a juvenile defender down in los angeles, and i currently am a juvenile defender here in san francisco, and i also am assistant in overseeing the panel that oversee our youth here. i do want to emphasize that we need an immediate solution, an alternative to the ranch. right now, as we heard earlier, and i think the statistics are important. if we're sending kids to d.j.j., if we look at the old civil grand jury reports from 2011 to 2013, we'll see that the recidivism rate was 80%. if we look at the ranch recidivism rate, it was 14%. we know now that without an alternative, we have an uptick of recommendations to d.j.j. three things that our ranch focused on was the missouri model that came out of the

juvenile justice detention alternative -- [inaudible] >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> thank you. my name is michael whelan, and do juvenile defense work. have been doing so 35 years in three different states. we need to refund log cabin ranch or an alternative asap. it's a very important alternative for kids that are in a certain category but can't go home or go out of state. some of the providers that told you they were unfunded, they need to be funded. they're fabulous providers, in this juvenile justice program. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> i want to say the

politicians have to listen to the youth. and i know you've heard this, i've heard this for 50 years, but we must listen to the youth one minute. and i understand the crowd and all the logistics, but i'm just saying if you want to get involved for real, you've got to listen to these young people. up here, i think we're just moving it along, going through the procedure, but we must listen to the young, we must listen to those who have been there, and we need mental health, and we need log cabin ranch. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> good evening. i'm julie tron, well known to supervisor fewer. also district eight resident and voter. i'm the director of the juvenile association at the bar of san francisco. i bring a group of attorneys to

log cabin ranch on a regular basis. we had a trip planned shortly after the closure occurred. i have a lot to say about the ranch. was it the best program? no. was it a good program? no. it was a good program, not the best program. could it be improved? yes. i think we have to shine a light on the role of the c.b.o.s and how we are providing independence to our judges so that we can make the best possible decisions and the best possibilile placements fo our youth. bar association has stood ready to be a part of this announcement which took place in july. [inaudible] >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is kimberly alberto, and i was formerly

incarcerated. i believe we should have more programs ran by the youth because in the end, we really know what we need. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is michelle lessons. i'm an lcsw and clinical case manager. [inaudible] >> -- i really wanted to speak specifically to the fact that -- or the impact that the referral policies that we have. so much of the work that we've done over the years are with youth that have previously been involved and being able to continue those relationships long-term to help keep them out of trouble and help them find meaningful relationships in their communities is the reason we've seen just a decline in the youth on probation overall.

and i think the continued opportunities for all of these organizations to do that and really meet these youth out in the communities on their terms is what's going to continue making all these young people really successful. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> first thing i wants to say is research has shown that kids thrive when they're in their community and not in detention. right now, we're sending kids out of state to be placed. we have no place locally for our young people that are out-of-home placement or need some mental health care or our young women or young boys that are being trafficked. there is no place locally to place them. we need to redistribute those

beds up at juvenile hall and reconform log cabin ranch for placement for our kids. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm with the mission peace collaborative, and i'm one of the cofounders of the juvenile justice providers association. i want to thank you for this hearing, because you gave equal voice to the community. this gives me hope that the same thing that everyone is saying up here, that we need reform, that we need innovation will happen under your guys's leadership, and i have hope that this will happen. ernl to personally thank you for holding this hearing. i know it was supposed to end a long time ago, but i thank you. i want to thank the judges for coming out, and i want to thank the probation department for listening to the community, and hopefully we can work with the juvenile justice providers association and come up with some solutions for you guys to consider. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you.

next speaker. >> what we need right now immediately is a girl's shelter in san francisco. we have none. we need an alternative to the ranch so that i have an alternative when i believe that structure is important. other than d.j.j., i have no such option right now. mental health services are completely inadequate for our youth right now, and the special needs of unaccompanied minors can be more fully addressed in san francisco. it is more difficult working with them and the needs that

they bring. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. are there any other members of the public who wish to address us during public comment? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor mandelman: supervisor fewer? >> supervisor fewer: well, i just want to thank everyone for coming out today and spending your afternoon and evening with us, and i want to thank chief nance and his staff for a thorough presentation. i have a comment, though, after hearing the presentation from chief nance. so i have to say that i think, chief, that we have seen the juvenile justice model stay the same for over the years and decades, and including, i believe, even when my husband was incarcerated. do you feel that we're adequately serving youth in this system? could they be better served in

the community or a home setting? >> well, again, supervisor few fewer, thank you for the question. i want to punctuate the fact that san francisco, a county over over 800,000 people has barely 14 kids in our system. can we do better? can we do more? absolutely, always, so i'm heartened by the feedback that we heard today from the community agencies, from the young people. we were all -- from my staff, taking copious notes because we value the information. we believe that there is an opportunity to strengthen our

partnerships. we believe that there is an opportunity to reenvision the way community supervision is delivered, and we're committed to working with our community and working with community agencies and our young people to make that happen. so yes, there is more that we can do, and we're open to exploring that. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. and i've heard from several people that there needs to be an immediate alternative to log cabin ranch, and is it true that we have seen an uptick of young people being diverted to d.j.j. since the closing of log cabin ranch? >> two things in what i heard. yes, there needs to be an alternative for log cabin ranch for our young people, and i wish we had more local options for young people. my department as well as statewide, counties are working very feverishly to develop alternative foster care options

in family home settings for young people here in san francisco. and so i agree that we need an alterna alternative. in the interim, we have seen an uptick in the number of commitments to our juvenile hall facility where we have the space and the capacity to keep those young people safe and on the right track academically and therapeutically, but it needs more commitment to a more broad-based program strategy, as well as building out that facility in such a way as to support longer-term commitments in that environment. so i think that in the so short-term, that we have an opportunity to develop an opportunity for young people to have a place to be safe and to continue to -- to thrive and to address the rehabilitative and therapeutic needs that they

have within our juvenile needs facility until such time we can determine whether log cabin ranch will continue to be a viable resource to that population of young people that we serve. as to the question of commitments to the division of juvenile justice -- and i want to be very, very clear about this, san francisco has not increased its number of referrals to the juvenile justice -- the state jufl justice agency since the closure of log cabin ranch. there have been two people that have been committed since that time. when you look at the number of young people that we've committed overall, that number continues to be relatively low. so while there may have been an increase in recommendations coming from probation officers for commitments to log cabin ranch, in view of the -- i'm sorry, the number of commitments to -- recommendations for commitments to the division of juvenile justice, the fact remains that these young people are

receiving either a commitment to juvenile hall or a community based alternative. so the -- >> supervisor mandelman: but it sounds like that's because the public defenders are fighting it. >> no, because the judges recognize what's in the best interest of young people and that we don't give up on young people. while i believe the state facilities have made some significance changes in the state institutions, it's clear across the state, inclusive of what san francisco has developed as the road map, the reduction in the number of young people going to the state institutions continues to be relatively low and flat. and so our officers balances public safety, they balance the needs of these young people, and we also have to be concerned about what is going to happen in their future.

i cannot ignore the fact that when i visit san bruno jail, and i'm on the transitional age youth pod, that five former log cabin ranch youth come to greet me in that environment, and that they are all there as a result of homicide charges. i can't ignore that. and so while i agree that we need to have good models of intervention for young people in san francisco and our juvenile justice system, i don't think we should continue to throw money at a strategy that feels good but doesn't necessarily yield results. >> supervisor mandelman: you find if i ask a question? >> supervisor fewer: no. >> supervisor mandelman: setting aside the log cabin question, i was struck -- and i know this wasn't the issue at hand, but what seems like an overall trend in referrals to

facilities stayed wide, it seems like we since 2008 have gone in the other direction. when do we refer -- i'm new to this. supervisor fewer is the -- the pro on this. but i'm curious about when we refer someone or when we send someone to d.j.j., and why that number would be larger now than in 2008, particularly when it seems like in the rest of the state, it's been going down? >> well i think that first and foremost, the rest of the state was way out of whack with respect to the number of young people they were sending to the state. we were already ahead of the curve, we're talking barely single digit numbers for san francisco. we had two young people that

returned to the community since from d.j.j., and i think we have a total of ten people from san francisco committed to the state institutions. so comparing the practices of san francisco in comparison to what's happening to the rest of the state isn't a good comparison because san francisco had already made the commitment to not send young people to d.j.j. so the small numbers that people are describing today are no comparison to what is happening in the rest of the state. i think the rest of the state is getting to where san francisco is, and they're driving those numbers down. as i stated yes, we need to do better, and we are commit today that. we will ensure that we create different alternatives to young people, that our judges create dispositions that make sense for young people and families.

>> supervisor mandelman: is it feasible that we get to a point that we send no referrals to d.j.j.? >> i think if we do it will be because we have created a strong alternative within the community because again, balancing the public safety risk and also the risk of harm, even to the young people who are out there, engaged in the conduct that they engage in, is something that we have to be concerned about, as well. and sometimes sort of stemming the bleeding, stopping the bleeding is the best thing that we can do in the short-term, recognizing that that shouldn't be the long-term plan for these young people. but if we ignore the fact that some people require secure -- a secure setting in order to focus on the rehabilitateative goals and objectives, i think that we could do more harm than good. >> supervisor mandelman: thank

you. >> supervisor fewer: it just seems, chief, that when we look at the budget, and your budget has increased, but i would imagine it's also some staff costs, also, and the cost of living. but the fact that the incarceration rate has gone so low, i have to say i actually do think that it might be a time to actually reenvision a little about what we can do here. san francisco has always been the city of innovation and other places follow us. and i think because we have such a low count -- and i have to say kudos to everyone working on that. that is remarkable. i remember when it was -- we were saying -- and i have to give kudos to margaret who didn't want a 150 bed facility. >> that's right.

in 2008, we exceeded capacity. >> supervisor fewer: it was shocking. to get it down to this point is remarkable, and it reflects a great level of success. but what i'm hearing, is even with this increased budget, there were increased needs of the youth you were serving and much more case management. it seems what you're looking for today is not only about the individual youth, but is about what their family's experiencing, the homelessness, the, you know, unemployment, all those type of factors that actually play into a young person's life and helped shape to where they are today. or even having a home that you can go back to or whether or not there's not a safe place. and i just think that we are on a cusp now. we have an opportunity with this low incarceration rate, the fact that we've built up 20

years-plus of community-based organizations that have affected how to serve our youth. it's other services, employment, employment for the family, housing, all these other things that are a safety network. i think it is actually time to actually just look at this in a way because it's an opportunity. it's not like we have 150 kids incarcerated, we have 40. this is a time to reenvision what juvenile justice looks like. i have just been hearing from folks about probation officers. i know my husband was incarcerated many, many years ago, but it just seems as though it's kind of the same format of what they do and sort of the function of a probation

officer. and are not our youth maybe looking for something more of m mentorship, of a trusted ally for friendship? and i am just wondering where the room for that is in our juvenile justice system? >> well, i think there's a lot of room for that in our system. much of what we do is statutorily driven with respect to operating a juvenile hall, court services that we provide, community supervision. but we have seen movement towards a different type of engagement, where probation officers are part of a team of individuals inclusive of the young person in the family in problem and decision making. that's a significant shift from

where we were in traditional probation services, looking at the opportunities to partner with our schools and work with alternative schools and strengthen the way probation officers work with those schools to get young people back in the classroom when they've been chronically truant and working toward their high school diploma. we've seen a tremendous shift in the way probation officers work to engage young people in post secondary educational opportunities, getting them into colleges and universities and supporting that. we have probation officers that are visiting -- and social workers, as well, that are visiting young people that are placed out of state as nonminor dependents, and creating opportunities. but where we need more assistance is in some of the mental health programming that was described, some of the substance abuse treatment that young people need.

our transitional age youth need more housing support, they need more housing opportunity so that they he don't add to -- that they don't add to the homelessness prabs that we see in the city. there are a variety of program that's can support at the community level the needs of our young people. and i'm not opposed to looking at different ways for our office and the probation services and probation office to be a part of those solutions. i don't think we need to demonize ourselves in the process. we have much to celebrate in san francisco because we've made tremendous progress, and we believe that the level of commitment from our probation officers, from our juvenile hall counselors and from our log cabin ranch staff is a

contribution to that, and it is part of the partnership that we all experience. and all of the folks that you saw come to the podium today are all contributing to that work. i know that the r.f.p. processes have consequences that are unfavorable, that sometimes there are winners and sometimes there are losers, but that process, as you well know, is designed to make fair and equitiable decisions about who gets funded and who doesn't. and so you heard from some organizations that got defunded through a fair and equitiable process, they were not the most successful bidder. and that's unfortunate, but i don't control that.

and so my commitment to community agencies is no less than it has ever been. it continues to be extremely strong, and i hope that as we move forward and we think about expanding programs and services to meet some of the gaps that we talked about here today, that perhaps there will be an opportunity for some of the providers that we heard from today to continue to be a resource today. >> supervisor fewer: i think, chief nance, i understand the r.f.p. process, also, and you have no control at all, but when you're putting it out to bid, they're putting it out to bid in a framework that's already designed, versus a new framework that's all income passing. if it seems if the -- all

encompassing: what if we resigned it so that c.b.o.s were integrated inside of it, rather externally and sort of design a new model of juvenile justice in our city? i just think because r.f.p. process is designed -- the way it's designed when it's going out to bid is within this certain kind of framework of what we already have. so we have this framework of j.p.d. and c.b.o.s, but it's not about designing something together about holistically looking at what we really need. it may have a different outcome on the r.f.p. process, and we might be looking at something else that makes the whole circle and the best outcomes for our youth today. and so on that note, is dcyf in the room, i'm wondering, maria,

because i know maria does have something over the r.f.p. process, that i wanted to ask maria, if you wouldn't mind looking at maybe alternatives to the model that we currently have. that really does incorporate c.b.o.s together. i think what the chief said is we do have a lot to celebrate, but we're at a point now where we have 40 incarcerated and we have all of those c.b.o.s that we have invested years and years and years in, and they have invested years this their staff meeting the needs of youth and the mental health that we mentioned. like, is there a way that we can provide other alternatives

or needed services? but again, i'm wondering, we probably have to conduct a study or work in conjunction with someone to conduct a study. i think it's exciting that we have within our power here, supervisor, an opportunity to reimagine and redesign. and working on the successes that we've had. >> yes, supervisor fewer, supervisor mandelman. thank you again for calling for this hearing. yes, i hear from our community that this is a mandate, and i'm also hearing from you for us to do something. it is possible for dcyf to

commission -- [inaudible] >> -- around new recommendations for juvenile justice reform. i would be more than happy to look more into that and to forward the recommendations over to the committee here, but if this is something that the committee wants, we would definitely look into working with a consulting firm to start that process, and of course we would do that in partnership with our juvenile probation department as well as our community partners. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. do you concur? thank you very much. because i think we shouldn't be

recommending any youth to d.j.j. in my husband's time, it was c.y.a. and he said sandy, everyone that went to c.y.a. ended up in san quentin. i think in san francisco, especially with this rich array of support, that to lose one person to d.j.j. i think is a travesty. so i think it's great. i also want to commend the chief, that i do think that your willingness to actually look at all sides of this and listen to the c.b.o.s also -- and you're right. it shouldn't be ad --

adversarial at all. i think we have a role to play, each of us, to give our youth the services they deserve. they are the future of san francisco, so we should invest and invest well. thank you very much. i just want to thank -- any other comments? >> supervisor mandelman: well, i guess i have one more question for chief nance. so it sounds like a bad thing if it is, in fact, the case that this new referral process has resulted in one referral. and i was curious if that's true, and you could say a little bit about it. >> sure. absolutely. so the one thing that we can't lose sight of is that when the new contracts came into place, that didn't mean that all the young people that were already receiving services stopped receiving services. those youth were already

committed, already involved in services. and so we would need to take a really detailed look to see which young people we're talking about during this period of time. there aren't a lot of young people that have come through the system during that two or three-month period that we're looking at prior to identifying how many referrals. but again, there is -- there are -- there is such a heavy saturation of programs and services that there's a lot of demand for every single youth. and so -- and as we described, only 30% of the programs that young people are connected to are youth that are served through the justice services realm. so yes, it is very possible that that number is as low as has been reported, but that isn't because young people aren't being served, it is

simply because there aren't enough youth people to sat rate the array of services that we have around us. >> supervisor fewer: but how about those that aren't in the juvenile justice system yet, but the c.b.o.s are preventing them? >> that's a great question. i'm going to ask my colleague to come up and answer that because we've had discussions into expanding into those services. >> all right. so thank you, supervisors, for the question. once again, first, we want to celebrate that there are only 40 young people, which is 40 too many in the juvenile justice system right now. however, what we realize is we actually have a large number of really high quality nonprofit agencies ready to serve young people and to really serve them with really high quality programming. so what we did and what was

mentioned by our jjcpa -- jjpa partners was that two weeks ago c.b.o.s allowed greater flexibility to serve people outside of the juvenile hall. so they are currently able to receive referrals from the schools, from other service providers, from other key stakeholders in the community. >> and i want to acknowledge that that was a joint decision because we were invested in that -- that strategy, as well. i think that now is the time for san francisco to pivot whole -- wholeheartedly and full throatedly into prevention, to focus on keeping young people out of the justice system since we've done such a great job of reducing the number of people in the system, those services can be better utilized. >> supervisor fewer: no

argument here. >> thank you. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: i want to be clear. you're advocating for this to remain in the committee. >> supervisor fewer: yes, at the call of the chairman man at the call of the chair, and to have a report back from dcyf. >> supervisor fewer: yes. bo-i think director sue has indicated she can come back with a study, and i think it's important to have that as a study to discuss. >> supervisor mandelman: to the call of the chair? >> supervisor fewer: yes. i make a motion to have that at the call of the chair. >> could i make a suggestion that we can have a study of services adoptions by our juvenile justice coordinator? >> supervisor fewer: thank you to my colleagues for staying so late. >> supervisor mandelman: thank

you, supervisor fewer. i know yesterday, you had a fever of 102, and so you dragged yourself out of your bed to hear this hearing. we have a motion, without objection. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor mandelman: mr. clerk, do we have anymore items? >> clerk: there's no further business. >> supervisor mandelman: okay. great. then we are adjourned.

>> my name is randy shaw and i'm a director of the tenderloin housing clinic appeared eight years ago, in january of 2011, i realized there was something really wrong with the tenderloin , that we don't have enough lights period people say they don't feel safe in the tenderloin at night, and it is because we don't have streetlights. just coincidentally with that, see pmc was planning on building a new hospital -- cpmc was planning on building a new hospital. and i thought the biggest impact would be all the cars driving up the street to get to the new hospital so that it was really

important for the pedestrian safety of the tenderloin to have more streetlights, so i asked mark aronson, who happens to be here today, a professor at hastings, if his class would do a study analysing the existing streetlights, and here on february 6th, 2011, they did this beautiful ten page study, which became the basis for our request. i also asked a member of the p.u.c., an engineer, for the per light cost, so i could -- took those numbers, and asked the then mayor, ed lee, if you could get us the money from cpmc. we figure the cost of adding lights would be $3 million. so i asked the mayor to ask for $3.5 million figuring there would be some bargaining. they would bargain with us, and i thought well, we asked for

$3.5 million, we are pretty safe to get $3 million. if you know ed lee and how much he loved the tenderloin, he met with cpmc, and he got us $4 million. a million more dollars than it we needed. he said randy, i want to make sure we have enough money. he was smart. so what happened was a board of supervisors approved at all in 2012, but then cpmc had to downsize the project, and it started again in 2014. in 2014, we had a little bit of a conflict with city officials. you see these beautiful teardrop lights qantas everyone like those lights while we are a historic district. we had engineers who said we are not putting in those lights. we are putting in the modern lights because they work better for lu d. we are having an argument on

taylor street of august 2014. and i said to him, let me put it to you this way. mayor lee wants teardrop lights. do you want me to tell the mayor you are not agreeing to what he wants? he did the same thing to mayor breach. you get mayors who really care about the tenderloin like them, in the city bureaucracy starts listening to the neighborhood. that is what happened. it took a very long time. i used to joke about harland kelley at the p.u.c. that whenever he saw me across the street, he knew i would harangue him about the delays. i have e-mails from the staff saying, randy, we are really sorry, but worse case scenario, it is finally going to open in the end of 2015. we finally thought it was going to open earlier in 2018, twice the wrong hardware was delivered , and barbara hale who

is the assistant, since i don't know how this could happen. it is never happened before. twice they sent to the wrong fixtures, were finally, on december 21st, they were installed, and they're all in all the north-south streets, and eddy street, and i think it is all really fitting in perfectly with mayor breed overall strategy for the tenderloin. from the first week she came into her job, she was here on a friday in the tenderloin. in the last 12 months, we have seen more police activity in the tenderloin then we have seen in years. we know it is a mayor who is paying attention. and the police are working hard to, but the mayor, as a team, i want to thank mayor breed for joining us today and for her support for the tenderloin. >> thank you randy. i am really excited to be here today. i know i have only been mayor for a short period of time.

i think throughout the time, i have been in the tenderloin almost every single day. i came out here because first of all, a lot of the folks that i grew up with live out here and spend a lot of time here, and they want their community to be safe too. we have to make sure that the resources that this community needs, so kids can get to school safely, so that folks who live here and especially our senior community, so they feel safe in their community, i want to see him clean streets in the tenderloin, i want to see safe streets and the tenderloin, and i want the people who live here, who spent time here to take care of the tenderloin too. this is an effort that is so critical to the success of this community, and i say yes, community, because there are so many people from so many parts of san francisco that live here, that enjoy this community.

some amazing park space, and part of what our responsibility is is to make sure that the resources that this community needs, they get. that is why this opportunity for lighting, and i know people are thinking, well what is the big deal about lighting? it is a big deal. every community in this city, they want pedestrian lighting. they want teardrop lighting. lighting fixtures that look this beautiful. the tenderloin, we have made it a priority so that this community knows it is a priority , that we are going to continue to make sure that the resources are brought to this community on a regular basis. i want to thank cpmc for their community benefit package that includes funding for not only pedestrian safety like these lights, buffer housing opportunity, for job opportunities, they are a part of the tenderloin community and so they have invested in the tenderloin community.

in addition to all of that, there will be free services and care at the package to take care of the residents of this community. it is absolutely amazing. is a true testament to a real partnership between cpmc and the city and county of san francisco i can't wait to be there in march when we cut the ribbon to open the new hospital on van ness avenue. i also want to thank harland kelly and the guys and gals at p.u.c. for your work. thank you so much for finally getting this job done, because a randy, not only did he harass the mayor at the time, he harassed every mayor of the board of supervisors, and that is why we finally have got it done, and yes, in less bureaucracy years than typical. i also want to thank the san francisco police department. thank you for so much for the officers who continue to walk

the beach and develop relationships with the community on a regular basis. it definitely means a lot to have community policing so that members of our community feel safe when they are walking the streets. thank you to so many folks who are a part of really the driving force. they are the reasons why we, as a city, pay a lot of attention to providing resources to the community, starting with randy shot in the tenderloin housing community clinic, essential safety s.r.o. collaborative, thank you so much. [cheers and applause] >> u.c. hastings, and unite here local two. incredible partners. people who are fighting and advocating for the tenderloin. i have made a commitment as i have said to you all before that we will continue to invest, invest, invest in resources. in fact, many of you heard about the significant amount of money that we actually came into recently. it is a one-time fund, and my proposal with conversations with

so many people here today includes a significant investment, especially in the tenderloin community. make sure that you pick up the phone and call your supervisor and other supervisors to let them know that the tenderloin will get its fair share of resources, and will not be forgotten. we will make it clean and safe for all of the residents and visitors alike. thank you all so much for being here today. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. as the mayor pointed out, the reason we have lights, the money came from cpmc, and one of the interesting things about the experience, there was a whole big narrative about how difficult it was for cpmc to work with certain people in the city, but their representative, from the very first time i met him, he said of course, we want to do streetlights pick whatever it costs, we want to do it.

that is a fact. that is what he said to. it may get him into trouble forgiving us so much money, but he said cpmc wants to increase lighting in the tenderloin. it wasn't like the pole or the fighting, it was great. let me introduce -- i want to make sure i get your name right. pamela kentucky -- kanaki. >> we indeed want to have safer streets in the tenderloin. so as you heard, i am the chief operating officer at cpmc. we have been part of san francisco neighborhoods for over 150 years. we are very excited, as mayor breed said to be opening our new hospital and our new campus just around the corner from here, on march 2nd, less than two months. as a not-for-profit organization , centre health believes in getting -- giving

back to the communities. and these lights that everyone is talking about are one of the ways that we are working with our neighbors, the city, to make our communities better, safer and healthier. in fact, a couple days ago, last friday, i was going to dinner in the tenderloin and i noticed the lights. i mentioned to my husband how beautiful the lights, how bright and beautiful they were, and so we are very pleased and proud to be part of the city, and the tenderloin. thank you very much. [applause] >> our last speaker, there is the empire market right across the way, which is benefiting from all these lights, and they have been a running that market for decades. she would like to explain what the lights mean to her. bora? [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much. good evening everyone. my husband and i own empire

market right across the street. my family, which includes my children who live in the tenderloin for many years. i work at our store at night so my family is happy to have additional lights that will improve safety on sidewalks. during the daytime, a business owner and resident, we walk through sidewalks all the time. we are faced every day with safety issues, however, i am glad to know that new lights will offer a much safer situation. we will be able to know what is going on the sidewalk outside of

our family business neighborhoods. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] >> it turns out that the lights actually got on before jane kim left office, within a few days. jane kim by unexpectedly, so she would like to say a few words. [cheers and applause] >> so it really is incredible that these lights have come on. just a couple of days before my turn was ending, only because this was one of the first projects i worked on when i came into office in 2011. it only took a little over eight years, but this did really begin in the community first, when the negotiations with cpmc began about the move of their hospital to the van ness core door, and has a lot of questions about the impact that this hospital would have in terms of traffic to the neighborhood, in terms of economy, and many other things. it was groups like central city

s.r.o. collaborative who had been working collaboratively on passages to increase adult presence on the streets as kids walk and back doors walk back and forth between school and afterschool programs, and i see many of our partners are here today. and randy, who talked about a study of how this neighborhood had the least number of streetlights at night of any neighborhood here in san francisco. so this, along with the pedestrian safety improvement really became the priority at the community and how cpu josie beat -- and how cpmc could make this neighborhood safer and stronger. there are many steps along the pathway to get here, of which they were not the major obstacle because they committed to this program so early on. i can't mention how many neighborhood studies and community processes that our offices worked with so many of the community leaders here over the last eight years to make that happen. i want to give a huge shout out

to the public utilities commission. i know the general manager is here. [cheers and applause] >> the staff really did a tremendous amount of work to move this money that has been committed to, which i should note, also went to the tenderloin museum that was standing behind here today, and we actually had to repurpose other city funds to come to help fund with cpmc originally, which is a street lighting funding program, and the p.u.c. made that happen. and whether the challenges we are getting, we need to connect it to our infrastructure, to so many other design challenges, and then different wants from the community. the p.u.c. really came out, along with the mayor's office of economic development, working alongside our community leaders to make sure that this happened within eight years. so i just want to wish everyone a big round of congratulations. our neighborhood really does work together to make this community safer, and i want to thank our mayor for her strong

commitment to making sure that the tenderloin continues to be invested in heavily and strongly , and prioritized over her time as mayor. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] >> and matt haney is out of town or else he would be here, our new supervisor. thank you all. if you have any questions or anything important to ask to folks, enjoy the lights. the darker it gets, the brighter they are. thank you all. [♪]

[pledge of