i'm going to get started. thanks for your patience this morning. i want to start off by welcoming you to the yerba buena neighborhood and to -- yeah. [ applause ]

we're actually standing in the east garden of the yerba buena gardens. so welcome to this area. my name is cathy maupin and i'm the executive direct or of the yerba buena. i also am the chair of the yerba garden conservative that oversees this park. we are honored to have mayor

london breed celebrating the launch of the welcome ambassadors program here in yerba buena. yerba buena is a community or a neighborhood i should say, it really is a neighborhood of where culture, conventions and community come together. we are home to world class museums like the one right behind me. we are home to the mosconey center and to the public garden mixed in with live, work, loft, condos, and senior housing. every day, visitors, residents and commuters converge here in yerba buena and we thought this was the perfect backdrop to launch the san francisco welcome ambassadors program. for my colleagues from the downtown community benefit districts, or benefit districts i should say. and i'm speaking specifically of the east cut, downtown, fisherman's wharf and we welcome these ambassadors with open arms. they will be an extension. [ applause ] they are an extension of the work that our districts are already doing. with our ambassadors, with our clean and safe team, and it's incredibly important as we emerge from the pandemic. we want to thank mayor breed and her team for their leadership and focusing on the recovery of downtown san francisco. without further adieu, it's my honor and privilege to introduce mayor london breed. [ applause ]

>> thank you, cathy, and it's really great to be here today to celebrate a program that's really been in the making for some time now. san francisco is coming alive now. i know today is a cloudy day. a little drizzle here and there. the weather that most of us san franciscans are used to. every now and then, that sun is shining and san francisco is shining bright because what we're seeing as it relates to those who've been vaccinated, 84% of san franciscos fully vaccinated. and, next week, children will be eligible under the age of 12 between 5 and 12, and we are doing everything we can to make sure that that continues. 98% of our city's workforce is vaccinated. incredible. [ applause ] so as we try to keep one another safe like we've done

from the very beginning of this pandemic, we also want to keep our economy going. we want to open our businesses. we want to make sure that residents can enjoy san francisco. we want visitors to enjoy san francisco. we want conventions to come back to san francisco. we want this city to thrive and when businesses are open and people are coming back downtown to work, events are happening our yerba buena center for the arts, that is really part of our economic engine. it's how we generate revenue, but more importantly, bringing people together is something that i love to see happen in our city. now, part of what we've been experiencing as well is what i feel the wrong messaging about what our city is. we're the people who as san franciscans know how to

communicate what's happening here. we still have challenges with homelessness. we still sadly have challenges with homelessness and crime. what we have to do is make some adjustments to ensure people who are here get the help and support that they need, but making sure those living here and working here also feel safe. we can do both and that's why this new program having ambassadors who welcome people to san francisco, who make people feel like we want them here, who make people who live here feel safe. it's why that is so important. a couple of years ago, we launched an initial program. we know that a number of the b.i.d.s, business improvement districts around this area, they have people who are out here doing the hard work and welcoming people and helping to

keep the neighborhood clean and safe and we launched a program bringing some of the retired police officers including your old captain, captainen garrity who understand and know these communities and have relationships with our police officers to try and deter a lot of the activity we know should not occur. we're taking it up a notch. who under the mask will keep a smile on their faces. who will be really the faces of san francisco. so when people are getting off at bart, when people are on the buses, when people are walking to their hotels to the convention center. when people are moving about san francisco. they know these bright orange jackets mean that they can get

help. which direction. what do i need to do. how can i get to where i need to go. what do you recommend for the best restaurant in this neighborhood? what's happening in san francisco? that's what they're here to do. provide that level of support and when they see activity that might be questionable or challenging to call the right people to help to deal with it we know that it's been a challenging almost two years of dealing with the global pandemic; but now that we've gone through it and we've protected one another through this process, it's time to take it up a notch. it's time for us to open the city. it's time to make sure our people feel safe and welcomed here. it's time to clean up these streets. it's time to do the work and it's time to ensure that people feel safe. as we re-open san francisco,

placing strategically our community ambassadors. our police officers. our union street folks working as ambassadors as well, it's time for us to work hand in hand in san francisco to really make sure that we bring our city back to life and we make people feel good about being apart of this city. we make sure that they walk away and say i had a great time in san francisco. i felt safe in san francisco. i recommend you visit san francisco because they have this incredible exhibit at the museum, the dejeoung. this is our city and now it's our time to take care of it to do everything we can in our respective positions to improve upon it. to make sure we're putting our all to it. not just for our economic future, but for the prosperity

of each and every one of us. i want to thank so many people who are joining us today including rodney fong and helping bring businesses together. kevin carol from the hotel council, thank you so much and i want to see those hotels packed with people who are coming to the city. i'm fighting to get all these conventions and other activities and things here, but we know there's so much more work to do. i want to thank our deputy chief and david lizard. so many people working collaboratively together in order to ensure that this city is open for business, it's thriving and we're taking good care of one another like we did throughout this pandemic. thank you all for coming out here today. [ applause ] i always forget my job.

and i also want to introduce this supervisor that we have been working hand in hand dealing with so many of the challenges that this community faces, but also we take a moment to. yerba buena as a whole. and we want to keep it that way and the supervisor who represents this community. supervisor matt haney. >> supervisor haney: thank you mayor breed and for your entire team. one thing we all know about mayor breed is that she loves the city of san francisco and she also loves to show off the city of san francisco. and this community in particular, this part of san francisco has so much to show off to visitors and to the world. we have some of the most

important and dynamic arts institutions in the world right here within a block of where we're standing. we have beauty and open space. we have cultural institutions and arts institutions and night life. this is in so many ways, apart of san francisco that we want to show off and when we show it off, we know there are tremendous benefits to our entire city. this area accounts for billions of dollars in revenue that's being brought to our city and spending that comes here. tens of thousands of jobs, folks who work in our hotels, folks who work in all of the surrounding businesses that rely on the people who live and work here. so when we are opening up and welcoming people and when we are making it safer and cleaner and more welcoming overall, it's something that all of us benefit from.

i represent this area here, this is a dense residential neighborhood and this isn't only going to be about a better place for visitors. this is only going to be about a safer place, a cleaner place for the people who live here. i want to thank everybody who has come together for this initiative. mayor breed and the investment and the innovation in the approach we've taken here. yes, we know that police have a very important role in walking the beat and i want to thank our officers who are here and the leadership. sometimes it's as simple l as just having a friendly face who makes you feel a little bit safer and the folks behind us are going to play such a key role in making sure our city comes back even stronger. i had the opportunity to meet and talk to some of the folks behind me. moana and devonte and they told

me that not only are they enjoying a lot of people, but they're getting to experience a lot of these great sites themselves. they're walking around and seeing the table turn around. they're going to stand and be apart of our museums. this is something that i think is a tremendous pride for our city to have people who can welcome and represent the best of san francisco and everyone here behind me, thank you. thank you to all of the folks from our cbds who do this as ambassadors all over the downtown area. this has been under mayor breed's leadership, a very challenging time. it's been a team effort with all of you here to get us through this and it will be a team effort to make sure we come back even stronger. with that, i want to introduce the next speaker who is from one of our most important downtown businesses and we know that by making this area more welcoming for visitors, we also hope that we can see many of

our office workers and city employees as well. thank you, michelle. [ applause ] >> hi there. thank you so much mayor breed and the city of san francisco. again, my name is my stel schneider for our amazing real estate team. some of you may know sales force started in san francisco. today, we're so proud to be san francisco's largest employer through these incredibly challenging times by giving more than $3 million to support local small businesses. this year, we also reach an exciting milestone contributing

more than $100 million. as i come in each week. it's great to see the city starting to recover. we see people out and about. our employees are coming in. we're so excited to welcome employees whack to our offices. we've already opened more than 60 offices globally it's really about bringing our company

culture to life. but soon we'll open it up for the public and nonprofits to come back. we remain committed to supporting the san francisco community that's been our home for the past 22 years. we're so grateful to the city and the mayor for their support and leadership. so thank you so much for having me today. now i'd like to introduce the executive director of moad. >> yerba. arts and culture are part of the essence of our city.

our from moad to the children's creative museum, these are just a few of the museums in the neighborhood. there is something in san francisco for everyone, but our museums and cultural institutions can only flourish and continue if we have visitors coming to them. that's why we are thrilled to have the welcome ambassadors helping visitors find their way around the city. there's another reason i'm excited for these hospitality investors. also an investment in our visitors and residents. it's proof that san francisco values you and wants you to feel safe and cared for so you can enjoy your time in the city. i want to thank you again to our madam mayor, to all all of

of a great partners today and to all the supporting the san francisco and head of the government affairs of the california academy and science. >> all right. good morning everyone. good morning, mayor. the biggest question on my mind when i woke up today was, man, i hope this suit still fits me. i haven't warn this in two years. today is a great day for the tourism and hospitality industry for our city on our road to recovery. mayor london breed has been our champion and she has answered

our calls for hospitality ambassadors to help our visitors feel welcome, safe, and taken care of when they come to san francisco. our hotels, restaurants, retail, sports venues, theaters, museums and all attractions are open. our gate is open. this past weekend, if you felt in the city, it was vibrant and check with outside lands and also halloween events on top of this, we are so excited we cannot wait to welcome back our international visitors come november 8th now, our hospitality ambassadors she's

probably the best ambassador that the city could have representing us wherever she goes. i think as someone said here before is that when you walk around the city it's that you are welcome and safe and it's a great place to be. so i would like to invite the mayor to come up here. i want to introduce someone. it's my privilege. mario is one of our amazing welcomed ambassadors. he is a native san franciscan. and you were born at st. luke's in the mission. i just happened to know that. since he was in high school working at places like our homegrown boudine and our

iconic cliff house and as a former waiter myself, i identify with you so, with that, i'd like to introduce mario to say a few words and welcome in the mayor. >> good morning everybody and good morning mayor breed. my name is james jeffery. i am a san francisco welcome ambassador and i am here today with the rest of the welcome ambassadors to present mayor breed with her very own welcome ambassador san francisco [inaudible] >> thank you.

>> i'm going to say james. what's so great about having someone like james as an ambassador is he knows san francisco. and there's nothing like someone coming to san francisco for the first time and running into somebody like james and saying, james, nice to meet you where do i go to get on the cable car and see the best view? and i bet james could tell him exactly what anyway. the point is, these ambassadors

are exactly what this city needs. we need people like james and some of the folks who are here that are out on the streets that enjoy this work and what they're doing and that want to help people because that's going to make all the difference in everyone's experience and part of that is it's not just our officers and our ambassadors, it's also all of us and how we greet people and how we make them feel welcome and how we stop to say if they ask for directions, you know. actually, now, everybody has a smartphone, so people don't even stop and ask for directions anymore, do they. the point is this is going to be great for our city. i'm so happy we're launching it. we want it to be successful. we're hopeful and we're going to keep shining san francisco is a great city and so thank

you all for being here. >> thank you, mayor breed and thank you everyone for coming. have a great day. [ applause ] >> i went through a lot of struggles in my life, and i am blessed to be part of this. i am familiar with what people are going through to relate and empathy and compassion to their struggle so they can see i came out of the struggle, it gives them hope to come up and do something positive. ♪ ♪ i am a community ambassador.

we work a lot with homeless, visitors, a lot of people in the area. >> what i like doing is posting up at hotspots to let people see visibility. they ask you questions, ask you directions, they might have a question about what services are

available. checking in, you guys. >> wellness check. we walk by to see any individual, you know may be sitting on the sidewalk, we make sure they are okay, alive. you never know. somebody might walk by and they are laying there for hours. you never know if they are alive. we let them know we are in the area and we are here to promote safety, and if they have somebody that is, you know, hanging around that they don't want to call the police on, they don't have to call the police. they can call us. we can direct them to the services they might need. >> we do the three one one to keep the city neighborhoods clean. there are people dumping, waste on the ground and needles on the ground. it is unsafe for children and

adults to commute through the streets. when we see them we take a picture dispatch to 311. they give us a tracking number and they come later on to pick it up. we take pride. when we come back later in the day and we see the loose trash or debris is picked up it makes you feel good about what you are doing. >> it makes you feel did about escorting kids and having them feel safe walking to the play area and back. the stuff we do as ambassadors makes us feel proud to help keep the city clean, helping the residents. >> you can see the community ambassadors. i used to be on the streets. i didn't think i could become a community ambassador. it was too far out there for me to grab, you know.

doing this job makes me feel good. because i came from where a lot of them are, homeless and on the street, i feel like i can give them hope because i was once there. i am not afraid to tell them i used to be here. i used to be like this, you know. i have compassion for people that are on the streets like the homeless and people that are caught up with their addiction because now, i feel like i can give them hope. it reminds you every day of where i used to be and where i am at now.

. at now. >> chairman: good morning. and welcome to the rules committee of the san francisco board of supervisors for today, november 8th, 2021. i am the chair of the committee joined by supervisor mandelman and supervisor chan. our clerk is mr. victor