[laughter] >> get in there. >> mayor farrell: all right. there we go. [cheers and applause]

>> mayor farrell: let us get started here. first of all, i want to welcome everyone to city hall to kick off san francisco's are judy -- lgbtq pride 2018. let's give a round of applause, everyone. [cheers and applause] >> mayor farrell: i want to thank, first of all, the incredible people that made this happen here today. not only outside of city hall, but thank you to the volunteers who are making this month exactly what it is for the city of san francisco. special thanks to our own san francisco pride team and i want to acknowledge teddy witherington who is scheduled to be here. teddy, if you are here, or he will be here soon enough. i want to acknowledge him as well for being here. i want to acknowledge, there are a number of people up here as well. acknowledge the elected officials, alice randolph from art city officials board, carmen two, our assessor recorder, the

woman of the hour, for sure. [cheers and applause] clair farley from our office of transgender services. [applause] london breed, our president of the board of supervisors. our treasured tax collector and our share of. [applause] so today, in san francisco, and throughout the month, we honour both individuals that have made a significant difference in the past that are doing it now in the present and will in the future, for our lgbtq community. we also acknowledge all the organizations that work with our community of san francisco on lgbtq issues that make san francisco who we are as a city. you know, as civil rights are under attack throughout our country, it is so important that

san francisco stands tall above every other place in america. that we, as a city, recommit ourselves to reject the ideologies of bigotry and hatred that come out of the trump administration and others throughout our country, throughout the world, at times. san francisco needs to remain a beacon of hope for everybody. i am proud to be the mayor at the city and county of san francisco that stands exactly for those principles. [cheers and applause] in san francisco, we stand up for our principles of diversity. we stand up for equality for every single person in our city, and we make sure that our city continues to be an example for the rest of our country to

follow. you know, as mayor, and before then as member of the board of supervisors, i've been able to witness the strength of our lgbtq community here in san francisco. we have fought many battles over the years. today, with what was a very narrow ruling out of the u.s. supreme court, but the rhetoric that comes with that, and what our lgbtq community must do to combat that and stand proud and stand tall. it is so important at the rest of us, as a city stand with our lgbtq community. that is who we are as san francisco. along those lines, i want to make sure i let everyone know today, and announce officially, san francisco is joining with the rca of california and banning all business practices with the state of oklahoma. [cheers and applause]

we will not -- we will not, as a city, continue to tolerate other jurisdictions that discriminate upon our civil rights, and certainly with her lgbtq community. we will continue to stand tall as a city, and stoned -- stand tall for exactly who we are as people and residents in our city. you know, i want to acknowledge the contributions of our late mayor ed lee and the things he did for the lgbtq community as well. he founded the federal mayors against lgbtq discrimination organization. but he did so at the national level. he started the player. the first and its client in our entire country. and it has been a great source of pride as mayor to continue

this legacy. last week, the supervisors and i announced that the city of san francisco and i will be backfilling the four-point $2 million for hiv and aids funding that a federal government cut. [applause] together with claire farley, we have created a transgender advisory committee here in san francisco. and legislation that our board of supervisors was proud to pass through and i was proud to sign. creating all gender bathrooms in our sros across a city of san francisco. and also signing legislation naming terminal one for harvey milk at our san francisco airport. [applause] it is with great pride i stand here as your mayor to kick off this month. and to be part of some amazing celebrations yet to come.

i would like to say a few comments about the next person who is going to be speaking. she is going to be the recipient of the teddy witherington award, which recognizes individuals for their long-standing, and lasting contributions to our lgbtq community in san francisco. kate kendall has served the executive director of the national centre for lesbian rights for 22 years. [applause] she has placed the ncl are at the centre of the civil rights movement in our country. under her guidance, they want the landmark equality case in 2,008 and was later part of the team that secured national equality in 2015. [applause]

they have done problematic work around asylum, immigration, around lgbtq people in prisons and transgender rights, poverty, issues for those that are part of our lgbtq community, and issues that matter for lgbtq people of colour. just last year, and clr -- nclr joined court people to file lawsuit challenging trump's transgender military band. it secured a nationwide injunction. that is what we can do when we stand together for our principles. [applause] i've gone to meet kate a number of times to get to know her a little bit, but she is a symbol of standing for social justice in our city, and it is with great pride that i welcome up kate kendall to the microphone and pronounced today, kate kendall day in the city of san francisco. [cheers and applause]

the stage is yours. >> thank you. i was not prepared for that. i really thought i was just coming, just like all of you to a flag raising. i didn't realize that i was going to be acknowledged in this way. what i want to say is that when i came to san francisco, 24 years ago, to start as a legal director for the national centre for lesbian rights, i thought i was coming to be the legal director at the national centre for lesbian rights. i never thought i would be the executive director, and i never imagined that a city could so transform a person and make them feel so embraced and so loved, and so welcome to, so supported that they could, every day, and

that is me i am speaking of, have my reach exceed my grasp in what i thought i was capable of. this city, on the support of many people who are here, and many people who came before and who are no longer here launched me in so many ways, and i have often said, but it is so true, i get so much more than i gave and i am so grateful for this. grateful for the work i'm able to do. the fight will continue and someone else will lead nclr and they will be a bigger badass than me. that is what we know we need to. it is time to know when to lead and time to know when to step aside and let someone else lead and i'm excited for the next chapter for nclr and for this city, and for where we go as a country and taking our country back as a place where all of us can live fully and freely and feel supported for who we are and and hate and discrimination and white supremacy and racism. thank you so much for this and for your support. [cheers and applause]

>> mayor farrell: thank you kate. up next, i have the pleasure of introducing someone who is really a part of living history for lgbtq community in san francisco. someone who has been the forefront of this fight for civil rights, for decades in our city. someone who has had the opportunity to be a leader outside of city hall and inside of city hall. and at this point, it is the only person on the board of supervisors that is part of the lgbtq community. please join me in welcoming up the great lady -- leader for our city of san francisco supervisor jeff sheehy.

>> thank you kate i have a certificate from the board of supervisors for you as well. [applause] just a note, under her leadership, nclr has led on these national court battles, but one of the most moving things i experienced was i was with my husband in a small town in florida, a lesbian couple, the woman who had been previously married to a man was having trouble getting rights for her child and who was there? nclr. small town, big towns, big issues, little issues, they have been there across this country. i salute you, kate. i salute nclr. the greatest. [applause] so, this is an interesting pride

to kick off with a supreme court decision against our community. i recognize our acclaim this year and generations of pride and like kate, is passing down to new leadership and new activism in our community. the person who came up with that theme, larry nelson, the bonds that we need to create between those of us who are in the back of squad cars and lying down in streets, starting organizations in our community. those bonds need to be strengthened and renewed. we are at war. we are at war. when children are taken away from immigrant parents at the border and separated, when our community, i would transgender rights have been under assault from the beginning of this administration, and now we can't even bake a cake. we can't even get a wedding cake. what is this? 7-2. we have to recognize the threat to our community is immortal, it is not just asked. we have to stand with every other community in unison as

we've done over the years to fight back these threats from this administration. [applause] [cheering] >> and we all have to identify the congressional district in california that we are going to be marching and walking and fighting for with democrats this fall. we can take back the house and start to stop this, but we have to do the work. [applause] remember we one the briggs amendment way back in the day with harvey milk. we went to places, small towns across california and showed them who we were, who we are, and show them our love. so, just to close out, i could go on and on, because that brought out the activist in me to see the supreme court decision, not that i haven't been fired up since i came into office, i do want to give a special shout out to gilbert baker. i don't know how many of you

know, this pride is the 40th anniversary of the creation of the rainbow flag. the first rainbow flag. [applause] the first rainbow flag flew 14 years ago, and now you can find it in every country in the wor world. that kind of creative, passionate activism is what we are here to celebrate and to continue. thank you all, and happy pride. [applause] >> mayor farrell: i would also like to introduce claire farley. thank you. the office of transgender initiative, lgbtq initiative, sorry. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. good morning everyone. i'm so happy to be here to celebrate and kick off pride

with you all today. [cheers and applause] i'll give it a minute. as we know, 2018 has been a challenging year, as we fight for basic human rights and lgbtq rights across the country. san francisco continues to be a leader in advancing the rights for transgender and lgbtq people. as our federal administration has it under constant attack. furthermore, our diverse communities across san francisco bring us life and honour are under siege. with all of this, it can be difficult to remember what we are here to celebrate. although, when we look back at our history, we are reminded of the movement and the changemakers that never gave up.

we have stood up and fought ba back. we have fought back with our communities through our resiliency, our community power, working together across communities to develop comprehensive programs, policies and actions that make us stronger and celebrate our differences. i'm so proud to work for a city where i can be out. and where i can be part of advancing the rights for trans and lgbtq people across our great city. whether it is spanning travel are contracting with states that past policies that allow discrimination, or assuring that we have benefits for everyone in our city, or making sure that we have all gender facilities, or developing districts that honour our san francisco culture. or that celebrate the legacy of our lgbtq leaders like renaming terminal one after harvey milk. we still have so much more work

to do and i look forward to being part of this change. i am grateful for the late mayor lee for appointing me and seeing the value in transgender leadership in our city. [applause] thank you to mayor farrell, city administrators, my team and everyone on the mayor's staff in the community for supporting me over my first six months. from constant to s.f. pride, san francisco is a beacon of hope and will continue for generations to come. today, we celebrated the raising of the pride flag over san francisco city hall, and it is a reminder of the generations of strengths that came before us. harvey milk, julius truman, marcia p. johnson, and many more. and honouring the leaders of today, kate kendall, missed major, teddy witherington, cecelia chong, and many more. [applause]

today i have the honour to recognize the changemaker of our future. with ten years of service for our community, he is a writer, a cultural icon, a policy strategist, she is currently the lgbtq policy advisor for the san francisco human rights commission. she was instrumental in the name and dignity act for incarcerated transgendered people. she is a policy of fellow alums for the women's foundation policy institute and lead advocate on prioritizing safety for sex workers. she cofounded the constant cultural district, -- district the first transgender cultural district in the country. please join me in welcoming aria

saiid. [applause] >> good afternoon everyone. i don't want to feel alone up here. i don't want to feel alone. [laughter] happy pride. my name is aria and i am so grateful for the acknowledgement today and this month. i've been doing this work for ten years and i'm definitely having a full circle moments. i moved to san francisco in 2010 with $60 in my bag and got off the greyhound bus and i slaps on the san francisco bar and i used to walk maiden lane, and dream about being more than i was at that time. so i am so grateful for this acknowledgement. i also want to say that my work and in particular is about the promotion of the resiliency of

black trans women. i feel like... [applause] it's because -- it's because of the work of black trans women that i feel like we are free. forty-eight years ago at stonewall, it was a black trans women who was a sex worker and he was homeless. marcia p. johnson who threw the brick at the police officers that started the riot. it is because a black trans women that we are able to celebrate pride, and i am so grateful to be soaking in this moment. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] >> aria, the supervisor has a certificate to give you as well. >> mayor farrell: i also have a certificate from the board of supervisors. thank you it so much for your years of work. thank you. [applause]

>> we also want to thank tom horn for making this event possible. thank you tom. [applause] we would not be able to celebrate this annual event without your support. next, it is my honour to welcome the leader behind pride and helps make pride happen every year. please join me in welcoming the executive director, jordan -- george ridley to help me kick off pride. [applause] >> thank you. thank you mayor farrell and thank you supervisors. i've asked the board president to join me up here today. [applause] honestly, i couldn't do my job without the support of someone like michelle. this is her third year as our president. it's my fifth year at pride. it is quite a privilege to do

this. we are quite the team. again, i need her by my side. i am glad she is here today as well. so, we are pleased to be here at the beginning applied month and honoured to be part of this flag raising ceremony. san francisco is looking very proud. i don't know if you notice, but this past week we installed the rainbow flag along market street and the energy in the city is clearly building to what i expect to be an enormous expression of resistance and hope and solidarity on june 23rd and 24th. i am lucky to work, yes. [applause] i am lucky to work with some dedicated and tireless individuals. we are a small team we are a mighty team. not everyone in the office or working on the event could be here today, they've got some work to do, however, there are some people who could join us.

i would love it if you would raise your hand if you are on the team, or on the staff, and volunteering. everyone give them a round of applause. [applause] >> i think, at this point i would like to recognize our board of directors who has been incredibly supportive of me and of the organization and the vision that we have. as i mentioned, michelle is our board president. i know a lot of our board members are here today and i'm super grateful for that. our vice president is here. [applause] our secretary is here. [applause] i'm not sure if our secretary, when -- secretary was able to make its. all right. we have more members here with

us today. [applause] dj grey. william walker. and other board members that were not able to make it, elizabeth, yeah, -- lanyon, manuel perez, justin taylor, please give them a round of applause as well. [cheers and applause] pride is a perfect portrait of all the things that we love about san francisco. this year, we are expecting 270 contingents in the parade. that is on par it was last year market street is going to be so filled with community groups, activists, elders, children, companies, international and local, performers, celebrities and elected officials marching side-by-side down market street.

is a massive organic expression of a million voices simultaneously erupting as we march down market street and gather at civic centre. for all of those voices building to a crescendo that calls out in the name of strengths, solidarity, and unrelenting demand for equality. [cheers and applause] our theme this year is generations of strengths. as a supervisor pointed out earlier. i think you would agree that this years grand marshals and honourees are wonderful examples of the strength that is found throughout our communities. this is where i will ask for michelle's help. first, i want to acknowledge that kate kendall has been an incredible inspiration for me. [cheers and applause] i also want to thank you for starting out by crying, because i normally do as well. this is perfect. thank you.

[laughter] with that, i will give michelle some airtime. [laughter] >> oh,, i don't know anything about airtime, but i love it. thank you so much. i'm very honoured to be here again and thank you to tom horn. thank you to everybody. the leaders of san francisco for making this happen and to kick off pride month for a world destination city like san francisco. in three weeks we will see a lot of people come to san francisco to celebrate pride and to support the lgbtq community. i want to piggyback off of what the supervisor was talking about as far as a community being under attack. in some ways, we are at war with the supreme court voting against us as a community. it is not just one person. it is not just one organization that is going to make the equal rights movement happen. it takes all of us, and visibility as a backbone. i'm very proud to be part of a board that has made it their

mission and their commitment to make sure we recognize the work of the leaders of our community who are working at the very grassroots level and changing hearts and minds. to introduce this year's grand marshals and honourees, and those being selected, keep that in mind. there are many of us who, just by attending the local churches, by being educators, by being out, that that is part of our due diligence and social responsibility, and making sure we do fight for equal rights. these are the people who are making and paving the way for us. that was from my heart. now i will go on script. [laughter] from the little -- multilayer grassroots advocacy work that is being done in the bay area by the incredibly talented kinfol kinfolks, they are our community selected grand marshal. [cheers and applause]

to the generations of? or artists that have been fostered by? or cultural centre and just honoured, steered with a loving hand by pam tennyson, from aria, founder of the queer culture initiative that is promoting cultural equity for trans women of colour, through social empowerment and cultural enrichment, to the work that community grand marshal really criticized on to develop safe spaces for lgbtq students, faculty, employees -- and employees at ucb berkeley, i could go on and on and on about the grand marshals and awardees. they have contributed over 30 years to the lgbtq community. they have litigated and continue to fight for our community through the court system. putting out lgbtq queer and

nonconforming images, and visibility, voices out there. john haines, who many of you know at city hall, he works tirelessly and volunteers and advocates for everyone here in the city of san francisco. they paved the way for freedom and liberation. the fair education act implementation coalition with our family coalition, of course, a lesbian gate freedom been, we would not sound so amazing if not for the lesbian gate freedom band. we thank each and every one of you for your service to our communities and i know many of you are here today and that was my script. thank you. i look forward to san francisco pride. [cheers and applause] >> thank you michelle.

2018 is a special year in san francisco for a number of reasons. as the supervisors pointed out, he was 40 years ago the rainbow flag was first unfurled and flown at the gate freedom day festivities. today it is an internationally recognized symbol of unity, love and acceptance. for two years ago, in 1978, we saw the first performance of the gay man's chorus, who during a dark and painful moment in this history, brought to the community comfort right here on the steps of city hall. forty years ago, in 1978, harvey milk sat triumphantly atop a car and rode down market street as a first openly gay elected official in california. [applause] if you look at the film and look at the photos, it was clearly a victory lap and he wore a huge smile. he wore a lay around his neck and he were a t-shirt that read, i will never go back.

we must never go back. while we have been enjoyed great civil rights and victories, there are those who will take those victories away, as was proven today. we must never stop fighting to defend what we have one, and simultaneously ensure that no one is left behind. we will never go back in the name of the community ancestors like sonny wolf who led the pride parade for over 40 years with dykes on bikes. we must keep moving forward. [applause] we will never go back. while we face great challenges, we must also seize on great opportunities. the young people in our communities need support and they need mentorship and they need love. they keep us moving forward. we will never go back. the only way we can progress is together as one. take a chance at this june to celebrate alongside the million people we've invited to the city and other human beings, and

unite your voices in a call for justice and equality. i want to share some words i saw this morning from a colleague and a friend on social media. sam singer. some of you in the room -- room may know it sam singer. he was reflecting on the assassination of bobby kennedy, 50 years ago, this week. i think it is quite poignant for what we are talking about today. it is our political, social and moral imperative to survive, and honour those who gave their lives to protest. [applause] with that, i will say, once again, we will never go back. we are generations of strengths happy lesbian gay, bisexual, transgender pride. thank you for being here today. [cheers and applause] >> mayor farrell: thank you. george, stay here for a second.

two quick things. first of all, i would like to recognize our district attorney he was here today as well, with us. was clause second, kate, celebrate, we named it kate kendall day in san francisco. but i'm proud to announce today this is lgbtq pride month in the city of san francisco. [cheers and applause] all right, everyone. and droit the refreshments and happy pride, everybody. [cheers and applause]

>> i love teaching. it is such an exhilarating experience when people began to feel their own creativity. >> this really is a place where all people can come and take a class and fill part of the community. this is very enriching as an artist. a lot of folks take these classes and take their digital imagery and turn it into negatives. >> there are not many black and white darkrooms available anymore. that is a really big draw. >> this is a signature piece. this is the bill largest darkroom in the u.s..

>> there are a lot of people that want to get into that dark room. >> i think it is the heart of this place. you feel it when you come in. >> the people who just started taking pictures, so this is really an intersection for many generations of photographers and this is a great place to learn because if you need people from different areas and also everyone who works here is working in photography.

>> we get to build the community here. this is different. first of all, this is a great location. it is in a less-populated area. >> of lot of people come here just so that they can participate in this program. it is a great opportunity for people who have a little bit of photographic experience. the people have a lot, they can really come together and share a love and a passion. >> we offer everything from traditional black and white darkrooms to learning how to process your first roll of film. we offer classes and workshops in digital camera, digital printing.

we offer classes basically in the shooting, ton the town at night, treasure island. there is a way for the programs exploring everyone who would like to spend the day on this program. >> hello, my name is jennifer. >> my name is simone. we are going on a field trip to take pictures up the hill. >> c'mon, c'mon, c'mon. >> actually, i have been here a lot. i have never looked closely enough to see everything. now, i get to take pictures. >> we want to try to get them to

be more creative with it. we let them to be free with them but at the same time, we give them a little bit of direction. >> you can focus in here. >> that was cool. >> if you see that? >> behind the city, behind the houses, behind those hills. the see any more hills? >> these kids are wonderful. they get to explore, they get to see different things. >> we let them explore a little bit. they get their best. if their parents ever ask, we

can learn -- they can say that they learned about the depth of field or the rule of thirds or that the shadows can give a good contrast. some of the things they come up with are fantastic. that is what we're trying to encourage. these kids can bring up the creativity and also the love for photography. >> a lot of people come into my classes and they don't feel like they really are creative and through the process of working and showing them and giving them some tips and ideas. >> this is kind of the best kept secret. you should come on and take a class. we have orientations on most saturdays. this is a really wonderful location and is the real jewel

to the community. >> ready to develop your photography skills? the harvey milk photo center focuses on adult classes. and saturday workshops expose youth and adults to photography classes. >> so good morning, everyone. i want to welcome everyone and thank you all for coming here today: you know, as mayor of the city, it is one of our core responsibilities as a government to provide public safety to our residents and preparedness for any emergencies that come about. both these issues have and always will be a top priority of mine. anyone in calling 911 in our city needs to make sure there's a live person on the other end of the line when they make that phone call. it is sometimes a matter

between life and death. and our 911 dispatch center has seen an increased call volume of 44% since 2011. that is a dramatic increase here in the city of san francisco. it equates to dispatchers answering approximately 1,000 more calls perday. that's 1,000 more calls perday since seven years ago. with a growing population in the city of san francisco, we have to anticipate that this call volume will not decrease but will only increase here in the city of san francisco. and last year, our 911 dispatch center, despite many efforts, was falling short on response times. recognizing the importance of this, mayor lee created a task force to look at the issue, along with many of the people standing behind me here today. along with increased hiring strategies, the task force came up with a number of innovative

approaches to help our dispatch center, tapping 311 to handle non-emergency calls. welcoming back recently retired veteran dispatchers to duty, and hiring, training and retaining more dispatchers than ever before. as mayor it has been a top priority of mine to continue to improve our 911 dispatch times. we have put a number of policies in place over the last year to improve our response times, but we cannot rest on our laurels and we have to do more here in the city of san francisco if we want to continue to emphasize san francisco safety for -- public safety for our san francisco residents. and since these strategies have been implemented, we have seen an increase in our response times by 22 is. which is good but we have nor work to do. we have to continue to bolster our dispatch here here at our department of emergency

management. so today, i'm introducing new funding to tackle exactly that issue. we are investing $8.9 million over the next two years to train 90 new dispatchers here at the department of emergency management to continue to improve our response time, to make sure that our 911 response times are over the 90% national standard that exists today. we want to make sure our dispatchers have the resources they need to respond to calls quickly. in addition, we are giving them the tools and the technology that they need to do their job appropriately. so the budget also includes technology upgrades that will shorten the time it takes to dispatch fire and medical assistance on our streets. it also includes power loss prevention tech 23408g to ensure utility disruption will not interfere with our center right here. in short, this funding over the next two years will make sure

we have a world class dispatch center here in san francisco. our residents deserve nothing less. meeting the national standard of 90% call times within ten seconds demands a fully staffed department and dispatch center, and i am thrilled as mayor to be making these investments for the public safety of our residents. in addition, i want to talk about vst investments that we are making for our fire department through this budget. the men and women of our fire department save lives every single day here in the city of san francisco. we have some of the best men and women firefighters here in the city of san francisco. we need to continue to give them the tools they need to continue to do this beers. this package will include $15

million for new firefighter apparatus, fire trucks, engines, ambulances and command vehicles. the new ambulances are outfitted with cameras to make sure drivers have better sight lines so they're better able to navigate our very tight and congested streets here in the city of san francisco. our men and women in the fire department are also responding to increased medical calls here in the city of san francisco, so today i'm announcing we're investing $1.5 million for the fire department to add an additional quick response vehicle. this team and the budget to support them will build upon the success of the ms-6 program that responds to high frequency emergency service users. the team will provide 24/7 medical response to call services and ambulances that are needed in our streets where

we need an ambulance or a fire engine. this team will also alleviate the appreciate on the larger fire vehicles to come to the scene. combined with the additional investments we've made over the past few weeks and that we have announced, i want to make sure that san francisco residents know that we are investing in the future of the city, that we are investing to make sure the streets of san francisco are as safe as can be, and those that are on our streets can get the help that they need and off the streets as quickly as possible. since day one as being mayor, i've always states that public safety has been my top priority. these investments and the funding we're making reflect exactly that. as mayor of the city of san francisco, i want to make sure that i leave our city in a safer place than when i took office, and i believe these investments will do exactly

that. so i want to thank everyone for being here today, and with that, i want to turn it over to our director of the department of emergency management, ann croneberg. >> thank you, may or farrell. thank you so much for your unwaivering support of public safety here in san francisco, first as a member of the board of supervisors and now as mayor of san francisco. as the mayor stated over the last six months we've implemented strategies here at d.e.m. that have allowed us to maintain our goal of answering 90 is pfrs of our 911 calls within ten seconds or less. the first part of our strategy focused on hiring and training new dispatchers. it takes about nine months to a year to fully train a dispatcher, so it's a long process, it's a huge commitment. the fact that the mayor is giving us the funding in the next two years to hire additional 90 dispatchers will

make a huge difference for us here at d.e.m. last year we added almost 40 new dispatchers and we're seeing the results of that right now with our 90% call answering time. the second part of our strategy was to make sure that the public knew which calls should be going to 911 and which calls should be going to 311. as the mayor stated, 40% of our calls that come into the call center really are not emergencies, so here we are, trying to address that issue and let the residents and the visitors to san francisco know that we have a highly functional 311 center that also operates 24-7 that people can call for non-emergency kind of issues. we also had an ad campaign this last year, which i think really helped us in educating the public who could call.

at the department of emergency management, we reach more than 25 million people through our ad campaign last year, through social media, bus ads. you probably saw the ads on bus shelters, as well, be it the 311 or # 11. our strategies have increased our hiring, redirected calls, and allowed the public to be better educated. the announcement today of the additional $8 million to hire and train 90 new public safety dispatchers over the next two years is critical to maintain san francisco's ability to meet and exceed our call standards. for our residents, businesses, and visitors, this is an investment in our ability to quickly receive help when you have an emergency when you call 911. for our dedicated and hard working 911 dispatchers, this is also an investment in you. you've worked long hours over

the last few years, oftentimes working mandatory over time, being away from your family, being away from your loved ones. with the continued investment in 911, we are hoping that we have the appropriate staffing level and that people will be able to have a life outside of work, as well. so thank you, mayor farrell, again for your vision and for your investment in san francisco's 911 system. the collaboration and coordination that we have here in san francisco between our public safety departments is something that we think is quite wonderful. we work very closely with the fire department and the police department. none of us could do it by ourselves. really, it is this investment in the entire public safety system that's going to make a difference. so at this point, i'm going to turn it over to my friend and colleague, chief hayes-white, to say a few remarks.

>> good morning, everyone. thanks for coming out. first and foremost, i'd like to acknowledge and applaud mayor farrell for his efforts not only as surprise but as our mayor. as he said, he has always prioritized public safety and for that we are grateful. he has always been a champion about keeping our community safe. with all of the challenges that we see in an ever growing city that we want to keep safe. also, like to thank mayor farrell for his investment in the department of emergency management. it's all about partnerships and collaboration, and the funding is much needed at the department of emergency management. that is the first agency that's call when someone is in need of help, and you need to have a high functioning department in department of emergency management to be able to get the appropriate resources out to the streets of san francisco via the san francisco fire department and san francisco police department so thank you for that investment. that's where it all starts. we're very proud to say that it

was a privilege working for mayor lee, just as it's a privilege working for mayor farrell, and mayor farrell has expanded upon some of the initiatives of the lee administration. as he mentioned, over $13 million for new equipment to keep our members safe and our community safe. it's very important that we have state of the art equipment. it does a few things. not only does it add to the safety of our members, but it achieves goals such as vision zero goals. all of our specifications now for apparatus, talked about the importance of vision zero. making sure we have environmentally responsible vehicles to the highest he mission standards as well as moragile vehicles to navigate through our windy and narrow streets here in san francisco. so making that investment and bringing on a new you are fleet will achieve a whole lot of

different things that we really appreciate. just as the department of emergency management has experienced a boost in their call volume. we have, as well. it kind of makes sense, right? 25% increase in call volume since 2013. we're one of the busiest fire departments in the nation. we run over 150,000 calls a year, and we pride ourselves in getting to the scene within about a five minute time period. if it's a medical call and someone needs transport, our response times are back where they should be in that we get an ambulance to the scene within ten minutes 90% of the time and that's because again, the great investment that we've started making in the lee administration and has continued in the farrell administration. we appreciate the continued support of mayor farrell and look forward to continuing to serve the residents and visitors to our beautiful city. thank you. [applause] >> so thanks, everyone. we're going to conclude the press conference. we'll be available to talk and

answer questions on the side here. thanks, everyone.