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tv   Mayors Press Availability  SFGTV  June 1, 2021 10:00pm-12:01am PDT

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>> well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to union square. hello, san francisco. it's a beautiful sunny day here, and the fog has lifted, perhaps like the collective proverbial covid fog that we've all been stuck in the last year. my name is karen flood, and i'm the executive director of the union square business district, and we're so pleased to see you today, and so many visitors. we have missed you all. we have missed the visitors and the workers in union square who come here to dine in our fine
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restaurants and stay in our beautiful hotels and dine in our shops. but we know they will be back, and we know that mayor breed has been focused in this last year on keeping us safe and healthy, and we appreciate that. she's been laser focused on making sure that everybody is healthy and distancing and we are getting vaccinated, so excellent job, mayor breed. [applause] >> but now it is time to turn to recovery and renewal. we know here in san francisco, we are resilient and strong. we have survived fires and earthquakes, and we have survived this, and we will come
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back. workers have also worked alongside the retired sfpd ambassadors, which has become an incredible plan and was the idea of mayor london breed to add an additional layer of safety in union square. we know there are additional resources on the way, which we will talk about in a moment. we convened an economic task force for union square. let's liven up these spaces, starting with union square. people come here to protest, hopefully peacefully. people come to people watch in our cafes, which are open, so hopefully they will do that again. and now if we could just get our beloved cable car and back and running before september. how about june, when the tourists are here? that would really be a signal
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that san francisco is back open and ready for business. but without further adieu, i would like to introduce someone that needs no further introduction, mayor london breed. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, karen. i'm not only excited to be in union square, but i'm excited to be anywhere in san francisco as we start the process to reopen and imagine what the city can be as we come out of this pandemic. it's been a tough year. it's been a tough, tough year because our focus has been on public health and saving lives. it's been a tough year for business, it's been a tough year for tourism, it's been a tough year for employees in san francisco. we keep talking about this light at the end of the tunnel. well, today, it's bright in union square, and i'm excited
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about the future of union square and our city. i just wanted to take the opportunity to name a few people that are here today, a few of which you will hear from. the new director of the arts commission in san francisco, ralph remington, and ralph, you're going to have to take your mask off in the street so we recognize you. she's the new director for the grants for the arts, but she's been advocating for so many arts businesses in san francisco. we have vallie brown, the director of grants for the arts, and our new director of the office of economic and workforce development. you'll hear from the other two speakers that are joining us, and i'll introduce them, and i want to recognize deputy chief of the san francisco police department.
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thank you, chief lozar. i want to say captain, but you went from a captain, and you've moved on up in the ranks, and we appreciate you and the san francisco police department and everything you do to keep our citizens safe. we also have -- thank you, karen, and the union street bid for your work because i know that your work and your advocacy is why we're here today. it is a great day in san francisco, and when you think about where we are now and how far we've come, just sit in that moment. the giants are first place in the league. they're not first place anymore? okay. all right. well, we hope that the giants will become first place in the league. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: but they're playing, and you can go to a game. unfortunately, the warriors didn't make it through, but
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that's okay. at least we got a few games in before they were x'ed out of the playoffs. and what's also happening is the san francisco symphony is open. you can watch a performance there. stern grove is coming back, and it's going to be amazing. the hilton hotel just announced that it's going to be open. john's grill, i know john, jr. is here. thank you for joining us here. performances on sundays, and so many activities, so many great events. the city is coming alive again, and as we begin to recover and think about what happens in union square, downtown is about where 40% of the jobs that exist in san francisco, they're here in the downtown area. when we think about the economy and coming back, the retail and the business and the activities, this is the bread and butter of san francisco. this is why we are able to pay for programs and resources and all the things that help out so
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many of our vulnerable communities. the tourists, the 20 million tourists who visit san francisco every year that pay the hotel tax, that shop at macy's and a number of our businesses. it's important that as we reopen, we reimagine what downtown can be. we have to make it a safe place for people who live and work here. now i'm a regular visitor to the downtown area, and i do hear from so many of the people who work here, many in particular women who work in retail, who catch the 31 balboa and the 5 fulton from the western addition, people who i grew up with who have expressed to me about their concerns for their safety and they've never felt that way in san francisco before.
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what that means is we have to do more. we have to do more to keep people safe. we have to make sure that we do more to make sure that people have a rewarding experience because when people visit san francisco and they come here, we want them to want to come back. now it's been about, i think, two years, when i announced the ambassador program. karen, you remember when i had that event, and i said we're going to bring retired police officers out of retirement and have an ambassador program solely focused on this particular area in union square. after a few years of bureaucracy, it finally happened, so right now, that ambassador program is really an important part of our recovery. the goal is to have the eyes and the ears on the streets. the goal is to make sure that when people are in crisis, we're able to address those challenges, and a perfect example is one time, when i was
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down here near crate and barrel, a man didn't have shoes on, needed some support, and some ambassadors tried to help him, but what's next? what's next? how do we get him off the streets so he can get the support he needs, and part of our recent announcements have been the street crisis response teams, our street wellness teams to check on people to deal with folks in crisis. i get so many calls from so many people in this community concerned about not just their business and how this is impacting the quality of life in this community but how are we going to do more to help these people off the streets? and so a combination of my investments in this upcoming budget have everything to do with trying to reimagine,
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beautify, provide the level necessary to bring this area back stronger than ever, to make it a vibrant, a more welcoming place and make sure that people have great experiences. so what do some of those investments look like? well, some of you remember i used to be the executive director of the african american art and culture complex, and the thing i loved about that space is artists make communities come alive. people would paint on the walls. i'm not advising that to happen here in downtown. people would dance in the parking lot and in the streets. i'm not suggesting that we do that and stop traffic, but we are going to bring our artists to this area. we are going to start to activate the community with local artists, providing resources to pay them because i believe in paying artists and they deserve to be paid their worth, but to really bring them to this area and to create an environment at holiday plaza that will really activate the
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area. so we're going to be making some improvements and some investments, and yes, i'd like the cable cars to come back sooner rather than later, but i can't make that promise today, karen. but the fact is we're going to activate holiday plaza, we're going to bring in some new businesses, so when you're getting off b.a.r.t. and coming to san francisco, the first thing you can do is grab a coffee or a san francisco coffee mug and have this great holiday plaza experience. it will be activated, our ambassadors will be in the location, it will be safe, and our goal is to have great and rewarding experiences. so part of the goals will be not just to increase the experiences with the retired police officers but the ambassadors and the people that walk around this community and try to provide eyes and ears on the streets to address many of those challenges. so our ambassadors in the red
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coats are joining us here today, so thank you for your success and your continued support in this community. they may not recognize me in disguise, but i've seen them out on the streets, offering people bottled water. we'll be concentrating our street crisis response teams in this area so when we see anyone in crisis, we can focus on this area so all of you can focus on your businesses. that is our goal. the other thing that we are doing as we head down this road to recovery is we're really trying to focus on how do we make it easier to do business in san francisco. i'm not even going to name the stores that i love that closed because i'm heartbroken that they're no longer in san francisco. i've reached out to a number of them, and they said they may
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come back, but they told me, look, doing business in san francisco is hard. i put out a business recovery plan that's supposed to be working its way through the board of supervisors. i put out a plan to make our shared spaces program permanent that's supposed to be making its way through the board of supervisors. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: but the board has messed with the wrong mayor. when they tried to butcher my legislation and water it down and make it even more difficult and complicated so businesses continued to struggle and had difficulty doing business in san francisco, that's when i take a different sort of action. so if they want to continue down that path, my plan is to bring it to the voters, to put it on the ballot, and to make sure you all have a real voice and that the voters support these efforts. overwhelmingly, the people of this city, people who grow up and want to start their own
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small business, they shouldn't need $250,000 to give to the water department or some angel investor just because they want to sell their clothing or their masks or their artwork. it should not be so difficult. and as i said time and time again, my focus is to cut the bureaucratic red tape that makes it impossible for people to do business in san francisco. because it's not just about creating an economic opportunity for the people starting these businesses, it's about creating jobs, it's about creating an increased tax base to support all these services that we all want to support communities in san francisco. it goes hand in hand, so i am making that clear today that if the board continues down this path, my plan is to bring it to the voters, and i know that you all will be with me when i do it at that time. [applause]
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>> the hon. london breed: so here's a couple of official announcements that i think i might have forgotten about. that's why i had to write them down. community ambassadors in union square in downtown. s.f. wednesdays, a local artist will be performing in july from 12:00 to 6:00. a series of performing -- performances at the former temporary transbay terminal, so activating that area downtown, and we're going to start ramping up in july throughout the summer months because we know that we need to change this area, we need to make sure it comes alive, and i am so excited to the activation and the people eating at the various restaurants, shopping at the various stores, or just sitting right here in union
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square and people watching just because we miss seeing faces. eventually, these masks, they're going to hopefully go away, but in the meantime, continue to shine, san francisco. we are open for business. thank you all so much for being here today, and i want to introduce peter from sam's grill. [applause] >> thank you. as you know -- well, first of all, i want to thank the mayor and her team because it's a well thought out plan. i mean, it's necessary. we need to revitalize downtown san francisco, and as a small business owner, we spend a great deal of time here. we're here morning, noon, and night. sam's grill has been a part of this community since 1867. we've seen it all. if our walls could talk, which is a whole different story, so
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we'll leave that for another time, but we've seen it all, and we've recovered from it and look forward to the future. after clocking in for 150 years, i feel as if downtown san francisco is still a bit of a secret, and we're primed and ready for it to be rediscovered. i'm very pleased that small business is a component of this plan. downtown, as the mayor said, is the economic engine of the city, and at this time, any support we have is greatly appreciated. we have the infrastructure in place. we have beautiful architecture, we have transportation hubs, we have parking, we have gathering spots, and now, we're starting to improve, and we have a vibrant history, and let's keep that all alive and well. i'm excited about the effort to regain our commitment to helping people revisit downtown with new eyes, and there's no better way to do this than to be kind and inclusive.
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we really want to create an environment where people feel vibrant, where people feel comfortable, and they want to return to. at the end of the day, we're all human beings, and that's the bottom line, so the next time i see you, i hope it's in a booth at sam's or in the dining room or in sam's tavern. i invite you all to revisit san francisco, to revisit downtown, to enjoy it because we're made for this. thank you. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, peter, and i want to recognize laurie thomas from the golden gate restaurant association. thank you so much for being here, and i also want to say thank you to the downtown fisherman's wharf, yerba buena, and east court benefit district, the san francisco chamber of commerce, kevin carroll's joining us, s.f.
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travel, the bar owners association. i think that's you behind that mask. thank you, ben. the directors of all the city departments i mentioned before. also, separately from the city departments i mentioned before, i want to mention the city administrator carmen chiu and the department of public works. i've been wearing a lot of masks during this pandemic. i would say the majority of masks that i wear look like they are very artistic and beautiful, and they usually match my outfits. not as nice as nancy pelosi and the matching of her outfits, but pretty darn close, and the person that makes these masks is an incredible local artist who's really been a fierce advocate for a lot of the programs and the investments that we're making. as a result of her advocacy, what we're doing in her budget
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is backfilling some of the grants for the artists in the grants for the arts program, and we'll continue to provide first-ever guaranteed income for artists here in san francisco, a program that was recently launched. so many great things for artists, because let's face it, artists really make magic happen. they make things come alive through performance and the visual arts, and it's time to talk about the arts related components for our downtown is deborah walker. [applause] >> good morning. i want to, first off, thank our mayor for the work she's done to have our city recover as it has for all of us, but especially for our arts community very early on in the process of dealing with the issue of covid here in the city, the mayor stepped up and
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protected the funding for our arts organizations and our artists citywide so that after school programs and education pods and the creative corps which actually brought artists in to deliver food, vaccines, testing, all of the things associated with recovery, and the mayor actually stepped forward and made that happen. the arts contribute over $1.7 million a year into our economy every year. san francisco is an arts city. it's also important to know that for every dollar invested in the arts with grant programs, etc., you get a 17-fold return, so it's smart, efficient, and it also, as the mayor pointed out, it's where the spirit of our city comes from. every community of our
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community -- you see the paint the void has managed the mural projects on all of the shuttered -- the businesses that put wood on the front of their businesses. we brought artists to paint murals all across town. when allowed, we brought in small performance and art into the shared spaces program, which now is going to be made permanent. this is also important because this is really sort of where these ideas come from. when the mayor put together her economic task force to make recommendations on how to help sectors recover, she appointed over a dozen arts professionals not just to talk about the arts but to engage in with all of the different sectors to imagine how arts can be used as the catalyst it is. it's the magic the mayor talked about. we've all experienced it, and certainly, we've all felt the absence of it until we started doing all these programs, so
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the mayor deserves a whole lot of credit for all of these ideas. this is part of what we talked about in the task force is activating around the city's open spaces where it makes sense and as appropriate and as allowed by the regulations to actually create, bring artists that are local together. i'm sure we'll also have some big name san francisco artists that are a part of this process. downtown is devastated, and the last group to open are the offices and the restaurants, the inside bars, night time entertainment. the artists community has been devastated. one of the sectors with the highest unemployment rate, so this is the opportunity to really open up our city again. my hope is that this infrastructure that creates these performance opportunities can then be spread out into all of our neighborhoods where we
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have these shared spaces. the hope is that we have these events downtown and folks from the sunset and richmond and marina will come down and remember what it's like to be here. so the arts -- the arts are a catalyst, you know? it is the magic that we need. there's a reason why the w.p.a. included so many murals that we see today. this is history. you know, going through what we went through is history. i'm excited about our new leadership. directors remington and brown and our new director of economic activity in the city, kate sophis. all of these folks know our city, know our arts, and are going to be doing more of these different type of projects, so
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i'm just grateful, mayor, and thank you so much, and thank you all. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: when i was in high school in san francisco at galileo high school, nothing made me more excited than out of nowhere, when we were out in the courtyard, the music would blast in the p.a., and then, there was this whole pep rally for home coming. those kinds of things would happen all the time, and part of what gets a community alive and rooting for san francisco has to do with things all of a sudden out of nowhere wherein a plaza like this, you see artists dancing and performing. everyone stops in their tracks to look, and it puts a smile on people's faces. holiday plaza, out of nowhere, people were dancing and performing as people were waiting in line to get their coffee. just imagine if people are
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expanding and providing entertainment in a way that really puts a smile on people's face as they are waiting for the cable car. activation has everything to do with making people feel good and feel alive and feel happy about their experience in san francisco. so i'm taking my high school experience, my experience as a former arts director and trying to make sure that everyone has a very similar experience all over san francisco. yes, i love the symphony. i used to play french horn. i was okay. that was in junior high, but you shouldn't have to only be able to go to the symphony to have that experience. just imagine the symphony playing here outdoors, where everyone gets that experience. that's what opera in the park is all about, that's what these great activities are about, and that's how we're going to get life back. making the right investments,
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keeping people safe, cleaning up our city, and umm canning together just -- and coming together just like we did to fight this pandemic. we're coming together from a very challenging time, and we're going to do so with a smile on our face. thank you all so much for joining us here today. [applause] >> restaurants will be open for take out only, but nonessential stores, like bars and gyms, will close effective midnight tonight. [♪♪♪]
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>> 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
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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
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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
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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
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$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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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. [♪♪♪] >> today's special guest is sherisse dorsey smith. she's the director of program grants for the department of
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children, youth, and families, and she's here to talk about the learning grants, and she's the project lead. miss dorsey smith, well come to the show. >> thank you, chris, for having me. >> can we talk about the learning hubs in general. what it is, who it's designed for, and why it's so important during this pandemic. >> yes, definitely. so the community hub initiative was created to offer support for distance learning. we wanted to ensure that young people, their basic nutrition needs were met, that they had access to wifi and digital devices, and they were able to engage with their peers in a safe environment. the community hub initiative or c.h.i., as we like to refer to it, supports our most vulnerable youth. our priority population was to focus on youth that lived in public housing, youth in
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s.r.o.s or in foster care or homeless, and maria su, our director, likes to say to give kids the golden key, but to focus on our african american, pacific islander, latino, and people of color. it's the ones after receiving data on early in the process were identified as the ones needing the most support. a lot of our students, after we went to shelter in place in spring, in march, by summertime, so many were suffering academically, but they were also suffering from a lack of social interaction and their social and mental support. so we wanted to make sure when we developed these hubs, we
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offered those needs and supports to the youth. >> how successful have the community hubs been? how many have opened and how many students have been helped? i'm sure there were some challenges, too. issues such as staffing come to mind. >> well, we've been able to open 80 hubs across the city, ranging from one pod, which is about 12 kids, to five pods, which is there's up to 15 kids in a pod, there's 70 kids at a site. we've served about 7,000 kids, but there's been some challenges. it hasn't been all smooth sailing. right off the bat, we had a huge hurdle that we had to overcome. we knew that there would be a higher demand than we were able to supply, and we needed to figure out a way to meet it as much as possible. so initially, can he designed
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the hub -- we designed the hubs to serve up to 20 kids in a pod with two adults. but then, here comes the state of california who had much more conservative health and safety ordinance than even what we have locally because typically, d.p.h., our san francisco department of public health was a lot more conservative than the state. they came in and said okay, no more than 12 to 14 youth in a pod, maximum of two adults. so those staffings, and c.b.o.s having to meet the capacity was a constraint. it's a challenge, it's been rough, but it's been so fulfilling to see the smiles on the faces of our youth, seeing that the staff say we had to
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make this work no matter what. we were still able to launch successfully in september with, like, opening 42 hubs to start but now, like, we're at 80, and it's hopefully still increasing. i'm bringing on a couple more in a few weeks. >> that's great. now you just mentioned c.b.o.s, community-based organizations, and i understand that the city is partnering with nonprofits and c.b.o.s. do they provide space? how does it work? >> in partnership with rec and parks and the libraries, and that's where we get a lot of c.b.o.s brick and mortar spaces. we provide the staffing. we have rec and park who are standing up hubs. we have lifeguards and other folks coming in, transition to
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being able to provide this all day support and care, which is similar to what they do in the summer. they're the ones who, you know, have been able to step in and really stabilize a lot of young people and support families. they bring in -- or they have access to, you know, mental health and behavior services. they bring in their enrichment activities. they bring in just the sense of family and community, which a lot of our youth and families definitely appreciate, so we're in constant communication with each other, we're in constant communication with our city partners, the department of technology has been superstars in this whole hub initiative. they've gone out and done all the tech assessments on all these sites in addition to our comcast partners. everyone has been phenomenal. i've been in government for 13 years now, and to see how everyone was able to come
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together, the red tape was gone, all the barriers that we typically have just working in government, that all just, like, went away, and everyone was so focused on making sure that this could be successful, that it just turned out to a beautiful thing. and i think that opened up the door for even stronger partnerships and alignment even beyond this pandemic, so i'm super appreciative of everyone who's been involved in this project. >> finally, how long do you think the hubs will be operating? i know the session ended in february and a new one's already begun, but do you think they will be expanded during the summer to help kids who had trouble with distance learning during the pandemic? >> yes. i anticipate the learning hubs operating through the summer and even into the fall. they're on going, so even as the school district works to reopen, there's going to be a place for hubs for a while.
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i think this is a -- an opportunity or a model to change the way we view education and how we educate or kids, and so i definitely see the hubs being a part for a long-term. hopefully not ten years from now, but definitely in the next 18 months, the hubs will be up and running and thriving. >> fantastic. you know, the work you and your team have done on this project has been phenomenal. i want to thank you for coming on the show today. this has been really informative, miss dorsey smith. thank you for your time. >> thank you so much for having me. >> for more on the learning hubs, visit dcyf.org or dial 311 and speak to an operator. and that's it for this show. we'll be watching with more covid related information shortly. you've been watching coping with covid-19. for sfgovtv, i'm chris manners. thanks for watching. [♪♪
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>> 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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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>> 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
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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 . >> my name is dave, and i play defense. >> my name is mustafa, and i am
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a midfielder, but right now, i am trying to play as a goalkeeper, because they need a goalkeeper. >> soccer u.s.a. is a nonprofessional organization. we use sports, soccer in particular to engage communities that can benefit from quality programs in order to lift people up, helping to regain a sense of control in one's life. >> the san francisco recreation and park department and street soccer u.s.a. have been partners now for nearly a decade. street soccer shares our mission in using sport as a vehicle for youth development and for reaching people of all ages. rec and park has a team. >> i'm been playing soccer all my life. soccer is my life. >> i played in the streets when
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i was a kid. and i loved soccer back home. i joined street soccer here. it was the best club to join. it helps me out. >> the tenderloin soccer club started in the summer of 2016. we put one of our mini soccer pitches in one of our facilities there. the kids who kpriez the club team came out to utilize that space, and it was beautiful because they used it as an opportunity to express themselves in a place where they were free to do so, and it was a safe space, in a neighborhood that really isn't the most hospitalable to youth -- hospitable to youth playing in the streets. >> one day, i saw the coach and my friends because they went there to join the team before me. so i went up to the coach and
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asked, and they said oh, i've got a soccer team, and i joined, and they said yeah, it was he for everybody, and i joined, and it was the best experience ever. >> a lot of our programs, the kids are in the process of achieving citizenship. it's a pretty lengthy process. >> here, i am the only one with my dad. we were in the housing program, and we are trying to find housing. my sister, she's in my country, so i realize that i have a lot of opportunities here for getting good education to help her, you know? yeah. that's the -- one of the most important things that challenge me. >> my dad was over here, making some money because there was not a lot of jobs back home. i came here, finish elementary
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in san francisco. after that, i used to go back to my country, go to yemen, my country, and then back here. last time i went back was a couple years ago. >> i came here six months, i know nobody. now i have the team has a family, the coaches. amazing. >> i'm hoping for lifelong friendships, and i'm super inspired by what they've been able to achieve and want to continue to grow alongside them. >> i love my family, i love my team. they're just like a family. it's really nice. >> street soccer just received a five year grant from the department of children, youth and family, and this is an important inreflection point for street soccer u.s.a. because their work in our most important communities is now known beyond just san francisco recreation and park department, and together, we're going to
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continue to work with our city's most vulnerable kids and teach them to love the beautiful game. >> i want to tell everybody back home, i hope you all make it over here and join teams like this like street soccer u.s.a., and live your life. get a better life. >> right away, just be patient, and then, everything will be okay. going places in san francisco anymore. [applause]
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>> the hon. london breed: oh, hello. oh, my goodness. sorry to keep everybody waiting. i'm not used to going places in san francisco anymore. i sit at a computer all day, and i'm on zoom calls. i'm, like, wait a minute, this is in person? i want to thank you all for joining us. i'm mayor london breed, and i'm joined by several supervisors. i see supervisor catherine stefani and supervisor myrna melgar, as well. we have many folks that are part of the fabric of san francisco, and the reason why we're here with so many amazing women is because we know that since this pandemic began, women have really had a serious challenge. it's not bad enough that women
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in fact make about 80% to the dollar that men make, and african women more in the 60%, and latino women more about 50% on the dollar. it's not bad enough that we're not paid as much, but because there were challenges with child care, challenges to school, access to transitions and new and rewarding opportunities in the work industry, women have suffered really during this pandemic, and so it is so important to me that when looking at our economic recovery as san francisco began to reopen, that we can look at ways of supporting and invest in san francisco. now today, we have some really big announcements. now it's been hard, but two thirds of san franciscans have been vaccinated. as we begin to reopen, we want to keep people safe, and we are hopeful, jennie lam, that we are going to get the schools
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open this fall because i don't know about you, but i'm sure that many of the parents are ready to see their children go back to school. now what we're announcing today is going to be really incredible, and it has a lot to do with so many women expressing concerns about leaving one industry to go work in the other. if they were working in the hospitality industry, it's, like, this is the sector that i'm working in, but the hospitality industry was devastated during the pandemic, so how do we provide ways for people to shift? so part of the announcement today is focusing on getting people prepared to shift from various industries in san francisco. so we're announcing 300 opportunities that will help women in the hospitality sector, in the construction sector, in the tech sector, and a number of industries where whatever we choose to do, because we know we are women and we are fierce, we can jump
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on those opportunities. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: but it's not just about an opportunity, it's about what do you do with your children when you're trying to work? and so child care plays an important role, but here's the challenge we've had in san francisco. we have resources sometimes for the very low-income women, although we may not have a sufficient number of slots. and then, there's those women that just are right over the threshold where they don't necessarily qualify, but they face challenges in child care. so we are announcing today that not only are we offering more slots for our very low-income women that need help with their child care, but the moderate income, as well. 800 new slots for child care because you know mothers, they work hard, but they need a break. i don't know if you remember
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when you were a kid and how many problems you gave to your parents, but i was a handful to my grandmother. so i understand when she was, like, go ahead. she can go. take her. i need a break. well, it's not just about a break. it's about the learning loss, it's about having an opportunity to play with other children, it's about having a well rounded childhood and making sure that our child care centers are funded, our educators are funded in a specific way that we're able to provide some sense of normalcy after having such a tough year, so today is really about making sure that women are uplifted and supported; that we continue to breakdown these barriers as we head down the road of recovery. yes, san francisco is a major city, a dense city, with many, many challenges, but you know what? this is a challenge that we have to consistently work on. it should not be an issue for women, but it is an issue for
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women in san francisco and in the country. with that, the person that is going to lead this effort, a mom herself -- as a matter of fact, i was on meetings with her as she was dealing with distance learning with her child. we are so excited to have as our new executive director of the office of economic and workforce development, kay solfus [applause] >> good morning. so as i stand here, day seven -- day six in this new job for the city i love, i am very aware that i stand here on the shoulders of generations of women in my family, mostly single mothers in my family. and as i raise my children, my s.f. born children, my two daughters, one of woman is intellectual -- one of whom is
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intellectually and physically disabled, i realize i wouldn't be standing here being able to contribute to our city were it not for the incredible schools that have supported my kids and the child care, especially for my younger daughter, especially in the early years when many child care facilities didn't know how to handle someone with intellectual disabilities. rec and park stepped in, ggrc stepped in, and i'm able to do what i do as a direct by-product of being a woman and being supported in this life. i grew up as the daughter of another single mom in buffalo, new york, and she was not supported in the same way. she was always struggling to make ends meet, out of work, trying to figure out how to borrow neighbors to help care for my brother and i, and so i'm also aware of the unnecessary struggles women are
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put through trying to balance all that they do. so as i stand here today, thank you, mayor breed, thank you, my team at oewd, thank you, everyone standing behind me. i can't be more proud to have this be one of the first initiatives launched under my helm, and i commit to you and to this city that this is the first and it will not be the last, and that women and their children and their families are a key part of our economic recovery plan, a key part of equity in this city, and a key part of our future, and you have my commitment to lead the way. thank you. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, kate. and now, we have serina marie, who is a health care academy graduate with home bridge. [applause] >> good morning. i would like to thank mayor
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breed and health care academy -- thank you -- health care academy and all those who put this wonderful event together. i would like to share with you my story. my name is serina maria, and i am a care supervisor at home bridge. several years ago, i knew i wantsed -- wanted to be in the health care field, and home bridge gave me the opportunity in hiring me as a health care provider. during my time at home bridge, i wanted to grow in the field, so i decided to participate in their career advancement program, which is a collaboration of the health care academy and home bridge. through this training, i was able to gain the skill and opportunities needed for advancement in home bridge. in the training program, not only did i learn the technical
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skills of the job, but i also learned the interpersonal skills that have helped me not only support my clients and home care providers but also helped me in my every day personal life. shortly after completing the program, i was able to advance into a mentorship role supporting new providers coming into our organization. eventually, i was promoted to care supervisor, which is my current position. these advancement opportunities helped me to support my family, especially during the pandemic. this experience has also contributed to my ability to support home care providers i supervise who provide critical care for some of our most vulnerable members of our community, contributing to the safe reopening of our city, as well. once again, i would like to thank the health care academy
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and home bridge for creating advancement opportunities through effective training programs. my hope is that more woen will be able to benefit from collaborative programs like these through the mayor's initiative. thank you so much. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and at this time, i want to introduce members of the board of supervisors myrna melgar and catherine stefani. >> supervisor melgar: thank you, mayor breed. i am so grateful for your position in centering economic recovery on women's needs. i, along with supervisor stefani, worked on a resolution earlier this year asking our city to do just that, and i'm so grateful that the mayor has responded.
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thank you, mayor. for women, we cannot go back to the way it was before the pandemic. we need to make progress, and to make progress on social and economic issues, we need to make sure that women have the tools that they need to succeed and that children have their needs met, and so i think that this is a great step, and i look forward to more in the future. supervisor? >> supervisor stefani: thank you, supervisor, and thank you to mayor breed for gathering all of these incredible women today and for basically walking the walk. she knows exactly how to respond when there's a need that's unmet, and to do what she's doing for mothers that need child care, to lift mothers up, to lift working mothers up is exactly what we need in response to this pandemic. i am so proud to be a part of the board of supervisors and women that actually show up for women. i am so excited that we have kate sophis leading the office of workforce development. there's a saying, if you're not
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at the table, you're on the menu, and we are at the table. so thank you, mayor breed, and thank you to all the women here today. >> the hon. london breed: well, women in this city are definitely at the table, and we're running things. yes to women everywhere. you know, i just really appreciate these two amazing women on the board of supervisors. sadly, many of you heard about the tragedy that occurred in san jose, and our hearts go out to the families of the people who lost their lives in the tragedy, and the mayor, sam liccardo, who i already reached out to. i want to thank supervisor stefani for her role in gun legislation in this city. i want to thank myrna, who's considered basically a freshman supervisor but who already has hit the ground running and made
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her mark around children and support. we made some announcements as we began to wind down this budget process, these women have been advocating for processes that will benefit the people of san francisco, and i really appreciate their partnership in this effort. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: all right. next up, we have tracey liss, who is the executive director of frandaya. am i saying that right? >> you were close. >> the hon. london breed: tell me how to say it. >> frandaja. >> the hon. london breed: oh, frandaja. >> thank you. this initiative is the perfect extension and next step for what's needed. every year, we get families who call who do not qualify. they don't make little enough
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money -- like anyone wants to make less money, right? especially our moms, our single moms. they don't make enough to qualify, and so we don't have anything to help them. we did fight for some scholarship programs so they could come to our center, and it still wasn't enough. i don't know if you know, the fee for a single-family with several kids, it's one fee. so even if they're paying the highest cost, it's still $600 a month for three kids, and then, they don't qualify anymore. they go on the track, they get the promotion for career advancement, and then, they don't qualify. now you're looking at about $2,000 per month per child. who can jump from $600 to $6,000 a month out of their pocket for care? it's been an impossible task. we saw in the pandemic how important child care, schools, and meeting the needs for
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children was for working families, and this initiative is prime to help us recover in a way that we haven't seen before. 800 slots for moderate to middle-income families is an amazing thing, and we're so honored to be a part of it. it's a natural next step for us, and we're looking forward to working with those families, to working with the city and all of the leaders of san francisco, including mayor breed, to make this happen. we're committed with the office of early care and education, the mayor's office to have successful opportunities, quality care for kids, and to help families achieve both economic and educational success as we move forward. this is a good day. it is a beautiful day in san francisco, and it's an amazing day for women. thank you so much. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and yes, it's an amazing day for women, and i can't necessarily call out all of the women here, but all of the people here who are almost faceless are women
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who are leaders in various capacity in the city. they make this work happen. ingrid mesquita with the office of early childhood education. thank you for all of your advocacy. we have women from the human rights commission. i see sharon lai from m.t.a. i know other women from the commission on the status of women are here with us, as well as the a. philip randolph institute. jackie, thank you so much for all of you do. this represents an amazing coalition of leaders in san francisco who are doing the hard work on the ground, women from all parts of san francisco. the way we address the challenges around equity, and we bring our city back stronger than ever is when we come together and we make sure that resources are not a barrier to the success and opportunities that we all deserve in life,
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and so that's what this is about. today is just one step further in that direction. i'm looking forward to seeing the city come alive again, and i'm looking forward to seeing this city continue and finally lift up those who too often have been left behind. this is another great opportunity, so thank you all so much for joining us here today. [applause] >> he is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. brought this department together like never before. i am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the san francisco fire department,
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ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome, jeanine nicholson. (applause). >> i grew up total tomboy, athlete. i loved a good crisis, a good challenge. i grew up across the street from the fire station. my dad used to take me there to vote. i never saw any female firefighters because there weren't any in the 1970s. i didn't know i could be a fire fighter. when i moved to san francisco in 1990, some things opened up. i saw women doing things they hadn't been doing when i was growing up. one thing was firefighting.
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a woman recruited me at the gay-pride parade in 1991. it was a perfect fit. i liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. in terms of coming in after another female chief, i don't think anybody says that about men. you are coming in after another man, chief, what is that like. i understand why it is asked. it is unusual to have a woman in this position. i think san francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. be asked me about being the first lbgq i have an understands
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because there are little queer kids that see me. i worked my way up. i came in january of 1994. i built relationships over the years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. working out of firehouses. the fire department is a family. we live together, eat together, sleep in the same dorm together, go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. when i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. i didn't want to talk to any of my civilian friends. they couldn't understand what i was going through. the firefighters knew, they understood. they had been there. it is a different relationship. we have to rely on one another. in terms of me being the chief
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of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. that hasn't been there for a while. part of the reason that i am getting along well with the field now is because i was there. i worked there. people know me and because i know what we need. i know what they need to be successful. >> i have known jeanine nicholson since we worked together at station 15. i have always held her in the highest regard. since she is the chief she has infused the department with
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optimism. she is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. i appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the fire department today. >> there is a retired captain who started the cancer prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were getting cancer. he started looking into it. in 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the san francisco fire department, premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. it was a higher rate than the general population. we were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didn't have to worry about the paper
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work when they go through chemo. the turnout gear was covered with suit. it was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and helmet. the dirtier you were the harder you worked. that is a cancer causeser. it -- casser. it is not -- cancer causer. there islassic everywhere. we had to reduce our exposure. we washed our gear more often, we didn't take gear where we were eating or sleeping. we started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. i have taught, worked on the decontamination policy to be
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sure that gets through. it is not if or when. it is who is the next person. it is like a cancer sniper out there. who is going to get it next. one of the things i love about the fire department. it is always a team effort. you are my family. i love the city and department and i love being of service. i vow to work hard -- to work hard to carry out the vision of the san francisco fire department and to move us forward in a positive way. if i were to give a little advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying. you never know what door is
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going to open next. you really don't. [cheers and
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>> when i open up the paper every day i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about the planet i want to leave for my children and other generation, i think of what contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. ♪♪♪ clean power sf is san
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francisco's key way of fighting climate change by renewable energy and offering it to san francisco customers. i'm from the san francisco public utilities commission. the program came about with state wide legislation in 2002 to enable people to take more control over supplies. i first heard of the program when the organization was advocating to launch clean power sf. what i'm most excited about, it's going to bring 100% renewable energy to my home and reinvest into renewable energy infrastructure and jobs. i had gone to a lot of street fairs and heard from the staff at the san francisco public utilities commission to sign up for clean power sf even before it launched. >> we learned about clean power sf because our sustainability
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team is always looking for clean operations. linkedin is the largest online network. there are about 530 million members using our site. in this san francisco office there's about 1400 employees working in roughly 400,000 square feet. >> after signing up for the program we heard about the san francisco program and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. i'm the co-owner of the new wheel electric bike shop. we opened this store in 2012 and the new wheel sells and services electric bikes. 11 people work here in san francisco and our store is about 2,000 square feet. electric bikes are fantastic for transportation in the city, they're clean and green and you get places faster than any other
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form of transportation. it amplifies the power, it doesn't replace it. it makes it easier to get places by bicycle and it's so enjoyable and environmentally friendly way to go and more convenient in san francisco. >> clean power sf requires two products, green, 40% renewable and competitively priced with pg and e. for those who want to fight climate change more, 100% renewable at $0.02 per kilawatt. >> i decided to go with the super greens, after finding it only to cost about $5 more a month to have super green, that's a no-brainer, i can do
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that. >> we were pleased that clean power sf offers the super green 100% for commercial entities like ours and residents for the city of san francisco. we were pleased with the package of services for linkedin and now encouraging our employees who have a residence in san francisco to sign on as well. >> clean power sf buys its power from renewable plants that feed the energy directly into the grid. >> there's a commitment to sustainability throughout the entire organization and this clean power opportunity reflects that. >> one of the wind farms we use is the shilo wind farm and that is large enough to be able to provide energy for up to 200,000 homes. >> our mission is sustainability, even though our bikes are minimal energy use, it
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still matters where the energy comes from and part of our mission in sustainability is how we run everything -- run our business. having the lights come on with clean energy is very important. >> the sunset reservoir has solar panels that take up about four city blocks covering the reservoir and the solar power generates energy for city resources and clean power sf for residents participating in the program. >> it was easy to sign up for the program, i went online to cleanpowersf.org and i started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going to be switched over and it just happened. when i pay my bill, i still go to pg and e and i don't see any difference between now and a year ago. >> sign up online, just have your account number ready and it
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takes about two minutes and there's nothing to install. no lines are getting connected to your home. all the power goes through the existed power grid. >> we haven't had any problems with the switch over to clean power. >> it's super easy to sign up. our book keeper signed up online, it took about 15 minutes. nothing changed but now we have cleaner energy. >> we see clean power sf as a key strategy to meet renewable energy goal, we have a goal of 50% renewable energy by 2020. currently we have enrolled about 86,000 customers across the city. about 20% of what we hope to serve in the future and in the next two years we'll offer service to all san francisco electricity customers. >> an easy way to align your environmental responsibilities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard
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to not want to do it and it doesn't really add anything to the bill. >> joining clean power sf is one of the easiest ways to fight climate change, receiving cleaner energy at low and stable rates, you're helping to support a not for profit that helps influence the energy grid and produce more production. >> i would encourage any business to seriously convert to the clean sf service. it's good for environment, business and the community. >> you can sign up online our call and the great thing is, you'll have the peace of mind that you're doing your part in your household to help the environment. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪
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>> we are providing breakfast, lunch, and supper for the kids. >> say hi. hi. what's your favorite? the carrots. >> the pizza? >> i'm not going to eat the pizza. >> you like the pizza? >> they will eat anything. >> yeah, well, okay. >> sfusd's meal program right now is passing out five days
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worth of meals for monday through friday. the program came about when the shelter in place order came about for san francisco. we have a lot of students that depend on school lunches to meet their daily nutritional requirement. we have families that can't take a hit like that because they have to make three meals instead of one meal. >> for the lunch, we have turkey sandwiches. right now, we have spaghetti and meat balls, we have chicken enchiladas, and then, we have cereals and fruits and
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crackers, and then we have the milk. >> we heard about the school districts, that they didn't know if they were going to be able to provide it, so we've been successful in going to the stores and providing some things. they've been helpful, pointing out making sure everybody is wearing masks, making sure they're staying distant, and everybody is doing their jobs, so that's a great thing when you're working with many kid does. >> the feedback has been really good. everybody seems really appreciative. they do request a little bit more variety, which has been hard, trying to find different types of food, but for the most part, everyone seems
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appreciative. growing up, i depended on them, as well, so it reminds me of myself growing up. >> i have kids at home. i have six kids. i'm a mother first, so i'm just so glad to be here. it's so great to be able to help them in such a way because some families have lost their job, some families don't have access to this food, and we're just really glad to be
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>> 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. [♪♪♪]
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>> 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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. [♪♪♪]
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