we were able to quantify greenhouse gas emissions in the taxi industry, which people were not doing. i want to thank all the people at the department of the environment, from the nrdc, that helped us on that. we figured out how to do it long before anybody was really measuring carbon. the second member i mentioned -- i gave a speech last year. it was 391. i went on a website last night and it was 393. that is parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. when we were all born, that number was in the low 300's. that number has been fluctuating between 100 and 300. before long, we will be passing

400 million. it is a sobering thought about what that means for our planet, but i am proud knowing that i did what i could to cut those emissions of carbon. i felt like we took action appropriately in response to the urgency of the problem. i want to thank everyone here today, the taxicab industry, everyone who supported this policy, all the way to making it a success. thank you very much. [applause] >> our next speaker arguably has one of the toughest jobs in san francisco, overseeing muni and the parking and traffic department. but will come and reiskin, director of the sfmta. -- let's welcome ed reiskin,

director of the sfmta. >> we are charged with implementing the city's transit first policy. in order for transit first to work in san francisco, we need excellent taxi service. as much as we would like to see you hot on muni, your bike, or what we need to go, sometimes you need a car. from a transportation perspective, the most efficient way for us to meet that need, one of them is through taxicabs. i think presidents chiu's experience this morning manifest that. with better service, his girlfriend can get rid of her car. to the extent we can meet that need in san francisco with cleaner vehicles, then we are achieving environmental goals as well. paul's reminder to us, with those sobering statistics, it is

really important. it is not just his use of oxidation reduction reaction, which is a phrase that you do not often hear in a press conference. those numbers are why a lot of us are doing the work we are doing. this is extremely important, not just to san francisco, but to our planet. i want to thank paul and our former mayor, lt. gov. gavin newsom, for your leadership, courage, and a word i have heard before, the audacity to put forward a program like this. i want to thank our current mayor, board president, city industry partners for demonstrating with strong leadership and collaboration among the public and private sectors, we can achieve goals in transportation, the environment, and this is an important message for us to send to the state and washington,

d.c., that we can do so in ways that are good for the economy. transportation, environmental, and economic goals are not anti pedicle. they can support each other. that is important for us to know. -- are not antithetical. it is a day that we should all be proud of what we are achieving. thank you very much. [applause] >> supervisor, does your girlfriend know that we are getting rid of her car soon? in san francisco, like other cities, they have a department of the environment. they do not have this in every city. san francisco is a forward- thinking city. with that, i want to bring up the director of the department, melanie nutter.

>> good morning. i am so pleased to be here today to celebrate this environmental milestone. as you have heard, we would not be here today without the broad coalition of support and the ongoing collaboration that came together around ensuring we could reduce carbon emissions from our taxi fleet coming here in san francisco. the san francisco department of the environment is proud to have been a partner in insuring san francisco's taxi fleet is the greenest in the nation. first, on the policy front, in 2007, 2008, our department staff work with the taxi commission and cab companies to create the green tax ordinance. this collaboration resulted in a performance standard, requiring taxi companies achieve over all the emission reductions each year without mandating specific models. as long as each company's fleet

met the required performance standard at an average level of greenhouse gas reductions every year, they could choose the mix of vehicles that best suits them. secondarily, regarding education, we created the grain taxi guide to help all tax to companies in the city to identify cars that they could buy that would meet the required averages. finally, we also used incentives. we were able to work with the air district as well as county transportation authority to seek secured grants to incentivize the purchase of hybrid vehicles by taxi companies in order to achieve the level of emission reductions that would meet the overall goal. as the lieutenant governor said, cities are the laboratory and innovation. this shows how other cities could bring their taxi fleets as

well as to use this to reduce carbon emissions. i first want to thank staff, particularly bob hagen, who has put in many hours of hard work to see this happen. i also wanted to congratulate paul gillespie and all the partners here today who helped to make this possible. we look forward to future collaboration that will have to maintain san francisco's label as the greatest city in america. [applause] >> the bay area air quality management district is in charge of making sure that we follow these regulations. >> as the executive director for the bay area air quality management district, it is my pleasure to recognize the city of san francisco, mayor lee, lt.

gov. newsom for their leadership, and demonstrating the fact that green has gas reductions can occur, they can occur in the economic climate we find ourselves in, and i want to thank and recognize them for their leadership, for creating the cleanest taxi fleet in the world. that is a phenomenal achievement. we have been proud of our partnership with the city. we provided half a million dollars to help purchase some of the taxis here today. we think this is just step one of a long process moving forward. again, i want to congratulate and thank leadership. i appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning. thank you. [applause] >> now, i would like to bring up mayor lee and lt. gov. knew some, and paul gillespie.

there will be a presentation. after that, we will go outside and do some things with the taxi cabs. >> who would have thought we would be saying thank-you four years ago? with that said, on behalf of all the tax to companies in san francisco, we want to thank lt. gov. gavin newsom and mayor lee for their generous support of the taxi industry, and your vision to not only make san francisco the best city in america, but the greenest. with that, lieutenant governor gavin newsom, thank you for your vision. we would like to present you with this plaque. [applause]

mayor lee, we would also like to thank you for your vision. we look for too many years working together. we would also like to present you with this plaque. [applause] >> we have new decals that will be on some of these taxi cabs. i am a hunter who has them. here they are. -- i am not sure who has them. the lieutenant governor, mayor, are going to come down and help us put these on some of the calves outside. -- cabs outside. >> right here? there you go. very good.

>> thank you for coming to the larkin street youth center. [applause] thank you for host in this very important announcement. it is one we're very excited to do. this is a little background that we want to give. a few people need to speak. we are excited about where we're going. we have to put in the right

context.making, but it is also that where we come from and where we're going are linked. this is a tribute to them. [applause] supervisors, jose cisneros, our treasurer, thank you for being here. the department of public health. [applause] our two chiefs, fire and police, thank you for being here. [applause] our school district, hycrdra mendoza, children, youth, and

family. thank you for being here. [applause] joaquin torres, thank you for being here. we will give you more resources. you will not be the only person here. [laughter] i also want to thank all of the members of the community, whether it is wells fargo, the intra-faith council, the staff from hsa and public health, they are all here. i know they are feeling some really great bribes -- great vibes because of the announcements we have to make. it has never been about a campaign for an election. it has always been about a campaign to improve lives.

i will take you back to a moment a few months ago. let's get things done. no, let's get things done better. [laughter] i saw that in the middle of the night and thought that it worked. that was really good. bevan and i already knew we had a great director. little did we know we would have an opportunity to have the director of great programs that we want him to be in charge of in this administration. i have said all along that we need to improve our delivery of services. we need to bring hope to a lot more people. we need to be a bigger tent. consistent with the things i have mentioned since the inauguration that i feel strongly about that resonate

with communities, we need to get jobs out there. we need to get job training out there. if you care about homelessness, you ought to be a big advocate of job training. that will help to sustain people's ability. even though we find shelter, we need long-term shelter. the housing trust fund working group that we're doing is on that. the people on the street, where is their hope coming from? it has to be that we register our support for them in every possible way. getting all the different agencies around housing, better quality services for our homeless and those wanting to not be homeless as well as those who are already in the system. we need even more leadership. i will take this opportunity to personally thank darius for his wonderful years of work.

[applause] no one has ever said it was easy, but we are out there every day on market street, third street, a town -- chinatown. every single day he was out there asking for help. he got that help. he said he wanted a little break to go to dpw. he is going to be a continuing partner as a result of that. when he left, we immediately thought about who we could find who would care enough and also embrace the direction we have been talking about, the fulfillment of more promises, the fulfillment of a long promised we made, and also have the sensitivity, passion, and compassion that will lead us

into the next generation of work that we must do to end homelessness. that is our goal. it is not about temporary shelter. it is about our long-term goal. that means we reach out to people. we try to make life changes. we tried to get a situation where better decisions can be made. we want to get people supportive care and housing. hopefully, it will be short and long term. there is another great advocate walking in. [applause] director of the housing authority, so many resources are needed, henry alvarez, thank you for being here [applause] i could go on and on.

i know that bevan is eager to get to work. as we talk about this work and shared our passions and vision. iwe also went to our individual offices wondering about the best acronym to have. [laughter] you cannot lose this. housing opportunities partnership engagement are well deserving titles in and of themselves. when you put all that together, it spells something we both share. that is hope. that is the underlying reason why i asked bevan to come on board and take on this massive but very serious responsibility. we have to work on the future, hope for everybody in the city. i am committed to this.

we always had a strong commitment to it. i know somebody behind me has registered that commitment and hope for so many years. the former board president, supervisor, and the one who authored the 10-year implementation plan to end homelessness in the city, angela alioto. [applause] >> we are into the new year. i just want to say how excited i am that you are going to take this position. what is really important to remember is that the plant that we have implemented from june 29 of 2004 until today and of the wonderful leadership of our new mayor is that our san francisco

plan is an example for the united states of america. for every state, our plan is the one to follow. [applause] we have house over 8431. permanent, support of housing. the 10-year plan takes care of the chronically homeless, a subsection of the general thomas -- homeless. i want you to know, bevan, you are probably going to be sorry that you ever met me. i will call you to come pick up a person on the corner. it is so great to see the inter- faith council here.

[applause] they are the group we go to when we need immediate housing and people. please make sure you remember that inter-faith council is the one to call. we're the best. we're going to stay the best. we have a new director. it is going to be so exciting. we have the general plan and the homeless population plan. it is one we need to continue. we need to see the differences. i know you can do it. bevan, welcome aboard. give me your cell number. [applause] >> thank you, angela. thank you for your constant work with us. i want to make sure you know that in addition to the great

market street center that we have the naacp here. [applause] i know they are big supporters of this. we also have the hunters point foundation. thank you for being here as well. [applause] bevan, this is important. we're going to be talking more publicly about homelessness as we both the enter into this new job and another era where we expand our willingness to end homelessness with a lot more partners. i welcome the challenge of the board. it is that important. we need to break away from whatever we have not been able to succeed on in the way we have done them and get even more success. bevan wants to make even more

changes so that we work together and make improvements. we want to think outside the box. we want to see how technology and innovation can help our homeless population with the housing and services they need. he is going to join us with the themes that i put out and his own themes, things he has talked about during this campaign and his whole life. he has been about the best level of services that anyone should appreciate in a great city like san francisco. i give you our new director of homes, opportunities, partnerships, and engagement, bevan dufty. [applause]

>> my heart is very full because of all of you who are here and the opportunity that mayor lee is giving me to serve the city that i love so much. it is important that we're here on larkin street at organization i have so much respect for. it truly is a national model. there are many great organizations in san francisco. some need to be supported. others are ready to be a model for other states and communities. in terms of giving young people opportunity, in terms of having competency around lgbt, no one else does what larkin street does in such a comprehensive manner. [applause]

the mayor's desire to come out and beat an agency and with individuals who are part of our effort, and individuals who need support and help, that speaks to the engagement we want to have. we do not want san franciscans to feel like we're not making a difference. the people they see on the street are those who are not succeeding in the system. it is not working, they're falling through the cracks, there are not enough resources, or personal choice where they choose not to avail themselves of services. we have to engage people. san franciscans understand a lot about homelessness. my child talks to me a lot about homelessness. i see the art project. they talk about why people cannot have homes and jobs. they talk about the sorts of large you want people to live. the mayor started his administration with the expectation that we can.

i have hope in this job. i did not want to come to a job that i saw as maintaining the status quo. incredible things are going on. we have the ability in the 21st century to look at the outcomes for people, not just within homeless services, but for individuals in public housing, families at risk for homelessness, and special populations. transgendered individuals, veterans, and families. we have the ability to look at outcomes and make a difference, to engage our stakeholders such as foundations and other partners such as the san francisco foundation. i was so grateful that dr. hernandez called to welcome into the job and the important work that the san francisco foundation is doing. our city has the value to continue to replace and rebuild public housing and make them communities of opportunity, communities that people want to

live in. i am so grateful and touched my colleagues and members of the board, i believe there is a level of willingness to work together that is unprecedented in the 20 years i have worked in city government. the talent and people behind me who work for the city is at a level i have never seen. the people standing behind me are not seeking personal or political gain at the expense of this city. these are people who want to succeed in doing a good job. each supervisor and person here with me as part of the city family faces challenges in responding to homelessness and families and individuals in crisis. part of my responsibility is that i know what it means when people express frustration and say, why can we not do something about this individual on the street? why is it that a child can come to school and not know where they will sleep that night?

we can do much, much better. i am extremely honored to have this opportunity. it is something i am going to commit my life to in the years going forward to making a difference for people. this is the beginning. we have an ambitious agenda. one thing i respect about the mayor is that you do not see someone who invites people to come to a press conference and there are initiatives that have not been worked out with other members of the political family or the constituency involved. this is a mayor who truly believes in collaboration. he believes there are ideas and images out there among the citizenry that need to be reflected in what the city does. i do not stand here to say that we have all the answers. we are going to ask the questions. we're going to work with everyone. i was so grateful to talk to jennifer from the coalition on homelessness. she has embraced me. i treasure my friendship and

working relationship with her and other advocates. going forward, this is about a partnership of public engagement. i expect to work with the press. you have seen the work the media has been able to do. every discussion of this issue, even if you challenges and say we can do better, that is an important step. people do not want to walk away from homelessness. for too long, people have been afraid it is a losing issue. that was part of the reason i wanted to have hope. i do not want to be the director of losing. i want to be the director of an initiative that will change things for individuals and families. it is a tremendous honor. when the 10-year plan was adopted, it gave us hope. there were many great things happening in the city, but they were not codified