interim, neutral mayor, so all candidates have the opportunity to earn the seat of office of mayor based on their merits in a fair and open process. thank you. >> president breed: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. [please stand by]

>> thank you, supervisors and acting mayor breed. we've had -- i want to talk both about issues, as well as process. we've had administration after administration who has sided with corporations instead of the people, and meanwhile, there's people that's getting pushed out of every single one of your districts. we need a mayor who's going to standup to speculators, who

will standup to airbnb, and who will push for the deepest levels of affordablity in all of the housing that we build, because all of us know how desperately that's needed. and lastly, we need a caretaker mayor because we need someone who's going to be accountable to the people. >> thank you so much for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, board of supervisors and president and acting mayor breed. my name is brandon romney. i am serving on the san francisco board of berniecrats. i am speaking today on behalf of the democratic process. with the tragic passing of ed lee, our city is in an interesting position, where

incumbents have the position to run for mayor in june. i am asking that this board vote for an interim mayor who is not running for the seat. this will allow the voters the first chance in over a decade to make their own decision on who should represent them. if the board of supervisors can spend over an hour discussing a house in a wealthy neighborhood, they can at least take that much time to discuss the caretaker mayor. >> thank you for your comments. before the next speaker, a gentle reminder, please use your fingers. next speaker, please. >> happy new year's, board of

supervisors. my favorite winter holiday is kwanzaa because it's about unity, and if you could show this. please come out on the 18th, and hopefully, acting mayor breed will be out for this rally, out in front of city hall and supporting rising african american leadership for the fillmore heritage center. secondly, one of the things that ed lee wanted to see accomplished right before his tragic passing was to get 1,000 people off of the street and into the safe, organized spaces, so i have something for you, supervisors. it's called safe organized spaces. we have a working group that is comprised of st. francis homeless's challenge facilitate are. we have downtown streets team,

we have concern, we ha have encampment neighbors. and we for a fraction of what the city currently spends on dpw and sfpd could actually have a community integrated program to support safe integrat integrates -- integrated spaces for a $9 million budget. but acting mayor breed, it's going to be challenging and it's going to be a blessing in some ways to be the incumbent in this race. but let's make sure whoever is the acting mayor, interim mayor is active in an interim budgetary process. >> thank you for your comment. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i'm steve jones with the center

for biological diversity. i'm here to speak on the next item of your agenda to oppose offshore drilling and fracking in california. i want to thank supervisor peskin for his support on this issue, as well as lee hefner for working with our office on this issue. offshore drilling affects coastal communities and our climate. by voting this in, we'd be the 16th community to formally oppose offshore drilling in california, and the global threat it poses and our global stablity. we started this campaign at the center about six months ago, but last week as you know, president trump's put all federal waters for offshore drilling. that's everything. doing all that would -- burning

all that would create about 50 gigatons of pollution. that's the equivalent of driving a million cars for a year. this is a crisis, and we're happy to present california as a unified front to oppose this. people can register their opposition to this plan through the end of february . they can go to endangeredoceans.org to send a comment to the department of the interior, and i also urge everyone to show up and support the public action that's on february 8th in sacramento, the only hearing being held in all of the state of california to allow people to register their -- their support for our coast and their opposition to expanding offshore oil drilling. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors and acting mayor breed.

my name is ben becker, cochair of the san francisco berniecrats. you can assume i'm here to request we have an interim mayor who's not running for office. i don't really question the fact that all of you are working really hard, and i can appreciate that happen it is very difficult to be a city supervisor, especially today. i can appreciate that it's very difficult to be a mayor in the city, considering what our late mayor lee went through. i don't think that it is fair to anybody to ask them to be both board president and mayor at the same time and to have them running for mayor at the same time. so as a request to the people of san francisco and to yourselves, please appoint an interim mayor who is not running for office who can just dedicate themselves to the job

for six months. we can clean things up a little bit and move on from there. thank you. >> supervisor: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name's art persico, and i'm a san francisco resident in district two, and i am so pleased to have the opportunity to address the board of supervisors. it's a great honor. and i really appreciate the attention that you give to your constituents when we do this because some of us had waited hours to be here, to have our little moment of being heard. so i would like to associate my remarks with those who have earlier spoken about the need for a fair process. and i would urge you, even after -- at the end of a long meeting, when it's hard to listen. it takes a super human effort to focus in, but please give us the respect of listening to us when we wait till the end of a meeting and speak. i really do hope you have a fair process.

we witnessed, in the past year, the unfortunate effects of an unfair process, when a finger was on the scale, a thumb was on the scale, and the people are tired of it. i think it should start here, in san francisco, where you do actually have the conscience and the guts to have a fair process. thank you very much. >> supervisor: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good evening. my name is lindy park. i am a resident of city of san francisco, and i am also here with the center for biological diversity. i'm here to support the resolution that's on your agenda today that would ban all ill and gas drilling -- or that would call for a ban to all

offshore oil and gas drilling and fracking. and it's very important for the city and for communities all across the country to weigh in and to speak out against offshore fracking and drilling because as someone just mentioned before, the trump administration is poised to open up almost all of our coastal waters to offshore drilling. and this is something that our oceans and our climate cannot afford. it's simply too dirty and too dangerous. the epa allows 9 billion gallons of frack waste waters and fracking chemicals to be dumped into our oceans every year. those chemicals are toxic to our wildlife and to human

health. there have been too many instances where spills have ruined our coast lines, have ruined economies. and finally, our climate cannot afford more drilling. it can't afford more areas to be opened up to oil and gas development. we're already standing on the edge of a cliff in terms of our climate. we need to be phasing out oil and gas development -- oil and gas development, not opening up new areas for oil and gas development. so i very much appreciate your consideration -- >> supervisor: thank you for your comments. thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is winnie porter. i spent 40 years as a classroom teacher in san francisco public schools, and mr. yee, i don't know if you remember, but we talked together at hawthorne

elementary years ago. >> supervisor yee: i do. >> i would like to take this opportunity to take every single supervisor that was respectful, that was seated, and that listened to those of us who were here to talk. as a teacher, i always taught my children to be respectful and to be attentive listeners. i am shocked at some of the behaviors that i've seen here today, laughing and carrying on, walking around with your coffee cup. i'm appalled. i'm appalled. i would not expect that or allow that from my students, let alone people that i voted for. >> supervisor: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good evening. my name is shaliqua chandler, ambassador sahalaquia chandler.

i'm coming up my condolences to former mayor, ed lee. i felt he was a wonderful man, i felt he was a man who truly cared about this community. however, at the same time i just want to address issues that i do see. my son was murdered november -- january 9, 2015. i want you to know the status of that case. it was just offered with eric flemings, he's now the new judge of san francisco. however what he had to do was give up my son's case and all his other cases, so i was just informed that two months going into trial that now i have no attorney for my son and the four other boys. so unfortunately, katie steinle

has been to trial, and one of her family stated that even though the immigrant was being sent back, so millions and millions of dollars are being donated to her fund. here, my son was murdered and the four boys seven months before hers and we're still pending. no one is really concerned about what we as african american women are going through. my other frent's son was just shot to death by oakland police department. it's been going on and on and on, but see, this is my issue. you know, we have an african american woman what o's in a position to make change. you have voted her in twice as president, and now it's a problem. with dianne feinstein, she helped to seat this president of the board of supervisors, and she was also able to get into the seat of the mayor, so i want to know what is the

problem? i have no problem with speaking up concerning the injustices. no one has taken a stand of us mothers being murdered in san francisco and all over -- >> supervisor: thank you for your comments. thank you, miss aquia. miss aquia, your time is concluded. [ inaudible ] >> supervisor: thank you, miss aquia. miss aquia, we try to give everyone the same amount of time to testify. [ inaudible ] >> supervisor: miss aquia, we appreciate your comments. thank you, miss aquia. thank you for your comments. before otto speaks, are there any other members of the public who would like to address the board during general public comment. >> can i get two minutes? >> supervisor: please proceed. >> my name's otto.

i live nearby here, and i just got off the buses, and i heard the recording on the bus, please stand clear, the doors are opening. and it seems to me, january is the month of doors. they let me in the building, and another crazy guy down there, participatory democracy. i would just echo what the lady was saying about offshore drilling and maybe even go a little bit further. i've said this before. if we're about trying to get off a carbon economy, what we're doing in this city in san francisco, it wouldn't look like this. i have to tell you, i lack a vocabulary to even talk about how far off we are. thank you. >> supervisor: thank you for your comments. sir, are you addressing the board for general public

comment? >> howdy. i just got back from illinois. what i like about the way this meeting is ran, the mayor is sitting with the board of supervisors. the mayor isn't hiding out or going across town, so whatever you need to do to amend that, i would appreciate it. we need the mayor with the board of supervisors, to be there with them while they're moving the city somewhere. i guess jeff kozcinsky is talking about his 20 years legislation to build some housing. i mean, do you really expect to put someone in a navigation

center for the rest of their lives or just bounce them between navigation center to street? i mean, if the housing isn't there, then, you just build navigation centers for them, and they're going to live in the navigation center to five -- indefinitely like they are in some of the shelters? some of the shelters, people are staying two years. but i guess considering the healing that's coming up regarding the navigation centers, the navigation centers are literally being sued because they did not -- they're violating the standards of care. the city and county of san francisco has standards of care, and they just -- it seems like the city attorney is trying to fight very hard and excessively to say that they are not liable for the contract or the standards of care. we're going back to that

paradigm that people are staying in the tents because when they go to the shelter system, they get abused. the women are phrase of getting rained, so they're refusing to go to the shelter system, because they get abused. >> supervisor: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. again, if there are any members of the public to address the board in general comment, now is your opportunity. please proceed, sir. >> i'm kevin ortiz, born and raised district 9 resident, current district six resident. i'm just here -- i wasn't actually going to speak, but i'm here in support of a fair democratic process. i would be against what is currently going on right now if this was supervisor kim, this was supervisor ronen. we need to have a fair democratic process that goes along with this. this is not about identity, this is about fair process. right now, san francisco has seven out of ten homeless

people that once had a roof over their heads, one of the worst income inequalities in the world. the average latino family in the district making $25,000 a year, yet we have white people making 150 k a year. we can house all of these people, but we need to have a fair process, and right now there's a lot of trauma that goes on with the residents of san francisco because they don't feel they can trust that democratic process right now. we need to appoint an incident ram mayor and get a legally binding contract with the city and county of san francisco so that way we don't have this caretaker mayor that can actually run in the future, so that's all i'm saying with that. but i really urge the city and county of san francisco to have a fair process. that way, it's unbiased, with the three candidates that are currently running right now, and the city can choose, and the city can feel comfortable with that. thank you for your time.

>> supervisor: thank you for your comments. i believe that concludes general public comment. madam president? >> the hon. l. breed: are there any members of the public who would like to comment at this time? madam clerk, please read the next items on the agenda, and we'll go into closed session. >> the hon. l. breed: role call vote. >> on items 31 and 32, supervisor fewer? aye supervisor kim? a aye. supervisor peskin? aye supervisor sheehy?

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> the hon. l. breed: those items are adopted unanimously. all right. madam clerk, can you please read the closed session item? >> clerk: yes. scheduled pursuant to a motion approved on october 31st and continued from december 12th, 2017, the board of supervisors has authorized to convene in closed sessions regarding the labor negotiations with the city's open labor contracts. >> the hon. l. breed: colleagues, can i entertain a motion to go into closed session? moved by supervisor peskin, seconded by supervisor ronen? colleagues, can we do that without objection? without objection, we will recess into closed session.

>> in 2017 we've had the lowest number of fatalities on our >> 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 is a team effort. it is of course working with the department of public works, and the sfmta to address infrastructure issues to make our streets safer, for you just for pedestrians, but for bicyclists. we are working with the san francisco police department and doing everything we can to crack down on those individuals who are speeding and breaking the law and doing things that could create these kinds of accidents. you know, 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 that 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. it was kind of like in the fall, and my god son was crossing the street at turk, at the intersection of turk and buchanan when there's no stop light. and he was hit by a car, and we watched as he flew in the air, oh, my god, oh, my god. it was just to see it and have no control over who was going to happen was devastating. and luckily, he had minor injuries, and luckily, he survived. we have to do better as a city.

we have to do better with the vehicles speeding on our streets. we have to do better with our infrastructures, and when people push back on me about the improvements and the infrastructure and all those things that we have to do, we have to make our roads safe. it's not about catering to one particular group. 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 they know the infrastructure helps them understand where everyone is supposed to be. because our ultimate goal is public safety. we want everyone to be safe on our roads. we want everyone to make it home to their loved ones at the end of the night, and that's what this is about. this is about a team effort, working with our mta, the police department, the department of public health, department of public works, the

bicycle coalition, walk sf, and families for safe streets. this is how we are 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 franciscans. this is an important thing that we're participating in. again, i just want to emphasize that i've been in constant contact with the chief, because enforcement, enforcement is going to play a key role in helping us address those issues. pulling those that run stop signs, pulling over 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 bringing that number from 20 -- 2017 down to zero. we don't want another death on our streets because of human error, because of anything that we can avoid. if we change our behavior, we change our roads, and we do a better job here in the city and county of san francisco, so thank you all so much for being here. we've got 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 is there is that leadership on vision zero is not always easy. it can entail making decisions that aren't always popular. there's always tradeoffs when we're talking about redesigning streets and enforcing laws, and

that kind of leadership that we have from mayor breed, from the whole board of supervisors, and we're joined today by supervisor jeff sheehy who has been strongly behind some of those difficult decisions that we need to make, but are the right ones to make to make our streets safer. that's the kind of leadership we need. i want to also acknowledge the sfmta board of directors and are willing to move forward on the kind of things to get us to zero. as mayor breed mentioned, enforcement is part of it -- the ed lee approach to vision zero is not just one tool in the toolkit. it's not just about street design, it's not just about education, it's not just about enforcement, it's about a whole collection of opportunities that we can do together as a city and community to drive fatalities to zero. enforcement is a significant part of that. the rules of the road are in place for a reason. they're there to keep people

safe, and the work that we -- that the police department has done in support of vision zero, with direction from previous and current mayors is of, i think a big part of our story of what we're seeing out on the streets in terms of success with vision zero. so please join me in welcoming our chief of police, bill scott. >> thank you, director reskin. good morning, everybody. i'd like to echo director reskin and acting mayor breed. you know, when i first learned about vision zero in 2015, it did seem like a dream, and we in san francisco but in many other parts of the country also embarked on a vision zero initiative. it did seem like a dream, but as we are four years into this and made significant process in

reducing the number 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. and before i go any further, we talk about the numbers and the statistics about the numbers are down, i don't think it's lost on any of us that those numbers represent human lives, and the people that are here today, that had the courage to keep it on the forefront, thank you, because i know it's painful to keep having to relive the loss of a loved one by traffic fatality, so thank you for being here today. from the perspective of our san francisco police department, our role is enforcement, but our role is also education. because 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 that we can do. enforcement is very important, but education is even more important. you know, this year in san francisco, we issued over 38,000 citations, and i don't say that to brag, because unfortunately, that's 38,000-plus people that have violated the law. however, that's also 38,000 contacts where we had the opportunity to educate people about really the impact of some of the five 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 who have lost a loved one. mayor breed told a very compelling one. i have one, and i'm sure a lot of you have your own.

but when our officers engage in enforcement, it's more than enforcement. it's opportunity. it's preventing these terrible acts from occurring by putting it on the forefront of people's minds when they do violate the law. so i do want to go through a couple of things of how we intend from the san francisco police department's perspective to realize our vision of zero traffic fatalities. our captain's coordinated efforts with our patrol officers and our traffic units on the enforcement. and we work very carefully with mta to use data to determine which intersections and which corridors are more likely to have accidents. and that's one of the ways that we focus on those particular streets and intersections. the five violations that cause intersections, and we know speeding, running stop signs, failure to yield, failure to

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

have less of a chance of getting involved in those types of incidents. for elderly in our community, it's even more important. a majority of our traffic-related fatalities, particularly when it comes to pedestrians involve elderly. people can't get across the street as fast. they may not hear as well as some of our other members of our 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, when we are bicycling, because that is a huge issue in our city. our outreach is a huge priority, and again, we use traffic stops as a way of outreaching, but we also have many public campaigns to remind driver's and to remind pedestrians, and remind bicyclists of their responsibility when they are on the roadways.

the partnership we talk about between the mta, city government, board of supervisors, the fire department, the department of public health, it is really a team effort to realize this vision of zero fatalities, but i remind you, look as where we are, and look at where we are. this vision will be a reality. it will be a reality, and we will work together to make that happen. so 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 to the fact that back in 2013, it seemed maybe not a very realistic goal. and at the time, we were one of the first cities in the country. i think only perhaps new york at that time had adopted vision zero. now, it's a much more common term that's known. many more cities have adopted it. but back then, one of the things that we started doing differently, as least from the

transportation standpoint is thinking about this not just as a public safety issue but as a public health issue. and with the leadership of the department of public health on this issue, i think is a large part of why we are where we are, taking epidemioligic view. we are very grateful to colead between the sfmta this effort with the department of public health and am happy to be joined on behalf of the department of public health, dr. tomas aragon. >> 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 glen park. i raise three children, and my wife is a first grade teacher at bessie carmichael south of market, so we have been dealing with the issue of public safety all of our lives. and i can tell you what happened in 2017 is a big accomplishment. if you just walk outside, and you just see the volume of people, the volume of cars, all the activity, and the fact that we're -- that we -- that we're down in terms of the number of deaths is a huge accomplishment. it's a huge accomplishment. i think everyone should really take pride in that. the other thing to realize is for every person that -- that di dies, there's another nine that were severely injured.

that's a whole pyramid, and that pyramid is getting smaller. we all have to remember, all of us, every single day, no matter how you get to school, work, wherever you go, all of us are pedestrians, so this impacts all of us. from a you beliepublic health e of the effects of promoting pedestrian safety, it impacts public health. it allows people to do more, to bike more, to do what we call in public health, active transportation, and this is good in other ways. reducing people's stress, because they feel they can take a walk in their neighborhood and feel -- feel safe while they're getting healthy. and i also just want to acknowledge the clinicians and the workers at zuckerberg san francisco general hospital who are working 24/7 so when somebody does get injured, we have a team, part of the city

family who are really the best in the world at taking care of patients that are injured. the last thing i want to say is for us in public health, everybody coming together, working 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 the website, visionzerosf. there's a lot of good information there, and you can read about outline collaborative success. so again, thank you so much. >> thank you, railrodr. arago. to just echo the staff at the san francisco general hospital. i heard a stat a few years, nearly half of the emergencies at san francisco general hospital result from pedestrian collisions. so when you think about the pressure that's put on that system and the first responders

who often bring the folks there, it gives you a sense of the scale and the impact of traffic safety in san francisco beyond just what we're talking about here today. the folks who are on the front line of that are largely men and women of the san francisco police department who are often the first responders to the scene of fritraffic collisions. and as dr. aragon said. it's not just fatalities, but 200 people or so that are injured each year in san francisco. so the fire department plays a critical role in getting people to the trauma center so that they can be helped as quickly as possible. so i want to acknowledge and ask to say a few words, our fire chief joanne hayes-white. >> good morning. thank you for being here. i did want to comment on everyone's alignment around vision zero, and to acknowledge

the progress that is being made, but has been said by many speakers before me, one death is one too many, and we are all committed to vision zero. we come at different angles, but the san francisco fire department is fully committed to vision zero. as director reskin said, the fire department are the first responders to the scenes. i'd also like to acknowledge the families that are here who have lost loved ones due to traffic collisions and fatalities due to our congested city. and it is worth noting, in a city whose population is rising, there's more vehicles, there's more bicycles, there's more people on you are on streets, to have a reduction is significant, but as mayor breed said, the work must continue toward vision zero. i wanted to highlight three

prongs. the education piece, which all of us have a great role in. as a good citizen, it is important whether you're driving, riding a bike or walking to be alert and aware taults. -- at all times. i know as a mother of three boys, i say try to maintain eye contact with the driver, and don't just assume because you have a green light or an ability to walk across, that it'll be safe, so awareness is a key factor. our role is one of education as well. we do have the contacts to support the family. enforcement, obviously, the police department does very capably. i'd just like to briefly touch on the engineering piece, which the mta does a good job of engineering and reengineering our streets. as i said sometimes it's looked at as a competing interest, because as a fire department,

we want to make sure we can get through the city streets to an accident in a timely fashion. we've worked with closely with the city administrator's office on the engineering piece as it relates to the san francisco fire department. we've taken some bold steps, not always popular in my department, but taken steps to shrink the responding profile of our apparatus. we need to have certain sizes to carrie all ty all our equip. we look possession of eight new engines that are smaller. they have 360° camera angles to make our drivers safer. i've driven those new engines, and they are much more responsive in our city streets. just yesterday, i had the opportunity -- we are piloting two new ambulances. they look different, so we're hoping to work with our -- our members to get them on board to take a look at a smaller

ambulance, as well. i drove that just yesterday, and again, it's much more user friendly through our narrow streets, so we're hoping from an engineering perspective as part of vision zero to be very responsive to the size of our apparatus to fulfill our goals of saving lives, but be responsive to the many different variations of cars, pedestrians, bicycles, and public transportation that are on the streets, so thank you very much. >> thank you, chief. beyond the folks that are represented here from the executive branch and other government agencies, there are many others. department of public works, one of our main implementing partners. work closely with the transportation authority as a funding partner, with the 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, each of them represents nearly 80,000 san franciscans, as well as the businesses, the institutions, the schools that are in their district, and that bridge is important to feeding them the community voice to let them know what we're doing. as i said before, it requires great leadership and some of the individual effort on behalf of the board of supervisors to support the work that can be controversial but does involve tradeoffs, but ultimately is necessary for us to get to zero. and one of those has been district eight supervisor jeff sheehy, so i want to ask him to say a few words. >> supervisor sheehy: 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. i mean, this is tremendous. we're here today recognizing the lowest level of fatalities because of the leadership of mayor lee, and i just think of his understated way of leading our city, the way in which he's brought all of our departments together, and i do think we should think about this as an important piece of his legacy. i do want to commend acting mayor breed for her leadership on the board, because as ed mentioned it, through the transportation authority, through our work on the board, through the enormous amount of feedback we get when these changes come into our neighborhoods, the ability to work collaboratively with the executive branch and with the agencies, it's been key. so mayor breed's leadership first, as board president, has been essential in this. and i know leading forward,

we're going to continue to push these numbers down under her leadership. i know for me personally, i focused on bike safety in my district, and i'm hoping the next year will bring some significant improvements, and getting protected bike lanes, so that people can bike around. i also think about my daughter, 12-year-old, public school kid, and we bop around all over town. pedestrian safety is absolutely critical. but if i can make one point. 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. you're going to have more kids on bikes, more kids walking, and that's one of the great things that the transportation authority has been supportive of and the mta, is getting kids to get to school without necessarily having to be in a vehicle. and the education of kids on using public transportation and using -- and biking and walking

and walking school buses is an innovation that is in my neighborhood i think is really great. kids are going back to school about it, but they're not going to be happy about it. they're going to be dragging their feet to go into school on monday, but please be mindful, be safe, and thank you. >> draet messages which i hope all of you are help us convey. two of those voices that are constantly urging us to do more better and faster is the san francisco bicycle -- bike coalition. bicycling is the fastest mode of transportation in san francisco. when you're traveling in those ways, you are a more vulnerable

road user, so i want to welcome cathy diluca, and then brent weedmeyer, director of san francisco bike coalition. >> in all seriousness, we're here today to acknowledge and appreciate the good news of 2017, and i think after 2017, we can all use some good news. not only abodid the total deat on our street from san francisco collisions decrease dramatically in 2017, but pedestrian deaths decreased, as well. since 2013, every single year, fewer pedestrians have been killed on our streets, so this is really good news. of course, this good news does not mean that we're here today to pat ourselves on the back and move on. 20 lives lost is too many. and so each of those lives lost

needs to be a call to action to everyone here to do better. because no family should get a phone call that their loved one is in the hospital or that their loved one, worse, has been killed due to crashes that we all know are preventible. people walking in san francisco and so many folks have said this today, shouldn't have to put their lives on the line walking down the street. in low income communities, people of color, immigrants and elderly people 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. and these crashes, make no mistake, they are not accidents. they are predictable, and that means that they are preventible. and that's why the city has invested a tremendous amount of funding efforts, energy, policy

in to vision zero since 2014, which we are extremely grateful for, and which is why we're here today. at the same time, we need to do better. to get to zero -- there's the better part, director reskin. to get to zero, we've just got to step up our game a little bit. we've got six years. we need to get projects into the ground more quickly, before more people get hurt, and we need to pass auto mated speed enforcement in sacramento. if we do these things, and we keep working together, city, community advocates, family, i believe working together we will reach zero by working together in 2024. thank you. >> thank you. i want to -- on behalf of the san francisco bicycle coalition, my name is brian weedmeyer, and i want to thank

many people here including mayor breed, supervisor sheehy, director reskin, chief scott, and hayes-white, and all the other people who have moved san francisco's vision forward of vision zero. san francisco officially adopted the ambitious goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries from our streets. the bold commitments as has been mentioned will be one of the enduring legacies of mayor lee. i know firsthand that mayor lee truly believed in achieving vision zero. he cared deeply about the vision of people walking and biking safely in our city, and he delivered. we owe it to mayor lee's memory to urge it just as focused in delivering safer streets

faster. in 2015 san francisco proved that progress towards an ambitious goal like vision zero is possible. because of that, ten people are alive today. ten people are biking and walking to work. ten people are waiting for muni. and ten people are coming home today to their families. and i also want to recognize alvin and san francisco bay area families for safe streets, those that have lost loved ones and continually sharing their stories. so we are here to recommit ourselves to vision zero. we have to work even harder moving forward if we want 2017 to be the beginning of a trend and not just an aberration. because while we saw significant decrease in fatalities for people, and in particular people driving or riding in cars, those decreases were not nearly as significant for people walking and biking,

our most vulnerable road users. in 2018, san francisco must show even more resolve and urgency, and that will start with everyone standing here today. i want to highlight infrastructure as a key part of vision zero, and we know there are plans for improvements all over our city. without all of us working together, and without strong leadership, those plans will remain just that. i want to highlight one project in particular, the better market street project, which will transform 2.2 miles of san francisco's main street into a safe, comfortable, and inviting place to walk, bike, and take transit. we have watched, too, as this project has experienced delays, and we cannot afford to wait any 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 sufan and mark

harrier, who last their lives in recent years crossing market street live in the delays. there is no other way to continue our 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. >> thank you, cathy and brian. as the chief said, ultimately, this is not about numbers, it's about people. so finally, and i would say most importantly, we're very honored to have alvin lester here who's one of the founding members of the san francisco bay area families for safe streets, because i think the voice of those who have lost a loved one is one of the most effective and