of incredible thinkers, people, companies, ideas. >> it really does showcase to the world everything that san francisco stands for and what it has to offer. and when i watched it, i couldn't help but think, you know, is this san francisco's i love new york campaign. of course, before that slogan was really emblazoned on hats and t shirts all around the world. it was a call to reclaim the image of the city and the state of new york in the 70s that was hurting in a way similar to san francisco today. what do you say about that? >> i think that campari's lesson is if is right, i think this is in a sense our i love new york and i think you know, this line, it all starts here. is it there's so much truth to that and there's so much in it that

invites other companies to tell their stories of what they've started here and what they're going to go on to do. so i think it's in that in the in the you know, in in the respect that i love new york was an inclusive, co-opted by everyone kind of slogan and campaign. i think that's very much what we're after with it all starts here. >> we know that there are residents that are really fed up with the state of the city. a recent poll by the moderate leaning political group grow found that two thirds of people who answered the poll thought the city is just headed in the wrong direction. so how do you hope this ad lands with locals here in the san francisco bay area? >> well, we hope it resonates. i mean, the doom loop is undeniable. if you go outside of the city, i go home to north carolina, people go, are you okay? how's everything? like, it's great. i'm in one of the most vibrant, most innovative, most inspiring places in the country. so i hope we hope that it sparks it sparks a re re

recognition of what makes this place so special. and that's the people and everything they're doing here. i mean this is a place where people come with big dreams and big hopes and they make it happen. they make it happen here. >> they certainly do. i'm curious as to how you hope that locals see the ad? obviously, we just played a decent chunk of it here on getting answers. i know it could potentially be up right now in some bart and muni stations, but do you plan to advertise with institutions like, you know, i don't know, abc7 news, for example? >> sure. i mean that's what's great about this campaign is i think it it it can go anywhere and everywhere and wherever you put it. i think it can, it can spark an invitation for people to tell their own stories again. and i think ultimately success for us is people putting it all starts here in their own store window, in their own home windows and getting businesses

that are here to not leave here and to get new businesses that are looking for a place to put down their roots, to start. >> i want to talk about that kind of doom loop idea because, you know, for folks who live in the bay area, we are quite sick of hearing about it. >> i was recently back on the east coast, too. same thing. family members saying, are you okay out there in san francisco? i'm like, yes, we're doing well, trust me. but we do know the recovery from the pandemic. it has been sluggish. hotel occupancy still down double digits from those 2019 numbers. how are you hoping that tourists respond to this ad? are you thinking about advertising in other markets, maybe like north carolina, like you just mentioned? >> you know, this isn't a tourism campaign. honestly, this is this is a campaign designed for businesses, really. and local pride, obviously. but it's really designed to uh- and aimed at getting businesses to consider to reconsider our san francisco as the preeminent

completely unparalleled place to grow a business. so don't really think that tourism per se is an ambition to this campaign in sure and i certainly understand that. >> but there is, you know, a public image campaign that san francisco, san franciscans, people who live in the bay area at large right. are all trying to be a part of right now because business is obviously how we drive the economy. and speaking of potentially bringing businesses here, great opportunity coming next month with aipac is and i know a lot of people are saying that the city is, you know, hoping to clean up its image in the same way that it did for dreamforce this summer. but notice, simply absent from the ad, any mention of the housing crisis, the massive population of people living on the streets, the open air drug use. i mean, i could go on and on with this kind of list of negatives here. so what would you say to the people that might say that this ad buy might be a waste of money and it might be a

distraction from some of the real issues facing the city? >> well, i think i would say that there's so much coverage of that side of the equation, john, and it's unfortunate. and i think this the goal of this is really to start to counterbalance and shed a light on the other side of the story. and, you know, marketing isn't going to solve the problems of the city, but it but our hope is it will create a spark that lights a fuze that over time can really reinvigorate and start to seed pride and hope for the city. >> it's certainly a big part of it, right? people that live in the city, people that are from the city. right. reclaiming that pride in san francisco. and like you mentioned earlier, everything that we stand for, everything that we bring to the economy, to the world, and how we continue to punch above our weight as a city. we know that you all will kind of continue lighting that fuze, to borrow some words from you there. tell us about the campaign kickoff

event coming up this saturday at the east. cut crossing and what can people expect there? >> yeah, i that's going to be a real community, grassroots, grassroots based event, getting families, children and families to come. and in a in a very personal sort of way start to embrace and co op this campaign generally speaking. yeah that's that's what we're going to be doing there. >> and final question for you here. i know you mentioned earlier that you would see success if you see a bunch of small independent businesses, for example, using that campaign slogan, you know, it it all starts here. maybe putting it up in their business. what are other ways that you would measure success for this campaign and what it means to the city? >> well, like i say, i think, um, uh, a growth of new businesses coming here and a slowing of businesses leaving

here. few were boarded up windows and, uh, more, more new signs going up in windows. that's that's a big hope. but also through social media. um a joining of, of this campaign that we hope will just snowball and getting getting like say other companies to tell their stories. uh, and, and not just big companies, you know, not just the ubers and the lyfts, but the, the small chocolate chip company or the small craft, uh, coffee maker, just all, all businesses who know that this place is special, getting them to tell their stories. >> well, that is certainly something i think we can all agree that we want to see more of here in the city. jim, we really appreciate your time. thank you so much for joining us. and i'm sure we'll be talking a lot more about this campaign. it all starts here. sf in the days ahead. >> thank you very much. appreciate the time, of course. >> well, next up, we'll talk

about the test of the earthquake alert system that may have jolted you out of bed this morning at 3 a.m. like it did me. why it happened and what else you

♪ california sky ♪ ♪ todos alcanzamos las estrellas ♪ ♪ sunny state of mind ♪ ♪ flexin' all the time ♪ ♪ todo es dorado ♪ ♪ y nos gusta picante ♪ ♪ cause this place is caliente ♪ ♪ 'tamos enchilado ♪ ♪ feels so golden ♪ ♪ livin' in the golden state with you ♪ ♪ feels so golden ♪ ♪ vive en el estado dorado oooh ♪

♪ we got that drip, drip, drip ♪ ♪ come take a sip, sip, sip ♪ ♪ feels so golden ♪ ♪ vive en el estado dorado ♪ sorry. wasn't enough of a reminder to get prepared for the next big one. well, today is the annual great california shakeout . and joining us live now is ben , senior media officer for the california earthquake authority. ben, thanks so much for being here. we appreciate your time. >> good afternoon, jillian. thanks so much for having me. >> happy to have you here. i want to start with the purpose of the great shakeout. we know it happens every year, 1019 at

ten, 19 we know to take cover and hold on. but what else should people do to prepare in the event of an earthquake? but you mentioned the loma prieta earthquake, and that's why this is timed the way it is. >> that's an event that is so on the minds of so many californians, especially those with little life experience, those folks who were around when that happened, baseball fans, we all know that's known as the world series earthquake. it's this great shakeout drill is timed to happen around that anniversary event because it's when it's very much on the minds of folks, it's very important to be prepared. we want folks to do that. drop cover. hold on. take those three steps when they get the alert, we want to make sure those alert systems are working and functional and reaching people. so that they have that time to react. not only an initial earthquake, but also to any additional aftershocks that may be coming. and we know those are quite frequent, especially in a big one and can themselves be quite damaging and jarring to

those aftershocks for sure. >> i want to get some tips here because we know there are some folks that cannot physically drop and cover. so what should people with physical disabilities know about how they should be responding to an earthquake? >> right. the cover is really the most important part there. we don't want dust. we don't want things falling from the walls. you know, heavy mirrors, that family portrait that you love so much that's hanging on a wall, maybe where you hang out. it's got a heavy frame and may come down during an earthquake. it's that kind of thing that can hit somebody on the head. and we find is more often what causes us injuries. and tragically, deaths. you know, loma prieta, 63 people passed away as a result of that earthquake. so the cover part for someone who's wheelchair bound is really the most important. they should get down as much as they can and still practice that cover, put their hands and arms over their head to protect that most precious part of their body. that's really good advice right there. >> and let this be a reminder to

everyone to bolt down those tvs, too, right? absolutely. i want to talk about it. the emergency alerts, because you mentioned that just a few seconds ago, people with the myshake app likely got an alert at 1019 as a test of the system. and i was one of the lucky people or unlucky people. right. that also got that alert at 319 this morning. it scared me a lot. i will just say that this on top of the really great overestimate of yesterday's earthquake in isleton and how do you make sure that the public continues to trust the alert system? you know, it's been kind of a not so great back to back days of mishaps for the alert system. >> the couple of things to keep in mind there, julian. first of all, you know, we know that alert went out at very early this morning and a number of people got it. undoubtedly, that caused some consternation and certainly some inconvenience for a number of folks who received that alert and were worried by it. but we really have to remember that, you know, is that inconvenience in any way

outweighed by the value of these drills and of these applications that can in fact and have saved lives in the course of events like this? you know, you see the shake bus there that travels around california from our partners at cal oes. you know, it is it's scary, right, when that happens. and those alerts are important to pay attention to. and the other thing to keep in mind here is that these are drills and at the california earthquake authority, we drill constantly and we drill robustly. and we do that to make sure we're prepared when a major earthquake happens. what we like to find is something that doesn't go right, something that goes wrong, because that gives us an area to correct. and we hope that people will certainly have patience. but when those drills also serve the people who are executing on the technical side, you know, it wasn't it wasn't we're not the ones who execute on that technical side. it's my understanding it was a data input error that caused that early warning. and that's something that they can take a

look at and hopefully won't be replicated. but again, certainly that inconvenience does not outweigh the value of that warning. the early warning and the warning of aftershocks that may follow that folks really need to be tuned in to that myshake app. >> you know, that's a really great point there. it's something that i often say to people who complain about the inconvenience of their phones going off or an amber alert, you know, always say, what if it was your kid? wouldn't you want everyone to know? so yes, we will remember to have some patience and some grace because obviously we do want to be alerted when the big one does strike very quickly. i want to talk about retrofitting property . we know the state certainly made great strides to make us all safer ahead of the next big earthquake. but what do people need to know about improving the structural integrity of their home or business? even >> yeah, let me let me pick that apart a little bit. first of all, great news from the state in a in a really tight budget year. they did find some money to begin retrofitting project that the california earthquake

authority is going to handle for multifamily soft story vulnerabilities. these are apartment buildings where there's a parking structure or a retail space below the apartment buildings themselves. it's a great opportunity. it's very compact and very convenient. but the problem is with those parking structures and those open spaces, there aren't the walls there to support the apartments above the living spaces above. so when the shaking happens in those buildings in particular, are vulnerable. we've got a pilot program that we're just now starting. we're in the whiteboard phase $15 from the state budget in order to start working on bracing those multi family buildings we've already got underway on a program to retrofit residences, homes and that's also very important, especially if you're one of those folks who has an older home, say, pre 1980, those homes are often not built up to the same codes that newer homes are created. so we have what's called the brace and bolt program to help those homes be shored up, fortify them in case

of an earthquake. and there's two great things i want to mention about that program. first of all, it's relatively quick fix to do, doesn't take that much time. and second of all, there are from time to time grants available through us, through the california earthquake authority and our partners at the cal governor's office of emergency services that we help people to offset the costs of those retrofits. and if you're in the bay area, you already know you're around a lot of faults. you have some beautiful homes, but some older homes. and it's worth taking a look to make sure that your home couldn't benefit from one of those retrofit programs. >> all right, ben, we'll have to leave it there with the california earthquake authority wealth of information. we appreciate your time. thanks for joining us on this great california shakeout day. >> appreciate, jillian. thank you. >> all right. we want to make sure you and your family are prepared for whenever the next earthquake hits go to abc7 news.com slash prepare nor-cal. we have a guide of things you can do to get ready. right now, only $4,000 parking spot, $1,100

on a tv and a $400 office chair. no, this is not a christmas wish list. it's what san francisco supervisors are expense ing who spent what? when we check in with the standard

expense accounts worth up to $10,000 a year. so you might be wondering, what do they spend that money on? our media partner at the sf standard. they have the answer to that question. this new article explores who spent what on what, and some of it may surprise you. joining us live now with the findings is the standard's senior reporter josh cahn, who wrote the story. josh, thanks for being here. >> hey, thanks for having me, julian. >> this was an interesting one. so let's start with how much san francisco supervisors make in total pay per year. >> yeah. so supervisors in san francisco, there's 11 of them

split across the city in different districts. they make about an average salary salary every year of about $156,000. >> okay. and so what are these two expense accounts for? for i understand it's about $10,000. so what do they use that money on in general? >> yeah. so every supervisor gets a couple of expense accounts. one through the clerk of the board of supervisors and one through the transportation authority, which is an agency that all supervisors are required to serve on. there's 8000 for the board of supervisors budget, and a lot of this goes for office supplies, you know, folders, commendation, plaques helping sponsor community events. however they're within that. they can also get a really premier parking space right next to city hall. and that parking space, which can be shared with a few staffers, is about $4,000 a year, which takes pretty much half that expense budget right out of the equation. only two supervisors actually forgo that.

myrna melgar and dean press. and they also have another account through the transportation authority. and that one is where we found some kind of interesting purchases that supervisors are spending taxpayer money on. >> i can only imagine on you getting back the public records request for this story and going through line by line. all of these spending items, staples here. but you also found some more surprising things. so which supervisor are had the highest expenses since 2019? >> yeah. shamann walton, supervisor for the bayview, had the highest total of any of the current supervisors. it was over $29,000 within those purchases were kind of like standard things you'd expect to kind of get your office working and make sure staff has what they need. but then he was also buying kind of some unusual purchases, like a white noise machine, which most people use to actually go to sleep instead of actually do work. he also bought a $50 pair of ceremonial scissors, kind of like clowns sized scissors to cut ribbons. he, you know, he

was actually doing some a little bit unusual stuff. but actually others were buying some really fancy gadgets. i mentioned dean preston, who didn't have a parking spot. he did, however, buy a $760 blues bluetooth speaker system as well as almost a $500 dining table. one supervisor, hillary ronen was paying her california bar dues as an attorney to cover those. we had a supervisor, matt dorsey, who was appointed last year by the mayor. he be one of the first purchases he made was to go out and buy four different kinds of flags, which definitely show his patriotism to a number of causes and also are good for photo ops. and then you saw some other things like expensive trip to paris for mobility form for myrna melgar. the list goes on. $900. chair for joel engardio, which he says he doesn't use. he got a first staffer. so a lot of the purchases aren't necessarily

like, oh my gosh, they're going to puerto rico or hawaii and spending a week there. it's more of like just unusual, eccentric purchases that are taxpayer money. so people and as you mentioned, yes, those are our taxpayer dollars hard at work there. >> okay. it it sounds like we just lost senior reporter at the sf standard, josh kane. but fabulous story that you can read more about on the san francisco standards website. you can also find other original reporting. it's sf standard.com and a reminder you can get our live newscast breaking news, weather and more with our streaming tv app. you can find all of it there at all of those different platforms. we'll take a short break here with getting answers. we'll be right back after this. [screaming] stop! i am a good zombie! this october...

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or you can watch it live right here on abc7 and wherever you stream world news tonight with david muir is up next. i'll see you back here at four. have a great afternoon. an. tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the u.s. firing its first shots in defense of israel. where the rockets were coming from. president biden set to address the nation tonight. the new alert for americans abroad. and tonight, the other news, authorities say natalee holloway's killer for the first time, the audio right here tonight. first tonight, the "uss