these members not paid, like family members? >> no, it's not training for respite care workers. these are people that would be hired in the community. >> okay. so it's all aimed towards people that are paid? i was curious about that phrase. and then, how do people learn about this program? >> well, self-help, we'll be doing outreach within their community in particular because it is the asian and pacific island community, they have a pretty brought reach, and they also have programs that can feed into it internally. >> it's not a problem of not filling -- >> no. i anticipate it's going to be very successful. >> okay. thank you. >> thank you. >> i know self-help has their

own inhome support staff service. is this training also open to the citywide besides their own staff? >> oh, absolutely. they'll be doing outreach to the wider community, not just their own staff. >> okay. another question i have is, like, the fringe benefit for part-time is 27%. isn't that a little bit high? i don't know -- i've been out of the workforce for such a long time. what does the 27% include? i know that when i was working, you have to pay health benefit for people that work 20 hours and up per week, but some of them are at, like, 10%, so are they still paying the housing insurance or what? >> yeah. i mean, the way the staffing is -- i mean, some of these,

they're being shared across programs, so for example, you know, the compliance officer, they're directing 10% of their salary towards this, but that officer is a full-time officer. >> so that's why they have the full fringe benefits? >> correct. >> president serina: okay. any other comments or questions? tiffany, what language will the training be provided in? >> i have the information right here. so self-help, maybe they can speak to this better, but they have capacity for cantonese, mandarin, and vietnamese. this is winnie. >> good morning, commissioners. we have the training staff with

capacity to deliver training in english, in chinese and with a career advising staff that has the ability to provide coaching services in can tonese, vietnamese, and tagalog. >> president serina: thank you. any further discuss discussion? any public comment? seeing none, call the question. all in favor? all opposed? motion carries. item d, requesting authorization to enter into a new grant agreement with self-help for the elderly for the provision of a workforce support program during the period of february 1, 2019 through june 30, 2021 in the

amount of $548,935 plus a 10% contingency, for a total grant amount not to exceed $603,829. welcome back, tiffany. >> gcood morning, commissioner. the needs assessment report confirmed that clients who are connected to daas services have positive experiences and enjoy their participation. the report also revealed that not all older adults and adults with disabilities know about the services available to them through the department, and there is a need to boost awareness of daas funded programs and services. consumers in districts one, two, four, and 11 in particular participate less in services

than in other districts, and although limited awareness is not the only contributing factor, it was a finding that was noted throughout the needs assessment support. the peer ambassador program is one of several approaches the department is using to increase visibility of our services. by using peer ambassadors and a word of mouth approach, the department will have a new way and opportunity to share information about services, and the consumers will have another way to learn about services they may need from a source they trust within their communities. self-help for the elderly will hire four peer ambassadors to work in the districts i

mentioned. at least one ambassador will be dedicated to each district to ensure continuity. they will share information about daas services within their appropriate district. they will use information tailored to the tridistricts a the communities within those districts. daas will work closely with self-help to ensure accurate information is distributed. peer ambassadors will be connected to our benefits and resource hub. they will have a working relationship with the adrcs within the districts. the daas hub and adrcs are great resources that the ambassadors will be able to access and refer consumers to as needed. collectively, the ambassadors will provide information to at

least 200 organizations and businesses annually who have connections to consumers that we serve with the specific intent of increasing awareness about daas programs and services. thank you, and i would be happy to answer any questions you might have at this time. >> president serina: commissioner pappas? >> yes, i'm joining the other commissioners in asking an entry question. when we include the programs, those include the dignity fund programming? >> yes. >> president serina: any other commissioner comments or questions? commissioner loo. >> okay. i have a question. in the table a, it said they were going to hire five -- >> yeah, sorry. when i said that, i realized i had said four because i was not reading my notes correctly.

they are actually hiring five. the minimum is four, but they're overcommitting, if you will. >> but my question here is on the salary sheet, it just says two peer ambassadors instead of four or five. >> because they're leveraging another source for the other two -- or actually, the other three. >> okay. that's what i think is really kind of nice is if they're matching, it would appear in the budget so it would make it cli kind of clear. >> on the budget revenues, on the summary sheet, it has match three, so it has the match there.

>> thank you. my apologies. >> no worries. no worries. >> president serina: thank you. any other comments or questions? any comments or questions from the public? hearing none, may i have a motion to approve? >> so moved. >> second. >> president serina: thank you. any further comment? all in favor? any opposed? thank you. >> thank you very much. >> president serina: thank you. item f, requesting authorization to enter into a new grant agreement with kimochi, inc, for sustainability for nonprofit licensed residential care facilities for the elderly, rcfe, during the period of march 1, 2019 through june 30, 2020, in the amount of 175,3 # will $4 plus a 10% contingency for a total grant amount not to exceed $192,922. well come, fanny lappitan.

it's been a while. >> yes. good morning, commissioners. i'm fanny lappitan, program coordinator for long-term operations at daas. i'm seeking authorization to enter into a new long-term agreement with kimochi. rcfes are assisted living facilities that have long been preferred community alternatives for those who are able to live on their own. they provide an increased level of care in a supportive and safe environment with 24-hour supervision for individuals aged 60 and over. in recent years, the number of rcfes in san francisco have costed due to decreasing

population, and inadequate funding. the smaller facilities have accounted for the greatest number of closures, making it difficult for lower income individuals to secure care. as mentioned earlier, there's an assisted living work group that's tasked by the long-term care coordinating council which recently researched this issue and its recommendation of support for this needed service are currently being considered by the city. this grant will support the sustainability of kimochi home rcfe by providing access, and quality care service. it's to provide care for 20 residents over the age of 60 who are able to independently walk. it is a two-story facility with eight single occupancy rooms

and six double occupancy rooms. the facility is currently owned and operated by kimochi. it is currently serving a majority of residents of monolingual japanese or those who speak english as a second language. kimochi has been built from the ground up in 1983, and no major renovations have taken place since that time. the funds from this grant will be used in three areas. first is to update their safety and security measures. the second is to improve accessibility of rest rooms on the first floor and the third is to modernize the facility which is showing 3.5 decades of wear and tear. these updates and improvements, kimmy chee home will update the

rcfes ablt -- kimochi home will update the rcfes ability to support the residents. the funds through this grant will help support the long-term safety of economy owe chee home and potentially create savings in maintenance and utility costs in the near future, allowing for increase in their general reserves and helping to maintain a sustainable business plan. a kimochi business administrator will be responsible for completing the projects and will do so in such a way to minimize the disturbance or negative impact on the residents as much as possible. at this time i'd be happy to answer any questions the commissioners may have commission scolaire de la capita capitale -- may have. >> president serina: thank you, fanny. that was a very comprehensive report? commissioners, any comments or

questions? >> is the whole kimochi home taken at this point? >> i'm just going to calling shawn for more comprehensive information? >> we currently have 17 residential residents and when we have beds available, we serve those rooms for respite care, so seniors who know they're going in for surgery or have a scheduled operation can reserve an open room so that they can stay with us for a few days before they go home and make sure they're ak and reduce the risk of hospitalization. so we're currently full with 17 residents and three residenpit residents. >> so do you have a waiting list? >> we don't have a waiting list with this right now. one of the things we'll track with this is the interest in our home and full-time

residency by hopefully growing our wait list so we can fill empty beds. >> i presumed kimochi owned the building. >> yes, we do own the building. >> thank you. >> president serina: thank you, commissioner. any further comments or questions? any comments or questions from the public? hearing none, may i have a motion to approve? >> so moved. >> president serina: second? >> second. >> president serina: any further comment? thank you. all in favor? all opposed? thank you. motion carries. item g, requesting authorization to enter into a new grant agreement with self-help for the elderly for sustainability for nonprofit licensed residential care facilities for the elderly, rcfe during the period of march

1, 2019 through june 30, 2020, in the amount of $302,451 plus a 10% contingency for a total grant amount not to exceed $332,696. welcome back, fanny. >> thank you. good morning, commissioners. th autumn glow provides assisted living in a unique 24 hour residential care in the hayes valley located at 654 groev grove street. it has capacity for other cultural and language needs. the funds through this grant

will be used to access safety, security, and the quality of services delivered to residents, and this includes infrastructure improvements, accessibility improvements, technology infrastructure upgrades, safety and security improvements, and there'll be training from a registered nurse and nutrition improvements from a registered dietitian. with these upgrades, they will provide upgraded safety and security measures, and providing sustainability for at least five years after the grant ends. it will help support the long-term building safety and minimize the use of reserve funds that can be used for emergencies in unexpected business challenging. autumn glow's director of housing services will be responsible for the various

services and will have oversight of the construction to ensure project completion within the deadline. they have a plan to minimize disruption or negative impact on the residents as much as possible while this is happen. i'd be happy to answer any questions. >> president serina: thank you, fanny. any commissioner questions? commissioner loo? >> autumn glow serve only chinese? >> they don't just serve chinese. they do -- let's see, the demographic at this time is 72% chinese but they also have 14% vietnamese and 17% mandarin. >> president serina: any other questions? >> how long have they been in

hayes valley. >> oh, they've been in existence for 18 years. >> oh, all right. thank you. i live near there, so i hadn't realized how long it had been there. >> president serina: thank you. any further comments or questions? any comments or questions from the public? hearing none, may i have a motion to approve? >> so moved. >> president serina: second? >> second. >> president serina: any further comments or questions? all in favor? opposed? the motion carries. thank you very much, fanny. is there any general public comment right now? >> winnie yoo, self-help for the elderly. commissioners and director kaufman, thank you very much for the self-help for the elderly to implement these pilot projects and for the opportunity to serve additional clients through the dignity

fund mission population in need skpr , and we really look forward to updating on the implementation of these programs, and thank you again. >> president serina: thank you. any other comments or questions? you have a question, commissioner loo? >> since self-help is going to do the peer ambassador program, i'm just wondering if the department has updated their brochure of various kinds of services because i think we have new sorts of services added since the dignity fund kicked in. >> so we are in the process -- we have, commissioner, a service location and current services available. i think it was last updated in 2016-17, and we are in the process of updating is now. hopefully -- it now.

hopefully, it'll come out later. so we -- every month we have a meeting, things change slightly sometimes, so that is the goal to be as current as possible, but it does take time to implement that information. >> and it'll be in different languages? >> oh, that is an excellent question. that is something i will look into. i don't have that information now, but that is an excellent question. i will follow up with you. >> president serina: any other general questions? any other questions from the public? any announcements? hearing none, motion to adjourn. >> so moved. >> president serina: thank you very much.

>> good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> all right. let me thank everyone for coming up today -- coming out today. it is a wonderful day for our city. okay. and we are all here because we are going to celebrate the project. [applause] and for many of you, the project -- there is a little bit about the project itself, it is 1.8 miles long, and it started from peach street all the way to mcalester and some people say, from the day to civic centre. so it is a long stretch and we are very excited that this project is complete and as many

of you know, this particular street before this project happened, this corridor was one of the high injury network corridors here in city, and through the work of many of the commissions and many people, we have been able to improve the streetscape. today, that path is behind us. how about a clap for that. [applause] >> the streetscape is a makeover that offers several pedestrian crossings, bike lanes, and more importantly, it helps the businesses along the corridor be more vibrant. we are excited about that. the project has improved lighting and has improved landscaping, it has many new

pedestrian bulb outs, a lot of work to the infrastructure, new paving, and of course, underground and sewer lines that also crossed many of the upgrades here. this is a complete streetscape. the project has happened with a lot of strong partnerships, with many community groups that help us to transform the street itself. but as we can see some of the alleys got transformed, so for an alley that we are standing in here today, they have this beautiful new look with enhanced safety elements, and raised crosswalks, and a nice pedestrian scale. that is how many of the streets are supposed to look. they all make up the project of this streetscape. we all know it also takes whole community, it takes a lot of political leadership to make progress here, and on many of our projects, and leading that

charge will make san francisco a much safer and more vibrant and welcoming city, is our mayor, london breed. let us welcome her with a big round of applause for her leadership. [applause] >> thank you, everyone for being here. the rain couldn't stop us from celebrating 18 years of construction to get this project done for the residents, for the businesses, for the people of this community, and i want to thank each and every one of you because i know it has been painful. i know it has been challenging, because of your support, we have been able to get it done. and what we have, as you can see , even in the alley, this beautiful streetscape. this community will be more vibrant, it will be more resilient because of this work, and also, it will be safer for the kids that are joining us here today from reading elementary school. we have to make sure that they

can walk the communities and feel safe. we have to make sure that as people use different modes of transportation like bicycles and scooters, that there are dedicated bike lanes so people are safe. we have to make sure that we change our streetscapes in general and we repair our infrastructure. this project started i think when supervisor peskin was supervisor of the first time, and now we get to finish when he is supervisor the second time around, and it is absolutely amazing. san francisco, as we know, many, many years ago, the infrastructure was developed to support mostly cars getting around. now we have so many more people living in san francisco. our population has grown. more people who are riding and using alternative modes of transportation. so as that changes. our city has to change. we have to adjust with the

ultimate goal of not only moving people around, but moving them around safely. that is what these improvement projects are about, and on top of that, the ability to repair our infrastructure, the pipes and all the things undergrounds that make our cities and our businesses work. that is so important. so critical to the sustainability of our city for generations to come. so i am so excited about the completion of this project, and i'm so excited about what it is going to do to improve public safety for each and every one of us. we know that there are a number of investments the city is making all over all the neighborhoods around the city. we have a lot of work to do, and i want to thank san franciscans for their support of these projects, for their patients as we move these projects through because we will be a better city once we complete and make san francisco safer for all of us

and improve it, especially for the next generation of residents right here to my right who walks through this area and we are so glad to have you, and we are looking forward to more projects like this for future generations thank you all so much for being here today. with that, i would like to invite supervisor at district three, who complains about everything that doesn't get done in a timely matter in his district, he is here today to be happy and excited about this amazing project, supervisor erin peskin. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. i take absolutely no credit for this because all of it happened when i was out of office. all of the controversy happened under my predecessor, but i really want to shout out the community first and foremost.

the lower polk area of district three was historically neglected by city hall, and it didn't really have a voice until john and shirley malone came along and started what became a real community force for the neighbors. i really want to shout out to the polk neighbors. [applause] this 1.8 miles actually stands three supervisorial districts. does represented by supervisor matt haney in the north, district two represented by supervisor, and stefani, and in between in district three, and along that corridor, there were many voices. the middle polk neighbors, the russian hill and neighbors, the distant -- district merchants, all of him collaborated to make that such an excellent project. i would be neglectful if i did not shout out one name, and that is the name here on this

sidewalk that these wonderful students from reading elementary are looking at, and that is an incredible force knelt -- named schulte thomas. still ahead a vision for polk street that we are realizing today. he passed away untimely in 2014 and this sidewalk is in memory. i just wanted to shout him out and say this would not have happened without his vision and his tenacity and having a vibrant polk street. thank you to shall thomas. [applause] and i know that mayor breed said it was an eight-year project. it might have felt like eight years, but it was actually three , and i want to shout out to public works and sfmta who actually implemented this in the smoothest way possible. i know there were concerns, and they made raj -- representations to the businesses and the residence, and i think all of

those representations came true. i think mitchell berg did exactly what he said he was going to do in those first controversial community meetings that we had three years ago, so thank you to public works. thank you to the staff of the sfmta and two others who had to listen to everybody screaming at him about parking spaces being taken away and all the rest of it. this is a transformative streetscape project that i think is going to be something that we are proud of for generations to come. with that, it is my honor and pleasure to introduce the supervisor from district six, supervisor matt haney. [applause]. >> well, let's see if i can get this up here. is everybody excited about polk street? okay great. this is an impressive turnout, especially in the rain. i want to thank the community.

this is a multiyear effort that has been a really alleged by the neighbors and push for by the neighbors. we are tremendous partners in the city. the polk street is one of the premier commercial and residential corridors in our city. finally you will have a streetscape that matches the dynamic nature of this corridor, the people who work here. the many uses that we know. i want to give a huge shout out to the kids from reading elementary. thank you for hosting us and having us here in your hood. they are what this is all about. seniors being able to walk down and use this street in a safe way, in a way that really activates. i tell everybody about the alley right now. what people say we have challenges with the alley, they look over here. this is the model for what we can do for all of our cities. we have also learned from what we did in polk street so that we can do this quicker, so we can do it stronger protecting the

bike less onerous street and we know that when we don't do this, it can be deadly. over the last two weeks we have seen people on our streets and high injury corridors, pedestrians and cyclists who have lost their lives, and this is a solution to that if we do it right. we need to do it quicker and we need to do it with stronger protections, but we have learned from this process, and we know we can build on it and continue the great work. last thing i want to say, thank you to the business community who have stuck with us through this process and i looked down polk street and icy parking and vacant storefronts, it is a challenge that i hope we are able to change now this project is completed and we can really support the residents here and the business community. thank you to the sfmta, the department of public works, mayor breed, supervisor peskin, and most importantly, to all of you. this is a fantastic day despite

the weather, and more to come. [applause] >> and there are many lessons that have been learned on a project like this. and when public works implements these projects, we don't do it alone. we do it with a lot of other agencies. it is my pleasure to introduce the director of m.t.a., ed risk in. [applause] >> thank you. supervisors, it is great to see you all. it is great to be here after so many years. we started the conversation with all the community groups and stakeholders the other folks had been talking about. it was many years ago, but we started that conversation because what we identified, and this is before we had even defined the high injury network as we know it today, we started the conversation because we saw too many people being hurt as they were traveling on polk street, particularly people traveling by bicycle, and people who are walking. we decided back then before we

we had adopted vision zero that this was unacceptable, and that this was preventable. so we sat down and we worked with the many community groups involved. we worked with the merchants, we worked with the residence, we worked with the neighborhood association. you heard many of them named before and it was through that collaboration and understanding what the needs of the businesses where, the needs of the residents in understanding the perspective of transit riders. understanding the perspective of people who use this to bike to work or bike to school and particularly, those who are walking and trying to get across the street, trying to get to where they are going. we took all of that and put together a project that was complicated. it was not an easy solution. there are different neighborhoods as the supervisor said that this goes through with different crash profiles, different geometries, and we had to knit it together into a project that would definitely

meet the needs of all of the stakeholders while making the street safer and i think that is something we accomplished. just accomplished. there are trade-offs along the way, but we were able and there's a lot of controversy along the way, but we are able to get to a consensus project that is resulting in a polk street that i think is a quantum step better than what we had before we started this project. a quantum step better in terms of safety, in a quantum step better in terms of fatality and livability, and really supporting and advancing what is great and special and unique about the polk street corridor and the multiple neighborhoods that it runs through. we are just very pleased to be here on this day. as others said, lots of lessons learned. we need to do more of this and we need to do it better and we need to do it faster, but we have a great product here because of the great collaboration among so many different stakeholders throughout this process and also

, i want to acknowledge, in addition to the mayor and the supervisors, the great leadership by the sfmta board of directors that had the tough job way back of approving this project amid all the controversy there is one director who was on the board at that time here. the difficult work of approving the project and getting the funding together so we could move this forward. i want to thank all of our partners and community stakeholders and congratulate all of the neighbors along polk street for this great project. [applause] and one of those stakeholders that has been with us from the start, sometimes working with us , sometimes fighting with us, but always advocating for safer and better streets in san francisco, has it been the san francisco bicycle coalition. i want to invite the executive director of the coalition up. [applause].

>> thank you. thank you to you and your team for putting on this event. special thanks to mayor breed for your remarks and supervisors peskin and haney for being here. we are here today to celebrate the completion of the polk street improvement project, and there are some wonderful things to celebrate for an alley in front of us, that is a great example of what the city can do to make our streets and alleyways more human scale. we have great new pavements, there are sewer lines, so many wonderful things that are the result of this project. i do want to call out that from a bicycle safety perspective, i'm not sure we are 100% complete and what we need on polk street. with only like a part of the project containing fully protected bike lanes, this project, whether it was three years or eight years to go, when it was approved, it doesn't quite meet the standards that we have established today or protection and safety for people who bike on our vision zero high injury cora doris. the streets where we know people

are getting injured and killed. we are at this this point because polk street the project we are celebrating today, is the result of a process that started years ago. what we have learned since then is that all of the outreach and planning and construction delays , they are not necessary to wait whether it is three years or eight years, to get the safety improvements that we need for people who bike. we have seen with the leadership of mayor breed and members of the board of supervisors that we can get those safety improvements in the ground in a matter of months rather then years. so the lesson in the take away from me here is that there are these important projects where we are transforming our streetscapes and they are important to get right. we need to be speaking out for the voices of young people, for seniors, for people who bike, but they're also things that we can do immediately to make improvements. i'm so happy again, in response to the recent fatality that supervisor haney mentioned on howard street, that the city is stepping up and putting the safety improvements in the ground to help save lives and prevent more people from being

injured. we look forward to working with the mayor's office, with the sfmta to evaluating polk street, to seeing how it works, what needs to be fixed and tweaked, especially from a bicycle perspective in the months ahead, and hopefully, making improvements to close those gaps and safety and protection where we know they exist. the memories of the lives we have lost and that the lives changed by people who were seriously injured demands that we continue to make fast and real change. thank you so much. [applause] >> okay. presenting s.f. walk is dodi. please come on up. >> good morning, everybody. thank you, mayor breed, supervisors. i stand here today thinking a lot about a phone call i

received recently a couple of weeks ago from a woman who was seriously hurt and hit and a hit and run just a couple of blocks away from here, and she thankfully survived the crash and that was one of the hardest because i have ever received. the calls never do get easy, it is projects like polk street where we do the necessary work and put in the time and energy and investment into streets like this where we know that they are streets that need our attention because people are going about they're daily lives and still encountering unsafe conditions. i am so happy that one of our city his most dangerous streets has gotten safety improvements. the crosswalks, the bulb outs, divisibility striping, because we know that this is the work that it takes to save lives.

the project was designed at a time before we had the city's goal of vision zero. before we had leaders like mayor breed who made it clear that people's safety is the number 1 priority above anything else. that means we have a lot more work to do here on polk street. we have to be more aggressive about the quick changes. yes, we all do stand here today in celebration because this alley is beautiful, we have amazing pavement and so many good things that we know are improving this corridor, but as a city, i think that we are ready to take more than small steps towards people's safety. we really need to be racing towards the future for everyone, of every age, every ability who is on our streets. thank you so much. next, please let me welcome christian martin, the executive director of the lower polk c.b.d., whose organization was definitely a key partner in the development of polk street. [applause]

>> thank you so much. thank you all for being here on this rainy day. we are thrilled to see everybody out here. thank you, mayor agreed and supervisors. i hope direct to -- director numeral, right rough, thank you to the lower polk neighbors for your vision and the clarity and explain to the city what we do want to see more of as opposed to what and who we don't want to see more of. it is critically important. thank you to the d.p.w. workers, the engineers, the architects that had a hand in creating this beautiful space, for your hard work, skill and dedication, it speaks for itself. many of you may notice, but it bears repeating that in the tenderloin and lower polk neighborhood, there is the

amount of open space is equivalent to two people sharing a yoga mat. let that sink in. what we know about open spaces is critically important to the mind, body, in spirit and that is simply not enough. so we are very proud to add an alley to the available open space in the neighborhood, and we hope, for the benefit of the future, that we can continue to keep it clean and safe. i would like to thank the staff of the c.b.d. for doing the hard work day in and day out. johnny, andre, john, ronald, ronald, we appreciate you, we see you. i would like to thank the board of the c.b.d. for giving me the support to do what i do every day. i love my job. thank you to all, thank you to

the sponsors for your amazing investment in this neighborhood for the health and vitality. thank you to the st. francis foundation for all the work that you do and the neighborhood parks, our friends and colleagues at other c.b.d., thank you so much. randall, everybody else who i don't see. and i would like to reiterate what supervisor peskin said about shall thomas, a man who i didn't have the pleasure to meet , but whose legacy and vision you are all standing in. thank you. we are incredibly proud to be the stewards of this amazing, magnificent public space. it is a responsibility that we take seriously, and we hope to infuse our future programming

with equity and inclusion so that this alley can fulfil the promise and the pride of this special day. thank you very much and let's cut this ribbon. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, a christian. christian has been an incredible partner and there's been many, many neighborhood groups, many businesses, a lot of people who have been involved in this. i do want to thank the planning department, i want to thank the public utilities commission. they have also been part of this project. i would also like to thank m. squared and the contractor who worked very closely with all the neighbors to make this project happen. [applause] >> and personally, a voice of appreciation for our project team. without them, this major undertaking, they actually got it done in a very nice day. a big hand for all of them. and now at the moment we have been waiting for is the children

from reading elementary school will come over here and cut the ribbon. i want to thank everyone for coming out. police enjoyed the polk street and any experiences that you have, share them with us so we can do better. thank you. thank you. >> can i get some girls over here? okay, here is the thing, watch your hands, don't put them in there, and don't put them in here. i you guys going to help me count down? >> five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] [applause]

good afternoon, everyone. thank you so much for joining us today. mi'm the founder of persian women in tech, in partnership with our mayor, london breed, and

the supervisor, asha safai, we have been working on this event, this all-day event, for six months. thank you so much for being here. [applause] [cheering] >> maruse is a celebration of new year in many, many cultures. and it also has the meaning of new day, and also signifies the first day of spring. behind me you will see a table spread, which we create several days before persian new year. and on this table you see different symbols. and i will go a little bit over what they are and what the significance is. i apologize that i don't know all of it perfectly, so i'll give you an overview. and what we call it is a heff seen, so seven symbols.

seep is apple, somal, seki is coins, gold coins. sumbold, which is a flower. samanu is a persian sweet. let's see. sanja is a persian fruit. seer is garlic. and sabsa, which is wheat grass. and everything that you see on this table is basically symbolizing health, wealth, and happiness. so what we are looking forward to when we look at this table is looking forward to what we can have in the new year. and with that said, i would like to ask our supervisor safai to come up on the podium. [applause] >> i threw steffi in there at the last minute so she could say what the seven symbols are of our

culture. and it's such an honor to be here. 2004 i was working for mayor gavin newsom, and the community came together and we talked about all of the different things that were important to our community in terms of our culture and how to reflect it and so on. it was during that time the community said, we would love to be able to host a persian new year in maruse in city hall. in 2005 was the first time we put that together, and it was a wonderful event. and here we are, 14 years later, and we're celebrating this in city hall. we never had it spread early so people can come and enjoy it and partake and understand what it means. in general, i explained to everybody we celebrate from the first moment of spring. it is the spring equinox

when the day and the night are equal the same all over the world. and this celebration has been celebrated in the greater persian and particularly in iranian culture and community, for thousands of years. it pre-dates the islamic influence in iran, and it is something that iranians all over the world and persians all over the world joyous the celebrate. we celebrate it for 13 days. and each day we start off with going to the most senior, the most elder people in the family, and work our way down. and then finally, on the last day, the 13th day, so that the year doesn't begin with bad luck, we go and have a national day of picnic. and everyone goes out and enjoys a barbecue and picnic with their family, with watermelon and cantaloupe and all types of barbecue and wonderful food. as you all know, that are iranian and persian, i'm explaining mainly for

those who are not. this also symbolizes, in many ways, a coming together. i started my career in this city in the year 2000, and that's when i met my friend, who is now the mayor, london breed. when i asked her if we could host this event and do something special in city hall, without hesitation, she said, absolutely. we want to continue this wonderful tradition and to celebrate naruse. this is our way of saying, happy naruse, and welcoming in the new year for all of iranians and persians all over the bay area, and all over the united states. and it's with great honor that i introduce my friend and our great mayor, ms. london breed. [applause] [cheering] >> mayor: good afternoon, everyone. we no that naruse has been celebrated in the iranian and persian communities for more than 3,000 years.

and while we know that there is a rich community with a rich history here in the bay area, in san francisco, we celebrate our diversitiy. we come together to learn about various cultures, and this is no exception. we will be celebrating all day and all night in city hall. with friends, with family, with community. it's a time for renewed spirit. it's a time for new beginnings. i was reading about the celebration of naruse, and one of the things i thought was so interesting is basically this concept of moving, you know, old things out of your home to make way for new things. and what a great concept to basically think about how you cleanse, how you open up yourself, even, for new opportunities and new beginnings. today, although we

celebrated naruse here in city hall over the years, supervisor safai wanted to do something special. and that's why we're going to be hosting events this evening, in an amazing gala with so many people in our persian communities throughout the bay area. and i want to take this opportunity to thank persian women in tech, and stefi, and the women behind me. they are the ones who really put in the work to make this event an amazing event, a successful event for each and every one of you. so, stefi, i wanted to ask you to come up and thank you because i don't think people realize how much work goes into really bringing together such an amazing celebration. and so we appreciate the time, the commitment, the work, the fundraising, and all that you and your team have done to make this day

special for our communities here in san francisco. so thank you so much. [applause] [cheering] >> so thank you, everyone, for being here. and we will see you tonight. [applause] [cheering] >> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses, and challenges residents to do their shopping within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services in

our neighborhood, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i am the owner of this restaurant. we have been here in north beach over 100 years. [speaking foreign language] [♪] [speaking foreign language] [♪]

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[♪]. >> working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrate and dynamic city on sfroert of the art and social change we've been on the edge after all we're at the meeting of land and sea world-class style it is the burn of blew jeans where the rock holds court over the harbor the city's information technology xoflz work on the rulers project for free wifi and developing projects and insuring patient state of at san francisco general hospital our it professionals make guilty or

innocent available and support the house/senate regional wear-out system your our employees joy excessive salaries but working for the city and county of san francisco give us employees the unities to contribute their ideas and energy and commitment to shape the city's future but for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco [roll call] >> directors, you have a courtroom. item three is a prohibition of sound producing devices during the meeting. the bringing and use of sound public -- sound producing electronics are prohibited. any person responsible for one going off maybe asked to leave the room. cell phones on vibrate do because microphone interferences of the board respectfully requests that they be turned