>> san francisco is coming back for real. the weather is all right. hi everybody. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i'm glad to be here with all of you today at city hall. i know we come and we gather for so many different things, but today is an opportunity for us to recognize some unsung heroes in our city. and let me tell you it has been a very challenging 18 months when the decision to shelter in place was made and we had to communicate to the public. we had a very challenging time. so many people said what are we going to do. there are people who need to be fed. there are people who don't have

a roof over their heads. their folks who need support. we don't even know what this virus is. how are we going to get ppe? it was a very tough time and not only did san francisco do an incredible job, the people standing up here with me today. they rolled up their sleeves. they didn't shy away and they put themselves at risk in order to help other people. and so today, we are honoring them you saw us as the faces of

the challenges of the pandemic and people throughout the city, but a lot of folks don't realize when we first were dealing with this pandemic, we embedded an equity team in our response. and part of that was to make sure we got resources to places that traditionally would be left out had we not made those investments who were apart of the fabric of the community. they were already on the ground doing the work and when we needed additional help to provide additional resources. they didn't hesitate. they didn't hesitate and it was tough because there was so much uncertainty. it was tough because in some cases, you know, outbreaks happened, uncertainty, concern about friends and families, but they still showed up every single day with the people that

were apart of their teams that were dedicated to doing the work to take care of people and the reason why we're here today is because we need the entire city to know what they did. we need the entire city to recognize they took care of our kids in chinatown. they took at the forefront of reason and i could not have done it without them and so i want to thank them for raising their hands to do testing and setting up makeshift testing sites. to i want to to get people in

the community who had concerns about the vaccine. to go out and educate and support and answer questions all of these things that's why san francisco is so amazing and so special. because these people represent. they represent what is so amazing and so good about our city. yes. we have our challenges like any other we have compassionate people who believe in service, who believe in the very best of other people and believe in

making sure that everyone deserves an opportunity to get resources, to get support. to have a roof over their heads and whether this pandemic hit or not. they would still be out there doing that work. so today we honor them and they would call them up individually. i want to bring back dr. grant colfax. i was not very happy with the news that he was reporting to me because i know what it meant for me to go out there and have to tell members of the public who were going to be upset with me and the decisions we had to make. but we did it and what we saw in san francisco, one of the lowest death rates in the country although we're one of the most dense cities in the country. what we saw or what we continue to see one of the highest

vaccination rates. so say what you want about san francisco. we're trying to be safe. we're trying to be healthy and we're trying to live and we're trying to thrive in this city and public health is at the forefront of this city and the person who helps make those decisions is dr. grant colfax. [ applause ] >> well, thank you, mayor breed and a heart felt thank you to our 9 leaders here today and then the testing questions that came and then the vaccine questions and i want to thank

you for everything that you've done. because of your work and equity based approach, we have kept hospitalizations and deaths low. we have re-opened the city. schools are back in session and we resume so many of these activities that make us feel whole again and it really is because of you. the results show for instance with vaccines, our vaccination rates. our vaccinations among people of color are highest in the nation and lead our vaccination rates in the city. and it's no accident. it's because of your work that vaccines and testing are readily available. we have 100 vaccine sites. and san franciscans are within a 10 minute walk of a site and that's why we managed to get

80% of our eligible population. and i was just talking to several of you before the event, needles are going to kids' arms. they're getting the shot and we're doing over a 1,000 a day great progress. now, that is one thing, but i think one of the key things in our responses is they're only one thing. they are so important. they're key to getting out of this pandemic, but there's so many other key issues that are of importance for us to address. the wide ranging emotional and social well being of ourselves, our family and our community. you all saw this early on. we had conversations. you led the department in our response from providing diapers, food, masks, digital support. families struggling with remote learning. this is about the whole city,

the many city departments and the community coming together to help with education and helping people understand and abide by our health orders. helping seniors get to medical appointments and reaching our most vulnerable who are unhouseded. we have so much to be proud of and the challenges ahead. i am confident we will meet them together. thank you for your dedication and partnership with the city. let's keep it going and let's get our boosters. all right. so we are now going to recognize our vaccine heroes and i will read the name of the recipient and the mayor will present. correct? okay. bay point advocates.

bayview. we're doing a photograph with each one and then a group. correct? >> i didn't even know i was supposed to speak. i'm honored to receive this award. representing the folks in bayview hunter's point. through the pandemic, it has been such a life lesson learning and just an experience because i experience and got covid myself. so that was just, you know, an eye opener for me just one of those things. i'm in the community. when it came down to me, i'm

like, now, what do i do. that life experience and hesitancy, i know what folks and residents are experiencingment you lose someone in the community. thank you to everyone getting the vaccine. if you're not doing them if you're not thinking about getting the vaccine, find different approaches, wholistic approaches and thank you all for this awesome experience and award. [ applause ] >> so our next honoree is father moses agud of the

parishes. father organized the safe spaces and set up vaccine clinics and helped conduct online masses during shelter-in-place to help people stay connected. thank you. >> actually, i haven't prepared anything. when i used to prepare things i'd talk for two or three hours. so i just want to say thank you to the mayor and the people they are working with. i think it's important for us for the city of san francisco as much as possible receive these and collaborate and be responsible. and i think if we can work together the benefit for the people. [ applause ]

>> our next honoree is annie chung from self-help for the elderly. during a time where our seniors were struggling to get access. annie and her team stepped up to help and to get them vaccinated. annie, thank you so much for your work. [ applause ] >> thank you, mayor. and thank you dr. colfax. i accept this on behalf of our community. l all american medical group to do all the vaccination for our home bound seniors and the seniors that couldn't come out and get vaccinated. so thank you, mayor, for all the resources that you give us as well as all the help that department of public health gave us. thank you very much. >> next up is earnest jones for

the southwest community corporation. >> happy birthday! >> it's your birthday too? well, happy birthday. earnest led in areas where we needed to set up testing and vaccine clinics for people who could not make it all the way down to mosconi and other sites. thank you for being an unsung hero. [ applause ] >> just to be really brief and quick, i want to give a shout-out and thank you to the covid command center and the leadership of our city. aaron geoffrey at the time did an amazing job at the time. beyond that, it was a supportive effort. this is for all of lakeview. the community came together and worked together to make sure

everyone was safe and that was because of the love that everybody has for their community. thank you for your leadership and thank you for the work. [ applause ] >> next up is berta hernandez with dph, department of public health. berta was with a local nonprofit that helped our latino families get access to what they needed. berta, thank you for being there and everywhere and thank you for being an unsung hero. [ applause ] >> thank you everybody. i am very proud of my community. the community i belong to was more hard hit in the beginning of the pandemic. we lost people, many were sick.

many lose their jobs and even had the resources to be quarantined. so it's at the same time, i'm so proud of the community because everybody was able to come together and to look for each other and not let anyone behind, so we were able to survive. i'm so thankful to my newco workers at d.p.s. and i'm so proud of them. thank you. [ applause ] >> all right. our next honoree is felicia

thibedeau. she has helped get more than a 1,000 people vaccinated by referring them to vaccine clinics. thank you for being an unsung hero. [ applause ] >> thank you to mayor breed, dr. colfax, the dph staff and to the wellness hub. the we rock. that would be i.c.y., win, mary harris omicpp our kids first and african american early childhood educators. together, we partner with our resources. they work hard, they bust, they rock. thank you everyone. [ applause ] . >> next up is isabella ventura with ryan martin health

services. isabella's been on the front lines as a primary care provider and helps support our lgbtqi communities and especially our transgender residents to help get access to covid resources. thank you for your work. [ applause ] >> on behalf of my team, i'd like to thank dr. colfax and mayor breed for your amazing work. thank you for your dedication and your dedication to provide health -- quality health services to our marginalized and underserved population here in san francisco. and thank you dph for this recognition. thank you. [ applause ] >> our next honoree is monica

worked on street outreach medical teams to help people experiencing homelessness. monica, thank you for your work. >> so i'm so grateful to the city of san francisco and especially to you, mayor breed because you guys believed in science, you put that first and put everybody's well being in priority and i'm so grateful for that because we were able to go to the streets and help the misunderstood populations and we were able to take this head-on. so thank you so much and thank you for this award. [ applause ] >> and our final honoree today is gwendelyn westbrook.

i think as so many people know here to address food induring the pandemic. emblem attic of our wholistic approach. congratulations and thank you. >> everybody knows how much i love them especially people at united council. i want to thank everybody who helped me, even the ones i had to chase down to make you get your shots. it's all good. the mayor, she knows how much i love her. we've got a girls group and we're all so proud of you. this has been a very difficult task, but without the team that we built that united council

which includes maestro curtis and the c-notes. helping us get the word out. making sure people in the community knew we were out there to give food. he did all that. him and his wife and dhirn supported united council and i have so much love for all of them. my staff, you guys are the most remarkable people in san francisco. you never took a day off. you worked your tails off, we stepped up and we worked as a team. we know the team work makes the dream work and that's what we did in bayview hunter's point. that not having any cases of covid at united council with as many people we serve is because of you. it's because you guys were diligent to the cause. we knew what we had to do and i'll be darned if we didn't get it done.

i am so proud of all of you. this award is for us, for all of us, not just me because like i have always told you, i couldn't do it alone. so i'm up here accept. thank you, mayor. >> well, gwenyth and maestro and the c-notes. i'm sure you caught them on america's got talent.

the world i had to tell shamman, not the bayview. we even served the whole city, but they were born and raised in the fillmore. they're doing great things we have all these incredible people. just saying thank you. we are here to appreciate them and recognize them. we're grateful for their service and i'll tell you, whether there was a pandemic or not, whether there was an award or not, these are the people still on the ground doing the hard work every day and so we appreciate them so much and grateful that they came out and we're here to celebrate and uplift you and thank you all so much. it's a true blessing to the people of san francisco. [ applause ]

>> we have private and public gardens throughout the garden tour. all of the gardens are volunteers. the only requirement is you're willing to show your garden for a day. so we have gardens that vary

from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. >> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to its history. in the early 1800s the portola was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them.

in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a fund-raiser. since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps

people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here. i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this

garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. you can see us on the website

>> good morning everyone. this meeting will come to order. welcome to the november 18, 2021 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors of supervisors. i am joined by vice chair co n nie as well as gordon mar substituting today for supervisor mandelman. the committee clerk is victor young. we will be joined later by our other clerk, john carroll. i want to thank sfgovtv for staffing this meeting. mr. clerk. do you have any announcements? >> yes. the minutes will reflect co