good morning everyone. who loves transit in san francisco? oh, my gosh, everybody loves transit. who had a great ride? who had a problematic ride? that's actually a pretty good. that's okay. that's good. hi, ktvu. so i am rafael mandalmen. i got to take the j church in with a group of activists who are very committed to getting the j back in the tunnel. my experience on the j was a mix of the good and the bad. so i will say that two years ago, the last time that we did this, i was not actually able

to participate on that day but i think my staff waited 45 minutes. there was like a three to five minute wait but that was fantastic. i was riding with a woman who recently had hip surgery and now there was a transfer at church and market that there was not pre-pandemic and we had to, you know, i think the experience that a lot of folks with accessibility challenges had where we got off and we have to get across this street that is a very hard street to traverse and then it turns out that the elevator that's supposed to make it possible to get down and make the transfers broken. so then we waited for the s-line which is not as frequent and actually involves a fairly rikdy contraption crossing to get into it if you are having accessibility challenges in getting in. so anyway, it was interesting to see the extra burdens that our system poses for people who may be in a wheelchair or using

a walker or a cane and i think that needs to be foremost in our minds as we think about how to make our system work for everybody. thank you to the transit rider's union for getting us here after two years. thank you. it's been a rough couple of years, but i do want to just express my heart felt gratitude to the staff of m.t.a., the staff of the transportation authority, the operators, all the workers who have gone so far above and beyond over this last year and a half for operators getting on those buses and those trains at a time when it was not entirely clear what kinds of risks that might pose to your health when people were dying and like chicago dying in and getting sick in terrible numbers. it was a very scary time and yet people showed up to work,

kept our transportation system moving and we were able to radically in a matter of days transform a system that we had, you know, come to rely on into an emergency system that got our essential workers back and forth to prioritize equity and i'm proud of that. i think our m.t.a. has been recognized nationally for the changes it made in those early days and putting equity first and i think that's something that they can be proud of. as we approach what we hope will be the end of the pandemic, it is clear that we are not out of the woods. many of us, all of us i think are very concerned about the notion that we might be aiming at 85% of the service that we had prior to the pandemic. i think all of us agree that the service we had prior to the pandemic was actually not adequate to the needs of san franciscans, much less the

needs of the additional san franciscans that will be coming to address our affordability crisis. so 85% is not enough and, for me, and i think for all of my colleagues, a very high priority for the next year is going to be figuring out how to get the revenue that the m.t.a. needs to make sure that we are not aiming at worse service than we had before, but are aiming at better service than we had before. and that has been imperative for all the reasons we all know. it is the right thing to do for equity. everyone should be able to get around this city without a car, but it is also an environmental imperative as smoke is filling our airs -- is filling our air and as we face a global climate crisis, we have to get people out of their cars. so, this is a -- an exciting thing to be back. i love this.

i love this event. i love that we're doing a month this year rather than just a week, and, with that, i want to introduce someone as a friend who i worked with and thank you so much, cat carter. >> thank you, supervisor and chair mandelman. what a beautiful day for a muni ride. we keep having these beautiful days for our ride arounds in transit month. thank you all so much for being here. thank you all who did the ride along and leaving a good example. i want to quickly introduce our colleague, who worked tirelessly to pull this all together and coordinate everything. he's been doing amazing work and he'll be up here a little later. we talk a lot ant our transit first policy and i think we all continue to fall short of that

ideal. it's really past time to take our transit first policy seriously. we need to make transit the first choice for people to get around meaning more and better service that's fast, reliable, clean, easy to use and safe. we need to put riders first. we have no more time to waste as supervisor mandelman was just saying, the climate emergency is here. mount shasta has no snow for the first time. fires are causing massive damage across our country. before the pandemic, muni served over 700,000 daily trips while contributing less than 1% of the city's green house gases. back in the '80s, muni served over 900,000 daily trips. we need to figure out how to get that many people back on muni and more. we know some people face dyer services in the coming days and months, but we need to start building the future.

we need -- we know street priority is necessary to do that and we know sfmta has done a pretty good job of that. we've seen them move very quickly to bring faster, more reliable service by putting transit 1 on the streets. but too many riders are still left behind. we have too much service that hasn't come back yet and we need sfmta to work quickly to improve its network. but to really put riders first, we need to grow sfts. we need to invest in it. this is going to take all of us working together. we need to build a vision of a network of fast, frequent, reliable service that connects every neighborhood that provides real accessibility. we need service that's easy and safe for all. this is the idea behind our 30 by 30 vision to have those fast, frequent routes that travel end to end and that connect all neighborhoods.

we need all our city leaders to champion the major funding muni will need. we invite you to keep setting an example. keep logging your rides at ridecontest.org all month long and tweeting your experience. and, our city leaders need all of us as riders and as voters to keep speaking up and showing up to build the future of muni that we need. thank you again for showing up and speaking up today and every day for the future of transit in san francisco. and now, zack will introduce our next speaker. >> thank you so much, cat. we're going to hear from some of our courageous supervisors who road transit today starting with supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: good morning, transit riders. it's so great to be here with all of and my colleagues.

i'm showing our collective love for transit this morning and happy transit month. i rode in this morning on the n-juda and the ride seemed a little bit smoother with fewer delays and quicker than before. so that was great to see and i believe director tumlin and m.t.a. actually have some data to back that up. so, that's been really great. as you all know, we're in a critical moment for public transit in san francisco. we can't afford to debate measures. we can't afford to be divided and we can't afford to drop the ball on delivering the service or go back and forth on the world class transit system that's needed and deserved. we need to put our money where our mouth is. that means we need new revenue. we need to make sure every san

francisco voter knows what's at stake. we can't go backwards for our climate, for vision 0, for a more livable city and planet and we have to go forward. we need more service not less. more revenue not less. more lines not less. and let's give three car trains on the njuda. let's bring bar to the west side. and, sure, let's tax the rich to fund the bus. and, we need to have the vision to ultimately create fair, free public transit in san francisco because we know every dollar invested and spent on transit pays dividends for our economic recovery, for economic mobility, for our public health and the quality of air we breathe and for combatting climate change and cutting our city's single largest source of green house gas. mobility is a human right and

public good in reliable, fast, fully funded and ultimately free transit is a north star we all should be working for. let's get the basics right, let's dream big and let's deliver. thank you again, transit riders. thanks to m.t.a. and t.t.a. and just all of the passionate transit advocates in our city and my colleagues and i were with you and we're going to keep pushing forward to create the transit system san franciscans need and deserve. >> thank you, supervisor mar. now i'm thrilled to introduce san francisco's very own mayor. mayor london breed. >> thank you. well, good morning everybody. i am so excited to be here with all of you to really kick off transit month in san francisco and, first, i want to take this opportunity to thank all of the transit drivers, all of our operators, the sfmta staff and

many of the folks who during this pandemic were essential workers because we knew that during the pandemic, so many people would rely on public transportation and there was a lot of concern about whether or not it would be safe and i've really got to send a shout out to jeff tumlin and the work he did to make sure we were cleaning the buses on a more regular basis and, yes, they have been cleaned on a more regular basis that we were supporting our drivers and the transit riders union, i want to thank you for raising money for masks and ppe for many of our drivers especially because we saw really high rates of covid with a number of our drivers and you stepped in, you supported them and that's what this city is all about. we know how important public transportation is. we don't want to go back to the days when i used to catch the bus in high school and junior high.

we would always just look this way, look that way, is it coming? we've got to start walking? are we going to be late to school? well, we are new and improved. we have a lot of work to do and part of what the sfmta is trying to do as we speak is to make the system more reliable. make it more efficient. we know what we need, we know it's been very challenging to deliver to san franciscans the service that this city deserves because we're saying take public transit, but we also have to make sure that it's reliable, that it's safe, that it's clean and it's exactly what it needs to be in order to serve what is a world class city especially as we recover. i want to thank each and every one of you today and i'll see some of you on muni. i've been on muni in this pandemic in disguise because i didn't want folks to bother me

when i'm trying to get from point a to point b. every time. i end up missing my stop. so hopefully i'll see you out there on muni this month. thank you all so much for being here. >> hello, good morning everyone. i'll just be the bearer of all good news. like every year, i rode the 49 to city hall. it was fantastic the ride. it was quick and efficient. we got here within 15 minutes or so. it was incredible. and, that's how lucky we are to have a world class transit system. we're just simply not going to be able to maintain and make it better. that is definitely a priority

for me and for all of my colleagues on the board of supervisors and i am sorry that i have to leave early, but i have a very good reason that fits into transit month. i am a representative on m.t.c., the metropolitan commission. so congratulations. please get back on muni. it is safe. it is reliable. it is clean. can't wait to see you on the bus. take care. >> thank you, supervisor ronen. so, we have a couple more supervisors coming up. i'm thrilled to introduce supervisor chan from district 1. >> supervisor chan: good morning, transit riders. it's good to be here today. i came to san francisco's chinatown when i was 13 years old. i went to galleio high school

and the 30 stop was my jam. that was great. i went to u.c. davis, but still used public transit. greyhound and m-track and then when i came back to work to the city, it was getting a little harder. but my first gig in city hall as an aide, i was still living in chinatown and i had the best ride to work. it was on cable car and it was awesome. i love public transit, but at the same time, you know, as my work got more demanding, life was a little bit more demanding, you know, riding around, bus hopping was not easy and for any of you who've done bus hopping in san francisco, you know it takes some time. if you miss that transfer, you know what, you can just get a lot of anxiety going on in you waiting for that next bus. so i know that means we need to

do better with our public transit. you know, today as a supervisor representing district 1, prepandemic in the richmond, we have one of the highest ridership with 38. 60,000 riders, one direction every day. let's bring back to that level and that's what we need to do and because we know that public transit is public good and we ought to fund it like it is. you know what, i want to also give a shout out to carina chan here from china town trip. she reminded me if any of you have known that her interview with ktvu recently, she reminded me that transit equity is social, economic, and racial equity. let's remember that. happy transit month.

>> supervisor stefani: good morning everybody. i am catherine stefani supervisor for district 2. i want to thank everyone for all their work on transportation and to the transit riders. thank you for continuing to call attention to this extremely important issue. i see my neighbor steven chun who now works for the sfmta and it's so great. i have a family of four. i have two kids. we took it right to the giants game. it was safe. it was reliable. it was frequent. we want it to be reliable. we want it to be frequent and we are very lucky we had that experience the other day. this morning, i rode the 49 in. and, again, it was an easy thing to do. but, i do want to mention something about families and

transit because you cannot ignore the fact that it is very difficult for families who have kids to get around the city especially when you have two different school, two different droppoff times, sports, there's so much that families face when it comes to making sure transit can work into their lives. so let's not forget the families in san francisco. i know my former boss used to say transit first does not mean transit last. i want to thank everybody for your continued focus on transit. we are a first class city. we need a first class transit. so thank you for continuing to be here and thank you for your focus on that. happy transit month. >> hello transit riders. i am dean preston, district five supervisor. i want to thank transit riders for putting this event on.

thank everyone else for m.t.a. and all of the workers making our transit system roll even during a pandemic. this month marks my 28th anniversary as an everyday muni rider and i've just got to say, i just love public transportation, love riding the bus, and, like they say in the movie, you've got to love it to hate it. here we are. but, you know, i took my daughter today to school on muni as i always do, and i thought about the fact that it takes me an hour round trip door to door to do that. and, it would take me 20 minutes if i were to drive. and, in too many ways, we are a car first city masquerading as a transit first city.

we have to do everything possible with urgency to flip that script. and, so when i think about transit month and thank you for extending transit week to transit month so we have a whole month to celebrate transit, but, you know, i think about all the neighborhoods that i represent that continue to not have their muni lines a year and a half later. i think about district 5 families. i think about neighbors who live up on a hill who are seniors. i think of folks who have seen their muni lines suspended indefinitely with promises for the first year that their line would definitely come back and now a process in place through which their line may be permanently and forever gone. i think about how advocates and community leaders in the tenderloin and in the filmore had to fight so hard with everything else going on in the pandemic, had to fight so hard

to get the 31 balboa back and thank you for fighting that fight on behalf of everyone in san francisco. when i think about transit month, i think about the operators that continue to drive throughout the pandemic as essential workers themselves and transporting essential workers. i think of the transit operators not just here, but in new york city who continue to operate buses and subways in the middle of catastrophic flooding. i think about all the operators from muni, sam trans, and other agencies that went to help in san jose after the tragic p.t.a. shooting. when i think about transit month, i think about the riders, all of you who choose to or who must use muni and how we as a city have not done enough for you all during this pandemic or ever in san francisco.

a transit system should be based on the principles that more service leads to more rides and more riders and less service leads to fewer riders and fewer rides. that is why cutting service and cutting lines for financial savings is a death spiral for transit. we must win back transit ridership as we recover from this pandemic. and unfortunately and it saddens me to say it, right now, riders are being given nothing to fight for. and, are instead too often being asked to just accept osterity. we must have a more robust vision that inspires people to ride muni and to support the bold funding measures that we need to take to the ballot.

we need a vision that includes fair relief on a path to free muni. investment in our workers and more reliable service and not strategies that pit riders from one part of town against riders from another part of town. we need a vision of a world class public transit system for our city for generations to come. and, as supervisor mar put it so well, let's tax the wealthy to make this happen. thank you so much. next up is supervisor haney. >> supervisor haney: all right. thank you, dean. i'm going to ask the easiest question that i know the answer to. who rode transit here this morning? all right. how many of you ride transit most days? all right. well, apparently, they're going to be tracking. i already looked. there's somebody who already in september has ridden transit over 60 times, so whoever that person is, if they're here, i think their name is anthony, very impressive.

you probably know this person. we are going to commit not only this month to ride transit, but to support transit and i want to thank the transit riders union. i want to thank all of my colleagues. jeff tumlin, the mayor, the m.t.a. staff. we always rode over here this morning with a guy named jason from the m.t.a. who works so hard every day 90 this system, to improve it and it has been especially challenging over the lars year and a half and i want to recognize all of them. many of the folks here are involved in supporting this system and improving it and i want to thank all of you, the m.t.a. board as well. one of the things that has been so important this past year as there have been advocates and i see a lot of the folks standing up here who have fought for our public transportation system every single day over the last

year and a half and it was under tremendous strain. other folks have said this, you know, people were scared to go on because they were worried that they might be sick, that it wasn't clean, that it was too crowded. as people stopped riding the bus and the train, lines were cut. all of that was a huge attack on what we know as one of the most essential parts of our city and people stood up and fought is to make sure it was maintained. and i especially want to recognize the folks who fought for the 31. this was a line and give it up for the return of the 31. people in the tenderloin. people who live in s.r.o.s. families, seniors. we rode the 31 today from district 5. i went over to district 5 with dean preston and a number of folks and we rode it in and it

is such a critical east west connecter for the district that i represent and i want to thank you all for fighting so hard for it. the last thing i want to say is i'm the budget chair and my colleagues told me i've been authorized to put this up and to say we are committed to funding muni, funding sfmta. happy transit month. >> supervisor melgar: thank you for being here. i'm the supervisor for district 7. we actually share a longer border with district 5 in san mateo county than with district 5 in san mateo county. i will talk about the great things we're doing. we're doing really well in terms of transit. i love muni. muni is now free for all youth

thank you to my colleagues and to mayor breed for making that happen and, you know, we're committed to training and supporting a new generation of transit riders so that we can have the highest possible ridership and get people out of their cars and into public transit. that's how we solve the climate crisis is to make sure we reduce those carbon offsets and take the bus. that's what we need to do. i am an immigrant to san francisco. i came when its 12 years it cost a nickel back then and muni gave me freedom. it was a freedom that as a kid from el salvador like very few in my generation had in my country, but here, muni alloweded us to just have the entire the world class city that is san francisco at our feet. if you haven't seen the newest marvel movie, go see it because muni is a prominent character.

it's so much part of our identity. i want to thank all of you for your advocacy. t.w.u. and local transit workers who have put their lives and their families and health on the line for the rest of us. we need to keep supporting them and advancing this wonderful public good that is transit. in my district, we have city college, san francisco state, and u.c.s.f. as part of the zoo all of the organizations that rely on public transit to be healthy and expand. we want to make sure that san francisco comes back from this pandemic and public transit is the way. let's fund it. let's fund it adequately. let's pave the way for our future and our childrens' future by having a muni system that's fair, that's affordable and that is open to all. thank you so much. sorry.

i was supposed to introduce my great friend supervisor ahsha safai. >> supervisor safai: good morning everyone. supervisor safai here. in the past, i have to say and truthfully, i've been a big critic of the sfmta and a lot of that has been justified, but today i want to focus on the positive. i think within the last year, even in the midst of this pandemic, there's been a lot of improvement. there's still a lot of room to grow. there's still a lot of improvements to be made. despite all of the challenges and a virus that's spreading rapidly via air internally, our operators showed up to work. many of those operators live in my district in the excelsior, omy and outer mission and they don't complain. i mean, they do complain, julie, i know you know that, but justifiably, they show up.

and, if they have complaints, they make it known, but they still show up and do their job every single day. so i had an awesome driver today on the 14r. her name was "dee." we got from geneva and mission all the way to the inner mission and 14th. my daughter rode with me, got her to school in less than 20 minutes. it was a wonderful ride. the red lanes worked. no one was blocking us. the driver drove professionally and, you know, what, the bus was packed, but it felt safe. every single person was wearing a mask. i forgot my wallet at home. she still waited for me. i had to come back but we made it on time and i think there has been a lot of good work done and a lot of that improvement has been the result of the advocacy of the transit riders and those that know the

system intimately ride it day in and day out. so i'm very happy to say that the part of town that i represent, the essential workers have been getting up every single day to get to work, they're riding those buses. every single one of the buses was packed today. the 14r, the 14, 43, every single one of them. and thanks so supervisor melgar and her advocacy, we have the m-line coming back. that's also serving our district now. that's a really big deal. you know, the 52 excelsior's back. we are making improvements and, yes, my daughter rode for free. thank you, supervisor melgar for your advocacy and mayor breed and the rest of the board and supervisor preston for really making access for those children and youth a high priority. so we're going to continue to celebrate it this month. we're going to continue to promote muni in any way and

ridership as we can and we will invest in the right way. it also means pedestrian safety and traffic calming. so, anyway, proud to be part of this day today, proud to support this effort and i'll stand with all of you in continuing to make muni a priority. thank you. >> good morning. my name is jeffery tumlin and i'm here to say that public transit is fundamental. 47% of san francisco's green house gas emissions comes from the transport sector and public transit is the primary way we're going to make a difference with climate change. public transit is opportunity and our way to correct for past inequity. public transit is essential for efforts to improve health and safety of our population and public transit is essential for san francisco's economic

recovery after this brutal 18 months. i'm particularly grateful to all of our front line and operations crews particularly our operators who showed up to work every single day through a pandemic to make sure that essential workers could continue to get to work. i'm grateful for the incredible creativity and risk taking that all of our transit planning staff did in reinventing the muni system practically every month for nearly 18 months and i'm really proud of the achievements that they've been able to do with all of that work that they did. we're getting phenomenal speed and reliability improments on all of our core systems. yesterday, we released preliminary data that was showing 20% in speed on the freeway. benefits that i did not think were possible and involved a tremendous amount of risk taking and creativity among our

crews. i'm grateful to our traffic engineering team who has invested in designing 20 miles the in order to hold on to all the speed and reliability improvements we've gotten during covid. and i'm grateful to the operatoring crews who on our frequent lines shifted to headway management which has meant that our buses are more reliable than they've been in all of the decades than we have data to support that. i'm so grateful to our riders union who've put up with all of the changes that we've made. the stumbles that we've made, the corrections that we've made in order to try to deliver the best possible transit system despite the challenges we are facing. i'm also here to ask for your help. i think has been made clear to all of you, muni is facing the worst financial crisis in history. we're so thankful to the government for getting us through last year and this

year. what's clear from all of the data from the counselor and the controller's office is we're expecting at least another four years of huge covid related financial losses. particularly to two of our three biggest sources of revenue, parking fees and transit fares. we're going to need a lot of help to find ways to fill those gaps. we, all of us on muni staff believe that we were delivering far inadequate service back before covid. we need dramatic expansion and improment in the frequency, the number of lines, the speed, the reliability. we need a world class transit system for san francisco and we're going to need help from all of you. i'm also so grateful to all the board of supervisors and have offered their help to find ways to fill this gap to fund mu nshgd eeushgd and to finally deliver the transit system that

san francisco deserve its and need. and, with that, i'd like to introduce our sfmt academic board chair. >> thank you so much for that, jeff. i'm so grateful for our staff, the leadership of jeff tumlin in helping to reconfigure transit. our operators were essential workers and it was a really tough time for many of them as they struggled with things in their family. they showed up;, they persevered and they served this city. what was also so illuminating at that time was our riders were essential workers. in those areas where we had a lot of essential workers. i really want to thank the transit riders, you guys have made such a large difrnts. because so many of our riders are essential workers and can't come up and show up at a hearing and testify and support the need for transit, the voice

that you provide is super powerful and i'm so grateful bringing this up, celebrating for a month. we need to tell all san franciscans, public transportation is essential ask we need them to support our ultimate ballot measure which will come in the future for our funding needs. i want to thank the leadership of our board of supervisor, also our transportation authority for all committing here to support our funding in the future. it is really critical. the biggest challenge public transit has is it's not as sexy as so many other areas and it's very costly. especially to maintain the reliability and the service. we want to bring back as much service and all the lines that we can but it's crucial because covid really battered our revenue sources and we really increasingly depend on the general funds. we don't have the advantage of generating most of our revenue but that means it's more

critical that we need your support. we need all of our elected leadership, everyone in the public. the transit riders and everyone to champion us for a future that we can provide the visionary network that everyone wants and deserves and, without it, our city will struggle. i invite all of these people who've been off of transit to come back. we need you to come back to survive and thrive. i need you all to evangelize it taking muni is safe. tell them about our faster service. i live on the 14r, 49 line. i take those buses almost every single day and i have to say i've been so impressed whether it's 1:00 in the morning or 5:00 in the morning. thank you for your advocacy and let's fight together for public transit.

>> thank you, director boarden. director tumlin, director chang. all the supervisors and mayor who made it out here today to celebrate transit month. and all of you who are standing in the sun for the past hour showing your commitment to a better transit future. thank you, everyone. public transit is at the core of san francisco's economic recovery. muni kept us going during the pandemic thanks to the work of the transit operators, our safety ambassadors and all our front line workers who risked their health to keep our city going. roger moranko is unable to be here today. thank you muni operators and members who kept us going during this pandemic and keep us going today.

now, more than ever, we know that muni is more than just a line on the map and more than just a yellow sign post at an intersection. it's a sense of belonging and freedom of movement it's access to education, to jobs, to all the opportunities san francisco has to offer. from the bay view to the richmond. just because i owned a fast pass. but supervisor melgar, it was $0.35 when i was a kid. it's a little bit more today we're gathered here today to celebrate transit but we also know how much further we need to go. many lines remain suspended with their futures uncertain and sfmta doesn't have the funds it needs to invest in

21st century transit needs. i have hope to reinvest and fund a world class transit system here in san francisco. hope that when we raise our collective voices together, anything is possible. we're the people who make this city hum. the people who never stop riding during the pandemic. who know what's at stake should we fail to invest. but we're also the ones to make this change happen. in fact, we're the only ones who can. so, thank you all for gathering here today. thank you for your energy, for your spirit and for celebrating transit not this month, but every month to come for a world class transit system here in san francisco. thank you. so that is the end of our rally and press conference. if you have not yet go to ride

contest.org to sign up and track your rides this month. we're giving out prizes for winners. we have a ton of events coming up at transitmonth.org and we hope you'll join us throughout the month and going forward in the future. so if everybody can come up here for one last picture, that'd be great. thank you.

welcome to the w challenge. we will be here to celebrate women's equality day today. so, are you ready to celebrate! awesome energy and the sun is bright today. so now i will talk to my m.c. for today and also one of the cofounders of "the w challenge." san francisco administrate carmen choo. >> hello, the sun is shining in san francisco. happy women's equality day. for folks who may not know, in 1971, women's equality was established by congress in order to commemorate the passage of the 19th amendment which really provided for the beginning of the women's ability to vote. now, last year, we celebrated the 100-year anniversary of

this time period, however, it was covid-19. there were many changes in our life. how we did work. how we interacted with each other. but, what we did see during the pandemic was an incredibly difficult time. it was a difficult time for many of our workers and many of our most vulnerable, our seniors and we also saw that it was a time which really exposed and laid bear some of the inequities that we face as women. women we saw had greater levels of unemployment during this covid-19 time. greater economic instability, and often being many times the primary care gives of also having to make some of the most difficult trade off decisions

or going out to work. it was especially during this time we see how important it is to not only make sure we recognize women's equality day, but also to continue to support efforts like this "the w challenge" that really seeks to uplift the voices of women. we know that when women vote, when women participate, things can change. [ applause ] >> so today, we have come together in a call to action. many people may not know, september 14th is an election our challenge to all of you is to go out and vote. that deciding the future of your city, your community let's

make sure we also get the people around us to get up, to step up and vote. today, we have a number of speakers who are here, who are just amazing leaders in their own right. i'm going to be recognizing a number of people that have joined us today. one of the most amazing leaders we've gotten today is our very own speaker, nancy pelosi. she needs -- she truly needs no introduction, but if you indulge me. i remember when she first became speaker, we saw the newspaper articles and it said "madam speaker" plastered on top of it and i can remember thinking wow, things are going to change. we have a woman who is really showing the way. making it normal for women to be in power and to have a say and have a seat at the table.

so without further adieu, nancy pelosi. >> thank you so very much car men. when it was new. i see carmen in this w challenge rise up in the ranks from one position to another. thank you for devour great leadership as well. it's an honor to be here with you and the mayor and malia. >> president cohen: and representative stephanie. it's great to be here with you. i just have some special guests with me today, of course, my daughter christine who has on her purple and white which she always wears and i have on the

i'm honored their here to get a taste of san francisco and how enthusiastic we are about women 101 years ago after fighting, being starved, women won the right to vote. the newspapers at the time said women given the right to vote, that could not have been further from the truth. it was a big fight and it was historic and transformative. here we are 101 years later, women in positions of high responsibility, but an attack on the right to vote that's happening in our country. a few days ago, on tuesday, in the house of representatives under the leadership of teri sul, a woman from selma, alabama, we passed the john lewis voting rights enhancement act. [ applause ] to offset the

damage that the courts are doing to the right to vote. and in doing so, we also need the senate to pass it and to pass h.r.1 to overturn the voter suppression laws that have been enacted around the country. so we have important work to do. we have important work to do. and, as carmen said, we have an election coming up in california in just a couple of weeks and we must all vote in that election. how exciting was it to be up there with nancy pelosi speaker of the house and now the vice president of the united states kamala harris standing behind joe biden when he made his speech, when he made his joint

his messages message to a joint session of congress. that's for sure. but was really important was a speech he made. it wasn't about women standing behind him, it was about what women were doing going forward and he made a speech where women have made the difference in supporting a build back better for women. we have child care. child tax credit. paid family and medical leave. child tax credit. the list goes on of what he has put into his agenda which is the biden agenda for women. and this is where women make a difference. we wouldn't have such an aggressive agenda and some of

the other initiatives. we have expanded benefits for medicare. expanded subsidies for affordable care act. we will have more this is all about empowering women so that their families are cared for so we can have women in the work place making the difference who came to the state of the union address of president obama. she said -- he said to her, everyone is standing on your

shoulders and she said "get off my shoulders and do your own work." and that is what we're doing here. people always ask me what is in the water in san francisco that you have so many women leaders representing this area. well, what it is is our shared values, our commitment to diversity and i always say our diversity is our strength. our unity is our power. the unity of women make change, transform our country. when women succeed, america succeeds. thank you all very much. i yield back with carmen choo. >> thank you, speaker. our next speaker is our very own mayor london breed. i think when we talk about what it means to make a difference as a woman leader, you can see it in our pandemic response. san francisco was one of the first cities to come out and to

come and act decisively and follow the science when it came to covid-19. hundreds of lives were saved. that is a difference. i want to thank mayor breed for her leadership and just imagine if we had more leaders like this across the country. thank you. >> well, hopefully, we'll get to a point where we don't have to wear these masks, but in the meantime, are we fired up, ladies! because we know the fight is not over and let me tell you, it is such an honor to be here with our speaker nancy pelosi. i don't know about you, but i don't know a woman who is tougher, more fierce than nancy pelosi. and you all remember that day when she walked out of the former president office threw

her coat up and threw her shades on. she was like i'm outy. that's speaker nancy pelosi. she is fierce. she is a woman of courage and she still makes time to not only deliver for the people of san francisco, but also to show up for the people of san francisco. to show up for her community. and you know why because she's a woman and we know how to multi-task. we'll cook you dinner, do the laundry, save the country all at the same time. she had like five kids while she was running for office, a baby on her hip while she was asking for your vote. that's our speaker and that's women in general. it's what we do. it's why women make such great leaders and as we celebrated

the fight that madam speaker talked about to ensure that women have a seat at the table, that we are able to vote and make our own decisions, today is a chance to recommit ourselves to what has happened in the past. today, we show up with our ballots so that our voices are heard so that regardless of who is in office, they know that they are accountable to women and what we care about. we know that there continues to be work around policies and investments. but, we want to make sure that we remember this day to recommit ourselves to the fight that we know still continues for equal pay. the fight that still continues. so that we can have lack tate stations for women in the work place. so that women are appointed to boards and commissions. so that we're in industries. so that women are in industries

that typically, they are not. today, i did a ground breaking. 200 new affordable housing units in san francisco and i'm so proud of my friend lori dunn who is leading in the construction industry. she was leading and championing this project in an industry predominantly by men. and part of our diversity is ensuring that women are on boards and commissions. we have had a set back on the board of supervisors, supervisor stefani, but we also know with those men, we have to make sure they are held accountable for the things that supervisor stefani continues to push forward. we are grateful to our city administrate carmen choo for her continued work to bring this challenge to the forefront. and, we want to continue to

recommit ourselves and to remind people today is a day for uplifting and celebration. yes, challenges continue to persist. work continues to get done and before i just noticed an extraordinary woman and a few other women i want to take an opportunity to acknowledge. we talk about my leadership on covid, but my leadership had everything to do with having a strong team of women leaders in this city who helped pave the way to make the hard decisions to help save lives and one of those women is standing to my right. mary ellen carol who is the department head of emergency management as well as our fire chief who's behind me janine nicholson. a number of doctors including dr. susan philip and so many other extraordinary women who continue to lead this city, who continue to keep us safe. today is a celebrate.

today is a reminder of work that needs to be done and today as you hear for some other inspirational women, madam speaker, we are going to continue to make sure that we rededicate ourselves to getting out the vote. to getting women elected. to holding politicians and others accountable to do what is best to make sure we are serving the people. you have been an extraordinary example of that. we honor you, we thank you and we that all the men who are here today chief and others who continue to uplift and support women in all the work that they do. thank you all so much for coming. have a wonderful celebration. [ applause ] . >> i want to take time to recognize a few folks who have joined us here. joaquin torres our assess or. our treasurer. former supervisor norman yee. of course, kathryn stefani.

but we have a number of departments but also i want to bring in maleah cohen. the first black woman to serve. >> good afternoon everyone. good afternoon ladies and good afternoon to the fellas who love the ladies. love the ladies and support the ladies. we are here to celebrate and we must lift our voices and say, despite the ravages of the pandemic and despite all of what the country has gone through, we still stand here strong, united, and undivided. nothing can stop us and we will prevail.

why? because elections have consequences. is that right, madam speaker. we will prevail because we know that through all of our votes, we can change the world. we've seen it done before and we will do it again. through our votes, we elected an administration, a speaker, and a congress that enacted the largest ever federal tax credit for working families. let's give a round of applause for that. that's huge when i think about speaker pelosi. i think of the member of the press and speaker pelosi said what deal? dead pan. dead serious. i love that. but through our votes, we have fought and we have won $1.9 trillion in covid relief to bring vaccines to all of our communities of color, to fund safely re-opening our schools and here in california, our voices and our votes have led the state budget to do incredible things.

it's provided increased funds for health care, invested in early childhood education most importantly it has reduced poverty of 5.3% to grants for families. for families, women, and our children, these victories matter. who knows, perhaps next year, we will be standing where you are standing and the men will be celebrating themselves all by themselves. celebrating and saying how wonderful these women are and how their lives are so enhanced when a woman is in charge and a woman is running things. i don't know. i'm speaking it into existence. but these things matter because fighting for decent humane policies is key to making womens' lives better and the only way we will continue to make progress is by voting. so ladies and gentlemen, i hope you will join me in making sure that you cast your vote today, tomorrow, or just before

september 14th, hold up your ballot if you have it. come on. hold up your ballot if you have it. we're going to march and turn in these ballots today. thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you to all of the women leaders who are standing up here with me. thank you. [ applause ] >> i think malia just issued the next w challenge. next is catherine stefani. focus on making sure that we stop domestic violence. and she is no more dedicated -- there's no dedicated person who is more entrenched in this issue and more dedicated to pushing this than supervisor stefani. so i want to thank her for all of her work and invite her to speak. >> thank you so much, carmen.

it is truly an honor and a privilege to be here with these incredible women. speaker pelosi, mayor breed, member cohen, i am just in awe of all of you and thank you again to carmen for bringing us all together today to celebrate women's equality day. you know, i really thought about what i wanted to say today and in light of the fapgt that i have a 12-year-old daughter, i have a lot to say. my daughter stands in my closet, puts on a blazer and says, mom, when i'm a lawyer i'm going to do this. and i think about her future and i think how we have to protect our future with climate change, with gun violence prevention, with reproduct irights, there's so much we have to do to preserve the future of my daughter and the daughters and sons of all of us. we know why we have women's equality day. we're celebrating our right to vote and we know that not everyone got the right to vote. in 1920. it wasn't until 1965 that black women also received the right to vote.

and as speaker pelosi said, we weren't given the right to vote. we had to fight so hard for it and we cannot forget what the women before us had to do to earn this right, to fight for this right. we come together today to honor that and we not only come together today to honor those women who went before us but to shine a light on the inequality that we suffer today. that inequality shows up in our everyday lives. we know particularly women of color still do not get the bay pay we deserve. we are not equal to men when getting paid. and paying women equally could cut poverty rates in half and bring millions of women and children out of poverty. we work for less and do twice the amount. it's as if someone makes dinner and they get an extra credit button. but i didn't say that out loud. women accounted for 100% of

lost jobs in december 2020 while men had a net gain in employment. we know that domestic violence has skyrocketed in the pandemic. and i'm also surprised to her locally with domestic violence, prosecutions are not what they should be and attitudes that victims need to agree to prosecution before we do anything is absolutely wrong. it's 1950s thinking. in 2018, the united states was named the 10th most dangerous country in the world for women and that's because of domestic violence and because of our gun violence epidemic and who do you think is on the front lines of fighting both those issues? women. so how do we honor the fore mothers and all others who have paved the way. this is what's keeping me up at night. we do not pave a way and create a pathway for california's leading massaganist.

i am going to say some of the things he says. we must stand together and vote no on this recall. too much is at steak. we cannot afford to believe complacent. women, you just cannot afford to be complacent right now. the leading candidate to replace the governor who everyone's talking about does not care about women and does not care about the issues. you know what he says about women and i quote, "women know less than men about political issues, economics and current events. good news for democrats, bad news for republicans. for the less one knows, the easier the manipulation." well i'll tell you, i'll take him on any day. he also says glass ceiling. what glass ceiling. women, women exaggerate the problem of sexism. he compared women on welfare to

cats. for the political gain of feminists. in january, 2017, he tweeted that women taking part in the women's march were too unattractive to be sexually assaulted and he also mocked women attending the march as obese. well, i'll tell you what, i was there and i did not see unattractive women. what i saw was a million women fed up with the status quo. fed up with the continued inequality. fed up with the fact that our reproductive rights are threatened. fed up with the fact that we can't get common sense gun violence prevention passed at the federal level and we cannot afford to sit this recall out. you must vote no. we need to harness that energy that i saw in 2017 and show up to the ballot. we must. our childrens' lives are at steak here. so, please, join me in voting no on this recall. drop that ballot in the mail. show up on election day, september 14th and, please, encourage everyone you know to do the same.

we cannot afford to be complacent and hand the state over to people who don't care about our issues. thank you. [ applause ] >> please join me in another round of applause for supervisor stefani. [ applause ] >> thank you so much. just a few more folks to just recognize here. we have chief bill scott. michael lambert, our city librarian. our board m.t.a. board of directors sharon lye. linda sue. rafael. we've got a ton of women leaders here i just wanted to recognize. maggie wheeland. and virginia don hue. thank you so much for being here with us today. [ applause ] now, it's getting hot so please bear with me two mr. speakers

and you're going to see it's worthwhile. two speakers. the first one is going to be kimberly ellis. she has started with the city not long ago as leading the helm on the department of status and women. she's no stranger to the women's empowerment. kimberly. [ applause ] >> each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women those, of course, were the words of the incomparable maya angelo. the women here today stand up for ourselves, for each other and for all the women who will come after us. good afternoon everyone. i'm kimberly ellis. i'm the director for the department of the status on

women. our mission is to promote the equitable treatment of women and girls and nonbinary people with a particular focus on populations in need. today the work of d.o.s.w. is focused in three core service areas to catalize. those areas are health and safety and civic engagement and political empowerment. through these three areas, the department aims to improve the whole lives of our target communities including the health, wealth, physical safety and well being. our programming is designed to not just create balance when it comes to the construct of

gender but also to empower women, girls and nongender people to build pathways to healthy and prosperous extending the right to vote for women across the country. women's equality day is a day to celebrate that moment which was the result of the tireless effort and leadership of a multi-generational, multi-racial movement including black, indigenous, asian, and latina women who fought, marched, organized, and protested for decades to gain the right to vote. only to be blocked from the voting booths and later written out of history. and, unfortunately, that is the story all too often that women and women of color primarily

are counted out. efforts erased and our voices silenced. whether it's through the literacy test, poll taxes, or the violent intimidation of the past or the closing of polling places. the purging of voter roles or the attacks on vote by mail today. the fight for the right to vote continues. this occasion is not only a day to celebrate, but also a moment to double down on our commitment to continue the struggle so that our democracy is not just representative, but reflective. as we visualize and manifest a more just and equal society for all. over the last century, women have fought to gain access to the classroom, to the board room and to the decision making tables where our lives and livelihoods are determined. with each advancement we have seen and felt, the impact that

comes when women actively participate in determining our own futures. we know that diverse voices, perspectives, and lived experiences bring forth new issues, new ideas, and nuanced and sustainable solutions to the halls of power. we cannot and will not sit out and let others define what's important to us, our families, and our communities. as we witnessed in the past several elections, women are the margin of victory. and to reiterate what our speaker of the house nancy pelosi always reminds us of, when women succeed, we all succeed. and, when women vote, we all win. in honor of our fore mothers and sisters in the struggle, i join my colleagues and fellow women leaders here to urge you

to make your voices heard and cast your ballot today and no later than september 14th in the up coming special election. happy women's equality day to all. thank you and good afternoon. >> all right. ladies. are you ready for your last speaker? >> yes we are. >> all right. it's hot because voting's hot, everyone allison go who is the s.f. president of the league of women voters. [ applause ] >> hi everybody. thank you for having me on this very warm, sunny, san francisco day. so today's really special to me. women's equality day both as a young women and immigrant and for those who can't see me. i'm very excited to be standing here and sharing this podium with so many of my heroens.

what a great group of speakers we have today. thank you to everybody who has helped plan this today especially my legal of women voters volunteers who have helped out with this. anyway. my name is go. we are nonpartisan focused on voter education and advocacy here in san francisco for over 100 years. our league is older than the national league and we're proud of that. this current election is unlike most elections and with unprecedented challenges. this election is different than most. one, election day is september fourteenth. two, it's nice and simple. there's nothing to worry about. and, three, since we are in the middle of a global pandemic,

the state of california has continued to lead on voter accessibility and has mailed every registered voter a mail-in bawl if you haven't received it or need to update your registration, contact the board of elections. we have a lot of f.a.q.s and information about where you can return your ballot on our website at lwffv.org/vote. we are also working really hard on redistricting. many folks hear about federal redistricting, but did you know that you too can get involved in the process right here in san francisco. redistricting will change our board of supervisors district lines and affect our daily life. we have resources and information on our website again lwvsf.org/redistricting

including a recording of our recent webinars and defining your communities of interest. we only get this chance to redraw our voting lines once in a decade. now the census data is out and we're off to engage with our local government. so you should get involved either with us or on your own and the redistricting task force needs to have the final set of district maps done by april 2022. so now is the time to make your voice heard and we need your voice so that our voting maps are fair and equitable. we have 9 san franciscans who have been pointed to your local redistricting task force. you want to get to know them, we have their bios on our website if you've ever walked

down a san francisco street and thought about how one side is in one district and the other side of the street is a completely different neighborhood or if a neighborhood you think looks, feels and if you caught the san francisco chronicle article last week. one of the supervisors took the time to walk all 50 miles of district lines. it's a really great article and i highly recommend you check it out. so, just to wrap it up. friendly reminder, turn in your recall ballot by september 14th and then get involved with local redistricting. thank you for having me. thank you for all of speakers. happy women's equality day. [ applause ] >> thank you for getting out here, allison. i do want to recognize

supervisor safai who has joined us as well. let's get on the steps and take a quick group photo. thank you. >> my background is in engineering. i am a civil engineer by training. my career has really been around government service. when the opportunity came up to serve the city of san francisco, that was just an opportunity i really needed to explore. [♪♪♪]

[♪♪♪] i think it was in junior high and really started to do well in math but i faced some really interesting challenges. many young ladies were not in math and i was the only one in some of these classes. it was tough, it was difficult to succeed when a teacher didn't have confidence in you, but i was determined and i realized that engineering really is what i was interested in. as i moved into college and took engineering, preengineering classes, once again i hit some of those same stereotypes that women are not in this field. that just challenged me more. because i was enjoying it, i was determined to be successful.

now i took that drive that i have and a couple it with public service. often we are the unsung heroes of technology in the city whether it is delivering network services internally, or for our broadband services to low income housing. >> free wi-fi for all of the residents here so that folks have access to do job searches, housing searches, or anything else that anyone else could do in our great city. >> we are putting the plant in the ground to make all of the city services available to our residents. it is difficult work, but it is also very exciting and rewarding our team is exceptional. they are very talented engineers and analysts who work to deliver the data and the services and the technology every day. >> i love working with linda because she is fun. you can tell her anything under

the sun and she will listen and give you solutions or advice. she is very generous and thoughtful and remembers all the special days that you are celebrating. >> i have seen recent employee safety and cyber security. it is always a top priority. i am always feeling proud working with her. >> what is interesting about my work and my family is my experience is not unique, but it is different. i am a single parent. so having a career that is demanding and also having a child to raise has been a challenge. i think for parents that are working and trying to balance a career that takes a lot of time, we may have some interruptions. if there is an emergency or that sort of thing then you have to be able to still take care of your family and then also do

your service to your job. that is probably my take away and a lot of lessons learned. a lot of parents have the concern of how to do the balance i like to think i did a good job for me, watching my son go through school and now enter the job market, and he is in the medical field and starting his career, he was always an intern. one of the things that we try to do here and one of my takeaways from raising him is how important internships are. and here in the department of technology, we pride ourselves on our interns. we have 20 to 25 each year. they do a terrific job contributing to our outside plant five or work or our network engineering or our finance team. this last time they took to programming our reception robot, pepper, and they added videos to it and all of these sort of

things. it was fun to see their creativity and their innovation come out. >> amazing. >> intriguing. >> the way i unwind is with my photography and taking pictures around the city. when i drive around california, i enjoy taking a lot of landscapes. the weather here changes very often, so you get a beautiful sunset or you get a big bunch of clouds. especially along the waterfront. it is spectacular. i just took some photos of big server and had a wonderful time, not only with the water photos, but also the rocks and the bushes and the landscapes. they are phenomenal. [♪♪♪] my advice to young ladies and women who would like to move into stem fields is to really look at why you are there.

if you are -- if you are a problem solver, if you like to analyse information, if you like to discover new things, if you like to come up with alternatives and invent new practice, it is such a fabulous opportunity. whether it is computer science or engineering or biology or medicine, oh, my goodness, there are so many opportunities. if you have that kind of mindset i have enjoyed working in san francisco so much because of the diversity. the diversity of the people, of this city, of the values, of the talent that is here in the city. it is stimulating and motivating and inspiring and i cannot imagine working anywhere else but in sannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

>> everything is done in-house. i think it is done. i have always been passionate about gelato. every single slaver has its own recipe. we have our own -- we move on from there. so you have every time a unique experience because that slaver is the flavored we want to make. union street is unique because of the neighbors and the location itself. the people that live around here i love to see when the street is full of people. it is a little bit of italy that is happening around you can walk

around and enjoy shopping with gelato in your hand. this is the move we are happy to provide to the people. i always love union street because it's not like another commercial street where you have big chains. here you have the neighbors. there is a lot of stories and the neighborhoods are essential. people have -- they enjoy having their daily or weekly gelato. i love this street itself. >> we created a move of an area where we will be visiting. we want to make sure that the area has the gelato that you like. what we give back as a shop owner is creating an ambient lifestyle. if you do it in your area and if you like it, then you can do it

>> hello everyone. welcome to the bayview bistro. >> it is just time to bring the community together by deliciousness. i am excited to be here today because nothing brings the community together like food. having amazing food options for and by the people of this community is critical to the success, the long-term success and stability of the bayview-hunters point community.

>> i am nima romney. this is a mobile cafe. we do soul food with a latin twist. i wanted to open a truck to son nor the soul food, my african heritage as well as mylas as my latindescent. >> i have been at this for 15 years. i have been cooking all my life pretty much, you know. i like cooking ribs, chicken, links. my favorite is oysters on the

grill. >> i am the owner. it all started with banana pudding, the mother of them all. now what i do is take on traditional desserts and pair them with pudding so that is my ultimate goal of the business. >> our goal with the bayview bristow is to bring in businesses so they can really use this as a launching off point to grow as a single business. we want to use this as the opportunity to support business owners of color and those who have contributed a lot to the community and are looking for opportunities to grow their business. >> these are the things that the san francisco public utilities commission is doing. they are doing it because they feel they have a responsibility to san franciscans and to people

in this community. >> i had a grandmother who lived in bayview. she never moved, never wavered. it was a house of security answer entity where we went for holidays. i was a part of bayview most of my life. i can't remember not being a part of bayview. >> i have been here for several years. this space used to be unoccupied. it was used as a dump. to repurpose it for something like this with the bistro to give an opportunity for the local vendors and food people to come out and showcase their work. that is a great way to give back to the community. >> this is a great example of a public-private community partnership. they have been supporting this including the san francisco public utilities commission and

mayor's office of workforce department. >> working with the joint venture partners we got resources for the space, that the businesses were able to thrive because of all of the opportunities on the way to this community. >> bayview has changed. it is growing. a lot of things is different from when i was a kid. you have the t train. you have a lot of new business. i am looking forward to being a business owner in my neighborhood. >> i love my city. you know, i went to city college and fourth and mission in san francisco under the chefs ria, marlene and betsy. they are proud of me. i don't want to leave them out of the journey. everyone works hard. they are very supportive and passionate about what they do, and they all have one goal in mind for the bayview to survive.

>> all right. it is time to eat, people. >> san francisco recreation and parks department offers classes for the whole family. rec and parks has a class for everyone. discover what is available now and get ready to get out and play. henri matisse.

frida kahlo. andy warhol. discover the next great artist. get out and play and get inspired with toddler classes. experience art where making a mess is part of the process. classes and the size the artistic process rather than the product. children have the freedom to explore materials at their own pace and in their own way. talks love art, especially when they died into the creative process -- dive into the creative process. at the end of the classes, they have cleaned and washup. of.com great way to get out and play. for more information, visit

sfrecpark.org. that out and play and get into the groove. rec and parks offers dance classes for seniors. first-time beginners or lifetime enthusiasts -- all are welcome. enjoy all types of music. latins also, country and western. it is a great way to exercise while having lots of fun. seniors learn basic moves and practice a variety of routines. improve your posture, balance, and flexibility. it is easy. get up on your feet and step to the beat.

senior dance class is from sf rec and park. a great way to get out and play. >> for more information,

>> secretary silva, can you please call the roll? >> yes. thank you. [roll call] and we are expecting vice chair eaken today. madame chair, you have a quorum. pardon. item number three, announcement of prohibition of sound-producing devices during the meeting. we have no announcements since we are in a virtual meeting. item number four, approval of minutes for the august 3 regular meeting and august 17 special meeting. >> directors, are there any additions to the meeting minutes or changes? seeing none, i open up to public comment. for those of you on the line, if you'd like to comment on the approval of the minutes, which is item number 4, we have two meetings