as our city grows, as more people are working in san francisco who are coming from all parts of the bay area, we know that we are going to have more crowded city. making sure that people could use different modes of transportation to get around safely is critical, whether by bicycle, jogging, scooter, or vehicle or what have you. our ultimate goal is safety. that is why we are committed to moving forward the changes to our infrastructure that will ultimately lead to what the goals are about, no fatalities on our streets. we know in 2019 we had about 29 people who died on the san francisco streets. in fact, this year we have already had two deaths. that is two deaths too many this

year. we have to do more. last year i set a goal of doing 20 miles of bike lanes throughout the city. so far we are at 7.5 miles of those dedicated bike lanes. we are on the way to meeting that goal. this is not about pleasing one group over another. this is about public safety. it is about making sure no matter how you are trying to move around san francisco you know you can do it safely. san francisco is changing. we want to make sure that people are moving around in a way that provides an opportunity for us to feel safe and secure. i am excited about this project. it looks great down here. the streets are clean and smooth and paved. your bus ride won't we bumpy in this section of townsend. i want to thank s.f.m.t.a., san francisco public works for the

work they have done to move this project forward quickly along with other projects in san francisco that we have seen improvements on. i want to thank walk sf and the bicycle coalition and the folks who advocated for improvements that are going to lead to a better experience for all of us here in san francisco, and also ultimately saving countless lives. that you also much for being here today. [applause] >> i would like to introduce the acting director of the san francisco department of public works. >> thank you, jeff. thank you, mayor breed. it is great to be here this morning. it is a beautiful day. as i stand here, this is an

amazing project. it shows we as a city can do. this is a city that has traveled with folks off buses, bicycles and skateboards. it takes it all to come together to make this happen. it was public works and urban foresty that constructed this island we are on right now. they built the bus pad and loading zones. overall, and the workers and 1300-tons of asphalt on this project along with 750 cubic yards of concrete. keep in mind, this was a project not done by just public works.

it was a collaboration with m.t.a., san francisco bike coalition along with walk sf. again, i want to say thank you all. after being here today, public works is happy to be part of this celebration. thank you all. [applause] >> next is the partner at the san francisco bicycle coalition. >> good morning. i am claia. i am the organizer for the bicycle coalition. for the last five years i worked on advocacy in district six. you grew up in the tenderloin and live in the south of market.

traffic is superimportant to me. i know what it is like to bike, skateboards and bike on streets without the proper infrastructure. it is not safe. town send is one of the important streets in soma for biking, walking and transit with bus lines connecting. town send is a critical connection to get through soma and beyond. when this project was under threat of a year's long delay we made sure the city didn't drop the ball. we are thrilled today we get to celebrate these improvements we won together. before the changes people were walking in the streets because there was no physical sidewalk in place. people biking had to compete with buses, uber and lyfts. now there are dedicated, safe and welcoming spaces for people to bike and block.

a block long boarding island separates the chaos. this is smart design to make the street so much more inviting and will encourage more people to walk, bike and take transit in one of the busiest neighborhoods in san francisco. when we set the bar high for city planners they can rise to the challenge and deliver. we want to thank the hardworking staff at the s.f.m.t.a. and matt haney to see this through to construction. setting a high bar we want to thank mayor london breed for pushing the s.f.m.t.a. to deliver 20 miles of new bike lanes within the next two years. we will work with you all and the city departments and our membership to make streets safer for pedestrians and people on bikes. i would like to introduce jody,

executive director for walk san francisco. thank you. >> good morning. thank you, mayor breed, berrum m director and our partners of the san francisco bicycle coalition. i am the walk san francisco executive director. this is one of the places in san francisco where there are huge numbers of people walking every single day. for so long it is dangerous for pedestrians. no sidewalks, mixing with cars and unable to get to the caltrain service where we heard of the buses and trains and people moving about the bay area. today town send is making a step towards safety for thousands of people every day. i want to give the s.f.m.t.a. a big thank you for doing this

very quick league. we encourage them to keep it up. how can we do this more often? there is no time to waste in ending fatal traffic clashes. we have a goal to end all fatalities and serious injuries in the next five years. there are so many more areas where thousands are walking every day need to be made safe asap. we need to create streets that put people and safety first. this is reality for san francisco. thank you to the staff at the s.f.m.t.a., department of public works, mayor's on the supervisor's office who are part of the important project to keep us all safer. thank you so much. [applause] >> i am jeffrey tumlin, director of transportation for the san francisco municipal

transportation agency. i am so proud of my entire agency and the san francisco department of public works who collaborated together. the planners, engineers, work crews representing a dozen different trades, concrete, asphalt, signs, striping. they all worked to advance the quick build project which for the first time is designed to accommodate every mode of transportation. i am very proud of the spring design decisions they have made. for example right here, the curb work to allow us to save $5 million and two years of delay required to move the utility polls. this is quick build. we moved quickly. everyone worked and we delivered this is a city family to serve

thousands in san francisco in a part of the transportation network where every mode comes together. caltrain, public and private buses, light rail, pedestrians, bikes, scooters and the entrance to the central subway observing a year and a half from now. this is amazing work. i hope this is considered the pilot for another five years worth of intensive quick build work that we owe deep gratitudes to the staff of both agencies but the leadership of the board of supervisorboardof supervisor. i would like you to join us to cut this ribbon. mayor, would you like to lead us. >> five, four, three, two, one. there we go.

[applause]

(clapping) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ celebrating the wow. turnout this is our third annual to celebrate pride we notice we didn't have community event for pride. we actual had 19 we had godzilla

and are you ball weird names i think its unique we're able to have special event we're all women that relax and have fun you know everything is friendly and kind we're all equal i'm

>> still a lot of people wonder since the trees have a lot of issues, why did we plant them in the first place? >> trees are widely planted in san francisco. with good reason. they are workhorses when it comes to urban forestry. we have begun to see our ficustrees are too big and dangerous in san francisco. we have a lot of tree failures with this species in particular.

this is a perfect example of the challenges with the structure of the ficustrees. you can see four very large stems that are all coming from the same main truck. you can see the two branches attached to one another at a really sharp angle. in between you can't it is a lot of strong wood. they are attached so sharply together. this is a much weaker union of a branch than if you had a wide angel. this is what it looks like after the fi c.u. resolution s limb . >> we see decline. you can see the patches where there aren't any leaves at all. that is a sign the tree is in decline. the other big challenge is the

root system of the tree are aggressive and can impact nearby utilities, and we can fix the sidewalk around the tree in many cases. we don't want to cuts the roots too severely because we can destabilize the tree. >> in a city like san francisco our walks are not that wide. we have had to clear the branches away from the properties. most of th the can canopy is one street side and that is heavyweight on those branches out over the street. that can be a factor in tree limb failures. a lot of people wonder since these trees have a lot of issues. why did we plant them in the first place? they provided the city with benefits for decades. they are big and provide storage for carbon which is important to fight climate change and they

provide shade and really i think many people think they are a beautiful asset. >> when we identify trees like this for removal and people protest our decision, we really understand where they are coming from. i got into this job because i love trees. it just breaks my heart to cut down trees, particularly if they are healthy and the issue is a structural flaw. i have also seen first hand what happens when we have failures. we have had a couple of injuries due to tree failures. that is something we can't live with either. it is a challenging situation. we hate to lose mature trees, we hate to lose mature trees,

>> mayor breed: today i am joined by the department of public health in place of doctor grant colfax. we have doctor susan phillips. we are also joined by the director of the department emergency management as well as our police chief bill scott and from the homeless services agency we have abigail stewart. thank you for joining you today. i just want to start by saying that i know that the last few weeks have been very challenging for families, especially parents