park group, along with -- as well as residents and businesses. and the result of this partnership is a reimagined streetscape, and today, it's more safer, it's more beautiful, and it's more resilient, and i'm honored to be here today with the champions that have made that all happen. and leading that charge is our mayor, mayor london breed, who i would like to welcome here right now. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you so much. i am really excited to be here

downtown in the financial district. it's starting to come alive again, so let's not say that san francisco may come back. san francisco is coming back, and we're coming back stronger than ever and with a vengeance. and the fact is that we know that it's important to make sure that the downtown area, as we move thousands of people every single day in and out of office space, in and out of restaurants, back and forth across the bridge and in san francisco to work, we know how important it is to make sure that our streets are safe. during this pandemic, when we had to close over a year ago, luckily, the ability to allow folks to continue to work in construction, to continue to build housing, to do streetscape programs like this, those things were allowed, and so we want to thank all of the laborers, all of the construction workers, the electricians, and all the people who worked on this

project and got the job done despite working during challenging times. i want to really thank the departments who have been so actively engaged in completing this project. now oftentimes, when we show up to a ribbon cutting, it's probably for something that we can maybe see a little bit taller, like a housing development or some building or some monument, but today, we celebrate the sidewalks, we celebrate the trees, we celebrate the streetscapes, and believe it or not, one of the best things we can do in san francisco that i know most people love is undergrounding utilities, those utility wires that used to be above ground are now underground. the new planters, and the protected bike lanes. we just announced protected bike lanes in soma that will

help make biking in this area safer. so i'm really excited about all that this has done: the new garbage cans, the new benches, the new fixtures. so not only should these things be celebrated, these things are expensive. changing the way our streets are, changing the way our infrastructure are, this saves lives. people need to move around not just on the bus, not just on muni, but on your bikes and by foot and know that you are safe. i'm really excited that we're here today because as people start to return to work, office space can now return back to 25% capacity, and we'll be heading into the yellow in a

couple of weeks, and we're hoping that people will be starting to return to the office. i don't know about you, but i'm ready to return to the office and ready to be around people and start to enjoy the city once again. i think people will appreciate these changes that will make a real difference in people's lives and how they move around the city. i really want to thank each and every one of you for being here today, and more specifically, i want to thank public works for their work and their leadership on this project. i want to thank sfmta for their continued work on this partnership because now, the ramps and the ability to get on muni is going to be more safe, especially for those who have physical disabilities. i want to thank the county transportation authority for their work on this project, the public utilities commission, the hundreds of construction workers and people who helped make this possible, the landscape architects. all of the folks, it really did

take a village. and when we're here today, i don't know about you, but i remember when this was just a street. i remember when none of this was really here, and the sun was barely shining on this particular block. and now, if you look at it, yes, we may be a little bit in the shade, but the sun is shining on second street, people are riding bikes on second street. people are going to be able to come out to this community. thank you so much for being here. and now, i'd like to introduce the supervisor for district 6, supervisor matt haney. [applause] >> supervisor haney: thank you, mayor breed, and thank you for your leadership and your commitment to this project. thank you to the transportation authority, sfmta, the bike coalition and public works, and all of the workers who were a part of getting this done. as mayor breed said, this has

come at a really good time for our city. second street is such a critical thoroughfare for the economic life blood of our city. if you look around here, you see tremendous contributions to jobs, to growth, to prosperity here in san francisco. and one other thing that i also want to add, this is the street that many of us take to the giants games, and in just a couple weeks, we are going to be able to walk on the giants bats for opening day. we are going to have safe ways for people to be able to get to the game, to be able to walk safer, to be able to bike safer, to be able to experience a street that really accesses the potential of what our neighborhoods and our streets should look like. one thing that is true about this area is not only is it an economic engine, it's also a

place where a lot of people live, and one of the things that i heard time and time again from people from soma who live in this neighborhood, what they've told me is that please treat our community like the dense residential neighborhood that it is. that means that we want to be able to walk safely. that means that we want to be able to bike safely. that means we want thriving retail, and all of the things here were designed to get that done. not only the buildings and the people that work here, but for the people that live here. and i want to thank them. when i first got into office as supervisor here, i heard a lot from residents about this project, and it wasn't always positive. it was saying, when is this going to get done? it's creating a lot of noise, it's creating a lot of

challenges. i'm having a hard time getting around. and then, the feedback started to shift. this is great. i like it. this is going to make it safer for all of us. the bike lanes, the pedestrian spaces. the garbage cans -- we were here right before the pandemic to launch some of the big bellies that are here. everything that second street looks like is reflective of our potential when we make our city for people. and so with that, i want to introduce one of the key partners in this project who has helped to fund it and helped to support it, and that's tilly chang from the transportation authority. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor, and good morning, mayor breed, supervisor, and all community members. i want to add my congratulations to the whole community and also to the departments, city departments

who collaborated to deliver this multibenefit project. we're so proud to have contributed $13 million of sales tax as well as federal and regional funds to this project. it's about half of the project budget, and for that, we really need to thank the voters. thank you, voters for approving these transportation funding americas. this is the seed money that gets our money ready to compete and attract state and federal funds. just today, secretary of transportation buttigieg testified before congress about our next transportation package, and i'm so glad to work with sfmta, p.u.c., and all of these interdepartmental collaborations because that is how we're able to deliver beautiful projects like this. with that, let me go ahead and introduce director jeffrey

tumlin, director of the sfmta. >> thank you, tilly. from the 1930s to the end of the 20 century, the market street grid was seen largely as a grid to distribute traffic, particularly cars and trucks from the bay bridge into the rest of the city street grid. for the last 20 years, however, this neighborhood has been the fastest growing neighborhood in san francisco, and as a result of that, almost every single street in the south of market grid is part of san francisco's high injury network: the 13% of our streets that suffer 85% of the severe injuries and fatalities because of traffic. this needs to be fixed, and it's why, together with the department of public works and the sfmta, the c.t.a. is committed to repairing every single street in the market grid. second street is especially important to us.

it connects the transit center to the ballpark and the waterfront. it is an important street for every single mode of transportation, and so as a result of that, we've adde daylighting for pedestrians at intersections. we've added protected crosswalks, and we've added protective bikeways because we know while bike lanes are good, in order to make biking attractive to normal san franciscans, they need to be physically protected from traffic. we're not just stopping at second street. during covid, we have been working to create a grid of safer walkways and protected bikeways throughout south of market. not just here but fifth, eight,

seven, brandon, embarcadero, in order to make this corridor from a truck dominated thoroughfare to one of the most walkable areas in san francisco. we're also very excited that our success here has garnered us a significant state award to make our experiments to folsom street available to everyone. >> good morning, everyone. i am so happy to be here today with you all to celebrate a project long in the works. 11 years ago, when this project began, i was starting my freshman year in high school, so let's just stick with that

for a second because this is how long it's been. our members at the san francisco bicycle coalition have been fighting for this for over a decade, and today, we are so thrilled to have a safe connection for people biking across soma all the way down to the ballpark. i know these safety improvements in addition to the protected bike lanes go a long way for families, bikers and pedestrians. when i see these new infrastructural improvements like this, i think about my own family members who still live in this district today, and i think about how it'll make them feel safer crossing the street in their own neighborhoods. new infrastructure like this is crucial in making the south of market a safer place to live,

to work, and to play as we move towards reopening our city. a decade is way too long to wait to bring needed improvements in safety in soma. people deserve to feel safe walking and biking of our city streets. we look forward to being able to celebrate more with you in the near future. we wouldn't be here today without our 10,000 members, supervisor matt haney, and former district 6 supervisor jane kim. thank you to director jeff tumlin, and special thanks to the community partners like alice rogers from the south beach community association. without further adieu, i'd like

to bring back the director to get this program going. [applause] >> thank you, clare. without any further ado, let's get down to doing the things that we came here to do, and let's cut that ribbon. . >> president walton: good morning and welcome to the rules committee of the san francisco board of supervisors for today, march 22nd. our clerk is mr. victor young. i am the chair of the