>> good morning, please welcome san francisco gay men's chorus, performing "singing for our love ." [♪] ♪ we are peaceful loving people ♪ ♪ and we are singing,, singing for our love ♪ ♪ we are young and old together ♪ ♪ and we are singing, singing

for our love ♪ [♪] [♪] [singing]

♪ [singing] [singing] [singing]

[singing] [cheers and applause] >> please welcome, chris verdugo , executive director of

the san francisco gay men's chorus. >> good morning. on behalf of the board of directors, staff, and about a tenth of our singing members that are with us, it is an honour to welcome you to our new home for the mayor's first state of the city address. as we begin to envision this space over a year ago, our intention became clear, we wanted to create a centre where lgbtq artists and organizations could come together, a space where they could collaborate and incubate new works pack and affordable and safe space, a place to present master classes and lecture series, and to host a middle and high schools aged students with our educational programs, rhythm, reaching youth through music, and the it gets better showcase pick a venue that would house a state-of-the-art broadcast facility so we could transmit these incredible transformational and inspiring events to a global audience.

a space that espouses the san francisco values of diversity, acceptance, equality, entrepreneurship, and creativity a home where art and activism come together, and it is my honor to welcome you to that space today. [applause] our new home, and the nation's first-ever lgbtq centre for the arts is a continuation of what began over 40 years ago on the city hall steps. that moment where 99 men raised their voices in anger and sadness, but also in hope, singing the song that you just heard, singing for our lives, and thereby sparking an lgbtq arts movement that would eventually spanned five continents. that is why this isn't just our home, it is a home for all of the san francisco arts community and the nation.

no one understands this better than the mayor. as executive director of the african-american arts and culture complex, and she transformed the struggling center into a vital, sustainable community resource. she understands, yes. [applause] >> she understands that arts and culture are at the forefront of social change, and we are honored that she chose our new home for her first state of the city address. [applause] >> please join me in welcoming, mayor, london abbreviate. [cheers and applause] [applause] >> thank you. >> thank you. [cheers and applause]

>> thank you, everyone. thank you so much. thank you. thank you. thank you all so much for being here today. thank you to the san francisco gay men's chorus for opening up their new home, this amazing, national, lgbtq centre for the arts. what i love about this center is that this chorus has invested their time and resources in creating something beautiful, not just for themselves, but for the entire lgbtq and arts community around the country. this is a place that celebrates what is best about san francisco , and that is what i want to talk you about today. for too long, our safety has been the subject of a drumbeat of negative media attention, national stories claiming that san francisco has lost its way.

however, streets are dangerous slums, our housing is unobtainable, how temple workers battle for our city's up soul. like most narratives, their elements of truth here, we have failed to build enough housing, we do face a homeless crisis, as we grapple with mental health and substance use on our streets of course, we acknowledge the challenges we face. the question is, what do we do next, hang our heads and give up cloth concede our problems are too great and the soul of our city is lost? anyone who thinks that, anyone who thinks that is what we will do knows nothing about this city [applause] >> this is san francisco. we don't throw up our hands, we take to our feet. we don't wait for guidance, we

liked the way. this is a city that knows how. the innovation capital of the world his. [cheers and applause] >> the national leader on lgbt and immigrant rights, environmental protections, healthcare, and so many other causes. the place where my angelou rang cable car bells -- the place where my angelou rang cable car bells and the place where a girl from public housing became mayor [cheers and applause] >> our congresswoman is speaker of the house. our former mayor just became governor. another is the california senior senator, the state's lieutenant lieutenant governor, controller and treasurer are all san franciscans. [cheers and applause]

>> our former district attorney could even be the next president [cheers and applause] >> it is time that our city holds its head up high again. it is time we believe again. yes, we have our challenges, i see them every day, just like you. i'm frustrated just like you about the issues that face our city, but i'm also motivated, because there is no problem we caps off together, no challenge we won't face together, there is , as president clinton said, nothing wrong with san francisco that can't be fixed with what is right about san francisco. [cheers and applause] >> homelessness in san francisco has, for decades, been described

as a sad reality, an impossible problem, just part of our city. i don't accept that they are just a few years ago, he only had to walk a few blocks from city hall to seat tent encampments lining our sidewalks , clips covering whole blocks on division street. today, those encampments are gone. that is partly because we have been working to build more shelters, more housing, and help more people. in the last six months, since i have been in office, we have built three navigation centers, with 338 beds, the fastest expansion of shelter beds our city has seen in decades. [cheers and applause] >> and we've helped nearly 1,000 people exit homelessness. 1,000 people in six months. [applause]

>> yes, we have a long way to go and so much work to do, but we are making a difference in people's lives. when we open up to the bryant street navigation centre earlier this month, i met a woman who had just moved in. she is battling addiction and breast cancer. on the streets, her medication kept getting stolen, she couldn't get healthy, now she is inside, and she is working on getting housing. at bryant street, she gave me a hug, and she said she is hopeful , and so am i. if she has hope, others can too. that is the difference. she is excited about the future, and i'm excited for her. if she can have a hope, and others can too. i've already announced my plan to add 1,000 shelter beds by 2020, enough to clear the shelter bed waitlist. [applause]

>> we also are declaring a shelter crisis so we can get these shelter beds builds now, and i want to thank supervisor supervisors brown, haney, mandelman, supervisor stefani and walton, for joining me in recognizing our bureaucracy shouldn't stand in the way of one single thousand beds. this is a huge step, we know, but it is not enough. we know we have around 4,000 unsheltered people in our city, sleeping in our streets, in our parks, in the doorway is, or in vehicles. we know that it's a travesty, but it's one we can take on. in the next four years, i want to create enough shelter beds, step up housing units, homeless housing units, and housing subsidies for every person who is currently unsheltered. that is 4,000 more placements for people. no more excuses, no more status

quo and let's be clear, every part of our city, every neighborhood must be open to being part of the solution. [cheers and applause] >> to get there, we must move forward with my proposal for our windfall funding. $185 million for homelessness, behavioural health, and affordable housing. [cheers and applause] >> with this investment, we can add 310 new shelter beds, 300 units of housing by master leasing units, freeing up hundreds of beds in the shelter system. complete funding for a 255 unit building for homeless seniors and adults, and get started on hundreds more. now i know there are other

budget priorities, and they are important. let's be clear. every dollar we take away from what i propose is one bed, one lost home, one more person on the streets. i will continue to work with a board president, norman he -- norman he -- yee and the board of supervisors. working together, we can tackle any impossible problem. the crisis on our street is not just about homelessness. people suffering from mental illness, they need more than just housing. often they are actually housed. these people need help, since i took office, we have added 50 mental health stabilization beds , and i'm committed to opening up 100 more this year. [cheers and applause]

>> our healthy streets operation centre is out there every day helping those suffering from substance use disorder, getting them connected to treatment and shelter, to help those who are truly suffering get real treatment. i've partnered with supervisor raphael mandelman on conservatorship legislation because when people can't care for themselves, we have to do better, and we have to care for them. [applause] >> we have to revamp our entire approach to mental health. to bring together all of our mental health programs under one focus, i am creating a director of mental health reform. [applause] >> this person will be

responsible for better coordination of mental health care for those suffering in our city, this person will strengthen the program we have that are working, nts, cut cut the ineffective program because clearly there are things in this city that just aren't working, and shouldn't continue to be funded. [applause] >> we need to build people's lives, not shuffle them from emergency room to emergency room , from jail cell, to jail cell. our criminal justice system is not a mental health solution. [applause] >> to do all this, we need a vision and leadership, so today, i am announcing that i have hired a new director of the department of public health, dr grant kovacs.

[applause] >> the doctor is one of our own, trained at ucsf, you were to the department of public health as a director of h.i.v. prevention and research, before leaving to join the obama white house as a director of national aids policy he knows our city and its challenges, and he is ready to get to work, and he knows that we need to get zero h.i.v. infections in san francisco. [applause] >> we need to reach our most vulnerable populations, particularly are african-american and latino communities who are not seeing their h.i.v. infections drop as others do, this means getting everyone, and i mean everyone

access to services, treatment, and preventative medications like prep. [applause] >> and i'm confident that dr kovacs will get us to our goal. we are also confronting san francisco's other allegedly impossible problem, housing. housing. we have to produce and preserve housing, and keep people in their homes. i will continue to support the rights to civil council which we funded it last year's budget with $5.8 million so every tenant who needs a lawyer can get one, and through our small sight -- his most -- small site acquisition program, will fight to preserve rent-controlled buildings to keep people in neighborhoods secure. [applause]

>> people like ms. miss wu, and 99-year-old woman who has been living in the same building in the richmond district for the past 30 years. or building was going up for sale, threatening her home, and that of every senior who lived there. i met her with supervisor -- supervisor fewer when i visited her home, the building that we helped purchase and make permanently affordable. ensuring that she and her neighbors wouldn't have to worry about where they were going to live. [applause] >> as we keep people in their homes, we have to build more new housing. lots more. [cheers and applause] >> in 2018, we built around 3,000 homes. that's not nearly enough. we have to get better, and

that's why i've already hired a housing delivery director to deliver projects faster, and implement policy reforms that cut the times to get permits in half. i've directed the department to end the backlog of hundreds of in law units, and make it easier for people to build them going forward, and passed legislation to prevent the loss of thousands of units in the pipeline. if we are going to be in san francisco for all, we need to be a san francisco that builds housing for all. that's why i'm moving forward with the 300 million-dollar affordable housing bond so we can continue to invest in badly needed affordable housing. [cheers and applause] >> across our city, we have projects like the balboa upper yard that are ready to build.

that is 131 units that just need funding, but it's not just about investing, we have to break the barriers to building housing so our dollars go further and we get housing built faster. so today, i'm announcing a charter amendment for this november's election, to make all affordable housing and teacher housing as upright in san francisco. [cheers and applause] >> if an affordable housing or teacher housing project as proposed within zoning, then build it, and build it now. no more bureaucracy. [applause] >> no more bureaucracy, no more costly appeals, number not in my

neighborhood. it is simple, affordable housing as of right because housing affordability is a right. [applause] >> this is how we create housing for all san franciscans, and i will continue to work with our state legislators, our regional partners, our new governor, because housing affordability isn't just a san francisco issue , it is a crisis throughout the state of california. we won't always see the results of these efforts immediately, it may take some years to his see some changes, but then we have started to build more aggressively 20 years ago, we wouldn't be in the situation we are in today. [applause] >> we might have inherited a problem decades in the making, but we cannot be the ones who pass it on to the next generation. [applause]

>> as we grow, we must make our streets clean and our communities safe. since my first day in office, i have been out walking our neighboured neighborhood. this is not okay. it is not healthy. and while there is much more to do, we are working every day to stop it. it is no secret i have put in a lot of focus in the tenderloin and the south of market. i am committed to improving these neighborhoods. so far, we have doubled the number of beat officers in midmarket. we have added pitstops, big belly trash cans and street cleaners. we have increased enforcement against drug dealing, and expanded outreach by our healthy outreach operation centre. i know we have more to do, but people are starting to see a difference. families are coming to the new playgrounds at civic centre. i met a young family with two

small children who came from sunset. they told me a year ago that they never would have gone to the playground there. too dirty, too run down, to many needles. now the new café on the playgrounds are now part of their saturday. this is a start. a first step towards making our public spaces clean and safe. we have also seen our investments in community policing yield results. last year, we had a 18% drop in homicide, which coincides with a major reduction in gun violence for the second year in a row. in fact, we had a 25% increase in firearm fees, and a 30 5% decrease in gun violence. [applause] to put it simply, more guns off the streets, fewer crimes in

homicides involving guns. we also had a nine% reduction in property crimes, including an 18 % drop in car break-ins, and a 13% drop in car thefts. we are, at last, reversing the carved reagan epidemic through the great work of our police department, we are working a dip -- making a difference on violent crimes and property crimes. more officers in our neighborhoods, and investments in cleaner, safer streets are all important. as we address these issues today , we also have to think about how to prevent them from happening in the future. we have to confront the root causes of crime and addiction, which means addressing inequity and poverty. [applause] last year, working with our public defender, we made san

francisco the first city in the country to eliminate punitive wasteful court fines and fees. [cheers and applause] >> these fees did nothing more than drive people into poverty, or worse, back into prison. we will continue our work to give the next generation opportunities back and prevent them from ending up in the criminal justice system in the first place. we are working our city build program to address the shortage of construction workers and give people good paying jobs. we are launching new jobs and helping to train new munimobile drivers to get more people on the street so we can get san franciscans where they need to go faster. we have tech s.f., healthcare academy, and hospitality initiatives, all of which train people to work in our city, and as a former city in turn, who at

14 proudly worked at a nonprofit , answering phones and helping young family is, and doing paperwork, i am particularly proud to have launched opportunities for all so that we can get every high school students -- [applause] scene -- >> so we can get every high school student in san francisco a paid internship, because unlike the president in this town we pay people when they go to work. [laughter] [applause] >> this program will help our kids now to earn money, to learn new skills, to keep them from going down the wrong path. these young people will be exposed to opportunities they never knew existed. they could see a future in an industry they never had access

to. they could see themselves making a difference in a world in a way that they never thought possible . they will flourish, and we will grow our workforce right here in san francisco. [applause] >> will continue to lead the way on so many other important issues. we will protect the environment, and fight climate change. yesterday, we all know pg and tee declared bankruptcy, and there's a lot of talk about what this could mean, but let's talk about what we know. san francisco knows how to run a clean power system, and we are going to get to 100% renewable energy by 2030. [applause] >> if this bankruptcy provides an opportunity for public power, supervisor peskin, we will take it.

[applause] [laughter] >> i will be working with the city attorney, dennis herrera, and supervisor peskin to make sure that whatever happens to pg and e., we are prepared to. i'm also working with city attorney herrera to address questions around the testing of the hunter at's pointe. [applause] >> we need to be clear and transparent with the public about this project. along with supervisor walton, we have requested that ucsf, and u.c. berkeley put together an independent team to review the procedures for the retesting of parcel a and g. [cheers and applause]

>> these are trusted institutions. they will provide an independent analysis so the public can feel confident in the results. we also have to break the gridlock that is on our streets and create a more functioning transportation system. people may continue to choose to drive in san francisco, but that can't be their only choice. i will work with supervisor peskin on a measure that will charge our ride hail companies to relieve congestion on our streets. [applause] >> we have to keep pushing forward street facing invasion zero projects, including building protected bike lanes on high injury corridors, like the one we are building by upside on valencia street that made it so hard for you to get here. [applause] >> we will also continue investing in helping our transgender residents with housing and services, and to

those in washington, d.c. who continue to try and erase transgender people, it won't work back not here in san francisco. [cheers and applause] >> now more than ever, as the president continues to fear mongering about walls and slander our immigrant communities, san francisco is proud to stand as a sanctuary city. [applause] >> we are a city that is surrounded by bridges, not divided by walls, and we will stay that way. [applause] >> when i took the oath of office six months ago, i never pretended i could solve all of our problems. i believed we could solve them

working together. i believed in a government for all of us, and i still believe that we are working to turn the tides, and i hope every san franciscan can feel the difference when you see our public works crews, our -- out power washing the sidewalks and picking up trash, i hope you feel the difference. when you see our police officers walking the beats in the neighborhood, and talking to the merchants and the residence, i hope that you feel the difference. when you see our homeless outreach team and public health workers helping people suffering on our streets, i hope you feel the difference. when you see a new shelter open, a new affordable housing project go up, or a new bike lane that gets finished, i hope you smile and feel the difference. i hope you believe with me that you hold your head high and take pride in our city, and what we can do together, because we are

san francisco. we will meet these challenges, and we will continue to light a better way for the future of our city. thank you all so much for being here today. [cheers and applause]

>> we love our parks, but we love... >> and the community who is really the core of it all, came together and said what we need is a place for our teenager to play, not just play grounds for the kids and soccer fields but we need a skate park that will keep the kids home in the neighborhood so they can play where they live. >> the children in the neighborhood and it will be a major boone. and we have generations, the youth generations that will be able to use this park in different places. >> the best park in san francisco right here.

>> creating place where people can be active and lead, active, healthy life styles that are going to just stay with them for life. >> welcome to another episode of safety on today is episode we'll show you how 0 retroactive you're home let's go inside and

take a look. >> hi and patrick chief officer and director of earthquake for the city and county of san francisco welcome to another episode of stay safe in our model home with matt we'll talk about plywood. >> great thanks. >> where are we we if you notice bare studs those are prone to failure in an earthquake we need to stabilize those they don't lean over and plywood is effective as long as you nail along every edge of the plywood for the framing we'll nail along the sides and top and on the bottom 0 immediately you'll see a problem in a typical san francisco construction because nothing to

nail the bottom of the plywood we've got to wind block between the studs and we'll secure this to the mud sill with nails or surface screws something to nail the bottom of the plywood. >> i notice we have not bolted the foundation in the previous episode thorough goes through options with different products so, now we have the blocking we'll a xoich attach the plywood. >> the third thing we'll attach the floor framing of the house above so the top of the braced walls one to have a steel angle on top of this wall and types of to the top of the wall with nails into the top plate and the nails in this direction

driving a nail it difficult unless you have a specialized tool so this makes that easy this is good, good for about 5 hundred pounds of earthquake swinging before and after that mount to the face of wall it secures the top of wall and nailed into the top plate of the with triple wall and this gives us a secure to resist the forces. >> so you now see the space is totally available to dots blocking that he bottom and bolted the foundation in corneas

what the code in the next episode you'll see you apply >> the hon. london breed: all right, folks. how you doing today? i'm london breed. i'm the mayor for san francisco. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and i am really excited to be here because we got something actually accomplished in the city and county of san francisco by working together. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: i want to take this opportunity to recognize members of the san francisco board of supervisors who are joining us today, including the president of the board of supervisors, norman yee, supervisors vallie brown, ahsha safai, and gordon mar, and matt haney. thank you all so much for being

here today. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: now i know that it took us a little while to get here, and one of the things that i am so excited about is the fact that we are here. we are here because the building and construction trades, some members of the board of supervisors, some of our department heads, like phil ginsburg and mohamed nuru, they all came to the table, and many of our l.b.e.s, wanting to make sure that we came up with an agreement that was fair, that supported good wages, that provides opportunities for people in san francisco, some of whom have never worked a job a day in their life, providing real opportunities for them to be part of the building and construction trades, making sure that our l.b.e.s, who -- especially those who are struggling to do business in the city and county of san francisco have a real shot at

growth. and this agreement i think is a fair and balanced agreement that is going to help lead our city into the future. we know that prying to negotiate a project labor agreement started many, many years ago under the leadership of larry mazzola, sr. [applause] >> and it's -- it's only fitting that we actually deliver it with your offspring, larry mazzola, jr. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: it started with the leadership under the labor council with tim paulson carrying on that tradition with rudy gonzalez who is now head of the labor council here in san francisco. so many amazing people. it really did take a village to get to this place, and i'm honored to be with you here today to sign this important legislation that is really

about building strong communities, create opportunities that providing opportunities for growth and making sure that no one is left behind. so this is the beginning. we know that there is still work to do. i also want to recognize josh arce, who's our workforce director. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and thank you all so much, again, for just all of your hard work, for coming to the table, and doing what's necessary to arrive at what i think is a fair and balanced agreement. and miguel, thank you for being here today. miguel with the l.b.e.s, the person who led the negotiations and made sure that he expressed some of the challenges with a number of the women and minority contractors so that this was a fair and balanced agreement. so i want to thank each and every one of you for being here

today. we know that it was a tough road, john and vince and others, and tony. there was some yelling, there was some cursing, that was some really crazy conversations, but you know what? that's how you negotiate. that's how you get things done. you've got to be willing to have the hard conversation. but what i appreciate about everyone who participated in this agreement is that everyone was willing to stay and sit at the table and work through the differences that we have to come up with a compromise where no one is actually happy about everything, which means we did something right. so today, i'm really proud and excited to sign this agreement. i also want to recognize my deputy chief of staff who helped lead the negotiations, andrea bruss. thank you so much. i don't know how many complaints i got about andrea,

but in the end, she was great for leading these negotiations on behalf of my office, and we really couldn't have done this without some dedicated members of the board of supervisors. which included a team -- a tag team of supervisor ahsha safai and supervisor aaron peskin. they really led the negotiations, and supervisor sandy fewer came in with, you know, just some extra oomph to the conversation which really created, again, a fair and balanced agreement, one that we all can agree is best for the future of the city and county of san francisco. with that, i'd like to introduce supervisor safai to say a few words. [applause] >> supervisor safai: thank you, madam mayor. i can tell you probably this time last year i would not have been able to predict that we would be standing here, ready

to sign this agreement. and that's just the truth. i think if you ask anyone that was involved in it, there were a lot of fits and starts. but one of the things that changed was the election in june of this mayor, and this mayor -- yes. [applause] >> supervisor safai: we -- when london breed was the president of the board of supervisors, we had engaged on this topic. we had reached out, started talking with larry and john and everyone involved, and miguel and juliana, and said this is going to happen. this is going to happen because it's the right thing to do. and many people said, why do we need a p.l.a.? what's the reason for a p.l.a.? we have a good contractor. why do we need this. but when you think about this, it's not about what can happen

today, it's about what can happen in the worst times. it's when we have a recession, when people aren't thinking about what can happen in the future and when things turnaround, because at the end of the day, it's about protecting workers, it's about the advancements we've made in city build and local hiring. it's about protecting the advancements we've made in our l.b.e. community. it's about expanding the opportunities for everyone and ensuring that we lead not only for california but for the rest of the nation. this is a historic framework. i know that larry and the city administrator and all their team and l.b.e. community are going to come together, and they're going to negotiate in the next year a wonderful agreement that's going to advance us. but i have to say when mayor breed was elected it was a game changer. within since months of her being in office so many things have happened for organized labor that had been talked

about for decades that had never happened. we negotiated a citywide m.c.o. agreement. that was a commitment on the magnitude of millions of dollars. we have negotiated the framework now for a citywide p.l.a. larry, sr. told me on the way in that he's been talking about this for 20 year. this mayor, and her leadership on the board of supervisors, we got this done in the first six months of her being in office. [applause] >> supervisor safai: so yes, there were a lot of people that were under the radar. i want to give a big shout out to massoud from the p.u.c. the p.u.c. also helped in these negotiations. the city administrator, we had negotiations, i was sitting in my robe in front of the fireplace at 1:00 in the morning on the phone with these folks. i'm sure on the other end of

the line, they're thinking how are we up at 1:00 in the morning, trying to get this done? but in the end, it was a unanimous vote by the board of supervisors, a unanimous vote, larry, and we did it, and we did it for every single one of these workers that are sitting here, the one that will follow them, and we set the framework for the city and county of san francisco. so thank you, madam mayor. thank you. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and with that, i'd like to introduce miguel galarza to come up and say a few words. this guy right here is a real tough negotiator, but really, a great businessman in the city and county of san francisco, one who represented minority contractors and women contractors in the city, and he did a phenomenal job. miguel? [applause] >> thank you. i just want to say thank you to all the council members.

despite our disagreements at the beginning, we came together and put together a policy that's going to make a difference for many of our city workers that are not in the building trades council or open shop businesses, that sooner or later will be part of the brotherhood that is the union workforce, so thank you all for making it happen. i also want to thank the mayor for her leadership. there's no doubt that she may say i'm a tough negotiator, but she held the line, and she made sure that we stayed there for hours and hours and hours, and she calmed everybody down when tensions were high, and at the end of the day, we -- they wouldn't be high until we all had passion, and there's passion on the building trades for the right reason. they've made a difference in people's lives for a long time. and there's passion for those of us that own businesses. i'm a kid from the mission district. i started out as a carpenter back in the 70's, and now

today, i have 70 employees. so all of you that are in the building trades now, shoot for the stars because ultimately, you will be the next generation of union employers and employees that will continue to make san francisco what it is today, the shining star of the nation. and with that, thank you for making -- again, for making it happen, mayor, supervisors, and enjoy your day. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and there were tough negotiators all around, including the representatives of the building and the construction trades. i have never seen john get so red in the face on numerous occasions as someone who has a lot of passion along with tony and danny and vince and tim. they were all at the table just really with an understanding of

the challenges that the workers, that they represent face, but also so many san franciscans in our l.b.e. community face, as well. and i really appreciate the fact that you all were so actively engaged in helping us get to this point. thank you to your commitment and passion to the workers of san francisco, and thank you to the person who led the effort, who basically was phenomenal in his work. clearly, larry, sr. has taught you well in terms of being a fierce, tough negotiator in representing workers in the city and county of san francisco. ladies and gentlemen, larry mazzola, jr. [applause] >> thank you, miss mayor. so i'm not sure how many of you know this, but this started 2.5 years ago with a process, and it started with a phone call. phil ginsburg and mohamed nuru

called me 2.5 years ago and said we want a citywide project labor agreement. can you get this done? i said i don't know, guys. it'll be a tough task, but i'll try, and here we are. like ahsha says, p.l.a.s are -- are great for workers. they're going to be great for the workers of this city, union and nonunion alike. a lot of people don't understand what p.l.a.s do and what they are. and i wrote down a few things. they provide for workers in the communities. they provide uniform wages, benefits, hours and working conditions. they bar unions from striking, so it's like a peace agreement. they provide contractors reliable and uninterrupted supply of qualified workers at predictable cost. they ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget. they create career paths for

women, minorities, and veterans. and the biggest thing is that they protect the workers, like i said, union and nonunion workers alike in san francisco will benefit from a project labor agreement of this size and this statute. like i said before, this happened over a number of years, but it happened -- the way it got over the finish line happened because of one person, and that person is mayor london breed. and she took the bull by the horns, and she said right when we got in office, she said larry, we're going to get this thing over the finish line. i know you've been working with a lot of different people on this, and it's an important issue to you, it's an important issue to you, and it's an important issue to the city. she grabbed us at city hall one day. we were supposed to have a two-hour meeting, and it turned into a ten-hour meeting. she cancelled appointments and other things that she had to be at. she said we're going to finish

this night, and she did that. she brokered a deal, and there's no one that i want to thank more than mayor london breed for getting this done. [applause] >> i also want to thank aaron peskin, who's not here, and ahsha safai -- did i get that right? ahsha had a lot to do with us and sat down with us hour after hour, days, weeks. we had conference calls at night, 1:00, 2:00 at night. i really don't want to think about what you were wearing during those conference calls, so please don't bring that up again. but i do want to thank you very much for all the effort that i put in, and thank you for letting me have a drink in your office afterwards. you know, san francisco, the progressive city that it is is first on everything -- on a lot of things, on most things. we're a model for the country. i've been saying this since day

one. san francisco should have done a citywide project labor agreement a long time ago. there's other communities in the state that have them. contra costa, lob, los angeles, santa clara, just to kna -- lo angeles, santa clara, just to name a few. this is a few that builds on those values to protect the workers and to protect the citizens of san francisco. so i'm glad that we finally got to this point. there's a lot of work still to do. as the mayor mentioned, we have nine months or a little bit longer to negotiate and hammer out the rest of this. and i know the mayor's going to press on her staff to get that done by the deadline that we have, and we're going to get this thing done. and then, it's hopefully going to become law later this year, and it's going to be help for a lot of people, disadvantaged people. we have a great relationship with city build, and we're

going to bring a lot of those people that may not have had a chance to get into the trades into the trades. it's important to all of us, and important, as well, to the city, obviously. apprenticeships have always been the backbones of the unions, and we've always had an open-door policy for our apprenticeship programs. we want to continue to do that and see our young people have another option besides going to college if that's not their choice. i think this is going to be a great agreement that's going to benefit a lot of people. i just can't stress enough how much i can thank mayor breed for the leadership she's shown, for her negotiation skills, and for everything she's done for labor and building trades as a whole, especially. she's a born and raised san franciscan like i am. she cares about building trades, she cares about city workers. and i really appreciate

everything you've done in your short time in office, mayor breed. thank you very much. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: this is how all negotiations are going to go in the city, fingers crossed. all right. let's get this legislation signed. miguel, come on up. larry -- all right. we ready? and then, what's the date today? >> 1-18-19. >> the hon. london breed: all right. there you go. [applause] .

>> chair peskin: good afternoon and welcome to the land use and transportation committee of the board of supervisors, our first commte