>> i am vivian coe. carman chu co-founded the challenge along in 2018, along with the department on the status of women, as well as the league of women voters in san francisco. our mission is to raise women's voices and their voting power. you can learn more about our initiative on our website wchallenge.org. before we start, i would like to thank our w challenge partners and supports and occur co-hosts -- and our co-hosts listed in the shared screen before. for organizing today's event, as well as kicking off a social media campaign as this year's challenge. we want to encourage more women to vote, especially for this

upcoming election. we'll share more details later on in the program. you can learn more about the initiative on wchallenge.org 100 women. today's event will stream live on sfgovtv.org youtube channel, as well as the city's facebook and twitter accounts. i want to thank our colleagues here from sfgov tv for working in the backgrounds and making this event as successful as possible for everyone. you can feel free to share the links and host a watch party if you want on your preferred social media platforms, because we will be having them on facebook and twitter. this session will be recorded for future references. so let's get started. happy women's equality day. may i kindly ask the president of the commission on the status of women to join us, bree anna

swat, to officially kickstart the celebration of today's event. thank you. >> thank you so much, vivian, for the kind introduction. and really thank you to all staff for making this happen. i know we would normally be on the steps of stahl. but i appreciate everyone's creativity and flexibility of making this a virtual event as well. my name is brianna and i'm privileged to serve as the president of the nation's strongest commission and department on the status of women, right here in san francisco. it was on this day 100 years ago that the 19th amendment was added to the constitution of the united states. in the process of extending the right to vote to women across the country. and on november 2nd, 1920, more than 8 million women voted for the first time in the presidential election. the moment was a culmination of a movement made with tears, pain, sweat, a long strug that will included activism and leadership of black, indigenous,

and women of color, too many who who were later written out of history books. these women, who fought, marched, organized and protested for decades to gain the right to vote. we are right to celebrate this day as a milestone and recognize that equal votes rights were not achieved for all women through the 19th amendment. the voting rights act, passed 55 years ago, brought us closer to equal voting rights. however, the struggle continues. and the need for vigilance goes on. as we were reminded in '21, when the supreme court gutted, these attacks on the democracy continue through this very hour, the tactics evolve. but honestly the intent remains the same. it was once literacy test, and outright violent intimidation. today we see the closing of polling places in communities of color be and attacks on voting by mail. in short, the fight continues on

for the right to vote. today is more than a day of celebration, but to continue in the struggle and the moment to look ahead to the next 100 yea years. and 9 moment to ensure our democracy is truly representative. over the last century, women have also fought to gain access in classrooms, board room, and elected it office, -- elected office. we have seen the power of women's leadership with each advance. we see that diverse voices and perspectives, equity and inclusion bring new ideas, new insights to the halls of power. we've seen that right here from our vantage point in san francisco, with our own representative nancy pelosi, the first and only woman to serve as speaker of the house, our two female senators and now vice presidential candidate kamala harris. as i said earlier, i wish we could all be gathered in person together. this is not how anyone could

have imagined 2020 would look. but it also reminds us how important it is to have strong and capable leaders. and how connected we are together. in honor of our ancestors, our foremothers, our sisters and the struggle, i am so proud to kick off this event and to bring together our two city female elected officials, women who not only forged the path, but always bring others along with them. carmen chu as served as the elected assessor since 2013. her efforts in the in performing the office and successfully reversing decades of old backlog, earned her office the prestigious 2020 good government award, an hon father recognizing the excellence in public sector management and stewardship. assessor chu has also recently taken on a new leadership role to co-chair the economic recovery task force, using her fiscal expertise to help san

francisco through an unprecedented economic impact from covid-19 pandemic. on top of all of this, she is vice president of the california assessors' association, served on the employees retirement system board, overseeing the investments of $26 billion in public pension system and a little provides direction on the executive board of spur, a non-profit focused on developing regional solutions to cross-county challenges like housing affordability and climate resilience. in addition to all of these wonderful things, and all of these new roles, she has a new role as a mother. and is forever a public servant with her values rooted in her experience growing up as a daughter of immigrants. thank you for your leadership, assessor chu, thank you for being here. and finally it's my honor to welcome our mayor, london breed. in 2018, mayor breed was elected to be the first african-american

woman and the second woman in san francisco's history to serve as mayor. she was re-elected for her first full term in november 2019. she led san francisco's emergency response to covid-19 with grit and grace. and is currently guiding the city's phased reopening and economic recovery. recently mayor breed announced -- since becoming mayor, her priorities have included helping the city's homeless population and to care and shelter and adding more housing for residents of all income levels. helping those suffering from mental health and substance-use disorders, and ensuring that all san franciscans have access to a thriving economy. furthering san francisco's leadership and combating climate change and honestly the list goes on and on. so thank you all again for being

here. i'm excited to get this conversation started. >> thank you, breanna, for such a nice introduction. we will now ask our assessor carmen chu, the co-founder of the w challenge, to give some introduction remarks, as we are awaiting for the mayor to join us shortly. >> thank you. first off, i want to just thank everybody, all of our partner organizations, breanna, for your wonderful and warm introduction. thank you all for joining us in this virtual way. i think that this is a special day, a day that i think as breanna mentioned, women were able to win the right to vote. it did take decades, though, for indigenous women and women of color to also be able to participate. so i think as we take the moment to celebrate this milestone in our history, it's also important to recognize that the struggles

for participation, the struggle for representation still continues even as we speak. it is highlighted not only from what we're seeing from the federal attacks, in terms of women's rights and the place of women, but also when we're thinking about even how we are all seeing the response to covid-19. i think it's not lost on so many of us that covid-19, though it is a disease that impacts everyone, it has not been impacting our communities in an equal way. we've seen a disproportionate impact on our lateef hasani grat latinx communities. women bear the brown in the industries most impacted negatively by covid-19, health care sectors, education, childcare. and not only that, but we are also seeing that women also are playing a role of double duty, even triple duty when it comes to not only balancing their

jobs, employment, careers and also childcare and elder care. this is something that is intimately experienced by so many of us. for myself, as a young mother, with a 15-month-old daughter and having my elderly parents now sheltering in place with us, i feel that impact. and yet i find myself really understanding how fortunate i am, even to be in a place that i am now and to be able to still have a child. so many of the people that we're talking about have lost their jobs, are on the verge of losing their businesses and their homes. it really does highlight the importance of recognizing the impacts of covid and the opportunity to really step up. and so today we have a unique opportunity to be able to talk about women leadership, especially at this time. i think as breanna had mentioned earlier, there's a cross section of home things happening, in addition to the challenges that we have with covid-19, we're seeing wildland fires across the state of california, that's

brought about by climate change. we're not only seeing that, but continued challenges at the federal level when it comes to our immigrant communities and people of color. and so again we're really, really excited to have the mayor today to be able to speak more about women's leadership and the importance of that going forward. and so i see that our mayor has joined us. and so i want to welcome london to the program. i think today's going to be a very -- it's going to be a unique opportunity. we rarely have the chance to be able to interview each other and have a candid conversation. so it will be a lot of fun to be able to do that today. but just a moment right before you came on, mayor breed, breanna was able to share some really great information about your bio. today people are really looking forward to get to know more about you and your leadership style as we go forward. i think as you know we started the w challenge a few years ago

and you've been a strong supporter from the beginning. i think one of participated every single year that we have come together to talk about the sponsor of voting and women's participation. this year our challenge is to really make sure we're highlighting the 100-year history of at least 100 great, amazing women leaders. so we really want to tell the story of women's leadership through the years. and how we all build upon those histories, in order to be where we are today. so again i'm super excited to bring mayor breed on to the show today. i'm going to ask you the first question. but actually before we do that, why don't i ask you to introduce or say a few words if you'd like to, to commemorate the 100 year-anniversary. >> well, thank you so much, carmen. it's, of course, always great being with you and talking about important issues in our city, pour importantly celebrating 100 years of women receiving the right to vote. we all know sadly, with the

history of this country, that did not include women of color. and we know that, you know, when i think about from a perspective of where we are now in this country, and how there is finally a reckoning that is occurring around race and around inequality and what's happening to people, as a result of that spark that sadly involves the death of george floyd, i think this is the perfect time to start to have these honest conversations about this. because from my perspective, you know, our differences are what makes us a better city. it's what makes us a better country. i hope my phone is not too loud. i don't know how to turn it off. but it makes us a better -- it makes us a better city. it makes us a better country. and i think that it starts with the next generation and it also

needs to be embedded in our young people at an early age, that in a way that could effectively allow for change. because the sad reality is we know a lot of this is taught in the home. it's taught, you know, early on. and it develops into who you are as a person naturally. we have to get to the point of all of that. we have to be prepared to have the honest conversations about our differences, you know, how we all fit into this world. and how working together we can make things better. and i've got to be honest. no one does that better than women. [laughter] but we are, you know, multi-taskers and it's naturally who we are. so as we celebrate, you know, the right to vote for him, we have to also keep in mind there was a time that women couldn't vote in this country. there was a time that black people couldn't vote in this country. there was a time that folks were

discriminated against and hung just because they wanted to exercise their right. we dishonor their memory and sacrifice when we don't show up to make our voices heard. that's the celebration should remind us about those people and what they sacrificed and how we have appear obligation to not only exercise our right to vote ourselves, but to make sure that we are lifting up others to do the same. and that we are also making it clear to the next generation how significant it is for them to do so as well. >> yes. >> glad to be here. absolutely. i think the points you make really do resonate, because i think that the fight continues, right. even now i mean we're continuing to see the inequities continue to be part of our daily lives. we need to really speak honestly about it. it is really hard.

it is hard to talk about race, because it's uncomfortable. unless we start to get to a place where we can do that, i don't know how we start to dismantle what's there, right. and even within the last covid response, we've been seeing a lot of rise in anti-asian sentiments, people blaming the asian community for what's happening. i think even then we need allies, we need people to say that's not right, that's not okay, that's not the reason why we are in the place that we are. and so i think there's a lot of -- there is a lot of hurt and there's a lot of healing that we need to be responsible for. >> yep. and also, carmen, you know, think about -- i don't believe there's one person on this earth who hasn't been disrespected in some way. >> absolutely. >> and they now that hurts. and it doesn't feel good. i'm sure you've been called racial names. i've been called names. and when you think about that, why would you want somebody else to feel that way.

>> that's right. >> and i think that we have to start to get to, you know, the root causes of how those things developed. and we have to have honest conversations. and just, you know, for example, i still have people in my family who make certain comments and use certain, you know, racial slurs that i have to correct. and they're basically like, well, we always said that. and i don't do it because i'm mayor. i want to be clear. but i do it because it's offensive to the people that claim we respect, right. it's like when you use those terms and you don't understand it's not appropriate. why would you continue to do that. so don't tell me you have a friend who is gay or you have a friend who is chinese and you

have a friend who is this and they don't have a problem with it. i don't care. i have a problem with it. >> yeah. >> because i would be offended if someone used certain comments and words against me. but we have to also educate our family members, especially our older family members about terminologies that are just not appropriate to say about other people. >> yeah. and i think that it's absolutely true. i think the more that we can personalize and share with our family what our expectations are and what it means for people, i think the better -- i think we all grow up with certain experiences and we all have preconceived notions about people and we all have ways to shortcut what we think. but ting what is important that we recognize that they exist, right, that we might have biases that exist. and make sure that they don't drive how we make decisions or they don't drive how it is that

we interact with people. i think that's what's really important. it's not to say that any of us are perfect or we don't have biases. but it's to recognize that we do. >> yeah. >> to make sure we don't let that motivate us, right. i think as you mentioned, when we have an opportunity to give a different perspective when a family member or anyone is making a generalization about a particular community, it's to say why do you say that. i don't think that's true. that generalization actually is wrong. what would you think if they said this about our community, right. it's to make sure we kind of do that we continue to grow and evolve. we're in the middle of a global pandemic. no one thought we would be having to deal with something like this. not only that. we're say it's where we have conversations and we're having a reckoning when it comes to institutional racism, police

brutality. so i want to know what does it feel like to be mayor of a city like san francisco during this time. do you thinking about a woman mayor makes a difference? >> oh, my god. carmen -- >> it's a big question. i mean, no one can prepare for this kind of thing, you know. >> well, i'll just say that, you know, i'm very spiritual. and when i became mayor, even to this very day, based on my circumstances, i still can't believe that someone like me could actually be mayor of san francisco. it still -- it's almost unreal. i wake up in the morning, it's like, yep, you're still mayor. and it's still blowing me away. and then when i think about what i have come into and my personal background and my experiences.

talking about creative in times such as this. and that was kind of the message. and because i will say -- i was in my head wondering what's going on here. you know, is this the end of the world. like global pandemic. the fires, the unrest, all of the protests, all of this stuff. i was just like, wow. and then our president, right like this is like almost as if i'm watching a movie. and it's not real. but it's real. and it's our life. and what i realizeif i were not mayor, how would i want to feel. and how would i want my leaders to waive in a way that help -- to behave in a way that helps

reassure me that things will be okay. >> yeah. >> and so that's how i've made the decisions that i have made. and by being completely honest with the public every step of the way. and also letting the public know we don't know what the future holds, which you typically as a politician should not maybe say or people think you should not say. but i think that, you know, we as women, we're kind of realists. and we feel strongly about -- like, for example, your mother, you know, you know how it is where you want to do everything for your kids, but you also have to say, no. we can't. >> oh, my gosh. i told you. i don't say no. >> i'm going to get you, ca car. you have to man up. [laughter] but you've got it like -- but part of saying to our children is to protect them. >> yeah. it's part of what is important

in our natural -- this is naturally how we are. we're nurturing people as women in most cases. and we care about doing what's right for folks. and i think that has been a guiding principle for me, because it's not easy, of course. and, you know, like, for example, you think that it doesn't hurt my heart to see people sleeping on the ground or -- it's not that i don't like seeing it, it just hurts. it's a human being that's sleeping on the ground. and in my mind i can't help but -- when we go past and, you know, honestly i pray for them and i also ask god to help give me the strength to be able to do this job and to make things better for people. it's not about the complaints. it's about the need to try and get people to help and the support that they need. so i think, you know, in terms of governing, it's just -- i am doing the best that i can.

i am listening to various advisers, but also members of the public with their emails and their comments and their suggestions and trying to make good decisions. because a lot of people are counting on me. they're counting on me. it's not london, it's the mayor as a symbol of, you know, the leader of the city. and they're counting on me to make good decisions, to keep them safe. and so that's how i see my job. and it's important to make sure that we're doing what we're doing. and that's really why when -- i mean, we can't just do one thing, we have to do a lot of things. and that's why i was like, carmen is one of those people that i respect, as it relates to money management. [laughter] and fiscal responsibility. she's like bringing in the bread. but also the accountability and

everything. she's the perfect person to help with the economic recovery and what that entails. plus, on top of that you're very thoughtful in how you think about things. you're not just thinking about a business, you're thinking about the people because of your family, right. and your experiences growing up and your mom and dad. you're thinking about those experiences and how they had to struggle. >> yeah. >> and you know what people are going through. and so i guess i'll go into my next question -- my question, my first question to you is, it's like as a daughter of immigrants, and a small business owners, how did your personal experience shape you as a person and as a leader for a time such as this? >> yeah. i mean, i think just going to a point thaw made earlier, when you were talking about, you know, -- what is it like being kind of a woman leader, too. i don't know -- i think that when i've seen with you has just

been this real collaborate approach. i'm not sure that any other elected mayor would have asked another elected person to help do the work that you asked me to do on the economic recovery task force. and i think that says a lot about how you approach things, which is let's bring in people to help be problem solving together. and i really appreciate that, because i'm not sure that anybody would just do that, right. i think that says volumes. you know, in terms of being, you know, how it is that we approach leadership, especially as you grow up, i think especially for me i saw my parents really struggle, right. i was a young girl, i never saw my parents. i was a latchkey kid. my mom and dad were working every single day. they would go to work, i'd be at school already, they wouldn't come home until after i went to sleep. i really rarely saw my parents. and i think seeing how hard they worked, it's -- it's a symbol of sort of how hard it is for a lot of small businesses to make it and to survive.

and i think seeing how they struggled, seeing how they were discriminated against because they had an accent or how people didn't street them the right way when they went in to ask for help, because they couldn't say it right or had an accent, that really hurt me. when i think about public service and the things i hope to do, it's to really try to create opportunities for people and make sure that everybody knows that they're worthy. it doesn't matter where they come from or how much they have or how they can speak. they're worthy as individuals. and then i think now especially as a young mother, too, i love my daughter so much. she's really changed i think my perspective and, you know, my patience. and i realize that, you know, when i see the love that i have for her, hurts me to think that there are other kids who don't have the same support, who potentially are going hungry, who don't have the same opportunities to succeed. and that hurts me.

because i just turn that around and say, what would i feel if that was for my daughter. what would i feel if she didn't have the chance to be loved, to be fed, to feel safe, to feel like she could be whatever she wanted to be. that kind of feeling helps me today. keep on making sure that you create opportunities, that you help people have a job, that you can support families the best that you can. you know, we're not going to be perfect. and i like when she said earlier about being honest with people about where our problems are. we should tell folks, let's be honest, here's where we have problems. here's what i need help with doing. here's what the city needs to do to pull things together. and we're not perfect. but this is what i'm going to do about it, right. i think it's important to tell people that, because, you know, in terms of leadership, it's really important to be transparent with people, because you lose the integrity, you lose the only thing that you have going for you, which is, you

know, what you represent and what you say. are you going to say the things you say you're going to do. are you going to do the things that you say, right. if you lose that, you lose integrity, you lose people's trust. i think that's really embedded from the lessons that my parents have taught me. but i think also again i think just being someone who, you know, feels, who is a mother, who kind of sees the struggle that my parents went through, i don't want to see that for other people. i want to do everything i can to change that. so i think being on the economic recovery task force, i think about that every single day. i think what can we do as a city to help to save that one more business, save that job, so that people have the chance to be stable, you know. and have opportunities. what do we need to do to make sure that actually kids are not going to fall behind. like you know the distance learning is what we're doing right now, it's a travesty to not provide education to our young kids, who will fall further behind if we don't get it right, if we just don't

figure out a way. i think those are the things that really just drive me as a leader, to say what are those struggles that people feel, that i know from my own background that can really help to change things. i think you and i have the same experience. it really drives us. >> yeah. >> i think it kind of goes back to i think about the conversations you and i have had, where, you know, we are kind of commiserating over something really terrible happening, like something that was just like ridiculous that was happening in politics. you know, politics is tough because despite the best intentions sometimes, things get said a different way, it's represented in a way that's different. sometimes things are just really hard. so i'm curious to hear from you about what is, you know, what is it about your life or your experiences that helped to motivate you, when things are hard? you know, because being mayor you get a lot of criticism for

things that you can control and things that you can't control, right. and, you know, how do you deal with that? and what kind of keeps you centered? >> well, just think about it, carmen, can you imagine the fact that you and i both came up under some of the most challenging of circumstances that we'd ever be in positions like this. >> yeah. >> it starts with that, number one. number two, as hard as things are now, things were worse when i was a kid in terms of my life experience. so when i tell people like i grew up in public housing, i didn't just grow up there, i had every single experience directly in my household family situation, where when you talk about domestic violence, when you talk about drugs, prostitution, grandma raising

me, criminal justice system, mentally ill. all of these things -- welfare, food stamps, you know, clothing with holes in them and everything else and criticism and fights and drama and lack of access to things. anything that anyone probably talks about, that they care about in terms of helping people in, you know, the most challenging of circumstances, i probably experienced it directly in my household. and the reason why in some circumstances i don't into depth about some of those really tragic stories is because out of respect too my family members. -- respect for my family members. out of respect for not putting all of their business out there, because i'm the one in the limelight. and i don't want to expose them to, you know, challenges. i'm able to talk about my

sister, who died from a drug overdose, because of how it impacted me personally, you know. i talk about my brother, because my brother was okay that i talk about his unfortunate situations. you know, but, you know, like just experiences that i had, when i think about, you know, like being a kid in the midst of those challenges and not being able to escape that world, you know, i just -- you know, that is really what drives me. because i know that my experience is not unique. what is unique that i'm in a position like this, coming out of those circumstances. and this is why this work is so important to me, because i know that there are other young, talented people out there that just need a chance.

they need a chance. they need a support system. so as challenging as a time that we're having right now, and as much criticism and i may receive it pales in comparison to what i experienced growing up. that's why i feel confident about my strength and my ability to take on a role like this. because i feel like i was prepared to be in a situation like this. it's so interesting because yes, it's hard, yes, sometimes it's frustrating. and there are setbacks and disappointments and struggles associated with this work, but i feel optimistic about our ability to really make a

difference. a mayor would ask another elected official to, you know, it's not just that i asked you, it's just i also have to listen to what you're advice is, even if i disagree with it. part of that is really how i work, because it's not just about me. i feel like it's important, as a leader, that you bring other people along and you're prepared to listen, it doesn't just have to be your way or the highway. and so i think my experience of growing up and seeing how infective that kind of approach has been and how it had a negative impact on people that grew up like me is why i do this. because i want to change things genuinely. the only way you're able to do that is by making sure you're making good decisions and you're always keeping in mind the

people that we're here to serve. so i want to go back -- i know, you know, we're talking about our various experiences. but i just want to jump in, because when you first became a member of the board of supervisors, you were the only asian woman to serve at that time. >> yeah. >> and i just want to know how did it feel to be on the board? because the board of supervisors right now is a hot mess. and there's always a lot of drama, you know, i served on the board, too. but there were other women. you left me. [laughter] i was like, no, carmen, don't leave me. >> i went downstairs. >> but tell me when you first started, because you weren't trying to run for office. you weren't trying to be in politics. you were just dealing with the money and the finances and trying to do your job. tell me what that was like for you. >> yeah, i think for me, you

know, i'm -- by nature i'm probably more of an introvert than anything, you know. i think people kind of like you are? how can you be a politician. by nature that's what i was. my parents were always like, you're so shy, are you ever going to make it in this world. are you going to hide behind me all the time, right, when i was younger. we all kind of learn and we grow. you know, i had been in the mayor's budget office for gavin newsom at this time. i enjoyed the policy work behind the scenes and getting down to the nuts and bolts of things. at the end of the day, when we talk about policy, ultimately when you want to look attack priorities of a city and the values of the city, you see where the money is spent. because that matters, right. where you put your resources matters and it speaks about the values that we have as a city. and so that was really kind of where i started. and then i think overnight mayor newsom, at the time, appointed me to be a member of the board.

and it was -- it was under a cloud of challenges in the asian communities, right it was. it was then when the supervisor of district 4 was under investigation. i remembering about the only asian supervisor at that time. it's a heavy kind of burden in a way, because you feel like you have to represent all of the chinese community, all of the asian community, right. and what does that mean? because our community is so diverse, right. i can't possibly represent the perspective of every single person. but it felt very heavy. and i asked myself why am i the only asian-american in the city, where we have such a large population, right. the other thing weighing heavy on me at the time, and played out during the election, a lot of people were basically saying that i didn't have sort of the right to be the representative, because i wasn't born in san francisco, right. and there was nothing that more kind of offended me than that,

to think that if i wasn't born here, so if i was an immigrant or if i was someone who had moved here, but cared a lot about the city, that i didn't have an equal right or i shouldn't have a voice, offended me to the soul. because it kind of just said, what does that mean about my parents who emigrated here and worked so hard. are you saying they don't have a right to participate or have a voice also, right. i remember when i was running, it was under this cloud of, well, are all asian politicians corrupt, you know, because it wasn't just -- there were a few other issues that had happened. i think it was just this feeling of needing to make sure that i comported myself that was above and beyond, to make sure i left no doubt that that's not the all asian-machineries behaved, -- all asian-americans behaved. make sure that you are representing in a way that you

leave room for people to come behind you, right. i didn't want to be an example of yet another asian-american politician who was disappointing the community, right. and so i think it was just -- it was a big challenge because there's so much kind of going on at the same time. but i'm happy that we have since that time have had many more folks rise and be elected. and i think we need to continue to support that. so i think the work that we can do to continue to mentor young people and especially young women i think is really, really important. because i think sometimes people just need to see that it's possible. you know, i said that to you before, right, too. you know when someone sees that -- as someone who went through all of the hardship that you went through, who grew up facing all of the challenges that you did, were able to -- was able to become the mayor, that's inspiring, right. just that example and just seeing that is inspiring. for someone to say i'm looking

at carmen and i'm that shy kid who no one really paid maybe that much attention to. but she can become an elected person and do good things, too. that's inspiring, too. those are the examples we need to show is that not all leadership styles are the same. but we can all succeed as leaders, right. and so i think that's something that has been imprinted in me, i've kind of realizing this. >> yes. i'm sorry. >> go ahead. >> a really good point about where, you know, different styles of leaders, right. and i like that. but we both have very, you know, unique backgrounds that have, you know, involved struggle in some capacity. i think it also developed -- it also helps us to develop a appreciation and respect for one another as well, which i think is also important in the world of politics.

how we treat each other, even in the midst of our disagreementses, it's so important, because that's one of thing biggest challenges that we face. and when we have disagreements and we start to do the personal attacks and some of the other lies and other things, it just doesn't set a good example i think for young generations. we're just as bad what we see happening in the white house with we go that route. >> that's right. i want to ask you a personal question, but a fun one, which is what is something that no one knows about you? a fun fact. >> okay. a fun fact. one of my absolute favorite shows that i watch all the time, people would not believe it, it's "fraser." [laughter]

i love "fraser" because, listen, this is a tough job. you know how like at night, i try not to watch the news or nothing too serious before i go to bed. and most of the time and i just kind of to laugh and smile or do something more happy, i watch "fraser." >> so i have to admit, my guilty pleasure is watching korean dramas. those romantic dramas. love them. >> oh, my goodness. yeah. i just -- and i love out loud a lot of times when i'm watching "fraser." all my by myself normally. [laughter] that would probably surprise a lot of people. >> so kind of getting back to a bunch of encouraging, this idea about encouraging women to participate. you know, i want to know what do you think about -- what would you say to someone on the fence

about participating? and if someone is thinking about running for office or wanting to do something where they get on a commission or something like that, how -- what do you think people need to do to prepare for that experience. what would you say to those women? >> well, what i would say is when you feel something, when you want to do something, then you should go for it. part of what you want to make sure is you do your homework to prepare. that you know exactly what whatr roles and responsibilities are and the position that you're going for, whether it's a request to me to be a member of a board or a commission, that i have the ability to make appointments for. or if you decide to run for public office. you know, when i decided to run for supervisor, i wanted to be a good supervisor for the people of the district i represent, where i grew up in. and so that entailed making sure i knew how to do policy and

legislation and i understand how the process worked and the city worked. and the good news i'd been on commissions and other places. so i understood it. but i actually went back to school late in life, before i ran, to get my master's in public administration. and i ended up graduating from u.s.f. with honors, because i was committed to making sure that i was the best policymaker for the people that i represented. and i'm not suggesting that you do that. it's just that whatever role you want to play, you set your sights on that role and you make sure that you're prepared to take it on and all that it entails. and unfortunately in the world of politics, and in the world of public service, it also comes with its fair share of criticism. and i think it's going to -- it's really important that you have thick skin. and it's important that you have -- i'll tell you i made some mistakes along the way.

because, you know, i want to be honest. i'm a girl from the projects. don't come for me unless you want me to come for you. so i have made some mistakes early on where i have cursed some people out and did some things. and what i had to realize is if i want to represent people, it can't be about me any more. so i can't do what i typically would do if it's just me, when i'm entering the world of politics. so i had to grow a lot in the position. part of it is just really making sure that you make yourself into the best person you can be. you just the best job you can be and you remember you're there representing other people. don't let yourself get in the way of that. >> i agree. and i think, you know, i second that point that you make about sort of making sure that you're prepared and know what is required of you. and i think it's also about being prepared to make hard choices. >> yes. >> because it's easy to kind of just fall with the rhetoric,

where the wind is blowing. it's really hart not to go -- hard not to go in that direction. people ask us to be leaders to say based on what you know and where you want to do for community, is this the right choice or is it not. sometimes may not be convenient, right. it may just be the thing that is not the most popular thing that people want you to do. but you think it's the right call. i think it's important. i think two other things that you mentioned earlier, i think is really important. optimism. if you're not somewhat optimistic about being able to make change, politics and public office isn't for you. because you've got to be tenacious, you have to believe that you can do something. it's easy to get discouraged if you don't. a story of tenacity. i don't know if you remember, london, you and i were on a trip to israel, right before the mayor made an appointment to the district 5 seat. do you remember this? >> yes, yes. >> and i remember -- so, you

know, ultimately the mayor ended up appointing someone else, right. and london still ran, right. she's like well, i'm still going to run. i still want to do this. she ended up winning, right. i remember on that trip -- i remember seeing you. you were like what's going to happen. she was thinking about it the whole time. even though we were looking at different things, learn being, you know, the diaspora. she was tenacious and wanted to do the job. because it came across, right. those a few other things. you have to be optimistic that you can make change and be reallying to work hard. the changes that are really worthwhile, are hard to get to. >> yeah. it just want to add. i know we have to wrap it up, i see your communications person. i just want to add that you also -- i think it is important that you are really prepared to make the hard decisions. and at the end of the day, when

you make that, is the right decision, not for your political career, is it the right decision for the people you represented. never lose sight of that. >> yeah. >> there were a lot of things that i supported that no other candidates supported when i ran for mayor. and people were trying to tell me to change my position. i said but that's not fair to the public. they need to know who i am as a person and the kinds of decisions that i'm going to make. and that's what's so critical. don't change who you are to fit into it. that's where sometimes people go wrong because of what they see in the political climate. >> yeah. totally agree. because ultimately something has to ground you, right. the things that we talked about, about the things that motivate us to do good, if you keep on changing what that is, i'm not sure you industrial a direction any more, right. >> totally. >> i really enjoyed our conversation. >> thank you. >> it's been a lot of fun

chatting with you. and really just kind of -- i think it offered people a really unique look into how you think about things and, you know, i think it's a great opportunity to just highlight, you know, an amazing job you're doing. thank you for all of your leadership, especially during a hard time and for joining us. and with that i'm going to turn it over to vivian so that she can help us wrap up. >> thank you, madam mayor. thank you, madam assessor, for such a great conversation. i really hate to interrupt and come in and end it. it was such a great conversation for all of your stories and sharing your thoughts and the passion behind running for offices. those are really great lessons for us to learn. so at this point i also want to just quickly go into our t-our w challenge 2020. as you may all know, that ever since the w challenge has launched, we have been creating a new challenge every year to uplift women. also trying to encourage more women to vote, especially for this upcoming election, it's so

important for all of us. we're going to be running a ten-week social media campaign starting from today and all the way up to the election day. we have 100 women from the past century that we have selected. they are local, they are great. they've been part of all of the suffrage movement, as well as other social justice movements as well. so we encourage everyone to go on our website. i'm going to be quickly going into it, sharing it on our screen right here. if you go to that home page, all you need to do is to click on the 100 years of women leaders here. then you can read about the details of our campaign. but basically you just need to select two to three women each week and feature on your preferred social media platforms, #wchallenge and encourage more women to do that. so we're hoping that by uplifting these stories, we are able to encourage more women to

vote and take leadership. just in honor of all of these women that were before us and all that they have done to grant the right that we have today. so thank you so much for everyone who is joining us. we are inviting our partners as well, alison go, president of the league of women voters san francisco here to give us the final remarks to end today's celebration. thank you. alison, the stage is yours. >> thanks. thank you for having me today. i am so touched and really energized to hear the stories and experiences of madam assessor and mayor breed. you know, both as a young woman and an immigrant, really thank you for really your leadership in sharing these moments with us. thank you for everybody who helped plan this amazing event today. i know normally we would be on the steps of city hall. this is pretty great to hear everyone's stories. i can feel the energy throughout san francisco and a huge thank you to our volunteers kathy bar,

who really helped to put this together, on behalf of the league as well. my name is alison go. i'm the president of the league of women voters of san francisco. we're a nonpartisan, volunteer-run organization focused on non-partisan voter education and advocacy efforts here in san francisco. you know, this election is unlike any election before and unprecedented challenges. every single time we hear this is the most important election yet. actually it's true this time. and with covid-19, the state of california has naile -- mailed y single voter a battle. this is really, really great. many of our fellow san franciscans may not be used to the voting process and there's a lot of misinformation out there on how to get the ballot, how to transmit the ballot and election security. first step, making sure you're registered to vote. if you're already registered, you'll automatically receive your ballot during the first two weeks of october.

and if you're not registered or if you've moved recently or maybe changed your name, you need to re-register. remember that the voter registration deadline is octobe. you can register to vote or re-register on our website at. wehavelinkstoallofthesethings. and then again if if you're not sure of the voter status and you want to double check sometimes, you can double check the voter registration online, same site. you can check what address they have on file to make sure you get your ballot on time. if all of this seems like a lot to remember, go to lwvsf.org and help make your plan to vote, whether it's mailing your ballot in, dropping it off downtown at the auditorium or even dropping it off at your local polling location, just make sure that

your vote is counted this november. the league also puts out a lot of non-partisan voting material. for example, our proand cons guide offers an eas easy to read ballot measure. the guide is budge -- put togetn many languages to reflect the community in san francisco. next month we're hosting candidate forums for several of the board of supervisors races. specifically district 1, 7, and 11. these are free, they're going to be open for the public. we will broadcast these over zoom and we'll post them afterwards on our youtube page and they'll be broadcast over at sfgovtv.org. thanks to our partnership with them. and guess what, these with always be found on our website on the vote page. the page will be updated throughout the fall, as more of our materials come out. there will be a really great

one-stop portal for all of this information. so thank you for having me. these next nine weeks, let's get our friends, family, neighbors, colleagues to commit to vote. and make sure that they have a plan to vote, whether it's in-person or with the mail-in ballot. please go to wchallenge.org, especially the women here today. thank you for having me and please stay up to date on everything the league is doing. you can follow us on facebook or on twitter. or whic by visiting us on the website. >> i just saw in chat we have a series of events coming up also. 5:00 today i believe the league is having a partnership with the mechanics library and also talking about the suffrage movement and tomorrow in partnership with the public library, the neighborhood history project is also having a presentation about the first

suffrage march that is happening and was led by a san franciscan from glen park. so stay tuned. you can also visit wchallenge.org under events to check out those activities that are ongoing. so thank you again for everyone. this concludes our virtual celebration of women's equality day 2020 today. thank you very much.

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.

welcome, city attorney herrera. >> good morning. thank you to mayor breed, chief scott, supervisors peskin and haney for joining me this morning to highlight our collective commitment to combating an all too familiar

problem. open air drug dealing in the tenderloin. we're all created to solutions to make sure we combat this epidemic that is taking control of the tenderloin neighborhood. this morning, my office sued 28 known drug dealers, file. they do not live in the tenderloin, but sell deadly drugs there. the drugs that are fueling the drug crisis in our streets. this is to stop the brazen drug-dealing that has plagued this neighborhood. last year alone 441 people died from drug overdoses in the city and the tenderloin had the highest overdose mortality rate of any neighborhood in the city. enough is enough. these injunctions are carefully crafted to simultaneously

safeguard a defendant's due process while targeting with precision, the problem of drug dealers coming from outside the area to prey on tenderloin residents, housed and unhoused. this prevents the 28 named defendants from entering the tenderloin and part of the adjacent south of market neighborhood. roughly from van ness to ellis and geary to mission. the tenderloin would become a protected zone and these defendants, none of whom live in the tenderloin, would be allowed to go there unless they had a lawful legitimate reason to be there. we're focused on the predatory repeat dealers selling the most dangerous drugs, including those leading to the most deaths. we have rigorous criteria. he or she was arrested at least twice for drug sales or possession of drugs for the purpose of sales in the

tenderloin in the past year and a half. one of those arrests must have been in the last nine months. both of the arrests must have led to either criminal charges by the district attorney or a motion to revoke probation. the drugs involved were fentanyl, heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine. and the defendant is not a tenderloin resident. has been given the opportunity to present their defense in court at a hearing and the court finds there is sufficient evidence to warrant the injunction. in other words, an injunction is issued if the need for it is proven in a court of law. demographics or group affiliations were not considered when putting together these lawsuits. violations of the injunctions will have civil and criminal consequences. violations carry civil penalties of up to $6,000 per violation.

perhaps just as important, violations can also be pursued as misdemeanor crimes and subject to the defendant's immediate arrest. an arrest leads to the search and confiscation of drugs or contraband a person has in his or her possession. these actions are aimed slowly at criminals coming to prey on the people of the tenderloin. we know who the predators are and we will not allow them to victimize tenderloin residents. our message to these dealers is simple. if you come to the tenderloin, you'll be arrested and your drugs will be confiscated. this is not a silver bullet. more needs to be done, including drug treatment options, expanded mental health and a focus on major narcotics suppliers, but this gives one more tool to the law enforcement to help keep the tenderloin residents safe.

we need to stop this neighborhood from being used as the open air drug market. our goal is to keep the dealers out of the tenderloin. the kids, the parents, the seniors, the workers, the business owners of this neighborhood have suffered enough and deserve nothing less. the tenderloin has the highest concentration of children in the city. it also has the highest number of overdose deaths and that is not acceptable. once the pandemic improves, the kids of the pandemic deserve to be able to go to the school, playground, go see a friend without being caught in the middle of a drug deal or a person overdosing on the sidewalk. this won't solve the problem, but it's a step work taking. i hadn't to thank the hard-working men and women in the san francisco police department.

their diligence laid the ground work to put together this creative approach to public safety. i want to thank the team in my office that worked hard to come up with a way that will deal with a longstanding problem. i also want to thank our mayor for her tremendous support and leadership during this incredibly challenging time for our city, as well as supervisors peskin and haney, for their commitment to combating this problem. with that, i would like to introduce our mayor, london breed. >> mayor breed: good morning, everyone. thank you, all, so much for being here today. i want to begin by thanking dennis has rare kerrera and the attorney office to deal with one of the biggest challenges in the

tenderloin community. not so long ago we set down a path to address what we saw as a significant increase in homelessness and tent encampments in the t.l. and we made a lot of progress. over 400 tents removed with over 600 people. we're now down to less than 30 tents. and we drive around the tenderloin, we walk around the tenderloin, and you would think that nothing has ever happened there. that no progress has been made. you see hundreds of people on blocks throughout the t.l. who are dealing drugs openly, in broad daylight. you see people pushing strollers, mothers, who have to go out on the streets to go around the drug dealing and the drug using and the challenges that exist there. i grew up in this city. i grew up not too far from the

tenderloin in the western edition. and the tenderloin has always had its challenges, but it has never been worse. it has never been worse. and we can't do this work alone. we need to make sure that, yes, we address the challenges that exist with people who struggle with addiction. this is why i'm fighting so hard to get safe injection sites open. why i'm fighting to get expanded mental health support, because those of you who have family members who suffer with addicti addiction, you know how challenging it is to get them on the right path. we have to do more as a city to provide alternatives. and then we know the challenges that exist. the people who are being trafficked to sell drugs on our streets from other countries. the folks who are coming from

other bay area cities because they know san francisco is a place where they can make a lot of money. san francisco has become the place to go to sell drugs. it is known widely. and that has got to stop, because there has to be consequences. look, i understand there might be financial challenges, but the fact is, we can't tolerate what we see happening in the tenderloin or any other neighborhood in our city. people have got to be held accountable for the destruction they are causing to these communities. and when we talk about destruction, we're talking about the people who are dying in record numbers from drug overdoses right in the tenderloin. this is a commonsense solution to a very, very complex problem. and i really want to, again,

express my appreciation to our city attorney, dennis herrera, for not only putting together a unique plan, but for caring about this issue in the first place. and i want to thank him for working with the san francisco police department to actually use data to inform this decision. we know that there is a lot of work to do. and we can't continue to let the tenderloin be the breeding ground for all that is problematic and challenging in our city. it's going to take helping with homelessness. it's going to take drug treatment. it's going to take supporting low-income families and people who live in that community. and, yes, it's going to take holding the people who are holding this community hostage with the rampant drug-dealing that is completely devastated this neighborhood. we have to do better and we will

do better. this is a step in the right direction. and i'm looking forward to seeing the results of this work. and i want to thank all those who have been involved and supportive of this issue. and we have got to get the job done and that's what this is about. with that, i want to introduce the police chief of san francisco, chief scott. >> good morning. thank you, mayor breed. first, i want to start off by thanking our mayor london breed for her relentless leadership when it comes to this issue. as the mayor stated, this problem is pervasive and i also want to thank our city attorney dennis herrera for an innovative strategy that really gives us a much better opportunity to turn

the corner on the drug dealing in the tenderloin. i would like to thank supervisors peskin and haney for their support and leadership on this issue. you'll hear from them as well in a second. the men and women of the san francisco police department and those say sign -- assigned to the tenderloin, have been working very, very hard to address the rampant drug-dealing in the tenderloin. during a recent three-month operation to focus on narcotics dealers, the tenderloin officers and the narcotics detail officers arrested over 267 individuals for drug sales. 267. and although that number may sound high, it's just a drop in the bucket. our officers seized over $144,000 in u.s. currency and a combination of over 7,000 grams of cocaine, methamphetamine,

heroin, fentanyl and other drugs. 210 of those arrests had prior arrests in san francisco and 55 of the 267 arrests were in violation of court-issued stay away orders where they were prohibited from the area where they were selling drugs. 58 of those arrested live outside of the city of san francisco. now our efforts to combine or combat narc sales in the tenderloin are ongoing as of today. and today's announcement of injunctions filed by our city attorney will help us address the concerns and complaints of tenderloin residents and merchants. and those complaints come pouring in daily. these dealers prey on a vulnerable population and

contribute to the drug degradation of the quality of life who work and live in the tenderloin. these injunctions give law enforcement officers another tool in our tool kit. violators face up to a $6,000 fine, misdemeanor arrest and officers can potentially seize money and drugs along with other contraband. with the combined efforts in the drug treatment and other public health strategies, we hope to have a positive effect on the quality of life in the tenderloin area. as was stated by the mayor -- i can't emphasize this enough -- we have to do more, we have do better and we will do better. we cannot and will not further tolerate drug dealers coming into the tenderloin from wherever they're coming from throughout the bay area to ruin

our community. the injunctions will make coming back to the tenderloin have more serious consequences. and, drug dealers, if you're out there watching this news conference, know that your actions will not and cannot be tolerated any longer in the city and county of san francisco. with that, i'd like to turn the mic over to supervisor aaron peskin. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: chief, thank you, city attorney herrera, mayor breed, for what is truly a creative solution. this is not a silver bullet. it must be coupled with mental health services, with drug treatment, with the addition of sorely needed affordable housing in and around the tenderloin. a year ago supervisor haney and i went to a meeting together just up the street in the

tenderloin wherein we witnessed an individual who was literally dying of a fentanyl overdose. we were able to locate some narcan and that individual is alive today, but that should not be happening on our streets. this is not only a creative solution, but it is one where city attorney herrera has crafted it very carefully in conjunction with my office. has done so in a way that honors the civil rights of individuals in our community. it is structured fairly and will be supported by the board of supervisors. i want to thank the city attorney. we're going to make a difference in the tenderloin. and if this works, this is a model that be exported to other parts of san francisco because when you look at those 441 deaths, it is true a disproportionate number of them are in the tenderloin, but those individuals who are preying on

weak individuals in our community are not just operating in the tenderloin. and if this is a success, i look forward to working with the city attorney office, the chief of police and mayor to export this model to the rest of the city and county of san francisco. we are available for questions and comments. thank you, supervisor peskin. we'll begin with the q&a portion with city attorney herrera. the first set of questions are from kate wolf. the aclu and other community groups have said injunctions like gang injunctions used in the past don't address root

problems and violate people's civil liberties. can you address how these injunctions will be different from those? >> one thing you heard uniformly, both from the mayor, from supervisor peskin and from the chief of police, this is part of a -- has to be part of a comprehensive approach that focuses on drug rehab, mental health and the like. so there is no doubt that we need to also get the root causes which are contributing to our problem. however, this is different from gang injunctions. this is not based on affiliation or status, it is based on going after individuals who have been known to engage in criminal conduct that has been charged by the district attorney and arrests by the police department for known activity that has occurred in the tenderloin. the fact of the matter is, we carefully crafted this to make sure it was based on conduct, not on status or affiliation.

and there is also the opportunity for if people have a legitimate reason to be in the 50-square block area, the protected zone, courts, city hall, have all been exempted from the limitation of movement. so this is very different from gang injunctions. i think it is something people need to be aware of. this is based on conduct, not status. and demonstrable conduct from individuals who don't even live in the tenderloin and 27 of the 28 don't even live in the city and county of san francisco. >> thank you, city attorney. the next question is from joe with bay city news. why would civil injunctions be used instead of criminal actions if the city knows who the dealers are? >> it's another tool in the tool kit. certainly, there are criminal penalties that can accrue, but the fact of the matter is, if

someone is going to suffer a financial penalty of a significant dollar amount, that is something that dissuades individuals from engaging. with respect to these injunctions, you have two tools, a criminal sanction as well as a civil sanction which did not occur previously. this encompasses the whole tenderloin, where something that the chief referred to earlier, the stay-away orders in other criminal cases were designed to be with respect to one particular corner or block. it was not nearly as comprehensive as what we're seeking here today. >> thank you, city attorney. that concludes today's press conference. thank you, everyone, for joining us.

>> 5, 4, 3, 2 , 1. cut. >> we are here to celebrate the opening of this community garden. a place that used to look a lot darker and today is sun is shining and it's beautiful and it's been completely redone and been a gathering place for this community. >> i have been waiting for

this garden for 3 decades. that is not a joke. i live in an apartment building three floors up and i have potted plants and have dreamt the whole time i have lived there to have some ability to build this dirt. >> let me tell you handout you -- how to build a community garden. you start with a really good idea and add community support from echo media and levis and take management and water and sun and this is what we have. this is great. it's about environment and stewardship. it's also for the -- we implemented several practices

in our successes of the site. that is made up of the pockets like wool but they are made of recycled plastic bottles. i don't know how they do it. >> there is acres and acres of parkland throughout golden gate park, but not necessarily through golden community garden. we have it right in the middle of

>> >> my name is sofy constantineo and a documentary film maker and cinema togfer, producer and director. it is inevable you want your movie to get out and realize yoi need to be a commune tee organizer to get people together to see the story you will tell [inaudible] pretty rich and interesting. in what we do as film makers is try to tell the best story possible so i think that is where i [inaudible] learn everything.

lighting and cinematography. i got jobs of stage manger at some place and projectionist. i kind of mixed and matched as i went and kept refining i feel like it isn't just about making things that are beautiful and appealing and rich and [inaudible] the way that the films [inaudible] it has to tell a story. >> my name is sumell [inaudible] free lance multimedia produce. my project is [inaudible] mostly oof street photographry with a few portraits. i'm going arounds san francisco and capturing the [inaudible] as we started to do this project i was reading about the decline of african american population in san francisco and i wondered where the remaining population was and what they were doing and how life was for them.

>> i wasn't very inspired by school, i wasn't very inspired by continuing to read and write and go to class. i watched a lot of movies and saw a lot of [inaudible] i said that is what i want to do. i had this very feminist [inaudible] and i felt like there was not enough of a womans vision on the stuff that we see, the movies that we make and the beginning of the [inaudible] the way we look at women and the roles women take in the stories being tolds. they felt [inaudible] they did want feel complex. i was like, i have a different frame i like to see the world shaped by.

>> my grandsmother was a teacher and taught special education for 40 years in los angeles and when i was growing up she inspired me to record everything. we recorded our conversations, we recorded the [inaudible] we recorded everything to cassette players. learning multimedia skills, from the other crossover employment opportunities for young people. someone who grew up in la rks san francisco feels like a small town. i lived in western addition and i was looking for someone to cut my hair, i found [inaudible] he seemed like a very interesting guy and grew up in the neighborhood and had a lot to say about something that was foreign to me. that local perspective and so important to me because i think as someone who isn't from here, knowing that history allows

me to be more engaging in the community i live in and want the same for others. i want people to move into a new neighborhood to know who was there before and businesses and what cultural and [inaudible] shape what we see today. >> my guiding principles have been, if you stick to something long enough and know what it is and go for it you will get there. [inaudible] where i want to go, what i want to do and it is totally possible so, the impossible is you know, is not something to listen to.

>> as a friendyou can submit u questions by chat only. please submit your questions as clearly as possible and include your name and outlet. we will do our best to receive questions up until the q&a begins. remaining questions can be sent to des@sfgov.org. and here is the mayor, london

breed. >> >> the hon. london breed: good afternoon, everyone. today, i'm joined by community organizations that have always been amazing partners with the city and have really stepped up during covid-19 for our community. i was out with the latino task force earlier this week to distribute p.p.e. for all businesses, and they are doing amazing work organizing and fighting for resources for the community. the sisters for perpetual indulgence are always at the forefront for keeping the sister of lgbtq healthy, always while having a little -- okay, a lot of fun. and the african american arts

and cultural district has been working hard to make sure the community members know where they can go for support, from sharing information about testing, business grants and loans, and working to empower youth in the bayview, and opportunities for all has helped distribute books, activity kits, and technology that students need to be successful this school year, and their terms and fellows have repaired with community engagement and outreach throughout the city. so since the start of this global pandemic, we have always heard and received advice about how we can protect ourselves and others and slow the spread of the virus. overtime, as our understanding of the virus has evolved, some of that guidance has changed, like face coverings, while other guidance shall stayed consistent, like frequent hand

washing. you can't walk down the street, go to the grocery store, listen to music our browse social media without someone telling you to stay 6 feet apart, wear your mask, and wash your hands. since january, our city has launched multilingual campaigns on t.v., radio, social media, newspapers, bus shelters, and bill boards. a team of disaster service workers han been on the streets daily, blanketing our city with posters, multilingual posters and flyers. since january, this team has distributed more than 3 million flyers. posters, and fact sheets across the city. you can't turn anywhere in the city of without seeing our blue

and yellow signs. this provides good information, and many people are listening. however, as we've stretched into our seventh month of this pandemix, we are looking for new ways to capture people's attention to sustain the good work of our residents and 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.

>> working with kids, they keep you young. they keep you on your tones -- on your toes. >> teaching them, at the same time, us learning from them, everything is fulfilling. >> ready? go. [♪] >> we really wanted to find a way to support women entrepreneurs in particular in san francisco. it was very important for the mayor, as well as the safety support the dreams that people want to realize, and provide them with an opportunity to receive funding to support improvements for their business so they could grow and thrive in their neighborhoods and in their industry. >> three, two, one! >> because i am one of the

consultants for two nonprofits here for entrepreneurship, i knew about the grand through the renaissance entrepreneur center, and through the small business development center. i thought they were going to be perfect candidate because of their strong values in the community. they really give back to the neighborhood. they are from this neighborhood, and they care about the kids in the community here. >> when molly -- molly first told us about the grant because she works with small businesses. she has been a tremendous help for us here. she brought us to the attention of the grand just because a lot of things here were outdated, and need to be up-to-date and redone totally. >> hands in front. recite the creed. >> my oldest is jt, he is seven, and my youngest is ryan, he is almost six. it instills discipline and the boys, but they show a lot of care. we think it is great.

the moves are fantastic. the women both are great teachers. >> what is the next one? >> my son goes to fd k. he has been attending for about two years now. they also have a summer program, and last summer was our first year participating in it. they took the kids everywhere around san francisco. this year, owner talking about placing them in summer camps, all he wanted to do was spend the entire summer with them. >> he has strong women in his life, so he really appreciates it. i think that carries through and i appreciate the fact that there are more strong women in the world like that. >> i met d'andrea 25 years ago, and we met through our interest in karate. our professor started on cortland years ago, so we grew

up here at this location, we out -- he outgrew the space and he moved ten years later. he decided to reopen this location after he moved. initially, i came back to say, hey, because it might have been 15 years since i even put on a uniform. my business partner was here basically by herself, and the person she was supposed to run the studio with said great, you are here, i started new -- nursing school so you can take over. and she said wait, that is not what i am here for i was by myself before -- for a month before she came through. she was technically here as a secretary, but we insisted, just put on the uniform, and help her teach. i was struggling a little bit. and she has been here. one thing led to another and now we are co-owners. you think a lot more about safety after having children and i wanted to not live in fear so much, and so i just took advantage of the opportunity, and i found it very powerful to

hit something, to get some relief, but also having the knowledge one you might be in a situation of how to take care of yourself. >> the self-defence class is a new thing that we are doing. we started with a group of women last year as a trial run to see how it felt. there's a difference between self-defence and doing a karate class. we didn't want them to do an actual karate class. we wanted to learn the fundamentals of how to defend yourself versus, you know, going through all the forms and techniques that we teaching a karate class and how to break that down. then i was approached by my old high school. one -- once a semester, the kids get to pick an extra curricular activity to take outside of the school walls. my old biology teacher is now the principle. she approached us into doing a

self-defence class. the girls have been really proactive and really sweet. they step out of of the comfort zone, but they have been willing to step out and that hasn't been any pushback. it is really great. >> it is respect. you have to learn it. when we first came in, they knew us as those girls. they didn't know who we were. finally, we came enough for them to realize, okay, they are in the business now. it took a while for us to gain that respect from our peers, our male peers. >> since receiving the grant, it has ignited us even more, and put a fire underneath our butts even more. >> we were doing our summer camp and we are in a movie theatre, and we just finished watching a film and she stepped out to receive a phone call. she came in and she screamed, hey, we got the grant. and i said what? >> martial arts is a passion for us. it is passion driven. there are days where we are dead tired and the kids come and they

have the biggest smiles on their faces and it is contagious. >> we have been operating this program for a little over a year all women entrepreneurs. it is an extraordinary benefit for us. we have had the mayor's office investing in our program so we can continue doing this work. it has been so impactful across a diversity of communities throughout the city. >> we hope that we are making some type of impact in these kids' lives outside of just learning karate. having self-confidence, having discipline, learning to know when it's okay to stand up for yourself versus you just being a bully in school. these are the values we want the kids to take away from this. not just, i learned how to kick and i learned how to punch. we want the kids to have more values when they walk outside of these doors. [♪]>> i'm district two supervise

leadership of the department of

public health flattened the curve in san francisco. the steps we have taken together have saved lives. one of the reasons the city acted so quickly so early was to not overburden our health care systems. as the state of california and bay area counties have begun to gradually reopen, we are seeing some troubling signs. we have a seven day average of ninety eight new cases per day. our demand for acute care for covid positive patients has goan

each week. today dr. and i are announcing the establishment of our first low acuity medical site. located a 163. it will open with twenty patients. it's not expected to treat covid positive patients. when i starred this i facility i was truly impressed at the first rate medical facility.

the city's ability to confront covid 19 depends on our ability to care for those with all manner of conditions. sprained angels to heart attacks. other ailments are not stopping just because of the pandemic. opening this facility will shore up our ability for the hospitals to treat covid 19.

it is not a drop in acute care site testing location or shelter. please do not visit this location if you are seeking any of those services sm as the district two supervisor i would be remiss to not note the response to local emergencies. we're an incredible resource and i'm grateful for the partnership with press i hapartnershipwith.a

>> good mark morning. i'm director of health. thank you for your support during this unprecedented time. today like if everyday, i check the number of patient patients h covid 19. unfortunately that number is higher than ever before and continues to climb. that number dropped to just 26 patients six weeks ago. today, it's one hundred and seven.

of those one quarter are very sick and in intensive care. across the city we have more than six thousand cases of covid 19. and look, it took us thirty eight days to go from two thousand to three thousand cases. of half as long to go from three thousand to four thousand. in just ten days we went from five thousand to six thousand cases of covid 19. let me be clear, we are in a major surge of covid 19. the virus is moving fast and more people are getting seriously ill. if things continue, we estimate we'll have more than 750 san

franciscans in the hospital by october. plausible worst case scenarios put us at twenty four hundred hospitalizations and eighteen hundred deaths. these scenarios unfortunately become more likely as each day goes by with the current trend. today, fortunately all patients are getting world class treatment from the most caring professionals sm we wisals. we still have capacity to care for patients. it is good news that our health

care system has not yet been overwhelmed as we saw in new york. many are contributing to that by staying home, avoiding gathering, covering your faces when go ting out, washing your hands sm you are preventing more illness and spread and keep our health care system functioning. our city must prepare for this surge. how many people-that puts us in the red zone of one of our key

health indicators. we've been there for over a month. it's extremely sobering that we reached this point. it's extremely concerning. our reopening remains on pause. the main reason we joined the watch list was because of our rapidly growing rates. our goal is to keep the increase to less than 10%. since january the health department has been planning and preparing for covid 19. we built up the capacity of our health care system. we added testing sites a sites.

today supervisor stephanie announced, we're creating a care site that we hope we will not need. it's located in the presidio but will serve all san franciscans. it will serve patients who no longer need acute care but are not ready to go home. they would have medical medical

supervision and care from staff. i hope this day won't come. we hope our hospitals will never need to open the relief that this site represents. that depends on you. all of us. please. please wear a mask. it's really not that hard. i want to see san francisco open schools instead of medical sites. we want to see houses of worship open their doors. sit in their favorite barbers chair. hug our grand children again. we can make that happen. we still have time to turn this

around. if we want those things we can't take chances and hope this virus is not as infectious as the data and facts tell us it is. everyone needs to behave as though each of us has covid 19. think about that. we know half as many doap don'te symptoms at some period. be careful. every time you wear a mask, socially distance. wash your hands. avoid gatherings.

you're moving closer to the day we can live more like we did before march. everyday you take a risk you move us farther away from that day. we can prove testimon works aga. covering our faces may be the most important. on friday san francisco updated the orders. everyone over the age of ten should wear a face covering. if you're alone in a space that people might use later, cover

your face. if you're handling food for other face, cover your face. basically, cover your face. if you're passing someone on the sidewalk, your face must be covered. other things we must do. washing our hand hands, stayingx feet apart. if you are meeting. meet out side if you can. of course, please you must stay home if you can. short of the vaccine or cure of covid 19 these are the most effective interventions that we have available to us. they work if we take them up and practice these behaviors everyday.

you can do this. it's up to us to flatten the curve again. thank you. >> thank you doctor and thank you supervisor stephanie for your time. we'll begin the q and a portion of this meeting. we have a variety of questions for dr. co lfax. the first question is from the associated press. we haven't seen the devastation in the homeless communities. why do you think that is? >> i think it's a number of factors that so far have helped us avoid worse case scenarios

with people experiencing homelessness, we took action early on with our partners and support of housing and with our community seven is agency part mere ins. ensuring that best practices were rapidly a applied. people had the materials necessary to reduce the spread. other key interventions that we did is make available hundreds of hotel rooms so people experiencing c homelessness were able to shelter in place. over thirty five hundred people have been placed in those hotel rooms. we've done a lot of out reach

work on the street. providing hygiene. we had an intense clinical team that provided health care for people before the pandemic. this team has been working around the clocke clock to ensue people get the best care. it's a variety of actions that we've taken to avoid some of the outcomes we've seen in other jurisdictions. >> thank you, doctor. the next set of questions are from ab c seven. face shields should be worn in

addition to face masks. do you for se for see this beina requirement. >> the most important thing is that we ensure in public that everyone is wearing a face covering if they are over ten years of age. we've been very clear that protecting our health care workers is key. >> how close is san francisco to getting off the watch list? >> we continue to see increases above the 50% hospitalization rates. i can't speculate on how soon. we are in a major surge here and

anticipating on average seven hundred fifty in the hospital by october. if we're on and off the watch list what is key is we work to flatten the curve and recommit ourselves. we did it before and we can do it again. it's going to take the whole community to make this work. >> are social gatherings the major reason for the surge. >> it's a major ko contributor. people should not be using

testing to determine whether they should gather. if someone is infected, the virus is extremely contagious. they are contributing to this increase. if you go to a gathering and somebody has the virus and is going to transmit it. we have to understand that with more virus in the community you saw how quickly we went from four thousand to five thousand tcases. please, please don't gather. >> we have a handful of

questions about san francisco issuing fines on people who don't wear masks in public. >> we've been emphasizing the needs of these masks and the social distancing as we continue to emif i if emphasize. we're schorrin exploring how wey increase enforcement particularly in situations where requirements that are very clear are not being followed. this would be enforced following

up with businesses an other situations where people gather. we're working with communities for voluntary compliance. we're looking at increasing enforcement. in regards to the press ci the . who is paying for it and who will staff it? >> the city is funding the site. it will be staff by health

departments and u c sf providers. we'll take care of 93 patients. m>> what has it historically ben used for and is it prepared to accept patients. >> it will depend on the capacity of our hospitalization across the city. if there's a need to move people out of the hospital quickly and make room for covid 19 patients. i can't speculate on the past

use of the site. >> thank you for your time today that conclawed concludes the prs conference. for additional questions please e-mail. >> look at that beautiful jellyfish. the way to speak to students and motivate them to take action, to save the planet, they do, they care and my job is to speak to

them in a way that they can understand that touches their heart and makes them feel powerful with simple actions to take every day. ♪ ♪ >> i was born and raised in the desert of palm springs, california. my dad was the rabbi in the community there. what i got from watching my father on stage talking to the community was learning how to be in the public. and learning how to do public speaking and i remember the first time i got up to give my first school assembly, i felt my dad over my shoulder saying pause for drama, deliver your words. when i was a kid, i wanted to be

a teacher. and then when i got into high school, i decided i wanted to get into advertising and do graphic art and taglines and stuff like that. by the time i was in college, i decided i wanted to be a decorator. but as i did more work, i realized working my way up meant a lot of physical labor. i only had so much energy to work with for the rest of my life and i could use that energy towards making a lot of money, helping someone else make a lot of money or doing something meaningful. i found the nonprofit working to save the rainforest was looking for volunteers. i went, volunteered and my life changed. suddenly everything i was doing had meaning. stuffing envelopes had meaning, faxing out requests had meaning. i eventually moved up to san francisco to work out of the office here, given a lot of assembly through los angeles

county and then came up here and doing assemblies to kids about rainforest. one of my jobs was to teach about recycle, teaching students to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, i'm teaching them they have the power, and that motivates them. it was satisfying for me to work with for the department of environment to create a message that gets to the heart of the issue. the san francisco department of environment is the only agency that has a full time educational team, we go into the schools to help teach children how to protect nature and the environment. we realized we needed animal mascot to spark excitement with the students. the city during the gold rush days, the phoenix became part of the city feel and i love the

symbolism of the phoenix, about transformation and the message that the theme of the phoenix provides, we all have the power to transform our world for the better. we have to provide teachers with curriculum online, our curriculum is in two different languages and whether it's lesson plans or student fact sheets, teachers can use them and we've had great feedback. we have helped public and private schools in san francisco increase their waste use and students are working hard to sort waste at the end of the lunch and understand the power of reusing, reducing, recycling and composting. >> great job. >> i've been with the department for 15 years and an environmental educator for more

than 23 years and i'm grateful for the work that i get to do, especially on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. i try to use my voice as intentionally as possible to suppo support, i think of my grandmother who had a positive attitude and looked at things positively. try to do that as well in my work and with my words to be an uplifting force for myself and others. think of entering the job force as a treasure hunt. you can only go to your next clue and more will be revealed. follow your instincts, listen to your gut, follow your heart, do what makes you happy and pragmatic and see where it takes you and get to the next place. trust if you want to do good in this world, thattttttttttttttttt