tv Government Access Programming SFGTV October 1, 2018 10:00pm-11:01pm PDT
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hire full-time employees to maintain our vehicles and keep the fleet charged. our comprehensive jobs programs hires and internally trains workers to become mechanics. we offer opportunities for career advancement and generous benefits. to date, over 50,000 members, vast majority of whom live in san francisco, have ridden more than 5 million miles of safe, affordable, reliable, and green transportation. scoot requires every rider to pass a training and safety program that's available for free in person or other line. in addition, each motor scooter comes with two helmets for the rider's use. scoot's got a proven record of working collaboratively with the city and m.t.a. in particular. together we created the first shared moped permit of its kind anywhere. we're grateful to be one of two companies chosen to participate
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in the kick scooter pilot program. as stated in our application, we intend to build on our success by offering another mode of transportation that's affordable, safe, clean, fun, accessibility, and it follows the rules. thanks very much. >> supervisor safai: doug, before you leave, i just want to ask a question. >> yep. >> supervisor safai: have you been in the scooter business? -- has scoot ever had scootered -- >> the little kick scooters? we have not. we operate the electric scooters, the electric bicycles -- >> >> supervisor safai: no, i just want to know if you had done that. sure. >> supervisor safai: next speaker. >> good evening, speakers. i'm vice president of local 665 in san francisco. all along, we said that we think it's important that sfmta
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require labor harmony for the scooters just like it did for the high tech buses. i'm sure you've read the stories about workers chasing down scooters like some sort of bounty hunter and being paid for each one they collect. like most workers in the big economy, they are hired as independent contractors instead of employees. they have no legal right to organize a union, but some did hire workers as employees. they said they were willing to partner with us to create good paying jobs in the un john industry. we're in discussions rights now with scoot and we've also reached out to skip. some of the discussions are promising. we will keep you posted. thank you. >> supervisor safai: thank you. next speaker. >> how you doing. my name's larry spiller in the western addition, fillmore district. in terms of working with the
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community lime is the only scooter company who came out to hutch and put people to work, these 40 people that i can think of in the western addition. they went to the bayview and put 20 more to work. during that process, they got more than just one item on the table here. they've got the e-bike that they're not being able to put out on the road, and they have the regular bike they're not being able to put out on the record because they've been denied to operate. and these jobs they're taking away from the western addition are hurting households, seriously. and people need the income. and if you would support lime and let them operate, they could get their e-bikes back in, and there would be more jobs in the western addition that we've been forgotten about. lime's the only company that
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reached out to us. not scoot and the other companies, but lime. i'm through. have a good one. >> supervisor safai: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is sam did evore. we've been having meetings with lime, and they've introduced themselves and the scooters, and the thing is is that the veterans are very excited about being able to get to work, to learn how to work and maintain these vehicles. they were were rehabilitated that were on drugs, homeless, and having mental issues, and they're getting back their lives. this is really helping them, and i'm just really hoping that you support lime.
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>> supervisor safai: thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is dejeny davis, and i'm here to support lime for this reason. they're the only scooter company or any other company that has approached the two most disen franchised communities in this city. they have approached these communities with jobs, and once they lost their permit, there was 65 jobs lost in these communities. most of those kids that lost jobs, it was the first job they ever had in their life. thank you. >> supervisor safai: next speaker. >> good afternoon. i'm the chief programs officer here at lime. prior to joining lime, i was the director of transportation in seattle, and before that, i was
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the managing deputy commissioner in chicago and d.c. so i have over 15 years of experience managing, running, overseeing public procurement processes? i led bike share procurements in d.c., chicago, and seattle? i developed -- or my deputy developed the nation's first flee floating bike share regulations? when i was in d.c., we developed the first flee floating car share regulations? so i have a long history of examining public procurement processes. what i can tell you is that the process that m.t.a. followed was flawed and clearly biased. i think when you look at the ratings, some of them were
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inexplicable to me and some others. we were rated poor, while companies that had never operated scooters were rated strong. our service area covered the entire city, allowing people to pick up and drof off scooters wherever they wanted? we were rated poor. companies that limits their service area to limits parts of the city were rated strong? we had the most robust community engagement. we had six letters of support from west side best side, young community developers, community collective impact. we reached out to lower polk c.b.d. to try to integrate into their 311 system, and we were rated poor. others were rated strong. one of out competitors was asked for 350 and was awarded 600.
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>> supervisor safai: thank you, sir. thank you. any other speakers want to speak on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor safai: okay. tom, had a bunch of questions. hopefully, i won't cross the line, deputy city attorney jon givner. okay. so if you go back to your table presented here, this is where a lot of the frustration begins for me. i' i'll just admit i'm frustrated because of the lack of coordination with this body. you came to us and asked us for a permit for unshared scooters. without an ordinance passed by this body, all of the continuing operators would be allowed to continue to operate in san francisco, is that correct? you needed legislation from the
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board of supervisors to halt what was, i guess, arguably a loophole in the system in san francisco, right? >> well, supervisor, my interpretation was this board asked how we could get what was deemed a scooter problem under control. >> supervisor safai: right. you would not be able to regulate the sidewalks or the dumping or putting of these shared power scooters -- i think we established that supervisor peskin put that forward. our body unanimously passed that. and then, we didn't hear from you again. you created a program and a permit. did you come back to this body -- did you work with any members of the board of supervisors to create this program? >> so we had a hearing here on the 24, when this body created the program, and one of the things that we heard was that moving quickly to get an
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effective pilot program in place was a high priority for this board. >> supervisor safai: i know that myself -- i know that supervisor peskin asked for technology -- what -- what was -- deputy city attorney givner, there was a reference in there to a conversation that you and i had with supervisor peskin before he left. was it -- >> mr. givner: privacy? >> supervisor safai: privacy, right. is that part of the permit currently? >> yes. all permit -- anybody receiving a permit under this pilot is required to sign onto a privacy policy as part of the terms and conditions of the pilot. >> supervisor safai: okay. so that's good. but this body was not asked to review the -- the proposed permit before it was set out, is that right -- or the proposed application or the criteria, is that right? >> that's right. my understanding was the legislation that you passed unanimously setup the violation but also directed the m.t.a. board to move quickly to create the pilot program. >> supervisor safai: i don't know if it says quickly, but it
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says that there would be a violation and you should create a permit program. it said no one should operate these without a permit program. yes. >> supervisor safai: okay, so you never came back to this body and asked for our input, i would say. was the scoring criteria, was the structure in which everyone would be able to apply for these, was this published in advance? did you promulgate how these would be listed? >> yes. it showed up in division two of the transportation code which the m.t.a. made when it created the pilot program in april, so the m.t.a. board's legislation specifically refers to some of the issues around safety and equity. secondly, the application itself includes required responses from any of these criteria.
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and thirdly, there are the emerging principles which were passed by our board and the transportation authority. >> supervisor safai: did you put the criteria in advance? was it promulgated this is how many categories you're going to be judged on, this is how much weight each one is going to have. was that's put out in advance of the application? >> the criteria we put in the application, it's a good question about the weight. we did not publish -- this was not a procurement -- like a request for proposal where we were asking vendors to come in and score five points on this, ten points on this. that were certain issues, like accountability and safety, for which a poor rating would not have been acceptable, no matter how they would have scored on the other criteria. for that reason, we didn't publish a specific criteria, where if you get, like, 26 points out of 50, you get a permit.
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>> supervisor safai: usually, if you've got a permit process, applicants need to know how much weight in each category is going to be given so they understand. i'm -- again, i don't want to get into any specific application. i understand that there's appeals in front of the body. i'm just trying to understand the larger framework on which -- so we've established that we setup the ability for you to -- for there to be a violation for these to operate without a permit. we said there needed to be a permit. we gave you that authority. you created that application for a permit, but were -- were the criteria published in advance and was there a clear direct on how much weight each category would be given? it sounds like there was not. >> i think we built a pretty good public record of what categories and issues needed to be responded to. we did not give a specific weight or scoring at this time like you asked. >> supervisor safai: okay. another ordinance that we passed was put forward by supervisor yee.
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it was emerging technology. resolution for guiding principle, and the city administrator was asked to put together a working group. did you ask that working group to weigh in on your permit process? did you ask them to review or weigh in at all on the application for this particular permit? >> we did not share the applications. >> supervisor safai: not the application, but what you were putting out as part of the actual application process. did you go to that group and ask them to weigh? >> no, we asked the joint committee of the m.t.a. and t.a. >> supervisor safai: but you didn't go to the emerging technology working group that supervisor yee setup specifically to cover all types and forms of emerging technology? >> we did not review the process with them, no.
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>> supervisor safai: okay. and did you go out to community based organizations or neighborhoods that are currently under served by alternative forms of transportation before you put out your documentation? did you get any input on the actual application for the -- in terms of under served communities? >> yes, we did. we got that input in this chamber on march 24. we got that input on the our -- at our board on april 27. >> did you go out to the community other than the one meeting with our board. did you go out to underserved communities to solicit feedback? >> so m.t.a. staff had met with some community groups in under served communities. for instance, united save the mission. i do not want to suggest that that group or any group has endorsed the process, but we've
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done some of that outreach. >> supervisor safai: okay. so it sounds like the answer to that is no. i had a particular interest in the issue -- one of the speakers spoke about this, some of the companies that were operating or some of the practices to some of the companies were to pay to do piece rate in terms of the collection process, and we had asked there to be a labor piece provision. is that included in your permit? >> yes. we've comm we've committed that no scooter permit will go out until the vendor has signed a labor permit. >> supervisor safai: and i guess my land question, i'll hand it over to any other supervisors that want to ask a question -- so your body, there's been some debate, and this might -- there's been some direction given about past practices of companies.
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we've gotten differing results, and i'm only refer to what i've read in the paper, but there's been some confusion about this. as part of your criteria, was it past practices of the business as it pertained to the scooter business or was it past practices of the business in general? >> so actually -- would it be okay if i take a second to quote the transportation board? because the board gave us some specific direction, and i don't want to misstate it. >> supervisor safai: sure. >> so there's a section in the division two changes -- that the division two ordinance that was passed that said in evaluating a permit application, director may consider the extent to which an operator has the capacity to meet the permit terms based on past experience, including compliance with applicable laws and its efforts to ensure compliance with its users with applicable laws. so i -- again, without going too
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far into the how we evaluated specific applications. >> supervisor safai: so that's an existing section of your transportation code. >> no. our board added that to the transportation code to govern the pilot program. >> supervisor safai: when? when did that add that? >> that was on may 1. >> supervisor safai: so your board added that specific language on may 1 as it pertained to this specific application permit. >> it's in the section of the transportation code governing powered shared scooter program, so it applies specifically to this program. >> supervisor safai: can you read it one more time? >> in evaluating a permit application, the director may evaluate an extent based on past experience, including compliance with applicable laws and its efforts to ensure compliance by its users with applicable laws. >> supervisor safai: i don't
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hear anything in there specifically about refining to the scooter. you're saying it's a broad statement of past practices? >> that's -- that's right. >> supervisor safai: and that was authorized by your board. >> that's right. >> supervisor safai: actually, in the beginning of that statement, it says scooter. >> that text appears in the section entitled power scooter share permit issuance. >> supervisor safai: so i'm assuming you would be talking about past practices of shared scooters, not the overall universe of how a company behaved. i don't know. can -- can i have an interpretation from the city attorney on that? it sounds like if it's under a section of power shared scooters in that section of the code --
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>> mr. givner: deputy city attorney jon givner. i agree with mr. mcguire that this is a law that was adopted by the m.t.a. board governing the powered shared scooters program. i am very reluctant, given the timing here of giving this body interpretations of the code. >> supervisor safai: that's fine. that's one we'll leave. it sounds like it could be up to debate. i guess my last question is can you talk a little bit about there's this conversation about five permits were authorized by your body, but you chose to only issue two. can you talk about that? >> right. so our board gave us the ability to issue anywhere from zero to five permits with a total cap of up to -- >> supervisor safai: when you say up to five, would might not
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have issued any permits? >> we met with most of the applicants in the permitting process, and so we were given that latitude by our board and told to make sure that we offered the permitted to the applicants -- permits to the applicants who scored the highest. >> supervisor safai: so why only two? why didn't you issue all the way up to five? >> maybe i'll just answer that question generally. >> supervisor safai: yeah. >> in the matrix, our scoring sid that there were clearly two that out scored the rest. and as a result, we thought that issues those two permits to the
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applicants that made the strongest showing would deliver the best service. >> supervisor safai: were there any other agencies that were involved in the evaluation process? who was involved in the evaluation -- was it just completely m.t.a. staff? >> well, obviously, we worked very closely with our city attorney, and as i said, we're building on the principles that were developed jointly with the transportation authority staff. [inaudible] >> we also got feedback from the department of the environment. we worked with the department of public works to make sure that we were equipped for, you know, the potential confeiscation issues, and we have consulted with the police department, as well.
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>> supervisor safai: okay. i'll hand it over to supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: so a couple of things that i wanted to say, and it's a little distinct from supervisor safai that i was actually very impressed how quickly you crafted a permit program and how quickly you are now issues them. getting r.p.'s out that we approved on june 30 sometimes don't get out until april of the following year. i just wanted to congratulate the board and the staff for moving so quickly. i'm very impressed that we are ready to issue permits on october 15. i do want to clarify that while the ordinance that this board unanimously passed gave sfmta the ability to permit these
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types of scooters, the department of public works already had the authority to remove these unpermitted scooters. and so even though m.t.a. didn't have that ability to permit them -- not permit them, we already had a city agency that was removing them under our current code, and that was the conflict that we were trying to address for. so there was no ability for the city to legally permit these scooters that city was just picking up because they were clutter on our sidewalk. so i think that's really important to note, that this process had to happen, that we couldn't just have these scooters out there because they would get cleared out by the city, by a different agency. there is a different type of hearing partly because this board of supervisors pursuant to the city charter doesn't have
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authority to make decisions around contracting. mr. givner, i was hoping you could clarify the roles of the different branchs via contracts. >> mr. givner: deputy city attorney jon givner. the board of supervisors does have the authority to review and approve the sfmta's contracts that exceed $10 million or 10 years or bring in $1 million of revenue. but a permitting program like this is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the m.t.a., so that the m.t.a. board plays the role that the board of supervisors would otherwise play adopting the program. and the m.t.a. staff has authority to implement the program. and the board of supervisors because of its separate role from the m.t.a. under the chatter doesn't have decision making authority on either
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front. >> supervisor kim: i do just want to say because there are these clear authorizations of power, i don't think it's -- it is just a very awkward hearing because while i'd love to given put to you on what i'd like you to consider, i don't want to provide input on who you finally select or how many you select. i feel like that's a distinguishing line, and maybe that's just more of what's culturally appropriate versus what is permissible. i just want to say a couple of things. i did look up that article after one of the members of the public talked about kind of what is happening in other cities with this gig economy job through many of these e-scooters, and i read the atlantic article and i was disturbed to see what type
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of -- i do think it's our best interest to ensure that all of these workers are city employees versus outside contractors. let's create real jobs with benefits for employees. i've always said when i get these great economic studies on how many jobs we're creating or not creating that i would rather create 100 good paying jobs with benefits than 300 jobs barely paying minimum wage.
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i appreciate mr. walsh's statements that scoot hires all of its employees in house, ensuring that they get the compensation and benefits that all their employees do. by the way, i know scoot also runs the moped program, and i do think they run a great program. not commenting on who you should award contracts to, but that's just my comment, to the best of sfmta's ability that we should be encouraging these businesses to be providing about benefits. again, i just want to thank you for moving so quickly. there's clearly -- you heard a lot from members of the public that they'd like to see us pilot this program and see if it works, and if it can be a last mile connector, and see if it
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gets people out of private vehicles, including uber and lyft. i think the public's out on that still actually. i'm personally open to public biking rather than scoots, but i78 i'm open to see what's happening. but i just wanted to comment thus far. >> supervisor safai: thank you, supervisor. are you going to say something, supervisor tang? so i just want to come back to an important point, and i always appreciate the conversation and debates that we have and in this chamber. normally, supervisor kim and i are in agreement. but on this one particular point, i am not in agreement because i hail from a part of san francisco and live in a part of san francisco that is dramatically underserved by emerging technologies. the way sometimes speed can help in the way rerowe roll out prog,
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and yes, there's been a lot of debate on speed and how quickly we can get them out. but in our neighborhood that has not been served by this, it would benefit to have community input in this process, and that is what is frustrating to me. there is a lot of areas in my district that would be greatly served by this. so if we would have been asked to have input in this process, i would have said let's ensure that one of the criteria for selection would be that there's going to be a robust and well laid out plan to serve and employ -- to your point, supervisor, because i care deeply about it not being piece rate employment, and that's what i care about, when people are paid by the number of items or individual units that they produce for a company. i do think that that is important, and i appreciate the fact that you're saying that there is going to be a labor provision. but in terms of the creation, it
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is important, because if we had had an opportunity or if the public had had an opportunity to have input in the overall process, there might have been a slightly different criteria, and that rite real estate could have been weighted, people could have weighed in. it might have slowed the process down slightly, but we might have had a different result. ultimately, the selection is your body's job. but i do want to end on another point, that this body went through the process -- through or legislative process to create a conversation, and we were very close to going to the ballot to have a different process that this legislative body could be involved in and influence and have more say over the transportation process and transportation policy in san francisco. i've only been on this body for 1.5 years.
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i know supervisor kim's in her eighth year, and i'm going on finishing up my second. but there is no agency that we receive more complaints, inquiries, advice, suggestions, than the sfmta -- in my opinion. and it is frustrating beyond belief to have to say we are bound by the charter, we have no influence and input in the policy making. so i -- i am going to continue to hit that point. i think it's an important point. i think the citizens in san francisco deserve to be involved in that conversation and need to understand that it's not just five members of a body that are appointed on a four-year term that have the decision over policy power in this city. i know you saw yesterday in the paper, paris came out and is rolling out powered scooter. they're not limiting the number. they're offering as many permits as they can, and i would argue
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they're leaps and bounds above san francisco in terms of providing a world class transportation system. we are making a lot of progress. this is not to undercut or undermine or demoralize anything that you are doing. i know that we have made a lot of progress, but i am using that as an example to say that is a world class transportation -- you can go to any neighborhood in paris, underground, above ground, and they're still not limiting the number of companies that can be involved in that delivery system. what i care ultimately about is delivering a system in san francisco that will serve the citizens of san francisco in the best way possible. so i don't have any other comments. i don't -- i would just say i will follow with up you all with my additional concerns, but this is what i wanted to layout today. >> supervisor tang: thank you. supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: i just want to say that i agree with
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supervisor safai, that there should be robust community outreach in terms of a permitting process. i didn't mean to say that -- >> supervisor safai: oh, no, i figured you do. i know you care deeply about that. >> supervisor tang: all right, colleagues, questions, comments? do you have anymore. >> supervisor safai: did you want to say something? >> supervisor tang: sno. i have comments around bike share versus scooter share, but save that for another day. we've been here many hours now. what would you like to do with the hearing? >> supervisor safai: we can file the hearing -- tapping tang okay. so we will file the hearing, and we'll do that without objection. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor tang: all right. madam clerk, is there anything further before us today? >>clerk: there's nothing further before us today. >> supervisor tang: all right. thank you. we are adjourned.
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>> the office of controllers whistle blower program is how city employees and recipient sound the alarm an fraud address wait in city government charitable complaints results in investigation that improves the efficiency of city government that. >> you can below the what if anything, by assess though the club program website arrest call 4147 or 311 and stating you wishing to file and complaint point controller's office the charitable program also accepts complaints by e-mail or 0 folk you can file a complaint or
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provide contact information seen by whistle blower investigates some examples of issues to be recorded to the whistle blower program face of misuse of city government money equipment supplies or materials exposure activities by city clez deficiencies the quality and delivery of city government services waste and inefficient government practices when you submit a complaint to the charitable online complaint form you'll receive a unique tracking number that inturgz to detector or determine in investigators need additional information by law the city employee that provide information to the whistle blower program are protected and an employer may not retaliate against an employee that is a whistle blower any
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employee that retaliates against another that employee is subjected up to including submittal employees that retaliate will personal be liable please visit the sf ethics.org and information on reporting retaliation that when fraud is loudly to continue it jeopardizes the level of service that city government can provide in you hear or see any dishelicopter behavior boy an employee please report it to say whistle blower program more information and the whistle blower protections please seek www. >> right before the game starts, if i'm still on the field, i look around, and i just take a deep breath because
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it is so exciting and magical, not knowing what the season holds holds is very, very exciting. it was fast-paced, stressful, but the good kind of stressful, high energy. there was a crowd to entertain, it was overwhelming in a good way, and i really, really enjoyed it. i continued working for the grizzlies for the 2012-2013 season, and out of happenstance, the same job opened up for the san francisco giants. i applied, not knowing if i would get it, but i would kick myself if i didn't apply. i was so nervous, i never lived anywhere outside of fridays
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know, andfridays -- fresno, and i got an interview. and then, i got a second interview, and i got more nervous because know the thought of leaving fresno and my family and friends was scary, but this opportunity was on the other side. but i had to try, and lo and behold, i got the job, and my first day was january 14, 2014. every game day was a puzzle, and i have to figure out how to put the pieces together. i have two features that are 30 seconds long or a minute and a 30 feature. it's fun to put that altogetl r together and then lay that out in a way that is entertaining for the fans. a lucky seat there and there, and then, some lucky games that include players. and then i'll talk to lucille, can you take the shirt gun to the bleachers.
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i just organize it from top to bottom, and it's just fun for me. something, we don't know how it's going to go, and it can be a huge hit, but you've got to try it. or if it fails, you just won't do it again. or you tweak it. when that all pans out, you go oh, we did that. we did that as a team. i have a great team. we all gel well together. it keeps the show going. the fans are here to see the teams, but also to be entertained, and that's our job. i have wonderful female role models that i look up to here at the giants, and they've been great mentors for me, so i aspire to be like them one day. renelle is the best. she's all about women in the workforce, she's always in our
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corner. [applause] >> i enjoy how progressive the giants are. we have had the longer running until they secure day. we've been doing lgbt night longer than most teams. i enjoy that i work for an organization who supports that and is all inclusive. that means a lot to me, and i wouldn't have it any other way. i wasn't sure i was going to get this job, but i went for it, and i got it, and my first season, we won a world series even if we hadn't have won or gone all the way, i still would have learned. i've grown more in the past four years professionally than i think i've grown in my entire adult life, so it's been eye opening and a wonderful
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learning >> i lived in the mission neighborhood for seven years and before that the excel see your district. 20 years a resident of the city and county of san francisco. i am the executive director of a local art space nonprofit that showcases work that relate to the latino community and i have been in this building for seven years and some of my neighbors have been here 30 year. we were notified from the landlord he was going to sell
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the building. when we realized it was happening it was no longer a thought for the landlord and i sort of had a moment of panic. i heard about the small sites program through my work with the mission economic agency and at met with folks from the mayor's housing program because they wanted to utilize the program. we are dealing with families with different needs and capacities. conversations were had early in the morning because that is the only time that all the tenants were in the building and finally when we realized that meda did have the resources to buy the building we went on a letter writing campaign to the landlord and said to him we understand you want to sell your building, we understand what you are
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asking for and you are entitled to it, it's your land, but please work with us. what i love about ber nell height it represents the diversity that made me fall in love with san francisco. we have a lot of mom and pop shops and you can get all your resources within walking distance. my favorite air area of my homes my little small patio where i can start my morning and have my coffee an is a sweet spot for me and i . i >> my name is dave, and i play
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defense. >> my name is mustafa, and i am a midfielder, but right now, i am trying to play as a goalkeeper, because they need a goalkeeper. >> soccer u.s.a. is a nonprofessional organization. we use sports, soccer in particular to engage communities that can benefit from quality programs in order to lift people up, helping to regain a sense of control in one's life. >> the san francisco recreation and park department and street soccer u.s.a. have been partners now for nearly a decade. street soccer shares our mission in using sport as a vehicle for youth development and for reaching people of all ages. rec and park has a team. >> i'm been playing soccer all
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my life. soccer is my life. >> i played in the streets when i was a kid. and i loved soccer back home. i joined street soccer here. it was the best club to join. it helps me out. >> the tenderloin soccer club started in the summer of 2016. we put one of our mini soccer pitches in one of our facilities there. the kids who kpriez the club team came out to utilize that space, and it was beautiful because they used it as an opportunity to express themselves in a place where they were free to do so, and it was a safe space, in a neighborhood that really isn't the most hospitalable to youth -- hospitable to youth playing in the streets. >> one day, i saw the coach and
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my friends because they went there to join the team before me. so i went up to the coach and asked, and they said oh, i've got a soccer team, and i joined, and they said yeah, it was he for everybody, and i joined, and it was the best experience ever. >> a lot of our programs, the kids are in the process of achieving citizenship. it's a pretty lengthy process. >> here, i am the only one with my dad. we were in the housing program, and we are trying to find housing. my sister, she's in my country, so i realize that i have a lot of opportunities here for getting good education to help her, you know? yeah. that's the -- one of the most important things that challenge me. >> my dad was over here, making some money because there was
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not a lot of jobs back home. i came here, finish elementary in san francisco. after that, i used to go back to my country, go to yemen, my country, and then back here. last time i went back was a couple years ago. >> i came here six months, i know nobody. now i have the team has a family, the coaches. amazing. >> i'm hoping for lifelong friendships, and i'm super inspired by what they've been able to achieve and want to continue to grow alongside them. >> i love my family, i love my team. they're just like a family. it's really nice. >> street soccer just received a five year grant from the department of children, youth and family, and this is an important inreflection point for street soccer u.s.a. because their work in our most
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important communities is now known beyond just san francisco recreation and park department, and together, we're going to continue to work with our city's most vulnerable kids and teach them to love the beautiful game. >> i want to tell everybody back home, i hope you all make it over here and join teams like this like street soccer u.s.a., and live your life. get a better life. >> right away, just be patient, and then, everything will be okay. >> it is a great day in the bayview today. the sun is shining. here, on third street attacking the bayview to celebrate the
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opening of an extraordinary business and an extraordinary san franciscan eric my name is joaquin torres. i'm the director of the economic workforce development and a proud partner in this community. and very much i am looking forward to cutting the ribbon today with all of you and to have a moment to introduce our esteemed mayor breed and supervisor cohen. i want to recognize folks who are here today. i want to thank the bayview merchants association, the african-american chamber of commerce, the young community developers, our southeast community facility commissioners , diane gray and lavonne kang. i want to thank d.j. for being here. thank you for being here from down the block. [laughter] >> we have coffee out there for you. renaissance, and economic development on third. and our partners at bay area, local initiatives support corporation, bay area list.
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with that, we will kick it off with our mayor, london breed. [applause] >> mayor breed: thank you everyone for being here today. it is a beautiful day in the bayview and it is a beautiful day to cut the ribbon on this incredible business. i'm sure some of you from back in the day remember the monte carlo. [laughter] >> mayor breed: some frequent visitors of the monte carlo and i know the former owner of the monte carlo, teresa, has joined us here today. i'm grateful she is here to support what we know is going to be a new and incredible addition to the bayview hunter's point community. that is café envy. [applause] >> mayor breed: the owner as café envy track shaft april spears, a.k.a. auntie april, is here with her mom today. she is born and raised in the
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hunter process point community." for ten years ago she opened one of our favourite restaurants in this community. auntie april's has stuck with this community time and time again. instead of using her incredible talents which he learned from her grandmother's kitchen to open a restaurant and other cities and other places in our city, she chose to stick with her community. she chose to invest in the bayview hunter process point community because she truly believes in this community and what we need to do to make sure that people who are part of this community actually have a stake in keeping it the way that it needs to be for the residents of this community. the san francisco -- unfortunately it has suffered a decline in our african-american population. we know that that continues to be a challenge. that is why we are so grateful to april for choosing this
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community to invest in. for choosing to invest in her home. so i don't know about you, but some of you might be familiar with her fried chicken at auntie april his. you may want to get familiar. supervisor cohen and i have had more than our fair share. we continue to support her business and continue to make sure that she is growing and thriving. this second investment in this corridor is proof that she is going to continue to grow and thrive and be an important part of the small business community here in the bayview hunter's point. and part of what made this possible are a number of important things, including open and -- opening s.f. it helps small businesses navigate the crazy and bureaucratic process that exists in city hall. many of you know about that when it comes to small businesses, when it comes to housing, when it comes to a number of things
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in order to get something as simple and incredible as this business open, the city sometimes can be an obstacle. so open s.f. played an important role to navigate the system. the other program that is incredibly important in making sure that this business grows and thrives is the ability to get a liquor license at an affordable price. three state legislation clock we were able to make this possible and make it more affordable because most of you no kak that there is a limit to liquor licenses in san francisco. they can range in the market anywhere from $250,000 and because of our program and because of our ability and our desire to invest in communities like the bayview hunter's point, the liquor license for this establishment was about $15,000. huge. [applause]
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this is the first new liquor license in san francisco in more than 80 years. that is incredible. [applause] >> mayor breed: the other program that has helped in this business is s.f. giants which is a grants that provided assistance with façade improvements. ultimately, we want this business to be a success and provide investments like this provides the opportunity for these businesses to grow and thrive. again, it takes incredible will. it takes a lot of patience. simon siren -- simon siren -- >> mayor breed: it takes good views -- good food. april spears has stepped up to the plate to be this incredible anchor tenant in the bayview hunter's point community and we must support her. thank you april for this incredible step and thank you so much to all of you for being
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here. i want to make sure, especially, if it is your first time here at café envy, it will not be your last, let support the small business and let's make sure that it continues to be here for generations to come. thank you all so much for being here today. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. i want to recognize the captain for joining us today. i want to shout out some of the businesses in the house. luxurious males, -- luxurious males -- males -- nails. >> i hope we are showing you we are doing this today. mayor breed and supervisor cohen , with no further ado, supervisor cohen. >> good morning, community. i was listening to the mayor's remarks and i was reminded and i
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want to call this out. what you have here are the public of the public school system. i went to middle school with april. [siren wails] >> she is a graduate of galileo high school. [laughter] >> of galileo high school. i went to lolo and i want to recognize meghan mitchell who is also a graduate from the san francisco unified school district. today is really significant. what you have is folks who grew up in the community -- communities were standing together and organizing themselves in opening businesses i want to pay homage and pay a tremendous amount of respect to the folks who went before us. they really laid down the rules, as well as a foundation that allows us to stand here today. ms. miss vincent is a regret representative of an entire generation that is transitioning but has passed on very important key community organizing principles, but most importantly
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, the important knowledge of self determination and collective economic growth. when i think of economic growth, i also think about earl shattuck they started an organization, the economic development of third street. at the third street corridor. the mayor's remarks, sheet talk about how people fight and choose to be here in the corridor and that is asked -- absolutely the case. times have changed when people are fearful and they don't want to locate into the bayview. most of the businesses that were recognized by joaquin torres our new businesses. we have laughing bunk, we have anderson's business -- word caée there is a lot of momentum that is happening. so i was one of the people that turned 21 and thought this is one of the first bars and clubs that i went to. [laughter] >> i followed the rules.
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i did not use my fake i.d. they were -- they would put something in the lane here and it was fun. that liveliness and the vibrancy that the bayview was known to have is coming back. it is coming back. i'm excited. it is a new crop of leaders and businesses that are committed. not only are they committed to their own respective businesses but they are committed to the entire community. they are hiring from the community, they are sharing the resources and the money that is generated and staying and capturing in the community. that is critical as we continue to uplift ourselves and move forward. keeping in mind that we leave no one behind. from my perspective as representing district ten for the last eight years, this is a long time coming. it is an exciting celebration. a lot of the hard work and dedication that we put in, hours of community meetings, right?
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hours of community meetings, four, five, six years ago are finally bearing fruit. finally bearing tacos and bearing fried chicken. finally bearing whiskey finally bearing wine and grappa. there are many things that are bearing fruit along this corridor and i'm excited and delighted to be here to see this transformation and rebirth. congratulations to all of them. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much supervisor cohen. as mayor breed and supervisor cohen said, it would not be possible unless you had someone who was willing to make the investments initially in the community and serving the great food, but beyond being an extraordinary entrepreneur, being a great mentor to those who have gone through the women 's program make sure -- making sure folks know it is possible to find opportunity in the city with determination and creativity and extraordinary food. with that, chef spears
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