>> i'm susan buckbinder. i'm the director of the h.i.v. research section and of the sore project. on behalf of the entire project and the entire team which is large, i want to welcome you all to our ground-breaking ceremony and just give you a little bit of background on the aids office itself and the reason for the soar project. the aids office is really a unique research institution. in addition to the care that's provided and the resources that are given to the community to care for, to prevent and care for people with h.i.v.

infection, we really are the only health department that is leading the h.i.v. prevention and surveillance effort. the kind of research that we do is done primarily through universities, so we're in a unique position. we have three research organizations houses within the aids office. there is the h.i.v. epidemiology unit that is headed by dr. seussan sheer and willie mcfarland. they really are the premiere surveillance group for h.i.v. and aids in the country that train many other groups globally about how to track h.i.v. infections and h.i.v.-related disease, so that we can know how best to target our prevention efforts and our treatment efforts. so they have really done a huge service to the global h.i.v. aids community and also in addressing health disparities.

the h.i.v. prevention unit is headed by dr. grant koufax. they also are really a ground-breaking research organization as well as providing prevention services and leading the presense efforts in the city. they have really spearheaded this effort at looking at how treatment can effect prevention, how if you get people tested and treated more globally, you can really drive down h.i.v. infection. and so through that, they have pioneered on viral load and h.i.v. testing, in treatment of substance use and a variety of other topics. and then i head the h.i.v. research section and we have a number of talented folks who work with me. we're test age number of different kind of prevention interventions including h.i.v. vaccines, preexposure prophylaxis which is using h.i.v. medication to prevent new infections, reaching out to

the african-american community to understand what is driving the epidemic particularly in that community and using peer health navigation to connect them with services, combination prevention intersenses and so forth. in the last year, we have had a couple of major breakthroughs in both a new h.i.v. vaccine that seems to be providing partial protection and we are understanding how that is working and preventing new infections. the entire aids office has come together to work collaboratively to address the epidemic. now, we were challenged in that we are based in a health department and so we don't have the resources to build buildings and to renovate buildings because we're largely grant funded. one of our employees, janey vincent, saw a -- [applause] >> saw that there were federal stimulus funds

that we could apply for to renovate our building. we needed to work together more collaboratively. teams were split up on different floors and there wasn't good meeting space to work cross teams. we needed more clinical space to see our study volunteers and we needed more community space to bring community into what we do. under barbara garcia's leadership, we came together and put in this grant and it's the first time that the federal government, n.i.h., has awarded this kind of money to a health department. they've only awarded this kind of research money to universities so it's really through the joint efforts under barbara's leadership that we've been able to move forward and it's really through the support of the city government through the mayor, through our supervisors, through the health commission, that we've moved this field forward so without further ado, i want to introduce

the honorable mayor lee. [applause] mayor lee: thank you, everybody, for coming this morning, and dr. buchbinder and barbara and the commissioners, congratulations. these days it is so difficult to land federal grants, so matter where they're from and it only takes the dedication that you've identified, the people who worked on this very hard to put together a grant specific to modernize our aids research office and it's absolutely needed. i remember in the early 1980's where we joined three major cities of the country, this city and new york and los angeles, where the initial aids research got started and we are concentrated in our areas but we understood that this epidemic had to be studied further to make sure we were on the right track to discover not only breakthroughs but prevention ideas that would be directed at

curtailing this epidemic. so you fast forward the 25, 30 years since that time, and we need more of that research done so i am glad this money was identified. it's going to be very helpful. the $9.5 million of aid from the national institute of health. this is almost miraculous. you don't see these grants very often to public agencies unless we are doing the absolutely necessary thing, and that is focused on improving and making sure we make great breakthroughs and we are going to be able to do that with this additional space. this money will go towards additional 8,000 square feet on top of renovating another 9,000. so it's a total focused on the 17,000 square feet of space that is in different floors of this building, making sure they're connected up and that we have additional physician space,

counseling offices and examination rooms as well as research space. that's invaluable. i want to put on my d.p.w. hat for a moment, as well, because d.p.h. doesn't work if a vacuum. when they identify this, they work with everybody. i want to thank supervisor wiener for coming here today, too, because he knows how important it is for that collaboration to occur. so d.p.h. working in this facility -- and by the way, i need you to know that probably the last time i was standing here was having barbecue when it was a barbecue restaurant here and i was at the top floor, at rooftop hall, heading up the human rights commission and we were already working in concert with the aids office to prevent discrimination against people with aids and i recall those meetings because it was so

important to make sure those people weren't discriminated against as they tried to survive and find help in this wonderful city that we have. public works, you're amazing, you working with our real estate department in finding ways to make sure we have the best approach to this and we are also working with our private contractors. i know turner construction is doing the construction management here, working closely with our bureau of architecture and engineering to make sure this is done on time, within budget. that's the mantra of using federal funds these days. you better be on time. better be on budget. and we also better make sure that when we do this, we reach out to our local vendors and make sure they're participating in this economic times, struggling. we have a 25% goal to do this correctly. so this renovation is important for all of those different levels but the most important thing is that we have more modern offices for our aids

epidemic research. because i know, i know that in our lifetimes, barbara, we're going to find fantastic breakthroughs with your leadership, the leadership of the commission and the wonderful staff that you have that is focused on ending this epidemic and making sure people not only get the resources that they have but that they also know that this is the city of hope, that we're going to continue doing what is necessary to make sure that we end this epidemic and to provide cures for people around the world. it isn't just for san francisco any longer. we know the disease knows no boundaries so the discoveries that we will make here, the prevention ideas that will educate more and more people about safe practices, safe lifestyle, and the discoveries that we have in finding the appropriate drugs, will happen as a result of this effort here. and so i want to thank everybody for working together, and i want

to thank mark primo, as well, and his private consulting capacity, that he's been able to take a look at the physical things that we can do to ensure that the research goes on, and i want to celebrate this day and get ready to knock down these walls and make sure that we provide the space that we have. thank you very much for being here. [applause] >> i'd next like to introduce supervisor scott wiener. supervisor wiener: thank you, thank you. i thank both of my constituents, dr. buchbinder and mayor lee. i have the honor of representing the castro, among other neighborhoods, and as you know the castro is arguably the hardest hit neighborhood in the

country in terms of this epidemic so i feel a special responsibility to always thereby and make sure that our city does what it needs to do to beat this disease. and i know that our department of health has done such a tremendous job in terms of the services that it provides to our city, to our community, to make sure that people have access to prevention resources, to treatment resources, and i know they will always be there and this project will increase the effectiveness of our city government in terms of consolidating services, having people together and working collaboratively. so i'm really excited about that. also, in addition to all the great work that the office of aids and d.p.h. do in san francisco, it's a reminder to the world, the international leadership role this department plays in terms of fighting hiv/aids and i was reminded of this a few weeks ago when i was

sponsoring a grant acceptance for the department for some international work and i got a call from a reporter about why are you sponsoring, you know, something relating to kazakhstan, and it was actually a great opportunity because we got to educate this reporter about what this department does and how this is an international epidemic and how people around the world look to san francisco for leadership and expertise in fighting hiv/aids and the reporter said to me afterwards, wow, i had no idea how much brilliance is in this department. so this is an exciting department and i want to congratulate everyone. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor wiener, for your ongoing support. i'm next going to introduce our director of public health, barbara garcia. [applause] >> good morning, everyone.

i am so honored and i'm so proud of the department's staff. i get a lot of travel requests and it's to peru and mozambique and tanzania and at the bottom it says how much it costs and it's usually zero and those are the ones i like to sign but it really does. and i want to just acknowledge the d.p.h. aids office staff, please raise your hands, because you clearly -- [applause] >> some of you, in culmination of years, i know you have hundreds of years of experience here and i know that is so, so important and we've done some incredible work in san francisco and you've taken your work and your understanding of this disease to other parts of the world and it makes such a big difference for everyone in the world, particularly around ending this disease. you're doing aids planning and my job as the principal investigator is to help with

space planning. this is a 100-year-old building and we were in all kinds of spaces and i want to acknowledge the staff that helped and figured out how to move people and how to construct behind them. mark primo and martine soto -- raise your hand, martine. he's been my negotiator whenever people are trying to figure out what the next space process is going to be. i also would like to recognize the department of public works. i believe we have representative. the real estate division, john updike. the 25 van ness real estate team, leslie, jerrold and john updike. one of the things that we're looking at is how to bring this to the 21st century in technology, where, also, we're going to have a large conference room. i believe it's going to fit about 150 people, and that will be able to bring community

people in, but it's also going to be an advantageous one for us. we're talking about telemedicine so we can speak to other parts of the world in terms of our work. so the department of technology. do we have representatives? all right, great. and our own san francisco department of information technology unit, do we have our staff here? and turner construction. what could we do without a construction company. so -- [applause] again, i wanted to thank all our staff but also it's really important to acknowledge the role of our commission who continue to support our efforts, and this effort. i wanted to introduce steve cherney. >> i just want to take a second to congratulate everyone. i had the pleasure to work in this 100-year-old building for a while. the exciting thing about

san francisco is when the c.d.s. and hearsa said we want to cut new hiv infections by 10%, san francisco said, no, 50%. when they said we'd like to get folks in line with undetectable environmental load, susan and the rest of the team said, no, that won't do, we need everybody in undetectable environmental load and they said if we do that, we can cut down on care dollars and we said, no, folks living with hiv in san francisco across each community will receive the highest quality care possible and that commitment is demonstrated again over and over again and the awarding of this grant and the mayor coming to tell us that he supports these efforts in the strongest possible way and will over the next administration is just news that's important for everybody in the community. so we're proud to be here and i can't wait to see who hits that wall with that hammer. and begins the good work. congratulations, everyone. [applause]

>> i think, with that, we're going to begin our ground breaking and i think our mayor has the opportunity for the first swing. mayor lee: are we ready? ok! [applause] ♪ >> hello, and welcome to the department of elections right choice voting instructional video. it is part of the department of elections right choice voting

outreach campaign and is designed to educate san francisco rig franciscoht choice voting. today we will learn what it is and who is elected using this voting method. we will also talk about with the ranked joyce l. looks like and how to market correctly. finally, we will see how the ranked joyce voting process works and to you an example of an election using ranked choice of voting. so, what is ranked joyce voting? in march 2002 san francisco voters adopted a charter to implement ranked choice of voting, also known as instant runoff voting. san francisco voters will use it to elect most local officials by selecting a first choice candidate in the first column on the ballot and deborah second and third choice candidates in the second and third columns resect to do -- respectively. this makes it possible to elect local officials with the

majority of votes. more than 50% without the need for a second runoff election. in san francisco, ranked choice of voting is for the election of members of the board of supervisors, the mayor, sharon, just -- district attorney, city attorney, treasurer, this is a recorder, and public defender. ranked joyce voting does not apply to elections for local school and community college board members. number the election of state or federal officials. ranked choice of voting does not affect the adoption ballot measures. when voters received their ballot, either at a polling place or an absentee ballot in the mail, it will consist of multiple cards. voters will receive cards with contests for federal and state offices, as well as for state propositions and local ballot measures. for ranked choice voting

contest, voters will receive a separate ranked choice ballot card. it will have instructions to rank three choices, which is new. the ranked choice ballot is designed in the side by side column format that lists the names of all candidates in each of the three columns. when marking the ranked choice ballot, voters elect their first choice in the first column by completing the aero pointing to their choice. for their second choice, voters selected different wind by completing the arab pointing to their choice in the second column. for their third choice, voters elect a different candidate by completing the arrow pointing to their choice. voters wishing to vote for qualified write-in candidate can write it in on the line provided. and they must complete the arrow pointing to their choice. keep in mind, it voters should

select a different candidate for each of the three columns of the ranked choice ballot card. if the voters elect the same candidate in more than one column, his or her vote for that candidate will count only once. also, a voter's second choice will be counted only if his or her first choice candidate has been eliminated. and a voter's third choice will be counted only if both his or her first and second choice candidates have been eliminated. we have talked about how to mark the ranked choice ballot. now let's look at how ranked choice of voting works. initially, every first choice vote is a candidate. any candidate that receives a majority, more than 50% of the first choice to vote, is determined to be the winner. if no candidate receives more than 50% of the first choice votes, a process of eliminating candidates and transferring votes begins.

first, the candidate who received the fewest numbers of first choice votes is eliminated from the race. second, voters who selected the eliminated candidate as their first choice will have their vote to transfer to their second choice. there, all the votes are recounted. fourth, if any candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, he/she is declared the winner. if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the process of eliminating candidates and transferring votes is repeated until one candidate has a winning majority. now let's look at an example of an election using ranked choice of voting. in this example, we have three candidates. candidate a, b, and c. after all the first choice votes are counted, none of the three candidates has received more than 50%, or a majority of the

first choice vote cast. candidate a g-205% ofb the votes% received 40%. and c received 35% of the boats. because no candidate received a majority, the candidate who received the fewest number of first choice votes, a candidate a, is eliminated from the race. voters to pick a candidate a as their first choice candidate will have their but transferred to their second choice. and the voters to pick and a, 15% chose candidate b as their second choice, and 10% chose c as their second choice. these votes are then applied to b and c, and the votes are recounted. candidate b now has 55% of the votes. candidate c as 45%. candidate b has more than 50% of

the votes and is determined as the winner. >> thank you for watching. we hope you have ranked choice learned ranked choice of voting and was elected. you have seen the ballot, learned how to market, and learned how the voting process works. if you have any further questions about ranked choice voting, please contact us at department of elections, city hall, room 48, 1 dr. carlton be good lit place, sentences go, california, 94102. or 415-554-4375. visit our website, www.sfelections.org.