for small businesses to develop efficient interactions with city agencies. so this could be a commitment that this office can commit to or say that it will take a specific action on and what the time frame period is, but we have had some discussion around working with the tax and treasurer's office to identify alternate e-mails. so -- and this could be something that we work out with the tax and treasurer's office when a business registers so when that business registers, both the office of small business could send an introductory e-mail because i think a lot of times with the permitting and opening issues is there are many businesses that we still get engaged with but sort of down the road and say i wish i knew about you, so there's still an ample

opportunity for our office to improve and increase its outreach to the business -- to newly opening businesses to make sure that they understand and nknow what resources are here for them. so this could be one thing, a recommendation that we could make to the mayor. and then, of course, is the mayor knows about it and is supportive of it, then, we will get that much more support in making that happen. i also -- there's been -- there was lots of discussion around streamlining permitting and the engagement in the permitting process and communication, and so i don't think many businesses know about 49 vanness, which is going to be the new facility and offices

for d.b.i., d.p.w., d.p.h. will have some resources there, the planning department. so many of those agencies are going to be in one building, and on the second floor is going to be a -- one floor for all permitting for those agencies. so we're also going to -- the police department is going to be there, the office of small business is going to have a small seat -- excuse me, a small space there. d.p.h. is going to be there, the entertainment commission. so all the regulatory -- key regulatory agencies -- and fire is going to be there. so that's going to have a streamlining component. but what this also brought to mind is we're starting to discuss the technology that's going to be developed and established with 49 vanness is a need to ensure that it's integrated with the on-line business portal.

you will be receiving, at the end of the year -- this has been delayed because the assistance that the portal team provided to the office of cannabis, but more applications going on-line, being able to submit them on-line and pay for them on-line. and that integration with those agencies through the business portal. so if that's an interest to the commission, then, we can make that recommendation to ensure that it's a recommendation. we can't mandate the department of technology work to integrate, but if that recommendation is made to the mayor, then perhaps the mayor can make that. >> sure. that's a reasonable recommendation. commissioner ortiz-cartagena. >> sure. definitely i agree with everything. there should be some cultural sensitivity, because all small businesses, we're minority and

we're fighting the same fight, but in my neighborhood in the mission, language is a barrier, culture is a barrier, and being sensitive to those neighborhoods in particular, or in chinatown or any neighborhood, the city should have the obligation to know the culture and the community they're trying to serve, and the impact they're having. again, just like president dwight said, we are the voice of the small business, and for supervisors not to bring things to our attention prior to them seeing it, that's not cool. so definitely take this into account, letting the supervisors, like you said, president dwight, no what we are and what we're here for. and i guess the last thing is try again in this -- and everybody says it, everybody that's attended, but making sure that other departments don't operate in silos. if the sfmta has a project, make sure the d.p.w. knows because they have to have an impact. sometimes there's been studies

when they do project, and they said yeah, there's going to be a loss of about 20% of small business, and that's not acceptable. they don't have to make payroll, they don't have to make lease payments, so they have to be conscious of that, and that's what we're here for. >> any other commissioners like to comment? >> can i just -- >> commissioner zouzounis in. >> -- follow up on that? i think i agree and something that the community that i come from, sting operations and enforcement is an area of -- where cultural sensitivity needs to be part of the conversation, especially in light of immigration laws and the travel ban. i think a conversation with sfpd and department of public health. and we've had sting operate -- like, two sting operations or one sting within several months in which we have undercovers coming into my family's store, and we've had reports some

other businesses that -- comments about people's religion have been made, so there's definitely complaints, and there's not really an avenue about how to make complaints around enforcement and cultural sensitivity issues, so i'd love to have that be a topic, as well. >> any other commissioner comments? all right. so there was a discussion item. >> so commissioners, i also will be working with oewd to create recommendations to the mayor. so i will take your feedback, incorporate it, and then -- and then send you a set of recommendations. i -- in addition, i just would like to just hear -- also get a little bit of a response from you in terms of also making a

recommendation for vacant storefronts. in addition to prices and things of that sort, i think the city needs to also understand the cost of doing business is also preventing business expansion, as well, and the challenge of hiring people from some feedback that i've heard from other businesses, so they're choosing to expand outside the city and not within the city. and then, the other element, since we have it on our to do for the legacy business program in developing guidelines, we're first going to develop guidelines on how to do vertical divisions so that you can separate out the commercial space and the -- for mixed use building and the residential space in the t.i.c.s, but to also move into supporting

commercial condos in the vertical subdivision so that we can condoize just the commercial space and not the residential space. and incentives because as commissioner dooley has talked about for many years that there are long-term vacancies where the property owners just not choosing to rent the commercial space. so if we can develop some kind of incentive to help them go through those vertical subpositions and create commercial condos. >> okay. all right. great. so you will make the latest changes and updates and pass that onto the mayor's office. next item. >> item five, update and report. updates on the small business commission. updates on policies,

announcements from the mayors and small business activities. >> thanks to all of you who came out tonight. thanks very much. >> discussion item. >> commissioners, i just have a very brief oral report. so if we do not -- there's -- i just -- commissioner adams has question questioned this, whether we might want to have a meeting at the end of august. we do not have any legislation scheduled, and our next legacy business presentation is the first meeting of september, so i might be reaching out to you on that. so at one of the september meetings, we will be presenting -- i'll have rhea present to you a program that we are putting together from the a.b.e. from that additional $4 that we're collecting to help support small businesses that are being required to comply with the accessible business entrance program by

their property owners, so we have some funding and -- from that $4 so we're developing a program that we'll be able to disburse that with which to help our small businesses. and then, i have mentioned that we are relocating our offices from 110 to 140. i have now been given that november is the date that that is happening, so just to let you know that. and then, for our september meeting, we will be hearing three pieces of legislation. there's been some updates introduced from the department of public health around the massage regulations. supervisor tang has -- has introduced some new legislation, again, just focusing on district four to allow for flexibilile uses and

multiple uses in business locations. [please stand by]

in the mission that is gentry find and all that, it's a good example. we highlight the negative, but it's a good example to highlight the positive and make money. i wanted to give a shoutout to my kids at home, love you guys. [laughter] >> all right, there you go. >> get ready for bed! >> any other commissioners want to shout out to their families? all right -- i don't have anything to report. do we have public comment on commissioner's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> item 7, new business, allows commissioners to introduce new agenda items for future consideration by the commission . before they come to the commission, they are planning on

having meetings with merchants. at least three of them. one in the mission, one in chinatown and one in the tenderloin. they're contradictory pieces of legislation that is impacting the implementation of the ban on flavored tobacco. so there is going to be going back to the drawing board a little bit in those conversations. and one of the policy tools we need to think about is how to give the city the tool to buy back tobacco licenses. right now, there is a law that alcohol licenses, type 20, type 21 can be bought back by the city, but there is not the option for tobacco licenses. and also part of that conversation is how do we hold other departments accountable to

this conversation because there is tangential fee schedules on tobacco, the department of public health and dpw are part of, and fee streamlining as a mitigation is going to be another tool i think this body needs to brainstorm. so please keep in mind, i'm going to be part of those meetings and i would love support. the first one is planned at the end of the month. we can talk offline about that. second thing, new business, i would like there to be more information about how to prepare merchant or merchant organizations for potential rfps for the city. there is going to revenue from the sugary beverage tax and we should try to support merchant organizations to get some of that money. if there is a tool or workshop we can do or presentation, that would be awesome.

>> president adams: does that involve lbe? no? >> commissioner zouzounis: they'll have to be registered nonprofit or entity of which then the merchant association could have a sponsor who takes the money, administrative -- fiscal agent. thank you. >> if i understand properly, you're suggesting that we have better outreach so that -- or enable merchants or small businesses to get a piece of this action? >> commissioner zouzounis: also merchant organizations. there are two examples i'm thinking of. the healthy retail program still has a pilot for fresh produce delivery model they want to develop. so it would be rfp for somebody already delivering to store.

how do we outreach and make sure that is open to somebody already doing that. and then -- >> just to be clear, anybody who -- any entity to receive money from the city needs to be registered with the city as a compliant supplier, vendor. bidder. and i think in this -- then they also have to be a registered entity and have a business registration. to have a business registration means for any of the merchants associations, then they need to have a 501 c-3. but they have to have some sort of business structure. so is maybe something that is also brought up with the council of district merchants. if you were thinking about merchant areas being able to

access some of that money, then to me that sort of seems like a good entity to help be a fiscal agent. >> right. we're having discussions about that. >> but i can -- we can ask the office of contract administration or the controller's office. and rick has done actually a phenomenal job working with our legacy businesses on putting together -- putting together a document on how to become registered with the city. and because we are now marketing in the legacy businesses as vendors that departments can do business with, because for those that become 12-b compliant, then the city can do business with them. so we're also -- rick is also going to be putting together

over the next 2-3 months, a guide on how best to do business with the city. so understanding how the payment process works, all of that. because it's very different than your traditional b to b. >> commissioner zouzounis: one last new business -- sorry, this should have been part of my report. i went to the reopening of the sav mor market on 3rd street and they also won their board of appeals for moving their license. so they are now viable in their new location. >> awesome. ok. any other new business items? >> this is not a new business item, i just wanted to add for the record, sonny made great points about district areas that

are having problems with construction and you know, owning a bar and restaurant on polk street and owning a bar and restaurant, i do a pop-up at may's oyster house. she's definitely onto something with the pop-ups to try to get some of these store fronts filled. i highly encourage anybody that wants to try a pop-up or something to that effect, that they -- you know, we give them a chance, because that's a great way to find out if they want to do small business in san francisco. >> great. i have one new business item. so it's my understanding that corporations can sponsor government activities, correct? is there a mechanism for corporations to sponsor things like the legacy business program?

>> well, there is. there is a process of doing accept and this happens with specific programs. >> the reason i ask is because one of the things that we could do to accelerate the legacy business program is to get more support on the onboarding side. we have one person who is not his sole responsible to onboard legacy business candidates. and so i think that if we wanted to reach out to a number of the large companies that have expressed interest in preserving small business in san francisco, like airbnb and square, they're making significant donations to activities in the merchant corridors to individual merchant

associations as well, that we could outreach to them and others if we had a specific ask. so for example, if we could fund a full-time position to assist with onboarding legacy businesses. i just think that program is such a hallmark of our commission and an area where we can have real significant impact, but it cost money and we're forever going to be budget constrained, and one of the best things we could do is have one or more sponsored positions. also internships. i was at square earlier this week, or last week, for a cdma meeting with square. and they had a number of interns in our meeting and i chatted with one of them who is a princeton student, she was about to go back, but she said my internship has been awesome and

i've been tagging around with the government outreach team and learning how this company is interacting with the city. it occurred to me, how could would it to be a get an internship at airbnb and you were to help legacy businesses? i think we should look into how could we facilitate these companies helping at a level making donations to san francisco city and county, and you know, all the p.r. benefits that come from that. especially with our program which is really, i think, shaping up, especially as we're finishing our branding program and start to roll that out. it will become a lot more visible. i know that the legacy business is grateful for the support they receive getting through the process. if nothing else, there is the gratification of documented your history which you've never taken the time to do.

not only for yourselves but for your children and grandchildren. there is nothing but feel-good out of that exercise. so the more of that we can do, beyond rent mitigation, all the potential financial benefits, but the mere benefit of going through the process of getting on the legacy business registry, i think is a beneficial one and one that we should try to do more than we do. because right now i feel like we're in a little bit of a reactive mode. again, that's part of your new supervisor orientation. here we are and one of the best things you can do is nominate legacy businesses, that gives them an opportunity to meet the businesses. a lot of times those owners are the most active in their districts because they've been there a long time, and they've been fighting the good fight. those are the people the

supervisors need to know any way, so it's a reason for them and their staff to outreach to them and say, hey, you're not on the legacy business registry, how can we make that happen? >> is 365 a legacy business? >> good question. >> commissioner dwigh >> commissioner dwight: look, i went to the opening of the terminal and closing of gumps this weekend. and it's just proof that even the most longstanding of institutions, whether it's fao schwartz, you name it, they come and go. and we all have to remember as small business owners and business owners in general, we're the first line of defense for our companies. we have to fight for ourselves. and you know, whether it's the internet or amazon or a formula retailer or the city doing

things that are kind of counter to our business interest. at the end the day, if we don't fight for ourself, we're going to go out of business. we can provide support. but even the most venerable businesses are vulnerable if they don't keep up with the times. and gump's admittedly didn't keep up with the times. whether they survive bankruptcy or not is to be seen, but there is a lot we can do to support businesses. >> can i ask a question of rick? >> commissioner dwight: sure. >> i'm the third or fourth owner of may's oyster house, it's the second oldest bar and restaurant in san francisco. would i qualify for a legacy business? or you know, for the fact that i kept the name and kept the

seafood going, et cetera, et cetera? >> there are three business criteria on the application process we look at. the business has to be 30 years old or older. there is exception for 20 years if they're at risk for displacement. they have to have added to the community or the city and then the third thing is have maintained their business model. so we look at all three of those. >> change of ownership is not a disqualification. >> that's what i'm asking, i'm sorry. >> change of location is fine. those don't affect the criteria. >> commissioner dwight: the answer is yes. >> i probably will do that with a blue light cafe, too, there is another one. interesting. >> and so, commissioner dwight,

we have met with both new supervisors' offices, we did meet with the aides of supervisor brown and i think one of their questions is always what is the outreach that you're doing? and at this point we're none, because we can't facilitate it. so i think to your point is, even the ability to take on new applications and help with that, but also the process of outreaching, and educating businesses of this opportunity, i think that's a good point to bring. and i think to your point of engaging the private sector, i don't know if commissioner corvi wasn't on the commission at the time, but when the discussion of the creation of the legacy business was created, professor

giles from usf had talked about engaging, especially with the larger legacy businesses to help support because we do have some very small businesses that, you know, probably would love to be on the legacy business registry. and especially those where english is not the first language, so the challenge of writing the application can be a challenge. so getting more support in that area to also bring on those -- >> you don't have to be writer to write a book, you just need to talk to someone who is a writer. so i think if we could fund again this onboarding and also to your point, outreach, we could fund more outreach efforts, especially as we have our tool kit with all the branding. it would be much easier for us to really show, here's the package, here's the extra little bit of gloss you get to put on your business related to legacy

business. that is helpful. but we should talk about how we can start outreaching. what is our ask to these businesses, corporations, who want to and have a stated goal of supporting small business? i think that there -- there is a huge demand for the ability to say we are putting our money where our mouth is to support small business, whether it's buying employee lunches from local restaurants to funding programs like this one. and this is low-hanging fruit if you're in the government affairs department of any of these companies to be supporting legacy business programs in san francisco. as unique as it is as well. and to be shouting that out to not only within san francisco, but beyond where all of your others say, hey, look what we're

doing in san francisco. we're not unique in the fact that small business is an endangered species in our city. every major city throughout the united states is experiencing gentrification and the displacement of small businesses. all the same reasons that we are. anyway, let's see how we can go reach into the pockets of our generous local businesses and have them support a very specific program. it's a lot different than saying we're going to levy a tax on you to pay for general things, or already heavily funded things like homelessness. big problem, you kind of hard to get your arms around that. you're throwing money into an awfully big pot there. but when you're donating money and you can donate a smaller pot highly directed and really see the results, that's where you can get powerful -- it's a real powerful story and ability to

sell that. enough said. >> but i think your point is, we could specifically reach out to the city attorney, so that you fully understand what we can do, what kind of ability to allow for the visual identity of the association of those that are contributing the money in terms of joint marketing. >> what i want staff to do is talk to the city attorney and any other departments that have to weigh in on this. what can we offer corporate san francisco to support the legacy business program specifically? because then we'll have -- here's what we're asking for. we want this to do this. we want this money to do this. and i think it would be onboarding and advocacy, two major things, there may be others. let's find out. and does that mean can we fund a

position? what are the -- i'm sure there are always kinds of issue with that, because there is the pension program. but it has to be sustainable. but then there are some things that don't have to be as sustainable. funding outreach programs, you can turn them on and off. you either buy the ads or you don't. if we could fund a stable position and then also fund p.r. efforts, that would be tremendous. and i think we could round up the funds to do that. so that's my -- that's what i'm gauging as i'm floating that idea with a few of the government affairs people. staff can report back to us. if we have no other new business, commissioners, i'll put it out to public comment. any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> sf gov tv please show the

slide. >> it is our custom to end with a reminder that the off thes of small businesses is the only place to start your small business in san francisco and the best way to get answers to questions about small business in san francisco. the office of small business should be where you go next. the small business commission is the public forum to voice your opinions and concerns about policies that affect the vitality of small businesses in san francisco. if you are a small business start here. item 8, adjournment. >> all in favor? >> aye. so be it. motion passes 4-0. meeting is adjourned the 6:53 p.m.

>> this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your san francisco history used to be.

>> we hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. >> even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. and they tell us that. >> you're going to get something made fresh, made by hand and made with quality products and something that's very, very good. ♪ >> the legacy bars and restaurants was something that was begun by san francisco simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. it really provides for san francisco's unique character. ♪ >> and that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy business registration.

>> i'm michael cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. ♪ the bakery started in 191. my grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. it is a small operation. it's not big. so everything is kind of quality that way. so i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. >> i'm leslie cirocco-mitchell, a fourth generation baker here with my family. ♪ so we get up pretty early in the morning. i usually start baking around 5:00. and then you just start doing rounds of dough. loaves. >> my mom and sister basically handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking.

after that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. ♪ you know, i don't really think about it. but then when i -- sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and everything and we've been over 100 and that is when it kind of hits me. you know, that geez, we've been here a long time. [applause] ♪ >> a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. we all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. our lineage and i'll use one example of tommy's joint. tommy's joint is a place that my husband went to as a child and he's a fourth generation san franciscan. it's a place we can still go to

today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was san francisco like back in the 1950s. >> i'm the general manager at tommy's joint. people mostly recognize tommy's joint for its murals on the outside of the building. very bright blue. you drive down and see what it is. they know the building. tommy's is a san francisco hoffa, which is a german-style presenting food. we have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. you prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket fatty or want it lean. you want your pastrami to be very lean. you can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want

it with some sauerkraut. tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. san francisco's a place that's changing restaurants, except for tommy's joint. tommy's joint has been the same since it opened and that is important. san francisco in general that we don't lose a grip of what san francisco's came from. tommy's is a place that you'll always recognize whenever you lock in the door. you'll see the same staff, the same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. that's important. ♪ >> the service that san francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application

process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in san francisco. ♪ so we'll help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of san francisco. but i say really, more importantly, it really brings them public recognition that this is a business in san francisco that has history and that is unique to san francisco. >> it started in june of 1953. ♪ and we make everything from scratch. everything. we started a you -- we started

a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. the business really boomed after that. >> i think that the flavors we make reflect the diversity of san francisco. we were really surprised about the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. businesses come and go in the city. pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and there's so much competition. so for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor. >> we got a phone call from a

woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. she was our customer in 1953. and she still comes in. but she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that we're carrying on our father's legacy. and that we mean so much to so many people. ♪ >> it provides a perspective. and i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, you're missing the context. for me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. >> i just think it's part of san francisco. people like to see familiar stuff. at least i know i do. >> in the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommy's joint and

looks exactly the same. we haven't change add thing. >> i remember one lady saying, you know, i've been eating this ice cream since before i was born. and i thought, wow! we have, too. ♪ >> all right. here we go. good morning! >> good morning. >> how's everyone doing here today? >> great. >> well, thank you, everyone, for joining us. i want to thank the san francisco unified school district, the san francisco police department, sfmta, the department of public health and walk s.f. and the boys and girls club for working with us to make sure that our kids are getting to and from school safely.

as a new school year begins, we are stepping up educational campaigns and enforcement so that drivers slow down and our students are safe. no matter if they're walking, biking or taking transit. the s.f. police department traffic company is increasing its enforcement near 20 schools and foe cushion on our high injury corridors where the majority of the accidents happen throughout city. we know that the key to reducing accidents and fatalities is reducing the speed that cars are traveling. a pedestrian hit by a car going 30 miles per hour is six times more likely to die than a car going 20 miles per hour. the sfmta is repainting approximately 90 crosswalks to make them visible -- more visible to drivers and we are

deploying 187 crossing guards and we are joined here today by some of our most talented crossing guards in the city. thank you all so much for your work. i went to rosa parks elementary school and we would all walk to school together and we were so fortunate because we always had a cotszing gar. there was someone that made sure we got to school safely. that is what this is about. keeping our kids safe. along with enforcement, we know that we need to make physical changes to our most dangerous transit corridors. earlier this week, i unveiled the new masonic avenue corridor which previously had been the site of far too many accidents and, sadly, for too many fatalities. numerous city agencies work together to make the new masonic avenue a safer place

for our pedestrians, for bicyclists, transit riders and for drivers. hopefully i don't get anymore of those complaints about bumpy roads along masonic. it is a newly paved street as well and it is absolutely beautiful. we are working on infrastructure improvements like this across the city, while also taking immediate stems to make our streets safer. so know to the point of this press conference is safety. it is about making people aware that, as our kids return to school, we want people to be aware. we want drivers to drive more safely. we want people to look out for one another and just to add an extra bit of security, law enforcement will be out there in full effect making sure that we are all on our best behavior. together, we can make sure that every student in san francisco gets to and from school safety and i want to thank you all again for joining us, for

helping us get the word out. and that the time, i want to introduce one of our partners in this effort. our school superintendent, dr. vincent matthews. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. and i also want to thank you all for being here and joining us. on monday morning, monday the 20th, over -- we're standing in front of everett middle school. over 750 students will return to this school and it is important that we do everything we can to keep them safe and the number one way of keeping them safe is slowing down. reducing speed saves lives. 750 students will return here, but throughout the city, 56,000 students will be returning to our schools along with 10,000

staff moebs and coming to these schools will be anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 parents dropping them off and picking them up. we want to make sure that all of our people who are associated with our schools in any way, shape or form are kept safe. so once again, we want to encourage you to know that we're starting school on monday and we need you to slow down. what we're also excite about is that we're training the next generation of safe walkers. we are partnering with so many organizations. and what that does is it allows us to have our safety workers here and they will be at our sites. last year, they were at 15 of our schools. and this coming year, there will be an additional four schools added with more safety workers to help our students stay safe. daniel webster, ed cleveland elementary, gordon j. lowe will have safety workers added to their sites. we're really excited about monday. we're excited about partnering

with our partners to keep our students safe and we're excited that you're all here today. with that, and without any further ado, i'd like the introduce our chief of police to you, chief scott. [applause] >> good morning. >> as we relate to the start of this school year, the safety of our residents, especially our children as the mayor stated, is one of our top priorities. under mayor breed's leadership, we're collaborating closely with our partner agencis to put in place smart strategies to drive down traffic injuries and fatalities. outlined in our vision zero initiative, we want to get to zero fatalities by the year 2024. and here are a few numbers to think about. while children represent about 6% of our traffic injuries overall, they make up a slightly higher proportion, 8%,

of our pedestrian injuries. compared to 6% of passenger and 4% of bicyclist injuries. we're pleased to say that there is a downward trend in children trafficked fatalitis in san francisco, decreasing from three in 2013 -- three fatalities -- to zero in 2016 and zero in 2017. i think that is very commendable. last year we saw significant drop also in overall traffic deaths. compared to 2016, there were 34 deaths that were traffic related and 2017 there were 22 deaths that were traffic related and then 2018 we have 10 deaths. we're tracking better. we know 10 is far too many. just this week, a bicyclist lost his life to a hit-and-run driver in our tenderloin district. so we're focused on getting to zero. what i've asked my staff to do, including the police department's traffic company which many are here today, is

to conduct back-to-school child-pedestrian and bicycle safety operations for the entire week. these officers will perform traffic enforcement at or near 20 san francisco schools -- i'll wait until the bus passes, the train -- located near what is are considered our high injury corridors. our efforts to focus on the behavior is to jeopardize pedestrian and/or bicycle safety, which are speed, failure to yield to pedestrians, violating bicycle lane regulations and other at-risk violations. it's really important to point out that we work on these efforts year round. not only during the school year to make our streets safer. throughout the school year, we'll be engaged in traffic enforcement and education regarding the consequences of unsafe speed. we know that higher speeds

increases the severity of injuries in a crash so we're focused on getting drivers to slow down. our officers will be conducting high-vizability enforcement and education in part through a state-funded safe route to school program. we've done 30 operations so far this year. in addition, our school resource officers will balls on hand this year to engage with student and teachers and continue the conversation about safety on our street. the message that i'd like to leave the public with, and it is the same message from the mayor and superintendent of schools troeb slow down. the speed limit is 50 -- is 15 miles per hour. watch out for small children enterg our cross walks and we can keep every pedestrian in

our city safe throughout the year. now i'd like to invite mr. tom mcguire, the director of sustainable streets for the san francisco municipal transportation authority to the microphone. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. thank you. it's great -- it's a great time of year. the first day ofle school is a great time of year to remind ourselves and recommit ourselves to our city's vision zero commitment. the commitment to end all traffic fatalities in san francisco by 2024. our school children are, on one hand the future of our city. on the other hand, some of our most vulnerable pedestrians and we can all do better. we can all do better by not speeding, by slowing down and by yielding to pedestrians, especially seniors and especially our school children as they twaouk and from school. a pedestrian in the crosswalk always has the right-of-way. i'm really excited and i'm joined today by four of our most senior crossing guards. the m.t.a. will have over 187 crossing guards out at over 100

elementary and middle school this is year. they are on the frontlines to keep all of our kids safe. and to work with our communities to build that culture of safety that we need. we are excite about things that the m.t.a. does to support safe travel to and from schools. our muni assistance program provides transit assistance to help kids on the bus, on bus routes with high rates of crime and vandalism. we've repainted over 90 crosswalks, high-visibility crosswalks so drivers and pedestrians are clear about the rules of the road and they know where the crosswalks are and know how to use them safely. so we're very excited about our efforts at the m.t.a. in terms of engineering and crossing guards and education. but it can't just be -- it can't just be those efforts. we need everyone to participate in the effort to slow down and keep our kids safe, to move from that culture of speeding to the culture of safety that

we need if we are going to achieve our ambitious goal of vision zero by 2024. i'd like to introduce the head of walk s.f. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. thank you, mayor breed, superintendent scott to talk about our partnership in making streets safe. for many parents, this weekend getting ready to go to school is more about new sneakers and backpacks and school supplies. it is the work of figuring out how their child will be getting to and from school safety. san francisco is proud to be part of the team that is making it possible to choose sustainable forms of transportation, like walking, biking, transit or car pool or the four fun ways of traveling to school. because in the 1960s, about 50% of children used to walk and bike to school and now that

number is less than 20%. and we know that this -- children and parents don't allow their kids to walk and bike to school because our streets don't feel safe. and we're trying to change that. in 2011, san francisco became the first large city in california to establish a 15 miles an hour school zone city-wide. this is around 181 schools. we did this because we know that speed is the number one cause of severe and fatal traffic crashs in our city. proud to say that walk s.f. led this initiative, along with city agencis that are here with us today. because we need to help protect children, families and all pedestrians city wide. through smart initiatives and strong partnerships like the safe routes to school program, we're coming together to make sure that parents have options to get their children to school safely. .

beyond a single occupancy vehicle. this behind me is the team to put in place necessary infrastructure, the engineering, enforcement, encouragement and education through the safe route to school partnership to enable our children the future of san francisco to arrive to school safe. and ready to learn. we hope to see you all on october 10 for our 10th annual walk and rolle to school day. we will be announcing the location soon. but i hope to see you all there. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, all. this concludes the press conference. members of our team will be available to talk right off stage here. so thank you for being out here today. [applause]

>> clerk: can you please rise for the pledge of allegiance. [pledge of allegiance] >> clerk: commissioner mazzucco, i'd like to call roll. >> commissioner mazzucco: please do. [roll call] >>