comes through d.o.r. or any of our vendors and agencies that we happen to work with. just want to quickly let you know that we can is assist with that in case you need that. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is joyce. i'm active with senior disability action and among other things. i was sitting back there and i'm also signed up with reserve but i haven't been assigned a job through them yet. with my experience this past two months, i had -- what do you call, a garage sale with my neighbor across the street three doors down. and i'm thinking, i went online yesterday and there's a huge need for a senior housing and i'm thinking, hey, i can help with homes staging, which is you

decorate the house. actually i pushed a heavy cabinet and i'm thinking a job for seniors and not too shabby for 70-year-old. even if i can't lift stuff, there's a technique they say, i can decorate with paintings and set up a dining table and estate sale. there are so many disabilities we can do. i'm thinking please fund us. there's so many possibilities. senior housing and i can help with that. >> thank you. >> hello, my name is dianne cannes and i consult with community living campaign and other national and local active aging programs. and i just want to emphasize a couple of things i heard today, notely, from the oewd representative that their work is focused on specific and

unique challenges facing the city with respect to employment. hopefully you heard that person and others talk about the issues of confidence or almost too much training to find work. i think that probably rises to the level of a specific and unique challenge. programs like reserve, which i work with marie to help start, are critically important. they are drops in the bucket. the narrative about ageism and the possibilities of older adults to contribute has to be extended to the private sec to and the very sector oriented needs to be integrated with a specific and unique challenge. and the opportunities of older adults. so if there's a way to connect the dots here, that would be terrific. thank you. >> thank you. are there any other individuals who would like to speak in public comment? seeing none. public comment is closed.

>> i just wanted to make some comments first thanking supervisor ye for bringing this hearing forward and thank you for your incredible work. i've been choking back tears half the time through this hearing because thinking of my father during this process. he is almost 80 and worked well into his 70s while he was physically able. and just it was out of need. it was out of financial need. how much discrimination he faced trying to stay in the workforce. if it wasn't for my mother's pension, as schoolteacher, they would be living with me. there's no question in my mind. social security is not enough and our time for people to survive on that if it's your only source of income. and so, i just want top express

my incredible support for these programs and to say that reserve is cutting edge and we should be funding it to make sure that wait list of applicants is met. i'm very supportive of that ask and request. it's such a benefit, not only to the businesses and organizations where seniors and people with disabilities are placed but to those people themselves. it's such a win-win situation. it seems like a no-brainer but i know it's something that we're fighting hard for. so i just want to express my appreciation and support for the final program and to really just thank you all for your tremendous advocacy and support. >> thank you. >> well, i was going to say something. you can say something and you

close it out. frankly i was just going to express my gratitude to you for holding this hearing. i do want to thank all of the people from the various agencies and especially the public that came and commented today. as i said, this issue of people with disability and access to the workforce. i want to give a shout out to positive resources center which has been a leader getting people into the workforce. it's been an issue we have been watching for over 20 years and so i'm just grateful for the attention that's being brought on this today. >> thank you. thank you colleagues for being so patient for these two long items i had on the agenda today. i felt it was really important. like said, my office is going to continue meeting with the department folks and hopefully bring in other people to see how we can move forward. i felt it was important we

needed to have a hearing to shine some light on this for the public to hearing and i think we did the presenters today, they did a great job in really highlighting what the needs are. basically, we're seeing that there are some efforts being made to address these issues but i'm -- even with the resources we have, what we think exists with data, it's not enough. number one. number two, i don't think it's even that accurate to reflect what the real needs are. i think we're underestimating the real needs. we're going to move forward and i think all the departments are underring that's a concern, how do we get better data on this issue. because as she was mentioning in

her presentation in opening it up, the number of people that just gave up are really hard to figure it out and i know, talking to quite a few seniors, they seem to be in that category where they're not in any data set. they would love to be able to feel confident if they look they can find something. i think the funding piece is really something crucial. i'm hoping that in the mayor's budget, it's going to be reflective of some of these needs. i'm hoping the department folks can bring it back to the mayor so say look, there was a hearing. it's real obvious that these type of services are sorely under funded and something i hope support in the budget as we move forward. i certainly will -- you can

count on me to look at this issue as one of the priorities in the budget. i can't thank you enough for coming in and sharing your stories. i am hoping that some of my colleagues here maybe and other colleagues on the board of supervisors would join in my effort to promote this issue and highlight it and give it the resources that it really needs. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> how would you like to -- >> we can close this item. >> without objection this file is closed. mr. clerk, do we have any other business before the committee. >> there's no further business. >> there's no further business. >> the committee is adjourned.

- working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world- class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast. - the city's information technology professionals work on revolutionary projects,

like providing free wifi to residents and visitors, developing new programs to keep sfo humming, and ensuring patient safety at san francisco general. our it professionals make government accessible through award-winning mobile apps, and support vital infrastructure projects like the hetch hetchy regional water system. - our employees enjoy competitive salaries, as well as generous benefits programs. but most importantly, working for the city and county of san francisco gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas, energy, and commitment to shape the city's future. - thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco. >> hi today we have a special

edition of building san francisco, stay safe, what we are going to be talking about san francisco's earth quakes, what you can do before an earthquake in your home, to be ready and after an earthquake to make sure that you are comfortable staying at home, while the city recovers. ♪ >> the next episode of stay safe, we have alicia johnson from san francisco's department of emergency management. hi, alicia thanks to coming >> it is a pleasure to be here with you. >> i wonder if you could tell us what you think people can do to get ready for what we know is a coming earthquake in san francisco. >> well, one of the most things that people can do is to make sure that you have a plan to communicate with people who live both in and out of state. having an out of state contact, to call, text or post on your social network is really important and being able to know how you are going to

communicate with your friends, and family who live near you, where you might meet them if your home is uninhab hitable. >> how long do you think that it will be before things are restored to normal in san francisco. >> it depends on the severity of the earthquake, we say to provide for 72 hours tha, is three days, and it helps to know that you might be without services for up to a week or more, depending on how heavy the shaking is and how many after shocks we have. >> what kind of neighborhood and community involvement might you want to have before an earthquake to make sure that you are going to able to have the support that you need. >> it is important to have a good relationship with your neighbors and your community. go to those community events, shop at local businesses, have a reciprocal relationship with them so that you know how to take care of yourself and who you can rely on and who can take care of you. it is important to have a

battery-operated radio in your home so that you can keep track of what is happening in the community around and how you can communicate with other people. >> one of the things that seems important is to have access to your important documents. >> yes, it is important to have copies of those and also stored them remotely. so a title to a home, a passport, a driver's license, any type of medical records that you need need, back those up or put them on a remote drive or store them on the cloud, the same is true with any vital information on your computer. back that up and have that on a cloud in case your hard drive does not work any more. >> in your home you should be prepared as well. >> absolutely. >> let's take a look at the kinds of things that you might want to have in your home. >> we have no water, what are we going to do about water? >> it is important for have extra water in your house, you want to have bottled water or a five gallon container of water able to use on a regular basis,

both for bathing and cooking as well as for drinking. >> we have this big container and also in people's homes they have a hot water heater. >> absolutely, if you clean your hot water heater out regularly you can use that for showering, drinking and bathing as well >> what other things do people need to have aren't their home. >> it is important to have extra every day items buy a couple extra cans of can food that you can eat without any preparation. >> here is a giant can of green giant canned corn. and this, a manual can opener, your electric can opener will not be working not only to have one but to know where to find it in your kitchen. >> yes. >> so in addition to canned goods, we are going to have fresh food and you have to preserve that and i know that we have an ice chest. >> having an ice chest on hand is really important because your refrigerator will not be

working right away. it is important to have somebody else that can store cold foods so something that you might be able to take with you if you have to leave your home. >> and here, this is my very own personal emergency supply box for my house. >> i hope that you have an alternative one at home. >> oh, i forgot. >> and in this is really important, you should have flashlights that have batteries, fresh batteries or hand crank flashlight. >> i have them right here. >> good. excellent. that is great. additionally, you are going to want to have candles a whistle, possibly a compass as well. markers if you want to label things if you need to, to people that you are safe in your home or that you have left your home. >> i am okay and i will meet you at... >> exactly. exactly. water proof matches are a great thing to have as well. >> we have matches here. and my spare glasses. >> and your spare glasses.

>> if you have medication, you should keep it with you or have access to it. if it needs to be refrigerated make sure that it is in your ice box. >> inside, just to point out for you, we have spare batteries. >> very important. >> we have a little first aid kit. >> and lots of different kinds of batteries. and another spare flashlight. >> so, alicia what else can we do to prepare our homes for an earthquake so we don't have damage? >> one of the most important things that you can do is to secure your valuable and breakable items. make sure that your tv is strapped down to your entertainment cabinet or wall so it does not move. also important is to make sure that your book case is secure to the wall so that it does not fall over and your valuable and breakables do not break on the ground. becoming prepared is not that difficult. taking care of your home, making sure that you have a few extra every-day items on hand helps to make the difference. >> that contributes

dramatically to the way that the city as a whole can recover. >> absolutely. >> if you are able to control your own environment and house and recovery and your neighbors are doing the same the city as a whole will be a more resilient city. >> we are all proud of living in san francisco and being prepared helps us stay here. >> so, thank you so much for joining us today, alicia, i appreciate it. >> absolutely, it is my pleasure. >> and thank you for joining us >> and thank you for joining us on another edition of building

- working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world-class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast.

- our 28,000 city and county employees play an important role in making san francisco what it is today. - we provide residents and visitors with a wide array of services, such as improving city streets and parks, keeping communities safe, and driving buses and cable cars. - our employees enjoy competitive salaries, as well as generous benefits programs. but most importantly, working for the city and county of san francisco gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas, energy, and commitment to shape the city's future. - thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco. ♪ >> supervisor jeff sheehy and i represent district eight, the

castro, diamond heights. ♪ ♪ for me i think district eight is different than other districts because of the castro, right? that is really the birth place of lgbtq civil rights movement in san francisco. it's historic for that reason. it's a great district because it's very diverse. you have booming night life in the castro, a lot of families, we have an amazing array of parks, rock climbing wall in glen canyon is super cool. it was the first facility with a rock climbing wall. the book stores are treasures, charlie's corner is unique. >> charlie's corner is a

children's book store but so much more, community space where care takers and children come together over storytelling, books, it's a gathering center. i am charlotte and we are at charlie's corner on the corner of castro and 24th. the type of books we carry at charlie's corner range from prenatal to young adult, 18. we have musical books, art books, all built around children of course. history, nonfiction, we have a wonderful picture book section. >> i love going to charlie's corner, number one, because you can find a whole range of books. my kid loves to read books. >> i always envisioned a space like this, surrounded by children's books and

storytelling. we offer storytelling four times a day. we do curate well, we do a lot of time reading, researching, beyond the story time, it's going back to picking out a book, helping someone find the perfect book, unwrapping it and sending it off. there are people from all over the world and that's what i find so exciting. you see that every day in our story times. it's literally a melting pot. >> more and more families come into the district, whether it's the castro, strollers every where in the valley and tons and tons of kids in glen park now, with the canyon and a great library. >> i describe it as this village, i tell people i live in a town but i work in a village.

>> one thing i really think is great about this district, it's a safe district, it's a clean district, it's great for kids, it's great for families and has a bit of wild life in it, too. >> i look forward to watching these kids in this neighborhood grow up and new kids come in and meeting new people from all over the world because that's what we're all about. ♪ ♪ - >> tenderloin is unique neighborhood where geographically place in downtown san francisco and on every street corner have liquor store in the corner it stores pretty much every single block has a liquor store but there are impoverishes grocery stores i'm the co-coordinated of the

healthy corner store collaboration close to 35 hundred residents 4 thousand are children the medium is about $23,000 a year so a low income neighborhood many new immigrants and many people on fixed incomes residents have it travel outside of their neighborhood to assess fruits and vegetables it can be come senator for seniors and hard to travel get on a bus to get an apple or a pear or like tomatoes to fit into their meals my my name is ryan the co-coordinate for the tenderloin healthy store he coalition we work in the neighborhood trying

to support small businesses and improving access to healthy produce in the tenderloin that is one of the most neighborhoods that didn't have access to a full service grocery store and we california together out of the meeting held in 2012 through the major development center the survey with the corners stores many stores do have access and some are bad quality and an overwhelming support from community members wanting to utilities the service spas we decided to work with the small businesses as their role within the community and bringing more fresh produce produce cerebrothe neighborhood their compassionate about creating a healthy environment when we get into the work they rise up to leadership. >> the different stores and

assessment and trying to get them to understand the value of having healthy foods at a reasonable price you can offer people fruits and vegetables and healthy produce they can't afford it not going to be able to allow it so that's why i want to get involved and we just make sure that there are alternatives to people can come into a store and not just see cookies and candies and potting chips and that kind of thing hi, i'm cindy the director of the a preif you believe program it is so important about healthy retail in the low income community is how it brings that health and hope to the communities i worked in the tenderloin for 20 years the difference you walk

out the door and there is a bright new list of fresh fruits and vegetables some place you know is safe and welcoming it makes. >> huge difference to the whole environment of the community what so important about retail environments in those neighborhoods it that sense of dignity and community safe way. >> this is why it is important for the neighborhood we have families that needs healthy have a lot of families that live up here most of them fruits and vegetables so that's good as far been doing good. >> now that i had this this is really great for me, i, go and

get fresh fruits and vegetables it is healthy being a diabetic you're not supposed to get carbons but getting extra food a all carbons not eating a lot of vegetables was bringing up my whether or not pressure once i got on the program everybody o everything i lost weight and my blood pressure came down helped in so many different ways the most important piece to me when we start seeing the business owners engagement and their participation in the program but how proud to speak that is the most moving piece of

this program yes economic and social benefits and so forth but the personal pride business owners talk about in the program is interesting and regarding starting to understand how they're part of the larger fabric of the community and this is just not the corner store they have influence over their community. >> it is an owner of this in the department of interior i see the great impact usually that is like people having especially with a small family think liquor store sells alcohol traditional alcohol but when they see this their vision is changed it is a small grocery store for them so they more options not just

beer and wine but healthy options good for the business and good for the community i wish to have more>> i want to thank everyone being here today as we celebrate the individuals that i just had a chance to meet here right behind us. and today is really an amazing day for the city of san francisco. we're showing that once again our city employees, our residents, but our city employees are stepping up to the task. and want to welcome, i know there are 14 individuals that came from our department of public health that went to puerto rico to help the victims of hurricane maria and really dedicated their time and effort to helping those that are in

need. as the city of san francisco, these are the values that we embrace as a city. we've had our own incidents, whether it's earthquake in particular, where we're the beneficiaries of other cities and jurisdictions coming to our help and participating in the rescue efforts here in the city of san francisco. and now we're paying it forward and replicating it in kind. i want to thank all of you personally for representing the city the way that you did. the doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, they are representing our city on the international stage and showing what our city is all about. it's an honor to be here to recognize them for their efforts, for their volunteerism, and really, barbara, to thank you, because i think this is about the testimony of the department that you have created as well. and that you are supporting. we're so lucky to have barbara garcia running our department of health here in san francisco and

the values that we are part of our dna here in san francisco, that we own as a city government, as city employees, are represented here in your department. i'm going to turn it over to you, but as mayor of the city of san francisco, i am so proud today to be here to recognize these individuals. i know we have certificates of honor. i was able to do this the other day, but we have a unique thing called the heart of the city pins, that we're going to give each of these individuals, that did the heroic work in puerto rico. i want to say thank you to each and every one of you for what you did and know how proud we are as a city, but as mayor, proud you represented us so well. congratulations. [applause] we'll give them their gift in a minute, but i want to turn it over to barbara garcia who runs our department of health. [applause]

>> thank you, good morning. and thank you, mr. mayor. we should be proud of all our staff and we're really proud of the support that the city has given our staff to be able to go to puerto rico. you know, we depend on the electricity and water every day. and the people in puerto rico still cannot depend on these fundamental services. the impact of hurricane maria had a detrimental effect on the people and the medical assistance in puerto rico. this is one of the main reasons we sent our 14-member health team to provide support to one of the community clinic organizations. in the northwestern part of puerto rico. the response to emergencies is one of the core responsibilities of any health department and san francisco health department has had decades of experience, so we felt obligated to assist the puerto rican people and their communities medical providers.

you'll hear more from the staff, they supported the clinical staff and continued to provide care to thousands, the clinics in puerto rico. our staff crossed rivers and climbed mountains with local clinic staff to provide medical and psychological support in people's homes. we want to continue to support these clinics and we encourage catastrophens to help us. -- san franciscans to help us. we set up a fund at our public health foundation and all the dollars go to the clinics to continue their efforts. i'm so proud today. and i had my own experience of running a community clinic in a middle of a disaster. i know how important it is to get the support we provided to these clinics, so i want to ask the staff to come up and talk about their experience. the first one is ramona. she'll give opening remarks. [applause] >> hello, everyone. my name is ramona, i'm

registered further at the family health center. i work in the complex care management team at zuckerberg general hospital. i would like to thank everyone who had a hand in putting this together. this was a wonderful medical relief mission. and i speak for everyone when i say this was truly an amazing experience, we feel so blessed to work the staff. the community offers primary care and home care services to patients at risk in the surrounding area. and it's truly serving its community in a time of need. i'm hopeful that the relationships we made there will continue to grow. our time in puerto rico was spent working alongside our brothers and sisters, providing care to patients in their homes. these home visits were in remote mountain areas. our team of nurses, doctors, mental health professionals, pharmacists, outreach team and community leaders would travel

up to two hours every morning along hazardous roads, trying to outreach these vulnerable residents. it's been 217 days since hurricane maria hit. and the people we visit still have no electricity. some no water. and many still have the blue temporary tarps as roofs. these people are still struggling. what i found especially tragic, in these remote areas, many of the patients were elderly. as a result, many of these seniors are taking care of their geriatric parents. from a nursing perspective, patients in need of skin care, wound care, a lot of foot care, nail-trimming, reconciliation. much needed teaching and education around chronic disease management, these were some of the prevalent diseases.

these diseases are made much worse by the stress, anxiety and fear related to this hurricane. we visited a gentleman in his 70s dealing with the stress of the hurricane maria aftermath, no electricity, his hypertension and diabetes and he's the primary caregiver for his mother in her 90s. upon entering the home, our physician recognized that his elderly mother was not well. she had the signs and symptoms of sepsis, it's complicated because of delayed medical attention. we jumped into action, recognizing the signs of this complicated infection and the possible risk of death. the team facilitated medical attention and intervention. everyone working together to improve the outcome of this family. this is just one of many of the success stories we brought back with us. the most healing intervention we

provided was our presence, our time. we provided a sense of humanity, it reminded us them that puerto rico has not been forgotten, seven months after hurricane maria, we still care and wanted to help. puerto rico. [applause] >> good morning. so i'm ricardo, i work for comprehensive crisis services here at the department of public health and feel fortunate to assist in the disaster relief as a senior psychologist. one of the things that happens is that you have the honor of hearing people's pain. you have the honor of

maintaining the confidentiality of what people are suffering. yet in a disaster there is no confidentiality, everybody knows everything. one of the things that happened, this team, none of us really know each other, some of us colleagues, some didn't know each other as well. we blended seamlessly. and became a topnotch primary care clinic on the road that included behavioral health and we found some very chronic conditions. a lot of anxiety. a lot of depression that existed before the hurricane, but exacerbated because of the lack of water, lack of electricity. one of the behavioral health interventions was to get a generator started. a woman could not pull the generator. that is the only way to get

electricity. she's by herself. lost her husband 11 years ago. depressed by herself. children don't visit and there was nobody there to pull her generator. so two of us did. a younger guy than me, he was able to pull it, make it happen. [laughter] so that was our behavioral intervention for her, but we were left with lots of different thoughts about follow-up. one of the beautiful things, the agency responsible for that community took our recommendations and will follow-up, so hopefully this woman will do care. i was in the middle of doing a panic attack treatment when they say, sorry, we got to hospitalize your mom. so he needed medical attention. he got treated for that.

and the mother, yeah, she was really in grave situation. and had this agency not been there, this team, or the other team that was serving them, a number of those people might have died because they just really needed that attention. so i think, i want to support this effort and any other further efforts to continue to do that. we do that at crisis. we respond to disasters, we do the fires up north. i got deployed to katrina and rita and that's the kind of think we do in the city and county of san francisco and we're able to do it. the fact that we're able to spare the staff helped them and gave us the psychological boost. they taught us a great deal on how to be humble, responsive, responsible, ethical. and i'm glad that we in the city

and county of san francisco were able to do that. thank you so much. [applause] >> i want to introduce dr. hammer, i asked her to find a group, identify the group and to lead the group. i'm really proud she did that and she did that with so much pride and also i think, i'm really proud of the work and her leadership. doctor? [applause] >> thank you. thank you for sharing your stories. and to the other members of our amazing team for your service to the department of public health and the people of puerto rico. and sincere gratitude to the mayor and director garcia and everyone at dph for giving us the opportunity to represent the city and county of san francisco on this important mission. our team spent seven days in puerto rico, working alongside

colleagues, a group of four federally qualified health centers based in the northwest part of the island. they're sister clinics to us in many ways. the clinics in san francisco are federally qualified health centers with a mission to serve the most vulnerable members of the community. we each came back from our time with so many stories and images. houses and cars washed down mountainsides, broken bridges and roads. dark living rooms, empty fish tanks. but i think and hope that our most lasting memories are the incredible resilience and sense of hope we encountered. speaking for the clinicians, this mission was a natural extension of our mission in the dph. each of us is called to service. and to a person, we were deeply

honored to have the honor to serve in puerto rico. we rode vans deep into the forest, where we stopped in tiny communities and attended to people in their homes. all of us were left of a renewed connection of what brought us to the healing profession in the first place. our ambassador of hope, as i like to think of them, were the puerto rican partners at csm. they are health care professionals working tirelessly since the hurricane seven months ago to do anything in their power to help their community. ever since the storm passed, their teams have traveled every day to find people in need and bring them whatever they can. food, water, medicine, generators, or just a healing presence. we feel honored to work alongside them. we learned from their example. many people have asked us what they can do to support puerto rico's recovery effort? first and foremost, we should

remember puerto rico and visit there. it's alive, but suffering, and definitely recovering. it's a beautiful and great place to live and work. also, we encourage san franciscans who want to support the relief effort to donate to the clinics we worked with on our trip. you can do that through the san francisco public health foundation. we handed out this flyer. the public health foundation has set up an account to support the clinics and the outreach efforts. please take one of the flyers with you in you want -- if you want to get information how to donate. one of the most enduring memory from our time in puerto rico is families welcoming us into their home, so grateful for the care, medicine, water and food we provided. thank you for coming, these beautiful elders would say to us as they gave us coffee. thank you for not forgetting us. and they expressed their

gratitude not just to us, but the people of san francisco. it was a great honor to represent the department and the people of san francisco. it's also an honor for us to bring back a certificate of honor from the executive director of csm to present to mayor farrell and gift to present to director garcia. [applause] >> this is a certificate of recognition dedicated to the honorable mark farrell, for your initiative of sending aid with health professionals from the city of san francisco to assist those affected by hurricane maria in puerto rico. thanks for your support. it is signed by the executive director of csm. thank you. [applause]

beautiful neck and we bring a gift for director garcia. we acknowledge and appreciated your support everywhere we went when we were in puerto rico. you were the spark that made this happen, so thank you so much for giving us this opportunity and a necklace for you from csm. [applause] ellen davis. [applause]

ricardo. [applause] richard santana. [applause] ann daleman. [applause]

ramona. [applause] steven delgado. [applause] vita mullins. [applause]

jody scottniss. [applause] kenneth pilon. [applause] jesus pestano. [applause] last but not least, halle hammer. [applause]

we're going to do a picture, but how about one more round of applause for everyone here? [applause] i see that vivian is here. and she was our connection to puerto rico. and so i really want to thank her, she also worked for the health center in california. thank you, vivian. [applause]

and this ends the program.

>> we came to seven straight about 10 years ago. -- 7th street about 10 years ago. the environment is huge. it is stronger than willpower. surrounding yourself with artists, being in a culture where artists are driving, and where a huge amount of them is a healthy environment.

>> you are making it safer. push, push. that is better. when i start thinking, i see it actually -- sometimes, i do not see it, but when i do, it is usually from the inside out. it is like watching something being spawned. you go in, and you begin to work, excavate, play with the dancers, and then things began to emerge. you may have a plan that this is what i want to create. here are the ideas i want to play with, but then, you go into the room, and there maybe some fertile ideas that are becoming manifest that are more interesting than the idea you had initially set out to plan. so there has to be this openness for spontaneity. also, a sense that regardless of the deadline, that you have tons

of time so the you can keep your creativity alive and not cut it off and just go into old habits. it is a lot like listening. really listening to watch what is going to emerge. i like this thing where you put your foot on his back. let's keep it. were your mind is is how you build your life. if you put it in steel or in failure, it works. that works. it is a commitment. for most artists, it is a vacation and a life that they have committed themselves to. there is this notion that artists continue to do their work because of some kind of the external financial support. if that was taken away, artists

would still do their art. it is not like there is a prerequisite for these things to happen or i will not do it. how could that be? it is the relationship that you have committed to. it is the vocation. no matter how difficult it gets, you are going to need to produce your art. whether it is a large scale or very small scale. the need to create is going to happen, and you are going to have to fulfill it because that is your life.