financial district. that alone is powerful. [music]

>> for those of you don't know me, i'm janet and tilts a pleasure to be here today for the irish flag raising the irish are optimists and irish flag raising i saw the sunshine slow the rain clouds that's what day i today is all about the irish helped shape san francisco and including buildings and engineering and science and medication and education, government and public service. my father thomas yes, ma'am graduated in 1949 and immigrants

found opportunity and warm welcome in san francisco and found the love of his life my motel whose family where in the county and my siblings and i were raised with great pride in the irish heritage and (microphone feedback) welcome to introduce to i your mayor of 0 san francisco mayor london breed (clapping.) all right. good afternoon everyone who is so great to be here with each and every one of you to celebrate the flag raising that represents are your bond and continued work and growth what did you irish community here in san francisco this this year's theme is unit sf i appreciate leaning the

united society and all the work they have done and continue to do to make sure we are building bridges we are working together and we're doing everything we can to move san francisco forward. it is so great to be here. with the lord mayor of clark mayor ma carbohydrate thank you. obeys here to celebrate this occasion and thank you to our council generally been a great addition to san francisco we appreciate and value our work relationships in the centuries of what it means san francisco has been celebrating st. patrick's day for one hundred and 73 years celebrated with the history and vacation dwelling the relationships bringing us toyota this this year this is anymore special lord mayor celebrating 40 years of the

sister relationship between san francisco and cork (clapping.) it is no wonder that so many of our learned are joining us i want to take a moment to recognize them thank you to the chief marianne for being here and corresponding this event (clapping.) thank you to the members of board of supervisors i ask you all to stand supervisor safai, supervisor dorsey and others. thank you very much. >> (clapping) and also want to thank our assembly member matt apprenticeship any for being here as well (clapping.) and finally, recognize that the public safety over there our paul our police chief bill scott and fire chief jeanine nicole

son and i know a beloved member of the irish community is here the former parade kathleen banning (clapping.) shout out to the residents bigger john who is joining us as well (clapping.) and the co-chair the sister committee for being here. (clapping.) and finally, i know that i served as grand marshal a while ago i feel like every single year i'm passing the torture i want to thank the folks for coming to san francisco 1979 developing his company more

importantly continuing to be a course of inspiration and making sure that you are supporting you're one hundred and 40 people being sf as well as the cooperer field and treasure island thank you for your work and congratulations (clapping.) i want to also recognize the family of michael administering joining us and let you you know, his memory is recognized during this time as a here member and grand marshal we appreciate your work and commitment to the public service during the grand marshal dinner i met his son with the san francisco pd thank you for being here today (clapping.) so much xiechltd so much rich history and amazing people

lipped unit 19is part of the theme this year so as we celebrate it is about bringing communities together. it is about recommending our challenging times but also recognizing that san francisco and our irish community represents row silence coming up with the stronger and better than that than ever before so many of you with our stories of row silence and your stories around coming to san francisco before crocker or other places we know at that time was not easy but today we're here with over 67 thousand people of irish decent has the prior chief joan talked about public service and

police officers and firefighters and people who have established their own businesses and construction companies engineering and many people who helped to lead and would build the city and county of san francisco guy we recognition and recognize the history and in order to move our city forward and i want to ask the lord mayor of crocker as well as the council general to come down to accept that official proclamation. that cement we'll officially proclaim that irish-american friendship today in the city and county of san francisco (clapping.) oh, wait a minute what i'm a news lerlt and change it is now

officially irish-american heritage month in san francisco (clapping.) to celebrate the most we're going to light city hall up in green make sure i come back to get our pictures and in is 16 the day we host one of the biggest st. patrick's day in the united states light city hall up in green make sure you join us and have a wonderful time thank you all so much. >> (clapping) all right.

>> thank you. >> thank you, mayor london breed and now like to ask council general from ireland to come up this is the month (clapping.) thank you, thank you joanne the state of an the overview of happy st. patrick's day we're celebrating on this we have setting of this great home it is great thourn. thank you. >> today you read the irish side over flag over city hall we celebrate the connections to this great city to a home of a wonderful mix of the people's where there is unit and comfort and diversity and heritage poisoning success and failure and resiliency a city that is long home for the irish a

community helped to shape and forge many relationships in this city thank you, mayor london breed i was reminded i remain jealous this year for the lord mayor and i don't think none jealous for any jacket but mayor, i witnessed the work for the people across the city and little irish and thank you for making in day special for st. patrick's day for us in the irish community. and want to thank you to the team miriam and everyone involved in city hall thank you to the supervisors we had a great day not board yesterday thank you, commissioner chambers for the presentations in city hall that will continue and to liam and

the board of directors of the united irish society thank you for your work to marry that the st. patrick's day celebrated and the entire irish for the relationships with that country and city and at the as phone call o for the support for my family and i offer decades almost after a year and a half and looking forward to as the mayor referenced to under united 70 sf sophomore the grand marshal tom very well-deserved tom and you're good people made a tremendous quack in the city and region thank you for that and also to the family of honoree grand marshal murphy thank you for being here a wonderful honor to be the honorees grand marshal and other

big year forever irish and this region 40 years of the history relationship i'm deliberated that underlines the relationship and significant progress and culture center on 2025 and progress with the common america and have the championship the biggest championship in the united states this year and in the city and in august and you might see me there as well this is a year the hundred anniversary of diplomatic relationships with the united states a very special relationship and talk about on that over the coming days and weeks st. patrick's day we promote ireland and relationships we just conducted a decade of that marked the

political body island of ireland some dark and some light by this year our theme is looking at the ireland in the future and in the world he threw the lens of our youth that is the theme the irish government theme across the united states and this year but more importantly let's joy ourselves today and joy ourselves for the next few week thank you, thank you (clapping). >> now like to perfect segue our first performance is by cal tick voices enjoy.

>> (music).

>> (singing).

>> and i shall -

(clapping.) thank you cal tick voices a round of applause (clapping.) and next gives me great pleasure speaking with marty joe owner since 1963 the year before i was born murphy school of dance led by mary joe murphy. >> (music).

>> (clapping) thank you to the murphy school dancers another round of applause the mayor asked if i would do the steps maybe after

an irish coffee i'll to ask the lord mayor, i had the pleasure to meet last time and mary please join me at the podium welcome. >> dear mayor london breed dear members of board of supervisors and members of london breed and exclusive members of city hall i brought jan as your honored guests thank you, so, so much for hosting this very, very important encouragement event and my dear friends i have if i may unfortunately, raise ireland's flag to recognize this day this is a bold much meaning reflection recommending the celebration of irish culture to

the identity and particular events and journeys of irish people across kirnts of time and event rfkdz on the resilience and ambition and attitudes and mechanisms a deep sense of pride with an emotional pride and sense of hope for not giving up in the face of challenge. my dear friends ultimately so many to learn from such stories that's the first message and not judge the irish stories but the other stories across the world not just in san francisco i didn't across the world as well and my dear friends my second message has before you get us on an important journey and democracy i talked about with

mayor london breed with threatened of democracy our prirn or partnership is a light of opportunities and for me those opportunities are together more in a devoted world more before and the restoring is one of the bridging poem to the and has inspired and mature benefits of projects and over the last 40 years and also like to thank the san francisco crocker committee for their hard work with your executives and for hard work and volunteerism and so my second message is that we purview past years since dianne feinstein and the lord mayor john signed agreements and joan in crocker

and send him our best wishes and always remember dianne feinstein and for her work and for international democracy but still much to do we need to continue our journal today and many roads and my third message my dear friends to ask the festivities in preparation for the anniversary a song has been stuck in my head but the lyrics to the beautiful scenery and bringing san francisco indeed a song for several years on the chart in ireland since 1984 so this is dedicated to you and i have no doubt other mayors so

the people in the audience who are from ireland if you know this walking. were falcons build their nests and they fly they know the call of firemen in any breasts and against the sky where twisted rock they run down to the sea and living on the western shore for the sunset ask for anymore he stood by there is a lot to see and sank. >> song for ireland and talking along the day try to make you stay. and joe how have

news and singing songs to past the night away and watch the silver dancing in the sun and living on your western shore for the sunset ask for more i stood by your atlantic sea and sank a song for ireland and i sink a song for ireland (clapping.) thank you so much. >> (clapping) (laughter). >> to conclude dear mayor london breed and my friends let's reflective on the learning for the racing of the flag and continue to renew our journal

together in the relationships and let's remain true friends as is lyrics sank thank you for the opportunity to address you in that beautiful, beautiful palace (clapping.) thank you, mayor. mccarthy if you tire you can go to the entertainment industry and [off mic.] >> beautiful, beautiful. >> charming before i call up the next speaker someone i want to introduce when a who has met joan someone i know since i was a little girl and my family and father and wonderful public sovereignty this is deputy chief former president please stand

dermot (clapping) thank you. >> thanks for what you've done for the city i love this city big city and small town i went to high school with his drought terry require we're getting close towards of end i'd like to make sure we introduce liam frost did a great job of the irish society (clapping.) ethic, of course, i get to follow the talented sirens and all the speakers i'm the president of units irish society of san francisco and demeanor met was my procedures i want to say wow. one hundred and 73

years for the irish have been celebrating and it was brought to our attention no longer the same day but sfaipd for the month of mark and this can only happen from when one hundred and 74 years ago like our tom and you decided to get to the and celebrate the irish heritage and could angle last this many years have mayors will i london breed that welcome us with the irish flag raising and doing everything we can to celebrate our parade so mayor london breed and her staff foster and others helped to organize this and then the council general smith and jennifer is the advice council all those people make piano last

one hundred and 73 years and i'd like to um, supervisor supervisor stefani for putting on the reception and continue the staff with joe and others organizing and any ask chris to council u come up and give little mayor a token of our appreciation for having us a vase in ireland (clapping) [off mic.] >> there we go. >> put this on the shelf. >> any for the parade every year this gongs and not like and

we can do better the only people that know there is a hip and now have jan i'm not sure james understood how much work but thank you to james and his family for allowing him to do all that work (clapping.) as well as the whole board of units irish sovereignty i was handed this board and like being on a big ship and all i have to do it stay out of the way and every year everything is done the business the hospital and the day cape county of los angeles day and looking to ask the rose committee to one of our events to make that agent better and next to get more people to support this. >> put own this parade we need a lot of help in the city and

got nick with the sf mta rec and park phil and others and the staff and, of course, jeanine nicholson and asking a lot of them to do the work we appreciate that. >> (clapping) you know, there is a boss but are face to face with the captain jason from northern station and their staff of a toby moore and frank and you accessibility adam shaw. when we have those meetings we're sitting across the table those are the ones that gets this done for one hundred and 73 years i appreciate the city employees taking care of of us so once

again thanks (clapping.) i'd like to congratulate and thank our grand marshall tom and his wife may mary and as honoreey grand marshal it is huge honor to be a grand marshal of san francisco but a lot of work we ask a lot of those people most of these guys want to be in the background we ask them to go on tv and they're not me but they do that and we appreciate that that's why we're honoring people like them and past fire chief joann that's she talked about mercy hospital and mike murphys kids behind me - i worked with mike murphy with my

son at bayview station a small town and it's amazing i get to honor people like. so thank you, (clapping.) and as always have to thank my wife i get a lot of phone calls she looked me and roles her eyes okay, honey. the support i get from here is amazing. and i appreciate and love my wife and want to shout out also to every board member they in the same boat so thank you, (clapping.) this is the season to celebrate being irish and i invite everyone to become irish for the season and let us unit san

francisco. thank you. (clapping.) thank you, liam. >> this concludes this part of ceremony and irish coffee or two i know again, the generosity of supervisor stefani down the hall you on your doors we appreciate that thank you. . thank you. >> um, thank you, mayor london breed and i was going to say i want to congratulate tom hunt a your family as grand marshal the wonderful experience and mike murphy thank you, ferry the attracts to our city before we conclude mayor, i the president to briefly count the voices have you come up for a

certificate. >> (laughter.) >> this is mary who oversees cal tick voices (clapping.) i'm going out a limp are i still principal at sanity (rustling of papers.) and wonderful principal and next mary joe murphy and school of dance (clapping.) great job.

>> (clapping) thank you, everyone for joining us happy st. patrick's day and month thank you, london breed. >> it was an outdoor stadium for track and field, motorcycle and auto and rugby and cricket located in golden gate park, home to professional football, lacross and soccer. adjacent to the indoor arena.

built in the 1920s. the san francisco park commission accepted a $100,000 gift from the estate to build a memorial in honor of pioneers in the area. the city and county of san francisco contributed an additional $200,000 and the stadium was built in a year. in the 1930s it was home to several colleges such as usf, santa clara and st. mary's for competition and sporting. in 1946 it became home to the san francisco 49ers where they played nearly 25 years. the stayed de yam sat 60,000 fans. many caught game the rooftops and houses. the niners played the last game against the dallas cowboys january 3, 1971 before moving to candlestick park. the stadium hosted other events before demolition in 1989.

it suffered damages from the earthquake. it was reconstructed to seat 10,000 fans with an all weather track, soccer field and scoreboards. it hosts many northern california football championship games. local high schools sacred heart and mission high school used the field for home games. the rivalry football games are sometimes played here. today it is a huge free standing element, similar to the original featuring tall pink columns at the entrance. the field is surrounded by the track and used by high school and college football and soccer. it is open for public use as well.

>> making to may grandkids a program all about pop ups, artists, non profits small business in into vacant downtown throughout the area for a three to 6 months engagement. >> i think san francisco is really bright and i wanted to be a part of it revitalization. >> i'm hillary, the owner of [indiscernible] pizza. vacant and vibrant got into safe downtown we never could have gotten into pre-pandemic. we thought about opening downtown but couldn't afford it and a landlord [indiscernible] this was a awesome opportunity for us to get our foot in

here. >> the agency is the marriage between a conventional art gallery and fine art agency. i'm victor gonzalez the founder of gcs agency. thes program is especially important for small business because it extended huge life line of resources, but also expertise from the people that have gathered around the vacant to vibrant program. it is allowed small businesses to pop up in spaces that have previously been fully unaccessible or just out of budget. vacant to vibrant was funded by a grant from the office of economic workforce development that was part of the mayor's economic recovery budget last year so we funded our non profit partners new deal who managed the process getting folks into these spaces.

>> [indiscernible] have been tireless for all of us down here and it has been incredible. certainly never seen the kind of assistance from the city that vacant to vibrant has given us, for sure. >> vacant to ibvooerant is a important program because it just has the opportunity to build excitement what downtown could be. it is change the narrative talking about ground floor vacancy and office vacancy to talking about the amazing network of small scale entrepreneur, [indiscernible] >> this is a huge opportunity that is really happy about because it has given me space to showcase all the work i have been doing over the past few years, to have a space i can call my own for a extended period of time has been, i mean, it is incredible.

>> big reason why i do this is specific to empower artist. there are a lot of people in san francisco that have really great ideas that have the work ethics, they just don't have those opportunities presented, so this has been huge lifeline i think for entrepreneurs and small businesses. >> this was a great program for us. it has [indiscernible] opening the site. we benefited from it and i think because there is diverse and different [indiscernible] able to be down here that everybody kind of benefits from it.

>> there is a lot of unique characteristics about visitation valley. it is a unique part of the city. >> we are off in a corner of the city against the san francisco county line 101 on one side. vis station valley is still one of the last blue color neighborhoods in san francisco. a lot of working class families out here. it is unusual. not a lot of apartment buildings. a lot of single family homes. >> great business corridor. so much traffic coming through here and stopping off to grab coffee or sandwich or pick up food before going home. >> a lot of customers are from

the neighborhood. they are painters or mechanics. they are like blue color workers, a lot of them. >> the community is lovely. multi-racial and hopefully we can look out for each other. >> there is a variety of businesses on the block. you think of buffalo kitchen, chinese food, pork buns, sandwich. library, bank of america with a parking lot. the market where you can grab anything. amazing food choices, nail salons. basically everything you need is here. >> a lot of these businesses up and down leland are family owned. people running them are family. when you come here and you have an uncle and nephew and go across the street and have the guy and his dad. lisa and her daughter in the dog

parlor and pam. it is very cool. >> is small businesses make the neighborhood unique. >> new businesses coming. in mission blue, gourmet chocolate manufacturing. the corridor has changed and is continuing to change. we hope to see more businesses coming in the near future. >> this is what is needed. first, stay home. unless it is absoluteliness scary. social distancing is the most important step right now to limit spread of virus. cancel all nonessential gather everythings. >> when the pandemic litly land avenue suffered like other corridors. a few nail salons couldn't

operate. they shut down. restaurants that had to adapt to more of a take out model. they haven't totally brought back indoor seating. >> it is heartbreaking to see the businesses that have closed down and shut because of the pandemic. >> when the pandemic first hit it got really slow. we had to change our hours. we never had to close, which is a blessing. thank god. we stayed open the whole time. >> we were kind of nervous and anxious to see what was going to come next hoping we will not have to close down. >> during covid we would go outside and look on both sides of the street. it looked like old western town. nobody on the street. no cars. >> it was a hard eight or nine months. when they opened up half the people couldn't afford a haircut. >> during that time we kept

saying the coffee shop was the living room of the valley. people would come to make sure they were okay. >> we checked on each other and patronized each other. i would get a cup of coffee, shirt, they would get a haircut. >> this is a generous and kind community. people would be like i am getting the toffee for the guy behind me and some days it went on and on. it was amazing to watch. we saw a perfect picture of community. we are all in this together. >> since we began to reopen one year later, we will emerge stronger. we will emerge better as a city because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> when we opened up august 1st. i will not say it was all good.

we are still struggling due to covid. it affected a lot of people. >> we are still in the pandemic right now. things are opening up a little bit. it is great to have space to come together. i did a three painting series of visitation valley and the businesses on leland. it felt good to drop off the paintings and hung them. >> my business is picking up. the city is opening up. we have mask requirements. i check temperatures. i ask for vaccination card and/or recent test. the older folks they want to feel safe here. >> i feel like there is a sense of unity happening. >> what got us through the pandemic was our customers. their dogs needed groomed, we have to cut their nails so they don't over grow. >> this is only going to push us forward.

i sense a spirit of community and just belief in one another. >> we are trying to see if we can help all small businesses around here. there is a cannabis club lounge next to the dog parlor to bring foot traffic. my business is not going to work if the business across the street is not getting help. >> in hit us hard. i see a bright future to get the storefronts full. >> once people come here i think they really like it. >> if you are from san francisco visit visitation valley to see how this side of the city is the same but different.

>> i try to start every day not looking at my phone by doing something that is grounding. that is usually meditation. i have a gym set up in my garage, and that is usually breathing and movement and putting my mind towards something else. surfing is my absolute favorite thing to do. it is the most cleansing thing that i'm able to do. i live near the beach, so whenever i can get out, i do. unfortunately, surfing isn't a daily practice for me, but i've been able to get out weekly, and it's something that i've been incredibly grateful for. [♪♪♪] >> i started working for the city in 2005.

at the time, my kids were pretty young but i think had started school. i was offered a temporarily position as an analyst to work on some of the programs that were funded through homeland security. i ultimately spent almost five years at the health department coordinating emergency programs. it was something that i really enjoyed and turned out i was pretty good at. thinking about glass ceiling, some of that is really related to being a mother and self-supposed in some ways that i did not feel that i could allow myself to pursue responsibility; that i accepted treading water in my career when my kids were young. and as they got older, i felt more comfortable, i suppose, moving forward. in my career, i have been asked to step forward. i wish that i had earlier

stepped forward myself, and i feel really strongly, like i am 100% the right person for this job. i cannot imagine a harder time to be in this role. i'm humbled and privileged but also very confident. so here at moscone center, this is the covid command center, or the c.c.c. here is what we calledun -- call unified command. this is where we have physically been since march, and then, in july, we developed this unified structure. so it's the department of emergency management, the department of public health, and our human services hughesing partners, so primarily the department of homelessness and supportive housing and human services agency. so it's sort of a three-headed command in which we are coordinating and operating

everything related to covid response. and now, of course, in this final phase, it's mass vaccination. the first year was before the pandemic was extremely busy. the fires, obviously, that both we were able to provide mutual support but also the impact of air quality. we had, in 2018, the worst air quality ten or 11 days here in the city. i'm sure you all remember it, and then, finally, the day the sun didn't come out in san francisco, which was in october. the orange skies, it felt apocalyptic, super scary for people. you know, all of those things, people depend on government to say what's happening. are we safe? what do i do? and that's a lot of what

department of emergency management's role is. public service is truly that. it is such an incredible and effective way that we can make change for the most vulnerable. i spend a lot of my day in problem solving mode, so there's a lot of conversations with people making connections, identifying gaps in resources or whatever it might be, and trying to adjust that. the pace of the pandemic has been nonstop for 11 months. it is unrelenting, long days, more than what we're used to, most of us. honestly, i'm not sure how we're getting through it. this is beyond what any of us ever expected to experience in our lifetime. what we discover is how strong we are, and really, the depth of our resilience, and i say that for every single city

employee that has been working around the clock for the last 11 months, and i also speak about myself. every day, i have to sort of have that moment of, like, okay, i'm really tired, i'm weary, but we've got to keep going. it is, i would say, the biggest challenge that i have had personally and professionally to be the best mom that i can be but also the best public certify chant in whatever role i'm in. i just wish that i, as my younger self, could have had someone tell me you can give it and to give a little more nudge. so indirectly, people have helped me because they have seen something in me that i did not see in myself. there's clear data that women have lost their jobs and their

income because they had to take care of their safety nets. all of those things that we depend on, schools and daycare and sharing, you know, being together with other kids isn't available. i've often thought oh, if my kids were younger, i couldn't do this job, but that's unacceptable. a person that's younger than me that has three children, we want them in leadership positions, so it shouldn't be limiting. women need to assume that they're more capable than they think they are. men will go for a job whether they're qualified or not. we tend to want to be 110% qualified before we tend to step forward. i think we need to be a little more brave, a little more exploratory in stepping up for positions. the other thing is, when given an opportunity, really think twice before you put in front of you the reasons why you

should not take that leadership position. we all need to step up so that we can show the person behind us that it's doable and so that we have the power to make the changes for other women that is going to make the possibility for their paths easier than ours. other women see me in it, and i hope that they see me, and they understand, like, if i can do it, they can do it because the higher you get, the more leadership you have, and power. the more power and leadership we have that we can put out

>> good morning everybody! [applause] good morning. [applause] and welcome. [applause] there's my grandma. well come. welcome to san francisco james r herman cruz terminal at pier 27. the first stop for all most 300 thousand people