francisco. >> my name is fwlend hope i would say on at large-scale what

all passionate about is peace in the world. >> it never outdoor 0 me that note everyone will think that is a good i know to be a paefrt. >> one man said i'll upsetting the order of universe i want to do since a good idea not the order of universe but his offered of the universe but the ministry sgan in the room chairing sha harry and grew to be 5 we wanted to preach and teach and act god's love 40

years later i retired having been in the tenderloin most of that 7, 8, 9 some have god drew us into the someplace we became the network ministries for homeless women escaping prostitution if the months period before i performed memorial services store produced women that were murdered on the streets of san francisco so i went back to the board and said we say to do something the number one be a safe place for them to live while he worked on changing 4 months later we were given the building in january of 1998 we opened it as a safe house for women escaping prostitution i've seen those counselors women find their strength and their beauty and

their wisdom and come to be able to affirmative as the daughters of god and they accepted me and made me, be a part of the their lives. >> special things to the women that offered me a chance safe house will forever be a part of the who i've become and you made that possible life didn't get any better than that. >> who've would know this look of this girl grown up in atlanta will be working with produced women in san francisco part of the system that has abused and expedited and obtain identified and degraded women for century around the world and still do at the embody the spirits of women

that just know they deserve respect and intend to get it. >> i don't want to just so women younger women become a part of the the current system we need to change the system we don't need to go up the ladder we need to change the corporations we need more women like that and they're out there. >> we get have to get to help them. >> sustainability mission, even though the bikes are very minimal energy use. it still matters where the

energy comes from and also part of the mission in sustainability is how we run everything, run our business. so having the lights come on with clean energy is important to us as well. we heard about cleanpowersf and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. it was super easy to sign up. our bookkeeper signed up online, it was like 15 minutes. nothing has changed, except now we have cleaner energy. it's an easy way to align your environmental proclivities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it, and it doesn't really add anything to the bill.

let's get started. we've got some ice cream to serve. good afternoon. my name is phil ginsberg, and i am proud to work for the mayor and be part of the one of the best park systems in our country. as president of the rec and park commission, mark buell often notes that victory or success has many parents. today, we celebrate an incredible community and city agency partnership that is

giving this neighborhood what it most deserves, a win. the civic center neighborhood welcomes people from all communities: from little saigon, hard working local merchants, visitors, museum and library goers, to the children who visit our family playground does. if victory has many parents, victory also loves soft ice cream. and if that's true, we have our children to thank. will celeste step forward? celeste drew plans for this playground, and at the end, when

we asked her if it needed anything else, she said... >> soft ice cream. >> soft ice cream. so we owe a huge thanks to the kids of the tenderloin for their mission. all right. we have many people to thank, and a few different speakers, and we're going to get through the program as quickly as we can, but to celebrate with us today is our mayor, london breed. i confess, i don't know her favorite brand of ice cream, but we'll find out. she is here at civic center every day, and it is my great honor to introduce our mayor, london breed. >> the hon. london breed: wow. what an amazing community. thank you all for being here today. we know we face many challenges in our city that i am trying to

address as mayor with so many people that we are addressing today. there is one thing that i am kmipted to doing, and that is making sure that civic center and this area is a safe, fun, and happy place for children and parents alike. so i'm excited for these parks and as someone who's looking for a good place to have lunch and a good place to have lunch close to city hall, i am so excited for birite here. i want to thank captain of the northern station, captain engler, who spends a lot of time here making sure people are safe. i want to thank hunders point families for the work that you continue to do. i spent a lot of time, as some of you know in this area, trying

to address some of the challenges, and i want to thank the homeless outreach team as well as the department of public works, it really does take a village of people to try and help many people that we know are struggling. and part of making sure that you all have an amazing experience at civic center has everything to do with activating this space and keeping it available for everyone. our goal is to make sure that everyone feels welcome in civic center. and so let me tell you two initiatives that were as a result of birite opening here on this corner in san francisco. first of all, birite is going to be partnering with the san francisco libraries, so kids who visit the children's room and a teen room are going to get a sticker where they can basically redeem pieces of fruit.

now i know they were thinking ice cream. it's free pieces of fruit. we're trying to keep you healthy. and let me also say this before i bring up sam, the owner of birite. so when i was supervisor in district five, and birite moved into the divisadero in the neighborhood, in the nopa neighborhood, his company spends so much time working in the community, hiring from the community. they really invested in the community, so when they decided to come to the community, the community welcomed them with open arms, and they became a natural part of the community. this was their second store, after their store in the mission district. we were proud to welcome them here, and they are very much committed to hiring people who live in this community, which i

am so excited about, and they are people of their word because many of the people that they hire in the western addition are still working at birite and in some instances have been promoted. so i just love the fact that they love san francisco and they're committed to making sure that the opportunity here to be in civic center is an opportunity here for all of the residents in civic center. so with that, i'd like to bring up sam to say a few words. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. she said it all, right? there isn't much more that i need to say. i did want to thank you, mayor breed, and phil, and jackie, for everything you did to make this happen. i mean, this has been an extraordinary project. i also want to give a huge thanks to the birite team. you all know who you are. you've all worked so hard, i

couldn't have done you all. i want to thank my wife and our two daughters for putting up with me i am, like, especially excited to have my father and uncle here, along with my mom and my aunt. they started birite in 1964. i reluctantly inherited it back in 1998, and it's become something that's had such a community impact. as a native san franciscan. any other natives out there? yeah. to be here, in front of city hall, in the heart of our city, it's kind of a dream, right? it's -- i'm excited. i'm excited to be partnered with everybody on this project. super excited about the alignment of vision and how

perfectly, you know, our cafe being right here on this corner lines up with our community for food. i saw the impact we had on our community. that block, when i took it over, had storefronts that were covered with metal grates. we took those grates down, and all of a sudden, we saw things happen. 300 jobs are created in that 1800 block of eighth street. things had happening in the divisadero, and that's why i'm excited to be here now. that's the power of good food. it brings people today. it slows us down, it allows us to communicate -- except when your mouth is full, right? i'm excited to feed kids, to partner with this library with

the program that we're going to have with the main library. we're going to continue working with the same businesses that we've worked with the same dozen years in this community, but we can't do it alone. we need you to come back tomorrow, come back the next day, come and hangout, eat, share the love. thank you all. [applause] >> thank you, sam. one other person deserves a very, very, very special acknowledgement before we move onto our next couple of speakers. under president obama, sayery jewel was the secretary of the interior, and she said excellence is the foundation of

education. a heard felt thank you to you, jackie, who serves as the president of her family foundation. for those of you that don't know, it is jackie's gift thats helped us build both these playgrounds and this amazing cafe, but even more is her transformational vision to take a chance on all of this, and for believe in the community, private sector, and public-private partnerships, and using the community for good. thank you so, so, so, so much. if sam could come back up -- jackie, we want you to have this on us. sam, i was going to say your business is just about perfect, but it's missing that. i now want to bring up phil batali representing the trust for public land.

the trust works with us in nine partnership projects across the city over the last decade, their most recent endeavor, partnership with us is this, the new helen diller civic center playground. they have done more for this city than many people know, so i'm proud to bring up phil batali, the senior manager for t.p.l. >> the trust for public land is excited to be here, celebrating with all you partner. at the t.p.l., we make sure that everyone has a quality playground within a ten-minute walk of these playgrounds. over the past several years, we've partnered with the tenderloin and civic center

communities to improve the parks and their densely populated neighborhood. we've heard it through the design and renovation of several playgrounds. the community brought up the idea of having a place for seating and a spot for the community to come together and enjoy a stay in this amazing plaza, and thanks to the generosity of jackie safir and the robinson family foundation, this vision has become a reality. there were many people involved in this project, and i want to give a shout out of thanks. first, i want to give jackie sefir for their vision and creation in the city.

i want to thank phil ginsberg, and i want to thank the trust for public land, our board and our staff, the project manager for this project, who isn't here today but led us with graze and dedication. i want to thank our design team, and the contractors who did the construction as well as the many other consultants and contractors who were involved in this project. i want to thank sam and the entire birite team, and last but not least, i want to thank the community members who were designed in this process. this project isn't the first nor the last that the land project is committed working with the community to improve this public space. we boast new swings, open space,

and not only snacks, but snacks by birite. >> thank you. madam mayor, as you know, under the direction of director bowel, and commissioners francisco and low, san francisco is one of the few cities where every citizen lives within a ten minute walk of the park. the numerous agencies are a part of the success and representing all of them and his own amazing department to talk about health and vibrancy is our fantastic police chief, bill scott. >> thank you, phil. just take a second and take a look behind you. isn't this beautiful? this is really beautiful, and

this is -- this is what san francisco is all about, so first, let me begin by saying thank you to the community. at the san francisco community, we are part of a larger community. we know that, and it is our goal to work among the community and with the community to make transformations like this happen. and i want to give thanks to, first of all, our mayor, mayor london breed. with her leadership, her sense of urgency, we have seen just a tremendous amount of work and collaboration in making this happen. phil ginsberg in rec and park. one of the things with the sfpd and the things that we have to do to keep this city safe is work with other community partnering. this has really changed the game at civic center commons, so phil and your team, thank you for

that. so if you've walked around the area in the last month or so, you've probably noticed some differences. we have committed as a city to really take care of what i believe is the front yard of our city government. this is the front yard of city government. the mayor has made it a top priority, we have made it a top priority, of course, because the mayor made it a top priority. but even with that being said, it takes a community to make this happen. you did see san francisco police officers in tenderloin district that starts right across the street along with a whole host of city departments, department of public health and city housing. department of public health, we know we have to work together to make our city safer, cleaner and really restore of beauty of what this city is all about.

we have to be consistent, persistent, and we're committed to doing that. every time we increase the programming in an area like this, i think we have a better chance of sustaining our ability to make our city shine, and that is what we are committed to do. so i hope everybody's enjoying the beauty of this day. please enjoy it. return, shop at birite. i just met sam for the first time today, and i've got to say, it is just really, really heart are warming and impressive to see all of this come together. i'll speak on behalf of all the men and woman of the san francisco police department. we are so fortunate to be blessed and a part of this wonderful community, so thank you. [applause] >> all right. just a -- a few thank yous, but sam apparently has said that his

soft ice cream server that he hired to come out -- serve -- what's -- what's -- this is birite's newest soft ice cream server. he needed a job. what's your name, sir? ladies and gentlemen, willie brown. all right. some -- there are a lot of thank yous, and we're anxious to raise the curtain, but let me just do a few quick thank yous so the community leaders -- to the community leaders and officials that are here today. i first want to thank -- i know amy cohen, executive director from oewd. tom temprano from supervisor mandelman's office.

frances johnson from assembly member king's office. gary mccould i from nanny pelosi's office. i believe joaquin torres, the director of economic and workforce development is here. thank you to the building of building inspection for keeping our construction on schedule. thank you to hunters count family and downtown -- hunters family and downtown streets team. special thanks to sean roblin who introduced us to roblin construction. and of course i want to acknowledge our staff, lexie sharma, who was our project manager. jackie ho, who was also our project manager. and all the people who keep this park incredibly build, the

c.b.d., too many people to thank, so if i missed you, i apologize. now time is the time for the ceremonial awning raising, so -- oh, supervisor mandelman is here, not to mention tom tamprano. okay. ma'am, we're in the middle of a -- okay. yes. okay. [inaudible] >> right on. okay. so mayor breed, mayor brown, you guys, the most important people here, will you join us, and we are going to count down. credits the y.m.c. after school program from tenderloin community school -- oh, oh, guys, actually, you know what? we're going to do it from over

here because otherwise, that'll kind of hit you in the backside, so let's move it back even a little bit more, guys. come on back, mayor. if you could join us back behind these flowers here because this is actually a big piece of equipment, and we are going to count down. we're five seconds to ice cream. ready? eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. [applause] ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, we

welcome you all to birite civic center, the civic center playground. let's go get some ice cream. go ahead, you guys. >> you're watching quick bite, the show that has san francisco. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> we're here at one of the many food centric districts of san francisco, the 18th street corridor which locals have affectionately dubbed the castro. a cross between castro and gastronomic. the bakery, pizza, and dolores park cafe, there is no end in sight for the mouth watering food options here. adding to the culinary delights is the family of business he which includes skylight creamery, skylight and the 18 raisin. >> skylight market has been here since 1940. it's been in the family since 1964. his father and uncle bought the market and ran it through sam taking it over in 1998. at that point sam revamped the market. he installed a kitchen in the center of the market and really made it a place where chefs

look forward to come. he created community through food. so, we designed our community as having three parts we like to draw as a triangle where it's comprised of our producers that make the food, our staff, those who sell it, and our guests who come and buy and eat the food. and we really feel that we wouldn't exist if it weren't for all three of those components who really support each other. and that's kind of what we work towards every day. >> valley creamery was opened in 2006. the two pastry chefs who started it, chris hoover and walker who is sam's wife, supplied all the pastries and bakeries for the market. they found a space on the block to do that and the ice cream kind of came as an afterthought. they realized the desire for

ice cream and we now have lines around the corner. so, that's been a huge success. in 2008, sam started 18 reasons, which is our community and event space where we do five events a week all around the idea of bringling people closer to where the food comes from and closer to each other in that process. >> 18 reasons was started almost four years ago as an educational arm of their work. and we would have dinners and a few classes and we understood there what momentum that people wanted this type of engagement and education in a way that allowed for a more in-depth conversation. we grew and now we offer -- i think we had nine, we have a series where adults learned home cooking and we did a teacher training workshop where san francisco unified public school teachers came and learned to use cooking for the core standards. we range all over the place.

we really want everyone to feel like they can be included in the conversation. a lot of organizations i think which say we're going to teach cooking or we're going to teach gardening, or we're going to get in the policy side of the food from conversation. we say all of that is connected and we want to provide a place that feels really community oriented where you can be interested in multiple of those things or one of those things and have an entree point to meet people. we want to build community and we're using food as a means to that end. >> we have a wonderful organization to be involved with obviously coming from buy right where really everyone is treated very much like family. coming into 18 reasons which even more community focused is such a treat. we have these events in the evening and we really try and bring people together. people come in in groups, meet friends that they didn't even know they had before. our whole set up is focused on communal table. you can sit across from someone

and start a conversation. we're excited about that. >> i never worked in catering or food service before. it's been really fun learning about where things are coming from, where things are served from. >> it is getting really popular. she's a wonderful teacher and i think it is a perfect match for us. it is not about home cooking. it's really about how to facilitate your ease in the kitchen so you can just cook. >> i have always loved eating food. for me, i love that it brings me into contact with so many wonderful people. ultimately all of my work that i do intersects at the place where food and community is. classes or cooking dinner for someone or writing about food. it always come down to empowering people and giving them a wonderful experience. empower their want to be around people and all the values and reasons the commitment, community and places, we're

offering a whole spectrum of offerings and other really wide range of places to show that good food is not only for wealthy people and they are super committed to accessibility and to giving people a glimpse of the beauty that really is available to all of us that sometimes we forget in our day to day running around. >> we have such a philosophical mission around bringing people together around food. it's so natural for me to come here. >> we want them to walk away feeling like they have the tools to make change in their lives. whether that change is voting on an issue in a way that they will really confident about, or that change is how to understand why it is important to support our small farmers. each class has a different purpose, but what we hope is that when people leave here they understand how to achieve

that goal and feel that they have the resources necessary to do that. >> are you inspired? maybe you want to learn how to have a patch in your backyard or cook better with fresh ingredients . or grab a quick bite with organic goodies. find out more about 18 reasons by going to 18 reasons.org and learn about buy right market and creamery by going to buy right market.com. and don't forget to check out our blog for more info on many of our episodes at sf quick bites.com. until next time, may the fork be with you. ♪ ♪ >> so chocolaty. mm. ♪ >> oh, this is awesome. oh, sorry. i thought we were done rolling.

♪ >> let's talk a little bit about the format and get this party started. all right. after you make your opening statements, i have two little bags. my little bags. the questions have been divided into, how will you get it done? and working with the community? you all have had these questions in advance, most of them. so they shouldn't be a surprise to you. but each candidate will be asked one question and a different question at a time, okay? and we'll go through the questions. if we run out of questions, we'll recycle, all right? [laughter] all right.