communities. we want to be bold and strategic how we reach out to people who aren't wearing masks. we wanted to find out why people might not be wearing face coverings and see if we can change their behavior because we're all safer when we cover our faces when we go out, and regularly wearing face coverings will help us keep san francisco on a path of reopening that we so desperately need. i asked our team, our city team to start working with people and organizations in our neighborhood to did he vel community led education campaigns and outreach efforts specifically around mask wearing, and many answered the call. our nonprofits arts and faith organizations are on the frontlines impacting communities. because of their relationships, they are often the most trusts and the most influential than the government.

i'm proud to say, today, we are launching our first series of community-led campaigns ahead of labor day weekend, and you are going to hear from some of our partners shortly. but first, i want to address why we are launching this ahead of this current weekend. historically, labor day is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of american workers. because of the pandemic, this labor day has a special significance. it is a chance to honor the special workers in our community. we know this virus has disproportionately impacted our frontline workforce, many of them who have to reuse their

medical equipment every sipping wisipping -- single day. labor day marks the end of summer, and most years, we have barbecues and cookouts with our families, and i personally wish i could attend one of those gatherings. as we set at the beginning of the pandemic, the safest thing is to do is for people to stay home, but let's be real. people miss each other, and they're going to decide to get together. so if you do, we ask if you're going to be other with others, keep it outside, make sure everyone is wearing a face covering, and avoid sharing food and drink. we know that oftentimes, when people come together, especially when they start drinking throughout the day,

behavior changes. in addition to keeping our friends and our family safe, wearing a mask is one of the most effective things we can do to keep reopening san francisco. let's be mindful what we are doing and how we are impacting the spread of this share. let's share the love, not the virus. and at this time, i'd like each of our community partners to talk about their campaign and why it's important to protect our communities this labor day weekend and beyond. first, we have dr. scott sampson from the california academy of sciences, which lent their creative and innovative design experts to help our city. >> thank you very much, mayor breed, and thank you for your strong leadership during this challenging time, including in relation to this coronavirus.

and warm thanks to all of our partners. i'm scott sanchez, director of the california academy of sciences. the academy has been part of san francisco since 1853, just three years after california became a state. we care deeply about our city, and we are here to putting all of our cutting edge science to keep our community safe. when we heard that san francisco is so close to hitting an important mask wearing milestone, our organization jumped at the chance to help get the word out. the science is crystal clear, wearing a mask makes a big difference, and we need everyone, especially young people, to mask up. we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that wearing a mask, watching your distance, and washing your hands will help crush the covid-19 curve.

this campaign, available in four different languages all over san francisco, is asking young people to take one small step that can make a giant difference helping to keep our entire community safe. whether you're missing outside lands or dinner at your favorite restaurant, a giants game or inspirational evening of night life at the academy, we are all in this together. we are excited to keep the city's reopening on track so that we can all return to enjoying the many amazing benefits san francisco has to offer. i wear a mask so that we ask safely open the academy and welcome you back for more awe and wonder in golden gate park. thank you, and stay safe.

>> the hon. london breed: thank you, dr. sampson. now next, we have up annie chung from self-help for the elderly who will talk about efforts to conduct outreach and education with our asian and pacific islander community. annie? >> thank you so much, mayor breed, and good afternoon, everyone. i'm annie chung with self-help for the elderly, and as mayor said, we've been on the frontline, providing essential meals and other elder care services to all of our seniors in san francisco. and we're honored today, mayor, to partner with you and to support you in your relentless fight against the covid-19 pandemic, and to educate the chinese speaking seniors and families how to protect themselves once they step outside their homes. mayor breed, i think the seniors are doing their part to

abide by the health order. i urge all the seniors and families to remember what dr. sampson just said and practice the three w's: one, wear masks, two, wash your hands, and three, watch your social distancing. i know the labor day weekend is coming up, and we may be tempted to invite friends and family over for barbecues and gatherings. only invite people that are in your immediate household, and if possible, try to meet outdoors, which will be much safer for you and your family. remember, prevent everyone from sharing drinks or using the same utensils or chop sticks

with each other. be aware at all times. protect yourselves and others, and think positive. [speaking cantonese language] >> thank you, everyone, and thank you, mayor. >> the hon. london breed: thank you so much, annie, for all the work that you continue to do. next, we have director glen from the african american arts and cultural district. i understand the district worked with local rappers to produce a music video that we'll see at the end of this press conference. evan? >> thank you, mayor breed. we really appreciate the continued support that the city of san francisco has shown the african american community. it's been a lot of unprecedented work over the last several years, and we

deeply appreciate that. my name is evan glen. i am the executive director for the african american arts and cultural district located in the bayview and third street corridor. so it was a process working with fran says zamora, the -- frances zamora, the department of emergency management, making sure the message put forth in our campaign was representative of the people in our community: our culture, the way we look, and it just resonated with our spirits and our soul, and so that's what you're going to see in bill boards across the city. we also thought it would be a good idea to put a rap together to resonate with the young people. after talking with my

codirector, erica scott, she says hey, you know, my daughter's going to parties, and the young people need a message, as well. so we got together with a rap group out of the fillmore, 16-year-old girls called the poppin' twins, and they wrote the rap that we're going to share for everybody today. with that being said, i just want to send a message out to the community to remain safe because statistically, the bayview has been hit the hardest with covid-19 out of any other area in san francisco. we need to be aware of that. we need to wear masks, stay 6 feet apart from each other, and remain safe. and think about your grandparents. think about the elderly in your neighborhood because their immune system obviously isn't as strong, and so we have to start thinking about each

other. but again, i just want to thank the city of san francisco for the work that they've been doing to support the african american community. >> the hon. london breed: thank you, evan, for your remarks and for joining us here today, and we're looking forward to seeing that video. now we also know that the latino community has really been the hardest hit in our city. in fact, over 50% of the cases that have been diagnosed were people of latino descent, and we have not been able to do -- we would not have been able to do the incredible work that we are doing to support this community and to address this disparity if it weren't for the latino task force. they've been an amazing resource in not only mask

wearing but keeping people safe. they're here to discuss the latino awareness campaign in san francisco. so thank you, susanna. >> thank you, mayor breed. my name is susanna rojas, and i am the director of the latino task force. thank you so much for allowing me to speak and to collaborate dpsh-for allowing the latino task force to collaborate with the city so that our city can feel empowered to take action. the virus is just one more challenge to conquer, to stop the spread of covid-19 and to protect our latino families ahead of labor day weekend and beyond, i'm here to showcase the latino community.

[speaking spanish language] [end of translation]. >> our actions speak leader than words. we can show love by masking up. we can stay 6 feet apart, and most importantly, by not sharing food and drink. now we in the latino community know that food is central to our interaction. it is the backbone to our community, and gathering with large families is how we show our love. love during the coronavirus looks like wearing our masks, washing our hands, staying 6 feet apart, and protecting our seniors and our young people. hugging in our families and physical contact is something we do on a daily basis, but

right now, we have to demonstrate our love by hugging virtually by wearing a mask. and last but not least, we have sacrificed -- [speaking spanish language] >> thank you. >> the hon. london breed: thank you again, susanna, for joining us and for all the work that you do. i'm so excited for our next speakers. sister, you are one of my favorite speakers, and i am so glad to have you here with us today. the sisters of perpetual

indulgence along with supervisor mandelman launched an outreach campaign, focusing on the lgbtq community. the poster that you created was just amazing. thank you, and join me, everyone, in welcoming sister roma. >> hello, mayor breed. i can't wait to see that video, and of course i'm hungry for some great latin food. i want to thank you for unprecedented leadership during these very hard times. your team is amazing. since the beginning of the pandemic, it's been hard for people in my community to not compare it to hiv/aids, which we all know ravaged the lgbtq

community very badly in the early 80s. and the sisters stepped up at that time and were actually leading the fight against hiv/aids with providing information and education. so when this got here, we thought oh, this sounds familiar. when tom temprano approached me, i went back to my sisters, and we were all on board, and we went back to our methods of harm reduction and reminded our community that it's best to stay safe and stay away from each other. this weekend, people are just itching to get out and dance and see each other. it's difficult, and it'll be trying, and i want people to know that there'll be a time that we can get together with each other and hug and hold each other, like we used to.

but the sisters want to let you know that wearing masks can be fabulous. look for us in dolores park on friday, where we're going to be handing out 1500 masks, and then we're going to be heading to the castro for our first friday event, which will be at 5:00 p.m. in the castro. so thank you for including me, and it's been my honor and privilege. >> the hon. london breed: thank you, sister roma. i almost didn't recognize you without your makeup on. maybe i'll join you on friday. that would be amazing. >> oh, thank you so much. >> the hon. london breed: okay. finally, i want to introduce a leader who has a bright future ahead of her.

athena matthews. >> it is so important to demonstrate proper covid-19 behavior, and masks are just one tool to prevent the spread of covid. bypassi -- covid by catching droplets when you sneeze or cough, protecting those around you. indifferent while understandable is not sustainable. it is imperative that this generation feel empowered to take care of ourselves and take care of each other because we need to be more active and take on an active role in fixing our nation's challenges, even beyond covid-19, so to my fellow general

fellow gen-z'ers, let this be a warning not to just be aware of covid-19, but be aware of those around you. tag us on social media at #60s. >> the hon. london breed: thank you. at this time, i wanted to play the video that evan mentioned, so let's get to it.

[♪] >> the hon. london breed: very nice. thank you so much.

that concludes our press conference. i guess now we'll be opening it up to a few questions. i want to take a moment to thank everyone for joining us and really express my appreciation to all the organizations for the work that you are doing to make sure that we are staying healthy, and we are staying safe. i love the amazing posters, the graphics, the videos, and all the cool things that we are using to really get people actively engaged in this need to finding creative solutions to get folk to see comply with the mask -- folks to comply with the mask wearing compliance. i think about when i was a kid, and talking about wearing your seat belt and the work that had to go into getting folks to wear your seat belt, and today, it's just natural to get in

your seat belt when you get in a car. and i remember when i was little, people used to smoke in buildings and on planes, and now, it's completely different. even wearing a condom and the push for safe sex, the conversation about mask wearing, we have to get creative in what we say in the culture and the fabric of this country. the work that you do in getting the community to trust you to know that twhat they do is important and it saves lives. so we're thankful for your work, and at this time, we're happy to open it up for questions. >> thank you, mayor, and thank you to all everyone who joined us here today. we'll jump right into the same questions. mayor breed, we received multiple questions on this, and

this is one question that'll cover it. what do you think about speaker pelosi's decision to get a blowout in san francisco on monday? does she owe the service industry an apology? is ignorance of the health orders an excuse? >> the hon. london breed: well, let me start by saying that it's really unfortunate that with everything happening in this country, with the fact that we basically have a dictator in charge of running this country, and we have our speaker, nancy pelosi, working day and night to try and fight, again, the challenges we have with the white house. she has spent her entire career working for this city and working for this country. it's unfortunate this conversation has blown up the way that it has and distracted

us from the real issue. the fact is we don't have good, solid federal leadership that is helping to facilitate this covid-19, and over 180,000 americans have died as a result of this virus. and had we had what we needed from day one from this federal administration, then we would probably not be in as bad of a situation as we are. our focus should be on making sure that we as a city are providing also good information. i know that there's been a lot of confusion with our small businesses and operations and whether or not they can operate indoors or outdoors, and so we as a city, and the confusion between the local information and the state information, we have to do a better responsibility of doing a better job around communication. so we can either focus and blaming and saying who should do what, but we have bigger issues as it relates to this country, and i have a

tremendous amount of respect and appreciation for the hard work that nanny pelosi does every single day to take care of this city and this country. and that's what we should be focused on because we are dealing with very challenging times, and leadership does matter. i do understand that the industry is suffering, not only the hair industry, but the masseuses and the salons. i understand the frustration, and some businesses may not ever open again. i understand this is hard for everyone. the decisions that we're making around public health have everything to do with keeping people safe, and unfortunately, the economy and people's li livelihoods have suffered. so i understand that, but i think it's important to get

back to the main part of wearing masks, and staying apart, and staying heath healthy, and the city will do a better job of communicating with our small businesses in san francisco as we begin or reopening efforts. >> thank you, madam mayor. the next question comes from cristian captain with ktvu. with the weekend almost here and warm weather for the forecast, what city parks and impeaches are open -- beaches are open, and what distancing steps are you asking for people to observe? >> look, we know that parks and beaches are open, and it's important for people to socialize and pick up a date or two, but what we also need you to do is comply. there are more parks that are

dolores park or chrissy fields. there's other places you can enjoy, as well. so what we're asking people to do is to just make sure that you're using good judgment. if you go to dolores park, and you see that it's crowded and there's no place for you to go with your people and maintain your distance with your mask and so forth, why even step foot in that park? we will be out doing enforcement more so than we have in the past, but we want people to use common sense because we tend to see spikes in our numbers as a result of the holidays, and labor day, i'm sure, is not going to be any different. i've had people reach out to be to invite me to barbecues, people who want today do a jumpy with the kids, and i'm saying, why are you calling me? i'm going to say no way.

it's not that i'm not only going to go, it's just that these are places where the virus could transmit. i'm just asking people to remember, be a part of the solution, and we will do our very best to be out there, to do enforcement. we don't want to have to do enforcement. we don't want people out there, creating more attention than already exists because of people not being good citizens by wearing masks. we just want people to do their part. we're going to do our part. we hope we don't have to shutdown parks and parking lots and make it difficult for people to get out and enjoy things. we have so many parks where there's no reason why people have to crowd in one or two or three park in san francisco.

the beaches have been a lot more manageable because we've opened up more space there. again, just use common sense not only to protect you but the people around you. >> thank you so much, madam mayor, and everyone else for your time. there are no further questions at this time, and this concludes today's press conference. thank you, and stay safe. >> the hon. london breed: thank you.

>> chair mar: good morning. the meeting will come to order. welcome to the september 3, 2020 meeting of the government audit and oversight committee. i'm joined by supervisor aaron peskin.