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tv   Mayors Press Availability  SFGTV  August 13, 2021 7:30am-9:01am PDT

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>> i'm kate new director of the office of economic and workforce development. i want to welcome our mayor to make some opening comments. >> thank you, kate, i'm excited to be here in the mission with your supervisor, hilary ronen, and your new assessor recorder jaoquin torez, who was really an
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important part to helping deal with the challenges around our economic and workforce development which is the position that indicate now holds and he jumped into action because he knew so many businesses here and they would struggle. in the beginning we waved a lot of fees and we tried to provide grants and loans to small businesses but it was not enough and it was challenging. so many people had to shut down and many struggled with getting access to ppp and ppp before the protection of their employees and when i think about the vibe antsy of san francisco and this
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pandemic set us back. we are here today you sacrifice so much it was hard but now that which beginning to reopen and that light we keep talking about is here to so those cases and and our small and it's time to reopen and folks to get back to shopping in these corridors, going to these cafes. and really enjoying this city like never. i don't know about you but now, when i go out, into the neighborhoods, when i go to my dry-cleaner, i'm like hey,
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sammy! it's good to see you! you with go and go to the different place us go to and people just feel good and so many businesses have closed temporarily but they've closed permanently and since the beginning of this pandemic, this city has given out about 3,000 buses over $52 million and we waved fees, we come up with creative solutions, but we know there's a lot of people in san francisco who depend on this economy to survive and so now, because thank you to supervisors and there's a lot of money and
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they weren't able to open so the business recovery act ha is part of we making it easier for these store fonts for businesses to open in san francisco and it should not be so difficult to be able to do business in the city and working with the supervisors, there was a great for the next year and for those people who are trying to start businesses and we don't have necessarily the capital to invest but we're trying to make it easier by waving some of the city fees, dealing with the you're ok ra see and cutting the red tape and allowing people to go into business in san francisco. and it should not be hard. and also these great shared spaces. this program is all permanent. now i know there's people
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explaining about parking, but there's muni lines and thank you, thank you. there's muni lines and there's drop-off points and let's make sure we're taking our seniors and taking care of them. ultimately the city is alive again and it feels so good. so what is the next step. there are businesses out here who just need a little bit to get over that hump. they have back rent they owe, they have employees they owe, they have pg&e they need to pay, they have a water system or they may need to remodel. there are expenses and in order to ensure every is providing grants is also critical to making sure we give folks just a little bit of that boost in order to ensure their success
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and today, i'm excited we are giving $10,000 grants to four anchor businesses of this community. [applause] >> this is just a step part of making sure they thrive has everything to do with the people who live and visit this community and you have to support these coffee shops, you have to support these businesses, you have to make sure that you are not order interesting amazon anymore because we have hardware stores and other places and look, if they don't have it they'll order and get it in for you you just have to be patient. this new generation is like a generation that needs instantaneous satisfaction, i need my hair clip now!
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do whatever you to continue your espy you help with job opportunities and pay their mortgage or rent and all the things that come with living in an expensive city like san francisco so congratulations we'll be giving out those grants today so you can know who those businesses are and so that after we're done with this press conference, you can go and shop at those. i want to introduce hilary ronen. >> can we give a big round of applause to our mayor, so has done so much for small businesses than any mayor before her. she is taking action and i appreciate who has she a pointed
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not once but twice to run our office of economic and workforce development first jaoquin torez a beloved leader this this community. thank you for all you did early on. and now kate who knows about what it means to run a small business in this city and will put small businesses first and for most and give a couple of shout outs to i say knows every single business. their owners and their kids and their economic situations and she spent more time on this street than anyone i know and we love you for it. thank you so much. and susana rojas, thank you so
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much for all your work and i want to call out all these people because it really does take a village to support small business community and these days the amazon has changed the way that we buy and think about goods and services we are losing the very thing that makes our community. when you see all the murals and the amazing arts and gifts and you go and you have a cup of coffee and you go the family-run business and their kids and when they're graduating college and this what makes san francisco special and we're not the type
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of city that has a chain store on every corner, we love our small businesses and they're usually much run by immigrants and women and families and people of color and it's incumbent like the mayor said to wait those two extra days and to shop we want to keep them safe and the more people walking around, the more vibrant they are and the safer they are to please, do your part. the city is certainly doing our part with a small business recovery act, the vacancy tax, the shared spaces program. the first year free for new businesses. we're doing everything in our power to make it easier and run and operate a business in the city as we should be again thank you so much to the mayor for her leadership on that and thank you
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so much and congratulations to all our amazing businesses that are being awarded. tease well deserved grants today. >> there was a shortage at the beginning of this pandemic. >> why don't we have our businesses come up. >> so, we have connie rivera and she's the owner of the business
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right behind us here. and congratulations. >> good afternoon, everyone. i wanted to say thank you to the mayor for all the hard work i do and thinking about small businesses. which really need it. i wanted to say a lot of words
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but i can't. i just wanted to say thank you. thank you for all the staff for working, for making it possible for choosing us, we really need it in these hard times. i wanted to share something today. when i asked my little boy to come and i say, come to the business and i say, come on, the mayor is coming. and he is like what! and he said yeah, and he said for what? guess what, we getting an award for $10,000 and he was so excite the and he was like yeah, mom ma, now we can buy a house. i said really. ok, no, you can take me to l.a. to disney! and i said no, forget it. that check is going to my landlord. anyway, i wanted to thank you and thank my landlord for the
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patience with us and god bless him, god bless all the nice landlords that we have around. without them, we couldn't still hear. he didn't give me mental stress. i went into depression knowing i had to close my business. i had to close another business on 24th street during the pandemic because i couldn't afford it and i couldn't pay so he invest a lot in that business and we still owe money. thank you, very much. god bless, everyone. please, i want to tell i, look, i sell this, this is what my business represents. let's keep the culture alive. all cultures are beautiful!
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come support local business! don't make the amazon richer because he already become more richer than anybody else. so, please, come support local business. thank you! bless you. next i'd like to call up carmen, owner of a bakery.
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>> hello. thank you, very much, everybody. especially to the mayor. especially one person very special to me diana. [applause] they help me to put my application through and it was a favor to me because i didn't know too much on the internet and i had to get involved and when i got the e-mail, i was really happy to learn how to read my e-mail. it made me cry and i called diana and i said this is true, dianne. i think his son douglas to help me to put my papers through and
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everything that seeing the mayor and what you say is true is true and we've been getting a lot and touchdowns good and and that is it. thank you, thank you. >> up next, the beloved cafe. can i call out amy. and anna.
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>> my name is amy and i'm here with my husband and our manager and it's been just support from the whole community and this whole time through the pandemic and we couldn't have it done without the amazing support of our team and i just so grateful for all of their hard work and care and compassion and just diligence and i think that everybody has been under a lot of tremendous stress all year long and to have people by you are side diligent and willing to serve the community and that's what we're here inform i think my husband also wants to say something.
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i just want to say you know, during this pandemic, we also were working hard to raise money and also serve frontline workers and keep serving and employ people. >> i'm so honored and privileged to live in such a vibrant city in a live city. mull' cultural and everyone comes work together and your so many honored be led by this amazing leader london brow and helping us out for the next pandemic and we did a lot of everyday to stay alive and help frontline workers and the communities and we serve the community and we're passion to serve to service and also it's in our most inter part of my heart is to see everybody come alive. this city is so powerful and no
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one city of love, city of connection so we want to bring all the people back again and we want to make these people feel alive again in this city and this vibrant, amazing city of san francisco and so, we are people of the city and we are the people that are going to make it happen, going through this and making it really vibrant city again so thank you, everybody. and at the same time, our feelings for all the businesses, yes, we're pre privileged and thankful. i think about everybody in the city. how we can actually share this help and love with everybody. sol, please, i'm come and support the local businesses and yes, make it happen together. thank you, everybody. >> is there anything you want to say? >> thank you, diana and everybody thank you. >> all right. >> all right.
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last and certainly not least we have tamos cafe! [applause] good afternoon. i'm the owner of the cafe and
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i've been in business for seven years. it's been very hard year for us since the pandemic started. we've been having hard time finding employees. the business went down and i really appreciate and thank you, thank the mayor for all her help and support for the small businesses. i mean, each help and support forever small businesses will make us a life and it will make us run the business with positive attitudes and i really would like to thank the community also for their support and their help and being there for us. i close my shop for a month and a half and when i open everyone was coming to my shop so happy
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and excited and they said we like to be in business and we like to support you so without the community, without the mayor's help and the supervisor and diana's help we couldn't make it and i like also to share with you the money i got today and their word and i really thank you for all this and i appreciate it and it's going to my shop. i need to hire more employees. i'm doing remodeling at the shop and just to make it running and it looks good for the community and i really thank you all for all your help and support and thank you for everybody you do for us. thank you. >> ta lino task force and everyone working for the organizations around here in the mission community and we have a lot of tremendous for my mother
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and thank you for everything and what a beautiful day to promote the grants and thank you. >> thank you. >> the last thing i want to say and one of the things we do a lot for businesses and a lot of loans and a lot of low interest loans and fee waivers but we hear from so many businesses these grants make a difference and with give to sf that we started at the beginning of the pandemic, when the private sectors and it makes it possible for us to forgive some of those loans and we've been able to do as we reopen, the city will make its comments and ultimately these grants make the biggest
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impact because these businesses can't make up those lost revenues for the past year, if you do hair, you wouldn't get money back that you lost over the pandemic from getting your hair cun, because people are going to go back to their regular schedule of getting your hair done, right. or your nails and your toes, i know because that's something that i really missed during the pandemic. the fact is, there's month makep for that. how do we ensure these businesses stay hope and thrive. we try to provide as much money that they don't have to pay back as possible. to all of you out there, you see this and you want to help and no dollar amount is too small. give to sf is a program we started and the supervisor, ronen and i worked really hard on getting those small and large contributions to the communities so, you see this and i can't help but get emotional and think about the fact that there's still rent, even with this there's still rent to pay and
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are there kids who families can't take them to disney land or can't take them on these great trips because they have a business to run and they have to put all of their resources into survive, into food, into school clothes and into all the challenges that exist when you, again, live in an expensive city like san francisco. we'll do what we can to try and get as much resources in the hands of our small businesses and i want all san franciscans to do everything they can too up lift these businesses and we appreciate you all being here today and i do not want to go to a point where we are shut down again because if we have to go there, guess who suffers the most. our low income families so let's
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keep each other safe like we did during this pandemic. we did an incredible job. the sun is always shining in the mission and so let's continue to support, up lift one another, support our small businesses, thank you all so much for being here today. and finally let's get a group picture with all the
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adjourned. >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shop & dine in the 49 with within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so where will you shop & dine in the 49 my name is jim woods i'm the founder of woods beer company and the proprietor of woods copy k open 2 henry adams what makes us unique is that we're reintegrated brooeg the beer and serving that cross the table people are sitting next to the
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xurpz drinking alongside we're having a lot of ingredient that get there's a lot to do the district of retail shop having that really close connection with the consumer allows us to do exciting things we decided to come to treasure island because we saw it as an amazing opportunity can't be beat the views and real estate that great county starting to develop on treasure island like minded business owners with last week products and want to get on the ground floor a no-brainer for us when you you, you buying local goods made locally our supporting small business those are not created an, an sprinkle scale with all the machines and one person procreating them people are making them by hand as a result more interesting and can't get that of minor or anywhere else and san francisco
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a hot bed for local manufacturing in support that is what keeps your city vibrant we'll make a compelling place to live and visit i think that local business is the lifeblood of san francisco and a vibrant community you're watching san francisco rising with chris manors. today's special guest is dr. steven zutnick. >> hello. the show is focused on restarting, rebuilding, and reimagining our city. the director of the therapy center of san francisco and he's a professor in counseling psychology at usf.
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he's here today to talk to us about resocializing, and returning to the office. welcome to the show. >>. >> thanks, chris. good to be back. >> as we re-open, people are having different reactions. some are embracing the recent shifts while others are having a hard time readjusting. >> yes. i think it's an excellent question. my basic bias on this i think to give you a general overview is we ought to be following cdc suggestions and requirements, what they say, because that's where a lot of the things come. should i wear a mask. should i not wear a mask. my answer is, yes, absolutely. i think we should wear a mask. i think we should social distance. it not only makes an impact on covid, it makes an impact on other diseases as well.
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as you and i were chatting, the deaths from flu usually average 30,000 a year. we've had 2,500 deaths from the flu so far this year, but at the very least, you need to be vaccinated. >> going back to the office is also an issue. there are some people are thrilled returning to work, others are nervous about it and there's a group of people who've been working onsite all along. let's start with those who are worried about returning to the office. what can be done to relieve their concerns? >> i think identifying a cohort of colleagues, fellow workers who you can just talk to and share experiences with. you know, when you look at the advantages of groups, the major one is when we sit and talk to other people, we suddenly discover, oh, this isn't just me, i'm not some strange guy here.
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so everybody else i'm talking to is worried about the same thing. i think that will raise awareness among people. to say, oh, i don't know, what are we going to do? do we have fresh air in here? can we open some windows? does the boss care if i wear a mask? >> how about those who've been going to work all along. possibly the most traumatized. how would you talk to them about managing the possible stress and resentment they may have been feeling. >> the most at-risk population is the essential worker who because they are also one of the lowest paid populations, have taken the biggest hits and the most risks. they're still at high risk. so they're dealing with a lot. they're dealing with depression, anxiety, insomnia
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quite a bit. and you've got a lot of ptsd by the way one last point on the health care workers. that's the tip of the iceberg. these are also the people who often have the least access to therapy. so we've got all these people out of there who've been in the trenches the entire time, never had a break, suffering a lot of trauma, and there are no services available for them. >> lastly, let's talk about management. with varying attitudes towards the lifting of restrictions, there may be some struggles in the work place. how would you advise management to ease the transition? >> management can encourage vaccination or require it. they can keep masks, physical distance, hand washing, all of these things. and hopefully management will be responsive. i think, you know, given the title that the series, this is
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all new. we're all just moving in to a whole new phase. we haven't begun to see the research that's going to come out of what we've just been through. we've been through a terrible pandemic. there's been a huge toll and i don't think we've seen the tip of the iceberg on the impact. >> do you have any final thoughts to share? >> yeah. i think this pandemic has highlighted a lot of things. for me, certainly, is mental health professional and a behavioral scientist. it's clear to me, we need to educate people about science. this is not unknowable to people. the basic of science is constant questioning. when you ask a question in research, you get one answer and about five new questions. things evolve continuously. so, yeah, when the cdc first
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came out a year and a half ago, they said, no, we don't need masks and then they said oh, we do and then everybody went crazy. oh, look how bad the sciencetists are. that's exactly what science does. we thought we didn't need it. then we discovered it was air born. i think we're seeing we have huge holes in the health care system and conversely, i think we're finding with the vaccination, what it means for everyone to have access to health care without worrying about how am i going to pay for it. so i think this is really forcing us to look at everything. it's been a very difficult time. it's going to continue to be a difficult time for people, but i think that's also getting us to look at some really critical issues in health care. >> well, thank you so much for coming on the show dr. zlotnick.
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well, thanks again. we'll be back with another episode of san francisco rising shortly. for sfgov tv i'm chris manors. thanks for watching. all right everyone. hi, i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i want to thank you all for joining us today. i want to give a shout out to the folks vax to max. i want to thank you for hanging out and trying to get people to vaccinate because i know you want to go back to school quickly. i don't know about you, but when i was a kid, i wasn't pushing to go back to school on any given day and clearly our children need to be back in school. and part of making sure they're back in school, making sure they're safe. making sure our communities are safe is important for us to do our part and this is how everyone can do their part is
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at least get vaccinated. in san francisco, about 84% of san franciscans have received at least their first dose of the vaccine, but sadly, with the african american community, that's about 64%. with the latino community, it's at about 74%. and we need to make sure that those communities are getting the vaccine because what we're seeing with almost 100 people now in the hospital that most of those folks are african american and latino. and so it's important to us because also, the other issue is that most of the people who are in the hospital, i think dr. colfax has the specifics, but they've not been vaccinated. so even if, you know, i as a vaccinated person gets a vaccine, if i get the and the
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fact is that person can get sick and end up in the hospital and that person can potentially day. this really is a matter of life or death. i understand people have concerns. and i understand that people are frustrated with the mask mandates and all the other requirements. i get it. this has been tough and it's been a long time, but as i have said time and time again just because we are tired of the vaccine -- i mean, just because we are tired of covid-19, just because we are tired of all the rules and regulations and being told what to do, just because we are sick of it, doesn't mean it's sick of us. it's not gone because we want it to be gone. so what this means is we have to do even more and as a result, we have decided to take our case to the public in a different way. if you have at least five to twelve people who want to be vaccinated, we will bring our doctors and nurses and
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equipment and other resources to you. all you have to do is go sf.gov/vaxtoyou. so we'll provide you all with that information. it's important that we make it as easy as possible. there are a number of pop-up locations in the mission. we are trying to make this as easy as possible. and we know and vaccines specifically in the african american community. the fact is we're at a different time where we really need to focus on saving lives.
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we've not even had six hundred deaths even in one of the densest cities in the last 15 months because of this virus. if we go at the rate that we're going, we expect within a couple of weeks according to dr. colfax to lose at least 300 people. that's why we've had to put together the appropriate vaccine outreach team as well as mandatory mask indoors even for those who are vaccinated. the last thing we need that's
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the easiest thing you could do to support one another. we should be so proud. san francisco's a dense city and we had one of the lowest death rates. we all came together in the beginning of this pandemic. we took care of our neighbors. we went we got that last hurdle l, that last stretch. it's like the nineth inning and we just need one more hit out the ball park. and if we all just roll up our sleeves and start to get vaccinated even though we have concerns, we're doing it for our fellow san franciscans. and, so with that, i want to turn it over to dr. grant colfax. >> good afternoon everybody and
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thank you, mayor breed for your ongoing leadership during this pandemic. i want to thank chiba piano lounge for sponsoring this. and, of course, the amazing dph team, the mobile team led by dr. mary mercer. just remarkable work. we have 77% of eligible san franciscans now fully vaccinated in our city. so this is a remarkable achievement and, i think while the next few weeks will be very challenging and we're seeing covid-19 increase dramatically in our city, it's very important to remember that hundreds if not thousands of lives have been saved. we're in a much better place than during the fall and winter surge because people are vaccinated. because these vaccines work. because they keep you out of the hospital. because they are saving lives as we speak.
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if you are not vaccinated in san francisco. this is not a good time to be vaccinated. the delta variant is here. it accounts for more than 90% of our cases now. and it is a highly transmissible and there's emerging evidence that it's more likely that you would end up in the hospital compared to the virus we were dealing with just a few months ago. this is covid on steroids. the difference now between being vaccinated and not getting vax if you do get covid-19, it could be -- if you're vaccinated versus not vaccinated, it could be the difference between spending a few days in your bed at home, versus spending a few weeks in an i.c.u. bed. very important that people get vaccinated. we know that the health officers across the region, recently instituted an
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indoormandate effective today. that is a temporary measure to decrease the spread of the virus. we were at just twelve cases of covid-19 just a few weeks ago in late may and early june. now we're over 200 a day. we need to continue to slow the spread. do our part. we will bring the vaccine it to you. the mayor just announced this. we're doing everything we can. we will work with you. we will get the team there, let's max the vax across the city. 77% more to go. we're doing everything we can to get people vaccinated. the vaccines continue our way out. these next few weeks are going to be challenging. the best protection is the vaccine, the masking, and telling your friends, your family members, your community members get vaccinated today. thank you. >> any questions about the vaccine related stuff?
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>> if i had told me in my family, would you come to my house? >> yes. we can do that and we've already been doing that. so people can sign up and we will be there. >> can people come up and say, hey, i live outside san francisco, it's going to take a long time for me to make an appointment. >> we're really focusing on san francisco's residents at this point to try to get those numbers up and we're coordinating with other counties. so i think if people have other questions, we can put them in touch with the local health department to make sure they get vaccinated as well. >> i'm wondering if you can talk about zuckerberg sf general and the decisions of the supplemental costs of those getting johnson and johnson shots. [inaudible] mrna pfizer. >> so i just want to make it really clear, we have not changed our policy as a health
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department and as a city with regard to following cdc guidelines for administering vaccines. if people have received a johnson and johnson and are requesting a second shot, we will accommodate them, but our policy has not changed nor has it changed at zuckerberg general hospital. >> have there been studies on that? >> yes. so in consultation with infectious disease experts, the decision was made again. if people are requesting a second shot after johnson and johnson, we will accommodate that, be but we're not changing our policy at this point. >> any indication it does improve the efficacy of the johnson and johnson shot? >> i think the important thing is right now we don't have conclusive data on additional shots beyond what the cdc is recommending. but, again, in consultation with infectious disease experts, we do think this is
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safe and accommodate people if they so request. >> break through cases, are they mostly people who have been vaccinated with johnson and johnson or why johnson and johnson? >> so i think really the key point is that break through cases remain relatively rare compared to people who are not vaccinated. that's really important. all these vaccines are incredibly effective in terms of reducing the risk of hospitalization. and, again, we're continuing to follow cdc guidelines whether they are the mrna or johnson and johnson vaccines. accommodating people and are requesting an additional shot. but the break through infections, i think really, i understand the focus on break through infections here, but i think it really misses the big picture. the key reason we did the indoor mask mandate and so forth is because we need to get more people quickly vaccinated as soon as possible. that includes the johnson and johnson mrna vaccine.
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we will follow cdc recommendations going forward. >> are you still administering the j&j? >> absolutely. it's a good vaccine. and we will continue to administer it. we have lots of vaccines available. if people want the mrna vaccine, we will do that. we have the menu and it's available. >> what would you say to people who are tired of wearing masks and being [inaudible] ? >> well, i'm disappointed that the health office, i'm sorry that we had to go to indoor masking as well. it's the right thing to do in terms of where we are right now. especially, our projections are showing cases are going to continue to increase through this month and early september, so we really need to slow down the transmission. what i would say if you're tired of wearing a mask, if you're not vaccinated, for god's sake get vaccinated and get your family and friends vaccinated. >> had is there an now that
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this delta variant is surging and it is so much more contagious, a lot of those sites, they've shut down? >> so we're continuing to work with our other health partners across the city to ensure there's adequate testing for people. d.p.h. has been doing over 40% of the tests that have been administered. so just to emphasize that piece working with kaiser and c.p.m.c. but we're exploring a number of possibles. we know that compared to where we were, there's a lot more home testing available. so we're encouraging people to use that and talking to our partners about expanding testing options in the future. and at the health department, our testing focus remains in our clinics for the skilled nursing facilities and shelters. those are really key areas where we're going to continue to support testing. >> a lot of people are excited to get an appointment online.
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what would you say in terms of wait times and is the city considering those mask mandates [inaudible] ? >> so, again, we're looking at options to potentially expand testing and encouraging our other partners, kaiser to expand testing and we have drop-in testing as well. we have pop-up testing where covid-19 is most prevalent. so if those drop-in sites where people can literally walk in, you can still get tested on a drop-in basis. >> roughly 5,000 tests are being done a day. where do you expect to see that number -- where do you want to see that number? >> yeah. i think testing is obviously an ongoing key issue for us to support cross the city. i don't want testing to distract us from the need to get fully vaccinated. i'm hoping we can mitigate some
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of the wait times. i expect those to unfortunately continue to go up. you know, we're down to fewer than 2,000 tests a day, now we're at 5,000. if we expand up to 9,000 a day, we're going to continue the need to expand. and/or to use those home testing kits and use the kaiser ucsf and other health care systems in addition to look at what the health department has available. >> the city is spending more resources on these mobile vaccination sites. >> well, the vaccine because it's more complex, we will have always spent more resources because testing is a little bit easier. we are going to continue to look at the ability to expand. we can do both things at the same time. but we're at a different stature now.
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so we need to do both things well at the same time. >> can you expect restrictions here in the city and if businesses were to require that you be vaccinated in order to enter that business, would the city approve that? >> yeah. we're very supportive of businesses and other entities requiring proof of vaccination for people to enter the premises. >> and, now, new york city is doing that. they're talking about they want restaurants and venues and fitness centers proof of vaccination. at least is the city considering taking that step? >> we're exploring that. again, right now, we've seen that a number of bars and restaurants and other entities are doing that and we're very supportive of that and encouraging people to take advantage of that policy with regard to showing proof of vaccination at these entities. >> one more question. what goes into deciding if san francisco wants vaccine mandates like new york city.
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like why not yet? >> well, i just think we're exploring the pieces right now. again, i think that the good news is that san francisco businesses were one of the first in the country as far as i know to adopt this voluntarily. and i think it's really trying to determine, you know, in working with various entities is there a need to implement policies similar to new york's or is this going to happen more on the basis of what's being driven in the community. i think we saw that in other situations with the pandemic as well is people, communities are adapting the practices that they know slow the transmission. so we're exploring that. the thank you. >> what do you say about the people that are afraid about the side effects of the vaccine and that's why they don't want to take it? >> yeah. we know and there have been millions of people in the united states these vaccines
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are incredible safe. look who's dying of covid-19 right now, it's people who are unvaccinated. these vaccines work, they're safe and effective. thank you. so i want to thank ned and israel from chiba lounge for hosting us today. are there any other questions related to the vaccine? all right. any other questions in general? >> [inaudible] >> well, what i want to start by saying is the stipulation that i signed with the ethics commission after having numerous discussions, i feel is fair, we worked out an agreement with the staff to address some of the challenges that we are listed in the stipulation and in particular,
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there were mistakes made. i take full responsibility for those mistakes and i've learned a lot since becoming mayor and being in office and as i said in my statement, i made it clear that at no time have any of the things related to this stipulation had any impact on the decisions that i've made as mayor. and, my hope is that over time, i've been able to prove that and overtime, moving forward, i'll be able to continue to approve that. >> [inaudible] >> well, i hope that the work that i've done and addressing one of the most challenging times in our city's history which is not directly related to the challenges that exist in the stipulation. i would hope that my record and what i've done over the past couple of years will make a difference as well as the work that i'm -- that i do moving forward. i mean, it's difficult because, you know, people may look at this, of course, and feel a certain kind of way. i can't completely control
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that. i can only make sure that i do exactly what a leader in this city should do. when you make a mistake. you step up, you take responsibility for your action. you put it all out there and you hope that people will look at it and realize that, you know, you're human just like anybody else and the goal is to make sure that i completely make it clear to the public that at no time in any of these, you know, challenges that existed that, you know, i allowed any of this to impact the decisions that i've made in running the city and it's going to take some time to demonstrate and ensure the public that my goal is to lead this city, to continue to do my job and at no time have i ever allowed any of these issues to interfere with the decisions that i make in this office and i will continue to do that. >> did you believe you were doing anything wrong at the
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time [inaudible] the letter heads regarding the letter for your brother or [inaudible] and do you recognize that those things --? >> at the time that i did them, no i did not. >> and now? >> and, now i do understand that they are a problem and i will be doing things differently. for example, the event, the pride parade in san francisco, i've always had a float during the pride parade, it's just the way that it was covered during this time period was different that how i had covered it before and so i realize that that was problematic even though this is -- the pride parade is not a campaign event, it's not -- it's a civic occasion. it's a way in which mayor and public elected officials all participate, but i've always had a float and in this particular case, there was a mistake made and so we're correcting that mistake. okay. any more questions? all right. thank you.
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>> (clapping.) >> in san francisco the medical examiner performs the function of investigating medical and legal that occurs with the city and county of san
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francisco from a variety of circumstances in san francisco there is approximately 5 thousand deaths annually i'm christopher director for the chief mr. chairman the chief my best testimony a at the hall of justice on 870 drooint street that is dramatically updated and not sufficient for the medical chairman facility i've charles program manager public works should a earthquake of a major are proportion occurs we'll not continue to perform the services or otherwise inhabit the building before the earthquake. >> we're in a facility that was designs for a department that functions and in the mid 60s and friends scientific has significantly changed we've had significant problems with storage capacity for
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evidence items of property and also personal protective if you're doing a job on a daily basis current little storage for prirjs are frirnlsz we're in an aging facility the total project cost forever ever commercial is $65 million the funding was brought by a vote of go bond approved by the voters and the locations is in the neighborhood the awarded contract in 2013 and the i'm the executive director we broke ground in november 2015 and that started with the demolition of existing facility we moved into the foundation and january so pile foundation and then with second construction of the new facility. >> one of the ways that we
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keep our project on time on budget and we're having quality to have regular meeting and the variety of meetings with construction process meeting as well as cost of control meeting and i'm a project manager for public works the office of chief commercial we want walk the project site when we sign up and also with a contractor insinuates for a change over we need to verify what or what was instead of. >> the building is 42 feet tall so it is two stories and 46 thousand square feet roughly we're that's a great question to be on time and budget have the roof complete a the exterior moving with the site work. >> and as you can see we've got a lot of the interior finishes installed. >> in an effort of an
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differentiate the facility that designed to work for 72 hours. >> not taking into account there was a lot of structural updates made into this building not seen in other construction throughout san francisco or other barriers we have friday morning examiners from 8 to one public comment monday to friday because of air circulation we literally have to shut the doors and so the autopsy is done without staffing being able to come and go or exit the space and literally lock down the autopsy in the new facility we have bio build one door opens and closed behind you you can gown up and go through a second seizures of doors that has its own independent air supply and
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now in the exterior opt space having that middle space have greater flexibility of staff as they move in and out of the area. >> in the current facility investigative unit has small tiny, tiny place in the area of the new facility is almost doubled in all divisions from the current facility and the new facility. >> the planning we have here gives them the opportunity to have the pool needs to complete theirs jobs in a much more streamlined fashion. >> we're looking forward to have secured parking to minimize the egress of you know visiting and the members of the public but really to minimize the investigators remaining remains
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from our advancing and so the facility. >> we have a new visitors area we're building that is a little bit more friendly to families. >> one thing you may notice in the room no windows there is no natural light not good for most autopsy but in the new facility at new hall we made that an objective they want to insure we were able to look up in the middle of exam and see the sky and see natural lights. >> that's one of the things the architect did to draw in as much light as possible. >> we have staff here onsite we insure the design of the new design enables the investigators and other investigators skiefksz to consider to house on site
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this meant we needed to design and plan for locker room facilities and shower rooms the ability to sleep. >> third of the construction going into the building has been by contributions of small businesses. >> part of the project is also inclusive to the sidewalk have all new sidewalks and new curve cuts and landscaping around the building we'll have a syrup in front of the building and rain guardian. >> the medical examiner's office has been a several if in their contributions of the understanding the exception and needs. >> it's a building that the chief medical examiner has been looking forward to quite a few of the. >> it is extremely valuable contribution to the, neighborhood address san francisco as a whole. >> the building will allow is to have greater very much and serve the city and county of san
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francisco and the neighboring my name is doctor ellen
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moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of san francisco. i perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. i have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. i was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldn't see people every day. i would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasn't been the case. this building is very nice. we have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. we have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in san
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francisco. we work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. that brings us closer together also. >> i am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in san francisco. as an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. i go to the field interview police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. i maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. i am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news
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they could get. i work with the family to help them through the grieving process. >> i am ricky moore, a clerk at the san francisco medical examiner's office. i assist the pathology and toxicology and investigative team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. >> i started at the old facility. the building was old, vintage. we had issues with plumbing and things like that. i had a tiny desk. i feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. >> i am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. we test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological
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substances. i oversee all of the lab operations. the forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the human performance and the case in the city of san francisco. we collect evidence at the scene. a woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. that was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. it is nice to get the feedback. we do a lot of work and you don't hear the result. once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. you can bring justice to what happened. we are able to take what we due to the next level. many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries don't have the resources and don't have the
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beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. >> sometimes we go to court. whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. we do whatever we can to get our job done. >> when we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. unexpected findings are fun. >> i have a prior background in law enforcement. i was a police officer for 8 years. i handled homicides and suicides. i had been around death investigation type scenes. as a police officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the coroner or the detective
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division. i am intrigued with those types of calls. i wondered why someone died. i have an extremely supportive family. older children say, mom, how was your day. i can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. >> being i am a native of san francisco and grew up in the community. i come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. there are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. if from is a child involved or things like that. i try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. when i tell people i work at the
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medical examiners office. what do you do? the autopsy? i deal with the enough and -- with the administrative and the families. >> most of the time work here is very enjoyable. >> after i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. i thought there was somebody dead? my bed. i rolled over and poked the body. sure enough, it was my husband who grumbled and went back to sleep. this job does have lingering effects. in terms of why did you want to go into this? i loved science growing up but i didn't want to be a doctor and didn't want to be a pharmacist. the more i learned about forensics how interested i was
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of the perfect combination between applied science and criminal justice. if you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. >> being a woman we just need to go for it and don't let anyone fail you, you can't be. >> with regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. let's face it, we aren't hollywood, we are real world. yes we collect evidence. we want to preserve that. we are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a hollywood television show. >> families say thank you for what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. somebody has to do my job.
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if i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for i am doing the right thing for >> we are right now in outer richmond in the last business area of this city. this area of merchants is in the most western part of san francisco, continue blocks down the street they're going to fall into the pacific ocean. two blocks over you're going to have golden gate park. there is japanese, chinese,
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hamburgers, italian, you don't have to cook. you can just walk up and down the street and you can get your cheese. i love it. but the a very multicultural place with people from everywhere. it's just a wonderful environment. i love the richmond district. >> and my wife and i own a café we have specialty coffee drinks, your typical lattes and mochas and cappuccinos, and for lunches, sandwiches and soup and salad. made fresh to order. we have something for everybody >> my shop is in a very cool part of the city but that's one of the reasons why we provide such warm and generous treats, both physically and emotionally (♪♪) >> it's an old-fashioned general
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store. they have coffee. other than that what we sell is fishing equipment. go out and have a good time. >> one of my customers that has been coming here for years has always said this is my favorite store. when i get married i'm coming in your store. and then he in his wedding outfit and she in a beautiful dress came in here in between getting married at lands end and to the reception, unbelievable. (♪♪) >> the new public health order that we're announcing will require san franciscans to remain at home with exceptions only for essential outings.
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>> when the pandemic first hit we kind of saw the writing on the walls that potentially the city is going to shut all businesses down. >> it was scary because it was such an unknown of how things were going to pan out. i honestly thought that this might be the end of our business. we're just a small business and we still need daily customers. >> i think that everybody was on edge. nobody was untouched. it was very silent. >> as a business owner, you know, things don't just stop, right? you've still got your rent, and all of the overhead, it's still there. >> there's this underlying constant sense of dread and anxiety. it doesn't prevent you from
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going to work and doing your job, it doesn't stop you from doing your normal routine. what it does is just make you feel extra exhausted. >> so we began to reopen one year later, and we will emerge stronger, we will emerge better as a city, because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> this place has definitely been an anchor for us, it's home for us, and, again, we are part of this community and the community is part of us. >> one of the things that we strived for is making everyone in the community feel welcome and we have a sign that says "you're welcome." no matter who you are, no matter what your political views are, you're welcome here. and it's sort of the classic san francisco thing is that you work with folks. >> it is your duty to help
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everybody in san francisco. >> 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,
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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 h h h h h h hh
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madam secretary, will you call the role, please. >> clerk: [roll call] >> clerk: we have commissioners present. we have quorum. the department of public health and the governor mission and mayor breed have lifted restrictions on teleconferencing. this meeting is being held via teleconference. for those of you watching the live stream, please be aware of the live and what's being