>> the hon. london breed: good morning, everyone. i'm san francisco mayor london breed, and i want to thank you all for joining us here today to talk about public safety on a whole other level in light of the challenges that our city continues to face. you know, this has been a problem that has persisted in the city for sometime now, and the fact is that things have gotten worse over time, and i want to thank a moment to

appreciate our public safety officials today, some of whom you will hear from in a short moment, but thank you to our police chief, bill scott, for being here, our fire chief, jeanine nicholson, our sheriff, paul miyamoto, our director of public health, dr. grant colfax, our department of public works director, shireen mcspadden, and our district supervisor, ahsha safai. in recent months, we've not only seen a rising number of

criminal behavior, especially in the tenderloin that has become far too normal and cannot continue to be tolerated. all of our workers, our residents, and everyone who visits our city should feel safe no matter what part of town they're in, and i know that san francisco is a compassionate city. we are a city that prides ourselves on second chances and rehabilitation, but we're not a city where anything goes. our compassion should not be mistaken for weakness or indifference. today, we're announcing a series of public safety initiatives to create a city that is safe and turns the tide on what we have recently seen in san francisco. and to be clear, what i'm

proposing today, and what i will be proposing in the future will make a lot of people uncomfortable, but i don't care. at the end of the day, the safety of the people of san francisco is the most important thing to me, and we are past the point where what we see is even remotely acceptable. the first of these initiatives is the tenderloin emergency plan, which is already underway. during covid, we showed what this city can do when we unify our efforts and we work together collaboratively. tlou our emergency action, we protected the health of the city, and san francisco was a national model for addressing covid. we saved lives. and let me say this: the tenderloin needs an emergency

response, period. i spent a lot of time going to the tenderloin and have seen what's happening. we made a significant difference, but now, what i see is far, far worse. while there are still issues of needing to get people off the streets and into housing, and there are also very important urgent safety issues. last week, i met with families from the tenderloin. their stories are heartbreaking. just imagine if you had to walk your kid down the streets of the tenderloin every single day with people shooting up, selling drugs, and because the sidewalks were so packed with people, you had to walk out on

the street in incoming traffic on a regular basis. you've got these brand-new playgrounds where you don't even feel comfortable walking your kids to play in them because of everything they see around them, where you don't feel safe. the unsafe streets, and the dirty streets, and when i say dirty, i mean the feces in the streets that department of public works will clean and have to come back just hours later. we can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different

result. we need to be different, to act with urgency, and to be aggressive in countering these problems, and this is why i've directed mary ellen carroll, the director of emergency management, to lead our multiagency coordination on this effort, bringing the coordination and urgent responses that we brought to covid this year. in essence, a covid command that will be a public safety command that will be specifically targeted at the tenderloin community, and i'm going to have mary ellen carroll walk-through the details of what this means. our priorities are focused on issues of drug dealing, private crime, public drug use, safe passage and accessibility for the people who live and work there, neighborhood cleanliness, housing resources,

emergency medical calls, and we will be tackling illegal vending. in the short-term, that means taking actions like fixing the lights, adding additional lighting in very dark areas, dealing with the trash all over the neighborhood, but it also means coordinating with the police and sheriff's office on felony warrant sweeps, which have led to the arrest of 23 individuals so far with outstanding warrants. these are some of the people who have been holding this neighborhood hostage, and our criminal justice system has a responsibility to hold them accountable. when the police make an arrest, the residents of the tenderloin should not see that same person back on the streets the next day dealing drugs right in front of their neighborhood.

the next stage of this plan will roll out next month and continue for at least two months after that. the second stage will continue the progress made earlier on the law enforcement but interventions and connections of services to people facing evictions and other challenges, but to be clear, we're not giving people choice anymore. we're not just going to walk by and let someone use in public daylight on the streets and give them choice of giving them to the location we have identified them or going to jail. this will involve outreach workers, social workers, police, and community workers working together, offering wraparound services at a new linkage site where people can start treatment, meeting people

where they are, being the compassionate city that we are, but not tolerating the mess that we've had to tolerate. the final phase of this project involves keeping the streets safe for everyone who called the -- who call the tenderloin home, and promoting safety and neighborhood support. this also includes long-term partnerships with community organizations and residents to maintain the improvements made during the crisis operations phase. the key will be to never let the tenderloin go back to what we are seeing today, to not go backward, to move forward, to feel and see a difference. but public safety isn't just about the tenderloin.

we know that there are issues all over this city. our second initiative is targeting the illegal vending on our streets that is incentivizing the break ins and robberies like the ones we have seen at stores and small businesses throughout the city. and you know what's the sad reality before i was even an elected official, everybody knew whatever they stole for cell phones, laptops, anything you steel in the city, you take it down to the tenderloin, and there's somebody waiting to give you cash for these items. i want you to know, these are not just victimless crimes, and these are not just property crimes. we're seeing stolen vehicles, physical violence, and the use of weapons. today, i'm introducing

legislation to disincentivize theft by making the resale of stolen goods on the street more difficult. it will mandate highly visible posting of approved vendor permits to make it simple and easy for inspectors for proof at any time and if they can't produce it, we will take action. it will allow the department of public works to associate with law enforcement. if there is a need to move an individual who's not complaint and the ability to confiscate goods. these are basic but important actions, and i want to thank supervisor safai for cosponsoring this legislation.

we also need know that we need to give our officers more tools to effectively do their jobs. in 2019, the board of supervisors passed a law that effectively limited officers' use of camera feeds for certain situations. for what happened in union square, they could not. when there were multiple robbery crews hitting multiple stores, they could not access those cameras, which is ridiculous. think about that. you're in an incident of severe looting, aurofficers are not able to use that other jurisdictions -- our officers are not able to use something that other jurisdictions use.

we need amendments to clarify that officers are allowed to access these cameras when needed to address critical public safety issues. there is a balance to be had, i know, but right now, if our officers cannot use cameras during a mass looting event, then that policy is out of balance. we are actively working on those amendments, with plans to introduce it in january, and my hope is that the board will support changes. lastly, we're increasingly asking our police department to do more. they're working overtime to address these challenges, including responding to the rash number of retail thefts, and expanding a number of

deployments through our tourism deployment plan so when come here and support our economy, they feel safe, and they want to return, and we change the narrative about what people say about san francisco. and focusing on auto burglaries to make significant arrests on prolific crews. they've done all of this -- our officers are committed to doing the work, and they're committed to keeping us safe, but everything they've been doing over the recent months and

everything we've going to ask of them in the coming months before we pass a new budget is going to require more overtime funding, and it's going to require more police officers. my budget office is currently working with the san francisco police department and the chief to understand what the needs will be to get us through 2022, and i will introduce a supplemental to ask this board for the resources that we need so that the deployment that exists now will not end after the holidays. the deployment that we're starting in this city needs to be permanent. as we are preparing for our budget, we will ensure these resources occur, including academy classes and overtime, are in place as part of the budget, and i will introduce that as part of that budget in

may, but we cannot wait to continue some of those actions now. some of those actions are underway immediately, while others require significant action and legislation, and there will be more work on this front. taken together, they can make a real difference on our streets and on our city. i want to recognize our police officers and their commitments. vacations have been cancelled, time off has been cancelled. it's been all hands on deck, and at the end of the day, what has made the most significant difference to address public safety is, yes, we've made investments in social service programs, yes, we pushed for reforms to our criminal justice system. we will continue to do that, but when a line is crossed, people have to be held accountable for the crimes they

commit in our city, and that's where our police officers have been critically important to our ability to do so. thank you to sheriff miyamoto who has been a real partner, and i'm looking forward to working more with allowing our sheriff's departments to work off duty. at the end of the day, i know this sounds like a lot of different things. i know this sounds like more and more promises that may not materialize, but i want each and every person in this city to know this work, and what we are going to do to turnaround

how people feel in san francisco is the most important thing to me. this is a city that has a population of under 1 million people but has a $12 billion budget. the people of this city have been extremely generous with providing us the resources to make a difference. and now, the priorities we need to make must be to protect them. when you are in a room full of people, i would say probably anywhere between 90 and 95% of folks could raise their hand and say that either their car has been broken into or they've been a victim in some capacity or another. that is not okay. that is not acceptable, and

it's time that the reign of criminals is over. it happens when we are less tolerance of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city. we are going to turn this around, and this is the most important thing for me and i know leaders of public safety in this city at this time. with that, i'd like to introduce our police chief, bill scott. [applause] >> thank you, mayor. good morning. let me start with this. the people in our city who have been impacted by crime, by quality of life issues such as

open air drug usage, street vending, some of our issues with unhoused population that lead to trash on the streets and needles on the street and things like that, these things have to change. now from a policing perspective, let me tell you what you can expect from the san francisco police department. first of all, enforcement of drug dealing and drug dealing offenses. it's little consequence that we've arrested 600 people in the tenderloin alone this year. it's little consolation when you're still seeing drug dealers on your block day in and day out.

it's little consolation when we seize four times as much fentanyl as we did last year, and we still see open air drug use happening day in and day out. and here's the point to all of this. we will continue to make arrests, and we will make more arrests, but there are areas in this city that need constant 24-hour patrol while we make those arrests. this is what i'm hearing over and over and over again, and i thank the mayor and our elected officials who are here with us for introducing the line

because this police department will draw the line, but we need the resources to do it. and let me go in a little bit more detail how this works, because i'm going to speak about our officers. they're asked to go in and do their job, make an arrest. they're in the station, writing reports, booking evidence. that has to be done. while they're doing that, that corner, nobody is there, and when that's happening, we can't afford to have a neighborhood where that happens. i've been out with those officers. i've walked those blocks with them. they make an arrest, they're out in the field. 30 minutes later, i go back, and it's like they've never been there. there are places in this city

where we need constant police presence. and let me be very clear what i'm saying. i'm not saying unconstitutional arrests, i'm not saying brutalizing or excessive police force. i'm saying we need to be out there, and that takes time, that takes money, and that takes resources. when i ask an officer, what do you need to do your job, the answer is usually two things: we need enough people to do our jobs the which we've been asked to do it, and we need to be supported when we do our jobs the right way. as your chief of police, that's what i'm asking for. i'm asking for the resources to do our job like we need to do, and i'm asking for support for our officers when you ask them

to do the job the way they should do it. police departments all across this country are facing hiring challenges. this city is no exception. we need to have an environment in this city where people want to come to work here and be police officers. that doesn't happen without support, and mayor breed, thank you for your support on this. we need the public support, they need my support, and they deserve that if we're asking them to do a very difficult job. so i'm going to go into a little bit more detail before i introduce mary ellen carroll to the microphone. open air drug deals, open air drug dealing, we need consequences. listen, i'm here to talk about what we can control, we, the san francisco police department can control. but when we are using drugs,

and some of people that i'm talking about, they have substance addiction issues, they need medical assistance to get through those issues. we have to be compassionate about that, but being compassionate about that doesn't mean we turn a blind's eye to what's happening on the street. the criminal just system has changed. a decade ago, possession of a small amount of heroin or crack cocaine would land you in jail with a felony, but it doesn't mean we can't be compassionate. it doesn't mean we can't rely on medical and health care resource to have a balance of health care treatment and enforcement. we've struggled with that, i'll be the first to admit it, but that day is no more.

we will engage, we will engage consistently, we will offer up services. the city and the mayor and everybody standing here in front of you are working on a plan to do just that in the very, very near future, but at the end of the day, at the end of all of this, people will not be allowed to smoke meth, to smoke fentanyl, to inject heroin in their arms in public spaces, and it's very important that we are consistent and that we sustain this effort because to do it for two weeks is not going to help us long-term, and again, it takes resources, it takes a commitment, and it takes a desire to sustain this effort. this department will own its shortcomings. we're not a perfect department, even though we try to be that. but i can say one thing, that

the commitment is there. given the resources, we know we can have better outcomes than what we've seen, and we can have consistent outcomes. we want to be held accountable for those outcomes, i want to be held accountable, but we need the resources, no doubt about it. using technology -- i've been doing this job for almost 33 years now. if we can't use the technology we have in a way that protects civil liberties but still protects the crime and the criminal issues that have been disclosed, then why do we have it. if you are the victim of a violence crime or the owner or

a store keeper that had your store looted, it's little consolation to say, yeah, we can get the video after you've been victimized. yeah, there's value do it, but we need to do better. we have to do better. and lastly, we've seen what happened in our city on union square on november 19. it's not the first time it's happened, but we saw the nature of it happening, and we saw it happen every where else. i'm here to tell you that that increased deployment made and continues to make a difference. again, seeing it with my own eyes, walking it with officers. and i've seen it all over the city, but in union square,

after the world was set on edge with what they saw, the people that have to go there and work every day, the people that have to take transportation to go there, the people that want to go there and shop, that have to look over their shoulder, worried that 50 people are going to run in the shop with knives or guns or hammers or whatever they have to run in the shop, it matters to them, so we need to sustain this effort. so you have our commitment. i want to thank our elected officials for supporting this effort. chief nicholson, fire chief, sheriff miyamoto, and many others, dr. colfax, and others.

we can do it when we do it together, and we have the support and the resources to get us there. so thank you, and with that, i'd like to introduce mary ellen carroll, the director of our department of emergency management. [applause] >> thank you, chief scott, and thank you mayor breed. emergency management provides coordination in times of

crisis, and today, as you've heard, there's no more significant crisis than what's happening in our streets and especially in the tenderloin. during the pandemic, san francisco demonstrated what can happen when we work together. at the mayor's direction, the department is going to collaborate with our community partners. over the next few months, the team will implement a multiphase assessment approach. the first phase is already

underway. through meetings with community stakeholders and residents, we have developed an understanding of the challenges that we have to address. enforcement and the disruption of criminal activity to guarantee safe passage in our community. during this phase, social workers, clinicians, community partners, and resources will work in concert to offer wraparound services at a new

temporary linkage site. when it's established, it will allow services, and at the same time, as you heard, law enforcement will be present in the community. our response will operate with the same level of urgency, coordination, and focus that was so successful during our first against the pandemic. the final face of our interventions will focus on transitioning to a sustained operation that will help keep the streets safe and accessible for all who call tenderloin home. this phase will include

long-term partnerships with our community or with community organizations and residents to maintain the improvements that we will achieve during this crisis operation response. the tenderloin is home to families, local businesses, nonprofits, immigrants, seniors, and young professionals who all deserve a safe and healthy place to call home. last week, as the mayor spoke, we met with the first group of san franciscans, and they demanded that the city take action so that they no longer have to live in fear in their neighborhood. through our effort, the city will stand with mothers who want their children to get safely to and from home and school and the playgrounds and the parks.

we will stand with merchants and neighbors, and i want to thank mayor breed for her leadership, and at this time, we will introduce our sheriff, paul miyamoto. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. these recent incidents, this recent uptick, all of the things that have been discussed here by all of the previous speakers, have created a citywide public safety concern that the san francisco sheriff's office is prepared to continue with the solution and provide services and support necessary to make sure that our collective efforts are not just a flash in the pan, are not

just a temporary solution, but something that is long-term and sustainable. i think it's very important to recognize that we have city leadership here, just as with the pandemic, the city leadership is here to address the problem of safety and public safety and as a public safety official, as an elected law enforcement public safety official, i am very grateful for the collaboration and the coordination not just between the electeds and our city government in addressing these concerns. we are going to be redeploying services that we have in place to help address the immediate concerns in the hope of creating a model to be sustainable over the long-term.

our staff will be working them, and we have over 800 [indiscernible] we will continue to do so in this new model to address these concerns, to finally say no to some of these problem that's we face, and our support that we provide is compassionate mitigation of these challenges. we don't just work as law enforcement deputies in the street, we don't just work in the justice system with justice involved persons, but we're

there with them for long period of times, in the health care facilities. we establish relationships, and relationships we hope to leverage in reaching out to people and making sure that they have support and access to services, as mary ellen mentioned, as the chief mentioned, as the mayor mentioned. our commitment is what you get from us at the sheriff's office, and in collaboration with the rest of city leadership, we look forward to this. our staff members, people that have been dedicated to public safety for their careers, it was mentioned by the chief that a lot of us are working overtime. we're understaffed, we're

underutilized, and we're working overtime to get things done. the commitment that we have here, we have to make sure we have what we need. thank you, madam mayor. >> the hon. london breed: thank you. that was a lot of information to process, and we'll be providing additional information through our communications team, and at this time, are there any questions? question? [indiscernible]

. >> well, that can be answered in two parts. first, we have to stop what's going on, with the understanding that there's a possibility that it's going to displace somewhere else. in the area of the tenderloin, we sort of know where those are. we have to still be present in order to not let the problem repopulate as soon as we leave. i wish we could be everywhere

in the city, but there are a lot of areas that need our attention. when we're out there, the people aren't selling drugs where we are. they see where we are, and they wait for us to leave. but if we're on the next block, or we go to the next block with them, we've -- you've got to understand what we're dealing with. this is a very transitory drug market. people who want to sell drugs, they know there's going to be plenty of demand, and we have to disrupt all of that, while at the same time, we have to predict where they're going to go next, and we have to be

waiting on them. this is a humbling experience, difficult experience, but it can be done. so resources, and understand that we have to do what we say and say what we mean. we're not going to arrest everybody in one day, we can go there and make 20 arrests right now, and there's going to be 20 other people that come right behind them, and we realize that. that's why we've got to be there when they come, so that's part of the strategy. [indiscernible]

. >> the hon. london breed: well, i think at the end of the day, the arrests will be made by the police department, with the hope that our district attorney will prosecute those cases. and accountability is not always jail time. it's some sort of punishment that's appropriate to the crime. when we talk about criminal justice reform, maybe it's someone in their first offense. do we think they should just be let out and the charges dismissed? no. there could be a layer of community service or things that they're required to do as a result of committing that crime, and currently, there are challenges with accountability, and my hope is that the d.a., who we are definitely trying to work with, will hold the people that the police arrest accountability. we will, in every single

instance of arrest, put together a report that is clear, that makes it clear in terms of what was actually done, and what the specific offense is. and our hope is that in light of everything that's being done, that the maximum charges in every one of these cases are what the d.a. goes after. there are things that we want to do to reform this system, this is an industry. the car break-ins, the theft and the looting, it's not only how many are happening, it's how violent they're becoming.

[indiscernible]. >> the hon. london breed: i have conversations with him regularly about everything that happens in the city related to charges that we hope he will impose. we have a relationship where we have conversations about many of those things, but as you know, he is an independently elected official, and at the end of the day, you need to ask him what he plans to do. [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: so i will say that, you know, when we talk about the number of stabbings, the number of shootings, the number of physical assaults that are

occurring, unfortunately, our ambassadors and all of these other great services that we have, they're not equipped to handle those things. and in fact, some of them have put themselves in harm's way because of it. so too many people are crossing a line, and it's time for us to make a change, and that's where law enforcement comes in. [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: to be clear, when those funds from the police department were redirected specifically to serve the african american community, there were no cuts to the number of officers that we had in the department. there was really a goal of, you know, making some transformative changes with law enforcement and make it go clear that we are going to invest in people to avoid them

even being involved with the criminal justice system in the first place but also make it clear to the criminal justice system that we are going to reform to help those that are disproportionately affected. an investment is necessary as a result of it. [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: so part of what's in the plan is giving the opportunity -- say, for example, department of public works, they are the enforcement leg of some of the

illegal vending, but at the same time, we need to open the door to collaboration. we are still working on building that trust, and i think, unfortunately, we do have people who, under no circumstances, are they willing to work with our police officers. and from my perspective at this point, it's important that we have nonprofit agencies and people that are nonsafety personnel, we need them to develop relationships with the people who need to protect our city because ultimately -- and i'll tell you an example of one of our persons who was out

there, working to be that voice, and sadly, he was stabbed. so we have those situations that occur, and ultimately, when the crime occurred, then everyone wants help. is we have been putting in action with all of the decisions that they've been making, and what we're seeing in terms of our use of force cases this is where we are and this is what we need to do.

>> we have a united group on our incident management team on how to approach these problems, but what we've been doing the last few weeks is sitting down, negotiating a solution, and moving forward, and that is part of the approach. we'll be reviewing on an every single day what our operation plan is for that day and then looking at what will happen the day before. this allows us to be agile, it allows us to adjust. we have to be successful. we are coming to the table with

a set of tools and tactics, and if it doesn't work, we will sit down again, and we will adjust. [indiscernible] . >> so the balance with the drug usage, particularly when we're dealing with people that are addicted, we can't ignore what our health officials are telling us what works. i would venture to say that the vast majority of the people that we're talking about have some sort of substance use disorder. what we're going to put into

place, what director carroll has talked about, we have to listen to the science and the experts, but at the same time, we can't just allow people to use on the streets. if we're constantly talking to people and getting them to the right locations, we should given them an opportunity to do it. we ask someone on the street, if they want to go services, skm they say yes, and we see them on the streets again, we're not asking again. then, it becomes enforcement.

possession, use, those are misdemeanors, so the law still allows them to be cited out. let's say they're cited out, and a third time in the same day, the law allows us to ask for a detention based on the likelihood that the offenses will continue. all of those processes that i talked about will be put in place. we have to be consistent, and it goes back to what i was saying, and i'll say it again, it takes resources. when we're not on the streets, we see the activity that we're trying to address, and can't address it if we're not there, so while we're in the process of enforcing, we have to

replace those officers are officers that are constantly in the streets in some of the most challenging areas, and that's been a tremendous struggle because i'm telling you, if you go, and you've seen this in action, it's a revolving door. the consistency of deployment along with compassion, offering services, giving people a chance to engage in those services, but we have to be consistent. you're smoking crack on our streets, you're smoking meth, no, that's not going to happen. we're going to engage. you may not be arrested the first time, but we're going to engage. we have to rely on what works

from a clinical perspective, but that has to be balanced, and it's not an easy solution. >> that's all we have. thank you. thank you. >> 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.

good afternoon everyone. thank you for joining us here today. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i'm joined today by supervisor matt haney as well as the director of the department of emergency management mary ellen carol. the department of public health behavioral health director dr. hillary kunis and we are also joined by our police chief bill scott. i am here with our various leaders in san francisco to

officially declare a state of emergency in the tenderloin community of the city and county of san francisco. we know that there have been a number of challenges that have happened in this community and have persisted over the years. but if we take a step back, when this pandemic first hit san francisco, of course, we immediately in light of what we knew was inevitable declared a state of emergency to deal with the global pandemic of covid-19 and, in fact, what we saw over the last almost two years was san francisco step up, remove the bureaucratic layers and the opticals that get in the way of actually being effective and collaborating with our various city agencies and what we were able to do to deal with the

pandemic was extraordinary. we are one of the densest cities in the country and with less than 700 people who lost their lives throughout the entire pandemic, we saw one of the lowest death rates of any other major city in the u.s. and san francisco not just because we acted quickly and shut down early, it's because we had the ability to move quickly and set up our various locations including a covid command center embedded equity into our response to help deal with challenges all over the city. but the sad reality is when we look at the loss of life in the pandemic which every lost life is tragic, we had over 700 people alone die due to a drug

overdose last year in san francisco. we have over 600 and counting this year. when we look at the conditions on our streets, it is really unfortunate, it's sad, it's heart breaking, and i must say, what doesn't get publicized enough is the fact that not only do we say and we are a compassionate city, the amount of money that we spend on services to help people struggling with mental illness, substance use disorders, programs. our street overdose team, our wellness team. additional resources for narcan. the additional organizations

that assist us with those struggling with addiction and mental illness. the significant increase in number of behavioral health beds in our system. a mental health sf, we've done a lot of work to try and turn things around because we know that suffering from those things are not easy. it is not just about homelessness. it's about addiction. it's about the fact that there is clearly in the tenderloin community with the conditions of not just the streets, but the people living there and the people suffering that we are in a crisis and we need to respond accordingly. it's not just about our police response to make sure that when people cross that line and commit crimes, we hold them

accountable. it's about getting people the help that they need and being able to do so quickly. i've said this time and time again, if you don't know what it's like to experience an addiction and i hope to god you never find out, we have to meet people where they are. we can't wait for something to be set up. we have to move quickly. we can't wait until something goes through a layered process. we have to move quickly. too many people are dying in this city. too many people are sprawled out all over our streets. and now we have a plan to address it. a robust, aggressive plan to address it.

earlier this week, i made it clear that there are going to be a number of things that this city is going to do to address public safety and part of that is a police response. part of that is accountability. part of that is making sure that we are consistent, but the other part is being aggressive about getting people into services and support and not allowing what has happened on our streets to continue. not only the fact that people who are suffering from these things are randomly committing acts of violence towards people who are just walking down the street not to mention the number of shootings and stabbings and other things that are happening randomly in this community, but also the high number of people who are dying from fentanyl overdoses.

so leading this effort to address this emergency will be mary ellen carol and the work that we have in place after our assessment will allow us the ability through this emergency declaration to move quickly, to move fast, to change the conditions specifically of the tenderloin community. this is necessary in order to see a difference, in order to reverse some of the deaths from overdoses and the assaults and attacks and other things happening in this community. so, at this time, i want to

introduce someone who's been advocating for resources and let's be clear, this city spends more money on when people walk down the streets of san francisco, they should feel

safe. they shouldn't have to see someone sticking a needle in various part officer their body laying out on the streets and wondering what can i do to help them. they shouldn't be spit on. we have to have an honest conversation about people who suffer from mental illness and substance use disorder and that crosses a line and impacts other peoples' ability to feel safe in our city, addressing those challenges, understanding what people are suffering through and meeting them where they are. and i'd like to introduce supervisor matt haney of district 6 to say a few words.

>> supervisor haney: i want to thank the mayor for her focus for her urgency and courage in today's announcement. the tenderloin is a community of residents who want and deserve safety, who want and deserve health and who want to survive. they need help. and this is a statement of the urgency that help is on the way. our city came together over the last few years and through everything we had to confront a deadly epidemic. and because of those actions of the people who are standing up here, we save lives. and we have to do that again. the overdose epidemic is taking the lives of nearly two people a day in our city. most of those people in the

tenderloin are south of market and mostly fentanyl. and if we are going to stop the epidemic, if we are going to save lives. we are going to once again throw everything we have at it. we need resources. we need coordination. we need tracking and we need it now. we cannot wait to take action. every day that we wait, anything that is getting our way to move slower, may cost lives. and this is something that we know we can do. decades ago, there was another epidemic that we faced which was hiv and aids. and this city came together we led the way and we saved lives. and so even though this is an epidemic that's not only

affecting our city and the tentder loin, it's a national epidemic. we have to demonstrate through commitment and compassion not only looking the other way, but confronting the problem. i think if there's anything we've demonstrated over the last year and a half under mayor breed's leadership that we can absolutely do this. but it takes us treating it like the emergency and the crisis it is and that's what we're doing today. thank you, mayor breed also as a resident of the coo at the scale of the problem we're facing and you have my full support and partnership. and i want to thank chief carol

and director scott and chief kunis for your partnership on it. i want to introduce the person who is going to lead this effort through the covid-19 pandemic bringing together resources, bringing together staff. unprecedented focus and speed to confront a pandemic. we have to do it again with this deadly epidemic of drug overdose. so i want to welcome up now director caroll. >> director: thank you, mayor breed, and thank you, supervisor haney. in emergencies, people need resources immediately and not months from now. an emergency declaration allows san francisco to cut through the red tape, to obtain the contracts, the resources and the personnel that we need to address the crisis conditions in the tenderloin. we only have to look at our

covid response to see how an emergency declaration allowed us to quickly lease hotels, hire critical staff and establish testing and vaccines. if you remember, when we did that declaration, there is a lot of questions about why we were doing a declaration so early before we even had a case in san francisco. it is because we knew the lead time that we needed and we knew how important it was to have the ability to conduct those resources. that's what it's about. this includes speeding up the establishment of a linkage center that once activated. the site will connect individuals in crisis to resources like substance use treatment, counseling, and medical care. to date, we have conducted neighborhood assessments, community stakeholder

engagement. we've coordinated interventions, and helped people in crisis connect to social services. i just want to reiterate that the emergency declaration is really about removing obstacles so that we can go in and conduct the work we need to do to help the residents of the tenderloin. our goal is to get those services coordinated as quickly as we can in order to alleviate the overall suffering that people are experiencing in the neighborhood. thank you very much. i'll turn it back to you. >> so, with that, are there any questions? >> question: the chronicle was told two months ago, if you

declare it an emergency, it could practically allow -- not practically allow, but you can do anything [inaudible] today. what does this mean in two months? >> can you go back to the first question? >> question: [inaudible] >> so the challenge we have with our conservetorship process is we wait until someone is 51/50 which is a 72-hour hold before we can implement a course of action which goes through a lengthy court process. from my perspective, it's not strong enough to be as effective as we would like it to be and i think that's why we have to use our alternative of not giving people any option when they are struggling with addiction and have challenges with mental health. we have to take them somewhere.

so either that somewhere is going to be san francisco general depending on their condition or that somewhere is going to be a location that we will set up as a result of this emergency declaration and the goal is to not let anyone stay out in the streets and not give them an option and to enforce many of our various laws that are on the books including sit lie and camping and sleeping and other things. so we're going to be a lot more aggressive with implementing existing laws on the books in order to get people off the streets and unfortunately the conservatorship does not work as effectively as is it should. >> question: and why the change in two months? if we did declare an opioid crisis that we would not be able to do anything that we're not doing now. so i'm wondering what's is

changed in two months? >> what's changed is at that time we were working with the department of public health and the city attorney's office to understand how we can get more creative on declaring a state of emergency because the problem we were having is technically under some of of 0 our various laws, it wasn't in terms of what was put forward and what was suggested, it wasn't something that technically we could use legally as a basis. so we had hunkered down, got creative and workeded with our attorneys to figure out a way. even at that time, it was a crisis. this is not something that just all of sudden happened. we were able to find a way which we needed in order to address it and so that's what we did.

>> question: mayor, do you think this declaration will save lives? >> my hope is that it will save lives. people laid out on the streets, we don't know if they're dead or alive. the ability for our street wellness teams to do checks, but most important, that person probably needs to be monitored and so part of our process is removing them from that location and moving them inside to a location where we have the kinds of folks that can monitor, that can provide resources, but more importantly, we're not here to judge. we're here to say, we're here, we're paying attention, we don't want you to die and so we're going to do everything we can to support you but we've got to they you off the streets. >> question: a public defender said that expanding police presence is going to be harmful to people who are already overpoliced and it cuts the promise you made in the wake of the george floyd murder death.

what is your response to that? >> answer: it doesn't. you see significant investments in programs including commitment to the african american community for $60 million a year ongoing. and so you tell that to the families who i met with who are in tears from the attacks and telling me that they want the police there. telling me that they call the police and they want them to show up. the families and the people who live there, has anyone from the public defender's office or anyone else had a conversation with these families who feel uncomfortable walking their kids down the street. so have the public defender give them a call and see what they want and they need to protect their lives and their children. everyone in theory can is talk about all the policies they want around no police and defund the police and all of these other things, but at the

end of the day, if someone beat your kid like that 11-year-old girl, who are you going to call to protect you? and that's the point of this. we have worked very hard in this city to turn things around with the challenges that have existed historically in the police department of san francisco and i'm very proud and confident in bill scott and his leadership and the various trainings, anti-bias trainings, the new recruits which have made the department more and more diverse and understanding of various communities, making sure that we're sensitive to the need and we're not creating these barriers to those who in the past have historically had challenges with the police. we have people who want a relationship. businesses in the tenderloin who want a relationship and treat their police officers with kindness and respect, the same with the police officers towards them. so folks can say what they want

about all of this going back on your word this and that, but at the end of the day, the people in this community are not safe and it is not fair and it's not right. and part of the response to this is definitely police officers. >> question: [ indiscernible ] >> answer: and they're deployed in the tenderloin too. but let me just be clear and the chief can talk about that. this declaration of emergency is more so about making sure that we are dealing with our public health crisis on the streets and part of it separately from that is definitely a significant increase on our police response. so, if you want, i can bring

chief scott up if you have a question. yes. >> thank you, mayor. everything that was said today only enhances our ability to do our jobs. enforcement, we have to enforce. we have to arrest drug dealers. a lot of what people complain about are the street conditions, open air injections of whatever is being injected in peoples' arms and toes and those things have to be addressed. the other side of that is our officer has said time and time again, let's have a system where we can get the social workers involved and that's exactly what this does at the front end so we can go and do the things that the public wants us to do. arrest people that are hurting people. stop the open air drug uses. stop some of the craziness

that's going on on our streets and that's what most of us came on this job to do and this only enhances our ability to do that because our officers will work in partnership with the health department and social services so they don't have to do that. we know to treat people with dignity and respect. we came on this job to be cops and this will only enhance that and the deployment that's already been increased. and i want to echo that in my comments that the mayor said. thanks to the mayor and the support of her budget office than any other community by far year to date. all this needs to come together. we will continue to invest in the tenderloin, our officers have worked a lot of hours and they don't mind doing that, but they want good outcomes. so when we enforce, we want

consequences when the evidence is there. we need to support so they're not doing social work. we understand we have to treat people well and do the job the way we have expected. and we need the support. the emergency declaration and my professional opinion will give us that support right now. so thank you. >> question: mayor breed, you mention an intention to move people to a place they need to be monitored. can you expand on where they will be moved to? >> answer: yes. mary ellen caroll can answer that. >> yes. so we made reference to a linkage center and we will have people who are experiencing

substance abuse disorder, they can link up with the department of public health resources. they can link with community based organization resources and treatment. we can find out where they are in the housing system if they need housing and we can also meet them where they are with some basic hygiene, food. we really want people to -- this is really intended to be a warm intervention with people to engage people. i think i can tell you personally and i think a lot of people feel frustrated with the lack of intervention and the lack of ways to intervene with people who are suffering on the street. and so this is a place that we can pull people in and get them warm, get them dry. get them fed and have them connected to all of the many services and resources that the

city has. >> question: [ indiscernible ] >> answer: yes. it is voluntary. people can come in on their own. people will also be given choices. so there is a push pull. our intention is to be more pull than push, but there will be and as the chief has talked about, there may be instances where people have a choice. you know, you're doing something illegal, something that's harmful in the neighborhood in this situation. we have this option for you to go here and we're hopeful that people are going to take us up on that option as much as possible.

>> after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and i signed up for the below-market rate program. i got my certificate and started applying and won the housing lottery. [♪♪♪] >> the current lottery program began in 2016. but there have been lot rows that have happened for affordable housing in the city for much longer than that. it was -- there was no standard practice. for non-profit organizations

that were providing affordable housing with low in the city, they all did their lotteries on their own. private developers that include in their buildings affordable units, those are the city we've been monitoring for some time since 1992. we did it with something like this. where people were given circus tickets. we game into 291st century in 2016 and started doing electronic lotteries. at the same time, we started electronic applications systems. called dalia. the lottery is completely free. you can apply two ways. you can submit a paper application, which you can download from the listing itself. if you apply online, it will take five minutes. you can make it easier creating an account. to get to dalia, you log on to

housing.sfgov.org. >> i have lived in san francisco for almost 42 years. i was born here in the hayes valley. >> i applied for the san francisco affordable housing lottery three times. >> since 2016, we've had about 265 electronic lotteries and almost 2,000 people have got their home through the lottery system. if you go into the listing, you can actually just press lottery results and you put in your lottery number and it will tell you exactly how you ranked. >> for some people, signing up for it was going to be a challenge. there is a digital divide here and especially when you are trying to help low and very low income people. so we began providing digital

assistance for folks to go in and get help. >> along with the income and the residency requirements, we also required someone who is trying to buy the home to be a first time home buyer and there's also an educational component that consists of an orientation that they need to attend, a first-time home buyer workshop and a one-on-one counseling session with the housing councilor. >> sometimes we have to go through 10 applicants before they shouldn't be discouraged if they have a low lottery number. they still might get a value for an available, affordable housing unit. >> we have a variety of lottery programs. the four that you will most often see are what we call c.o.p., the certificate of preference program, the dthp

which is the displaced penance housing preference program. the neighborhood resident housing program and the live worth preference. >> i moved in my new home february 25th and 2019. the neighborhood preference program really helped me achieve that goal and that dream was with eventually wind up staying in san francisco. >> the next steps, after finding out how well you did in the lottery and especially if you ranked really well you will be contacted by the leasing agent. you have to submit those document and income and asset qualify and you have to pass the credit and rental screening and the background and when you qualify for the unit, you can chose the unit and hopefully sign that lease. all city sponsored affordable

housing comes through the system and has an electronic lottery. every week there's a listing on dalia. something that people can apply for. >> it's a bit hard to predict how long it will take for someone to be able to move into a unit. let's say the lottery has happened. several factors go into that and mainly how many units are in the project, right. and how well you ranked and what preference bucket you were in. >> this particular building was brand new and really this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. in my mind, i was like how am i going to win this? i did and when you get that notice that you won, it's like at first, it's surreal and you don't believe it and it sinks in, yeah, it happened. >> some of our buildings are pretty spectacular. they have key less entry now. they have a court yard where they play movies during the

weekends, they have another master kitchen and space where people can throw parties. >> mayor breed has a plan for over 10,000 new units between now and 2025. we will start construction on about 2,000 new units just in 2020. >> we also have a very big portfolio like over 25,000 units across the city. and life happens to people. people move. so we have a very large number of rerentals and resales of units every year. >> best thing about working for the affordable housing program is that we know that we're making a difference and we actually see that difference on a day-to-day basis. >> being back in the neighborhood i grew up in, it's a wonderful experience. >> it's a long process to get through. well worth it when you get to

the other side. i could not be happier. [♪♪♪] >> the market is one of our vehicles for reaching out to public and showing them how to prepare delicious, simple food. people are amazed that the library does things like that. biblio bistro is a food education program. it brings such joy to people.

it teaches them life skills that they can apply anywhere, and it encourages them to take care of themselves. my name is leaf hillman, and i'm a librarian, and biblio bistro is my creation. i'm a former chef, and i have been incubating this idea for many years. we are challenged to come up with an idea that will move the library into the future. this inspired me to think, what can we do around cooking? what can i do around cooking? we were able to get a cart. the charlie cart is designed to bring cooking to students in elementary students that has enough gear on it to teach 30 students cooking. so when i saw that, i thought bingo, that's what we're

missing. you can do cooking classes in the library, but without a kitchen, it's difficult. to have everything contained on wheels, that's it. i do cooking demonstrations out at the market every third wednesday. i feature a seafood, vegetable, and i show people how to cook the vegetable. >> a lot of our residents live in s.r.o.s, single resident occupancies, and they don't have access to full kitchens. you know, a lot of them just have a hot plate, a microwave, and the thing that biblio bistro does really well is cook food accessible in season and make it available that day. >> we handout brochures with the featured recipe on the back. this recipe features mushrooms,

and this brochure will bring our public back to the library. >> libraries are about a good time. >> i hired a former chef. she's the tickle queen at the ramen shop in rockwood. we get all ages. we get adults and grandparents and babies, and, you know, school-age kids, and it's just been super terrific. >> i was a bit reluctant because i train teachers and adults. i don't train children. i don't work with children, and i find it very interesting and a bit scary, but working here really taught me a lot, you know, how easily you can influence by just showing them what we have, and it's not threatening, and it's tasty and

fun. i make it really fun with kids because i don't look like a teacher. >> in the mix, which is our team center, we have programs for our kids who are age 13 to 18, and those are very hands on. the kids often design the menu. all of our programs are very interactive. >> today, we made pasta and garlic bread and some sauce. usually, i don't like bell pepper in my sauce, but i used bell pepper in my sauce, and it complemented the sauce really well. i also grated the garlic on my bread. i never thought about that technique before, but i did it, and it was so delicious. >> we try to teach them

techniques where they can go home and tell their families, i made this thing today, and it was so delicious. >> they're kind of addicted to these foods, these processed foods, like many people are. i feel like we have to do what we can to educate people about that. the reality is we have to live in a world that has a lot of choices that aren't necessarily good for you all the time. >> this is interesting, but it's a reaction to how children are brought up. it is fast-food, and the apple is a fast-food, and so that sort of changes the way they think about convenience, how eating apple is convenient. >> one of the things that i love about my program out at the market is the surprise and delight on people's faces when they finally taste the vegetable. it's been transformative for some people.

they had never eaten those vegetables before, but now, they eat them on a regular basis. >> all they require is a hot plate and a saute pan, and they realize that they're able to cook really healthy, and it's also tasty. >> they also understand the importance of the connection that we're making. these are our small business owners that are growing our food and bringing it fresh to the market for them to consume, and then, i'm helping them consume it by teaching them how to cook. >> it connects people to the food that they're buying. >> the magic of the classes in the children's center and the team center is that the participants are cooking the food themselves, and once they do that, they understand their connection to the food, to the tools, and it empowers them. >> we're brokering new experiences for them, so that is very much what's happening in the biblio bistro program.

>> we are introducing kids many times to new vocabulary. names of seasonings, names of vegetables, names of what you call procedures. >> i had my little cooking experience. all i cooked back then was grilled cheese and scrambled eggs. now, i can actually cook curry and a few different thing zblz . >> and the parents are amazed that what we're showing them to cook is simple and inexpensive. i didn't know this was so easy to make. i've only bought it in the market. those comments have been amazing, and yeah, it's been really wonderful.

>> we try to approach everything here with a well, just try it. just try it once, and then, before you know it, it's gone. >> a lot of people aren't sure how to cook cauliflower or kale or fennel or whatever it is, and leah is really helpful at doing that. >> i think having someone actually teaching you here is a great experience. and it's the art of making a meal for your family members and hope that they like it. >> i think they should come and have some good food, good produce that is healthy and actually very delicious. >> cooking is one of my biggest passions, to be able to share, like, my passion with others, and skills, to h

>> how i really started my advocacy was through my own personal experiences with discrimination as a trans person. and when i came out as trans, you know, i experienced discrimination in the workplace. they refused to let me use the women's bathroom and fired me. there were so many barriers that other trans folks had in the workplace. and so when i finished college, i moved out to san francisco in the hopes of finding a safer community. >> and also, i want to recognize our amazing trans advisory committee who advises our office as well as the mayor, so our transadvisory

community members, if they could raise their hands and you could give a little love to them. [applause] >> thank you so much for your help. my leadership here at the office is engaging the mayor and leadership with our lgbt community. we also get to support, like, local policy and make sure that that is implemented, from all-gender bathrooms to making sure that there's lgbt data collection across the city. get to do a lot of great events in trans awareness month. >> transgender people really need representation in politics of all kinds, and i'm so grateful for clair farley

because she represents us so intelligently. >> i would like to take a moment of silence to honor all those folks that nicky mentioned that we've lost this year. >> i came out when i was 18 as trans and grew up as gay in missoula, montana. so as you can imagine, it wasn't the safest environment for lgbt folks. i had a pretty supportive family. i have an identical twin, and so we really were able to support each other. once i moved away from home and started college, i was really able to recognize my own value and what i had to offer, and i think that for me was one of the biggest challenges is kind of facing so many barriers, even with all the privilege and access that i had. it was how can i make sure that i transform those challenges

into really helping other people. we're celebrating transgender awareness month, and within that, we recognize transgender day of remembrance, which is a memorial of those that we have lost due to transgender violence, which within the last year, 2019, we've lost 22 transgender folks. think all but one are transgender women of color who have been murdered across the country. i think it's important because we get to lift up their stories, and bring attention to the attacks and violence that are still taking place. we push back against washington. that kind of impact is starting to impact trans black folks, so

it's important for our office to advocate and recognize, and come together and really remember our strength and resilience. as the only acting director of a city department in the country, i feel like there's a lot of pressure, but working through my own challenges and barriers and even my own self-doubt, i think i've been try to remember that the action is about helping our community, whether that's making sure the community is housed, making sure they have access to health care, and using kind of my access and privilege to make change. >> i would like to say something about clair farley. she has really inspired me. i was a nurse and became disabled. before i transitioned and after i transitioned, i didn't know what i wanted to do. i'm back at college, and clair

farley has really impressed on me to have a voice and to have agency, you have to have an education. >> mayor breed has led this effort. she made a $2.3 million investment into trans homes, and she spear headed this effort in partnership with my office and tony, and we're so proud to have a mayor who continues to commit and really make sure that everyone in this city can thrive. >> our community has the most resources, and i'm very happy to be here and to have a place finally to call home. thank you. [applause] >> one, two, three. [applause] >> even in those moments when i do feel kind of alone or unseen or doubt myself, i take a look at the community and the power of the supportive allies that are at the table that really

help me to push past that. being yourself, it's the word of wisdom i would give anyone. surely be patient with yourself and your dream. knowing that love, you may not always feel that from your family around you, but you can

>> we are right now in outer richmond in the last business area of this city. this area of merchants is in the most western part of san francisco, continue blocks down the street they're going to fall into the pacific ocean. two blocks over you're going to

have golden gate park. there is japanese, chinese, hamburgers, italian, you don't have to cook. you can just walk up and down the street and you can get your cheese. i love it. but the a very multicultural place with people from everywhere. it's just a wonderful environment. i love the richmond district. >> and my wife and i own a café we have specialty coffee drinks, your typical lattes and mochas and cappuccinos, and for lunches, sandwiches and soup and salad. made fresh to order. we have something for everybody >> my shop is in a very cool part of the city but that's one of the reasons why we provide such warm and generous treats, both physically and emotionally

(♪♪) >> it's an old-fashioned general store. they have coffee. other than that what we sell is fishing equipment. go out and have a good time. >> one of my customers that has been coming here for years has always said this is my favorite store. when i get married i'm coming in your store. and then he in his wedding outfit and she in a beautiful dress came in here in between getting married at lands end and to the reception, unbelievable. (♪♪) >> the new public health order that we're announcing will require san franciscans to

remain at home with exceptions only for essential outings. >> when the pandemic first hit we kind of saw the writing on the walls that potentially the city is going to shut all businesses down. >> it was scary because it was such an unknown of how things were going to pan out. i honestly thought that this might be the end of our business. we're just a small business and we still need daily customers. >> i think that everybody was on edge. nobody was untouched. it was very silent. >> as a business owner, you know, things don't just stop, right? you've still got your rent, and all of the overhead, it's still there. >> there's this underlying

constant sense of dread and anxiety. it doesn't prevent you from going to work and doing your job, it doesn't stop you from doing your normal routine. what it does is just make you feel extra exhausted. >> so we began to reopen one year later, and we will emerge stronger, we will emerge better as a city, because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> this place has definitely been an anchor for us, it's home for us, and, again, we are part of this community and the community is part of us. >> one of the things that we strived for is making everyone in the community feel welcome and we have a sign that says "you're welcome." no matter who you are, no matter what your political views are, you're welcome here. and it's sort of the classic san francisco thing is that you work

with folks. >> it is your duty to help everybody in san francisco.

. >> president: then, in that case, i will call tonight's meeting, the january 3rd meeting of the san francisco redistricting task force. welcome, members, staff, and happy new year to everyone. mr. caroll, could we proceed? >> clerk: yes, mr. chair. please allow me to begin our meeting with a few brief announcements about how the public can access our meetings. first, the public is participating in this meeting remotely. the task force recognizes that public access to city service is essential and invites public participation in the following ways. public comment will be available on each item of this