>> all right. good afternoon. happy new year. i want to call to order the first meeting of 2018, tuesday, january 9. madame secretary, item two, will you call the roll. >> president kwon? >> hear. >> vice president courtney. >> here. >> commissioner vietor. >> here. >> commissioner moran. >> here. >> and commissioner caen is

expected to arrive later. >> there will be no closed session today and we'll move to item three. approve after of the minutes of december 12, 2017. do i have a motion to accept the minutes? >> approval. >> second. >> commissioner kwon: any discussion? any public comment? ok. all in favour -- >> aye. >> commissioner kwon: opposed? all right. it carries. and now to item number four, the time for general public comment where members of the public may address the commission on matters that are within the commission's jurisdiction and are not on today's agenda. do we have any public general comment? ok. item five. communications. any discussion on communications? ok. any public comments on communications? going easy on us. all right. item number six. other commission business. any discussion? commissioners?

>> we have one real quick. i did want to quickly report to my colleagues that we managed to launch our first class of 2018. [feedback] at the -- at the academy out there at [feedback] in connection with the massoud, todd and the young community developers, the human services agency which granted necessary extensions candidates as well as the mayor's office of i.p.o. interim, predict and organize, we had a total of 18 signups. 13 participants started at 6:30 in the morning in the dark and the rain yesterday out at the academy. a number of support person fell was on hand. -- personnel was on hand. i wanted to make you aware of the fact that additionally the six-week curriculum has become an eight-week curriculum and now includes a component in connection with asphalt, which

is intended to put folks into a better position not just employment seekers opportunities in the private sector, but also in connection with the sewer system improvement project and i'll just continue to report. there is a dispatch piece that i'm working internally with staff on. that's supposed to commence within the next couple of weeks. but i felt really, really good about how everybody's kind of come together on this. i can tell that the students feel really good about it. we were also able to put together a last-ditch effort before the end of the year to provide certifications pursuant to request made by hope s.f., a number of individuals from bayview community. we received a number of certifications and that will be going -- ongoing with help from oewd and city built. so, i think we're doing what we said we would do. we we're keeping the promises that we all made together and we should be proud.

>> commissioner kwon: great news. thank you. anyone else? any public comment? ok. moving right along. i think we have item seven. >> happy new year to everyone. and hopefully this year will be better than last year. so, the first item i have is clean power s.f. update. barbara hill. >> thank you. happy new year. assistant general manager for power. i have updates on our clean power assess programme with respect to enrollment and service, contracting for our growth. and legislative and regulatory activities. on the enrollment front, our clean power s.f. programme has grown since i talked to you last. we reported in december. we're completing our small enrollment just this month so right now we're currently

serving about 80500 sites. so, it is up 500 from the last report. our opt-out rate is the same. 3.2%. so, we're steady eddie on that front. our super green upgrade continues to exceed that. and we're at 4.1% now. that is a .1 increase since my last report to you. so, that's a snapshot of who we're serving today. looking ahead, our next small enrollment will be april of 2018. so just a couple of months away. that enrollment will include folks on our wait list. we have 230 customers on the wait list now. and that will -- about 65% of them are seeking super green service. so if you want to be part of that enrollment, go to cleanpowersf.org/enrollment before january 21 and we'll be able to include any additional

customers in our april service. but, of course, the big next enrollment is for july. right now we're very involved in a number of activities to support that city-wide enrollment. our goal, of course, is to enroll all of the city by july of 2019. we're expecting to have about -- to get about halfway there with our july 2018 enrollment. the work that we're focusing on right now is procuring supply and the related financial support. so, the financial support comes in the form of a bank credit facility. i've reported to you before that our finance team is working to finalize those contract terms with j.p. morgan. we're on track to bring that to you for a vote of approval at our next meeting, january 23rd. on the supply front, we are actively negotiating and finalizing those contracts

with the short listed counterparties. we intend to present the programme risk management, portfolio assessment, and proforma results to the commission on february 13. so that is two meetings from now. at that time, we'll propose updates to the business practice policis that we've been operating the programme under for your approval as well. you initially approved those in december of 2015. and so with this next big enrollment, we'll refresh those and bring them back to you for approval. on the legislative front, consistents with your vote in november, i believe it was november 14, an ordinance was introduced at the board requesting the board provide a limited delegated authority to

the p.u.c. to enter into our supply contracts and that will support the completion of our programme enrollment. the delegated authority would include annual expenditure limitations and conditions imposed by you at that november meeting on the general manager's authority to sign contracts. that item is -- was heard at a special meeting of the board, budget and finance committee on december 12 and i was moved out of committee with full support. and so right now, today, it's at the board for its first reading. at the capital, cal c.c.a. is preparing for a lobbying day that we we're participating in later in january. and that is to educate and raise awareness about community interest and local energy programmes like clean power s.f. we want to make sure we keep our legislative folks aware of our interests. then on the regulatory side, we

are continuing to. a lot of action on the exit fee tpcia. the annual adjustment will be delayed until march. it usually happens in january. i reported in december that it looked like it wasn't going to happen january 1. we've gotten additional reports from the cpuc. they're saying march 1 is when they will authorize adjustments. we're also going to be participating in workshops on january 16 and 17 in a general reform to get to some agreement. we'll be participating as san francisco and also as part of the cal c.c.a. coalition. the staff at the cpuc surprised us in december by issuing a resolution on resource adequacy. that staff draft resolution was issued for comment. it would result in delaying

c.c.a. expansion. and start up for at least a year in california. the stated objective was to avoid cost shifts from departing customers to remaining customers. associated with resource adequacy obligations. and what the commission said they were trying to do is align the c.c.a. expansion and startup dates with their planning process for resource, for assigning resource obligations. comments are due in that proceeding january 11. they were actually due like a very short amount of time after the resolution was ish used and we petitioned for more time as did others. they reluctantly granted that and we're grateful that they did. there's been a lot of coordination activity on how to participate in that proceeding

over the holidays and many legislators and local elected officials have written the cpuc expressing their concerns about the process that the cpuc is undertaking. including our board president and acting mayor breed, sending in a letter. so, stay tuned on that front. we'll see where that goes. we see it really as a cost allocation issue, not an urgent drop everything and pay attention to this matter. the kind of matter that the cpuc takes time through a rule-making process, with comment and possible hearings, discover. a lot of opportunities to understand viewpoint and get input. we thought the process alone was reason to be alarmed about the approach the cpuc was taking. we'll see how they respond once they see folks written comments. and then finally, pg&e has filed for at the cpuc for

revisions to its solar choice and green tariff programme. that is the part of the programme offerings that competes with our super green offering and we will be addressing comments on cost allocation issues to make sure that the costs of that programme with are being borne by the right rate payers so the competition there is fair. with that, i'm happy to take any questions you may have. >> i have a question about the enrollment. can you remind me. the 80,000, that was by district, right? didn't we shift strategy now, focused on business as well? >> it was district and we did shift strategy to focus on some districts so it was business customers in district 10. all customers in five and eight. the smaller enrollments that we've been engaged in have

included net energy metring customers in those districts and customers who have been on the wait list. >> and then the next enrollment in july, it is going to be targeted at who? >> we'll -- we'll continue to work that -- those details out. it is going to be about 150 megawatts of customer load. we're pretty much going to be serving customers in all districts between our auto enrollment and our wait list signups. >> it would be great to get -- the opt-out rates are still so low, but it would be great to get a better understanding maybe at your next presentation briefing on, you know, a little more on the daem graphics of the enrollment. you know, are the small businesses, are they big businesses -- >> sure. >> how many of the supergreens with individuals versus businesses. kind of a little bit more of a profile? >> happy to do that. happy to do that. >> quite interesting as we move into the big push here. >> sounds good.

>> thank you. >> there was a piece in the paper this morning or yesterday about pg&e proceeding to shift customers to time of day rates. how does that affect us? and refresh my memory. we do not have time of day rates, is that correct? >> no, we do have time of use, time of day rates, seasonally adjusted rates for both our clean power s.f. and our hetchy customers. yeah. so, our rate design mimics pg&es. so, those same time of use periods and seasonal periods apply to our customers. >> ok. thank you. >> thank you. >> great, thank you. any public comment on this item? ok. item 7b.

>> commissioner kwon: actually, i have no other announcements and that concludes my report. thank you. short and sweet. >> thank you. very short and sweet. any public comments on the general manager's report? ok, madame secretary, the consent calendar. >> item e is the con sent calendar. all matters are considered to be routine by the san francisco public utilities commission and will be acted upon by a single vote of the commission. there will be no separate discussion of these item fls a member of the commission or public so requests in which event the matter will be removed from the calendar and considered as a separate item. >> i'd like to make a motion to improve the consent calendar. >> second. >> any discussion? any public comment? all right. all in favour -- >> aye. >> opposed? carries. >> item nine, authorize the general manager to execute a memorandum of understanding with the san francisco recreation and park department to establish authorized entry

and access to recreation and park properties by s.f.p. representatives in other words to inspex, install, modify, repair, remove, replace and test a temporary overhead power line in mclaren park. >> i'd like to move the item. >> second. any discussion? all in favour? >> aye. >> public comment? >> public comment. forgive me. all right. all in favour. >> aye. >> opposed? it carries. item 10. >> a proven increase to the existing contract cost in the amount of $7,635,800 and any future modifications to the contract. >> second. >> any discussion? any public comments? all in favour? >> aye. >> oppose? ed carries.

item 11, please. >> item 11 approved the selection of kennedy jenks consultants a.g..joint venture, a.e. com technical services incorporated and stantech engineering incorm rated and award dpraoems number pro-880076a through c and authorize a general manager to execute three professional service agreements each with an announcement not to exceed $4 million and each with a duration of five years. >> i'd like to move the item. >> second. >> discussion? any public comment? all in favour? >> aye. >> opposed? >> 12 , please. actually, we have no closed session items. so we go straight to item 23 and 24. any new business from the commissioners? ok.

i think this is a record. [laughter] wow. the meeting is adjourned. >> i told you it would be a good year. >> have a good one. to

be. >> hi, i'm average i'm a personal analyst that the human resources examining and recruitment unit and suffix i started my career as a san francisco state university and got my bachelors in psyched and orientational psyche if they had we have a great relationship that the san francisco unified school district i exploded for

american people interim shopping mall and become eligible for a permeate job. >> okay. perfect. >> i love working for our human resources services because of the agriculture we're laid-back with a professional mindset although human resources is a challenge we're light a hearted started as a intern guided through the process eventually one day a a deputy director or staying with the puc is where i love it

>> 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) ♪