>> good to see everybody this morning. the sun kale came out. we will get started here. my name is megan mitchell. thank you. [laughter] and i joined the san francisco bicycle coalition board of directors because i believed in the organization's mission to advocate for transforming the city streets, neighborhoods into safe livable spaces by promoting bicycles for every day transportation. [applause] now, honesty, when i was asked to the rally i wasn't sure about it because i felt i didn't belong up here. i'm used to attending these rallies where we talk about the importance of bike lanes and car free streets and livable spaces, but they are lead by people who don't look like me.

and it is rare to see people of color leading these teep of conversations. i live in the southeast part of the san francisco bayview district. a neighborhood that hasn't been prioritized in our mission and some of you have other neighborhoods where people of color live and work and try to safely navigate their streets, like the fillmore district, omi and chinatown. throughout my time as a board member, the san francisco bicycle coalition has made some steps to engage with people of color from these communities, but we were widely told by our predominantly white membership to just focus on bikes. it is disheartening to be dismissed, however one thing i want people of color to know and remember is the streets belong to us too. these bike lanes, parks and

other livable spaces belong to us and bike to anywhere everywhere day is also our day. [applause] and as we continue to advocate for all these things my commitment as the first black female board member of the 50 year old organization is to insure that people of color who by the grace of god still have it ability to live in the city, a part of these conversations and plans and at the table to help lead the work and transform the city to make it livable for everybody. now, we have great speakers today from city officials to community members and leaders, but i like to kick it off by welcoming someone who understands all these issues, mayor london breed. [applause] >> thank you so much megan for opening the stage to bike to where ever

day where ever you are going. hopefully you are going to work downtown. that is what i am hoping. i hope the reason you are not here is you have to get to work in downtown san francisco so we can make that money! so we can do more protective bike lanes. and in fact, we have done since i have been mayor about 41 miles of protected bike lanes in the city and more to come. [applause] and i want to just express my appreciation to the new community leadership council and the folks who are part of cotenderloin and so many of the organizations who were very intentional about outreaching to african american and latino communities to get more people engaged in bike to where ever day. they joined us in fillmore and in fact i live in that neighborhood, but i didn't make it to join the group, so my apologies, but i made it here.

[applause] it was early. it was early in the morning. [laughter] i did want to talk about because we a always talk what needs to be done but we don't look at the bigger picture and what we accomplished. the fact is, san francisco has changed and this city once horse and carriage, cable car, new technology around transportation and freeway like streets were mostly built for those kind of transportation modes and then in comes all a sudden and dont know if it had anything to do with uc davis and bikes and all a sudden i come home and people are reading bikes all over the city. there was critical mass and all kinds of things happening in our city with demands for change and the desire to allow for more modes of transportation to ride more efficiently and more safely on the streets of san

francisco. and here we are. still working on that bigger vision and let's be clear, this is not just about one protective bike lane, this is about a transportation network in san francisco that allows for bikes to move along the city streets safely and efficiently. this is about the ability to allow different modes of transportation so that people who are walking are safe and we are not trying to get rid of cars. streets does not mean no cars, it means slow down. that is all it it means. i would use profanity but this is a family frndly event. so, what have we done? we installed 33 quick build projects and more then 50 miles of safety improvements on the highest injury streets and built 41 miles of protective bike lanes. we established not only slow streets and shared spaces but jfk

promenade! [applause] and isn't that a nice bike ride through the park and it feels so good. and we were the first city in california to reduce the speed limit to 20 miles an hour on 44 miles per hour streets and we are going to be the first city in the state of california to install speed cameras! [applause] so, if you get a ticket in the mail and you are like, what did i do? well, slow down the next time. the point is, again, this is not about removing cars, this is about safety on our streets for everyone. and, what more are we going to do? well, prioritizing daylighting at intersections city wide. expanding no right turn on red at intersections city wide. increasing parking control enforcement to ticket people who park on

the sidewalks and block the crosswalks so that not just bikes can't get through, but people trying to walk and wheelchairs and others can get through. we have to do this in order to make sure that isn't anything goes in our city, so again, we can all use the sidewalks. we all use the bike lanes. that is the important work that continues to be done. more importantly, because i was asked this and i don't want anyone to take credit for what i'm trying to do to improve more protected bike lanes in the city. i was wondering a couple weeks ago, like why isn't there protected bike lane in front of city hall? i was saying to jeff tumlin, mr. tumlin, you are here, supervisors you have to give up your parking spaces, because we need some protected bike lanes at lease some sort of safety here.

this is a bit too crazy and too dangerous for those who are biking on the streets of san francisco, and we have the ability. there is two lanes, we can figure it out. so, there is more that needs to be done. the last thing i want to say, because i know a lot of folks are up in arms over valencia, and let's be clear, it is important for us to be fearless in our pursuit to change our streets, and if we don't necessarily get it right, that's okay. there are trade-offs when we have to make these decisions and we are willing to adjust those decisions in order to make sure that we are meeting the needs of all san franciscans, but i will not give up on my desire to make our city more of a urban environment. we are a densely populated city. we are a city that needs to be to produce 82 thousand units of housing. do we want all those people driving? no. do we want all those people crowded on buses so we can smell their arm pits

when they are halding on? no, we don't. what we want is the ability to have convenient modes of transportation that is safe and efficient in san francisco and i'll continue to be as aggressive as we have been in pursuing those goals and can grateful to the bike coalition and advocacy and work and helping us get there. thank you all so much for biking to where ever day today. and now, i want to introduce claire with the bicycle coalition! >> thank you. wow, good morning everyone and happy bike to where ever day! this is the first time in over 4 years that we had this rally at city hall, so please give it up for yourselves for waking up early, getting on a bike ride and ending up here! [applause] thank you so much mayor london breed. thank you to all the community leaders, elected officials and agency

heads that are here today to celebrate the joy and freedom that is biking in our beautiful city. nothing brings me more happiness then seeing so many black and brown people on bikes, especially those of you who haven't been on a bike in a while and are reexperiencing that joy for the first time in a long time. many of you know and for those that don't know, i grew up in the tenderloin with my family and most community relied on muni and walking around. as a child i learned how to ride a bike in a parking lot and didn't have many places to safely ride in my neighborhood and biking in the city changed so much since then. i ride along separated bike lanes on turk and golden gate while market street is mostly free of private cars, but there is so much more to do. the progress we made towards a city wide network is incomplete. there are gaps.

streets with no protection and neighborhoods completely left out. at the san francisco bicycle coalition, we are motivated by the possibilities for transformation that can emerge from the city biking and rolling plan. the first comp hence chb update of the bike plane en15 years and the sfmta is developing it now. with input from communities across the city and focused engagement lead by 5 amazing community based organizations, some of whom you will hear from today, the plan can embody the dream of what we want to see this city become. to truly live out that dream and celebrate and active transportation system that serves everyone in the city from every neighborhood, age and background. sf bike believes the final plan must embody the core principal. connective and convenience.

anyone can use the network. second, equity and access. be must repair past harms through relationship building center the voices of those who have not had a seat at the table, and move at the speed of trust and insure the final plan addresses the many existing barriers to access and third, safety and belonging. eliminate conflict between bicycles and motor vehicles everywhere possible . the network is a welcoming place for all people no matter their intersecting identities. we invite everyone today to work with us to make sure the biking and rolling plan fulfills this promise. a plan carried out by focused leaders we evolve from bike to where ever day to bike roll walk and take transit everywhere every day. [applause] thank you so much for spending

your thursday morning with us. i'm looking forward to the speaker. up next we have supervisor melgar, who i do not see. okay. i can don't see supervisor melgar, but she can speak when she gets her. up next, we have director of transportation, jeffrey tumlin who leads the sf municipal transportation agency. he oversees muni, parking, traffic engineering, bicycle and pedestrian safety, transportation accessibility, so many things. i'm going to give it to jeff. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you. my name is jeff tumlin your director of transportation. it is no secret that in this time in the aftermath of covid, san francisco is facing tough times. but, we are san franciscans. this is nothing new for us. every 10 to 15 years since 1849 san francisco has undergone a

massive economic structual change and every single time we made the transition from bus to the next boom economy. san franciscans have lead. i'm so grateful for the leadership of mayor london breed and her vision- [applause] -and so grateful for mayor london breed's vision how to manage this next transition from boom to bust to boom again. every time this happens san franciscans, the real san franciscans, those who are committed to staying in this city no matter what-we recognize that in order to reinvent the next san francisco, that we have to draw from san francisco values. we have to draw from the san francisco brand and san francisco's brand is

welcoming everyone. everyone in the city, no matter where they came from. no matter the color of their skin. no matter if they live in the bayview or sunset or chinatown or the western addition, everyone needs to feel welcome here and welcome on every street and welcome using no matter what mode of transportation they want to use. san francisco brand is also not just functionality, it is not just convenient parking space at your office, san francisco's brand, because we are a city, our brand is joy. our brand is not only making our streets feel welcoming to everyone, no matter what mode they choose or where they are from, our brand is making the streets of san francisco unrelentingly joyful. joyful for kids who are simply try ing to get to school. joyful for seniors and people with disabilities that want to get to golden gate park or museum or doctor

appointment. joyful for everyone who's ever felt excluded, any of you, all of us. we all felt excluded, some a lot more then others. what if the people felt most excluded in other aspects of their life fell welcome and true joy on the streets of san francisco? that's our vision and are i so grateful to not only the vision of mayor london breed, but also the very clear and very long list of directions that she provided us in order to do the technical work that is necessary in order to implement that vision. i'm grateful to my incredible staff who's working endless hours [applause] -to make that vision come true and i'm particularly grateful to all of the community based organizations. not just the transportation advocates, but the community advocates who have been our strongest partners to make sure that as we invest in the

next round of mobility improvements that we do it it leading from the neighborhood and the community first. with that, i am proud to introduce eric, the director of safe programs of the tenderloin community benefit district. he is a long-term resident of the tenderloin, cochair of tenderloin traffic safety task force and extensive experience managing various pedestrian and traffic safety programs in the neighborhood. please join us. [applause] >> thank you everybody. it great to be here. i love being around cyclists. one of my favorite things to do. thank you. i actually most consecutive thing i have done in my life is bicycling since 8 years old and love it. thank you for being here. i want to start with gratitude. i really want to say the tenderloin really appreciates the fact that we have been able to build a really solid relationship with various

community organizations, not only within the tenderloin and outside the tenderloin, especially the neighborhoods also struggling with equity issues for years, for decades, forever. we are really proud that we have been able to build a really strong relationship with the sfmta, and the city. thank you mayor breed. and then our supervisor dean preston and previous supervisor, matt haney. we really have gone a long way. we were fortunate when we came to the mta and said, hey, we are ready for changes and want our streets to be save and want equity to thrive. throw any and every pilot at us. we are willing to accept it. we want to see our streets safer. every street in the tenderloin is part of a high injury network. the high est density of children. we have the most people with disabilities, wheelchairs, mobility device users in the city. a large population of seniors.

we have lot of public safety issues and street safety issues, so we are really grateful we have the opportunity to make some improvements. like the pilot of changing all the speed limit throughout our neighborhood to 20miles a hour. no right throughout the whole knhunty. the tenderloin was able to pilot those programs. those are successful and spread throughout the city and through the state. we are very proud that. we hope that continues to grow, escuilate and build a deep relationship with the city and advocates and community members that deeply want to see the streets change and have more access. we need to really focus on unfortunately, up setting some peeping, vehicle drivers, those that demand more parking. the tenderloin, only 20 percent of the people actually drive, but everyone of our street projects are usually

block limited due to the volume of vehicles that are passing through. so, i want to say thank you. we appreciate our relationship and wish to continue doing that. we know we have some challenges, but we are confidence that through the biking rolling plan we could be a step closer achieving our goal having safe streets for all, so thank you all. [applause] and let me proudly introduce, erica scott, from the new community leadership foundation. [applause] >> thank you so much eric. thank you all for being here. thank you for having us. i just want to acknowledge that i used to work for the mayor before she was the mayor and it was like 2009 and she came to work with a bike helmet and some tennis shoes and we are like what is going on and she is like, i road my bike today. like i said, this is 2009, and

it was just a shock, because it came to me like, oh we can ride bikes as adults? there is so many things that go on in life and you kind of just get in this groove and often times in lower income and communities of color, the struggle and just the every day of just trying to make it, you forget what matters and riding bikes. we grew up riding bikes and something happens and you feel that isn't your world anymore, so i just want to express my sincere gratitude and it hasn't always been such a pleasant relationship with me personally and sfmta. honesty, but i'm so grateful, because what they said they were going to do, they are doing. they are coming to the communities and asking us how can we be involved. [applause] and it is so important, and i just have

to shout out christy, thank you so much for your leadership. [applause] and her entire team, and you don't think things matter or that you really have a say when you see a stoplight or if you see a bike lane. it seems so distant from your every day life, but when you are actually invited to be a part and ask how does this impact you, how does it impact your family, then the divide between the bicyclist and community comes together. it is not that we dont like bike riders, it isn't like we don't like riding bikes it is just we never felt anyone cared what we thought when things are being changed around us. so we are so happy for these relationships with the community and bike roll out plans and again, just so grateful to be a part.

i have been on three community bike rides now. i look forward to it more and more, and i just want to leave with this, i believe it was like 1998, somewhere around then, my husband now bought me a bike and it was something was wrong with the street and so i took it to a bike shop in the fillmore on fillmore street, i think it was turk and fillmore, owned and operated by a black man and his assistant happened to be a black man. i left my bike there, every day about a week later i come home and my mom said they called for you to pick up your bike and never did. she said, i'll just go get it. she went and picked up my bike. she met the owner of the bike shop. they have been married for 20 years now. honesty.

honesty. so, bikes matter to us! okay. thank you so much. happy bike to where ever day. yes! and now i have the privilege of introducing to you someone who i have seen her journey. you say health and wellness, she is epitome of health and wellness and she will talk about her experience with biking and are make health beneficial changes and she impacted our community and again, there is so many stories that you don't hear about when you are learning about the african american community and so again, we just thank you for this platform and i am so happy to introduce to you monique. [applause] >> hi. good morning. my name is monique. i'm a community health worker. i have been working in this community over 25 years y. have been serving this

community when it comes to health disparities that effect our community, particularly black and brown communities, so when we ride our bikes, i found there was lots of benefits for riding bikes and one of am main benefits with riding the bikes is leading by example. leading by example to fix the health disparities that are impacting our community and realizing that our health conditions that we suffer from we can easily manage by riding a bike. when do i have time to exercise? am i ever going to have time to exercise? i had this story where i was invited to be in my girlfriends wedding a long time ago in the 1990's. the 1900s. [laughter] and her mom had these dresses we were going to wear and i needed to tone up. i remember she bust out with this dress

and i was like, girl, those are some dream girl dresses. i said i have to get in shape to wear this to your wedding. i don't want to make you look bad or myself, so what i did is i start my journey to riding my bike to work every day. i committed riding my bike to there every day which was 7 miles there it was laguna honda and 7 miles back. i began to look good and was a good role model for my community. at the same time, i realized i needed resources to ride a bike. so, factoring-we live in a urban community, things happen, so my other girlfrnd was like monique you need to get the racer tires on your bike, because i had the mountain rock tires and i had to explain to her, girl i cannot have the racer tires. she was like, why you can't have the racer tires? i said we have to factor in the ghetto glass that i'm going to roll

over and get a flat tire when i come through. that's the reason sometimes you see a lot of people riding a rock hopper tire when they supposed to have a speed racing tire. trekking is the thing and you are not a real biker until you know how to true on the bike. do people still true? you at the light and keeping your balance and get your true on? i'm learning like all of the language and part of the community, but when i looked around at the time in the early 19-2003, 2004, i realized i was the only black person out there riding a bike at the time, so i really want to thank everyone who was a part of our community now, who stepped up to ride their bike rsh but i also want to bring to our consciousness when you ride a bike in the urban community dodging the bubbles, things happen. you are more likely to have

your bike ripped off in the urban community or any community in san francisco. i don't know, san francisco, your bike and your dog will get stolen. you turn your back 5.5 seconds your bike or dog is stolen. we got to work on that with theft around bikes. i really like to see us have more secure areas to put our bikes, when we go to our place of business, when we go to the grocery store, when we are going just to go visit somebody. at home! at home when you are sleeping at home, you need to know your bike is secure. you can sleep. one time i had took the front tire off my bike, chained up the back tire and the horse of the bike, right? when i came bike, they stole the headset. this is real stuff. my helmet got stolen. so, we need to have more safer spaus where we can put our bikes so we could be more active in the community

as well, so there is a lot of challenges to riding a bike when you are part of the urban community, so i want to put my advocacy part in on that end, making sure everybody is conscious that it isn't a easy task when you don't have a bike shape you can easily go to get your bike fixed. everybody don't have hundreds of dollars to get simple parts and things like that fixed so we would like to see more things like bikes workshops for children and adults to learn more about riding a bike, more educational riding a bike. is you're bike seat high enough for your leg length when you are pedaling. if you bike is too low you-if your seat is too low you will have back problems so those type of things. how to properly change your tire, if you have a flat tire. what to do if you are on the side of the road. how to use a emergency patch kit are the things we need to be educated on in order to to be healthy bike

riders. thank you for your time and allowing to share. i like to introduce district supervisor matt dorsey. this man here, dedicated his life to riding a bike. he gave up his car. he rides his bike to work every day and he is advocating for everyone, but he is mostly focused in the district 6 areas which is the soma-thank you-soma community as well as treasure island, mission bay as well as the tenderloin. not the tenderloin. not anymore. anyway, we want to welcome matt dorsey. [applause] >> thank you so much. happy bike to anywhere day everybody! as a urban supervisor quhoo doesn't own a car i make a commitment now to give up my parking spot for a bike

lane and i see that isn't going over well with legislative staff but we can talk about that. san francisco has ambitious goals in the climate action plan and one of them is to reduce our-we have to get to 80 percent trips that are low emission by 2030 and biceling has to be a part that. as somebody who doesn't own a car, most trips are do are bike share but i want to express gratitude. i want to say thanks to the bicycle coalition. i worked in this building long enough to see the evolution of bicycle politics which years ago used to be cars versus bikes and the work the bicycle coalition has done is educate people to understand the more people on bikes the better for motorist and economy and the kind of city we need to be so thank you for everything you are doing. i want to give out a shout out for the bikes i use, our bike share

system. bike share i think in many ways changed the math of politics of bike politics in san francisco by investing thousands or people in safe bike lanes in protective bike lanes and infrastructure that changed the math on bike politics which helped make our city safer. i want to express gratitude to dean preston doing work on making sure if we when we get to the point where we don't have-maybe we are not going to have that continued agreement with our bike share system. are we ready to go with municipalization? i will be on board with that and i appreciate the leader of dean preston if that is something we have to do because bake share has to be a part of what we are doing as well. i want to also thank you to mta for understanding i represent a district that has the most high injury corridor areas and responding with wise investments. my colleagues on the board of supervisor and county transportation authority investing $10 million a year

in bicycle infrastructure to keep us safe and to make sure our city is urbanest and welcoming. there is a lot of other people to thank. i wont get into it, but i do want to introduce our next speak er, michael cheatm. a native san franciscans. program director for sf skate club that created a positive learning experience for young people to pursue love of skateboarding in a safe guided super vised environment. pleased give it up! [siren] >> even the ambulance was cheering for me. [applause] or fire engine. thank you to supervisor dorsey for the kind introduction. i also want to take a moment to thank everyone that is listening to me right now. your attention, thank you for your time, thank you for your energy.

all three of those things are incredibly valuable to me and i want to remind you they are valuable if no one has lately. one more time thank you for giving me your attention. [applause] like matt dorsey stated, my name is michael cheatm primarily a skateboarder but ride my bike at least 3 times a week and with the bike share program with bay wheels. i was asked to speak today about black and brown joy and bicycling and skateboarding, so--joy in biking and skating for people of color is mostly the same as it is for anyone. the cool breeze in your face, the means to go further and faster then ever before, it is exhilarating. one of my favorite things hopping on a bike is how it ignites my

childhood. i get on that bike and i feel close to limitless. i can go anywhere i want and not tied down by the expectations of others or the weight of life and my responsibilities. just dipping and mashing. [laughter] there is catharticism to it. it is beautiful and greats and it is relief. i feel this is where the difference lies for black and brown folks. african american children statistically experience the most adverse life events. life events including, a parents death, a parent serving jail time, exposure to domestic violence and witness

violence in their neighborhood. i need to take a moment to acknowledge san francisco specific factors. the unjust murder of banko brown. the racial slander and demonization of black people in general as response via san francisco bay social media. making up less then 7 percent of the city population and even more recently, the racial attacks on terry williams a local alamo square. a kind dog walker. if you know about that. put your hands together for terry williams. he received a package at his home covered with racial slurs, threats, like gangster thug and monkey with a photo of him with a nuse around his neck last week in alamo square. these are all circumstances that our black youth are facing in this tiny

little city. because of this, i feel that biking and skateboarding hold increased value to black and brown youth because they provide psychological relief. aside from the relief biking can provide, they can also provide community. one thing about san francisco that brings me great joy lately seeing the groups of bikers around the city. the crazy kids with big wheel blocks popping wheelies. the youthful energy in the city a city too expensive to even have kids is reassuring and warms my heart. the mission of my youth program san francisco skate club is use the transformative powers of skate boarding to create the next self-led look.

that looks like using scrait bording as a bridge to connect build friendships of people with diverse backgrounds. less intentional, the big wheel biker groups are a opportunity for youth to get some of the same experiences and the value is something that shouldn't be overlooked. to close out, i like to lift a few thingss that bring me joy and thank a few people. i feel joy when i ride by skate board. it is okay to clap too. i feel joy when i see little brown kids and teenagers smile. [applause] thank you. i feel joy when i see anyone smile. [applause] i feel joy when my jouth at the

sf squait club use the cooking skills to make burritos for the homeless. [applause] i feel joy when students tell me they understand why college students are calling for divestment of funds being used for violence. [applause] i feel joy when i utilize my bike share for all program and get discounted e-bike. [applause] i feel good when i ride my bike. for creating and nuch rer a environment for all youth to have fun, feel safe acknowledge and showcase skate boarding and biking for past many years i want to give a special thank you to shawn connolly half of the founders

of sf skate club. a retired professional skate boarder and runs the youth program. shout out to the other half of the founders, [indiscernible] she recently passed away however colleagues with many supervisors up here i'm standing with now. she has been advocate for peace and advocate for looking out for the youth, so she is a big example for me. shout out to larry redman, a local pro skate boarder. felix whitington, rec and park, mobile rec department. shout out to van tino salazar. shout out to the entire staff at the sf skate club. shout out-i dont know his name but the one homey on the bike and drops off narcan all hour ozf the night. shout out to him. he is saving lives with a bike. shout out to k dub a representative in skate boarding and create opportunities for youth to feel safe and

skate board. shout out to noah and danen from sf rec and park. johnny refnic and a lot more people i may have missed thank you for your attention and time and if you take anything from this small speech of mine, when you see the kids on the big wheels please acknowledge that. statistically a lot of their lives may have pressures that you guys can't comp rehend. so they might bike different then you or reckless, it is important to understand they are getting relief and psychological help and exercise, they are san francisco youth enjoying their community. thank you very much. >> we have a few speakers left and i love people could keep it shorter. i want to make sure everybody gets their time. at the time i will introduce

jennifer registered nurse born and raised in the tenderloin. come on over jennifer. [applause] >> hieveryone. my name is jennifer and from the tenderloin and i decided to become a nurse because i grew up so frustrated by witness how unhealthy environments directly impact our community health outcomes and as you know, the tenderloin is so densely populated with families and elders. there is roughly 60 corner stores and no full access supermarket. lack of green space and hazardous living commissions. the rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart failure, kidney disease, you name it are highest in communities like ours. there is a lot of work going on my neighborhood and other low income communities there is so much work to do and one thing i always encouraged myself my family members, community members and patients is increase physical activity to improve

health status. biking has by mine escape as someone who grew up in the tenderloin. the first bike i bought was a 60 which i learned was a mistake on sf hills. as a youth biking allowed me to take deep breathers and decomprez in golden gate park, be around nature, access other neighbors around the city my family couldn't take us too. i met inner-city kids like marry claire, cheatemjust like me. biking has improved my mental and physical health and it is a activity that can positively impact our health outcomes and love to hear from patients and community members about what bike riding means to them and how it improved their quality of life and wellbeing and so grateful for organizations like sf bike coalition who connect people to through bikes as

well as sf skate club, such a positive force to encourage youth to explore the city on wheels. as we all deserve good health and joy and delove deserve to live in hethy environments. thank you. the next person i will introduce is district 4 youth commissioner linda yee, high school senior who serves as d4 youth commission on the sf youth commission. also the chair of transformative justice on the youth commission and representative of advisory committee. >> good morning everyone. happy bike to where ever day! [applause] i have been so excited for this day and looking forward for it a while now. i'm libda and serve as district 4 youth commissioner on the san francisco youth commission. it is so lovely to see and feel the community out here today. whether you road from the sunset, golden gate park, embarcadero,

balboa park or other locations i'm sure you felt the way biking connects people and are neighborhoods. what makes biking special it is isn't just a clean mode of transportation but also a way to practice healthy and active living. i think in order for everyone benefit from biking it must be safe and accessible. this means advocating for policy that promote safe bike infrastructure and encourage bike use in all neighborhoods. when i was younger and transitioned from biking oen the sidewalks to the road at 13 because it was illegal for me to remain on the sidewalks, i clearly remember the fear and pair noah i felt when i shared the road with cars and kept eyes out for drivers who open their doors. when a driver opens the door you have to swiv out of the way. it is scary. this fear dulled but it coming

back when a car comes too close and sure it is felt across community. i believe it should be be this way. i should everyone should feel safe while biking especially young people. discourage biking we disproportionately impact low income and marginalized communities who must spend more time on public transportation to get where they need to be and onlack access to physical activity. for me biking is also a beautiful way to practice self-care and joy. i can bond with friends and family, take care of my physical health, take care of the environment and experience personal freedom. i think that we can spread this joy insuring equitable access to biking infrastructure. we want to make sure that as many people can partake in the activity of biking. we want biking to feel safe, comfortable and convenient. every youth to have the opportunity to learn how to bike. i want to thank all those who worked

tirelessly to insure san francisco has a beautiful bike lanes and bike accessibility we see today. i hope that this will continue as we work together as a community. thank you all so much. [applause] >> alright. and final speaker we are going to have supervisor ahsha safai of district 11. [applause] >> alright. let's give it up for the bicycle coalition today! thank you for your great organizing. i want to thank claire leading our group. it was a phenomenal ride. claire, long time district 11 resident did a tremendous job. we had one of the biggest turn outs. they didn't all make it to city hall but it was one of the largest turn outs i have seen since i have been supervisor. my name is ahsha safai. i dont how many supervisors road their bike to work or anywhere day but city hall today, but i can tell you, one thing that i enjoyed the most

about it is, you see the city from a different perspective. you see families dropping off kids at preschool and school. you see people on their way to work. you see people cleaning up business or opening up their businesses. normally we are riding on the commercial corridors and yes, bike lanes and commercial corridors can coexist if they are done correctly and i think we need to recognize that and we see that when we ride on the way. [applause] one thing i want to underscore today because we heard it, a theme, how we get more black and latino community members to participate and engage and ride their bike? i think of the example of jumping in the bay. how many people have swam in the bay? okay. i went for the very first time, but i had two experienced people

there with me, guiding me and making sure that i wouldn't freeze to death and wouldn't drown. and guess what? there was someone hanging on for their life in the bay because they got hypothermia. the police and fire came and saved this person's life. i am not using it as a exact analogy, but if you want more black and latino community members to ride their bikes they need to see more black and latino community members and positions of power in the sfmta, they need to be represented, they need to have staff there. when you do community outreach, it needs-we don't see that. we all talk about diversity equity inclusion, and that's not represented, but we need to do a breter job as a city. sfmta needs to do a better job as a city of making sure those positions are filled by community folks.

i love hearing from community folk today. i'm glad i went last and got to hear every single thing they had to say because we need to do better. we need to be better about inclusion and truly making sure people feel a part of this network of bike riding. i tell you, when i road by bike from my house today, there were three times it was disjointed. three times if i'm not a experienced bike rider i probably don't make it to city hall. we need to make sure that we are being as aggressive as we can to make safe and equitable passageways all over san francisco. thank you all. happy bike to where ever today. i think we should grow back to calling bike to work day, but anyway, have a great day! [applause] >> thank you supervisor. before we close up, i just want to thank everyone for attending this rally. in my experience in being part

of this coalition, it is definitely one of the most different unique diverse rallies we had in a really long time so thank you claire for pulling that together. it is really energyizing and helpful. really connecting all the different communities from all the corners of the city so that is a great thing. thank you to our membership. without you, we wouldn't be here, so-- [applause] --and thank you to our current executive director christopher white. [applause] and yeah, everyone have a wonderful day. thanks so much. happy bike to where ever day!

>> our market street program started in 1992. the goal was to bring arts to an audience who may not be normally be exposed to contemporary art.

for 2023, we chose comics as the median to highlight san francisco. it could be fix al, science fiction. history. >> i'm fan, i'm illustrator and writer, i grew up all over the bay area. and is post history no history no south. i've been drawing since i was probably four or five. it's just a cool memory, i just remember painting my apron in kindergarten and i would suddenly start painting myself. it was cartoon, it got me excited. in my home life, it was not consistent but what was on tv is always consistent. there is always xy z- channel, cartoon, i would wait for the

cartoons to freeze and chase really fast. i remember getting into anemai as a kid, as a young person because it was one of the avenues of asian-american expression that i can relate to. my project is i'm highlighting 6 trailblazers who's family was tied to san francisco. they all have different forms of art expression. but i noticed through the research that there is a common that connects them all, which is this desire to live life authentically, organickly, speak of the love that they believe in. i made it art students and learning about art history and the place in art with the context of learning about their predecessors. >> sinsawa is synonymous of san francisco. there is a school named after

her. >> wasn't she also in stamp? her art was in 2020. >> do you think she would become a artist? >> hmm, i think she was like 100s of other in the city that love the art. when there is no audience or income, why do we still make art? >> well because we seek to know ourselves and one has to believe like alela, we make art for a lifetime not just a career. i think for some, artist like breathing, it's how we know we're alive. >> it's so incredible to do this project and do the experience that connects generation, the full experience of being artist. >> comics have a rich history in san francisco even from early 20th century. we also wanted to open up

public art opportunities for artist that don't normally apply to public art. >> i hope it stays with them and lingers and they chew on it and think about it. and it may not make a big impact but it's something that opens up the door or starts the conversation or the beginning of something. i would like for it to be a start, whether it's a start of research or start of pondering, yeah, what does it mean to be an artist? and how do i decolonize my mind?

>> good afternoon. this is commissioner beltran, i'll running the meeting today because the chair of the visual arts committee, suzy ferras is feeling under weather, even though she's present. welcome to the visual arts committee wednesday may 15, 2024. i'm calling the meeting to order. creg, if you can call the roll, please. [roll call] >> could you speak