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 >> san francisco recreation and parks department offers classes for the whole family. rec and parks has a class for everyone. discover what is available now and get ready to get out and play. henri matisse. frida kahlo.

andy warhol. discover the next great artist. get out and play and get inspired with toddler classes. experience art where making a mess is part of the process. classes and the size the artistic process rather than the product. children have the freedom to explore materials at their own pace and in their own way. talks love art, especially when they died into the creative process -- dive into the creative process. at the end of the classes, they have cleaned and washup. of.com great way to get out and play. for more information, visit

sfrecpark.org. that out and play and get into the groove. rec and parks offers dance classes for seniors. first-time beginners or lifetime enthusiasts -- all are welcome. enjoy all types of music. latins also, country and western. it is a great way to exercise while having lots of fun. seniors learn basic moves and practice a variety of routines. improve your posture, balance, and flexibility. it is easy. get up on your feet and step to the beat. senior dance class is from sf

rec and park. a great way to get out and play. a great way to get out and play. >> for more information, - working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world-class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast. - our 28,000 city and county employees play an important role in making san francisco what it is today. - we provide residents and visitors with a wide array of services, such as improving city streets and parks,

keeping communities safe, and driving buses and cable cars. - our employees enjoy competitive salaries, as well as generous benefits programs. but most importantly, working for the city and county of san francisco gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas, energy, and commitment to shape the city's future. - thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco. >> chances are if you are in

san francisco visiting one of our vibrant neighborhood does, you'll see one of our workers wearing one of our vests. usually, the corridors are the busiest travels areas of the cities, so we want to keep san francisco a world-class destination for everyone. >> my duty is to go around, making sure that i'm getting everything up off the ground. i pick up everything from cigarette butts, sweeping gum. >> we find needles on the floor, drug paraphernalia, trash, sometime feces. it gets pretty dirty out here. >> my job is pretty much -- it's unpredictable. >> i'm a san francisco native. i grew up in the bayview. you know, i'm just appreciative of just helping my

neighborhood. even places i don't live it, sometimes i'm out there, helping, too. >> i'm a san francisco native, so it is really important for me to keep the city clean and try to make a difference. >> it makes me feel a part of the city more because i'm a native here, i was born and raised here. so i know what san francisco should be and should look like. >> as much as possible, i try to keep the neighborhood a place for everybody, not just the people that live here because everybody contributes to making the neighborhood. >> i know there's a lot of camaraderie between everybody, and that makes for a good days work. >> how are you? >> good. good. thank you. thank you. >> there's still good people in the world. >> oh, always. there's always. >> how you doing? >> good. all right. >> there's a lot of merchants

that's very happy with the job that we're doing here. they've noticed that since we've been out here, that the streets have been a lot cleaner. >> he is one of the happiest people i know, just doing his job, that is keeping the trash out of the street and keeping our neighborhood clean. so he's our little hero, super hero. >> only thing that's going to get in my way is the trash, and i know how to sweep that out of the way. like i said, if people is fine, we have nothing to worry about. life is what you make of it, and that's for real. friday, it's raining. so? i'm out here. i love what i do.

>> our corridor program is made up with a combination of employees, and human resources agency who are helping people get back on their feet in the workforce. >> as a homeless person, i'm glad that public works has given me the opportunity to work, and give me a job and -- so i give it 110%. >> public can really help by picking up their trash and not throwing it in front of me. >> i make sure i even encourage my own kids to -- you know, if you're outside, you see something, go and pick it up. don't leave it there. go put it in the garbage. it doesn't hurt to do that. >> you can't get it all, but you can get most of it. >> help us keep san francisco

clean. it's a beautiful city. it seems like it's hard to keep it that way, but it's not if everybody be a team player and work together. >> hi. i am cory with san francisco and we're doing stay safe and we're going to talk about what shelter in place or safe enough to stay in your home means. we're here at the urban center on mission street in san francisco and joined by carla, the deputy director of spur and

one of the persons who pushed this shelter in place and safe enough to stay concept and we want to talk about what it means and why it's important to san francisco. >> as you know the bay area as 63% chance of having a major earthquake and it's serious and going to impact a lot of people and particularly people in san francisco because we live on a major fault so what does this mean for us? part of what it means is that potentially 25% of san francisco's building stock will be uninhibit tabl and people can't stay in their homes after an earthquake. they may have to go to shelters or leave entirely and we don't want that to happen. >> we want a building stock to

encourage them to stay in the homes and encourage them to stay and not relocate to other locations and shelters. >> that's right so that means the housing needs to be safe enough to stay and we have been focused in trying to define what that means and you as a former building official knows better than anybody the code says if an earthquake happens it won't kill you but doesn't necessarily say that can you stay in your home and we set out to define what that might mean and you know because you built this house we're in now and this shows what it's like to be in a place safe enough to stay. it's not going to be perfect. there maybe cracks in the walls and not have gas or electricity within a while but can you essentially camp out within your unit.

what's it going to take to get the housing stock up to this standard? we spent time talking about this and one of the building types we talk about was soft story buildings and the ground floor is vulnerable because there are openings for garages or windows and during the earthquake we saw in the marina they went right over and those are -- >> very vulnerable buildings. >> very and there are a lot of apartment buildings in san that that are like that. >> and time to. >> >> retrofit the buildings so people can stay in them after the earthquake. >> what do they need? do they need information? do they need incentives? mandates?

>> that's a good question. i think it starts with information. people think that new buildings are earthquake proof and don't understand the performance the building will have so we want a transparent of letting people know is my building going to be safe in it after an earthquake? is my building so dangers i should be afraid of being injured? so developing a ranking system for buildings would be very important and i think for some of the larger apartment buildings that are soft story we need a mandatory program to fix the buildings, not over night and not without financial help or incentive, but a phased program over time that is reasonable so we can fix those buildings, and for the smaller soft story buildings and especially in san francisco and the houses over garages we need

information and incentives and coaxing the people along and each of the owners want their house to be safe enough. >> we want the system and not just mandate everybody. >> that's right. >> i hear about people talking about this concept of resiliency. as you're fixing your knowledge you're adding to the city wide resiliency. >> >> what does that mean? >> that's a great question. what spur has done is look at that in terms of recovery and in new orleans with katrina and lost many of the people, hasn't recovered the building stock. it's not a good situation. i think we can agree and in san we want to rebuild well and quickly after a major disaster so we have defined what that means for our life lines. how do we need

the gasolines to perform and water perform after an earthquake and the building stock as well, so we have the goal of 95% of our homes to be ready for shelter in place after a major earthquake, and that way people can stay within the city. we don't lose our work force. we don't lose the people that make san francisco so special. we keep everybody here and that allow us to recover our economy, and everything because it's so interdependent. >> so that is a difficult goal but i think we can achieve it over the long time so thank you very much for hosting us and hosting this great exhibit, and thank you very much for joining >> in november of 2016, california voters passed proposition 64. the adult use of marijuana act.

san franciscans overwhelmingly approved it by nearly 75%. and the law went into effect in january of 2018. [♪] >> under california's new law, adults age 21 and over can legally possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis and grow up to six plants at home. adults in california can legally give up to 1 ounce to other adults. >> in the state of california, we passed a law that said adult consumption is legal. if you are an adult and in possession of certain amounts, you will no longer be tried. you will not be arrested or prosecuted for that. that is changing the landscape dramatically. [♪] >> to legalization of cannabis could bring tremendous economic and social benefits to cities like san francisco. >> this industry is projected to

reach $22 billion by the year 2020. and that is just a few years away. >> it can be a huge legal industry in california. i think very shortly, the actual growing of marijuana may become the biggest cash crop in the state and so you want that to be a legal tax paying cash crop, all the way down the line to a sales tax on the retail level. >> the california medical industry is a 3 billion-dollar industry last year. anticipating that multiplier as 20, 30, 50 times in the consumer marketplace once adult use is really in place, you could go ahead and apply that multiplier to revenue. it will be huge. >> when that underground economy becomes part of the regular tax

paying employment economy of the bay area, it not only has a direct impact, that money has a ripple impact through the economy as well. >> it is not just about retail. it is not just about the sensor. is about manufacturing pick a lot of innovative manufacturing is happening here in san francisco in addition to other parts of the state as well as the cultivation. we should be encouraging that. >> there is a vast array of jobs that are going to be available in the newly regulated cannabis industry. you can start at the top tier which a scientist working in testing labs. scientists working at extraction companies. and you work towards agricultural jobs. you have ones that will require less education and you look towards cannabis retail and see traditional retail jobs and you see general management jobs. those things that are similar to working at a bar restaurant or working at a retail store. >> we are offering, essentially, high paid manufacturing jobs.

typical starting wage of 18-$20 an hour, almost no barrier to entry, you do not need an education. >> that means that people who do not have college educations, working-class people, will have an opportunity to have a job at cultivating cannabis plants. there's a whole wide array of job opportunities from the seedling to the sale of the cannabis. [♪] >> last year, they said 26 million people came to san francisco. >> the tourism industry continues to be very robust here and the city and county of san francisco is about a billion-dollar industry. >> if we use a conservative cannabis user adoption rate to 15% that means 4 million tourists want that means 4 million tourists want to purchase cannabis. and we need to be ready for th them. >> in 2015, as adult use legalization efforts gained momentum in california, the supervisors created the san francisco cannabis state legalization task force.

this task force offered to research and advice to the supervisors, the mayor and other city departments. >> we knew that adult use legalization was coming to the ballot and stat that would bring with it a number of decisions that the city would have to make about zoning and regulation and so forth. and i decided at that time, at a know it was a great, that rather than have a fire drill after the ballot measure passes, as suspected it would, we should plan an event. so i authored a task force to spend a year studying it and we made it a broad-based task force. >> we prepared ourselves by developing a health impact assessment and partnered that with key stakeholder discussions with washington, oregon, colorado, to really learn lessons from their experience rolling out both adult and

medicinal cannabis. >> within days of the passing of the proposition, ed lee called on agencies to act decisively. >> he issued an executive order asking the department of public health, along with planning and other city departments to think through an internal working group around what we needed to do to consider writing this law. >> we collectively, i would say that was representatives from g.s.a., as well as the mayor's office, met with a lot of departments to talk through what prop 64 and the implementation of prop 64 it meant to them. >> the mayor proposed an office of cannabis, a one-stop shop for permits allowing operators to grow and sell cannabis. >> he wanted a smart structure. he wanted a regulatory structure that ensured that kids didn't have access and community's were safe and that consumers were safe. and he wanted to ensure, more

importantly, it was a regulatory structure that encouraged diversity and inclusivity. >> this is an office that will be solely charged with a duty of wanting not only the policies that we create, implementing and enforcing them, but also executing the licenses that are needed. we're talking about 20 different licenses that will put us into compliance with what is happening on the state level. >> this is a highly, highly regulated industry now, at this point. we have anywhere from 7-10 departments that will be working with these industry participants as they go through the permitting process. that is a lot of work at a loss of coordination. we are creating a permitting process that is smart and is digital. it is much easier for the user and for community input, and is less mired in bureaucracy. >> for the first time ever in san francisco history, standalone licenses are available for all aspects of the

nonretail side of the cannabis industry. now, a cultivator can go in to the department of building inspection and to the department of health and say, with this first registered and temporary license, and then what will eventually be a permanent license, this is the project, this is what i am going to do. >> very rarely in city government do we interact with industries that are asking to be regulated. these guys want to be regulated. they want to be compliant. they want to work with the city. that is rare. >> san francisco has created a temporary licensing process so that the pre-existing operators here in san francisco can apply for a temporary state licensed. >> we have taken teams of up to 12 inspectors to inspect the facility twice a day. we have been doing that with the department of building inspection and the department of

public health. and the fire department. >> it is really important for the industry to know that we are treating them like industry. like manufacturing. like coworkers pick so that is the way we are approaching this from a health and safety and a consumer protection network. this is just the way practice happens with restaurants or manufacturing facilities. >> because there are so many pieces of industry that people haven't even thought about. there are different permits for each piece. you have to set up a permitting system for growing, for manufacturing, for testing. for delivery. for retail. you have to make sure that there is an appropriate health code. certainly the regulation of alcohol in terms of restaurants and retail it's probably a model for how this industry will be regulated as well, both on sale and consumption. >> it is completely uncharted territory. there is a blessing and a curse

with that. it is exciting because we are on a new frontier, but it is very nerve-racking because there's a lot at stake. and quite frankly, being san francisco, being the state of california, people are looking to us. >> we hope that cannabis does become more of an accepted part of society in the same way that alcohol is, the same way coffee is. >> it is a very innovative fear, particularly around manufacturing. san francisco could be an epicenter. >> san francisco can be a leader here. a global leader in the cannabis movement and set a bar just to other communities and cities and states and this nation how it is done. [♪].

>> 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 >> feel like it really is a community. they are not the same thing, but it really does feel like there's that kind of a five. everybody is there to enjoy a literary reading. >> the best lit in san francisco. friendly, free, and you might

get fed. ♪ [applause] >> this san francisco ryther created the radar reading series in 2003. she was inspired when she first moved to this city in the early 1990's and discover the wild west atmosphere of open mi it's ic in the mission. >> although there were these open mics every night of the week, they were super macho. people writing poems about being jerks. beatty their chest onstage. >> she was energized by the scene and proved up with other girls who wanted their voices to be heard. touring the country and sharing

gen-x 7 as a. her mainstream reputation grew with her novel. theses san francisco public library took notice and asked her if she would begin carrying a monthly reading series based on her community. >> a lot of the raiders that i work with our like underground writers. they're just coming at publishing and at being a writer from this underground way. coming in to the library is awesome. very good for the library to show this writing community that they are welcome. at first, people were like, you want me to read at the library, really? things like that. >> as a documentary, there are interviews -- [inaudible] >> radar readings are focused on

clear culture. strayed all others might write about gay authors. gay authors might write about universal experiences. the host creates a welcoming environment for everybody. there is no cultural barrier to entry. >> the demographic of people who come will match the demographic of the reader. it is very simple. if we want more people of color, you book more people of color. you want more women, your book more women. kind of like that. it gets mixed up a little bit. in general, we kind of have a core group of people who come every month. their ages and very. we definitely have some folks who are straight. >> the loyal audience has

allowed michelle to take more chances with the monthly lineup. established authors bring in an older audience. younker authors bring in their friends from the community who might be bringing in an older author. >> raider has provided a stage for more than 400 writers. it ranges from fiction to academics stories to academic stories this service the underground of queer fell, history, or culture. >> and there are so many different literary circles in san francisco. i have been programming this reading series for nine years. and i still have a huge list on my computer of people i need to carry into this. >> the supportive audience has allowed michele to try new experiment this year, the radar book club.

a deep explorationer of a single work. after the talk, she bounces on stage to jump-start the q&a. less charlie rose and more carson daly. >> san francisco is consistently ranked as one of the most literate cities in the united states. multiple reading events are happening every night of the year, competing against a big names like city arts and lectures. radar was voted the winner of these san francisco contest. after two decades of working for free, michelle is able to make radar her full-time job. >> i am a right to myself, but i feel like my work in this world is eagerly to bring writers together and to produce literary

events. if i was only doing my own work, i would not be happy. it is, like throwing a party or a dinner party. i can match that person with that person. it is really fun for me. it is nerve wracking during the actual readings. i hope everyone is good. i hope the audience likes them. i hope everybody shows up. but everything works out. at the end of the reading, everyone is happy. ♪ >> 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]