>> good afternoon, everyone, and thank you so much for joining for the grand opening of our public lobby. it has been a long process.

we're so honored to have you all here today. first, before we get into our short speaking program, i first want to acknowledge a few parties that have worked really hard to make this all possible. i'd first like to thank our budget analyst and project management team that have worked really hard to make this run smoothly. thank you very much for that. [ applause ]. >> they've also worked very closely hand in hand with the mayor's budget office. i'd like to thank kelly kirkpatrick for coming here today. thank you. [ applause ]. >> next i would like to thank our public facing team who provides excellent public service. our public service team and our recorder division. thank you very much. [ applause ]. >> they provided excellent customer service even throughout

a lot of -- yay. they provided a lot of excellent service even throughout a lot of construction. thank you for keeping the office running. we also are joined by some neighborhood friends. so thank you to them for coming. we have some people from the women's building here. yay, thank you. [ applause ]. >> and we also have people from the dog patch northwestern petril hill green benefits district. it's a little bit of a mouthful. thank you for coming. of course thank you to our neighborhood historians who have joined and helped us go through a lot of historic photos that we have and we have been able to create a little wall. thank you for that. we have the western neighborhoods project, s.f. heritage, glen park history

project and sunny side history project. thank you. [ applause ]. >> so now i would like to introduce our beloved assessor carmen chu who is newly back from maternity leave and later we will be hearing from our director of public works and also our city librarian. thank you. [ applause ]. >> i have to say that it's rare that i ever hear the word "beloved" and "assessor" in the same sentence, but here we are. i want to thank isabella from my team. they've done quite a lot of work to help and partner with our public-facing folks in order to make sure that our lobby is well thought out and we have a great plan to help improve service. thank you to isabella and vivian. [ applause ]. >> so when i first started as

assessor years ago, i think when i first came in, i think i walked into this office and probably like a lot of taxpayers i came in through different doors at different points in time and at the time it was confusing. how do you get into the office and where do you go for service. and if i couldn't speak the language, which luckily i could, where do you go for help and who could assist? it was with that eye that we started to take a look at our front lobby area to see how is it that we are able to improve customer service and access and be cognizant of the different people coming to our city every single day, whether you are an immigrant who can't speak the language well like my own parents or someone with a disability who needs assistance or people who don't know how to find documents in our system. how is it that we as a public service and government serve our public in the best way possible. we started on this process to say, well, the first thing they

do is come into our office and try to figure out way-finding signs and the way forward. we need to make sure that when people come into our office they feel welcomed and they feel that we have an abundant amount of services available here. with that, we really started to say let's do a few things. i think today when we're doing our big unveiling along with the blue angels out there cheering us on that we're showing our good faith. a few things that we want to point out to you here, and this is something we couldn't have done without the partnership of our dpw is that we've done a few things to reconfigure our lobby area to improve public access. we've transformed the physical space. we have a wonderful and lovely seating area for people to come here and wait comfortably, to be able to get their documentation and information. we actually have implemented a kiosk system so when people

first come into our office they can directly find and get tickets, that they're served in an expeditious way. we have implemented a lobby navigator, someone who is greeting people when they come in to make sure they're in the right place to make sure they're not wasting valuable times waiting in the wrong lines. that does happen at city hall. we want to make sure we're preventing that. if you look around our office, you will see many of our kiosks and information are in multiple languages. we're cognizant of the fact that san francisco is a universal city with universal languages that we want to access and share with people. this is also something that is part of our lobby system. of course we're doing a lot more to make sure that it's a welcoming environment here. so we hope that some of these improvements are really going to show that government is open to everyone, it's accessible, transparent, and we welcome you here. we're here to serve you. with that, i want to say thank you.

we hope you're going to take a look at around. we have more spaces for people to be served. we know this is going to be a public improvement for the public as a whole. we couldn't do this without the partnership of wonderful people. i know some of our folks behind the scenes that were helping. i want to thank the mayor's office for helping us fund this, but of course i want to say if we bring in the money, help us serve the public better. thank you for all of your assistance and your partnership. no further ado to bring someone forward who i've known for quite a long time, who most of the time is doing work outside on the streets, picking up litter or cleaning up graffiti, but one of the lesser known things he does is help our buildings function better and stay in a state of good repair. with that i want to introduce mohamed nuru and thank him and his team for the fantastic work

helping us make these improvements in a historic building. thank you, mohamed. >> thank you, carmen. yes, kelly and carmen bring in the money. i get to spend the money. [ laughter ]. >> i think a few years ago when carmen brought up the idea of doing the project, we were very excited. it had a lot of different work that needed to be done. it is a historic building. so trying to match things and to really make a place that really works with all the things we heard from carmen was something that we were excited about. what's great about this project is it involved many parts of our building of bureau repair, carpenters, glazers, locksmith, laborers were all involved -- well in fact, every shop in public works was involved in one way or another in making this

happen. it's a very unique project because we have a lot of staff that actually custom-built many of the shelves over here, matching the doors, all the things that we had to work with. all of those were built at public works at our shop. it was really an exciting project for the team. i think we delivered. i think you're very happy about that. just so you know, we do a lot of these type of services for all over the city departments. city hall was very special, trying to match the wood, the different glass and just making the rails, building all the cabinets, painting and sprucing it up. you know, the paint was actually peeling in some cases. so doing all the scraping and going through all the processes making the space happen. i'm excited and our teams are excited. we'll continue to serve you or

any of the city departments that want us to do work for them. we actually do many of the jobs in many of the city offices. thank you very much. we'll enjoy it. thank you. [ applause ]. >> mohamed's nickname is mr. clean. now that extends to cleaning up our city buildings as well. thank you, mohamed. when we talked about the services here, again, city hall is very special and unique to all of us because of its historic nature, but also because it is an essential place people go when they want to access government and the people who represent them. it's important to make sure that these doors are open and accessible to everyone who comes in. i think there's no other patron group that feels that same way than our public libraries. we know that no matter which branch library it is that we go to across the city, we have an open door where people can find

a safe space and learn and get educated and borrow materials and really explore. we have worked in great partnership with our city librarian michael lambert who is also working with us. you might seen behind me is a wall of 15 different curated historic photos. one of the things you may not know is in order for this to be accomplished, we had to clear out many of our old property files. we went through this intensive process to digitize over a million files. when we went through that process, we found many, many historic photos we thought was not only worth preserving but sharing and putting out to the public space. something that is important to our history, buildings that used to look a different way but are important of our fabric, it is

important to share that with san franciscans to come, not to put the away in a box never to be seen. we worked with the library to make sure we cataloged and got those photos to them to be accessible. we're proud to announce we have over 92,000 photo images that are available at our san francisco public library in order for people to see our history and our shared buildings and resources. these photos here are just a small set of the photos that are now available in our public library. we couldn't have done that without our city librarian's staff and time. i want to invite michael up to say a few words. >> thank you. it is so wonderful to be here with my esteemed city colleagues and so many members of the public. this lobby is magnificent and sparkling. i want to congratulate assessor chu and all of her staff. what a remarkable job you've

done with public works to transform this space. i admire the commitment to service excellence with all the tenant improvements and significance enhancements. what a warm, friendly atmosphere you've created here. i appreciated the office of the assessor-recorder, not only for providing the library the biggest book budget in the country, but also for the partnership we enjoy. earlier this year, assessor chu and her team transferred over 92,000 photographs to the public library. you see a sampling here on this wall. it really makes history come alive for all the visitors to this space. these photographs are priceless. they are an invaluable snapshot in time of san francisco and some places that don't exist anymore. these photographs are now accessible to any member of the public that wants to view them.

they can come into the library to the san francisco history center and they can take a walk down memory lane and reminisce and relive some treasured memories of their past. it's so wonderful to have this partnership. i want to congratulate assessor chu and her team again. thank you so much for the partnership. [ applause ]. >> all right. so now i'd like to ask evelyn and amy from glen park and sunny side to come up and woody and nicole and david from western history project to come up as well. thank you.

[

>> welcome to another episode of safety on today is episode we'll show you how 0 retroactive you're home let's go inside and take a look. >> hi and patrick chief officer and director of earthquake for the city and county of san francisco welcome to another episode of stay safe in our model home with matt we'll talk about plywood. >> great thanks. >> where are we we if you notice bare studs those are prone to failure in an earthquake we need to stabilize those they don't lean over and

plywood is effective as long as you nail along every edge of the plywood for the framing we'll nail along the sides and top and on the bottom 0 immediately you'll see a problem in a typical san francisco construction because nothing to nail the bottom of the plywood we've got to wind block between the studs and we'll secure this to the mud sill with nails or surface screws something to nail the bottom of the plywood. >> i notice we have not bolted the foundation in the previous episode thorough goes through options with different products so, now we have the blocking we'll a xoich attach the plywood. >> the third thing we'll attach the floor framing of the house above so the top of the

braced walls one to have a steel angle on top of this wall and types of to the top of the wall with nails into the top plate and the nails in this direction driving a nail it difficult unless you have a specialized tool so this makes that easy this is good, good for about 5 hundred pounds of earthquake swinging before and after that mount to the face of wall it secures the top of wall and nailed into the top plate of the with triple wall and this gives us a secure to resist the

forces. >> so you now see the space is totally available to dots blocking that he bottom and bolted the foundation in corneas what the code in the next episode you'll see you apply >> welcome to the stage, father microcode -- father michael quinn. [applause] >> good afternoon distinguished guests, chief nicholson, chief scott, and all the wonderful people of san francisco and the

people from surrounding areas who are here on this wonderful day to ask god's blessing and to really recognize that we have indeed received god's blessing however, we name our god since a terrible day that we remember as the earthquake. on october 17th, 1989. for those of us who were around at that time, remember there was a moment when we didn't know what to do. the bridges were closed. it seems like we were really stuck. what happened is god's spirit within us took over and what happened is communities came together. the communities came together to not only address the immediate issues, but the more far-reaching issues. example, the san francisco interfaith council was founded as a consequence. can you imagine that week all of our faith decided we should work together as a community of san francisco and work together.

thank you, god. you had to ring the bell a little loud, but we got it. thank you for the first responders, many of whom risked their lives. thank you also for the individuals who are not first responders, but who stepped out. they let god work in them. they have been blessed since this time -- since that time with the divine intervention of our god. our god has given us civic leaders who make sure that our rooms are safe. we continue to ask for divine intervention of that god to give us leaders to provide for emergency services, to provide for the welfare and the well-being of the citizens and the guests of the city of san francisco, and we thank god for their continued vigilance to be prepared for all those occasions may god keep us all safe and may the next 30 years be safer than it was 30 years ago on this date

now i have the great privilege of introducing maryland and breed. [applause] >> thank you, father quinn. thank you so much to everyone who is joining us here today to celebrate how far we've come over the past 30 years, and i remember that day. i was actually a freshman in high school attending galileo high school right here in this neighborhood, and it almost feels like it was yesterday. we know that 30 years ago the loma earthquake struck suddenly, and even though it only lasted for 15 seconds, its impact was tremendous.

12,000 homes damaged, millions of dollars in property damage all over the bay area, and sadly , 67 lives were lost before their time. we've come a long way and we know that there have been significant changes in san francisco. we all remember the embarcadero freeway. it is no longer there. pays valley and the central freeway, and we have some hayes valley folks here with us today, it is now this beautiful, vibrant open space. buildings in the civic centre that have been rehabbed to seismic standards, and of course, so many people who live in the marina. you remember the devastation that existed here which is why it was so important that this city implements soft story legislation to ensure that when the next earthquake hits our safety, we are more resilience. we are more prepared than we were, then.

we all know that we can't prevent an earthquake from happening, but in this city, we have taken the lessons learned from what we know happened. that was a time where technology was a lot different. we didn't have many cell phones and smart phones and other communication devices. in fact, those of you who were there probably remember when it happened. i ran upside. i was on webster street between fulton and mcallister at a friend's house. i felt the ground shake. it had turned upside down. we immediately ran outside and were like, what happened, what happened? we didn't understand what was going on. we heard the bay bridge collapsed, we heard this was going on. there was so much information. we did not have access to electricity. we relied on radios and relied

on communication from others. more importantly, we were safe because we knew that so many of our first responders from the police department, from the fire department were out there in the communities checking and making sure that our communities were safe so we are so grateful so we continue to be there for us time and time again. we want to spend out -- sent send out a special announcement -- a special shout out to the volunteers. we know when disaster strikes that our public safety officials may not be able to get everyone right away, so we are going to need to look out for one another over the years, we have really worked hard to build more resilient communities. communities where neighbors know what to do, where they look out for one another so that we are

the first responders when our fellow neighbor needs us during these times so that we can continue to keep one another safe and provide support during what we know could be a problematic time in our city. we have come a long way and we are still standing stronger and more amazing than ever. san francisco, as we know, even with his challenges, is still one of the most beautiful cities in the world. we will continue to make sure that we make good policy decisions, good investments, and continue to work with all community members throughout san francisco to make sure we are all safe. today we remember that we have come further in the past 30 years in being a more resilience , a more seismically safe, a better city so that when the next one happens, we are prepared. i want to thank all of you for being here today to really mark

this occasion. i also want to take the opportunity to suggest that you think about your emergency preparedness kit. you have to access the wreck of -- the recommendations on the website for things you can use and one of those kids that would last for 72 hours. i was with some kits -- kids today at rosa parks middle school and they were telling me what i needed to put in my kit. i thought wow, we are preparing the next generation and they are now going to be the ambassadors for their families and for their communities so that we can all look out for one another and to make sure that people are safe and that our city is better and stronger than ever. thank you all again so much for being here to celebrate. [applause]

>> good afternoon, everybody. i'm catherine stefani. i'm the supervisor for district two. it is such an honor and a privilege to serve district two. thank you all for being here today. thank you mayor breed for your remarks. obviously we are here today to commemorate 30 years of the loma earthquake, witching just 15 seconds rocked our community. i can't believe it was only 15 seconds because what -- 170 -- one summer he asked me the other day how long i thought it was, i said, at least a minute. when someone told me it was just 15 seconds, it truly was the longest 15 seconds of my life. we know that it took the lives of 67 neighbors and cost caused over $5 billion in damage. it is, of course, fitting that we are here in the marina, a

neighborhood which suffered some of the most extensive damage. the headline of the examiner, in fact, the following day red, s.f. marina devastated. in this neighborhood, gas mains and pipes burst sparking fires, causing buildings to collapse, and killing four people. i was actually a junior in college. i was in my dorm room at st. mary's college just across the bay bridge when the earthquake struck and my friends and i, you know, we heard about what to do in an earthquake and, of course, when it hits, all of a sudden all of that goes out the window. what we did is what you are not supposed to do, we started running. we ran outside to find a chaotic scene. all of the windows in our library had been blown out, people were panicking, and i was personally touched because my roommate at the time had her little brother here in san francisco who was recovering from leukemia. it was one of the hospitals here in san francisco, and we did not know whether or not the hospital

was okay, whether or not he was okay, and of course, we were hearing things like that bay bridge collapsed, and based on how bad that earthquake felt, we pictured the entire bay bridge in the bay because it felt like that actually could have happened. and what we learned from this experience is the importance of having a plan in place and be prepared ahead of time. we know that every household should have an earthquake safety kit and a plan for what to do in the event of an earthquake. having these important conversations now will make a safer in the event of another big one. just this monday, we had a small earthquake of 4.7. a reminder we must always be prepared and a reminder we must talk about this with our children. my daughter who is 10 years old had just fallen asleep in bed next to me and was jolted awake, sending her sharp elbowed directly into my jaw and making me perhaps the only injury of

the earthquake that night, but really, that was my daughter's first time experiencing an earthquake and it was truly scary for her. she had a lot of questions about what would happen if the earthquake had been bigger and she was so on edge that she really couldn't go back to sleep i told her, you know, we turned that nervousness into awareness. we become aware of what we can be doing and then we turn that awareness into preparedness. we are having important conversations about what to do in case of an earthquake, what our family disaster plan is, and where we keep our emergency supplies. i hope that today, on this 30 year anniversary of the loma earthquake, families across the city are having similar conversations about how to be prepared. we do not know, of course, when the next big one will strike, but we must do everything we can is a city to make sure our residents and businesses are as prepared as possible. i'm proud to have cosponsored the earthquake safety and emergency response bond that will be on the ballot in march

and if passed, will provide over 600 million in much-needed funding for capital improvements to critical infrastructure, including neighborhood fire stations, district police stations, the emergency firefighter water system, and other essential facilities and infrastructure. i'm also excited to announce today my resilient district two program which started here with the resource fares this afternoon. i will be working with neighborhood leaders and i want to thank neighborhood leaders. so many are out here. without you, we wouldn't be able to do what we do. thank you so much for how you do this. i'm looking at you gail and patricia and jim and so many other people. jason, allen, cat, the earth his only people in this neighborhood that rise to the occasion and really help us do what we need to do to be prepared. i want to thank everyone who has joined us today. i look forward to continuing our work to be prepared for the next earthquake, and i want to thank our first responders. i have so much respect for all

of you. all of our police officers, all of our firefighters. what would we do without you? you are amazing. especially here in san francisco [applause] with that, i would like to call up san francisco battalion chief [applause] >> it is dangerous to give me an open mic. i have limited time. i am a talker. it is an honor to be here today. thirty years ago the deputy chief and myself were pro- bees, we didn't even earn that status. we were in a fire academy and at 504 we were being dismissed. and in the yard, he always had to run in the yard unless you are doing a training thing. we were all running towards that seven-story at the time and it was a brick building. i saw it go back and forth swaying and swaying.

and then all of a sudden you started swaying and the captain told us to hit the ground, cover your head, and we didn't even know what hit us and then we realized. it was going on for a long time. it really was. i mean, it was my anniversary, my 30 year anniversary, but we had been doing this for years. no matter where we are, no matter what fatality, what country, we are there for every disaster. it was amazing. later on i went home quickly, checked on my dog who was hiding , he never did that. i made sure she was all right, went back to station seven and i said, i am a pro be, can i answer phones? >> answer phones, get on the rig i got on the rig. i didn't even have a coat, i just put on some old-timers turn out. we went to south of market. the entire south of market had their horrible collapse on the street. the entire south of market smells like natural gas and it was really an eerie feeling.

then we swooped into the marina where i was dropped off and we have a very special guest a little later that will tell us his story, but i was dropped off after -- at the marina. basically what i did was help expand the auxiliary portable hydrant system that you see right here. when it opened the hydrant in the marina, which was a disaster area, it was several square blocks of houses leaning, garages buckling, and then the dramatic three-story building that ended up in the intersection with -- where the big rescue was. when he opened up the hydrant it just dripped out. one of our chiefs at the time invented this system. we have had the auxiliary system since 1915, but he invented the portable hydrant system. that beautiful fireboat out there was an older one and pumped from the bay into a manifold and we were able to create a hydrant system to put the fire out. basically i just moved hose and that is what i did, but hopefully he will come up at

some point, but he did a terrific rescue while i was moving hose. he was crawling in 35 feet into a dilapidated building, barely shoulder space with a chainsaw. meanwhile, aftershocks were going on. it smelled of natural gas. he hears a woman calling, yelling for help, he is making his way cutting piece by piece trying to shore up for his own safety, getting in there. he gets close to her, and then finally, i think it was the blade that winter he had to get something, a new chainsaw, he was so scared he would leave and not come back and he promised her. that is promised that he kept in that is a promise we keep to you when we swear in. we will be there and he showed that hand raise and he got back and there, cut more away and got her out. he saved her life. he has done so many awards for that, so many accolades, but the truth of the matter is, it is a

two-way street with the community and us. she saved his life. she taught him about better things. how to live better, how to live more sound, and a more peaceful. they became friends for the rest of her life. he will carry that in his heart. anyway. i'm just going to get a little corny for a minute. my dads not alive anymore, but he was so proud that his daughter went to that fire, because that was my first fire, and somehow i ended up in sports illustrated. [laughter] you know, this is an old because there's a marlboro ad at the back of it. [laughter] all right. i am a ham, but who knew i was going to be in sports illustrated? [cheering] okay, okay. all right. the next day we went down there and worked on the marina, my dad walks into time warner building in manhattan, because he was mre

said, that's my daughter, that's my daughter, and they said, yeah , whatever. he said let me get my boss down. some some boss comes down and says come back in a week and they blew up a big poster of that picture. anyway, dad, we did it together. he was the one that called and told me the bay bridge collapsed we had a power failing. none of us headphones. he called on a land line. remember that? landlines. who has a land line here? excellent. that's pretty good. but on a more serious and, enough with this. i know that our whole careers we have been training and trying to improve. and i know chief nicholson, that is one of her big agendas, is improve the disaster plan. it really is the birth of the organization because it was amazing to see civilians and fire and anybody moving hose to get that system up and running because the marina was so full of natural gas and we had

already had an explosion. it was really incredible. i love working with them in training with them and practising. we are here for you. we always will be and we love san francisco. we are going to pay tribute to the seriousness of what happens that day, but we are also celebrating an earthquake. it is just amazing what san francisco does. we come out for everything. anyway, we love you, and when we raise our hands, we really mean it. it is a two-way street. i will introduce jim at maxwell. you have a few things to say. [applause] >> good afternoon. i just wanted to really briefly thank the mayor and supervisor stefani for putting this event on. it's so important that we continue to remember that 30 years ago, this city and our neighborhood were rocked. we were in shock, but it really

galvanized us as a community to come together. as we have heard, the organization was born out of this event and that people came together and work together side-by-side with fire to help put out the fires, and we are really pleased that we are starting our resiliency d2 efforts because it's that tenacity and the resiliency that will make us strong and be able to bounce back the next time we have to face such an event. i also want to say its important that as communities who come together and we all know each other. these events are great. we need to have more community events were you get to know your neighbors and make an effort to say hello to a friend, make an effort to get to know your local merchants as well. the merchant corridors a need to be resilient. they are the ones that will be providing for us in the next big event, and i think everyone remembers how they didn't have power or anything else, either, but a lot of them banded

together and somehow provided food, they provided water, they provided a place for us to gather, and we need to remember that going forward as we move forward. we have been working on a little neighborhood -- actually, it won't be in the neighborhood now , but a memorial to the earthquake. that is close to happening. that has been 15 years of grassroots effort. [applause] a number of folks have been involved in putting that together. that finally will happen down at twenty-two at station 35, which is appropriate since it is also to honor the fireboat phoenix i was instrumental in putting out the fires here. as we were putting that together , and artists were talking to neighbors, one of the things that came out of a few community meetings that i remember very specifically was,

everybody's remembrance of that -- there was the earthquake, there was the event, and after that there was immediate silence that descended on the city, on the neighborhood, as everyone took stock of their surroundings and what was going on. he was at that point that a lot of neighbors wandered out of their homes, looked to their other neighbors they possibly hadn't even met before, and said , hey, how are you? how are you doing? as everybody okay? that connection was made. we need to keep those connections strong so we can be resilient for our next event. thank you, mayor. [applause] >> okay. our plan was to have enough speeches until we could get to the right time, but clearly we didn't have a lot of politicians speaking today. [laughter]

so we will have a fireboat display from the san francisco fire department. there we go. look to your right, you can see it. some of us also remember that there was a world series game going on between the giants and the a's. [indiscernible] come on up, chief.

>> good afternoon, everyone. i am the chief of the san francisco fire department. [cheers and applause] thank you very much. when battalion chief anita proudly was speaking, she was speaking about our retired firefighter named jury shannon. many of you have probably seen him in the newspaper of late. he saved a woman named shara, here in the marina and thankfully he has showed up today and welcome. we all look up to you. [applause] >> thanks. >> do you want to say a couple of words? >> yes. i'm flattered by all of what has gone on since the earthquake and immediately after. i want to take this chance to talk about something that i beg these reporters to pass on, and they would promise me they would and it never happened. i didn't do this rescue. the fire department did this rescue and the people out there

in the rescue squads, i was a mediocre fireman. these guys were trained way above my pay grade. and what they do on a daily basis, we are in insurance policy for the citizens of san francisco. it is no big thing when you wreck your car and the insurance company comes and takes care of it, but when the fire part -- department does it, for some reason, the bonds that we had since 1900 and sex with the citizens of san francisco, they feel about us as we feel about them. it is not just a job, and the dedication -- you realize, 264 guys, people, drove back into the city immediately after the earthquake. they weren't on duty and they weren't getting paid. what other department in san francisco can say that? these guys came in, left their families, didn't know what they were going into, would you never do when you respond to an incident. they came back into the city and they worked for 72 hours and they didn't get any accolades, they didn't get any newspaper print.

they did it because of the love of the city and the love of the job. i was so proud when they pinned that badge on me in 1970. i wanted to honor it and do something to think that i deserved it. i still, when i see these rubber rings, i still get that same feeling in my heart. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. as you can see, the fireboat display to your right. [cheering] that is not the phoenix, that is the other one, right? that is the st. francis. named for our great city. i want to ask chief nicholson and chiefs got to join me up on the stage.

supervisor stefani. >> are you going to ring the bell? >> yeah, we are. a few more minutes. come on up. come on up. [applause] you have three minutes. [laughter] just say a few words about the system you invented. >> it is an honor to be here today and 30 years.

it's hard to believe it goes by so fast. i wanted to echo what you said about the fire department. and wanted to point out that what happened in 89 we understand the risk of the fire department and the support on the developments that we get. we had mayor dianne feinstein. and had a meeting with her and explained to her what the risks were and the equipment that we needed for the portable water system. mayor feinstein totally understood. it was a classic meeting. we went in, we were told we had 20 minutes, three hours later, we left her office. we had a 50 billion-dollar bond issue and a special appropriation for the water system and they were just going to work. we did that and i just want to point out to the dedication of the firemen, that is amazing.

it is hard work. we developed the portable possible -- the portable water system and worked with the fireboat. a lot of training. 189 came, we were ready. we had a plan. i like to point out to you what happens in an earthquake like what happened in 189. we lost all the power in city -- in the city for three full days. the earthquake hit. it messed all over the city. just in the marina alone we had 127 water main breaks. we lost all water in the marina. fire breaks out and we say that when all hell breaks loose, nobody else knows what to do so they call the fire department. but an earthquake is the extreme example of that. we have to perform. and what happened, all the water is gone, and only because goodyear blimp was in town because of the world series. the fire department only knew

they had a fire because of several fire alarms. the chief down there was a hairy he had had a drill with the portable water system one week before. he knew exactly what to do. call the fireboat and the portable water system, and they got there 40 minutes later. we had to this wind today that we had then. we would have stopped the fire. this is an example of what would happen. in that day, there was no wind. it was a good fortune for all of us. a lot of hard work. they knocked the fire down and training, having equipment available, having the mayor and everyone behind the fire department, it all came together that day. i can tell you it was a proud day for the front -- san francisco fire department and also for the people who came in and the off-duty guys and it all worked out good. for all of us that were there that day, they were proud of

what happened. we did the best we could under the circumstances and it all worked out. here we are today. thank you very much. >> thank you. right on time. [applause]

again, we want to thank each and everyone of you for joining us here today to commemorate the 30 year anniversary of the earthquake. we honor the men and women of the san francisco police and fire department that have put their lives on the line year after year in this city to keep us all safe. today, as a reminder of our need to do everything we can to build a more resilient city. we have a fair that is supported by district two supervisor catherine stefani where you can learn more about the

organization and you can learn more about ways to build the organization so we can continue to look out for one another, take care of one another, and make sure that when the next one happens, we are all prepared to be safe and to be secure and to continue to have a strong, more resilient city for future generations to come. thank you all so much for joining us here today. [applause] last but not least, we have a special treat. an incredible, incredible, incredible opera singer. [applause]

[singing] [singing]

[singing]

[cheers and applause]

shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services within our neighborhoods, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> my name is ray behr. i am the owner of chief plus. it's a destination specialty foods store, and it's also a corner grocery store, as well. we call it cheese plus because there's a lot of additions in addition to cheese here. from fresh flowers, to wine, past a, chocolate, our dining area and espresso bar. you can have a casual meeting if you want to. it's a real community gathering

place. what makes little polk unique, i think, first of all, it's a great pedestrian street. there's people out and about all day, meeting this neighbor and coming out and supporting the businesses. the businesses here are almost all exclusively independent owned small businesses. it harkens back to supporting local. polk street doesn't look like anywhere u.s.a. it has its own businesses and personality. we have clothing stores to gallerys, to personal service stores, where you can get your hsus repaired, luggage repaired. there's a music studio across the street. it's raily a diverse and unique offering on this really great street. i think san franciscans should shop local as much as they can because they can discover things that they may not be familiar with. again, the marketplace is

changing, and, you know, you look at a screen, and you click a mouse, and you order something, and it shows up, but to have a tangible experience, to be able to come in to taste things, to see things, to smell things, all those things, it's very important that you do so.