>> i can take that feedback back >> it's not good it's annoying. >> any other comments for united healthcare? ok, thank you very much for being here today. any other reported issues from any of our planned representatives? things we ought to know about or things that you are thinking about doing and have done and wish you had, would be doing in the future? none of that, all right, thank you. we'll go to discussion item -- is there any public comment? we do have public comment. ok. in the next item. discussion item number 11. >> clerk: item 11 discussion item opportunity to place items on future agendas. >> den he is cruger active retired firefighters spouses. happy holidays to everybody and seeing how this is the holiday season i have a wish list.

>> well, all right. >> actually noted. >> real quick. for next year rates and benefits this is just a pre notice, i'd like to see him look in to improving the hearing aid situation. i think it's archaic that you get one hearing aid every two years and it is possible that as soon as you get a new one your old one dies. i'd like to see something like three years for two new ones and maybe a co pay back if you have to get another one in between that and half of it a quarter of it would be nice. >> hearing aid benefit. >> number two, cater aks which i am now experience and i think it's also a shame that with our insurance they start out, this is what you get for a cataract operation and now if you have $5,000 more for each eye you get the best. it's so sad that there's

something in between our insurance that can't be halfway up to that $5,000 per eye. and then the third one, seeing now we're doing so well with delta dental, possibly a two-tier dental system i know it's a lot to work around, the same as we have a two-tier vision system and happen owe holidays to everybody. >> thank you very much for those suggestions and we'll take them under advise. as we look at benefits design in the future. discussion item 12. >> clerk: opportunity for the public to comment on any matters within the board's jurisdiction. >> is there any public on any comment the board has under its jurisdiction? hearing and seeing none, on behalf of the board we want to wish everyone a very happy holiday and this meeting stands

adjourned. >> good morning. >> it's such an amazing, wonderful, wonderful morning. thank you for coming to this incredible event. i'm the director from the office

of the mayor. i want to do a few house keeping notes beforehanding it over. i want to thank the office, our incredible leader here who made the event possible. and the partners at jon stewart company. i know i see kathryn back there, the amazing people. thank you for your leadership. (applause) and the community of infrastructure and investment, nadia, you are somewhere here. thank you so much for the investment in the amazing development and the mayor's office of housing and community development. thank you for coming here. so without further adue, we want to start the celebration this ribbon cutting, this amazing moment, we have our supervisor

malia cohen and mayor london breed here. first, i want to bring up our director to kick us off. (applause) >> thank you very much for being here this morning. this is a really, really important time for me and for all of us. as a child growing up here in hunters point, i actually played on this very spot where we're standing. which is a surprise, that our childcare center is now here. we lived right there in the building right there in the place right here we were playing as children, my sister and i, who is the co-founder and there was a lot of housing in this area here. when we opened up the center and my program director tracy and i was walking through and i was telling the story, she said gladys it's here, the childcare

center. and i was very moved but it couldn't be done without all of you helping and supporting us. i'm not going to be up here long but i really want to quote a saying by myriam wright elder man. children must have at least one person who believes in them, it could be a counsellor, a teacher, a preacher, a friend, it could be you. you never know when a little love, a little support will plant a special seed of hope. one of the things that we work very, very hard to do at frandelja that has now been open 17 years, is plant the succeed of success to ensure that all children have an opportunity to succeed in life, as well as their parents. again, i thank mayor london

breed and supervisor malia cohen for being here this morning. thank you so very much. (applause) we will now hear from our mayor. >> thank you everyone and good morning. it's so excited to be here today. i grew up in the western edition community in public housing there and we were fortunate, the childcare facility i went to as a kid was just right across the street. mary lee would pick me up while my grandmother was working and we had a community, we had a lot of support. we would walk to school together, we grew up together and that's what being a community is about, making sure that our children have these incredible opportunities to start off in childcare to grow and thrive in our communities. i want to take a moment to

acknowledge our mayor, mayor ed lee who constantly was an advocate for making sure we were fulfilling the old promises that we promised decades ago to the residents here in the bayview hunter's point community. this is a promise fulfilled today, it's an opportunity for our young people to grow and thrive. this is an opportunity to make sure that every single child here succeeds and going to preschool is just really the first opportunity any kid gets to grow and learn and thrive. and so i'm excited to be here, 70 slots. 70 slots. childcare -- (applause) childcare just like healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. every child in our city deserves

this incredible opportunity and thank each and every one of you for being a part of this wonderful event, actually this is really cool, this floor is really soft and i'm kind of melting in it. we didn't have that, we had to play on the concrete. these kids are lucky, they have toys and new equipment and great stuff to play with. this is absolutely incredible and i'm so grateful to be here and i'm grateful for the amazing leadership of supervisor cohen who represents this district. she's a hard worker and cares about the community and steadfast, constantly pushing to make sure we're headed in the right direction and i think about ed lee again today, often times supervisor cohen and i would be the main persons going into his office talking about our districts and what we want and fussing a bit about what we want. and the mayor would just tell us, look, i'm going to take care of it, and he did take care of it. he took care of it and malia

cohen has been a fierce advocate for making sure the community is taken care of. ladies and gentlemen, supervisor cohen. (applause) >> thank you. good morning ladies and gentlemen. so today really is a celebration no doubt. but this is truly a combination of all the work that started almost three years ago, frandelja has had a fantastic story that is rooted here in our community, started at gilman at true hope with the vision of a few community members that recognized there was a gap in service right here in the southeast. people should be able to walk their kids to school or drive a few minutes to drop their kids off. so that's when the leadership of frandelja got together. now, years passed and they came to me about three years ago and said we're in jeopardy of losing this, we need to move and find a site. i don't know if you remember

that conversation, it was difficult to have, but it's true, ed lee was at the table and neighborhood and campaiommu partners as well as the developers of this project that assisted us in moving from one location to another so we don't lose any services. but let's be clear, we still need more quality early education opportunities here in our neighborhood just as we see across the city. this is a fantastic day we have come to celebrate this resource we're pouring into our community and the childcare facility that will make it a little bit, just a little bit easier for moms and dads to go to work, knowing that their child has a safe place, not only are they playing, but they're also learning. i think it's property to highlight they're learning basic fundamental principles that will put them on the pathway of being

successful for education and then ultimately a career opportunity and who knows run for supervisor or mayor. we have a good track record right here. (applause) you're looking at two products of the public school system before you, good things do come out of san francisco and working class communities and i think that's a very important message we need to speak out over our little ones. so i'm proud to stand with the women that founded the high quality learning center and you know what's really beautiful is that it started with a vision and tenacity of community members that saw the need and they just took action. they weren't elected officials, they weren't appointed to anything, they felt the urgency and the call to action. they felt that urgency of now. and they stepped up. i want to give my humble gratitude to sandra and gladys

for their leadership. there's many organizations here that help us with the funding of such an endeavor. so we as a city are proud to be part of working together to make sure this facility and others are successful. i want to say congratulations, it's a big victory for all of us here and i hope we can take a few moments in the early parts of 2018 to recognize this and celebrate. congratulations everyone. (applause) >> thank you supervisor cohen. madam mayor breed. i'm looking over to gladys, i believe we have some special guests, i see some amazing little ones over there, a special treat for the mayor here. but first, i think i'm to bring up miss ariana smith, miss smith is a parent of a child enrolled

at frandelja. welcome. >> good morning. >> come on mama smith. don't be nervous. >> i'm not really a speaker but i want to say thank you to frandelja for being accessible to me as a single working parent and you guys have been so helpful making my child feel she's at home. it's been very helpful to me. i thank you for everything. thank you. (applause) >> miss gladys would you like to introduce the special performance or ribbon cutting first? special performance first. as you come up, we have a few elected officials here, our school board president. thank you for coming. miss gladys. >> they are very excited, maybe

a little nervous, so if you know the songs, i would like for you to help them along. here's our performers. ♪ round and round ♪ the wheels on the bus ♪ go round and round ♪ all through the town ♪ the baby on the bus ♪ goes wah-wah-wah ♪ the baby on the bus ♪ goes wah-wah-wah ♪ all through the town ♪ the mommy on the bus goes ♪ shh-shh-shh ♪ the mommy on the bus goes ♪ shh-shh-shh ♪ all through the town

♪ the bus driver on the bus goes ♪ ♪ move on back ♪ move on back ♪ all through the town (applause) >> we're going to stop at three, is that enough? 3, 2, 1! >> we did it! ♪ ♪

>> we're here to raise awareness and money and fork for

a good accuse. we have this incredible gift probably the widest range of restaurant and count ii destines in any district in the city right here in the mission intricate why don't we capture that to support the mission youths going to college that's for the food for thought. we didn't have a signature font for our orientation that's a 40-year-old organization. mission graduates have helped me to develop special as an individual they've helped me figure out and provide the tools for me that i need i feel

successful in life >> their core above emission and goal is in line with our values. the ferraris yes, we made 48 thousand >> they were on top of that it's a no-brainer for us. >> we're in and fifth year and be able to expand out and tonight is your ungrammatical truck food for thought. food truck for thought is an opportunity to eat from a variety of different vendor that are supporting the mission graduates by coming and representing at the parks >> we're giving a prude of our to give people the opportunity to get an education.

people come back and can you tell me and enjoy our food. all the vendor are xooment a portion of their precedes the money is going back in >> what's the best thing to do in terms of moving the needle for the folks we thought higher education is the tool to move young people. >> i'm also a college student i go to berkley and 90 percent of our folks are staying in college that's 40 percent hire than the afternoon. >> i'm politically to clemdz and ucla. >> just knowing we're giving back to the community. >> especially the spanish speaking population it hits

home. >> people get hungry why not eat and give >> in 2017 we've had the lowest number of fatalities on our streets in our history. we still have a lot of work to do. and doing this work is a team effort. it is of course working with the department of public works and the sfmta to discuss infrastructure issues to make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists who are vulnerable to vehicles often times sadly going too fast. we're working with the san francisco police department, doing everything we can to crackdown on those individuals speeding and breaking the law and doing things that could create these kinds of accidents. no one wants to see the accidents on the side of the

road, no one wants to experience going to a crime scene on the road knowing your loved one has been hit by a car or sadly tragically killed. i remember years ago on turk street and laguna, when a lot of us were hanging out and just kind of enjoying the weather, it was a really nice hot time, like in the fall and my god son was crossing the street on turk at the intersection of turk and buchanan where there's no stoplight and he was hit by a car. we watched as you flew in the air and thought oh my god, oh my god, just to see it, and had no control over what was going to happen was devastating. and luckily he had minor injuries, luckily he survived, and i just really felt strongly, we have to do better as a city.

we have to do better with the vehicles that are speeding on our streets. we have to do better with our infrastructures and when people push back on me about the improvements and bike infrastructure and all of those things we need to do, we have to make our roads safe. it's not about catering to a particular group. there are a lot of the bicyclists riding in our city, there's a lot of pedestrians walking in the city, we have to make sure that people know this is where bicyclists ride, this is where pedestrians walk, this is where vehicles are supposed to be, so that everyone behaves responsibly on the road and knows the infrastructure, it helps them to understand exactly where everyone is supposed to be. our ultimate goal is public safety. we want everyone to be safe on our roads and everyone to make it home to their loved ones at the end of the night and that what this is about, this is about a team effort, working

with our mta, the police department, department of public health, department of public works and families for safe streets, this is how we're going to change the behavior of what's happening on our roads and get to the zero, the vision zero that we are promising san francisco. this is an important thing we must all participate in. so, again, i just want to emphasize that i have been in constant contact with the chief because enforcement, enforcement is going to play a key role in helping us address those issues. pulling over those vehicles running stop signs, pulling over the bicyclists who are sometimes doing the wrong thing, if you are breaking the law on our street, then there will be consequences for that behavior. it's not because the city wants to add another layer of bureaucracy or ticket you or collect that money, it's because

we want to make sure that people change their behavior so that they're safe on our streets. that's what this is about. this is about bringing the number of 20 in 2017 down to zero. we don't want another death on our streets because of human error, because of anything we can avoid. if we change our behavior, we change our roads and do a better job here in the city and county of san francisco. thank you all for being here. we have so much more work to do, but we are moving forward and working together to really make sure that vision zero is a reality and not just a dream. thank you. (applause) >> thank you. i think what you heard there is leadership of vision zero is not always easy. it can entail making decisions that are not always popular and there's always trade-offs when

talking about redesigning streets and enforcing laws and that kind of leadership we have from mayor breed and the whole board of supervisors and we're joined by supervisor jeff sheehy who has been strongly behind the difficult decisions we have to make, that's the kind of leadership we need. and the board of directors legislating the changes and faced with the trade-offs but willing to move forward with things that will get us to zero. as mayor breed mentioned, enforcement is an important part of it. a part of ed lee approach to vision zero, there's not just one tool in the tool kit. it's not just about street design. it's not just about education, it's not just about enforcement. it's about a collection of activities we can do together as city and community to drive

fatalities to zero. the rules of the road are there to keep people safe, and the work that the police department has done in support of vision zero with direction from previous and current mayor, is a big part of the story of what we're seeing out on the streets in terms of success with regards to vision zero. welcome our chief of police bill scott. (applause) >> thank you. good morning everybody. i'd like to echo director and acting mayor breed comments, you know, when i first learned about vision zero in 2013 it did seem like a dream. we were not only in san francisco but in other parts of the country because many other cities embarked on a vision zero initiative. it did seem like a dream but now four years into this and we have

made significant progress in reducing the amount of traffic fatalities, that dream is becoming a reality. and i think it's very much within our reach to actually realize that vision of zero traffic fatalities in our city. before i go any further, when we talked about the numbers and the statistics and the fact that the numbers are down and the statistics are down, i don't think it's lost on any of us that those numbers represent human lives and the families here today that have the courage to keep this on the forefront of our conscious, i thank you for being here. i know it's very painful to keep having to relive the loss of a loved one by way of a traffic fatality. thank you for being here today. from the perspective of the san francisco police department, our role is enforcement and also education. any time we have a traffic violation and we engage in a traffic stop or come in contact

with a motorist or pedestrian or bicyclist, we have an opportunity to educate and that opportunity to educate is really probably one of the most important things we can do. enforcement is very important but education is even more important. this year in san francisco, we issued over 38,000 citations and i don't say that to brag, unfortunately that's 38,000 plus people that have violated the law. however, it's also 38,000 contacts that we had the opportunity to educate people about really the impact of some of the violations that are more likely to cause traffic accidents. and our officers really take that work seriously. it's an opportunity to share stories about people that have lost loved ones and probably everybody in the room has a story. mayor breed told one that was

compelling and i have one and many of you have their own. but when our officers engage in enforcement, it's more than enforcement. it's education. it's preventing these terrible acts from occurring by putting it on the forefront of people's minds when they violate the law. i want to go through a couple of things of how we intend from the police department's perception to realize the vision. our captains coordinate efforts with patrol officers and our traffic unit on the enforcement. we work carefully with mta to use data to determine which intersections and corridors are more likely to have accidents and that's one of the ways we focus on those particular streets and intersections. the five violations that cause,

speeding, running stop signs, failure to yield to pedestrians, failure to yield to turns, running red lights. those are the violations most likely to cause fatalities. this year there were 20 fatalities, 14 involved pedestrians. my ask of the public is number one, be aware of your surroundings, be aware of the laws, be aware of street signals. be aware of crosswalks and try to work within the laws designed to keep you safe. it is really important that this effort be a partnership, not only with law enforcement but partnership between the community. if you follow the laws, you have much less of a chance of becoming involved in a fatality. that is particularly important with pedestrians. just the laws of physics. it takes a little while for 2,000 pound or 3,000 pound vehicle to stop.

physics is going to win every time. if you pay attention, if you follow the laws you have less of a chance of getting involved in these type of incidents. for the elderly in the community, it's more important. a majority of our traffic related fatalities involve elderly. people can't get across the street as fast, they may not hear as well as some other members of the community. so for our elderly, let's pay attention. let's help them in terms of paying attention to our roadways when we are driving and bicycling, that is a huge issue in our city. our outreach is a huge priority and again we use traffic stops as a way of outreach but we also have many public campaigns to remind drivers and pedestrians and bicyclists of their responsibilities when they are

often the roadways. the partnership we talk about between the mta, city government, board of supervisors, fire department, the department of public health, it really is a team effort to realize the vision of zero fatalities. i remind you, look at where we were and where we are. this vision will be a reality, it will be a reality and we'll work together to make that happen. i thank you for your time. families thank you for being here and remember, vision zero is about all of us. thank you. (applause) >> thank you chief. the chief made reference that back in 2013 it seemed not a very realistic goal and we were one of the first cities in the country, i think perhaps only new york had adopted vision zero and now it's more common term and many more cities have

adopted it. back then one of the things we started doing differently from the transportation standpoint, thinking of it as a public health issue and not just public safety issue. with the leadership of department of public health is a large part of why we are where we are, taking that view of the issues not just street design or enforcement view, i think has been a game changer for us here in san francisco. we're grateful to be able to co-lead between sfmta and department of public health and joined on behalf of public health director garcia and chief medical director argon. (applause) >> good morning everyone. first of all i want to thank acting mayor breed for being here today and being behind this vision zero, which is really

important to the department of public health. i was born and raised in san francisco. i grew up in the mission district. i live in glenn park, i raised three children and my wife is a first grade teacher. we have been dealing with the issue of traffic and pedestrian safety all of our lives. and i can tell you that what's happened in 2017 is a big accomplishment. if you just walk outside and you see the volume of people, the volume of cars all the activity, and the fact that we are down in terms of the number of deaths is a huge accomplishment. it's a huge accomplishment and i think everyone should really take pride in that. the other thing to realize is for every person that dies, there's a dozen who were severely injured. so think of it as a pyramid. the whole pyramid is getting

smaller. again, that's a big accomplishment. we all have to remember that all of us, all of us every single day no matter how you get to work, school, wherever you go, all of us are always pedestrians. this is really -- this impacts all of us. from a public health issue, one of the side effects of having pedestrian safety is that it really promotes community health. it allows people to walk more, to bike more, to do what we call in public health, active transportation and this is really good. it's promoting health in other ways, reducing people's stress as they feel they can take a walk in the neighborhood and feel safe while getting healthy. and i also just want to acknowledge the clinicians and workers at san francisco general hospital working 24/7 so when someone gets injured, we have a

team of people part of the city family who are the best in the world of taking care of the patients who are injured. the last thing i want to say is for us in public health, everybody coming together, working together, this way, this collective action, this collective impact, to us that's the best way to do public health and we're very excited. we have a lot of great staff, please visit visionzero.sf. you can read about our collaborative success. again, thank you so much. (applause) >> thank you dr. argon. to echo the praise for the folks at the san francisco general hospital, i heard a stat a couple years ago, i don't know if it's 100% accurate but nearly half of the admittance are from

traffic issues. you think of the first responders who bring the folks there and the impact it has on the system, it gives you the scope of the impact of traffic safety in san francisco beyond what we're talking about here today. the folks on the front line are largely from the police department, the first responders to the scene and it's not just fatalities but 200 or so people who are seriously injured each year in san francisco. so the fire department plays a critical role in getting people to the trauma center to be helped as quickly as possible. i want to acknowledge and ask to say a few words our fire chief. (applause). >> good morning. thank you for being here. i wanted to comment on the

alignment around vision zero and acknowledge the progress being made and has been said by many speakers before me, one death is one too many. we come some times from different angles but the san francisco fire department is fully committed. the men and women of the san francisco fire department are some of the first responders to the difficult scenes. we experience the emotion and have the conversations with the families and i want to acknowledge the families here that have lost loved ones due to traffic collisions and fatalities related to our congested city. and it is worth noting as dr. argon noted, in a city whose population is rising, there's more vehicles and pedestrians and bicycles on the street, to have a reduction is significant but there's more work to do. there are three prongs i believe

are part of vision zero, the education poliiece that the pol department has a role in. it is important to be alert and aware at all times. i know as a pedestrian, i'm the mother of three boys, one of the things i say, try to gain the eye contact with the driver and don't assume because you have a green light or ability to walk across that it will be safe. so awareness is a key factor. our role is one of education as well. we have the contacts to support the family, enforcement obviously, the police department does very capably. i would like to touch on the engineering piece, the mta does a great job in engineering and reengineering our streets, we sit regularly with the mta, sometimes it's looked at as a competing interest, we want to as first responders be able to

navigate to the scene of an emergency in a timely fashion but one of the things we heard loud and clear and i have seen, and we have worked closely with the city administrator's office, we have taken bold steps, not always popular in my department but bold steps to shrink the responding apparatus. very proud that just last year we took delivery of eight new fire engines with a smaller profile, easier to maneuver and increased visibility for the drivers to make us safer as first responders and more responsive to the vision zero goals. i have driven the engines and they're more responsive in the city streets. we're piloting two new ambulances, they work different, we're hoping to work with our

members to get them on board to take a look at a smaller ambulance as well. i drove that yesterday and it's much more user friendly through our narrow streets. we're hoping from an engineering perspective as part of vision zero to be very responsive to the size of our apparatus to be able to continue to fulfill our goals of saving lives and property but also be responsive to our growing population and many different varieties of pedestrians, bicyclists, cars and public transportation on the street. so thank you very much. (applause) >> thank you chief. from the executive branch and other government agencies, department of public works, one of our main partners and public utilities commission, planning department with the unified school district, dozens of other agencies all working together.

and i want to invite up some of our community partners, but before i do that, the bridge between the executive branch or one of the important bridges between the executive branch and our community are the elected officials that represent the community, our board of supervisors represent the citizens, businesses, schools, institutions in their district and that bridge is important to us in terms of feeding the community voice to inform what we're doing and as i said earlier, it requires great leadership and sometimes great courage on the behalf of individual members of the board of supervisors to support the work that can be controversial but ultimately is important and necessary for us to get to zero. one of the great champions of that, district eight supervisor jeff sheehy. i want to ask him to say a few words. (applause) >> thank you. and i think this has been said,

but i really do think that it is time to reflect on mayor lee's legacy. this is tremendous. we're here today recognizing the lowest level of fatalities because of the leadership of mayor lee. i think of his understated way of leading our city, the way he has brought our departments together and i do think once again we should think about this as an important piece of his legacy. and i want to commend mayor breed for her leadership on the board, as ed ruskin mentioned, through the work on the board and enormous amount of feedback we get when the changes come into our neighborhoods, the ability to work collaboratively with the executive branch and agencies has been key. so mayor breed's leadership first as board president has

been essential for this and going forward we'll continue to push the numbers down. i'm grateful for her leadership. i know for me personally i focused on bike safety and i hope the next year brings significant improvement, getting protected bike lanes so people can bike around. i think of my daughter, 12-year-old public school kid, we bop around all over town, pedestrian safety is critical. school starts again on monday, so i hope as you are reporting today you will encourage people to slow down, to be mindful, to recognize that you're going to have more cars on the street on monday, more kids on bikes, more kids walking and that's one of the great things that the transportation authority has been supportive of and mta, getting kids to get to school without necessarily having to be

in a vehicle and the education for kids on public transportation and walking and biking and walking school buses is an innovation that is great that i have seen folks in my neighborhood implement. if we could be mindful monday that kids are going back to school, not a lot of them are going to be happy about it. you're going to have grumpy kids dragging their feet and be slow and mindful. thank you. (applause) >> great messages, which i hope you will help us convey. two of the leading voices that challenge us are walk san francisco and san francisco bicycle coalition. everybody, whether you live here, visiting here, work here, everybody starts or ends their trip on foot. we're all pedestrians. and bicycling is the fastest growing mode of transportation

in san francisco. you are more vulnerable road users traveling in those ways. i want to welcome walk san francisco and executive director from the san francisco bicycle coalition. >> thank you director ruskin. how did you know my speech would be do more, do better, do faster. i don't have to say anything. in all seriousness, we're here to acknowledge the good news of 2017. i think after 2017 we could all use some good news. not only did the total deaths on our streets from traffic collisions decrease dramatically in 2017 but pedestrian deaths decreased as well. since 2013, every single year fewer pedestrians have been killed on our streets. this is really good news. of course this good news does not mean that we're all here today to pat ourselves on the back and move on. 20 lives lost is too many.

and so each of the lives lost needs to be a call of action to everyone here to do better. no family should get a phone call that their loved one is in the hospital or their love one worse has been killed due to crashes we know are preventable. people talking in san francisco and so many folks have said this today, every one of us here shouldn't have to put their lives on the line walking down the street. in san francisco, low income communities, people of color, immigrants and seniors are more likely to be killed in crashes and we need that to change. seniors should be able to grow old in our city. instead, they're the most likely group to be killed in crashes. these crashes, make no mistake, they're not accidents, they're predictable and that means they're preventable and that's why the city has invested a

tremendous amount of funding policy into vision zero since 2014 and which we're extremely grateful for and why we're here today. at the same time, we need to do better. to get to zero, there's the better part director ruskin, to get to zero, we need to step our game up a little bit. we have six years. we need to increase investments in safe streets and get projects into the ground more quickly, before more people get hurt and pass automated speed enforcement in san francisco. city community, advocates, families, i believe working together we'll reach zero by 2024. thank you. (applause) >> thank you. on behalf of the san francisco bicycle coalition, i'm the executive director and our

10,000 members, i want to thank many people here, mayor breed, supervisor sheehy, director ruskin, chief scott and his wife and all the other departments who have worked to draw attention toward the progress on vision zero. in 2014 with pressure and leadership from many of the organizations and individuals here today, san francisco officially adopted the ambitious goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries from our street. the bold commitment will be one of the endearing legacies of mayor ed lee. i know he believed in achieving vision zero. he cared deeply about the safety of people walking and biking in our city and followed through by directing city agencies to deliver infrastructure improvements with the speed and urgency necessary. we owe it to mayor lee's memory to remain just as urgently

focused on delivering safer streets faster. in 2017, san francisco proved to the nation that progress toward an ambitious goal like vision zero is possible. because of that progress, 10 people are alive today. 10 people are biking and walking to work. 10 people are waiting for muni and 10 people are coming home today to their families. and i want to recognize alvin and san francisco bay area families for safe streets, those who have lost their loved ones for being here and continually sharing their stories. we're here to acknowledge progress but also to recommit ourselves to vision zero. we have to work harder, even harder moving forward if we want 2017 to be the beginning of the trend and not just an aberration. while we saw significant decreases in fatalities for people, and in particular people driving or riding in cars, the decreases were not nearly as

significant for people walking and biking, our most vulnerable. in 2018 san francisco must show more resolve and urgency, starting with everyone standing here today. i want to highlight infrastructure is a key part of vision zero and we know there are plans in place for all streets in the city. without all of us working together and strong leadership, the plans will remain just that. i want to highlight one project in particular, the better market street project, transforming 2.2 miles of the street into a safe and comfortable place to bike and take transit. we have watched as this project experiences delays and we cannot afford to wait longer. for the safety of the thousands of people who travel down market street every day, construction must begin as soon as possible.

the memories of those who have lost their lives are dishonored by further delays. so as we look ahead, we must prioritize the construction of safer streets. dismantling the old barriers and throwing out the old excuses. there is no other way to continue progress in this new year. the lives of our friends, our families and our neighbors hang in the balance and there is not a moment to waste. thank you. (applause) >> thank you kathy and brian. as the chief said, ultimately it's not about numbers, it's about people. so finally and i would say most importantly, we're honored to have alvin lester here, one of the founding members of the san francisco bay family for safe street. i think the voice of those who have lost a loved one are one of

the most effective and compelling tools we have to change the behavior that needs to change to get to zero. please welcome alvin lester. (applause) >> good morning everyone. my story is simple but it's necessary. i'll just get right to it. i'm alvin lester. the father of amonde lester, he was struck and killed in the bayview neighborhood in the city. i'm here to support safer streets so no one else has to suffer the pain i have from traffic violence. i'm one of the co-founders for san francisco families for safe streets, volunteers who have lost loved ones. we are fighting to help change the culture of unsafe driving

habits. we have endorsed vision zero campaign to put an end to traffic deaths and serious injury by 2024. using education, engineering, and law enforcement. it is critical that our city officials focus on the proven tools which will help reach the no death, no serious injuries goal by 2024. join with us as we push forward together to make san francisco a safe place to walk, ride, drive. and to add to that, i'm here to honor my son. he was a wonderful -- he was my only son and as a father, you put a lot of time and effort to raise kids and teach them the correct things to do and doing so, i had great expectations his life would be satisfying not only to me but to himself.

we fight today to bring honor to san francisco. i'm a native and i have seen the changes in san francisco over the 20-30 plus years dealing with high volume of traffic and pedestrian movement on our streets. we need to take our streets back. we need to help people change the negative behaviors that they have built up over the years and we need to do it today. no parent, no family member should have to go through the suffering of burying their children or mom or father because of preventable collisions. so, let's fight. let's fight. let's make a good fight. you know, there are good things we can do. we have proven tools that help people to drive correctly in our cities and i want to urge everyone at the sound of my voice to make some corrections. if you operate a motor vehicle, think about it, think about the person standing on the corner, think about how fast you're

driving, think about the stop sign you're going to come to. just think and just doing so, you'll help someone live another day, i gandhi that. i guarantee that. so i just want to thank everyone for being here and i want to thank our public officials, walk san francisco, bicycle coalition and everyone here who has a vested interest in saving lives. we all deserve to have safe streets. we shouldn't have to figure out which street to take this day or tomorrow, your life depends on it. you don't want to hear the phone ring and have the news that will rip your heart in two. it's tough, every day of the week i think about my son. he would have been 25 in may of this year. so he was in school, he was working, he had a promising future. however, the individual who took his life didn't care nothing about that. we have to care for those who are living.

we have to care to make sure that crossing the street doesn't cost you your life. or end up in a hospital with life threatening injuries. we have to do it. so i'm here today to bring honor to those who have lost their lives and support all the individuals here to help make these things, the numbers come to fruition. i want to thank everybody. thank you. (applause) >> i can't say it better than that. we are certainly committed within the government to do more and better and faster. as alvin and the chief and supervisors said, we need everyone to pay attention, to slow down as they're getting around the city. it's going to take all of us to get to vision zero but it is achievable. we can do this san francisco. thank you for coming today. (applause)

♪