that have a serious issue with a worker safety and safety with their vehicles. i will give you in example. fly s.f.o., or s.f.o. maintenance, there is a truck driver there that has a problem with always being overloaded. he has been overloaded every time he has to make a trip out to the area, and he know that the c.h.p. lets them roll by. as a professional, is a commercial driver, he knows that he is -- he also has a responsibility, you know, to not be overloaded. regarded over -- regarding overloaded vehicles, it is important that we have safety meetings not just once every two weeks, but every day. a supervisor needs to be like a preacher man, you know, someone who is educating the workers how to go out and deal with the public, and not to be so relaxed

that there are people who are crossing on red lights and the bicyclists, and how to not block the crosswalk, you know, when they are trying to do work. there are so many issues, but if d.p.w. wants to make sure to not to be overweight with the driver pickup trucks, it is not so much the overweight that is the problem, it is also the administration not wanting to admit what is going on. when workers have concerns, that is the real core of this issue. when they keep -- they will keep violating these overweight issues, the overloaded issues. >> thank you. are there any other members of the public who would like to speak on this site and before a close public comment? seeing none, public comment is now closed. >> once again, thank you for

scheduling this hearing. and thank you to the speakers for being here, and i didn't catch your name, but thank you for the presentation. i'm glad that you've taken the citations seriously and have reacted, and hopefully you have ongoing monitoring of these issues and you will not have to have another hearing on this issue. what i would like to do is go ahead and close and file this hearing. >> great. i will make that motion and we will take it without objection. thank you. please call our next item. >> agenda item number 4 is the hearing on the parker gas line explosion on for bruce sixth,

2019. >> vice chair stefani? >> thank you. i want to let everyone know that we will be asking for a continuance for this item. as you know, there was a gas line explosion resulting in the fire at geary and parker in district two on the border of district one, supervisor fewer's district, and we have called for this hearing together. basically, we called for the hearing and tried to get to the bottom of how people actually get to dig in our streets, and what are the protocols leading up to that, and whether or not those can be changed in any way to prevent what happened. we also wanted to look at our response to the event and determine whether or not we can do anything better there as well we also are very interested in p.d. and he's and verizon's process and roles leading up to this, and what is their

interaction with the contractors and subcontractors caused in any of -- that because the explosion , or if there was anything they could have done differently. what we found leading up to this hearing today is that we weren't going to get a lot of information today. we did not want to put everyone through a long hearing for no reason. we will not get the information we need because it is still being investigated by the national transportation safety board and we want to wait until that investigation is done before we call this hearing. we don't want to have everyone sit through a hearing for any reason when we don't have the information we really need. i would love to move this to the hearing to the call of the chair >> okay. >> i know we have to take public comment. >> we will come back. i see that both rose hilson and jolene kramer are here to speak on this sight in. anyone who wants to speak can line up over on side of the room , you know the drill, you

have up to two minutes, try not to speak -- repeat other speakers, state your first and last name. >> everybody knows by now, because i am quick to react on differential treatment. i'm quick to react when a pathological has been told right in front of my face. i am quick to react when i see you undermine the people that are in an authoritative position , but don't have the mechanical skill and hands-on demonstrated experience on the issue at hand.

>> you got the blueprints of all of the maps on the construction

site before you start working and you know where the gas lines are. you said where gas lines are, you are supposed to use a shovel to make sure you don't use heavy equipment to punch a hole in the gas line. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors, i am joleen turner, an attorney representing local 261. we have 55 members working in the construction industry in san francisco. one of them is here today representing a local, and like you we were shocked by the gas line explosion at geary earlier this year and it was likely caused by an employee a verizon subcontractor who struck a gas line. he was not in direct contract with verizon.

verizon had contracted can math tech and they had subcontracted to a company not licensed in the state of california called advance fiber works. advance fiber works subcontracted to kill fred engineering which obtained the license in october of 2018. it was a kilf r.e.d. employee who was driving it. we are encouraging the committee to amend the permitting to improve quality of contractors with excavation work by requiring competent contractors with a skilled and trained work force. article 2.4 requires a permit to excavate in public right-of-way. we recommend to amend it to impose clear liability on public utilities and all contractors

and subcontractors of all tears and a skilled work force to perform the excavation work. we did provide a memo to the members of the committee specifying 2.4.4 and 10 and .50 where we see an opportunity to improve contracting standards so we appreciate the committees consideration of this. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am not used to the equipment. i have to start. i didn't do it right. >> good morning, supervisors.

i have a slide show for you, and i also want be to present something on the overhead affidavit i go through the slides that you see. this is in actual time order, and you will see very quickly how this thing went through starting at mid block. that is a brick building to the right of parker avenue. the hoses go mid block up to this time this. is the traffic congestion and the 38 rapid line. nobody going rapid for sure on euclid at parker. this is a picture of the white fire hydrant at euclid and parker not in use at this time and the flames are still going. pretty soon i see houses 1,000 foot away from the flames, and i see they are full of water. it turns out engine 24 appeared and used the same hydrant. truck five shows the water spray

and the same hoses are flat, no water from the hydrant. they are cleaning up. this is the aftermath on the 11th of the hong kong lounge at 3300 geary. this is h&r block. the red circles show where the hydrants are. upper right geary/parker intersection. overhead please. on the overhead this is the n.t.s.b. report the excavator damaged the natural gas plane. here is a slide of all of the things that occurred, the report from february 26th. it is not the richmond district downtown. that is two miles east. as far as notification, coordination these are the points as to who was notified and who wasn't and how my next door neighbor was allowed in but i wasn't until 5:40.

this happened shortly after 1:00. accessibility to the evacuation center. >> thank you. any other members of the public to speak before i close public comment. seeing none, public comment is now closed. >> supervisor stefani: thank you for everyone that came out. please follow up with my office so we can have a meeting before the next hearing on this. i also want to thank local 261. everything you said is exactly the reason why we are calling for this hearing to see what we can improve. i look forward to working with you on the legislation to determine if we can prevent this from happening. i had great concerns. i look forward to getting into it. if we could work on that before we conclude this hearing, i think we can meet.

i would love to meet with you and get started on that. with that, i would like to make a motion to continue this to the call of the chair. >> i think we can take that without objection. all right. mr. clerk, do we have any more items before us today? >> clerk: no further business. >> we are adjourned. thank you.

>> hi, everybody. welcome to laguna honda. [cheering] >> and before we get started, my grandmother spent almost 14 years here at laguna honda, and so many of you took incredible care of miss camelia brown. i want to give a special shout out to denise and so many people here who day in and day out take care of some of our most vulnerable folks that rely on us to care for them every day. we are so grateful to be here with our governor, gavin newsom. [cheers and applause] >> he has already hit the ground running, and we know from experience of being a former

mayor of san francisco, he understands intimately all the challenges that we as a city face, which really is going to be so incredible for our city and cities across the state of california for all the things we know we need to do to change california for the better. laguna honda is a key part of san francisco's health network, which cares for one in eight san franciscans. primarily people who are uninsured, low income, or for -- from our immigrant communities. and includes not only laguna honda, but san francisco general , and smaller clinics across our city, and health services in our county jail. here at laguna honda, more than 1,000 patients each year receive care for complex conditions like h.i.v. and alzheimer's and dementia, and other mental

illnesses and disorders, and we have, for patients who are suffering from strokes or brain injuries, or spinal injuries, or other trauma. these treatments require long-term and specialized care, as so many of you here know, and they commonly include medications as part of the treatment plan. however, it is a well-known fact that these medications are expensive, and can drive up the cost of healthcare for millions of people who need these drugs to survive. the san francisco health network is constantly working to find ways to save money on drug costs for uninsured patients. we work with federal programs like the 340 b. program that provides drugs at a discounted rate for some of our facilities, but facilities like laguna honda , or our county jail, our behavioral health clinic, they don't qualify for those federal

discounts. not to mention the medications used in treatment plans at these facilities are some of the most expensive medications. the health network purchases more than 3,000 drugs for patients who don't qualify for 340 b. discounts, and just the 25 most expensive drugs, of those costs, it because our city more than $17 million each year. when we have people struggling on the streets of san francisco, with mental health challenges and substance use disorders, or people spending thousands of dollars on life-saving medication for h.i.v. and aids, or people fighting a battle with cancer, we need to be focused on helping them recover and heal, not whether or not they can afford to pay for the medication

this is the same case at many healthcare facilities, not only in san francisco, but across the entire state of california and the nation, and this is why i am so thrilled to be joining governor gavin newsom here today to announce a san francisco will be joining the efforts to bring down medication costs in our city. [applause] >> we will work hard to bring down the cost of those medications. we have worked hard over the years, but we know there is so much more that we can do, and by joining forces with other counties across the state, we know that we can make a difference in the lives of millions of patients. we are joined here today by two other bay area counties in making this commitment, alameda and santa clara county, and please join me in acknowledging

our new department of public health director, dr. grant koufax who is here with us today [applause] >> at this time, i would like to call to the podium colleen who has spent about 13 years working for the department of public health in san francisco. she is an incredible health care advocate, now heading up alameda county department of public health. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. it makes me so happy to see so many familiar faces here, and to be able to bring my new county in partnership with my old city and county in this really exciting endeavor. alameda county is pleased to stand with governor newsom to leverage the collective garb -- bargaining power as a state in its counties to lower the cost of prescription drugs for all californians. i would like to thank the

governor for his leadership on this important issue. alameda county's vision 2026 is in alignment with the health forward agenda. vision 2026 is our comprehensive effort to set a course for a decade that anticipates community challenges and maximizes our ability to meet residents's needs in this rapidly changing world. vision 2026 foresees a thriving and resilient population where individuals and communities are empowered to overcome adversity and be supported so they can grow, flourish and be self-sufficient. essential to achieving this vision is our ten goal of healthcare for all, which seeks to ensure that every person in alameda county has access to the care and services they need to live their healthiest lives. governor newsom's collaborative approach to obtaining prescription drug costs will put us closer to a comprehensive

solution for affordable and accessible healthcare for all. collectively, public healthcare providers and other safety net providers in alameda county, spends tens of millions of dollars each year on prescription drugs for our county's most vulnerable residents. while many of these drugs are acquired through the federal 343 b. program which may or breed referenced, drugs purchased for individuals accessing our behavioral health services or our inmates and our jails do not this means that we are surely paying more than we need to for these medications, diverting valuable resources from other safety net programs and services this presents an important opportunity for our county and others to partner with the governor's healthcare team to explore how we can make drugs more affordable in our safety net healthcare system. additionally, this approach will foster regional collaboration through the sharing of information and protocols and best practices. alameda county is looking

forward to partnering with the governor's office, and our county colleagues to explore the promise of this timely endeavor. at this point, i would like to welcome miguel marques, marquez, the chief operating officer for the county of santa clara. [applause] >> thank you, colleen, and thank you governor newsom for inviting slight -- santa clara county to participate in this event and in this work, and thank you mayor breed for hosting this event today. over the years, santa clara county has implement it programs to expand coverage and affordable options that move us closer to providing healthcare for all. indeed, our board of supervisors has officially supported a single payer healthcare system. and santa clara county, we are proud to operate three hospitals , and a dozen clinics located throughout the county. each of which provides high-quality, integrated healthcare to the 2 million members of our community.

like the governor, we know that innovation through the healthcare system, including a path to single payer systems will help us reach our shared vision of better health for all. that is why we are excited by the opportunity to work with the governor and with so many other partners throughout the state to take on the high cost of prescription drugs. year after year, pharmaceutical companies continue to increase the price of brand-name drugs. we all need to ask the question, do prescription drugs really have to be that expensive? wild drug purchasing practices are complex, we must look for and implement innovative solutions to reduce these costs. federal policies have not done enough to control drug prices. in the absence of federal leadership, local and state government need to partner and need to think creatively about how to leverage our collective

buying power to negotiate better prices for our residents. last year, santa clara county valley medical center spent more than $120 million on pharmaceuticals. giving the extrude nearly high cost of prescription drugs, we have been looking for opportunities for savings. we welcome the chance to work with the state and with other partners to explore options to reduce these costs. as you know, public helps it -- health systems play an especially important and unique role in delivering care, services, and treatment to the patient's in the communities we serve, especially the uninsured and the underinsured. we are a safety net healthcare system that is proud to offer top-notch care to all who need it, but to do that, we need to explore all opportunities to reduce costs whenever possible so that our limited resources can better be spent to help the homeless, the mentally ill, and

other vulnerable members of our community. a number of years ago, the county of santa clara was the first county in the nation to ensure that every child, regardless of immigration status , could get healthcare services. we are especially proud to support the governor's efforts to become the first state in the country to provide coverage to young, undocumented adults. thank you, governor for leading the way for these young adults. santa clara county and the state of california have aggressively implemented the affordable care act. it has been a huge success. just a couple of numbers. in santa clara county alone, more than 100,000 -- 140,000 residents gained coverage through this expansion. another 45,000 plus have subsidized coverage through coverage california, that is just in santa clara county. and most important, the bottom

line number, the uninsured rate in santa clara county has dropped by 50 3%. so the time is now to take the next step. we are fortunate to have a governor who is a champion for these important issues. we look forward to working with the governor to make better health for all, california's highest priority. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, miguel. i also would like to take this opportunity to introduce someone who has been a champion for laguna honda, our supervisor for district two, catherine stefani is joining us here today. thank you so much. [applause] >> and now i would like to introduce our governor, who we all know was a former mayor of san francisco, someone who led innovative programs, pushed to really change san francisco and california for the better, same-sex marriage, he was the

one who put forth the idea and opened the doors for so many people to get married at city hall, when so many people attacked them on this issue, and now it is gone global and has been recognized throughout the united states, 311 was just his brainchild, this innovative resource that we use to call to deal with a number of challenges in the city, so many incredible resources that we use today, and now, is a governor in his budget , he will continue to provide the support and the resources that we need to address many of the challenges that exist in san francisco. we also should know that he really led the charge on the rebuild on the hospital to the new facility that we see today. the governor of the state of california, gavin newsom. [applause]

>> thank you, thank you. this is fun coming back. the couple of you were showing me photos ten years ago, pregrey hair, and this is remarkable that this place opened. i remember standing here during the ribbon-cutting, and i think i used a line, which i am now reminded of, at the time we were doing something with a skilled nursing facility. also ten years ago, that was novel and no one was investing in this place. people so the county couldn't afford it and we had to move in a different direction. we get it when it comes to skilled nursing facilities and keeping people in place. we are on the leading and cutting edge and doing something no one else is willing to do. i remember saying that the mayor of athens said, he says, we do not imitate, for we are a model to others.

i say that then, nine plus years ago, i will say it again today in the context in the spirit that brings us here together around the issue of prescription drugs. we do not imitate because we are a model to others what we are advancing here today is new, what we are advancing here today matters what we're doing today is what i expect others to be doing tomorrow, not just other counties joining california's purchasing pole, but other states joining california's purchasing pool. leveraging our resources, big buyers mean lower costs. the fact is, in the state of california, 13 plus billion dollars a year, your tax dollars are currently being spent on prescription drugs. i will repeat that, 13 plus

billion dollars a year. the problem is, we were isolating the purchasing. we had jails doing their purchasing, we had the state hospitals doing their purchasing , we had our retirement system doing their purchasing, we had the va doing their purchasing, we had our medi-cal system, which is 13 million strong, we were only leveraging 2 million of those 13 million in our purchasing pool. just combining the medi-cal system alone, taking the 2 billion and leveraging the purchasing now with 13 billion is going to drive hundreds of millions of dollars of savings on an annual basis. we project in our budget that we just submitted a few weeks back, or a week or so ago, that we will save conservatively $393 million because of this purchasing effort. that's just on an annual basis, $400 million of money that we

otherwise would spend that would allow us to provide discounts, to provide additional subsidies to reduce those costs each to each and every one of you. if we are not curious about these drugs, we are not curious about addressing the cost as it relates to the issue of healthcare inflation. this is one of the principal drivers. we have seen close to doubling of our costs in the state, doubling of our cost in the state, just in the last nine years. this cannot continue. with all due respect to big pharma, i have no problem, no gripe with people being successful, i don't begrudge success, i appreciate competition, i appreciate research, i appreciate the kind of innovation that we pride ourselves on, but i don't like people taking advantage of other people. i don't like gouging, i don't like windfalls, i don't like folks, you know, getting massive

bonuses and, you know, at the expense of folks that are struggling on the streets and the sidewalks. this is a foundational principle , it is a value i know laguna honda community shares. it is a value that san franciscans share, it is of value the mayor shares, it is shared broadly throughout this state and substantial of lee, around this region in santa clara, in alameda, that value now is being brought to the forward in terms of counties joining the state purchasing pool. we had hoped this would happen in a year or two, maybe three, but here we are, just weeks after announcing l.a. county joining our purchasing pool, no three additional counties are joining the purchasing pool. this is remarkable. the momentum is real, and this is exciting because we are actually making progress in realtime. this is not just platitudes, this is not just a tweet, this

is not just a promotion, it is not just a promise, we are seeing things happen in realtime , so i just want to thank the enlightened leadership that you heard from today. they didn't need to do this, it was wise to do it, but they didn't need to do it, but the fact that they are doing it, and they are doing it on the front end, is an extraordinary testament to mayor breed's commitment not passing interest to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and the cost of healthcare in this county. colleen's commitment and miguel 's commitment to do the same is a big deal, so i don't want to undersell this moment. i want to appropriately sell it. i want to overhyped -- i don't want to overhyped it, but this is significant. we have governors calling this state wanting to join our efforts. we believe this is the beginning of a different frame of momentum

not top-down, god bless watching congress, pretzels trying to deal with big pharma, this is bottom up. it is a new frame. i will tell you, a california, we just reached at $3 trillion year mar. we punch above our rate, and there are only four nations on planet earth that carry more wait then the state of california. we are truly a nationstate, the fifth largest economy in the world, the united states is one of those economies ahead of us, only a few others that have the capacity to do what we are doing as a state. now the second largest purchaser outside the v.a. and the united states itself in the country. this is important. i want to express and acknowledge the hard work of our team in sacramento that is working overtime to get this right, to make sure we do it right. i want to thank the counties for building that momentum, and i want you all to know that we are

inviting the private sector to join our purchasing pools. we want to see companies large and small also join in and take advantage of our ability to leverage and to sit at that table as one purchaser, not just aggregated as thousands of purchasers. we are formed -- where pharma has the power, now we are taking back that power and we are leveraging that power over the table. hugh merrow costs 96% more in the united states than it does in the u.k. some medications are 100% more then the folks in the u.k. give me a break. with all due respect, it is not just about well, we do the research on the development, we have to pay for that, the people who do the most research and the development are people like you. through our grants, through our tax dollars. they leverage those, they supplement those, and we are proud of that research. but give me a break. they do it because they can.

they do it because no one is pushing back. they do it because they leverage influence of the people like me. they come in with a lot of money and they come into leverage their point of view and they usually scare folks instead of doing the right thing, but they can't scare the leaders assembled behind me, and the cannot change the trajectory of a state that says, we have had enough. we are better than this. we will do more and we are going to leverage our voice in a way that respects the people of this state that we represent, so thank you all for coming out. thank you for being part of this announcement and all this extraordinary momentum and know this, in closing, this is just one of many things the state of california is doing to expand healthcare in this state. our budget, briefly, is going to expand coverage regardless of your immigration status. our budget will double substantially and increase by

doubling our annual contribution and our medi-cal system through proposition 56. forgive me for boring you on that, but we will increase our reimbursement rates, more trauma screenings, more early screenings to address issues before they manifest, we are going to deepen subsidies for low income families on the health exchange, and expand subsidies into the middle class. the only state in america that is expanding subsidies for families earning up to $150,000 a year. we are very proud of these efforts. our goal is universal. our goal is to get this done through a single parent financing system, but until we advance those ideals, we will build pragmatic steps, make progress each and every week until we ultimately get to those goals. thank you, san francisco, thank you to mother nature for adding a little energy, thank you mayor

breed for hosting us here today. [applause]. >> thank you. >> i don't know if there are questions, how do you want to do this? i will let the electives go, and supervisor, very wonderful you are here as well. any questions, we will do it out here. we will let you all go. thank you, guys, very much. [applause]

>> this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your san francisco history used to be. >> we hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. >> even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. and they tell us that. >> you're going to get something made fresh, made by hand and made with quality products and something that's very, very good. ♪ >> the legacy bars and restaurants was something that was begun by san francisco

simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. it really provides for san francisco's unique character. ♪ >> and that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy business registration. >> i'm michael cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. ♪ the bakery started in 191. my grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. it is a small operation. it's not big. so everything is kind of quality that way. so i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. >> i'm leslie cirocco-mitchell, a fourth generation baker here

with my family. ♪ so we get up pretty early in the morning. i usually start baking around 5:00. and then you just start doing rounds of dough. loaves. >> my mom and sister basically handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking. after that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. ♪ you know, i don't really think about it. but then when i -- sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and everything and we've been over 100 and that is when it kind of hits me. you know, that geez, we've been here a long time. [applause] ♪

>> a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. we all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. our lineage and i'll use one example of tommy's joint. tommy's joint is a place that my husband went to as a child and he's a fourth generation san franciscan. it's a place we can still go to today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was san francisco like back in the 1950s. >> i'm the general manager at tommy's joint. people mostly recognize tommy's joint for its murals on the outside of the building. very bright blue. you drive down and see what it is. they know the building.

tommy's is a san francisco hoffa, which is a german-style presenting food. we have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. you prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket fatty or want it lean. you want your pastrami to be very lean. you can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want it with some sauerkraut. tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. san francisco's a place that's changing restaurants, except for tommy's joint. tommy's joint has been the same since it opened and that is important. san francisco in general that we don't lose a grip of what san francisco's came from. tommy's is a place that you'll always recognize whenever you lock in the door. you'll see the same staff, the

same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. that's important. ♪ >> the service that san francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in san francisco. ♪ so we'll help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of san francisco. but i say really, more importantly, it really brings

them public recognition that this is a business in san francisco that has history and that is unique to san francisco. >> it started in june of 1953. ♪ and we make everything from scratch. everything. we started a you -- we started a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. the business really boomed after that. >> i think that the flavors we make reflect the diversity of san francisco. we were really surprised about

the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. businesses come and go in the city. pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and there's so much competition. so for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor. >> we got a phone call from a woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. she was our customer in 1953. and she still comes in. but she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that we're carrying on our father's legacy. and that we mean so much to so

many people. ♪ >> it provides a perspective. and i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, you're missing the context. for me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. >> i just think it's part of san francisco. people like to see familiar stuff. at least i know i do. >> in the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommy's joint and looks exactly the same. we haven't change add thing. >> i remember one lady saying, you know, i've been eating this ice cream since before i was born. and i thought, wow! we have, too. ♪

my name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of san francisco. i perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death.

i have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. i was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldn't see people every day. i would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasn't been the case. this building is very nice. we have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. we have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in san francisco. we work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. that brings us closer together also. >> i am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in san francisco.

as an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. i go to the field interview police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. i maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. i am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. i work with the family to help them through the grieving process. >> i am ricky moore, a clerk at the san francisco medical examiner's office. i assist the pathology and toxicology and investigative

team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. >> i started at the old facility. the building was old, vintage. we had issues with plumbing and things like that. i had a tiny desk. 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.

>> good evening, everybody, we want to get your attention, please. i like it, i like it, good

evening, everybody, and welcome to the city build graduation ceremony. we are here to honor our graduates for city build academy , cycle 30, and let me see this one, construction administration and professional services academy for 2019. [cheers and applause] >> i'm gladys, i am joined by stella, i'm sorry, i am so nervous, we have been waiting so long. i am joined by alanna, and we, together, we will be your m.c. tonight. we are very excited. we promise it to be a wonderful graduation. we are doing everything from our graduates from cycle 30 and cycle 19. we are going to acknowledge the

supervisor of district eight, rafael mandelman if he was here, we also want to recognize someone from assembly member david to's office, also, in spirit, we have senator scott weiner in here -- was here in spirit. and also, we will do a lot of shout outs later. so, please help me welcome our city build director. [cheers and applause] >> good evening, we apologize for running late. my name is ken name, i am the acting city build director. before we start the celebrations , we wanted to acknowledge a community member that we lost dearly earlier this year. i would like to ask that sherry andrews who has worked with her

from the beginning of the program to come up and have a little moment of silence for her >> welcome. this is real rough for me. how do you say goodbye to your partner? someone who has been with you from the beginning? we will open it with a moment of silence. thank you. mindy, i want you to see her as who she was. she was a fighter. there was no doubt about it. i am a 30 year ironworker from local 377