what a pleasure. what a great thing for us to be together in person to celebrate the start of construction of affordable housing in san francisco. there is much -- there is much to learn. much to celebrate. much to understand about the meaning behind the housing here and to begin that, please join me in welcoming our reader, our mayor, london breed. thank you. >> i just got comfortable in my seat, don. hi everybody and welcome. first, let me say happy women's equality day today.

that's why i'm wearing pink to recognize the contributions of women and the need to make sure that we are at the table. we are apart of this amazing economy and we're seeing more women and industries and places that we deserve to be. i'm mayor, we see all these women who are actively engaged in the construction industry. it's so great to see lori here and so many wonderful amazing women. happy women's equality day in san francisco. speaking of women, women are usually the head of house holds, the ones taking care of the families, taking care of the husbands, the wives, the children, and everything in between the moms and the dads and it's so fitting we're here today. 203 units that will serve families in san francisco. and, one of the things that was

so important to me even before i was mayor is making sure that we are creating communities that are for people who are apart of these amazing communities. it has a lot to do with my experience of growing up in the western edition where when i lived in public housing, there were 300 units, there were promises made, there was tear down and rebuild and only a replacement of those 300 units. so we knew a lot of people from that community. a lot of the people that i grew up with weren't returning home. that really changed the western edition community and it didn't just happen at plaza east. it happened in other places across the city. when i became a member of the san francisco redevelopment agency commission, one of the things that was most important to me when we were talking about hope sf and we were

transitioning from the federal hope program to one of local public and private partnerships, it was important that as we go in and we talk about rebuilding communities that we make sure that we allow those communities to participate in the process and really help drive the process, but most importantly, when that housing is done, the people from that community deserve right of first refusal and what is most inspirational about these 302 units that will be home to 203 families. 40% neighborhood for this project, for the people in district six. for the people within one square mile of this project and, rudy, i want to get all your employees. all your kids who are now grown. i want all of them to apply for

this housing. i want to see more applications for united players than anyone else in the city because i want to make sure that the community you helped to build, repair, stabilize, that they have a safe, affordable place to call home because that's what they should be about when we talk about equity. when we talk about community. we have to make sure that the reason why we're doing this translates to the people who need it the most because we know that having an affordable place to call home matters. 203 units over a thousand labor jobs of people that are working, that are putting their heart and soul into making this project happen. every nail that's hammered, every pipe that's brought in. how these places are brought together. it comes from a place of love, it comes from a place of

knowing there will be families and people here to enjoy it. so i'm always happy to be in not just district six, but anywhere where we are breaking ground on housing, but it's particular affordable housing because i know what it means and, don, you and the family at t.n.d.c. who do incredible work for our city, you understand the value because you don't just help to build and create the housing. you help to work with the community. you help to serve the community with services that ensure that they are able to stay housed. that they are stable because that's what building and maintaining a community is all about. so i want to thank each and every one of you for being here today to break ground on this incredible project and i am hopeful that it's finished on time and under budget so i can come back and hand over the first key with a gift basket to the first family that's moving in because we're going to see a

lot of smiles. yes, we see smiles today, but there's nothing like seeing those kids walk into their own bedrooms and seeing just their bed made up with smurf bedding. we like the little mermaid and smurfs and that kind of stuff back in the day. i don't know what these kids see today, but it's going to put a smile on their faces and everybody that's here working on this project, you are contributing to those smiles and i want to thank each and every one of you for being here today and i'll turn it back over to don folk. i was thinking about ken folk. maybe we can get here him to come in and design every room. >> thank you mayor breed. especially for reminding us that this is about much more than structures and buildings.

it's about people and community and families. please join me in welcoming tbc senior director of housing development. >> good morning everyone. thank you so much for being here. thank you, don, and thank you mayor breed. thank you also to the san francisco voters who supported the 2019 affordable housing bond which is paying for this project. i want to thank mocd, eric shaw and his whole team is here for their partnership over the years. as they explore options for what we might do here. i want to thank the central soma plan advocates to serve a broad spectrum of income levels here. we look forward to partnering to connect residents with this housing. i also want to thank our

acquisition and bridge lenders. from the local industry to support corporation, we have cindy woo. we also benefited from the state's housing program and finally from our local housing accelerate fund. i also want to thank at some point, this was considered an inclusionary housing development. and, finally, i want to introduce and thank charmine curtis or curtis development. she's our partner who's been with us from the beginning. she pulled out all the stops last year. she and i were working hard, hustling to secure the state funding that brought us to this point in time. thanks to her efforts, we can finally see that this building

will be built and in two years, we will welcome residents to their new homes. i'd like to introduce charmine curtis. >> good morning everybody. it's so great to see everybody here and thank you so much for those kind words. we have worked so long and worked so hard to get to this moment. and i'm here to tell you how sweet it is. it took us a minute but we ade it. and it's important to acknowledge all the love and sweat that brought us to this moment. a testament to perseverance and down right doggedness. largely on the part of kb and myself who would never say die. but, also, we owe a huge debt

to the maul army of people who performed above and beyond the call of duty to meet some deadlines over the last year and a half. we closed the financing and got this project under construction in lightning speed in record time for san francisco and we are so proud of that and the team that. >> affordable housing development will always be a big part of my life's work. for one thing, i believe in the transformative power and affordable roof over your head and without it, you cannot be a stable person living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. we have got to change our housing delivery system to make it so so that no one is left behind and unhoused in a world

where there is so much in the city. i had to do my little soap box bit and i'm done with that part. we are here to celebrate this achievement and i want to extend a heart felt thanks to that small army of people i mentioned who helped to get us here. many of them are here. some are not. there are way too many individual names of folks to go through and i'm afraid i'll leave somebody out. i'm going to keep it high level and thank the organizations. and the one that i was thinking about on the way over here is the san francisco planning department. the women who do all the affordable housing processing are amazing and they worked above and beyond to submit financial applications last year.

truly remarkable and without them, we wouldn't have made it. so thank you to those women who helped so much in the beginning. i mean, you all see the site. it's pretty organized and i really think it's one of the best general contractors in the country and just really know the business. our construction manager is wade point consulting the team from b of a is lending over $100 million and investing over $70 million in tax credit equity in this project and they're a big bank. that's still a huge investment even for them and their team has been really great, super flexible and even fun to work

with through a really stressful process. >> the mayor's office has been a great partner in every way. and we miss them. but we're looking forward to working with the new project manager and construction manager from m.o.c.d.. thank you to california financing agency. they are a permanent lender and they were like the final piece to putting the financing together to make this happen, so we're grateful to them. the attorneys don't ever get enough credit because you would not believe but the city attorney's office is great. representing bank of america.

they were great. housing developers, representing the partnership and they are amazing and are the bond council on behalf. and last but not least, the officers who are unsung. i want to thank over public title for everyone in their living rooms and bedrooms. it's pretty amazing. this work requires so much dedication. there are a lot of people doing this especially in the nonprofit world to go out and get jobs. but people do it because they're down with the cause. they want to get people housed and are just amazing, remarkable partners and i really want to just honor them for the work they do every day for all the work they give.

thanks a lot. >> charmine curtis is an amazing developer and an amazing person. thanks, charmine. please, join me is welcoming lori dungone from swinderton. >> good morning. my name is lori dunngyen i am the vice president manager for swinerton builders here in the bay area. i will tell you that today is a special day because i don't have my steel toe boots on today which is very unusual, but trust me, they are in the trunk of my car because i believe in being ready at all times. on this amazing project,

swinerton is grateful and thankful to be partnering with curtis development and t.n.t. architects. we are really excited to bringing these affordable projects to san francisco. we recognize housing is a significant issue and i'm really proud of the fact that over the past ten years, swinerton has delivered over 5,000 units which is just amazing. we really consider ourselves a community builder. we were founded in 1888 here in the city of san francisco and we truly believe it's part of our core values, that when we go to build in a neighborhood, we want to leave that neighborhood better than we found it. that is super important to us. one other amazing thing about this project is that we're really looking forward to working with our small and local businesses. so i saw earlier jeron.

michael spencer. we're going to be working with spencer masonry and then tanna harris. we know this is a significant contract and we're going to do everything we can to support this process. so thank you to our small and local businesses. in closing, on behalf of swinerton builders, you have our commitment that we're going to be a good community partner on this project and we look forward to delivering this much needed affordable housing project to the city of san francisco. thank you. >> thank you so much, lori. we will conclude now and i just want to offer a few reflections. t.n.d.c. and citizen's housing came together in i think it was

2008 to undertake a joint venture. we outbid two market rate developers to get control of the site, the city, the mayor's office of housing and community development at the time had virtually no money, but they had the vision and the understanding to realize how important -- i'm so sorry. rudy! thank you for forgiving me. rudy, you're on. >> i'm a forgiving guy. thank you, don folk. first off, i want to say thank you, mayor london breed, for your leadership during these amazing times how you step with a lot of courage and as a san franciscan, the step forward during this pandemic and to

make things happen, respect and solute to you. you know, i'm born and raised in san francisco, but i'm not only born and raised in san francisco, i'm born on this block. four blocks up. my family came from the philippines in the '60s. this neighborhood right here has a 100 year history of filipinos and this is actually famed after the cultural philippine zone. i'm one of them. i run my organization united players and another organization that's been running for over 50 years west bay and it's neighborhood serving our current filipino families and immigrants. project right here is a win-win here in san francisco. but, if you look at now.

and it wasn't built overnight. if you look now for our people to be stable, for our people to not be moved to be placed in a place where not only in san francisco, but where we were born and raised. to me. that's how you stabilize and leave san francisco. we want the phillip piano residents where we live and we die. and so my motto is it takes the hood to save the hood. what does that mean? you ain't got to be from the hood to save the hood. it just meanses, you've got to have love in your heart from the people to take care of the people. so all the building, all the relationship buildings that we did with t.n.d.c., what my man mick who works, all our

partners here from curtis development charmine, thank you. the construction workers, the people who built this, don't forget about them, the labor that they put to make this happen. thank you, guys. it takes a joint effort for all of us to do this together. that's all it means. all it means is us coming together working together. we may not see eye to eye all the time, but what we do is for the betterment of our people of san francisco. so thank you to everybody who made this project happen. over 200 affordable housing. come on, man. you know it's needed here in san francisco. and so thank you. i'm a frisco cat just like you're a frisco cat, mayor london breed. me and you go back like a hot bowl of grits. that's my sister right there. so lastly, i just want to say this, there's a lot of shovels here. there's a shovel at the end that's symbolic. that shovel was made from gun

buy backs that we've been doing, mayor. right, mayor london breed, getting thousands of guns off the streets. that was made out of guns. that planted a tree for martin luther king in atlanta. we built that mohogany tree by city hall. we used that to break ground for that building right here. and the bible says swords will be turned into plow shares. i'm honored that you allow us to use that shovel to help break ground for over 200 affordable 100% housing in our community. thank you once again for having me. thank you for letting me speak. it wouldn't be right if you didn't have nobody from this neighborhood up here on the podium speaking. thank you, mayor london breed for your leadership. continue to do what you do because you know we've got your

back like a backpack. thank you. >> thank you, rudy. you are an inspiration really and truly. and, i just want to make that comment rudy referenced mick. mick, can you raise your hand? there. mick was a t.b.c. resident at the yosemite apartments. we're all proud of that. now, thank you for forgiving me, rudy. i'll conclude by noting that it was in 2008 that citizens got control of the site. the city did not have virtually any money and so they had the foresight to lend us just enough to acquire the property and there was no more money in sight. and so for years and years, we

struggled to try to find ways to come up with non-city money to complete the financing. and during that period of time, the site had originally been zoned for only 80' and because of our work with the city department, we were able to rezone it and sub divide it. so this is now actually two sites. what's behind us will be 18 stories and where you all are sitting now is zoned for 30 stories and another 230 units that some day we hope to be able to finance as affordable housing. and so, if there is something to learn from this, it is the power of a whole community working together and of perseverance. thank you all for being here. we'll see you at the ground breaking. >> five, four, three, two, one!

yes! [applause] [♪♪] >> after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and i signed up for the below-market rate program. i got my certificate and started applying and won the housing lottery. [♪♪♪]

>> the current lottery program began in 2016. but there have been lot rows that have happened for affordable housing in the city for much longer than that. it was -- there was no standard practice. for non-profit organizations that were providing affordable housing with low in the city, they all did their lotteries on their own. private developers that include in their buildings affordable units, those are the city we've been monitoring for some time since 1992. we did it with something like this. where people were given circus tickets. we game into 291st century in 2016 and started doing electronic lotteries. at the same time, we started electronic applications systems.

called dalia. the lottery is completely free. you can apply two ways. you can submit a paper application, which you can download from the listing itself. if you apply online, it will take five minutes. you can make it easier creating an account. to get to dalia, you log on to housing.sfgov.org. >> i have lived in san francisco for almost 42 years. i was born here in the hayes valley. >> i applied for the san francisco affordable housing lottery three times. >> since 2016, we've had about 265 electronic lotteries and almost 2,000 people have got

their home through the lottery system. if you go into the listing, you can actually just press lottery results and you put in your lottery number and it will tell you exactly how you ranked. >> for some people, signing up for it was going to be a challenge. there is a digital divide here and especially when you are trying to help low and very low income people. so we began providing digital assistance for folks to go in and get help. >> along with the income and the residency requirements, we also required someone who is trying to buy the home to be a first time home buyer and there's also an educational component that consists of an orientation that they need to attend, a first-time home buyer workshop and a one-on-one counseling session with the housing councilor. >> sometimes we have to go through 10 applicants before

they shouldn't be discouraged if they have a low lottery number. they still might get a value for an available, affordable housing unit. >> we have a variety of lottery programs. the four that you will most often see are what we call c.o.p., the certificate of preference program, the dthp which is the displaced penance housing preference program. the neighborhood resident housing program and the live worth preference. >> i moved in my new home february 25th and 2019. the neighborhood preference program really helped me achieve that goal and that dream was with eventually wind up staying in san francisco. >> the next steps, after finding out how well you did in the lottery and especially if you ranked really well you will be

contacted by the leasing agent. you have to submit those document and income and asset qualify and you have to pass the credit and rental screening and the background and when you qualify for the unit, you can chose the unit and hopefully sign that lease. all city sponsored affordable housing comes through the system and has an electronic lottery. every week there's a listing on dalia. something that people can apply for. >> it's a bit hard to predict how long it will take for someone to be able to move into a unit. let's say the lottery has happened. several factors go into that and mainly how many units are in the project, right. and how well you ranked and what preference bucket you were in. >> this particular building was brand new and really this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for.

in my mind, i was like how am i going to win this? i did and when you get that notice that you won, it's like at first, it's surreal and you don't believe it and it sinks in, yeah, it happened. >> some of our buildings are pretty spectacular. they have key less entry now. they have a court yard where they play movies during the weekends, they have another master kitchen and space where people can throw parties. >> mayor breed has a plan for over 10,000 new units between now and 2025. we will start construction on about 2,000 new units just in 2020. >> we also have a very big portfolio like over 25,000 units across the city. and life happens to people. people move. so we have a very large number

of rerentals and resales of units every year. >> best thing about working for the affordable housing program is that we know that we're making a difference and we actually see that difference on a day-to-day basis. >> being back in the neighborhood i grew up in, it's a wonderful experience. >> it's a long process to get through. well worth it when you get to the other side. i could not be happier. [♪♪♪] yesterday was my birthday and i was out a little later than normal. it was nice to really celebrate a birthday for a change and i

celebrated in ashia sf in san francisco where -- oh, my goodness, the performance was amazing. the food was great. the drinks were wonderful, the people were wonderful, but what i most enjoyed about being at asia sf is that they require everyone who comes through the door shows proof of vaccination. and so i felt a little bit safer when i was there last night and today's announcement is really about making sure that people feel a little bit safer in our city, but most importantly, what we're seeing now with this virus is very challenging. and of great concern to me and i know many of you as well. but let's take it back just a little bit. the fact is that we should be proud of san franciscans.

when i asked you all over a year ago to shelter in place and basically change your entire lives to support one another and ensure this virus didn't spread. you answered the call, you stepped up, you did your part. our health care workers showed up to the hospital to take care of those who unfortunately contracted the virus. but ultimately, we saw the best of the people of this city. and now, we need just a little bit more. and, again, going back to where we are. we've seen in this city 78% of people in san francisco have been fully vaccinated. that's still more than any place else in the country. and i know the rest of you all are coming kicking and

screening, but let me explain why this is so important. it's important because kids under the age of 12 cannot be vaccinated. so we have to make sure we're protecting them. it's important because there are still people who are elderly and sick and those with underlying health conditions that may not be eligible for the vaccine. we're doing this for them. so the reason why we're here today is because we're actually following the lead of small businesses and in particular, many bars in san francisco that decided on their own we're going to require proof of vaccination before you enter our bar and the reason why we're here at vericio is because the owner, wherever she is, there you go. janet clyde, she took it the

extra step. she took a lot of heat for it. she said i want to keep my customers and my employees safe, so i'm going to do this despite how challenging it was. how it impacted her business because she put the health and safety of the people of this city and her customers and her employees before anything else. that's what being a good san franciscan is all about and so we appreciate you letting us be here at this historic location to recognize that we really are in this together. and because this delta variant has been so brutal i don't know about you, but when the virus first happened and over that time period. i knew less people at that time who actually got the virus. and there are a bunch of folks

that i know how who have in some cases been vaccinated that have contracted covid because the delta variant is just that more contagious and we are not out of the woods as it relates to covid, we're still going through it. yes, we're sick and and tired of it, but it's not tired of us it's still coming back with a vengeance. we're seeing 263 new cases and those people are younger in some cases than what previously existed and dr. cofax said if i'm going to get covid anyway. it's a difference being home every day or being in a

hospital on a respirator where you can't breathe and this is real and it's hard to understand when you don't complooeld see it, but in some cases they can't talk where in this past year and a half, there have been people who died who have not been able to have funerals. when we think about those sorts of things, how can we not do our part to get better, to get vaccinated to make sure we're protecting one another. to make sure we're protecting our children because they can't get vaccinated. so why are we here today? well, part of it is we're taking our steps around vaccinations just a little bit

further and starting august 20th, you will need proof of vaccination in businesses for your customers in high contact areas like bars, restaurants, clubs, theaters, entertainment venues. indoor gyms and fitness and large indoor events with more than a 1,000 people. by october 13th, employees at these establishments must be vaccinated as well. all of the employees need to show proof of vaccination by october 13th to their employer. now, to be clear, this will not include people or kids who are under the age of 12 because they can't get vaccinated. so what we don't want folks to think is a family of four that you can't go to a restaurant, you can. because we know that your children cannot be vaccinated

and will not have the ability to show proof, but the parents will need to. and, this does not impact those who are coming to pick up to-go orders. a lot of folks who do the deliveries. so this won't impact that. as i said, why are we doing this? it's to protect the workers. it's to protect kids. it's to protect those who can't get vaccinated. it's to make sure we don't go backwards. it's to make sure that i never have to get up in front of you and say i'm sorry we just re-opened and now the city's closed again because we are seeing too many people die. so to find out information about getting vaccinated go to

sf.gov/vaccinated. you can call if you have any questions or need additional information, but this is an important step towards our recovery. i saw on the news hamilton just opened and people were there with smiles on their faces. underneath the mask, i saw the high cheekbones. i know you guys know what that looks like and it felt good. i don't know about you but when i went out to asia sf, the women who performed there to be out in a city, to go to a restaurant, to see people again, there was a time we could not do this, so if we want to continue down this path

if we want to make sure people are healthy to make sure we're in a good place as a city from a public health perspective so that our economy can really recover to its fullest extent, then we all have to do our part. we need to get vaccinated. we need to make sure that we are respectful to the businesses that ask us to put on our mask, or to produce your vaccination cards. we need to continue to have grace as we deal with one of the most and count your blessings and let's make sure it isn't anyone else in the

future because that's what this is about. making sure that now that we have a vaccine that we take full advantage of it because that's going to make the difference for us. and i want to thank a couple of folks here joining us including rodney fong from the san francisco chamber. thank you for being here. sharky laguana, thank you for your work and advocacy. thank you. and we have a couple of other folks joining us. i think ben blyman is going to say a few words representing the bar owners here today. you know, it was not -- asia sf is somewhat like a bar. it's a bar, performance, food, they have it all. so it's like the perfect bar space where you get everything.

anyway, ben is here to talk a little bit about that. mary ellen carol is here from the department of emergency management to answer any questions. and, i think um, who else is here? like i said, it was a long night. and, right now, i'm going to call up dr. grant cofax to talk a little bit about the specifics of our health order, what the plans are and just thank you all so much for being here and thank you all for continuing to do your very best to comply with these very complicated sometimes numerous health orders, but they will keep us safe and they will save lives. thank you so much. well, good morning everyone. and thank you, mayor breed, for your steadfast leadership. as we continue to navigate covid-19 as a city.

and thank you, janet, and visuvio for your important efforts as we recover from this pandemic. and i want to thank our acting health officer who worked hard on these orders and for director marry ellen carol for your ongoing partnership in this response. the business community has been an important partner in our efforts ever since the early days of the pandemic which is now well over a year and a half. from capacity limits to masking requirements to everything in between, you have responded and adapted to the many new ways of doing business throughout. and, for that, we thank you. i look out at all the new outdoor dining pots and walk-ups these days and i'm so pleased to see the way san francisco has adapted and come bang to life. even in just the last few months. the difference is palpable. our ability to adapt, change

and respond will service well because even as we beat back this disease. we also know that covid-19 will be with us in some capacity for the foreseeable future. we are now in a new phase of the pandemic. and even as we see a surge of cases, we have the powerful tool to fight this disease and keep ourselves and each other safe. the vaccines. let's use them. the updates to our safer return together health order are designed to make sure we can continue to keep businesses open and enjoy our lives in san francisco safely even as we face the delta variant and other variants to come where people are at close range. breathing heavy indoors.

it's simply common sense. it makes sense to require vaccinations in indoor settings where food and drink is served like restaurants and bars and where aerobic exercises happen in gyms and fitness establishments and where many people gather like at indoor venues of a thousand people or more. we believe we will continue to make a major difference in lowering the spread of covid-19 with the common sense solution of vaccines. the vaccines continue to work remarkably well especially and dramatically lowering the risk of hospitalization and death from covid-19. the vaccines are our armor. they are our life jackets. they are parachutes.

d.p.h. launched a vax to you campaign last week that will bring a mobile vaccination team to your home or business if you have at least five people ready to get the vaccine. we ask businesses to please take advantage of that and you can go to sf.gov/vaxtoyou for more information. you can continue to get the vaccine from your health care provider or at a farmee or many of our drop-in sites across the city. we are also ready and in hand to have the new tools to implement the new vax even requirements. while today's announcement applies to these specific kinds of business, we also encourage all businesses in the city to do their part and require their employees and patrons to get vaccinated as soon as possible. for anyone who is on the fence

about getting vaccinated or hasn't made the time, we very much hope that the incentive of eating at your favorite restaurant in san francisco or grabbing a drink will remove any barriers that you may have for getting vaccinated. the vaccine is safe, effective, and appointments are readily available. and, just a reminder, that even if you've already had covid-19, we in the city strongly recommend that you get fully vaccinated. thank you, and, with that, i'd like to introduce ben blyman, head of the san francisco's bar owner's alliance and an early leader in requiring vaccinations at bars and encouraging others to join. ben, thank you. >> thank you. first of all, i'd like to say happy birthday to mayor breed. happy birthday. second of all, i just want to

thank mayor breed for her leadership throughout the pandemic. for many of us, it's the worst year and a half of our professional lives and i can't say how grateful we are to have somebody in the highest leadership of san francisco who actually cares about us and doesn't just help us when it's politically expedient to do so. time and time again the mayor's shown she truly cares about our issues and is willing to go to the mat for us. thank you for that. i just wanted to call that out. about three to four weeks ago, the san francisco bar owners started to notice alarming cases of break through infections with staff members of ours. these are vaccinated individuals working in bars who suddenly were coming down with covid, thankfully, none of the cases were serious. there were no hospitalizations but it was enough to give us pause and have a robust conversation. in that conversation, three things came up that i noticed and it was a very robust

conversation. one was how scared we were for the health of our staff members. specifically, we have a lot of staff members who have young children. we have a lot of staff members who take care of elderly parents and the idea they could bring something home and put them in danger was scary for us and real. we have a sacred obligation to our staff members. we know that. we feel that way, and that was really first and foremost in our minds. the second was the impact it was having on our businesses. if somebody comes down with covid, even if they don't go to the hospital, they're out for at least ten days and we're having a staffing shortage already across the u.s., so this has a serious impact on our ability to do business. i myself had to close a bar for a night because my bartender got covid at a different job of his and we were unable to find coverage. and the third thing that came up was the frustration that we felt as a community. for the first year of the

pandemic, we were fighting an uncontrollable virus. it could be sort of managed, but it was kind of out of control and we kind of had the sense of fatalism. but that was no longer the case. and the bar owners were veryis a sievous and it was something that came up and we floated the idea what if we just don't let them inside. after a poll we did, over 80% of our membership responded that they would like to go through with that and they declared we would only allow vaccinated individuals to hang out indoors at our establishments. in actual practice, it was a little bit of a nothing burger. if anything, almost every single person was happy about t. they were thrilled. they were thankful. they were safer. the pushback we got was online

from a bunch of remarkably right wing trolls whose trolling was so bad hopefully i could teach them about how to troll correctly. that said, we've gone through with it. it works. it's helping to decrease exposure to our staff members. we know that unvaccinated individuals are eight times more likely to contract and spread coronavirus and we need to make sure that we keep them from exposing our staff and their families as much as we can. even though there wasn't much pushback, we still kind of felt like we were on an island as a group. we didn't do it thinking other people would follow. we didn't do it to change hearts and minds. if hearts and minds do change, that's fantastic. but we did to to protect our staff and families. but the fact that san francisco is doing this now is a huge thing for us. we're not alone anymore. the city is making a bold

statement if you want to participate in our society fully, if you want to be able to cough into the mouths of other people around you in closed tight areas, you must be vaccinated indoors. the fact that we're not alone is a huge benefit to us and i thank the city of san francisco for going through with this. it's a giant deal for us so thank you very much, thanks for having us. >> thank you, ben. and, thank you to all the bar owners in san francisco. thank you to the vasuvio and janet in particular for your leadership and work and advocacy. as i said, the bars did this a couple weeks ago and the city is following their lead which i think is truly remarkable. the example that they're setting what we're doing to keep people safe is most important at this time. and, with that, i'll open it up to questions from the press.

>> hi, i'm chris mattis and you're watching coping with covid-19. today i'm going to the dentist. [♪♪♪] when you confirm your appointment with your dentist, ask about the safety protocols they put in place to make sure you are comfortable visiting. my dentist has been very proactive letting patients know exactly what to expect when they arrive, explaining their safety procedures and setting up a detail e-mailed reminder shortly before appointments. before i left i put on a mask and took the smallest number of items i would need including my insurance card. generally i try to book medical appointments earlier in the day.

it seemed like i have less weight time and i'm in and out of the office faster. one of the protocols my dentist has implemented is for patients to call the office from their car to let them know they have arrived. they argue -- they are in their waiting room right now. if they are not ready, they will call you back to let you know when you can enter the practice. as i walked into the office, the receptionist asked me to use a hand sanitizer. i was taken back into the room where i would receive my treatment. everyone in the office was using p.p.e. gowns, masks, gloves, and face shields. after entered the treatment room , i gargled with sanitizing mouth -- mouthwash and we reviewed my chart and x-rays. then we would talk about what steps i would make in my visit. we started my treatment. the procedure was fast and painless. after everything was complete, i was able to make a follow-up appointment without having to

interact with reception. i replaced my mask, was taken back through the office where i used more hand sanitizer before going back to my car as i drove home, i was careful not to touch my face. as soon as i got through the front door, i washed my hands for over 20 seconds. here's a quick recap. [♪♪♪] i have seen anecdotal reports that suggest some people are forgoing important medical or dental care because they're worried about catching the virus even during normal times, offices are extremely hygienic and sanitary and during the pandemic, they are taking extra precautions to make sure everyone is safe. go ahead and make that appointment and visit your dentist and get the care you need to. thanks forororororororororororor

>> we hope we can learn more about the current state of covid-19 variant cases and others. let's get through the housekeeping and get started. recording. today's event is being recorded and being live streamed on facebook on facebook, sfgovtv, comcast 26, and cable 26. we respect all in this meeting,

and