that. >> ultimately it depends on what the customer wants. sometimes they just want to be understated or blend in and other times they let me decide and then all the doors are open and they want me to create. they hire me to do something beautiful and i do. and that's when work is really fun. i get to be creative and express what i want. paint a really happy house or something elegant or dignified. >> it's really cool to watch what she does. not only that, coming up as a woman, you know what i mean, and we're going back to the 80s with it. where the world wasn't so liberal. it was tough, especially being lgbtq, right, she had a lot of friction amongst trades and a lot of people weren't nice to her, a lot of people didn't give her her due respect. and one of the things amazing

about nita, she would never quit. >> after you prove yourself, which i have done, i don't face that obstacle as much anymore. i'd like to be a mentor to other women also. i have always wanted to do that. they may not want to go to school but there's other options. there's trades. i encourage women to apply for my company, i'd be willing to train and happy to do that. there's a shortage of other women painters. for any women who want to get into a trade or painting career, just start with an apprenticeship or if you want to do your own business, you have to get involved and find a mentor and surround yourself with other people that are going to encourage you to move forward and inspire you and support you and you can't give up. >> we've had a lot of history,

nita and i. we've been friends and we have been enemies and we've had conflicts and we always gravitate towards each other with a sense of loyalty that maybe family would have. we just care about each other. >> many of the street corners in all the districts in san francisco, there will be a painting job i have completed and it will be a beautiful paint job. it will be smooth and gold leaf and just wow. and you can't put it down. when i first started, it was hard to get employees to listen to me and go along -- but now, i have a lot of respect.

>> the hon. london breed: hi, everybody. i'm san francisco mayor london breed, and i want to thank everybody for joining us in the bayview-hunters point community. thank you for joining us here in partnership with sutter health. we are so excited to be here. what's been really amazing about this process since covid

hit our city is what we noticed in terms of who was being infected the most based on the data from our testing. it was mostly people in neighborhoods like the bayview-hunters point, in the o.m.i., in visitacion valley, in the mission, and what we learned from testing is that as we start to implement the process for the vaccine, we couldn't just open megasites at moscone and city college and places that were probably easier for people to drive to. people in the bayview-hunters point community needed us to be here where they are. this is not the first site in the bayview-hunters point. the southeast health facility has been open to people in the 94124 zip code, and they have taken people as they come because we know that it has

been so hard for so many of our seniors in particular to make appointments either on the phone or on-line. we've had a site open in the western addition, maxine hall. we opened up a pop-up site in the mission specifically, and we have a site in chinatown, as well. we know that there's been difficulties all over the state with seniors accessing on-line services and phone services to make an appointment. you've seen all the stories. so that's why, in the neighborhoods hardest hit, we opened facilities immediately, and because we embedded from day one an equity team in our covid response, we have been in these communities with a number of people getting folks to these locations to be vaccinated, and i really, really want to thank mary ellen

carroll who has led this effort from the very beginning at covid command, making sure that we're setting up testing sites from scratch, setting up vaccination sites from scratch. and the way we're able to do this is with the president of the board of supervisors, shamann walton. this has really been a team effort to get this done, and we are also able to get it done because we have health care providers like sutter who are not only going to be serving patrons at this site, they're going to be serving the san francisco fire department, and i want to thank chief nicholson for being here today. i know we're tired of wearing masks. i don't know what most of the people here today look like. i know we are tired of social distancing and doing all the things that we've had to do since this pandemic began, and

nothing is more important to me than to get the people in this city vaccinated as quickly as possible so that we can reopen our city, so that we can hug our family and friends again, so that we can open our economy and get san franciscans back to work, so that we can open our businesses and see a downtown thriving once again. it's going to take us making sure that we are reaching out to this community and getting them on board with vaccinations. i know that a lot of people are skeptical about vaccines, but you know what? this is how we're going to get back to where we need to be. we have to step out on faith, we have to do what we need to do to get vaccinated and get back to our lives. we want to open the city more than anything else, and i'm looking forward to making sure

that we have the resources and the support that we need, and i want to thank all of you for being with us today, and at the time, i'm going to introduce president of the board of supervisors shamann walton. [applause] >> president walton: thank you so much, mayor breed. first of all, i just want to start off by saying happy black history month, and happy lune -- lunar new year. this is about making communities and equity. as mayor breed stated, it is important that we get as many people here in san francisco vaccinated as soon as possible so that we can stop the spread of this dangerous virus. we know that in the southeast sector of san francisco, we have been disproportionately

affected by the virus, and this is a step to let everyone know that we are concerned about all of our communities here in san francisco. the mayor also stated that we have other sites here in the district, the southeast health clinic, the southeast facilities commission at 1800 oakdale. we also have the bayview child center conducting vaccination sites. we're making sure that everybody has the opportunity to be vaccinated, and that's going to continue. i do want to say thank you to michael janice with the s.f. market for opening this space up to the community. it's very important from the time that we heard we were going to have vaccines that we made sure we had sites in district ten, but also that we had a high volume site in the district. so i want to thank the mayor, i want to thank the department of

public health, i want to thank the department of emergency management, i want to thank sutter, i want to thank everybody for coming together, prioritizing our communities, and making sure that we get everybody vaccinated and get back to a sense of normalcy. thank you for being here today, and thank you so much for the partnership and for everyone coming together to make this happen so quickly in our community. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, president walton. and as many of you hear time and time again, san francisco has been a leader in addressing this pandemic, and we've been a leader because of the department of public health acting swiftly, using data and science to make the really hard decisions that has put san francisco in a position where even though we are the second densest city in the country, we have one of the lowest death

rates in the country. we have saved thousands of lives because we have a department of public health that every other city in this city envies, and now, the leader of the department of public health, dr. grant colfax. [applause] >> well, good morning, everybody, and thank you, mayor breed, and president walton. i'm so excited to join you and our partners from sutter health, the department of emergency management, and the fire department for this preview of our latest high volume vaccination site here at the san francisco market now one of three sites ready to give vaccines and ready to exceed our goals of 10,000 vaccines in arms a day in san francisco. i especially want to thank sutter health without whom this high volume vaccination site would not be possible.

as the mayor noted, with our high vaccination sites at moscone and city college, we made tremendous strides in vaccinating our most vulnerable population: our elders. nearly 65% of older people in san francisco have received the vaccine, and just last week, one-third of that population had received vaccine. we are making great progress, and our progress is contingent on supply. we are looking ahead to february 24 and the state of 1-b, tier two, when this site and others will help us bring the vaccination to health care workers and others, child care workers, emergency services, food and agriculture fields. this supports our dual goals of providing the vaccines quickly and at scale while also focusing particular efforts at

bringing the vaccine to those communities suffering most from covid-19 in san francisco and communities historically underserved by the health care system. the department of public health and our community partners will also continue to vaccinate people through community clinics in the western addition, china down, pay view -- bayview, outer sunset, and potrero, and we are working to expand sites to the excelsior, visitacion valley, and other neighborhoods with high infection rates of covid-19 and limited access to health care services. as of last week at the southeast health center, we have sack seenated nearly 3,000 people from the bayview and visitacion valley neighborhoods, including those 65 and older, and i love this quote from a recent story in the chronicle, which stated

ricky sarley, a 67-year-old security guard who lives in the bayview-hunters point area. he says "i feel a lot better. i'm still getting to wear my mask, but now, i feel a little more comfortable." this is music to my ears, our ears, and we are working to bring more of this peace of mind and protection to our elders in the bayview and the rest of the city. i have to say that despite he's got his first dose of vaccine, he also emphasized he's going to continue to wear the mask, the mask that we know prevents so many covid-19 infections. with our community and health care providers, this has been an integral part of our covid-19 response, and with our pharmacy providers, our reach will be even more widespread in other parts of the city where

their limited resources. we are doing everything in our power to distribute the vaccine quickly to those who need it most, and we're ready to do so now at scale of 10,000 vaccines a day. i want to encourage everyone who is eligible, especially those 65 and older, to get your vaccine. every door in san francisco is the right door. the vaccine is our best weapon against this along, of course with the vaccine, social distancing, and avoiding people gathering outside of your household. now with that, i will turn it over to sutter health. thank you very much. [applause] >> good morning. mayor breed, thank you. thank you, president walton, and dr. colfax. as the mayor mentioned earlier,

san francisco has really been a beacon of best practices when it comes to the pandemic over the past year, and we are so proud at sutter health to be partnering with the city and county of san francisco to standup this mass vaccination clinic. i want to take a moment to thank some key members of our team who helped out with this effort. kate bass, director of operations. jonathan lee, c.e.o., jennifer turnbull and staff. so many people have been working to get this site open, and it is open now. it has also been a joy and pleasure to work with the city staff and the staff here at the s.f. market, and we look forward to that partnership continuing. as others have mentioned, the

vaccine is the pathway out of this epidemic. in sutter health, we have stood up now several mass vaccination clinics in our footprint, and we are ready to do that here today, and we will scale up as vaccine supply allows. here at the s.f. market site, we anticipate being able to vaccinate as many as 10,000 people a day, and we look forward to opening more. already, we are seeing the anticipation and the joy of the -- in the eyes of the patients who have come through this site already. the vaccine will liberate our communities and put us on the pathway out of this pandemic. we know that this community has been hard hit by the virus. sutter health is committed to health equity and ensuring that access to the vaccine is not

determined by income, race, ethnicity, or where you live, and that's in we're here at this site. we're ready to do our part in this partnership to end this pandemic, and we're humbled to serve the bayview-hunters point community. we hope we're welcomed with open arms and bare arms in the community. thank you so much, and it is great to be here today. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you so much. and so i just want to reiterate an important message, that even though this site is one of the larger sites that we've opened, several smaller sites are available, as well. the southeast clinic is a site

that's available to you. you have to live in the 94124 zip code. it's important to make sure that people get vaccinated, so if there's anything you can do for your neighborhoods, your parents, pick them up and bring them to this site. we want to make sure that this is available not just with this site, but other sites that we have available. those sites have been operational even before we opened one of these major sites. with that, let's get vaccinated. we have a limited supply, but we're going to get them out the door as soon as they come in. that's the goal, and for those of you who are wondering, what is it my turn? when is it my turn? just hold on.

we've got the staff, we've got the partnerships with the various hospitals. san francisco is ready, so as soon as we get the vaccines and it's your turn, we'll get you in and we'll get you out. so thank you so much for being here today, and i'm going to open it up for questions.

>> we have private and public gardens throughout the garden tour. all of the gardens are volunteers. the only requirement is you're willing to show your garden for a day. so we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. >> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it

links this neighborhood back to its history. in the early 1800s the portola was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a

fund-raiser. since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here. i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪♪♪]

[♪♪♪] >> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. you can see us on the website