i feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. >> i am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. we test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological substances. i oversee all of the lab operations. the forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the human performance and the case in the city of san francisco. we collect evidence at the scene. a woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. that was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. it is nice to get the feedback. we do a lot of work and you don't hear the result.

once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. you can bring justice to what happened. we are able to take what we due to the next level. many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries don't have the resources and don't have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. >> sometimes we go to court. whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. we do whatever we can to get our job done. >> when we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. unexpected findings are fun. >> i have a prior background in law enforcement.

i was a police officer for 8 years. i handled homicides and suicides. i had been around death investigation type scenes. as a police officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the coroner or the detective division. i am intrigued with those types of calls. i wondered why someone died. i have an extremely supportive family. older children say, mom, how was your day. i can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. >> being i am a native of san francisco and grew up in the community. i come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from

the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. there are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. if from is a child involved or things like that. i try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. when i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. whawhat do you do? the autopsy? i deal with the a with the enou- with the administrative and the families. >> most of the time work here is very enjoyable. >> after i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. i thought there was somebody dead? my bed. i rolled over and poked the body. sure enough, it was my husband

who grumbled and went back to sleep. this job does have lingering effects. in terms of why did you want to go into this? i loved science growing up but i didn't want to be a doctor and didn't want to be a pharmacist. the more i learned about forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between applied science and criminal justice. if you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. >> being a woman we just need to go for it and don't let anyone fail you, you can't be. >> with regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. let's face it, we aren't

hollywood, we are real world. yes we collect evidence. we want to preserve that. we are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a hollywood television show. >> families say thank you for what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. somebody has to do my job. if i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for the city of san francisco.. >> shop and dine the 49 o.. challenges residents to do they're shopping with the 49ers of san francisco by supporting the services within the feigned we help san francisco remain unique and successful and rib rant where will you shop the

shop and dine the 49 i'm e jonl i provide sweets square feet potpie and peach cobbler and i started my business this is my baby i started out of high home and he would back for friends and coworkers they'll tell you hoa you need to open up a shop at the time he move forward book to the bayview and i thinks the t line was up i need have a shop on third street i live in bayview and i wanted to have my shop here in bayview a quality dessert shot shop in my neighborhood in any business is different everybody is in small banishes there are homemade recess pesz and ingredients from scratch we shop local because we

have someone that is here in your city or your neighborhood that is provide you with is service with quality ingredients and quality products and need to be know that person the person behind the products it is not like okay. who all right. on 2, 1 you innovation on or was on over 200 years they went through extensive innovations to the existing green new metal gates were installed our the perimeter 9 project is funded inform there are no 9 community opportunity

and our capital improvement plan to the 2008 clean and safe neighborhood it allows the residents and park advocates like san franciscans to make the matching of the few minutes through the philanthropic dungeons and finished and finally able to pull on play on the number one green a celebration on october 7, 1901, a skoovlt for the st. anthony's formed a club and john then the superintendent the golden gate park laid out the bowling green are here sharing meditates a permanent green now and then was opened in 1902 during the course the 1906 san francisco earthquake that citywide much the city the greens were left that with an ellen surface and

not readers necessarily 1911 it had the blowing e bowling that was formed in 1912 the parks commission paid laying down down green number 2 the san francisco lawn club was the first opened in the united states and the oldest on the west their registered as san francisco lark one 101 and ti it is not all fierce competition food and good ole friend of mine drive it members les lecturely challenge the stories some may be true some not memories of past winners is reversed presbyterian on the wall of champions. >> make sure you see the one in to the corner that's me and.

>> no? not bingo or scrabble but the pare of today's competition two doreen and christen and beginninger against robert and others easing our opponents for the stair down is a pregame strategy even in lawn bowling. >> play ball. >> yes. >> almost. >> (clapping). >> the size of tennis ball the object of the game our control to so when the players on both

sides are bold at any rate the complete ends you do do scoring it is you'll get within point lead for this bonus first of all, a jack can be moved and a or picked up to some other point or move the jack with i have a goal behind the just a second a lot of elements to the game. >> we're about a yard long. >> aim a were not player i'll play any weighed see on the inside in the goal is a minimum the latter side will make that arc in i'm right-hand side i play my for hand and to my left if i wanted to acre my respect i extend so it is arced to the right have to be able to pray

both hands. >> (clapping.) who one. >> nice try and hi, i'm been play lawn bowling affair 10 years after he retired i needed something to do so i picked up this paper and in this paper i see in there play lawn bowling in san francisco golden gate park ever since then i've been trying to bowl i enjoy bowling a very good support and good experience most of you have of of all love the people's and have a lot of have a lot of few minutes in mr. mayor the san francisco play lawn bowling is in golden gate park we're sharing meadow for more information about the club including free lessons log

>> okay. , here we go. hi, everyone. thank you for being here. i'm london breed, mayor of the city and county of san francisco i'm so excited to be here today to kick off birth month in san francisco. [applause] >> we are joined by the owners of the new will. thank you so much for opening up this incredible place which has 100% renewable energy. how exciting is that? [applause]. >> they are a participant in our green business program. they are super green it customers customers, anyone can be a super green customer for just a few more dollars a month. we are gathered here today because we know that climate change is real and one of the most pressing issues of our time it affects every person in every

community all over the world. from the devastating forest fires throughout our estate to the historic flooding affecting our friends in the north, we know that climate change has real life and tragic consequences that will only get worse if we don't act. we know, unfortunately, we are not getting a lot of help these days to address issues around climate change from washington, d.c., which makes the work that we do locally and cities all over the world, even more important than ever. at last year's global climate action summit held right here in san francisco, i was proud to become the newest cochair of the sierra club mayor for 100% clean energy program. and at the summit, i doubled down on san francisco's commitment to using 100% renewable energy by 2050. those are really bold

commitments, but in san francisco, over the years, we have built up all of our talk with a lot of action, and in the city, we work to power our businesses and our homes with renewable energy through our clean power s.f. program. i was so happy and excited to lead to those efforts when i served on the board of supervisors, and now, seeing the incredible progress that this program has made as mayor. provides cleaner, greener electricity at competitive rates and starting this month, we will begin the largest and last major enrolment of our clean power s.f. program. by the end of the earth month which starts today, we will have enrolled over 250,000 new customers. [cheers and applause] >> it will bring our grand total

to 360,000 customers for our clean power s.f. program. [applause] some of those folks will be in our agreement programs which provide nearly 50% renewable energy, and other friends like here at the new will will choose to be model citizens by joining our super green program. thank you both so much. for just a few more dollars, as i said earlier, you can be a super green hero for the environment. [applause] when you combine all of these new residents and businesses being empowered by clean power s.f. with places like city hall, the airport, who already have 100% greenhouse gas, the city will meet its 80% of the electricity demand in san francisco. that's 80% of the city receiving clean, renewable energy from a

local motility -- utility with public oversight. how amazing is that? no just as important, we are taking the revenue from the clean power s.f. program and reinvesting it into our communities, meaning more renewable energy projects in our city, and more well-paying jobs for san franciscans. we are already seeing the real-life impact of clean power s.f. and the positive benefits that everyone can realize because of programs like clean power s.f., i'm proud to announce that san francisco has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions 36 below 1990 levels. thirty 6%. [applause]. >> the most amazing part about that is we made a commitment to reduce it by 25%, and we have exceeded that.

this reduction, i am losing my voice, excuse me. this reduction has exceeded -- [laughter] >> this reduction has exceeded expectations and it is happening even at the same time that the city's population has increased over 22%, and our economy has increased by at 160 6%. how amazing is that? you can be a global, incredible economically viable city and increase the population while still reducing greenhouse gas emissions. we have proven that you can do that. now we have accomplished so much , but we are just getting started. today we are launching san

francisco's inaugural month of climate action during able because taking care of our planet is not just about signing up for clean power s.f. and other great policies, it is also during the great work to take care of our environments. the san francisco department of the environment has put together a website and volunteer opportunities and programs that will be taking place throughout the month of april. you can visit us online, or just go and google it. san francisco department of environment. this website will make participating in earth month activities more accessible to the public and help everyone get involved in some capacity and get excited about doing something about the environments let me tell you, it can be done. i have made a conscious effort to reduce the amount of trash by paying close attention to what i

produce. i hardly empty anything in the black garbage can now because of composting, because of recycling , i mean, it is absolutely amazing what you can do when you make changes to how you get rid of waste. putting together a great earth month team has been a team effort, and i want to thank the leaders at the public utilities commission, and we know that some of our commissioners are here today, as well as i want to thank the department of environment for the work that they continue to do, and i also would like to thank the clean power s.f. director. thank you so much. and our commissioner, francesca, and i think others who were former commissioners but has worked really hard on the lot of this work.

and of course, those individuals , and now i would like to turn over at the podium. thank you so much. i hope i'm saying your name right. but the fact is, they doing some great work and i am sorry i am butchering your name, but this incredible place, the new will, we are so grateful for their commitment to the environment by leading by example. come on up and tell us a little bit about the amazing work that you are doing right here. [applause] >> thank you. my name is karen. i am co-owner of the new wheel in san francisco and i wanted to first and foremost thank you for choosing to be here on this day. we are really, truly honored.

and honored to be able to use this moment to tell you and to help share the vision for the way that we can take all of the thoughts about the importance of how we use our resources and the worries about our earth, and put them into action in ways that are really, really super meaningful. here at the new wheel, we are mission driven, but mission with lots of solutions, and that has been important to us the whole time. we know that electric bicycles change san francisco for san franciscans because they flatten this city. the city we know as a hilly place where you have to have a car to be able to get to school or go to work, or get to the gym that is no longer the case. you can get yourself in your suit, leave the house from anywhere, and get to work in good style on an electric bike. best of all, commuting for two weeks, you will use the same

amount of power as you would taking a ten minute hot shower. that means that when you sign up to be a super green customer, you are using that 100% renewable cleaner power and the cleanest way you possibly can to get from point a to point b and you will have a really good time doing it, so thank you for being here. we really are so optimistic about the future of san francisco and the future of our earth because we know that the choices that we make make a big difference. the decisions that we make make a big difference in our actions make a difference. thank you. i would like to introduce -- did i get your name wrong, too. [laughter] >> no worries. >> it is a trend. >> hi there. [laughter] and my tradition, we are taught to respect and revere mother earth. we learned that water and earth

are sacred, and we learned we must do whatever we can to reduce our impact on the earth. that is why i was enthusiastic when i heard about becoming a super green power of power s.f., a super green customer of clean power s.f. that's why i signed up my household before the major rollout. this is also why i'm proud to live in a city that leads the nation and providing renewable energy for customers. the policy choices that we make not only aligned with my values, it also -- they also help to address environmental injustices that have been created by our antiquated power system. san francisco's push for 100% renewable energy not only improves our environment but improves the health and quality of life of residents in san francisco and i hope others take a step to do what they can to sign up, by upgrading to become super green customers of clean power s.f. to continue that downward trend of emissions that

the mayor spoke about. thank you. [applause] >> all right. make sure you sign up for our super green program at your earliest convenience. thank you all so much for being here, thank you to our customers and those who are taking the extra step for being super green heroes for the environments. this is a few of the things that we are doing in san francisco. there's so much more work that we know needs to be done, not just in our city, but with cities all over the world. if we are going to make sure that we protect the environment, and our planet for generations to come, and it starts with s. thank you all so much for being here and for being heroes for the environment. [cheers and applause]

as a society we've basically failed big portion of our

population if you think about the basics of food, shelter safety a lot of people don't have any of those i'm mr. cookie can't speak for all the things but i know say, i have ideas how we can address the food issue. >> open the door and walk through that don't just stand looking out. >> as they grew up in in a how would that had access to good food and our parent cooked this is how you feed yours this is not happening in our country this is a huge pleasure i'm david one of the co-founder so about four year ago we worked with the serviced and got to know the kid one of the things

we figured out was that they didn't know how to cook. >> i heard about the cooking school through the larkin academy a. >> their noting no way to feed themselves so they're eating a lot of fast food and i usually eat whatever safeway is near my home a lot of hot food i was excited that i was eating lunch enough instead of what and eat. >> as i was inviting them over teaching them basic ways to fix good food they were so existed. >> particle learning the skills and the food they were really go it it turned into the is charity foundation i ran into my friend we were talking about this this do you want to run this charity

foundations and she said, yes. >> i'm a co-found and executive director for the cooking project our best classes participation for 10 students are monday they're really fun their chief driven classes we have a different guest around the city they're our stand alone cola's we had a series or series still city of attorney's office style of classes our final are night life diners. >> santa barbara shall comes in and helps us show us things and this is one the owners they help us to socialize and i've been here about a year. >> we want to be sure to serve as many as we can.

>> the san francisco cooking school is an amazing amazing partner. >> it is doing that in that space really elevates the space for the kids special for the chief that make it easy for them to come and it really makes the experience pretty special. >> i'm sutro sue set i'm a chief 2, 3, 4 san francisco. >> that's what those classes afford me the opportunity it breakdown the barriers and is this is not scary this is our choice about you many times this is a feel good what it is that you give them is an opportunity you have to make it seem like it's there for them for the taking show them it is their and they can do that. >> hi, i'm antonio the chief in san francisco.

>> the majority of kids at that age in order to get them into food they need to see something simple and the evidence will show and easy to produce i want to make sure that people can do it with a bowl and spoon and burner and one pan. >> i like is the receipts that are simple and not feel like it's a burden to make foods the cohesives show something eased. >> i go for vera toilet so someone can't do it or its way out of their range we only use 6 ingredients i can afford 6 ingredient what good is showing you them something they can't use but the sovereignties what are you going

to do more me you're not successful. >> we made a vegetable stir-fry indicators he'd ginger and onion that is really affordable how to balance it was easy to make the food we present i loved it if i having had access to a kitchen i'd cook more. >> some of us have never had a kitchen not taught how to cookie wasn't taught how to cook. >> i have a great appreciation for programs that teach kids food and cooking it is one of the healthiest positive things you can communicate to people that are very young. >> the more programs like the cooking project in general that

can have a positive impact how our kids eat is really, really important i believe that everybody should venting to utilize the kitchen and meet other kids their age to identify they're not alone and their ways in which to pick yours up and move forward that. >> it is really important to me the opportunity exists and so i do everything in my power to keep it that. >> we'll have our new headquarters in the heart of the tenderloin at taylor and kushlg at the end of this summer 2014 we're really excited. >> a lot of the of the conditions in san francisco they have in the rest of the country so our goal to 257bd or expand out of the san francisco in los

angeles and then after that who know. >> we'd never want to tell people want to do or eat only provide the skills and the tools in case that's something people are 2rrd in doing. >> you can't buy a box of psyche you have to put them in the right vein and direction with the right kids with a right place address time those kids don't have this you have to instill they can do it they're good enough now to finding out figure out and find the future for >> 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] >> this lodge is home to some