>> good morning, please welcome san francisco gay men's chorus, performing "singing for our love

." [♪] ♪ we are peaceful loving people ♪ ♪ and we are singing,, singing for our love ♪ ♪ we are young and old together ♪ ♪ and we are singing, singing for our love ♪ [♪]

[♪] [singing] ♪ [singing] [singing]

[singing] [singing] [cheers and applause]

>> please welcome, chris verdugo , executive director of the san francisco gay men's chorus. >> good morning. on behalf of the board of directors, staff, and about a tenth of our singing members that are with us, it is an honour to welcome you to our new home for the mayor's first state of the city address. as we begin to envision this space over a year ago, our intention became clear, we wanted to create a centre where lgbtq artists and organizations could come together, a space

where they could collaborate and incubate new works pack and affordable and safe space, a place to present master classes and lecture series, and to host a middle and high schools aged students with our educational programs, rhythm, reaching youth through music, and the it gets better showcase pick a venue that would house a state-of-the-art broadcast facility so we could transmit these incredible transformational and inspiring events to a global audience. a space that espouses the san francisco values of diversity, acceptance, equality, entrepreneurship, and creativity a home where art and activism come together, and it is my honor to welcome you to that space today. [applause] our new home, and the nation's first-ever lgbtq centre for the

arts is a continuation of what began over 40 years ago on the city hall steps. that moment where 99 men raised their voices in anger and sadness, but also in hope, singing the song that you just heard, singing for our lives, and thereby sparking an lgbtq arts movement that would eventually spanned five continents. that is why this isn't just our home, it is a home for all of the san francisco arts community and the nation. no one understands this better than the mayor. as executive director of the african-american arts and culture complex, and she transformed the struggling center into a vital, sustainable community resource. she understands, yes. [applause] >> she understands that arts and culture are at the forefront of social change, and we are honored that she chose our new

home for her first state of the city address. [applause] >> please join me in welcoming, mayor, london abbreviate. [cheers and applause] [applause] >> thank you. >> thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, everyone. thank you so much. thank you. thank you. thank you all so much for being here today. thank you to the san francisco gay men's chorus for opening up their new home, this amazing, national, lgbtq centre for the arts. what i love about this center is that this chorus has invested their time and resources in creating something beautiful,

not just for themselves, but for the entire lgbtq and arts community around the country. this is a place that celebrates what is best about san francisco , and that is what i want to talk you about today. for too long, our safety has been the subject of a drumbeat of negative media attention, national stories claiming that san francisco has lost its way. however, streets are dangerous slums, our housing is unobtainable, how temple workers battle for our city's up soul. like most narratives, their elements of truth here, we have failed to build enough housing, we do face a homeless crisis, as we grapple with mental health and substance use on our streets of course, we acknowledge the challenges we face. the question is, what do we do next, hang our heads and give up

cloth concede our problems are too great and the soul of our city is lost? anyone who thinks that, anyone who thinks that is what we will do knows nothing about this city [applause] >> this is san francisco. we don't throw up our hands, we take to our feet. we don't wait for guidance, we liked the way. this is a city that knows how. the innovation capital of the world his. [cheers and applause] >> the national leader on lgbt and immigrant rights, environmental protections, healthcare, and so many other causes. the place where my angelou rang cable car bells -- the place where my angelou rang cable car bells and the place where a girl

from public housing became mayor [cheers and applause] >> our congresswoman is speaker of the house. our former mayor just became governor. another is the california senior senator, the state's lieutenant lieutenant governor, controller and treasurer are all san franciscans. [cheers and applause] >> our former district attorney could even be the next president [cheers and applause] >> it is time that our city holds its head up high again. it is time we believe again. yes, we have our challenges, i see them every day, just like you. i'm frustrated just like you about the issues that face our city, but i'm also motivated,

because there is no problem we caps off together, no challenge we won't face together, there is , as president clinton said, nothing wrong with san francisco that can't be fixed with what is right about san francisco. [cheers and applause] >> homelessness in san francisco has, for decades, been described as a sad reality, an impossible problem, just part of our city. i don't accept that they are just a few years ago, he only had to walk a few blocks from city hall to seat tent encampments lining our sidewalks , clips covering whole blocks on division street. today, those encampments are gone. that is partly because we have been working to build more shelters, more housing, and help more people. in the last six months, since i have been in office, we have

built three navigation centers, with 338 beds, the fastest expansion of shelter beds our city has seen in decades. [cheers and applause] >> and we've helped nearly 1,000 people exit homelessness. 1,000 people in six months. [applause] >> yes, we have a long way to go and so much work to do, but we are making a difference in people's lives. when we open up to the bryant street navigation centre earlier this month, i met a woman who had just moved in. she is battling addiction and breast cancer. on the streets, her medication kept getting stolen, she couldn't get healthy, now she is inside, and she is working on getting housing. at bryant street, she gave me a

hug, and she said she is hopeful , and so am i. if she has hope, others can too. that is the difference. she is excited about the future, and i'm excited for her. if she can have a hope, and others can too. i've already announced my plan to add 1,000 shelter beds by 2020, enough to clear the shelter bed waitlist. [applause] >> we also are declaring a shelter crisis so we can get these shelter beds builds now, and i want to thank supervisor supervisors brown, haney, mandelman, supervisor stefani and walton, for joining me in recognizing our bureaucracy shouldn't stand in the way of one single thousand beds. this is a huge step, we know, but it is not enough. we know we have around 4,000 unsheltered people in our city,

sleeping in our streets, in our parks, in the doorway is, or in vehicles. we know that it's a travesty, but it's one we can take on. in the next four years, i want to create enough shelter beds, step up housing units, homeless housing units, and housing subsidies for every person who is currently unsheltered. that is 4,000 more placements for people. no more excuses, no more status quo and let's be clear, every part of our city, every neighborhood must be open to being part of the solution. [cheers and applause] >> to get there, we must move forward with my proposal for our windfall funding. $185 million for homelessness, behavioural health, and

affordable housing. [cheers and applause] >> with this investment, we can add 310 new shelter beds, 300 units of housing by master leasing units, freeing up hundreds of beds in the shelter system. complete funding for a 255 unit building for homeless seniors and adults, and get started on hundreds more. now i know there are other budget priorities, and they are important. let's be clear. every dollar we take away from what i propose is one bed, one lost home, one more person on the streets. i will continue to work with a board president, norman he -- norman he -- yee and the board

of supervisors. working together, we can tackle any impossible problem. the crisis on our street is not just about homelessness. people suffering from mental illness, they need more than just housing. often they are actually housed. these people need help, since i took office, we have added 50 mental health stabilization beds , and i'm committed to opening up 100 more this year. [cheers and applause] >> our healthy streets operation centre is out there every day helping those suffering from substance use disorder, getting them connected to treatment and shelter, to help those who are truly suffering get real treatment. i've partnered with supervisor raphael mandelman on conservatorship legislation because when people can't care for themselves, we have to do better, and we have to care for them. [applause]

>> we have to revamp our entire approach to mental health. to bring together all of our mental health programs under one focus, i am creating a director of mental health reform. [applause] >> this person will be responsible for better coordination of mental health care for those suffering in our city, this person will strengthen the program we have that are working, nts, cut cut the ineffective program because clearly there are things in this city that just aren't working, and shouldn't continue to be funded. [applause] >> we need to build people's

lives, not shuffle them from emergency room to emergency room , from jail cell, to jail cell. our criminal justice system is not a mental health solution. [applause] >> to do all this, we need a vision and leadership, so today, i am announcing that i have hired a new director of the department of public health, dr grant kovacs. [applause] >> the doctor is one of our own, trained at ucsf, you were to the department of public health as a director of h.i.v. prevention and research, before leaving to join the obama white house as a director of national aids policy he knows our city and its challenges, and he is ready to

get to work, and he knows that we need to get zero h.i.v. infections in san francisco. [applause] >> we need to reach our most vulnerable populations, particularly are african-american and latino communities who are not seeing their h.i.v. infections drop as others do, this means getting everyone, and i mean everyone access to services, treatment, and preventative medications like prep. [applause] >> and i'm confident that dr kovacs will get us to our goal. we are also confronting san francisco's other allegedly impossible problem, housing. housing. we have to produce and preserve housing, and keep people in

their homes. i will continue to support the rights to civil council which we funded it last year's budget with $5.8 million so every tenant who needs a lawyer can get one, and through our small sight -- his most -- small site acquisition program, will fight to preserve rent-controlled buildings to keep people in neighborhoods secure. [applause] >> people like ms. miss wu, and 99-year-old woman who has been living in the same building in the richmond district for the past 30 years. or building was going up for sale, threatening her home, and that of every senior who lived there. i met her with supervisor -- supervisor fewer when i visited her home, the building that we helped purchase and make permanently affordable. ensuring that she and her neighbors wouldn't have to worry about where they were going to live.

[applause] >> as we keep people in their homes, we have to build more new housing. lots more. [cheers and applause] >> in 2018, we built around 3,000 homes. that's not nearly enough. we have to get better, and that's why i've already hired a housing delivery director to deliver projects faster, and implement policy reforms that cut the times to get permits in half. i've directed the department to end the backlog of hundreds of in law units, and make it easier for people to build them going forward, and passed legislation to prevent the loss of thousands of units in the pipeline. if we are going to be in san francisco for all, we need to be

a san francisco that builds housing for all. that's why i'm moving forward with the 300 million-dollar affordable housing bond so we can continue to invest in badly needed affordable housing. [cheers and applause] >> across our city, we have projects like the balboa upper yard that are ready to build. that is 131 units that just need funding, but it's not just about investing, we have to break the barriers to building housing so our dollars go further and we get housing built faster. so today, i'm announcing a charter amendment for this november's election, to make all affordable housing and teacher housing as upright in san francisco. [cheers and applause]

>> if an affordable housing or teacher housing project as proposed within zoning, then build it, and build it now. no more bureaucracy. [applause] >> no more bureaucracy, no more costly appeals, number not in my neighborhood. it is simple, affordable housing as of right because housing affordability is a right. [applause] >> this is how we create housing for all san franciscans, and i will continue to work with our state legislators, our regional partners, our new governor, because housing affordability isn't just a san francisco issue , it is a crisis throughout the state of california.

we won't always see the results of these efforts immediately, it may take some years to his see some changes, but then we have started to build more aggressively 20 years ago, we wouldn't be in the situation we are in today. [applause] >> we might have inherited a problem decades in the making, but we cannot be the ones who pass it on to the next generation. [applause] >> as we grow, we must make our streets clean and our communities safe. since my first day in office, i have been out walking our neighboured neighborhood. this is not okay. it is not healthy. and while there is much more to do, we are working every day to stop it. it is no secret i have put in a lot of focus in the tenderloin and the south of market. i am committed to improving

these neighborhoods. so far, we have doubled the number of beat officers in midmarket. we have added pitstops, big belly trash cans and street cleaners. we have increased enforcement against drug dealing, and expanded outreach by our healthy outreach operation centre. i know we have more to do, but people are starting to see a difference. families are coming to the new playgrounds at civic centre. i met a young family with two small children who came from sunset. they told me a year ago that they never would have gone to the playground there. too dirty, too run down, to many needles. now the new café on the playgrounds are now part of their saturday. this is a start. a first step towards making our public spaces clean and safe. we have also seen our investments in community policing yield results. last year, we had a 18% drop in homicide, which coincides with a

major reduction in gun violence for the second year in a row. in fact, we had a 25% increase in firearm fees, and a 30 5% decrease in gun violence. [applause] to put it simply, more guns off the streets, fewer crimes in homicides involving guns. we also had a nine% reduction in property crimes, including an 18 % drop in car break-ins, and a 13% drop in car thefts. we are, at last, reversing the carved reagan epidemic through the great work of our police department, we are working a dip

-- making a difference on violent crimes and property crimes. more officers in our neighborhoods, and investments in cleaner, safer streets are all important. as we address these issues today , we also have to think about how to prevent them from happening in the future. we have to confront the root causes of crime and addiction, which means addressing inequity and poverty. [applause] last year, working with our public defender, we made san francisco the first city in the country to eliminate punitive wasteful court fines and fees. [cheers and applause] >> these fees did nothing more than drive people into poverty, or worse, back into prison. we will continue our work to give the next generation opportunities back and prevent them from ending up in the criminal justice system in the first place. we are working our city build

program to address the shortage of construction workers and give people good paying jobs. we are launching new jobs and helping to train new munimobile drivers to get more people on the street so we can get san franciscans where they need to go faster. we have tech s.f., healthcare academy, and hospitality initiatives, all of which train people to work in our city, and as a former city in turn, who at 14 proudly worked at a nonprofit , answering phones and helping young family is, and doing paperwork, i am particularly proud to have launched opportunities for all so that we can get every high school students -- [applause] scene -- >> so we can get every high school student in san francisco a paid internship, because unlike the president in this

town we pay people when they go to work. [laughter] [applause] >> this program will help our kids now to earn money, to learn new skills, to keep them from going down the wrong path. these young people will be exposed to opportunities they never knew existed. they could see a future in an industry they never had access to. they could see themselves making a difference in a world in a way that they never thought possible . they will flourish, and we will grow our workforce right here in san francisco. [applause] >> will continue to lead the way on so many other important issues. we will protect the environment,

and fight climate change. yesterday, we all know pg and tee declared bankruptcy, and there's a lot of talk about what this could mean, but let's talk about what we know. san francisco knows how to run a clean power system, and we are going to get to 100% renewable energy by 2030. [applause] >> if this bankruptcy provides an opportunity for public power, supervisor peskin, we will take it. [applause] [laughter] >> i will be working with the city attorney, dennis herrera, and supervisor peskin to make sure that whatever happens to pg and e., we are prepared to. i'm also working with city attorney herrera to address questions around the testing of the hunter at's pointe. [applause]

>> we need to be clear and transparent with the public about this project. along with supervisor walton, we have requested that ucsf, and u.c. berkeley put together an independent team to review the procedures for the retesting of parcel a and g. [cheers and applause] >> these are trusted institutions. they will provide an independent analysis so the public can feel confident in the results. we also have to break the gridlock that is on our streets and create a more functioning transportation system. people may continue to choose to drive in san francisco, but that can't be their only choice. i will work with supervisor peskin on a measure that will charge our ride hail companies to relieve congestion on our streets. [applause]

>> we have to keep pushing forward street facing invasion zero projects, including building protected bike lanes on high injury corridors, like the one we are building by upside on valencia street that made it so hard for you to get here. [applause] >> we will also continue investing in helping our transgender residents with housing and services, and to those in washington, d.c. who continue to try and erase transgender people, it won't work back not here in san francisco. [cheers and applause] >> now more than ever, as the president continues to fear mongering about walls and slander our immigrant communities, san francisco is proud to stand as a sanctuary city. [applause]

>> we are a city that is surrounded by bridges, not divided by walls, and we will stay that way. [applause] >> when i took the oath of office six months ago, i never pretended i could solve all of our problems. i believed we could solve them working together. i believed in a government for all of us, and i still believe that we are working to turn the tides, and i hope every san franciscan can feel the difference when you see our public works crews, our -- out power washing the sidewalks and picking up trash, i hope you feel the difference. when you see our police officers walking the beats in the neighborhood, and talking to the merchants and the residence, i hope that you feel the

difference. when you see our homeless outreach team and public health workers helping people suffering on our streets, i hope you feel the difference. when you see a new shelter open, a new affordable housing project go up, or a new bike lane that gets finished, i hope you smile and feel the difference. i hope you believe with me that you hold your head high and take pride in our city, and what we can do together, because we are san francisco. we will meet these challenges, and we will continue to light a better way for the future of our city. thank you all so much for being here today. [cheers and applause]

as latinos we are unified in some ways and incredibly diverse in others and this exhibit really is an exploration of nuance in how we present those

ideas. ♪ our debts are not for sale. >> a piece about sanctuary and how his whole family served in the army and it's a long family tradition and these people that look at us as foreigners, we have been here and we are part of america, you know, and we had to reinforce that. i have been cure rating here for about 18 year. we started with a table top, candle, flower es, and a picture and people reacted to that like it was the monna lisa.

>> the most important tradition as it relates to the show is idea of making offering. in traditional mexican alters, you see food, candy, drinks, cigarettes, the things that the person that the offerings where being made to can take with them into the next word, the next life. >> keeps u.s us connects to the people who have passed and because family is so important to us, that community dynamic makes it stick and makes it visible and it humanizes it and makes it present again. ♪ >> when i first started doing it back in '71, i wanted to do something with ritual, ceremony and history and you know i talked to my partner ross about the research and we opened and

it hit a cord and people loved it. >> i think the line between engaging everyone with our culture and appropriating it. i think it goes back to asking people to bring their visions of what it means to honor the dead, and so for us it's not asking us to make mexican altars if they are not mexican, it's really to share and expand our vision of what it means to honor the dead. >> people are very respectful. i can show you this year alone of people who call tol ask is it okay if we come, we are hawaii or asian or we are this. what should we wear? what do you recommend that we do? >> they say oh, you know, we

want a four day of the dead and it's all hybrid in this country. what has happened are paper cuts, it's so hybrid. it has spread to mexico from the bay area. we have influence on a lot of people, and i'm proud of it. >> a lot of tim times they don't represent we represent a lot of cultures with a lot of different perspectives and beliefs. >> i can see the city changes and it's scary. >> when we first started a lot of people freaked out thinking we were a cult and things like that, but we went out of our way to also make it educational through outreach and that is why we started doing the prosession

in 1979. >> as someone who grew up attending the yearly processions and who has seen them change incrementally every year into kind of what they are now, i feel in many ways that the cat is out of the bag and there is no putting the genie back into the bottle in how the wider public accesses the day of the dead. >> i have been through three different generations of children who were brought to the procession when they were very young that are now bringing their children or grandchildren. >> in the '80s, the processions were just kind of electric. families with their homemade visuals walking down the street in san francisco. service so much more intimate and personal and so much more rooted in kind of a family practice of a very strong

cultural practice. it kind of is what it is now and it has gone off in many different directions but i will always love the early days in the '80s where it was so intimate and son sofa millial. >> our goal is to rescue a part of the culture that was a part that we could invite others to join in there there by where we invite the person to come help us rescue rescue it also. that's what makes it unique. >> you have to know how to approach this changing situation, it's exhausting and i have seen how it has affected everybody. >> what's happening in mission and the relationship with the police, well it's relevant and

it's relevant that people think about it that day of the dead is not just sugar skulls and paper flowers and candles, but it's become a nondenominational tradition that people celebrate. >> our culture is about color and family and if that is not present in your life, there is just no meaning to it you know? >> we have artists as black and brown people that are in direct danger of the direct policies of the trump a administration and i think how each of the artists has responsibilitie responded ss interesting. the common >> my apartment burned down 1.5

years ago in noba. my name is leslie mccray, and i am in outside beauty sales. i have lived in this neighborhood since august of this year. after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and find out about various programs that could help us get back on our feet, and i signed up for the below market rate program, got my certificate, and started applying and won the housing lottery. this particular building was brand-new, and really, this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. and i came to the open house here, and there were literally hundreds of people looking at the building. and i -- in my mind, i was,

like, how am i ever going to possibly win this? and i did. and when you get that notice that you want, it's surreal, and you don't really believe it, and then it sinks in, yeah, i can have it, and i'm finally good to go; i can stay. my favorite thing about my home, although i miss the charm about the old victorian is everything is brand-new. it's beautiful. my kitchen is amazing. i've really started to enjoy cooking. i really love that we have a gym on-site. i work out four days a week, and it's beautiful working outlooking out over the courtyard that i get to look at. it was hard work to get to the other side, but it's well worth it. i'm super grateful to the mayor's office of housing for having this for us.

>> my name is alan schumer. i am a fourth generation san franciscan. in december, this building will be 103 years of age. it is an incredibly rich, rich history. [♪] >> my core responsibility as city hall historian is to keep the history of this building alive. i am also the tour program manager, and i chair the city advisory commission.

i have two ways of looking at my life. i want it to be -- i wanted to be a fashion designer for the movies, and the other one, a political figure because i had some force from family members, so it was a constant battle between both. i ended up, for many years, doing the fashion, not for the movies, but for for san franciscan his and then in turn, big changes, and now i am here. the work that i do at city hall makes my life a broader, a richer, more fulfilling than if i was doing something in the garment industry. i had the opportunity to develop relationships with my docents.

it is almost like an extended family. i have formed incredible relationships with them, and also some of the people that come to take a tour. she was a dressmaker of the first order. i would go visit her, and it was a special treat. i was a tiny little girl. i would go with my wool coat on and my special little dress because at that period in time, girls did not wear pants. the garment industry had the -- at the time that i was in it and i was a retailer, as well as the designer, was not particularly favourable to women. you will see the predominant designers, owners of huge complexes are huge stores were all male. women were sort of relegated to

a lesser position, so that, you reached a point where it was a difficult to survive and survive financially. there was a woman by the name of diana. she was editor of the bazaar, and evoke, and went on and she was a miraculous individual, but she had something that was a very unique. she classified it as a third i. will lewis brown junior, who was mayor of san francisco, and was the champion of reopening this building on january 5th of 1999. i believe he has not a third eye , but some kind of antenna attached to his head because he had the ability to go through

this building almost on a daily basis during the restoration and corrects everything so that it would appear as it was when it opened in december of 1915. >> the board of supervisors approved that, i signed it into law. jeffrey heller, the city and county of san francisco oh, and and your band of architects a great thing, just a great thing. >> to impart to the history of this building is remarkable. to see a person who comes in with a gloomy look on their face , and all of a sudden you start talking about this building, the gloomy look disappears and a smile registers across their face. with children, and i do mainly all of the children's tours, that is a totally different

feeling because you are imparting knowledge that they have no idea where it came from, how it was developed, and you can start talking about how things were before we had computer screens, cell phones, lake in 1915, the mayor of san francisco used to answer the telephone and he would say, good morning, this is the mayor. >> at times, my clothes make me feel powerful. powerful in a different sense. i am not the biggest person in the world, so therefore, i have to have something that would draw your eye to me. usually i do that through color, or just the simplicity of the

look, or sometimes the complication of the look. i have had people say, do those shoes really match that outfit? retirement to me is a very strange words. i don't really ever want to retire because i would like to be able to impart the knowledge that i have, the knowledge that i have learned and the ongoing honor of working in the people's palace. you want a long-term career, and you truly want to give something to do whatever you do, so long as you know that you are giving to someone or something you're then yourself.

follow your passion and learn how to enrich the feelings along the way. >> good afternoon and welcome to the land use and transportation committee for the san francisco board of supervisors for today, monday april 29th, 2019. i am the chair of the committee, joined by vice chai -- vice chair supervisor safai and matt haney to my left. please