check one two. it's that time. first, let me introduce phil ginsburg, the general manager of park and rec is going to introduce the mayor. let's welcome phil ginsburg. >> happy holidays everybody. >> welcome back after a really difficult couple of years. welcome back to golden gate park. it's crazy out here. first thing i want to do is let's hear it for our

incredible mc. unique. all right. so my job is to welcome you all to the annual lighting of our beloved uncle john tree and the kickoff of the lights. brought to you by the recreation and parks department. the san francisco parks alliance, illuminating the conservatory of flowers and the national memorial grow. all right. i only have about 20 more minutes. it will be good. so let's talk about how important this celebration is. this special v.i.p. i'm going to bring up in a second has

been lighting holiday trees and and menoras all over the city for a week. there's only one city holiday tree and it's right behind you. let me tell you a little bit about this tree because to understand this tree, to understand our city and to understand golden gate park. this tree, uncle john's tree named after john mclaren who was the longest serving parks director in city history, 56 years. madam mayor, do you know the second? uncle john's tree is a cyprus and it was planted in 1986. of the that's 125 years ago. this ceremony tonight this

ceremony tonight has been going on since 1930 which is the first time this tree was lit. so we are here on its 91st year which is pretty mazing. and madam mayor has been coming to this tree lighting since 1970 started by mayor liota. for 51 years. that's longer than the mayor's been alive. so with that history in mind, golden gate park is always magical during the holiday season and this year, madam mayor, it's bigger and better than ever. so let me tell you, let me walk you all we're going to light the tree. afterward, we're going to walk down to that music concourse

for part two to see the magic. one of the most popular installations of all timeses, this is an illuminated meadow of interchanging lights. it's fantastic. right across from intwined and a little closer to us is the circle of light and it did it just two nights ago and you see the conservatory of flowers. and then you keep walking past how many people went on the sled tonight. let's give it up for the recreation and parks department. and then we keep going and all the trees around jfk, they're all lit up and then we work our way into the music concourse and there's doing to be free music on that big old 150'

ferris wheel is lit up. that's how we celebrate the holidays in san francisco. all right. so a few thank yous and i'm going to bring up the woman who's in charge of lighting this tree, but i want to thank all of our wonderful artists and performers, charles is here. of the joshua hubert has lit up all the trees. oliver did the circle of lights. dana king who did the incredible exhibit monumental reckoning and the music concord, ben davis who's here. i want to thank you to all our partners and then behind me, we had some amazing people the

incredible department heads. our entire recreation and park commission. our staff who worked so hard to put this on and then a special thank you to our parks program. in our san francisco police department and offer safe spaces. that's what parks are. safe spaces. healthy recreations for park visitors of all ages, for building jobs and leadership skills boosting college readiness and giving kids a good time. over the last four years, rec and park has hired 100 kids from our park program in just four years. we have 100 kids working for us, but tonight, they're only job is to help us with the

count down. our park champion and chief. she's everywhere. she's keeping people working. she's keeping people happy because she loves the fun and she loves her parks and she's been all over the last couple of weeks lighting trees. but tonight, madam mayor is the night. so give it up for our mayor. the honorable london breed. >> first of all, i don't think i've ever seen this many people at this tree lighting and it just makes me so happy because as you know last year, we couldn't come together in the same way, but we're here to celebrate the holidays and it just takes me back to when i was a kid and i used to beg my grandma, please, mom, i want this doll for christmas and

please, mom, can we go downtown to woolworth where we can get toys and have fun and my grandmother would say only if you did good. only if you did your homework, only if you listen. and i tried my best. i did the best i could. but during the holiday season, i can't help but think of the memories when i was a kid and what the time that i spent in san francisco and looking at the kids here now and thinking about the memories that they're creating. they're going to remember the days that they came here with mom and dad and grandma and uncles and just a different program to light this tree. so just remember this moment, remember where you are and remember who you were with because today, we're creating memories. and i want to take this opportunity to really thank the rec and parks department for all the work in this pandemic.

let me tell you. this pandemic has been hard on so many of us and because our parks were still open and available to us, it was really the only sanity i'm sure many of us had especially the parents and i want to thank them for their work and all the commissioners that are here. thank you to the families and all the people in san francisco. last but not least, before we light this tree i know we're tired of hearing talk, i just want to say we're at 70% of san franciscans vaccinated. so i am really excited about continuing to re-open our city. continuing to enjoy the holidays. so at this time, it is time to light the largest tree in san francisco to celebrate the holidays. happy holidays, mayor

christmas, happy hanukkah and all the holidays in between. phil, can we get this thing starting? count it down. you can help me count it down. okay. are we ready? we're going to start at 10 and count backwards. are we ready? all right. ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! turn the switch! happy holidays everyone.

>> 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.

this is the disability and aging committee. i