemorative stamps. we are very happy to keep up with the tra kissing. --tradition. today we're gathered today, although the stamp is already out there, but it's our

tradition in our city to unveil the stamp for every one in the san francisco bay area. so without further ado, i would like to introduce our mayor, maryland on --our mayor, london breed who has unveiled a lot of stapp p. >> mayor breed: hello welcome and welcome to unveil this stamp. it's an exciting time filled with so much joy and excitement, especially after coming out of this global pandemic. it has been very difficult and for whatever reason, i feel like even though, we have the worse of it behind us, this is the one of the first years that i feel like people are actually coming out and coming together

differently than they ever have before to celebrate lunar new year. i was at events in china town, in the richmond and in the bay point where they were celebrating lunar new year in a joint celebration together. and it's been great to see and these places have been packed with people. so the excitement is in the air and i could not be more excited and proud to be here today to celebrate a time honor tradition for the past 30 years here in san francisco, thanks to the leadership of cludine chang and the organization that has been doing a lot of work during the month of may and lunar new year to bring communities together. thank you for all your amazing work. we have a number of other special guest from across the api spectrum from japan town to

tenderloin, to the various groups who will have activities and events all over san francisco including our city liberian, michael lambert which will be a number of great events so make sure you check out the san francisco library system and look at all the activities and events and things that are going on in our libraries and in our park. it's going to be a good time in san francisco. and lion dance, mean, man these folks know how to put on a performance. right now this is a relaxing moment, even though it takes a lot of strength to hold this dragon up, they're going to be performing all over the city and doing all the exciting things that they do. and clearly they're a lot younger than the rest us, because they have the energy and strength to do it. we're joined by a couple of people, and i want to again

recognize clawdene more being here and post master, i'm so happy to get hor land, he's behind the most exciting parade, the lunar new year parade that will be happening in san francisco on february 24. book up all the hotel rooms and come to eat and enjoy china town and all during the month of may. there is something for every one. so we're excited to have you here, as well as our city attorney and thank you to our police commissioner larry yee representativing chinese consolidated benevolent association. so we're happy to kickoff the

year of the dragon which represents, strength, courage, and it represents progress. and i must say that this city has made significant progress. we know that this pandemic is not complete xlaoe behind us, but during the piem we experienced challenges in our api community with a rise of api hate and making an effort in our program, ambassadors protecting our communities, coming together to do what is necessary to keep people safe with our police officers, as a result since 2021, we have seen a 90% decline in api hate crimes in the city of san francisco thanks to the work who are here today. [applause] because we want people to come out to all the neighborhoods of

san francisco, our seniors and our grandmas who we love so much, they have to feel safe in the city and the work that we're doing together is ensuring that, especially during the lunar new year. we're cleaning up the streets even more. we're puting out all the various activities and food and fun and festivities, you're going to see smiles all over the city and county of san francisco because of everything that we have done and we'll continue to do to ensure the success of lunar new year of san francisco and the unveiling of this stamp really kicks it off to full gear. thank you all for being here. with that, i would like to introduce our city attorney, david chu. [applause] >> thank you, madam mayor for your leadership and for being our chief cheerleader when it comes to the lunar new year. let me start to the api

federation, andclaudiaeven year after yae, you work. and we celebrate lunar new year the right way with the postal. and the line dance meet troop the access or and i were talking how we would like to dawn those polls poles, but we'll be doing some arm curls with our law books to be ready, is that right, walkine? when i was little, i collected stamps but when i was growing

up, there were not stamped that reflected our culture, our api heritage, our inclusive diverse beautiful culture that is the asian pacific community here in the united states. and when i think about how different it has been over the years that generations of kids get to be reflected in something as common as the stamps that we put in the letters. my son who is p, is slightly obsessed with stamps because of course he's my son. and for me to share the year of the dragon stamps is going to be excited to him, but it means that just as i learned about black history and women's history and other aspects of american history from the stamps that i observed in the 70s and 80s, he will learn that and more. i want to thank the post master and the leadership of the

postal service for uplifting who we are as americans, uplift who we are as asian pacific americans and uplift who we are as san franciscans. with that, thank you so much and do i bring you back claudiadine or madam mayor? come on back madam mayor. >> mayor breed: thank you so much for your leadership. and i want to recognize some of the leaders here, nelson lum is with us as well as steven lee our port commissioner and night life champion, lions deny will be packed all throughout lunar new year. grace herothi thank you from jam an town, ron lee, good to see you, i saw the hawaiian shirt is always good for any occasion.

elvin louie and al perez, thank you for being with us commissioner perez and so many of our wonderful leaders as well as our commissioner a raoen lee rylee, we appreciate what you do on boards and commissioners and activities all around the city. and with that, i want to introduce the post master, i was going to say post master general but just post master from the united states postal service to help introduce and talk about this stamp douglas smith. >> good morning, every one. thank you mayor breed for the kind words, claudine, i don't think there is any place in this country that represents what we provide with the stamp and in this city, although we were not first, i think we're always going to be the most

important so thank you for the words. it's an honor to be here as we celebrate the year of the dragon. i would like to thank the speakers for your support. as a post master of san francisco, i'm proud to recognize this meaningful stamp that is val owed by those who celebrate the lunar new year as well. it's a time when families get together as you have done today to celebrate the celebrating of our stamp. as one of america's oldest public institutions, the postal service is proud to celebrate through our commemorative stamp program. likewise, i'm proud to say that the workforce is one of the most diverse in america. sxl that's appropriate since we serve the most diverse customers on the face of the earth.

ours is a world culture, which is why it's so important that our stamps reflect the rich multi cultural traditions. for more than three decades, they celebrate the lunar new year. in fact the lunar new year are the collection right side the most exciting releases the postal service has had. that's no surprise that more than 1.5 billion mark the event. the success of the series is a wonderful reminder to bring friends and family together in the spirit of celebration, a tradition of course is what lunar new year is all about. this year's stamp showcases the only mythical creature in the chinese zodiac, dragons are considered by many to be welcome harolded of hope for the future. it's also been said that people

mourn during the lunar new year tend to have the features. enterprising, wise and powerful, are the traits. i'm proud to say that i was born in the year of the dragon in 1964. i hope you know that we have quality, wisdom in our judgment and good luck and good fortune. the stamp, the 5th in the lunar new year series, created by camille chu, sevensers the beautifully adorn mask used in lunar new year parades, on the long tradition of paper cut folk art cuts created during this yaefrment the mask was constructed out of hand painted paper and and used flowers and tassle. gold and red, gold representing

prosperity and red good fortune. you can purchase this stamp in our places, and from the convenience of your home at u.s. ps.com. as you add the stamp to your collection, or use it to mail your lunar new year greetings, it's our hope that the year of the dragon brings peace, and comfort to you and your families. thank you again for the opportunity to be with you today and i would now like to ask mayor breed and our participants to come up and help me unveil the 2024, year of the dragon forever stamp. [applause]

>> mayor breed: all right, join us in the count, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! [cheers and applause]

>> thank you, everybody. hello.culture. >> well to c h f a the society of america here on a chinatown the district preserved and the history of chinatown with any person of any background is sketch plan or accepted for all people the founder help to create the studies and with a

major collection on the objects that tell the material history of chinatown and so much is offend in chinatown incredible all the texture of the design a way to get from the east to the west and beyond that have an amazing institution like c h f a to >> my name is patricia yuen and captain of the fire department of division of training. >> i was born as a child of 2 wonderful, dull this is decided to have 7 kids. they had 6 girl and one boy. a traditional family family immigrate in the 70 and mom owned a sewing fact row in china town. my dad worked 60 hours as a waiter.

their hard work ethic trickled down to the family >> my journal tow becoming a firefighter happened when i was in college. my senior year had 2 friends that were firefighters. lieutenant rob wong who is still working and retired ricky hughy. they would tell me about their advent urs. daily activities of being a firefighter. i think it was the unknown that sparked my interest and finding out more about the department. what it does. every day is different. that really made me want to work hard to get that job as a firefighter. when i got in the department in 1996. okay. asian firefighter association let me see what this is about. back then the main people what were in the organization, retired chief chan. retired chiefically. took he under their wing and said, you have to represent go out to the chinese new year parade. show up to events that are in item an town community and show

an example to the community that our parents become doctors and lawyers, firefighting is a great job. you are helping others in the community. >> our program neighborhood emergency response team training program, started after the quake in 1989 and 6 course program where you take all sick classes to teach how to rely on themselves help themselves and neighborhoods. started back in 1996 teaching. i'm an active instructor now in 2023. we train up to 2,000 people every year and really it is our best way to reach out to the community so we can inter~ act in case of disaster. representing myself in the fire department always thought of it as dot best job can i do. work hard so i earn the respect of all of my coworkers. i know that now that i have more time to go out to my community,

i see moiz in a lot of people that would never envision themselves as firefighters. i think as years progress i saw how important it was to put myself out well and show them this is a great job. show your best. shape the lives of people that did not think about theion here. i think it is just that progression of knowing how important it is to teach people more thing and seeing how important it it is as the years passed. >> flyshaker pool was a public pool located on sloat boulevard near great highway.

it operated from 1925 to 1971 and was one of the largest pools in the world. after decades of use, less people visited. the pool deteriorated and was demolished in 2000. built by herbert flyshaker, pumps from the pacific ocean that were filtered and heated filled the pool. aside from the recreational activities, many schools held swim meets there. the delia flyshaker memorial building was on the west side of the pool. it had locker rooms with a sun room and mini hospital. in 1995, a storm damaged one of the pipes that flowed to the ocean. maintenance was not met, and

the pool had to close. in 1999, the pool was filled with sand and gravel. in 2000, the space became a spot for the san francisco zoo. these are some memories that many families remember swimming at flyshaker pool.

>> (please standby for the city and county of san francisco health commission meeting this afternoon at 4:00 pm., tuesday, february 20, 2024.)