not just sugar skulls and paper flowers and candles, but it's become a nondenominational tradition that people celebrate. >> our culture is about color and family and if that is not present in your life, there is just no meaning to it you know? >> we have artists as black and brown people that are in direct danger of the direct policies of the trump administration and i think how each of the artists has responded so that call is interesting. the common >> clerk: (roll call)

this is the recreation and park meeting of may 20th 2021. please note due to the covid-19 emergency and to protect city employees and public, the meeting rooms are closed. however, commissioners are here -- remotely. we ask for your patience if we experience technical issues. public comment will be available for each item on the agenda. each speaker will be allowed two minutes to speak. comments or opportunities to speak during public comment are available via phone by calling 415-655-0001. and the access is 187 925 4792. when you hear the agenda item you would like to comment on called, dial star 3 to be lined

up in the queue. the system will be silent while you are waiting. all callers will remain on mute until their line is open. everyone must account for the time delays between live coverage and speaking. you may submit public comments in either of the following ways, e-mail the commission. if you submit via e-mail, it will be included in the legislative file as part of the record. and you may also send in comments by mailing them. please note this commission meeting is recorded and will be available on sfgov tv. >> the only comment i would make is beginning to get news about meetings in city hall and covid

rules while the board of supervisors may and june commence to meet in person, i believe there would still be citizen participation virtually and it's my anticipation that rec and park commission meetings will continue to be virtual probably throughout the summer. so until further notice, that's kind of the operating plan. and with that, that concludes my president's report. >> okay. any public comment on the president's report. just dial star 3 to be added to the queue. anyone on the line? >> i do not see hands raised. >> thank you. public comment is closed. we are on item 3, general manager's report. >> good morning commissioners.

i'm going to lead off with -- may as you know, asian american pacific islander heritage month. this occasion is especially poignant as our asian community endures unprovoked incidents of hate across the country. throughout the month, rec and parks has been highlighting how our parks and history has been shaped by the community. the first woman athlete to win golds in diving. the park in her neighborhood was in her honor in 2006. local basketball legend who is being adorned very popular and recently renovated chinatown playground. an artist whose works can be found in many of our parks and

of course our staff from gardeners to custodians to recreational professionals and members of our leadership team, our parks system is what it is, meaning incredible, because of the important contributions of our asian american and pacific islander community. moving on, to graduations for all. for high school seniors, graduation is a significant achievement that marks culmination of four years of work and important milestone that brings hope for bigger and better things to come. as our city continues to recover from the past year, we are proud to partner with the school district, department of youth and family, the mayor's office, the nonprofit spark and other city agencies to bring a sense of normalcy back to student

lives by arranging for, fundraising for and hosting 11 in person graduation ceremonies from june 1st through the 3rd. the school district will host an additional nine ceremonies at school of the arts for graduating classes and there will be a special black student graduation on june 4th. it allows for short socially distanced programs, livestreaming for family members who can't attend in person. and most importantly, an opportunity for our city's graduating seniors themselves to connect with each other and their fellow classmates and their teachers. this effort will serve more than 4,000 graduating seniors and 16,000 family members. i'm very, very proud of this

initiative and want to give a special thank you to the property management division for working to help pull this off. the level of planning, the level of detail, the level of implementation is extraordinary.

players are back and at mclaren park. a performance art group with performance events that transform public spaces presents psycho pump, created with social distancing at its core, the show is a solo or duo journey that participants walk up and down and through the park on existing trails. along the way, special areas including the labyrinth -- [indiscernible] that connect them to their natural environment. it runs through june 27th and tickets and more information can be found online.

last month, mayor breed to cut the ribbon on the new playground. thank you vice president mcdonald for joining. it includes swings, imagination garden, river bed exploration area with imaginative play, it is really a very well designed and executed project. the $5.2 million renovation includes improvements to

lighting, drainage and irrigation system. approximately 4.2 million was provided through the neighborhood parks fund. the project design was shaped by feedback gathered through community meetings, electronic voting and outreach, where in the world is christopher parks festival, a free event to raise awareness for the parks and the results were spectacular. moving around town, i'm very excited to announce that shoreview park will be reopening on june 7th. save the date. we have two highly anticipated celebrations but starting with shoreview park. it is a one acre park in

district 10 transferred from the sf infrastructure former redevelopment in 2007. the renovation of shoreview park includes pathways through the park, a new play area and picnic area. for more information, check out our website. then 10 days later, just down the hill from shoreview, we finally break ground on the first phase of our indian basin project on june 17th. on thursday june 17th from 3:00 to 4:30, we'll mark renovation work, bringing us one step closer to creating the bayview and city's next great park. the event will include a shovel ceremony and fun community activities. for more information check out

our website. finally commissioners, i wanted to give you an update on day camp efforts for the upcoming summer. last month i highlighted the partnership with the library and other agencies to provide free summer day camp -- [indiscernible] >> please mute yourself. >> thank you everyone. last month i highlighted the partnership to provide free summer day camps and other programs for san francisco public school children. we conducted outreach and worked in partnership and over a three week period provided opportunities for families to fill out an interest form for priority registration. as you recall, it was designed

to help identify public school students first most in need whose families identified as either residents of hope sf, public housing, families experiencing homelessness. children in the foster care system, english language learners, students with disabilities and low income and historically impacted communities including the african american, native american, latinx, asian communities. this is a program that is geared specifically towards public school students because public school students were without any in person learning throughout the year. and so anyways, the interest forms were necessary to identify families first.

registration kicked off earlier this month. then to the public at large. to date, we have filled 83% -- sorry, we filled 2776 slots of the 3,000 we have available. we have if my math is correct, 224 slots, opportunities on the wait list to fill the 3,000 camp slots we currently have. 83% of the slots are for our high priority students. so far. our staff continues to work diligently to place campers on waiting lists into the remaining slots. the opportunity to fill other

spots could be provided to allow for larger cohorts the allow us to move more kids off of the wait list. gary, if you could put the chart on, i would like to share with you what the registration looks like here. you can see the highest registrations. district 11 and then district 10 and then covering the mission. i do feel we have done a decent job at identifying our two levels of priority, our highest

priority kids and then other kids. unfortunately there are going to be people that did not get their kids into camp this summer and i think it's important to understand two things. one, the fact that we're making a concerted effort to prioritize families this summer and the health order still provides some serious constraints. each three week session has limited number of kids. the overall number of slots is not where we had been pre-pandemic. to the good, summer together overall is trying to touch nearly 25,000 kids throughout the summer. in fact, there's an event that our superintendent of recreation is attending as we speak down at the palace of fine arts and joined by the mayor, our library director michael lambert and

department of children youth and family. we are start together distribute up to 10,000 books to sf kids. dcsf is reaching out to families unable to register for camps and offering opportunities in private camps for free for which they purchased slots and many nonprofit camps. they have contacted more than 2,000 families and placed more than 700 additional kids in outside private camps. the school district is also participating in the program and offering in person learning loss and summer wellness opportunities on many of its campus and we're joined by many, many of our community based organizations in this effort for approximately 25,000 students this summer.

that's all i have today. >> if anyone wants to comment on the general manager's report only, dial star 3 to be added to speak. >> there are 14 on the phone and zero hands raised. >> public comment is closed. we are now on item 4, general public comment up to 15 minutes. this item will be continued to item 9 also. at this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public within the subject matter of jurisdiction and do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items, you'll have the opportunity to address the commission when the

item is reached in the meeting. if anyone on the phone is here and wants to speak on an item not on the agenda, dial star 3 to speak. >> ashley? >> yes. >> if i may, i left out one important announcement that i think should be mentioned. that is my bad. if there's a moment where i could jump back in, i would appreciate it. >> why don't you do that and i'll check if anyone has a comment on that. >> it's a happy one. i'm thrilled to -- two things. i did neglect to thank the incredible team and partnership for the summer together effort. you should be very proud of your staff. performing literally miracles with the summer program and ways of registering people. just about everyone has done a fantastic job. the real reason i jumped back

in, to announce that stern grove is coming back. i think the mayor just issued a press release today. stern grove will be back starting june 20th through august 29th. and health orders continue to evolve, some advanced registrations and capacity restrictions but i believe june 20th they'll kick off with a band. an exciting moment and sign we are waking up from our dark long awful sleep and things are coming back to normal. thanks to staff for helping to make it happen. done. >> just to give public the opportunity, does anybody want to comment just on that item on the general manager's report? dial star 3.

any new hands go up, paul? i'm assuming there's probably hands up for item 4. >> there's one hand for general public comment. >> okay. we'll move to that item. seeing no further comment on the general manager's report, public comment on that is closed and now item 4, general public comment. just a reminder to those online, if you want to comment on something not on today's agenda, this is the time to do that. you'll have two minutes and you can dial star 3 to be added to the queue to speak. first caller, go ahead. >> i'm an organizer with kids safe sf, advocating for kids safe streets and places around the city, including most notably

and related to this commission's work, kids safe parks and the great walkway. i wanted to call in for a few reasons. one is to bring everyone's attention to a really positive celebration rally we organized this past sunday with over 350 people and over 100 kids who came out to the great walkway to celebrate the space and advocate for it to be saved and extended in its current state. we had a marching band and we walked down the great walkway, the beautiful sign. senator wiener came out and

spoke. i wanted to emphasize how amazing the space is including senior citizen saying it saved her sanity during the pandemic and who moved here in 69, marched for the vietnam war and last year for black lives matter and says the great walkway has given her and neighbors along the lower great highway something to enjoy, a beautiful space for her to walk and enjoy. and then we had tons of kids out who have learned how to bike on the great walkway and want to see it stay around. with that, i just wanted to bring the commission's attention to the fact that there are thousands of people who have signed the petitions and rallied to support both -- >> thank you. sorry your time is up. thank you for calling.

>> okay. >> is anyone else's hand raised, paul? >> yes, there's one more. i will unmute. >> okay. >> good morning i'm charlie perkins. i need to respond to the prior comment. i'm a member of concerned residents of the sunset. the closure of the great highway to automobiles has devastated the peace of mind and lives of many, many outer sunset residents, resulting in 18,000 to 20,000 cars every single day being diverted off of the divided great highway that has no cross sections, no intersections with cross traffic. no right or left turns on to residential streets, on to sunset boulevard as far east as

19th avenue burning fossil fuel all the time, this is a devastating result for climate change at a time that climate change should be the number one issue on everybody's radar. there's no possible way making people stay in their cars longer in less fuel efficient driving conditions does anything but hurt climate change and force more greenhouse gases into the air. equally significantly, all these additional cars through the residential streets makes the streets far less safe for children, for the residents. there's been a huge uptick in traffic in accidents. there's no questions about that. we have the statistics and a petition sent to park and rec many times. with over 7,000 signatures of people in san francisco who

don't want it closed to cars. it is a highway. it is not a walkway. the attempt to recouch it as a walkway is kind of silly. there are plenty of -- there's a park right there. there's fully functional walking and biking paths on either side of it. the blueprint recently called it a safe -- >> your time is up. i apologize. i'm sorry to cut people off. is anyone else ready to comment? >> no other hands raised. >> okay. thank you. seeing no further public comment, public comment is closed. we are on item 5, the consent calendar. commissioners, is there anything you want taken off consent today? flush if not

you want me to motion -- >> do you want public comment on the consent calendar? >> right. thank you. if anyone on the line wants to provide comment on the consent calendar, dial star 3 to be added to the queue. >> i don't see any hands raised. >> public comment is closed. >> chair would entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar. >> so moved. >> second. >> all those in favor? so moved. thank you. >> we are on item 6. san francisco zoo. >> hello it's tonya peterson with the zoo. you can see my messy office at the zoo and i have a power point

i believe. i'll go to the first slide here. we're a safe haven for a wide variety of animal and plant species indigenous to places throughout asia and this month is asian american pacific month and wanted to highlight some of the habitats from asia. our endangered snow leopards and i had to show a picture -- there is one of our gentle red pandas. the habitats are china, nepal and india. he is named after one of two men to scale mount everest in 1953. the first sherpa to guide a

successful trip to the top of mount everest and recognized as a hero and we'll celebrate him on may 29th. while we couldn't celebrate asian heritage month like we normally do, we are striving to reach out to guests and make sure they feel safe. here's a comment from one of our members who recently thanked us for the safe environment as a local san francisco resident, feeling safer in the zoo. (please stand by...) .

>> we were still able to participate in local conservation programs. here is one of the frogs that was bread and reared here at san francisco zoo and then released into the wild. thanks to the field biologist of national parks service, we were able to track some of these frogs we released. and recently the field biologist came across two female frogs released from the zoo in 2018, and three adult males released from the zoo in 2018. i thank you the conservation staff for continuing during this terrible pandemic. and what a cute and

handsome frog that is. we recently said good-bye to garcia, one of the 15-year-old male mexican gray wolves we have here at the zoo. he and his two siblings came to the zoo in 2016 as a partnership with fish and wildlife in an effort to save a species that only has 30 left in the wild. many of you probably know about the conflict that occurs between wolves and ranchers and so forth, but this one right on the border of arizona and mexico was nearly deplete. we took three of the males. we collected semen and continued to breed the species. one of our kind donors named the three boys after her favorite pop stars, garcia, prince, and bowie. garcia passed away of old age. his brothers are of

similar age. we are obviously keeping a careful watch of them, and we hope to continue this program with new, young pups some time soon. with that, i finish my pups some time soon. >> chairman: thank you. >> if any members of the public would like to comment on item 6, the san francisco zoo, you can dial *3 to be added to the queue. >> hello, ashley, there are 12 people on the line and zero hands raised. >> okay. thanks. seeing no further public comment, public comment is closed. item 7, golden gate music concourse and art installation. >> good morning, commissioners. dana ketchum, director of property management. i am here for discussion

and possible action to approve the design and installation of a temporary art installation composed of two components: monumental wrecking and lift every voice from june 8, 2021, through june 20th, 2023. the installation of the "lift every voice" is also subject to the historic preservation commission. your approval of this action is defined by adman code chapter 31. i am going to share my screen for a little bit, and then we're going to watch a video that talks a little bit about this that does a much better job than my describing it. let me first share my screen. i'm floating. slowly.

if it doesn't go soon, i'm going to have gary do it for me. ah, there we go. okay. so as i mentioned in the first part of this, and hopefully you can see this, there are two components. one -- this is going in the music concourse, on two sides of it. one is monumental reckoning, 300 sculptures by artist dana king. she will is present at the end of my presentation and describe more about it. the sculpture would surround the empty pedestal. it has the words "lift every voice." and i'll explain more

about that. so here or the two locations -- and, gary, if you wouldn't mind, if you could play the video, that would be great. and do i need to stop sharing my screen? >> yes, dana. >> okay. ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ lift every voice ♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪ let us march on ♪ ♪ to victory ♪ ♪ until victory is won ♪

[applause and cheering] >> thank you, gary. if it's okay, i'm going to go back and reshare my screen now. commissioners, i wanted to let you know that the art installation was improved by the arts commission. and the timing of this installation is actually interesting because the arts commission is currently in a process of re-evaluating all monuments in the city, coming up with a plan. so the two years sort of pines into that plan coming up with a process to re-evaluate monuments. so the monumental reckoning by dana king -- and you can see some

images here of it and her -- i've asked her to come speak about this as part of my presentation. so if she could join in on the call, that would be great. >> okay. i'm here, dana. >> and i'm trying to stop sharing my screen again, but i'm not finding it. give me one second. this technology -- there we go. there she is. she is literally hoping this will go through in the process of delivering 100 statues for golden gate park. why don't you talk a little about your vision. >> thank you so much. commissioners, staff, commission chair, thank you so much for this opportunity, and thank you, dana. we're dana squared. i'm dana part two. monumental reckoning is so

necessary. i didn't learn about francis scott key until last year. one of the protestors toppled his sculpture. and that's part of the issue. we're not taught the history of african descendents to any depth of degree in our schools. and i'm a product of public education. and so what i do for a living is to put our memories and our histories and our stories out in the public realm because they're free, whether you're intentional about coming upon them or you come upon them accidentally. the learning is the same. and that learning is so vital to american history. i am so grateful to be able to participate in this because the impact of slavery on africa descent

descendents is generationally. people say it was so long ago. but for me -- i'm 61 years old. my great grandparents were enslaved. my father's grandparents were enslaved. and so that history is not that far away, even though it looks that way on paper. the prints that held francis scott key existed in the park for a very long time, 133 years. and since 1976, or '77 -- '76, in its current location. even though francis scott key has been taken down, and it might seem that the harm has come full circle and it is taken away, it is really not so. because that plan exists

and continues to carry that racist history. it resonates and has the energy of that racist history. and i feel it is very important to, as a sculpture to take up that space. because space is power. and 350 ancestors staring down on behalf of justice, over time, is, i think, vital to our history. and then when we look down the concourse and can see "lift every voice" on the spreckels temple, i can't tell you how that resonates -- well, with me, certainly. it is a song i have sung countless times, as many times as i have sung the national anthem, i have

sung "lift every voice and sing." it is sung at family reunions. it is sung at church. it is sung at weddings. it is sung at celebratory events. quite honestly, it is the only song i can see acappella on key because i have sung it so many times. it is a beautiful, uplifting song. it brings us together. it is about inclusion. it is about liberty and freedom and justice. and it is not about war. it is about love. it's about working together to overcome our differences, and not to be divided by those who press to divide us. and i'll close by adding that systems of oppression still exist in our country, in every realm, be it food insecurity,

corporate discrimination, job discrimination, be it mass incarceration, criminal justice, but if we succeed in eliminating those, and yet, for example, after the der derek chauvin jury decision, if we walk outside and have to encounter a confederate monument, then the circle of justice isn't closed. equity and art is part of the restitution and resolution and overcoming oppression. and that's how i see "monumental reckoning," as equity and art in our beautiful golden gate park. so i thank you for this opportunity. and i thank the park and rec entire team for the

effort that they have put forward to make this happen. i said i was going to end with that, but i want to add one more thing so you understand the depth of work we have done to create these pieces. they have all been found structurally -- well, they accommodate all of the structural regulations of the state, be it earthquake, be it wind, be it rain. they have been designed to withstand whatever the standards are. so i want you to know that as well. so it is an art piece, but it is a very strong art piece that isn't going to go anywhere for two years. so thank you. >> thank you, dana, very much. i am just going to briefly go back to my presentation and allow, as she spoke, to see the close-up image of the carefully sculpted

statues. i've got four different screens -- oh, there we go. and just an image of what the "lift every voice" would look like. and that is the -- the staff supports approval of this installation. that's the end of my presentation. thank you. >> thank you, to both of the danas. if anyone is here on the line who would like to speak on item 7, you can dial *3 to be added to the queue to speak. paul, has anyone raised their hand to speak on this item? >> we currently have 17 people on the line and one

hand raised. >> okay. great. caller, you'll have two minutes. state your name when you're unmuted. >> caller: hello. i was just listening to that presentation. i'm an artist. and i just think it is a wonderful idea to put these sculptures up. and i wanted to voice my support and approval of that. but, also, just a question to you guys. i had difficulty getting into the queue before when some comments were made about the great highway and walkway. and i'm wondering if i would have an opportunity to talk about that either now or later? >> yeah, you will. we'll have general public comment again. and so i'll call that and you'll have time to speak. >> caller: can you just tell me so i don't get cut off again, do i need to completely redial before i'm able to make a comment and hit *3, or can i just

stay on as i am now? >> you should be able to just stay on and dial *3, but paul will make note of your phone number -- paul, can you make note of their phone number, and make sure we give them a chance to speak. >> yes. >> thank you. >> i took up some of your time. did you want to say anything else about that item? okay. i guess not. all right. paul, did anyone else have their hand raised to speak on item 7? >> no, there are no other hands. >> seeing no further callers, public comment is closed. >> chairman: commissioners? commissioner mcdonald? >> i'm sorry. i can go next. >> chairman: i see your hand up, commissioner mcdonald. go ahead and then we'll go to the next one. >> okay. thank you so much. so is i just wanted to, i guess in some ways,

acknowledge this moment. as i see it, it is a -- such an important moment. i really appreciate dana squared, both of their leadership, and davis and illumina and their leadership, in capturing this moment. as we all know, it has been a really challenging few years, and certainly these last couple have been especially challenging on many fronts, both in terms of social justice and racism that is permeating and surfacing in ways that are more pronounced and certainly captured by camera and video. and so this moment of the department and ideally and hopefully the city pausing to, as the name suggests, reckon with the implication, the impacts, the devastations of, and

the opportunity to come out on the celebratory side of things, to center all voices and have the opportunity to celebrate all voices, and taking yet another step forward to living -- towards living out our shared creed of all human beings, in fact, being created equal. so i really appreciate this moment, and i'm hopeful that we cannot only approve it, but also really generate both focus and attention and reckoning, as difficult and uncomfortable as that is. it is, in my view, part of our path towards all men being valued, all women being valued, all people being valued, and lifting, in fact, every single voice. at the appropriate time, i look forward to voting to approve. thank you. >> chairman: thank you. commissioners, other comments? >> i think i'm in.

so, you know, i've worked in community activism and art -- we call it artivism, for the past 20 years. i'm so excited to be able to merge that world with my other love of our rec and parks department, and our parks here in the city. i need to express how excited i am about this project, and i'm really grateful that this department has really taken the time to celebrate and honor first the power of the people and activists to create change, right? because that statue toppling last year is kind of what set us forward, and also the power of artists to heal and restore and move us forward. and this project and this installation is such a shining example of that. and i'm so proud that we're going to be able to support this work. and i'm very excited, and

i can't wait to bring my family to come see it and enjoy it. so thank you, everyone, for working on this important project. >> chairman: thank you, commissioner. are there other comments? i don't see any. let me agree completely with both commissioner mcdonald and commissioner jupiter jones. i find this to be a very, very moving installation, and very much look forward to the dedication of it and the promotion of it to a broader audience. and with that, the chair would entertain a motion. >> i am happy to move approval. >> so moved. >> seconded. >> chairman: is there a second? >> second. >> chairman: it has been moved and seconded. all those in favor? [collective aye]

>> chairman: any opposed? hearing none, so moved. >> clerk: we are on item 8, san francisco parks lands memorandum of understanding. >> hello, commissioners, i'm lisa bransson with the recreation and parks department. i'm here today for discussion and possible action to approve a memorandum of understanding between the recreation and parks department and the san francisco parks alliance. i have a presentation to take us through this. so let me just share my screen. see if i can make sure this works. okay. can everyone see my screen? >> yes. >> we're here today for discussion and possible action to approve a memorandum of understanding between the recreation and parks department and the san francisco parks alliance, setting forth the terms of

the operational relationship between the organizations, including protocols for communication and coordination and financial reporting and disclosure for a period of one year, with extensions of up to three years. this m.o.u. comes out of the executive directive issued by mayor breed in which she directs all city departments to, quote, "form lies lieu a memorandum of understanding any relationship the department has with a non-city organization that reced donations on behalf of the department where such agreements are not already in place. they shall be prepared in consultation with the office of the city attorney and the controller. in preparing these memorandum of understanding, the departments shall work with the city attorney and controller, to ensure transparency, accountability, and adherence to city laws.

these mem understanding shall be approved by the attorney general, the controller, and if ap applicable, the department's board and commission and posted on the department's website." so this m.o.u. has been approved by both the controller and the city attorney, and that's why we're here before you today for your approval. i did want to note we made two small changes to the document in response to a late clarification from the controller's office and a public comment. and i'll get to those in a moment, when i go into the terms of the m.o.u. but i did want to start with an overview of the long and very important history of philanthropy, of the type of philanthropy that this m.o.u. will cover. san francisco has a really rich history of civic generosity to san francisco parks and really to the city overall. we tallied hundreds in

significant donations to the department, including the earliest donations, such as the parcels of land that are now washington square, union square, and spring grove, and even the crates of grass that created the conservatory of flowers. up coming work with partners includes san francisco park, to be delivered later this year, and india basin parks coming over the next few years. philanthropy has touched so many corners of our city, but there is an argument to be made that this history is a fundamental factor in why san francisco has such an extraordinary parks system, and why every resident lives within a 10-minute walk of a park. and on top of that, we have a 50-year relationship with the parks alliance and its predecessor organizations that have specifically helped the department add a layer of excellence to programs and facilities.

from the restoration of the dutch windmill, and the renovations at the playground, the department departmenthas been lucky to have partners interested in stepping up to benefit all san franciscans. current work with the parks alliance includes three of the most important park projects in the portfolio. lisa and golden gate park, the 13 playgrounds in the initiative, and the coming park at india basin. all of these special projects are governed by their own sets of m.o.u.s and agreements as necessary, but going forward, all active projects will be governed by the terms of this m.o.u. i also want to highlight some of the things the annual support covers -- excuse me. i wanted to cover some of the things the annual support covers. just to share a few examples, the support has helped us put on citywide

community programs and events, like having holiday trees in parks around the city, and supporting seasonal events, such as the golden gate park tree lighting, scare grove, and extravaganza. the funds also allow some sometimes last minute community events, such as the screening in the bay view in 2019. grant funds and private donations secured by the parks alliance also support volunteer and youth development programs. pictured here are two examples. the green ages program, which provide environmental stewardship students for san francisco high school students, and the tennis learning center after school program which uses tennis as a hook to provide academic and emotional and wellness skills to elementary

students. [inaudible] also materials and supplies to assist the department in mainetaining in mg these benches. and it also supports staff development programs and activities, including training professional developments, strategic planning, and employee recognition and appreciation programs. pictured are some of the valued award winners, who won for embodying the department's values of respect, relationships, results, and responses sieveness. responsiveness. this program and these sorts of investments are very impactful. the graph shows between 2015, when the newest employee recognition program was launched and

today, job satisfaction at the department has increased 10%, from 76% to 86%. in addition, employees who say they feel recognized and appreciated for their work has increased 19%, to 86%. and our workforce retention is 95%. and so now on to the details of the m.o.u. so as i mentioned before -- sorry. i wanted to emphasize while some of this agreement is new, these funds have always been covered by city processes, most importantly the annual expense we bring to the commissioners and on to the board of supervisors. this adds transparency, which we really welcome. so as i mentioned before, the term of the agreement is one year. we opted for that term because it will allow us to get something in place

quickly, while we work together to refine some of the processes around reporting. and then rules and responsibilities. these create more transparency for the partners and the public, which is the shared goal as we negotiated the terms. the document creates a timeline for the department and parks alliance to develop and jointly approve the annual support budget. it improves internal r.t.d. processes around support from the parks alliance and adds the reporting on how the support from the parks alliance advances the department's strategic plan. and it requires the parties to report quarterly to each other and reconcile accounts. the agreement also solidifies the partnership in several ways, including standardizing the administrative fee and

creating increased coordination on fundraising activities. and, as i mentioned, the partners also agreed to new terms drafted by the office of the controller, and included in the m.. m.o.u. almost unchanged as exhibit "a." this exhibit contains closure, record keeping, and auditing provisions that will apply to the annual support in all joint fundraising projects. current active projects listed in exhibit "e" will be covered, and the terms of exhibit "a" will be included in all future agreements with the parks alliance as deemed appropriate by the cityattorney's office, which approves all of these agreements for us. the agreement as posted was approval by the city attorney and the controller. but as i mentioned when i started, there were a few suggested changes in between that time and now.

so we didn't want to incorporate two things into the document as we finalize it. number one is in section 3.7, the city attorney and the controller suggested adding the sentence "for the avoidance of doubt, exhibit "a" shall apply to all annual support, as well as to all special project support listed in exhibit "a"." and, second, "although the m.o.u. was developed to address fundraising projects, the question of the sky star wheel was raised by the member of the public and brought to the city attorney who said it could be approved as a project cover by these terms. so we're doing so for the sake of full transparency. we're also going to add a new active project, which is the new mcclarren bike park, which did not

include the updated terms. i'll summit a document after this meeting, and going forward we'll include these terms in all agreements where the city attorney deems it appropriate. we look forward to implementing this agreement with the san francisco parks alliance and continuing this relationship, which has so benefited our city. staff does support the approval of this m.o.u. and with that, i'll say thank you and take any questions. >> chairman: thank you, lisa. >> clerk: okay, for those who are on the line, if you're here to speak on the parks alliance m.o.u., please dial *3 to be added to the queue to speak. paul will let me know if anyone raises their hands. >> hi, ashley, there are 17 callers on the line, and many hands raised.

so i'll start with the first. >> clerk: okay. caller, you'll have two minutes. please state your name. >> caller: good morning, commissioner and general manager. my name is drew becker, the c.e.o. of the san francisco parks alliance. thanks for your time today. i'm calling to support the m.o.u. between the parks alliance and the rec and park department. the relationship between the rec and park department goes back 50 years. this year we're celebrating our 50-year anniversary. we've been able to work together to transform our beloved park system into one of the best park systems. i don't think it is an accident that two city departments, the rec department and library, which are continually rated best, push each and every day to deliver for every citizen of this great city. over the past 50 years, the parks alliance invested in supported new

playgrounds, garden training programs, day camp scholarships, rebuilt the conservatory of flowers, outfitted ni rec centers with needed amenities, and many, many more. parks alliance is committed to transparency in every aspect of our work. we welcome the opportunity to add a layer of transparency on to all of the good work that we do together through this m.o.u. we strive every day to be a good partner to the city and also advocate for all of the citizens and its public spaces. we look forward to another 50 years of working together to make san francisco city parks the envy of the world. thank you for all of your hard work on this, and we appreciate everything rec and park department and its staff does. and thank you for your time, commissioners. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker. >> caller: good morning. i'm calling to share my support, and also calling

to share my appreciation for the rec and parks department and the parks alliance. this partnership and constituents have made more impact on the city, reaching every single s.f. resident. how would we have navigated this pandemic without safe and accessible parks. we need to focus on giving more money on those who are making change in the city that desperately need it. thank you. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> caller: hello, commissioners. my name is richard rossman, and i represent district 1 on the advisory committee. and i did not hear staff or drew talk about the richmond playground. what is the status of that?

the last is we got a letter from him saying he wasn't going to fund it. so why isn't this in the m.o.u.? i found out when i talked to staff that the way this contract was written, it was written that park alliance has the contract with the vendor. so he controls the contract. this isn't right. the rec and park should control the contract. if he doesn't pay the vendor, then the work isn't getting done. if they want to give money- to rec and park, fine. but rec and park staff should control the contract. what is going to happen with richmond playground? can you either ask staff or park alliance? are they going to paid the vendor? you know, the longer this delays, the more inflation goes up. this issue needs to be rewritten by the commission to that rec and park staff has control

over the contract. and if park alliance doesn't want to give them money, let rec and park find another vendor who will give them money. maybe the community needs to raise the $2 million. so i want to know what is happening with the status of richmond playground. and how are we going to fix this problem? thank you. >> chairman: thank you, richard. we'll get back to you. the richmond playground is moving forward, but continue on with the speakers. >> clerk: okay. next speaker. >> caller: good morning, president bule. my name is kelly knight. i've been a volunteer at the park alliance since 2001. in the 20 years i've been a volunteer, our parks and spaces have never been better thanks to the leadership of the rec and

park commission and the many volunteers and staff of the san francisco park alliance. i'm proud of the many projects we've collaborated on to keep san francisco the most beautiful city in the world. thank you. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: as a reminder, if you're on the call and you would like to speak on this item, please dial *3 to be added to the queue. next speaker. >> caller: hello, commissioners. this is philip wynn, and i serve as the director of parks and place at the san francisco parks alliance. i'm calling to voice my strong support for the pro supposed m.o.u. the partnership between the park alliance and rec and park has been responsible for the projects throughout this city over the course of this last 50 years. i'm truly excited for the updates that this m.o.u. will bring. i've seen the incredibly

positive impact of partnership (indiscernable) between parks alliance and rec and park, and it brings direct benefits to san franciscans. as other callers have mentioned, our work together makes major capitol improvements, such as the indian basin and the japanese tea garden, and 13 playgrounds possible. and also skate in place, and friends of the woodlands possible. it brings new opportunities through projects like the renovation of the spreckels temple, and our sundown cinema. [inaudible] the tennis learning center program, and community shuttles to gold gate park.

it deepens and strengthens a resource that we all share and that we all should be able to help improve. i strongly support adoption of the m.o.u.s proposed, and i thank the commissioners for their time. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> caller: good morning, commissioners, this is areda downs, the secretary of the friends of alta park. speaking on behalf of our board, we wish to endorse the m.o.u. for your approval today. specifically since we are a park partner of san francisco parks alliance, we can feel confident in assuring our supporters and our donors that their dollars are being well-managed and in a transparent manner.

and we heartedly endorse the frequency of audits, and hope you will take this under consideration, that friends and groups need to have this verification of the high accounting, financial, and ethical standards that the m.o.u. will provide between san francisco rec and park and the san francisco parks alliance. thank you very much for your consideration. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> caller: greetings. i'm calling in today to support the m.o.u. and to express my appreciation for the 50-year public/private partnership that has happened between parks alliance and the recreation and parks department. and thank you to all of the staff in both organizations who worked so hard to memorialize our partnership and for your good work the rest of the

time to improve our city's amazing parks over the last 50 years. thank you for your leadership and for guiding our collective work on behalf of san francisco. i've been working for parks for 10 years, and i've been through three general managers and for directors, and i can proudly say our partnership is stronger before. this m.o.u. brings transparency and accountability. it allows us to move forward together, continuing to improve the confidence of the public and the best parks system anywhere. on a personal note, the tangible outcomes of our partner in this m.o.u. are these 13 new "let's play" playgrounds. they've become essential to my life as the parent of a young children, especially over this last year. i'm so proud of the work we do, and i'm so excited to see what we're going to do over the next 50 years. please accept this m.o.u.

as proposed. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. if there is someone unmuted that would like to speak? >> caller: hi. this is mary cowel speaking, and i'm calling to support the agreement for the alliance between rec and park. my checkered career has included being the foreperson of the civil grand jury, and i've been on the youth board that i presently served. i have worked as a management consultant for the last 10 years, but the independent work that i have done with different individuals, supporting the great work of helen

ray, raising the money for san francisco park, and also the various activities with park and rec has really convinced me of how important this memorialization of this document is. most recently i was involved in a bench dedication, which involved other long-time residents of the city who had never been exposed to the parks alliance. that included a woman who was the former chairman of the san francisco foundation, as well as is someone whose grandfather signed the note that created san francisco opera. the whole experience was seamless. it resulted in a $10,000 gift, thanks to paula martin's good work. and we would just like to

see that kind of opportunity continue and be managed so well. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker. >> caller: thank you. good morning, commissioners and general manager ginsburg. hopefully you can hear me. i'm headed home and on the side of the freeway. i'm in support of parks alliance (indiscernable) and the commemorative bench program. i am the carpenter parks supervisor. that program means a lot to me from the sentimental point of view and also from the operational point of view. i'm able to keep material in the pipeline and keep equipment updated and keep my crew highly trained, making us a much more

relevant shop, and it makes us better at maintenance all the way around. this is one of the few things my crew -- we actually get direct feedback from the community. we get notes of thanks. we get stories. and it means a lot to us. and i just love the relationship that we have with the alliance through that program. and, like i said, i can't say enough about it from a sentimental point of view and the operation point of view. they're a huge help to us. all right. thank you. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> caller: hi, commissioners. my name is tracy pawn. i'm the green program manager. i am calling on my own time today, and i want to express my support for the proposed m.o.u.

[inaudible] with their support, we were able to provide green interns and stipends. and in the past years, we have experienced excursions, such as kayaking to angel island. these challenges allowed for personal growth while connecting to nature and bonding with their peers. i'm very grateful for the support from the san francisco parks alliance with their programs. this partnership will allow us to continue providing these experiences for san franciscan youth. thank you for your time. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> caller: good morning, commissioners, my name is liz farrell. i'm actually standing right now outside of the "summer together" kickoff event. i'm excited for that opportunity. and rec and park has been such a great partner for

that. i'm calling in support of the m.. m.o.u. between rec and park and the san francisco parks alliance. this partnership has allowed us to accomplish so much for the residents in san francisco over the past 50 years, including renovating 13 playgrounds all over the city as part of our "let's play" campaign. over this past year, when there were so many trying times due to the pandemic and for our city, we have seen a new appreciation for parks, and we have seen our parks thriving. some personal things for our family during this time have been those playgrounds. these are just two examples, and also the golden gate tennis center, of what this partnership can chief. i'm grateful and hopeful that formalizing this partner will bring more transparency and trust for

the amazing work that we can accomplish together. thank you for your time. thank you to everyone who worked on this m.o.u. to make it possible. and thank you for your consideration of it. have a wonderful day. >> chairman: thank you, liz. >> clerk: next speaker. >> caller: hi. i just wanted -- hi. i just wanted to say i support this m.o. m.o.u. i could say tons of stuff about the parks alliance over the years and how i've watched them change and become this great organization that has built such great playgrounds and other things in the city. but i do have to mention that this is a great m.o.u. to show transparency and accountability, and that is something everybody should stand up and be behind. for any department on

anything, transparency and accountability is huge. and having this m.o.u. will do that. so i fully support that. i fully support the parks alliance. thank you, and have a great day. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker. >> caller: yes. good morning, commissioners, general manager, and staff. this is lined linda schaeffer speaking. i'm a former committee member of prosac. i represented district 10 at the time, and i now live in district 1. i'm calling to say a couple of separate things. first of all, i'm very, very glad to see that such an m.o.u. is being presented and has been worked on. i think that this can lead to good results. secondly, since i now live

in district 1, i wanted to just echo the comments made earlier by my former colleague, mr. rossman, about the richmond playground. i should also say i have worked in the past with members of the parks alliance. i have worked on helping to right bond initiative language and supporting bond initiatives. so i think you can well imagine how very disappointed i was to hear about the communication regarding the richmond playground that came from mr. becker of the parks alliance. i'm delighted to hear that the richmond playground is going to move forward. and i look forward to hearing more about that. thank you very much. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> caller: hi there. i'm calling in from s.f.,

and i'm calling on behalf of myself as an individual. i just wanted to support this m.o.u., and thanks parks alliance with their work with rec and parks to improve our city. again, just supporting this m.o.u. and thanking everyone involved. thanks. >> clerk: okay. is anyone else on the line? if anyone would like to speak, please dial *3, and paul will let me know if there are any other callers with their hands raised. >> yes, ashley, one more hand popped up. >> clerk: okay. you'll have two minutes. >> two hands. >> caller: hello. hello. >> clerk: you have two minutes. go ahead and speak. >> caller: this is james cortney with the labors

union. and i just wanted to call today about this m.o.u. what we wanted the listeners to know is that we probably represent the most workers, field workers, at recreation and parks, and how they work closely with the parks alliance, the general manager, the commission, and staff that we don't represent for well over a decade. what excites us most about the m.o.u. is the commitment to accountability and transparency that we think is missing, and a lot of other organizations with a lot of other agreements that the city has with non-profits. we're excited to move forward, but we're also proud of our past relationships. they work closely with my union, the alliance board and staff have always been respectful of the workers, their careers, their commitment to the parks and the parks system. and we feel like there is

a ton of common ground. and it's the kind of thing that we'd like to see moving forward citywide in other city departments. so an overwhelming support from the laborers union 261. thank you. >> clerk: i believe we have one final speaker. >> caller: hi. i just want to be short and brief and say that this m.o.u. seems a great step forward in terms of transparency between these two organizations. and i'm very excited to see more opportunities for private investment in all of our public spaces. i'm thrilled to hear about all of the great things i didn't know before that have resulted from private investment. thank you. >> chairman: thank you. >> clerk: okay. paul, are there any other hands raised? >> no, there are not.

>> clerk: okay. seeing no further callers, public comment is closed. >> chairman: thank you. commissioners, comments, observations? commissioner -- let's see -- did commissioner anderson have her hand up? >> i did not. >> chairman: okay. sorry. mr. ginsburg, did i see your hand up? >> no, other than to thank staff and parks alliance and the controller's office and the city attorney's office and all of the members of the public who have offered comment. this is a good, important step, and it strengthens and supports philanthropy and we're excited to move forward. >> chairman: commissioner mcdonald, i

do believe i see your hand up. >> yes, sir. thank you so much. i just wanted to (a) thank all parties for, again, the work on developing this and strengthening this m.o.u. and partnership. we've heard all of the public and other comments around the value and importance of the partnership and more broadly the investments of philanthropy that have enabled so many great things to happen in and across our whole parks system. so i think that is fantastic. and just a footnote, a personal perspective i would add to this discourse: while there were many kind of challenging dynamics that led to this moment, and that sometimes pitted the value of philanthropy versus, you know, the value of our parks, questioning the kind of integrity across all, and what often gets lost in

these moments is, in fact, what i believe we all share in common, which is the strengthening the parks, while also ensuring that we are doing all that we can to strengthen how we operate in terms of visibility and transparency and accountability. and i think we all agree on that. and so i am, i guess, pleased that we have come to this place, and i'm excited to move forward so that we all can continue to do the great work, and certainly in partnership where it has, and continues to be, valuable. and a thank you to lisa and her team's work. and, more importantly, the long-standing work to drive investments in for the strengthening of our parks system. so thank you, lisa. and if there are no other comments, i would

certainly move it. >> chairman: thank you, commissioner. and let me just add to that, and i appreciation the motion and echo that philanthropy in the public sector is a very challenging situation, primarily because, understandably, the public sector has a variety of opinions about what are priorities and where money should be spent and how it should be spent. having said that, over the 50-year history of the alliance, it has evolved from multiple organizations into one. it has evolved into an organization with an excellent board of directors and an excellent staff. and on the other side of this issue is a very understandable desire on the part of the public, and i believe all of us, that transparency be the hallmark of such arrangements. having said that, i think

this m.o.u. goes a long way in satisfying all of those requirements. i congratulate the park alliance. i congratulate the staff. and i appreciate the controversy or the challenges that have surrounded creating this kind of document. with that, we have a motion by commissioner mcdonald. is there a second? >> second. >> chairman: moved and seconded. any comments? all those in favor? [collective aye] >> chairman: any opposed? hearing none, it is unanimous. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you, commissioners. we are now on item 9. this is the second time we're going to be on general public comment. so for those of you who were on the line who didn't get a chance to speak during item number 4, this is an opportunity. at this time, members of the public who are not able to address the commission on item 4, may address the commission on items in the jurisdiction

of the recreation and park commission and do not appear on the general calendar. if you would like to make public comment, please dial *3 to be added to the queue. paul, do we have any hands raised? >> yes. one just popped up. i will unmute. >> clerk: go ahead, speaker. >> caller: hi, commissioners. i just wanted to encourage you and thank you all for your work with the great walkway, and i encourage you to work with the m.t.a. board and their staff to expedite an approval of an extension of those spaces, while continuing to do outreach and studies and improvements of those spaces. there have been concerns raised by sunset residents, as you heard earlier, regarding traffic in outer sunset, and it would be great to see

m.t.a. and you to work together so everyone can enjoy that space. i want to emphasize that people are loving those spaces, and that it would be great to see you take a step to extend those spaces prematurely before the 120-day countdown that sends this into a nail-biter. thank you for your leadership in creating those spaces, and to all staff that have helped make those spaces great, and, again, urging you to approve an extension, rather than later, so that people know those spaces will continue to exist as outreach and studies and improvements will continues to be made. thank you so much. >> clerk: just as a reminder to our callers, the reason i ask you to state your name is so i can keep track of speakers. callers are only able to

comment once during general comment, so even though were have the item come up twice in the meeting, you'll need to reserve your comments to the first or second round of general comments. i couldn't tell if that was the same speaker as before. no worries, but if you're going to comment on general items, only once during the meeting. i believe we have one other caller. go ahead and please state your name. >> caller: good morning. my name is you'd degorski. i'm a resident into lives in front of the upper great highway for the past 40 years. i'm here to advocate for it to be reopened to allow the traffic back on to it because of the way it has overwhelmed my neighborhood and en endangered the health of my and my friends and neighbors. we had a rally at lincoln at the great highway, and we have a petition that has been sent out to all

city agencies, including this one, with 7,500 signatures on it that supports the opening of the highway. the traffic consists of big rigs, dirt bikes, motorcycles racing a few feet from our doors, instead of on the highway, along the coast, where they were able to drive non-stop with timed lights. we don't even open our windows anymore due to the air and noise pollution caused by the closure. also, by passing the necessary steps that are outlined in the ocean beach master plan, which has been oddly ignored, has caused and will continue to cause destruction in escalating erosion to our beautiful sand dunes that are being trampled, killing the sea grasses and ice plants that anchors them. these dunes are sanctuaries for endangered species, and a barrier to the storms and high winds that blow towards the

homes and condos and apartments of the residents who live by the highway. unlike the other great sections of the highway that are north of lincoln and south -- [audio breaking up] -- are in harm's way that are in front of the other areas of the great highway. here you've got 20,000 vehicles that were once driving far away that are now really, really up close. and, also, the great highway is a multi-use highway, which has always -- >> clerk: sorry, your time is up. hi, judy. judy, by the way, is my neighbor. nice to hear you. paul, do we have any other callers on the line? >> no, we do not. >> clerk: okay. seeing no further callers, public comment is closed. we are now on item 10,

commissioners matters. commissioners? >> yes, if i may. thank you so much. wanting to, again, continue our practice of centering our commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to have a brief equity moment. as i announced last month, i am pleased to hand the mic, so to speak, if you'll allow, over to commissioner halisi. >> thank you. thank you, commissioners. during our december 17th meeting, commissioner mcdonald brought up the possibility of having racial equity moments at our future meetings. about a week after that meeting, kacey jones passed away. it was actually on christmas day. he was 88 years old.

shortly after the new year, i contacted commissioner mcdonald and asked him if he thought it would be a good idea for me to include kacey jones in a racial equity moment. he said it would be a good idea. since then we've had so many racial equity moments, which is a great thing, that we're now just getting to kacey jones here five months later. but it is very fitting that it is this week, which was also the opening week of the nba playoffs. now, much of casey's history was cited in an moment. he grew up in san francisco. he is a president of sfusd

histories. he headed up folton street to the university of san francisco to continue his education. and he was a starting guard on the two naacp championships. he then moved on to the boston celtics, where he won eight rings as a player and two as a coach. he is a member of the basketball hall of fame in springfield, massachusetts. he is a member of the u.s. f. don's hall of fame and a member of the san francisco prep hall of fame. as we all know, the playground at third and armstrong was named in his honor in 2003.

these are facts that many of you know about kacey jones. but i'm going to share with you a couple of facts you may not know about him. in 1955, u.s. f. was the first school in the history of the naacp tournament to start three black players in a tournament game. and kacey jones was one of those players. in the 1963/'64 nba season, the boston celtics were the first time in the history to start five black players. again, kacey jones was one of those starters. it is these last two facts that i felt qualified kacey jones, among many other things, for a racial equity mention today because he was a pioneer

in not only the world of college basketball, but pro basketball as well. he was a great man. we had many conversations over the years, and i really appreciate the opportunity today to mention him and to keep him alive in our memories. thank you, commissioners. >> chairman: thank you, commissioner halisi, and as a member of the board of trustees at the university of san francisco and a graduate of the university, i more than appreciate those comments. he was a real hero to many, many people. thank you. >> chairman: thank you, president bule. thank you. >> clerk: okay. any other commissioners' matters that folks would like to bring up. okay. is there any public comment on item 10, commissioners' matters.

if so, please dial *3 to be added to the queue. paul, are there any hands raised? >> there are seven people on the line and zero hands raised, ashley. >> clerk: seeing no callers, public comment is closed. we're now on item 11, new business setting. commissioners, is there anything you would like to bring up. >> clerk: okay. is there any public comment on item 11? >> there are no hands raised. >> clerk: okay. seeing no further callers, public comment is closed. we're on item 12. communications. is there any public comment on this item? >> still zero hands raised. >> clerk: okay. seeing no callers, public comment is closed. we're now on item 13.

adjournment. >> chairman: the chair would entertain a motion. >> so moved. >> seconded. >> chairman: moved and seconded. all those in favor? [collective aye] >> chairman: thank you one and all. i appreciate it very much. >> thank you, and bye, everyone. >> thank you, ashley. thank you, phil. thank you, dana. thank you, lisa.

>> my nave is jeffrey and i'm the director of the san francisco municipal transportation agency and i am so excited to be here and to inago rate the restart of the san francisco subway system and our f-line. it has been a long 14 months and we are not out of the woods yet. i am so grateful to my hard-working teams. everyone who has been work to go try to get service restarted. muni is the life blood of san francisco. it's how college students get to school and it's how people around and how we function as a place and brings service back is absolutely essential to san francisco's economy so with no further adieu, i would like to

introduce our mayor, london breed. [applause] >> thank you, jeff. first let's give it up for the official band of san francisco! the gay and lesbian band. i don't know about you, but i'm excited to be here. we're listen to go live music for a change. san francisco is truly coming alive. and one of the things that happened at the beginning of this pandemic, so many of us basically said, i hope san francisco will do a better job at some of the construction projects so that they don't interfere with my commute to work or to school when the city begins to reopen. well, in some cases we couldn't necessarily do that. but the good news is, we have an incredible leader in jeff tumlin and an amazing department m.t.a. and the commissioner who is joining us here today. they knew this was an opportunity and an opportunity

to make significant improvements to muni. because let me tell you, as we begin to open our city and begin down the path of recovery, having a good public transportation system is going to be critical. now, some of the nuts and bolts, mostly don't sound really exciting to people, but they're exciting to the people who ride muni, who for example, want to access the internet when they're underground, this is something i've been work on since i was supervisor and scott wiener was helping for this cause. here is the good news, a lot of the work we were able to do is making it possible to make muni more efficient than ever. it was a struggle, yes, but we are in a very, very good place. we're asking for people to be patient. so here is what we have planned.

first of all, the f-line, the historic cars, the museum, that's over there that talks about the history of rail in san francisco and just how important it is, bringing those cars back is really important, not just for transportation but for tourism and the f-line that goes from the castro to fisherman's wharf, those with the open covers and the closed covers, those lines are starting back tomorrow. [applause] under ground. i know we missed the different underground trains to take us from downtown all the way to the west side in rapid speed when it's working right, right. muni underground is coming back in effect tomorrow.

we did a lot of the underground work and you know how sometimes you get stuck in that tunnel at church street, and you are like, man, and all the trains get backed up because our system wasn't necessarily equipped to handle the number of riders that we see and jeff had the foresight to look at this along with a number of experts in transportation and we're going to combine the t and the k line and we're going to make that line more efficient but let me tell you, i'm most excited about this because this is something that i've been working on, again, since supervisor. they will have two car trains in every instance instead of one for all those folks who wait where i used to campaign at when i was supervisors at the early stages of my political soft involvement, it was providing better service for then june a.

i'm excited about it. just imagine being late to work and school all the time because of then june a. the other thing that will happen, which is really great, i think, is we'll have wifi underground and publicard and better mow efficient service so i can tell you this but you are going to experience it. you will fee. i was listed a a celebrity announcement and your mayor welcome you you back to san francisco muni train and that includes the voice of renelle

brooks moon and jerry rice and there's also one other person ledge on dar tee actor bd wong so great voices including mine so this is a good day for san francisco and we have a need to make sure our transportation system is up and running and getting us from point a to point b. i want you all to return to muni and i want you all to be patient with us we're keeping our cars clean and keep service working more and i want to take this opportunity to especially thank many of the drivers of our trains and our buses because let me tell you, this pandemic has hit our city hard and when you look at the city data for those

impacted by covid it was many of our drivers who were on the front line and they put their lives on the line to continue to make sure our essential workers and people got to and from work and i really want to thank them and thank you all so much and thank you for the work that you continue to be there for the people of san francisco and make sure you treat your drivers with kindness and respect because they go through a lot in this city trying to get people around. all the staff and all the parking control officers and all the of the folks who have been out there trying to direct traffic and do all the things that make sure we can efficiently get from point a to point b. there's a new day in san francisco, i appreciate you all being here and we're here with a number of officials that will speak and i've went on for way too long but at this time i want to introduce someone who has

been a true champion of public transportation for this city. i miss him when he was in san francisco fighting the good fight but i'm excited about his fight in sack ra men co and it's why the government is making a big announcement about a significant increase in support for transportation no one is aggressive and support, calling financial support for this city and this state for public transportation to make it better and more efficient for all of us than our state senators, scott wiener. [applause] >> thank you, madam mayor. i have to say, i do miss when the mayor and i were on the board of supervisors together and we were probably a little irritating to m.t.a. at times because we were pushing and pushing but in the end, we were all able to work together to make muni run better and so

thank you madam mayor for your leadership and thank you to jeff tumlin, who i was so excited when he agreed to come in at the m.t.a. it's an exceptional leader and visionary and jeff and i actual low road muni from castro and market today. it felt like the old days when we would get on muni and take the f-market down market street and now that's going to be the new days because the f is coming back and that is so exciting. so, i have pretty long relationship with muni. i've been a regular daily muni rider since 1997. obviously in sacramento i'm not riding it. it was how i commuted and i didn't drive my car, i took muni. thank you again to the muni drivers who have gotten me around for 23, almost 24 years

here and who have stood with us during this terrible pandemic. and so, this matters to me personally but it also matters to my community. so many people in this city are dependent on muni. they don't have a car. muni is how they get around. it's how they get to work and to the doctor and it's how they go shopping. and so the idea, when we were starting to hear things, during the pandemic, about would -- there we go. [ bells ringing ] i'll wait a second. >> i'm compete against the bell. so, when we were hearing during the pandemic, that what would muni be like after covid. would muni still be around in the same way? were we going to loose lines?

what bart going to be around in the same way. for a lot of us, it was really scary because san francisco would not be san francisco without muni. san francisco won be the transit oriented climate change friendly place that we are without muni and it's part of not just our life blood but our core values as a city and as a community and so i am so excited that muni will come back as strong as ever many of the subway, the f-market and we'll keep these bus lines riding because so many people rely on the buses as much as we love the subway and i am optimistic about where this agency is going to heaved. i want to really thank congress and our federal government for throwing repeated life lines to muni, to bart, to all of our transit systems and had congress not stepped up and dramatically funded transit, multiple times, we would not be here today.

i don't know where muni would be. i don't know how we would get reopened. how do you do that? where would bart be. so what the federal government did, was absolutely life saving for these transit systems. and we are working very hard at the state level toll make sure that this amazing budget surplus that we have, because of income tax and because of our stimulus relief, that we're using a portion of that for transit and other sustainable transportation. and the governor just made a big announcement today and i am very, very excited about what we're going to be able to put in as a state. thank you to everyone. thank you muni for helping get us around and let's keep fighting and making this system as amazing as it can be. thank you. >> i am so grateful to have a state senator who i can randomly run into on my morning commute on muni. i am so grateful to mayor breed

and scott keener's support and helping us come back and also to the federal government because we would not be here today. we're also going to be grateful to the state for using some of their surplus on capital investments because while we've made a lot of progress in the subway over the last 14 months, we still have a jenky system that runs on floppy disks so things will be better tomorrow but they're not going to be perfect. what i can promise you is we will continue to be honest with the public about the state of our conditions and what our service is like and what you can do if things don't work as well as we moment and that has been my over all strategy as director sfmta. we're grateful for community partners who have helped us come

back and continue to advocate for our success. one of our port post art partners is market street railway and so i would like to introduce. >> thank you, jeff. isn't it great to be vaccinated. let's all thank the mayor in her leadership in bringing us through the fog of this pandemic. [applause] you have been a great light to this city, mayor breed. thank you to jeff and julie and the entire muni team, mta team. from the very top all the way through the ranks to the front line people who made this happen. you know, a famous leader in america, another great woman leader, said it takes a village. that's what made the return of the f-line possible. it was all up and down the mta

pulling together with operators taking the initiatives to say we want to come back and how can we help? they helped design the protective barriers you will see in the street car as it pulls up. in the all the street cars you ride on the f-line, you will be able to be safe and this is a very positive development. it was a real collaborative effort and the shop team put them in at an unprecedented pace. i have never seen such collaboration in my 40 years around muni so i want today hear a shout out for the operators and the maintainers. [applause] also i want to give a shout out to all the business leaders and the neighborhood groups, the cbds and bids and all those alphabet agencies that bring our businesses, our small businesses together to make their neighborhoods a better place to do business and they stepped up, they talked to their district

supervisors and they talked to jeff and they got results and the folks in castro, and andrea yellow the people up in the wharf, randel scott and on and on and on, they've all done a great job. are there any neighborhood representatives here? and robbie silver from downtown. and karen flood from union scare. they were all here. you guys were all great. one more shout out is to michael dellard, an old friend who has been a stalwart businessman here at one market restaurant for a long time and he stepped up to us and said what can we do to get the f-line going and by the way, we would like to give you a merge of every proceeds from every ruben we sell in our new newdeli. you help us when you help

yourself to a ruben. it's a brooklyn sandwich but it's a san francisco generosity. we appreciate that. it's all part of our san francisco village. it's a city that honors its her tige while it strives to correct mistakes we've made in excluding people, denigrating people and keeping people down. we work to make this city better all the time and that's what our future is. that fits right in with our organization's motto, which is keeping the past, present in the future. and we are glad that these street cars are going back to work, helping to rebuild our economy, and helping to carry people where they want to go and helping to draw visitors back to our city. we're going to be riding on this wonderful boat tram and that vehicle was brought by our non-profit along with a second one to san francisco years ago and our board is led by our chair carmen clark, who is here

and i want to shout out to. carmenwho used to run muni. and our board members, ron fisher and cat siegel are here. we are proud to have done that and told the story of how for transit built a livable city and keeps renewing it. we're open, go in and get a free calender from us because the rest of the year is going to be a lot better than the months we've had. thank you to our mayor, thanks to this team. thank you all, very much. [applause] >> thank you, rick. well, many of us spent the pandemic behind our computer screens at home and in our pa jam a. the entire sfmta front line crews have been out there everyday during the pandemic getting essential workers to work. i am so grateful for their resilience and hard work through all of this.

they're why i work the hours that i do. and so i would like to introduce one of our operators, alena galloway who worked at agency for over 25 years with 19 years of safe driving experience and someone whom we rely upon for her direct advice. >> good afternoon. there's some expressions of gratitude in order. thank you to london breed, union, roger moranko, market street railway, rick lobsher, president, engineer body and pcc shop for their craftmanship when building the operators safetien close you'res. san francisco board of supervisor, citizens advisory committee, thank you to sfmta

for placing the f-line back in business it takes a village to get our float rolling again. from castro and market to the west field shopping center past the railway museum and down the embarcadero to pier 39 and on to fisherman's wharf. the f-line transporting a diverse ridership in our diverse city on a uniquely diverse historic street cars. from all around the world, our cars are so unique, that people travel far and wide to get photo ops or a ride. now along with san francisco's resilience, and survival instincts, that is something to be proud of. it's an honor and a pleasure to be a operator in the city of san

francisco. ladies and gentlemen, please help me help you a arrive at your destination safely by wearing your mask and practices all cdc guidelines. thank you and i'll see you out there. [applause] getting through the pandemic has required all sorts of new partnerships. it's required a depth of pippa cross almost every city department and so, i would like to introduce the director of the ports, elaine forbes, who is here along with our key policymakers. including sharon lie who is on the sfmta board and of course, member of the board of supervisors ahsha safai. and in order to introduce our last speaker, i want to say while the sfmta is mostly about mobility, we are about so many other things as well.

our vehicles are a symbol of san francisco and support the visitor economy. we're also a primary driver of supporting small business success which is why we have been such staunch supporters of the shared spaces program from the very beginning and one of the many reasons we're so happy to be bringing back the f-line the way it supports small business recovery and so now i'd like to introduce joseph who is the owner of a restaurant here at the ferry building to say a few words. [applause] thank you, mayor breed for in inviting me to speak and forgive me if i sound a little nervous, i'm a baker not a speaker. i also want to say thank you to the sfmta for reopening the f-line. i run a bakery line and it's a charge. i can't imagine running a whole transit line. my name is joey and my wife and

i opened in 2008 and which started at farmers' markets which led us to a spot in the ferry building. in that time, we've been in the ferry building for 10 years, in that time we've enjoyed the crowds shoulder and shoulder crowds of international travelers, bay area commuters, and then also experienced charges more recently of of course the last year with the pandemic. with the ferry building being opened during the whole time, you know, it gave us and our colleagues in the marketplace the opportunity to continue to service our communities and to give our ploy's a place to work and really was a lifeline to keep and stay open. so, with that, with the farmers market and the marketplace, i've

been firsthand witness to see what public easily accessible transportation does to a small economy and it not only brings more traffic into the areas but it also brings more diverse crowds. i think some of our customers would probably not make it to us without places without the f line. i think right now, as we see san francisco and the bay area seeing air recovery, it's a great time to be opening up the f line. not only is it a beautiful streetcar, it's also a need that

allows bringing people into the area. i think the cable cars are the world, the world can have the cable cars but the street cars are ours, they're very san francisco. i'm really looking forward to welcoming back our customers and really want to saw thanks to everybody. thank you, very much. [applause] >> thank you so much, everyone for being here. i just want to take a moment to say how excited i am to see elaine a here today and i didn't recognize her because she still looks the same since i was a kid. her grandmother, miss redman, used to press my hair and all the kids' hair in the neighborhood in the back of her house. you can get a press for $8 and if you didn't have enough money,

her grandmother would let you slide and that was, her grand mother was less than 100 pounds, the cutest woman you want to see but the toughest woman you want to meet. those hands were brutal. she would get your hair straight as i nails. i'm so excited to see her, someone who has been working for muni for so many years. along with so many people who have an incredible history in this city. and that same history that is existed for some time are resilience and how we've been able to look back and use the examples and the mistakes and the challenges that existed in the past to bring us forward towards a future is exactly how we're going to recover as a city. i'm looking forward to it. i'm excited about it and let me also just sigh, it's small business month in san francisco for the month of may, stop buy some of the small businesses and provide support and go to a restaurant and different places all over the city. hop on muni to do that and smile and say hi to your muni driver

and enjoy and be patient as we continue down our path of recovery for our city. thank you all for joining us here today. >> we can sweep by in front of a house in a matter of seconds. the only people who don't like it are the people who get the tickets.

>> this is a street sweeping sign. don't let it get you. pay attention. [♪♪♪] >> in the morning, when we first go out, we start at six in the morning or seven in the morning. we call that our business run. we sweep all the main arteries of the city. after 8:00, we go into the residential areas and take care of all the other customers. >> the idea with the street sweeping program is to get the leaves and the debris off the ground. >> we -- for not only appearance and cleanliness but safety as well. >> we will get anywhere from 2- 7,000 pounds per truck depending on the season and the route. the street sweeper and the choice of the use right now is an error sweeper. they have a motor in the back and it blows winds down one side and carried by air into the hopper.

what will mess this up is new -- large pieces of cardboard or sticks or coat hangers. anything that is more than 12 inches. the tube on the tracks is only 12-inch diameter. >> people asked what they can do to help to keep the city clean. there are people that letter. leaves are one thing. any of the garbage you see is from people being careless. [♪♪♪] >> one cars parked in the way, we can't sweep under the congress. to deal with this, we have parking control officers that are provided by m.t.a. and they go in front of our sweepers and pass out citations to people that are parking the wrong way. once the sweepers sweep past in

san francisco, you may park behind the street sweeper. we all know parking is a big issue. north beach hasn't been swept since the eighties because of opposition. but we are getting a lot of requests to sweep. basically our trucks are 10 feet wide. we stick the brooms out and they are may be 12 feet wide. >> there are a lot of blind spots when driving a large truck pedestrians and bicyclists and cars. and navigates this 22,000-pound truck through the city. >> we involve the public here -- to adhere to traffic laws. these routes were developed back in the eighties around the capability of the sweeper. things have changed since then so we have to adapt. luckily, public works is embracing technology and working on a system to alter our maps. this is literally cut and paste -- cut and paste. we will have a computer program

soon that will be able to alter the maps and be updated instantly. we will have tablets in the checks for all of the maps. we will send a broom wherever it needs to go and he has the information he needs to complete the safety. what is needed about these tablets as they will have a g.p.s. on it so we know where they're at. you do get confused driving along, especially the inner sunset. recall that to the be made a triangle. >> thanks for writing along with us today. i enjoyed showing you what we do and i urge you to pay attention to the signs and move your car and don't litter. with all

>> >>[music] >> i came in with her impression of what i thought it was good >> what i knew about auditing with the irs spears i actually knew nothing about auditing >> in my mind it was purely financial. with people that audited the pain no one wants to deal with it >> now i see a lot of time explaining auditing is not just about taxes. >> oftentimes most students believe that auditing is only financial whereas when they come into a government environment we do much more than financial audits. we do operational audits that were looking at the operations of the department for economy and efficiency and effectiveness. >> when i hire an intern some of the things that i am looking

for first of all is is this individual agile and flexible because i am our environment is so fast-paced and where are switching from project to project depending on what's going on in the government at any given time. >> primarily i didn't with audits on utilities management across city departments. >> citywide this ods management audit was also been assisting with housing authority audit program >> the homelessness audit >> the it functions >> [inaudible] >> were starting any water on the department of public housing environment allows >> i also assist with the [inaudible] program. >> then additionally i really enjoyed having staff who have some critical thinking skills. because i believe the basis of auditing is not do you know how to audit, but to have critical thinking skills [inaudible]

>> [inaudible] even though i've only been here for short time our quick in-depth analysis and research >> analytical skills there's a lot of taking enlargement of information a compacting it a very concise report because we've a big focus on [inaudible] if you're transmitting this information to the audience you need him to be able to understand it. >> so i work with the sparrow program primarily. broadway stan abused [inaudible] they prepare me for full-time employment because i knew i could not to challenge myself in order to be an auditor. >> at the [inaudible] we are a content feedback and communication and they pointed out areas where i need to grow. >> one of the things i like about working at [inaudible] is that they actually give you

quite a bit of autonomy i feel like kevin sage trusted me. >> the environment really [inaudible] to everyone feeling super collaborative and wanting to get to know one another. which i think at the end of the date is a better work environment and gives you a better workflow. >> i believe that a really is a great experience because it provides an opportunity to have a better understanding of how government works. >> i think what i've learned so far is that every audit is unique everyday. different learning opportunities. >> the recordation we make in on its i can honestly go home at the end of the day and zack and treated [inaudible] in a better way. >> even of not familiar with what auditing is you should deftly find out. it's been really really awesome he was it turns out there's a whole world of auditing that i cannot open file oriented performance and [inaudible] and that's an exciting. audit is a lot broader than i ever knew before. >>

>> candlestick park known also as the stick was an outdoor stadium for sports and entertainment. built between 1958 to 1960, it was located in the bayview hunters point where it was home

to the san francisco giants and 49ers. the last event held was a concert in late 2014. it was demolished in 2015. mlb team the san francisco giants played at candlestick from 1960-1999. fans came to see players such a willie mays and barry bonds, over 38 seasons in the open ballpark. an upper deck expansion was added in the 1970s. there are two world series played at the stick in 1962 and in 198 9. during the 1989 world series against the oakland as they were shook by an earthquake. candlestick's enclosure had minor damages from the quake but its design saved thousands of lives. nfl team the san francisco 49ers played at candlestick from feign

71-2013. it was home to five-time super bowl champion teams and hall of fame players by joe montana, jerry rice and steve jones. in 1982, the game-winning touchdown pass from joe montana to dwight clark was known as "the catch." leading the niners to their first super bowl. the 49ers hosted eight n.f.c. championship games including the 2001 season that ended with a loss to the new york giants. in 201, the last event held at candlestick park was a concert by paul mccartney who played with the beatles in 1966, the stadium's first concert. demolition of the stick began in late 2014 and it was completed in september 2015. the giants had moved to pacific rail park in 2000 while the 49ers moved to santa clara in 2014. with structural claims and

numerous name changes, many have passed through and will remember candlestick park as home to the legendary athletes and entertainment. these memorable moments will live on in a place called the stick. (♪♪♪) >> the city of san jose and i'm honored to be joined by friends and colleagues as part of the california big city mayor's coalition united for a common and urgent cause that is well after this pandemic has passed

and an even pandemic will persist and that is homelessness. our city mayors no far too well that affects 161,000 of our fellow californians we have convened today. this year's budget presents california with a once in a generation opportunity to dramatically reduce homelessness. if we can muster the collective courage and will to stand up for our most vulnerable neighbors. today, we stand together to issue a clearing call for historic investment against california's shameful scourge against homelessness. we sent a letter to our governor and legislative leadership encouraging that they commit a substantial share of this year's more than $40 billion budgetary surplus toward a multi-year funding

strategy towards this crisis. a commitment of $4 billion per year. we call for flexibility of dollars to prevent homelessness to triple down on successful initiative such as governor newsol's project home to get more of our neighbors off the streets. sustained successful models of emergency transitional permanent housing, tiny homes and many other initiatives that have emerged in our city. $4 billion per year over the next half decade. this commitment would be bold, part of this pandemic, the state of california had never spent more than a billion dollars to address homelessness, but we stand together to say we need to treat homelessness like the crisis that it is. we have met with the governor and legislative leadership to discuss our options and

opportunities, we've pressed our case and they have responded. in mid april, our senate leader rose and the california senate issued its budget plan called "build it back boldly." they called for precisely $4 billion in investment and homelessness solutions in each of the next five years for a total of $20 billion and just yesterday, the assembly released its budget and their colleagues similarly called for a $20 billion investment spread over the next half decade. we express our immense gratitude to our leadership and staff for recognizing this unique moment and for their continued partnership in this fight. and fortunately, we have a governor who gets it and who

has already made historic commitments towards housing solutions and many others have forged a set of initiatives. project "room key" serving more than 35,000 homeless residents. and certainly this is greater progress than we've ever seen, but we have much more work to do. i want to thank the amazing leaders who are about to speak after me and who i'm honored to call my colleagues and friends and enable timely flexible dollars they use to address the unique needs of their cities and to do so quickly. we'll be displaying this in the backgrounds behind us. behind me, next to this freeway, that is the 101, the emergency housing community we built here and just opened in recent weeks.

although, building apartments in the bay area typically cost about $700,000 per apartment building, we've shown how we can utilize and neglect publicland and innovative like this one in less than six months. we've built three of these already in the last year and a fourth one will be under way shortly. it's my great honor to introduce my friend and colleague he's just announced an epic commitment to address homelessness. welcome eric garcetti. >> thank you so much. and to this incredible group of

brother and sister mayors across the state. to come across partisan, bipartisan gentlemen graphy and it was in 2017, maybe 2016 when i was chairing this group and we were the big 11 before we became the big 13 and so glad to have both stockton and riverside as part of this organization now where we were with the last governor saying this homelessness thing is pretty big, we'd love to see the state get involved and we all love jerry brown. but we wouldn't quit. and we convinced him grudgingly because he only spent money grudgingly, but happily in the end knowing cities can turn around solutions to homelessness immediately. we had a governor who had as a mayor tackled homelessness, governor newsome saw that and tackled it and then doing

cutting edge work which is now making a national splash with programs like "operation home key" and los angeles resulted with the state buying 15 buildings and on our own another five that inspired us to get the twenty buildings we purchased in just three months. this is the biggest crisis in california. we see them under our bridges and, unfortunately, it's not just there anymore in the shadows. it's in front of businesses and homes. it is everywhere. it's the first thing people talk about and the second thing they talk about. and long after this pandemic is done, the pandemic of homelessness let's be clear what the consequences are and the worst cases, people die from homelessness. it's time for california at a moment of a historic surplus to speak to our values and to step up and i know we have the dream team with this governor and two legislative leaders and their fellow colleagues. this is why we were overjoyed

to see both president and the speaker put together the support of $4 billion a year to have a 5-year commitment, $20 billion to go straight into california's communities and in those concentrated areas of california's biggest cities to make sure we continue that momentum. behind each one of us, you see how we spend it. it's for shelter, permanent housing, it's for everything we need to address the complexity of homelessness. and, typically, those who are listening from the media are used to folks from cities or folks from an issue area coming to sacramento and saying "solve this problem for us. here's our empty hat and hand." we're not coming with empty hats in hand. and pockets full of investments. in los angeles, what that meant and when i became manager of

the state, we're not lucky like london to have a county and city together was just $10 million. in the budget i released last week, it's $955 million. part of that is state money. part of that is local measure that we passed and part of that is every extra ounce that we can find in this budget because this is our top priority. add that up between 13 cities. we are putting billions of dollars of money on the line and saying match us. meet this. get it right. it's not an either or. it is housing. it is shelter. yes, it is services. it is also trusting that cutting through red tape works when you empower local communities to make the decisions and spend quickly the money and we have a record and the data to show of the dollars effectively quickly, and happily being spent in our communities. i want to hand it over to my brother mayor in san diego who is one of our newest mayors, but also one of our boldest

leaders. you know him from his state legislative work. by ty gloria, the floor is yours. let's get this done. >> thank you, mayor garcetti. thank you my fellow mayor who is are here today. to help this issue in housing and homelessness. you were saying a moment ago, it resinated for me. we were leading during the pandemic and economic slowdown. it is striking to me the thing i'm asked about the most is what are you doing about homelessness. a moment where their health and health of their loved ones. fearful about their finances and the finances of loved ones that this is the issue they talked the most about and that's precisely why this group of leaders in cities across the state. bipartisan leaders say we need to continue state assistance in order to be able to respond to

that about what we're doing about homelessness. i want to acknowledge the leadership of our governor and my former colleagues and my former speaker or the current speaker, my former legislative leader anthony rendon and $20 billion over multiple years understanding that we can't solve this problem in one fiscal year. it then takes the repeated commitment of state, federal, and local leadership to get the job done. now, eric was talking about bringing some hard hats to the table, i'm bringing some [inaudible] to the table. my former colleagues in the legislature. we really want to see how we're bringing these dollars to work. to make sure that the dollars that californians entrust their state government with that those dollars are actually getting the job done. and, i'll tell you down here in san diego, we've been working extremely hard to change the status quo on homelessness.

to move away from shiny objects, instead, invest in proven strategies that are housing first spoken, human centered and compassionate in their approach. i want to tell you about a couple key stories. number one, we converted our city convention center into a temporary homeless shelter during the pandemic. collaborations between the city, the county, and nonprofit partners, we were able toll house over 4,000 san diegans. 43 families housed through that process. it really shows what happens when we choose to make this a priority and tapped with the urgency that californians are asking. through that process, we were able to vaccinate many of our homeless in our san diego community making sure our worst fears of outbreak and our population did not come. more importantly for our

friends, we used a significant amount of home key dollars to purchase two extended stay hotels and convert them into new, permanent supportive homes for four hundred high need clients. you can see one of those hotels behind me. the 332 homes we were able to build of acquired $2.3 million of annual funds to keep people housed. the housing unit is helpful, but as my fellow mayors know, it's the services that keep people housed for the long term. the city of san diego is prepared, ready, anxious to be able to acquire more of these hotels to convert them to supportive housing to get people off the streets for good. we need flexible funding as well to provide those services to say with a straight face to our residents and to our bosses that we will keep people housed and keep them off the street permanently. i will just tell you when we

follow the housing first strategies, when we invest in more housing, permanent housing, we know that we can get people off the streets and we can use innovative concepts that are seen behind so many of my colleagues here to see even more. emergency beds, safe parking program. dollars entrusted to us by the state that are getting results. and so it's my colleagues in sacramento who are diffeying up the budget as we speak and doing the difficult things like siting those housing projects, by executing the contracts to get the housing done. in my proposed budget, we are making an unprecedented commitment to this particular problem. we can do even more. so we are calling upon our state leaders for their continued partnership to take

advantage of this once in a generation opportunity to fund the housing and the services that we know work for people experiencing homelessness and to make a lasting impact on this crisis that i believe all of us were elected to solve. so, with those comments, it gives me great pleasure to turn the mic over to my friend up in san francisco. some people that's the second largest city in the state. i'll remind them it is san diego. my friend, mayor london breed. >> thank you, mayor gloria. and, thank you so much everyone for joining us here today and for coming together on these very important issues that impact our cities. here in san francisco, we've been working really hard to build housing, more shelters, and to connect people with the services they need. we've developed over 9,000 permanent housing placements and we created thousands more, but in our last point in time count, we still have over 5,000

people who are facing unsheltered homelessness. the reality is not one city can do this alone. not one city can fully address this problem because it's clearly a statewide crisis. we all need more resources to truly face this challenge of the scale that's needed to make a real difference. and, we need to acknowledge that this problem won't be fixed overnight. it will require a sustained commitment over multiple years. this is a challenge that's developed over decades and our response will take multiple years to really solve what is truly an embedded problem. we need to build more housing, of course, provide rental assistance for people in need and create connections to employment, education, health care and behavioral resources. there's no one solution to homelessness. it requires a number of different approaches and many of them take time. that's why we're all here today. we're calling for a commitment from the state to provide the resources we need to make a

difference over multiple years. there's so much to do. we have to reactivate our shelter systems after covid. to house people from shelter-in-place hotels and continue to move people off the streets. some of us have been able to purchase hotels and make them permanent housing options for formally homeless people. that has been incredible. has a lot to do with project room key. in our reaction with this pandemic if we were provided the resources, it can be done. i look forward to making sure we have partners and resources and support in the state. and, with that, i'd like to introduce mayor jerry drier from fresno. thank you. >> thank you, mayor breed. i appreciate it. again, jerry dyer mayor of the

city of fresno. i can't say enough about the unprecedented partnership that exists between california's largest cities, governor newsome and our state legislaturers and it is a crisis. this partnership is allowing us to rescue our most vulnerable population providing them with a safe environment to live. much needed services and ultimately hope for a future, a better future. and, in fresno, we've used "project home key" dollars to purchase and operate five motels to house and provide services to our homeless population here. these motels have allowed us to initiate what we refer to as "project offramp" in our city.

it is an offramp from our freeways and life of homelessness and an onramp to services. our freeways which quite frankly once reasonable urban campgrounds are very close to becoming homeless-free in fresno thanks to "project home key" and our state legislative leaders and governor newsome. however, this success story is only the beginning. it is our plan to take project offramp and replicate it city wide and neighborhood by neighborhood. in order to do so, we need long-term flexible funding and to provide services and alternative housing models for our homeless population. absent that, we ultimately displacing homelessness from one neighborhood to the next neighborhood without real solutions. with the state's budget surplus

and one time federal stimulus dollars, i believe we have a unique opportunity to make transformative investments putting an end to homelessness once and for all. i urge our state legislative leaders and governor newsome to continue with what i believe the most meaningful partnership in our state's history and to be able to allocate the $20 billion in order for us to address homelessness over the next five years. and so it's my honor at this time to be able to introduce a long-time state leader, a senator pro temp for seven years and that is mayor darrell steinberg from the city of sacramento. darrell. >> have to unmute. thank you very much, mayor

dyer. i really appreciate that. i am sitting virtually as it is virtual in one of sacramento's sprung shelters. a quality facility where we have the capacity to house up to 100 women suffering from homelessness and as my colleagues have said, it's one of the many strategies that we as big city mayors are employing to combat this seemingly intractable issue of homelessness. it's not intractable. it just requires will and resources. i'm worried about the big city mayors because i want to make sure those listening understand how impactful this group of mayors has been and continues to be. and mayor garcetti to continue that history it was this

organization that for the first time convinced excessive governors and the legislature to direct resources directly to cities to combat homelessness. because we're not health and human services agencies and yet homelessness as is evident is our most significant urban problem. i was thinking about last night and pride and how he talked about seizing the moment and how he talked about a rare opportunity. to make a fundamental change that changes the course of history. to make a change that affects in a positive way. the lives of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people. an opportunity to prove the impossible is possible. this is the moment in california to take that and

make homelessness dramatically different in all of our cities. it need not be hopelessness for we know what works. we are doing it. we are getting thousands of people off the street and now with the additional resources to be able to help those dealing with rent struggles and to be able to prevent evictions and to be able to prevent people from losing their homes. with $20 billion of state resources which is about ten times more than we have ever gotten even with heap and hap and "project room key" and "home key" what we are demonstrating in realtime works and imagine a californian with

these kind of investments, people breathing a sigh of relief because we've done the humane thing. we've done the right thing on behalf of suffering people and our business communities in our neighborhoods. not that we cure it, but that we make it dramatically and visibly better. that's the moon shot we have here in california over these next couple of weeks. i agree with mayor ricardo and the other mayors. so grateful for the legislative leadership for putting forth that $20 billion proposal and we know the governor, whatever the number is is also going to go big as he has in the past. let's get this done and let's start getting more people indoors. thank you. it's my honor now to turn it over to my friend, our mayor, demonstrating that homelessness knows no partisan boundaries and that's the mayor of

bakersfield, karen dough. >> thank you, mayor steinberg. my fellow mayors and i want to take the backgrounds that are behind them right now and have our homeless brothers and sisters have a background in their own home in their own office like the one behind me. combatting homelessness in our state continues to be a paramount issue. requires a broad range of resources for persons who find themselves in the most vulnerable situation of their lives. our california cities are on the front line of addressing the homeless crisis. we've demonstrated success in adding emergency bed space creating permanent housing solutions and now we must address and sustain the next

phase of the challenge including providing housing, supporting services for severely mentally ill and drug addicted persons. we are so grateful for the state's funding that's enabled bakersfield to double our emergency shelter bed space. yet, we find many of our homeless brothers and sisters on the street. we need ongoing resources to change the plight of jonathan, sharika, and karen who i met on the street yesterday and this morning. today, we're calling on state leaders to prioritize the much needed, ongoing flexible investments that will empower and address the youth challenges before us and sustain our progress. a $20, $20 billion funding

investment will change the futures of the many jonathans, the many sharikas and the many karen-anns in our great state. we are our brother's keeper. let us build back boldly to improve the lives of all californians. and now it's my pleasure to introduce anaheim mayor harry sadue from the happiest city in california. mayor sadue. >> thank you, mayor. good morning everyone. i'm anaheim mayor harry sadu. anaheim has been a leader in addressing homelessness for more than six years. since two thousand seventeen, we have opened four homeless

shelters, including two temporary facilities that continue today. these efforts were assisted by homeless emergency aid program funding. working with u.s. district judge david coder, we have cleared inhumane homeless encampments from the parks, and freeway underpasses. by maximizing city, state, and federal resources. but we are far from finished. we are working with the salvation army under long-term facility call center of hope as you see behind me. it will include shelter beds, supportive housing, health care and drug treatment. this public private partnership will be a game-changer for anaheim and orange county. you can see that these efforts in anaheim have proven to be a

stronger turn on investment for california and we have made a great gain. but these are, there are still too many homeless and the need for affordable housing is great. and this crisis is bigger than anaheim. with ongoing flexible support with state partners to meet this challenge and change lives. now, it's my pleasure to introduce riverside mayor patricia lock douzen. >> thank you, mayor sadu. one of the newest mayors in the big city mayor coalition, i appreciate the power that we have in our collective voice. so i have really appreciated being able to be part of this group and i want to echo the sentiment of my fellow mayors.

i know we all want to thank our state legislatures and governors for being proactive. we don't often have to seek them out, they come to us and they listen which i appreciate so much and like mayor gloria said i think it's true with most of us that they've made it clear homelessness is one of the greatest challenges of our time and leaders must rise to this occasion. we must rise to meet this challenge. and, you heard from every mayor here. each city faces its own unique but as you've also heard much more work remains to be done. we all know uniquely that the

crisis of homelessness transcends our individual cities. the funding that we're asking for for the legislature and that they have now budgeted gives us a unified front from the state things that we all need not just the beds, but mental health services. without ongoing funding, our efforts, our momentum will be solved and we won't be able to move forward. now the city of riverside has a proven track record of using direct funding from the state in an innovative and prudent manner. we are often the ones who roll up our sleeves and get to work because we've not always been included in things. we've worked very hard to spend

our money frugally and with great impact. this million dollars proposal will allow riverside to support long-term solutions. such as "project home key" or nontraditional models. this is the first of its kind in southern california and has provided a model that other cities have emulated and it's also where i met powerful paul this past week. he is is a pro boxer who is now getting into permanent supportive housing and he's very grateful for the work we have done here. so while we remain certain from recovering from this pandemic, we must also be equally certain and optimistic in our ability to meet the crisis of homelessness in our city. and, with this funding, i'm

hopeful. we just have a sense of optimism here and we can begin to move the needle and make a change and i'm pleased to be part of this historic day today. with that, i want to turn it over to the mayor of santa ana. >> thank you, mayor. i'm proud to stand with well virtually stand with all the mayors here on this call. so i'm not going to repeat what was said because i think a lot of the theme has already been articulately made. i just want to say that one thing we all can agree on as mayors and staff is that the buck stops with us and we get those tough questions and demands and we know that here, for us, what we've found most interesting was that when we were talking about different issues like public safety and now public health, homelessness

is still holding higher than either of those two critical issues that we deal with, so we know it's on the minds and hearts of many of our fellow residents. and so, for us, i know what we've tried to do is make sure we invest intelligently and we're looking at the background in the front of which is a permanent supportive housing project and we do a lot of service providing there, not only spaces and placements, but also wrap around services and, you know, one of the things i wanted to talk to you about is that santa ana's in orange county where 80% latino. many of our residents live below the poverty line. this is also an equity issue when we talk about homelessness. we want to deliver those services to unsheltered residents and population. but, at the same time, we want to create a quality of life that's going to be proud for our low income communities of

color to be able to thrive in and that's the fairness that they deserve and that's something that we have to deliver and be conscious of. so i know that when we talk about, you know, $20 billion's a big number. we have to have a proportional response to that issue. it's something that we know as mayors, it's not going to be a long-time lump sol approach. it's a multi-year effort that we have to all work together on and i'm proud of all the efforts we're doing collectively, but we all have unique communities and orange county and the minds of others may seem like -- and harry can speak to this, it's depicted as an affluent county. you see some real despair and that's where we have to use this money intelligently to address those things and so i'm really proud to say and we're blessed to be living in a state that i think there's an understanding and there's humanity that we all want to

deliver these services in. but, i think the moment is now and i think that we all have to, you know, ban together and use this opportunity and use it wisely because, look, if it goes away, it can be spent or miss spent other places and i think all of us are saying we can do things intelligently together and cohesively and make the state, again, one of the best places to live in and a place that i've grown up in myself. to the extent i'm completely supportive of what was said out of the effort that's going to be requested, we're grateful to the governor and his staff for being able to work with us. so let me go ahead and just because i know we're short on time. i want to turn it over to my friend and other newly elected mayor from the great city of stockton, mayor kevin lincoln. kevin, the floor is yours. >> thank you, mayor. and, again, just thank you to my fellow mayors here for your leadership.

the image that you see behind me is the image of count center studios here in stockton, california. this location was formerly a hotel that was converted. as a result of "project home key" and units that were provided to our shelter. over 80% of stockton residents view homelessness affecting the quality of life for all stocktonians. and over 50% are experiencing behavioral health challenges in the areas of mental health and substance abuse disorder. the need to expand wrap around services, emergency shelter capacity, transitional and permanent housing opportunities has never been greater. the fundamental allocate -- the $20 billion funding allocations to our cities would help us take bold actionable steps to

mitigate homelessness by addressing the root cause of homelessness in our communities and bring healing to unsheltered residents. it is imperative that our cities have access to increased levels of flexible funding from the state to adequately address the crisis through more positive initiatives like "project home key," community outreach efforts and ultimately homeless prevention. once again, this flexible funding allocation for homelessness would provide us with the opportunity to meet the immediate needs in our city. at this time, i'd like to turn it over to mayor shaft of oakland, california. >> thank you, mayor lincoln. i believe mayor shaft will be joining us momentarily. we can proceed with questions and perhaps come back if mayor shaft is able to jump on. so we welcome questions from anyone in the media to any of the members. >> mayor shaft is here now.

>> great. welcome. >> hi, i apologize. >> from the great city of oakland, i want to welcome my colleague and friend from across the bay mayor libby shaft. >> thank you so much, i know my job is to wrap us up and send us home. the state of california has made an amazing impact in our city in bending the curve to start to address this moral outrage that is homelessness. i'm sure you heard from all my colleagues there is nothing that our residents care more about than this. in oakland, the state's assistance has helped us double our shelter capacity. that means double the number of people that we have been able to get off of the streets and allow them to sleep with a roof over their heads. it's allowed us to advance innovations in shelters like our cabin communities, our safe

rv parks. we also have used the "home key program" to do miracles. i don't think anybody imagines that we could create permanent affordable housing for our homeless so rapidly using existing buildings and not just hotels and motels. in oakland, we converted a former college dormitory into housing and bought single-family homes to advance a very innovative model of shared housing for our formally homeless seniors. it's truly beautiful. we know that this problem -- we know how to fix this problem. each of our jurisdictions have done detailed analysis, have regional plans in the bay area, all homes just unveiled their regional action plan. and in alameda county, the second largest county in the

bay area, we also just released this week a detailed systems analysis that shows exactly how we can end homelessness. we know how to do it, we just need the resources. $20 billion is an appropriate, large investment in california's largest problem. it is something as mayors are

this request. >> thank you, mayor libby shaft. as members of the media can see, we have a great lineup but it's wonderful having a great clean-up hitter like mayor libby shaft to really drive us home. so the message is very clear. we're happy to take questions from members of the media to any of the big city mayors here today. >> absolutely. thank you, mayor.

we're going to start with chris win from abc 7. chris, you should be able to speak now. >> great. thank you so much, rachel. chris win from san francisco. this question is for san jose mayor licardo. this would be a big investment. what do you say to people who are on the fence that it will be money well spent. and, secondly, for mayor breed, some have the notion if you build it they will come. for those who might come here in search of housing and services. first, let's start with mayor licardo? >> that's, chris. it's no question it's a big investment. when we emerge from this pandemic, this will remain our biggest problem and the evidence is clear that we haven't spent nearly enough addressing this crisis.

we believe this budget surplus will be something on the order of $40 billion, perhaps more. obviously, the numbers change as we get closer to the final decision, but spending half of a surplus on the biggest problem we face in california and making that commitment last for a half decade, that's money well spent. mayor breed. i think -- >> mayor breed had to jump off for a scheduling conflict. chris, we'll connect you with her office after this. my apologies. >> great. thank you, chris. >> next question comes from telemundo sacramento. her question is the money will be used to continue the existing programs or to create a state program that will be implemented in every city and only the cities in this petition will have access to

the money or will be distributed to every city. >> i'm sorry, the question was how will the money be distributed? >> correct. >> yeah. again, i welcome any of my colleagues to jump in. we know that the funding formulas from the state have typically allocated dollars to counties and because of the leadership of predecessors like mayor darrell steinberg and eric garcetti we now have direct allocation to the cities. obviously, we'd love to have even larger allocations to the cities. we know this is going to be a partnership. cities and counties working together because we each have critical roles to play. homelessness is worse and that is in our big cities. mayor steinberg. >> i'll just try just on the question of how the money will be allocated. what we seek is maximum

flexibility, to be able to balance both the capital that's necessary to build whatever kind of structures we need to bring people under a roof, but then secondly and mayor shaft is absolutely correct, the five-year piece of this is important. it enables us to use flexible money for operations and to be able to spread that money out over five years. it's a combination of the capital and the operation that creates the magic that allows people to regain their lives off the streets. >> thank you, mayor steinberg. anyone else like to respond? okay. >> i'd just add that this is -- we're not asking for a new program. we all know what the proven strategies are. our issue is scaling them and so this is not a new state

program. it is investing in evidence-based strategies to prevent and end homelessness and the flexibility allows californians to get more bang for their buck. each one of us knows the investments we have made locally and where that added state dollar is going to have the biggest impact. that's what's so important about this request. >> thanks. i have a question from christina kim from ks. how many funds would san diego county expect to get and what programs or projects would you want to prioritize? >> appreciate the question. like our chair licardo mentioned, last year, home key dollars, we were able to receive over $30 million having housing for over 400 san

diegans. that's a budget decision that will be made by others. where i would like to see dollars, i would like to see the number of growing supportive housing units in our city. that's how you solve homelessness. that's what we did with the hotels. we are prepared to acquire hotels. we can also help provide gap funding. things that city council has already authorized. get more deeply affordable units, work with our county. i had a long meeting very early this morning with the county of san diego trying to coordinate our federal relief dollars. that probably looks like more detox beds, more recoup and care beds. the kind of niche spaces that we're looking with super sick people on the streets. it's the permanent housing that addresses the issues in the long run. some of these intermediate beds

in between. everything's on the table and what i would refer to is look at our city's homelessness plan. the full implementation of that plan will require $1.9 billion. you understand very clearly why i'm here today and so strongly in support of this proposal. it will help us get much closer to the interventions in that plan. it will reduce homelessness by half in the next couple of years in san diego. >> thanks. eric, you should be able to speak now. >> hello, my name is eric galicia. i'm the editor of the local college over here. my question is for mayor lock-dawson. in terms of the spending that riverside implements, how would you go about that when it comes to the fires that we've been

seeing in the river bottom and other parts of the city? and, also, you campaigned on tackling homelessness through a regional approach, so if, you know, do you plan to use some of the funds at river side we get to help out our neighboring cities with homelessness? >> well, thanks for the question, eric. i appreciate that. both of those questions are related to each other, but i will tell you fires aren't necessarily a homeless related problem. i mean, some of it can be, but this money, we will use for most likely not just housing, but services. we're going to bring services to this region. and, also, we're already working with a regional coalition right now and we've made a plan to tackle these kinds of things where we are working with our surrounding

cities, we're working with the county. we're working with the state and we have a plan to address not only the fires in the river bottom but also just the folks that are down there and getting them into housing and getting the services that they need. so the money will be used wisely as it has in the past. as you know, we have in riverside here, the office of homeless solutions. on there, you can see our dash board and we've planned to use that money to just build on the programs as mayor shaft said. build on the programs that are successful. we know what works, so we just need to make sure we have the funding to continue that work. >> thank you, mayor. >> thank you. we have megan. megan, you should be allowed to speak now. please tell us your outlet as well. >> thank you, this is megan with los angeles magazine. my question is for mayor

garcetti. this request comes as you know at this time in the federal lawsuit, mayor, you had said after he issued this injunction that you would still hope to sit down and work something out with him. his order on the stay request sunday night opens the door for that. have you or anyone else at city hall talked with the judge this week, and, if so, how did those discussions go? >> i can't speak for everybody, but i was pleased to see him back off of the order and to sit down with us which we've never not wanted to do and engaging and making promises and meeting those promises. i just said stay out of the way of progress. i'm happy. i think the council president spoke to him briefly and we agreed to sit down on the 27th of may. i know he has a big case he's doing but in the meantime,

we're not waiting one minute. but i certainly don't want to see anything of what we're advocating here. we're acting too quickly to be able to stand up. >> so it doesn't sound like there's any discussion then before the stay request. that's still pending and it doesn't sound like there's any kind of settlement or negotiation. >> i would hope so. that's what we were aiming for. we already made one huge settlement jump. as you saw in my budget historic funding to get there we hope the county matches as well. but, no, we're ready. if we wants to talk to me tomorrow. >> may 27th is a long ways off. >> that's what he asked for. in the meantime we're satisfied with what he's withdrawn.

>> okay. i did have another question regarding the pallet shelters that are going up everywhere especially in north hollywood. these same shelters had a pretty bad fire last december and the mayor of redlands is citing that fire as a reason to go with another type of tiny home that he says isn't as flammable. i understand that i think the city bought these pallet shelters before the incident and banning, but i'm just wondering if there's been any review of the shelters? >> yeah. very expensively and folks wanted to build them much more densely, but our fire inspectors insisted on the space between them. because you can have them with or without those hvac extinguishers so we've done a lot of extensive work to make sure they're going to be safe and spaced out from each other. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, both. we've got about three more

questions here. gina from bay city news. gina, go ahead. >> hi, can you hear me? >> we can. >> great. so i have two questions. the first one is more general, but how exactly will the $20 billion proposal be split among cities? i mean, is it just the major cities here on this call or in this coalition and will it be based off maybe population? how do you anticipate that will be split. ? and the other one is specifically for mayor licardo, what issues would you prioritize in san jose and how much do you anticipate san jose would get if this was passed? >> thank you. the allocation will be determined by the legislature and the governor, but what we've seen in the past is essentially allocation that goes both to counties and to large cities. counties obviously have smaller cities within them and the allocation will be based on a

formula that combines both point in time homeless count and population and so we'd expect those kinds of formulas to continue and we'll be certainly advocating to ensure that the hardest hit cities after all it's large cities that suffered most from homelessness are in fact front and center in focus. in terms of san jose, i think what you've heard from my colleagues is very true in san jose as well. we need many different solutions because homelessness is a complex problem or diversity in which ways come into homelessness. we'll be spending dollars to prevent homelessness. very effective strategies using relatively small amounts of money that keeps families housed. that's a much more proactive way of addressing this problem. obviously. we'll be building more of these

permanent supportive housing in shelters as well. we need all the above strategy because we know we can't wait for one solution while others are still on the street. we're going to need multiple solutions. >> thank you. and just sorry. we know we've heard a lot this is a multi-pronged solution that the mayors already know. i mean, what are the main solutions to, you know end homelessness or at least curb it? >> i'll kick it off and ask my colleagues to jump in. the one solution is housing. we need to build a lot of housing than in the past and we need to be able to do it quickly and that requires some innovation and what you're seeing throughout these 13 cities are innovative

approaches everything from tiny homes to various approaches and density enabling more people to get off the street. we're able to get a lot of red tape out of the way the governor's been forthright. so we need flexibility and the ability to move quickly. i've also learned, preventing people from getting into homelessness is a much more cost effective approach. so we need housing and homelessness preevengs. >> tim, did you want to go ahead. go ahead, mayor shaft. >> i just wanted to lift up a reasonable action plan. and what it puts forth is really how we can maximize the flow to our system and make the investments that are going to be the fastest and most

efficient at bending the curve and that's the 1:2:4 ratio. every interim bed that we have, we need to create two permanent affordable houses for people to live in forever in security and we need to fund four prevention interventions. what we're seeing is we're getting people out of homelessness, but new people are getting homeless at a faster rate. in two years it's prevented 5,000 house holds from falling in to homelessness or rapidly resolving their homelessness and the average cost has been about $4,000 for average housing and allows us to

maximize our speed at which we completely end homelessness. 1:2:4. thank you. >> yeah. i wanted to address it from our perspective. the question is often answered, what is the process? and i think it's unique for every city. i can tell you in fresno, what has been working, you need to be able to fund outreach workers. there has to be that repore established and it takes a lot of work, a lot of energy, a lot of effort. the second thing is to be able to take those individuals and place them into transitional housing and that transitional housing must have security, it needs services for mental health, for alcohol substance abuse, addiction to address the growing population domestic violence. victims and their families out there on our streets. our veterans who are often

times abandoned. all of those services need to be provided and not on the short term, long-term and there has to be an exit strategy from that transitional housing and that's permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, alternative housing models like tiny homes, accessory dwelling units, as well as apartment complexes. all of those things have to happen. if not, we run into stagnation. and the fact that we ultimately end up with people remaining in transitional housing or emergency shelter for longer periods of time ultimately transitioning back out onto the streets in continuing with that life and lastly making sure that these folks have skills that will allow them to be gainfully employed. and so we need all of those services over a multiple period of time which is why we're

asking for four to five years of funding and sustained funding. so. >> would you like to jump in. >> one of the reasons why people are homeless is for different reasons and there's a different set of solutions for people for example who have become homeless for a short period of time because of an economic circumstance. contrast that with people who are living with severe mental illness or drug addiction we know what to do. the interventions are different. it's immediate housing to make sure that homelessness doesn't last long. for those who are chronically homeless, we call it a

continuum of care. and what this funding would allow us to do would be able to fund the assertive outreach, the case management, the wrap around services, the temporary housing that's needed and then the transition to longer term or permanent housing. it's all about getting to scale on all of the interventions and strategies that we know work because we're doing them, we just can't do it for enough. >> we'll take these two last questions and then we'll wrap up. >> this is christy growth with kthl. this question is for mayor steinberg and for mayor lincoln. if you guys are able to get this commitment, what programs

and specific projects do you guys have ready to go. to hit the ground running and going with that, how do you convent. ( who don't want those shelters and centers and affordable housing near them. >> i'll go ahead and start it off. thank you, christy for that question. when it comes to the matter, you know, it's very important to understand and have community buy-in and work alongside and through our current community based organizations that are currently partnering in the space to help the needs of the most vulnerable in our community. in order to get public buy-in. we have to make sure we're enhancing the services that are in place to meet the specific

needs. what was the other question, i'm sorry. >> what specific projects do you have ready to go if you were to get this allocation of money? >> yeah. so they're currently projects in place right now. one of the things we have to do is we have to expand that emergency so the capacity and enhance our transitional housing, but also work very hard towards that permanent affordable housing, you know, for our unsheltered population like many of our colleagues had said over the past hour that this is very multi-facetted. this is a very complex issue when it comes to homelessness and every community is impacted differently, but we can't forget the hard work that our community stakeholders are doing right now. and the people in our community that have been, have developed that repore to mayor dyer's point with the community, we have to work with and we have

to double down on those resources so that they can be as affected as they possibly can with reaching this most vulnerable population. >> darrell, did you want to respond? >> how will having more state money help solving this problem? >> i think it's been alluded to in a couple of the other questions and answers. it's not just getting people

into beds. we have prevention strategies. >> but also, we need better exit strategies. as mayor steinberg alluded to, we know what our population is. it's not just one monotypical population. we know we have people suffering from mental illness. we know we have people suffering from drug addiction. we know people have physical disabilities. people who are just down on their luck. need a leg up and help. so the money that we will be getting will be going towards each one of those programs. mostly what i would like to see though is focus on services. we have very -- the strategies that we've put in place now.

>> thank you. with that, i think that's a good note on which we should wrap this up. i want to thank all the members of the media for being with us and thank all of my colleagues for their forceful advocacy. we'll continue to push forth in the weeks ahead, we look forward to celebrating by getting more housing built in our communities and helping our homeless neighbors get off the streets. thank you all.

>> the market is one of our vehicles for reaching out to public and showing them how to prepare delicious, simple food. people are amazed that the library does things like that. biblio bistro is a food

education program. it brings such joy to people. it teaches them life skills that they can apply anywhere, and it encourages them to take care of themselves. my name is leaf hillman, and i'm a librarian, and biblio bistro is my creation. i'm a former chef, and i have been incubating this idea for many years. we are challenged to come up with an idea that will move the library into the future. this inspired me to think, what can we do around cooking? what can i do around cooking? we were able to get a cart. the charlie cart is designed to bring cooking to students in elementary students that has enough gear on it to teach 30

students cooking. so when i saw that, i thought bingo, that's what we're missing. you can do cooking classes in the library, but without a kitchen, it's difficult. to have everything contained on wheels, that's it. i do cooking demonstrations out at the market every third wednesday. i feature a seafood, vegetable, and i show people how to cook the vegetable. >> a lot of our residents live in s.r.o.s, single resident occupancies, and they don't have access to full kitchens. you know, a lot of them just have a hot plate, a microwave, and the thing that biblio bistro does really well is cook food accessible in season and make it available that day. >> we handout brochures with the featured recipe on the back. this recipe features mushrooms,

and this brochure will bring our public back to the library. >> libraries are about a good time. >> i hired a former chef. she's the tickle queen at the ramen shop in rockwood. we get all ages. we get adults and grandparents and babies, and, you know, school-age kids, and it's just been super terrific. >> i was a bit reluctant because i train teachers and adults. i don't train children. i don't work with children, and i find it very interesting and a bit scary, but working here really taught me a lot, you know, how easily you can influence by just showing them

what we have, and it's not threatening, and it's tasty and fun. i make it really fun with kids because i don't look like a teacher. >> in the mix, which is our team center, we have programs for our kids who are age 13 to 18, and those are very hands on. the kids often design the menu. all of our programs are very interactive. >> today, we made pasta and garlic bread and some sauce. usually, i don't like bell pepper in my sauce, but i used bell pepper in my sauce, and it complemented the sauce really well. i also grated the garlic on my bread. i never thought about that technique before, but i did it,

and it was so delicious. >> we try to teach them techniques where they can go home and tell their families, i made this thing today, and it was so delicious. >> they're kind of addicted to these foods, these processed foods, like many people are. i feel like we have to do what we can to educate people about that. the reality is we have to live in a world that has a lot of choices that aren't necessarily good for you all the time. >> this is interesting, but it's a reaction to how children are brought up. it is fast-food, and the apple is a fast-food, and so that sort of changes the way they think about convenience, how eating apple is convenient. >> one of the things that i love about my program out at the market is the surprise and delight on people's faces when they finally taste the

vegetable. it's been transformative for some people. they had never eaten those vegetables before, but now, they eat them on a regular basis. >> all they require is a hot plate and a saute pan, and they realize that they're able to cook really healthy, and it's also tasty. >> they also understand the importance of the connection that we're making. these are our small business owners that are growing our food and bringing it fresh to the market for them to consume, and then, i'm helping them consume it by teaching them how to cook. >> it connects people to the food that they're buying. >> the magic of the classes in the children's center and the team center is that the participants are cooking the food themselves, and once they do that, they understand their connection to the food, to the tools, and it empowers them. >> we're brokering new

experiences for them, so that is very much what's happening in the biblio bistro program. >> we are introducing kids many times to new vocabulary. names of seasonings, names of vegetables, names of what you call procedures. >> i had my little cooking experience. all i cooked back then was grilled cheese and scrambled eggs. now, i can actually cook curry and a few different thing zblz . >> and the parents are amazed that what we're showing them to cook is simple and inexpensive. i didn't know this was so easy to make. i've only bought it in the market. those comments have been amazing, and yeah, it's been really wonderful.

>> we try to approach everything here with a well, just try it. just try it once, and then, before you know it, it's gone. >> a lot of people aren't sure how to cook cauliflower or kale or fennel or whatever it is, and leah is really helpful at doing that. >> i think having someone actually teaching you here is a great experience. and it's the art of making a meal for your family members and hope that they like it. >> i think they should come and have some good food, good produce that is healthy and actually very delicious. >> cooking is one of my biggest passions, to be able to share, like, my passion with others,

and skills, to h >> restaurants will be open for take out only, but nonessential stores, like bars and gyms, will close effective midnight tonight. [♪♪♪] >> my name is sharky laguana. i am a small business owner. i own a company called vandigo van rentals. it rents vans to the music industry.

i am also a member of the small business commission as appointed by mayor breed in 2019. i am a musician and have worked as a professional musician and recording artist in the 90s. [♪♪♪] >> we came up in san francisco, so i've played at most of the live venues as a performer, and, of course, i've seen hundreds of shows over the years, and i care very, very deeply about live entertainment. in fact, when i joined the commission, i said that i was going to make a particular effort to pay attention to the arts and entertainment and make sure that those small businesses receive the level of attention that i think they deserve. >> this is a constantly and rapidly changing situation, and we are working hard to be aggressive to flatten the curve

to disrupt the spread of covid-19. >> when the pandemic hit, it was crystal clear to me that this was devastating to the music industry because live venues had to completely shutdown. there was no way for them to open for even a single day or in limited capacity. that hit me emotionally as an artist and hit me professionally, as well as a small business that caters to artists, so i was very deeply concerned about what the city could do to help the entertainment committee. we knew we needed somebody to introduce some kind of legislation to get the ball rolling, and so we just started texting supervisor haney, just harassing him, saying we need to do something, we need to do something. he said i know we need to do something, but what do we do? we eventually settled on this

idea that there would be an independent venue recovery fund. >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president walton: thank you. without objection, this resolution is passed unanimously. >> and we were concerned for these small mom-and-pop businesses that contribute so much to our arts community. >> we are an extremely small venue that has the capacity to do extremely small shows. most of our staff has been working for us for over ten years. there's very little turnover in the staff, so it felt like family. sharky with the small business commission was crucial in pestering supervisor haney and others to really keep our industry top of mind.

we closed down on march 13 of 2020 when we heard that there was an order to do so by the mayor, and we had to call that show in the middle of the night. they were in the middle of their sound check, and i had to call the venue and say, we need to cancel the show tonight. >> the fund is for our live music and entertainment venues, and in its first round, it will offer grants of at least $10,000 to qualifying venues. these are venues that offer a signature amount of live entertainment programming before the pandemic and are committed to reopening and offering live entertainment spaces after the pandemic. >> it's going to, you know,

just stave off the bleeding for a moment. it's the city contributing to helping make sure these venues are around, to continue to be part of the economic recovery for our city. >> when you think about the venues for events in the city, we're talking about all of them. some have been able to come back adaptively over the last year and have been able to be shape shifters in this pandemic, and that's exciting to see, but i'm really looking forward to the day when events and venues can reopen and help drive the recovery here in san francisco. >> they have done a study that says for every dollar of ticket sales done in this city, $12 goes to neighboring businesses. from all of our vendors to the restaurants that are next to our ven sues and just so many other things that you can think

of, all of which have been so negatively affected by covid. for this industry to fail is unthinkable on so many levels. it's unheard of, like, san francisco without its music scene would be a terribly dismal place. >> i don't know that this needs to be arrest -- that there needs to be art welfare for artists. we just need to live and pay for our food, and things will take care of themselves. i think that that's not the given situation. what san francisco could do that they don't seem to do very much is really do something to support these clubs and venues that have all of these different artists performing in them. actually, i think precovid, it was, you know, don't have a warehouse party and don't do a gig.

don't go outside, and don't do this. there was a lot of don't, don't, don't, and after the pandemic, they realized we're a big industry, and we bring a lot of money into this city, so they need to encourage and hope these venues. and then, you know, as far as people like me, it would be nice if you didn't only get encouraged for only singing opera or playing violin. [♪♪♪] >> entertainment is a huge part of what is going to make this city bounce back, and we're going to need to have live music coming back, and comedy, and drag shows and everything under the sun that is fun and creative in order to get smiles back on our faces and in order to get the city moving again. [♪♪♪] >> venues serve a really vital

function in society. there aren't many places where people from any walk of life, race, religion, sexuality can come together in the same room and experience joy, right? experience love, experience anything that what makes us human, community, our connective tissues between different souls. if we were to lose this, lose this situation, you're going to lose this very vital piece of society, and just coming out of the pandemic, you know, it's going to help us recover socially? well, yeah, because we need to be in the same room with a bunch of people, and then help people across the country recover financially. >> san francisco art recovery fund, amazing. it opened yesterday on april 21. applications are open through may 5. we're encouraging everyone in the coalition to apply.

there's very clear information on what's eligible, but that's basically been what our coalition has been advocating for from the beginning. you know, everyone's been supportive, and they've all been hugely integral to this program getting off the ground. you know, we found our champion with supervisor matt haney from district six who introduced this legislation and pushed this into law. mayor breed dedicated $1.5 million this fund, and then supervisor haney matched that, so there's $3 million in this fund. this is a huge moment for our coalition. it's what we've been fighting for all along. >> one of the challenges of our business is staying on top of all the opportunities as they come back. at the office of oewd, office

of economic and workforce development, if you need to speak to somebody, you can find people who can help you navigate any of the available programs and resources. >> a lot of blind optimism has kept us afloat, you know, and there's been a lot of reason for despair, but this is what keeps me in the business, and this is what keeps me fighting, you know, and continuing to advocate, is that we need this and this is part of our life's blood as much as oxygen and food is. don't lose heart. look at there for all the various grants that are available to you. some of them might be very slow to unrao, and it might seem like too -- unroll, and it might seem like it's too late, but people are going to fight to keep their beloved venues open, and as a band, you're going to be okay. [♪♪♪]