hi everyone. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i know that many of you have been anxious to hear what's happening with this new omicron variant. the coronavirus and we're here today to talk about and announce that here in the city and county of san francisco under the university of california san francisco and our partnership with the department of public health using the latest of technology, we have discovered our first case not only here in san francisco but the entire country and i wanted to at this

time introduce dr. grant colfax to talk about the specifics and what that means in terms of what we need to do as a city. dr. colfax. >> thank you, mayor breed. good morning everybody and thank you, mayor breed, for your ongoing leadership during this pandemic. and i want to thank our partners at u.c.s.f. and especially dr. charles chiu and his team and i'd also like to thank our testing partner dr. scott topper. both are here today. and, of course my partner dr. mary ellen carol. all of us have been working in the last 24 hours with our state and federal partners at cdc and the state department of

health to determine whether this indeed is the first case of omicron that has been detected and that has indeed been the result of our work overnight. i want to acknowledge our health officer dr. susan philip. but i also want to emphasize this is not a surprise. for those of you who knew, we thought omicron was already here. we just hadn't detected it yet. so this is cause for concern, but it's also certainly not a cause for panic. we are prepared in the city for this with regard to the case itself. the person recently traveled to south africa and they did the right thing and got tested and

reported their travel history. they had mild symptoms and thankfully recovered. contacts have been notified by the health department. and, again, here's what we know now. san francisco is relatively well positioned to respond to variants. our vaccine rate is high. more boosters are going into arms every day. 5-11-year-olds are getting vaccinated at rapid uptake. our masking and vaccine requirements are among the most stringent in the country. these efforts have been very effective in helping us slow the spread of the virus. and there's still a lot we do not know about omicron. we don't know how infectious itself although there's a strong likelihood that it is more infectious than delta.

we don't know how sick it makes people. and we're studying that throughout the world. we don't know how the vaccines will protect against transmission due to omicron. but most experts that i have spoken to believe the vaccine is still protective against the omicron variant. to best protect against this variant, get vaccinated for goodness sakes if you have not been vaccinated. get your booster if you're eligible. continue to wear those masks inside where required. continue to take the steps that we know that has been successful in san francisco to prevent major loss of life and to slow the spread of this

virus. we know how to do this, san francisco. at this time, we do not anticipate changing any of our health orders or changing restrictions or imposing new restrictions in san francisco. we will share information as we have it and get vaccinated, get your booster, wear the mask and for goodness sakes it's been a long almost 24 months now. please have a great holiday season with your family. and now i'd like to turn it over to dr. chiu whose team worked so hard overnight to make sure we get this information as quickly as possible. thank you.

>> good afternoon. so my laboratory at university california san francisco has been working very closely over the past year with the san francisco department of public health, the california department of public health and color genomics on genome basics of the virus. by that, we identify covid positive cases in the city and county, we make an attempt to sequence all cases that we are able to identify. this particular sample, i heard about it yesterday at about 3:00 p.m. and we were able to receive the sample in the laboratory by 8:00 p.m. we ran a very fast molecular test which looks for psychgene drop-out. we were able to get the results of that test within two hours showing that potentially this

sample was an omicron variant sample l. to concur this finding, we needed the viral genome of this virus and we used a pocket size sequencer made by oxford technologies. this is a sequencing technology in which we can go from detecting the virus to being able to detect the entire genome within a few hours. we were able to confirm the detection of omicron within five hours and we had most of the genome within eight hours. so 4:00 a.m. last night we were able to detect the omicron variant. thank you.

>> thank you. i think the goal of the public is to get vaccinated. the challenges with the covid-19 virus and what this means is we want to make sure that people get vaccinated. so at this time, if anyone has any questions, please let me know. are there any questions?

yes. i'll let dr. colfax answer that question. >> i'm sorry. i heard about sequencing, but i didn't quite hear the details of the question. i'll try to answer what i take the character of the question to be which is we are continuing to work with color, with dr. chiu's lab, with the state to sequence samples. we work with a number of partners in doing that. so generally, we're sampling more in san francisco and it depends on the site. so with our partnership at u.c.s.f. and the latino taskforce, all those samples are being sequenced and then i'll turn to have them answer what percent of their samples are being. i think the key with the

sequencing right now with the sample, the turn around time is considerable. so that's why we really wanted to run this sample locally as quickly as possible. as you know, across the nation and across the state locally, we're continuing to ensure that we sequence specimens as quickly as possible. again, i think the point is omicron is here. i don't want to be focused on when's the next case coming. we should all be reactive as we were yesterday. we need to get those vaccines and boosters get tested if you know that you've been exposed and continue to wear those masks. and i don't know if you have more to add. dr. topper. >> yeah. so color health provides much of the infrastructure to execute their programs to defend against covid.

to make unique samples available for sequencing. almost 100% of the samples, of the positive samples that are identified in san francisco and in california are being routed for sequencing. my name's scott topper. i'm the vice president of clinical operations at color. i'm going to let dr. philip answer that question. >> i believe you were talking about walking through contact tracing. first of all. thank you to our lab partners.

also, thank you to the individual themselves. they recognized that they had symptoms and they did what we should all be doing which is to get tested with symptoms. and then they reached out to sfpdh, with our team. we were able to speak with them. so with all investigations and contracting, we're talking to the individual, understanding what their risk factors might have been, in this case travel and i'm speaking with them to make sure they're staying home and once they know they have a positive test and then speaking to them about close contact. so that is the usual path that we follow, that is what we're doing in this case and we're in the process of doing that with this individual now. the question was what kind of close contacts? yeah. for privacy reasons, we are giving out limited information about the specifics of the

individual, but we are in the process of finding out the people that may have been in close contact with them and reaching out to those individuals specifically. the general definition is of a close contact is someone who has been within 6' for 15 minutes or more. that's the definition that has not yet changed. as we are learning more. we will understand that that definition has to change if this virus was more transmissible and that is generally what we ask people about. we most often will ask what other people are residing in the home. it's generally the length of time and being with someone. that is all in process now. the question is now people have been traveling outside southern

africa. the travel policy is governed at the national level and so we know there is a restriction, noncitizens traveling. we understand from our cdc colleagues that additional steps and requirements will be coming into place. and people are required to have a test within 72 hours. and we likely will be hearing more in the coming days with omicron of additional steps people will be asked to take pre and post travel. >> the question was about age. we're not giving specific information. this was a previously healthy individual. their symptoms were mandy bujold and they did not have to be hospitalized.

yes. this person was aware of the news of omicron and that's why they appropriately reached out after they returned from travel and then had their positive test result through the color laboratory. they got their result and reached out to public health. so i really appreciate the person's awareness and collaboration on this case. >> yeah. there's another question here. yeah. i think that's probably an answer for dr. chiu. so the question is what lessons could sequencing provide for

you. sequencing is very useful, has been shown to be very useful as a way to understand how understand the emergence of new variants in the community. it can also help with contact tracing, with being able to investigate outbreaks because the genome sequence is very often is specific for giving an individual so we can use the genomic sequence for how the transmission chains from person to person in the course of an outbreak. and from this example, it's useful in identifying specific variants such as the omicron variant. to be able to identify the new variants in the community. i'm sorry. i missed that question. >> reporter:

[inaudible] >> based on the question you're asking, is this the first sequence -- is this the first sample l that we've sequenced outside of the country? this is the first example of where we saw the s-gene sample. i've been told we have time for one more question. thank you and just to emphasize, you know, this is not where we were 20 months ago. we are in a much better place. i don't want us to focus on counting omicron cases as much as the fact it is here, it's likely to increase over assume. we've got to get those boosters and vaccines. continue to wear the masks.

thank you.

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>> the hon. london breed: all right. so quiet in here today. is it quiet? kind of quiet. well, first of all, thank you, everyone, for being here today. thank you for the boys and girls club for hosting us here in san francisco, and i really appreciate the continued to stand before you as the mayor of san francisco to introduce something that i'm very proud of and something that is long overdue. so today, we're here with a number of elected officials, nonprofits, and professionals, because the city clearly needs a change when it comes to our young people. during covid, we all know that kids suffered, and schools that were closed led to learning loss and mental health challenges that sadly continue

to this day, but we can't pretend that these opportunities didn't exist in the past, but today, we can create a new path forward. currently, there are ten agencies that make decisions for our kids. it is so frustrating and confusing for kids when parents can't speak english and they have to translate for their parents. the thing about these programs, they don't necessarily have a coordinated vision, and the programs are confusing for

families to access. we are here because we desperately desperately need to put our children first. there are a lot of people standing here today that really care about kids. supervisor melgar couldn't make it, but she supports our kids. supervisor raphael mandelman is here. former president of the board of supervisors norman yee is here, who led the fight in the city. we also have board members like jennie lam and former board members like hydro mendoza, who i can't tell if they're here because i can't see under the mask as well as the service

providers to -- who provide services to our kids. and of course, we have our parents, some of whom you'll hear from today. getting this charter amendment onto the ballot is going to take a lot of partners, and i'm really proud of all the people who are supportive of this and with us today, including our young people, who probably -- [applause] >> the hon. london breed: i know we can put our kids in

focus. in the summer of 2020, with our schools closed, we needed to support our kids, especially those living in public housing and congregate settings who had nowhere to go, nowhere to learn. that's when the city, under the leadership of maria su, with the department of children, youth, and families -- [applause] >> the hon. london breed: that's when we created the learning hub. the program that we created happened in a matter of weeks, so these hubs, they served thousands of young people with a safe place to learn, to be around other kids, to get access to other food and to feel normal during one of the most difficult times of our experiences. and what made the community learning hub successful was the communication and partnership with the city and communication and partnership with the nonprofit agencies. we would often ask why we

aren't using the schools, and i had no good answer for that, and that's exactly why this ballot measure is needed. it has two main focuses. first, we will centralize the work we've done for kids. it seems like it should, but it's not. one of the most frustrating things as mayor is dealing with bureaucracy, and the agency that is responsible for what, and the expectation that nonprofits who are already working hard to serve our children have to fill out several different applications and meet several different requirements, and specifically, the measure will combine existing youth service departments into a single children's agency for the city and county of san francisco, which will be significant. it will create a unified vision, bring services and

funding together in one place, improve efficiency by aligning all the spending that we make towards specific goals, and reduce bureaucracy so parents have one specific location to access services and programs. how do we allow children access to things that they may be interested in doing? this holistic approach will better serve families and kids.

the next part of this charter amendment will be school board accountability. the other thing that is so critical to, i know, what everyone is most excited about, is, you know, the fact that we need to change what happens at the school board. i'm standing here with school board members past and present who have done difficult work. they know what it takes to make hard decisions and to focus on the core mission of that really important body, but unfortunately, the schooling board we have has too often focused on the wrong things at the expense of the big picture. people -- school renamings instead of getting schools opens, massive school budget deficits, parents who feel like they're not being heard, and

kids who have not felt like they're being prioritized, i get where they're coming from. as mayor, i don't have control over the school district, but every year, the city provides millions and millions to the school district. i'm not just talking about the $25 million we gave them for covid along with the various district partners who provided support for the challenges that they were experiencing. my responsibility is to ensure that those city dollars and resources are being spent well. we need to set some basic, basic accountability standards if we're going to keep spending that money, so children first will do just that. it will require the board of education to self-certify every year that they've met some of these basic guidelines,

including undergoing regular training to improve their effectiveness, conduct extensive parental engagement to ensure all parent voices are heard, and allow the superintendent to manage other staff, which unfortunately is not happening. approve the annual budget and ensure that it aligns with the overall goal of the district and conduct annual self-evaluations to ensure that they are working together as a collective body to achieve these long-term goals. now this is about good government and accountability. it's about ensuring that the city dollars are being spent wisely. it's about a reset of the board of education, and most of all, it's about our kids. no longer will this city give a blank check to the school board

until it demonstrates some level of improvement and accountability to serve our children. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: so we have a lot of work to do, not just to get this charter on the ballot, but to pass it and take action. we have to show that this city cares about our kids and their families. let me just say, as a kid that grew up in san francisco, you know, my grandmother was the person that was completing all the paperwork and doing all the things that needed to be done to make sure that i could participate in all of these programs. i was completing all the forms.

i was completing all the forms, working with my grandmother, and at the time, a lot of people with the nonprofits, they were on the forefront with me, hearing me through this process. we thought technology made it better. in fact, things have gotten way more complicated, and it should not be difficult for kids to participate in programs, for them to receive a good education and the support that they need and deserve so they can thrive, so their lives are made better. we owe it to them to think about their future, and part of that is making sure we're grading them. not just on math, science, reading, and writing. and right now, we're failing. we're failing our kids, we're failing our families, and so this charter amendment is about doing something different, doing something better, because i know we can do something

better because they serve it, and i want to take a moment to recognize the leaders of the department of children, youth, and families. thank you, maria su, for helping to lead this charter amendment. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you to all the families who have provided their input. we are truly grateful, and as i mentioned to a number of folks before from various nonprofits and agencies and parents, this has really been a collective effort, and long overdue, and we're going to have to work hard to get this passed, but when we get it passed, and when we implement it, we all are going to see and feel a change for our children and for our future. so thank you so much for being here today, and at this time, i want to introduce the supervisor of this district that we're in, and who

represents district 8. ladies and gentlemen, supervisor rafael mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam mayor. welcome to district 8, everyone. you know, if norman yee, london breed, maria su and phil halperin agree on something related to kids, you know it's got to go good. as another san francisco former kid myself, i know this is a really good ballot measure. i think this measure is a measured and reasonable response to some of the frankly chaos that we have seen coming

out of the school district, and we have, as a city, a tremendous stake in what happens at the district. we don't run the district, but we fund it in significant measure, and this ballot recognizes that, as a condition of that funding, we should have some expectations around the quality of governance, and so i really appreciate that that is an important piece of this charter amendment. but i also really appreciate the thoughtful approach to the delivery to children and their families and the process that has gone on over many months. i have not been part of that process. i have checked in with folks along the way who have been part of it, and i have been really impressed to see folks digging in and helping kids in

san francisco like they should. and plus, i called norman and asked him what he was doing. particularly, i want to thank maria for stepping up so phenomenally over the last two years. during this pandemic, some folks stepped up, but not everybody. but maria did. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: many of the parent leaders out in the audience stepped up during the pandemic, and thank you. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: and the boys and girls club stepped up during the pandemic. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: and so with that, i'm going to introduce rob connolly with the boys and girls club. [applause] >> well, i'll be brief. i really just want to welcome

you to our columbia clubhouse in mission park. this clubhouse has been here 114 years, and the boys and girls club has been in the city for 130 years, so we've been helping boys and girls and families in the city for a long, long time. i want to welcome the mayor to columbia park. we got this just in time, and i think the mayor was able to get it for a little bit. you know, i guess i just want to say, mayor, thank you for prioritizing kids, families,

and community. with that, i want to thank maria yu. when the mayor called for the shelter in place in mar 2020, we called up and say hey, we don't think we're going to be able to close. i says, we really want to figure this out, and within a few hours, working with the mayor and dr. colfax, and whoever else that i don't know, figured out how to keep the boys and girls club open during the pandemic. our sites that we had controlled completely like this clubhouse and several other

places, we were able to keep open. across the city, we have five facilities, and you heard about alignment. we receive funding from a number of different places in the city, and it is very challenging for us at every level, administratively as well as programatically, and responding to the different needs assessments that come out, and all the administrative processes of who's getting funded by this contract and that contract. one of the thing that's we jokingly said, we ask the kids, what are your thoughts on this program? and they said, what program is that? it's the program funded by mohcd -- no, we don't ask them that, but they say they like

this program because. really appreciate having everybody here, and appreciate the leadership, and the willingness to dig in and find greater alignment for families like ours, and we look forward to working as a nonprofit with the city in a successful effort, which we hope it is. with that, i'm going to introduce mario paz, who runs the location here in the mission. mario's been in his role leading the organization for 15 years, so mario, welcome. [applause] >> thank you, ron. i'd first like to thank the mayor and maria su for your continued leadership on behalf

of children, youth, and families. we do this work because we love our children. it's our children, and san francisco has proven to be one of the most generous cities in the world when it comes to our children. i think about this assault from covid that we continue to have, and one of the things that we've found out is our most vulnerable are truly, truly the most vulnerable. the other important issue we learned is that it really, really, really does take a village, right? and we are that village. and we talk about that, but it really does take a village. but guess what? in order for that village to succeed, you need to be prepared, you need to be

coordinated, and you need to be accountable to each other. this creates a village that's well prepared, well coordinated, and most importantly, we're going to be accountable. we're going to be accountable to each other, and most importantly, we're going to be accountable to the children. i grew up in the city. i benefited from many of the programs here. i grew up in san francisco. i'm a son of san francisco, and i'm proud of it, but i'm here to tell you, we can no longer afford to fail our children. we've shown the world what we can do in so many different, but why are we failing on this? we're going to work hard, we're going to hold each other accountable, and thank you all for being here, and thank you all for your leadership. thank you.

[applause] [speaking cantonese language]

>> okay. i will be translating. i have two children.

my son is 13 years old, and my daughter is six years old. during the pandemic, sprisk provided a community learning hub to support my children through distance learning and children workshops. i have received covid information and community resources such as where to got vaccination and where to get the covid test, and my family has attended events like halloween festival and thanksgiving. i'm thankful for the san

francisco unified school district to provide wellness checks and meetings for parents conducted by the teachers. after my first wellness meeting, we received hand sanitizer from the teachers, and during the holidays, the teachers personally discovered study materials to my children. we hope the city and school district can continue to serve even after the pandemic. this will provide the services that parents have been calling for since before the pandemic for education. thank you.

[applause] >> hi. my name is chanel, and i am a parent of two children in san francisco unified school district. thank you, mayor breed, for allowing me to speak my voice today. this children first initiative is very important for the children because during the first 18 months of distance learning for my son, he was in middle school at the time and didn't experience his graduation, and the experience of distance learning for 18 months impacted him a lot of he gave up after his younger brother went back to two days

hybrid in april, he dove more into the internet. it was devastating for him, and he needed an outlet to survive, so he picked social media, and now, i'm seeing the consequences of that. he's so stuck now being a freshman now still in tenth grade. i'm a working mom, and my husband works, we didn't have 24 hours to watch him. i assumed he was doing his classes, but he wasn't. i think he was only on the internet, and now he's having a really hard time adjusting in person in high school. it all just broke my heart because our kids were not in school. i feel like it was damaging to our kids' physical health and mental health. i understand that the district want today rename -- wanted to rename schools, but it wasn't a time for it. getting our kids back in school

was our first priority. i hope this initiative will help our city kids and my kids. i'm optimistic that it will help the city kids. we're all overwhelmed, and we're all in the same boat, i get it, and we need to have all hands on deck starting yesterday. my hope is that we'll do this together, listen to our teachers, principals, and do this as a san francisco community. our kids need our help and resources. i'm afraid about those budget cuts. do we have enough mental health resources that they need after promo distance learning. i am a mama bear protecting her cubs, and i hope we can do this

right now. i'm a fan of prevention. if we don't do this, take action, we're going to affect our children's career potential. they can be artists, doctors, lawyers, scientists, and many more opportunities in this city. the school board has a big responsibility. if the school board was operating as they should be, we wouldn't be here today. early on, the school district didn't listen. they didn't take the help from experts. i hope the san francisco unified school district starts to put politics aside. take advice from experts and consultants and govern better for our kids. i believe this children first initiative will help. it will move us forward helping our san francisco students be all right. to be clear, it's all about the

children. thanks again for being a service for our kids. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you to our parents for their compelling stories, and the reasons why we're here today, and at this time, i just really want someone who has been many, many years and who put kids first. although she's no longer on the school board, she cares about the children and is always actively engaged and providing feedback or historical information or institutional knowledge to help us move things forward in a positive direction, and someone who i'm sure if she was still on the

school board, some of this would not be happening. please welcome former school board members rachel norton. >> good afternoon, everyone. it's really a mixed bag that i'm here today. it's sad that here's where we are, but this is where we are, and i have to say that san francisco is the envy of many other districts in california because of the incredible support that the city of san francisco gives our district. in 2010, when the last economic downturn happened, i had been on the board about two years, and i went to a california school board association conference, and people said oh, we're cutting p.e., we're cutting art, and we didn't have

to cut those because of the support that the city gives the school district. what happened during the pandemic, maria, mayor breed, the services that were provided to school children made a lot of difference for families. i think normally, of course, a school board member would bridle when the mayor who's not in charge of schools should tell the school board what to do, but those are the times that we're not in, and somebody should step up and say that

that's not important. every year, the board adopts governance rules as part of its policies and procedures, and yet, we have not always seen those governance rules or procedures to be followed by the board, so i'm very grateful to you, mayor breed, for putting this forward. i gather, since supervisor mandelman is here, that he is cosponsoring. thank you. i'm also happy to see my former colleague, norman yee here, who, like me, spent many years

in the trenches on the school board, and i think that this is an idea whose time has come, and i think it's time to start moving the district forward, so thank you. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and i just want to add one more speaker just to stay a few word because our former president of the board of supervisors, norman yee, also served on the school board, and so i want him to say a few words before we open it up for questions.

. >> you know, i wanted to send the school district a message that if you don't step up in your leadership, then you're just going to, you know, lose it. the state's going to take it over, and they need to understand that. just because the state takes it over doesn't mean it's going to be better. it just means cutting without knowing our community, and thank you, mayor breed, for really introducing this charter amendment. it's been needed, and i've been pushing for these for decades. when i was president, i put in a new council for children and families, but it just lacked a,

needed a little bit more teeth. i think we started seeing the coordination of children's services between departments, and to work together, no more silos. it's really similar to what we did [indiscernible] i'm glad to be very supportive of this charter amendment because i think this would move the city into the right direction. thank you very much. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, and i want to thank c.y.c.

and sarah wong for all of her advocacy. thank you to the s.f. parent coalition for rising up and doing what's necessary to not only support your children but to support all children in san francisco, and thank you to katie albright for being with us today from safe and sound. we have a sector of people who truly love and support kids in san francisco, and i'm very positionate about supporting kids because i was probably one of the most problematic kids growing up. again, had it not been for the support of those places that i had to go as a kid, and teachers and all those things that i was exposed to, i just don't know where i would be.

the people that i grew up with ended up, unfortunately, in many instances, in the criminal justice system, they ended up dead, and they ended up on drugs, and i still see some of those people today in various places, and somewhere along the way, we failed them. if we don't do this and more to support our children, to protect them, to uplift them, to make sure that we get rid of the barriers to their success, that's how we make the difference for them so they don't end up in the same situation that so many people that i grew up with ended up in. so that's why we're here today. we're here today because we need to change that structure, and we need to think differently about how we make things better for them. so i also want to just take an

opportunity to really thank phil halperin for his extraordinary leadership over the years of supporting children, period. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, phil. he is one of the most committed san franciscans ensuring we are doing right through our policies, through our funding, and other resources, so we really appreciate you, and thank you for your work. so with that, i think i'll open it up to questions, maggie. all right. questions? yes. [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: so i'll say two things. there's the superintendent that's trying to govern and propose, from my understanding, a reasonable financial plan to

address some of the deficit that the school district has, and then, there's a proposal by two of the school board members, and this is part of the problem and why we are introducing this charter amendment because the fact is the one that's introduced by the board members, if that passes, and that is the direction the school board goes into, then sadly, the district goes into phase two of a possible takeover. the last phase is phase three, and then, there's a done deal. the state takes over the schools. so it's clear if it goes to that point, then, we're headed down that road, and to me, the fact that the school board members are moving toward that direction -- this will disqualify them from allowing

them to play the $25 million that they owe to the city and county of san francisco. they're headed down the wrong path, and they need to let the superintendent govern the school board so we don't have school board members micromanage what the superintendent should be doing, and i think that's part of the problem.

any other questions? [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: well, the city doesn't have control over the school board because if we did, we would probably not be in the situation we're in.

there is a financial requirement that we provide resources to support the school district. and we're attaching accountability to that. so it has nothing, from my perspective, to do with a take over. we also feel strongly that, with those public dollars, there has to be an opportunity for the public, including parents, to have at least some say in what's happening with the school district. and the concern that we have the most is how the board members are micromanaging the schools, micromanaging whether a principal should work at a school because of political reasons, when in fact, the only thing they should be responsible is hiring and firing the superintendent and

legal assistant. but getting involved because someone supported someone in a campaign, that's crazy. that's the problem, and this is not about anything other than fixing a broken governing structure. [applause] >> just one more question. [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: i must say, a lot of this is something that i wanted to do for sometime, especially when the pandemic hit. it's looking at a disorganized chart where funding comes from. early childhood education,

dcyf, tay-u, and all of these things were all over the place and not coordinated. and then, the beacons and what's happening with the beacons. and i know these structures like the back of my hand, and there was a real disconnect between all of these agencies and all of this money and how our kids were not only doing in life but how they were doing in school, and so there's no direction. so we -- what we did had everything to do with being treated like we're an a.t.m. machine with unlimited money, and then, when we would ask for it to be used for a specific

purpose or what have you, there was no way to have any accountability attached to that. there was money that i provided to the school district for specific purposes that i still don't necessarily have accounting for who it was used for that purposes, including establishing wellness centers in every school in san francisco, and this was before the pandemic, and so i want some accountability for where those dollars are, and why haven't those wellness centers even opened in the first place? so that's been the focus of wanting to make sure that there's accountability, and we get more, and we get more for our families and our children.

[applause] >> the hon. london breed: all right? thank you, everyone. thank you for being here. let's get this on the ballot and get it passed, because that's what this is about. thank you. [♪♪♪] >> it's great to see everyone kind of get together and prove, that you know, building our culture is something that can be reckoned with. >> i am desi, chair of economic development for soma filipinos.

so that -- [ inaudible ] know that soma filipino exists, and it's also our economic platform, so we can start to build filipino businesses so we can start to build the cultural district. >> i studied the bok chase choy heritage, and i discovered this awesome bok choy. working at i-market is amazing. you've got all these amazing people coming out here to share one culture. >> when i heard that there was

a market with, like, a lot of filipino food, it was like oh, wow, that's the closest thing i've got to home, so, like, i'm going to try everything. >> fried rice, and wings, and three different cliefz sliders. i haven't tried the adobe yet, but just smelling it yet brings back home and a ton of memories. >> the binca is made out of different ingredients, including cheese. but here, we put a twist on it. why not have nutella, rocky road, we have blue berry. we're not just limiting it to just the classic with salted egg and cheese.

>> we try to cook food that you don't normally find from filipino food vendors, like the lichon, for example. it's something that it took years to come up with, to perfect, to get the skin just right, the flavor, and it's one of our most popular dishes, and people love it. this, it's kind of me trying to chase a dream that i had for a long time. when i got tired of the corporate world, i decided that i wanted to give it a try and see if people would actually like our food. i think it's a wonderful opportunity for the filipino culture to shine. everybody keeps saying filipino food is the next big thing. i think it's already big, and to have all of us here together, it's just -- it just blows my mind sometimes that

there's so many of us bringing -- bringing filipino food to the city finally. >> i'm alex, the owner of the lumpia company. the food that i create is basically the filipino-american experience. i wasn't a chef to start with, but i literally love lumpia, but my food is my favorite foods i like to eat, put into my favorite filipino foods, put together. it's not based off of recipes i learned from my mom. maybe i learned the rolling technique from my mom, but the different things that i put in are just the different things that i like, and i like to think that i have good taste. well, the very first lumpia that i came out with that really build the lumpia -- it wasn't the poerk and shrimp

shanghai, but my favorite thing after partying is that bakon cheese burger lumpia. there was a time in our generation where we didn't have our own place, our own feed to eat. before, i used to promote filipino gatherings to share the love. now, i'm taking the most exciting filipino appetizer and sharing it with other filipinos. >> it can happen in the san francisco mint, it can happen in a park, it can happen in a

street park, it can happen in a tech campus. it's basically where we bring the hardware, the culture, the operating system. >> so right now, i'm eating something that brings me back to every filipino party from my childhood. it's really cool to be part of the community and reconnect with the neighborhood. >> one of our largest challenges in creating this cultural district when we compare ourselves to chinatown, japantown or little saigon, there's little communities there that act as place makers. when you enter into little philippines, you're like where are the businesses, and that's one of the challenges we're trying to solve.

>> undercover love wouldn't be possible without the help of the mayor and all of our community partnerships out there. it costs approximately $60,000 for every event.

undiscovered is a great tool for the cultural district to bring awareness by bringing the best parts of our culture which is food, music, the arts and being ativism all under one roof, and by seeing it all in this way, what it allows san franciscans to see is the dynamics of the filipino-american culture. i think in san francisco, we've kind of lost track of one of our values that makes san francisco unique with just empathy, love, of being acceptable of different people, the out liers, the crazy ones. we've become so focused onic maing money that we forgot about those that make our city and community unique. when people come to discover, i want them to rediscover the

magic of what diversity and empathy can create. when you're positive and committed to using that energy, >> good morning everyone. here we are. some of you have been with us. this is our fifth building the infrastructure of america event for our country. democrats delivered today safe streets and roads for all. some of you were with us when we began this series of just a few weeks ago at the joe mazola training center where we saw

apprenticeships in action, kids learning how to weld so they could repair and build water systems which were very much apart of the infrastructure legislation, the bipartisan ininfrastructure frame work. following that, some of us were together at the transbay terminal where we all came together to solute what was happening in that legislation for transportation in the bay area. $5 billion to come right here for transit whether it's e electricfication. next, we had a town hall which was participated in by thousands of people in the bay area to talk about with garrett hoffman what was happening in the legislation to save our planet as we improve the quality of life, created jobs, lowered costs in the legislation. and, today, we have our fifth

event. this one is a matter of life and death. this one is so important to us and this one takes place on a day where across america will probably add up to about 500 events including the ones that i mentioned to come to the community, thank people for their ideas, to share with them opportunities that will be there as we build back better. this is an initiative of president joe biden. president biden has said i want to do everything i can in a bipartisan way to build the infrastructure of our country, but i will not confine my vision for the country to that and so we're working on the b.b.b., the build back better legislation as we go forward to save the planet to lower cost for health care, to prescription drugs, lower cost for child care, lower costs in every way, lower taxes for the

middle class again doing so paid for by making people who are wealthy and corporate america to pay for fair share. that's what's taking place today. so it's an honor to be in san francisco. we'll be joined by the mayor shortly. i want to thank her for all of her initiatives. oh, we are. thank you, mayor, for honoring us with your presence. and thank you for the leadership and the priority you have placed on the safety of the people of san francisco which is a very major responsibility for us. your vision 0 bold plan to end traffic fatalities by 2024 as well as your leadership just last week with the proposal to invest $400 million in muni reliability and street safety.

i solute you for that and i know you join me in saluting our bay area colleagues who are here who are going to be making their fregss. janice lee, the san francisco bicycle coalition and i know you will agree our v.i.p. today is julie nicholson who survived a terrible traffic injury on our streets here in san francisco and extraordinary courage and resilience inspires us all and she will be speaking and representing the voices of so many of those who are here, families for safe streets. thank you all for being here. for sharing your tragedies, but also giving us your courage to turn your pain into progress and help to prevent other families from suffering the agony that you have. and we even have some other

survivors of crashes as well. so we'll be hearing from them; but first as i put in context, this is a drum beat across america to make sure this happens, i'll talk to you know just a little bit before i have the privilege of yielding not only yielding, but praising our mayor once again. here's what it's about. the bay area has long seen more of its fair share of heart breaking traffic deaths. you all are here as eloquent testimony to that. while we saw 462 traffic fatalities nationally last year marked the most traffic deaths

and fatalities have been shortly on the rise for a decade. they are families shattered by the tragedy, community safe streets and roads for all. we secured $14 billion nationally for roadway safety which will help make california streets safer and friendlier. $260 million from the highway improvement program to help reduce fatalities and injuries on our roads. this will help design complete streets to design safe and accessible. but the new $5 billion safe streets for all initiatives, our city can compete for

funding for vision 0 particularly for our high injury network just 13% of roads account for 75% of severe and fatal accidents. with new funding to modernize our data collection, we'll get a clearer picture of where and how our crashes occur. and with $7.2 billion for transportation alternatives nationally, we'll improve safety of sidewalks, bike lanes, just got a tour in terms of what it means for bike lanes and trails. so i just want to for the bay area workers, rebuilding middle class as we rebuild communities. it will be transformative safe system approach and i know that's what's happening right here on folsom and second with

this historic achievement, democrats are delivering for the bay area and beyond. i was now at this point supposed to be introducing julie nicholson. instead, we're just going to hear first from our distinguished mayor and we thank her for the priority of the people of san francisco. whether it's safety on the streets. safety in terms of their health care. safety in terms of diminishing drug use. more people have died of drug use and covid here. and the mayor is taking the bull by the horns. with that fighting retail crimes and all. safety is the first responsibility of government. it's the oath we take to protect and defend whether it's the constitution or the people, our mayor has been a champion in living up to that important priority for the community, for the people, for the children, our mayor, london breed. [ applause ]

[please stand by]

. . . . it was really about a demand from the people of san francisco to see change to see see change in the particular areas. so many collisions to build for access from the east side to the west side. homes were bulldozed in my community to make what i for gary boulevard which is in essence a freeway in the middle of our city. and we have had to make some significant change and as speaker pelosi has said, 13% of the location that are the high injury network represent 75% of the collisions that occurred in the street causing major injury and death. this infrastructure bill is so

important because here in san francisco we are fortunate that the people of the city care about making improvements to our city. and last week i introduced a transportation and safety bond that will help with high injury corridors and we will aggressively continue the work. but local dollars alone are not enough, and we need help. this infrastructure bill will not only help san francisco. it will help this entire country. so that we can improve safety on the streets especially in major densities like san francisco where you have seen a significant increase in the number of people who are walking and biking and i am really proud that this city has taken steps since i have been mayor to produce 20 new miles of

protected bike lanes as well as daylighting and changes. and we prioritize safety over speed. so that we change how people move around the city. so people know exactly where they belong on the streets to get from point a to point b. madam speaker said our responsibility as leaders to keep people safe. and part of keeping people safe is making investments and sometimes the changes and removal of parking and other things make people upset or uncomfortable. at the end of the day, if it's going to save someone's life, this is a small sacrifice to make. i am grateful to be here with the extraordinary leader with walk sf and the bicycle coalition and so many advocates

who have been impact by tragedy. tragedy where they lost loved ones and where sadly they have experienced it personally hems. and my hope is that we don't continue to go down this path. that is why these investments and that work in san francisco is so important. at this time and i would like to yield the floor back to our special guest julie. thank you so much. >> thank you so much, mayor breed. and madam speaker. what an incredible honor it is to be here today. i am julie nicholson. i am a member for safe streets community and see behind me a professor of early childhood and a mother of three wonderful girls. almost two years ago january 4,

2020 i was out doing my favorite form of self-care jogging in the panhandle and kel a britting getting to the -- celebrating getting to the end of my husband's final chemo treatment and a driver ricochetted off a car and making an illegal left turn and came into the park to hit me throwing me 20 feet and leaving me with a broken back and broken neck. took me eight months of therapy and healing. but here i am. i'm fortunate. going through that experience opened my eyes to the preventible health crisis of traffic violence. this is a preventible health crisis that is getting worse not better. it is a preventible health crisis that impacts not just me but everything with the preventible health crisis with

proven solutions. i am standing up feeling so thankful, so grateful and overwhelmeded as a traffic violence survivor and i also feel so grateful to our federal leaders for the infrastructure bill that is going to bring attention and action to bring safer streets. we have trauma all across this country from those who are being hurt by traffic violence, but i'm here to say thank you to madam speaker. and on behalf of families for safe streets and our community, i want to say thank you for the infrastructure bill, for the action you are taking to make our streets safer. it means so much to me. it means so much to all of us. >> thank you.

>> and it says so much when we talk about what julie describes. and the eloquence of your statement and speaking for families for safe streets and the tragedy they underwent and one of them said this isn't about an accident. some of this is the decision to run a red light and we have to be prepared in every possible way. and the person who knows that very well is jeffrey tumlint director of san francisco municipal transportation area. thank you so much. >> let's hear it for jeffrey for keeping san francisco moving in a way that is safe for bicycle, pedestrians, people in cars and the rest. and during the q&a he will take all the hard questions because he tells us a beautiful story

about what is happening at second and fulsom with the and as a local member of the state legislature -- so in any case, >> i hope he is not one of my constituents. >> i just really want to thank all of you for being here. i want to thank the speaker for the tenacity and vision at the last that i was able to attend. i want to thank the mayor for her vision and tenacity in a very difficult position.

she is inspiring as a speaker. thank you so much for your career and vocation and your heartfelt story about your experience and to all of you as the speaker said through experiencing and helping you save lives. and i want to thank somebody as a staff person and appreciate -- she is shaking her head. we used to serve together when i was an mtc commissioner and she was a wonderful staff person and now she is working with san francisco to make sure the projects are done. and so this is really a kwigs vigs and it is time as the mayor said and the speaker has done so with her usual tenacity and for the federal government to reengage in the trfk. and when i started in

transportation and the federal government and the model was almost 75% from the federal government, 25% local and state. and here in san francisco and the region with the eastern bay and contra costa county where we have passed super majority self-help sales tax to invest and where the state has done that and the mayor mentioned she is doing it again. now the federal government is back thanks to our leadership. this whole systems management not only will save lives but help everyone's quality of life. for every single occupancy vehicle you take off the road and put somebody on a bike or walking, it saves the environment. it is a multiplier of 10 on climate and traditional pollutants. it creates safety and reduces congestion. my constituents in the suburbs say every time we take one of us out of a car and put them on transit and bikes like comben

hagan and amsterdam and mus any where 50% of the peak trips are by bike, we start to reduce congestion along with tele commuting and this is how readdress our transportation challenges hoer in the bay area. and what happens in the bay area and what happens in california, as jimmy carter said, happens in the rest of the united states. what we're doing here today not just saves lives here, not just in the region, not just in california, but will save lives all over the united states. so thank you so much for your vision, your tenacity and heartfelt advocacy. >> thank you. they are a health issue. clean air for our children. they are a safety issue in terms of what we are talking about here today. they are a jobs issue and the jobs created to do all of this. and they are, again, ea quality

of life issue by getting more cars off the roads and more people safety making their own choices about walking and biking and here is jody who i referenced in my remarks. and from pedestrian. >> i want to take a moment to remember the people who have lost this year in san francisco to violence with a moment of sigh tense. in the past month we lost aram who moved to san francisco to be

closer to his grand kids and made the city his home. he loved walking. he was walking home after working the night shift as a security guard and was hit and killed in the bayview neighborhood. we also lost andrew zieman. andrew was a paraprofessional who works at the elementary school he attended as a child. the school kids used to call him mr. andrew. he was hit and killed outside of the school on november 10. i was only 30 years old. only one block from here where we stand, antonio was hit and killed while, like so many others, simply trying to cross the street. standing with me today as you have heard from julie and members of the san francisco bay areas for safe streets. these are people who suffered incomprehensible loss.

steve, gina and joe, we are here for you today. other survivors survived being severely injured with traffic crashes. the brave people are here to demand that the changes to the streets and mayor breed is standing with us as well as a true visionary for safe streets. it is deeply meaningful for us no n pedestrian with madam speaker as well as representative. thank you for being here. for so long they have been

focused around making it easy for cars to get around. and the speed of vehicles has been the priority. but this bill does change that. the thing that i think about is every day what if a mid sight airport fell from the sky? that is the equivalent of what we are counting in our country from countless towns and cities and people in communities are suffering from unsafe streets for facing the crisis we have in our cities. we are sending a clear message that the country's approach to traffic safety must change because crashes are preventible. it is packing it up with funding

to change this and doing this right here in san francisco. walk san francisco along with our advocates together with our city's mayor london breed and our city's agencies are pushing hard to make san francisco the beacon for other cities. we are trying to show what we can do when safety is the number one priority. and trying to cross the street is no longer a life or death situation. this infrastructure bill is focused on safety. that is incredible. this might be the first time in our city's history that federal agency is thinking about safety first. and as secretary of transportation pete buttigieg said, we cannot and should not accept these fatalities as part

of walk fran and representatives for standing with us today. thank you for taking action to fundamentally change this country's approach to traffic safety. thank you so much. >> thank you for being with us. >> i want to extend my deep gratitude to madam speaker and representative for your tireless leadership in d.c., fighting for equity for bay area residents. the infrastructure and jobs act means equity for san franciscans right here in the south of market and means equity because this infrastructure bill is

going to bring much-needed investments to streets historically design to be dangerous. just take a look at where we are right here standing. they were never designed with people biking, walking or taking transit and these were defactor highways to ket through one of the densest neighborhoods and the results were deadly. the names of bicyclists hit and killed while biking on these two treat streets won't stop until investments are made and of course, i cannot forget antonio, the 78-year-old senior who was crossing a block away from here this past april. he was hit and killed by a speeding driver just around the corner from the senior affordable housing he lived in. he was a well phone and beloved member in the filipino community. it is people like this whose lives are cut short when we

don't have our funds to update our infrastructure to the modern day. this needs to stop and we need to fund shovel ready projects now to bring equitable investments to save lives on our streets thanks to state and federal funding, we are seeing the fruits of early implementation but they will soon be overhauled with transit priority traffic signals, better lighting and safe intersections for pedestrians and a protected two-way bike lane. lastly, thank you to you, mayor breed. you mentioned we are celebrating protected bike lanes ere and to build 20 miles of protected bike lanes in two years and thanks to jeffrey tumlin and the leadership at smif smif we want

to thank you for prioritizing street safety because truly our lives depend on it. thank you. >> thank you for being with us. thank you for being with us. one of the many fine points is highways through the areas and to divide communities is equity ir, fairness, justice and is so so much a part of what he is doing to undue some past injustices of dividing neighborhoods so that this just

piece of it and within the initiatives of building back better. and with that, any questions you may have? we like to start on this subject. on this subject. >> we never give up. wrote a letter to my colleagues yesterday. saying first and foremost we will continue to pass to fight the legislation. the democratic leader wrote a similar letter to his colleagues yesterday. this will happen, must happen and we will do it as soon as we can. there are conversations that are ongoing but we cannot walk away

from this commitment and build back better and transforming the society. build back bet we are women in the work place and with work force development for younger people and newer people who are reaching in with the diversity that is there. this will not pass and i have confident that senator manchin cares about our country. we will not be deterred. anybody want to add to that? >> amen. >> but back to here, i think it will be very interesting just to hear jeffrey tell us this year some of what you told us on the tour because he made one point that was very interesting and i

never thought of every day. and when you are building these kinds of changes for safety in neighborhoods, it is much more worker centric than big machinery. >> thank you, speaker. >> as the speaker said when we work for safe streets like building protected bike ways and upgrading traffic signals and other vision zero work t creation of jobs factor is so much greater than big machinery and concrete and steel. every single dollar spent on vision zero projects goes to creating skill labor jobs and hundreds up here at the sfmta. a lot of this work we do in-house and a lot more we spend on local contractors and

disadvantaged enterprises to have the money spend in a way that develops community and created more skilled jobs. >> thank you for that enlightenment and also for your leadership. any other questions on what we are doing here today? >> thank you, all, for coming and salute the mayor because what happens in pedestrian serves as a model aross loed and what they thought would work very well, so your voices, the mayor's intercession and turn into public policy benefit not just san francisco but the entire country so thank you for being here.

to all of you who suffers through any of this, thank you for your generosity of spirit to share your stories so el quantity so that other people will not have to offer. with that, again, congratulations, mayor, on your successes here. thank you, all, very much for coming. let's build back better for the people. thank you very much.

we spoke with people regardless of what they are. that is when you see change. that is a lead advantage. so law enforcement assistance diversion to work with individuals with nonviolent related offenses to offer an alternative to an arrest and the county jail. >> we are