sustainable future . >> san francisco streets and puffs make up 25 percent of cities e city's land area more than all the parks combined they're far two wide and have large flight area the pavement to parks is to test the variants by ininexpensive changing did new open spaces the city made up of streets in you think about the potential of having this space for a purpose it is demands for the best for bikes and families to gather. >> through a collaborative effort with the department we the public works and the municipal transportation agency pavement to parks is bringing initiative ideas to our streets. >> so the face of the street is

the core of our program we have in the public right-of-way meaning streets that can have areas perpetrated for something else. >> i'm here with john francis pavement to parks manager and this parklet on van ness street first of all, what is a parklet and part of pavement to parks program basically an expense of the walk in a public realm for people to hang anti nor a urban acceptable space for people to use. >> parklets sponsors have to apply to be considered for the program but they come to us you know saying we want to do this and create a new space on our street it is a community driven program. >> the program goes beyond just parklets vacant lots and other spaces are converted we're here

at playland on 43 this is place is cool with loots things to do and plenty of space to play so we came up with that idea to revitalizations this underutilized yard by going to the community and what they said want to see here we saw that everybody wants to see everything to we want this to be a space for everyone. >> yeah. >> we partnered with the pavement to parks program and so we had the contract for building 236 blot community garden it start with a lot of jacuzzi hammers and bulldozer and now the point we're planting trees and flowers we have basketball courts there is so much to do

here. >> there's a very full program that they simply joy that and meet the community and friends and about be about the lighter side of city people are more engaged not just the customers. >> with the help of community pavement to parks is reimagining the potential of our student streets if you want more information visit them as the pavement to parks or contact pavement to parks at sfgovtv.or. good afternoon. i want to thank you all for being here today to talk about not only the success that we've had here in the garage in the mca with the police department,

but also talk about what we're doing around car break-ins. i want to thank the director, scott, peskin and stefani, who have been at this and talking about this for some time. you know, we have and have had a car break-in epidemic in the city of san francisco. in 2017, we had 30,000 break-ins in the city of san francisco. as we talked about for months and i have as mayor, it should not be a gamble to park your car on the streets of san francisco. this affects people who visit the city of san francisco, the people that work in the city of san francisco and it affects the people that live in the city of san francisco. and the current conditions on the street, is something that is unacceptable. i want to commend chief scott. at the end of last year he implemented reforms, creating a dedicated unit in the police department and increasing foot

reforms, we've seen 17% decrease this year alone, but as we talk about all the time, we're not resting on our laurells, it's still unacceptable what is happening, so we're moving forward. we're here in the stockton garage. this is a garage that is one of the most popular in the city. right next to the financial district, right next to union square, right next to places that people come to visit. last year, 2017, it was a hot spot for car break-ins. a high of 62 one month. but thank foss the reforms, we have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of car break-ins here in the stockton garage. specifically an 83% decrease in the amount of car break-ins here. so in january, we had 44

break-ins. in february, 12. in the month of march, 9. and knock on wood, this year, so far -- this month so far, we've had zero in the month of april. so if you think about that from a high watermark of 62 last year per month, to now zero so far in the month of april, we need to acknowledge, celebrate and respect this as the city of san francisco. and we need to think about moving forward and what we're going do do about it. we thank chief scott, dedicated foot patrol officer here in the garage, which i know we can't replicate everywhere, but we've installed cameras, done fencing around the infrastructure to reduce the loitering. a ton of software and hardware upgrades, entry kiosk, monitoring system. simple but effective hardware and software upgrades making a difference for the people that

park their cars here in the garage. it's with great excitement we're here to celebrate that. we're doing this in other garages, six throughout the city of san francisco. a garage that supervisor stefani represents, when i was a district 2 supervisor was the bane of our existence on pier street, now down 55% thanks to the efforts of the mta and the police department. i want to thank captain engler representing the area. we are doing it right and the sfmta and our city garages are doing it right. this is where we can lead by example. we can control this property. and we can focus on efforts that are going to work for car break-ins. so today, we are not only celebrating and honoring what we have accomplished so far, at stockton and these other six garages, but we're announcing

also today that all 22 city-owned garages, by the end of next year, we'll be implementing all of these reforms at all of our city-owned garages. car break-ins are epidemic, but don't have to be moving forward. just the other week, we launched the parks mark campaign, a number of announcements are coming in the next weeks and around street cleanliness and homelessness, but as it relates to car break-ins, what we're doing now is working and we're going to now put the pedal to the metal and make sure that every one of our city-owned garages republiclicates what we seen. we all want to see it replicate the success we've had here as well. thank you for coming here today. with that, we'll introduce the chief of police, bill scott.

>> thank you, mayor farrell. first let me say thanks to mayor farrell and supervisors peskin and stefani for their leadership. keeping the focus on the issue is important in terms of us moving the needle and turning the epidemic of car break-ins around. i'm going to talk about mr. ed riskin, head of mta, but today's approach, we know is the way to go. we have to be a more resilient city. we talk a lot about prevention, don't make yourself an easy target, but there are other things we can do to be more resilient and prevent the crimes from happening in the first place. the things that have been implemented here, the fencing installed, to stop unauthorized entry, the lighting and the surveillance cameras to discourage would-be thieves, this is a team effort.

and this is what collaboration brings to the table. again, go back to mayor farrell and his leadership and before him, mayor lee in order to force this issue, force a collaborative partnership that has led us to some success this year. we are working hard to continue the effort as the mayor said. this is going to be spread to all the city parking garages. although the deployment is part of that factor, we'll do what is necessary in terms of having the visibility and the presence to make sure that people know we're out here. that was part of our doubling of the foot beat. the people that are apt to victimize others need to see us, they need to see their police officers out here visible. i think that gives everybody not only a sense of security, but also it deters these crimes from happening in the first place. we know we can't have a police

officer at every corner every hour of the day, and that's why we need other measures, fencing, lighting, cameras to help us identify people that are apt to victimize others. so with this initiative, we believe that we will continue in the direction that we're going in terms of reducing these types of offenses and as the mayor said, we have about a 17% decrease year-to-date which is over a thousand less victims. i think that's something we can all be pleased with. but we still have a lot of work to do. i would like to introduce ed riskin, the head of mta. >> thank you, chief. good afternoon. we're happy to be able to be here. it may not be sexy stuff, but parking garages are an important part of the transportation system here in san francisco. we want people to be able to find parking and feel their car

is going to be safe when they leave it, whether it's on the street or off the street. the parking garages are ways for people to find parking, not spend time looking for parking on the street, and we want them to know when they leave their car in a public parking garage in san francisco that their car is safe. so we have been working on this in a number of different ways, partner with the police department, the leadership of chief scott has been critically important. a lot of the success that you heard the mayor and the chief talk about at this garage in particular has really been the presence of san francisco police department. and we work with them in districts around the city where we have our garages to try to focus their resources as strategically as we can, because as the chief says, we can't have a cop in every garage all the time. to that end, we're using old technology and new technology to make more sustainable

improvements in the garages, so that we need to -- so that we can really rely on the police only when we need them. the old technology as you heard, it's fencing, lighting, signage and we've seen some pretty good results already from some of those activities. and then there is the new technology. a number of years ago, doing an assessment of our garages, what we determined was that a lot of the technology in our garages was old and out of date, not just from security perspective, but operational and revenue collection. so we developed a program a number of years ago supported by mayor lee and board of supervisors and the mta board of directors, that culminated in a three-year project to modernize and upgrade all our garages. we're about a third of the way through this 3-year project and these improvements do include

things like high-definition cameras that hope us both monitor activity in realtime, but also help the police after an incident make positive identification of suspects so they can -- and particularly they can identify repeat offenders and really target their investigative resources appropriately. it includes more secure gates for folks getting in and out. communications equipment so that patrons can communicate with garage staff. a number of other improvements to make our garages safer and secure facilities. as you heard from the mayor, the initial results at the pier street garage which i used to hear about from mayor farrell back when he was supervisor farrell and supervisor stefani, it had been a problem area. you heard the results, 55% reduction since the new improvements were in place. this is success we hope to

replicate everywhere. we're not declaring victory here. you see a park smart sign, not a mission accomplished, because as the chief said there is more work to do, but we'll continue and complete these installations by 2020. we'll continue to coordinate with the police department and the d.a.'s office and are grateful for the strong leadership we have in our mayor and board of supervisors and the mta board of directors to ensure that our garages can be safer for people to park. thank you. >> thank you. and for your leadership. i would like to bring up two members of the board of supervisors who have been focused on the issue for a long time now, and have been leaders on this, supervisor peskin and supervisor skef stefani. >> thank you, mayor, chief scott, ed riskin, the working

men and women of the police department. i want to note a number of great cases that the cops have made in the last number of days, 11 arrests out of northern, central and southern stations, so thank you, captains, for that work. and then supervisor stefani and i are doing our part today by funding that $32.5 million which is to say that we're parking here and those parking validations, those parking costs go to pay that. we're always worried about the money. this has been extremely frustrating, not only as a supervisor, but somebody who had his car broken into on the street. and i cannot tell you how delighted i am that we are addressing it. and those numbers are extraordinary numbers. 83% drop in this garage in a few month's time is really something to celebrate. i was just across the street at my optometrist and she said they

have noted the immense change. so i heard about it from people on the street before i actually heard about it right here from the mayor. i want to thank you again and look forward to getting it to zero. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor peskin. last month at the budget committee, we approved the resolution of transferring this back to the sfmta and i raised questions about their greater public safety measures at this location and all the garages under their jurisdiction. i was motivated to do so not only on the terrible story of someone's dog thrown off the garage, sorry to bring that up, but it was devastating to many people and its owner. and the only way the police were able to identify the perpetrator was because of a private dashboard camera that captured the crime. but i was able to do so based on my own experience sitting in the

pier street garage and witnessing sophisticated criminals staking out cars while i tried to call it in. they laughed at me while i was on the phone with police. this is criminal tourism and it must stop. this is a garage in desperate need of help and i want to thank the sfmta for their attention to these issues. we've heard everything that has been done in the garage and after the installation of 12 cameras, new lighting, signage, the pier street garage saw a significant decline in break-ins. with a 55% reduction in six months after the upgrades. i cannot thank everybody enough. i hear from constituents every day they do not feel safe and we're responsible and accountable for the safety of our community and cannot allow opportunities for people to be victimized. i am encouraged by their progress we have seen here, due to the measures put in place through our partnership with the

mta. improving public safety and reducing car break-ins takes a multi-pronged approach and we have to use all of the tools available to us. i applaud the sfmta and the police department for working together to address this epidemic. this type of collaborative approach will combat future problems. i'd like to thank mayor farrell for his amazing leadership to make sure all departments are working together to make significant improvements in the area. as the numbers show, special attention and the presence of security enhancements actually do work. it is my priority to fight for these resources. we know that when captain joe engler of northern station assigned police officers to the palace of fine arts, a hot spot for auto break-ins, there were zero break-ins. we know what works outside the garages and inside them and we must invest in those resources to keep our communities safe. these initiatives are just the

beginning to tackling this crisis head on. last month, i called for a hearing to review the progress of safety measures in place at our city-owned parking lots and garages and that hearing will take place in june. this is yet another chance to learn about initiatives at these sites and to receive updates on what is working. i know today that we all agree that residents and visitors to san francisco should not be fearful of break-ins or their own personal safety in parking garages or lots and we must do everything we can to keep them safe. thank you, mayor farrell, chief scott, supervisor peskin, all those who worked to improve the safety in our garages. thank you very much. >> thank you, supervisor. that wraps up the press conference. we'll be available if you have follow-up questions afterwards.

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i want to thank everybody for joining me here today for this special announcement. we're all here today because we care about our home. we care about the city of san francisco. san francisco is a world class city. we have world class attractions. world class institutions. we have world class residents. and a world class civic leaders. but we have a world class problem right now. our streets are filthy. filled with debris, litter, human waste and drug paraphernalia. it's unacceptable. the status quo on our streets today is unacceptable. a child should not have to walk over a needle on their way to school in the morning. a business owner should never see garbage strewn across their store front in the mornings. this is not confined to one neighborhood or district, it's plaguing communities across the

entire city of san francisco and affecting residents and families in every part of our city. and we need to act as a city government. so that is why today, i'm introducing our city-wide and comprehensive street cleaning plan. a far ranging plan that seeks to address these challenges across the entire city of san francisco. over the next two years, i'm committing over $13 million in new funding that will make our city cleaner, safer, and healthier for all residents. and i am making clear today that this is a top priority for me. and i will work every day as mayor to see this plan through. these new investments will include 44 new neighborhood cleaning workers. which means every single supervisor -- and i want to thank supervisor safai for being here, supervisor kim for being here, who has started atlantic lot of the -- a lot of the

conversation inside city hall. they will be able to allocate where the street cleaners will go, because it is our neighborhood supervisors and their district supervisors that know their own neighborhoods. that know their own districts. they will target corridors that are most in need of this help. we're also going to have a dedicated cleanup team in the south of market district. the area where we have the most residents, visitors and people working in our city than any other neighborhood in san francisco. if you've taken a walk there lately, you will understand the need for street cleaning in that area. in addition, we're going to be extending our pit stop system. pit stops which are safe monitored public toilets, or proven model to reduce human waste in our industry. let's be clear, san francisco resume departments, our visitors, the people who work here should not be seeing human

waste on our streets. when people defecate and urinate on our streets, the city has to do something about it. we're increasing the pit stop hours at five of our existing pit stops. they're going to be added to high risk communities, where we see the most amount of human waste in the city. we want to make sure people have a dignified place to use the bathroom, in a dignified environment. an environment that will keep our city streets clean. we're also supporting these additional new staffing and operations with additional equipment. our two-year budget will include over $3 million for new equipment which includes some of these rival street cleaners that you see today. after we're done, there will be a demonstration of the new street cleaners if you would like to be here and stick around. these street cleaners make a difference in our neighborhoods,

they make a difference on our streets and that's what we want to do with the funding initiative. these are all great new investments and we're also pairing them with other initiatives. so we have a great fix-it team here in the city of san francisco, led by sandra. i want to thank her for being here today. there she is. [applause] these fix-it teams have been created for a specific reason, to respond to our neighborhood needs and respond quickly. each community in san francisco, each neighborhood in san francisco we know has its own issues. whether it's broken streetlights, graffiti, needle pickup. our fix-it team is pounding the pavement every day, addressing quality of life concerns in a quick and efficient manner. i know every single neighborhood that has seen a fix-it team has been overwhelmed with response and positive by the effect we're having in the neighborhoods.

i want to thank sandra who is here today for leading the team. she does an amazing job listening to our community and coming up with specific plans for every single neighborhood. because of her team success, we'll grow from 25 to 35 teams across the entire city of san francisco. and these new street cleaning investments where we see the fix-it team expanded will build upon the existing efforts we're leading on our streets today. earlier this week, we announced the creation of a new rapid response team specifically dedicated towards picking up our needles and syringes. they'll be canvassing hot spots, identified by residents, and they will address this health epidemic in our city. we have a needle epidemic and we're finally doing something about it. so together this is an ambitious effort. and i know i only have a few

months left as the mayor of this great city of san francisco, but i plan on sprinting to the finish. i know i'm surrounded by dedicated city officials, elected officials and committed people who want to see our city cleaned up and who are eager to carry out these initiatives. i want to thank mohammad, our department of public works director, and your entire team, many of which are behind us today. [applause] again, i want to thank supervisor safai, whose district we're in today, as well as supervisor kim, who has been pressing on these issues or some time. this is an issue that affects every single resident of san francisco. this will be a sprint to the finish. but i want to make sure that san francisco residents know that as mayor of this city, i am committed to make sure i leave our streets in a cleaner, safer environment than they've been

before. with that, i want to thank you all for coming and i'm going to bring up muhammad nuru, head of the department of public works. >> let me begin by thanking mayor farrell for the leadership who has shown in providing some of the resources that we need to clean up all the things that the mayor said. our city is a beautiful city and we have some areas, challenges we're faced with every day. these resources will definitely go towards helping change some of those concerns that we have. those 44 sweepers that will be in the various neighborhoods in san francisco, i will work with the various supervisors and they'll tell us some of the areas they're concerned about. those sweepers will be block sweepers. many cities all over the world, paris, london, shanghai, it's this model they have used,

having someone on the block that takes care of several blocks and that person makes sure it's clean, free from graffiti, but more importantly build a relationship with the people on the blocks so there is communication and dialogue and then we're able to get that back to the department level and bring our partners in to respond. i know this will make a difference, because it's on the block, block by block, we'll take our city back. the additional hours to the pit stops will also make a huge difference. when we started this program, since two years, 2014, we have seen a huge increase in the number of flushes. so increasing hours will definitely make more bathrooms available to people who want to use them. it's for everybody, not just the homeless or just a certain group of people, all people can use them, they're staffed, clean and they're a good place. when you want to go, there is a

new place for you. five new locations also. we will look for those locations all around the city and that will make a difference. our fix-it teams, we're really excited about the work that they do. they're the arm that really gets into the neighborhood and gets to hear the concerns that people have about the city and they work with all the city departments to address those problems. so it's not just the quality of streets, or the trees, it's also the parking signs, the crosswalks. it's all the things that affect the quality of life. all these programs, in addition to the funding for new equipment will help us. right now, because of all of the demands, we're getting hundreds and hundreds of calls every day and we're double and trip-shifting our steam cleaners and a lot of our equipmentment with this funding we'll be able to buy more equipment and focus in the many hot spots in the areas that we get calls. and i'm really excited about that. i want to thank the supervisors

for their leadership, but most importantly mayor farrell has taken a step in the right direction for this city and i'm proud to lead the department of public works, because we're ready to do what san francisco expects from us from public works. thank you. [applause] thank you. welcome to district 11, i'm supervisor safai. i want to start by saying that this is a real proposal. this is a real solution. i happen to have started my career in the department of public works working for muhammad and we started ambassador program under mayor newsom. we gave people an opportunity to work and to focus on areas of the city that needed the most focus for cleaning up. it's not just about trash on the street, it's about working with businesses, working with residents to educate them on their responsibilities.

people think that it's just the city's responsibility to clean the streets. it is the city's responsibility and i want to thank mayor farrell for the massive commitment in the right direction. 44 people will make a difference in what we see. but they will also be about educating people. in the past year i've worked with director nuru and our former mayor lee. we redoubled our efforts from silver to geneva, we've increased the amount of people cleaning on our streets, but i get calls daily about illegal dumping. i get calls daily about how the trash has increased all over our city. and particularly in my district, obviously because that's the calls i get the most. but the thing i like most about this proposal and i'll end with this, this is a balanced proposal. this is spreading out resources all over the city, because trash is not just located and the frustration and filthy streets are not just located in one part

of san francisco. it's all of san francisco that is feeling this frustration. so thank you to mayor farrell, thank you to director nuru and sandra and the fix-it team, they have made a difference, but this money, street sweepers and pit stops will make a difference and every neighborhood should benefit, so thank you very much, mayor farrell. i'm going to bring up a neighborhood resident, linda, she's going to talk about things from the neighborhood perspective. >> thank you, supervisor. thank you, mayor farrell. and supervisor kim. and all the other city officials who have worked so hard to make street cleaning and our neighborhoods a priority for this type of life experience. i am just one resident, but i'll tell you, there are dozens and

dozens of folks like me who want to see our communities cleanedup and want to pitch in. and want to know what we can do to help. i agree, this is a very balanced proposal and this shows what we can do when we put our heads together. we've talked for years in our neighborhood about anti-littering campaigns through the schools and with the kids. and in our parks. pack it in, pack it out, leave no trace. those kinds of things can work. and those campaigns, but with the extra money and the extra feet behind that, that is going to make it even better. so as a 20-year resident of this neighborhood who loves our community and wants to see it thrive as we know it can, we need this assistance and i appreciate everyone who is here to bring this together. thank you so much. [applause] >> i also just want to thank mayor farrell for taking a

leadership role in ensuring that we'll have the investments that are needed in all of our neighborhoods in san francisco. we know that street cleaning has become an issue and we see it in the e-mails we get in our office, but also when we walk in our own neighborhoods. but the data showings it as well. in 2015, we had roughly 40,000 additional calls for services. and two years later, that number has doubled to close to 80,000. so we know that we're seeing a need for additional street cleaners. so i'm so excited about the 44 new sweepers that we'll have on the block that will be manually cleaning our busiest corridors. i'm very excited about the machines and the performance that we'll be getting after the press conference. but finally, i'm incredibly excited about the expansion of the pit stop stop. i want to thank mayor farrell for investing the money. we have 18 pit stops currently throughout the city and they started in the tenderloin

neighborhood. i was proud to lead that with director nuru and it has been a tremendous success. in every block, we've put one in, we've had reduction of cleaning request, which led us to save water, which is a precious commodity here in the state of california and san francisco. so thank you again to everybody. i want to thank all the men and women at public works. they do the hard job of picking up the trash, the litter, the needles and to sandra, who personally visits our businesses and our residents on a daily basis and responds to a lot of very difficult complaints. i just want to thank you for your leadership and thank all of the members of your team. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor safai, linda, muhammad, the entire team, everyone helping with the effort, this press conference is over. we are going to a demonstration of the ravo machine, i don't

know if muhammad is driving it, we'll see, but i'll stick around for questions after as well. thanks, everyone. hello, welcome to public works tv. >> today, we're hanging with mr.

clean. let's take a look back at our week. >> we started the week celebrating earth day by greening and cleaning the castro glen park and other district 8 neighborhoods at our monthly community clean team volunteer work day. we also celebrated the dedication of sisterhood garden with members of the local community. hey, happy public works week. we had open houses at our local schools, engineering offices and operation yard. we joined together to celebrate the good work our organization does throughout the year to take care of our great city. >> so, hello, and welcome to public works tv. this week, we are celebrating public works week. this week is a special for public works, because not only do we open our doors out to the greater community and to various

schools, but also within the public works family. >> happy public works, everyone. i'm sean thomas and city engineer for public works. if you go back to my 8th grade yearbook, it says what do you want to be, i said a civil engineer. i think much of that goes back to intense desire to see how things work, to take things apart, to rebuild them. and kind of be involved in that sort of thing. i've always enjoyed trying to solve a problem. and i find that is really what we end up doing here at public works. that's what i think engineers are able to do for the people around them. and it's what makes this job so gratifying.

>> hi, i'm edgar lopez, city architect, happy public works week. since i was a kid, i enjoyed playing with toys, sketching, brought buildings, houses. we have a large group of architects that are engaged in designing spaces to bring people together, from remodeling neighborhood pools, clinics, all kinds of fun projects. each one of them is passionate about what they do. they come to work with ideas, they want to help people. they want to find solutions. it's a great place to be and a great thing to do for our city. >> happy public works week. my name is julia dawson i'm the deputy director of finance for public works. i knew i wanted to be in public service, but i didn't think i

wanted to be in finance, administration or any of those things. in graduate school, i ended up being a natural in the budget and finance classes and so, i kind of drifted that way. and of course, people always say i'm the money lady. and they need money to do what they need to do. in government, i think that's especially true because there is a lot of controls. we spend the public's money and it's important we spend it in the right way. my team, i want to thank them, because i can't do my work without them. and they do a wonderful job and i'm really proud of them. hi, everybody. happy public works week. i'm larry stringer, deputy director of operations for public works. i started out 38 years ago as a

landscape worker. i spent my first two months pulling weeds and didn't know if this was the job for me, but over time, i spent time and learned a lot of other things. you know, from landscape maintenance to tree removal. roadway maintenance, paving, operati operating equipment. and found out this wasn't just a job, but it was going to turn into a career and it did. operations happens to be probably the most visible part of public works because staff is always out on the street. they're always interacting with the public. and it's very noticeable what we do. it's good to take time out to recognize all the hard work that we all do every day. and just to say that we really appreciate the effort and work they put in every single day, being dedicated to making san francisco a beautiful and also a better place.

>> from the bottom of my heart, i really want to thank you for doing a great job for all the people of san francisco. we're dynamic organization. and nothing happens in the city without touching a public worker. this is all about celebrating public works week and i'm happy to be here and be part of the festivities. >> hope you've enjoyed this episode. >> be sure to follow us on social media to stay in the know with us. >> until next time, thanks for watching public works tv! >> thanks for being here today. i want to thank all the members of the city family behind us as well and thanks to barbara garcia, head of the department

of public health. our needle and syringe issue has become an epidemic on our streets. it's something i heard about for a long time before becoming the mayor and now as the mayor of city and county of san francisco it's one of the things i hear about the most. people are fed up with the conditions of our streets, as am i. today, we're announcing in partnership with the san francisco aids foundation, we're creating a team toward needle and syringe pickup. ten individuals sole job and responsibility will be to pick up the needles and syringes the city. and make a difference on the streets. that status quo on the streets today is unacceptable and we're not going to stand for it and do everything we can to combat

that. we have great leadership and we have people working on this issue in our city government, but it's not having the impact we need today, so we're creating this new initiative. and i will tell you, it is one of the things again i hear about the most as mayor of the city of san francisco and we're going to move forward with the program. so these individuals, this new team will be doing two things. one they will be proactive. going to known hot spots are needles are known throughout the city and county of san francisco, different neighborhoods, different spots that are very well known. we just did a needle pick up down here in the alley, collected needles in the box. but also, it's so important as mayor of the city we are responsive to our residents. so when people call three one one based on the data we receive, we'll have people that can respond to the requests and