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tv   Mayors Press Availability  SFGTV  October 31, 2021 2:15pm-3:01pm PDT

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but i also want to make sure that we are -- . . . >> thank you, all, for joining us here in the bright and foggy richmond district of san francisco. it is so great to be here. this past weekend, san francisco really was pumping. i don't know about you, but i was all over the city and i saw people everywhere going to chase center to see preseason of the warriors and where we beat. . . . . and one of the most significant and the italian heritage parade
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and it was packed in north beach with so many people and so many businesses. our hotels were full. and so much going on in san francisco. it was really great and we just announced that one of the first cruise ships that we have seen since the pandemic started has returned. so when you think about we are still living in a pandemic, because 83% of san franciscans are vaccinated and seeing lower infection rates, that has everything to do with why we have been able to make really great decisions and continue to we occupy our city. we are on the way to a serious economic recovery and also i am
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so happy to see people out and about in the city. all the issues we faced before the pandemic continues. one of the biggest issues has everything to do with housing and affordability. when i talk about housing and how important it is to move forward, it has everything to do with growing up in san francisco and watching it become less and less affordable. watching friend and family move out of san francisco. people making decisions about whether or not to have children because of affordability. when i think about my life in san francisco, there were challenges and this is an amazing city and there is no other place i would rather be than in san francisco. but also i want to make sure that we are sharing in those opportunities. i talked to so many people in this community in particular and
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the conversation i have with them when i was first running for mayor, scott weaner has this bill that i think most people on the west side was completely adamantly opposed to and the conversation i would constantly have is how long have you been here? they were mostly born and raised here and here for 40, 50 years. they raised their children in the same house and still live there. when i ask where the children live now, the children who were adults and sometimes married with their own kids, often times they were not living in san francisco because they couldn't afford to live here. we have not done our part in insuring that we build housing equitably, geographically and our entire city. that is what today is about and looking at opportunities. we are not trying to make the
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west side of town into downtown, but what we're saying with underutilized places like this place that used to be a gas station, there can be the possibility to create four stories. with gus's market. this is possible in underutilized spaces and incredible addition to this community. this is important that we get rid of the bureaucracy, get rid of the layers and we look at being innovative and make it easier to build housing. it should not take 10, 15 years once a property is available to build. we have over 70,000 units that have been approved and the director of planning is here with us today and he is working overtime to come up with solutions to get the units
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online, but it is going to require a lot more. and today we're announcing a new piece of legislation that will help us get there called cars to casas or cas. mi casa, su casa. and cars to casas. and the whole point is taking underutilized spaces like gas stations that are closed, like garages and parking lots, places that aren't realizing their full potential and moving forward with allowing them to be zoned to build housing. that is what we're doing and i want to recognize the environmental impacts of what happens when you build more
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housing in the city and people are moving further out and commuting further and the freeways are packed and the cars and the congestion. when you build housing around transit corridors and that is how you help with the environment, too. it is so many things that this will do. affordability, helping the environment, and making sure that generation of san franciscans who love the city and who want to continue to call this city home and people who want to raise their children here and affords to live here. that is what more building means and all the folks who are joining us here today and in addition we have the folks who will talk in a little bit and ty davis from the housing action coalition and another person from bright line and folks who
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care about moving bureaucracy and moving the drama out of the way because we care about not only making that to live here. and we want to make sure the next generation doesn't continue to do with the challenges of affordability and as it relates to housing in san francisco and that is what's most important. and with that, i would like to introduce someone who has been a champion and unapologetic about pushing the envelope to get more housing built everywhere. and i don't know about you, but i don't see a four-story building and i don't think it's unreasonable to build something like this in areas where we desperately need housing and of course, a great supermarket to add. and the state senator is making
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it easier to build housing and robust transit and is willing to push the envelope and how housing plays a role in all of those things. we appreciate his work and advocacy and with that i would like to introduce state senator scott weaner. >> thank you for your leadership on housing. we are working very hard at the state level to encourage and sometimes require cities to allow more housing. and we have cities throughout the state that unfortunately many of them have just not allowed very much housing at all over time and have made it just impossible to actually get anything built and so we are
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trying to reset the rules at the state level to say that all cities must participate and we need housing everywhere and this is about future of the state. it is fantastic when we have cities and more than you think and san francisco is one of them and mayor breed is leading the way here and is fantastic when cities without being told you have to do it do the right thing and acknowledge that if we are serious about having a future for young people in our city, that if we're serious about having a city that can be diverse and people afford housing and serious about tackling to be creative and to find ways to allow more housing. and the mayor is proposing this very, very creative approach where we know we have so many auto uses in san francisco and some are closing down. gas stations, car washes and
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there the areas with the neighborhoods and the mixed use and near transit and near jobs and all parts of the city. and it is also about equity. and we have historically put our focused the housing in a few small starts of the city and we need that everywhere. and people on the west side also need more housing. and what i will also say is that the major talked about sb827 which to allow density near transit and actually the mayor during her campaign very bravely supported that legislation and she was the only candidate who did. and in the polling not only did she win, but the polling showed despite very loud voices that you hear, and that can sometimes seem like they represent the majority and the people who
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oppose all housing or don't want any change and show up and spend 10 hours of planning commission hearings and they are not. and whe you look at the polling, people understand that and are and the politicians and the mayor get it. and this is a fantastic program and i fully support it and have the honor of bringing up one of the great housing advocates and one of the is a deep grass roots movement and the movement of people who want to say yes and
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want to and billed like this and offer the really unique opportunity to make progress on multiple of our most issues. and this will take and we have the miracle of a moment in the middle of tragedy where rents dip and right back up there and we need to be doing everything we can to plan for the next generation and making our city more inclusive and access and building more homes and cars to casas and the number one thing that san francisco can be doing to address greenhouse gas emissions is building in-fill housing. this is going to literally be taking that car centric infrastructure and making it
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easier to build. the thing we know will make our city more sustainable is homes for the family that are right now searching on craigslist and they are crying. they are saying, i cannot afford to live in the city that i love and i cannot afford to live near my job. i cannot afford to be close to my family. these bills are making the city more inclusive for the next generation. and this is about building back better, and it is an incredible opportunity. i am so glad that we have leadership that is willing to take the major steps to address our chronic housing shortage. and there is a great quote that says don't tell me your values, show me your budget. for local government, it is actually don't tell me your values, show me your land use policies. and you have land. how are you using it? and how are you making it at the city? the best it can be and the most inclusive it can be. and i am excited about this and i hope that the board of supervisors takes the advantage of what the mayor is putting
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forward and a bold idea of taking car centric infrastructure and doing exactly what we know every climate scientist is telling us we need to be doing which is building in-fill, walkable communities and getting away from the carbon emitting technology of the past. and thank you so much and now i am going to hand it over to todd davis from housing action coalition. >> it is never fun to follow lar. i want to start by saying, how lucky are we in san francisco to have such amazing leadership on housing and mayor london breed and state senator weaner, two of the most amazing housing champions in california. as a parent of three teenager who is all want to come back to san francisco -- and i don't want them moving back into my house -- i think that we need more housing. look, we all know the housing action coalition, we are a
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member supported nonprofit that supports housing at all levels of affordability. and just like you, we are well aware that san francisco is experiencing an affordable and displacement crisis being primarily caused by an underproduction of housing at all levels of affordability for the last 50 years. right? and we know that workers and people who work every day and the key workers and the teachers and the firefighters and the nurses and they are getting pushed further and further and further out of san francisco. and they have super commutes. they are driving two hours in each direction. and that is what is contributing to greenhouse gases and the climate change. it makes sense to look at where there is available land to develop and take old time car centric and gas stations and parking lots and make it easier for developers to build housing at all levels of affordability and that makes sense in san
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francisco. we're going to have workers living closer to the urban centers and being able to walk and take public transportation. we're going to be building that next generation of housing and making space for my children, for your children, and your grandchildren. and so we really have something that we should all be coming together and every neighborhood needs to be a part of the solution. right? and welcoming new neighbors and new personalities into their neighborhood. and so this is really exciting and cars to casa is super, super important piece of legislation and one of the main things it is going to do is going to eliminate a conditional use and can delay housing for a year. we know environmentally that this is the right thing to do
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and build on a parking lot or a gas station, let's go for it and eliminate that bureaucracy and i want to thank you mayor london breed for moving this forward and the state senator for the unyielding, unwavering leadership and it is my pleasure to introduce. >> good afternoon and thank you. my name is sarah chiu from an environmental justice nonprofit based in san francisco. we work on a variety of policy issues and programmatic work including youth leadership, air quality monitoring and job
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training. and and significant changes in transportation are needed to help achieve our climate goals such as limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees celsius or below and limiting carbon emissions for our city. the city should be moving to emission and prioritize public transit investment as new development occurs. this policy would make that this goes first and underutilize gas auto oriented land and to advance equitable, cleaner air in san francisco to impact low income and communities and households next to highways. week emissions can exacerbate existing conditions like asthma
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f and long-term exposure can increase respiratory distress symptoms and airways, coughing and difficulty breathing. by transitioning more land away from auto oriented uses, this can bring a more climate resilient future for all the communities in san francisco. thank you. >> thank you so much. that concludes our presentation here today. and are there any questions? >> could you summarize what you are doing today? >> what we're doing is i am introducing legislation called cars to casas where the legislation will allow for us to remove the conditional use process to speed up the ability to zone properties like this one that used to be a gas station
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and be able to places at the garages, gas stations, parking lots, car washes and things that mostly served and were zoned for car-related uses. and would allow for us to move forward in the process to build housing rather than go through an additional layer to remove a bureaucratic layer to add anywhere from 12 to 18 months to the process. >> pardon me. how is it going to streamline this process? so it changes -- >> an it changes the zoning of the properties. >> thank you. >> it says they don't have to -- and -- >> they don't need a conditional use. they don't need to go through that additional layer. they will be able to skip that entirely. that would be removed entirely to the process. and francis scott key and there
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was another additional layer and added 18 months and you had to change the zoning to be used as a school and that is part of the challenge with the zoning laws and places to only be used for specific purposes and when you are changing the use of the places and a whole other process and the whole housing related process and if it is zoned for housing and we are saying the entire cities and the laws exist, we will automatically through the legislation say they are going to be automatically eligible if housing is an option and if someone wants to build housing and they don't have to go through the additional layer. that is the best way i can explain it. rich, do you want to add something to it? >> you can speak in planning terms. >> just add to what the mayor said. and it gets rid of the process
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which can take anywhere from six months to 18 months. and it also gives project sponsors more flexibility and do more units on a parcel like this and is controlled and by the lot size and how many units you can do and gives flexibility and this project and 13 units or 12 units and they were pretty large. and gives us the possibility to do smaller, larger units and get rid of the process and get through the process quicker. >> can you spell your name? >> h-i-l-l-i-s. rich first name. >> and the director of the planning department. >> all right. any other questions? >> mayor, some of the mask rules are changing on friday? >> they are? yay. >> and in certain settings and wait for a wider change around
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and will people be confuseed? >> do your best. we are all trying here. do your best. it's been a long time. >> [inaudible question] >> what was that? what was the first part? >> [inaudible question] >> several walgreens are closing, yes. the sad reality is in what we're facing and with a number of the crimes and to be clear is we all saw the person who rolled into a walgreens in their bike and robbed the store and that was what went viral all across the world and what didn't go viral is the fact this man has been arrested by the san francisco police department is behind bars and awaiting prosecution. and the fact the these crimes sadly are horrible crimes and they impact the quality of life of the communities. and more importantly, what i
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want people and your mother and grandmother, your relative, they depend on places like wall greens and c.v.s. and target where they have pharmacies to get the medication. when these locations close in a community and then the entire community loses. the things that people want the most in the grocery stores and pharmacies and hardware stores and places that help support the community. and so part of what has to happen is we all as a city have to come together to, of course, hold perpetrators accountable but make sure that the investments we're making on the front end never make it possible for these crimes to be committed. the last thing we want to do is see this happen. we have been in touch with many of the retailers in san francisco. we work with the san francisco police department to revamp our 10b program so that these companies can hire off-duty police officers to serve as
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security at their locations and we have that happening and we redirected them in the locations that are the most problematic. ultimately we can't force a company to remain in san francisco, but we are trying to work with them and we want to make sure that they are doing a better job strategically around their security system to ensure that these crimes don't continue to happen. and our door is open. and we're continuing to have conversations with them. and we'll continue our police chief is working with them hand in hand. and as you see, the number of robberies with some of the establishments have slowed down considerably and i think some of the things that we have implemented are working but they're making this decision to move and that is going to be problematic for our city and we will continue to do that we can to improve the quality of life and safety and change their mind and come back. >> all right. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, everybody.
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>> my apartment burned down 1.5 years ago in noba. my name is leslie mccray, and i am in outside beauty sales. i have lived in this neighborhood since august of this year. 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 find out about various programs that could
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help us get back on our feet, and i signed up for the below market rate program, got my certificate, and started applying and won the housing lottery. this particular building was brand-new, and really, this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. and i came to the open house here, and there were literally hundreds of people looking at the building. and i -- in my mind, i was, like, how am i ever going to possibly win this? and i did. and when you get that notice that you want, it's surreal, and you don't really believe it, and then it sinks in, yeah, i can have it, and i'm finally good to go; i can stay. my favorite thing about my home, although i miss the charm about the old victorian is everything is brand-new. it's beautiful. my kitchen is amazing. i've really started to enjoy
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cooking. i really love that we have a gym on-site. i work out four days a week, and it's beautiful working outlooking out over the courtyard that i get to look at. it was hard work to get to the other side, but it's well worth it. i'm super grateful to the mayor's office of housing for having this for us. that was hard work. [ applause ] that was the longest earthquake i think i've ever been in. hi everyone. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and it's great to be here at the san francisco main library campus. i was just talking about how this actual physical space used to be located where the asian art museum was and it was
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always so dark in that building and going through those on the second floor in that beautiful room now, the card catalog and most young people don't necessarily probably know what that is because of technology now adays and this library over many years has adapted to technology needs of this city with electronic books. in fact, i have the app in order to download books which also include audio books that you can borrow and can we extend that pass 21 days. i have to renew, download, you know, if no one's waiting on it, can i just extend and be given a new option? but anyway, it's great to be here. the great shake out all throughout california. and let me just take this moment to acknowledge and thank all of the people who work here at the main be folks who work here not only serve the public
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and deal with sometimes very challenging circumstances. they were the first to raise their hands and say i want to be a disaster service worker and help my city. so thank you all so much. i'm so glad to see you back at work and i can tell under these masks, you're really smiling, right. and, today, we talk about earthquakes. it's really in san francisco, this is earthquake territory and it's not a matter of if the next one happens. it's a matter of when. and in 1989, we remember the giants were playing the a's in the world series. i was in the community that day and it was unbelievable. like that, i still remember where i was, how it felt like the earth shook and the aftermath of it.
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right. the bay bridge. everyone was like the bay bridge fell. and part of the upper deck of the bay bridge did fall. the marina was absolutely devastated and our city suffered a tremendous loss and as a result we have continued to push and implement not only policies for soft story buildings and high-rises and ensuring that our buildings are seismically safe, but we also want to make sure that kids and families and people know what to do not only when an earth quake happens, but make sure we're prepared. we're not only here today with michael lambert as well as marry ellen carol of the department of emergency management who would be responsible if a disaster happens, not if, but when a disaster happens and she's been leading the way on our covid response here in our city.
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we also have deputy chief david lizard from the san francisco police department who's responsible for the entire city and does a tremendous job as well as our amazing fire chief jeanine nicholson. we're in a situation -- who? oh, i'm sorry, paul. our sheriff paul miamotto is here. thank you for joining us, sheriff. all of our public safety personnel, they will be the front line of any disaster that hits san francisco. they have been at the forefront of this pandemic as well doing everything they can to serve and protect the people of san francisco, but in case of an earthquake, we come ready and prepared to do what's necessary to help support and keep people safe. but here's what you can do, you can go to sf72.org because,
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listen, there are going to be a lot of people who may be in trouble, who may need help and our program that chief nicholson is very familiar with where volunteers from san francisco are trained to help in case of a disaster will be a tremendous asset when an earthquake happens and there is help needed. our police, fire, and sheriff, they'll be out there doing everything they can to help support the public and many of the city's disaster service workers who as a result of covid though what it takes in order to get prepared to distribute food and resources and other things. but ultimately. there might be someone and some people in some communities that need to just be prepared to be on your own for some time. and so sf72.org is a resource where you can know the kinds of things that you need to update in your kids so that you have water and i say canned goods.
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so you may not need a can opener. just in case, maybe a can opener. so make sure that the things that you have in your emergency kit, your band aids, all of the stuff, it's not expired and you do. this is the time to remind people because we want them to do an annual check. and, secondly, i know we have technology and cellphones and people think i'm just going to call someone on my cellphone, but cellphone towers may be out. and i know this is impossible to believe, but there was a time where there weren't any cellphones and we rely on landlords so let's go back to prehistoric days when we needed those things and think about other ways in which we can communicate with our family and friends and hear the latest of what's going on. you know, power may be down, so that's when you do need a
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battery powered radio where you can hear what's happening and finally because usually everyone is worried about where are their loved ones. when a disaster strikes, you want to make sure that even if you can't communicate with an electronic device or any other way, that you designate a meeting area and a specific timing after something occurs so that you can meet up and ensure everyone is safe. this today is a reminder for our state here in california that earthquakes happen, but we are prepared. we've been through this before. we're a resilient city. we bounced back and made san francisco even a better place as a result of the '89 earthquake. when you think about the freeway that was down at the embarcadero, many people may not remember that, but it was dark, dreary, it's not a place you went unless you were in a car. now, people are loving and enjoying our water fronts and spending time down there at
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restaurants. it's a part of keeping you and your family healthy and safe and to protect our amazing city when an earth quake occurs. i want to introduce the department of public health, mary ellen carol. [ applause ] sorry. it's hard. go ahead. >> dr. colfax is on vacation. i'm mary ellen carol and the director of the department of emergency management. and, mayor, you can have my job. she really laid out exactly everything to every detail about what to do to be prepared and we are really lucky to have the leadership of this mayor
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who takes emergencies seriously. i'm happy that we're all here in person again on 10/21. we got distracted for a bit by this global pandemic, but now we're able to refocus on other things and i want to echo the mayor's words about the library staff and i know many of you are here. we could not have responded the way we did and safe the live that is we did without the hundreds of incredible library staff and so we'll all incredibly grateful. and i just want to say to my partner over here your leader is incredible and never says no to anything and is always willing to step up. and, finally, these distinguished looking partners behind me from fire and police and sheriff. these folks really are going to be the front line in an
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earthquake to save lives and to, you know, come to serve the public. so we're super grateful that they're here. you know, it is a matter of if not if, but when an earthquake happens and the mayor did such a great job of running through a lot of the things that you can do. going to sf72.org is a great place to start. it's also my dad's birthday, so it always makes me remember. but i have big gallons of water in my garage and so twice a year, i change those out, once in april during the 1906 and once during this. so there's just different things that you can be thinking of. i really can't see very well, so i always really -- so for me having my extra set of glasses
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in a safe place especially next to my bed because otherwise i'm literally flying blind. having medication. all those little things that are important to your own family. finally, i just want to say that we as a city came together during the pandemic and the crisis that we went through and it was more than a second and it was really about community. and san francisco saves san francisco. i wasn't just standing here. it was about every single person here who did what they needed to do. they sacrificed. they got vaccinated. and in an event like an earthquake, it's going to be the same thing. we're really going to need to come together. what we learned during covid is that the most vulnerable among us become exponentially more vulnerable and for those of us that don't have that vulnerability, that we're safely housed and we have the means, we really need to look
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out for our neighbors who aren't in the same situation and i know that we will. so, again, it's so great to be here. i'm so proud to serve under this mayor and with these colleagues. and, with that, i'm going to turn it over to our city librarian, michael lambert. [ applause ] >> thank you, madam mayor, and thank you director carol. thank you for choosing the san francisco public library for hosting this event today. i want to thank mayor breed and all of our special guests today. chief nicholson. deputy chief lizar. pete wong is here. i want to thank all of them for their strong leadership throughout this pandemic. their steady leadership is proof that we are in the most capable hands in san francisco. and the library's been proud to
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partner throughout. we've been helping to keep our community safe, informed, and connected with high quality programming and collections. i want to echo the mayor and director carol and thank all of the library staff for their phenomenal service during covid. whether deployed as disaster service workers or holding down the fort to make sure that we can continue to deliver library services. i'm so proud of their extraordinary contributions. at the library, getting prepared for the next big one is something that we take very seriously. we've actually lost two libraries to earthquakes in the past. the old main library in 1906 and the mccreery branch in eureka valley in the 1960s. so i'm pleased to report that this main library is one of the safest buildings in the entire city now. this building has an innovative seismic design that can withstand an 8.3 magnitude
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earthquake. so the library's always the place to be, but particularly during the next 'big one.' so thank you again for coming and participating in 'the great shake out.' [ applause ] >> thank you. that's it. >> all right. >> flyshaker pool was a public pool located on sloat boulevard
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near great highway. it operated from 1925 to 1971 and was one of the largest pools in the world. after decades of use, less people visited. the pool deteriorated and was demolished in 2000. built by herbert flyshaker, pumps from the pacific ocean that were filtered and heated filled the pool. aside from the recreational activities, many schools held swim meets there. the delia flyshaker memorial building was on the west side of the pool. it had locker rooms with a sun room and mini hospital. in 1995, a storm damaged one of the pipes that flowed to the
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ocean. maintenance was not met, and the pool had to close. in 1999, the pool was filled with sand and gravel. in 2000, the space became a spot for the san francisco zoo. these are some memories that many families remember swimming at flyshaker pool.
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>> president walton: good afternoon and welcome to the october 26, 2021 meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors.