>> we're going to have to do a lot of eating so get ready. >> get ready. and you diet tomorrow. >> hi everybody. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and it's great to see all of you here today and miguel even dressed up for me today. looking good. i like your hair cut. looking real, real good. first of all, let me just say, this is a long time coming. and i know many of you are apart of the fabric of what makes san francisco great and this l.b.e. program was so important to ensuring that businesses in san francisco

have an opportunity to succeed and so we were looking at reforming this program to ensure that it is available it's accessible in general and it helps not only those companies that want to get city contracts and do work in the city, but, also, we wanted to make sure that once companies are part of the fabric that you're able to grow and thrive and to continue to succeed and then to hire and then help raise the next generation of contractors in san francisco. and so the program, of course, has been complicated, it's been challenging, it's difficult to deal with and everything in between. even when i was a member of the board of supervisors, we've been talking about reforming this system and i want to take

this opportunity to really thank all of you because especially darilyn and miguel who helped to lead the efforts on getting us to this point where we were able to get legislation finished, passed, and now signed today. and i want to thank our city administrator carmen chiu. and i said, carmen, we've been talking about this for too long. we have to build some consensus. we have to raise the threshold, we have to get to a better place and she got it done. this is like a major accomplishment for our city and i want to also thank the board of supervisors president

shamman walton. he helped to provide these opportunities for all of us to be here to do to sign this legislation, so i appreciate his leadership and the other board of supervisors members who are involved in our l.b.e. program. thank you supervisor safai and supervisor melgar for being with us here today. and once i sign this legislation, i'm sending all my friends and family from the neighborhood to each and every one of you and i want you to hire them because i know as a result, your businesses are going to grow. you're going to continue to do work in the city and i know the city is not without its challenges. and i hope that you see how all of you working together, how we are able to accomplish so much

more than working apart. so much compromise has been made to get us to this point and my hope is that this is the start of what can be transformative about this program so that it doesn't depend on who's the mayor, who's the supervisor? but we have a structure now in place to allow for consistent increases in the threshold to make it easier for someone to make it into the program and succeed in the program in the first place. so i'm really excited about the future of this. [ applause ] and the last thing i'll say before i turn it over to the president of the board of supervisors shaman walton is, you know, getting an opportunity like this i know has been amazing for you for so many and what i really love about miguel is the conversations we have and the push he has not just to make

his company a success, but how he wants other companies in the program and how he has given back he's provided that opportunity and i know so many of you have done the same. and, what that makes for is really a better san francisco. i want all of you to be working in some capacity with the city and 'i also want all of you to be mentors for the next generation that wants to be apart of the city. that's what this program is about and that's how we're going to make san francisco a better place is continuing to work together and i want to thank all of you and at this time before i sign this legislation, i want to ask the president of the board of supervisors shaman walton to come up and say a few words. >> president walton: we definitely want to say thank you so much, mayor breed and

really just want to agree in terms of the fact that this has taken us awhile to get to this day. i can even remember being at this and talking about l.b.e.s and making sure they have jobs in san francisco and to really make sure that it's advantageous to be a city business that's based in san francisco. and so i'm proud of each and every one of you for working together because when we have conversations with miguel and we have conversations with darilyn and you super conversations with patrick and a whole gamut of business owners, different sectors of employment and then getting everybody to work together was very important. in the beginning of the conversation, some of you

remember, i said if you all don't work together and go in a room and have these conversations with each other, we're not going to be successful. and you all did that. and so i really want to commend you for getting together, working through the hard details and am copping to us with a unified front. i do want to thank city administrator chiu. i also want to thank the city attorney that worked closely to draft this legislation. that is important and so the last thing i'm just going to say is this is one step forward. obviously, we have continued work to do to make sure our contractors have the advantage when it's time to do business here in san francisco, but we're going to do everything we can in our roles to make sure that happens. i do want to thank and acknowledge supervisor safai, supervisor melgar for their co-sponsorship and all their hard work with everyone on this as well. thank you so much. [ applause ]

my apologies. i forgot to introduce the person who had her and her team make this happen and they worked very hard. she had to put together all of the things that you all are communicating and all the conversations over the number of years that took us to get to this point. so city administrator carmen chiu. thank you. [ applause ] >> hello. it's so exciting to be here today. i think for many of the folks who've been in the room and been in these conversations, i want to thank you all for your patience and continuing to work with us to make sure that we make sure our economic recovery is going to be a strong one and one that's led by our local businesses. i think for many of us who are here, i grew up in a small business as well. we know that when our local businesses succeed, our community succeeds.

our local businesses, they go and they shop in the local areas. they go and eat at the local restaurants. they hire from the local community and they know people here and i just want to say thank you for your continued investment in san francisco. it makes all the difference to know that you're with us and that you're going to continue to grow your businesses here. the program, the legislation that our mayor is signing today thanks to also the help of our president, shaman walton and members of the board who also co-sponsored. it will do many things. it's going to mean that we see more prompt payments for our local subcontractors who can't afford money not to get paid back or reimbursed. we're going to have pilot programs to make sure we encourage more l.b.e. participation and as the mayor mentioned earlier, this is the

program that's going to help us to make sure we incentivize mentor protoge programs and mentorships. so i want to thank folks like miguel and patrick who really invest back into our community and how important it is to do that. i do want to thank a few folks from the city side who really made it happen. of course, mayor breed, she mentioned the conversations we had from the beginning and i will tell you it was relentless. as you know, every meeting i had with the mayor was about how is this program going? are we getting to consensus? are we figuring out a way forward? so i want to thank her for continuing to push all of us to head in that direction and get to where we are today. and i want to thank jennifer brush on our team. she was an amazing partner. i think yadira was mentioned

with our city attorney. she knows so much how contracting works and helped us through all the different complexities of contracting. you know, our job is to make sure a good idea gets married with the right administration. making sure we can carry out the things that we promise we're going to do. and i want to thank, of course, all of the community members whether it's juliana choy from the economic equity and alex chiu. darilyn, miguel, patrick, all the folks who advocated and came to our office. thank you so much. with that, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce miguel gallarza to come up. above and beyond that, someone with a big heart who continues to reinvest time and again to people to make sure we are successful as a city. thank you, miguel. [ applause ]

>> thank you everyone for being here and showing the support we've had all year for the last two or three years. it makes a difference. it shows we're engaged as a community. it shows we believe in the true spirit of the government because it can make a difference for all of our lives. i really appreciate all of my partners have worked really hard from the l.b. advisory committee. from those member that is don't get the recognition. dr. ansani, of course, darilyn and all of them that have taken part in helping us draft this and make sure that we had the right message that we listen to the right community members. people that were not part of the advisory committee, the well bonders and the patrick to make sure they engage with the small community and help that voice come out so that we can listen to them, pay attention

to them, focus on their needs and make sure we created the opportunity for them to succeed. and, most of all, i remember 30 years ago when i was a wee young lad and how a civil servant came to me and says, you know, miguel, we need young entrepreneurs and young people to be engaged in the community. we have older generation that's retiring. we need young blood and that person and he told me be engaged, bepart of the community. focus in on what you can do for your community and you'll benefit greatly and rewardingly. and so i'm taking that to heart. now that i'm looking forward to passing that baton on to those young entrepreneurs that want to make a difference. you know, i was a kid from the mission district. and, yeah, i went to but you know what, at the end of the day, we made a difference and at the end of the day, we're

here because this program is meant to empower our people so that we can rise our community. so that we as african american latinos, asians can all benefit and raise your community so we can all strive to be true san franciscans and join the prosperity that this affords us and gives us the opportunity to succeed by. with that, i want to introduce somebody who was pushing me, pulling me to my left, to my right, encouraging me, inspiring me, and making sure that we had the right things to say to our legislators so that we had the right message. with that, come up here, ms. davidson. take a bow. [ applause ]

>> i'm going to be very brief. i just want to say most of all thank you to all of the supervisors, to my partners, my friends, people i've gotten to know over the years of working through this legislation for many, many years. i started on this probably about 15 years ago when it was h.r.c. and didn't get much traction then in 2015. thought we were almost there and then at the last minute, there were some changes to the legislation. so ever since then, i've been working on making sure that small businesses like mine who are in san francisco have an equitable opportunity to do business here in the city that i was this legislation is going to allow me and a whole lot of other people. a lot of other small companies continuing to work and do business here in san francisco. so thank you all for all the help in the work.

it's been -- we had many long nights. lots of conversations about whether this could happen and it actually hasn't. it's hard for me to believe that we're here because i've been on this fight for so long that actually, we actually have crossed over to having a piece of legislation that will make a difference for all of us. so thank you [ applause ] >> all right. let's get this legislation signed. come and join me, the two of you.

>> hello. how are you. >> very well. >> your helpers are here. >> you are looking wonderful. >> my goodness. you know what is so funny? we are anxious to get started with christmas. we haven't had thanksgiving. that is okay. in san francisco, we are celebrating this holiday cheer.

we are going to enjoy the season because last year during this pandemic it was so hard for us to come together. santa, are you going to deliver those toys this year? >> a lot of toys. we will brick through at the port of oakland and get all of the toys. >> mayor breed: thank you, santa. santa is going to do what he needs to do to get toys to the kids all over the city. hi, everybody. i am mayor london breed. it is good to be here on chestnut street in the heart of the marina. i was here this weekend, and the area was buzzing. people were everywhere, shopping, dining, hanging out. it is good to see you all here today. i hope that is not covid.

[laughter]. i got my mask, don't worry. anyway, it is great to be here at one of my favorite praises to shop. ei candle. i buy all of my candles here. i am glad to have the owner, eric, with us today. if you want any kind of candle that smells like anything, including christmas, this is the place to come. i have been shopping here for a long time. there are unique businesses like ei all over san francisco. in fact, they are gifts, candles, things unique to san francisco. part of the launch of today's campaign has everything to do with reminding you how special san francisco is. how unique san francisco is. how when you shop at a place like this, you find something that you may not find at any

other store anywhere. today as we kickoff shop and dine in the 49, we are asking san franciscans and those who visit our city to shop locally. shop on hate and chestnut and union street and hayes valley and the inner sun sept where you see these incredible stores. because not only do we help to ensure trees storefronts remain open and available in these thriving neighborhoods we make sure we support our economy. with just a small increase in shopping locally, that can increase our support and revenues to the city by millions of dollars pouring into our economy to help businesses, to help employees and to help continue to make sure we are making the kinds of investments that we know will continue to

support san francisco. it is great to be here with so many people to shop and dine in the 49. since i knew i was coming today i know which candles i need today. one of my friends have a baby. they have baby clothes, pet toys and other really cute unique gifts. lastly, let me say this because i know that it has been challenging not just with the pandemic but what we have seen with a number of the things we see on the news around the burglaries and robberies and other things that happen in san francisco. i want to be clear. we are not going to let what others try to do to our city define who we are as a city. we are better than this. the reason why you see now especially during the holiday

season a significant increase in police and ambassadors and other things because we are going to make sure we do everything we can to keep our city safe. the people, employees, merchants and residents alike. i want to thank the san francisco police department for being here with us today. i saw them late hours on chestnut street on saturday night. they were working. they weren't out hanging out afternoon drinking. they were working. we are grateful for their service and grateful for everything that they have done to serve and protect the city. with that i want to take the opportunity to just again thank all of you for being here. happy thanksgiving. with that please help me welcome our executive director of the san francisco chamber of commerce, rodney fong.

>> don't go too far. a little bird told me one of your favorite candles is in here. it is a tough year for you. i want to thank you for all of the work you have done. i believe it is one of your favorite candles. petite louise. >> mayor breed: thank you. >> on chestnut street. the chamber has been around for 171 years. 53% of the members are small businesses, familiar many on the street. they have been here for a long time. the fireside camera. patronize them and shop locally as we celebrate shop and dine in the 49. i will mention san francisco is unique from retail perspective. it is difficult but there are fine things that are handmade in

san francisco. they are manufactured locally. enjoy shop and dine in the 49. i am going to pass it to someone who is important for commerce. mcgill from master card. [applause] >> thank you very much. i will be brief. this is a fantastic occasion to be back. not just with you but to help small business come back here in san francisco. we all know in our communities that we live in that small businesses are a key component of that community. not only for the commerce and economy, but frankly for the community and society that surrounds them. at master card we see that in every community we serve and are engaged in how important the small business community is. we have been investing heavily in helping the small business through the pandemic to compete in the new reality. as we focus on recovery helping them come back stronger and

better than before. partnerships like this with mayor breed and the shop and dine in the 49 has been around since when i lived here. it was an opportunity to come back and invest in san francisco to help the small business community thrive and grow and demonstrate leadership around the world. thank you, rodney. thank you for hosting us. it is a pleasure to be here. we look forward to continuing our engagement partnership here in san francisco. [applause] >> thank you very much for coming today. don't forget to shop local with us this season. thank you so much. [applause] >> mayor breed: thank you, eric. eric owns ei home. thank mcgill and master card

for providing resources to advertise shop and dine in the 49 to remind people to shop locally. usually on black friday the day after christmas most of the time -- hello -- i am first one at the door at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. i decided i am not going to do that because i am going to make sure i am able to get up on friday and go out in the neighborhoods and become a new plant mom since this pandemic. i will be shopping for plants at various locations and shopping for gifts and toys. toys are hard to find. i am hopeful to get some toys and other great things all over san francisco. i want to thank each and every one of you for being here. i think santa's elfs are passing

out bags. fill those with local gifts on chestnut street. thank you for coming here today. [applause] >> shopping in san francisco with what is happening, what are you telling people to make sure they turn-out and shop? >> mayor breed: one announcement through the end of the city all city-owned parking garages will be two hours free parking. that is almost unheard of in san francisco. i think how we get the word out is what is happening and what happened this past weekends is people have noticed increased presence of police officers. they have noticed ambassadors, changes. we are hoping that not only will

the media help us get the word out but our advertisement through shop and dine social media and word of mouth. i have been getting a lot of great responses from people about experiences in shopping downtown this past week end. i was down there myself to see how people feel. i know that people feel a certain kind of way because there is a number of stores boarded up. they are still showing up and shopping. we have police officers in those garages as well. we have an escort program, a number of ambassadors. we are keeping the streets clean. we are going to work at this every single day. we are hopeful people will come back. i think this past weekends when you saw all of the folks out aye skating, shopping, going to restaurants. the city was jumping. people were going to plays at

golden gate theater. there was a performance at the war field. san francisco was jam-packed on saturday and sunday. we hope those experiences will lead to others knowing that we are going to do everything we can to keep the city safe and open for business. we hope to turn the image around. >> how are you going to hold people accountable to show that this is not going to happen again in san francisco? >> mayor breed: part of what we are doing to hold people accountable is within my ability to do so. number one, make sure we have officers on the streets and on the ground. once the arrests are made, we are hopeful that our da will prosecute. it is my understanding today he already made an announcement or will be making announcement about felony charges on the

eight people that we were able to arrest during what happened this past friday. i think there is a lot of tough talk. talk doesn't mean anything unless we can demonstrate we followed through on what we say we are going to do and people are held accountable for the crimes they commit in our city. >> concerns about covid in the holidays? >> mayor breed: that is why we ask people to get vaccinated and get your flu shot. i got the booster shot and flu shot on the same day. so far i am okay. that was about two weeks ago. >> the surveillance cameras.

>> part of what we need to do there are privacy laws and we don't want to violate anybody's rights. at the end of the day we have to be strategic how we provide safety. being able to access cameras to deal with the most violent of crimes in our city is important. we dealt with this issue many, many years ago in public housing sites where the number of homicides that occurred weren't being solved. people would witness this but concerned about their own safety. having cameras were significant in helping solve these crimes and prosecute people. definitely it is a conversation that needs to be had and a change we need to make. we will work with our chief on trying to make some changes to that. [ inaudible ]

>> mayor breed: i think a couple of things we have been doing and resources allocated. we have had small businesses that had windows broken not necessarily for theft but random acts. we have a broken windows fund we provided for small businesses and provided resources in the budget. through our department of office of economic and work force development. working with merchants to install more cameras. we can't put a camera on somebody's property. we try to work with the businesses. we have provided funding for hundreds of cameras all over the city. the latest one we did was sf safe in chinatown, in particular. the outreach we are doing with the office of eewd and talking to and working with small

businesses we are try to help when they do experience those particular problems with either grants or no interest loans. we have had to do a lot of that with discussions with business associations. they have been hard-hit and we provided support in some instances, not every single instance. [ inaudible ] >> we have not finalized the plans to close any streets to through traffic. right now what is happens is the main points of entry in the evening time to union square have been cut off. we are cutting off from what time, chief? 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. we are looking at permanent street closures.

the goal is, of course, to make it difficult for cars to commit the acts that they have where they have basically rushed the stores, taken a lot of items and jumped in vehicles and taken off. we are looking at ways to make downtown shopping more safe for pedestrians. this is not just about stolen goods. this is in the process of getting away how someone can get hurt. having the ability to shop without concern about a vehicle hitting you is really important. we are currently working with m.t.a. to have those discussions. thank you all. after you have finished wrapping up your cameras. go eat at one of the restaurants on chest nut street. what a beautiful san francisco.

thank you for being here. thank you. would you kindly read the admonition, please. >> clerk: due to the covid-19 public health emergency and given the public health recommendations issued by t