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tv   [untitled]    September 26, 2011 9:00am-9:30am PDT

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thank you. >> more good news. i'm sorry, mayor's office on disability, san francisco is continuing to lead the way in many ways on disaster and disability prepareness. just last week a team from san francisco was chosen to present at a conference in d.c. the head of office disability and coordination and the head of fema were there addressing the conference and reflecting a real change in our current administration's emphasis on disaster preparedness for disabilities as a civil right. the team that came from san francisco included ben ames from the human services agent si. rod stengel from the department of emergency managements. carle and jill from the mayor's
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office on disability. they highlighted not only the wonderful things the mayor's office is doing but also collaboration with so many community groups and nonprofits to have a really grassroots ground-up approach to preparedness. i thought you'd want to know that. >> very good, thank you. other? yes. thank you for sharing that. i just wanted to record that it's the 22nd anniversary of [inaudible] the neighbored emergency response team is always a great option for people to consider investing about 1 hours of their time. it's a wonderful program and on october 14 there will be a large-scale drill at fisherman's who i have about 8:00 until 9:00 and on the 16th, there will be drilts
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throughout the city for members who have gone through the program and to bone up on and practice their skills. thank you. >> thank you, chief. yes? >> harold of the american red cross. this is her first meeting so i want to introduce meredith who is replacing aaron, who has gone to the dark side. he's now a fundraiser with the organization. >> hello. >> happy to have you on the team. >> is representative bart here? >> yes. >> ok, so i wanted to welcome mark lewis, member of the disaster council. if you'd like to introduce yourself. >> good afternoon. i'm the deputy chief of r.p.d. >> we're thrilled to have you. thank you for coming. thank you. other comments from disaster council mexico? any announcements? -- council members?
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any announcements? ok, how about public comments? supervisor farrell has joined us. actually quite a while ago. we were not able to introduce him at the beginning of the meeting. anything you would like to say, supervisor? supervisor farrell: i'm fine, thanks. have a good weekend. >> if there's no public comment and no further comment, this meeting is adjourned. thank you all so much for coming.
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>> the san francisco cons tri of flowers in golden gate park is now showing a new exhibit that changes the way we see the plants around us. amy stewart's best-selling book, "wicked plants" is the inspiration behind the new exhibit that takes us to the dark side of the plant world. >> i am amy stewart. i am the arthur of "wicked plants," the weeds that killed lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities. with the screens fly trap, that is kind of where everybody went initially, you mean like that? i kind of thought, well, all it
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does is eat up bugs. that is not very wicked. so what? by wicked, what i mean is that they are poisonous, dangerous, deadly or immoral or maybe illegal or offensive or awful in some way. i am in the profession of going around and interviewing botanists, horticulturalists and plant scientists. they all seem to have some little plant tucked away in the corner of a greenhouse that maybe they weren't supposed to have. i got interested in this idea that maybe there was a dark side to plants. >> the white snake root. people who consumed milk or meat from a cow that fed on white snake root faced severe pain. milk sickness, as it was culled, resulted in vomiting, tremors, delirium and death. one of the most famous victims
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of milk sickness was nancy hangs lincoln. she died at the age of 34, leaving behind 9-year-old abraham lincoln. he helped build his mother's casket by carving the woodallen petition douche the wooden petition himself. >> we transformed the gallery to and eerie victorian garden. my name is lowe hodges, and i am the director of operations and exhibitions at the conls tore of -- cons tore of flowers. we decided it needed context. so we needed a house or a building. the story behind the couple in the window, you can see his wife has just served him a
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glass of wine, and he is slumped over the table as the poison takes affect. a neat little factold dominion about that house is actually built out of three panels from old james bond movie. we wanted people to feel like i am not supposed to be in this room. this is the one that is supposed to be barred off and locked up. >> the ole andersonner -- oleander. this popular shrub is popular in warm climates. it has been implicated in a surprising number of murders and accidental deaths. children are at risk because it takes only a few leaves to kill them. a southern california woman tried to collect on her husband's life insurance by putting the leaves in his food. she is now one of 15 women on california's death rowan the only one who attempted to murder with a plant.
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>> people who may haven't been to their cons tore or been to -- do serve tore or their botanical garden, it gives them a reason to come back. you think let's go and look at the pretty flowers. these are pretty flowers, but they are flowers with weird and fascinating stories behind them. that is really fun and really not what people normally think of when they come to a horticultural institution. >> "wicked plants" is now showing at the san francisco conserve tore of flowers. unless next time, get out and play.
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>> >> good afternoon. thank you, everyone, for coming to san francisco fire department headquarters. we're hear to honor vincent perez and fire department paramedic anthony valario. today we will be unveiling vince and tony's name on our line-of-duty death memorial wall. it is a somber ceremony and yet an important one and i think all of us, it's testament to the men that tony and vince were that vuso many people coming out once
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again to support one another and first and foremost, to support the valario and the perez family. this is a very special day because it is another illustration of just how special vince and tony were to all of us and how they will live on in our hearts and our minds and also in san francisco fire department's history because they gave their lives in their duties. thank you so much for everyone that's in attendance. we have uniformed members of this department. we have many of the civilian members of this department. all of us hear your pain and grieve with you and continue to grieve with you and you have my commitment that we will continue to be here with you as a family. not as replacements for tony and vince, but as supporters. and those of you that will continue to always contact you and reach out to you and i want you to know that you have a family in all of the members of the san francisco fire department. today we're joined by several people. i'd like to acknowledge a couple
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of people that were instrumental and helped us all out on june 2 and 3rd and 4th, the members of san francisco general hospital. dr. andre campbell and leslie dubbin who were very helpful and were hoping for a different outcome than what we experienced. we also have our police chief with us. thank you for being here. members of the command staff. you'll hear from the mayor soon. i'd like to start off this, a simple but symbolic ceremony and i'd like to ask our department chaplain, father john green, to begin with an invocation. father green? >> before the invocation today, i would like to ask you to join with me in acknowledging the valarios and perezs and the great sacrifice they made for us. [applause]
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if anything, our grief is more real now than it was a few months ago, and so it's all the more important that we remember each other and we pray for each other as we continue to struggle with the death of not only two fighters, but two friends, two sons. in the book of job, we hear, "oh, that my words were written down, would that they were inscribed in a record that, with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut in rock forever, but i know that my redeemer lives and i will see him on the last day." today, we acknowledge tony and vinnie by placing their names on this rock with the honorable names of all those who have gone before them and have given their lives for the people of san francisco. may god bless all those whose
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names are on this memorial tablet and may he especially bless our two new heroes as we inscribe their names today. amen. >> thank you, father green. i'd now like to ask mayor of san francisco, ed lee, to say a few comments and before i ask mayor lee to come up, i can't thank you enough on behalf of the san francisco fire department, i believe, on behalf of the perez and valario families for your outstanding and continued support of all of us during a really difficult time. mayor lee? mayor lee: thank you, chief. good afternoon, and to the perez family and the valario family, again, thank you very much, on behalf of our city and county of san francisco. i want to also acknowledge, of course, our commissioners from fire and chief of police and
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members of our general hospital and all the people that work together, people that i we recognize tony's sacrifice. this is a significant replacement here. this is our headquarters. people who come here from all walks of life to do the city's business but also to visit and find out how our fire department can connect with every city. this is a small token but this is a token deeply felt by our city and i want you to know that i share in your feelings that this is not just the individual
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firefighters, i also understand that this is a shared sacrifice with the families we are from. we want you to be here when we do this in part what the city's official family but also to let you know that i am grateful to you, the family members, and to the extent that i represent the people of this great city, we are grateful to you and each member, men and women of the fire department, as you do your jobs every day and we know that you put your lives on the line and there is a moment when you don't have a choice and there is no thought in what you have to do. remember that on september 11th this year. since june, i have had other occasions to work and be with the firefighters.
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we had a chance to be part of the chili cookoff, if you will, raising money. i had a chance to meet the new class of firefighters and welcome them in and so many other opportunities to let you know that the firefighters of this city, they do have rich lives. they have lives that are involved in every aspect. to know that the vincent and tony were part of that family and they were entering into all parts of people's lives and windy duty came, they were without hesitation. i want to express that you have a mayor that eternally grateful and the people of this city that are grateful to you? to all the officers and the management, especially a thank lemaire to the families of tony
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and vincent. -- and especially a thank-you to the families of tony and vincent. >> i would like to ask the president of the fire commission to make some comments on behalf of her and her colleagues. >> i want to save very briefly on behalf of the fire commission and behalf of all residents of san francisco how the family is grateful and appreciative for the service and dedication of vincent and anthony. speaking for the entire commission, this is a privilege and an honor to work with this department and to get to know you personally and professionally. i think people used words like honor and privilege a lot but seeing how this department came
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together around this tragedy, i think that this is an absolute honor for me and for the other commissioners as well. we are glad to be with you to take part in plain honor to tony and anthony. thank you very much and our hearts continue to be with you. think you. -- thank-you. >> before we continue, we will have a few presentations. i would like to ask the deputy chief of operations and the deputy chief to present flights to both families. they were given to us in june from the navy. both of them were flown on the uss arizona.
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a very generous person who is with us today personally had crafted the cases they are in. we really appreciate your support for us to make this presentation. thank you for being here.
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>> i would like to ask the president of local 798 -- 798 to offer up the presentation on behalf of local 798.
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>> many of us in this room consider ourselves lucky having known these colleagues. very few in this room were lucky enough to know them and sons, brother, and friend. we want you to know that their story is still being told, not only of their sacrifice and dedication, but of the men that they were, the friends that they had. we're still receiving cards from new york, ireland, london, with messages of condolence. we present you with two resolutions letting you know that the story of these sons and brothers are told. >> a memorial resolution by the great state of california to firefighter, paramedic, anthony bulgarvalario.
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self-described as the people's paramedic, he will be remembered for his enjoyment of spending time with family and friends, indulging and varied interests from chicken farmer to glider pilot being, as well as traveling. also, as a man who lived his life as an adventure, he was an avid surfer, scuba diver, and athlete and a bread maker. station 26 will be able to use his mother starter to continue making bread. whereas the people of california now pause to honor firefighter anthony valario who made the sacrifice in a line of duty.
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we celebrate his life and we honor his service. now be resolved by assembly members that upon the passing of a firefighter anthony valerio know that they can never repay the debt. by standing with all citizens in expressing the deepest appreciation for the selfless dedication to preserving public safety. resolution number 1275.
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>> the moral resolution by the grace tour of california, lieut. vincent perez, whereas known by family and friends by his boyhood nickname, the creature, he exemplified the true character of the brave men and women who give their time to the perilous duty of fire service. he'll be remembered for his sense of humor, his insatiable appetite, for his courage, unwavering devotion to the service of others. be resolved by assembly members
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that they upon the passing of the tenet of vincent perez know that they can never repay the debt owed by this firefighter -- owe it to this firefighter and his family. we express our deepest appreciation for his selfless dedication to preserving public safety. resolution 1276. >> thank you. i would like to ask any of you, a representative from each
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family to unveil their names on the memorial wall. they will always be etched in our minds and hearts. now, on the wall, for their heroism and selfless acts. their hearts are breaking. i know that yours are as well. this is important for honoring them. i want to show you the work that was done to add them to the wall.
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>> to the families, thank you for being with us to honor your son's, your brothers and they will always be part of the ridge sacrifice it -- fabric of the san francisco fire department. to all those gathered, i can say that this is most difficult part of my career, losing tony and vincent. i could not be more proud of how we have all pulled together, stepped out, and supported one another. three and a half months seem like just yesterday and sometimes it seems longer, but i think it is important to continue to support one another. it is ok to feel down about this one because it was a tragedy. we continue to offer our condolences to both families.
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i know that tony and vincent are looking down on us and encouraging us to move forward in our lives. thank you for being here. we are going to conclude with asking the captain of station 26. i would like to give particular acknowledgment to the members of station 26 to have felt this probably the most deeply. not only did you work with them but you became very close as friends. on behalf of the members of the department, i would like to ask the captain to come together -- to come forward and offer the tribute, which is something that we did at the memorial service at their funeral. i would like to ask anyone in uniform to prepared to hand salute. salute.
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[bell ringing] thank you everyone for coming.