to all the side effects that the cancer caused. now i wouldn't be able to work two jobs because physically, my body had suffered in the negative side effects of the treatment, but i feel the stress, thinking what will happen if marriott doesn't sign the contract? how will i be able to pay my medical expenses, my rent, bills, and food? this is why i'm asking marriott please think of all the people that depends on our medical insurance. i have worked for 20 years at the marriott hotel, and i'm just asking please sign our contract. thank you. >> supervisor yee: thank you. next speaker. just come on up. next speaker. >> good afternoon, everyone.

my name is rebecca. i have been working at the marriott marquis for 18 years, and i also have been working at the st. regis hotel for 13 years. so far, most of the workers you have heard earlier talk about their term stories. i, on the other hand -- personal stories. i, on the other hand, will not do it. marriott is now the biggest hotel chain in the world, and it's largely because of its employees, us. we have made billions from marriott. some of you might not know marriott's philosophy: take care of your employees, and they will take care of your guests. it's why marriott has 6,300 locations all over the world, but why we on the street now?

we are on the street because marriott has neglected to take care of us. we are now bullied by the same company we have made -- helped build. now we are left with no choice but to fight for justice and our rights. we are just asking for what we deserve. marriott, please. abide by your own philosophy. take care of your employees, and we will take care of your guests. sign the contract now. thank you. >> hello. my name is gloria. i have been working at the westin hotel for 41 years. y i have seen many changes in the hotel industry, especially in how's keeping department --

housekeeping department, the green choice, they call it. it's a very, very dirty program. the green choice, it means to save the environment for the blue planet. they don't follow that. they should go to another planet. but it doesn't -- but it does the opposite. it forces workers to use more chemicals in every refused room, we, the room of cleaners, stay at home with no pay. the company save more money. the company makes billions in profit every year, and we stay at home? that is unfair. and with no pay, that is unfair. and if they call us to go to work, we, the room cleaners get

paid $23 and no cents an hour, and with no workload added on our backs. i see workers getting injured more and more every year. what we need is wage increase, job security, pension for any retirement, pension for my retirement especially, because i'm getting up to there. we want respect from the managers. our time is valuable. we need to stop working two jobs to survive, especially here. one job should be enough, and that's my number one comment. thank you. >> good afternoon. i work in san francisco since

1984, almost 35 years. i have my kid sitting on the desk like this. we want them to be lawyers, in politics, doctors. i thinking about the bread and butter, how can i send them to college. my daughter born with a preexisting heart condition, but i send her to the law school, and she already passed the law test, but i'm thinking she has to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for student especialloa. you should hear more things other than one job should be enough. if i can't pay my daughter's student loan -- i would like to see my daughter sitting here. she -- she went for the halloween -- i'm not just saying

for her to make it popular, i'm just saying how much we want the people to sit like you guys. this year, if they're going hundred years back, you -- marriott will buy hotel all over the world. if i had two houses, i would sell one house to take care of my family. they don't do that. they say one family, one company, one vision. they don't sell the other house to take care of it. one day, i think i'm going to have to live in the garage and rent the house, so i can survive the bread and butter. you better listen to me.

>> supervisor yee: thank you very much. thank you. thank you. [inaudible] >> supervisor yee: thank you very much. thank you. [inaudible] >> supervisor yee: next speaker. [inaudible] >> hello, everyone. my name is serg morales. i work at marriott hotel. for me, one job to be enough because it take all my time. 16 hours a day, i don't have time to play with my daughter.

at midnight, when i go, i wake up my daughter to play with her, let's go an hour every day. we do this because our families, and we cannot spend time with them. that's the truth. one job should be enough. [applause] >> supervisor yee: next speaker. >> good afternoon, all supervisors. my name is yu lee. i'm room attendant. i want to show you some -- how hard is my job. [speaking native language]

>> i want to talk something very painful story about the room attendants. actually, as far as i know,

my -- my team has a 14-a staff, but they always will have to work injuries in the workplace. they always will have the back, leg, and hand injuries because of the -- in the workplaces, and we usually work in hours -- sometimes eight hours a day, and we also have multiple things to deal with for a day, as well. there's many -- always, it's sensitive, so many times, it's painful for us to handle those type of jobs.

[speaking native language] >> so 80% of our colleagues are immigrants, and because of the language barriers, most of us cannot work fog the very relaxing jobs or very -- work for the very relaxing jobs or very casual jobs. most of the work is very hard for us, but we don't have any

choices. and -- but you know what? we are here, and we want you guys' support. and to be honest, we do not want to strike, and we do not want to make the noise, and we do not want to interrupt tourism, but that's the reason why we are -- really want you guys to hear our voice and want you guys to support us. >>interpreter: oh, one more thing. [speaking native language] >> supervisor yee: can you

transma translate, and we'll be done. >> yes. marriott makes millions of dollars around the world, and they always tell us how we help to earn them that kind of moneys, so we can't understand how marriott can pay us that kind of moneys. >> supervisor yee: thank you. >> my name is jesse stanton. i'm employed for the city and county of san francisco office of the medical examiner. i'm here in support of the marriott workers, and i'm here to say that the city workers, docto doctors and nurses of 1021 all stand in support. it's telling that the company

couldn't be bothered to send a single representative, so i hope even with that disappointment that you all will be able somehow to help them understand that it's time for the company to sign the contract so these people can get back to work. thanks. thanks for your time. >> supervisor yee: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is jose zepeda, and i work at the francisco hotels. i'm a banquet server. marriott hasn't been very respectful to the workers. no need to ask. also, to the city, marriott said their goal is to make millions of dollars into their pocket. they don't know the damage they've made, not only to their

workers of the city of san francisco without signing a contract. they say they love their neighbors. their neighbors, they're suffering outside, the business, because of them. but they try to blame on us. they don't want to hear the proposals that we make to them. how much longer it's going to take for them to realize how much damage they make to our family and to the city that they say they love. there's no love if they don't sign a contract. marriott, if you don't sign a contract, we're still going to be there on the street. marriott, if you don't sign, all day, all night, you're going to hear from us. thank you, members of the board

of supervisors for giving us the time to hear our demands. >> supervisor yee: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm david williams, and i'm the president of the west bay chapter seiu 1021, and a member of the san francisco living wage coalition, and i'm here in solidarity of all the workers and the striking workers of the marriott. i think you've heard wonderful and moving stories from them today. i only hope this board can big o out -- figure out a way to do more than listen to this either. i'm hoping you can either come up with a resolution, come up with a regulation, come up with some way through either negotiations and mediation all

in concert with local 2 and the striking workers to work with them and bring the strike to a positive resolution on behalf of local 2. thanks. >> supervisor yee: thank you. next speaker. >> i wasn't going to come and say anything. in fact, i didn't even want to strike. i told my employers that i appreciated them x allow them very much for allowing me to work with the company, and so i've only been here a year, and i've learned a lot, and i've met some incredibly wonderful people that i met, some friends, and they've been here 20, 30 -- some

ten -- it's all over ten. when they tell me how long they've been here, i shrink. i'm going to stay in the corner until i get my years up. but when the strike came, i told my employers that i didn't want to do it because i didn't feel like it was -- you know, i have really no say. and i worked for the city, for d.p.w., where i've cleaned this building, all the way up to larkin. i've seen all of the dirt, and i understand because a lot of those people who are out there are my age or around my age. they're not old veterans or people who are just dieing, they're young people out there. they're very discouraged about working and just even -- because they know it's not going to get them nowhere. the rages that they make, the rent has sky rocketed through the roof. i just seen -- i don't remember what his name is, but he is a representative, and i said this wonderfully incredible speech

about how we were doing with the company, and we were the best this year. and d.p.w. said, just straight work. it's good when you can have fun and enjoy your work. that's what makes the work even better, but now, all of a sudden, i'm hearing three hour shifts, and we have to pay for this and that. i'm hearing how much money you all are making, you're international, china, africa. you guys are everywhere. we're just asking for wages. >> supervisor yee: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> when i decide to work, i never thought we are on this track. so right now, we are on -- on this strike.

so right now, we are on this strike one month because marriott never respect their worker, the person who making benefits. so i just want to say to marriott, sign the contract. thank you. >> supervisor yee: thank you. next speaker. >> hi. my name is fortunato martinez. thank you for having this hearing. i'm a little saddened, but i'm also angry that no one from the marriott corporation has came down to hear our voice, but yet, they want to make the money off our blood, our sweat, our tears, altogether the hours that -- all the hours that we put in from our families. some people come from modesto, stockton. the commute is three hours to and from. but they don't want to hear that. they don't want to look us in the face and say you know what?

i'm sorry you have to do that. i'm sorry that you have to be away from your family. but thank you for your sacrifices so i can sit in my office and get a bonus at the end of the year. i want to thank you guys for having the hearing, and i want to thank you for hearing us, but for marriott -- for no one from marriott to be here and to hear us is a slap in my face. and the city, and the county -- you know what? we'll take your money. we'll take whatever we can from you, but whatever you're going to give back, you know what? whatever you guys need from us, from all of us, we're going to stand behind you, because you're going to fight for us, and we're going to fight for you. we live in the same city -- me and my girlfriend, i'm never going to buy a house, probably, and i'm 50 years old. thank you very much. i've been thrown out of worse places than this, so i'm going

to leave now. >> supervisor yee: thank you. next speaker. >> two days in a row. good afternoon. my name is olga miranda. i'm the president of seiu local 87. my other hat is there is the treasurer of the san francisco labor counsel, and i've been on the picket line, i've gotten arrested with a few of you supervisors, and i just want to start out, it's very hypocritical for a company like marriott to have hashtag, the golden rule, how you treat everybody the way you want to be treated, this is not a way san francisco should allow marriott to treat any of the workers. for me, we are -- our union, and i'm here today to be able to speak on behalf of our janitors,

carpenters, within our universe of organized labors. these are the same families, and that's how personal it is for every single one of us. i applaud you for sitting here and listening to all of the families affected, but it's not just a little bubble they're in. it's everybody's household here in san francisco and across the bay. i hope that all of you supervisors are taking this personally. these are not the values that we're always on camera and fighting for, that this is how people should be treated. i ask every one of you to send a letter to courtyard -- to marriott overall and say settle the strike and stop punishing san francisco hotel workers for always taking the stand and leading the fight. thank you. >> supervisor yee: thank you. thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, board of supervisors. my name is jay perschnepny.

i am a bartender at marriott union square. i just need to let you know, being out on the picket lines, something that i've experienced. i've had people come up to me on sutter street tell me that they've been receiving e-mails, come work for marriott. a woman goes oh, no, no, no, let me show you an e-mail. she showed me an e-mail. they're offering $30 for a server. in my hotel, they get paid minimum wage. in fact some of them aren't making $15 an hour. what an insult that is. take that, marriott. >> supervisor yee: are there any other additional speakers? are there any other speakers who would like to address the board

on the special hearing committee of the whole? all right. seeing no other speakers, public comment on this item is now closed. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor yee: thank you, colleagues, and are there any closing remarks or recommendations from the members of the committee as a whole to consider? supervisor ronen? >> supervisor ronen: thank you. wow. that was -- that was quite a hearing, and i just -- i wrote some notes while you were speaking, and i just wanted to repeat back some of what i -- what i heard today. young people are discouraged about working 'cause it doesn't get them anymore. i can't get sick because i'm a mother of three children and they won't be able to eat if i get sick. after 20 years, i got breast

cancer, so i could no longer work two jobs, and now, i don't know how i'm going to pay my medical bills. i have one job to pay rent and one job to survive. i have no time for my husband. after five years of marriage, i had to get a roommate because i couldn't afford rent. i wake up my child at midnight when i get home from my second or third job because it's the only time i get a chance to play with her. for marriott not to be here is a slap in my face. this is not okay. this is not okay, and i don't know what we have come to as a society that allows this to be the reality for millions and millions of working people in

this country and in this city. we have lost our way. and what i'm asking marriott to do is to sign the contract. you -- instead of being an embarrassment, instead of insulting us as members of the board of supervisors and your thousands of employees worldwide, you can be a leader, and you can show other companies what it means to actually respect the people that make you a profitable company. and you can give hope to people that working is actually worth it again. you know, for those of us who are lucky enough to only have one job, of which i am one of those people -- i get paid enough as a board of supervisors to not have to work a second job, i know how precious that time is when i get home at the end of the day, and i get to

cook dinner for my child -- she's five years old, and i get to talk to her about her day, and i get to bathe here, and i get to cuddle in bed with her and read her a bedtime story. it's only a couple of hours of day when you're a working person to spend with your kids to begin with. that's what we're forcing thousands and thousands of parents to give up. it's not okay. it's not okay, and it is an absolutely crisis, and we must -- absolute crisis, and we must all join the marriott workers and fight, and fight for them, fight for ourselves, fight for each other to make sure that this is no longer the reality in our country ever again. and i just want to close by saying that one of the workers said this is the most american he's ever felt. i agree.

this is the most american i've ever felt, lirchistening to you watching your strength and your dignity and your resolve and your indignation is the best of this country. and sometimes, i feel a little weird when i pledge the allegiance to the flag because i know how much injustice is happening in this country. but i just want you to know that your testimony today and your fight has made me feel comfortable doing that because you are americans, and you are what we are about, and you are the people that hold the values that we hold so dear as a nation. so i want you to know that i am 100% with you. i will be on that picket line with you until you win. i will be writing letters, i will be calling, i will be raising awareness, and i am so humbled by all of you, and thank you so much for this beautiful

hearing today. >> supervisor yee: thank you. [applause] >> supervisor yee: so are there any other supervisors that would like to make last comments? if not, i'd like to say that i want to thank everyone who came out today and made public comment on this item. and certainly, i want to thank the hundreds of others that came out and wasn't able to or wanting to make the comments in public but i'm sure their comments are similar to what we've heard today. thank you, supervisor ronen, for basically summarizing the comments that we all heard. i think it's important for us to hear that over and over again because what we heard today are comments made by the backbone of what makes the city run and

tick. without workers to do this type of work, we wouldn't be a city, and certainly, we wouldn't be the city that we know it as. and certainly, we wouldn't see a whole lot of tourists coming in here without these workers. so for me, for the sake of the workers, for the sake of the name of the marriott corporation, and for the sake of all those people that want to come and appreciate, we -- the marriott corporation needs to step up. they need to be the leaders -- they are the biggest hotel corporation in san francisco. then they need to either step up as a leader, or i just realized, we haven't looked at the hotel tax for a long time. i'm willing to look at it and maybe help those hotels pay for some of the things that the workers are not getting. you know, people are -- people

are struggling in san francisco, and we all know that. and we want the marriott to show that they care, care about the people in san francisco, and help these people that are helping them make their fortune, to make their fortune so they can live in san francisco. we're all busy, and in particular now until tuesday. after tuesday, we hope that this thing is settled. if not, i will, and many of you, my colleagues, will join the workers out there in the picket line. thank you very much. [applause] >> supervisor yee: so what i'd like to do now is thank the colleagues, the committee -- i didn't see it. supervisor fewer, i didn't see your name. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. i just wanted to also say to the

workers, thank you for coming out today. i think it was very hard testimony to hear because i think each one of us knows that behind every voice, every story, there are 100 people who have a very similar story and are struggling to stay here, and many of them are workers like you who every day are serving the people of san francisco. and the idea that your jobs are so hard that you are cleaning the luxury hotels for the guests of san francisco and to make our city such a tourist attraction, and that you should have to go on strike for some basic needs such as health care. i think this speaks larger to what is happening in san francisco, but even larger to what is happening in our country. and i also hope that they will

sign the agreement and give you a contract. i know after being a member of local 2, i know how important a good contract is to you, and not only you, the workers, but also the united states. labor is under attack nationwide, and under this administration, we are seeing a much larger separation of wealth in this country, and i just think that the working poor, or the moderate wage workers, you guys are up against a big battle, but we're behind you, and we hear you. and i think today your voices were loud and clear, and one job should be enough. [applause] >> supervisor yee: supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: yes, thank you, supervisor yee. and i want to thank my colleague, supervisor ronen, for

calling this hearing. i just want to speak briefly. i want to thank you for coming out. definitely heard you, and i absolutely agree, one job should be enough. to the parents out there, i, too, am a mom with two kids. i heard what supervisor ronen mentioned, and it breaks my heart. i just want to say i heard you today, so thank you for coming out. [applause] >> supervisor yee: okay. colleagues, then, without objection, we will now dissolve the committee of the whole and reconvene as the board of supervisors. without objection. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor yee: okay. madam clerk, item number two. >>clerk: mr. chair, we are going to hear and file that public hearing? >> supervisor yee: yes. >>clerk: okay. >> supervisor yee: hopefully, yes. >>clerk: at this time, the public may address the board of supervisors for up to two minutes on subject matter jurisdiction. direct your remarks as a whole

to the board as a whole, not to individual members of the board. if you need interpreter assistance, please utilize twice the amount of time. to display your item on the display, and remove it when you want the image to revert back to the meeting. you may comment on anything you want, but not on the item that we just heard. >> tom gilberti. just a couple of weeks ago, we had another union here. they were losing the gardening jobs. was that sutter health? the following week, a different union came in because they were losing the gardeners, and the next week, they were losing the drivers. it's a rush down to nothing for the people here. a week ago, we had -- who came in a week ago?

the in-home supportive service people. they went up to $17 an hour, but there's no place for them to live. there's no place for the workers here to live. we have to make it so that instead of driving two hours a day, they can live and work in the city. we need to change the fabric right here, right now. thank you. [applause] >> supervisor yee: next speaker. >> thank you, acting president yee. good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the board. my name is winship hillier. on tuesday, i showed you a graph of the mental health filings in san francisco superior court jumping up by a factor of 19 in

one year right after 9-11. these people, these mysterious people, the -- accounting for these 2,000 filings are -- were, i believe adjudicated incompetent to stand trial. penal code 67, i think, and following. this is a back door commitment route, as i've said before. this is a way of ordering people into involuntary psychiatric treatment when they do not meet the criteria for lanterman-petra-short. this is a back door commitment route. it's been historically abused, and credibly. people have been shoved into treatment, involuntary treatment on the basis of jaywalking. for years, i have been in involuntary treatment for over a

decade on an unknown charge. now this is being used, and if sfgovt.-v, could you focus on the laptop -- and in case anybody forgets, this is a huge sea change. these are invisible people, much like the laborers here, these are people who have never had a trial, these are people who have never had a hearing. these are people who have been subject to ex-parte, in camera proceedings. they cannot even get the records, they cannot get the government to admit that they are demarkated at terrorists, as international terrorists, as agents of a foreign power, and this is a terrible thing. this exposes them to the authorization to use military force back on september 18. back to you, acting president yee. >> supervisor yee: any other speakers for general public comments? seeing none, public comment is

now closed. and madam clerk, i believe that brings us to the end of our agenda. are there any further businesses before us? >>clerk: no, mr. chair, there is no further business. >> supervisor yee: okay. then special meeting is adjourned.

shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services within our neighborhoods, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> my name is ray behr. i am the owner of chief plus. it's a destination specialty foods store, and it's also a corner grocery store, as well. we call it cheese plus because there's a lot of additions in addition to cheese here. from fresh flowers, to wine, past a, chocolate, our dining area and espresso bar. you can have a casual meeting if you want to. it's a real community gathering

place. what makes little polk unique, i think, first of all, it's a great pedestrian street. there's people out and about all day, meeting this neighbor and coming out and supporting the businesses. the businesses here are almost all exclusively independent owned small businesses. it harkens back to supporting local. polk street doesn't look like anywhere u.s.a. it has its own businesses and personality. we have clothing stores to gallerys, to personal service stores, where you can get your hsus repaired, luggage repaired. there's a music studio across the street. it's raily a diverse and unique offering on this really great street. i think san franciscans should shop local as much as they can because they can discover things that they may not be familiar

with. again, the marketplace is changing, and, you know, you look at a screen, and you click a mouse, and you order something, and it shows up, but to have a tangible experience, to be able to come in to taste things, to see things, to smell things, all those things, it's very important that you do so. >> good morning, everybody. thank you so much for everyone being out here today. of course, the jug shop for welcoming us to this extraordinary celebration that really speaks to a community partnerships and the success of our invested neighborhoods programs and neighborhood economic development here in san francisco. we're very happy to have everyone here with us today. and to kick us off with this commemoration of our polk c.b.d.

is our mayor. >> the hon. london breed: thank you. i'm so excited to be here today. this is the 16th community business district in san francisco. this is what happens when communities come together. businesses, neighbors, and all of you are an example of how we make sure that we keep our city clean, we keep it safe, and we do it all together. i want to thank you and i want to thank suzanne, for her leadership. [applause] for the past three years, really spearheading this effort and getting it through. this was one of the lowest votes that we were able to get through the board of supervisors when you had the folks who were the property owners here vote to move this thing forward and i am just so glad it passed. it's going to make a difference. those folks who were not necessarily supportive, they're going to be happy with the results too.

i can't wait until we clean up san francisco. this is helping in our efforts to do so. and so we also will have embassadors and people who are out on the streets. we want the businesses here to grow and to thrive. places like the jug shop, which are a legacy business in san francisco. we have to do everything we can to protect our business community. we announced we will be opening another 1,000 shelter beds by 2020 here in the city and county of san francisco. we know we have a crisis on our hands and we know that we have to make smart investments because we see it on our streets every single day. it's effecting the quality of life. it's effecting the business community. we know that many of the people sadly that are struggling on our streets are experiencing a lot of challenges. and we want to thank you. we want to thank the discovery polk community benefits district for its work and its contributions and being partners in this effort to make sure city safer, to make sure city

cleaner, and we know that there's so much work to do. this process has brought so many businesses together and i am just excited to be here today to sign the legislation that made it possible. this is your victory. we're going to get to work to make san francisco an even better place for each and everyone of us. thank you so much for being here today. [applause] >> thank you, very much, mayor breed. of course, our next speaker is a long-time champion of community benefits. the author of the legislation and help make them possible. supervisor of our district 3, aaron peskin. >> thank you. so this is the 15th community benefit district in san francisco. as i like to say, all of our districts are created equal. district 3 is more equal. why do i say that?

because we have five of the 15 community benefit district. when i first became a supervisor 18 years ago, there was one business improvement district in san francisco. one. the city of berkley had more. san diego had dozens of them and i tred to figure out why was san francisco behind. and the answer actually was because the state law didn't think about places like san francisco, where we had mixed-use neighborhoods. the vibrant communities of polk street, north beach, and so we had to create our own law. that became article 15 of our business and tax regulation code. that began, what has spread all over san francisco. now let me say, it is very rare that people come together to celebrate the fact that they all voted to raise their taxes.

that is exactly what we are doing today. it stays in the community. it does not mean a diminishment of city services. it's services on top. i am very bullish on polk street. it is remarkably a vibrant community. i want to salute the lower polk neighbors and the lower polk c.b.d. which was at the forefront, that gave suzanne and the steering committee the vision that the c.b.d. to be extended in a northerly manner. there's going to be an economy of scale. christian mar tan, who does a remarkable job of running the lower polk c.b.d. is going to be the staff to the middle polk discover polk c.b.d. this makes a ton of sense. larry stringer from our public works department is going to continue -- you are in trouble. it's all good. it's going to continue cleaning your streets and emptying the

trash cannes. thicans.this is a real boone foe city and county of san francisco. i'm delighted. on behalf of all of my colleagues, who the voters passed it by yes, 50.01%, we voted unanimously to allow this c.b.d. to move forward. thank you, mayor breed. this is actually the first time, since mayor breed has become mayor i've been involved in an official signing ceremony and i cannot be more delighted. i want to shout out jaoquin torez and chris corgis who did a remarkable job. [applause] >> they came in and they brought me a list because they knew the election would be tight. they asked me if i knew those people because we needed just one or two more properties to vote yes and i found one guy who i knew, who actually was on the east coast. he said, yes, that is on my

desk. i said, you have until 2:00 on tuesday to get back to the city and county of san francisco, vote that ballot and that is what took us over the top. thank you chris corgis. i want to shout out northern captain joe english ler who has joined us. with that i'll turn it back to jaoquin torez. >> we all know if it wasn't for the hard work of the steering committee, in addition so many community members today, this event today and these resources couldn't be made possible. and it does take leadership, tenacity and commitment and i couldn't think of a person that exemplifies the definition of those words more that dr. suzanne markle-fox who i would like to invite up to speak to us. the director of the steering committee who made this possible. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so the lower polk, the discover polk community. you can tell i'm nervous.

thank you very much to the lower polk community benefit district. it really was not only our fiscal sponsor but also our mentor for all of the process that we went through since may 2015. thank you to debra neman who was another informal mentor. shared her knowledge and experience and we definitely want to follow in her tracks. i'd also like to introduce you to the president of our board, tiffany yang, who is a brilliant young woman who is going to be taking this to the next level. the wonderful thing about this community benefit district is how property owners, neighbors, business owners and the faith community all came together to work on this. it was an amazing experience for me. it really demonstrates the vibrancy of this community. as others have said before me

and will say after i'm sure, that our goals are a cleaner, safer and even more vibrant business community in the discover polk area. thank you, everybody. [applause] >> thank you so much, suzanne. really, congratulations and savor this moment. it really is an anchor for so much incredible work to come. i want to point out, you can sense there's a community here supporting efforts like these. i did want to shout out again, i know exercise peskin and mayor breed also recognized some of the folks from our fellow community benefit districts across the street who have come here to celebrate. it's a strong community of folks who believe in the leadership and the impacts that this work can create across san francisco. christian martin to support these efforts along polk street. deb neman and her work in san francisco for the c.b.d. and

simon bertrand from the tenderloin community benefit are all here to say thank you. congratulations for those who are willing to take on a leadership role to make benefits happen in our communities. but it also takes merchants. as well and their support to make this work happen. so, ray baird supported this benefit district idea early on. providing refreshments at community gatherings. ray, we want to say thank you so much. invite you to come on up and say a few words. >> i'm no politician. i'm not great at doing this. i'm just humble merchants with a beautiful store back here. it's great we have the back drop of my store in the back there. whoever masterminded that did a really great job. thank you to everybody who came out today. there's a lot of sharp-dressed people from the city that are here. i feel a little under dressed. i'm excited for the opportunity

that the c.b.d. brings us. i kind of wanted to relate it to some stories that were in the news recently. there was a horrible story about some crime that happened in the tenderloin and the footage from the cameras that the c.b.d. installed were very beneficial to the police and so i think that's one of the resource that's is going to be of great benefit to us. we need it. i don't want to be a bummer and remind everyone about how hard the streets of san francisco are. we live here and know the reality of that. filmore has beat cops. the news came across, i was watching on the news the next day, we had an incident at the store where we had to call the police out. i talked to the officers and i said, we want beat cops too. they said well you need an advocate to get in there and stand on the throat of the people at city hall and at the captain's office and things like that. so hopefully, what this c.b.d.

promises for us is advocacy for this great community that i'm so happy to be a part of. i'll just wrap it up and i want to say thank you for all the work, all these years. you know what it's like to have to canvas and cold call and do this to grind it out. way to go. [applause] >> that concludes the speaking part of our program. now we're going to do the signing right now. chris, if you can get it set up. i'd like to invite michael from the add cad mow of art academy. suzanne, ray. tiffany, come on up as well. >> we can invite the members of the c.b.d. leadership to come up.

[laughter] >> congratulations! >> congratulations! [applause] - working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge

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- thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco. (music) >> herb theatre,open rehearsal. listen to the rehearsal. i think it is fun for them, they see our work process, our discussions, the decisions we make. it is good for us. we kind of behavior little bit when we have people in the audience. msk (music) >> we are rehearsing for our most expensive tour; plus two

concerts here. we are proud that the growth of the orchestra, and how it is expanded and it is being accepted. my ambition when i came on as music director here -- it was evident we needed absolutely excellent work. also evident to me that i thought everyone should know that. this was my purpose. and after we opened, which was a spectacular opening concert about five weeks after that the economy completely crashed. my plan -- and i'm absolutely dogmatic about my plans --were delayed slightly. i would say that in this very difficult timefor the arts and

everyone, especially the arts, it's phenomenal how new century has grown where many unfortunate organizations have stopped. during this period we got ourselves on national radio presence; we started touring, releasing cds, a dvd. we continue to tour. reputation grows and grows and grows and it has never stopped going forward. msk(music) >> the bay area knows the orchestra. you maybe take things for granted a little bit. that is simply not the case will go on the road. the audiences go crazy. they don't see vitality like this on stage. we are capable of conveying joy